Grant Manship

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 30th, 2006

Bob Dylan - "Not Dark Yet" from Time Out of Mind

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 29th, 2006

Okkervil River - "The Next Four Months" from For Real EP

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 28th, 2006

Castanets - "Bells Aloud" from First Light's Freeze

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 27th, 2006

Morrissey - "The Last of the Famous International Playboys" from Bona Drag

The Walkmen & Richard Swift - Live at Headliners Music Hall

I saw Richard Swift and The Walkmen at Headliners Music Hall in Louisville on Saturday night.  Richard Swift's live set is definitely worth seeing if you get the chance.  He is wonderful live.  The Walkmen were, of course, excellent as well.  You can check out a few of the pictures I took below.

Richard Swift
The Walkmen

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 26th, 2006

Catfish Haven - "You Can Have Me" from Please Come Back

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 23rd, 2006

The Apples in Stereo - "The Shiney Sea" from Her Wallpaper Reverie

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 22nd, 2006

Hot Chip - "Look After Me" from The Warning

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 21st, 2006

Califone - "Michigan Girls" from Everybody's Mother, Vol. 1

Cold War Kids on KEXP

Check out the mp3's of the Cold War Kids recent in-studio performance at KEXP.  (via So Much Silence)

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 20th, 2006

David Bowie - "Space Oddity" from Serious Moonlight Live EP

The Strokes - You Only Live Once

The Spinto Band & The Lovely Feathers - Live at Alchemize

I caught The Lovely Feathers and The Spinto Band last night at Alchemize.  Unfortunately, and much to my dismay, Dr. Dog had to cancel their appearance due to van troubles in Atlanta.  Regardless of this, the show was still great (obviously) as both bands put on a great show.  You can check out a few of the pictures I took below.

The Lovely Feathers
The Spinto Band

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 19th, 2006

The National - "Reasonable Man (I Don't Mind)" from Cherry Tree

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 16th, 2006

The Lovely Feathers - "I Really Like You" from Hind Hind Legs

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 15th, 2006

Regina Spektor - "Hotel Song" from Begin to Hope

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 14th, 2006

Band of Horses - "The Funeral" from Everything All the Time

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 13th, 2006

Cat Power - "He War" from You Are Free

Daytrotter Sessions - Sunset Rubdown

Sunset Rubdown is featured on Daytrotter this week so be sure to check out the band's story and free songs.

Favorite New Release(s) of the Week - Jun. 13th, 2006

Six Organs of Admittance - The Sun Awakens

On his eighth Six Organs of Admittance outing, Ben Chasny's burrowed deeper into the eerie psych bog, creating The Sun Awakens, his most foreboding album to date. In the past he's been vocal about the influence on his work by Keiji Haino's psych-rock crew Fushitsusha, the slow-mo guitar pyrotechnics of Loren Connors, the shambling rock'n'drone of New Zealand's Dead C, and various underground musicians championed in Byron Coley and Jimmy Johnson's seminal Forced Exposure magazine. That range of sounds has never shown up as clearly as across these seven tracks. Chasny's been the odd finger-picker out of the core freak-folk family for some time; on this somber, stirring collection, he's spreading his wings even further.

If the post-folk demarcation needs to be sketched with thicker lines, there's also Chasny's membership in Badgerlore, Comets on Fire, and Current 93. Don't misunderstand: John Fahey and Robbie Basho are here and there, but the aforementioned experimenters-- as well as shambolic troupes like Tower Recordings and Sunburned Hand of the Man-- make more apt aesthetic brethren for the Oakland multi-instrumentalist.

