arcade - FILTER Magazine

We Love You...Digitally 

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Scroll over each page to find the hotlinks, click ’em, and find yourself at the websites of 

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we call Filter. Good music, as they say, will prevail. 

— Pat McGuire, Editor-in-Chief 

arcade 

fire 

have gang, 

will travel 

Letters, inquiries, randomness: guide@filter-mag.com 

Advertising and suchlike: ana@filtermmm.com 

summer festivals 

#18 • Aug.-sept. ’07 

Björk • Editors 

New Pornographers 

Crowded House

THE FILTER MAILBAG 

We get a lot of mail here at the Filter offices—some good, some bad, 

some…well, completely unclassifiable. Send us something strange and 

you might see it here. 

Ask the Guide staff 

what the key to our 

happiness might be, and 

the unanimous answer 

would resound: “Why, a 

miniature Fender Strat, 

of course!” Imagine 

our delight when 

this 12-inch replica 

arrived (courtesy GMP 

Diecast). It’s all we dreamed of, from the poseable whammy bar to the chrome 

tuning keys. But that’s not all: the folks over at Rock Your Religion sent us an 

example of their faith/rock-based jewelry, for when we want to take the rocking 

to a higher power. Consider our Creed-ence revived. 

IN THE GUIDE 

You can download the Filter Good Music Guide at 

goodmusicwillprevail.com. While there, be sure to 

check out our back issues, the latest of which features 

Interpol, Travis, Queens of the Stone Age, Patton Oswalt, 

and Hot Fuzz. With so many of our friends and good 

music fans heading to Chicago for Lollapalooza, we’ve 

given this issue a summer festival slant. If you find yourself 

in the Windy City, keep an eye out for the Guide; but 

keep your other eye covered, it’s windy out there. 

ON THE WEB 

Visit goodmusicwillprevail.com for music news, MP3s, 

magazine features, extended interviews, contests, staff 

picks, album and concert reviews, and the world-famous 

Filter Blog (insider information, offhand opinions, album 

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to your email inbox. Cities served: Los Angeles, New York, 

Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Denver, 

Boston, Portland, Austin, Washington D.C. and London. 

AT THE STANDS 

Out now: Filter Issue 26—“Rilo Kiley: 

Stepping Out.” Rilo Kiley’s royal couple— 

Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennet—joins Filter for 

a swanky evening in downtown Los Angeles, 

where they walk the thin line separating maturity 

and, well, its inverse. Between ballsy comments 

of headstrong self-assuredness following stories 

of breaking down under grown-up pressures, 

it’s apparent that after 10 years, Rilo Kiley is still 

figuring itself out. Also: Filter takes an incisive 

look at the church of Common; Iron & Wine’s 

Sam Beam takes his tried-and-true nomadic family myth-making to a bigger 

level; and twin chanteuses Tegan and Sara reunite. Plus: Happy Mondays, the 

State, diving into the U.K. dance scene, Joaquin Phoenix, St. Vincent, Maps, 

Earlimart, J*DaVeY, Savath & Savalas, Meat Puppets, The King of Kong, Danny 

Boyle, Bob Odenkirk, and some carefully chosen favorites care of Interpol. 

Contact us 

guide@filter-mag.com or 5908 Barton Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90038 

Publishers 

Alan Miller & Alan Sartirana 

Editors 

Chris Martins & Pat McGuire 

Art Director 

Eric Almendral 

Editorial Assistant 

Colin Stutz 

Editorial Interns 

Molly Fischer, Casey Henry, 

Breanna Murphy 

Scribes 

Cameron Bird, Andrea Bussell, 

Bryan Chenault, Phil Eastman, 

Kendah El-Ali, Molly Fischer, 

Paul Gaita, David Iskra, 

Shane Ledford, Robbie Mackey, 

Nevin Martell, Jeremy Moehlmann, 

Breanna Murphy, Beau Powers, 

Bernardo Rondeau, 

Zach Rosenberg, Sam Roudman, 

Ken Scrudato, Colin Stutz 

Marketing 

Samantha Barnes, Stephen Barr, 

Mike Bell, Samantha Feld, 

Tristen Joy Gacoscos, 

Max Hellman, Penny Hewson, 

Eric “Vizion” Jones, Torr Leonard, 

Jose Vargas 

Thank You 

Heather Bleemers, John Brown, 

Rene Carranza, Eric Frederic, Mom 

and Dad, Martins and Vlacks, Marc 

McAlpin, the Oakland Bay Area, Baillie 

Parker, McGuire family, Bagavagabonds, 

Clint Weiler, Howard Kelly, Wendy & 

Sebastian Sartirana, Momma Sartirana, 

the Ragsdales, SC/PR Sartiranas, 

the Masons, Pete-O, Rey, the Paikos 

family, Chelsea & the Rifkins, Shaynee, 

Wig/Tamo and the SF crew, Shappsy, 

Phamster, Pipe, Dana Dynamite, 

Christian P, Lisa O’Hara, Susana Loy 

Rodriguez, Jessica Park, Shari Doherty, 

Jeremy Guthrie, Jamaal Layne, Robb 

Nansel, Daniela Barone, Pam Ribbeck, 

Asher Miller, Rachel Weissman, Andrea 

LaBarge, Brill Bundy, Julie Almendral 

Advertising Inquiries 

ana@filter-mag.com 

West Coast Sales: 323.464.4718 

East Coast Sales: 646.202.1683 

Filter Good Music Guide is published by Filter 

Magazine LLC, 5908 Barton Ave., Los Angeles 

CA 90038. Vol. 1, No. 18, August-September 

2007. Filter Good Music Guide 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 self-addressed envelope or 

package of appropriate size, bearing adequate 

return postage. 

© 2007 by Filter Magazine LLC. 

all rights reserved 

filter is printed in the usa 

goodmusicwillprevail.com 

cover photo by brantley gutierrez

Your Guide to Innovations in Entertainment 

Joseph Arthur 

Hawks His Live Show 

Better than a band T-shirt, better than catching a drumstick thrown from the stage, even 

better than a couple of steamy moments in the artist dressing room, leaving a show with an 

audio recording of what you just heard is the best souvenir a music fan could ask for. You’ve 

seen those huge trucks churning out discs curbside, but they’re totally faceless (and you have 

to wait a while). You’ve tried to sneak in your own recorder, but that’s obviously not smiled 

upon and is usually illegal, not to mention the quality sucks. Troubadour Joseph Arthur has the 

cure for your souvie blues: he tours with his own CD burner that records each of his shows, 

then burns discs to be sold immediately following the last note of the final encore. “We began 

selling live shows because there was no longer record company interference,” Arthur says. 

“The audio comes from the soundboard, blended with a couple of mics at either side of the 

stage for ambience, and then a couple of towers burn seven discs at a time. I think there’s 

something special about buying a CD of a show you just witnessed.” Prepare yourself to see 

Arthur himself hawking his new ware from the merch table, then signing and doodling on 

your copy’s sleeve (he’s also a visual artist). So what else does JA have up his sleeve “Don’t be 

surprised someday if I sell you a transcript of what you are thinking.” Ah Joe, if this live show 

burning thing doesn’t catch on, there’s always stand-up. SHANE LEDFORD 

Pro Surfer 

Danny Fuller 

Recycle your iPod 

At the rate our tech-consumer culture is progressing, gadgets nowadays are already out of 

fashion or outdated by the time they’re released to the public, and often completely obsolete 

or nonfunctional within a few years. And while this turnover is clearly ludicrous, finally someone’s 

doing something to help the technological advancements progress in an eco-friendly 

way. Since the end of May, Mac and iPod accessory retailer TheGadgetLocker.com has begun 

a new business campaign to recycle old iPods. The iPod Recycling Program is designed to 

provide customers with a convenient and green way of disposing of old iPods, protecting our 

environment from the mostly non-biodegradable digital music players. The company provides 

the shipping label and covers all shipping costs, while offering $20 in credit redeemable at 

the online store. So far, owner Joe Ryan estimates about 450 iPods come in per month, with 

definite room for growth. So maybe we can’t slow down the future, but at least we can help to 

make sure that music isn’t what makes it look grim. COLIN STUTZ 

filter good music guide 

quiksilver.com

Your Guide to Innovations in Entertainment 

Akai Professional Mobile MPC 500 

It’s happened to all of us: you’re 

stuck on a crowded flight or 

subway train, struggling to stay 

awake, when the annoying kid 

behind you starts kicking your 

seat incessantly: BOOM! BAP! 

