Fratsterhipboy

Your mom!

2009-03-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

Hey you're pretty sure your mom is your mom and I'm pretty sure this song is out of control. Out of fucking conterl. Good Christ thank you for rocky music.

Mount Saint Helens Vietnam Band - Albatross Albatross Albatross

Fratster is an artist

2009-03-24T22:11:00.000-07:00

Haven't been hearing a lot of good shit lately/always. Went to David Bowie or Byrne or something concert at Radio City and it was really white like...the blackup singers were the only non white folks there. I knew about two songs and pretended to know two or three others. I was lying mainly because I had to justify spending $50 on the ticket and because the 50/50 Sprite/Vodka's told me to.

Hot?

Or Alien?

I've been digging Ellie Goulding and Bombay Bicycle Club. Thats not even new news. More British stuff - dunno why I'm into that scene lately - maybe its cuz the Americans are all experimentally lately and shit and its bugging me out!

That Junior Boys track Parallel Lines from the last post is also turning out to be pretty epic.

Becoming an artist!

Available now for free download!

Also decided to f around with some mixing software and make a few tracks. If this sounds like I spent all of 45 minutes making this song, its because I actually spent 15 minutes and am just really gifted.

Fratster - Morethananhouristoolongtospendmakingasong

Ellie Goulding - Guns + Horses

Bombay Bicycle Club - Cancel on Me

Lazy Bitch

2009-02-24T05:43:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how to phrase this any more delicately, but I've been a bit of a lazy bitch lately. Plus all the love throughout the blogosphere for shitty weird-fi bands like Animal Collective, DumDum Girls/Mayfair Set, Wavves has been depressing. Bonus plus, I've also been having sex on a consistent basis with some chick but she left me to go to Mexico with some other dude which is apparently just the sort of inspiration it takes for me to put together a post here.

Seriously WTF guy

Groakies?

Anyhow there is some good new shit out there, so here are a few of the things that I've heard lately worth listening to.

Fanfarlo

Stupid fucking band name that makes shit that sounds way too much like Arcade Fire and Beirut but is actually phenomenal.

Fanfarlo - "I'm a Pilot"

The Answering Machine

You're so money and you don't even know it.

Ma'am, where do all the high school girls hang out around here?

Another pretty much pathetic attempt at a band name. Name aside, they busted out the hook of the year in this track Cliffer. Their other stuff is really good too.

The Answering Machine - "Cliffer"

Phoenix

I am bizarrely in love with the band Phoenix. Basically, if I had to describe the median 50% percentile mean or whatever of my musical spectrum, I'd put Phoenix right there in my sweet spot. Sense any did that make? Anyhow, looks like they have a new track out and it's wonderful.

Phoenix - "1901"

Junior Boys

Another band that's pretty much in that sweet spot for me. Sometimes they miss, but they never shank, and when they nail it (In the Morning), it makes me wonder how 10,000 years ago, their ancestors didn't manage to crush any organism that I could have possibly descended from. Their new tracks are actually sounding pretty good, with this one being the best.

Junior Boys - "Parallel Lines"

Here we go Magic

This ring is not a metaphor.

This jam was the first real cracker of the year for me. Much more interesting rhythmically than Luke Temple's solo stuff. If not for the aforementioned lazybitchiness, this woulda had a full post a month ago, and I'd have perfect abs.

Here we go Magic - "Tunnelvision"

On the radar (I've been sitting still for too long to write anything more about any more bands): CFCF, The XX, Fever Ray, I Blame Coco, Heartless Bastards, Pains of being Pure at Heart

Animal Collective

2009-01-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

I still don't get Animal Collective. I don't get the blogboy fascination. I don't get the critical darlingness. I'm more likely to successfully explain string theory to a retarded nine year old Chinese than make any sense of the common obsession with AC.

Rejected album art 1:

Or wait: I have one idea. Have you ever had that feeling that like you're lost and out of touch with shit and can't make sense of life and you tried reading Camus and Judy Blume and Harper's and tripping acid and smoking pot and searching for some experience that felt real or something like there was some piece of information out there that if you could just get your hands on it that maybe then things would all work out?

There is no book out there that everyone else is reading that makes them get it. There is no drug. There is no band. Animal Collective is not the second coming of jack shit. Their music sucks and I can't imagine a single working thinking person out there hearing AC and having any other thought than "What the fuck was that?"

I read the unreadable Pitchfork review and it's not that I disagree or think it to be bad writing or anything but I don't see how anyone who has ever read less than 100,000 words of music criticism could have made it through a paragraph. I didn't just pull that number out of my ass. Indie music has this stupid barrier to entry that punk and metal and rap and electronic and... don't have.

Lower it? Well maybe not, but let's save our exaltations for something that everyone can appreciate.

I guess that's all I really got.

Kanye

2008-12-18T03:19:00.000-08:00

Someone stopped Kanye from chewing on his lo-fi vocoder for just long enough to record one really good jam. I dunno if I really really like this song or if I'm just so shocked that it's Kanye doing R & B really well that I think it's a really good song. Really.

"La la la Luke

I am your faaaaa-ther."

Kanye West - Streetlights

Glasvegas

2008-12-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it takes a while for me to get something. Sorry. I'm not the bleeding edge. Music has to percolate through me for a bit before I can come on here and post about it. I'm not into wasting mine and everyone else's time to write something just for the sake of bumping my blog every eight hours. So when I do put something up here, you should be reading it, listening to it and then talking about it with every person you know. I'm doing all the goddamn legwork here.

What the hell is that thing get it away from me!?

It's just a digital camera Sanjeep.

I'm like your barber. You can visit me every few weeks and be fine. Stay away longer and risk turning into a social outcast. Come by every day and it'll be hard to hide the fact that you're unemployed and living above your parent's garage.

There just aren't five good songs / bands /events / (What else is worth blogging about?) a week that are worth writing about. Other times I just literally don't hear shit until months after its release. Which is sort of the case with Glasvegas. Full disclosure: I think I did hear them once on WOXY but I actually looked into them with earnest after I saw them ranked highly on NME's year end list. Ya I'm the guy that reads that shite.

So here it is, some quality Scottish tunes in the vein of The Twilight Sad. Sorry, the comparison is just too obvious.

Glasvegas - "Geraldine"

Mamma Sia!

2008-12-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not I somehow entirely missed the album released by Sia via Australia via the Starbucks imprint this year. Of course I've also been inside of a Starbucks store for about ten total minutes in my life.

I was reading up on the top albums of the year and I found a list which had the error of having Sia at number one. I think it might have been a joke list because it also had Fleet Foxes and Coldplay up there in the top ten. So I had to check me out some Sia and I found out she used to be in Zero 7 which gave her at least some credibility. First song I found is the below linked jam "Buttons" which is super catchy (Thank You CSS) and spuriously lifted my expectations.

