ohmygodohmygodohmygod!!

I truly never thought Grinderman would put out another album, and *gasp* tour in my town, but both are happening!

For the uninitiated, how to describe Grinderman... It's Nick Cave and his buddies; four very successful rockers who've decided to throw together a stripped down sound of garage rock, with songs about what it's like to be an aging man, the deliciousness of women, and a whole bunch of other hedonistic shit.

Their new video may explain the awesomeness of their sound. Not only do you get to hear the great new single, but you also get a visual representation of their awesomeness:

Lightning!
Statue crying blood!
Romans slow motion dancing in space!
Hot chick naked in bathtub!
Wolf howling at a blood red moon!
Boobies!
Weird threatening axe man and wolf man!
Band members shooting AK’s and wearing skull mask!
Orange cheerleader in space!
Super sexy thumb sucking!
Band members as deities!
Hip thrust energy blast!
Roman eye lasers!
Random 70’s monsters!
Hot chick with gun!
Fat naked masked dude with an axe!
Random soldier and cop in weird locations!
Band member dancing in boxers under blue light!
Bulging eyes!
Roman smacking an asteroid into the Earth!
Dog conducting orchestra!
Naked ass of band member Roman!
Car crashes caused by laser beams!
Roman eye lasers on glaciers causing worldwide flooding!
All sorts of characters materializing out of black smoke!
Roman fart causing a nuclear blast!
Cockroaches!
Weird pile of hair sneaking up on hot chick!
Orange cheerleader naked!
Roman wearing leopard print boxer briefs!
Exploding 90’s computer monitor!

Yeah, that's what they sound like. Have a watch and listen:

Not Sure If This is a Recommendation, or Just Commentary

I have to say, I have a touch and go relationship with Massive Attack. Basically, I don’t like them much, unless someone kickass is singing on a particular track. Even those, I hate at first, until I find them stuck in my head for days.

This is the beautiful and haunting case with Flat of the Blade, off the new album Heligoland. Absent the vocals, it’s a moderately creepy track of electronica, but with Guy Garvey of Elbow adding the downright disturbing and tortured vocals, it becomes something more. Great song!

Plug In, Baby

I'm told I'm crazy for having done this, but I bought tickets to see Muse at Wembley Stadium in September.

No, I have no idea how I'm going to afford a trip to London, but I at least wanted the option. I can always sell the tickets later if I have to, but I need a chance to see these guys in their home environment:

A Lyrical Epiphany

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of the band The National. If you don't know of them, you should - they have a sound that just smacks with earnestness and rhythms you just can't help but hum to yourself for the rest of the day.

Even more, I love The National because their lead singer, Matt Berninger, is one of the most brilliant lyricists I've come across in the past few years. His lyrics are pure poetry. And you know how much I'm into song lyrics.

I've long been a fan of the song "Available" by The National, off of their album Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. I had thought it was about a guy telling his woman she'd screwed up so badly in that their relationship was over. Thus, the main line of the chorus, "You just made yourself available" was, to me, the ultimate breakup line. Hooray righteous fury!

But, I was reading the lyrics the other day, and I realize I'm completely wrong. It makes sense, I guess - Berninger's lyrics are NEVER about the righteous position in a relationship. They're about the damage and insecurities.

Which is how I came to my new realization about "Available" - it's about a girl constantly making herself available for sex with a guy. That guy, on the other hand, will always accept the sex, but never give anything more, no matter how desparately she wants him. The lyrics are his disgusted comments to her about how pathetic she is. "You just made yourself available." As in, "You did this knowing full well it would end badly for you."

So intense. Take that breakup shit and shove it. This scenario is so much more brilliant. Love it!

Have a listen and follow along:



The National - Available

Did you clean yourself
for me last night
put the water out and donned a marigold
in your hair to bring me here
and tie one on you

did you dress me down and liquor me up
to make me last for the minute
when the red comes over you
like it does when you're filled with love
or whatever you call it

do you feel alone when I'm in my head
while you wait for me
to take my breath
do you still feel clean
when the only dirt is the dirt I left
how can you blame yourself
when I did everything I wanted to

you just made yourself available
you just made yourself available

why did you dress me down
and liquor me up?

