Song of the Week: "Lotus Flower" by Radiohead

We all know that Thom Yorke is something of a musical genius, with a talent for intuitive melodic creations and exploratory lyrics. But who knew he could dance? Watching the video for the new single "Lotus Flower" has me wondering if this is a career he overlooked- the guy's got moves. Aside from that, "Lotus Flower", from the surprise release of King of Limbs, is pretty terrific. With what seems like an improvisational mix of blues and dubstep- the beat moves along in a less than linear fashion. Yorke's voice is full of bold ideas that slowly swell from him, but the music doesn't seem to match his words. However the somewhat amorphous and less than fully formed structure of the melody keeps it from being too rigid, so it manages to accompany Yorke's voice quite nicely. It's sort of like a ballad- but only in terms of a post Kid A kind of way. Give it a listen!

Watch the Muppets dance along to LCD Soundsystem

File this under, "you're a cold heartless bastard if you don't love this" The always relevant cadre of Muppets are back. This time they're rocking out to my 4th favorite song of last year, "Dance Yrself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem. Playing on top of a roof top to a delighted crowd in England, Kermit shows himself to be a suitable substitute for James Murphy. After that the Muppets head off to the club for their particular brand of freak out. The whole thing is hilariously charming, especially with the crew getting drunk at the beach, and Kermit still not quite sure how to master the art of seduction. But when you're trying to seduce Miss Piggy, I suppose there's no rush. Watch the clip.

Wavves and Best Coast at the Rickshaw

The Rickshaw is a favoured venue among several people I know. I get it, I suppose; It's small enough to provide a reasonable sense of intimacy, yet large enough and sporting the proper dimensions to move and thrash around, should one so choose. They sell beer, right there next to the stage- it certainly has thing's going for it. Yet I feel like I can't quite get behind the place. Perhaps it seems a little too analogous to the conveyance with which it shares its name. Aging, rickety, constantly at risk of falling apart- the celling was leaking after all. It might be a combination of seasonal and geographic issues. Being in Chinatown, it's a little beyond the realm of super fast public transportation that I'm used to, and is a venue more booked in the fall and winter, as opposed to places like the Malkin Bowl, which gain in primacy during the summer. In other words, I'm often walking to the Rickshaw or waiting for a bus to get there in shit weather, putting me in a less than stellar mood upon my arrival. On the other hand, I usually see a pretty decent light show there, something I would be reminded of when I saw Wavves and Best Coast. I have to express a touch of regret and disappointment that I couldn't see these groups on a warmer summer night, outdoors- these groups are growing more and more synonymous with my favourite season. Nevertheless, this was the date and location, so I dutifully went.

Review: Cut Copy- Zonoscope

After multiple listenings of Zonoscope, by Aussie elctro-wavers Cut Copy, I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on what it is I'm listening to. The only lingering question that frustratingly seems unsolvable is just what exactly a zonoscope, if anything, is. Alas any attempts at googling merely yields results for the album, which either spawned the term, or is more interestingly, its namesake. I really want to know. The album cover itself reveals some potential insight. An image of an impossibly beautifully, yet logically realized landscape framed through a circular, perhaps ocular lens; a scope if you will. My fixation on the issue is not random and superficial, not entirely at least. I am compelled to explore the meaning behind a zonoscope because for all of this album's compelling qualities and soothingly catchy hooks, what has me most interested is the way it looks back on and surveys the trends and styles of pop music's past. While this endeavour is not always fully realized or articulated, Cut Copy makes up for this short coming by proving their own stylings capable of filling in the gaps with incredibly catchy and palatable offerings.

Top 10 Albums of 2010- Part 1

10- Gorillaz- Plastic Beach

Think of Plastic Beach as an experiment gone horribly wrong, and then wonderfully right. Originally conceived as a sort of mix tape featuring various artists with Damon Albarn and Gorillaz acting as producers only, the whole thing sort of devolved into an incoherent mess of misdirection. So Albarn stepped in with a much more direct and patriarchal role; scraped what didn't work, and repurposed what did, inserting parts of prior recordings into their own songs and reconstituting the roles of the various contributing artists. The end result is a widely varied and engrossing album loosely centred around the concept of climate change (as if the album's title wasn't obvious enough). What makes the album so compelling is that although the narrative is fairly consistent throughout, the tone and source of narration is constantly shifting, creating a densely layered and challenging album to fully decipher. The central message is inserted in most of the tracks, but done so in multitude of ways, based on the stylings and mannerisms of whichever artist is prominently featured. In several cases, the topic is approached by taking the better and most adored aspects of our culture and mixing them together with the subtle metaphors related to the detriments of our planet. Lou Reed at one point goes on about the beauty of person, he wants to preserve it... by wrapping it in plastic. Part of the fun of Plastic Beach is rummaging through it, looking for such examples. The genre spanning and, at times genre defying body of work takes so many different types of music and packages them in Gorillaz' characteristic blend of goofiness and subtle insight. Gangster rap from Snoop at his most relaxed, playful hip hop in the form of “Super Fast” and the utterly engaging “Sweepstakes”, deathly serious funk in the form of “Stylo”, illicit club freak outs like “Glitter Freeze”, and mammoth works of pop art like “Empire Ants”- there's a lot to Plastic Beach. Some of it's just reasonably fine, but so much of it is terrific- like nothing else this year.