So then I wasted 30 seconds of my life walking over to my living room to visit one of the three Starbucks locations in my apartment where I was hoping to find her album. I either did that or I wasted 30 seconds downloading it for free from soulseek. Either way I'm never getting those 30 seconds back.

Before I fell asleep 11 seconds into the first track I remember starting to think that this was quite possibly the most unobjectionable music I've ever heard in my - and then I fell asleep - which is also to say that it is also probably the most unlistenable album of 2008.

But somehow CSS remixed this song "Buttons" and turned it into a really killer track worth checking out.

Acting is hard

I'm also throwing in "Breathe Me" because I'm pretty sure it was used to score the montage in the recent Ben Affleck/Hugh Jackman/Richard Gere + Goldie Hawn Jr./Jennifer Aniston/Julia Roberts film during the part where the male lead storms out of the Hospital/4-Star Restaurant/Wall Street Skyscraper/Crackhouse where he has been neglecting his female lead for far too long and sprints (tracking shot) through the rainy streets of New York/Seattle/Boston/Philadelphia, darting through the offices of the up-and-coming fashion brand/chocalatier/newspaper (editorials floor)/ where he finds the initially impassive female lead who puts her thin well-manicured hand to her mouth, doesn't know to laugh or cry, does both and just as Sia rasps "Be my Friend. Wrap me up. Hold me. Unfold me. I am Sma-a-a-a-all and Needy. Warm me up and Breath me," they embrace each other, make out and roll credits.

Sia - "Buttons" (CSS Remix)
Sia - "Breathe Me"

O wait looks like Coke has already used Sia. It's the one where the retarded kid wins gold and cries about it. LOL I thought this was some Ben Folds song LOL.

Checking it Twice

2008-12-03T19:16:00.001-08:00

Any single that I came across in any form this year qualifies. Remixes qualify. Remixes of last year’s songs qualify. Songs released last year on album’s released this year don’t qualify (Sorry MGMT/Black Kids/Bon Iver etc.). If I don't have a link, then you should be able to easily find the track on Hypem.com or I've linked it somewhere else on the blog so don't be a lazy ass.

The world needs more hot Lykke

and less lazy asses.

40. School of Seven Bells – “Half Asleep” – I think this is the only dream pop band cracking the top 40 this year. What ever happened to dream pop? I used to love that stuff.

39. Los Campesinos! – “You! Me! Dancing!” Life is too short to not love Los Campesinos.

38. Frightened Rabbit – “The Modern Leper” – A fine song. Makes me want to shatter my existence, pick up the pieces and reassemble myself as a miracle worker in Bangladesh or Bed-Stuy Brooklyn.

37. Cloud Cult – “Everybody Here is a Cloud” – Stellar rhythm parts.

36. Girls – “Hellhole Ratrace” – You won’t get it after one listen. After a while you’ll get it. It’s too endearing.

Girls - "Hellhole Ratrace"

35. Cut Copy – “Feel the Love” – This is one of those jams that just has all the right jingles, blips, ooo-ooo’s and other onomatopoeia in all the right spots (no oxford comma).

34. Giantess – “Tuff ‘n Stuff” – Because I’m a complete cheesedick.

Who will be the gay Giantess member in 2k9?

I always thought it was gonna be Justin.

33. Ida Maria – “Oh My God” – She’s not Swedish, she’s Norwedish, so if you’ve got something against the Swedish then try this because it’s definitely on a peninsula all to itself.

32. Friendly Fires – “Paris” – I’m so lukewarm towards this song until the chorus hits and then I’m like o ya this is a really good song.

31. The Killers – “Human” – I hear this band is big in Sweden. Perhaps one day they will make it big in the United States of America.

30. Those Dancing Days – “Hitten” – I guess I could just do a separate top 40 for Swedish bands.

29. Cassettes Won’t Listen – “Freeze and Explode” – If you didn’t get enough Postage Service in 2004, then get yourself some of this.

28. The Walkmen – “In the New Year” – Possible replacement for perfunctory Auld Lang Syne.

27. Kings of Leon – “Closer” – Sounds like Secret Machines, so…I’ll rate it like it’s a Secret Machines song.

26. Alaska in Winter – “Berlin” – Best use of a vocoder in several millennia.

25. Okkervil River – “Bruce Wayne Cambell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979” You couldn’t measure my disappointment when I realized this song was not about Batman…or Robin.

24. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – “As Tall as Cliffs” I like indie pop. This is an indie pop song. You can’t possibly not like this song. Take it to your dentist. He will like it too.

23. Jay Reatard – “Gamma Ray” – He outBecks Beck on this one.

22. Blitzen Trapper – “Furr” – Blitzen Trapper went from being on the radar to Oh Fuck There Are Nukes In Fucking Cuba! territory with this jam.

21. Dr. Dog – “The Old Days” – I’m thinking of undergoing voluntary chemotherapy in order to get this song out of my brain. Nothing else has worked.

20. Hot Chip – “Ready for the Floor” – Harmless dance music that’s fun for the whole family.

19. Lykke Li –“ I’m Good I’m Gone” (Fred Falke Remix) – The original is a fine song, but this remix is incredible and turns an enjoyable song into an outstanding one.

Why do birds suddenly appear...

every time...that you're near me?

Lykke Li - "I'm Good, I'm Gone" (Fred Falke Remix)

18. Raveonettes – “Sad Transmission” – 4/4 doesn’t get any better than this. Ba dum a dum dum dum dum. Ba dum a dum dum dum dum.

17. M83 – “Graveyard Girl” – Although honestly I could have picked seven songs off this album to take this spot.

16. Amadou et Mariam – “Sabali” – Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. That. Is. All.

15. Parts & Labor – “Nowhere’s High” – This band has been one of those critical darlings forever it seems and I’ve never been able to get into their stuff. Finally they release an album with a little more pop and it’s got some good tunes.

14. Ra Ra Riot – “Oh La” – This song has to have been on The OC at least once this year. O well. I like it. I’m gay. Whatever.

13. Ravens & Chimes – “Archways” – It took me about ten tries to really get this song. Then I got it and I couldn’t get rid of it.

12. Florence and the Machine / Kid Harpoon – “I’m Goin’ Down” - The year’s number one cover recorded on a demo / at a radio station. I just can’t get over how beautifully earnest it is.

Florence and the Machine/ Kid Harpoon - "I'm Goin' Down"

11. Tokyo Police Club – “Tessellate” – Best song off their great album. It means “to fit together perfectly.” Who knew there was a word for that.

10. Matt & Kim – “Daylight” – Ever wonder what it’s like to be high on life? No? Ok..me either. But in case you’ve never heard what it sounds like, check this out.

Remember how good this movie was? (So good!)

Sly + Matt + Kim + 1996 + 2008 = My mind just blew up.

9. Vampire Weekend – “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” (Chromeo Remix) You know the song, now check the remix and be educated.

8. The Very Best – “Dinosaur on the Ark” – Beautiful song. Makes me want to go on a safari and get to know my inner African.