BOOM! BAP! Well hell-o, that 

sounds like a dope beat! You 

attempt to rush home to your 

trusty beat machine, but by the 

time you arrive, the beat—and 

your tolerance for junior— 

have vanished from your mind. 

Meet Akai Professional’s new 

MPC 500—a 32-voice drum/ 

phrase sampler with up to 

128 MB RAM. It’s the world’s 

first completely mobile Music 

Production Center. The MPC 

500 runs on batteries but can also be plugged in, and features a drag and drop option so you can transfer 

any data from the MPC to your computer, or on to your other MPC equipment (it also comes with a headphone 

jack). Production cats rejoice: not only will you never again lose a beat idea while traveling, but now 

you can also take and make your tunes on the road. Yo, junior—kick it! BEAU POWERS 

Belkin My Best FM 

At this point, you probably believe that it’s your Jobs-given right to listen to your iPod at all times—and 

just because you can’t afford an MP3 hookup for your car doesn’t mean you don’t need music on the road. 

FM transmitters are the poor man’s stereo solution. They should be genius—but, all too often, they require 

endless futzing and dial-diddling to prevent the mariachi station you’ve appropriated from cutting into your 

Joanna Newsom. Fortunately for you, electronics accessory-manufacturer Belkin has created an online 

database of your city’s finest vacant FM stations: just enter your ZIP code at Belkin.com/mybestfm to get 

a list of available frequencies. Sure, they recommend using a Belkin transmitter—but feel free to cut loose 

with Griffin or Kensington. Or, you know, start a pirate radio station. MOLLY FISCHER 

Buy U.K. 

imports 

at 7digital.com 

In the music business there’s something called a 

release schedule that most everything revolves 

around. And sometimes this schedule is set in a way so that a record is released overseas in the U.K. 

before it becomes available here in the United States of America. That’s fine and all, but what if you’re 

a super fan and you want that music now iTunes won’t have it; most record stores won’t have it; and 

Amazon.com will surely overcharge you for any kind of import. Enter 7digital.com, a U.K. digital music 

distribution service that allows you to download U.K. releases stateside. What’s more, over 50 percent 

of the 7digital catalogue is available without any form of Digital Rights Management. And while that all 

sounds quite dandy, there are two major downsides, beyond the exchange rate, from what we can tell: 

purchasing is complicated (you might have to use PayPal); and not all of their catalogue is available in 

mp3 or an iPod-compatible format. Still, if you’re looking for an early release or some U.K.-only singles 

or B-sides, 7digital is worth a peep. COLIN STUTZ 

CALLING THE WORLD 

DELUXE EDITION ALBUM IN STORES NOW 

FEATURING “WHEN DID YOUR HEART GO MISSING” 

AND “I SHOULD’VE BEEN AFTER YOU” 

PLUS FREE RINGTONE AND CELL PHONE WALLPAPER! 

“Calling The World sticks 

to what Rooney does best: 

sunny West Coast pop-rock 

with sweet Beach Boys-esque 

harmonies, hooky choruses 

and buzzing new wave 

keyboards.” -Nylon Magazine 

www.rooney-band.com 

www.myspace.com/rooney 

AVAILABLE AT 

g©2007 Geffen Records. All rights reserved. 

filter good music guide

Crowded House’s 

Guide to New Zealand 

By David iskra 

Crowded House may have formed in Australia, but lead singer Neil Finn hails from neighboring New 

Zealand. It’s easy for Americans to confuse the two accents, but N.Z. is a unique and magical place where you can 

see active volcanoes and then hit the beaches to surf killer Pacific waves with a wondrous mix of Mãori, Polynesian, 

Asian and European locals. Lord of the Rings may have made the country a recent vacation hotspot for those brave 

enough to take the long flight, but lengthy plane rides haven’t seemed to stop Neil and co. from hitting the road once 

again—what started out as a Finn solo album slowly became not only a Crowded House album but a full-fledged 

reunion. Here’s what Finn shared with the Guide about his birthplace, that other Land Down Under. 

New Zealand’s Best… 

…place to see “four seasons in one day” 

Piha Beach or anywhere on the west coast, really. The 

hills rise up from the Tasman Sea. The weather hits the 

mountains and bounces back; it becomes pretty extreme. 

…record shop. 

Real Groovy on upper Queen Street in Auckland. It’s a 

great store, not unlike Waterloo or Amoeba. They have 

lots of vinyl and a really good selection. 

…place to catch a rugby match 

On a Saturday morning at Sacred Heart College Rugby 

Grounds in Auckland, there would be about seven or 

eight games of rugby or cricket going on. Sit in a chair 

with the families and have some muffins and coffee 

while the kids are getting balled out or knocked out! 

There are some other great parks as well—the Domain 

in Auckland, or Eden Park to watch the All Blacks. 

…place to see a slice of Mãori culture 

Befriend the members of local band Catch a Fire then 

get invited to the Mãori for a hungi, a singsong and a 

few beers! 

…agricultural hot spot 

The biggest corrugated iron sheep in the world is somewhere 

down in Tikawitti, which is real farming territory. 

It’s a building made to look like a giant corrugated 

sheep. So there you have it. 

…place to meet the pretty Kiwi ladies 

I wouldn’t know, but my son Liam definitely would. 

There are a lot of clubs in Auckland. There are extraordinarily 

beautiful girls in New Zealand. 

…place to meet locals where they won’t make 

fun of your American accent 

Ponsonby, because it is the hip, chic, slightly gay part of 

New Zealand where people are really tolerant. I doubt 

you’d get picked on to begin with. Maybe the odd drunk 

in a dodgy part of town, but we all love Americans here. 

Well, maybe not George Bush... 

…place to see “7 worlds collide” 

White Island, which is an active volcano off the coast 

of Bay of Plenty of Whakatane. You can take a boat or 

helicopter and walk around. It’s like the surface of the 

moon with vents. Steam rises up out of them. It’s really 

wild. 

…local cuisine 

Seafood or chocolate fish. The real fish is fresh but the 

chocolate is a real thing. It’s marshmallow covered in 

chocolate, a tasty morsel. 

…spot to see a bit of music history 

If he’s still playing gigs, Bill Sevsi is a lap steel guitar 

player and a real piece of living musical history. He’s 

one of the grand old men of N.Z. music, a Hawaiianstyle 

player, an Islander and a very good man. Otherwise, 

there’s a great history of bands breaking up and 

never playing again, like us! You might catch a Split Enz 

reunion if you time it right. 

…location to re-enact Lord of the Rings 

Near where I grew up is Matama, where they built the 

Hobbiton village. It’s being developed and the Hobbit’s 

holes are still there. It’s really wonderful and grassy 

and peaceful. The more classic place to go is the South 

Island, where you can see the really spectacular landscapes 

from the film. 

