Jonk Music

Jay Reatard

2009-11-25T00:00:00.000-06:00

"It Ain't Gonna Save Me"
from the album Watch Me Fall
2009
iTunes

As far as persona goes, this middle-school dropout from Memphis is as misanthropic and explosive as Iggy at his peak. But, as negative, bellicose, piss-drinking fuckups go, he certainly does work hard. Since the 1990s, he's issued a steady stream of music under a confusing array of auspices, including the Reatards, Lost Sounds, and Terror Visions. His 2007 solo album Blood Visions staked his considerable claim to the punk tradition that sounds like melodic, smart-assed '60s garage-rock LPs spun at 45 RPM. Toot sweet, he signed with Matador and released two collections of singles. Now, we've got Watch Me Fall, a cleaner, more complex record, to be sure.

While his earlier work was compared to the Ramones, Husker Du, and an avalanche, Watch Me Fall does not sound as though it's at risk of falling apart. On "It Ain't Gonna Save Me," "Hang Them All," and "Can't Do It Anymore," he's as fast, strident and bratty as ever. And yet, all of these, and much moreso the rest of the album, isn't as noisy as before. It's all clearly identifiable as pop. More than any other obvious spirit-of-'77 touchstone, Watch Me Fall recalls the Buzzcocks. The sneering cynicism never overrides the barely diffused melodic discipline. Brains trump brawn. Reatard doesn't need to shout anymore.

Not coincidentally, Watch Me Fall exposes a much broader emotional range than his previous records. "I'm Watching You," "My Reality," and "There is No Sun" are as tuneful and poignant as the Byrds. He can still talk a grip of shit, but even "Rotten Mind," in which the self-loathing and paranoia are as plain as a bad hangover, is delivered with the dignity and efficiency of a Big Star audition. Call it "poisoned bubblegum."

The relative, uh, "maturity" of Watch Me Fall makes it less immediately striking than previous Reatardation, and it may be less enduring for it. It's certainly tidy enough to turn off more than one regular Dusted reader, I'd guess. And, for better or worse, his mucho-affected glam vocals are as cartoonish as ever and significantly higher in the mix. But, for punks, edgy power-pop seems as though it's one of the few long-term routes that isn't a dead-end.

~ Emerson Dameron, Dusted

Neko Case

2009-11-24T00:00:00.001-06:00

"Magpie to the Morning"
from the album Middle Cyclone
2009
iTunes

Neko Case has journeyed some distance since her first solo work a dozen years ago, growing from a tenderly tough alt-country songstress into the visionary and poetic pop auteur of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Middle Cyclone picks up the trail blazed by that previous album, taking it down darker roads and into deeper thickets, keeping the baroque dream-pop imagination while moving away from the succinct songcraft of earlier efforts.

The songs here have engaging, melodic hooks to spare. But they are often strung together in tumbling sequences that push against the limits of expected form. It's an approach that makes sense, though, as Case's lyrics this time out are at once more descriptive and dense with imagery and more disconnected in narrative flow than they've been before. That said, there is often a cinematic gestalt to the way words and sounds work together to create mood and vivid atmosphere. ("Prison Girls," for instance, with its spy guitar and minor-key tropes, is a noir movie in and of itself.)

All of this is well-served by the carefully-wrought, textured arrangements and production, not to mention the contributions of the backing musicians: the layered chime of Paul Rigby's guitars; Barry Mirochnick's spacious and orchestral drumming; Joey Burns' dark and plaintive cello and bass bowings, to name just a few of many crucial tints and shades. The compelling backup vocals from Case, Rachel Flotard and Kelly Hogan add resonant internal echoes to the main story and melody lines, combining madrigal elegance and Shangri-Las cool.

Above it all, of course, is Case's voice. She's singing more intimately and with more dynamic range and emotional transparency than ever before. This can be heard to great effect on "Magpie to the Morning," where she takes on an innocent-yet-knowing persona to spin a dark fairy tale that's clothed in a melody and arrangement dreamily reminiscent of 1960s Nancy Sinatra's collaborations with Lee Hazlewood. And the intimate and disarming way Case delivers her lines on "Middle Cyclone" — "Can't give up acting tough / It's all that I'm made of" — might hit the listener like Dylan's corkscrew to the heart. Even when the musical mood threatens to lighten and lift a bit — as on the jangly, but ferocious "People Got a Lotta Nerve," or vintage power pop covers of Sparks' "Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth" and Nilsson's "Don't Forget Me" — this remains a record that conveys the shadows of dark deeds and desperate loves, that chronicles heartbreak, loneliness and vengeful acts of roadside violence.

~ Kevin Macneil Brown, Dusted

Tape Deck Mountain

2009-11-23T00:00:00.001-06:00

"In the Dirt"
from the album Ghost
2009
iTunes

On their debut album, Ghost, San Diego's Tape Deck Mountain (the trio originally released everything on cassette tapes) sound like they're striving for sonic immortality. Many of the seven proper songs (not counting two interludes) sound like tributes to heaven: soaring music that could be the background for a ritual sacrifice. "Ghost Colony" mixes the sludge rock of Kyuss with the bombastic guitar solos of Explosions in the Sky (though not the latter's song length), while "80/20" is all glorious creepiness, hearkening back to Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie, albeit with hollower vocals. Guitarist/vocalist Travis Trevisan has the messianic vocal style down perfectly — think Thom Yorke, Jason Pierce, et al. — as each line sounds more beckoning incantation than mere utterance. Cryptically funny lyrics, though, keep the album from falling under the weight of its own ambition, as on "In the Dirt," when Trevisan sings, "Please don't marry that asshole Larry, I know he'll move the place you're buried — next to me, in the dirt." Elsewhere, "Scantrons" discuss those annoying fill-in-the-bubble multiple choice tests from high school over a slow, galloping beat. Bizarrely beautiful.

~ Jason Newman, LimeWire

Vampire Weekend

2009-11-22T14:00:00.000-06:00

WEEKEND VIDEO

"Cousins"
Contra
2010
iTunes

Last month, Vampire Weekend gave fans new tune "Horchata" gratis. Last week, they released their official first single from Contra (due January 12), the frenetic, bouncy "Cousins." VW's Rostam Batmanglij and Chris Baio recently sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss the genesis of the song and its live debut south of the border.

"'Cousins' is a song that we recorded in Mexico City. It's got probably the most demanding bass part Chris [Baio] has wrote for himself, and probably the most demanding drum part Chris Tomson ever did for himself," Batmanglij says. "So it's a demanding song." Whereas "Horchata" was a laidback slice of California pop, the "Cousins" groove kicks off fast and the energy never stops with rapid fire drums and frenzied guitars.

After conceiving the song, Vampire Weekend quickly introduced the track to their fans. "When we were in Mexico, we were working on the song, maybe it was like a Tuesday or Wednesday and that Friday we played it in Guadalajara," Baio told RS. "So it was sort of like 'Okay, we've been chipping away at this, now we get to share it.'"

As for whether the audience embraced "Cousins" after its live debut, Batmanglij said, "I put myself in the audience's shoes, like when I go to see a band that I love and I hear them play a new song for the first time, there’s always an element of it's never going to hit you the way the ones you've heard so many times before have. But I look at it as just kind of a gift, so you try to savor it."

~ Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone

Pixies

2009-11-21T00:00:00.006-06:00

WEEKEND VIDEO / TONIGHT IN CHICAGO!

"Gouge Away"
Doolittle
1989
iTunes

July 13, 1989:
Being picked up by a major label apparently hasn't brought any peace to Pixies singer-songwriter Black Francis. The same nightmares that inhabited the band's two brilliant independent LPs, Come on Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa, are in evidence again on Doolittle. That's disturbing for Black Francis but great for the rest of us. A quick look at the song titles — "Debaser," "Gouge Away," "Wave of Mutilation," "Dead," "I Bleed" — is all it takes to realize that Doolittle is going to be another frightening, compelling whirlwind from this Boston quartet.

Which isn't to say that Doolittle is Surfer Rosa remade. Rosa was a guitar-saturated frenzy. On Doolittle, producer Gil Norton showcases the Pixies at their most diverse — distilling the band's sound and relying heavily on the strong rhythm section of bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering. The pace of the songs ranges from the breakneck speed of "Crackity Jones" to the more relaxed, melodic pop of "Here Comes Your Man." Even the imagery is diverse. On "Hey," Francis sings, "Must be a devil between us / Or whores in my head," while on "La La Love You," Lovering takes over vocal duty, tongue firmly in cheek, to sing, "All I'm saying pretty baby / La la love you, don't mean maybe."

The emphasis on more textured production has in no way taken away from the band's intensity. Francis is at all times in command of the album, quietly stringing us along before turning on us and screaming for attention. It's about time everyone started taking notice."

~ Chris Mundy, Rolling Stone

Wye Oak

2009-11-20T00:00:00.002-06:00

"Take It In"
from the album The Knot
2009
iTunes

Certain critical terms get taken as pejorative when they're merely descriptive: "Droning," for example, doesn't necessarily mean boring or moribund. When used to describe a sound, "drone" usually means "a low hum," and when employed by a band as skilled as Maryland's Wye Oak, a low hum can convey a rich palette. The duo's second album The Knot drones the way Yo La Tengo drones, or Spinanes when they were around. Lead singer-guitarist Jenn Wasner is a belter who lets up only to step on a pedal and let fly with some loud, distorted, moaning guitar. Drummer/organist Andy Stack keeps a straightforward beat, while adding some additional reverberation and shade with his keyboards. The songs on The Knot range from the pounding, cavernous "Take It In" to the lilting, catchy "Siamese," but all of them rely on a few simple sounds vibrating steadily in their own individual spaces, before rolling on top of each other like lovers who've been waiting all day for a little privacy. (Many of the album's songs are about couples in crisis, which only adds an extra layer of tension to The Knot's sound.) Wye Oak isn't breaking any new ground in the exciting field of drone-exploration, but the band's tone is striking — like a tuning fork with the blues.

