Mulldoggey, Ewing Twins and I saw Wilco last night. It was a terrific show. First the Wang Theater is an impressive venue...very ornate, very nice, clean bathrooms. The Fiery Furnaces opened, bringing into further doubt why Pitchfork think their album is one of the year's best. They're fronted by a bro/sis combo, the latter of which describes their sound as resembling a "Chuck E. Cheese Pit Orchestra." Izzat gud? Not in my book.

Around 8:30 Jeff Tweedy and Co. finally got on stage. They were incredible. I've seen them four times now (Summerfest 2001, Orpheum fall 2002, Summerfest 2003), but this was the first time since they released A Ghost is Born in June. It really underscored how great an album it is. I read one review (Spin maybe?) which described the album's theme being entropy; ie order breaking down into chaos. It's not entirely new, since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot also had plenty of sonic breakdowns (see the guitar spaz-outs in "I'm the Man Who Loves You" or the sampled noise of "Poor Places").

It seems more obvious in this album though, because it doesn't have the same holy-shit-this-is-perhaps-the-greatest-album-i've-ever-heard quality of YHF. But track-for-track the albums aren't very different in terms of quality, and that's what the live show really proves. They played most of AGIB, as well as Summerteeth faves "She's a Jar," "Shot in the Arm," "Via Chicago," and "I'm Always in Love." From YHF they played my two faves, "Jesus, etc." and a particularly mind-blowingly-fucking-awesome "Ashes of American Flags." My favorite was either the latter or "At Least that's What You Said," which I love on the album but live is just that much better. That was probably my favorite. When they bust out after the quiet first half it is awesome. Same goes for "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" which takes forever to really doing anything, but then when it does it's absolutely electric. Seeing the whole band--Tweedy, bassist John Stirrate, drummer Glenn Kotche, new keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, new lead guitarist Nels Cline, and some multi-instrumentalist guy who did a lot of Pete Townshend-y things when he played guitar--rock out is a sight to see.

Tweedy, who always seems like a very normal, cool, funny guy was really in his element as well. Terrific frontman. It's also interesting that on the new album--as well as live--he shows a lot more vocal range than previously.

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Lots of random, obscure, diverse music to talk about. I'll begin with my band of the moment (which is the rough equivalent of band of the week I suppose): Kasabian. I'm not really sure how to pronounce their name--I'm going with Kah-SAH-bee-in until further notice--but their sound is sick. The electro-tinged, bass-driven intensity of Primal Scream, only with a lot more melody and flashes of, dare I say, accessibility. Their logo probably says a lot about their sound, though they're just four somewhat-shaggy white guys from Leicester (England, folks). My favorite song is "I.D." which drips, oozes, sweats, and otherwise expels badass cool in heaping quantities. You can stream it HERE. It also has the atmospheric qualities you'd get from bringing an eastern mystic into the recording studio.


The covers of the LP and last two singles: is that Snake Eyes?

The ironic part is that "L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)," which is a somewhat danceable pop song that was released over a year ago, is on the soundtrack to FIFA 2004, a video game I've spent roughly half of the last year playing. It's a decent song, but I never would have thought it was from a band I would love. But then I stumbled across "Processed Beats" (right-click that shit) the other day while surfing around and really liked it. So I looked them up and found NME is streaming their album on a special part of the website and thought it sounded awesome. I became obsessed with finding "ID" at work on Friday, before finally saying fuck it and buying the import CD at Newbury Comics. Not sure when the US version will come out, so I thought what the hell. Anyway, that should give you all the information/sounds you need to make up your own damn mind.

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But that's only the beginning of the new music. Indeed my friends, there's a lot to get to. I owe much of my new cache of music to Bliss Pop, The Alt, Pitchfork's MP3s, and Insound. So I recommend checking out those if you're bored, though you won't get the quality control you get here. So without further ado:

Cut Copy - Going Nowhere / I guess Cut Copy is one guy who plays with a band or something. Either way, this song has a catchy '80s pop appeal to it, but I don't know, there's a little more to it than that. What really sells me on this song is when they drop it a little around the 1:40 mark. Same lyrics, but they add that little wrinkle to the music. The sound reminds me a little of that '80s song that Mariah Carey did a cover of--"Fantasy" I think. Only not shitty.

Raising the Fawn / The North Sea
One of Broken Social Scene's 32 members plays in this band, which apparently lost most of its members because when they released their album originally no one cared. But now the BSS connection is getting them some pub. This song is an 8-minute marathon, which starts out with a nice slow tone and then builds in urgency behind a really thick bassline...and then retreats again at the end. The first two parts are really good, the last part I could do without.

The Arcade Fire / Wake Up
Big, Huge, Gorgeous, Right rock music. Choral backings that--shock horror!--are not gratuitous put this song over the top. There's also this terrific part at the end, with this faster piano part...expect me to be writing more about this band in the near future.

Bloc Party / Banquet
Just when post-punk/dance-punk/schmance-kunk/post-Jesus music was supposed to be getting played out (no more good reviews! you're all followers now!), these boys come along from England. The guitars in the refrain are fantastic. They are supporting Interpol in Europe this fall.

