Well, the driving portion of Andy Zipf's Pfriends on Pfilm Tour came to an end yesterday. We had a great time playing out at some very diverse locations. A northeast mini-tour is in the works for late Spring. I'll keep you all posted.
Here's a little montage of our kick-off show at SOTA (my studio). Enjoy!
Top 10 Albums 2007
I think that it is fair to say that the selection this year was so great that getting your name on any of these lists is a big deal. I've left out great albums (i.e. panda bear, band of horses, yeasayer, monomen, midlake, etc.)
here goes:
Albums (js)
1. "Because of the Times" Kings of Leon
2. "Some Loud Thunder" Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
3. "Boxer" The National
4. "The Stage Names" Okkervil River
5. "The Shepherd's Dog" Iron and Wine
6. "Neon Bible" Arcade Fire
7. "Pride" Phosphorescent
8. "Our Love to Admire" Interpol
9. "Our Ill Wills" Shout Out Louds
10. "Wincing the Night Away" The Shins
Songs (js)
1. "Drums of Glass" Monomen
2. "Fans" Kings of Leon
3. "Green Gloves" The National
4. "Roscoe" Midlake
5. "Tonight I Have to Leave It" Shout Out Louds
6. "Rest My Chemistry" Interpol
7. "Wolves" Phosphorescent
8. "John Allyn Smith Sails" Okkervil River
9. "Peace Beneath The City" Iron and Wine
10. "Rag and Bone" The White Stripes
jason shrontz
(p.s. this definitely wasn't a year for album covers was it?)
Hello fellow Corpsers and the like. It's been a minute or two since I posted. I apologize for being M.I.A. It's been a crazy time around here to say the least.
Back to the post at hand. I will be traveling with Andy Zipf on his upcoming tour, starting on the Jan. 18th-27th. Then playin at the Apple store in Vienna, VA on Feb, 2nd.
Some who know me might be saying, "Brad? He's the most musically uninclined person I know? What could he be doing on a band tour?" Well, funny you should ask. The tour is actually a collaboration between Andy Zipf, Pete Lim and myself. It's a visual tour, as well as an audible. That's really all I am at liberty to say. I promise you, it'll be a show not to miss.
We will be staying night with a Mr. Dave Hodge in our travels between the Iowa show and Indiana. Hope to see some of you out there at some of the different dates!
For tour info and the likes, please visit:
www.myspace.com/andyzipf
CORPSE-ers, now is the time to make those lists...We need numbers 1-10, and then I will tally/compile the lists into one all-powerful ALIEN CORPSE top 10 of 2007. Add your lists to this post with initials.
For those of you not with us last year, a #1 album will be given 10 points and a #10 album will be given 1 point, etc...the album with the highest # of points will be ranked #1 on our compiled list (I'm looking at you, Neon Bible). So, Jason, that means you will have to rank your list 1-10...we appreciate our art ordinately around here, dammit.
ALBUMS(TH)
1. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - "Some Loud Thunder"
2. Animal Collective - "Strawberry Jam"
3. Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible"
4. Modest Mouse - "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank"
5. The White Stripes - "Icky Thump"
6. Arctic Monkeys - "Favorite Worst Nightmare"
7. The New Pornographers - "Challengers"
8. Handsome Furs - "Plague Park"
9. The Shins - "Wincing the Night Away"
10. Kings of Leon - "Because of the Times"
EPs (TH)
1. Tokyo Police Club - "Smith"
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Is Is"
Songs (TH)
1. Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs
2. Satan Said Dance – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
3. For Reverend Green – Animal Collective
4. Thou Shalt Always Kill – Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip
5. Brianstorm – Arctic Monkeys
6. Rag and Bone – The White Stripes
7. Sleeping Lessons – The Shins
8. Fans – Kings of Leon
9. White Dove - John Vanderslice
10. Holiday – Albert Hammond Jr.
We didn't do this last year. I think it's a good idea, as a couple of tracks made it onto my song list that weren't on albums in my album list.
I think these are in order as well.
1. "(Antichrist Television Blues)" - Arcade Fire
2. "Bros" - Panda Bear
3. "Crystal Cat" - Dan Deacon
4. "At Death, A Proclomation" - Phosphorescent
5. "Ed is a Portal" - Akron/Family
6. "House of Cards" - Radiohead
7. "Up Against the Wall" - Peter, Bjorn & John
8. "No I in Threesome" - Interpol
9. "Just As You Are" - Robert Wyatt
10. "Change of Heart" - Teddy Thompson
I haven't posted in a while, so I thought a 2007 retrospective would be a good way to jump back in. I thought about doing a top 10, but then thought that top 10s really don't do justice to the listening that goes on throughout a year. Instead, I've simply ordered the list of what I bought/really listened to in 2007. This will reveal any limitations in my listening, and this way I won't have to come back, after someone else has posted, and say, "Well, yeah, I listened to that too, but it was number 11 on my list." I hope 23 albums isn't too long of a list - this might be an obnoxious way to do it. On the other hand, I'd love to see what each of you listened to all year long. I had thought of making a top 10 of 2007, no matter what the release date of the album, but thought better of it.
I hope I didn't forget anything.
1. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
2. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
3. Radiohead - In Rainbows
4. Stars of the Lid - And Their Refinement of the Decline
5. Akron/Family - Love is Simple
6. Phosphorescent - Pride
7. Caribou - Andorra
8. Peter, Bjorn & John - Writer's Block
9. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
10. Robert Wyatt - Comicopera
11. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
12. The National - Boxer
13. Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals
14. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
15. Feist - The Reminder
16. Most Serene Republic - Population
17. Low - Drums and Guns
18. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
19. Air - Pocket Symphony
20. Elliott Smith - New Moon
21. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
22. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
23. Bruce Springsteen - Magic
24. Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight
What you are about to hear are 17 ear-splitting tracks by Canadian artists. Most of the artists are "indie" but some have gained a fair bit of notoriety in the last few years. Matthew Good's new album, "Hospital Music" (while it isn't great) was featured on the front page of iTunes for its release this summer. The Tragically Hip have been selling out arenas in Canada (meaning, hockey arenas) since the early 90s. I gotta say that Sloan is the biggest thing to come out of The Maritimes (where I'm from, Atlantic Canada) since Donald (Keifer's dad) Sutherland.
In researching bands for this post, I came across The Weakerthans. If "Pamphleteer" isn't one of your favorite tracks on this comp., something is wrong with you. I paid more attention to Tokyo Police Club when I discovered they were Canadian, and I quickly became a fan. There are so many bands that I either hadn't heard or didn't know were Canadian before I went to Wikipedia with this idea.
However, there does seem to be a fair bit of bastardization in the Canadian indie rock scene. This goes with the territory for indie rock...but listen. Feist plays with Broken Social Scene - Stars is made up of BSS members - Jason Tait of The Weakerthans has recorded and toured with BSS. Unrelated, A.C. Newman is the front man of The New Pornographers which includes member Neko Case (hate her alt-country solo stuff, try though I might) and Dan Bejar who also belongs to Swan Lake with Spencer Krug who is a member of Wolf Parade with Dan Boeckner who also heads up the side project Handsome Furs.
Did I lose you? Good! That's Canada baby!
Here's the tracklist: (DL Link In Comments)
1. Canada vs. America - Broken Social Scene "EP To Be You And Me"
2. Who Taught You to Live Like That - Sloan "Never Hear The End Of It"
3. Blood On Our Hands - Death From Above 1979 "You're A Woman, I'm A Machine"
4. You Are a Runner and I am My Father's Son - Wolf Parade "Apologies To The Queen Mary"
5. Homemade Bombs in the Afternoon - A.C. Newman "Homemade Bombs In The Afternoon EP"
6. Fire Eye'd Boy - Broken Social Scene "Broken Social Scene"
7. Ahead By A Century - The Tragically Hip "Live Between Us"
8. Mushaboom - Feist "Let It Die"
9. Allisson Krausse - The Stills "Logic Will Break Your Heart"
10. Cannot Get, Started - Handsome Furs "Plague Park"
11. Your English Is Good - Tokyo Police Club "Your English Is Good"
12. Intervention - Arcade Fire "Neon Bible"
13. Hotline Operator - Constantines "Tournament of Hearts"
14. Pamphleteer - The Weakerthans "Left and Leaving"
15. Black Helicopter - Matthew Good "Hospital Music"
16. Ageless Beauty - Stars "Set Yourself On Fire"
17. All the Things that Go to Make Heaven and Earth - The New Pornographers "Challengers"
It's time - 17 is Prime Szombathy is finally here. Tracklist as follows:
1. Gimmie Indie Rock - Sebadoh (III)
2. Venus (Remastered LP Version) - Television (Marquee Moon)
3. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Demo) - The Ramones (Ramones)
4. Left Of The Dial - The Replacements (Tim)
5. 7 Chinese Bros. - R.E.M. (And I Feel Fine... The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987)
6. History Lesson Part 2 - Minutemen (Double Nickels On the Dime)
7. Date With Ikea - Pavement (Brighten The Corners)
8. Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr. (Bug)
9. Violet Execution (Remix '04) - Sebadoh (III)
10. Rain On Tin - Sonic Youth (Murray Street)
11. Grounded - Pavement (Wowee Zowee - Sordid Sentinels Edition (Disc 1))
12. Sons Of Apollo - Guided By Voices (Half Smiles Of The Decomposed)
13. Disorder - Gary Young's Hospital (The Grey Album)
14. Solid Jackson - Bright Eyes (A Collection Of Songs Written & Recorded 1995-1997)
15. Miss Misery (Early Version) - Elliott Smith (New Moon)
16. Unsatisfied - The Replacements (Let It Be)
17. Two-Headed Boy Part 2 - Neutral Milk Hotel (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
DL LINK IN COMMENTS - Let me know if there are any problems.
Alright, since we're a little past the halfway point of 2007, i'm a little curious to find out out people's top 5 albums of the year thus far:
My list (in order):
1. Kings of Leon--Because of the Times
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!--Some Loud Thunder
3. Arcade Fire--Neon Bible
4. The White Stripes--Icky Thump
5. Wilco--Sky Blue Sky
Biggest Disappointments (in order):
1. Interpol--Our Love to Admire
2. Bright Eyes--Cassadega
3. Wilco--Sky Blue Sky (great album, but I expected something better than a great album. The back half is what kept it on the top five).
Most Anticipated for 2nd half:
1. Iron and Wine
2. Kanye West
3. Band of Horses
4. Stephen Malkmus (if it gets out in 2007)
5. Sigur Ros
Still undecided on:
1. Modest Mouse--We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
2. Ryan Adams--Easy Tiger
j.s.
I was thinking today about the change that I see happening in music listening. It seems like a band has to work even more hard these days to hook a listener into an entire album.
Radio musicians and "artists" (or non-writing pretty faces, for long) know all about this from back in the day of us taping their stuff off the radio, but for the "indie" or even the "rock" genre (anything not considered pop), this is somewhat of a iTunes-created phenomenon.
Since we are now in the habit of celebrating SONGS rather than ALBUMS, this is probably something we need to discuss.
