We Love You...Digitally

We Love You...Digitally
HELLO AND WELCOME to the interactive version of Filter Mini We’re best viewed in full-screen
mode, so if you can still see the top of the window, please click on the Window menu and select Full
Screen View (or press Ctrl+L). There you go—that’s much better isn’t it? [Mini stretches, yawns,
scratches something.] Right. If you know the drill, go ahead and left-click to go forward a page; if
you forget, you can always right-click to go back one. And if all else fails, intrepid traveler, press the
Esc key to exit full-screen and return to a life more humble.
Keep an eye on your cursor.While reading Mini online, you will notice that there are links on every
page that allow you to discover more about the artists we write about. Scroll over each page to find the
H-O-T-T hotlinks, click ’em, and find yourself at the websites of the artists we cover, the sponsors who
help make this happen, and all of the fine places to go to purchase the records you read about here.
Thank you for your support of this thing we call Filter. Good music, as they say, will prevail.
-Chris Martins, Editor-in-Chief
Letters, inquiries, randomness: [email protected]
Advertising and suchlike: [email protected]
CONTENTS
PUBLISHERS:
Alan Miller & Alan Sartirana
SPOTLIGHT
4
5
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
THE CRIBS, CUFF THE DUKE
BE YOUR OWN PET,WOLFMOTHER, ELEFANT
Chris Martins
ART DIRECTOR:
Eric Almendral
SCENE
SCRIBES:
On the Road with WE ARE SCIENTISTS
THE GO! TEAM’s Guide to Brighton, England
FLASH
10
FILTER FASHION
FEATURES
12
14
18
Finally Sumday is Now: GRANDADDY Says Goodbye
BUILT TO SPILL Springs Eternal
Tracing The Movement of a Hand with
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH
REVIEWS
20
22
28
ONE-LINERS
CD REVIEWS
FILTER RADIO
FR0M THE EDITOR
So now that you’ve solved the clam chowder mystery and attempted it on your own (see the Strokes
cover story from Issue 9), what’s next? You visited
Norway’s most musically prolific port city with
Magnet, chatted about small folks with big guy
Steven Soderbergh, and got filmic with boho-Brits
Elbow. Hell, Michel Gondry even opened up his
sketchbook in front of your very eyes (visit
www.filtermini.com to catch up).What could we possibly do to get you
to open up another issue of your favorite pint-sized mag? Oh wait,
you’re already here. Maybe it was a newly reformed Built to Spill that
called you in, or a chance to wave goodbye to the newly disbanded
Grandaddy—regardless, we’re happy you’re here. Stay awhile; good
music wouldn’t prevail without you.
ON STANDS NOW –
FILTER ISSUE 19
Filter Magazine visits the peninsula with Chan
Marshall (Cat Power) under the Miami moonlight
as whispers and clouds swirl around the talk of fear,
envy, seashores and souls. Plus, we go searching for
God with Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley; Beck and
Keren Ann stop by to pay their respects to French chanteuse Françoise
Hardy (who grants us a very rare interview).Also: Isobel Campbell and
Mark Lanegan, Mogwai, Beth Orton, Secret Machines, a look back at Fear
of a Black Hat, The Daily Show’s Rob Corddry, Daniel Clowes and Terry
Zwigoff on Art School Confidential, a first look at Brick,Arctic Monkeys,Art
Brut, the Longcut,Test Icicles,Arab Strap, and the Noisettes.
SEND ALL LETTERS TO:
[email protected] or 5908 Barton Ave., L.A., CA 90038
Catherine Adcock, James Artesian,
Tunji Balogan, Lesley Bargar,Todd
Berger, Bryan Chenault, Benjy Eisen,
Dan Frazier, Paul Gaita, JR Griffin,
David Iskra, Patrick James, Pat
McGuire, Sam Roudman, Michael
Suter,Tristan Staddon, Louis Vlach
EDITORIAL INTERN:
Colin Stutz
MARKETING:
Danielle Allaire, Mike Bell,
Bryan Chenault, Penny Hewson,
Leslie Madill, Pat McGuire,
Mark Mueller, Gur Rashal,
Eli Thomas
THANK YOU:
Heather Bleemers, John Brown, Rene Carranza,
Adam Drucker, Charles Fleming, Eric Frederic,
Mikel Jollett, Gregg LaGambina, Rich and Diana
Martins, the McAlpin Family, the Oakland Bay
Area, Baillie Parker, Stephen Randall, BuyBlue.org,
Daniel Cabrera, Erik Bedard, Jamaal Layne, Adrian
Martinez, Wendy Kayland-Sartirana, Momma
Sartirana, the Ragsdales, SC/PR Sartiranas, the
Masons, Pete-O, Rey, the Paikos family, Chelsea &
the Rifkins, Shalyce & Donna @ Goldenvoice,
Shaynee, Wig/Tamo and the SF crew, Shappsy,
Phamster, Pipe, Dana Dynamite, Christian P, Mike
Williams, Lisa O’Hara.
EDITORIAL INQUIRIES:
5908 Barton Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
[email protected]
ADVERTISING INQUIRIES:
[email protected]
West Coast Sales: 323.464.4718
East Coast Sales: 646.202.1683
Filter Mini Magazine is published by Filter
Magazine LLC, 5908 Barton Ave., Los Angeles
CA 90038.Vol. 1, No. 10, March/April 2006.
Filter Mini Magazine is not responsible for anything, including the return or loss of submissions,
or for any damage or other injury to unsolicited
manuscripts or artwork. Any submission of a
manuscript or artwork should include a selfaddressed envelope or package of appropriate
size, bearing adequate return postage.
© 2006 BY FILTER MAGAZINE LLC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FILTER IS PRINTED IN THE USA
WWW.FILTERMINI.COM
WWW.FILTER-MAG.COM
COVER PHOTO: AUTUMN DeWILDE
6
8
SPOTLIGHT
SPOTLIGHT
Be Your Own Pet
The Cribs
By Catherine Adcock
Even those of sublime music taste sport a closeted music skeleton—i.e., an endearingly misguided band of youngsters with a
cache of Internet-only tracks that pop up in the playlist at only the
most inopportune moments. But fear not the still-not-legal Be
Your Own Pet, who precociously lay T.Rex and XTC atop their
musical faves list and jump straight into Advanced Placement
Musicology 101.The Pet spent the last year slashing and burning
stateside (and in their native U.K.) with a blazing live show, leaving hordes confused yet eagerly anticipating a full-length of their
Karen O-meets-vintage Village rock. Mic mistress Jamina Pearl
comments: “It’s strange that so many people want to talk about
our music—it’s weird that people care.” Fortunately for those
craving pre-1980s rock rhythms, BYOP possesses no intentions to
let, say, lacking a voter-I.D. card slow them down.
