The Jonas Brothers Are Not the New Beatles March 10, 2009

Alan McGee, in his never ending wisdom that seems to get less wise as he gets older, recently posted a blog on the Guardian about The Monkees, the Jonas Brothers and Britney Spears that I assume had some sort of point about credibility in music which he never got around to actually making. It reminded me, in a round about way, of a chance meeting I had a few months back with the Jonas Brothers lawyer, who happens to also be Vampire Weekend’s lawyer. We got to talking about how certain older people in the music industry keep trying to make the Jonas Brothers into the new Beatles and he challenged me to explain why they couldn’t be the Beatles.

Before we start, let me say for the record that I think the Jonas Brothers are fine. I don’t hate them but I don’t love them. They are not, however, credible artists.

If you look only at the early careers of Jonas and the Beatles, on paper the two groups have a lot in common: both teeny-bopper bands who get dismissed by music snobs as a fad; both write or co-write their own songs which are largely simplistic pop affairs about puppy love; both rejected by record labels (Beatles – every single label in England, Jonas – Columbia Records signed and then dropped before the found their Disney home at Hollywood), both saw a great surge in popularity via appearances in movies and TV shows. The primary difference between early Beatles and the Jonas Brothers so far, as far as I can tell, is the desire to change the world.

The Beatles, even in their earliest and seemingly least offensive songs, were being subversive. John Lennon told journalists early in their career that they were singing about sex and that all their fans knew it. The Jonas Brothers, in comparison, wear promise rings to symbolize their intention to wait until marriage to have sex and have never indicated that their puppy love songs have any sort of raunchy subtext implied. Early in their career The Beatles were taking speed, out partying every night, getting girlfriends preggers (John’s early marriage, Paul’s girlfriend’s early miscarriage which he was reportedly relieved by) and meeting Bob Dylan who introduced them to pot and helped them move beyond writing teeny bopper songs.

While the Jonas Brothers have had their share of PG-rated, US Weekly-endorsed scandals (Miley’s shower photos that may have involved Nick! Joe’s text message break-up with Taylor Swift!), they have yet to express any desire to actually stand for anything except perhaps diabetes awareness and that is mainly because songwriter/lead Jonas brother Nick was diagnosed with the disease. The early Beatles were selling themselves with a winking irony and a desire to start a cultural revolution, but the Jonas Brothers seem to want to distance themselves from any sort of scandal and would never tell a reporter anything that wasn’t sanctioned by their manager/dad, record company publicist and probably Jesus Christ himself. That is nothing like The Beatles, who would once cause mass burnings of their records when noted smart ass John Lennon proclaimed them to be bigger than Jesus. Those Jonases write fine pop songs but until someone either whips out a sitar, expresses an agenda that deviates from societal norms or starts inspiring other bands to imitate them it is nothing more than pop music as usual. Until people of all ages consider the Jonas Brothers songwriting part of the cultural cannon they’ll never be the sort of landmark, beloved band who could start Beatlemania.

The Beatles had sex and drugs going for them and that made their songs rock ‘n roll. I’d really like Nick Jonas to take a cue from Elvis Costello, one of his favorite songwriters, and get subversive already.

Song Obsession: Dri “You Know I Tried” February 19, 2009

I’m having a total song obsession right now with Dri’s “I Know You Tried.” I want to listen to it over and over. So here’s what I’m trying to figure out:

1) How did this album come out in 2007 and the first I heard of it wasn’t until the end of 2008, and then it took me until 2009 to fully obsess?

2) How is her label, Range Life Records, affiliated with Saddle Creek?

3) How in the world did the girl from The Anniversary (who I also had a song obsession problem with at one time, btw) go from emo-esque to blue eyed soul? Fascinating.

P.J. Harvey Scores Mary-Louise Parker’s Broadway “Hedda Gabler” January 23, 2009

Cross posted on The Playlist.

Broadway is bringing us the perfect storm of three crazy women in one play: P.J. Harvey, Mary-Louise Parker and Hedda Gabler. Jim Farber reports that P.J. Harvey has written the score to director Ian Rick-son’s new production of “Hedda Gabler,” opening in New York this Sunday.

