epo-555 in U.S. Next Week; Album Out

Mikkel Max Hansen, of Danish synth alt-pop groups epo-555 and Oliver North Boy Choir has been in touch. Seems I inadvertently married his wife/current ONBC bandmate/former epo-555 bandmate Camilla Florentz to their ONBC bandmate Ivan Petersen in a recent post. So to clear that up: it's Hansen and Florentz who are married and Florentz is not married to both of them (as far as I know. I can't swear there is no secret bigamous marriage. How would I know? That's not how secrets work. But there probably is no secret bigamous marriage.)

Fortunately, Hansen took the mis-husbanding well. It might have helped that the rest of the post contained a lot of praise for his bands' music. It very likely helped that he was writing with very good news.

epo-555's second album, last year's Mafia (which followed 2004's Dexter Fox) has now been released in the United States, by Rykodisc.

Plus, the band is traveling to the Eastern U.S. for a mini-tour. There will be one show each for for some lucky people in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Hoboken, and Boston.

Hansen sent 3 MP3s that might make those of us nowhere near those cities pretty jealous. 2 are from Mafia; the other is from the Radioaktiv - Mafia Fallout 7" EP, which hasn't been released in the States but is available through Vibrashop, the mail order arm of the band's Danish record label, Crunchy Frog.

"Examinor no. 39" is amazing. The poetic lyrics tell a touching story and are sweetly sung. The tale is drenched in guitars and synth until it sparkles, but it's the spark of a dancefloor, thanks in no small part to some tight drum work.

The song is about someone who inspects decks of playing cards. Hansen told me, "I found the title on a little piece of paper in a deck of cards one time in Arizona, and I imagined the guy (#39) examining the cards to see if they're all there." He decided to "send him off to a better destiny," to the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles.

Yes, an L.A. blog got an L.A. song. Hansen says epo-555 doesn't have a Boston or New York song, so we have that going for us, which is nice. (Oregon and Berlin also have bragging rights to epo-555 songs.)

epo-555 - Examinor No. 39 (on Mafia)

During most of "Hyperschlieb", the tune sweetly soars in a way that's a bit reminiscent of Stars, but as the song moves toward its closure, heavier guitars move it into more Radiohead-like territory. A very layered sound, with drums, guitar, vocals, and lots of synth, gradually narrows to just a guitar, and then to nothing. Perfect.

epo-555 - Hyperschlieb (on Mafia)

"Grisslappan-Radioactive" is filled with handclaps and synth. When done well, that's a way to my heart. This is done very well. Infectious alt-pop; the male/female harmonies work very well and sound just right with the male lead vocals. More on love and space from epo-555, to a pop beat.

epo-555 - Grisslappan-Radioactive (on Radioaktiv - Mafia Fallout 7" EP, which includes 3 other songs, including the excellent "Sugarspiced Suicide" and a cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped")

epo-555 began with Hans Emil (bass, synth), Camilla Florentz (vocals, synth, melodica), Ebbe Frej (drums, guitar, bass, electronics), and Mikkel Max Hansen (vocals, bass, guitar, electronics). When Florentz left the band last summer, Linda Bonde joined... for a while, anyway. Tine Winther will be with the band, at least for the tour, and her official duties are "vocals and electronics". But what of the melodica? Won't somebody please think of the melodica? Hope you get melodica, east coast. Either way, it should be a great show.

Leipzig, Germany gets treated to epo-555 with a Festival (or "Fetzival") appearance in August, and hopefully many more dates will be announced later.

epo-555's Upcoming Shows:

June 25 - Brooklyn - Union Hall (8:00 PM, with Taxi Taxi, $7)

June 26 - Manhattan - 200 Orchard (8:00 PM)

June 27 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's (8:00 PM according to the band's website, 9:00 PM according to Maxwell's, with "special guests", $7)

June 28 - Boston - PA's Lounge (8:00 PM according to band's website, doors 8:30 according to PA's Lounge website, with The Daily Pravda and Polarbaron, 18+, tickets $7 for 21+ $10 for 18-20)

August 10 - Leipzig - Fetzival (8:00 PM)

Rykodisc has a Mafia e-card with clips of all the songs on the album. Impressive stuff. These Danish kids will go far... even farther than - bah - New York.

