TGIF Hodge Podge – YACHT + Yo La Tengo + Grizzly Bear
Before I jump into the mp3’s this morning, I want to let all of my fellow Chicagoans know about a great street festival coming up this weekend that will be featuring one of the better music lineups of the Summer. The inaugural Metronome Celebration runs Saturday and Sunday rom noon to 10pm along the stretch of Milwaukee Avenue between Armitage and Rockwell; basically sort of in limbo between Bucktown and Logan Square. The weather isn’t supposed to be ideal, but the South Stage lineup on Saturday night is certain to be worth braving the elements:
5:30 p.m.: Apostle of Hustle
7 p.m.: Here We Go Magic
8:30 p.m.: John Vanderslice
All that for a “suggested donation” of just $5, and as with any Chicago street festival you can sneak in your own booze fairly easily (my preferred method is dumping out a large water bottle and filling it with vodka, but feel free to go with whatever works for you). Aso, there are a ton of other bands playing on both days as well, including Justin Townes Earle taking the North stage on Sunday night. Check out the full schedule and additional details HERE (and via Metromix).
*Oh wait; there is one more thing I want to get off my chest today. That “Kobe Bryant” song floating around the Internets right now might be one of the worst tracks I have ever heard in my life. If you don’t know what I’m talking about consider yourself lucky and don’t even bother trying to Google it. Just be glad that you didn’t waste five minutes of your life listening to it.
I want to hate YACHT, I really do. They have a lot of things working against them for me personally: they are artsy in a really pretentious kind of way, they are on DFA Records which is inherently douchey label to be on, their website contains a ridiculous mission statement that can only be described as fucking stupid, and they rely on way too many goofy synthesizer effects. Despite all of this, I am finding myself strangely infatuated with their latest track, “Psychic City.” They definitely aren’t the kind of band that I would keep in my usual rotation, and its unlikely that I would even enjoy listening to one of their records from start to finish in a single setting, but their new single has a certain catchiness about it that is almost undeniable. With the infectious “Eye-ee Eye-ee Eye Yah” chants and the water drop sound effects, I expect this track could become the “Young Folks” of this summer. All that’s missing is some annoying whistling, thank God. The duo (Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans) have only recently signed with the aforementioned DFA, but their first release for the label See Mystery Lights is due out on July 28th. If they seem like your kind of thing, snag yourself a copy then. In the meantime, grab the mp3 below and throw it on your next summer mix tape (or, more likely, playlist), but do it quick because pretty soon all your friends will be listening to this anyway.
In case you haven’t heard, everyone’s favorite seminal indie band from New Jersey, Yo La Tengo, have announced that they will be releasing a brand new album later this year. At this point, little is known about the record other than the cover art (pictured above), the title (Popular Songs), and the release date (September 8th via Matador). Given the band’s legendary stature, I don’t think I really need to say much about them musically at this point other than to instruct you to purchase this album the day it hits your local record store. The lead track, “Periodically Double or Triple,” found its way into the blogosphere just yesterday, so I am very pleased to be able to share it with you here today. The song itself isn’t a direct throwback to I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, but it is definitely in closer relation to it than their Condo Fucks project, Fuckbook, from earlier this year. Featuring a mellow garage vibe calling to mind a 60’s influence, this one is sure to please hardcore fans and YLT newbies alike. The jangling guitars, organ, and clanging percussion are pure bliss to my ears, and at the risk of going to far I would say it may be near the top of my personal list of favorite YLT songs. We definitely plan on bringing you a full review of this record as soon as we get our hands on a copy, whenever that may be.
Yo La Tengo – “Periodically Double or Triple”
If you haven’t bought a copy of Grizzly Bear’s latest album yet I would imagine that you are in the vast minority of people reading this post. When this week’s charts were unveiled earlier in the week, Veckatimest was sitting in the No. 8 spot on both the Billboard and Soundscan charts, having sold 33,000 copies (or just over 34,000, depending on which chart you go by) in its first week, making it by far the biggest selling indie record of 2009 so far. While that may not seem like a huge number compared to what the mainstream artist do, it is a major accomplishment for an indie record, especially given the state of the industry at present. By comparison, their last record, the critically acclaimed Yellow House, which is a staple on scores of “all-time best indie albums” lists, has only sold some 54,000 copies to date.
As bloggers, we do what we do to support the music and artists that we love and respect, so to see one of our own come into such success is a great feeling for us. It’s hard to say what effect this level of commercial success will have on the album as it ages, but one can only hope that it does not draw any indie backlash as a result, because it is a fabulous album (and yes, we suck for having never gotten around to giving it a proper review). For me though, hearing all the hype surrounding Veckatimest makes me want to listen to 2006’s Yellow House again, and I have been doing just that of late. So, as a bit of a tribute to Grizzly Bear, I am dedicating this week’s vault track to one of my favorite songs from that album, “The Knife.” If you don’t already own both of these records, I strongly suggest that you use the weekend to remedy that situation. And you may as well go ahead and pick up Friend and Horn of Plenty while you’re at it. Grizzly Bear is going to be huge and I know you don’t want to be “that guy” who didn’t know about them back in the day.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:21 AM
I didn’t personally like YACHT when they performed at the Leadmill, Sheffield/England. They supported Patrick Wolf. I thought they were a tad out of place and had a screw loose. They also dance pretty weird!