What are you listening to?
Pretty great video of some guy in NYC asking people what they’re listening to – not shown I’m sure is all the people ignoring him.
Stream New RHCP album
Boilerplating this one – a streaming premiere of I’m With You launches at noon PST today (yesterday) on iTunes. Head over to iTunes and stream the album, which you can also pre-order on iTunes now!
Haven’t personally checked the full album out yet so no comments, but the bass line in the single “The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie” was pretty funky.
City and Colour
Wanted to take a moment to share this track by City and Colour “Fragile Bird” – very Grizzly Bear-esque – classic indie rock. I don’t know about you, but I’ll be checking out the full album when I get my laptop back! Enjoy
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
Today, let’s go for a plunge stra
ight off the grid. We free fall past bands such as the Pixies, the Cure and Sonic Youth down into the nerve center of the independent/experimental noise rock scene of the late 1980s. In this reviewer’s humble opinion, this is the only real worthwhile music to come out of the 1980s—the music that completely shuns the culture of decadence worshipped in the 80s.
I was introduced to one of the more obscure bands from the obscure niche of music not too long ago—Thinking Fellers Union Local 282. They followed right on the heels of Sonic Youth as they formed in the summer of 1986 and began releasing material shortly thereafter.
One of the first things you will notice when you pop in one of their records is the simplicity of the music. Complicated techniques are shunned in favor of creative manipulation of simple techniques. The result might sound unrefined, but it is very human—which, ironically, is the exact opposite of the culture of the 1980s, which was refined to the point of being inhuman. If you are like me, I know you will appreciate the work this band does on the album Tangle released in the year 1989.
Cirque du Soleil: Love
I’m sitting here with some Vegas downtime (some work, little play) and I thought I’d review this breathtakingly amazing show I had the pleasure of seeing yesterday (no other way to describe it). Now as the review goes on, you may begin to think, “why not just review The Beatles?!” and I will tell you why. Because it’s The Beatles dammit, you don’t just ‘review’ or ‘recommend’ them – that time has passed.
Any who, Cirque du Soleil Love is a tribute show to The Beatles, with ridiculous acrobatics and amazing stage effects synced up to many of The Beatles greatest hits (hour thirty worth). The direction and costumes are more than impressive, combined with the amazement and wonder of the actual show, even the 8 year old kid behind us jumped up and screamed at his dad about how amazing the show was. I had chills. CHILLS people.
Now since it’s not exactly a negative light to the show – I more want to comment on some aspects of the show I thought were interesting takes on the songs. For example, it seemed like the song “Help!” was about a woman being killed in a car accident in the show, where as it was actually not (to my knowledge). On the other hand, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was spot on. I’m probably reading too much into it and it was just for the show.
Final notes: First off… this show is a MUST see if you come to Vegas. Forget Mind Freak or Celine, go see Love. Second, don’t get front row seats, the higher up you are the more you’ll enjoy the show; perfect seats were the very back of the lower section (not balcony). Also, no flash photography.
But now that I’m done rambling about how awesome this show is… check out a random Beatles song of my choice!
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Dear Red Hot Chili Peppers, About. Damn. Time. Five years after the release of Stadium Arcadium, which, hands down is one of the greatest pieces of art ever to grace my ear canals, Red Hot Chili Peppers is finally gearing up to release their next album this August, “I’m With You”.
Originally formed back in 1983, this band’s history would likely be a little hazy if not for wikipedia. To sum it up, the two consistent members have been the lead singer Anthony Kiedis, whose distinctive voice makes the band, and one of the most recognizable bassists of all time Flea. Still in the lineup is drummer Chad Smith, notably the doppleganger of Will Ferrell, and a brand new guitarist who tailed the end of the Stadium Arcadium tour – Josh Klinghoffer.
