Video of the Day: Brakes, “Why Tell the Truth (When It’s Easier to Lie)”
Brakes, the moonlighting gig for members of British Sea Power and Electric Soft Parade, deliver an absolutely beautiful and caustic standout from Touchdown.
Dueling Apps: Pandora vs. Last.fm, Round Three — David Bowie
Having gotten my first iPhone two months ago, my main focus in collecting applications is on music and news, and the music part has been chaotic at best — while I enthusiastically downloaded apps for KCRW and Indie 103.1, I became frustrated at the number of dropouts and buffering issues I faced with both these L.A.-based alt-music powerhouses.
My best music app experiences are currently with Pandora and Last.fm. I downloaded Pandora almost instantly once I got the phone, but I was pointed to Last.fm by a friend this past weekend, and since the two services are fairly similar in format and functionality, I decided it would be interesting to take one artist each day and build stations for them on each service. I will list the first 10 songs Pandora and Last.fm deliver for each artist, and then assess which service offered the best response.
Today, it’s Aladdin Sane’s turn at the challenge.
Pandora
1. David Bowie, “Rebel Rebel” from VH1 Storytellers.
2. The Beatles, “Don’t Let Me Down.”
3. The Rolling Stones, “Ruby Tuesday.”
4. Led Zeppelin, “Fool in the Rain.”
5. David Bowie, “Heroes.”
6. The Beatles, “Norwegian Wood.”
7. The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil.”
8. David Bowie, “Where Have All the Good Times Gone.”
9. The Beatles, “Across the Universe.”
10. Pink Floyd, “Wish You Were Here.”
Pro: All of these bands are unimpeachable — I cannot complain when The Beatles pop up regularly, and Pandora’s initial response is to group Bowie with the true lions of ’60s and ’70s rock. He deserves such treatment.
Con: This plays a whole lot like a run-of-the-mill classic rock station, and when I think of Bowie, I think more of the glam rockers that sprang up around him. Sure, this is all good, but I could have gotten this out of a Rolling Stones radio station.
Last.fm
1. T.Rex, “Jeepster.”
2. Beggars Opera, “Angleus Thread.”
3. Bryan Ferry, “Time On My Hands.”
4. Slade, “Cum On Feel the Noize.”
5. Talking Heads, “Houses in Motion.”
6. New York Dolls, “Gimme Luv & Turn On the Light.”
7. Neil Young, “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere.”
8. The Velvet Underground, “The Black Angel’s Death Song.”
9. The Kinks, “Big Sky.”
10. Echo & the Bunnymen, “Pictures on My Wall.”
Pro: Now that’s more like it — a mixture of contemporaneous glam, revered heroes and followers. For extra charm, that Slade track was full of charming vinyl pops and scratches — somebody really wanted the original “Cum On Feel the Noize” in the mix.
Con: No Bowie. And I mean no Bowie. And I’m not sure why I got Wings’ “Mull of Kintyre” later in the mix. Don’t get me wrong — I love “Mull of Kintyre,” but I don’t know how we suddenly got away from androgyny and sleazy rhythms and made a side trip into the Scottish Highlands.
Advantage: Pandora played Bowie but could not capture his spirit in other selections. Last.fm was all spirit but no Bowie. The result? An unfortunate draw.
Dueling Apps: Pandora vs. Last.fm, Round Two — St. Vincent
My best iPhone music app experiences are currently with Pandora and Last.fm. I downloaded Pandora almost instantly once I got the phone, but I was pointed to Last.fm by a friend this past weekend, and since the two services are fairly similar in format and functionality, I decided it would be interesting to take one artist each day and build stations for them on each service. I will list the first 10 songs Pandora and Last.fm deliver for each artist, and then assess which service offered the best response.
Today, we see what music dares to swirl around St. Vincent.
Last.fm
1. St. Vincent, “U Call This Love.”
2. Volcano Choir, “And Gather.”
3. Andrew Bird, “Anonanimal.”
4. Dirty Projectors, “F—ed For Life.”
5. Camera Obscura, “Razzle Dazzle Rose.”
6. The Antlers, “Kettering.”
7. Regina Spektor, “Carbon Monoxide.”
8. Girls, “Laura.”
9. Mirah, “Cold Cold Water.”
10. Neko Case, “John Saw That Number.”
Pro: As we’ve come to expect, the distribution of artists on a Last.fm Top 10 is diverse, and while there is an emphasis on female artists, it’s not exclusive — plus, Andrew Bird and St. Vincent are paired for this week’s “Austin City Limits,” so good on you, music bots! Plus, while the list is aimed toward the arty, there’s room for the earthier end of the spectrum with a nice choice from Neko Case. But… and this is one colossal “but,” boys and girls…
Con: That St. Vincent track is not Annie Clark, our beloved odd goddess, but California-based singer-songwriter Vincent Bernardy, who has recorded and released music as St. Vincent. So while the songs were clearly aggregated based on Clark’s music, you don’t get Annie. Bernardy is good, but the vast, vast, vast majority of Last.fm users creating a station for St. Vincent are doing so hoping to get our illustrious “Marry Me” singer. FAIL!
