RYAN ADAMS: ASHES & FIRE
ATLAS SOUND: PARALLAX
The real weight of Cox’s work comes from the sense of isolation he creates on Parallax. Where most albums involve the world outside the artist, this album feels completely on its own, a summary of Cox’s stream-of-consciousness style of song writing and perfectly arranged instrumentals. While piecing the tracks together doesn’t necessarily reveal a coherent story or theme, the tone and rhythm of each song, strings together in movie score-esque pattern. Infectious guitar chords on “The Shakes” are echoed deep within the closing track “Nightworks,” in a tangentially related but familiar way. There’s a pattern to so much of Cox’s work, but it’s never boring or predictable. The subtle piano keys on “Mona Lisa” differentiate it from the rest of the album, but the same guitar effects are present along with Cox’s echoing vocals.
The album’s highlight, which truly showcases Cox’s ability to arrange and perform a song, is “Te Amo.” One of the best tunes this year, “Te Amo” has a simple lyrical structure, but is amazingly complex and breathtaking when taken as as a whole.The scaling piano keys at the beginning are entrancing, compounded by the slam of a drum that all lead into the explosion of Cox’s vocals. “We’ll have such strange dreams,” Cox sings in the third verse, the tune, by this time, having fallen into a hypnotic pace. On its own, the tune is perfect. But even as it transitions to the next track on the album, you can hear how it fits perfectly within the context of the rest of the album. And that’s where “Te Amo” excels: in its ability to stand alone as a great single, without retracting from the contained experience of Parallax.
There’s usually little to be learned from an album’s cover art, but Parallax has a story to tell. Cox, grabbing the microphone, standing half-lit and alone, is presented in his truest form. While his other projects also flourish, Cox is at his best when solo, left unaffected by outside voices and concerns. His ability to write hermetically, and at the rate and range at which he does, proves Cox to be an important, if fringe, member of the modern music scene. Parallax challenges current experimental pop music’s tropes and habits, vastly exceeding all expectations as one of the best albums this year, and certainly the best of Cox’s already-storied career.
– Erik Burg
NEW BLACK KEYS VIDEO: LONELY BOY
The Black Key’s first new single “Lonely Boy” off the forthcoming album El Camino is out today. The album co-produced by the Black Keys and Danger Mouse, officially hits stores Dec. 6th but on November 25th, as part of Record Store Day’s Black Friday series, it will be released on 12″ viny. As a bonus, if you pre-order the album today to get an instant download of Lonely Boy. Preview the track through the band’s new viral video . Pretty sure this guy stole my dance.
STARS PREMIERE: DEAD HEARTS VIDEO + LAUNCH CROWD-SOURCED PROMO
Montreal’s Stars have partnered with IFC to premiere the music video for “Dead Hearts.” In addition to appearing on 2010’s The Five Ghosts, the song is slated for release on the soundtrack for upcoming film Like Crazy – the 2011 winner of Best Picture at the Sundance Film Festival.
The band worked with renowned Canadian street artist Roadsworth to conceptualize and create the heart imagery in the video. To honor his work, the band is asking fans to draw inspiration from Roadsworth’s vision to create their own “dead hearts.” Using iPhone app, Instagram, fans will submit photos tagged with #deadhearts in order to enter their photo to be used in a companion video. For more information, visit the band’s Facebook page.
ABADABAD REMIX E.P. FEAT. PAPERCUTZ, COM TRUISE, SLOW MAGIC
ABADABAD is Brooklyn’s Jeremy Lee Given, tape relic’d guitar rock of perpetual summers and dreamy ladies. Invited to contribute to a remix, on an E.P. release coming out later in the year were Slow Magic, KeepShelly in Athens, :papercutz, Yalls and Com Truise, each one adding their particular sonic flavor and broadening Jeremy’s initial vision and audience for his beloved and personal songs.
NEW M83 VIDEO: MIDNIGHT CITY
M83 has released an official video for “Midnight City”, the first single from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Directed by Fleur & Manu and Produced by DIVISION, “Midnight City” is the soundtrack for a pack of gifted kids with telekinetic powers who escape from an institution to be free and run wild on the outskirts of LA. Having recently relocated to Los Angeles, the video reflects Anthony’s ongoing love affair with the magical escapism of film and the city itself.
