soulful body parts

It's been a long time since I've fallen in love with an album this quickly and wholly.

It's been along time since I've found an album that I could simply sit and listen to, start to finish. I urge you to buy Elbow's 2004 release "Cast of Thousands".

Breathless lyrics over the top of gospel choruses with electronic bleeps may not be what you would expect to describe my new favorite band but this album is that well done. Every note, beat and word is perfectly placed, planned to evoke the deepest emotional response.

It succeeds.

It's pure indie rock, slower, heavier, deeper. Listen to it love it. I'll write more in a bit.

One More Album Like That and We're Through!

Let me preface this with the statement that all the artists in the following rant are people that I absolutely love and still count among my favorite musicians ever. I also want to make it clear that I do expect artists to evolve and change their style over time and albums.

As long as I like the new style.

Three artists have really (REALLY) disappointed me with their most recent offerings. (Although I have little positive to say about the albums to be mentioned, pick up anything else by these guys and you will be creamily happy with the sounds that sound in your ears). Let's talk about my bitter, bitter disappointment:

Jonah Matranga (formerly Onelinedrawing) and his album "And":
Prior to this album, Jonah could do no wrong. As his solo albums became more produced (and financed?) he threw in a few things I didn't really feel added to my album enjoyment (New York and Portland anyone?), but they were never more than a chance to take a breath before being blown
away with the next song. Will "And" is an entire album where you have time to breathe. Jonah, if you were looking to become a featured artist on Light 97, this is the direction to keep going. To make up for this poor showing, Jonah also released a couple discs of his early recordings
called "Songs from Sacramento". Please, skip "And" and pick up those instead. (The "And" Preorder Bonus disc is decent as well.. his home demos just sound better to me than the produced stuff). All this being said, Jonah is playing at the Mercury Ballroom in Manhattan in early November... I'll be there, you should as well... he is an amazing live show... just pray that he doesn't bring a slide guitar.

Badly Drawn Boy and his album "Born in the UK":
Where did my friend that created the "About a Boy Soundtrack" and "The Hour of the Bewilderbeast" go? How would I have described BDB prior to this album? Quirky and catchy Piano Based Rockpop. How do I describe this album? A rip off of 70s and 80s sad love ballads that make me cry out loud in disappointment. The worst track on the CD? "Swimming Pool" with BDB's spoken word, poetic wax of self analysis followed by a unimaginative song about how you should appreciate the little things. I don't know... this CD is just unlikable. I think I'm giving it to my mother.

Bright Eyes and his album "Cassadaga":
I actually got into Bright Eyes relatively recently and really started to appreciate his twangy folkcountry indie sound. Well with Cassadaga, turn up the twang, throw in a few extra instruments per song remove anything poppy or memorable from the songs. Maybe for the people that came to Bright Eyes from the other side of spectrum (not the post-emo indie rock side) this album is a bit more palatable. Not for me. Sorry Bright Eyes, I tried. I'll go back to "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" and remember our good times.

So.. if you put any faith in my suggestions, skip these three albums and spend the money on their earlier albums. (Definitely buy those!) Me? Well, I'm rediscovering The Clash and starting to realize how much I really like Elbow.

Sir Elton John, I thank you.

You guys know why music sucks now? It's because of the Internet. I didn't know this until Sir Elton John told me... but now it all makes sense.

"We're talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that's not going to happen with people blogging on the internet."
"I mean, get out there -- communicate."
"Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet."
"Let's get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging."
"I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span."
"There's too much technology available."

Thank you Elton, for opening my eyes

yrCD-0707

so i did something productive this weekend... lemme tell you about it. i was at feisal's rooftop fourth of july sky moisture extravaganza and found myself (like usual) trading music suggestions with everyone there... invariably, the conversations would end with the promise "i'll burn you a CD" ...
yeah
...
how often does that ever happen.
...
yeah.
so.. i've started yrCD. I found these really cheap 80mm cds that hold 185mb and are infinitely pocketabled and i've loaded the first 25 with shit you should listen to. If it works out (meaning i can find 25 people to take them) i may start doing this with some frequency.. so next time yous eee me, ask if i have any on me. let's listen to some music.
Tracklist of yrCD-0707:
Cold War Kids: Saint John
Cursive: Rise Up!
Death from Above 1979: Black History Month (Sammy Danger Remix)
Dr. John: Cold Cold Cold
Earlimart: We Drink on the Job
Elliott Brood: Second Son
Forward, Russia!: Eighteen
Kings of Leon: Taper Jean Girl
Loney, Dear: I Will Call You Lover Again
Mates of State: Ha Ha
Onelinedrawing: A Ghost
Papercuts: Unavailable
Pedro the Lion: Of Minor Prophets and Their Prostitute Wives
Tapes 'n Tapes: Cowbell
The Dears: Ballad of Humankindness

!Direction, Country!

