I don't know if it's possible to fully love an album without having actually heard it. If it is, then that is exactly what happened with me with Rodney Crowell's 2003 album Fate's Right Hand . On Father's Day in 2003, I drove to Charleston, West Virginia for a taping of The Mountain Stage radio program. This trip was made fairly early in my discovery phase of Americana music, and I attended the show primarily to see Kasey Chambers. Kasey [...]
In retrospect, B-LIVE has sent a hell of a lot of good music our way this year. Much of that, in the latter part of the year, has been in the form of a whole heap of storming reMixes of Drop The Lime 's 'Devil's Eyes' Saving the best for last, they are now unleashing this epic reMix by Major Lazer man and superstar producer Diplo . Frantic percussion underlies this summery, party, Electro banger with an exotic flavour. Rapid fire synth stabs and cut up vocals belie what is actually quite a chilled party track…it's [...]
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 [...]
The summer of 2003 was a hot one in eastern Washington, and my concrete bunker of an apartment contained the heat like no other. Granted, the above image wasn't shot by yours truly until 2004, but it sure seemed hot enough to ignite even the least combustible of items. I wrapped up my undergraduate that December, which was cold as Antarctica, and upon that milestone I moved to Seattle. It was a good year for the Northwest; many of my favorite albums came from Seattle labels like Sub Pop and Barsuk. As for the list, I've [...]
All Time Low Nothing Personal Hopeless Records [2009] Fire Note Says: If you are in the mood. Album Review: All Time Low fall into the emo pop category and on their third record Nothing Personal their style is in full force. Their lyrics all stay primary focused on good and bad relationships and their music stays upbeat. All Time Low do not spend much time creating overly [...]
Switchfoot Hello Hurricane Atlantic Records [2009] Fire Drill Review: On Hello Hurricane , Switchfoot sound completely comfortable and well settled into their own rock sound, which actually combines U2 like anthems and Coldplay type rock structures to truly create one of their most unique and non-formula following records to date. This is driven by straight ahead rockers that have teeth and catchy soaring choruses that are memorable. Hello Hurricane represents the [...]
By David Teller, contributor The opening track on Red Wire Black Wire 's debut LP, Robots and Roses , roars with driving, definitive synth lines and pulsating guitar riffs that immediately put this band on the strong list of Brooklyn electro-pop indie bands. What makes RWBW stand out? Front-man Doug Walter puts his own spin on this genre by adding a tone of bodymovin melancholy with his crooning, often ironic vocals. Doug does a damn good job of reminding us that while at times we all may be pretty miserable in New York, [...]
The Gregg Rolie Band Rain Dance (Limited Edition) Review by Nightwatcher Forty years ago, in a muddy pasture, part of a dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York, the original Santana band performed a show stopping set at the legendary Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Stunning the 500,000 plus in attendance with their unique, visionary blend of heavy blues based guitar rock melded with Latin rhythms, it was one of the highlights of the event, serving to help catapult the young musical collective to instant stardom. Four decades may have passed [...]
It's never easy to map out an entire decade in music. So, in constructing the "Decade in Music" interactive timeline , we sought to shape it with some of the bigger tent-pole trends, news (Elton John performing with Eminem) and groundbreaking changes in the industry, business and technology (Napster, the iPod). We also wanted to highlight albums (Britney Spears, Danger Mouse, Radiohead) that took a snapshot of the era, as well as deaths (Ray Charles, Johnny Cash) that affected everyone. And, of course, we wanted to include the occasional "wardrobe malfunction" controversy or bizarre curiosity ("Trapped in the Closet") [...]
I'm a Hank Williams fan.... who isn't?? I may not have mentioned anything about the crooner here before, but for any fan of country music, it kinda goes without saying. I've also never tried to amass any kind of complete recordings collection of Hank's - I grab a track when I come across one and buy a random CD when I find it. So for that reason, I'm not afraid to admit I first heard today's One-Hitter when it was featured as the theme song for a short-run HBO animated series. [...]
As bootlegs go, the tour that supported Bruce's Darkness on the Edge of Town has to be my favorite (followed closely by The River ). My favorite show? Without question, it's July 7th, 1978 at the Roxy - a small club show in L.A. The quality is perfect, the intensity unmatched. In fact, let me play it now.... *click click* ..... okay, that's better. So by popular demand, here's the recent Darkness show at the Spectrum in Philly. Can you believe we're down to only two shows left on [...]
Hurricane Bells Tonight Is The Ghost Vagrant Records [2009] Fire Note Says: This is one Hurricane to stick around for! Album Review: Hurricane Bells is the new project from Longwave singer/guitarist Steve Schiltz. You may already know the name as they recently had an exclusive song included on the soon to be huge New Moon: Twilight Series Soundtrack and it apparently is one of the first songs [...]
Snow Patrol Up To Now Fiction/A&M Records [2009] (2 CD Set) Fire Drill Review: With fifteen years and five albums, Snow Patrol , have much more material then many know about, as this new 2 disc compilation, Up To Now not only captures the hits but also features rarities, covers songs and three new tracks. This will be an eye opener for many [...]
My coworker/friendo/fellow film photographer Ken Wu went to Tokyo last month, as I may have mentioned. Saw the sites, including the Studio Ghibli museum (fasho), and reports back with photos plus this time lapse he managed to capture from his hotel room. One can assume he was sipping some Suntory whiskey as the shutter repeatedly went off. Relaxing times. [...]
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 [...]
Hey there metal f*ckers! Another blog for another month, and yet I find myself writing it with a similar hangover. October was a somewhat quiet month for Atlanta shows, but there was really just one that I was worried about: the almighty Metallica. If you don't know, I am a HUGE Metallica fan. I don't care what they do wrong, they are still my idols, and I love them. They came early in October with the opening acts you may have heard of, Lamb Of God and Gojira . The concert [...]
Contrast Podcast recently asked music bloggers like myself to submit our favorite 50 songs of the year for their annual "Festive 503 podcast. Our selections were then compiled into a shortlist and now we've been asked to recruit votes to narrow it down. For the curious, I've bolded the 10 songs I personally voted for. I really, really want "Nice Very Nice" by Kurt Vonnegut & Dave Soldier (from their album Ice-9 Ballads ) to make the final list. Not only because it's my favorite song of the year, from my favorite album of the year, [...]
Matter of Time mp3 The Leisure Society The Sleeper ..... ..... buy it Well, now this is getting interesting... Over at the Contrast Podcast , Tim's solicited everyone for their favorite 50 songs of 2009, remember? From all the responses he's compiled the top 155. I'm very impressed with the list! If you didn't submit your faves yet, you've still got a chance to get in the game at this point! Help us out, eh? (I"ve highlighted my top 10 in blue) Here's [...]
The problem with a list like this is the "shoulds". You know, the albums you feel like everyone else will pick, so you "should," too? Well, this time I decided not to deal with those. My list is based on the number of times I listened to these albums since they came out, whether I love them so much I already know every word to every song, how much it moved me, etc. This is a personal list. It isn't intended to be complete or controversial. That said, I know I'll get crap for [...]
It's arguable that Vampire Weekend has had to deal with the most violent hype backlash in the indie world since Is This It? Although the Strokes' follow-up, Room On Fire , didn't garner the same hype as their debut, it was still a remarkably solid album in its own right. It seems like the same dynamics may again be in play for Vampire Weekend. With each subsequent snippet of the upcoming Contra that leaks to the masses, it becomes apparent that the album will be just as engaging for fans of the self-titled [...]
new music from vampire weekend – cousins + music video
Friday Five: Surf Songs
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
No Curve Allowed (Grading This Week's New Tracks)
