Sonic Youth in Denver Tonight! July 31, 2009

So I am posting this while I am hanging out waiting to grab some lunch. I must say though as unexcited as I was yesterday, I am the exact oposite today. It started out by waking up and logging onto facebook to see Sonic Youth had updated with a poster pic for the show tonight. Since then I have just been trying to keep my mind preoccupied or else I am not sure I would be able to contain my anticipation.

I mean finally after all of these years I am going to see iconic rock gods Sonic Youth. Really what more needs to be said right? At any rate look for an update on how the show went either later this weekend or early on next week. Have a wonderful Friday and start to the weekend. I know I will!

Japandroids July 12, 2009

Heck even the name makes you perk up: Japandroids. I mean what the hell kind of name is Japandroids or how cool of a name is that? Well once you hear the music you will be even happier. The duo of Brian King and David Prowse make out the new music outfit Japandroids who hail from Vancouver, British Columbia. They tend to call it garage rock, but whatever you call it you have to call it well GOOD. They also are supposedly an outfit originally made to get out their post teenage against. You’ll probably hear a ton of people say well heck there post nothing now, but I’m not going to go there.

At any rate the band originally formed around 2006, and wanted to be a threesome in the vein of say the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with a guitarist, a drummer, and then a singer. King and Prowse eventually just say screw it, and decided they would do the singing themselves. So they stayed a duo. Now 2009 marks their first full length debut entitled Post-Nothing. It releases on August 4th in the USA, and has some definitely hype building in the indie rock community. Like I said though once listen to some tracks from the album, and you will understand why. They have started to get more and more airplay as of late on Sirius XMU, and I can tell why. The songs are raw yet catchy, and totally unpretentious. Their sound is easy to digest, but in a good way because well they just want to rock out. In a year where people have been all about such things as the new Grizzly Bear album, Japandroids are a nice change of pace as they bring it on both the guitar and the drums while singing their hearts out.

Now it also helps that the album dropped in Canada in the middle of the year, and it was so well received. It was because of this that Polyvinyl Records, Of Montreal Joan of Arc etc..,  picked up the group here in America and decided to go ahead with a release here. I must say I am super excited they did or else this great Canadian gem might not ever have reached my ears. Definitely my favorite new band of the year so far!

Ed Harrison – NeoTokyo July 6, 2009

I never expected to find what could possibly be one of the coolest most engaging albums I’ve heard all year this weekend. Especially since it all started out with a thread or two on a new Half-Life 2 mod coming.

NeoTokyo is just brilliant in terms of a soundtrack. The game itself is a cyber punk multiplayer first person shooter based loosely on such things as Ghost in the Shell or I Robot. They fully admit being inspired by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell fame, and Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira fame. It’s a totally free mod using the original Source engine SDK, but instead of going the normal free/donations route there is a twist.

An electronic artist, Ed Harrison from Sydney Australia, was contacted to make a soundtrack for the game. The music he ended up creating was so amazing they decided to actually put it out for purchase. You can preview 6 tracks on the Neotokyo website, and the game download comes with 13 tracks. Yet he actually completed 27 tracks for the game which is enough to spill over into 2 discs. So it was decided Ed and the guys at Radi-8 would actually make some physical copies to sell as well as MP3 downloads to help fund some of the effort.

Boy the game just released on Friday the 3rd of July, and alls I’ve heard all weekend in game is how amazing the soundtrack is. It’s all this sort of dystopian sounding electronic music that kind of reminds me of Amon Tobin a bit. At any rate I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack now that I decided to pop for a copy today. I went cheap and got the MP3s, but the cd design looks fabulous.

At any rate I love electronica, but I’m bad at keeping up with the genre. So I’ll fully admit part of my love for this OST, is just the fact that I tend to get giddy when I randomly find some cool electronica like this that really speaks to me.

They are streaming 6 songs from the NeoTokyo website so at the very least go check out the stream!.

