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Holly Miranda, The xx, and Friendly Fires @ The Henry Fonda

Last night I headed over to the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood to check out Holly Miranda, The xx, and Friendly Fires. I’d seen Friendly Fires before at Coachella, and I’ve been in love for The xx since seeing their Basic Space video. Here’s a rundown of the night:

Holly Miranda playing her guitar

Holly Miranda

Before last night, I had never heard of Holly Miranda, but I can definitely see her name popping up more and more now that she has an EP coming out soon. Miranda plays a guitar along side a guy named Timmy. The slow pace of her songs and the ambient textures they create float along with her voice perfectly. Here’s my quick summary of what you can expect from Holly Miranda: slow, two guitars, harmonizng, Sigur ros vocal style, pretty, spacious.

Romy Madley Croft of The xx

The xx

As I said, The xx has been on my radar since I saw their music video for Basic Space on Pitchfork a few months ago. The trio (that was a quartet just a month ago) has this unique quality about themselves and their music in the same way that Ratatat does. Both bands have a sound that doesn’t seem to be like anything else out there.

Most of what I’ve read or heard about The xx’s live show is that they play their record note for note standing still like statues. I’m happy to report that this isn’t entirely true. Yes, they do just stand there intently focused on playing their songs, but they didn’t quite play exact replicas of what’s on their album. Maybe they just started doing this, but “Basic Space” had an extended remixed ending as did Infinity, and “Crystalized” had some new drums thrown in there. Because Jamie Smith plays their drums live on finger drum pads, it’s probably very difficult to improvise much of anything as far as percussion goes. Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised when they went into the new sections of the songs.

I’ve also heard that the bass in the live show drowns out the vocals. Not true. If anything, I would have liked for the bass to be a bit more present in the mix. I know that The xx wasn’t headlining the show, so it might be expecting too much for the audio to be perfect. All in all, The xx gave me pretty much everything I wanted out of their live show.

Setlist

1. Intro
2. VCR
3. Basic Space
4. Shelter
5. Crystalized
6. Islands
7. Night Time
8. Infinity

Ed Macfarlane of the Friendly Fires

Friendly Fires

The last time I saw the Friendly Fires I had to squeeze my way in to the back of the Mojave tent at Coachella because I got there after the first song had started. Last time I had tried that (w/ MGMT) I hated the sound so much I left after the next song and just laid down on the grass. Not so with Friendly Fires. I stayed the whole time and enjoyed one of my favorite pre-sunset shows of the weekend.

The Friendly Fires’ music is so danceable and upbeat, it still amazes me that they are signed to XL Recordings and not to DFA. This brings me to one problem I have with LA audiences: no one moves. Everyone is so worried about their dresses/shoes/shirts/hats that they’re paranoid that something is going to spill on them if they move any part of their body. It drives me insane. At Coachella everyone is dripping sweat dancing/jumping/moshing and you can do whatever you want because everyone else is too. But I digress.

Last night, aside from the dead audience, was a great night for the Friendly Fires. They played through their entire debut album, and thew their more recent single off of the reissue “Kiss of Life” in for size. What I really commend the band for is recreating the joy of the record onstage. They had two guys as a brass section last night, and those two guys did wonders for the sound. So many of the elements in the Friendly Fires’ songs are sparkling and fighting for your attention that the sound of them live is sensory overload. The drums are less a drum kit and more of a percussion lineup, the bass pounds songs like “White Diamonds” and “Lovesick” forward, and Ed Macfarlane’s voice tops it all off jumping back and forth from belting out power notes to sliding out his falsetto every once in a while.

I think I’m almost ready to put Friendly Fires up there with Hot Chip as one of my favorite upbeat poppy bands to see live. Both groups know exactly what to do with their songs in a live setting and walk the line separating funk, electro, and rock very well.

Setlist

1. Lovesick
2. Jump in the Pool
3. Skeleton Boy
4. In the Hospital
5. White Diamonds
6. Strobe
7. Kiss of Life
8. Photobooth
9. On Board
10. Paris
11. Encore: Ex Lover

Thanks to flickr users jcbehm and Kmeron for their photos.

Commercials With Great Songs #1

I’ve picked out a few commercials that aren’t half bad and have great music accompanying them. In this first installation, we have songs by Phoenix, New Young Pony Club, and Nina Simone remixed by Felix Da Housecat.

