Boy Kill Boy: Suzie

Thanks to Filter Magazine for throwing this little ditty onto their summer sampler edition. I love Filter magazine!

So I know absolutely nothing about this band except that they are almost brand new to the scene, and are riding the wave created by the likes of Kaiser Cheifs, The Rakes, Maximo Park, and all the other brit pop bands springing up recently. If any one of those names holds any interest for you, then you'll like this. Nothing ground breaking, but catchy.

Suzie

Calexico: Garden Ruin

Apologies. I'm feeling lazy and thinking I'll make this short and sweet.

Calexcio is a band that I was recently introduced to by my roomate. To put it bluntly, their fucking awesome. Joey Burns and John Convertino have put together a group that has put 4 amazing albums, on of which is a collaboration with another new favorite of mine, Iron and Wine.

I've been invited to attend a concert soon (hopefully) and I am really looking forward to it. It's been about 3 years since Calexico released their previous album, Feast of Wire. After extensive touring and building a rep for one of the most musically entertaining live show you can attend these days, Theey are back with a brand new album entitled Garden ruin

Here's a few snippets from their catalogue:
Cruel
Sunken Waltz (my Favorite)
Minas De Cobre (For Better Metal)

Check them out as well for full tracks on their official MySpace Page

Voxtrot: The Start of Something

For those of us who like the Smiths, but are tired of listening to the Smiths. That's what Voxtrot is. Which is pretty cool when you think about it. Almost everyone seems to go through that 1 -2 year period where you are constantly playing the Smiths singles collection or Meat is Murder or whatever, and then you kinda get over it and move on to other things. You hear a smiths song every once in a while on the radio, and of course enjoy it but, really, your over it. Well when you first listen to Voxtrot's single, The Start of Something, you get this feeling that someone has somehow unearthed a bootleg copy of some random Smiths song you've never heard. Other cut from the EP Voxtrot If the Smiths angle doesn't do it for you there is also a HEAVY Belle & Sebastian influence here. Personally a Loathe Belle & Sebastian but there it is. Saying I hate Belle & Sebastian in public is generally like saying I like to drown kittens to most people , but, whatever.
Anyway enough of the comparisons, I just wanted to nail down the audience. So I can't find too much info on Voxtrot at the moment, except that they are originally from Austin, TX. The group originally got together to record a few songs for lead singer, Ramesh Srivastava. I thinks he's originally from Scotland or something but I'm not sure. He was recording the songs as side practice. They debuted the songs on the indie circuit in Austin, and sure enough they took off. Since then, Voxtrot has been touring around and are generally getting pretty decent club buzz. I doubt they'll ever blow up or anything (They sound just a bit too derivative to be original and not derivative enough of the right type of music to get in under copycat pretenses) but in the meantime the 80's dance music flashback style is welcome on my Itunes folder.

They've got an official website but it sucks royally. Just tour dates and T-shirts order forms. If neither of these catch your attention try their MySpace Page
It's much more informative and has got several MP3's for you to listen to, otherwise I'd post them here.

Bedouin Soundclash: When The Night Feels My song

When I was about 8 or 9 I remember someone in my house introducing me to Paul Simon. I don't remember who specifically, but I suspect it was my mother as she was a recovering hippy. This was about 1990 when Paul Simon had released Graceland. If you've listened to Graceland then you'll immediately know what Bedouin Soundclash sound like. In a word, beautiful. Now there is a lot more influence in here than just Paul and African tribal rhythms. In fact, Reggae and ska would be more appropriate as the Bob Marley, Clash, and early Police are also very evident throughout Sounding a Mosaic. Of note to is their excellent When the Night Feels My Song, which feel like an honest homage to the Specials Pressure Drop. After all if your doing second wave Ska Ripoffs, you gotta show respect to the masters.
To sum up, if you have any interest in Ska, dub, reggae, or African music, then check these boys out. You'll love them. I on the other hand you find any of the other three to be repetitive and dull, or obnoxious than stay away from them as well as blues as well because obviously you don't like dance/riff songs.

