it's scary how this band gets better every time I hear them. The only other band I can say that about is The Strokes. yeah.
they ALWAYS sound fresh to me, and this performance is just killer. Thomas sounds great, as do the other guys
=)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Dead Confederate record a DAYTROTTER Session
score!
I actually was spinning Wrecking Ball earlier this week. this band is pretty damn sweet. read the article and download the tunes at DAYTROTTER
Dead Confederate - Yer Circus (daytrotter) [mp3]
The Strokes Post #215
I really do love NME. I met a couple of middle aged writers for the mag backstage after seeing Little Joy...I had to basically force it out of them where they worked, they were pretty discreet about it. our conversation was super awesome, and I took lots of notes of their suggestions. a few months ago, when I was going through my old journal (where I had taken the notes), I realized that they had told me about White Lies a few months before the blogosphere really blew up about them. even though I don't really listen to the band, I can really appreciate the leg up that NME still has in the music world.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Arctic Monkeys perform "Cornerstone" on Craig Ferguson
I love this song a lot. I abhor how tame the band has become.
"no you can't call me her name" I melted the first time I heard that line.
"no you can't call me her name" I melted the first time I heard that line.
Classic Track Thursday
I picked up Americana (1998) for fifty cents yesterday, and listened to the whole thing twice last night. it is the band's fifth album and I quite liked it. when I saw that it was produced by Columbia, I kind of winced and thought of the likes of Bob Dylan and The Clash and big labels vs rebellious music. I guess things were different in the pre-internet age but still.
of course, I had heard "The Kids Aren't Alright" about fifty billion times when I was growing up, so here it is:
The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright [mp3]
The Offspring headlined SF's annual BFD festival just this past summer, check it out:
The Strokes Post #214
sometimes I hate the world. I try to be a decent person but bad things always seem to happen to me.
my bike got stolen today. it was locked and parked in a residential neighborhood, outside of an elementary school. this is the second time that this has happened.
I'm in a pretty shitty mood, I've been trying to console myself with lindt truffles (the dark chocolate ones...the milk ones are too rich) and Pulp. the Jarvis Cocker kind, not the stuff from orange juice.
in a couple of hours I'll blow some steam off with my running shoes. at least this has gotten me angry enough to channel it into some fiction writing.
now I have to buy a fucking car. blerg I hate shopping.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Strokes Post #213
here's another delicious bootleg from 2001. the Is This It concerts are my favourite. so much carefree, fun, fuzz-filled goodness. and they almost always keep the songs in relatively the same order as the UK version of the album.
The Strokes - Live at the Wireless (06 August 2001) [zip file]
1. The Modern Age
2. Is This It
3. Barely Legal
4. Soma
5. Someday
6. Alone Together
7. Last Nite
8. Hard to Explain
9. NYC Cops
10. Trying Your Luck
11. Take It Or Leave It
"welcome to the party" = D
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The Strokes Post #212
Julian made the list of SPIN's 21 fall albums that matter the most
the list itself is decent, I disagree with a bunch of it, but then again, it's SPIN and I love it to death. by far my favourite magazine, I read it cover to cover every month and have been doing so for years.
here's what they have to say about Phrazes (love the last bit about 11th Dimension):
Release Date: October 20
The Skinny: With the Strokes still on hiatus after 2006's poorly received First Impressions of Earth, Phrazes is the most anticipated effort by an individual bandmember yet (Casablancas is the fourth Stroke overall to go it alone -- only guitarist Nic Valensi [sic] remains solo-less). It's also a carefully composed, if slightly eccentric, collection of catchy synth-rock numbers that rock and croon with aplomb, especially the blissfully-stoned-on-the-boardwalk, shoulda-been summer jam "11th Dimension."
Fast Fact: While completing Phrazes for the Young and preparing to play live as a solo act, Casablancas has also been in the studio working on new material with the other members of the Strokes.
Girls - Lust for Life
I have not been able to stop listening to this song, or the album for that matter, ever since Saturday.it's absolutely stunning, and probably my favourite song at the moment. stay tuned until Monday for a full review of the album
Girls - Lust for Life [mp3]
Monday, September 21, 2009
congratulations Zooey and Ben!
they tied the knot yesterday! they're both so cute, I could die.
Death Cab for Cutie - Someday You Will Be Loved [mp3]
I totally have a bigger crush on Zooey, she just kills me. I need to rewatch A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
concert review: Arctic Monkeys @ Fox Theatre (Oakland), 16 September 2009
There’s something about Oakland’s Fox Theatre that attracts shitty opening bands…or maybe it was a bad call by our Sheffield boys, who let the female band The Like to open for them. In any case, I won’t waste your time or mine describing their mediocre set.
Let’s get to the good stuff.
Fans will watch their favourite bands grow up, fall down, and everything in between. They will faithfully sit and stand and cheer, anything to show their unconditional love for their favourite groups. Sometimes, the musicians don’t return the favour.
Sometimes, their personas change to the point that the new “dark, brooding” sound on the latest mature release infiltrates their live set, and they become so subdued that you could almost call them jaded.
Sometimes, all that loud music and reverb, and the ace vocals, sometimes they just don’t cut it, if the band doesn’t seem into it. Sometimes, it’s just too much to see your favourite musicians stare at the floor, almost emptily.
Having seen the Arctic Monkeys on their FWN tour, I was prepared for some high energy shit to go down. I wanted to see them go insane, just like I knew the fans would.
The crowd obliged. The band did not.
