What a nice surprise this morning to find an editorial from Billy Bragg gracing the pages of the New York Times—and lord, how brilliant it is. Bragg makes a strong point about social networks profiting off musicians without sharing the wealth. Not much I can add. A great read. An excerpt:

The musicians who posted their work on Bebo.com are no different from investors in a start-up enterprise. Their investment is the content provided for free while the site has no liquid assets. Now that the business has reaped huge benefits, surely they deserve a dividend.

…

The claim that sites such as MySpace and Bebo are doing us a favor by promoting our work is disingenuous. Radio stations also promote our work, but they pay us a royalty that recognizes our contribution to their business. Why should that not apply to the Internet, too?

The whole thing is solid. Read it.

Also, if you want to know more about the rad work Bragg has done, which essentially forced Myspace to change it’s terms of service that “made it seem as though any content posted on the site, including music, automatically became the site’s property,” check that out here.

Never really taken much notice of Bragg’s music, but hot damn if I don’t love him now…

Yeah, it’s Easter weekend. But instead on stuffing yourself with chocolate rabbits, you might want to gorge on the feast of live music that’s hitting town this weekend. Last night, you faced the brainwracking dilemma of too many good shows to go to (School of Language, Boredoms, Builders and the Butchers, etc.) and tonight is no relief. You’ve got a very difficult decision ahead of you. Amongst lots of other choices, tonight sees the following notable shows:

Berbati’s Pan (10 SW 3rd) - March Into Darkness Metal Fest w/Middian, Indian, Red Fang, SubArachnoid Space; 9 pm, $10
Dante’s (1 SW 3rd) - Grand Archives, Adam Shearer of Weinland; 9:30 pm, $10
East End (203 SE Grand) - CD Baby 10th Anniversary Party w/AristeiA, Seti; 9 pm, FREE
Holocene (1001 SE Morrison) - Born Ruffians, Cadence Weapon, Nurses; 9 pm, $10
Someday Lounge (125 NW 5th) - The Velvet Teen, Crosstide, Aloha, Carcrashlander; 9 pm, $10
Wonder Ballroom (128 NE Russell) - Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dengue Fever; 8 pm, $10, all ages

Saturday’s not much easier:

Audiocinema (226 SE Madison) - Benefit for Shadyah Mustafa w/The Shaky Hands, Brothers of the Baladi, Power of County, Diamond Tuck & the Privates, Dahlia; 8 pm, $10
Berbati’s Pan (10 SW 3rd) - March Into Darkness Metal Fest w/Agalloch, Red Sparowes, Grayceon, Russian Circles; 9 pm, $10-14, all ages
Doug Fir (830 E Burnside) - Kaki King, Matt Sheehy; 9 pm, $14
Towne Lounge (714 SW 20th Place) - Headlights, Evangelicals, Southerly; 9:30 pm, $6

I suggest nibbling at the ears for starters, then switching to the opposite end and biting off the tail. You could then go for the hind legs, although I’d probably chew off the head. But really, to each his/her own. (Oh, and I’ll be at East End tonight and Towne Lounge tomorrow night.) One thing’s for certain, though—YOU CAN’T STAY HOME.

I’m sorry.

This is sacrileges to me, but that new Jamie Lidell single (see below) sounds a bit too similar to “Virtual Insanity” by Jamiroquai. I can’t believe I just typed that.

So this either means I’m a closet Jamiroquai fan (that would explain why I have been wearing those gigantic floppy hats all these years…), or the new Jamie Lidell album is going to suck.

Either way, I lose.

Did you know Ryan Adams has a Tumblr page? It’s called TOTALLY BORED the musical, and it’s just about the best thing ever.

I know a lot of people who jumped the Ryan Adams ship once Gold was released, as I almost did, but here’s the thing: his last few albums have been stellar, and his shenanigans have been even more entertaining. Don’t believe me? Try deciphering this diatribe and then tell me that this man is not a complete genius.

Oh man, this song KILLS. Leave it to the skinny, nerdy white boy from the UK to go and create the best soul song released thus far this year.

Jamie Lidell plays Portland on May 27th, and his sure to be great new album, Jim, drops on April 29th.

Wait, that can’t be true. If Elvis Costello really hated the CD, he wouldn’t be reissuing My Aim Is True every six months or so. Anyway, Elvis has just added his name to the growing list of music industry rabble-rousers (say hello to Radiohead, Saul Williams, Gnarls Barkley…) by announcing that his 136th record (give or take a hundred or so), Momofuku (out April 22nd), will be available only as an LP and digital download.

What, no cassette?

Oh yeah, no CD too.

Following the lead of a few forward-thinking indie labels (namely Saddle Creek and Merge), the LP will contain a code for a free digital download of the album, but there will be no CD. Granted, Elvis is at a point in his career where he can release everything on cassingle and it wouldn’t really kill his bottom line, so the real test of this move will be if/when smaller, less nationally known, acts do the same.

Elvis, performing “Radio Radio,” before CDs were invented:

Song of the week: “Fireflies and Flame-throwers” by Art Of Flying.

In review: A Song of the Week is something you just can’t stop blaring—something you put on in the morning to help you wake up in a good mood, and something you dance around the house to while shouting along. Songs of the Week do not necessarily represent the feelings of End Hits as a whole, and they do not necessarily happen every week.

