SXSW 2008 Gig Guide

South By Southwest 2008 is just around the corner, and every week until the festival, XLR8R is bringing you the scoop on its favorite parties planned for Austin this year. Check back every Wednesday for updates, and we’ll see you at the show.

Wednesday, March 12

Ioda Opening Bash
Music By The Wedding Present, Sean Hayes, Jason Collett, Chikita Violenta, Frightened Rabbit, Curumin, Modey Lemon, Chris Bathgate, Emily Jane White, Oliver Future, Mark Rae
Venue: Emo’s Annex, 630 Red River Rd.
Details: 12 – 6 p.m., FREE, Open to Public
Link:iodasxsw.com

Force Field & Terrorbird Media Showcase
Music By: These United States, Evangelicals, These New Puritans, YACHT, The Raveonettes, The Mae Shi, WHY?, The Blow, Laura Barett, Radar Bros., Headlights, Bowerbirds, Let’s Go to War, The Death Set, Panther, Hey Willpower
Venue: Emo’s, 603 Red River St.
Details: 12 – 6 p.m., FREE, All Ages
Link:forcefieldpr.com

Gorilla vs. Booze
Music By: White Denim, White Williams, Ghosthustler, Bodies Of Water, Holy Fuck, The Cool Kids, The Party DJs
Venue: The Peacock, 515 Pedernales St.
Details: FREE
Link:gorillavsbear.blogspot.com

Paper Bag Records/Upper Class
Presented by XLR8R
Music By: The Acorn, Laura Barrett, Cadence Weapon, Russian Futurists, Cansecos, You Say Party!, Sally Shapiro
Venue: Habana, 709 E 6th St.
Link:paperbagrecords.com

Smalltown Supersound
Presented by XLR8R
Music By: Lindstrom, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Bjorn Torske, Diskjokke, Arp, Kim Hiorthøy
Venue: The Thirsty Nickel, 325 E Sixth St.
Link:smalltownsupersound.com

Stones Throw/Duck Down Soundclash
Presented by V-Tech
Music By: Percee P, Guilty Simpson, Sean Price, Buckshot, Kidz in the Hall, DJ Rhettmatic, DJ Mister Nash
Venue: Habana Annex, 708 E. 6th St.
Details: 9 p.m. – 1 a.m., FREE, 21+
Link:stonesthrow.com

Modular SXSW Showcase
Music By: Cut Copy, The Bang Gang Deejays, Tough Alliance, The Black Ghosts, DJ Remy Mac
Venue: Karma Lounge, 119 W 8th St.
Details: Doors open 8 p.m., Limited badges and wristbands accepted
Link:modularpeople.com

Thursday, March 13

Schuba’s 12th Annual SXSW Roundup
Presented by Spin
Music By Okkervil River, The Cool Kids, Peter Moren, Blitzen Trapper, The spinto Band, The Builders and Butchers, Black Joe Lewis, Ben Jelen, Aleks & the Drumer
DJ Sets By: The Hood Internet and Ohmega Watts
Venue: Yard Dog, 1510 S. Congress
Details: 12 p.m., Free
Link:spin.com

Beautiful Losers World Premiere
Presented by Sidetrack Films
Venue: Alamo Ritz I, 320 E. 6th St.
Details: 4 p.m.
Link:beautifullosers.com

Anti-/Utne Reader SXSW Showcase
Music By: Devotchka, Billy Bragg, The Weakerthans, Man Man, Tim Fite, Islands
Venue: Cedar Street Courtyard, 208 W 4th St.
Details: 8 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Link:anti.com

Social Registry SXSW Showcase
Presented by XLR8R
Music By: Douglas Armour, Blood On The Wall, Mike Bones, Samara Lubelski, Psychic Ills, Sian Alice Group
Venue: Room 710, 710 Red River St.
Details: 12 – 9 p.m., 21+
Link:thesocialregistry.com

NPR Showcase
Music By: Shout Out Louds, Jens Lekman, Yeasayer, Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend
Venue: Parish, 214 E. 6th St.
Details: 1:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Link:npr.com

Redeye Distribution Party
Music By: Clare & The Reasons, Apollo Heights, Truckee Brothers, Born Ruffians, Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves, CunninLynguists, Die Die Die, The Donnas
Venue:
Details: 2 – 6:30 p.m., Free, Open to Public

The AV Club/Canvas Media/Arts&Crafts/Saddle Creek SXSW Party
Music By: Tapes n Tapes, Tokyo Police Club, The Stills, Shout Out Louds, The Constantines, Most Serene Republic, Georgie James, Los Campesinos!, Toddy Barry/Mike Ribiglia/Eugene Mirman Comedy Set, Neva Dinova, Ra Ra Riot, Son, Ambulance, Ladyfinger
Venue: Emo’s, 603 Red River St.
Link:canvasmedia.ca

The Great Escape Showcase
Music By: Ungdomskulen w/ FM Belfast, Reykjavik!, Magic Wands, Brooklyn, The Wombats
Venue: Maggie Mae’s Rooftop, 323 E 6th St.
Details: Doors Open 8 p.m.

