2009 is the year where I rekindled my love for music blogging . It's also the first time in years where I actually wrote about music without an attachment to salary or advertising/revenue expectations. B logging is supposed to be enjoyable, and it is, again. If there's music I'm going to post it's because I love it, or at least really like it enough to share with my friends and readers. If there's a show I'm attending it's because I want to be there, not because I have to be there. [...]
I just learned that Bill Doss of Olivia Tremor Control was found dead yesterday. So sad. I really loved that band. No cause of death has been released yet. Check out "I Have Been Floated" from their classic Black Foliage LP.
Great drug songs are a lot like drugs themselves: there's usually more than enough to go around and to suit everyone's tastes. Reasoning that one good toke/drag/injection/ingestion deserves
Oh folks. There are good times to be had, and I am making damned sure that I have each and every one. Last night was no exception. After finishing off the last of my Oinkster burger I took a quick disco nap and then headed over to West Hollywood to party with some friends. Unspeakable [...]
Heather McIntosh appeared here only last week and Circulatory System is another of the bands she and assorted Elephant 6 members have contributed to. This time Will Cullen Hart (best known for Olivia Tremor Control) is the conductor and his bag appears to be of the psychedelic kind. You can tell as much by listening to 'Round Again' from his 2009 album 'Signal Morning'. There's more than a hint of the fab four (Beatles/Monkees, you decide) about this even when it takes off on an unexpected but rewarding meander in the second half. Up to point it is an [...]
[Photos courtesy of EardrumNYC ] The Elephant 6 Collective is a unique force in modern American music, a merry band of collaborators whose psychedelic, Beatles-inspired songs continue to resonate with indie aficionados across the globe. If you aren't up for seeing more than 10 bands in one place at one time, you should skip the E6 Holiday Surprise extravaganzas, because over their usual three sets in a given night, they will illuminate and educate you, as well as wear down the unready. This gig at the Knitting Factory was night one of three here in [...]
Dec 7, 2010, 5:54pm
MBV
Ground Control So maybe some of you heard that Jeff Mangum, that guy who used to be in that one band, played a surprise show of Neutral Milk Hotel tunes to a Brooklyn crowd of about 75 this past weekend ( MP3s or it didn't happen ). And while that's a pretty cool thing in and of itself, not to mention giving those in attendance bragging rights in certain circles for the rest of their lives, that it happened just before word that the Elephant 6 collective of which the Neutral [...]
Ground Control So maybe some of you heard that Jeff Mangum, that guy who used to be in that one band, played a surprise show of Neutral Milk Hotel tunes to a Brooklyn crowd of about 75 this past weekend ( MP3s or it didn't happen ). And while that's a pretty cool thing in and of itself, not to mention giving those in attendance bragging rights in certain circles for the rest of their lives, that it happened just before word that the Elephant 6 collective of which the Neutral [...]
Of Montreal's tenth album is their most accessible yet, offering a meshing of cohesiveness and ambition that coincides with the band's idiosyncratic sound. Kevin Barnes' lyrical variation of humor and serious infliction aid an album that is emotionally demanding, humorously witty, and melodically superb. With help from Jon Brion, it is their best produced and most organic-sounding effort yet.
Circulatory System - Woodpecker Greeting Worker Ant Nonsense Version Woody Woodpecker--the primal, manic Woody--wages a war on a pair of mockingbirds (this is not a canonical episode, btw.). They've been stealing and hoarding his food. What can he do? He knows two cold facts about mockingbirds. They love imitating owls because it lends them a bit more gravitas. And they hate the sound of distorted drums. So he blasts this song, US vs. Noriega-style, day and night, until the mockingbirds, deafened, irritated, bewildered into incoherence, come stumbling out of their [...]
By Matt Jarrard Formerly of Athens GA, Great Lakes now reside in Brooklyn and have given us a taste of their October 12th release. Great Lakes is Ben Crum (Ladybug Transistor) and lyricist Dan Donahue, with multi-instrumentalist Jamey Huggins (Of Montreal), the sound of the this first single gives an indication of a departure from [...]
It took us a few days to recover from the festival and the whole trip. So if anyone still cares, here's our report. Oh and sorry for our amateur photos, but after this we really don't think it's such a big deal. DAY ONE: Hunting for Hipsters After a couple of days of walking around Barcelona and checking out its night life, we came to the festival dead tired. Walked through a couple of shows and sat around watching hipsters. I've never seen so many in [...]
Mission of Burma, The Wedding Present, Apples in Stereo amongst headliners for this year's shindig
Our next series of q and also a comes from the duo of James and Brett from experimental gameboyDS noise outfit Endless Endless Endless . q: What is the last song you (really) heard? j: I have been going through a big Arvo Pärt phase right now and I'm loving his stuff, the only problem is the huge changes in decibels don't work so well when i am on the train. I like the music to be louder then the talking of other people so when the [...]
Atlas Sound, Black Lips, Circulatory System and Nana Grizol are going to Barcelona
Lineup has yet to be announced, but it could include you
Circulatory System is back. Almost a decade after their eponymous debut, Will Cullen Hart and co. released “Signal Morning” , which still has the same lo-fi psychedelic style that Olivia Tremor Control and the rest of Elephant 6 has pretty much trademarked. This album is epic and needs to be heard. Sounds like : 60's psych | Olivia Tremor Control | Elephant 6 Circulatory System : ( Cloud Recordings ) circulatory system signal morning
Periodically, an exciting release slips past the entire Citizen Dick staff, resulting in much sheepishness and humility at our home office. Most recently, we missed the boat on November's debut release from Lexington, Kentucky's Thee American Revolution. This was a total ball-drop on our part. I mean, it isn't like there is a shortage of hooks around which we could have framed our initial coverage. For example, we could have called attention to the veritable super-group nature of the band, which features Robert Schneider (frontman of The Apples in stereo and famed producer of both Neutral Milk Hotel albums), Otto [...]
I'm not completely happy with this list. I've been agonizing over it for about a month now, and no matter how I work it, it doesn't seem to come out right. I listened to about 250 albums this year, a paltry percentage of the number of total releases. Even out of those, I only listened to maybe 40 of them multiple times. I believe in order to really understand an album, you have to listen to it upwards of 30 times, and you can only have so many albums like that in your life at one time. Making a list [...]
SURFING ON STEAM
the bomarr blog
City Pages - Gimme Noise
Swan Fungus
mp3hugger
nyctaper
Chromewaves
Obscure Sound
Molars
Atlanta's A-List
NO CONCLUSION
Crib Notes
GIMME TINNITUS
melophobe
Citizen Dick
The New York Rockmarket
An Aquarium Drunkard
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Better Days
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
Pure Bathing Culture
