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!”

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)?

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

The Delancey
7:30pm The Head Set
Luna Lounge
11:15pm Tigers and Monkeys
Pianos
10:30pm The Octagon
11:15pm Sam Champion
Trash
8:30pm Death of Jason Brody

Wednesday

Avalon
11:10pm The Walkmen
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

Bowery Ballroom
11:00pm Pela
Pianos
10:30pm The Big Sleep
White Rabbit
2:15pm The Muggabears
3:45pm The Teeth
4:30pm The Big Sleep

Friday

Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
9:40pm Earl Greyhound
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

Alphabet Lounge
9:00pm The Attorneys
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

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

With the major networks starting their seasons in earnest this week, it’s as good a time as any to review what I’m watching.
Returning
The Simpsons. This is the 19th season? That means that the series has been around in its years of decline now longer than its prime years. While the last couple of seasons haven’t been bad, the recent episodes are still more cartoon-like than the episodes were during the show’s prime years. Even though it’s long past its prime, The Simpsons is still better than most. And the animation in the season premier is a step up– on par with Futurama and The Simpsons movie.
Family Guy. While often funnier than The Simpsons, Family Guy has never had the emotional depth of its yellow predecessor. When freed from the need to deal with character and plot– like in the retelling of Star Wars that opened this season– it succeeds in bringing the funny.
Curb Your Enthusiasm. It’s pure, unfiltered uncomfortable. And funny.
How I Met Your Mother. Legend– wait for it– ary? Perhaps not. It’s not all that groundbreaking or unique, but it’s relatable, funny and clever. Plus, Alyson Hannigan. And Ted’s mutton chops.
Heroes. Meh. This series has a tremendous amount of buzz for a show that had 2 good episodes in its first season. Although the finale was not a good hour of television (more on that later, hopefully), it deserves a shot. Hopefully this season is less repetitive and features fewer horrible voiceovers. This first episode seems to have picked up the pace a lot. Unfortunately, in this episode, HRG/Claire and Hiro/Ando/Sulu are still more interesting and/or entertaining than any of the other disparate elements.
House. Hugh Laurie is wonderfully entertaining as House. The show has been trying to walk a fine line between being a completely episodic procedural and having actual character development. Unfortunately, this means that while the main characters engage in major life events, the reset button still gets pushed every so often and it’s hard to believe that everyone still gets back to the same place. The new season is going to start off with actual change in the status quo and hopefully, it will give the characters some new life.
The Office. Perhaps the finest comedy on TV. Admittedly, the competition isn’t all that stiff, but the show is awkward, uncomfortable and funny. This season looks to shuffle the characters around enough to keep things fresh.
30 Rock. Perhaps the funniest show on TV. It’s not as compelling of a show as The Office, but as a farce and a direct commentary on culture and media, it’s a keeper.
South Park. More relevant than ever.
Friday Night Lights. I’m only on episode 3 of the first season on DVD, but so far, it’s very compelling, human and engrossing. And it looks wonderfl.
Summer Holdovers
The Daily Show/The Colbert Report. The most relevant and important television.
Doctor Who. Blink was one of the finest hours of television in recent memory. It’s get a few more episodes in the third series on SciFi.
Top Gear. The BBC auto show is like a mix of car reviews and Junkyard Wars, and demonstrates the value of real public funding. An advertiser supported show could not be as honest or as interesting. It is tremendously inventive and creative and great entertainment, even if you’re not that interested in motoring. If you are, seeing the differences between UK and US car culture is especially fascinating.
Mythbusters. They blow things up for science. That’s great television.
New Shows of Interest
Bionic Woman. Is it good that the thing I was most excited about was hearing Earl Greyhound’s “S.O.S.” as background music? Aside from Katee Sackhoff, Earl Greyhound on TV was by far the best thing about the pilot. The rest of it didn’t fit together well. There’s some good stuff in here and it could come together for a good series, but if the characters continue to act without any coherent motivations, this will devolve quickly into an unwatchable mess. It’s not far from being an unwatchable mess.
Chuck. In the pilots of both Chuck and Bionic Woman, the titular character ends telling shady government characters that the title character will work for the government on his/her own terms. Chuck, however, has gone through enough of a journey in the first hour for that confrontation to make sense. Plus, it’s funny and cleverly written. If the series has more of Chuck’s handlers and less of his annoying friend/co-worker, it could be a winner.
Dirty Sexy Money.
Pushing Daisies.
Reaper.
Returning Eventually.
Lost. The third season started off very weak, but rebounded to a wonderful finale. Hopefully a fixed end date will do wonders for keeping the plot moving along.
Battlestar Galactica. The third season finale could pay off to be amazing or awful. I’m hoping for amazing. Like Lost, hopefully, a fixed number of episodes will lead to consistently high quality.
The Amazing Race. While it may feel like it’s formulaic and/or stale, it’s still a phenomenal achievement to produce the Race, and the show is still entertaining.
I’m scared to think of how much time per week of television this actually translates into. And how much lower than the average American watches television per week.

I’ve been enjoying the new Heavy Trash album, Going Way Out with Heavy Trash. (Listen online at Yep Roc.)
Heavy Trash is Jon Spencer (of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion fame) and Matt Verta-Ray (of Speedball Baby) playing rockabilly and good ol’ rock and roll. Going Way Out was recorded in three countries with musicians including Simon Chardiet, The Sadies and Powersolo.
I, in fact, guested on a couple of tracks on the album. The Bosch recorded with Verta-Ray earlier this year, and a couple of weeks after that, Matt called me up to see if I was available to record some saxophone. Being very newly unemployed, I was nothing but available, and went in, played some saxophone and ended up with Official Jon Spencer Rockabilly Nickname. Listen to “Way Out” and look in the album credits.
Here are a few photos from the Heavy Trash gig in Tompkins Square Park:



Heavy Trash plays Luna Lounge on Friday, September 21 (which also happen to be Eruv Yom Kippur. Oh well.)

With Flight of the Conchords on iPhone, any time is Business Time:

And even though the Flash embed won’t play on an iPhone, here’s Hip-Hopopotamus vs. The Rhymenocerous:

The good news is that HBO renewed Flight of the Conchords for a second season.

Entertaining mashup of Seven Nation Army with Sweet Dreams (are Made of This):