Handsome Furs - Plague Park (Sub Pop, 2007)

Wolf Parade are a super-cool band from Montreal, who released the excellent Apologies To The Queen Mary way back in 2005. For reasons unbeknownst even to myself, I have not written about them earlier, so I am glad I have the opportunity to sing their praises in this post. "Wolf Parade?" I hear you ask. "I thought you said this post was about the new Handsome Furs album." Indeed I did, and, indeed it is, but be sure to check out Wolf Parade.
You see, Handsome Furs and Wolf Parade have a couple of things in common. Firstly, Wolf Parade has two singers, one of whom is Dan Boeckner. Handsome Furs have only one singer, however, that singer happens to be Boeckner - the band is comprised of just he and his fiancee, Alexei Perry. The other similarity the two bands share, is that even after multiple listens, I have very little idea what the songs are about - for the most part, they are not of the rather easy to follow "Bought my first real six-string..." variety - and yet it matters not. On Plague Park, the music - mostly guitar and drum-machine - plays just as much a role in establishing the atmosphere of each song as do the lyrics. At times, it seems the vocals simply serve as another instrument, as opposed to being the sole focus of the listener's attention.
In describing Handsome Furs sound, words such as sparse and melancholy would be applicable, as on the track Handsome Furs Hate This City; however, there is also the pulsing electro-indie-pop of Dead & Rural, that belies the darker undertone of the lyrics.
Plague Park is a fully-formed album that stands up on its own two feet, and deserves to be recognized far beyond the status of a simply a side project from one of the guys from Wolf Parade.

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/handsomefurs &
http://www.myspace.com/wolfparade

Girl Talk - Night Ripper (Illegal Art, 2006)

The first 2 Many Dj's album was awesome. However, the 'mash-up' genre that it spawned was/is not so awesome. Here's a great idea, let's combine a cheesy 80's track with a cheesy 90's track, and we'll have a great new song. Wrong! 9 times out of 10 you will simply have two crappy songs combining to make one more crappy song. Mash-ups can be cool, but it takes a lot more than simply taking the vocals from one song and playing them over the music or beat of another. Case in point: Girl Talk.
Girl Talk has been tearing up dancefloors across the U.S. for some time now, and and their album, Night Ripper, has provided the soundtrack to innumerable hipster loft parties from L.A. to Brooklyn (note: I have not yet been invited to one of these parties, so, if you can: hook me up).
To call Night Ripper an album of mash-ups would be to sell it short. It is a party starting, bootie-shaking exercise in mix-tape-mash-up-cut-and-pasting, and is basically a music snob's wet dream. At times, mixing/mashing samples from well over ten songs into an individual track - ranging from Sonic Youth, Nirvana and the Pixies; to Lady Sov, M.I.A., and Annie; to 2 Live Crew, Public Enemy, and Kanye West; to Phil Collins, Boston, and Aerosmith; and well over a hundred more - one could spend hours simply trying to identify the original source material.
Night Ripper is a genre exercise in trying to squeeze as many genres as possible into one song, in addition to making that song as funky and dance-friendly as possible. If you are looking for some music to ensure your next party is 'happening', or something simply to rock-out to in your car, or just a way to prove to your friends just how much you know about modern music, look no further than Night Ripper.

Check Out: http://www.myspace.com/girltalkmusic (Note: the Grizzly Bear remix on the site is one of the best tracks of the year, though it is not on Night Ripper, so be sure to give it a listen.)

Chris Wilson - Live At The Continental (Aurora Records 1994, re-issued 2007)

Chris Wilson is an Australian blues artist with an amazingly soulful and powerful voice. This is a live album that was recorded in 1994 at the much venerated, and sorely missed, Continental Cafe in Melbourne, and serves to showcase not only Wilson's amazing voice, but also his strength as a songwriter.
I remember hearing the album's opening track, You Will Surely Love Again, in early 1996, and being brought to tears by the raw emotion it conveyed. Wilson's voice rides seemlessly above the quietly strummed guitar of Shane O'Mara - who is something of an unsung legend in the Australian music scene, while the forlorn sound of Wilson's harmonica late in the the song could break even the hardest of hearts.
You Will Surely Love Again is immediately followed by Wolves, another tour-de-force which sees Wilson's voice soar as he impines "Won't you come on home?" Face In The Mirror follows, a soulful number in which the song's protagonist, broken-hearted, snorting a line off a mirror, tries to convince himself that "the face in the mirror tells me that I'm doing fine."
These are simply the first three songs on the album, with six more of equal standard that follow. Live At The Continental is a brilliant red wine album; an album perfect for long winter nights; an album that you will want to curl up on the bean bag with. Chris Wilson is a huge talent as a singer, songwriter and harmonica player - and this album is a testament to that talent. The re-issued version of the album contains the original nine song album, plus an extra disc of songs recorded on the same night. So soulful, so good.

Check Out: http://www.chriswilson.com.au/ and http://www.lastrecordstore.com/independentsW-Z.html to buy the album online.

In(The)Flesh: Arcade Fire, Greek Theater, Los Angeles 05/30/07

Ever since I got my hands on The Arcade Fire's first album, Funeral, in the early part of 2005, I have been patiently waiting for them to play live shows in the Los Angeles area. It is a fact, that they played at the Coachella Festival in both 2005 and again late last month, but having attended Coachella in 2004 and swearing never to return having endured my most miserable festival experience in living memory, I resigned myself to wait until the band played their own shows. Finally, my patience was rewarded, when the band announced two shows at the Greek Theater in L.A. - quite possibly the best venue for live music in Los Angeles: a beautiful, open-air theater, nestled into the hills of Griffith Park. Granted, I would have loved to have seen the band in a more intimate venue, however, such has their meteoric rise in popularity been over the past two years, the Arcade Fire are no longer of small venues, aside from the occasional special shows, such that took place in London and New York earlier this year.
To say I had high expectations for the show would be an understatement, so too would it be to state simply that those expectations were far exceeded. From the opening song, Keep The Car Running, the six-thousand strong crowd were on their feet, eager to drink thirstily from the cup of The Arcade Fire. There was an energy running through the crowd that was almost electric, and the band responded in kind, with a performance that was full of the energy and bombast that people have come to expect of them.
Amazing renditions of (Antichrist Television Blues), Intervention, and Windowsill from the band's second album, Neon Bible, were met with equal rapture as tracks from Funeral, including Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), Neighborhood #2 (Laika), and Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), among others.
The show climaxed with a three-song encore that included the already classic, Rebellion (Lies), and the closing number/call-to-arms, Wake Up. During Rebellion (Lies), Win Butler - the bands frontman - was greeted with much enthusiasm, as he jumped off the stage and made his way through the crowd from the front of theater all the way to the back, as the band played on.
The Arcade Fire put on an amazing show that was well worth the wait.