Fujiya & Miyagi - Lightbulbs

Artist: Fujiya & Miyagi
Album: Lightbulbs
Label: Deaf, Dumb & Blind

Albums often have that one element, that one instrument, that one voice, or that one lyric that turns you off from the album as a whole. This can be good—a helpful way to sort the millet from the straw—but it can also make you overlook (overlisten?) an album that is putting forward music meant to be enjoyed in a different way. On Lightbulbs, it is definitely the lyrics that, at first listen, annoy. Banal, at time nonsensical, and always prominent, the lyrics of Fujiya & Miyagi seem difficult to overcome. The music, though, is worth the effort, and it is surprisingly easy to relax and (!) begin to enjoy them once you accept the following fact: The lyrics are equally decorative and meaningful and don’t tell a coherent story or give a complete portrait as much as they add to the percussive and playful tone.

Fujiya & Miyagi – “Knickerbocker”

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“Vanilla, strawberry, knickerbocker glory . . . I saw the ghost of Lena Zavorati.” Don’t think about. Just let it happen. If you want to let images of flavors, underwear, ghosts, or Scottish pop singers bubble up, go ahead, but don’t try to string them together. Instead, enjoy the steady beat, the merging and prancing tones, and the general orchestration that is so simple and clean but also very fun and human.

Fujiya & Miyagi – “Hundreds & Thousands”

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I know: I dedicated the first paragraph to describing how the lyrics are great, and now I’m talking about the only instrumental track as one of my favorites. Deal. This makes me happy the way Stereolab makes me happy; though it is much more streamlined and precise, it has that chugging, well-orchestrated atmosphere that gets me every time.

If you are picturing two Japanese dudes rapping all Gertrude Stein over these beats, think again. The British Steve Lewis (Fujiya) and David Best (Miyagi) formed the band in 2000 and later added Matt Hainsby (Ampersand) in 2005 and Lee Adams (yet unnamed) this year. According to their wikipedia entry, a common love for krautrock and heavyweight wrestling unites the members to one another.

Check out their myspace and buy their album!

Technorati Tags: Fujiya & Miyagi, Stereolab, Gertrude Stein, Krautrock

Populous (with Short Stories) - Drawn in Basic

Artist: Populous (with Short Stories)
Album: Drawn in Basic
Label: Morr Music

With so much old cosmic disco being reissued in the last couple of years, it is easy to forget that Italy does have an active scene of musicians making some great music (you know, now). Though Populous (Andrea Mangia) does resonate with the electronic vibe inherited from Italy’s disco past, it is his ability to fold shoegaze hums and delicate vocals into the buzzing foam that makes this album worth a listen.
It is difficult to draw comparisons with other artists; even though the blending of pop song structures with layered, atmospheric electronic noise is similar to artists like Frou Frou and Zero 7, he does not have the elfin female vocals, intense hooks, and formulae that makes those bands so palatable to the commercial ear. These songs are shaken a little loose, allowed to buzz a little longer, and roughened enough to make the sounds more than just soundtrack fodder.

Populous – “Days”

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This may be just a short instrumental track, but it has an attraction and warmth that makes it immediately awesome. I return often to the forty-five-second mark of the track at the moment when the pulsing sounds flow into that vibrating, deep wave. Quite nice—though too short.

Populous – “Only Hope”

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This is a good example of the rest of the album: simple beeps and chimes hop under buzzing synth, guitars, and vocals that at times blend into one another.

Check out the label’s site, look through the band’s myspace page, and buy the album!

Technorati Tags: Frou Frou, Zero 7, Populous

Stereolab - Chemical Chords

Artist: Stereolab
Album: Chemical Chords
Label: 4AD

The best description of Stereolab that I ever heard came out of a Rock Hound music guide I owned in middle school. “Stereolab somehow makes songs that work, out of sounds that don’t” (very loose quotation, as I have lost that guide for many years). And this is how I have often approached them. I wonder, though, if my idea of them should shift. In recent albums the orchestration is tidier, the instruments are more organic (horns abound in Margerine Eclipse, strings draping in each corner of this album), track lengths are shorter, and the lyrics are fuller. In some ways this is good: song structures more in line with pop music (which I’m a sucker for), a fuller range of sounds that makes these songs really engaging to the ear, and soft lyrics that shift with each moment. For these reasons, I really enjoy this album. Another part of me misses the long, droning, otherworldly, beeping, repetitive, and often overwhelming songs from their classic albums. I realize there will never be another Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements, and that makes me sad.

