Inflatable Ferret - Volume II, Issue 9 by Inflatable Ferret

Vol 2 No. 09 ///// Oct 2010

AIR

PRESERVATION: TWO DEFENDERS OF THE SPIRIT OF RADIO

MUSIC & MOVIE REVIEWS

CHRIS FRANTZ DISHES TO IF ABOUT TALKING HEADS & TOM TOM CLUB

including Sufjan Stevens & Let Me In

80 Minutes of Music for HALLOWEEN

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

AS YOU’VE PROBABLY NOTICED

we are making some significant changes to the look of the issue. IF’s layout designer Kathryn Freund is in the process of completely renovating the style of the magazine. We’d like you to think of this as the beta version of Inflatable Ferret 2.0 (or 7.0, I suppose, considering all the changes we’ve made in the past year). We’ve changed the font of the main body text from Eurostyle to Grotesque, which we think is a little bit easier to read. We will also start making use of the primary logo Greg Ervanian and Rob Schellenberg designed a while back, instead of just the secondary text bubble “IF” logo. We are also working with a web designer to install an application on the site that will allow us to use a two-page spread instead of our typical one-page layout – it’s going to look great. October always seems to be stacked with great albums. Last year it was Flaming Lips’ Embryonic, The Mountain Goats’ The Life of the World to Come, Built to Spill’s There is No Enemy, and Atlas Sound’s Logos. This year presents a whole new plate from which to choose. We chose to review two of the bigger profiles and two albums we think will never get the credit they deserve. And though we didn’t want to have a Halloween-themed issue like we’re Highlights or something, we decided that would be a perfect theme for our playlist. No disrespect to Highlights, by the way. The creators of that publication are my idols, and I always did have trouble finding that comb camouflaged against those tree branches…genius. I’ll end it here. Enjoy.

james passarelli

CONTENTS

Vol 2 No. 09 ///// Oct 2010 FEATURE

Get up to date on the best funk and hip-hop radio show in Montreal...or anywhere, for that matter.

REVIEWS

Read reviews for Sufjan Stevens, Deerhunter, Sharon Van Etten, STNNNG, and Matt Reeves’ film Let Me In.

INTERVIEW 10 IF talks to Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club drummer Chris Frantz.

PLAYLIST

We’ve created the perfect Halloween party playlist for your own ghoulish enjoyment.

OUR STAFF

ISSUE CONTRIBUTORS Editor-in-Chief

Web Design

James Passarelli

Greg Ervanian Rob Schellenberg

Layout Kathryn Freund

Photography Patrick Régné Melissa Wheeler

Featured Writers Conor Berigan Bryant Kitching James Passarelli Quin Slovek Ryan Waring



We gladly welcome any criticism or suggestions. If you have any ideas for the magazine, or if you would like to be a part of it, please contact us at: info@ inflatableferret.com.

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TOM KUTILEK tom@inflatableferret.com HANS LARSEN hans@inflatableferret.com JAMES PASSARELLI james@inflatableferret.com RYAN WARING ryan@inflatableferret.com

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Music, Film, Etc. No Hot Air. www.inflatableferret.com

06FEATURE

A N O I T A V R E S PRE IR

t s d i M e h t n i n o c a e B A Funky y t i r c o i d e M of Radio assarelli sP Words by Jame

Photos by Melissa Wheeler

I’M NOT the first person

08 feature

to point it out. “Radio” has become synonymous with terrible moneymaking music: the obnoxious repetition of The Black Eyed Peas’ “I Gotta Feeling”, the absurd inauthenticity of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” (songs I almost feel guilty putting into writing). Typical “radio music” has even become a genre in its own right, encompassing any popular pop song drab or disagreeable enough to turn someone off of the environment in which the song plays. With all the filth blaring from car and bar speakers, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that some radio stations are doing it right. Stationed in the cozy confines of CKUT radio on McGill University’s two hundred year old campus in Montreal is one of quality radio’s proudest palladia. Every Friday at midnight, Nick Foster (better known as Professor Groove) takes over the airwaves to deliver WEFUNK, two hours of the silkiest, most sold funk and hip-hop known to mankind. But he doesn’t face this task alone – friend and WEFUNK co-founder/co-host Mike Lai (DJ Static) pre-records his contributions from his new home in Vancouver. The relationship hasn’t always been long distance though. Foster and Lai met while attending undergraduate at McGill in 1995 and began airing WEFUNK a year later at the community-campus volunteer CKUT station. Like any college radio show, the show started small, only reaching listeners in Montreal and its surrounding area. In early 1999, WEFUNK looked to expand its audi-

ence, using shoutcast.com to stream shows over the Internet. Soon thereafter Foster and Lai used listeners’ monetary and hosting donations to start wefunkradio.com, a site on which they could stream and archive their shows. It didn’t take long for word to spread. Within a year of the site’s inception, WEFUNK reached as many as two-dozen simultaneous listeners. And now? “These days at the peak, it’s at least five or six hundred,” says Foster. “We estimate that each of our shows reaches somewhere between ten thousand and twenty thousand people.” And that’s not counting actual live radio listeners or those looking up an archived show, of which there are now over four hundred. It adds up to about ten thousand unique views per day, which is far more than either of the show’s founders anticipated. “The project’s grown way beyond our initial expectations,” admits Lai, a Vancouver native who grew up listening to local underground hip-hop in the late eighties and early nineties. Foster, who runs the website and live radio show, first became enamored with funk while listening to college radio stations in his late teens growing up in Connecticut. And his web experience has become almost as practical a tool as his vast music knowledge, especially when it comes to sound quality. The audio streams at a surprisingly low bitrate of 64 kbps (iTunes songs are typically 128 kbps), but you wouldn’t tell by hearing it. “I put a lot of time and experimentation into trying to make that audio, even encoded at that bitrate, sound as good as possible,” explains Foster. “We’ve stuck with that partly because it sounds good enough. And with people listening on mobile devices, there’s an incentive for us to keep it accessible for those listeners.” So, WEFUNK’s web stream is quality in every sense of the word, featuring clear-sounding audio

from some of the greatest alternative and mainstream artists, both old and new. While you’re sure to hear some familiar voices on the show, a few names on the archives might surprise you. Mainstays like Earth, Wind & Fire, James Brown, Mos Def, Parliament, Prince, Public Enemy, and Sly & the Family Stone make regular appearances, but WEFUNK’s understanding of funk is in no way limited to the usual suspects. Groove and Static scour every different genre to find music that incorporates elements of funk. The list includes British proggers East of Eden, Bette Midler, Carly Simon, Jefferson Airplane, and even Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin. They are artists an average DJ would probably throw out as candidates of a funk radio show, but Foster and Lai never gained praise for being standard. And it’s just such radio ingenuity that has earned WeFunk respect from thousands of fans all over the world. Copywriter and DJ Dan Tester of Brighton, England stumbled upon WEFUNK’s iTunes radio page in 2002 and immediately offered to help proof the site. WEFUNK even inspired Tester (DJ Dante) and his DJ partner Delv to launch their own online radio show, Family Funk Tunes. “I like their careful selection and rare music,” writes Kaunus, Lithu-

