Bloc Party, Silent Alarm Remixed

Bloc Party
Silent Alarm Remixed
Vice Recordings

Kele Okereke proposes Bloc Party is a post-modern band seeking to stretch its musical direction seemingly away from its Gang of Four and Sonic Youth influences.

That's all fine and well, but does a band with one full-length album and two EP's really need to release a remix album of its debut? Even if it signals the possible plot turn Bloc Party may take with its next effort?

The marketers had their way, so the album is on the shelves, but "Silent Alarm Remixed" would have sufficed as a fan club-only release. Regardless, the album flips the South London outfit's well-received debut, "Silent Alarm," on its back.

In their enhancement of the songs, the remixers haven't dismissed what made the original 13 compositions solid ones. But they have tinkered with the music enough to move beyond simply placing a drum beat under a track. The remix album places particular emphasis on opening the windows and allowing the atmosphere of the songs to fill the room.

The backing vocals are brought forward in some tunes ("Helicopter") while the fuzzy bass lines are front and center in other songs ("Luno," for instance). The group's post-punk meets Blur single, "Banquet," is served in a psychedelic swirl while "Plans" (replanted by Mogwai) and "Compliments" (recasted by Shibuyaka) sounds like a call-and-response to Radiohead's Kid A.

With a new album due in 2006, Bloc Party should be applauded for seeking new alternatives to the basic four-member rock band lineup and the constrictions it ultimately brings. And at a time when its contemporaries and rivals are drunk with nostalgia and past successes, (when will Oasis ever stop rewriting "What's the Story Morning Glory?") Bloc Party is looking beyond the hangover for progress and "Silent Alarm Remixed" is a good sign of what is to come.

But take a breath here. The remix album is ultimately a money snatcher.

The Greenhornes, Sewed Soles

The Greenhornes
Sewed Soles
V2 Records

The Cincinnati garage-rock band the Greenhornes certainly keep good musical company. They've finished a world tour with label mates the White Stripes, and Jack White commissioned the rhythm section to play on Loretta Lynn's Grammy-winning comeback album, "Van Lear Rose."

Just rewards for a band that has harnessed the energy of the Kinks and the exuberance of the Animals into nearly a decade-long recording career.

What makes listening to the trio so much fun isn't just their overt homage to the 1960s acts that inspire them, but their immersion in the era of free love. The songs lyrically return to a more innocent view of romance. And with the wonderful primer for the uninitiated, "Sewed Soles," the band captures the highlights from their first three albums.

On a slow-dance number fit for "The Wonder Years," singer/guitarist Craig Fox asks his date on "Shadow of Grief," to "squeeze me now baby/a little tighter/don't you say maybe now/put your arms around me now." The alternate version of "Lovin' in the Sun" shows Fox as someone "who can spend hours grooving on the flowers" behind a backdrop of bouncy acoustic guitars and a rising chorus.

But what would rock be without a little heartache? "I've Been Down" offers Roger Daltrey-vocal soul, and fuzzy guitars power the fierce rhythmic stomp of "Lies" and "No More." A shifty bass line leads guest vocalist Holly Golightly through the winter of her romantic discontent on "There Is an End," as "spring brings the rain/with winter comes pain/every season has an end."

Surely old-school music snobs will gripe about the familiar sounds from listening to the collection. But unlike the Strokes or the Hives, the Greenhornes continue to succeed where their garage-rock contemporaries often fail in articulating their influences into meaningful tunes.

Menage

Losing two singers in four years might leave some bands in disarray. For Sarah McDonald and Mary Ellen Bush of the spirited Asheville folk-pop band Ménage, the changes led them to discover their true form.

When auditions for a third member proved unfruitful, and with a February performance in Raleigh drawing near, McDonald (guitar) and Bush (upright bass) ditched the trio format. They enlisted drummer Evan Martin and guitarist Matt Kinne, Bush’s boyfriend and McDonald’s guitar teacher, to perform. The steady backbeat and the electric strumming matched so well with their lollipop-sweet harmonies, McDonald and Bush realized everything was in the right place.

