Contrary to the descriptive words in its title, "Watching Sleazy UFOs Passing By" is a classy, classy cut-n-paste instrumental. Devil Mcdoom, who hails from Stockholm, Sweden, certainly knows his way around a break and a melody. He opens up the track with an ethereal, almost angelic vocal sample that forms the core of the song. The two other main elements cut in soon soon after, with Mcdoom splicing in a dope break and a bassline that could have been taken straight out of an old lounge jazz song- the bass clef notes flitting from the speakers until they take a much more concrete sound during the bass solo towards the end of the song. Mcdoom tops it all off with some spacey moog swooshes. Whenever I listen to this song I imagine fireflies on a muggy summer night, flying through a tree in a secluded field. That's just me though...
This band has got to be one of my favorites in the history of time. The amount of swagger and braggadocio they have seems impossible, given their slight stature and small numbers. And yet, somehow, they achieve a level of bad-assery and bravado unheard of (by me at least) in many years. The frontman and singer, Jackie McKeown, had been kicking around the Scottish indie scene for a while, before 1990s came together. Formerly of The Yummie Furs, McKeown was something of a golden boy around Glasgow. When that band broke up, he languished in relative obscurity for a few years before forming 1990s. 1990s only intended to play a few parties thrown by McKeown's friends, but after their sixth show ever, they were approached by Rough Trade Records, (one of my favorite labels) and Cookies, one of my favorite albums ever, was recorded soon after that.
"Cult Status" is currently my favorite track on Cookies; it is supremely ill. Completely self-serving, full of constant skewerings of pop-culture- this song is almost too cool for school. Combine all this with a rhythm section that kicks you right in the pants, and you have a song that is unstoppable.
And finally, I pose a question: do any of you know of a band band that has more swagger and is more bad-ass than 1990s? I don't think so. If you do, leave a comment.
Here it is. This moment marks the valmorphinization of the Vibrations of Nations blog from a lame, lackadaisical, ..., l-infrequently updated blog to what we hope will be an un-sucky, un-epic fail, un-bad site for folks who love music.
*Note to reader: All future alliteration will be much more illmatic... or so we hope. We'll brush up on our word nerd skills.
First off on the laundry list of things we have to do in this entry- the show itself. Programming at WRGW hadn't officially started yet when we went on, so we did an extended show because no one was on after us. Despite the fact that there was a fire alarm, an errand I had to try and complete during the show, and the fact that Eb and I are constantly forgetful, it was an illin' show, and a fun time all.
By the way, the show starts about three and a half minutes into the recording
Here's the playlist:
Sonnet- Will Stratton Black Creek- Valery Gore Scythian Empire- Andrew Bird (I am obsessed with this song) Some Things We Lose- Baby Eagle (words) Oh Paris!- Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele Time Breaks Down- Bend Sinister The Ballad Of Old Bull Lee- Arthur & Yu Start a War- The National (words) Selfish Jean- Travis By And By- Lay Low Meet Me By The Water- Saturday Looks Good To Me Holland, 1945- Neutral Milk Hotel (words) Upon Viewing Brueghel's "Landscape With the Fall of Icarus"- Titus Andronicus Lolita- Throw Me The Statue The Bronze Beached Boys (Come On Let's Go)- Pas/Cal Marry Song- Band of Horses (words) Edge of the Ocean- Ivy Make You Crazy feat. Femi Kuti- Brett Dennen I Need a Life- Born Ruffians OK- Holly Conlan (words) Sky Is Falling- De Novo Dahl Oliver James- Fleet Foxes No One's Better Sake- Little Joy One Great City!- The Weakerthans (words) Lost Coastlines- Okkervil River Pushover- The Long Winters Cash In My Pocket feat. Daniel Merriweather- Wiley Demon Host- Timber Timbre (words) First Day of My Life- Bright Eyes True Affection- The Blow (words) Yes We Can- will.i.am
You may notice some ichat noises towards the end of the show- I have no idea where they're coming from; I just double-checked that all my ichat alert noises are off, so, yeah... that'll be fixed next show.
Secondly, the music blog portion of this entry. From this point forward, this blog will not only serve as a means of listening to our show on the internet, it will also be a music blog. Y'know, like this one, one of my favorites.
That being said, my first two songs of recommendation to you, the reader and listener, are epic indeed.
The Born Ruffians hail from Midland, Ontario (that's Canadia for anyone not familiar with the provinces of Canadaland) but have since moved to Toronto. I played "I Need a Life" on this week's show, but I love it so much that it deserves extra mention. The singer, Luke LaLonde, has the kind of voice that always sounds like it's going to mature, but never really does until after years of chain-smoking and hard living. Even though it's high-pitched and wavery, it's surprisingly strong thoughout the song. The rhythm section keeps it simple with the drummer and the bass player chugging along behind the vocals and guitar.
I only discovered Pas/Cal recently, but they are already one of my favorite bands. They have a really fantastic sound- polished, really pop-influenced, and sunshiny. Their melodies are what really set them apart- I've never heard a band with as many amazing vocal hooks in my life. Casimer Pascal, the leader of the band, really knows how to put a song together. Couple all this with fantastic production values (Pascal is reportedly a perfectionist in the studio) and you have one of the best debut LPs I've ever heard.