~ Noel Murray, The A.V. Club

Girls

2009-11-19T00:00:00.000-06:00

"Hellhole Ratrace"
from the album Album
2009
iTunes

Girls, the San Francisco duo of Christopher Owens and J R White, arrives with shoulders shrugged, head slightly down. Its debut album, titled Album, is a lean ramble, in no way ostentatious. Knowingly or not, Mr. Owens has the tender brooding of Buddy Holly down cold, with a touch of Elvis Costello's shakiness in his voice. But Album isn't clean: it's flayed and ragged and hazy. Like so much of the noise and psychedelia lately infesting the indie-rock underground, underneath the slop lies terrific instincts for clean, artful melody. In that vein Album is one of the year's most bracing pop releases, and one of the best, a devastatingly fresh reframing of the pop songbook. Mr. White lends versatile support on these numbers, which pilfer elementary punk, country-rock, and 1950s-vintage shuffles. (A beautiful instrumental with stirring gospel organs is called "Curls.") But Mr. Owens is the revelation, with deliciously malleable voice and attitude: desperate on "Ghostmouth," snide on "Lust for Life," pleading on "Lauren Marie" and on "Hellhole Ratrace," just plain old winded. The feelings are complicated but the songs are raw — like templates for others to copy.

~ Joe Caramanica, The New York Times

Zaza

2009-11-18T00:00:00.003-06:00

"Sooner or Later"
from the EP Cameo
2009
iTunes

Your typical singer that possesses the airy whispery vocal styling tends to take a back seat to the instrumentation that accompanies it, but that is not the case with modern shoegazers Zaza. These mystical, dreamy vocals hold just as much weight as the swirl of sound that gives Zaza's music the shoegaze name. Their new EP Cameo features six tracks of exalting audible pleasure.

While the EP's power wanes slightly in the middle, songs like "Arms Length" and the subtle "Repetition" do maintain a viable stance in their quest for epic greatness. But it's the first two tracks, "The Call" and "Sooner or Later" respectively, and closer "Faith in the Faithless" that find Zaza filled with anthemic grandeur. Not only do these songs call upon the shoegaze gods to rain down mountainous doom in the form of melodic noise, they do so in a way that is so aesthetically pleasing it's enough to bring even the strongest of men to tears.

Zaza is a drug — a beautiful, mind-numbing, addictive drug. This type of hypnosis should be illegal. Thankfully, for the trustworthy listener, it's not.

~ FensePost

Orba Squara

2009-11-17T00:00:00.000-06:00

"The Trouble With Flying"
from the album The Trouble With Flying
2009
iTunes

Orba Squara, which is basically New York-based musician Mitch Davis, is one of those musical acts who is hard to hate. Even if one is not a fan of bouncy uplifting pop songs which is Davis' forte, one can’t ignore the fact he is a talented musician.

On his past recordings, Davis has played numerous instruments and not just your normal ones either. A few of the more unique instruments he has tinkered with include: mandolin, sitar, violin, glockenspiel, and xylophone.

Davis' love for more organic sounds continues as he plays a bunch of those above mentioned instruments on his new album entitled The Trouble With Flying. The 13-track recording is the follow up to his debut Sunshyness which was most notable for "Perfect Timing (This Morning)," a song that was played on a popular iPhone commercial.

Even though the sound of both discs is similar, there is a significant difference now — The Trouble With Flying is a more consistent collection of songs and it is a nice step forward for Davis. The biggest improvement on The Trouble With Flying is that it works better as an album because it is more theme-oriented than singles-oriented. (Sunshyness had eight other tracks licensed for movie and television projects.)

The theme of Davis' newest release is best encapsulated in the title track. The song's lyrics deal with man's tendency to miss out on life and experience different things because of our fear of trying something new or our depending on technology too much.

The track's words become more even special because of the engaging Spanish-Portuguese vibe a prominent viola gives. Surprisingly, there is also a unique bluesy sound to it, thanks to the appearance of classic rock guitarist/singer Billy Squier.

The title track isn't the only highlight though. The opening track, "Treasure Map," and "Picture Perfect" are simple yet fun songs that feature catchy melodies and bouncy acoustic guitars while still tackling the album’s themes.

The biggest drawback to The Trouble With Flying though lays in Davis' vocals which don't vary much from song to song. His high pitch works fine on the more uptempo numbers but it detracts a bit from the quieter ones. The best example of this is "Millionaires" which ends up sounding like a children's ditty or a mediocre Broadway show number.

Even so, there is a good flow from song to song on The Trouble With Flying and its lyrical content and use of unique musical instruments is intriguing and rewarding.

