So the first half of '06 is in the books. Looking back at my favorites from this point in '05 and '04, the biggest contrast is the lack of any true standout - no Blueberry Boat or The Woods or Bang Bang Rock N' Roll setting the bar almost impossibly high for the rest of the year. But at the same time, this seems an especially deep and exciting year to me - lots of really good releases instead of a few great ones (as Jason pointed out), and from a new crop of bands as well. And as some of my favorite bands from the past few years say goodbye (Sleater-Kinney, sniff) or enter a new phase (Deerhoof), that seems just as worthy of celebration.

No huge surprises here, but let's get to it - from A-to-Z:

Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit. You don't expect the summer album of the year to come out in February, but B+S were up to the task. Not just a far better realized take on the upbeat pop of Dear Catastrophe Waitress, The Life Pursuit is also the band's best album since If You're Feeling Sinister in my book. Though their earliest work (still stellar) has never felt more distant, the band has also never seemed more comfortable as a band. Try "We Are The Sleepyheads" (MP3).

Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light. I've already said lots about the exquisitely chilled out "whiskey gospel" (their term) on this one. All I can add is that I've yet to play it for someone that's disliked it. Try "Friend of Mine" (MP3).

The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea. The early press suggested this might be the Furnaces LP to pick up on EP's easy accessibility. Well, sort of. Songs like "I'm Waiting To Know You" and "Police Sweater Blood Vow" are certainly among the band's catchiest, but the backwards vocals elsewhere and cavalcade of sounds in every corner make it clear that the Furnaces are most comfortable throwing curveballs. And that's why I love 'em. The 62-second mark on "Bitter Tea" (MP3) starts my favorite musical moment of the year.

Lavender Diamond - The Cavalry of Light EP. The numbers don't lie - I've listened to "You Broke My Heart" (MP3) and the three other songs on this self-released EP more than anything else this year. Becky Stark's vocals are nothing short of spectacular, but the strong songwriting and sharp instrumentation are what give the EP such replayability. Their full-length cannot come soon enough for me.

Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped. As much as I miss the stretched-out jams and wish they brought the noise a little more, Sonic Youth have kept me engaged all these years by always staying a moving target. I never expected something so crisp and poppy from them, but I'm not at all surprised that SY completely nailed it on Rather Ripped. It's a wonderful distillation of everything that made me first love them. And "Rats" reminds us that, as always, Lee Ranaldo is the man. Try "Reena" (MP3).

Best Reissue:

The Delta 5 - Singles and Sessions 1979-1981. The two basses and vocal harmonies of the Delta 5's precisely funky post-punk are pretty thrilling 25+ years after the fact, so I can't even imagine what it would've been like to hear these songs when they were first released! Try "Mind Your Own Business" (MP3).

Also of note:

The Archie Bronson Outfit - Derdang Derdang
Asobi Seksu - Citrus
Au Revoir Simone - Verses of Comfort, Assurance, and Salvation
Band of Horses - Everything All the Time
Hot Chip - The Warning
Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast
Parts and Labor - Stay Afraid
The Psychic Ills - Dins
Senor Coconut and His Orchestra - Yellow Fever
Ricardo Villalobos - Salvador

For this list of mid-year favorites, I'm going to steal from Michael Davies' addictive World Cup Diary by using his "For" or "Against" style. You can find Davies' blog on ESPN and if you're following the World Cup, it's required reading. Not only is Mr. Davies an excellent diarist, he's also an executive producer for the forthcoming film, Once in a Lifetime, which recounts the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos and the old North American Soccer League. Rajeev and I were lucky enough to catch a screening of the film recently and found it insightful and quite hilarious at times. It'll be out soon in July in theaters here in New York.

Now it's time for the favorites. Before I get to the For and Against items, here is a list of choice albums, EPs, singles, and songs from the first six months of 2006. These are in no particular order by the way.

Favorites, the album division:

The Knife - Silent Shout
Ellen Allien and Apparat - Orchestra of Bubbles
Hot Chip - The Warning
Alex Smoke - Paradolia
Booka Shade - Movements
Barbara Morgenstern - The Grass is Always Greener
Calexico - Garden Ruins
I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
El Perro Del Mar - S/T
Senor Coconut and His Orchestra - Plays YMO
Helios - Eingya
Chihei Hatakeyama - Minima Moralia
Various Artists - Panama! Latin, Calypso & Funk on the Isthmus 1965 - 75

Favorites, the EP, Singles and Songs division:

Khonnor - Burning Palace 7"
Sambassadeur - Coastal Affairs EP
The Early Years - All Ones and Zeros EP
Attic Lights - Shiver the Trees EP
The F.O. Machete - What's the Signal? EP
PopJohan - Vaknar EP
The Juan Maclean - Love is in the Air remixes
Depeche Mode - "John the Revelator" and "Lillian" remixes
Aliens - Alienoid Starmonica EP
Hot Chip - "Boy from School", "Over and Over" and "The Warning"
Minilogue - "The Girl from Botany Bay"
The Gossip - "Standing in the Way of Control"
Sebastien Leger - "Take Your Pills (Lifelike Remix)"

For: Any music created by Brian Eno. This includes Eno albums proper, Roxy Music, Talking Heads and even Paul Simon's new record.

Against: I'm running out of Brian Eno albums to discover.

For: Fixed parties at Don Hill's.

Against: Motherf*cker parties at Avalon.

For: Surprises - Young People, Man Man, Naked Ape, Secret Machines

Against: Disappointments - The Strokes, The Streets, The Rapture (W.A.Y.U.H. single), The Flaming Lips and Gnarls Barkley, but only because "Crazy" made the rest of the album sound so average. Ok, the rest of the album was average.

For: FIFA World Cup Germany 2006

Against: Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa, the U.S. national team, the Italian diving team, the refs and fake injuries.

For: Swedish music

Against: The Swedish national football team. No one has surrendered to Germany that easy since the French in World War 2.

For: Seeing Asobi Seksu at Joe's Pub, Goldfrapp at Irving Plaza, Hot Chip at the Bowery, Scissor Sisters at the Bowery, Stephen Malkmus at the Knitting Factory, Optimo and Erol Alkan at Don Hill's and other great shows I can't remember right now.

Against: Missing Radiohead, the rain that ruined SFA, and all the other great shows I couldn't go too.