“ I like their

careful selection and rare music,” writes Lina Vilimaite, a

KAUNUS, LITHUANIA resident.

“ What gets me the

most is when a lot of the artists we play, even people I grew up listening to, contact us and say, ‘Thanks for playing our stuff,’” Lai remarks.

ania resident Lina Vilimaite, “and most of all, I like the WEFUNK intro jingles.” For all the fan support, they’ve received just as much positive feedback from the artists themselves. Past guests on the show include legendary singers Sharon Jones and Marva Whitney, Gang Starr frontman, the late Guru, and Cameo’s Larry Blackmon. Numerous other stars have recorded promos for the show: Ali Shaheed (A Tribe Called Quest) Chuck D, RZA, Masta Ace, Brother Ali, and Black Milk, to name a few. Public Enemy’s Hank Shocklee declared himself WEFUNK’s “biggest fan” and Newark rap legend Lord Jazz says of the DJs, “they have the knowledge and a perfect ear for music.” “What gets me the most is when a lot of the artists we play, even people I grew up listening to, contact us and say, ‘Thanks for playing our stuff,’” Lai remarks. “It’s just come full circle, it feels like.” It might surprise you to hear that pure WEFUNK preparation only takes up three or

four hours of these busy DJs’ lives. Lai is a full-time accountant in Vancouver and Foster is finishing up his graduate studies in neuroscience through McGill. No big deal, really. And when they’re not working, studying, or shuffling through hundreds of music submissions, they deejay live at clubs and events. They’re just starting their third European DJ tour of the year (and their fourteenth ever), an eight-date trip that takes them through Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Poland. New Yorker Mia Pearlman has listened to WEFUNK since 1998. When the thought crossed her and her fiancée’s mind to ask them to deejay their wedding in 2005, it seemed like a silly fantasy. “No, it’s not possible,” she recalled thinking. “They’re too good.” But the couple wrote the letter despite their doubts. Before they knew it, Static and Groove had arrived at the location with more than enough vinyl to last them through the six-hour reception.

In the grand scheme of music radio, WEFUNK has only made a quiet mark. But its founders’ fervor and tireless dedication have larger implications. While commercial stations, blogs, and music news sites bludgeon their audiences with the “latest and greatest” music products, WEFUNK filters the filler. Their grassroots methods and consistent quality grant much-needed solace to music-lovers who are fed up with the evershrinking attention span of today’s music climate. These guys aren’t selling anything. But they’re happy to share it with anyone. if

Logo by Slightly Illegal Media

feature

10INTERVIEW

0io

Chats with

Chris Frantz of Talking Heads & Tom Tom Club Words by James Passarelli caption text

Photos by Pat Régné

1fol

CHRIS FRANTZ

should be a household name, but he has kept a surprisingly low profile throughout the years considering his momentous achievements. He’s just one of a large group of musicians who don’t get near the amount of credit they deserve. But what if I were to tell you he co-wrote some of the greatest songs of all time? Now you’re listening. Okay, so we probably spoiled the suspense. But just in case you can’t read black lettering, Frantz is best known as the drummer for the legendary Talking Heads, but for the last thirty years he and his wife Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads’ bassist) have been rocking as the front man and woman of the dancecrazy Tom Tom Club. Together with Byrne, Frantz and Weymouth wrote such timeless numbers as “Psycho Killer” and “Life During Wartime.” Tom Tom Club’s smash hit “Genius of Love”, meanwhile, has been sampled by Mariah Carey, Black Eyed Peas, Grandmaster Flash, Ziggy Marley, 2Pac, and a whole lot more. Today, almost twenty years after Talking Heads split, Tom Tom Club continues to tour the world. On September 28th, Nacional Records released Genius of Live, a compilation of live tracks that includes a bonus disc of eleven different remixes of “Genius of Love.” IF’s James Passarelli had a chance to catch up with Frantz before a Tom Tom Club show in New York earlier this month. The following is a transcription of that very conversation. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Inflatable Ferret: How are you doing? Chris Frantz: I’m good, I’m good. A little fried—we did a show last night in Boston and drove home after the show, so it was a late night, but a fun night. IF: You guys live in Connecticut then?

CF: You’re on the other line then— the Hudson Line. We’re on the New Haven line. IF: Right. CF: Your phone says Omaha, Nebraska. You came east to college, huh?

CF: He seems to like it very much. IF: Cool. So, first off, I have to admit that I heard the Mariah Carey song “Fantasy” and Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack” [both songs sample “Genius of Love”] before I ever heard anything by the Talking Heads or Tom Tom Club. So that was kind of my introduction to you guys.

IF: Yep. CF: Yeah, we’re a little over an hour’s drive from New York City, and there’s a train line so if you don’t want to drive you can take that.

12 interview

CF: Well that’s okay. CF: Good idea.

IF: The Metro North?

IF: Yeah, there’s a lot more happening here musically. Although, Omaha—

CF: Yes, exactly. It’s like fifty-five minutes to Grand Central Station.

CF: Yeah, they have their own scene, don’t they?

IF: I go to Fordham University in the Bronx.

IF: Yeah.

CF: Ah, I see.

CF: And I have a nephew in a college in Iowa - Grinell.

IF: So, I’m right on the Metro North.

IF: Oh, yeah?