7. Foals – “Balloons” – What a Jam. Hottest instrumentals of the year.

Foals - "Balloons"

6. Kleerup/Lykke Li – “Until We Bleed” – Is this song not on MTV? What the fuck happened? Such a hot jam.

What's wrong with a lil unhealth obseshun?

Kleerup/Lykke Li - "Until We Bleed"

5. Santogold – “Lights Out” – I really had trouble putting this song so high because of its obvious overcommercialization but I just had to be honest with myself so I’m putting this song where it would be if I hadn’t started hearing it during halftime of college football games.

4. Cajun Dance Party – “Amylase” – This song just absolutely goes off. 17 year old British kids just nailing it. To quote/paraphrase Derek from GWFA "Without a doubt the best song ever written during an eleventh grade chemistry class."

Everything is better with a lil Amylase!

Cajun Dance Party - "Amylase"

3. Tokyo Police Club – “Be Good” (RAC Remix) – Yes this song was on the 2007 TPC EP. But this remix embraces this band’s sound so perfectly and takes the track to a whole new level (dog).

2. Mr. Gnome – “Pirates” – This song runs you over like a Mack truck. It still blows me away every time I hear it. Its soft/loud dynamic is other worldly. The only thing I can compare it to is Zeppelin.

Mr. Gnome - "Pirates"

NUMBER 1: Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead” – Hasn’t enough already been said about this song?

Making a List

2008-12-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm more of a singles guy than an albums guy. That's more a reflection of how the music industry, and my buying/pirating habits have changed over the last few years. It has nothing whatsoever to do with dating habits and girlfriends. There is no correlation between liking singles more than albums and engaging in casual unprotected sex more than having a steady girlfriend period. I can't even imagine why anyone would think that there was a correlation unless they were just really really really stupid and dense. God people are dumb.

Dear Mrs. Claus,

Meet in stables ASAP, Rudolph out at pasture. I'll bring the eggnog + pheromone oils

It's just way easier to grab a few tracks here and there in order to get an impression of a band. If you like what you hear, you go steal the rest from soulseek or something.

Still, I decided to do a best of 2008 albums list. I may do a singles list later, if I can get over the inertia that keeps me from doing posts in the first place. I may do a worst of list as well. Or, most overrated or something; mainly because this is a blog and I don't really have to answer to anyone for what's said here.

I guess what one of my big problems with making the albums list is that some of my favorite stuff I get exposed to comes from EPs. For example, Bon Iver is on this list, but I have hardly listened to him at all this year because his EP from last year was so good. Some of this other stuff I can hardly believe was released in 2008 (See #1) but I'm using the release date that Itunes has listed as the ultimate release date judge.

Anyhow this list is gonna be broken down into a couple of sections. The top 5-10 are indispensable, which means that at some point I played a song from one of these albums 9000 or more straight times or that I listened to the album on repeat for the better part of a month. The albums below that are albums that didn't suck and are worth listening to for one reason or another.

Overall I find it strange how this list definitely drifts into very mainstream territory as we get towards the top.

25. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires (Sept. 1st, 2008 XL)

They made the list at the expense of a few other bands that I probably listened to more or may be a bit better - actually who the fuck knows, we’re on number 25, it’s not like I’m batshit crazy for these guys.

24. Kings of Leon – Only By The Night (August 26th, 2008 RCA/Sony)

Everyone has a guilty pleasure. At least mine doesn’t involve farm animals or white hoods.

Shhh...I can keep a secret

as long as you can.

23. Air France – No Way Down (October 5th, 2008)

OBVIOUS MEME

This was actually just two EP's bundled together. I apparently can't adhere to principles. This band just barely made the list. I didn’t listen to them a whole ton this year but they have some very cool music.

Air France - "Collapsing at Your Doorstep"

22. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing (March 17, 2008 ATP)

Definitely the album most likely to score a space travel movie.

21. Chairlift – Does you Inspire you (November 11, 2008 Kanine)

Thank you for the ski vacation Steve Jobs <3

“Plant Health” is a mesmerizing opus to something.

Chairlift - "Planet Health"

20. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (February 19, 2008 Jagjaguwar)

If this list were made last year and included EP’s, Bon Iver would have made the top 5. Even though this music is timeless, I just find it hard to bump something I hardly listened to this year any higher.

19. Frightened Rabbit – Midnight Organ Fight (April 15th, 2008 FatCat)

Because I needed some depressing melancholy melodramatic jaw-droppingly beautiful forlorn Scottish music on the list and The Twilight Sad didn’t make an album this year.

Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper

18. Los Campesinos! – Hold on now youngster (February 26th, 2008 Arts and Crafts)

These guys released two albums this year. That’s one album for every six Campesinos.

17. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (June 24th, 2008 XL)

I can’t very well leave a best of the year list without a flawless Sigur Ros album. No standouts though drop this album into catalog status.

16. Kleerup – Kleerup (June 2008 EMI Sweden)

Here’s another one that could be higher. I just have to take a little bit away from it because there are so many guests on the album which obviously make it as good as it is.

15. Hot Chip – Made in the Dark (February 4th, 2008 EMI)

Is there anyone who doesn’t know what Hot Chip sounds like?

14. Santogold – Santogold (April 29th, 2008 Downtown)

The Christmas Spirit is the greatest spirit of all non-Russian spirits.

This probably deserves to be higher. If it weren’t on so many beer commercials now it probably would be.

13. The Very Best – The Very Best Mixtape

See what Africa can do with a little first world technology?

12. Passion Pit – Chunk of Change (September 16th, 2008 Frenchkiss)

“Sleepyhead” carries this EP on to the best of the year album list. It woulda been the #1 single if I woulda done a singles list. It’s an irresistible jam that makes me twist and jump like nothing else.

The reason I wake up in the morning

is because this person.

Exists.

In the same world as me.

BRB buying megaphone

and starting band.

11. Lykke Li – Youth Novels (August 19th, 2008 LL)

The best of Sweden.

10. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours (March 22nd, 2008 Modular)

Every time I hear “Lights and Music” I feel like I’m hearing the definitive stereotypical club jam. I mean I like the song, but I can also actually take something away from the rest of the songs besides a coke induced endorphin drip.

9. Black Kids – Party Traumatic (July 22nd, 2008)

I really can’t believe this album has a 2008 release date. I swear this album got huge last year. So many songs on here that just make me feel like dancing.

Black Kids - "Hurricane Jane"

8. Cloud Cult – Feel Good Ghosts (April 8th, 2008)

As cheesy as this is to say, this album is just full of life. If I wanted to start a high tech company and work in Silicon Valley I’d probably just pump this album through my blood and be a trillionaire in six to eight weeks.

Cloud Cult - "Everybody Here is a Cloud"

7. The Raveonettes - Lust, Lust, Lust (Feb. 19, 2008 Vice)

Can you call something innovative if it sounds like it’s 40 years old?

6. Foals – Antidotes (March 25, 2008 Sub Pop)

I spent most of the Spring adjusting myself to the awesomeness of this album.

