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Author Archive for Michael HansenPage 4 of 10

Harlem – Hippies

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 24, 2010
in Praise and Malaise
. Comments

harlem-hippies-aa Harlem - Hippies

Harlem are the newest hot button garage rock export from Austin,TX who have caught a lot of media buzz as of late for their fiery, angular revivalism. Their new up-coming full length Hippies is a collection of primitive drum spasms and jerky, elastic strumming that mangles classic rock into a child’s play thing. Scratchy sing along vocals tear across forty minutes of wire-y guitar play, with occasional slight adornments of bells and pedal steel guitar.

It’s really not bad, but then again that’s their main problem, it’s not particularly memorable, it actually feels like a step back, or at least an ill-advised consolidation of their last album Free Drugs. There are highlights, like the swagger of “Gay Human Bones” or the perfect vocal melody on “Be Your Baby”, but at 16 songs that all sound pretty similar, I had to check to see if the disc had started over already or not. It’s really just a bunch of honest, three-minute freakouts running on bravado alone, aiming to be the soundtrack to your next house party. They’ve got the spirit, and sometimes they nail the scuzzy post-grunge slacker anthem right on the head, but they could stand to stray from their comfort zone a bit more, or risk slipping through the cracks. I bet they put on a fun live act, though, and maybe that’s all these guys are trying for.

Hippies is available April 6th on Matador.

For Fans Of: Meth Teeth, Black Lips, Jay Reatard

MP3 :::
Harlem – Be Your Baby
Harlem – Gay Human Bones

Four Tet – There Is Love In You

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 23, 2010
in Praise and Malaise
. Comments

4

Here we go, one of the most anticipated electronica releases of the past year from veteran knob tweaker and mood sculptor Four Tet. With various stints like releasing a techno record, touring with Steve Reid, and a few months sabbatical spent DJing in London, we had no real idea where he would land next. Turns out our best indicator was the kinetic Moth/Wolf Cub split with former schoolmate Burial. The new full-length There Is Love In You, returns to the glory of that twitchy dub jam, but with all of the perennial elements of Hebdan’s work from 1999’s Dialogue to present. The pulse beat of a heart, a motif of his since early albums, is recreated by the hum of organic sounds carefully cut and expanded, orbiting around an invisible core like a mobile of samples. Voices curl and multiply, even the most obviously synthesized sounds are kneaded into an uncannily human vibe that only Four Tet can diffuse from the circuitboard. Tracks like “Circling” blend warm, blinking arpeggios into a late-night cocktail that could have sat happily next to Squarepusher’s ambient cuts used on the Lost in Translation soundtrack.

Indeed, nostalgia runs all throughout the album, for both his own body of work and in general. Love’s finale “She Just Likes to Fight”, with it’s contemplative guitar riff and toy percussion recalls the closing number “Slow Jam” off of his magnum opus Rounds. But even more than being an articulate reflection of past work, this new album has proven to be a clever predictor of what the scene would sound like upon it’s completion. With the emergence of new-school dub steppers like Joy Orbison stealing the spotlight with their organic, staccato spin on a flat-lined genre, Four Tet re-emerges with a complete vision that anticipates this trend, and expands on it in ways only a seasoned producer could. The results are lucid, immersive, and unless Boards of Canada emerge from the fog, will undoubtedly remain the crowning achievement of popular electronica this year. I’ll eat those words if necessary, but I doubt it.

There Is Love In You is available this Monday through Domino Records and comes highly recommended.

MP3 :::
Four Tet – Plastic People
Four Tet – She Just Likes to Fight

A Mix for Quitting Cigarettes

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 22, 2010
in Super Swingin' Mix
. Comments

mix

Yup, we missed the boat for New Years Resolutions (which are bullshit anyway), but regardless, fellow TDT writer Norwood Derr and myself are attempting to give up the tobacco tubes. Disaster, frustration, and replacement vices loom in the near future, but at least you guys get a sweet mix out of it. We have no interest in persuading you to quit too, mostly because A.) smoking really does make you look cooler and B.) we are doing this for shallow reasons including money, smelling better, and wanting to play with our new Bowflex. Needless to say, it will be an uphill battle for two bastards like us.

To make things worse, I consulted my spiritual advisor/occasional Columbia student Robert about the matter and instead of helping, he made me a list of reasons why I should not quit smoking. Here are some of his better points:

-”You’ll never be famous.”

-”You’ll never have the joy of realizing that you ‘accidently’ stole someone’s lighter again.”

-”If 2012 happens, it would be pretty gay if you didn’t have a cig in your mouth that gets lit by an explosion (like in the end of Heathers).”

-”New Hampshire will mean nothing to you.”

Thanks a lot, Bob. I think we’re still gonna give it a shot, though. To supplement this self-indulgent post, here is a mix of songs we believe provide an accurate soundtrack to the thought process of anyone else whose in the same position. Best of luck, you walking ashtrays.

MP3 :::
Red House Painters – Lord Kill the Pain
Gun Club – She’s Like Heroin to Me
Pere Ubu – Nonalignment Pact
Misfits – Attitude
GG Allin – Bored to Death
James Chance & The Contortions – I Can’t Stand Myself
Black Flag – Nervous Breakdown
DNA – Not Moving
Pixies – Debaser
Guided by Voices – Alone, Stinking, on the Conan O’Brien Show, but Unafraid

Sun Araw Builds New HQ, Sends Us a Rad 7″ As a Post Card

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 19, 2010
in MP3
. Comments

SA

To christen his new batcave Sun Ark Studio, Cameron Stallones a.k.a. Sun Araw has released a new 7″ of the same name on Not Not Fun. The A-side “Bump Up (High Step)”, with it’s live lo-fi sampling feel, sounds more like Ferraro-led projects like Matrix Metals or Lamborghini Crystal than his previous dub-revisionist space voyages or romps with Vibes.  This track coasts on a surreal airspace haunted by disembodied funk loops, woodwinds, karaoke mantras, blasting organ stabs, and random FX solutions. Side B’s “Live Mind” is more traditional Stallones, with a busy high-end preference that recalls his Boat Trip 3″ from 2008 on Woodsist, and a scorched reggae line prompting impulsive cracks from the drum pad. This is a limited edition of 500, so act fast. TDT seal of approval.

Sun Ark is available now through the good folks at Not Not Fun.

MP3 :::
Sun Araw – Bump Up (High Step)

New Four Tet Album is Streaming Online for Free

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 19, 2010
in News
. Comments

4

It’s been two years since Four Tet’s last full-length Ringer, where he made a stylistic hard-left into techno territory. Having spent his time since pursing seemingly polar ventures; touring with famed jazz drummer Steve Reid and a residency as a DJ at London’s Plastic People club, his new album There is Love in You seems to be a reconciliation of the two. The foundation is rooted in a pulse beat, with lots of warm hazy synths, but they are balanced by a sample palette reminiscent of his earlier work of sequenced and chopped harp, bells, and jazzy percussive overdubs. The new album comes out January 25th on Domino, but you can stream a promo mix of the whole album on Soundcloud up until then.

Oneohtrix Point Never at Boston’s Whitehaus this Saturday

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 18, 2010
in Rockshows
. Comments

opn

After a superprolific year in 2009 including the near perfect Rifts and Zones Without People, Oneohtrix Point Never is finally bringing his electro midnight meditations to Boston. Head down to the Whitehaus in Jamaica Plain this Saturday for an evening full of intimate strangeness you can’t afford to miss if you’re in the area. Playing with OPN will be Stellar OM Source, Daniel Higgs, Prince Rama, and the Whitehaus’ own Many Mansions, who are pretty fuckin rad. Gonna do my best to make it out there and get my chakra toasted. Here’s the Facebook event page to help you remember.

Oneohtrix Point Never, Stellar Om Source, Daniel Higgs, Prince Rama, and Many Mansions
Saturday, January 23rd
The Whitehaus
10 Seaverns Ave, Jamaica Plain, Boston
7 p.m./ all ages
$5 suggested donation to the artists

MP3 :::
Oneohtrix Point Never – Emil Cioran

When Can We See That Moon Tan of Yours?

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 16, 2010
in MP3
. Comments

archm

Londoner by way of San Francisco Arch M is a major tease. Ever since the 2007 release of his Cples EP, he’s supposedly been working on a debut full-length for ccaavveerrnn records called Moon-Tan. To keep us baited, he releases a free tape about a year ago called Mountain Tan Commercials, which is exactly what it sounds like; a series of previews. Working under a “nostalgia is everything” philosophy, this tape is a drowsy tour of 7 tracks in 9 minutes that infuse everything from psych, no wave, ambient loops, and electronic processing. Arch M sits somewhere between hypnagogic pop acts like Ducktails and modern ambient collage-workers like Black to Comm.

So where’s the entrée? All available info points to a mysterious upcoming 12″+dvd called Oakland Huxt, with no word on the once sure-thing Moon-Tan. Perhaps it was simply renamed or maybe it never existed in the first place, I don’t know. What I do know is that Arch M rules and you should all encourage him to make more music by downloading the two free releases he has out.

You can download the Cples EP here and the Mountain Tan Commercials tape here. Additionally, here is a video that may or may not enhance your listening experience.

MP3 :::
Arch M – Cple Outside Park With Me
Arch M – Cat Grave
Arch M – Bedrm Band at Caf NVA

Xiu Xiu – Dear God, I Hate Myself

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 15, 2010
in Praise and Malaise
. Comments

xiu xiu

I know, they’re a curious case, but I implore you to forgive the theatrics, Hello Kitty aesthetics, and tendency to name their work things like Dear God, I Hate Myself, because underneath it all is one of the most underestimated bands going. Here, on their newest effort, Xiu Xiu follow suit with Animal Collective and The Dirty Projectors and take that inevitable, full-bodied swing at making a pop record. Although, Jamie and his cohorts harbor a definition of pop structure that’s so flexible it makes Bitte Orca sound like “Party in the USA”, if you listen close enough.

The groups talent for micro-sculpting and composing sounds is often overlooked because of the giddier elements that usually take the foreground. On it’s surface, Dear God is a toy chest pop anthem for the skittish and Zoloft-prescribed, but it’s punctured by the most fevered and inspired passages of atonal explosions, expressionist swells, and twitchy realism that Xiu Xiu have ever neatly blended into the scenery. “Hyunhye’s Theme” expertly weaves autumnal fingerpicking into a herd of deflating synths and ominous feedback, a vibe they tried out on Women As Lovers‘ “Gayle Lynn”. Other interesting recipes include “The Fabrizio Palumbo Retaliation” which pairs a catholic children choir with a Nintendo DS beat, and “Cumberland Gap”, which by contrast is the album’s real oddity, where a strange banjo-led folk song is given the Xiu treatment.

There’s a few great singles too, with choruses so catchy they’d be radio-friendly if they weren’t filled with lyrics about Richard Chase and bulimia. Jamie’s unique brand of ecstatic paranoia translates seamlessly into his new found accessibility. Powered by nervous energy, the album clocks in at barely over a half hour, and not a minute is wasted. There are no pretentious interludes like the ones that plagued earlier releases, just twelve tracks that could each serve equally well as the album’s ambassador.  Basically, it’s a Xiu Xiu record, and it’s either gonna warm up to you or not, but I say Dear God is the group in top form, even with the departure of former key member/cousin Caralee McElroy. With our culture’s increasing appetite for experimental approaches to pop music, it’s only a matter of time until this shit gets canonized. Best to just get on board now.

Dear God, I Hate Myself is available February 23rd on Kill Rock Stars.

MP3 :::
Xiu Xiu – Chocolate Makes You Happy
Xiu Xiu – House Sparrow

New Grouper/Roy Montgomery Split 12″

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 6, 2010
in MP3
. Comments

grouper-roy-montgomery New Grouper/Roy Montgomery Split 12

Despite a few great singles and splits in 09, it feels like forever since we’ve had a real thick slice of Grouper to bite into. On this new split 12″, Liz Harris teams up with New Zealand’s Roy Montgomery for a satisfying glimpse at what the Portland chanteuse is up to. Montgomery spills across Side A with a phased out variation of Sandy Bull’s ‘Fantasia on A Theme’, hacking out 18 minutes of icy solo guitar musings.

Grouper takes the B-Side with 4 tracks of her most concise songwriting yet. “Vessel” is steered by a slow, processional Wurlitzer that seems to absorb all the reverb from Harris’ vocals, which remain as doomed and affecting as ever even in this more austere recording. Her side is healthily supplemented with the creepy backyard, wind-pushing-swingset, dog barking, Boo Radley tape atmospherics you’d expect.

You can snag the new 12″ here.

MP3 :::
Grouper – Vessel

The Art Museums are Woodsist’ Newest Weapon

Published
by
Michael Hansen
on January 4, 2010
in MP3
. Comments

art museums

The Art Museums are the duo of San Francisco players Josh Alper & Glenn Donaldson (of Skygreen Leopards) who describe themselves as “Anglophile jams on a Tascam 388″. What this basically translates to is a lo-fi pop rendering of Belle and Sebastian’s through-a-keyhole high culture digest. They summon the extroverted geek musings of the Magnetic Fields minus the baritone, matching drum-machine beats and hand claps with flatly recorded guitar riffs that jangle in their Mod glory.

What I have heard so far is fay, catchy as hell, and full of possibly ironic nods to the Style Council, Wham!, and other Members Only patrons.  Perhaps our point of drilling for 80’s influences is shifting from the once fertile land of warm electro workouts to the pastel bistros of new wave hedonism. Compared to their peers, Art Museums have their reverb settings at half-mask, preferring a sharper, drier aesthetic that closely mirrors the tone of the artwork.

Recently signed with the steamrolling Woodsist, the duo are set to release their debut mini-LP Rough Frame some time this February. You can also listen to a bunch of their songs on their myspace. It’s too early to really dissect these guys, having only one single at my disposal, but feelings aside, you can expect this album to have one of the first ripple effects in the new year.

For Fans Of: The Magnetic Fields, Television Personalities, Surfer Blood

MP3 :::
Art Museums – Sculpture Garden