Thao with The Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings and All

Two Hundred Seventy-Six Words: I first heard Thao Nguyen on a Daytrotter session. What I heard exactly was a Cat Power-ish voice over jazzy folk, but better than that just sounded. The music was familiar, warm, seductive, and fun. I've had an indie boy crush ever since. So much so that I surfed over to Kill Rock Stars just as soon as I heard they were releasing her debut. The CD arrived in the mail yesterday. It does not disappoint.

Included are the four songs from the Daytrotter session and much more. All the songs are fleshed out compared to those earlier sessions but not so much so that original joy found wasn't lost in translation.

The album opens with the speedy "Beat (Health, Life and Fire)" and you're already thinking "sped-up Cat Power" but the comparison ends there. "Bag of Hammers" follows with a plead to a former lover to return. The Daytrotter session is replenished as "Big Kid Table" grows up with a touch of piano and some sophisticated production.

The naivety I've loved for so long from NW labels such as KRS comes through in "Swimming Pools". Two of my favorite tracks from Daytrotter, "Geography" and "Feet Asleep", are fully realized and induce head-bobbing. "Fear and Convenience" continue the DT love with its highly feminist chorus of "Did he hurt you?/In a new way".

The album continues from there and is strong to the end. Albums like this make it enjoyable for me to discover new acts. Nguyen, like many acts on KRS, will surely stir up some attention with her debut album. If you haven't heard her work, check out the MySpace for further listening.

The one song that makes it worth $17.95: "Fear and Convenience"

Pitchfork Says: (They haven't yet.)

This Moment Indie Rock

I realize that I've been writing too much about jock straps and the politic lately and need to get back to some good old (indie) rock 'n' roll.

I received two new Matador releases in the mail yesterday. One was Columbus, OH heroes Times New Viking with their lo-fi coming out party. The second was Cat Power's latest collection of covers. I liked my review format from December so much that I've adapted it for these two new releases.

Times New Viking - Rip It OffTwo Hundred Forty-Three Words: The title of Times New Viking’s Matador debut, Rip It Off, implies that they have ripped off their sound from somewhere. That somewhere is indie rock lore. The band’s lo-fi aesthetic summons the ghosts of Guided By Voices (pre-Ocasek) and early Pavement. To complete the Matador holy trilogy, the band takes on Yo La Tengo in the aptly titled “Times New Viking vs. Yo La Tengo”. The naiveté of the riot grrrl movement and anything touched from Calvin Johnson to Daniel Johnston are present in the constant, back-and-forth, riotous boy/girl hollers throughout the record.

I used to hope that the band’s Matador signing would expose the band to better sound equipment, but as I listened to the hiss of tape and static due to too much treble, I realized it would just sound as crappy as Lou Barlow did once he stepped out of the bedroom had TNV discovered a real recording studio. The band’s sound is too harsh for lo-fi disciples and too poppy for those of the hardcore set, but it’s place somewhere in between makes it stand out in an era of sleek, iMac-recorded MP3’s.

I know this band is difficult for some, but isn’t that what makes it important? Don’t the best bands insight hatred from some listeners while their fans love them? Isn’t that what punk is all about? Times New Viking is the most punk thing to hit the music world in a long, long time.

The one song that makes it worth $17.95: "Drop-Out"

Pitchfork Says: 8.4

Cat Power - Jukebox
Two Hundred Twenty-Three Words: Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) has released her second collection of covers to commemorate her rebirth…I guess. Anyway, after reading the Pitchfork review, I expected the record to suck. It actually doesn’t. I just think the music is far beyond the scope of the typical Pitchforker. Usually the blogging hipsters of the Windy City demonstrate a decent amount of music knowledge and historical perspective, but they missed the boat on this one.

The disc opens with “New York, New York” (yeah, the one by Sinatra) in a form that makes the cheesy standard sound downright soulful. From there, Marshall takes the listener through her various musical influences from jazz to country to soul with a little folk mixed in for good measure. The best song is “Song to Bobby”, a tribute to Bob Dylan. The song sounds like that Bob Dylan song he didn’t write.

Speaking of Dylan, the album almost makes a case for Cat Power as being the anti-Dylan. I’m not knocking her songwriting ability. What I mean is that Dylan songs always sound better when sung by someone else. Maybe Chan Marshall sounds better singing other’s songs. Maybe.

