Broken Social Scene

You Forgot It In People - KC Accidental
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 Shoreline
BSS Presents Kevin Drew's Spirit If... - Frightening Lives
BSS Presents Brendan Canning's Something For All of Us - Hit the Wall

One of my favorite bands of all time. BSS is a Canadian indie rock supergroup, an amalgam of nineteen musical minds from an array of different bands coming together to fuse indie rock, baroque pop, shoegazing, dream pop, and experimental rock. They played in Atlanta at the Variety Playhouse two nights ago with opener Land of Talk (a post for them soon to come, they absolutely rocked). It was the second time I've seen them and I still maintain that BSS is the best live band I have ever seen. Not only are all of the members incredibly musically talented (each member rotated roles throughout the show, almost all of them playing bass, guitar, synth, piano, and percussion at least once), they are also truly a web of musicians not dependent on one single entity: at one point, pseudo-frontman Kevin Drew's voice fell out, so he took a break for one song while the rest of the line up played an Apostle of Hustle cover. I'd take every opportunity I possibly could to go see them live again.

I've been consistently impressed by every release with a BSS tag on it, be it EP, LP, B-side, whatever, they never fail to create beautiful music. BSS has had four traditional LP releases, with Bee Hives being a collection of B-sides. Recently, Broken Social Scene has decided to do a series of "Broken Social Scene Presents..." releases, which are solo efforts by individual members of the band assisted by the rest of BSS. I've posted a small mix from some of their albums, check them out, I promise they won't disappoint.

Billy Bragg and Wilco

I remember my high school English teacher, Ms. Guha (Goo-ha), asking our class if any of us had heard of Billy Bragg, a folk singer from before our time. I was the only person in class who had, and I asked if she had heard of his work with the band Wilco. She hadn't, but you will.

Billy Bragg and Wilco worked together in 1998 and released Mermaid Avenue, which is a collection of lyrics from American folk singer Woody Guthrie, who died in 1967. The album displays the creativity from three different artist identities: Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, and Jeff Tweedy/Wilco. Although I wish the album was longer to give more to the listener in terms of hearing each entity develop while developing as a whole, but what I heard was still good.

Enjoy the great elements from early, to modern, to very modern American "folk" music, and the culmination of all three into one album and sound.

Here's California Stars.

A Kanye West Rant

Usually, I try not to bash artists because of their headlines in the media...but I think Kanye is a different case. I'm pretty sure it's not the media that's trying to cast him in a bad light; Kanye pulls that off well enough by himself. I know I'm not alone in this view because I've read several other Kanye complaints, my favorite of which is this article on Kanye's top ten D-bag moments.

The first encounter I ever had with Kanye's outspoken demeanor was back during hurricane Katrina with his infamously awkward speech about George Bush not caring about black people. If you haven't seen it before, it's worth watching:




The next point of interest is Kanye's absurdly late appearance at the Bonnaroo. If that isn't enough, when Kanye did finally take the stage, he harassed the fans that remained to see him. Check out this NME article for more information on it. The final Kanye-is-a-tool moment, the one that actually inspired this post, was his statement that he will be remembered as the voice of this generation. If KW is remembered by that label, I think I'll lose faith in music as a whole. Here's the whole article.

So there, that's my first rant post, have at it.

Camper Van Beethoven

New Roman Times

I had the unique opportunity of seeing CVB frontman David Lowery at the AthFest panels back in September; he works in an options and derivatives trading firm in Chicago and does CVB on the side now, which is pretty understandable and respectable for a guy pushing fifty. He's a pretty cool guy, all things considered.

CVB is an alternative rock band founded in the early 80s. Their style usually consists of repeating melodies interlaced with violin and absurdist lyrics, but kind of progressed into an experimental/psychadelic band in their later careers. New Roman Times kind of reminds me of simple post-rock Wilco song. CVB broke up in the early nineties with spinoff formations of other bands, most notably Cracker, but they reconvened at the turn of the century. Given the vibe of New Roman Times, I'd like to check them out sometime.

Chairlift (part dos)

…"a motor-driven conveyor consisting of a series of seats suspended from a cable and used for transporting skiers or sightseers up or down a long slope or mountainside"
…"a band of ghosts making chamber music for young adults"

Evident Utensil

This is the title track from the 7" above, and my favorite track on the main album.

Enjoy.

The Reindeer Section

Cartwheels

Quiet, introspective, folky. The band was started by the lead of Snow Patrol, and released two albums, with a combination of 47 musicians from other popular bands like Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, and Arab Strap.

Very enjoyable albums. They're no Broken Social Scene, but not every huge indie collaborative can be. The group has all the attractive features of the voice of Lightbody, without the pop aura that seems to taint his other work.

