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Cheesecake Factory: Kylie Minogue on “The Tonight Show”

November 3, 2010 /

Welcome to the first, and for all we know, last installment of our new column that celebrates beautiful women in music, which is a nice way of saying that we’re objectifying the bejeezus out of them.

We’ll keep this one simple: Kylie Minogue is awesome. She will likely never sing a song that will change the world, or rewrite the rules of pop – though the Flaming Lips did cover her song “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” so that’s worth something – but the world is a much happier place for having her in it. Even better, she’s actually gotten better looking as she’s gotten older, something the teen pop idols of today will appreciate when they’ve been kicked to the curb the second they’re old enough to legally order a drink. Lastly, Kylie’s a breast cancer survivor, though our theory is that once it discovered that it had appeared in her body, the cancer willingly left, apologizing as it did so.

She has a new record, the better-than-Madonna’s-last-one Aphrodite, and last week, she sang second single “Get Outta My Way” on “The Tonight Show.” We’re the last people to pimp anything that features Jay Leno on it, but sweet Jesus, look at her. Guuuuuuuuuuh.

Artists, CD Reviews, Cheesecake Factory, Dance, Pop, Rock Babes, Videos

The Pixies: Live, Acoustic and Electric

November 2, 2010 /


RIYL: Nirvana, The Replacements, Jesus & Mary Chain

Here’s a nifty Blu-ray two-fer for the indie rock purist in your life. “Acoustic” and “Electric” were released individually in 2006, but are smartly paired together here, along with some footage of one of the Pixies’ first gigs at the legendary TT the Bear’s.

The acoustic show, recorded in 2005 at the Newport Folk Festival, was certainly a unique affair for both the festival and the band; the band had never done a full acoustic show before, and the festival organizers never had an artist that could claim to have influenced Nirvana, but there they were, plugging through a well-balanced set of alt rock hits (“Monkey Gone to Heaven,” “Here Comes Your Man”) and large chunks of their debut album Surfer Rosa and their 1989 breakthrough Doolittle. It’s cute, though forcing guitarist Joey Santiago to play an entire set without an electric guitar is a crime against nature, something that the “Electric” set rectifies. Recorded at the tiny Paradise rock club in Boston only a few days after the Newport gig (Frank Black and Kim Deal are even wearing the same shirts), “Electric” is the Pixies as they are meant to be heard. Black even goes off the set list at the beginning and begs drummer David Lovering to do “La La Love You” because his mom’s in the audience. The band scarcely lets up from there, and Santiago gets his ya-ya’s out on a blistering version of “Vamos” where he plays his effects pedals like a synthesizer.

There isn’t much in the way of on-stage banter – after the first couple songs, they just tend to play and play – and for some reason they had no use for “Dig for Fire,” one of their best-known songs – but they get credit for mixing up the set lists and covering 37 different songs between the two shows. And with the holidays fast approaching, this is the kind of thing that someone is probably reluctant to buy, but would love to get. (Eagle Vision 2010)

The Pixies MySpace page
Click to buy Acoustic and Electric from Amazon

Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Concert DVDs, Indie, Music DVDs, Rock

The Octopus Project: Hexadecagon

November 1, 2010 /


RIYL: Minimalism, The Orb, the soundtrack to Koyanisquatsi

The Octopus Project are an indie instrumental electronic group. So while they’ll probably never have a sound that one would describe as “pop,” their 2007 album Hello, Avalanche came pretty close. Tracks like “Ghost Moves” and “Truck” were just a vocal track away from a James Murphy tune, and the hauntingly beautiful “I Saw The Bright Shinies” proved that you don’t need a singer to make an excellent ballad as long as you have a Theremin.

But anyone who was hoping that the group might take the sound from Hello, Avalanche and advance it even further into the pop landscape is going to be shocked with the group’s latest effort, the highly experimental Hexadecagon. Taking a hard right away from the traditional songwriting structure from Hello, Avalance, Hexadecagon dumps all the hooks, jangle and upbeat beats from that album and replaces them with Philip Glass and Steve Reich-influenced minimalism. Repetition is the name of the game here, with tracks like the opener “Fuguefat” and the aptly named “Circling” focusing on a single motif and repeating it over and over again, slowly introducing new elements piece by piece. It’s not dance music, that’s for sure. But it still maintains one important element of Hello, Avalanche; it’s a great record that is a lot of fun. (Peek-a-Boo 2010)

The Octopus Project MySpace Page

CD QuickTakes, CD Reviews, Electronica, Hipster

N.E.R.D.: Nothing

November 1, 2010 /


RIYL: Prince, Lady GaGa, Justin Timberlake

As the Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are as responsible as anyone for the sound of popular music over the last decade as anyone else. Starting out as the apprentices of New Jack Swing godfather Teddy Riley, Chad & Pharrell’s minimal synth stabs took a diverse array of artists to the top of the charts: from coke-rap duo Clipse to teenyboppers the Backstreet Boys, Britney & ‘NSync.

