Words and Photos by Andrew Parks

Okay, so I’m exaggerating. Yes I’ve heard “Kids” and “Time To Pretend” before. Of course I have—those songs were huge singles for a reason. But that’s about it. And not because I’m a prick who refuses to listen to anything that’s popular. I just never got around to hearing MGMT’s breakthrough album, Oracular Spectacular, plain and simple. (MGMT’s Flaming Lips collaboration, the sinister and rather slamming “Worm Mountain,” was one of many highlights on the Lips’ Embryonic LP last year, though.)

Which brings us to why I bought tickets to MGMT’s barely-publicized “Smirking Worm” set on Sunday night—because music critics are supposed to care about these guys. And, well, I needed to know why; I needed to know how one of Glasslands’ fortunate sons (see also: this flyer) became buddies with Paul McCartney and the sworn enemies of Nicolas Sarkozy.

Their stilted stage presence certainly has nothing to do with it, from a backup band that’s barely integrated to the too-cool-to-care demeanor of frontman Andrew VanWyngarden and his hippie dippie bandmate Ben Goldwasser. (Check out the killer bongos on “It’s Working,” brah.) Maybe they’re nervous guys, or maybe they just doesn’t give a damn. I’ll take the latter, Alex—there’s just no way that MGMT’s too nerdy to nail a tiny friends and family show at Mercury Lounge. After all, these guys are able to actually bed models now; not just sing about fucking them. Speaking of MGMT’s cart-before-the-horse autobiography, “Time To Pretend” became truth in advertising last night as the group failed to seize the song by its balls. (It’s got some massive hooks—why not act like it?)

To make matters worse for their fans, MGMT pulled a Radiohead and refused to play “Kids.” Hey, here’s a better idea than giving people what they want: skipping your best song in favor of your weakest jam yet (”Congratulations,” which is about as anti-climatic as the first time I had sex).

Come to think of it, that might be the point here—given their widely-publicized position as the leaders of Wesleyan’s new school, this could be an elaborate Pop Art prank. It’s doubtful, but maybe the baby crying for attention in “Kids” is MGMT themselves, right down to the way they run through every genre known to man in the four schizo minutes of “Flash Delerium.” Which, by the way, has nothing on the directionless nonsense of “Siberian Breaks,” a track that lacks the tension and release that’s needed to keep a cut going for 10 minutes straight. Seriously…the thing just drifts along until VanWyngarden starts whining about wishing he’d die before he got “sold.”

So there you have it—another self-aware MGMT song about being famous, only they feel guilty about it this time. I think. VanWyngarden refuses to speak up while singing, so he could be talking about anything, really. And, well, as you’ll see in the video clip someone captured last night, it might be time for Columbia to pretend to care about the buzz band they’ve staked their third quarter earnings on. Because if it’s anything like the live renditions from last night, someone’s gonna get fired over this album, a typical we-don’t-give-a-fuck foray into pretentious pap. Except for “Brian Eno.” That track’s worthy of its title because it reminds us why MGMT got popular in the first place—because they’re supposed to be fun.

The Song In a Couple Sentences: When Jack White was asked about the Gun Club’s influence back in the day, the White Stripes frontman simply said, “Why are these songs not taught in schools?” A fair question, especially since it took a couple of techno icons to drop one of their classics (”Sex Beat”) in our lap. This faithful/frantic cover is the perfect bridge between Andrew Weatherall’s dance tracks and his rough & tumble solo work. Definitely a must-listen before you head out the door on a Friday night.

See Also: Two Lone Swordsmen, From the Double Gone Chapel (Warp, 2004)

Two Needle Exchange posts in one day? Sorry but we couldn’t resist. Not when Das Racist delivered the following in one killer 62-minute mix: Best Coast, E-40, Class Actress, Hell Rell, and…”Funk Dat.” Yep. Someone’s not fucking around.

Here it is, then—a surefire start to the weekend, delivered with really random drops and a priceless track-by-track commentary. No disrespect to any of our previous N.E. contributors, but this has got to be the most schizo set yet. And the closest you’ll ever get to understand Das Racist’s creative process.

1. Best Coast, “Over the Ocean”
We really, really like Best Coast. Hope to catch a set at SXSW. I’d like it even if it had nothing to do with airplanes—those magical machines and transporters of immigros. This song’s so…pretty. And I too like window seats.

2. Hell Rell f/ J.R. Writer, “Hell Yeah”
Who doesn’t miss Dipset? Hell Rell is a scary guy and J.R. Writer is a good rapper. It works well together. And J.R. feels especially like vintage J.R. on this joint. “They don’t know you in the heights”…the way he says “get ya guns” at the end of his verse is bonk too. Also, repeating the hook makes the song kind of a depressing banger.

