popwreckoning updates

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• Under Cover – Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown”
• Mayhem Festival @ Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden NJ
• Stages of Dan “Gary” video
• Bat for Lashes with Other Lives @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC

Under Cover – Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” Posted: 19 Aug 2009 02:25 PM PDT Welcome back, readers!  Who rocks the beat, rocks the show better than Kanye West?  Uhh, no one really. Last week I completed the two-part Under Cover – Sampling Edition which was, in essence, slight homage to my annual summer fling — danceable hip hop music.  That love continues this week, even though I switched coasts to visit some very chill loves of my life in sunny California… or Cali-for-ni-ay, for all the Timbaland fans.  My obligatory Facebook status update about my new whereabouts (… is in LA, trick) inspired a nod to LMFAO’s electro hip hop dance jam of same name and reminded me of their killer remix of Kanye West’s “Love Lockdown” that pretty much guided this post for a song that is pretty fucking amazing as is.  While I take a casual bike ride in Venice Beach, I leave you with the West love. – Kanye West – “Love Lockdown” (original) PopWreckoning ain’t no stranger to the Kanye love, whether it was for 808s and Heartbreak or a Remix Monday post entirely devoted to this major album highlight.  Kanye reminds us that T-Pain isn’t the only hip hop heavyweight that can rock the autotune as he sings about the inevitable darkness that resides after a pesky break-up.  I love the jungle sounds, the tribal drumming, and the percussive heartbeat that closes out the track.  Heart-ache never sounded so melodious. LMFAO “Love Lockdown” Remix No other song made me car dance as much on my commute home than this LMFAO remix that also put me in serious danger of accumulating speeding tickets every time I heard it.  The sped up pace charges at you like a train, the rap is extended to include raunchier lyrics and snarky jabs at Kanye’s ex that perfectly capture the ambivalence created by those love-hate feelings for a significant other who needs to become insignificant.  I particularly love the way he sings “Girl, you know my love is real, but you can’t control me baby, you know just how I feel, but you can’t control me” all sweet-like after he basically tells her to fuck off.  Genius. Fall Out Boy – “Love Lockdown” cover Fall Out Boy’s lead singer Patrick Stump never passes up an opportunity to cover popular songs.  Does he just love music that much?  Or is he trying to show off his diversified range?  In the past year alone I’ve stumbled across hip hop covers as this, an ill-advised reinterpretation of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and even a surprisingly decent acoustic Joy Division cover of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, so I’d say it’s possible he just loves covering all music.  This one is soulful, features similar rhythmic drumming, a swirly guitar riff and the same pulsating tone that makes the original hard to ignore. White Lies – “Love Lockdown” cover British alt-rockers White Lies seem to love Kanye, as well with this decent attempt at a rock interpretation with a lead singer, Harry McVeigh, who vocalizes in the same chilly vein as the frontmen of Interpol, Joy Division, and maybe The National (a slight stretch, but you get the idea).  This cover is the quintessential example of a rendition that isn’t particularly groundbreaking in any real way except for the fact that it’s unlikely and from a band who aligns with an entirely different musical genre than hip hop.  The novelty is usually what sells the attempt, as is the case here.  I wouldn’t listen to this daily in my car or anything, but I would definitely get excited if I were at a show in the audience and they suddenly busted out with this impromptu cover. – Stay tuned for next week as I allow my trek down to San Diego and the inevitable gorge-fest of fish tacos to hopefully inspire me with the latest installment of Under Cover!  Stay classy, PopWreckoning readers Kanye West: website | myspace | blog | @ virgin mobile 2008 Related Posts August 5, 2009 — Under Cover – Sampling Edition, Part 1 (0) July 8, 2009 — Under Cover – Michael Jackson Tribute (”Beat It”) (0) June 24, 2009 — Under Cover – Pop/Punk Edition (2) April 24, 2009 — Silversun Pickups – Swoon (1) August 19, 2008 — Dance Across the Country Tour: The Morning Light, Steel Train, The Cab, The Hush Sound (0) August 9, 2009 — Lollapalooza: Friday, Day 1 @ Grant Park, Chicago (1) August 2, 2009 — Zee Avi @ First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia (1) July 16, 2009 — Under Cover – Michael Jackson Tribute (”Man In The Mirror”) (2) July 1, 2009 — Under Cover – Michael Jackson Tribute (”Human Nature”) (5) June 26, 2009 — Michael Jackson: A Memorial (12)

