Today was Run Amuck, a 5K run through a park, over walls and obstacles and through mud pits and a lake. Hunter, Maritza, Katie and I decided to dress up as mayo, relish, ketchup and mustard respectively.

3.1 miles of mud and water later:

After crossing the finish line we wandered 50 yards away from the rest of the festivities and after some decoy photos:

Great success.

Ever wonder what DEVO would sound like if Mike Mothersbaugh had hung out at CBGB on bop pills instead of fashioning kitchenware headgear with David Bowie and Brian Eno? Yeah me neither. But I think it would sound a lot like The Phenomenauts, a scifi punkabilly/surf band from Oakland that’s coming to 31st St Pub on August 18th.

I found these guys by accident browsing the 31st St schedule (how could I pass up checking out a band with a name like the Phenomenauts?), so I don’t know a ton about them, but I like what I’ve seen so far. They dress up as robots, sing about rocket ships and alien babes, and list TMBG among their influences on MySpace; win-win-win. They also seem to have quite a cult following, which usually means they’re a lot of fun live.

They’ve put out 3 albums, and their 2nd is far and away my favorite, so I’m sharing it here. Go nuts.

The Phenomenauts – Re-Entry

Check it out, and their album’s only $7 on iTunes (and DRM free), so if you like it, buy it. The usual, “I will support the artist by seeing live shows and buying merch” argument doesn’t really work here.

Death – … For the Whole World to See

The new Decemberists album is out March 24. I’ve seen it described various places as both a rock opera and a concept album. Neither of those descriptors are necessarily pejorative (The Thermals – The Body the Blood the Machine comes to mind as an example of a sublime concept album), but they do raise a few red flags.

I’ve listened to The Hazards of Love, this newest Decemberists album, a couple times today and I wanted to be so much more impressed than I am. For an album about a girl being impregnated by a shapeshifting denizen of the woods (no joke) it is surprisingly inaccessible. I probably just haven’t given it the time it deserves to appreciate the recurrent musical themes, lyrical subleties and literary flourishes. Like a Modenese balsamic, I’m sure this album needs some time to age and let its flavor mature. But so far it’s no Crane Wife, which was no Picaresque.

That’s not to say it’s a bad album, or even a meh album. Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden contribute some beautiful vocals to the album and they both oppose Meloy very nicely. True, it has no standout singles but that’s because it really is a cohesive whole more than 17 individual tracks. In this regard, it’s similar to their stellar, 2004 effort, The Tain EP, a 5 song cycle based on a Scottish myth. The Hazards of Love is just not the magniloquent, yet captivating, whimsy-pop we’d come to love from the Decemberists.For that, you’re better off listening to last year’s Always the Bridesmaid EP which showcases five excellent little numbers (and a cloying Moldy Peaches cover best skipped) from the Decemberists of yore, before they went prog.

I don’t like doing this, but I will admit that I was wrong, so very wrong, about this album. After spending the last 3 days listening to it over and over, I have been enthralled. I think going into this I was expecting a regular album full of singles and encapsulated songs that stand on their own. This album is certainly not that; in that way it is no Picaresque. I stand by my previous assertion that none of these songs, with the possible exception of The Rake’s Song is all that catchy or impressive in isolation. But treated as one piece, The Hazards of Love is something very special.

This is the kind of record that makes me wish I knew more about music (theory, composition, etc.), because I currently find myself at a loss to explain exactly why it’s so enjoyable to sit back in your chair for an hour and get lost in the soundscape. It’s not the lyrics or the story. They’re standard Meloy fare, full of deliciously obscure words and dated turns of phrase, but they lack much meat or emotional punch. I don’t particularly care about what happens to Margaret, William and the queen. And it’s not Meloy’s crooning, which struck me as more nasal and, well, obnoxious than any of his previous recordings. Shara Worden and Becky Stark (especially Shara) both give beautiful performances, but even they don’t account for the magnificence of the work. I guess I should stop trying to explain something I don’t understand. I was never good at that. Anyway, hats off to The Decemberists for having the balls to do something so different, and pulling it off incredibly.

The Decemberists are taking the show on the road soon, playing a first set of The Hazards of Love in its entirety followed by a second set of older tunes. If you can’t wait, they just played the album live at SXSW for NPR. You can stream the show here.

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love

For comparison’s sake:

The Decemberists – The Tain EP

The Decemberists – Always the Bridesmaid EP

Once upon a time M. Ward got Zooey Deschanel to sing him her songs and they made a band. I think she broke his heart when she accepted Ben Gibbard’s proposal, but M.’s still big enough to let her sing backup vocals on his newest CD, which as far as I can tell is quite good.  I might have time to post a more articulate opinion in the future, but I doubt it. Enjoy nonetheless.

M. Ward – Hold Time

3/17 Morissey at Carnegie Music Hall

3/28 AC Newman at the Warhol

3/29 Gaslight Anthem at Mr Small’s

3/29 Josh Ritter at Diesel <– I won’t be in town, but go see this!

4/7 Andrew Bird at Carnegie Music Hall

4/7 Mt St Helens Vietnam Band at Brillo

4/11 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin at Brillo

4/12 Cloud Cult and Margot and the Nuclear So Sos at Mr. Small’s

4/16 Diplo at Diesel

4/19 Headlights at Brillo

4/29 Dr. Dog at Mr. Small’s <– I’ve seen these guys a few times. Highly recommended.

5/11 TV on the Radio at Mr. Small’s  <– Get your tickets meow.

It’s about time: the new Neko Case album drops on March 3, but thanks to the wonders of the internet, here it is a couple weeks early.
Interestingly, the sample track I’ve included here, People Got a Lotta Nerve, is one of the latest downloadable songs on Rock Band.
Enjoy.

Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Superjam at Bonnaroo 2008

Apparently, Les Claypool (bassist badass of Primus), Kirk Hammett (of Metallica) and Gogol Bordello (gypsy punks) got together at last year’s Bonnaroo to do a live set of Tom Waits covers. And I stumbled across it, quite by accident, earlier today. It’s not the highest quality recording, and it’s a little jammy for my tastes, but it’s so weird and wonderful that I couldn’t keep it all to myself. One Primus song (Dee’s Diner) sneaks in there, but it’s mostly stuff from Waits’s Frank’s Wild Years and Black Rider.

Les Claypool, Kirk Hammett and Gogol Bordello cover Tom Waits at Bonnaroo 2008

Maybe this year they can get They Might Be Giants and Jeff Magnum to do a set of David Byrne songs…

Beck – Modern Guilt

Black Keys – Attack and Release

Dillinger 4 – Civil War