Benji Hughes

Tight Tee Shirt
The Mummy
I Went With Some Friends To See The Flaming Lips

Benji's promo carnival bark is "Looks like an Allman Brother, sings like Beck!" and that bark is dead on. Benji's style combines rock ballads with a subtle touch of electronic pop and his lyrics are incredibly playful and easy to get caught up in. His live show is ridiculous: he starts singing off stage with a voice that, if you'd never seen him before, you'd swear belonged to a guy of Beck's stature. When Benji takes the stage, it's a pretty big shock...he rocks a thick mane and is much larger than you'd ever guess by just hearing the sound of his voice. I even had the...experience...of seeing Benji take his shirt off and chug beer in between lyrics -- he let it all hang out for the rest of the show and I'm pretty sure no one at the 40 watt will ever forget it.

If you ever get the chance to see him, I'd definitely check it out. Benji doesn't dissappoint. Speaking of chances...he's rocking the 40 watt again tomorrow night.

Third Eye Blind's First Release in 5 Years

Non-Dairy Creamer
I can't even imagine the flack I'll get for doing a 3eb post, but I think they're a severely underrated band: Jenkins' sense for melody is impeccable and I'm a sucker for his lyrics saturated with sex and drug comments. If you don't think they're underrated, then I'll meet you half-way and call them guilty pleasure.

Non-Dairy Creamer is supposedly the first single chosen for Ursa Major, 3eb's long awaited follow-up to 2003's Out of the Vein. The album has allegedly been in the works for 5 years; most of the instrumentals were completed long ago, the delay was apparently because Jenkins' had writer's block in drafting the lyrics. There have been reports that Ursa Major's lyrics will be more political than the band's prior albums which had me worried (I feel like few bands nowadays can successfully pull off political commentary), but if Non-Dairy Creamer is any indication of how the rest of the album is lyrically, it's definitely a pleasant surprise. The song is classic 3eb pop, catchy as hell, has a ridiculous string-laden breakdown about halfway through, and is lyrically both humorous and clever. I'm excited for Ursa Major.

Blood Raw feat. Young Jeezy's Louie Bag

From Panama City, we have Blood Raw. Enjoy.

What happened to them? caP'n Jazz

Oh Messy Life

This band has more passion behind it than any other band I've ever listened to. This album is raw, unpolished, young, experimental, but still catchy and impacting. The band's comprised of Tim Kinsella (vocals/Joan of Arc, Owls), Samuel Burick (bass), Mike Kinsella (drums/Joan of Arc, American Football), Victor Villareal (guitar), and Davey von Bohlen (guitar, vocals/Promise Ring). They only released one full-length album, Schmap'n Schmazz (as it's often called), and the band broke up almost immediately after its release. What we're left with is ANALPHABETOLOGY, the anthology of Schmap'n Schmazz and some other live stuff along with other little tracks they released.

This band formed in the end of the first emo wave (Fugazi, Rites of Spring, Nation of Ulysses, etc) in 1989, released Schmap'n Schmazz in 1994, when Sunny Day Real Estate released Diary. What we're left with now is the legacy they left behind in the form of bands like Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids, Dashboard Confessional, and boys dressing like girls and a lot of dark clothing, ugly hair and bad makeup. Even though the bands that spawned in the wake of Cap'n Jazz may be bad, their good features are undeniable. They are amazingly creative and confrontational, yelling, emoting, and gushing lyrics violently and often to where you can barely understand them. This album is loud, introspective and full of the passion and feeling we all feel when growing up.

If you like any modern alternative band you should give this song a listen and you can see the subsequent influence on modern bands. Give it a listen.

What happened to them? My Bloody Valentine

This week, we're going to do a series of "What happened to them" posts where we'll pick artists who used to be huge players in all facets of the music scene but haven't been seen on the main stage in a while. We'll do a little bit of history, talk about what kind of impact they made, and then we'll talk about where the members are now. If you have any requests for artists that you want us to post about, just comment or e-mail us. I'll start off with My Bloody Valentine...

Sometimes

MBV was one of my absolute favorite bands and, coincidentally, influenced a lot of my favorite bands ranging from the Smashing Pumpkins to Sigur Ros. The group formed in 1984 in Dublin with the two founding members being guitarist/vocalist Kevin Shields and drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig. After gigging around Europe, the band finally settled in London and solidified their lineup with the addition of guitarist/vocalist Bilinda Butcher and bassist Debbie Googe. MBV were huge pioneers of the shoegazing genre using guitars as textures and vocals as reverb-based instruments.

