popwreckoning updates |  |
- NYLON Summer Music Tour Roundup
- Remix Monday: A Tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson
- Cobra Starship vid for “Good Girls Go Bad” featuring Leighton Meester
- Chanj’s “I’ll Be There” MJ cover tribute
- Tilly and the Wall @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
- Brian Bonz & the Dot Hongs – From Sumi to Japan
| NYLON Summer Music Tour Roundup Posted: 29 Jun 2009 12:43 PM PDT
Jaguar Love is a Portland duo whose music is not easily described or given a certain label. Is it punk? Is it electronic? It’s a bit of both really. Vocalist Johnny Whitney is what I’d expect if you could successfully cross breed Robert Plant and David Johansen of the New York Dolls in a laboratory. Whitney for sure has the posturing and swagger of both, the blonde mop of curls of Plant, and the singing/shrieking vocal style of Johansen. Cody Votolato provides the driving guitar behind Jaguar Love’s sound, and in a slightly less manic way, he also moves effortlessly across the stage. They began their set with the appropriately explosive “I Started a Fire” that got everyone moving, the background electronic effects pumping out an infectious beat throughout the entire set. “Freakout” was another notable tune – both Whitney and Votolato jumped into the crowd, with Whitney pumping his fist in the air and inciting the crowd to jump up and down with him in time to the music. Prior to this night, I was only familiar with one of their songs, “Highways of Love”, and it was fabulous live – and a good summation of the band’s performance. Lead singer/guitarist of Plastiscines, Katty Besnard was dressed perfectly for a D.C. show – a red, white, and blue outfit and a white beret angled smartly on her blonde hair. Bassist Louise Basilien could be easily mistaken for a hippie-dressed Anne Hathaway. And you might think based on the sweet look of this band that they are only capable of making tinny pop music. Not so, I am most happy to be report. And it’s about time a strong girl group shook up the music scene. All smiling broadly throughout the whole set, Plastiscines were clearly enjoying their first real tour of America. Despite having already having one album under their belts (LP1) and the second already recorded, they played two covers – “You’re No Good” (popularized by Linda Ronstadt in the mid ’70s) and Nancy Sinatra’s “love ‘em or leave ‘em” classic, “These Boots Were Made For Walkin’”. Maybe they felt they needed the covers to endear themselves to the audience? These really are unnecessary – their original numbers are strong and have a healthy dose of attitude. “Barcelona”, the first single off their sophomore album, lent a party atmosphere that got the whole club shaking. Their closing number, “Bitch”, confirmed what I had suspected all along: this French quartet knows how to rock just as hard as the boys do. Viva les Plastiscines! St. Louis rock band Living Things were on third. Their lead singer/guitarist Lillian Berlin is no stranger to controversy – he likes to invite it, so it seems. So it is only fitting that he and his band would take pleasure in performing in such a politically charged city as ours. Wrapping himself in an American flag-themed rug, Lillian dedicated their 2005 hit “Bom Bom Bom” to all our brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers serving in Iraq. He later encouraged the audience to boo, loudly, in response to California’s passing the controversial Proposition 8. My favorite from their set was “Oxygen”, the current single off their 2009 album Habeas Corpus – the guitars, drums, and rough vocals all come together for a riotously good time. Other highlights included “Let It Rain” (an alt-rock classic in the making), “Bombs Away”, and “Snake Oil Salesman”; for the latter, Lillian grabbed several surprised folks out of the audience to come on stage and dance with him, the whole audience singing along to “everybody let’s keep the peace” of the chorus. Several times, Lillian proclaimed his love for “the land of O-BAM-A” – which of course elicited delighted cheers from the D.C. crowd. Later on in the set, Lillian asked if we as a city would adopt him, because “St. Louis bars have guns on display. Do you have guns?” I’d adopt the whole band if I could: between the screaming guitars, powerful drumbeats, and impressive vocals, I’m sure they could be counted on for a rollicking good gig every night. Living Things is definitely a band to keep your eye on. And then came Patrick Wolf. The pièce de résistance and probably whom most of the people in the small venue that night came for. I’ve been lucky enough to have seen Patrick twice – once here in D.C. and once in England – and both times I was left awed by his live performance. His music runs the gamut from soft, introspective ballads about faraway towns to euphoric pop tunes, and from gothic, dark pieces redolent with classical mandolin and viola to songs with electronic beats appropriate for the dancefloor. I will never be bored with Patrick’s music because what he writes and records is always interesting, and his live shows are incredibly memorable. Who else writes amazingly evocative songs using a synthesizer, mandolin, and violin at the same time? He’s our electrofolk superhero who always expresses his emotions better than we ever could. When he arrived on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel stage, he had glitter all over the place as usual and was dressed quite theatrically as usual – I mistook him for Beethoven, with a powdered wig and a long black jacket with coattails. A friend later corrected me, saying that being in Washington, he must be trying to look like Thomas Jefferson (or maybe any one of our nation’s Founding Fathers). He sat down in front of the piano and began to play and sing “The Messenger”, the emotional closing track to his new album, the Bachelor. So beautiful. Then he went the opposite direction musically, straight into the cacophonous “Kriegspiel”, followed by the electronic and commanding “Vulture”, the first single from the Bachelor. The audience excitedly sang and swayed to the music from this point forward. In addition to songs from the new album, he also reached into his back catalogue, including “Bluebells”, “Pigeon Song” (in which he and violinist Victoria Sutherland shared a gorgeous duet worthy of any concert hall), “Paris”, and the bouncy “Accident and Emergency” and “Tristan”. He decided to end the night with “A Boy Like Me”, a song off his debut album Lycanthropy. The appreciative audience loved every second of the gig – he could do no wrong. Can you blame us? Patrick Wolf pulled out all the stops for us with an incredible set. Hmm, maybe I will go back to see him again in England sooner than I thought… Patrick Wolf Set List Patrick Wolf: website | myspace | @ Dot to Dot Festival, Rock City, Nottingham, England                             Related Posts |
| Remix Monday: A Tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson Posted: 29 Jun 2009 12:04 PM PDT As we all know very well by now, this past week the greatest entertainer of our generation passed away in a tragic death at an age in which he was too young to go. Michael Jackson would’ve always been too young to go for me. I could easily get into a sentimental mood about this man and everything that he meant to me, but I will pass on doing so as I’ve already been extremely saddened by his death.