…distinctly New Zealand sight you can’t see 

anywhere else in the world 

The entire country is full of them. If you are in a small 

town in New Zealand, kids go to school barefoot. The 

land and the light in the late afternoon, seeing kids 

running home from school in their bare feet with the 

mountains and a mud pool bubbling away in the background—it’s 

a distinctly New Zealand thing to me. F 

10 filter good music guide good music guide filter 11

Army 

of She 

Planting Flags with Björk 

by Ken Scrudato 

Bernhard Kirstin/ILC 

There comes a time in every girl’s life when she’s got to reach for the trigger and take aim at the motherfuckers 

who seem forever stuck on poisoning the sugar and spice of life. Not that Björk has ever spent a tenth of 

a millisecond playing by their dastardly rules, but perhaps she’s finally exhausted the certainly noble but possibly 

futile “all is full of love” approach and is, rather, intent on rolling a few heads. And after all, this is the girl who once 

emphatically reminded us in song that she’s “no fucking Buddhist.” True Björkies, of course, knew that all along. 

On her newest album, Volta, some heads do, in fact, roll. And like all of history’s great cries for justice (think, in 

modern terms, of Sinéad gloriously savaging the Pope on network TV), it is not a coy, introverted affair. The groovy, 

futuristic pop goddess we all fell in love with when Debut was released in 1993 has arisen once again. These are the 

most immediate tunes she’s done in years. Björk, it seems, would have us dance our way over the barricades, rather 

than sit around griping that they might be too difficult to scale. Here she speaks with the Guide about her place on 

the battlefields of music, politics and people. 

There were some rather violent reactions to 

your last two albums, the challenging and 

fascinating Medúlla and Drawing Restraint 9. 

How was the making of Volta, a much more 

accessible record, a continuum or a reaction 

by you to those records 

Medúlla and Drawing Restraint 9 were very important 

albums for me to make. I don’t think I could have done 

Volta without having gone to these other places first. 

People overrate extrovert music, and introvert music is 

underrated. Personally, I probably listen more to introvert 

music than extrovert. But I have been lucky—I’m 

not complaining. A lot of people’s favorite albums of 

mine are Vespertine and Medúlla. So, I guess I’m just 

going to continue on my little path. Some people will 

get it and some won’t. 

A collision of nature and machines seems to 

be an ongoing idea, maybe even struggle, in 

your work. How does that play out on Volta 

The struggle is still there for sure, but it is more seamless 

and complex. Some of the most natural sounding 

noises on this album are actually done with computers 

and then there are trumpets imitating Morse code. 

Is there struggle or harmony between your 

modernist and ancient impulses 

Overall I’m always quite interested in uniting—in 

creating a whole. Some cheap psychology might explain 

it, being a child of divorced parents, but I have always 

felt that by uniting techno and acoustic, the modern 

and the roots, man and woman, the symphonic and the 

rhythmic, sound and vision, words and music… I can 

go on forever, but I seem to be quite driven by uniting 

these things and feel that only then a flow will happen. 

You use an Icelandic female brass section on 

Volta. Yet on “Wanderlust,” you sing, “I have 

lost my origin.” Was employing musicians 

from your homeland a way of trying to reconnect 

with the primal essence that Iceland has 

instilled in you Or am I overanalyzing it 

Could be. My anchor this time around was pretty 

global; I’m tired of nationalism. But it is great to have 

them around. Perhaps they support also the “female 

power” aspect of the album. 

Antony [of Antony and the Johnsons, who guests 

on Volta] told me that he wished that people 

would stop seeing him as odd or eccentric, and 

realize that he is just writing simple, heartfelt 

songs. Have you ever felt you were overly classified 

as being peculiar or idiosyncratic 

Yes. I feel I’m a pretty healthy, normal human being. 

I haven’t been oppressed by religion or sexism and so 

on. But people are scared of anyone different, so they 

point at me. 

Was there a statement in your working with 

African musicians, at a time when the West 

seems to be badly fumbling our responsibility 

to that continent 

Yes, but not consciously. I asked both Konono N°1 and 

Toumani Diabaté [to play] because of their brilliant 

musicianship and it was a coincidence they were both 

from Africa. 

Your politics have always seemed to be those 

of the human spirit—that the world can be 

changed by not being afraid to be an individual. 

But “Declare Independence” seems 

to be railing with a bit more of a punk sense 

of defiance. Can you describe your emotional 

zeitgeist 

Maybe I felt that up to here things would be okay and the 

“good” would win in the end if only it persists. But things 

are not looking so good right now. It is time to go up on a 

mountain with a flag and a trumpet and insist on justice. 

You told me before that you would probably 

die without your music. How would you 

describe this chapter, Volta, in terms of carrying 

on the Björk life force 

Hmm. It is always funny when you see old comments of 

yours taken out of their original context—they seem so 

extreme. But in a way it is still true. Making music is a 

way of survival for me. Otherwise, I would probably implode. 

The Volta chapter is very much about justice; justice 

for women, the female spirit, nature and people in 

need in general. Perhaps having a little girl influenced 

me in a way that I felt I needed to update, to educate 

myself on the state of things and how I was going to 

explain it to her. F 


have 

gang, 

will 

travel 

By Colin Stutz 

davida nemeroff 

The road will leave you battered and 

bruised. It’s an unavoidable fate for those destined 

to live as vagabonds. Beaten down, you return 

home, only to leave again—feet and fate to the 

asphalt. And at some point, those miles and miles 

of concrete might just seem more welcoming than 

your own front door, and the constancy of your 

fellow transients more comforting than a clean 

pillow. Just ask Arcade Fire. In the three years that 

have passed since releasing their exquisite debut 

LP, Funeral, the seven-piece (plus friends) from 

Montreal has been touring constantly, gaining 

massive popularity due largely to the raw emotions 

of their songs and performances. Leading crowds 

through anthemic sing-alongs, switching instruments 

at the drop of a mallet, dangerously scaling 

scaffolding, using each other’s helmeted heads as 

percussive instruments…the Arcade Fire road 

show has become the stuff of legend. 

And now, scant months after the release of the 

band’s dynamic followup, Neon Bible, it’s begun 

again. Their sophomore release was one of the 

year’s most anticipated albums, debuting at number 

two on U.S. and U.K. charts, number one in Canada, 

and boosting them to the high rungs of a slew 

of notable summer festivals on either side of the 

pond. But something’s different this time around. 

Onstage, Arcade Fire’s members are joined by a 

small cast of additional musicians, various visuals 

and, occasionally, an enormous pipe organ. All of 

which makes for a neon circus writhing in rebellion 

against the pitfalls and pragmatism of modern life. 

Thus, Arcade Fire hit the road en masse with a 

crew that fills two buses, traveling where no cars 

go and converting onlookers to their massive mob 

at every stop. To find out how it all works, the 

Rollin’ deep with 

Arcade Fire 


Jeremy busts open the knuckles 

on his right hand almost every 

night now. He’s like a boxer; has to 

get all taped up before the fight. 

— Will Butler 

Guide spoke with drummer Jeremy Gara, bassist Tim 

Kingsbury, and multi-instrumentalists Will Butler and 

Richard Reed Parry on the eve of their largest, most 

elaborate North American tour to date. But, of course, 

it’s all business as usual for Arcade Fire, who, as Gara 

puts it, remain “friends first and band second.” 

By most standards, you’re already a big band. 

What’s the touring crew like 

Jeremy Gara: It’s the seven of us, plus Kelly Pratt—we 

kind of stole him from Beirut for the tour—and Colin 

Stetson, who’re both from New York and play a bunch 

of horns. And then Marika Shaw is playing viola—that 

brings the band up to 10 people. There’s a tour manager 

and an assistant who go wherever we go. And we bring 

our own PA and production and sound, so there’s just 

this army of people. Including techs, we’re traveling 

with roughly 25. It’s intense. 

