Last Night
Bands attempting to reinvent themselves aren’t uncommon. I feel like
bands that successfully reinvent themselves regularly however are a
needle in the hay.
Anyone who talks to me for more than 2.2 seconds
about my music taste will find out who my three all-time faves in music
are. Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, and Modest Mouse. And probably not in
that order all the time, although that is how it frequently comes out.
It’s because bands like these make me feel uncomfortable when I hear
their rock. Lyrics that cut deep, premises that only glimpse into my
human struggles, but are still resonating from the first time I heard
them till now. When your content is this good lyrically, it may be ok to
let the instruments lye underneath as an afterthought. But good artists
hardly take that chance. Their risks lyrically are almost always
matched by depth and risk in the instruments.
The Strokes were
discovered in New York, sometime between 98 and 2000 after playing at
the Mercury Lounge in Manhattan. Allegedly a bidding war broke between
labels after the bands EP The Modern Age was released in the states,
along with a free download of Last Night via UK periodical NME.
Is This It?
New York City Cops
The
band’s first full length was titled Is This It. Released on RCA in
2001, there was some controversy between the UK and US released track
listing, and New York City Cops was scratched from the US track listing
because of the events of 9/11.
In 2003 the band was in good company
having Nigel Godrich, long-time producer of Radiohead behind the board
for their second release Room On Fire. An album that seemed a lot like
an extension of Is This It. And probably because for whatever reason the
group decided to drop Nigel for their old flame Gordon Raphael:
producer of Is This It. With flashes of innovation, like the tone of
Nick Valensi’s guitar in 12:51 and the The End Has No End, the group was
beginning to show they were not afraid to experiment with their sound.
12:51
The End Has No End
Vision of Division
In
September of 2005 what was to be the bands third album First
Impressions of Earth was leaked and passed around the online community.
This convinced the band to release an online version of the album before
the official hard copy release in January of 2006. The album was an
obvious departure from the original Strokes format, with David Kahne
controlling the knobs this time around. Julian’s teenage friend, from a
Switzerland boarding school, and lead guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.
showed more skill with soloing and Julian pushed his pitch limits on
vocals. The effort was greeted with initial success, with the band
selling out 15 UK dates, but then fell off for critics as more people
began to hear it. After completing the US side of the Casablancas told
fans that the band would be taking an extensive break. The band may have
been having issues, but also Casablancas had admitted that he needed to
address his alcohol abuse that was affecting his passion for writing. A
tribulation that may have been expressed in On the Other Side.
On the Otherside
Two Kinds of Happiness
Three
Years later, after solo projects from every artist in the band. Julian
began working with Valensi on music that was to be official Strokes
tracks. But is wasn’t till almost a year later the band officially
released a statement saying they would be in the studio with legendary
producer Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, Elton John, Etta James, the White
Stripes). Julian commented on the tracks saying they had the stylings of
“1970’s Rock from the future”. With glimpses of original Strokes
progressions, the band’s vacation showed promise bringing in elements
from every artist and showing a more diverse and creative side of The
Strokes we may not have heard without the four year hiatus.
Life is Simple in the Moonlight
Late
next month The Strokes are scheduled to release their fifth full-length
Comedown Machine, already available for pre-order on TheStrokes.com.
You can get a one track taste of the new album at the home page as well.
The track title is One Way Trigger and borrows the feel of Ah-Ha’s Take
On Me, with modern and dark undertones. With more and more commercial
artists seemingly afraid to takes risks it is comforting to hear the
artists that changed my world with their lyrics and sounds taking a
chance on making their fans uncomfortable with changes that speak to
them.
This is The Strokes.
One Way Trigger
12/12/12
FeedBack w. Wes Nyle. EP33. Twelve Tracks of Christmas 12.13.12
For me this year has proved promising. I am not the type of person to sit by and watch opportunities fly past me. I certainly seize the carp, and I am positive that amazing things will happen for me this year because I work hard to make my life meaningful.
