Beck Modern Guilt (XL)

It's Beck's birthday, and this future Austin City Limits festival headliner is celebrating with the release of his latest, Modern Guilt. Produced by Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley) and featuring none other than Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Guilt oozes pop noir. Squeaking in at just 30 minutes, the album is a slight addition to Beck's library, but it's a finely-tuned stablemate: Danger Mouse ties up the loose ends that tend to be Beck's stumbling blocks, tightening up the collage approach that the artist has become famous for. The geek chic is still there, but there seems to be a new found focus on the transition. Transition might be key here, as Beck has finally moved on from Geffen and on to XL. Time will tell if there is any real change happening here, as we see glimpses of something big happening that 30 minutes might not really be able to shed light on. For now, expect a slightly darker take on a familiar recipe.

Beck Official
Beck MySpace
Abe Vigoda: Skeleton
Air: Air (reissue)
Albert Hammond Jr.: Como Te Llama?
Albert Hammond Jr.: Como Te Llama? [vinyl]
Alison Moyet: The Turn
Architecture in Helsinki: Like It Or Not EP
Architecture in Helsinki: Like It Or Not EP [vinyl]
Bad Religion: New Maps of Hell (Deluxe Version)
The Baseball Project: Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails
Beck: Modern Guilt
Black Crowes: Warpaint [vinyl]
Black Ghosts: The Black Ghosts
Black Sun Ensemble: Across the Sea of Id: The Way to Eden
British Sea Power: Open Season (reissue) [vinyl]
The Capstan Shafts: Fixation Protocols
Centro-matic & South San Gabriel: Dual Hawks [vinyl]
Chromeo: Fancy Footwork: Deluxe Edtion
Chromeo: Fancy Footwork: Deluxe Edtion [vinyl]
CocoRosie: God Has a Voice, She Speaks Through Me 7" [vinyl]
Danger Radio: Used And Abused
The Dead Boys: We Have Come for Your Children (reissue)
Del McCoury: Moneyland
Dethklok: The Dethalbum [vinyl]
Devin Lima & the Cadbury Diesel: Mozart Popart
Donna the Buffalo: Silverlined
Dutchess & The Duke: She's The Dutchess, He's The Duke
Dutchess & The Duke: She's The Dutchess, He's The Duke [vinyl]
Ellen Alien: Sool [vinyl]
The Fall: I Never Felt Better in My Life 1979-82
Feral Children: Second to the Last Frontier
The Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat (reissue) [vinyl]
The Fiery Furnaces: The Fiery Furnaces EP (reissue) [vinyl]
The Fiery Furnaces: Gallowsbird's Bark (reissue) [vinyl]
The Gits: Best Of The Gits
Great Big Sea: Fortune's Favour
Hamell on Trial: Rant and Roll
Jean Grae: Jeanius
John Hiatt: Same Old Man [vinyl]
Joseph Arthur: Foreign Girls
Karl Hector: Sahara Swing
Kerli: Love Is Dead
Leila: Blood, Looms & Blooms
The Libertines: The Libertines (reissue) [vinyl]
The Libertines: Up the Bracket (reissue) [vinyl]
M. Ward: Transfiguration of Vincent (reissue) [vinyl]
Magnetic Fields: Distortion [vinyl]
The Maine: Can't Stop Won't Stop
Mates of State: Re-Arrange Us [vinyl]
MC5: Kick Out the Jams (remastered)
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: Have Another Ball!
Melvins: Nude With Boot
Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Medium Rare
Mika Miko: 666
Mika Miko: C.Y.S.L.A.B.F. (reissue) [vinyl]
The Moldy Peaches: The Moldy Peaches (reissue) [vinyl]
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (Limited Edition Hardcover Book + CD)
Noisia: FABRICLIVE 40
The Notwist: The Devil, You + Me [vinyl]
The Old Believers: Eight Golden Greats
Paper Route: Are We All Forgotten
Paramount Styles: Failure American Style
Parts & Labor: Escapers Two: Grind Pop EP
Patti Smith & Kevin Shields: The Coral Sea
The Radiators: Wild & Free
Ratatat: LP3
Ratatat: LP3 [vinyl]
Ringo Starr: Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band Live 2006
Ron Sexsmith: Exit Strategy of the Soul
Saturday Looks Good To Me: Cold Colors EP [vinyl]
Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust
Saul Williams: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust [vinyl]
Seth Kauffman: Research
Son Ambulance: Someone Else's déjà vu
Son Ambulance: Someone Else's déjà vu [vinyl]
Stiff Little Fingers: Long Way To Paradise
Sunny Day Sets Fire: Summer Palace
Telepathic Butterflies: Breakfast in Suburbia
Totimoshi: Milagrosa
Tu Fawning: Sucession EP
Van Morrison: Common One (remastered)
Van Morrison: Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (remastered)
Vancougar: Canadian Tuxedo
Various Artists: Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered
Various Artists: Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered [vinyl]
Various Artists: Weeds: Music From The Series Vol. 3
The Weeks: Comeback Cadillac
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis: Two Men With The Blues
Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis: Two Men With The Blues [vinyl]
Xiu Xiu: Fabulous Muscles (reissue) [vinyl]
Xiu Xiu: La Foret (reissue) [vinyl]
Yaz: In Your Room (4-disc box set)

