"Ca Plane Pour Moi"

Director Danny Boyle is an unparalleled curator of soundtracks with his collection of songs for Trainspotting being his pièce de résistance and perhaps one of the greatest soundtracks in film history. Don't believe me? Check out the track list. His latest film, 127 Hours, is no exception. The soundtrack features a wealth of material put together by master Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman, but the most potent musical moment originates from a different composer: Belgian songwriter and pop star Plastic Bertrand. James Franco, as the dehydrated and physically beaten climber Aron Ralston, tries to mentally escape his brutal predicament by recalling better times. In this case, a packed van of friends in the middle of nowhere, who proceed to all disrobe, crank the windows down and scream and raise their arms as snow rushes in from the outside storm. The exhilarating feeling is transferred to the audience via the thumping uptempo beat of Plastic Bertrand's 1977 international hit single "Ca Plane Pour Moi," which perhaps because of its complete randomness, works perfectly.

Vampire Weekend - "Cam Plane Pour Moi" (Live on France's Taratata)
Stream: Plastic Bertrand - "Ca Plane Pour Moi" (from Plastic Bertrand)

The Best Albums of 2010 :: 30-16

Grass Widow - Past Time
Raw propulsive bass lines, angular guitars and near chaotic overlapping vocal harmony lend a discordant beauty to the follow-up from this all-girl San Francisco trio.
Sample: "Shadow"

Deer Tick - The Black Dirt Sessions
A dark brooding collection of songs that, with the exception of "When She Comes Home" and "Mange," feel more like a sobering John McCauley solo record than than the drunken poetry of Deer Tick—but poetry it still is.
Sample: "Twenty Miles"

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast
From the light tone of "Take It Easy" to the giant roaring swell of "Swim" and ferocious velocity of "Neighbor Riffs," this is simply one of the best guitar-driven rock records to come out in quite some time.
Sample: "Neighbor Riffs"

The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme
This is pop music in its most charming, addictive, and sweepingly creative light—a near greatest hits quality collection of singles from this elusive Swedish band.
Sample: "Never Follow Suit"

Best of 2010, So Far...

Songs

Kisses - "Bermuda"
Delta Spirit - "Bushwick Blues"

Blake Mills - "Hey Lover"

The Morning Benders - "Excuses"

Cults - "Go Outside"

Active Child - "When Your Love Is Safe"

Fang Island - "Daisy"

Surfer Blood - "Take It Easy"

LP's, EP's & 7"s
Phosphorescent - Here's To Taking It Easy
Free Energy - Stuck On Nothing
Josh Ritter - So Runs The World Away
Vampire Weekend - Contra

Twin Sister - Colour Your Life
Sonny & The Sunsets - The Hypnotist

Spoon - Transference

Club 8 - The People's Record
The National - High Violet
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
Woods - At Echo Lake

The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame

Toro Y Moi - Causers of This

Javelin - No Mas

Deer Tick - The Black Dirt Sessions
Elite Gymnastics - Real Friends

Sasquatch: Saturday Recap

The Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge in George, Washington is a lot of things—but mostly, it's just brilliantly beautiful. With four stages and almost a hundred bands, soaking up the sunshine is easy—deciding which bands to catch however is decidely more difficult. On Saturday alone, 32 bands played: here's a few notes on the 9 I caught (categorized by golf terminology).

Bogey: OK GO

Already known by the majority of the world for their treadmill web video, lead singer Damian Kulash further pitched internet savviness over music after taking a picture of the crowd and telling everyone to log on to Facebook and tag themselves after the show.

Par: Broken Social Scene

The Canadian collective tore through their recent record with unusual restraint during their set, keeping songs tight and to their recorded length: an appropriate turn considering the group just released their most pop-accessible album to date. The only problem with the set was singer Lisa Lobsinger who looks the part a lot more than she sounds it. Sure, filling in for Feist, Emily Haines and Amy Milan ain't easy, but it seemed Lobsinger spent more time fixing her hair than preparing during soundcheck as it was nearly impossible to make out her whisper of a voice. Nevertheless, the absurdly relevant "Texico Bitches" and Kevin Drew's hilarious fawning over the National made the set a memorable one.

Par: Portugal. The Man.

This Alaska band was exactly what I expected: big wailing solos and Robert Plant worthy vocals spaced out over rowdy and inspired jamming. The three- and sometimes four-part harmonies were excellent and the band's poppiest song, "The Sun," also proved to be one of its best live.

Birdie: Laura Marling

I knew nothing about English singer/songwriter Laura Marling before Saturday. That was silly. With fiery pipes that can hit the Joni Mitchell highs and the Neko Case lows, Marling's brand of folk may not have blown away the sun-drenched afternoon audience, but she certainly made plenty of converts.

Laura Marling - "Goodbye England" (mp3)

Birdie: My Morning Jacket

The best show I've ever seen was Jim James & Co. at Bonnaroo in 2008 when they played for almost four hours and covered everyone from Kool & The Gang to the Velvet Underground, so my expectations are always skewed high. The crowd dissipated a bit before MMJ took the stage with the cold setting in, but the band nevertheless brought the goods with a Van Halen-worthy opening light and roaring guitar show and a set that spanned the band's entire catalogue, going back all the way to the early demo "Tonight I Wanna Celebrate With You." The only thing that hurt the set was the absence of a few more funky and upbeat numbers. By the time the much-needed "Highly Suspicious" funked onto the stage most people had either headed to their tents or over to Deadmau5.