The first question that comes to mind is, "Is the music industry changing or are we?" I look back at my music collection (mentally) over the years and the things I remember are the great ALBUMS (Pedro's Winners Never Quit, Jawbreaker's Dear You, Nevermind, Weezer's Blue Album, The White Stripes' Elephant, etc). These are the albums where the Gestalt stands out - These albums in particular have the feel of being crafted when listened to, rather than sounding like an assortment of songs by a band. Not that we couldn't pick songs or hits off of these albums, but something is lost along the way. With recent subpar released from great bands (Stripes Satan, Killers Sam's Town, Interpol's new one) it seems like things may be changing to a more song focused culture.
The second thing I think about in respect to this topic is, "What is the purpose of the single?" In pop music, the single sells the album, and oftentimes is the only song listened to before the album is shelved. In the new iTunes culture, a "rock" band's hit will be downloaded exponentially more than the other songs on the album, depending on how "popular" the song becomes, especially if this song is featured on a TV or movie soundtrack (I'm thinking of The Fray's How to Save a Life which shot up iTunes' most downloaded chart after being featured on Grey's Anatomy, and many others). Music is becoming more pop culture influenced.
With 17 is Prime, the single (or chosen song) represents a band someone hasn't been exposed to, in order to give them something new to listen to. I think this represents the mixtape culture of yore as well. Instead of having a nauseating 30 minute conversation that consists of only questions ("Have you heard x?" "No...have you heard y?") like you're on freakin' "Whose Line." You hand them a mix CD, they listen, and they buy (or steal, or burn your copy like that's something different) what they like.
I'm beginning to ramble but I wanted to start the conversation of where you guys (and our reader) think the music scene is heading - especially in relation to iTunes and other song-centric downloading services.
I'm taking the side and defending the album. This is because not only do I want to listen to an entire album of a band, but I also want the bands that I listen to to record and compile more thoughtful albums.
Discuss.
Number 7 has been spotted over several cities world-wide! It's almost as powerful as the almighty Allspark! Although, Megatron has nothing on this mix!
*Warning*
Sector 7 is watching. Beware while downloading.
Tracklist and contributors:
DL link in comments.
Volume 6 is flashin' and shinin'!
Track listing and contributors:
01. Friday Night-Girl Talk-BW
02. Objects of My Obsession-Peter, Bjorn, and John-JH
03. Three MC's and One DJ (Live Video Version)-Beastie Boys-TH
04. Like Gold-Erlend Øye-JH
05. Fix Up, Look Sharp-Dizzee Rascal-TH
06. Diamond-Low-JH
07. Benzie Box (Featuring Cee-Lo)-Danger Doom-TH
08. Greed-Fugazi-DS
09. COOL KID'S (KLEVER'S MOON WALK RMXXX)-COOL KIDS+KLEVER-BW
10. Mansion in The Sky-The Brian Jonestown Massacre-DS
11. You Can Look But You Better Not Touch-Monawing-JH
12. Cold Gold Diamond-Blitzen Trapper-BW
13. Pile of Gold-The Blow-BW
14. Destination Diamonds-Diamond Nights-BW
15. Shining Escalade-Hot Chip-BW
16. Jesus Gonna Build Me a Home-John Davis-DS
17. Stunna Glasses-N/A-BW
Link in Comments.
Vol 5 is here with a bite bigger than it's bark!
The animal kingdom has descended upon the Corpse to devour it to the bone!
17 teeth-sinking tunes! From Bands like:
01. Def Leppard-Animal-JD
02. The Lovely Feathers-Lion Eats the Wildebeast-BW
03. The Stooges-I Wanna Be Your Dog-DS
04. Tom Waits-Dog Door-JS
05. The Walkmen-The Rat-JH
06. Brian Eno-Mother Whale Eyeless-JH
07. Pink Floyd-Sheep-JD
08. The Hidden Cameras-Animals of Prey-JH
09. modest mouse-Wild Pack of Family Dogs-JS
10. Damien Jurado-Purple Anteater-DS
11. Jets to Brazil-Sea Anemone-TH
12. Syd Barrett-Octopus-JH
13. John Vanderslice-White Dove-BW
14. mewithoutyou-O, Porcupine-DS
15. Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Tick-TH
16. Cheeseburger-Tiger-BW
17. Of Montreal-Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider-BW
Link in comments
I've been listening to Live at Massey Hall 1971, the third installment of the Neil Young Archives Performance Series, and I think it's pretty great.
Previously, I'd thought there were two Youngs - the razor thin troubador and itinerant piano tinkler, and the sludge-flinging axe wielder of guitar righteousness. If you're looking for the latter, don't get this album. This is an acoustic and piano performance, intimate, and young sounding, and I haven't not-heard an audience this quiet since Dylan's '64 Halloween Concert bootleg. And I think it's a soundboard recording, so those of you averse to live recordings are in luck - this is pristine and completely enjoyable.
But further...
I don't think there are two Youngs. Rather, there is only one, and he is the servant of his music. The reason he can fling the sludge and serenade the loneliness away is that he has the unique ability to lose himself in his performance. When I saw him play with Crostby, Stills, & Nash, he was clearly the only musician on that stage who conceived of himself as somehow under the music, a slave to it, a lover waiting for it. (Those other fat cats did their best to not appear too closely aligned with a Jimmy Buffet-ish retirment ethos). That said, on this '71 recording, the same seems to be true: his guitar, his piano, his guitar's licks and progressions, his alpine voice, his odd sense of rhythm and chunk-a-chunk strumming all meld together in some beautiful, northern parody of the one-man band.
Case in point: when he moves into "A Man Needs a Maid" (here suited with "Heart of God"), though he is one man on a piano, I cannot help hearing a philharmonic just waiting behind the curtains - that they are not, and I still hear them, is a testimony to his melodic sensibilities and his ability to be present and fully available to his music. In other words, this performance is not a reductive re-tooling of some good ol' songs, but a brand new performance of them, fresh, and enlivened, rather than regurgitated, by his solo performance. He has given himself to them as though they were the same labored constructions of studio work, and he has likewise freighted them with all of the anxiety, hope, and loneliness of Young's early songwriting.