The UGHH.com 2008 Austin Showcase
Presented by Future Classic and Synthesis.net
Hosted by The Onion
Music By: DJ Platurn, Braille & Ohmega Watts, Black Spade, 2MEX, LMNO, Time Machine, 7L & Esoteric, The Masters
Venue: Light Bar, 408 Congress Ave.
Details: 8 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Link:ughh.com

Friday, March 14

Kemado Records SXSW Jam
Music By: The Sword, Howlin’ Rain, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Saviours, Children
Venue: Spiderhouse Cafe, 2906 Fruth Street
Details: 1 – 7 p.m., Free with laminate, suggested $5 donation
Link:kemado.com

Frank151 Chapter 32 Jet Set Celebration
Presented by the Austin Bats
Music By: The Cool Kids, Pete Rock, Game Rebellion, The Knux, Kidz in the Hall, Invizzibl Men, All Natural, 4th Pyramid, Hicoup, Tim William and Arcade Stars, Vehicular
Venue: The Whiskey Bar, 303 W. 5th St.
Details: 1 – 7 p.m., RSVP

IheartComix vs. Mad Decent
Presented by Viva La Rock, Scion, and Monster Energy Drink
Music By: Diplo, Matt & Kim, Switch, Drop the Lime, Simian Mobile Disco, The Toxic Avenger, Santogold, Amanda Blank, Roxy Cottontail, The WHip, The Death Set, Th eBlack Ghosts, Boy 8-Bit, Team Robesphere, Acid Girls, Juiceboxxx, more
Venue: Guess Lounge, 421 W. 3rd St.
Details: 2 p.m. – 2 a.m., 21+
Details:RSVP

Asthmatic Kitty and Friends Showcase
Music By: Tristan Perich, Doveman, Clare and the Reasons, Cryptacize, My Brightest Diamond, Castanets
Venue: Central Presbyterian Church, 200 E. 8th St.
Details: 8 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Link:asthmatickitty.com

Asthmatic Kitty and Friends
Presented by Okay Mountain and XLR8R
Music By: Marla Hansen, Gary Higgens, The Weird Weeds, Hi Red Center
Venue: Okay Mountain Gallery, 1312 E. Cesar Chavez St.
Link:asthmatickitty.com

Kill Rock Stars SXSW Showcase
Music By: Jeff Hanson, New Bloods, Telepathe, Panther, Mika Miko, Shy Child
Venue: Emo’s, 603 Red River St.
Details: 8 p.m. – 2 a.m., 21+
Link:killrockstars.com

Damn!
Music By: Adept, Aux Raus, C-Mon & Kypski, Postman
Venue: Karma Lounge, 119 W 8th St.
Details: 10 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Link:myspace.com/damnthedutch

Saturday, March 15

Mess With Texas 2
Music By: Simian Mobile Disco, Jay Reatard, Two Gallants, Fucked Up, Islands, The Breeders, NOFX, Kimya Dawson, Black Mountain, Yeasayer, Lucero, No Age, Neon Neon, Pissed Jeans, Atlas Sound, White Denim, Matt & Kim
Comedy: Janeane Garofalo, Human Giant, Brian Posehn, more
Venue: Waterloo Park, 1301 Trinity St.
Details: 12 – 10 p.m., FREE, All Ages
Link:messwithtexasparty.thenewship.com

Feedback Showcase
Hosted by Rachel Ray
Music By: Autovaughn, The Ravonettes, The Cringe, Scissors for Lefty, The Stills, Holy Fuck
Venue: Beauty Bar, 617 E. 7th St.
Details: 12 – 6 p.m., RSVP

The Garden Party
Presented by Harp Magazine, Ground Control Touring, PRS Guitars, Glaceau, Pabst Blue Ribbon, JamBase, The Austinist, The Ice Cream Man
Music By: Thurston Moore and the New Wave Bandits, Okkervil River, Kimya Dawson, She and Him, J. Mascis, Sons and Daughters, Lightspeed Champion, Laura Marling, Noah and the Whale, Emmy the Great
Venue: French Legislation Museum
Details: 12 – 8 p.m., RSVP