How do you guys handle the actual traveling 

Will Butler: We travel in two tourbuses packed to 

the gills—one for the crew and one for the band. The 

crew bus has a lot more Doritos on it, and more pranks. 

Cabin fever never really sets in, even though we’re 

really not made out for bus travel. There are so many 

of us and we’re so tall; we’ll all be hunchbacked in five 

years with weird lumpy skulls from bumping into things 

all the time. There’s a lot of chummy chatting on the 

bus. We talk logistics and watch bad movies—by the 

way, The Exorcist 2 is awful. 

How do logistics change with such a mass of 

people 

Jeremy: It might be just the band or all 25 of us, but 

on the days we have off we still hang out together 

and always end up fumbling around trying to make 

reservations, etc. It used to be frustrating but now it’s 

fine because we’re so used to it, like, “Okay, fine. We’ll 

wait an hour.” 

Tim Kingsbury: And there’s the catering at the festivals. 

When we were in a van, it was much more of a 

hassle. There were more mandatory schedules. If we 

were driving and someone was hungry, we’d all have 

to stop. Now we do a lot of traveling overnight on the 

bus, or we’re sleeping, or we travel by plane if it’s a 

long distance. In a lot of ways, it’s easier for the band 

now; we have people helping out with setting up and 

taking care of that kind of stuff. 

We spend a lot less time worrying 

about all that. 

What is the mob’s dynamic 

like Do you buddy up, or 

is it always a gang of 20 

walking around together 

Jeremy: It’s kind of both. 

There’re definitely pairs in the 

band—Win [Butler, frontman] 

and Régine [Chassagne, multiinstrumentalist] 

are married and 

would obviously pair up, and 

there are a couple people in the 

band dating, but it isn’t weird. 

Even when we’re home and not 

doing anything band-related we 

still hang out as a large group 

pretty regularly. Like when we 

meet for coffee it ends up being 

an affair—kind of nuts, but kind 

of awesome at the same time. 

Even with all the extra musicians 

and friends who help 

out on record 

Jeremy: It’s always been like that. 

There’re all these additional members of the band— 

Owen Pallett from Final Fantasy has toured with us 

before, and Marika has played viola on a bunch of songs 

with the band. When it comes to recording, there’s the 

core of our set that plays every single day and writes 

songs and arranges things, but there’s a huge pool of 

musicians we pull from. If we could bring everyone on 

tour we’ve ever played with, we would, but you’ve got 

to draw the line at some point. 

What’s one piece of wisdom you’ve picked up 

while traveling 

Tim: The biggest thing is something specific to touring, 

as opposed to just traveling the world: There are just so 

many opportunities, but sometimes you can get burnt 

out. I get really burnt out if I’m always doing everything 

I possibly can—if there’s a party or people to talk to. 

Time’s pretty precious on tour. It’s harder to get alone 

sometimes—so, to me, that’s a big thing. Just to be with 

yourself. But we’re fortunate to be able to do what 

we’re doing, to play to people who really want to hear 

us. It’s really exciting. 

How did your live show develop 

Jeremy: The performance part is just kind of who we 

are; that’s just the nature of the people in the band. The 

only thing that’s truly been in development recently is 

the actual stage show. Now we’re traveling with electrical 

lights and a video projector that pops onstage because as 

the venues get bigger, you want to do something a little 

more visual for the people in the back. We tried a couple 

of shows with really intense lights and the first one we 

played, it was stroke city—way over the top. It’s enough 

to look at with 10 people on stage that you don’t have to 

bombard a crowd with a bunch of lights. So we scaled it 

back, making sure that it’s interesting with the music. 

It’s a pretty energetic show—what sort of injuries 

do people get while performing 

Richard Reed Perry: Bodies are fragile. I wish it 

wasn’t so but them’s the breaks. Usually by week three 

or four of a tour I have a minefield of cuts and bruises 

all over my body. 

Jeremy: Will’s hurt himself a couple times, running 

around where he shouldn’t be or climbing something. 

I’ve got cuts all over my knuckles; everybody’s got their 

little battle scars, but nothing too serious. We’ve had to 

tell Will to calm down a little bit because he’s run out 

on balconies and twisted his ankle badly enough that 

he was hurt for weeks, which is kind of dangerous…but 

nothing really brutal. 

Will: It’s not just me. Jeremy busts open the knuckles 

on his right hand almost every night now. He’s like a 

boxer; has to get all taped up before the fight. We can 

do about three shows in a row before we run out of gas. 

It’s nice in between tours to have enough time for all the 

bruises to fade. F 


Proustabout! 

A Psychological Profile of Editors 

By Ken Scrudato 

Few contemporary artists inspire psychological 

profiling as much as Editors. Their debut, The 

Back Room, was a trawl through the murkiest swamps of 

human dread and dissatisfaction. A lyric from first single 

“Munich” summed it all up: “People are fragile things 

you should know by now/Be careful what you put them 

through.” Indeed. 

Of course, putting anyone through two years of constant 

touring can certainly provide the inspiration for a 

good unraveling. But perhaps reaffirming the redemptive 

qualities of art, their philosophically titled new album 

An End Has a Start finds them grasping at ways 

forward from all that confusion and despair. The Back 

Room felt for everything like an imminent violent collision—youthful 

anguish swerving out of control, reveling 

in its own murk. But its follow-up contains moments of 

distinctly self-possessed reflection—hopefulness, even. 

The opener, “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors,” is 

a chilling, thoughtful lament on human frailties and our 

penchant for self-destruction; yet Tom Smith’s insightful 

lyrics in “The Weight of the World” (“Every little piece 

of your life/Will mean something to someone”) actually 

proffer a sort of cautious optimism. 

Sonically, Editors’ manic gothic rock still has not 

just a few shrill interludes, but the tone is more contemplative 

and paced. Screeching, metallic guitars and 

fitful rhythms seem less about to shatter into pieces 

than before, and the overall effect is less distant, more 

spine-shivering than desolate. Sensing the inadequacy 

of capturing this moment by way of the usual interview 

tactics, the Guide decided upon a truncated version of 

the Proust Questionnaire, the legendary psychological 

profile linked to the troubled, neurastheniac French author. 

Singer Smith obliged. 

What is your greatest fear 

People thinking that you don’t mean it, and challenging 

your integrity. That’s not just in music, but in anything. 

What is your current state of mind 

In writing lyrics...it’s a personal thing, you know. Just trying 

to go a little bit deeper, and look deeper at things, question 

things more than I normally would, trying to explore. 

Even if it comes out as self-indulgent rubbish, I would 

prefer to over-emote than under-emote any day. I’m trying 

to strive to find some answers, find some light in dark 

situations, and find some hope in something scary. 

What do you regard as the lowest depth of 

misery 

On a human level, I just don’t understand how certain 

people do the things they do to other people—that level 

of evil. It makes you question humanity. Especially as, 

when it comes down to it, we’re all the same, all made 

of the same pieces. 

Do you have a fear of death 

Of course. It’s the most fundamental, primal fear, 

isn’t it And through literally exploring those kinds 

of worries and insecurities on this record, thinking 

about death and the things that scare me... I really 

got something from putting it all on paper, some kind 

of release. I don’t think I possess any sort of higher 

understanding of what goes on in the world. I’m just 

putting my psychoses on paper and struggling to 

find little bits and pieces of answers. And when you 

put it in a song and you sing the words every night, 

the feeling kind of changes over the months and the 

years; in a year’s time, I’ll probably think completely 

differently. 

What do you most value in your bandmates 

An unspoken understanding of each other, an acceptance 

of who we are as individuals, and the way we 

connect as four people. The lyrics come from me and 

we don’t sit around analyzing and discussing them. 

There’s just an understanding of what we’re about. 

