Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
There are some bands that you’ve listened to so much and seen so often that they seem like old friends. Shonen Knife and The Ramones both fit that category for me, and happen to converge in an album that comes out next month. Here’s a preview of that, as well as some newer releases from a label (Lovitt) and a group (Girls in Trouble) with actual friends. As a bonus, there’s a new collection of music by melodica master Augustus Pablo, who was mentioned quite a bit in the articles on Chinese Jamaicans in reggae that ran in Giant Robot 37. Shonen Knife – Osaka Ramones No longer the garage band with a cult following that covered “Rain,” “Luck of the Irish,” Heatwave,” or even “Top of the World” in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Shonen Knife is well-oiled rock ‘n’ roll machine in 2011. Their polish is evident in this faithful collection of Ramones covers, which was recorded to celebrate the band’s thirtieth anniversary. The Osaka trio demonstrates their knowledge of their New York by ending with “Pinhead,” just like a concert, leading up to it with a load of hits and one curveball from Adios Amigos to see if you’re paying attention. While I actually preferred the Ramones covers done in the rawer, rougher, earlier days of Shonen Knife, you can’t expect musicians to regress, and there’s currently The Romanes to serve that purpose. Ultimately, Osaka Ramones is a winning combination for die-hard fans of either band, and I happen to love both. [Good Charamel] Des Ark – Don’t Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker The album starts innocently enough–not to be confused with innocuously enough. A casual listen suggests that “My Saddle Is Waiting (C’mon Jump On It)” is just another acoustic toe-tapper with breathy vocals, but singer and guitarist Aimee Arote is a lot more complex than that and also more fiery. Song titles like “Bonne Chance Asshole” and “FTW y’all!!!” say it all. She has the class, charm, and chops to sneak into the rotation at Starbucks but sneaks in more than enough subversive ideas, dirty thoughts, and hot post rock riffs to get patrons to strip out of their jogging suits or business casual attire and get busy. [Lovitt] Girls in Trouble – Half You Half Me The Jewish Theological Seminary in Manhattan is no School of Rock, but that’s where Alicia Jo Rabins’ musical project was born. This is her second installment of songs that retell the sordid stories of tested women from the Old Testament and, like the illuminator of a manuscript, she takes the bleakest of situations and goriest of details and turns them into something gorgeous and pause worthy. The first song, “We Are Androgynous,” is pure indie rock gold with Rabin’s melodic voice couched in her own swooning violin and percolating stand-up bass from ICU/Old Time Relijun’s Aaron Hartman. The collection is an absorbing, worthy counterpoint to the better-known, dude-centric Biblical treatments of Metallica and Slayer. [JDub] Augustus...
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Tomo Nakayama from Grand Hallway Some peeps Goh Nakamura [nggallery id=59] Photos by Tad Nakamura
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More than 50,000 people were there to see it, but I think it’s still worth sharing that U2 would dedicate “Walk On” to Aung San Suu Kyi at the Big A. No one loves the camera more than Bono–who is equally comfortable on stadium Jumbotrons or Oprah’s couch–but I think it’s rad that he isn’t afraid to use the big stage as a soapbox. On Saturday night, he used the democratically elected, unjustly jailed, and somewhat recently released leader of Burma as an example how involvement with an organization like Amnesty International can make a difference. But it wasn’t all politics. There’s more beer-drinking than activism going on at U2 shows, and this one had two and a half-hours of old and new hits. It’s crazy how some of the younger fans seemed to know all the words to “Beautiful Day” (introduced by astronaut Mark Kelly to his recovering wife, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords) but not “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” (which was dedicated to Quincy Jones). U2 has churned out a crazy and constant amount of hits while most of their Band-Aid peers have become trivia question answers, and despite all the names that were dropped (Tom Brady, Gisele, and other ONE supporters) the nearly two-and-a-half-hour show was clearly focused on the four guys onstage, their music, and their progressive, positive message. There might have been a little downtime when the Claw lowered, you couldn’t even see the band, and the drum machines warmed up, but U2 is unstoppable even in the biggest of venues. Critics and cynics will point to the band’s massive profits but I can’t think of another band that has elevated its ideals at the same time as its business model. From garage band to stadium band, from “I Will Follow” to “We will make giving a shit and getting involved cool” on individual, corporate, and national levels. And then end the encore with a tribute to fallen E Street Band sax player and friend Clarence Clemons to make it personal again. The funny thing is I never cared for U2 much back in high school when War came out or even college when The Joshua Tree took over. I was (and still am) more of a fan of The Clash. I am convinced that the band from Ireland was (and never will be) as cool as Joe, Mick, and Paul, but I have to admit that they still manage to matter.