Asthmatic Kitty and Friends
Presented by Okay Mountain and XLR8R
Music By: Cryptacize, Son Lux, Some Detector, {{{Sunset}}}, Grampall Jookabox, Cryptacize
Venue: Okay Mountain Gallery, 1312 E. Cesar Chavez St.
Link:asthmatickitty.com

NatAural High/RNLG/Koch Party
Music by: Fat Tony & D ee R, D.O.S., Megaphone, Spear of a Nation, Black Mike and Chemistry, Lower Life Form
Venue: Light Bar, 408 Congress Ave.
Details: 9 p.m. – 2 a.m., 21+

Cock Rock Disco/Deathbomb Arc/Load Records
Presented by XLR8R
Music By: Clockcleaner, White Mice, Justice, Yeldham, Sightings, $hit and $hine, Jason Forrest, Captain Ahab, Foot Village, DJ Scotch Egg, Kevin Shields, Nero’s Day At Disneyland, Friends Forever
Venue: Scoot Inn, 1308 E 4th St.
Link:cockrockdisco.com

Photo of C-mon & Kypski © Gabriel

Pon Di Wire: Pirate CD Maker Busted, Dancehall Beefs, Soundclash News

Canadian authorities have shut down prolific pirate reggae CD manufacturer Audiomaxxx.com. A raid was conducted after a lengthy investigation and complaints from major labels like VP Records, as well as many smaller, independent ones. CBC News reported that Raj Singh Ramgotra, the principal behind Audiomaxxx, was arrested and that police seized more than 200,000 music CDs and DVDs, numerous movies, thousands of blank discs, five CD/DVD burning towers, four color copiers, and other office equipment. The Boycott Audiomaxxx website has chronicled the busted site’s many transgressions over the past three years.

Following the success of their three-part New York soundclash finale, promoters Irish and Chin are readying the eighth installment of World Clash Jamaica: Death Before Dishonor. The event will take place Easter Monday, March 24, at Pier One in Montego Bay, and opens with a special Vintage Tribute featuring selectors David Rodigan, King Jammy’s, Black Scorpio, Downbeat, and others. The Main Event line-up includes 2007 victors Mighty Crown, Black Kat, Tony Matterhorn and more. 8,000 people are expected to attend, causing the promoters to comment, “With lots in store for this year’s event, sound clash fans should only draw for their best lighters, horns and whistles!”

Also upcoming for Bay Area reggae fans, the fourth annual Club Dread Sound Clash takes place Saturday, March 29 at Pier 23 Café in San Francisco. The events pits local sounds Broken Silence, Lone Star, Reality Sound, and Jah Warrior Shelter head-to-head.

Fueling Jamaica’s thirst for passa passa (gossip) and tabloid headlines, a number of news sources are reporting on the latest song disses and dancehall beefs. XNews reports on alleged friction between DJ Determine and Capleton over Determine’s single, “Science,” which lambastes the entire reggae fraternity, accusing artists of engaging in dark arts. Certain verses appear to swipe at Capleton, with lyrics like “dem shoulda know ah St. Mary mi come from, and yu know that a science land, don.” Determine also calls out Bounty Killer’s Alliance and Beenie Man and Vegas, blaming their woes on “science.” “Ah just humor,” Determine told XNews, adding that he has nothing but respect for Capleton.

Meanwhile, Mavado and Vybz Kartel are trading lyrical shots. One876 is reporting that Portmore Empire leader Vybz Kartel and Alliance’s Mavado both voiced tracks targeting each other on Stephen McGregor’s Daybreak Riddim. 876 also speculated that former Arrows studio stalemates and fellow new-comer artists I-Octane and Teflon are beefing. Teflon, however, has played down any suggestion of conflict between he and Octane. “Is not any beef thing, is just a clarification of certain things,” Teflon said. “I was at Arrows and some things go down, and mi lef, me and Octane nuh really have no beef still.”

VP Records vocalist Etana is OutARoad.com’s March artist of the month. The conscious female singer’s message-laden music recalls reggae greats Judy Mowatt and Rita Marley, mixed with Tracy Chapman and Indie Arie’s organic soul. The August Town, Jamaica-born singer will release her debut, Etana The Strong One on VP later this year.

