Today we're tapping local fashionistas (and pretty kick-ass DJs) Jenifer Rea and Erin Mikulenka, the duo better known as Team Fabrication. The girls just wrapped their 2008 with a bow, honoring local fashion standouts at Fabrication 6 (Austinist was honored as most fashionable blog, but we're not sure they've ever seen us on a Sunday), and we're sure we'll be hearing (and seeing) more from them in 2009. Check it out: Fabrication 5 (Vimeo). Here's what the girls recommended to us for '08:
of Montreal Skeletal Lamping. Sex, drugs, and fashion. Can’t think of another band whose essence radiates all three so well. Since Team Fab is into 2 outta the 3 (we'll let you guess which), Skeletal Lamping gets top five status. It's musically schizophrenic, upbeat, chaotic, experimental. We consider it a metaphor for our fashion philosophy: do-it-cuz-you-love-it, pour your heart into it, and welcome the unconventional & silly . (We dare you to accurately count the # of costume changes at an OM show and dare you twice to see a band having more fun playing.) First case in point: “We can do it soft core if you want, but you should know I take it both ways” from “For Our Elegant Caste”. Jen makes the harder/edgy duds while Erin makes the softcore fluffies. Robotic blips layered over sweeping synths. Leather and lace. Second case: “Touched Something's Hollow," a lonely heartache ditty, then BOOM! the blast of horns and poppy goodness that is "I Remember An Eludardian Instance." Lyrically morose "I was in the depths of emotional hibernation" and sonically happy-go-lucky. Many say its the creative types that face the most emotional turmoil. Out of Team Fab's 2008 depths came some clothing we're really proud we forced our hands & hearts to create. Lastly in "Nonpareil of Favor," we hear upbeat melodies segue into their Beatlesesque Elephant 6 roots. Next, a psychadelic buildup of noise and vocal experimentalism a la Animal Collective. Busting at the seams, chaotic, all over the place this album. Sound a bit like sex and fashion? We think yes. -Erin Mikulenka
MGMT Oracular Spectacular. Got it. Everyone hearts MGMT. The most mashed and mixed album of 2008 & we say "Leave it alone!" maybe heard a coupla good ones, but please stop ruining this brilliant synth driven/indie pop/peppered with influences from across the Atlantic. You're missing out on the lyrics, the intricate keys, the secret creature sounds lurking in the background. What we love most: these are kids making this music and here we are in our 30s wishing we had the knowledge these guys do in their youth. "Time To Pretend" says "let's make some music make some money find some models for wives," a display of every artists dream, being "discovered", sudden fame, fortune. But as these kids know, we're all "fated to pretend." Most artists are; ironically, MGMT has willingly or not hopped on board by now. Speaking of kids: our favorite track with the most heartfelt, emotionally driven lyrics sung in the sincerest of manners during the bridge: "Decisions are made and not bought; I thought this wouldn't hurt a lot I guess not." Finally, the first note of "Electric Feel" will get any hipsters ass onto the dance floor faster than they can do a key bump. Yep the kids are doing that these days but MGMT can decide to live fast and die young, & they'll still win "The Weekend Wars." -Erin Mikulenka
Follow the jump for the rest!
The Last Shadow Puppets The Age of the Understatement. Side projects, offshoots, we know the Elephant 6ers and the Canadians do it amazingly well, but how about our friends from England like Bloc Party (Pin Me Down) and the Arctic Monkeys? Team Fab is quite impressed with The Last Shadow Puppets, a side project of the Arctic Monkeys who give us an album tickled with '60s sounding cinematic overtones as they utilize the London Metropolitan Orchestra throughout . Personally we're not fans of the ole Monkeys, and typically we think offshoots of bands are either just as good or better than the original. Let's pack everyone in that tour bus, shall we? Listen up Voxtrot, Belaire, The Strokes, Little Joy who all share members, we <3 you all! The Last Shadow Puppets create tunes less dance punkish, derivative, and dare we say, tired and trendy than the Arctic Monkeys. This album gives us more warmth, and seems more concerned with lamenting our ex lovers at home versus putting on our happy faces and "looking good on the dancefloor" to find someone new, who will probably be a waste of time anyway. In "The Chamber" we hear cello, violins and lyrics such as "its torture locked inside the chamber, leave yourself alone, time wasted time." In "Standing Next to me" another song to an ex lover - whose new lover is standing next to the subject (ouch!) "I can relate to the never-ending games you play." They bring up the tempo a bit in "The Age of the Understatement" with some dancier beats, but back to normal with "The Meeting Place" where strings, horns, and a fairytale start that lingers throughout along with lyrics "the colder the nights get, the further she strays." We see where you're coming from Puppets. We all want to dance like monkeys and forget about shit, but at the end of the night we've all gone home to lament. Team Fab has decided you've surpassed the Monkeys and since you captured the human spirit so well on your album, we'd like to see you evolve even more. - Jenifer Rea
Tim Fite Fair Ain't Fair. Things happen beyond the boundaries of reason and civility and Tim Fite's sophomore release is certainly a nod toward that statement. Unclassifiable with it's countless musical influences, Fair Ain't Fair takes you from country twang to big city bass without missing a beat.
With a bargain bin budget and non-conformist point of view, Fite creates the blueprint for an intriguing avant-folk vision of musical crime and resuscitation. A year in the making, Fair Ain't Fair has revolutionized the art of the bedroom recording. Scouring record stores for long forgotten gems, his under a dollar finds are sampled, looped, and paired with an amalgamate of voices resulting in the best anachronistic, copyright-defying, country/hip-hop collage ever!
From the obvious single "Big Mistake" , to the satirically soaked "More Clothes", Fite takes on issues of consumerism, corporate greed and the end of the world with a tongue-in-cheek lyrics and complex layers. "Fair ain't so fair, fuckers / there's folly in the pork fat" starts the album leading us headlong into a hyper saturated view of the world through the eyes of an artist who truly listens, absorbs and then reflects in his own way - which doesn't easily translate into a nice marketable package.
And there is the beauty of Tim Fite. A musical anomaly playing by his own rules. A cultural gadfly who doesn't give a fuck about your genres and classifications. Lovely, loud, angry and amicable: Fite is all things a musician should strive to be, vast and varied, honest and uncensored. If you can't decide whether you're a little bit country or a little bit rock 'n' rollor even a little bit rapdon't worry. Fair Ain't Fair is parked neatly in the intersection. A perfect musical hybrid for the cynic in us all. - Jenifer Rea
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Thanks so much for asking us to do this! It was alot of fun! xo