It’s pretty special to come across four people who can 

live with each other pretty much non-stop for seven 

years and still be unshakable. 

What is Editors’ favorite city 

Glasgow. We’ve had some of our best shows there. 

There’s something about the Scottish people—they 

don’t have any cynicism. It doesn’t mean that they 

like everything. But you know how some people will 

go to a show and stand there and not like it If you’re 

Scottish, or Glaswegian, you just don’t go. You go to 

have a good time, not to be impressed by the musicians. 

Playing in that environment is really amazing. 

What is Editors’ greatest achievement 

This album. We made the first record and had some 

success and we wanted to prove that there was more 

to us than that. When we finished touring The Back 

Room for two years, every bone in our bodies wanted 

to get back into the studio and be creative and make 

something new. If you’re in a band, you have to have 

that feeling—otherwise you’re in the wrong job. And to 

meet every demand we made of ourselves... well, I’m 

very proud of this record. 

Who are your favorite writers 

Jason Pierce of Spiritualized is someone that I just love 

everything about. He makes the simplest songs sound 

very profound. 

How would you like to die 

I’d like to be in a plane 50,000 feet up and jump; I think 

I would just enjoy the falling. 

What is your motto 

I don’t have one, because I’m always changing my 

mind. F 

18 filter good music guide 

good music guide filter 19

Wet Hot 

Canadian 

Summer 

Blowin’ Through 

the Jasmine 

with the New 

Pornographers 

By Bryan Chenault 

While most everyone else spends their June- 

September outside grillin’ burgers in the backyard, sippin’ 

a cold one and soakin’ up rays, the man who puts the New 

in New Pornographers (Carl Newman, aka A.C.) prefers 

to spend that same time toiling away inside a dark studio. 

While ironic (and Brian Wilson-esque) that the force behind 

such an energetic, sunny pop repertoire would rather 

hide out from the heat than spend the afternoon say… 

wakeboarding, it’s not at all surprising. “There’s something 

about being a musician that makes me automatically not 

good at stuff like water sports,” says the fair-skinned frontman. 

The band’s new record, Challengers, is more somber 

than summery, providing the perfect soundtrack to a 

seemingly endless season that has finally met its fate. Here 

the Guide cranks up the A.C. to talk soft serve, strawberry 

mojitos and sweaty shows. 

What’s your ideal summer day 

Lately it’s just been hanging around doing nothing, although 

I have been wanting to check out some castles. 

I’m getting married soon and we’ve been looking at some 

honeymoon spots. You know, live like royalty for a week, 

put on some chain mail and joust… 

What’s the best thing about summers in 

Vancouver 

marina chavez 

Vancouver has an amazing double shot of both the 

ocean and the mountains, and they’re only a 20-30 

minute drive away from each other. It’s pretty singular 

in that way; I can’t think of another city that has 

it. When it’s sunny, it’s one of the most idyllic places 

on Earth. 

What’s on the grill at a New Pornos’ BBQ 

Many steaks. We’re pretty much all big carnivores, so 

anything with blood. We eat every part of the animal. 

Favorite summer cocktail 

I have many. All forms of margarita. Gin gimlet, gin and 

tonic—the classics. Actually, mojitos are my favorite, as 

long as they’re not like some strawberry version. Basically, 

any kind of girlish drink will do. 

The ice cream man rolls up in front of your 

house—what are you running out to get 

Depends on if he has one of those soft serve machines. 

If so, a cone with chocolate-vanilla swirl. If not, some 

kind of Drumstick or ice cream sandwich. 

Favorite summer listening: 

Endless Summer by the Beach Boys. There’s no more 

quintessential summer album. And our albums, of course. 

Favorite summer reading: 

Any Kurt Vonnegut is always good and light without insulting 

your intelligence. That, or a novelization of Point 

Break. 

You don’t strike me as someone who tans well. 

What number SPF do you slather on 

How high does it go 90 I’ll take SPF 90. Then again, 

sometimes it’s nice to have that subtle, healthy-looking 

burn, so I’ll go with 30. 

Sweaty indoor club show, or sweaty outdoor 

festival show 

I actually prefer the sweaty indoor show. We played 

Coachella and it was so hot I almost passed out. As 

sweaty as I get indoors, it’s never like, ‘Holy shit, 

I can’t take it.’ There was just heat coming from 

every direction. Although, Lollapalooza last year 

was great. 

Fill in the following Seals and Croft lyric: 

“Summer breeze/makes me feel fine/Blowin’ 

through the __________ in my mind”. 

I keep thinking pinwheels, or…cartwheels. I know it’s 

something weird and hippyish. Actually, I don’t feel at 

all bad for not knowing this. F 


Spoon 

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 92% 

merge 

Soothing, disarming, dark and charming—it’s 

Spoon in a nutshell. No matter 

where they go, there they are. 

Bat for Lashes 

Fur and Gold 91% 

she bear/echo 

Like taking a tour through a Grimm 

world of fairy tales, harpsichords and 

horsies with Björk as your guide. 

Beastie Boys 

The Mix-Up 90% 

capitol 

Two decades after Paul’s Boutique, 

the once-punks pick up their instruments 

again and bring on the funk. Say 

hello, nasty! 

Talib Kweli 

Ear Drum 88% 

warner/blacksmith 

From the familiar to the predictable, 

thoughtful lyrics over laid-back beats 

quell any questions of Kweli’s true 

colors. 

KT Tunstall 

Drastic Fantastic 86% 

virgin 

The Scottish songstress returns, soulfully 

wielding her double-edged voice 

over acoustic anthems—enough to rally 

the feminist troops. 

Gogol Bordello 

Super Taranta! 85% 

side one dummy 

These Gypsy Punks insist we dance 

the revolution in with new cultural 

theories of world music, punk and 

reggae. Oi! 

Justice 

✞ 83% 

vice/ed banger 

Le debut du dance duo Français chases 

raw power with bubbly gulps of singsong 

and Super Mario melody. 

FILTER 

ALBUM 

RATINGS 

available at 

One-Liners: a miniature take on selected Filter Magazine reviews 

........................................................................................................................... 

(Go to Filter-Mag.com or pick up Filter Magazine’s Summer Issue for full reviews of the albums covered here) 

Minus the Bear 

Planet of Ice 81% 

suicide squeeze 

MtB play the part of Trotsky subtle, 

tenderly thawing their frozen world 

rather than swinging away, picks-inpaws. 

John Vanderslice 

Emerald City 80% 

barsuk 

Barsuk’s leading troubadour reflects on 

9/11 just a bit too late to elicit any 

meaningful audience response. 

Architecture in Helsinki 

Places Like These 78% 

polyvinyl 

Six Aussies play a harsh game of hopscotch 

all over that extremely fine line 

between quirky-cute and sickly-sweet. 

The Rakes 

Ten New Messages 77% 

v2 

The Rakes grew up, but we liked ’em 

more when they were rebellious snots 

thumbing their noses at everyone and 

everything. 

UNKLE 

War Stories 74% 

surrender all 

Between blahs and yawns, it might 

work best as background music when 

CSI investigates a strip club murder. 

Blahwn. 

Smashing Pumpkins 

Zeitgeist 67% 

reprise 

The simple, bludgeoning sound of a 

megalomaniac, his guitar and his 

drummer—the Pumpkins return in 

name alone. 

91-100% 8 a great album 

81-90% 8 above par, below genius 

71-80% 8 respectable, but flawed 

61-70% 8 not in my CD player 

below 60% 8 please God, tell us why 

Music, etc. 

........................................................................................................................... 