When I think of Michael Jackson, I always think of being around 7 or 8, when my father bought my sister and me “Bad”, and then a few weeks later surprised us with “Thriller”. The first albums in the house that were actually “ours”. It is all we listened to and after dinner we would dance around to those two CDs in the living room like crazy people. I was so obsessed that I even had a Michael Jackson birthday party. For that I was decked out in a fake white glove, jean jacket, a Michael Jackson t-shirt, in my best effort to emulate the King of Pop. And now the King is dead. But long live the King, as he will do so in our hearts, memories, and the music that will be played on long after we are gone. Because it is ironic in that his death he found what he was seeking, a comeback. Everywhere you go in New York you hear Michael; in bars, in restaurants, on the streets and in the cabs. His music has been sold out in almost all stores, he holds the top spots on iTunes, Amazon, the internet almost crashed with traffic related to him, thousands of articles have been written about him. It the end we all knew where he really stood in our hearts. For this feature I am going to skip the usual portion of where I discuss the original, because lets be honest, you don’t really need me to do so. The original will be there for you to listen to you, however. Also, I want to note that no Michael Jackson song ever needs to be remixed, because nothing anyone does would be able to compare to what he has done himself. But it's always enjoyable to listen to others’ interpretations. .Michael Jackson – “Smooth Criminal” .“Smooth Criminal” – Telemitry Remix .Michael Jackson – “I Want You Back” .“I Want You Back” – DJ Z-Trip Remix .Michael Jackson – “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” .“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” – Marquis Remix .Michael Jackson – “Thriller” .“Thriller” – Louis La Roche Remix .Michael Jackson – “Beat It” .“Beat It” – Kid Nexus Remix .Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean” .“Billie Jean” – Mihalis Safras .“Thriller” – DiscoTech Remix .Michael Jackson – “Rock With You” .“Rock With You” – Frankie Knuckles Remix .“I Want You Back” – Rogerseventytwo Remix .“Thriller” – Villains Remix – Rest in peace, MJ. Related Posts |
| Cobra Starship vid for “Good Girls Go Bad” featuring Leighton Meester Posted: 29 Jun 2009 10:35 AM PDT |
| Chanj’s “I’ll Be There” MJ cover tribute Posted: 29 Jun 2009 10:12 AM PDT |
| Tilly and the Wall @ The Granada, Lawrence KS Posted: 29 Jun 2009 10:08 AM PDT As was evident from the Lawrence, Kansas show, the Tilly and the Wall family has clearly grown. Yes, tapper Jamie Pressnall is pregnant as her slight bulge and dress with a baby and umbilical cord showed (it’s a girl!), but the band’s family has grown in another respect. The Lawrence performance showed that “family” means more to Tilly and the Wall than just a blood connection because that night, Tilly made every single person inside the Granada feel like they were a part of their family. The family atmosphere was abetted by Tilly’s good friends in the opening acts. Omaha’s Conchance opened with a unique blend of jazz, rock and hip hop music and fast raps. It took the group a bit to warm up, but they soon found their groove. The addition of a full band was a nice variation from the usual rapper/DJ combo. You knew the group was on a roll by watching the increase of dance moves in the audience.
Red “war” paint decorated the next band and as one member ferociously banged on a tom drum and the singers used effects to distort their voices, there was something attractively primal in their sound. At first, I wasn’t sure what to make of them, but they kept me entranced with their raw energy and experimental noises that teetered between incomprehensible to crystal clarity. Fortuning, from Kansas City, is one group that I’ll be looking out for more in the future.
