The simple mission

LCD and PiL

 

This has been out for a few days, but since I was at the shoot I figured I would post the new Doug Aitken-directed video for LCD Soundsystem's "Someone Great". 

 

 

Also, just because, here's the video for PiL's "Rise".

Two Things That Happened Since My Last Post

(Photo Cred)

1. Saw Vampire Weekend at 8PM an at emusic event to promote audiobooks. Now that you know that, you can guess that their set was pretty quick and pretty basic. Nothing more than the dudes playing their songs in front of some people. Of course, that they write great songs helped things. They played a new song tonight that was really pretty. 

2. Went to the Black Lips show at Bowery at 11PM with a heavy head. My mood improved and I got lost in a song or five, just bobbed my head and jammed the fuck out. I gotta say, if there's anything still subversive about white boys playing twangy R&B in 2007, it's that these four bros have the BEST time just being their skinny little degenerate selves. They are a band in that way that to picture them doing normal things just doesn't compute. They are Rock and Roll in the present tense. All the time. At least they were last night for 50 or so minutes. 

Two Weeks Of Tings

Some things that have happened since my last post:

1. I listened to "Houseclouds", the second song on the new Liars record, about fifty times and thought to myself it sounded more ’90s than actual songs from the ’90s. Some real ringer-T rock there, my friends.

2. Watched Rain Man, Unzipped, Stardust Memories and liked them all. Watched the two new episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and was not too impressed. B- work at best. The funniest bits in both episodes revolved around dick jokes, or playing with dicks. We can do better, really. 

3. Kicked it with Knox and heard all about this dope new group he is working with, BLK JCKS.

4. Copped the excellent London Is The Place For Me compilations from a buddy, after I spent months looking for an easy way to buy them online and had zero luck.

5. Put in some major grind time with RCRD LBL. Good stuff!

Battles: One Of The Last Jams Of The Summer

First things last, Battles' show this past Friday was one of my ultimate jam fests of the summer. It's taken me a while to come around to navigating all the pitches and shades of their LP Mirrored, but that's more a personal thing than anything else.

 

What you need to know is that when these cats play a show, it's no joke. Actually, it's more of a robotically-enabled rock and roll concert with real people making real music that happens to be technically astounding.

It's not in a condescending way or anything, but they play for the audience. They want to rock you. And they do. You don't have to know where the sounds come from, you just have to let them hit you. Friday was the first time I've been able to see them play up close and after checking out how much WORK these dudes put in behind the buttons and on the floor (via pedals), it's amazing how the end result of all that tech and prowess is just great sounds.