Key tracks:
"Tell Me Why"
"Cowgirl in the Sand"
"Don't Let it Bring You Down"
"Down by the River"
and of course, "Helpless"
Enjoy it, if you want to.
JH
BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!BIG!
Yup, it's big. Bigger than you know! If it were a whale, it would be blue. If it were a planet, it would be Jupiter. If it were a sandwich, it would be the Triple Thickburger. We're talking massive! How you say could one group compile such a larger mix tape on such a small world wide web? Download and see for yourself.
Track listing and contributors:
01. Colossal-Wolfmother-BW
02. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)-Neil Young-JD
03. Heaven and Hell-The Who-JS
04. Filipino Box Spring Hog-Tom Waits-JS
05. Little Cream Soda-The White Stripes-BW
06. Journey in Satchidananda-Alice Coltrane-JH
07. Mister Kingdom-Electric Light Orchestra-JH
08. Better Bring Your Friends-The Secret Machines-JS
09. Devastation-The Besnard Lakes-JH
10. Like a Hurricane-Neil Young-JS
11. Snow Noise Assemblage-Cosmicdust-JH
12. New Noise-Refused-DS
13. Peacebone-Animal Collective-BW
14. The Crystal Cat-Dan Deacon-DS
15. The Prayer-Bloc Party-BW
16. Go Home, Get Down-DFA 1979-BW
17. Thou Shalt Always Kill-Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip-BW
DL link in comments.
Vol 3 is so little! From small bands, to small titles, this week's mix is full of all things small! Watch out, though! It's definitely got a serious case of the Napoleon Complex!
Just because it's small, doesn't mean it's not a grower!
Track list and contributors:
01. Midtown-Japanther-BW
o2. Since You Went Away-Dear Nora-JH
03. Atlantic City-Bruce Springsteen-JD
04. A Minor Place-Bonnie "Prince" Billy-JH
05. chelsea hotel #2-Leonard Cohen-JS
06. One Too Many Mornings-Bob Dylan-JS
07. Eyes for Windows-Damien Jurado-TH
08. State Trooper-Bruce Springsteen-JS
09. Funkier than a Mosquito's Tweeter-Nina Simone-JH
10. Yea Yeah-Matt and Kim-BW
11. Little Room-The White Stripes-TH
12. A Duel Will Settle This-Mates of State-BW
13. True Affection-The Blow-BW
14. Oh Comely-Neutral Milk Hotel-JS
15. 6am Morningside-The Clientele-JH
16. Carrion-Fiona Apple-TH
17. My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)-Neil Young-JD
Dl link in comments
This is a good indication that the new album will be excellent...I am heavy with anticipation. This riff sorta melts my face off.
~T
That's right! It's time for 17 is Prime vol. 2! And it's all claps all the time! 17 tracks of hand slappin' happiness! You'll have the clap by song 2! I guarantee!
Track listing and contributors:
01 Clap Your Hands!-CYHSY!-JS
02 Kissing the Lipless-The Shins-TH
03 Da Doo Ron Ron-The Crystals-JH
04 Where are the chains now-broken clock-JS
05 Clap Hands-Tom Waits-JS
06 Let the Devil In-TV On The Radio-BW
07 Jimmy Mack-Martha Reeves & The Vandellas-JH
08 I Want To Hold Your Hand-JS
09 Disco Sheets-Wolf Parade-BW
10 Every Party (w_Prefuse 73)-JH
11 Close To Me-The Cure-DS
12 This Sentence Will Ruin/Save Your Life-Born Ruffians-BW
13 Epic Problem-Fugazi-TH
14 No Fun-The Stooges-DS
15 Death At the Chapel-The Horrors-BW
16 Citizens of Tomorrow-Tokyo Police Club-BW
17 Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)-The Hombres-JH
DL link in comments.
Alien Corpse has embarked on it's first mixtape voyage, 17 is Prime. Every Thursday, the contributors will be giving a taste of what has been gracing their ears for the last week. Expect 17 unexpected tracks. Listen, enjoy, and support the artists.
Vol. 1 Track listing and contributors:
01 Panda Bear-Take Pills-JH
02 Master of None-Beach house-BW
03 Sailor's Tale-King Crimson-JD
04 Mikado(Spydeburg Demo)-Jaga Jazzist-BW
05 Fans-Kings of Leon-JS
06 Black Grease-The Black Angels-JH
07 The Return of Evil Bill-Clinic-BW
08 Roll With It-Oasis-JD
09 Hot Knives-Bright Eyes-JS
10 Mama, Won't You Keep Those Castles in the Air & Burning?-CYHSY!-JS
11 Hang Me Up To Dry-Cold War Kids-BW
12 Finer Feelings-Spoon-BW
13 TV Torso-Sound Team-BW
14 Sick, Sick, Sick-Queens of the Stone Age-BW
15 Apocalypso-Mew-BW
16 Innocence-Bjork-BW
17 Crazy-Andy Zipf-Bw
Find download link in comments.
Listening to Panda Bear's Person Pitch is sort of like deciding to go to a far off place, where Charlie Kauffman is hosting a carnival week, and on the carnival's last night in town, the Beach Boys are going to come out and perform some D- or even Z-sides from Pet Sounds. In other words, there's no reason not to go out and get it.
If I'm right, and I am, then this is the summer album of 2007.
