So we’ve diversified our portfolio. Pure Pop now carries a small selection of books; some novels, some comics and a few non-fiction gems. If you’re interested in ordering anything through the store, we’ll happily do that for you. The best part? Special ordering a book at Pure Pop will get you 20% off the retail price. We’re sort of feeling it out as far as selection goes. Feel free to stop by and berate us for our pitiful selection, or commend us for a job well done. (Preferably the latter.)
Some of my favorites among the titles we’re offering include Don DeLillo’s White Noise, Charles Burns’ Black Hole and Irvine Welsh’s The Bedroom Secrets of Master Chefs.
…but there’s plenty more. Come on down and check it out.
I hate year end lists because I always spend way too much time on them and then scratch them in the end. I had this crazy long list of crap that I couldn’t even get through reading without losing interest and opening a new tab to watch You Tube. Then I realized what I was missing. You Tube is my favorite pop cultural development of this entire past decade. In honor of this glorious website, I will use it to show you my favorite music videos of the year.
#5 KE$HA -- Tik Tok & LMFAO -- I’m In Miami Bitch
Another one of my favorite things about the millenium decade was guiltily following the hipster phenomenon. I was still in High School when that scene exploded and I partied to Dim Mak, DFA, and Ed Banger all the time. Not to mention the presence of thecobrasnake.com, and last night’s party and pwnsites latfh.com and hipsterrunoff.com. Anyway, what I like about these videos is that KE$HA and LMFAO were the mainstream’s late tweenpop response (role modelz). The You Tube videos of tweens lip synching to these songs are good too, and the hater comments. I wish the LMFAO one had profanity.
#4 Tobacco -- Hawker Boat
This came out in 2008, but whatever, I watched these this year. All the music videos for the album Fucked Up Friends which this track is from were tripped out collages made with out of context clips of old tv. This one is my favorite overall combo.If you have a bubble gum bubble fetish, watch the one for Street Trash.
#3 Method Man & Redman -- Ayo
2009 was a great year for members of the Wu. Raekwon, Ghostface, U God and Method Man put this year’s auto tuned candy rappers to utter shame. While Raekwon’s album Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 received more critical acclaim than Black Out! 2, I played BO2 more and ended up seeing Mef and Red at Higher Ground. I like this video mostly because I have huge crush on Method Man.
#2 Kid Cudi -- Day N’ Night (the vs Crookers version too)
This was the only track off Cudi’s album that I really got into. As a chronic daydreamer, these videos are kind of what my mind is like. If you’re only going to watch one, go with the Crookers version because there are lots of boobies.
#1 MSTRKRFT -- Heartbreaker
I’m a sucker for Summer Lovin’. I’m also a sucker for Dance Pop and cute boys. After working at a stationery store for some time, I learned that stickers are a great way to pick up dudes, glad to see this lady representing the technique. In my imagination, she gets fired and doesn’t care so she runs after the dudes and calls her girls and they have an epic night of mayhem on the boardwalk and pass out on the beach Snookie style.
5. “Chill-Wave”
I’m not going to list a single element of this year’s preferred blog friendly genre – not because they’re homogeneous or bland, i won’t make that claim – over the year I’ve found chill-wave to pull from an assortment of the music collective unconscious, from early 90’s hip hop, to 70’s am radio, and genre’s as disparate as hardcore and smooth jazz. While the end products are similar enough to comfortably align under the same stretchy star – they stay unique to themselves.
Pitchfork bands like Neon Indian, Memory Tapes, Ducktails, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out, and CFCF (just to name a handful.) have occupied the recently played list on my iTunes consistently this year – maybe I’ve needed a little more escapism than usual, or perhaps i’m just getting lazy in my musical relationships, but these bands have had me nodding my head and raising my eyebrows to their production choices; washes of nostalgic synth, bouncy white-boy funk, reverb drenched space-vocals – You know, actually it’s probably just because i’ve loved New Order and The Cocteau Twins for so long i’m just happy to hear their distant echoes reconstituted and re-imagined.