Is Tibet still not free?

Should I know why they were fighting in Mumbai?

5. Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line (August 19th, 2008 Barsuk)

Not having a girlfriend didn’t stop me from having this on repeat.

4. The Walkmen – You & Me (August 19th, 2008 Gigantic)

Highest ranking album from the band that separates itself from The Hold Steadys and everyone else derivative of The Boss . Nothing short of stellar.

The Walkmen - "In the New Year"

3. M83 – Saturdays = Youth (April 14th, 2008 Virgin)

Top to bottom this is probably the best album of the year. There really were no monster singles though and I guess MGMT’s pop power really put them over the top for me.

2. Tokyo Police Club – Elephant Shell (March 25th, 2008 Saddle Creek)

I fucking love every song on this album and every remix of every song. Maybe it’s because they all sound the same. I don’t care. Huge credit for making me love a band that plays a genre (post-punk) of music from a label (Saddle Creek) that I really don’t care for.

Tokyo Police Club - Be Good (RAC Remix)

1. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular (January 22nd, 2008 Sony BMG)

An absolutely fantastic album. Amazing singles. “Kids” and “Time to Pretend” make me want to be anything from an hour to ten years younger.

Mason Proper makes popular rock music

2008-11-30T16:12:00.000-08:00

There is one thing I can say about the band Mason Proper with absolute certainty: Mason Proper will make one moderately entertaining album and then fade into anonymity over the next three to nine years in a career path mimicking Seven Mary Three. During this fade, they will commence several tours which will include stops at southern state school cities like Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Chapel Hill, North Carolina culminating at the Georgia State Fair in 2014 where they will play the 2pm slot, six hours before a reunited Creed takes the stage.

They have one really good song ("Fog") but then there's also some garbage that made it's way to MTV2 and convinced me of their impending demise.

WTF OREGON NEVER SECEDED FROM THE UNION

I tried to warn you but you were out of your head. I'll meet you in the fah ah ah ah ah og.

Mason Proper - Fog

Easy Listening

2008-11-20T03:51:00.000-08:00

Or oh god it's Winter and now it's cold.

Alaska in Winter later, but first I made this up:

Some of us are Vampires, some of us aren't.

I haven't heard much good stuff over the past week and I'm really reluctant to do a post involving Vampire Weekend in any manner, especially a post where I write something favorable about them. But...the Chromeo remix of "The Kids Don't Stand a Chance" is really good. Take away the annoying and precious VW authored rhythm sections, substitute a legitimate composer and now we have a really great dance song, a really great song.

I envision this conversation taking place when this song is played at a typical networking event @ awful 14th St. gay? bar / dj set @ a pre-MGMT, pre-Cold War Kids, Pre-TV on the Radio concert / some friend of yours' party (20 people or less) who's getting their Masters in (Worthless Advanced Degree Subject) which will not enhance their earning potential or status on the social/sex ladder as much as they hope and desire.

Person 1 (kindof annoying whiney voice): Hey does Paul Simon have a new album?

Person 2 (AIR OF ENTITLEMENT IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID): I think this is a Vampire Weekend song.

Person 1: O I like it. Let me write that down using just my index finger on my gigatouchipad5000 and I'll download it later to play at thanksgiving for my mom and dad I bet they'll like it too.

Fratster: FUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!! I WANT TO STAB MYSELF RIGHT NOW IN THE FACE!!!

Person 2: Did someone say someth-

Person 1 (loosening ascot): It's a remix or something. The original is much better.

Fratster: Gurgle

Or something like that. Anyhow, thank you Chromeo for legitimating this song.

Is this Alaska in Winter?

Or is this Alaska in Summer.

OK now for Alaska in Winter the band. It really is just nice smooth music that is easy to listen to. It's not original or unique in really any way I can think of. You can actually even forget it's on most of the time. It's that good. So check it out, it's the best I've heard this week:

Chromeo - Remix of Vampire Weekend's The Kids Don't Stand a Chance

Alaska in Winter - Berlin

Giantess

2008-11-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

The MGMT effect contains a minimum of seven zillion jiggawats.

This is so good it's silly. If you're a sucker for ambition, drum machines and seven zillion jiggawats of synthesizer then check this out.

Giantess - Tuff n' Stuff

Just Say No To...!

2008-11-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of crappity new albums out there that people have been blogging about. I'm just gonna name some of them here so that you can save yourself the few minutes of your life that I wasted for you and not download any of their songs. I'll start off with a couple that should be pretty obvious, names anyway.

I was born in 1992 and I wear a bikini does that make me a ho?

1. TV on the Radio - "Dear Science" Their new album is baddy mcbad and you should consider yourself a terribad hipster if you like this album or blogged about it.

2. Deerhunter - "Microcastle" Like TV on the Radio, I didn't Just Say No To...! this band last year, their EP anyway. Then they released this album that Pitchfork and everyone liked and it's pretty boring. Like Barry Manilow does 2008 boring.

3. El Guincho - "Palmitos Park" Lots of people with seemingly good musical taste have blogged highly about this guy. They're nuts. Just because he sings in spanish doesn't hide his badness. He's malo. Just say no!

Other ba(n)ds that you should Just Say No To...!

4. We Have Band - "Yes 'We Have Band' is actually the name of our band and I'm not really sure if we even have an album or EP with a name but our single 'Oh' is really bad" Um...There seem to be plenty of people who like this band / song/ concept but it's very bad and you should Just Say No!

5. Late of the Pier - "Space and the Woods" I downloaded a few of their songs, they were all bad and I quit listening to them, and I deleted them from my hard drive to make space for Hannah Montana pictures (non-nude). Then I kept reading about them over and over and so I deleted my Hannah Montana pictures (non-nude) and I downloaded some of their songs again and they were still bad and I quit listening to them again and then I deleted their songs to make room for some Vanessa Hudgens pics (nude).

Irresistible

2008-10-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Matt & Kim's jam Daylight is catchy as fuck. It's pretty much the cutest most irresistible thing this side of an Olsen twin.

Quiz:

Who's the most Irresistible?

A. White Indie Rockers with White Belts

(Very Irresistible).

B. High maintenance white chicks with white ___ on lips.

Thanks for making milk pervy Mary and Kate!

C. Snappy old white guy with young white models
Bottom row 2nd from left (Simply Irresistible).

Matt & Kim - Daylight

It's not MGMT but it's still pretty good.

2008-10-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

AMBIVALENT POST WARNING!!!:

I <3 MGMT

There is this song called Paris from Friendly Fires' pretty good new album that has some allegedly shit hot remix. The remix is actually way-too-seriously-bloghousey to be awesome.

The song covers basically the same material (becoming cooler and going to Paris) as Time to Pretend and the chorus is very tight (around 80% as tight as an MGMT chorus). Anyways, I'm kindof digging the overall Friendly Fires aesthetic. Also check out Jump in the Pool. I didn't just link it to clog up some other guys bandwidth. It's a good jam.

Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane Remix featuring Au revoir Simone)

Friendly Fires - Paris

Friendly Fires - Jump in the Pool

Ya Ya Ya I found it!

2008-10-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Tracks from Esau Mwamwaya have been trickling to me all summer. Everything I've heard has been promising, but I hadn't heard the knockout track that delivered on the promise til just now. If Vampire Weekend got an episode of SNL, this song should get a season.

The Very Best - Dinosaur on the Ark

I'll stick to Awesome thank you.

2008-10-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

I really should just leave this post with the title. After reading this sixteen times, it is in fact the best thing you'll find in here.

Fratster

I've been doing some thinking, which means that I just thought of this, but all my reviews read like shitty Patrick Bateman styled crapola. In case you're confused, that means my reviews - ya know, the ones where I talk a lot about how the music sounds; those are the one's that read shitty. Ya shitty, not shittily, sorry. They read shitty. I think that's more than enough poop references for one paragraph, THIS THING'S GETTING BLOATED!!!!

However, this post does, unlike shoulder hair, have a purpose ...for those of you non-heroine abusers who are fans of late night dance beats, or early night beats, or good clean american fun.

Ok, I'm just saying that if I had a club or any one of those places that hires the penis pill spam man to cluster fuck my inbox with promotions, I'd play these tracks a lot. That's it! These tracks are Awesome! and lest I fuck the goodness of these songs up with words I'll stick to Awesome thank you.

Weird Tapes - TV Romance

Weird Tapes - Home

Kings of Leon

2008-10-07T17:41:00.000-07:00

Billy Crudup and Jason Lee of Kings of Leon

I should not be doing a Kings of Leon post. Except I actually like their new single. A lot. It helps that WOXY keeps reminding me to like it. Thank you WOXY!

My general impression of Kings of Leon's already released music has been roughly the same as Pitchfork's review of their latest work. OK I'll just put it this way, I got nothing out of it and I thought it sounded like generic American rock, whatever that is. However, this new track is cool. It's ambitious and big and European. It's Euro Rock! Minus the Hasselhoof. Think Twilight Sad and ya I'll say it U2.

Since I'm covering big bands today apparently, I'll just say that the more I hear the new Killers song "Human," the more I like it. Its only downfall is that its too broadly appealing. How Horrible. I mean like, I could imagine this song being played on regular radio and TV and MTV and like in jesus, teenagers ipods, shit no doubt a kidsbop mix is already in the works.

Brandon Flowers with guitar (1973)

Human is new wave Enrique Iglesias. It's Enrique Iglesias for hipsters, college kids, tweens, hockey moms, Movie, TV, and Music music execs. It's Enrique Iglesias for Enrique Iglesias. The Killers are Enrique Iglesias with a better band. I'm not saying that's not good. I'm saying that's why everyone loves them. It's pretty music that you can listen to without feeling like you got caught masturbating to Sears catalogs by your grandparents.

One thing I think I can safely say now safely with some degree of safety, accuracy and precision is that the Killers are probably safely the best band of the last ten or so years and there's really probably no doubt that its a safe bet that there's no more critically and commerically successful band from the past decade, ya fuck you radiohead and coldplay, and other bands not worthy of capitalization.

I think the Killers are gonna wrap it up with this album. The critics and college kids may have loved In Rainbows, and dentists across the country are jamming to Viva La Vida, but the Killers are gonna come out of this ahead with another huge album.

The Killers - Human

Kings of Leon - Closer

P.S.

1. One day I'll get back to posting about bands you actually may not have heard of. But I feel like my views about some established bands have been sortof contrarian as of late, so I thought I'd share a few words.

OMG I love Robin Hood (and Lykke Li)

2. I stole (which means I didn't ask) the Killers link from Minneapolis Fucking Rocks which is a really good blog. Thanks! I also stole the Kings of Leon link from another blog I've never heard of.

Anyways, I don't really understand how a blog could get pissed at another blog for stealing it's link. It would be like if Robin Hood had a rival um...thief like, what if Little John started pinching a bit of booty from Robin Hood and redistributing it.

Ya, a blog getting upset about another blog stealing its links would be like Maid Marian getting upset at Little John for pinching Robin Hood's booty, which in case you're Sarah Palin, a nonnative-english speaker, or just not catching my drift is perfectly fine with me.

God I hate blogging

2008-09-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Well I failed, that's what I'm sharing first. I put together my first post in forever and somehow it didn't even get published. So here it is in brief:

1. Check out the Amadou et Mariam track, it's great!

Amadou et Mariam - Sabali

2. The new TV on the Radio album is terrible and sounds like bad Jamiroquai.

Fleet Foxes

2008-08-04T23:11:00.001-07:00

Fucking horrible. Seriously quit acknowledging this garbage.

Not Dead Yet, Passion Pit

2008-06-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ya I just wanted to check in from the other side. I'm not ready to start posting again in earnest just yet, but this song just made me remember how fricking cool and exciting new tracks are sometimes.

I don't even have time to make a proper link to get this song, but it shouldn't be too hard to follow the link.

Passion Pit - Sleepy Head

Sunset Rubdown

2007-08-13T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have been attempting to pirate the new Sunset Rubdown album for the last couple of weeks and the internerd has really let me down this time. So, Instead of posting music I'm going to just vent my frustration.

This frustration has two components, one of which is from not being able to get the music from my conventional spots er...Hype Machine blogs which really in the whole scheme of things isn't that much frustration - it's like a 2 out of 10, about the same level of frustration as say, having your roommate not refill the ice cube tray. The real frustration though is dealing with the realization that I'm not like a member of the cool blogging nerd community that shares all the secret songs and albums before they are released and that is like more of a 9 out of a 10 frustration. And if I haven't said it already a thousand times - my whole life revolves around three things: Getting air conditioning in to my mom's basement, avoiding debt collectors and stealing music before anyone or at least as soon as anyone else can.

So for anyone who hasn't encountered it before - here is the Frustration Scale:

1 - Trying to make a post on your dumb blog about a frustration scale and realizing your computer is too lame to even have any paint type program and thus having to utilize something that's really more like an ascending frustration list.

2 - The ice cube thing.

3 - Being barely above the height of the average girl and thus much less tall than the average girl model making it that much more difficult to score with the only chicks you care about scoring with.

4 - Leaving your atm card and driver's license at a bar that's like thirty minutes from anywhere where you normally would find yourself.

6 - Not being creative (drunk, high, bored) enough to come up with a number 5 on a frustration scale/ascending list.

7 - Trying to kill some warcraft dragon with a bunch of noobs and some guy from Finland. Seriously...more than a million downloads.

8 - Not being able to get more than $400 for the sex tape you made of your best friend and a girl that looks exactly like a Puerto Rican Lindsay Lohan.

9 - Having 500 words or more written on anything but a typewriter or cocktail napkin randomly deleted by the cybergods. And that whole not being intercool thing.

