1MM: King Khan and the Shrines @ South Street Seaport, 6.27.08
Posted on June 28, 2008
Filed Under 1MM, Media | 1 Comment
Photos by Aaron Richter
As pulse-quickening as it was to see A Place to Bury Strangers in broad moonlight at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport on Friday, self-titled was especially psyched about the stateside debut of King Khan and the Shrines. Touring fresh off the release of a catalog-skimming Vice compilation, the BBQ-free band tore through a set that sounded like a Nuggets-schooled death match between the Black Lips and the Dap-Kings.
We managed to snag the following shots in between many an awkward dance move …
BUY IT, BURN IT, SKIP IT: Hercules and Love Affair, Sigur Rós, The Watson Twins
Posted on June 26, 2008
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HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIR: Where Antony at?
By Aaron Richter
As we all know by now, new releases hit record-store shelves and digital-download services each Tuesday. That’s why self-titled presents the following every week: a new release you’d be stupid not to own (Buy It), one worth checking out if you’re the curious type (Burn It) and something you might have heard about but probably should avoid (Skip It). Simple, ain’t it?
This week’s edition is short & sweet …
1MM: Ladytron @ Terminal 5, 6.25.08
Posted on June 25, 2008
Filed Under 1MM, Media | 1 Comment
Photos by Andrew Parks
Still think Ladytron’s ‘just another electro-clash act’, a survivor of a subgenre that barely made it past its infancy stage?
Here are four reasons you’re wrong …
“Destroy Everything You Touch”
“Evil”
“Ghosts”
“Runaway”
More evidence is available after the jump …
NEW YORK CONVERSATION: Coldplay/Harvey Milk/A Storm of Light, 6.23.08
Posted on June 25, 2008
Filed Under Reviews | 2 Comments
COLDPLAY: A view from the crowd
Every week, self-titled scours the streets of New York looking for a good time. This week features the oddest juxtaposition of all time: Coldplay, who needs no introduction, and Harvey Milk, a.k.a. the lost boys of Georgia’s college rock scene …
AIM Chat with Aaron Richter, Tedder.
8:32 PM
Aaron Richter: Please join me in this chat.
Aaron Richter: so i have one request: that the headline for this chat say something about menage a trois
Tedder: No, it has to be like that R. Kelly song “Three-Way Phone Call.”
Aaron Richter: is he talking to usher in that song?
Andrew Parks: enough r kelly references…lets get onto coldplay
Aaron Richter: if you’re r. kelly and I’m usher then I think andrew is the 13 year old in your closet
Andrew Parks: anyway, harvey milk was the sludgiest thing ive ever witnessed
Aaron Richter: was it at europa?
Andrew Parks: great. glad i get to be the underaged one
Andrew Parks: yeah
Tedder: Which you think will be about something nasty, because, you know, it’s by R., but it’s actually, like, two women praying with him.
Aaron Richter: aka whatever it used to be called
Andrew Parks: not a bad place
Andrew Parks: odd
Andrew Parks: but not bad
Andrew Parks: another polish disco situation
Aaron Richter: right
THE REAL THING: Meet the Singers That Move Made Out of Babies’ Julie Christmas
Posted on June 24, 2008
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Julie Christmas, on performing: “Once it starts, I’m off, you know?”
By Andrew Parks
When Made Out of Babies‘ new label, The End, first sent a press release about the band’s third LP (The Ruiner, out today) singer Julie Christmas was positioned as a steel-throated bastard child of PJ Harvey, Karen O and David … Fucking … Yow. Each reference point was fair, but to simply draw a comparison between the Brooklyn native and, say, a former NYU student who became a rock star by showering herself in beer and howling “I’ve been screwing on the tracks of abandoned train stations” is to sell the singer a tad short.
You see, Christmas is the kind of split-personality force that makes you stop and stare as if a train wreck were happening onstage. As she recently explained to Decibel, “I don’t know if I get nervous before a show so much as find it hard to go out because I realize things are about to get rough. Once it starts, I’m off, you know? There’s never been a show where I didn’t feel fully in it, no matter how sick I feel.” (MOoB plays Union Pool tonight and a Myopenbar.com party tomorrow.)
The rest of the band is usually off to the races as well, from a bass-slinging Cooper—a recovering hardcore kid who once hit Christmas in the face by accident—to the pedal-stomping guitarobatics of Brendan Tobin (also an honorary member of Red Sparowes). It helps that Christmas can truly carry a tune, from the soaring melodic passages of “Invisible Ink” to the throat-shredding climax of “Cooker.” In fact, self-titled considers her one of the most versatile, underappreciated vocalists in today’s underground scene, whether we’re talking metal or straight-up indie rock.