Some of my favorite moments in music this year are off of these albums, Neon Indian’s 6669 (I Don’t Know If You Know) throws you into the drivers seat of your beat up K car, complete with ancient-tape-deck-as-unreliable-narrator production, driving somewhere late at night, (probably BK) just really really stoned. Washed Out and CFCF are picking up were Air France and The Tough Alliance left off last year, albeit filtered through more overt american tropes of hip hop and suburbia, and tell us their dreams of warm climates, dance parties and unending romantic love with an impossibly beautiful stranger. The last two minutes of Memory Tapes‘ Bicycle alone was a early contender for #1 – it just didn’t get that much better for me this year, and that makes me think,
As our economy and environment continues to eat shit and die and Obama’s promises are slowly crushed under the jackboot of reality, this kind of escapism feels so necessary just to maintain my sanity, when the day or week is over, there’s Ol’ Nick Cave or Antony, maybe some Oldham or Songs Ohia, John Cale or Judy Sill - frankly, staring me down – sure, this misery loves company, but lately I’ve leaned towards forgetting my sorrows instead of my usual preference of drowning (in) them (with them.) These bands make for perfect companions for a night of revelry, though – like the morning after any great night of catharsis, your often left thinking to yourself, “I did what?!” and while it’s too early in the long night of my discontent to know, i don’t doubt that even a few months from now i’ll be saying “I listened to what?!” But until then i’m glad to have such great distractions, sometimes it’s just what the doctor ordered.
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Phoenix have likely made the album of their career with this one – everything has come together into such a perfectly compact and muscular pit bull of pop rock. Every hook and bridge, every place where they could have placed a drum fill but didn’t, ever lyrical snippet, like a sniper’s bullet right to your happy spot. It’s telling that the subsequent remix album could do nothing to improve upon any of these songs – but these facts alone would not get them on my list, they’ve made some spot on pop music in the past, the fact that the album is completely consistent back to front is a big factor, the deciding element however, is the subtle way Mars and Co. inject each track with nostalgia and longing – memories (or wishes?) for long distant Roman sunsets, the promise of returned love, the nostalgia of youth (“Do you remember when 21 years was old?”). It’s this juxtaposition of airtight pop and river walk rumination that makes Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix one of the best of the year, and the best of their career to date.
3. The xx – The xx
If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve only been listening to this album for a month, it may have placed at #1. The xx have made the album that I’ve been wanting to make myself, for two years – actually, they’ve made the album i wish I’d had to the ability to even conceive of imagining, let alone producing… i digress. If music is a body than the xx is music stripped down to it’s smoldering, bleeding heart, and it’s all the better for it’s lack of that other stuff. What we’re left with is sentiment beyond their years, and style that both speaks to the past (Young Marble Giants, Interpol, Burial), and the future of music – (don’t be surprised if we see a new wave of dark minimalism in British bands this coming year.) Skeletal beats, verb heavy guitar and bass, quietly whirring synths and the back and forth girl/boy ruminations on love, lust, and longing. These are the ventricles, aorta, and the blood being pushed rhythmically and meditatively back and forth. It’s easily one of the most simply engaging pieces of music I’ve ever heard, this year or any.
Hi! i’m josh riggs and most of this stuff was invented, conceived, produced etc before the 09, but in this the year of our lord eco=-crash (and/or) recovery year of 2009 i was clumsy enough in all the right ways to stumble over these(my) annual choice pleasures!
1.Urs Fischer: Marguerite de Ponty @ New Museum (NYC) -- 3 floors of rot, wood, eats, blobs, sheetrock, chains, surreal installations by an artist that is my big time in the 09! Made me feel like peeing on something inanimate.
http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/417/urs_fischermarguerite_de_ponty
2.Sun Araw -- Horse Steppin’ on YouTube -- hazed out sleep junkie surfs up! YouTube has replaced the MTV basshead in all of us…even though it was released in the 08′ -- i’m a late bloomer!
3.Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey -- In 7th grade I chugged a bottle of this stuff with some of my degenerate friends. It seemed like a good idea at the time and made my high as a georgia pine until I puked my guts out and vowed never to touch the stuff again. 15ish years later 1 sip changed my direction in adult libations-will be sippin’ for many years to come!
