San Francisco’s Ann Yu and Jon Waters make up Silver Swans, a group I’ve only recently heard and am really feeling where they’re going. The first tune of theirs that I heard was “Secrets”, a song that has a total late 80s new wave vibe going on, so obviously I was going to love it immediately. And then there’s “Holidays”, a slightly more upbeat tune than “Secrets” but one that’s still full of the subtle electronic bits and pieces that make it so enjoyable. But then the natural question is, with this new wave/post-punk sound (yes, I’m using all of these terms that I don’t fully understand pretty freely, so just let it happen), what would take shape if these pretty tunes took a turn towards the dark side, something that seems so natural for this type of sound. And the answer can be found below via Silver Swans’ cover of The National’s “Anyone’s Ghost”. While their 2010 album High Violet was really beautiful, I found it at times to be a bit boring, and it was these darker tunes that were among my favorite tunes – the ones that I found myself skipping forward or back to listen to. And as expected, Silver Swans kept their same sound in this cover but went towards dark and brooding, and for me at least, it’s a smashing success. And, somewhat unexpectedly, for me at least, Yu’s soft and delicate voice casts an even more haunting shadow on this tune than the deeper than deep voice of The National frontman Matt Berninger.
It’s taken some time to grow on me, but I’m starting to come around to High Violet, the latest album by The National. But one of the tracks that I’ve absolutely loved since first listen is “Afraid of Everyone”. I think I’ve said it before, but while I think the happy, slow tempo version of The National is all fine and well, I think it’s their darker side where they really are at their finest. I think it’s because I think lead singer Matt Berninger’s deeper than the BP oil well voice (too soon?) just fits so well with this style. So what could be better than taking this dark song and adding a fast beat and some great embellishments? Thanks to Hungary’s We Plants Are Happy Plants, we no longer have to wonder. Just a great and driving remix of a dark and troubled song.
I’ve been a big fan of The National for a few years now, so while I was excited about the upcoming album, I was a little worried that it was going to be, for lack of a better word, boring. The National can take on many styles and tempos, but I felt like they’ve been going towards that really slowed down style, and hoped that there would be some more variety on this new album. They’ve really taken to working on the instrumentation in their songs, which is always great, but I’m just hoping it doesn’t turn things into a snooze-fest. Let’s find out.
1. Terrible Love – Just like on “Boxer”, this album starts with a slower song, but it’s nice. Sounds a bit fuzzy, but not sure if that’s just my headphones. Wondering if it will pick up like “Fake Empire” does. YES, it just did. Really quick drum beat, great vocal harmonies in the chorus. Ok, I liked this one a lot more than I expected to when it first started.
2. Sorrow – Much more upbeat start than the first song. This one sounds much clearer as well, so I guess the fuzz of track 1 was intentional. Instrumentation is extremely warm. It’s a song that could have been a straight up slow song too so it’s nice to have the consistent double time drum beat. Sounds like a choir just chimed in. Nice song.
3. Anyone’s Ghost – Now that’s more like it. I feel like the National does dark songs and bright songs really well. This is the first taste of the darker side of the band. The drum beat sounds distinctly National-esque. Really unusual chord changes at times. I think I prefer the darker National, so that is right up my alley.
4. Little Faith – Something a little electronic in the intro. Didn’t expect that at all. Again, really nice layers and instrumentation. And again, the drums really keep the song pushing forward where the vocals are a bit slower. It does pick up a bit at the end, but overall I didn’t think this one was very memorable.
5. Afraid of Everyone – One of two songs on the album I’d already heard. Dark and mysterious, just how I like the National best. It’s maybe the highest notes we’ve heard from famously deep-voiced singer Matt Berninger. I think I hear a clarinet in there somewhere. For some reason this song reminds me of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. Even as dark as this song sounds, the music is still full and somewhat warm. My favorite song so far, but it might just be because I’ve already heard it a few times.
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio – Here’s the other song that I’ve heard quite a bit. While this one has been growing on me a little bit, this is sort of what prompted me to form my notion that this album could be a bit “boring”. Sure, it sounds nice and all, but I just feel like it stays the same throughout the entire song. It is somewhat of a nice contrast, however, coming right after the dark “Afraid of Everyone”.
7. Lemonworld – I like the intro. It sounds familiar but fresh. Musically it reminds me a lot of “Mistaken for Strangers” and I’m OK with that. I’m sensing a bit of a buildup in the works. Really subtle violin in the background. Didn’t build up as much as I expected it to, but it did become a lot warmer as it went on. Not a bad tune.
8. Runaway – Slower tune. Actually I feel like I’ve heard this one a long time ago as well. Maybe they played it when I saw them last summer? And I remember it being a bit of a yawner back then too. The horns really fill up the space nicely, but I personally just can’t always get into tracks like this.
9. Conversation 16 – A refreshing start after that last tune. I do like when it gets a little brighter in the second half of the song. Although I’m pretty sure he just sang, “I was afraid I’d eat your brains ‘cause I’m evil.” It’s an interesting contrast to have these really morbid lyrics sung over such pretty music. But yeah, I’m digging this song a LOT.
10. England – Cool piano intro, I like the chord progression. Sort of unexpected. Interested to see where this one goes. And so far it hasn’t really gone anywhere, but there’s still time. Ok, there’s definitely a buildup happening right now. Better. This might be the loudest point on the album. Even so, I feel like it never gets as far as it could go.
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks – Another slow jam to close out the album. It’s nice to listen to, but it’s just not very memorable. Another quasi-buildup that doesn’t seem to really go anywhere.
So let’s summarize. It’s definitely a really good album. Musically, it’s full of depth and layers and from what I picked up lyrically, it’s not bad, although a bit more abstract that I’m used to from the National (I tend to prefer their straightforward lyrics, a la “Karen”). I really liked the darker tunes in this album, and I liked some of the brighter tunes. But some of the brighter songs, while the instrumentation was really nice, sounded kind of generic to me. It’s almost as if the songs I didn’t really care for on Boxer added in some strings and horns and tried to pass themselves off as new, but I still think that those songs are well written and produced, just not my style.. Ok, that probably sounds a lot harsher than how I mean it. As of right now I like it, but don’t love it, but I’m actually pretty sure that will change after a few more plays on the ole ipod.
The National – Anyone’s Ghost (removed by request)
Here’s “Afraid of Everyone” as we were asked to remove “Anyone’s Ghost”
ive pretty much been obsessed with the antlers album “hospice” the last few weeks. once i got over my miike snow fix, “hospice” became the new album that i had to listen to at least once a day. and with the low lows and high highs of the album, its tricky to get the volume just right to listen to the album at work and hear all the quiet parts without disrupting half the floor when the louder parts kick in. ive kind of been avoiding posting about this album because theres just so many good things to say about it. im not even really sure how i settled on one song to post because the album is so great from start to finish. i think what i like about it is how the lyrics are so sad and depressing but a lot of the time the music is just the opposite. listening to this whole album is kind of like being in some sort of dreamlike state. a big, beautiful, soft, loud, passive and bold dreamlike state.
the album tells the tale of a man being forced to watch the woman he loves die of cancer. the lyrics are extremely real and pretty intense at times and often in stark contrast to the music. while i chose “sylvia” as todays song, it could have just as easily been “kettering”, the utterly sad defacto opening track that sets the tone of the whole album both musically and lyrically, or “bear”, the track that starts out sounding like a lullaby describing cancer with the lyrics “theres a bear inside your stomach/the cubs been kicking from within/hes loud, though without vocal chords/we’ll put an end to him” and builds into a huge french horn laden song reminiscent of the national, or “two”, where we learn more about the couples torrid past and whose lyrics are almost too real and depressing for comfort.
but no, instead i chose “sylvia” (coincidentally ive already posted another song with this title by the aforementioned miike snow) after giving the lyrics another look. having recently experienced a close friend battle cancer (currently in the finishing stages of beating it, cuz shes a huge baller!), i can completely identify with the helplessness of the whole situation, wanting to help make things better but unable to do so. although in the case of this song, its more about a guy who basically didnt seem to realize what he had until it was too late, wishing for things to be the way they were before, best exemplified by the huge chorus that seems to come out of nowhere after the soft verses of the song:
sylvia, get your head out of the oven/go back to screaming and cursing/remind me again how everyone betrayed you/sylvia, get your head out of the covers/let me take your temperature/you can throw the thermometer right back at me/if thats what you want to do, okay?
and the closing lyrics:
sylvia, cant you see what you are doing?/cant you see im scared to speak/and i hate my voice cuz it only makes you angry/sylvia, i only talk when youre sleeping/thats when i tell you everything/and i imagine that somehow youre going to hear me.
whew. that was deep. im usually not huge on lyrics, but its almost a sin to not read the lyrics to this album while youre listening at least once. one of the realest albums ive heard in a long time, and hard to imagine something else beating it out for my album of the year.
this is a pretty big week of firsts here at dailybeatz. first of all, i wrote a little article about the cost aspect of pitchfork fest which was posted on the windycitizen blog yesterday. this marks my first time writing an article about anything using proper punctuation and capitalization. we’ve also got our first ever interview coming up later this week. and finally, we’ve got our very first giveaway coming up even later in the week. phew, thats a lot to look forward to all in one week, dont you think? that being said, im exhausted, and im going to repost the contents of the story i wrote below, as well as a song by the flaming lips, who closed out the pitchfork festival last night with a bang. you can see the original article here in all its glory.
The Price of Pitchfork Fun
Friday night began my second year at the ever-eclectic Pitchfork Music Festival at Union Park in the great city of Chicago. While I’m still deciding if I prefer this weekend’s sub-70 degree temperatures to last year’s intense heat and humidity, I do know that Pitchfork Fest has remained one of the most affordable festivals, especially relative to the caliber of its acts. At just over $80 for a weekend pass, its among the most affordable 3-day music festivals out there. But what about the costs when you actually arrive at the festival? After spending ridiculous amounts of money at last year’s festival, I decided to provide a list of good deals and things to avoid to keep your wallet in check.
Let’s start out with the good. Perhaps the best value at Pitchfork is the food. While a typical meal will run you $6 or $7, the portions are generous and the options are abundant. I had a messy and delicious $7 pulled turkey sandwich from the Robinson’s cart and will be indulging in a $2 corn on the cob tomorrow. My friends got a huge portion of tempura shrimp and vegetables from the Star of Siam booth that was pretty tasty too. Regardless of what you’re in the mood for, there’s probably a food stand for you.
Another place to hit up for a potential deal is the Threadless.com booth, located just to the right of the entrance next to the baseball diamonds. They are offering a wheel of deals for whoever wants to spin. You can win anything from a button up to a $25 credit on threadless.com, and I believe at the end of the weekend they’re going to pick a winner who will win 200 free t-shirts.
If you’re looking for more wearable goods, check out the Broken Cherry stand. This Chicago boutique offers a wide selection of t-shirts for as low as $5 and $10 each. For a little extra, they will even make a custom shirt with the design of your choice. Last year there was also an InCase booth making custom stenciled spray paint t-shirts that were a big hit with the crowd, but I didn’t see them this year.
Now on to the ugly. The good news is, there really wasn’t much that was very ugly this year. While some of the wares in the vendor tent may seem a little overpriced to some, there weren’t many items that my friends and I purchased that we felt were a ripoff. The most notable change from last year was that the price of beer increased from $4 to $5. While this price increase may seem small, it definitely adds up over the course of the weekend when you’re with a group of 8. The $7 Sparks drinks also seemed a little overpriced. The ice cream cone we got was pretty good, but not for $5.
Perhaps the most costly part of our day was the valuable time we spent waiting in long bathroom lines today. Either there were many more attendees than last year, or far fewer bathrooms, or a combination of both, but if you were a victim of long bathroom lines today, here’s a little tip to save you time on Sunday. Try the port-o-lets between the main entrance and the Connector Stage, and go to the line all the way to the right. We never waited more than 10 minutes once we found that spot.
All in all, our group was pretty happy with the selection of food and non-food vendors that were offered, and we were content with the prices for the most part. As we exited the festival grounds after a phenomenal set by The National, we got one last freebie: a large can of Venom energy drinks, thanks to the lovely lady pictured here (Sorry, I’m new to this whole reporting thing, and I really should have asked for your name, but hopefully you were able to find the article anyway). They came in very handy as mixers for our pre-bar festivities.
i hope you enjoyed my first foray into “journalism”. a few highlights from pitchfork friday and saturday include: running into my long lost friend angelina on the street in wicker park, yeasayer playing “sunrise” and the rains stopped and the sun came out for the first time all day, beirut being incredible live, and the national proving they were worthy headliners. on to todays song. i chose “ego tripping at the gates of hell” by the flaming lips. its one of my favorite flaming lips songs but i dont know why, i just like the way it sounds, so enjoy it. maybe ill update later telling you all whether or not they played this song during their performance if i am not too lazy. in other words dont count on it. [edit: they did not play this song. they did, however, utilize awesomely copious amounts of confetti and giant balloons. at one point, they blew up a giant confetti filled balloon with a leaf blower, the biggest balloon ive ever seen. i went to snap a pic and it exploded just before i took the picture, so i have a great pic of confetti in the shape of a giant balloon. but i wish the singer wouldnt have been such a chatty cathy and played a few more songs instead. and that they didnt play the yoshimi songs so slowly. but, m83 KILLED IT. i am obsessed with them now.]
getting ready for the second day of pitchfork, and the first full day of music. there are tons of crazy good acts at this years festival and many of my personal favorites, but luckily none of the favorites are playing at the same time so i have less difficult decisions to make than in previous and future festival scenarios. if i hadnt already written about yeasayer, i would definitely feature them again today, because i just cant get enough of them. im kind of curious to see if i still love their weird and unique performance as much when its not at 1am immediately following 3 hours of bruce springsteen, but im pretty sure i will like it as much if not more this time around since im much much more familiar with all of their music. so instead i decided to talk about another favorite band of mine and yours, the national, who will be headlining saturday night.
ive seen the national a few times and its always fun. what do i like most about the national, other than their versatility and the deepest voice by a lead singer ever? probably the honesty in their lyrics. they are just very true to life and real. i think this is especially evident in todays track “baby we’ll be fine” in which the story is told of a man who feels like he just cant do anything right and who is struggling with making something of himself. probably my favorite song by the national. just listen to the lyrics in this one and tell me if they sound like a familiar struggle. and the music is so great too. i love the ends of each verse, starting with “all we gotta do is be brave and be kind”. it also mentions my favorite drink, the jack and coke, so bonus points for that. and the music aint too bad neither. if you arent convinced about brutally honest lyrics, just listen to “karen”.
day 3 of bonnaroo. things have been pretty good so far, except for the herd of hippos that rolled through the campsites last night eating everything and everyone in their paths and the patchouli flu thats been spreading around the festival. just kidding, that didnt happen, or at least if it is going to happen, i dont know about it yet, because its only tuesday and i havent even left. but im going to pretend that im posting live from bonnaroo, even though theres no way in heck im bringing my computer and im pretty confident that i wont get cell phone reception in manchester, tennessee, much less a wireless internet signal. this is a little trick we use in the blogging industry called “saying its one day when its really not”. its pretty sneaky and only us insiders of the biz know about it. lucky for me, the secret dead poet free mason blogger society anonymous teaches you this little trick of the trade after youve had a blog for 3 weeks or more, so i just made the cut.
im pretty excited for the late night shows tonight. i didnt know about the late night shows until a few weeks ago, and if my prior festival experience is any indicator, i have no clue how im going to stay awake for the late night shows, but im gonna try. tonight is going to provide us with the 1-2 punch of yeasayer and mgmt. i was supposed to see mgmt at lolla last year, but we missed them due to the “brand new” debacle (for which we also missed explosions in the sky). ask me about that one later. im not still bitter at all. not in the slightest. what gave you that impression?
anyway, yeasayer is one of those groups for me that has a sound all its own. their album “all hour cymbals” is a strange mix of dark and light. id say 60% dark, and 40% light. if not, then id say 55% dark, 30% light, and 15% viking. that was an obscure reference to the drink order of jeff lewis on bravos “flipping out”. i tried for a long time to find the video clip and couldnt but you should try, its worth it. todays track, tightrope, is part of the red hot compilation entitled dark was the night, put together by the national’s aaron and bryce dessner to help fight hiv. this track is a favorite of mine from the compilation because it shows the brighter and happier side of yeasayer. what say you of this tune?
buy this track itunes
