Well, it’s been another hell of a week — if you force yourself to remember that “fire and fury” nuclear annihilation was only a week ago, you’ll realize how much fun we’ve been having in the interim. At this point it no longer feels like the adage “it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” is appropriate anymore, because it’s too insufficient — this more feels like we’re on one of those Death Valley ultra races where we’re nearly spent 30 min in and we’ve got 187 more miles to go. In 120 degree heat. While being shot at and nearly hit by cars.
Which is a long way of saying — we’re gonna have to dig deep to make it out of this one…
Thankfully the death march had a few bright spots this week, as a couple beloved bands put out some new tracks. First up is another track off Philia, the compilation album against Islamophobia I told you about a few weeks ago (the one with the lovely Ham cover of Shane MacGowan), this one from The Dodos. Meric and Logan have been relatively quiet the past few years, not releasing much since 2015’s so-so Individ, so it was a welcome surprise to see them pop up here. The track, “Mirror Faker,” shows them sticking with what’s worked best over the years — layered, primal rhythms, elliptical, finger-picked guitar parts, and soaring, ethereal harmonies. Hopefully a new album is in the works soon. Check this out in the meantime:
Next up is a track from hometown lads Wilco released in the wake of Charlottesville to raise money for the Southern Poverty Law Center, the civil rights law firm that helps keep tabs on the country’s hate groups, in addition to the number of Confederate statues scattered around the country. It’s a nice little track — a soothing little shuffle to calm the nerves amidst all the bombast and bigotry flying around this week. Tweedy’s accompanying post says it best when dedicating the song to his father who was named after a Confederate general — “if you know better, you can do better.” So let’s get on with it…
Last up is a track from two of my favorite Canadians, Jesse and Sebastian from Death From Above (now no longer strictly from 1979), with the latest single from their upcoming album. This one hits me a little similarly to Queens’ latest in that it’s a bit more of a return to what I fiend for from this/that band after initial singles that were a little unnerving. (Though I have to admit, both of those singles have grown on me in the time since they’ve been released.) There’s nothing fancy going on here — Jesse throws down another infectious riff, Seb bashes/wails away, and two minutes later you’re quickly looking for the replay button so you can get back into the groove. Makes me more excited to see the guys in a few weeks and hear the rest of the album.
Just wanted to pop-in again throw out a couple more updates from the past week or so that I’d planned to make sooner, but was otherwise caught up rocking the cargos or getting bludgeoned by the DPM. First up is a good article on an old EP of extras from NIN, Still, which accompanied their sole live CD, And All That Could Have Been. (Which is fifteen years old?!? Sweet frickin geezus I am old…) It does a good job encouraging you to go back and revisit it, and like the author I’m glad I did because I’d completely forgotten about the song that gave the live album its title (but was not included/ever played live). It’s a lovely one — a dark, slow burner about a busted relationship that builds relentlessly over its six minute span. It’s actually a shame he never played it live because you could see it fitting in well with his other stuff, the crowd singing along to the refrain at the end en masse. Alas — at least we’ll have that moment in our heads. Fire your mental projector up and start your show now:
Next up is the single from an interesting side project (I hope) for one third of my beloved Sleater-Kinney, frontwoman Corin Tucker, who’s teaming up w/ REM’s guitarist Peter Buck and others as Filthy Friends. Their debut album Invitation is due out in a couple weeks (25 Aug) and they’ll start touring it around the same time. (Limited dates announced so far — check out the list here.) The track’s pretty good — “Despierta” — and has Tucker in her more melodic mode (ie none of her polarizing banshee wail) with some catchy guitar parts by Buck and Co. Will be interesting to hear how the rest of the album sounds. Get a taste yourself here:
And we’ll close with the latest single from beloved headwreckers Queens, which completely consumed the tail end of my week. It’s appropriate amidst all the recent talk of nuclear annihilation that these guys would swoop in with an atom bomb like this, which showcases the band doing what they do best — flat. out. rocking. Homme lures you in at the beginning with his distorted “Close — come close” lines while the band weaves its spell over you the intervening five-odd minutes. By the time you get towards the finish — right around the five minute mark — the trap has been set and you realize you’re about to get destroyed. And I’ve gotta say — if the end IS coming, I hope it feels this good — because FUCK it feels fantastic once the break happens and the band explodes for its final 90 second sprint. I defy anyone to not rock the fuck out once that happens — I’ve listened to it about 40x the past few days and still can’t stop fistpump and pogoing. If for some reason you don’t, you should go see a doctor immediately because something is seriously wrong. For the rest of you — crank this puppy to 11 and have fun. Here. it. COOOOOMES!
It’s mid-August so you know what that means — Lollapalooza has come and gone and per usual I’m back from my annual pilgrimage home to partake in the festivities and ready to fill you all in. The lineup was a little weaker this year than normal — the headliners, which are usually the least interesting part of the day, were almost completely skipworthy this time (or I wished I had after I gave them the benefit of the doubt) and of course the two I really wanted to see were playing at the same time, so that was a bummer.