Officially, their sound is alt. rock meets funk (funk rock)? It’s evolved a bit over the years, from the 80′s release Freaky Stylee, when half the band was addicted to Heroine, to Mother’s Milk hard rock and spoken rap that has to varying extents, carried on, to Californication and Stadium Arcadium slightly more refined sounds – taking a step into Funk Rock almost Ballad-esque tracks such as Californication and Otherside.
All this said, I’m extremely excited about the new album, the band has set a high bar for themselves. If you’re new to Red Hot Chili Peppers, I’d recommend starting with the most recent releases and working your way back. Including Dani California below (worth watching the music video) – def. check out the tracks Otherside, By the Way, Road Trippin’, Scar Tissue, and Suck my Kiss (I probably missed a few, there are so many).
Are You Leaving – Erik Hassle
Tonight, I’ve got a quick recommendation if you’re looking for another Swedish indie artist. Erik Hassle has been around and making music for quite a while, but since this single is pretty representative of hif work (at least the popular stuff), I’m just gonna review it tonight.
This single is kinda indie rock meets Linkin Park in their middle years; it’s got that over-synthed rock feel to it. His vocals do nothing to change that image either, stopping just short of whiny; he’s got a good voice, I’m not sure why he chooses to use it this way. Still, It’s not a terrible single by any means, good for driving to or the background of a party, It’s just never gonna be a showstopper.
Green River Ordinance
I need to preface this review by saying that I have never really understood the whole ‘cover album’ thing. I’m all for a good cover, but an entire album of them, with no original content, confuses me. That being said, let’s get to it.
Songs We Like From Before We Were Born is a cover EP by Green River Ordinance out of Fort Worth Texas; and I have to say that I like it, almost in spite of myself. While I can’t speak for their songwriting talents, they are quite good musicians, and it shows. The vocals are well done, meeting the classic alt/indie vocal stereotype, with a good portion of classic rock to suit the tracks. The instrumentals are also good, with inspired guitar and bass work and confident, competent drums. While I might not think that covers are the best way to start, they did choose excellent songs to cover, and did them justice.
If I were hearing any of these songs for the first time, I would be quite impressed; as I have said, these guys are good musicians. That’s the problem, though; I’m not hearing these tracks, they’re classics. The comparison that these covers invite isn’t flattering; it’s hard to compete with the musicians they’ve chosen, especially on their home turf. I suppose what I’m saying is that these tracks are good, but you have to want to give them a chance, and be willing to forget the originals that you know so well.
Flogging Molly!?
First off, happy belated Memorial Day east coasters – for the rest of you disregard that.
It became very apparent to me that I had lost my footing on the music bandwagon when I found out Flogging Molly slipped a new album past me. Needless to say I’m in the process of listening to it now.
I like it, but it’s an uncomfortable move away from the old straight Irish punk rock they used to put out (i.e. Devil’s Dance Floor, Swagger) to the extent it almost sounds like a move towards american influence, namely Green Day at this point. In the end – it doesn’t give me that same adrenaline rush or emotional pain of their older albums.
Maybe a couple listens will soften me up to it, but right now… meh?
Sebastian Tellier
Annnnnndddddd we’re back. At least I am – I believe Credible is still banging out the end of his semester and Merry is off on some sort of Shpongle love affair – though it’s understandable given he just saw him live and was kind enough to post about it.
Now that I have finally established summer work plans, I have the time (and drive) to start these posts up again, and as soon as I acquaint myself with HTML (find someone to do it for me) – we may be looking at a super cool new front page!
But enough about logistics – on to music. I was originally considering posting a tie in to Shpongle – but instead am going with something from the 2007 release archives by Sebastian Tellier. The entire album “Politics” has a weird flow to it that at times almost sounds like a musical, i’d even go as far as to say some of the songs sound Muppet-esque. My personal favorite though is La Ritournelle.
A brief instrumental flow into some pretty original vocals – this french pop/electronica group has an interesting sound worth checking out if you haven’t before. Also, tell me that cover art doesn’t remind you of Jesus Christ Superstar.