My only real complaint is that the record did not include the Cat Power covers featured on cell phone and diamond ads. But I guess you can’t have everything your way.

The one song that makes it worth $17.95: "Song to Bobby"

Pitchfork Says: 5.7

In other indie news...

I am attending some shows in the near future. There's Band of Horses in St. Louis on the 31st. I'm still waiting for Billy to get back to me on whether he wants my extra ticket, but if he doesn't want it...

Then, the other band that sounds like Band of Horses but was doing it a long time before that and will eternally have a place in my heart despite a detour through jam-band-Reggae-purgatory, aka Built to Spill, is coming in mid-March.

Lastly, I'm really excited to announce that we will be traveling to the cornhusker state to see the late, great Daniel Johnston. Of course, I owe R big-time for this one since it's on her birthday, but we're going anyway.

That's all from my corner of the indie universe. Hopefully something else will come up soon. (Stephen Malkmus?)

It's the Economy, Stupid!

Are we in a recession or aren't we? The way I understand it, we won't know until we have six months of economic distress. So, who really knows whether it's a recession or not. The point is that people are not doing well financially

The "president", Congress, and even the current crop of presidential candidates all have their ideas of how to get us out of this recession. They all have ideas for stimulus packages. Somehow, they all believe that throwing money at the problem in the form of sizable tax rebates and major cuts in interest rates will cause people to spend

Despite a limited knowledge of economics and an inability to balance my own checkbook, I have some practical and long-lasting ways we can turn our economy around.
1. Raise the minimum wage to a living wage. There are so many people in this country working for the minimum wage which hasn't significantly grown in years. What's more, if the minimum rises, so do the rest of our salaries. CEO pay has gone up astronomically over the last decade, but that only puts the money in a few hands. Why not spread the wealth? A hike in the minimum wage would mean more spending at all economic levels.

2. Provide universal healthcare/socialized medicine. Imagine the savings if our government put everyone (or almost everyone) on one healthcare plan. Sure, taxes for small businesses would go up, but that cost would be less than it is to provide health coverage for employees. Besides, it would keep the uninsured from running up huge bills at emergency rooms.

3. Quit sucking the poor dry! We are inundated with rent-to-own stores, paycheck advance shops, student loan scams and many other industries dedicated to sucking every last penny from the poor and working poor. I suggest that we either eliminate these services or subsidize their efforts. There are countries in Europe where people who need things like next month's rent or a couch can get the necessary funds from government. Furthermore, how profitable can it be to rip off people with no money. Eventually, they run out of the cheddar.

4. Go after corporations for the taxes they owe. We can raise the funds for some of these long-term economic fixes if the government doesn't allow corporations to slip through loopholes on their way to setting up shop in some Caribbean island that doesn't tax them. Additionally, end corporate welfare. This area of welfare has been way more detrimental to our federal resources than social welfare programs.

5. Bring back the Work Projects Administration. This was the program that created jobs by building roads, bridges, and other public projects. Besides fixing our existing structures, the new WPA could start to lay tracks for new public transportation options in response to ever-growing gas prices. Imagine if you could actually ride a train to work instead pumping your tank with $3 of Texas gold. The WPA could also continue the trend of cities building biking and walking trails which would also help with the fuel crisis.

Like I've said before, I have no real economic training, but I think these ideas would work. Someone with way more training in economics might think I'm crazy, but how crazy was it to think just a few years ago that we might have a woman or a black man as president? What I do know is that whatever we've been trying so far is not working. If it was working, there wouldn't be so many people living below the poverty line in what is supposed to be the world's richest country. And besides, I have yet to hear an answer that is neither beneficial to those who already have so much nor a long-term solution to our economic woes. When you've got something better, let me know.
1.

Dream Supergroups

In my job, I have to drive a lot. This usually causes my mind to drift in so many directions. Recently, I wondered about creating the ultimate supergroup. A supergroup is a collection of incredible musicians who are more potent as a whole than they are individually or in their current bands. Of course, I mostly considered indie/alternative bands that I listen to, but it is my blog.

What I did was put together a group of artists I think would compliment each other well. I tried not to include more than two members of the same band, but I did put together some people who have already worked together in various projects. The idea was to create supergroups that would not only sound great, but could actually get together. (Please forgive my geekery.) Also, I did not consider any actual supergroups (like The New Pornographers or The Million Dollar Bashers).

Read through a few of these bands. Let me know what your supergroup would look like.

Band: Junkie Cowboys
Members-instrument (other bands): Carla Bozulich-vocals/guitar (Geraldine Fibbers), Mike Watt-bass (Minutemen, Firehose), Nels Cline-lead guitar (Geraldine Fibbers, Wilco), Mark Lanegan-vocals (Screaming Trees, The Gutter Twins), Dave Grohl-drums (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), Gretta Cohn-cello (Cursive, Twin Thousands), and Warren Ellis-violin (Dirty Three)
Influences: Hank Williams (I and III, not II), Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, John Doe
Sounds Like: Junkie versions of your favorite country songs with a bend toward the anthemic. "Are those cowboy boots in the mosh pit?"

Band: Pretty Boy with a Pretty Mouth
Members-instrument (other bands): Stephen Malkmus-vocals/guitar (Pavement), Chan Marshall-vocals/piano (Cat Power), Corin Tucker-vocals/guitar (Sleater-Kinney), Janet Weiss-drums (Quasi, Sleater-Kinney, The Jicks), Laetitia Sadier-keyboards/vocals (Stereolab/Monade), Joephine Wiggs-bass (The Breeders, Dusty Trails)
Influences: Beat Happening, Blondie, X
Sounds Like: Portland's answer to The New Pornographers only punkier, more experimental and absent that pop gleam the Pornos do so well. A lot of duets between Malkmus/Marshall, Malkmus/Tucker, or Marshall/Tucker.

Band: Screen Door
Members-instrument (other bands): Jeff Tweedy-vocals/guitar (Uncle Tupelo, Wilco), Ryan Adams-vocals/guitar (Whiskeytown), Neko Case-vocals/guitar (New Pornographers), Gillian Welch-vocals/banjo, Jimbo Wallace-upright bass (Reverend Horton Heat), John Convertino -drums (Calexico), Sam Coomes-organ (Heatmiser, Quasi)
Influences: Anything in No Depression
Sounds Like: An alt-country fan's wet dream.

Sorry for all the alt-country references, but those are the best supergroups sometimes. There's so much good Williams/Cash/Nelson material to cover.

Again, let me know what you think of these supergroups and name your own. All of mine have the slight possibility of happening, but you could name your own supergroup with any musicians: dead or alive.

Clinton vs. Obama: Can't we all just get along?

The disconnect between the movements for suffrage between African-Americans and women in this country is still very apparent in the 2008 presidential election. Will we have our first black president or will the first female occupy the Oval Office? Does it matter? Does it lessen the accomplishment of one candidate if the other wins?

Sunday's New York Times ran a piece by Mark Leibovich about the issue of a possible breakthrough election as being "zero-sum". Leibovich harkens back to the falling out between abolitionists like Frederick Douglass with women's suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Although both movements have been allies or at least held similar beliefs, there has always been something between the two groups. Obama and Clinton want the same thing (the presidency) just as Douglass and Stanton both wanted suffrage. And in both cases, the fight to be first has gone negative.

So who wins if Barack is our first African-American president? What about if Hillary uses the momentum gained in New Hampshire to carry her to the White House? If a woman gets there first does black America lose? Are women relegated to a lifetime of pregnancy and a permanent place in the kitchen if a black man wins out?

This is the never-ending problem of the left. We constantly pick at each other for not being progressive enough or for ignoring the needs of other marginalized groups when we champion the achievements of another. This is why we split our vote...or don't vote at all. The left does more to derail its own movements than the right ever could. It has to stop.

If Hillary Clinton wins the election, it will be a major breakthrough for all of us. The same goes for an Obama victory. Either breakthrough means that for the first time a member of a marginalized group (i.e. someone who's not a rich, old white guy) will hold the highest office in this country. This means that we all win. It's long overdue, but this could be the year there is a significant change in the direction of our government and who it represents.

