Feist @ Pitchfork Music Festival (6/13)

While I’ve been a fan of Feist for years (my wife’s ringtone on my phone has forever been set as “Mushaboom”) this was my first chance to see her live. So while a good chunk of the crowd at Pitchfork Festival went to check out the so-hot-right-now, Purity Ring, I stayed at the main stage for her headlining performance, which turned out to be a pretty great decision. Leslie Feist kicked off things with the best song from her latest album, Metals “The Bad In Each Other” followed by a radically different, bluesy doo-wop arrangement of “Mushaboom”. Although I must say, I prefer the ebuillience of the original, it’s a testament to her willingness to subvert audience expectations with her music (another example, the absence of “1,2,3,4” from her setlist).

On stage, Feist could be cutesy and awkward one moment (like when she forgot the lyrics to “Intuition”) and the next moment be rocking a noisy guitar riff. She even got a few good laughs in when she transformed the lyrics of “Circle Married the Line” to poke fun at the photographers as we left the photo pit. Although I’ve had some reservations about Feist’s latest album, I enjoyed the live renditions which featured female gospel trio Mountain Man and Broken Social Scene member, Charles Spearin to help flesh out the tracks. Other highlights included the uplifting, tambourine-shaking “I Feel It All” and her magnificent, clap-along Nina Simone cover “Sealion Woman”. With Feist’s undeniable charm and talent, it’s easy to see how the Canadian singer can appeal to both soccer moms and Pitchfork Festival-attending hipsters alike.

MP3 The Bad In Each Other
MP3 I Feel It All 

Follow the jump for more Feist photos. Click here to see the full set.

Five Albums You Should Be Listening To Right Now

Editor’s Note: Matt (on behalf of musicforants.com) contributed this post to Nerve.com’s Five Albums series this week. Check out his list / remarks below!

Allo Darlin’ – Europe

At first, Allo Darlin’ seem like any number of cloying indie-pop bands, good for a few spins until the next identical thing comes along to fill the girl-playing-ukulele void. But throughout Europe, Allo Darlin’ rises above those cutesy trappings and displays the kind of pathos often lacking in their peers. These are songs of love and friends, both found and lost, but with the melancholy that comes with a few more years. And that added experience goes a long way; these are songs where things don’t always work out, but still end up OK.

MP3 Some People Say

Bowerbirds – The Clearing

The Clearing is a good album. Obviously this is the case or it wouldn’t be on this list, but it’s not the kind of good that makes you jump on your social media network of choice and exclaim its goodness to all your friends. No, The Clearing is the kind of good that takes a few listens to sink in, the kind that can get lost in the now-ness of blog shuffle. It’s carefully constructed folk music, packed with interesting flourishes and graceful melodies. Just be patient with it.

MP3 Tuck The Darkness In

Chairlift – Something

“I Belong in Your Arms” is a monster of a song, and on any other album it would tower above all the others. Fortunately for Chairlift, Something isn’t any other album. While “I Belong in Your Arms” is certainly a highlight, the other songs here keep pace with it just fine. Something harkens back to those early days of synthpop, when artists were having a blast discovering the possibilities of new technology. It’s that same sense of wonder and excitement that makes Something worth coming back to.

MP3 I Belong In Your Arms

Gentleman Jesse – Leaving Atlanta

Created in the wake of some hard times, Leaving Atlanta does what all good power pop music does and hides its troubles under a layer of bubblegum. Jesse Smith has a way with hooks, and every song is overflowing with bits that will keep you humming for days. And while it all seems like freewheeling fun, there’s still enough of an edge to hint at the sorrow below the surface.

MP3 Eat Me Alive

Screaming Females – Ugly

Screaming Females slay, destroy, wail, and whatever other buzzwords you want to throw at them. Frontwoman Marissa Paternoster is better at playing guitar than most of us are at breathing, and these songs are packed with as many tricks and solos as she can tease out of the instrument. But you’re only as good as the band behind you, and together Screaming Females create a raucous blast of noisy rock.

MP3 Expire

MP3: Suckers – Figure It Out

A lot of great albums have been coming out (or leaking) recently, so it took me a while to listen to Suckers latest LP, which is unfortunate, because Candy Salad is an extremely solid sophomore album for the whimsical Brooklyn group. The highlight for me is “Figure It Out” (named after this, I can only assume), which spotlights Quinn Walker’s gift for writing spectacularly catchy yet slightly off-kilter melodies. With it’s emphatic beat and boisterously fun vocals, it’s one of the memorable earworms I’ve heard this year. Download below.

