I actually haven't heard anything about Blue-Eyed Son in so long that I can't even remember the last time I busted out their old record, but I'm glad the group is back in the fold. They've got a new five song EP titled Shadows on the Son that will be heading your way on May 28th courtesy of Eenie Meenie Records . It's weird, but every time I listen to the group, I think back to the innocent days of Beulah , [...]
Randolph's Leap are a Glasgow band overflowing with pop hooks and the kind of blighted brilliance on which Scotland has an effective monopoly. On "Hermit", lead track from their EP of the same name, the band sounds intensely like British stab at the horn-soaked pop that Beulah made deservedly famous in the previous decade. Think Stornoway with a bit more punch and a relentless pursuit of a chorus that twirls under its own melodrama. It is, like so much of this type of pop, about being lost and alone. Belle and Sebastian [...]
Last night I had the great privilege of watching Swan Fungus super-friend William Fowler Collins perform at Human Resources in Chinatown here in LA. He was joined on stage by Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom, Lotus Eaters, et. al.). The duo gave me the best non-pharmaceutically-aided opiate rush I've felt in a while. Tomorrow [...]
Like many of you, I've been spending a lot of time today digging into Pitchfork's People's List and, while I think the 27,000+ voters got lots of stuff right, there was also plenty of albums I thought were criminally overlooked. So I turned those harbored resentments into a list (because that's just what bloggers do, right?). So, these are my picks of the albums from 1996-2011 that were robbed of their deserved People's List glory by the 88% male, urbanites that voted in this thing. I limited myself to one album per artist (otherwise you'd be getting a [...]
I haven't had much time of late to write. The house project of repainting walls, painting trim, pulling up carpets, and laying down bamboo has absolutely dominated my time. That and working on my BMW, which in the past few weeks has received a full tune-up (with exception of replacing points and cleaning the carb). I'm hoping that come mid-week, I'll be back in my normal post routine. As time has been limited, I thought "Desert Island Picks" would be a good topic for the week. Unfortunately, I left off [...]
Mixtape: Twenty Years of Noise Pop (Podcast #269) In February, the Noise Pop Music Festival turns twenty by gathering over one hundred local and touring bands from across the indie spectrum for a week of exciting concerts all over the City. Two decades of championing independent music is an accomplishment worth celebrating, and this mixtape collects twenty bands that have performed at Noise Pop events in years past. As you'll hear, a whole bunch of big names graced Noise Pop bills before achieving fame, as past festivals [...]
Often I am reminded there is a fine line between satire and insensitivity. Sometimes a friend will nudge me, and sometimes I'll be spoken to in stern tones. Like a child who has knowingly committed a misdeed. Actually it is my mother who usually takes me to task for striving to pass off such exaggerated [...]
Oh hi, guys. I didn't hear you come in. Thanks for stopping by. So…I drank a lot last night. Like, A LOT a lot. And oh boy did I ever make an ass out of myself. It's almost as if when I drink now I convince myself that I'm creating a social performance art piece [...]
Celebrating (roughly) four-and-one-half years of Sunday Mix Tapes. I'm back from India. I'm trying to pretend I'm not jet-lagged but after sleeping five hours on the plane I came home from the airport (at 7am) and slept until noon. Then I woke up and ran 20 miles (which sucked!). Then I went out drinking. I [...]
This post might come off to you as super depressing and/or super sentimental, so I apologize and/or you're welcome. There have been many bands who've come and gone without much notice, but then there were those bands that announced their break up and you weeped for a few days straight with their best album on repeat (No? Just me? Oh...). You know this is an ominous fact that's bound to happen to most of your favorite bands (unless they're from the 60s/70s; the drugs were different then). It's something that we all must accept and savor while we [...]
Sunsettes are a Tampa-based duo specializing in funk-tinged indie-rock. Comprised of Nathan Kozyra and Michael Schlein, Sunsettes quietly released their debut Coup de Grace last December. Their compositions are frequently led by acoustics and keys, with Kozyra assuming a vocal delivery incorporating both stream-of-conscious narratives and straightforward romantic metaphors. Although the instrumental arsenal is mainly [...]
Oh, The Frisky. It's been far too long since I've glanced at your website. I can't imagine what I've been missing. No doubt there have been scores of articles penned on such hard-hitting topics as kitty cats and sexy celebrities you'll never meet! What's that you say? You've instituted a regular feature that details what [...]
I had a feeling that sending my initial inquiry to Beulah’s e-mail account with the subject: “an inquiry (from a male fan!)” would not yield desirable results. Considering the amount of null responses I received at the front-end of my trip, I was pleasantly surprised by the band’s cooperation. I anticipated a sit-down with Miles [...]
One cold New York City night in January 2009, I found myself in the back room of the Bowery Poetry Club, encircled by the typical PBR-wielding twenty-somethings and some of the most magical music I’ve ever encountered. By wandering in to find shelter from the shivering chill, I had unknowingly stumbled upon the EP release [...]
Miles Kurosky solo at SXSW 2010 / photo by David Greenwald ( Editor's note: This post originally appeared in May 2007. MP3 links have been updated .) Radio sessions are the best. You get a quality recording and the band tends to do things acoustic and quieter. This particular session is not acoustic and quieter - in fact, it's noisier than some of the album versions of some these tracks. This is great The Coast is Never Clear- era material with Beulah in fine form. For the uninitiated: The [...]
Happy Friday to ya, my friends!!! Man oh man have I been a busy little beaver lately. Work has been, well, work and nuttier than ever, but that's work and who wants to talk about that? Not I said the fly! Now, sure, we got you a badass mixtape to finish off the week all proper style... How's THAT for a teaser? But, before we get to that, let's talk about the other busys keep us busy. First up? [...]
Sometimes my mp3 player picks some really shitty playlists for me. Occasionally it will play back to back songs by the same artist, or just shit that I don't want to listen to. Every once in a while though it produces a perfect mix for my mood. My music device and I are in sync and I anticipate each track hoping the flow of awesomeness will continue. My ride home from a friends house the other night on 1-23-11 was one of those occurrences. The ride home lasted [...]
DOWNLOAD MP3: Backwords - "Better Off Alone" Backwords are a folkadelic rock band out of Brooklyn that successfully spread their infectious pop sound all over their most recent album Quilt, which they self-released last September. This quirky fresh track entitled "Better Off Alone" features ramshackle power chords and vocal trade-offs between singer Brian Russ and a female guest vocalist. Its sound fits somewhere between the slightly off kilter approach of a band like Beulah and The Moldy Peaches, while remaining playfully pessimistic towards love. Oh, and did I mention there's an [...]
Click image to download full album Sounds like: T. Rex, Girls, Beaulah "Smith Westerns - Still New" What's so good? Mark my words, Smith Westerns' Dye It Blonde WILL make numerous 2011 "Best Of" lists. How can it not?! This is as fresh as fresh gets. This Chicago-based band is taking the garage rock scene by storm; their sophomore album hasn't even hit the market yet (but will on January 18) and yet these guys are already [...]
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