Tag Archives: 2013

New Track: Tim Hecker – “Live Room”

Tim Hecker - "Virgins"
Tim Hecker – “Virgins”

Tim Hecker is set to release the follow up to 2011’s “Ravedeath 1972.” On October 14, 2013 “Virgins” will be released on Kranky.

If you aren’t familiar with Hecker’s work, you should head to any streaming service and listen to “Ravedeath 1972” immediately. Rarely does such a hauntingly beautiful, curious, moving and exquisitely crafted album of electronic music such as “Ravedeath 1972” come out. It’s a must hear for any music fan.

The forthcoming album, from what I have heard so far (which isn’t much), is coming at things from a bit of a different direction. When I first heard the track “Live Room” on NPR’s “All Songs Considered” podcast something immediately struck me. As someone that is deeply interested in the boundaries between “classical” and “popular” music and all of the labels within each (a topic that I am going to cover in greater detail in the coming days) I was drawn in by the piano line in this song.

Perhaps this was most shocking because of how clearly the piano attacks are on this track, and how persistent the pattern is. The piano line creates a distant, jerky backbone that interestingly enough places the more ambient sounds in the foreground. Sure, these things are interesting in that they allow me to describe a bit of the sound to you (you can also listen below) but what I really want to direct your attention to are the specific pitches in that piano line.

One of the touchstone pieces of the early minimalist movement is Steve Reich’s “Piano Phase.” The premise of that work is that two pianos (or marimbas, or harps or pretty much anything) play identical lines but one of the instruments slowly speeds up while the other remains perfectly steady. As the line speeds up in the one instrument the simple pattern eventually “phases,” due to the tempo variation, such that the first pitch now lines up with the 2nd in the steady instrument. This process repeats several times until cycled all the way back to the beginning before another section begins.

Steve Reich – Piano Phase
To me the most fascinating aspect of minimalist music is the way that through sheer repetition the listener is given the chance to hear the music in a new way. As one listens they are able to simultaneously consider what it is that they are hearing, and the amazing thing is that the more one listens the more things that pop out of the texture. It’s a hypnotic meditation. Sure, the music is repetitive on the surface but if one learns to focus, listening between the notes, one will start to hear things that were not readily apparent before. In a way it’s like an aural hallucination, except it is no hallucination at all, those sounds are all there. Listening to minimalism of this style really teaches you to concentrate and listen in a deeper sense of the word. It’s deceptively simple.

Anyway, that is a long way away from my point. My point is, after listening to both tracks can you hear the very clear similarity between the piano lines in both? Could this be a commentary on Hecker’s part? If so, what could we imagine that this could be? How can we hear this music the way that it seems he wants us to hear it?

It seems fairly obvious that Hecker wants to make a comment on Reich’s piece, and he is sending out this signal to his listeners in the form of a musical quote (though Hecker’s piano line is presented at a different pitch level, but that hardly disqualifies it). The piano line in “Live Room” takes shape over the course of a few “failed” attempts at the beginning of the track, which stands in direct opposition to that of Reich’s pianos that are up and running straight out of the gate and don’t let up for ~20 minutes.

I like to think of Tim Hecker drawing a direct line from Steve Reich to himself with the use of this quote. Reich could also be considered one of the first “classical” composers to embrace electronics as an instrument. His early works were tape loops played at varying speeds, giving him the idea for phase works (a happy accident that occurred while trying to edit the tape for “It’s Gonna Rain” with one of the tape machines playing ever so slightly faster than the other). If it wasn’t for electronics perhaps Reich wouldn’t have become quite the important musical figure that he is considered today.

The way that Hecker’s piano eventually accumulates into a melodic line – jittery, uneven, unsteady, erratic – basically when Hecker’s piano line materializes it has all the pitches in the same order as Reich’s piano line with none of the other characteristics that make Reich’s piece what it is. Hecker completely strips it down and makes it his own. The simple gesture has taken on a new life, it has grown legs and staggered off into the distance. The room sounds are made to dominate; it’s the room that is the actual instrument here while everything else that occurs does so as a means of manipulating that room sound.

Thought provoking as it is, perhaps it is best to enjoy the track on its own, if that is all possible (it’s probably not possible anymore after reading this, sorry. Well, to me at least, I’m going to forever ponder these implications whenever I hear “Live Room” or “Piano Phase” from now on).

