This Week in the Mercury
Friday, August 29, 2008
Video Can Someone Please Explain "November Rain" to Me?
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 3:38 PM
It's been 17 years since the video for Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" came out, and I still don't get it.
I know there was supposed to be a pair of sequels that wrapped up the batshit crazy plot (How did she die? Why did the Best Man leave the ceremony to solo in some desert by himself? Did they really build special stairs for Slash to climb in his ascension of Axl's piano?), but "Don't Cry" just made everything more confusing (Slash dies?) and "Estranged" had dolphins in it.
Fucking dolphins!
Wiki, take it away:
Much speculation exists about the shot of Axl walking past the gun store. Some take it as a sign that Axl killed his new bride. Others think it may mean that Stephanie has already visited the store, and Axl is too late to save her. Yet another theory is that, while Axl didn't physically shoot her, he may have pushed/motivated her to kill herself. There is even some confusion as to how Stephanie died. While most accept that she was shot in the head, some believe that she is killed by the lightning strike at the end of the wedding reception. However, the mirror over half her face gives credence to the "gunshot theory", as the families of head trauma victims often employ mirrors to give the appearance of a full face. It's entirely possible that the gun store was just a clever play on the band's name.
That doesn't help me at all. Anyone?
MP3 / News New Songs From Arthur Russell!
Posted by Rob Simonsen on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I cannot hide my excitement on this one: Audika Records just posted two (new) Arthur Russell songs on their Myspace. Not only that, Love is Overtaking Me, the new Russell collection, has an official release date of October 28th!
The two new songs are slices of Russell's more folk-influenced side, specifically "Close My Eyes," a haunting little country number played on acoustic guitar that is probably one of the more straight ahead songs Russell probably ever composed. For a man that was so deep into the avant-garde scene, it's nice to hear what he could do stripped of all that ethereal business, and the result only solidifies his genius as a songwriter. "Eli," the second track currently streaming, is more of what you would expect, with Russell strumming away at the cello and singing in that nasal-y warble.
Of all the records I'm still excited to hear this year, Love is Overtaking Me is without a doubt at the top of my list. The idea of hearing new (to me) Arthur Russell tracks, specifically more straight away folk, is more exciting than just about anything I can think of right now.
Seriously, go listen to these songs now.
Video Happy 50th Birthday, Jacko!
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Happy birthday, Michael Jackson! You've hit the big 5-0... and you don't look a day over 12!
Despite all the rumors about his bizarre personal life, the man is the undisputed King of Pop... and for very good reason. Let's take a look at the musical genius at work in perhaps his finest hour:
Michael Jackson & Eddie Murphy: "Whatzupwitu"
Oh god. No, that didn't work. Now I just feel dirty. Is there some way to cleanse the pain?
Michael Jackson & Roberta Flack: "When We Grow Up"
Okay. I feel slightly better.
Tonight! / Vinyl Hot Victory 7"
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 10:25 AM
There's only one thing better than a drum solo, and that's a drum duet. That's exactly what Hot Victory has to offer, with Ben Stoller and Caitlin Love each playing the skins, crashing, thumping and whacking in tandem. Erik Hanson provides occasional extra noise and samples. Hot Victory's debut self-titled 7", printed on really good-looking marbled blue vinyl, is celebrating its release tonight at Kelly's Olympian, and its three tracks exhibit the joy and energy of drumming in all its loud, percussive glory.
"Beach" is a clattering, slam bang three-minute drum fill, with triplets and ratamacues swooping and fluttering over cartoony sound effects. The drums crescendo and decrescendo, at times sounding incredibly violent and explosive, other times reigned in for subtlety. The beat shifts throughout, and the wet, lingering reverb gives the recording a cavernous sense of space.
"Construction" is aptly named, with ambient construction noises under (or over) a martial cadence, making the drums sound like part of the rhythm of the construction work. Both the drumming and the beeps and motors of the construction site take turns in the lead, with the end result sounding more like an art piece of anti-music than the celebratory show-off playing of the first track.
On the B-side, "Bungalow," drums are played alongside plastic buckets, with the occasional bicycle bell pinging for good measure. Tropical jungle noises are laid above, but towards the end of the track more noises creep in, taking us from the natural world to the synthetic one. A processed drumbeat signals the way to a full-on explosion with both drum kits providing a propulsive, relentless beat, with a melodic riff above. It's an action-packed climax to everything that's come before.
