Monday Music Roundup

Ah, Radiohead, you win.

I did in fact watch most of the Grammys last night in between sorting mail and promo CDs and going through bills. It was that riveting. And just like when I cried last year when Kanye started singing ’bout his mama, I also cried this year when Jennifer Hudson sang (so sad), and just like last year I was also left largely disaffected by the pop music industry in general. Except Radiohead. I actually yelped –out loud– during their performance of 15 Step, watching the faces of the USC kids pound their big drums so ferociously. That is easily the single most electrifying performance I’ve seen on the Grammys. And now I want to travel somewhere, anywhere, and see Radiohead again. Bless their hearts. [watch and listen]

That, and I couldn’t help but noticing in the Memorial montage that a guy named Pervis died this year and I really feel that should be the new hipster baby name because it’s awesome.

La musica nuova:

Swagger
The Vox Jaguars
These kids play with, well, a swagger and a band name that sums up what it’s like to be 19 and bursting with confidence. I heard The Vox Jaguars over on Some Velvet Blog, all fuzz and scowl and garage rock, replete with fake British accents asking, “wot?”. They’re also from the coastal town of Santa Cruz, just over the hill from where I grew up. Two are in high school still, which I guess means they go to San Lorenzo Valley or Harbor High. Weird. They have an EP out tomorrow on Anodyne Records, home to the Meat Puppets — and they show fun and promising verve.

The Park (Feist cover)
Bon Iver
There’s a sensual and spine-tingling mournfulness in this cover (from a live session on Triple-J radio in Australia) that reminds me so very much of Jeff Buckley taking on the sweet and mournful sorrow of Nina Simone’s “Lilac Wine.” It’s unexpected, and uncanny.

Missing Piece
Illinois
This unadorned song sounds like someone sitting up at an old piano on your grandparents’ sunporch, the honeyed notes floating through the air and swirling around with the dust motes. Evocative very much of Ben Kweller’s prettiest numbers, our protagonist wonders here if he is someone’s missing piece. I guess you never know until you try. Illinois is still not from Illinois, but they are giving away all kinds of free music leading up to their new album The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe on May 5th. Check out the other goodness.

Spirited
Laura Gibson
Redolent with a richness in her warble that feels more at home in the 1930s than today, Laura Gibson‘s music feels very grounded and a bit otherworldly all at once. I’d like to see her play with Elvis Perkins in Dearland because they are some sort of soul siblings and might not know it yet but omg. She is actually on tour in the coming months with Juana Molina and also Fuel favorites Blind Pilot (but only for the SLC stop!). Her new album Beasts of Seasons is out February 24th on Hush Records.

1940 (Submarines cover)
The Morning Benders
Berkeley’s Morning Benders bring their pleasing super-sunny pop harmonies to Denver next Saturday, and in a charming little gesture with their tourmates The Submarines, they’ve each covered one another’s work and released it for free to the adoring fans. I like the way this song takes a minute to get its training wheels straight and rolling on the merry way, with the hints of Sixties psychedelica throughout.

Monday Music Roundup

Language changes its meaning over the years, and things that were completely kosher 50 years ago now make me drop my head into my arm and laugh silently. The website YesButNoButYes has has collected the “Top 15 Unintentionally Funny Comic Book Panels” with some choice examples. Whether it’s Robin “exposing himself” to Batman or wives being kissed and not heard, take a look and have a good chuckle. [thx Yeti!]

While you’re over there, check out their list of Top Ten Female Streakers, which uses words like “dangly bits” and chastens one 19 year-old streaker for “breaking the two cardinal rules of female stripping – 1) trim well, and 2) never cartwheel.” Oh, heavens.

Edge Of The Night
The Redwalls
I was a bit saddened yesterday to read that rad-retro Chicago band The Redwalls (previous rave) have broken up with Capitol Records. Even after parting ways, The Redwalls call their former label “honorable” because “the record which we wrote in the early months of 2006 and recorded in 42 days in a small town in Sweden, is now solely in the possession of the band (If you don’t understand the significance of this than you’ll have to trust us). A record is a statement that stands permanent, it is the culmination of where a bands been and where they are at . . . Look forward to the new record and to an EP that will precede it, as we look forward to sharing it with all of you.”

This looks to be a sample of the sounds recorded last year, and me gusta mucho. It reflects a fuller and more mature sound from these guys, with some interesting experimentation (maracas?) that still captures that ’60s pop harmony goodness. Kind of a ‘Beatles Take Paraguay’ vibe. Also check the big U2 sounding track called “Song 1″ on their MySpace. I hope they are snatched up quickly by a label with a good ear for talent, because these brothers have it.

Yeah Alright
The Richmond Sluts
Yell-out-loud dirty ’70s rock with a double punk/surf edge from San Francisco band the Richmond Sluts, who now appear to be defunct (but you try Googling richmond sluts for information on the band, without getting links to bendy women from Virginia). This delightfully crunchy song screams of driving too fast, playing music too loud, and maybe even dancing too close to leave room for the Holy Spirit. It’s off their self-titled 2001 album, and the Bono-riffic album cover has a girl that can stand alongside the Superdrag chick from Head Trip In Every Key in badass rocker chick irresistibility.

Screen Door
Illinois
This kind of reminds me of the stomp of The 22-20s and the zip of that great Benjy Ferree track I posted recently, all rolled up into something fresh. New from paradoxically-Pennsylvanian band Illinois, from their EP What The Hell Do I Know? (out now). Clocking in at only 2 minutes long, this will nonetheless definitely get you tapping your toes and rolling down the windows, singing along with the sympathetic-for-the-devil “whoo-whoo” bits.

Hot Girls In Good Moods
Butch Walker & The Let’s Go Out Tonites
This song is an explosively soaring glam-rock party in a box. Butch Walker (chameleon-like musician/producer) checks T. Rex, echoes David Bowie, and wraps up all that swagger into a package that’s just plain fun. Even if you think you don’t like stuff like this, it’s kind of like the Eagles of Death Metal effect — I just can’t help myself. Check the lyric about music-geek love at its finest: “Straddles me lovely while she’s scratchin my back, while she’s singin all the words to my hidden track…” Absolutely calls for being the leadoff track on your next “going out” mix, from the aptly titled The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and The Lets-Go-Out-Tonites (2006).

Music (featuring Lauryn Hill)
Joss Stone
I’ve not previously been swayed by Joss Stone‘s rowly yowly charms, but this is one fine track off her newest effort, which pal Bruce is raving about as “so damn funky it’s like one of those classic Chaka Khan or Rufus records and has the velvetspeakers on full blast.” I always take his word for things, and you should too. From the new (oddly titled) Introducing Joss Stone. Anything that gets Lauryn out of hiding is a-okay in my book.