Hipsters SUCK

There is no better time to wear this shirt! We must stop this hipster epidemic. I didn't know Throbbing Gristle and the New Yorker were killing New York. A good thing that will come out of this is people might stop reading Gawker.

Something I hate

I hate so called "randomness". It is neither funny nor difficult to mix seemingly incongruous details and yet everyone thinks it's genius. It is not smart to make no sense. There is no thought to mixing clips of a high school show choir, an airsoft gun, and some lame injuries and yet this kind of thing can elicit SCREAMS of laughter in my town. Robot Chicken is not funny. Don Caballero song titles are not funny (I love how some math rock listeners just CRACK UP at these). "Random much?"

Next time: We will explore, and deplore, the use, or misuse, of the appended "much"

Next next time: Overuse of commas: an occasional necessity?

They listened!

Nice job Pitchfork, but I said PANTHA DU PRINCE!!!! Efdemin's fine too. It's cool. Now: Pitchfork, put in a good word for my band! I will form it sometime. We will probably be called Kiptoku (plural for Kiptok).

PrediK. TOK: Pitchfork BNM or: Leaks I Like #1

Art Brut - It's A Bit Complicated

piK. TOK: The National - Boxer

As a critic (or at least trying to be one), one thing that I actively avoid is the tendency to listen to the same things over and over again. Sometimes I have to force myself to listen to something just for the sake of being familiar with it i.e. I'm trying to give a shit about Of Montreal and Menomena. My enemy is the album that keeps asking for more listens for some reason for example: it's really good. If Neon Bible never was released I could be a walking Dial encyclopedia or something but instead this is all I know: Pantha Du Prince (Q. is Pitchfork going to review This Bliss???). I absolutely hate Boxer for consuming the previous month of my life.

Actually I wrote this review last week to try to beat what I predicted was an inevitable Pitchfork Best New Music. That got deleted, but even after seeing the BNM I decided to rewrite this. I wrote about how this album feels like your favorite band's tribute album to the best mix you've ever made. Every track has a similar dark and serious yet still naïve feel. The entire album follows something like a mixtape's path: backed by a sparse but incredibly expressive piano, the sarcastic "Fake Empire" starts things off with lines that could suggest a hopeful view of a young relationship with lines like "Do our gay ballet on ice/bluebirds on our shoulders" or maybe the somewhat over-obvious "we’re half-awake in a fake empire" could just be a criticism of the U.S.? I don't know, but the next track quickly brings on the indie rock! "Mistaken For Stranger" might be out of place on the album but still helps with the theme of alienation (chorus: "You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends") and would be an obvious single for either Interpol or this band.

Deusner mentioned how Alligator was something of a grower, gaining recognition after everything else started dying down. But Alligator feels comparatively immature and falls flat in almost every way to the much stronger and grown-up Boxer. Most of the tracks are incredible, not counting the irritating "Racing Like A Pro" and the meaningless "Squalor Victoria". In spite of their sometimes pointless lyrics, The National luckily support themselves with their encompassing instrumentals. String arrangements that complement the deep vocals and drums that pace the entire album propel the band's music and prove that they don't need the gimmicks of other indie rock bands. The similarly-minded Sufjan Stevens lends his piano talents to "Ada", by far the closest the album gets to perfection. Berninger's voice sounds most vulnerable here while still maintaining its stoic baritone; it's painful to hear him beg for another chance (repetitions and then: "I think everything counts a little more than we think") but the final blow is delivered with "Ada I can hear the sound of your laugh through the wall". Just to hear his disappointed voice begin the next and final track "Gospel" is anguishing. Imagining that this is a mixtape makes this all the more painful. Still, it doesn't leave any bridge burned; in the final lines, Berninger asks multiple times: "Darling can you tie my string?", sighing and leaving the question alone. If only more indie rock bands had this restraint.

K. TOK REVIEW: 28 WEEKS LATER

Wonderful photo

2 of my heroes! One helping the other!

GOD DANMIT

From r5productions.com

OTHER UPCOMING SHOWS TO KEEP AN EYE ON !

* Fri June 15th - Chris Garneau @ The Chapel Room of The First Unit Church (buy tix here)
* Thu August 9th - Tokyo Police Club @ Johnny Brendas (buy tix here)

Here we go

Can anyone teach me how to play drums?

????? I'm serious. At least three of my musical idols will be at this thing.

P.S. Can someone give me their drums

can I throw up everywhere?

I like the new Elliott Smith. I like Boxer. I like them better than Volta.

Concert Request

Anyone who lives in Philadelphia or NYC: any good concerts coming up? Really good I mean. I already missed Man Man + Modest Mouse !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish Dan Deacon or stuff like that wasn't 21+

I just found a Beach House/Clientele show June 8 in NYC but it's 18+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guys where do I get a fake ID for me and SLY blehhhhhhhh

The K.ase for Pitchfork Pt. 1

In this new feature of K. TOK, Kiptok will, in an ongoing series of posts, present his case for attending the Pitchfork Music Festival.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I really liked it last time. It was fun last time. Honestly, Pitchfork was run really well and gee, water was only $1 a bottle! And not just that, it was Water+! That is like getting double the value! Technically, it's getting two bottles of water compressed into one bottle of water. Even though I got it for free and always had several at hand, you have to support someone who does that! Also

5:09:53 PM kiptok: also can't miss a festival with both Girl Talk and Dan Deacon
5:10:11 PM kiptok: Dan Deacon is weird and cool
5:10:23 PM cijl: i gotta say, i can pretty much miss either of those guys
5:10:37 PM kiptok: what about Clipse
5:10:42 PM kiptok: Cat Power
5:10:56 PM kiptok: I wonder who can beat Os Mutantes as festival closer
5:10:59 PM kiptok: hmmmm...........
5:11:28 PM cijl: the cast of high school musical
5:12:00 PM cijl: let's play
5:12:03 PM kiptok: ok
5:12:11 PM cijl: go to channel
5:12:12 PM kiptok: I hope they get Grinderman

Oh, so is THAT so? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dan Deacon.



You will need to skip about halfway through if you don't want to see the awesome rock 'n' roll of Lightning Bolt. Dan Deacon is the band that's a guy, not the band that's a band.