Robot Roll Call

Sometimes the best way to get back to it, is to do just that. I’ve been listening to quite a lot of new and old music of late. Here’s a quick round-up of current faves, keep in mind we have had a very mild spring in Chicago. As such my musical tastes have been on the darker/louder side of the pool.

Archie Bronson Outfit - Coconut
A tough selection of 60’s style British Garage fuzz with some strong krautrock leanings. Check out the video for Wild Strawberries below and I dare you not to feel the bombast in this song. Key tracks include Shark’s Tooth, Wild Strawberries & You have a right to Mountain Life.

Archie Bronson Outfit

Harlem - Hippies
Not a perfect album but worth a nice afternoon lounging perhaps with a cool drink in hand. These energetic and breezy pop songs will get stuck in your head. Key tracks - Someday Soon & Number One.

Joker
To anyone even remotely interested in the Dubstep scene Joker is a monster. If you’re like the rest of the world then you have no idea who this brilliant young producer is nor what he can do with a synth and drum machine. He has no album but plenty of singles, check out these youtube clips of two of my favorite Joker tracks.

Joker - Purple City

Joker & Ginz - Re-Up

Sad Lovers & Giants - Colourless Dream 7″
Not a new band but rather an old band i just recently discovered. SL&G were formed in Watford, England around 1981. They have a Joy Division/Cocteau Twins sound. Their songs are full of atmosphere which mixes well with their rhythm section. The title cut is good but the b-side of this 7″ “Things we never did” is the real gem. Check out the video below.

Sad Lovers & Giants

Liars - Sisterworld
Liars never seemed like the monster they have become. Every album gets better, weirder and more beautiful. I can not recommend the entire Liars collection more and Sisterworld is no different. I can not wait to see them this summer. Key Tracks - Scissor, Scarecrows on a Killer Slant & Proud Evolution.

The Bird and The Bee - Interpreting the Masters Vol. 1 - A Tribute to Hall & Oats
I went through a serious Hall & Oats obsession in 2003 to the misery of my neighbor when we would blast “Family Man” drunkenly at 3am. The Bird and the Bee have not done too much to these modern classics. Mostly they have perked up the sound with more synth (somehow) and changed the breakdowns here and there. This a perfect album to put on for a first date, their reaction will tell you everything you will need to know about them. Key Tracks - I Can’t Go for That, Private Eyes & Kiss is on My List

I cannot be 100% sure but I feel that I am one of the first, if not the first, person to review a hand dryer.

Now I realize that statement may seem odd, crazy even, but I must declare my love of the Dyson Air Blade.

If you are not familiar with this product I am sure you know the company’s name from their line of high end vacuum cleaners.

Imagine if you will, you’re in a public restroom and you have just completed you’re business now on to washing your hands.

This is always a point of contention for me, do the facilities have paper towels, a hand drier or those wall mounted rolls of thin cotton cloth that feed into itself (which on a side note you do not see much of any longer). Paper towels while they are sanitary are not eco friendly, sometimes the previous occupant has even dripped water all over the paper, particularly if said towels are stacked on a surface in the lavatory. The towels do the job and quickly I might add but they make a mess and like I mentioned above they are not eco-friendly. Next we have the old school hand dryer, a fixture in restrooms since forever, they are loud and very slow to actually assist in drying ones hands. Plus they take a huge amount of power to run the motor and heating element. Usually they take two cycles to even get your hands from wet to moist. Additionally they tend to be the victim of vandalism, as a kid I can remember the restaurant which my mother was employed had a hand dryer in the men’s washroom. If you can recall the driers had instructions listed on the face of the machine, such as

1. Push Button
2. Rub hands vigorously under warm air
3. Stops automatically.

The hand dryer at Harry’s restaurant had been defaced to read

1. Push Butt
2. Rubs hands vigorously under arm
3. Stop auto at ally.

In my years I have seen many variations of this list and even more changes via scratches with a knife or some variety of blunt instrument (as shown above). For some reason this alteration in public facilities has haunted me to this day, but I digress. The final option is the roll of cloth which feeds into itself, which was my previous favorite as it was quick and easy like the paper towels but minus the waste. However sometimes the roll was not replaced but rather just flipped and you found yourself attempting to dry your hands with a damp and germ infested piece of nasty.

This brings me to the Dyson Air Blade, a complete rethinking of how a hand dryer operates and how one interacts with a hand dryer.

Number one it does not have a blower mounted to the face of the machine rather it is in the shape of the letter U, the plastic face allows one to insert their hands into the top opening. This in turn activates a sensor which turns the machine on, no button to push for operation, the air flows from both sides of the U. All you do is insert your hands until they are completely inside the U and you slowly pull your hands up. The air is forced out of two very thin openings which act like a blade and a blower, kind of like the air blowers at the car wash. The pressure is significantly higher than the standard hand drier but in no way it is painful or dangerous. The whole process take about 15 seconds from wet hands to dry sanitary hands. The best part is that this machine actually uses less power than the old hand driers since the air is forced through such a small opening the pressure does most of the work additionally the machine does not heat the air which means less energy usage. This is an amazing machine and I strongly encourage you to ask your employer to install these in place of any other type of hand drying apparatuses. Take a moment to see the rad flash movie of the machine in action at Dyson’s web site.

When I first heard Health I dismissed them as current blog darlings which I would never hear of again; once their debut album was released. This is what happened to the L.A. foursome, however somehow they managed the impossible in this day. They made a follow-up album which not only pushes their sound forward but also takes a huge musical leap. Get Color is a fully formed release with complete ideas unlike their debut which had the stink of happenstance. They still like noise, a lot, but they also have found silence and mood to be important touch stones. When you’re pounding away on tracks like “Severin” it nice to have a break to not only appreciate the silence but to digest the audio attack which your ears have just taken part. Another factor worth mentioning is the length of Get Color, coming in just over half an hour is perfect for an album of this nature. You don’t need 70 mins of noise to get your point across, I tell this to anyone who will listen and somehow musicians still think that if a CD hold 72 minutes then I should make 72 minutes of product. This is an antiquated concept and may go the way of the dodo in this MP3/digital music world since the CD is on life support. With the advent of autumn I cannot think of a new release better suited for the declining day light and brisk mornings than Health’s “Get Color” out now on Lovepump records.

If you were around for the nineties then you know all the major musical touchstones such as the Seattle sound (Nirvana, Soundgarden & Screaming Trees), G-Funk (Dr. Dre, Snoop & Domino), Electronic (Squarepusher, Aphix Twin & Alec Empire), Britpop (Pulp, Oasis & Stone Roses).
But what about the underground, such as bedroom pop a.k.a. c-86? Of course you may know Beat Happening, The Cardigans & Komedia. However there was something ELSE happening in California other than 311 perhaps as an alternative to the alternative to alternative music. I am speaking of Slumberland Records and their 40th release titled “A Certain Smile A Certain Sadness” by Rocketship. “A Certain Smile… was released in 1995 to little fanfare; however it slowly gained steam via ‘zines, and word of mouth. However the band soon fell apart and only the bands leader Dusty was left with his various keyboards, effects pedals and the like. The album left in the bands demise is perhaps the greatest bedroom pop album you have never heard. Boy girl call and response vocals - check, heart string tugging musical arrangements – check, songs that flow into one another stop suddenly and explode on a dime – check. The album opens with the greatest jangly guitar line of all time then pushes a hard synth line in “I love you like the way I used to” the song ends in a wash of reverb and echo only to pick up with two hard strikes on a snare to begin the second song on the album “Kisses are always promises” quickly picking up the tempo again. This process occurs throughout the album, up down sad happy all the time reminding you of what love meant to you when you were 16 years old. The entire album runs a total of 33 minutes 6 seconds perfect for lying on a bed daydreaming about those quiet moments you spent with someone you love or loved. Perhaps you are lying with the one you love, than this is a perfect accompaniment. Not too long to become annoying or trite as some of the lyrics are not the deepest sentiments you have ever heard but the honesty in the music cannot be denied. Even now after hearing this album hundreds and hundreds of time it still gives me chills. A perfect late summer album.
The best part is that Dusty has realized it is better to get his music out than to allow such heartfelt songs to wallow in obscurity. You may download the entire Rocketship collection from his Non-Stop Co-Op website via a pay what you like arrangement; I cannot recommend this album or any of Dusty’s output more. I also ask you do pay something to the site as I can only hope to hear more from the man. His last release “Here Comes…Rocketship” is also an amazing journey into pop music in the 21st century. Plus the site also offers music from likeminded contemporaries Andrew Kaffer of “Kissing Book” another fantastic band I would recommend too. Perhaps I’ll write about their albums “Lines and Colors” & “(s) later. In the meantime please help these highly talented musicians sell some songs so we can all enjoy more of their work.

Pitchfork 2009 seemingly was the same experience for me as the previous three summers, mediocre. Perhaps I am more interested in seeing music in a small loud room. With that said I still had a good enough time to merit returning next year. This years line up had strong rock leanings with only a sprinkle of hip-hop and a touch of electronic beats, i missed a more straight upelecto -pop act. A few of my favorites via photo imagery, i was enjoying The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and did not take any photos sorry.