Back in November I wrote this Up and Coming:

Art of Flying’s new CD arrived with a New Mexico postmark. Stuffed inside the beautifully designed, colorful, hand-made case was a thoughtful letter banged out on an old, inky typewriter. And every bit of delicate, personal care put into the packaging carries over to the album. Attempt is chock full of frolicking melodies, rolling rhythms, and tight, intricate production. It covers a lot of ground, from punky noise to folk to psychedelia, but all styles are cleverly and expertly crafted. The group is fronted by David Costanza and his wife Anne (who played together in ’80s LA improv band the Whitefronts), along with drummer Peter Halter and Portland fixture Larry Yes on guitar. All in all, Attempt is some seriously bitchin’, near righteous shit. The only problem is that if it catches on—and it seriously should—it’s going to take forever to make all the cases they’ll need by hand.

Well, I took that CD home and for whatever reason it didn’t make the rotation. Cleaning up a mess of CD’s recently I re-discovered it and I’ve been jamming it ever since.

Dig it: Fireflies and Flame-throwers

We are spoiled rotten with choices; there are a ton of good shows tonight. Boredoms. The Builders and the Butchers. Jason Collett. But my money’s on the School of Language show at the Towne Lounge. School of Language is the solo project from David Brewis of Field Music. If you haven’t heard the song “Rockist” yet (which appears on the album as a quartet of tracks bookending the album), check this out:

One commenter on YouTube writes, “crap video but what a song!!” I kind of love the video, maybe just because it’s got David Brewis’ brother (and Field Music cohort) Peter Brewis goofing around in the background. But, yeah. What a song. Go see this show.

Oh, Black Kids: the band that launched a thousand OMGs! and a thousand more “Black Kids?! More like WHACK Kids”. Wherever you fall in the buy the hype or don’t buy the hype debate, their lead single, “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You”, is pretty incredible, and the new video released today gives us even more of a chance to argue about how good or how awful they really are.

Regardless of how you feel, the band plays the Doug Fir on April 28th with the AMAZING Cut Copy, which should prove to be one of the most hyped/talked about shows this year.

People seem kind of down in the dumpy today, so let’s get some hot mess tranny fierceness going with Italian house production unit BLACK BOX and their 1990 cross-over dance hit, “EVERYBODY, EVERYBODY.”

Best part of the video: Hot mens sweatin’ it out to that insanely infectious groove!

Worst part of the video: So what if it’s a “Groove is in the Heart” ripoff? The lip-synching french model Katrine is the epitome of hot mess tranny ferocity! (Real vocals were provided by the gospelicious Martha Wash.) Anyway, put your hands together, get on the dance floor and say, “OWW!”

Swervedriver - Making dreads cool again….

At SXSW, I got into a brief discussion about what reunion shows would be worth flying across the country for. Turns out, I’d probably fly for just about anyone I love. The Smiths? The Replacements? Jawbreaker? You bet your ass. Hell, had My Bloody Valentine played Coachella this year I would have totally flown down and braved the heat just for them.

But those bands listed above are exceptions to the rule, monoliths in music culture (or at least huge in my life). What about second-tier, B-team bands? Well, today Pitchfork is reporting that the almighty Swervedriver is reuniting for a handful of dates this summer, with LA being the closest place they’ll hit to Portland.

Well, they may not be the Smiths, but you can be sure I’ll be spending some time on Priceline this morning looking for plane tickets.

Clearly I have some low standards on bands that are fly-worthy, so why don’t you tell me who would be and wouldn’t be worth a massive trek to see? The first person to answer Smash Mouth is fired.

On March 10, I spoke with David Brewis on the phone in preparation for the article that appears in this week’s paper, which you can read here. The guitarist/drummer/singer/songwriter, of the currently-inactive Field Music, is visiting Portland tonight with his new project, School of Language. Despite my asinine questions and uncomfortable interviewing style, Brewis was remarkably friendly and willing to share details about his fantastic new record, Sea From Shore, and talked about the transition from being a member of Field Music to going out on his own. Here’s the complete interview. (Special thanks to Drew Gemmer in his assistance in transcribing this conversation.)

School of Language performs tonight, Thursday March 20, at Towne Lounge, 714 SW 20th Place.

As far as I can tell, I don’t think you ever made it out here with Field Music. Is this your first time to Portland?

BREWIS: It is, it certainly is, yes.

There’s a local band here, Menomena, who played some shows with you in the UK…

BREWIS: Actually, it was in the US. We did 10 dates with them in March last year, going from Chicago to New York. I enjoyed playing with them. I enjoyed meeting them. They were really nice guys.

I’m pretty excited you’re coming out here. I was a big fan of Field Music and was a little disappointed that didn’t last as long as it could have, but I got over that as soon as I heard the new record [Sea from Shore]. Were those songs that you had done demos for, or was it pretty much recorded as it was written?

It was pretty much… I’ve usually gotten the songs done, most of the songs written before I start recording. This is the first time I’ve recorded on the computer. And the idea was not really to demo things, or if I’ve demoed things then I want that to become the real recording at some point. And that seems a little bit easier to do on the computer.

So this was the first time you had done it that way?

