Three Imaginary Girls - Warp

Tim & Eric's Awesome Flying Lotus Video

Imaginary Shrie — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:50:03 +0000

Flying Lotus is playing the Decibel Festival Finale show at Neumos on Sunday night.

Red, Yellow & Blue

Erik Gonzalez — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:08:20 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00133KEEU/wwwthreeimagi-20/

Somehow, I feel like we've all missed out on something with the Born Ruffians. At least in my little corner of the world, there was little hype and fanfare for the band's first real full-length. And although Red, Yellow & Blue has its pot holes and blemishes, it's one of those debuts where you know that this band has masterpiece buried in there somewhere if they can keep their act together long enough to record it.

Born Ruffians are the direct descendants of Modest Mouse and the Pixies (and Frank Black) and can easily be lumped in with their modern rock brethren Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, Tapes 'n Tapes, and the Arcade Fire. Sure, that list is somewhat plagued by “it” bands that have invariably lead to disappointment, so maybe the lack of over-excited hype for the Born Ruffians might work in their benefit.

Red, Yellow & Blue is a collection of solid modern rock songs that have all the requisite bits: (a) call-and-response vocals; (b) lots of guitars and; (c) and a frantic pace. There is no lack for energy, even when the album opens on slowly-building title track. The first single “Hummingbird” is a perfect little modern rock song, with a healthy rhythm section that meshes with the guitar that warbles up and down the spectrum (and the pacing perfectly mimics the frenetic lifestyle of a hummingbird). Even the oddly named “Badonkadonkey” has an undeniable charm to it, much like one of the real high points on the album, “Foxes Mate for Life." The latter is a laid back song that obviously draws from the Modest Mouse quiver (albeit not as much as the carbon copy “Hedonistic Me”). “Barnacle Goose” is genetically derived from the gem of their debut EP, “This Song Will Save/Ruin Your Life,” just not as catchy. Of course, it is exactly what you might expect from a band like Born Ruffians, which does not work in the favor, at least in setting themselves apart from the crowd.

The band obviously still wears its influences on its sleeve, which isn't too uncommon for a young band – both in terms of the age of its members and the duration of its existence. The next step for the Born Ruffians will be to transcend their desire to be their idols and instead want to be like their idols, i.e., great musicians. Red, Yellow & Blue has all the growing pains of a young band, but it also has a lot of the hallmarks of a band that might be something special in the future.

Red, Yellow & Blue has its pot holes and blemishes, but it's one of those debuts where you know that this band has masterpiece buried in there somewhere...

It's recommended that you see Born Ruffians tonight at Neumos

imaginary liz — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:43:39 +0000

I came across the Born Ruffian's Hummingbird EP this weekend (thanks to Erik and Betsy for introducing them to me) and fell in love with the title track. Dare I say it made me oh-oh outloud?

Our Earthly Pleasures

Erik Gonzalez — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:01:02 +0000

8.6

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Earthly-Pleasures-Max%C3%AFmo-Park/dp/B000MV9NC8/

maximo.jpg

Maxïmo Park is the forgotten son of the Brit-rock scene of the ‘00s. Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Muse, Arctic Monkeys; these are the bands that get the headlines on NME and Radio1, but Maxïmo Park just keeps on putting out excellent records while everyone is looking the other way. If you were to draft a fantasy Brit-rock team, Maxïmo Park would be a solid sleeper pick, a band that not everyone is clamoring for, but will put up solid numbers every time.

Our Earthly Pleasures is not the best album of the year, but it just produces, delivering song after song of energetic, catchy rock and roll. The key to Maxïmo Park is the dynamic mix of Paul Smith’s vocals and the richly textured musical arrangements that back him up – it was this mix that made 2005’s A Certain Trigger one of the most exciting surprises of that year. The band decided to take it up a notch on Our Earthly Pleasures, bringing in famed producer Gil Norton who has worked with luminaries such as the Pixies, the Catherine Wheel and Dashboard Confessional and he adds a lot more sophistication and depth to many of Maxïmo Park’s compositions – sometimes to a fault. However, most of the times you end up with solid pop-rock songs like “Girls Who Play Guitar,” a prototypical Maxïmo Park song where the clashing guitars are backed up a solid rhythm while Paul Smith’s vocal keep the song moving forward – he’s sort of like Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) but with the sense of writing reasonable lyrics. “Books from Boxes,” is one of the strongest songs, pulling back the throttle and building the tension piece by piece into a melancholy gem about someone leaving. It might be one of the most polished songs that Maxïmo Park has produced.

It's fun to hear Maxïmo Park just letting loose, like on “The Unshockable,” a Blur-like song that is as aggressive as the band gets and you can tell Gil really wanted the band to take more of a Pixies like turn on the track (and it more or less works). Another gem on the disc is the hand-clapped “By the Monument,” a song that mixes Maxïmo Park’s signature guitars with piano (which doesn’t always work as I’ll detail later), the song is a bittersweet love song of two people parting ways (”I’m just passing my time/with you on my mind”) it is a microcosm of why Maxïmo Park works so well so much of the time. The album closes with the pleasant but plaintive “Parisian Skies,” (”I don’t think she knew how much I really loved her”) and that really seems to be the mood across Our Earthly Pleasures to create a solid set of melancholy love songs. You can hear Gil’s production – or sometimes overproduction – on tracks like “Our Velocity” and “A Fornight’s Tale” where the keyboards get a little carried away, creating an almost Who-like sound to the tracks, only when the guitars take over do the songs become compelling. “Russian Literature” also suffers from the “rock opera” syndrome also, just listen to the frantic piano that drives the song, it feels horribly out of place in a Maxïmo Park song, like Ben Folds lost his way and stumbled into the band’s recording studio. Whether it’s a good thing or not, “Karaoke Plays” is the most radio-friendly song that the band has ever recorded and songs like it could be a hit in the making (if Clear Channel would ever approve of bands like Maxïmo Park instead of dredges like Plain White Tee.)

Our Earthly Pleasures has its ups and downs, just like you might expect from a band recording only its second true full-length, but the album is a solid sophomore effort that reinforces what we already know about the band and expands it into new territory. While their Brit-rock brethren might be getting most of the press, maybe its Maxïmo Park that will have the lasting career when all is said and done, just churning out albums that are both compelling and infectious while the rest just make a lot on noise on the pages of magazine – and really, where does the sound really count?

Our Earthly Pleasures has its ups and downs ... but the album is a solid sophomore effort that reinforces what we already know about the band and expands it into new territory.

Myth Takes

Erik Gonzalez — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:00:00 +0000

7.8

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000MCH5LS/wwwthreeimagi-20

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Sometimes it helps to gain perspective. For instance, !!! seems to have sat back and realized “Hey, why are all our songs so darn long?” Not to say that there is anything particularly wrong with long, rambling tunes that seem to go on forever. There's a time and a place for that, but when all your songs follow that pattern, well, then you begin to wonder if they need a merciless editor for a producer. Thankfully, !!! may have gained that perspective of their work and sure enough, Myth Takes, the first !!! album since 2003's Louden Up Now, is much more focused, concise, and above all, a real dance-pop gem that doesn't get lost in its own meanderings.

With an introduction like that, it would make it seem like I'm not a fan of most of !!!'s discography. Not so -- in fact, songs like “Hello? Is This Thing On?” and “Me and Guliani Down By the Schoolyard” are just great. However, if Louden Up Now suffered from anything, it was a lack of restraint that made pretty much every song a mystical -- and long -- journey. Luckily, !!! seems to have learned from this and Myth Takes is a much more satisfying album for it. Right off the bat, the opening title track clocks in at a mere 2:24, but it has an infectious driving beat and bassline that almost sounds like a hybrid of dance-rock and sixties surf.

It's obvious early on that !!! took a much more rock-leaning attack to Myth Takes, like brethren the Rapture or El Guapo/Supersystem. Just listen to “All My Heroes Are Weirdos” and you get a succinct dance-rock triumph with scintillating keyboards and guitars mixing with thunderous percussion. It's really a high point for !!!, distilling their style and substance in under four minutes. If you're looking for more typical !!!, try “Heart of Hearts” which both satisfies the length and dance criteria. It has a driving beat and some sinister guitar propelling the song forward as the tempo builds, although the female backup singers give it an odd KMFDM-Lite feel. The same might be said of “Bend of Beethoven,” which has a much more classic !!! sound, with whispered vocals and dueling guitars as the dancing rhythm section. The song itself is broken into pieces that drive the tempo back and forth from a low boil to a full-on frenzy. “Yadnus” starts with a downright Gary Glitter intro with marching drums and slapped bass. It turns out to be one of the darkest and most interesting tracks on Myth Takes, a song that would be a perfect fit in a dark club late at night.

Some tracks are just plain dance, like “Must Be the Moon,” a song that oddly enough sounds like a lost Madonna track from Ray of Light bouncing back and forth with a Destiny's Child song. Not sure that's a good thing. !!! try almost straight-up indie-rock with “Sweet Life,” a song that almost entirely lacks the usual aspects you might expect from the band but it just never comes together, instead sounding like a band that wants to be !!!. “Break In Case of Anything” is more disco than what you might imagine from !!! and it ends up coming across as a bit of muzak, not really developing into anything. However, Myth Takes ends on a high note with “Infinifold,” a track that slows things down, focusing the band's energy into a tension that makes the song quite captivating.

Myth Takes is by no means flawless; it's obvious that !!! is experimenting with their sound as the band matures, as evidenced by the varying style and quality of the album. They clearly show that when they're focused, they can put together songs that make the dance-rock subgenre seem like more than just a passing fad. It might be best to see !!! has a band that has all the right tools at this moment, just needs a little more time to put it all together to really show us what they got.

Myth Takes, the first !!! album since 2003's Louden Up Now, is much more focused, concise, and above all, a real dance-pop gem that doesn't get lost in its own meanderings.

Missing Songs

Erik Gonzalez — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 08:00:00 +0000

6.7

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BX10VE

maximopark06mar.jpg

Usually, after merely one album, it might seem a little early to have a rarities compilation. It gives me the same feeling as seeing Ben Affleck or Dave Chappelle on Inside the Actors Studio: sure, they might be talented or popular, but have they earned the respect to deserve James Lipton's overly fawning interviews? You just watch it feeling that either (a) all the A-list stars were busy that night or (b) Lipton was drunk when they booked the show. Either way, it just doesn't seem right. Much in the same way, although Maxïmo Park are talented and their 2005 album A Certain Trigger was surprisingly good, the new compilation of rarities, Missing Songs, seems a little premature in their career.

For those of you who missed A Certain Trigger, now would be a great time to run out and pick it up. It flew under the radar as more attention was paid to similar acts like Franz Ferdinand, the Killers and Bloc Party. Missing Songs fills in some of the background material that likely lead to their 2005 debut, but it has that rough-around-the-edges feel of the leftovers from the studio and you don't want to start here if you've never heard the band. Maxïmo Park has the interesting distinction of being the first real rock and roll band signed onto electronic vanguard label Warp Records, home to such luminaries as Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada and Nightmares on Wax, which in itself make the Park worth a cursory listen. What Missing Songs can offer is a glimpse into why Warp took a chance on the band.

Maxïmo Park sprout from the seeds of Gang of Four and Mission of Burma, making catchy, danceable rock. They have a little more staccato feel then their genre-mates, with a wisp of the Ned's Atomic Dustbin "deadpan bass" sound to a many of their songs. This is apparent in the opener, "A19" that starts with swirling keyboards and leads into a catchy chorus, but it never reaches the level of infectiousness of songs like "Kiss You Better" from their debut. "My Life in Reverse" is reminiscent of the Weezer side-project the Rentals, with a strong power-pop influence. Probably the closest relative to A Certain Trigger is "I Want You to Leave" that sounds like the Who meets the Clash with strong rhythm section and clever lyrics abound: you think I want you to leave/it's not that simple to me/it all depends on the mood/innocent thoughts are misconstrued. The album closes with some rough demo versions of songs from A Certain Trigger, the best being "Once, A Glimpse" that starts with thunderous, rolling drums and builds a tension that is the hallmark of the album version. In hearing a demo like "Once, A Glimpse" you can see why people were so excited about the Maxïmo Park debut.

Some of the more adventurous turns from the Trigger sound make Missing Songs more interesting than it might have been. "A Year of Doubt" almost carries a Madness sound with it, right down to the chorus of I wait behind the factory gates/for you to finish off your shift. In what might sounds like a song that got lost trying to get to a Gogol Bordello album, "Stray Talk" has a gypsy-style guitar with bitter lyrics like and now we're both left out to dry/put out to sea and left to drift. One the album's highlights is "Hammer Horror", amusing merely for the use of what can only be referred to as "massive xylophone action" in one of the most surprising instruments in a rock song this year so far. The xylophone mimicking the guitar line is somewhat unsettling, as if a lounge singer decided that punk rock was the way to go.

The primary sin of Missing Songs is merely that of being relatively unnecessary. Three albums down the road something like this compilation would be a unneccessary addition that at this point, it feels like a gratuitous marketing ploy. The music is good, that's not the question. However, Missing Songs might have been a great second disc to a reissue of A Certain Trigger, but on its own, it seems like an empty gesture.

Although Maxïmo Park are talented and their 2005 album A Certain Trigger was surprisingly good, the new compilation of rarities, Missing Songs, seems a little premature in their career.

The Campfire Headphase

Erik Gonzalez — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 08:00:00 +0000

7.7

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000AP2ZQC/wwwthreeimagi-20

boardsofcanada06jan.jpg

Electronic music seems to be at a turning point these days. Long gone are the heady days of the mid-1990's where it was the "next big thing". Of course, that status lasted all of, oh, 20 seconds before it was co-opted by the powers that be and the flagbearer became Fatboy Slim and it was all downhill from there (I still get chills, in a bad sense, from "The Rockafeller Skank"). There were few survivors from those days of yore, with the Prodigy becoming a caricature of themselves, Chemical Brothers lost in their own loops and Aphex Twin hunkering down in his live-in tank (and again, lets not mention a certain Mr. Slim). Like the highschool quarterback who wins acclamation in the big homecoming game only to blow out his knee the first week in college, electronic music seems to be attempting to relive it's zenith with realizing that it just isn't going to pay the bills and its kind of dark with the electricity turned off and all.

Boards of Canada were (well, are, I suppose I shouldn't act like they are dead) one of the more enlightened electronic acts, less interested in dancing and more with attaining an atmosphere, as if you don't actually hear the music as much as become aware of it surrounding you. They perfected this approach with 1997's "In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country" that is the closest modern (i.e., post) electronic has come to recreating a dream sequence sonically. However, what do you do after reaching perfection? It was a tough task for the Boards, and although Geogaddi was pleasant enough, it felt a little like a retread of their debut. Their latest disc, The Campfire Headphase seems to be a first step forward for the Boards.

The Campfire Headphase has more song structure and less ambiance than of the earlier Boards albums, taking a cue from current indietronic darlings like Manitoba/Caribou and M83 (who, in turn, were heavily influenced by Boards of Canada in the first — ah, how I love our postmodern world). Luckily for the Boards, it sounds less like imitation and more like experimentation. "Dayvan Cowboy" layers the drifting keyboard lines of early Boards work with an almost bombastic drum and guitar section that begins to approach prog rock status. The same can be said for "Satellite Anthem Icarus" that begs for a whispered vocal like over the slow and seductive guitar and beat — it borders on RJD2 territory. Meanwhile, "Chromakey Dreamcoat" feels like a sequel to "In a Beautiful Place...", taking us all a little further into the woods.

These steps forwards, though, are balanced by many tracks that will remind even the most casual Boards fan of their earlier work. "Tears from the Compound Eye", "Farewell Fire" and "Slow This Bird Down" (trust me, its slow) are pages out of the late 90's Boards of Canada playbook and seem almost to bog down The Campfire Headphase comparatively speaking. These tracks, however, allow you to appreciate the refreshing nature of some of the more progressive tracks on the album.

Boards of Canada do an admirable job of keeping the flame of electronic music alive in a world that has mostly forgotten about its past glories. Much like the rest of the genre, Boards of Canada seems to be lost in either reliving those heights or trying to break free and rediscover the innovation that brought the genre to our attention in the first place. They've realized, "hey, maybe this blown knee is a blessing in disguise and now I can go out and be the best darn botanist ever, like I've always dreamt". The Campfire Headphase will appease those Boards of Canada fans that long for the sound of the electronic heyday, but they also give us hope that they can escape that past at the same time.

Boards of Canada do an admirable job of keeping the flame of electronic music alive in a world that has mostly forgotten about its past glories.