As an aside, I’m writing this all while listening to a ton of old house and electronica. The antithesis to what I’ll be posting, today. In fact, since I can’t find a good audio program on the cheap to rip all my old vinyl, I’ve resorted to digging around youtube to find some of it. What am I listening to right now?
That seriously could be the best choon Armand did on the remix tip. No joke. That’s just some filthy disco goodness. Nice use of low and hi-pass filters to tease everything in, too. I used to kill this track when I dj’ed. Ah, memories.
Anyways, let’s get back to what the hell I meant to write about. And before you little hipster snobs start giving me shit, yes, I am just hearing about the band I’m posting today. No, you don’t have cred. Stop it. Speaking of hipsters, that reminds me of quite possibly my favorite joke. Ever. I mean, ever. Because it’s fucking funny. I love swearing to accentuate things. In my mind, it makes me seem chic without trying. Or just an ass. Take your pick. Anyways:
How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
insert dramatic pause here
It’s a really obscure number. You’ve probably never heard of it.
Yes, I think I’ve made a few people angry, but also a few people have smirked. Hopefully, a few also snorted milk through their nose. If so, send pics. But, uh, yeah. I keep getting off track. The band in question today is Heartless Bastards. I mean, I heard this song “The Mountain” on Saturday while driving into work, and my mind was just blown. It’s epic. Seriously. Epic. Say that word along with me, now – epic. Italics are cool, huh?
So I guess the former producer of Spoon, Mike McCarthy, produced this latest album, entitled The Mountain. So far? I like what I hear. And today I bring you a couple nuggets of goodness. Seriously. You guys read through a pointless diatribe (I hope) just to get to this point. Oh, and here’s also something else I’ve been listening to. Because holy shit is the video just disturbingly funny. I mean, almost to the point where it’s hypnotic. Not Hpnotiq. That’s cognac for sissies. This, however, isn’t for sissies. And I mean that for both the video and the Heartless Bastards tracks I’m posting.
It seems like people are desperate to find the easy-listening type of artist they can turn on when they want to intentionally feel depressed. Or deeper in love, depending on the slant they want to pull out of the music. Apparently the world needs more Joshua Radins… Ray LaMontagnes… Damien Rices. Myself, I have honestly never listened to Radin but I worship LaMontagne and can barely stand to listen to Rice. Oh wait. Don’t get me wrong. I love Damien Rice. I listened to O a minimum of one hundred seventy-eight times. But it slices through my heart like a razor. It’s hard to hear. So here is my replacement:
Dan Mangan.
Even that pic just kills me – but in a good way. Thankfully. Who is this Dan Mangan? A Canadian chap, been recording music since he was 20. That was in 2003 when he released his first EP, All At Once. Mostly his work has been recognized throughout Vancouver. The album I recently picked up was released in August 2009, called Nice, Nice, Very Nice.
Let me share with you what everyone in Vancouver gets to hear on the radio, on the daily. Track 1 and 2 are what’s been released, and I like them fine, but I’m loving the other tracks more. The releases getting radioplay (well, Canadian radio) are both a bit more on the anthem-y side, but I prefer “Robots” (Track 2) to “Road Regrets” (Track 1). I just feel like both these tracks switch direction on you and you ask yourself, wait – what was this song about?
Waking young and feeling old The days are no longer my own To piss away the waking hours But don’t let them go to waste
You’re wondering where in the hell the comparison to any of the artists above is. Yeah yeah. I’ve seen comparisons to Radiohead (is that just a catch-all for bands who you can’t assign another “sounds-like” to?), and Bon Iver. Well, in Track 3, “The Indie Queens Are Waiting”, Mangan utilizes the support of Veda Hille for a back-and-forth that reminds me of Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan, and never picks up the tempo. And it’s a gorgeous song, even if it has nothing to do with the heartache that the other couple sings about.
So the album in its entirety is really a mix of all things that Mangan wants to create.
“For this record, I think I kind of turned the corner from listening to strictly roots music to listening to a lot of indie rock and indie pop,” he says. “It then became about branching worlds together. There are a lot of one-two bluegrass bass lines on the record, but at the same time I don’t feel like it’s a bluegrass record. There are a couple of songs that are really mellow and guitar-vocal-heavy, but I don’t feel it’s a sappy singer-songwriter record. There are a couple of punk-rock fills, but it’s not a rock ’n’ roll record. I really don’t know where it fits in.”