It's about time that the left recognize that the need for change far outweighs the pettiness of a political campaign. African-Americans don't lose if Hillary wins or the vice-versa if Barack pulls it out. Either way, it should be one of the most important moments in US history.

A Few Bones to Pick

I have taken a lot of slack lately and feel that I have a few bones to pick...over various subjects.

With the 2008 presidential race under way, a lot of political discussion has taken place. So far, I've heard that John Edwards is the reason our country's cesarean section rate is so high, Barack Obama is a Muslim extremist, and Chuck Norris is backing Mike Huckabee. The only one of these claims that is true is the rather funny fact that Chuck Norris is a Huckabee man.

My problem has been with the Edwards/Obama bashing. These are the two most progressive-while-still-rather-electable candidates I've seen in my lifetime (aside from maybe Carter, but I barely remember his presidency). I'm tired of people bashing these two great representatives of the Left.

John Edwards, this year's Democratic champion of the disenfranchised, originally made his fortune by winning law suits versus hospitals, corporations, and generally anyone who took advantage of the poor-to-middle class. One of his cases involved a malpractice lawsuit over a birth that resulted in a defect. Edwards somehow convinced a jury that the hospital staffs' reluctance to perform a cesarean section resulted in the defect. Although scientifically Edwards' argument was flawed, he still won the suit.

Some have suggested that this case has caused the C-section rate in this country to drastically increase. In turn, women are being cut into way too often and our HMO's are brunting much of the financial burden causing our health care costs to rise. All this 'cause John can argue good.

This is ridiculous. What this case (and many of the others won by Edwards and his peers) has done has forced hospitals to consider and make available more options to their patients despite additional risks. What Edwards' critics (and the critics of many personal injury lawyers) fail to recognize is that the health care system has gone overboard with their response just to save their own butts instead of carefully considering the options that are best for their patients.

The rumor that Obama is a Muslim extremist is just wrong. His daddy was born a Muslim and Obama himself attended an Islamic school for two years (as well as a Catholic school). To me, it makes no difference. In fact, I'd probably support Obama even more if he were Muslim and I don't vote for extremists regardless of their religious affiliation.

Another bone I have to pick is over my Buckeyes. Second place is not "first loser". Even to refer to them as the "Buffalo Bills of college football" is just plain stupid. Any NFL player who failed to play in a Super Bowl (and there are a lot of them) would have given anything to be on those teams despite four straight losses. Ask Mizzou if they'd rather play in the Cotton Bowl and beat an overmatched opponent or go to a BCS Bowl, especially the national championship game. My bet is that they would have preferred playing for all the marbles.

OSU had an incredibly successful season. How many schools have been in the last two national championship games and three of the last six? None. They very possibly could be in it again next year. I won't make excuses for them. They've been beat by good teams the last two seasons. Since I've lived in this godforsaken place, The Ohio State University has lost a total of five games in three seasons. Three of those losses were to the eventual national champions (Texas, Florida, and LSU). Only one of those losses was to a team with more than two losses (Illinois). In the meantime, Ohio State (please quit leaving off the state) has won three straight Big Ten titles and 34 games overall. That doesn't even mention the numerous first-round picks in the NFL draft, post-season awards, and first-team all-American selections. The only team that has had more success this decade is USC...maybe.

My final bone to pick is the fuss over the whole "misery" thing. First of all, it's a pun that's meant to be funny (or punny if you prefer). I've used the pun since fifth grade to remember my states and capitals. Secondly, this place ain't that great. We're two hours from major cities and good ethnic food. (That second part about the food is somewhat debatable.) Everyone says COMO is a great place to raise kids...if you want them to live in a segregated hole, void of a world view that goes beyond the the town's borders, then it's great. Thirdly, it's a freakin' joke which I eluded to earlier. Get over it! I'm not actually miserable or depressed or suicidal because I live here ( well, not right now). Christ!

There. I'm done picking. Sorry for the negativity, but I had a few things to get off my chest. Later.

The Misery Continues

Ohio State loses another.

Sure, they are one year away from being true contenders (assuming most of the players don't bolt for the NFL) and are the first team to play in three BCS championship games. The only team with a better record this decade is USC...whom they play in September. I could go on and on, but I won't.

Ohio State loses another.

There's always next year.