Here is the official site.

on it you will find a few MP3's to these songs which are presented here. Enjoy.

When the Night Feels My Song.

Money Worries ft. Vernon Buckley

Unfortunately these are just little sample clips but it'll give the general idea.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club:

I was cleaning out my Itunes today and discovered that I had all three BRMC albums on my computer. Now this isn't amazing in of itself except for two things:

1. I don't (didn't) like BRMC, and

2. I've never even held a copy any of BRMC's albums in my hands.

Now despite the apparent illegality of this statement I will continue on, with the hopes that anyone in a position to prosecute me will realize that this was entirely accidental, and maybe providence as well.

When BRMC first came out with their Self Titled debut in 2001, I remember there being a lot hype about them. I listened to the album myself and immediately felt like they were aping their obvious influences (Jesus and Mary Chain, Stone Roses) too heavily. To top it off there was an influx of art noise bands coming up at the time that all seemed to be drawing on the late 80's early nineties British scene for underground inspiration. How many times did you read that such and such a band were the next Joy Division or Catherine Wheel?

Consequently I wrote BRMC off and only gave them credit for a bad ass name for a band. 2003 comes along and Take Them On, On Your Own is released. I again give BRMC a listen based off several friends incessant yammering about it. I find that while not as obvious a homage to their predecessors, The boys from S.F. have decided to make the ultimate blunder in immediately Time Stamping your music with a freshness label, by infusing their lyrics with political slants and commentary on the American presidential Administration. Yeesh. Bad move guys.

Despite all this heard a lot of people who's opinions I respect tell me they loved BRMC. This is getting long so I'll cut the chase.

I found the album Howl this morning and actually sat down and gave it a good listen. Wow, is all I can say. What a quantum Leap in sound. This, my friends, is amazing. BRMC has found a sound that works well for them. They've kept the sonic screech and noise that fans love about them but cut it back so as to make a part of the whole instead of the majority. Mississippi Delta Blues can now be heard throughout the collection with dark imagery of bible belt catholic murder spree guilt. The lyric are excellent with just enough vagueness to allow the listener room for interpretation. All in All, I'm hooked. This is the BRMC that I've been personally waiting for.

that being said I think I'll be able to go back and listen to the first two albums as a nice comparison for BRMC's growth. Who knows, I might even enjoy them.

Here's the video for Ain't No Easy Way

Silversun Pickups: Kissing Families

If you are like me, your informative music years were primarily during the grunge rock/alternative decade that we call the 90s. Sure there was other stuff going on. (gangster rap/britpop) but those two were the ones that everyone talks about. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, NIN, Bush, STP, etc. Are the big names that came out of the states at that time.
One of the other HUGE bands that will always be synonymous with that 90s are the Smashing Pumpkins. The first time I heard Siamese Dream and Gish will always be foremost in my mind as a moment of discovering something I LIKED. The Pixies is another one that sooo many people I know say hit that chord in them. With the over-saturation of the "alternative" music genre through 10 years, other styles developed and the musicial tide swung back towards pop. Many of weaned on anti-pop snobbishness were forced to shore up our disdain and declare music dead for the past 5 years. Growing up in LA, I was particularly disgusted to find that my own city, so well regarded by the rest of the world as being on the cutting edge of, well everything, was producing the most trite crap on its underground scene as to make Blink 182 seem like Elvis Costello. Just pure crap.
Now, I'm well aware that being in my mid twenties I've hit that "My shit is on the way out" moment where the music I grew up with is now becoming flashback music on radio stations. Wow. But I recently picked up on a Band Called the Silversun Pickups that are a nice throwback to my shit. Angsty, but making it a fashion point not to be fashionable. And surprise, surprise, they're from LA. Way to go home team! Silversun Pickups reminds me of that first time we heard Siamese Dream or listened to Surfer Rosa all the way through. Not necessarily that potent, but there is something there. The emotion seems to come through, with just the right amount of aggression and conviction to sell themselves to you without pushing it too far. I like that. Black Francis and Kim Deal are definitely influences here, as well as Billy Corigan.
Distorted Guitars, Background fuzz, a varied vocal style, mixed with a nice blend of aggro and melody make for a potent cocktail here. The six Song EP was released mid 2005 but I've heard precious little about them. Filter put them on their "Bands to Watch" CD sometime recently.

