Darren’s Neighborhood

This is The Books' last date on their national tour, so they seem very comfortable being on stage. Since this was the Cedar Cultural Center, the audience consists of an older "NPR"-type of crowd. This was one of the most full show I've seen at the Cedar.

Baby Dee ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09)

Opening up for them was Baby Dee (official/myspace), an outrageous soloist cabaret that sings showtunes. Her flamboyant performance style lends itself to not-so-serious songs like "Big Titty Bee Girl (from Dino Town)". She spent most of her set on the piano, before heading over to the ominous harp for two songs. Apparently, this was just a small taste of what's to come, as she's heading back to the Cedar on April 19^th, 2010.

Before her last song, she introduced The Books by telling this joke about next to the dog, a man's best friend is a book. Next because inside a dog, it's too hard to read.

The Books set up two chairs and their movie projector at 9 o'clock. Remember, this is the Cedar, their shows starts early and ends early (no later than 10:30pm). Which its audience is an older (and probably gainfully employed crowd), so they like early shows.

So, back to the Books, they provided the live soundtrack to their movies. Everything is in sync, no technical problems at all. They even went so far as having a one-minute intermission song as they tune up their instruments. The intermission song features anagrams of the word "Immediate". Everything is calculated.

I find that trying to watch the movie and watching Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong was somewhat distracting. I think they prefer you watch the screen, because watching the duo play isn't exactly that exciting.

The Books ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09)

Most of their songs are instrumentals, usually with samples, so the few songs that they actually sing on (like "Take Time"), I thought those stood out. The other thing about The Books is that they seem to find inspiration in anything and everything. For instance, their song "Smells Like Content" is basically 10 hours of audio recording from Nick's older brother. Their most interesting song, "Cold Freezing Night", are audio loops from Talkboy tape recordings that they found at thrift stores.

As for the encores, which incidentally is predetermined because of the movies that is associated with the songs, they did two songs. The first is a Nick Drake cover "Cello Song", which Paul explained is their only cover they do. It was for the benefit of the Red Hot organization for Aids awareness. If you recall, I've previously endorsed the organization by buying many of their music releases. Their final song is "An Owl With Knees" from their 2005 album, Lost and Safe.

PS, This is my final concert for 2009 (I hibernate during the winter), I would like to thank everybody for offering shows for me to review. I will be able to accept assignments in March-ish 2010, and/or whenever it stops snowing.

Trying to find quality music in today’s market is similar to trying to find real food at an all-you-can-eat buffet:  plenty to choose from but curiously homogenous, like the tapioca is the same color and consistency as the blue cheese dressing.  HOT bands scrounge for retro hooks that they can polish up with a slick coating of synth, while the kids eagerly line up, mouths open.  Nobody really cares that band Y is basically the same as last year’s band X, right down to the ethnic bass player.  It’s all about excess and intrigue: do it big or do it in a way that hasn’t been done before (or do it in a way that hides the fact that it’s been done before).  Naturally, this is any combination of MGMT, Dirty Projectors, Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, et al (think Pitchfork “seal of approval”); or, closer to home, electro-rock wunderkinds Solid Gold (who cried about their lack of fame like little bitches).  Amidst the fleeting charm, occasionally one stumbles across a band that feels new, despite an adherence to classic formulas.  These bands may value tradition over innovation, but boy do they smell like fresh leafy greens. Even if you’ve never heard of them.

Minneapolis duo Bella Ruse self-classify their sound as “indie folk jazz,” but when Joseph Barker plugs in his electric, as on opener “Push On,” the result doesn’t quite fit the categorization.  The sparse, moody guitar and Kay Gillette’s intimate vocals would be as appropriate for a sparse, moody Jim Jarmusch film as for a smoke-filled jazz club.  While “Push On” is Bella Ruse’s standout track, the rest of the EP is quietly pleasing.  “J’ai Presque Peur” is a smooth Pinot Noir toast to Edith Piaf and “Heart of Everyone” jangles along nicely.  When Norah Jones released her debut, I remember being underwhelmed at first, certain that her foray into “jazz” was one clarinet short of Lite FM.  However, after a few listens, I warmed up a bit, mostly because beneath the soccer mom ear-bait, I could detect the slightest shade of melancholy, and this interested me.  Bella Ruse is interesting in a comparable way (they had me at “kind of sad”).  Gillette’s voice calms rather than excites and sure, “Hold Me Close” would probably excite a Meg Ryan character (when she realizes that the Tom Hanks character is The One*); still, revisit “Push On” and convince me there isn’t a little Scout Niblett/Chan Marshall angst beneath the romantic sentiments. 