I started this podcast because I wanted to create a DEMO, or portfolio that people could hear and scrutinize. But the more I listened to bands and the more I played around with my editing toys the more it became less of a resume and more of a labor of love. I hope that you have enjoyed these episodes as much as I have enjoyed making them for you. Please tell your friends to listen if they enjoy discovering new music and the meaning behind the artists that create, what I consider cutting edge rock and roll… or really whatever I like listening to.
This episode was created for the listener to count down the days till Christmas from the 13th of December. Kind of like an advent calendar. But feel free to listen to it however you like. Consider it my Christmas present to you.
May your new year be filled with as many donkeys as you can punch.
Twelve Tracks of Christmas:
1. ColdPlay – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
2. The Killers – Don’t Shoot Me Santa
3. Pedro The Lion – I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day
4. Deer Tick – Christmas All Summer Long
5. Best Coast and Wavves – Got Something for You
6. Florence + The Machine – Last Christmas
7. Flaming Lips – A Change at Christmas (Say It Isn’t So)
8. Julian Casablancas – Christmas Treat
9. Sufjan Stevens – That Was the Worst Christmas Ever
10. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – All I Want for Christmas
11. Arcade Fire – Jingle Bell Rock
12. The Beach Boys – I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Until next year, sayonara,
Nyle
12/7/12
FeedBack w. Wes Nyle. EP32. Tame Impala. 11.07.12
I’m back and I hope you’re all doing well. Thanks for sticking with me during my move and the podcast dry spell. The truth is I’ve hardly had any time to think about recording with the move. I have, however had several ideas floating around in my head. For instance I am thinking of changing the name of this podcast to Digital Spray Paint. And I am going to make the format a bit different, offering more variety, in the ways of interviews with bands, alongside phone conversations with my radio alumni, and comedian friends.
With that said I am going to give you one more traditional FeedBack podcast the way it’s been since I started this little project. Also listen for a series I’m calling the 12 tracks of Christmas, that will IV drip songs throughout the month of December for your listening pleasure, as we get ready to start the new podcast format that will beguine soon after the new year.
Thanks for listening now here’s the Podcast.
A phone conversation with my friend recently had me thinking about how much great music comes out of Australia. With the obvious bands out of the way I posted a FaceBook comment and received several comments from you guys as well, listing a ton of iconic rock, that hails from the land down under. I’m not 100% certain of what it is they do differently there but I can say that Australia has yet to produce a rock band that disappoints me.
Tame Impala is a band that popped up about two years ago with their debut record Innerspeaker, and shares an ambiance similar to America’s Interpol. The band was originally known as The Dee Dee Drums and is a c ollaboration of other indie groups fronted by Kevin Parker who also plays drums in Pond: A band that compares to other Australian notables like the Vines and Wolfmother. It’s also comprised of Tame Impala members Jay Watson and Nick Allbrook.
Kevin’s drumming would show up again in his work with Mink Mussel Creek a group that was comprised of his friends in the Australian underground music scene as well as members of Tame Impala. The group started recording in 2008 but because of setbacks weren’t able to officially release their record, however in this technology age there is a way to find anything online, and the recordings were eventually released. Which is good for me because otherwise I wouldn’t have a song segue right here.
There’s more to Parker than rhythm, he also shows intuition towards recording and effect pedal usage, with nearly 20 pedals in his arsenal while on stage. In an interview with UnderCover TV he elaborated on his take towards using pedals in a new way that helps create a sound that newer musicians are wishing they thought of.
This past October Tame Impala released their latest full length titled Lonerism an album that embodies the atmospherical, environmentally, synth blanketed rock that fans have grown to crave. A mention of this new album by one of my FaceBook followers has me leaving you with two tracks from these guys. Go by my site WesTexasMedia.com for a full track list of this episode, check out the video for Expectation, and listen to some more poddy deliciousness.