The video for "Pre-Emptive Stroke" (from the band's first album, Dexter Fox):

Irish Kidic Won't Be "Strangers" For Long

Irish alt-rockers Kidic first joined musical forces as Kid Icarus, lifting their name from a Nintendo game. As Kid Icarus, they made music as energetic as their current songs, but not quite as heartfelt, or developed. The songs were also less rock-oriented and more electronic.

Morgan Brickley (vocals and guitar), Mark Green (guitar), Colin Meagle (bass and vocals), and Jonathon Lundberg (drums) met as Dublin City University students and played college gigs for a few years. A pair of their songs ("Jesus 2000" and "Shake's Baby") brought them some notice beyond the college-gig scene, with "Shake's Baby" charting on mp3.com.

At some point, having decided their music had "matured and changed direction", the men felt it was time to change their boyz-like name. The group released their first Kidic single, "Holding Doors for Strangers" in Ireland, on May 18th. It's extremely catchy, will inspire people to pick up a guitar to learn to play those lines, and is the sort of quality alt-rock that feels made to chart, which it has, debuting at #26 on the Irish singles charts. Now to await their signing/touring elsewhere... The video would help with that, if the music itself doesn't do the trick. I think their signing in other countries is almost inevitable.

Kidic's second single, "Rhetoric" (which I'm also very keen on), will be released July 13th. The band today said they're currently recording a third single. An album is planned for early 2008.

The video for "Holding Doors for Strangers":



Kidic's Upcoming Shows:

July 13 - Dublin - Crawdaddy
August 11 - Bundoran Donegal - Sufrock
September 29 - Bundoran Donegal - Ocean Fest (with The Frank and Waters)

Best Poetic Gibberish Lyrics (Zig-a-zig-ah, Yes, Eep Opp, No)

It's not a great sign that Spinner's list of the "20 Best Gibberish Lyrics begins (at #20, that is) with a line from "Icky Thump". "Yah-hee, icky thump" is gibberish, but is it good gibberish? They say they've collected "examples of rock at its most poetic". With a list that includes songs by The Spice Girls, Whitney Houston, and Kid Rock they may not say "poetic" with tongue entirely in cheek, but it's at least partly there. The list also includes, well, quality gibberish" - Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" is #1 and several other songs like The Crystals' "Da Doo Ron Ron" have endured thanks to similarly catchy nonsense.

The Spice Girls' "Wannabe" gibberish is actually a sort of classic. Although The White Stripes are a great band, I think "Icky Thump" is mediocre and forgettable.

The list's topic immediately made me think of one song in particular, written by Judy and George Jetson I immediately clicked my way through the list, longing for the good old days when Interweb sites would post a single list on a single page, and looking for "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You)".

It's not there. Why? Maybe it was omitted because the song provides a translation, to wit:

Eep opp ork ah-ah
Eep opp ork ah-ah
Eep opp ork ah-ah
And that means I love you.

It's at least leagues better than Whitney Houston's "Exhale" lyric ("Shoop Shoop Shoop", #18)

Maybe for the staff it came down to a choice between "Eep"'s lyrics and the "Bawitdaba" lines Kid Rock lifted from street gangs, and they ultimately chose violence over love. If it would have made a difference, the phrase originally meant "meet me tonight", which sounds naughtier as long as you don't associate it with its creator, Elroy Jetson.

Also, if a subpar song by a good band can contain "poetic" gibberish, then Devo's unlovely "Goo Goo Itch" might fit the bill nicely:

Itchy goo, itchy goo, itchy goo goo goo
It's all I wanna do, whammo

Despite the lack of "Eep" and "Goo", major props to Spinner for including a Ramones lyric ("Gabba gabba, hey" -"Pinhead", #16). The band's quality gibberish earned them that place on the list. It's easy to see many of Spinner's choices, such as "In a Gadda Da Vida" standing the test of time when lists like this are made in another 10 or 20 years. As I gaze into my crystal ball, I also see the beloved "Eep Opp", taking its rightful place alongside other classic songs that are both meaningful and meaningless. However, there's no sign of "Goo Goo Itch" in the crystal ball.

