“Wham City” (Used 7 times)

Every time I reach for a jelly bean, "I Can't Stop Eating Sugar" by Ed Schrader's Music Beat pops into my head: "When you can't stop doing something / Brother you must stop yourself." And every time my mind is broken by the sound, "My Mind is Broken By the Sound" comes to mind.

Wham City's Ed Schrader is the host of The Ed Schrader Show and The Ed Schrader Podcast. He is also the voice of David Bowie trying his hand at standup comedy. Ed Schrader's  music began with his stories to be told, a floor tom, a little bit of reverb on the vocals, and a three-year tour of the USA. Joined by bassist Devlin Rice (Nuclear Power Pants), Ed Schrader's Music Beat brings to mind minimalist Swans songs stripped to their essence with wit, concision, and a message.

This recording comes from a live performance on WFMU's Talk's Cheap this fall (video). The Music Beat's Jazz Mind LP is out now on Load Records.

I try not to repeat myself too often, but after hearing the new Future Islands album, learning their Danzig channeling vocalist was fresh off knee reconstruction surgery (stemming from an injury he sustained while moonlighting as a hype man for the Dan Deacon Ensemble), and hearing that they were hitting the road with new Thrill Jockey labelmates and Baltimore homies Double Dagger, I had to drop them a line. I was then doublely stoked after they asked if Double Dagger could come up as well. We had to make it happen.

Both of these three-pieces go after, destroy and rebuild any kinda label you might want to try to put on them. Future Islands constructs these amazingly pretty, tranced out, intense pop ballads that would move Robert Smith to tears of joyous sadness on the dance floor. Double Dagger somehow manages to whittle down and jam pack every sound you loved form 90’s post hardcore into a two liter bottle of drums & bass power punch, and add in Nolen Strals’s curiously strong vocals and we have an explosive combination that you maybe tempted to compare to Fugazi (but do so at your own risk).

The fact that we actually got these sets recorded was amazing! We thought it would be a good idea to schedule the session at ten a.m. the morning after the New York release party for Future Islands’ new album In Evening Air. Let's just say getting up after a record-setting night for Death by Audio’s bar and then having to fight though an army of cyclists on a five-borough tour did not make for the timeliest arrival... but big ups to both bands for powering though and delivering great performances and big thanks to Dave Mambach for manning the audio controls and making everything sound great and to my boss for letting me come into work an hour late.

Hope you enjoy the sets!!!
Double Dagger  |  Future Islands  |  WFMU Playlist & Stream for Marty McSorley 5/5/2010