Here’s another one I strongly disliked at first but has been finding a way into my zen’s (www.anythingbutipod.com) rotation..

Forward, Russia!


Fuck yeah.. I would label them (which I hate to do) "Hardcore Dance Punk"... First listen it kinda sounds like two leopards having angry breakup sex over a drummer having a rather rhythmic seizure. Seriously.. the lead singer has a kinda strange new-wave voice that can instantaneously degrade (upgrade?) to the sound of an angry jungle cat in the same measure. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post.. I am starting to like it.

It’s fucking interesting, if anything. I have yet to notice anything shocking about the band instrumentally other than the strange and relatively infrequent synth interludes (that should sound out of place but do not). Oh, except the percussion. It’s pretty awesome yet (for me) gets quickly overlooked when I am worrying about the lead singer’s head exploding..

Let me know what you think.. and I’ll leave you with this rather memorable quote from drownedinsound:

From the off, the four members of !Forward, Russia! rip against each other; Fractured and percussive guitar stabs are cradled by the most pounding rhythm section imaginable. It’s liquid dance in punk masquerade. They are the spiked ball on the end of a giant mace, but sharpened sharper than razors. The singer spazzes out relentlessly, hypnotically, voice never waning as he wails and hollers. A mega-quick banshee, a perfect frontman.

My sobriety is irrelevant, I’m fucked on music and stomping my feet.

An assortment of samples can be streamed/downloaded here: http://www.forwardrussia.com/music.htm

oh.. and i'm listening to the CD: "Give Me A Wall"

Gospel Alternative Rock - Been done?

That’s the cover of www.coldwarkids.com. Inside they have a pretty cool picture diary/blog of their current tour. It fits with my current view of this band: Pretty Cool. Thankfully, this is my evolved opinion. My initial listen of “Robbers & Cowards” led me to believe this is just a slightly more listenable version of Kings of Leon.

I was wrong.

Partially.. Take KoL and throw in a bit of Walkmen and something from the Mississippi Delta. What?

Yeah.. there is a pretty apparent Gospel sound throughout the album which I actually ended up really liking. There even is this one song (We Used to Vacation) that I swear sounds like whatever that 90’s song that started “I’ve been a baaad baaaaad girl”.. can’t remember what it was called…*

They seem to have a pretty standard post-alt rock setup… drum set, bass, piano and however many overdubbed guitars are necessary for the song… he’s got the voice of your classic rocker, not especially melodic or tuneful, but still pretty engaging.

Lyrically? They have gotten pretty good reviews around the interdumptruck for “deep-soulful-lyrics” but I don’t know how much I agree with that. Choruses are pretty catchy and ever now and again they make a surprising rhyme but I don’t see anything especially wonderful in them. Remember Jeff Buckley? Someone somewhere stated that their song “Passing the Hat” was channeling him. Meh.

My recommendations are “Saint John” and “Hang Me Up To Dry”…

You can download a bunch of MP3s from their EPs on the cold war kids website… I suggest you do.

In fact, pickup the disc.

I really like it. I wasn’t absolutely astounded by it, but it adds a nice dimension to my Zen’s Random Play all.


*I apologize for the disjointed style of this horrid post. I am hungover and tired and can’t seem to concentrate on something for more than a couple seconds.

Punk Rock

So I was listening to Mogwai for the first time in a long time and heard their song 'Punk Rock' (not punk rock at all btw). But in front of wandering guitars they had a interview of iggy pop playing... and it was pretty damn moving and bad ass.

Enjoy:

I'll tell you about punk rock: punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and heartless manipulators about music that takes up the energies and the bodies and the hearts and the souls and the time and the minds of young men who give what they have to it and give everything they have to it. And it's a term that is based on contempt, it's a term that's based in fashion, style, elitism, satanism and everything that is rotten about rock and roll. I don't know Johnny Rotten, but I'm sure he puts as much blood and sweat into what he does as Sigmund Freud did. You see, what sounds to you like a big load of trashy old noise, is in fact the brilliant music of a genius: myself. And that music is so powerful that it is quite beyond my control. And when I am in the grips of it, I don't feel pleasure and I dont feel pain--either physically or emotionally.

Do you understand what I'm talking about?
Have you ever felt like that, when you just couldn't feel anything, and you didn't want to either.

Like that?

