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obsession with rave-synth tones. Loose
conlemporaries can be found in Crystal
Castles or in Salem's darkwave
Sleigh Bell's noisy future-pop is
rounded out—or juxtaposed with—the
sweel and sassy cheerleader-isms of
former girl-group pop-singer Alexis
Krauss. Whatever lyrics are discern
ible over hi-hats and bass notes teeter
between the hard audacity of a rap
hook and the silly precociousness
of "Hollaback Girl" or Mamie Sterns
similarly hard-to-sing-over talk-sung
MIKE PATTON
riffage
BETTYE LaVETTE
The sound is kmda like punk
Mondo Cane
through an electro and hip-hop filter
Interpretations: The British
Ipecac
It's abrasive and loud and sounds belter
Rock Songbook
even louder If you let it. Treats bag of
Anti-
Even for a musical magpie unafraid
tricks will soundtrack your summer—
of outlandish ideas like Patton, the
the sweet Georgia humidity, the sweat’,
In 2007 R&B veteran Betfye LaVette
notion of a big italian-language
house parties and BBQs—the sex It'll
eleased The Scene of the Crime, a ter-
production (which entered at no 2
also probably blow out your speakers
ific. swaggering comeback album On
with full 40-piece orchestra, choir and
band is—on paper—a stretch though
it is perhaps the weirdest thing a
freak-rocker can do However from his
inspired vocal and musical interpreta
tion to his command of the language
this album is. in many ways, masterful
The old Italo-pop standards cov
ered here range widely in flavor and
mood The album's most elegant and
evocative passages are the jazzy 60s
caresses of “Deep Down “ the dizzying
Italian swoon of “Ore d'Amore" and the
glorious 70s rock odyssey of “It Cieio
in Una Stanza," where Patton sounds
like a combination of Marc Bolan and
Bowie at their most golden and godly
Besides being closest in spirit, the
alternately marauding and swinging
“Urlo Negro' is simply an outstanding
portrait of jovial insanity
Though flowing with camp. Mondo
Cane is rendered in loving scale and
detail. Moreover. Patton's sincerity and
extraordinary vocal execution make for
some legitimately gorgeous moments
The Italian expression is one of the
world's most wonderfully histrionic,
and Patton's power is impressively
equal to it.
Bao Le-Huu
THE NEW
PORNOGRAPHERS
Together
Matador
rock country and soul tunes like Elton
Johns “Talking Old SoldiersWillie
Nelson's "Somebody Pick Up My
Pieces' and Don Henley's “You Don t
Know Me at All' And it certainly didn t
hurt that she had an excellent backing
band in Athens own Dnve-By Truckers
On the new full-length.
Interpretations The British Bock
Songoook LaVette (sans Truckers and
writing partner Patterson Hood) tackles
Brit rock from the '60s and 70s an
unlikely action, but one that makes
total sense
Back in those decades, the best
rock covers usually came from soul
singers themselves, who could turn
the catchiest of pop tunes into searing
emotionally powerful numbers And
that's precisely what LaVette does with
Elton John's ‘Don't Let the Sun Go
Down on Me' and the Stones' “Salt of
the Earth,' for instance
A cover of The Beatles' ‘The Word'
reaffirms the fact that the only good
Beatles cover is a soul Beatles cover
LaVette, in fact, tests that maxim by
also offering up her takes on George,
Ringo and Paul songs. She finally
closes with The Who's "Love Reign O'er
Me,' a song she movingly performed
in December of 2008 at the Kennedy
Center Honors, though it would have
been powerful to hear the Truckers
back LaVette on this go-around. the
melancholy, quieter mood suits these
tunes well
Chris Hassiotis
SLEIGH BELLS
Treats
N.E.E.T.
Since emerging on everyone's
best-of-CMJ list seven months ago.
Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells has signed
to M.IAs record label, supported
the Major Lazer and Yeasayer tours,
and has been deemed 2010’s all-but-
promised breakout act by practically
every other music outlet. Well, the
album Treats is finally out, and the
heavy, distorted buzz of hype is washed
over by the even more distorted in-tne-
red power riffs by one Derek Miller. The
former emo-ish hardcore guitarist of
Poison in the Well is responsible for a
track on MIA'S upcoming record, so
it shouldn't be surprising that he takes
a hip-hop-heavy approach to beat
making that borrows as much from
Swizz Beatz' gonzo take on New Orleans
bounce as it does from radio's current
The gang of Vancouver heavy
weights that comprises the New
Pornographers has crafted some of the
finest, densest pop albums of the past
decade—an impressive teat for a band
that was supposed to be a supergroup/
side project kinaa thing for Dan Bejar
(Destroyer, Swan Lake), Neko Case.
