I was really happy to be able to go to this show from Antony Hegarty at Radio City Music Hall. Unfortunately, I had to have my piece in the morning after. I could have written about this for at least a month.
from the killed story file, sadly
Class Actress - 12/30 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
In a year when synth-heavy artists were more concerned with pushing you away than drawing you in – bands like Austra, Young Galaxy, and Ice Choir built monuments to alienation and otherness out of slick keyboard chords and icy harmonies in 2011 – not everyone is on board with the no-fun agenda. Witness, for one, Brooklyn pop export Class Actress, who played Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday, just returned from a short European tour and a longer jaunt around the U.S. in support of their sophomore full-length, Rapproacher.
While not exactly a buzz band, Class Actress have had praised heaped on them from surprising corners, including The New York Times, Pitchfork, and New York Magazine. It’s not terribly surprising – the band has two albums of shameless pop music under their belts, which anyone from Manhattan to Minnesota can listen to without feeling ashamed of themselves.
In their best moments, Class Actress’s thudding artificial melodies recall bands like The Human League or Kavinski, whose “Nightcall” was used to great effect in this year’s best movie in which Ryan Gosling steps through a person’s face, Drive. Songs like “Keep You,” or “Careful What You Say” feature beats at once complex and simplistic – multi-instrumentalist Scott Rosenthal always tucks a few extra layers of bloops and bleeps under the beat to keep a listener’s brain distracted while her body starts dancing. And over all that writhes the voice of frontwoman Elizabeth Harper, sighing, squeaking, and sliding around like a buxom sci-fi heroine lashed to an impossibly black obelisk on a faraway world.
While she traffics in a kind of ruffled late-night sensuality (her press photos often feature her splayed on something satin or fur), on stage Harper never quite feels like she’s totally out of control in musical ecstasy, a female disco Iggy Pop, or conversely totally in command of the situation, cooly directing the evening. Instead, she splits the difference, jumping and clapping and smiling, then catching herself every so often and remembering to ruffle her hair or teasingly trace a hand across her stomach. The makings of a star are definitely there, if she can work out the kinks.
Not that anyone in the crowd was thinking about the occasional performance hiccup – a smile too big, shoulder pads a bit too wide – that made Harper sometimes seem like Kristen Wiig acting like a pop star. As far as I could tell, they weren’t thinking about much at all, aside from dancing, and kissing and sliding away on the music. Which, well, is pretty fun.
BrooklynVegan is the worst, it just becomes like a rating board for guys to have at it. They’ll be like, “I wanna cum in her ear” or “fucking 1 out of 10.” They’re all sexist. It’s hard to say whether the blog carries any responsibility for that— clearly they see that [going on], you know? No one goes to BrooklynVegan to read about content, they just go for drama. It’s a tabloid, the scum of indie. I’m glad she said this. I think more people need to talk about this, to call it out, because I think there’s this assumption that the indie world is full of nice guys who have evolved beyond sexism, which is anything but true. I realized a long time ago that any indie-centric show I went to in NYC, any bar, whatever, was likely to have these very same anonymous commenters lurking around somewhere. It’s easy to pretend they’re not, that they’re part of someone else’s life or social circle, but these creeps are everywhere and need to be shamed. (via perpetua)
Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, interviewed by Pitchfork’s Larry Fitzmaurice.
— I don’t say this much, but this is a load of horseshit from Perpetua. If we’re going to start “shaming” people for dumb things they say on the internet, I think Brooklyn Vegan commenters are pretty far down the list
(Source: pitchfork.com, via perpetua)
I wrote this whole blog post before I realized that I don’t write anywhere that wants hacky blog posts about things no one has ever heard of. So, enjoy!
“Every hipster is a potential criminal” So intones the opening of the trailer (above) for Russian musical Hipsters,the main contribution of which may be that I know now that the Russian word for “hipsters” is “stilyagi,” which makes me feel like I now, finally, get the joke of that one Puro Instinct song
Anyway, the movie is set in the 1950s, so, sadly, it’s not a Russian mumblecore musical full of skinny-jeaned people falling in and out of love at a Lana Del Ray show, which is honestly what I was hoping for when I clicked on the link. Anyway, that movie already sort of exists (check it out on Netflix Instant!) Instead, it’s about Cold-War-era Russian kids listening to “hot jazz” while sporting extremely cartoonish clothes and hairstyles. The whole thing kind of feels like Jim Carey starring in Swing Kids.
