I’m a big fan of electronic, experimental, and especially dance-rock music.  Because many of my favorite bands that fall in this genre don’t get a great deal of mainstream exposure, I count on recommendations from fellow music fans or services like Last.fm to find new music.

Two bands who have consistently come highly recommended for people with similar musical tastes to my own are MGMT and Cut Copy.  So, I decided to sample each band’s album and try to expand my horizons.

MGMT

MGMT’s album Oracular Spectacular starts out with the mellow single “Time To Pretend.” The sounds are lush and layered, with a 70s-pop vibe, almost Pink-Floyd-like.  The record chills even further with “Weekend Wars,” with the vocals evoking John Lennon.  As I sampled through the record, I kept waiting for something a bit more up-tempo, lest I fall asleep (or go out in search of some special brownies to complement the sound), but the closest  Oracular Spectacular ever comes is the Hustle-tempo “Electric Feel” and the head-bopping “Kids,” with its catchy synth hook.

Sounding like Arcade Fire with a little more of an electro bent, I can see why MGMT are indie darlings right now.  Quality musicianship aside, it certainly wasn’t what I was looking for, or expecting when I was recommended them as a fan of dance-rock and electro-pop.  This trippy duo is just a little too…  whoa, man….

Cut Copy

Greeted by a similar fluttery synth opening when I hit play on Cut Copy’s album In Ghost Colours, I feared I was going to go 0 for 2 in my quest for a new band to really get behind.  I was pleasantly surprised when opening track “Feel The Love” picked up a poppy background beat, the tempo a toe-tapping buoy for a sound every bit as lush and layered as that of MGMT.  The songs flow from one to another, something that appeals to me and is more common with dance-rock albums.  The dreamy little synth-effect interludes (“We Fight For Diamonds,” “Voices In Quartz,” “Silver Thoughts”) give the flow a bit of variety and help with the tempo changes.  Cut Copy approaches MGMT’s laid-back vibe on “Strangers In The Wind,” but they avoid getting too mired in the psychadelic haze, and halfway through the song the dance beat is back.

The music has an obvious club influence and wonderful flow.  It was easy for me to listen to this album straight through, rather than with MGMT’s, where I felt like I was slogging through, struggling to stay awake.  The 80s New Wave influences are everywhere, especially on single “Hearts on Fire,” which has New Order written all over it.

And the winner is…

Cut Copy’s In Ghost Colours.

These two albums and bands have far less in common than I would have believed upon having them recommended to me, and Cut Copy appeals to me more as a fan of new wave music.  MGMT feel like they get lost in all that sound — a little too meandering for me.  If anything, this is a prime example of how “Other Bands You Might Be Interested In…” can be like night and day.

In a letter to their fans posted this weekend, Innerpartysystem (my favorite discovery of 2008) wrote about the difficulties they’ve experienced getting exposure for the video to their single “Don’t Stop.”  The line, apparently, is that the video is too edgy, or too visually intense.  So, a bit reluctantly, the band remade the video.

Never ones to quietly bend over and just take what they’re given (someone must have misplaced the ball gags from the original video), Innerpartysystem have still managed to include plenty of subtly disturbing imagery.  They’ve even brought their creepy newscasters back to take in the new show, complete with quasi-Johnny Carson.

With the brutally overwhelming social commentary cut or at least softened, there is now room for the band to be showcased front and center.  While I know the guys have an aversion to pin-up superstardom — hence the obscuring shadow and backlighting — people like to see what they’re buying (or buying into).  A face makes it easier for the masses to relate to music that is a bit more challenging than your usual pop fare; it gives them something to connect with, an investment, something to keep them hooked while everything else sinks in.  It’s not always so much about selling the band’s image as it is making that personal connection.  This is why bands can make or break themselves live.

This is also where I think Innerpartysystem does themselves a great favor, because their live show adds hot blood and a pounding heartbeat to the already intense electronic beats and grinding guitars, which gives the music a dimension that isn’t possible on a recording.  The performance footage of the band in the new video gives a peek at that live show intensity, however, and adds a level of immediacy that wasn’t in the original video, which had a more cerebral and detached feel.

Innerpartysystem has had a banner year, coming up from obscurity to making a noticeable dent in both the UK and US music scenes.  I know it was a difficult decision to revisit the single and video they used to establish a baseline for what their band is about.  I think it was the right decision, though.  After capturing the attention of the music industry and fans of intelligent, provocative music and visuals, this reworking gives the band a chance to broaden their appeal and continue to develop new opportunities to get out their music and message.  It’s not a matter of redoing something that wasn’t done right the first time; it’s expanding and enhancing what’s already been done to take it to the next level.

Innerpartysystem are ready.

I’ve had so many interesting experiences I want to blog about that I decided to take a break in the middle of the week to look back on years past.  In January, I’m going to highlight my best music experiences of 2008.

