Bourgeois Banter: You've Been Forewarned--

I'm so glad I live in a time when these Montrealites are building entire cities with music. Around town and on the i-nets, two new songs have surfaced from the glorious gutters of suburban living via Arcade Fire. A person might take me for a glutton of musics because for the past two weeks, I have had nothing but "Neon Bible" blaring from the car, in anticipation of new AF material. Sinister and bourgeois, I am, but glouton? moi? OK, I guess I'm that, too. But even the angels of most high might look down upon me with favor, if I were to play them one song from this band. High fives in heaven for the Almighty Fire! And thus Win breathed down on the angels, and the clouds parted and the trumpets roared. Cherubs danced along, as he sang about being bored in "The Suburbs"! It sounds like bar-stool chatter in a diner, an old one, with vinyl seats ripped to the cushion at its seams. There's a glossy counter reflecting indifferent faces, picking at their plates, waiting for something to happen. It's a back-to-the-future clueless town, or a tormented Texan (or Arizonian) territory, bound to its own closed ideals and silently screaming. I can imagine Michael J. Fox yelling out to Doc in the parking lot of a local suburban shopping mall:  "Sometimes I can't believe it/I'm moving past the feeling!"

And don't for one minute think the month of May has ended--nay, it has just begun! In "Month of May": "Now, some things are pure and some things are right," sings Win Butler, Patron Saint of Kids with Their Arms Folded Tight. Gritty guitars made of Clash-y, static-y beats that would make even the tightly-folded and late Sid Vicious take heed: 'We are better than anyone, ain't we? Except for Arcade Fire, Arcade Fire are better than us.'

Don't say I didn't warn ya.

Gracias Por las Flores, Principe Guillermo

Bonnie "Prince" Billy in "Hombre Sencillo" is simply a magnificent study on cultural immersion. I won't delve too deep into his weird acting tactics (also see: "Wendy & Lucy") but he's just on another level of anti-Oscar material that is actually very refreshing. Much like a milk-spillage accident, it's almost too painfully silly to watch--yet you must. His pronunciation of Spanish nears impeccability with a swagger de un borrachito. Bonnie does the sombrero good. When he hands over a flower to the pretty ladies, he is as sincere as a mariachi, and his voice reflects only tenderness, which makes up for any tragic feigning. This piece pleases and teases the senses in a way that Mexico does when all that's left to do is leave. A bittersweet tear accompanied by a romantic longing for tacos and Oaxacan cheese.

FINALLY.

New Arcade Fire due sooooooon!! Yes.

Films for Skeptic Lazies

I remain skeptical (as I am always) of films utilizing online worldz as pro-/antagonist (i.e. Feardotcom). They have a tendency to feel like I'm watching...the internet? I just can't get past watching people using computers on a screen. Seems like the ultimate lazy to me. And I'm pretty lazy. Don't get me wrong--I can appreciate a good sci-fi scenario when I come across one (J.J. Abrams' Star Trek had this non-trekkie trooling). But too many cuts to d-loading suspense tricks will have me yawning. That said, "L'Autre Monde" might be based on a mysterious gaming site, but my interest peaks at the surrounding details: music by M83, Melvil Poupaud AND it's French. Always good to brush up on the French and Frenchies. So in this case, I think I can make an exception:

Rill Rill / Ring Ring / Can You Get to That

There's simply nothing better for summer than this Sleigh Bells jam and a tall, icy glass of hibiscus, slightly modified with a storm of quality tequila.





Except for maybe this!!

shiny coals, lofty goals

Foals - "Black Gold" and "The Orient"

I've considered it, but I don't think I'll ramble on too much about Total Life Forever, because it's not making me move at the moment...Doesn't mean you oughtn't give it a go, though--it does present a handful of more than savory bites. "Black Gold" glistens unassuming for a bit, shimmers with deft bridges and repeatedly asks "What's happened to you?" while its tremendous build up at the 3:32 mark, promising change and gold, gives us an anti-climactic return to normalcy. It works here, actually. In the lighthearted "The Orient" Wes Anderson-ian flicks come to vague memory, but this is a bit better, I think, because there's no script to lay claim on its scene, no Bill Murray feigning facial paralysis to trouble the words: it's all yours.

