Thursday Night: Wilfred

Jason Gann and Elijah Wood star in Wilfred.

Wilfred, FX 10PM EST
Season 1, Episode 4, "Acceptance"

For the past three episodes, Wilfred has been the most consistently strange show on cable television that manages to retain its wit and also develop characters that a viewer will care about. This episode was the first swing-and-a-miss of the American series. When Ryan and Jenna sign Wilfred up for Daryl's (Ed Helms) doggie day care service, the plan goes horribly awry. It turns out that Daryl had actually been sexually abusing the dogs by dipping his testicles in peanut butter.

In Their Own Words: My Cousin, The Emperor

My Cousin, the Emperor
Danny Wolf, Terry Quire, Michael Feinberg, Jason Reischel

My Cousin, the Emperor, a Brooklyn-based band, have been getting a lot of press lately. After winning WNYC Radio's Battle of the Borough, Time Out NY and even NPR have taken notice of their unique mix of alt-country-folk and urban atmospheres. I, also, could not help but take notice after listening through (twice) to their latest efforts: a pair of EPs built around the New York City 20-minute subway ride. I managed to arrange an interview with Jason Reischel, an already established singer/songwriter who now fronts My Cousin, the Emperor.

Originally raised in Asheville, NC, Reischel had began to establish himself on the New York music scene back in 2003. He'd spend his nights hustling at five or six clubs a night when he hit the streets of Manhattan. Quickly building a name for himself, he released two of his own albums (2006's Brown Bridge & Green Bridge and 2007's Irony-Free Parlor Music) and embarked on three US tours behind them.

"We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves" by John Maus

Released June 28, 2011 on Upset The Rhythm

Let's clear the air a little first: this album is weird. There's no other way to put it, it's just weird. Then again, that probably should have been expected from John Maus given his repertoire; Maus has been a frequent collaborator with Animal Collective's Panda Bear and freak-folk legend Ariel Pink, so he's clearly no stranger to strange music. We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves is the third full-length solo effort from the Minnesota native, and plays like a well thought-out, polished tribute to 80s synth pop. Maus loads each song with familiar spacey sounds and does so with an authentic analog charm. The synth work is absolutely astonishing: rich and textured, catchy, and endlessly replayable. Songs range from upbeat radio pop to slow, eerie ballads, with the occasional 2-minute burst of a noise jam.

Rob Delaney Live At The Cat's Cradle

Terry and I took a trip to Chapel Hill, NC, the epicenter of what has been one of the most fruitful independent music scenes (think James Taylor, Ben Folds, Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, et al), to see the hilarious and unnaturally tall Rob Delaney unleash a flurry of his trademark off-color humor. What we got instead was a Cavalcade of Stars-esque evening that speaks volumes about the collaborative artistic atmosphere surrounding the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle.

Delaney came out first, unleashing a barrage of his A-grade material. At points, I was actually crying from laughter. After this initial series of jokes, he called Mac McCaughan of the legendary Superchunk to the stage. McCaughan, armed with an acoustic guitar, ran through an even mix of old and new Superchunk with surprising results. While it was, obviously, in no way a Superchunk set, the solo-acoustic arrangements added a sort of earthy and rugged element to the familiar songs and provided for an interesting introduction to their new material. The big surprise, however, was what happened next.