Do you understand what i'm saying sir?

- Iggy Pop

Sexy Results

I'm listening to a little "Death From Above 1979" right now and just wanted to let you know they have a song entitled "Sexy Results" (MSTRKRFT Edition) which is amusing me for the moment. I'm not a huge fan of this album's (Romance Bloody Romance) post-techno sound but i thought i remembered hearing them before and liking them a lot. Alas...
"sexy woman,
take me to your bedroom
let me show you how i work
work
work"

understated yet wonderful

Here's a band that very well may soon become one of my favorites:

The Papercuts


So here's my little view of the band: I've been listening to their 2007 release "Can't Go Back" and really, really digging it. The first listen made me think of vintage Yo La Tengo but then i started to hear something new and wonderful... kinda indie pop meets late sixties psychedelic. i saw a quote on the website of those pompous asses, Pitchfork Media that was fing genius:

"It takes a few seconds of Papercuts' second album, Can't Go Back, to think that maybe you've stumbled upon something special, a delicate mood piece made to slice through the din and chaos of modern life."

and veryshortlist said this (for peep):

"At a time when lots of "independent" bands are going mainstream, and "alternative" music often marches in lemming-like lockstep, it's nice to come across a truly idiosyncratic band like Papercuts that isn't just trying to sound like the hipster-pleasing flavor of the month."

Although pointed at PeeP, the latter quote is very meaningful to me, personally. I've found myself recently inundated with indie folk (which isn't a bad thing, i really enjoy it) and listening to this album has shaken me out of the rut and i've found myself once again seeking out non-cookie-cutter indie. anyway.. enough about my sexy self, back to the album...

The album evolves quite intelligently and flows (in my opinion) flawlessly from song to song. Quever's voice is thin, tinny and beautiful. As Pitchfork says, the overdubbing and reverb add a ghost like quality to the moments where he isn't just letting his voice tear at your heart on its own. It's a bit slower than my normal fare but i highly suggest you give it at least a couple listens. Peep, i'm looking at you (and post something about Lonely Dear, dammit.)

Standouts tracks in my mind are "John Brown" and "Sandy."

Free Independent Music?

i think i like it.. i'll write a post soon when i can make a intelligent review.
http://www.artistserver.com

Jonah in Hoboken!!

I know there hasn't been a lot of action on here lately, but I wanted to leave a quick note for anyone into Jonah Matranga or anyone who was intrigued by m's post "onelinedrawing: Jonah Matranga". I just got his latest email update which included his tour schedule. He'll be in Hoboken for his Album Completion Party at the beginning of April which is super exciting news for those of us in the NYC area...I've included the whole schedule for those residing elsewhere....

**Upcoming Shows**
2.28.07 Santa Barbara, CA - UCSB - The Hub - DAYTIME, noon
3.03.07 SF, CA - Swedish American Hall - DAYTIME, 3pm-ish
3.03.07 SF, CA - Makeout Room - Doors 7pm, Show 7:30, Jonah 8:30
3.13.07 Houston, TX - Super Happy Fun Land
3.14.07 San Antonio, TX - The Sanctuary
3.15.07 Austin, TX - Plush
3.16.07 Austin, TX - Epoch - DAYTIME -1pm
3.18.07 Phoenix, AZ - Modified
3.19.07 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory
3.20.07 San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill
3.21.07 Davis, CA - Delta Of Venus
3.22.07 Sacramento, CA - Old Ironsides
4.03.07 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwells - Album Completion Party
4.14.07 Monterey, CA - Black Box Cabaret, CSUMB
4.15.07 Pomona, CA - Glass House
4.16.07 San Francisco, CA - Adobe Books
4.24.07 UK - Aberdeen, Scotland
4.25.07 UK - TBA
4.26.07 Paris, FR - Le Batofar

music to slit your wrists by

so here's a band i love. i first heard them on joey guisto's weekly indie rock show around 1997. I instantly knew that it was one of the bands that would later shape my musical taste. later that week, i bought their album “Developer” and listened to it every waking moment for weeks.

ah, Silkworm... how i thought i was a fan. that was until i started the research for this little post. that's when i found out that they had produced 9 full lengths over almost twenty years (1987-2005). And apparently, their drummer was killed when he was intentionally hit by a car. i'm not 100% on what that means. (edit: i found out while reading the aol biography)

but these guys are amazing. They are everything that indie rock should be. Slow, driving rock, a pained voice and some riproaring guitar. lyrically? genius. please listen and tell me you think i'm a prophet.