The score is reportedly based on the idea of a hiss – created with mashed up guitar feedback. Amazingly enough Harvey tells Faber, “I’ve wanted to do theater or film music since I first began writing music. I’ve just never been approached before.” Granted, Harvey does have a reputation for being a difficult and temperamental artist (or, if she were a man we’d probably say “particular and unpredictable”) but she seems from the interview to grasp the basic idea of bending her musical vision to work with that of the director and/or with the material. With the way Harvey’s musical output has been evolving in this particular decade alone we’d say she’s moving more and more towards the kind of ideal artist to score films, specifically those on the darker end of the spectrum.

Until such time as Christopher Nolan finds a nice, dark non-superhero film for Harvey to score you can catch “Hedda Gabler” and wait it out for her next album, which is to be released this spring.

Ryan Gosling Gets Cool Band, New Movies, Kind of Rules Right Now January 23, 2009

Cross posted on The Playlist.

Generally speaking, when actors decide to have music side projects there are no amount of snide remarks that adequately capture the stunning self-indulgent, needless stupidity and absolute terribleness of their musical results. In the case of Dead Man’s Bones, a new band featuring Ryan Gosling (“Half-Nelson” and “Lars and the Real Girl”) and his best friend/normal person Zach Shields the opposite seems to be true.

The music is, against almost all logical expectations of a music snob like myself, really good. In an interview with Pitchfork the guys explain that over the several years they’ve been working on this collaboration they worked with several different producers who tried to make them more contemporary (which we will take the liberty of assuming means “sucky”) and after hearing the results of these sessions opted to go for a more lo-fi and less professional sound themselves, with Tim Anderson of semi-credible L.A. band ImARobot producing. The project also enlists help from a choir of precocious kids from the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a music education project founded by Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers – amazing live performance video below with the choir dressed in all manner of Halloween costumes that gives the whole affair a very creepy, dark Nick Cave visual by way of a much less polished Arcade Fire musical feel.

Kudos to Gosling for his integrity in his acting choices for the last few years and now his music career. In other good new for acting integrity, IMDB indicates that we’ll be seeing Gosling in two interesting looking features at some point in the near future: “Blue Valentine,” with Michelle Williams attached to co-star, which seems to be about time-traveling lovers and “The Dallas Buyer’s Club” about a man in the 1980s who is diagnosed with HIV and starts toying around with underground drugs not approved for use in the U.S. at the time (the latter sounds completely amazing and we cannot wait to hear more). Until then we can and will continue to pretend Ryan Gosling is our boyfriend on the Fuck Yeah! blog.

Day Five – Palm Springs, CA to Los Angeles, CA Via Joshua Tree January 10, 2009

Apologies for the delay in posting this! I’d like to blame Internet troubles but really I’m just lazy.

On my fifth day I took the very round about way from Palm Springs to L.A. with a circular detour through Joshua Tree National Park. However, before leaving Palm Springs I lounged around my hotel…and lounged…and lounged. There were some water problems the night before and in the morning their credit card machine wasn’t working so, in exchange for paying cash I got a nice discount and a robe. Yay! Seriously, if you go to Palm Springs do stay at the Del Marcos. It’s adorable.

My GPS took me an entirely differnt route off of I-10 to Joshua Tree – some back road way to the Twentynine Palms Highway. It was pretty and I got a good look at the windmill farms. Have a photo. During this drive I was listening to Alex’s playlist which injected a much needed soulful touch. Two notes: I have been entirely unable to account for the Alicia Keys song and I cannot believe you gave me a ten minute version of “Mustang Sally” (I made it through 8 minutes).

Everything was beautiful and strange and instead of trying to explain it to you I will just post a photo. Not one person recommended I listen to U2’s Joshua Tree album for this drive but two (Anne! Alex!) suggested Gram Parsons and one (Josh L!) left me a Fbook comment about it after the fact. As such I put together a little Gram Parsons playlist from those recommendations and it was perfect.

