Casiokids

There is something about the phrase "dance music" that makes me throw my defenses up quicker than a corporate CEO caught red-handed orchestrating a Ponzi scheme. See, despite knowing better, I still associate "dance music" with trashy clubs downtown with V.I.P. areas that amount to nothing more than a velveteen rope around a semi-circle booth where you pay for overpriced, watered-down drinks. It's not just the club, the patrons or the proprietors of clubs that make them trashy in my mind. It's the music. Loud, thumping quarter notes, unimaginatively arranged or remixed (barf.) and blasted threw subwoofers to the point that one would literally have to suffering from a terrible case of rigamortis not to hypnotically bob their head up and down.

There's nothing wrong with dancing, liking to dance or even going to a club to dance. The sin is that the music is Lady Gaga at best and some flavor-of-the-week rapster wanna be at worse. Actually, it could get really ugly if the DJ played "Who Let the Dogs Out", but we won't count your cousin's wedding reception here.

Why do I not associate dance music with New Order or even, more recently, MGMT? Both groups make perfectly acceptable songs to listen to, and most of them have beats funky enough to get even the most rigid of us to swing a hip or two.

Even if dancing is the activity and listening to the music is secondary, I would still think it imperative to the conscientious listener not to pollute themselves with noise that amounts to the music equivalent of empty calories.

Lady and maybe a Gentleman: I give you Norway's Casiokids. From what I understand, their forthcoming album will be the first Norwegian language record released in the US. That's right, you won't be able to understand what they are singing. However, from what I've heard, it won't matter one bit.

This is music that dares you not to throw a party.

Second Hand News

When I first heard the song, I thought it was obscure single from Kindercore band Masters of the Hemisphere, released only as a 7-inch Singles Club A side. If you were a member of the club, Kindercore would send you a different 7-inch every month featuring a song from two different Kindercore artists. Subpop would do this too, which is where I first heard bands like The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice. Unfortunately, more often than not, the fun was in the artifact of having a collection of a dozen or so 7-inch records than finding a new band to fall in love with.

The glaring exception was Masters of the Hemisphere. From the first time I put the record on, I was in love with the song. It had a great acoustic guitar chug and a melody that soared. For years-years!-I would fish threw my small stack of 7-inch records and pull out this Singles Club release to listen to this one song; usually three or four times in a row.

When I began to mature a little and became more open to music released by bands that were older than I was, I went on a mission to find some great classic rock that would inspire my fledging indie rock sensibilities. One such record that was continuously recommended to me was Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors", so when I saw a used copy for $1 at Des Moines' Zzz Records, it wasn't a difficult purchase to make.

I sat on the record for a couple of days, maybe, before I blocked out enough time to give the whole thing a listen. Listen: The vinyl sliding out of the paper sleeve, the crackle of the needle on vinyl, the chug of an acoustic guitar. My jaw hitting the floor.

Yes, I was, and still am, largely sheltered from classic rock and roll that many people view as staples of a well balanced music diet. I was also surprised to find out that I was semi-familiar with many of the other songs on "Rumors", but this was largely due to my familiarity with car commercials and the like.

So this Masters of the Hemisphere song that I loved was only a cover song. I was overwhelmed, I almost felt betrayed. I gradually came to accept the release as a well done cover, true to the original.

But now that I'm familiar with it, the cover is not as good as the original.

New Broken Social Scene song

Top of the Pops

I tried to select one album that I obsessed over per year since I was in high school, but some years there were more than one.

The List:

1998-16 years old. Radiohead "Ok Computer"; Starflyer 59 "The Fashion Focus"

1999-17 years old. The Lassie Foundation "Pacifico"

2000-18 years old. Pedro the Lion "Winners Never Quit"; The Flaming Lips "The Soft Bulletin"

2001-19 years old. Starflyer 59 "Leave Here a Stranger"; John Wilkes Kissing Booth "A Threat to the Broadcast"; Death Cab for Cutie "The Photo Album"

2002-20 years old. John Vanderslice "Life and Death of an American Four Tracker"; Mates of State "Our Constant Concern"; The Flaming Lips "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots"; Wilco "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

2003-21 years old. Death Cab for Cutie "Transatlanticism" Unwed Sailor "The Marionette and the Music Box"

2004-22 years old. Sufjan Stevens "Seven Swans"; The Envy Corps "Soviet Reunion"; Arcade Fire "Funeral"

2005-23 years old. Decibully "Sing Out, America"

2006-24 years old. Belle and Sebastian "The Life Pursuit"

2007-25 years old. The Arcade Fire "Neon Bible"; TV on the Radio "Return to Cookie Mountain"

2008-26 years old. Starflyer 59 "Dial M"

2009-27 years old. Decibully "World Travels Fast"

Weekend Travels Fast

Amber surprised me with a trip to Milwaukee to see one of my favorites, Decibully, play at the Cactus Club with Minneapolis hipster darlings, Lookbook. Amber is the awesomest.