By James Artesian
Ryan, Gary and Ross Jarman were all born in
the same place (Yorkshire, England), from the
same mother (mum) and two of them are
twins—Ryan and Gary being the older brother(s) to Ross. It’s what makes their live show
so fascinating—two frontmen, literally identical save one’s on guitar and one’s on bass and
they sing back and forth, alternating lyrics in
the same exact voice.
The band’s second record, The New Fellas,
is a huge leap from their first, some giving
credit to former Orange Juice popster Edwyn
Collins’ production. The songs are too catchy
and playful and clever to be diminished by
labels like “lo-fi” or “indie” or even “punk.” It’s
punk more in spirit than songwriting. And on
a song like “Hey Scenesters!” they dare you to
sing along while they make fun of you at the same time. Maybe that’s what punk is after all.
“It really seems like the hipsters took over the indie scene and the punk scene,” Ryan
explains, with a bitter smile. “It would be nice to siphon those people out just by singing
angry songs about them.”
Wolfmother
By Sam Roudman
Metal is back, friends.And not any of that feathered
hair, cock rock bullshit—we’re talking the heavy
stuff with riffs thicker than dinosaur steak. Meet
the mighty Aussie trio Wolfmother, poised to scragglify an army of disaffected teens with tales of
witchcraft, alternate dimensions, and…gnomes?
So says one third of Wolfmother, drummer Myles
Heskett: “We are pro-gnome…they can be quite
obnoxious and arrogant from time to time, but in
general they are cute. And I like their hats.” Hence,
it’s no surprise that their new self-titled album is
replete with heavy prog organ leads and a notable Jethro Tull-style jazz flute solo. Sure there’s touring to be done
now, but Wolfmother have their eyes on the prize: “One day I’d like to grow a beard and just sit there in the front
yard, looking out toward the sunset listening to Megadeth with a pipe in my hand”. Hell yeah dude, hell yeah.
4 FILTER
mini
WOLFMOTHER: MARTIN PHILBEY; ELEFANT: CHRISTY BUSH
By Tristan Staddon
Canadians are no strangers to this section
of the Mini. Most of the time they fit in
fine, but it’s important to remember that
we continental neighbors are very different
animals. After all, we pay for health care;
they pay for poutine (french-fries + curds
+ gravy). But when listening to Cuff the
Duke, the ambitious and cozy alt-country
indie outfit from in and around metropolitan Toronto, our differences seem to slide
away. Consider “There Was a Time,” a ballad
so tender, affecting and, oddly enough,
hilarious that it’s mesmerizing even before
bassist/singer Paul Lowman drops a
proverbial bombshell. “He explained it was
about him telling his parents he wasn’t gay,
just because he’s skinny,” laughs CtD frontman Wayne Petti. “Slowly, one by one, the
rest of us all admitted that the same thing
happened to us. I’m sure there are thousands of indie rock kids that can relate to
that.” Somewhere, we’re sure, so can Paul
Shaffer.
THE CRIBS: ANDY WILSHER; CUFF THE DUKE: OMAR CORDELL
Cuff the Duke
By Patrick James
Elefant, light of my life, fire of my loins. NY sin,
NY soul. El-le-fant: the tip of the tongue taking
a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at
three, on the teeth. E. Le. Fant. Lost? Then perhaps Elefant bassist Jeff James’s assertion that
“intellectuals are underrepresented in the music
world,” is a telling one. Invoking Vladimir
Nabokov on the single, “Lolita,” NY rockers
Elefant recorded their sophomore album, The
Black Magic Show, in L.A. with Don Gilmore.
Playing tracks from The BMS on tour with Black
Rebel Motorcycle Club, Elefant chronicle NY
nights when, per James, “up is down, down is
up and nothing makes sense.”An odd rejoinder
to Nabokov’s assertion that “you can always
count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.”
Elefant
FILTER mini 4
SCENE
asicsamerica.com /onitsukatiger
On the Road with
We Are Scientists
By Benjy Eisen
Chris Cain, bassist extraordinaire for We Are Scientists, is psyched—intellectually psyched, if not emotionally
(hey, he’s the type of guy that would prefer to satirically analyze why he might be smiling than, you know, just
doing it). His band is on the run in England, promoting the piss out of its major-label debut, With Love and Squalor.
The whole deal is part of an across-the-pond trade, coming from our side as compensation for their latest musical
invasion. “Round Two: You gave us Bloc Party, we’ll give you We Are Scientists.”
With WAS rocketing to fame on a trajectory that couldn’t have been better designed by actual rocket scientists,
rest assured that when this band of Brooklyn boys return to the homeland this spring, the shenanigans and soldout shows will follow.
Where are you guys right now?
We’re in a town called Preston. It’s somewhere right
there in the middle of England. I guess it’s about an
hour south of Liverpool.
Lately, you’ve been playing England more than
America.
We can’t seem to leave. We’re actually just coming to
our second week here on this tour; before this we were
in the States for a few weeks. But in the last six months
we’ve spent an undue amount of time here.
People are people no matter where you go, but
is it a different experience to play for U.K.
audiences?
There are different crowds from city to city here, the
same way it is in the U.S.; New York crowds tend to be
a little more restrained and any college town tends to
be a little crazier. It’s sort of the same thing here—like
Glasgow and London are very hip, chilled out crowds.
Although they’ll buy tickets and you’ll sell out shows
there, the shows are never all that fun because they’ll
just clap politely as though they’re at a golf match.
Which they’re not?
Well, we do start our set with a little putt-putt, but
after that it’s almost straight ahead rock and roll.
The band’s website features mock reviews from
5 FILTER
mini
the road and other seriously funny humor. Is
that all the band’s doing? I mean, do you personally update it?
Yeah, yeah—it’s all done by us. Nobody else even has
the passwords.And they never will! That was a big sticking point for us. Initially, when we were working out the
details of our deal with Virgin, they perfunctorily insisted on control of the website, which, I think, they’re just
used to having. And we basically said, “We will walk
away from the deal.” Then they were like, “Well, what if
we said you guys can maintain the news section or whatever?” And we told them, “No, you’re not listening.You
can’t have the password to our website! We will walk
away from the deal if you insist on having any influence
at all on our website.” Finally, they were like, “Fine, we
don’t really care about it that much, fuck you.”
What’s one piece of wisdom you picked up
while on tour in the U.K.?
This is actually a bit of completely counter-intuitive
wisdom that you have to learn the hard way: The only
thing that is safe for your digestive system over here—
consistently safe—is the Indian food. Which is exactly
the opposite of the truth in the United States. I’ve been
poisoned more often than not in the U.S. eating Indian
food, but over here it’s really the only thing you can
count on to be not only delicious but also pretty high
quality. And safe.That’s an important piece of road wisdom from the U.K. F
Some good style is so hot it can easily be use to heat up delicious soup.
TM
The Limber Up Asian
SCENE
a community of like-minded,
passionate music writers, bloggers,
fans and online aficionados coming
together to expose the best in new music
The Go!
Team’s Guide
to Brighton,
England
explore the alliance via filter-mag.com/links
by Bryan Chenault
GOOGLE EITHER THE GO! TEAM or Brighton,
England and you’ll find surprising results. For the
former, you’ll discover that it was the name of a late
’80s Olympia,Washington outfit on Kill Rock Stars
featuring Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson and
soon-to-be Bikini Kill drummer Toby Vail.They put
out a series of 7-inches of all different musical styles and featuring all sorts of guest musicians from the Northwest
scene (like, say…Kurdt Kobain [sic]). As for Brighton, you’ll find out that it—not Amsterdam—is the official “gay
capital of Europe.” Just a stone’s throw from London on the southern Sussex coast of England, the famous seaside
resort town is a bit like the Key West of the U.K., but thankfully without the searing heat or Parrotheads singing along
to “Grapefruit/Juicy Fruit” (yes, that’s a real Jimmy Buffet song). But aside from its tourist trap proclivities, Brighton
(and sister city Hove) also offers a vibrant, multi-cultural, artistic community on par with London.
So what does either have to do with this Go! Team, the one that—after much ado and several delays—finally released
its debut album in the U.S. last fall? Both the originally named band and the city in which three of this band’s members
reside are all about diversity, which is perhaps the best thing about our Go! Team’s beautiful mess of an album, Thunder,
Lightning Strike.Throw sitar samples, Peanuts piano ditties, air raid sirens, melodica breakdowns, SonicYouth guitars, mariachi trumpets, old school raps/beats and flute loops into a blender and out comes a potent and perfectly schizophrenic
summer smoothie. Here, mad scientist and multi-instrumentalist Ian Parton gives us his polite picks on the best of
Brighton and pretends not to know about the city’s nude sunbathing spots.
The Best...
…reason to live in Brighton instead of London?
It would probably be because it’s at least an hour away
from our record label.
…lame tourist destination: Brighton pier,
Devil’s Dyke or Royal Pavilion?
Devil’s Dyke is marvelous, so that’s not lame. It’s got to
be the pier, because it’s just shite unless you like putting
money into slot machines.
…gay discotheque or place to rock leather assless chaps?
Zanzibar.
…place to sunbathe nude?
Your own bedroom. No one wants to see that!
…late-night eats?
Market Diner.They serve food until 6 a.m. and they have
something called a “gut buster,” which is a very large
6 FILTER
mini
breakfast full of fried things that are very tasty.
… record shop for an aspiring DJ?
Borderline, because it has nothing but classic stuff that you
should know about. It doesn’t carry any contemporary
music at all.
…cool guy on the Brighton scene: Nick Cave,
Gaz Coombes of Supergrass, or Bobby Gillespie
of Primal Scream?
Nick Cave, because he has bats in his house.
…Brighton band: British Sea Power, the Cure
[from suburb Crawley], Suede [from suburb
Hayward’s Heath)]?
Only one of those is really from Brighton. Can we nominate ourselves?
…place to give Fatboy Slim the finger?
That wouldn’t be nice—he’s our neighbor! F
FLASH
Filter
Fashion
.....................................................................................................................................
FILTER:
Toy Record Player
and Boombox
T-Shirts, $19.99
filter-store.com
BEN SHERMAN:
Two-Tone Cap
available at
Ben Sherman Soho
VANS:
Classic Slip-On, $37
vans.com
MACBETH:
London II, $70
macbethshoes.com
7 FILTER
mini
STITCH JEANS:
$265
shopkitson.com
FILTER mini 7
Finally,
Sumday
is Now
So, I hear you just got back from somewhere.
I’m moving to Montana and I just had to do the
whole handing over of the key, changing of the guard.
It’s very long overdue. Modesto became an experiment, like an endurance test. I always imagine a dirty
rag that you’ve been cleaning your hands off with as
you’re working on your car or lawnmower, and
you’re just basically throwing a big rag on top of
whatever it is that’s trying to take flight. For some
reason the dirty rag thing just comes to mind, with
the pollution here and the dustiness and the dirtiness
on top of all of the greasy…
It’s a good image. But a lot of people use the
fact that there’s nothing going on in their
hometown to create their own entertainment…
I’m no stranger to that working process, and I’ve very
much benefited not only from that, but also from the
regional uniqueness. But it gets to a point where…I
just remember once the band started getting really
busy, there would be these chunks of time where I
would come back and be like, “Okay, now what?” And
usually the best thing to do is take all these things that
have happened to you and make something of those
experiences. But the problem is that—see, the fruit is
ripening and ready for the picking, but when you pick
it, that’s when you’re really benefiting from everything that went into making it. Then one season the
fruit falls and it rots and you haven’t done anything
with it, and that continues to happen and these gaps
get bigger…it becomes counterproductive. And then
you realize, “Okay, I have to get out of here. This is
just downright unhealthy.”
Grandaddy Says Goodbye
By Lesley Bargar
Jason Lytle needs a haircut.Well, maybe not an actual haircut, but a metaphorical one at least.What he needs is the
feeling—that “cut off the dead ends, become the all-new, superior, fitter, happier, more productive you—all while
a cute-ish junior college chick talks about her favorite pomade” feeling. It’s the sensation of change, and it either
scares the crap out of you, or it saves your life. For Jason Lytle, now formerly of Grandaddy, it’s both.
The (artificially) toe-headed, ball-capped frontman of the Modesto, California space-pop band resisted change
for 14 years, releasing five groundbreaking albums in the meantime (two best-of list toppers in their day).And now,
with What Happened to the Fambly Cat? freshly pressed (Grandaddy’s fifth LP and possibly their best since The
Sophtware Slump), Jason Lytle has stopped fighting what every bone in his body (and hair on his head) has urged him
to do: move on.
So as the Fates hold up their shears to one of the new millennium’s most fuzzed-out, beloved, dreamy and unwittingly successful bands, its frontman takes a minute with Filter Mini to discuss the oft-overlooked upsides to shock
therapy, dirty rags, Montana and rotting fruit.
8 FILTER
mini
I’d tell anyone who lived anywhere for more
than 10 or 15 years that it’s time for change.
Before I got stuck there I always had itchy feet. I
couldn’t wait to go after six months in a place. It got
to the point where pretty much the only reasons I
remained were the band, the close-knit aspect of it
and the responsibilities that surrounded it. I was
reading something recently about shock therapy, and
I was like, “You know what? That’s kind of what I’m
doing right now.” I halfway had a plan about the
Montana thing, but I knew that whatever my change
was going to be it couldn’t be flaky, and it couldn’t be
half-assed. I really had to knock myself out of whatever sort of groove I had established.
Does the rest of the band feel the same way?
Everything has definitely shifted. For me it was pretty apparent at the end of touring Sophtware Slump, and
even on the next big go-around following Sumday. It
started leaning more toward regiment and fulfilling
requirements and other people’s expectations. I
never really knew what was going to come of this; I
never really had any expectations. I had nothing to go
off of. I just know that I didn’t like where it was
going. But we really do enjoy each other’s company,
and we really like to whoop it up too.