MF Doom

The Mae Shi

M83

Review By Paul ‘Space-Motown’ Heintz

About a month ago I was at Dominick’s, Chicago’s version of Safeway - a grocery store - and I heard I’ll Wait by Van Halen. Just as a side note, ever notice the similarities between the names Van Halen and Led Zeppelin? Both are 2 words. Anyhow, I’m in an indie bedroom psyche group called Midstates and the Choir of Ghosts and I have very sensitive ears. Usually grocery stores play songs that make me want to leave, and when I heard the opening synth lines to I’ll Wait, not fully realizing what the song was, I had a similar feeling.

Then David Lee Roth began to sing. That guy can sing. As the person who sings in my group and more importantly as a fan of great music, I can tell you unequivocally that Roth is one of the greatest vocalists in our lifetime. But all that aside, I’ll Wait has been stuck in my head for weeks now.

Usually to get a song out of my head, and if i don’t own it (that particular song was on an album (and by album I do mean vinyl) that my sister Mary had when I was a kid), I would scour the internet: youtube, pandora, last.fm, etc. The studio recording of I’ll Wait (aside from fan versions and live versions) could not be found. Desperate, I finally succumbed to watching a live version shot in Philly on the last.fm site but sourced in from the youtube.

I have no idea when this video was shot, but judging from the length of David Lee Roth’s hair, I’m thinking it might be fairly recent. And yes, he still can nail that song. The most interesting thing about this song is that it has relatively little guitar. Someone told me that Eddie Van Halen was originally a concert pianist before turning into a shredding guitarist, and that he played all the piano/synthesizer parts on their songs (Jump comes to mind.)

20 years or so later, David Lee Roth can still sing and Van Halen has a great song that is based around a synthesizer melody and not electric guitar.

Paul ‘Space-Motown’ Heintz

for more magical goodness check out
Midstates and the Choir of Ghosts

Chicago based theater company Dog and Pony have opened a new play titled “God’s Ear”, at the Viaduct Theater on 3111 Western Ave. This play written by Jenny Schwartz is a unique combination of traditional storytelling, avant-guard language with a musical twist. The piece centers around a family who has lost their young son to an unfortunate accident. Information does not flow freely from this production, the fragmented and circular conversations had me at a loss initially. However, once I got comfortable and realized that this is how the characters speak in their world, I began to unravel this dark yet comical tale. The family’s remaining child a young girl has some of the best lines in the play while the mother is simultaneously a rock and a mess and the father is absent at best. This is a exceptionally sad topic, the lost of a young child must be heart wrenching and yet the play does not over reach to express these poignant details while at the same time it is full of hardy laughs, which seem to fall out of the characters so unexpectedly. The set is a minimal white rectangle where the audience sits on either side of this block, the actors must turn to their back to one side to address the other. This give the audience a sense of disconnect which the characters have emotionally and spatially as they tend to spend much of their stage time at opposite ends of this blank rectangle while speaking to one another. The musical numbers are a site, not to mentions a aura treat, the actors pull off some amazing feats making these songs seem meaningful and necessary while on paper they would seem pasted in. Perhaps with such a dark topic one needs a singing transvestite to ease the mood. While the play does have these “off the wall” attributes they are not what defines the piece, these events are an ornament to the deeper issues these characters have developed as a result of their loss. This play is not for everyone but I believe everyone could take something from the exceptionally strong piece of theater. One must have patience to allow this bizarre and sad tale of a family falling apart at the loss of it youngest member however if you give it a chance your patience will be rewarded.

God’s Ear

Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays 8pm

Sunday 5pm

$15 -$20

Pay what you can on Thursdays & Sundays

Ends April 26^th

For more information

http://www.viaducttheater.com

Photo by PRI’s the World

Today the New York Times has an Op-Ed Article by Enrique Krauze titled “The Mexican Evolution”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/opinion/24krauze.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

