Hilarious comment on the Paul McCartney divorce settlement. So Heather gets a judgement of $33 million. The divorce judgement which was highly critical of her as witness, calling her claims to Paul’s money as “exorbitant.” The court publication of the settlement seems to verify Beatle fans’ claims that she’s a “Goldigger.” On the other hand, with over $500 million in net worth he’s not exactly playing “Blackbird” in the Subway.
Next it’s Macca impersonator Stevie Riks with a version of “Lady Madonna” – really funny!
The Jet Age is an energetic indie rock band with a very contemporary sound, front man Eric Tischler sounds a little like Ray Davies if he joined The Lemonheads. The indie press seems to love them, from Wired to Pitchfork. This is less power pop, but more a standard rock band with good harmonies and a wall of sound style of production, where layers of guitars fill the audio space completely. A highlight is “Dance” – where a special nod goes to drummer Pete Nuwayser, who does the best Keith Moon impression I’ve heard this year. Other songs bring to mind The Odds or early Sloan (“If I Had You Then, I’d Still Want You Now” has that plus the Kinks thrown in for good measure). Another highlight for me was the mesmerizing “O, Calendar” throwing drum and guitar at you much like Guided By Voices. The flowing, ever repeating guitar rhythms tend to take over many of the songs (“Dumb” is an example of this). The theme of the album is of political nature and the lyrics are pretty insightful in “I Said Alright.” Things get a bit shoegazer on “Now We Are Three” but get a bit punky on “Maybe Love’s A Transmission.” Listen to the streaming album “What Did You Do During The War Daddy?” You can buy the album directly from the band’s website.
Since we’re on a 80’s synth-pop theme (see last review) here is a video from both Jason Falkner and Roger Manning Jr.’s last project, TV Eyes – a shiny synth-pop extravaganza. But really this is to let you know that Manning’s newsest CD is almost ready, it’s called “Catnip Dynamite” and is due out in Japan by 3/19. So when is it coming to the USA? I’m sure hopefully it won’t take too long. Visit his my space page to sample a song or two. It sounds like the synth influences are more prominent here.
Okay time for a side trip. How about a flashback to the era of “Weird Science” and weirder hairdos? As a follow up to “The Pigs” Geoff Westen is not content in staying with one type of musical style and with his latest “Vidiots – Tune In” we get a flashback to 1982 via new wave pop. Like a bizarre mix of The Talking Heads and The Cars with Roxy Music as your backing band, Westen has the period down perfectly. I am sure at some point, this music will be fashionable again (after all it happened to Disco). As good and slick as the production is the songs themselves don’t really make an impression on me until “Angry Young Man” which would fit nicely into the dance pop category along with Pseudo Echo. “Action Man” is a well written pop tune about “goin’ to a party”. Then some experimental synthpop entered the scene with “Some of you Girls” and he loses me again. If you are patient, you’ll get a good pop tune like “Searching For Love” with a very David Byrne-like vocal. The funky “Friend or Lover” heads into Devo territory and does a excellent job although it seems to drag on over six minutes. If your musical taste runs into this nostalgia trip of day-glo colors, Westen will be happy to start your “party out-of-bounds.”
