unpiano: music

San Francisco used to have an on-going club night called Bardot A Go Go that ripped and turned me onto a heap French pop from the 60’s. I love the way the French mixed these recordings, leaning heavier on the bass and percussion, unlike the guitar-centric records coming out of the U.S. and U.K. at the time. From an awesome series of LP comps of French Ye Ye girls I came across 19 year old Clothilde, who recorded only a handful of songs (nine maybe?) for two E.P.s, but all of which were solid and eventually collected for a “greatest hits” CD release a ways back. It’s pretty hard to find anything on her, or any of the Ye Ye Girls for that matter (couldn’t even come up with a good photo), but it’s a safe bet to say something tragic wrecked her career and she’s either crazy or dead. Seriously, general rule of thumb with the Ye Ye girls of the 60’s is that they were teenage models for MAT (the Teenbeat of France), got put in front of the microphone by producers, became strung out on heroin (practically all of them) and either died or now live on a park bench and sell flowers in the subway.

Clothilde - Fallait Pas Écraser La Queue Du Chat
Clothilde - Je T’ai Voulu Et Je T’ai Bien Eu
Clothilde - Le Boa

60’s surf-rock revivalists The Barracudas came together in the post-punk U.K. during the late 70’s. One part Ramones, one part Jan & Dean, The Barracudas dodged British new wave’s fascination with 60’s mod and psychedelia and instead drew their influence from the squeaky-clean teen sounds of the mid-60’s California coast (even though they weren’t teens, weren’t squeaky clean and were from foggy-ass London). They released a handful of singles and one fantastic album Drop Out With The Barracudas in the early 80’s before calling it a day. The thing that really gets me is the running theme of near-paranoid fear and frustration with modern times, and a longing for simpler times that culminates in the final track “(I Wish It Could Be) 1965 Again”.

The Barracudas - I Can’t Pretend
The Barracudas - This Ain’t My Time
The Barracudas - Don’t Let Go
The Barracudas - We’re Living In Violent Times

Wow, the 90’s indie-rock revival is seriously spreading, which means I AM FUCKING OLD. Check out NYC’s Vivian Girls who’s sweet, reverby lo-fi pop could make them second-cousins to Tiger Trap or a lot of the female-fronted Slumberland Records catalog from that time (especially anything involving Amy Linton or Pam Berry). Enough Shop Assistants-like room noise and jangle to connect them to all things C-86 as well. These records were pressed in small quantities and were out of print pretty quick, but their next will be readily available on In The Red this coming year.

Vivian Girls - All The Time
Vivian Girls - I Believe In Nothing
Vivian Girls - Wild Eyes

Oh Sweden, how did you get so good at pop music? I’m pretty sure I say this every time I post about a Swedish group, but it’s happens to also be true every time. Their only downfall is that it’s too catchy and gets played out way too quick (is that a bad thing?). This time around Bjorn (from Peter, Bjorn and John) just spent a bunch of time producing a new record for Lykke Li, whose EP just dropped a little while ago. It’s pretty good, but not great. Play them out real quick like you would with any good pop songs.

Lykke Li - Little Bit
Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance

Bonus:
Lykke Li - Little Bit (video)

I have a hard time listening to the new Foals record while sitting around the house or in the car, but it’s ideal for bike rides when you need some energy or maybe playing records at a bar. I had this same problem with the Bloc Party records and I’m not quite sure why this is. I think I find this type of Brit-pop (and it is pop for sure) borderline cheesy. Maybe it’s the accent or the fact that they are taking it so seriously. And I can tell it’s serious because the production value is impeccable and the drumming is always so tight and complex (almost math-rock-like). Also, I head they fired TV On The Radio Dave Sitek as a producer because he mixed the record too spacey. Geeez relax guys, there will be another bus along in five minutes.. All this aside though, Big Big Love is a great song and Balloons is classic coke-jam if I ever heard one.

Foals - Balloons
Foals - Big Big Love (Fig. 2)
Foals - Olympic Airways
Foals - Heavy Water

Bonus:
Foals - Olympic Airways (video)

Wow, it’s like eighty degrees in San Francisco right now and it’s two in the morning. That happens rarely, even in the summer, and it makes me want to hear summertime music. I read about Brooklyn’s Santogold a while back and then after seeing an article in Entertainment Weekly, I decided that I was over it (because I’m a music elitist). However, it got played in my car the other day and I got proven wrong yet again. There are some really good songs on her album. Yes, most of the good songs sound like other bands (M.I.A., The Pixies and Yeah Yeah Yeahs respectively), but her voice is sort of amazing and the songs are produced by Diplo, Switch etc. so you know something good is bound to come out of it. ‘Lights Out’ is a great track, but it sounded too polished and slightly in the same vain as that Kelly Clarkson song ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’. Luckily there’s a remix that takes some of that polished edge off and still keeps that Summertime bike ride feeling. I feel like all these songs might have been made with that music statistics machine I’ve ranted about before (the ones that music companies use to tell them what combination of notes people like to hear) because I can’t get this song out of my head. Or not.. I dunno, I’ve been drinking and I should probably go to bed.

Santogold - Lights Out
Santogold - Lights Out (remix)
Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes

Bonus:
Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes (video)

Yet another band that has snuck up on me. San Francisco’s Scrabbel has been around for a minute but never had a track I felt I could really sink my teeth into. However, it looks like there are some new songs popping up from the new album which could mean I change my tune 180 degrees. Contradiction is perhaps one of my favorite pastimes if you didn’t already know. Seriously though, keep an eye out for their upcoming shows, I head the SXSW performance was really fun. Also check out their records covers and t-shirts which are sometimes designed by the always impressive Nathalie Roland.

Scrabbel - Emily, I
Scrabbel - The Getaway (Sorry, you’ll have to listen to it on MySpace)

Bonus:
Scrabbel - Emily, I (video)