Pandora, your turn!
1. St. Vincent, “Human Racing.”
2. Feist, “Secret Heart.”
3. Radiohead, “Let Down.”
4. Grizzly Bear, “Two Weeks.”
5. St. Vincent, “The Strangers.”
6. Regina Spektor, “Two Birds.”
7. Feist, “1,2,3,4.”
8. Rilo Kiley, “Paint’s Peeling.”
9.Radiohead, “Morning Bell.”
10. St. Vincent, “The Party.”
Pro: A solid selection — Feist and Regina Spektor fit generally well with St. Vincent (and as you can see, these are Annie Clark tracks), and the addition of proggy male acts such as Grizzly Bear and Radiohead diversifies the list somewhat. This is an eminently easy listen, and continued to be well into the next 10.
Con: A little too repetitive, and while it might be a tad churlish to complain about getting 3 of 10 directly from the requested act (especially after Last.fm), a wider range of acts is out there — go get Annie some more new friends, Pandora!
Advantage: Pandora by TKO.
Movie Review: “Michael Jackson’s This Is It”
Rating: 72
Doubters have every reason to be skeptical about “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” mainly because it was assembled in less than four months and carries all the warning signs of both a cynical cash grab and a maudlin lionization of a dead superstar. But “This Is It” confounds expectations by delivering an often fascinating look behind the scenes of what could have been the most talked-about comeback of the year, but now stands as an oddly compelling coda.
The chief message of “This Is It,” directed by Jackson’s choreographer and “High School Musical” director Kenny Ortega, is that Jackson was not screwing around with these preparations for a 50-date stand at London’s O2 Arena. Compiled from dozens of hours of footage shot during rehearsals at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theatre, “This Is It” shows Jackson looking noticeably frail but still in surprising command of his talents and faculties. The truth is, he sounded like he had lost almost none of his vocal ability, and his dancing — even at age 50 — was still something to behold.
All of this comes as a shock not just due to the circumstances surrounding his death in June, but because Jackson spent the last 15 years or so of his professional life as an unreliable performer. He would frequently cut short scheduled appearances or simply cancel them outright. But “This Is It” reveals that Jackson was preparing to sing a front-to-back collection of his biggest hits, and do so in a way that would remind everyone of why they cared about this peculiar, troubled but undeniably great pop singer.
Preproduction footage for the “This Is It” concert presentation supplies the documentary with far more than just behind-the-scenes moments. In one sequence, Jackson is inserted into a film noir scene with Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson, and another offers a new, Ortega-directed zombie sequence for “Thriller” that would have been seen by concertgoers in 3-D. It suffers next to John Landis’ iconic music video, but it shows that the finished concert experience, if Jackson came through with his plans, could have lived up to the hype.
Perhaps most instructive are the scenes in which Jackson is schooling his dancers and musicians on the fine points of his songs and presentation. Jackson would insist that instrumental parts for hits such as “Billie Jean,” “Smooth Criminal” and “Beat It” be painstakingly recreated. In one scene, Jackson goes over an almost imperceptibly subtle difference between how musical director and keyboardist Michael Bearden plays the keyboard part from “The Way You Make Me Feel” and the 1987 original. He was a strange little taskmaster, and after some back-and-forth on the part, Jackson lays down the law: “I want it like I wrote it.”
But he can also be seen offering almost parental encouragement. When 24-year-old Australian guitar sorceress Orianthi Panagaris plays a fiery version of “Black or White,” Jackson keeps pushing her to go farther with the fleet-fingered finale, saying “This is your time to shine.”
In the final third of “This Is It,” Ortega proves too indulgent with his subject — some sequences are overlong and offer nothing new to understanding Jackson’s methods. While many fans will certainly thrill at the revelation that their hero could still deliver the goods as a singer and dancer, it is those nuts-and-bolts moments, where Jackson is combing through the details of this massive production, that make “This Is It” so interesting and entertaining.
It is easy to forget that Jackson, when he was truly engaged in what mattered, was a notorious perfectionist during the recordings of “Off the Wall” and “Thriller.” “This Is It” proves that while Jackson was plagued by issues too voluminous to chronicle here, he badly wanted this comeback. If Jackson had lived, he might have gotten it.