~ Todd Sikorski, Skope

Handsome Furs

2009-11-16T00:00:00.001-06:00

"Radio Kaliningrad"
from the album Face Control
2009
iTunes

Similar to their 2007 debut, Plague Park, the Handsome Furs' sophomore effort is super moody and a little on the brainy side. Named after a practice common to upscale Russian nightclubs in which people are admitted based on physical attractiveness, Face Control places itself in a stark, scrubby, post-Soviet Russian landscape. And for anyone interested in that level of listening, Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry's haunting Russian storylines will hold some interest. That said, the braininess of this album isn't the main attraction. At its core, Face Control showcases the Handsome Furs' wonderful way with song. The album feels weirdly familiar, full of gritty hooks that conjure up Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty — you could call it computerized roots rock. "Talking Hotel Arbat Blues," for all its rumbling, computerized bells and whistles, is built on a downright prehistoric rock riff, the one behind songs like "Summertime Blues." Getting back to basics like this is a radical move, and there are times when Face Control has problems getting out from under the shadow of Springsteen. But most of the time this newfangled approach to howling, heartfelt rock & roll feels really, really good. Rollicking, fire-slicked tracks like "Evangeline," "All We Want Baby," and "Radio Kaliningrad," with their gorgeously dark underpinnings, make it clear that Face Control makes good on all the promise Plague Park had to offer. For an album set in Russia and made by an artsy indie rock duo from Montreal, Face Control feels shockingly down-home American — the kind of music that would normally find its home in crumbling Rust Belt towns. Barring all that, it's just a solid album, and just another example of Boeckner and Perry's tingling creative chemistry.

~ Margaret Reges, allmusic

The Bravery

2009-11-15T00:00:00.003-06:00

WEEKEND VIDEO

"Slow Poison"
Stir the Blood
2009
iTunes

Between prepping the release of their new album, Stir the Blood, and branching out creatively, the Bravery have been busy lately. It's no surprise that the video for their new single, "Slow Poison," is just a bit trippy.

"Synesthesia is when your brain sees music as colors. That is what my brain does, and these are the colors I see when I hear this song," lead vocalist Sam Endicott tells Spinner of the video's concept. "As in the song, the astronaut is lost, searching for his angel. Except, in the video, she's a sexy space cyber solaris siren. In space."

While working on Stir the Blood, due out on December 1, Endicott also started writing for other artists; most notably, he co-wrote Shakira's international hit "She Wolf" with John Hill. Bassist Mike Hindert worked with a number of bands on the side, and launched the label Merrifield Records. Keyboardist John Conway built a studio in California, where he helped write and record guitarist Michael Zakarin's solo album.

Meanwhile, the "Slow Poison" video — directed by Ryan Honey and Orion Tait — was shot in Atlanta on October 19, between stops on the band's current tour.

~ Ashley Iasimone, Spinner.com

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

2009-11-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

WEEKEND VIDEO

"Home"
Up From Below
2009
iTunes

Ask anyone who's held hands with a stranger or danced barefoot in the front row at an Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros gig: The ten-piece folk-rock ensemble's shows are more like shamanistic tent revivals than rock concerts. Former Ima Robot frontman Alex Ebert, the singer-songwriter mastermind behind the group, embraced his hippie heart after losing his major-label deal, moving and getting back to basics. "I didn't have a cell phone, we didn't have Internet," says Ebert, who embarked upon his new life with girlfriend Jade Castrinos.

On their recently released debut LP, Up From Below, Ebert channels his psychedelic tendencies into tunes that are alternately joyful ("Janglin," "Home"), jaunty ("40 Day Dream") and gothic ("Desert Song"), with echoes of the Arcade Fire and The Mamas and the Papas. Ebert attributes their sound to a conscious effort on his part to connect with his most childlike musical impulses.

Those childlike impulses come through in the band's name, too: There isn't an Edward Sharpe in the group, and Ebert named the band after the characters in a novel he was writing about a boy who transcended his dismal world by tapping into some sort of universal music.

Recording Up from Below took the Zeros more than a year and a half, during which time they scrapped their sessions and started over with only analog tape. "It's been a serious fucking saga," says Ebert. "But it allowed us to develop into a family, which is really what I wanted. I really am a firm believer in utopia, otherwise I have no reason to be here."

~ Jenny Eliscu, Rolling Stone

Solid Gold

2009-11-13T00:00:00.000-06:00

"Bible Thumper"
from the album Bodies of Water
2008
iTunes

Eau Claire native Adam Hurlburt says Solid Gold's music translates better overseas, which is partly a reason for recent tour dates in the United Kingdom.

But the band's show early this year at First Avenue might have indicated otherwise, as the psychedelic, electro-pop quintet kept a sold-out crowd grooving to heavy electronic beats, ghostly synth swirls and bouncing bass lines.

Despite filling the supporting role for Wild Light and fellow Minneapolis indie rockers Tapes 'n Tapes, Solid Gold put on a show of headliner magnitude. Frontman Zachary Coulter's smooth, wistful vocals led the band through much of its first full-length album, Bodies of Water, performing tracks "Armoured Cars," "Get Over It" and "Who You Gonna Run To?"

Backed by giant Lite-Brite boards, Solid Gold's spacey setup and laid-back stage presence made the show hard to put a finger on. But whatever it was, it appears to be, in fact, solid gold.

"It's just kind of what came out," bassist and guitarist Hurlburt said of the album. "We weren't really shooting for anything. So I guess that's kind of why it's genre-bending in a way."

