I get to Los Angeles a few times a year. It's gotten me spoiled, now I can barely handle going to a store like FYE or Coconuts to buy music. $17 for a CD? Are you kidding me? In L.A. most of my music shopping happens in two stores, Amoeba Hollywood and Second Spin on Ventura Blvd. There also used to be Aron's which was a great store, but it recently closed. I think I am right, the Hollywood Amoeba definitely seems bigger than the Berkeley one. I [...]
My California music shopping began in Berkeley at Amoeba Music and Rasputin Music . I did quite well for myself. It was my first time visiting both, as I hadn't been to the San Francisco area since I was about 12 years old. I didn't get to the stores in San Francisco proper, but to the ones in Berkeley...I couldn't burden my friends with my inability to leave such places without having spent at least 2 hours in them...so this was not the most thorough, but good enough to reap 9 CDs for myself. [...]
I'm in California, currently enjoying the air conditioning of a friend's house as Sacramento is a blistering 100+ degrees outside. This weekend we shall visit Berkeley and San Fransisco and then on Monday I head to Los Angeles. So I shall share some songs about the "state I'm in": Joni Mitchell - " California " Phantom Planet - " California " Neko Case - " In California "
Vienna Teng will be welcoming the release of her third album, entitled "Dreaming Through the Noise", next Tuesday, July 25th. Vienna was originally taking the "traditional" route and had gotten her bachelors degree from Stanford University in computer science and started working as a software engineer. She had been playing piano since she was 5 though, and soon realized that her career was not making her happy. She gave it all up and moved to the trendy end of San Fransisco and started playing in small clubs...the rest is history you might say. [...]
A friend sent me a link to this little gem on YouTube this afternoon and it got me thinking about accordion in popular music. Many artists that regularly use accordion that I can think of are considered pretty geeky (They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Moxy Fruvous, Weird Al etc.) but I love these geeky bands. What made accordion so geeky? I suppose the relationship of accordion with old world music and polka has something to do it. Regardless there's some wonderful music out there with accordion in it, and I thought I'd mention a few favorites of [...]
Recently I was cursing myself for my tendency on getting into certain great musicians a bit too late. Now, it is one thing if you go to a concert and enjoy the opener and say "hmm, I will have to check them out later" or something. It is completely another when your sorry ass has seen someone in concert and didn't really think twice about them because you just wanted to see the main act so bad and then later get into them and say "damn, I saw them in concert and wasn't even paying attention!", in fact, [...]
I first heard an Alex Bach song on a mix someone sent to me. I heard one song, liked it so much I had to buy her album. She really is very talented. Her lyrics are great, her songs are catchy...I have a hard time putting her a catagory though. I am not sure she knows what she wants to be sometimes, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Her songs cover a wide range of spectrums including angry rock-out, slow and folky and pop-rock and catchy as hell. Regardless, her song [...]
I first heard an Alex Bach song on a mix someone sent to me. I heard one song, liked it so much I had to buy her album. She really is very talented. Her lyrics are great, her songs are catchy...I have a hard time putting her a catagory though. I am not sure she knows what she wants to be sometimes, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes she is almost Joan Jett wannabe and otherdays she's way more soulful and almost Ani DiFranco-esque and much more folk sounding. Her songs cover a wide range of [...]
The Pierces, a sister duo, have added new songs to their MySpace account. They have 2 albums previously. The first, self-titled, is an out-and-out folk album that I quite enjoy. Their second, slightly more commercial (no one said it being commericial meant it had to do well) album "The Light of the Moon", was a beautifully made album that I couldn't find a track I didn't enjoy on. Their official website has not been updated in quite some time, but they are keeping active on MySpace and have recently added new tracks [...]
Today it starts. I hope this to be the first day and first post of many and that this will be something I am able to continue and make worthwhile to read and come back to regularly. My name is Anne. I am 27 years old and currently, for at least another 7 months, living in Ohio and attending graduate school and attempting to get a masters degree in philosophy. I doubt I will use this degree at this point, but hey, I've put the time in, I want my [...]
Curiously Tasty Music
the Weekender ::: New music from Catcall // the National // Summer Camp
KNIFE PARTY – RAGE VALLEY EP
Live: Among Bouquets & Florets. Girls, HMV Forum.