Tracks Heard on this Podcast:
It’s Not Ment to Be – Tame Impala
Jeremy’s Storm – Tame Impala
Fantastic Explosion in Time – Pond
Doesn’t the Moon Look Good Tonight – Mink Mussel Creek
Expectation – Tame Impala
Mind Mischief – Tame Impala
Music to Walk Home By – Tame Impala
11/12/12
FeedBack w. Wes Nyle. EP31. Political Skews. 11.12.12
I didn’t come from any type of hardship. Not like the musicians I respected and emulated. I grew up with a dad who taught Government, and Economics and a Mom who remarried a Pharmacist. There was nothing left to be desired, materially. But there is something inside a teen, a fire that can’t be explained or quenched. When I had the time I would spend too much of it at a second hand music shop, being molded the guy that worked there. I can’t remember all the music he introduced me to but I do remember one day before I left he, convinced me I needed to hear Plastic Surgery Disasters by the Dead Kennedy’s. I took it home and sat in front of my stereo, wondering what kind of cruel joke was this that the older guy I trusted with my musical development was playing on me. Jello Biafra’s chipmunk voice blasted my eardrums as I waited for the real singer to jump in at any time. Later on, the lyrics meant more and I thought about who I was and if I was going to turn out like the adults in my life. The track Halloween started me on this path of dress and attitude. I was going to be whoever I wanted to be. As long as I looked and acted like my heroes.
I remember going to Wal-Mart and buying a navy blue sweat shirt. I cut it down the middle and buttoned it up with safety pins so I could look like Billy Joe Armstrong in the Green Day poster I had hanging in my room. I cut my hair and spiked it like Matthew Lillard in SLC Punk minus the blue hair die because, well you know, my parents weren’t having that. I learned all the quotes from I Blow Mind’s For A Living: Jellow Biafra’s spoken word, and read it in speech class for an A. I listened to Rage Against the Machine when I skipped class and drove to Chick-Fil-A with my buddy. This was before they were raging against their own machine. I was convinced I was changing the world. There was no question that I completely understood what these bands were fighting for. So I fought with my dad, the high school government teacher about how a socialist society could be great, and how anarchy was a peaceful alternative to democracy. I told everyone to vote for Ralph Nader. And never saw the contradiction in any of it.
The summer I graduated I turned eighteen and fought with my dad about not wanting to send in my selective service card. I wasn’t going to potentially be forced to fight for a fascist régime I didn’t believe in. Eventually I sent it in, because I wasn’t going to move to Canada as an alternative either. It’s too cold. Along with that the election was happening and I should have been rushing out to register to vote but, at this point I was to interested in all the other things I could do that were slightly more exciting and debaucherous. By the next election season I was more apathetic to the internal conflicts of the US and instead wanted to make art, write, and listen to others interpretation of the world. The closest I ever came to voting was when someone signed me up to vote under the Green Party while I was walking into Eeyore's Birthday while living in Austin. It wasn’t at that moment but I did later understand that I didn’t know anything about America, or how any of the systems work. Nor did I care. I didn’t vote that year and George W. Bush won his second term.
This podcast isn’t a statement. The anti-establishment, anarchist me died when I turned eighteen for some reason. Did big brother win? Or did the thrill of making a difference with my voice die when I turned the appropriate age? Like knowing you can stay up as late as you want once you have your own apartment. I’m not sure. But recently as I listen to the music that shape my teenage mind I feel like maybe I’m more like those heroes than ever before. I embrace my apathy. The more I listen to the cries of that slightly older generation, the more I think that maybe they weren’t trying to warn me of what was happening to me now. But who me and my friends would become if we chased these impossible pursuits, or tried to perpetuate these futile mottos.
Turns out all these songs I believed were political… All these songs about the government’s manipulative tendencies… were really just a squeal for understanding from our pears. Well if that’s the case I understand. I understand that frustration of an artist isn’t something an elected official can cure better than a ripping guitar solo and loving fans that admit they are in the same boat.
