IN THE NEWS

Jay Reatard doesn’t seem to be having much luck with people lately. It’s been only two months since his rhythm section defected to Wavves (who’s frontman Nathan Williams is also far from a people person) and last night during a gig in Austin, Jay got attacked by two fans, in a place called Emo’s no less. The drunken pair were perturbed when Reatard, only forty minutes in, announced that the next would be his final song (apparently they weren’t aware that the garage popster is notorious for his short shows) and decided to take matters into their own hands.

When the first one rushed the stage, he gave little trouble to the bouncers, and the band admirably kept playing (though it’s unlikely it was as impressive as this). However, after the first’s initial failure, another fan must have felt for his drunken comrade and blindsided Reatard, actually getting a hit in. Reatard, luckily, wasn’t seriously injured. He retaliated with his mic stand angrily ended the gig, reportedly flicking off the audience as security took the attacker off stage.

Strangely, the two aggressors were apprehended after the show as the rest of the audience was leaving the building, meaning they stuck around to see if the show was actually finished. What was going through their heads, the possibility of Jay returning with a black eye, playing an encore for the guy who tried to punch him in the face and the guy who successfully punched him in the face? That the crowd would go wild, and our heroes would be praised for keeping the punk spirit alive? Surprisingly, no, that’s not what happened. They were promptly arrested.

Also, why did they think that a Jay Reatard show was a good place to throw down? Although Reatard’s pop isn’t pristine or anything, (you can hear some Stooges and The Jam in there), it’s hardly bringing back the days of 77. Some would like to use this incident to attest otherwise, but if this had happened in, say, D.C. during the early 80’s, would anyone have cared? Besides, fighting bands was a stupid byproduct of punk’s aggression to begin with. Everybody knows that if you are drunk and needlessly aggressive at a show, the right thing to do is find an opponent that is equally as drunk and needlessly aggressive as you are, not the band you paid money to see – didn’t anyone learn anything from their moms?

by Geoff Anstey

FRESH BAKED
in NYC
Total Slacker
Total Slacker Demo
2009 | fmly rcrds
N/A (Disqualified: Too Young)

What am I supposed to do with this debut demo from Brooklyn’s Total Slacker, which, from what I gather, is one of the first recordings from any band heavily inspired by 2009 buzz bands. The demo, just five songs, are rough, home recordings of fuzzed out, slowed down Wavves songs. And by Wavves, I mean WAVVES, not WAVVVES (the preceding sentence is composed almost exclusively of homonyms – this is why I’m growing excited about Nathan Williams’ ongoing career).

If Waaves is lo-fi surf rock, then Total Slacker, as they stand right now, is the closest we’ll get to lo-fi jam rock; they replace the sped up distorted scales found on “So Bored” with the lazily distorted blues riffs of “Taco People.” They take the same Nathan Williams amateur drawing stylings that crafted such wonderful images as stoned Garfield, and draw a little skateboarder. They do away with Wavves’ constant lyrical references to drugs and boredom instead referencing something called a “Psychic Mesa,” and seem to hold some kind of belief in err…uhh…taco people. I don’t know what it means, just like I don’t know what Phish means when they express a desire to run like an antelope, out of control. Antelope are fairly orderly creatures, just as human beings are not meat filled tortillas.

But, all kidding aside, there is something simple and endearing about Total Slacker, even as they are obviously a little amateur – this is a demo, what do we expect? The three-some sounds confident about the languid pace of their music, the swimmingly buried bass lines, and the comedic, seemingly improvised lyrics. The hooks and riffs are written to put smiles on people’s faces, and the band makes no attempt a trying to take that higher. “These Condos Don’t Belong,” the second track of the demo, has a blown out chorus, screeching female vocals, and a solid stream of “ooo ooo”’s, which is as cute as it is awesome. Will they change the world? Not with these songs. Are they a fairly fresh, fun Brooklyn garage band? Hell yeah.
More on Total Slacker | Total Slacker Demo

