Duck & Cover :: Indie rock music writing from Arcade Fire to the Zygotic Minci

In the early days of the Internet when email accounts weren't free, and a telephone call interrupted your modem, the term 'surfing' was used to describe the act of mindlessly wandering the increasingly cluttered halls of the ether. No doubt thought up by ageing hipsters at the long tables of AOL, the term implied that the World Wide Web was a free-flowing, wild force that could be enjoyed with relative ease (a semantic contradiction to the two abbreviations used to represent the Internet: Net and Web, both of which are means used to catch, secure, and eventually devour). We were told we could 'surf the Net' as if it would take us someplace. However, surfing requires direction. And if you have a sense of direction when on the Web, you're not really surfing; you're leap-frogging. The act described by the relatively poorly named 'surfing' is perhaps better captured by the metaphor of 'stumbling'. You're walking along, and suddenly trip over...

Duck & Cover would like to congratulate Modest Mouse on reaching NUMBER ONE in the Billboard charts with the quite impressive We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank . (Besting both the Arcade Fire and the Shins who both debuted, impressively in their own right, at number two.) Duck and Cover hasn't been this happy about a band's success since people realized several years ago that Spoon is really fucking good . (And that Series of Sneaks was the bargain bin sleeper hit of the late nineties.) Anywho, Congrats to Modest Mouse, and Duck & Cover would like to decree 28/03/2007 as Modest Mouse Day, so break out your copies of the Fruit that Ate Itself and celebrate with some Summertime. (It may just be spring, but that's no reason not to dance...) Image courtesy of Modestmouse.com, so... if you would like it taken down, please let us know! (mm.com, not our readership)

Working for the Church while my family dies. Going into Neon Bible, I was skeptical. I'm always skeptical when a band's previous album is of a high calibre. But Funeral was not just high calibre; let's be honest: it was goddamn fucking amazing. If you didn't fall to your knees and pump your fists to heaven when Rebellion (Lies) came on, then the gods pocketed your pulse before you were born. Perhaps mentioning the gods is appropriate here, considering the religious references in Neon Bible. I sat at my desk in the government IT department listening to the album, jotting down notes each time a biblical reference caught my ear, be it striking or subtle. From the name of the album itself (contemporary electro-chemical signage, often associate with the historically sinful [gambling, sex, pharmacies] becomes an adjective for the ultimate symbol of tradition and political power [Christ, one could write an essay on the juxtaposition of these two words alone. If I were to have...

Let us begin by saying that we typically do not care for live shots -- you'd think we would, but we don't. However, the work of Seattle photographer Laura Musselman is astonishingly good. From the composition to the clarity, we simply can't find fault with her work; in fact, we love it. We love it, and we are extremely fortunate to welcome Laura as a regular contributor to Duck and Cover. Currently, Laura's work can be found online at www.seattleweekly.com, where she is often requisitioned to document the city's vibrantly jaded music scene. Also, please know that all of Laura's work is copyrighted, so use without permission is stealing. If you would like to contact Laura, please shoot us an email via our contributor contact info, and we will be happy to forward it. (Again, once Jamie returns, we will make the posting of photos a little more refined.)

While Jamie is off gallivanting and carousing on a random island (located off the coast of a country that, itself is an island) Dakin blogs on tirelessly from another island (which is, by Dakin’s estimation, much more island like than Jamie’s). Will Stratton What the Night Said Amazing, really, that, within the past six months, Duck & Cover has been cued in to the talents of two amazingly gifted nineteen year old singer songwriters. (Makes us feel a little, well, not dirty – not like that NAMBLAesque Harry Potter with the horse -- and not quite icky, but definitely old.) The first, being, of course, Zac Condon of Beirut (and, apologies for the fact that the promised review of Lon Gisland e.p. never materialized; we’ll get to it eventually), and now the first bit of 2007 brings us Will Stratton and his remarkable debut What the Night Said . WtNS is a beautiful record that has, thus far, garnered comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and Iron & Wine; comparisons, which, while I can see...

M O D E S T M O U S E We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank I have started and stopped this review oh, five times now; all the while trying to find a starting point, an objective voice. However, I realize that I cannot be objective about Modest Mouse, and we at Duck and Cover are not journalists. We are enthusiasts, and, honestly, seldom is anyone objective about something that they’re truly enthusiastic about. We love Modest Mouse, and have loved them for years and years, loved them since they were merely a blip on the radar of popular culture at large. (For the record, that’s post Lonesome Crowded West , yet pre Moon and Antarctica ; we’re cool, and we have cred, but we’re not that cool. Though yes, we would like very much for you to believe otherwise.) Digressions and birdwalking aside, let’s get down to what’s important; that being a truly great record from a truly great band. Let’s also point out that this review is NOT going to focus on the real or imagined contributions of one...