And by “whoop it up” you mean...
We really encourage each other. It’s literally like,
“Oh, come on pussy! What are you doing?! Come on!
Why are you going to bed?!” This whole group of
guys who enjoy prodding each other even to the
point of going way beyond our best interests. And
then sometimes, on those long stretches of touring,
it got downright ridiculous. There’d be these little
stretches of partying where you’ve been kind of
drunk for four days straight. And it’s like, “Oh, I need
a break. I need to purge myself. Clean up.” And I’m
saying that’s no big deal—I’ve been drunk, I mean
wasted, every single night for three months. But on
the days off I’d want to cower in my room and hide;
it would end up being worse on your days off. It’s
such a twisted sort of version of—well, it’s not reality. I’ve never wanted to be one of those cowering,
delicate, shriveling-in-the-dark fragile musician
types. I really, really need to be outdoors and have
some percentage of health.
That answers my question as to why no tour
this time. But do you feel like you’re not
going to get your last goodbye on stage?
I don’t think any show, with any amount of money or
production would have been able to justify itself in
my mind, or been able to get across some sort of
farewell. If anything, it’s almost better to kind of let
it dissolve into a mist. I don’t know.With a tour, I get
the visual of dressing up and parading around the
corpse. It would be sad.
You were playing a bit with L.A.’s Earlimart
before. Are you going to continue?
I’m going to allow myself some time to reassess my
relationship with all this stuff. I still plan on playing
somehow, somewhere, in some capacity. But right
now I have a really screwed up tainted view on playing music in front of people and traveling.
But you’re not done with music are you? We
haven’t seen the last of you, have we?
Hell no! [Laughs] Whether you want to or not. Hell
no. F
FILTER mini 8
by Pat McGuire | photography by Autumn de Wilde
9 FILTER
mini
FILTER mini 9
ometimes you can just see it coming. You’ll be off on a tangent
somewhere: on a trip, writing a
play, talking to your mother-inlaw; you’ve been lost, head in the
clouds, but suddenly it’s there, you
can sense it, feel it approaching. It’s hanging right in front
of you; you knew it would be there but you didn’t know
when.You were starting to second-guess yourself: “Is this
ever going to end?” You were waiting for it to feel right.
Waiting for the groove.And then, when you weren’t paying attention—somehow you didn’t notice it before—
suddenly it’s there and you can reach out and grab it, now,
NOW! …and it saves you. It’s the way out. Dry land.An
explanatory monologue. A lull in a one-sided conversation. And just that quickly, we’re all on the same page
again. When we’re out wandering somewhere, waiting,
somehow we just know when the door is going to open
and it’s time to go inside, to where we’re comfortable,
to where we should be, to where we belong. And just
like that, we’re back in the groove.
Doug Martsch spent the last five years waiting for the
groove to come back around. In 2001, his band Built To
Spill was almost a decade old and on its seventh album,
Ancient Melodies of the Future. They were still riding the
success (namely, a reputation for pretty little ditties
wrapped in epic guitar jam heroics) of a series of phenomenal releases spread throughout the entire 1990s.
Martsch spent that decade playing with various landmark
bands and collaborators, but mostly BTS, establishing
one of the most inspiring and flat-out awesome catalogs
of any indie rock dude around.
Built To Spill’s second album was the near-faultless
There’s NothingWrongWith Love, so effortlessly good that it
got them a deal with Warner Bros. for 1997’s Perfect From
Now On.The indie community breathed a collective sigh
of relief when that too proved to be a damn near impeccable record—somewhat difficult but ultimately rewarding (in listening as well as in Martsch’s recording process:
“That record was kind of a pain in the ass,” he recalls, “but
I’m really proud of it.”). 1999’s masterpiece Keep It Like a
Secret prompted TV appearances, a live album, and—
alongside Pavement—Indie Rock Band of the Decade
accolades. NeilYoung comparisons were whispered at their
shows. Bands started migrating to the Northwest and
growing beards, leaving their flannel at home. Guitar solos
were in again. The groove that they had helped start and
that bands like Modest Mouse and Grandaddy were now
riding too, was in effect. But in 2001, having just recorded
a solo album and missing his girlfriend and young son back
in Idaho, Martsch began to grow tired of all the jamming.
The Built To Spill lineup was always changing, varying from
tour to record to tour, and after hitting the road with
Ancient Melodies for a while, it was time to take a break from
the groove and a vacation from the band.
“There’s gotta be some kind of balance between stupid looking and comfortable,” Doug Martsch is saying.
S
10 FILTER
mini
He’s describing the never ending chore of beard maintenance, but could be expounding upon a number of
things. Doug is a soft-spoken man who knows what he
wants out of life and how he best fits in it. Right now,
that’s in his own home, relaxed and at ease despite having
to come up with answers to questions he hasn’t heard in
half a decade. He readily admits that he unconsciously
tells untruths during interviews to keep from saying the
same thing over and over. He’s an honest liar, or a fibbing
truth-sayer, and he’s a man who looks to be on some sort
of vacation even when he’s been working his ass off.
Martsch used Built To Spill’s break as more hiatus than
holiday, touring in support of his solo album, Now You
Know, and forming the Boise Cover Band at his home with
some friends, playing other people’s songs for a change.
He listened to reggae and soul music, and spent time just
hanging with his family and playing basketball. He started
back in.The band was so at home with the new songs that
when it came time to record, they did so without the help
of producer Phil Ek (who’s manned the helm of every
album since There’s Nothing Wrong With Love). “We just
thought that we knew how to do it, we’d been in the studio
so much,” says Martsch. “We all get on really well.To me,
music is not just about sounds that are being produced, but
also what the people are about and what they stand for.
There are bands that might make great music, but if I think
the people in the band are assholes, I don’t really bother.”
The band also invited longtime touring guitarist and onetime member Brett Netson (not to be confused with bassist
Brett Nelson) to rejoin, allowing the three-guitar arsenal of
their stage show to light up the studio as well. But even with
all the right parts, you can’t force the groove; you still have
to wait for that perfect moment to take shape. The trip to
the eighth Built to Spill album has been long and winding;
dynamic flourishes. Shorter ones like “Liar” that appear nice
and easy become more complex with each listen. It’s as if
the groove has swallowed both the music and the listener
whole, engulfed them completely, and instead of spitting
them out like a crashing wave does a surfer, it picks them
up into itself like a gentle twister, and together all ride out
the record in the calm eye of the storm.
“When we’re jamming and it’s time to come back into
the groove,” says Doug, “sometimes it only takes one person
coming back in to make it sound like it’s the whole band.
There are all kinds of tricks like that. It’s all based on math,
certain numbers that just feel right, that people will automatically want to come back to. I’ve never written songs in
a strange time, ’cause I don’t like ’em, they don’t feel good.
