We Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them! On Tuesday we blindly picked a band to unfairly judge based on things aside from their music. Today we look at photos of the band but still refuse to listen to their music.
The Band We Are Blindly Judging This Week:
The Library is on Fire (now with photos!!!)
Araceli: They don’t look like complete dirt bags, but I’m only stating that because I’ve become immune to that look: dark rimmed glasses (got a pair), fingerless gloves (got those too), “messy hair” (yup), sedated-eyes, with a shimmer of malnourishment (check). All of these characteristics are equivalent to a typical hipster, my counterparts. Though on behalf of of the Library Is On Fire, I’d like to add that anyone under 40 who is an “artist” doesn’t have any other option but to wear rags and look greasy––doing otherwise takes too much effort, and we all know that our generation lacks motivation, but I digress. Rating:6
Lille: As a collective the band looks a little bit like a team of janitors. Maybe that’s why they’re called Library on Fire. Maybe they were bibliotheque custodians who set books on fire. And then they have to expose their photos in weird manners, or wear white paint to camouflage themselves and not get caught by the authorities. For some reason these photos REALLY REALLY REALLY make me want to listen to their music. Not. Rating: 3
Brian: Okay, well. The first pic they look inoffensive enough (wait… is the guy on the left wearing a janitor jumpsuit?). But THEN the second pic, egads, there are so many cliches going on. I see two questionable hats, a suitcoat-over-blazer, wayfarers, skinny jeans, and Pumas. Not to mention, the photo’s colors are inverted. Here, let me un-invert the image…
not so cool anymore right? Hipstah Pleeez. My Rating: 4
On Friday, we will actually listen to the music and give ‘em a fair shot.
It occurs to everyone that listens to music… It happens when you’re scanning the paper to see who’s playing next weekend or when co-workers give you their demo CDs…
You Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them! But is this true? We are here to test it out. Araceli has chosen a band that all three of us have not heard of. We will proceed to rate the band (1-10) based on their name alone. We’ll get a look at the band, and then eventually actually judge their music.
The Band We Will Be Blindly Judging This Week:
The Library is on Fire
Lille: Where is this band from? It sounds like a name picked out of a hat, like it’s forced. That, or someone has a hatred of books and a love of fire. Since I love books AND fire, that’s one out of two. It sounds like this could be a teenage emo band that will be forgotten like my favorite band of 2005 (the Futureheads, anyone?). Rating : er, 3
Araceli: I have no idea where this band is from, a friend from Chicago suggested them, so perhaps Brian will have some inkling on these folks. Obviously this band is trying to ride the Arcade Fire wave. In order to have a supposed “cool” demeanor, they intentionally chose to burn a sacred establishment. Why can’t they burn a liquor store? 7Eleven on Fire? Now that sounds promising. I think they’re trying to build on the lit crowd and cater to the bookish types of Brooklyn. I find this marketing scheme repulsive.
Perhaps they appreciated Kings of Leon’s “Sex On Fire” phrasing, as to say “damn, that girl is hot, she’s on fire!” Again, fronting on the intellectual realm: that library is smokin’! my rating: 4
Brian: While I’m relieved the band had the restraint not to add an exclamation to the end of their name, I’m with Araceli on this one — conjuring images of our temples of learning set afire is a pretty high precedent for rock music. Does their sound topple the towers of rockness that we’ve built up in the last 75 years? Do they deconstruct what it is to be a rock band? Probably not. I believe the last popular anarchic band was actually Chumbawumba. My Rating: 4
On Thursday, we will look at photos and update our increasingly superficial opinions of mystery band, The Library is on Fire.
I interviewed Matt Friedberger, 1/2 of the Fiery Furnaces, for the Onion here.
As he talked about their new album, Matt also told me that they covered songs on I’m Going Away based on fans’ descriptions and reactions to the album. It’s now released as Take Me Round Again, and is available for streaming here.
Matt Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces, on fandom and memory: “We feel obligated as a rock band to have things for fans to do, besides listen, so they’re not passive. And obviously that’s a fake thing, because fans are never passive. You’re always re-imagining [a song] whether you notice it or not, on your own end. Fans are re-imagining music all the time, otherwise how could you like all this crap that you like? You’ll find something to like, just make it up in your own head.”
The Fiery Furnaces play in Bembang cities on these dates:
*cough* Hi… well, um, Twee is back, sorta. You know?
Depending on which circles you hang around in, Twee is either hailed as “punker-than-punk“, or maligned as “music for bedwetters.” Nevertheless, the most misunderstood pop genre continues to tout cuteness over coolness and has the market cornered on Growing Up Awkward.