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
Oct. 15 – Mexico City – Corona Capital Festival
Oct. 28 – Washington DC – Black Cat (early show) (Sold Out)
Oct. 28 – Washington DC – Black Cat (late show) (Sold Out)
Oct. 29 – Raleigh, NC – Kings Barcade (Sold Out)
Oct. 30 – Asheville, NC – Moog Fest
Oct. 31 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
Nov. 1 – Tallahassee, FL – Engine Room
Nov. 2 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham Theatre (venue change)
Nov. 4 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
Nov. 5 – Austin, TX – Fun Fun Fun Fest
Nov. 7 – Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom
Nov. 9 – Los Angeles, CA – Music Box (Sold Out)
Nov. 10 – San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine (Sold Out)
Nov. 11 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
Nov. 12 – Vancouver, BC – Venue (Sold Out)
Nov. 13 – Seattle, WA – Neumos (early show) (Sold Out)
Nov. 13 – Seattle, WA – Neumos (late show)
Nov. 16 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
Nov. 17 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (early show) (Sold Out)
Nov. 17 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall (late show) (Sold Out)
Nov. 18 – Toronto, ON – Lees Palace (Sold Out)
Nov. 19 – Montreal, QC – Le S.A.T.
Nov. 20 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Nov. 22 – New York, NY – Webster Hall (Sold Out)
Nov. 23 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall Of Williamsburg (Sold Out)
LEMONHEADS ANNOUNCE NEW TOUR + ALBUM
THE EXPERIMENT: AN EXPLORATION INTO CREATING ELECTRONIC MUSIC
Mysterious 80’s synth lord Teeel wrote a bunch of songs back in 2008 under the alias “mimeo”. The album is an exploration into creating electronic music. At the time, he was still learning about synthesis and using different techniques to compose music, hence the name “the experiment”. You’ll hear hints of TEEEL mixed with downtempo and chill electronica. Enjoy this free download. [DOWNLOAD]
ICEAGE: NEW BRIGADE
Label: What’s Your Rupture
Release date: June 21, 2011
Anger, anxiety, maladjustment and nihilism are all impulses that legions of teenagers combat daily. In Copenhagen, four teens are not merely scrapping against these demons, but waging an outright war on them.
Meet Iceage: a Danish punk outfit, whose rowdy live shows have delineated them the poster children for a “new cult of violent youth” – just have a scroll through the bloody post-show photos on their blog.But their new album New Brigade, substantiates the band as much more than a group of gashed-head exhibitionists and young, brash, noise makers. In a musical climate so over-run with baby-soft indie pop, New Brigade is a refreshingly angry, visceral exercise in contained chaos and high-octane energy output. The album is a post-punk call of arms for loners and anarchists, alike, and easily one of the best punk records I’ve heard in years.
M83: HURRY UP, WE’RE DREAMING
[rating: 5 stars]
M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
Label: Mute
Release date: October 18, 2011
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is twenty-two tracks of flawlessly crafted synth, drenched in intrepid, day-glo, art-pop scenery, barring a wasted moment. What M83 (Anthony Gonzalez) has accurately described as “Very, very, very epic.”
The double-album experience marks M83’s sixth record release, and an ambitious one at that. Siting Billy Corgan’s twenty-eight-track, nine times platinum, alternative magnum opus Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, as inspiration, more evoking of The Breakfast Club Soundtrack, Anthony Gonzalez, forges his ongoing love affair with dreams and the magical escapism of his youth into seventy-four minutes of bittersweet nostalgia, reconciled through epic dance jams. The result, is a very long, polished bedroom recording, you can bounce and sway to, contrived as a listener album, not a consumer.
Thematically, this is an album romanticizing youth; utter isolation, ecstatic joy, heartbreak and self-discovery. The first record follows one character’s longing for a relationship to finding love (even if it only lasts two songs), through a period of self-mourning, and new dawn and redemption.