Mayhem Festival @ Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden NJ Posted: 19 Aug 2009 12:37 PM PDT Recent Popwreckoning addition Steven Trager, caught the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival at Camden, New Jersey’s Susquehanna Bank Center. The tour made it way across the US starting in Scranton, Pennsylvania and ending just last weekend in Oklahoma City. While at the festival, which has essentially picked up where OzzFest left off, Steven snapped some amazing photos of the chaos on each stage. Beyond the Stars White Chapel The Black Dahlia Murder All That Remains Behemoth God Forbid Job For A Cowboy Trivium Cannibal Corpse Bullet For My Valentine Killswitch Engage Marilyn Manson Slayer Mayhem Festival: website | myspace All photos: Steven Trager Related Posts May 29, 2009 — SXSW Interview With: Super Satellite (0) September 25, 2008 — Interview with: Kyle Dee of the Frantic (0)

Stages of Dan “Gary” video Posted: 19 Aug 2009 11:42 AM PDT Talented London rock/pop trio Stages of Dan , who PopWreckoning featured as a Hidden Talent in July, have filmed a music video for their boppy tune “Gary”. Check out the crazy video that has the guys hamming it up in Soho locations of the Yo Sushi! chain. Personally, I think it’s hilarious. I love sushi on conveyor belts too, so they couldn’t really go wrong here. The band plans to release an EP later this year. Stages of Dan: myspace Related Posts July 8, 2009 — Hidden Talent: Stages of Dan (1) August 17, 2009 — Friendly Fires with the xx @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC (0) August 8, 2009 — Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring (0) August 7, 2009 — Basement Jaxx’s New Album Release Details (0) August 19, 2009 — Bat for Lashes with Other Lives @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC (0) August 17, 2009 — Friendly Fires with Phenomenal Handclap Band @ le poisson rouge, NYC (1) August 12, 2009 — The Big Pink Announces First North American Tour (1) August 6, 2009 — Elbow with Jesca Hoop @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC (0) August 3, 2009 — The Big Pink’s Debut Album Now Streaming on Their Website (0) August 3, 2009 — The Cribs Rush Release of “Cheat on Me” Single (0)

