Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
So much new music has dropped this month that my head hurts–and I love it. For starters, there’s a soundtrack CD that veteran indie musician/upstart actor Goh Nakamura dropped in the mailbox for me between his stops on the film festival circuit. You won’t find the Kickstarter-funded release in stores yet–although some of it can be sampled on SoundCloud–but I’m guessing Goh will have copies at the Asian American Showcase on Friday, April 6 when Daylight Savings makes its Chicago premiere. Catch him there or wherever you can! Goh Nakamura – Music From The Motion Picture Because the songs and scores were intended to support scenes from director Dave Boyle’s Surrogate Valentine films, this sprawling collection might not be the best introduction to singer-songwriter Goh Nakamura‘s ultra clever, catchy, and honest Elvis Costello-meets-The-Beatles pop–although there is plenty of it (“Walk,” “Here’s a Secret”…). However, it is an awesome sampler of his skills and versatility. From dreamy instrumentals (“That’s Why I Miss You,” “Don’t Look Away”) and funky bumpers (“Shirtless Curtis,” “Whistlin’ “) to Plimsouls-like power pop (“Better”), the tracks show as much range as they do polish. Acting may be new to Goh’s repertoire, but the conceiving of heartfelt music for different scenes and moods is nothing but a musical, masterful game of H-O-R-S-E for the ace guitar player. [Goh Nakamura] Jah Wobble & Keith Levene – S/T EP Levene’s screeching guitars and Wobble’s throbbing bass are instantly recognizable in “Back on the Block,” a cool, killer instrumental that recall not only the duo’s contributions to the first Public Image Ltd. releases but also the generations of bands they influenced from Butthole Surfers to Fugazi to Radio 4. Their dubby baseline and droning guitar are as timeless as they are hypnotic and catchy. “Mississippi” is almost the polar opposite: snappy and organ-driven country-flavored pop. Its too-good-to-true vibe is tweaked only by Wobble’s disarming lyrics about the smell of gasoline. Two dubs (one coasting, one toasting) round out the limited-edition 12″ EP that comes in a hand-stamped envelope. Definitely worth seeking out and playing often. [Pressure Sounds] High on Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis While leader Matt Pike has reunited his previous band (the much loved and more stoneriffic Sleep) for the festival circuit, High on Fire keeps ratcheting up the tension. Producer Kurt Ballou (Converge) brings a dose of crushing post-hardcore intensity to the mix, bringing the band’s Motörhead-heavy riffs and Slayer-speed solos to new heights and ensuring that the song cycle’s conceit about a conspiracy involving Jesus’ twin brother and time travel never gets in the way of the rock. All of the cuts are capable of shaking the hair between one’s nuts, but “Madness of an Architect” might be the heaviest, grooviest song of all, at once recalling the droning brilliance of Sleep’s “Dopesmoker” while space trucking into the future cosmos. [oOne Music] Also check out: Black Breath – Sentenced to Life [Southern Lord], Paul Weller – Sonik Kicks (Deluxe Edition) [Island], V/A – Listen To The Music...
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MSG is Madison Square Garden a capacity 19,000 seat arena and it’s a band that has no radio play or mainstream television access in the US. Instead, it’s all via anime fans, which is the only possible way this band could be so huge in a place that isn’t helping them out at all. The music is subpar hybrid of 80s glam metal, but their look at style is 2012 and beyond. Of course, the YouTube generation can easily figure out their songs and what the crowd does in unison. In Japan, the crowd is so in tune with the songs they have sync’d gestures that doesn’t require an MC to tell them to “wave your hands in the air”. They already know it. In Japan they can sell out arenas as can old timers X Japan, but somehow this all translates in the US. The fans might not be your garden variety Metallica concert goers, this will be a hybrid of it’s own that won’t be fan boys or girls. Instead it’ll be more like a movement, a gathering of people who are into Japanese popular culture. They don’t have to like the music, but the crowd is powered by a lifestyle. Want to see an hour + of them? [youtube]u61Cn3y2Oyw[/youtube]
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Naomi Yang and Julia Holter in Los Angeles (March 17, 2012)
No, it isn’t necessary to make the pilgrimage/business trip to SXSW to dig new sounds or catch up with old faves. Here are some recent releases that I love–all with some sort of connection to Giant Robot. On Saturday, for example, I was exposed to the music of Julia Holter when she came over to my house for a video shoot by my longtime friend Naomi (of Damon & Naomi, Galaxie 500, and GR mag). The publication as I knew it is no longer, but the culture lives on and grows.
I have a long playlist on my ipod that I call “the song graveyard” of old unfinished verses,choruses and riffs. It’s a musical “to do” list that I consult every now and then. One of the songs on there was a sad tune that started with the words “Here’s A Secret”… but then ended in gibberish. Songs can stay in this suspended state for years, until something jolts me emotionally to fill in the blanks. Such is the case for this tune. This is the first single from the Soundtrack album I’m about to release called “Motion from the Music Picture.” There’s 2 exclusive cues from my upcoming film Daylight Savings, too. Hope you dig. Here’s A Secret I’d imagine writers, artists have a similar “graveyard” that they consult from time to time…I’m curious. How do you guys work with older material?
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New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin’s rise was guaranteed to eventually incite hate from both teams. It should come as no shock then that boxer Floyd Mayweather voiced his own criticisms of the Point Guard on the Twittersphere. After all, Mayweather released his own homophobic and racist rant against Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao on YouTube in the past. To his credit, he at least toned down his rhetoric (profanity wise) concerning his opinion towards Lin. “Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian,” Mayweather tweeted. “Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.” Alas, this entry isn’t about Mayweather so much as what swiftly followed. Jenny Hyun–co-writer of Kpop group Girls’ Generation’s “How Great is Your Love” and Chocolat’s “One More Day”–pulled a Kenneth Eng and combated racism with more racism. Her following tweets called for the genocide of African Americans among other things. It’s safe to say, her response wasn’t met with much praise and got to a point where she locked her Twitter account. She delivered a not so sincere apologized on her blog, all the while defending her inflammatory remarks. She deleted the apology. In its place stands a seemingly more sincere one written by a third party explaining that she suffers from a psychotic episode and is undergoing treatment at a hospital. Whether or not this was the subtle work of a hacker is yet to be revealed. However a closer inspection of her blog reveals that she identifies as Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, and Humanist. With a synchronicity like that, my bet’s on insanity.
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