It’s not the bloody Strokes! It’s Denmark’s Raveonettes!
Richard Carter | For the Wichitan

Not to get Old Testament on anyone, or anything, but “there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Whether it be painting, music or any of the other arts, things come out of something(s) else. So for music lovers, being ahead of boring, run-of-the-mill FM radio trash essentially comes down to being open to new reconceptualizations of past sounds. Of course, we’ve heard something of the current cool sounds before in past musics, but we heard them created somewhat differently in various combinations of influences and voicings. To paraphrase a dead old mad philosopher, we always listen to interpretations of interpretations of interpretations of blah blah blah. So when I mention the new Raveonettes EP titled “Whip It On,” I hardly want you to think that the Denmark duo is the best thing since sliced bread. This delicious mix of “Psychocandy” by Jesus and Mary Chain, “Loveless” by My Bloody Valentine and “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys only begins to suggest the many ingredients. The Velvet Underground also comes up, among others. But, of course, the sounds of all these bands came from other sounds as well. One of the real joys of contemporary music, by the way, is that if you go back through the bush-like family tree, the musical roots keep fissuring and reconnecting so that there is no beginning. And if you look forward, as long as the music keeps being interesting, there’s no end. What I’m getting at is that the debut music on the Raveonettes’ eight-song “Whip It On” 21-minute-plus EP is going places. For it has never been enough to just collage good sources, bands have to find ways to “make them their own” and take the music fresh places. The melancholy musical duo of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo write some good songs and synthesize some well-adapted sounds into an album of their “own” songs and colors. Original? Maybe not in the traditional way. Listenable? Heck yeah—not to get all Old Testament on anyone, or anything. Still, you don’t have to be a music geek snob “keeper of the cool” to like this band. Drop the other critical magazines and stop reading this article. Skip lunch, go to F. Y. E., and buy a copy, or at least listen to it. It’s so not the bloody Strokes, sweetie, darling. And you won’t have that awful icky feeling afterwards.

One band, four days, one album; Phish flops hook, line and sinker
Matt Terrell | Staff Reporter

After a two-year hiatus for the purpose of playing with side projects and finding new ways to make a song last more than 30 minutes, the members of Phish reconvened in the studio with their hippie batteries recharged and pooped out an album merely four days. Studio albums have always seemed like a pesky obligation for Phish. These guys were born to jam and bask in the stage lights, never really showing interest in playing with the mixing knobs and doing overdubs. They’ve given a few honest tries at the craft, such as the 2000 release “Farmhouse,” an album with nary a song over five minutes. Then there’s the realization why studio albums don’t work, and that’s the fact that the band just cannot write good pop songs. As hard as they tried, the catchy and condensed songs on “Farmhouse” refuse to become memorable, and you end up waiting for Trey Anastasio to shut up and let the band play. The choice then for Phish is to either make less interesting albums geared more toward a radio audience, or to recreate their live excellence in a sterile studio environment. Might as well go with what you’re good at. “Round Room” is an album that actually sounds like a live one-take through much of the recording. At times you can actually hear Page McConnell slamming his piano pedals amidst the slew of unsavory harmonies and off-kilter drum fills. Imperfection and rawness sound good in this context. While the album sounds like a live recording, I’m led to believe that the words were also improved by a verbose second-grader feeding Trey Anastasio lyrics over a teleprompter while the band played. Seriously, the things that come out of his mouth are pure garbage. A man his age shouldn’t have such a fascination with inanimate objects. The lead-off track “Pebbles and Marbles” is musically the most entertaining song on the album, but that’s not just a clever name. The song is actually about pebbles and marbles, all 11 minutes worth, and I feel dumberer having listened to it. “Anything But Me” is a song in which he compares himself to a satellite, a wave, a ripple in the water, a raindrop and a shooting star. Still, more inanimate objects that he chooses to write into songs. Then there is “Waves,” “Mexican Cousin” and “Walls of the Cave,” which are about exactly what you’d expect them to be. Perhaps I shouldn’t care that much when I know the band is just introducing material to jam out with on stage. Words don’t matter, they are musicans! The music is lively and well played for the most part, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary for Phish. As the story goes with every album, just wait for the show and live album.