Friday, January 29, 2010

Bob Blank - The Blank Generation: Review

The Mutant Disco revival that emerged at the beginning of the last decade gave some long overdue credit to a group of diverse musicians who congregated in New York during the early Eighties. But one man seemed to slip through the cracks when the critical plaudits were being handed out, despite his near-ubiquity on the compilation albums that were swiftly glued together and shoved out. If you squint at the producer credits on those records, the name of Bob Blank crops up more often than not, his steady hand helping to guide and shape the dissident visions of Lydia Lunch, Sun Ra, Arthur Russell and August Darnell. Fortunately, someone at the excellent Strut label had their reading glasses on and has released The Blank Generation, a compilation of wildly disparate tracks that were pieced together in his Blank Tapes studio in Chelsea.

Read full article here.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Midnight Masses Interview

Notions of redemption, death and resurrection run rife throughout the music of the Williamsburg-based Midnight Masses. Singer Autry Fulbright was transplanted from Los Angeles to Atlanta at a young age, subsequently spending much of his youth listening to the brittle punk of the Minutemen and X, and spreading the word of the Jehovah’s Witnesses with his mother. Somewhere between these two worlds lies Midnight Masses, the sweetly melancholic group Fulbright fronts with various friends and indie rock luminaries.

Read full article here.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Chicago Underground Duo - Boca Negra: Review

Boca Negra is a slang term in Spanish, used to denote someone who is foul-mouthed or abusive. It’s also a type of cake. Somewhere in between the sour and the sweet lies this album from Thrill Jockey mainstays Chicago Underground Duo. Cornetist Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor have been around the block a few times, collaborating with the cream of the crop of Chicago musicians. But for this, their fifth album for Thrill Jockey in 12 years, they traveled to São Paolo, Brazil, where they cut an album that combines their love of scattered improv work and tightly confined grooves.

Read full article here.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Gang Gang Dance and DJ/Rupture at Music Hall of Williamsburg

The appearance of DJ/Rupture (AKA Jace Clayton) as a support act to Gang Gang Dance illustrated the sharp divide in the headline act’s audience. Half of the crowd was made up of tranced-out club kids who were happy to dance to a mix that includes the old (Aaliyah’s still-radiant “We Need a Resolution”) and the new (Joy Orbison’s all-encompassing “Hyph Mngo”). Meanwhile, the indie rock contingent stared blankly at the stage, feeling short-changed at having a DJ as an opening act and hoping none of the revelers spill their beer.

Read full article here.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Military Madness: How the Army Courted the Music World

Anyone browsing the U.K. arm of MTV’s website may find themselves raising an eyebrow when they see this page. Yes, MTV is using its considerable weight to bolster Army recruitment figures, presumably realizing the age range that the network attracts makes for ideal cannon fodder. Naturally, the advertising campaign features very little about the prominent hazards of the job-—U.K. troops are still being deployed to Afghanistan, but it would be unthinkable to mention something related to that on the MTV page-—instead choosing to focus on other aspects of military life. Predominant among these are ways in which the Army can indefinitely enhance civilian life.

Read full article here.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Nite Jewel - Good Evening: Review

Forget chillwave and glo-fi and nostalgia for a version of the Eighties that didn’t exist. Nite Jewel’s Good Evening is a great Los Angeles album. It’s impossible to imagine this music being made anywhere else. It’s as L.A. as John Lautner’s Chemosphere, the Venice Beach boardwalk and Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue. If you drive through Malibu Canyon at 3am, a rolling haze known as the 'marine layer' prevents you from seeing anything more than a couple of feet ahead. This meeting of cool air from the ocean and warm air from inland smudges the world just out of focus, inducing a paralyzing mixture of terror, bewilderment and awe-struck wonder amid the pluming nebula.

Read full article here.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

DiS Staffers '09 Mixtapes

Memories of 2009: Watching high school kids on E puking on each other while Animal Collective played in a giant park; seeing Yojiro from the Boredoms getting carried aloft over a crowd while playing his drum kit at ATP; being blown away by Ponytail and wondering why they're not huge yet; TV on the Radio making the rain stop in Central Park (nYc); being at a Grizzly Bear show with Jay-Z and Beyonce; watching Deerhunter, Dan Deacon and No Age collaborate together in a bowling alley while Avey Tare ate a plate of chips; Pissed Jeans almost getting into a fight onstage; watching the Beets get busted by the NYPD; Rhys Chatham leading 200 guitarists at Lincoln Center and it being surprisingly quiet and tranquil; Nick Cave playing the piano with the Dirty Three; and new bands like Jeff the Brotherhood, Javelin, Sleigh Bells and Sisters making 2010 feel like it’s filled with potential.

Read full article here.