Iain Petrie – I’ll Stay By You

Thanks to Mikey Serpico, we have a great review of Iain Petrie’s album I’ll Stay by You. Petrie’s music is as laid back as it can get. It’s a perfect listen after a hard day at work, when all you want to do is relax while having a quiet drink.

Radiohead – In Rainbows

Radiohead’s decision to axe the middleman (the-soon-to-be-helpless record companies) has resulted in a truck-load of money for them. The marketing decision that was being expected to be the biggest debacle of the year has proved to be otherwise and that too in the extreme. By selling their music online at whatever price their fans think to be fair, Radiohead might have created a ground-breaking business model for the other bands. The average music lover it turns out is honest and doesn’t mind paying the right price for what he deems worthy. As for me, I haven’t been able to get my copy yet because the website just won’t load! I’ll keep trying though.

But the good thing is that an old friend of mine has been able to get past the server overload issue. Here’s a big thank you to Vishnu Erramilli for sending in a really awesome track-by-track review of the last album of Radiohead — In Rainbows.

How To Achieve A Disconnect: The Long Winters

Like fragrances and colours, music has the power to change not just one’s state of mind, (which is actually kind of obvious) but also the trappings in which one endures the dullest of quotidian events. Turn on a nice piece and see the hottest of summer afternoons transform into the most pleasant and delightful of evenings. I am sure most Indie lovers have experienced that first hand. The Long Winters is exactly the kind of band that bolsters the trust of us indie-gummers in surrealism. Musical surrealism, that is.

But then again not all songs (genres even) possess that sort of clout. Hip hop, as it is, is yet to get over certain parts of female anatomy– take that homies, ner ner. Admittedly though, even Indie fails to produce such gems regularly. Most of the time, one has to feel content with commonplace tunes. Well as long as it is Indie and tolerable anything goes. Example: Field Music – A House is Not a Home, Love of Diagrams – Pace or the Patience, etc. What were they thinking? It is an atrocity considering how much indie-maniacs like us are in love with all things “obscure”. Obscure reminds me I was going to make this post all about The Long Winters and not turn it into one of my whine sessions. I am tempted to say wine sessions.

The Long Winters are from Washington. Yes, Washington again. The self confessed paranoid John Roderick forms the core of The Long Winters. This singer/songwriter is capable of churning out melodies that prove to be handy whenever you are in that state of ethereal disconnect. However, the USP of the band lies in its lyrics. It is a skill to be able to put complicated thoughts across without being cheesy. “John Roderick writes songs that make you feel like you’ve been talking to someone really interesting in an airport for the last hour and, although you know you’ll never see them again, you just told them your whole life story and a part of you will love them forever. “ (Source: The Long Winters website).

My favourite song by The Long Winters is Delicate Hands (Ultimatum). In fact, this is the first Long Winters song that I heard. Needless to say, I immediately fell in love with it (I want to feed you butter-rum candy/but someone beat you to me/beat you to me/someone beat you to me). This is indie at its best. Even though it fits the bill perfectly, let us just forget about the obscure criterion for just once and concentrate on the tune for what it is. I am sure you’d concur it is quite nice.

Pushover from their latest record Putting the Days to Bed is lyrically not as good as Delicate Hands but it kind of makes up for that by flaunting stronger riffs. Fire Island, AK is well groovy and that is why me likes it loads.

Other songs that deserve a mention: Scent of Lime (The Worst You Can Do is Harm), Stupid, Blue Diamond (When I Pretend I Fall)

Songs on LB’s MP3 player: Delicate Hands, Stupid, Fire Island AK

Till we meet next time…

Keep moving forward (Meet the Robinsons style)

Megha

The Long Winters Discography

Putting The Days To Bed (2006)

• Pushover
• Fire Island, AK
• Teaspoon
• Hindsight
• Sky Is Open
• Honest
• Clouds
• Rich Wife
• Ultimatum
• (It’s A) Departure
• Seven

Ultimatum (2005)

• The Commander Thinks Aloud
• Ultimatum
• Everything Is Talking
• Delicate Hands
• Bride And Bridle (Live)
• Ultimatum (Live)