Belle and Sebastian Tease at New Album On Their Website; Everything About this Tease is Completely Twee, From a Cute Little Pun, to a Cute Little Hat on Cute Little Stuart Murdoch’s Cute Little Head [Tiny Mix Tapes]

Stream Will “Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy” Oldham Playing I See a Darkness Highlight “Death to Everyone” Live; Oldham’s Live Album, Funtown Comedown, Released December 15, But Instead of Purchasing It, You Should Probably Just Re-Realize Just How Great I See a Darkness Is, Play it Several Times, Grow Depressed, and then Listen to Phoenix to Get Over It [Pitchfork]

Okkervil River Spin-off/Grandiose Folk Band Shearwater Announce Sixth Album, The Golden Archipelago, Released February 15 [Matablog]

Yeasayer Pioneer Technically Advanced Way of Making a NSFW Music Video, By Allowing You, the User, to Interact With Tripped Out Naked People; It’s Web 2.0, People…I Refuse to Be Impressed Until the Web Itself Conjures Up the Kind of Nudity I’d Like to Interact With While Listening to “Ambling Alp” (Hint, Internet: It’s Shania Twain) [Stereogum]

Jelly’s Pool Parties (Those Free Concerts at the Williamsburg Waterfront) Are in Trouble – But Where Else Will Jay, Solange, and Beyonce Go During Those Hot Summer Months? Where Else Can You See Music in Williamsburg?! Someone Think of the Children! (But Seriously, These Things are a Blast…Show Your Support and Email Senator Charles Schumer) [Brooklyn Vegan]

Watch Pleasantly Surreal Video for Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourgs’ “Heaven Can Wait,” Which Features Boxing, a Deformed Pygmy Gorilla, a Half-Shaved Beard, Astronaut Pancakes, and a Man Bathing in Fruity Pebbles (Perhaps Most Surprisingly, Proves Gainsbourg to Have Quite the Tennis Backhand; Good Form, Charlotte!) [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Lou Reed, Mo Tucker, Doug Yule, and David Fricke to Lead Discussion at New York Public Library on the History of The Velvet Underground on December 8, and Tickets Are Already Sold Out. This is All Well and Good, But Where’s John Cale? I’m Waiting For That Man (C’mon! Gimme a laugh; I’m Desperate Here) [NME]

Remember Those Poor Members of Jay Reatard’s Band Who Left Due to Jay’s Tyrannically Obnoxious Personality? They Joined Equally Tyrannical and Obnoxious Wavves. Elsewhere, I Believe I Have Proof of an Innate Human Desire for Masochism. [Pitchfork]

compiled by Max Sebela

The Second Annual Beatles Complete Ukulele Festival Will Take Place on December 5 and 6 in Williamsburg; Every Beatles Song Will Be Played on the Ukulele…And All Money Goes to Yoko Ono (Last Year, It Went to Warren Buffet); All Reading This Ought Be As Confused As I Am [Jezebel Music]

Stream a Re-Recording of Wavvves Cut “To the Dregs,” and a New Wavves Song “Horse Sholes” – Have an Existential Crisis Over the Fact that You Don’t Really Hate Wavves Anymore, As Zach Hill Brings Much-Needed Chops to the Project; Feel Dejected; Claim to Hate Wavves Anyway [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Brooklyn Over-Hyped But Endlessly Catchy Dance-Pop Duo MGMT Title Upcoming LP Congratulations, As In: Congratulations, MGMT, You’ve Succeeded in Making a Typically Boring Album Title [Pitchfork]

Watch The Flaming Lips Cover Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse;” You Decide What’s More Entertaining: The Cover, or Wayne Coyne’s Self-Absorbed, Convinced-He’s-Funny Babbling [Stereogum]

Cash Money Records Says Lil Wayne Will Release Two Albums Before The End of 2009; The Rebirth, The Much-Delayed Weezy-Goes-Rock Album, and Tha Carter 4, The Follow-Up to Wayne’s Lauded 2008 Offering…My Guess: Neither Will Come Out and I Just Wasted Time Writing These Sentences [Pitchfork]