* Right-click to direct download any/all of the songs below; I've switched to a new service. *

By default, it renames the files starting with a number. That's something you can change when you download each file, but it's a bit inconvenient. Otherwise, the site seems good! But please let me know if you experience any problems with downloads.

The Jazzronauts - Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You) (fun! On Swank. 6 free MP3s from Swank, including the swing band's take on the theme from Spiderman, are available at The Jazzronauts' website)

Violent Femmes - Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You) (A classic, by gum. On Saturday Morning Cartoon's Greatest Hits)

Devo - Goo Goo Itch (not one of Devo's better songs, on Hardcore Devo, Vol. 2: 1974-1977)

The Fiery Furnaces - Crystal Clear (this wonderful, infectious song is on Gallowsbird's Bark and was a single. The Fiery Furnaces will soon resume a tour supporting last year's Bitter Tea. They'll release Widow City on October 23 on new label Thrill Jockey.)

Rilo Kiley Reveals What to Expect Under the Blacklight

Rilo Kiley has released the track listing for Under the Blacklight, their fourth full-length album, due August 20th in the U.K. and a day later in the States.

A tour is planned, details to be announced.

Rilo's record label, Warner Brothers, dubs Blacklight's 11 songs "gloriously decadent-sounding". Few albums these days, save those "pricey" ones included in costly box sets, are "gloriously decadent-feeling". This is perhaps partly due to the high-profile commercial failure of phat bunny's self-titled EP.

Under the Blacklight, per Warner Brothers' press release, finds "smooth dance beats balanced by the underlying lyrical motifs of the seedier side of Los Angeles life; the characters in the songs embroiled in everything from drunken one night stands to the sex industry."

Those of you who placed money on a "lyrical theme" of "violence", ooh, sorry. Looks like it's "sex" (or at least a seedy variation thereof). Those of you who placed money on Jenny Lewis leaving behind the (unfortunate) country music direction of her (underwhelming) solo debut, ooh, sorry. There's at least one country-flavored song ("15").

"Breakin' Up" sounds more promising to those of us who prefer Lewis in almost-any-kind-of-music-but-country mode. Dubbed (albeit, by Warner) "deceptively catchy and upbeat", the tune "celebrates leaving a jilted lover in the dust". (More song descriptions below.)

Sennett is given credit for the "song craft" on "Breakin' Up", Lewis credit for its lyrics, and apparently at least chief credit for the lyrics of every other song on the album too. Warner describes Blacklight's "lyrical theme is of the darker side of life as revealed by a nightclub blacklight, each song's character sharpened to a precise focus by Lewis' unique, undeniable approach."

So Lewis has an undeniable approach? That's not even praise. It might tempt someone to deny she has an approach, just to see if it can be done.

You can deny there are 11 songs if you like, but there are about that many. The absence of "Pull Me In Tighter" pleases me; it's a weak one. Rilo teased having recorded a whole lot of songs, so the number doesn't seem very generous. However, they may have realized only 11 were both really good and consistent with a central, seedy theme. What's a band to do, but go with both quality and seediness?

Under the Blacklight Track Listing:

1. "Silver Lining"
2. "Close Call"
3. "The Moneymaker" - "Lewis is fiery and unrestrained, no more so than on 'The Moneymaker.'" (all quotes from the label's press release)
4. "Breakin' Up" - "perhaps the perfect encapsulation of what Rilo Kiley is: the song craft of Sennett and the serrated edge of Lewis' lyrics - deceptively catchy and upbeat, the song celebrates leaving a jilted lover in the dust" 5. "Under the Blacklight"
6. "Dreamworld" - "Sennett dazzles with the sneaking 70's soul of 'Dreamworld', a song so rich with gold dust that it's liable to take you back to the days of high school mix tapes" (Psst, this reference makes the band look so totally old.)
7. "Déjalo" (I'm guessing about the accent mark belonging there, haven't monkeyed with any other titles.)
8. "15" - "a twisted love story of misplaced ardor, gives us the unique idea of what Bobbie Gentry might have had to say if internet dating had existed in her time."
9. "Smoke Detector"
10. "The Angel Hung Around"
11. "Give a Little Love"

Rilo Kiley - 85 (on The Initial Friend EP)