What We're Listening To - 10/7

Oh hai! Is it Tuesday afternoon again already? Well, that must mean it's time for What We're Listening To, TNG's weekly rundown of the music we love. Now before we start, I just have to quickly mention the Jenny Lewis show at the Synagogue last Thursday, which was... well, there really are no words to describe how amazing it was. One of my top favorite shows ever! Such grace! Such power! Such beauty! Such an incredible voice singing such incredible words! So many hot dudes in the band! Needless to say, I am in love. I mention all of this, because I didn't write about her new album, Acid Tongue, again this week. Mostly, because I'm sure I'll go on at length when we talk about our favorite albums of the year. It's just that after hearing it all live, I really, really just want to go on the record again encouraging everyone to check it out. It just makes life so much better. Buy it! Download it! Savor it! (But ignore the Elvis Costello duet. Nobody's perfect...)

Now then, thank you for your indulgence. On to this week's WWLT! On the menu this week, we've got: Fun Fun, Frida Hyvonen, Sia, A.R. Kane, Of Montreal, and The Staple Singers. It all awaits you below the fold...



Fun Fun—Color My Love: The Best of Fun Fun

I admit that I didn’t have high hopes for this CD. I had heard Fun Fun’s mega-catchy “Baila Bolero,” but assumed that their “greatest hits” would be that one song and a bunch of filler. And this is the consummate “dance music by numbers” band: hire two pretty blond Italian girls who can (rather robotically but harmoniously) sing cheerful and unchallenging lyrics about love and dancing, provide them with the blandest possible band name and a Hi-NRG Italo-disco beat, and stir. By what alchemical magic, then, is this album so…well…fun? Hell knows, but uptempo numbers like “Color My Love,” “Living in Japan,” “Sing Another Song,” and “Give Up Your Fight” rival “Baila Bolero” for sheer chirpy joy. Shut off your brain, turn up the speakers, and dance in your underwear: Fun Fun is on the loose. - Philip

Frida Hyvonen—Silence Is Wild (Nov. 4)

What's wrong with me? Why can't I feature any American bands? Following Lykke Li, The Caesars and Shugo Tokumaru, I've gone and done it again with yet another Swede (not to imply that Tokumaru was Swedish, of course.) Frida Hyvonen makes songs that sound like Kate Bush, but without the gothic laughability. Instead of making you want to run from room to room in a flowing white dress, this collection is better for getting dressed to go to work in the morning after whoever you were sleeping with has left. And with the season changing, that's exactly the kind of record I've been looking for. - Zack

Sia—Some People Have Real Problems

Last May, I e-stumbled across the Four Tet remix of Sia's "Breathe" and it became the sad-tune that kicked, punched, and dragged my sorry self to school for the last four weeks of the school year. Starting each day on such a sad note did nothing for the state of my soul, and neither did Sia's latest album Some People Have Real Problems which gave me a lot more musical fodder to wallow the rest of my days in. Backed by a snare and some soul, songs like "Little Black Sandals," "Day Too Soon" and "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine" make you pity the Australian blonde for whatever relationship inspired those lyrics. Even though this album could be a dangerous listen if you're overwhelmed by life or just plain sad, I like it because it conveys the same raw sad sounds that have made ladies like Joni Mitchell and Amy Whinehouse so popular. Out of whatever black hole I had fallen into last May, listening to this album as a happy person somehow makes me even happier, and I recommend it to all emotionally stable people. - Stephanie

A.R. Kane—69

Back in '88, two Afro-Brits melded jazz, ambient, dub reggae and noise pop into a unique, dreamy sound. Drowsy, deep male vocals echo in a shimmery haze of distorted guitars and skittering rhythms. The lyrics, somewhat obscured, hint at drug trips and perverse sexuality. Ocean imagery abounds—in the deep, dubby bass, and in song titles like 'Sperm Whale Trip Over' and 'The Sun Falls Into The Sea.' A.R. Kane has been compared to fusion jazz, My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins. But the music on 69 is impossible to describe—it exists in it's own universe. - Craig

Of Montreal—Skeletal Lamping (Oct. 21)

So, you remember a few weeks ago when I submitted Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? for your WWLT consideration? Remember how I said it was like "side two of the Beatles' Abbey Road covered by the Scissor Sisters in the style of Queen, with hints of Prince, Beck and Bowie?" Well, I was wrong. I was mistaken. It turns out I was confusing Of Montreal's last album with their upcoming one: Skeletal Lamping. Sadly, it's not available until October 21 (TNG got a promo version from their publicist a few weeks ago), but you can get a preview of this sex-infused, gender-bending master-work at the 9:30 club this Thursday if you were lucky enough to buy tickets before they sold out. You can also hear the new album's brilliant opening track "Nonpariel of Favor" on their myspace page. - Michael

The Staple Singers—The Best of The Staple Singers

Once again, I'm in the mood to take it back to the old school. I suppose The Staple Singers are best known for their mega-classic "I'll Take You There." Great song, but last week, I was on the bus and "If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)" randomly came on my iPod. At that moment, something about it struck me so hard on such a deep level that I ended up listening to it like 50 times in a row. I think with everything around us getting so shitty so fast - Great Depression 2: Electric Boogaloo, the subterranean level of our current political discourse, the increase in violent attacks against the LGBT community here in DC, etc. - hearing someone singing with so much passion and soul about their faith in basic human decency and their hope for a better future really resonated with me. I mean a new world with "no economical exploitation" and "no political domination"? A world where "no hatred will be tolerated"? Where do I sign up? Plus, it's just so goddamn funky, I can't even deal. So if you need a respite from all the bad news or your friend's incessant Sarah Palin impression, I definitely recommend sticking some speakers out your window and turning this album up as loud as you can. In fact, I'd consider it a community service. (Also, if you haven't already, rent The Last Waltz and check out their duet with The Band on "The Weight." It's just good for the soul...) - Rocky