As I mentioned earlier this year, it seems that as a result of the recent times, Brooklyn, New York has become the center of the world for indie rock aficionados. Sure, maybe the Dodgers will never move back east, but Brooklyn has definitely developed into something much larger than their former baseball team could ever compare to. Singer/songwriter Tim Williams certainly feels right at home and well within the walls and camaraderie of Brooklyn. While literally clicking alive on the heels of his third full-length album , Careful Love , Williams channels his personal darkest hours of reconstructive [...]
The Gaslight Anthem | "The '59 Sound" | 2008 From its Born to Run opening riff to its down-and-out, working man lyrics (including repeated lines), the title track to The Gaslight Anthem's second outing is the best pure rock song of the Aughts. [Maybe I'm slightly biased. It is, as of the time of this writing, the second-most played song on my last.fm account.] To give you an idea of just how Springsteen-esque this song is (never mind the fact that the band's from Jersey), simply notice that singer/guitarist Brian Fallon begins [...]
D20 is upon us! Recently, I've been listening to a fair amount of 70s and 80s French music―everything from Bernard Szajner to Karen Cheryl―and I figured it's about time I share some of it with you! Since I'm in a disco sort of mood today, we'll talk about Voyage, a very theatrical yet loungey disco group that made music you'd be more likely to hear at a cocktail hour rather than a thumpin' club. That's not to say the tunes on their 1979 LP, Fly Away , are timid, meek, or tired―they [...]
Beck - "Harry Partch" ; The history of the musical feud dates back centuries probably, but in the last few decades it has really been the bearer of some terrific music at the hands of the hated on. This week Beck responded to all this Matt Friedberger (of The Fiery Furnaces) vs. Radiohead vs. Himself controversy with a song dedicated to late composer Harry Partch. Now that's not the same Harry Patch that Radiohead dedicated a song to. This little tune featuring snippets from Fiery Furnaces' songs and Partch's own composition structure really takes Friedberger to town. To [...]
Slab was Nina Walsh and Lol Hammond (ex-Drum Club). I'm going to go for two posts on them. This time their own work and next time a series of Weatherall remixes. Slab formed in 1995 and finished in 1999. Their work was always on the more experimental side of techno, sounding in many ways quite similar to Two Lone Swordsmen. Their material was released on experimental electronic funk label Hydrogen Dukebox or on Walsh's own Sabrettes label. Like Lionrock and the Chemical Brothers, Slab are a Brit-hop [...]
![Pablo Bolivar – Looking For A Shape [009HR]](http://cache.elbo.ws/posts/2139873_lg.jpg)
This four-track vinyl is an absolute must have for those who love to play a chugging, driving style of minimal and techno. Produced by Barcelonas Pablo Bolivar, "Looking for a Shape", pushes the depth and groove that he is known for, but in a more aggressive yet subtle way. The original doesnt allow one to breath with constant changes in percussion and amazing flow. His "Phase Two" track will annihilate the speakers in clubs with deep bass and is a sharp, tightly wound percussive masterpiece. The remixes offered are by Monkey Brothers, who take a very different turn with the [...]
***Think Spielberg's "Duel" + Russ Meyer's "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!" + Marc Dorcel's wildest fantasies all warped into an 8-bit Sega era style graphic*** Flairs "Truckers Delight EP" Third Side Records Released: November 23 vinyl & digital www.thirdsiderecords.net www.myspace.com/mightyflairs TRACKLISTING "Truckers Delight" "Truckers Delight (Alex Gopher Remix)" "Truckers Delight (Alixander III Remix)" FREE DOWNLOAD [See full post to listen to audio] [...]
"I'm supposed to advertise myself, so any questions?" seems to be Wallis Bird's personal calling card for the evening. Most of the queries revolve around Wallis' phone number (087-4, apparently), but she's doing a solid job of advertising herself without the assorted between-song antics, producing a charismatic, bubbly singer-songwriter set that's a touch cheesy yet intriguing and fulfilling at the same time. No doubt Wallis picked up a few fans along the way, but right from the off there's no doubt who the sell-out Olympia crowd are wedged against the barriers for. [...]
Multiverse Playground event was presented by Paper Garden Records @ 3rd Ward in Brooklyn , a member-based design center. Sponsors included: 3 rd Ward, Uncensored Interview, Art Battles, Lomography, 1776, The BLDG, Project Fathom. Paper Garden Records current roster Peasant , Emanuel and the Fear and [...]
Michael Silver of CFCF first full-length album titled Continent on Paper Bag Records is out NOW and we've been given the opportunity to take a full listen. The spotlight was originally put on Silver after his his competition winning remix of Crystal Castles "Air War" hit the blogs, followed by a plethora follow-ups that delivered exactly what his fans would expect. I don't think it would be fair to recall CFCF by his remixes after this point as he has made the leap from an excellent remixer to a great overall producer with 'Continent'. [...]