As receptive as First Avenue was to Solid Gold's dance tunes, Bodies of Water also has pleased critics in the Twin Cities and internationally. "We're getting a lot of good critical acclaim for it," said Hurlburt. "I grew up going to First Ave. to see shows. This is our second time playing there, but this is the first time we got to play in front of a sold-out crowd, which was great. Kind of like a childhood dream come true."

The First Avenue gig was just one of a few Minneapolis shows in preparation for a eight-date tour in the U.K., which kicked off in London. Solid Gold also landed a coveted spot at the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas.

Hurlburt, who grew up in Eau Claire and graduated from Memorial High School in 2000, joined Solid Gold four years ago when he moved to Madison. "I've been in bands that have toured all over the country," he said. "But it's newer in the sense that we're actually getting attention, which is a lot more fun than starving to death on tour for a month and a half in a crappy van."

Solid Gold first broke onto the scene with a performance at the 2008 College Music Journal Festival in New York. Hurlburt said the U.K. dates are a general-awareness tour — mostly in-store shows where the album has been selling well — which will give interested record labels a chance to check out Solid Gold live.

"It's huge," said Hurlburt. "It's fun to make music that people like and play it live. We want to make a living doing it, which seems to be materializing a little bit more now."

Hurlburt's contribution to the national music scene with Solid Gold is just one more element that has grown out of a small but innovative Eau Claire scene. The scene includes the likes of Justin Vernon, pre-Bon Iver. Hurlburt pins the success of Solid Gold and Bon Iver on maturity.

"Justin was pretty integral in teaching me how to play guitar whether he knows it or not," said Hurlburt. "I think we're just reaching this point not because we're all very close in age, but we're just reaching this point in musical maturity or something in that we all want a little bit more in experimenting with sounds and song structures and all that."

~ Rob Hanson, Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

Bon Iver & St. Vincent

2009-11-12T00:00:00.000-06:00

"Roslyn"
from the soundtrack The Twilight Saga: New Moon
2009
iTunes

On a good day, film soundtracks enhance the moviegoing experience. At their best, they transcend it. The latest sonic accompaniment to Twilight's inescapable teen-vampire juggernaut — a swooning conveyance of girl-meets-undead-boy romance, delivered by some of the best established and emerging names in the indie stratosphere — may sway even the most committed Twi-loathers.

After the success of the first installment, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy) gets her pick of the alt litter here, with each contributing original, previously unreleased material: From the opening chords of Death Cab for Cutie's dusky guitar rapture "Meet Me on the Equinox" to the spooky robot-ennui of Thom Yorke's "Hearing Damage" and Grizzly Bear's gorgeous folk-pop pastoral "Slow Life," New Moon rarely falters. A peacocking remix of Muse's shamelessly operatic "I Belong to You" becomes a Bowie-esque glam-rock stomper. In its wake, Bon Iver and St. Vincent quietly unfurl "Rosyln," a duet of hushed, almost church-like beauty.

New Moon yields several happy revelations from its lower-marquee names: Nordic songstress Lykke Li's nearly a cappella "Possibility" is a lovely little Swedish snowflake, and jokey rockers OK Go achieve an impressive sort of Flaming Lips-y quirk-gravitas on the sprawling, cinematic "Shooting the Moon." Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's acoustic campfire lament "Done All Wrong" segues seamlessly into the jaunty, Strokes-ian guitar fuzz of Hurricane Bells' "Monsters." Think of New Moon as a sort of survey course in new-now-next rock: a mixtape with teeth.

~ Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

!!!

2009-11-11T00:35:00.002-06:00

JERRY FUCHS: 1974-2009

"Yadnus"
from the album Myth Takes
2007
iTunes

November 8, 2009:
Gerhardt Fuchs grew up playing the drums in Georgia and went on to perform with bands that toured across the country, but it was in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that he forged his reputation as a dynamic, driving drummer widely esteemed by his peers.

And it was in that same neighborhood, in the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge, that Mr. Fuchs, known as Jerry, fell to his death on Sunday morning in the elevator shaft of an industrial building on Berry Street.

"His passing puts an enormous hold on the Brooklyn music scene," said Jon Fine, a friend of Mr. Fuchs's and a columnist for Business Week. "The world of independent music has sustained a really significant loss."

At about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Mr. Fuchs, 34, who had attended a benefit party on the building's seventh floor, was stuck on a freight elevator between the fourth and fifth floors, friends and the police said. He had been trying to jump out of the stalled car when his jacket got caught on something, causing him to fall to the bottom of the shaft. Another man, who was not identified by the police, was riding with Mr. Fuchs in the elevator but safely jumped to a fourth floor hallway.

Alex Frankel, Mr. Fuchs's roommate in Bushwick, who sings with the band Holy Ghost!, said he arrived at the party just before 1 a.m. and heard that somebody had fallen. He peered into the shaft and saw a figure lying face down.

"We flipped him over and it was Jerry," Mr. Frankel said. "When we found him he was not able to talk."

Mr. Fuchs was pronounced dead at Bellevue Medical Center.

There is no suspected criminality, the police said. The medical examiner and the Buildings Department are investigating.

