A couple of years ago, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Son Volt’s Jay Farrar met while working together on a Jim Sampas documentary about Jack Kerouac. During this experience, the two decided to work together to create an album based on the words of Kerouac’s 1962 novel Big Sur. The book recounts Kerouac’s personal retreats out to a cabin in Bixby Canyon called “Big Sur”. The finished product, One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur, will be released on Atlantic Records next Tuesday, Oct 20th. Thanks to NPR you can preview the album right here til the new album is released.
Late last month, Volcano Choir released their debut album Unmap on Jagjaguwar. Volcano Choir is Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Milwaukee band Collections of Colonies of Bees. The original recordings of Unmap actually date back to before Vernon even began to mix and master For Emma, Forever Ago, his Bon Iver debut. While it may not be creating the kind of buzz that Vernon got in 2007 with the release of For Emma, it is still garnering a lot of attention and respect, having been featured recently on both All Songs Considered and Pitchfork. Definitely worth looking into if you’re a fan of Vernon, his vocals on this album are superb.
Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, otherwise known as “Doctor Luke” has managed, yet again, to get indie hipsters and radio lovers all across the country to move their feet and swivel their hips with Miley Cyrus’ incredibly catchy and dance-able “Party in the USA.” But for whatever reason, the majority of the people who found themselves dancing to and loving this song last night, will inevitably deny doing so today. Because Miley Cyrus isn’t “cool” or “hip.” Nor is Katy Perry, Britney Spears, or Kelly Clarkson. Yet you know that each of them has released a song in the past year or two that you actually liked. I know this because of the insane amount of remixes from these artists that have been floating around the blogosphere and climbing to the top of the charts on Hype Machine. In fact, right now the #1 most loved track is a mash-up of “Party in the USA” with a Biggie song. Over 2,000 people “loved” this track. I don’t remember the last time I saw a track reach over 2,000. And believe it or not, the main reason you like those remixes, is because there was something great about the song in its original form.
Don’t get me wrong now, I’m not trying to compare any of these girls to the truly great female artists of our time, such as Neko Case, Feist, or Brandi Carlile. For the most part they are nothing more than a pretty face and great voice. But when you add that great voice with some of Gottwald’s hooks and melodies and you’ve got something worth listening to. I’m not saying that you should throw caution to the wind and go buy the new Miley Cyrus record at Wal-Mart (for that is the only place it can be found). That would be foolish. But when Dr. Luke has the chance to get his hands on a single, I am going to pay attention.
So why can’t we just unabashedly own our love for these songs. I’ll go first. I love the new Miley Cyrus single. I don’t care that the lyrics are a little elementary. It makes me dance and puts me in a swell mood. Here are a few other hits that Gottwald had his hands in that I’m not afraid to say that I enjoy, regardless of whether or not Diplo has remixed it yet.
This summer The Silent Years released a follow up to their stellar album The Globe, which made my top ten list for 2008 and was probably the biggest surprise find of the year for me. Let Go is a six song EP that unfortunately just doesn’t match up to the greatness of its predecessor. Not only does it pale in comparison in length, but they just are unable to achieve the kind of rhythmic and melodic greatness that permeates through The Globe. That’s not to say it isn’t worth a listen. Unfortunately none of the tracks really resonated with me like “The Black Hole” or “On Our Way Home” did. One song I can’t give you a preview to that you should check out is “Forest Fire.” It opens with a fun little glocky melody and the percussion on it reminds me of something that might be found on a TV on the Radio album.
