Chapstick Weekly v8

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Beetlejuice Black-striped Bubblicious Birthday Mix

Revolution (Love album version) – The Beatles
Back in the U.S.S.R. (Love album version) – The Beatles
Modern Guilt – Beck
Do What You Wanna (Mr. Scruff’s Soul Party Remix) – Ramsey Lewis & Mr. Scruff
Crisp Endorsement – Of Montreal
Shadows – Midnight Juggernauts
DARE (Junior Sanchez Remix) – Gorillaz
D.A.N.C.E. (Feat Spank Rock & Mos Def) [Benny Blanco Remix] – Justice
Funplex (Peaches Pleasure Seeker Remix) – The B-52’s
No Sex for Ben – The Rapture
The Suspense Is Killing Me – Boy 8-Bit
Around the World – Daft Punk
Lazy Eye (Jason Bentley Remix) – Silversun Pickups
Bellona – Junior Boys
Soul Sauce (Fila Brazilia Remix) – Cal Tjader & Fila Brazilia
Tubthumping (Flaming Lips & Dave Fridmann Remix) – Chumbawamba
Watermelon Man – Herbie Hancock

Albums in my Car

Beck, Modern Guilt
Shine, The Common Station
Midnight Juggernauts, Dystopia
Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin
Zero 7, Simple Things
The Chemical Brothers, B-Sides Vol. 1


Modern Guilt from Beck Hitting Stores Today, Tuesday, July 8.

Moments before a figure emerges from a thick fog, the cloud-wall moves, jerked in currents and streams by the sudden approach of something travelling at a great speed. Something massive. Something danceable, intangible!

(It’s going to be the best album ever…I can’t wait.)

The figure, the awoken (or sleepless) beast that is the new Beck album, has not only begun to stir, but is barreling forward at a breakneck pace. I had the intense pleasure of pre-viewing his new tracks over the weekend (you can too, if you foolishly don’t want to download it yet – beck.com), and if I hadn’t already pre-ordered this album, I would get it right now. As in, F you, I can’t wait for this album.

Driving, 60’s teeny-pop drumlines electrified by Danger Mouse (Yeah, that guy from Gnarls Barkley and Gorillaz) provides buoyancy for layers of bouncy, heavy keys and unfiltered, unabashed guitar licks. Where Danger Mouse ends and Beck begins is hard to say, and their natural fusion is apparent on this effort.

OMG! I can’t waaaaiiit.

Seriously let’s get so serious for a moment. Seriously. Metaphors aside, Beck has a stethoscope that hear music’s sublime beating heart and breathing lungs. I’ve seen it.

Let’s abstain from using words like “re-invent” and “experimental” from describing every new Beck album. He moves more subtly through the shifting tides of music’s capabilities, creating his only consistency through his continuing, adaptive ability to find synthesis in all things that are beautiful (something that Lao Tzu could only call succeeding).


What’s New to Me and Maybe New to You

Midnight Juggernauts
If there was ever an appropriate band to do a keyboard air guitar to, this would be them. The quirky vocal delivery of this group’s Talking Heads / Bee Gees hybrid is paired with simple synthesizers and a driving, dancey beat that will turn some heels over heads. Although elegantly done, this album’s music presents a solid landscape of sound, with little fragility to its structure or delivery. Very good. Danceable. Approved. Vunderbarr.

Chemical Brothers
Have you ever heard of this duo? They are neither new to me or to you, but their B-sides album is one that slipped between the cracks in late 2007, and much to my great happiness, overshadows their recent release, We Are the Night, in rainbow shades of glory. Punchy, precise, prudent, practical, and pleasant.

Shine
Tapping into the same soulful, live band sound with an easy electronic groove that has placed Zero 7 in a class of its own, Shine’s freshman album does well to please the gentle listener. With the long-awaited release of The Common Station, a few unmistakeable gems emerge (tracks Ashbury and Hawaii) with an album filled out with songs worthy of a dimly lit background and plush, bloated-looking furniture. By the end of the album, you’ll probably find yourself stretching your feet out for a nice relaxation moment.

In Case You’re a Dummy

Buy the Daft Punk, Alive 2007. I’ll admit, I was slightly reluctant to get this one. But as live albums go, this is phenominal in quality, energy, sound, and substsance. From the moment the proverbial needle hits the proverbial vinyl, this disk transports you into the futuristic, cartoon, liver-performance world in which they must live. Try not to sing along, in your best robot vocoder voice, to these songs as they get stuck in your head.


The Alamo: Zero7, Simple Things

Remember Zero 7, Simple Things? That album that reached you in your dark place and drug you out, clear, free, and nearly unscathed?

Breath. Sigh. As one of the first places (if not the first place) to listen to Sia dominate the vocal landscape, its uniqueness, in hindsight, can be seen in this album’s minimalistic approach to her undisputed talent (and minimal use). In fact, avid listeners of this album can certainly overlook that she is even featured on it.

In fact, many of the album’s perfect 14 tracks are wholly instrumental. Flawless, intelligent arrangements keep the pace of this album lifted and airy, giving it that power that music only has to look into your face and say, “I know it, buddy. I’ve been there. But what do you really have to worry about? Life is actually beautiful.”

(Editor’s note: The above quote is not really a quote.)

Soothing Aloe strings and a drum and bass combination that provides Vitamin E smoothness traipse easily from track to track, mixing with electric piano and acoustic guitar to provide a sound that is, in every way, undefineable. Like the smell of just walking into the door at home, or the touch of sun on your skin.

Each track unpretentiously bides its time, patiently letting the complex harmonies take root over a backing beat tranquil and unruffled enough to ice skate on.

To be honest, I’ve been sitting here trying to determine the best way to do this remarkable album justice. After an emergency lifeline phone call to probe Taylor’s thoughts (who incidentally introduced me to this album), I’d like to end off with this single thought.

In the myriad of circumstances and events in my recent life that have been effected by this album, be they wholly benign, intolerably low, or outrageously ecstatic, there will never be an album that could fill each next void, each next moment like this one has and continues to do.


You Show Look Good (NEW! Submitted by Katie2 of Savvy Salon in Indianapolis)

Are you as hot as the music you're snapping to? Here are a few fashionable tips to cool you off at summer shows.

Bangs, buns, everywhere! Braids in your hair
Take the time to look like
You didn't even care!

Keep denim to a minimum! A pair of shorts or a dress
Jersey knits or cotton
Can absorb sweat the best!

Roman in your gladiators
Chillin in your chucks!
Flops and pastel polishes
Are definitely a must!

Ya dig?

When dressing for the summer swing, remember cool comfort!

...

"What the heel were you thiking? those won't help you dance!"

Some Things Are Funny

Like Irony! Not long ago, I posed a question to you readers: can good music supercede the bad choices that people generally make on JukeBoxes in an user-oriented, on-demand information age?

Well, the answer is leaning yes, it appears, thanks to new efforts from Beck. Text messages to 40411 with “Beck” have yielded responses that tell you where to go download his pre-released tracks onto local jukeboxes!

Could this possibly herald the dawning of a new age of jukebox promotions, dramatically increasing the viability of the user-oriented, open-access music selection process that actually yields decent tunage?

A thought has stirred in my imagination of hundreds of music zealots, filling jukeboxes with music pre-releases, creating new sound atmospheres at local venues and allowing for great music to stem out of the popularly selected.


Next Week:
Sean Lennon, LMNOP, Chapstick Weekly Launch Party!, and more gloss for those puckering kissers.