Month: February 2011

Categories
VIDEOS

Film At 11: Those Darlins

“I may have girly parts/But I got a boy’s heart.” This line, so honest it’s unexpected, seems to encapsulate Those Darlins‘ aesthetic pretty well. And as far as we’re concerned, it’s refreshing, though, not because it’s slightly shocking. No, it’s refreshing because there’s truth in the line, in the same way there is when the Darlins sing, “You just wanna stick it in.” To be sure, looking too far into these lyrics sort of misses the point—besides opining on gender relations, Those Darlins appear to be just as intent on shilling for an insouciant party lifestyle—but the message is telegraphed nonetheless. This relaxed toughness, alongside the band’s infectious blend of country-tinged garage punk, is what makes Those Darlins stand out today. They’re just as boisterous as they are thoughtful—”the real thing,” if you will, though we’d wager the Darlins would hate that descriptor. “Be Your Bro,” the song in which these lyrics reside, is the first single from Screws Get Loose. The band’s second record, it arrives March 29 on its own awesomely titled Oh Wow Dang label.

Categories
TIVO PARTY TONIGHT

TiVo Party Tonight: The Mountain Goats, Travie McCoy, Twilight Singers, Lucero, G. Love

Ever wonder what will happen during the last five minutes of late-night TV talk shows? Here are tonight’s notable performers:

The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS): The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats are plugging forthcoming album All Eternals Deck.

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (NBC): Travie McCoy
Gym Class Heroes’ Travie McCoy is supporting debut solo LP Lazarus.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC): The Twilight Singers
The band started as a side project by Afghan Whigs founder Greg Dulli is promoting brand new album Dynamite Steps.

Last Call With Carson Daly (NBC): Lucero
Lucero is performing “Sixes & Sevens” from 2009’s 1372 Overton Park.

Last Call With Carson Daly (NBC): G. Love
Philly’s own is supporting day-old album Fixin’ To Die.

Categories
GUEST EDITOR

From The Desk Of The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris: Math

Gary Louris and Mark Olson left Jayhawks fans in a lurch when they parted ways rather abruptly in 1995. Turns out Olson had tired of all the obligations and trappings that came with the Minneapolis-spawned group’s hard-won success. So he escaped to the Mojave Desert to ply a rootsier, salt-of-the-earth trade with the help of wife Victoria Williams. Ah, but time—and perhaps a little fiscal motivation—has a way of smoothing over the rough patches in many productive creative partnerships. (Unless you’re Bob Mould and Grant Hart.) And 15 years later, the Jayhawks have returned to us more-or-less fully intact. For how long, no one really knows, but they just did a string of shows to back the enhanced reissues of 1992’s Hollywood Town Hall and 1995’s Tomorrow The Green Grass (American/Legacy). With their sugary (if unrefined) harmonies, rugged intelligence and casual accessibility, the albums are to the alt-country movement what One Of These Nights and Hotel California were to ’70s SoCal country rock—even if the comparably modest sales figures may not indicate as much. Louris and Olson will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with Louris.

Louris: I love math because, again, there is one correct answer. In writing a song, there are so many different ways that it could work that it can drive you crazy. You have to trust your gut. But there is no one correct answer in music. You can get damn close sometimes, though. I also believe that math is very helpful for a musician, whether in the songwriting realm or the instrument-playing realm.

Video after the jump.

Continue reading “From The Desk Of The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris: Math”
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FREE MP3s

MP3 At 3PM: The Fleshtones

It’s hard to believe it’s been 35 since garage rockers the Fleshtones formed in Queens, N.Y. Peter Zaremba and Co. return March 15 with Brooklyn Sound Solution (Yep Roc), which boasts a guest appearance by Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye. The Fleshtones kick off a month-long North American tour March 11 in Lexington, Ky. Download an mp3 of Brooklyn Sound Solution single “Bite Of My Soul,” which Zaremba says he’s had in his head for a quarter century and finally finished last year while moving his lawn. “It takes about two hours to mow this lawn,” Zaremba said. “Not because it’s big but because I didn’t have a lot of money and I bought a small mower.”

“Bite Of My Soul” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/BiteOfMySoul.mp3

Categories
TAKE COVER!

Take Cover! The Morning Benders Vs. The Cardigans

When is a cover song better than the original? Only you can decide. This week the Morning Benders take on the Cardigans’ “Lovefool.” MAGNET’s Ryan Burleson pulls the pin. Take cover!

Re-visiting “Lovefool” makes me very nostalgic. Arriving in 1996 with an irresistibly saccharine gusto, the song dominated pop-culture conversations for months. We heard it on the way to class (yours truly was a freshman in high school), at lunch and at night on MTV. We heard it as a central piece of Baz Luhrmann’s modernist take on Romeo + Juliet, a film with an imprint on the collective teen mind in those days that only barely overshadowed that of the song’s. “Lovefool” didn’t break any new ground, per se, but breaking new ground wasn’t really the point. It rarely is when it comes to pop music.

The sunny disposition of “Lovefool,” despite its lovelorn lyrics, is, in a way, odd considering its source. Peter Svensson, who co-wrote the single with singer Nina Persson, played in heavy-metal bands before founding the Cardigans. And while this scrap of group history might seem banal, it’s worth mentioning if for no other reason than it reveals the multifarious capabilities of this band, whose diverse palette has produced some of the best pop/rock albums of the last two decades. “Lovefool” will forever be the Cardigans’ popular legacy, to be sure, but the band’s loyal followers know better; that single, while undeniably great, only skirted the surface of the Cardigans’ potential.

If you’ve heard “Excuses” then you understand the Morning Benders know something about potential, too. Leading off the young band’s second LP, Big Echoes, which was released this time last year, that song is every bit as well-arranged and catchy as “Lovefool,” a gleaming representation of principal songwriter Christopher Chu’s obsession with vintage California pop and the band’s taste for texture and experimentation one in the same. That dynamic extends to the Benders’ lovely, understated cover of “Lovefool,” too, making this week’s winner anything but easy to predict.

Cast your vote wisely.

The Cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtsvvLF3p2M

The Original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUIElvJRyNU

[poll id=”169″]