In what is easily one of the sexiest scenes in the history of the show, Gossip Girl had a threesome a couple episodes a go. This is the song that soundtracks it. Here, Anya Marina does a T.I. cover that works on so many different levels. It's not kitschy like so many indie covers of rap songs are; it's subtle, sexy, and takes on a whole new meaning in her breathy voice. And really, that's what the best covers do: provide a whole new perspective on a song that had previously been considered in only one context. It [...]
Howl - ' I Hear It's Love' (mp3) Howl, you animated bunch of little twerps, you smug teenage dirtbags with your corresponding assymetrical haircuts and your sharp monochromatic attire; thank you for compelling the bulk of the population of twenty-something musos to shirk back to their factory day jobs screwing lids on toothpaste tubes. What is wrong with you? Kids your age should be spitting in burgers. Not winning national radio band [...]
All through the record, David Wingo succeeds at creating affecting, gauzy rooms of sound. Although once in a while, a song gets lost in them. David Wingo, the man behind Ola Podrida, has clearly learned a thing or two from his past, back when he used to score films for his pal David Gordon Green. Slipping in the subtle evocative sound, establishing a sonic landscape, expanding out into swells of emotion or coiling into near silence -- Belly of the Lion gives us Wingo in complete control of all these effective moves. He's built on the hushed tension of [...]
It seems like often times the best art comes out of tragedy. Some of the most moving and emotionally stirring music in the last few years such as Funeral , "Casimir Pulaski Day" , The Meaning of 8 , or more recently Hospice , touch on feelings of loss, depression, and redemption. Sam Jacobs, singer-songwriter and frontman The Flying Change , draws from him caring for his wife, who suffers from excruciating back pain due to spinal nerve defects, and their shared experiences [...]
And this website is no different. Occasionally, it pops it's head up, has a good hard look around the place and checks what it's really workin' with. Today, we made a subtle change to the way the homepage (and sub news pages etc) behave, whereby you no longer need to 'drill in' to a post to read it. Larger posts (ie. those where we spaff on a bit or show hi-res pics of Beth's Ditto - zing) will still have the famous Read More[tm] option BUT announcements, news tidbids and 'fun facts' will now [...]
I don't know what to say about this remake of a very good, very influential movie, other than to say you could see it coming with blinders on and it looks like utter crap. Okay, okay. The movie itself doesn't look bad, but that trailer. My god. I'm no rocket scientist but what is up with the Limp Bizkit score and the movie's tagline: "Titans Will Clash"? The movie is called Clash of the Titans and the best the marketing department could come up with as a slogan/tagline is titans will clash. [...]
BEST ALBUMS OF THE NOUGHTIES The daunting task of putting together something that you know lots of readers won't agree with is never easy, but then we thought you could always go make your own lists. At least we had the balls... So the 50s had rock n roll, the 60s had it's pop and folk, the 70s it's punk, disco and glam, the 80s it's pop, hip hop and hair rock, the 90s it's grunge, brit pop and dance music. It begs the question - what standout genre defines the [...]
Don't forget to rate the album at the end of the post. Welcome back to Blinded By The Hype, the PMA feature in which we revisit albums once the hype has died down. In today's world, music is released at a machine gun pace. It's a what-have-you-done-for-me-late ly type scene, and "lately" usually means this week. Rarely do we stop to smell the roses. Even good albums get overlooked as time passes. And we almost never – aside from year end lists – take a look backward. Hindsight is 20-20, and we'd like to apply that retrovision [...]
is it just me or does jesu seem more at home here than on hydra head? doth broadrick on these records not have more in common with the fuzzy slo-mo murmurings of mark kozelek and alan sparhawks rockist tendencies? i think so. in fact i'd be so bloody bold (though not really) to say that this shit is just red house painters turned way the fuck up. actually that's a pretty stupid thing to come out with. retraction, your honour. anyhoo. this is the new ep. and all my favourite jesu shit comes out on ep. [...]
The rise and fall of Everclear and The Cherry Poppin' Daddies. by Michael Mannheimer and Casey Jarman This week, as if by some strange cosmic alignment, two large-looming ghosts from Oregon music history return to Portland for encore performances. And it turns out, Everclear and the Cherry Poppin' Daddies have more in common than their disparate music would suggest: Both flew impossibly high, both bands' frontmen are mythicized and reviled and, as they plummeted back down to earth, both acts were unceremoniously butchered­ (or outright ignored) by ex-fans and critics. Here's a bittersweet look [...]
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
Bobby B's Top 50 Albums Of The Decade (#25-21)
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