I don't even really know what to say about it. The instrumentation is at once meditative and swirling. The lyrics are often indecipherable, but those Beach Boys harmonies are unmistakable, and you might really discover that you're listening to Brian Wilson's nephew - you know, the one who went to culinary school and got kicked out because he kept stealing Crayons to draw pictures of what his sound would look like if he were just able to get the right friendships in order to form his super group. That guy.
I was going to write that "Take Pills" is a journey to what happens when you're underwater with lots of people you love, but that doesn't make sense.
And "Bros," by far the masterpiece of the album, does the most toward wrapping you completely in the same sonic package as "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times."
To be sure, Person Pitch is nowhere near as straighforward as anything the Beach Boys put out. It's given a healthy dose of that 21st century self-referentiality. Maybe this would be a place to talk about irony, but I'm not sure how to, or what it would mean even if I did.
It's almost as if Noah Lennox thought, You know, I'll never be able to get away from a comparison to the Beach Boys, so I might as well go all the way with it. And it's true - this isn't one of those albums where the comparison to another band is questionable. This is deliberate tribute, but without sycophancy. I love it, and I think it'll go down as one of the top ten of 2007.
*JH
Dan S.
Here's a list of a few recent discoveries and similar artists as reference:
The Kissaway Trail
Recommended if you like: Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket, Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire
Myspace:
www.myspace.com/thekissawaytrail
Parts & Labor
Recommended if you like: Russian Futurists, Erase Errata, Maps & Atlases, Onieda
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/partsandlabor
Handsome Furs
Recommended if you like: Frog Eyes, Wolf Parade, Swan Lake
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/handsomefurs
The Pigeon Detectives
Recommended if you like: Bloc Party, The Maccabees, Eight Legs, The Rakes
Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/thepigeondetectives
I've been toying with this list for a bit, thinking it over, wondering whether or not anyone else would be interested in thinking of lists like this.
I'll say right off that the first rule is, No superlatives. There is no possible way this could be a "top" list or a "best" list, and so again, I'm sort of wary, because if a music fan can't say, "This is the best, no question, and you're wrong if you disagree," then what can he say?
Anyhow, the list is of great moments, not lasting longer than half a minute or so, in some great songs. Of course, a song need not be a member of any of your top 5 lists in order to contain a moment that'd fit this list nicely.
I was listening to Doves' "Pounding" the other day, and toward the end, when the Edge-esque chack-a-chack-a-chack-a-chackachackachacka-chack-a-chack-a-chack-a-chackachackachacka part comes in, I thought, This always gets me, no matter how many times I hear this song. So I started thinking of other great, brief, titillating moments in songs, and I thought maybe this would be a good list for a bunch of geeks.
Mine:
5. Aforementioned "Pounding" moment
4. The guitar lick after the solo after the bridge in Weezer's "Buddy Holly"
3. First verse of Kings of Leon's "Spiral Staircase," when Followill sings, "Get your ass together, You better walk, walk, walk, a by walking, we cannot run!" or something like that. (This was the lyric I found when I Googled the song - I just thought he was singing, "A wop-boba-lop-bop" etc.)
2. The drum entrance on George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" - the most unassuming entrance in rock'n'roll history.
1. Interpol's "Leif Erikson" - line in second verse: "Well then hook me up and throw me, baby cakes, cuz I like to get hooked."
Recently (ok, 5 minutes ago) I had an idea for a post (ok, Dan had an idea for a post) regarding bands that used to not suck (as hard as they do now). In this discussion (see comments on previous excellent post) bands like U2 and Joy Division were mentioned, but my wheels are turning and I can already think of several additions. This doesn't necessarily have to be just bands but songwriters, musicians, music guys, and others related to the biz -- anyone who used to rock harder (or more skillfully) in a time gone by. This isn't a top 5, but rather an extensive and expansive list.
We'll call this the "They were cooler before..." list -- The ultimate indy kid list.
U2
Weezer
Smashing Pumpkins/Zwan/Billy Corgan
Please Add.
-Dan S.
just wanted everyone to know that, as of now--3.27.2007, 9:11pm EST--the new kings of leon album is available for a listen in its entirety on their myspace page. the album come out officially next tuesday. maybe nobody else cares. this guy does.
j.s.
While recording a live Arcade Fire show for NPR’s “All Songs Considered,” Bob Boilen remarks (paraphrased) that the members of Arcade Fire are not celebrities or rock stars, they are just incredible musicians. This statement is confirmed in Arcade Fire’s “Neon Bible.” The songs are dark and somewhat mysterious and seem to come from a nervous cavity inside of songwriter, Win Butler. Nervous of what? Well, from their first album, “Funeral,” it seemed to be of growing up, of losing one’s innocence and of being ignored until one is considered an adult. The honest portrayal of childhood and loss of innocence on “Funeral” seem to question the Western World’s idea of "maturity" and "the real world.” However, in “Neon Bible,” the fear has become more concentrated. The images of war, dishonest religion and escape seems to be much more concentrated on the America we live in today, the darker side of our America. Personally, I had some trouble, at first, with this. I had trouble with the lyrics, “I don’t wanna live in
Anyways, all this to say, eventually, the album had the power to transcend my bias. The songs, they have this power to them that I’m going to try to write about. First off, their sound is uniquely theirs. A long time ago, Bono was asked how U2 achieved such a unique sound, and his response was that when they began playing, none of them knew how to play their instruments. Thus, it would follow that what came out was something nobody has heard before. The Arcade Fire has achieved this moreso with “Neon Bible” than with “Funeral,” though not because they don’t know how to play their instruments. The songs move forward like city transport, waiting for nobody, constant, taking you where you expect them to, but in a good way, like for the same reason that you got on the bus in the first place. At times, the lyrics become vague and dreamlike, but are redeemed in such songs as “Keep the Car Running,” and the eerie closer, “My Body is a Cage.” The organ in “Intervention,” is haunting and appropriate. And one of my favorites, "Ocean of Noise," is driven darkly with the sounds of thunder, a poppy bass lick and the low bass clef notes of the piano. The cure-esque sound of "(antichrist television blues)" lends soulful, honest words to the fear that this album is so concentrated around: the fear of living in a country in war, the post-9/11 America, the feeling that the "new" thing we crave, will never come, and the desire to escape.