Editor?s note: The views expressed in Hots On are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the outlook or beliefs of anyone else in the IST network.

A month or so ago I was hanging out with an old friend I hadn?t seen in awhile. It wasn?t awkward at all, but we aren't terribly close so the conversation was hopping from one thing to another in that rudderless, silence-avoiding way it goes when you've gone through all the gossip and most of the whiskey. At some point I remember him saying ?So have you heard this band Wildildlife?? and me shrugging noncommittally, thinking, neat, another indie buzz band with a shitty name I?ll have to contend with in the future. What struck me was that my friend hadn?t heard a note from the band. They didn?t have a MySpace at the time, or one that made itself immediately apparent. He?d seen their name on a gig poster. Eventually I got hold of a copy, as much to score it for my friend as to alleviate my entirely-manageable curiosity. The album is called Six, and it has seven tracks. Uh-oh, I remember thinking, maybe that's supposed to be clever...and they?re from San Francisco. But within five seconds of putting the record on, I knew I had something good on my hands: just the way the drums sounded, and how that introductory beat went on and on until you wasn?t sure if there was even a song there. And when everything came crashing into the mix, like some unholy union of Black Sabbath, Can, and the Pixies. Holy crap, I thought, they actually know what they?re doing.

?Things Will Grow? is probably one of the better songs released last year, but it?s also the only example of Wildildlife?s skewed pop sense. The entire rest of the record switches between full-blast drone-metal and plain self-indulgent nonsense. Wildildlife manage the curiously difficult task of making incredibly self-indulgent music that still manage to translate the anthemic big-rockisms like ?hooks? through their sheets of drug-addled noise. Not that I have anything against drug-addled noise; just don?t act like it's a reasonable substitute for more good songs. And yet in the last few weeks I've listened to Six over a dozen times straight through. And it was only the first couple times I was searching futilely for more evidence of track one?s ear candy. I actually sort of got into the 18-minute Doors impression ?Magic Jordan,? and once or twice I even let the self-explanatory final track ?Nervous Buzzing? play out all the way without turning my iPod off. And as far as I know, my friend still hasn?t heard it (answer your FUCKING PHONE, ISAAC).

Several developments have raised my admiration for Wildildlife: for one, I discovered the album was reviewed in Decibel, a dyed-in-the-wool metal rag that typically features bands like Pig Destroyer on the cover. Six is not a metal record by any means, but it is, apparently, metalhead-approved, which by the transitive property of metal makes it me-approved. Confusing? Sure. But whatever, metal rules.

Secondly, I discovered a Canadian lo-fi band doing similar things with very dissimilar tools. Alberta, Canada?s Women take their cues from the blissed-out '60s sounds of The Zombies and the Hollies, but they certainly do not come from the sunny side of the street. The first track on their self-titled debut immediately sets hearts a-flutter with a toe-tappin' beat, but the tune abruptly cuts out at the 1-minute mark to make way for several minutes of impenetrable buzzing. They manage to drop a couple-three sublime Velvet Underground impressions and an excellent, shred-happy Captain Beefheart jam, in between pile-ups of ominous schizo-tones, but the two combine about as effectively as oil and water. In comparison, Wildildlife?s extremes of noise and pop seem like two sides of the same coin.

Still, there?s something about a band scarring their own near-perfect pop sensibilities with endless drones and haphazard sequencing that seems, well, regressive. Didn?t the Velvet Underground already do this perfectly, 40 years ago? And at this point, it?s as calculated a move as trying to get in bed with BrooklynVegan: after all, nothing screams ?authenticity? directly in your face like holding out a perfectly nice, blissed-out pop song and then snatching it back and drowning it in a fetid pool of noise and laughing maniacally as you start to cry. For the record, I?m actually starting to warm to the reckless, frequently violent disregard of the boundaries separating good ideas from bad these bands share. But the balance is off--if we could just get to 60% anthems, 40% noise, we?d be good. Right now it?s more like 30/70. But who knows? In ten years this blip could actually be a cliche that screams ?late 2000s.?

Wildildlife MySpace
Women MySpace

• Athletes, take your oxygen masks: pollution levels aren't looking that great for the Beijing Olympics.
• G8 leaders pledge to cut in half the amount of greenhouse emissions by 2050.
• Earthquake this morning hits southern Peru.
• Church of England is now allowing female bishops.
• Alcohol abuse becoming more prevalent in vets of Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
• The military wants to help shape the form of the modern war movie (but don't call it censorship).
• Segregation still remains in some Texas cemeteries, it seems.

Hungry to share your most provocative Austin food photos? Send them here. Make sure to include your name, where the photo was taken and a complete description of the food.

For the remaining Fridays in July, Lovey and Lovey, the alter-egos of comedians Michael Jastroch and Tami Nelson, will be holding court at the US Art Authority. Described by Sean O'Neill at The Onion as a "modern take on the screwball comedy...in the grand tradition of The Thin Man's wet-whistled wits Nick and Nora," the Loveys trade barbs about life, love, and whatever the audience might toss their way. We had a chance to chat with none other than Madame and Monsieur Lovey. Here's a teaser of the snap and sparkle you can expect from the show.

We hear you drink and smoke a lot during the show. What's that all about?

Mr. Lovey: Ms. Holden, as I'm sure you are well aware, being a lady reporter and all, it's important to keep your mind appropriately limber in these kinds of situations. We're encountering a much lower class of people than we're used to associating with at these things. The great unwashed are a frightening lot, and I'm afraid a few laps around the Beefeater is the only thing that makes these sorts of things tolerable to Lovey and I. Speaking of laps, Lovey don't we hold the Olympic record for Gin?

Mrs. Lovey: And Scotch and Rye and Bourbon and Rum. It's not the Olympic records we really care about though, it's beating our personal best. We persevere, we strive for the fabled golden ceiling and very often we find that we have indeed reached well beyond that very ceiling because as you are all aware one man's ceiling is another man's floor. So if you are looking at me I will be setting my goals and obtaining them on the floor.

Mr. L: Well spoken Lovey.How did you meet, and how long have you been together?

Mr. L: Ah yes, how we met. Unfortunately, a lot of those memories are clouded by revelry, but near as I can recall, Lovey and I have been together since the late 1970s. That's around when I stop remembering. And around the time my judgment was sufficiently clouded. Either she approached me while I was walking my Shih Tzu, Waffles, or accosted me while I was giving a eulogy for a dear friend of mine, who's name escapes me at the moment. It's hard to think about, as our meeting was a rather unpleasant time in our lives that we don't like to revisit. Still, I can't blame her for coming on to me, what with my robust, Roosevelt-esque physique and ruddy Churchill-esque complexion. That's Franklin, not Teddy, Ms. Holden. I'll thank you to not to draw anymore parallels between me and that dirty Bull-Moose.

Mrs. L: I remember it exactly! It's as if it happened yesterday ... but it couldn't have been yesterday because if it was yesterday then where in the world was I living before yesterday? Come to think of it, I have no idea. That's certainly something I will have to look into another time. I sure hope we solve this mystery soon, though, I am terribly concerned about me and where I have been all this time. You know, Lovey is very good at solving mysteries, you should ask him!

Mr. L: It's true. I solved the case of the missing dowry when I married Lovey. There was none.

If you could give newlyweds one bit of advice, what would it be?

Mr. L: Marriage is a blissful institution. Befriend as many wealthy couples as possible, friends who throw fabulous parties, like our friends the Parkers. That way, you needn't have to wallow in your wife's femininity day in, day out and day in, again. Always listen to your wife, then ignore her, for the female possesses limited capacity for logic and reason, especially in practical matters of finance and politics. Indeed, Lovey's brow furrows in a desperate, ape-like attempt to understand these two disciplines whenever she exchanges money for goods and services or runs for office.

If you're of the educated class, build a time machine, travel back in time and kill your wife's parents so that she'll never be born. That way, you avoid the scourge of divorce, which is a mortal sin and against God's will. Marriage is beautiful.

Mrs. L: Always make sure you have your husband's account numbers memorized or written down in your pocketbook somewhere. I decided to get Lovey's tattooed on the inside of my arm and most everyone just thinks I'm some sort of prisoner or something but AH HA! No, they are indeed the numbers for Lovey's Charles Schwarma accounts or who ever that nice man with all the money is. Also, get a deadbolt on your bedroom door. This is to ensure you won't have too many of those awkward morning-after breakfast cocktails together.

Mr. L: Lovey, you have Charles Schwab confused with a Mediterranean poultry dish again! The truth is, Ms. Holden, we've lost a lot of money because Lovey keeps handing it over to chickens, because she thinks they're people.

What do you like most about working together? Dislike most?

Mr. L: Lovey spends and gambles away most of my money, so in that sense, she does work if we're looking at work in the scientific sense, as energy (gambling) put into an object (money) to accelerate it's motion (loss). Scientifically speaking, Lovey is therefore a very efficient worker, which I love. I am, after all, Prussian at heart. What I dislike about working with Lovey is her ad homonym attacks on my drinking habits. Attack the drink, Lovey, not the drinker.

Mrs. L: I try, Lovey, and you slap them out of my hand! I guess that's what I dislike most about working with Lovey. He always insists that every drink is his! Then I pour another and take a sip and he roars at me again, "You gooseheaded woman! That's MY drink!" and then I pour another and on and on and I guess as you can imagine this whole affair gets rather dull until we reach the end of the bottle. I don't like talking about the ends of bottles. I guess what I like most about working with Lovey is that he always has more money to give me. And that helps me with all of my responsibilities, to my philanthropic interests and bookies.

Okay...let's talk about some of your guests, starting with Luna Tart. She's a force to be reckoned with! Will you share stage time?

Mr. L: Lovey and I graciously did a two minute introduction for her 2008 Frontera Fest Show, and our introduction was so great, we decided to let her open for us on the 18th. However, Lovey and I never allow people to share the stage with us. Sharing is caring, and Lovey and I only care about two things, but I can't remember what they are. Lovey?

Mrs. L: Piracy and the Bronze Age.

You're also playing with McNichol & May, a comedy couple in the process of brewing up their own little M&M. How are Lovey & Lovey, the couple, different from McNichol & May, the couple?

Mr. L: McNichol & May are fabulous, hilarious performers. I can't heap enough superlatives on them, as they are consummate professionals, loving and devoted to each other and the craft. They are also two of the nicest sincerest people we've met in Austin. They are a mirror that reflects the best in men. And that sickens us. We had a dinner party with them when we first arrived here. Lovey and I forgot to buy food to cook, but we cracked open the liquor room and set about drinking. I called Bob McNichol a dirty Scot, and they left, which was rather rude of them since Lovey had just sweated over making a jug of martini.

Mrs. L: They have started to brew their own M&M's? The kind with booze in them? Miss Holden, please take a letter.

Dear Dr. & Mrs. McNichol & May,
I was just having lunch with my dear friend Miss Holden who happened to mention your newest entrepreneurial adventure. I hate to be a muddy stick in your garden of blossoms and bells but I think it is important to remind you that the idea of booze filled candy had been brought up by me at your last tea social. If you remember correctly I had made a detailed list of all of the different candies I'd like to have booze in. Please cease and desist this brewing of M&M's.
Yours,
L.

Stamped and sent. Now tell us a thing or two about the other groups you're working with: Le Sexy and Ramirez & Gilstrap.

Mr. L: We met Le Sexy, a fabulous lounge act, in France. They were singing for baguettes outside the Louvre, and we invited them to America to perform with us after taking some of their food. We honestly didn't expect them to show up, so we learned a valuable lesson, though I'm not sure what that is.

Mrs. L: Ramore & Eelstrep are in the "Lovey & Lovey Li'l Comix Program". We have about 20 or so lil comix that we take in under our wings and teach them some good jokes...usually about the differences between races and nationalities and the like, you know, spanning-the-board kind of humor. We think they are just great and wanted to show them how happy and proud of them we are. Plus, we don't have enough material to do a whole hour alone.

Mr. L: Unfortunately, a number of our L'il Comix have met with untimely ends. Lovey forgot to tend to the care and feeding one such duo—Tardy and Hamburgler—and they starved to death. Would that I was able to find their cell key, I could have rescued them. Poor souls. But Ramirez & Gilstrap—Lovey has the name confused with our gardener—are just as hilarious, what with their pleading for food and all.

We hear you're chummy with none other than Maria Bamford. So chummy, in fact, that you're opening for her at the Out of Bounds Fest in August. Are you nervous?

Mrs. L: We have no idea how that happened. We thought we were going to be doing a circus cat show that night. See, I foster large cats for the big tents and sometimes get to tour with them on the freak circuit once they've gone on to be big acts. My last foster cat, Mr. Pantangeli, is doing a double fire ring act with an elephant and man with a beard! Maybe that is what this Miss Bamford does too...will you ask her what kind of cat is in her show? That'll help narrow it down for me.

Mr. L: I should also add, Ms. Holden, that Lovey and I are uncomfortable with the word chum, which implies that Ms. Bamford is a shark and that we are a moldy slew of aged meat. Please refrain from talking about sharks in my presence. I don't trust anything with cartilage instead of bones.

Understood. Does your show make a good date night, or is it more of a Girls Night Out kind of production?

Mrs. L: If you are a woman on a date—watch out! I am still a very attractive woman for my age and men find me absolutely irresistible! Lines upon lines of swooning beaus in my dressing room, mountains of flowers, love notes—some perfumed and some written very seriously in blood, etcetera, etcetera. If you are a man on a date—watch out! Lovey is a lady killer! Not literally, but he "kills" in the show with all of his feminist jokes, the ladies adore it! If you are on a girls night out I am terribly sorry you can't find husbands. I hope you find one at my show (but probably not because they are all there for me, really). Try to lose a few pounds and don't forget to moisturize!

Anything else you'd like us to know?

Mrs. L: My drink is empty. Please tell them I'd like another.