4.Men With No IQ’s -- 80’s BLACK metal 4 realz ya’ll! Insane Mississippi brutal rock afro-oddball scene I wish I was a part of. Obscure-only thing I have found is 2 songs on this Myspace site. Oh Myspace…what happened to you in 2009???????????
http://www.myspace.com/menwithnoiqs
5.Hotel Gault/Chez L’Epicier/Zone Orange -- 3 choice spots on my annual Montreal tour de force! Made my 2009 trip one of the best ever! Lux!
http://www.hotelgault.com/
http://www.chezlepicier.com/
http://www.galeriezoneorange.com/
6.Dylan Nyoukis Live @ No Fun Stockholm 2009 -- vox art to the fucking maximum voltage! Wish I could have seen it in the flesh…mope…
7.Richard Kern -- I’m not sure why it took me this long to find him considering I am such a huge Terry Richardson fan? In my opinion his work is better and it makes me tingle-ROAR!Patrick Tsai runner up!!!!!(PHOTO DUDES!)
http://www.richardkern.com/
http://www.hellopatpat.com/mldd_e.html
8.Eating sushi for hours alone at Sakura in BVT = Pure Bliss!
9.The Sinful Dwarf (1973) -- Orlof, the creepy dwarf in the skuzz pit slum of London keeps kidnapped girls in the basement nice an high on smack for his mommies pimp rough trade! GRINDHAUS shit with a killer soundtrack and somewhat watchable if yr into that kinda thang!(sorry JOSH i saw it 1st!) I also saw Daisies and that totally blew my noggin”! Sedmikrasky!
10.Black Beauty -- My band w/ amigo Josh! We can clear a room in 1/2 a song! Gives me yet another excuse to drink beer on Thursday night! THIS IS GOING TO BE SUCKS! -- a hopeful 2010 release (avail @ Pure Pop!) maybe’zzzzzzz~! shameless self promo’!
11.Listening to Oneohtrix Point Never, Blood Stereo, Omar Soulyman, Areski & Brigitte Fontaine, Endless Boogie, WaVVes, The JACK Quartet/Iannis Xenakis, The Clash, Brainbombs, Sensational, A&E, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Kito Mizukumi Rouber, Mozart, The Beatles, GAS, Preggy Peggy & the Lonely Babymakers, Borful Tang and of course Justin Bieber! (I prob left out about 70 others but…)
Sometime ago I was a DJ on WRUV and decided to host a 9 am to noon radio show on Christmas Day. I didn’t really have anything better to do than eat Chinese food and go to the movies with the rest of the non-Christian contingent, anyway. That really marked the beginning of my exploration of Christmas music. Generally, I, like many others, clutch my head to keep my ears from bleeding as I walk past yet another retail outlet that is piping the dogs barking Jingle Bells into the great outdoors for all to enjoy. That is why I’m so glad that bands are still writing original Christmas tunes. To paraphrase the director John Waters (who, by the way, has his own fascinating Christmas album), you can pick your own way to celebrate this season: you can make it a cynical celebration, a sad celebration, a hysterical celebration. But you have to pick, because as much as some of us might like to, this a season which just can’t be ignored. What I really love about most of these songs is that while they acknowledge how the holidays (no matter what denomination you subscribe to) are always difficult in so many different ways, they never lose that essential cheer.
1. Candy Canes – The Physics Club
They’re local, they love Christmas, and they’re almost dangerously fun. In fact, they only put out Christmas albums. You can also check out The Physics Club Half Hour Radio Hour on the Radiator Tuesdays 6-8 pm (don’t worry – it’s not just holiday music). Every song is a gem; another favorite is Holiday Family Time.
2. Always Winter Never Christmas – XTC
Actually XTC has several great Christmas tunes, including Thanks for Christmas, played by their alter ego The Three Wise Men. This one captures that feeling of being a kid and having to wait through that so, so, so long night on the eve of the holidays.
3. Christmas Isn’t Safe for the Animals – Of Montreal
After getting revved up with the first two tunes I gotta mellow it out with this warning about how our winged and/ or furry friends might be feeling during these holidays. Plus, I really enjoy the little consumerism montage in the middle.
4. Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
This song is a classic I would never want to go through a Christmas season without. This perfectly wraps up (chuckle, sssh) the dichotomy I am always looking for in a holiday tune. It’s song about trying to skip Christmas, and yet it’s so catchy it’s apt to make you more joyous than angsty.
5. Christmas Reindeer – The Knife
This one verges on annoying, but it also gets me oh so ready for the dance party. Time to get sloshed with Santa, or at least so woozy on holiday spirit that you could be swaying in the corner to this tune, hair in your face, totally not caring what your relatives and/or friends think.
When all that Beatles stuff came out a coupla weeks ago, mountains of hyperbole, most of it warranted, were tossed around. For example, many people remarked that the band’s creative evolution was the broadest in all of rock. From their conventional beginnings, through their psychedelic studio alchemy to the majesty of Abbey Road’s side 2 suite, it’s hard to dispute that The Beatles covered more ground in their seven or so years then any had before them or has since.
On the other hand, maybe that’s something of a rigged accolade. There was a lot of room for rock n’ roll to open up in the early sixties. Throughout the decade, many artists pushed boundaries and pioneered innovations. The Beatles, with their vast financial resources and army of “best-in-the-biz” studio mechanics, could easily streamline cutting edge-trends into their sound.
The Beatles were a great band, and if anyone deserves the “best-of-all-time” title, it’s those lads, but isn’t their embodiment of the 60’s sound more a result of their ability to follow trends than build them?
Consider a band like Big Star. In three short years, Big Star went from upbeat power-pop to music that was despaired, esoteric and nigh unclassifiable. This did not go-with-the-proverbial flow of their contemporaries. Big Star cultivated their own sound and subsequently evolved via their own aspirations and frustrations. Sure, they proudly wore their influences on their sleeve (Velvet Underground, The Kinks and yes, The Beatles.) What separates their evolution from a band like The Beatles is that Big Star didn’t streamline. In fact, they seemed incapable of making their music palpable for mass audiences. Their third (and dare I say best) album didn’t see release for a half a decade after its creation because labels deemed it “un-listenable”.
So, speaking of Big Star, Rhino’s Keep An Eye on the Sky release of just about everything you could ever want or need by the band is an absolute must-own. I didn’t realize how in-need of a clean-up job their material was before listening to the glorious job the ever-reliable Rhino has done with Big Star’s material. You know how a sip of water can make you realize how thirsty you’ve been? That’s the sort of sensation one has listening to this set for the first time.
In honor of this fantastic release, we’ve compiled a list of what we consider to be highlights from the set.
1. “Oh My Soul” – The opening track of Radio City, Big Star’s second album, is one of their finest. Lively and jaunting, it features some of Alex Chilton’s most creative songwriting and guitar work. The remastered version’s added fidelity highlights the nuance of the song’s arrangement.
2. “Downs (demo)” - In it’s official incarnation on Third/Sisters Lovers, “Downs” is a particularly eccentric piece. It sounds both over and under-produced. The demo version, a simple and straight-forward solo-acoustic rendition, reveals a tight structure and fantastic melody. Both are on the box set. Compare and contrast!
3. “Hot Burrito #2 (live)” & “Slut (live)” – Big Star weren’t shy about covering their favorite songs. On these versions of songs by The Flying Burrito Brothers and Todd Rundgren respectively, Big Star meet the originals halfway by not corrupting their essences while making them their own.
4. “I Got Kinda Lost (demo)” – Contrary to the stripped-down “Downs” demo mentioned earlier, this version of “I Got Kinda Lost” features the whole band performing the song together. The raw and immaculate performance is invigorating, leading up to a highlight of the entire box-set. “How was that?” asks a member of the band at the song’s conclusion.
“It’ll do” replies what I can only assume is an engineer or producer, making the understatement of the 70’s.
5. “For You” - I hate to use the word sublime, but it really describes this song. Composed and sung by drummer Jody Stephens, it’s a simple tribute to the object of Stephens’ affection. “For You” features a haunting string arrangement that benefits greatly from Keep an Eye on the Sky’s remastering job. This track is reason enough alone to buy the set.