Beyonce Cancels a Show in Malaysia Due to Malaysia’s Islamic Conservative Party’s Concerns That She Might Promote “Western Sexy Performances;” I’m Outraged Over Use of the Word “Might” in That Sentence. All The Woman Does is Western Sexy Performances [Billboard]

U2 Frontman Bono Believes President Obama is Having Difficult Time, Realizes the Harsh Reactions Obama Faced When Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Doesn’t Know No One Gives a Shit About His Political Opinions, and Just Wants Him to Sing “With or Without You” In Front of Some Starving Kids [Idolator]

Watch Spike Jonze’s New Short Film Starring Kanye West, We Were Once a Fairytale; Features Kanye Being Hilariously Douche-y, Getting Really Drunk, And Then Vomiting Rose Petals With This Little Monster…So It’s Just Like the Real Kanye [NME]

No Age, Rain Machine (TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone), Mew, and Jay Reatard All Opening for Pixies Doolittle Shows; Universal Agreement Made That This Concert Will Be “Very Good” (Alternatively, “Beyond Satisfactory”) [CMJ]

compiled by Max Sebela

DAILY NEWS PICKS

Lily Allen, Who Recently Quit Music, Reissues Some of Her Music, Performs Music With Dizzee Rascal, Seems Completely Immersed In Music [Idolator]

Portishead Working On Follow-Up to Last Year’s Third; “It Could Be Out In a Year’s Time,” Meaning It Hopefully Won’t Take Another Decade [Pitchfork]

Stream Karen O’s Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack In Full; Feel All Fuzzy Inside, Grow Tired of the Seemingly Constant Clap Tracks [Stereogum]

British Post-Punk Dudes The Futureheads Working On a “Complicated” New Album; I Can’t Decide If It Would Be Sweeter If It Were This Kind Of Complicated, Or Some Other, More Complex Kind of Complicated [Prefix]

UK MC Lady Sovereign Arrested In Australia After Spitting In Someone’s Face; According To Twitter, Sovereign Believes Spitting “Nasty,” But Being Punched In the Head, Nastier [NME]

Watch New Andrew Bird Video For “Anonanimal” – Does This Remind Anyone Else of Day of the Tentacle? 90s Point And Click Adventure Game Fans? Too Niche? Guys? [Rolling Stone]

Stream Upcoming Air Album Love 2 In It’s Entirety; Simultaneously, See Who Else Is Currently Streaming Love 2 (Currently, There’s One Person In Siberia Listening, Probably Trying To Warm Up With Some Sweet, Breathy Air) [Prefix]

Nathan Williams From Wavves and Jared Swiley From Black Lips Got Into a Bit of a Scuffle, And Somehow Williams Won (Sort Of…He’s Just A Little Guy); Swiley Continually Calls Williams The F- Word (No, The Other, Really Bad F- Word) [Brooklyn Vegan]

Hey It’s Monday, We’re All Feeling A Little Down…Here’s A Couple New Sufjan Stevens Songs; Oh No, Now I’m Feeling Really Down [Pitchfork]

Stream Devendra Banhart’s Awesome Remix of Phoenix’s “Rome” – Devendra Being Good At Remixing Is Always Surprising, Like Remembering Cher Won An Oscar [Gorilla vs. Bear]

Watch Video For Taken By Trees’ (Victoria Bergsman, That Girl Who Whistles and Sings on “Young Folks”) Cover of Animal Collective’s Merriweather Banger “My Girls,” Re-imagined As “My Boys” (Its Stupid. Plain and Simple) [Stereogum]

compiled by Max Sebela

THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

MON, SEPT. 21

Rain Machine
The Bell House
7:30 PM, $15, 21+
In case you haven’t heard, TV On The Radio is going on a yearlong hiatus to pursue some of their other projects. But you won’t be hurting for music from these guys – Kyp Malone, for one, is already going full-force on his new project, Rain Machine. His album drops on Tuesday, and this show at The Bell House kicks of a month-long US tour. Hells yeah, this should be pretty interesting.