Phoenix – 1901 in Cadillac’s SRX Commercial

Phoenix’s latest album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix has received quite a bit of critical acclaim since it’s release about six months ago. The entire album is great, but I really love the groove this song has. The simple drums, prancing guitars, and striking synth stabs all fit together perfectly. Not that I’ll be buying a Cadillac anytime soon, but the ad uses this song effectively with the lighting flares and mechanical movement of the car parts. Just as a visual, I basically start dancing every time this commercial comes on TV.

New Young Pony Club – The Bomb in AT&T’s SlideIt Commercial

This commercial isn’t exactly new, and neither is the song (it came out in 2007), but it stuck in my head because it’s so catchy. The pulsating beat with the arped synth seem to get me everytime (probably why I also like CSS). Aside from the fact that the song is great, it doesn’t hurt that it says “you really have to display information,” which is essentially what AT&T wants you to hear. The commercial is pretty cool too. I think more could have been done with the moving-parts-of-the-city idea, but 30 seconds isn’t a lot of time to work with.

Nina Simone – Sinnerman (Felix Da Housecat’s Heavenly House Mix) in HTC’s You Commerical

What I really appreciate about this commerical is that it puts the song to perfect use when it says

“And then you realize, you don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you, and you, and you.”

At this point, the sample of the song is played repeatedly with the “and you” bits. It’s a simple trick, but it works so well. I think the impact comes from the repetition of the shorter sample even when the whole song is a repetition of a sample. Felix Da Housecat has been around for a while, and has never really been someone I listen to. Regardless, he is a force in the house music scene, and this remix is quite a gem. HTC makes great phones from what I read, but they aren’t well known (like Samsung, Sony, and LG are). It’s good to see a great ad to be coupled with a great company.

Vinyl Singles: Say My Name & Trick Me

a crappy remix of Destiny's Child's "Say My Name"

Destiny’s Child – Say My Name (Unknown Remix)

On a recent trip to Amoeba Records, in addition to the records I wanted, I picked up a few $.50 singles sitting on the ground in the clearance bins to see what I’d get. The first of those singles is this horrible remix of Destinys Child’s “Say My Name”. As you can see, this record’s label only had the song’s title printed, and the sleeve it came in was plain and white.

Because I grew up with top 40 radio in the 90s, I knew the song, but I had no idea there was so many remixes and edits of it (one of which features Kobe Bryant rapping.) Because the label only says “Say My Name,” I tried listening to every remix of the song I could get my hands on to find the remixer but to no avail. Here it is for your listening horror: Destinys Child – Say My Name (Unknown Remix)

a less crappy remix of Kelis' "Trick Me" by Basement Jaxx

Kelis – Trick Me (Jaxxbackclash Rerub)

I also picked up this single of a Basement Jaxx remix of Kelis’ “Trick Me.”As you can see, whoever owned this record before me wanted to make sure that no one ever played this single as a 33 (which I did) and kindly wrote “45″ on the label.

The original song is a highlight of its album, but I feel that this remix doesn’t do Kelis or Basement Jaxx justice. If it had been done some no-name DJ, I might say it’s an acceptable remix clearly just meant to make the original playable on the dancefloor, but this is Basement Jaxx we’re talking about here. The single came out fairly soon after Kish Kash, so I’ll brush this off as the Jaxx having used all their creativity at the time on their own album: Kelis – Trick Me (Jaxxbackclash Rerub)

The Field & The Juan Maclean @ Webster Hall

The Field: Axel Willner

The Field

the field opened, if you consider the field an “opener”

minimal, but not really, comment from amg review

Willner’s productions are as minimal techno as early-’90s Field precursors Seefeel were minimal rock; they’re not the least bit minimal, at least not sonically, and his approach to techno continues to sound like that of a dream pop/shoegaze freak

four man band, bass/drums, really only needed two people though

about five songs, more from new album (two old, three new)

when the song I love kicks in, it’s amazing, rave-like (ie. over the ice)

people need to calm down when listening to it, you can dance, but please stop spazzing out

rothko is to the field as …. is to …..

John Maclean & Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem)

The Juan MacLean

amazing, FAR surpassed my expectations

quintessential DFA sound.

four piece, everyone actually doing band stuff

theremin on stage, used to good effect and with real skill

nancy whang is DFA’s Alison Mosshart

played a good mix of new and old songs (I’ll admit I haven’t listened to the new album that much)

great groove “happy house” stretched to about twenty minutes long (from it’s typical twelve), rises and falls, tempo changes, as good of pacing as Daft Punk’s live show, really put the show over-the-top

did I mention there was a theremin?