“We said, ‘This is what we should be doing,’ ” Bush said backstage after a performance at April’s Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance near Silk Hope, N.C. “It was one of those things where you are not searching for the solution, but one kinda pops out at you. So yeah, it feels right.”

Things have been moving nicely for the band since Kinne and Martin joined. Ménage has picked up the touring pace, playing shows across New York, Virginia and North Carolina, including its well-attended two-day stint as a featured act at Shakori Hills. The band will also undertake a short jaunt up the East Coast this summer, performing the 7 p.m. Friday slot at the 2006 Shiner Bock Twin City RibFest in downtown Winston-Salem.

The band’s story began in 2002 around an open microphone at the Westville Pub in downtown Asheville. Pub employees Bush and McDonald would trade harmonies during open mic night with Rhett Thurman on bluegrass staples such as “Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby,” from the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

When the customers they served clamored for more, the women responded by writing new songs and recording them under the name Menage a Trois. The band later chose the less sultry Ménage after rejecting such monikers as The Honeys and Saw-Such Sisters.

The band quickly entered the studio, and two self-released albums and an EP followed. The Honey’s on the Porch and Miss Conduct featured Thurman, who soon left to play music elsewhere, including with an Asheville-based Led Zeppelin cover band. Ménage retooled some of its older songs with Thurman’s replacement, Allison King, and released the collection, 7 Songs.

Earlier this year, King quit to pursue a massage therapy degree in Minnesota. The albums showcase the former trio at its best when writing songs that capture slices of life. On the soft-acoustic ballad “Tell Me,” Bush sings of cutting the crust off a tuna sandwich for a loved one. A harmonica and acoustic guitar provide the dispirited backdrop on “Sunday,” in which the band laments how “everybody has a car on the driveway, early in the morning–--not me.”

McDonald captured the frustration of living in New York City with the bittersweet “New York Situation.” “Take me away from the streets, the lights, the cars. Dreams don’t come true in cold crushing bars.” “We don’t make stuff up,” Bush said. “These are songs about what people do and do to each other.”

The new songs, which continue to explore that same theme but are sonically more expansive, should appear on the band’s third full-length LP out in late summer. Some of the new material is simply pure rock such as “Shrinking Gun,” which resembles an early B-52’s composition and, along with “Oh Boy,” features a first for the band: the guitar solo. “When you have somebody who plays the guitar really well like Matt does and knows how to use an amplifier and turn it into overdrive, there are so many options,” Bush said.
Bush and McDonald do retain their sardonic sense of humor developed on stage as revealed on “Sorry Flowers”--an ode to a boyfriend who expresses regret with bouquets. “You only bring me sorry flowers to apologize. You only bring me sorry flowers and I can’t wait for them to die.”

McDonald said: “Someone from the crowd yelled to Matt, ‘Hey, Man. Stop sending those flowers,’ and Matt said, ‘I didn’t.’” Those songs are show regulars and will be recorded with Bill Reynolds again overseeing the album production.

In working with Reynolds, the bassist for rock/country/zydeco band Donna the Buffalo, McDonald envisions a weeklong recording process encompassing pedal-steel and long-steel guitars, jam sessions and more.

“We still experiment in all different kinds of music which we have done,” she said. “We still have swing, blues, jazz and all of that stuff.” McDonald pauses. “We just have a bigger car to drive it all around in.”

On the Web: www.themenage.com and www.myspace.com/menage.

Sean O'Neal of Unfoundsound Records

A two-week European tour looms. Eleven remixes are finished and four linger. And two-months worth of bills remain unpaid.

For Sean O'Neal, a Philadelphia-based DJ co-managing two record labels, a punk rock/DIY mentality lasts for so long.

"I'm burnt out right now. Naturally, I become extremely overwhelmed from time to time," said O'Neal, who spins under the moniker, Someone Else. "The biggest stress for me is when I have a long tour approaching, and there is much for me to finish before I go. I get very overwhelmed."