Dueling Apps: Pandora vs. Last.fm, Round One — The Smiths
Having gotten my first iPhone two months ago, my main focus in collecting applications is on music and news, and the music part has been chaotic at best — while I enthusiastically downloaded apps for KCRW and Indie 103.1, I became frustrated at the number of dropouts and buffering issues I faced with both these L.A.-based alt-music powerhouses.
My best music app experiences are currently with Pandora and Last.fm. I downloaded Pandora almost instantly once I got the phone, but I was pointed to Last.fm by a friend this past weekend, and since the two services are fairly similar in format and functionality, I decided it would be interesting to take one artist each day and build stations for them on each service. I will list the first 10 songs Pandora and Last.fm deliver for each artist, and then assess which service offered the best response.
Let’s mope a bit, Pandora, with The Smiths!
1. The Smiths, “Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.”
2. The Cure, “A Forest.”
3. Morrissey, “The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get.”
4. New Order, “Love Vigilantes.”
5. The Smiths, “I Want the One I Can’t Have.”
6. The Cure, “Close To Me.”
7. Pixies, “Here Comes Your Man.”
8. Morrissey, “Piccadilly Palare.”
9. Radiohead, “High and Dry.”
10. The Smiths, “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish.”
Pro: Pandora is great at delivering the actual artist requested, so a full 50 percent of the first 10 songs Pandora spit out were either Smiths or Morrissey, so Pandora is fairly literal-minded in its delivery. As for the balance, I mostly got contemporaneous post-modern rock from the mid-to-late ’80s, including the indispensable New Order track “Love Vigilantes” and two Cure tracks. The clear outlier here is Radiohead’s “High and Dry,” which was from 1995, but stylistically it meshes nicely with the rest of the classics in this 10.
Con: Pandora could be a little more far-reaching in its selections — even the most mediocre radio programmer could group The Smiths, New Order and The Cure in their sleep. I would have liked to see some less-obvious followers such as the Smoking Popes or Girl in a Coma.
And now, Last.fm, strangeways, here we come!
1. The Cure, “Close To Me.”
2. Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”
3. The Smiths, “Vicar in a Tutu.”
4. Echo & the Bunnymen, “Ocean Rain (Live).”
5. The Libertines, “Hey Yankee.”
6. Television, “See No Evil.”
7. Queen and David Bowie, “Under Pressure.”
8. The Libertines, “If Wishes Were Horses.”
9. The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Just Like Honey.”
10. Echo & the Bunnymen, “Thorn of Crowns.”
Pro: Last.fm seems historically more geared to delivering artists like your requested singer or band, not toward delivering that artist specifically, and so what we have here is exactly one Smiths song — and not an obvious one — and a good mixture of contemporaries, progenitors (Television!) and followers. I’m normally not a fan of these services pulling live tracks when a studio version is readily available, but I had never heard the 2001 live version of Echo’s “Ocean Rain,” from “Live in Liverpool,” and it was nothing short of majestic, so hats off.
Con: If you wanted to hear the Smiths, you got a mere taste, and (cue Seinfeld delivery), “What is the deal with ‘Close To Me’?” Also, I’m not entirely sure how “Under Pressure” thrives on this particular musical planet. I love it, but it seems out of place in this grouping.
Advantage: Last.fm for thinking outside the timeline and offering a tad more context. This delivered a more interesting and less predictable listening experience.
Flaming Lips on KCRW
A great set on KCRW features an excellent and faithful rendition of Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse” — a preview of the full “Dark Side of the Moon” cover the band is currently discussing.
Them Crooked Vultures, “New Fang”
For those not fully paying attention, Them Crooked Vultures is Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones, and “New Fang,” the leadoff track from the trio’s self-titled debut (due Nov. 17) sounds exactly like all three.
This is what happens when a) Robert Plant dithers on the Led Zeppelin tour, b) Dave Grohl gets edged out by Jason Bonham for that one-off in London, and c) everyone (hopefully) thinks better of that whole Myles Kennedy-led Zeppelin tour idea/rumor.
Video of the Day: Lights, “Fire Night”
Apparently, Wiccans dig the Chic bass lines.
Video of the Day: Weezer, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To”
In this video for Weezer’s insanely ear-wormy new single, Odette Yustman (“Cloverfield”) causes untold carnage through her insurmountable power of distraction, which makes sense in the grand scheme of current starlets, because Yustman makes Megan Fox look like Edward G. Robinson.
Video of the Day: The Who, “I Can’t Explain”
Thanks again to Roger Daltrey for an excellent master class at ACM@UCO — not only was it an opportunity to be in the presence of rock greatness, but he offered great insights for the ACM students. As many people mentioned on Facebook last night and this morning, amazing things are happening in this city.
