A word to the wise: At The Garrison , they infuse mythic ambrosia into the PBR bottles, leaving customers happy and hangover-free in the morning. Just kidding. I feel like shit. However, The Garrison was a packed house last night for the first "unofficial" night of the NXNE festival in Toronto. Full disclosure: I'm going to sacrifice photo quality in lieu of efficiency and timeliness with my posts this weekend. I am not Ansel Adams, and it's difficult to snap all-star [...]
That last album was abysmal wasn't it? Dear lord. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's S/T album, for me, was crucial in getting me back into the scene after long being bogged down in school and, afterwards, career. I know that the album is in the pantheon for many folks for the very same reason. The follow up was like a bad nightmare. Although, in the band's defense, trying to expand style after a seminal record is kind of an uphill climb. Now the crew is coming back for the tertiary effort, and the first [...]
Dear Matador Records: The new Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks song was on the internet for a minute, but there's now a "404 error - file not found" message associated with the link on Mr. Malkmus's internet-based website . If I am posting the below track in error, please drop us a line and I'll remove the file post haste. If it makes you feel better, we always encourage the readership to buy records (although, in fairness, that's usually kind of an embedded assumption; we're a little bit less explicit about consumerism [...]
Elephant Stone is going to, hopefully, be a big chunk of my Friday night at NXNE , as they hit The Garrison at 10 PM. opening up for Braids. This should be one of the more packed sets of the night. Without question, the 60's pop feel is staunch and inviting in every Elephant Stone track. The High Dials' Rishi Dhir is at the front of the outfit, and plays the freaking sitar. I love that. There's a fabulous infusion of [...]
Burlington, Ontario natives Sandman Viper Command win the quirkiest band name award for this year's NXNE (apparently they took it from the movie Outbreak ), but I've been spinning "Oh Yeah, It's Fusion" all morning. Bluesy garage pop can't get much better than this track. However, "Strawberry Quick" presents a band with quite a bit of range, and the young group is poised to make a bigger dent in the scene. Locally, they've pretty much mopped things up, being nominated for local music awards, and also opening for bands like [...]
I'll be leaving in approximately three hours from Cleveland, weaving my way through the northern scenic regions of Pennsylvania until I finally hit the brakes in Buffalo. After a bout with a basket of chicken wings, the lady and I are headed into the land of Ice Hockey and Rush. We're having a layover in Niagara. I hear them falls are romantic. In any event, by my calculations, this is at least a good 7-8 hours worth of road-trippin' over the next 24 hours. I can't be the only one hitting the open road today/tomorrow with [...]
I've been slinging out NXNE posts like it's life or death lately, and our writer Brian and I always have the argument over which is more efficient - focusing on hearing every last album I can get my hands on, or instead focusing on a select few and avoiding the stress. I always shoot for the former, while Brian opts for the latter. He is cool as a cucumber while I'm trying to download every track on the internet. Either way, in my pre-festival pre-gaming, I stumbled across [...]
I'm completely pumped to finally see the multilingual circus show of We Are Wolves . They're playing in the 1 AM slot at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Wednesday night. By this time, I'm bound to be messy and in need of a cane. Many will point to Total Magique as the band's sophomore upswing, but I absolutely think 2009's Invisible Violence is extremely underrated. See our writer Justin's thoughts about the album in December of 2009 by clicking [...]
I think I slept with Psychic Chasms under my pillow for the better part of 2009. Finally, Alan Palomo is hitting the 216 ( Grog Shop , Tonight). Perhaps the glossiest of the the glow-fi movement of a couple of years ago, the music of Neon Indian has far more staying power than a majority of the johnny-come-lately acts that emerged in the same time frame. Since then, collaborations with The Flaming Lips and being covered by indie [...]
One thing is a certainty, and it is that I don't know a lot about Passwords . Neither does a lot of the blogosphere. Stumbling around the interwebs, I came across "Life After Summer" and let it rip in the background of my desktop. I suppose it's a simple to label this as indie-pop with a folk tilt, but what is astonishing is what this song wanders into by its close. A relatively sunny aura slow burns into this epic and spiraling, awe-inspiring second half. In fact, you'll be absolutely [...]
As I continue onward with my NXNE 'bands to watch while drinking alcohol' list, I continue to come across snags in the scheduling. There are so many killer acts playing down the street from each other at the same time. The proximity of location means nil in these situations. The upshot is that there are enough bands to go around. These two bands are going to be difficult for me to get to, but that's due neither in part to our lack of ambition, nor our desire to break a [...]
To fill the limited time I have before I run the Flinstone wagon up to Canada, I'll post a few preview quick-hitters to get y'all primed for the festival. If a giant sphinx is keeping you from traveling next week, at least take these quick shots to the bank. These bands are on my quickly expanding radar, as I've been out of the loop for a little while, so bear with me. Between iced-espresso dranks and lots of cigarettes, I've managed to track down and peruse nearly all of the 650 bands [...]
Full disclosure: I'm typing this post to keep my fingers busy while the Mavericks fritter away another basketballing contest. There are two minutes remaining in the third quarter, Miami is up three, and I am deeply pessimistic about the Mavs' long term chances. I'm slowing moving into the acceptance phase of loss, but (to be completely frank) it blows. I'd like to have an honest discussion with LeBron about adverbs for total closure. There is, however, good news. Ira Glass introduces this sweet mixtape from Cassettes Won't Listen (presumably as payback for Cassettes Won't [...]
It's been awhile since I've been around on this here weblog. Brian's been holding the fort down for the better part of a month, but things are looking up. I see flowers. I smell the spring that never came to Cleveland. Additionally, I am very, very close to the commencement of summer vacation. Two months off and a lot of spare minutes at my disposal. I've missed you, blogosphere. My vacation is shoring up pretty nicely, and this post essentially spins two plates at once. First, this is a far too [...]
Thoughts (mostly random): 1.) Mrs. Citizen enjoys the television program Criminal Minds. I cannot share that enjoyment for two reasons: (a) the dude from Dharma and Greg is completely unconvincing as a cop. I keep waiting for him to make a bad joke about yoga and/or vegetarianism. (b) The Simpsons ruined Joe Mantegna for me. I can't hear him talk without hearing Fat Tony in my head, which makes him really difficult to take seriously when he's talking about serial killers. 2.) I no longer understand [...]
I was driving home from the library last weekend. Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" was playing on 98.5, Cleveland's home for classic rock. (I still listen to terrestrial radio. I understand that some of the readership might not know what those two words mean. "Ipods" and satellite radio and the continued fracturing of the zeitgeist mean that all you little fuckers get whatever songs you want on your car stereo. I'm old school (or, perhaps, just old). I get what Michael Stanley wants me to get.) I shot Kevin a text message declaring that [...]
Click here to view the embedded video. Bob Dylan turns 70 on May 24. (This of course assumes that the world didn't end today. Look at a clock. If it's after six o'clock in the evening wherever you are, we all made it out alright. If you're currently on fire and/or with Magic Jesus, Mr. Zimmerman isn't gonna be blowing out any candles.) I know this because I still get Rolling Stone for free. (Again, Jann Wenner, thanks for keeping me in the loop. I'm [...]
What in the hell was Patrice Bergeron doing there? Principally, you don't chase a man behind the net. You cut the angle and pick him up on the opposite side. Worst case, he flips the script and a backchecker picks him up on the backside. I've had that conversation with squirts for Christ's sake. Second, he was lucky not to get a slashing penalty. Third, if you're gonna slash that dude, keep your stick around his knees. Completely inexcusable. That goal is on him, no questions asked. That said, I'm [...]
I'm late on this post. I'd planned on getting it up on Saturday, but the combination of the Spring holidays and a huge pile of grading to plow through stymied my efforts at timeliness. I'm actually just taking a break from that selfsame grading, so this particular missive will be brief. We start today with a fantastic song from Miami's Axe and the Oak. We got wind of the band through Record Store Day and are super impressed with their sludgy, Nick Cave-on-valium-y sound. You'll like the track below and can hear another one at [...]
I tried to name this post *.D. Singles *lub #2.11. Then I remembered that the * on my *omputer's keyboard stopped working. I've gone ahead and repla*ed all of the *s in this post with an asterisk. It fu*king su*ks. No * means no *trl-*, whi*h means no qui*k and easy *opy/pasting. Whi*h su*ks. It's not like I lost the "e" or something. That would be super *hallenging to work around. Turns out that the *, while not totally irrelevant, pops up more than you'd expe*t. If I would have lost [...]
Citizen Dick
Boards of Canada – Reach For The Dead
L D R U – The Tropics
Ace by @thebigsleepnyc #nowplaying
HAERTS: “All The Days”