IF: Do you remember how “Genius of Love” came about? CF: For that track we were rhythmically inspired by a band called Zapp from southern Ohio. And they had a song produced by Bootsy Collins called “More Bounce in the Ounce.” And I wouldn’t say that we copied it, but we were heavily influenced by that for the rhythm of the song. It seemed like a cool, slow kind of loping groove that was not really prevalent at that time. Most band

Tina Weymouth, lead vocalist for Tom Tom Club performing at Fantos Party House.

songs had much faster tempos, so we liked the funkiness of it. So, that was the initial point of departure, and then we made a little four-track demo of the vocal melody and lyrics, which we later refined in the studio. Adrian Belew came by and added the little [sings] “dada-dada-dadadada-da” guitar part, and Tina and I both played the keyboards. It’s one of those magical tracks that came together…I wouldn’t say it was completely easy, but it came together in such a way that it had all the ingredients for a lasting success. It has what I would say are very minimal parts, and there’s a lot of space in between those parts for people to use their imaginations. Also – it’s a cliché to say this, but it’s greater than the sum of its parts, and that’s what’s magic about it. It goes straight to the heart and the soul of the listener, and it also happens to be very good for the dance floor… or to play basketball [laughs]. If we knew what it was exactly, we would try to copy it over and over again, but it’s just one of those magical things. IF: You mentioned it with that particular track, and you’ve also talked about it with other songs, the idea

of borrowing a lot from black music. So, it seems kind of fitting—and it would make sense—that your own songs have been so heavily sampled in hip-hop and R&B. CF: Yeah, with that song in particular, and also with “Wordy Rappinghood” and “Pleasure of Love.” You know, there was a time back around the time of the first Tom Tom Club album—which will be thirty years ago next year—when black music and white music had a lot of common interests. Black people didn’t look down their noses at rock ‘n’ roll, and white people didn’t look down their noses at R&B, so there was a lot of cross-pollination going on. And I think Tom Tom Club is one of the first prime examples of that…in the 80s. Now, of course, the Rolling Stones in the 60s and the Beatles were also heavily influenced by black music. And Elvis Presley in the 50s. But for the 80s, I think Tom Tom Club is a prime example of that cross-pollination. IF: I’m not sure how much Latin influence you guys have, but how did you get hooked up with Nacional Records?

CF: Well, back in 1995 the guy who started Nacional, Tomas Cookman, was managing a band (and he still is managing them) called Los Fabulosos Cadillacs from Buenos Aires. A couple members of that band asked Tomas if Tina and I would be interested in producing their forthcoming album. I had never heard of them, but the fact that they were playing stadiums at the time and had number one albums in Latin America just goes to show how much I know. So Tomas said, “Look, the band’s got a show in Puerto Rico. Why don’t we fly you down to Puerto Rico so you can see them play live and see if you’re interested.” So I flew down to San Juan and saw them play, and they were just amazing and fun. So, we agreed to do it, and they wanted to do the album at Compass Point in the Bahamas, where we had recorded four songs for Buildings and Food, Remain in Light [both Talking Heads albums], the first two Tom Tom Club albums, and also [Talking Heads album] Speaking in Tongues. So, we were very happy to go there—we love that studio.

interview

AND IT WAS

just one of those dream projects where everything goes right. The band really could have produced themselves, they were that good. But I think they just wanted us there to help them get a good vibe, and also we brought in some friends of ours for guest appearances like Debbie Harry and Mick Jones from The Clash. Big Youth came up from Jamaica and appeared on one song. The album was called Rey Azúcar. And we stayed in touch with Tomas over the years, and one day he called us up and he said, “Listen, I was playing your live album in my office, and people kept popping in and asking who the band was because they really liked it.” A lot of people weren’t aware that we were still performing. So, Tomas said, “How about if Nacional re-releases it?” And we said, by all means. Because at this point we knew Tomas very well, and we trusted his judgment, so it was sort of natural. IF: And that live album is just selections from Live at the Clubhouse, right? CF: Yeah, which never really got a proper release. It was on a label called iMusic, and the guy at iMusic who liked the album quit two days after he signed us, and shortly after the album was released the company went into the hole. A lot of people were unaware that we ever had that record released in the first place. And we’re happy because our [backing] band is a wonderful band. Some of them have been with us for twenty years, and [the album] is a good record of what we do. IF: And then there’s another disc with just remixes of “Genius of Love”?

14 interview

“ You have to

remember what it is that inspired you to make music in the first place, and it was never money. It was a desperate need to attract girls.”

CF: Yes, there are eleven different remixes, each one unique and totally interesting. If you called me next week I might have different favorites than I do now, but right now my favorites are the one by Money Mark from the Beastie Boys and another one by Senor Coconut. But before that I was really into the Pinker Tones one and the Mexican Institute of Sound remix. IF: Oh, I didn’t realize he had done one. I actually just met him at Lollapalooza this summer. CF: Yeah, Camilo. See, we did a remix for one of his songs, “Cumbia.” So he was kind of returning the favor. He was one of the first to do a remix for us for this project, and his version is completely crazy, in a good way. IF: So you and Tina decided who did the remixes? CF: No, that was Tomas. He has this label of very interesting Latin American alternative artists, and he just put the word out that we were looking for remixes, and they started coming in. We thought we would get

one or two, but the word got out and it eventually added up to eleven. IF: To completely change the subject to Talking Heads, do you know the band Bear in Heaven? CF: I think our monitor person was just working with them up in Wesleyan University, so I just heard about them, and I said, “Oh, another band with ‘bear’ in the name.” Seems to be a very popular animal now. Anyway, why? Do they sound like Talking Heads? IF: Not at all, but we interviewed them about a year ago, and Adam [Wills], their guitarist, mentioned that Talking Heads had a perfect balance of accessibility and artistic integrity. His quote was that you guys were “a band who writes perfect songs, but it also seems like their songs would be in a museum.” CF: Well that’s very nice that he noticed that. [laughs] I’d agree with him completely. But I must check them out. IF: Yeah, I think you’d like them. It’s one thing for former members of