I can't think of anything else that sounds like Hot Victory. Rest assured they do not in any way evoke the Tommy Lee rotating-cage cheeseball drum solo from Motley Crue shows, or the arena-pleasing Phil Collins/Chester Thompson live drum duets of latter-day Genesis shows. Curse my tongue (or typing fingers) for even mentioning these. Hot Victory is weird, arty, angular, violent, and incredibly un-danceable. It also makes me really want to play the drums.
Listen to the tracks from the 7" and more at Hot Victory's MySpace page. Hot Victory plays TONIGHT at Kelly's Olympian, 426 SW Washington, 10 pm, $5.
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News Fuel TV Covers Portland - TO THE EXTREME!
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Like a gnar gnar McTwist in a killer bowl (what?) Fuel TV will be airing a special called, "Dew Underground: Portland," this Sunday evening. According to the clip above the action sports network will cover the "tastiest eats, coolest arts, and RIP City's best live music.".
So, yeah, they'll be going to both Stumptown Coffee and Voodoo Doughnuts.
As far as music, look for Lifesavas, Boy Eats Drum Machine, Tea for Julie, Danava, and the Upsidedown to all be featured. No one loves Portland more than basic cable.
Dew Underground: Portland airs Sunday, August 31st at 5:30pm, and will re-air "several more times over the next month." To the extreme!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
MP3 / Let's Talk About... Outside of a Small Circle of Friends
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Earlier this week our Action News Team linked to a story about about a New York woman who was stabbed to death as her neighbors sat idly by ("Neighbor says they ignored dying woman's screams") and didn't call authorities. Sadly, it brought to mind the story of Kitty Genovese, who was murdered in an eerily similar fashion (with even more neighbors hearing the attack--numbers range from a dozen, all the way up to 38 different residents--but refusing to call for help) in 1964, and whose death is often cited as a perfect example of the bystander effect.
Phil Ochs, one of the truly great songwriters of any generation, and a man permanently shrouded in the mighty shadow of Dylan, wrote about the Genovese case, bystander effect, and the power of apathy in "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends."
"Look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody outside of a small circle of friends"
Supposedly the song, with its rollicking ragtime piano line and over-the-top corniness, was a near-hit for Ochs but was blacklisted due to its mentioning of drugs ("Smoking marijuana is more fun than drinking beer").
LISTEN:
Phil Ochs - "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends"
News This Week's Mercury Music Section
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Another week, another Mercury music section to read while you collect those free sponges. And remember, do not ring the doorbell ("NO ONE WILL ANSWER") and if you think about taking that stick on the porch, please don't ("It is our families marshmallow roasting stick").
Blue collar through and through, Old Growth are the working man's rock and roll band. Just look at the photo above, they are literally blowing that poor kid's fragile mind. Good thing he is wearing a helmet.
LISTEN:
Old Growth - "Wasted The Day"
The long and winding road of A.A. Bondy: From the grungey radio rock of Verbena to the gentle strum of his solo material, there truly is hope for all alt-rock singers out there. Except you Weiland, you're fucked.
LISTEN:
A.A. Bondy - "There's A Reason"
!!! (or as I prefer to call them, Pug Pug Pug) celebrate a decade of thick funk grooves, live show heroics, and having a band name that is impossible to Google.
LISTEN:
!!! - "Myth Takes"
Fancy your psychedelic music with a hefty dollop of elevated escapism? Yeah, me too. Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound specializes in just that. I'd write more but I'm on my way to Burning Man right now...
WATCH:
Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound - Live in San Francisco
In this week's music columns Cary talks about the teenage power of Southern Belle, while I conduct an exit interview with departing DJ Joee Irwin.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tonight! Anal Cunt Vs. Anal Blast - Who Ya Got?
Posted by Rob Simonsen on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 4:23 PM
The lunar eclipse of metal shows is happening tonight at Satyricon: two bands with "anal" in the title are on the same bill. So, in honor of this rare occasion, I want to know who is your vote for the Most Metal Band With Anal in the Title playing tonight.
First up, Anal Cunt with their #1 smash hit song "Hitler Was a Sensitive Man."