When I left the park and headed back towards L.A., I put on a mix I’d made myself to pshych me up for all the ch-ch-changes. I’d stopped feeling nervous and started feeling just plain excited/elated circa the Coachella Valley so happiness abounded. I was especially stoked on Highway 60, which were some of the most scenic drives I’ve ever seen – really, could have been straight out of New Zealand.

Finally, years later, I actually reached L.A. and put on Jay B’s playlist to help me not be lost. Very ecclectic, very pefect for driving in L.A.

So, as a footnote, you’ll all be glad to know I reached my friend Russ’s house with only a few minor fuck ups and I found an apartment on Saturday morning! I did not come here to play around – I move in on Wednesday and it’s lovely.

Thanks for all the mixes! Read the list for this trip after the jump.

Day Four – Tucson, AZ to Palm Springs, CA January 9, 2009

Parting Tucson was such sweet sorrow – I actually liked it a lot. Granted, I only saw a bit of it because that 7 1/2 hour drive made me very sleepy and cranky but the parts I did see and the people I met were lovely. I like how the mountains surrounding the city are just part of the cityscape, as shown in this photo.

I drove out on the 10 listening to a mix I made myself with The Magnetic Fields as the jumping off point. City traffic makes me tense.

When I was about clear of Tucson I put on Roger’s driving mix. Very witty. And in regard to the Art Brut song I’d like to request that no one from England move here to find Morrissey.

Then it was all drive, drive, drive – flat, flat, flat – dull, dull, dull until Phoenix. I stopped at a place I found randomly on my GPS called Claim Jumper because it was such a ridic name. I had the glazed walnut & asian pear salad and it was ever so yummy. This also may have been the first vegetables I’ve eaten on this trip. Mmm lettuce.

Then it was drive, drive, drive – la, la, la for another million miles or so. There were hills. I listened to another one of my own mixes that was Motown/Soul/Girl Groups/Bacharach and then Sam P’s excellent mix with songs I haven’t even thought about in five years. It was lovely.

When I got to the border of Cali they were pulling everyone over to ask if we were bringing produce into the state. That was an interesting question.

More amazing revelations after the jump, including the days playlists and…oh yeah the earthquake.

Road Trip – Day Three – Marfa, TX to Tucson, AZ January 8, 2009

I sat on my butt too long today and now I think I’m crippled. Well, I’m at least emotionally crippled.

Follow my route today.

So I peaced out of Marfa really early today. And by really early I mean 9AM. It was COLD! 34 degrees – but the weather report on TV predicted El Paso would hit 60 today so I didn’t wear total winter clothes. So there’s a tiny, tiny town of just over 200 people west of Marfa called Valentine, TX. I drove through it on my way to El Paso and it creeped me out. It looked like a deserted place – weird houses built of stone and adobe, the only gas station was closed down and there was a cafe that looked like no one had ever dusted it so you couldn’t see in the windows – oh and I saw exactly ZERO people and passed ZERO cars driving by it. The place reminded me of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” If anyone ever asks me about a rural setting for a creepy horror movie I am recommending Valentine.

Shortly after that I passed the famous Prada Marfa. That cheered me back up. During all of this I was listening to PP’s playlist, detailed below. Many good remixes to be had and I feel we should pause a moment to discuss her Soulwax Dub remix of Hot Chip. This goes back to a fight James Montgomery and I keep having about Girl Talk. I am a Soulwax fan, but I think Girl Talk can suck it – not to say that Girl Talk’s remixes aren’t ingenius in themselves, because they are, but the lifestyle that surrounds his live shows are so crass and annoying. Soulwax, in their heyday, were never crass and didn’t attract a bunch of loafer college students. Go Team Soulwax.

Here’s a left/right shot of a mountain on one side and some pecan trees (I think) on the left. The scenery was kind of weird around here. To follow when PPPlist was done, I put on part of an ’80s mix I had in my iPod.

Then blah blah blah nothing nothing boring landscape, man is El Paso ugly. However, at this point I put on Josh Rosey’s playlist and it was perfect! FYI, you’ve always been Josh Rosey in my cell phone since we met. I found the whole playlist to be thoughtful, subtle and tres Southwestern without overkill. The Death Cab song also made me tear up a little. Stop tugging on my heartstrings.

