Yuck!
Yuck Yuck Yuck. The last couple of weeks, everywhere I turn it seems I’m hearing about Yuck! Well, this is Ickmusic, so it’s only right that I give Yuck a chance…
I listened to their new record on my run a couple days ago, and enjoyed what I heard. Guitar-driven indie pop/rock…some good up tempo noise rockers (“The Wall”, “Holing Out”). And some nice melodic laid back tunes too.
I was most intrigued with “Suicide Policeman”. I like how the drums kick in…
Buy the MP3 of Suicide Policeman
or the whole Yuck
album. And visit Yuck’s web site.
By the way, I don’t recommend a Google image search of “yuck“. Let’s just say it’s everything but pictures of the band.
I Wish She Was My Girlfriend
I ♡ Bethany Cosentino. ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡!!!!!!!
Alright, I know I sound like I just fell out of this month’s Tiger Beat, but Bethany is something that every woman should strive to be….hot and cool at the same time.
Bethany fronts a band called Best Coast and I had the distinct honor of seeing them last night at the Varsity Theater. The LA band’s first release, Crazy For You, is a magnificent record dripped in Phil Spector worship and estrogen powered angst. Their hit, Boyfriend, has been obsessively played on my iPod for the last few months and made my playlist of 2010. The whole record is fantastic, though, and it was great to hear it played live…which they played pretty much in its entirety along with some news songs and some covers.
Bethany, Bob, and Ali put on an excellent show last night and you should catch them on the remainder of their tour.
Here is the video for Boyfriend.
Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John [Belle and Sebastian, Norah Jones]
The latest Belle and Sebastian album crossed my radar a few weeks back, thanks to the “Recent Activity” social feature on Rdio. One of the people I follow had added it to his collection. I decided to take a listen, so *click*… and now, a few weeks later, I must have listened to it four or five times straight through.
It’s simply a great, accessible pop record. Great melodies, and just a nice overall vibe.
The album includes a song called “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John”, with Norah Jones joining singer Stuart Murdoch. Of course, the mere mention of Norah Jones means I get to perform a thorough Google Image search. Woo hoo! Be right back.
Nice, but need something more current, right? 
But I have to include this one. Stubebaker? 
That’s more like it. Updated Norah. There. That was nice.
So listen to the song – a slowed down ditty about l-o-v-e just out of reach. The song appears not only on B&S‘s latest one, but also on …Featuring Norah Jones, an album of Norah’s collaborations.
I Suppose
One of my music resolutions for the New Year is to get my ass out on the town to see What Laura Says at least a handful of times. Here’s a nice street-side performance at ASU…
Band of Horses: Laredo on Letterman
They made the record, now it’s time to sell!
Band of Horses showed up last night on Letterman to perform “Laredo”. Of note: Tyler Ramsey’s finger pickin’ electric guitar work, Ben Bridwell’s determined delivery, and Bill Reynolds’ get-up. Looks like Bill could have walked out of the Ed Sullivan Theater and straight onto the set of Boogie Knights. Slick, man!
White Hinterland, “No Logic” (Alan Wilkis remix)
Remixing the ambient dream-pop of White Hinterland is not a task for the weak. Thankfully, electrofunketeer Alan Wilkis is no slouch in the remix chair. Taking the otherwise demure original “No Logic,” from the band’s new release Kairos, and spinning it on its end with a musical drumbeat and his signature sense of funk; Wilkis manages to breathe a gust of life into an otherwise lifeless track. Check it out:
White Hinterland – “No Logic” (Alan Wilkis remix)
Flash Delirium
Really enjoying this new MGMT album
, and especially the song “Flash Delirium”.
They made a video for this tune, and yeah, it’s pretty o-u-t t-h-e-r-e. An A for originality.
New Music From The Guggenheim Grotto, “Wisdom”
Having seen the band a handful of times in the last month, I’ve heard the track “Wisdom” as many times in it’s raw form. The tune — which comes from the band’s forthcoming record, Master of the Universe — is partly inspired by the long hours the band has logged crossing the country in support of their brilliant Happy the Man. There is currently no date set for the release of the record, though I’d expect it would be sometime in June. Stay tuned!You can purchase “Wisdom” here.
