2 posts tagged “swimming”

Such a nice night for mid-November at the 400 Bar. Athletes in Slacks (myspace) warmed up the crowd with their laidback loungey harmonizing sound that only two keyboarders and a guitarist can produce. The band claims all their songs are about love, except later on their hour-long set, they introduced a song about hating two guys from New York. They did finish strong with a cover of INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart", and that's what really matter.

The first time I heard about Swedish band Little Dragon, was in January. Ceji was really into them. Since we generally like Swedish bands here, I did try and keep up with their whereabouts. As it turns out, they're in the middle of their tour through the US to promote their sophomore album, Machine Dreams. Although the band's been here already, they confessed last night that this was their first time in Minneapolis.

They didn't do Ceji's favorite "Recommendation" song, but I though hands-down their best song played was "After The Rain", complete with an amazing ending.

From what I heard from their live set, their new songs seems to drifts from the R&B and Jazz influence to more electro and beats. I think the combination works well for them, especially since I like their big beats/electronica sound.

Little Dragon

So one thing I should point out is that singer Yukimi Nagano's dance moves looks very martial and yoga-like. She's often doing this tough smirk and her fists in boxing stance. It's as if she's saying, "bring it on". The way she dances and handles herself, she seems like she was born to be an entertainer.

I've been to a lot of shows lately, and I can tell you that this was one of the best shows yet. They're heading their way to the East Coast, so definitely check them out. If they're not heading through your city, you should check out Machine Dreams, out now on Peacefrog Records.

Gretchen Phillips wants you to know that she's a Lesbian singer/songwriter - it's written all over her latest album, I Was Just Comforting Her. I'm not familiar with her previous work, but based on hearing this album, I can tell you that she's very funny and clever. There's clear evidence of her lesbianism on the album, but it's not riot militant. It's also not preachy (Save the world! Save the cows!)... Instead it focuses on humor and desire and love.

I did end up reading her biography, about the various bands (punk Meat Joy to country/folk Two Nice Girls) and what an extraordinary life she's lead up to this album, and all those years of performing on stage contributed to her confidence in her songs. In fact, from my understanding, this is her most accessible, most poppiest, album ever.

You know, after listening to her spoken dialogue at the end of "Swimming", I thought she was clearly an actress. Just listen to that vulnerable, awkward, anxious, scared voice. You can just hear it. I was squinting my eyes out of embarrassment for her! It's quite an entertaining way of ending that Rated-R song.

The song is 'drench' in sex, and it's the first time I've ever heard a pop song with the words "public hair" in it (to rhyme with "freak and stare").

The funniest song on here is "Peola", about a cat that doesn't love her master. Although if you read too much into it, it could be about a hard-to-get lover, but I'm pretty sure this is about her cat. I think even the cover art is a portrait of Peola by Phillips. Well I felt so inspired about this song about her cat not wanting to sleep with her - that I made this drawing my own experience with my cat in bed.

The main single and video for the album is the song "Red State/Blue State". Although the title is political-sounding, the song is not about politics, it seems to be about hope ("I could believe that this world is going straight to hell, but I'd rather believe that kindess will prevail.")

Although a great song as a lead song, I prefer the most poppiest song on the album, "To The Lady C". I just love the melodies and her voice on this song. It's just full of love and happiness.... unlike the very serious song about alcoholism on "Your Drinking".

So, it's been over five years since her last co-album Togetherness, with Dave Driver, so fans of her work should definitely want to pick up I Was Just Comforting Her (which was just released today - on February 4^th). You can find it on Amazon and, of course, iTunes. See her on tour if you can make it to any of those dates, I'm sure it would be quite an entertaining time.