Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Obituary: Siren Music Festival

Saturday's Siren music festival went the way these shows have for the better part of a decade. Bands play, people sweat, some complain, some burn, some dance, some sway semi-rythmicly, many induldge in over priced hot dogs and (assuming such a thing exists)over sized beers. Some bands were great(Twilight Sad, M.I.A., Black Lips), some boring(Dr. Dog), several were better than expected (Elvis Perkins, We Are Scientists). But all in all it was a summer high light. A day that you know a cross section of the most and least attractive people in the city will cross your eye. A day where the pain of a sunburn is offset by an afternoon buzz. Exhausting, and entirely worth the trek the Siren Festival has been one of the finest free events our city has had to offer for 7 years.

I wish I had taken more pictures and yet I know that it would have limited my ability to have fun. As is the only serviceable pictures of any bands I got were of the excellent Twilight Sad. They opened the day running late and somehow cut through the mid day sun with their bruting Scottish Post-Mope Rock. After catching smidges of Elvis Perkins and Dr. Dog I indulged in some gastric challenging Nathan's.

The rest of the day was a triple shot of excellence. Black Lips ripped through their rowdy garage rock set with flair, though less I'm told than their usual more intimate sets. We Are Scientists had energy and clearly had a hold over the (likely blogger heavy) crowd. Then there was M.I.A. who overcame mic trouble with energy but also with help from an exuberent audience. Cynicly I skipped the New York Dolls and took that time with friends lounging on the boardwalk.

All in all it ranks as over all my most positive Siren experience, too bad it will be my last.

Top 5 Siren Performances That I Have witnessed (I have been to 4 of these, all are represented):
1. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists - 2003
2. M.I.A. - 2007
3. Art Brut - 2006
4. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - 2004
5. Mission of Burma - 2004

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Top Five Album Openers

So first the chump over at BigAppleMusicBlog through a list of the best album openers ever. A bit of time lapse and the snoot at The Unblinking Ear decided to weigh in. Well, far be it for me to turn down a debate of the relative merits of my taste versus those of others. So here it is. (I was able to find YouTube videos for all but my number 5. They are linked in the titles.)

5. The Modern Lovers "Road Runner" from The Modern Lovers

Oh the count off. Is there a better way to start a song? With a quick and decisive "1!2!3!4!5!6!" Jonathan Richman launches his definitive single, his definitve album and his entire career on full throttle. The band is on fire pounding two chords into your head for the duration. Driving past the Stop and Shop with the radio on. You hear the ghosts of Rock radio past in each element of this song down to it's symbal crashes and Richman's ever reaching howls.

4. The Who "Baba O'Reilly" from Who's Next

Just the finest stadium rock song ever thats all. Just the best use of looped synth in rock history, nothing special there. Just the finest hop in your car with the broken transmition and do something irresponsible song ever, ho hum. The rock moves the windmills, the mic swings, the high kicks, you can actually hear them. The album can hardly keep pace past this point. It doesn't have to.

3. Spoon "Small Stakes" from Kill the Moonlight

There's two kinds of album openers; big bangs and slow builders. This is the later. It also works as a Spoon mission statement. Rather than coming out guns blazing Spoon whittle the song to it's most basic elements: vocal, heavy reverb, pulsing fuzzy keyboard riff, and some of Britt Daniell's finest lyrics. "Small Stakes" works as a theme song to Kill the Moon, it sets a template that is pulled to it's extremes and diced up for the next half hour and seems to leave you with that one chord still echoing in your head.

2. Guided By Voices "A Salty Salute" from Alien Lanes

The best set opening song ever? Yes. The best start to any rock and roll style celebration ever? Yes. Like much of the GBV cannon it's over so fast that you're tempted to go right back to the thudding opening bass line. It's Pollard's ralying cry, "The club is open!" You've been invited.

1. Metallica "Battery" from Master of Puppets

It's got all the tropes of a classic rock (ie: Zepplin not "Louie Louie") song with it's finger plucked acoustic opener and cascading drums as that intro seems to turn to song, then it haults just long enough for you to suck in some oxegen. For the next few minutes you are being pummeled by the greatest riff in metal played by it's most precise and skillful practitioners. The lyrics are of course silly with their shout along cadence and their seeming lack of any meaning. The statement is more about intent and sound than anything anyone might ever attempt to put into words.

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