The Kills & The Horrors @ The Henry Fonda

Last Friday I went to see the Kills opened by the Horrors and Magic Wands at the Music Box at the Fonda Theater in LA. I didn’t care too much for Magic Wands (but they aren’t bad by any means), so here are my thoughts on the Horrors and the Kills (both of whom I’m enamored with).

The Horrors' lead singer Faris Badwan in LA at the Music Box

The Horrors

What do you do after you are one of the most hyped bands of 2006 with the world on your fingertips? If you are the Horrors, you lay low for two years after touring and in the meantime record an album that is incredible but sounds nothing like your debut.

I was hooked after my first listen to the Horrors’ debut album Strange House three years ago. I loved that while there was something familiar in their songs, they sounded like nothing else I was listening to. Quite a bit has changed in the musical landscape since 2006, but the Horrors’ new sophomore album Primary Colors somehow instills the same feeling as Strange House.

The five piece put on a great show for being an opening band. Ferris, their lead singer, has a great presence on stage. After going from nothing to the cover of NME, he still seems pleased that people are interested in the music his band makes. Luckily, the Horrors are impeccable live and have no trouble recreating the dense punk sound that Primary Colors contains. There wasn’t much banter in between songs, they played pretty straight through their set.

As for the songs they played on this tour, you wouldn’t know that they ever had a debut album if you just saw the setlist. They essentially play Primary Colors start to finish save for two songs. It’s perfect – if you love Primary Colors; songs from Strange House are nowhere to be found.

Alison "VV" Mosshart, one half of The Kills

The Kills

My new obsession. In the weeks leading up to Coachella 2009, I listened to their most recent album Midnight Boom start to finish and remembered how much I liked a few songs on their previous album No Wow. Since seeing the later half of their Coachella performance (and being completely mesmerized throughout), I’ve been watching/listening/reading everything I can get my hands on relating to the Kills.

The duo often gets compared to the White Stripes, but Meg White hasn’t got a single thing on Alison “VV” Mosshart. And since the White Stripes haven’t done much of anything lately, I’ll take the Kills without complaining.

Hotel and VV might be the most compelling people I’ve ever seen on stage. It might be VV’s long black hair as its own performace, or it maybe its the “chemistry” they have with each other while playing, or most likely, it’s just the fact that the two exude coolness. It’s not hipster snobbery; it’s a feeling of not giving a fuck, but having everything line up perfectly that reels everyone in.

Now that they have three LPs out, finding solid material to play isn’t much of an issue. Well over half of the songs on the setlist are hits with simple lyrics that can be sung along to. It was a great show all around (save for the tall ass with wiry blond hair who did nothing but instigate fights all night long). The last song of the encore was especially great as they invited the Horrors back out to do their 8+ minute version of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell On You.” The song involved every wire on stage getting tangled around VV and the Horror’s guitar player as they lay on the floor rolling around. It was great.

All in all, the show proved to me that the Horrors aren’t going anywhere, the Kills are even cooler live than on record, and that I absolutely hate LA audiences.

photo credit goes to flickr user hazyskyline6

Dear M.I.A., thanks for Coachella

M.I.A. up on the stage at Coachella

“They tried to make me do the Oscars, I said ‘No, No, No’.” Of all the banter M.I.A. threw into her hour-long set on the Main Stage at this year’s Coachella, this was probably the most pointed. When Amy Winehouse dropped off the lineup because she couldn’t get a Visa to the United States (surprise, surprise), M.I.A. was quickly announced to be her replacement. In my mind, there could be no better choice. I’ve missed the chance to see M.I.A. twice now, and I made sure not to pass her up again.

I’ve been an M.I.A. fan since Arular came out, and like everyone else,  Kala was one of my favorite albums of 2007. I know all the words to all her songs (well, at lease those that are audibly decipherable). You can imagine my disappointment when I found out that there aren’t as many people like me as I thought. Apparently, tons people are willing to stand around for an hour to hear one song. I really hope that the masses can get over “Paper Planes” and realize the true genius in all of M.I.A.’s songs.

Aside from that, the show was one of my favorite all weekend. Six neon glow-in-the-dark dancers started things off and led right into M.I.A.’s entrance at a podium rapping “World Town.” The party went on from there as she flew threw Rye Rye’s new song “Bang”, “$20″, “Boyz”, “Bingo”, “Sunshowers”, “Pull Up the People”, and “Galang”. A perfect set list.

M.I.A. at the end of her show coming out into the crowd

Also included in her set was “Bird Flu”. Last year, M.I.A. only got through six songs in the Mojave tent because she wanted people to get up on stage, but the security guards thought otherwise. This year, she would get people up if it was the last thing she did. She called out, “I’ve already been banned from Coachella once, let do it. Hey hey, let ‘em up! Let ‘em up!” And something clicked in my brain.