Twee has always been the most unapologetically emasculate sect of “Indie”, but it always seems to hover, smirking, just on the outskirts of popular music. It’s too catchy to ever be marginalized, but it’s just too fey for the trampy-or-macho American taste. Pitchfork’s excellent essay of all things Indie Pop, “Twee as Fuck” said it well:
…”indie” and “alternative” became popular in precisely the hard-rocking, masculine, centralized form that indie pop usually shied away from. The mainstream honed in on the underground’s hard-rock side, and, acts like Superchunk and Modest Mouse would go on to become Important Bands; acts like Tiger Trap and Heavenly would, for good reasons and bad, fade into history. And there on the television, ironically, was the K-tattooed Cobain, still wearing his cardigans and covering songs by the Vaselines.
So there twee sits, like the kid not picked at recess, rewarding anyone willing to seek it out.
Maybe it’s because of the excellent Juno soundtrack, but twee artists seem to be on the rise again. The playfull Architecture in Helsinki, sallow Vivian Girls, the spider-fearing Boy Least Likely To, and the self-referential spunk of Los Campesinos!, have all attracted the blogosphere masses in the past few years (and, oddly, a large number of television commercials to boot). Fast on their heels are artists like New Jersey’s When I Was 12– producing the sonic equivalent of a painfully joyous (or joyously painful?) prolonged adolescence.
I ran across WIW12 searching a now-defunct music site and really enjoyed their aesthetic. The endearing strum-hook-and-harmony style burrows deep into your head and doesn’t go away — like a library volunteer into Franny & Zooey.
Earlier this year their principle songwriter, Adrianne, was nice enough to swap a few Q&A emails with me before their first non-basement gig of her young career:
Brian B (BemBang): First things first… Who’s in the band, or is it a “swinging door” type thing where there’s a core and people come and add vocals and accompaniment etc?
Adrianne Gold (When I Was 12): First things first… When I Was 12 consists of two main members: Adrianne Gold and Camille Bayas. Then some other beautiful revolving members; our friend Brianne Evans did some harmonies on “Dear Eskimo” with her angelic voice, and my guitar teacher, Mike Yelle assisted with lead guitar. When we play live friends Jenn Diaz plays bass, and Will Samtur on drums. We are so lucky to know so many wonderful people.[ ...] It’s been a little hectic we’ve been getting offered shows and things lately!.
BB: Good to hear you’re busy… I hope things are going well. Is there some sort of tour in the works? When I hear the name “When I Was 12″, I immediately think of both the charming and awkward aspects of that transitional age… was that the aim?
AG: We still have two more months of high school so we’re not exactly planning a tour but we’ve been getting offered a lot of shows lately! I suppose so about the name, I mean we definitely try to be charming and I definitely am a bit awkward!
BB: Ha. Since there’s not much info about you guys online I couldn’t tell if you were in high school, or if you were just channeling your inner-highscooler to write the songs.
Your music, lyrics, production, etc seem very attuned to what I would consider classic indie-pop/twee. That is to say; sweet, clever, and fixated on youthful experiences… even when the person singing may be 30+ years old.
Ha. You’re the real deal, apparently.
What inspiration do you draw from … musically or otherwise?
AG: We are the real deal! We write about things on a high school level because it’s what we know! It’s what we are familiar with. But like I said only until June! We are so excited for summer and then of course for college! We are inspired by so many things.
Camille really likes bands such as: Los Campesinos! Beirut, The Submarines, and Seabear. I on the other hand am insanely inspired by Bright Eyes (of course, who isn’t!) Tilly and the Wall, Mates of State, and Saturday Looks Good to Me. We were actually just featured on an online mix CD, “Birdsongs, Beesongs - Eardrums Spring Compilation 2009″ and so was Saturday Looks Good to Me! So that was exciting to see!
Inspiration otherwise would of course include every boy i’ve ever known, even if only for five minutes. The boys who’s hearts I’ve broken, the boys who have broken my heart, and the boys who have yet to break my heart. Boys in bookstores, coffee shops, New Brunswick basements, and any other place you can imagine. However! I did write about my grandmother, “You Me & Symmetry” is about my grandmother, I love her. We still do arts and crafts together.
Last night newly married man (i.e. chilled out and off cigarettes), rocker Ryan Adams said the words: fuck/fucking/fuck you approximately 28 times while promoting his second book of poetry Hello Sunshine at the New York Public Library.
“Are there any kids here?” Adams blurted after catching himself hanging on an expletive. “Cause I cuss a lot.”
The lovely and casual — yet at times awkward — discourse between the jumpy musician and his interviewer, fiery actress Mary Louise Parker ran the gamut, from their love and hate relationship toward American poet Mark Strand to Led Zeppelin.
A question most of us were asking ourselves even before the talk began was: why were these two paired up?
The unifying link here stems from a bond they both shared over their love of poetry when they used to be neighbors. Ah! OK, got it. Their fluidity was overtly noticeable as Parker would whisper things to Adams, making sure he stayed on track, moving the length of talk along (she left right before Q&A’s). For the record, the talk was supposed to stay at the running time of a “typical shrink appointment,” though Adams himself said he had never had a session that long before.
Regardless of time, the talk did hit on some interesting topics, like why poetry matters, overused words (rain!), editing poetry or not, the works of Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Frederick Seidel (or as Adams refers to him by “the Hannibal Lecter of poetry”), and Johnny Temple (bassist of Girls Against Boys and Adams’ publisher under the independent imprint Akashic Books.
Interestingly enough the most spontaneous and sincere moments were when Adams discussed his own works, in music, art and poetry.
“I don’t have a vocation,” he sort of proclaimed. “This is all I can do.”
He discussed variations between his earlier work to the pieces he is producing now under a sober and happier cloud.
“I’m 34 now. I do hypnotherapy,” he said guzzling down green tea. “The biggest dicks become such softies.”
Adams almost avoided sharing some of his own pieces with us (having said he doesn’t like reading his work) and jokingly threatened to leave until the NYPL MC coerced him into doing so. He ultimately read two exquisitely sweet pieces from his new book: Plus Dreams and White Diamonds.
At the end of the evening an attendee asked Adams which poem he’d read if it were the last thing he’d ever read before he died.
What: Woodstock Photo Exhibition: Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock When: August 13 through November Where: Morrison Hotel Gallery, 313 Bowery, New York Why: Because I wasn’t at Woodstock and they had free beer
We’re not sure if you noticed, but Woodstock is back (and not in the ‘99 revival sort of way). You didn’t hear about the Heroes of Woodstock concert at Madison Square Garden that went down last week, or Ang Lee’s new film, Taking Woodstock, that is scheduled to be released this year?
These happenings aren’t a coincidence but all in commemoration of the iconic musical concert, hippie-fest, will-never-be-replicated, 40th anniversary of Woodstock.
The Morrison Hotel Gallery is playing host to an exhibition featuring the photographs by Woodstock photographer Henry Diltz, among others. I encountered more than a few original hippies, along with Woodstock organizer Michael Lang while I drank something called Black Acid Beer. I didn’t ask questions, I just drank it.
Where: Dorsky Gallery, 11-03 45th Avenue, Long Island City, 718-937-6317
Why: Because I like scary things.
So in this lengthy interview with married curators of the Horrow Show, Deb and Dave Tolchinsky, whom also work as professors at Northwestern University’s Department of Radio-TV-Film, conversed about the crazy shit that frightens us, and why. It got me thinking about the one thing that will haunt me for the rest of my life. View at your own discretion.
Dean Wareham read from his novel Black Postcards––as did other music aficionados /writers Dan Kennedy (McSweeney’s contributor, Rock On: An Office Power Ballad and Loser Goes First) and the extraordinarily charming Rob Harvilla (Village Voice music editor)––I was quite taken by the excerpt he read, in which he did so in a softly manner. Something about playing a gig in Spain and being awestruck by a dark-haired, big-breasted, olive-skinned beauty in the front row, who he ended up having an amazing night with, and then sort of felt guilty thinking about his son back home.
Sure he idealized the entire evening affair, but he did so quite brilliantly. So much in fact that I wondered why I had never heard of his bands–– Galaxie 500, Luna, and Dean & Britta.
Presumably since some of these former outfits bloomed in the early 90s, while I was just barely crawling out of my New Kids On The Block phase. I mostly blame my older siblings for not getting me into Luna, as their sole responsibility was to expose my eager ears to new music as they did with the Ocean Blue and the Sundays.
I suppose since Rolling Stone even penned Luna as “the best band you’ve never heard of”, I don’t feel entirely bad. I will just slowly get my feet wet with Wareham’s words and music through this read. So far, so good.
Earlier this week I stood about two feet from a real-life genius and I almost passed out. OK, well not really, but seeing the incredible Tim Burton walk into the screening room at the Museum of Modern Art felt like Christmas morning.
Burton, who is tons more handsome in person and quite healthy-looking, was there to discuss his retrospective exhibition at the MoMa opening in November. The show will have an extensive look at Burton’s sketches, photographs, puppets, movie clips, etc, including one that we screened titled Hansel and Gretelthat aired only once on the Disney Chanel due to its graphic nature, and another black and white film starring Burton himself in Doctor Doom.