3. Juiceboxxx, “Never Surrender Forever”
Big fans of this song. We’re thinking about getting NEVER SURRENDER FOREVER tattoos.

4. Aqueduct, “Hardcore Days and Softcore Nights”
I heard this song in a Buick commercial 5 years ago. Drums go hard. I like when he talks about firearms, too. I want to make a song just like this.

5. Class Actress, “Careful What You Say”
Elizabeth’s a friend of ours, but that’s only enough to get you to listen to somebody’s music one time. We’ve listened to this song like 200-times-1 times.

6. MGMT, “Hot Love Drama”
Wesleyan. Thanks financial aid! Think Ben and Andrew made this in like 2002? I awno. I still dig it. When i sing it, I change the words to HOT THUG DRAMA though.

7. The Dogs, “Crack Rock”
This little Miami bass chestnut was Disco Rick’s first single.

8. Suga Free, “My Dice”
This flamboyant Los Angeles pimp joint uses elements of musique concrete.

9. E-40, “Sprinkle Me”
This is some Bay shit if you didn’t know.

10. Safe, “Carefully Desperate”
This is more bay shit in case nobody told you. Chris [Edley] has a nice voice. and I love well-intentioned choreographers. Safe’s debut record is out now on cassette, with mp3s and VHS coming soon. He’s part of our Greedhead family.

11. Ju’C, “Eat the Cat”
This little New Orleans bounce number has a good message.

12. First Rate People, “Girl’s Night”
This song makes me feel like very few seconds of a John Hughes film can make me feel. Not the parts with Long Duk Dong, obviously. Those were racist.

13. Museum De Bellas Artes, “Who Do You Love”
This song made me feel guilty about dancing with one girl, but flirting with another. Never again. I’m a changed man. (Look at the range man.)

14. oOoOO, “Nosummr4u”
This song’s a cover of an ’80s club dance song that Larry Levan used to play at the Paradise Garage. I think that song’s called “Summertime, Summertime.” It’s pretty good, too. This sounds like they ran it through a WINTER machine, though. Who would want a WINTER machine? Who wouldn’t want a WINTER machine.

15. Rappin’ 4-Tay, “Back Again”
This is even more Bay shit, if you didn’t know.

16. Sagat, “Funk Dat”
“Question: Why is it that every time I turn on the radio, I hear the same five songs, 15 times a day, for three months?” Sagat’s just salty because he never has to worry about being one of those songs again. Ever. Sometimes when he yells, “Get a job!”, I imagine he’s yelling at future Sagat.

17. Summer Camp, “Ghost Train”
There’s something amateurish about this song that’s very endearing. Something very P.S. 22 about it.

Lushlife

Now here’s something we didn’t expect to see in our mailbox this week: a backpack rap spin on Washed Out’s steam-pressed “Feel It All Around” single. A quick background check puts Lushlife’s bootleg mix in perspective—he sampled Ariel Pink, Kanye West style, on “In Soft Focus” last year—and you know what? It’s worth a spin, as the Philly-based MC treats the track like a poetry slam session—name-dropping Sandanista! and letting Ernest Greene’s pillowy chorus fill in the gaps like a pack of cumulus clouds.

Lushlife is opening Favorite Gentleman’s SXSW showcase next Thursday. Check out a flyer for that after the jump, along with all of the above tracks and Washed Out’s original version. 

Okay, so the concept’s a little Hallmark-y. In a burst of creativity inspired by his wife Devyn, Ernest Gonzales wrote a restless instrumental record that’s paired—in typical Friends of Friends fashion—with an art book and bonus collection of remixes from Daedelus, Faunts and 14 others. An extensive site about the Been Meaning To Tell You project is here. It includes free art, remix loops and music—a genre-less blend of candy-colored chords, rubber-soled basslines and snappy beats.

To take Gonzales’ love letter concept even further, we asked him to hand over a Devyn-derived mixtape (title: Memories as Units of Measurement) that we could give to our girlfriends and pass off as ours. Yep—we’re a bunch of sneaky bastards. 

1. AIR – How Does it Make You Feel
AIR is high up on both of our lists. I’ve always associated with the whispering robot voice of this song. Robots aren’t supposed to have feelings but the music swells so much throughout this track it’s impossible for the robot not to feel something.

2. CocoRosie – By Your Side
Could quite possibly be one of the cutest songs of all time and one of her absolutely favorite songs of all time.

