Posts tagged as Things to Hear
Destroyer, “Leave Me Alone”
It has been a predictably slow Internet today, what with everyone getting back to work and aiming for inbox zero and blah blah blah Iowa, but the day is almost done, so we're going to set you up with this pretty sweet cover of New Order's "Leave Me Alone" from Awl favorites Destroyer, which we're a little late to but whatever. We should also talk at some point about how cold it is outside but I suppose that can wait until tomorrow. [Via]
Difficult Listening Hour: William Brittelle's "Sheena Easton" Is Alt-Classical That Really Works
Crossover is a hard row to hoe sometimes-so hard, in fact, you wonder why people even try. The ground that's tilled rarely, if ever, gives up a good crop in return. So if soprano Renee Fleming wants to drop her voice a couple octaves and cover Arcade Fire, Band of Horses-and, naturally, "Hallelujah"-no one can stop her, but it's not like folks on either side of the indie-classical chasm are gonna hold their hyper-critical, specialist fire. (I'd say Fleming's take on "Intervention" is strong. Ditto the Band of Horses number. The rest: stay away.) And, as the Times has noted, there's not much combining of disciplines on Fleming's new disc, Dark Hope: it's just someone who's known for one style deciding to execute (sorta) a completely different style. The novelty is all in your head. READ MORE
Drink Only When Drunken To: The Indie Totems, Mission of Burma
I have this problem with not wearing earplugs at shows. I can't get a bead on exactly what it is; some long-held childishness about needing to "authentically experience the music," which is probably just a cover for not wanting to look like "that guy" ("that guy who wears earplugs"?), or maybe just a willful and teenage-defiant attitude about the glories or total bodily desecration? READ MORE
Difficult Listening Hour: The BBC at the Stone, Newspeak, and Things To Hear This Weekend--Plus Bonus MIA Cover
By avant-music metrics, last night was pretty star-studded over at The Stone on Avenue C. Someone said Mike Watt of Minutemen and fIREHOSE fame was all up in the joint. And I spied Ches Smith from Xiu Xiu, in addition to club doyen John Zorn. Jenny Scheinman, a talent in way too many musical genres, was on the guest list. There were about a hundred or so other lesser-known folks crowding the tiny venue-which employs only a single, stationary electric fan for AC purposes. That fan at The Stone, it's almost like a really genius art installation that calls into question and then subverts the very construct of cooling off indoors during summer-that's how little it helps when the place is at standing-room capacity. But so: why were we all eager to endure that kind of punishment on a non-monsoon July 2009 eve? Maybe because Time Out and the Times both gave The Stone some love this week. Or was it due to the fact that last night's guitarist has a day job with Wilco? I can't say what impact these data points might have had in terms of the place being packed. I just listed them to get your attention, in case you normally tune out writing about avant-garde music. See how I did that? READ MORE