And now, we have Anal Blast playing "Bloody Hole," the title of which, I assure you, is not lost on me.
Wow, that's a tough choice. Personally, I'm more of an Anal Stench man myself, but if I was forced to choose between these two, I think I'd take Anal Blast, if only for the reason that the Encycolpaedia Metallum has one of their lyrical themes listed as "menstruation." Yeah, that's pretty damn metal.
Video Holy Crap! New Video from Holy Sons!
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 3:48 PM
When not scaring children and glorifying tinnitus with his other--more intimidating--projects, OM and Grails, Emil Amos likes to mellow out a bit with Holy Sons. His upcoming LP, Decline Of the West, is a restrained affair of hazy downtrodden numbers, including the single "Feral Kid," whose horror movie collage video is above. West is out next month, just a few weeks before Grails' latest Doomsdayer's Holiday hit stores.
Jeez Emil, take a vacation already.
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KNW YR PDX Portland Artists in WFMU's Free Music Archive
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Have you heard about WFMU's Free Music Archive project? The NY/NJ-based free form community radio station is compiling a sprawling archive of free music available on the web--totally legal, totally legit, totally free. The launch is a couple months away, but their pre-launch blog already has plenty of free music for the taking, including a whole bunch of Portland musicians collected in a nice, neat blog post. Artists include Ilyas Ahmed, Sean Brooks, Celesteville, and more. Get listening right here.
Video T-Pain's New Music Video
Posted by Christine S. Blystone on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Did you ever think you'd see a Juggalo again? And in an R&B video no less? Just check out T-Pain's new incredibly weird, cheesy, and awesome video for Can't Believe It and see for yourself:
I've had to watch this about ten times in the past twenty-four hours. It immediately reminded me of this old Michael Jackson video.
On a side note, I like T-Pain, but he really needs to lose those fugly hats he's been wearing lately.
Tonight! / Video Man Man - Tonight!
Posted by Rob Simonsen on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 10:13 AM
Yes! Man Man are bringing their freak show to Portland tonight! You can read what I wrote about them for the paper this week here, but really, if that clip above of them performing "Black Mission Goggles" doesn't sell you on the greatness of this band, nothing probably will.
I cannot recommend going to this show enough. I really like their records, but seeing Man Man live is just a whole different beast. Everyone writhes, wiggles, and shakes their way through each track, and, needless to say, the end result is always a fucked up dance party. This band is sheer kinetic energy, and it's hard not to get caught right up in the middle of it all.
Plus, seeing a mustache of that caliber in person is worth the trip and door price alone.
Man Man play the Hawthorne Theater tonight with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band and Mimicking Birds. 8pm. All Ages. $15.
Video Dandy Warhols Blast Into Space!
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 10:09 AM
For record number six, ...Earth To The Dandy Warhols..., Portland's bestest band in the history of ever, the Dandy Warhols, blast into space and burn up upon re-entry of the Earth's atmosphere film a video for "Mission Control." It cost $431 billion dollars to make. I like the Russian version more, they used monkeys.
The space programed is fucked.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Podcast New Episode of Your Radio Sucks
Posted by Christine S. Blystone on Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 3:16 PM
Combing the alleyways and sidewalks of today's music scene, Your Radio Sucks chisels new songs off the pavement, puts them in a paper bag, lights it on fire, and leaves it flaming on your doorstep. Get those expensive new shoes dirty with the likes of Kristoffer Ragnstam, the Moondoggies, David Byrne & Brian Eno, Old Growth, Human Highway, Brimstone Howl (pictured), Plushgun, LKN, A.A. Bondy, and the Walkmen. It's the oldest trick in the book!
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News Don't Cry Over Spilt Mux
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 2:26 PM
Image courtesy of friedbumblebees.com
It was only a matter of time before something stepped in to fill the gaping, aching hole that the sudden departure of Muxtape has left in our lives. Thank heaven for Opentape, which essentially replicates the Muxtape magic. From the website:
Opentape's creation and design are proudly inspired by Muxtape's success and sleek interface. We were sad with it's untimely shutdown and wanted to let the web mixtape movement continue.So take the rest of the day off and get muxing... er, opentaping, before the Record Industry Association of Assholes gets wise.
News Johnny Marr to Join Every Single Portland Band
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 1:17 PM
According to this NME video (via Stereogum), Johnny Marr has joined the Cribs.