3. Ernest Gonzales – Drifting Away
A personal favorite of mine from my album Lullaby. I made this album when I found out we were going to have a baby.

4. Grizzly Bear – Slow Life
Devyn’s a huge fan of Twilight. New Moon came out on our anniversary and we drunkenly went to go see the premiere at 3 a.m. Her favorite character is Jasper.

5. Bob Dylan – She Belongs to Me
Dylan and her are both poets and chameleons. One of her main sources of inspiration.

6. Phoenix – If I Ever Feel Better
I hope you know you’re stuck with me.

7. Chipset Rockwell – 50 Ways
Probably one of her favorite songs I DJ. I can see her dancing with her eyes closed to this song.

8. King Harvest – Dancing in the Moonlight
A good song for us to slow dance to.

9. The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
I think in our own world we imagine this song was written specifically for us. When I first gave her Give Up, she had it playing everyday for months straight.

10. Josh Martinez – BC Trees
We met at a poetry slam. She delved into the world of poetry slams because of Josh Martinez’s rhymes.

11. Nobody – This Will Be Our Year
I put this song on the first mixtape I ever made her

12. Micky Avalon – Jane Fonda
I know I can make her feel like a rock star if I included this track on the mix.

13. Animal Collective – Daily Routine (Phaseone Remix)
A good band for both of us to space out to and forget everything else.

The Details: Zelienople, Give It Up (Type, 2009)

A Quick Review: A fog of war approach to folk music—almost suffocatingly so, as if the entire band just swallowed a fist full of horse tranquilizers. Perfect for rainy days and manic depressives.

[Photo by Noel Javier]

Recording Under the Influence is a recurring self-titled feature where we ask artists to ignore their musical inspirations for a minute and share what really went into the making of a particular record. Eluvium’s always been one of our favorite ambient artists, so we were as surprised as anyone to hear Matthew Cooper actually sing on his new Similes album. Well, sing his way. Meaning: barely-there melodies, swept up in the currents of Coopers minor-keyed soundscapes like any other instrument. 

Books
Reading is a giant influence on my creative process—not just from an emotional standpoint, but also when the time comes for titles and a better understanding of what I was exactly up to when creating an album. I don’t know if I’ve ever taken direct influences from characters or story lines in literature so much as simply found inspiration in lines of text.

Although I have a rather dangerous book purchasing habit, I tend to read quite slowly. Every time I come across a good passage, it seems that everything slips away, and I soon realize I’ve been staring into space for a while. It is in these moments that variations on the words I’ve read create and recreate themselves…or themes will begin to crop up. Usually my end thoughts are nowhere near what originally inspired them. Nonetheless, I would not be there without the written word.

—

Nature
Nature expresses itself in so many ways. I am completely and utterly confounded by its beauty, from the oddity of humans to the vastness of the universe and beyond—the forms and functions of an ever-evolving world. I don’t see this wellspring drying up anytime soon.

—

Memory
Memories often help me create. Not so much a specific memory of something sad or happy or weird or beautiful; more the concept of memory itself, and our ability to retain and warp images, and all of the feelings that can come from this. Memories, like thinking about the future, can sometimes be a nice blanket. Or perhaps like staring out a window—your mind scattered into random events and pictures.

—

My Wife
My wife, artist Jeannie Paske, has been a giant influence since the day we met. I have known her since before Eluvium officially existed. She has believed in me without reserve, and has always helped me follow my instincts. I cannot imagine where I would be without her—not to mention her original style and massive creative work in the art world. Having her painting in the house has helped fill my life with positive energy and the fuel to continue creating.

[Photo by Indra Dunis]

As much as we dug the dirt-encrusted mood music of Zola Jesus‘ breakthrough LP, The Spoils (Sacred Bones, 2009), Nika Roza Danilova’s new EP is something else—a flirtation with full-on pop songs, buoyed by dark ambient samples and skeletal beats that sound like they’re knocking your door down rather than being reduced to dust. (In many ways, Danilova’s early songs mirror the brash but brutal bedroom productions on Cold Cave’s Cremations compilation. And her music is changing for the better just as quickly.)

If you ask Sacred Bones, Stridulum is a “siren song for the apocalypse.” Which sounds about right. It’s also a record that isn’t afraid to address relationships with rather literal lyrics like, “It’s not easy/To fall in love/But if you’re lucky/You just might find someone.” As tired as those lines may look on paper, they sound gorgeous in the context of a Zola Jesus song, mostly because Danilova’s classically-trained voice—she’s just 20 years old, but already sounds ready to clobber concert halls—cuts right through her minimal compositions. Mark our words: this girl will be one of the breakthrough acts of SXSW next week, and one of 2011’s most anticipated albums. Hell, we’re already counting down the days.

