DELTA SPIRIT – SOMETHING IN THE AIR

 

Body Of Water May Not Be Actual Delta, Doesn't Matter

I’ll be honest.  In today’s music world, when a band comes out of the woodwork, starts getting a good amount of press, and then quickly makes the sudden and oh so important leap from ‘this town regular’ to ‘national underdog,’ I normally cringe, normally look to the ceiling and let out a resounding silent “why,” and in some cases vomit.  The reason being, the past ten years of me seeing this happen has been with bands that are god awful.  Really, shit.  The Delta Spirit are not that band.

The Delta Spirit are not only the antithesis of this “god-awful-shit” strain that led me to listen to nothing but music from 30+ years ago for 5 years; they may actually be the band that got me out of it.  I kept seeing this ad here and there, for months.  A man, perhaps posing as everyone’s uncle in suburban here-and-there, with a glass of wine, his face lit up like someone who had gotten proposed to by Bridgett Bardot.  There was something about that name, though.  I ended up running into a promotional copy of “Ode To Sunshine,” in Reckless Records downtown, and sunny damn there’s that man again on the cover!  Well, I took a gamble and bought it.  Went home, stuck it on and waited for the inevitable.  

The inevitable was fireworks and sangria on sunday, diving off trampolines into a lake, that feeling you get when you speed 70 mph down a hill in Wisconsin, the bible reinterpreted by a new born baby, playing baseball with apples, chicken-fucking-soup for the roaming lunatic laureate’s soul!   

If “Trashcan” was the only song on this record, it probably would have still been the only record in my CD player.  But it didn’t end, no!

Suddenly, it was traveling passion, peculiar questions, need for sanity, love for sanity, familiar strangers, those lines between make believe and reality blur and you’re reminded of something you lost or never found.

From a sonic standpoint, it’s the type of record that you could be speeding 100 mph off the grand canyon, and somehow recollect all the joys, pains, and triumphs of a life.  But you dig into the lyrics, and…well, much the same actually.  

And so many times, a lyric can overshadow and taint a musical composition (the doors) and vice versa (radiohead) but here, it’s quite harmonious.   

Then, in some strange sequence of events, I found them playing later that week on Conan, expelling my possible concern that they’d be terrible live, and then I saw them a few weeks later at Double Door, further expelling my possible concern that they may have just gotten lucky in New York.  No, this is a band of unified minstrels.  They believe what they say, and they don’t use frills, bullshit, or fancy jangles to do so.  

So, in this case, I’m exceptionally pleased that Delta Spirit went from their humble home of Everywhere, California to  Everywhere, America touring with The Shins.  May that be the fate of every band that deserves it (myself included!) . If I never see Delta Spirit again like I did at Double Door, a show that gave me hope in music that can be uplifting, meaningful and repentant at the same time, that’s alright.  It’s someone else’s turn to get it.

Get “Ode To Sunshine” at Delta Spirit Myspace.   

“People C’mon” Video

I put stock in this band because, they are serious, but don’t take themselves too seriously.  Watch as the singer gets viciously murdered!

Delta Spirit EPK

Oh yeah, at the show I couldn’t help but tell D.S. their drummer is a shoe-in for Twin Peaks’ James Hurley.  Anyway..

-lux

THE SHYS – SOMETHING IN THE (CALIFORNIA) AIR

Alright.  I’m not sure what it is but I have this list of groups in my head, right?  The list consists of like 5 or 6 groups that I plan on featuring on this blog in the next two weeks.  I don’t know why, maybe it’s the weather changing, the dire need to flee Chicago’s manic desire to royally fuck with us, but every single band on this list, for some reason, hails from California.  So, these next two weeks are gonna be devoted to great music from that Golden State.  There is Something In The California Air. 

The first of these is…

 

Maybe It's The Palm Trees...

THE SHYS

Scooter High.  You haven’t heard of it?  Scooter High.  Yep, it’s that feeling you get riding on a (preferably Italian) Scooter, perusing narrow California streets, winding in and out of traffic – and yes, alright, you can put the coyly mysterious brunette on your back, probably wearing your helmet, sunlight splitting like a kaleidoscope on your head from the walls and ceilings of trees.  Scooter High.  

Well, The Shys might be the soundtrack to that euphoric joyride.  Hell, they might be the ones riding.  But don’t be fooled here, though many of their songs (“The Hangman,” “Already Gone,”) have that lip-snarled, “fuck off, i’m wearing ray bans, asshole, and i’m driving straight into you” vibe I love so much, The Shys are not a one trick pony.  Songs like “Mercy,” and “Savior,” are undoubtedly deeper.  Yes, they still have that snarl, but there is some great longing and passion behind it.  Lyrics like “Love, have mercy on me,” and “I feel just like I found my savior,” actually make you wonder who he may be talking to.

I remember talking about this band a year or two ago, when their second record, “Astoria,” came out.  I considered it one of the only relevant records around.  It’s good to see that their material has only gotten more relevant.  

Pick up “You’ll Never Understand This Band The Way I Do” at theshys.com.  Cheeky fucking title, isn’t it?  

If you just can’t wait, you can visit everyone’s favorite music site, DAYTROTTER, where The Shys recently did some live sessions you can download.