Iron & Wine 

The Shepherd’s Dog 93% 

Sub Pop 

With his grandest album to date, mark 

the return of Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam 

a triumphant one, packed with romantic tales of small 

towns, countrysides and the expansive sea. There 

are motifs of death, dogs, and jealous sisters here, as 

Beam proves his radical development as an artist—not 

within the lyrics (although they, too, prove majestic) 

but rather within the compositions. Replace the simplistic 

guitar plucking of yore with full, well-textured 

arrangements and a plethora of instruments topped 

with fluid rhythms and you’ve got yourself something 

mighty fine. COLIN STUTZ 

Manic Street Preachers 

Send Away the Tigers 89% 

Epic 

God save the Manics. Since 1991, the 

fiery Welsh trio has been treating us 

to peerless politicized anthems and pithy soundbites, 

though they’d been running short on both in the past 

few years. Thankfully, Send Away the Tigers is a roaring 

return to form, full of articulate, catchy diatribes 

against the war in Iraq, suicide and the CIA. In a world 

where Big Brother looms larger and larger, it’s good to 

know that the Manics are still a vital, vitriolic voice of 

protest. NEVIN MARTELL 

Shout Out Louds 

Our Ill Wills 88% 

Merge 

Amid the crowd of Cure-indebted 

bands, it’s only taken two albums for 

Sweden’s Shout Out Louds to prove the most skilled 

and inspired. But their sophomore effort isn’t a straight 

send-up; rather, it’s a spirited Robert Smith rallying 

around the reckless abandon of Arcade Fire and 

heartfelt harmonies of Stars. While there’s nothing 

as instantly catchy as Howl Howl Gaff Gaff’s hits, the 

sweeping grandeur of Our Ill Wills is infectious, with 

every song benefiting from just the right amount of 

orchestral glow. BRYAN CHENAULT 

Animal Collective 

Strawberry Jam 91% 

Domino 

The most disconcerting aspect of Animal 

Collective’s kiddie-weirdo-Brian Wilson 

trajectory is that as the sounds on their albums have 

become less recognizable, their songs have tightened 

up, making a trip through AC’s glowing and pulsating 

sonic environs ever more the pleasure safari as opposed 

to a scientific expedition. The odd cadences and bad-trip 

howls are still intact, as are the suites of droning repetition, 

but the balance across the album (as opposed to the 

drop-off second half of Feels) makes it their most forward 

and enjoyable work to date. SAM ROUDMAN 

The Perishers 

Victorious 71% 

Nettwerk 

Like Teitur fronting a Coldplay tribute 

band, the Perishers peddle soppier-thanthou 

ballads for disaffected mallrats who watch The CW 

a lot. Unluckily for them, the world isn’t made up entirely 

of adolescents bent on relationship drama and confessional 

MySpace blogging. Victorious comes off like bad 

soundtrack music for One Tree Hill, which is too bad, 

because we know that this Swedish foursome is capable of 

crafting something much more original and inspiring (see 

2005’s Let There Be Morning)—they just need to stop 

writing tunes for the idiot box. NEVIN MARTELL 

dvd 

Lights! Camera! Elvis!83% 

Paramount 

Hardcore Elvis Presley fans 

won’t even blink at the price tag 

for this boxed set, which compiles 

eight of his Hollywood 

forays in a blue suede case, 

but even the casual King consumer will find 

a few moments of true Elvis cool amidst the 

redundant tropical locales, lousy plots and laughable 

tunes. Best of the bunch: King Creole, with 

Presley singing “Trouble” and romancing Carolyn 

(Morticia Addams) Jones. PAUL GAITA 

Oh No 

Dr. No’s Oxperiment 87% 

Stones Throw 

Oh No is a true hip-hop alchemist. 

Lovingly crafted from deep in the crates, 

Madlib’s brother has created a swirling madness of beats 

using “raw and rare psych” from Turkey, Lebanon, 

Greece and Italy. At first listen, it sounds like a collection 

of high-end Stones Throw grooves, with strong 

kick drums and sharp snares. Further consideration 

reveals the careful construction of the layers, where Oh 

No mixes pieces both exotic and familiar and winds up 

creating pure gold. JEREMY MOEHLMANN 

22 filter good music guide 

good music guide filter 23

Young Marble Giants 

Colossal Youth [deluxe reissue]90% 

Domino 

The one and only full-length effort 

from the short-lived Welsh trio Young 

Marble Giants, Colossal Youth is total in its conception 

of shuttered exploration. Fifteen miniatures deprived 

of ornament, few longer than three minutes, are built 

from dry bass, taut jangle, the slight melodies of 

Alison Stratton, stray organ frequencies and flecks of 

machine rhythm. These precise and elegant sketches 

prove there was more to post-punk’s ravenous insurgency 

than just jagged death disco. Accompanied by 

a second disc of YMG’s few other releases and liner 

notes by Simon Reynolds, this is primitivism at its 

most perfect. BERNARDO RONDEAU 

Fog 

Ditherer 88% 

Lex 

Fog’s sixth album teases out pop effervescence 

and alt.country twang while 

remaining firmly ensconced in creepy vocoders, even 

by songwriter Andrew Broder’s standards. With a clear, 

vibrato-tinged articulation, his lyrics float down that 

familiar stream of subconscious where natural and 

psychological disasters seek to stamp out humanity. The 

final lyric of Ditherer centers on a faint light shining 

from a far-off, offscreen bedroom. It’s existential, but 

under piles of heavy thoughts, Broder reaches for little 

bits of luminescence. CAMERON BIRD 

video game 

BioShock 82% 

360, PC 

2K Games 

The first-person shooter world 

gets wet for this underwater 

wonderland full of zombified 

corpses and mangled mutations. Traipsing 

through a failed utopia, it’s up to you to stay 

alive as you juggle unusual genetic skills (like 

throwing lightning) and a handful of upgradeable 

weapons. Destructible environments 

allow you to set traps for enemies—shoot 

a liquor bottle next to an enemy and a fire 

will spark, flushing him out into the open. 

Mmm…liquor. ZACH ROSENBERG 

Imperial Teen 

The Hair the TV the Baby and the 

Band 80% 

Merge 

On first listen, those accustomed to 

the baby skin-smooth production of current indie-pop 

(New Pornographers, Shins, et al) might find this 

unvarnished and simplistic, but apparently in the ’90s 

(when Imperial Teen started), that was the accepted 

M.O. The Teen’s male/female vocal harmonies and 

occasional big rockin’ choruses are designed to make 

you love them; at first this will make you hate them, 

then hate to love them, and finally either get over it 

and start bobbin’ your head, or crush this album with a 

hammer. SAM ROUDMAN 

dvd 

Supersuckers 

Live in Orange County 86% 

Mid-Fi 

Motherfuckers be trippin’ in 

concert in this live whapadang 

from 2004, featuring 18 cuts from 

the venerable raunch rockers’ largely Sub Pop 

catalog. Frills are few from the self-proclaimed 

greatest rock and roll band in the world— 

there’s a single interview and a discography; 

yippee—but you didn’t buy this DVD for the 

bells and whistles, didja No, you bought it for 

the sweat and the leather and the lightning. And 

considering the location of the concert (Orange 

County), the band probably made it for the 

merch booth returns. PAUL GAITA 

Sara Lov 

Three Songs 82% 

self-released 

I’d say most women hate the saying 

“sugar and spice and everything nice,” 

and for good reason. But with Sara Lov, lead singer of 

dreamy Los Angeles duo Devics, whose songs are about 

everything nice, you see where this cliché was born. On 

her first solo effort, a three-song EP, Lov offers up servings 

of melancholic, swooping vocals and heart- wrenching 

ballads. The simple, well-thought-out songs are soft and 

seem perfect for coffee shop pining or a warm embrace. 

So what’s wrong with that COLIN STUTZ 

Galactic 

From the Corner to the Block 88% 

Anti- 

Galactic is too hot for New Orleans. 

