Givers is a Lafayette, Louisiana-based quintet's whose brilliant debut -- In Light, is a collection of 10 songs that feels like 30. It's filled with a happy warmth of funky time-signatures and bright melodic guitars and a pair of voices that coat the fun with sugary goodness. The band's start was with lead singer/guitarist Taylor Guarisco and lead singer/percussionist Tiffany Lamson both attending the music school at the University of New Orleans in the fall of 2005. A living arrangement gone awry led to Lamson crashing on Guarisco's couch. The [...]
I was scrolling through my Twitter today, and chuckled (and RTed) over something Wil Wheaton said: "Girlfriend in Tacoma?" "I know, I know..." "It's SERIOUS!" So of course I started thinking about Morrissey, Morrissey songs, and lesbian Latino girl bands. Whut. Anyway. I had been listening to the 2009 We Were Promised Jetpacks album all day prior to that, which sounds a bit like a happier Morrissey, if he was Scottish. ... [...]
Andrew Bird has six solo albums, with a seventh to be released this year. Every album a dizzying journey of the mind that remind me of restless dreams while napping some place warm and noisy. Andrew has played music since he was 4 years old. "Music just swallowed me whole," he explains. "I am what I do." It's hard to put Bird in a box. It feels a bit folk-rock, similar to Devendra Banhart or Sufjan Stevens. It reminds me of the Decemberists with the way they sometimes sweep [...]
Punks in the 60's and 70's. To me, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane... Bread, Cream, Beatles, Zeppelin, Stones, The Who, CCR... That's how I associate that period in music. Counterculture of that era, in my mind, meant long hair, draft dodging, and marijuana picnics. It's hard for me to resolve Velvet Underground, Sex Pistols, and Buzzcocks as part of that time as well. The Buzzcocks formed in the mid-70's as fans of Velvet Underground and Sex Pistols. By 1976 they were performing at a punk festival in London with Siouxsie and the Banshees [...]
So, I was recently telling a friend about how I am going to Coachella because this was simply a year not to be missed. Somehow, when she asked who was playing, I was tongue-tied. I forgot who was headlining, and of all the bands I am excited to see, I couldn't discern which she might even know about. I'm over the moon to be able to see At The Drive-In. I'm ridiculously excited to see Black Keys. No matter how much attention they get, and how overplayed they might become, their music makes me [...]
Don't get me wrong; I love Mumford & Sons. But I was thinking... Why have they been to the Grammys twice and received a spread in Rolling Stone, when Manchester Orchestra hasn't been noticed by the former and has barely been given a nod by the latter? Manchester Orchestra has been on Letterman four times. I believe Mumford has only appeared once. Why am I comparing the two? I appreciated the reaction I experienced when hearing a Mumford album about a year ago. It was similar to the pain that is evoked [...]
Arctic Monkeys We've spoken on Arctic Monkeys before , so let's just get you up-to-date perhaps? In an interview with the Sun, Alex Turner said that Arctic Monkeys will take a break from the recording and performing until 2013. Frontman Alex Turner said: "I don't really write on the road any more. We come up with a few ideas on soundchecks and that but I have written too many terrible lyrics touring around. As yet there is no plan to return [...]
Well, what DID you expect from The Vaccines? I tell you what. I am thoroughly impressed with this band. Last week I told you about The Horrors, and this week I've got their sister band. I mean brother band. Literally. Their guitar player is the younger brother of Tom Cowan (bass)from The Horrors. And like The Horrors, The Vaccines was also formed in West London. But VERY recently formed, despite sounding like a fully developed band. I compared The Horrors to [...]
Having played festivals all over the world since releasing their first album Origins in 2006, The Horrors should be ready to rock this year's two weekends at Coachella. Their tour with Florence + The Machine this spring should spark a few new fans as well. Sounding like Depeche Mode and looking like The Cure, the boys in this English band were not even out of the womb when those bands were formed! Not to be confused with any small-town USA metal bands, The Horrors have been [...]