Heir to the Throne

A good friend recently hypothesized that Jack White is the "Heir to the Throne." I'd never really thought about it before, but I think she's right.

Open To Interpretation - Round 2

I've found a new song with super cool lyrics that I love, and unlike Hold Onto Yourself by Nick Cave, I have no idea what these mean.

The song is called Havoc In Heaven, by Jesca Hoop, the super-talented young lady who I saw open for Elbow at the 6th &I Synagogue in D.C. this March. Her debut album, Kismet, is fantastic, and worth picking up.

So, help me out here - drop some comments and tell me what you think this song is about.

Havoc In Heaven

red ribbon on which we ride
carry us over horizon as the sun setting
night puts on a phantom cloak
sing violet light and evoke
the protection that violet evokes

fasten your focus on your soul
cause is your fruit and flowers on red ribbon
swift justice comes delivery white bone demon

ohhhh ohhhh begun the havoc in heaven
ohhhh ohhhh begun the havoc in heaven

deep deep in the green sea
there is a weapon for me
a pin that is fixing the sea
a pillar of gold shiny and if i can pull it free
the cudgel is coming with me

fasten heave ho pillar of gold
runs through the deepest darkest stone
cudgel undone weighing one ton
bring on your force white bone demon

ohhhh ohhhh begun the havoc in heaven
ohhhh ohhhh begun the havoc in heaven

don't believe your eyes
when the maiden does arrive
you fool she is the enemy
and do not trust the guise of a woman old and wise
for truly she is the white bone demon

dance macaques round the fire
warrior drum, banshee cryer
call to them visions of her pyre
fuelled by the demons throne
we shall subdue her to bone
and ashes to ashes her home

fasten your focus on your soul
cause is your fruit and flowers home
and in one blow
i smite down my foe
and ashes to ashes welcome home

ohhhh ohhhh begun the havoc in heaven
ohhhh ohhhh begun the havoc in heaven...

Rachael is Love

So I was getting ready for the She Wants Revenge concert tomorrow night, and I watched one of their two latest videos on YouTube:

WATCH IT HERE
(Damned Universal and their foiling my embedding!!)

Aside from the fact that I LOVE videos by She Wants Revenge, I have a special place in my heart for this one, because I think it's a darkly stylized version of one of my favorite episodes from Tales From the Crypt, Loved to Death. Fuck, Tales From the Crypt was awesome, even when it was cheesy as hell. Check it out:

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Oh, CryptKeeper, where would I be without you in my life?

And for dessert...
Another SWR video straight out of the same genre, which teaches another important lesson: Don't start an orgy you can't keep control of.

Thank You FIFA 2008

So, I'm addicted to FIFA 2008. More than any video game in a long time, I could play this thing for hours.

Also, I could rifle through the extensive menus for hours, just to listen to its kickass soundtrack of tunes from around the world.

My current favorite is Monster by The Automatic. Have a listen (from their website, http://www.theautomatic.co.uk/):

~MONSTER - THE AUTOMATIC~

Open to Interpretation

Well, I heard from a number of you about the Nick Cave song, Hold On To Yourself, in my previous post. Interestingly no one thought of the same meaning that I did. Also interestingly, I haven't heard the same interpretation twice.

Here are some of my favorites, (as in, I think it is a reasonable interpretation):
--A dead man determined to come back to life
--A woman masturbating while her man is far away
--A man being tormented by a witch or evil female spirit

Nonetheless, my interpretation was totally different. Refer to the lyrics, below:

VERSE 1: He's alone and upset, questioning God's motives, and thinking that other perceptions of misery have nothing on his.

VERSE 2: He remembers making love with his woman. She was beautiful and she loved him.