Anyway here's a video for the lead track off the their debut EP "Pickul"
Kissing Familes
They've also got a MySpace Page with a few MP3s.

Deerhoof: Please Pour Acid in my One Remaining Eardrum

A little after new years a friend and I were sitting around and discussing musical stuff at a get together. The conversation was focusing around the more interesting albums of the year, and I mentioned how I'd just gotten Deerhoof's latest and hadn't really listened to much of it yet. I remember saying something about the vocals being extremely irritating.
My friend replied with something flippant like,
"Whatever, Bjork lover" and me saying something like
"you like Deerhoof, but not Stereolab. Hmm"
Or something. I was drunk, and It's only passingly important.

Anyway this friend, who is kind enough to read this crap and occasionally reply to it, wrote me about my last post on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and how nerve grating the vocals are. I agree completely. Of course, frequent exposures to nails on chalkboards have dulled the senses a bit so perhaps that explains the lack of hatred on my part.

BUT, Deerhoof definitely takes the fucking cake here.

I know I commented on avant garde albums and how I find them scary and interesting. But really, this is too much. Having sat through Reveille and Runners Four I feel I can honestly say that Satan fucking a Chihuahua in the ass with a red hot jackhammer would probably sound better to me. I just sat through No one fed me so I stayed off reveille and I want to punch my roommate in the face. And I honestly like my roommate.
I've tried to understand what it is about this band that makes everyone keep telling me their good, but I find it utterly incomprehensible why anyone would subject themselves to this kind of torture. Maybe if I light me nipples on fire.
Even if the vocals aren't getting in the way, the music itself is so badly written that a retarded elephant could come up with more structure than almost any one of the songs on either album I have. And I only listened to two! Who is buying this shit?

Now that I've vented my spleen I'll take an objective step back. Experiments in song structure are good. Even necessary. Sonic Youth. A perfect example of a band breaking boundaries in music but only meeting with few and far between successes. I've never met anyone who has ever been able to produce a sonic youth album from their collection, but everyone SWEARS their awesome. Why? Because their fucking with the formula. Deerhoofs kind of the same. I think. Is it art? Yeah technically. Is it different? Yes and no. Usually this type of proto pop/blues has got some sort of angry snarling vocals over it instead of tweety bird noises smeared over the top. Is it good?

Only in the sense that a kick in the nuts is good to remind you why we try to avoid that sort of thing at all costs.

Aural landscapes are something that I love in music. Anything labeled "atmospheric" is probably something I'll like. I should like Deerhoof. I don't. Sorry fans. Your really deluding yourselves on this one. Only one man I know would dig this shit. And his name is Ben Adams. 25 minute Japanese Death Metal solos warped his mind to the point he MIGHT like Deerhoof. What's the rest of you people's excuse?

Final analysis: Deerhoof fools you into thinking there is something challenging here, until you get past the initial shock and realize that there is only hipster analog music with lots of useless connections, inane song structure lacking any complexity and some of the most irritating vocal frequencies ever recorded by man or woman. I huge amount of effort went into making this dogshit. It's a waste of your time and mine, and I'm not wasting anymore time on the subject.

Fuck Deerhoof.

If you want links to MP3's plug stick you head in the tub and throw a dryer in with you. It's the same thing.

Clap your Hands Say Yeah

Is it me, or are weird concept albums coming back into fashion the last two years. Things like Arcade Fire, Mars Volta, Modest Mouse, Decemberists. There is all this very bizarre music starting to make headway that quite frankly kind of scares me. If the cycle follows its usual course, four years from now wee going to be listening to some modern version of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer cranking out a 17 minute extended jam session featuring repetitious keyboard solos.

Anyway, reading various magazine and websites, clap Your Hands Say Yeah has shown up on several "best of" lists despite only having been out for, Like three months. Having now listened to it I can honestly say that I have heard this coming from a few cars and radios in my area, I just didn't recognize it, or ask what it was. So the buzz is apparently pretty strong.

Lots and Lots and LOTS of David Byrne Comparisons in the press for lead singer, Alec Ounsworth. Is this fair?
Ehh. Only in so far as its a weird vocal style. I can't really say anybody else that he sounds like so a high pitched David Byrne will suffice. Or maybe Yoko Ono. Actually the last time someone's vocal style really made me comment on it as being "different" was back when I found the Violent Femmes.

I like the fact that this band has no US label right now, but has still managed to sell 20,000 copies of their self-titled album in three months time. Take that music reps. Your ass is sunk. People are still buying music, just not from you! Eat a dick.

My own personal impression of the album are good. But I do admit that this is not exactly a relaxing album to listen to. It would be if the instrumentation was the only thing your were hearing. It's tasteful yet ear catching indie stuff. Nothing ground breaking but still good. Ounsworth's voice isn't totally annoying but still I gotta admit he's no crooner. I've heard cats fucking that sounds prettier. The one exception is on the track Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood, where the vocals fit well with eh music to ALMOST give you a spacey feeling until Alec starts chanting "They are child stars" ad naseum like a retarded Parrot. Funny though.

Anyway they were recently on Conan O'Brien so here you go. It's a tiny video though.

and here's some more mp3's for your listening enjoyment.

Lost and Found
Details of the War
Home On Ice

Song:Ohia Farewell Transmission

It is always a distinct pleasure that rarely occurs in my life, when a friend brings to attention a new song or artist that you enjoy. But the best is when someone brings to your attention music that affects you in a profound way, making you re-examine what it is that you consider to be music in the first place.

Last night qualifies.

songs:Ohia is really one man. Jason Molina. Growing up in Lorain, Ohio, this kid was playing for half a decade in Heavy Metal bands in the area as a bass player. Somewhere along the line he shifted his focus and began writing his own material that can very comfortably be described as Alt-Country. He's put out five albums and several EPs since 1996.
Now anyone who takes a look at the release date of Magnolia Electric Co. will notice that I'm behind on this album release by a whopping three years. So oops there. My only defense is that the alt country genre has always been one that I take with a grain of salt and don't have any real understanding of past the obvious choices like early wilco or Whiskeytown. In fact anybody who could make educated recommendations to me for this please do.
My recently moved-in roommate was kind enough to hook me up with this album, and I haven't had a chance to fully process it yet, but It's not really necessary. The first track on the album alone is worth the price of admission. Farewell Transmission has got one of the most haunting guitar hooks backed by Molina's distinctly unproduced vocals that just let the emotion speak for itself. Neil Young comes to mind, as well as Bob Dylan with a hint of Leonard Cohen. For whatever reason, this makes me think of the desert at dusk. As I have no other information on Molina aside from the brief piece I found I'll just let the song, and a few choice fan quotes pulled from the net speak for itself.

I should point out that I'm a big fan of nocturnal, atmospheric music with a distinctly rural-American tinge, and that pretty well describes this album.

Let's Get Drunk and Brood,

This is some of the most well crafted, fluently beautiful music I've ever heard.

I cannot stop listening to it. Over and over again. I never tire from it.

It's a classic--like OK COMPUTER or AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA. Not that it sounds remotely like either of those albums;
it's just a similarly unified, similarly dense musical statement.

It's far from an overstatement to say that Molina is one of the most talented, emotionally resonant songwriters of his
generation, as the collection of songs assembled here clearly demonstrates.