I have to admit, I was not very impressed with the group's first LP release, Isn't Anything; however, it was the first release by MBV that was really well-received by critics and firmly established the group as a shoegazing band. It was their second LP release that is almost unanimously considered to be the group's masterpiece: Loveless. Several rumors were spread that the album almost bankrupted the label because of Shield's perfectionist intentions which, consequently, made the price of producing the album skyrocket (it was rumored to have costed upwards of £250,000, but Shields denies this). After listening to Loveless, I can see why. Every single sound is perfectly handcrafted and beautifully placed. I'd venture to say it's one of the top 5 albums of all time in terms of production techniques. Whenever somebody asks me what shoegazing is, I tell them to go get a copy of Loveless.

Unfortunately, Loveless failed to perform well commercially; it never charted in the United States. MBV began work on an album, but halted the production in 1996. Since then, the band hasn't released any material and the group disbanded. The popular reason behind the lack of material is because Shields thought that he could never make anything as beautiful as Loveless ever again. Fortunately for all of the MBV lovers, Shields announced in 2007 that the band was reuniting and plan to finish the album they had put on hold since 1996. The group performed a series of live shows in London and New York and, with any luck, we'll see the new MBV album out by early next year.

More Muppets

Well, I guess I'm behind the curve on adding muppet videos...so here's my favorite: Weezer's "Keep Fishing" with the muppets.

Spiritualized

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

This song is about a decade old and can be found on space rock group Spiritualized's album of the same name. The band's line-up has changed from album to album with the only constant being Jason Pierce from Spacemen 3, who is the main composer for Spiritualized. He's also obsessed with most things space related: his alias is J. Spaceman and he wanted Spiritualized to play at the debut of the CERN supercollider. The album was named NME's album of the year back in '97. This song is a great depiction of Spiritualized's musical approach: When I listen to it, I feel like I'm drunk and listening to a noise rock attempt at shoegazing. Pretty chill song overall.

Furry Happy Monsters

I'd be insane not to continue this puppet video trend. This is my FAVORITE performance from the Muppet Show, featuring none other than R.E.M.

And here's the mp3: Furry Happy Monsters

That's not all, folks.

That's right, Feist was on Sesame Street. And it was awesome.

1,2,3,4 (Sesame Street Version)

peacez and luvz

evan

Oh boxstr...

For some reason, Boxstr is currently down, so I can't put up a new song. It'll come soon, I promise.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Boxstr is the free hosting service we use here. Signing up gives you like 5 gigs of hosting with decent bandwidth for free. It's pretty sweet. Anyway, more to come soon.

More Puppet Videos

I, like Thom, have an affinity for puppet music videos. They rock. Here are a few more puppet videos I remember as being really cool.



Supergrass's Pumping On Your Stereo



Blur's Coffee & TV



Interpol's Evil



Reggie and the Full Effect's Get Well Soon

Enjoy.

Starlight Mints - Popsickle

Yeah this video might be kinda old at this point, but I'd forgotten about it. For those of you who never saw it, where were you? Why aren't you constantly searching the internet for anything even slightly muppet related?

Cinemechanica

Cinemechanica @ The 40 Watt - 10.17.2008


The thing you can't help but realize about Cinemechanica is that these guys are serious. They are talented musicians that care about what they do, and it shows.

Cinemechanica's album release show for their latest recording Rivals was billed as their last performance with their second drummer, Jeremy Fountain (Hi Rollers, Serka). The band has successfully employed the dual drumming not as a gimmick or strictly visual effect (I mean, there's no denying how badass it looks), but as a separate instrument bringing its own ideas to the composition table.

The band -- guitarists Andy Pruett and Bryant Williamson, bassist Matt Nelson, and drummer Mike Albanese -- took the stage after openers Bambara, Building the State, and A. Armada. They ran through a couple of numbers as low key as it is possible for Cinemechanica to play, drawing the lingering smokers in from outdoors.

One of my favorite things about live shows is when bands remember they're not just playing music (you can just listen to the album for that) -- they're performing. Cinemechanica's lighting impresses me every time. It's neither over-the-top or minimalistic; it's the perfect thrill-inducing complement to their guitar-dueling, dizzying, insane sort-of-math-rock sound.

And then Jeremy Fountain came on stage, and everyone knew what was coming. Albanese is a fantastic drummer. His energy is palpable, his drum parts intricate, and his sound powerful. And Fountain is not just along for the ride. There were times when the two were playing together, and the crowd (myself definitely included) watched in awe as they hit every single beat, down to the last cymbal grab, in perfect time with each other.

But most impressive were the separate parts. Nothing about them was simple or basic; Cinemechanica drummers are not just keeping time. Their parts are as integral to the song as every other part; they are just as carefully composed as everything else (meaning very, very carefully).