When I Pretend To Fall (2003)

• Blue Diamonds
• Scared Straight
• Shapes
• Cinnamon
• Bride And Bridle
• Blanket Hog
• It’ll Be A Breeze
• Stupid
• Prom Night At Hater High
• New Girl
• The Sound Of Coming Down
• Nora

The Worst You Can Do Is Harm (2002)

• Give Me A Moment
• Carparts
• Samaritan
• Mimi
• Medicine Cabinet Pirates
• Unsalted Butter
• Government Loans
• Scent Of Lime
• Copernicus
• Shanty Town

Airplane/Primitive – The Slip (Music Video)

What I wouldn’t give to see them live.

Indie Track Review: Airplane Primitive by The Slip

Airplane Primitive/Saw it and thought it was some kind of bird

Question: What do you get when you cross overwhelming melodies with subtle emotional effects?
Answer: Airplane-Primitive by The Slip

Get over banal rock that does nothing but flaunt pretty guitar hooks. I know I like that but there is a limit to everything. The Slip are here with their avant-garde yet sensible style of indie rock.

The Slip are two brothers and a mate:
Brother 1 – Andrew Barr (drums)
Brother 2 – Brad Barr (guitar/vocals)
Mate 1 – Marc Friedman (bass)

They are powerful with their melodies and even more powerful with the kind of rockstar-less aura that they have. How can they be such geniuses and yet be so laidback? There’s nothing pretentious here. Their latest album Eisenhower is a proof of that. Eisenhower is exactly the kind of music that made me get over my aversion towards blogging and spurred me towards writing about indie.

Airplane-Primitive is one of the most guitar-intensive tracks from Eisenhower. It is also one of the most guitar-intensive indie tracks I have heard in a long time. The six-stringed melody interlaced with cymbals and harmonica is what makes Airplane/Primitive such an overpowering tune. 7 minutes is too short a playtime for this song because by the time one absorbs all the melodies and discovers, leave alone comprehend, all the layers the song is already over. One has to hit replay.

Give the song a listen and I bet that by the time it ends, you’d be surprised that you spent your last seven minutes nodding your head to indie!

In case you agree/disagree, feel free to leave a comment on here.

Megha (Don’t watch Apocalypto)

Airplane/Primitive lyrics in case you are interested:

It’s the day before the rest of my life
And I feel like Dylan Thomas
Says my muse if you stay I’ll go
If I’m not lying I’m not being honest

It’d be the death of me to keep her pace
And my bride I haven’t even laid eyes on
But my ghosts they come to me these days
My companions from the day I was born

Airplane primitive
Saw it and thought it was some kind of bird
It landed, he made up his mind
Can’t, can’t live

Airplane primitive
Saw it and thought it was some kind of bird
It landed, he made up his mind
Can’t live knowing that there’s some other world

Well come with me on one last run
Then I swear I’ll join you in the sun

Airplane primitive
Saw it and thought it was some kind of bird
It landed, he made up his mind
Can’t live knowing that there’s some other world

Where men fly up in the sky
Strapped himself to the wing for a one way ride
And in the air, above a cloud
There his soul stayed when his body fell down.

Airplane primitive
Saw it and thought it was some kind of bird
It landed, he made up his mind
Can’t live knowing that there’s some other world

Where men fly up in the sky
Strapped himself to the wing for a one way ride
And in the air, above the clouds
There his soul stayed when his body fell down

Laidbackness Indie Playlist: March

Sonapani in Uttaranchal

“I’m going up to the mountain
Gonna reach with both my hands
I’m going up to the mountain
There’s so much here I don’t understand”

(Jenn Franklin – Impasse 900)

It feels good to finish work and be home on time. I know I have been away for almost two and a half months. The conscientious employee that I am, I have been working on the weekends, have been doing late hours, etc. But work alone did not keep me away from blogging. I spent a weekend up in the mountains. Was lucky enough to experience snow fall for the first time ever! I knew I had to go up there when I couldn’t get the Impasse 900 tune out of my head! I absolutely love the song.