Lawrence natives 4th of July were the last of the openers, but certainly not the least. Their jangly rock never fails to impress me and as usual the bass player’s beautiful bass guitar with its rich, warm sound seemed as if it would be the star of their set. Yet, I was surprised that the real performance stealer was the addition of trumpet to a song, giving their sound a greater fullness. They gave a solid performance, but their Americana rock almost bordered on out of place with all the dance bands that filled out the rest of the bill. Almost.
Omaha’s Tilly and the Wall got the party started even before they took to the stage. As they shifted equipment, they tossed balloons out to the crowd and blasted the Michael Jackson hits in honor of the recently departed artist. Their bass drum even read in neon tape: R.I.P. MJ. The MJ hits and balloons appeased the crowd for some time, but soon they were clapping for Tilly. The band hopped and skipped out on stage to jump into “Cacophony.” Since Jamie is pregnant, the set up had to be tweaked a little and she played her usual tap part on a drum. She did this for other songs, played keys and still danced with her arms for most of the set. I’m sure that the audience would have excused her from all tapping, but she worked in some lighter taps for a numbers. At first, I felt sad. What’s Tilly and the Wall without tapping? But this show really was a special treat. Even without their signature tapping, Tilly and the Wall was fun, fantastic and full-sounding. They proved that they don’t use the tapping as a gimmick. They can be great with any arrangement. Whether it is just vocals and guitar to all six members stomping, they are entertaining.
The crowd nor the band wanted the night to end. After the set had already ended with a big dance party on stage for “Rainbows in the Dark” that had a girl from the video, the openers, and our very own photographer, Nick Davis, on stage dancing, the band came back for an unpracticed encore. They even stuck around and continued dancing to Michael Jackson hits and dishing out hugs as the venue cleaned up the glitter (because after all, Tilly may still be Tilly without the tapping, but would Tilly still be Tilly without the glitter?).
The whole show really was like being at an intimate party with your closest family and friends. Hopefully, Tilly won’t play strangers to KC as long as they did last time and come back sooner for another show. Besides, as the sister city to Omaha and like all proud aunts, we want to see the baby!
Set List: Tilly and the Wall: website | myspace | interview with Jamie Pressnall | O review | Phila 1, Phila 2, NYC live shows  Related Posts |
| Brian Bonz & the Dot Hongs – From Sumi to Japan Posted: 29 Jun 2009 07:54 AM PDT "You know that place between sleep and awake? That place where you still remember dreaming?" That's where From Sumi To Japan was made (for legal reasons it actually comes to us by way of Triple Crown Records, not a Tinkerbell reference). Imagine a chummy romance with vocals and reverb, sweet stretches of yawning from between acoustics, oohs, aahs and whoas, and a chance for instruments to overshadow and blend into synthesized sounds. In such a pop-riddled indie nation these days, where do I classify Brian Bonz and the Dot Hongs? Not one of the songs on the album is particularly catchy by pop-with-a-hook standards, but it is entirely intelligent and precious, like a musical jewelry box that plays Jimmy Eat World's Clarity album and has been slathered in Mod Podge and handwritten Elizabeth Barrett Browning notes. Each track features an ambient dose of instrument reverb, and follows through with echoes of Bonz's voice flowing through driving—albeit structured—percussion. In the hypnotic, haunting "Black Bear Hunt", for a beautiful instance, a synthetic rhythm gives way to a low register pluck like Radiohead's "There, There". Even if you don't understand the lyrics, you won't be able to resist paying attention to his blasé-handsome delivery: "In a hotel room/ I Mickey Mouse the hall disaster/ sail from state to state/ it's the same fucking opera." For influence or symmetry, I'll throw out a Her Space Holiday collision with Ben Gibbard who misses Elliott but hated to leave out Broken Social Scene. And anything that has to do with Kevin Devine is going to be composed of at least 1/3 adorableness. Did I forget to mention that? Bonz is a member in Devine's Goddamn Band. Oooh. That explains a ton. If you, for some asinine reason, aren't gushing halfway into this album, you need to be hugged. I will guarantee, however, that this won't be a background-soundtrack relationship. It's an endeavor that just wasn't meant to be ignored. If you aren't sucked in on the guiltless adoration (which Phoenix would describe as "romantic, not disgusting yet") through darling cameos of piano, organ, trumpet and rousing choruses of wonder (cue the "oohs and ahhs") "Goodnight, Captain Revelstoke"'s dulcimer ought to do it. From Sumi to Japan is available August 4, 2009. Tracklisting: Brian Bonz & the Dot Hongs: website | myspace  Written by: Heather Lumb Related Posts |
The second-ever NYLON Summer Music Tour stopped at Washington’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel on the evening of June 24. The Hotel – incidentally not a real working hotel – is a teensy weensy club in Northeast that usually hosts under-the-radar acts. All four acts on this bill – 
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