Buzz Rant & Rave

Sigur Ros on NPR. Maybe they should have started answering questions in their invented language.

This year's CMJ lineup is pretty underwhelming. Maybe I'm just out of touch with which bands are getting deserved buzz, but there aren't many lineups that are interesting top to bottom. Or maybe I'm just excited to see BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN tomorrow.

Here are a few of the bands who I would see again or I've heard good things about. I'm sure people more plugged into the scene might be able to find more of interest. It looks like making best use of a badge requires schlepping back and forth between Manhattan and Williamsburg.

Tuesday

Luna Lounge
11:15pm Tigers and Monkeys

Pianos
10:30pm The Octagon
11:15pm Sam Champion

Trash
8:30pm Death of Jason Brody

Wednesday

Canal Room
11:30pm Die Romantik

Europa
9:30pm The Vandelles

Luna Lounge
11:00pm Saturday Looks Good To Me

Music Hall of Williamsburg
10:00pm Sam Champion

White Rabbit
6:45pm Charles Bissell (of The Wrens)

Thursday

Pianos
10:30pm The Big Sleep

White Rabbit
2:15pm The Muggabears
3:45pm The Teeth
4:30pm The Big Sleep

Friday

Mercury Lounge
12:00am The Walkmen

Pianos
10:45pm The Capitol Years
11:30pm The Teeth

White Rabbit
3:45pm Jukebox The Ghost
5:15pm The Mugs

Saturday

The Delancey
6:00pm Chop Shop
7:00pm The Secret Life of Sofia
8:00pm Gold Streets
9:00pm Mancino
10:00pm Man In Gray
11:00pm A Place to Bury Strangers
12:00am Up the Empire
1:00am El Jezel

Midway
10:00pm Goes Cube

Music Hall of Williamsburg
12:00am Matt & Kim

Union Hall
10:00pm The Beat Radio
11:00pm The Mugs

In the New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones wonders why indie rock is so lame and, well, white. A Paler Shade of White: How indie rock lost its soul

In the past few years, I’ve spent too many evenings at indie concerts waiting in vain for vigor, for rhythm, for a musical effect that could justify all the preciousness.

How did rhythm come to be discounted in an art form that was born as a celebration of rhythm’s possibilities? Where is the impulse to reach out to an audience—to entertain? I can imagine James Brown writing dull material. I can even imagine the Meters wearing out their fans by playing a little too long. But I can’t imagine any of these musicians retreating inward and settling for the lassitude and monotony that so many indie acts seem to confuse with authenticity and significance.

Is this a new segregation of music between the black (beats and rhymes) and white (precious and dreary tones)?

Here's a clip of Van Halen playing Jump on their reunion tour earlier this month in Greensboro, NC:

Something sounds off.

It seems that the synthesizer part is played on a pre-recorded backing track, and at that show it was played back at 48 khz instead of 44.1 khz. RW370, Jump (in pitch)! "Eddie tries to transpose on the fly and match the wildly fucked up keyboards but the great thing there is the difference in pitch is non-musical - about 1.5 semitones sharp. So there’s no frets he can choose to fix the problem!"