A work of art's true meaning can take a while to be uncovered.

Think of the rich veins of wisdom, long threaded through our cultural bedrocks, that we mere mortals stumbled upon years, after their authors first brought them into the world: the economic allegory at the heart of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz; the homosexual yearning embedded in the chords of Schubert's music; that extremely tiny penis drawn into the lower-left corner of the Mona Lisa (don't you fucking act like you can't see it).

It is with these things in mind that we look to Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights, that seminal debut which Matador Records is reissuing this month.

See Also:
- Interpol's Our Love to Admire: Gorgeous, menacing nursery rhymes for insincere clubbers
- Live: Interpol, Cat Power at MSG, 09.14.07

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In this week's Voice I wrote about the recently flipped 101.9 FM, which—after an abortive effort at being an FM news/talk hybrid—is back to playing commercial "alternative" rock. I listened to a lot of the station's programming during its first seven days on the air, and while I was often pleasantly surprised by the choices of recurrents and the quality/low yarl quotient of the newer songs played I kept thinking that there were songs that could have slotted into the current (and pretty decent!) playlist very easily—or, at the very least, be elegantly swapped out for every third play of the noxiously "funky" likes of Sublime, 311, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Seven suggested tracks, both from the new arrivals stack and the recent alt-rock archives, after the jump.

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So much for Wavves being King of Long Beach on September 9.
Well, that's a bummer: Because of continued cleanup after Hurricane Irene, the music component of Quiksilver Pro New York—the professional surfing contest on Long Island's south shore that's now scheduled to begin September 4—has been called off: "The situation has been changing daily, and we recognize that [Long Beach] resources are focused on hurricane restoration and cleanup as first priority. In that context, we have been informed by the City that the festival and music components of the event are no longer achievable." (Surf, however, is still up.) That means no free shows in Long Beach by Interpol, the Flaming Lips, Wavves, Taking Back Sunday, or any of these 40-odd other acts who were scheduled to perform over the next two weeks. No word on whether or not any of these artists have decided to add a free show to their area itineraries as a "sorry guys" gesture just yet, although something tells me that given recent weather patterns, it may be prudent to throw said events at someplace with a roof.

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M.I.A. and Die Antwoord, respectively; you'll never guess who was better. All pics by Rebecca Smeyne, way more below.

I'm still not 100 percent sure what the Creators Project is, exactly, other than a perfectly fine excuse to cram a ton of big-shot artists (and Salem!), a few film screenings (Spike Jonze!), and multiple tremendously colorful and technologically imposing art exhibits (The xx: A Sculpture of the Album!) into multiple floors of Milk Studios Saturday, providing lucky guests with plenty of shit to point their iPhones at. Luckily our own Rebecca Smeyne has a slightly better camera. Here, a mostly visual recap of the overwhelmingly hip proceedings.

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If you follow a band as slavish to style as Interpol, you've got to expect the quartet to surf art-world tides as effectively and dramatically as their music, well, doesn't. To wit: the move from the stark three-color minimalism of the Antics cover image to the bold, three-animal maximalism of Capitol debut Our Love to Admire (the work of noted high-art fauna photog Seth Smoot). Nothing to do with consistency, in other words, and everything to do with cultural currency. And now, while the cover of the quartet's forthcoming eponymous LP reverts back to stark, single-word brand management, the video for first single "Lights" errs more in the gooey, sci-fi direction of Matthew Barney.

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Last time this happened, Vice blew threw $250,000 and Titus Andronicus's Patrick Stickles ended up with red handprints on his neck and a sad, outraged story to tell. This time, semiconductor manufacturing unit Intel will foot the bill, and it's hard to imagine crazed South African rappers Die Antwoord being much fazed by a surly bouncer. Those dudes would seem to be the most exotic musicians on the bill for Vice's free Creators Project New York show June 26th, which also features locals Gang Gang Dance and Sleigh Bells, a newly revamped Interpol, Mark Ronson, Neon Indian, the Rapture, Salem, and "very special guests." Why not guess M.I.A. for that last one, in order to complete the chillwave-downtown-joke rap zeitgeist trifecta? Register here; ogle endless pictures of cute girls from the announcement event over at Brooklyn Vegan, where the hipsters/coke/Rapture-are-still-a-band? jokes are already well underway down in the comments section. [Creators Project]

Get it from the dudes themselves here. (Nice logo.) You've got a pretty good sense of what's gonna happen here by now: ominous, chilly grandeur with stupendous atmosphere if nothing else, coupled with lyrics of quietly somber corniness ("I want you to po-lice me"). Unclear if these guys have a second act, or need one, or if we want them to have one, etc. Wacky Carlos D fashion accessory (and new album details) to be revealed soon, we assume.

Moses Archueleta and Christopher Bear; photo by Cami

Deerhunter vs. Grizzly Bear, Interpol DJ sets
Other Music
Saturday, April 19

Saturday was saw celebrations for both Earth Day and Record Store Day—somebody really should've also christened it Newspaper Day for the whole loser-take-none trifecta. Could've been Drummer Day too, at least in the East Village: Other Music had billed their drive-time DJ slots as "Deerhunter vs. Grizzly Bear" followed by "Interpol." I envisioned this to mean Bradford Cox blasting Kim Deal tunes for 90 minutes while GB bassist Christopher Taylor looked on amusedly, followed by Carlos D playing records only from acts who wear suits. Instead it was each band's respective kit-pounders who spun the wax, i.e. Moses Archueleta, Christopher Bear, then Sam Fogarino.

The DJ booth was set up in Other Music's far corner, like the dairy aisle in a grocery store—no quick in-and-out for this Blue Milk. Christopher Bear and Moses Archueleta hung out back there, politely answering what-is-thises about B-sides chosen from unfamiliar compilations (i.e. Golden Flamingo Orchestra's "The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us" from Uptown Disco Juggernaut). Meanwhile, at least 50 people rubbed butts in the narrow-passaged racks while shopping or pretending to shop and spying on the DJs. Except for the pair of jerks who held the A-C bins of the "In" section hostage for 20 minutes while they babbled about Slowdive—could you get your man parts away from that Blood on the Wall record, please? In another corner, a long-haired waif who knew enough to know better asked a clerk what she should buy: "I've been listening to Destroyer. And somebody gave me the Black Mother Super Rainbow record and I like that fine. But I could use something new. What do you recommend?" Uh, the Internet?

But bringing up the Internet on Record Store Day is kinda like going to see Interpol in a Joy Division shirt. And so a few minutes after five, Sam Fogarino showed up with a stash of vinyl, introduced himself to Moses and Chris, and put on some disco. Meanwhile outside on the sidewalk, a long-haired dude about to enter the store stopped abruptly and cursed: "FUCK!" Long pause. "I forgot what T-shirt I was wearing." It was a Joy Division classic, the Unknown Pleasures cover—might as well have been an iTunes face-tattoo. He stood there for a second, then went inside anyway. Somewhere Amanda Palmer was in her underwear.

photo from CrackersUnited.com

Interpol/Cat Power/Liars
Madison Square Garden
September 14
By Ben Westhoff

At the Garden on Friday night, Interpol kicked everybody’s asses, playing every song everyone wanted to hear (even "NYC"!).

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