NeoTokyo

Ed Harrison

Cut Off Your Hands July 3, 2009

So while it is mid 2009 that does not mean I am only listening to new stuff. Actually I still listen to older albums all the time, and I am still playing catch up from 2008 and all the albums I failed to check out cause well there never is enough time these days. I am sure the rest of you busy people all feel the same way. Next up on my docket was the album You and I by the band Cut Off Your Hands that hail from Auckland, New Zealand. You and I released on October 14th 2008, and sort of slipped under the radar for me.

As for the sound I know a ton of people would probably say hey another band that listened to waaaayyy to much of The Smiths when they were growing up. To be honest I would not say those people were wrong. Thing is while a lot of bands be it Franz Ferdinand or Interpol or whomever else this decade sound like that I am totally cool with it. So bring on more Cut Off Your Hands I say. That being said the album is not particularly memorable to me. I like the single Turn Cold and one or two other songs on the album, but their names escape me. Granted that is partly because I suck at names, but it is never a good sign when I can only name like one or two tracks from an album.

I do not want you all to think I am hating on the band or the album though. As I said above I am totally content with their style and sound even if it does not bowl me over and overwhelm me. I can easily see myself cruising around town spinning the record in my car and being totally happy. It is probably more the fact that I have listened to so many good and even slightly great albums as of late that something that is merely okay to partly good just does not get my blood flowing. Sadly I would say at least Cut Off Your Hands show so promise, but from what I have gathered the guitarist left the band and the drum is on a twelve month leave. So I guess you could say the band is sort of on hiatus. You never know about these things though. Sometimes a band will come back even stronger than ever, and maybe some fresh blood will be just what they need to spice things up a bit!

I come to Shanghai July 1, 2009

So yeah this cool little project from two guys from different parts of America is finally coming together in the form of an actual album release. Sam who hails from Massachusetts and Robert who comes from the big state of Texas make up a cool little project out of Oakland they like to call I Come To Shanghai. As for describing the actual music that’s kind of hard for me to do. I guess if I had to generically classify it would be indie rock. Still it has that fun poppy edge of good music that was taken seriously but is meant to be fun.

The group itself has been around for a while, but they just never had gotten an actual album out for everyone to enjoy. So to much surprise and in total 21st century fashion Robert threw up a twitter saying they were finally going to drop an album on the 6th of July. Also in true 21st century fashion you can order an album for $10 on the site or in a Radiohead like fashion throw them whatever you wish and download the MP3s.  They already have 2 full songs on the teaser site that you can download as we speak at www.ICometoShanghai.com.

Of course all of this is for not unless you like the music right? I mean a ton of indie groups are doing this every day on the interwebs so why care about these guys? Honestly the music just sounds well fun. On the song Pass the Time Robert’s vocals sound cool, unique, and fun without trying to be to serious or force some kind of sound. It has that honest quality of just being themselves without sounding like hey we want to write honest music so it’s going to be some heart felt acoustic/folk/Americana/anti-folk etc… which can grate of me quite frankly. At any rate I am just happy two cool dudes are getting their music out their to whatever masses are willing to listen, and while I am sure world domination would be cool to them it’ll be quite alright if that does not happen. So thumbs up and may the Shanghai come to your listening ears sometime soon!

Now I can Finally See! June 27, 2009

So the new Thermals record dropped in April. Man wtf was up with this April? Seems like everything dropped in that month for god sake. Anyways I will get straight to the point. The new album dropped called Now We Can See and the first single was the title track to the album. Honestly I was pretty blas’e about it to be quite honest. Yet it slowly gained popularity on one of the main radio stations I listen to, and eventually worked it’s way into the countdown.  Ask me about the band and the first single a month ago, and my answer would have been eh can we get to the good stuff in the countdown? Now when the song comes on I seem to be like hey we are finally getting to the good stuff in the countdown!

So what gives? Why the sudden change of heart? Was I just predisposed to not like the single for some unintelligible reason? Honestly I really do not know. The Thermals out of Portland Oregon has been a round a while so it is not as if I just pushed it aside as a new group that I should not worry about. They originally were on Sub Pop which I tend to keep up with to a point. For their most recent outing they switched labels to KRS. Think Bikini Kill and Elliot Smith and that should help you out. They also got John Congleton to produce their latest album who has worked with a ton of other artists in some form or fashion like Modest Mouse, Explosions in the Sky, and even oddly enough Marylyn Manson?!?! At anyrate when you hear the album you probably would say to yourself “This should be right up vanilla’s alley… so what gives?” The only thing I can figure out would be a slight copout, but I am going to go with it anyways.

