The Post-Rockist

For a Tuesday night, the Duck Room was bustling. As I walked down the stairs a little after 9:00 p.m., the place was already packed with happy, drinking fans who were all smiling up at the long, tall Langhorne Slim.

Slim, in his tight gray floodpants, black boots, and porkpie hat, looked like he had hopped off a train cart filled with hobos to get to this show. But while there seem to be a lot of alt-folk rock acts out there today aching to perfect the outward persona of the Dust Bowl refugee with a busker’s ingenue, Slim actually has the songs and the showmanship to pull it off without reducing himself to mere novelty. (Continued)

I know it’s such a drag to go to shows on weekdays, but the amount of shows coming through St. Louis this week is plain ridiculous. Admit it, you’re already planning to get by this week on power naps and shots of 5 Hour Energy poured discretely in your coffee mug. If not, here’s the itinerary for the ridiculosity that’s about to ensue this week:

Monday

Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham - the genius behind “Never Going Back Again,” “The Ledge,” “Holiday Road,” and countless others - is playing at the Pageant. I heard they were giving away free tickets to this show at last week’s Neko Case concert, which is kind of sad. It’s almost enough to make me wish I went to Neko’s concert. Almost.

The Bluebird has pulled together an impressive bill consisting of Dead Confederates, Catfish Haven, Lovelikefire, and hometown heroes Jon Hardy & The Public. I don’t know why, but nobody seems to be talking about this even though it should be a pretty cool show.

Tuesday

My old hometown favorites the Heartless Bastards are playing with the exuberant folk troubador Langhorne Slim from Brooklyn at the Duck Room. I’m not too familiar with Slim’s discography, but regular Post-Rockist contributor Fancy Dan put this little number on a mix for me a while back and I whole-heartedly echo its sentiments:

Langhorne Slim - “I Love To Dance”

Lots more after the jump… (Continued)

The Muslims - “Walking With Jesus”
(from Parasites/Walking With Jesus 7″ - pre-order here)

God, I love the Muslims! Whoa, heh heh, that sounds a little awkward. Let me back up for a second there and explain myself: I meant to say that I’m infatuated with the San Diego-based, lo-fi buzz band called The Muslims that are blowing up all over the internets. Yikes, “blowing up”; bad choice of verbs. I mean, uhm, the band that’s exploding, er, nope… receiving a lot of critical praise, or, uhm, acclaim lately. Yeah, that’ll do nicely. So, you got that? I’m talking about the band called “The Muslims” and not the adherents of the monotheistic religion of Islam of which there are certain radical fanatic fringe groups with whom our government is currently embroiled in a protracted and unwinnable war against. And I’m really digging them right now.

There. Much better.

So, have you heard ‘em yet? Assuming you have a computer, access to the internet, and read music blogs at least once a month (and if you’re reading this now, that’s a fair assumption to make), then there’s a good chance the answer is “Yes.” If not, then take a moment to get acquainted.

Brash, minimimalist, infectious — The Muslims tap into the primal energy of early, three-chord punk rock with frenetic, spiky rhythms and cool, detached vocals. I realize this could describe a thousand different bands, and it does, it’s just The Muslims do it right. I’ve read a lot of comparisons to The Strokes, which would be a decent comparison to make assuming that those reviewers meant to write “They sound like early Strokes if The Strokes were trying to imitate The Fall instead of Television.” At the very least, I’m getting that same feeling of excitement I got when I first heard The Strokes.

Plus, they’ve released a cover of Spacemen 3’s “Walking With Jesus,” which just so happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time. The best part about it? They don’t muck it up. They play off the simplistic, distorted formula of the original Taking Drugs To Make Music To Take Drugs To demo and ratchet things up with a pounding kick drum, tambourine, and vocalist Matt Lamkin’s sneering, soul-forsaken paranoia. Is it better than the original? Oh, come on now, that’s hard for me to say. It’s arguably better than the S3 versions on For All the Fucked-Up Children of this World… and The Perfect Prescription, and that’s saying something.