You’d think that the fact that it’s set in the 1950s in Soviet Russia would make the whole thing kind of ominous and scary, but the petty rebellions still seem to revolve around who you get to kiss or whatever. I just checked Wikipedia, and I guess the movie is set in 1955, which was actually in sort of a window of openness for the USSR after the death of Stalin when the governing team of Premiere Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin and soon-to-be Premiere Nikita Khrushchev were known in the press as “the B and K show.” Any era where anyone is governed by a “so-and-so show” isn’t all bad, I guess.
What was I talking about? The movie is the winner of four Nikas (the Russian Oscars, basically), including Best Film and Best Costumes, and it opens February 24 at City Cinema Village East.
U.S. Sales Figures for Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2011
Courtesy of Matthew P, here’s a great article about the sales of Pitchfork’s top 50 records. A little perspective: as he points out in the comments (although not in the post, for some reason), it’s extremely rare to top a million these days (only Jay and Kanye’s Watch the Throne makes it to that mark, although Mrs. Jay-Z comes close), and selling in the 30K - 60K range is the success mark that most smaller labels shoot for. With that in mind, holy shit, Bon Inver sold so many records! Good job,linkmeupbro
Eric Harvey put this together earlier this month, after he and I got the idea to put this together last year. I’m reblogging again because some people have asked me about it, and because his version is weirdly difficult to find on Google.
MOVIES THAT WOULD BE BETTER WITH RYAN GOSLING #1
Which movies are better with Ryan Gosling in them? “All of them, ha” well okay, but let’s do this thing for real.
Starting with The American. Have you ever seen The American? It is George Clooney making a gun and having sex, FOR TWO HOURS, IN ITALY. And no, to answer your question, of course the hooker is not his own age. The whole movie, Clooney is in khakis and zip-front Lacoste jackets. He looks like he got lost on the way to the pro shop at the golf course, and then suddenly he is shooting at someone from a Vespa, yelling “I JUST WANT TO RENEW MY GREENS FEES FOR NEXT YEAR.” Or at least he should be.
ANYWAY, put Gosling in it, and he can smolder and fuck and maybe make a ten-minute scene about someone machining steel interesting (for a gun, which is supposed to make it interesting, I guess?). Or maybe not.
![I know this is too long for Tumblr, so sorry. But I listened to an hour of Judge John Hodgman, and got inspired to re-write my piece in today’s Capital NY, Hodgman style. The interview part, however, is 100% real.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why is their more than one language? The Bible posits that it is a punishment from God. The Lord, aghast at the specter of a united humanity working together as one for a common goal, like some sort of Kofi Annan fever dream, decided to “go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:1-). As divine middle fingers go, it’s relatively benign, but remains vexing these thousands of years later to anyone who’s attempted to order dinner in Quebec.
As part of my own ongoing effort to flip a bird right back at that corpulent black lesbian in the sky (kidding – She is of course incredibly svelte), I recruited Francophone singer/rapper/dress aficionado Julie Budet, one third of French disco pop act Yelle, who was recently in town for a pair of sold-out shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She attempted to help me sort out some of the oddities in her own work (read: things in French), while I embarked on the fool’s errand of trying to explain to her what an “LMFAO” is. The transcript follows.
CHRIS CHAFIN: All of your lyrics are in French, which can be confusing for fans who don’t speak French. For example, most of your songs are about penises, which can be easy to miss.
JULIE BUDET: [laughs]
Or, possibly just one [2006’s “Je Veux Te Voir,” originally titled “Short Dick Cuizi”]. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your songs’ meanings.
Safari Disco Club is about a dance club for animals, whose chorus goes “The animals dance in the Safari Disco club.” Are you singing about chickens at one point? It sounds like you’re saying “poulet.”
I am not talking about poulet. [laughs]. In which part?
The part where you say “poulet.” That part.
Maybe it is where I said “Je veux goooooooûter à tout, j’veux goooooooûter.” It’s like, “I want to taste everything, I want to taaaaaaste,” like that.
Okay, that must be it. And so then, your new single and video is “Comme Un Enfant,” which I know is “Like a baby” or “Like a Child.” Is it about liking milk and cereal and cartoons?