Yeah. I’ve always been a little bit scared of computers, recording on computers, really. We used a hard disk recorder for the Field Music albums, but basically it was exactly like we would use a tape machine. Editing on it was pretty difficult, maybe not quite as difficult as cutting tape, but it was basically the same process. So this is the first time I’ve been able to, like, really incorporate sequencing into it, and software synths, and to be able to really play around with tracks. Rather than just saying, well, we’ve got 16 [tracks], let’s see what we can do with 16, and band stuff together if need be, and all that kind of thing.

Are you pretty happy with the way it turned out? Are you going to be experimenting more with the technology?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I feel like I’ve got a lot to learn, and then each new thing I do I’ll learn a bit more, get a little bit better with the recording. I certainly feel like in the past year-and-a-half I’ve learned absolutely loads. I just want to kind of continue doing, continue learning more, using whatever tools I’ve got at my disposal to make the best of whatever ideas I have.

So do you think you’re going down that long dark road of being the “studio geek”?

I’m not going to be too much of a geek about it. I, basically… I don’t have enough money to be a real geek about it. I enjoy trying to get the best out of what we’ve got. We don’t have very many mics. We’ve got, like five or six microphones, that are all pretty cheap, and we’ve got our practice room. We do everything we can in our little practice room. So, yeah. I don’t ever want to be a slave to the technological side to it. But I’m a studio person really, even if our studio is just a room. That’s the place where I have fun and experiment.

That’s the part of the process you like the most?

Probably, yeah. Well, or, I like the part of the process where I‘ve written most of the song. And I can tell what all of the song is supposed to sound like. And usually, that’s before I’ve start recording anything. But that point when I know what it’s supposed to sound like, is the best, the best, best. And after that, there’s lots of problem solving and things… but really, I’m a studio person.

When you’re recording, do you have an end result in your head, or do you get there by experimenting and then you’re surprised by what happens?

I’ve usually got an end result in mind. I might not be sure of how I’m going to get there, or there might be, like, little twists and turns it takes on the way, but certainly, what the feeling that I want the recording to have, I’m usually pretty clear on before I start recording anything. And then it’s just a process of trying to find ways to get there.

Would you say you’re successful most of the time?

I’m getting more successful. I kind of realized early on that you can never be fully satisfied with that part of it. Like, it’s never going to be exactly like you imagined. You can get it pretty close, maybe. But the best way to approach it is to have fun trying to get there. And if you have fun trying to get there, when you’re listening to the record later on, what you’ll hear maybe isn’t the fact that you didn’t quite get there, you’ll hear that you had fun trying to get there. So even if it doesn’t quite come off, as long as you have fun doing it, and you’re not listening to it and saying, “God that was a frustrating experience.” Then that’s usually satisfying enough in that sense. Like, I had a lot of fun recording it, I enjoyed the process of recording this record. From that point [of view], yeah it was pretty successful and most of them came out close enough to what I had in mind to be for me to really satisfied with it. I’m pleased with the songs. It’s nice that I’ve been able to do something… All I really want to do is keep writing songs that are better. Just keep getting better at writing songs. And it was nice to think, oh yeah, I’ve done a record that’s not a Field Music record and I’ve managed to write songs which I think are, like, as good as or better than the songs that I wrote for the Field Music records. So from that point of view, it really feels like a real success and a vindication, maybe, of not doing another Field Music record straight away. And also, I mean, Peter, my brother Peter just finished his record and again, you know, I listen to that, and just think, yeah, Peter, these are the best songs you’ve ever written. This is better than a Field Music record. And that feels like a great position to be in.

What’s going to happen with his record? Is it going to go out under his name?

I think that the record’s gonna have a name, possibly not the name of the band. It’s called the Week That Was. If you’ve got access to MySpace, he’s in my top eight, and one of the songs from it is on there. But it’s all finished--other than, I need to finish the mastering. Apart from that, it’s all done. It should come out, I think it’s coming out in August in the UK. Not sure whether it will be around the same time over here… but probably, it should certainly come out this year.

Was School of Language something that was premeditated, or was it started for fun and then you realized you had the makings of an album?

Probably, it was pretty premeditated. I wanted to make a record, I might not have had all the songs and it kind of didn’t, it might not have really mattered what I called it, although I had the name around, just thinking, yeah if I do something on my own, like the thing that I’m in charge of, then I’ll call it School of Language and that’ll be fine. Um, yeah. Um, occasionally I thought that it would be nice to record whatever I had around and not think about whether it was gonna go on a record or not. But I’m so much from the era of albums. I love albums. When I start to think about new songs, I tend to think about how these songs are going to slot together in an album. Sometimes in the past, I’ve had a group of four songs and thought, you know, this should be an EP. But it’s kind of difficult to get an EP together and get an EP out. It’s like, certainly in the UK, it’s just like a total non-format, which I think is a shame. Mostly, there’s going to be 30 or 40 minutes of songs which I’m going to want to have as an album and that’s… As soon as I started recording, I was hoping that it was going to come together as, like, a full 30 or 40 minutes.

Is this a long-term project, or a one-off and then you’re going to do another project under a different name?

I’m certainly planning to do another record as School of Language, and I think that…Yep.

Would you play all the parts on the new one?