A band like Yo La Tengo really illustrates how unreliable one’s concept of time can be. My brain can’t grasp the fact that they formed the same year as Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s first album came out. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re talking 1984. Ronald Regan won his second election by carrying 49 states, Ghostbusters was second-highest grossing film of the year and Jaroslav Seifert won the Nobel Prize for literature. That’s twenty-two years before the Arctic Monkey’s debut album came out. (Who’s feeling old?) I’m only beating this dead horse because I’m fascinated.
Yo La Tengo’s age is striking because none of their stuff sounds dated and they seem to always release albums that are very, very good. They’re like an indie rock Dorian Gray, except that instead of an ever-more grotesque portrait in an attic they have an ever-more robust back catalog. Even lesser titles like Summer Sun are fine albums. Popular Songs, their latest, while falling short of the magnificence of I Can Hear Beating As One or And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, is one of their better albums. Not bad for a trio of old fogies.
Reinvigorated by the wonderful Condo Fucks project earlier this year, Popular Songs is an album sprawling in length and scope. At over seventy-minutes, the band showcases all their strengths, alternating between fuzzy jams, low-fi grooves, upbeat rockers and sparse, atmospheric numbers, all with the seamless cohesion we’ve some to expect from these Hobokens. If there’s any criticism to be made, it’s that occasional moments on the album are perhaps a bit too reminiscent of older songs, but not nearly to the extent of the aforementioned near-misstep Summer Sun. There are plenty of fresh moments here and Yo La Tengo fans should be nothing short of elated with the latest offering from this enduring and endearing trio.
Recently I revisited the last two albums by a little known band from Boston called Drexel who disbanded in autumn of 2003. Drexel had become a seminal group to myself and my peers. Originally a punk/ska outfit with hardcore influences. It wasn’t until their last two albums in which the group broke from the confines of the genre and created an onslaught of fast paced “panic” rock’n'roll. It was complex yet simple. Scattered with random time changes, inventive drum pattens, layered guitars and intense vocal’s that accompany the angular yet poppy style. Drexel had become an entirely new band altogether, who drew influences from?
I’m really not sure. Their style and unconventional song strucure was original taking the listener on a roller coaster ride which lyrically seems to express the side effects of living unorganized lives. The two albums were titled “The Inevitable is Available” and “What Went Wrong”. Both album covers and graphics are identical except for the color. One red and the other blue and all tracks are nameless. The music on the albums sounds like little compartmentalized riffs and melodies that have been enlarged and repeated in a sequence until one component changes yet remains in harmony. Giving the listener a sense of urgency. The songs themselves frequently progress within each other as if mutating or growing. Beginnings and ends don’t match and the relationship between the guitars and drums is unique. Each instrument plays at different a tempo yet find a way to relate. This is a staple of the sound Drexel had created. Unfortunately Drexel decided to break up shortly after they released their last album. Released in limited quantity on a small indie label in Boston the albums have all but disappeared. Making it difficult for their music to reach anyone other than word of mouth. Perhaps it’s what the members wanted? To bow out nobbly rather than fade away.
We of the up and coming independent music download site ThinkIndie.com, (online arm of the burgeoning ThinkIndieCollective Empire), would like to take this opportunity to formally challenge iTunes, (online arm of the already humongous Apple Empire), to a debate over the future of indie music online.
The proposed “War of the Words” will be between the Head of ThinkIndie and the Head of iTunes, Steve Jobs. If Mr. Jobs is unable to represent due to personal reasons, we will fully understand. (We are BlackSheep, but we’re not BlackHearted.) And be willing to accept someone else of a suitable (C-Level) stature in his stead.
In the interests of détente cordial, this live debate will take place at a time, date and location of iTunes choosing. The exact format and terms of the debate, along with a mutually acceptable moderator to preside over the matchup, will be decided by the two combatants in question prior the the main event.
The event will be videotaped live and then broadcast later via the usual social networks for the infotainment of indie music lovers around the world, who can then decide for themselves who won the debate.
