Album Review: YACHT.

YACHT

SHANGRI-LA

©2011 DFA Records

So sorry I haven't written in here in such a long time! Frankly, I've been pretty busy trying to inject myself into Melbourne society (i.e., trying to find a job) – but luckily I've been able to get a gig writing articles for the local weekly music magazine, Beat! How cool is that? There's a lot on my plate at the moment, but I'm quite hungry. Today I thought I'd share with my faithful readers a review I wrote for Beat on a fucking extraordinary record – Portland, Oregon-based duo YACHT and their fifth album, Shangri-La. Cheers, and I swear I'll pop in more often – I've been a bad, bad blogger as of late! But you guys are so damn awesome; I know you understand.

Ahem.

Where does utopia end, and dystopia begin? What darkness lurks in the shadows and ignored corners of a Brave New World? All heady questions to be sure, but Portland, Oregon duo YACHT are on the case with their fifth full-length album entitled, fittingly, Shangri-La. Yet another victory for New York dance label DFA, this glistening and darkly slick electro-punk outing screams out loud its concept of perceived perfection in society with a ferocity that at times borders on stunning.

Sporting a voice that wouldn't be out of place blaring from CBGB's in the late seventies, vocalist Claire Evans alternates between dreamy renderings of paradise and venomous diatribes railing against forced relationships, religious charlatans, and a society always stumbling in an endless quest for perfection. Multi-instrumentalist Jona Bechtolt and the mob that makes up YACHT's touring band ably provide a constantly mutating soundscape that challenges perceptions of what, exactly, electronic music can achieve. 

Second track "Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire)" has Evans channeling The Bloodhound Gang when she intones,

"The Earth, the Earth, the Earth is on fire! / We don't have no daughter / Let the motherfucker burn."

Percussion-heavy "I Walk Alone" is reminiscent of seventies Detroit rock, and "Paradise Engineering" features lyrics that could have been penned by David Byrne delivered over beats and rhythms that bring to mind the best of LCD Soundsystem.

But the best of the bunch would have to be the sprawling and multi-layered "Tripped And Fell In Love". Dense, mean, and driven by some seriously sinister synths, it's a fantastically constructed and danceable game-changer in the world of disco-punk.

Highly, highly recommended.

Best Track: "Tripped And Fell In Love"

If You Like This, You'll Like: Sound of Silver by LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, It's Blitz! by YEAH YEAH YEAHS, The City Never Sleeps by THE CRYSTAL ARK

In A Word: Arcadian

So, yeah, that was my review. While you're here, why don't you watch the following film? Here's the music video for the first two tracks, "Utopia" and "Dystopia." Pretty cool shit, if you ask me.

Well, fuck. Embedding seems to be down. Oh well – here's the link to the video on the YouTubes. Enjoy.

The Crystal Ark.

Producer Gavin Russom is known by the nickname "Wizard" -- a moniker that's rather fitting, considering his flowing red mane of hair and his almost mystical ability to program, play, and build synthesizers. Also a member of DFA's ridiculously talented family of musicians, this gentleman from Providence, Rhode Island also sometimes performs as The Crystal Ark. His music, to me, represents a sort of subsonic melding of technological prowess and an almost organic, shamanistic spirituality that dives deep beneath the surface of the listener's subconsciousness and subverts the definition of reality, and how encapsulated the broader surface of life really is. And hey! It's fucking fabulous to dance to.

The Crystal Ark has released two EPs this year: The City Never Sleeps and The Tangible Presence of the Miraculous. Ten days ago, the video for "The City Never Sleeps" was released, and it's simply amazing. Directed by vocalist Viva Ruiz (whose hypnotic and chanty voice propels the transcendent track), this video has everything: Insomniac New Yorkers, old-school synths, spiritual quests, a shaman dancing on a table, and brilliantly realized animal costumes. And lasers! So yo, check this shit out.

The Crystal Ark - The City Never Sleeps from DFA Records on Vimeo.

Gig Review: LCD Soundsystem.

LCD Soundsystem

03 June 2010

The Fillmore Auditorium

San Francisco, California

Let's just say he has a better record collection than you do. God bless Mr James Murphy - the rambunctious, energetic, clever, and just plain inventive frontman for LCD Soundsystem. Only he, during their manic performance at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, could deliver a line like this (from "Pow Pow," my favorite song off the new album, This Is Happening) - and in one breath, at that:

On this occasion, there are a couple of things that we know

that we learned from Fact Magazine:

One, the king wears a king hat and lives in a king house

Two, your time will come, but tonight is our night, so you should give us all your drugs

Three, we have a black president and you do not, so shut up,

because you don't know shit about where I'm from that you didn't get from your TV.

Take these lyrics, practically spoken-word/poetry-slammed into what looked like a vintage '50s 555 VMOT microphone over a staccato rhythm of intense percussion, jangling guitar, heavy dub-style bass, intricate and spidery synths, and a catchy-as-all-fucking-hell chorus ("Pow, pow pow pow pow, pow pow pow pow!"): Whatcha got?

Well, according to my math, you've got yourselves a pretty goddamn good time. The sold-out crowd at 1805 Geary, sweating their asses off whilst dancing, swaying, and generally having the time of their life was good evidence of this scientific theory.

Earlier in the day, Ess Eff was getting rather balmy (about 75ºF/21ºC), and in the midst of all the pressing bodies in the venue - well, I gotta say, it was getting fairly hot (and this was before the show started!). Murphy and company took the stage at a little past ten - he wiped his forehead with his arm and bemoaned the fact that there wasn't a towel available to wipe away his sweat. "Damn, it's hot up here and I think they forgot about me?" he half-asked into the mike - a roady immediately fluttered out from stage left and delivered a fluffy blue towel. After a quick wipe-down and a thank-you to the bearer of cloth, Murphy and company wasted absolutely no time in crunching into their set with the opener, "Us V Them," from the second album, Sound of Silver.

LCD Soundsystem did not disappoint; not in the slightest. James Murphy and his usual gang of suspects - including the lovely Nancy Whang from DFA (Murphy's record company - interestingly enough, they used to be called Death From Above, but after the 9/11 attacks it was generally felt that that name was somehow inappropriate for a NYC-based label) band The Juan MacLean - tore into the venue's revered atmosphere like Lindsey Lohan into a baggy of white powder. Madness ensued forthwith, as the stage saw Murphy and his six cohorts ripping and roaring through a two hour set spattered with songs from all three albums. (On a sad note, James Murphy has said in no uncertain terms that This Is Happening will be the last LCD Soundsystem album. I hear he's champing at the bit to return to his producing and compiling duties with DFA. I hope he changes his mind!)

From the mad rush of percussion and Herbie Hancock-inspired keyboards of "Us V Them," to the sinister madness and howling laughter of "Yr City's A Sucker," and to the sheer brazen spectacle of the epic "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House," the trademark humor and winking irony of Murphy's lyrics went hand in hand with a hodgepodge of music stylings - veering wildly at times, but almost always working like a charm. And if you can find in your collection another band that's as enthusiastic with the cowbell, please let me know! (Christopher Walken would be proud.)

"I Can Change," a wonderfully cynical love song ("... And love is a curse shoved in a hearse/Love is an open book to a verse of your bad poetry/And this is coming from me.") brings to mind the lyrics of Morrissey, delivered with panache over the synth-pop flavorings of early 80's figureheads The Eurythmics (I was thinking "Love Is A Stranger"). "Drunk Girls," the first single off of the new album rings with echoes of the late 70's Iggy Pop-fueled Detroit Rock cacophony (that, in this reviewer's opinion, did not mesh well with the rest of the show. Not the best song in LCD Soundsystem's canon). Downbeat and pretty damn sad tracks "Someone Great" and "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" closed out the set once again, proving that James Murphy is purely capable of capping off a party with a downer like he did last time I saw them at Mezzanine in 2007! But - whatever.

As I hinted at above, I would like to make a plea to Mr Murphy regarding his rumored plans to cease and desist his purported disintegration of LCD Soundsystem. Mr Murphy, if you're reading this, I implore you: The world of electronic music and synth-pop need you! We need our resident trickster, our jack-of-all-trades. True, sir, it may be that you feel you're truly shining as a producer/mixer/collaborator extraordinaire - and I'm imaging that that's probably true; I'm not trying to be selfish - but we do need you, I reckon. Because in a musical genre that tends to take itself just a wee bit seriously, it's always nice to have a sense of humor, don't you think? Thanks for listening!

setlist.

us v them

drunk girls

get innocuous

yr city's a sucker

daft punk is playing at my house

all i want

all my friends

i can change

tribulations

movement

yeah

--------

someone great

losing my edge

new york i love you but you're bringing me down

For my loyal readers, here is LCD Soundsystem performing "Us V Them" in Manchester, UK!