Saturday, June 26, 2010
Crosscountry Road Trip.
I get two weeks off work after this coming Friday. I plan on driving through the country, exploring music venues, running trails, whatever. If you wanna show me your hometown, get drunk and rowdy with me, or even have suggestions of places I should hit up, leave me a comment or send me an email. More meticulous planning will ensue.
Saturday Music Definitions: Paper
Beck - Paper Tiger [mp3]
Mando Diao - Morning Paper Dirt [mp3]
Nirvana - Paper Cuts [mp3]
Audrye Sessions - The Paper Face [mp3]
Death Cab for Cutie - Champagne From A Paper Cup [mp3]
Guided By Voices - Bright Paper Werewolves [mp3]
Margot and the Nuclear So & So's - Paper Kitten Nightmare
Miles Davis - It's Only a Paper Moon [mp3]
Modest Mouse - Paper Thin Walls [mp3]
from the best MM record, The Moon & Antarctica
Shout Out Louds - Paper Moon [mp3]
Spoon - Paper Tiger [mp3]
bonus:
Gym Class Heroes - Cupids Chokehold [mp3]
from The Papercut Chronicles
I've always really loved this song--for an entirely unsentimental person, I love how sweet it is. I just realized something sad, listening to it again. this love song was written for Katy Perry, who is currently engaged to Russell Brand (blame my free subscription to RS for that little factoid). it just struck me like a ton of bricks that more often than not, the stories behind great love songs fade. and that's life for you.
Friday, June 25, 2010
band of the week: Silversun Pickups
what can I say about LA's Silversun Pickups? at first, I really didn't get their 2009 album Swoon. it all kinda faded into a blur to me, but I revisited it a while later and it hit me, hard. maybe it was circumstance. I think that Silversun Pickups are a band for a certain mood, and that may or may not be morose. certain elements need to align in order for the pieces to come together. but when they do, you're in for a real treat.
Silversun Pickups - Catch & Release [mp3]
I think loneliness can be useful at times--it can help you enjoy music that is often too complex for the emotionally content.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Classic Track Thursday
this week's track comes from my favourite Ramones LP, their third [which also houses my favourite Ramones song--"Sheena is a Punk Rocker"]. my vinyl copy is an original issue XD
The Ramones - I Don't Care [mp3]
from Rocket to Russia (1977)
under two minutes, this track epitomizes why I love The Ramones, and punk music in general. the callousness of the nonchalance is so gritty. so chic. to put it best:"I Don't Care"
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Vampire Weekend announce fall tour dates
they're playing the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. I'm seeing Pavement there on Friday. this is all a little surreal. I first saw VW at an itty bity venue called Rickshaw Stop (where they all signed my copy of their SPIN cover...and I happily chatted up their drummer for a while), but since then, they've played Oakland's majestic Fox Theatre and have had evening slots for Coachella and other similar fests. well done!
they're touring with Beach House, so double yum.
8/27 Vancouver, BC Malkin Bowl *
8/28 Vancouver, BC Malkin Bowl *
8/29 Redmond, WA Marymoor Amphitheater *
8/31 Troutdale, OR Edgefield Amphitheater *
9/1 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre #
9/2 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue #
9/3 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheater *
9/5 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom *
9/6 Bloomington, IN IU Auditorium *
9/7 Toronto, ONT Molson Canadian Amphitheater *
9/8 Montreal, QUE Metropolis Theater £
9/10 Rochester, NY Main Street Armory *
9/11 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion *
9/12 Boston, MA Bank Of America Pavilion *
9/13 Holyoke, MA Mountain Park *
9/15 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall *
9/16 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall *
9/17 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall *
9/25 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre Berkeley $
9/26 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Bowl $
9/28 San Diego, CA Soma $
9/29 Las Vegas, NV The Pearl At The Palms $
10/3 St.Louis, MO Chaifetz Arena $
10/4 Tulsa, OK The Brady Theater $
10/6 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom $
10/7 Houston, TX Verizon Wireless Theatre $
10/8 Austin, TX Austin City Limits Festival
10/11 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live $
10/13 Miami Beach, FL The Fillmore Miami Beach Jackie $
* = with Beach House + Dum Dum Girls
$ = with Beach House + The Very Best
£ = with Dum Dum Girls
# = with Beach House
Vampire Weekend - Taxi Cab [mp3]
video: OK Go's drummer has a staring contest with a Muppet
OK Go are still funny as hell.