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“Two years ago, one of its most successful groups, Dong Bang Shin Ki, took its management company to court, on the grounds that their 13-year-contract was too long, too restrictive.” The music is really fun, very danceable, and the young boy or girl singers are really cut, have great moves, and some have amazing voices. Yup, Korean pop, or K-Pop, is fun to hear, fun to watch, and is really starting to find a fan base outside of South Korea and Japan. But behind those happy singing young faces apparently lurks a music management machine that does not have a track record for always treating the talent very well. Seems that many K-Pop acts are subjected to very restrictive contracts which are not very financially rewarding for the performers and instead focus on ensuring singing coaches, choreographers, wardrobe specialists and other management expenses are paid before band members ever see a check. Sure, this overall scenario sounds similar to stories we’ve all heard about exploitative music managers in Motown and Hollywood. But in Korea it seems to be aggravated by the youth of the performers and a general cultural distaste for aggressive and fair negotiations. K-Pop is sure fun and definitely growing in “pop”-ularity, so here’s hoping this young industry can get past these unpleasant internal growing pains. (JYJ3 Official Website – K-Pop Industry Woes)
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Following the sudden exit of singer Dean Wareham from “slowcore” pioneers Galaxie 500 in 1991, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang went on to craft their own genre of sad and smart psychedelic folk. Going into their second decade as a duo, Damon and Naomi have released False Beats & True Hearts, the eighth and (somewhat) happiest album yet. Contributions come from many familiar names, including avant sax player and arranger Bhob Rainey, Ghost and Boris guitar god Michio Kurihara, and Ghost’s main man Masaki Buto, and the accompanying tour featured guest musicians in every city. I had the pleasure of spending some time with my old friends before and after their L.A. stop at The Satellite with Amor de Dias, and couldn’t let Naomi go without a quick Q&A. MW: The new album is great! Now that reviews are pouring in, do you feel like listeners hear it the same way you did when you recorded it? NY: What has been very gratifying is that the reviewers do really seem to have heard what we were trying to do. This time we were consciously trying to write a more upbeat album than the last one and the response has been really positive; we can’t complain that we are misunderstood! MW: Although you are a duo by definition, you’re always playing with friends. Some regulars (Kuri, Bhob…) and a few less frequent (Alasdair, Smokey…). Can you talk about the always-changing dynamics? NY: We love a good collaboration. Working with Kuri and Bhob over a long period of time has allowed us all to grow into the music together and so playing with them feels very natural, but this last tour, due to the fact that Kuri couldn’t play with us in the U.S., we had the opportunity to have more spontaneous collaborations. We were excited about all the players: Alasdair MacLean (Amor de Dias, The Clientele), Mac McCaughan (Superchunk, Portastatic), Wayne Rogers (Major Stars, Magic Hour), Smokey Hormel (Johnny Cash, Beck, Tom Waits…), and Chris Martin (Kinski) along the way. Mary Lattimore (Kurt Vile, Thurston Moore) also sat in with us one night on harp. It’s a very different experience but also really fun to hear everyone’s interpretations of the songs. MW: You’re not known for playing covers, but… Every time I hear “It Changes” or “Lila’s Theme,” I can’t help think of D&N. Not sure why. What do you think? NY: Wow, those songs are super-sad… I think a lot of our music is very emotional, and the loss/the passage of time is often in the lyrics, either explicitly or indirectly. Those aren’t the typical subject for pop songs but it is something that we find in a lot of music that listen to that moves us, and song seems like a very good way to express these sort of emotions… But actually, we have always played a lot of covers, going even back to the olden days of Galaxie 500. It has always been a way for us to...
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