popwreckoning

On September 22, Arts & Crafts brings us yet another original & charming record to caper and cavort to. Origin:Orphan is the fourth full-length treasure from Toronto’s ever-burgeoning cache of sprightly minstrels, The Hidden Cameras. The album was recorded in Toronto, Ontario and Berlin, and feels as if it’s a kind of rollicking audio passport, each song another fabled adventure and another stamp allowing access as they cross the border along their daring, arcane journey, that at times feels a bit stormy but is mostly inspired by mirth. The track layout has a linear, narrative quality that plays along as well. 

The opening track, “Ratify The New,” builds slowly with anticipation, a humming preface to the story. The album’s first single, “In The NA,” is a jostling, synthy-sing-shout-along number that feverishly trumpets the story of this person/place/thing called “The NA” where people are held close, where demons and ghosts are battled, they spill their secrets, they marry, and where they ultimately triumph in under five minutes.

“He Falls To Me” is set to a super-sized and spirited whistle with clever lyrics and a classic indie-rock, punch-in-the-gut chorus that rivals some of the best. “Colour of a Man” is an impossibly smart and warm soliloquy, draped with heavy, heaving strings and adorned with a velvety Medieval-meaning choir. “Walk On” blew my mind on first listen as it’s one of the inkiest tracks that I’ve heard in awhile, a nod of approval that this self-proclaimed princess of darkness doesn’t give easily. It’s a heavy, heralding track with an uneasiness that evokes the devastating and disquieting side of Stevie Nicks when she sings “you will never get away from the sound of the woman who loves you…” in the spine-shivering chorus of her majesty’s Silver Springs. I really can’t give a band a better compliment than that if I tried.

The band is said to translate the innate theatricality and avant-garde nature of their sound to the stage by performing with up to forty-piece dance troupes and in alternative spaces such as churches and soccer fields, an experience that I’m definitely looking forward to when I check them out this fall in New York. I’ll let you know if the wizardry and wonder of the Cameras makes sense in the flesh.

Tracklisting:
01. Ratify The New
02. In The NA
03. He Falls To Me
04. Colour Of A Man
05. Do I Belong?
06. Walk On
07. Kingdom Come
08. Origin:Orphan
09. Underage
10. The Little Bit
11. Silence Can Be A Headline

The Hidden Cameras: website | myspace

Welcome back, readers!  The summer is winding down and I’m still listening to danceable hip hop and R&B jams that make me want to shake my tailfeather on the dance floor.  Well, kitchen floor really.  Last week I unleashed a Sampling Edition, Part 1 to whet your musical appetites and had so much fun that I decided I’d double down on your asses with a two-parter.  Not for the A.D.D. musical aficionado, these tracks featuring a plethora of samples in unique and unlikely capacities.  Sometimes it’s fun just trying to see if you can figure out what part of the song belongs to which artist.  Either way, it’s a luscious mix of sounds and beats that make some of your favorite songs a tad more danceable.  And that’s always good.
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.Destiny’s Child - “Bootylicious”
Sample: Stevie Nicks – “Edge of Seventeen“
Who doesn’t love that chugging guitar riff that sets the tone of the Stevie Nicks classic “Edge of Seventeen?”  Apparently, Destiny’s Child wanted to pay homage to one of the foremothers of rock n’ roll by pilfering the sound for the intro of “Bootylicious,” a cheeky video that actually features a cameo of Miss Nicks herself.  As is the case with all great art, ironically Nicks and her writing team were subconsciously channelling their inner-Sting as it’s been said that the guitar and drum parts sound eerily similar to The Police‘s “Bring On The Night” and they only realized it afterwards.  Wow, I wasn’t ready for that jelly.

.Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy & Lil’ Kim – “Notorious B.I.G.”
Sample: Duran Duran - “Notorious“
One of my favorite hip hop artists of all time (may he rest!), Notorious B.I.G. enlisted the help of some of his Bad Boy family members to create one of the more memorable hip hop and rock mash-ups from the 1990′s that is the quintessential personal anthem of his own self-proclaimed notoriety.  Big up to Biggie for being able to make narcissistic songs so damn catchy by sampling a Duran Duran chorus and jangly guitar licks.  Or was it Puff Daddy‘s idea?  After all, he does claim to have invented the remix.