folio text

Subhead Text

I’M NOT the first person

pull quote/ feature net. Soon thereafter Foster and Lai used listeners’ monetary and hosting donations to start wefunkradio.com, a site on which they could stream and archive their shows. It didn’t take long for word to spread. Within a year of the site’s inception, WEFUNK reached as many as two-dozen simultaneous listeners. And now? “These days at the peak, it’s at least five or six hundred,” says Foster. “We estimate that each of our shows reaches somewhere between ten thousand and twenty thousand people.” And that’s not counting actual live radio listeners or those looking up an archived show, of which there are now over four hundred. It adds up to about ten thousand unique views per day, which is far more than either of the show’s founders anticipated. “The project’s grown way beyond our initial expectations,” admits Lai, a Vancouver native who grew up listening to local underground hip-hop in the late eighties and early nineties. Foster, who runs the website and live radio show, first became enamored with funk while listening to college radio stations in his late teens growing up in Connecticut. And his web experience has become almost as practical a tool as his vast music knowledge, especially when it comes to sound quality. The audio streams at a surprisingly low bitrate of 64 kbps (iTunes songs are typically 128 kbps), but you wouldn’t tell by hearing it. “I put a lot of time and experimentation into trying to make that audio, even encoded at that bitrate, sound as good as possible,” explains Foster. “We’ve stuck with that partly because it sounds good enough. And with

people listening on mobile devices, there’s an incentive for us to keep it accessible for those listeners.” So, WEFUNK’s web stream is quality in every sense of the word, featuring clear-sounding audio from some of the greatest alternative and mainstream artists, both old and new. While you’re sure to hear some familiar voices on the show, a few names on the archives might surprise you. Mainstays like Earth, Wind & Fire, James Brown, Mos Def, Parliament, Prince, Public Enemy, and Sly & the Family Stone make regular appearances, but WEFUNK’s understanding of funk is in no way limited to the usual suspects. Groove and Static scour every different genre to find music that incorporates elements of funk. The list includes British proggers East of Eden, Bette Midler, Carly Simon, Jefferson Airplane, and even Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin. They are artists an average DJ would probably throw out as candidates of a funk radio show, but Foster and Lai never gained praise for being standard. And it’s just such radio ingenuity that has earned WeFunk respect from thousands of fans all over the world. Copywriter and DJ Dan Tester of Brighton, England stumbled upon WEFUNK’s iTunes radio page in 2002 and immediately offered to help proof the site.

caption text

Tina Weymouth & Chris Frantz spend some time with our namesake inflatable friends.

1fol

“ If we knew what it

was exactly, we would try to copy it over and over again, but it’s just one of those magical things.” 16 interview

a band to live in the past, but when it’s a band like Talking Heads it kind of changes the circumstance a little. Obviously this is one of those questions, but do you ever get tired of fielding Talking Heads questions? CF: There was a period when it was kind of painful, because like your friend in Bear in Heaven—is it Bears in Heaven? IF: It’s singular. Bear in Heaven. CF: Only one bear in heaven. Like he said, we had a rather perfect chemistry and a very good balance of commercial acceptance and maintaining our artistic credibility. You know, that type of situation doesn’t come along every day, so when our singer [David Byrne] decided to depart from the band—and we had an

LEFT Tom Tom Club performing at the Fantos Party House in Manhattan. RIGHT Tina Weymouth and Victoria Clamp leading an enthusiastic crowd. BELOW Victoria Clamp jamming on tambourine during a performance.

agreement that we wouldn’t ever do a version of Talking Heads without all four members of the band—that was a painful time. But life goes on, and we continue to make music and play live, and we love it just as much as we always did. IF: I find it really remarkable that you and Tina have stayed together through all these years having played in the same band. CF: It is pretty remarkable, isn’t it? I think we’re a pretty good match. I adore Tina, and I know she feels pretty good about me too. We’re very loyal and supportive of each other, and I think that helps. IF: In what way have you passed the family trade along to your kids? CF: Well, they’re still young. Well, they’re young men, I should say, in their twenties. They haven’t really met their life mates or anything, but they’re both very good artists and do very interesting work. I think in that way, the apple has not fallen too far from the tree.

IF: There’s a wide variety of opinions about the impact of illegal downloading of music, and I’m just wondering where you come down on that being a veteran of the music industry. CF: Well, the music industry we knew and had success in with Tom Tom Club and Talking Heads was very different than the music industry today. Tina and I are still adapting – we have no choice, do we? We have to adapt to the way things are. And it might not always be exactly the way we like it, but, like I said, we still love to make music and perform it. So, we’re doing our best to keep on swinging. Sometimes financially it’s rather disappointing, and I know I’m not alone in that aspect. But you have to remember what it is that inspired you to make music in the first place, and it was never money. It was a desperate need to attract girls. [laughs] No, it was something deeper than just fame or fortune. You, know, we went to art school – we didn’t go to music school, but art and music go hand in hand. if

interview

MUSIC REVIEWS Halycon Digest Deerhunter (4AD)

“That’s so random!” she fired back. And before she even let out the giggle (there’s always a giggle), I put an end to the inanity. “Shut up!” I said, forgetting my manners. “Shut your mouth!” Or I turned around and walked away. But most likely I just cringed and condoned the bastardization. Sometime around 2003 our culture wantonly shoehorned a thousand blasphemous definitions for what had been a perfectly good word into the English (American) language and ruined it. These colors don’t run, but my patience is somewhere near Saturn right now. That word is dead to me. Flash forward to 2010. The music scene is crazy. Bands start up each and every day. The inspired grab the cheapest recording devices they can find/whatever disguises their insufficiencies as “aesthetic” (I went there), and lo-fi is the new Charleston. With the craze comes the new catchall definitive adjective of 2010: nostalgic. We’re all guilty of it, especially yours truly (See nearly every review I’ve written since January). But I don’t feel lazy when I answer the interview cliché “Describe this album in one word” with precisely the latest copout. Halcyon Digest is legitimately nostalgic, which, admittedly, is far from a brilliant assessment in this calendar year, especially since frontman Brandon Cox unambiguously stated that the album’s title is a “reference to a collection of fond memories.” But Halcyon Digest transcends the zeitgeist other “nostalgic” albums conjure. On their fourth studio album, Deerhunter supplement the 90’s ambient punk influence on previous efforts by probing as deep as 50’s dream pop, as recent as 2009, and everything that falls in between. Halcyon Digest is a pastiche