Eagle: Mumford & Sons

Over the course of the day, there were two moments where the blood rushed to my head and chills engulfed my body. London's Mumford & Sons produced that feeling first with their ridiculously absorbing acoustic-based build-ups, most notably on "The Cave," "Little Lion Man" and an excellent unreleased song where lead singer Marcus Mumford traded his guitar for a turn on the drums (where he's apparently quite capable of tearing through a song).

Mumford & Sons - "The Cave" 

Albatross: The National (photo)

The focus of every National concert should be Matt Berninger's absurdly sincere face, which can transform from pleased to tortured and full of anguish with a few strums from a guitar. Suffocatingly full of built-up energy before every vocal line— exhibited by fervent thigh or mic slapping—Berninger becomes a cathartic force when it's finally time to sing. Whether trembling with rage and hysteria on the Alligator classic "Abel" or a deep Leonard Cohen cool on the rumbling "Bloodbuzz Ohio," Berninger and his band certainly know how to play to a stadium-sized crowd.

Condor: Vampire Weekend (photo)

The only time the main stage reached capacity Saturday was during Vampire Weekend's set—and it was rightly so. After a long day of drugs and drinking, what could be better than upbeat and peppy songs that you can dance and sing along to? Just as the sun was setting with pink and orange colors exploding in the sky, Ezra Koenig orchestrated an otherworldly tight set of his band's signature clean afro-ska-punk fusion that had crowd members dancing in conga lines up and down the grassy hills overlooking the stage. Sometimes bands are popular for a good reason.

Balls to Rock: A Discerning Ratio

Even independent music goes through states of stylized homogeneity. When Animal Collective got red hot last year, we were flooded with bands every other week worshipping at their experimental altar. The same can be said for sub-genres like freak-folk, chill-wave, and the noisy Jesus & Mary Chain gang. In other words, when everyone is trying to be different and that "difference" is being celebrated, a repetition of style is inevitable. Sometimes "different" means music that is eccentric, weird or groundbreaking and that, of course, should be celebrated; but when "different" or "indie" connotes overly quirky and clever skinny-jean donning bands of the moment, it can become difficult to wade through that abyss of tight denim.

That's when I resort to "balls to rock," a ratio that sifts out the overly stylized and cliched from the blood, sweat and tears. "Balls" is colloquial for bravado or courage and could easily be replaced with terms like "soulful," "bad-ass," or "inspired"—in music, it's that intangible something that hits you in the gut. On a scale, Wavves or the Jo Bros might register a 1:37; Vampire Weekend a respectable 6:13; White Denim, always full of life and energy, a 5:7; a perfect 1:1 for the damaged goods Bon Iver delivered in For Emma, Forever Ago; and lastly, the ratio would spill over with the likes of Janis Joplin and Prince, whose gigantic huevos' size were and are simply impossible to determine.

Here are five groups that bring it balls and ovaries first every song:

The Ettes - "Crown of Age" (from Look At Life Again)

White Denim - "Regina Holding Hands" (from Fits)

Beach House - "Silver Soul" (From Teen Dream)

The Drive By Truckers - "Steve McQueen" (from Alabama Ass Whuppin)

Black Joe Lewis & The Honerybears - "I'm Broke" (Live at WOXY Lounge)

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Buy It Now: Vampire Weekend's Contra

In "Diplomat's Son," Vampire Weekend stretch out an M.I.A. sample, a reggae-style upbeat piano, and a 8-bit rhythmic loop into a six-minute globe- and genre-spanning dub. If elements of ska, punk, and Afro-pop were prevalent in Vampire Weekend's debut, they're emphatically pronounced and expanded upon in Contra (just listen to the Bollywood-inspired "Horchata"). The record's ambitious creativity has spawned a rare moment—one where critical acclaim and universal popularity intersect. Clearly, this is no longer a band that can fit into your back pocket (if it ever was). And that's a good thing.

Vampire Weekend - "Diplomat’s Son" (from Contra)

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Vampire Weekend drink "Horchata"

The new Vampire Weekend song reminds me of a montage "our love is beginning to blossom" scene in a Bollywood film. I'm not sure that's a good thing, but moving from Africa to India is a ballsy move, no doubt. I know the preppy blonde chick on the album cover agrees.

Vampire Weekend - "Horchata" (from Contra)

Dance Jukebox: Remixes

The art of the remix is alive and well these days with the sprawling tentacles of the interweb dishing out songs left and right. Most of the time, an added beat and a couple of effects amount to a senseless cacophony. But occasionally, a song thrives under a little stirring of the pot.

Chromeo's affinity for funky synth lines and nostalgia for all that is cheesy helped turn Feist's "Sea Lion" into a booty-shaking dance number. They do the same here with Vampire Weekend. Even if you're sick of the band, the song's worth a spin. The "Ce Jeu" remix here has that same effect: it replaces any potentially annoying and cutesy sounds with a Billy Squire beat and waves of deep and dark synths. The Cut Copy remix? That's just a great song in the hands of a different maestro.

Taste!

Yelle - Ce Jeu (Bill Eff's Love 1987 remix)

Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance (Chromeo remix)

Cut Copy - Far Away (Damn Arms remix)

Graphic ⓒ Matt Carr