I've Got Soul, I'm So Wasted

Today at work, while taking one of my many breaks from data entry as to not completely lose my mind, I found out some amazing news. I was on Wallpaper's MySpace page (one of my favorite bands) seeing if they had put up any new remix tracks, video blogs, or anything else of interest. It's usually a good bet there is some entertaining stuff up there, their frontman Eric releases a ton of retarded yet hilarious youtube video updates and I check 'em out every so often. But today was extra exciting, I found out that the release date for their debut full length album snuck up on me and is only 5 days away (update - that is only the release date for the first single... my bad! album out Sept 22). This also comes along with an album release show in late September, and I can't decide which event I am more excited for. All this totally made my day, and I cannot wait to hear the inevitable awesomeness of both the recorded tracks and the live show.

Wallpaper is a side project of Eric Frederick, the frontman for Facing New York (another great bay area band that is now on hiatus, hopefully they'll be back). In Wallpaper, he writes and composes the tracks (it's a lot of synths and electronic beats), but during shows he plays with a live drummer, Arjun Singh. Their live show is super entertaining, Eric performs in his alter ego of Ricky Reed, a flashy gangsta type dude that has amazing outfits, always. Last time I saw them in LA they played a 30 minute set, but he just kept shedding layers and ended up wearing 3 differnt getups that were all hilarious and totally ballin. He always has his signature hat, plastic neon green sunglasses, and an actual chain around his neck. In between songs, there is always hilarious commentary or stories that lead into the next song. There is heavy use of autotune throughout the entire performance, and it really works for this particular act, both because it adds to the humor of the band as well as sounding great with the composition of the tracks.

Wallpaper's lyrics are definitly satircal, the band seems to exist to poke fun at modern technology and culture trends and how people interact with each other. Just from reading the names of their songs, you can tell that they are having fun writing these things, and possibly more fun making the videos for them. The most recent one I saw was "Booty Tweet (Is the New Booty Call)", a song about people sending out desperate messages trying to hook up over Twitter. Or, there is another song called "Txt Me Yr Luv", a love song that is centered around text messaging. The songs are written as being totally serious, and Eric/Ricky definitely sells them in the live show as being legit songs. If they were ona top 40 list, the masses might not even question it, but they were no doubt written as jokes, or even a commentary on modern life. These ideas for songs may sound stupid to you, this may sound like nobody could write a quality song about such topics, but I would recommend checking out his tracks before you judge them. I might be biased, as I absolutely love anything this guy has written, but I do believe this band puts out great material and is definitely worth listening to.

Wallpaper is also involved in making a lot of remixes, the latest one I checked out was the remix of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" with "Death of Autotune", and they heavily autotuned it (another pretty funny thing to do -- and it worked out to create a sick track). I'd like to find out which app he uses for the remixes, it'd be fun to mess around with. Their remix of "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit is also excellent, often on constant rotation. There is a neat article I read recently where they interviewed Eric about making remixes (specifically the Jay-Z remix), I thought it was pretty sweet. The quote I liked from it the most was:

"When you're writing albums you're trying to make a lasting stamp on time, but remixes are like news headlines. You're just trying to capture a moment, interrogate it and move on. I'm on to the next thing."

You can read more of that here if you're interested.

You can find most of these tracks at the band's MySpace:
www.myspace.com/wallpaper

There is also a youtube channel, I'm going to go waste some time there now...
http://www.youtube.com/user/wallpapervideos

Album drops Setpember 22nd!
Norcal album release show at Rickshaw Stop in SF on September 26th!

If you're not stoked, I'll just be extra stoked for you. It won't be that hard for me. To explain this entry title, the first single from the album is "I've Got Soul, I'm So Wasted." I've heard them play it live some months ago and can't wait to get it on CD and bumpin' in the van stereo down El Camino. Oh it's on.