What We're Listening To - Wild Light's "Adult Nights"

Well, this title is a bit of a misnomer.

I've had this album as a preview since the beginning of January.

Hell, we even did an interview with them.

And it sat on my iPod virtual shelf, collecting dust.

But then I heard Shelby's show from a few weeks ago, and I put it back in rotation.

And I forgot how incredibly solid this album is. If their big label promotes it right, this could be one of the sleeper hits of the year.

he single, "California on My Mind" won't be on the radio. But maybe Surf Generation. Or Red House. Or Canyon City.

This is the pop that made you fall in love with the Killers, or Tokyo Police Club. It's sunny. It's clearly rooted in 80s synth. The lyrics are light and don't really delve into too much.

If that wasn't enough, the boys of Wild Light premiered a new video for California on My Mind. A sleepy bored Marilyn Monroe impersonator singing Fuck California? Brilliant.

What I'm Listening To - Hold Time by M. Ward

People tell me M. Ward is some kind of musical genius.

I wasn't convinced after She and Him Volume I, to me the worst album of 2008. The only thing I imagine is worse is that there will inevitably be a Volume Two.

But my hate aside, people I respect say give M. Ward another chance. And I did, cos I'm a man of forgiveness and mercy.

Ward's latest album, Hold Time, validates the praise. This album is gorgeous. You can tell he has an affection of that gauzy, fuzzy pop music of the 70's. And he achieves an impressive work of pastiche with this album. The guitars sing. He didn't shy away from huge production values (background singers, full throated orchestra on "To Save Me"). The fuzzy guitars of "Never Had Nobody Like You" (with the suprisingly pleasant background vocals of Zooey Deschanel). The waves and swells of the title track. Stripped down this is not. It sounds as if Brian Wilson let loose a bottle of Pet Sounds and stepped in behind the boards.

He also affects a pretty solid country persona too. The best song on the album might be his duet with Lucinda Williams, "Oh Lonesome Me." I don't know why, but this song just makes me happy. And it's such a sad song.

Same thing for "For Beginners." He opens the album with this trudging singing, yet it's haunting fade out only beckons for more.

2009 is shaping up well. I recommend picking this one up to usher you into spring.

BONUS: Check out M. Ward tonight March 6, on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Get "Hold Time" by M. Ward

Buy from Amazon

Download from eMusic

Buy from Merge Records

Get your Cursive

I'm swamped in new music. I got at least three What I'm Listening to posts just waiting in the wings (The new M. Ward is fuzzy and good). Lots of bands are putting out their spring releases, getting ready to tour, and I appreciate them for that.

I also jumped on the nutty consumer bandwagon and got the Cursive album, albeit a few days late. So, $3 still is a good price to pay for a good album. And the money goes to the band, so that's all good as well.

The price goes up a dollar a day until it comes out next week on March 10.

Pick it up over Saddle Creek records.

What I'm Listening To - Dark Was The Night

I'm often wary of a benefit album. I shudder to think of getting ripped off on songs I already own, or worse, treacly "Do They Know Its Christmas?" dreck.

So I was a little bit cautious about 4AD/Red Hot Organization AIDS benefit album "Dark Was The Night."

First, it seemed to be chock-a-block full of every indie darling imaginable. A lot I really don't like (I'm looking at you Dirty Projectors).

Second, it was long. Really long. 31 songs over two discs long.

Third... Pitchfork gave it 8.6. The only thing worse than a low rating from Pitchfork is a high one.

I'm not sure if a compilation can be deigned as best album, but this might be the first must purchase of 2009.

So much on this album you would think sounds better on paper than it could in real-life. Conor Oberst and Gillian Welch? Justin Vernon, and Justin Vernon as Bon Iver?

But it all does. The Feist and Ben Gibbard joint is gorgeous (Zooey better tell Feist to back up off her man). The Conor rehash of Lua is slower, prettier. Gillian Welch makes it sexier, countrier.

There are those you expect to perform well and exceed that. Spoon pulls out some Primus-influenced bass line and funks up the start of the second half. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Arcade Fire, The New Pornographers, Yo La Tengo, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

And there are the bands that I have loathed, who turn up here and make me want to go buy their stuff. The National blew me the fuck away. Antony somehow managed not to annoy me as he usually does, and instead belted out a sleepy acoustic soul song, reminiscent of a perfect Nina Simone (and less of the Dylan-cover it is). Dirty Projectors even stepped up and made nice with David Byrne.

You can get this album at eMusic, but don't. I paid the $12 and got it from Amazon, but you can order it too. The money goes to a good cause, and every song on the thing is worth it. When your kids look back and ask you what was independent music like in 2009, you can whip out this collection.

You need to own this album.

Get "Dark As The Night"

Buy from The Beggars Group

Buy digitally from Amazon

Tokyo Police Club, Born Ruffians, and The Harlem Shakes @ The Black Cat

Jeff M. here. Last night I went to see a killer three-band bill at the Black Cat -- Tokyo Police Club, Born Ruffians, and The Harlem Shakes. The band of the night were Born Ruffians, who managed to upstage headliner Tokyo Police Club in the most humble manner possible. Van Halen upstaging the Nuge this was not.

The Harlem Shakes got things started with an energetic set of pop anthems, fleshing out the standard guitar/bass/drums/vocals formula with plenty of auxiliary percussion and electro flourishes. You see, when your band has six members onstage, like the Shakes did, you can indulge in the occasional baritone sax part or allow one to two members to wander around the stage during any given song like utility infielders, alternately shaking tambourines and smacking floor toms. I was in awe of the drummer's full command of his set, which included a drum on the floor, a trigger pad of electronic drum sounds straight out of the 1980s, and a sampler/drum machine gadget positioned on top of his kick drum (right next to the cowbell, of course). As I remarked to my friend Kevin, "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" Between him and the Al-Franken-at-16-only-with-white-jeans bass player bounding around the stage, I didn't know where to focus my attention.

Next up were the Born Ruffians, the aforementioned band of the night. My buddy Kevin loves these guys to death and seeing them live, it's not hard to see why. I slept on Red, Yellow, and Blue when it came out last spring, letting it collect dust in my CD inbox as I danced along to Hot Chip's Made in the Dark or some album of guitar feedback, but now I have seen the error of my ways. Live, the Ruffians reminded me so much of early Talking Heads, my all-time favorites. BR's songs (like those of the Heads) are danceable, bouncy, heavy on rhythm, and feature such eager, shouted lyrics that you feel like you're best friends with the singer. How could you not be? He's pouring his heart out to you! The Ruffians romped through most of Red, Yellow, and Blue, including standouts Barnacle Goose, Hedonistic Me, and I Need a Life (which they closed with). BR's drummer was either a new addition or a fill-in -- he was getting wide-eyed, head-nodding cues from the bass player throughout the set, giving me the impression he'd only been playing these songs a short while. It didn't show musically, though -- he played fantastically, laying down monster beats for the band to follow. During the opening song, BR's singer/guitarist betrayed a smile that said "Jesus Christ, I can't believe you're hitting the drums that hard!" As if I hadn't been already convinced by their performance, singer/guitarist Luke left us with this: "D.C. ya later."

After a 20-minute set change of almost rock-star proportions, Tokyo Police Club hit the stage, thankfully leaving their seizure-inducing lightshow from last year back home in Toronto. TPC has gotten much love from this blog: Master Shake, Zak C., and me all put Elephant Shell in our top 10 of 2008, and Georgy claimed it among her most underlistened albums of last year. The band played for about 75 minutes, including the encore, which means they had plenty of time to blow through their entire catalog (get it, their songs are short!). Elephant Shell and their 2 EPs were well-represented. EP songs like Nature of the Experiment, Your English is Good, and Citizens of Tomorrow (replete with astonishing audience handclap precision - way to keep a beat, D.C.!) were played with HI-NRG and in my estimation were the highlights of their set. I was a bit underwhelmed by the songs from Elephant Shell, like In A Cave and Tessellate, two of my favorites from that album. On record, those songs are so taut, they're almost airtight -- the least bit of sloppiness muddled the effect. TPC also road-tested some new songs which were slower and possibly longer than 3 minutes (one even featured an acoustic guitar). OMG, could Tokyo Police Club lengthen their albums simply by playing slower???

For TPC's encore, they invited the gents of Born Ruffians onstage to play a collabo song that, according to Kevin, sounded decidedly more Ruffian than Police-y. Then they brought the Harlem Shakes back onstage for a 13-man "encore extravaganza," gleefully bashing their way though The Clash's Train in Vain. Yes, that's right: the singer from Tokyo Police Club's voice is a dead ringer for Mick Jones! A floor tom smackdown begun by the Ruffians' bassist and Tokyo Police Club's keyboardist/tambourine extraordinaire crowded out the Shakes' Teenage-Al-Franken-in-White-Denim, who searched the stage frantically for a makeshift percussion instrument he could hit with a drumstick (full bottle of Red Stripe, not a good idea, abandoned after two hits; a pipe connected to the roof of the stage, much better choice). Born Ruffians' drummer, not to be left out, dragged his kick drum, snare, and hi-hats (!!!) out from backstage to beef up the throwdown's percussion section.

It was a great ending to a great show. I left all smiles. Go buy all these bands' albums, like right now.

808

New Baby

As Zak eluded to in his comment disparaging my musical tastes (this guy is the godfather to my children mind you), I have a new baby.

Please welcome to this rock party my son, Ezra Daniel Pittman. He joined us on Feb 13, and he's my second special little guy (can't tell a hero by his size...).

Anyways, if any of you would like to get him a gift, please feel free to pool your moneies together and buy this.



I promise, I won't play No Doubt on it... maybe...

What I'm Listening To - No Doubt's The Singles Collection

I will, without a doubt, catch unholy hell for this.

But I've had this thing on repeat since I snagged it from Amazon's Daily Deals a few days ago.

First off, it was $1.99. Which is the equivalent of two songs. Seeing as I have zero No Doubt in my iTunes, I figured this was worth it.¹

Second, don't pass up cheap collections on Amazon mp3. You will always like at least 3 songs, and if it's less than $2, then get it.

Third, No Doubt has sold 27 million records and had a bajillion hit singles. You probably own Tragic Kingdom. You know all the words to Don't Speak. And though you might hate on ska, you like the horns in Spiderwebs.

No Doubt, despite whatever artistic criticisms you might have, make pop music. Well received pop music. They've endured over two decades of a shifting music industry. You've gotta reward and champion a band like that.

It's still on sale at Amazon. Stop whistling "I'm Just a Girl" and go get it now.

¹Upon further review, it appears I do have a No Doubt song in my library. It's was from KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas, and it's a live version of Spiderwebs. And it is AWESOME.