Hype Wars, Part Three

Before I begin, I would like to first introduce a new feature to Oh, Summer Life. I'm pleased to announce that Claude (also known as my boyfriend) will be joining the team here at OSL to bring you random album reviews. His columns will be in the style of "good news/bad news" but instead it will be "good album/bad album." Expect his first bad album to be Get Behind Me Satan by The White Stripes. He's absolutely raving about how awful it is, and he's right.

Now onto the hype war.

Coldplay has proved once again that they are the most hyped up band in the media, but not all of it is good publicity. Case in point: The Case Against Coldplay, an article by Jon Pareles of the New York Times. The thesis of the article is that Coldplay is "the most insufferable band of the decade." This comes amidst lauds and heralds from many other sources. Why are they so awful? Apparently the fact that they are liked by people from all walks of life is too much for Pareles. Couple that with the fact that singer Chris Martin likes to sing high in his range, and therefore in going from his regular singing voice to falsetto he makes a noise, and you've got a formula for crappy music, right? Not necessarily. I've been singing choral music for years now, and as far as I know, the little flip it takes to go from a man's singing voice to falsetto is common and hard to stop, so to criticize Martin for something that is often natural is pretty stupid. Pareles hasn't done his homework. Also criticized is the fact that they spread quickly, which happens to lots of good bands and Coldplay is no exception and, of course, the obligatory blow to their lyrical content. Nothing new there. If Pareles intended to persuade anyone to agree with him, he did a terrible job. While his opinion is his own and therefore valid, it is backed up merely by his own musings and is not the popular opinion. So much for a backlash, Jon.

If Martin's daughter Apple were old enough to read, maybe she'd agree with Pareles. It seems she's not much of a Coldplay fan either. Rather, she opts for an "obscure icelandic rock" band named Sigur Ros. Obscure? Not the last time I checked.

Now that Coldplay has become the talk of the town, it's only fitting that at least one psychopath should make some unsupported claim about Martin. This time, it's a woman claiming to be his mother. If that's the case, Martin thinks she owes him milk money.

Lastly, NME takes a look at the battle on the UK music charts involving Coldplay, The White Stripes, and lesser-knowns (at least to the US) The Tears. All three have just released albums, and supposedly all three are great (although I highly disagree on The White Stripes, but that's me...). I'd like to see another ringtone hit number one and knock them all off their feet, but that's just me.

In other news...

The aforementioned White Stripes have also been getting a lot of press recently thanks to the nuptuals of Jack White and model Karen Elson. The two were married last week on a canoe in the convergence of three major rivers in South America. Although most people are calling this a publicity stunt, White says that he's in love and that the wedding is no sham. Sounds reasonable enough until you see the pictures of the ceremony. It's not at all what I expected. I thought of the sun setting and the two in a boat dressed all pretty and what-not. Not at all. It doesn't even look like they got married. Talk about weird.

No hype war would be complete without a little dose of the Gallagher bros. Liam and Noel have both been in the news blips today for all sorts of randomness. In the world of Liam, he first admits to liking the new Gorillaz song, but still hates former Blur singer Damon Albarn. At least he's not letting personal conflict get in the way of his musical tastes. Liam has also been tapped for the role of real-life crime boss Paul Massey in a new film entitled The Apprentice. What an original title! While Liam is off expanding his acting career, brother Noel is expanding his new fetish for Adidas track jackets, just like every little 14-year-old emo boy in the entire world. Both Liam and Noel came together to have a brawl in a bar in Brussels, Belgium, not that that's anything unusual.

Surprise contender in the battle of the buzz is Franz Ferdinand. The band is trying to piece together a DVD and want their fans to submit footage of their concerts in video or photo formats and messages to the band in mp3 or video formats. This comes after the band recently admitted that they put a hidden message in the song "Michael" using back-masking. A few decades ago, this same technology was used to encode secret satanic messages into songs. Franz Ferdinand, on the other hand, put "the most positive thing [they] could come up with" into the secret message. "Michael" isn't the only song with a secret. Pete Doherty, former singer of Babyshambles, alledges that Franz Ferdinand stole their now famous "Take Me Out" guitar riff from a Ringo Starr song entitled "Back Off Boogaloo." And I bet it sounds better in "Take Me Out."

As a girl who grew up listening to Donovan, it's no surprise that I'm a fan of the vintage 70's sound. That's why it should also come as no surprise that I absolutely love Of Montreal. If you still don't know about them, you should read this article from Aversion. Frontman Kevin Barnes discusses how the band has grown and changed over the eight years they've been together. Also check out The Sunlandic Twins, available now at any good record store, and for all you Columbus kids, see them live with me on September 6th.

A couple weeks later, we should all go see Sigur Ros somewhere. They'll be in places within a day's driving distance from Columbus. I'd personally like to go to Montreal, even though it's far away, because I want to see my friend Gordon (hi, g-dizzle), and it'd be a really cool way to meet up. Any takers?

Even the people in Japan love Yo La Tengo. That's why The Japan Times has a feature article dedicated to the band as they arrive to play in the country.

More details on the upcoming Death Cab for Cutie album, but what about The Postal Service?

Today is Tuesday, and that means new albums! Lots of new things have arrived at your local record store:
Annie - Anniemal
The Aquabats - Charge!!
Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business
Coldplay - X&Y
Death By Stereo - Death for Life
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing... (deluxe edition)
Finch - Say Hello to Sunshine
Gomez - Out West
Kelly Osbourne - Sleeping in the Nothing
Secret Machines - The Road Leads Where it's Led
Ringo Starr - Choose Love
The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan

Upcoming Columbus Shows

6.08 - Modest Mouse - Promowest Pavilion
6.13 - Iron and Wine w/ Band of Horses - The Newport
6.15 - Travis Morrison - Supraphonic Studios (Where the heck is that?!)
6.23 - Aqualung - Little Brothers
7.07 - Reel Big Fish - Newport Music Hall
7.19 - Dressy Bessy - Little Brothers
7.20 - Howie Day - Promowest Pavilion
7.20 - Luna Halo w/ Modena Vox - Skully's Music Diner
7.22 - Tegan and Sara - Newport Music Hall
8.11 - Ben Folds w/ Ben Lee and Rufus Wainwright - Promowest Pavilion
8.20 - Pretty Girls Make Graves - Little Brothers
8.30 - Xiu Xiu w/ Das Yellow Swans and Nedelle? - Little Brothers
8.31 - Coldplay w/ Rilo Kiley - Germain Ampitheater
9.06 - Of Montreal - TBA
9.24 - The Rolling Stones w/ Beck - Germain Ampitheater

Daily Downloads
from the regnyouth archives

The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan 2 (link, rar, password = dub)
Aesop Rock - Labor Days (link, mp3)
Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business (link, rar, password = rya)
Coldplay - X&Y (link, mp3)
The Tears - Here Come the Tears (link, rar, password = sth1453)
The Aquabats - Charge!! (link, rar, password = rya)

Sorry my updates have been so sporatic. It's finals week and I'm not studying but I should be. I kinda gave up on this quarter about... oh, I'd say eight weeks ago. Isn't that horrible? I've also been packing very very little and spending a lot of time with Claude and his family since his brother is home from Kuwait. I'm so irresponsible sometimes. Oh well, it's time to get my butt into gear.