Solidarity – Rancid
Rotten Future – Anti-Flag
Anarchy In the U.K. – Sex Pistols
Halloween – the Dead Kennedy’s
SLC Punk – Look Like A Bum Speech
No Pride – Green Day
Take the Power Back – Rage Against the Machine
Die For Oil Suckers – Jello Biafra
American Jesus – Bad
Open Your Eyes – Goldfinger
Motto – Less Than Jake
Pride – No Use For a Name
I’m So Bored With The U.S.A. – The Clash
10/28/12
FeedBack w. Wes Nyle. EP30 .Simply New Music (Nude Beach/Explorers Club). 10.28.12
I use the term “Simplicity” synonymously with “Roots” and for me roots are early 90’s rock. I define this because I know that others around me are still wandering through the desert looking for a band that sounds like Bango Tango, Def Leppard or Ratt, and I make no apologies in saying that I am done with trying to understand what 80’s hair metal had to offer their generation. Even though I was born in the eighties I didn’t raise myself on that style of music for what has now become a drawn out reason. I don’t feel that there will ever be a time when Quiet Riot will try to be emulated again. There is less nostalgia in bands that harness an attitude of tits and booze over a message, or playing an instrument as wasted as possible over stepping up for an oppressed people. And I won’t support a lead singer with hair teased up further than a Judd sister. There is not nostalgia but this concept is dripping with novelty.
But this podcast isn’t about bashing 80’s hair metal bands. It’s more about how I felt as I started hearing bands consisting of members that were near my age starting to understand what normal music means to a generation. How genuine art work can show what that generation stands for. And most of the time a message is more genuinely sent simply.
A group out of New York is gaining critic attention for what is being called their second LP titled II. But from what I can tell it’s Nude Beach’s re-released earlier EP. If I close my eyes I am taken back to my smoke filled efficiency apartment enjoying what was my first taste of independence. Chuck Betz, Ryan Niadeau, and Jimmy Shelton power through 10 tracks that sound original yet familiar. Like a band you heard on a compilation or a stalker’s mix tape but never followed up on.
While the majority of critics can’t help but compare the sound of Nude Beach to “Top Petty meets Bruce Springsteen”, to me the simplicity and warmth of the trio’s sound has the feel of what Indie rock always wanted to be. Like early Strokes (Also from NY), the Presidents of the United States of America, or Face to Face. Really the only aspect of this band that lends them to the 60’s and the 70’s is an album with 10 tracks. A move that the band admits was done strategically with the idea of and A side and a B side in mind.
While the subject of new nostalgia is on my mind let me bring up the South Carolinian sextet The Explorers Club a band I was awakened to by David Wild of Huffington Post and a regular on the Adam Carolla podcast. There is no doubt that sometime in late 2007 I heard these guys on an episode of The O.C. a show that I’m not ashamed to admit I watched every episode of when I was living in a one bedroom apartment with four other dudes.
The Explorers Club released their 2nd full length Grand Hotel earlier this year and in a way it feels good not knowing about a band until you have something to catch up on. Both albums remind me of taking extended road trips with my dad in his baby blue 64 1/2 Mustang Convertible. I listened to the entire Beach Boys collection through cheap foam head phones with the biggest chromed out Sony cassette player ever to be created. The likeness of this band to the Beach Boys, can be traced back to the producer Mark Linett, who worked with the band on their teaser EP’s for Grand Hotel. Mark has worked with the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, and also digitally re-masterd Pet Sounds for it’s rerelease some years back.
I feel like as time progresses this younger generation is being led to an auto-tuned, dubb stepped, electronic version of what 80’s cock rock used to be. Like they may be frightened by a song with an understanding or enlightening message. Hearing Mumford & Sons and Modest Mouse on an younger persons Pandora station recently gave me hope that youth still wants more than songs about “Boats and Hoes”.
I do want to say that I believe there is a place in the world for fun music, but it doesn’t keep me from celebrating the Isaac Brocks, Zack De La Rochas, Chris Cornells, and Fat Mikes that made me want to write, and listen to music. And more than being a music snob I want to express my admiration for new bands that embrace classic techniques, garnished with modern subtext.