Here is a excerpt of one of their songs

Waiting on a Train

I've been waiting on a train
She runs from stoplight to hydrant
I asked her where the fire was
And put it out
I've been waiting on a train
She runs on green rice and mint toothpicks
And her tracks go up my back

God, these guys are amazing. I just listened to a bunch of their tracks off of myspace including Bourbon Beard (how perfect are these guys?)

i couldn't find any downloadable music but here are some fun links
Silkworm's Homepage
AOL's Bio on Silkworm

YOU is the best name in the world

So sunday i'm sittin' around and i happened to come across a brilliant new artist called Loney, Dear. I really like this guy (aka Emil Svanängen). So, after trying to find some of his music to buy I find out he's recently been signed to Sub Pop and is coming to the US to tour with Low. I'll be sure to check this out. I'll let you know how it really is once i get the album and give it a once over. Check out this video in the mean time.

The second stinkin' Swede is Herman Dune. Now this might be the HAPPIEST video ever. I love the music as well. I'll do some more investigation on this guy as well.

What i hear so far I LOVE.

Damn Swedes (and damn Canadians!!!)

go ahead, judge me.

Hey all. I just saw this article and thought it applicable to our little group discussion here:

Personality Secrets in Your MP3 Player.

I completely agree with the premise of this article (except for the fact that 57% talk about music and 38% talk about everything else combined… does that mean that 5% just sit in slack-jawed silence?)… But here is my question to you…

Do you judge people on their taste in music? I know it's one of the top five questions I ask a conversation partner and I will usually form a pretty strong opinion on them based on their answer (not that all these opinions are necessarily bad) and I have walked away from people when the answer was bad enough.

Yeah. I’m a bad person. Tell me your sins.

Deathcountry will own you: Elliott Brood

Let me preface this with the statement:

I really don’t like country. (With the notable exception of the 1996 Ween Album: “Twelve Golden Country Greats”)

But... I dig Elliott Brood, a pretty new deathcountry trio. I really, really, like their sound. The trio is made up of a banjo, guitar and drummer (which according to wikipedia, uses a plastic suitcase in lieu of a bass drum (fuck yeah!)) and the vocals often have bit of retro reverb hollow sound to them. The guys voice is fucking amazing too… something just enough different to keep your attention without being unlistenable at all.

I found out about him on XM radio with his song “Oh Alberta!” (this guys a Canadian… we won't hold that against him), a really catchy poprockcountryfolk song about the provinces. It kinda reminded me of a school house rocks song or something from my childhood. But I loved it anyway.

So Mau got me his first full length. “Ambassador” I admit that I don’t love the entire album but a few of the songs have made it on my daily listening list.

Check out President (35), Wolfgang and Second Son at first. Then you can deny being a country fan too.

His website has five vidoes on it (including Second Son) and there is a link off the homepage to http://radio3.cbc.ca/ where have five live recordings. So far they are pretty nice. Check him out and let me know there is nothing wrong with being a little bit country.

powersynthpopkillmeifeeldirty

ever feel dirty?

really dirty? from music? like when you find yourself naked, doing the macarena, in public and loving every second of it? maybe not like that.

so i was perusing my favorite music site and saw they had a new listing under "indie rock" listed under hellogoodbye - "Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!" Sounds fucking excellent right? ZOMBIES!

well yeah.. first song: "well a little electronic sounding and kinda poppy and the lyrics are shite.. but it's not horrible" then i listened some more. wow. i hate it.

power synth pop is how wikipedia describes them and i couldn't do it better. except maybe if i was to say childish. hate hate hate

shit. i like it.

bop bop bop bop goes my head as i type to the rhythm of "stuck to You"... god i'm pathetic.
but yeah.. i'm digging this totally shallow electronic emo pop. go ahead. think less of me

http://www.hellogoodbye.net/ is their homepage.. apparently "down like 311" but you prolly can pick a track or two off of myspace:www.myspace.com/hellogoodbye

oh and don't go to
www.hellogoodbye.ca/
it involves dead babies

mustache march

For my birthday, my brother has promised me tickets to a show...whoever I'd like to see as long as it's cheap (he's sweet like that). I was unaware of the wonderful site pollstar.com, but m was kind enough to clue me in and I went to check out shows around Hawthorne...and by Hawthorne, I mean NYC.