While this is very much a unified album, almost every song on Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming beautifully occupies a space all it’s own. The stand-out single and notably, one of the most redeeming singles of the year, “Midnight City”, is a humid, adrenaline-driven dream of a song, unlike any of M83’s previous work. Here, Gonzales’ voice is extremely compelling, less of a whisper than usual and more of a throaty cry, as eerie vocal harmonies, haunting sub-textures and synthetic strings adeptly sweep you into a highly danceable urban groove, swimming in broken neon light. M83’s signature dream pop aesthetics are all here, but each track feels larger and more bombastic than ever. “Reunion” is an effective track, ruminating on familiar territory from 2008’s Saturdays=Youth; nostalgia for youth, only this time around with heavier soaring synths. And, there is no better example for magnifying the familiar than on “Wait”, with it’s wistful Pink Floyd-like acoustic guitar riff, and high-pitched vocals elevating the song into something bigger and better than any songs off Gonzale’ previous albums.
Hurry up, We’re Dreaming, like almost every “indie” album recorded this year, adopts nostalgia as the basis from which to create, but what makes Gonzalez unique is his ability to dig deeper into the music and memories of his youth and not only move forward with it, but transcend it.
Q + A: THE DO
DISCOSALT: Hi there! It’s been such a long time for me, since I first saw you guys. It’s great to finally meet you!
Dan: Which festival was that?
DS: It was Eurosonic Noorderslag festival in Holland.
Olivia: In Amsterdam?
DS: No, It was in Groningen. Nice festival but it was quite cold at that time. You were touring for so long in Europe and the USA. How did you find time to record in all that time?
O: Actually that’s a good question. Everybody kept asking like why it took us to record so long but actually it took us only 1 year to record. But yes we toured for almost 2 years for the first time. It was a long time. And we were impatient to record new songs.
DS: Where did you record the new album “both ways open jaws”?
O: We started recording in the house we rented in South of France. We started for a few weeks. We took all our stuff from the studio and rented a truck. We started going around with that truck and also different musicians came there to work with us. It was very important for us to get away from Paris and being in a new environment.
DS: What do you think about Paris these days? I’ve spent the last 2 summers there and I find it much more touristy now compared to 10 years ago.
O: That’s true. I think Paris is going down. We want to move somewhere else soon but we are not sure where it will be. Maybe to Berlin.
DS: Olivia, you are from Finland and Dan, you are from France. I assume that most of your time is spent together because of the tour, but when you are not touring…do you still spend time together?
D: We do music very often, so most of the time we are together. But when we need we take some time off and go apart, we do.
DS: And when you are on tour for a long time, who is your best friend?
D: Musicians.
O: I don’t know. I can’t focus on a book when I’m touring. I can’t really actually focus on something else.
D: Normally, when you are on a tour, our best friend is our bed. We are so tired that when we have time to sleep we are extremely happy.
O: It’s also good to have good headphones. Listen to your own thing.
DS: Olivia, this question is for you… Your style is very interesting. Do you choose your clothes or does somebody else choose them for you?
O: Since I don’t really have time to go and pick them up somewhere, a friend goes out for me and help me out. Sometimes I just have time to go around and do shopping very quickly.
DS: What was the first album you bought?
O: I remember that the first I bought was with my brother. Michael Jackson: “Dangerous”.
D: Mine was also from Michael Jackson: “Thriller”.
O: Was that on tape or vinyl?
D: Vinyl. I’m older.
O: I’m a girl from 80’s. You are from 70’s.
DS: You are old Dan! (they both laugh)
DS: What’s the “phrase” you use these days, as a band?
D:: Can you feel the groove tonight! We just want to say that like a thousand times a day.
O: Oh it’s a long story. But you know you find the most cheesy video on Youtube and you keep watching it and it becomes a habit.
DS: Do you have any secret talents?
O: He’s (Dan) really good at cooking.
DS: Yeah? What can you cook?
D: Whatever you want.
DS: So if one day you decide to stop being a musician, you always have a second job!
D: My parents have a restaurant for 35 years, so I have a talent.