When everyone and their mother releases an album in the same month things tend to get lost. The problem there is the album was not lost on me as I knew the single at least by name and sound instantly. So it is not as if I did not know the Thermals had a new record coming or that was out already or anything. Maybe I was just being like a crotchety old man, and I did not want to be bothered. Well thank goodness the song got mad replay as it helped burn it into me that I should like the new single, and that I needed to check out Now We Can see the album. I am certainly glad I did as it is now in my rotation that I play when chilling in my recently redesigned chillout room or when I am doing stuff such as write this post. Good music is always a great way to hang out! Heck I am known for sleeping in, and I got up before 10 AM today on Saturday! Crazy huh? My body just wanted to get up so I decided to get up, and I put on the Thermals record to help me get going. Now to enjoy the rest of my Saturday!

Dinosaur Jr. – Farm June 26, 2009

So I picked up the new Dinosaur Jr. album today that dropped onto store shelves and legal downloads on Tuesday of this week. The new album entitled “Farm” is the bands second outing since reuniting midway through the decade with the original lineup of J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and well just Murph on drums. I have always loved that he just calls himself Murph as a random side note. So yeah I have always been a fan since well since I was growing up and just getting into music. They were one of those early iconic Alternative bands that everyone talked about having spurred on the 90s revolution. So of course I immediately had to hear some tunes.

As for the new record well it is still rather new to me seeing as I just picked it up today. The first single I Want You to Know has been getting regular airplay on XMU and the band had it up as a free download on their website. It also helps that the band came to my town back in April, and put on one of the best shows the people around here have ever seen. I will say on initial listen I am liking it slightly more then their last record titled Beyond. The track Friends in particular has grabbed me. I herby nominate the song as the best choice for a follow up single! The album as a whole actually has a few long numbers with three tracks clock in at over 6 minutes.

It does sound on first glance very much vintage Dinosaur Jr. so if you’re a person that is down with another classic Dinosaur Jr. record then do not hesitate. If your the type of person however that wishes older artists would try and forge more new ground like many reviewers stated about the new Sonic Youth record “The Eternal” that dropped earlier in the month I might pass. I will say though maybe it is because the original lineup of Dinosaur Jr. has less records together than Sonic Youth, but Farm does feel a tad fresher than The Eternal. All in all Farm probably will not win any record of the year awards, but safe to say I will fully enjoy this new Dinosaur Jr. experience all the same!

Just love it when Albums Get Better and Better June 25, 2009

You know you get this hot new album, and your so jazzed about a song on the cd or maybe that the artist itself has put out new material. You get the album downloaded or out the package and into your music player of your choice be it your player on your computer, your mp3 player, maybe your car cd player etc… and the excitement builds. Then you play through the album or you skip to that track that you just have to hear. All is good in musical land.

Yet what about those times when the album gets even better as the weeks go along. It goes from liking the single to linking a couple of tracks to listening through and finding another song you like. Eventually your like whoa I have now singled every or almost every song on the album. You can finally tell it is going to be one of the big albums of the year for you because you have not just moved onto the next thing.  Au contraire mon frère! You try and move onto the next thing and that ends up just being a different track you get stuck on that happens to be on the same album you have been spinning the past few weeks. While the single might not be as listenable because you have partly played it out, the album as a whole ends up being even more enjoyable as a whole package.

This recently happened to me with the latest Phoenix record titled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I originally checked it out because 1901 was getting regular play on Alt Nation, and I had heard them do a in studio performance on Sirius XMU in which they played a great version of Armistice.  Since then I got stuck on the opening track Lisztomania, then moved on to the longer track Love Like a Sunset. Now I am stuck on Lasso and really liking the track right afterward called Rome. Heck I’ve named like 2/3rds of the songs on the CD already! That is how I know I am really in love with this album. In a year where I was pretty wishy washy about a lot of music that I was personally anticipating, or that was getting a fair share of prerelease hype, I feel like I finally have found an album I truly love this year. It was not an album I even really expected to be that into either. Heck as I said before I was not even that fond of the Phoenix single 1901 when I first heard the song. Yet here I am praising the album as a whole even more, and well I just love it when an album grows on you so that the whole album just gets better and better day by day!

