Title: Thou Shalt Always Kill

Date: February 2, 2008

Download audio file (Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill.mp3)

While the massive linkage of the internet can be a huge time-suck, it also has its benefits. For example, a comment thread on this article from proggit led me to today’s song of the day. Featuring an awesome videogame-y backing track and an MC with a righteous-looking beard, “Thou Shalt Always Kill” provides funny and sage advice to people like me: indie music snobs.

Thou shalt not stop liking a band just because they become popular…thou shalt not put musicians or recording artists on ridiculous pedestals, no matter how great they are or were.

He then goes on to put these bands in their place:

The Beatles - Were just a band.
Led Zepplin - Just a band.
The Beach Boys - Just a band.
The Sex Pistols - Just a band.
The Clash - Just a band.
Crass - Just a band.
Minor Threat - Just a band.
The Cure - Just a band.
The Smiths - Just a band.
Nirvana - Just a band.
The Pixies - Just a band.
Oasis - Just a band.
Radiohead - Just a band.
Bloc Party - Just a band.
The Arctic Monkeys - Just a band.
The next big thing - JUST A BAND.

Maybe true, but sometimes all it takes to change the world is just one man — not even a full band.
The music video:

Download audio file (Radiohead - Like Spinning Plates Reversed.mp3)

That’s what the band actually played and Thom Yorke actually sang. He had to learn these reversed lyrics so that when the recording is reversed, it becomes English again (along with a seriously cool backing track).

Even more fascinating is Kid 17. People discovered (who knows how) that 2 copies of Kid A played 17 seconds apart produces beautiful harmonies and cool effects:

Download audio file (Radiohead - Morning Bell With Sync.mp3)

After this discovery, there was much speculation over whether this was planned or not, and while Radiohead didn’t admit to it, they certainly didn’t deny it.

Well it appears that they must have planned it, given recent events. Puddlegum announced that it had found evidence of a “TENspiracy” involving In Rainbows:

Ten years after OK Computer shocked the world, Radiohead released In Rainbows on October 10 (10/10). Though no one was expecting the album to be released until 2008, Radiohead announced In Rainbows just ten days in advance. In Rainbows, which consists of ten letters, has ten tracks, and would be downloadable from a rumored ten servers.

Yes, very suspicious. But what does it all mean? Puddlegum’s guess:

We have come to believe that OK Computer and In Rainbows were meant to complement each other. During the writing and recording process of OK Computer, Radiohead used the working title of Zeros and Ones. If OK Computer is represented by 01, and In Rainbows is represented by 10, then we have 01 and 10. In binary code 01 and 10 complement each other.

However, the connections to OK Computer are much weaker than the evidence suggesting a “TENspiracy”, and I think I’ve found a much stronger connection to the number 10:

Download audio file (Radiohead - 15 Step With Sync.mp3)

Yes, that’s 2 copies of the opening track, “15 Step,” played with a 10 second lag. Thom Yorke in harmony with Thom Yorke. And it’s not just on the opener; the entire album works with this 10 second lag. Here’s the closer, “Videotape”:

Download audio file (Radiohead - Videotape With Sync.mp3)

Simply stunning. To create music that’s endlessly listenable is hard enough as it is. To create it so that it can also be heard with itself? Mind-blowing.

And what about the proposed connection to OK Computer? Perhaps. There are certainly some alluring lyrical references between the two, as well as some related musical content. But I think vague connections would not have elicited the following response from “someone associated with Thom Yorke”:

“The meaning behind all of this is right in front of our faces, we’re just overlooking it. [Thom] has been expecting an article much like this one for a couple of years, as have I. But I’m willing to wager he’ll have fun waiting a few more. On the other hand, it seems to annoy him that no one ‘gets it’ yet, given the mountain of clues.”