“I’ve listened to the staples over and over until I could hear their every breath,” explains Christmas. “Some of the best singers don’t know anything about technique, though. They’re good because they’re doing it wrong.” Singers like Tom Waits, one of five key influences that Christmas shares after the jump in an exclusive self-titled essay.
DANCE OFF: Santos Party House vs. Webster Hall, Featuring Free Blood, Crookers and More
Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under Reviews | 6 Comments
FREE BLOOD: VHS or beta style
With so many parties vying for your precious time (and dwindling budget) this summer, self-titled is determined to find out who’s ruling the night these days. That way you can make a more educated decision the next time an evening calls for dancing with someone other than yourself.
And this past weekend’s contenders were …
CLASS ACT: My Brightest Diamonds’ Five Steps to the Perfect Song
Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under Class Act, Features | 1 Comment
My Brightest Diamond, on the guitar: “[It's] like someone you’ve been married to for 35 years, and it’s still a great relationship, but the sex isn’t quite the same.”
Story by Courtney Balestier
Photos by Matt Wignal
With her slight frame, sweet voice and luminous eyes, Shara Worden—the main creative force behind My Brightest Diamond—looks the part of the playful sprite she embodies in MBD’s ethereal, seemingly effortless songs. Funny, then, that Worden had a hell of a time learning how to write a proper song. Yes, it helps that she’s classically trained (see a degree in opera studies from the University of North Texas), but the singer/arranger insists songwriting is not an academic exercise.
Ah, but what is it then?
FINAL EDITS: KUDU Review the Remixes of Drop the Lime, Sinden and More
Posted on June 20, 2008
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Commentary by Sylvia Gordon
Ever wonder what an artist really thinks of a remix once it’s turned in? We certainly have. That’s why self-titled sometimes asks our favorite acts a simple question: did another producer’s ‘vision’ ruin or rediscover your original track?
Up this week: KUDU, who recently released Back For More: A Remix Collection on the record label branch of our favorite Alphabet City club, Nublu.
LONG PLAYER OF THE DAY: Tim Hecker, Harmony In Ultraviolet
Posted on June 20, 2008
Filed Under Long Player of the Day, Reviews | 1 Comment
There’s a point in π where the main character—a shell of a man named Maximillian Cohen—says, “When I was a little kid, my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was 6, I did. The doctors didn’t know if my eyes would ever heal. I was terrified, alone in that darkness, but slowly daylight crept in through the bandages and I could see … and something had changed inside me.”
Needless to say, Cohen’s monologue is both intriguing and creepy, a fitting metaphor for the sun-gazing music of Tim Hecker. While self-titled owns all of Hecker’s sound sculptures (including Atlas, his recent 10-inch stunner for Audraglint), we listen to his 2006 LP, Harmony in Ultraviolet, the most for some reason. Maybe it’s the sweeping orchestral sections of “Rainbow Blood,” the kaleidoscopic crawl of “Chimeras,” or the way “Whitecaps of White Noise” lumbers along like Sunn O))) at some points. (Hecker’s remixed and performed alongside Isis before, so the extreme music connection isn’t a coincidence so much as one of his primary influences.)
ARE YOU DEAD OR ARE YOU SLEEPING?: Modest Mouse @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 6.20.08
Posted on June 20, 2008
Filed Under Reviews | 3 Comments
[L to R: bassist Eric Judy, frontman Isaac Brock]
Photos/Text by Andrew Parks
(now UPDATED with a clear, relatively rested head)
Wow, it’s really 4:26 a.m. on Friday morning, and I’m not up because of an all-nighter or any unfortunate combination of drinking and drugging; I’m up because Modest Mouse decided to do a 1:30 a.m. show after their gig supporting R.E.M. at Madison Square Garden. They didn’t come up with this idea months ago, either. They came up with it yesterday morning, leading more than 600 fans to frantically hit refresh on Ticketmaster.com in hopes of scoring a spot to the intimate, albeit impractical show.
Impractical how, you ask? Well, for starters, there was the issue of herding more than 600 fans into a venue that’d held a show just hours earlier (Shearwater and Frog Eyes to be exact), leaving two security guards dumbfounded and unable to reopen doors until around 1:15. In other words, this was probably the first time I’ve ever seen a Music Hall-sized venue sell out and spill into the streets like the place had just been clear by a fire alarm. (Aside from the winding and notably sluggish will call/guest list line, there was a second wait to get in that snaked all the way to the corner and around Kent St.)
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