Every UK rock music fan who grew up in the 90s is probably a fanboy of Charlotte Hatherley, the barefoot playing guitarist of Ash. Since departing Ash, Hatherley has embarked on a semi successful solo career (Kim Wilde was kind of a hit) but most recently has been seen alongside Natasha Khan in the band Bat for Lashes.
This February, Hatherley dropped the guitar, added the synthesizer and adopted a new alter ego – Sylver Tongue. Creatures is one of the two released singles Hatherly has under this pseudonym. Musically, Sylver Tongue is a great departure from her previous efforts, which consisted of straight up guitar based rock tracks. Creatures is dark track layered with effects, drum machines and swirling synthesizers. You can probably draw comparisons to Fever Ray which is suitable since both were produced by the same producer.
Yesterday’s trade of Ichiro to the New York Yankees marked an end of an era. At the age of 39, there is no doubt that Ichiro’s days as a Major Leaguer were coming to an end and facing another dismal season, the Mariners sent him to a contending team in hopes of getting him that elusive ring. I happened to be living in Vancouver the summer that Ichiro arrived on this side of the Atlantic and it was pandemonium. I think I made three or four trips to Seattle that summer and Ichiro-mania made everyone forget about Ken Griffey Jr. His playing style was unlike anything anyone had ever seen, the batting stance, the speed he had and the cannon arm quickly made him one of the most unique players in the history of baseball. I still remember seeing him beat out a grounder to second. It was nuts. Obviously, I was a fan.
The long time Mariner fan apparently wrote this ode to Ichiro a few years ago, but released it last night when the trade was announced. It’s classic Gibbard and really, extremely catchy track. Check it out.
Summer anthems come in many varieties. You have your too cool for school chill tracks (Friendly Fire’s Paris [Aeroplane Remix] ), straight up club tracks (Dizzee Rascal’s Holiday) and then you have your nostalgic wave lo-fi rock track. King Tuff‘s short ode to paraphernalia – Alone and Stoned fits that bill nicely.
The project of Kyle Thomas, King Tuff’s Alone and Stoned breezy garage guitars and playful lyrics brings me back to the more innocent days of youth. When you are old like me, that’s all that matters. King Tuff’s second album came out sometime this summer and is his first off sub pop. It’s pretty good and this is one of the standout tracks. Check it out.
Seeing Lee Ranaldo Band (of Sonic Youth) and Wilco play at Wolf Trap last night was like watching an anthropological documentary on ‘how bands deal with growing old.’ I don’t mean to imply the show wasn’t enjoyable– but I absolutely DO mean to imply these men are getting on in their years and that they have all employed a wide variety of tactics to deal with the inevitable phenomenon of aging.
Let’s begin with the venue as the first strategic component in a band’s attempt to deal with age gracefully. This was my first time at Wolf Trap, which is an outdoor arena that seats 7,000 in the Virginia suburbs of DC. The ambience is bucolic and mellow; concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own picnic and alcohol; the lawn is well-groomed and pristine. In other words, even if you don’t love the band or can’t see the stage that well – you’re going to have a good time eating and drinking with your friends. This takes considerable pressure off the actual performers.
Even given the lax and lazy atmosphere at the show, Lee Ranaldo Band (of Sonic Youth) was not only punctual but a little early to take the stage. Second ‘aging gracefully’ tactic: cater to your equally aging audience. No one wants to be out past midnight. There are babysitters to pay and early morning meetings to attend. There was nary a college kid in the mix at this event as far as I could tell. And the third tactic: leverage your past. At first, I found it a bit sad Lee Ranaldo had to include the (of Sonic Youth) parenthesis after his name, just to be sure people knew who he was. But on second thought, why not take advantage of your past success? The man worked hard to be an 80’s rock star. Why let that slip away?
And to be fair, Lee Ranaldo Band played a great and relevant set. They were only up on stage for thirty minutes – but rocked out (gently) the entire time, even including a song about the Occupy movement and the rise of the new left. I didn’t exactly ‘want more’ when they made their exit, but I thought the half hour performance was quite nice.
Wilco came to the stage right around 9 PM and more than made up for Lee Ranaldo’s short set by playing a full two hours. Given the band’s long history, they had more than enough material to fill the time, including Born Alone and I Might – but honestly I felt that they overstayed their welcome a bit (thus violating strategic tactic 2). However, the band did employ some amazing stage set-up tactics that made the show a bit more interesting. The band had festooned the stage with knotted white ropes that looked a bit like those ghosts kids make at school during Halloween. They had then choreographed a phenomenal light show (including moving bird and animal shadows, spinning rainbows, strobe lights, and glitter effects) that bounced off the hanging white ‘bodies’ to make a truly spectacular kaleidoscope-like backdrop. Also, for the win, they had a man-sized wooden owl sitting on stage that did nothing but blink calmly at the audience the entire time. If I remember nothing about the somewhat underwhelming music at this concert in a few months, that owl will stick with me. So I guess the fourth ‘aging gracefully’ tactic we can learn from this is: hire a great stage manager. It can make all the difference.