I want a groove, I want something just straight up.”
Doug Martsch and Built To Spill are, like all of us to some
extent, gifted with the innate sense of simply knowing when
Martsch’s beard is proof of the process: “I was gonna cut it
when our record was done, and then the recording just kept
going on and on. I finally just had to shave it.”
Fortunately, Doug’s no Samson—You In Reverse may be
the band’s greatest achievement. These are some of their
finest tunes to date, absolutely packed with the myriad
pearls from the jams.The band was patient enough to allow
each song to manifest itself sonically, whether clocking in at
eight minutes plus or wrapping up in under three.Where
TNWWL was sweetly succinct and to the point, and PFNO
was constantly traveling off on beautiful, spiraling tangents,
and KILAS was pretty much the combination of those two
things, YIR is a true step in BTS’ evolution. Each of its
songs—whether discussing passing time or politics or
patience itself; in the form of a jangly little ditty or a
swirling, epic soundscape—rings true in a natural way, gorgeously simple and lusciously complex at once. Several
tracks, like opener “Goin’ Against Your Mind,” feel difficult
and heady but grow to reveal barebones chords with
that door to purpose is opening.You can’t force it, you can’t
actively search for it; all you can do is sit back and enjoy the
waiting. The five-year pause may have made us itch with
anticipation, but it allowed the band the time they needed to
make their grandest statement yet. You In Reverse is Built To
Spill’s proof that they will always be something for us to
come back to. “We want to work at our own pace, “ says
Doug, “but I definitely think that the best Built To Spill stuff
is in the future. Some people might not ever think that anything is better than our first stuff, even though a lot of things
about it are really amateur, but based on the way that I feel
about music today, and based on my own personal state, and
just how good I think the band is, as far as I’m concerned we
definitely have greater potential than ever right now.”
Like the groove, like true love, like the springtime,
some things will just be there when they’re ready.
Sometimes you can see them coming (and in this case, who
wasn’t crossing their fingers?), but you just might have to
wait for that door to open. F
There’s gotta
be some kind
of balance
Between
stupid
looking and
comfortable.
growing out that trademark beard. And then, 18 months
later, it all just began to feel right again—it was time to
write some new BTS songs.
As the groove demands, sometimes change is needed
for the door to swing open. And thus, this was the first
time that everyone (the standard trio of Martsch, bass
player Brett Nelson and drummer Scott Plouf, plus
recently added longtime touring guitarist Jim Roth)
wrote their own parts of a Built To Spill song. “We would
just turn on my ADAT machine, someone would start
playing, and we all would join in,” says Martsch. His Boise
home was the site of the writing sessions. He’s remarkably unassuming—he could be talking about watering his
lawn if he wasn’t describing how works of art are made.
“No one talked about what chords to play or what anyone
should be doing, we just jammed. And then I went
through all these hours of riffs and picked out little areas
that I thought were cool and we worked from there.”
And in this new and rarified air, the groove wafted
FILTER mini 10
writing this record, you’d work your day job and
then come home to write for eight or nine hours.
Sure, yeah.
Tracing the
Movement of a Hand
with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Apparently, 2005 was pretty good for you.
Looking back, what strikes you as most surreal
about the past year?
I was in Brooklyn one day, staying at somebody’s
place, and I saw a pigeon collapse from the top of an
apartment building and land on somebody’s air conditioner and then hit the stoop at the bottom of the
air conditioner. That was the most surreal thing that
happened in 2005. It was tragic and depressing as
well. Or did you mean about how the band turned
out?
Yeah, that whole thing.
You know, nothing really strikes me as that surreal
anymore.
11 FILTER
mini
A lot of ado has been made over the musical
influences, or lack thereof, you suggest with this
album, but something that’s not often talked
about are your non-musical influences.
A lot of them have to do with the people that I might,
or might not, have mentioned in terms of musical
influences; they’re friends and folks that I’ve encountered. It’s tough to answer that one though.You watch
a film by Cassavetes or you see a [Susan] Rothenberg
painting or you read some stories by Raymond
Carver—these are just names I’m throwing out, but
they’re as important to me on a certain level as a lot of
the people who are musically affecting me.
You’ve mentioned in other interviews that, while
PHOTO: CHRIS CRISMAN
By Tristan Staddon
SAVE FOR ONE MINOR GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL, today’s likely no different for Alec Ounsworth than it might’ve
been a year ago. He’s got music on the mind, articulate ideas about art—his own and others’—at the ready, and at
least a week’s worth of laundry in the dryer. Pretty standard stuff for a culturally-conscious twenty-something with
a band based in Brooklyn.
So what about his geography is worth teasing? Well, today’s abnormal for Ounsworth because the laundromat
he’s utilizing happens to be in Northern Ireland, near Belfast, where he’ll soon stand onstage as the leader of one
of indie rock’s most celebrated new bands. Sorry, but it’s easy to get carried away when you’re writing about
Ounsworth and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, his label-free quintet, the band that was arguably 2005’s most deserving
success story, even though no one expected them to be. A year after the fuss first hit the fan, Ounsworth speaks
with Mini to reflect back and look ahead.
Make it Clap
Mini gives a round of applause
to this select group of
significant musical clappers.
How have you adapted that to the road?
Well, I haven’t written a song in a long time [laughs].
It’s tough, because I got very used to feeling like I was
Alfred B. Smith
in a routine of being creative every day. I guess you
“If You’re Happy and You Know It”
have to try to adjust in such a way that you can trans(1916)
late that creativity into what you’re doing onstage, so
Where it all started, bitches. We hear
that you’re not rehashing the same old stuff. That’s
it’s sung “And you really want to show
important to me. I think that I’ve been trying a bit
more, this time around, to find the time to work on it,” on the eastern side of the Atlantic, but we’ll hold our
stuff, but it really makes such a difference. I prefer wise-ass remarks for now because, well, at least they
writing at night, and I prefer being able to record it in didn’t swap “clap your hands” for “bomb Iraq.”
such a way that I can imagine the other instruments,
Queen
and there are certain limitations here that might
“We Will Rock You” from News of the
change the way I write songs a little. But then you go
World (Hollywood, 1977)
home and return to form…hopefully.
Essential palm-mashing, especially if
A lot of your fans have fallen in love with this
yours are hairy.
notion that you’ve taken a stand against letting
external forces like, oh, corporate labels and
The Rembrandts
agendas, affect your art. But you’ve openly said
“I’ll Be There For You” from Friends
you’ll consider signing if the fit is right. Do you
Soundtrack (Reprise, 1995)
worry about the backlash a move like that might
Was it really Rachel’s hair that carried
trigger?