TUES, SEPT. 22

The Drums, Knight School, Kordan
The Mercury Lounge
8:00 PM, $10, 21+
I’ve yet to see Knight School live, (though I desperately want to), but I will tell you that The Drums and Kordan played our JM.com Feature Show in July and had the crowd in a frenzy. I hate to use the word “poppy,” but The Drums are just the poppiest, most endearing live band I’ve seen in a while. They combine eighties synth with a fifties girl group sound and sing songs about the beach. They even whistle. The whole thing is terribly cute, but not in a gross way.
More on This Week In Shows

Bob Dylan Picked Up By Police While Wandering Into A Jersey Front Yard, Mistaken For Vagrant; ABC Makes Unreported Conjecture That Dylan May Have Been Looking For The House Where Springsteen Wrote Born To Run [ABC News]

Radiohead Officially Releases “These Are My Twisted Words” As Free, High Quality MP3 Download; But What About WallofIce.Com? (Every Time You Hit That Link, Thom Yorke Cries) [Dead Air Space]

Watch Pulp Fiction Director Quentin Tarantino Talk Inglourious Basterds Soundtrack/Explain How He Picks a Good “Rape Scene” Song [Spin]

Brooklyn’s Dirty Projectors Announce Temecula Sunrise EP With Two Unreleased Songs; Released September 28 [Domino]

Weezer Announces Single “(If You Are Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To;” Premiers August 25 (But If You Look Hard Enough, You May Be Able To Stream It Early) [Stereogum]

San Diego’s Wavves Releases Another Zach Hill Collaboration, “Hula Hoop;” It’s Not As Good As This One, But Hill Looks Like He’s In A Hilarious Amount of Pain When He’s Drumming [Wavves Blog]

Memphis Session Musician Legend Jim Dickinson Passes Away [Pitchfork]

Stream Brooklyn’s Woods/Vivian Girls Side Project The Babies’ First Tracks: “All Things Come to Pass” and “Meet Me in the City” [Myspace]

L.A. Noise Band HEALTH Announces Most Awesome Contest Ever…Seriously, Buy Their Album – You Can Win A Bag of Their Cat’s Hair, Or Conference Prank Call A Prominent Indie Rocker [Prefix]

Stream Epic New Lightning Bolt Song, “Colossus;” Earthly Delights Released October 13 [Pitchfork]

compiled by Max Sebela

ART OF SONG
Wavves
“Cool Jumper”
2009 | Self-Released

Reasons to hate Wavves:

1) Everyone else does.

2) His 2009 offering Wavvves is overhyped, overwritten about, overly controversial, and simply not worth the fuss, sounding like early, Kerplunk-era Green Day with even worse recording quality, drenched in distortion.

3) He’s really into drugs – uhh…think of the children?

4) The whole meltdown thing, while funny for about a day, ultimately just proved Nathan Williams to be a better indie drama queen than Stars’ Torquil Campbell.

5) Dude still skateboards. Who does he think he is, Bob Burnquist? Buy a car, asshole.

6) He still uses the word “goth” as a descriptor, even though that term is probably now officially owned and trademarked by Hot Topic.

Reasons to like Wavves:

1) No one else does anymore.

2) “So Bored” is to 2009 guilty pleasured blog-hype as Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” was to 2008…which means it’s infectiously, almost maddeningly catchy.

3) The whole meltdown thing, while funny for about a day, ultimately helped to prove the music blogs’ need to create Madonna-like controversy around guys who are still playing D.I.Y. venues like the Market Hotel.

4) The above picture, featuring Garfield stoned, wearing a watch that reads “4:20,” with an unexplained Bart Simpson tattoo is the best thing done to that beloved comic strip since Doseone’s “NOTGarfield,” or “Garfield Minus Garfield.”

5) This song.
More on Wavves | “Cool Jumper”