I had been noticing some bands that I love would be back in the area in March, but I was overwhelmed! The Decemberists, Badly Drawn Boy, Ben Kweller, Virginia Coalition, Bright Eyes, Of Montreal and of course Joey Lawrence is performing with "Slim-Fast Presents Dancing With The Stars - The Tour"...okay, maybe I'll skip that last one. Anyway, that was just the beginning of the list of fun sounding shows in my area in the coming months...my question is--any suggestions for must see shows this winter? I know you're all not cool enough to live in the New Jersey area, but anyone fun doing some touring that might end up this way?

a lump of new stuff

Hey folks,

I have come across some new digs over the past week that I thought you might dig. None of it really goes together but before i forget i'd like to get it out there. Here it goes:

• Madeleine Peyroux - She has some videos on there. Very close to Billie Holiday with her voice. I like it. We don't really need another Norah Jones doing digestible jazz but she's worth a listen. Plus she plays guitar!!
• One of the coolest live footages of Count Basie and crew. This was such a cool jam session, Billie Holiday (there she is again) was there just hangin' out.
• Langhorne Slim - Some cool mod (mod?) folk out of NYC. They're comming to Chidigs and some other places. Cool shit.
• Last night on my bus ride home I came across a band i didn't realize was on my ipod. Black Lipstick. Super fun shit outa Texas.

Video Game Based Musics

so as i sit hear, wondering how i kept in touch with friends prior to instant messaging, i am listening to one of the most amazing albums i have ever heard and it is a soundtrack to a video game... THE video game:

Katamari Damacy.. if you have a ps2, buy it now.

it's got it all! electronica, a fugue, an overature, some scatting and japanese pop... i love it.. if you would like, i could definitly hook you up with some samples or at the website above, i belive you can get a bit...

Slightly related, mau and i recently downloaded Super Mario Brothers for the Wii and i forgot how much i loved the music from this game (and how deep it was in the recesses of my brain.. i can still tell you where every hidden 1up is)... god.. all those classics were amazing... what was your favorite? How about the theme to castlevania III or even the original megaman.. and now that i am talking about those original songs, tell me you've heard about the minibosses
Here is a band that based their entire existence around covering videogame themes with slayer like tapping and duel guitar butt-rock solos. They've got four songs currently on their homepage which i suggest you listen to for throwback orgasmic goodness.. and with that, i'm off!

Man Man TONIGHT!

as a short moment to brag, mau and i are goign to see man man tonight in philly... put on your dancing shoes everyone and work on your channeling, you can be there in spirit!

Joined-Up Writing?

Yes, that's how the Brits refer to cursive handwriting. What does it have to do with anything? Well, not much. Except that I'd like to discuss the band Cursive for a moment. That is my idea of a transition; a segway [sp]. You know, like the personal transportation device featured on Arrested Development.

Hmm. If you get a chance, and you haven't yet already, check out Cursive. Their new album is pretty great. It's called Happy Hollow, a thinly veiled reference to American society today. Tim Kasher spends the album berating religion, and I've got his back on this one. It's albums like these that make me want to pack up my guitar and sell it to a pawn shop; everything has been said exactly the way I'd imagine that it should have been said. The music is daring and somehow simultaneously catchy and approachable. Can you believe they included a horn section? Believe it, fucker.

Come to think of it, check out the album The Ugly Organ. It's pretty great as well. 100% rock. Again, Kasher shreds. He manages to dive headlong into self-deprecating lyrics without sounding cliched or whiny; girlfriends and the artist's life, etc. And, what now? Is that some cello I hear? In an indie rock band? Believe it, fucker.

Bah, dig around. See what you like. I'd suggest working backward - present to past. If you're interested, try these links:
http://www.cursivearmy.com/03/home2.html (go to the download section)
http://www.myspace.com/cursive
http://www.saddle-creek.com/happyhollow/

NOTE: Posting links to new music seems like a good idea. Let's all do that, whenever possible. What better way to sample the goods without having to purchase the whole album..

Too Cool For What's Popular

Well I started writing a post about the Decemberists last week, got distracted and never finished. I promised I'd finish it up and post today, but decided I just did the "yay I love Man Man" post, so didn't really want to do the same thing for these guys (although I really only love half their stuff...the other half I usually just skip).

Anyway, the point is that instead of just saying why I love songs like "July, July" and "I was Meant for the Stage", I'd like to use the Decemberists as a reason to discuss that horrible feeling I get when a band I feel is all my own crosses the horrible line into mainstream popularity. I am afraid the Decemberists might be about to cross that line...that which once crossed allows you to walk into a CD store and see copies of their newest release, the Crane Wife, next to Justin Timberlake trying his best to bring sexy back.