I just do not get Bat for Lashes June 24, 2009

I am not one to ever hate on anything unless it is something just laughably bad, and I hate to make negative posts or remakes. Thankfully unlike the blog title this is not really negative, but rather neutral ambivalence. So let us just get right down to it. Bat for Lashes which is basically one person a young woman named Natasha Khan from England recently put out a new record in April called “Two Suns.” Now I heard the buzz growing around this one. Indie magazines were all about her new material. The blogosphere for this type of thing was also fully on the hype train. I also heard when the album dropped Thom Yorke was really getting into. Most recently I saw a news feed update on Facebook from the Silversun Pickups commenting they were really digging the album.

For the first time I actually spoke out about the album. I had recently picked up a copy of Two Suns a misted all of the hype, and I just was like uhhh okay. So I posted a comment on Facebook straight up saying you know I just do not get it. Multiple cuts are getting regular rotation play on XMU, and the hype still has not died down yet. The thing is nobody’s actually said why they are so into the new album. Now I heard it, and the music was alright. Far far far away from bad. Yet it was so weirdly chill that it just slipped into the background of what I was doing. While a lot of times that is a good thing for me usually when I do this I’ll perk up at certain tracks or think the next time I want to listen to the album oh what was that cool track I heard on this the other night. I want to hear that one again.

Yet for Two Suns none of this was happening to me. I was thinking hard pressed I would not be able to really remember or hum a single Bat for Lashes song off of the new record. So I shelved the album for a week or two thinking maybe I was not in the mood or that I would need time for this one to grow and open up on me. Well it is almost the end of June, and I am still dumb founded whenever I hear the record. I almost feel now when I listen to Two Suns I try to hard because I am just trying to really like it or looking for something that just is not there for me. I am not one to give up so easily though. Hell Kid A is one of my favorite records of all time, and it took me a good 6 months to ever really even want to listen to the album. I am however totally open to some comments and interpretations on the work. Maybe give me something go on as to why it seems everyone else but me is in love with the new joint. Until then try try again I guess.

I actually Like Regina Spektor?! June 23, 2009

So the new Regina Spektor album is dropping to the public tomorrow on June 23rd, and I am actually interested in hearing the new material.  For those that know me, and well actually know who Spektor is you probably already understand my blog post’s title. For those that do not know who she is let me clue you in. She’s a Russian born musician who moved to the States, the Bronx specifically, at age 9. She plays what most would call contemporary singer songwriter material that of course in done in a woman’s style with her piano. Now if you at least know me your saying and he likes her because….?

Well honestly I can not say why I am drawn to Regina Spektor’s music. I liked the single Fidelity from her 2006 album Begin to Hope, and I have heard a couple new cuts from her album Far dropping tomorrow on Sirius XMU. I guess maybe the songs just have enough pop sensibilities so it is not to singer song writery. I know she is suppose to be part of the “anti-folk” music, but I have never really been down with the fact that anti-folk was a musical descriptor in the first place. Maybe I am just getting sappy in my old age. I hope that is not it, and I don’t really think it is. I think it sounds just indie enough to still draw me in without seeming like to mainstream cheesy pop like a Vanessa Carlton. Spektor also tends to have this whimsical quality to her songs, and I definitely think that is a huge drawing point for me.

Of course it is not exactly music I am going to bust out at a party or when I am hanging with the fellas. Maybe it would be good music when I am out with a chick, but well you know how that goes. She also seems to not take herself to seriously unlike say an Ani Defranco. Even good Defranco songs get to me cause I swear she seems to into herself and all of her causes.  Regina Spektor definitely does not take herself to seriously. Maybe I just figured I needed to diversify my musical listening, and I wanted to bring in more women to my playlist. Whatever it is she has been wanting to hear her new stuff tomorrow which is win for her. I just hope it is win for me to in that her album is solid so I have good new music to listen too!