"Neon Fire" is a great second album, but may be an album that is heavily listened to at first, and then becomes a situational album. The dark, quivering tones of the album may become a bit too much when you're trying to eat dinner or clean the bathroom. However, if it is dark, and you, too, are feeling dark and overwhelmed and scared, this album is right at home in the speakers of your vehicle, like friends over the phone, coffee, or good tobacco. It is music that will accompany you when you, too, do not want to be alone.
-j.s.
ready for a new list? well i hope so cause i got 2 t-w-o of them. consider the first as the cd you bought at your favorite indie store, and the 2nd as the bumper sticker of some local heavy metal band that the clerk gave you for making the purchase (he's probably in the band...wink). what i really want to know is, if you wrote five songs, which five would they be? i've been thinking a lot about this lately as i'm coming into some new music. the criteria is almost without limits. the main stipulation is money can not be a factor (dont base your songs on the amount of money you'd make, obviously). for example, my list can not be "right now" by van halen, "paradise city" by guns'n'roses, "i would do anything for love (but i won't do that)" by meatloaf, etc... because 1) i dont own a black leather jacket, and 2) i'd be lying.
so, here is my five songs that i wish i would've written:
1. "desolation row," bob dylan
2. "16, maybe less," calexico and iron and wine
3. "staralfur," sigur ros
4. "red hill mining town," U2
5. "california waiting," kings of leon
2nd list: Top 5 things you do while listening to music
guidelines: the idea of this is to explain what you're doing/where you are when you are really, really listening to music. As in, the listening is what you are there for, the 5 things in the list are the non-distracting things you do--and where you do them--that allow you to really listen. hopefully my list will make this clearer:
1. wait till stacey goes to bed, lie on my office floor with my head underneath my desk, with headphones, and listen--for a new album
2. play Internet backgammon, chew tobacco, music through speakers, loud--for a familiar album that's been calling me from the album rack
3. drive in my ford ranger through dark, Marquette roads--for an album to unwind with (usually the kings of leon "aha shake heartbreak")
4. walk through the woods in presque isle park with headphones--an album that reminds me of home
5. vacuuming locker rooms at work--i save all my NPR "All Songs Considered" for this
honorary 6th (since NPR is talking and music clips): nobody home, in my office, sitting in my old, brown leather chair, all lights out, beer in my hand, eyes closed, music loud enough to drown out complaining apartment tenants--any bob dylan or tom waits.
-jason shrontz
In probably the last five or six months I have been considering myself a lover of Americana music, listening to great bands like Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, M. Ward, Midlake, My Morning Jacket, and Band of Horses. I figured that maybe at the age of 26 I have found my distinct genre of music. Bands that sing about God, heartache, and the United States are not bad at all. And I can deal with going straight to the Americana section at CD Central in Lexington and feel just fine.
But life and music are not that simple. Music is not like picking out a sports team that you live and die by. Our ears allow us to be bipolar. We can love one thing a lot at one point and then the next minute we fall in love with a new band, but our ears will always come back to what we love unless it is DMB or some other absurd band that came out of the 90s.
So my point is that I fell in love with a man from Sweden three weeks ago. Americana, move over, because this guy is good and the album he put together flows brilliantly. The band is Loney, Dear (Emil Svanängen), and this album released in the United States by SubPop is called Loney, Noir. This album was originally recorded and released in August 2005, and now it gets to grace our beloved country as of January 2007.
Svanängen is multi-instrumentalist and on this album he records everything by himself, and does a good job of it. One of the songs that stand out on this album is “I am John,” which is the heralded track off the album and a featured video on YouTube. The next track on the album is “Saturday Waits.” I love this track. The final song is “And I Won’t Cause Anything At All”—a great song to end a good album. This was the first record I think I bought on its release date in a long time. I forgot how special it is to buy an album without the certainty that you will like it. Fortunately, I do. And even though the last two days I listened to Midlake and BOH, today I am listening to Loney, Dear. My bipolar ears are being good to me.
When Alex and I used to go to shows in college, we were hopeful. We'd look at each other, before the music started, and would say, "What if this is the best thing we've ever heard?" Usually it wasn't, though we did make it to Elliott Smith in Chicago, Wilco in Detroit and Columbus, Damien Jurado in Bloomington, and of course, Appleseed Cast came to our measly campus and tore my ears off. So sure, we were setting ourselves up for disappointment by asking the question, but we were also opening ourselves up to possibility, which isn't a bad thing at all.
Now, Alex and I have kids, and we don't really go to shows much. (I saw Of Montreal in Lexington and the Strokes in Minneapolis [sorry, Dan], but Alex couldn't make it - maybe that makes him a better father, I'm not sure). And the closest thing either of us has to that pre-show experience is going to the Jessamine County Public Library. And we can't really do that together any more. He goes with Elliott, and I go with Margot.
On Sunday last, Margot and I went to get some movies and see about some music, and I saw this stunning cover in the popular section. The last time I judged an album by its cover was Jenny Lews and the Watson Twins, and I'm glad I did. This time, however, was El Perro del Mar's self-titled 2006 album.
