Archive | March, 2012

Friday Dance Jam and Weekend Update: Ronika, “Automatic”

30 Mar


Ronika, “Automatic”

This track is fresh as fuuuck somehow, even though this totally could have been from like 1989, like Ronika could have been the musical guest on America’s Funniest Home Videos during a time when people would have actually watched such a thing (hosted by Bob Saget, of course). It’s making me so ready for summer. Puerto Rico was like this dirty tease. I need to even out this tan, sun! Come on out!

My review of this song, in short: This song makes me wish I had a convertible so all the bitches could hear me listen to it.

But I don’t. And this weekend I’m not up to much exciting, I guess. I have a good friend from thee olden days in Buffalo in town. We are going to see Guitar Wolf this weekend at the Knitting Factory. Looking forward to sleeping in and chillin’ as hard as I’ve been partying which is harder than you even know.

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Throwback Thursday: Ben Kweller

29 Mar


Ben Kweller, “How It Should Be (Sha Sha)”

Ben Kweller was doing bathroom pics before it was cool.

You know what the only bummer about going to Puerto Rico was? I missed seeing Ben Kweller.

Ben Kweller and I go way back when. Not IRL or anything, but I used to be a really big Radish fan. Radish was Ben Kweller’s band when he was something like 15. They came out around the same time as Hanson so they had a brief stint in being featured in the Bops, 16s and Teen Beats of the day probably out of hopes to attract the frumpy Hanson fans (it worked; living proof). I was introduced to them on the Meet the Deedles soundtrack (I know, right?), and eventually got their record Restraining Bolt.

Anyway, I grew up pretty much right along side Ben Kweller. I was obsessed with his first record, Sha Sha. While I’m a fan of his newer stuff, Sha Sha is the kind of record I can listen to over and over again, reliving the memories of driving back and forth from Philly for shows, putting songs like “In Other Words” and “Falling” on mix tapes for my friends.

It’s too bad I missed him. I haven’t seen him since he opened for The Moldy Peaches in Philly at the TLA in 2002, which I went to for my birthday. One of the greatest nights of my life, duh!

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Pop Goes Mad Men: Season 5, Episode 1

26 Mar

Mad Men gets most things right. A few anachronisms aside, Mad Men is a gorgeous show, and it goes without saying that it gives me a serious case of dress and decor lust.

The music is also incredible, and inspired by last night’s ridiculous “Zou Bisou Bisou” rendition by Jessica Pare, I would like to try to write weekly about Mad Men‘s use of pop music in the show.

“Zou Bisou Bisou” actually means “kiss, kiss, etc.” in French. The Slate had an incredible write up on the history of the song today, giving a brief run down of yé-yé and all of the French pop goings on at the time.

The term  yé-yé is derived from “yeah yeah!”, a rock n roll call to arms. I’d argue that  yé-yé is a huge influence on twee pop, in that  yé-yé’s lyrical content was a kind of mishmash of both innocence and sexual suggestion. One of the biggest examples of that is the song “Les Succettes” by Serge Gainsbourg and France Gall. Unfortunately embedding is disabled for the song, but you can check out a YouTube video of the song here, featuring translations for those of us who are not fluent in French. The song is clearly a nod to oral sex, but guised in innocent and sweet lyrics. It actually caused quite an uproar in its day. It’s an interesting genre and song to pick considering I don’t really think we know Megan’s age and earlier in the episode she teased him for being a dirty old man.

The 60s were notoriously a time of sexual liberation, and yé-yé music was a clear example of how sexuality and innocence were so easily threaded together. Keep in mind Nabokov’s Lolita was published just a few years prior.


Gillian Hills, “Zou Bisou Bisou”

But how is this an influence on twee pop? I think my favorite thing about twee is how bitter and angry it can be guised under a sickeningly sweet sound. One of my favorite examples of that is Talulah Gosh’s “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction (Thank God)”.


Talulah Gosh, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction (Thank God)”

Truthfully though, I thought the musical number in the middle of the episode was particularly inauthentic and weird. Obviously controversial and totally sexy, but weird. I wasn’t a fan, although the leagues of people rushing to buy Jessica Pare’s rendition on iTunes probably disagree with me.

Maybe Don and Megan can have a duet? I actually think “Les Succettes” would be perfect for such an occasion.

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Mainstream Monday: Fun. & Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry goes shoegaze

26 Mar

Ms. Clarkson is so tuff.

When I say I’m super into pop, I don’t just mean the kind that you can only find on obscure CD-R labels run out of a remote corner of Sweden or even stuff on Matador. No sir, I love pop in all of its forms, both respectable and shameful. That means my car radio is sometimes on Z100, and I find myself being laughed at on McGuinness Blvd for not realizing my windows were down when screaming Britney Spears lyrics (“I Wanna Go” is SUCH a jam).