Probably. I suppose my idea for School of Language, yeah, is this is the thing that I’m in charge of. I kind of like being in the studio on my own. I like doing it myself. And every now and again there’ll be something where I think, “Maybe I shouldn’t be the person playing it, maybe I should try to get somebody else to do it.” But yeah, the idea at the moment certainly is, like those School of Language records are gonna be me doing my little thing in the studio where maybe instead of going through the process of… I suppose, yeah, the thing is when I’m writing a song, I tend to have most of the arrangements in my head from very early on in the process. So getting other people involved would usually involve trying to explain to somebody what I wanted them to do fairly exactly. And that seems like a bad way to do a collaborative record, it’s just not… Like, a fake way to do a collaborative record. It’s probably quicker and less disingenuous just to try and figure out how to do it myself. Occasionally, there will be a part where I just think this is not a part for me to play, or what I’ve got in my head is something that someone else is going to play better. But that would just completely depend on what the song was.

There’s something about capturing the immediacy of it, too…

It’s weird to think I can be more spontaneous and make a more spontaneous sounding record if I do it on my own. I do it really, like, quickly as my ideas come out, rather than … whereas you might think the most spontaneous thing to do is have a band all sitting around, playing in a room and capture that like it is, but for me, for the way I write songs, that isn’t the way it would work.

Well, then let’s talk about the touring band. I guess you’ve got two guys touring with you. How does that work in light of what we just talked about, where you’re sort of doing everything? Are you dictating the parts? Is there collaboration?

It’s… for the live thing, I wanted to keep it pretty loose. I mean, there are certain things where it’s like, this is part of the song and those are the parts we’ve learned. But mostly as long as the song has the right momentum and the right changes and gives off the right kind of thing, then I’m less concerned. I really didn’t want to do something live where it was completely arranged. So this is, like, the three-piece rock arrangements of all of these songs, and it’s working out really well. I’m really enjoying it. I’m really enjoying being the guitar player in this band. I suppose with Field Music, the live thing was so arranged. There really wasn’t any fluctuation on how we’d play it. We’d play it more or less well. We’d do all of these tasks we’d have to do more or less well. I can’t think of a way we could have done that better, really, because it was just complicated stuff for three people to do. But I’m keen at the moment not to do things like that. I’d much rather do something where you have the prospect of reacting to what happens at a gig, or playing according to how you’re feeling at that time, or singing it according to what pops into your head at the time.

Is there any improvisation?

In what we’re doing now? Not in any great way. Not like we’re extending songs, or… Just all the subtle little things. Like I said, I’m really comparing it to Field Music, and Field Music was just so arranged. This is slightly looser. But it’s… and yeah, I’m not really dictating the parts, which is a nice position to be in. But I couldn’t imagine not working for me in the studio.

Are you pretty much just doing the new record? Any newer songs or older songs?

Mainly just doing stuff from the new record. I mean, we’ve been doing a Roxy Music cover, which is something that I’d recorded for a B-side. Other than that, it’s just the new record. We haven’t had a lot of time to practice. We had, like one and half practices in Chicago before the tour started. Haven’t had lots of time to work on lots of material. Actually, yeah, we had one and a half practices and then we had a gig in Princeton, which was, like, our dress rehearsal.

Where are you now?

We’re in Philadelphia. At a friend of ours, who’s let us stay, and we’re going to head off to D.C.

What sort of reaction have you gotten to the news that Field Music isn’t active any more? Are people upset about it, or sad, or indifferent…?

I think people who, most people who know what we’re doing aren’t that sad about it. Because, you know nobody’s saying we’re not going to do a Field Music record, um, we’re just saying this wouldn’t be a very good time to do a Field Music record, because that’s not the best way of getting our ideas out at the moment. And I think when people understand that, and lots of people have seemed to understand that, then there doesn’t seem to be any problem. People seem quite excited that there’s going to be lots of other things going on. And I think a lot of people are just kind of… Some of the reactions have been quite angry and skeptical, like “Oh, so what are you doing? Are you splitting up or not? Or, what’s all of this… ‘Doing it in a different way,’ what the hell does that mean?” At first, it’s just like, well… How a group of musicians making music work together can be as complicated or as simple as you like. This situation is just slightly complicated. And the three of us are still making lots of music together. But just none of it’s going to be a Field Music record in the near future. For me, a band isn’t a particular set of people. It’s a set of ideas that can change from one thing to another. Some people say, you know, if you do a band where it’s just the three of you again, why wouldn’t it be Field Music? But you know, Field Music has, in some sense, become defined… there’s a definite thing which is Field Music, some nebulous set of ideas. Or, in some senses actually, it’s a really defined set of ideas. Field Music is basically mine and Peter’s songs, where we help each other arrange it. But, essentially one of either of us is in charge of the song and we use, like, all our skills to try to get it out. I mean, we’re doing the keyboard player Andrew’s record at the moment. You know, just the three of us doing it. But it’s Andy’s songs, and it sounds slightly different. There’s lot of similarities, because we’re all playing it and arranging, but just to me, it doesn’t sound like a Field Music record.

Do you think that Field Music had accomplished what you had set out to do? Was there a feeling of frustration and you wanted to get away from it?

I’m pleased with the records we made. And that’s the ultimate, kind of, goal. Just to make records that we enjoyed. The live situation is slightly frustrating. I hadn’t really learned what I wanted to do.

Because it was so orchestrated?

