the oh so quiet show

So much Beck stuff, I can’t keep up! I’ll sum up the past few beck beck beck posts here.

The E-Pro video is online now [thanks stewoo.net beck forum]. I can’t seem to download it but maybe you’ll have better luck (all these pages link to the same download URL):

• BlogTelevision.net
• videos.antville.org
• Loaded

If that doesn’t work, try downloading at yousendit.com [thanks PsychoKinetic / Stewoo board]. Definitely one of the weirdest videos I’ve ever seen. In a good way.

Shynola directed this video (related article at mvwire.com).

If you’re still missing out on the new Beck songs you can download a few at armcircles.

Info about the new “Hell Yes” single from beck.com:

The “Hell Yes” remix EP will be available for purchase on iTunes tomorrow. The EP features two remixes by 8-bit and two by Paza.

The EP will also be available in stores as well on 12″ vinyl.

And the tracklisting of the vinyl [thanks Matthew]:

Side A mixed by 8-bit
1. Ghettochip Malfunction (Hell Yes)
2. Gamebiy.Homeboy (Que Onda Guero)

Side B Mixed by Paza (The X-Dump)
1. Bad Cartridge (E-Pro)
2. Bit Rate Variations in B-Flat (Girl)

Also, beck.com has put up some photos from The Echo.

Ambitious Outsiders has this photo gallery of Beck at the Echo. [via Productshop]

The new issue of Filter features Beck and will be out on February 11th. Don’t you love how Beck doesn’t appear to age? Is he covered in post-it-esque things or what? Awesome. I love Filter. Issue description:

Hey guero! It’s Beck! Filter’s Winter Issue is almost here, with a special Becknanza exclusive. Plus, the triumphant return of …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Doves, Slint, the Arcade Fire, the Kaiser Chiefs, Michel Gondry, a tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Todd Solondz and the ever elusive much, much more.

1/2 of Roksopp (photos)

Röyksopp remixed a Beck song for one of his new singles. The remix is mentioned at beatservice.no/royksopp and Billboard’s Röyksopp interview. And even more exciting than that is the new Röyksopp album will be out!!!…much later this year! But it’s still good news. You have Melody A. M., right? RIGHT? Right. They’re one of the few dance-y electronic artists that I like (other ones I like: Ladytron…does Plone count? No. Okay, I’ll have to think about this).

Pianos

Diana and I went to Pianos to check out Human Television but we ended up skipping out before they came on because it was too crowded. Not that either of us go to Pianos on a regular basis (or even a pseudo regular basis) but it seemed overly crowded. And it smelled of cheese and alcohol, which isn’t a very bad smell but I can’t say I’m used to it. We did stay there for about an hour before looking at the main space fill up to the brim like a Japanese train full of morning commuters.

Alright, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Still had fun though. Perhaps the first time we both went to see a performance that we weren’t dying to see but went to because Diana had another friend who was going (and I’ll send my virtual birthday wishes to that person now since I forgot to do that in real life) and because we both happened to be free. It was an enjoyable evening out of the confines of my dorm, jsut being out and walking in the cold. Maybe I should go out more often, but it would have to be with someone else. Not really comfortable doing things by myself yet.

As for Human Television, I actually like their music. I say “actually” because most of the time local bands will not catch my attention. The only local band that I can think of that I really like is Levy. You can hear two Human Television songs at Gigantic Music on their little flash music player and both songs are nice and catchy (remember, I suck at describing music). I don’t know what to compare them to but they’re featured on Oh My Rockness and Gothamist. I’d like to hear more before deciding how much I like them…need more mp3s! Raar.

While at Pianos in the upstairs lounge all I could think of was Magnet, as in “He sat over there where THAT dude is sitting THAT DUDE HE’S IN MAGNET’S SPOT!” which is a ridiculous thing to think, but there you go. Now I really wish Magnet would come back. Usounds wrote this lovely live review of Magnet in LA. I particularly like this line: …he puts on a deceptively simple show which has the power to lull you into a higher plane of low-intensity musical ecstasy. It’s such a perfect description that I never in my entire life could ever come up with. It’s 110% true, maybe even 150%. Now I’m not even making sense.

