“Radio Nowhere”
by Bruce Springsteen
(iTunes)
I thought my friend Joe Keyes was kidding when he said on his blog
that this song sounded like Tommy Tutone. Nope—the “Radio
Nowhere” of Bruce’s dreams apparently plays a hell of a lot of
“867-5309 (Jenny)” in the midst of its “million different voices all
speaking in tongues.” That’s a great, populist Springsteen line, and
it’s also a complete anachronism, unless he intends to hire this song
out to either Air America (why not?) or Sirius Satellite (on which both
Bruce’s biographer Dave Marsh and ex–E Street Band guitarist
Little Steven have shows). Then again, anachronism becomes the guy:
Springsteen might sing “I just wanna hear some rhythm,” but beat-wise
he makes do with his usual, eternal clomp. He sounds livelier than he
has in a while, though.
“Peacebone (Pantha duPrince Remix)”
by Animal Collective
(Fatcat)
Speaking of quoting people on the internet, I was happy to read Jeff
Kirby on Line Out casting a suspicious ear on Animal Collective, a
feeling I’ve shared since catching 10 minutes of ululation rehearsal
disguised as a concert in New York a few years back—not to
mention the fact that there are people who actually think the band
makes—no kidding—”pop.” Or, as other web wags have noted,
I’ve gone to the woods and taken mushrooms, too. But as demonstrated by
This Bliss, released earlier this year, Pantha du Prince (aka
Hendrik Weber of Hamburg, Germany) puts just as much stock into
generating creeping, unsettling, spellbinding atmosphere. His 10-minute
remix takes a while to rev up, but it does so almost subliminally: By
the five-minute mark, you realize you’re surrounded, and that it’s a
great feeling.
Pushcard EP
by Danuel Tate
(Wagon Repair)
This four-track 12-inch comes from a member of the well-loved
Canadian jazz-techno trio Cobblestone Jazz, but its first cut, “Bloss,”
reminds me more of early Basement Jaxx, with a jazz tinge replacing
their Brazilian feel. It’s juicy, maximal, and ultra-playful, with
stretched-out horns laying out over the squinched-up rhythm guitar and
digitally blurred vocals the track runs on, before Tate tosses the
horns into his laptop and juggles them over the beat, too. “Pushcard”
is more straight-ahead, and maybe more exciting: unison brass theme,
lustrous keyboard stabs, flute to singe people who don’t like flutes,
all riding a hectic 4/4 pulse to a supper club on the moon, with “Slim
Jim Boko” its sustaining coda. One of my favorite records of the year.