So he starts his wrap-up of the album with a simple, but somewhat jarring portrait of one man’s life, and the final track is then quite something of an open-ended question as well. But here is Track 11 of 12, “Basket.”
So there’s a puzzle I work on endlessly And I’ve got the sides and all the corners But there’s a space Yeah there’s a space Lost some pieces I can’t replace
Okay. Modest Mouse show review, here. If you only heard of these guys when “Float On” came out? Leave. Now. I mean it. To help you out, here is an appropriate website for people of your intelligence to go to.
Okay, now for the disturbing facts. Modest Mouse was decent. Pretty good. They didn’t “kill it” as the Twitter feed by HOBBoston I read said. No. They were good in spots. Here’s the thing. Isaac Brock? He’s not built for this. The mainstream success. Hell, look at their new shirt. A zombie-esque cat. The antithesis of the mouse. Essentially, I saw that and went, “Sweet! They’re mocking their idiot fans!” and bought it instantly. As did many of the fans being mocked. Last laugh? Modest Mouse. Well played, Isaac. Well played.
George knows how long I’ve been a fan of these guys. Hell, I’m even a “new” fan to some. I mean, I “only” got into them about ten years ago. Still, as ravenous as I am with music, it wasn’t long before discovering their earlier works. Albums like This Is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About and Lonesome Crowded West became favorites. I mean, who can hate a song titled “Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset”? Hell, my first time seeing them was in September of 2001. I did a review of that show for the now defunct site I helped George with then. I got to meet Brock after the show. To say he is an odd man? Well, I’m considered pretty fucking nuts. My mind is not a place for the timid. This guy makes me look borderline sane. Which is probably why I liked the band.
Anyhow, back to this particular show. No recent album out. Which right away screamed, “The label is fucking them, so they are trying to make a buck.” And that’s fine. The House of Blues in Boston, despite the whole mantra of “Love One, Love All” doesn’t really show love to the fans with tickets in the Mezzanine. Craptacular view. And hot. In a terrible way. I wanted to find a midget to punch. They are here for our entertainment, after all, right?
So they did “Float On” early, and I even overheard some of the dipshit bandwagon fans say, “Wow. I’m surprised they did that one so early!” Do you know why? BECAUSE THEY ARE SICK OF THAT FUCKING SONG! See, the thing is, that whole album, Good News For People Who Love Bad News is good. However, take a look at their album titles the further they’ve gone. It’s like watching Jack Kerouac get darker and darker in his novels. He knew there wasn’t a good ending, and I have a feeling Brock knows this, as well. He has essentially become part of something we know he probably hates. But with his twisted sense of humor, he’s certainly going to milk it for what it’s worth until then. In a weird way? I’m alright with that. Again, well played Isaac. Anyhow, other tracks I can remember include “Paper Thin Walls” – which I love – and “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine”, “Dramamine”, and “Blame It On the Tetons”. My favorite that got love from the band was “Here It Comes”. God do I fucking love that song. Not one person around me was singing along. Not one. Let me repeat that. NOT ONE. A song with lyrics like “walking around with shit on my shoes…oh here it comes” is something you idiots can’t remember? And see, the kicker here is that they repeat the line “here it comes” a myriad of times. It’s called repetition. Stop lamenting why Johnny Marr isn’t with the band, any more, and get with it, you small minded bandwagon douches. By the way, the fourth shirt you’re wearing needs its collar popped.
Well, after all of that business, I was just going to leave. The thing with the mezzanine was I couldn’t go back to the floor level. Understood due to the fact that it was sold out. Here was one of the few bright spots of the night. The girl working that knew I couldn’t see squat? Well, I was about to leave before the encore, and she actually grabbed me and told me if I wanted, I could stay below, now. Essentially, enough folks were leaving to deal with the crowding issue. I don’t want to potentially get this young lady in any trouble, so I will omit her name. Gotta look out for those that looked out for me, after all.