Anyway so my “tighter than India’s budget and bigger than its population explosion” playlist is finally here! To be honest, none of the songs I had on my mind when I wrote the last blog entry is fit enough to be on the playlist now. Reason one, I have milked them too much and reason two, I have been spending a lot of time listening to newer stuff and making mental notes in the office. Therefore the playlist with newer songs:

1. Shake Some Action – Damaged

2. The Shortwave Set – Casual Use

3. Jeremy Enigk – City Tonight

4. The Broken West – Down in the Valley

5. Modest Mouse – Dashboard

6. Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby

7. The Go Find – Dictionary

8. Jenn Franklin – Impasse 900

9. Jenn Franklin – What Took You So Long

10. Creeping Woods – Eternity is a Long Time

11. Kristin Hersh – Blackstone

12. LCD Soundsystem – Get Innocuous

13. Bloc Party – Hunting for Witches

14. Million Billion – Inhuman

15. Money Mark – Pick Up the Pieces

16. Malcolm Middle & Alan Bisset -The Rebel On His Own Tonight

 

17. Dean & Britta – You Turned My Head Around

That is it from me for now. Like always I’d love to hear what you think about these songs. You know how to reach me!

Megha

You Got the F.E.A.R ;)

I had to do this post to recommend F.E.A.R by Ian Brown. My dear friend Andy Dodd sent this song to me last week and I have to say it is so totally fantastic! The BRIT GIT that he is, he couldn’t just send the song without throwing in an amusing little puzzle. “When you listen to it, see if you can work out what is special about all the words?” I think I know the answer but I haven’t heard back from him yet. So, let me ask you this. What is special about the words? Can you figure out the hidden link?

Feel free to leave a comment on here or send me an email (see the Contact Laidbackness link ).

Sorry for keeping this one short. I have a great playlist all sorted out. Music as tight as India’s budget and as overwhelming as its population explosion. I will be posting it very soon. So don’t forget to check back.

P.S: I also really like Aaj Ki Raat from the movie Don (the new one). I think they’ve done a good job on that one.

Idiot Pilot: The New Radiohead

Idiot Pilot – Strange We Should Meet Here
Review coming soon to a computer screen near you
Megha
___________________________________________________________

Update 1st Jan 2007

Okay, here is some quality work. Before I give you the low down on these Rock – Electronica prodigies I would like to say that if you haven’t already listened to their stuff then get off your ass and listen to it now. Just kidding. No pressure.

Idiot Pilot is a band from Washington (do they mix some sort of a music steroid in Washington’s water?). After you have heard their music, you’d be surprised to know that it is nothing but the genius of two soulful teenagers – Michael Harris and Daniel Anderson. Equipped with a laptop, guitar and lots of thoughtful ideas, these kids, who still legally can’t drink, have been able to create a highly inebriating variety of music. I won’t say they belong to the Indie genre but that is not because I know they prefer not to be called Indie, but because I know that it won’t be long before the music of these two fine lads climbs out of the reaches of obscurity and makes a big impression on more popular soundgrounds, where the likes of Radiohead and Deftones prevail. When I first heard their stuff I said to myself – Is that Radiohead experimenting with electronica and screams? I was glad to find out that many other music reviewers concurred on that point. So basically I am sharp, yeah.

You will know what I mean once you hear their songs from Strange We Should Meet Here. Spark Plug is probably the most impressive track from this album. It starts with mellow acoustic guitar riffs and anyone listening to it for the first time can never expect the sharp turn it takes twenty seconds into the play. Daniel Anderson who has landed the job of the “screamer” in this band does a good job. The screaming and shouting does not seem out of place like it normally does in most songs from grunge and metal genre. I can say that because despite being averse to the idea of vocal chord blaring in songs, I quite like it in their songs. The mellifluous voice of Michael Harris is the soothing factor without which this song would have been a yet another sad hardcore creation. The psychedelic electronica rock ambience that the incessant cash counter beep like sounds create is fantastic.

Moving on, the next best song from this album in my opinion is, Open Register. Just like Spark Plug, it starts with sweet, peaceful accoustics and vocals and then all of a sudden, a scream – “WE’RE TRYING TO HELP YOUUUU!!” I so totally love that. It is like playing a game of Peek-A-Boo. I want to play more, more and more. You ask me, okay then Megha, what is the tune like? One word – Brilliant.

Press next on random shuffle. The psychedelic track Les Lumieres has an intro typical of a dance track; let me rephrase, a fantastic dance track. The foggy music, the beats, the cash register beeps and not to forget the sound of someone chanting (Michael Harris or Daniel Anderson or both?) make this song something you can listen to at a club, in your car, at work (if the bosses allow), in your room or wherever. To top it all off, they have added subtle turn table effects to the song just like tiny bells on a Christmas tree.

Another track worth mentioning from Strange We Should… is Arrhythmia. I honestly don’t know what that means and I couldn’t be bothered to look that up in a dictionary. Actually I did but I couldn’t find it. Back to the song, this 4:36 minutes long track has a lot of electronica beeps to offer. The real fun does not begin until the second phase of the song starts, that would be somewhere around 2:54 minutes into the play. That is when the tune really escalates into another plane. If you don’t like the song at first, I would advice you to wait for the second phase to begin.

When A Day in the Life of a Poolshark starts, you imagine a Mario-esque video game, something like where you have to feed sharks or better still save yourself from them. I think that could be partly because of the song title and partly because of the way the song opens. It begins with a sound one would expect to come out of an eighty’s video game.

Other Idiot Pilot songs worth trying out are A Light at the End of The Tunnel, the title track Strange We Should Meet Here, To Buy a Gun(from To Buy A Gun EP), and Violent Tango. The reason why I haven’t mentioned the rest is because I am yet to hear them. I am sure the rest will be as cool as the ones mentioned above.

Don’t be surprised if after sometime you see every average Joe music lover talking about Idiot Pilot. Even if you don’t get surprised, don’t forget you first heard the prediction here on Laidbackness

Megha Kehar

P.S: If anyone understood what I meant when I said “cash register/cash machine/cash counter beeps” and knows what they are actually called then please do let me know. Thanks loads in advance!

P.P.S: Feel free to contact me if you can’t find their stuff. I might be able to help.

The Complete Idiot Pilot Discography

Strange We Should Meet Here
1. Losing Color
2. Day in The Life Of A Poolshark, A
3. Open Register
4. Les Lumieres
5. Violent Tango, The
6. Nightlife Sparkplug
7. Moerae (The Locust)
8. Strange We Should Meet Here
9. Militance Prom
10. To Buy a Gun
11. Light at the End of the Tunnel, A
12. Arrhythmia
13. Lucid

To Buy A Gun
1. To Buy A Gun
2. To Buy A Gun (Her Space Holiday Remix)
3. Morae (The Locust)
4. Morae (The Locust) (Jel Remix)

Laidbackness’s Indie/Alt/Underground playlist

Laidbackness says:

Okay, so it had indeed been a long time since the last post (see: The Arctic Monkeys doing covers by Pradster). I honestly wanted to wait a while (or at least have an article about some other band) before posting another Arctic Monkeys article right after the first one about them. But then I thought, “what the deuce”, I’ll do it anyway! We have the usual excuses – work, studies, blah, and blah. Seriously, I would rather have my time and listen to stuff and write about it than do anything that falls a degree below all that on my scale of “Laidbackness like-o-meter”. On second thought, that was an awful name for a scale.

Anyway, so what have I been listening to lately? Umm, Indie/underground of course! The songs have been listed below (in case you are interested). These aren’t brand new tracks but in my opinion the best thing about underground songs is that no matter how long it has been after their release, they always remain fresh. Maybe, that is because most sloppy RJs (who play a song over and over again, until they kill it, grr…) probably never find out about these songs. Good thing. The last thing you want to hear on radio is some junkie toggling between pop and indie. Yes, that happens. At least here in India. That totally kills it. Okay, enough of the rant. Here’s my play list:

1. Heady Like a Kite – Noisy At the Circus

2. OK Go – Here We Go

3. Modest Mouse – Float On (one of the more popular ones, really)

4. My Vitriol – Always Your Way

5. Appleseed cast – Fishing the Sky

6. Arcade Fire – Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)

7. Arctic Monkeys, The – All You People Are Vampires

8. PJ Harvey – Good Fortune

9. The Shins – Kissing The Lipless (will review this song later. This song deserves it.)

10. The Subways – Oh Yeah (Laidbackness recommends)

11. Mojave 3 – Breaking The Ice

12. Sonic Youth – Incinerate

13. Be Your Own Pet- October, First Account

14. Nine Black Alps – Unsatisfied

15. 22-20′s – Shoot Your Gun (Laidbackness recommends)

That is it for now. I would love to know what you think about the songs (in case you get a chance to listen to any of the songs mentioned above)!

Megha needs to go now and find nice trousers to go with black jacket.

Laters

All You People Are Vampires, so say The Arctic Monkeys

Now then, The Arctic Monkeys, the primates with the saucy Yorkshire accent (something = sum un). The notorious, media shy, TV snubbing band from Sheffield, England is everything a Brit rock band should be. Honestly. If you like your guitar riffs cooked in sarcasm and humour then Arctic Monkeys is the chef’s special for the whole year. They have something to say about everyone, right from chavs to meretricious women to “scummy men” to robots from nineteen eighty four.

The Arctic Monkeys are Alex Turner (Lead vocals, guitar), Nick O’Malley (bass guitar), Jamie Cook (rhythm guitar) and Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals). I have to confess that I am mildly smitten by Alex Turner but only in a fan – rock star sort of a way. His cheeky voice wrapped in that accent is one of the many factors that sets this band apart from the other contemporaries.

The rad thing about the band is their confidence in their music. Good thing they did not bother signing up with a record label or else we would have ended up listening to musically bowdlerised versions of their songs. The reason for their phenomenal success (overnight success really) can be attributed to their fans. Rather than having record labels do the marketing and campaigning, they allowed free downloads of their music. So whenever they performed at gigs they had their massive fan base singing along to their songs. Name the number one Arctic Monkeys sing along song? When The Sun Goes Down. They normally kick start their gig with this song and the fans sing along the entire song. Oh how I would love to see them perform. I definitely qualify as a fan. I even have that song memorized. The song was originally titled Scummy Man. (And what a scummy man/Give him half a chance/ And he will rob you if he can/ And he’s got a driving ban among some other offences).

Every song of the Arctic Monkeys has so many high points that it is impossible for me to list all of them here. Take for example, The View from the Afternoon. Do I talk about the sensational beats of the song (which have been very nicely highlighted in the song’s music video as well) or do I talk about the lyrics (For disappointment in evening entertainment/but tonight there will be some lurrrrrve) or the way Turner says the word “but” in “but tonight there will be some lurrrrrve”? Think Mardy Bum and think primer on UK slang (now then mardy bum/I see you’re frowning/It’s like looking down the barrel of a gun).

I find their first single I Bet You Look Good on the Dance floor very fascinating. I keep wondering what the dreams o nortiness consist of. The I Bet You…video is nothing more than an amateur gig vid and yet watching the band take it from the top is nothing less than enthralling. Check them out working their way across the entire length of the fret board, applying pressure across the various points along the neck of the poor guitar. Result, needless to say, is awesome. Translate that into Billboard lingo and you’d know that I Bet You Look Good on the Dance floor went straight to UK#1.

With so many straight rocket number ones to their credit little wonder their album Whatever People Say I am, that’s What I Am Not won the Grammy Best Alternative Music Album this year.

Just one album and two EPs old The Arctic Monkeys have achieved what the other contemporaries could not achieve even with their flashy gigs and jazzy vids.
Time for me to go now. Megha signing out now, dancing to electro pop like a robot from nineteen eighty fourrrr….

Rating: *****

Discography:

Album
2006 Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

1. The View from the Afternoon
2. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
3. Fake Tales of San Francisco
4. Dancing Shoes
5. You Probably Couldn’t See For the Lights But You Were Staring Straight at Me
6. Still Take You Home
7. Riot Van
8. Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured
9. Mardy
10. Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But All You People Are Vampires
11. When the Sun Goes Down
12. From the Ritz to the Rubble
13. A Certain Romance!

EP

2005 Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys
2006 Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys