And, if you like awesome food and you also enjoy the Short North, come hang out with us at Surly Girl Saloon tonight at 8pm and enjoy some Dine Originals to help celebrate tonight’s premiere of Columbus Neighborhoods: The Short North on WOSU TV!

-Eric

Courtesy of NPR:

On paper, it’s a fool’s errand: Peter Gabriel, a 60-year-old icon with one of the most distinctively dusky voices in rock, gets down with the young folk by covering the songs of Arcade Fire, Radiohead and Bon Iver, alongside tributes to peers such as Neil Young, Paul Simon, David Bowie, Randy Newman and others. Scratch My Back ought to be the ultimate in inessential vanity projects — an album-length love letter to a star’s impeccably curated record collection — but it flat-out isn’t. Instead, it actually does what it’s supposed to do; namely, do right by both the singer and his source material.

- Scott

"The more the merrier" has always been in style for Broken Social Scene

This is the first glimpse of the bazillion-member Toronto collective that we’ve had since 2005’s self-titled third album (Arts & Crafts), though band leaders Kevin Drew and Brandon Canning have each released solo albums since then. Forgiveness Rock Record (Arts& Crafts, 2010) should bring plenty of excitement; any band with members of so many other great bands (Metric, Feist, Stars, Do Make Say Think) promises to do so. “World Sick” is long and crawls for a Broken Social Scene song, but the familiar warm guitar hook makes it impossible to be anything but excited about the rest of this major upcoming release.

Gorillaz – Stylo

I’ve never been a fan of the animated band gimmick, but this single has grown on me in the past month. I don’t expect it to go away any time soon, especially with the release of Plastic Beach coming up on March 8^th. If you’re like me, you’re going to enjoy Bruce Willis shooting at cartoon characters. Always refreshing rapper Mos Def also features.

Joanna Newsom – Go Long

Have One on Me (Drag City, 2010) has been widely available since February 23^rd, but I still don’t think that anyone can have listened to this one enough to attribute a rating to it – except for the professionals, of course. The triple album clocks in at two hours, and each song seems longer and more demanding of the listener’s attention than the previous song. Although “Go Long” is eight minutes long, it is both focused and captivating. Bring on the Joni Mitchell comparisons.

Caribou – Odessa

Swim (Merge, 2010) is the follow-up to the Polaris Music Prize-winning album Andorra (Merge, 2007). If “Odessa” is any indication of what’s to come, math scholar-turned- electronica musician Dan Snaith will be enjoying more critical praise this spring. Swim matches this particular song’s sound well; there is a distinct feeling that this song would be even better if played at a snorkeling dance party.

Modest Mouse – Cowboy Dan (Live 2001)

Jeremiah Green is the drummer for one of my all-time favorite bands, Modest Mouse. March 4^th is his 33^rd birthday. This is a live extended take on “Cowboy Dan,” from the classic Modest Mouse album Lonesome Crowded West (Up, 1997). There is much angry jamming to be had here.

-Bryan Gordon (WOSU Intern)

That’s right folks. Capital Noise debuts tonight at 7pm right here on Capital City Radio. Take a listen to the acts in town for the next week–you might find some surprises!

The Set-List is already available, for those of you who like your concert updates on-the-go (geez, take a break once and awhile, people!).  But we understand.  That’s why it’s not only available for download, you can even sign up for the feed, so you can get it every Monday on that fancy little phone/super-computer/nose-hair trimmer of yours.

And we’ll have more for you every week…including a venue low-down, advanced ticket/show info, and so much more!  But for today, you’ll just have to live with the premiere.  I see you shiver with antici…..pation.

-Emma

…is coming.  This Monday, March 1.  Get ready.

-Eric

Contra

XL Recordings

January 2010

Vampire Weekend’s sophomore act is overflowing with the global influences that made their first work the surprise of 2008. This time, however, Contra entered the Billboard Charts at number 1. Ezra Koenig and his former classmates from Columbia tackle a laundry list of exotic styles, incorporating calypso, ska, a slew of different African rhythms and, yes, Paul Simon. The Jewish Jersey boys can draw from such diverse sources because of a persistently intellectual method – from the lyrics (decidedly hyperliterate and obscure) to the musical composition (comprehensively preconceived). These traits are nothing new to Vampire Weekend fans, but the pacing and concentration of eccentricities are much more varied than in the self-titled debut.

At their best, the results are tight, inventive pop relics. “White Sky,” a whimsical epiphany about New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a bouncing melody of arpeggios straight from the arcade. A bonus quality that makes “White Sky” instantly lovable is that, unlike other Vampire Weekend tracks, its lyrics are actually decipherable. The narrator, walking past the Museum and then by the apartments nearby, imagines “your Wolford’s [leggings] in a ball upon the sink there.” The thought of living with a romantic interest, though framed in hipster terms, is quite resonant – especially in comparison to album opener “Horchata,” in which Koenig seems to conjure up the most exotic items he can think of.

The ethno-pop experimentation is occasionally pushed too far, particularly in Contra’s middle third. The trumpet chorus of “Run” verges on ridiculous, while “Cousins” is so erratic in just two and a half minutes that it never settles on the memorable quality of similar songs on Vampire Weekend. It is evident that the band was trying to recapture the conflagrant catchiness of first single “A-Punk,” but this proves to have been largely hit-or-miss.

Only when the band sticks to a streamlined, more honest approach does Contra achieve the catchiness that has made Vampire Weekend so successful. The band pass the four minute mark more often in the final third of the album; “Giving Up the Gun” and “Diplomat’s Son” both suggest must more patience in the creative process than the more sporadic tracks that precede them.

Contra is a strong album, though not quite as consistent as their first. In order for their next album to sound fresh, Vampire Weekend deserve plenty of time to patiently create a refined record rather than a hit-or-miss affair.

Rating: 8/10

-Bryan Gordon

-Eric