10 - Accidentally drowning your dog because you just wanted to see how far you could throw a frisbee in to the middle of a frozen lake.

Bon Iver

2007-08-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Whoa two singer songwriter posts in one week what the hell is going on. Well I wouldn't be posting unless the stuff really blew me away and god does it ever. Bon Iver is actually the project of a broken hearted lumber jack named Justin Vernon who locked himself inside a Wisconsin cabin this past winter and recorded this stuff himself. Vernon sings in a yearning falsetto and is generally only accompanied by an acoustic guitar though a few tracks have some horns added to excellent effect. The stuff is soulful and mournful which in his vernacular adds up to beautiful.

And O yes he did do a short set before the Land of Talk / Rosebuds show I was at earlier this year. As I recall, he did have some box set up that added some atmospherics to a very still room. He wasn't on the billing so I didn't really know who he was - there were only about 15 people in the room so the experience was very personal.

Bon Iver - For Emma.mp3
Bon Iver - Skinny Love.mp3

The album For Emma, Forever Ago is available here.

Pitchfork wha??

2007-08-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

I started making this post because I wanted to make a pun about how both DJ's and Doctor's are on residency and they're both uh smart and stuff but jesus christ it's just too lame for me to even figure out.

Anyway if you think you know something about music - you don't. This interview melted my mind though I'm sure the two of them were sitting there at their laptops or something looking up shit between each response. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. Either way the breadth of musical reference is pretty impressive.

Stars

2007-07-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to spend as much time with the new Stars album In the Bedroom After the War as I can lately. And therein lies the problem. Maybe I've changed, maybe they have. Maybe they've grown up faster than me but I feel as if I'm forcing myself to love this album.

Amy Milan's voice is as beautiful and probably more prominent here than ever. The album on a whole is just that - very pretty, but I can't find anything quite evocative about it. There is a pronounced lack of the vibrance or bravado I guess that was so evident in songs like "Set Yourself on Fire," and especially "Your Ex-lover is Dead." There is a definite step away from the sound of "Ageless Beauty," which was new and shoegazery for Stars in 2005 but there's nothing like that here. In the Bedroom After the War recalls biologically and sonically to the sound of Torquil Campbell's adult contemporary side project Memphis and the first Stars album Heart.

Nearly every song here is a ballad - if there's anything that Stars have never lacked, it's earnestness and this album bleeds it. And if you ever forget it - the strings that accent nearly every track will remind you - and if not nearly every track - then why does it feel that way? I know, Stars use strings frequently and have done so for a while but instead of being the featured voice like they have in the past, they seem to be a cloying Goo Goo Dollsish presence here - just a production effect - and I guess that's just a bit disappointing.

Probably my favorite song on the album is "My favorite book," which is introduced by a divine Amy Milan vocal - I mean seriously she sounds just as good as anyone acapella. It then proceeds into a jazzy Hall and Oatesy chorus full of island frills and Doo doo doo's which though totally out of character for Stars is actually a pretty interesting dynamic. There are interesting moments in other songs as well: "Life 2 The Unhappy Ending," features a short but well done venture in to electrodance and Torquil Campbell has his own Michael Jackson er...Justin Timberlake moment on "The Ghost of Geneva Heights."

None of the songs have quite the power though of past Stars efforts. Even the released track - "The Night Starts Here," isn't the jam I'm gonna start my night out with - of course unless it's Tuesday and "OMFG I have a BIG CLIENT to meet with at 8am tomorrow." No, it really only has one place and that's in your bedroom after like a really big fight or something and it's just fine that way but that's all.

My Favorite Book.mp3
The Night Starts Here.mp3

A.A. Bondy

2007-07-30T05:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not really usually a huge singer songwriter fan but there's something pretty incredible going on here with A.A. Bondy. The picking in "Black Rain" is beautiful. Imagine Zeppelin's "Going to California," without the multitracking.

The album exudes the folk timbre that M. Ward has done very succesfully. But on American Hearts, Bondy keeps the songs pretty minimalist - only his voice and the occasional harmonica to accompany the amazing guitar playing. Bondy's voice can sometimes sound a bit like Conor Oberst, but thankfully without all the drama - though I do know that he has played some shows with him.

American Hearts is out September 4th.

Black Rain, Black Rain.mp3

New Wes Anderson

2007-07-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well the Wes Anderson movie looks fantastic of course. Adrien Brody is playing surrogate for Luke Wilson but that seems to work just fine. I'll probably be watching this trailer about 40 more times between now and release (September 27th in NYC).

The songs in the trailer are from The Kinks. If you want to download them, go here: The Playlist.

Please Refrain From Purchasing the Hyperbole

2007-07-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is the first installment of a series I've always wanted to do. Basically bloggers like to talk on and on about how one or another artist is all great and then other bloggers start to think to themselves - "o well I better write something about this artist as well or I won't be interhip," and then you just end up in this quagmire of bloated talk about an artist who's music just isn't all that great but just happens to be the artist of the moment. E.g. Tapes n Tapes, Joanna Newsome. So this little feature is where I'll point out who those artists are and why you should maybe give a second thought to purchasing the hyperbole.

St. Vincent (Annie Hall) has eyes that are so big you'd think she was about to eat your grandmother. According to her press photos she also enjoys wearing garbage bags, pretending to be lost, and standing barefoot in puddles of water while holding giant metal rods towards darkening thunderclouds.

She actually plays the guitar pretty well but she sings like a fed up Mary Poppins. Probably the only tolerable song I have heard from her with the possible exception of a cover of "These Days," a song which I had previously thought to be unbutcherable is called "Now, Now." The song is accented by these precious little guitar harmonics and for four minutes Annie manages to channel her innate cuteness.

The rest of the songs sound as if they were recorded to soundtrack a musical where Woody Allen has imprisoned her in the dungeon of a transylvanian castle, lets her out for two days in Prague, and then forces her back into the dungeon to compose an album while Woody's neurosis gradually wins her over.

If you still want an mp3 from St. Vincent then I suggest you try the internet - they're giving em out for free everywhere.

Candy Bars

2007-07-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for an excuse to post about Tampa's amazing and totally underhyped band The Candy Bars since I started blogging. Well I just read on their MySpace that they finally booked their first shows in NYC and I couldn't be more excited for them. Since NYC is sorta my other hometown and since I'm hanging out in Sarasota (My other other hometown) this week I guess that gives me an excuse, right? I'm just a little disappointed that I'll miss them again as I'm leaving Florida soon and won't be in NYC for their show.

The Candy Bars hypnotic and charming release On Cutting Ti-Gers in Half and Understanding Narravation was easily one of my favorite albums of 2006. Start with a bit of Kevin Shields and Jesus and the Mary Chain, throw in a dash of Nine Inch Nails, yes fucking Nine Inch Nails, and top it off with mesmerizing Beach Boys quality melodies and you begin to understand what The Candy Bars are about. The effect is devastatingly good. Reverby electric guitars, distorted vocals, chamber pop arrangements - it's all there.

The Candy Bars - The Flood in Your Old Town.mp3

The Candy Bars - Violets

Tour Dates:

July 14th - Tampa - New World Brewery
July 28th - Brooklyn - Union Hall w/ Beni Hemm Hemm!!!
July 29th - NYC - Piano's

Windmill

2007-07-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well I just posted on Minus Story, the Uh...American version of Windmill. Apparently Windmill released a 7 song LP back in September of last year and now have a 12 song EP Puddle City Racing Lights available with a number of the same tracks. Anyhow, they've been getting a decent amount of blog love lately. They've got a big ambitious sound and I've heard a lot of Arcade Fire comparisons which is a reach - ya Windmill's sound is expansive in purpose but not realized the way that Arcade Fire is with their menagerie of sound. Comparison's to Minus Story and Florida's Radical Face are much more apt.

Windmill - Tokyo Moon.mp3

Windmill Myspace

Van She Tech

2007-07-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Holy crap I just banged my head through a fourteen foot ceiling. So far Feist's latest album The Reminder has really done nothing remarkable for me. Ya I thought it was nice and cute and fine to listen to and completely noncomplainable and then GWFA posts a remix of 1234 from Van She Tech and I lose my shit. Female vocals always seem to accent the best electronic and dance music but I've never really considered Feist to be an artist who could be translated well in to that genre. But it's fucking ONE TWO THREE FOUR - this song was just begging to be transformed into ceiling banging hotness and god this remix just does it for me.

Feist - 1234(Van She Tech Remix)

Edit: I just ran a credit report or a fact check or hired a private detective / unemployed blogger and it turns out that Van She Tech are actually the same guys in the band Van She - they've just been focused more on remixing these days. Anyhow I always enjoyed this song:

Van She - Kelly

Minus Story

2007-06-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in almost a week - what a slacker I am...Here's some new stuff from a band some people are claiming as a Lawrence band which of course although not completely true is better than not being claimed at all. As far as I'm concerned this is the best album with Lawrence ties I've heard this year.

Minus Story - Stitch Me Up.mp3

Band of Horses

2007-06-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

Band of Horses put out last year's album of the year for me Everything all the Time and is slated to release another LP October 3rd which of course I couldn't be more stoked about. In the meanwhile, they're touring Europe and have released a limited edition single of "The Funeral," which features a cover of The New Year's "The End's Not Near."

Band of Horses - The End's Not Near.mp3

My thanks to I Guess I'm Floating for turning me on to the new song and hosting the file.

Maccabees / Noisettes/ Bloc Party 6-11-7 @ Uptown Theatre

2007-06-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Bloc Party

I'm generally not one to get to concerts early but it was a good thing I did for this one because the Goonies er.... Maccabees hit the stage promptly at 7:30, ripped through their 10+ song set and were gone by 8pm which is still half an hour before I originally was planning on getting there. And no - they didn't get chased off the stage by the Fratelli's - but by another rocking brit band - The Noisette's.

Sean Astin and drummer Josh Brolin of the Maccabees, Sean Astin as Mikey in The Goonies:

The Maccabees - First Love.mp3
The Fratellis - Baby Fratelli.mp3

I don't really have enough good things to say about The Noisettes. Their music is just a little too rocking to find a regular place in my rotation but given the right situation, say scoring A.J. Soprano's BMW M3 in Sunday night's final episode of the Sopranos, The Noisettes' energy can be very compelling.

The Noisettes - Scratch Your Name.mp3

Just before Bloc Party took the stage, two fratster's! rudely came shoving through the crowd and parked directly in front of my friend and I. As my friend cocked his right fist back ready to serve a proper brit style hooligan beatdown, the offenders turned around and like the well-groomed English gents they actually were, explained that they had come from Liverpool and were following Bloc Party around the states...15th show or something...also did this for Kasabian...Muse...They hate Keane...blah blah tea, crumpets...

We told them we were from Lawrence and they mentioned they were big fans of The New Amsterdams so all controversy was averted. As Bloc Party took the stage, I wished them well and in the traditional British style of greeting, they heaved their half empty 10$ beers at the stage. The British fratsters then gathered up their groupies' groupies and moved forward. In the end, I was glad to be standing behind them.

Bloc Party played a good set - heavy on Silent Alarm. The crowd went pretty ape shit over "Banquet," and their first set closer "Like Eating Glass." I was a little disappointed over their performance of "The Prayer," which I really expected to be a banger live but it didn't deliver.

Brooklyn Vegan

2007-06-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Epic Thread -

My favorite post is 12:34pm - "I'd like to nominate June 13 as Official International Cockpunch A Scalper Day. You're never going to guess how it's celebrated."

The Teenagers

2007-06-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

It's early, but this summer needs some party music and The Teenagers "Homecoming" is my early nomination as the summer banger. The remixes have started to flow in but this jam has some serious staying power. At first I thought the lyrics were being read straight out of Bret Easton Ellis' The Informers. I won't be copying them here not because of their uh...interesting use of the English language but because it's so much more awesome if you just hear it.

The Teenagers - Homecoming.mp3

Land of Talk / Rosebuds 6-4-7

2007-06-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

I promise I'll get back to finishing my first 5/12ths review but for now I'd just like to share some photos from Monday's Land of Talk/Rosebuds show at the Jackpot in Lawrence.

Elizabeth Powell, the daughter of North America's first female alligator wrestler offered to sell us her sweaty stage worn official Land of Talk t-shirt for $2 off the list price. I didn't ask if that was US or Canadian. I think I was afraid to. Anyway - she performed barefooted in some awesome red sweatpants and proceeded to get hammered with the rest of us while we all jammed to The Rosebuds. Elizabeth was pretty cool with the crowd - very down to earth and the whole band seemed to be enjoying themselves. Her vocal performance was pretty much pitch perfect and in a word - tender, a friend of mine actually thought that her voice sounded like the lead singer of The Cardigans, which after I thought about it, I had trouble disagreeing.

Land of Talk - Street Wheels.mp3

I heard some of the females commenting on the alleged hotness of Land of Talk's drummer so this one's for the ladies .

The Rosebuds put on a solid polished show. They dedicated "Get Up Get Out" to the internet and for good reason. I'm sure I wouldn't have been at the show if it weren't for the net. They played a pretty damn long set and it was 1am before they moved in to the crowd for an acoustic jam session and sing along which I think everyone who was there will remember.

The Rosebuds - Get up Get out.mp3

The Rosebuds storm the crowd:

The Rosebuds:

Land of Talk jamming (and getting dizzy) to the Rosebuds acoustic in crowd set.

Best of 2007

2007-05-31T09:15:00.000-07:00

Well since I wasn’t around for the first 5/12ths of 2007 – I’m gonna post on some of the best releases this year. This will be a several piece post as I probably won’t do as much reviewing in the future as I do here, but I’d just like to give people a sense of what I’m in to. So here it is, the best of the first 41.67% of 2007.