TREAT EM

Today prepare ya feets fo TREATS --

Debut Sleigh Bells album now streaming on NPR.

You already know my unabashed lust.

gogogoooooo -------> YAH! <-------

when we're out together dancing geek to geek

Diving into The National's High Violet without any real expectations can have some glorious side-effects. "I'm Afraid of Everyone" begins with a helpless dirge, with hopeful choirs, then sorting itself out with the pressures of youth and wistful substance-yearning. The contrasts are alarming and yet pleasant. I take from it a sense of rainy-day submission with a keep on keeping-on motivation. And if you've just been drenched by the storm and acid, "England" drags you under shy-sun rays just peeking out through the Tower Bridge. (Man, I just realized this song mentioned rain after my rainy-day analogy of the previous tune, am I a warped psychic? or just a psyched wizard--stay tuned.) I feel like I really enjoy this song because I miss London and Brits in general a jolly-heap. I'm crazy about Earl Grey mornings and Big Ben striking my hours away until midnight, when he turns off his lights. I confess I haven't a clue as to what Matt Berninger is on about here, save maybe angels and sinners, but I just had a fit of sinister cravings over heavenly Jaffa cakes so now I need to book a plane there asap.

Perhaps in "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks," the name says it all, but still, you've got to listen to the ending to really know how much beauty The National is really capable of. "I'll explain everything to the geeks." Come on ! It doesn't get any better than that !

Cities of the Plain: Beam me up!

I have said it before, and will say it again: Iron & Wine songs make me wish I was laid out in a grassy field, rolling under trees with one eye closed and one eye gathering all the world's beauty. When others attempt something similar, it too often ends in clumsy and ineffective placements. Upon listening, I end up in a field of horse manure, or worse, knee-deep in mud with the bad aftertaste of hay in my mouth. No thanks. But Sam, you can bring out that country plain, a breezy and warm living, and a timeless moment with endless dreaming. I'm reminded of a longing Cormac McCarthy would extend to John Grady. A defeated sigh but knee-deep in love with the land and leaves. He manages to serenade the senses while freeing them to live the life on a rustic path. Here is another perfect example, a new one called "Half Moon":

computer face it,

Flying Lotus - "...And The World Laughs With You" ft. Thom Yorke

Swig of whiskey to the esophagus. Yorke's voice lends itself well to the ghoulish Lotus track. Layers of cacophonous digital symphony. There's no drama in this relationship: it's all a solitary delusion. Shoot up and repent, GALAGA lasers represent!

Flying Lotus - "Computer Face//Pure Being"

Truth be told, I just really wanted to write about something entitled Computer Face. These are sonic sensations to pleasure your flacid neurons. Its real specialty boils at it's closing--a bolus rush of ball-breaking beats. Mince. Slather. Repeat!

Flying Lotus - "Galaxy in Janaki"

Engorge yourself on the sweetest guitar riffs swinging through a pixelated universe. You'll find star-gazing lilies floating above, and a cosmic bass brooding below. FL is truly the ambassador of intergalactic s-s-s-sound.

bulletprooooof

Oui oui, j'aime Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

lesson no.1 on this third of may twenty-twelve:

MGMT - "I Found a Whistle"

"Such conviction/To paint all the walls with the blood/of the young and the faithful and the good." So who gave MGMT a puff of that Beatles pipe? Good thing, because it's an exquisite diamond amidst a Valium of a record. I can get used to this arranging of dream-scape wordplay. There's still a pinch of psychedelia with a gentle strum that cradles your ears like a lullaby. Its bursting end may be one of my favorites this year: "I've got it, I've got it! This time." And when he lifts that pistol to your heart, you seem pretty relieved that he actually cares.

Fang Island - "Daisy"

Fun and free and harmonies and rock and claps and yelps and jumps and high-fives. A few bites from these fangs will inject you with an overdosage of HAPPY. Play it at church and save your congregation. Most of their music seems to intend bringing you to your bruised knees and making you flutter off in toothy-grin territory. Also try "Life Coach" and feel the heaviness lifted from your spine. Fang Island enjoys kicking you out of bed for good.

seewhatimean?

Fang Island: