Hey, if I keep liking bands from stereotypically whitebread countries like Sweden, Finland, Denmark, etc., am I going to lose my hip hop cred? I hope not. Because you can add Efterklang to my growing list of dreamy, atmospheric, 100% caucasion foreign poppers. They’ve even got a (really good) song called “Scandanavian Love,” for God’s sake?
Denmark’s Efterklang have been around since 2000, but I was unfamiliar with their work until a friend played me their 2010 release, “Magic Chairs,” and I was instantly charmed and hooked.
Signed to England’s 4AD, the band managed to negotiate their own imprint, and Magic Chairs is their own label debut (Rumraket has also released albums by Slaraffenland, Grizzly Bear, and others. And I have to admire that indie spirit. To be able to make great, thoughtful pop music is hard enough. To be able to run a business at the same time is nearly impossible.
Now, about the music: It’s shoegaze without the navel gazing. It’s rich, full, orchestral pop without the Oasis-style wailing. It’s a constantly changing, big-sounding kaleidescope of strings, synths, overdubs and swirling sounds. It’s U2/Snow Patrol/Coldplay without the hooks or the toe-tap-ability. It’s pop, which you’ve probably heard before, but done differently, like you probably haven’t heard before. Done well. Done beautifully.
It’s inspirational.
For fans of: Sigur Ros, Brian Eno, Phillip Glass.
So for today’s post I’m going out of my usual current-only ouvre, and venturing back, way back, to last year. I’m writing about an album that missed me then, and I’m sad about that because I’m fairly certain it would have made an end-of-the-year list.
I admired Joan Wasser’s debut album, “Real Life”, but it wasn’t until last year’s “Cover” that I really, really got her. The album is a collection of (you guessed it) cover songs, ranging from the kind of covers you’d expect from a new artist trying to get attention (Sonic Youth and Public Enemy) to weird and esoteric (Adam Ant), but the thing that makes them so terrific is that Ms. Wasser truly puts her own stamp on each tune. Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” becomes a Prince-style blues come-on, sexy and hot, while Britney Spears’ “Overprotected” is transformed from bubblegum pop into anthemic indie power grrrrl funk. And the best cut on the record, by far, is by an artist I really don’t care for: TI’s “Whatever You Like.” It’s still a little bit like a rap song, but it’s reimagined without any irony–yes, it’s a stupid song but no, it’s not stupid when she does it, and the guitar fade-out-solo truly cooks.
This is the most original set of covers I’ve heard since . . . Ever, maybe.
Whatever You Like (T.I. cover)
BONUS: OTHER OTHER FEMALE ARTISTS’ COVERS OF ARTISTS THAT JOAN AS POLICEWOMAN COVERS ON COVER
Rebel Rebel-Tegan, Sara and Grace Nocturnal)
The Mountains and Trees is mostly the product of one dude, Jon Janes, who used to be a drummer but has since broadened his scope into playing all of the instruments and writing all the music and lyrics for Mountains and Trees.
The music is pretty easy to characterize as singer-songwriter indie folk. This means it’s more complex than “generic” folk, and moves at less traditional tempos. On the whole, the album needs a little editing, but it is a very strong release. The first song, “Fear of Ghosts,” tells a strangely graphic tale of a child’s broken arm, and it’s almost too personal to be relatable. But the second cut, More & More & More, is where the album takes off. It’s a happy jangle love song with an excellent pace. Other standout cuts include the duet “Crossing Crows,” the traditional-sounding “Traveling Song,” and the gentle, acoustic sing-a-long “The Times.” “Goodbye Little Town” is a foray out of indie folk and into acoustic indie rock, with great harmonies on the chorus.
In all, a solid and bold debut.
A little quick one. Brett Shady, formerly of Golden Shoulders, has released a nice little singer-songwriter alum that’s rootsy, acoustic, well-writtend and well sung. Very well sung, indeed.
Here’s the best of the lot:
Go here for details. I’m still building the site, so if you get in now, you can get the first dibs and best deals.
What do an insufferable former leader of The Avengers; a man-hating machine; a former X-(force)-member; Fin Fang Foom; a giant ape/Wolverine hybrid; Irving Forbush; a Go-Bot (kinda); a zombie Nick Fury wannabee; Shazam as a porn star; Elvis MODOKs; and Devil Dinosaur all have in common? They’re just a few of the wild, crazy, and terrific elements of Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen’s 2006-07 series Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.
One of the best things about being a comic book nerd is that there’s always something I missed, something new, fresh, and different. So when I saw the complete Nextwave available as an “Ultimate Collection,” I snapped it up. The book is a biting and hilarious parody of everything comic book: From The Ultimates to D.C. to Hellboy and everywhere in between. It rewards Marvel nerds by bringing in fringe characters like those mentioned above and many more (including one of my favorite Marvel creations: The Mindless Ones!), all wrapped up in an anti-corporate framework. It’s not giving anything away to say that the basic story features a team consisting of Monica Rambeau (the black female former Captain Marvel); Machine Man; mutant Tabitha “Boom Boom/Melter/Time Bomb” Smith (of New Mutants and X-Force); Elsa Bloodstone (daughter of Ulysses Bloodstone, from old Marvel monster books and FrankenCastle); and a new guy called “Captain [expletive deleted],” whose name is so offensive that Captain America beat the crap out of him for using it. The story is violent (but not gory), and completely self-aware.
I can’t recommend the book enough, if you like a good helping of satire with your superheroes. It won a bunch of awards, and it deserved them all.