18 reviews

less like a time capsule and more like a time machine. Halcyon Digest demonstrates an impeccable ability to harmoniously graft together a far-flung range of influences, a trait no better represented than on “Coronado,” with an opening piano lope that makes you realize, “Hey, I heard this song in an ipod commercial four years ago,” then harmonically adds guitar to the melody causing you to reconsider, “Oh, maybe that was 1965” and then backs enough sax to change your mind again, “I guess it must have been 1973.” “Basement Scene” evokes the dream pop of 50’s teen sensations like the Everly Brothers, “Memory Boy” distinctly boasts the auctoritas of Spector’s wall of sound and Beach Boys’ charm, while “Desire Lines” owes much to shoegaze and garage rock anthems of the 90’s. The production, however, unifies the album as a whole, both masking and heightening a pervasive feeling of isolation. Producer Ben Allen, who held the reins on Animal Collective’s 2009 Merriweather Post Pavilion, takes the sound in a similar direction. Allen’s aquatic ornamentation brilliantly and distinctly illustrates an image of a man alone in his dinghy on a foggy morning on the aptly titled “Sailing.” Likewise, the watery shim-

mer on leadoff track “Earthquake” enhances the arpeggiated hypnosis with which it begins and confers selfsufficiency akin to that on “My Girls.” The percussive force of “Revival” provides a jazz-inflected confidence that echoes the lyrical optimism from faith. On the contrary, the solitude of “Helicopter” owes its mood to the dreary sulk from Allen’s hand. Allen’s production becomes the keystone of a work that seems to trace the technical innovations in music of the past half-century. While exploring the melodies and arrangements of an extensive array of climates in musical history, Deerhunter refrains from discriminating the achievements of modern artists too neoteric for apotheosis. Halcyon Digest isn’t just post-punk or post-pop, but is provident enough to already be post-Merriweather Post Pavilion, as linguistically couth as the genre sounds. As such, I have zero qualms labeling this album “nostalgic.” Not only does it hearken a near-comprehensive spectrum of the extant evolution of rock, but I will even argue that Halcyon Digest sentimentally recalls the next few years. Try that on for size, Christopher Nolan. ryan waring

“ They

Business Casual Chromeo (Atlantic Records)

The age of folk is over. That doesn’t mean new and exciting folk music isn’t sprouting up – just not as much of it. The synthesizer is coming up on its 135th birthday, but evolving music technology has made sounds and techniques available that would have been impossible to achieve a decade ago (or at least not nearly as easy to implement). As a musical purist and a skeptic of the unending sub-genres of electronic music, it has taken me a while to accept their prevalence and prominence. Why, then, is one of the bands I have found most refreshing in the last few years the same band that has broken just about every imaginable tie with the stripped-down and the unplugged? Critics have classified Chromeo as “plastic funk,” and it’s the most satisfying band categorization I’ve ever heard. Employing small armies of whizzing synthesizers and using guitar for just about everything it was not originally intended to do, the Canadian duo oozes artificiality. And that’s precisely what I love about them. They take that nauseating electronic sound to such an extreme that the nausea ceases.The only way I can begin to make sense of it – and I don’t mean to get philosophical on you – is that Chromeo’s music is so intentionally inorganic that it itself becomes a new kind of organic. But before you write me off as some stoned imbecile, just let me get into the specifics (or at least listen to a song or two). Chromeo’s third full-length album, Business Casual, is smooth and crisp (as its title implies), and most importantly balanced. Though Dave 1 (David Macklovitch) assumes the lead role and the exclusively talkboxing P-Thugg (Patrick Gemayel) in

a sense, the sidekick, neither personality dominates. They have a flair for placement and a keen understanding of musical volume (in the spatial, not the sonic sense). It would be ludicrous to describe Chromeo as subtle, but it’s the backseat instrumentals that make their music so engaging. Take, for instance, the creeping rise of the keys in “Night by Night” or the spiraling synth in “The Right Type.” But most of what Chromeo has to offer is too gaudy to miss. Beeps and clashes find unlikely common ground on “I’m Not Contagious.” The swirling string-filled “Don’t Walk Away” is pure disco, featuring a classic funk guitar riff and those standard delayed, off-beat keys. Conspicuous and steady 80’s drums on the lessonteaching “Grow Up” revive the spirit of 80’s greats like Queen and Michael Jackson as much as the group’s known role models Hall and Oates. And while these may seem like towering comparisons, they might be the only suitable ones, given Chromeo’s boldness. Each song is designed as a singalong (case in point: I knew the chorus to half the songs before even listening to the album, after seeing a live set a month ago). “Don’t turn the lights on,” sings Macklovitch on “Don’t Turn the Lights On” (go figure). “’Cause tonight I want to see you in the dark.” “Night by Night” takes the chorus cake, though: “She says I’m not romantic/I say she’s too dramatic/I tell her while we’re at it, we can work it night by night.” They’re simple-minded choruses, but surely not crafted by simple minds. The only song that it might be tough to remember the lyrics to is the heartfelt French-sung “J’ai Claqué la Porte”

revive the spirit of 80’s greats like Queen and MJ.” (“I Slammed the Door”), and they almost always have a charming playful sexuality. Though none of its songs can compete with “Bonafied Lovin’” from 2007’s Fancy Footwork, Business Casual is more consistent and has far more depth, and it keeps the same ebullient spirit throughout. Chromeo is not my favorite band, and they’re not making the greatest music of the decade, or even the year. Still, it’s hard to find flaws in an album that accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. Critics always presume they know “what the artist is trying to do”, but Chromeo makes it painfully obvious, at least in some respects. They don’t hide their main objective – to make incredible dance songs. The mystery lies in the question to what extent Chromeo’s music reflects parody, and to what extent it reflects obsession of a music era in which ties to actual instruments are growing thinner. Either way, Business Casual is refreshing in that it is an album you can judge purely on the way it makes you feel. If you can’t stand dancing and you’re not into having fun, perhaps business formal is more your taste. Otherwise, I can’t see how you couldn’t fall in love with Chromeo and their latest product. james passarelli

reviews

“ Sufjan

Age of Adz Sufjan Stevens (Asthmatic Kitty)

