Indie Music Chatter

I have such an intense crush on Kathleen Hanna. So big in fact, that I follow every single thing she’s done — from Bikini Kill to her Julie Ruin project to Le Tigre.

I am tremendously in love with Le Tigre’s self titled album that I had no choice but to remove the album from my iPod. I kept coming back to that album so much that I had this tremendous backlog of albums that I never got to listen to in my player, so the painful decision to remove the source of my addiction. And the one song that I consistently play among all the other songs in that album? Deceptacon.

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Now playing: TV On The Radio - Province
via FoxyTunes

Kathleen Hanna, Le Tigre, Bikini Kill

Chan Marshall’s Cat Power alter ego is one of my favorites. Her folkie low-fi music is a perfect partner to those slow languid nights nursing a bottle of beer, or even better, a nice glass of cognac.

One of her best releases was 2000’s Covers Record. Marshall covered some well known songs from other artist but put a very distinctive and personal spin to each. Some people may see doing covers as a cop out but, singing a cover is a work of art in and of itself. How do you interpret songs that are so firmly attached to the original artists? How do you put yourself into a song without totally removing the elements that made that song memorable in the first place? I think the Covers Record managed to do all of these with effortless grace.

I think Marshall did realize that what she did with the Covers Record was special enough to demand a repeat. The “seque” (for lack of a better word) to the Covers Record is, according to Marshall herself, slated to be released January of next year. Although she did not mention any specific songs that will be included in the album, she did say that she is choosing from among 24 songs.

I’m taking out my Cat Power CDs as I wait for this potentially brilliant album to be released.

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Now playing: Ride - Leave Them All Behind
via FoxyTunes

Cat Power, Chan Marshall, Covers Record

My Amazon orders arrived today and finally got Snow Patrol’s Final Straw and Blue Screen Life, the second album from Pinback.

Now, one of the biggest mysteries for me is why Pinback is not even getting big. Even my friends who listen to basically the same stuff as I do never mention Pinback. They never got excited when I told them that Autumn of The Seraphs, their newest album, will be released September of this year. They do not even share my general enthusiasm for Pinback’s music.

I love Death Cab for Cutie and I think Ben Gibbard is a genius but Pinback has as much right to get as big as Death Cab, if not more. Zach Smith and Rob Crow are music geniuses. I personally think they are two of the most innovative artists ever to collaborate. I do hope that at some point in the future they finally get the recognition they so justly deserve.

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Now playing: Pinback - Good To Sea
via FoxyTunes

Pinback, Blue Screen Life, Autumn of The Seraphs, Death Cab for Cutie

It looks like Ian Curtis is not the only tragic rock icon to get the big screen treatment. The late great Kurt Cobain (who still remains as one of my greatest music heroes) is the subject of a documentary that will be released this year. In fact, the release date has been bumped up so that it can possibly be considered for an Oscar nomination (what would the anti-establishment Cobain think about being used to get an Oscar nom?).

According to a message that director A.J. Schnack posted online, the documentary entitled Kurt Cobain: About A Son is slated to open in Los Angeles, New York and Seattle this coming October.

The documentary will feature the audio of a series of interviews Cobain granted to Michael Azerrad as material for his book Come As You Are.

To add some more indie cred to the documentary, the film score will be co-written by Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard.
I am so gonna watch this.

Kurt Cobain, Death Cab for Cutie, Come As You Are

I am quite stoked about Control, the new film and directorial debut of Anton Corbijn. Control is the biopic of the enigmatic Ian Curtis, the frontman of seminal band Joy Division who committed suicide on the eve of their US tour. Curtis has, over the years, become a rock icon and legend and the influence of Joy Division is being felt in the present crop of bands (Interpol, Editors, Killers, The Bravery, The Rakes) that are, for better or worse, channeling Joy Division’s unique post punk vision.

Corbijn, a lifelong Joy Division fan, is a wonderful choice to make the biopic. I have always respected his unique vision and I am quite confident that he will deliver solidly on this film.

Ian Curtis, Joy Division, Anton Corbijn