their new music may be terrible to the extreme but this video is freaking hilarious:
their new music may be terrible to the extreme but this video is freaking hilarious:
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
record review: What Laura Says - Bloom Cheek
What Laura Says is a group of very talented musicians from Phoenix, Arizona who have been on Devendra Banhart's list for a while now. Their second album, Bloom Cheek, reflects their defining quality as a band: that is, their sound escapes the confines of normalcy, it expands and settles in your brain, drawing out colours and tones that you never realized existed. Bloom Cheek is divided between the first half of the album, which is more straightforwardly rock (in the Americana direction with a tinge of Southern intimacy) and its experimental second half. “Tape It” is airy, like early Who and “Lamb Hair” delivers like a fresher, more spirited Animal Collective. The title track is slow and emotive, like what John Mayer’s music would be if he weren’t a self involved douche bag. The chirpy keyboards and floating harmonies of some songs (“Lines and Colours”) contrast brightly with the choppy, reggae-structure of others (“Spoke”). The album is a winner because it’s eclectic but not in an ADHD way. It’s vivid and flows like a trip to the record store with numerous unrelated finds, dissimilar in everything but the fact that you love them all.3.7/5
Bloom Cheek was originally slated for a 6 July release but the date was expedited to today. preview it below and pick it up at your local record shop or, better yet, at a show. this band is definitely a force to behold live, check out their MYSPACE
for tour dates (they play CDN on July 7th)
interview with Ed O Brien: new Radiohead LP this year?
apparently, the band has been having lots of fun recording a new album, which the Radiohead guitarist claims is their best yet (and then chuckles at how silly he sounds. we love you, Ed)
maybe a December release, like In Rainbows? in any case, I am super stoked.
Radiohead - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi [mp3]
Phoenix do MTV unplugged
wait, a minute, haven't I seen this before? the perfection seems familiar...OH WAIT IT'S JUST PHOENIX BEING INFINITE AND BOUNTIFUL.
Phoenix - Lisztomania (SPIN session) [mp3]
Phoenix - Lisztomania (SPIN session) [mp3]
new tracks from The Henry Clay People
the LA band continues in their HEY-MAYBE-I-LIKE-SLEEPING-ON-A-COUCH journey to sound like Pavement via the Replacements. bless them. I need to review this album.
The Henry Clay People - Slow Burn [mp3]
The Henry Clay People - Glory [mp3]
I like this one so much.
hear more HERE
Monday, June 21, 2010
record review: Harlem - Hippies
As a lover of most things garage rock, I am pretty appalled by Austin’s Harlem and their buzzed about sophomore album, Hippies. Unlike the structured chaos of Pavement, Hippies not only sounds like it was actually made in a garage, but melds unsophisticated chord progressions with pathetic attempts at happy go lucky nostalgia. It’s messy in all the wrong ways and has no staying power. It sounds like the band decided to play all of their favourite 90s records backwards, recreate the sounds, record them and call it a day. The lead singer has nothing spectacular to offer vocally or lyrically. When they’re not rendering a poor man’s version of Black Lips, they deliver an annoying banter that is nothing more than an unoriginal amalgamation of the surfer punk trend that is old news at this point. Sorry, boys, better luck next decade.
2/5
Harlem - Friendly Ghost [mp3]
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday Morning Covers
ZIP FILE!The Gaslight Anthem - State Of Love And Trust (Pearl Jam cover) [mp3, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!]
Kings of Convenience - Free Fallin' (Tom Petty cover) [mp3]
I've heard so many covers of this song, but this one is particularly beautiful
Patti Smith - So You Want To Be (A Rock 'N' Roll Star) (The Byrds cover) [mp3]
Nirvana - The End (The Doors Cover) [mp3]
Beck - I'm Waiting For My Man (Velvet Underground Cover) [mp3]
Beck is on constant rotation, of course
Monsters of Folk - Girl From The North Country (Bob Dylan cover) [mp3]
Arctic Monkeys - Diamonds are Forever (Shirley Bassey cover) [mp3]
Audrye Sessions - Waltz #2 (XO) (Elliott Smith cover) [mp3]
My Morning Jacket - Behind That Locked Door (George Harrison cover) [mp3]
Robbers on High Street - Shout To The Top! (Style Council cover) [mp3]
Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven (The Cure cover)
this is so odd, but I love it.
The Strokes Post #477
I am so envious of Sofia Coppola. she's beautiful, talented, gets to sleep with Thomas Mars, break bread with The Strokes and her family is probably the coolest family on earth. the trailer below is for her new movie, Somewhere (set for a December release), and it features "I'll Try Anything Once" (it also begins with Phoenix's "Love Like a Sunset" *melts*)
The Strokes - I'll Try Anything Once [mp3]
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