Decibully embodies everything I love about music and their set Saturday night did not disappoint. I found myself helplessly grinning at merely being in the room under the circumstances I was in. They opened with a new song that Aaron tells me is going on a split 7" with another, as yet unknown, Milwaukee band. At first I thought the new song might be a Bengals cover, but I guess it was original material. I was even reduced to audience participation durning Megan & Magill, clapping my hands like it was my job. And I'd like to think that, for that night, it was. Other highlights included the wall of beautiful sound that was Live By the Lake, and the R&B groove during Weakest Kind of Heart. However, the best was seeing Aaron play drums on this song, also an apparent new one.

Lookbook is always a source of contention with me. I like their music and they put on a fun show, but something about them puts me on edge. I don't know what it is and I'm confident that it is a feeling exclusive to my own self. If anyone reads this and gets the chance, check them out on myspace and catch them if they play in your town.

In short: I'll be your boyfriend for a chance to see Decibully.

Stuff I Got For Christmas.

I'm always conflicted when it comes to digital. The iPod has made it all too easy to carry an entire library of music everywhere. As far as I know, it's still allowed on airplanes, even transatlantic flights. My New Year's resolution a couple of years ago was to abstain from buying any digital music for a year, and was consecrated in blood with my friend David. I bought only vinyl only with a preference for new albums that came with a free mp3 download (legal under the guidelines of our pact since we were actually paying for the record and getting a download for free). Since then, I've only bought a few CD's and fewer records. A large part of it has to do with me being broke as I am unable to afford luxuries these days. Such is the life of a student at a major public university. Nonetheless, I have downloaded more albums in the past year than I had ever downloaded in my entire life. They are considerably less expensive and I decided after my last move that the last thing I need is another object that will need to be packed up in a box and carried up and down flights of stairs. As impure as I feel digital is (and I wouldn't even call myself an audiophile, I just like having an actual object after buying something) there are times when I feel convenience trumps reality such as when your favorite band gives away their new album for free via download, or when your brother gives you a christmas gift.

Decibully finally released their album World Travels Fast just in time for the holidays. The best part is, they released it for free on the internet. A high-quality vinyl version is also available for purchase for a very reasonable price. Go here: http://store.listeningpartyrecords.com/album/world-travels-fast-2

Not only is the album free, but it is easily my favorite album of 2009 and one of my favorites of the decade. Decibully is everything I want a band to be, especially when there are as many as 9 guys up on stage. You can tell that their music has soul in a world where soul has gone the way of betamax.

my brother gave me an iTunes gift card for christmas. At first I was unsure what to do with it as it was merely a link in an email. Fortunately for me, clicking the link was all that was required of me. One note on shopping the iTunes store: It's not the same as shopping at a record store. If you're browsing, it's a real pain because you have a load of sub genres so you have to guess which one an artist you might be interested would be under. I was surprised to see the Boss listed under the "singer songwriter" sub genre.

Anyway, I was able to get a bunch for not a lot of money. I think I made some good picks.

Unwed Sailor "little wars"

Jack Peñate "everything is new"

Lassie Foundation "three wheels" ep

A Tribe Called Quest "anthology"

Best American Song Ever

I'm going to start compiling a list of songs in search of the Greatest American Song of all freaking time (233 years). The basic criteria is that the person that wrote the song is/was a native born American and not someone who became a citizen later on. The song does not need to be patriotic, although Americans do tend to get overtly sentimental when paying homage to our country through song.

This is an open call to everyone and anyone to submit specific songs they would like to have considered for the Greatest American Song of all 233 years that America has been around.

If I had to pick one today, it'd probably be a Bruce Springsteen song, but I don't want to name it lest it influence submissions.