I didn’t realize how frustrating I would find that. And like I said, there didn’t seem to be another option given at the time. I mean, it’s frustrating and it’s hard to make a living from it. But, I mean, on one level, that’s just completely irrelevant. Because even if I couldn’t make a living off it, then we would have still been trying to make those records. It would have taken a lot longer, and they would have been slightly different. But yeah, I mean, we achieved making those records. And, you know, we managed to do records together, which is something which for a long time, I didn’t think that me and Peter would be able to do. I didn’t really think that we’d be able to do a collaborative record like that, because we are both quite sprawling. But we managed to come up with a compromise which meant that we could do two records together. And we’ll probably do… well, we’ll certainly record together again, but whether… We’ll probably do a Field Music record again at some point.

Is there someone whose career you look at and think you’d want to do something similar? Someone whose path they’ve carved for themselves is something you respect? That’s kind of a generic question, I know.

It’s kind of important because if there’s no… it’s hard, when you’re trying to do this, it’s hard to find like a real… it’s hard to find a place in the music industry when you feel about it the way that I do. Someone like Nick Cave or Brian Eno or Sonic Youth, they’re just continuing to be productive. Just being productive and trying to find new things, all the time.

So it’s the discovery…?

Regardless of, like, fluctuations in popularity or fashion, they’re just, like, out there, always trying to work, always trying to do new things, always trying to get better at what they do, and not being afraid to say, “yeah, we’re trying to get better.” Not just like “Ah, well, you know, we just do whatever we do, and it’s just magic, right?” Someone like Nick Cave will be honest enough to say that he is trying to write better lyrics, or he’s trying to write songs in a different way, and that’s a great thing. And that’s… All I want to do is just keep getting better at what I do.

Party of the century?

Just to be clear, this music video is broadcast on CMT. It was another one I found deep in the middle of the night/early morning. It’s so strange I thought I was dreaming. This afternoon I looked it up, and thankfully the abomination was not born of my own mind.

That said, there’s not too much I can say add—the identity crisis comes across loud and clear. Man, this baby from Cowboy Troy is definitely in The Best of the Worst Hall of Fame. Near the top. Number one I’ve been keeping in my back pocket. Someday soon I’ll break it out to better put all of this into context. Until then though, Cowboy Troy fills the spot nicely. Get a load of this lyrical gem:

“808 Rattlin’ / You can feel it in your crack”

NO COWBOY TROY! STAY AWAY FROM MY BUTTCRACK! Boy, if you just read that, Cowboy Troy talking about butt cracks sounds awfully, well… you know…

I’m dumbfounded. You can be too. Check out “Hick Chicks”:

Things I learned from the above video:

1) High quality Jamaican marijuana is GOLD
2) Pot records are worth more than vinyl records
3) Records sometimes smell like pizza

(HT: Boing Boing)

According to a press release, the Raconteurs’ (or the Sabateurs’, if you’re Australian) second album will be available everywhere next week, March 25th. Whether or not you’re excited about “Jack White’s side project” (I’d argue they have legitimate claim to being considered an actual, valid band), I think it’s worth getting excited about the manner in which they’ve chosen to release the album.

From the band’s press release:

The purpose: to get the album to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised. We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the EXACT SAME TIME so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding its availability, reception or perception… With this release, The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important ‘first week sales’. We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter.

I think this is a terrific idea. In this age of advance copies leaking on file-sharing sites, tracks available for preview on websites and MySpace, and “pre-release” downloads available for purchase with bonus material, an album’s street date has pretty much become irrelevant. The idea of getting music out there, everywhere, to everyone, as soon as it is ready, is absolutely the way to go. No more waiting, no more marketing plans, no more first-week sales numbers. Oh, the album’s ready? It’s done? We can listen to it? PUT IT OUT. There have been more than a few occasions where albums have been hyped to no end, and then “dropped” like lead balloons on their release date because they’ve been sat upon for MONTHS, and when the album finally comes out, nobody gives a shit anymore. Radiohead had the right idea by throwing their album at us when we weren’t looking, and now it seems the Raconteurs have the right idea, too. MORE, PLEASE.

For a record that took ten years to make, it seems like Portishead’s Third is going to disappoint a lot of fans. Judging by this first single for “Machine Gun”, gone is the sultry, sad, tears in your beer Portishead, and what has emerged are three people with a serious vendetta to settle. Seriously, listen to those drums: they’re like, well, machine gun fire.

I for one am all about this new sound. If they had come with a classic trip-hop album circa 1996 I would have been disappointed. But this? This I am excited about.

Good morning.

We’ve been writing about our undying devotion to La Blogotheque’s “Concert à Emporter” (I think that means “Take Away Concerts,” to us Yanks, but don’t hold me to that) for some time now. So how about we start this morning out with a couple of their amazing videos?

First up, R.E.M. in a car, which is just surreal enough as it is, but it’s even better since the band is having a blast while performing a sloppy acoustic take on “Living Well Is the Best Revenge,” the opener to their surprisingly impressive new album, Accelerate.

Next up, Arcade Fire, performing “Neon Bible” in an elevator. Not solo, all of them. One elevator, full band, and who needs percussion when you can just tear out pages from a magazine? This is amazing.

You’re Death Cab For Cutie.
People get tattoos of your album art and post photos of them online.
You’re arguably one of the last big rock acts left.
You have a new album, Narrow Stairs, on its way, so your debut single is… 8:35 long?!?

