The Mars Volta
Octahedron
(Warner Brothers)






Cedric Bixler Zapata, Mars Volta's lyricist, proclaimed that Octahedron is their "acoustic album," which is true in the sense that someone proclaims themselves a vegetarian even though they eat fish. But it's the Mars Volta, so grandiose claims that don't really hold up under scrutiny are par for the course.

That being said, this album is excellent. It opens up acoustically enough with the beautiful "Since We've Been Wrong" (which incidentally, makes sense! It's about lost love!). Then along comes "Teflon" and blows the acoustic claim out of the water. The verse is soothing enough, but the chorus is raucous, and proves Cedric's kidnap fetish is alive and well when he sings, "Let the wheels burn, stack the tires to the neck with the body inside." It's accomplice in hard rock on the album, "Cotopaxi" is another blow away, and features some great guitar work from Omar Rodriquez Lopez, with Thomas Pridgen wailing away on the drums as only he can.

Back to the softer side: "With Twilight as My Guide" is the most eerily beautiful song the band has done: a sonic and spiritual evolution from Francis the Mute's "The Widow." It's another meditation on violence from Cedric with the chilling refrain, "The devil makes me dream like no other mortal dreams." Halo of Nembutals" and "Desperate Graves" round out the album with some more dreamy tunes, and bring the nonsense lyrics sorely lacking from some of the other songs with gems such as, "They sent in the necrophiliacs, Carcinogen tar" and "Dressed in the slurs of bovine engines" respectively. Finishing out the album "Copernicus" gently lulls the listener into the next track, containing a favorite Mars Volta cliche" the obligatory jazz fusion jam the band has to include at least once on every album: "Luciforms." Not that they don't do it well, but it's there.

I poke some fun at the band, but I love them, and this is one of their better efforts to date as they bring some coherence and easily defined, yet not dumbed down, meaning to the songs to go with their excellent musicianship.

Michael Adler


Bowerbirds
Upper Air
(Dead Oceans)






A folk infused album, anchored by wonderfully strummed acoustic guitar, Bowerbirds present a pleasing soundscape inviting one to sway to beautifully wrought tunes. The harmony of included instruments is impressive as well, the guitar joined most often by piano, drum, and bass with occasional violin, accordion, or a second six string.

The tracks have a pleasingly even keel about them, being neither too fast nor too slow in tempo, but always driving forward and interesting. Following the lead acoustic, the other instruments act almost exclusively to lift up the vocals; a collection of wordy life stories painted in visual identifiers of nature and relationships among landscapes. The majority of tracks sport soft male singing supported by female vocals, though the group switches it up on a few tracks, allowing the smooth voice of their lady lead to shine through.

While the tempo changes often, the tracks have a lovely flowing sound and are happily toe tapping, creating a truly harmonious experience for the listener. Evoking the sweet aching of summer love, Upper Air has a lightness of touch to it’s music, the Bowerbirds sounding neither overly invasive nor imploringly desirous of needing to be heard; for listening to this album’s tracks is a pleasure in itself. Highly recommended for those interested in acoustic folk.

Kenneth Joachim


The Rural Alberta Advantage
Hometowns
(Saddle Creek)






Hometowns is superbly painted indie rock styled neo-folk with lyrics elegantly attuned to that of misplacement, adoration and longing. Formed in 2005, The Rural Alberta Advantage is made up of Paul Banwatt, Amy Cole and Nils Edenloff. The lyrics are deeply emotive and the instrumentation ticks with a pulsating technique more prevalent in techno albums. Packaged perfectly and sonically tight, drums beat away, tambourines shake and keys seem placed with a heady machined perfection but this is not an electronic album, the Rural Alberta Advantage is a band. It does, however, operate on a higher echelon of musical craft. The drums alone are jarringly exciting. “The Dethbridge In Lethbridge” has a quickening drum pace and serious snares that move with crazy speed more suitable to heavy metal music thanks to drummer Paul Banwatt. The strained yet angst of flattened guitar chords assault the tempered vocals. The buoyancy of the background choral harmony gives this song a nice tug of celebration and disappointment. “The Air” has a subdued charm of swelling acoustic guitar and a nice residual percussive enchantment. Soft piano forms a careful melody to this love song. Hometowns, is an album developed out of Edenloff missing Northern and Central Alberta, Canada. Capturing all the familiarity of romanticism and loss, The Rural Alberta Advantage has created a landscape that never loses its beauty or appeal.