—

Added: Actress Killed in Lower East Side Robbery. I’d never be out that late but this is very saddening. “She died in my arms”…don’t know what else to say. I have a feeling I’m not safe enough when I go out at night.

Doves are playing at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, March 15th! Holy crap, so much better than Hammerstein, which is where I thought they’d play if at all. Up until last summer there were never any shows I wanted to see at Bowery (or maybe I wasn’t old enough) and now that I live somewhat close to there, there…are. Whoa. Buy tickets at ticketweb tomorrow. $25 is not bad at all. And on an even happier note (for me), it happens to be during my spring break! Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go and I’d be sitting in my food sanitation class on a Tuesday night feeling most craptacular. [via one louder]

Torr has some new Doves songs up.

I think I’m seeing Human Television tonight at Pianos unless Diana never gets out of work and/or I freeze to death. Was anyone walking outside in NYC today at 8:30 AM? I think I actually started crying.

Unicorns are attacking Beck’s head

Watch the new colorful flashy Mumbleboy-esque video for “Hell Yes”:

Win Media | Real

The song is different from the leak, if you got to listen to it. I personally like the leaked one better but this one’s cool too. [via stereogum]

Other cool thing: new stuff by The Notwist! Found out from One Louder that the Notwist collaborated with Themselves (whom I’ve never heard before) under the name 13+God and made an album that’ll be coming out April 26th. You can download a song from music (for robots).

Just another normal day in Iceland for Bjork

My favorite music videos are by Bjork (plus cool directors). I haven’t seen many music videos in my lifetime but I can’t imagine how anything else can compare. Matt pointed out the new video for “Triumph of the Heart” at bjork.com directed by Spike Jonze and it’s just enjoyingly bizarre. Whatever that means. I mean, you got a cat, and Bjork running around Iceland in pigtails and a pink dress-thing and a bunch of (drunk) people singing and Bjork falling over exposing golden boots and hearts floating about and Giant Cat…it’s something you want to see, trust me.

As for cats in videos, have you see Fatboy Slim’s “The Joker” video? I’m not a Fatboy Slim fan but, my god, the kittens. They’re everywhere. And so cute and cuddly you could eat em and be like “Oohh yeah, cute kittens, mm mm fluffy like marshmallows.” Or hug them, I don’t know. I’ve never had pets.

No kittens in this one, but it’s another music video: Feist – Inside and Out. [via Brooklyn Vegan via others] I didn’t know it was a Bee Gees cover but that makes me feel less guilty for not liking it as much as other songs on her album. It’s still a nice song though. My favorites are Gatekeeper, Mushaboom, Secret Heart, Tout Doucement, and Now At Least…which is about half of the album. I should probably buy an import before waiting for a domestic release (if that is ever to happen). On a related note, kingsofconvenience.org has KoC’s cover of Gatekeeper on their downloads page. If you like KoC you’ve probably downloaded it already, along with most/all of the stuff on the page.

Even Johansen – Quiet & Still

I felt like I had been listening to the same songs over and over again so I decided to bring up Even Johansen’s first album, Quiet & Still, on my playlist. It came out in 2001 as Five One Inc’s second release (Poor Rich One’s Happy Happy Happy was number one. Great band, and although they’re not releasing any more music, lead singer William Hut is and it’s good stuff) and on Rec 90 in Norway. I first heard about Even from a summer 2001 issue of Chart Attack that I requested from a Canadian friend due to it having a cover story on Thom Yorke (featuring a funny interview). I’ve never seen this magazine in the US. I don’t want to think what would have happened without my Radiohead interest and my Canadian friend. Horror.

Quiet & Still is my favorite album (yup, I like it more than On Your Side, which I like a lot. On a semi-related note, Mutations is my favorite Beck album, after Odelay, which I obviously like a lot as well. They’re different styles). It’s always a good listen whenever I need it and tonight was one of those nights. Five One Inc has two mp3s (releases –> Quiet & Still) and if you haven’t heard any of these songs before you will download BOTH! Or receive a virtual lashing. “Quiet & Still” was the first song I had ever heard by Even back in the days when Audiogalaxy had everything. I guess I was lucky someone else had the mp3 for me to download as this album doesn’t seem to be very well known. I can’t imagine why; it’s everyone else’s loss.

My favorite songs are “Quiet & Still” and “Private Jinx”. I can’t explain why I like “Private Jinx” so much but if you listen to “Quiet & Still” and don’t think it’s one of the most beautiful songs you’ve ever heard then…well, refer back to the virtual lashing. Nah, just kidding. Kind of. It’s $11, what are you waiting for?!

This is a cute/strange music video for The Postal Service:

The Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes

I don’t know what’s going on exactly. But there’s a dehydrator in the video. DEHYDRATOR. I used to use that all the time to make dried fruit and flax seed crackers (you do silly things as a raw foodist).

I have no idea what’s going on.

Did the music/nyc music blogosphere explode today? I can’t even remember everything I read besides the news about the Kaiser Chiefs playing in NYC. And about the Kaiser Chiefs, check out their video, Oh My God [via yentell]. I’m not really into the song but the music video is likely to make you think “Oh my…god?” It’s a tad strange but cool too.

I guess my music tastes aren’t diverse enough because I’m not very interested in a lot of the bands that are buzzing about lately. I’d probably like Portishead if I had any of their music…which I don’t. However, two years ago I was stuffed in a haunted house to protect the hardware in my group’s room and I had to hear a Portishead song play over and over and over and…over…again…and it was mixed with screams and other Halloween type noises. I don’t remember the name of the song but it is permanently stuck in my brain. It wasn’t a bad song but it’s not associated with a very good memory (of sitting on a table by a bunch of machines emitting loads of heat behind a black tarp-thing).

Sleater-Kinney is playing some shows. I guess I like them more than not-like, but I haven’t liked their music enough to buy any albums. I’d gladly take stuff for free though. I know I’ve heard some good songs. Someone (maybe more than one person) has recommended them to me. I feel like there’s something wrong with me when people give me recommendations that I end up not getting into. I saw Sleater-Kinney perform for about 10 minutes last summer at a free Vassar show. I probably should’ve gotten there earlier if I wanted to see…um, stuff. It was only strange because of all the huge population of obviously non-Vassar students there and that I even said that shows that it was probably a good thing I transferred. It really is a bubble.

I’m terribly jump-out-of-my-skin excited about Kings of Convenience at Bowery very soon. KOC! KOC KOC KOC!!! These guys are awesome. If you can go but don’t (they’re playing two shows!) then I shall exclaim, HOLY CRAP WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU? …sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that. They’re really good though. NRK.no has a video of them in the recording studio and footage of other things and it’s great (that link isn’t the one I was looking for but it’s still good). NRK is chock full of videos, you just have to look for them. If you want to watch stuff but don’t want to register, use the username/password evenmagnet/privatejinx. (Notice in the video the Magnet poster in the back in the beginning. Ohhh yeaaah.)

Today in my first class for “Writing the Essay” my professor talked about punctum. And something else. (Can you tell how great I am at learning? Neither can I.) Punctum is what makes something touch you in a certain way…er, mentally. Emotionally. As opposed to something you just like, punctum indicates something you freakishly love. Acutally, that’s not what she said at all but that’s how my brain cells have processed it. I was thinking about what artists fulfill that description for me and I could only come up with Magnet and The Innocence Mission (it only took me a second to figure that out though). Some live experiences can be life-changing (Flaming Lips!) but overall, I can’t think of anything else. How about you?

Kaiser Chiefs are playing two dates in NYC: Feb. 12th at Northsix and (I think) Feb. 14th at Mercury Lounge. I heard they’re good live. Northsix is on a Saturday. SOMEONE COME WITH ME!

Doves Dropping In On the States [via One Louder]:

Jimi Goodwin tells Billboard.com the group is hoping to also squeeze in shows in New York and Los Angeles during the trip, and that it will also be back in the States later in the spring to play the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.

Seeing as I’m not going to California (although I would like to go to Coachella before I die and bacteria consume my organs) I hope they can do some of that squeezing and that the squeezing will not take place on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.

Having night classes is not cool. Tuesday and Wednesday = class until 9 PM. Yeah, I could still see shows getting out of class at that time but I’d really have to want to go to them. If you’re in NYC and have the time, check out Movable Hype 2.0 on February 16th. I haven’t been to any of the Movable Hype shows yet but they’re nice showcases of NYC bands and such. And it’s cheap! And if it’s at Knitting Factory all ages can go. That’s swell. I know there must be other people out there who are under 21 and annoyed at the places that are 21+. Those people have probable obtained fake IDs though. …[sigh]

It’s A Trap!, a website dedicated to Scandinavian music, has an mp3 playlist, one of which is currently Magnet’s cover of Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line.” The song is taken from We Walk the Line, a recording of a benefit concert in Oslo where Norwegian artists played Johnny Cash covers to raise money for SOS Children’s Villages. This concert is from 2003 but I’ve been wondering how to get this Norway-only CD on and off for the past…while. Of course, I love Magnet’s version but I’m sure all the songs are fantastic.

If you like Beck then you probably know about the leaked album already. So I don’t need to recap the whole thing…because I already recapped it at beck beck beck, which got the most hits today than it has for the past many months. From the four songs I’ve heard I agree with what other people have been saying (or maybe they haven’t, I can’t remember) that it’s more like Odelay, but not entirely, and it’s not like Sea Change. Actually, none of his albums really sound like the other, so there isn’t much point in talking about that. It’s more upbeat, but not to crazy Midnite Vultures-like proportions.

Ah, talking about Beck is so notsalgic. For those who don’t know, I used to be very obsessed with Beck. I think it had something to do with being a young teenager as my obsessions present themselves differently these days, but millions of people would agree with me when I say that Beck is awesome. Beck has a gazillion songs but I somehow designated one as my favorite. If you haven’t heard it, I hope you like it:

Beck – Hollow Log [removed]

K Records also has the song “Forcefield” from the same album (One Foot in the Grave) in their audio/video section.

Last night before going to bed I listened to Hope Sandoval’s Bavarian Fruit Bread to ease the “going back to school” dread (my classes start tomorrow). It worked for the time period I listened to her music. Laid back, breathy, and to rip from almost cool’s review, “every word drifts out in a hazy, seductive sort of way.” Listening to this album could erase all evidence of outside distractions, making you feel like you’re floating on a cloud through fog. So you’re basically swimming in tiny water droplets suspended in the air. …yup. That’s what this album does to me, at least. And it lessens the pain of having a roommate who leaves the TV on 99% of the time she’s in the room. I can’t find any mp3s online so hopefully posting one song won’t piss anyone off:

Hope Sandoval – Drop [removed]

If you like that song, the whole album sounds pretty much like that. It’s a good thing.

Although I’ve heard of them, I’m not familiar with Mazzy Star (lots of mp3 clips there), the band Hope was/is, so I have to give them a listen. Someone told me that one of my songs reminded him of Mazzy Star but after listening to Hope’s singing…I can’t imagine it. Yeah, I wish I sounded like her! It was a nice comment though.

I first heard of Lali Puna a few years ago when I started getting into Morr Music. For whatever reason I didn’t get into them despite that they sounded a lot like other musicians I like. Alliyah recommended Faking the Books and while ordering a crapload of books from Overstock for the new semester I dropped that CD in my shopping cart. Ah, Internet, source of impulse buying.

Since receiving the CD earlier this week I’ve listened to it a few times and I love it. Their music is electronic pop that isnt abstract but just different enough to be…well for me to feel like pointing it out. Many songs resemble the Notwist’s (one of the band members, Markus Acher, is from the Notwist) but with a female singer (Valerie Trebeljahr; ah how I love it when I enjoy a female singer’s voice).