More after the jump, including hot burrito #1 and the day’s playlist.

Road Trip – Day Two – Kerrville, TX to Marfa, TX January 7, 2009

Apologies for the delay on getting this up – a wind storm in Marfa (allegedly) knocked out the Internet at my hotel, including ethernet (allegedly). I’ll get to that by and by…

I started off on Tuesday with no idea of what the landscape for the day would look like exactly, never having seen it firsthand myself, but encouraged by the amazing blue sky checkered with gray clouds.  I snapped a photo, again unsafely while driving, for your enjoyment of the electric blueness of it.

Follow my route today.

I put on Catonia’s playlist and ended up listening to it all day – over 70 songs! There was much singing along.

So, I didn’t know there was anywhere in the U.S. where the posted speed limit was 80 MPH but around Junction, TX (I think) when the hill country gives way to plateaus and the trees and bushes become notably shorter and more scrubby, the speed limit jacked up to 80.

Then, somewhere around Sonora, TX I saw the first state highway sign warning of cross winds. I thought that was interesting…until an 18 wheeler nearly drove me off the road some 40 miles later because of strong cross winds. I fought with the steering wheel all day. BTW @ Alex – Sonora is full of caverns and it made me think of that weird scary movie you recommended with spelunking and vampires. It was set in Texas, right?

I stopped in Fort Stockton with little more than gas fumes left, got out to fill up and was immediately smacked in the face by a giant wind (and some sand). We’re talking blow your skirt up, layer your scalp with dirt, rearrange everything about you wind. It was bracing, you could say.

More after the jump, including today’s playlist.

Road Trip – Day One – Montgomery, TX to Kerrville, TX January 5, 2009

I checked the weather report before I left Montgomery this morning and it predicted super cold (in the low 40s) and cloudy all day – so I opted to stay in bed with the puppies and watch TV until 10AM and not leave the house until 11AM. Total lazy ass start to my halfway-cross-country trip. HOWEVER, before I could really get going I had to go snap a photo of this local business to share, in a strip mall less than five minutes from my house.

Follow my route today.

Yes, entirely serious – that is the best thing in the vicinity of my parents home. Except for the Starbucks I went to next, which is across the street from our neighborhood. There are docks next to it where you can park your boat if you come in off Lake Conroe and need a mocha or whatever before you resume water skiing. Also, when the barista guy was making my Cafe Americano today he asked how my day was going. I said average. He than handed me the coffee and said, “Guess what? Your day just got a whole lot better!” Ummm…impossible to keep a straight face. Impossible.

Anywho, then I drove myself the long way to Austin for lunch. I intended to go to Pok-E-Jo’s for BBQ but in the mass tear down of business in Austin it’s apparently relocated and I don’t know to where! So I settled for Ironworks instead. Still pretty darn good BBQ.

Then I drove south to San Antonio to run by the Alamo real quick. I don’t think I’ve driven this stretch of highway since Russ and I went from Dallas to a polo field outside of San Antonio in 1999 to see R.E.M. and Wilco. I don’t think I’ve been to the Alamo since elementary school. It was much smaller than I remembered. This is the backside of the Alamo.

Across the street are a series of wax museums, hall of mirrors, souvenir shops and other nonsensical crap. Why would I visit a historical site and then want to try and walk through a hall of mirrors?

Then I drove through downtown San Antonio and by the Riverwalk on my way to the freeway. It’s very bizarre – tiny, dirty and an odd assortment of businesses. Here’s a completely out of place sculpture I passed.

So then I headed to my hotel, the charming Days Inn of Kerrville. And by charming I mean gross “hotel” in Texas Hill Country. The thing that is interesting to look at is the country – somewhere around Welfare, TX (yes really – and that is followed by Comfort and Waring) it turns into HILLS and ROCKS and DEAD GRASS and CACTI! Here we have an action shots I unsafely took while driving in between two stone walls that used to be a mountain.

More after the jump, including the day’s playlists!