In short, I jumped over the center barrier, ran as fast as I could towards the stage, got body checked into another barrier by a 300 lb. security guard, ran so as to not get thrown out, and jumped over another barrier back into the crowd. I didn’t make it onstage, but I did make it to the front row of the show. To those people who did make it onstage, good on ya; I hope you enjoyed yourself. I know I enjoyed my fleeting moment of excitement.

After “Bird Flu” came “Paper Planes.” And of course the crowd went wild for the one song they’d heard on TV and on the radio. While I’m still bitter that M.I.A. hasn’t received the mainstream success she deserves, I’m appreciative that anyone knows her music at all. It’s not everyday that a Sri Lankan girl with paternal ties to the Tamil Tigers makes it onto American radio waves.

I had a great time during M.I.A.’s third Coachella performance, and in the end, that’s what counts. That being said, if you ever go to one of her future shows, please listen to some songs that aren’t “Paper Planes” before heading out.

photo credit goes to flickr user Mick O

Lala.com is the future of music consumption

lala.com's logo

One of the things I love most is when technology and music are combined to make something incredible. The iPhone, Last.fm, MIDI controllers, and Daft Punk’s pyramid are all perfect examples of this. Lala.com has been added to that list.

Lala.com in a nutshell

Here’s the process that Lala presents for consuming music. First, you can listen to any song in it’s massive online database for free. The catch? You can once listen to each song once. Now you can either download a DRM-free MP3 for about a buck, or you can purchase the web-version of a song for 10 cents. This web version of the song is now free of the one-play restriction and is added to your library.

Now to the second aspect of Lala. Using a small standalone app, Lala will scan your music folder and unlock the web versions of every song you have. If Lala doesn’t find a match in its database, it will upload your song to the cloud. Every song you have on your computer is now available for you to stream for free unlimited times.

Your music in the cloud

If you aren’t familiar with “the cloud”, just think of websites like Gmail or Google Docs where all of your information is stored on some remote servers (the cloud) instead of your local machine. With Lala, its of your music that is in the cloud.

This currently means that you can access all of your music for free on any computer with an internet connection. While this is the main feature Lala boasts right now, the potential of this reaches much further. Lala could integrate the subscription model of services like Real Network’s Rhapsody and Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace and quickly overtake them. Lala’s current monetisation scheme seems to be working pretty well for them ($.10 or $1), but there are so many other directions they can take in the future.

iPhone app

Engadget just posted an article showing a very early build of the iPhone app Lala has in the works. Right now, mobile devices like the iPhone are limited by their data storage capacities. Because of mobile phones’ small sizes, storage is limited to around 16GBs right now.  If Lala can get past the legal hurdles that the record companies present and get the web versions of songs to play on mobile apps, this storage restriction will be lifted.

I’m hooked

Lala has the potential to do everything that I want a media player to do. iTunes works well right now, but the reason I love it is because it syncs so well with my iPhone, not because of its ability to play music (and I’ve never bought music from the iTunes Store).

I believe agility will be one of Lala’s key strengths. If the company can continue to innovate the online music marketplace as it has, I see no reason why media desktop apps won’t be a thing of the past.

update: I’ve fallen in love with Lala’s “Mix it up” feature. It’s basically a playlist generator (ie. iTunes Genius), and it works great!

The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die

the official cover art for the prodigy's - invaders must die

The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die

Unfortunately, Invaders Must Die isn’t the return to hardcore techno greatness that Fat of the Land begun… But don’t let that get you down, because there are some damn good bangers in there. Invaders Must Die is a vast improvement compared to their/his (Liam Flint was the only member to contribute) album, Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned (AONO).

As the first Prodigy album with all three members in 15 years, it’s nice to hear Maxim & Keith’s voices on many of the tracks. I think Liam went overboard with the guest vocalists last time around (Juliette Lewis, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Kool Keith, and The Magnificent Ping Pong Bitches), but it’s clear he’s reeled himself back in with IMD.

Starting with my favorite track on the album, Take Me To The Hospital knocks it out of the park. The traces of rave are clear in the synth stabs from the get-go, and the hard beat is brought in right after a short intro. What separates this track from the rest is that it doesn’t sound like an attempt to recapture some lost glory, it takes what the Prodigy is known for (knock-out beats & rave synths) and pushes it forward.

