What We're Listening To - 10/22

Hey, kids! I am currently writing this from my lovely suite at the Airport Quality Inn in Greensboro, NC where I am staying while I attend the 2008 High Point Furniture Market for work. Try to contain your jealousy. As I'm sure you can imagine, my week has been all about running around looking at the latest in bureaus and dressers and buffets and things, so this is the first opportunity I've had to sit down and put this all together. My apologies. However, while What We're Listening To, our weekly rundown of the music we're loving this week, may be coming to you a day late, we are definitely not a dollar short. On the menu this week we've got: Heloise & The Savoir Faire, Amanda Palmer, Arthur Russell, Steely Dan, A.C. Newman and Beyonce. It all awaits you below the fold...


Heloise & The Savoir Faire—Trash, Rats and Microphones

One thing Summer Camp loves to do is D-A-N-C-E! And currently I'm ASS-LESS, because Heloise & The Savoir Faire's Trash, Rats, and Microphones is on perma-loop on my ipod. The album is packed with a baker's dozen of yummy electro-pop treats. When I saw them perform their white-hot track "Odyle" on last season's Graham Norton Show, I was enthralled and wet! Sexy and tasty Heloise Williams is a super-inspiring performer with impeccable taste in gesture, clothing, and presence a la stage! The whole album is worth buying, but stand out tracks are "Odyle," "Member's Only," "Datsun 280z," and "Illusions." The fact that "Odyle" is the theme song for the insanely self-indulgent and self-promotional Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo just makes me love H & TSF even more. I'm a sucker for any band that sings the lyrics: "Giorgio, Jordache, Gitano, Esprit!" - Summer Camp

Amanda Palmer—Who Killed Amanda Palmer

The last really great concert I went to was the Dresden Dolls' show at the Sixth and I Synagogue earlier this year. So I was really looking forward to the singer/pianist/songwriter's solo debut. Who Killed Amanda Palmer does not disappoint. Her trademark pounding keyboards and hoarse, honey and whiskey vocals remain the same, while she augments the basic Dolls sound with orchestration. The songs are less Wiemar Republic cabaret and have a more pop (filtered through punk) feel. But, best of all are Palmer's brilliant lyrics. She captures the zeitgeist and modern day neurosis like few troubadours, and I really dig the twisted sense of humor that runs through her work. But she can also make you cry, even as you're laughing. Move over, Aimee Mann. Here you'll find songs about Britpop obsession ("Oasis"), dead deer ("Have to Drive"), and Seasonal Affective Disorder ("Runs in the Family"). Check out the extensive companion website for videos and illustrated lyrics. - Craig

Arthur Russell—Another Thought

With its more obvious dance music textures, Arthur Russell’s posthumous Calling Out of Context is the most accessible album of his music, but 2006’s Another Thought is so emotionally rewarding that the re-listenings needed to fully appreciate it are worth the extra effort. The hopeful love song “A Little Lost” and the oddly inspirational “This is How We Walk on the Moon” are my favorite tracks, but it is on “Losing My Taste for the Night Life” that everything Russell is about comes together fully. The strangely romantic lyrics; the prominent, echoing cello; and the slight mumble of his voice breaking over the cello as the song goes on are all classic Arthur Russell. This is an album to slow down and listen to without distractions. - Philip

Steely Dan—A Decade of Steely Dan

After last week's sojourn into Mercury Rev Ive been revisiting some of the albums that made me happy in high school. I don't like to admit it in mixed company, but the slick twosome of Steely Dan has been a consistent most-played artist of mine since I was 16. It's true that when they're bad they abominable. Stinkers aside, though, this album has a lot of great songs that people would probably like if they dropped all their petty Dan-ist attitudes and actually just listened to them. - Zack

AC Newman—The Slow Wonder

I used to think that The New Pornographers's music was better than the sum of its three primary members. TNP's music is just about perfect power-pop with tinges of madness and country twang, but taken on their own, the individual members' solo projects seem a bit lacking. Neko Case can get a touch too country. Dan Bajar with his band Destroyer gets just a little too rambling-weird. And AC Newman, well, he's just too... You know, I had never actually listened to his solo stuff. Until recently. And it's great. The Slow Wonder, AC's most recent solo album, is just like TNP minus the twang and the completely non-nonsensical lyrics normally provided by Neko and Dan. Fans of the New Pornographers or the Beatles should definitely check it out. - Michael

Beyonce—"Single Ladies"

For the past week, I've been two of the worst things a person can be: incredibly busy and incredibly sick. Like all I want to do is curl up under the covers and cough up a lung, but there are things people are counting on me to get done, so I can't and it sucks. So what soothes the ailing body and the tortured psyche at times like these? Pop music, of course. And, boy howdy, did Beyonce release a doozy this week! Before you proceed, watch this. (No really, watch it.) Amazing, right? Simple song, simple message, simple video, but it knocks you on your ass, because it's all delivered with so much... Power? Force? Chutzpah? Sexual magic? God, every word seems too weak to describe it. Anyway, what I love most is that you can tell in her eyes and her voice that she's an artist in complete control of what she's doing. Like she knows she's a force of nature and, while it's unfortunate that occasionally nature has to knock down a few trees or wipe a city or two off the map to get her point across, sometimes that just has to happen, you know? Totally a modern-day Tina Turner. Love it! Plus, once I get back on my feet, my inner Old Gay plans on learning every single step of that choreography by Halloween. Who's with me? - Rocky