200-odd episodes of Friends’ yuppie
No. A lot of my big heroes—who did what they want- drivel? Or were the over-eager handsmacks in the mided to—have been on bigger labels. There are certain dle of what’s become the most irritatingly infectious sitrepercussions, based on what sort of relationship com anthem ever responsible? Get that wheelchair guy
you’re entering into, that you have to make sure are on the phone.
right. But I think that, as far as the backlash is concerned, it was never really pointedly expressed as a
Radiohead
“We Suck Young Blood (Your Time Is
stand against major labels—it just happened to be that
we decided not to sign. It was a unique situation. But
Up)” from Hail to the Thief (Capitol,
2003)
the more I think about it, the more I begin to underA handclap’s comfort zone allows for
stand the music industry, it might as well have been
the expression of gratitude, excitement or seal mimicry.
considered a stand.
But this one’s mitts are all grave and malnourished. And
It’s part of the reason people love you. It sup- they keep trying to cut up our credit cards.
ports the idea that you’re a people’s band, not
some company’s.
LCD Soundsystem
Yeah, I think that’s right. I certainly like the idea of
“Disco Infiltrator” from LCD Soundsystem (Capitol, 2005)
that. I mentioned John Cassavetes earlier and I saw a
Handclaps for the new millennium. Not
documentary on him a little while ago. I saw how he
for the faint of wrist, but perfect if
worked and I think that it was a little more torturous
for him to work with a bigger company. I think, you’ve a better grip on irony than everyone you know.
instinctually, that’s the way it could’ve gotten for us,
which is why it never seemed like that much of a relevant question in the first place. But the idea, as far as
I’m concerned, is that labels have people working for
them too. In a lot of ways it just doesn’t seem to have
panned out these days to become something that
retains its integrity and honesty. I don’t know what to
say about that. But I do know that I’m not going to
work with anybody like that. F
FILTER mini 11
REVIEWS
One-Liners:
A miniature take on selected Filter Magazine reviews
...........................................................................................................................
(Go to Filter-Mag.com or pick up Filter Magazine’s Winter Issue for full reviews of the albums covered here.)
The Flaming Lips
92%
At War With the Mystics
Warner Bros.
Coolest old dudes ever create a psychic collage guaranteed to freak out newbies half their age.
Grandaddy
92%
What Happened to the Fambly Cat
V2
While this cat may require work before it
curls up in your bed, it’s guaranteed not to shit therein.
Mudhoney
91%
Under a Billion Suns
Sub Pop
Grunge stalwarts return with a haze of
garage-rock psychedelia that would make even Queens
bow in respect.
89%
Supernature
Mute
Sublime, sultry, sleazoid electro that’ll send
your cocker spaniel a’humpin.
88%
Security Screenings
Warp
Glitch master Scott Herren proves he can be
disjointed and soothing in equal measure—a perfect
soundtrack for travel.
Mogwai
85%
Mr. Beast
Matador
By-the-book post-rock from the Scots who
wrote the book; is their approach on “Auto Rock”?
86%
Ballad of the Broken Seas
V2
In this week’s After School Special the meek little girl and grizzled old man across the street become best
pals.
86%
First Impressions of Earth
RCA
A solid showing that strokes a little harder, a
little smoother and with a little more nonchalant effort.
84%
The Life Pursuit
Matador
Cutesy coos are replaced by synth wash; the
kids may have left the twee house for good.
80%
All At Once
Too Pure
The Cowboy Junkies meet Terry Riley meet
the Kills in a thin haze of sometimes-successful experimental Americana.
69%
Romance Bloody Romance...
Vice
Superfluous album of do-overs shows why
this Canuck duo should just stick to their sludgy bass and
bitchin’ hooks.
Liars
39%
Drum’s Not Dead
Mute
A drum-art experiment gone horribly
wrong; if drum ain’t dead, you might wish it was now.
FILTER
ALBUM
RATINGS
87%/37%
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
mini
86%
The Last Romance
Transdreamer
Perennially depressed Scotsmen take another trip down the Trainspotting toilet, but this one’s jaunty.
Death From Above 1979
For Screening Purposes...
Domino
Yelp-core à la the Blood Brothers with the
odd electro spasm; tasty for some, sickening for others.
12 FILTER
Arab Strap
Young People
Prefuse 73
The Strokes
86%
Garden Ruin
Quarterstick
Desert dwellers expand their horizons,
swapping cactus buttons for a more political bent.
Belle & Sebastian
Goldfrapp
Test Icicles
Calexico
91-100%
81-90%
71-80%
61-70%
Below 60%
¬
¬
¬
¬
¬
a great album
above par, below genius
respectable, but flawed
not in my CD player
please God, tell us why
FILTER mini 12
REVIEWS
CD
Reviews
...........................................................................................................................
Starlight Mints
91%
Drowaton
Barsuk
So I was going to spin a tale wherein
glammy late-’70s era Bowie emerges from the past to
kidnap Björk from the arms of Matthew Barney and
start a traveling post-punk, operatic circus. But this
album’s too damn good to be reduced to that kind of
farce. Church bells, violins, pianos and synth collide
with edgy surrealist rock. Never cluttered, Drowaton is
as compelling as it is complex, and it’s one of the most
fun listens of the year. PATRICK JAMES
Eagles of Death Metal
Death By Sexy
85%
retarded carnival of pure imagination performed to
perfection. MICHAEL SUTER
Hard-Fi
83%
Stars of CCTV
Atlantic
Mike Skinner fronting the Killers?
Almost.The Hard-Fi lads did come up in the same West
London hood as that bore from the Streets and tackle
the same “I’m broke and my woman’s bothering me”
problems, but they scrub it up in a “diska” sound (a
combo of disco, punk and dub, folks) so it goes down
nice and smooth. So smooth in fact, these guys shouldn’t have money problems for awhile.Woman problems?
That’s another story. JR GRIFFIN
DOWNTOWN RECORDS
Dear Boots Electric, Love Doc:
So there’s this cute little mamma in my Psych class
I’ve kinda had my eye on for a hot minute, and I need
your help, brother. Can you call her up and play some
of your boots-scootin’, honky-tonkin’, solid gold skuzz
jams to get this here Eaglet some serious skirt action?
Boogie on boogieman,
— “Smitten Kitten in Cleveland”
Dear “Kitten”:
“Well, well, well/You found the right love
doc/Boots Electric gonna tick her tock/Throw my new
record on the ol’ juke bock/And lil’ bitty baby gonna
be punchin’ yo’ clock/Boogie on down to the ol’ jook
shed/Sweatin’ it out like with more thunder than
Led/When it come to rockin’, you know what I
said/Sweetie, give me sexy, or give me dead.”