DS: If you were to be a band in 60s or 70s, who would you be?
O: Can we be the Beatles?
DS: No! Everybody wants to be The Beatles.
D: The Kleenex.
PAINFUL NEW VIDEO FROM OFF! FEAT. SKATER LEO ROMERO
OFF! just released a video for their song “Crawl” featuring Thrasher’s 2010 skater of the year Leo Romero wiping out. Over and over and over. For a minute an a half, to be exact. Check it out and feel free to share the pain.
The band are out on tour starting this weekend, full dates follow:
Oct 7 – Club Sound – Salt Lake City, UT
Oct 8 – Marquis Theater – Denver, CO
Oct 9 – The Black Sheep – Colorado Springs, CO
Oct 12 – Sons of Hermann Hall – Dallas, TX
Oct 13 – Red 7 – Austin, TX
Oct 14 – The Studio @ Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
Oct 15 – Siberia – New Orleans, LA
Oct 17 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN
Oct 18 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Oct 19 – Palomino Pool Room – Gainesville, FL
Oct 20 – The Engine Room – Tallahassee, FL
Oct 21 – Backbooth – Orlando, FL
Oct 22 – State Theatre – St. Petersburg, FL
Oct 23 – Culture Room – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
STREAM: JACK WHITE HOMAGE TO HANK WILLIAMS: YOU KNOW THAT I KNOW
The lost notebooks of Hank Williams were discovered after he died in 1953. Jack White, Bob Dylan and a bunch of other artists have gotten together to complete the collection of previously unheard songs, adding a little lick of their own style with a lot of Hank’s raw energy to make The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. Stream the standout track “You Know That I know” from White Stripes frontman Jack White HERE.
STREAM THE COOL KID’S MIKEY ROCKS: PREMIERE POLITICS
Sir Michael Rocks aka Mikey Rocks of The Cool Kids dropped his solo debut last week for free. Premier Politics features guests Alchemist, Casey Veggies, Jeremih, Cardo, Boldy James, Shorty K, Chuck Inglish and plenty others.
Grab it here, feel free to share this link: http://www.mediafire.com/?a29f1r1b08c2p9c
NO RADIOHEAD AT OCCUPY WALL STREET TODAY
Sorry folks, No soap, No Radiohead. The band’s representative Steve Martin of Nasty Little Man said in an email “We can officially confirm this is NOT happening.” Twitter rumors have been circulating of a confirmed Radiohead “surprise” show downtown for the Occupy Wall Street protest this afternoon at 4pm, but looks like this will not happen. The band will however, stick around NYC to play Jimmy Fallon’s late show Monday night, and has been rumored to play the All Tomorrow’s Party over the weekend.
DISCOSALT EXCLUSIVE: ANR AND THE COMING APOCALYPSE
The end of days may be imminent, but right now, we are going to need more napkins.It’s about 95 degrees and feels like Cambodia in the back room of Mikey’s, a greasy, Asian-influenced burger joint in the Lower East Side. I’m sitting down with Floridian (psych-synth) chill-wave band ANR, trying to stave off forehead sweat and keep my shirt clean, while politely navigating the house signature: a patty infused with corned beef hash, smothered in curry chili.If the Apocalypse looms near then two of the four horsemen have potentially revealed themselves as some unlikely but dubious “signs”: a lamb satay burger and a restroom door handle made of tissue paper. If this is, in fact, our last meal, I regret not having ordered the avocado shake. The horror…
ANR’s Michael-John Hancock and Brian Robertson are concerned about the coming apocalypse – their worry rears itself into our conversation more than once over the course of the night. This is, most likely, because of the band’s South Florida roots – an area notoriously devastated by hurricanes. In fact, the duo’s last album, Stay Kids, is a concept album about the recent Gulf Coast disaster, the earthquake in Haiti, and the fear that Miami will soon find itself under three feet of water.
“Miami has like 20-50 more years before its like Venice, before it’s flooded,” says Michael-John. “I think some people don’t want to talk about [the apocalypse]. This year especially, waking up New Years, dead birds falling from the sky, dead fish floating in the waters, that dumb ass with his head shaved in Arizona, all this stuff happening in the Middle East. So [the album] Stay Kids also means, ‘Go back to square one and deal with it, like a kid would.’”
The band has opened for such big name acts as Yeasayer. But, they tell me, they don’t get out much – and for some reason, I believe them.
Together, these “reclusive” Miami music-makers create complex, atmospheric synth-heavy dance music; A sound the band describes as “apocalyptic psychedelic pop.” They create loud, virtuosic melodies with haunting, brilliant falsettos that reach a shimmering chorus of electro-pop juju with raw, punk rock intensity.
ANR is equal parts energetic and unnerving. Theirs is the kind of music befitting the soundtrack of a horror movie.Which, incidentally, it is. Slasher? I barely knew her is the band’s new, film project, in which Brian – the quieter of the two – plays an eerily believable killer. The short is an extended music video cum horror epic, reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and based on ANR’s single, “Big Problem.”
“It all started with the idea of shooting spear hooks through this girl’s back, through her boobs, into her boyfriend’s hands,” Michael-John explains. “That little idea became a short film.”
We discuss the merits of Star Trek versus Star Wars, breakfast cereal with the Chariots of Fire soundtrack, evangelical radio preachers, and what it’s like living and making music down South. Brian tells us that one of the major handicaps to the South Florida music scene is its lack of venues. “It’s a pretty cool, self-contained scene, in a way, being so far South…So far out of the way from the rest of the country. You have to just get together, collaborate, make stuff. “
While our conversation occasionally drifts into darker waters, ANR’s laid-back, quintessentially southern style has me at ease like we are swapping ghost stories on a road trip. (Or how movie killers deftly charm their victims into thinking everything will be okay.)
But ANR truly will make everything okay, because they are a pop band that transcends pop music. ANR has managed to find an emotional catharsis in the chaos of the apocalypse and cultivated a sound and style that is surprisingly hopeful for the future. Stay Kids is really about “just trying to put a positive spin on the coming apocalypse,” says Michael-John.
If the end of days is coming, ANR is spending their time wisely.
Continue Reading the full article > Download the Summer 2011 Issue of DISCOSALT MAGAZINE
NEW VIDEO + MP3 GRAB FROM UK’S JETHRO FOX: BLINDING LIGHT
Jethro Fox is a songwriter based in Liverpool, UK. This year has seen the release of first single Blinding Light, which received positive praise from many different blogs and companies, plus a one-to-one songwriting session with Sir Paul McCartney. Autumn 2011 will see further releases and a selection of tour dates.
MP3 DOWNLOAD: Blinding Light
NEW TRACK FROM YUCK: SOOTHE ME
In preparation of a double-disc deluxe edition of their self-titled debut album (out October 11), Yuck are now streaming a new track called “Soothe Me”; sounding less like Dinosaur Jr. and more like a band trying to forge their own direction. The re-issue will include “Soothe Me” along with 5 other B-side tracks. Listen here.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/24120124″]
STRFKR: LIVE AT BOWERY BALLROOM 9/17
Starfucker, also known as STRFKR, formerly briefly known as Pyramiddd, performed to a sold-out Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night. A far cry from the Nachbar show I organized in 2008 (link) and even the Mercury Lounge performance of 2009 (link). How things have changed…bigger venue, bigger sound, bigger crowd, and even a bigger band…but there was one major deficiency. Ryan, the face and frontman of Starfucker, is gone. Starfucker may have started as a solo project of Josh’s, but for anyone who had seen them live, Ryan was the center of attention. For those that had never seen Starfucker before, the absence is really no loss. The band sounded fantastic, Shawn and Josh both stepped up to share duties that the comically bad dancer Ryan once alone bore and had I not known better I would think they’d spent years with this approach. Call me an old man, well-removed from the loop, as I was unaware that in early August, Ryan had announced his departure from the band to focus on his solo career. It’s unfortunately hard to recover from an unexpected blow of that caliber. I wasn’t prepared.