Ever open a drawer in your kitchen or bedroom and discover a thousand dollars lying there? Me either. But there are equivalents to this experience, and I have one to share. I don't know how The Replacements came up in our conversation, but Rajeev and I were discussing them one night this week while waiting around at the Mercury Lounge for some band or another. We agreed they were fantastic and that they wrote songs so great we get the chills just thinking about them.

I'm absolutely not an expert on the Replacements or Paul Westerberg or Tommy Stinson or any of the other guys and their side projects. I've heard a few of the `Mats records in the past, but I always focused on single tracks over the album experience. For example, I bought Tim back in the day really only to hear "Little Mascara."

So this weekend I listened to the `Mats again. I started with Let it Be. At first the experience was normal, but then I got to the seventh track, "Unsatisfied." Suddenly I was blasted by the unvarnished emotion in Westerberg's voice.  "Look me in the eye and tell me / That I'm satisfied" he dares, singing with so much raw disconsolation.  The song strikes chords with me and says so much about my opinions on many things these days. "Unsatisfied" is an anthem for our disaffecting times, where the world offers so much but so little actually sticks.

I listened to Let it Be all the way through a second and third time, hearing it anew on each play. I realized then that I'd never really "got" the Replacements before. I had appreciated their songs, but never grasped exactly what was at their core. I still don't have it down yet, but I can see it's time for a true measuring of the Replacements.

Listen to The Replacements - "Unsatisfied (Live)" (MP3)

Elsewhere:

With 2006 half over, it's just about time to begin collecting thoughts and opinions on the first six months of music. Here at One Louder we'll be posting individual lists of favorite albums, EPs, songs and other random bits over the next three days. Is "Unsatisfied" perhaps a suitable summation of this year so far for me? Am I ever satisfied? Probably not, but there have been a handful of quality releases worth noting. Looking at my play counts in iTunes, I've listened to Brian Eno more than any other band that put out music this year, but his albums were released in the `70s. I won't give away what I plan on picking, but right now I can't think of one album that stands above all others. The field is wide open.

Busy times here at the OL headquarters, both at work and at play, with lots of shows to report on:

Brightblack Morning Light + Mariee Sioux - Mercury Lounge, 6.23.06

As you might have guessed from all my talk around here so far, I arrived at the Mercury Lounge on Friday quite excited for Brightblack Morning Light. From the crowd's reactions throughout their set, it seems I wasn't the only one. The opening notes of "Everybody Daylight," which ended the set, even won a cheer. They started with "Friend of Time" and focused their set on the new Brightblack Morning Light LP. The band did a great job of transplanting the restrained chill of their studio sound to the stage - especially with the organ - but the vocals lost a bit on Friday. The words matter much less, but the stretched-out sounds of the voices are integral to the band's music and seemed too low in the mix. It left the songs feeling a little empty in spots, almost too focused on the groove. That said, the groove was quite nice and featured three guys on percussion - one on drums, one on congas, and one playing a whole mess of stuff that I can't even name. I'd love to see Brightblack play a seated venue with pristine sound, as I suspect they'd really shine in that setting. Joe's Pub would be perfect!

I definitely liked Mariee Sioux's solo opening set - she was a bit like Joanna Newsom in delivery and cadence, but with an acoustic guitar and a less quirky voice. Check out her MySpace page. We actually didn't stick around for Espers - perhaps the wrong call, but I've never gotten into Espers on record, it was crowded in there, and there were other things going on. Still, seeing a band live is sometimes all it takes. I'll need to give them a chance next time.

Asobi Seksu + PAS/CAL - Mercury Lounge, 6.22.06

The prior night also found me at the Mercury Lounge, for Asobi Seksu and PAS/CAL. It was part II of Asobi's Citrus record release shows, a companion to their June 1 gig at Joe's Pub. Not much was different - Citrus still rules, Asobi still love to bring the noise live, and the show overall was very satisfying. Not to plug Joe's Pub too much, but I preferred that first gig - seeing the band while sitting down made it easier to be overwhelmed by the density of their sound. I have no complaints about Asobi's Thursday set though. Their closing cover of the Crystals' "He Kissed Me" was even a little tighter this time. I hope Citrus gets the band some attention - it's totally deserved.

Detroit's PAS/CAL opened for Asobi and, with their usual backup singer away from the band, Betty Marie Barnes from Saturday Looks Good To Me helped out on all songs. As I mentioned before, this made me doubly excited for the set - I adore Barnes's voice and I was also excited to hear PAS/CAL's new material again. I say "again" because I heard some of it almost two years ago at Sin-e - unfortunately, Citizen's Army Uniform (their future LP's tentative title) is still brewing. (We hear a new label is all that's needed.) The new songs sounded great, as did "What Happened to the Sands" and "Poor Maude" from the Oh Honey, We're Ridiculous EP. They really need to release the new stuff though. Though PAS/CAL's melodies and energy are more than enough to carry the live show, the delicate intricacy of their music works even better in a studio. Oh and as for Betty Marie? I think I am in love.

Deadbeat - subTonic, 6.21.06

The digital dub sounds of Deadbeat soundtracked my Wednesday night at subTonic. I like Deadbeat's albums, I thoroughly enjoyed what I heard of him last May at Mini-Mutek NYC and, based on a strong review of his 2006 Mutek set, I expected last week's show to be even better. Alas, it wasn't. I don't think it was Deadbeat's fault - he built up his set really nicely, getting dancier and more cut-up by the minute. The sound needed more bass though, way more bass - usually not a problem at subTonic. It was still enjoyable, but it could've been better.

The Rapture - Crash Mansion, 6.11.06

It's taken me a couple weeks to write about the Rapture's June 11 show at Crash Mansion, perhaps because there's not a ton to say about the Rapture these days. For me at least, their reputation as a live act is steady and sealed. I've enjoyed every set of theirs I've ever seen. "Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks" never fails to be a early winner, Luke Jenner's guitar screech-outs still sound fresh, and though Echoes left my regular rotation long ago, I'd listen to those songs live every day. The new songs are promising though. We heard less of them at Crash Mansion than at the Bowery last October, but if anything they sounded better this time. "W.A.Y.U.H." is the one to have leaked, and I actually think it's the worst of the bunch. ("The Devil" was my favorite at this show.) I haven't heard any updates on the new Rapture album in a while, but hopefully we'll hear more of it soon.

