Pocket Symphony

So… lots going on. Saw a bunch of good movies - ate a bunch of good meals - took a bunch of cool pictures. That’ll all come soon. Don’t want to muck up a simple post with too much stuff….

Anyway, for 4th of July week, my pal Jeff came down from San Francisco. We took in a lot of what LA has to offer - mostly by car. During that time, I had my iPod plugged into my car stereo. We listened to some Louis XIV and The Mae Shi, because we had gone to their shows (seriously… more about that later). But mostly, we listened to the new albums by Spiritualized and Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks.

Depending on what level of “hipster” you are, you have either: a. never heard of either band; b. have heard them on your local indie radio station (KCRW here in LA, for example); or c. know all about them, but think they pale in comparison to their original incarnations.

I must admit that when I was a younger music fan, the running joke was “The Beatles? I didn’t know Paul McCartney had a band before Wings!” The true hipster (ok, “music snob”) rejects all that is new and potentially popular and embraces what was groundbreaking and more obscure.

I’m past being a snob, because it only serves to alienate me from cool (read: “not snobby”) people and shuts me off from experiences that I might otherwise really enjoy. But since I still have the pop historian brain - I’ll give you a little background into these two acts - just to provide some context. If you know all this stuff already, feel free to jump ahead to the videos… they’re pretty amazing.

First up, Stephen Malkmus.

Malkmus was the leader of perhaps the indie band of the 1990s - Pavement. Formed in Stockton, CA in ‘89 with his pal Scott Kannberg, aka “Spiral Stairs” - Pavement quickly became darlings of the indie rock scene. They were massive in Europe, played Lollapalooza, and were “the next big thing” several times (especially after Nirvana’s ascent from indie stars to rock gods). Their jangly guitar sound and quirky production often overshadowed their clever lyrics and brilliant song construction. I enjoyed Pavement, but I often felt that their need to be obtuse was a little off-putting. They would talk about how they didn’t know how to play their instruments and would put on “ramshackle” performances that obscured their real genius. I know many people will dispute this point, especially the fans who constantly yearn for a Pavement reunion, but I think that being in the band held Malkmus back. With their dissolution at the turn of the millennium, Malkmus “went solo” (not really, he formed a new band called “The Jicks” - but his label wouldn’t let him call his first post-Pavement record anything but “Stephen Malkmus”). On that album and the three that have come out since, Malkmus has continued his infectious songwriting and performing, while stripping away the quirkiness that Pavement espoused. Maybe it’s because he’s older - maybe it’s because I’m older - but I absolutely love what he’s done for the last several years.

His latest album, Real Emotional Trash, could be his best work yet. His love for “Loaded”-era Velvets and early ’70s Krautrock are apparent in his arrangements and perfomance - but at the heart of it all, there’s some damn fine songwriting.

While trolling through the web looking for a gem to share with you, I found this neat acoustic version of “Wicked Wanda”. The electric version closes the album. This video is Malkmus raw. Hope you dig it.

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Alright… just a quick follow-up post.

After seeing The Mae Shi for the first time at Spaceland two weeks ago (see my recent post), I wanted to check them out again now that I’ve listened to all of their records. Luckily, there was a last-minute show at Pomona College in Claremont last night, so my friend Matt and I made decided to drive the 40 miles out of LA to see ‘em.

Long story short: they were once again fantastic. Knowing their songs made the show even better for me.

I think Matt’s comment to the band after the show sums it up: “Two weeks ago, I hadn’t heard of you. Now I want to follow you on tour.”

I took a bunch of pictures at the show… I posted ‘em without any tags or editing at Flickr. You can check them out here.

The Mae Shi has a UK/Europe tour all May, and a US tour in July.
The dates are on their website.

GO SEE THIS BAND

In the late 1980s, there used to be a record store in the space next to CBGB, and as a voracious consumer of all things new, I used to hang out there quite a bit. The guy who worked behind the counter (and also did all the buying for the store), was named Ned Hayden (leader of the sadly neglected Action Swingers).

One day in late 1987, I walked into the store and saw Ned putting up a poster that read “Death To The Pixies”.

“Who are the Pixies?” I asked Ned.

“Some new band on 4AD. We just got their EP in today. Have a poster.”

So I took the poster and bought the record. That evening, when I put it on, I was stunned. It was one of those records that comes out of nowhere and just says it all in about 20 minutes. Even though the Pixies were American, the record was import-only, so I wondered whether anyone else in the US would ever discover this cool band.

A few months later, I got to see The Pixies open for Throwing Muses at a club in Hoboken, New Jersey called Maxwell’s. The place was packed, and even though the Pixies only release was that import EP, the audience was already on their side.

One of the things I remember most from that show was the beatific smile of the bassist/vocalist Mrs. John Murphy. Her demeanor was so incredibly un-punk that it was disarming. In between songs, she told the audience about their upcoming debut LP, and talked about the breasts of the model that would appear on the front cover. In an amazing band, Mrs. John Murphy was a front person waiting to emerge, standing in the shadow of Black Francis.

A couple of years later, Kim Deal (who had dispensed with John Murphy and her stage name), Tanya Donelly from Throwing Muses, and a couple of their friends formed a side project called The Breeders. Their first LP, “Pod”, was an indie hit, and more than a few fans couldn’t wait for them to become a real touring act… but the Pixies were still in the way.

When the Pixies finally broke up (and I’m not celebrating that or anything, I loved the Pixies, too), The Breeders had a chance to become a real band. Tanya was not available, because she was now leading Belly, but an even cooler wrinkle was the addition of Kim’s twin sister Kelley to the lineup.

The Breeders history has been patchy - there have been breaks here and there for both personal and professional reasons - but right now, in the Spring of 2008, they’ve just released a brand-new album called Mountain Battles - and it’s a worthy addition to their canon.

They were scheduled to play the El Rey theater in Los Angeles this past week - but because a stipulation of their contract with the Coachella people, the show was moved to the Glass House in Pomona. Here’s a brief video of Kim singing “Overglazed” (as usual, sorry about my crappy camera work).

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And here’s an audio clip I recorded at the show of the Deal sisters duetting on “Here No More”

 

 Here No More - Live in Pomona [2:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

After a half-decade away, I’m back in the music business. The attraction was a simple one: I love music. And now that I live in Los Angeles, I’m trying to get out and see as many bands as I can.

So last Friday, I decided to go down to my local club - Spaceland - and see a few bands. A couple of my good friends joined me for a bite at a neat little Thai restaurant a few doors down from the club, so when we arrived at 9:30, our bellies were full, and we were ready to rock.

First up was Michael Vidal, leader of Abe Vigoda (the band, not the man). I haven’t yet seen Abe Vigoda, but I’ve really liked what I’ve heard so far (I should go see them - I’m missing them tonight, but I should put them on my calendar for May 7 at the Echo). Michael’s brief solo set was less “songs” and more experimental loops with guitar and vocals. Moody, pleasant, but it seemed like it was over almost as soon as it started.

Before the next band, we wandered over to the PRE merchandise table, which was manned by lead singer Akiko “Keeks” Matsuura. I picked up a copy of their new limited edition CD (it comes in a cool embossed tin) and their split “bootleg” single with Canadian band AIDS Wolf. Keeks made sure to remind me that she appears topless in the photos on the single. My pal Chris pointed out that Keeks is a great salesperson.

Then, the second band came on… but I’m going to fast forward to the headliners first.

PRE is a noise rock outfit from England. The band rocked and might have been considered high energy, except the energy of the musicians on stage paled by comparison to that of Keeks, who is clearly the star of the show. Jumping, screaming, cajoling… singing slightly naughty but amusing lyrics - I’m glad I was able to witness their first West Coast show. Here’s a short sample of their insanity:

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But it was the band that played between Michael Vidal and PRE that still has me spinning. They’re called The Mae Shi, and they’ve been playing around SoCal for almost 6 years. They released a couple of CDs and a DVD on 5RC, a subsidiary label of Kill Rock Stars (a label which I admire). They have played out relentlessly for the last few years. Their latest CD (and first full-length to feature a new lead singer) got rave reviews all over the web. How is it that I never listened to the band before?

The Mae Shi started their set from the audience, belting a song called “I Get (Almost) Everything I Want”, as they slowly took the stage. Once on stage, nobody in the band stayed in position for more than a few seconds. They ran back and forth, jumped off the stage, ran backstage to get props, and swapped instruments almost non-stop for the duration of the set. The music ranged from screaming (seeming) chaos to beautiful melodic sing-alongs.

Here’s a short video clip of them playing “Leech & Locust”, during which many audience members danced under a large sheet:

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I had no idea what their songs were about, but I really enjoyed the set, so I headed over to their merch table after their set and picked up their latest CD HLLLYH and a t-shirt - I was really tempted by the home-made sound machines, but I held off.

The next morning, I popped the CD on, and was blown away. First of all, it turns out that this is a concept album all about the events described in the New Testament’s Book of Revelations, from several different points of view. Pretty heavy stuff. It took me a while to realize that the album title is “HaLLeLuYaH” without the vowels. Anyway, on Saturday afternoon, I made my way to my local indie record shop and picked up all of their older releases, except the concert-ony CDR’s, that I still have to track down (glad I saved my money and didn’t buy those sound machines).

But I have to be honest.  Although there are inspired moments of genius in their previous releases, nothing comes close to HLLLYH. It’s like discovering the Beatles when Revolver came out. I know I’m late to the party, but I look forward to whatever comes next. And I will be at their next LA area show.

Here’s the opening song from HLLLYH (you can buy the album on CD or double vinyl from the band’s own site):

 

 Lamb and Lion [2:24m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Yes, yes, I know that “Pocket Symphony” is an album by the French duo Air.

While I do like the band (and the record), I got this domain years before the album came out.

When I first decided to do The MousePod, “mousepod.com” was unavailable. I did snag “mousepod.net”, but I wanted a dot com address.

Something inside me said that I would, at some point, create a bunch of different shows - not just Disney-related. Where the name “mousepod” is both Disney- and Apple-centric, I wanted a more generic name that would suggest something neat, concise and compact.

I was thinking about the praise that Leonard Bernstein gave Brian Wilson after he heard “Good Vibrations” and “Surf’s Up” - praise which, some say, helped push poor Brian over the edge - and Brian’s description of the former as a “pocket symphony”, and one domain check later a website was born.

(If you aren’t familiar with those songs, which were intended for the classic “lost” Beach Boys’ album SMiLE, you need to pick up Smiley Smile and Surf’s Up by the Beach Boys, and Brian’s SMiLE, which saw him finally completing the album.)

By the way, Pete (Sonic Boom) from the brilliant Spacemen 3 released a record called “Pocket Symphony” under the name E.A.R. (Experimental Audio Research) on the excellent label Sympathy For The Record Industry.

I’m still planning on using this site as a launching pad for several different projects. This is only the second.