In the five years since Sufjan Stevens released his Land of Lincoln themed masterstroke, Illinois, he has done just about everything but release a proper follow-up album. After years of re-issues, unreleased extras, and EPs, Stevens is finally ready to unleash The Age of Adz. The album is an eighty-minute opus so lush with new sounds and orchestrations that it’s obvious what took him so long to release it. Stevens, for better and for worse, throws everything and the kitchen sink into his new album and creates something that is very commendable, though not always enjoyable. On Adz, Sufjan loses the banjo in favor of a laptop, and shows his versatility with heavier incorporation of electronica. His expansive orchestral trademark that made songs like “Chicago” indie classics is still present; the instruments in the orchestra just seem to have changed from pianos and strings, to drum machines and computers. That said, you might be surprised to hear the soft, finger-picked guitar that drives the first track “Futile Devices”. The short ballad is lyrically representative of the album as a whole. Rather than spinning yarns about Lincoln, Superman, or serial killers, Stevens is surprisingly candid. In fact, Adz is probably the most personal thing that Stevens has released since 2004’s Seven Swans. “When I sleep on your couch, I feel very safe,” he sings in his innocent croon. For most of the album, Stevens writes in the first person, including “Too Much,” which many tasted in the weeks preceding the actual release of Adz. The track falls somewhere between Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips and a less bleak Kid A. And

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similar to Kid A, Adz will likely polarize Stevens’ fan base, many of whom might have expected him to continue his prolific “50 states project”. Despite the blips and computer static that cloud many of the tracks on Adz, Stevens’ artistic voice fortunately still shines through on just about every minute of the album. Adz often overwhelms the listener, but it never loses them. The dub-heavy “I Walked” stands out as one of the albums strongest and most forlorn tracks. Stevens sings, “I am sorry the worst has arrived/for I’m on the floor/ in the room where we made it our last touch of the night.” Never have we heard him this heartbroken or hopeless. Drum machines or not, the track is as encompassing as anything Stevens has written and definitely a candidate for song of the year. The female choir that backs Stevens on “I Walked” in turn lead into the next track, the soft and ominous, “Now That I’m Older.” Here, Stevens’ voice gets lost in echoes and the pseudochanting sounds swelling in and out of the background. As impressive as Stevens’ branching out in new directions is, he is still at his best within the confines of his more familiar spacious indie-pop, as is the case on “Get Real Get Right.” This track is one of the few, if only, that might sound at home on Illinois. When he dials down the electronic fireworks, his finer strokes are apparent. Similarly, on tracks like “Vesuvius,” although the dub influence is very clear, Stevens does not blow the listener over with more electronics than a Daft Punk record like some places on Adz. And just in case anyone was wondering if Stevens had gone atheist, the chorus

loses the banjo in favor of a laptop.” of “Get Real Get Right” reads “get real, get right with the Lord.” That brings us to the album’s last track, “Impossible Soul,” where that kitchen sink I mentioned appears.The twenty-five-minute track could probably be an EP in itself, as it jumps from idea to idea every few minutes, some more successful than others. A quiet, pulsating piano underlies much of the first half of the song, which soon morphs into an electronic rainforest that is hard on the ears. Then comes the auto-tune. Yes, in one of the most unnecessary and puzzling decisions of his career, Sufjan Stevens sings with auto-tune for a good two minutes of this opus. “Impossible Soul” ends as quietly as it started, with a finger-picked guitar outro that echoes the albums first moments.The song is in many ways a microcosm of The Age of Adz as a whole. Though I won’t knock Stevens for opening himself to new influences, I hope that he learns how to pick and chose which of these influences he decides to inject so prominently into his music.

bryant kitching

“ Every

Smoke of My Will STNNNG (Modern Radio)

A new STNNNG album always brings to mind one simple word: “treat.” Everything about the band appeals to the appetite, and not just in a metaphoric sense; every track and riff seems to make its way to your taste buds and eardrums alike. A STNNNG release is like an intensified version of Christmas that doesn’t quite come once a year. Their first two LPs, 2005’s Dignified Sissy and 2006’s Fake Fake, were uninhibited pieces of punk brilliance, but the Minneapolis fivesome kept us waiting over four years this time. Here is where I denounce them for the eternity wait and declare that they’ve sold out, right? Wrong. Smoke of My Will lives up to its predecessors. As for the eternity wait…as guitarist Adam Burt puts it, “I don’t think any of us thought it would take four years, but life happens.” For those unfamiliar with STNNNG, it’s by and large headbanging music. And though their latest effort shows what you might consider signs of maturity and restraint, Smoke of My Will is melodrama at its near-finest. Even on their most vicious numbers, they’ve replaced harsh grinding guitar sounds for more traditional and less-jarring riffs, but they haven’t lost an ounce of passion. And when I say more traditional, I still don’t quite mean traditional, and the sounds are still jarring, if completely expected. The minute-long instrumental “Cluster Dome” sets up the eminent ataxia before newcomer drummer Ben Ivascu breaks the ice and Chris Besinger cries, “You want filth and fury?/Well, fuck the no-shows. I’m here, don’t worry.” It’s the perfect provocative line to welcome us back

to their world, and they pack as much into “The Ugly Show”’s two and a half minutes as possible. The midsong instrumental break features nonsensical, chimp-like screams, and the song’s punishing intensity even seems to affect Besinger himself, as he finishes the song with groans that sound like a dental examination gone wrong. “Howling Man” picks up where “The Ugly Show” left off before the album hits its high point. “Two Sick Friends” desperately tries to break free, but it’s restrained against its will. Burt and Nate Nelson’s reserved guitar call-and-response drives the six-minute track with Besinger starting and occasionally continuing his narrative in low recitative spurts. Never before have STNNNG held back like this for so long, and its faint reminiscence of progressive metal show the band’s ability and willingness to let their sound evolve on its own. Besinger’s anguished voice continues to be STNNNG’s most defining instrument. “I trust this pen/I trust electricity/But I don’t trust myself,” says in the tense and paranoid “In the Hate Field” before screaming, “I wanna write your obituary!” But “New Black Hole” and “Slow Water” prove the whole band still has it, both technically and creatively. And while the first half of the album probably sticks out more, the last five tracks (“New Black Hole”, “Ladies & Gentlemen…We’ve Been Infected”, “Some Raw Girls”, “Slow Water” and “ Tremblin’ Blues”) make up one of the most solid strings of songs this year. Smoke of My Will is the perfect place to start as a new STNNNG fan, but it’s just as relevant for longtime

track and riff seems to make its way to your taste buds and eardrums alike.” fans. I suppose if I had to pick the most accessible of their three albums it would be this one. But STNNNG pay no such attention to things like accessibility, nor would I guess they fret about typical critic terms like “cohesion” and “balance.” But those elements exist in their music nonetheless. What astounds me the most about STNNNG is that they have made three equally great albums in their seven years of existence. What excites me the most is to find out in 2010 that their music is not stagnant, but a living, breathing organism.