Mr. Fuchs grew up in Marietta, Ga., and attended the University of Georgia, in Athens. He moved to New York in 1995 to join Mr. Fine's band, Vineland. Eventually he played hundreds of shows with other bands, including the Juan MacLean, Turing Machine, !!!, Holy Ghost!, and Maserati.

Mr. Fuchs was known for his adaptability: His signature style could carry a band and inspire imitation.

"He could play metal," Mr. Fine said. "Prog rock with multiple time signatures, aggressive indie disco."

Recently, he performed with an electronic band from Toronto, MSTRKRFT, on the Late Show With David Letterman. Friends said that Mr. Fuchs had been preparing for a trip to France.

He earned the admiration of other accomplished musicians, who cited Mr. Fuchs's combination of skill and humility.

James Murphy, of the musical project LCD Soundsystem, said that Mr. Fuchs was one of the best drummers he had ever heard.

"He was one of the only people we all knew who was literally great at what he did," Mr. Murphy said. "And he was incredibly generous with his talent."

On Sunday night, friends, many of them musicians with roots in Williamsburg, gathered in a Brooklyn apartment to exchange memories of Mr. Fuchs and honor his achievements.

"At the root of it," said Scott DeSimon of Turing Machine during a telephone call from the gathering, "he was always that sweet 20-year-old who moved here from Athens."

~ Colin Moynihan, The New York Times

Kurt Vile

2009-11-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

"Hunchback"
from the album Childish Prodigy
2009
iTunes

With Childish Prodigy, his debut for indie-juggernaut Matador, Kurt Vile stretches and pulls the increasingly annoying "lo-fi" tag into interesting new shapes, distancing himself from his Woodsist-kin, who seem content to blanket their pop-punk and folk with sheets of tape hiss. Instead, Vile creates dense layers of texture, lo-fidelity only in the sense that the sounds refuse easy pop categorization, echoing and blending endlessly, blurring the lines between his reverb-soaked vocals and the intricate web of keys, guitars, trumpets, and clattering percussion buzzing and twitching underneath them. In a lot of ways, it's reminiscent in approach of another "lo-fi" landmark, The Microphones' seminal album The Glow Pt. 2, which a production pal of mine once lauded as "a 'lo-fi' record for hi-fi headphones."

Vile splits his time between the road-trip pop of Constant Hitmaker and God is Saying This to You, the AM-radio classic rockisms of his other band, the War on Drugs, and the blues-boogie of his recent EP with backing band the Violators. Tellingly, members of the Violators and War on Drugs are present, amping up the VU/Stooges-homage "Hunchback," which finds Vile howling and testifying about fish drowning out of water over a strutting, fuzzed riff, his vocals careening into red with snarling menace. "Monkey" finds the band playing it arena-rock stately; it's the kind of tune that someone like Pete Yorn would kill to write, but whose scrub-and-shine methods would rob the song of personality. It's a chord progression epic enough to work for U2, but Vile and co. play it like they're The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Vile indulges his acoustic, finger-picking folk side on "Blackberry Song," with a gentle, shuffling melody showcasing that, no matter how he adorns his songs in noise and masking, his core remains rooted in rustic-Americana. "Your blackberries grow so wild/ Pick the best ones off the bush," he sings with guilelessness. "Inside Lookin' Out," featuring little more than a stomping kick drum, shaker, and multi-tracked vocals, roars with its refrain, "I got the blues so bad/my feet don't walk," a blaring harmonica reminding us that Bruce Springsteen was trying to do Suicide when he made Nebraska.

"Goodbye Freaks" ends the record, and it's a telling track to end with. The sweeping, phased drum-machine tones are some of the brightest on the record, and the shimmering synths and oh-so-slight saxophone and trumpet flourishes gently suggest melody rather than aggressively state one. Vile doesn't sing a single line on the song, instead exploring vast instrumental vistas. It's a bold trick for a singer/songwriter to pull, but just the sort of thing that sets Vile apart from the flock, a faded vision of a white guy with an acoustic guitar who is somehow never boring, never sinks to gentrified sterility, and never ceases to surprise.

~ Jason P. Woodbury, Tiny Mix Tapes

Grizzly Bear

2009-11-09T00:00:00.006-06:00

A FAVORITE FROM FIVE YEARS AGO

"Deep Sea Diver"
from the album Horn of Plenty
Original release date: November 9, 2004
iTunes

2004:
Grizzly Bear's debut offers up a lysergic brand of minimalist psychedelic folk perfect for those who find Elliott Smith's early work a bit too accessible and upbeat. Marking an evolution from one-man home recording project to full-fledged quartet, the studio-recorded Horn of Plenty features a mostly melancholy mix of acoustic guitars, reeds, retro organs, and samples, all drenched in enough acid-washed effects to give Devendra Banhart flashbacks. Frontman Ed Droste's weary, somnambulistic vocals work well with the slackadaisical melodies to create an unsettling atmospheric sound full of shimmering shadows. Songs like the opening "Deep Sea Diver" and the mesmerizing "Shift" crawl along at an almost funereal pace, the latter featuring what sounds like a scratchy Gramophone recording of a piano augmented only by echoing whistles, clapping, trippy found sounds, and weirdly hypnotic multi-tracked vocals. The expanded lineup and production budget have done nothing to change the group's lo-fi approach, which produces a murky sound that unfolds like a narcotic dream you can't quite shake upon waking. This is the kind of album you'll want to listen to late at night, perhaps a few sheets to the wind, with lights off and headphones on to allow these creepy, quiet little tunes to worm their way into your subconscious.