The Shys – “Savior”

The only thing this video is missing is a scooter.

-lux

MACK WINSTON AND THE REFLECTIONS – SOMETHING IN THE AIR

 

The Only Good Band In L.A.

STOP.  Before you read this post, there are a few things I need you to do.

1. go to MackWinston.com, download the “Manipulator” EP for free.

2. press PLAY on the first song, “Manipulator.”

3. while playing, read my post.

READY?  OK.

 

You'd Better Be Listening to Manipulator

When I think of L.A. I don’t really think of Palm Trees, Beaches, Utopian Weather Systems, or Big Business Headquarters.  I more think of a gigantic line of cocaine piled curb to curb down the entire Sunset Strip 2 hours before Dawn; neon colored powder reflecting the flashing marquees, nauseating this and thats clad in elf boots, pixies in drag, jangling metal at the wrists, sex in a stall with everyones signature watching, dirt clogged under nail polished fingers, queens and clowns crawling knee by knee down the under-the-counter asphalt, eyeliner smears on every man and woman.  That’s L.A.  And though it most likely is not L.A., fuck it, That’s L.A.

If this is, indeed, L.A., then Mack Winston is the omniscient guru, who sits on dark  rusted roof tops and in unmarked cars on the busiest streets, observing, documenting, scribbling, with a bare hint of compassion, maybe, but fleeting as his subject disappears.  His purpose seems almost voyeuristic, like making a diary of a dark imaginary life that you hide in a safe inside a cuckoo clock. 

I don’t have to explain this musically.  If you can understand that The Kinks AND The Smiths sound like London, that Patti Smith AND The Strokes sound like New York, that Bjork AND David Bowie sound like Mars, then you will understand how The Beach Boys AND Mack Winston sound like L.A.  And the latter is arguably much more interesting.

The best thing for you?  All you have to do is go to MackWinston.com and download their “Manipulator” EP.  It’s free.  

Are Mack Winston and The Reflections revolutionary?  No.  Nor is it new or old, diverse or derived, honest or lying.  It is perfect, though.  Every fucking song.  And with that, I nominate Mack Winston and the Reflections my new favorite band.  Too bad they, like every band from L.A., will probably never grace most of the middle U.S. But that’s alright, I’m content with my new soundtrack to that wonderful and decrepit city. 

Some interesting live in-studio videos here, at Groupee, for those of us that will never see this band, live.

“Manipulator” Video

Oh, to be young, beautiful, and oversexed. Oh, and pomped.  

“Dark, Dark, Night” Video

Purely and Simply one of the great Stop Motion Videos of our time.

Mack’s Myspace

-lux

POP LEVI – SOMETHING IN THE AIR

 

Space Cadet/22nd Century Genius Pop Levi

Has anybody heard of Pop Levi?  Probably not.  Why not?  I have absolutely no clue.

Though it could be because this London born musician/filmmaker/space cadet/lunatic genius chooses to completely let his art speak for itself, refuses to compromise, (even if that means people would actually be able to understand what the hell he’s doing) and from what I’ve heard, has turned down multiple deals with bigger labels.  

For those of you who’s ears have graced Pop Levi’s music and film, you’ll be familiar with his music – spanning anywhere from French synth pop (“Dita Dimone'”) to mock-modern R&B dance grooves worthy of anything in The Neptunes library (“Never Never Love”), to the most raunchy garage beauty/filth (“Police $ign”).  You’ll be familiar with his films – outrageous and ingenious fornication of colors dancing, stop motion animation, fast paced shots, go go dancers, meaningless diazepam induced liverpudlian blather (priceless!) and Levi’s, Poppy-a-go-go enigma that makes you wonder if this stuff was made in the next century, and if this is what the world will look like (God I hope so).  You’ll be familiar with his personality – whether it be his cheeky titles, (“Terrifying (For Kenneth Anger),” “Sugar Assault Me Now”) his incessant use of the words “baby,” and “lucky beaches,” the fact that his production company is called “World Empire Inc.,” or his manic switch between Liverpudlian, Irish, and American Car Salesman dialects at any moment.

But you’re probably not familiar.  

Here I have a podcast that was recorded earlier this year, if you want some good radio to listen to.  It has Pop talking about what he’s been up to, (“We look at Palm Trees”) and spinning records he loves (when asked what he thinks Bo Diddley meant when he wrote “Googlia Moo” he shyly responds, “I think it’s about Bo being in love with Downs Syndrome”). 

“POPCAST #1”

Also, here we have three of his videos.  He has about a hundred.  Some are musical, some aren’t.  Some are 15 seconds, some are 6 minutes.  Every single one is different, and every single one is fascinating, frightening, or hilarious in someway.  Someday the masses will finally discover this man, only to find out he already knew that, and ran back to Lusaka, Zambia.  Pop Levi – There’s Something In The Air.

“Dita Dimone'”

This is a perfect example of Pop’s look into the future I spoke of.

“Capitool Recunts”

Pop Levi’s non-music videos, simply insane.

“Pick Me Up Uppercut”

This is a good example of a “straight” video of his.  Well, about as straight as he gets.

 

You can get Pop’s YOUTUBE channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/poplevi

-lux