james passarelli

reviews

“ It seems

Epic Sharon Von Etten (Ba Da Bing)

When IF talked to Sharon Van Etten back in July, she told us her new album was “kind of the opposite of my last record.” I would like to respectfully disagree. Instruments other than acoustic guitar do play fuller roles on Epic, but it still remains on the same plane as Van Etten’s debut, Because I Was in Love. The difference is that added instrumentation allows the young singer-songwriter more breathing room than the confinements of slow, sullen, softly strummed ballads (confinements, I might add, in which she works quite well). Of course, I won’t nitpick at an artist’s definition of her own music; Van Etten’s second effort is quite different from her first… …Musically, at least. Is the content any more uplifting? “Seduce me with your charms until I’m drunk and then go home and drink in bed and never let myself be in love like that again.” The opening track would have us believe not. It seems Van Etten has yet to release all her frustration, but I’ll be fine as long as she keeps releasing it like this. The first two tracks kick off with the cool ferocity of a late Mountain Goats tune, “A Crime” with steady acoustic strums and “Peace Sign” with a strong bass drum holding together a heavy steel guitar melody. Immediately apparent is Van Etten’s transmutation from delicate songbird to intrepid pop/rock singer; her vocal variance matches her added instrumentation. For the majority of the album, she sings in a lower register than on Because I Was in Love. She layers dominant blue notes over fairly straightforward melodies and nails the deliberate disregard for pitch throughout “A Crime”. Van

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Etten seamlessly (and boldly) adapts her voice to fit the changing textures of her newly backing band. Epic is well balanced and tightly wrapped into seven songs, thirty-two minutes. “For You” was the clear superior on Because I Was in Love, but this record is more egalitarian. Each song gets equal treatment, and the result, of course, is a full, satisfactory experience. Her country roots shine on the pedal steeled “Save Yourself”, in which the fed-up Van Etten asks, “Don’t you think I know you’re only trying to save yourself, just like everyone else?” Spirited tambourines keep the rhythm in the passionate (but, of course, isn’t she always?) “Don’t Do It” and “One Day” and a droning harmonium serves as background on the aptly titled “Dsharpg” and the closing “Love More.” If I had to choose, they are probably the weakest two tracks, but they’re not bad by any means, and “Love More” gives excellent closure. In the middle of an always-jampacked October dominated by giants like Deerhunter and Sufjan Stevens (see this issue for reviews), Van Etten has once again delivered in her own modest way. The album is by no means as grandiose at its title suggests, but that shouldn’t disappoint you. It’s simple, just like her first effort, but still remarkably different. With another stunning release like this, it’s a wonder she remains under the radar. james passarelli

Van Etten has yet to release all her frustration, but I’ll be fine as long as she keeps releasing it like this.”

FILM REVIEWS Let Me In Directed by Matt Reeves (Overture Films)

Let Me In may showcase one of the best vampire story-arcs since Interview with the Vampire, but where that film took the approach of a historical epic Let Me In addresses more personal issues of puppylove, family and childhood bullying. The only problem is that it’s a toofaithful replica of something many vampire fans have already seen, or at least those who dip their toes into the world of international horror. Yes, Let Me In is by all accounts a solid, even moving, vampire film – but it’s also little more than a slightly tweaked reproduction of its antecedent. Let Me In is practically a shotfor-shot remake of the 2008 Swedish film Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In). This original version was one of the most remarkable horror films in recent memory, one that could stand on it’s own dramatic legs as a cynical, yet strangely uplifting, childhood love story. Overture Films and director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) seem to think that if it’s new to a wide American audience then it will be new enough to

work. Amazingly, the transplant takes root, and the Scandinavian angst is successfully translated into smalltown American loneliness. Though Reeves may be coloring-by-numbers here, he does so effortlessly, proving that he was certainly the right young director for the job. Reeves and his crew make some structural changes, and they answer a few more plot questions, but Let Me In and Let the Right One In essentially tell the same story. Owen, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road), is a brutally bullied kid living with his recently divorced Christian mother in a small mountain town in the early 1980s. He is terminally lonely until he meets Abby, Chloe Moretz (Kick Ass), his strange neighbor who lives alone with her father, doesn’t wear shoes in the snow, and cryptically insists that she’s not a girl. You may be able to guess what she is. Her put upon father (the venerable Richard Jenkins) also has the strange hobby of murdering people and draining their blood in the woods. Yet when he botches a few too many of these attempts, Abby’s true nature starts to complicate her relationship with both Owen and the town. This film follows a lot of old vampire conventions: a creepy children’s choir on the soundtrack, lots of ominous sound effects and plenty of slowly reaching for doorknobs (don’t open that door!) moments. Yet never is Abby’s youth (or cuteness) played for laughs. When she’s terrifying she’s terrifying (though distinctly more monstrous than her Swedish counterpart), but more importantly when she’s not thirsting for blood Reeves’ adapted screenplay allows her to be human and sweet, even heartbreaking. Both Moretz and Smit-McPhee deserve a lot of credit here: children carrying such a heavy, ominous film is truly an accomplishment. What I admire about both films is

that they play up the believability and relevancy of vampires; they are kind of an unstoppable social sickness like crime or kids who are cruel to each other. Bullying, and even divorce, is treated on the same plane as bloodsucking. The scariest moments of Let Me In don’t actually involve Abby at all, but her father-helper smuggling himself into his victim’s cars like something out of an urban legend. Seeing the venerable Richard Jenkins, who has played countless father figures over the years (most recently Step Brothers), suddenly leap out and garrote-wire someone is incredibly effective. After all, the serial killer (or vampire helper) on your block is always who you least expect . . . On many levels Let Me In knocked me off my movie-critic high horse. Though I don’t like remakes on principle, I will admit that Reeves made the most out of his new setting, and where he tweaked things he did so cleverly. As we saw in Cloverfield, Reeves is a serviceable technician of suspense. Though he restrains his trademark shaky-cam tendencies, there are some really inventive shots, particularly in Jenkins’ scenes, which make the most out of the film’s violent moments. Here Reeves has adapted a great film into a very good one. Let Me In has all the necessary vampire elements without shying away from addressing the pain of ostracized children and the complications of young love. It’s a welcome dose of Twilight anti-venom, a vampire romance that isn’t afraid to be gruesome, or delve into real thematic complexities. Though the film snob in me still recommends the original, Let Me In is new enough, and beautiful enough, to be one of those rare re-makes that may actually have been worth the effort. It’s certainly worth its ticket price.