It’s about, you know, it’s hard to choose to stay a child – when you are a teenager you want to be an adult, and when you are an adult, you want to stay a teenager. It’s about the duality of growing up and accepting that your life is running, and you are getting older, and don’t forget about the fact that you have still a child inside you that you can play with sometimes, and be a child, and it’s a problem.
“La Grande Saut” – The big jump. What is the big jump? You’re talking about the long jump in the 2012 olympics?
Exactly. No, it’s more about to take decision, and maybe don’t wait too much time in your life to do the big jump, because things don’t happen like that you know [snaps fingers, then adopts a really cartoony ‘relaxed’ poze]. You are not, you know, waiting on your couch during your life, and things don’t, you know, arrive to you like that. You have to push, to decide, to make the jump sometimes.
I’m here for you, too, if you have any questions about American popular music. I’ve printed out the Top 10 if this week’s Hot 100 Billboard charts. In case you have any questions.
The first one is Rhianna? I do not know this one.
Well, it’s with Calvin Harris. You must know him.
Oh yes, yes, of course.
Any idioms you don’t get? “LMFAO”?
LMFAO, they are just new in France, and I don’t really know them. I think it is really huge in the U.S.?
It is really huge in the U.S.
It’s really for kids, in France.
Here, too. Do you know what those letters stand for?
Oh. What is the translation for LMFAO?
“Laughing my Fucking Ass Off.” It’s a thing you say over IM.
[laughs] Okay. We just use ‘LOL’.
Hey, you have David Guetta! You have French in your top 10!
It’s to inspire you. You can do it, too! Oh, and there’s Jay Z and Kanye, that song is about Paris.
Oh, it is?
Well, not really, but it’s in the title.
Gym Class Heros – that is like, skateboard music? Something like punk rock?
It’s like radio punk rock. They were really popular like five years ago.
The guy of Gym Class Heroes is not the ex of Katy Perry?
Oh, yes! He is!
It’s funny because they are just following each other on the top 10.
You’ve of course worked with Katy Perry before.
It’s funny because I don’t know that song. She was not doing that on the show.
Oh, because you were just on tour with her.
Yeah, we toured for one month with her in the UK. It was good, it was huge – playing in front of 10,000 people every night. She was really nice, actually.
She wasn’t a diva? You weren’t forced to avoid eye contact with her at all times?
No, absolutely not. Of course, she is surrounded by a bunch of people, so it’s hard to have a real relation with her, to talk and everything. We had more of a twitter relation – we were chatting and talking on twitter, but not really in person. Because she’s really busy, you know? She’s taking care of her fans, spending lots of time with them .
Does she do those things, where she brings a bunch of fans backstage…
A meet and greet. She has a special room with lots of candies, photobooths, and they are taking pictures, but she is trying to spend lots of time with them all the time. Lots of bands don’t do that.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvygu6iDll1qz9eg4o1_500.jpg "I know this is too long for Tumblr, so sorry. But I listened to an hour of Judge John Hodgman, and got inspired to re-write my piece in today’s Capital NY, Hodgman style. The interview part, however, is 100% real.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why is their more than one language? The Bible posits that it is a punishment from God. The Lord, aghast at the specter of a united humanity working together as one for a common goal, like some sort of Kofi Annan fever dream, decided to “go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:1-). As divine middle fingers go, it’s relatively benign, but remains vexing these thousands of years later to anyone who’s attempted to order dinner in Quebec.
As part of my own ongoing effort to flip a bird right back at that corpulent black lesbian in the sky (kidding – She is of course incredibly svelte), I recruited Francophone singer/rapper/dress aficionado Julie Budet, one third of French disco pop act Yelle, who was recently in town for a pair of sold-out shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She attempted to help me sort out some of the oddities in her own work (read: things in French), while I embarked on the fool’s errand of trying to explain to her what an “LMFAO” is. The transcript follows.
CHRIS CHAFIN: All of your lyrics are in French, which can be confusing for fans who don’t speak French. For example, most of your songs are about penises, which can be easy to miss.
JULIE BUDET: [laughs]
Or, possibly just one [2006’s “Je Veux Te Voir,” originally titled “Short Dick Cuizi”]. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your songs’ meanings.
Safari Disco Club is about a dance club for animals, whose chorus goes “The animals dance in the Safari Disco club.” Are you singing about chickens at one point? It sounds like you’re saying “poulet.”
I am not talking about poulet. [laughs]. In which part?