MP3 Suckers – Figure It Out

Candy Salad is out now via Frenchkiss Records

Gaming the System: Soundsupply

Soundsupply Drop 2 from Soundsupply on Vimeo.

We previously wrote about Soundsupply a few months ago, but with the release of the second bunch of albums we thought it was something worth revisiting in more detail.

Over the past two years, the bundle model has become a viable distribution channel in the world of games. The idea is simple: gather up a bunch of independent games and sell them for cheap, usually without digital rights management (DRM) and with the bulk of the money raised either going to charity or straight to the developers. Different pricing schemes have emerged from the various bundles, but they all give you the opportunity to buy upwards of five games for a fraction of what even one of them would cost normally. And because the idea is still trendy, a bundle can get noticed simply by the fact that it’s a bundle, regardless of the quality or popularity of the contents.

Considering how popular the bundle approach has become in gaming, it’s not surprising  that the idea is now finding its way to other media. Enter Soundsupply. Soundsupply functions very much like the game bundles described above: gather 10 albums in a DRM-free format and sell them for cheap, eschewing price gimmicks in favor of a flat $15 charge. You don’t need to crunch the numbers to know that $15 for 10 albums is an incredible value. Of course, that’s assuming the music is worth your money at all.

One of the criticisms of the bundle model is that the quality can vary wildly within the bundle itself, but that worry is usually mitigated by the low cost of entry. It doesn’t really matter if there is a dud in the bunch when you only paid a few dollars for the lot. Granted, $15 is a decent chunk of change for some, but at $1.50 per album the real cost is time. And while time is certainly a treasured commodity these days, there are certainly bigger wastes of it then spending 45 minutes on a record it turns out you don’t love.

Past, Present, Future: Spin Magazine

Music magazines, like most traditional journalism outlets, have struggled to find a footing in recent years. As we have seen on a larger scale with daily newspapers, established brands are trying to figure out their place in the conversation: Rolling Stone slimmed down and shifted their focus to encompass the overarching culture rather than just music, and Paste ceased print publication in August 2010 to focus on a purely digital role. In years past, music magazines acted as gatekeeper, presenting readers with the weekly/monthly/quarterly dispatch as distilled by the opinions of the staff. But the Internet has democratized the dissemination of information, meaning that most people find out about a band’s tour dates the same instant the editors of Rolling Stone do.

Which raises the question: do we even need a curator anymore? With dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of websites and blogs relevant to your interests available at your fingertips every hour of the day, do we need a third party to parse through the deluge and tell us the important bits? Or can we now fill that roll on our own, creating a hyper-personalized experience that no single outlet could hope to create? The answer to the last question is obviously yes, but Spin creates a strong case for the relevance of print media with its newly-redesigned issue.

MP3: Black Dice – Pigs

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Black Dice, nearly three years to be exact. But a new album, Mr. Impossible, was finally announced earlier this week and with that news came “Pigs”, a delirious blast of disorienting noise that dissuades any notions that the band has lost their touch in the interim. If anything, “Pigs” is one of Black Dice’s more catchy, accessible songs since their “Cone Toaster” experiment; it’s abrasive and brash, but still makes room for melody and a head-nodding groove. If “Pigs” is any indication of Mr. Impossible as a whole, we could be looking forward to one of Black Dice’s best records, as well as one of 2012’s most enticing albums.

MP3 Black Dice – Pigs

Who's Worse of '11 – Kreayshawn vs. Loutallica

As you know, the vast majority of time at musicforants.com is focused on supporting good music, but we also acknowledge there’s some pretty abysmal artists out there sucking up the airwaves. The last couple years we’ve pitted what we consider to be the two of the most disgustingly bad artists against each other to decide once and for all who is the worst of the year. In 2009, you guys decided that the cringe-worthy Postal Service rip-off act, Owl City was the worst, beating out formidable competition from frat-boy white rapper, Asher Roth. Last year, it was the contest of artists with irritating punctuation marks, Ke$ha vs 3OH!3 (of which Ke$ha walked away handily with the grand prize as the worst).

This year we have obnoxious, gimmicky black culture-exploiting rapper / youtube sensation Kreayshawn. She’s like the female version of Vanilla Ice (but more annoying), with a voice that’s about as pleasant as nails on a chalkboard. Seriously, just listen to her try to freestyle and tell me you didn’t throw up in your mouth a little. On the other side of things, you have Loutallica, the absolutely unlistenable collaboration between legendary Velvet Underground frontman and the aging-not-so-gracefully metal band, Metallica. Chuck Klosterman put it best saying “It’s not really designed for people who like music. It sounds like what it is: an elderly misanthrope reciting paradoxical aphorisms over a collection of repetitive, adrenalized sludge licks”. Even the typically affable, Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast chimed in calling Lulu “the worst thing i’ve ever heard”.

