It was a bountiful year for finding good new bands. Rather than doing a traditional top 10 or 20 songs of the year, I'm going to devote at least a couple of posts this week to tracks that made my playlists. For this first post, I'll focus on bands I discovered for the first time in 2009. Portugal. The Man made a great retro-sounding song in People Say . I like almost everything the Builders and the Butchers put out (same goes for the Pains of Being Pure at Heart). Girls , The [...]
Since releasing the fantastic Get Young last year the guys in Pretty & Nice have spent a good chunk of 2009 on the road, opening up for acts like The Thermals and building up their following. We haven't been able to chat with them about what they're planning to follow Get Young up with, but we're sure these guys are probably getting ready to do something to that extent. The guys combined to submit two pretty sweet lists, the first is a compilation of "Under-Appreciated Acts" they hope to turn [...]
Dec 15, 2009, 9:03pm
Fmly
emperor x - a violent translation of the concordia headscarp emperor x - falklands/malvinas The rest of his stuff is over at emperorx.net - DO IT!
!["Stealing Christmas" by Eric Alexandrakis [Song Cycle #15 / X-mas Audio #2]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/2194035_lg.jpg)
Eric Alexandrakis is one of my favorite music-journalist stories. I reviewed his I.V. Catatonia , an album about the rigors of chemotherapy, waaaaay back in 2002, when I was still a journalism student at WSU and harbored dreams of someday working for Spin (at this point I was also much more innocent; it was before I became Editor in Chief at WSU's school paper and went through HELL with no advisor). I.V. Catatonia was an out-of-nowhere surprise just weird enough to catch my fickle attention, as I [...]
Nov 30, 2009, 12:48pm
MBV
Ian Hill Emperor X - "Right to the Rails" I didn't see the point of an older brother. He never gave a shit about me. He was in his room, or lying on the carpet in front of the TV with a journal. He bought an expensive camera and took photos of girls on our front lawn. Once he got in a fight at the parking lot of the Sobey's. He called me "Matt", even though I liked being called "Matthew". I remember he walked out [...]
Emperor X - "Right to the Rails" . I didn't see the point of an older brother. He never gave a shit about me. He was in his room, or lying on the carpet in front of the TV with a journal. He bought an expensive camera and took photos of girls on our front lawn. Once he got in a fight at the parking lot of the Sobey's. He called me "Matt", even though I liked being called "Matthew". I remember he walked out of the room when I was practicing my speech in seventh grade, the one about [...]
![Album review: The Unit Breed - Always Distance the Lonely - Idiomism Records [release date: Sept. 9, 2009]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/1888509_lg.jpg)
There are certain things a musician can do to get my attention. One of the best ways is to toil in the underground for years with little fanfare or outside notice, then release a record at the height of your powers and send it to me. Another method is to create a SHIT-LOAD of amazing art (Stephen Spera did this, for example, and I showered him with grateful critic spunk ) along with your music, then hit me up when the two truly intersect. [...]
This past week has been exceptionally bonkers. First, there was the gigantic shitstorm kicked up by the Crocodiles' appearance at the Firebird on Wednesday night. Riding in on a wave of moderately not-negative buzz, the San Diego two-piece coifed their carefully crafted Lou Reed circa 1967 look, flicked on their drum machine for approximately 13 [...]
The local record-release season is starting to heat up along with the weather. First up is Heroes of the Kingdom, which recently unleashed its debut album, HOTK, online. You can purchase it here -- an... Continue reading "Heroes of the Kingdom, Emperor X Post New Albums Online" >
Thanks to See What You Hear , I just received word that Emperor X (Chad Matheny) has a new album, A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp , up on his website for free download! This is the same Emperor X who made one of my favorite songs ever in "Raytrancer". It's a bit unusual at first if you're not used to Matheny's abrasive voice, but once you listen more, the poppy twang really works its way through your skin and creates a sensationally catchy sound. Give it a chance, you won't be disappointed. [...]
Thanks to See What You Hear , I received word that Emperor X (Chad Matheny) has his new (January 12) album, The Blythe Archives Volume 2 , up on his website for free download. This is the same Emperor X who made one of my favorite songs ever in "Raytrancer". It's a bit unusual at first if you're not used to Matheny's abrasive voice, but once you listen more, the poppy twang really works its way through your skin and creates a sensationally catchy sound. Give it a chance, you won't be disappointed. Emperor [...]
Emperor X - A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp Free music! Racing pop songs sprung from the prolific creativity of a science teacher and reigned in by the touch of some experimental digitisation. This is Chad Matheny, whose collected works (including Blythe Archives Vol II, from which the above track is taken) can be downloaded at his official site . Photo by Sweet J (away) , licensed under Creative Commons Posted in Song of the Day Tagged: A Violent Translation [...]
Mar 12, 2009, 4:47pm MBV
Meghan Dahn Three songs because Said the Gramophone is a sampler of really good songs , and all of these songs are really good . MP3: Emperor X - "Spieltier" MP3: Emperor X - "A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp" MP3: Emperor X - "Go-Captain and Pinlighter" Another wonder and marvel, releasing music for free . Jacksonville, FL's Emperor X exist on the same (very [...]
Three songs because Said the Gramophone is a sampler of really good songs , and all of these songs are really good . Emperor X - "Spieltier" . Emperor X - "A Violent Translation of the Concordia Headscarp" . Emperor X - "Go-Captain and Pinlighter" . Another wonder and marvel, releasing music for free . Jacksonville, FL's Emperor X exist on the same (very vital, very 2009) spectrum as Francois Virot - at one pole there are the looping whirling chants of Animal Collective, at the other the [...]
By Thursday night, I had been working and moving non-stop since 4:30am and under normal circumstances, I would not be venturing out at 10pm to do anything. But Emperor X 's first Toronto appearance does not fall under the category of "normal circumstances." So, although I was not able to fulfill my intended desire to stick around and see the incredible The Robot Ate Me close off the night, I did get to thoroughly enjoy Chad Matheny's altar ego. I am of the opinion that Florida's Emperor X is [...]
Indem ich heute nichts sage, sondern nur links setze, habe ich mich elegant vor einen Wortbeitrag gedrückt. mp3: Emperor X / Constantly, constantly radio's on mp3: Emperor X / Exterminata beat Video: Kama Aina / Glasgow sky Technorati Tags: emperor x , kama aina , rumraket , youtube , free mp3 , download , music
Chad Matheny is the one-man army behind Emperor X. Since he was a small lad he has been toying with cheap devices to capture the sounds that bounce around his head. This involved, at one stage, converting a Karaoke machine into a 1 track four-track with some success. Ah, the genius of it all, and if ‘Sfearion’ is anything to go by his talent could one day propel the Jacksonville native skywards
All the Young Punks
Pop Tarts Suck Toasted
The Gumshoe Grove
Said the Gramophone
The Post-Rockist
A to Z
Knox Road
See What You Hear.com
It's Not The Band I Hate, It's Their Fans
itstoolong
mp3hugger
Rihanna Gets Nude For Nude
Get Cryphy: Soundset 2012 Mix
Garbage – “Not Your Kind of People” Concert @ Webster Hall, NYC (May 22, 2012)
Childish Gambino – “Black Faces ft. Nipsey Hussle”