Chanda Jones


God Help the Girl
God Help the Girl
(Matador)






Technically God Help the Girl is the soundtrack to a movie that hasn’t been made yet. Regardless, it still plays as a fully realized cohesive album. It’s quite a good one too. The music was written by Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch and his stamp is all over it. Though he only contributes vocals to a few of the tracks, the lyrics and melodies are unmistakably his. The rest of the vocals are provided by people who responded to an open audition. The majority of the singing is done by Catherine Ireton who gives a great voice to the main character of Murdoch’s story. She sure sings like a pro and is believable as a melancholy Scottish lass in need of help. This could very well serve as a springboard for her future music career. Special props must also be given to Brittany Stallings for turning Belle & Sebastian’s “Funny Little Frog” into a soul jam and Asya of the band Smoosh for her excellent teenage delivery on “I Just Want Your Jeans.”

We’re going to have to wait to see if the film turns out to be any good. In the meantime though, we do have this perfectly enjoyable album which works as its own separate entity. It’s not exactly a new Belle & Sebastian album but it’s still pretty good and B&S fans will probably like it a lot. In fact, a lot of people will probably like it a lot.

Jonathan Zuckerman


The Veils
Sun Gangs
(Rough Trade)






The Veils, in their third album have made something absolutely spectacular. The songs are sad and ancient sounding, like they were written for a love in a past life. Some make you feel like you are running around in a Clockwork Orange type world, while others make you want to cry. For much of it I picture myself sitting on the subway, surrounded by silent people, indifferent faces and blank stares, like one of those deep emotional montages in a movie where someone has an epiphany about humanity and the meaning of life and love. Yeah, this is that kind of music.

Beautiful and mystical, the lyrics are achingly sung, with ample amounts of grief, heartbreak and optimism that are woven together like an old patchwork blanket. The deep vocals are comforting in their cataclysmic like way and are overpowering; they sometimes hide the wonderful guitar riffs but not so much that I would say it ruins the album. Far from it actually. Because lead singer Finn Andrews’ voice sounds something like the late evening wind blowing your umbrella away, the impact of hearing him over the music makes you feel like you are constantly in a movie.

Each track has a little life of its own. The first song on the album, “Sit Down by the Fire,” is by far the most brilliant, mixing calls for love and tragic loss. “Killed By the Boom” is another standout, echoing Jack White and gothic metal. Put all together, this album has no overarching theme (that I could find) but rather just blends a whole lot of erotic, moody, and awesome together. This is not a dancing album; it’s about ambience and atmosphere, and done so well, I was quite thoroughly surprised. I more than highly recommend this album, for its undeniable relevance, yesterday, today, and in the future.

Marissa!

Location: Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Film: Kagemusha
Show time: See website for times and dates
Venue: BAM
Food: Junior’s
Drink: O’Connor’s
Miscellaneous: Thomas Beisl

One of Akira Kurasawa’s later masterpieces, Kagemusha is a story set in feudal Japan where a criminal who looks like a dying warlord is taught to impersonate him to maintain the illusion of military might. Known more for its cheesecake than anything else on its menu, Junior’s also offers fantastic diner and deli style eats from steak burgers to deli sandwiches. If you can make it through dinner, the cheesecake will be worth the wait! One of Brooklyn’s most interesting dive bars, O’Connor’s offers cheap drinks in a place where Park Slope hipsters meet old-time drinkers, making for one of the oddest pairings that works. An excellent place to get schnitzel and goulash and other Austrian delights, Thomas Beisl is right across the street from BAM.

Native Window (from Left to Right) Phil Ehart, Billy Greer, Richard Williams, David Ragsdale.


A few weeks ago, a debut album was released from a band called Native Window on Star City records. Native Window consists of Phil Ehart, Billy Greer, David Ragsdale and Rich Williams. If any of these names ring a bell, they should. All four guys were, and still are, part of the progressive/classic rock band, Kansas. Native Window is the newest body of work from these talented musicians, who continue proving to the world that they’re far from being dust in the wind. Despite poor phone connections and airport static, I managed to get a few words of wisdom from drummer Phil Ehart.

So how did the creation of Native Window come about?