Purr on all my Sexy Kitties,
— Boots Electric, Love Doc
PAT MCGUIRE
Sparks
71%
Hello Young Lovers
In the Red
Sparks have too much conviction in
their own completely personal style of music for it to
be tongue-in-cheek. Even so, I defy anyone with an
ego to blare this with the windows down. Every
musical synapse will scream “Hate this record!” but
there’s something impressive in hearing music that
doesn’t even register in the modern pop cannon.The
closest approximation: imagine 50 minutes of the
“gala moosh” vocal interlude in “Bohemian
Rhapsody.” Hello Young Lovers is like a profoundly
13 FILTER
mini
Sondre Lerche &
the Faces Down Quartet
88%
Duper Sessions
Astralwerks
If the current group of dashing crooners were the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (with Harry Connick Jr.
as earnest Leonardo, Michael Buble as logical
Donatello, and Jamie Cullen as party animal
Michelangelo), then Sondre Lerche could easily step in
as the wisecracking Raphael. Teamed with the Faces
Down Quartet on Duper Sessions, the 21-year-old
Norwegian and his combination of smooth slacker
voice and snarky lyrics call to mind Pavement—had
they been popular in 1952. Somebody get this man
some sai daggers on the double. TODD BERGER
Secret Machines
88%
Ten Silver Drops
Warner Bros.
Texas-sized drums (bass bass high hat,
bass bass high hat; repeat), guitar bombast and monster
live shows helped the Machines blow all the other kids
away when they broke on the space rock scene, but for
Ten Silver Drops they’ve ditched some of the bang bang
in their rock and roll for mellower freeform prog jams
that creep up and envelope you like an ominous morning fog. Loneliness and paranoia have never sounded so
soothing. BRYAN CHENAULT
Taylor Hawkins & the Coattail Riders
Taylor Hawkins &
the Coattail Riders
Thrive
If Nirvana’s drummer can create the Foo Fighters, it only
53%
makes sense that the Foo Fighters’ drummer could pull
off his own band, too, right? Um, not so much. Hawkins’
attempt at stepping forward sounds like a bar band who
wants to be Rush, but only excels at turning the crowd to
drinking more. Except, it’s, like, worse than that—and
with annoyingly thin production for a project led by a
drummer. Don’t quit your day job, dude. JR GRIFFIN
Mystery Jets
88%
Flotsam & Jetsam
679
The Britpop bloc is hot and these blokes
only toss more Molotovs into the hedges. After releasing
a plethora of singles on their native island, the Mystery
Jets compile their early greatest for this stateside EP.The
group includes a father and son and it seems the old man’s
shoved his decreasingly square prog/psych record collection down the collective throat of his twentysomething
bandmates. Here the MJs regurgitate the half-digested
mess while doing a spastic dance. DAN FRAZIER
Loose Fur
90%
Born Again in the U.S.A.
Drag City
Part Wilco side project, part break-fromall-the-“difficult”-shit—let’s-make-some-pop-songs
outlet, and part cheeky modern day alt-indie supergroup, Loose Fur good time boys Jim O’Rourke, Jeff
Tweedy, Glenn Kotche are back in the US of A, and we
don’t know how lucky we are, boy. Born Again is 10 nopressure easy rockers that feature both Tweedy and
Jimmy on the mic, each bringing his own brand of deep
and dope-y ditties to the table. There’s a reason these
guys’ other bands are the two most important
American acts since the E-Streeters. PAT MCGUIRE
Ms.John Soda
85%
Notes and the Like
Morr Music
THE WAR!
THE ECONOMY.
STUDENT LOANS.
BILLS.TAXES.
PARENTS THAT WANT GRANDCHILDREN—
NOW.
CONSERVATIVE JUDGES.
TIVO DIDN’T TAPE 24!!!
STRESS. ENDLESS FUCKING STRESS!!!
SO GIANT. SO POWERFUL.
INSURMOUNTABLE!
A BLACK HOLE OF WORRY.
All so easily defeated by nine songs.
Like Kraftwerk with estrogen, on xanax
So soothing…everything…okay...now....
DAVID ISKRA
Eastern Conference Champions
86%
The Southampton Collection
Retone
INFOMERCIAL: Hey, all you alternative
music lovers out there! Remember when Radiohead
used to rock? Remember when their ballads weren’t
hidden beneath pesky bells and whistles? Wish they’d go
back and make The Bends, Volume II? Well, wait no
longer! Check out these incredible lost tracks stolen
from Thom Yorke’s vault of tears, not available in
stores!! CONSUMER (AFTER PURCHASE): Wait,
this is just three guys from Bucks County, Pennsylvania?
It can’t be! Did I just get James Frey-ed? BRYAN
CHENAULT
Various Artists
91%
Hugh Masakela Presents
the Chisa Years…1965-1975
BBE
Fourteen relentless groove monsters from the vaults of
Chisa Records, the influential African music label headed by jazz/pop legend Masakela and producer Stewart
Levine (Jamie Cullum, Simply Red). Masakela weighs
in with his band Ojah on the opener, “Afro Beat Blues,”
which turns on a crushingly tight Fela-meets-Motown
jam; elsewhere, the rhythms shift from soaring soul
workouts from South Africa’s Lette Mbulu to propulsive township R&B from the Zulus and slinky midnight
reggae from Baranta. Afrobeat doesn’t get funkier than
this, so do your ass a favor and get with it. PAUL GAITA
Placebo
73%
Meds
Astralwerks
Way too late for glam and out of sync
with NIN’s industrial revolution, Placebo has always
been like a puzzle piece in the wrong box.They serve a
purpose, but they just don’t fit the current picture.This
album finds Timo Maas lending a hand, which means
they are a little late for the “Electronic is the new
Rock!” campaign. Michael Stipe contributes some nice
backing vocals, but that too leaves them tardy for the
Alternative Nation. Here’s hoping they find their own
Island of Misfit Bands. I hear that Charlie in the Box
plays a mean synth. DAVID ISKRA
Various Artists
90%
London (Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack)
Tiny E
Dick Clark once said that “music is the soundtrack of
our lives,” and it’s true. In any situation, there’s an
album that will perfectly fit the mood. For instance, if
it’s ever 4 a.m. and you’re driving a Maserati to a deliver a briefcase full of coke to the Armenian mafia, then
just pop in London.The Crystal Method’s haunting tech-
no score, intermixed with a range of cool tracks from
artists as varied as the Perishers and Connie Price, nicely captures the feeling of doing something wrong that
feels so right. TODD BERGER
Neko Case
88%
Fox Confessor Brings
the Flood
AntiFirst the tigers spoke (with thick jaws to that poor
deer’s throat); now the fox brings the flood (of severed
ginger-haired girl heads, apparently). It seems that at
Neko Case’s wildlife preserve, only evildoing animals
are welcome. But dark Disney fable imagery and album
titles/art aside, inside is just what you’d expect from
the undisputed queen of alt-country and her sultry
Sadies: dreary guitars that draw out rain showers and
bellowing vocals that split the sky like thunder. BRYAN
CHENAULT
Subtract By Two
86%
Agoniser Ecrire
This Generation Tapes
Kudos to the tastemakers—it seems
“minimalist” and “post-“ are giving “emo” and “dancey” a
run for their money as genre modifiers, averting the
impending “dancemo” disaster and birthing a slew of
pretty-in-pretentious projects. While Sunn0))) get
exhumed and the world warms to Fennesz, eager newcomers Subtract By Two make a valiant and spooky dash
forward, layering their drifting etherea with steam,
jumbled electronics, pensive guitars and piano, and
found sounds that connote a trip through the streets of
Jack the Ripper’s London. So what if they’re from
North Carolina? LOUIS VLACH
Irving
Death in the Garden,
Blood on the Flowers
Eenie Meenie
Irving’s already been hailed as “arguably the best pop
L.A. has to offer,” but that was years ago and long before
Death in the Garden. Even with the vast layers, dynamic
new wave melodies and catchy hooks, this album ultimately fails to deliver as well as it does on the fantastic
first track, “Gentle Preservation of Children’s Minds.”
