Ear on TV: Week of February 12

I'm sure you're sick to death of me writing about Lily Allen on the telly, so I'll just say two words regarding her this week: Conan + Tuesday. Instead I'm going to give some virtual ink to The Thermals, who stop by Last Call With Carson Daly late Friday night to perform some of their politically-charged rock from their latest release, The Body, the Blood, the Machine. While this indie rock band from Portland, Oregon made plenty year-end lists for best album, one has to think Sub Pop's latest push with The Shins (along with the surprise success of Band of Horses) is now reaping benefits for other acts on the label, which is a good thing.

Meanwhile, The Apples in Stereo make another appearance here, as they perform some of their psych-pop on Conan, Wednesday. On a different note, If you were like me, you were secretly hoping to see Justin Timberlake break into "Dick in a Box" last night on the Grammys, especially after he performed it live at Madison Square Garden with Samberg a few nights before (see video.) Alas, no such luck, but they're rerunning his Saturday Night Live hosting performance this weekend, so we can as yet still relive the magic.

Picks for this week:
Monday, February 12
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Matisyahu
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Rickie Lee Jones
SYNDICATION: The Ellen Degeneres Show: Nelly Furtado
Tuesday, February 13
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Cat Empire
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Lily Allen
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Regina Spektor
Wednesday, February 14
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Madeleine Peyroux
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: The Apples in Stereo
Thursday, February 15
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Nas
Friday, February 16
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Thermals
Saturday, February 17
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Justin Timberlake (RERUN)

tags: music, television, soundtrack, talk shows, lily allen, the thermals, apples in stereo, justin timberlake, indie rock, rhapsody

Now Downloading: New Releases 02.06.07

It's another week chock-full of listening goodness. There's a couple releases that I had I expecations for and a few others here that are pleasant surprises.

Playlist: New Releases 02.06.07

Here's a rundown of what's downloading into my Sansa as I type this:
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Album: Loney, Dear - Loney Noir

I've been anticipating this one since the announcement late last year that Loney, Dear had signed on with Sub Pop, as their release last year Sologne (which has yet to see US release) was one the favorite things I brought back from Europe this past summer. Loney, Dear is essentially Emil Svanängen, a Swedish artist who writes songs in the style of twee Belle & Sebastian (or, probably more appropriate, countryman Jens Lekman,) with the instrumental flourishes of a Sufjan Stevens.

Loney Noir is similar in nature, with the excellent first single "I Am John" picking up where Sologne left off. Emil's breezy falsetto with a glockenspial punctuates the near sacharine sweetness of the tune. The other standout track is "Saturday Waits," which you'll find yourself humming unrecognizably later.

Download: "I Am John" (Sub Pop) / Video (Sub Pop/YouTube)

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Album: Yoko Ono - Yes, I Am A Witch

The concept for Yes, I'm a Witch was to give the indie rockers Yoko Ono songs to tinker with and remake, keeping, in most cases, only her voice. Cat Power, Jason Pierce of Spiritualized ("Walking on Thin Ice,") The Flaming Lips ("Cambridge 1969/2007,") Le Tigre, Shitake Monkey, Polyphonic Spree ("You and I,") The Apples in Stereo ("Nobody Sees Me Like You Do,") DJ Spooky, Peaches ("Kiss Kiss Kiss,") The Blow Up ("Everyman... Everywoman,") Craig Armstrong ("O'Oh,") Hank Shocklee, The Sleepy Jackson ("I'm Moving On") and others contribute to the experiment with fascinating results. When Chan Marshall (Cat Power) joins in singing along to "Revelations" the goose bumps are summoned. These songs once thought to be 'scratching the chalkboard' impenetrable, become a sweet tribute to this artist who became unfairly pigeonholed in her career.

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Album: The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder

The last couple albums by Elephant 6 survivors The Apples in Stereo have been pretty lackluster, so it's a pleasant surprise to find that New Magnetic Wonder is their best since at least 1999's Her Wallpaper Reverie. They recently played the Film.com launch party at Sundance (who I contribute to on occasion now video of "Energy" live) and have generally become a lot more visible. And with songs like "Can You Feel It?" and the ELO-esque "Same Old Drag," they might just finally get the visibility they deserve.

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Album: Apostle of Hustle - National Anthem of Nowhere

If you're a fan of Broken Social Scene, then you should be familiar with guitarist Andrew Whiteman's other band, Apostle of Hustle. AOH mine much of the same territory as BSS, like the excellent title track, but instead find inspiration from a far warmer place then Toronto. Like AOH's first album, Fokloric Feel, National Anthem of Nowhere is, in part, inspired by Cuban music, as heard in the songs "¡Rafaga!" and "Fast Pony for Victor Jara," only this time they're merely sprinkled throughout the sofa cushion compositions that Whiteman does so well.

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Other albums going into my Sansa:
Bloc Party - Weekend in the City
Peter, Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch
Backyard Tire Fire - Vagabonds and Hooligans
Dexateens - Hardwired Healing
!Forward Russia! - Eighteen
Kiss Kiss - Reality Vs. The Optimist
Sarah Shannon - City Morning Song

tags: music, album review, loney dear, yoko ono, apostle of hustle, apples in stereo, bloc party, indie rock, album review, new releases, rhapsody

Sundance is alive with the sound of music

This year's Sundance Film Festival focuses their lens on a topic near and dear to my heart: the role of music in film. To that end, there's all kind of events tying the two art forms together - panels, roundtable discussions, a contest and all sorts of live performances. The first of these performances I'd like to profile is (appropriately enough) the Film.com launch party, January 21st at the Star Bar, featuring The Apples in Stereo and West Indian Girl.

Playlist: Music at Sundance 2007

You may remember Apples frontman Robert Schneider was most recently seen here singing the praises of a certain fake talk news host (see Guitarmaddeonit,) and the latest release from the band (New Magnetic Wonder, coming February 7) is through the new record label from Frodo himself (Elijah Wood,) Simian Records. This sunny psychedelic pop outfit is essentially the last band standing from the influential 90's collective known as Elephant 6, which also featured Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control. Since the subject matter is music in film, I guess it'd be criminal of me not to mention The Apples in Stereo's involvement with the film The Powerpuff Girls, as they contributed a song ("Signal in the Sky.")

West Indian Girl (on Astralwerks) I'm less familiar with, but they're from Los Angeles and have a song called "Hollywood" so I imagine that qualifies them enough. They're also playing in Sundance's 'Music On Main' free concert, on January 25th with Of Montreal, Shiny Toy Guns, and DJ J_Luvv (on Main street, naturally.)

Another music performance on January 24th (6:00 p.m. at Sundance House, The Kimball Art Center,) features Keb Mo, jazz great Terence Blanchard and songwriter Michael Penn. Speaking of Michael Penn, he'll be busy playing elsewhere as well, as every afternoon, running from January 19 through 27, the aforementioned Star Bar will be host to live performances from artists like the aforementioned Penn, folk-rock legend Donovan, Alexi Murdoch, Ron Sexsmith, Silversun Pickups, The Album Leaf, Rosie Thomas, Sparta, Jill Sobule and many more.

Elsewhere, in the festival, will be several music-related programs, the first of which is the fascinating experiment Film2Music, where filmmakers turn the tables and visually score the instrumental album Cinematic from composer Kubilay Üner (click here to see films entered.)

A celebration of music and film occurs January 21st at Sundance House (8:30 p.m,) featuring composers/musicians contributing to this crop of Sundance entries. This includes Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Once,) Scratch Massive (Broken English), Craig Wedren (The Ten), and M. Ward (The Go-Getter.) And finally, there will also be a roundtable discussion featuring both composers (including George Clinton) and directors, Wednesday, January 24; 11:00 a.m. at Sundance House. Whew....that's a lot of music!

tags: music, film, soundtrack, movies, sundance, sundance film festival, west indian girl, apples in stereo, michael penn, glen hansard, m ward

Guitarmageddon it

Last night, "Rock and Awe: The Countdown to Guitarmageddon" went down on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, where Stephen Colbert met (and subsequently ducked) the challenge from The Decemberists in a guitar solo duel. It was a night that saw Morley Safer of 60 Minutes, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, New York governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo, Peter Frampton, and none other then Henry Kissinger, who beckoned Colbert to shred with a call to "crank it up."

(View the episode here.)

The whole thing began with a green screen challenge that Colbert made for his viewers (involving him jumping around with a light saber.) When The Decemberists followed suit with their own green screen challenge ("Re-animate The Decemberists,") Colbert called the band out as 'coat-tail riders,' and counter-challenged his viewers to infultrate The Decemberists challenge with his light saber antics (the best of the Colbert-Decemberist mashup here.) The Decemberists then counter-challenged Colbert's counter-challenge by proposing a guitar duel, to which Colbert replied "you walked right into my trap."

And so the stage was set for last night... and what a night it was. Before they even got to introducing the judges, Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo came out and performed a bouncy Beatlesque ode to the challenge called "Oh Stephen," with lyrics like "who's the television host who understands what matters most?" It might be some time before I'm able to get that tune out of my head.



Chris Funk, lead guitarist for The Decemberists led off with some favorable riffage (for a hyper-literate college act,) enough so that Colbert looked nervous. But Colbert had some tricks (make that friends) up his sleeve (even though he pulled off those sleeves.) First he called upon Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick (who wrote and performed the Colbert theme song,) borrowing his five-necked guitar ("I might shred so hard tonight that I'll blowout the first four necks.") Then, after faking a finger injury after the first few notes, he called on Peter Frampton to finish the solo.



Needless to say, the fix was in (there was even rumored to be a bribe to Spitzer,) and Colbert crowned himself (and Frampton) the winner(s.) And what did he win? A copy of The Decemberists' The Crane Wife. They then ended the program with Rick Neilsen leading them on an all-star jam to The Colbert Report theme song.



Colbert may have walked away with the... uh... er... spoils, but, as Kissinger so aptly put it, "tonight, I think the American People won." Truly one of the most hilarious (and oddest) 30 minutes of television I've ever witnessed.

tags: music, television, soundtrack, talk shows, colbert report, stephen colbert, the decemberists, peter frampton, henry kissinger, apples in stereo, elliott spitzer, comedy central