Chapstick Weekly-ish
For the prudent gentleman or gentlelady
It's Late, It's Either Monday or Tuesday Mix
Electric Feel – MGMT
Beat Control – Tilly and the Wall
Ready for the Floor (Extended Mix) – Hot Chip
Hock It (YACHT Remix) – The Blow
Sad Song - Au Revoir Simone
Lovers Who Uncover (Crystal Castles vs. The Little Ones) – The Little Ones
In Your Machine – Alex Metric
We Share Our Mother’s Health (Ratatat Remix) – The Knife
I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll – Queen of Japan
Mary, Mary – Run-DMC
Faustz – AmpLive
Electrotumbao – The Pinker Tones
Chains – Sons & Daughters
Creeper – Islands
Humankind – Alice Russell
You Are My Face – Wilco
Vampires in Blue Dresses – Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s
Albums in my Car
The Pinker Tones, Wild Animals
Blank Blue, Western Water Music Vol. II
Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
Ronald Jenkees, Ronald Jenkees
Easy Star All Stars, Until that Day EP
Mojib, Whimsical Lifestyle
Catching up with Richard Edwards, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s Interview
Richard Edwards fronts Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s on stage with a calm, conversational style, letting the music speak for itself, mostly. Away from the stage, he is much the same.
I spoke to him at a stop on his tour, in an unidentifiable city somewhere west of here (close as I can guess is Lawrence County, Missouri, playing that night at a place called The Jackpot). After getting there, a label-organized national tour with a major label release pending and a set recording contract for more music, what is left for this Indianapolis band?
“Our goals? We want to keep making better records. To continue growing...working hard,” said Edwards.
Well said: the ethereal future for this band whose explosion continues to ripple outward, it seems, isn’t dotted with concrete markers along its way. But how did they get to this vantage point? How does a band make it out of the humdrum, barely-supported scene for local music here? What separates this band from other bands? It is a constant musing of mine
“If I had to give just one answer, I would say extreme sacrifices. We all moved in to a small house together, toured together with no money.”
And I suppose that is exactly what I can see in the bands that typically circulate Indianapolis. An “as long as its fun” approach to making music, centered on me and I.
Specifically to do with The Dust of Retreat, Edwards gave a fitting description, “It’s like the first time a little kid uses a curse word: articulate and charming.” There is obvious talent and power in their music, and their approach does seem to come from the intrigue of discovery. He continued, “We are some people who are very passionate about getting their message across, throwing everything at it. Dust of Retreat has some good examples of that.”
Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s are now on tour in the Western United States. Their next release, Animal! is set to come out the middle of this summer (as accurate as I can get).
What’s New to Me and Maybe New to You
Is there something wrong with me, or is it natural to be listening to “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” on repeat? Queen of Japan takes this, and a number of other stalwart steadfasts of rock and nostalgia and feeds them to a nearby ambiguously gay, early-model, dance android, who, after chewing delicately, spits back out a barrage of capricious, shake-your-ass ridiculousness! If you’re not cheesing and rotating those hips by the end of “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” you will be after “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”!
Picture yourself in a record store at closing, over-sized cheap headphones on, eyes closed shaking your head slowly with a satisfied smile perched on your lips. Suddenly you have bridged some previously irreconcilable harmony. This is what is playing. The gentle seascape layers of music that build each track to greater and greater heights are masterful: never dominating, but letting you ease into the body-temperature warmth of a much-needed embrace. The album “Western Water Music Vol. II” will take you on a ride away from the harsh realities of this world.
Whimsical Lifestyle is the name of his album, and the image conjured of a Pacific Islander, 15-year-old kid behind the ship wheel on an old-style yacht, complete with white captain’s outfit, smiling into the breeze is fitting. This downtempo music is riddled with loops and samples that tickle your memory, and some that don’t: I hear Kings of Convenience, early Moby, and Regina Spektor track samples so far. Whimsical is the perfect word to describe this music, that carries you through lo-fi beats, acoustic guitar, Disney-like electronic instrumentation, sitars, and of course, high-harmonic bell sounds.
In Case You’re a Dummy
Buy the Cassius, 15 Again disc. With the exception of Pharrell’s appearance on Eye Water, this album is fantastic front to back. Catchy dance songs, driving dance songs, beat-driven dance songs, and funky French interludes fill this CD to the brim, and their no-nonsense joy-seeking spills the music over the edge! Another French album on my list here, but it’s just so good. So good! From the first track on, this re-emergence of Cassius is one that you wished you bought when it just came out.
The Alamo: VHS or Beta, Night on Fire
Remember VHS or Beta, Night on Fire? All the vocal power that a five-foot nothing skinny Asian man could possibly produce across unquestionably danceable tones carrying all the dignity that a funky 90s-smelling sound can offer.
Dust off this album, and if you don’t have it, take a good look in the mirror and reassess your life, dummy. The scope of the types of people that could enjoy this album range from people that never made it out of the 90s, middle-school teachers letting loose, lost teenage Louisville runaways, and anyone who owns a convertible to budding music newsletter writer/editor/publishers.
This album has been a fixture, and one of the first original danceable bands that helped usher in this era of danceable dandies!
In short, this album came out of Louisville, and carried this band across the globe on the Astralwerks label (same label as Air, Cassius, Magic Numbers, and Hot Chip to name a few), from summer trysts in Ibiza to international tours and back to the midwest. This is certainly a disc that welcomes a long return.
Technology for Sounds: The Apple Airport
I bought one of these Apple products from Ebay on some Chinese portal. It was difficult to read what exactly I was buying, but I had a good feeling. This is a wireless router that plays music from your iTunes library (and any USB device aside). I literally plugged it in by my stereo, plugged my RCA’s into my stereo, and connected via iTunes. Easy to use, you can plug this little guy in anywhere, this device is a must for anyone who regularly listens to music produced out of iTunes. This $15 plus shipping item has really allowed me a diversity of music listening that I could have only hoped for.
Some Things Are Funny
Like finding Ronald Jenkees on YouTube. Like finding any music on YouTube! I can be stubborn, headstrong, whatever. What comes with this, among many ill things, is that your mind closes down a bit, limiting accepted input, and stifling the great music you can hear on…YouTube.
Ronald Jenkees, from nearby Kentucky, is a peculiar, mole-looking, late-twenties guy, who is unnervingly graceful at the keys. Through a webcam perched at the end of his full-length, full-throw keyboard, we see him bobbing his head to each next creative beat, playing extraordinary configurations of melodies with a range of voices and effects.
I can’t believe the dexterity with which he approaches playing this music! His glass-bottle glasses magnify how much he must be nearly blind, but this cannot take away from the obvious happiness he has found with the ability to share his music.
Side Note: It is for once, heartening, to see something like this surface on YouTube. This man is obviously not good looking, nor is he blessed with a silver tongue. But, somehow, he rose to the top of the YouTube pile. The only explanation is that his music brought him to where he is now. And that is something.
This is one thing I have been coming back to, watching, on impulse, several times a day. His self-titled album would have never been near my peripheral if it hadn’t been for his posting on YouTube.
So, as he ends each of his small videos, “Hello YouTubes, that was too much fun. Thanks for listening.”
Next Week:
Amplive, The Music, and more gloss for those puckering kissers.