Bat for Lashes with Other Lives @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC Posted: 19 Aug 2009 07:28 AM PDT The crowd you run into Saturday night at the 9:30 Club can be hit or miss. Sometimes you’re surrounded by the beautiful people who buy last-minute tickets to a not sold-out yet show at the nondescript building at 815 V Street, deciding the gig might be a good way to kill some time on a slow Saturday night. (I imagine this sort of thing happens every single night at clubs all around New York City, but not in D.C. because we don’t have oodles upon oodles of great venues in our town.) And sometimes you’re surrounded by people who actually know and appreciate the bands. To my great relief, the crowd for the Bat for Lashes show this past weekend was definitely the latter. I took it as a great sign that an hour before the doors opened, there was already a line forming down the street. The opener for the night was indie folk pop band Other Lives. Cellist Jenny Hsu (that’s right, a cellist!) was dressed fashionably in a peach and white gingham dress – she looked like she just stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting – introduced the band very plainly: “We’re Other Lives. And we’re from Oklahoma. We’re very happy to be here.” Someone up in the club’s rafters shouted, “go-oooooo Sooners!”, which elicited a chuckle from Hsu, who then remarked bashfully, “I heard that!” with a smile to the crowd. This band (composed of Hsu, Jesse Tabish singing and on guitar and piano; Jonathon Mooney on guitar, piano, and violin; Josh Onstott on bass; and Colby Owens on drums) shines on songs that take full advantage of Hsu and Tabish’s tender harmonies, set off seamlessly against the folk/pop instrumentation; these include “E Minor” and “Paper Cities” (which, for some reason, reminds me a lot of Emmy the Great’s recent cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallejujah”). Tabish, whose voice has been compared by some to Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, looks a lot like the late, great shock comedian George Carlin, so when he starts strumming his guitar and begins to sing, you may be taken aback. And funnily enough, he can be humorous; at one point during their set, his electric guitar wasn’t hooked up correctly, so he ditched it in favor of his acoustic; thankfully the guitar problems were quickly rectified. So when it was time for the band to go, Tabish joked, “thank you for being patient with us, with our follies and electrical problems.” This was met with loud gig-goer laughter. Despite what you might think, Washington crowds can take a joke and are amused by sincere jesting. Bat for Lashes is half Pakistani / half English singer/musician Natasha Khan’s mysterious stage name. And just as mysterious and trippy, her stage set-up: candles, lots of Virgin Mary and Jesus figurines, light-up dolls, twinkling Christmas lights, all these items sitting somewhere amongst her and her band’s many instruments in front of a howling wolf backdrop. Just like Khan’s debut album Fur and Gold, her second album Two Suns was nominated for the Mercury Prize this year. If I’m being honest, I don’t know too much about her debut album; I’m more familiar with “Daniel” (which some of you may have seen on various American video channels and I saw on a Glastonbury Music Festival highlight show when she played there in June) and “Pearl’s Dream”, her latest single. However, this night, her set list was a good selection of tracks from both of her albums, delighting the fans surrounding me, all of whom appeared very familiar with both releases. I think I can count on one hand the number of gigs I’ve attended where it appeared guys outnumbered the girls – and this was one of those gigs. After a short instrumental intro, Khan began her set singing the new age-y “Glass”. Currently, Khan tours with 3 other musicians – guitarist/synth player Ben Christophers, bassist Charlotte Hatherley (ex-Ash and more recently striking out on her own as a solo artist with the excellent single “White”), and drummer Sarah Jones. The three of them stood in the shadows as Khan sang, dancing and prancing across the stage like a Woodstock-era hippie in a flouncy, short white skirt, or shaking maracas or a tambourine, playing her autoharp, or playing the piano. Girls and guys around me were completely entranced as she took the time every once in a while to howl like a wolf at the backdrop, and the crowd followed suit. The Native American style drum beats that go with “Sleep Alone” got everyone in the club tapping their feet. Later, the crowd cheered riotously for “What’s a Girl to Do?”, a track she contributed to one of the London nightclub Ministry of Sound’s Chillout Sessions CD compilations. I looked at my watch with astonishment when she falsely said goodbye; surely this couldn’t be the end, could it? Then Khan came back for five more songs, closing out with swirly “Daniel”. This was the main highlight of the Bat for Lashes show for me, but I’m pretty sure Khan’s devoted followers in the crowd would have disagreed. Set List: Glass Sleep Alone Horse and I Travelling Woman Siren Song Wizard Trophy Tahiti What’s a Girl to Do Pearl’s Dream // Prescilla Good Love Moon and Moon Two Planets Daniel Bat for Lashes: website | myspace | Under Cover: Bruce Springsteen “I’m on Fire” | Mercury Prize Nominations Announced | Lollapalooza: Sunday, Day 3 @ Grant Park, Chicago, IL Other Lives: myspace (Author’s note: Apologies for the quality of the photographs in this piece: I respected the artists’s wishes for no flash photography, and also, Natasha Khan rarely stood still long enough for me to snap good photos!) Related Posts August 8, 2009 — Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring (0) July 21, 2009 — Mercury Prize Nominations Announced (2) May 20, 2009 — Under Cover – Bruce Springsteen “I’m On Fire” (3) January 15, 2009 — Boxer Rebellion – Union (0) November 20, 2008 — Andy Yorke – Simple (0) November 6, 2008 — Thom Yorke Celebrates Obama (0) September 23, 2008 — Darker My Love @ the TLA, Philadelphia (1) September 7, 2008 — Interview with: Justin Kennedy of Army Navy (3) August 26, 2008 — Outside Lands Festival, Day 1 (1) August 4, 2008 — Lollapalooza @ Grant Park, Chicago (3)

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