Composed Elements

I have decided to kick my black tar heroin addiction and instead inject electronic bliss from Boys Noize intravenously.

Alex Ridha, under the moniker Boys Noize has once again produced a delicious electronic remix full of his signature repetitive pumping bassline beats that never grow old, coupled with an indie flair.

Before the much anticipated Feist album “The Reminder” has even been released (May 1, 2007), Boys Noize has already mixed “My Moon My Man” to perfection. Combining Leslie Feist’s smooth and ethereal French-pop style vocals with robotic frog-like chants of “my moon my man” in the background surprisingly works well in this mix. The throbbing synthesizer sounds that repeat again and again build up suspense to lead up to Feist’s voice, creating a calming lull that picks up again to pulsating beats.

Listen to Boys Noize’s remix of “My Moon My Man”

Fionn Regan, the Homesick Orchestra, and Lisa Germano
March 13, 2007 @ Largo in Los Angeles

The highly esteemed venue, Largo in Los Angeles provided the perfect ambience for Fionn Regan’s intricate folk-style guitar picking and his yearning vocals. The nearly pitch-black room lit by candles, turned the crowd’s attention towards the only light on the stage. It focused on a young man wearing all black with a bowler hat floating on top of his floppy hair. The old weathered piano and the number of acoustic guitars with the Regan’s signature “F.R.” letters taped onto them laid behind him, transforming the stage into what felt like a timewarp into a Vaudeville act.

Largo was a stop for Regan on his way to Texas for the South by Southwest festival that particular weekend, the mecca for indie music and movies. Regan displayed extreme ease and confidence with his flighty guitar picking, never missing a strum or a pick. Immediately when he got on stage and started playing, I was such in awe with his deftness to produce raw and soulfully smooth vocals at the same time. When a singer actually digs deep down into your soul and makes you so lost in the music that you start imagining wind blowing against golden wheat amid a landscape of a blue sky with marshmallow clouds, you know he’s good. With his complicated guitar pickings, he crooned out soft, raspy vocals reminiscent of Bob Dylan and Conner Oberst, yet a having a unique voice of his own. Alongside of belting out songs with the heart-felt lyricism of Nick Drake, he was also tapping his foot on a tamborine at the same time. At one point, he switched guitars to another acoustic (this one bearing blue “F.R.” letters) put on a head set for his harmonica and played along for the song “Snowy Atlas Mountains” without ever missing a pluck. He even had time to kick back his leg during the intense moments of his songs. Talk about multitasking.

What made the show even amusing was his guest singers and musicians. A bright-eyed redhead came out onto the stage singing beautifully with Regan on one of his songs. When he performed his most popular song, “Be Good or Be Gone”, a man with a mini, hand-held keyboard joined him on stage. The crowd was hushed in anticipation of what he would do with that instrument. Everybody was wondering, is he going to hold it with one hand and play it with the other? It was just so small! But he cautiously looked at the crowd and began blowing into the melodica wind piano, producing an electronical accordian sound. It didn’t completely complement the music’s sound, but it was a visual spectacle to say the least.

The Irish native sang songs off of his July 2006 release, “The End of History”, on Damien Rice’s record label “heffa”. In the song, “The Underwood Typewriter”, Regan sings “I’ll wear you like a hood/For a hood is a home/For someone who lives alone.” His lyrics explore all the things that make up the good and bad stuff of life without ever being pretentious and overdone, all rolling into waves of stark poetry. He blends poetry filled with mysticism about the world and unveils stories that complement his music well. Although his record is already shining, it pales in comparison to his live performances. For any doubters of his music out there, you will definitely witness music at its best in any Regan performance. Prepared to be wowed.

I felt bad for anybody that had to follow his act because they had to be as good to keep the mood alive. What’s worse than not being as good as Regan? How about being way worse than Regan? Sebastian Steinberg, who sported a long ponytail and wore a faded, worn-out T-shirt was as earthy as one could get. Well, Lisa Germano was wearing the same thing while she was on stage with him, so I wasn’t sure if it was some sort of band costume. The music Steinberg played on his acoustic was medicore and the songs he sang were obviously heartfelt for him, but the crowd didn’t seem to bat an eyelash at any of the lyrics or yearning vocals. He jammed along with Germano on the piano and another man on what sounded like an electronic standing slide guitar. That instrument alone was the best thing to happen to Steinberg because it was the only unique thing about the performance. They called themselves the Homesick Orchestra and jammed to long, long songs that made eyes droop in boredom.

After the Homesick Orchestra’s set ended, everybody stayed on stage and Germano immediately started into her music. I really, really wanted to like her. She’s played with the Eels, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and U2. She wore a holey black T-shirt that had evidently been worn to death with its stretched-out collar. The basic khaki pants and the combat boots all gave Germano another image – she didn’t give a fuck. She said it had been the first time she had played in the U.S. in a long time because she was more popular in Europe. And perhaps that’s where her music should stay.

Although as talented as Germano is with her beautiful, twinkling, melancholic piano playing coupled by hauntingly sweet vocals, her songs are unable to sustain any prolonged interest. What starts out as a great beginning for every song, she ruins them by letting them run too long without much variation in the tunes. The lyrics are basic, predictable, and repetitive. People love to hear sad songs about heartbreak, that is if they’re done well. In “From a Shell”, Germano whispers, “It’s the buzz/I wish I was/It’s the most fuzz”. It was unbearable. I only typed “It’s the buzz” once here, but imagine that line sung times ten. When I heard her sing about fairies in “The Land of Fairies”, I itched to leave the joint altogether. Her whistling that would start off strong and would trail off within 30 seconds should have been left to the professionals of whistling. Germano did slightly redeem herself with an actually short and pleasant song “If I Think of Love”, that was sad and heartwarming, and yet had a rather upbeat tune.

*Check out Fionn Regan’s “Be Good or Be Gone” video*

*Check out Lisa Germano performing “If I Think of Love” live*