Recording quality isn't something I generally write home about (full disclosure: I recorded Chasny playing his guitar via speakerphone for a compilation CD that I co-curated), but the Fucking Champs' Tim Green did a great job capturing the instruments here, creating the best sounding Six Organs record to date. Green and Chasny also co-produced it wonderfully, subtly layering the various strata, keeping each component distinct (trick: play it loud). The compositional approach isn't unprecedented-- elements of the previous Six Organs albums bubble to the surface-- but the constituent parts are more precisely focused. Imagine the dirge of 2002's Dark Noontide with a stronger Comets undertow consistently pulling you toward some unknown mire. In addition to the compositional integrity, the ways he utilizes his voice have grown exponentially.

Unfazed by the recent wolf-rock infestation, Chasny opens the set with a brief acoustic ditty, "Torn By Wolves". It's Chasny on guitars-- upfront Octavio Paz lullaby with a distant wash in the background-- paired with minimal cymbal taps and percussion from Comets on Fire's Noel Von Harmonson. Throughout, Von Harmonson's drumming is sparer than Chris Corsano's free-jazz eruptions, leading to a focus on the guitars and other instruments, and radically shifting the freak-out mode.

That plaintive ramble gives way to the ominous "Bless Your Blood". It's again Chasny and Von Harmonson on their respective instruments, but Green handles the tone generator and John Connell the Persian flute. Despite the added oomph, the most obvious detail of the piece is Chasny's upfront, claustrophobic flanged voice-- a second track of spectral falsetto drifts and darts, acting as gorgeous counterpoint.

"Black Wall" pairs vocal hypnotics with noisy guitar. The track begins acoustic, but when the guitar crush explodes toward the end, the rings are still there, this time piled heavy with feedback. The guitar's notched up another few digits for the blistering, raga-to-rock-out instrumental "Attar", named after the mystic Iranian poet. On the penultimate track, "Wolves Pup", Chasny reprises "Torn By Wolves". It's the same song played differently and this time with no background peal or drums-- just Chasny on the acoustic. Much like "Torn By Wolves", the spare piece acts as a dynamic space-- a moment of comedown before launching into something bigger.

Closer "River of Transfiguration" is a 24-minute trek down the Styx with a posse of groaning monks. Chasny handles guitar, tone generators, organ, vocals, and gong, and the album's previous players all show up with armloads of instruments. Additionally, Om's Al Cisneros lays down bass and sings, and other vocals come courtesy of Comets on Fire's Ethan Miller plus three other acolytes. The sound? Imagine the latter portion of School of the Flower's "Saint Cloud" sans pretty guitar line and taken to the nth degree: It's more about developing a sense of space than rocking out, and its elements slowly drift into the mix until it becomes a teeming landscape.

Even with the terrific "River of Transfiguration", I'll bet a couple bucks that people will be let down by The Sun Awakens. Though it's actually longer than School, it feels shorter because of the lengthy grand finale and overall cohesion. (Songs blend together and cross fade, and the only aesthetic anomaly is the Western wrangle "The Desert is a Circle".) It will also prove more challenging for the casual listener: Where's the loner pot cloud of "Thicker Than a Smokey"? The bucolic "All You've Left" and "Words for Two"? That said, Chasny found himself a heavy fucking vibe and that led him to a transcendent but unrelenting place. If you've ever been intrigued by the sound of the sun imploding, this should be your cup of hemlock.

- Brandon Stosuy, June 8, 2006 via Pitchfork

Hot Chip - The Warning

It's only natural that Hot Chip would push themselves a bit after their debut Coming on Strong, a successful but safe entrée to the British electro-soul outfit. Their kitschy yet deeply affecting lyrics drew so much attention the first time around that I'd met more than a few people who said they hated the group simply because they seemed like cheeky fuckers. They missed the point, but that's another matter. Follow-up album The Warning is propulsion and power and punctuation rolled up into one, abandoning a lot of the graceful, delicate melodies of the debut for songs with more wallop. It was a necessary move-- a step forward-- and the results are mostly golden.

Of course, a lot of their pert turns of phrases are still around, as are the molten ballads ("Look After Me", "Colours") but they're usually eclipsed by the zooming, gliding synths, keyboards, and drum machines that push things forward. If their flavor was DF-Ay! before, it now sounds a bit more DF-Hey. Nowhere is that more evident than on the unsteady, maniacally fun "Over and Over", the early single that got most excited for their turn to the dancefloor. Built on the best kind of chant (one you can remember), a skulking guitar, and handclaps, the song is a standout among spastic jams like the churning Human League-esque "No Fit State" or crystalline "(Just Like We) Breakdown".

The centerpiece, though, comes in two parts, from two angles. First, the throbbing, sincere "Boy From School", which is marked by Alexis Taylor's sweetly thin vocals and the heartbroken line, "We try, but we don't belong." It's as good a pop song as has been written this year. The second, the title track, is a less direct hit and takes a minute to sink in. It's also got one of those couplets ("Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head/ Hot Chip will put you down, under the ground") to distract you. But like a lot of the band's best songs, it splits into three and four parts, veering into bridges where there should be choruses, verses where there should codas, and dirges where there should be melodies. It's not rocket science, but it's also not botany. "Prepare yourself for a mechanical fright" is the clarion call.

Thing is, where Coming on Strong had scattered moments of mediocrity or unrealized embellishments, this album has several irrefutable numbers-- and a couple of clangs. "Tchaparian" is needlessly jagged on an album full of round edges. "Arrest Yourself", a kinetic live staple, manages to avoid the effortless groove created onstage by trying the push the envelope with loose horn sounds and a disorienting arrangement. Their failures magnify an incomplete rotation.

As far as improvements go, The Warning isn't so much a triumph as it is a reach in the right direction. Beat maestro Joe Goddard seems to have taken more of a backseat vocally to Taylor's coo and this saps a lot of the joyful contrast from the group. Then again, the bear-like Goddard isn't much of a singer in the first place, though he's obviously got the bigger sense of humor. Their hip-hop influence has been scaled back a bit as well, turning to a punishing rhythm section stacked on top of deeper ambient sounds. The built-for-a-cathedral "Careful" opens softly and quickly erupts into choppy sample darts, then cools back down again. Its momentum and retraction is a good metaphor for the record.

- Sean Fennessey, May 9, 2006 via Pitchfork

Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

It's no secret that Regina Spektor has some quirks. As a songwriter and performer, she hoards eccentricities like the Collyer brothers (Google it). She hiccups and yawps, breaks syllables against their grain, beatboxes unself-consciously, belts like Ethel Merman, recites like Patti Smith, coos like Tori Amos, shrieks like a Kate Bush for the McSweeney's set. And her songwriting, in addition to occasionally folding in snippets of "Hava Nagila", makes frequent, often humorous use of pop culture references, anachronisms, dream imagery, even made-up words. And yet, these eccentricities allow unfriendly listeners to keep Spektor at a distance, disregarding her feminine presence as cutesily affected while indulging the endless costume changes of Gnarls Barkley and the sniping whine of Conor Oberst.

But eccentricity isn't her defining characteristic. That would be her native intelligence, which shows through in every note. Spektor is a street-smart songwriter masquerading as a book-smart one, with a self-awareness that can be endearingly goofy. Spektor can profess her love for "November Rain" and paraphrase the Madame de Pompadour without stretching, showboating, or seeming academic.

This quality-- her smarts-- is present in every aspect of her new album, Begin to Hope, except perhaps in its made-for-TV-movie title. Her third full-length and first recorded under her major-label contract, the record was produced by Dave Kahne, who has turned knobs for the Bangles, Paul McCartney, and, um, Sugar Ray. He also helmed the lastest Strokes album, First Impressions of Earth. Under his direction, Begin to Hope sounds expensive: There's a hermetic studio quality to the tones, a studied three dimensionality in the interplay of instruments, and a perfectionism in the mix that suggests a bigger budget and a nicer studio. Elegant beats sculpted from orchestral samples adorn opener "Fidelity" and "On the Radio", while precisely calibrated synths enter and exit on cue. "Hotel Song" trips along on a snappy drumbeat and a spritely chorus that has the professional bearing of Brill Building pop. On "Lady", a paean to Billie Holiday, Spektor duets with a mournful jazz band that cuts in and out abruptly like a staticky transmission from the past.