The Clean have not played in New Zealand, let alone Wellington, for five years, which really isn't a long time considering they formed in 1981 and are cited as one of the influential bands of America's 90s indie rock scene (both Pavement and Yo LaTengo have credited The Clean as a source of inspiration). So on Friday, 16 March 2007, I walked the 2.5kms from The Terrace to the top of Cuba St. and shelled out $33 ($31 plus a $2 Ticketmaster levy) for a ticket; a price I decided extremely reasonable considering the history and stature of the band in question, not to mention the fact that the price was for two bands: The Clean, and opening act Luke Buddha (of Phoenix Foundation), both bands that could easily fetch the ticket price as solo performers. I felt like I was getting a bargain. I went back to the office and commenced to boast about my recent purchase. The reactions to my story surprised me. Nine out of ten people I spoke to had either never heard of The Clean or never hear...

The mis-classification, or rather the conglomeration of musical genres happens most readily at record mega stores and on what passes for MTV. It seems the act of naming a musical style has been wrested from the control of listeners, only to find its way to the content management systems of record label project managers. Duck and Cover will attempt, over the coming months, to find out whether we, as listeners, have lost control, whether we ever had it, and how the decentralization of the music business is good for everyone. To begin with, when did emo become so incredibly, undeniably awful? Where is the transition between The Promise Ring and Good Charlotte? For that matter, who deemed Good Charlotte emo? We didn't. The t-shirted kids standing in the corner of the bar didn't. Furthermore, at what point did Country & Western demand concerts with pyrotechnics? How did we get from Merle Haggard to Randy Travis? Anyone who pays attention to trends will easily spy the sneaky natu...

Fiestas and Fiascos Lifter Puller 2000 Self Starter Foundation There once was a band, from Minnetonka, or Minnesota, or, well, actually, they were from Milwaukee... as were, I believe, Laverne and Shirley. They were here, they were now, they were discordant, they were literate, they were, arguably, beyond brilliant. They told stories, and then they were gone. Eventually, they were reborn as the Hold Steady, and, to a good degree, they were very similar. However, we are not here to talk about the Hold Steady. We do, however, love the Hold Steady; one could go so far as to say that we have a big boner for the Hold Steady. Again, however, our feelings for the Hold Steady are not up for discussion. We are here to discuss Lifter Puller, and, more specifically, the brilliant album "Fiestas and Fiascos". Many years ago, I bought tickets to a show at Brownie's in NYC -- a club that most everyone will remember as being "important". Well, as clubs go, and importance goes,...

NOTE: originally, this was conceived as an email, from Dakin to Jamie in the early fall of 2006... it was agreed that it was worth sharing with a nonexistant readership. The cockfight photo, consequently, is a painting by an artist named Marcus Pierce, and is titled cockfight #3 (though not the first painting of such that we've been acquainted with, oddly enough). this evening, i decided that i would roast a chicken. now, roasting a chicken is something that i've never done, which, after 12-13 years of vegetarianism isn't that far beyond the scope of belief. it always sounds so homey, so french; roast chicken, or i've just put a chicken in the oven to roast. that sort of thing. the weather being somewhat drizzly and damp, and being under some duress at work, i thought that the comfort and distraction was just what i needed. to begin, i went to the store on the way home to select the chicken. granted, i have no idea whatsoever how much an entire chicken costs, especiall...

Dancey? Yes. Pop? No! The Mint Chicks have made a slight modification to their sound with this 2007 release. While not far from their signature disjointed rhythms and asymetric noise rock of Octagon!Octagon!Octagon! , Crazy? Yes. Dumb? No! provides listeners with something to look forward to: a dance-able refrain. Not to fault the robotic pulses and surging violence of previous albums--one would only have to see the Mint Chicks play one of Wellington's small clubs to understand they give everything for their audience--but to be able to boogie to a Mint Chicks song is a wonderful feeling. So have the Mint Chicks released a pop album? Absolutely not. Listening to CYDN makes one feel like the passenger in a prop plane caught in a tailspin. One moment there is chaos, and the whole world outside is a tumbling mess of blue and brown. Then suddenly it's clear. The pilot looks at you and grins, his gold teeth catching the sun. For a moment it all makes sense. . . for a moment. The al...

be•gin•ning (bĭ-gĭn'ĭng) n. 1. The act or process of bringing or being brought into being; a start. 2. The time when something begins or is begun: the beginning of the war. 3. The place where something begins or is begun: at the beginning of the road. 4. A source; an origin: What was the beginning of the dispute? 5. The first part: The front matter is at the beginning of the book. 6. An early or rudimentary phase. Often used in the plural: the beginnings of human life on this planet. (source: American Heritage Dictionary) Sometimes a beginning, though truly a starting point, is merely a continuance. Each day we begin our journey anew, after resting from the prior day’s (or night’s) exertions, prepare ourselves, and step forward to begin again. To begin to travel forward, to begin to cross from one point to the next; it’s all the same, yet it’s all new, so, hence, a beginning. When a band creates a new record (if they are a good band, and worth listening to), they must begin ane...