hasn't it. Let's see April 3rd was my last post and today is June 27th that means the last time I posted, in internet years, was 2,569 years ago. A good friend convinced me that people actually read this thing and that, perhaps, they deserve some degree of explication. So here I am. I don't think that this means the posts will start flowing again, it just means that maybe I need to get this off my chest. I'm having a tough time right now. I've been having a tough time for quite a few months. I'm [...]
This 3.0 review of Fountains of Wayne's Traffic And Weather is thoroughly misguided that it provoked me to write. I'd like to ask pitchfork to please stop intellectualizing music until there's nothing left but bland ideas that the band, in all likelihood, didn't even intend. It's just this attitude that leads indie rock shows to be hands jammed in pockets nerd fests. God forbid you shake your ass or yell something stupid like, "it's time to rock, motherfucker!!" That would break that aura of uber cool that so many spend so much time cultivating. [...]
Have you seen this? Brilliant and odd.
The best part is that the narrator gets as fired up to yell, "UFO Porno!!!", as the Spanish language announcers for soccer games are about yelling, "GOAL!!"
The old up keep of the blog has been lacking lately, but I've been feeling a bit beaten down. Work is busy as a beaver in the redwoods which is a blessing and a curse, the personal life is mangled at best and is naturally draining emotionally, physically. Everything (= life) makes the management of a music blog rather low on the priority scale. I did manage to catch a show last week at The Hotel Utah . It was the wonderous Our Lady of the Highway with the much blogged about (I'm guilty here because [...]
Watching Young Couples with an Old Girlfriend On Sunday Morning How mild these young men seem to me now with their baggy shorts and clouds of musk, as if younger brothers of the women they escort in tight black leather, bangs and tattoos, cute little toughies, so Louise Brooks annealed in MTV, headed off for huevos rancheros and the Sunday Times at some chic, crowded dive. I don't recall it at all this way, do you ? How sweetly complected and confident they look, their faces unclouded by the rages and abandoned, [...]
Junior Senior. It helps sometimes.
Everybody and their Uncle Hank has something to say about file sharing and its link to the demise or resurgence of music today. Personally, I usually ignore all articles because I'm just sick of hearing about it. But today I read a piece on file sharing by Okkervil River's Will Sheff. I've interviewed Sheff and like him. It goes without saying that I think Okkervil is one of the finest bands playing today. So this one I read. It's well thought out and touches many of the points, concerning both the state of music and the necessary evil of file [...]
I'm blown away. At last a record that grabs my attention and holds it. I've listened to Manchester Orchestra's I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child incessantly for the last week. First things first: Manchester Orchestra is from Atlanta, GA. And their kids. By kids I mean they're all around 19 or so, kids to a man of my advanced age. That youthful energy is palpable on I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child , it infuses the record with purpose in a way. It's most certainly a musical statement produced by [...]
I like to write. I'm not particularly adept at it and spend too little time editing (especially here) but I get an emotional satisfaction from simply trying to move an idea from my head to the page. I'm not good at opening myself up emotionally, I could go on and on about why I think that is but at the end of the day, that's simply who am I. Some people are very good at living as an open wound, vulnerable and giving of their emotional selves. This is good, I think. It certainly takes a lot of the difficulty [...]
The Rosebuds got my attention with Birds Make Good Neighbors which was a pretty compelling mix of reverb drenched pop songs that mixed bittersweet lyrics with boy/girl harmonies. It was damn good. On April 10 Merge Records will release The Rosebuds' Night Of The Furies , an album inspired by the mythological creatures. In fact to a large degree the lyrical content of Night of the Furies is a recounting of the "furies" myth. Now if you recall from your freshman Greek 101 class the Furies were [...]
In April Drag City will release the first solo album by Bill Callahan entitled Woke On A Whaleheart . You may only know Mr. Callahan from his day job which is being the primary mover and songwriter for Smog . This of course begs the question, why a "solo" record and not another Smog record. This is splitting hairs which need not be split, especially when Woke On A Whaleheart is no less then some of Callahan's most dramatic and wonderful work yet. Callahan, no matter what guise he's [...]
I like Modest Mouse OK, my wife really likes them a lot. I enjoyed the last record even when "Float On" became as prevalent as Salvation Army bells around Christmas. I must say the new single from the upcoming We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank is kinda killer. In order for you to enjoy the clever and witty video that accompanies the song I'm linking to MTV's Subterranean Blog because they got it. I don't endorse MTV in general but I totally geeked on Subterranean when it was called 120 Minutes. In fact [...]
The Broken Family Band are a group of cheeky brits doing their damnedest to tackle to uniquely American idiom of countrified rock. They do a pretty good job. Of course it's far from authentic, but the very notion of authentic in today's musically global world gets progressively more and more laughable with each passing day that I wonder why I even mentioned it. The Broken Family Band plays a brand of country rock very similar to what The Dying Californian does. It's a slight twang generously coated with indie rock guitars and a grand melody. There's nothing [...]
Sorry but I've beens skiing. Now I'm back all limbs in tact. Have you heard any of the new Pink Nasty Mold The Gold ? Very good record. You'll be surprised. Here's something to watch and listen to:
Super low budget for a great song.
Malajube got some critical love last year for their album Trompe-L'Oeil but never reached the buzzy heights of, say, Arcade Fire or Broken Social Scene to name just two of the many Canadian bands that have been owning the indie scene during the last three years. It's too bad that Malajube hasn't gotten the same attention because they're easily as good if not better than many of the buzziest or the buzzy buzz buzz bands. Maybe it's because they sing in French. I know that probably puts off must indie rock kids like subtitles in movies put [...]
Shipwreck , which is a fairly straight forward rock outfit that turns it up and shakes some ass at ya should not be confused with this band called Shipwreck who are, I'm sure, very nice young men and women but are Jesus obsessed and for a variety of reasons I just can't go there. I don't like the policies and couldn't work for that company. Anyway Shipwreck the secular. Now this band I can get behind: muscular guitar work, palpable passion, a little new wave kitsch, those mysterious elements that make rock and roll, it's all there. They're [...]
Ok, I think I'm more or less recovered from my bout with the plague. Appetite returning, strength back up, feeling human again. Very nice. Today's catchy diddy comes via Track A Tiger which doesn't win point for best band name but does charm with a jangly indie rock sound that's sweetened up nicely with boy/girl harmonies. The band sounds very tight, very together, well rehearsed and in possession of some really good melodies. The songs make me think of Trembling Blue Stars and Slow Dazzle. This particular track, notable for the reverb laden guitar line, [...]
not really it just feels like it. I've been felled by some terrible bird/porcupine flu combo. Trust me it sucks. I don't ever get sick. I think the last time was like six years ago, which means I should amend my prior statement to "I only get sick every six years". But I do it right. Fever, chills, the whole nine yards. I think I'm getting better. Now it's been both a blessing and a curse that my 7 year old daughter has been sick at the same time as me. I now have seen every episode [...]
Bars & Guitars
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
Metric Debuts Album via Synthetica Hide+Seek, Tickets On Sale Now For Fall Tour
THE MASTERSONS — BIRDS FLY SOUTH