For those who likey, check out the Songs: Ohia website

Farewell Transmission

Pandora and internet radio

I used to daydream sometimes of having a massive underground bunker that had every single recording ever on a massive changer that would be able to scan my brain and know exactly what kind of music I wanted to hear at any given moment and play an appropriate song based of either style or lyrics. Later I modded my dream boombox to be more personal soundtracky and adjust for irony and juxtaposition.

Sadly my dream machine is not yet reality. But oddly enough, tech for music listeners is moving in the general direction.

Internet radio has been the better way to listen to music for quite some time now. As standard FM stations are increasingly hampered by the effort of Clear Channel to force them to crush the human soul, more and more people are saying "fuck the Radio" and going pure Ipod or satellite radio. Both offer the better part of the musical experience, by provide a wide variety of channels garnered to more specific tastes, say 80 electronic or 60 dance hall or some other non mainstream genre.

XM gives 100 + channels for a small subscription fee plus the initial cost of the equipment, but is also good anywhere in the USA. Sirius is the less large of the satellite radio providers.

Internet radio is by no means perfect, but by allowing a ton of would be DJs to put together several hours of their own mix and post it on the radio a very organic mix can be achieved that, in my own opinion, creates a much more visceral experience in listening that becomes more about the music itself and not foisting top 40 merchandise and endless commercials on us.
Do a google search and you'll find tons of internet broadcasters out there. Some of the bigger ones are Rhapsody and Yahoo My own preferences are for Live365's blend. Tends to be a little more eclectic.

But the most interesting one to date is the new style by the The Music Genome Project.

A friend of mine told me about an online radio service that would basically allow me to plug a musician or band as a reference point to what kind of music I would enjoy listening to and create my own personalized radio station. The Theory behind this rather odd Idea called Pandora is that musical tastes have certain recognizable patterns that when cross referenced will allow someone to be led to new music that they otherwise might never have come across. The radio stream service is called Pandora

On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever.

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Over the past 5 years, we've carefully listened to the songs of over 10,000 different artists - ranging from popular to obscure - and analyzed the musical qualities of each song one attribute at a time. This work continues each and every day as we endeavor to include all the great new stuff coming out of studios, clubs and garages around the world.

It has been quite an adventure, you could say a little crazy - but now that we've created this extraordinary collection of music analysis, we think we can help be your guide as you explore your favorite parts of the music universe.

We hope you enjoy the journey.

Fair enough.

As each song plays you are allowed the option to "vote" on the song. A thumbs up for this is kind of shit I want to hear more of" or a thumbs down for "This is the worst music ever. Never play this song again." Even cooler is the "why am I hearing this song" button which gives you a brief description as to why Pandora's box thinks you might like it. All in all pretty cool.

So the real question is "how good is Pandora at getting what I like?" the answer is not too shabby. When you first start it up, whatever band you plug in will be the template for what other bands are selected. While this is fine, you'll find that like anything it will get a little boring. Thankfully you can keep adding more bands which increases the scope of what it will play for you. When I plugged in only two bands I noticed that mix what slightly repetitive. So variation in you themes helps quite a bit in keeping it fresh.

As an experiment I also plugged in a band that in my opinion defies easy definitions. The Doves. Because the Doves are so all across the board as far as styles go, I thought it would be a good test. Frankly Pandora did fail here. What came back simply sounded nothing like them. When I queued Pandora to tell me why it was playing certain bands and musicians which were so not like the doves as to be laughable, the answers came back that Pandora had selected Mars Volta for my listening enjoyment for "electric rock instrumentation, mild rhythmic syncopation, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, a vocal centric aesthetic and major key tonality."

Ok. But I don't think there is anyone on the planet that would agree that the logical jump from the Doves to Mars Volta makes sense. SO it's not a perfect system. But hey, what a mix!

try it yourself and see what you think. I'd love to hear what you think and whether it turned you on to anything new that you now love.