Xeni lets us in on her recent visit to Amoeba Records in Los Angeles, CA. Some clarification is needed however: the Pronto record she’s describing is “The Cheetah,” which is our glitchy, computery one, while the record she’s holding is “All Is Golden,” which is our 70’s pop rock one. Here’s more:
“Amoeba Records is one of the world’s greatest independent record stores, with many thousands of square feet of new and used vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and assorted rarities in film and music. They’re in SF, Berkeley, and Hollywood. The kinds folks who run the joint invited me in to pick a handful of items I’m excited about, and the video that resulted is embedded above. I chose:
• The incredible Alan Lomax in Haiti box-set (we’ll be blogging more about this one on BB soon!)
• Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (a tip of the chapeau to Susannah Breslin, and to my brother DJ Carlito for turning me on to this one)
• N.A.S.A. “Spirit of Apollo” (we’ve premiered a number of the music videos from this project on Boing Boing Video)
• Q-Burns Abstract Message and Eighth Dimension Records (we’ve used snips from his work as theme music for Boing Boing’s audio podcast, and for our video project—I’m a longtime fan!)
• Wilco, “Wilco (The Album)” (I loved their latest record, and I believe they’re one of the greatest live acts on the planet.)
• Pronto, “All is Golden” (Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen’s side project, glitchy electronic minimalism, I mispronounce his name horribly in this video… sorry Mikael!)
• Die Antwoord!
“Good songs shouldn’t be difficult to find, but they are. Instead, we focus on innovative recordings, cross-cultural meldings, grooves, and new technologies. (more…)
There’s a new game in the music world: Six degrees of Wilco. Current Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen’s band Pronto is the latest degree in a wide network of Wilco connections. All Is Golden is Pronto’s debut and Jorgensen composed and sings all the material. The musical influences are varied: power pop; retro ’70s funk; Chicago Transit Authority pop/jazz horns; and songwriter Americana like The Band or Randy Newman. The dilemma of deciding whether to be a jack of all trades or master of none comes to mind, though it all out works well, with plenty of catchy hooks and memorable phrases, despite it feeling like there’s still a decision to be made. (more…)
Today’s Song for the Day is “Listen Lover”, by Pronto, from their new release, All Is Golden.
This album is full of sunny 1970’s pop music, even though it was just released a week or so ago. Standout tracks, in my opinion, include today’s tune, “Good Friends Have Gone”, “When I’m On The Rocks”, “Say It All Night”, and “I Think So”, among others.
Eight of the thirteen tracks on this album are barely over three minutes or less. Maybe that’s from where the band gets its name.
I should mention that this band is fronted by Mikael Jorgensen, the keyboardist/ProTools expert of the band Wilco. I think Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times said it best when he wrote: Mikael Jorgensen: Not just the guy with the laptop.
Have a little of Mikael Jorgensen’s blog here.
And have a little of the official Pronto web site here.
Side project from Wilco’s keyboardist with members of Iron & Wine and Cat Power.
Sound good? It isn’t.
The music is overdone and overproduced with a menagerie of horns, organs, and pianos, and is particularly shlocky on the many ballads and slow-tempo songs. Multi-instrumentalism is nothing new to these bands, but Pronto has an unfortunate Billy Joel/Elton John vibe that is hard to stomach.
Even if you like this music (assuming you’re in a Bar Mitzvah cover band), the vocals will surely be an impediment. Suffering from “non-vocalist stepping into vocalist in his side band” syndrome, Mikael Jorgensen’s is terribly off-key and strained. His voice and delivery remind me a bit of Keith Moon, another guy who shouldn’t have strayed from behind his instrument.
This isn’t good at all.
Bottom Line: Pronto is a good name, because that’s how quickly I wanted to shut this off.
Notable Tracks: “Listen Lover” is a jaunty tune that would’ve been good with another vocalist.
Overall Rating: 1.5 stars
