Video Hippos

I didn't pay these guys much mind since they played through their set so quickly, but now I wish I had done more listening and less drinking. I would have been able to buy their record at the show.

I checked them out today at www.videohippos.com
You should too. That is if you enjoy The Unicorns, Elf Power, Dan Deacon or any other variety of similarly inclined music. Plus, they like Harry Potter AND Robocop. Can't argue with that.

They have some demos on the site at the moment, but their album Unbeast the Leash comes out 7/19/2007. Reason to get excited.

Dan Deacon @ The Drunken Unicorn

Just got back from the Dan Deacon show at the Drunken Unicorn. And to all those that missed out, let me just say that you, uh, missed out. It was an amazing show, more like being at a giant party than a concert. We were encouraged to pretend as if our parents had just got divorced and dad had a sweet new place and he was letting us use the basement for a party. In a weird way, it kinda felt like that.

From A to Z opened with a short set that was long on 'sass'. They did a pretty good version of "Killing in the Name". Fuck you I won't do what you tell me indeed. Video Hippos played fast and loose, and while I liked what I heard it all went by in so fast that it didn't have time to sink in. Deacon himself got to a shaky start with an off key, audience assisted take on the Star Spangled Banner. He told a story that somehow incorporated a car wreck, a cop pissing a swastika in the snow, and an entire universe made of hair. They ride around on combs there. Apparently he had never been to Atlanta before and was nervous that only 2 people would show up. Luckily he had plenty of napkins on hand. Also more than 2 people showed up. Song by song he built up steam and audience good will until he climaxed with a 10 minute rendition of 'Wham City" from his album Spiderman of the Rings (the highlight of the evening as well as the album). Passing out cloaks and lyric sheets is one way to get the audience involved and, hell, it worked.

Another highlight was the spirited dance off led by none other than Hawk Stevens (see below). Dan led the crowd in a countdown of ten 'Hawks' until zero when he said, "the hawk flies at midnight". Classic.

I wish he would have played a few more songs from Spiderman of the Rings, like "Woody Woodpecker" or "Pink Batman", but as he said after the first (and only) encore: "No more of this Bruce Springsteen encore shit". Take that Boss.

pop conventional wisdom

Some pop culture artifacts that have such unanimous approval that they become unimpeachable. Once ensconced in critical and social praise they become mummified by it and take on the air of holy relic: valuable, important, untouchable. One dare not question their legitimacy for fear of being labeled too dense to understand such a transcendent work of art.

Now I'm not a contrarian on principle. Its not like I write for slate.com. But there are some of these cultural artifacts that I just don't understand the praise for. The most recent being Pan's Labyrinth. Good movie. But not the masterpiece that I kept hearing it was. I even kept my expectations low since I knew the movie was getting so much hype. But now the dye has been cast and the movie will be revered as a classic for generations to come. Hot Topic will sell posters to each new generation of college freshman to hang on their wall so they can get some insta-cred for liking such a critically acclaimed foreign film. And the people who don't subscribe to the conventional wisdom will bite their tongues to not offend or else speak out and be labeled a dullard for not liking such a valuable and important film.

Others on my list:
I don't mean to say that I don't understand the social or historic importance of the following, I just don't understand why they are loved. Jar-Jar Binks, as the first all-CGI main character in a film, was an important innovation in film history, but I can't think of anyone who would say they love or revere him. Or maybe I just don't want to.

• The Godfather Trilogy
• Pet Sounds
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
  
• Scarface
• E.T.
• Ernest Hemingway
  
• The Sopranos
• Six Feet Under
• Arrested Development
• South Park
• The Catholic Church
• The Blues Brothers
• Led Zeppelin
  
• Missy Elliot
  
• Superman I & II
• Moby Dick
• Chocolate Cake
  

Battles / Mirrored

I signed up for a blogger account to take a survey. A LOST survey, to be precise. Ah, to live in the modern world and have time to waste on the geeky things in life. Anyway, I had to sign up to take this survey and I figured what the hell, I may as well make some use of it. So, until I lose interest I think I will use this as a clearing house for all my inane ramblings that anyone in my personal life would be rightly uninterested in hearing. You know, a blog.


So, my first post is devoted to an album recently purchased and put on heavy rotation, Mirrored by Battles. I can't say why I am so drawn to this record, other than it is damn good. And I'm kind of in the mood for precise, unemotional music. But hell, the other record on heavy rotation right now is The National's Alligator, so maybe its just a healthy contrast.

Tracks range from lengthly math rock exercises to adrenaline rush pseudo punk to glam rock to ambient that almost all feature early Ween-style vocal manipulation and precise, computer enhanced instrumentation. Despite the seeming incompatibility of styles it all adheres quite nicely. At times I think they sound like TV on the Radio if they were weaned on Kraftwerk instead of David Bowie - and if they didn't care if they sound socially or emotionally relevant. Or even coherent, for that matter. I couldn't tell you what any of the songs are about, because I don't think that is the point. These songs don't seem to exist as anything except pure expression, and on that level, they succeed.

I've read that Battles make "cyborg-rock", a lazy term meant to describe their blending of human instrumentation with technology. But that is not the sum total of their work. Inside each song, no matter how digitally enhanced, beats the heart of the songwriters. That makes their work infinitely less cyborg than, say, Linkin Park.