Favourite Sons opened up, and I'm interested to hear more of them. The lead singer was totally channeling Ian McCulloch. Dead Combo also opened, and I shall be avoiding them in the future. They were one of the worst bands I've seen in recent memory, but perhaps that was the point? It seemed very Spinal Tap. Who knows.

To prove that I'm not all about recounting the past, I thought I would share a song that is currently racing up my iTunes most played list. While the track is no older than 2006, its sound is an exquisite blending of vintage 1980's New Wave and early 21st century German techno. One other fact you should know and this will probably come as no surprise. The song is written by a Swede. Call me obsessed with Sweden. Not only do I like the music from this country, but I'm pulling for them to take out the Germans in the World Cup.

Now for the song. It's called "Försöker Sova" (MP3), which in English means "trying to sleep." It's written by electronic artist PopJohan and is available for download from his site, along with the two other tracks from his new EP, Vaknar. Here is Mr. PopJohan's concise description of the EP: "Soundwise it's inspired by the latest albums from Ellen Allien & Apparat and Alex Smoke." Otherwise, right up my alley.

Have a great weekend!

There you have it. Soccer in the United States will be buried and forgotten for the next four years or longer. Thanks to their poor showing in the 2006 World Cup, never again will anyone believe the yanks can win a World Cup title. It's done. The U.S. will never be a world class team. Fire Bruce Arena, show Landon Donovan the door. America will never be a soccer nation.

Blah, blah, blah. I'm sick of hearing the doomsdayers and naysayers crying into their fake Uncle Sam beards about the death of soccer in the U.S. Emotions turn from grief to anger, obscuring a few facts worth holding onto. First, the U.S. was placed in an extremely difficult group. It would have surprised no one if we lost to both Italy and the Czechs. We were underdogs in both matches. Put the U.S. in Germany or Spain's group (both loaded with paper tigers) and today we'd all be talking about possible quarterfinal opponents.

Second, a poor tournament showing does not equal a failure of the entire sport in this nation. I'm sure the French care just about as much for their team after they crashed in 2002 as they did when Les Bleus took home the cup in '98. I'm sure the French still loved their team when they didn't even qualify in 1994. The Netherlands missed World Cup 2002 after finishing fourth in 1998. Is the sport of football in decline in Holland? Doubtful. I would like to believe that Americans are smart enough to realize this was a failure on the part of one team, in one tournament. Or so I hope.

Yes, football is obviously much better established in France and Holland than in the U.S and thus more able to survive the natural peaks and valleys of tournament play. Certainly a stronger showing by the yanks would have drawn in more American fans. But in my opinion America's failure to advance this year will have very little effect on the popularity of the sport in this country. Those who care are disappointed and angry. Of course I wanted to see "my team" do better. But I won't give up caring because we lost. I don't stop caring about basketball when "my team", the Arizona Wildcats lose.

And those who never cared in the first place? They are probably shrugging their shoulders in ambivalence. Besides, haven't we been here before? The U.S. finished dead last in 1998. Four years later, we were in the quarterfinals. I hope that 2006 will be just a minor dip in the upward trajectory of the U.S. National team. 2010 here we come!

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With no Tivo to rely upon, I've found myself watching rebroadcasts of World Cup games on Galavision. I don't understand a word the announcers are saying, but they are still better than Dave O'Brien and Marcelo Balboa. Well, I do know a few Spanish words and phrases, such as "gol", "pelota" and "diving Italians". But what the hell does "tiro de esquina" mean and why are the announcers so excited when they say it? Turns out that phrase means corner kick. I learned that from this helpful page, which translates common soccer terms from English to Spanish. So if you're watching a partido and want to know what sombrerito means, by all means check that site out.

Brightblack - "Wildshiney Stars" (MP3). Plain and simple, I'm addicted to Brightblack. It's telling that the 10 tracks on Brightblack Morning Light, their just-released second record, move in unison on my iPod play count list. If I start the album, I need to finish it, and that's been happening a lot these days. To quote Other Music's great review, it's an "astounding and extraordinarily chill" record that delivers on all the promise of its opening track "Everybody Daylight" (MP3) and then some. BBML is incredibly cohesive, with a shuffling rhythm and Rhodes keyboard tying it all together while hazy flourishes (like the trombone solo on "Friend of Time") make individual songs stand out. Easily one of the best things I've heard all year.

"Wildshiney Stars" is actually from the band's first record ala.cali.tucky, when they were still just Brightblack. (They added to their name for the new album, and the extra words will apparently keep changing with each LP.) It's sparser and much folkier than the new album, with vocal harmonies and lap steel filling the space of BBML's insistent keyboard grooves. Different, but still quite good. Brightblack are playing Southpaw tonight and the Mercury Lounge on Friday - I'm sure their new material will dominate the show, but I hope a few old songs make it in too. Espers and Mariee Sioux are also on the bill.

The Evangelicals - "Diving" (MP3). This was the most memorable song of the two very memorable Evangelicals sets I caught at SXSW, but it's interestingly one of the more restrained cuts on So Gone, the Oklahoma band's debut LP out now on Misra. It was much thrashier live, and in general I found So Gone's psychedelic pop underwhelming at first. Turns out I just needed to turn it up. The immediacy of the band's live show is replaced on record by an enormous volume of sounds, lots of little noises unpredictably crammed into each song's corners that reveal themselves more and more with time. With their shared Oklahoma pedigree, Flaming Lips comparisons have seemed almost compulsory in the Evangelicals reviews I've read. I definitely hear some old Lips in So Gone, but "Diving" speaks more to the old Sea and Cake junkie in me.

Señor Coconut and His Orchestra - "Simoon" (MP3) (featuring Mouse on Mars). Señor Coconut is German DJ Uwe Schmidt, and "Simoon" comes from Yellow Fever, Schmidt's tribute to Yellow Magic Orchestra. I'm unfamiliar with YMO but apparently they're like the Japanese Kraftwerk - and Yellow Fever turns their songs into Latin pop numbers. It works perfectly. Creative arrangements and entertaining interludes (think the Avalanches meet Akufen) make Yellow Fever's 20 tracks fly by, as does the fact that these songs are packed with hooks. Lots of guests too, including Akufen, YMO themselves (including Ryuichi Sakamoto) and, on this song, Mouse on Mars. Great stuff! (Next on my list, after some YMO originals, is El Baile Alemán - Señor Coconut's 2000 tribute to Kraftwerk.)