That's two Portland (well, sort of) bands that Marr is now playing in. Who's next? Granted, Modest Mouse are transplants (stop taking our jobs!), and only one member of the Cribs lives here... but it's a slow news day. Plus by playing in these two acts it keeps Marr away from doing this again. That never happened, okay?
What Portland band will he join next? It could be yours.
News Final Warning to Reunite, Finally
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 7:00 AM
One of Portland's flagship hardcore/punk bands of the Reagan years, Final Warning, is reuniting for a series of Pacific Northwest shows. First Seattle, then a performance at Satyricon on September 20th. Self-described as "the most handsome and slender hardcore band in Portland"--that is a difficult claim to live up to for older bands, I better see some bullet belts wrapped around slim waistlines at the show--Final Warning made their run from 1982 until 1986, taking part in the well-respected, and well-romanticized, era of Portland underground music.
These reunion shows (with their "classic" lineup of Jeff Paul, Jeff "Simon" Simoncini, Tim Paul, and Dan Cunneenwill) will be their first performances since 1986, and to catch up on the band (or what you missed when you just a kid during the '80s) a good start is their PDX anthology. Released last year on Southern Lord, the 16-song release features all their studio material plus a live set from a '85 performance at the Starry Night, where they opened for this band.
Now if you don't mind, I need to watch that video again. "Eeeeeeeeeegypt, come back to me!"
LISTEN:
Final Warning - "I Quit"
Monday, August 25, 2008
MP3 Sleepercar: Emo Gone Country?
Posted by Ned Lannamann on Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 4:05 PM
Jim Ward has been around the block with both At the Drive-In and Sparta, two seminal bands that pointed the way from post-hardcore to emo. So is it a surprise that Ward's newest project, Sleepercar, is a country band? What sounds weird on paper (or looks weird on your computer screen) sounds perfectly natural in practice. "Fences Down" takes hard-won, hard-sung anthemic rock and transforms it into a desert shuffle with twinkling pedal steel, a campfire sing-along for those who have never camped a night in their lives. I first heard this song a few months ago and haven't been able to get it out of my head since, and the rest of the West Texas album is just as good. Sleepercar's set should be one of the highlights of this year's MusicfestNW.
LISTEN:
Sleepercar - "Fences Down"
Sleepercar plays at 10 pm on Thursday, September 4 at Dante's, 1 SW 3rd.
Video More PDX Pop Now! Videos
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 2:56 PM
While 2007's PDX Pop Now! festival is nothing but a sweet sweet memory now, we've been pointed in the direction of a couple more videos from this year's weekend-long event. They couldn't be more different from each other, which when you think about it, is pretty much the entire point of the festival.
Blind Pilot deliver their sprawling closer, and title track, "3 Rounds And A Sound," while Dragging an Ox Through Water perform a sparse number (Whose title I can't place right now--is it new?) complete with Brian Mumford's soft vocals bookending a mid-song dense wall of droning noise.
Both videos by Asher Sandberg-Lewis and Robin Margolis.
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Photography Ice Cube - Live at Roseland, 08/22/08
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 9:40 AM
Master thespian Ice Cube rolled through town last Friday and we sent the Don Mega of photography, Minh "I make dough but don't call me doughboy" Tran, to take some snaps for us.
Here is Minh's report: "Ice Cube easily melted the crowd with his well-timed reminders that we too, are part of the Westside Connection, and that we should purchase a t-shirt to confirm the affiliation"
Sounds about right. More scowling Cube photos after the jump.
News Janelle Monae - Live at Doug Fir, 08/22/08
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 8:16 AM
I don't want to go too into the teaser show from Janelle Monae last Friday, but it did feel like the modest (yet still impressive for a last minute 6pm concert) crowd of a few hundred people were witnessing something pretty special.
Simply put, Monae is an astonishing performer. Pint-sized in stature, but with a stage presence tailor-made for an arena, Monae and her stylish backing band (complete with a guitar player who looked like Arthur Lee, circa Forever Changes) torched through a brief set of futuristic funk-pop jams from her new Metropolis: The Chase Suite release. And while I assume it's happened there before, Monae's stage dive (see the above camera photo for proof) was the first instance of crowd surfing I've seen at the Doug Fir. It was an odd did she really just do that? moment, but a fitting end to a show that will be hard to forget.
