Duh daaaah duh-dah-dah

Menomena. My comrade-in-crime Max Sparber has just informed me that the tune we all know and love as one of the finest Muppets moments is actually from an X-rated movie from 1968 called "Sweden: Heaven or Hell". He's now pointing out that it's X-rated in the way that "Midnight Cowboy" is rated X. Not for being porn, but rather for general weirdness.

Enough about that, though. There's this band called Menomena from Portland, Ore., who are about to release a record on Barsuk called Friend and Foe. There are a lot of reasons to love this record: The cover art is by Craig Thompson, the comic artist who wrote the fantastically winsome graphic novel Blankets, and, even more importantly, it's probably the first great indie release of 2007. Of course, it's going to be joined this week by The Shins' Wincing the Night Away (which is also quite good-- I just finished an interview with guitarist Dave Hernandez, who was quite a pleasant fellow to chat with) and Deerhoof's latest, which people keep telling me will be incredible. I'll believe it when I hear it.

But Menomena (Duh daaaah duh-dah-dah). Short version: They sound like TV on the Radio cleaned themselves up and tried to be the Dismemberment Plan. Obviously, a gross oversimplification. There's something about the way that it's recorded that makes it, well, slippery. The vocals and the drums are very up in the mix, and they're often panned in creative ways, and good panning is something that's underrated and long-abandoned. Anyways, I'm just getting into it, really, but I'm planning on trying to nail them down for an interview in the near future. I understand they have some kind of crazy computer program that injects a bit of chance into their songwriting process, and it sounds fascinating.