New Portishead Single

With their first album in a decade, Third, due out April 29th on Mercury/Island, the new single, "Machine Gun", is a tantalizing promise of what is in store from Portishead. For those of us that have been listening to PNYC (aka, Live at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC) as though it were the last we'd ever hear of the Bristol, England trio, news of the appropriately named third LP was a welcome communiqué indeed.

As their debut, Dummy, and self-titled sophomore release became the soundtrack to high school angst, the live album sufficed as background score to young adult depression. Defying any categorical genre other than trip-hop (a tragically short-lived genre, to be sure), Portishead made atmosphere music full of acid jazz, cabaret vocals, and spy movie synesthesia. Simply and honestly put, no other band ever sounded like Portishead.

A ten year hiatus will have the tendency to put some pressure on an upcoming release for a band in their position. So far all we have is the single, which is ultimately gratifying because the band at once sounds like the Portishead we remember, and what we would hope the progression of their sound would result in. "Machine Gun" is a minimalist track of drum machine and wandering synth, would-be theme music to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, had cinema included audio in 1927 Germany. Only the vocals of Beth Gibbons provides anything organic in this industrial composition; but even her fractured warble only last the first two-thirds of the song, giving way to the mechanical assault of drums. The chilly synth melody that brings "Machine Gun" to a close is reminiscent of Vangelis' score to Blade Runner.

Strange, perhaps, that the song recalls two classic science-fiction films. Then again, the fantasy of science-fiction past has a way of becoming eerily similar to modern-day (i.e., the future) reality. "Machine Gun" manages to sound fitting in both worlds.

Here is the video/mp3:



Make friends @ http://www.myspace.com/portisheadalbum3.

Favorite Song of the Day

From the favorite album title of the day, Saturdays=Youth, which drops April 14th, this is M83 with "Graveyard Girl". Don't know much about them yet, other than that this song sounds like it would belong on the soundtrack to whatever John Hughes movie he ever makes, if he ever makes another movie (please make another movie, John!).





Make friends @ http://www.myspace.com/m83.

-J2

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH...

We all know how important a good band name is (yes, I went to see the band I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness based solely on the name), but with so many bands out there and the English language being limited as it is, things sometimes get confusing. We want to clear up just a few of them...


1) EVANGELICALS vs THE EVANGELISTS

Evangelicals
Despite the nightmarish album cover, The Evening Descends is atmospheric pop laden with big-stage histrionics and low-fi soul. Their sound is most certainly dreamy, though, and comparisons to the Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah may be inevitable thanks to the earnest tenor of lead vocalist Josh Jones. Lyrically, however, Jones delves into the darkness of the unconscious, straddling the line between surreal and insane, awakening in time remember which side is which.

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH...

The Evangelists
Self-proclaimed freaks of nature, Northern Ireland's punk rockers are part Primus, part Frank Zappa, part Talking Heads, and all sorts of eccentric. With song titles like "Pervert", "Virgin Queen", and "Homicide", The Evangelists stake no claim in the intelligentsia. But they're likely more interested in blowing your ears clean off your head with raucous basslines and machine gun-drums.

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2) BLACK KIDS vs BLACK LIPS

Black Kids
Yes, yes - only two of the five members of this Jacksonville guitar pop set are of the African-American variety, so just don't worry about it. Black Kids make pop music they way it should be made, inspiring all the toe-tapping and head-bopping you can handle. Similar to the Shout Out Louds, imagine The Cure minus the goth and you come close to their sound.

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH...

Black Lips
Somewhere between garage rock and vintage rock, this Atlanta foursome also slip in that southern rock element as well. Irreverence is the name of the game with these kids - writing a love song to a girl from New Orleans named Katrina; urinating on stage... occasionally into their own mouths (who are we to judge?). Given this convergence of sounds and ideas, perhaps psycho-billy is the most apt description. Don't be fooled, though: Black Lips know exactly what they're doing.

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3) JOE JACKSON vs JACK JOHNSON

Joe Jackson
Remember that sweet 80s song, "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"? Turns out that was Joe Jackson, and he's not even remotely a one-hit wonder. One of the forerunners in bringing New Wave to the US, the Brit is still making tunes. Now based in Berlin, Jackson just released Rain earlier this year. A minimalist sound of piano, bass, drums and vocals, Rain is more hit than miss, and Jackson is a talented musician to be sure.

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH...

Jack Johnson
Is this really the sound of surf music? I grew up wanting to learn how to surf (and sky-dive) because F.B.I. Agent Johnny Utah made it look so cool. If you recall, though, the Point Break soundtrack is a complex mix of Ratt, LA Guns, and Public Image Ltd. Even Frankie and Annette would be bored listening to Jack Johnson. Somebody call Dick Dale.

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Stay tuned for upcoming NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH... posts featuring:

Fuck Buttons vs Holy Fuck

Black Mountain vs The Mountain Goats

Deerhunter vs Deerhoof

Magnetic Fields vs The Field

Vampire Hands vs Vampire Weekend

The Go vs The Go! Team

-J2

middleCoast Is On Hiatus

The middleCoast is on hiatus for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. We music nerds are also college basketball nerds. Go figure.

Check back Monday...

Go Jayhawks.

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Five Questions: Jesse Elliott from These United State

In a recent interview for UR Chicago Magazine, These United States ringleader, Jesse Elliott, was kind enough to take a few minutes in the midst of the band's 33 shows in a span of 38 days to answer a few questions. Here are a few that didn't make it into the published article (due out April 1st).

middleCoast: You mentioned that you spent some time growing up in Elgin, IL, and that you lived in Chicago. What are your thoughts of Chicago and what are you looking forward to about playing The Hideout (April 3rd)?

Jesse Elliott: My family moved around a lot when I was little, all over the Midwest, but finally settled in this old beautiful river town called Elgin. Northern Illinois, banks of the Fox River, used to be the world’s greatest watch manufacturer. Pocket watches on the river. Gorgeous, old brick and rails. Took those rails down into Chicago pretty often starting in 8th grade, told my mom I was headed just 20 minutes down track to this burb called Bartlett where some friends lived – but just stayed on the extra 30 into the big bad city. Really my benchmark fr big bad cities, Chicago is, to this day. What a place. Wrote a song called Brick and Wind about it once – someday that’ll resurface, I imagine, and then all my thoughts on the subject will become transparent. Fond fond fond. Wintertime, always. Winter is always the last time and place I was in Chicago, it seems. And the Hideout is always the shelter from the storm.

mC: Your sound can be described as Americana. Being on the road (in your case, touring) is pure Americana as well. Describe some of the encounters you get to have thanks to driving through small towns instead of just flying from urban airport to urban airport.

JE: We’re in Shreveport, Louisiana right this moment, with our new friends The Peekers. Place we’re staying, there’s a cat named Meatpie, a dog named Feelings, another cat named Susan B. Anthony. They used to have a cat named Dirtbike, too, but they speak about it in hushed tones. Who knows. I think that pretty much sums everything up.

mC: There exists the argument that technology is isolating people, yet your Myspace page and blog really display a connectivity between the band and your fans. How do you view the current relationship between technology and music?

JE: I’m a technophile, personally. Probably 'cause I know relatively little about it, so it all seems like a strange infinite dream. Connections to people is perhaps the thing I live most for. Hard to argue that the possibility for connection hasn’t increased, even if we haven’t all figured out the most responsible and loving ways to embrace it yet. We will, tho, we will!

mC: Your line, "We'll burn this bridge when we're over it" has been running through my head for days. It's far more interesting (and uplifting, personally) than the idea of crossing said bridge when we come to it - yes, yes, of course we'll cross it, but we're also going to leave it behind us in ashes. What is your take on people interpreting your lyrics? Do you care that they may get it wrong? Or are you just pleased that they're getting something?

JE: I love interpretation and re-interpretation! I love people taking the proverbial ball and running with it! Go all the way! It's in yr Hands now, right where it should be! That’s [the] idea behind this whole tour.

A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden is out now on United Interests.

"Burn This Bridge" mp3


-J2

Mash-Ups & Covers & What-Have-You

These are by no means new, but creative and still highly enjoyable.

Blondie vs The Doors, "Rapture Riders":


LCD Soundsystem (who killed with Nilsson's "Jump Into The Fire"), doing Joy Division's "No Love Lost":


John Cale (co-founder of The Velvet Underground, thankyouverymuch) covers LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends":



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The Dude Abides

Lebowski Fest hit Chicago this past weekend, and if there is one thing we at middleCoast truly geek out over (other than new music) it's The Big Lebowski. Enjoy some pics:

Next Big Thing Alert: Fleet Foxes

Another Seattle band poised to take the indie scene by storm is Fleet Foxes, recently signed to Sub Pop Records. The quintet's five-song EP, Sun Giant (available here), is remarkably promising and cohesive in and of itself. Self-described as baroque pop, there are obvious comparisons to My Morning Jacket (in a good way - a very good way), both musically and in Robin Pecknold's vocals that are reminiscent of Jim James, to be sure. But Fleet Foxes are most assuredly their own band with their own sound, despite any inevitable comparisons to MMJ, label-mates Band of Horses, or the tinges of Fleetwood Mac that make themselves more apparent in the harmonizing of "Mykonos".

Still digging for more info about these fellas, but this quote from Pecknold is lovely:

"I don’t really know what I’m trying to say with this. It’s not good to romanticize a time of great hardship, hardship I’ve never known and am not conditioned to understand. I’m also not interested in a ‘back to nature’ thing, as nature as it was is gone for the time being and it would take a very big leap of faith and common sense to ignore that. But, music to me is just as awe-bringing as the world maybe once was, and I just love it a lot.”

Couldn't agree more.

On tour now, they'll make their way through Chicago April 6th at Schubas. A full-length LP is due out on Sub Pop this summer. In the meantime, we'll be listening to the 19 minutes of Sun Giant over and over and over...

Here are a couple tracks to entice:

"Drops in the River"



"Mykonos"



Make friends @ http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes.

-J2

New Gnarls Barkley Song, Video

Remember how horrible pop music was just ten years ago, when boy bands and the Macarena and Celine Dion were top of the charts? Thankfully, all that remains a decade later is Justin Timberlake. The new Kings of Pop, Gnarls Barkley (Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse), brought quality back to pop radio in 2006, and their sophomore release, The Odd Couple, is due out April 8th. The first single, "Run", is sure to draw unfair comparisons to "Crazy", but will no doubt hold its own this summer. Check it out (yes, that is JT making a cameo):



-J2

No Gray Area

{J2 reviews The Hives show for UR Chicago.}

A Few Songs About Boozin'

Wednesday is the best day for boozing. Cheers.

Albert Collins, "I Ain't Drunk"


The Magnetic Fields, "Too Drunk To Dream"


Tom Waits, "Jockey Full of Bourbon"


The Pogues, "Fairytale of New York"


-J2

Sending the Four-Star City to the Lone Star State

South by Southwest gets going in Austin later this week, and those in attendance will see some real talent this year from Chicago. If you can't make the trip down south, be sure to stop by The Hideout this Saturday to help make sure that the artists can. Beginning at Noon, bands take to the stage and will continue on for the following 15 hours. In total, 18 bands will perform, and all of the proceeds will be divided up equally between them to help cover transportation costs to the festival. So your $10 admission is really going to a good cause. Like charity, so you can feel good about yourself while you down PBRs. SXSW is sure to bring national attention to these acts, so this is your last chance to be able to say you've seen them back when...

The lineup (as listed by the hosts):
12:00 Sybris
12:45 Apteka
1:30 Cameron McGill
2:15 Mittens on Strings
3:00 JT and the Clouds
3:45 The Hood Internet (DJ STV SLV)
4:30 Hollywood Holt
5:15 Bound Stems
6:00 Make Believe
6:45 Reds and Blue
7:30 Pit Er Pat
8:15 Waco Brothers
9:00 Tight Phantomz
9:45 Killer Whales
10:30 Icy Demons
11:15 Tom Schraeder & His Ego
12:00 Ezra Furman & the Harpoons
12:45 Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

-J2