~ Bret Love, allmusic

Veruca Salt

2009-11-08T00:00:00.000-06:00

WEEKEND VIDEO / A FAVORITE FROM 15 YEARS AGO

"Seether"
American Thighs
Original release date:
November 8, 1994
iTunes

1994:
With their thin, singsong vocals and fuzzed-out guitars, Veruca Salt may sound like the Breeders and the Pixies, but lack either band's talent for inverting pop conventions or taste for the bizarre. What Veruca Salt has instead is a raw talent for simple, infectious pop songs; the result is a surprisingly fresh fusion of alternative pop and bubblegum. Nina Gordon and Louise Post try hard to inject meaning into the sweet, distorted rush of "Seether," but all that sticks is the infectious melody and crushing guitars. That also applies to the slower songs, from the enchanting lust of "Spiderman '79" to "Forsythia," which is too close to the Breeders' Pod for comfort. But musically, American Thighs is surprisingly satisfying; it's a pure pop album masquerading as the next big thing.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic

Arctic Monkeys

2009-11-07T00:00:00.003-06:00

WEEKEND VIDEO

"Cornerstone"
Humbug
2009
iTunes

The stage presence and allure of a band's frontman is surely an important ingredient to any musical dynamic. Their captivating movements are usually one of the main components people remember. Enter UK foursome Arctic Monkeys and their latest video, "Cornerstone," featuring their likable frontman Alex Turner.

The concept behind "Cornerstone" is extremely simple, a one-shot clip that finds Turner in oversized vintage headphones behind a sea of white. The heartbreaking lyrics illicits interest, but it's Turner's subtle swagger and facial charms that truly engulfs your senses.

~ Filter Magazine

The Avett Brothers

2009-11-06T00:00:00.000-06:00

"I and Love and You"
from the album I and Love and You
2009
iTunes

Thanks to Rick Rubin's "YouTube research," North Carolina trio Avett Brothers went from finger-pickers in their Concord, North Carolina hometown to the super-producer's new favorite band. The LP Rubin discovered, Emotionalism, wasn't their debut, though — "It was maybe our eighth or ninth release," says Seth Avett, counting records he and brother Scott had recorded with their previous hard-rock band, "and at this point the dreams of being a rock star have been put in perspective."

But it was a boost that put the Avetts' career on the fast track. Rubin produced their major-label debut (and fifth overall release as the Avett Brothers), I and Love and You, released in September, bringing out the group's twangy harmonies and banjo-picked acoustic grooves. On the record the brothers (along with bassist Bob Crawford) tackle love, heartbreak, and the honest stories of their lives. "Folk music is just like early hip-hop," says Scott Avett. "You're singing about where you're from, the hardships and the good times."

Looking back at their first band Nemo, the brothers describe their Mars Volta-like aspirations as a rebellion against their roots. "We wanted to be that kind of mobile, dynamic band," Scott says. "We were heavily influenced by Mr. Bungle — the metal and the hardcore." But twice-weekly jam sessions wound up bringing the Avetts to bluegrass. "You noticed that something was happening, and I think what was happening was Seth and I were much more natural in this acoustic sort of form," Scott says. "I think we weren't hiding behind anything."

~ Christian Hoard, Rolling Stone

Laarks

2009-11-05T00:00:00.001-06:00

"All the Words You Can't Say Right"
from the album An Exaltation of Laarks
2009
iTunes

Contrary to recent mythology, it is not perpetually winter in Eau Claire. The Wisconsin city achieved fame and notoriety due to the musings of a certain troubadour seeking solace there during the harsher months of the year, but as much as the city does indeed experience all four seasons, folk is not the only music being created in the Chippewa Valley.

Combating the notion that Eau Claire is solely populated by flannel cloaked folkies, Laarks constructs smart, fun, danceable pop-rock. The group was founded in 2006 by Ian Jacoby and Brian Moen after the dissolution of their former bands Sic Transit Gloria and Amateur Love, respectively. Eventually guitarist Kyle Flater and bassist Zach Hanson were added to the mix. Together the four craft light-hearted and energetic music lead by Jacoby's layers of keyboards and bolstered by Moen's spirited drumming.

The band's debut album, An Exaltation of Laarks, re-released this week by Absolutely Kosher, is a sunny collection of pop gems reminiscent of Mute Math and Death Cab for Cutie. It's nearly impossible not to bob your head to the frantic, frazzled energy of "The S Stood for Science" or be swept up in the momentum of "All the Words You Can't Say Right." By contrast, "Where Do You Wanna Live?" is a simple and refreshingly upbeat ballad that is sweet without being sickly sentimental.