O'Neal can celebrate; however, as Unfoundsound Records finalized a compilation album marking its one-year anniversary (out Nov. 15). The label distributes high-quality audio files digitally for free under a music sharing license. To this point, users have downloaded nearly 100,000 DJ-friendly tracks during the year.

O'Neal also co-operates Foundsound Records which focuses on what the company calls "quirky, dance floor-friendly minimal techno" on vinyl. In another bit of good news, the label's reach will now include Europe with a second office opening in France.

From producing to writing to overseeing the record companies with his partners (he also co-founded the Tuning Spork and Fuzzy Box labels), O'Neal is deeply entrenched in Philadelphia's deep house and minimal techno scene.

Before O'Neal began his tour in Germany in late October, he answered some questions via e-mail. He discussed spinning in Russia, how the World Wide Web improved business and the one activity he spends more time on than pooping.

IW: With the label's birthday coming around soon, why celebrate with a compilation album?

SO: We thought it would be fun to compile as many minimal artists that we like and that are willing to give us an exclusive track for free. And we got a great response. Most of the artists we asked gave us a track. So that makes the compilation a whopping 26-tracker. Pretty ridiculous. Maybe it's the longest release in history -- or at least the longest free net-label release. Who knows? But it's sort of like a gift to the Unfoundsound listeners and DJs -- as well as a gift to ourselves.

IW: It seems you are spreading that gift worldwide through touring. On your fall jaunt, you will be performing in Germany, Turkey, Holland and Israel, to name a few countries. How did you manage to spin in Russia?

SO: I was basically contacted out of the blue by Anton Yantsen. He runs an electronic label called Kama Records in a small town called Izhevsk -- home of Kalashnikov who invented the AK-47 machine gun and still lives there now (but pretty poor because the Soviet Union had no patent laws at the time he invented it) … Through emails, he told me about a new club they were starting in Izhevsk -- where they will have house music DJs spin and have some random electronic music festivals.

And since he was also a fan of Flowchart and the Fuzzy Box label, we started talking about me going there to play the festival as Flowchart and also DJ at the club's opening New Year's Eve 2002. And Anton also arranged a small tour where I DJ'd in a bunch of other cities in Russia.

Apparently, I was the first American DJ to spin in many of the cities I visited there. I toured with the Swedish band, Pluxus. Then I went back two more times with similar experiences -- touring around Russia, then playing the club in Izhevsk. I will be there again very soon.

But this time, it's through a different promoter. And this time, I am not touring around the country. I am only stopping in Moscow for one night during my tour in Europe.

IW: What is the deep house/techno scene like the country? It seems the kids over there would be receptive to any chance to express themselves through DJ beats.

SO: In Russia? Well, if you mean Russia, you need to keep in mind that the club scene is fairly new there. They didn't have a disco era, or a roller skating rink era, or whatever.

Most of the small cities were closed cities for most of their existence -- meaning no people could go in or out. And some of these closed cities have only been open cities for less than 10 years now.

So the nightlife scene is fresh -- and in some ways, the only thing for young people to do at night. Russia is huge, and there are more people than you realize living there. And I hear there are small pockets in the country where there is a scene for specific sounds -- like Psy-Trance, Minimal Techno, Deep House, Drum 'n' Bass--whatever.

But what I saw was that everyone liked it all and just wanted to dance and party, and they would hardly care what style the DJs plays. Naturally, Progressive House and Trance get a lot of love when it's spun in clubs there. But Latin House and Electro also make crowds excited.

Yes, the Russian crowds seem to be generally more receptive than in other countries -- sort of like it was here in the USA about 10 years ago. It all makes sense, really.

IW: Do you prefer to select tracks or make them? How does the business side of the music cross over into the artistic side?