So how can I decide if this album is a hit? The Stereolab litmus: It must have been in 2000 when I first went to their show in a small club in Tempe, Arizona. I was in the front row, and they performed songs that I would play on-repeat for years to come (“John Cage Bubblegum” will always make me think of that night). It is the tempo I remember most, and what makes me most excited about Stereolab. Somehow the tempo shifts when they play. A steady, droning songs picks up, and the song doesn’t fall apart, and my heart beats faster. Then the song picks up, and the song doesn’t fall apart, and my heart beats faster. Then the song picks up, and the song doesn’t fall apart, and my heart beats faster. And suddenly the song is spinning around, and I don’t care that it is now fifteen minutes long (I was not on anything, by the way, so just chill). Can I imagine this fervor on their new album? Yes. The songs are shorter and steadier—it’s true—but my heart still beats faster, and for this reason, I think this album works. I have been waiting for this album for a while, and I am satisfied. Yay.

Stereolab – Valley Hi!

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This song has that special ability to engage different emotional aspects at the same time. Consider the first few moments. The solid, deep beat behind makes a very cool beginning and provides encouraging strength and bounce. The prominent high guitar picking is sad and sweet. The softer keys in the background are constant and steady and follow the calming quality of Laeticia Sadier’s voice. Though song is short and quickly swerves from this moment into something different, the song as a whole maintains this ability to suspend many tones.

Stereolab – Nous Vous Demandons Pardon

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One reason I love Stereolab is their way of building songs. Play this song and count out sixteen steady beats, and then start over. Each time your start over a new element is added until the song is in full motion. It is like they give you an overture of the sounds before beginning.

For more information, check out the band’s site or their myspace. And buy this album.

Technorati Tags: Stereolab, Chemical Chords

Lucky Dragons - Dream Island Laughing Language

Artist: Lucky Dragons
Album: Dream Island Laughing Language
Label: Marriage Records

Believe me: Normally I avoid anything labeled experimental, free, discordant, noise, or avant-garde (I know, I know, I know: bad habit). I don’t have the patience, and often I don’t have the eardrum strength. This album, however, has overcome that bias. True, there are moments of aimless experiments in sound, but for the most part this album is meant to give pleasure. And I think it is a good strategy to include more accessible songs; I end up listening to the rest with more attention, and I even return to sections I would normally overlook. Take a listen

Lucky Dragons – “Givers”

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Yes, yes, the layered vocals clips are really well arranged, and the growing volume and complexity gives this song the dynamism that many more experimental songs can’t muster. Really, though, it is that one snare drum beat that makes this song good to me. Just that one simple snap about forty-five seconds into this song sells it. It seems I always listen with a pop-music ear.

Lucky Dragons – “I Keep Waiting for Earthquakes”

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I have a difficult connection to this song. I really love that curtain of noise they create with all those curtailed tones, but the vocals I can’t get into. So lifeless, especially the dude’s, and out of touch with the other sounds that are so strong. Also the recorders. At that moment I am done.

I use two visual modes to approach this album. 1. This album reminds me of Photoshop: sometimes it is wonderful and surreal and well composed and seamless, and other times it is postured and unsubtle and unnecessary. 2. Or perhaps these songs are doodles (the album insert is a booklet of doodles that complement the songs well): simple, gestural noises that accumulate and grow into something large and surprising and strange.

Anyway you approach this album, I think it is worth some time. Check out the band’s site, listen to clips on their myspace page, and buy the album.