I'm back from my vacation in San Diego. Boo, hiss. What happened to the weather in New York? Oh yeah, it decided to be normal. I left the beach for sticky subway platforms and armpit sidewalks? Who is the fool? As my two previous posts indicate, I did nothing more than watch World Cup matches and lazy about with the family on my trip. I barely picked up my iPod or even thought about music. Actually I did reminisce about one of the most memorable concerts I ever saw, which happened to take place in San Diego some 16 years ago.

Consider this for a lineup: New Order, Public Image Ltd., Sugarcubes, and De La Soul. Today this bill seems almost unmatchable. In 1989, the legacies and impact of these acts had yet to be fully considered. Bjork was still a singer in a band and De La Soul were just on the cusp of a critically acclaimed career. New Order had yet to fade away into a hiatus state, which allowed full appreciation their creative output. John Lydon's second band, P.I.L., were spinning around the creative loo, almost ready to drop fully into the sewage.  But I was a fan, sold on the day-glow 9 and its predecessor Happy?

Having seen New Order and P.I.L. live earlier in the year, I was most curious about the Sugarcubes. Other than Post and Homogenic, the `cubes Life's too Good is my favorite Bjork-based record. Her devilish wails and mad pitch runs entranced me. I was in love with her voice. I was in love with her, period. Laugh all you want.

So on that hot June day, I pushed my way forward to the front of the Aztec Bowl, a decrepit stadium on the San Diego State University campus. The crowd seethed and waved, a sea of steaming flesh. I was a mere body or two from the stage when the Sugarcubes took the stage. There was Bjork, right in front of me. As they bashed through a short set, the crowd in the front turned hostile, jeering the band for reasons I couldn't understand. Perhaps they took exception to Bjork's unshaved arm pits? She responded to the hecklers by coughing up a wad of phlegm onto us. I had withstood the heat, the sweat, and the SDSU jocks only to be spit upon by Bjork. It was the highlight of my day.  

The crowd was crushing me. So I raised my hands and was lifted out by the bouncers. I wandered to the back, bought a Sugarcubes t-shirt and found a seat in the stands. I wasn't sure if I had liked the Sugarcubes' performance that much. They seemed to despise themselves and their songs, playing them with little regard. Later in the year, the band released the vastly inferior Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week! My faith was shaken, my love for Bjork tempered down to admiration and frustration.

The sun was drifting down towards the misty horizon when New Order took the stage. This was not your little brother's New Order. They had yet to get over themselves, live. Bernard Sumner stood in one spot, sang the songs and then left the stage. Only Peter Hook moved about on stage, bass slung to his knees in trademark fashion. Forget hearing any Joy Division material. No "Your Silent Face", "Love Vigilantes", or "Thieves Like Us" either. They offered up plenty of reasons to despise their act, but I was still engrossed.

I continue to profess Technique as my favorite New Order record, so I was delighted by a setlist that pulled heavily from this album. Or perhaps it was hearing them jaunt through "1963", or open the night with the beautiful "Ceremony" that made me go away tired, but happy. New Order could never play one set with every song I love of theirs. Expecting that is reason for disappointment. New Order never aim to please.

New Order's setlist (unconfirmed) from the Aztec Bowl, San Diego, June 17, 1989 (courtesy of The New Order Gigography):

Ceremony / Touched by the Hand of God / All the Way / Dream Attack / True Faith / Mr. Disco / 1963 / Vanishing Point / Round and Round / Bizarre Love Triangle / Temptation / The Perfect Kiss / Blue Monday / Fine Time

Listen to "Birthday (live)" (MP3) by the Sugarcubes.

Listen to New Order's "Your Silent Face (live)" (MP3)

Fluxblog made a point yesterday that's occurred to me before but never in so many words - Radiohead shows are, for the most part, relatively equal in quality. The band is always tight and energetic and never less than professional, messing with the songs enough to keep things interesting but sticking close enough to the script that you basically know what you're going to get. The shows that stand out, then, seem to separate themselves from the pack not because the performance was especially strong - you can say that about almost any night - but more for the smaller details - setlist, seats, intangibles. I'll remember Tuesday's show as my first time with the new songs, but last night's gig was, for me, the keeper of the pair. Why? Location, location, location.

I felt really far away on Tuesday but last night found me just three people back from the stage. It was packed tight in front of Jonny Greenwood's side before the Black Keys' set, but Ed O'Brien's side was wide open and we took advantage. I'll watch Jonny over Ed any day but, as with any band, being up close with a clear view of everyone makes all the difference. The songs all felt way more energetic, with selections that felt a little tired on Tuesday (e.g. "Idioteque") taking on new life. The setlist was the better of the two too - "Wolf at the Door," "Paranoid Android," "Pyramid Song," "Dollars and Cents," "My Iron Lung," and "Just" were among the welcome additions. The new songs - that Fluxblog review describes them well - were basically the same (alas no "House of Cards"), and strong (especially "Bodysnatchers" and "Down is the New Up").

But the show's highlight, and by a long shot, was "The Tourist" to close the night. It's one of my absolute favorite Radiohead songs, literally the song I've been pulling for (along with "Planet Telex") every time I've seen them. Finally hearing it live again made my night, especially with Thom Yorke working the washed-out feedback on his guitar between verses. I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

I thought the Black Keys were way better tonight too. They're a band better suited to small clubs - enjoyable if you can see what they're doing, especially the drummer. But I still wish we got Deerhoof out east. Ah well.

SETLIST (via Atease)

The Gloaming / The National Anthem / 15 Step / Arpeggi / Kid A / Dollars And Cents / Videotape / Nude / I Might Be Wrong / Paranoid Android / Bangers 'n Mash / Pyramid Song / My Iron Lung / Bodysnatchers / Myxomatosis / No Surprises / Everything In Its Right Place

Encore I: Wolf At The Door / Down Is The New Up / Like Spinning Plates / Spooks / Idioteque
Encore II: Just / The Tourist

I'm slowly adjusting to the three-hour time difference between New York and California. The change in time zones has enabled me to wake up well-rested around 6 AM every day, just in time to watch the World Cup. So far, the first matches of the day have been the most exciting, in my opinion. The best match so far? Australia's three goal burst against Japan in the last 10 minutes is easily number one, followed by South Korea's comeback against Togo. I was rooting for Togo to pull one off for the African teams, but it's hard not to be won over by South Korea's passion for the game. Their fans owned the stadium and partied like it was 2002. Hey America, this is how it's done!

Then there's the second match of the day. I accomplish more in each day by 9 AM than France or Switzerland did in 90 minutes. The French haven't scored since the 20th century and were fortunate to survive the not so neutral Swiss side. A team with as much talent as Le Bleu shouldn't have so much trouble finding the back of the net. Thierry Henry led the Premiership in goals and '98 hero Zinedine Zidane is aging but still effective. This team should find scoring easy, but against the Swiss their attack lacked creativity and patience. Henry can't do it all by himself. He'll need better service and support if the French want any shot at beating the Koreans.

As for the Yanks, the less said the better. We stunk up the joint for sure. The vast difference in quality between the U.S. and the Czechs was a depressing reminder that we are still a long, long way from being a true world power. Or maybe it was just a bad day? We'll see against the Italians.

As I type now the first round of group play is nearly complete. Time is passing too fast! Will England find their form against T&T? Is Ronaldo too fat to lead Brazil to glory once again? Will the Americans prove everyone wrong and upset the Italians? So much drama. I love the World Cup.

Between all their New York City gigs and more, I've gotten well into the double digits with Radiohead shows over the years, but last night was my first time seeing them since October 2003 - a break notable not only for its length but also for how little I actually listened to them. I think the time off was good for all parties. When you see a band so much, you like to see their treatment of the songs evolve, and Radiohead have always been quite good at that. Last night was no exception - the older songs seemed slightly stripped down and less bombastic, the grooves a bit more tweaked out and taut. "You And Whose Army?" worked well as an opener but things started to really click for me during "2+2=5." "Kid A" sounds different every time I see it, and last night's version was the most faithful I've heard. I think I prefer the looser, dancier version they were doing in '03, but the song still kills live - an automatic highlight. The Kid A songs in general (esp. "Morning Bell") were the best of the old ones - they're a bit more malleable and the band takes advantage. "The Bends," "Fake Plastic Trees," and "I Might Be Wrong" were also excellent.

The new songs were the night's clear highlights for me, though - "15 Step," "Bangers N Mash," "Bodysnatchers," "Down is the New Up," and "House of Cards" in particular. This was my first time hearing the new stuff and it's great to see the band exploring some new directions, with dance music and R&B definitely exerting some influence. Being a bit more familiar with it now, I can't wait to hear the new material again tonight. I'm also hoping the setlist gets a little crazier - they mostly stuck to their live staples last night, and "Planet Telex" and "The Tourist" would be wonderful additions for round II. My seats were my biggest gripe about the show - off to the left, next to some talkers, and feeling far away - but I'll be up close in the GA tonight. Looking forward to it!

The Black Keys were good as openers, though I think their two-man setup is best for their louder material. The slow songs had trouble keeping the crowd's attention. I liked them though. (The California Radiohead crowds are lucky enough to have Deerhoof as openers.)

SETLIST (via Atease)

You and Whose Army? / The National Anthem / 2 + 2 = 5 / 15 Step / Morning Bell / Arpeggi / Videotape / Kid A / Fake Plastic Trees / Climbing Up The Walls / Nude / Bangers N Mash / Idioteque / There There / Street Spirit / Bodysnatchers / Lucky

ENCORE I: I Might Be Wrong / Down is the New Up / The Bends / Everything In Its Right Place
ENCORE II: House of Cards / How To Disappear Completely

I'm in Southern California this entire week for a long-awaited vacation. Yeah, vacation! Today I watched two World Cup games, went to the beach and ate some decent seafood. The weather is spectacular (wish you were here, natch), blue skies and wide horizons. Old man June gloom hasn't shown his face around here just yet.

Normally I look forward to cross country flights as a chance to spend dedicated time with my iPod. I dropped a bushel of new songs, along with choice old favorites onto the little player and prepared for some long interrupted listening. Then I remembered - I'm flying JetBlue early in the morning and the World Cup will be on. So instead of checking out Alex Smoke's Paradolia or Ghostface Killah's Fishscale, I sipped a Bloody Mary and watched the Netherlands defeat soon to be separated Serbia-Montenegro 1-0 on a screen the size of a CD case.

Having only seen one other complete match, the snooze-fest that was England vs Paraguay, I was relieved to see a well-played World Cup game. Goal scoerer Arjen Robben (who plays for FA Premier League champions Chelsea) owned this match for the Dutch, creating chances seemingly every time he touched the ball. I haven't been following the Dutch that closely lately and was unfamiliar with most of their team. Where's Edgar Davids or Clarence Seedorf? Is Dennis Bergkamp still retired from international play? Holland played well, but I am not yet convinced they will make up for missing the last World Cup.

JetBlue's TV package includes ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic, but not ABC so I missed the Mexico-Iran battle. With two hours of a five-hour flight remaining, it was music time. Thanks to Forced Exposure, I've been introduced to two excellent Latin collections: Senor Coconut and His Orchestra Play YMO and Panama! Latin, Calypso and Funk on the Isthmus, 1965-75. Both albums seemed appropriate given the international spirit of day. Then it was on to my first spin of Brightblack Morning Light's laconic debut record, which Rajeev has been pimping for good reason lately. The album's hazy, lackadaisical vibe was just right antidote for in-flight anxiety. Meanwhile in France, Rafeal Nadal was beating Roger Federer on NBC. Why does JetBlue have NBC, but not ABC?

Around 11 AM I was finally in San Diego and ready for seven days of football (you know, soccer), beaches, freeways and complimentary hotel breakfasts. Now if only the U.S. team would play better! More on that later. Now back to my vacation.

- Stylus's Turntable blog discusses potential summer anthems for 2006, with Camera Obscura, Yo La Tengo, the Concretes, and Jolie Holland among their candidates. Their winner? A song by LA's the Bedroom Walls. (Don't know 'em.) Hard to say what mine will end up being, but I'm going with "Jams Run Free" for now. Yeah, Sonic Youth isn't a summer anthem kind of band, but Rather Ripped is just that kind of an album. Paul and I got impatient of waiting for its 6/13 release date and just added it to our favorites for the year (on the right). I always expect the best from SY and they've delivered yet again.

