"President Obama!" What an amazing day this is. Somewhere I picture John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, Martin Luther King, and another ground-breaking President from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, cheering because the ideals that they lived and died for have brought us to this incredible day. "America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do." This is just the start. It will take a lot of work and faith and dedication to heal this broken nation and make it a place we can [...]
Okay, back to the music. Let's begin with a record I've been sitting on for almost a year Liberation by Austin's AM Syndicate . I put it in the "to review" stack last December, when it was brand new, and have just kept pushing it back. Until now. First things first, as much as I like the record, there is a reason why it's taken me this long to talk about it. Namely: it's a nice album, but it lacks a certain oomph, never really developing its influences in any meaningful [...]
Rufus the music-loving hound This July 4th weekend I was spending time helping my new dog, Rufus, a 5 month old pitbull/boxer mix avoid being terrorized by firework explosions. He was abandoned to the streets before I took him in so he's very skittish to say the least. So while he hid under the table at [...]
No longer can the seventies come back to haunt us. KD AM Syndicate - To The Peasants Of The Emperor More Info: Official Buy Songs: AM Syndicate Year: 2007
We really enjoyed March this time around and the pace seems to be picking up moving on into April. Included in the list before are a few groups we didn't especially post about, but we thought were interesting. These New Puritans are probably the zaniest of all, but really piqued my ears. Tyler Ramsey was another one we saw open up at the Band of Horses concert at the beginning of this year , but haven't been able to pull away from just yet. We also recommend checking out [...]
Some songs just hit you square between the ears immediately and 'All The People Under The Sun' is one of them (it reminded me of how I felt when I heard 'The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth' for the first time). Boasting an Arcade Fire-esque sense of adventure and all the emotions that those journeys entail it should be your gateway to discovering this fine act. The song is taken from AM
I'm finally coming out from saturating myself in the blissful best of 2007 enough to face the stack of new music and bands that has been steadily piling up since mid-December. I generally put everything in a folder on my MP3 player and then see what jumps out. The songs that stood out right away were by the Austin three-piece AM Syndicate , who released their second full-length album Liberation , the follow-up to 2006's Empire , just before Christmas. The group is made up of guitarist/vocalist Omar Chavez, drummer Vincent Durcan, "percussionista [...]
For all its acknowledged impressiveness, AM Syndicate's 2006 debut, Empire , was hampered by the sheer scope of their ambitious sound, sweeping up everything in a gorgeous wave that seemed to break before it was fully and coherently realized on the shore. Its parts were bigger than its whole, and those parts were huge, but lacking a solid direction over the course of the album that ultimately quelled its effect. Liberation delivers where Empire faltered, however, and the sophomore effort from group, emerging as a septet for the recording, manages to accomplish more by seemingly [...]
AM Syndicate / Liberation ( Novastar ) Maybe it's because I've recently gotten a copy of The Comforts Of Madness from eMusic but this, the second album from AM Syndicate, really reminds me of the Pale Saints. Like that English outfit, the Austin-based trio produce a brand of distractedly anthemic dreampop that's neither overly guitar-heavy or noisy, nor especially hazy or ambient. Instead, their songs are crystalline-sounding but with their lattices slightly skewed - not so much as to compromise [...]
Reminiscent to a distortionless My Bloody Valentine, Austin's AM Syndicate delivers a chorus of pop-conscious rock songs while lead singer Omar Chavez's drifting vocals continually distance the band's sound, finding a patch of sound unto itself. No more evident is this than on the band's "To the Peasants of the Emperor," one of the many airy songs currently featured on the band's MySpace page. But deeper, and slightly uncharacteristic of the band's makeup is that of "My Neighbor the Sleepwalker." Emphasis is often taken away from percussion and in this track drummer Vince Dercan delivers something closer [...]
I think I saw the best acting performance of my life the other day. It was by a Mr. Philip Seymour Hoffman , who plays Gust Avrakotos a C.I.A. op. If you`ve seen the film then you know what scene I`m talking about...(the one where he breaks the Glass) Mr. Hoffman was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Supporting Role...which he better win... A New Years Aftermath! (You may notice an increase in Photo`s at this website, I got [...]
I haven't done much with my former stomping grounds lately, so I thought it would be a good time to catch up with the latest news from Austin. My friends The Drawing Board have a new song up on their Myspace page. Stick Around is a haunting piano ballad with a definite Rufus Wainwright vibe. Hoepfully more will be coming soon. Check it out and buy their album, Clear to The Far Side of Way Over Yonder and read my review [...]
The family that plays together. . . When I have to be brief I'm never sure whether to apologize or say, "You're welcome," but it's post and run this time, or rather, crawl to sleep. We open with a nice couple (pic) and take it from there. Shalini - White Widow mp3 Mitch Easter - I Want a New Scene mp3 Marmalade Souls It Won't Be Too Long mp3 Fall Into the Sky mp3 AM Syndicate - The Neighbor
Cottontop speaka dey language. Just trying to make a little convo here while you check out the tunes. So how was your day? Good, good. Mine? Oh, f-. . .right, laters. AM Syndicate - All the People Under the Sun mp3Nada Surf - See These Bones mp3 Robert Pollard - The Killers mp3 - He's a self-aware genius.Five O'Clock Heroes - White Girls - Sometimes they use "The" and sometimes they don't.
This one just has a great vibe. I usually hate words like that - "vibe," "groove," etc. - but I'm not sure there's any other word for it. The organs, the hi-hats, the vocals... it's organized chaos at its best. AM Syndicate - All The People Under The Sun. AM Syndicate are based in Austin, on the Austin-based label Nova Star Records. This song comes from their album Liberation, out on Nov. 13. The band has three members - drummer Vince Durcan, singer/guitarist Omar Chavez, percussionist/keyboardist Golfball (!) - and their record is what you'd expect, based on this track....
from Vitriol Promotion : "Austin, TX natives AM Syndicate formed in the spring of 2004 when Omar Chavez, Vince Durcan, and Golfball got together to create their own brand of jangle-y, cavernous indie-pop. Liberation , out November 13 on Novastar Records, is AM Syndicate's second full length album. Erik Wofford recorded and produced the album (who also recorded Voxtrot, The Black Angles and Explosions in the Sky). Although the band has modern influences like Blonde Redhead and Neutral Milk Hotel, they do not betray their roots and draw in aspects of Simon and [...]
Starting out, I was based in the live music capital of the world, Austin, Texas. There is a band worth checking out every night, from the big names playing Emo's or Stubb's to the locals cutting their teeth at The Parish or Mohawk. Here are some the best that I had to pleasure to notice. Most people know Spoon and Voxtrot . They are the darlings of the Austin indie scene. Instrumental sensations Explosions in the Sky are opening for Smashing Pumpkins. Okkervil River [...]
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