Pela – Anytown Graffiti / The Twilight Sad – Fourteen Autumns Fifteen Winters

Pela is something special. Lead Vocalist Billy McCarthy sings with passion and melancholy - as if he’s a prisoner being wrongly held captive in a towering spire high above some medieval village – his punishment to sing hymns to the townsfolk – though his release is never assured. In "Waiting on the Stairs," he begs his innocence then demands recognition. Come sit next to me cause I am not your enemy / Come admit it to me that I have become your enemy. The music is emotional though not “emo,” or the least bit treacly – there’s no doubt it’s rock – or indie rock at least.

Pela - Waiting on the Stairs.mp3

Across the pond, The Twilight Sad operate through a similar vein - in rich post-rock verses that take you through tunnels of sound which at the end, open up to distinctive and again, prominent vocals. James Graham of TTS’s thick Scottish brogue transcends the band from being an extraordinary experimental/rock outfit in to a pure genre bridging powerful melodic indie pop rock sound.

The Twilight Sad - Cold Days From the Birdhouse.mp3

Blonde Redhead – 23

For me Blonde Redhead has always existed somewhere on the fringe of my musical milieu – that is I was barely aware of them and heard them compared to Sonic Youth – a band I am not really in to – and basically dismissed them, something that was obviously a mistake. In fact I played soccer with Amadeo (Center) in Battery Park City for three years without even knowing he was in the band. On 23, BRH’s musical sound is lush, especially for a three person band. Although typically guitar driven in a My Bloody Valentine way – they infuse their sound with a liberal amount of synthesizer that is used constructively both as lead and to pulse midtempo behind Kazu’s ethereal vocals. BRH has encouraged users to remix “Signs Along the Path,” a bonus track from the album (and one of my favorites). The track has both the magical nebulous quality that I could imagine being picked up as the backing for Oakenfold and the persistence that could complement a thick driving bassline by a group such as RAC.

Blonde Redhead - Signs Along the Path.mp3

Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City / Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank/ Arcade Fire – Neon Bible/ The Shins – Wincing the Night Away

Just like most critics this year, I’m not giving these bands the justice they deserve for the quality of their 2007 releases. With 2004's Funeral, the Arcade Fire ripped a gigantic dimensional hole through what indie music could be and fused so many musical elements (from Bowie and Baroque to U2, Folk and Springsteen) in to a zeitgeist producing sound. So much so that fans have soaked their sister’s jeans jonesing to see them in action again. The Arcade Fire never fully supported Funeral with a tour of the scale that they could have and that in hindsight it deserved. But they are doing it this Spring and Summer for Neon Bible and that, their Arcade Fireness, their Funeralness, is what has fueled the frenzy following them wherever they have gone the past few months. Musically, Neon Bible is a fine album – which is why I’m including it. It has the Arcade Fire sound, but it’s impossible to follow up a once in a generation album. If anything, the anthemic “Intervention,” will be best remembered from this album. It’s the most accessible and most concert friendly. Regine’s vocals are sorely missed from Neon Bible and though Win Butler's voice is more mature, it’s less winsome and somehow that’s less good.

The Arcade Fire - Intervention.mp3

Bloc Party’s first full length album, Silent Alarm (2005) was one of the most danceable pop album’s in recent memory. It was my preparty soundtrack for the better part of a year. “Banquet” was just immeasurably catchy and jammable. Songs like “So Here We Are” and “Like Eating Glass” just got me going in a frolicky how-great-is-this-night-going-to-be sort of way. 2007’s A Weekend in the City is still fun and danceable, only this time, instead of cavorting recklessly through the city night – this time everything is less hazy, and you’re with your girlfriend. A totally different quality of partying in type ne measure. With the notable exception of “The Prayer,” which takes a driving stentorian bass line accompanied by an almost chanted verse into a chorus that is as brilliant and hooky as any of BP’s work - Kele sings “Tonight make me unstoppable/ and I will charm/ I will slice/ I will dazzle them with my wit,” – A Weekend in the City is a much cleaner album. Though that is not to say the remixers have not been busy working with the Bloc Party template, the impeccable production is a Bloc Party trademark. Sebastian takes one of the ordinary girlfriendy cuddly tracks “I Still Remember,” and drops the roof in on it and transforms it in to a fantastic ass-shaker.

Bloc Party - The Prayer.mp3

Bloc Party -I still Remember(Sebastian Remix).mp3

The first recording I heard of Modest Mouse’s “Dashboard” – the immensely fun first single off We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank was a rip from a November performance at Avalon. I was totally stoked. It reminded me of a moment I had at Hiro Ballroom I’m guessing around 2004 when the DJ threw on “Take Me Out” from Franz Ferdinand and the whole place went as nuts as a place like Hiro can go. I thought Dashboard had that kind of a potential and if “Dashboard” was on Good News For People Who Like Bad News, it probably would have been even more of a critical success. Anyway – let me be the one to say that I’ll be happily jamming out to Dashboard all summer.

Modest Mouse - Dashboard (Live at Avalon).mp3

The Shins are probably the least disagreeable indie rock band going. They are also the indie rock band you're most likely to hear in your dentist's office, Anderson Cooper's Ipod, and on your parent's satellite radio station of choice. None of this however changes the fact that their latest album Wincing the Night Away fucking rocks. It's their best album to date. Building on a pop sensibility only rivaled by Death Cab for Cutie, this time The Shins blend layers of electronic atmospherics to melodies that are even more interesting than the ones that Zach Braff said would change our lives.

"Sleeping Lessons" gets the album going and evolves into this foot stomping nascent anthem before suddenly fading away. The song could have jettisoned any other band from obscurity to pop stardom by simply adding a second verse, yet The Shins seem to be so full of quality song components, i.e. they seem satisfied having conjured enough elements into one track that although catchy, the musical elements aren't repeated in Warholesque pop. With "Sleeping Lessons," as soon as the jam gets going, they let it go at just under four minutes - right on time for radio but too sparse to be a hit. Nevertheless it's worth a listen just for the build.

The Shins - Sleeping Lessons.mp3

Still to Come:

Mircale Fortress

Radical Face

Patrick Wolf

The Airfields

The Rosebuds

Eagle*Seagull

Narrator

Mice Parade

Panda Bear

The National

Winterkids

All Smiles

IT'S ALIIIIIIIIVE!

2007-05-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again - weddings, rain, baseball, graduations, and BLOGGING! This of course is my first post ever and I'll spare the bloggish self-examination for another time because now is the time to celebrate the fact that I was actually able to figure out how to do all the nerdy stuff that is associated with creating a blog in under three hours and I just want to get some content out there to the world! For those of you scoring at home, the first three sentences of this blog ended with an exclamation mark! So, here it is - your standard blogger faire - a picture and a song. Thanks go out to Said the Gramophone - the first music blog I ever read for posting this song.

Yeasayer - 2080.mp3

Yeasayer Myspace