Sly & Robbie protégé Cherine Anderson is on the move in 2008, with nuff new projects, including a new mixtape titled Street Anthems. Anderson appeared in the film Dancehall Queen, and later began recording music. She recently appeared alongside Chuck Fenda on the hit “Coming Over.”

Lauren Hill, who’s married to Rohan Marley, has been tapped to portray her step-mom, Rita Marley, in the forthcoming film No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley. “She sees my life as her life,” said Rita to Reggae Report. No Woman No Cry will chronicle the Marley’s 15-year marriage, right up to his untimely passing from cancer on May 11, 1981. Rita Marley will be the film’s executive producer and commented, “I’ve waited a long time to tell this story.”

A brand new double-CD from VP titled The Sweet Sounds of Cocoa Tea is the first ever career retrospective for Cocoa Tea, who ascended from a humble Clarendon parish fishing village to become a top ’80s and ’90s dancehall singer. The set covers Cocoa Tea’s prolific career, including recordings with producers “Junjo” Lawes, King Jammy, Digital B, and others.

Longtime Leicester, U.K. electronic dub purveyors Vibronics unleashed their latest album, UK Dub Story, this month. The group describes its dub music community as “the underground of underground music cultures; a scene that is thriving more than ever, despite a total lack of mainstream media coverage.” UK Dub Story is available now on Vibtronics’ Scoops label.

For a behind the scenes taste of reggae concert action, view the trailer for the recently released Reggae Uncensored DVD, starring Adiona, Collie Buddz, Sizzla, Beenie Man, Damien “Junior Gong” Marley, Sean Paul, and more.

Richie B’s HOT 102 FM Jamaica Dancehall Top Ten Singles

1. Serani feat Bugle “Doh” (Daseca)
2. Harry Toddler “Don’t Run In” (Truck Back)
3. Busy Signal “Pon Di Edge” (Star Kutt)
4. Mykal Rose “Shoot Out” (John John)
5. Erup “Click My Finger” Truck Back
6. Voicemail “Bembe” (Big Ship)
7. Demarco “Duppy Know Who Fi Frighten” (John John)
8. Charly Black “Nuff Love/Buddy Buddy” (M/Bass)
9. Bugle “Journey” (Daseca)
10. Busy Signal “Nah Go A Jail” (Jam 2)

Living Legends Announce New EP

After operating the Legendary Music imprint themselves for almost a decade, Murs, The Grouch, Luckyiam, Eligh, Scarub, Sunspot Jonz, Aesop, and Bicasso–collectively known as the Living Legends–have hired a full staff and taken the extra hours to record a new release.

The Gathering EP, which will drop on April 8, finds the Los Angeles/San Francisco-based collective pushing more of their socially conscious lyrics over heavy beats and catchy hooks, while Mike Lazer (who worked on Gnarls Barkely’s St. Elsewhere) provided his skills when it came to mastering the album. A full tracklisting will follow shortly.

In the meantime, catch the whole crew at SXSW, Coachella, and a few dates in between.

Watch “That Looks Good”

Tour Dates
03/13 Austin, TX: SXSW
03/16 Albuquerque, NM: The Sunshine Theater
03/17 Phoenix, AZ: Old Brickhouse
03/22 San Bernardino, CA: Paid Dues Festival
04/25 Indio, CA: Coachella

Flunk Democracy: Personal Stereo Versions

Norway’s folktronic outfit Flunk usually keeps its proceedings chilled, but this open-sourced remix effort ups the bpms more than a bit. Slicing and dicing “Diet of Water and Love,” “If We Kiss,” and the title track from their 2007 effort Personal Stereo, Democracy finds First Man on Mars and Penny and Ashtray’s frenetic space-scapes sliding nicely up to the broken jazz of Allicorn Smokey Den with little resistance. Three songs does not usually a good compilation make, but in the case of the diverse approaches from Flunk’s fans and followers, the copy is actually a sonic improvement on the original.

Devastations Yes U

If Australian trio Devastations doesn’t have a lot of fans yet, they at least have a few influential ones–Karen O and The National have both jumped aboard the band(‘s)wagon, and it’s easy to see why. On the group’s third album, they’re gloomy as ever. Their melancholic indie rock unfolds slowly–almost sludgily, though not as droning or heavy as, say, the Melvins–and restraint and drama resist each other uneasily. “Rosa,” the album’s emotional center, goes through an emotional transformation as it rises epically then descends into squealing guitars. On “The Pest,” Conrad Standish’s voice barely rises above a whisper, giving the song’s lyrics added punch. Amazingly, they manage to do all that and be beautiful at the same time.

