the fyrehaus

Made some minor changes to the fyremux (fyretape?). On the advice of a generally unreliable popstar, I’ve been spinning MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” like crazy, and I think you should listen to it. Also, I have uploaded a mash-up, “We Got the Soulja Boy”, by A Plus D. This is sort of an apology for that time a couple of years back when Megan, Mother and I were freezing cold in an amphitheater in Northern California cursing DJ Adrian and the Mysterious D. We proceeded to say mean things in the review, but it turns out that their mash-up work is actually fun and good! Also, Adrian is a man. Our bad.

Make with the listening.

We have a muxtape! fyrehaus.muxtape.com  Come listen to the songs that we’re into this month. Try to guess which two songs have been chosen to represent Megan, who unfortunately wasn’t online when I created this thing.

It has been brought to my attention that I forgot to post our favorite music videos of 2007. My bad.

Jarvis Cocker - Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time, Girl

Camera Obscura - Hey Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken

Lily Allen - Alfie: (Sarah) Puppetry! We all know how much I love felt puppets, and this video is awesome. Lily lives in a brightly colored, idyllic little world, and her little brother the puppet mostly smokes pot and masturbates. It’s adorable.

The Shins - Australia

Kaiser Chiefs - The Angry Mob

The 1990s - See You At the Lights: (Sarah) I didn’t know who the 1990s were before they opened for Sons & Daughters. I listened to their album and saw them again because of their personality. Their music was catchy and fun, and they were witty and funny. With the departure of their bassist, the mood onstage has changed, but this sweet, animated video about snowfall captures that feeling.

Nicole and I (along with Nicole’s roommate Mary) ventured out into the night to see Scotland’s finest. It was totally worth it. Continue Reading »

Pastel Vespa - L’Anarchie: (Sarah) At the beginning of the year, I was really excited at the prospect of Paul Anka’s rock covers album Rock Swings, mostly on the basis of his cover of “Wonderwall.” It turned out to be pretty one note, but then Megan stumbled over Pastel Vespa. Supposedly a half-Brazilian, half-Italian lounge singer, she’s bright and bubbly and wonderful, music’s answer to Brini Maxwell. (A few of you will get that.) It turns out that what alternative rock needed was a little bossa-nova. And her French-language cover of “Anarchy in the U.K.” makes you wish you knew how to samba. Recommended Tracks: Peaches, Living on a Prayer

Adult. - “I Feel Worse When I’m With You”: (Sarah) An old Nicole recommendation that I finally got around to getting into. The skipping, shrieking electronic beats and the simmering rage make it perfect for freaking out to, like Peaches on meth.

Sunset Rubdown - “I’m Sorry I Sang On Your Hands That Have Been in the Grave”: (Sarah) Another Nicole rec. The title is nuts, and I have no idea what the words are about, and the song is fucking weird. That out of the way, it’s weirdly entrancing, and I’m starting to get what the Spencer Krug phenomenon is all about. This is, by far, the best Tim Burton soundtrack song that has never been on a Tim Burton soundtrack.

Mew - And the Glass Handed Kites: (Sarah) I’ve been trying to think of a better word to describe the way Mew’s arrangements affect their guitars-and-drums sound, but I’m stuck on “lush.” Intellectually, I know its just them, but that much sound couldn’t hvae been made by so few. It sounds like Bjork and Sigur Ros had a child, who rebelled by listening to The Shins. It’s breathtaking from start to finish, and my current biggest musical regret is that, when I saw them open for Bloc Party, I didn’t care and got a hot dog instead. This band is good enough to use J. Mascis’ voice twice and still not lose me. That says a lot. Recommended Tracks: Apocalypso, Why Are You Looking Grave

South - “Safety in Numbers”: (Sarah) I had a long rough patch last year and two songs served as the soundtrack for that time, songs that I turned to. One was an ‘06 pick, Takka Takka’s “We Feel Safer at Night.” This is the other. It’s hopeful. It’s got mildly inspiring lyrics (”Can you sense a change in our lives? You get what you give”) and the sort of crescendo and chord progressions that make you feel like the uplifting end of an Amy Adams movie, even if you’re really just running through the 7th Avenue station, trying to catch the D.

And, bonus, this year’s best live act/rediscovery:
Daft Punk: (Sarah) The French robots have had a really strange year. They planned for a live album release (Alive) and a tour, plus an art-house film. Then Kanye reminded America that they existed with his “Stronger,” ripped entirely from a Daft Punk song and featuring the robots themselves in the video and tv appearances. Nicole and I had tickets to what suddenly became the hottest ticket of the summer. (The last raver I know was especially jealous.) The concert was an hour and a half away, on a work night, with three openers. I was not looking forward to it. Then it started. Honestly, I had forgotten how many of their songs were important to the electronic movement and to me. “Da Funk” reminded me of being 15 and just discovering music. “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” was my senior year in college. At least four times during the show, my eyes went wide as a song clicked in my brain. Besides the obvious musical contribution, that band puts on a show . The robots themselves are at the top of a black pyramid between two huge light screens. The lights and the graphics matched the music they were mixing on the fly. It was visually arresting and awesome enough to keep a stadium full of kids hyped for two hours. It was incredible.

The list goes on:

Songs of the Year
Camera Obscura - “Hey Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”: (Sarah) This is my shoegaze song of the year, hands down. Britrock bands are always talking about the debt owed to Camera Obscura, but I’d never really listened to them. And then this gorgeous song was released as part of their comeback. It walks a very fine line between Burt Bacharach and Belle & Sebastian. Or possibly between Shirley Bassey and Pulp. At any rate, it’s awesome.

(Megan) I couldn’t stop listening to this track for a week. And I still play it on repeat every once in a while, when I want an ironic pick-me-up.

The 1990s - “You Made Me Like It”: (Megan) Off of this Scottish band’s first album, Cookies, this song is impossible to resist, in that way where I expect to see it in an Apple commercial any day now. You’ll be singing along to the “ah ah ahs” and dancing by the end of your first listen.

Sons & Daughters - “Gilt Complex”: (Sarah) This band remains awesome. Case in point: the growly vocals, urgent beat and Scottish foot-stomping that make up “Gilt Complex.” Their music is so raw, and their rock is so uniquely Scottish.

(Megan) The only thing I can think to compare this to is their track “Johnny Cash,” it’s so insularly catchy and driven.

Mono in VCF - Escape City Scrapers

Midnight Movies - Souvenirs: (Sarah) A band so romantically electronic/loungey/shoegazey that they sound French. They are in fact from LA, continuing the LA scene thing that started with Autolux (for me, anyway).

Idlewild - “No Emotion”: (Sarah) I remember the first time I heard this song. I’d heard it on RadioIo and it knocked my socks off. It’s such a perfect jolt of British rock. You want to sing along and make the emoting faces, possibly stamp your feet. I forced Megan to listen to it, and her first response was, “Wow. You’re right.”

Teddybears f/ Iggy Pop - “Punkrocker”: (Megan) This is another line-walker, between hardcore kickass and slow industrial. Which is a poor way of describing how awesome this song is.

LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum

White Stripes - Icky Thump

My Chemical Romance - “Teenagers”: (Megan) MCR distilled something about America in their angry, slightly grown-up anthem that starts with, “Teenagers scare the living shit out of me,” and doesn’t back down. This is, undoubtedly, the song that will put them in league with Green Day in male adolescent worship to come.

White Rabbits - “I Used To Complain Now I Don’t”: (Megan) there’s something about a band with two drum kits that begs for merciless mockery, and yet I’ve ended up completely charmed by the White Rabbits. This song is just jammy enough that I want to sway and sing along, but not jammy enough to get my hackles up. It has a very deep south vibe, it invites you to party in the streets and have a beer in the sun with it.

(Elisabeth) Plus, this is the only rock band in New York that can do credible Southern blues. Which has something to do with them being transplanted Southerners, but whatever.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Honeybear: (Sarah) This is the perfect marriage of the crazy shrieking YYYs of the first album, and the slightly more mature, but still secretly insane YYYs of today.

This Is Ivy League - London Bridges: (Sarah) I went to see this band because my friends were, and because the venue was near the best Chinese restaurant in NYC (M Shanghai). What I got instead was This is Ivy League. They’re quick-witted and irreverent, and then they get their guitars and it sounds exactly like what would happen if the Paul McCartney & Art Garfunkel had done shoegaze in the early 60s. Please pick up the London Bridges EP. It also includes a really fascinating uptempo version of Arcade Fire’s “Crown of Love.”

Posting on behalf of Nicole, who would want you to know that this week’s free single at iTunes is by Cut Copy. You might as well go download it, since it’s good and it’s free.