Since Stridulum’s record sleeve is just as striking as the music within, we asked Danilova to explain just what’s dripping down her face. Turns out it’s not an oil spill after all…

The cover for Stridulum was inspired by a scene from one of my favorite films (Dušan Makavejev’s Sweet Movie, from 1974), as well as my love for chocolate. The scene is of a model in a bath of chocolate—swimming it in, spreading it all over herself…having an all-around pretty sensual time with the chocolate.

The shoot was done in my bandmate’s bathroom. It was shot by my good friend Indra Dunis, who shot the cover for my last LP, The Spoils. It was incredibly satisfying to feel chocolate syrup run down my entire body, but at the same time, it was seriously terrifying. What you don’t realize is how quick the syrup closes in on all of your orifices and refuses to let you breathe, talk, hear, open your eyes…it becomes like a chocolate membrane closing you in. — Nika Roza Danilova

[Photo by Matt Jacoby]

By Arye Dworken

As we quickly discover over fish tacos and bowls of bibimbap at Dokebi in Brooklyn, Chris Chu is an “old soul” right down to the way the Morning Benders frontman name-checks Phil Spector, Alex Chilton, Brian WIlson and the Beatles as his main influences. In one of our more revealing Free Association segments, Chu spent nearly two hours sharing the back stories of Big Echo—an album that actually sounds like one. Here’s the long and the short of it, along with the entire record in streaming form.

“Excuses”
The last record was a personal one, and all about projecting. It basically said, “This was my experience and here it is.” Eventually, I got turned off by that kind of songwriting. It felt too much like a diary. Songwriting works more when you have something bigger in mind—something everyone can related to.

So, after writing the songs on the last album, which were relationship songs, this was my attempt to write a song about love and relationships, not in a singular sense, but about love in all its incarnations. The first stanza is about having a physical relationship and feeling love, whether it’s through sex or just a kiss. The second stanza is about having a substantial relationship, finding someone you want to be with seriously. The last stanza is about an 80-year-old couple and companionship and about compromise. I was thinking about all the stages of love, and the chorus is the bridge explaining the hesitance into moving on to the next stage.

—

“Promises”
This is another single. Most people would say don’t put two singles next to each other in the beginning, but we did that. [Laughs] We wanted to start the album in a way that it would convince people to get comfortable and give them a reason to invest in Big Echo and absorb it. This companion piece to “Excuses” changed significantly in the recording process. To give the song that groove—more rhythmic and more riffy than anything we’d ever done before—was something we really wanted to try, to see if we could do it. And we did.

—

“Wet Cement”
Sonically, “Wet Cement” felt like a subdued song even when I was writing it. We wanted to make it a dream pop song but give it some elements that would never be heard in that genre, like some reggae elements.

Sometimes with a song, when I write it, it needs to capture a certain mood that I’m feeling. And with this one, I knew I had to keep it mellow. Yeah, I don’t seem like a fragile and melancholic guy, but I have my moments when I want to reflect that mood. “Wet Cement” came from thinking about waking up ten years from now and realizing you have a family and life has flown by. I guess I’ve started to feel older and I don’t regret anything necessarily, but I’m also feeling swept up in commitments and, you know, for me, life really does move quicker now. That notion of “wet cement,” when it’s still wet…before it dries, you should take a moment to see what’s around you. I’m in a serious relationship and we don’t have any friends who have a serious relationship like ours so what does that mean to be this young and be in something which isn’t all that common? One day, I’m hoping to have children and regardless of whether I’m prepared or not, I promise to take care of them. That’s the thought in the chorus. The first line is “we met one day in the wet cement…” And those decisions you made back then, those are the ones that remain for a very long time.

—

“Cold War (Nice Clean Fight)”
It’s a song against confrontation. It’s telling people to cool down, get some clarity before you say things you regret or throw fists. It’s actually the song on the album that addresses breaking-up in the most direct way. I’ve seen so many couple break up over minutiae that it seems ridiculous in retrospect.

This is also the poppiest song on the album and we ended it early intentionally (at the 1:44 mark) because that’s what would surprise people. It’s not to be a contrarian, which people will definitely assume. So many of my favorite songs are moments I love that I wanted to play again and again. I wanted people to play “Cold War” over and over again to re-experience it. The label mentioned that it was too short and suggested that we make it longer but I said, it is what it is. I understand that people want more and want to be gratified, and it may not work as a pop song on the radio but it does work well on the record overall. Looking it over as a piece, I’m happy we ended it where we did.

—

“Pleasure Sighs”
The song is about getting back to enjoying life in its purest form. Social lubricants are fine—I’m not looking down at them, but if you’re living with it for so long, you can get tired of the drinking and partying. The chorus goes, “What has become of the simple loves that came to me once so naturally?” The older we get, the more we move away from the pure point of fulfillment and enjoyment. I’m seeing that now.

It’s the noisiest song on the album, which conveys a tension release of sorts. There’s a long drawn-out delay at the end of it and that’s the expression. Not partaking in what’s going on around you is weird sometimes when everyone around you…that’s their night out. They want to have a good time and party and drink. But what if it’s your life every night? It gets tiring.

—

“Hand Me Downs”
Sequencing was very important to me and “Hand Me Downs” was an important song to follow “Pleasure Sighs.” This one is hard to put into words, though. Sometimes songs happen very spontaneously and this one came pretty quickly. But when I’m asked about lyrics…it’s impulsive. The sounds of the words, the phrasing is just as important as the meaning of the words.

Thinking about it now, the notion of hand-me-downs is very interesting to me. I’m an older sibling, in both family structure, and in character. Thinking about what I can hand down is something I wonder about. What can I offer to younger siblings and what wisdom have I acquired from over the years? The end of the song, when all the different vocal parts are thrown together in reverse, that’s the culmination. I get excited about this song more than most of the others, and it feels great playing it live. We’ll only be playing songs from the new album during this tour…because this family of songs need to be played together, as disappointing as that may be to fans.

—

“Mason Jar”
I tried picturing the different paths of my life and how things could turn out. Some people become so jaded, miserly, and alone when they get older. What would I be like if I became that person, and how would I feel? I was trying to adopt that psyche in which I became someone who refused to give charity, or share. How much control do we have over what we will become? And how can we be sure that we’ll be a nice guy and not an asshole?

I think I started thinking more seriously about life when I was isolated at home. I generally hibernate when I’m done with the tour. I want to be alone with my girlfriend, take walks into the hills, hike…Touring is unnatural. You’re not cooking and eating good food. I cook every day and I find that meditative—you can’t do that on tour. The isolation definitely gets in the way of my social life because people call me to go out and I feel like, “Man, I just want to stay home.”

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“All Day Daylight”
This song was influenced by certain groove-based bands like the Talking Heads. They didn’t need so many chord changes to make you feel like there was motion. So we tried doing that in the way that “All Day Daylight” has an arc to it with subtle changes. By the time the song ends, it feels so much bigger and at the breaking point—that’s when you end the song.

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“Stitches”
This was one of the first songs I wrote for the album. Again, I had an idea for the song and it works really well in that specific place on the record because it starts really soft. You would think that this is the last song of the album because it sounds conclusive. But it’s also fragile and fucked-up, because, well, there aren’t many lyrics in it. But the idea of the song is how far and to what length we go to try and conceptualize things, trying to find the perfect words. And when we do finally get to the right phrasing, we often hurt people more because of all that time we spent trying to figure things out instead of just connecting. It’s about feeling more than verbalizing.

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“Sleeping In”
I always thought that “Sleeping In” is the epilogue. Like in reality, “Stitches” always felt like the last song but this is the track that finally sums up for me the feeling of Big Echo. This one is striking in the way that it’s so sleepy sounding in comparison to the rest of the record. It was important to ease people out of the record just as it was to ease them into it.

A lot of people talk about [Grizzly Bear's] Chris Taylor being involved in the record and he brought a great sensibility. I was super happy with what he added to Big Echo. He brings this feeling of nostalgia and vintage that I really dig because of its warmth. I am surprised that people are comparing us to Grizzly Bear as a result. I didn’t really foresee that. I feel like [Grizzly Bear] is coming from this jazz place and I haven’t even explored that. I’m coming from a pure pop place. I guess the way that we’re the same is that we’re also asking people to come back to the record multiple times and spend time with it in the way that it rewards you each time you listen. When people call the record a grower, though, I feel like it doesn’t bode well for us. There’s so much music coming through these days that I hope we’re instant enough for people to get it. I think our intention with the tracklisting was to pull the listener in and keep them around. When we made this record, I did really keep the listener in mind and I hope they can hear that.

Photos by Turkishomework

Each week we send Turkishomework out to capture a sliver of our city’s blurred-vision nightlife. She nearly lost herself last Friday, though, as two hometown coldwave heroes—Xeno & Oaklander and Led Er Est—served up heat-seeking synth lines and moonlit melodies at Cameo Gallery in Brooklyn. We’ll have an exclusive Needle Exchange mix from their Wierd Records label boss later this month…