For a band that is often ridiculed for being soft, this is a bold move. Granted, the single, “I Will Possess Your Heart,” has a radio edit, but it’s still an admirable decision considering that the band, at this stage of their career, could just phone it in and still end up with a hit record and mantle full of sparkling Grammys.

Also, how much are you willing to wager that the first remix of this song is titled “I Will Repossess Your Heart,” eh?

Yeah, those boys in Hot Chip sure do know how to do it right. This has “I’m gonna see this song pop up in my RSS feed eighteen times today” written all over it, and, well, for good reason. It’s Hot Chip! Cover Snoop! What more could you want?!

Hot Chip - Sensual Seduction

I really tried to hate the new italo-disco Chromatics. I love me some italo, and I just didn’t think a coked out hipster version of it would really be my thing.

That being said, Night Drive, their latest record, is fantastic. While it definitely doesn’t scream italo to me, it does scream awesomeness, and those icy-synth lines get stuck in my head for days on end. Even though the above video leaves a bit to be desired, I can assure you I’ll watch it at least five times before the day ends, just because “Killing Spree” is that good.

TRAVIS MORRISON, SYSTEM & STATION, THE RAINY STATES (Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison) As frontman of Washington DC’s Dismemberment Plan, Travis Morrison emerged as a chronicler of the world at its most sordid and most triumphant, all amidst gloriously catchy post-punk songs. His recent All Y’All isn’t exactly a return to form per se—the rhythmic explorations of his new backing group Hellfighters extend more deeply than those of his previous band (especially on “I’m Not Supposed to Like You (But)” and “Churchgoer”)—and the Morrison of 2008 is both more cynical and more wide-eyed in his lyrics. After working with shifting instrumental configurations, Morrison seems to have found the proper balance to complement these songs. And live, his default mode remains unabashedly, almost sheepishly, charismatic. TOBIAS CARROLL

There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t miss the Dismemberment Plan. While some indie bands merely come off as smart, the D.Plan were intelligent to the point of being intimidating. They always seemed a bit too wise for the game, and when they split after a decade in 2003, I was pretty convinced we’d never hear from any of them again.

So I was wrong. Morrison has been lingering around as a solo artist for a few years now, and while his ‘04 debut, Travistan, was a bit uneven at times, it will forever be known as the record that was sunk dead in the water by a horrifically cruel review. The review did more than just derail Morrison, it was one of the first signs of the gradual shift in the music industry in which the power is stripped from the artist and instead now resides with those online. It’s safe to say that if the old music media—Spin, Rolling Stone, Magnet, etc—had all panned the record together, at the same exact time, the result still wouldn’t have been as devastating.

Morrison’s second solo album—the painfully titled All Y’all— was released with far less controversy, and much like its predecessor, it’s all highs and lows. Morrison comes off as hyperactive and wacky a bit too much, but towards the end of the recording, he seems to find that same D.Plan jittery rhythm once again.

MP3:
Travis Morrison - Around the Way Girl (LL Coool J cover)

Travis Morrison - As We Proceed

Have you ever wanted to meet me and punch me in the jaw then run away as I crumble to the ground in a pool of tears talk about music? Well my friend, now is your chance.

On Saturday, March 29th, the Musicians Union is hosting a “Meet with the Press” Q&A where you can say hello to Portland’s best music critics—Luciana Lopez (Oregonian), Amy McCullough (Willamette Week), Barbara Mitchell (Portland Tribune)—along with myself, “Portland’s Ninth Best Music Critic With a Beard Who Is Named Ezra.”

The event is an ideal opportunity to speak about the relationship between local bands and the media, get an outside perspective on how to better pitch your music to the press, and I’m sure we will cover all sorts of other issues as well.

Sadly, the Musicians Union rejected my idea of adding a battle royal to the death (“Four critics enter, only one lives to blog about it…”) at the end of the event. Then again, that’s probably a good thing.

Full press release below…

Ever wanted to Meet with the Press?

The Musicians Union, Local 99 is hosting 4 of our esteemed local
music writers for an afternoon presentation and Q & A about their
jobs, press releases, what they like to see, and how you might help
yourself get some press.

Present at the event will be:
Luciana Lopez Pop Music Critic-Oregonian
Amy McCullough Music Editor-Willamette Week
Ezra A. Caraeff Music Editor-Portland Mercury
Barbara Mitchell Music Critic-Portland Tribune

Saturday, March 29, 2008
2-4 PM

Musicians Union Hall
325 NE 20th
Portland, OR

The event is free to all, though we are suggesting a $5, tax
deductible, donation to the Music Education Assistance Project, a
non-profit organization that provides support for Public School Music Programs.

Alright. I’m sick of hearing about it, and you may be as well, but there are a few things SXSW taught me, even though I wasn’t there.

1: Next year I’m going. It’s as good as done. Wrap it up.

2: Record sales are in the toilet, but they are in no way reflective of the state of music. Creativity and the appetite for it—though unwilling to buy a CD—is as strong as ever.

3: WHITE DENIM ARE FUCKING AWESOME! Holy Christ these guys are rad. Classic and thoroughly modern at once—proof that rock chops and instrumentation have a place despite the influx of laptops and knob twiddlers. These three guys—that’s right, a fucking power trio—totally rip. Just phenomenal. From all accounts this Austin band sets the stage on fire.