One downside to this crisp production is the loss of place: 2001's 11:11 and 2003's Soviet Kitsch both sounded like they could have been recorded in some smoky Bronx bar or in a friend's living room, but Begin to Hope evokes no particular setting or venue. Nevertheless, Spektor sounds confident and comfortable. Her songwriting remains as testy and idiosyncratic as ever-- as well as ambitious. With all the fanfare and bombast of a battle hymn, "Apres Moi" is a Spektorian epic about the weight of mortality and heritage. She sings from the perspective of a statue, perhaps the one she sung about in "Us". She rewrites the Beatitudes to instill a little paranoia: "Be afraid of the lame, they'll inherit your legs/ Be afraid of the old, they'll inherit your soul". Then there's that Madame de Pompadour reference: "Apres moi le deluge/ After me comes the flood," she sings defiantly, as if the Russians have just defeated her very own Franco-Austrian armies. Spektor sings a verse in Russian, then leads the song to an stirring finale featuring a small symphony led by a rickety drum set. The song would sound like a stunt if it didn't make so much sense and have so much feeling behind it.

Occasionally, though, Spektor can overdo it. On "That Time", she recounts a string of friendly reminiscences: "Remember that time I ate only tangerines for a month," she asks some unnamed companion before intoning, "So cheap and JUI-cy!" At the end she turns the song on its head with the sudden memory, "Remember that time you OD'ed?" The change in tone is a little too obvious and complete, like watching a movie with a cheap twist ending. Still, Spektor is bold enough to sell the song, and on the whole her performance throughout Begin to Hope exhibits new levels of control and direction, reaching a point where the song and the singing are inseparable.

- Stephen M. Deusner, June 12, 2006 via Pitchfork

The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes

New York Doll

I watched New York Doll last night.  It was excellent.  The documentary follows the mild-mannered Arthur "Killer" Kane during his days riding the bus to his job as a librarian at LA's Mormon Family History Center up through his triumphant transition back into the New York Dolls as they reunite for the 2004 Meltdown Festival.  I definitely recommend watching it if you get a chance. Check out the trailer for the film below:

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 12th, 2006

Eagle*Seagull - "Your Beauty Is a Knife I Turn On My Throat" from Eagle*Seagull

Sound Team - Your Eyes Are Liars

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 9th, 2006

Sound Team - "No More Birthdays" from Movie Monster

The Strokes Cover Marvin Gaye

The Strokes have covered Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me" with Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme.  The song will be featured on the B-side of the band's next single from First Impressions of Earth, "You Only Live Once".  (via Contact Music)

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 8th, 2006

The M's - "Trucker Speed" from Future Women

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 7th, 2006

Man Man - "Gold Teeth" from The Man In the Blue Turban With a Face

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 6, 2006

The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy for the Devil" from Beggars Banquet

Favorite New Release of the Week - June 6th, 2006

Sound Team - Movie Monster

So often, when a listener sits down with a new record, they've been bombarded with endless comparisons and expectations.  This is not the case with Sound Team and for good reason.  The members of Sound Team have constructed their own eclectic brand of indie rock and when they bring it to the table, they'll have you coming back for more, time and time again.  I have a feeling listeners will have a very difficult time getting their fill of Movie Monster in the coming months.   This is the kind of album you can't wait to tell your friends about… the same friends who will ultimately thank you for turning them onto this band.