Nevertheless, the band DID sound amazing. Starting off with the their first ever single, German Love, the band instantly drew the crowd in. Though in essence a simple and pure pop song, when combined with a rad laser show, harder-than-anticipated synth beats, and a crowd of primarily 18-20 yr olds, a pit was bound to erupt. It was, in fact, in many ways, one of the most aggressive shows I have seen in New York, and it was from the first note. My girlfriend and I were literally forced from front row, center stage to fifth row, stage left by the time German Love had finished. Growing up going primarily to punk shows, I loved it. The energy of the band and the crowd ramped up quickly and never faltered. My concern that the show would lack energy, sweat and dancing without Ryan was quickly alleviated.
Starfucker
Beat Connection
Alexico
STROKED: A STEREOGUM TRIBUTE TO IS THIS IT
For the 10th anniversary of it’s original release, Stereogum presents STROKED: a track-for-track cover album of the Strokes first album Is This It. If you have ever wondered how Real Estate, Owen Pallett, Peter Bjorn & John, Austra, Heems, The Morning Benders, and others might sound offering their spin on Strokes songs, download this album now.
Read the Liner notes from Stereogum below:
Peter Bjorn & John – “Is This It”
The only time I have agreed with some of the many, many stupid music journalists in Sweden was when “The Strokes” appeared on a Swedish website about 10 years ago. On of the most stupid journalist said that this new band for New York was the rebirth of rock or something and when I for the first time listened to three of their tracks on this swedish web-page I almost wanted to hit myself in the head with the computer. It was kind of a new thing for me to listen to music on a computer machine and this was the very first time I remember getting goosebumbs from hearing music on such a thing. It´s a strong memory believe it or not and It felt like magic that something this good had been created maybe just some month ago and that I could hear it on my computer at work. The idiot journalist was right, this was amazing and for me it was almost like when I heard “Jump” with “Van Halen” for the first time back in 1984. When we recorded our cover of “Is This It” we didn’t want to do anything crazy or weird like turning the song into a acid jazz P-funk power ballad. We just wanted to play it as good as we could.
– John Eriksson
Chelsea Wolfe – “The Modern Age”
I didn’t know this song well before I was given it to cover, so I listened to it a few times in a row and then started just focusing on the words. This song has great lyrics. I decided to pretend it was an old folk song. When I recorded my cover I was really sick and had taken lots of heavy cough syrup. I sat down with my classical guitar and just played it out, then my bandmate Ben (Chisholm) and I added layers of vocals, drums and juno until it felt slow and heavy like the medicine.
– Chelsea Wolfe
Frankie Rose – “Soma”
To be honest this was the first time had ever actually sat down and listened to the strokes! Maybe that sounds crazy like I have been living in a bush or something, but true! The trick was how best to make the song my own. I decided slowing it down and taking out some of the garage elements might be interesting. Adding a synth was helpful. The harmonies keep the chorus moving forward like the original, and yet totally different. Take note, there is a little homage in the guitar at the end. Can you guess for whom?
– Frankie Rose
Real Estate – “Barely Legal”
Matt, Alex and I – as well as all of our friends – were pretty much obsessed with this band when we were 15. We formed a Strokes cover band and played at Cassie (Ramone)’s sweet 16. When Alex got his first electric guitar, he opted for the white Stratocaster like Albert Hammond Jr. He even had the red lightning bolt strap. The approach to doing this cover was to not make it sound like the original, pretty simple. However, these songs are all arranged so well already that it’s pretty hard to come up with something new. We did a half-time drum beat thing, and then the rest of it just kind of fell into place.
– Martin Courtney
Wise Blood – “Someday”
I was psyched and terrified to get “Someday.” I decided to try and stick with the way the song develops, which I think is 4 parts that progress, fall apart, then start over again. Everything else I sort of switched up, and I tailored the lyrics a tiny bit to better suit me.
– Chris Laufman
Austra – “Alone, Together”
This song was really hard for me to cover because in my opinion the greatest things about it are the performance and the production. It took a while, but ultimately I just made it sound like an Austra song, which is to be expected!