See a great slideshow of some of Immonen’s brilliant double-splash pages here.
I tried to warn you all back in March. The Dig’s new album, “Electric Toys,” is hot as hell. And now you, my readers, can find out first hand what I mean.
The band wants you to have a copy of their album, for the price of a comment (below), to help promote their U.S. tour.
Drop me a comment, be a U.S. resident, and watch your e-mail next weekend to find out if you’re a winner!
Tour dates, with The Clay People:
Oct 12 – Atlanta, GA – The Drunken Unicorn
Oct 13 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506
Oct 14 – Washington, DC – Backstage @ Black Cat
Oct 15 – Philadelphia, PA – Kungfu Necktie
Oct 16 – New York, NY – The Mercury Lounge
Oct 17 – Cambridge, MA – T.T. The Bear’s
Oct 19 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
Oct 20 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
Oct 22 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounger
Oct 23 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
Oct 25 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile Café
Oct 26 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge Patio
Oct 28 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom Of The Hill •••
Until September 13, 2010, the fine folks at Mighty Fine are offering to my readers 25% off any order! You have to mention the code “doomrainbow”–but it’s damn worth it. Check it:
I dug it so much, I got one for m’self. Also got a bunch of cool shirts for the fam . . . Like this Charlie Brown one . . .
The shirts are well made. I’ve washed ‘em twice already and no bleeding, no fading, no ruining the other clothes they were washed in. That’s always a big plus because so many internet T-Shirt places use cheap materials or decals.
The folks at we love fine were good and responsive, and the stuff came superfast. I’m highly recommending that you go check the site out.
Oh, and they’ve got a Galactus shirt.
I’ve never seen a Galactus shirt before.
My 9-year-old was psyched as hell. Remember: 25% off until 9/13, using the codeword
The first cut off the second Xperiment, “Sparks When My Pen Starts” is pure hype–bragging lines about coloring outside of the lines, claims of being “here to upgrade rap and save the world later”–and it’s the perfect intro to this year’s model of Hollywood FLO$$. That’s “F L O dollar sign dollar sign/Because money’s always on my mind.”
You may remember my interview in January with Houston’s own Hollywood F.L.O.S.S. (Flawless Lawless Opposing Stagnant Situations)), or perhaps the fact that I picked his “Art of Fi$cal Intelligence” mixtape as the sixth best album of 2009. Well, this year is the year of FLOSS. He’s exploded, inundating the world with three mixtapes and an album out on iTunes titled “House of Dreams.” So the obvious question is: Can he sustain it? The answer is yes.
Let’s start with House of Dreams, since that’s a proper album. It’s got Hollywood’s hypeman flow, which you’d expect, but then there are innovations like the title track, in which he raps over bird whistles. That’s right, birds. Sweet gentle birds. This track is in direct juxtaposition to the majority of cuts on the record, which are mostly hard and aggressive. In fact, almost everything HF has put out this year hits hard. He’s punching listeners in the face, coming on with rugged aggression–more LL Cool J than backpacker. It’s a new sound for him, and like I said, it permeates all he’s doing this year. Both of his “Xperiment” mixtapes are riddled with his “tough” voice–he’s released two of them, in an attempt to “build my catalog and get out rough versions of ideas i had in my mind”–apparently taking lessons from Lil’ Wayne. But he’s damn good at it, and he’s careful not to lose track of his ability to flow smooth, on cuts like “To New Beginnings” and the drum-soul driven “When The World’s Against You.” FLOSS is clearly experimenting–not just on the two mixtapes, but on the House of Dreams album as well. He’s showing much broader range, using a wide variety of beats, tones, and rhythms, and generally selling himself on versatility.
Is every song in this avalanche of music good? I’m not sure it matters. Even FLOSS himself admits that the explosion of material in the two Xperiment mixtapes is completely unfiltered–”its up to you to pick which one you like or don’t like,” he says. And he’s clearly saved the best for his album–as he should have. Who else in rap can rhyme mannequin with Anakin (Skywalker)? Hollywood’s extensive vocabulary and verbal playfulness ensures he’s constantly surprising, firing rapidly, never repeating his rhymes and verses.
House of Dreams gets my recommendation, for sure. It wears its influences well, which include OutKast, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z . . . It’s smart, funny, wise and crisp. The Xperiment mixtapes are worth getting, but you’ll want to cull out about a third of the material. And that’s the 
point–you can make your own album!
Go to iTunes and buy House of Dreams. Support this artist, if you believe in hip hop’s future as being something other than copycat commercial trash.
THE BEST OF HOLLYWOOD F.L.O.$.$.
Art Or Fi$cal Intelligence. The title track from his first awesome mixtape, this song is an expression of his philosophy as well as his skill.
Art or Fi$cal Intelligence is five bucks at bandcamp, and it’s worth every goddamn dime. Believe that.
Sparks When My Pen Starts. From his X-Periment 2 mixtape, this is an example of HF’s edgier flow, where he breaks like a “rap antihistamine.” A great example of his creative word choices.
(Get the whole mixtape here.)
Daydreamin-Hollywood with Kidd the Great. Over the classic Lupe Fiasco joint, HF proves he’s not just a great producer (he makes most of his own music)–he can jack beats, too. From his “The Prequel”–the mixtape before his first proper album, House of Dreams.
(Get the whole mixtape here.)
House of Dreams. “The industry will crush your soul if you let it . . . Welcome to House of Dreams” The title track. A “come on come on” building cut. Superfly.
Get it on iTunes and support this fantastic new artist!
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