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Wednesday, 28 December 2005
Top 10 Albums for 2005
Yeah, yeah, I know ... albums are soooo "last century." Let's face it – with the rising popularity of digital downloading and iPod culture, I'm well aware that it's all about the single these days. And while there were certainly quite a few singles that I loved this year, most of them happened to be on albums that made this list anyway. So call me "old school." For now, I'm sticking with the time-honored Top 10 Albums list ... at least for this year.
Of course, this is a highly-opinionated, highly-biased list. I'm not necessarily saying these were the ten best albums of the year. These just happen to be my ten favorites, listed pretty much in order of preference. Enjoy!
1. The Lovemakers – Times of Romance
My favorite album of the year, from my favorite Bay Area band ... who I desperately hope will break nationally. This, their major-label debut, doesn't seem like it's getting a big push from Interscope, which is unfortunate. It's a catchy-as-fuck new wave-influenced electro-pop record with an emo-indie heart, replete with sugar-coated boy/girl harmonies, and bittersweet break-up lyrics. If these kids don't make it big, it's going to be such a shame.
2. Dean Gray – American Edit
Far and away the best bootleg album ... well, ever. Dean Gray, a.k.a. mash-up artists Party Ben and Team9, have meticulously crafted an amazing remix/interpretation of Green Day's American Edit. This is the new gold standard of high-concept mash-up albums, and is imminently more listenable than Danger Mouse's over-rated, over-hyped Grey Album, which just sounds like Jay-Z rapping over a bunch of mangled cut-up Beatles loops. This, on the other hand, is a true bastard pop masterpiece, showcasing the potential of the mash-up genre by cleverly mixing the Berkeley pop/punk trio with everything from Depeche Mode, Johnny Cash, the Eagles, Queen, U2, and Oasis, to name just a few. This free, internet-only bootleg album got plenty of attention when Warner slapped it with a cease-and-desist order a mere ten days after its release – which is pretty much a badge of honor in the mash-up world!
3. Various Bootleggers – The Best Mashups In The World Ever Are From San Francisco
I don't know how this bootleg compilation of mash-ups made it on to this list. It certainly wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that it says "produced by A+D" on it, or that our "Decepta-Freak-On" mash-up is the first track. ;-) It might, however, have something to do with the fact that, even though I had to listen to this damn thing a zillion times, I never once got bored with it. And that definitely counts for something. Nothing makes me more proud of our local Bay Area mash-up scene.
4. Fischerspooner – Odyssey
Fuck the haters. I still love electro. So of course, now that electroclash is official dead, many of the buzz bands from 2003 are now producing their best work ever ... two years too late. Such is the case with New York City's performance art/electro duo Fischerspooner. If their first album was all about one song ("Emerge") surrounded by a bunch of filler, this is a much more developed piece of work. While there are certainly standout tracks ("Never Win" in particular), this is more consistant from start-to-finish than their debut. There's also a bit of a '70s prog-rock undercurrent mixed in with the modern electronics, giving it a quasi-Pink Floyd-like warmth, which I love. I so hope they didn't get dropped from Capitol.
5. Dresden Dolls – Dresden Dolls
On my annual Top 10 list, there always seems to be one album that actually came out the year before – but I didn't discover it until recently. The Dresden Dolls are this year's token entry in that category. This Boston-based boy/girl duo create all their songs using simply piano, drums, and vocals – and it's intensely beautiful. "Punk cabaret" is the best way to describe them ... either that, or "Tori Amos with balls."
6. Morningwood – Morningwood
To make up for the fact that the Dresden Dolls are on this list, I'm including an album that hasn't even been released yet. (It comes out on January 10th.) But I've had an advance copy of this New York band's debut for a few months now, and I can't stop listening to it. Sexy and sassy female vocals, buzzy rock guitars, and just the right amount of electronics to keep it all dancey and shit. And what's not to love about a band that spells out their name ... on their first single! That takes a certain kind of bravado that Morningwood peddles in spades.
7. LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
I wasn't a big fan of the singles that preceded LCD Soundsystem's full-length debut, chalking up the buzz surrounding James Murphy's vanity project as simply hipster hype. Boy, did this record prove me wrong! Forget the second disc of this double CD – it's all about the new material on the first disc that puts this on my list. Throbbing, dirty, electro-indie dance-rock goodness. This sounds so right now, it's bound to be dated by this time next year. But for now, believe the hype.
8. Kelly Clarkson – Breakaway
A guilty pleasure, to be sure ... but one that I mysteriously keep coming back to over and over again. Sure, it's pop music, pure and simple. But it's all so damn catchy! And there's just something about Clarkson's delivery, the conviction in her voice, as if she's trying to prove that she's not just a vapid, disposable American Idol has-been. And two of the best pop/rock singles of the year are from this record ("Since U Been Gone" and "Behind These Hazel Eyes").
9. M.I.A. – Arular
Until the Lady Sovereign album drops next year, this is my favorite record by a pint-sized female rapper from the U.K. Ah, fuck that – I mean my favorite rapper, period! This Sri Lankan by way of London produced the freshest-sounding hip-hop record of the year, thanks in part to Diplo's production – it's so nice to hear beats that don't all sound like they were produced by the fuckin' Neptunes or P. Diddy. Bangin' all around.
10. Mindless Self Indulgence – You'll Rebel To Anything
M.S.I. have always been a great live band, but their albums were mostly frantic jumbles of half-written songs and half-realized ideas. Bluntly put, they could put on a helluva show, but you didn't really go to hear the songs. Well, that's changed a bit with this, the first M.S.I. record I can actually sit down and listen to. Leader Jimmy Urine has figured out a few things about songwriting. But don't get me wrong: the fast-tempo electronic-punk arrangements are still crazy, and there are still time-changes all over the place. It's just a bit more focused now. Besides, what's not to love about an album that contains the lyric: "Two hookers and and an eightball! Can you believe I write this shit? Two hookers and and an eightball! Stupid people thinkin' I am cool!" Brilliant!
14:05 Posted in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Wednesday, 14 December 2005
I went to Europe and all I saw was the inside of a nightclub
At the end of November, me and the Mysterious D, along with Party Ben, flew to Paris for a couple of DJ gigs.
However, the minute we got back, we had to hit the ground running, with DJ gigs at two corporate holiday parties, followed by back-to-back Bootie weekends, first in LA, and then here in SF. Plus, there were two random Club Six gigs, including D and Ben DJing at the Live 105 Not-So-Silent-Night Afterparty with Princess Superstar! So, in other words, it's been a bit difficult finding time over the past two weeks to get around to blogging about our European travels.
But you know, it wasn't like DJing in Paris and Amsterdam was any less whirlwind than DJing here! People keep asking us how Europe was, and all I really remember are nighttime scenes. We saw so little of daylight while we were there! We got there on a Wednesday afternoon, and DJ Zebra picked us up at the airport. We valiantly tried to be social and stay awake through our jet-lag, but eventually, our bodies had had enough. Ben stayed with Zebra, and D and I cabbed over to Marco's apartment in the St. Germain de Pres – mind you, this is the first time we actually met Marco. We'd only ever had e-mail contact! But he turned out to be the Best Host Ever, giving us his bed while he slept on the pull-out sofa in the living room, and letting us use his computer whenever we wanted. Very convenient.
Anyway, after twelve hours of sleep, I was feeling refreshed and ready to hit the town. D, on the other hand, had some sort of horrible stomach flu or food poisoning or something. The same thing happened to both of us back in 2000, when we flew to London. We're wondering if it has something to do with airplane food and 10 hours of transatlantic flight, if it fucks with your body somehow. Anyway, she was pretty much out for the whole afternoon, while I ran around Paris with Ben and Zebra trying to figure out how to buy a train ticket to Amsterdam, so we could get to our gig the next day. We eventually went to the Gare du Nord train station, and thankfully, Zebra was able to help me get a ticket – even working us into first class for the first leg of our Thalys train trip to Brussels. Woo-hoo!
That night, D was feeling better, so Marco made us pasta for dinner. We gotta remember stuff like that. You see, anytime we ever have an out-of-town guest DJ, we usually just take them out to eat. But we realized HOW NICE it was to have a simple home-cooked meal. It was real cozy and sweet, and we totally appreciated it. Marco rocked!
After zipping over to InterFrance, the radio station where Party Ben was being interviewed, we all went to the Rex Club, where several electro DJs were spinning. It ... was ... great! Me and D and Ben are all sitting around, LOVING the music, and realizing that we own a good many of the tracks being spun: "My Friend Dario" by Vitalic, a very cool Kaiser Chiefs remix, Mylo, some other obscure electro stuff – and we're wondering – why isn't there a club in San Francisco that plays this same sort of stuff? Electro is obviously alive and well and Europe – why is it so dead in SF? Are there places spinning this that we just don't know about? I mean, I guest DJed at Future at the Underground, and I know Earworm drops quite a bit of electro into his sets. But is there any electro SCENE? I resolved right then and there, that night at the Rex Club, that I'm going to start a new electro club in San Francisco – and I don't care if only 20 people show up. I really want to spin this music.
So anyway, at around 3:30 AM, D and I left everyone and cabbed back to Marco's where we ended up having really loud sex – so loud that we didn't hear Marco come home! But when we were done, we saw that the living room light was on ... OOOPS! Two days later, I would apologize to him. He just said, in French-accented English, "Oooh, don't worry. It eeez naturaaaal." I love the French!
The next day, we hauled our tired asses to the train station to hop the Thalys train to Amsterdam. We'd never done the "take a train through Europe" thing, so we were looking forward to it. It only took 4 hours, but the sun sets so early this time of year, that we were only in Amersterdam for an hour before it was dark again. We made our way to the Supperclub, where we were booked to DJ. We walk in, and no one knows what to do with us. Eventually, I wander around and ask someone where I can find Bob. He points me upstairs to the office, and when we walk in, Bob greets us warmly, but then says, "Wait! It's the 25th already? Hold on, let me make a few phone calls." Turns out, despite our e-mail exchange a week prior, he had forgotten to book us, so he had to rearrange the DJ schedule a little bit. Good thing he was there in the office when we came by!
So we ended up spinning in the downstairs lounge, instead of the restaurant, which was exactly where we wanted to be anyway. (We don't exactly specialize in the sort of chilled, trip-hop, lounge-house thing that gets spun while people are eating, so we were actually relieved.) Instead we did a two-hour opening set in the Bar Rouge, spinning R&B and hiphop-flavored mash-ups for a very excited crowd, eager to dance. They were LOVING what we were doing, and kept coming up and asking about it. Friday nights used to be "urban," so we figured we were fitting right in. However, the next DJ – who was very nice and into what we were doing – warned us that he was going to take it into a totally different direction. "Isn't tonight an urban night?" I asked. "They changed it about two months ago," he said. "Now it's mostly house." Whoops! No one told us! Very typical of Supperclub. But he siad it obviously wasn't a problem, as we had a full dance-floor. We ended up hanging out there all night, and because we were staying in the Supperclub's guest room upstairs, we were able to just get drunk and stumble back to our room. Perfect!
The guest room has no windows, so we were able to sleep in. We got up in the late morning and spent about three hours wandering around Amsterdam, eating a lovely lunch, shopping in fetishwear and sex shops (but not actually buying anything), and checking out all the Smart cars. We stopped in at the "coffeeshop" across the alley from the Supperclub to check our e-mail and got stoned just sitting there, getting a contact high. Then we gathered up our stuff and took the train back to Paris.
As soon as we got back to Paris, we had to cab over to the Zin Zin (it mean's "crazy" in French), the club where we were DJing at. We get there, and there are work lights on, construction guys hammering in nails, sawdust everywhere, and electrical cables hanging from the ceiling. Uh... what's going on? Turns out, it's a new venue – and it doesn't officially open for another two weeks. So this is sort of a ... preview party. In fact, it's the first night they've ever done ANYTHING at the venue, and they're still fixing up the club. The sound system didn't even work at first. We smelled disaster.
Fortunately, the club got everything put together – albeit a little late. They didn't open until nearly midnight! But when they did, there was a queue of people waiting to get in – all standing out there in the freezing rain. Definitely an up-for-it crowd. This was only the third Bootleg night that Zebra has ever done, and obviously, Paris is hungry for the mash-ups. The club wasn't even in a neighborhood known for nightlife. So these were people who very specifically were there to dance to bootlegs!
D and I went on early, and one of the guys from the club kept coming up to the DJ booth, screaming at us in French. I had no idea what he was saying, especially over the loud music. After the third time he came up, he just reached over and turned down the volume on the mixer. Guess what? Turns out the club doesn't have a sound permit, and the cops showed up, threatening to shut the club down after being open for only a half-hour. I think they paid off the cops to go away, and then put a limiter on the soundsystem, so every time it got too loud, it would automatically get quiet and soft. This was quite aggravating, especially on tracks like our Kelly Clarkson vs. Breeders mash-up of "Cannonball," when the chorus kicks in with those loud guitars, and then suddenly it's like, it's barely there.
Needless to say, our first set was weird, mostly fighting with sound levels and stuff. But then, we did a second set around 3:30 AM (how much do I love that clubs stay open all night here?) and it totally went off! In fact, everyone spun pretty great sets, and it was especially a treat to finally meet and see Loo & Placido live. DJ Zebra was obviously the hometown hero, and knew EXACTLY what the crowd wanted to hear.
Closing out at the end of the evening took forever, which mostly seemed to involve Zebra and Loo fighting with the venue over money. Ah, I see that some things in nightlife culture are universal, no matter what country you're in. It was major drama, but it all eventually got sorted. Needless to say, I think Zebra learned that being a club promoter is much harder than being a DJ!
By now, it's 6:30 AM, and still dark outside. Marco suggests we walk home, so at least we can see some of the sights. So we see some beautiful old buildings, walk past the Louvre, cross the Seine, and basically do some Paris sightseeing on deserted streets at 7 in the morning. This was actually our favorite thing about the whole trip. Just really ... nice. Especially after our crazy evening!
Needless to say, we got a late start for our last day in Paris, compounded by an excruciating three-hour lunch. You know, if people tipped waiters in France, maybe, just maybe, the service would be better. We had to wait 45 minutes just to get a check! And then, after waiting another 30 minutes trying to pay it, we finally just threw down some Euros and left. It was already dark out!
Me, D, and Ben were hell-bent on at least seeing the Eiffel Tower, so Zebra took us there, before leaving to get home to take care of his kid. We said our goodbyes, and then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower – in the freezing rain. But we didn't care! We're in Paris, dammit! The Eiffel Tower is truly a thing of beauty, and it was great seeing the lights of Paris spread out to the horizon. After that, we raced over to the George Pompidou, the modern art museum that looks like a building turned inside out. The museum was closed, but the gift shop was open, so we took what we could get. I bought a nice watch, nicely designed, but kinda hard to read. Form over function, to be sure. We then wandered around the area, which turned out to be the gay neighborhood! Magnifique! We found an organic vegetarian restaurant, and had the best meal of our trip. A fitting end to our trip.
The next day, we got on a plane and flew home, where after 12 hours of travel, I had to go to work, laying out the Arts section for the Bay Area Reporter. I was awake for nearly 30 hours. However, I wasn't jet-lagged at all! Weird. Anyway, that was the trip to Paris and Amsterdam. I feel like we barely saw anything. But we got to DJ mash-ups in two different cities, for crowds that really dug it. We'll be back.
16:30 Posted in Blog | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this