Feel like you missed out? Monae will be at the Wonder Ballroom on October 1st (supporting Jamie Lidell).
News Drambuie Hearts (the Alcoholic) Portland Music Scene
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Drambuie? More like Drambooyah!
Ugh, sorry about that.
Anyway, the flavored liquor is sponsoring an event this Tuesday at Rontoms called Lost and Found. For those who RSVP there will be soul-DJ'ing from Colin Anderson (former drummer of the Shaky Hands), the intimate drive-you-to-drink folk music of A Weather (which will act as a live band soundtrack to Jan Svankmajer and David Lynch shorts), plus the greatest draw of all--"complimentary Drambuie cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with veggie-friendly options."
You had me at complimentary.
Again, the event is free (just RSVP) and starts at 7pm.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Video And Now For Something Completely Different
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 2:53 PM
Here's an End Hits First: a post about classical music.
Not your average classical--the freakier, nerdier, outsider classical. Follow the link for a video from the good ol' Lehrer Newshour on the Bang A Can festival. Basically it's a series of workshops and performances for classically trained musicians to stretch out and follow their Cage-ian instincts.
Some of the shit totally sucks, and the folks at Bang A Can will be the first to tell you: the outlandish threads followed don't always bear fruit. But some do.
David Lang, one of the curators and a winner of the Nobel Prize for music (who knew the award even existed?), produced a pretty interesting vocal piece "The Little Match Girl Passion." My favorite of the compositions featured in the video is towards the end from the 29-year-old steel drummer Andy Akiho. Akiho, who has never composed before, basically writes a big ensemble piece where everyone plays with the percussive meter and melodic style of a steel drummer. It's pretty fucking sweet.
Through their question, I developed one of my own. Basically, Lang and company are trying to challenge the boundaries and explore what music is. They do some strange things like banging on metal and yelping, but it's always performed live. There are no synthesizers. I'd be interested to know what Lang and the folks at Bang A Can think about electronic experimentation. I'll bet you one thing: They don't like Girl Talk.
Tonight! / Video Indian Jewelry - Tonight!
Posted by Rob Simonsen on Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Wow, had that video been shown on TV instead of that infamous Pokemon episode, something tells me many more than a few hundred kids would have ended up in the hospital with seizures.
Crazy strobe lights and terrible videos aside, Indian Jewelry are pretty wonderful, switching up styles and genres more than Ash switches up his Pokemons in battle. Yeah, that was my second Pokemon reference in one blog post. I lose.
Their latest album, Free Gold, has some serious bangers on it, and I really recommend heading over to the band's Myspace to check them out. Then go to the show. Just make sure that if they bust out the strobe light to not look directly into it.
Tonight! Janelle Monae - Tonight!
Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 11:21 AM
Diddy dropped the ball. Janelle Monae--the only decent act on the sinking ship that is Bad Boy Entertainment (sorry, Danity Kane)--got lost in the mainstream pop music shuffle and, thus, suffered from sub-par promotion for her debut LP, the absolutely ridiculous Metropolis: The Chase Suite. Originally released on a smaller scale last year--and then rescued and nursed by the golden bosom of Sir Diddy--the album was re-released earlier this month and is supposed to be one of four in a futuristic series, all of which are influenced by Fritz Lang's 1927 science-fiction film, Metropolis.
Let's hope that's the last time Puff and Fritz Lang share a sentence.
Monae's blistering cyborg funk is best described as the fairer gendered Andre 3000, an artist on the cusp of some redonkulous pop music vision that mere mortals like myself can't possibly grasp. She's gotten endorsements from the aforementioned Andre Benjamin (she was in Idlewild, the lackluster movie, not the lackluster band), Erykah Badu, and even received a tiny thumbs-up (he's got petite hands, ain't no crime in that) from Prince himself. Of course, none of that explains why she is playing a last-minute gig at Doug Fir tonight at 6 pm, but I have the sneaking suspicion next time her alien spaceship (Funkadelic is jealous) lands here in town, she'll be playing a larger venue at a later hour. Catch her now, or risk being swallowed whole by the regret of missing tomorrow's pop star today.
LISTEN:
Janelle Monae - "Violet Stars Happy Hunting!!!"
Janelle Monae - "Many Moons"
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