.Jay-Z feat. Memphis Bleek – “It’s Alright”
Sample: Talking Heads – “Once In A Lifetime“
Oh Jay-Z, can you ever do wrong?  It’s a  song like this that makes me wonder what the hell does Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne have to say about this?  It takes balls to sample Talking Heads for a hip hop song about maxin’, relaxin’ and chillaxin’.  Apparently Jay and Memphis Bleek borrow from a Kraftwerk song (“The Hall Of Mirrors”) here too so the musical sample is essentially an ambitious composite of the two.  Does Jay-Z really listen to new wave and synthpop?  If so, holler back, young’n.

.Puff Daddy feat. Mase – “Been Around The World”
Sample: David Bowie – “Let’s Dance”
This track may be too slow to do the Harlem shuffle, but it still does make me long for the golden days of 90′s hip hop.  With the help of then bromantic musical partner Mase, Puff Daddy had innovation on his mind when he laced this track with the inventive music of David Bowie‘s classic “Let’s Dance,” while stealing the chorus from Lisa Stansfield’s soft-rock hit “Been Around The World.”  Whatever happened to her?  Is she still looking for her baby?  Does Puff Daddy have a soft spot for the light music station?  This is another example of odd musical pairings that totally work and leave it to Puffy to pioneer the art of musical interpolation and mixing the unlikeliest songs.

.Girl Talk – “Shut The Club Down”
Sample: Aphex Twin – “Girl/Boy Song” (among 16 other song snippets)

It was hard selecting a sample of DJ Girl Talk‘s dizzying, creative as hell, genius mash-up tracks off Feed The Animals, but “Shut The Club Down” is one of my favorite tracks.  In this one song he samples everyone from Avril Lavigne, Aphex Twin, Jay-Z, Rod Stewart, Butthole Surfers and Ray J, among others.  I chose to feature the Aphex Twin track because he selects the breakdown of the incredible “Girl/Boy Song” during this track’s breakdown, while lacing in Rich Boy’s “Throw Some D’s.”  Girl Talk finds a way to satisfy any type of musical enthusiast: 80s, rock, hip hop, synthpop, and pop.  I can’t wait to finally catch a set of his at Street Scene San Diego next month.  I’m going to wear my “Engineers Do It Better” t-shirt and hope he picks me out of the audience to jump in his inflatable raft and crowd surf.  Sigh, I love me some Girl Talk.

Tori Amos is an icon. Now that we have assessed the obvious, let’s get educated, deconstruct, and simply learn. It’s a rare being that can transform your mind into something like a house of cards. We seek to be enlightened and Tori Amos does just that: she gives us the enexpected, an experience of rare lust and harmony, religious chaos coupled with a love for her elders.

As I have seen in shows past, Tori takes time to woo her adoring fans, both men and women alike. With a subtle androgyny, she attracts us all. The WAMU Theatre behind the Qwest Field is unassuming at best, but Miss Amos declared it her house on that beautiful Friday night. Wearing an emerald dress and gold shiny tights, she proclaimed, “Look I wore emerald for the Emerald City!”

She plugs into our minds as we are entranced by “Cornflake Girl” and “Crucify”, the standards we grew up on. But it wasn’t until “Landslide”, the cover written and made famous by Stevie Nicks, a cover I have lived in for so very long, and have heard many a performer attempt. Miss Amos not only made it her own, but she created an entirely new way to listen, a new planet to live on. With every song she continues as though she is a first time traveler to the world, giving her best performance at each note. Her dual microphones on both sides forcing her to turn her head as she belts is so pseudo sexual that you cannot help but wonder if it were on purpose, or did some technician find it the best way to vocalize her, either way, enthralling. 

As the night comes to a close, you begin to realize that yes, Tori Amos is an icon, but she was also a part of Seattle, she brought her best and gave it to us, and made us want it. Performing as both seductress and scientist, Tori bleeds on the keys, only there are multiple units on both sides and we are amazed at a multitasking wonder. People dancing in the isles wanting more, hippies and corporates alike, in the shadows waiting for those lines we live in like “…your mother stands up in a nasty dress..” and “…sometimes, I think you want me to touch you, how can I went you build the great wall around you.” Somehow, hearing those words live and out loud, gives you peace, to be able to live in the moment. Tori Amos in her Emerald dress is still and will remain an icon.

Tori Amos: website | myspace

Photos: Dese’Rae Stage (Philadelphia 10/07)