Well I think this might be part of the thing that Thom has been waiting for people to “get”:

Download audio file (Radiohead - Climbing Up The Walls With Sync.mp3)

It’s “Climbing Up The Walls” with the same 10 second sync! And again, it works with many other songs (”Subterranean Homesick Alien”, “Airbag”). But this is where I can climb no further: the “TENspiracy” breaks down on some songs (”Karma Police”, “Paranoid Android”), which don’t seem to work at all, no matter what the sync.

So have we finally, after 10 years, discovered Radiohead’s true intentions? I don’t know–but I’d be thrilled if we haven’t. Imagine rediscovering Radiohead classics in 10 years with more such revelations! For now though, I’m more than satisfied with my two new Radiohead albums: In Rainbows and In Rainbows.

Venue: Webster Hall, NYC, NY

Date: October 18, 2007

This is a public sevice announcement. Do not, under any circumstances, go to see UNKLE live. No matter how much the temptation of the Pitchfork 9.8 Psyence Fiction review attracts you, realize that the 9.8 belongs more to the arrogant but incredibly talented DJ Shadow than the arrogant but incredibly annoying douche James Lavelle. Not wanting to spend any more time than is absolute necessary to convey the massive shitfest that this concert was, let me resort to that great destroyer of deep thought and convincing argument: the bulleted list.

• Most of War Stories is more awful to listen to than the horrors of real war stories.
• The singer was so off-key on most songs that I was praying for the soundsystem to spontaneously combust, preferably in a massive fireball that consumed everyone on stage.
• The only old (read: good) songs they played were so horribly butchered that it would have been far more humane to simply play the studio version of them and just STFU.
• Lavelle’s frequent exhortations to the crowd for clapping along with the songs were only marginally less pitiful than his shit-faced arrogant hipster attitude and reminder that this was his first ever show in NY and that too with a brand new band (whose singer shouted “this is my very first gig!!!” with all the pride of a middle school band student).
• Fuck it, I can’t even go on in list form…it’s too painful.

Venue: Bowery Ballroom, NYC, NY

Date: October 6, 2007

The supposedly time-traveling Caribou will certainly have noticed one thing on their trip through the past playing in the present: the wonders of numbers. While frontman Dan Snaith, with his Ph. D. in Mathematics from London’s Imperial College has undoubtedly ceased to care about such mundane things as numbers when the infinite varieties of vector bundles are so much more fascinating, he must admit that Pitchfork’s 8.3 review and a corresponding overall metascore of 83 have pulled in a much larger crowd than their last stint opening for Super Furry Animals.

Prepared for the volume this time, I spent the concert adjusting my earplugs continuously, to find the right balance between being carried away by the furious drum solos of the dual drummers on stage with the hope of still being able to hear sounds under 50 dB in the not-so-distance future. While there was no shortage of sonic assaults of pretty melodies or trippy visuals, the overall effect was somehow not as devastating as last time. Still, I’m happy for Snaith and co.: they’ve earned this crowd.

Venue: Maxwell’s, Hoboken NJ

Date: October 3, 2007

Working in the field of vision and pattern recognition has its downsides. I start to see connections between bands that often have very little in common. Thus, by hair color I group the Brunettes with Blonde Redhead; while by band make-up and use of clarinet I group them instead with Pretty Girls Make Graves; and by association with their last dual-drum performance, I group them with the Go! Team. Yet none of these are really apt comparisons because unfortunately the Brunettes lack most what distinguishes the other bands I mentioned: the infectious energy that I had (perhaps mistakenly) remembered from their last show. Equally far from the playfulness of the Go! Team as well as the manic aggressiveness of Pretty Girls, the Brunettes sounded like the epitome of compromise: “let’s have a little of this and a little of that, but not too much, or we might lose some fans or accidentally expose some of our real-life marriage or start crying”. And so it was fun, and I almost felt touched at times, and almost like dancing at others, but almost is all it ever came to. And that’s not quite good enough.