There is another track from “Virgins” available on Kranky’s soundcloud page. “Virginal II” can be heard below:

“Virgins” is out October 14th on Kranky. You can head to their site right now to pick up a copy of “Ravedeath 1972” on vinyl (2xLP), CD or mp3.

Stream: Neko Case – “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You”

Neko Case's new album comes out on September 3
Neko Case’s new album comes out on September 3

The follow up to Neko Case’s 2009 album “Middle Cyclone” is set for release on September 3. You can hear “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You” in its entirety on NPR’s website as a part of their “First Listen” which is where I’ve gotten the chance to listen to a lot of stuff that I have since fallen in love with over the years. I remember listening to the debut of Japandroids, Fucked Up’s “David Comes to Life,” and Dirty Projectors “Bitte Orca” over there.

Of course the All Songs Considered podcast is always a great way to keep up with new independent music releases.

I’ve always been a fan of Case’s music, including all of her work with the New Pornographers. Actually, I think that the first time that I heard Neko Case was on their album “Twin Cinema.” I couldn’t get enough of that album when it came out. And of course the hauntingly beautiful “Hold On, Hold On” from her album “Fox Confessor Brings the Flood” has long been my favorite of her songs.

Hold On, Hold On

The upcoming release gives us 12 more tracks of which only one has been heard  up to now. If that track, “Man,” is any indication of the sound of the rest of the album then it’s definitely going to be one of the ones to beat this year. Have a listen to that track below and make sure to head over to NPR to hear the rest of the album. Also, if you don’t follow her on Twitter then you should do that now, and if you don’t have a twitter account you should still read her page. It’s consistently excellent.

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MusicFestNW 2013

 

Oregon, and the rest of this corner of the country, has really been coming up the past few years with regard to music festivals. There’s Sasquatch, in central Washington, bringing in an impressive lineup of bands in May. The Treefort music festival in Boise in March that brought in a whole slew of great artists like Dan Deacon, Youth Lagoon, Earth and Quasi. Of course, as one of my recent posts pointed out, there is also the annual roots/folk festival just outside of Portland called Pickathon.

But, in my opinion, the most exciting of all of these is the SxSW style MusicFest NorthWest that happens all over the city of Portland for nearly an entire week at the beginning of September. The beginning of September, for those of you that aren’t fortunate enough to live in the Pacific Northwest, is when our weather tends to be absolutely perfect. Little to no rain, warm, sunny, everything you don’t think of when you think of the weather in the Pacific Northwest.

The artists that are brought to this area for each of these festivals keep getting better with each passing year. Last year Lightning Bolt, Deerhoof and Fucked Up playing MFNW were the bands that originally brought the festival to my attention and now that the full lineup has been released I would seriously urge people to sell a kidney if they had to in order to get there.

The full lineup and schedule have been officially released, which includes Neko Case, Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Titus Andronicus, Dan Deacon, Superchunk, The Thermals, The Dodos, Surfer Blood and a whole bunch more that I would give anything to see. It’s the largest music festival in the Northwest and the 3rd largest indoor music festival in the country, no small feat.

Wristbands range in price from $90 to $200, each guaranteeing free entry to any show, though the cheaper ones are “space permitting” while VIP is “immediate entry.” You can also buy individual tickets for each show, for those of you that don’t want to spend a week running across Portland (though if you were going to run around a city, Portland would be a good one to do it in. The light rail is pretty fantastic there.) And being that it is very similar in style to SxSW there is, of course, TechFestNW that overlaps with the last two days of the music festival.

If you’re in the area, or even if you are within a few days drive I would say go for it. Catch all the shows you can, and if you can’t get in to all of the shows that you wanted to, hey, you’re still in Portland. Have a beer.

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Album Review: The Flaming Lips – “The Terror”

The Flaming Lips - "The Terror"
The Flaming Lips – “The Terror”

It has taken me this long to digest The Flaming Lips most recent album, “The Terror.” It came out 4 months ago and I have given it several listens in that time. Admittedly the first time I listened to it, maybe a week or two before release, I set it aside and said to friends that I would never listen to it again. A few months went by and in July I gave it another few more shots.