There’s a palpable sense of “I’ve already heard this”-ness,
which could help Irving break through just easily as it
could render them forgettable. PATRICK JAMES
84%
Martin Denny
86%
The Best of Martin Denny’s
Exotica
Capitol
Lounge legend Martin Denny made island music for
former GIs pining for the exoticism they experienced
in the South Pacific (minus all the explosions). His
strategy: light jazz blended with world percussion,
laced heavily with bird calls, gamelans and pulp adventure titles like “Taboo” and “Quiet Village.” The
approach took off like a flaming Tiki torch and
launched the exotic music craze of the ’50s. Exotica
compiles 18 of his lushest tunes, wraps them in sultry
cover art, and includes an interview with the big
Kahuna himself. PAUL GAITA
Stereolab
92%
Fab Four Suture
Too Pure
THIS JUST IN: Stereolab’s Armpit Farts,
Volume One will be available this spring! At some point
this should get to be a little much, right? And yet, here
we have Fab Four Suture: six EPs compiled, and still a
masterful collection of spacey, psych-y exotica—no
demos, no fluff, no fucking Dust Brothers remixes.
2004’s Margarine Eclipse reverberates through, but highlights “Get a Shot of the Refrigerator,” “Vodiak” and
“Interlock” demonstrate Stereolab doing what they do
best: expanding the depth of their interstellar production/exploration while kicking a little terrestrial ass on
the side. MICHAEL SUTER
MC Lars
The Graduate
42%
HORRIS
If every blogger with a bad attitude had
access to sampling gear and unleashed his or her questionable musical skills on the world, well, the world
would sound a lot like MC Lars. The Northern
California laptop musician attacks every pop culture
phenomenon in play today (Hot Topic gets it especially
hard in the ’nads with “Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock”).
But for a guy who’s allegedly so revolutionary, Lars’ targets are easy, his skills are wafer thin and the end result
is simply annoying. The Graduate? Failed. JR GRIFFIN
The Duke Spirit
87%
Cuts Across the Land
Startime
Now that the Big Apple’s main dime bag
delivery service shut down (yes, such things exist),
those curious as to what might happen if, say, PJ Harvey
attempted an album with an ounce stowed in each
pocket will have to turn to England. These Brits’ girldriven psych-blues-rock undulates out of the speakers,
begging to be mulled over, lulling anxieties to sleep
between the ears. Sure, you could appreciate it perfectly sober, but why not add a little ganja, allowing their
nuances to overtake you in a quasi-cosmic experience.
CATHERINE ADCOCK
MAGAZINE’S
RADIO SINGLES CHART
M sic Appreciation Nights
The Filter Recommended Radio Chart is Filter’s compilation of our favorite college,
indie, modern rock and adult album alternative stations around the country that we know will
always bring you what Filter loves best: Good Music. This list of top-20 singles of the week is
made up of the most played songs of our select stations. Read on, and check filter-mag.com
every week to see what Filter and the in-the-know programmers across the country deem best.
presented by
PRESENTED
BY
MEDIAGUIDE
1: CAT POWER, “Living Proof ” Matador
2: CAT POWER, “The Greatest” Matador
3: BETH ORTON, “Conceived” Astralwerks / EMI
4: CAT POWER, “Love & Communication” Matador
5: BELLE & SEBASTIAN, “Funny Little Frog” Matador / Rough Trade / Beggars
Group
6: BELLE & SEBASTIAN, “Act Of The Apostle” Matador / Rough Trade / Beggars
Group
7: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, “Crooked Teeth” Barsuk / Atlantic
8: BELLE & SEBASTIAN, “White Collar Boy” Matador / Rough Trade / Beggars
Group
9: CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH, “The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth”
Self Released
10: JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS, “The Big Guns”Team Love
11: U2, “Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own” Interscope
12: JACK JOHNSON, “Upside Down” Universal / Brushfire
13:THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, “Use It” Mint / Matador / Beggars Group
14: SIA, “Breathe Me” Go! Beat / Astralwerks
15: APOLLO, “Nove” Inexplicata (w/ Ceu) Ziriguiboom / Crammed Discs / Six
Degrees
16: CAT POWER, “Where Is My Love” Matador
17: BETH ORTON, “Heart Of Soul” Astralwerks / EMI
18: DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, “14-Feb”Triplea.com
19:THE STROKES, “You Only Live Once” RCA / Sony BMG
20: DEPECHE MODE, “Precious” Reprise / Sire / Mute
Chart based on electronically monitored airplay data of the week of February 6, 2006 provided by
www.mediaguide.com for the following commercial and non-commercial radio stations: KCRW - Los Angeles, CA, KDHX - St. Louis,
MO, INDIE 103.1 - Newport Beach/Santa Monica, CA, KEXP - Seattle,WA, KITS - San Francisco, CA, KOOP/KVRX Hornsby/Austin,TX, KXLU - Los Angeles, CA, WAWL - Chattanooga,TN,WDBM - East Lansing, MI, WDET - Detroit, MI, WFMU East Orange, NJ, WFPK - Louisville, KY, WFUV - NewYork, NY, WKNC - Raleigh, NC, WKQX - Chicago, IL, WRAS - Atlanta, GA,
WRGP - Homestead, FL, WRVU - Nashville,TN, WTMD - Townson, MD, WXPN - Philadelphia, PA, WYEP - Pittsburgh, PA, EQX Buffalo, NY, The Current 89.3 - Minnesota
GOOD:MUSIC:WILL:PREVAIL
tune in!
FILTER MINI IS PROUDLY DISTRIBUTED
BY THE FOLLOWING STATIONS:
the all-new
from Honda
FEATURING LIVE PERFORMANCES AND DJ SETS BY
Hot Chip, Juan Mclean,
2 Many DJs, The Duke Spirit,
Jimmy Tamberello (Postal Service)
and many others
TO PREVIEW THE FIT, JOIN US THIS SPRING IN
Los Angeles • San Francisco
New York • Seattle • Chicago
Philadelphia • Portland • Indio
and more cities to be announced
Go to filter-mag.com and sign up for the newsletter in your
city to get your exclusive invite and more information.
fit.honda.com
FILTER mini 17