Venue: Bowery Ballroom, NYC, NY

Date: September 26, 2007

Yet another brilliant band that I was lucky enough to have witnessed at that amazing Katrina Benefit so many years ago, the Akron/Family were both similar and very different from my hazy memories of that night. Similar in their hug-your-fellow-man-and-sing-along-with-us hippie-esque warm-spiritedness and flashes of freak-folkish electric and rhythmic audio assaults, but dissimilar in physical appearance and number (7 > 4!), the details didn’t really matter. The music did, and does, for this is an inventive band with a lot of soul and even more energy than I remembered. The tribal drums are what most struck me this time, and again I came away with the weird image of a religious cult singing the praises of the Almighty in tongues, decrying nothing but filled only with love for all and a strong curiosity about the infinite possibilities in the world for all sorts of ideas and sounds and people that is notable absent in most other religious groups. Long live the cult of the family!

Venue: Highline Ballroom, NYC, NY

Date: August 24, 2007

After 7 long years, in which I’d left the crowded halls of East for the crowded classes of Tech and finally for the crowded streets of NY, the Squirrel Nut Zippers were back. If not with a new album, then at least a live show which could rock the socks off a deaf-mute man wearing boots.

But first there were fireworks — or rather, the Firecracker Jazz Band, a fantastic little group out of Asheville, NC. Playing mostly uptempo early jazz/ragtime pieces, the band had a set of wonderful musicians and interesting characters — or so I started imagining. First, there were the two movie stars in the band: Jude Law & Steve Buscemi.

While we had seen Law’s sax-playing abilities in the Talented Mr. Ripley, he seemed better suited on the drums here. His arrogant attitude in many films seemed particularly fitting with his intense antics on the drumset here (combining in equal parts the flamboyant dramatisms of Brian Viglione and the ridiculous expressions of the drummer from the Icy Demons). Buscemi, for his part, was a more than able pianist, hammering out jaunty vaudeville-style tunes during his solos; it was easy to believe we had been transported to the roaring 20s again, what with the classy music and the even classier suits sported by many members of the band.

And then the shocking revelation: Buscemi and Law, brothers! Astounding! Never could I have pictured such different actors to be linked by blood, let alone as intimate a relationship as brotherhood. Although I must admit that on stage with their fedora hats and smart-looking vest-suits, one could certainly see the similarity.

My attention shifted next to the trombonist, an old cool dude who after every song would throw up his right fist, Breakfast Club style (or is it Viva La Revolucion! style?).

He seemed to keep it up a few beats too long to make it seem natural. Each time, he looked expectantly upon the crown until eventually audience members started doing it as well, satisfying him.

But definitely the biggest surprise was the singer, Caroline Pond, a lovely southern belle (incidentally, one of the many disappointments of Tech was the severe lack of southern belles there) — with a low cut red gown and constant dancing on stage, it was hard to miss her. And when she opened her mouth to sing, it was impossible to forget her voice: it was a cross between a whining wife and a sexy seductress that hooked me right away (yes. I really meant to type “whining wife”, and no, it’s not a bad thing in this case). So unreal was it that I had a similar sort of eye-ear disconnect as I had for Death Vessel (although with much more sight-sound attractiveness on both counts).

When the Zippers came on, I was surprised to see a wild-looking Jimbo Mathus and a very stylist bassist. Somehow I pictured…I don’t know what, but probably someone younger and more “normal” looking. But as soon as Jimbo started singing, it became immediately clear that yes, he was indeed the guy singing on the albums. In contrast, Katherine Whalen looked younger and more sedate than I imagined, but again her singing immediately confirmed her as Mathus’s partner-in-crime.

To my delight, their show was structured much more like a jazz set — extended songs with solos and improvisation. Even the singing parts were treated more like just another instrument: not firing all the time but with full spotlights on them when they were. The strong musicianship of all involved constantly reminded me of why I fell in love with them in the first place, and I wasn’t the only one. People were jumping all around us. One girl next to me was there with her parents, and she suddenly started swing-dancing with her dad. A small circle formed around them, and the band only played with more enthusiasm on noticing it.

