The Features with Legs Like Tree Trunks/ Brillobox / 11.12.2011 / 9:30 PM / $8 Words by Jim How the hell is it November 1st already? Thanksgiving is all of one second away, then Christmas, then 4th of July. Cripes. Despite that random snow shower a few days ago, we are still in the thick of autumn. I've always equated fall and early winter with some of my most favorite concert going experience and from the recent rash of ticket giveaways, it's clear that we are well into [...]
Words by Rick Moslen So this is the series where I ramble on about classic indie/punk record labels fated to feed every music junkie's obsessive fix. This time I'm gushing about possibly the mother of them all. Hold onto your butts and stuff some earplugs up those earlobes, cause it's time for some raw, spazzing rock n'roll from Touch and Go Records. I know what you're thinking ... how can I rope Touch and Go 's extensive yet essential history into a mere blog post? That's like leaving your [...]
Words by Jim Big Hurry's latest release begins with the clapping of hands and an eery summarization of their career as a band: "Hey, we started right on the very bottom / We worked our way right out / I got right back down on my bended knee". Fitting words for a group that's progressed incredibly since their inception in 2008 and is about to face a new chapter in their career. Well done Big Hurry , well done. Point taken. [...]
Words by Brendan Halloween is a strange holiday, when you think about it. For kids, it's that magical day when you can ask your neighbors for candy and they have to give you some! (Fuck that guy who gave you raisins.) For teens, it's that awkward day where you're too old to trick or treat but you're secretly jealous of kids and their candy so you make mischief and mayhem, instead. (Amiright?) For college students, it's an excuse to get drunk and dress ruhl slutty and get away with it, or an excuse to [...]
Words by Brendan Artist: Neva Dinova Album: The Hate Yourself Change Released: February 8, 2005 Label: crank! Jake Bellows and company have the magic ability to convert hangovers into beautifully introspective folk-rock songs. I will forever envy them that ability. While I spend my whiskey-soaked mornings chugging glassfuls of water and staring at the ceiling, Neva Dinova are weaving world-weary words with gut-gripping guitars and doleful drums into perfectly plaintive snippets of sound. Is that alliterative enough for [...]
Rachael Yamagata, with Mike Viola / Club Café / Saturday 11.05.2011 / Doors 8:00 / $18 Words by Vicki I think Rachael Yamagata might be spying on me. That's my only explanation for how much I can relate to her music; it seems like somehow, some way, she knows what I'm going through and then puts it into song. Her three full-length albums cover a wide spectrum of emotions, and there's always something that matches my mood. Her smoky voice sings with the [...]
Fitz & The Tantrums with Walk The Moon / Mr. Small's / 11.07.2011 / 8:00 PM / $20 Words by Jim If you don't know who Fitz & The Trantrums are, well, come on! Where have you been? Ok, whatever. Just know that I'm not entirely happy with you right now. If you have heard of them, then great job, but don't get too cocky. They're not hard to recognize and chances are, when you heard one of their songs on the radio, you were [...]
Words by Will Wikipedia cannot tell a lie [citation needed] . After some Wikipedia-ing, I am able to ascertain the following: John Knox was a leader of the Protestant movement in Scotland a long ways back. He did not play in a Scottish post-punk band that specializes in re-imaginings of traditional folk songs. Nor did he listen to rowdy bar music that would most likely incite some shenanigans. His name, not necessarily his life and example, have inspired a band. And that band (in all its cheeky awesomeness) is called The John Knox Sex [...]
Words by Will Wikipedia cannot tell a lie [citation needed] . After some Wikipedia-ing, I am able to ascertain the following: John Knox was a leader of the Protestant movement in Scotland a long ways back. He did not play in a Scottish post-punk band that specializes in re-imaginings of traditional folk songs. Nor did he listen to rowdy bar music that would most likely incite some shenanigans. His name, not necessarily his life and example, have inspired a band. And that band (in all its cheeky awesomeness) is called The John Knox Sex [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Blake "The Prince Of Techno" Baxter every now and then has some house up his sleeve. This is a track hidden at the end of his tech slamming album "The H-Factor" and its just about as classic as a house tune can be with its retro organ stabs and building rhythm section. A brutal soul-queen style vocal is added on top from a mysterious singer called Makreta Birdsong. I have yet not been able to figure out who that might be she [...]
Words by Jacob Artist: Feist Album: Metals Released: October 4, 2011 Label: Interscope/Cherry Tree The critical dust currently settling on Feist 's fourth solo album, Metals is that it's a willful rejection of big money commercial success, and I know what you're thinking. It's only her third solo album right? That's what I thought too, but apparently she released one in Canada and it's out of print, probably because the song titles are all written in Canadian, and [...]
Cold War Kids, with Young Man / Mr. Small's / 11.05.2011 / 8:00 PM / $20 Words by Jim Sometimes you just need to jam it out, man. The house is yours. Maybe it's Friday (but it doesn't have to be). Turn the fucking speakers up and just do it. Pull out dance moves that your girlfriend or boyfriend has never ever seen, you know, the ones you'd only attempt in public if six beers deep. It's about freedom and letting the music wash over you. It's about [...]
Words by Rick Moslen Yep, so I've got the VIA fever . Now I know what you're thinking: how can I associate an album only released a mere four months ago with the word "classic?" Well remember, these are "NEW classics" we're talking about (emphasis on "new"). Sure, maybe "Premature Classic" makes more sense, but this is clearly my favorite release so far this year, and the band remains technologically more-advanced than almost any contemporary rock band. So let me explain why Battles ' newest release, Gloss Drop , screams "new [...]
Words by Jacob Barron Last year was the first complete year of soundtracking and yea, our earth continued to spin, and we are hence blessed to find ourselves faced with yet another autumn. The same pile of leaves that you raked up last year will soon form in your backyards and the same bittersweet feeling you had last year will seep into your listening, or at least it should. That feeling of happy sadness goes along with autumn as it does with indie rock, since that sort of ambiguity is what fuels a great [...]
[The New Classics is a reoccurring segment in which we examine our favorite indie releases that are bound to replace our parents' "classic rock" stash hidden in the attic or the basement. These aren't reviews, these are unedited testimonies and opinions about why we love what we love. Can we get a witness?] Words by Chris Carosi Albums: It's a Wonderful Life (2001), Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (2006), Dark Night of [...]
Words by Vicki. Video by Julie Van Wassen. Let's get something out of the way upfront. I'd be lying if I said tUnE-yArDs was new to me (though I'm not lying when I say that band name is really annoying to type.) And yeah, that makes this the second "new to us" piece in a row I've done where I already knew of the band for a while. But in this case, I really can't imagine writing about any other artist. See, I've been abroad on a business trip in India [...]
Words by Vicki. Video by Julie Van Wassen. Let's get something out of the way upfront. I'd be lying if I said tUnE-yArDs was new to me (though I'm not lying when I say that band name is really annoying to type.) And yeah, that makes this the second "new to us" piece in a row I've done where I already knew of the band for a while. But in this case, I really can't imagine writing about any other artist. See, I've been abroad on a business trip in India [...]
Hey. How's it going? Good, great. So, yeah, you might be new here. Maybe you're a freshman at Pitt or CMU or somewhere else. That's terrific and we applaud your good choice in city. But maybe you're not exactly new here, and you're finding yourself ready to explore the town and uncover it's wonders. You're like a goddamn pearl diver, ready to take the plunge and come up for air with a little bit of treasure. Well, we're here to help you with that whole situation. It could definitely seem like a staggering endeavor. We understand. We went through it [...]
Hey. How's it going? Good, great. So, yeah, you might be new here. Maybe you're a freshman at Pitt or CMU or somewhere else. That's terrific and we applaud your good choice in city. But maybe you're not exactly new here, and you're finding yourself ready to explore the town and uncover it's wonders. You're like a goddamn pearl diver, ready to take the plunge and come up for air with a little bit of treasure. Well, we're here to help you with that whole situation. It could definitely seem like a staggering endeavor. We understand. We went through it [...]
Hey. How's it going? Good, great. So, yeah, you might be new here. Maybe you're a freshman at Pitt or CMU or somewhere else. That's terrific and we applaud your good choice in city. But maybe you're not exactly new here, and you're finding yourself ready to explore the town and uncover it's wonders. You're like a goddamn pearl diver, ready to take the plunge and come up for air with a little bit of treasure. Well, we're here to help you with that whole situation. It could definitely seem like a staggering endeavor. We understand. We went through it [...]
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House Music With Love
Bobby Womack & Lana Del Rey
Video: Chromatics – “These Streets Will Never Look The Same”
