Spotlight: Future of the Left

**For the sake of this post, I am including McLusky as a previous form of Future of the Left because of their similar band members and similar stylings. They are not, however, the same band** I don't know quite what to call Future of the Left, genre-wise. Perhaps FotL is one of the main reasons I really hate categorizing bands. They just don't seem to fit anywhere. They're most notorious for their abrasive, 2-minute, shout-alongs. But then again, my favorite tracks are the 6-minute lullabies which include various "movements" throughout. They were never famous (not even by indie standards) outside of their hometown of Cardiff, Whales but anyone who has heard one of their songs has no doubt been caught by the bizarre vocal delivery of singer/guitarist Andy "Falco" Falkous. Not only is his delivery unique, but his lyrics are also confusing, if not nonsensical. So why does their music appeal to me? Simply put: no one else is doing anything as creative of Future of the Left in the rock vein. The 3-piece act have recently released their first full-length under a new name Future of the Left after switching bass players and dropping the name McLusky. Superficially the two bands sound almost the same. The back-up vocals are the main difference, obviously. If this is your first time hearing of the band don't shy away from picking up their release, "Curses". However, it would almost be mandatory research for the active music fan to get their hands on all of the McLusky releases plus the 3-disc bootleg/rarity fittingly called McLuskyism. I won't list my favorite tracks because it is sort of an unwritten rule that every Falco follower must have their own and I don't want you adopting mine. And as far as a live show goes... ... and I guess I'll call them "bar rock".

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A new, free Radiohead album next week? The world must becoming to an end

I know this may be a little late, but I just couldn't bear to not see anything on the blog about this monumental occasion. Radiohead may have just pulled off the biggest coup in music history. They're about to simultaneously steal the hope Diamond, re-sink the Titanic and end global poverty...forget it, I can't even sum it up in one sentence. How? Well, first off--the band haven't given us an album since 2003's lackluster "Hail to the Thief" (unless you count Thom Yorke's boring solo album "The Eraser"--I, of course, don't)...and they told us that we wouldn't be getting one until at least 2008...letting us all down for a 4th straight year. That announcement was particularly depressing when the band had a blog about their recording sessions and after Jonny Greenwood (the world's greatest guitar player) told Pitchforkmedia that the band was "done recording". Damn you, damn you to hell...right? Wrong. What does it mean? Well, an $81 package that includes 2 vinyl lp, 2 cds and a hardcover book and/or a digital download on October 10th. Yes, September 10th--seven days from now. The band announced the album, "In Rainbows" on September 30th and are releasing it on October 10. That may be the fastest turnaround for any major-label band ever. Hold up, though--Radiohead are no longer a major label band--the band doesn't even have a record label anymore. "Hail to the Thief" fulfilled their obligation to Capitol/Parlophone--and you can be damn sure that no money-making label would want to be anywhere near Radiohead at this second. Why? No, it's not because of the music (I've only heard a few of the songs--"Nude" has been a fan favorite since forever and is the song that almost caused the band to break up on the 1997 documentary "Meeting People is Easy"...and "Reckoner" was a terrible song played live on the "Amnesiac" tour)--it's because they, in theory, are giving the album away for free. Yes, for free. You decide how much you want to pay for the record on the band's official site--and you are promised the download of the album on October 10. As much as it pains me to admit this, I decided to pay $0.00 for the album (I will probably buy the $81 pack in December, because they won't even begin shipping until December). I had to wait in an online queue (oh you charming British lads), but I was given a receipt and told I could download the album on October 10th. O rly? srsly? Really. We all know that Radiohead are probably the most influential modern band (finding a band with a singer that doesn't sound like Thom Yorke these days is the exception, not the rule) and that this album, in all honesty, is going to bring the rock...and the glitch...and the noise....and the ethereal...and the downright awesome. And, best of all, we can all have it for free (legally). You'd think there was a catch, but, no, not this time. It'd be one thing if Muse gave away their album free (*barfs*)...but Radiohead? Not to be cheesy/punny, but the boys must be paying off the Karma Police or something (*crickets*). Anyway, here's the tracklist for the RH nerds out there ("Bodysnatchers" sees Jonny bringing the Telecaster funk from the live bootlegs I've heard...and it seems that they've relegated a good deal of the songs that they were playing on their last European tour onto the exclusive, $81 disc...so at least we know we're getting a load of fresh songs for free): Disc 1 1. "15 Step" 2. "Bodysnatchers" 3. "Nude" 4. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" 5. "All I Need" 6. "Faust ARP" 7. "Reckoner" 8. "House of Cards" 9. "Jigsaw Falling into Place" 10. "Videotape" Disc 2 1. "MK1" 2. "Down Is the New Up" 3. "Go Slowly" 4. "MK2" 5. "Last Flowers" 6. "Up on the Ladder" 7. "Bangers and Mash" 8. "4 Minute Warning" Wasn't it Thom who sang "No alarms and no surprises, please?" Gah. Alright, really. You know to call it a day when you're expressing your emotions with Radiohead song quotes.

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Recycled Sounds: Kanye Samples Steely Dan

Contemporary hip-hop's emphasis on sampling has its share of pitfalls (see: P. Diddy) but occasionally makes the old and forgotten seem wonderfully new and urgent. And given Kanye West's eclectic musical tastes, it's not surprising that a bunch of unexpected and esoteric samples pop up on his most recent effort, Graduation. West's "Champion," in particular, anchors its hook on a triumphant-sounding lyric from Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne," a single from their 1976 effort The Royal Scam It's there because it includes the word "champion" and is generally illustrative of West's declarations of his own musical prowess. But in cribbing some lines from a pair of the most notoriously oblique lyricists in American pop music, I believe, West is doing more than creating a record that builds his appeal amongst the hipster set. He's created his own Royal Scam, an album for the dancefloor that also reflects a certain amount of cultural malaise. It's not difficult to trace the lineage of West's darker, more spastic narratives back to the arch sarcasm of Steely Dan ("Drunk and Hot Girls" certainly owes a little something to the Dan's irrationally exuberant ode to safe sex in the '70s, "The Fez"). Even if Kanye is all about cultivating a certain image, popularizing Venetian-blind sunglasses and appearing onstage with Peter Bjorn and John, his consciousness of his own place in the pop culture spectrum is enough to turn nearly anything he does into a riff on the bling-and-booty excess of mainstream hip-hop. Is Kayne the next Walter Becker or Donald Fagen? If his music continues to resonate with the current gangsta-weary, ironic zeitgeist, it might not be as odd as it sounds.

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Powerpop Bounces On...

When I first discovered and got into the genre 4 years ago, I thought Powerpop had more or less been dead for 10-15 years. I bought and downloaded every compilation I could find: the D.I.Y. series, the Children of Nuggets 4-disc set, anything that included "Yellow Pills" in its title, etc... There were plenty of compilations to find if you looked hard enough. And there was a reason why the sound quality sounded so poor: Everything was recorded in the 70s and 80s. Every now and then I'd discover a song from the early 90s, but generally I couldn't find anything substantial "powerpop" later than 1993. What happened to this once magical genre? The Records, 20/20, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, The Motors, The Bats, the dB's, etc... Their sound was seemingly terminated somewhere in the late 80s... Rather than continue on about my frustrations... I'll get to the point. Powerpop got lost amid the punk movement and the MTV generation. Much of early punk was an outlash almost directly at the suburban spheres where Powerpop bands flourished. The two hated each other. Neither got much public attention and skinny guys in skinny ties were easy targets for the punks. Where does MTV fit in? I was a tyke when it started up in the 80s, but anyone from that era can tell you the music they featured was mainstream and still is. They weren't revolutionary because they featured music videos from underground bands, they were revolutionary because they played music videos (I'll give them credit for championing pseudo/post-powerpop bands, however. Read up and R.E.M., if you are interested). There's no clear boundary in my mind it was more or less a gradual decrease in the number of bands cranking out jangly guitar-licks and straightforward lyrics about girls they are hopelessly in love with. The day came sometime last summer. I moved back to my hometown for 3 months to wash dished at a local restaurant and enjoy the scenery and culture of the Deep South. I think it was a dream I had or a hallucination... whatever it was it finally made all the elements crystal clear to me. Theory: Powerpop from the 70s/80s never fully died out. It simply became gradually less accessible to the public therefore limiting expose to the thousands of teens that form bands everyday and emulate their favorite groups. It's not a nobel-winning theory, but I think it works. I realized this after coming across bands like Gentleman Jesse and His Men, Cause Co-motion, True Love, and The Nice Boys. All contemporary groups with sounds straight out of the late 70s. But why all of a sudden are they popping their heads up? Why not in 1995? Why not in 2000? It's my belief that downloading, blogs, and music forums have all enabled a new generation of impressionable teens to stumble across the genre that would have otherwise been forgotten. I mean... how did I find out about the genre? I read a thread about it on a music forum. Thank technology for allowing the cycle to continue. The Nice Boys - Johnny Guitar

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