Rakim Mayers, better known by his aka A$AP Rocky is rapper and director. I'll save you the nagging curiosity and say yes, he was named after the second half of the Eric B. & Rakim duo. He was born and raised in Harlem, and released the mixtape LiveLoveA$AP in 2011 with the in-demand producer, Clams Casino . Southern rap. You love it, or you hate it. It's a slow, stoney, carefree drawl of raps and rhymes with beats to match. If you like Drake or Lil' Wayne, or anyone [...]
The adage usually applies to wine, but I'm more of a Scotch drinker so I'll frame it in a more familiar context: like a fine whisky, some things just get better with age. If there were ever an illustration of that statement, it is Leonard Cohen. The man is now 78 years old and has been releasing albums since 1967. Tuesday, however, marks the release of his first album in 8 years, so there's something really special going on. It's not only a chance to hear the first [...]
He started playing piano when he was only five. This was back when he was known as Nick van de Wall and not what we know him as today: Afrojack. Afrojack spent most of his time listening to all kinds of music and it was no surprise that he would start making music instead of just listening to it. At the age of 11, Afrojack discovers Fruity Loops and still uses to this day. In 5 years, Afrojack plays his first gig at a nightclub. In 2006 he jets off to Greece for five months to [...]
Yeah. you might have thought that with Coachella doubling up on their event in 2012, by having the exact same show two weekends in a row, might mean that you had some time to figure out if you could make the show. If you thought that, you would be screwed. I knew better, and waited online to buy my tickets right at 10am when they went for sale. It's probably not good form to brag that we have tickets when you don't. I bet you have been to the festival before. This is our [...]
"Music is an invasion of the ear and mind that brings a conscious awareness of emotion." -Mookie Saint Kele Good afternoon men and women of the Church of MUSIC, In All Capital Letters. We congregate today to reflect on the end of a year and with hope for the next. As the world of nations is to be pervded by musical influence in this new year, so [...]
In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a bit of a slacker to say the least. Between posting here far too infrequently and so many other ways I procrastinate my way through life, I'm not sure how I get anything done. Here's an example that will be worth your time in the end. I heard The Civil Wars on NPR (A Prairie Home Companion, if you must know) earlier in the year and was very impressed. I made a note to pick up their album [...]
Do you know what Mookie and I used to do? We had record store dates. For a week or two, we would collect the names of artists we'd like to check out, and then we would go to Zia. We might try them out at listening stations, we might make tough decisions on which CD to discard, or we might buy them just because of something we heard or because of the album art. Then we might drive around town listening to our new CDs, or in some way, shape or form, [...]
AISHA TYLER ASKS : "Are you, at this point in your life, with everything you've done, and the amount of political work you've put your passion and your energy into, do you feel more or less optimistic than you did, say, when you were first in Rage?" TOM MORELLO REPLIES : "I feel much more optimistic, and that has to do, principally, with fatherhood... The purity, and the innocence that I see in my kids makes me...wanna fight for their world... When I see it reflected in other things, for example... The first [...]
My idea of a perfect government is one guy who sits in a small room at a desk, and the only thing he's allowed to decide is who to nuke. The man is chosen based on some kind of IQ test, and maybe also a physical tournament, like a decathlon. And women are brought to him, maybe ... when he desires them. --Ron Swanson How does Mookie turn a bad day into....well something better? He folds cards for four hours and then someone [...]
in medias res Because if you were here, the two of us would be a venerable force. You and me? Together? We would always make sure they were taken care of. We would make sure we were taken care of too. I know you would make sure of it for me. I absolutely know I would make sure of it for you. I can't do it alone. It's not fair to expect it of me. I don't get credit for what I achieved. It's fine. [...]
And that we did when the Furthur bus rolled into town. The night began with some pre-show "tailgating" in the parking lot, (even though it was a blustery November night in Wisconsin) with stories of first shows, how many shows attended, Jerry shows and post-Jerry shows being shared. Ahh... some things never change and that makes me smile. However, being the wimp that I am, freezing my ass off overtook the nostalgia and I didn't last long in the parking lot and had to move it on in. As Bob and Phil waltzed on [...]
in ALL caps music blog
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
Has Ween Broken Up? Aaron Freeman Retires Gene Ween
Metric Debuts Album via Synthetica Hide+Seek, Tickets On Sale Now For Fall Tour