Whereas in 2007, I remember Alex was clad in a suit and still managed to maneuver all over the stage via jumps et al, this time around, he went the opposite route with more comfortable jeans, and yet maintained a stationary, restrained position throughout the set. Even after throwing his leather jacket off a few songs into the set, Turner didn’t seem to get comfortable. Fortunately, however, his lack of enthusiasm did not deter the fans—who crowd surfed, danced, and screeched along to all of the lyrics.
Drawing a measly THREE songs from their famed debut (the one that got them where they are in the first place) the Arctic Monkeys managed to deliver even these hyperactive and carefree songs in the night’s signature mellow but loud manner. I thought this was a shitty way to treat the album which millions of fans swear by, playing day in and day out. The rest of their set revolved around their last two albums. On the songs from Humbug, the most notable and engaging thing was, without a doubt, Matt’s drumming. While most drummers strive to create a backbone for their band’s music, sometimes it seems like Alex, Jamie and Nick create background music for the one man show that is Mr. Helders. He was phenomenal and busted out some intense energy through the entire night, especially in their newer song “Sketchhead”. The same thing could not be said of his uncharacteristically self-suppressed frontman. The atmosphere created by Mr. Turner was almost eerie throughout the concert, which resulted from the noticeably subdued delivery from the band. Needless to say, I miss the crazy stage antics and painstakingly emotive facial expressions.
The high points of the show were Alex’s impassioned delivery of the lyric “what came first, the chicken or the dickhead?” (classic) and when the band picked up after the pause in “If You Were There, Beware”; they went kinda wild, which was nice. But sadly, the only times when Alex generally moved were during some of his guitar parts when he didn’t sing: he kinda shook his locks a bit. Speaking of, the man really needs a haircut…it never really bothered me until I saw what he looked like up close.
The low point of the concert was “Dangerous Animals”, a song I didn’t LOVE from the album, but even the recorded version was better than what the band delivered on stage.
The band’s second to last song (before the encore), “Only the Ones Who Know” was placid and sleepy, kind of like the whole show.
The encore included “Fluorescent Adolescent”, which I appreciated, but I still didn’t feel quite right about the show. Dissatisfied is the best possible way to describe how I felt after the concert.
I hope the band can turn around and take a gander at their drummer, and maybe take a page out of his book and remain true to the latter part of their name. I want some more animalistic insanity, not so much the chilly Arctic thing that they’ve adopted.
The musicianship was still really good, so I shouldn’t complain. I still love my Sheffield boys to death, and I know that they’ll return to form soon. Maybe that SPIN article was onto something, maybe we all just have to stay put until their fourth album.
3.4/5
set list:
Dance Little Liar
Brianstorm
Crying Lightning
Potion Approaching
Pretty Visitors
This House Is A Circus
Still Take You Home
I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
If You Were There, Beware
Sketchhead
My Propeller
Red Right Hand (Nick Cave cover)
Dangerous Animals
The View From The Afternoon
Cornerstone
Only Ones Who Know
Do Me A Favour
encore:
Secret Door
Fluorescent Adolescent
505
Arctic Monkeys - Potion Approaching (Live Web Transmission)[mp3]
The Strokes Post #211
On success: "I'm really grateful. But I never had the rock star dream. I thought it would be cool to be a modern-day composer."
-Julian Casablancas (The Observer, 2001)
Free Energy to play Slims with The Rakes
I was actually browsing the Slims' website yesterday and came across the November 1st show...I checked their website and they hadn't posted it yet, I guess the venue updates on weekends but the band doesn't!
anyhow, I'll see you all there, The Rakes put on one hell of a show and I've been waiting for this band to tour ever since I heard them for the first time, so this concert is bound to be oodles of fun.
09/25: Philadelphia, PA @ Phi Lam
10/02: Haverford, PA @ Lunt Basement
10/07: Beijing, China @ Modern Sky Festival (w/The Futureheads & British Seapower)
10/21: New York, NY @ Santos Partyhouse - CMJ Oh My Rockness Showcase
10/22: New York, NY @ Pianos - CMJ Windish Agency Showcase
10/24: London, UK @ Cargo (DFA Night)
10/26: London, UK @ Barfly
10/27: London, UK @ Rough Trade Records (Hoxton) In-Store (Early Show)/Waterats (Late Show)
10/28: London, UK @ Windmill
10/31: Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy*
11/01: San Francisco, CA @ Slims*
11/03: Salt Lake City, UT @ The Urban Lounge*
11/04: Denver, CO @ The Bluebird*
11/06: Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock*
11/07: Chicago, IL @ Double Door*
11/09: Toronto, ON @ Mod Club*
11/10: Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus*
11/11: Boston, MA @ Great Scott*
11/12: New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom*
11/19: Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
11/20: Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
11/21: Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
11/22: Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11/23: Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
11/24: Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
11/25: Washington, DC @ DC9, set TBA
11/27: Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
* = with The Rakes
Free Energy - Something In Common (Live on MPR) [mp3]
visit them on MYSPACE
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday Morning Covers
ZIP FILE
John Cale - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover) [mp3]
the version found in the film Shrek (the actual SCORE...Rufus Wainwright's version shows up on the soundtrack), sung by a founding member of the Velvet Underground. an awesome cover, indeed. by the way, does anyone even like Nico's contribution to their debut? I sure don't.
can I say that the Bowie/ Lou Reed friendship was and will always remain one of my favourites?
say what you will about John Mayer, but he does damn good live albums.
the classical take on the Radiohead classic.
whenever I hear this, I shiver with thrills.
Pearl Jam are on the cover of SPIN right now...I don't LOVE the article about them, but I hear their new album is really fun, upbeat and good. I shall check it out soon.
I can never remember how many people are in this band. so much goodness all around.
this is beyond amazing, as is Britt Daniel
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