There’s a few songs that are making the rounds on the top 40 radio that I am especially digging lately.

Fun. is a band from NYC that Wikipedia thinks is “indie pop.” I don’t really know about that. I guess they are indie in that they are on an independent label, but their song “We Are Young” is seriously everywhere. I had to use one of those song recognition app to figure out who they are (so obscure) because this song is so catchy and so uplifting and makes me feel less bad about turning 27 in a few months. Apparently this song is featuring Janelle Monáe, but her vocals seem to be super duper buried and I only knew when it was her singing after watching the music video, so it’s a moot point in my opinion. Anyone know of any remixes of this song? I feel like this could be a sick dance jam, no?


Fun. feat Janelle Monáe, “We Are Young”

Can I be for real right now and say you forfeit the indie status when your music video is an obvious plug for the Windows phone? The goddamn MICROSOFT phone, y’all. Sell outs. Real alts obviously only use iPhone or Android, but Blackberry is acceptable in the case of a shitty wireless plan or if you’re seeking a vintage feel*.

You know who is not a sell out? Kelly Clarkson. You heard it here first. Kelly is so adverse to selling out, she refuses to change her formula out of fear that someone will misconstrue it as a way to garner more record sales. Clearly she is sticking to the same formula because she is a Woman of Integrity. Fun. take note as you continue on your mainstream career. But really, Kelly Clarkson comes out every few years with a new “Fuck that dude!” jam. No complaints from me, as I can be a bitter, bitter woman, and Heavenly only gets me so far when I need a little uplifting in the dating department. “Stronger,” Kelly Clarkson’s latest fuck that dude hit**, is my favorite since “I Do Not Hook Up” (I don’t even know if she’s had anything out since then). I particularly like to listen to this jam when reading He’s Just Not That Into You.

**Not to be confused with fuck that dude hits, which we leave to Nelly Furtado here at PopMinx.


Kelly Clarkson, “Stronger”

Is Kelly mainstream riot grrrl incarnate? I don’t know.

Speaking of riot grrrl but not at all, did you know that Katy Perry says her new record is gonna be shoegazey? I feel like I need to sit the girl down. Shoegaze does not a broken heart mend, and she’d probably feel better if she listened to some Kelly Clarkson instead. Also, I’d love to make her a mix. I think she’d really dig The Blanche Hudson Weekend.


The Blanche Hudson Weekend, “Crying Shame”

*I really hope y’all know I’m being facetious.

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Throwback Thursday: Bunnygrunt

22 Mar

Bunnygrunt, “Hometown Rockstar”

I don’t normally post live versions of songs, but this week I decided to because, well, I couldn’t find a non-live version, STFU. This song is in dedication to my dear friend Matt who recently got married and is about to visit me (we’re going to see Guitar Wolf, so stoked!). And “Homestar Rockstar” is the best song for it, for a number of reasons. Let me tell you why.

Once upon a time I was in a pop band. And no, not Bunnygrunt. It was like 2005-2007 or so, we were called The Grade Grubbers. We were released by an itty bitty CD-R label up in Sweden that is now defunct called Yellow Mica Records. Anyway, the reason why this is relevant at all is because my band was supposed to play Popfest! New England, organized by Skipping Stones Records. I don’t think any of these things even exist anymore, but we were gonna trek up to the fest with Bunnygrunt who played 99 Custer, an old punk house I used to live at, a night or two before.

This is either the exact same bass or a very similar one to the headless bass Matt played in the Grade Grubbers. #badass

But before we could get to the fest, our band broke up. Matt the bass-player, still one of my BFFs despite all this, couldn’t do it. He was in the middle of an MBA program. I know, right? I get it, but come on. Not only did we not play, but I did not go to the fest. This seems like barely a big deal now that I live in NYC and can see any twee band I freaking want practically, but at the time I lived in Buffalo, NY. The only bands I saw were the ones I personally booked and lodged myself. Check out this sweet-ass line up that year at Popfest! NE. Note THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART before they were the goddamn PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART. Heartbreaking to have missed out on this, even if I have seen most of these bands eventually.

But one consolation prize–I booked Bunnygrunt, and I played a show with Bunnygrunt, and I ate motherfucking pizza with Bunnygrunt and this was a solid group of dude(ette)s. And they were awesome, and I totally lost the rad t-shirt I got that night, but I still have the memories.

I’ve long forgiven Matt. He played a headless bass! And loves Wang Chung. Can’t stay mad.

If you want to hear my shitty-ass band, you can check out an mp3 provided by Sheets of Ten who come out with A Means to an End every few years that is an awesome compilation of the best music of Buffalo. You can find it hereeeee.