Immediately after Take Me To The Hospital comes Warrior’s Dance which is probably my #2 song on IMD. Instead of having ravy synths, it’s the vocal sample that gives the listener the hints. The bass line in this song is one that makes you wish you had a wall of subs because it would shake you to your core. It has a nice breakdown about 2/3 of the way through, and as expected, the buildup and climax are spot-on.

Jumping down four tracks, Piranha has the best groove on the album. I seriously can’t stop dancing to this one; it gives me the same feeling as Hot Chip’s Out At The Pictures (I just wanna dance). I could do without the lyrics though… “Teeth, grip, razor sharp / Bites hi-power, tear you apart.”

When I was listening to IMD for the first time, I was getting very worried before I hit Take Me To The Hospital and Warrior’s Dance (they are #5 and #6 respectively). Why? Because the first song Invaders Must Die is good, but all I can think about when I listen to it is how much it sounds like The Prodigy trying to be Pendulum. Not a great first impression. Next is Omen, which is OK and doesn’t sound like Pendulum but just doesn’t sit right.

Then came Thunder, which shouldn’t have any vocals at all. The beats are sick, but I can’t stand Maxim on the track. I also feel that they could have made much more with the synths; they don’t fit with the rest of the song at all. Finally comes Colours, which I thought what going to be the redeemer when it started (sound like Hotride at first), then came in the worst synth line on the album. I hate the synths.

Now that you know the songs I loved and hated, the rest sort of fall into the middle. Run With the Wolves is an excuse to have live drums on a hardcore techno track, World’s On Fire is forgettable (but brings the rave back again), Stand Up confused the hell out of me, and Omen Reprise is just a +1 to the total track count (completely unnecessary).

Look before for a simple breakdown of what I rate each track and what my average would be. I enjoyed this album, and there is no doubt in my mind that I’ll be buying tickets when the Prodigy next comes around to LA.

Song Ratings

Here is a simple breakdown of what I’d rate each track on a 5 point scale. The average/mean (when converted to a Pitchfork scale) comes to 7.8, which I’d say is pretty respectable (even though I was praying it’d be a perfect 10). But I’m pretty sure that when the Pitchfork review comes out, it’ll be quite a bit lower than what I gave it (update: they gave it a 5.8).

1. Invaders Must Die 5/5
2. Omen 4/5
3. Thunder 2/5
4. Colours 3/5
5. Take Me To The Hospital 5/5
6. Warrior’s Dance 5/5
7. Run With The Wolves 4/5
8. Omen Reprise ?/5
9. World’s On Fire 3/5
10. Piranha 5/5
11. Stand Up 3/5

The Smell w/ Abe Vigoda, Mika Miko, No Age

View these photos at my flickr page. Aaaaand… I’m on Stereogum!

http://stereogum.com/archives/photo/no-age-abe-vigoda-mika-miko-wavves-friends-the-sme_048871.html

Eventbox is beautifully unnecessary

what the eventbox "unread" window looks like (click for a larger view)

Seems like this new little app called Eventbox is getting all kinds of hype right now, so I figured I’d check it out to see if it’s worth the $15 that its developer, The Cosmic Machine, is asking.

Functionality

While the functionality of an application is probably its most important aspect, in Eventbox’s case, it’s where it falls short. Eventbox tries to position itself as a place that brings together all of your friends’ online social postings for your to view in one spot. It’s essentially an RSS feed aggregator for social activity. As of v1.0, Eventbox supports gathering data from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Reddit, and RSS feeds.

While I’m all for what aggregators do (Google Reader is probably my most visited bookmark), there are far superior alternatives to Eventbox. Maybe if it supported more sites, although I can’t think of too many more that interest me, Eventbox would seem more necessary. Feed aggregators are necessary because people read hundreds of site’s postings, but as far as activity postings go, I only really need Facebook and Twitter. Two sites don’t warrant a dedicated app that can’t replicate each site’s full functionality (Facebook is about a bit more than status postings).  FriendFeed, Netvibes.com’s widgets, or any number of other online apps do Eventbox’s job with much more finesse.

Design

Now that you know how ridiculous I think this app is, here’s how incredible its design is. In all honesty, Eventbox is a shining example of why people get hooked on Macs when they switch from PCs. The icons, the layout, the styling of its various animations, and the flow of moving through the app all contribute to something that looks and works perfectly.

I really wish that Eventbox had more of a purpose because it’s such a joy to work with.

Overall

I hope it’s pretty clear how I feel about Eventbox. It’s a beautifully designed application that I have no use for. There is praise coming from all around, but I can’t sing the same tune. I love Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and the rest of the social networking sites, but I already have a browser, and my homepage (Netvibes.com) already puts those sites together.