It’s only fitting to kick off this series by writing about my favorite musical discovery of the past year.

This is entertainment/Lies are entertainment

I was introduced to Innerpartysystem at Kill Hannah’s 2007 New Heart for Xmas V fan show, before getting to know them properly during the summer of 2008 when they rejoined Kill Hannah as a support act on the Hope for the Hopeless tour.  The first impression is indelible.  The wall of lights onstage begins to flash, slave to a beat that builds into an aggressive dance explosion, four black silhouettes writhing with their instruments in the foreground.  The songs flow from one to the other, giving the audience no time to catch their breath and leaving little room for banter or any other filler.  The audience is left wondering if they just saw a band play or a night of chemical-fueled excess pass before them onstage.

Nothing’s too excessive/When you’ve got nothing left

The music is rock-driven electronic dance, with witty and provocative lyrics that both revel in and revile today’s fame-driven culture.  They explore the edgier side of human nature: obsessive love, the excess of the party and club scene found thriving in major cities, disillusionment.  The beats are relentless, with refrains that have the whole audience jumping, hands in the air, screaming along.  In addition to the intense live show, Innerpartysystem has engaged their love of all things visual with disturbingly engrossing promotional videos, as well as vaguely sinister music videos to Don’t Stop and Die Tonight, Live Forever.  They strive to engage all the senses with their work.

We’re all here ‘cos we’ve lost control

The aggressive stage show and lyrics belie four laid-back and friendly guys.  It only takes a few minutes of talking with vocalist Patrick, drummer Jared, keyboardist Jesse and guitarist Kris to realize that these are four intelligent men who have seen and lived a great deal.  They are keenly perceptive and intensely creative, yet absolutely unassuming.  It’s refreshing in a genre full of “musicians” armed with only a laptop and a sense of entitlement.  I think that genuineness translates and makes their themes and presentation accessible to a wide audience, rather than the generic pretentiousness that is all too common in dance-rock.

I will surround your heart with lies/’Til the end

Innerpartysystem were on tour for much of 2008, both in Europe and at home.  They were featured all over television and they were nominated to be featured as part of Yahoo’s “Who’s Next.”  They were also in a Spin magazine contest where they re-enacted a scene from “The Big Lebowski,” which had me wondering what these four Wunderkinder couldn’t do.  2009 looks to be an even bigger year for them.  They are hitting the ground running with a small warm-up tour of the northeastern US before heading back to Europe.  There is also talk of them playing this year’s Warped tour.  Check out their winter tour dates, and if you can’t make it to see them live (which you should, just to experience their mind-melting cover of Joy Division’s “Transmission”), be sure to spend some time on their YouTube Channel.  Their debut EP, The Download EP is a must-buy, and their self-titled full-length album is amazing as well.

Innerpartysystem are one of the increasingly rare perfect storms of talent, ambition, strong work ethic, and fierce belief in a vision of what music should be.  They put every ounce of their effort toward that vision, and it is an all-encompassing experience for the senses, whether live or on disk.

I was vaguely aware The Killers had a new album out, but it wasn’t pinging too brightly on my radar.  Aside from the first single, I had been by and large disappointed by their sophomore effort, Sam’s Town.  I understand the need for a band to grow their sound and explore new territory musically, but the direction of the album just didn’t resonate with me.  The Killers’ appeal was in their edgy dance-influenced rock sound, and such a dramatic departure left me feeling a bit bereft.

What sealed the deal on my apathy for the Killers was their performance at Edgefest 16 in Dallas, TX (aside: one of the greatest concert lineups I’ve ever witnessed).   For me, the live show is always the ultimate for a band– it will make or break me as a fan.  Bands whose recorded material has me incredibly exicted are bands I want to see live, so I can fully fall in love with them.  The Killers, despite my feelings about Sam’s Town, were on the list of such bands.  I felt a great live show that reminded me why I loved them circa Hot Fuss could trump the Sam’s Town ambivalence and cement me as a true Killers fan.

Thus, I was thrilled to see them at the top of an already packed bill for Edgefest, which took place in April 2007.  The energy of the festival built through the day, with kinetic main stage acts such as AFI, Muse, and My Chemical Romance.  However, many people began to leave before The Killers even came on (no doubt owing to the long delay before they hit the stage), but even as they played, people continued to leave.  I can’t necessarily guess what drove every person out of the stadium, but I know I heard more than one person comment that they were simply bored by The Killers’ sound, especially following bands with such dynamic sounds and stage presence.  I felt the same; it wasn’t that The Killers were bad, or even unenjoyable– they just didn’t fit.  Their set for me wasn’t fun, exciting, heart-pounding, or provocative.  Because of that, I count The Killers as one of my biggest live music disappointments.  My Edgefest experience is representative of my feelings for The Killers’ music in general up to this point:bored and disappointed.

