Hip Displeasure: July 2006

jasmine » Music » Pitchfork Music Festival 2006

good:

the national. these guys continue to kick my ass even after seeing them tour on the same album, alligator three times. i think that the songs are brilliant, the band (comprised of two sets of brothers and a fifth wheel) is both tight and powerful, and the singer (fifth wheel, matt berninger) is a brilliant madman. they played all of their hits (aka – my favorite songs), like “abel”, “all the wine”, and opened with “secret meeting”. they closed with a new song which means a new album must be coming. yessssssss.

jens lekman. who the hell is this guy, anyway? i heard “black cab” about two years ago, bought tickets to his schuba’s show in early 2005 (didn’t go), and he quickly left my memory. i’ve always associated his voice with that of stephin merritt, which after seeing him yesterday, i know is completely incorrect. he has his own gorgeous voice and a pretty fantastic backing band complete with a tuba! and who doesn’t love a good tuba? after doing some reading about the swede, i discovered that he shares my birthday, so now i love him more.

mission of burma. i knew nothing of these guys before yesterday, but boy am i glad i saw them. i did recognize (and love) the song, “that’s when i reach for my revolver”, so i didn’t feel completely lost. great band. i’d definitely see them again.

flatstock poster festival. loads and loads of concert posters, all handmade. i ended up buying a delgados poster, a trail of dead poster and a little sign which reads, “you are my sunshine”. cheap and wonderful. i recommend checking out Judgeworks, Aesthetic Apparatus and YeeHaw Industries if you’re interested in some original art for yourself.

watermelon lemonade. hey, i know! let’s take cubed watermelon (juice included) and toss it in some lemonade. this drink was so good, i wanted to make out with it.

bad:

yo la tengo. please, guys, stop with the 10 minute “songs” which consist of droning and squealing guitars. please play more songs that i love, but don’t screw them up with your artsy interpretation. thank you.

hipster fashion. seriously, how many ironic t-shirts and too-tight jeans can i see in one day? and the woman who was wearing what looked like a 1970’s beige bathing suit with a pair of black suede (with fringe!) cowboy boots? yikes.

heat. i’ve lived here my whole life and you’d think i’d be acclimated by now. nope. i still bitch with the rest of ‘em about the heat. i wore pants rolled to my knees with a tank top and i was still saturated with sweat and also got a pretty mean sunburn. chicago summers, i hate you. chicago festivals, i love you.

Hip-D PodBlast » Staff Inflection » v1.0

Saturday Looks Good To Me - "Parking Lot Blues"
"This is Saturday Looks Good To Me at their best, forgoing what critics once described as a 'Fisher-Price turntable under water sound' for this loose and good-time summer jangle. If this don't make you wanna get up and shake DAT ASS, you might as well go ahead and call Quincy to throw your lifeless corpse in the back of his station wagon, so Sam can proceed with carving you up...'cause honey, you ain't got no pulse!" - FT

Gene Vincent - "Cat Man"
"Better hide your sister, indeed. Vincent's "Cat Man" prowls the wholesome streets in search of late 50s goodies sequestered behind some formidable undergarments, while guitarist Cliff Gallup lays down a damn near perfect riff that darts menacingly on the trail of the Cat Man's mark. This was Gallups last recording with Vincent & the Blue Caps. He soon quit to become a school janitor." - Elvis Fu

Ray LaMontagne - "Crazy"
"I asked Jeeves how many artists have covered Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy' thus far and, well, Jeeves didn't have a clear cut answer for me, but I know it's a few. So, why would you care about another version of a song you're probably thisclose to tossing into the 'overexposed' used CD bin in your mind? Jeeves didn't have an answer for that either, actually... but I'll throw out a reason; this is Ray LaMontagane. Not enough for you? Fine you heartless, cynical bastard; this is Ray LaMontagne being Ray LaMontagne. He covered a song steps away from his genre and made it his own backwoods Van Morrison/folk/rock/guy and guitar/blah blah blah creation. You may think that's boring. Or you may dig it for what it is, happily add it to your iTunes collection and forget it's a cover the next time it's played." - stacey

Prince Far I - "Johnny Get Worse"
"When one thinks of the great sounds of Jamaica , most will think of the echo soaked bass of dub or Ska's skanking guitar. Some may even site the extraordinary and unique niyabinghi drummers. Such a pity then that The Voice of Thunder remains relatively unrecognised. The Voice of Thunder belonged to Michael Williams, better known to the world as Prince Far-I, and as the moniker might suggest it was truly a force of nature." - Darrin Frew

Neutral Milk Hotel - "Holland, 1945"
"A few months ago, I was sitting on my friend's bed and he grabbed an album for us to listen to. He issued this disclaimer, 'You're either going to love it or hate it.' I quickly figured out that I love Neutral Milk Hotel. By the time 'Holland, 1945' started playing, I was grinning from ear to ear and fighting back tears of happiness. I have no idea what the hell this song is about. The production isn't great... every time I hear it, I think my speakers are on the verge of blowing up and Jeff Mangum's voice definitely leaves much to be desired. For some reason, though, this song makes me want to fall in love and skip down a street while holding my lover's hand. I want to sing along at the top of my lungs and just know that everything is right in my world." - jasmine

New York Dolls - "Runnin' Around"
Submitted by Yail Bloor sans blurb.

T. Rex - "The Street And Babe Shadow"
Submitted by OPA! sans blurb.

Johnny Cash - "God's Gonna Cut You Down"
"The Man in Black, the voice, the last album, the dark subject matter, and still the handclaps add a whole new dimension to the timeleass sound of JR Cash. He may be gone, but I'll never be able to forget him." - Loog

Hip-D PodBlast » Harmonic Happenstance » "Phantasies" to "Bye Bye Love"

This is the first in a series of what I like to refer to as a "harmonic happenstance," which is when the "Shuffle Songs" function on my iPod magically reveals a perfect transition from one song to another.

Last night while en route to pick up my Father-in-Law from Love Field, one such "harmonic happenstance" made itself known to me in the transition from "Phantasies" by Stephen Malkmus to "Bye Bye Love" by the Cars.

Based on the provided MP3, you be the judge...

FT » Film » "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus"

I've really become a big fan of Jim White over the past few years, so when I stumbled upon his film "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus" while surfing past The Sundance Channel the other night, I immediately stopped down and began watching. I was expecting some kind of full-length performance piece, and while both White and his music are prominently featured, there are several others along for the ride.

Joining White at various stops along his roadtrip through Dixie are Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower, The Handsome Family and David Johansen (yes, THAT David Johansen!). I saw Dowd open for Neko Case last year, and he is one bizarre dude. His presence here adds a twisted bit of eerieness to the already skewed proceedings, and you can almost imagine him as White's hard-livin' "Uncle Johnny." Along with 16 Horsepower, The Handsome Family and Johansen, Dowd and White's musical interludes powerfully punctuate the scenery and those who reside within.

What really struck me about this film was how closely White examines the dichotomy between good and evil in the American South, and how folks in small Southern towns are almost universally either zealously devoted to their church and their version of God or completely consumed with the desire to drink, drug and fornicate. No sides are taken here, as various Pentacostal-style churches are visted with scenes of people speaking in tongues, while seedy dive bars are also seen with patrons shown whooping it up with every bit of intensity witnessed inside those "fringe" churches across town.

Like the South, the pace of this film might be too slow for some people, but I found it to be a thrilling ride, regardless.

jasmine » Music » Metallica - "The Unforgiven"

"you labeled me, i labeled you!!!!!!"

would you believe that i'm too lazy to get up and turn off "the unforgiven" by metallica? it's an experiment to see how much of this i can take before throwing a fit or worse, my stereo.

my god, i can remember when this song came out in 1991. i was a freshman in high school and i wanted nothing more than to attend a metallica concert. of course, my mom wasn't having it because she grew up on sabbath. i think she assumed that hetfield ate bats or something. so i listened to the tape over and over and over again, letting the teen angst build in my awkward, hormonal body. no one understood me! metallica understood me!