VERSE 3: In a seedy town (or part of town), late at night, some guys drinking and driving around come upon her, hitting her and killing her before she can react. Pople lay flowers at the secene.

VERSE 4: He's haunted by the loss of her. He can barely sleep, and even then he dreams of her being whisked to the afterlife.

VERSE 5: He feels totally alone, and he has become angry at God. He's disillusioned at the meaning of anything.

CHORUS: Someday, he'll "come back" to her. He wishes he could now, but eventually, he will, and as soon as he enters the afterlife, he'll find her and hold her again.

Just my take. Like I said, it hit me as soon as I heard it. To me, this song is full of a terrible beauty - the strength of wonderful love in he most horrendous circumstances.

Some people tell me I'm no softie.

Hold On to Yourself

Oh man, Nick Cave's lyrical genius stuns me yet again. What scares me is that I actually get this without even thinking about it:

I’m so far away from you
I’m pacing up and down my room
Does Jesus only love a man who loses?
I turn on the radio
There’s some cat on the saxophone
Laying down a litany of excuses

There’s madhouse longing in my baby’s eyes
She rubs a lamp between her thighs
And hopes the genie comes out singing
And she lives in some forgotten song
And moves like she is zombie-strong
Breathes steady as the pendulum keeps swinging

You better hold on to yourself

Well, cities rust and fall to ruin
Factories close and cars go cruising
In and around the borders of her vision
She says oh woah woah woah
As Jesus makes the flowers grow
All around the scene of her collision

Oh you know, yes I would
I would hold on to yourself

In the middle of the night
I try my best to chase outside
The phantoms and the ghosts and the fairy-girls
On 1001 nights like this
She mutters open sesame and Ali Baba and his forty thieves
Launch her off the face of the world

Well, you know
One day, I’ll come back
And I’ll hold on to yourself

Babe, I’m 1000 miles away
And I just don’t know what to say
‘Cause Jesus only loves a man who bruises
But darling we can clearly see
It’s all life and fire and lunacy
And excuses and excuses and excuses

Well, you know if I could I would
Yeah, I would lie right down
And I’d hold on to yourself
Yeah, I would lie right down
And I would hold on to yourself

One day I’ll come back to you
And I’ll hold on to yourself
Yeah, I’m gonna come back
Gonna lie down
And I’ll hold on to yourself

Feel free to listen on my muxtape (on the right). Tell me what you think it means in the comments section. I'll comment later - I want to see if it says to you what it says to me.

Very Cool

Thanks to Rob over at Murder By Baltimore for introducing me to Muxtape - an online mixtape service. As soon as I saw this I rushed to try it out.

Here is the near-instantaneous result.

I'll be updating from time to time and proably put a permanent link to my Muxtape in the sidebar. Happy listening.

Pub?

Two weeks, and I can get the new Elbow album, Seldom Seen Kid.

Will I be willing to wait until it comes out in the U.S., or will I buy the import from the U.K. for $36? Sadly, I don't think I can avoid the latter.

About two months ago, my fevered anticipation began with a clip of a great new song on their website. Check it out.

Now, as a result of periodic YouTubing, I find they've released their first video and single, Grounds For Divorce. It's a fantastic thumping anthem of a man who spends his life in the local pub, instead of with his wife and son. Awesome.

I'm not sure why Guy Garvey pounds his mug on the table throughout the song, but I love it. Maybe it's a nod to the Masons, who pound their mugs down as a means of hearkening to the sound of cannon fire. Or perhaps it's an expression of anger at himself for drinking his life into ruin.

I know I've wanted to slam my mug down for both reasons. Do I need much more excuse?



Well, consider my pants peed. I'm headed to Amazon.

Uncertainty Fails as Heaven Surrounds

Nice

The Whe Whole Album/Video:

They've also broken it up track, if you look at the bottom.


An Alternate Take of Reckoner:

This Halloween, I Went as a Music Critic

Have you ever had an acquaintance go out of his way and do something really meaningful for you, making you realize that he's really a friend? OK, that's a little deep, but that's how I feel about The Bravery, who I saw play a Halloween show last night.

I've known and sort of liked The Bravery ever since I heard their ultra-catchy An Honest Mistake a few years ago. I bought their sophomore CD almost as an afterthought. I listen to them at times, like when they pop up on shuffle on my MP3 player. But I've never been into them or thought of them much.

My girlfriend recently became enamored with The Bravery when they landed on her IPod from my computer. So, last night, at her suggestion, we saw them play a Halloween show at the 9:30 Club in DC.

I hadn't really expected much, but it was a fucking blast.

There are many things that stand out about the show, and the costume contest at the end was not least among them (Lieutenant Dangle from Reno 911! won). Many in the crowd, of course, donned various costumes, from the shamelessly slutty to the highly inventive. I was also quite impressed with the guy who dressed as an IPod playing The Bravery - to the Bravery concert.


The Bravery came out in full costume. Most notably, their bass player played almost the entire show (minus the encore) wearing a 3-foot horse head with white top hat. It was utterly disturbing and fantastic. The keyboard player wore one of those lame skeleton costumes a la The Karate Kid.

Within minutes of the opening, I came across something I had never realized before - The Bravery rocks. I don't mean that in the sense of "The Bravery is the most talented band I've ever seen," but I do mean it in the sense that their songs are good, their stage presence is wonderful, and their show was just, well, really damned fun.

Other minor observations that led to this conclusion: The Bravery's songs have good backup harmony vocals that add a lot of depth to their music. Moreover, those backup vocals, I think, are secretly the lead vocals - they're the part the crowd sings along with.

Also, the lead singer graced us with something to which I feel entitled but never receive - interaction with the crowd. I'm pretty sure he told us what every one of their songs is about.

So, this band that was an acquaintence is now a good friend. The Bravery has proven to me that they deserve more rotation on the MP3 player. If nothing else, I can listen and think back to this show. It was a really good concert, and the crazy Halloween shenanigans only made it more fun.

Plugging Good Music Without Shame

I feel no shame in plugging the new album Fears & Accusations by two talented musicians, Brent Bowman and Bryan Lisa. While many musicians have talent, it doesn't mean a thing unless they can put together a tight, impressive product. But, these guys have done just that.

Before its release, I had heard that I should expect a brooding, acoustic album inspired by the likes of Iron & Wine, Bob Dylan, and Tom Waits. However, upon my first listen, I realized Bowman and Lisa have created something more. These songs could easily be the calm artful tune in the middle of the kickass album of any of your favorite rockers, like Snow Patrol, Jet, or the Foo Fighters.

Opening with the catchy waiting, the album welcomes you into a genre of music as difficult to describe as Bowman and Lisa have framed it on their MySpace page: "your basic acoustic/alternative/emo/folk/blues/alt-country/rock band."

Bowman and Lisa continue with a dozen more tracks that might at first seem to run around high-five'ing as many influences as possible - Chris Isaak, Waits, B.B. King, Radiohead, and Townes Van Zandt, to name just a few - but, in the end, they take some great sounds from these genres and influences, and put them together to create something excitingly new and yet comfortably familiar.

The haunting exhuming you recounts the mixed emotions of a past relationship that Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon would know well, while on looking back, Bowman channels powerful crooning similar to the Chris Martin warhead of Coldplay's musical arsenal. Bowman, however, infuses it with a strength and grit that Martin could never pull off, making for an emotionally stirring ballad.

Other tracks on the album show Bowman and Lisa's lighter side, with the fun romp, i'm the man, showcasing Bowman's guitar talent and successfully trashing every controlling golddigger ever to think she could latch her hands into a musician, while the blues-infused something in our skies will have even the most mainstream-pop listening whiners stomping their feet.

While the album heads out with increasingly dark tunes, such as the final destructive ballad of a man using prostitutes to dream of his lost love, it reminds me that beneath all the bubblegum pop out there, good musicians are still making good music.