Immediately after getting down there, another view of what a bunch of pricks this new generation of Modest Mouse fans are. An encore. We all know about this. Why? Because we go to enough concerts to know about them. Well, I had the pleasure of standing next to three couples. The girls? Basically foul mouthed trophies for the frat boy guys they were with. That’s the first bad sign. When one of the girls yells, “Come on assholes!” to, I guess, coax the band out? I cringed. It wasn’t until one of the guys screams, “Fucking come out or I’m leaving!” that I had it and bitched out these little shits. As I told them, it’s a concert. This is what an encore is.
The finish of the show included one of my other favorites by the band – “Gravity Rides Everything”. Now, I have a personal attachment to this song, so I was quite pleased to head out on a high note. The crowd and venue was just terrible. In both instances, there were redeeming qualities, for sure. The band did seem to feed off of the crowd, so at times they looked a bit bored. They were still good. Just nothing like the previous three times I had seen them. How much more of this can Brock take? Well, he seems to have a sense of humor about it, so I’d say we may still see a few more albums before they call it quits. Here’s to hoping I can see them without these dopey fans, though. I can do without them.
I’m particularly sensitive to the musical “purists” whom I’ve known over the years who might scoff – or even walk out – if they saw a band preparing for their live performance to include some sort of playback equipment. Bad Veins is Benjamin Davis and Sebastian Schultz, and when they go to perform live, they bring Irene with them to help duplicate the thrilling sounds they’ve created in the studio. “Created in the studio?” These so-called purists might say. “Then that’s not music.”
Really?
So if you were to create art on paper or canvas… Your only choices are watercolors, acrylics, or charcoal? Surely any artist worth his salt would scoff at the use of any other medium, no?
No.
When Joseph Kekuku found himself dragging a metal bolt along the strings of his guitar… when Les Paul and Charlie Christian experimented with the modification of their instruments… The artform of music was enhanced for our enjoyment. Whether the artist uses re-mixing, layering tracks, banging pots and pans… This is music. This is expression. Embrace it.
So thank God the boys in Bad Veins can set up Irene, their antique reel-to-reel player, so they can share their unique music with a live audience. Irene has taken a licking and keeps on ticking, even if overzealous onstage supporters from other bands accidentally turn her off. She provides a hefty dose of extra tracks that help thicken their sound. So there is that, and then watching Sebastian Schultz go apeshit on the drums is something that should not be missed.
I probably didn’t have to go so far to defend this sound. A healthy ninety percent or so of our readers already get it. But as I said. I’m sensitive to the loud minority. So there it is.
I watched this band live recently, and it was pretty fascinating to see how he sang into an old telephone receiver for a few of the tracks where that muted, I-can’t-sing-right-into-the-mic-because-it-will-steal-my-soul sound is preferred. Like in Track 6, “The Lie.”
Though they formed in 2006, there was no rush to make a record. Their self-titled debut LP was released in 2009, and it’s 10 tracks of thoughtful composition. They toured quite a bit before even releasing that album, and I believe they’ve finally wrapped up their spring/summer tour where they pretty much went everywhere in the US. Feel bad if you missed them.
I just went through their twitter feed in an attempt at stalking grandeur, and saw that they are pals with Chris Hardwick. Now that’s cool. The Nerdist can help you find all sorts of cool stuff. That’s an aside. I’m running out of things to say. I’m pretty impressed with Bad Veins. I love Track 8, “Dryout”, as well, but if you’re looking for more laid-back tunes, they’ve got a new EP out, called Outliers, four simple tracks for a chill afternoon.
But I’m going to leave you with something upbeat. So enjoy “Dryout”. And then buy their shit. They will be back out on tour next month.
This is one where I basically tell y’all to not sleep on a couple of artists. One you know. One you may not. Who knows. You all seem to be pretty bright and all Johnny on the spot and stuff. Good for you.
Anyhow, there’s this band by the name of Sleigh Bells. They’re noisy. I mean really noisy. Just not in that way where you want to stab out your own eardrums. It’s good stuff. Most of the music is programmed in, with only the guitar being the live instrument. Well they made somewhat of an impact in that they got the attention of Pitchfork, who I personally can’t stand. But hey, they get throngs of hipsters to read, so I guess they aren’t all bad, right? So when “Crown to the Ground” came out last year, it piqued my attention, and ended up being listed in Pitchfork’s top 100 of 2009. Well played. Well played, indeed. So here we have “Tell ‘Em”, which is just as noisy and raucous. So enjoy it.