The part where you say “poulet.” That part.
Maybe it is where I said “Je veux goooooooûter à tout, j’veux goooooooûter.” It’s like, “I want to taste everything, I want to taaaaaaste,” like that.
Okay, that must be it. And so then, your new single and video is “Comme Un Enfant,” which I know is “Like a baby” or “Like a Child.” Is it about liking milk and cereal and cartoons?
It’s about, you know, it’s hard to choose to stay a child – when you are a teenager you want to be an adult, and when you are an adult, you want to stay a teenager. It’s about the duality of growing up and accepting that your life is running, and you are getting older, and don’t forget about the fact that you have still a child inside you that you can play with sometimes, and be a child, and it’s a problem.
“La Grande Saut” – The big jump. What is the big jump? You’re talking about the long jump in the 2012 olympics?
Exactly. No, it’s more about to take decision, and maybe don’t wait too much time in your life to do the big jump, because things don’t happen like that you know [snaps fingers, then adopts a really cartoony ‘relaxed’ poze]. You are not, you know, waiting on your couch during your life, and things don’t, you know, arrive to you like that. You have to push, to decide, to make the jump sometimes.
I’m here for you, too, if you have any questions about American popular music. I’ve printed out the Top 10 if this week’s Hot 100 Billboard charts. In case you have any questions.
The first one is Rhianna? I do not know this one.
Well, it’s with Calvin Harris. You must know him.
Oh yes, yes, of course.
Any idioms you don’t get? “LMFAO”?
LMFAO, they are just new in France, and I don’t really know them. I think it is really huge in the U.S.?
It is really huge in the U.S.
It’s really for kids, in France.
Here, too. Do you know what those letters stand for?
Oh. What is the translation for LMFAO?
“Laughing my Fucking Ass Off.” It’s a thing you say over IM.
[laughs] Okay. We just use ‘LOL’.
Hey, you have David Guetta! You have French in your top 10!
It’s to inspire you. You can do it, too! Oh, and there’s Jay Z and Kanye, that song is about Paris.
Oh, it is?
Well, not really, but it’s in the title.
Gym Class Heros – that is like, skateboard music? Something like punk rock?
It’s like radio punk rock. They were really popular like five years ago.
The guy of Gym Class Heroes is not the ex of Katy Perry?
Oh, yes! He is!
It’s funny because they are just following each other on the top 10.
You’ve of course worked with Katy Perry before.
It’s funny because I don’t know that song. She was not doing that on the show.
Oh, because you were just on tour with her.
Yeah, we toured for one month with her in the UK. It was good, it was huge – playing in front of 10,000 people every night. She was really nice, actually.
She wasn’t a diva? You weren’t forced to avoid eye contact with her at all times?
No, absolutely not. Of course, she is surrounded by a bunch of people, so it’s hard to have a real relation with her, to talk and everything. We had more of a twitter relation – we were chatting and talking on twitter, but not really in person. Because she’s really busy, you know? She’s taking care of her fans, spending lots of time with them .
Does she do those things, where she brings a bunch of fans backstage…
A meet and greet. She has a special room with lots of candies, photobooths, and they are taking pictures, but she is trying to spend lots of time with them all the time. Lots of bands don’t do that.")
I know this is too long for Tumblr, so sorry. But I listened to an hour of Judge John Hodgman, and got inspired to re-write my piece in today’s Capital NY, Hodgman style. The interview part, however, is 100% real.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why is their more than one language? The Bible posits that it is a punishment from God. The Lord, aghast at the specter of a united humanity working together as one for a common goal, like some sort of Kofi Annan fever dream, decided to “go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” (Genesis 11:1-). As divine middle fingers go, it’s relatively benign, but remains vexing these thousands of years later to anyone who’s attempted to order dinner in Quebec.
As part of my own ongoing effort to flip a bird right back at that corpulent black lesbian in the sky (kidding – She is of course incredibly svelte), I recruited Francophone singer/rapper/dress aficionado Julie Budet, one third of French disco pop act Yelle, who was recently in town for a pair of sold-out shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn. She attempted to help me sort out some of the oddities in her own work (read: things in French), while I embarked on the fool’s errand of trying to explain to her what an “LMFAO” is. The transcript follows.
CHRIS CHAFIN: All of your lyrics are in French, which can be confusing for fans who don’t speak French. For example, most of your songs are about penises, which can be easy to miss.