As Eau Claire prepares to hibernate for yet another bleak winter, let Laarks keep your ears and hearts warm with remnants of summer.

~ Claire Tiller, Jonk Music

Yeasayer

2009-11-04T00:00:00.010-06:00

"Ambling Alp"
from the album Odd Blood
2010
iTunes

Experimental Brooklyn-based tripsters Yeasayer have released a new song called "Ambling Alp," and if it's any indication of what their forthcoming album Odd Blood will be like, the critics are gonna be cooing over Yeasayer circa February 2010 even more than when they released their acclaimed debut, All Hour Cymbals, back in 2007.

"Ambling Alp” strikes that rare balance between forward-thinking experimentation and good ole-fashioned fun. The track sounds like some sort of trippy synth-pop bubble bath, with Yeasayer splashing around in effervescent electro waters which are surprisingly warm and inviting.
Toward the song's close, Yeasayer splice some Bee Gees harmonies and Gary Numan blips into the mix, giving this immaculately crafted tune a feeling of loose joy. It might not be brand new territory — Animal Collective has already left their scent on this kind of avant-pop — but it's thrilling stuff nevertheless.

~ Joseph Brannigan Lynch, Entertainment Weekly

Silver Starling

2009-11-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

"Closer"
from the album Silver Starling
2009
iTunes

The small stage of Cake Shop on New York's Lower East Side may have not been the most ideal place for Canadian indie rock quintet Silver Starling to perform their CMJ showcase last month. The stage, which is located underneath a cafe, was so small that the band members were cramped together, yet they rocked in spite of the space limitations throughout their six-song set .

Hailing from Montreal, Silver Starling — vocalist/guitarist Marcus Paquin, violinist/keyboardist Marika Anthony-Shaw, guitarist Gab Lambert, drummer Liam O'Neil, and bassist Peter X — just released their self-titled debut album in the U.S. It's a collection of poignant melodic rock songs with atmospheric guitar and the heartfelt vocals of Paquin.

There is a backstory to perhaps why the material on this album is so affecting: a friend of Paquin's passed away from cancer last year, according to the band's website. The sweeping and expansive approach to this album carried over well onstage. Silver Starling delivered some driving rockers such as "Caught in Your Glow" and "Love and a Broken Heart," as well as a moody tune, "Blue Light." However, the very poppy "Ghosts" brought a little levity to the set with its whimsical, romantic lyrics and catchy melodies. But for the most part, Silver Starling's music was driven on pure adrenaline.

For those who wonder what a starling is, it is defined by Merriam-Webster's as a European bird "that is often considered a pest." If that's the case, then it's to the band members' advantage that they push those buttons, which they did very well during their performance.

~ David Chiu, Spinner

Kings of Convenience

2009-11-02T00:00:00.006-06:00

"Boat Behind"
from the album Declaration of Dependence
2009
iTunes

After 10 years, Norwegian folk duo Kings of Convenience are making a statement with their third record, Declaration of Dependence — when it comes down to it, they're not so dependent on each other anymore. The two compose delicate songs that teeter the lines between pop and coffee house acoustics, recalling Simon and Garfunkel at times. But over this decade, instead of pumping out a new Kings record every two years, they've constantly branched out. Eirik Boe is working with a new band called Kommode and Erlend Oye keeps busy with his electronic project the Whitest Boy Alive as well as various DJ appearances.

Now when they resume as the Kings of Convenience, Oye says it's become a bit trickier. "I have to say, it was much more clearer in the beginning," he tells Spinner. "Ten years ago, we were much more dependent on each other. But three years ago, when we started to think about this record, it wasn't so clear. We didn't necessarily need each other as musicians."

So the album isn't a commentary on the band, but instead Boe suggests it's a bit more metaphorical throughout. "Our whole lives are about trying to figure out how to make other people love us and finding other people to love," he says. "We wanted to say that independence is not what we are."

To that thought, Oye adds, "Now we have happiness and it's clearly only down to yourself. If you're not happy, it's your fault. So, it's great if you can depend on something. That's another choice you have to make."

~ Michael D. Ayers, Spinner

Nirvana

2009-11-01T02:53:00.002-06:00

WEEKEND VIDEO / A FAVORITE FROM 15 YEARS AGO

"The Man Who
Sold the World"
MTV Unplugged
in New York
Original release date:
November 1, 1994
iTunes

The last Nirvana collection recorded before the untimely death of Kurt Cobain, Unplugged caught many by surprise with its stripped down, neo-acoustic offerings with a bridled fury. When Cobain sings, "I swear I don't have a gun, I don't have a gun" with clenched teeth (instead of an open howl) and when the haunting strains of "About a Girl" — from their earliest LP — chills even with quieted guitars, you discover a new appreciation for the nuances of one of the greatest bands of recent times. Highlights include covers of three Meat Puppets tracks (featuring special guests Curt and Kris Kirkwood of that influential "college rock" band), the weepy cello on the Vaselines' "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam," and their cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World."

~ Lorry Fleming, Amazon.com