The Legends / There and Back Again
Because Swedish people are better than all of us, The Legends knock out a beautiful pop album. What does this remind me of? To be honest, the theme song from "Kids in the Hall," because of the guitar riff. Which is a crappy show but this song is good.

Three Mile Pilot / On a Ship to Bangladesh
When I heard this song I thought, damn, this has a Pinback-ish quality to it. And then I found out two members of Pinback were in this band, now defunct. Really beautiful indie-rock song though.

Speedstar / Are You Feeling Better, Angela?
As much as these guys have Australian Travis wannabes written all over them (what does that even mean anyway?), there's something to this song. The dude has a good voice, but it's almost not even real. Listen to it.

k-os / Man I Used to Be
I occasionally don't mind rap music. Honest. Ok, rarely, but still. k-os is a Canadian rapper who, when I first heard this song, sounded to me like a caricature of Eminem. Like as in his voice sounded kind of dinky (at least he has the decency to be African-American, er, African-Canadian). Well, whatever. I like the beat.

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I also recommend checking out the DFA Records site. DFA, aka Death From Above, aka James Murphy (who is also aka LCD Soundsystem) and Tim Goldsworthy produced the brilliance that is The Rapture's Echoes. I really like Pixeltan's "Get Up/Say What? (DFA Mix)" though I don't have a link for you. It's in the DFA player thing on the website though. Let me know and I can send it to you though.

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Interpol's Antics finally came out last Tuesday, which was kind of strange because though it was probably the second-most anticipated release of the year for me (just behind Franz, just ahead of the Killers), it wasn't a huge deal because I'd had the songs since June. Sigh. Luckily I hadn't had the final stereo mix versions, so I finally got to replace the mono versions I had. For instance, now when I listen to "Slow Hands" in my car I hear the guitar part start on the passenger side of my car and then kick in on the driver's side. Ah, the glory of the details.



This is an excellent album. But in some ways it's like the YHF/AGIB comparison I made above; there is something about Turn on the Bright Lights which is just cooler than this album, though if you just compare the two albums song for song you wouldn't necessarily come to that conclusion. In fact, I think the individual songs are much better on Antics. But when you listen to TOTBL you get this sense of Interpol as a complete and uncompromised aesthetic. Even the weakest song fits in...you might not like every song, but they all make sense in the context of the album. While at the Killers' concert they played "Obstacle 1" in between sets and all of a sudden I found myself thinking how much I wish I was hearing that song live than anything the Killers might have to offer (and in case you're wondering, I like Interpol a great deal more than the Killers, the gulf being much greater than my listening tendencies might suggest). Then two weeks ago I was driving home and I suddenly had to hear "Obstacle 1" and "Say Hello to the Angels." I first heard those songs probably a year ago, but now I still had this craving for them. I rarely listen to more than my three fave songs on the album ("Untitled" being the other), but I think as an album it's terrific.

Only time will tell if Antics is the kind of album that years later you'll still keep close at hand. I think the biggest difference between the albums is the presence of "Next Exit," "Evil," and "C'mere," on the new album. They're each good songs, but they don't have the same edge that was on the first album. They're cool, but not cool. "Evil" is a terrific pop song, and "C'mere" isn't far from it. But it's hard to listen to "Next Exit" without thinking how lazy and poppy it seems in comparison to "Untitled." That song may be the best album opener I've ever heard, if you base that title on quality of the song but also the way it works in the context of the album. It's such a measured, calculated song, with the guitars and bass floating through a thick fog, jagged guitars piercing through occasionally. If you hear that song, you have been made aware of Interpol's sound...the lyrics are almost an after-thought, but they're perfect. You've been prepared, now you can move on to the rest of the album. This time around, though, the mood seems similarly confident but almost non-chalant. Did Paul Banks fall in love or some shit? I can almost see the boys riding in a gondolla in Venice, Carlos D. wearing a lame little hat as he steers them around while they all wear shit-eating grins as "Next Exit" plays (no, seriously, I love this album).

Banks' vocals and lyrics have been referred to as occasionally "cringeworthy," but he almost always pulls it off. His vocals on this album are far more polished (is that intonation I detect? Yes!), but I didn't really mind it previously, though I'm sure Interpol will be a little easier to like in the mainstream now that their vocalist is a little less monotonic. I can't tell if he still has as many awkward moles as previously.

"Narc" and "Take You on a Cruise" are fucking fantastic songs that could have been standouts from the first album but sound a little more advanced than TOTBL. They both lean towards Interpol's darker side, without the lyrical obtusity. Not that they make much sense, but they work. "Slow Hands" is the four-to-the-floor dance track of the album, and a fucking brilliant one at that.

"Not Even Jail" is unfortuately the lamest song Interpol has ever put on CD. If they had just left it off I'd like the album a lot more. "Public Pervert" is OK. "Length of Love" doesn't do much for me either, but it isn't offensive by any means. The presence of "A Time to be So Small" is kind of interesting because I thought it was a TOTBL outtake, but here it is as the album closer.

So it's a terrific album and instantly goes into the #2 spot in my album of the year awards (just behind Franz, just ahead of M83). If I have an epiphany about its place relative to TOTBL I'll probably let it be known at a later date.