JULIE BUDET: [laughs]
Or, possibly just one [2006’s “Je Veux Te Voir,” originally titled “Short Dick Cuizi”]. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your songs’ meanings.
Safari Disco Club is about a dance club for animals, whose chorus goes “The animals dance in the Safari Disco club.” Are you singing about chickens at one point? It sounds like you’re saying “poulet.”
I am not talking about poulet. [laughs]. In which part?
The part where you say “poulet.” That part.
Maybe it is where I said “Je veux goooooooûter à tout, j’veux goooooooûter.” It’s like, “I want to taste everything, I want to taaaaaaste,” like that.
Okay, that must be it. And so then, your new single and video is “Comme Un Enfant,” which I know is “Like a baby” or “Like a Child.” Is it about liking milk and cereal and cartoons?
It’s about, you know, it’s hard to choose to stay a child – when you are a teenager you want to be an adult, and when you are an adult, you want to stay a teenager. It’s about the duality of growing up and accepting that your life is running, and you are getting older, and don’t forget about the fact that you have still a child inside you that you can play with sometimes, and be a child, and it’s a problem.
“La Grande Saut” – The big jump. What is the big jump? You’re talking about the long jump in the 2012 olympics?
Exactly. No, it’s more about to take decision, and maybe don’t wait too much time in your life to do the big jump, because things don’t happen like that you know [snaps fingers, then adopts a really cartoony ‘relaxed’ poze]. You are not, you know, waiting on your couch during your life, and things don’t, you know, arrive to you like that. You have to push, to decide, to make the jump sometimes.
I’m here for you, too, if you have any questions about American popular music. I’ve printed out the Top 10 if this week’s Hot 100 Billboard charts. In case you have any questions.
The first one is Rhianna? I do not know this one.
Well, it’s with Calvin Harris. You must know him.
Oh yes, yes, of course.
Any idioms you don’t get? “LMFAO”?
LMFAO, they are just new in France, and I don’t really know them. I think it is really huge in the U.S.?
It is really huge in the U.S.
It’s really for kids, in France.
Here, too. Do you know what those letters stand for?
Oh. What is the translation for LMFAO?
“Laughing my Fucking Ass Off.” It’s a thing you say over IM.
[laughs] Okay. We just use ‘LOL’.
Hey, you have David Guetta! You have French in your top 10!
It’s to inspire you. You can do it, too! Oh, and there’s Jay Z and Kanye, that song is about Paris.
Oh, it is?
Well, not really, but it’s in the title.
Gym Class Heros – that is like, skateboard music? Something like punk rock?
It’s like radio punk rock. They were really popular like five years ago.
The guy of Gym Class Heroes is not the ex of Katy Perry?
Oh, yes! He is!
It’s funny because they are just following each other on the top 10.
You’ve of course worked with Katy Perry before.
It’s funny because I don’t know that song. She was not doing that on the show.
Oh, because you were just on tour with her.
Yeah, we toured for one month with her in the UK. It was good, it was huge – playing in front of 10,000 people every night. She was really nice, actually.
She wasn’t a diva? You weren’t forced to avoid eye contact with her at all times?
No, absolutely not. Of course, she is surrounded by a bunch of people, so it’s hard to have a real relation with her, to talk and everything. We had more of a twitter relation – we were chatting and talking on twitter, but not really in person. Because she’s really busy, you know? She’s taking care of her fans, spending lots of time with them .
Does she do those things, where she brings a bunch of fans backstage…
A meet and greet. She has a special room with lots of candies, photobooths, and they are taking pictures, but she is trying to spend lots of time with them all the time. Lots of bands don’t do that.
Enjoyed talking to Will Hermes for this piece. While I didn’t control myself enough not to ask about the death of the monoculture and the vanishing money in music, I at least kept them out of the finished piece.
Conde Nast Traveler, of all places, has a big investigative piece on 10 years of the TSA (which Wonkette has funny things to say about, and thanks for the graphic, guys). As much as I appreciate the parts about the TSA hassling grannies, wasting money, and hiding its own mistakes, I find the “and we’re STILL NOT SAFE” stuff a little troubling. There were holes in the fence at JFK after a hurricane that weren’t immediately fixed? That kind of makes sense, actually, and doesn’t worry me. Also, I didn’t finish it, so maybe they buy that stuff back at the end.