It had been awhile since I had seen Cinemechanica, but I was reminded Friday night why I've always said they are the best band in Athens -- they are superb musicians that never fail to deliver. If you missed the final double-drum attack, kick yourself a few times, but don't do it again.

Cinemechanica / Rivals

Smashing Pumpkins with Guitar Hero

G.L.O.W.

This is a poor-quality radio rip of the new Pumpkins' single, G.L.O.W. (I'll replace it with the real thing as soon as I get it). G.L.O.W. is a stand-alone single that is not related to the group's upcoming multi-year, mutli-release concept album. Also...the song, for right now, is being released exclusively as a downloadable track for Guitar Hero: World Tour. Wow. Thanks, Billy Corgan.

I think this song rocks. It has all of the bad-ass in-your-face old school Pumpkins' song qualities. Of course, I probably have a positive bias towards this song because the Smashing Pumpkins used to be my favorite band. Used to be is the key phrase here; ever since the half member "reunion" and the mediocre attempt that is Zeitgeist, my opinion of Billy Corgan and his infamous band of misfits has drastically dropped. I do still have high hopes for upcoming material, especially after the way G.L.O.W. turned out. Anyway, check it out and let me know what you think.

Chairlift

Bruises / Nano-Chromatic, the new iPod Nano commercial

If there's one thing I like it's ghosts and girly indie pop bands. When you first listen to it, you'll be inclined to think that the song is catchy. Catchy it is not. This song is haunting. It will pull you in, and when you hear the rest of the album you'll understand their origins. This little triplet had beginnings making music for haunted houses. I recently saw them on an iPod commercial, and just like the turn of Feist, I realized this band would be going public pretty soon. So let's spread them around.

I've always loved male/female vocal duets, and this band is a modern rendition. It's like going to an indie rock concert in the Underworld, surrounded by vampires, werewolves, spiders, and zombies.

I guarantee success. My favorite track is "Evident Utensil", and if you hear another song next, I suggest starting with that one.

Post if you want the full album.

Danielson

This week has been strange for me, so here's some strange music.


Danielson (also known as Danielson Famile, Danielson Family, and Brother Danielson) is frontman Daniel Smith's music often performed with his siblings, wife, daughter, friends and sometimes other musicians, notably Sufjan Stevens. Danielson: a Family movie explores the polarizing effect the band can have on audiences, the close relationships of the family, Daniel starting his solo career, and his mentoring of Sufjan Stevens.

Like Sufjan Stevens, the music is paired with messages of a Christian nature, but don't write them off as another contemporary Jesus-freak-band before giving them a listen. Here's three songs to get you started

from Ships (2006)
Did I Step on Your Trumpet?

from Brother Is to Sun (2004)
Things Against Stuff
Animal In Every Corner *Recommended*

Vampire Weekend

Ottoman

Vampire Weekend is a rock four piece from New York. Their music has some pretty noticeable Baroque, Classical, and African influences which I really think sets them apart and above a lot of the "indie" bands out there today.

Unfortunately, I first heard this song during a free showing of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. In fact, I shouldn't even admit that I saw that movie...anyway, Ottoman is my latest find by Vampire Weekend. It really emphasizes the quartet's knack for non-traditional arrangements and unique instrumentation; I love the playful use of strings. It's an incredibly catchy and easily likable song overall. Enjoy!

Weird Tapes - Get Religion

I'm on a bit of a dance kick lately. But we all need some more fun in our lives. Certainly if there's any adjective that could be applied to Weird Tapes' music, it's 'fun'. Fans of Air and Daft Punk are in for a welcome addition to their musical libraries with "Get Religion," a five-song EP(?) downloadable from the Weird Tapes blog.

Get Religion

Weird Tapes Blog

Weird Tapes on Myspace

African Swim

Those of you who are nerds like myself and still watch cartoons (mainly those of the adultswim variety) probably already know about this, but for those of you who don't, Adult Swim is allowing everyone to download a free compilation of African rappers. Entitled African Swim, the album's 15 tracks represent a pretty wide variety of Hip-Hop, from beats and rhymes obviously influenced by Western rappers (Etc.'s "Organic Boom Rap) to much more interesting takes on this oftentimes oversaturated genre (Rusty Dusty's "The Place I'm From").

Head on over to the [adult swim] website and grab yourself a copy. Well worth it.

Adult Swim's African Swim

peacez and luvz

evan

What the...

Trick? It would seem so.

PYLON and DEERHUNTER and HALLOWEEN... All in one night?

This is no joke, my friends. Make your way there or be square.
(The best line-up since Harvey Milk opened for the Melvins.)

Feast On My Heart

Love, Olivia