With 4 full-length discs and a handful of odds and ends, it would have been too much to ask for all my favorites to have been played, but with the notable exception of “Anything But Love,” I was obliged with all my other (mental) requests. And while every song was played at least as well as on the album (with several standouts), “La Grippe” was particularly intense. As my very first Zippers song, it holds a special place in my heart, and their 10 minute version had such a strong Moroccan feel that just made it incredibly more authentic.

So it was with great reluctance that the audience let the combined two bands leave after their joint encore. Even as the song “It’s Over” started, people were already shouting requests for the band to stay, to say it’s not so. Here’s hoping that their first tour in 7 years is just the beginning of a return to form for the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Venue: McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

Date: August 5, 2007

Yet one more thing to love about New York: free concerts in the summer. And not free-because-we’re-inviting-no-name-and-no-talent-bands-free, we’re talking awesome groups like Camera Obscura, Battles, and Blonde Redhead. So you’d think that me being a

• Huge music fan, and
• Poor grad student,

I’d have made liberal use of these opportunities in my 2 years here. But alas, as the fates would have it, I’d been deprived this pleasure until today. Having just seen Blonde Redhead a few months ago, I was a little wary about seeing them again (as past experience has shown), and that too in a big venue. But hey, it’s for free, so what have I got to lose, right?

Time, as it turns out. Arriving there a little over 1 hour before they’re supposed to start (mostly because Tim didn’t want to be late), I was prepared for a bit of standing around (although very thankful that I’d have great company to talk to, for once), and I was right — sort of. The line around the place was ridiculous. Wrapped twice around the front, and circling all the way around the back as well, we queued up for the long haul. At least this gave Rob more time to get down here. At first, the line seemed to move fairly steadily (the girl in front of us constantly reassuring her friends that we’d be inside “in like 10 minutes, tops”).

After several of her “10 minutes” had passed, we’d reached the front — only two more passes and we’d be in. It was at this point that Rob called, telling us that the G train service had been cancelled and thus he wouldn’t make it. Too bad…for us. We sweated for another several “10 minutes,” now getting annoyed as BR went on stage and started rocking. When we were finally a real 10 minutes away from getting in, a guy comes out of the entrance warning everyone that the pool was full and they were only letting 1 person in for every 1 that left. What. The. Fuck.

20 minutes later, we did finally get in, although BR’s set was already half over. And I was even more upset to discover that a fifth of the place was empty, roped off (for dodgeball earlier in the day, Tim informed me). It wasn’t really blocked off though, for some people were still standing in it. So why, FFS, were they only letting people in at a trickle? What exactly did I miss half of BR’s set for?

Having read so far, you’re probably wondering how the show was; was it worth all the wait?

Hell yes.

He was a very nice man to talk to, and I remember feeling completely overwhelmed when I first started talking to him. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I think it went something like this:

“Oh my god I’m your biggest fan and I can’t believe that…wow it’s really you, and I’m finally getting to meet you. I don’t even know where to begin oh I have so much to tell you and ask you and well really mostly just be able to thank you for writing such incredible music over the past half-century oh and to be still writing such magnificent pieces and soundtracks to movies (oh I was just watching The Illusionist, you know, with Ed Norton, oh of course you know what I mean is that I saw that you were the composer in the opening credits and not that I would have needed to see that–I can almost always recognize your music in film scores, even when it’s played diagetically like in this one French movie that was on tv a long time ago when I was in college…oh well look at me just rambling on like a little schoolgirl! I’m sorry.”

He just smiled, and his eyes were twinkling. “Well, I’m always happy to meet a fan–”

“Oh, I’m not just a fan, I really adore your music and especially a lot of your very older work–I know you might not like to hear this, but I have special places in my heart for the oldest works of yours that I’ve heard. They’re just so powerful even today; I put them on and they sound so fresh; so amazingly immediate even now, like that one where it’s two lines going in opposite directions what’s it called–oh and of course “Two Pages” and there’s that one with fifths (oh yea that first one was called “Contrary Motion”)…I can’t believe I’m forgetting their names now this is so embarrassing and I’m sure I must be boring you and I know you’ve long since moved on to bigger and better things…”

“No, no, I agree with you. I must admit I’m also still shocked whenever I play those pieces again (it’s rare, but we do sometimes) at how they seem to really affect a lot of people still. And yes, I’ve moved on to other things, and that was a very different period in my life, but I still have affection for it, as I can see that you do.”