Now, I'm all for the artists I love making money and not having to live in their parents' basement, but I'd really love to see Death Cab in the back of a bar in Hoboken with the 30 fans in the area that have loved them forever and know every song instead of sitting 100 rows away surrounded by 16 year old girls screaming at the top of their lungs and singing along only to the few songs that have made it to the radio (m and i actually had such a horrible experience last year, although death cab still puts on an amazing show)

The Decemberists have not been a little known band for quite some time now, but I knew I might really be in trouble when I first heard Steven Colbert mention them. Now, I'm a pretty big fan of the Colbert Report, so I was genuienly VERY excited when I heard Steven say that he was challenging the Decemberists to a guitar challenge. If you missed this, definitely check out the video on the show's website ASAP...especially the guy from 60 minutes doing the intro...completelly ridiculous.

Once the challenge had ended and I had fininshed telling everyone who would listen all about it, I started to hear about the Decemberists EVERYWHERE (I'm sure it was not entirely related, but that's about when it happened)....i started to have nightmares about them playing in football stadiums while young girls all dressed in pink Decemberists T-Shirts (which would replace their recently cast aside Death Cab Shirts) screamed "i love you" while trying to mumble along to the lyrics because they had never listened to a band that used so many words they didn't understand (okay maybe that's a little harsh...)

I'm pretty sure they'll never actually make it to Giants Stadium, but I'd still rather not hear them mixed in with Fergie and Jay-Z on anyone's playlist. I also must note that I am not opposed to listening to music from bands that are super popular...half of my favorite country singers are the same ones that every country fan will list, but the difference is that when I knew them, they were always pretty popular...I never was the first to know about them and never got to see them in some little bar with a few of my closest cowboy friends.

Anyway, the question is...how do you feel when a cool, little unknown band you really like hits it big...are you mature enough to be happy for them? Or are you selfish like me and try to wish them back into the time when you could see them for $10 and impress people with your knowledge of this amazing band no one had heard of? ...And of course, how ridiculous was the Colbert episode and what do you think about the Decemberists??

The Appleseed Cast: now with 40% less emo

So no one has posted today yet and my will to live is shriveling into a more pathetic ball of puffinstuff ever second I sit here and do more work so I thought I would mention what still seems to be a relatively unknown band…

Checkout The Appleseed Cast. I actually can do little to describe them better than the wiki seems to so i'll throw in my little perspective and allow you guys to checkout the wiki and their homepage and what for the real facts and not just reality as it is filtered through my sensory system...

Sometime in the late nineties i had this napster methodology that got me a lot of my new music. I'd search for a band i liked and when i found a user with a respectable library, i would then download everything else on their computer. I believe i was searching for "Mineral" (vintage emo) and i ended up getting the song "Moment # 2" and "Marigolds and Patchwork" from their album "The End of the Ring Wars". I absolutely loved these songs but between my maturing of taste away from that classic "Stabby Rip Stab Stab" emo sound and my burgeoning alcoholism i never followed up on them very much. Well after a few band members left and a few came and they hopped between a few labels the release a new album in early 2006 called "Peregrine".

I absolutely love it. The wiki labels it pure "post-rock" which i guess i can agree with but i have heard a lot of post rock that i don't like.. i like this. Very layered sound, a surprising amount of synth and the buildups that made me love mogwai in the first place. Unlike their early emo stuff, the lyrics haven't been my main draw to these songs but maybe when i just get over how beautiful the whole sound of this album is, maybe i'll start noticing them...

Checkout the tracks "Mountain Halo" and "Woodland Hunter (part 1)".. they will make you grin for hours...

Hate the vocals

You're gonna hate the vocals. I just know it. I kind of hate it too but I think I could like this band...especially live. I was sitting here on a Saturday morning flipping through The Reader looking for upcoming shows when a Baltimore band called Ponytail had a small feature about an upcoming show (as it turns out they are playing with The Great Sea Serpents I talked about below. Total coincidence). The write up was pretty interesting so I decided to check them out (mentions of Zeppelin II, Yes, dogs barking, cats dying, and punk). The lead singer is obviously doing some experimental junk in the style Deerhoof...sort of. I love the guitar, especially on the song Lion Down. I really think they will be fun live. It at least started my saturday morning out right.

hate -> luv

i was thinking about this a bit earlier but suddenly it's the end of the day so i'll leave it short so i can go home...

i was listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and rocking out to "black tongue" when i had a sudden flashback to the first time i heard them.

god i hated her voice and didn't see anything special about they lyrics... now, as i've found today, i really really like these guys (at least this album)... what bands did you absolutely hate initially and now find yourself loving?

Other notable ones:
Cursive
Good Life
Kings of Leon
Bright Eyes
The Dears
Neutral Milk Hotel

Yay "local" bands!