It started off as kind of a joke initially…We said, “We ought to just form our own opening band and go out as somebody else, than come back, change clothes and go out as Kansas.” Then we thought, “Hey! We could actually do that…” So the four of us decided to do this; come up with new material and have our own band name and everything. And what started out as rolling the dice turned out to be worth the bet, definitely.

After Native Window was formed and before the recording process began, were there any initial fears or predilections you had, either as a group or individually, such as adjusting to the absence of keyboards in your music?

I don’t think it was fear, it was just the unknown. We knew from the start if it didn’t work, we just wouldn’t do it. I was walking in everyday going “Gee, I wonder what it sounds like when all of us sing and what it would sound like without keyboards, etc.” But it was definitely the unknown.

How would you guys initiate the writing process? Was it easier to write the music or lyrics first? Where would you draw some of your ideas from?

With Native Window, it was really just pieces and parts. Someone would come in and say they had a verse idea that needs a chorus, or a riff that needs a melody on top of it, or chord structure, or middle part, or instrumental part…beginning, ending, title, lyric idea…You name it. Any of those things would come in and we’d take them and develop them and watch them grow. It was pretty cool.

Can you describe some of the differences between Native Window and Kansas that you hope fans will recognize?

Well for one thing, Steve Walsh isn’t singing and Billy is, so that’s a big change right there. I think the music is simpler and a little bit more straight-ahead; more melodic. And of course the background vocals are totally different. With myself, David and Richard singing all the background stuff, it’s a totally different sound than Kansas has ever had. The violin may remind you of Kansas, and of course we all have played in the band Kansas, but the music is not Kansas. I guess the biggest compliment that we could get is, “Wow, this doesn’t sound like Kansas at all!” “Well, thanks!” That’s a good thing cause that’s what we strived for… to step out of our own skin and comfort zone.

Do you feel it’s more of a risk, forming a new band in today’s music industry after having prior success in an old one?

Well, there are no risks left to take in Kansas. After 35 years, we’ve done everything we’re gonna do. So yes, Native Window is definitely a risk cause people will want to put you in that Kansas pigeon-hole, and I’m sure some Kansas fans will listen to it and go “It sounds nothing like Kansas! I don’t like it!” But that’s fine, Native Window isn’t for everybody.

How has the music industry changed in your eyes, today vs. 35 years ago, and how does it still affect the way you make music?

Well, the good news is our heyday has come and gone. And because of that, stuff doesn’t affect us much anymore. We don’t have to worry about being on the radio; we have a lot of songs that are on the radio everyday. We don’t have to worry about whether our tours are gonna sell out or not; we do 60, 70, 80 shows every year…We feel very fortunate and very blessed that we have that kind of track record. I wouldn’t say we’re bulletproof, but we just don’t have to worry about what the current status of the record business is. We put out a record and it sells what it sells. I’d hate to be a new band nowadays anyway; you just don’t get a chance to develop. If you’re not doing really well after your first album, you’re gone. They’re not gonna sit around and let you develop over 3 or 4 years. I mean, they have 300,000 bands on MySpace…300,000! Who even has the time to listen to a tenth of that? That’s just competition that back in the seventies we didn’t have. It’s very difficult nowadays…it’s much more of a disposable industry.

Can you describe the contrast of playing to a crowd that has never heard your music before vs. playing songs to a crowd that knows your words by heart?

(Laughs) It’s definitely a contrast. Playing in front of an audience with some of the biggest songs in rock music, to playing songs where most people probably haven’t heard a note…it’s definitely daunting. But that’s ok, we knew that going into it and we knew we had work to do. We still have our day job.

You can purchase Native Window’s self-titled album online and in stores, and be sure to check out some of their music on their Myspace page.

Lucy Tonic

Stephanie Chernikowski. Sonic Youth. 1983. Black-and-white photograph, 11 x 17" (27.9 x 43.2 cm)










Location: Midtown West, NYC
Art: Looking at Music: Side 2
Show time: See MoMA website for dates; Through November 30
Venue: MoMA
Food: Yoshinoya Beef Bowl
Drink: Rudy's Bar and Grill
Miscellaneous: Peking Duck House

Taking a look back in time to New York, late 70s and despite the familiar economic woes the city was going through, it was one of the most creative periods for art and music. Looking at Music: Side 2 features music videos, super-8 films, drawings, photographs, and zines from the combination of music, media, and visual art from the late 70s till the end of the 20th century. Making fast food healthy, Yoshinoya serves bowls of rice, vegetables, and your choice of beef, teriyaki chicken, veggie, or a combo of meats. Super cheap, it’s a favorite spot of mine in midtown. A great dive, Rudy's Bar and Grill serves up cheap beer by the pint or by the pitcher, and as for the grilling, that includes free hot dogs and popcorn! Though slightly on the expensive side, if you’re in the mood for duck and are a couple or in a group of four or more, Peking Duck House makes some of the best duck you will ever likely have.