In his track notes, Barker admits that “Push On” was not an immediate favorite.  In fact, it took Gillette’s persistence and encouragement from fans to convince him that the song had a place on the EP.  Although this baffles me, I also kind of get it.  “Push On” is Bella Ruse’s “Hide and Seek”:  a stand alone track that deviates from an otherwise comfortable style.  There’s a reason why I’ve listened to the song a total of 27 times since I received the EP, except the ‘reason’ is actually a sensation—a slight tingling, milder than goosebumps but equally elusive.  My request for the band is simple: more, please.  More blood, sweat, tears, booze, ultra-lights, magic fairy dust or WHATEVER combination birthed this beauty.  More Pinot Noir, too.

Besides their debut EP, Bella Ruse has also released ‘Twas a Bella Ruse Christmas, a 4-song compilation of Christmas favorites.  Both albums can be purchased digitally at http://bellaruse.bandcamp.com.  For more information visit the band’s official website or e-stalk the pair on Facebook and Myspace.

*Sadly, my Nora Ephron references are dated.  Help.

I think this is hilarious, and I bought myself the shirt
http://rescuemarriage.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/chains_of_love_t-shirt.gif

POLYVINYL
One of Kateg's favorite label, Polyvinyl, is offering a free 16-track album at polyvinylrecords.com/mentalmath. The sampler includes a ton of bands we've previously covered: Architecture In Helsinki, Mates of State, Asobi Seksu, Headlights - just to name a few.

Incidentally, one of those band, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are on tour:

12/02/09 Outland* Springfield, MO
12/06/09 Binghamton University Vestal, NY
12/07/09 Bell House Brooklyn, NY
12/08/09 Summit Columbus, OH
12/09/09 Bishop Bloomington, IN
12/12/09 Outland Ballroom Springfield, MO
01/13/10 Maxine’s Pub Hot Springs, AK
01/23/10 Gallery Sounds Collective Springfield, MO
01/28/10 Schubas EARLY ALL AGES SHOW Chicago, IL
01/29/10 Courtyard Cafe Champaign, IL
01/30/10 Mojo’s Columbia, MO
01/31/10 Jackpot Lawrence, KS

* SSLYBY 10th Anniversary show with Brian Azevedo and Lamentia

We are going to cover the all-ages show at the Bell House in New York.

THE YOUNG PUNX
I got a download sample and press release for this band's latest "double a-side single" for Simple Pleasures/Like Dat. Generally, I am not accepting singles, remixes, or demos, but since I did enjoy their previous single for "Your Music is Killing Me" and "You've Got To" (especially the Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim remix), I did give these two new songs a listen.

What can I say ? I really dig the old-school punk intro, followed by this weird 80s pop singing, then some rasta-thing. Not really sure what to classify the whole thing, except that it's quite dancey. As for "Like Dat", I wasn't keen on this as much. Perhaps it's the rap song is such a stark contrast to the other song... but that's probably why people like Young Punx.

Currently, I think you can only get Simple Pleasures/Like Dat on iTunes. If you want to wait, I think these two songs are going to be available on their upcoming album, Mashpop & Punkstep, due out in 2010.

Anyway, since this is the "free" post, you can head over to their official website under theyoungpunx.com/../mp3, you'll find a ton of free mixes and oddities. My favorite are any remix of "Juice and Gin".

NETFLIX+PS3
Also, some random thoughts: I survived Black Friday. I have never seen so many people out in force at 5am. The parking lot at Wal-Mart was completely full, thankfully we got news alert from other shoppers that we went to Wal-Mart at the last stop. Deals were everywhere, it was the worst at Target (which also reflected people flocking to there). One of the item I bought was the Matrix 10^th Anniversary Bluray, which comes in a nice book-format, for $12.99. It's normally $29.99 suggested retail price. My impulse buy was S.T.A.L.K.E.R. PC game for $5.... it couldn't be helped.

I spent most of my vacation catching up on reading and TV shows. TV shows comes in the form of Hulu and Netflix - via the Netflix Instant Streaming disc for PS3. Compared to Xbox's "Gold Membership" which costs $50 a year, PS3's free streaming is a much better deal.

The Netflix streaming is dependent on your internet connection, I have a semi-decent connection at 5 megabit, so the video starts instantly (less than 30 seconds). Compare this to Playstation's own HD digital rental services, you have to wait at least 30 minutes to start the video, while it download the rest of the file. It's probably fast if you just drove to the video store and rent your movie.

Quality-wise, again depending on the connection, was pretty amazing for me. According to 1up.com, the streaming is in HD (however, I think some titles are only available in standard definition).

My gripe is that most of Netflix's titles are only available on DVD, the digital portion is probably less than 1% of their titles (it is only a guess since their selection is so poor). Also, there's no searching via the streaming disc. You can browse the recently added in various genres, but older titles, you will have to search and add to your "instant queue". Kind of lame, I hope they fix this problem in future updates.

If you don't have a PS3, most newer television and bluray player will come with instant Netflix, so this company is quite smart in getting their hands on all devices. Think about it, if you bought a Bluray player with Netflix, you will probably sign up for an account. Anyway, if you have a PS3 and a Netflix account already, you can request the free Bluray disc for yourself at netflix.com/ps3.