The fact that it took me so long to get around to listening to the album didn’t have so much to do with how difficult a listen it is at first (and it is, truly, like nothing else the band has done before) as much as it might have to do with Wayne Coyne’s obsession with being the center of attention at all times. A few years ago I began getting annoyed by incessant releases of super-gimmicky collectors items. I was annoyed by the mediocrity of their cover of Pink Floyd’s entire “Dark Side of the Moon.” I was annoyed with the completely lackluster EP that the band did with Lightning Bolt. Actually that one angered me more than it annoyed me.

The Flaming Lips are becoming, it seems, increasingly interested in perpetuating their schtick of being the freaks on acid that release albums in jelly skulls and boxed sets of vinyl with the blood of the artists inside the vinyl. All the publicity stunts and Wayne’s completely obnoxious twitter account were enough to make one hope that they were putting as much thought, time and energy into their actual music.

The Terror shows that the Lips definitely were thinking about their music this whole time. And when I say they were thinking about it I mean that they basically stripped it all away and started over. This album is such a hard listen at first because there really are very few places for a listen to get a foothold. There are so few points of reference, with melodies deeply woven into the overall ambient landscape that sprawls seamlessly from beginning to end.

Wayne’s voice, surprisingly lacking the rasp of the past few releases, sings mostly in a  falsetto that echoes in the distance for most of the tracks. The instruments are stripped down, with electronic loops and layers of atmospheric synth patches dominating while Drozd’s guitar work is mostly absent except for occasional short chordal stabs that created a brightness that cuts through the dense haze of the synths.

Be Free, A Way

I’ve always loved albums that are able to create a distinctive sound that carries from song to song, with each track having at least that one common thread between them. Perhaps when I first listened to this I was listening incorrectly. I was listening for something to hook me in, something that was repeated and would become recognizable because of the way that it stood apart from other elements. Only in the past few weeks did I come to realize that the point of this album is that it is basically one long track, and that is not a detriment. That’s the way that they have decided that they were going to tie the album together, but to that end it also forces us, in a way, to listen to the album in its entirety when we do decide to listen.

And that is the thing about this album, it requires a commitment on the part of the listener. One can’t passively listen to “The Terror,” there aren’t really any tracks to pull out. It’s the entire album. At once. Stop doing other things while you’re listening, sit down and hear what is going on because it is complex and it is demanding and it’s time for you, as a listener, to hold up your end of the bargain.

Some of this all seems pretty obvious. There is no “Race For the Prize,” there is no “Do You Realize,” but that doesn’t mean that the album should be ignored. These are all things that I am learning, obviously most every other person out there that has reviewed this album has heaped praise onto it. I don’t think that my typical analytical approach of searching track by track through every minute detail to uncover the bits that are good and the bits that are less good, works here. I think that the lesson to be learned here is that it is possible to create an album that ditches short form melodic content in order to shape a much larger picture. It feels like the entire album is building, for nearly 52 minutes, toward the guitars and cavernous drums of “Always There…In Our Hearts.” Daring move, to say the least. The song doesn’t work as well without that buildup to it, it simply doesn’t make much sense.

Like a set of variations in reverse, the main material only comes clearly into view at the very end. The layers of ambiance and atmospherics are built up and subsequently stripped away to reveal that final track. That is a journey worth taking.

 

 

New songs: Sharon Van Etten – “Live at Pickathon 2013”

Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Van Etten

Sharon Van Etten recently played the final show of her tour here in Oregon. The Pickathon is a yearly music festival that happens outside of Portland. This year the festival was on August 4th and we have a really good recording of the entire set. Even more exciting is that this recording provides some really high quality versions of a few new songs that Sharon played that afternoon.

The first song, on my recording simply labeled “New Song” as she opens the set with it and doesn’t introduce it, but I think a fair bet is that the song is going to be called “I Know.” It’s a great choice for a set opener with just Sharon singing at the piano, her voice confident and stronger than ever. She moves effortlessly between a subdued, soft voice drawing us in, and a powerful full-voiced near shout at the top of her range before seeming to calm herself down singing “I know…..I know.” The dynamic play pushes and pulls us through the song, while melismatic turns casually float by before coming to an end with Sharon softly singing “all I ever wanted was you.”

I Know

Abut the other new track, “Tarifa,” Sharon explains,

 
 “this next song is about a vacation, it’s a new one that we’ve been working on, it’s call Tarifa….it’s [in Spain] on a fucking cliff overlooking Morocco,  but it is amazing – in the middle of nowhere. There was a bunch of bulls, that I was afraid of, in the pasture next to me, but they could give a shit that I was there. They didn’t try to run me over or anything weird. I had to ask my boyfriend, I was like ‘can I wear red? Are they gonna charge at me?’ They didn’t. I tried it out. It was fine. Anyway, this song is about that.”
 

It’s more fleshed out than “I Know,” beginning with Sharon and her guitar, and the rest of the band soon following. The verses move through a gentle waltz, while the choruses are more concerned with driving straight ahead.

Tarifa

And while you are checking those out, you should also head over to this site to purchase a t-shirt designed by Sharon with all of the proceeds going to charity.

 
“The artwork used is one of my early contour drawings when I first moved to New York and the charity chosen is Women in Need (WIN). WIN transforms the lives of New York City homeless women and their children by providing a holistic solution of safe housing, critical services and ground-breaking programs they need to succeed on their own – so the women can regain their independence and their children can look forward to a brighter future.”

 

 
Sharon Van Etten designed Yellow Bird Project t-shirt
Sharon Van Etten designed Yellow Bird Project t-shirt

So there you have it. Two new songs and a way to help a great charity. This is where I would normally say “you can catch her on tour” but, like I said, the tour is over. Look for the album within the year. You’ll forget by then, but I’ll remind you.

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New Release: Quasi – “Mole City”

Quasi is Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes
Quasi is Janet Weiss and Sam Coomes

Portland duo Quasi has announced a follow up to 2010’s fantastic “American Gong.” The new 24 track double-LP called “Mole City” on Kill Rock Stars is currently available for pre-order in a variety of formats from standard CD and vinyl to packages that include t-shirt, zine, Quasi recording an outgoing voicemail message for you and other goodies. Also included with pre-order is a bonus CD-R “Covers” EP featuring Quasi versions of “Dont’ Stop Me Now” (Queen), “Let’s Get It On” (Marvin Gaye), and “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love & Understanding” (Elvis Costello and the Attractions). “Mole City” is set for official release on October 1.

If you are not familiar with Quasi, first of all don’t think of it as “Janet Weiss’ other band,” because this is a whole different animal (not to mention that this year marks the bands 20th year together). Quasi rocks a little harder, with lyrical content that remains, for the most part, rather dark. Always hook-laden melodies with great instrumental work and plenty of noise and feedback.

Check out the dizzying video for the ultra-distorted and heavy track “You Can Stay but You Gotta Go” off of “Mole City.” If this song is a sign of what’s to come on the album then expect to find more heaviness and noise. Sounds good to me. Video posted below and also check the tour dates and catch them when they come to your town.

And if you so desire, check out their website (but it is truly terrible).

And check out “American Gong” in full below:

 

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10/3 Slowdown, Omaha NE
10/4 Record Bar, Kansas City MO
10/5 Off Broadway, St. Louis MO
10/7 Bottletree, Birmingham AL
10/8 Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta GA
10/9 Local 506, Chapel Hill NC
10/10 Black Cat, Washington DC
10/11 Café Nine, New Haven CT
10/12 Boot & Saddle, Philadelphia PA
10/13 Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY
10/14 Mercury Lounge, New York NY
10/16 Great Scott, Allston MA
10/17 Tralf Music Hall, Buffalo NY
10/18 Grog Shop, Cleveland OH
10/19 Schubas Tavern, Chicago IL
10/20 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis MN
11/3 Neurolux, Boise ID
11/4 Kilby Court, Salt Lake City UT
11/5 Hi-Dive, Denver CO
11/7 Dan’s Silver LeaF, Denton TX
11/10 Fun Fun Fun Fest, Auditorium Shores, Austin TX
11/11 Rhythm Room, Phoenix AZ
11/12 Casbah, San Diego CA
11/13 Echo Lounge, Los Angeles CA
11/14 SOhO, Santa Barbara, CA
11/15 Blank Club, San Jose CA
11/16 Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco CA
11/21 Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver BC
11/22 Tractor Tavern, Seattle WA
11/23 Doug Fir, Portland OR
12/5 The Fleece, Bristol UK
12/6 Brudenell Social Club, Leeds UK
12/7 Broadcast, Glasgow UK
12/8 Deaf Institute, Manchester UK
12/9 Hare & Hounds, Birmingham UK
12/10 Colchester Arts Centre, Colchester UK
12/11 Shepherds Bush Empire, London UK
12/12 Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich UK
12/13 Cargo, London UK
12/14 The Haunt, Brighton UK