The opinion piece is about how the U.S and Mexican media has been focusing on the violence and drug trafficking occurring in small regions of the country. And how this has caused the U.S. state department to issue a statement that Mexico along with Pakistan are on the verge of becoming a failed state. Krauze’s argument is that Pakistan is much more likely to fail than Mexico, he even goes so far as to make a laundry list of the differences between the two countries. Comparing religious issues, foreign policies, Guerrilla groups and how the country has changed from the one party political system which had a strangle hold on the country for more than 70 years.
These are all very valid points and I understand the point of the opinion piece is to show Americans that Mexico is not a “failed” state as so many others are quick to point out.
Perhaps Mexico is not a failed state however, it is dealing with an enormous plague of crime. The almost overwhelming number of murders, kidnapping and random violence is so large that it eclipses almost everything else. Mr. Krauze’s article barely hints at these issues. While his opinion piece may be focused on the positive aspects of Mexico, to glide over the violence and to blame the media for only covering the brutal aspects of Mexican news makes his article seem very misguided. Of course we all tire of yellow journalism but to ignore the countries problems and then to seemingly push the blame on to the news gathers is achingly naive and ignorant. Of course like all opinion pieces this article has a goal, and that goal is to give Mexico a much needed positive P.R. push. I am sure it is no accident that the vacation season is just around the corner. Of course I doubt anyone will be visiting Juarez Mexico this summer as last year this city of 1.5 million which occupies 72.6 sq miles had 1,600 murders in 2008, this year the city has already had 200 murders as of late February. This is not something one sugar coats with finger pointing and smoke screens in the guise of nationalism. Mexico may not be in the same realm as Pakistan when it comes to failed states, but when one is comparing predicaments on these levels the point almost seems moot.

For some more information about the situation across the border I recommend these two videos. The first is merely a recent news story about Juarez Mexico and the second is a troubling piece by Current TV for their Current Vanguard Series. The Current video titled “Narco War Next Door” is one of the best pieces I have seen on Current.

Videos
http://www.ktsm.com/local/murder-numbers-quickly-approaching-300-juarez

http://current.com/items/89845362/narco_war_next_door.htm#comments

Fidelity Investments rolled out a new ad campaign this week with the slogan “Turn Here”. I saw the ad yesterday and was initially impressed by the creativity of the ad and slogan. That sentiment lasted about 45 seconds, then I became deeply troubled by this. What seemed clever and unique quickly turned to silly and pretentious. I’m sure when the ad concept was pitched the people responsible were beaming. But “Turn Here” is so subjective, almost to a fault.
Perhaps “Leading the Pack” would have expressed the same sentiment without the confusion. Turn Here?, to where, why and I’m almost certain the person who came up with the slogan has a TOM TOM or some other voice navigation system. They may as well say ‘Turn here to savings” which is something you would see in a cursive font below a giant sun-burnt supermarket sign.
In the end the slogan fails to impress, mostly it annoys and confuses, check the link below to see the micro-site and make your own judgment.
Is “Turn Here” a solid concept of a half baked idea rushed out to save an investment company?
I vote for the latter.

http://personal.fidelity.com/misc/gettingstarted/flash/turnhere/index.shtml

Review by: TV!

The Watchmen have been a topic of many a fan-boys conversation for a long time. Long before Zack Snyder decided he would take a stab at producing the un-producible film for “Watchmen”. He is not the first to attempt the mountain of expectation which is the Watchmen movie, but he is the first to complete a product for the general populous to experience. Of course it has not lived up to expectations, surprisingly it was not the legions of comic fans but rather the average viewer. I find it surprising for Warner Bros. to release a film so clearly directed to a closed audience, particularly an audience it has shunned again and again. Do I need to mention the travesty that was Catwoman or the half-assed update of Superman. But here we are in 2009 with a Watchmen film aimed with laser sights directly on the fanboys, don’t get me wrong I am happy the film is so true to the source material. I am just very confused why Warner Bros choose now to allow a filmmaker to do so and more importantly why this piece of work. Perhaps it is Mr. Snyder’s cannon which has demonstrated his ability to adapt the sequential frames of others into his own. Perhaps it was Warner Bros. themselves, fresh off “The Dark Knight” enormity thought they could just follow the template of adapting graphic novels. After the number of people I saw leaving the theater during my viewing of Watchmen I already knew Warner Bros. made a mistake by attempting to convert such a dense piece of work into a two and a half hour film.

“Watchmen” is an amazing interpretation of the graphic novel titled “Watchmen”, It is not a film you can lazily walk into and expect to be handed all the mythology and answers of the world. It is a mystery first and foremost and not just an action film with Superhumans. Perhaps the marketing campaign should have been directed toward the mystery aspect of the film rather than the hype of a Watchmen film. At any rate it is too late now, the word has spread and people are avoiding the film, it lost 50% of the sales it made opening weekend. The new Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vehicle made quick work of Watchmen this past weekend and by next weekend it will be forgotten, which is a travesty to the Watchmen. The film succeeds on every level if you have the fore knowledge and patience to experience the story, of course expecting every viewer to read the graphic novel before viewing the feature is a ridiculous expectation however in my opinion it is a necessary to fully appreciate the intricate detail embedded into every frame and to fully understand what has always been a deep and literary story. Do yourself a favor and watch the video below, pick up a copy of the graphic novel watchmen, then wait for the DVD deluxe release with the omitted 20 minutes and then you can understand why “Watchmen” may very well be the greatest superhero film ever made and simultaneously a perfect failure.