Tracks Heard In This Podcast:
The Explorers Club – Grand Hotel
Ratt – Way Cool Jr.
Nude Beach – Walkin’ Down My Street
Nude Beach – Looser in the Game
The Explorers Club – Lost My Head
The Explorers Club – Forever
NoFx – Eat the Meek
10/12/12
FeedBack w. Wes Nyle. EP29 .Rene Villanueva of Hacienda (interview). 10.12.12
10/6/12
FeedBack w. Wes Nyle. EP28. Sinkane / On-Line Meia. 10.06.12
I would like to start interviewing underground bands that have at least one album out, and are willing to sit on the phone with me and discuss their craft, and what it feels like to do what they do. If that sounds like fun to you then hit me up on FaceBook/WesleyNyle or find me on Twitter/WesleyNyle. I would love to listen to your work, do some research and call you up or meet you some place in the Dallas area and talk shop.
So with that said here’s the podcast:
Without the internet, many bands that are currently the focus of the independent music scene would otherwise be lost in obscurity.
The rabbit hole of current indie rock trends continues to go deeper with bands like Yeasayer as a prime example: a group originating in Brooklyn nearly six years ago, and in some aspects sharing the traditional tale of touring and peddling vinyl singles, to rise form the primordial ooze that is indie rock obscurity. But also gaining traction from online publications and being boasted as the “Most Blogged About Band” in 2010. Let’s hear the Doors, Janice Joplin, or Queen brag about that.
It’s true that the majority of entertainers are jumping on the online band wagon. And why not? Aside from the monetary aspect of it, producing and publishing your own music or media, is less mess altogether, no agents, no labels, no censorship, no contracts, and with home studios becoming more and more reasonable to build and operate. Bands essentially have all the time you need without paying a studio to play. Radiohead’s last two self-releases, In Rainbows, and The King Of Limbs are shining examples. Doing extremely well as digital downloads that were presented initially as a “Pay What You Think It’s Worth” experiment. Even comedian and writer Louis C.K. made an impact, with his self-releases that he made available only on his website for the ridiculously low price of five dollars, knowing that the media could easily be pirated, but trusting his fans to pay for the easier experience of simply downloading the content directly from his website.
Ahmed Gallab, a relatively obscure, yet insanely talented multi-instrumentalist, who has toured with Caribou, Of Montreal, and now has landed a solid role as Yeasayer’s multi-instrumentalist. Is following in the footsteps of many other successful, and established musicians; like Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes, and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Marz Volta, in the vein of branching out into his own solo project, under the name Sinkane.
Really, Gallab has been creating music on his own for several years. It’s only now through the miracle of sites like SoundCould, ReverbNation, and BandCamp that artists are able to take risks, and show off their work with less capital, green lighting new music attics like myself to discover and share what would normally only be a local treat. This is helping smaller artists make a living with their music, and for artist like Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, generate revenue for causes in a more creative way than selling an autographed bass. Example being Flea’s solo album Helen Burns: a solo, self-released, pay what you think it’s worth album, that’s funds benefit the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music. The online liner notes warn, or boast that this is not a Red Hot Chili Peppers album, and stands on its own merits with spaced out experimental jazz, giving this newish idea of posting your own self-produced media some serious street cred.
Even though some of Sinkane’s work is out on the internet for our enjoyment his entire body of work can’t be found entirely in digital format. A shrewd business decision, and yet still an artsy move. His entire discography consists of 2 EP and 3 LP’s that majoritively can only be purchased on vinyl through his site. Since early this year this native Sudanian has been teasing Bloggers with talk of a new LP titled Mars, but right now it looks like the single “Jeeper Creeper” on his SoundCloud is the only proof of new material.
This is Sinkane, an artist that you wouldn’t have heard of without the online music community.
Tracks Herd On This Podcast:
(intro background) Sinkane – Color Voice
Yeasayer – Blue Paper
Yeasayer - Longevity
Radiohead – Morning Mr. Magpie
Sinkane – Apache Beat
Fela – 333
Sinkane – Jeeper Creeper
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