They’ve got some media online so I won’t upload any MP3s. You can listen to all the songs at Morr Music (go to releases, the album is on the 4th page) and a few songs on Boomkat (has loads of song clips in a nice music player). I recommend the songs Faking the Books, Call 1-800 Fear, Micronomic, and Grin and Bear. Lali Puna’s website is cute and had some photos and a music video. I wish it weren’t flash, but at least the page works.

[In future entries you may hear me gripe about music sites that suck, as there are many. I say I hate flash but what I mean to say is that I hate flash when used in a situation that doesn't require it, which is most of the time. I think flash works well for audio players, art portfolios, animations (no duh) and things like that but for text and anything people may want to easily refer to it's a pain in the butt to have nothing to link to or to go to a page that automatically plays music [even if the music is good, sorry Lali Puna] when you don’t expect it to and so on, blah blah blah. Morr Music’s site is okay by me though, because it’s cute. Win me over with your cuteness!]

Kaiser Chiefs seem to be one of the next hot new British band thingies…oh, you know what I mean. They’re Franz Ferdinand-esque, aka fun hyper dancey rock type stuff. You can download a song clip on their official site:

Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict a Riot

Hooyeah, a whole 49 seconds. That’s almost 5/6ths of a minute! I like the song but I’m disappointed I can’t listen to the whole things in iTunes. You can buy it online but…naaah. Watch the video instead:

I Predict a Riot – Windows Media | Realplayer

Mm, pillow fight. If I weren’t lazy I would record that into an mp3, but you know. [twiddles thumbs] Their album is scheduled to come out March 7th in Europe with no details of a US date so I guess I won’t have to think about whether I want to buy it or not anytime soon.

Doves are (is?) one my favorite bands and are releasing a new album soon (March 1st in the US, February 21st in the UK). New album means TOURING! Right? If you live in the UK, sure! As for the rest of us, we’ll have to find out later. I’ve seen them twice before and they’re awesome live (photos from the first concert). Diana would recall when Jimi told the audience at Hammerstein Ballroom to jump the barricade and being such Doves-loving slaves we proceeded to hop over, making disgruntled security guards in the process. Actually, I stayed behind, but Diana went over. I was guarding our stuff. OUR STUFF!

You probably didn’t care about that last paragraph, especially if you don’t know what Doves sound like. They sound like…well, I’m not sure how to describe them. They fit under the “rock/pop/alt” category but have a range of styles in their songs (a note if you stick around reading this blog: I’m nearly 100% incapable of describing music or not describing it in a stupid way). Here’s one I like in particular (warning: it may sound too happy for some people):

Doves – Pounding [removed]

That song isn’t really representative of the rest of their songs, but I really like it. And here’s that video, aka the subject of this post:

Doves – Black and White Town [via torr]

I like the video. It’s not something I’d watch over and over again but it doesn’t suck. Crappy music videos depress me.

Håkan Hellström is a popular Swedish musician whom I’ve been listening to for the past few years since Morten told me about him. Even though I have absolutely no idea what his songs are about, I love them. Most of the songs sound happy (even though he could be singing about dead zombie squirrels, although I doubt it) and there’s something special about his voice. I don’t know how others describe his music since there’s isn’t much about him in English (I’d make an English website about him but there’d be almost nothing on it) but I’d describe his singing as “extremely exuberant shouting”. I’m not kidding; sometimes while listening to him I’m driven to sing in my own made up hackneyed “Swederish” (I just made that word up) to take part in whatever is making Håkan sound so goddamn happy. It wasn’t long before I got his album “Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg”, which came out in 2000 (somewhat sure it was purchased from amazon.com although I don’t recall paying $45 for it). Try this song out:

Håkan Hellström – Ramlar [removed]

See what I mean? Yes/no? He’s got a new single up: En midsommarnattsdröm [via it's a trap!]. Sounds fun, and along with everything else he has won’t be readily available in the US. But hey, that’s what the Internet is for.