Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Make Em' Laugh


Just wanted to clue you loyal fans in on the new PBS documentary Make Em' Laugh, which starts tonight at 8pm EST. Their website describes it as "A six-hour comedy epic showcasing the most hilarious men, women, and moments in American entertainment and why they made us laugh." Sounds good to me.

The first two episodes air tonight with two more next Wednesday and the final two a week later. It's chock full of interviews of comedians, about comedians. No analysis from snooty professors or dusty historians, just memories and explanations from those who know humor best.

TONIGHT'S EPISODE: "Would Ya Hit a Guy with Glasses?: Nerds, Jerks, & Oddballs"

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Bryan's 2008 Music Picks

(In case you don't visit the Post Rockist, and any music lover should, here are my favorite albums of the year 2008. And make sure to check out the other Post Rockist writers' lists for some stellar musical insights.)

Bryan's 2008 Music Picks

It bugs me when I hear people saying 2008 was a bad year for music. It didn't have the stunners last year did, but there were thirty albums that could have been on this list. Spiritualized and Portishead made rejuvenated returns, TV On The Radio and Hot Chip cemented their bigger-than-indie status, and those Vampire Weekend kids managed to sound great to anyone over 34 or under 22. There was so much good music that I lumped some albums into categories. So there you go, let's get to the good stuff.


10. AFRO-FUNK compilations: African Scream Contest; Nigeria Special series; Nigeria 70: Lagos Jump
None of this stuff was recorded anywhere near 2008, but its cool and innovative sounds had me anxiously waiting the each one's release. My love for soul and funk can never be fully satisfied, so I was ecstatic to see a slew of 1970s afro-funk tracks unearthed. The Nigeria Special series continued to give us some Disco Funk and Rock gems, building last year's fantastic collection. But if you can only buy one, African Scream Contest is the best, hands down. Below is the opening track, and in it you'll hear obvious Highlife influences and some mesmerizing guitar work that brings an energy even Sly Stone would have trouble keeping up with.
SONG: Lokonon Andre & Les Volcans – "Mi Kple Dogbekpo"


9. FUCK BUTTONS – Street Horrrsing
For me, one of the most beautiful and difficult accomplishments in music is holding someone's attention for 9 minutes and building on the sound so what started out good culminates in a stirring crescendo (see "Paranoid Android," "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal," "Think I'm In Love," et al.). Fuck Buttons' occasional fuzzed-out screams and yelps add a primal feeling to some pretty electronic melodies. It was fun getting lost in its drone as I shared a subway car with aggressive panhandlers, unapologetic blowhards, and forget-about-it guys from Queens. It was the enthralling buffer between my tired, 6pm mind and a world of chaos.
SONG: "Bright Tomorrow"


8. SUPER EPs: Crystal StiltsCrystal Stilts; Air FranceNo Way Down; Simian Mobile Disco - Clock
Each of these has every right to be placed next full length LPs. Crystal Stilts ended up releasing their solid debut, but was comprised mostly of songs from the EP. It sounds like a beach rock-obsessed Ian Curtis rose from the dead to fill us in on the future of garage rock. Air France's No Way Down EP is cheesy and beautiful, like meadows and butterflies and lazy Saturdays and necking with your favorite gal. But it's just that beautiful and sunny, like an aural version of MDMA without the comedown. Simian Mobile Disco released a pair if EPs in '08, but had they expanded Clock's 4 songs into a full-length, it would have been the best dance album of the year.
SONG: Crystal Stilts – "Converging In The Quiet"


7. NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!
You won't find a piano balladeer on this Cave album. It's all rock and it never stops. Some of it is cock-rock, some is Suicide meets Lou Reed, and it's all grimy and seamy and reeks of cigarettes. The end of days isn't a new subject for Cave, but he and The Seeds pump blood and guts back into a world that appears to be on life support. Common themes are dive bars, prostitutes, impending doom, drugs, vengeance, and lust. If none of that sounds intriguing, you need to hang with Nick Cave for a while.
SONG: "Albert Goes West"


6. MIX TAPES: Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit - The Very Best; Diplo & Santogold - Top Ranking; Girl TalkFeed The Animals
These three albums each offer a different case for the validity of remixes. On The Very Best (still free to download), Radioclit takes the instrumentals from his favorite tracks and lets Esau Mwamwaya sing in his native Chichewa. He adds a ton of fun to "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" as he erases its original ties of college and Paul Simon. On Top Ranking, Diplo essentially re-produces Santogold's debut into an 80-minute island thumper, filling it out with Aretha Franklin, Cutty Ranks, the B52s, and others. Lastly, Girl Talk takes a scalpel to songs and sounds unforgettable to any music junkie and creates brand new tunes by laying them beneath rap vocals. At a poker game a couple months ago, someone called him the musical equivalent of The Family Guy – nothing is really new, but you can't help waiting for the next reference. This happens about every 3 seconds on Feed The Animals.
SONG: Esau Mwamwaya – "Kamphopo"


5. DREAM POP: Beach House – Devotion; Grouper – Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill
The new Beach House album feels like it's been forced to make a decision between staying with its current lover and moving on to new but uncertain things. The eerie organ gives it a haunted feeling, but Victoria Legrand's breathy, hardened voice knows exactly where her heart lies. Dragging A Dead Deer is like waking up from a dream and sifting through the hazy half-sleep phantasmagoria - you might vaguely remember where you were or what you were doing but mostly you just remember how you felt. Liz Harris's voice seems to be lurking a mile under water, giving you quick glimpses of forgotten memories.
SONG: Beach House – "Holy Dances"


4. DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES – In Ear Park
In Ear Park is Daniel Rossen's warm and beautiful ode to his late father. While many Grizzly Bear tunes leave me a little bored, here Rossen packs each song with vivid scenes of going to work, funerals, and parental advice. The album is instantly accessible and has grown on me even more throughout the year. Plus it delivers my favorite song of '08 in "No One Does It Like You." Rossen's sound is so universally enjoyable that friends, mothers, brothers, and even fathers should have no problem appreciating it.
SONG: "No One Does It Like You"


3. DEERHUNTER – Microcastle / Weird Era Cont.
Bradford Cox was officially THE man of '08. After releasing a stellar solo album as Atlas Sound, the Deerhunter frontman tightened the band's sound, making it more personal in the process. Cox has openly had a complex childhood and Microcastle reflects his fragility and elegance with a confidence that should excite any Deerhunter haters. And anyone who's visited a music blog knows the album leaked 4 months too soon, so Cox and friends gave us another album. Weird Era Cont. takes any sort of mope out of shoegaze and is evidence that whatever leaking /online / personal drama Cox has gone through made him the man to watch for the next few years.
SONG: "Nothing Ever Happened"


2. CHAD VANGAALEN – Soft Airplane
This album wins the award for most diverse song collection. VanGaalen starts with a sweet banjo ditty about a Viking funeral and maneuvers his way through straightforward pop-rock, Crazy Horse-era Neil Young stompers, an electronic song involving TMNT, dark acoustic ballads, and ends with dissonant guitar feedback. And somehow it never loses steam or feels disjointed. His boyish obsession with death and loss is the unifying theme, yet this was a huge summer album for me. Maybe that makes me a little weird, but more than anything it shows this album manages to deliver an endless stream of deep subjects without taxing your emotions.
SONG: "City Of Electric Light"


1. CUT COPY – In Ghost Colours
After their first album, I expected Cut Copy to get comfortable making moody but hollow pop, but In Ghost Colours' opening track shatters that notion - it's full and warm and sugary sweet, like a post-hangover sunny day where food tastes better, the birds are chirping, and you're glad to have your wits about you. There's quite a bit of guitar, both electric and acoustic, but, as usual, their catchiest diamonds are saved for the dance floor ("Lights And Music," "Hearts On Fire," "Far Away"). The lyrics are not quite happy, but always stay positive, and the music behind them never deliver a wrong note. This is an album club kids make when they mature and decide to focus not just on the present, but also the future. See them live, you won't be disappointed.
SONG: "Far Away"

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Birds Have Landed


Today is a good day.

Those ever-lovable Kiwis, Flight of the Conchords, have a new season starting in January. Some of us have caught glimpses of them filming in the streets and pet shops of Brooklyn. Fortunately all you lucky fans can watch the premiere a month early thanks to Funny Or Die. There isn't much I can add about the Conchords that hasn't been said already, so I'm sure you're as excited as I am. I've even embedded the episode right here on the ever-lovable Better Chatter, because nobody likes unnecessary clicking.

Enjoy.

P.S. There's a preview of HBO's new Will Ferrel / Danny McBride show East Bound and Down at the end. So you can get excited about that too.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

One More Time

So, I was listening, via shuffle, to my ipod this morning on the subway and Daft Punk's "One More Time" came on. Though I wouldn't even really consider myself a fan of Daft Punk (anything too dance-y has got to be super weird and/or smart and funny, a la Hot Chip, for me to really like it) I've got to admit that this song has held up really well as a single over the years and features one of the all-time best uses of the much-loathed "auto-tune" feature.

More importantly (for anyone reading this), hearing this song reminded me of the supremely entertaining and bizarre video for this song, which features a weird mix of Anime and Voltron-era animation. If you've never seen it, here you go...

Friday, November 21, 2008

Your Perfect Autumn Music


Like many, my introduction to the Vaselines was Nirvana's cover of Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam. Listening to Kurt Cobain on that song struck a chord with my young, sad slacker heart. Jesus didn't want ME for a sunbeam either! It's a song about sadness but also about knowing whom you are where you stand. This is exactly what autumn is to me – the cold and dark days get me down but give me a chance to reflect and take stock of myself.

The Vaselines have an oeuvre of 19 songs that blended equal parts twee and punk and paved the way for fellow Glaswegians Belle and Sebastian as well as, of course, Nirvana. Their songs of gleeful kissing and social disillusionment never sounded incongruous no matter if they were strumming or shredding. Which makes sense why Cobain, who named his daughter Frances after their co-founder, and his ear for pop song structure couldn't get enough of them.

Luckily you can get their entire body of work on the extremely pleasing The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History, which, for $10, is worth investing in if you're looking for a delightful soundtrack to your autumn.

The Vaselines - Dying For It (mp3)

The Vaselines - Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam (mp3)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

See/Saw

Okay, while this is a truly awful video, it actually, in its dumbness, sort of gets at what makes Jay Reatard so great. There's something Ramones-like in the simplicity and goofy enthusiasm of his music which I find incredibly appealing. There's also just enough of a wink-wink "yeah, I get this is pretty over the top" attitude that it makes palatable the kind of sound that normally I might find a little too abrasive. Anyway, check this video out, if only because "See/Saw" really is a great song:

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Super Colon Blow?

I eat breakfast almost every morning these days, which makes me feel much more awake and really just generally helps to get my day going on the right note. Still, I can't imagine how productive I might be in the morning if I could just eat this cereal: