You may not believe it, and when I heard it I scarcely believed it myself, but there's more to being a geek than just video games. What! Crazy! I know! The thirst for new stimulation isn't limited to just the digital realm of "veedoo games"! Music is what we crave, and the newest Weekly Geek Music Podcast is just the thing to satiate even the most ravenous of melody fiends. Mike and Chris present to you their top albums for this period in the space-time continuum, with artists like Portishead, Wolf Parade, Death Cab For Cutie and Nine Inch Nails. Perhaps, in listening, you will discover your new favorite band. These things are known to happen.
Full set list and links to purchase tracks after the jump.
Wolf Parade's debut LP, Apologies to the Queen Mary, from a few years ago was a raw, unhinged explosion of guitars and keyboards - a work that evoked post-punk anger as much as it did peppy bounce. As genius a first album as it was, with Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner's trade-off songwriting, the group was slightly overshadowed by the barrage of good music being exported from Canada at the time - Arcade Fire, The New Pornographers, and the like.
After successful side project excursions for both Krug (Sunset Rubdown) and Boeckner (Handsome Furs), the duo reunites with a renewed formidableness. At Mount Zoomer is refreshingly different. They've kept the angularity and intensity, but Wolf Parade adds a welcome dose of subtlety and complexity in this succinct 9-song set.
Stemming from my Wolf Parade obsession is the deranged, but lovable branch, Handsome Furs: Solo project of Dan Boeckner, Wolf Parade's Co-Holwer/Guitarist, guesting his affianced lovely assistant Alexei Perry on various gadgets. Together, they've washed out the rain gutters of Indie Rock, indiscriminately exposing rotten leaves and fallen robin eggs alike. Sand-papery lyrics collide perfectly with the clean crunch of simple, pounding drum machine sambas. "What We Had" is the reluctant signature track of The Furs' marred masterpiece album Plague Park. Download the .mp3 here for free, courtesy of well-to-do label Sub Pop Records.
Attempt to enjoy the gorgeous pelts below in this shitty YouTube find. How is it that the most amazing live performances, and the only ones available online, are recorded so poorly?
In order to present a more tangible taste of the music reviews here on The Weekly Geek, we now have an imeem account that will allow us to share full songs from past, present, and future music features. Hurrah! Obviously, we’ll still be doing the quarterly music podcasts for commentary purposes, but the limitations imposed on us by the Fair Use Act doesn’t provide an accurate glimpse of the songs we snapshot. (How much can we really point out in 30 second clips?!?) This will hopefully be a much more efficient way to portray our listening habits and turn you on to some new tunes.
posted by Mike on September 7, 2006 1:00 AM in Music
Montreal's evocative Wolf Parade put out the fantastic taped effort Apologies to the Queen Mary earlier this year and their first music video is for the song Modern World.
In a digital music age where everyone can make an album on their laptop, and the vast majority of pop music singers whitewash vocal imperfections with AutoTune, this stop-motion masterpiece rings so true. It's not a conspiracy theory. Human bands are being replaced by machines to sell records.
Such a stark reminder as this makes my rallying cry (at least for this week): Long Live Analog!!!
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