Truly scrumptious candies are the inspiration for one of the most popular sandal trends of the summer, jelly sandals. I feel like a kid in a candy store with all of the sweet 'n colorful jelly sandals to choose from. Whimsical waterproof colorful jelly sandals are also easy on the budget. So grab some jelly sandals in the color of your favorite Jelly Belly or gummy bear candies and flavor your wardrobe with a pair (or two!) this summer.

There are so many styles to choose from; in particular we love the gladiator jelly sandals and thong jelly sandals. One of the most delectable styles we've spotted is the Givenchy Jelly "Gillie" Wedge sandal, it has a sweet little tie and chic gladiator shape. Also on our radar is the Tod's Jelly Thong Sandal in a sweet and sour shade of orange. In a scrumptious shade of strawberry red the Michael Kors MK Logo Jelly sandal is a delightful treat for your toes, perhaps even match your pedicure to them. Enjoy and indulge in these sweet treats for your tootsies this summer!

Jelly Sandals featured here from top left clockwise:
- Givenchy Jelly Gillie Wedge Sandal, $199.95 at DSW.com
- Tod's Jelly Thong Sandal, $117.00 at Bergdorf Goodman
- MICHAEL Michael Kors MK Logo Jelly Sandal in red, $27 at michaelkors.com
- Kate Spade Underwater sandal, $64 at Zappos.com
- Ralph Lauren Karly Jelly Sandal, $195 at RalphLauren.com
- Gretta Jewel Detail Adjustable Backstrap Jelly Thongs, $34.25 at QVC.com

From our friends at thefind.com

In high school, I spent most of my time in the ladies room, squatting on toilets, exhaling smoke out of a tiny window. Usually, there were a couple of us per stall and on occasion we would be smoking something other than cigarettes. On one of these occasions, we were caught by a teacher during bathroom patrol.

As we waited outside of the principal’s office, I took the opportunity to spray half a bottle of Obsession by Calvin Klein all over myself. I was still stoned and therefore unable to smell, see or hear properly. We were called into the principal’s office, seated in a semicircle and awaiting our sentencing. It was at that moment when I noticed a partially full dime bag sitting on the carpeting of the principal’s floor. I surmised that it must have fallen out of my pocket. Luckily, the principals olfactory senses were so distracted by my intense perfume, he didn’t notice and rather questioned us about the strong odor in the room. “Why,” I replied, while dragging the bag towards me with the heel of my shoe, “it’s Obsession, by Calvin Klein.” If you would like to distract others from criminal behavior or a less than becoming personality trait, you can still achieve maximum results with a more subtle and modern approach. Kiehl’s Portable Essence Oils in Amber, Gardenia, Chinese Flowers, Cucumber, Pear and Pour Homme are delicious, compact and perfect for those times when you need a little olfactory assistance.

Sheehan McGuirk

Location: Soho, NYC
Art: The 2009 Vice Photo Show
Show time: Tues – Sat: 11 AM - 6 PM; Through August 17
Venue: Spencer Brownstone Gallery
Food: Nha Trang
Drink: Naked Lunch
Miscellaneous: La Esquina

It’s hard not to like a magazine that’s turned pot shots at pop culture into a business while putting out some of the funniest, shocking and most memorable writing as well as introducing the world to such great photographers who would otherwise be underground like Ryan McGinley and the incredible Terry Richardson. Check the The 2009 Vice Photo Show for some of the most interesting photography out there today. One of the best affordable Vietnamese restaurants in the city, Nha Trang is right near the downtown courthouse, making it a high volume place. Despite that, the food is great and the Pho (rice noodle soup) dishes are $5 and under. Named after William S. Burroughs novel, Naked Lunch is a cool and comfortable bar where local artists usually gather. No shooting up though! One of the best taqueria’s in the city, the Mexican food at La Esquina is authentic and to die for. While tacos will set you back $3, plates are in the $6 to $7.25 range.