As always it’s up to you to decide which one is worse. Put your votes in the comments (preferably with reasoning included). I’ll post the results on my twitter feed. If your eardrums can handle it, you can sample both artists below:

The View by Lou Reed & Metallica

***

And so I don’t leave you on a completely negative note, here’s 10 new bands that we loved in 2011:  Youth Lagoon, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Weeknd, Yuck, Shabazz Palaces, Lord Huron, Claims Casino, Nerves Junior, Caveman, Psychic Twin.

The Rest of the Best Albums of 2011 (so far)

Last Friday, Taylor posted his top albums of the year so far. As usual, he left a bunch of good records off the list and I’m here once again to correct his oversights. I didn’t include anything on Taylor’s honorable mention and near-misses list so that I could highlight more albums that he apparently hates. Or just likes less than the ones on his list. Whatever, the point is he was wrong. It’s OK, we all make mistakes. If you still think there is something we missed, feel free to leave a comment. Anyway, here we go again: The Rest of the Best Albums of 2011 (So Far)

Clams Casino – Instrumental Mixtape (March 1, self released)
Clams Casino’s beat tape hit me hard late one night and has stayed in rotation ever since. Anytime I find myself with a few minutes to kill while driving or walking, or just need a shot of stimulus in general, my iPod seems to find “Motivation” and “Numb” all on its own. Maybe I should be worried that my iPod is sentient and might try and kill me, but I would kind of be alright with that if it picks Clams Casino as the soundtrack to my doom.

MP3 Clams Casino – Motivation

Ford & Lopatin – Channel Pressure (June 7, Software)
This kind of pastiche of early 1980s trends is so thoroughly up my alley that I shouldn’t even be allowed to write about it; even the cover art evokes memories of watching The Running Man on Betamax at 2:00 a.m. But calling Joel Ford and Daniel Lopatin’s project “pastiche” does it a disservice; they have so completely absorbed their influences that Channel Pressure sounds like a just-discovered artifact from an era when the synthesizer seemed full of unlimited possibilities.

MP3 Ford & Lopatin – Emergency Room

Fucked Up – David Comes to Life (June 7, Matador)
Epic in every sense of the word, David Comes to Life seems intimidating; it comes with more literature and backstory than any record this year. But all reservations get thrown out by the end of “Queen of Hearts” as you are pummeled into surrender by the full-force attack that is Fucked Up. David Comes to Life is a monumental achievement and easily Fucked Up’s best work yet, with all of their seemingly disparate parts finally coalescing into a monolithic whole. And sure, we could talk about the album’s narrative and the entire idea of concept albums, but I would rather just shout along to “Serve Me Right” and “A Little Death”.

MP3 Fucked Up – A Little Death

Gang Gang Dance – Eye Contact (May 6, 4AD)
Much like David Comes to Life, Eye Contact finds an already great band hitting an incredible stride. Gang Gang Dance are constantly shifting positions throughout the album, bouncing between five genres in as many seconds. But records like Eye Contact prove just how arbitrary conversations about genre are; Gang Gang Dance simply absorb all sounds and spit out a frenzied amalgam that warps your headspace and leaves the room spinning.

MP3 Gang Gang Dance – MindKilla

Matthewdavid – Outmind (April 26, Brainfeeder)
Outmind is hard to get a grip on at first; the album bounces around the speakers and ends 30 minutes later without sounding like it really began. However, when it finally sinks in and the album begins to reveal itself, all those seemingly random blips form coherent, if nuanced, thoughts. Once you have a handle on the album it’s easy to get lost in this alternate reality Matthewdavid has created, the narcotic effect of Outmind making you flip the record over and over again.

MP3 Matthewdavid – International (Feat. Dogbite)

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx – We’re New Here (February 18, XL)
We’re New Here is easy to dismiss. Remix albums don’t exactly have a stellar pedigree, and Jamie Smith is more known for being the guy behind the other two people in the xx. But Smith proves to be an adept producer on his own; he shows a comprehensive understanding of the raw material of Gil Scott-Heron’s 2010 effort I’m New Here, completely re-contextualizing Scott-Heron’s work into something wildly different but equally riveting. There’s no way Smith could have known he would be participating in Scott-Heron’s final release before his death, which makes the accidental elegy “My Cloud” all the more poignant.