Well some people might say that i've grown up in "one of the worst places (they) have ever lived for local music", so to help deal with that, I've come to consider anyone within a 2-3 hour radius a local band and won't think twice of driving that far for a show (back in my big country music days, I expanded to a much larger radius and drove 10 hours to Ohio for some shows out there one summer). Aaaaanyway, with that said, my favorite "local" band is Man Man. They have been mentioned a bit already, but I must officially tell all how wonderful they are. I first saw them at the Siren Music Festival on Coney Island this summer. m and I were quite far away when we got there and I wasn't paying too much attention at first...then I realized the guys up on stage were CRAZY. They were screaming and banging and singing and it was...well, it was wonderful. I've tried to explain their amazing sound to many people since that first show, but most people just look at me like I'm crazy. The solution? GO SEE THEM! They're playing in NYC this weekend and Philly on the 12th (think I'll be hitting up the Philly show, yay!!) I guarantee any time you see them anywhere, it will be an amazing, amazing show.

If you can't make it to a show in the near future, these guys surprisingly sound pretty decent recorded as well. I was so impressed at Coney Island that I picked up their 2006 release Six Demon Bag right there...definitely check out Engwish Bwudd...I won't even try to explain it...their website has an animated crazy video of the song worth a look. There's also some good stuff to download and their myspace page to take a listen.

tribal beats in my hood

my hood is actually one of the worst places i have ever lived for local music... then again living in this densely populated part of the armpit has completely changed my perception of ‘local.’ When I lived in syracuse, ny, ‘local’ was anything in 58 miles… now its more like eight. The only local bands I can think of are Chump and Tiny Masters of Today.

Let’s start with Chump.

One of the WORST cover bands I’ve ever seen… aging and expanding men who seem to embody everything that is wrong with the genre of rock… what more, they are a cover band. A bad one… if you go to their website (links to come), you can download a few minute sample that has snippets of their many masterpieces. I kinda want to get a whole bunch of people to start following the band with me in denim cutoffs and winger shirts… when I saw them I believe we may have been the only people in the venue who didn’t go to school with them all those years ago…

Now Tiny Masters of Today:

Pretty kick ass if only in theory. They are a brother and sister duo playing pixie-esc rock with rather high voices… saw them open for Man Man (one of my new all-time-favorite bands that I will race mau to post about) in Hoboken… their drummer just happens to formerly be the drummer for (get this) JOHN SPENCER’S BLUES EXPLOSION!!! thus, at the show I got to meet him, be in awe and thank him for shaping my malleable musical mind as a child…
Oh yeah.. the brother and sister are like eleven and thirteen and to see them rocking out is quite a treat. Gives me hope for the future and all.

So check out both of these bands… and if anything else comes to mind or to the Haw in the near future I’ll let you know

Local Yocal

I thought one of the cool things we could do is post about bands about in our respective areas. I'm not talking about a "my city is better than your city" or "dude, you think you know Cheap Trick. Well I eat pizza at Richard Nielsen's pizza place and I really know him." type of post. No, I mean something where you might be able to share a under promoted young band(s) that anyone outside of your town would have zero chance of hearing without your help.

So here I go I guess. I have thought about 3 bands today from Chicago that I think I would like to share. One band i know very well and am good friends with the members, one I don't know too well but are friends of friends and one that is completely new to me as of an hour ago.

First off is the Notes and Scratches. I happened to be a member a little art/music/whatever collective here in Chicago called Tense Forms. One of the things we do is act sort of, but not really, like a record label. Basically we help friends put their albums out by doing PR, funding the production and all the DIY stuff involved in getting their music out there. I am very honored to work with my friend Joshua Dumas who happens to be the lead singer. These cats are incredibly fun to see live and I really love their tunes regardless if they are friends or not. You can either check them out on their website above, on My Space or on Tense Radio. If you tune into Tense Radio be sure to check out the other bands and music projects we have helped in the past. Lots of really great stuff there.

Secondly, the band 1900s are super cool and fun. Sadly I have never seen them live or own any of their music. This is one of the things i wish to cure this new year. What I have heard I love and they come highly recommended from a lot of talented folks.

Thirdly is a band called The Great Sea Serpents. They were featured in the Chicago Tribune the morning and after checking them out I dig it so far. Their influences include Built To Spill and Archers of Loaf. I can dig on that. The recording is pretty shitty but you get the point. I may go check them out on Tuesday. If so, i'll report back.

so what's new in your hood? That's it for chicago...for now...

Oh gOD!