Black Devil Disco Club - Eight Oh Eight

Artist: Black Devil Disco Club
Album: Eight Of Eight
Label: Lo Recordings

Yet another addition to the recent slew of space disco releases! For many years Disco Club was an influential but obscure duo from the late 70s; it wasn’t until samples from their rare 1978 album found their way into prominent electronic songs in the last ten years that more was known about its members, Bernard Fevre and Jacky Giordano. As a result of this renewed interest, the band has reformed and released new material. I find this growing interest in older European electronic pop pretty interesting, and I wonder what is behind it. I’ve been referring to this phenomenon as retro-novelty, but popmatters has more effectively labeled it retro-futurism. Not just a fond look back at older, forgotten pop gems but a real attempt to invoke the future we feel we should be living. Atmospheric and at times very catchy, this album gives you music you can’t quite dance to but can’t quite not dance to. It has that mindless disco beat but is too sonically engaging to be ignored.

Black Devil Disco Club - With Honey Cream

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Bouncy synth melodies and a falsetto voice prance upon an extremely simple drum beat that just doesn’t sound right. I think that dynamic explains this album pretty well: something lovely and futuristic built upon an uncomfortable foundation.

Black Devil Disco Club – Never No Dollars

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Again, a disco song that I cannot see being played at a disco. I mean, what do you do in the club when a sudden discordant synth interlude hits?

If this music grabs you, definitely check out the band’s myspace and buy the album.

Ratatat - LP3

Artist: Ratatat
Album: LP3
Label: XL Recordings

So far the reception has been positive but unenthusiastic. Pitchfork’s review (written by Nate Patrin) nails the album pretty well both as fodder for TV advertisers looking for something cool and non-distracting to put behind 2009’s forthcoming spots and also as another step in vague global fusion becoming the latest trend in mainstream electro-pop (following in M.I.A.’s path). I agree with both of these observations, though I also see this album as more subtle than Ratatat’s previous work (I’m glad to not hear another “Seventeen Years”) and wish that songs other than “Mirando”—the most palatable to the Timbaland, Pharell, Santogold, M.I.A. taste—would gather some attention. Don’t get me wrong: I love the above artists and the above song, but to me the best parts of this album are not the vaguely international dance pieces but the quieter songs that sound like a twee Air.

Ratatat – “Shempi”

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Though this song doesn’t have that immediate, first-forty-five-seconds hook that will get it radio play, it is a catchy electronic song with excellently-layered sounds.

Ratatat – “Black Heroes”

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More layered sounds falling into one another (including a very pleasant string arrangement). This one won’t be on a Williamsburg shuffle playlist, but I think it (and the album as a whole) is perfect for a long walk and a close listen.

For more info, check out the band’s site (they’re on tour!), listen to their tracks on their myspace, and buy the album.

Studio - Yearbook 2

Artist: Studio
Album: Yearbook 2
Label: Information

The in-store review for this album said it was “dance music for rock dudes.” If one of you can explain that further, I would appreciate it. Does it mean that this album is so good that even people who avoid dance music can dig it? Does it mean that club-goers can’t dance to it but tap their toes and bob their head with energetic enjoyment? Not sure. For me this is a really calm and cool remix compilation, one that presents a pretty good example of the moon disco, slow-jam disco, and italo disco trend right now.

Studio (remixing Rubies) – Room Without a Key

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What is wrong with me? I hear a prominent bass line, and then I’m hooked. I think I’m safe for today, though, because this song has much more to offer and is quite good. The layered vocals are nice (without the Imogen Heap robot effect, thank god), especially with the soft guitar and percussion. This is an end-of-movie song: soft and beautiful, not immediately recognizable or distracting, with that hopeful-sunset quality that should end every good film.

Studio (remixing Kylie) – 2 Hearts

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This is the hit of the album, and most reviews will include a mention of this song’s novelty. But it is fortunately more than just novelty. Fluttering guitars replace the usual fervent beats of a Kylie Minogue song, but it isn’t out of place. As Kylie’s gasping, breathy vocals invoke the beat, the guitars intensify and grow. It is a dance song that is hard to dance to. It is a rock song that is hard to not dance to. It is in between—a little awkward but still pretty good.

For more info, check out the band’s myspace, read a couple reviews (here, here), and buy the album.

