breakin' up is hard to do

Hot on the heels of the White Stripes' recent breakup, indie dance crew LCD Soundsystem is also about to hang it up. After only three albums, it's a little sad to see them go. But kudos to James Murphy for going out on a high note. Last year's This is Happening was one of my favorite discs of 2010, and retains its replay value after nearly a year of incessant playing. I'd like to catch the last run of shows in NYC (a series at Terminal 5, leading up to the grand finale at MSG), but I doubt I'll make it. Alas.

Murphy and co. stopped by the Colbert Report recently to chat and perform one of This is Happening's standout tracks, "I Can Change."

Gonzo on the Air, 2/13

Tennis-Baltimore
Stone Roses-She Bangs all the Drums
Dinosaur Jr.-Out There
Grinderman-Heathen Child
Johnny Cash-Rusty Cage
My Bloody Valentine-Loomer (request)
Phantogram-Bloody Palms
Cage the Elephant-Right Before My Eyes
Paul Westerberg-Things
Iron & Wine-Free by the River
Tame Impala-It's Not Meant to Be
Patti Smith-Gloria
The Damned-New Rose
David Bowie-Oh! You Pretty Things
Cut Copy-Take Me Over
YACHT-Psychic City/Voodoo City
Sly and the Family Stone-Loose Booty
Brick-Dazz
France Joli-Gonna Get Over You
Moloko-Party Weirdo
Yoko Ono-You're the One (Bimbo Jones remix)
oOoOO-PCKRFCRMX
Brian Eno-2 Forms of Anger
Autechre-Acroyear 2

"Fade into You"

There are two possible scenarios when I go the used cd store. 1) I have a list of specific titles to seek out; 2) I randomly poke around to find some treasures. I've noticed that each of these scenarios shapes what I walk out of the store with. In scenario 1, it tends to be more recent items. In scenario 2, I end up filling gaps in my collection. My most recent trip was the latter.

Among those discs that I should already have owned is Mazzy Star's breakthrough, So Tonight That I Might See. I always loved "Fade Into You" (their biggest hit, topping out at #44), and my college roommate hipped me to the rest of the album. At any rate, I finally got around to rectifying this album's absence in my collection.

"Fade Into You" is a sublimely beautiful song, undoubtedly one of my favorite singles of the 1990s. It also is one of those tunes that very quickly gets the memory machine churning out all of the personal and temporal associations you might have with the song. The album as a whole is quite good, and holds up very well in 2011. It was also the perfect aural driving companion on a rainy, gray Monday following a Super Bowl loss.

There were two versions of the video. Watching the black and white clip, my thought was "this is the one that I remember." Watching the color clip, I thought "Wait, I remember this one too." Hypothesis: both were in rotation on MTV that year, or at least on 120 Minutes.





And for good measure, here is a performance from 120 Minutes.

So long, White Stripes.

As announced via the band's official website, The White Stripes are calling it quits. I don't find this new particularly surprising, and although they're one of my favorite bands of the last decade, I'm kind of glad they broke up before allowing the quality of their material to deteriorate. Get while the gettin's good, as they say. Plus, it's become increasingly clear that while the White Stripes were once Jack White's primary musical outlet, the band has in essence become a side project, or one of many side projects (the Dead Weather, the Raconteurs, the production work, the Third Man label/shop, etc.). As much as I love the White Stripes, in a way it seems like Jack is at the top of his game when his hands are in various creative pots. At the very least, it's a more interesting situation.

I admittedly came to the White Stripes party a little bit late. It wasn't until my time in Iowa that I got heavily into their music. Ergo, that time and place in my life will probably be my dominant memory association with their music. At any rate, I think it was my growing interest in garage rock (and devouring the Directors' Label Series of video compilations)that led me to look beyond the White Stripes' singles, digging into their first three albums in late 2004. The following summer they released what I still argue is their best album Get Behind Me Satan. Man, I listened to that album at least twice a day every day in the summer of 2005. I was even more stoked when I secured tickets to see them in action at Minneapolis' Orpheum Theater that fall. I remember being incredibly impressed by (mainly Jack's) ability to utilize effects and playing style to make up for the obvious lack of overdubs - and it worked.

I'm sure Jack White will continue to not sleep and compete with ?uestlove for busiest man in the music business, and I'm sure his work will continue to be interesting. End of an era for sure, though!

Someday the band will inevitably release a compilation of music videos, and they've had some great ones. Here's one of my favorites:

Gonzo on the air, 1/30

The B-52s-Planet Claire
Candie Payne-I Wish I Could Have Loved You More
Wanda Jackson-You Know I'm No Good
Iron and Wine-Me and Lazarus
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros-40 Day Dream
Tennis-Baltimore
David Lowery-Raise Up On Honey
Buffalo Springfield-Expecting to Fly
Simon and Garfunkel-America
The XX-VCR
Bat for Lashes-What's a Girl to Do
Yeasayer-Madder Red
Miike Snow-Burial
Bjork-Joga
Ikonika-Idiot
Phonecia-JPACE
aTelecine-It's All Write
Throbbing Gristle-Convincing People
Coil-Tainted Love
Elastica-Line Up
Santigold-Unstoppable
Sleigh Bells-Rill Rill
Duran Duran-New Moon on Monday
Cee-Lo Green-Bright Lights, Bigger City
Thomas Dolby-Airwaves

Gonzo on the air, 1/23

Wiz Khalifa-Black and Yellow
Brazilian Girls-Jique
Broadcast-Papercuts
Twin Shadow-Tyrant Destroyed
Daft Punk-Armory
Robyn Hitchcock-So You Think You're In Love
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart-The Contender
New Shouts-Save Me
Belle & Sebastian-I Want the World to Stop
Tapes n' Tapes-One in the World
Loretta Lynn-Have Mercy
Ani Difranco-What How When Where (Why How)
Delorean-Real Love
Crystal Castles feat. Robert Smith-Not in Love
Scissor Sisters-Kiss You Off
Chromeo-When the Night Falls
Dam Funk-Mirrors
ElectricType-Watt is it to Love Someone
Indeep-Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
Herbie Hancock-Rockit
Run DMC-Peter Piper
LL Cool J-Big Ole Butt
Sheila E-Holly Rock
Cameo-Candy

No Doubt salutes Macca

Their take on "All My Loving" is particularly tasty. As is Gwen, but hey - par for course.

These types of events always seem so incredibly awkward for the person being honored.