- Cass McCombs has an October 2005 live show available for download on his site. This is sure to be part of my weekend listening.

- Chris Ott takes an interesting look at R.E.M. and what happens with bands that "don't let it go." An excerpt:

What kills all the bands that don't break up and don't let it go - and their fans too - is that they never close the loop. They never put childish ways behind, or at least they never lock the closet, playing with the same toys, the same songs we mowed lawns and made out and made up to. We all do this, we keep listening to the same songs, but when the bands are still playing them - older, fatter, slower - there's no vacuum for nostalgia to fill. You can never return to the place where you started and know it for the first time if you never leave, so the act of listening to R.E.M. when they're still around is tainted by what they are still trying to represent. You can't remember R.E.M. circa '83 or '87 or '92 because of R.E.M. 2006. You can't remember the band fondly, because they still exist: you can only remember the time period, and wonder, "What's with the eye makeup these days, Mike?"

As Ott points out, imagine how huge a 2006 R.E.M. reunion would be if they'd gone on hiatus after Automatic for the People (and before they started touring regularly again). They kept me interested through the front half of Reveal, though, so I'd need to be guaranteed a reunion show with lots of Reckoning and Document if I were to make that trade-off today.

- PAS/CAL will be playing the Mercury Lounge on June 22 with Asobi Seksu, and we hear Betty Marie Barnes (formerly of Saturday Looks Good To Me) will likely be joining them for their set. SLGTM's Fred Thomas is a top-notch songwriter but Barnes's vocals were an equally huge part of Every Night being one of my most-listened-to records last year, and her absence made SLGTM's SXSW set an unfortunate disappointment. Her voice has so much personality that I'm sure she'll be fun on stage, and perfect for PAS/CAL.

PAS/CAL's studio blog hasn't been updated in a while, so we can only hope that their upcoming full-length Citizen's Army Uniform is closer to completion. I'd call it the Chinese Democracy of indie rock but we do have a tracklisting and demos ("O Honey, We're Ridiculous" (MP3) and "The Glorious Ballad of the Ignored" (MP3)). Check out the always excellent "What Happened to the Sands" (MP3) for something finished. New material should be a big part of their set on the 22nd.

- In case you're wondering what the deal is with Escort, who play P.S. 1 with Rub-n-Tug in August, their site fills us in on some details. And yes, Escort is definitely a "they" - nine people strong, in fact, with their first single "Starlight" out this month. The 12" is streaming on their site and worth checking out for fans of Metro Area/Environ and disco goodness in general. Play Darshan Jesrani's Parks Department Dub twice because it's a keeper. Thanks to Banana Nutrament for the link.

- Need live music tonight? Head to Brooklyn. Parts and Labor are playing 98 Ingraham St. It will rock. They're on second and Oneida, Home, and Awesome Color are also on the bill. Todd P. has details. Can't make it? Get P+L's new album Stay Afraid instead, and be sure to turn it up. Try the triumphant "A Great Divide" (MP3) if you need convincing.

Is Jim Kerr really a poor man's Bono? This is a query I will not spend time answering here (although my response would be "it depends"). But in 1986, a year before my enduring love for U2 really took hold and pushed many others aside, Jim Kerr and Simple Minds were all I had. And I was happy.

In 1986 I was on the cusp of graduating from junior high school and was finally old enough for my first concert, secular rock band division. Simple Minds were on the road in the U.S. plugging away Once Upon a Time, their pop culture zenith.  I bought my first rock concert tickets at the Dillard's box office and counted down the days.

The concert was booked for the McKale center in Tucson, home to the University of Arizona basketball team. The building was not yet hallowed ground. The U of A had yet to reach the final four (that would happen in 1987), win a national championship (1997) or see its coach enshrined in the hall of fame (Lute Olson). McKale Center was just a 13-thousand seat arena, a little big for a concert like this in a town like Tucson.

In the years I lived in Tucson, I went to three arena rock shows. I pushed my way to front row for U2 at a sold out Convention Center (then called the Community Center) in 1987; cresting on the popularity of Green, R.E.M. could still barely fill the same joint in 1989; and of course Simple Minds, who also played to a vast number of empty seats. Dwarfed by its conspicuous neighbor to the north, Tucson was not a destination for most big tours. Seeing arena concerts usually meant making the 90-minute drive to Phoenix.

After a short, invigorating opening set by The Call (anyone remember them?), the house lights dimmed and a thumbing bass line shuddered out from the huge overhead PA. Simple Minds filed out to "Waterfront", the opening track on Sparkle In the Rain. "Come in / Come out of rain", Jim Kerr crooned. The song's call to action, to "move on up to the front", seemed written specifically for such moments. The crowd responded, but not with complete abandon. We were waiting for the hits.

There were two songs everyone wanted to hear. When vocalist Robin Cook vamped onto the stage mid-way through the set and the familiar opening notes of "Alive and Kicking" swelled in spine-tingling fashion, the audience lost all reserve. Now this was a rock show! Elation turned to euphoria when Jim Kerr began to chant "hey hey hey hey", as the band went in to its signature song "(Don't You) Forget About Me".

This show was the apex of my Simple Minds fandom. I kept up with them through two mediocre releases, Street Fighting Years (1989) and Real Life (1991), but only with flagging interest. I actually saw them live one more time, in a theatre in Denver in 1991. Jim Kerr seemed to be doing a "Bono in the Desert" impersonation that night, striking poses and karate kicking the air to empty effect. But they were still Simple Minds, playing songs that today still resound for me. It's hard to give up on a first love.

Listen to "Ghost Dancing (live)" (MP3)

Her Jazz is where Philadelphia's Maria Tessa Sciarrino touches base with us before organizing her next show with Sara Sherr as Plain Parade, or rushing off to host her weekly radio show on WPRB, or presenting at this year's EMP Conference with her paper entitled "Lost In Translation: Musical Selection In Figure Skating." In addition to all this, she still finds time to freelance as a photographer and graphic artist (everything from photos appearing in Arthur and at Pitchfork to sites, posters and cd packaging for various clients including one of Rajeev's favorite albums this year—Delta 5's Singles & Sessions 1979 - 1981). I'm sure she sleeps too, but that remains an uncomfirmed rumor.