so, here i am, 15 years later, listening to the same song which made me weep as a kid. so far, all it's making me want to do is kick a wall and purge my brain of all memories of metallica. a sampling of the awful lyrics:

New blood joins this earth
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant pained disgrace
The young boy learns their rules

With time the child draws in
This whipping boy done wrong
Deprived of all his thoughts
The young man strugggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
His will they'll take away

what was i thinking? that's not dark. that's just pure drama.

luckily, i discovered pearl jam, nirvana, ned's atomic dustbin, teenage fanclub, hoodoo gurus, and liz phair not too soon after. thank god.

note: i do love me some old metallica. i'm just ripping on this song. carry on.

Hip-D PodBlast » FT Picks » The Long Winters / Donald Fagen / Split Enz

In order to allow you to hear the music about which we rave, I have set up a recurring mini-podcast called "Hip-D PodBlast." Each one will contain three songs featured in our S.I.C.K. or A.T.O.M. segments. This first one is a 10:09 14 MB 192-bit MP3 with the following tracks:

1. "Teaspoon" - The Long Winters
2. "Rhymes" - Donald Fagen
3. "One Step Ahead" - Split Enz

There isn't any DJ chatter or anything else -- just the music. Enjoy!

FT » Music » Split Enz - "One Step Ahead"

Yeah, this track's over 20 years old, but stumbling upon long-forgotten gems like this is one of my favorite things about setting my 60 GB iPod to random. I really dig the air of menace throughout this song. These Kiwis have to be one of the most criminally underappreciated bands of the early '80s. Time hasn't been kind to many of the acts from the New Wave movement, but this is one band -- and especially one song -- that's held up extremely well over the years. Good on ya, Brothers Finn!

Hip-D TV » Lo-Def Theater » "The Garage Sale"

We here at Hip-D are proud to introduce our latest recurring feature: "Lo-Def Theater." Because I am not blessed with any semblance of God-given artistic ability, including anything remotely approaching drawing skills, my only hope to visually put forth my creative vision is to do so by hook or by crook. In this case, "by hook" means jerry-rigging PowerPoint and Windows Movie Maker, while "by crook" very accurately desribes my blatant intellectual theft of copyrighted still photos and licensed music.

So, until a series of exorbitant fines and eventual jail time separates me from my laptop, throw some Jiffy Pop on the hibachi, sit back and enjoy the show...

FT » TV » Shatner Sings "Taxi" on "Dinah!"

"Another Sunday Shat to Hell"

So, here I find myself smack dab in the middle of this glorious four-day weekend (God bless America!) with more free time than I've had before me since Spiro Agnew was still drawing a government paycheck, and instead of doing something productive like dusting the blades of my ceiling fan or shampooing my landlord's blood out of the carpet, I've spent the vast majority of this Sunday doing nothing but watching clip after brain-rotting clip at You Tube.

My greatest find so far has been yet another William Shatner vocal interpretation of a '70s pop classic; this time: Harry Chapin's poignant "Taxi." Here's the first of what will likely be countless instances of leeching existing online content in lieu of actually coming up with something original...ENJOY!

Shatner sings "Taxi"

Monday, July 31, 2006

jasmine » Music » Pitchfork Music Festival 2006

Friday, July 28, 2006

Hip-D PodBlast » Staff Inflection » v1.0

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Hip-D PodBlast » Harmonic Happenstance » "Phantasies" to "Bye Bye Love"

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

FT » Film » "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus"

Thursday, July 06, 2006

jasmine » Music » Metallica - "The Unforgiven"

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Hip-D PodBlast » FT Picks » The Long Winters / Donald Fagen / Split Enz

FT » Music » Split Enz - "One Step Ahead"

Monday, July 03, 2006

Hip-D TV » Lo-Def Theater » "The Garage Sale"

Sunday, July 02, 2006

FT » TV » Shatner Sings "Taxi" on "Dinah!"