The Morning News

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Currently: "I am old-fashioned and think that reading books is the most glorious pastime that humankind has yet devised." http://tmne.ws/14845
1 day ago

Listening • For a Bigger City

The Dirty Projectors sound weird. Not weird like never letting your children celebrate their birthday, or like an extensive collection of Beanie Babies. The Dirty Projectors are weird like people who refold their napkins when getting up from the table, if only for a bathroom break, or like a bunch of guys who grows mustaches together, or David Byrne. Fitting then, that the Dave Longstreth-led revolving cast of a band recorded a song with Mr. Byrne earlier this year for the Dark Was the Night charity compilation.

Late last week, a new Projectors album (Bitte Orca, which I believe is German for “please kill a whale”) was leaked on the internet. The band’s label, Domino Records, is doing a bit of damage control by going ahead and releasing the track “Stillness Is the Move” on their site. The music on this new album is somewhat of a departure from their last, 2007’s Rise Above, but that’s to be expected considering that it was a cover of Black Flag’s Damaged entirely from memory. Practically everything is a departure for these guys, which is refreshing. On the single, singers Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian seem to take a more central role in the proceedings, but Longstreth’s mashed up, herky jerky songwriting makes it all possible. His guitar sounds kinda weird, too. —Erik Bryan, Apr. 14, 2009

» Listen to "Stillness Is the Move" at Pop Tarts Suck Toasted

SHARE THIS • EMAIL THIS • FILE UNDER: Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, Black Flag, Dark Was the Night, Dave Longstreth, David Byrne, Dirty Projectors, Domino Records

Listening • SoCal Decay

Great Moments in Depressing Music

In 1968, Rezsö Seress jumps to his death after penning the ultimate downer of a song, Gloomy Sunday. Urban legend spreads that the song causes people to commit suicide every time they hear it, causing 37 separate suicides throughout Hungary, but it’s never been substantiated. Chances are Seress may have killed himself because he was never able to write a followup song as immensely depressing as that one.
Southern California is a dark and foreboding place. People commonly associate it with the Beach Boys and Gidget, but that was from a long time past when you could still swim in the ocean without having to bathe in disinfectant afterwards. Now it’s better known as the home of the Germs, Social Distortion, Black Flag, Bad Religion, and Fear. People tend to think that depression and cold temperatures seem to go hand-in-hand, but what if you lived in a shallow wasteland that was 72 degrees all year round. It would feel like perpetually falling into a never-ending K-hole of darkness and despair, albeit a bright and sunny one. Which is what this Crystal Antlers song brings to mind. They’re coming from Long Beach, Calif., yet their songs are a constant traumatic descent into either madness or joy. But it’s a good thing. Darkness and depression, these are the precious jewels in life. They need to be coveted and treated well—polished and sculpted, then sold at auction to the highest bidder so you can move to someplace by the sea where it’s warm all year round. —Llewellyn Hinkes, Aug. 27, 2008

» Listen to “Until the Sun Dies (Part 2)” at RCRD LBL

SHARE THIS • EMAIL THIS • FILE UNDER: Bad Religion, Black Flag, Crystal Antlers, Fear, Rezso Seress, Social Distortion, The Beach Boys, The Germs

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