But I Was There: MSTRKRFT @ Little Radio, 6/16/06

MSTRKRFT, "The Looks" - At the risk of embarking on an endless spiral of self-Rob Gordoning, I have to say that the main thing I took away from Little Radio on Friday night was a renewed conviction that I'm absolutely not a class warrior. I say this, of course, because I doubt I've been so palpably out-of-my-depth in terms of coolness since I was on my high school's Latin quiz bowl team (which, sadly, is exactly what it sounds like) and it would be incredibly easy to turn this post into one big creative writing exercise at the expense of all the coolies that turned out dressed up pursuant to the party's 80s-workout theme (although please believe that you can copy-n-paste the last parenthetical into this space if you find yourself so motivated). But as much fun as that might have been, I can't deny that I wasn't looking forward to the more white-belted aspects of the night at least a little bit - fuck, I went so far as to wear my DFA logo shirt, thereby arguably out-irony-ing the irony-ers right where they live. Girls wanna look past my sullen, wall-supporting ass in favor of some skeevy dude hiding an eightball somewhere unthinkable in his unspeakably frightening shorts? Can't knock the hustle, I guess.

And anyway, the instant MSTRKRFT stepped up to the decks everybody got mighty uncool in a hurry (although temperature-wise, not so much). I mean, I flipped the switch as soon as I heard the squiggling synths of "La La Land" and it stayed flipped until I literally couldn't take any more; that little warehouse had atmosphere as thick as a Henry James novel, but I'd have been damned if I was going home with my shit un-lost. I was hoping they'd play more of their own tunes - I recognized maybe two or three of their songs in the hour and a half of their set I was able to catch - but people weren't leaving the floor once they'd hit it, and although dropping "La La Land" into a set introducing yourself to Los Angeles might be considered somewhat outre by this point, you can't argue with the results, namely every ass in the vicinity shimmying onto the dancefloor in a hurry (mine included). And they really did play some top-shelf stuff that I never thought I'd be lucky to hear played loud as fuck/over good speakers - I mean, I had to work hard enough to get my friends to throw "10 Dollar" on at a party, so you better believe I danced my ass off to the Cajmere mix of "Give Me Every Little Thing" while I had the chance.

But really, I was there for MSTRKRFT's own stuff, and BOY did it ever fail to disappoint. I've seen some crowds lose their shit before, but I don't think I've ever seen a crowd just up and say "fuck it" to god only knows how many collective centuries of devotion to the craft of coolness as I saw when that little percussion loop at the beginning of "Easylove" snuck out of the speakers. I mean, "Paris" and whatever the other one I seem to remember went over a treat too, but seriously - if "Easylove" isn't first in line to take over for that Justice remix of "Never Be Alone" in the Tech-House Party Omnipresence Continuum, I'll eat every hat on the planet. I'm posting "The Looks" from their forthcoming EP of the same name for a number of reasons (boost stats on Hype Machine, already posted "Easylove" back in the day, is a very very very very very awesome song and almost definitely my favorite track off the EP, etc), but none moreso than the fact that "The Looks" happens to provide a great example of every element of "Easylove" that made a warehouse full of graphic designers and patrons of the Good Luck Bar lose their collective shit. I mean, it's nothing specific about the song- it doesn't take too much exposure to MSTRKRFT to get a handle on their steez, after all - but it's a really good example of their blistering buzzsaw synths (which the kids loved) or the shika-shika disco panic stuff going on in the background of their songs (which the kids loved) or the merciless and balls-out way they cut up and fuck around with vocals (which the kids loved). It's also an excellent loss-leader for the EP, which really is quite good and which I plan on buying the day it comes out (July 17th mark yr calenders). All those who would disagree are heartily encouraged to find another MP3 blog.

So anyway. Didn't get laid, didn't do any blow off the tank of a warehouse toilet, didn't even get a free can of Tab (although little miracles, I guess). I did, however, get to see a DJ set good enough to lead me to cut myself out of self-loathing far fewer times than anticipated. So there's that, I guess. (Click here to pre-order The Looks EP from Amazon.com)

Lucky Soul, "Lips Are Unhappy" - I'm starting to suspect that I'm as much of a victim for a good tambourine as I've historically been for a good piano when it comes to my indie pop songs - much like the also-beloved cowbell, it takes a special (in the short-bus sense) talent to play the tambourine with anything other than total conviction and enthusiasm. So imagine my delight at turning up "Lips Are Unhappy" by current UK buzz-outfit Lucky Soul over at the exquisite and shockingly previously-unlinked Torture Garden over the weekend - it's like three solid minutes of tambourine and piano and indie blisscore and GOOD LORD IT'S LIKE HAVING YOUR URETHRA LICKED BY KITTENS JUST FUCKING DOWNLOAD IT ALREADY. Most of their press seems to want to put them under the same heading as revivalist bands like the Pipettes or Johnny Boy, but frankly that doesn't quite wash for me - this song brings Camera Obscura or Magnetic Fields (hell, you could practically retitle it "100,001 Fireflies") to mind a whole hell of a lot more readily than the kind of bands stopping the show Right Now. I mean, I love the Pipettes to an almost shameful extent, but it'll be pretty sad if they're doing that same act when they're forty-five; meanwhile, anyone looking for a barometer of the lastability of songs like this need look no further than the La's. Just because a band happens to write really cute music doesn't make it trendy; sometimes it's just pretty damn good. (Click here to buy the "Lips Are Unhappy" single through the band's website - it actually just takes you to HMV, but I figure the band must be getting a commission this way)

ELSEWHERE

- Several links added to the sidebar - in addition to the aforementioned Torture Garden, there's also American Athlete (featuring a sickeningly great track from Todd Terje, for those of you with a cosmic disco sweet tooth), The People's Dance Party (which looks to be a pretty good mp3 blog/information clearinghouse for SoCal-area techno dance events - if that tracklisting's to be taken as an indicator, it looks like I'm'a need to go see the Hacker this weekend), and last but not least Hits In The Car (which, and get ready for a major revelation, may have well have sold me on the virtues of MySpace at long last by virtue of the Smedby song on their rolling top-25 list and that ATOC remix of The Alpine's "Trigger" buried down the page). I also belatedly updated the link for the unfuckwithable Good Weather For Airstrikes, who happen to be on hiatus at the moment but damn sure deserve your attention anyway (if I had a dollar for every post of theirs beating me to some band I adore that made me curse loudly and to nobody in particular, etc).

- And speaking of unfuckwithable (and MSTRKRFT, come to think of it), Y'ALL NEED TO HIE YOURSELVES HENCE OVER TO THE PRETTIEST PONY RIGHT NOW EXCLAMATION POINT. I really should just go ahead and set that up as a macro.