The week Drake gets freaky with the latest from Flight of the Conchords and Atlas Sound. -ed.
Drake’s Take: New Releases 10.20.09
Like last week, those who’d already made their top albums list for the year (or decade, eh, P4k?) are out of luck, as another couple releases can slide right in. First one being Logos from Atlas Sound (Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox) and another being the latest from the UK duo F*ck Buttons. Other new releases of note come from Flight of the Conchords, Russian Circle, Spiral Stairs, El Perro Del Mar, Alec Ounsworth (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), Maps and soundtracks from Sufjan Stevens (from a musical production), Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard, and the much anticipated New Moon soundtrack.
Playlist: New Releases 10.20.09
Atlas Sound – Logos
Stream /
Purchase [mp3]
In his first release as Atlas Sound, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel, Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox sounded like we’d interrupted a private moment in his bedroom. With this second release, Cox has taken us out of the bedroom and into… the living room, I guess. Regardless, it’s a great album of found sounds and pop wonders wrapped head-to-toe in guaze, like a pop rock mummy. The standout track is the collaboration with Animal Collective’s Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox, “Walkabout,” which samples the Dovers’ “What Am I Going to Do”. Elsewhere, when Cox buries his vocals, it feels like Deerhunter’s more shoe-gaze-y moments, but somehow more artful in it’s presentation. With an album like Logos, it’s going to be hard for Cox us to convince us that Atlas Sound is a side project anymore.
Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
Stream /
Purchase [mp3]
While the first season of Flight of the Conchords was a cultural breakout* as far as comedies go, it was the second season where those kiwis Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement figured out how to better marry the songs and the story lines on the screen. As such, this second album is more of a soundtrack than the first, leaning more on your remembering the visuals and story context than the first.
*I say cultural breakout in that while viewer numbers wasn’t great for even pay cable standards, the few that saw it talked about it endlessly.
In that spirit, to celebrate the release of I Told You I Was Freaky (or, the practical title not chosen, Flight of the Conchords: Music from the Second Season of the Television Series) here’s a track by track breakdown of each song on the album (with videos after the jump). If anything, it reminds of how hungry we are for them to get back in a room with co-creator James Bobin and crank out a third season.
1. “I Got Hurt Feelings” / Purchase mp3
From episode 2.03 (”The Tough Brets”)
The obligatory return of Hiphopopotamus and Rhymenoceros has some fun with the tradition of rappers’ dissing each other, turning it on it’s ear with a “Sticks and Stones” sentimentality.
2. “Sugalumps” / Download: “Sugalumps” [mp3]
From episode 2.02 (”A New Cup”)
Probably the funniest episode of the season is a domino of tragedy – Bret buying a used cup for $2.79 leads to Jemaine turning to prostitution. Oh, and two great songs, this one and “You Don’t Have to be a Prostitute” (#10). Obvious parody of the unfortunate “My Humps.” (See Drake’s post on song and episode from January.)
3. “We’re Both in Love With a Sexy Lady”
From episode 2.06 (”Love Is a Weapon of Choice”)
Brett & Jemaine both fall for the same lazy-eyed dog owner (Kristen Wiig). Great parody of R. Kelly.
4. “I Told You I Was Freaky”
From episode 2.09 (”Wingmen”)
Title track plays homage to the band Empire of the Sun, which features Aussie Luke Steele, formerly of The Sleepy Jackson (who get obscure homage in track #12). Also bits of MGMT, Electric Six and even Beck.
5. “Demon Woman”
From episode 2.07 (”Prime Minister”)
Mary Lynn Rajskub plays the psychotic Karen, inspiration for the song. Cliff Richard was (and still is) a huge star in the UK and his song “Devil Woman” seems an obvious reference here, even if obscure to us Yanks.
6. “Rambling Through The Avenues Of Time”
From episode 2.09 (”Wingmen”)
A silly song that sounds a lot like Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” but may also be an homage to Peter Sarstedt’s “Where Do You Go To (My Lovely),” recently revived for Wes Anderson’s short film Hotel Chevalier (the prolugue to The Darjeeling Limited).