MP3 Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx – My Cloud

Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges (February 21, Constellation)
Colin Stetson has achieved an incredible feat with New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges: he crafted a fascinating, exciting, demanding and ultimately thrilling album, made almost entirely with a single instrument. Actually, Stetson’s saxophone ceases to be an instrument once he starts to play, it becomes an extension of his body and mind which seems to just erupt from him. The album can be intense at times, but without that extreme tension you wouldn’t have the rapturous release when everything finally breaks.

MP3 Colin Stetson – Judges

The Weeknd – House of Balloons (March 20, self released)
The Weeknd spawned fully formed earlier this year, fresh from some void where debauchery and indulgence run rampant. Eschewing the normal R&B tropes, House of Balloons not only embraces its depravity, it revels in it. These are bad people doing terrible things without regard for anything or anyone. It would all be revolting if the songs weren’t so damn great. Somehow the Weeknd turns these dark, lecherous tales into songs that simultaneously move your feet and churn your stomach.

MP3 The Weeknd – Wicked Games

Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting (March 29, Paper Bag)
It took me more than a month to finally warm to Shapeshifting, but it eventually seduced me enough to find a spot in my regular rotation. The songs here are subtle, taking their time to exhibit their full potential, but they are quite intoxicating when they finally do. There are more immediate offerings, like “Peripheral Visionaries and “Cover Your Tracks”, but the real treat comes in taking the album as a whole, letting its hypnotic effect envelop you.

MP3 Young Galaxy – Peripheral Visionaries

Yuck – Yuck (February 15, Fat Possum)

Taken individually, Yuck’s forebears are not exactly my thing; bands like Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., and Superchunk never did much for me. But apparently if you mash them all together until each part is nearly indistinguishable from the next, I am all about it. But to say that Yuck is indebted to the past does the album a disservice. The band draws on those influences and turns them into something wholly their own, sounding like everything and nothing you’ve heard before.

MP3 Yuck – Georgia

Near Misses/Honorable Mentions:
All Tiny Creature – Harbors
Julianna Barwick – The Magic Place
Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me

Albums I haven’t heard yet, but might have been on this list if I had:
Austra – Feel It Break
The Caretaker – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World
Frank Fairfield – Out on the Open West
John Maus – We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves
Marissa Nadler – Marissa Nadler
Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread

Video: NewVillager – Lighthouse

Here’s a video that I’ve been meaning to post for a while. The song is by Brooklyn-via-San Francisco duo NewVillager, which our very own, Cheryse spotlighted here two years ago, way before they started blowing up the blogosphere / “killing it” at SXSW. The video is skillfully directed by Ben Dickinson, who you may know from his work with The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem. The jubilant, exceedingly catchy track is bolstered by this stylish, very colorful clip that features some of the most imaginative (and resourceful) costumes that I’ve seen in a good while. Check it out above and grab the MP3 below.

MP3 NewVillager – Lighthouse

NewVillager’s debut album will be out sometime in 2011 on IAMSOUND Records.

Jason Lytle: Merry X-Mas 2009

One of the arguments the ladyfriend and I get in every year is over Christmas music. She prefers a mix of traditional (Sinatra) and modern (Mariah Carey) music, while I like non-traditional tunes (Where Will You Be On Christmas Day?) and new takes on the music of the season (Sufjan Stevens). We usually settle on A Charlie Brown Christmas, because Vince Guaraldi is just a boss dude.*

And now former Grandaddy frontman and current solo wizard Jason Lytle has given us a whole new batch of music to fight over. Earlier this week, Lytle released Merry X-Mas 2009, a collection of solo piano improvisations he recorded at home in his living room. While they aren’t necessarily Christmas songs, or even based on Christmas songs, they get the mood just right and make a good soundtrack for the season. It’s not hard to imagine “Bird Feeder Soap Opera Plot” playing in the background of a family gathering or “Wild Animals Slowly Approaching the Lovely Country Funeral” accompanying a drive through the lights of nearby neighborhoods. However, nothing about the album captures the spirit of Christmas as much as the fact that Lytle is giving it away for free right over here. I encourage all of you to zip over and download it now, if only so you can still enjoy the season without having to hear “O Holy Night” for the thousandth time.

MP3 Jason Lytle – Wild Animals Slowly Approaching the Lovely Country Funeral

*Side note: This year I’m trying to get her into A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Murder aside, that guy can make a record.