So far as it can inferred from the sound of “Dancing Behind My Eyelids”, which you can trade for your email address on the band’s website, and “They Made Frogs Smoke Til They Exploded”, which now has an animated video, the new Mum is sounding cheerful. This, considering the album they gave us last, Summer Make Good, was not quite a summer album (if one were to make a quick, misguided guess from the title). Instead, it stretched with mournful longings, drawing pictures of dark clouds, icy water and a harsh, winter landscape. And as if the album’s dreary weather wasn’t obvious, song titles such as “Small Deaths are the Saddest” and “Weeping Rock, Rock” served as reassurances. But for now, from the upcoming Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy that comes out on September 24, something far brighter.
Engine Room Recordings hosted a contest to mark the upcoming release of a compilation featuring “15 acclaimed underground artists covering their favorite guilty pleasure pop tunes”. They are now showing winning videos and other entries at YouTube, film student Andy Cahill emerging victorious with his stop-motion piece for Devendra Banhart’s rendition of “Don’t Look Back In Anger” by Oasis. This and other two other songs revealed by way of the videos - Petra Haden’s cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” and Will Oldham‘s cover of Mariah Carey‘s “Can‘t Take That Away” - surely hint at Guilt by Association being an interesting take on guilty pleasure pop tunes. Launch parties will be hosted in various cities, including two in New York: August 21 at Pianos and September 7th, “the big launch” following September 4 release, at Joe’s Pub.
Arms Down is Get Him Eat Him’s follow-up to 2005’s Geography Cones. I’ve been letting this new one sit for a while, hoping I would either grow to love it, or figure out why I don’t. It’s not a bad record, but you know you like an album when, if it were a basket of strawberries at the market, you’d want to take at least some of it home (yes). Arms Down inspired no such greed, so I turned to the albums I do love. These tend to have an unintentional greater idea behind them, the kind that comes together as a result of other intentions and inspirations, the outcome of things falling into place. In Arms Down, that sort of idea is either missing, or, if present, not very alive.
I prefer Final Fantasy’s intricate string arrangement and casual production of “Peach Plum Pear” to the original by Joanna Newsom. However, Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy) has been outdone by fellow re-mixers on Do You Trust Your Friends, the remix album of 2004’s Set Yourself On Fireby Stars. For “Your Ex-Lover Is Dead,” Owen’s remix is blatantly sad, which, to be fair, is problematic only when compared to the assortment of moods the original pulls off. The string arrangement here is more traditional than what we’ve heard before, and Owen’s put work into a fornlorn composition for the piano instead. For the most part, however, I’m of the opinion that trustworthy friends have outdone Stars themselves.
This week was filled with quality new songs, but the one I played the most is an older one, though newly acquired. As previously mentioned, St. Vincent merch table was selling her EP Paris Is Burning for $5, and though the second track “What Me Worry” is a fine tune with jazzy singing, and the third, a cover of Nico’s “These Days”, is just as excellent, the title track is alone worth 5 bucks. Written by Annie, it is by itself evidence of her exciting talent. It gives me goosebumps.
“Paris Is Burning” begins with foreboding French horns that would go nicely with a murder scene in a black and white movie. And the kind of tension that would go along with such a scene is sustained throughout the song. Picking words from the lyrics itself, especially in the light of the waltz rhythm introduced in the second half, “Paris Is Burning” is somewhat of a “black waltz.” The lyrics are simple enough, but poignant and well-arranged, and Annie’s got a way of adding eeriness when she sings them. The first few words, sung slowly over acoustic guitar:
I write to give word the war is over
Send my cinders home to mother
They gave me a medal for my valor
Leaden [?] trumpet spit
The soot [?] of power
On the surface Spiderman of the Rings may sound like the kind of record where anything goes. High-pitched voices sing without intending to be pretty, and sporadic noises from the world of pixels are found in plenty. The playfulness of it all has been so skillfully whipped that glaring choices seem to have been made out of pure silliness. There’s enough evidence, however, to indicate otherwise; that this is a record where a particular aesthetic has been sought, be it a seemingly bizarre one, and classically-trained Dan Deacon has expertly brought it under his control so he may let it loose.
hooves on the turf is a mostly-music blog based out of brooklyn. i can be reached at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com - please send me your lovely music as an attached mp3 or an mp3 link. if i like what you send, i'll be sure to ask for more.
jon in Favorite Music Videos of 2008: “I’m not a big MGMT fan but I’d give an honorable mention to the Time To Pretend video for managing to crossbreed Lord of the Rings with a Windows95 screensaver.”angelica in Not altogether wicked, merely unteachable: “Thank you for this profound and somewhat haunting post. Orwell may have been referring to another period, but this excerpt is pretty much a description of the times now.”Payton in My Own Gummy Winners: “I was trolling the Hype Machine to see who else really enjoyed Crimes (it was my top album as well). What you had to say about West Won hit the nail on the head. Great opening track that does have a huge...”Croytaque in Videos: Dark Dark Dark, The Loom at Union Pool: “if there’s too many problem of sounds, how many “dark” will they add to their name? ; ) Nevertheless an engaging band.”Janice Cosenza in These United States at the Secret Garden: “Just finished watching. What can I say. The band is the best and the video is awesome. This band is not Meat-e-oak-a, they are Soup-ear-e-a! Oh, the pride of a Mom. Merry Merry to...”
Arms Down is 
I prefer 
Paris Is Burning EP