This digitized voodoo funk makes the 

Meters look like the goddamned glee club, and y’all 

know the Neville Brothers ain’t never gotten Juvenile 

and Chali 2na to collaborate on the same record. Shit, 

these electric bayou grooves got the paint peelin’ off the 

walls a’ my kitchen, and my woman done lost her shirt 

and gone shakin’ in the streets. You best bring in the fire 

squad—Louisiana’s burning. PHIL EASTMAN 

Junior Senior 

Hey Hey My My Yo Yo 78% 

Rykodisc/Crunchy Frog 

Sometimes you really just don’t feel 

like dancing—and that’s something the 

poppy Danish duo Junior Senior doesn’t understand. 

In fact, there are plenty of situations where it would 

be downright inappropriate to dance to those raw, pop, 

funk and early hip-hop-inspired songs that scream for 

attention like some sort of ballistic boogie woogie idiot 

at a high school dance. Still, everything has its time and 

place, so just because you don’t feel like dancing today 

doesn’t mean you won’t tomorrow. COLIN STUTZ 

Modeselektor 

Happy Birthday 84% 

BPitch Control 

When skimming through places that 

might crank out sloppy, sweaty crunk 

and tech rap, dubstep, dissonant eastern beats, splintered, 

reggae-infused dance and grime, the last place 

people likely turn to is Berlin. Look no further, however, 

because Modeselektor has it all, and much more, 

pulled off with mind-blowing skill and humor. The 

Teutonic duo—Gernot and Szary—have another notso-hidden 

gem in their sophomore album, this time 

with the help of Thom Yorke, Maximo Park and 

TTC. KENDAH EL-ALI 

Kinski 

Down Below It’s Chaos 80% 

Sub Pop 

If and when the powers that be open up 

space exploration to the masses, Kinski 

can rightfully vie for the role of cosmic sandman. Down 

Below It’s Chaos retreads Kinski’s previous outings 

with fuzzed-out riffs that converge on the aesthetic of 

Acid Mothers Temple. But while songs like “Argentina 

Turner” threaten to reduce it all to a tryptophan sandwich 

for stoners, other instrumental tracks like “Plan, 

Steal, Drive” and “Silent Biker Type” unveil more 

expansive, sobering realities. CAMERON BIRD 

dvd 

Gilberto Gil 

Acústico MTV 89% 

Wea International 

What says summer more to 

you: CG robots crashing into 

each other, or the floralscented, 

soulful groove of 

Tropicalia co-founder Gilberto Gil If you 

raised your hands for number two, pick up 

Gil’s unplugged performance from 1994, and 

see how long it takes before your hips (or 

your fave partner’s) begin a gentle, oceanic 

roll to his languid and lovely grooves. Mildly 

psychedelic, extremely innovative, and eternally 

cool. Three bonus tracks round out this 

region-free DVD. PAUL GAITA 

26 filter good music guide

Oakley Hall 

I’ll Follow You 81% 

Merge 

Oakley Hall brings a bit of singer Pat 

Sullivan’s Oneida heftiness and tingling 

acidity to their folk-twinged Americana. This is their 

first album for Merge, and though the band has a 

number of long-players behind them, it smacks with 

the alertness of a debut. Settled into a six-piece after 

several lineup mutations, the group’s communal jams 

lilt on melodic curlicues; not just amber-gold guitars, 

but also twinkling harpsichords and usually bittersweet 

moods. Country-twanged but also psych-dappled, I’ll 

Follow You is a pleasant enough halfway point for a 

respite. BERNARDO RONDEAU 

book 

Irvine Welsh 

If You Liked School, 

You’ll Love Work 85% 

W.W. Norton & Co. 

Drugs, booze, sex, racial tensions 

and a car crash begin 

Irvine Welsh’s latest—nothing 

too shocking from the author who brought 

us an existential parasite (Filth) and the loveable 

band of Edinburgher heroin addicts in 

Trainspotting. Like those novels, these short 

stories showcase Welsh’s talent for transforming 

language into art; the clever, complex plots are 

no trite morality critique. Rather, the experimental 

methods and disastrously flawed characters 

Welsh is famous for compose an insightful, 

bizarre journey into the best and worst of societal 

relationships. BREANNA MURPHY 

Jamie T 

Panic Prevention 82% 

Caroline 

Jamie T’s full length debut is a cocktail of 

cheap beats and cockney rap, and while 

he’s certainly engaging, he’s not always enjoyable. Kind of 

like what would happen if you locked Mike Skinner in a 

garage with a guitar and some meth, Jamie’s brand of punk/ 

pop/hip-hop somehow manages to hold your attention for 

the length of a record. Panic Prevention may not be easy to 

like, but it’s also hard to ignore. ANDREA BUSSELL 

matt pond PA 

Last Light 84% 

Altitude 

It’s not that the signature strings are 

missing or the lyrics are less poignant, 

it’s just that Last Light finds them hidden behind a big 

ol’ indie rock rather than center stage amid swirling 

chamber pop. Utilizing a more sophisticated, self-produced 

sound while playing host to a gaggle of guests, 

Pond’s revved up guitars and clap tracks drive you out 

of the New Hampshire woods and into the Brooklyn 

streets. Though dive bars have long since replaced the 

tree forts of 1998’s Deer Apartments, mpPA reminds us 

the sun hasn’t set just yet. BRYAN CHENAULT 

video game 

Madden NFL 08 90% 

360, PS3 

EA Sports 

If tight pants and pigskin’s 

your thing, Madden ’08 is your 

Mecca. New in this edition are 

“weapons”—no, not grenades; rather, players with 

mastery in a particular skill. So if you’re down 

by two, 10 seconds to play, fourth down, bring 

in your “Elusive Back” who can superhumanly 

escape tackles—just watch out for your opponent’s 

“Brick Wall Defender.” Fluid animations and crisp 

graphics make this the next-gen Madden we’ve 

been waiting for. ZACH ROSENBERG 

Liars 

Liars 87% 

Mute 

Nobody predicted a return to ROCK 

after Liars released 2006’s love letter 

to “tribal” percussion and drone, Drum’s Not Dead. 

But the band’s self-titled fourth record takes only 

seconds to signal the triumphant homecoming of 

the guitar—in all of its grizzled, gurgling glory—on 

“Plaster Casts of Everything.” Still, we’re far from 

the punky Monument (or even the witch-rock of 

Drowned), as Dead’s vocal twirls and pummeled 

percussion play off Liars’ sun-burnt guitars in yet 

another new light. ROBBIE MACKEY 

Ferraby Lionheart 

Catch the Brass Ring 85% 

Nettwerk 

Los Angeles loves its lonely troubadours. 

You know the music: slightly 

theatrical, a little folky, each song’s sunny surface 

hiding a vague melancholy. The lyrics are reflective, 

the pacing slow and the piano prominent. 

Ferraby Lionheart is the perfect example—while 

not as distinctive as a Wainwright, Ferraby sings 

with the same slightly droopy intonation, letting 

the melodies slowly drip out of his mouth rather 

than spewing them forth like a Jackson Pollock 

painting. This troubadour may not be lonely for 

much longer. JEREMY MOEHLMANN 

The Mekons 

Natural 83% 

Touch & Go/Quarterstick 

With their chameleon-like tendencies 

and constant reinventions, the 

Mekons have ensured that they’re an acquired taste 

for most. Natural, their first album of all new material 

since 2002’s Oooh!, is more of their brand of 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


BAR & ROCK CLUB 

sparse, postmodern folk that will mostly appeal 

to their already devout niche of fans. But with a 

handful of songs highlighting the beauty of their 

ragged and minimal punk melodies, they might just 

gain some new ones. ANDREA BUSSELL 

S H O U T 

••• 

729 N 14th St• Omaha, NE 

www.theslowdown.com 

402.345.7575 

••• 

MAIN ROOM 

470 capacity 

video game 

Metroid Prime 3: 

Corruption 87% 

Wii 

Nintendo 

Imagine all of the action of the 

last two MP games, but with 

the added radness of aim-and-shoot Wiimote 

controls. Your job is the same as always: be 

the sexiest bounty hunter this side of Zebes. 