SO: I prefer to make tracks. Making tracks is how I prefer to spend most of my time -- aside from pooping. The business side has an impact on the artistic side when I am getting paid for the music I am making. When a label pays me an advance for an EP or a remix, then I feel obligated to make the track.

And then sitting down to make the music might feel more like work -- like some sort of day job. But so far, it hasn't really affected my music-making. If anything, it helps it by kicking me in the ass and forcing me to produce twice as much.

And anyway, I tend to work better under pressure and with limitations. I don't know why. That's just how it has been for me most of my life.

IW: It has been said pressing vinyl in Canada is a nightmare. Is that the case in the United States? What about Europe?

SO: I know nothing about pressing in Canada. Pressing vinyl in the U.S. is pretty simple. Companies like United, Hub-Servall and 33 are easy to work with. Same goes with Europe. Naturally, a label should press in the country they are based in. Otherwise, the label is going to get screwed by all the shipping charges to ship hundreds or thousands of records overseas.

However, mastering is a different story. Even when we were pressing records for Foundsound in the United States, we still had them mastered in Germany at Dubplates and Mastering (D and M). We still continue to master with D and M now, but now we press in Germany because Foundsound recently signed a (production and development) deal with Kompakt. Mastering is extremely important. That is what gives your vinyl its good or bad sound quality.

For some reason, mastering in the U.S. has never been quite as good as mastering in Europe. I don't think it's the people -- but rather the mastering gear that's affordably available.

(For many years, major labels in America sort of hogged all the quality stuff.) You can usually tell when a record is pressed and mastered in the U.S. because it's quieter than the average record. However, times are changing, and a lot of U.S. vinyl is starting to seem more and more identical to European vinyl.

IW: How did the production and development deal with Kompakt (a German label) come about?

SO: We simply hooked up with Kompakt through email discussions with Michael Mayer and some others that work for Kompakt. They simply made an offer, we pondered it for a few weeks since we also had offers from two other companies, then we took them up on it.

The contract is pretty laid-back. We didn't have to sign our lives away or anything like that. And so far, our experiences with them have been great. They're very professional. Sure, they're sort of like a growing empire at the moment. That scares me a little. But at the same time, they're really easy to work with.

IW: Would your labels experience success without the World Wide Web? Could you have made the contacts and created a buzz for your artists without it?

SO: Without the World Wide Web, I would be nearly helpless. Of course, e-mailing allows me to communicate with people from all over the world at a rapid pace. It's endless what you can achieve for yourself through the Web.

Before the Internet blew up, I used to communicate with labels and artists in other countries by snail mail. It worked roughly the same way as it does for me now with e-mails -- only I was communicating with much less people, and I had to wait much longer for a reply.

IW: Will you offer your artists a chance to have their music sold on iTunes, Napster or the other music sites?

SO: Our vinyl releases (Foundsound) are and will be available through various sites including Kompakt-mp3.net, Beatport and others. iTunes is still in the works -- as are many other sites.

As for our MP3 releases on Unfoundsound, these tracks are already free, so there is no reason to charge money for them.

However, many of the Unfoundsound artists are now releasing vinyl with other labels due to the hype around their Unfoundsound release. In fact, the Diss0nance release is licensed for vinyl on the Phonocult label. And a new New York label is taking four Unfoundsound tracks and releasing an Unfoundsound sampler on vinyl -- using tracks from Barem, The Suffragettes, Butane and my remix of Ezekiel Honig. And no, these tracks being free to download still will hardly affect the vinyl sales.

There is still plenty of distance between the world of releasing vinyl and the world of releasing digitally.

Return of the Eight-Legged Groove Machine

The Wonder Stuff
"Construction for the Modern Vidiot"
Second Release: 2005

The Wonder Stuff’s musical concoction of majestic guitars and sneering New Wave sensibilities topped with lyrical wit should have propelled the group into the lap of pop royalty.

For nearly a decade the formula worked as the Stourbridge, England, natives became indie-media darlings at home, starting with 1988’s Eight Legged Groove Machine.

