Posts filed under 'Music Reviews'
DJ Jester The Filipino Fist
Secret Love
[Exponential; 2006; Mix]
Damnit! I can’t believe I slipped on announcing this the day it came out, 6-6-06! What kind of fuckin’ cynic releases his record on 666?! Well, that date only comes around every thousand years and it’s perfect for two things (aside from Satan rising up to take over the Earth). Releasing the new Omen movie. And for the release of Jester’s absurdly ammusing 80s mixtape-style answer to his own question, “Can there be love in the life of a traveling court jester?” After touring with Grand Buffet and as a part of Kid Koala’s turntable band, then being handpicked by Of Montreal as support, I find it hard to believe that Jester’s outlook is too dim. And as he says himself…
After the “It’s not you, it’s me” of 2005 to the “I’ll love you forever” of 2006, I figured it was time to document these heartaches the best way I know how, and I’m not talking MySpace.
sometimes something good comes out of getting your heart trampled in the mud. In this case, it’s Jester’s jumble of mixed emotions illustrated collage-style with chunks of songs and movie quotes that sound like the audio equivalent of ripped photos and used condoms.
Not to blow the “secret track listing” or anything, but in Jester’s… umm, record crates… you’re gonna find everything from Boston and Foreigner to The Dead Milkmen, Prince to Yes, Run DMC, Mix-A-Lot and Jay-Z to Billy Idol, INXS to Donovan and many others sprinkled alongside movie quotes and random scratches in the river of beats that creates a seamless set from beginning to end. Technically, some of the transitions stumble a little toward the start, but when you’re mixing things like Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen” over a funky bass groove and hip-hop beat, it would be forgivable even if it stumbled ten times as much. [note: Not that Jester didn’t mesh those two things beautifully, it’s one of my favorite combos on the whole record]
And I hate to say this, but as much as I love Secret Love, it is a stack of lawsuits waiting to happen (probably starting with the cheesy, 80s-riffic compilation cover with him Photoshopped into it), but Jester with his Texas-sized cahones, puts out a proper mixtape, fuck the lawyers. Good luck Jester. Hope everything works out for ya!
And all you 80s kids, you will rush out and get this before the cease and desists start rolling in, won’t you? If you’ve ever couple skated on skates with four wheels that aren’t in a straight line, you should dig every second of this. Rad shit. Makes me wanna get a VW Rabbit and hack the top off of it like in Thrashin.
Download Track 2
and from SXSW’s site, get Oh God, Kill Me
Buy it now:
Exponential
Midheaven
and hit The Fist up on myspace, where his player is playing the Reading Rainbow theme song.
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June 18th, 2006
I got tipped off to these guys by a publicist doing a little “pro bono” push on ‘em. Apparently they’ve been described as “a cross between Bruce Springsteen, Bright Eyes, and The Counting Crows”, which I guess is a pretty complimentary comparison for an unsigned band, but to me, that doesn’t really sound good. And I was pleased to find it pretty inaccurate too. I don’t hear the Springsteen at all. Maybe Bright Eyes isn’t that far off, but just in the emphasis on a few words, not an overall I’m-gonna-kill-myself kind of feel. Counting Crows? What the hell did they even sing? “Mr. Jones”?
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June 7th, 2006
Lylas
Lessons For Lovers
[Fictitious Records; 2006; Pop]
I’ve been coming back to Lylas’ Lessons For Lovers over and over again for the last month or so. Something about it’s countrified chamber pop charm burrows into your mind and leaves bits of it’s melodies behind to lure you back for more. With such un-pop instrumentation as pedal steel, Theremin, piano, cello, glockenspiel, accordion and even a bit of banjo, they bring together contry tradition and dark narratives, forming compact little gems of twisted sweetness.
After the first of three brief instrumental “lessons” (”Lesson 1: Saying I Love You”, “Lesson 11: When a Lovely, Young Dish Unravels” and “Lesson 28: Last Kiss Rehearsel”), “No Seance For Sweetheart” begins the lecture with a dios-if-not-Beatles-esque tale of putting holes in her and burying her beneath the ocean blue. The upbeat rhythm and storytelling continues with “Star of the Family Portrait” with a steady rambling percussion that reminds me of Hedwig’s “Sugar Daddy” (except for the whole transvestite in fishnets and Chuck Taylors thing). “Virgin Annie” and “Home and Hugs” softly corral the direction back towards the folkier side of Nashville before the delicate pop façade and darling demons return on “Tiny Echoes”.
After the next lesson, the waves of indulgence and melancholy continue through the hushed vocals of “Sprinkle”, “Summer In A Sweater” - a particularly Beatles-y tale of love with Siamese twins (”One was sweet and one was sex / and they both hung about my neck / and the both made me ill”), the syrupy pedal steel and plucking banjo of the heel-tapping ditty “Darling Do You?” and the title track’s boy and mother conversation about his impending marriage.
So what lessons have we been taught here? Other than the fact that love is filled with heartache, death, misery and of course gushing wrists? It can all look quite lovely on the surface, but the deeper you get, it’s darker and harder to turn away from. And that’s exactly what Lessons does, it draws you in like a cute girl then warns you to stay away like her big boyfriend. So it’s summer, if love finds you, go for it, just remember, we’re all fucked in the end and somebody’s gonna die. Lesson learned.
note: Could be appropriate for a evening bonfire beach party. If that beach party is happening in say… Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Download Star Of The Family Portrait
Buy it now:
Fictitious Records
Insound
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June 6th, 2006
I’m sure almost everybody is familiar with The Internet Archive at this point. But if not, it’s a massive, ever-growing library of non-commercial and public domain media. If you’ve ever started digging through the live show recordings, you’ll know there is a lot to choose from. And if you get addicted, you’re going to need a bigger hard drive…
Some sets are audience recordings and some are from the soundboards so the quality ranges from pretty poor to quite excellent. And speaking of hard drives, I got a new 200 gig-er, so I’ve got some downloading to do! That brings me to a new feature coming your way from time to time when I come across an especially good show that I think you should hear. So let’s get on with our first show pick…
Silver Mt. Zion
Live at La Sala Rossa, Montreal
June 16, 2005
As a nice companion to the newest Silver Mt. Zion record we finally covered, this show from last summer is a very good audience recording and includes a mix of songs from Horses In The Sky and older material. So get to downloading this one and we’ll gradually sift through the rest of the SMZ shows and bring you some more choice picks down the road.
Download here (VBR mp3, 173M zipped folder)
If you want either lossless Flacs or smaller files, there are other format options available here
June 2nd, 2006
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