It's a simple set-up. Maria was sent six untagged, generically named, mp3s and instructed to simply write a few sentences after listening to each one. Whether she recognized any of the songs or not, I wanted her to comment honestly and succinctly on three current songs and also on three songs from the past. What you see below are Maria's responses, as well as mp3s of the three older songs for you, the reader.

Nelly Furtado, "Maneater" (from the forthcoming album Loose)

Oy, wouldja challenge me? I downloaded this track off you [Paul] months back and have been hooked on the hooky hookiness ever since. That said, I know this is going to become an anthem for the overly bronzed fit bodies in meathead bars across this country soon enough, but in the meantime, this hunka hunk of burning love is mine all mine, from the garbage can stomp of the backbeat to the Hall & Oates rip of the chorus. Truth be told, I don't just dance to it—I spontaneously vamp.

Chris Isaak, "I Want You To Want Me" (new recording from The Best of Chris Isaak)

Alright, so when I first heard this, I was all, "Man, what crap emo band is covering this?" 'cause the rhythm was way too fast and the guitars too chug-chug-chug. But then, the croony vocals lead me to believe that if Pete Wentz ever found himself in a backwater locale with the singer, he'd have the crap kicked out of him, so there goes the idea that some eighth-rate mallrat was behind this. I'm feeling alright with the red state boogie that kicks in mid-song, yet mildly disappointed with the whimpering coda—you'd think they'd make it so bootstompingly bombastic the cows would come home.

The Pipettes, "Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me" (from the new album We Are The Pipettes)

As much fun as this is on a musical level (girl-groupy, good harmonies, kooky guitar stylings), the content drives me nuts. Shit like this perpetuates the whole "women in rock" cliché. Feminists, we're calling you: Can women, as a collective whole, please find new ways to write about relationships? And when I mean "relationships", what I'm really trying to say is "please stop talking about boys." There's other people out there. It's a big world. Take a cue from Mary Timony's Ex Hex, a record full of stories about backstabbing, shitty friends, pirates, weirdo Christian metaphors and more. I don't necessarily get it, but whatever it's doing keeps it on my stereo.

Holly & The Italians, "Tell That Girl To Shut Up" (MP3)

Holly Vincent penned one of the cattiest, bitchiest songs ever right here—one of the sharpest, snarkiest jewels in the crown of O.G. New Wave, predating the stream-of-consciousness critique upon which Art Brut built their fame. Song #3 needs to stop sleeping in class and take some fucking notes! I bet Holly's writing a song about how much Band #3 sucks and it will be eight billion times funnier and better.

Clock DVA, "4 Hours" (MP3)

This guy needs to stop mumbling. I'm having serious trouble hearing him. It's like he's ashamed of his band or something. They're not horrible. In a way, this sounds like an early Cars demo. No, no, trust me. Imagine the drumming tightened up, replace the recorder with a "hot-shit-in-1983" keyboard. Give the singer some of those drugs that will turn him into a cocky bastard and make him sing these lyrics again. This song is missing a spine in its current state.

Craig Armstrong (featuring Evan Dando), "Wake Up In New York" (MP3)

This song is pretty, quiet and folky. Its what guys write when they've taken a poetry writing class for the first time and experience "feelings", usually about girls. I bet this guy gets laid a lot, because girls find this song pretty, quiet and folky. I bet this guy has a beard. Beards are the soul patches of the new millennium. I want to punch this dude in the dick.

Once I worked past my resistance towards Brian Eno's early vocal records, which really boiled down to a fear of prog rock, I've been hooked like Christopha on cheap crack rock. Listening every day to at least one Eno album every day hooked. I love hyperbole and this is not. These four records, Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), Another Green World and Before and After Science are weaving themselves into my listening life. I can't imagine how I ever got along without them.

Since this began a few months ago, I've struggled with a way to communicate my Eno dependency in this forum. Favorite Eno album? Too hard to say. Favorite Eno track - even a top 10 would be difficult. I'm not schooled enough to offer a 101-type overview of Eno's output, especially when sites like this one do such a fine job. So I decided to list ten of my favorite Eno "moments", the sounds, solos, or entire tracks that have driven me towards obsession.

I've made one Eno mix CD for a friend and I wait the results of my evangelical efforts. Hopefully I will soon have a Utah compound's worth of fellow devotees ready to sell their possessions and move to wherever it is that Mr. Eno lives.

So now for my picks. One note, I'm sticking just with Eno's vocal songs on the aforementioned four records. There are many beautiful instrumental tracks on Eno's ambient records that necessitate a follow-up at some point.

In order of album release:

1. "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch": 1:51 - end. Barbed wire guitars wrap around Eno's biting vocals. "Send for an ambulance / or an investigator," he snarls. The sirens wail, but just as help arrives, the track transitions into the next pick, "Baby's on Fire". ("The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch" can be found on Here Come the Warm Jets).

2. "Baby's on Fire": 1:25 - 4:25. A song of impending doom, with a fire literally ignited by Paul Rudolph and Robert Fripp's blistering 3-minute guitar soloing. Also memorable for Eno's nonsensical lyrics like "Juanita and Juan / Very clever with Maracas / making fortunes selling second hand tobaccos". Read the All Music track review. (From Here Come the Warm Jets)

3. "Some of Them Are Old": 2:57 - end. A beautiful choral ending to this peaceful track, which deftly transitions into the title track of this magnificent album. (From Here Come the Warm Jets)

4. "Here Come the Warm Jets": entire track. Ah, the Warm Jets themselves. Eno named the track and album after the sound he described as "like a tuned jet." Behind the engines, drums slowly roll in, growing louder and louder in the mix as the track arrives then fades into a hazy distance. Read All Music's review of this track. (From Here Come the Warm Jets)

5. "Mother Whale Eyeless": 1:55 - 3:00. Another choral highlight, this one featuring female vocalists singing over a repeating guitar frame. This hypnotic bridge enlivens the song's already psychedelic, absurd atmosphere. Bonus trivia: That's Phil Collins on drums. (From Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy)).