With a reputation for performing invigorating live shows led by singer Miles Hunt, The Wonder Stuff ultimately succeeded in crafting four albums that matched the energy of its live-stage persona.

But any plans for music domination went askew as The Wonder Stuff only managed marginal success on the pop charts. U.S. audiences were simply indifferent all together.

It sure didn’t help the band followed an unremarkable period of little direction after Groove Machine —covering Tommy Roe’s Dizzy with comedian Vic Reeves comes to mind— before the band crumbled in 1994 after the release of the underwhelming Construction For The Modern Idiot.

Following a six-year break, The Wonder Stuff reformed for a series of live shows, and its return was gloriously captured in Construction for the Modern Vidiot, a collection culling performances from 2000 to 2002 at the Forum and the Longest Day and Fleadh festivals.

In the liner notes, Hunt, whose bravado remained unchanged, wrote:

“It took us six years of not writing together, not playing together and not recording together to finally realise (sic) what was so (expletive) good about The Wonder Stuff,” he wrote in the liner notes. “We were a fantastic live band. Simple as that.”

The live footage is expertly captured and dynamically filmed with the popular choices included in this re-released DVD which made its official U.S. debut in 2005. The songs flow seamlessly from the bounce of “Who Wants to Be a Disco King” to Martin Bell’s fiddle push of “Ten Trenches Deep” to a revved-up version of John Lennon’s “Gimmie Some Truth.”

The DVD also showcases the band’s maturation from a guitar-based outfit singing about cartoon boyfriends and circle squares to one reveling in the steadfast instrumental additions of mandolins and violins.

Lyrically, Hunt moved from bratty lines (”I didn’t like you very much when I met you/And now I like you even less” from “Unbearable”) to mature heart stompers (”there are no words to illustrate/a marijuana trip away/confided all I had to say/only to watch it drift away” from “Storm Drain”).

All of which point out that Hunt and company still operate in a separate phylum from their peers. The Wonder Stuff didn’t aim to write national working-class anthems like Pulp, and the quintet didn’t have the identity and humor issues afflicting Radiohead. And they still don’t.

All that Construction for the Modern Vidiot proves is this fact: The Wonder Stuff is simply a group of cheeky buggers who forge ahead crafting silly pop songs — a feat few do better. Welcome Back.

DVD Extras:

• Interviews
• Band Biography
• Behind the Scenes Footage

Robert Pollard in North Carolina

Cat's Cradle
Carrboro, North Carolina
Jan. 27, 2006

http://tinyurl.com/eqpq3

During the Guided By Voices 2004 farewell tour stop in Carrboro, N.C., singer and founder Robert Pollard resembled a weary soul only director Wim Wenders could love.

He looked disheveled and sounded more like a curmudgeon than a renowned pop master. Maybe 21 years fronting a stalwart indie-rock act and celebrating the joys of cigarettes and alcohol onstage wore Pollard down.

About 13 months later, however, Pollard reemerged energized to promote his first solo album since he dismantled the band. From a Compound Eye is chock-full of the rock and psychedelia Pollard's fans have celebrated for years.

On the tour's second show, the songs were brilliantly articulated by Pollard's all-star backing band. They motored equally through the album cuts and Pollard's back catalog of zany pop goodness with zest. Jason Narducy (Verbow) on bass and Jon Wurster (Superchunk) behind the drum kit deftly propelled the diverse material with aplomb and Dave Phillips (Frank Black) on rhythm guitar guided the music with added dimension and character.

The real star turn came from songwriter and guitarist Tommy Keene who, like R.E.M.'s Mike Mills, reveled in his versatility. Keene moved from lead guitar to backing vocals to keyboard all night and even played a harmonica on "Gold."

The night pointed to an evolution of Pollard's live show. Whereas Guided By Voices placed a premium on mischievous merrymaking and relished the spontaneity of the drunken moment, Keene and company dismissed any onstage antics for technical proficiency.