Song(s) of the Week: "Painted Eyes" by Hercules and Love Affair and "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes

There's just too much good stuff coming out lately. With the recent release  of Zonoscope, the new Strokes album finally lurching forward, and the advent of a new TV on the Radio release that is tantalizingly close, things don't seem likely to change any time soon. That being the case, I am forced to throw two songs of the week at you. The first is a track off the new Hercules and Love Affair album, Blue Songs. Many fans of the last album were concerned by the departure of producer Tim Goldsworthy and contributing lyricist Antony Hegarty. While the album definitely is a departure, "Painted Eyes" seems to be somewhat alleviating as it is the most familiar, carrying that seemingly trade mark disco and funk heavy bass. Does it remind you of their earlier work, or is "Painted Eyes" even too much of a change?

The second song of the week is "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes. After making a huge splash in 2008 with their terrific self titled album, the group kind of fell off the map. Upon learning of a new album and tour, I was surprised that all I could muster was mild enthusiasm. After hearing this new single, I'm excited again. I forgot how grand and affecting these guys can make simple folk music sound. They're playing two shows in Vancouver at the end of April. The first show sold out pretty quickly, but if you hurry you might still be able to grab ticket for the second one.

Das Racist at Fortune

Pop Pete promised us all completely naked women. It did not happen. Truth be told, I was reluctant to believe such an exuberant claim, but it's fun to dream. He proceeded to ask the audience who among us was gonna do some e and than cheat on their girlfriend; preferably with a fat chick? Pop Pete, the front man from Hot Sex and High Finance does not mince words. He is blunt, and conducts him self in a slightly vulgar and grotesque manner. Yet he also seems rhetorically ironic in a reassuring sort of away. If I for second thought he actually believed his egotistical bullshit, I'd be put off; but he puts on a hyperbolic facade to mock those in the electro/progressive/hip hop scene that take themselves too seriously. Just to make sure no one mistook him for the persona he intimidated, he made sure you know how ridiculous the names of the group's songs were. “Patrick Bateman”, “Black Gretzky”- “Death Star”? More like Super Death Star. At the end of the set Pete demands that we download his album- for free! No one callously attempting to live the gangster Gordon Gekko life would issue such a proclamation.

Review: Destroyer- Kaputt

After listening to Kaputt by Destroyer, one may wonder why the creative force behind the act, Dan Bejer, refers to it as Destroyer. It's a pretty harsh moniker for music that is anything but, at least as far as Kaputt is concerned. Admittedly the career of Destroyer has seen many twists and turns and delved, at times rekclessly and aimlessly into many aesthetics and tones. The musical make up of Kaputt, while not the first time adventured by Bejer, is a recent development. It is breed from familarity, yet at the same time crafted in away that seems positively unique. Bejer, with the help of vocalist Sibel Thrasher, have made an expertly constructed and beautifully performed piece of work here; one that is refreshingly devoid of the cynicism that has crystallized like an impenetrable husk over the genres and stylings that Bejer draws inspiration from.

Part of why Kaputt works so well is it is propelled by a very clear sense of direction and well defined structure. At its core Kaputt employs a contemporary version of inoffensive smooth jazz that was more or less rendered obsolete by the early 90s. It's really a shock to hear it resurrected so casually and successfully in this collection. However the peripheries, or casing of these songs are comprised of modern hi fidelity indie pop and slightly dreary 80s new wave. Much of the bass is reminiscent of The Cure and Joy Division. Each element is applied pretty liberally on top of the aforementioned jazz center, maybe even heavy handedly at times. But both aspects are balanced admirably so the album manages to avoid any blase synth malaise that tarnished the 80s somewhat, nor does it seem to fall between the cracks of countless other fusion upstart groups. But then why would it?- as Destroyer, this is Bejer's 9^th album; he was honing his craft when the barren existentilism of the 80s was still considered modern and inovative in the early 90s. Again, these facets really are just ancillary to the core of Kaputt which is constructed from more orchestral and classical instruments. Flute, clarinet, saxophone, and trumpet, and bass- in it's diminutive way- make up the backbone here. But they aren't all employed in tandem or conjunction, rather sprinkled sporadically throughout the songs, with only occasional intermingling of all the instruments. “Suicide Note for Kara...” provides a perfect example of this as throughout the 8 minute track the central instrument keeps shifting; kind of like Mike Oldfield only not as jarringly mind bending and alienating. The shifting in arrangements here seem much more natural and unobtrusive. As a result, while the overall aesthetic is consistently orchestral jazz, the specifics and details are varied and even spontaneous. The music carries a sort of aged and eloquent wisdom to it, developing into a reassuring sense of warmth and comfort. For someone who was recently trumpeting the merits of the bizarre and slightly unsettling stylings of acts like Caribou, it's nice to be reminded of the joys one finds at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Song of the Week: "Chinatown" by Destroyer

What happens when you combine mid 80s cocaine fulled existentialism, early 90s smooth jazz, and modern day production sensibilities? This, apparently. The first track of Destroyer's new album Kaputt, "Chinatown" is relaxing if nothing else. Dan Bejer's voice is a tad aristocratic, but it's complimented nicely by sporadic pop ins from back up vocalist Sibel Thrasher. The various musical elements are pretty disparate, but the jazz stylings act like a molasses, naturally binding everything together. In other words, it works. Give it a listen and keep your eyes peeled for a full album review in the next couple days.