7 Questions With…is a new feature where we talk with the bands we’re obsessed with.
Alphabeat (if you somehow missed our coverage of their amazing new single, “Vacation” last week) is a sextet from Denmark best known for the songs “Boyfriend” and “The Spell”. As you’ll see, they had a lot to say about their sound, their favorite gigs, and what mod TV show is currently playing on their tour bus.
Okay, so it’s coming in November. I’m still allowed to be excited. Now to get ready to run around PAX in a few weekends.
Did you know that Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)” had a bitchy answer song? Neither did I until this weekend.
What makes this track so awesome is the spoken part in the middle. ”GET AWAY FROM MY WINSHIELD” indeed.
Well, it’s been a week. Time to chill out as we go into the weekend. Here, with some liquid atmospherics, is Balam Acab.
It’s been an awesome month for new releases, so rather than post a new review I thought I’d highlight the last few weeks’ worth of reviews:
In conclusion: welcome to earth, baby elephant seal!
- How do you get 20 foursquare check-ins in one day? The Las Vegas Strip. For those playing along at home: Caesars Palace, Imperial Palace, Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn, Treasure Island, Mirage, Bellagio, Monte Carlo, New York New York, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, MGM Grand, Ross Dress for Less, Paris Las Vegas, Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall, Caesar’s Palace, Mesa Grill.
- once you’ve seen the inside of a Las Vegas Casino, you have basically seen the inside of all Las Vegas Casinos. Most of the exciting stuff is on the outside
- Walkalators are amazing, especially if they go up and down inclines without requiring you to get off the walkalator.
- I probably spent a lot of time gawking at people openly smoking/drinking on the Strip and at the slot machines
- I don’t understand most casino games. I only lost $40 gambling in vegas, and most of that was at penny slots.
- There are a lot of costumed people on the sidewalks of Las Vegas Boulevard. This is apparently a new thing. I saw plenty of Transformers, an off-duty spiderman, and weirdest of all, someone who was dressed like Zach Galifianakis’ character from the Hangover, complete with (fake) baby in chest supporter thing.
- From the correct angle, Donald Trump’s hotel looks like a giant phallus and testicles rising from the desert.
- Favorite Hotel: Caesars’ Palace (partially because it was my home base, partially because of its scale), with the Venetian a close second
- Least Favorite Hotel: Imperial Palace (although the Hash House a Go Go inside the Imperial Palace is delicious and you should go.)
- I can’t see myself going to Vegas just for gambling’s sake, so we’ll see what brings me there next time. Perhaps an NPL conference, perhaps something else.
Hooray for weird synth noises, vocal sampling, and Vegas.
“Peculiar Paradise”, a bonus track from Chairlift’s fantastic Something offered on RCRD LBL earlier this year, went on my vacation playlist a few weeks ago because the title seemed to mesh so nicely with the whole concept of Vegas – this peculiar “paradise” in the middle of the desert. It’s stuck around on my recent listening because the song itself is so interesting. For me, it sounds like a mix of 80s/90s kids educational video game background music (the kind that always wanted to sound hip) mixed with Art of Noise-style vocal sampling. All of it meshes together nicely to create pure pop, even if the lyrics don’t entirely make sense.
Beach House is back! After their fantastic third album “Teen Dream”, Victoria and Alex are back and are somehow even larger sounding than before. If this is the taste of their forthcoming album (supposedly called Bloom and supposedly out in May on Sub Pop), I can’t wait to hear the rest.
When you get an Andrew Bird album, you expect a few things: slightly complex, scientific metaphors, layers of violin loops, and whistling. You won’t be disappointed on his latest release, Break It Yourself, if that’s what you’re looking for, but you’re also in for a few surprises.
This is the second Andrew Bird album I’ve experienced as it’s come out, and I think I like it even better than 2009′s Noble Beast. The songs are still tightly constructed, but there’s a looseness to the whole feel of the album that makes them feel just as off the cuff. It doesn’t hurt that Bird has some awesome collaborators in the barn with him, including a sweet guest vocal from St. Vincent’s Annie Clark on “Lusitania”. There’s a smooth ease through the whole album making it a pleasant listen, especially on tracks like “Lazy Projector”, “Give it Away”, and “Desperation Breeds…”, the engimatic opener. For those that are fans of his more uptempo work, tracks like first single “Eyeoneye” and “Danse Caribe” will probably be your favorites. Bird has found ways to stick to his signature sound while still stretching himself.
[rating: 4/5 stars]
-It hit me on the plane ride there that Vegas was going to be my first adult “vacation”. Sure I’ve flown home more than once since moving out to Boston, but this time I was going someplace other than the Twin Cities for a reason other than a holiday or major event. It was both exciting and a bit scary. A lot of firsts – first adult vacation, first time renting a car by myself, etc.
-One of the firsts was flying Virgin America. I had heard good things about their flights, but I finally had a chance to try it out for myself. Their entertainment system, RED, is pretty awesome – live satellite TV, radio stations, games (all for free), and the ability to order food and drink anytime rather than just the one time the cart goes through. When you’re on a 6 hour flight cross-country to San Francisco, this turns out to be really handy. As exciting as the system was, I mostly ignored the TV and stuck to the radio stations while I read my Kindle. All of the “modern” channels were oddly like listening to karaoke covers of songs – slightly disconcerting and not really recognizable. I mostly kept things on the nature sounds/calming new agey music channel, which was great for reading/puzzling/sleeping/gaming. There’s something slightly surreal, however, about being able to watch The Price is Right live on TV while you eat a roast beef wrap and some chips, which I did. Surreal and wonderful.
-The SFO airport is a bit of a blur to me, but I remember they had a Pinkberry, a new obsession for me. That was nice.
-I didn’t realize how close the Strip is to the airport, but I could see the Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and New York New York from the plane while waiting to disembark. The slot machines right at the gates were another slightly unexpected touch. Had I not pre-rented my car, I would have been SOL: this was a NASCAR event weekend, as I was informed by the sign at baggage claim.
-I haven’t driven a car in 2 years, what with living in a major metropolis with good public transportation and the like. Driving in Vegas was an interesting crash course in re-learning to drive. Luckily I was off the roads at peak hours for the most part, but there was the time I drove a third of the way back to my host’s apartment from the strip with my headlights off because what I thought were the “brights” were actually the normal headlights. To paraphrase from John Mulaney, there had to have been a few drivers looking to see who was pulling that piece of shit move, expecting a 100-year old blind dog and instead getting some twentysomething trying their best. While I’m glad to have confirmed my driving skills, I’m going to try and stick to areas where I can get around on public transport for at least a few more years, if only for cheaper rental car fees.