The band is also doing a residency every Wednesday in June at The Bowery Electric, NYC, and every Thursday at the Tin Angel in Philly.
You Just Do: The xx at the Varsity in Minneapolis
With the big acts of my summer concert series set (Simon and Garfunkel, Tom Petty and U2), I was lamenting not jumping immediately at the chance of buying tickets for a smaller show in the form of The xx at the Varsity. I should have guessed that this emo, shoegazy band would sell out in less than a day in my emo, shoegazy home town of Minneapolis.
So, I poked around online to see what tickets were going for….75 dollars for a 25 dollar ticket! Great Scott!!!! I had more or less given up on going but then a phone call came about a week before the show. My friends Jeremy and Rea had an extra ticket and it was mine if I so desired. Mega.
We met up at the Loring Pasta Bar for pre-show conversation and then headed over to the venue at about 10:30pm. The xx were scheduled to go on at 11pm. The Varsity was packed but there as still plenty of space in the middle of the floor. As we watched the alarmingly sucky warm up band (a female performer named JJ who sang to pre-recorded tracks with a video of herself striking pretentious poses in the background), I thought about how different The xx are compared to the other bands I like.They are very sparse..almost hollow. I usually like lush sounds and a chorus of vocals. The guitar work is quite simplistic and they mostly use programmed drums. Yet their music betrays both a haunting isolation and a tender caress of comfort which I always thoroughly enjoy in my music. Take the lyrics to “VCR”:
“Watch things on VCRs with me…And talk about big love…I think we are superstars…You say you think we are the best thing…But you, you just know…You just do…”
This is EXACTLY what I look for when I listen to music..an illustration of intimacy that stirs a commonality. How many of us out there have felt like this before? Knowing someone who just gets you…without even saying a word. It’s magnificent. These were the thoughts and feelings that were comforting me as the first song began.
They opened, not surprisingly, with “Intro” and as they did, the white curtain in front of the stage kept the band hidden from us. Flickering lights bounced their shadows all over the venue. At the conclusion of the song, the curtain dropped to reveal the band-all dressed in black.
It was interesting to watch the audience, clearly revved up with excitement, try to make sense of how to cheer for the methadone-like tunage. The xx’s songs just aren’t mosh pit ready. They are sewn from a different quilt – one of introspection and quiet solitude. The song “Shelter” is a perfect example of this and one of the two best tracks of the night. The other was, of course, was “Islands.”
The song “Islands” will always be my favorite xx song. It’s a metaphor for all the wonderful aspects of romance. Romy sings by herself first – then she sings with Oliver – then they sing together, all they while backed by a happy-skippy melody and beat. I fell into that Bogart-Bergman in Casablanca dream when they sang:
“I am yours now…so I now I don’t ever have to leave…I’ve been found out…so now I’ll never explore.”
The dim lights and the red velvet of the Varsity really made my mood sublimely sanguine in the most exquisite of ways and that dreamer in me that I love so much was transported to a million worlds, known and unknown, across all of time itself.
Check out The xx’s tour page for their latest shows.
The Silver Seas in Chateau Revenge!
Occasionally, a record will simply jump out of the speakers and demand that you just stop and listen. I had one of those moments late last year when my musical soul-brother Jason Hare introduced me to The Silver Seas. Since that time, the group’s release High Society has been on a nearly constant loop — so much so, I’m pretty sure I could recite the entire record a scant 3 months later. So you can imagine how much I’m anticipating the band’s new release Chateau Revenge!, due in April. The band delivered this little taste, featuring the track “Candy,” to introduce the concept of the record. Stay tuned to Ickmusic for a full review of the record in the coming weeks.
The Silver Seas promo from The Silver Seas on Vimeo.
I highly recommend picking up the band’s 2006 release High Society.