We have chosen to announce this challenge via public channels as – so far at least – iTunes has not returned our calls. Our hope is that a little friendly outside encouragement will change their minds. Or perhaps, someone who reads this will share it with someone, who knows someone, who knows someone else…and on down the line…until the invitation eventually wends it’s merry way to Mr. Jobs himself…
In the interests of promoting peace, prosperity and the continued availability of a choice of outlets offering indie music online, we of the ThinkIndieCollective Empire feel that this debate would be – the obvious allure of it’s David and Goliath nature aside – a worthy undertaking for all involved: ThinkIndie, iTunes, the indie music industry and the indie music buying public.
The gauntlet has been officially thrown. Steve Jobs, are you up to the challenge? Contact Thinkindie.com
Sunday nights don’t usually hold much magic in Burlington. On Sunday nights, I can usually be found throwing in a load of laundry and watching animal videos on YouTube with my cat. In fact, by the time last Sunday rolled around, the magnitude of what these Wu-Tang allstars had in store for me caught me quite off guard. In my Sunday laziness, I neglected to shower for the occasion, and strode up to the throng of fans still filtering through the doors feeling grimy compared to fresh and Listerine clean kids in crisp jeans and tight dresses. While waiting my turn to be shuffled through the tight security, I reminded myself that Mef and Red respect every lady as Miss International, and I entered the ballroom with a little more swagger in my step.
I arrived at the end of Duo Live’s opening set. There was already a crowd of every variety of hip hop fan New England has to offer packed against the stage. I sneaked my way around three massive dudes standing stoically in front of me to get a better view of what every one was making a ruckus over. There was an uncommonly cute lady of diminutive stature working the stage with The Duo’s Mcs, asking the audience if they thought she looked like she could pound a 40 oz. As the crowd egged her on, she busted out a 40 of Old English and chugged it. I joined the chorus of “HELL YEAH” and couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear and shake what my momma gave me as the DJ laid one down.
Ghostface was up next, with intent to satisfy our appetites for some Wu Tang favorites. I’ve got to admit I was a little star struck, hell, I could tell that at least half the crowd was right there with me. During the break, I heard a few dudes in front of my talking about how far they had driven to be there. Mass, Maine, Upstate New York, and New Hampshire, and all of them were working the next morning. The fact is, Burlington is one of the only places where it’s even possible to see a line-up like this in a venue as intimate as Higher Ground with out needing some sort of V.I.P. staus. If that weren’t enough to ensure a dedicated turn-out, they made it all ages. You can say what you want about the younger generation, but after you’ve begged your mom everyday to let you go to a rap show with your best buds and she finally gives in because it’s summer vacation, you’re going to party like it’s 1994. Ghost worked this rag-tag bunch like the champ he is, calling out the true hip hop fans from the crowd, daring Burlington to prove itself worthy. After a somewhat impressive sing along of “Wu-Tang Clan ain’t nothin’ to f*** with,” Ghost capped it off with a tribute to Ol’ Dirty Bastard and was outta there.
I only had time to gulp a glass of water and high five a former schoolmate I bumped into before Mef and Red burst onto the stage. I’ve got to admit that I’ve had a huge crush on Method Man ever since I watched the music video for “What’s Happenin’ ” where he wrestles with a bunch of honies on a bed. So when he came out rapping in a pair of nerd glasses held together with tape and a tshirt bearing his own name, I felt my body do a little more than blush.
The charisma of the pair was infectious. I didn’t see a stationary body in the place, save maybe the suspected plain clothes cops in the back. They blasted through a practically perfect set of choice track from their latest disc “Blackout! 2″ and every classic that we could have hoped for with ease. And rightly so, as they’ve been two of the most successful masters of the genre since the early ninties. They also spared no chance to remind us that they chose to come here because they know that Burlington can get down, and that they wouldn’t be back soon, so we had better act accordingly. After song after song of non-stop head bobbing, bumping and grinding, hands in the air, and enthusiam over the pending release of How High 2, Mef and Red finaled with another tribute to fallen members of the hip hop elite and called it a night.
To cap off the intimacy of the whole event, my sister was asked to pose with Ghostface for a photo while holding his new single at the merch table. And as a small town kid, I’m not ashamed to say I had a fit of school girl giggles over the matter.