My Top Ten Albums of 2008 December 19, 2008

1. Los Campesinos! “Hold On Now Youngster” (Arts & Crafts)

Interestingly the press described this Los Camps record as twee, but it’s not any one thing – it’s twee/emo/punk/pop and completely heart wrenching. I love everything about this record – the pop hooks, the drawn out pauses between songs and most of all the lyrical references. My Last.fm profile indicates this album holds several of the songs I listened to most in 2008, which is certainly a sign of true love.
2. Thao & The Get Down, Stay Down “We Brave Bee Stings & All” (Kill Rock Stars)

She’s like Cat Power in dead pan tone but a very different person in lyrics. She had me at “Swimming Pools” (which is about adventures in spring break for those who aren’t really trying) and really won me over when everything else on her debut album was as great. Also, top album for singing along to in a car by yourself. Always by yourself, don’t subject others to that treatment.

3. Lykke Li “Youth Novels” (Atlantic)

Another album I listened to on repeat for the whole year. In spite of it being featured in everything from Grey’s Anatomy to a Victoria’s Secret commercial. She, like many female songwriters on my top ten this year, spoke to the human condition in a very specific way that I couldn’t help but find immediately relatable and could not get enough of.

4. The Dutchess and the Duke “She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke” (Hardly Art)

The official album of my fall ‘08. Sometimes it’s like The Zombies, sometimes like early Stones, occasionally like the Kinks with very different vocalists and, at the odd moment, like The Mamas & The Pappas. It’s too rough for a Wes Anderson movie and too good for the mainstream.

5. M83 “Saturdays=Youth” (Mute)

I’ve never been a huge fan of M83 before this album, but his trip to John Hughes nostalgia land was one I was extremely glad to take. This was truly a perfect album, especially if you loved ’80s L.A. synth bands and Kate Bush. This was also one of my top concerts for ‘08 at the Bowery Ballroom.

6. Be Your Own Pet “Get Awkward” (Ecstatic Peace)

Possibly the greatest travesty of this year was that Be Your Own Pet broke up after releasing this album, because that means the album won’t end up on many year end lists. A huge shame since it is such an improvement over their first. This go around the group incorporated more hooks and ’50s girl-group styling to their excessively violent (so much so that the U.S. release is stripped of a few songs their label found too offensive to release) lyrics. Yeah, girls are scary.

7. TV on the Radio “Dear Science” (Interscope)

When TVOTR said they were setting out to make a dance record this time around, who knew they’d actually come out with a dance record I’d want to dance to? It’s so up and full of life – an amazing cap to the end of the Bush presidency that has made so many of us feel so oppressed for nearly a decade.

8. Laura Marling “Alas, I Cannot Swim” (Astralwerks)

An amazing debut from a 19 year old girl – Laura Marling is one of the better lyricists I’ve heard in quite some time. Her quirky turns of phrase and cadence while singing remind me an awful lot of early Elvis Costello, minus significant amounts of snark. Really looking forward to hearing future works from Marling.

9. Hot Chip “Made In The Dark” (Astralwerks)

Everything about this album, from the beats to the packaging, is class with a touch of heartbreak. As always, Hot Chip deliver a record that is both dance floor ready and full of moments of quiet introspection. Honestly, listening to their work is like talking to an actual, complicated person.

10. Santogold s/t (Downtown)

There was a lot of licensing around this album and normally that might turn me off. The thing is, the songs Santi wrote are so incredibly catchy that I couldn’t stop listening to them all year. Also, if you live in NYC and didn’t at some point put on “LES Artistes” with the iPod for a walk around then you haven’t listened to it right yet.

Honorable mentions: the second Los Campesinos! album (how punk rock, two albums in one year), Death Cab, The Notwist, Vampire Weekend, No Age, She & Him, Cut Copy, Okkervil River, Raveonettes, The Last Shadow Puppets, Liam Finn (who made my ‘07 list instead), Passion Pit EP, The Muslims, R.E.M., Elvis Costello.

Best concerts: M83 at Bowery Ballroom, Foals at Bowery, Lykke Li at Le Poisson Rouge.