Blog: the lost art of found sound

2008 Self-Released 5.5/10 Your music means nothing. Your words mean nothing. Sure as hell sounds cool, though...(Read more at The Silent Ballet ) Key Tracks: And The Sky Became A Burden

I feel much better this week, and now I get to play that fun little game called catch-up that comes along with the whole "missing class"...thing. Whatever. Here's hoping you had a nice weekend, I did. *** songs of the week #4 1. Things Done Changed - The Notorious B.I.G. (Breast cancer, cookouts, and niggas getting "took out" - things done changed) 2. The Shape Of Punk That Never Came - United Nations (Grindcore? Yeah...grindcore) 3. 'Round Midnight - Art Blakey & The Giants Of Jazz [...]

I was on a Belle & Sebastian Livejournal community, and saw a link posted to the MySpace page for a Texas outfit dubbed The Tigermilks . They play B&S covers with a hard-rock edge, an idea that I myself (and countless others, I'd imagine) have toyed with. At the very least, they're a novelty worth checking out, to tide you over until the release of the Belle & Sebastian BBC Sessions later this year.

I feel like ass, but I discovered/rediscovered some mad cool music, so it's okay. P.S. How did it suddenly become September? *** songs of the week #3 1. You Are My Sunshine - Kevin Devine (This is one of a handful of songs that induced the cliched "shiver down my spine" the first time I heard it - to be trite, it's a heartbreaking delivery of an old standard) 2. Holy Hot Flash Batman! - Loose Lips Sink Ships 3. Fok - Olafur Arnalds [...]

2008 Erased Tapes Records 6.5/10 Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon. Maybe this whole writing set-up is just a temp gig while I wait for Andy Rooney to die so that I may take his place – we share the same first name, maybe CBS won't notice: "Didn't you ever wonder, Efrim Menuck, why good instrumental music has to be watered down with questionable vocals?" Maybe curmudgeon's the wrong word. I guess I'm just close-minded (an arguably undesirable trait in my line of [...]

Yay for Labor Day weekend, yay for daytrips to New York City, yay for me being a lazy ass who can't find time to complete a proper review, yay for weekly features with songs you've probably already heard. Oh well. *** songs of the week #2 1. A Lack Of Color - Death Cab For Cutie (Ben Gibbard's dejected resignation to "slur a plea for you to come home" remains for me the highlight of Death Cab 's seminal work, Transatlanticism .) 2. Clinical Features [...]

I figured it might be a good idea to add a regular feature to this website, if for no other reason than it guarantees at least one post per week during those droughts when I feel lazy and don't want to be a critic. So, songs of the week, and in no particular order - this week there are five, next week there could be three or there could be 117. Check in next Tuesday for more! *** songs of the week #1 1. I Will Survive (Cover) - Cake [...]

2008 Sub Pop Buy (Amazon.com) Charo/10 I'm grasping at straws. "Oh boy! Another metareview about writer's block. How creative - it's only been, what, 5 weeks?" Broken Social Scene 's 2002 release You Forgot It In People is an indie rock milestone. This Toronto collective has fina--- "That's Broken Social Scene, B SS. You're reviewing Cansei de Ser Sexy , C SS. Get it straight!" [...]

2008 3/10 I was originally dreading the composition of this review because of what, at the time, appeared to be the utter mediocrity of this release – it appears this characterization was an utter mistake. I can't even begin to describe my frustration as this CD began to crumble under its own weight upon repeated listens...(Read the full review at The Silent Ballet ) Key Tracks: ???

2008 Trastienda Records Download 4/10 I load La Estulticia del Cognicidio, Waiting Room's latest album, into my iTunes playlist, and about a minute into the opening track Tites Tites, I am struck by three things: Boy, are these drums full and rich! Kudos to whoever mixed this album! Heh, this song's title looks a lot like "Titties, Titties" Waiting Room sounds a whole hell of a lot like Indian Summer. [...]

Hey all (20 of you), Sorry for the recent drought, I've been busy packing my life into boxes for college, but in the next week, rest assured there will be reviews of Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning , Cansei de Ser Sexy , Waiting Room , and Autumn Chorus (and probably some more too!). Until then, feel free to steal a copy of the late, great indie darlings Some By Sea 's first album, Get Off [...]

Right now, I should be writing a review of Autumn Chorus 's EP for that other website , but frankly, it's a rather mediocre release, and penning a critique of it is therefore much akin to torture. So instead, I'll post an unsolicited list of some good songs. They might not, in the words of Natalie Portman, "change your life", but they're pretty good songs; nothing more, nothing less. *** lololol mixtape 1. Two Headed Boy, Pt. II - Neutral Milk Hotel [...]

2008 ANTI- Buy (Amazon.com) 7.5/10 Depending on how many press junkets you have (or haven't) read, you may (or may not) know that One Day As A Lion is a collaboration of Rage Against The Machine 's Zack De La Rocha and ex- The Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, or that their name is taken from what is apparently a "famous" piece of graffiti declaring that "it's better to live one day as a lion, [...]

2008 Self Released 9/10 This was one of my "sample" reviews that I submitted along with my application to become a writer for The Silent Ballet . This was really only the second critical review that I wrote, so the quality is probably a bit questionable, but this was one hell of a release. If you want to get a copy, just e-mail the band here . [...]

2008 Merge Records Buy (Amazon.com) 8/10 My taskbar begins to flash intermittent orange: a new instant message. It's from Kyle. "new conor oberst just leaked on waffles, you should check it out" I steal the music (don't tell the RIAA), but my rationale is sound. Kyle has good taste, I had been waiting for this album to drop for a few months now, and I'll probably end up buying it anyway. Besides, a lot [...]

Read about albums 11-20 here . 10. Kid A - Radiohead 2000 Capitol Buy (Amazon.com) #10 has been quite vexing - before I begin, a brief (and very tangential) history lesson. This vacancy was first occupied by Taking Back Sunday 's phenomenal Tell All Your Friends . The greatest album [...]

Anybody and everybody these days seems to have a Top __ Albums feature going, so I figured I better make one too. I'll be the first to admit it: the list is strongly biased towards guitar-based albums released from 1995 onward (especially those of the more independent variety), but this is a product of my age more than anything. Feel free to add a comment putting me in my place, I could always use a nice slice of humble pie. ( Note : As the title indicates, this list only considers records released since 1970, hence [...]

2008 Fueled By Ramen Buy (Amazon.com) 6.5/10 The following is a real excerpt of a discussion which transpired on the Dean Koontz Institute for Asemic Writing 's Writer's Block Support Line. Names have been changed...kind of. Support Technician : Dean Koontz Institute's Writer's Block Support, Toni Morrison speaking, how may I help you? " Pandy " " Missner ": [...]

2008 Club AC30 Buy (ClubAC30.com) 6/10 Coming off at first like Carissa's Wierd , and eventually trading up for some horns and crescendos that befit the "post-rock" tag, opener Nangijala serves as an apt representation of Jeniferever 's newest EP: pretty, competent, and wholly underwhelming. That's not to say that this is a bad [...]