Next is one you really don’t need an introduction or explanation for. The Gorillaz. Seriously. Do I need to describe these guys to you? Really? You know. Damon Albarn? The guy from Blur? Yeah, the people that did that song “Clint Eastwood”. Correct. Well, this is “Glitter Freeze”. And it’s pretty badass. That is all.
It’s interesting to give the Sky Sailing project which gives reference to the project that followed it, but that’s just how this one is going down. Adam Young has gone back to recordings made before he created Owl City and has released them under his former moniker as well. An Airplane Carried Me To Bed is the name of the album released under the name Sky Sailing.
Owl City isn’t over with. Young is working on Owl City’s next record at this very moment. He explains where Sky Sailing came from in his blog:
Three and a half years ago, I recorded a collection of songs in my parent’s basement during the bleary-eyed hours of night when sleep and I could not bring ourselves to meet. I was a metalworker, working 6 AM to 4 PM at a warehouse in my little southern Minnesota town. I was writing, creating, thinking, imagining and breathing music with every second I had to spare. Music has always been my dream, but at that point in time, it was merely a feather tossed to the wind. Regardless, my spirits were far from dampened and I created music as fast and as furiously as I could. In my little basement bedroom, I had an old Dell computer, Reason 2.5, a friend’s borrowed Behringer C-1 condenser, a Behringer 8 channel analog mixer and my uncle’s old Alvarez. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing but I was a dreamer and music was my escape so I gave it everything I had. Never expecting my music to be heard anywhere but by my parents through the floorboards above, I wrote for my own ears. I was both artist and audience and I called myself Sky Sailing.
Not that this is terribly different than the way his Owl City albums are created.
“This album is a step into the past, the documented account of a shy boy from Minnesota with more hopes and dreams than he knew what to do with,” he continues.
Oh, OK then.
Well, I’ve got the alone vibe all over this post and it’s all over Young’s projects. So I will share Track 9, “I Live Alone”.
With no connection I saw your reflection at home In my bedroom mirror And I felt young again when I saw what we could’ve been In all of those years
Hey Adam, how long are you going to do this alone? John Lennon said, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” It’s good music and all, buddy, but is that your plan?
If we hook a dream And it tows us back down this open stream We’ll say, “Hello – oh, take us wherever you go.”
Comparisons to Death Cab For Cutie and Postal Service are fair, especially with lyrics like I’ll meet you/Where the page proclaims the end/And I’ll make due/With the fractions my reactions bend
It’s quite a sweet and whimsical collection of songs when you get down to it. The perfect soundtrack to these hot summer nights when all you want to do is cool off. Or be alone. Or wish you weren’t alone.
So the whole LeBron James fiasco is over. I just felt the need to write about how I didn’t give a shit and somehow put it to music. So here I am, writing some splendiferous fantastical whimsy to make you smile. If you don’t, then learn how and join in.
So LeBron felt the need to tease us with a one hour show about where he would go. If you watched that show and were in need to know where a guy would dribble and shoot a ball? You’re the problem in this country. Along with the assholes that hate gays and love war. Sorry, but it’s true. Even David Stern was unhappy with the way he went about it all. Even worse, however, was Dan Gilbert’s response. This made it look like a couple of ten year-olds fighting. Stupid. And this, people, is what our country cares about. Isn’t that just a bit depressing?
So with that being said, the song of the moment for me will be Run DMC’s “Down With The King”. Because I really hope LeBron fails. And if you want to leave a hateful response? Fine. I’m a big boy. I can take it.
Here it is again. Festival Season in full swing. If you’ve been to, or even considered, a music festival in the last few years you may have heard of Tokyo Police Club. It’s almost as if they formed for the sole purpose of performing at festivals. Within two years of becoming a band, they played Coachella, Lolla, Bumber, Glastonbury, and Reading & Leeds. All in the same year. In 2010 they will be doing some European festivals, Squamish, and… Outside Lands.
As you probably know, inALLcaps had some representation at Outside Lands last year and I’ve been turned a bit inside out with the decision not to attend this year. And up until now this was a secret: Tokyo Police Club was my main reason for trying to hold out so long and convince Mookie to go.
There is something soothing in the lead singer’s voice and something jiggedy in the music that makes it feel like something you should always be listening to.
Infectious. That’s what it is.
Tell me what’s the first Very first record you owned ’cause I’ve got no plans if you don’t No plans if you don’t
And I can’t decide which is my favorite track on Champ, released Jun 8. But Track 2, “Favourite Colour,” is pretty damn enjoyable.
Honestly I like each track more than the last. And I am starting to get really torn between going to Outside Lands just to see these boys, going to Hawaii, buying a car, paying tuition… Hmmmmmmmm…
Check out their first released video from the new album, for the track “Boots of Danger (Wait Up)”. Friggin adorable dogs swimming. No really, trust me. I never knew dogs who put their front paws in the water before going in. I thought they all just got a running start. I don’t know about the one who appears to be getting himself out at the wall though. Did I pay too much attention to detail on this video?
It happens.
You’re going to buy this album now right? I don’t know how you can survive the rest of the year without it.
Now this is one I just have been itching to write. Elton John versus Biz Markie! Cage match! GO! If no one gets it, yet, you are probably going to listen to one of the absolute best covers ever. Why is it so good? Because it’s so bad. Biz Markie just absolutely butchers the original version of “Bennie and the Jets”, here. And everywhere I’ve seen, the Beastie Boys version has been spelled as “Benny and the Jets”, which leads me to believe the misspelling was intentional to avoid some legal fracas with the legendary piano playing John.
Well, to be honest, the Beastie Boys do a wonderful job with the music on this one. They really have become excellent musicians in their own right. Now, when they were making this, we know that they maybe had the idea of bringing Biz Markie into it. I mean, who else do they know would sing this? Who other than Biz could do it? Seriously! Name someone out there that could sing this with the Beastie Boys doing the music. That’s right. You can’t. Biz was born to do this. And the fact that he just mumbles through the lyrics – not to mention that he can’t sing – is what makes it amazing. So sit back, grab a notebook and pen, and write down your thoughts when comparing the original to the magnificence that is the Beastie Boys version. And remember, nobody beats the Biz.
Go buy something. Or your mom will cry. She probably already does, though. We all know why. You’re a disappointment. Don’t worry. So am I! Big smiles, everyone!
Okay, so I am that guy that hears certain sounds in songs, and my mind clicks and starts thinking of other songs with the same sound. Or what song they ripped off for a sample. Or ripped riffs off from. I mean, I had that sort of moment with that Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros track “40 Day Dream” and how close it smacked of Elton John‘s “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”. Seriously. Listen to those two songs one after the other and try telling me they don’t sound similar. Read that post here.
Anyhow, this is another of those moments. It’s a post I’ve been meaning to write for some time now, actually. I am sure that many of you are aware now of The Phenomenal Handclap Band. The name is just purposely weird, like so many other band names. It may be why I initially passed on them. “Oh. A weird name. Like I’ve seen hundreds of times before in the last three months. How cute!” Well, I finally did get around to listening to some of their stuff. The song in question today is their breakthrough track “15 to 20”. Now, when I first heard this, I had that moment. The one where I said, “Why do I feel like I know this from somewhere?” It wasn’t my knowing it because I had listened to it before. I knew that much.
Well, after a little time, I had it pegged. Anyone that has listened to Soul Coughing – a now defunct band that was great live, by the way – would probably catch onto this one. Their first album, Ruby Vroom, is one that really never gets a lot of recognition. Some may say it did, but do you really hear people talking that much about it now and how it influenced other bands? Not really. Well, they have a track on this one entitled “Casiotone Nation”, and while I seriously doubt that The Phenomenal Handclap Band ripped them off, it does sound similar in just the verse of numbers being spouted about. Again, I’m not saying it’s a rip-off. Stating a slew of numbers is something anyone could do. It was just that nerd-out moment that I tend to have from time to time with music. So do your duty and take a listen.
So I guess the former producer of Spoon, Mike McCarthy, produced this latest album, entitled The Mountain. So far? I like what I hear. And today I bring you a couple nuggets of goodness. Seriously. You guys read through a pointless diatribe (I hope) just to get to this point. Oh, and here’s also something else I’ve been listening to. Because holy shit is the video just disturbingly funny. I mean, almost to the point where it’s hypnotic. Not Hpnotiq. That’s cognac for sissies. This, however, isn’t for sissies. And I mean that for both the video and the Heartless Bastards tracks I’m posting. 