A C Newman (Zumpano) and the rest
The debut disc, Mass Romantic, out
in 2000. set the bar high, high, high,
but 2005's terrific Twin Cinema tangled
itself up in those high standards.
The most recent disc, Challengers,
released two-and-a-half years back,
took the band in a fuller but more mel
low direction. But by packing more into
each song, The New Pornographers
experienced a rare stumble, losing
much of the pep that characterizes the
best of its songs. Together, though,
gets the formula right, maintaining that
album's lush sense of arrangement
while looking back a’ the hook-heavy,
bold tunes of earlier years
"Sweet Talk,’ for instance, marries
dulcet chamber-pop with ballsy 70s
guitar heroics, transcendency part
nering together Case and Newman's
vocals. Case herself takes more of a
role than she has on past albums, and
the jangly, uptempo ’Crash Years’
mitigates the impact of Togetheis
few stumbles, like the hodgepodge,
Newman-penned ’A Bite Out of My
Bed.’ In accordance with the album's
title, The New Pornographers invited
a number of guests to perform on
Together, recruiting Zadi Condon
(Beirut), Will Sheff (Okkervil River) and
The Dap-Kings, among others. If this
new trend of more results in something
like Together, here's hoping the next
disc is called More.
Chris Hassiotis
The New Pornographers are play
ing at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta
on Saturday, June 26.
Swim
Merge
Caribou^ solo mind Dan Snaith
continues in his tradition ol crafting
well-constructed genre albums, as his
newest pushes him into sJow-bum,
midnight storm house music.
More reminiscent of his early work
when he was called Manitoba or The
Milk of Human Kindness’ folktronica
than his Polaris Award-winning hom
age to‘60s psychedelia in Andorra.
Swim is an elusive little record, refer
encing a hard-to-pin-down brand of
electronics—sometimes minimalist
techno, sometimes Studio 54-era disco
days. IDM. or sometimes ambient It's
not reductive to say that the collection
recalls the late period of the similarly
dynamic Arthur Russell or Four Tets
later work, of which Caribou has been a
frequent collaborator
In interviews. Snaith says his
mission statement was to make dance
music that sounded like water—as
opposed to. say, like artifice or indus
try So, appropriately. Swim consists of
organic and slippery slices of lovelorn
pop that suggest an overall song cycle
about domesticity and a wife leaving
her husband
Whiie in his canon the production
techniques are totally different—
essentially, it's busy micro-house built
incrementally with some live overdub
coupled with the complete absence
ot Snaith s well-known drum kit
blitzkrieg— Swim maintains Caribous
most prominent quality a knack for
handsome composition and winning
pop An essential listen
Christopher Benton
!
JANELLE MONAE
The ArchAndroid
Bad Boy
Metropolis. The Chase Suite.
Janelle Monaes 2007 debut EP estab
lished the Atlanta eccentric as one
of the most creative and compelling
contemporary artists, reimagining the
boundaries of the hip-hop and R&B
arenas
It was the first ol a four-part
series ^et in the year 2719, wherein
Monae assumes the character of Cindi
Mayweather, a female android in love
with a human Metropolis established a
goofy conceit, sure, but like the Deltron
3030 album, it worked in spite of its
loose concept, thanks to its creator's
absolute commitment to the idea—and
her talent.
The sequel. The ArchAndroid,
covers Suite II (11 songs) and Suite III
(seven songs). Monae herself, arguably
Atlanta's most electrifying live act, is
a true chameleon, reworking her own
body and voice for whatever best suits
a song. The lady's got swagger, and
lots of it, and she applies It to Dresden
Dolls-esque rock cabaret (’Come
Alive"), R&B diva bombast (‘Cold
War*), Stevie Wonder homage (’Say
You’ll Go’) and deep Clinton funk
(’Make the Bus,’ featuring Athens’ own
Of Montreal). This sounds scattered,
but like Prince or BjOrk before her,
Monae ably provides cohesion through
sheer power of personality.
Monae’s current output is closest
in spirit to Bowie's The Rise & Fall of
Ziggy Stardust (given a working-over
ot James Brown showmanship). The
whole Janelle Monae undertaking is
sublimely luscious, sonically, visually,
conceptually and stylistically. And she's
just getting started.
Chris Hassiotis
Janelle Monde is playing at Aaronts
Amphitheatre at Lakewood in Atlanta
on Friday, Aug. 6.
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