Listen to White Denim’s “Don’t Look That Way At It”, then cruise over to their Myspace for more.

4: I would kill Ezra and Rob and the guy from the Stranger in a Taco Eating Contest.

Oh, dear sweet Jesus. Do we really need Kurt Cobain’s name plastered all over a pair of Chucks? Converse thinks we do, and Courtney Love’s on board. So feast your eyes on the most unnecessary celebrity tie-in ever. And YES, these appear to be modeled on the same one-star black pair that Kurt was wearing when he offed himself.
Punk rock also apparently means brand name recognition!

Hat tip to Daily Swarm, which has the full story, and more pics, too.

The BBC reports that Ola Brunkert, the drummer who played on most of the ABBA records, was found dead in a freak accident. A broken glass partition was found on his property, and the cause of death was bleeding to death from a cut in his neck. Yikes! Officials are presuming he fell and injured himself.

I have a love/hate relationship with ABBA. I actually read a book about them (part of an extremely ill-advised attempt to make it through the library’s music section alphabetically), and it was interesting to read how the couples came together and broke apart, and pretty much stifled all of their emotions in order to make giant meatballs of cash. But I only have peripheral exposure to their music. Some of it, I like a lot. (“Knowing Me Knowing You”? That’s the one where one of the women sexily breathes “Good days, bad days…” right? And I am not ashamed to liking “Dancing Queen.”) And some of it, not so much.

It’s fucking hard to find Abba videos that show the drummer, okay?

I know I’m probably the only person on this blog who will find this news exciting, but a partial lineup has been announced for this year’s NYC Popfest. Take a brief look at their list thus far:

The Besties (NYC)

The Cannanes (Australia)

Dent May & his ukelele (MO)

Friday Bridge (Sweden)

From Bubblegum to Sky (NYC)

The Hermit Crabs (UK)

Mahogany (NYC)

My Teenage Stride (NYC)

Oh! Custer (Sweden)

The Orchids (Scotland)

One Happy Island (MA)

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (NYC)

Tullycraft (WA)

Love is All (Sweden)

If you’re not familiar with any of the above bands, take my word, this is a freakishly amazing lineup. It’s so good, in fact, that I just might have to go out a buy a new cardigan for the festivities.

Continue after the jump for some video highlights that will hopefully prove to you the awesomeness that will be this year’s Popfest.

My Teenage Stride - To Live and Die in the Airport Lounge

Love is All - Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up

The Besties - Prison Song

There's no good video for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, but you should really go to their Myspace and stream everything they have on there. This band is going to be HUGE.

Thin Lizzy - Whiskey in the Jar

I hit the Glass Candy/Chromatics show on Friday night at Rotture, two of the best looking and most popular bands in town. It was crammed, and I must have run into about 70 people I know, including the Mercury news intern, who scored many points in my book when he rescued me from fighting through the crowd with two full vodka sodas that were getting jostled and sloshed by carrying them over the crowd for me. Now that’s an intern. Anyhow, Merc photog Minh Tran was there too, and was nice enough to pass on some of the images he snapped:

(Here’s Ruth. She likes it that in Chromatics all she has to do is stand there and sing and look pretty even though she can play guitar better than any of her bandmates. Don’t ever forget it, she totally shreds.)

(Here’s Johnny. He built the “deco” stage you can see in the other photos.)

(Here’s Ida, who begs the question: pigtails, yes or no?)

My blogging train derailed after, oh, a day. But hey, I was on borrowed computer time, and there were both copious amounts of bands to see, tacos to eat, and hangovers to cure. Can you really blame me?

So, instead of doing a day by day thing as was probably my original intention, may I just offer you both my stats, highlights, and low-lights:

Total Number of Tacos Consumed: Ten (had I not had to come home on Saturday afternoon, that taco crown would have been mine!)
Total Number of Beers Consumed: Too many for one liver.
Total Number of Bands Seen: Somewhere in the fifty range, or, in other words, a freaking ton.
Total Number of Bands Seen Twice: Three (Jens Lekman, Born Ruffians, Be Your Own Pet)
Total Number of Bands Seen Three Times: One (Bodies of Water)
Total Number of Bands Not Seen But Wanted To See: Four (Neon Neon, Wye Oak, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Okkervil River)
Total Number of Man-Crushes I Finally Admitted To Myself of Having: One (Jens Lekman!! SWOON!)

Continue after the jump for all my post-drunken insight on the insanity that was SXSW.

This is the conversation I had with a friend the day after the Constantines show on Friday night, which, consequently, was probably my favorite show of the entire week:

"So, have you seen anything good?"
"Yeah, I saw the Constantines last night"
"I had no idea they were even down here! Damnit!"
"Yeah, they were really fucking great, too."
"Of course they were great. They're the greatest live band in the world. You know, the Constantines were the only band you could have answered my question with that would have bummed me out. Thanks for destroying my South By in one single sentence"

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. They really are incredible. If you don't believe me, listen to this fan boy go off on how much he also loves them.

Other than that, I'd have to say my biggest highlights were both Jens Lekman and Bodies of Water, both bands I have consequently already seen live. I caught Jens twice, once solo and once with his full band, and both times were incredible. He is without a doubt my favorite current musician. He closed both sets with "A Sweet Summer Night on Hammer Hill", and after the whole "my heart beats like..." portion of the song, he just glazed over with a hint of a smile on his face, stared off into the back of the crown, and rested the microphone right on his heart. It was incredibly twee and adorable, and I can't help it: I love that man.