The first time I played it, my mind was out of control with geek-music-lover thoughts: I wish I had a time machine, and I would go back to 2006, and I would re-write my top-ten list on Alex's blog's comment section, and I would add El Perro del Mar at about the #5 slot, or maybe, no, maybe the #4 slot, or, well...It is really good...it could be #2. And then, on the second listen, I checked myself and realized I had begun a thought sentence with, "I wish I had a time machine..." and I felt embarrassed, though I was home alone at the time.
The album is, for lack of better terms, nearly perfect to me. Not as stripped down as Beach House, but not as lush as Air can sometimes be. Not as dour as CocoRosie or Chan Marshall, but not unlike all of these acts either. And what's more: El Perro del Mar has smartly employed that little southern-soul-60's-pop tool that Cat Power and Jenny Lewis found so useful in 2006 as well.
The first track, "Candy," makes me think of the Velvet Underground, not so much through its sound, but through its sensibility: this is "candy" no one is sure about: "candy" on a Saturday night, "candy" that must be bought. In short, "candy" that makes me a little uncomfortable, being from the Mid-West and all. That said, the track is an extremely strong opener, and the background vocals, the shoo-be-doo-wah-bahs, slide you right into the sonic space you need to occupy for the rest of the album.
The second track, "God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get)," sounds like The Crystals, or maybe even Dusty Springfield, on [insert anti-depressant/mood adjuster joke here]. El Perro del Mar runs into Cat Power's The Greatest here as well. The sentiment of the song, stripped of all sentimentality, is suitably contemporary - dark, unsure, ambiguous, and anxious.
"Party" sounds like the sort of party I wouldn't want to go to, or the sort of party I would leave quickly. But again, the hooks grab you: "Be-bah...Bee-bop-a-lulah," and things become sad and pretty at the same time.
Other highlights:
"I Can't Talk About It" - not dissimilar to something Arcade Fire might shoot for, at least in part, and just as catchy as anything.
"Here Comes that Feeling," which employs a horn section that'll draw you back to a strange and synthetic soul - a soul heard through bad memories, a sound that has survived the 80's, the 90's, war, famine, and translation by a Swedish singer.
Go to her myspace. See if you agree. If you're at all interested in well-crafted pop, a little jingle-jangle, tapping your feet or clapping your hands, then this might be your album. As it happens now, when we put it on, Margot stops crawling, rocks back and forth "to the beat," and seems to get very attentive. This is the litmus test in our house. If you can't come with a beat, come not at all.
"Some Loud Thunder" is the much anticipated follow-up album to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's internet phenomenon debut. CYHSY gained immense popularity through MySpace and word-of-mouth promotion, instead of relying on a record company promoting through traditional means. The unsigned (truly) indie rockers relied on good songs -- instead of image -- to sell records (take that Julian Casablancas). The self-titled debut made most Top 5 lists in 2005.
So, will they suffer the same fate as many unsigned artists who gain popularity...Would they be a "flash in the pan?" The release of Some Loud Thunder surprised many inattentive fans, but was quickly brought to light by being featured on the front page of the iTunes Store. The band has stayed true to form by self-releasing this album as well.
What about the music? "Sophomore slump" is a term we often use to let bands off the hook for releasing a sub-par album that doesn't live up to their potential (or for something that is different, and therefore scary, from a debut). This is not a sophomore slump. CYHSY has demonstrated again their urge to be unique -- Some Loud Thunder is quite different from the self-titled debut. The production is decidedly more "experimental" with the "blown speaker" production on the title track. (If you've heard the album, I bet you, like everyone else, checked your stereo/iPod/computer speakers/headphones)
There is that distinctive sound that we've come to expect from the vocal delivery of Alec Ounsworth. On "Emily Jean Stock" he sounds deliberately out of control, forcing his voice to bend and contort in a way that mysteriously sounds...well...good.
The album flows nicely -- one of those that could repeat in your car for a few days without sounding repetitious.
Overall, as a follow up, this album is very good -- though it definitely borders on being too experimental at times, "Five Easy Pieces" drones on for 6:49 with no payoff. Another negative is that the most catchy track is questionable in terms of lyrical content. I can't listen to "Satan Said Dance" without running the hook (satan, satan, satan...) in my head for a couple hours...also don't really want my son to sing along with that song as he is wont to do in certain car situations.
"Love Song No. 7" (listen) and "Yankee Go Home" (listen) are the stand out tracks.
4 out of 5
It is a common misconception that music lovers (particularly the indie rock type) hate sports. That is simply not true, faithful Alien Corpse reader!
Not only does Alien Corpse love the sensitive musing of Elliot Smith and The Shins, we also love to see Brian Urlacher lay a hit on an unsuspecting running back.
So this week Alien Corpse has decided to write about that wonderful and scary place where music and sport collide: the Jock Jam. Here is a list of Alien Corpse's Top Five Jock Jams.
5. "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses
4. "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" by Smashing Pumpkins
3. "Desire" by U2
2. "Song 2" by Blur
And the number one Jock Jam of all time:
1. "We Are The Champions" by Queen
Honorable Mentions: "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor, "Get Free" by The Vines, "Time is Running Out" by Muse, "Boom" by P.O.D., "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen, "We Will Rock You" by Queen, and "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by The Scorpions
P.S. Go Bears!
Top 10 Songs
1. "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley (17pts)
2. "Funeral" by Band of Horses (14pts)
3. "Cold Beer and Cigarettes" by David Bazan (12pts)
4. “White & Nerdy” by "Weird Al" Yankovic (10 pts)
5. “Phenomena” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs (9 pts)
6. "Teaspoon" by The Long Winters (8 pts)
7. “O Valencia!” by The Decemberists (7 pts)
8. "Read My Mind" by The Killers (7 pts)
9. "Been Here Before" by Jeremy Enigk (5 pts)
10. Steady As She Goes by The Raconteurs (5 pts)
Top 10 Albums
Several of the contributors to ALIEN CORPSE have submitted a list of the "Top Ten Albums of the Year" for 2006 -- Sadly, two of these lists don't have ten items. Either these contributors are REALLY devoted to their choices or have nothing good to say about 2006. Here they are.