Glass Candy: Mystical Death Disco

Glass Candy’s Ida No is the lucky sort of person that can slip in and out of the world like it’s a state of mind. In a room with her you start to think she’s more of a phantasm than anything flesh and blood, it’s as if you turned too fast to pull her in from your vision’s periphery, there’d suddenly be nothing there but a billowing curtain or floorboard creak.

When she talks, it’s in the abstract. Concrete answers don’t emerge, just ideas, and Ida speaking the way a spiritual observer or spectral translator might. I ask about her lyrics–which can sound morbid, longing, like she’s so in touch with a dark place. “They’re happy songs,” she says dreamily. “They happen after a resolution or something. Maybe like after a really long meditation. It’s a bright moment.”

Reaching Beyond
The more eyes on Ida, the more she materializes. On stage, she appears as either an unhinged post-everything savage or an archetype of sexy cool, depending on whatever phase this continually progressing band is in. (On their 2003 debut, Love Love Love, they were consumed with guitar-ravaged No Wave; their most recent record, November 2007’s Beat Box, is an icy disco memoriam.) According to producer Johnny Jewel, the pair is just as likely to take on hip-hop next. And if they do, Ida No will continue to be, almost more than almost anyone in music, a materialization–a projected image of Jewel’s sonic fantasy, a grainy night-vision photo held together by an affection for Ziggy Stardust-esque glam.

Johnny Jewel handles almost everything earthly related to Glass Candy, from managing the band to recording and producing. He’s quick to go on about equipment, explaining his gear–a lot of synths, drum pads, never a computer–like a parent talks about their kid. He’s also quick to go on about the ethos of the label he co-runs with Mike Simonetti, Italians Do It Better: no outside management, no PR, the bands are always in full control. He can spend 150 hours on a beat–he works based on a 30-hour day (read: until total exhaustion)–tweaking and obsessing, crossing his fingers that when he gets together with Ida No to actually make the song, she’s written a vocal part that syncs perfectly. “I won’t let her sing on a beat if I don’t like what she’s singing,” he tells me in Ida’s almost disturbingly well-kept Portland apartment (as if when no one else is there, she disappears). “She won’t sing on a beat if she doesn’t like it,” he admits.

Straining across the couch to grab a silver-blue Christmas tree bulb, Johnny explains, “The songs are like this; the songs are made from the reach.” And the reaching is endless–the two estimate they’ve only met perfectly in the middle of the songwriting process less than 10 times (in over 10 years).

Body Talk
Talking about Glass Candy, Ida No and Johnny Jewel both become mystics, twinned spiritualists in their own strange orbit. In the five seasons of Chinese philosophy, he’s the liver and she’s the spleen; he’s spring and she’s the season with no name, floating among the other seasons. Sometimes it’s referred to as “Indian summer” and sometimes it’s just the “center.” “A spring person’s style of speaking kind of has a shout to it. Spring has the energies of bursting forth no matter what; like ‘I’m going to be born into the world no matter,’” Ida explains, grinning at Jewel. You can tell she studies this stuff, and that, maybe, he doesn’t have much of a choice. You also get the feeling she has an ever deeper well of mystical polarities she could draw from; there are brief mentions of something Mayan, hot and cold personalities, and something else that would take an extra 500-word primer on acupuncture to understand.

With a hint of mirth, she goes on. “I am an Indian summer rhythm. The voice is more soft and singing. It’s a really common syndrome in America that people have really congested, angry livers. And they basically attack the spleen.” If Jewel is the liver, there’s a hint at what it’s like in the studio for Glass Candy, an ugly-sounding event he describes simply as “pretty stormy.”

“Every time I record a song, I wonder if [it ’s] going to be the last,” says Jewel.

But, after 11 years, that hasn’t happened. Glass Candy has gone from being a pair of awkward Portland artists making music that had as much to do with weird electronics as post-grunge, to the poster children for a new breed of acts exploring locked-in-the-mortuary disco and obscure early ’80s electro-funk.

What is Not
Not bad for something that all started in a Fred Meyer grocery store. Johnny was working the produce section and Ida was buying carrots for her rabbit. They talked, and something clicked. They’d known each other for a week before they moved in together, each still working on their own musical projects. They dated for a time but “the liver killed the spleen,” explains Ida matter-of-factly. Eventually, the band she was in broke up and Johnny Jewel approached a “distraught” Ida, saying simply “I would like to be your robot.”

They started with the idea to make the music they make now, more a morbid, minor-key take on disco than the “Italo” tag they so often get stuck with. Early incarnations, however, yielded what Johnny calls “Nico-y darkwave with disco beats.”

“We sucked so bad we just sounded punk,” he adds.

So, Glass Candy just made punk, and the critics called it No Wave, tossing out references to The Contortions and Lydia Lunch as if Glass Candy came from the same womb. The truth is, neither No Wave nor punk nor broken disco quite describes Glass Candy’s sound, although strands of these genres’ difficult, decadent DNA are woven throughout this band’s 10-plus years of trouble.

Though happy days are hardly here, neither bandmate seems surprised that Glass Candy is finally hitting its ice-blue stride, with Jewel’s unpredictable nocturnal thump finally matching Ida No’s inward-gazing meta-poetry of love and death. With a shrug, Johnny Jewel says, “The body needs both the spleen and the liver.”

Ida’s Tape for Johnny

God, help me out with this Gemini. Seriously, draw me a diagram.

The Normal “Warm Leatherette”
“Quick…let’s make love…before we die!” Hey, calm down. Patience is a virtue. We’re in a band, not a burning automobile.

Johnny Cash “Ring of Fire”
“I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher.” Everyone who knows Johnny experiences this feeling daily.

Olivia Newton-John “Have You Never Been Mellow?”
“There was a time when I was in a hurry; as you are, I was like you. I don’t mean to make you frown, I just want you to slow down.” Everyone who knows Johnny tells himself this daily.

Bill Conti “Theme From Rocky”
Go to your corner and come out swinging. He’s so pressed for time, he usually skips the corner, and he never stops swinging… even in his sleep.

Diana Ross “Do You Know Where You’re Going To”
Do we know where we’re going to? Hell is not an actual place that some force outside yourself sends you to–it’s a state of mind. We’ve learned this together. I’m so glad everyday we decide to keep smiling, no matter what life is showing us.

Survivor “Eye of the Tiger”
Johnny’s so focused, it’s almost frightening. He keeps a tiger’s-eye stone around his neck constantly. No heat in the studio and holes in his shoes, and he still skips his Wheaties while putting in a 20-hour day. The trouble is he doesn’t know when he’s having a food crisis, and, oh boy, does he get crabby.

Judy Collins “Send in the Clowns”
No matter how trying life can get, Johnny can always make me laugh in the middle of it, which reduces huge troubles to silly inconveniences. We’re so lucky for our lives. Johnny always helps me remember that life is just a game. What more do you need in a friend?

Boots Randolph “Yakety Sax” (The Benny Hill Theme Song)
He’s as funny as that!

Johnny’s Tape for Ida

It ain’t what you do… it’s the way that you do it.

I Dream of Jeannie Theme Song
Basically anything with flutes, chimes, or a horn section is a hit with Ida. This is probably what she hears in her head when she’s going jogging or doing yoga.

“Row, Row, Row Your Boat” (Traditional)
“Life is but a dream.” This is Ida’s theme song. “Gently down the stream.” Ida honestly believes this is possibly the best song ever written.

“I Wish I Were an Oscar Mayer Weiner” (Commercial Peel Session)
Bill collectors can’t harass you when you’re an Oscar Mayer weiner. And no one asks you to give the second verse one more try when you’re an Oscar Meyer weiner. Ida would be 100 percent content.

“Silent Night” (Traditional)
“All is calm.” She loves the night to be silent. And I only make beats at night. So we don’t live together anymore. Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t want to hear me trying to find the perfect snare sound for 13 hours straight. Who can blame her?

John Paul Young “Love Is in the Air” (Mike Simonetti’s White Label Version)
This is written on Ida’s oxygen tank she keeps backstage. When Mike spins records at our shows he always plays this song. Ida immediately lights up and starts doing this fucked-up dance. I can’t describe it. It’s like clockwork. Since we made the rule that Glass Candy members had to be air signs it’s been smooth sailing.

Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra Enjoy

With Enjoy, conductor Travis Sullivan begins with a noble idea, but kind of fumbles the ball. His 18-piece orchestra translates Björk’s genre-damning, digitally contorted music into jazz-pop numbers. At its best, the orchestra has a mean swing, as heard on the title track and “Who is It?”. It’s just that it is difficult to consume Enjoy without wanting to just listen to the original songs instead. The main culprit is vocalist Becca Stevens; where Björk has arresting pipes that are simultaneously angelic and feral, Stevens sings like a wine-bar entertainer. Her pale attempt at stuttering on “Human Behavior” and her flat reading of “Alarm Call” spoil the fun.

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