From the start, Movie Monster unfolds like the soundtrack for an epic film that doesn't yet exist.  The opening track, "Get Out", peaks your interest and, just as the hypnotic sway of the track begins to pull you in, the song cuts out and starts the action.  When the title track, "Movie Monster", settles in, the pulsating rhythm sounds like the broken heartbeat of an astronaut floating through the abyss after an ill-fated mission.  The spastic keyboards and guitars of "No More Birthdays" create an edge-of-your-seat thriller.

The first half of the album is strong but the second half is even stronger.  If you don't find your head bobbing or your foot tapping during "Your Eyes Are Liars", you should probably check to make sure you still have a pulse.  Luckily you'll have time to catch your breath and relax as the sounds of "Afterglow Years" gently bring you back down to Earth.  The albums triumphant closer, "Handful of Billions", delivers an energetic, upbeat ending you'll be sure to enjoy.

If you don't pick this album up on today you'll soon hear your friends tell you about “this record you just have to hear.”  If not... you might want to find some different friends.

- Grant, April 17, 2006 via Grant Manship

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 5th, 2006

Belle and Sebastian - "Sukie In the Graveyard" from The Life Pursuit

Pink Mountaintops Tour North America

Be sure to check out Pink Mountaintops on the remainder of their North American tour.  The band will joined by Catfish Haven for the entire tour along with Windsor for the Derby tonight (06/05) and The Black Angels for the rest of the shows.

• Jun 5 2006 Khyber - Philadelphia, PA
• Jun 6 2006 Middle East Upstairs - Cambridge, MA
• Jun 7 2006 Knitting Factory - New York, NY
• Jun 8 2006 Southpaw - Brooklyn, NY
• Jun 9 2006 La Sala Rossa - Montreal, QC
  
• Jun 10 2006 Barrymore's - Ottawa, ON
  
• Jun 11 2006 Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, ON
  
• Jun 13 2006 Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL

The Sleepy Jackson - God Lead Your Soul

Monthly Mixtape - May '06

The Monthly Mixtape for May is now available.

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 2nd, 2006

The Pink Mountaintops - "Leslie" from The Pink Mountaintops

iTunes Song Suggestion of the Day - June 1st, 2006

Gnarls Barkley - "St. Elsewhere" from St. Elsewhere

Man Man Across America

MAN MAN start a month long North American tour tomorrow.  Check out the dates below:

• Jun 2 2006 - P.A.'s Lounge - Somerville, MA
• Jun 3 2006 - La Sala Rosa - Montreal, QC
• Jun 5 2006 - Silver Dollar Room - Toronto, ON
• Jun 6 2006 - Mac's Bar - East Lansing, MI
• Jun 7 2006 - Subterranean - Chicago, IL
• Jun 8 2006 - Turf Club - St. Paul, MN
• Jun 9 2006 - Jackpot Saloon - Lawrence, KS
• Jun 10 2006 - Walnut Room - Denver, CO
• Jun 11 2006 - Kilby Court - Salt Lake City, UT
• Jun 13 2006 - Neumo's - Seattle , WA
• Jun 15 2006 - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA
• Jun 16 2006 - Henry Fonda Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
• Jun 17 2006 - Epicentre - San Diego, CA
• Jun 18 2006 - Solar Culture Gallery - Tucson, AZ
• Jun 20 2006 - Emo's Inside - Austin, TX
• Jun 21 2006 - The Cavern - Dallas, TX
• Jun 22 2006 - Walters On Washington - Houston, TX
• Jun 23 2006 - Spanish Moon - Baton Rouge, LA
• Jun 24 2006 - The Earl - Atlanta, GA
• Jun 25 2006 - Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC
• Jun 27 2006 - Theatre of the Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
  
• Jun 29 2006 - Webster Hall - New York, NY
• Jun 30 2006 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC
• Jul 29 2006 - Pitchfork Music Festival - Chicago, IL

After you're done figuring out which MAN MAN shows you're going to see, check out the video for their song "10 lb. Moustache" from The Man In A Blue Turban With A Face.