Bodies of Water I managed to catch three times, which means they were either doing something incredibly right or I have the worst planning skills of all time. Luckily for me, they are doing something right. I can't quite pin their sound down exactly, but I think a lot of it sounds very Talking Heads-ish, at least in the way their songs are structured. Really though, it's all about the vocal harmonies. Hearing four people (two guys, two girls) belt it out the way they do is everything it should be: uplifting, chill-inducing, and beautiful. Give it six months and all you'll be hearing about is this band, for sure.

Los Campesinos! were great, even though they experienced some sound difficulties and really only played stuff of their not-yet released new album. Times New Viking killed it. I like the records, but seeing them live is the only way they should be experienced.

Other bands that I can really recommend although not at length here because I just spend four days drinking and drinking and drinking and my mind isn't quite functioning: El Guincho, Fleet Foxes, The Mae Shi, Fucked Up, Born Ruffians, The Ruby Suns, Bon Iver, and Kid Sister.

Sadly, there were two disappointments this trip. I was really excited to see The Wedding Present, but they only played as a two-piece, guitar and bass, and while I love that band immensely, the whole acoustic feel to the show wasn't working for me. And sadly, although it was sound difficulties and not her fault, I only lasted about three songs through Robyn's set. The first song, when everything was working, was amazing, but then her computer stopped working and the show devolved into her singing over an electric piano. Again, I love me some Robyn, but have no desire to see her do an acoustic set.

And that was it. There were a ton of bands. There was a ton of drinking. There weren't enough tacos. Next year that taco crown is mine!

Day Four - SXSW 2008
Total Number of Bands Seen:
Only 7. Night Marchers, Thurston Moore And The New Wave Bandits, Okkervil River, The Deadly Syndrome, Georgie James, Murs, and the Make Believe.
Total Number of Tacos Consumed:
Three. Four, if you count the “lucky” one pictured above.
Notable Shows That I Was Unable to See:
Too many to mention. She & Him (took too long to set up), M1 of Dead Prez (did not perform at his scheduled time), Monotonix (heard their set, but we were trapped on the wrong side of a fence), Neon Neon (same as M1)…
Pints of St. Patrick’s Day Green Beer Consumed:
Zero. But I tried. Oh, how I drunkenly tried.

Day four, the final day of the festival, was a well-intentioned mess that involved far too much drinking, not enough taco eating, and lots of schedule confusion. Weaker men would have just crumbled from the pressure, but I carried on and just got drunker and drunker and drunker…

The hardest part of the day, and there were many, was losing the taco consumption crown to Eric Grandy at The Stranger. Despite his petite frame and small girlish hands (which are unfit to hold a fully-loaded taco), Grandy was victorious, thus cementing his legacy as the Kobayashi of taco eating.

Moving on to the music. It's no fun being the last guy on the Monotonix hype wagon, but seeing the Israeli band has been a real challenge for me. It just has never worked out. I tried my best to catch them at Waterloo Park, but due to a complete lack of signs, order, or help (common SXSW themes), we were stuck just listening to them from the other side of a fence. Not a good way to start things out.

We eventually did make it into the park, where we caught the Night Marchers, the new project from John Reis (Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Jehu, plus he's an all-around badass). Best described as a forceful combination of every band he's ever been in, the Marchers were real troopers for roasting in the blaring Texas sun as they pounded out some jittery and raw garage punk, capped by Reis howling pipes. I can only imagine how great they'd be in a dark club with a pair of cold drinks in each hand.

I'll skip the Thurston Moore set (nothing too exciting, and far too crowded to snap a photo), or the booooring wait for She & Him, who took their sweet time setting up. They were 90 minutes late in playing, so I vanished and met some folks at a certain restaurant that had this frightening bit of art pinned to their wall.

Seeing how they just might be my favorite modern rock band ever, a trip to Austin would not be complete without catching at least one Okkervil River performance. Opening with the assassination ode "The President's Dead," the band was in rare form as it was the final performance of guitarist Brian Cassidy, who is leaving the band to focus on being a father. Singer Will Sheff was focused on Cassidy, oftentimes leaning on him during solos (ala The Boss!) and staring at the departing guitarist during their rollicking set.

Before the disappointment of the evening set in—as the festival ended not with a bang, but instead with a muffled whimper—I caught the D.C. pop duo Georgie James. It's amazing how effortless their pop songs are—it just seems so easy for them—and they capped things off with a fantastic cover of the Zombies "This Will Be Our Year."

I wanted M1, but I got Murs. I'm all for Murs, and his odd hairstyle, but he didn't satisfy the militant vegan hiphop I was craving, plus, the venue's bass-heavy sound system wasn't the ideal situation if you wanted to hear a single rhyme he delivered.

This night had to end, so why not let a Kinsella do the honors? Make Believe performed at an Irish Pub (my second of the night), and while Tim Kinsella's screetching vocals may not be the best way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, it was a nice trip down memory lane. A Kinsella show on a Saturday night with my friends, all that was missing was my mom waiting outside, idling in the Astro Van, ready to drive us back home.