Oh, and blast the crap out of anything that 

stands in your path—even if it’s your evil 

twin. And due to the recent swashbuckling 

craze, Corruption comes with 50 percent 

more space pirate and 75 percent more 

booty. ZACH ROSENBERG 

O U T 

L O U D S 

O U R 

I L L 

SMALL ROOM 

140 capacity 

For bookings, email 

val@theslowdown.com 

••• 

Open Daily 4PM-1AM 

Excellent selection of 

both tap and bottled beers 

Interesting wines by the glass 

Patio seating 

Pool Table 

Over 35 Board Games 

Ms. Pacman/Galaga 

Black and white photo booth 

Tegan and Sara 

The Con 86% 

Vapor 

Even in their humble Lilith beginnings, 

Canadian twin-sis duo Tegan & 

Sara hinted at the saccharine power-folk that would 

come to be their calling card. But it wasn’t until 2004’s 

rockcandy surprise, So Jealous, that the vigor actually 

muscled its way to the fore. Three years later, The 

Con is a startlingly dark, yet characteristically vibrant 

offering, featuring a band that’s learned to harness 

the energy-highs, while tempering pretty (even pastoral) 

pop-folk with a new, deeply-affecting brand of 

melancholy. ROBBIE MACKEY 

Emmylou Harris 

Songbird: Rare and 

Forgotten Gems [box set] 91% 

Rhino 

Emmylou Harris has never been given 

her proper due. In a career spanning four decades, the 

silver-haired beauty is known mostly for sharing her 

honeysuckle croon in collaboration with nasally-voiced 

powerhouses like Neil Young, Dylan, Willie and Gram 

Parsons, but whenever the time comes for accolades 

she modestly lets the boys shine first. Harris has always 

been way more than a backup singer extraordinaire, 

and Songbird thrusts her solo talents to the forefront, 

offering a four-disc sampler of live, unreleased and 

lesser-known tracks that’ll make cowpokes weep and 

lift our good spirits beyond the borders of the big sky 

above. PHIL EASTMAN 

W I L L S 

A L S O O U T N O W : 

SPOON 

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 

2007 

Side One 

Don’t Make Me A Target 

The Ghost Of You Lingers 

You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb 

Don’t You Evah 

Rhthm & Soul 

Side Two 

Eddie’s Ragga 

The Underdog 

My Little Japanese Cigarette Case 

Finer Feelings 

Black Like Me 

Free play juke box 

T O N I G H T I H AV E T O L E AV E I T E P

U.K. Imports: presented by 

........................................................................................................................... 

Simian Mobile Disco 

Attack Decay Sustain Release 

Wichita 

Emerging from the wreckage of largely 

unloved early Noughties band Simian, knob-twiddlers 

Jas Shaw and James Ford had their work cut out 

clawing back a career. Six years, a gajillion DJ gigs, 

underground releases and chaotic club nights later, 

here’s the first full-length result. Having exorcised 

their guitar-based demons by producing Klaxons and 

Arctic Monkeys records, SMD have turned out a 

punchy electrofest long-player that doesn’t outstay its 

welcome. “It’s The Beat” throws ants down all nearby 

rave pants with the help of Go! Team rapper Ninja; 

“Tits & Acid” skitters like a pantechnicon on corrugated 

iron. Only thing: where’s the bass The album 

seems to have been mixed, Spector-style, specifically 

for mobile phone speakers. What about the rest of us, 

you bastards CHARLIE IVENS 

Air Traffic 

Fractured Life 

EMI 

There’ve been some dark days at EMI 

these past years. Luckily, Air Traffic have “pulled an 

Athlete” and produced an album of startling beauty and 

depth—with sizeable doses of homage to Muse and 

Coldplay, naturally. They’re at their best on the lovely 

“No More Running Away,” which has the lustful innocence 

of Parachutes’ Chris Martin. Air Traffic are on 

the edgy side of mainstream pop—people want whole 

albums like this, not just one poppy single. While Chris 

Wall could do with laying off the falsetto a bit, it’s great 

that the concept of “longevity” over quick hit seems to 

have been rediscovered. VIC JAMES 

The Enemy 

We’ll Live and Die in These Towns 

Warner 

Oasis: brilliant band, crap role models. 

Since Definitely Maybe swaggered into the mid-’90s 

and stuck a huge size 9 in the balls of the competition, 

thousands of other rubbish lad bands think they can 

do the same. Fortunately for Britain, the Enemy have 

brains to back up their sizable clout. Their debut is 

an album that pinches from the lyric-books of Weller, 

Burgess and Ryder, and marries them seamlessly with 

balls-out, radio-bullying tunes. “Aggro” is as spiteful 

an opening track as the Gallaghers’ “Fuckin’ In The 

Bushes,” while the anthemic “Away From Here” sounds 

like the View crossed with Dario G’s “Sunchyme” (er, 

seriously). Yes, the influences are more than obvious, 

But if your heart’s not on your sleeve, then you’re just 

not Mad Fer It, are ya JJ DUNNING 

The Pigeon Detectives 

Wait For Me 

Dance to the Radio 

Like the reviled scavenger that partinspired 

their moniker, the Pigeon Detectives could 

be criticised for opportunistic pilfering: tidbits of 

Television, Beatles, Motown, Buzzcocks, Chuck Berry 

and Buddy Holly litter their perfectly pecked poppath. 

But this is no robbery with plagiaristic intent; the 

sole agenda is to chart this youthful existence—sex, 

booze and heartbreak—as it comes. The result is 

often reassuringly bittersweet: the key refrain of “You 

Know I Love You” is followed by the significantly 

less romantic hormonal desperation of “take off your 

clothes.” There’s something incredibly admirable about 

the Detective’s anti-pretentious adherence to songwriting 

simplicity, but, like their Kaiser Chief kindred, 

they’ll need to plot future pickings carefully in order 

to avoid a limiting ‘signature’ formula without losing 

the live-for-the-moment honesty that makes them so 

compelling. DAVE BEVERIDGE 

The Thrills 

Teenager 

EMI 

When the Thrills first appeared in 

2003, the Dublin quintet was the pre-Keane staple 

of white van men across the nation. And whilst the 

band may have swapped L.A. for “the worst neighbourhood 

in the whole of Canada,” it doesn’t sound 

particularly like Teenager was recorded in anything 

approaching a slum. “Long Forgotten Song” could 

easily be off Keane’s first album, while “Restaurant” 

is like a more twinkling Bright Eyes with chocolate 

sprinkles. Opener “Midnight Choir” is wholly 

sublime—trademark Thrills in every way, heaving 

out the kind of heavenly saccharine harmonies the 

Magic Numbers are too bumbling and arrogant to 

find. Ultimately, though, it’s still music to do your 

Christmas shopping to. VIC JAMES 

The Fly is the U.K.’s second largest circulated music magazine. Focusing on emerging talent, it’s the essential 

guide to new music in the U.K. Subscriptions are available, priced at £40 for 12 months (11 issues), 

by contacting subs@channelfly.com, or online at www.the-fly.co.uk. 


the future of rock and roll 

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Wilco UniPos 

Vinyl figures by UNKL, $49.98 

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American Rag 

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in oatmeal, $24.50 

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36 FILTER GOOD MUSIC GUIDE

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