7. “Fashion is Danger”
From episode 2.08 (”New Zealand Town”)
Gets its visual inspiration from the music video for Visage’s “Fade to Grey”, and audio from David Bowie’s “Fashion.” Dig the Babylon 5 get-up.
8. “Petrov, Yelyena and Me”
From episode 2.10 (”Evicted”)
Of all the songs on the album, this one feels the most shoe-horned into the storyline, much like “Bowie Song” from season one. And like that song, it gets a fantastical video, making it worth the ’stretch.’
9. “Too Many Dicks (On the Dancefloor)”
From episode 2.05 (”Unnatural Love”)
Michel Gondry directs the episode, and his music video background shines through.
10. “You Don’t Have To Be A Prostitute”
From episode 2.02 (”A New Cup”)
See #2, “Sugalumps.”
11. “Friends”
From episode 2.04 (”Murray Takes It to the Next Level”)
Jim Gaffigan guests in the episode and music segment as Murray’s friend Jim.
12. “Carol Brown”
From episode 2.05 (”Unnatural Love”) / See Drake’s post from February
Easily the best FOTC penned song from either season, this one is reminiscent of the band The Sleepy Jackson, a band from Australia, which works nicely with the context of Jemaine accidentally sleeping with an Australian and dealing with the consequences.
Watch all 14 FOTC videos after the jump.
More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week:
Spiral Stairs – The Real Feel /
Free AOL Album Stream
White Denim – Fits /
Free AOL Album Stream
Russian Circles – Geneva /
Free AOL Album Stream
Sufjan Stevens – The BQE /
Free AOL Album Stream
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack The Twilight Saga: New Moon /
Free AOL Album Stream
El Perro Del Mar – Love Is Not Pop /
Free AOL Album Stream
Alec Ounsworth – Mo Beauty
Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard – One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Music From Kerouac’s Big Sur
Maps – Turning the Mind /
Free AOL Album Stream
Do Make Say Think – Other Truths
Kings Of Convenience – Declaration Of Dependence /
Free AOL Album Stream
F*ck Buttons – Tarot Sport
Electric Six – Kill /
Free AOL Album Stream
Old Canes – Feral Harmonic /
Free AOL Album Stream
Jello Biafra – The Audacity Of Hype
Leonard Cohen – Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970) /
Free AOL Album Stream
Espers – III /
“Caroline” [mp3]
The Slits – Trapped Animal /
Free AOL Album Stream
Robert Francis – Before Nightfall /
Free AOL Album Stream
REISSUES
Pylon – Chomp More / “Beep” [mp3]
Black Dynamite (Original Motion Picture Score)
The Cult – Love (Expanded Edition)
“Drake’s Take: New Releases 10.20.09″ continued after the jump
As wrong as it is, it’s hard not to think of this album as a sequel to Once, where Glenn Hansard and Marketa Irglova have broken up and are putting it to song. Of course The Swell Season existed before Once, with many of the songs from their debut ending up in the film, so this technically is a follow up to that release, but for the vast majority of the record buying public, Once is the starting point. I’m not sure what Hansard & Irglova are thinking putting their Van Morrison impersonations front and center (opening songs “Low Rising” and “Feeling The Pull”). The rest of the album has worked wonders as a sincerity tonic, cleansing my palate of all the irony and sarcasm in indie rock that are part of my usual diet, and for that I am grateful.
The transition from folk to minimalist new wave pop is almost complete for Tegan and Sara, with this their sixth album, Sainthood. Their past two releases both signaled the change, but the subject matter was a little dark on So Jealous and The Con. Here, there’s a lighter feel to go with the witty banter the sisters showcase during their live set, and it just feels a bit more relaxed, confident… and yes, fun. And when your opening single is titled “Hell,” that’s saying something.