I hesitate any time I think of plugging a certain artist. There are simply too many people out there endorsing absolute crap for all the wrong reasons. So, I thought hard about whether to do so for these guys, but the fact is that I think you'll like their album. It's simply good music, and you'll be humming these songs to yourself long after the closing notes.



Buy Fears & Accusations

'Tis the Creepy Season

With the approach of Halloween, I got to thinking this morning about the video for "Tear You Apart" by She Wants Revenge. I don't know exactly why, but it makes me think of old horror movies with werewolves and vampires.



I love those scary fall nights.

Maybe Not Brilliant, But Definitely Beautiful

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, I'v been reminded of a weird, beautiful quirk of musical art. A few years back, Coldplay had a thoughtful little video for their song, The Scientist, where the protagonist, Chris Martin, journeys backward, while singing forward, to the moments preceding a car crash:



When played in reverse, it is visually more sensical (despite no explanation in either as to why he walked away from the crash). But the resulting song - in reverse - is as hauntingly beautiful as the the original:



Coldplay is a brilliant live band - it's a small dream of mine to see them play The Scientist forward, and the segue right into doing it backward. Chris Martin can sing the nonsense to make it sound like the backward version, or make up lyrics that sound like the backward vocals - I'll let them surprise me.

The Budos Rise Again

If you haven't heard of The Budos Band, I'll forgive you.

But if you read this, listen, and don't go out and buy a Budos Band record, I'll question your judgment.

Supported by Brooklyn-Based indie label, Daptone Records, The Budos Band (along with other great talent from that label) are proving that the sounds of funk, jazz, and afro-beat are far from dead.

Their first album, self-titled, opened with the killer track, Up From the South, and explored these sounds with such skill and grace, they make you wonder why this stuff isn't still in the forefront of mainstream music today.

With their upcoming release, The Budos Band II, it looks like these guys are going to prove all the more how the jazz band kids from your high school are actually much cooler than you. Head over to their MySpace page to check them out.

The first track from the new album, Budos Rising will, like all other Budos songs, have you bobbing your head and aching for some outdoor summetime concert party (where they're playing, of course), with a drink in your hand, dancing with a scantily clad gorgeous member of the opposite sex.

To put it another way, as the folks at Audiversity did, "you almost want to make a movie inspired by this soundtrack because it will inevitably be one badasssss film."

All hail the return of the Budos Band, August 7.

I Said Yes to the Mighty Smashing Pumpkins

I'm a lucky bastard. I had the opportunity to see the Smashing Pumpkins at their CD release party at the 9:30 Club in Washington this Tuesday.

Reviews for both the new album, Zeitgeist, and the show have not been too good. I'm wondering about the critics' expectations, though. Mostly, I've read that the major problem is that Billy Corgan & Co. haven't changed much even after reforming with two new members.

OK, so let me figure this out. The Smashing Pumpkins of today sounds too much like the Smashing Pumpkins we loved 10 years ago?

I'll do some math, here: (a) we liked Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie, (b) Zeitgeist sounds like both. (a) squared + (b) squared = only a jackass would try to be so high-handed as to be disappointed in a new album of a sound they love.

OK, sorry. Got a little frustrated, there. Really, though, the Smashing Pumpkins are flawed, like all great musicians. But that doesn't change that they're great. In the words of a friend of mine, Zeitgeist is "a tad overindulgent. Although, when have the pumpkins not been overindulgent?"

Exactly. Remember "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans"? Remember "Silverfuck"? Zeitgeist has songs like that. But it also has rockers like "Zero" and "Hummer."

In short, you take the Smashing Pumpkins for what they are - good and bad. And then, you let them rock you. They rocked us at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday night.

Check out "Hummer," from the show:


Also, they opened with the new oh-so-Pumpkins 9-minute-guitar-bass-and-drum orgy, "United States." Check it out.