PAH PAH nPAH nPAH

The Whip, "Frustration" - Cards on the table: I'm really not all that big a fan of New Order, to the point where last year's Waiting For The Siren's Call is probably my favorite album of theirs (and I likely wouldn't have even checked it out if Disco Stuart hadn't been involved). It's not that they're bad, of course - fuck, I do have ears - but they're a band that loves their technology, and as someone who had the power supply to their computer die an ignominious and expensive death last night right when he sat down to do an entry NOT THAT I'M BITTER, WORLD, I can say with pretty emphatic authority that there eventually comes a point when technology outlives its usefulness (which is why I'm not typing this on a Tandy). Hell, let's not forget that I learned how to fritter my life away following pop music from getting hooked on trance music fireworxxx back when people bought Mixmag - wanna guess how long it's been since I listened to Joshua Ryan's "Pistolwhip"?

And then there's "Blue Monday", the song which (inarguably) defines New Order and (arguably) makes the rest of their catalogue superfluous (although like most sane people, I can also go to the mattresses for "Temptation" and, to a lesser extent, "Bizarre Love Triangle"). I suppose it's ironic that it's almost indisputably their most technologically-motivated song (insert shopworn anecdote about desires for a push-button encore here), but I have to question the judgement of anyone who looks at "Blue Monday" as a work of technology instead of as a work of classical pop art - it's the "Clair De Lune" of industrial brutality, the kind of song that makes its pleasures wholly available as soon as you come in contact with it, and the fact that the techology passed its sell-by date back when I was losing G.I. Joes doesn't diminish its adroitness for a second. If anything, it might even make all that headrushy fun poignant - after all, aren't we still inflicting The Scarlet Letter on our nation's unforunate schoolchildren to to show them that people were fucked up about sex even back when "missionary position" referred to something else?

The Whip's "Frustration" isn't, of course, anywhere near as good as "Blue Monday", but it sounds enough like it (or, at the very least, "Temptation", which actually probably rules almost as much as a pop song as "Blue Monday", but that's for another post) and works in a close-enough manner that it seems like a reasonable enough comparison to make, even if you know who's going to walk away the winner. I mean, fuck, just because a song isn't as good as another song you've called one of your five favorite recordings ever in the past doesn't mean you should deny yourself its pleasures, and "Frustration" is pretty refreshingly upfront about what it brings to the party - it sounds just like you'd want a band from an exhaustedly industrial city's best song to sound, all mechanical precision and efficient melody lines as far as the eye can see. It is also, and this is why everyone can't help but compare them to New Order instead of Yaz, unmistakably a rock song - perhaps a more laid-back and contemplative rock song than most, certainly a rock song with more of a chilled-out disco bounce, but at the end of the day, a rock song. At the very least, it's a hell of a place to start from - "Frustration" may not be another "Blue Monday", but at least they've got me wondering if they've got a "Blue Monday" in 'em anywhere. (Click here to visit the High Voltage store and buy the Power Overload compilation. "Frustration" will also be released as a single on February 13th.)

Colored Shadows, "Stay Awake" - As of this post, I've had this site open for about five months, in which time I've managed to post a full three-eighths of Colored Shadows' available discography without ever seeking their consent. I would probably feel worse if it weren't for the fact that I can't imagine that they've lost any sales over it - if people are like me, they probably come in contact with a song like "Stay Awake" and then kick a hole in the internet in search of everything else a band that good could make available. There's not really any news to report with regards to them, but I finally did get a chance to see them live on Wednesday opening for the Film School, a band so godawful that I couldn't even stay for their whole set (and I've seen Explogasm more than once, although never by choice); needless to say it was an incredibly effective reminder that yeah, it's a goddamn crying shame that people out there are paying attention to bands other than them. The more I listen to the Tiger Mask EP, the more it sounds like four indie-radio staples ready to run; it looks like they're going to be pushing "Life After Love" as their flagship single, which is fine since it rules a lot 'n stuff, but "Stay Awake" is just as arresting and immediate - it's the kind of song where the video you're constructing in your head has all kinds of inappropriate quick zooms on the guitar player whenever the power chords crunch in. Anyway, yeah - my point is merely that if you haven't tried them out yet, you're only cheating yourself. (Click here to visit their website and buy the Tiger Mask EP, or their self-titled and also excellent debut for that matter)

ELSEWHERE:

- what in the FUCK.