The electro tent, which in years past had been one of the best parts of the festival, has recently devolved into an unchanging blob of monster noises and DJs shouting “1-2-3!” every 30 seconds before another vanilla drop, and I barely went by it this year. (The one time I did I came this close to having a true old man moment and asking one of the kids, “Explain why this is good to me — have you listened to early Daft or Chemical Brothers? Underworld? Prodigy? Soulwax? THOSE guys knew how to put together a set that’d get you moving AND had melodies to keep you coming back! Are you going to remember ANY of this? Wake up thinking about or humming any of this? ‘Man –‘member when that modem dialed in to the Internet and then a few seconds later that computer died screaming? EEEEEaahahahhahaEEEEEEoooooraaaaaaaahhhh! That was so awesome.'” But I stopped myself — barely…)
As for the rest of the fest, most of the bands I’d initially been excited to see again were coming off mediocre new releases (Spoon, Alt-J, the Districts and Shins) so that meant this year was almost entirely about discovery — a dicey proposition when acts like Lil Uzi Vert and the XX are considered headliners. Luckily, though, I was able to pretty consistently find some winners and fill my days without big deadspots. All in all I got to about 46 bands over the four days and saw some fantastic stuff — here’s the highlights so you can enjoy too! I’ll do the discoveries in a separate post since my computer’s dipped in stupid right now (like seemingly everything else around me — MF’g technology…)
Day one:
Best set of the day (and probably the festival): Cage the Elephant. These guys flat out killed it — by the second song guitarist Brad Shultz was crowdsurfing while playing and by the third or fourth lead singer Matt Shultz (who by the way came out dressed in drag with a sparkly purple dress and big fishnets) had also followed him into the crowd. After that the two spent the rest of the set alternating time in the sea of people, with Matt strutting onstage like Jagger while Brad almost willed the crowd to sing along to every song (looking a bit like Vinnie Jones from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels). And they sounded great — the band has more good stuff than you realize, from early tracks like “Back Against the Wall” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” to newer ones like “Spiderhead” and “Cold Cold Cold.” They switch from rockers to swooners effortlessly and with the no-holds barred performance it added up to a hell of a show. Check out their set here (and skip to 54 minutes in for the communal singalong on “Cigarette Daydream” for a highlight (which of course cuts out right at the end but you get the gist — MF’g technology…)):
Day two:
Best set of the day: Run the Jewels. These guys are a close second to Cage for best set of the fest, throwing down another virtual headliner set on the same stage in the same early timeslot (630pm?!) for the second day in a row as the aforementioned crew. And they leveled the yuuuuge crowd (never before seen in yuuman history) almost as thoroughly. The guys have been touring off their excellent third album (certain to make an appearance here in a few months on my year end list) and continue to be one of the few hip hop acts worth catching live. They sound good, you can understand them, and they actually play entire songs (instead of 30 muddy seconds where the crowd does half the work and then they go on to the next micro-moment). Best part of the set was this one where Mike spotted a kid’s sign in the crowd that said “Let me come up and rap ‘Legend Has It'” so they call his bluff, get him onstage, don’t even give him the beat to get him going — and then this happens… Pure. Fucking. MAGIC!
Day three:
Best set of the day: Alvvays. These guys were part discovery in that I’d long loved the single “Archie, Marry Me” off their debut, but hadn’t gotten into much of the rest of their stuff. That changed after this set, though, which won me over with songs like “Next of Kin,” “Party Police,” and “Atop a Cake,” among others. Frontwoman Molly Rankin is ever the charmer onstage, and both she and the band have a bit of Blondie going on at times, which is never a thing to argue with. The new songs sounded good, as well, so I’m looking forward to seeing what their follow-up offers (due out 8 Sept). I gotta stick with what got me there, though, so check out their performance of “Archie” here:
Day four:
Best set of the day: (tie) Barns Courtney and Car Seat Headrest. This one was a tough one as the day actually had several really solid sets — in addition to these two there were surprisingly enjoyable ones from old favorites the Shins and Arcade Fire (who as easy as they make it to hate them closed the festival out with a bang, focusing on old favorites rather than their nu-disco offerings), as well as acts I’d largely ignored like Milky Chance (which probably threw the weekend’s best dance party, in all honesty). These two edged them out, though, if only by a hair — Barns Courtney because of his over-the-top performance and really catchy tunes, Car Seat for bringing the heat and making me reconsider my previous dismissal of their stuff.
For the former, Courtney recently broke his foot (jumping off stage in Milwaukee, apparently), so he played most of the set on a gurnee being wheeled around by his helpful “nurse.” (That is, when he wasn’t perilously jumping on one foot near the edge of the stage or momentarily using crutches before chucking them elsewhere on stage, to the increasing annoyance of his helper.) Despite being largely immobile, it was a high energy set and he had the early bird crowd singing along en masse. Songs like “Fire,” “Glitter and Gold,” “Golden Dandelions,” and “Hands” all worked well, as evidenced (in part) here. Check out a snippet of his set here (and keep your eyes peeled for yours truly around the 7:51 mark):
As for Car Seat, these guys have been one of the big buzz bands for the last couple years, but never really won me over with any of their stuff. Similar to Alvvays, though, seeing them live got me the gospel as Will Toledo and company brought the house during their set. The band has an early Beck/Eels vibe at times on the albums, but came out harder here and it worked. Songs like “Something Soon,” “Times to Die, “Maud Gone,” “Fill in the Blank,” and the epic “Vincent” all sounded great. “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” was the earworm I couldn’t get out of my head all week, though. I must have listened to it about 25 times, belting out the refrain at the end at the top of my lungs at times (good thing wifey’s been traveling — sorry, neighbors…) Check it out here (here’s a link to the actual Lolla performance of it, since it’s not allowing it to embed — MF’g technology…):
