Tonight, the McDonald Theater welcomes Austin, Texas based band SPOON, playing at 8:00pm with special guest Explode Into Colors. Spoon has been playing their indie hits since 1993, but really broke into the spotlight with their 2002 album Kill The Moonlight (which saw one of their songs gain popularity through the popular teen-drama “The O.C.”). Since then, their songs have been featured in tv shows and movies alike for the past 5 years. More recently, the song “The Underdog” has been used in movies like Cloverfield, 17 Again, and I Love You, Man.
Their style is funky fresh, and they have almost a British-feel to their music that speaks to the indie crowds. If you’re in the area and wanna check out some awesomeness, stop by the McDonald Theater to check out Spoon. At least I know I’ll be there!
Emerging from the sleepy backwoods of rural Pennsylvania, Black Moth Super Rainbow’s musical genius, Tobacco, has broken solo and ventured into a new urban terrain. Leaving behind a heaven of synthesizer daydreams and a host of angelic murmurs, the man behind the vocoder began to explore the gritty beat of the city.
Starting off in pure noise music, he shifted through the lo-fi realm, experimenting with outdated electronic musical instruments. Through various personas and projects Tobacco began to gain his uniquely pop sound we have all grown to love in BMSR. “I try to label what I do as pop music, but it’s really whatever you want it to be.” Tobacco said Thursday. “It’s the circumstance, it’s what you feel.”
After teaming with BMSR for four records, Tobacco has proven to be even heartier on his own. With his 2007 release, Fucked Up Friends, the drums hit a bit harder, the snyths swell a little longer and the vocals dig deeper. “I just want it to be memorable,” he said. “Stuff that hooks into your brain.” Tobacco focuses more on his aggressive beats, and a little more on his dark side. His sound remains focused on analog synths, drum machines, and (of course) vocoders, but a tad rawer with a little more static. His 2007 release featured Aesop Rock, which was rumored to have inspired more hip hop collaborations in his upcoming productions.
Fresh off SXSW, Tobacco glad to be back on the road and ready to hit the West Coast for the second half of his short tour. A fan of the Northwest, he’s gladly playing WOW Hall this Sunday, March 28th. “It’s been a few years but I remember Eugene, I liked it!” Tobacco said. He will be showcasing some surprising material from his upcoming album Manic Meat. Not only does Tobacco reign over us with a supremely unique style, he provides all the band art too, pretty impressive. No doubt the live show will be lit up with his own eccentric video creations-eye candy while the conjurer does his craft.
March came in like a lion- let’s send it out like one. Spring break’s not over till Monday morning, so come dance to the hipster mash-ups of Hood Internet and the eclectic styling of Tobacco with the Oregon Voice. This is a show not to be missed.
With just one day before Gorillaz’s new CD Plastic Beach hits stores nationwide, I’ve been going back and reminiscing on this band’s wonderfully crafted music (and videos). We all know “Clint Eastwood” (I ain’t happy/I’m feelin’ glad/I’ve got sunshine/in a bag…) and “Feel Good Inc.” (Windmill, Windmill for the land/turn forever hand in hand…). But Gorillaz is not just a band… it is, in my opinion, one of the most creatively genius works of art in the history of music.
Created by former lead singer of Blur Damon Albarn and “Tank Girl” creator Jamie Hewlett, the band is composed of cartoon characters (2D, Murdoc, Russel, and Noodle), each with back stories and interesting facts. In 2001, their first CD (self-titled Gorillaz) rocked the charts as a combination of hip-hop, rap, and electronic, with hits like the aforementioned “Clint Eastwood” (featuring Del The Funky Homosapien, who plays a minor character in the band’s back story), slow, urban track “Tomorrow Comes Today,” and feeling-good pop song “19-2000.” The second CD, Demon Days (2005), was a major success for the band, bringing in many celebrity guests to rap, sing, and even read for the tracks (De La Soul, Bootie Brown, MF Doom, Shaun Ryder, Dennis Hopper, and Danger Mouse, who helped produce the CD). “Feel Good Inc.” hit the charts and quickly rated higher than any of their other hits, soon followed by children-anthem “Dirty Harry,” solemn “El Mañana,” and dance-worthy “DARE.” Now, 5 years later, Gorillaz has collaborated once again with Plastic Beach. Unfortunately, the only songs I’ve heard (so far) are “Stylo,” which is the first single off the new CD, featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack, and “Superfast Jellyfish,” featuring De La Soul once more.
The music is really original in that it mixes different genres together to create a new type of sound. From “19-2000,” which uses techno, hip-hop, and reggae to sound like a bubblegum pop song, to “Don’t Get Lost In Heaven” paired with “Demon Days,” which uses a full string orchestra, choir, hip-hop, and reggae to sound epic and gorgeous, the band reinvents the world of urban music.
However, what makes them so interesting is the story behind the band, how they advertise themselves, and their use of advanced technology to create a fully-animated band.
Back in 2006, the “band” put out an autobiography called Rise of the Ogre, which not only chronicled the band’s successful music career but also the band members’ lives and personalities in and out of the band. For example, we find out that 2D has black eyes because Murdoc ran him over in a car, which dented one of his eyes, and was catapulted out of the dashboard window, causing his other eye to be pushed in as well. We learn the truth about Noodle, that she is really a secret Japanese government weapon, triggered by the words “ocean bacon.” We find out that the ghost of Del The Funky Homosapien was contained inside of Russel, and Russel had it exorcised out of his body before working on “Demon Days.” We learn about Murdoc’s obsession with being a Satanist and how he nearly killed a member of the band in one of the videos.
I mean, sure, this may not sound like a lot. But considering that this is all made up to coincide with a few CDs, that’s pretty incredible!
But that’s not all… to create this image of a fully-animated band, high tech equipment have made it possible for people to really feel like the members of Gorillaz are actually real. For the 2006 Grammys, the band performed a mash up of “Feel Good Inc.” and Madonna’s hit for the year “Hung Up” live. But, because of the band’s animated appearances, a holographic projection unit was set up on stage, allowing for the band members to look as if they were standing on stage in real life. Madonna was also holographically projected for the first part of her act, as she moves around the characters to interact with them. This is one of the first, and greatest, technical feats ever for a band to make.
Also, because of their animations, the band RARELY plays live shows (in fact, the only one they have lined up so far for their new CD is Coachella 2010). So, of course, each of their live shows out-does the other. The Demon Days tour included panels of changing colors, hiding the live band from the public, while the “guests” were on stage in front, brightly lit. On a large screen in the middle, pictures and video played to help visually attract the audience. Simplistic, but incredibly creative.
Personally my favorite part of the band’s creativity is what they put into their website. To help promote their band and to get their fans psyched about the band itself, they launched an interactive game on their website to explore the confines of their home Kong Studios. With the coming of each CD and hit came an update to the website… and as the lives and appearance of each character changed, the studio reflected it. For example, in the video for “El Mañana,” Noodle supposedly died at the end of the video (it was later revealed that she had not died, but was instead dragged into hell). After the video landed, Noodle’s room in the virtual world was stripped and began to fall apart every month. As the truth came out that she was actually trapped in hell, the basement of the website’s virtual Kong had a transmission of Noodle in a room, exclaiming that she needed help. Soon after the announcement of Plastic Beach, Kong was in ruins, with none of the rooms available. Thus, Plastic Beach was born: the newest interactive online game allows you to tour Plastic Beach, with new rooms opening pretty much every month. The website has won Webby awards for its creativity, and it keeps people interested and attached to the “secret” lives of the band. If you’re interested, go to the website!
So yes, Gorillaz has great music, but it goes beyond that. I mean think of it this way: 2 guys created a FAKE band with FAKE names and FAKE backgrounds… they used incredible technical equipment to make these FAKE characters REAL, and even set up strange situations for said FAKE characters (as in their Plastic Beach website). Gorillaz is no ordinary band. It is a work of creative genius. And, as Plastic Beach approaches, to quote one of my favorite Gorillaz songs, “Yeah, yeah, yeah I’ll pay/When tomorrow/Tomorrow comes today!”
Pitchfork has released an article announcing that Andrew WK and one of my personal favorite hip-hop groups, People Under the Stairs, have collaborated and created a new variation of Danny Elfman’s Simpson’s theme song. It will air in the end credits on January 16th’s all new episode. Will you check it out? I know I will.
Dan deacon gave the kids of Eugene a taste of the East of Coast’s ‘wham city’ last night with his beautifully absurd performance at the Wow Hall. Despite false rumors of a fourteen-piece ensemble accompanying Mr. Deacon, the morale of fellow observers was higher than I anticipated. In the furry of week four I found myself almost studying through the show, but decided to drop everything and let myself get a little sweaty.
As a relative newbie to the Dan Deacon legacy, and a virgin to his live performances, the show dominated my expectations. I was comforted with Deacon’s familiar staples of oversized eyeglasses, grainy backdrop videos and that glowing green skull as I nestled into the crowd. From the start he had us on our knees smacking kisses onto each other’s foreheads, making us countdown to fifty before the music came. Set up on ground level he led our newly founded dance community with his digitally synthesized orchestra. Fidgeting with his light fixtures just as much as his switchboards, Deacon’s symphony of sound and light consumed the lower floor of the venue. The high pitched hum of his voice rang through the modulators along side the electronica waves. By his instruction we all partook in a tag-team dance contest, formed a synchronized interpretive dance and made a human tunnel that wrapped around Wow Hall. His social experiment/dance party glory left us all a little lighter.
It sometimes takes a sparse, whistling overture to wake up out of that late-summer malaise. “Black River Killer,” a standout song from 2008’s Furr, joins six other Blitzen Trapper songs, sold only on CDRs at their live shows, to make the Black River Killer EP, out August 25 on Sub Pop. Short at just above 17 minutes, each song carrying just above two minutes of listening time, the EP keeps the quick songs bound together along an imagistic spine.
The seven songs, stacked seemingly in happy/sad alternation, push forward an agenda of slightly pessimistic exploration into America’s faded pastoral landscapes. It must be the economy, right?
Soft, burbling electronic tones guide the listener from the rural account of spiritual warfare in the opener “Black River Killer” and through the rest of the EP. Similarly, “Going Down” manages a happier note of corroded morals accompanied by an Air-approved, far away synth line.
On “Shoulder Full of You,” the harmonic melody playing over the comparatively restrained acoustic guitar line, causes a break in the low-down tone of the song, like an occasional passing view of rusted grain silos on a desolate highway.
“Preacher’s Sister’s Boy,” the next song on the EP, has the same light-hearted, electronic whistle and a tambourine-laden beat that has all the swaying of the road home with suddenly a lot more to see on the way.
Taking this into consideration, the next song “Black Rock” drops the listener into a chanting melody repetitive like a word association exercise for the entire first minute, which is actually about half the song.
But still, like most good EPs, Black River Killer gets ahead with the help of a strong tailwind at the end. The last song “Big Black Bird” substitutes the requisite electronic sub-tune with a lonesome harmonica and an unprecedented bassy swagger. In a word, or two literally, it’s country music.
Rated: 7 passing glimpses of grazing cows along the highway out of 10 endless, yellowed fields.
Swede Jens Lekman performs tonight at the WOW Hall starting at 8 p.m. Lekman, formerly known as Rocky Dennis, is a singer-songwriter who blends melodic guitar with digital samples (think Andrew Bird) to produce a sound that can be experienced here. Heavily influenced by Modern Lovers front-man Jonathan Richmond and the Scottish rockers Belle & Sebastian, Lekman is now on Secretly Canadian and is on tour in support of his epic 2007 album Night Falls Over Kortadela. His performances often take different shapes ranging from just him and his guitar to a cappella to a full choir and string quartet. While I have no insider information to what he’ll pull from his bag tonight (Save for comedian and actress Tig Notaro as an opening act), I’m sure it will be well worth the $15 inside the WOW Hall tonight. If you’re not engulfed in course work, check it.
I’m only twenty for three more days, and the terrible age still plagues me. I got a tip-off about this band playing at Indigo tonight, but I can’t legally attend. After listening to their album last night, I want to hear the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey spit fire. I want it so bad! I’m telling you this because I expect you, if legal and able, to attend this show tonight. I hope to live vicariously through you, because I know you will love the experimental, jazzy madness that will envelope your entire body when you hear it. The Oregonian blog even used the word “soundscape.” Woah. Not yet convinced? Look at this hot picture of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey wrapped in caged lights. Jazz blazer, jazz hair, jazz light. You have to go.
Oregon Voice Magazine is paid for and produced by students at the University of Oregon. Our weekly meeting is on Wednesday at 6pm in Century Room E. Contributors are welcome.
