This self-titled offering from Sweet Lights , a solo vehicle from Shai Halperin of Philly's The Capitol Years, was marking time as a self-release before being picked up by indie label Highline Records. Halperin, aka Shai Son of Eli, is an enigmatic individual keen on recalling his youth, from the young kid on the album cover to a weirdly watchable video featuring him break-dancing as a teen. The record combines sounds from '70s and '80s rock encountered in Halperin's youth, though not necessarily in real time. The Beatles are high on that playlist, but you can also catch echoes of [...]
We're not really sure where songs shift from sounding 'dated' to sounding 'retro'. What causes the move from being behind the times and out of touch, to becoming reflective and inspired? Perhaps it's the length of time between the originators and the new work that it influences which allows it the benefit of any doubt? Well, today we recommend an artist who has skipped through the major artists of the 60s and 70s like a child through a flowered meadow and not only retained credibility, but produced one of the most beautiful album's of not just recent times, but any. [...]
If you've ever been to London, you'll know of a curious phenomenon. You wait for a bus for an unreasonable interval, and then mysteriously, four of them arrive at once. And so it is with albums. While I wait for a half-decent product from rock's bloated establishment, redemption comes with a stream of excellent home produced/released records crossing my desk. The latest in a series reviewed here is the self-titled offering from Sweet Lights , a solo vehicle from Shai Halperin, aka Shai, Son of Eli, of Philadelphia's The Capitol Years. Halperin is an enigmatic individual. He [...]
Yesterday while enjoying a beautiful day up here in New York, I got a chill of excitement over the Park the Van Showcase this Friday in New Orleans. It has inspired me so much that I have dubbed this week Park the Van week. So we will reintroduce you to the bands that will be playing this Friday and hopefully you will learn some new things as well. Today is The Peeker Day. I first met the Peekers back at SXSW 2007 when only Chris with Park the Van had heard of [...]
There are times when I have felt that the opening band is better than the main act (ie the time ARCADE FIRE opened up for the UNICORNS ) and I think that very well may be happening tonight at ONE EYED JACKS . Tonight, TITUS ANDRONICUS will be opening up for the British dance-pop act LOS CAMPESINOS and you may actually want to show up early for this one. Granted, I am a lot more into the sound of Titus Andronicus at this point in my life, but also lyrically they sit [...]
Hey Philadelphia music fans you'll want to be sure not to miss this week's Wednesday Night's FREE Concert In The Park at Rittenhouse Square with Gildon Works and Capitol Years . Gildon Works just released an amazing new CD called Artful Rifle and also turned in one of the best sets at this year's Philly Popped! Festival. Capitol Years are a long time Philly favorite and recently backed up Daniel Johnston on a number of his tour dates. Should be a fantastic night of music for a [...]
A few weeks ago, the city of Philadelphia hosted a wonderfully eclectic indie festival called Popped! Taking place over the entire weekend, artists from all points on the genre spectrum made an appearance. Philly is an old, northeast urban environment and the available space for a large festival is hard to find. The organizers decided to bring each day of Popped! to a different venue, leading to a diverse group of environments for the attendees to visit over the weekend. Being that the festival was on a smaller scale than some of the more famous [...]
I really can't think of a stranger place for a music festival than the University City section of Philadelphia. To add to the weirdness, the main two days are at different locations, one outside and one inside. The good thing is that the line-up makes up for the other quirks. It is a good mix of local flavor and national acts. Saturday, the action starts at 1 PM on Drexel's campus (33rd and Market)and the last act takes the stage around 8. Kicking off with The Ting Tings , the first day just explodes from there. [...]
If you're searching for a cushion for your senses this bright Sunday morning then you should try this particularly comfy one for size. Philadelphia's the Capitol Years are pretty much a perfect fit actually because they like to drench their ditties in sucrose harmonies. And why rush onwards to the chorus when the bridge can be just as disarmingly beautiful. You'll appreciate the Capitol Years
Miracle Fortress Yesterday I happily happened across links to a bunch of songs I've been enjoying for a good while, so I would like to share them over the next few days. Some of these are a bit long in tooth, but I hope you won't mind. Tegan and Sara I Bet It Stung mp3Walking With a Ghost mp3I Know I Know I Know mp3LilysClaire Hates Me mp3Tone Bender mp3The Capitol Years Mirage People mp3You Can
Philly welcomes you to Austin, Texas and we are on our way to SXSW! We know you'll all be raging from party to party however, on Saturday you must stop by the Second Annual Philebrity.com Philly Jawn . Some of illadelph's finest will be playing all week long and I thought I'd point out some of the phlava that Philly is bringing down South. BBQ? Big deal. We got cheesesteaks. The A-Sides [...]
It's always exciting when South by Southwest announces its schedule and posts songs by many of the bands that will be appearing at the festival. I just spent several--okay, six--pleasant hours making my way through the entire list from Aa to zZz (I skipped +/- because they didn't provide a sample mp3). I admit I didn't listen to every single song. Certain categories didn't really interest me, not yet at least. But I did give ear to everything labelled rock and pop that I didn't [...]
Okay, I'm a bit skitterish about this one, so please bear with me. Back in early December, I went group-by-group, song-by-song through a long list of artists I found at the 2006 South-by-Southwest festival website . I sampled every song I didn't already know and prepared my own list of the ones I liked best, old friends and new. For various reasons totally uninteresting even to myself I've just never posted a big bloc of the songs, some of which are by some of my favorite current artists. Soooooo, I'm simply [...]
ניסיתי להתחמק מהפוסט הזה בכל דרך אפשרית, אבל הנה, בדקה התשעים, רשימת שירי השנה שלי, 2006. כל השירים המומלצים אגב, ניתנים להורדה. בנוסף, חלק מהשירים הנוספים גם ניתנים. חפשו את הלינקים. The Shins - Phantom Limb ובכן, קצת מוזר לי להודות, אבל השיר שהכי אהבתי השנה לקוח מתוך אלבום שבכלל ייצא ב-2007. הרבה מילים כבר נשפכו עליו , אבל לסיכום העניין: יפה, מרגש וסוחף. Justin Timberlake - My Love ובכיוון יותר פופי, השיר שהכי גרם לי לזוז כמו [...]
A continuation of the other night's discoveries at SXSW 2005 , old friends and new. The Capitol Years - Mounds of Money mp3 The Paybacks - Bright Side mp3 The Pretty [...]
1 Doctor Blind - Emily Haines - Emily Haines of Metric and Broken Social Scenes steps out with her solo album, Knives Don't Have Your Back. Emily's site Emily's myspace 2 Boogie No More - Richard Dorfmeister vs. Madrid de Los Austria Grand Slam is the new album from DJ's extraordinaire Richard Dorfmeister vs. Madrid de los Austrias. [...]
I don't know if The Capitol Years are the best band Philadelphia has to offer currently (a scene I'm not up on), but my guess is they are. (I'm sure someone [Matt?] will pipe in to prove me wrong.) Main...
Okay, so I'm stretching the definition of "diss track" just a bit, but just go with me here. Remember last November when The Capitol Years were on the recieving end of some cowardly, anonymous hateration, and they totally flipped the script in one triumphant musical counterstroke, answering the doubters and winning over new fans all at once? Well now they've taken that song, infused it with some proper studio polish, inserted it into the tracklist for their brand new album Dance Away The Terror, and will be shooting an honest-to-goodness music video for it today at 3 PM over at [...]
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