– Katie Stelmanis
the morning benders – “Last Night”
Back when Is This It was released everyone was going crazy over how much The Strokes sounded like VU and Television and Iggy Pop. But to me, there first single “Last Nite” always felt like a Beatles song. The way the rhythmic elements always stay out of the way of the vocal, that one note guitar line a la George Harrison, even Julian’s vocal has that combo of snotty grit and melody that reminds of Lennon. But beyond all that, the reason it really feels like a Beatles song is the structure. It’s classic early-Beatles Lennon, and an approach to pop structure that still hasn’t really been tapped into. There’s no clear verse or chorus, just one main hook and melody. The only other section is a short bridge, that really just acts as a kind of propeller for the main melody, giving it the momentum it needs to come back over and over and over again. That’s good pop! And of course the middle eight is replaced by a guitar solo because, well, they’re the Strokes. For our cover we turned that structure on its head. The sections still occur in the same order, but we have re-imagined them. The main “Last Nite” melody/lyric becomes a proper verse, and the section that used to be a short bridge becomes the proper chorus/hook. At the end everything intersects with each other and we have a melodic party. Pretty fun, right?
– Chris Chu
Owen Pallett – “Hard To Explain”
Is This It is one of my favourite records of all time. I like a band when they’re metronomic with zero dynamics, and they never play the chorus more than twice, and when the vocals are buried. It sounds like efficiency. I read a quote, once, from Regina Spektor, in reference to Is This It:
The thing that blew my mind first hearing the Strokes was that they were the closest I had heard rock come to classical. Their music is extraordinarily orderly and composed.
I post on several message boards — less these days, but still on occasion. Spektor’s statement, which made instant sense to me, was the source of lively online debate. Essentially, people disagreed with Spektor’s quote. What followed was a firestorm of criticism, and many things came into question, from Spektor’s familiarity with rock music to begin with, to the worth of “classical training” in the pop context.
A user named Nabisco posted this in Spektor’s defence:
So far there’s like one person on the thread who’s actually bothered to spend half a second thinking about what [Spektor] seems to mean. (…) As of the first couple albums, at least, there is something almost insanely orderly about the Strokes’ eighth notes, in a way that’s pretty much the opposite of the “raw sloppy rock” tag they once got. I seem to remember Tom Ewing saying it was no surprise to have a drum machine on “Hard To Explain,” since the band always played like they were machined and sequenced anyway. It makes sense that this would be what Spektor means when she says the band is “like Mozart”. (…) It would be nice if there were ever any pull on [this message board] to look at something with the expectation that maybe — just maybe — it will be useful for something better than eye-rolling.
When I was asked to cover “Hard To Explain,” I remembered Spektor’s comment and Nabisco’s response. I re-imagined the Strokes as a piano quintet, and had us all playing hard, fast and mechanical. I can’t sing it as well as Julian, but he’s a really good singer — I think he had might have had lessons — not that it matters.
– Owen Pallett
Heems – “New York City Cops”
Michael Stewart, Eleanor Bumpurs, Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, Alberta Spruill, Timothy Stansbury, Abner Louima, Sean Bell, Ousmane Zongo, Randolph Evans, Anthony Baez, Clifford Glover, and Fermin Arzou were senselessly beaten or killed by the NYPD while unarmed.
– Himanshu Suri
Deradoorian – “Trying Your Luck”
I was psyched to have a different type of challenge within my daily writing routine. It was nice to have a project that could be viewed more objectively and focus more on what kind of sound I wanted it to have. I love the production of dub/reggae and thought I’d give my own interpretation of that for “Trying Your Luck.” It took a couple of tries to get on the right wave, but I feel it came together in the end. I usually don’t add environmental sounds to songs, or use that kind of instrumentation, so it was fun to put that all in there.
– Angel Deradoorian
Computer Magic – “Take It Or Leave It”
I grew up listening to Is This It in middle school and high school. I think everyone my age did. “Someday” was my ringtone for my old Nokia light up phone for at least three years. I love the Strokes, but I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t. “Take It Or Leave It” has a pretty level headed obvious message to it, it’s one of my favorites.
– Danielle Johnson