That is, until the video for their new single, “Human,” was played at my moonlight job (where I bartend at a bowling alley that has a weekend glow bowl where they play music videos on projector screens).  Of course, Brandon Flowers’ voice is unmistakable, and the return of the beloved dance-beat edge to The Killers’ sound captured my immediate and whole attention.

My customers were forced to wait for several minutes while I absorbed with glee Flowers’ now-smooth face, the relative lack of Old West garb on the band, the campy playfulness that was there during the Sam’s Town era but overwhelmed by the rest of the retro schtick…  I returned to mixing drinks while bobbing my head and humming along.  The sound had immediately captured my attention again, and I couldn’t get the tune out of my head.

I came home to watch the video again and listen to the lyrics more closely.  To my delight, Flowers and company have managed to combine the vocal and lyrical maturity of Sam’s Town with the provocative rock/dance sound of Hot Fuss to create a sound they can really own, something current and fresh that has an enduring quality to it.  Part of what made Sam’s Town so difficult to listen to for me was that it sounded dated the moment the CD hit my computer to be ripped.  I can see myself enjoying “Human” far into the future.  I’m looking forward to listening to their new album, Day & Age, when it’s released on November 24, to see if they’ve fulfilled the promise of “Human.”

And perhaps even more telling, I’m eager to see The Killers live once more.

Last week I had the opportunity to catch the debut of the Smashing Pumpkins documentary If All Goes Wrong, chronicling the newly reformed band’s residencies in Asheville, NC and San Francisco. The film is a combination of live concert DVD and “Behind The Music” sort of expose, combined in an engaging fashion.

The most interesting aspect of the movie is that aside from one memorable exception, no Pumpkins “classics” are featured.  Every featured song is new–most of them written the day they were recorded.  The focus of the film is Billy Corgan’s obsessive, relentless creativity, shown as an all-consuming force that pushes him and, therefore, the rest of his band.  Accompanying the three-hour residency shows are grueling marathon rehearsals that strain the Pumpkins’ three neophyte members, all experienced musicians who seem to barely weather the onslaught of Corgan’s prolific songwriting and perfectionism.

The intimacy of the film shows how Corgan uses his creative process as a wall between a world that seems to overwhelm and threaten him on a regular basis.   He admits that a childhood of abuse has left him struggling with boundaries. Nowhere is that more evident than the myriad awkward and uncomfortable interactions with fans, the interviewer and even his own bandmates that the movie unflinchingly captures.

Longtime drummer Jimmy Chamberlin is one of the few immune to Corgan’s mercurial nature.  Chamberlin himself has come a long way from the hard-partying drug addict from the Pumpkins’ past, something Corgan touches on as well.  It seems that everyone from the “original” Pumpkins has moved on, yet Corgan is trapped by his own hyperactive mind and its demons that couldn’t be properly exorcised by a solo career or his failed band Zwan–only through the guise of the Pumpkins.

It’s obvious that Corgan believes this course his only option.  It wasn’t his choice to reform the Pumpkins, replacing guitarist James Iha and bassist D’Arcy.  It had to be done, likewise the extensive residencies that seem to blend together as the film progresses.  As one undertaking a journey of Herculean proportions, Corgan stubbornly pushes through the tasks that present themselves in order to to mold these diverse musicians into a cohesive unit to actualize his visions.

Corgan meets his challenges with alternating zen and fury.  He blows off harsh words from critics, but becomes so frustrated when he forgets earlier-improvised lyrics that he throws his guitar across the room.  He is alternately bemused and insulted by the mixed reactions of the audiences to his new songs, some of which stretch on past the half-hour mark.  He becomes petulant at times when the interviewer touches sensitive subjects, then flippantly shrugs off his discomfort.

As the pressure to match the public’s expectations as well as his own grows, Corgan sinks so far into himself that he neglects the interpersonal relationships that are the glue of any band.  It is only when his new bandmates, who are still trying to find their own voices in this maelstrom, have their own breakdowns that Corgan begins to realize that that unless something gives, the new Pumpkins could come apart before it even fully gets off the ground.

After Corgan takes the stage for the final encore of their residency, there seems to be a hint of a promise that he might finally be able to move on , as his fellow Pumpkins had over eight years ago.

Corgan’s songwriting process is an effective narrative thread to tell the larger story of the “new” Pumpkins.  The multi-angle, split-screen shots are artful and not distracting, and there is just the right balance of performance footage and interview.  While the movie was naturally “Billy-centric,” I felt the other members of the band were adequately represented.  In the end, as ever, the Pumpkins are the story of Billy Corgan marshaling those he has drawn to him in order to realize his vision, and If All Goes Wrong succeeds in illustrating that point, in all its light and dark.

The Pumpkins have several teaser clips available on YouTube, but if you don’t need the hard sell, If All Goes Wrong is now available for you to own, so go pick it up!