The video for “Extinction,” one of The Muslims’ originals, is below. Czech it: (Continued)

I get a lot of my quality music listening time in at work on my iPod. And as much as I love traditional songs in rock and pop and folk formats, sometimes the lyrics and abrupt start-stop dynamics can be distracting when you’re trying to focus on something important work-related. (Okay, you can stop laughing now.) Lately I’ve found myself drawn to a lot of ultra-vivid, repetitive electronic-type music that can turn the monotony of the work day into a pulsating, metronomic tick-tock of candy-coated deliciousness. Most of these songs tread along the same axis between hippie trippiness and polyester disco flash, fused together with common elements that could only be discerned by decades of separation from the actual events and unfettered access to a parent’s dusty old record collection.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - “Zodiac Girls” (Pony Version of 7″ Single)
(from Drippers)

Black Moth Super Rainbow are doing everything they legally can to get kids hooked on drugs short of actually handing out the drugs. (Although, who’s to say they don’t? I’ve never seen them in concert and it seems entirely within the realm of possibilities of the sort of thing they’d do to enhance the live experience. Just speculatin’.) Just take a listen to this. Like most everything they do, the music is heavy on psychedelic, old-school analog synthesizers and deliriously vocodered vocals that hover in the background like a UFO in a grainy, 8mm film reel. It’s a simple formula, but utterly convincing. Kids listen to this and think, “Wow, this sounds really cool. This sounds like drugs. I think I want to get my hands on some drugs and listen to this over again.” And that’s how it starts. Even the album art taps into their lysergic legacy, and no, I’m not just talking about the three sets of eyes and the three-dimensional hand holding the melting tomato. I’m talking about how they’re tapping into the popular myth of acid blotters being placed on kids’ stickers by making both the CD and vinyl versions of the Drippers EP in a scratch’n’sniff format. What’s next, Black Moth Super Rainbow, peel-off “Blue Star” tattoos?

Weird Tapes - “The Heavens”
(from Get Religion)

Weird Tapes have a lot in common with BMSR: they’re both from the Keystone State; they both shroud their identities in relative mystery; they both rely on disembodied vocal loops and repetitive, hypnotic rhythms for blissful results; and they both probably do a lot more drugs than I do. But other than that, the similarities end there. Weird Tapes’ music has more of a glossy disco kick to it, and as far as I can tell, they’ve released much less music. However, you can download the Get Religion EP for free here. I would recommend doing so. (Although, fair warning, the zShare link may be somewhat NSFW, in case advertisements displaying flashing images of ladies in thong underwear is not appropriate for your work environment. Click it at home to be safe.) (Continued)

Evangelicals
Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center
September 16, 2008

When I walked into the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center last night, for a second I thought I had mistaken the date and paid $5 to enter a poetry reading instead of an Evangelicals rock show. The place was library-quiet and the few people already there sat studiously huddled on plush, vintage couches throughout the room. I grabbed a seat next to a man reading a Dean Koontz paperback. He had a second book sitting on his lap, presumably a back-up in case he finished the first while waiting for the Norman, Oklahoma band to take what constituted as the stage. I half considered asking him for the other book, just to give me something to take my mind off the overwhelming, awkward silence in the room.

Thankfully, Justin Kinkel and Andy Lashier from the band Theodore were about to start their set. (Continued)

-I think covers have an unfair reputation in much of the DIY, indie music world. Playing a few choice covers to show the audience where you’re coming from doesn’t put you on the same level as the dueling piano bar that plays nothing but Billy Joel requests from drunken bachelorettes all night in the guido district of town.

-Case in point: The Blind Eyes’ original material is the sort of smart, taut guitar pop perfected decades ago by the likes of Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello & The Attractions, so it was no surprise that they decided to devote themselves to the very best of the spectacled one’s 1970s output, from a spot on cover of “Welcome to the Working Week” to a heavily modified adaptation of “Watching the Detectives.” I was listening to a lot of early Costello in anticipation of this night, and they didn’t disappoint.

-Their set-closing Costello cover of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding,” which is itself a cover of a Lowe song (which probably wasn’t meant to be so meta), was one of the definite highlights of the evening. (Continued)

I am on such a high right now. Not only did the Post-Rockist endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama deliver a glorious knock-out acceptance speech last night, but I’m looking forward to a three day weekend filled with good music. It seemed like the number of quality shows coming to town was spread pretty thin during the end of summer here, but this fall is gearing up to be a busy concert season. Starting this Saturday with…

Lil Wayne, Chaifetz Arena

Alright, I’m not going to this show. But if I was, you’d better believe I’d be right up in the front row, watching Weezy’s fingers on the fretboards as he launches into yet another completely ridiculous guitar solo. I could probably learn a thing or two from him.

I basically just wanted to use this as an excuse to post this mash-up by the Hood Internet that takes the music from the unbelievably bad song “Suicide Bomb” off the new Primal Scream record, throws Lil Wayne and Birdman on top of it, and turns it into a little slice of awesome:

Hood Internet - “I Run This Bomb”
(Lil Wayne/Birdman vs. Primal Scream via The Hood Internet)

Next up, also on Saturday… (Continued)