Talkin' New York, Vol. 12:
As well as being the first year of this blog, 2007 was also a year of growth in my own personal music tastes. I guess that came with the territory of trying to put together a website that people would come to for discovering some new tunes. It was the first time in my life when I listened to hardly anything but new music, and in doing so I became more accepting of genres beyond indie-rock and folk. I guess that’s not exactly accurate - I’ve listened to a good amount of blues, country, jazz, and soul for most of my adult life. I guess the music I opened up to, and which I had previously avoided at all costs, was of the electronic variety. Songs and albums by Dan Deacon, LCD Soundsystem, The Octopus Project, M.I.A., Burial, and The Field were among my favorites of last year, and are still getting plenty of play here at the luxurious Pop Headwound headquarters (the car, the iPod, the apartment, etc). Just don’t ask me to dance.
I can now add Blip Blip Bleep to the list. Blip Blip Bleep is the work of Sean Han, Brett Thompson, and Sarah Lee - 3 Brooklynites who play incredibly well written, high-energy electronic rock. Alarm Clock, Snooze Bar, Get Up (4/8, Undercover Culture Music/IODA) is the name of their soon to be released sophomore EP and I’ve been playing it pretty consistently for about a month now. It’s actually a very even mix of electronic and rock sounds - plenty of live drums to go with the synths, and plenty of electric guitar to go with the sound effects. Over its 6 pulsing tracks the EP tells the story of a day in the life of an anonymous working 20-something New Yorker. Getting up for another day of work, struggling to make it to the 5 o’clock whistle, and then going out and getting fucked up until the early morning hours. Work, drink, sleep, repeat. You don't have to be a New Yorker to know this lifestyle.
Alarm Clock, Snooze Bar, Get Up sets the hazy repetition of those post-college/pre-adult years into urgent, kinetic sonic environments that work for fans of both indie-rock and electronic music. Sonically, these 6 songs bristle with shimmering pop hooks and throb with dance-floor ready beats. The title track gets things going with one bad-ass guitar riff and some great dual vocals from Han and Lee on its chorus. From there each song is equally strong - not a bum note gets played - making for a strikingly cohesive and consistent mini-concept album. “Okay Lover” (as in “you were an okay lover” and featured below) plays out like a more muscular version of The Postal Service, and features some of the record’s most visceral, direct lyrics. Thematically, the EP reminds me quite a bit of LCD Soundsystem’s 2007 tour-de-force “All My Friends” - one could easily imagine this EP's narrator going through life in this repetitive manner for 10 or 12 more years, then waking up one day wondering, as James Murphy’s does, about where his years and friends have gone. Until then there’s only the monotony of working life and lonely drunken nights - and an alarm clock that keeps the cycle going.
MP3 :: Okay Lover
Stream :: Da Me Cinco
(from Alarm Clock, Snooze Bar, Get Up. Info here)
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The EP will be available come the release date basically on all legit online retailers and thru Blip Blip Bleep’s website. There will also be a CD release party at the Mercury Lounge on Friday, 4/25. BBB hits the stage at 8:30.
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