Annie Clark performs and records as St. Vincent.
Google search #1: Madonna “Like a Virgin” bass sound.
(The bass sound on “We Exist” vaguely reminded me of Madonna’s 1984 classic Like a Virgin.)
Result: Sequential Circuits Prophet 5
(Unconfirmed and will likely need to follow Nile Rodgers on Twitter and hope he @replies to my query directly.)
Unsatisfied, I contacted Jeremy Gara (Arcade Fire drummer) and asked what they’d used for the bass. Turns out it was NOT a Prophet but a Korg MS-20 — the vintage kind, not a new one or Reason, nerds! He even sent me a picture of the exact one! I was glad to have one pressing matter settled, but I continued down a Madonna rabbit hole and downloaded The Immaculate Collection. No “Oh Father”?????? Grievous oversight, Sire Records.
Related search: Is Seymour Stein still alive?
Result: Yes.
“FLASHBULB EYES” IS SUPER SICK AND DUBBY! KING TUBBY?! KING DUBBY?! AM I THE ONLY NON-STONED PERSON TO EVER MAKE THAT PUN?
Google search #2: Very-tall-men-fronted rock*^ bands
(Related: Glenn Danzig height)
*Co-fronted! No disrespect, Regine!
^Catch-all term for music in 2013 featuring at least one guitar
Results: Turns out Bryan Ferry isn’t even that tall: 6’1″. Some people just seem tall. Also Joey Ramone. (Apple autocorrected this to “ram one” — usually so puritanical, Apple! Loosening your tie or was that a Joel Osteen-esque slip-up?)
Is the classic jocks vs. musicians stereotype based in some evolutionary science? Unable to compete in traditional shows of physical prowess (big muscles, child-bearing hips) artists seek other means of attracting prospective sexual partners? This theory bums me out and seems sexist/reductionist for reasons I’m too distracted to really contemplate. And anyway, I know Win Butler to be an excellent* basketball player, so forget all about it! THE BASS TONE IN “HERE COMES THE NIGHT TIME” IS SUPER-SICK! PERVERSE-SOUNDING! LIKE A BARGE CAREENING INTO AN ICEBERG! INEVITABLE DOOM!
*EXCELLENT
Google search #3: Orpheus and Eurydice
Results: Orpheus is either a romantic or a coward, depending on whom you ask (Wikipedia). Eurydice is either a victim or a harlot, depending on whom you ask (Wikipedia).
“AWFUL SOUND (OH EURYDICE)” AND “IT’S NEVER OVER (OH ORPHEUS)” ARE VERY ROMANTIC SONGS, IF YOU ASK ME. THE DOOMED ROMANCE…THE MOST ROMANTIC OF ALL ROMANCES.
Google search #4: Porno
Results: Nothing about the song from Reflektor, as far as I can tell. But there is something called “sploshing” that is FASCINATING!
The Arcade Fire have released an album that elucidates our constant psychic vacillation between uber-connection and utter disconnection. They ask you to be aware of your fractured attention span/psyche/in touch with your humanity. Arcade Fire so mercifully avoid the Nuremberg-rock cliches (“Hey!”) in favor of sleaze, anxiety, and pathos that you can dance to. Reflektor is an utterly 2013 record that asks the existential questions “Where are we now?” and, more importantly, “Where are we going?”
In the words of Joe Strummer, “Straight to hell, boys.”