As their performing alter egos N.E.R.D., Pharrell and Chad (joined occasionally by rapper Shae Haley) have not been as successful. One moderately successful debut album (In Search Of…) should have led to bigger things, but two subsequent efforts have been average performers commercially and critically. N.E.R.D.’s sound might be a little too eclectic for Top 40 radio – it’s not very easy to put in a box or define. Is it hip-hop? It is soul music? Is it rock?

NERD 3 - SMALL

A year or so ago, as the band prepared to record their fourth album, Nothing, they introduced a fourth member into the group, female singer Rhea. This move was a head-scratcher to many. It seemed as though N.E.R.D. was looking at label mates the Black Eyed Peas as a blueprint to success. Thankfully (because Lord knows we don’t need another version of BEP in this world), Rhea was sacked and N.E.R.D. returned to its original configuration.

Somewhat surprisingly, given the band’s inconsistent output and the Neptunes’ declining commercial fortunes, Nothing is quite a good album. The sound is still as varied as ever: the guys are still equal parts garage-rock and synth-pop, but none of it feels forced. There are a handful of eye-rolling lyrical moments – Pharrell Williams isn’t and will never be the world’s best lyricist – but Nothing offers more bang for your buck than any N.E.R.D./Neptunes/Pharrell album other since their debut.

The album’s opening track, “Party People,” turns out to be a bit of a red herring. The synthed-up club jam (boasting vocals by T.I.) is certainly the most commercial thing they’d ever released. Interestingly, N.E.R.D. pulls off that sound well – at least for the one song. The rest of the album veers from the rocking “Help Me” to the quasi-mystical “Life as a Fish” (which honestly reads like the diary entries of a very, VERY stoned college student). There’s a cool Daft Punk production (“Hypnotize U”), way more saxophone than on the past 15 years of N.E.R.D. albums and Neptunes productions combined, and a refreshingly varied approach to subject matter that includes the inspirational “God Bless Us All” and the politically motivated “It’s in the Air” in addition to the usual ass-shaking anthems (which happen to be MUCH less annoying and even kinda enjoyable in this context).

Nothing won’t reinvent the wheel and it probably won’t be a huge commercial success, either – the Neptunes’ moment (well, more like a decade than a moment) seems to have passed them. However, this is the most vibrant work that Pharrell in particular has been a part of in quite some time. Strangely (and happily for those of us who don’t live and die by radio and the charts) their music appears to be getting more interesting as their star fades. (Interscope 2010)

N.E.R.D. MySpace page

Artists, CD Reviews, Dance, Funk, Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, Rap

Steal This Song: Nitzer Ebb, “Promises”

October 29, 2010 /

This is one of those moments where we cannot help but think that everything is connected. Earlier this year we got our hands on Selected, a compilation of songs from onetime Depeche Mode sonic architect Alan Wilder’s new band Recoil, and on it is a little tune called “Faith Healer,” featuring vocals from Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas McCarthy. It’s a great tune, and McCarthy turns in a rather impressive vocal performance for a guy who’s spent most of his career yelling. Even better, the release of this album allowed us to score an interview with Wilder (huge, huge thrill), where Wilder delivered perhaps the funniest, most understated comment about Nitzer Ebb that one could possibly dream up: “I guess Nitzer Ebb are lacking a lot of melodic content, you could say.”

Even stranger, when we spoke with Fratellis lead singer Jon Fratelli earlier in the year and asked him who he considered to be the most unheralded artist from his native Scotland, he nominated the Sensational Alex Harvey Band…the guy who wrote “Faith Healer.” Like we said, everything’s connected.

Nitzer_Ebb_01

Anyway, Wilder mentioned that he had recently remixed a Nitzer Ebb track – one with melodic content, we’re assuming – and it hadn’t even occurred to us that the band hadn’t made a record in 15 years, so him mixing Nitzer Ebb was kind of a big deal. The record is now here (Industrial Complex, due out November 9), and the first song, “Promises,” will produce involuntary goosebumps in anyone who trolled the alt-rock clubs when That Total Age was first released. The keyboard track immediately brings “Murderous” to mind but, perhaps remembering how well the “Faith Healer” cover worked, McCarthy opts for actual singing instead of his trademark yelling, and in the process fixes the one thing that ultimately kept us from listening to the band for more than 10 minutes in a row. Oh man, is this a sweet surprise.

Click to download Nitzer Ebb – Promises

Alternative, Artists, CD Reviews, Dance, Downloads, Electronica, Industrial, Me Myself and iPod, Steal This Song

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