We here at Aural Standards are particularly partial to songs about our city, and “Los Angeles” by friend-of-the-blog Liza Oppenheimer is a new fave. We’ve also got a certain affinity for all (er, most) things Dustin Hoffman, so upon learning that the Dee Robertson-directed video for this folksy jangler would pay a little tribute to Midnight Cowboy, well, we were elated. Check out the clip below, and then learn a little more from Liza after the jump.
Alright, enough with the third person. I am very proud to share that after nearly three years of freelancing for the very publication that inspired me to scribble about music in the first place, I am going full-time with SPIN starting now with the title Senior Writer. (Unofficially, you might also refer to me as West Coast Dude.) So that means fewer updates here, but it also means virtually all of my work will be appearing in one place anyway, so who needs a blog? Read SPIN. Gonna be a lot of news stories, some shared songs and videos, and a great deal of old school reportage, so keep up over there as we kick off a new chapter of web dominance. Match me, Sidney! So begins my year(s) of living dangerously.
One in a two-part series of Big Thangz Poppin’ for Aural Standards. We are tickled pink to announce that Oscilloscope Laboratories, the film distro. co. co-founded by the late great Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, has acquired North American rights to It’s a Disaster. This is, of course, our most recent music supervision project with the brilliant Vacationeers team headed up by Todd Berger. Oscilloscope has also recently gotten behind the LCD Soundsystem documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits, and one of our favorites*, Bellflower. What does this mean? We’ll be in theaters and on demand early next year. This comes thanks to an extremely strong showing at the L.A. Film Fest. Whoo!
Yes yes yes yes. A video that includes 3-D avatars having acrobatic sex. A song that includes the words “gotta get my brains outside of my face.” An interview that hinges upon terms like “vintage internet,” “sea punk” and “ayahuasca,” plus includes the following choice quote: “If you think you’ve seen the dark side of the internet, you haven’t seen shit until you’re on the porn message board circuit trying to figure out how to make 3-D figures fuck.” Loyal readers know Aural Standards has been backing Wallpaper since the VERY BEGINNING, so we’re pumped to have this up on the SPIN homepage right now. #tehinternetz
This is NOT the video in question, but also involves creative use of upchuck:
The headline kinda says it all, but if you’d like to read an 803-word version of it, may we suggest the full-length SPIN review of the new album II by the new band Nude Beach? You can read that yon, and an excerpt right here:
Brooklyn doesn’t always breed bands like Nude Beach — bands without DJ nights or vintage synth gear or famous friends or food blogs. But though this power trio(!) calls the big borough home, BK didn’t breed them. No, Chuck, Ryan, and Jimmy are Long Island boys, children of a village called Northport, the kind of place that only winds up on the news when enough of its manhole covers are jacked for scrap to make it a national concern. And the kind of place that held onto its Reagan-era heartland rock well into the Clinton age. Which is to say, through the formative years of Misters Betz, Naideau, and Shelto, respectively. The three played Rancid-inspired punk together as teens, but after recording a fun but messy self-titled tape in 2008, they’ve returned with II, an album that excises the oi! in favor of those other influences, of songs with easy-rolling guitar solos and keywords like “baby,” “radio,” and “dreams.”
We’ve joined SPIN’s Twitter reviews team. Watch us completely dismiss or irresponsibly champion an album in 140 characters or less! In all (well, some) seriousness, we’re pretty sure there’s an art to this–like a haiku for assholes who like the sound of their own quickly jotted words ricocheting off of the intensely labored-over musical works of our time. Anyway, check these out:
This one’s been out for a minute, but we never got around to sharing our SPIN review of Lex Hives. There’s an excerpt (below). And here’s the rest of it.
A fresh album [is just] 12 excuses to get the band back out on the road so they can deliver what live guitar music needs in the Chillwave Era: a hearty kick to the mid-pelvis, to that spot where balls go when they’re not being used.
First things first. Twenty years ago, friends, this happened:
We were a tender 10 years old at the time, but Bay Area born and bred, so you best believe those lovelorn, summertime emanations beat on our rap-seasoned eardrums. Which is why it was a particularly special pleasure to interview Fatlip and Slimkid3, responsible for the most memorable verses on “Passin’ Me By,” as well as producer J-Swift and Delicious Vinyl head Mike Ross, about the birth of that unusual ode to unrequited love and its legacy since. Our favorite insight:
“I found Quincy Jones’ ‘Summer in the City’ and a second loop that I can’t remember. We were gonna do two beats and Bootie Brown was like, ‘Man, let’s just combine them.’ So we did that, and then we ended up renting The Doors. We were on shrooms or some shit, all wigged out watching Val Kilmer transform into Jim Morrison, and right after, Fatlip walks into the booth and starts screaming like Morrison: ‘She keeps on passin’ me by!'” — J-Swift
So if you haven’t already, bounce over to SPIN to read the entire thing.
Happy to report that we attended the two-day EDM bacchanal known as HARD Summer, and actually lived to tell the story. Check out the excellent gallery over at SPIN, featuring the photography of our frequent partner in festivalling, Erik Voake. Artists covered include: Skrillex, Boys Noize, Bloc Party, Nero, A-Trak, AraabMuzik, Danny Brown, Action Bronson, 12th Planet, James Murphy, Dillon Francis, Bootsy Collins, and Squarepusher (with a shout-out to Poolside). Dig in!
We’ve joined SPIN’s Twitter reviews team. Watch us completely dismiss or irresponsibly champion an album in 140 characters or less! In all (well, some) seriousness, we’re pretty sure there’s an art to this–like a haiku for assholes who like the sound of their own quickly jotted words ricocheting off of the intensely labored-over musical works of our time. Anyway, we’re behind on updates, so here’s a boat-load for your brief enjoyment, via the SPIN site. (See part one.)
Chris Writes Things 