palewire

Singles list to follow.

20. Junior Senior - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
19. Radiohead - In Rainbows
18. The Field - From Here We Go To Sublime
17. DJ Kicks: Bookashade
16. Ellen Allien - Fabric 34
15. Devin The Dude - Waiting To Inhale
14. Kylie Minogue - X
13. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Trip the Light Fantastic
12. Prefuse 73 - Preparations
11. Tobias Thomas - Please Please Please
10. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
09. Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye
08. The Clientele - God Save The Clientele
07. The Modernist - Collectors Series Pt. 1: Popular Songs
06. Bebel Gilberto - Momento
05. Various Artists - Jay Deelicious: 1995-1998
04. Lindstrom and Prins Thomas - BBC Essential Mix
03. Go Home Productions - This Was Pop
02. Apparat - Walls
01. Caribou - Andorra

Whoa, am I way behind. For anyone interested, here’s the latest in my periodic series of pop music compilations. If you want a taste, let me know.

Poplife 07.01.07

1. Dragonette - I Get Around [Van She Vocal Mix]
2. Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe
3. Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire
4. Matthew Dear - Deserter
5. The Clientele - Here Comes The Phantom
6. Eddy (La)Gooyatsh - L’amour Et L’eau Fraiche
7. Kylie Minogue - Stars
8. Yann Tiersen & The Divine Comedy - Life on Mars

The first time someone told me about The Clientele five or six years ago, refinement was the selling point. This wasn’t you average pop band. This was a following. An exquisite cause that rewarded the discerning few cultivated to appreciate its recordings.

Like previous favorites of the quiet and shy among us — Felt, The Field Mice, Galaxie 500 — the band’s style goes a good way toward encouraging this view. The music is soft and whispery with a warm, bedroom sound and a striking capacity to communicate yearning and dread. In other words, everything a mopey, young indie kid could want. Have a look.

So it’s easy to go along with the theory. That is until you see them live, as I did last night at Black Cat, a nightclub here in Washington. That’s when you find out that The Clientele has secretly been a pop group all along.

I doubt even the most delicate live show could recreate the gentle arrangements and heavily treated sounds from The Clientele’s recordings. Real life isn’t so tidy.

But during its lively and at times ramshackle performance last night, there was a easy embrace of things alien to the group’s early releases. Pop refrains happily leapt from Alasdair MacLean’s throat. Songs that lilted up from home speakers like smoke rings easily gave way to towering guitar wank. Lively banter between the group and a sarcastic, if adoring, audience. One guy clapping to the beat.

It was pretty cool. And still soft and lovely when it needed to be. Good show.

Have a listen to one of the new songs from the God Save The Clientele, which is out this spring. It’s downright upbeat!