Or crazy. The fantastic blog Aquarium Drunkard just made me aware of the guys playing in 1985 before Uncle Tupelo, under the name The Primitives. Jeff Tweedy is playing the bass. He is also wearing a dress. Too bad he doesn’t still cross dress–it would make it a whole lot easier getting my hands on a pair of Wilco tickets for DC. It is fascinating seeing how Jeff Tweedy has evolved over the years. Through a lot of experimenting, he seems to have found his sound. The boys were just nominated for a Grammy for Sky Blue Sky, an award they most definitely deserve.
Here’s the full-hour of Radiohead’s Scotch Mist shown on New Years Eve on Current.TV. It’s just about as intimate as you could get with a live performance, so enjoy it. Grab some popcorn. A glass of water. A bong. Whatever…
A few weeks ago I got an album by The Bad Plus from a friend of mine. I didn’t catch too much from them but had heard things like their cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and ended up writing them off as a novelty thing, although great jazz musicians. Later I was searching my dad’s CD collection and stumbled on 4 volumes of NPR’s All Songs Considered. Somewhere in there I heard your song of the day for January 12th, 2008.
The Bad Plus are a group of midwesterners, the bassist and drummer growing up in Minnesota and the pianist hailing from the great state of Wisconsin. Mixing rock, experimental and especially jazz theory into a volatile mix like this yielded amazing originality and success for the three. I had the honor of listening to three of their albums today and, while I decided my favorite was 2003’s These Are The Vistas, each one holds its own. Their songs are all truly small adventures–always keeping the listener guessing what will come next. Like a slightly less experimental and more traditional MMW, The Bad Plus gets creative and taps at the often overlooked “Contemporary Jazz” genre. I will forever have a special place in my music collection for these guys.
I was cleaning up some of my old bookmarks today and came across this 2 minute video showing how big-name CD manufacturers are distorting sounds to make them seem louder, and the negative impact this has on sound quality. Thought it was an interesting video you might want to check out.
Update: If you are interested in this topic, you can also check out this new article published by Rolling Stone addressing the Loudness War. Really weird that I came across this today, because I had no idea this article was written until after posting this video which I had bookmarked for ever.
The Maccabees. Are they Jewish? Are they not Jewish? Who knows, and really, who cares (they aren’t)? Today, I saw this Jewish magazine over at a friends house called Jvibe and there was a music section that included, “Best Jewish Singer/Group You Wish Would Refer to Being Jewish”. The nominees in the magazine are Joe Trohman (of Fall Out Boy), Adam Levine (of Maroon 5), The Beastie Boys, and Amy Winehouse. If the Maccabees were Jewish, they would certainly top the list of “Best Jewish Singer/Group who Refer to Being Jewish”. Even though they are not Jewish. That’s all I have to say on that matter. And that I think it’s silly to expect musicians, or anyone for that matter, to publicly discuss their religion, unless they are Yusuf Islam. But that’s for another day. Now to the important stuff.
The Maccabees have a similar sound to Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, Wolf Parade, and Dogs Die In Hot Cars. Some songs are better than others, but I think the band is worth your listen, as they do have some catchy hooks. Their music is more on the indie rock side and is probably as indie rock as I get. My favorite song of theirs is “Toothpaste Kisses” which is on their debut, Colour It In. I must say that while “Toothpaste Kisses” is a good song, and the most mellow song on the album, I can’t help thinking of Dylan’s “Lay, Lady, Lay.” Does anyone else hear the similarities? I mean, listen to the lyrics. “Lay with me, I’ll lay with you, we’ll do the things lovers do.”
The Maccabees are from Brighton via South London, UK, and band members include Orland Weeks (vocals), Hugh White (guitar), Rubert Jarvis (bass), and Robert Dylan Thomas. You don’t have to read far into the biography on their website to see the sarcastic British humor I love so much.
They were ambitious from the start. Shortly after Felix joined, they entered a Battle Of The Bands competition. They lost to a girl group called Red, who played covers, had massive afros and wore miniskirts. The Maccabees had already planned how to spend the money when they won – new amps and a demo. When they didn’t, they were so devastated they didn’t even collect their second prize – tickets to a beer festival.
Fun fact: They chose the name by flicking through books. The biggest in the house was The Bible. They came across the story of The Maccabees, Jewish rebels who fought against Greek rule and established Jewish independence in the second century BC. As soon as they saw they name, they knew that was it. But it’s only a name. They’re not a religious band.
If you’ve been on Indie Muse before you may know that I’m a huge fan of Wilco. For some reason, though, I never really checked out Tweedy’s side project, Loose Fur, until recently. What was I thinking? I don’t know. I had their two albums on my computer forever, but somehow didn’t realize it was Jeff Tweedy’s side project. Anyway, I’ve been listening to their 2006 release, Born Again in the USA, and really like the album. I still can’t believe I didn’t listen to this music earlier. If you are a Wilco fan and are unaware of Loose Fur or never bothered to listen to their albums, get on top of that.
Loose Fur is Jeff Tweedy, Glenn Kotche (now drummer in Wilco), and Jim O’Rourke (mixed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and produced Ghost is Born). Tweedy was invited to perform with a collaborator of his choice for the 2000 Noise Pop Festival in Chicago, and chose O’Rourke. It’s interesting to see what a big influence this side project had on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Tweedy didn’t seem to be confident with Wilco’s drummer, Ken Coomer, because Coomer disliked playing consistent drum patterns (note: can someone explain in the comments what that means?), so Tweedy finally decided to replace him with Kotche for the recording of YHF. The band was skeptical of this replacement at first, but soon realized how talented Kotche was with working with Wilco’s songs and saw it was the right decision. Tweedy also had problems with Jay Bennett’s mixing while recording YHF, and had O’Rourke mix tracks. Some songs were only produced by the three members of Loose Fur. If you want to see a great Wilco documentary (and learn more about all the drama revolving at YHF), check out I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.
“Hey Chicken” music video. It’s amazing. And brings up an important discussion question: which Power Ranger was your favorite? I’m red all the way (Jason). Now I feel young.