CPM
1. Joanna Newsom, Ys
JLD
1. Grandaddy, Just Like the Fambly Cat
2. The Strokes, First Impresssions of Earth
TH
1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones
2. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
3. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
4. TV On The Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
5. Beck – The Information
6. The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers
7. The Streets – The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
8. David Bazan – Fewer Moving Parts
9. Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope
10. Razorlight – Razorlight
DS
1. Band of Horses, Everything All the Time
2. Mew, And the Glass Handed Kites
3. Built to Spill, You in Reverse
4. Grandaddy, Just Like the Fambly Cat
5. mewithoutYou, Brother, Sister
6. Sonic Youth, Rather Ripped
7. Silver Jews, Tangewood Numbers
8. The Long Winters, Putting the Days to Bed
9. The Violet Burning, Drop Dead
10. Norma Jean, Redeemer
I'm not usually into Christmas albums, least of all because we aliens don't celebrate Christmas. Although the occasional Christmas single by a rock musicison is a fun alternative expression of one's style, recording whole Christmas albums is usually an exercise in speedy cash cow production. But this cannot be said for Sufjan Stevens' new multi-volume Christmas album, which has a genuine originality in style and substance. It is characteristically Sufjan, which of course implies a certain unpredictability. The bottom line: get this album. It will not only make a conversation-starting soundtrack for your next Christmas party, but you will likely be able to listen to it out of season because of the richly textured arragnements of a number of classic hymns. Check out.
This fall The Mars Volta released their third full-length studio album, Amputechture. Not only has this band become a significant force in progressive music in both mainstream and underground contexts, but also their music has a certain self-commending power that transcends even their current cultural hipness. Whatever one thinks about The Mars Volta, listening to their songs is anything but a forgettable experience.
Amputechture takes the band to new heights of creativity precisely by seamlessly melding structure and improvisation. So much improvised rock music merely drags out a repetitive structure upon which it builds improvised instrumentation. Not The Mars Volta. Songs vary in length according to sensible song structures. In other words, the songs have parts, not just verse-chorus-solo plodding.
Of course, all this could be said of all the best representatives of the progressive rock genre. The difference with The Mars Volta is that they have a groove and drive that is often absent from the expansive sound-scapes of their genre-predecessors. Only King Crimson is comparable in sheer force of sound and deep sense of groove. And this grove is borne out of more than just Jazz and Latin instrumentation. Even the guitar has an earthiness to it that prevents The Mars Volta from merely being an eclectic experiment. They actually have a sound: angular yet groovy, driving yet smooth.
A significant aspect of any band's sound is its vocals. And this will be the make or break factor for many listeners. For those who have been schooled in any high-pitched vocal style and understand its juxtaposition with low-end rhythm instrumentation will find nothing objectionable in this department. But any new listener must be forewarned of the abrasiveness of the vocals.
Lastly, a general comment is in order. Does The Mars Volta signal a new era in progressive rock? Although I would welcome such a revival, I do not see any such development on the horizon. Yes, there will be a flock of bands working in this genre in the next few years. But there will be no new era of progressive rock. The co-existence of The Mars Volta alongside The White Stripes on the one side and The Killers on the other shows that rock music has the potential to sustain fragmentary and apparently contradictory genre-movements. All three bands are working within a distinct genre-revival. But these "revivals" do not work successively but simultaneously.
The point of this observation is that just fragmentation is nothing new to rock. There will be no second era of progressive rock precisely because there was no first era of progressive rock. The time of early Yes, Genesis and King Crimson was also the Singer-Songwriter revolution. There are no "periods" except those created by music critics. Genres co-exist and co-mingle with a freedom that often confuses the self-proclaimed sophisticated listener. What we need to learn is that there is no law requiring genre-loyalty. Perhaps the emergence of The Mars Volta in the midst of this decade's garage and pop revival will serve to free us from such narrowness.
The Shins are back...or I should say, they will be back when the new album, "Wincing the Night Away" hits stores on January 23rd.
The Shins captured everyone's heart in 2004 by virtue of Natalie Portman saying, "You gotta hear this one song, it'll change your life, I swear," in Zach Braff's film Garden State. The perfect placement of Shins tracks in key portions of this film inspired many new fans to check out the band's 2003 album, "Chutes too Narrow."
Following a rigorous touring schedule with an elongated break for writing and recording the new record, The Shins latest album will come 39 months after the release of "Chutes."
"Wincing" was leaked to the internet this past weekend, and this tech savvy reporter/Shins fan quickly obtained the illegal files for early review purposes. (It's not stealing if you intend to buy the album on release day, is it? Let's see if good intentions hold up.)
In regard to sound, this album is far more diverse than Chutes or the previous full-length "Oh! Inverted World" which relied fairly heavily on vocal driven tracks that drew comparisons to Coldplay (what?) from such reputable mags as Rolling Stone and Spin. "Wincing" is more diverse in that it allows the complex instrumentation to drive songs forward and allows the voice of lead Shin James Mercer to fill in the gaps.
For any Shins fan, this record will more than satiate a new album desire, and it avoids any of the third album (though they've recorded several EPs and an album under the name Flake Music prior to becoming The Shins) pitfalls, such as falling into a rut or dismantling
completely in an effort to "stay fresh."
Key Tracks: Sleeping Lessons (listen), Sea Legs
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Though the album does have Top 5-2007 possibility, unless they rush the release after the leak, then 2006)