"Is it OK if we mellow out?" Pollard asked the crowd. "See Guided By Voices didn't mellow out. We kept hammering (the music) down your throats like a bunch of amateurs."

During the nearly three-hour concert, texture and touch was in order.

"Conqueror of the Moon" moved with Dr. Who-style atmosphere before it veered into spy-movie theme theatrics. An organ undercurrent supported the guitar-jangle of "Lightshow."

The set list drew heavily from the new album and offered sprinkles from some of Pollard's more recent side projects including "Dolphins of Color" from Circus Devils: Five and "All Men are Freezing" from Steven Soderbergh's latest film, Bubble.

The prolific Pollard also unveiled songs from his next album, Normal Happiness, a ridiculously poppy affair including the lollipop-sweet "Supernatural Car Lover" which sounded like the stepson of Earthquake Glue's "My Kind of Solider."

The consummate showman, Pollard visually delighted the crowd with a torrid series of axe kicks, salutes and microphone twirls. The encore focused solely on Guided By Voices songs, with the more recent cuts ("Fair Touching," "Things I Will Keep" and "Back to the Lake") pushed to the forefront.

The fans who remained on their feet for almost the entire 150-minute show relished it all. As the end drew near, a group of college-aged men in front of the stage sprayed the band with Pabst Blue Ribbon during "Game of Pricks."

As the band ambled backward, Pollard stood still and continued to sing. The words he spoke earlier in the evening must have rung true: "This rock and roll shit is all that it's cracked up to be."

Classic Stage Banter From Robert Pollard

In a live setting, Robert Pollard remains a surly but charming character with an affinity for drinking too much as he alternates between swills of tequila and gulps of Miller Lite.

His drunken banters are often expletive-filled but always highly entertaining--concert attendees can purchase a vinyl-only collection of his previous rants.

Here are some gems from the concert:

• "I like the Monkees. (Guided By Voices) were a pre-fabricated band, but I ain't prefabricated, motherfuckers."

• "I'm not trying to play up alcohol, but my label Merge Records won't let me. How do you market a 48-year-old drunk? I understand their pain."

• "It ain't Guided By Voices. It's not GBV. It's the new shit. And if you drink with us, we support ya."

• "I'll introduce (the band) when I can't remember their names."

• "I drink 80 beers to keep in shape. On my day off I drink 40."

Bob Mould: Solo/Acoustic

Cat's Cradle
Carrboro, N.C.
March 27, 2006

With a voice that rumbles then explodes like a cartoon bomb, Bob Mould conducts a seminar on clenched-face intensity unlike anyone else.

So it was refreshing to see the former Hüsker Dü and Sugar front man banter with the crowd—-a rare sight--during his mostly solo acoustic show. When Mould spoke of adding 2,000 miles onto a rented Mercury Grand Marquis for the last few tour dates he surmised, "It's a bit of work, but it sure beats pimping."

Energized and free from any album promotion demands, Mould gleefully pared down the overproduced gloss of the recorded originals. In doing so, he offered a first-half blast of the familiar---"Wishing Well," "See a Little Light" and "Hardly Getting Over It"—--all acoustically rugged. He even dropped in the b-side from his Sugar days, "Needle Hits E," the catchiest song in his canon.

About six songs into the nearly two-hour set, Mould slowed the tempo and focused on exploring the quiet, moody side of his work. With "Panama City Motel" and a new song, Mould crafted low-key vibes from a catalog that spans more than 25 years.

"I'm feeling a bit laid back so don't mind me," he said.

After he softened the audience, most of whom sat on folding chairs, Mould plugged in his Fender Stratocaster and offered fuzz-drenched reworkings of "Your Favorite Thing" and "Celebrated Summer." The amplifiers crackled as he bellowed, "My circle of friends is shrinking" from "Circles."

Quite a feat considering a year of touring and exertion has weathered Mould's voice. But he cut loose anyway. When he finished the restrained ballad, "High Fidelity," he said," I was trying to see if I could play that any quieter."

He smiled.

"Nope."