Hercules and Love Affair - s/t

Artist: Hercules and Love Affair
Album: Hercules and Love Affair
Label: Mute, EMI

Will the world look back on Hercules and Love Affair like it now looks back on most expressively gay performers? People, for example, say Culture Club was a fun band, but does anyone take Boy George seriously (or at least think he isn’t nuts)? Jermaine Stewart? The Village People? Klaus Nomi? Perhaps if Hercules and Love Affair play more glam and less disco, more Brian Ferry and less Sylvester, they’ll be in the clear. Or perhaps, as lead songwriter Andrew Butler wishes, we shall embrace flamboyance, gender-bending, and disco as legitimate forms of art (and not novelties). We shall see.

What’s my immediate take on the tracks? I think this is the perfect album to bring back slow-jam dancing, and I guess that is good. Take a listen for yourself:

Hercules and Love Affair - “Raise Me Up”

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Imagine a more sophisticated Sylvester doing an impression of Nina Simone. Add better production and simpler orchestration. Shake well with ice. Serve with lemon zest garnish.

Hercules and Love Affair - “Hercules Theme”

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Crawling disco croons with a little Boy George and Italo disco thrown in for extra fun. One thing I will say is that Hercules and Love Affair do end their songs really well. Check out the boiling, layered horns at the finish of this track.

Check out the band site, watch their videos, and buy the album if you think it’s your new jam.

Booka Shade - The Sun & The Neon Light

Artist: Booka Shade
Album: The Sun & The Neon Light
Label: Physical

I’ve recently come across several discussions about single-centric versus album-centric artists (one example here, in their promise to Sub Pop), and I wonder if it is really necessary for artists to become more album-centric as they mature. What do y’all think?

On Booka Shade’s latest album, The Sun & The Neon Light, the duo move away from their club-driven, singles-based past to incorporate darker, more moody electronic songs. Some reviewers like this turn; others do not. Despite the lack of real hits, it strikes a chord with me, one strung from my teenage “orb” period: Orbital, William Orbit, and The Orb. Though these artists’ albums are all, to me, well-crafted and cohesive, each of these artists has a single song by which they are known: Orbital has “Halcyon On & On” (featured in such awesome movies as Mortal Combat, Hackers, and Mean Girls); William Orbit has “Water from a Vine Leaf,” featuring vocals from Beth Orton; The Orb has “Fluffy Little Clouds,” featuring vocals from Ricky Lee Jones. It gives me hope that Booka Shade can have the best of both worlds: hit singles and mature, cohesive albums. (Check out those links for mostly amateur videos of these great songs.)

Booka Shade – “Charlotte”

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Most reviewers so far have agreed that this is the stand-out song, and I love it. It definitely has the “orb” quality that is engaging both in the club (you know, because I go to clubs) and on headphones.

Booka Shade – “Karma Car”

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Also a finer point from this album, “Karma Car” is not very dance friendly (well, not how I dance) but nonetheless energizing. It sounds perfect for the forthcoming X-Files movie. We shall see.

Check out this video of a live concert during their Movement tour. I’ve never seen a crowd sing along to a synth melody. Strange. If you like it, buy the album.

I swear, I’ll take a break from electronic music in the next couple of posts.

Crystal Castles

Artist: Crystal Castles
Title: Crystal Castles
Label: Last Gang

Yeah, I know. I’m way late. I couldn’t possibly add to the hype and fervor already placidly bobbing around this band. It’s catchy as shit, though, and I don’t care. I’ll even ignore the bad parts. It’s like your video game-obsessed friend went all flowers-for-Algernon one week and made this album. The vocal gibber is a little much at times, but I like that it is purely decorative against the bubbling, electronic background.

Crystal Castles - “Magic Spells”

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When I listen to this song, I think of Imogen Heap crying in the corner. The light, synth cooing on this song is every electro-crooner’s dream. No worries, Imogen; the singularity is coming. You’ll have your robot voice yet.

Crystal Castles - “Knights

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Though this song is more clubby than the above song, it still has that that simple synth buzz that makes it your most badass I’m-in-a-shirt-and-tie-but-still-cool commute song.

Oh, also. I know it is only coincidental that I am watching The Legend of Billy King while listening to this album, but it is the perfect cool 80’s teen drama soundtrack ever. Buy the album, yo.