I recently started to pay attention to some of the
many podcasts, blogs and such that I'm supposed to be paying attention to regarding music. On top of this, I recently participated in one of those mix CD swaps and it actually panned out with some pretty good stuff. I have to say, one was so bad (modern country, sad teenage crap with generic power chords) that I took it into my coworkers office and smashed it with the heel of my shoe. God it felt good. High School is fucking over. You CAN get your music outside of Target and Walmart...and guess what, it's good!!

Ok, sorry. My point being is I have come across quite a few good/great bands that are very new to me in the past couple of weeks. As I've told M before, I don't know shit about new bands even though i get tagged as a hipster and music snob often. I really don't. I just get things thrown at me occasionally and this time it poured.

So The Thermals, check 'em out. Out of Portland and I dig it. After listening to their latest album about the Bible (don't worry, i'm not proselytizing here and either are they) I found it pretty fuckin' rockin' for a concept album and I can tell they would pretty great live. In fact, they are coming to Chicago in February and I'm dragging Miso with me to check 'em out. If you like it too, come visit for a spell...

My favorite track so far is Returning to the Fold.

I won't put every band i've found these past 2 weeks in one long post. I'll let it stretch itself out for a while and ferment.

Enjoy!

onelinedrawing: Jonah Matranga

Later than I expected, here comes the first “Check-the-Shit-Out-of-this-Band” post...

Although I know a couple of you already know about him and some have even seen him with me before, I'd like to do this first post about my favorite artist of all time:

onelinedrawing

Amazing, amazing artist. He started as the front man of Far, a no-cal based alternative rock band in the mid-late nineties that actually produced some different and memorable stuff and was one of the magical three (hum, far, weezer) that started me on my long downward path into my current musical state. well, anyway, far was rock, pure unadulterated rock with everything from throat tearing screams to tandem overdriven guitars. they were wonderful.

then they were gone... 1998... but i was going to college and the psuedo-yuppie began my ska education.. but i digress...

years later... through some unknown means i found out the lead singer from Far had started a solo project called onelinedrawing.

shit, i'll check it out.

in this hay-day of napster i was able to get both Sketchy EP 1 and Sketchy EP 2 as well as a buttload of live stuff... and i was in love. this guy had range... from tear your heart out sadness with a single guitar (number one defender) to techno beebop german love fest (Always New – March)... the more and more i listened to him the more i liked it... you know what it was? the lyrics... fucking amazing... and the vocals... everynow and again i'll see if i can play one of his songs.. and well, i can.. but shit.. the guitar doesn't make the song.. his vocals are like another couple instruments that really make the song...

There are a few you can listen to on his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/jonahmatranga and if you want i can get you some samples of my favorites...


I think Sketchy EP 1 is the most approachable album of the bunch and thoroughly enjoyable followed closely by Sketchy EP 2. Jonah (did i mention he is now recording under his name (Jonah Matranga) rather than onelinedrawing?) did create two full lengths with Jade Tree in the last few years and they contain some really amazing songs but i would save off their full purchase until after you have been acquainted with onelinedrawing... (if you must iTunes individual songs from these albums, check out Ghost, Oh Boys and Bitte Ein Kuss (with these three you'll see a bit of variation too))...

This is getting a bit long so i'll wrap up... while you are downloading and buying this stuff, make sure to check out New End Original... it was a single CD side project with jonah and the guys from texas is the reason... this album (Thriller) had some great lyrics but was basically onelinedrawing songs with a full rock band in the back... the composition was quite different so it is worth listening to them to compare to onelinedrawing...

finally, if you have a chance... see him live... i've been to half a dozen of his shows or so and
they often are in real intimate venues with people that are truly fans... the last few sets i've seen him do have been real cool, he'd play five or six songs that he wanted to and then spend the rest of the time just playing whatever the audience asks him to... he did a amazing cover of the sinead o'conner song once... oh.. and although he recently been traveling with an iBook for all his backup he used to have a drum machine welded inside an R2D2 that would provide all his beats.. if you listen to his live stuff you'll hear R2 whining all the while... well all.. thanks for reading and please check out this guy.. i promise you'll love him...

Let's see how this goes

I'm still not sure how to best share our music suggestions with each other so feel free to post whatever you want at whatever frequency... I think I'll just start posting little paragraphs on bands that i love/loved/may love soon and if anyone has any thoughts on it post some comments.. or better yet... check 'em out and throw in your six cents...

Anyone have any ideas? maybe rotating weekly (or bi-daily) posts? some way to have actual conversations about the music above and beyond the couple comments that will come out from those that have also heard of the band?

yeah.. comment away here and maybe we'll come up with something semi-intelligent