6. "Third Uncle": entire track. Scratching, clawing guitars threaten to explode this frenetic, exhausting song into a thousand foreboding pieces. Listen to Bauhaus perform a roaring cover of "Third Uncle" (MP3). (From Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy))

7. "The True Wheel": 2:15 - end. Another simple, mesmerizing guitar break, kicked off by Eno's near squeal, "Here we go!". The echoing guitar frame shifts to another gear of intensity around the 3:15 mark, bringing the song to a cacophonous peak. (From Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy))

8. "I'll Come Running": entire track. So many interesting layers on this one. The whimsical piano figure in the introduction, the castanets, Eno's multi-tracked vocals on the chorus and another memorable guitar break from Fripp. Read All Music's take. (From Another Green World)

9. "King's Lead Hat": 3:16 - end. This one rattles along fiercely until a bizarre, otherworldly synthesizer or guitar bubbles up and carries the track towards the atmosphere at the end. (From Before and After Science)

10. "Here He Comes": entire track. This meditative song is perhaps my favorite by Eno. "Here He Comes" is a beautiful blending of synthesizer, fragile acoustic piano and for a change, a bass solo that gently weeps where guitars usually howl. (From Before and After Science)

Listen to these "10 Favorite Brian Eno Moments" (41:10 minutes, MP3) and join the cult!

I've been saying Asobi Seksu are better live than on album for about as long as I've listened to them. Citrus is a wonderful record because it does a great job of capturing their live show, but their Joe's Pub gig last night made it clear that this band still needs to be seen to be truly appreciated. (And, for a local band, I feel they are totally underappreciated.)

It's amazing to see how much force Asobi add to every song whereever possible. James Hanna coaxes a tremendous volume of dense sound out of his guitar, creating all sorts of textures and overtones that bleed off the edges of the melodies and contrast nicely with the rest of the band, who roar through the songs with precision. The band embraces dissonance but they use it strategically, and at moments like the end of "New Years" or middle of "Pink Cloud Tracing Paper," it can be overwhelming in the best of ways. "Thursday," "Strings," and "Red Sea" are my favorite songs on Citrus and were my favorite songs last night. "Red Sea" segued into a cover of the Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me," an old Phil Spector tune that ended the night on a nice note. Asobi Seksu will be playing NYC again on June 22 at the Mercury Lounge, and PAS/CAL will also be on the bill. You should be there!

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In other, equally exciting, news - P.S. 1 has released the schedule for Warm Up 2006! These parties happen every Saturday from July 1 to Septmber 2 at P.S. 1 in Queens from 3 PM to 9 PM, and they never fail to be a blast. My only complaint is that the courtyard can get too crowded, and I suspect this year will be as packed as ever as they've done a stellar job with the booking - the 2006 schedule is the best I can remember. Who does the booking for this, and can they open a year-round club? Please?

July 8, July 15, July 22, July 29, August 26, and September 2 especially stand out to me, but you can't go wrong with any of the dates. Here's who's playing:

July 1: Danny Krivit, Francois K, Joe Claussell (Body & Soul Ten Year Reunion)
July 8: The Idjut Boys, Phil South
July 15: Todd Terje, Kudu (live), Citizen Kane
July 22: A Guy Called Gerald (live), San Serac (live), Derek Plaslaiko
July 29: The Juan Maclean (live), Adam X (live), Jeffrey Sfire
August 5: Agnes B. Presents...
August 12: Rub-n-Tug, Escort (live)
August 19: Mathew Johnson (live), Beppe Loda, Lee Douglas, Jeremy Campbell
August 26: The Glimmers + a special guest
September 2: Carl Craig, Gamal Awad, special guest

It should be a fun summer!

Is there anything quite like summer breaks from grade school? 90 epic days, weightless and free. For me the summer recess of 1985 was life changing. I left 7th grade blissfully unaware of so much that would soon dominate my life. Three months passed and by August and the start of 8th grade, I was a new person.

Music began to exert an even greater influence on me in 1985. My tastes continued to mimic those of my older brother. Through him I learned of two groups that would form the bedrock of my musical ideals: U2 and Simple Minds. I borrowed copies of Under a Blood Red Sky, Sparkle in the Rain, and New Gold Dream 81, 82, 83, 84. For my 13th birthday I was given The Unforgettable Fire and Wide Awake in America, on cassette and Simple Minds' Once Upon a Time on vinyl. The soundtrack to my summer was set.

The watershed of this momentous summer came in the most unusual of places: church camp in California. The seven day trip into the San Bernardino Mountains began with the holy pursuit of girls, glorious California girls. If you've ever been to a church camp, you know how it usually ends - the campground religious conversion.

While reigniting my faith, camp did wonders for my social life.  I watched as one by one the girls from our Arizona group were picked off by California guys festooned in styles never seen in rustic Arizona: Kung Fu Karate slippers, rolled up pant cuffs, popped collars on Polo shirts. The code to meeting girls had been cracked. Fashion was the unlikely answer.

Camp was an awakening. Girls mattered now. They had mattered before, but they really mattered now. And style was important. I had to actually buy trendy clothing to attract women.  8th grade started and I came dressed to impress. Black and white checkered shirt, black pants, cuffs folded and rolled to above the ankles. And it worked. I actually met a girl. Thank you California!

Where does a-ha fit into this? In 1985 there was the ubiquitous "Take on Me" video. For most people their knowledge of a-ha never went further than this song. But my friend Steve had the album, Hunting High and Low, and one weekend in 8th grade I stayed over at his house. Over and over we played that tape while sharing the phone for calls to our girlfriends. A-ha played in the background through it all. The weekend ended and I went out and bought the tape for myself.

A-ha may be known as one hit wonders with an amusing animated video, but they harmonized perfectly with my life then. They could be dismissed as a flimsy version of 80's synth-pop, but a-ha's music on Hunting High and Low is expressive and abounding with emotion. Much of this can be  credited to Morten Harket's dramatic singing. His wide range and "touching vocal delivery" (All Music) added depth to Pal Waaktaar's nuanced songwriting. The album is flush with romantic details, such as the haunting oboes that flutter through "Living a Boy's Adventure Tale" or the mighty orchestral attack on "The Sun Always Shines on TV".

The long phone calls, the secret meetings. In so many ways, I was living a boy's adventure tale. A-ha was my accompaniment through it all. My feelings for the girl may have just been a crush, but my love for a-ha has endured to this day.

Listen to a-ha - "Train of Thought (Extended Version)" (MP3).