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Greetings from Puerto Rico: Local Pop and Indie

21 Mar

Hey all! I’m updating from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s definitely a nice opportunity to chill out and have some relaxation. I’ve never gone on a vacation like this before. I went to Austin, TX for vacation once, but obviously there wasn’t really any beach or anything at all like this. I’m staying at a cute lil hotel, and I’ve eaten my weight in rice and beans already. Tonight I’m gonna check out Old San Juan.

I’ve decided to do a little research into pop bands down here on the off chance one of them would be playing a show. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like anyone will be playing while I’m here, but I found some sweet bands!

Balún is from here in San Juan and have been playing since 2002. They actually played NYC Popfest last year! So sad I missed them.

Balún, “Las Olas” live

How freaking adorable is this? Love it.

Another amazing Puerto Rican band I didn’t know about is Davila 666. I love this vintage, garage rock sound. I’m not exactly sure where in Puerto Rico they are from, but I am so into this. I plan on finding some mp3s and rocking this on the beach tomorrow.


Davila 666, “Yo Seria Otro”

Anyway, I’m gonna keep searching to see if I can find any shows going on. If you happen to know of good resources for pop or indie or punk music in Puerto Rico, please pass on! As beautiful as it is here, there’s only so much stereotypically touristy stuff I can take, and I’m here until Sunday. I’d love to meet some bad ass locals.

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Vacation!

19 Mar

Unfortunately I cannot post with the same ferocity I have established over the past few weeks. Sad news to be sure, but for good reason. I am going on an impromptu, awesome adventure to PUERTO RICO. Sun, booze and babes for me all week long!

I do plan on posting occasionally as the lobby of my hotel has wi-fi, and I am too much of a geek to spend an entire week away from my computer and twee pop. I’ve also been making a sweet travel  mix. Maybe I will share that shit!!!

Adios amigos!!!

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Bikinis!

16 Mar

I’m online shopping for bikinis. Watch out, Rockaway Beach! I am one e-commerce exchange from being ready for you.


Tullycraft, “How to Stuff a Wild Bikini”

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Friday Dance Jam: Alphabeat and What I’m Doing This Weekend

16 Mar

What a fucking week, man. All of my friends are having awesome news. The weather was insane for at least a few days. I hung out with countless dogs. Posted some sweet shit. Got retweeted by Slumberland Records. Shit is okay.

I’ve decided that on Fridays I’m gonna post a dance jam and honor the week and anticipate the weekend. This week I’m deciding on Alphabeat’s new single “Vacation” because this song has been stuck in my head like crazy. I plan on cuttin’ a rug to this for the rest of the day.

For real though, this track is crazy catchy and is like a more up to date, slightly more mature Junior Senior (never thought I’d be old enough to say that).

So, this weekend seems okay. Tonight, if you are in the NYC area, Mondo, my favorite dance parties ever, is having a special mid-month party. I will be there. You can get details on Facebook. Tomorrow night I’m gonna have some chill drinks in Gowanus, and Sunday I have a hot date. All things to reflect on even though it’s gonna be rainy and icky.

Spring break is a state of mind.

Alphabeat, “Vacation”

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Throwback Thursday: The Ropers

15 Mar


The Ropers, “You Have a Light”

The Ropers are probably in my extremely exclusive list of top five favorite bands of all time. I actually got into them when this guy I was dating put “Revolver” on a tape. The guy wasn’t that awesome; in fact, pretty sure I only remember him because he introduced me to The Ropers.

Their masterpiece record, All The Time, was released on Slumberland way back in ’95. While an absolute classic, it has been mostly a sleeper classic in that I rarely meet people who have heard of the Ropers, which, let me tell you, is a damn shame, especially when you listen to it in comparison to the current darlings of twee, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The influence is obvious, which in many ways just makes the Pains that much more wonderful, but I wish The Ropers had more recognition, yanno? Fortunately, Slumberland knows what’s up, and thus I had the extreme honor of seeing The Ropers play the Slumberland 20th Anniversary show back in ’09 at The Bell House in Brooklyn. So freaking amazing.

“You Have the Light” is probably my favorite track on the record, but “Revolver” and “Drive” hold extra special places in my heart as well. “You Have the Light” is absolute pure shoegazing perfection, the jangly guitar and lamenting strings hit notes that evoke a feeling that is simultaneously anxious and exuberant. It also features one of my favorite lyrical verses of all time:

There’s a secret of mine that I’ve got to keep so you think I’m smart
I know you’ve got your own so don’t you even start
Take my hand, pull my hair
Take my breath away
You know you are the only thing I think today

How perfect is this that? It’s absolutely the perfect soundtrack when pining over emerging springtime crushes. I hope you enjoy.

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