I used to do a Music Video of the Week feature, and not sure why I stopped. So here's a bunch of new videos, complete with random thoughts from me.
Amazing Baby - "Pump Your Brakes"
Seriously, what the hell is going on here? Basketball, teen witchcraft, Egyptian gods, rocking out? Can't say I'm a fan of this style of "whatever everything" videomaking popularized the by the MGMT boys, but I am an Amazing Baby fan and like the song, which is available on their free Infinite F**king Cross EP.
BPA feat. Emmy the Great -- "Seattle"
Brighton Port Authority is Norman Cook's new project which purports to be some sort of secret, "lost tapes" kind of thing in hopes of distracting us from how boring the last couple Fatboy Slim albums were. But the BPA are better just by the nature of the project, which are all collaborations. I was kind of hoping that this would be a cover of PiL's "Seattle" because I couldn't imagine Emmy singing it. But no, it's an original and quite lovely, actually. As for the video itself, Cook has always made clever ones and this flip-block concept is pretty cool.
Camille - Money Note
I can't say this song by French singerCamilledoes much for me but the video, directed by Paf ! Le Chien (yes that's a person's name) is pretty great in a Nagi Noda-meets-Gondry-meets-Mummenschanz kind of way.
Violens - Doomed
Typical of their art collective background, Violens' video for the Aztec Camera-ish "Doomed" features no lip-synching, or even the band at all. Instead, we get a bunch of pretty young girls in a nice old house with a surprise, creepy twist ending featuring high thread-count linens.
This was a great way to kick-off CMJ with a solid line-up of up-and-comers, older favorites (relatively speaking) and a few curveballs. I'm a bit biased as a Brooklyn Vegan contributor but this really was the place to be the first night, especially for me as I live mere blocks from the venue.
I've written about Emmy already, so straight to the North Carolina's The Sammieswho were odd men out on the bill. They reminded me a lot of stuff I used to play when I was a college radio DJ, the many bands who formed in R.E.M.'s wake. (In fact, their new album was recorded at Mitch Easter's studio, he the man who produced Murmer and Reckoning.) The Sammies don't aspire to be anything more than fun, riff-heavy rock n' roll and in that they succeed. An image makeover could help their rep a bit but it might also make them seem like phonies. I say stay just the way you are.
Speaking of late-'80s college radio, Shearwater are just a smoke machine and some eyeliner away from being a goth band. As a closet goth, I appreciated thier grandiose sound and the melodramatic, operatic vocal stylings of Jonathan Meiburg. They're better live than on record, partly because of drummer Thor, who looks like a Thor and is a multi-instrumentalist who seemed to be a crowd favorite. Not something I'd sit around listening to but they are very good live.
Next up Ponytail. I've seen them a few times and I know some people love them. People who's opinions I respect. But they are not for me. I've actually grown to not hate them since the first time I saw them. But they are not for me.
Passion Pit have gotten pretty popular in the last six months and have a feeling a bulk of the crowd were there to see them -- which makes me feel slightly vindicated about my review of their Pianos show where I said "These Bostonians are going to be big." (I got lambasted in the Brooklyn Vegan comments section for that.) Catchy dance music with a strong '70s soft rock undercurrent (Jeff claims they're are basically Chicago; the bassist kind of looks like Rupert Holmes) and a charismatic frontman who should really take singing lessons. He's going to blow out his vocal chords if he keeps up his now-signature shout-yelp-falsetto. But the crowd loves them.
"Singing DJ Jens Lekman" followed -- emphasis on "DJing" and not so much on "singing." Once people got their heads around that, they let their hips take over and the dancing commenced in full. When he dropped Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" the whole crowd went nuts and, actually, it was one of the most genuine moments of the night.
The show, like all of them at CMJ this year, was running an hour late and I was intent on hitting too more shows (yes it was after Midnight) so I left after two Phenomenal Handclap Bandsongs. They were good, what I saw, and look forward to catching a full set soon.
"Whoa, she's got a keyboard player," I remarked as Emmy the Great was setting up for her first of many CMJ shows at Pianos Tuesday afternoon. I'd seen Emmy play four times previous and at none of them did she have more than a second guitarist and a violin player. But here she had three people backing her. No, four. Wait...five. Oh my god, Emmy the Great are a six piece?
My first thought was "Isn't this overkill?" I always compared her to Billy Bragg or Mary Lou Lord. One of those "less is more" types who just need their well-written songs, a guitar and a voice to win over audiences. Won't drums and a bassist and a keyboard player just make it more difficult to focus on what makes her special?
Well, yes and no. While there was all that instrumentation, it's not like Emmy became Joan Jett or anything. Drumming was gentle, embellishments tastefull, favoring the song. At Pianos, during the Music Slut party, where the mix was a bit in flux, the vocals got lost a bit in the mix but having heard most of her songs before I didn't mind so much; he set sounded much better at Music Hall of Williamsburg, though her's is really more of a sit-down kind of show.
The band sounded great and it was nice to hear the songs I knew so well in bare-bones form fleshed out a little more, but I don't think I'd have wanted it to be my first impression. She is capable of such turns of phrases, clever but often sad and hit straight to the heart of it, that's what you should hear above all else. But as Heart on a Stick said, any day you get to see Emmy twice is a good one.
Emmy's new single, "We Almost Had a Baby," is out on November 10 and her debut album, First Love, will drop in January. Here's video of Emmy doing "Easter Parade" at Pianos:
Though the actual show was horrible, it's hard to argue with this year's Emmy winners. 30 Rock won all the major awards it was up for, including the entirely deserved Best Actor statue for Alec Baldwin, who had it in the bag thanks to the above scene for his nominated episode, "Rosemary's Baby."
I was a little worried they were going to give Best Drama to Boston Legal again, but thankfully Emmy voters wisely went with Mad Men, easily one of the best shows on TV. (I woulda been happy is LOST won too.) The biggest, best surprise was Bryan Cranston winning Best Actor in a Drama for his fantastic work in AMC's underseen Breaking Bad which I've written about before.He is Breaking Bad the way Hugh Laurie is House. And I was glad to see Pushing Daisies get something -- Barry Sonnenfeld won for his direction of the show's near-perfect "Pie-lette."
The only wins I had issues with were Jeremy Piven for Entourage and Jean Smart for Samantha Who? Actually I've never seen Samatha Who so maybe she deserved it, but I can't imagine she did moreso than Kristen Chenowith in Pushing Daisies. Piven deserved it the first year, but last season was horrible, and it felt like the old case of once somebody wins once, they'll continue to win till the show ends. (See Frasier, The Sopranos, The West Wing...) His costar Kevin Dillon woulda been a better choice, or Neil Patrick Harris.
Piven did give a good acceptance speech, though, making fun of the nearly unwatchable opening featuring the five hosts of the Emmy's, Ryan Seacrest, Jeff Probst, Heidi Klum, Tom Bergeron and the entirely unfunny Howie Mandel. Seriously, whoever thought having them be hosts would be a good idea should be fired. That opening was one of the most painful ten minutes since Rob Lowe danced with Snow White on the 1989 Oscars. And the whole schtick with recreating classic TV show sets was bad too, as was Josh Groban's theme song medley.
But there were a few nice moments. Fey and Pohler's bit was good; Don Rickles still has his wits; Ricky Gervais' getting his Emmy back from Steve Carrell was funny; and Steve Martin's intro to Tom Smothers' honorary Emmy was pure class...and funny. Was it better than last year's in-the-round debacle? No, just as horrible but in it's own unique way.
Things started off okay, rolling out of bed around 10am and I made it downtown by 11:30 and after grabbing some breakfast tacos, headed over to the French Legation Museum for a Garden Party day show.
Specifically, I was there to see Emmy the Great who is effortlessly charming even though most of her songs seem to deal with fairly depressing subject matter. I'd seen her in New York the night before I left for Austin but this was a better show I thought, the relatively pastoral setting fit the material. It wasn't such a good show for Emmy, though, as she was performing right before Noah and the Whale, the bulk of whom used to be her backing band and their defection was acrimonious to say the least. (There may have been some romantic entanglements involved too, I can't remember the details.) Later that night I ran into Emmy and she confessed that it had been torturous to be on the same bill as them. The punchline: the show was organized by her US publicity company. I knew about all this watching her performance, but you'd never know she'd been upset. Flanked by two Euans (one on guitar [aka Young Husband] and the other on violin), Emmy's songs are the star, along with her quick wit and clear voice. It goes without saying she's also very cute.
Despite my allegiances to Emmy, I stuck around to watch Noah and the Whale who's schtick includes dressing exclusively in various shades of unmatching blue. They looked like a big bunch of hipster dufuses, but musically I must admit they weren't bad. I didn't care for the singer's baritone which kind of made them sound like the Crash Test Dummies, but he was a funny guy: "We
played
a
show
yesterday
in
someone's
yard
and
there
were
a
bunch
of
four
year-olds
dancing
around
up
front. I
think
we
found
our
audience. They get us."
Though it seemed a bit inconsiderate, it made sense in other ways. The early part of the day was dedicated to the current neo-folk scene in London, and also included Laura Marling (who might be best know for singing on Mystery Jets' current great single "Young Love") and Lightspeed Champion on whose record Emmy sings backup.
I really wished I'd stuck around, but I wanted to see Switches at the Filter party, so I hoofed it over there... only to find that they'd canceled due to illness. Filling in was The Big Sleep, which broke my vow of not seeing any Brooklyn bands during SXSW. (I would break it again later that night...twice.) Odd seeing them in Broad Daylight. I stuck around for a few songs and headed to the Fader Fort, home of neverending free booze.
There I ran into Austin bloggers Colin from Cubik Musik and Lawrence of Covert Curiosity, who both seemed to be there for the same reason as me. (Glug, glug.) They were also there for David Banner, who didn't play, but stuck around for Lykke Li in what was a much better show than the Brooklyn Vegan one I'd seen two days earlier. Her megaphone was working and she seemed in good spirits, and the crowd was into it. I actually think she's better live than on record, especially "Breaking it Up" which came off like a lost Madonna song from the Like a Virgin sessions. (The studio version is underwhelming.) In one of those weird SXSW moments, I ran into an old coworker of mine from my Sidewalk.com days who I hadn't seen since 1999. (Hi, Kerry!) Nice, unexpected moment.
It was around this time, midafternoon, that my regimen of no sleep, junky food and too much beer began to catch up with me. Colin told me "it's just a wall, keep going" but my wall seemed particularly thick. Yet I soldiered on. I hit the Lucky Lounge for the After the Jump party, where I caught Manchester's The Answering Machine who are really, really good for such a young band. I stuck around for the rest of it, as Blog Fresh Radio was sponsoring it and many of the ATJers are friends of mine. Not to mention it was a good lineup, with Cloud Cult, Morning State and Lovelikefire. Jinners took this picture of me, Ian of Indie Outlaw and the Music Slut's Jen Kellas. I actually look coherent here (though not smiling), which is not how I felt:
Also also: the other half of the Lucky Lounge was home to a different day party where The Soundtrack of Our Lives happened to be playing. The room was *tiny,* and I was so close I could've detuned their guitars without reaching. Definitely a thrill. Back at the ATJ side of the party, I ran into onetime Pell Mell-er Steve Fisk who indulged me in talk of The Wedding Present's 1993 album, Watusi, which he produced. (He also did 2005's Take Fountain.) Also there was onetime N'Sync member Chris Kirkpatrick... that's what I was told at least. Only at SXSW.
Jin convinced us we should all go over and watch Kate Nash at the Filter bash and we did though I only stuck around for a song or two. (I foolishly skipped out on Billy Bragg's set too, which included Ms. Nash singing on "A New England") No cookies were baked from what I could see. A nap, however, was calling my name as was my Austin friend Steve who met me there and we went for a burger at some place with sawdust on the floor. I was too tired to speak at this point, and went to the hotel to crash for a while.
And a while turned into about three hours. I slept through a bunch of bands I wanted to see, including Jim Noir, Spiral Beach, Duffy, and others. And felt better for it. I was determined to see Neon Neon (Gryff Rhys and Boom Bip's colaboration) but a SNAFU in the published schedule had them going on an hour later than they actually did. Annoyed at bit, but I met up with the River to River crew again and we all decided we'd check out Tiger City at the After the Jump official SXSW showcase.
We got there early enough to catch a little of Parisian band Neimo who I don't remember anything about now. It's also where I ran into Emmy and Young Husband again, and both were in much better spirits (mentally and liquidly) than when I saw them earlier that day. We chatted for a bit until they realized that the band they were there to see, WHY?, was actually at the upstairs of the place (Lamberts) and not the outdoor patio.
It was my first time seeing Tigercity, despite them gigging every other week here in NYC and me liking their EP a lot. If you like Hall & Oates and classic-era Prince, you'll probably like Tigercity too. One caveat. Main man Bill Gillim is a decent frontman but, at least this night, his falsetto didn't quite hold up live and he was entirely eclipsed by bassist Joel Ford, who possesses a honey-sweet voice that sounds uncannily like Scritti Politti's Green Gartside, and a repertoire of genuinely (white boy) funky dance moves. I'm not sure how the songwriting plays out in the bad, but Gillim might do well to put his ego aside and move the spotlight to his bandmate. But that's just me.
It was at this point, with only two hours of SXSW to spare, that Steve (from NY not Austin) decided that we were going to see everything we possible could to finish out the fest, sort of like that last night of the Fair (with the grease in the hair) where you cram it all in One Last Time. Anything anyone in our group wanted to see, we were going to do it. So, we dashed off (missing Project Jenny, Project Jan who played after Tigercity) on a mad quest.
First stop: Bourbon Rocks to see The Slits who were way better than I expected and I thought "Typical Girls" sounded particularly good. No "Grapevine," though, and Ari Up is clearly more eccentric now than ever. And full of herself. She spent a couple minutes between songs reminding us how the Slits were one of "primary" bands in the post-punk movement. Which is true and all, but shouldn't she let someone who's not in the band be telling us that?
Next we hit Latitudes to see The Answering Machine who were quite good. Probably the best UK band I saw all week. This time, I got video of their song "Your Father's Books":
Sweden's The Tough Alliance was next and their "performance" was easily the biggest pile of horseshit I saw all week. I can't locate the link right now, dammit, but I swear I read on the Village Voice somewhere that the Tough Alliance's performance "redefined the live show." Which I guess is true if that means just playing the CD, pretending to sing for about 20 seconds and then just jumping around and running in circles and not actually "performing" anything is redefining. I would call it the biggest case of Emperor's New Clothes I'd ever seen. (Maybe from a Andy Kaufman perspective it makes sense, but from a "hey we paid to see a band" one, no way.) We left in search of something better, but not before one of our group threw a drink at the band. I only wish it had been me.
British Sea Power was to be next, but the line to get in was enormous so we decided to end our Austin experience drinking whiskey and playing foosball and Buck Hunter at Buffalo Billiards. The next morning, my Austin friend Steve (as opposed to New York Steve) picked me up at the hotel and took me out for the one thing I really wanted all week -- Migas con Queso with fresh tortillas. A fitting end, I thought, to a fun exhausting week.
There I ran into Austin bloggers Colin from 
It was my first time seeing 
Sweden's The Tough Alliance was next and their "performance" was easily the biggest pile of horseshit I saw all week. I can't locate the link right now, dammit, but I swear I read on the Village Voice somewhere that the Tough Alliance's performance "redefined the live show." Which I guess is true if that means just playing the CD, pretending to sing for about 20 seconds and then just jumping around and running in circles and not actually "performing" anything is redefining. I would call it the biggest case of Emperor's New Clothes I'd ever seen. (Maybe from a Andy Kaufman perspective it makes sense, but from a "hey we paid to see a band" one, no way.) We left in search of something better, but not before one of our group threw a drink at the band. I only wish it had been me.
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