Screenshots from Let Me In

quin slovek

reviews

MINUTES OF MUSIC FOR halloween Sometimes it’s fun to look back on past writing. We wrote this particular playlist way back last October, but our inferior publishing software just couldn’t take the heat, and we didn’t get our Halloween issue out until Thanksgiving. Fortunately IF 2.0 doesn’t have those problems. So, we’re proud to present to you this belated Halloween playlist, but we believe it’s just as relevant as it was a year ago. Turn off the lights, set out your luminary bags, find a smashing costume, and join us in celebrating the holiday Max Dennison claims was “invented by the candy companies.” The Misfits

Well Max, we don’t care who invented it or why. But one thing is for sure—there will be a celebration.

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2:34 THE PIXIES – “I Bleed”

Black Francis’s surrealistic lyrics are especially poignant on this track. Its melodic simplicity and dreary motifs furnish a ubiquitously chilling mood that only intensifies as the song progresses. These are not Tinker Bell’s kind of pixies, my friends.

What would a Halloween playlist be without a track from the quintessential horror punk band? We could probably have closed our eyes and picked any Misfits song out of a hat, but “London Dungeon’s” wickedly throbbing bass line is especially unwelcoming.

5:51 THE MARS VOLTA – “The Widow”

4:27 BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – “Nebraska”

As Cedric Bixler-Zavala screeches about “fasting black lungs made of clove splintered shards” over Omar Rodríguez-López’s fantastical guitar and outrageously eerie keyboards, we get the sense these two are up to no good.

There’s something creepy about Bruce Springsteen with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. The fact that the song itself is about a serial killer’s murder rampage across the Midwest doesn’t help either.

A track that pretty much epitomizes the feeling of alienation and isolation present in virtually every Radiohead song. “Jumped in a river, what did I see? Black-eyed angels swam with me.” I don’t know what that means, Thom Yorke, but I’m scared.

2:34 THE MISFITS – “London Dungeon”

8:50 PINK FLOYD – “Careful with that Axe, Eugene (Live)” If you’re not careful, this ghostly jam from Floyd’s Ummagumma will lull you to sleep only to frighten your skin off with its infamous scream.

4:49 RADIOHEAD – “Pyramid Song”

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3:29 WARREN ZEVON – “Werewolves of London”

2:56 BAT FOR LASHES – “What’s a Girl to Do”

murders. Morrissey’s desperate and desolate lyrics create a tone itself as chilling as the title figure’s deeds.

It almost seems too obvious, but the Z Man’s playful piano, Mick Fleetwood’s drums, and John McVie’s bass give us arguably the greatest Halloween party song. “Little old lady got mutilated late last night. Werewolves of London again.”

To my recollection, scary has never been sexier. Natasha Khan’s simultaneously irresistible and eldritch voice competes with repetitive deathly keys for the creepiest element of the song. Want to kick it up a notch? Watch the video (some kind of supervision advised).

5:10 DAVID BOWIE – “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” Next time I’m having trouble deciding on a Halloween costume I’m going to try giving Bowie a call. The man seems to never be short on interesting get ups. Scary Monsters marks The Thin White Duke’s Pierrot stage, and if that outfit isn’t eerie enough, then Bowie’s mock-Cockney accent on the eponymous track has to do the trick.

4:30 CHUCKI I BOOKER AND JOHN KASSIR – “Crypt Jam” In the midst of my Halloween music research, I stumbled upon this gem from the Tales from the Crypt soundtrack. Written and performed by Booker, it features JK, the Crypt Keeper himself, on vocals, serving up lines like “we’ll have skele-tons of fun” and “keep on dancing, just watch the nails, and make sure you don’t step on the cat’s tail” (what?) and answering a number of supposedly rhetorical questions with “cause this is the Crypt Jam.” I’d tell you to buy this song, but God knows where that money would go.

4:55 DJ JAZZY JEFF & THE FRESH PRINCE – “A Nightmare on My Street” If you take Big Willie Style’s early Halloween tale just a little less seriously than I Am Legend, you’re not alone. The Fresh Prince did have so much more appeal when he wasn’t taking himself so seriously. And it’s too bad Aaron Carter felt the need to rip off the whole story/dream thing (or should I say “too good”?).

9:58 PRIMUS (FEAT. TOM WAITS) – “Coattails of a Dead Man” Semi-psychotic musical intellects Les Claypool and Tom Waits were bound to collaborate at some point, and I can’t think of a more appropriate collaboration. Add Waits’ demonic growl and mellotron to Claypool’s penchant for wearing animal masks, and you’ve got yourself the perfect recipe for an atypical 10-minute Halloween anthem.

4:10 MORRISSEY – “Jack the Ripper” This B-side from the Smiths’ innovative vocalist evokes the anonymous man responsible for some of history’s most gruesome and notorious

4:35 DEAD MAN’S BONES – “Lose Your Soul” Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields made this album for the sole purpose of making this list. We have no choice but to recognize their desperateness. 3:42 ROB ZOMBIE – “Dragula” If you feel like scaring the shit out of the neighborhood punks, reenacting the pumpkin smashers from Pete and Pete, or simply lighting a few candles around the house and giving yourself a sandpaper massage, this may be the perfect song for your Halloween endeavors.

5:05 RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS – “Warped” Aptly named, the introductory track on 1994’s One Hot Minute features Kiedis’ echoing vocals, but more importantly, uniquely heavy, psychedelic riffs from the hands of Dave Navarro (who might very well be Satan in human form).

2:25 SCREAMIN’ JAY HAWKINS – “I Put a Spell on You” The “original shock rocker” makes good on his nickname and delivers a powerful performance on a track that’s got Halloween written all over it. And who can forget when Bette Midler reimmortalized it in Hocus Pocus? james passarelli conor berigan ryan waring

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