“Well and really well of course Koyaanisqatsi is just a masterpiece and you know well that’s how I was first introduced to your music–it was in 11th grade in high school; I had gone to this summer program, where part of the activities included various important artistic works of the 20th century (movies, music, art, etc.) and the orchestra at the program played parts of your 2nd symphony alongside film footage from Koyaanisqatsi (well they’d already shown Koyaanisqatsi with your original score a few days ago and I’d been completely mesmerized) and it was just wonderful. And then I remember I found out about Einstein on the Beach and I managed to find a copy and…oh sorry I know I must be boring you with your own resume…”

“Ha ha ha no it’s quite okay.”

Then I had to go. Just like that, my one chance to meet Philip Glass, and I had wasted it. Like so many things in my life.

But I had to go, otherwise they would come and–

The bullet entered through my left eye, and I could feel it enter, feel it rip apart my eye, feel what it was like to be blind for one split second before the bullet exited out the back of my head, ripping open the entire back of my skull.

There was a feeling of heat.

Venue: McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

Date: July 28, 2007

I imagine every generation has their musical heroes, standard-bearers, the ones who everyone in the next generation emulates, until one of those become the new heroes. Usually by this point, the original band is fading from the scene (or sometimes, is dead/disbanded), and so the new generation of listeners often never hear the role models of their favorite bands. For me, Sonic Youth is almost one such band — although they have directly influence many of my favorite bands, such as Blonde Redhead and Radiohead, I say “almost” because Sonic Youth is still here, coming out with new albums regularly. And so once again, I find myself in the curious position of having heard a band’s works in reverse order. In this case, I had not heard their classic “Daydream Nation” until after I heard most of their newer material. But the crazy thing is that that album still sounds edgy and fresh today, 20 years after its release. It’s a wonder to me that it would have appealed to listeners back then (since music exists in a continuum, works of art often resonate most only when experienced in their context, and not as much after or before its era).

And so when the unprecedented opportunity to hear that album in its entirety presented itself, I jumped at it. With a much older crowd than almost any other show I’d been to, I found the concert experience a little bit different — since I hadn’t heard it and breathed it and lived whet it first came out, I was definitely one of the few people who didn’t know all the lyrics and hooks and time changes in the music. But no one cared when my arrhythmic jerking didn’t quite match the beat, because everyone was solidly focused on the band. Much older than most rockers, Sonic Youth still played with the fury of the album, living up to their name. With a giant candle as the backdrop and a small one in the foreground, the unchanging visual motif went well with the recurring guitar themes from the album. Sonic Youth tore through the long album with a grim determination with only a few breaks (usually under cover of a blisteringly harsh “radio tuner” flipping through channels of garbage and high frequency audio assaults).

The wasteland of 80s suburbia that was the motivation behind the album has only grown worse, as the restlessness of disenchanted and spoiled youth of the suburbs has mixed in with the futility of our efforts to end the horrific violence being perpetrated by our rulers. Bush is the new Reagan, and what he lacks in verbal ability, he more than makes up for in brazen corruption and a total disregard for human life. Perhaps this was part of the reason the album still resonates so strongly today. Or perhaps it’s just a fucking awesome record.

When the album was done, there was a massive explosion of applause from the audience, and the band was immediately back on for an encore that was almost as long as many other bands’ sets. At one point, Thurston Moore even said “hey, we’d play all fucking night if it wasn’t for New York’s noise ordinance.” I have no doubt that they could — or that anyone would leave before the morning if they did.