This is fine.
The Walkmen will be showing up at The Parish on Friday night and we suggest you make it out. Tickets for the show are only $15 and can be bought from the Front Gate Tickets website. Also, check out the band’s recent single “Red Moon” elsewhere on our nice website.
About a month ago we gave you the new Matt & Kim track “Good ol Fashion Nightmare” and now we give you more. This new track is called “Daylight” and is oddly released by the new Mountain Dew/Pepsi label Green Label Sound. Who knew Mountain Dew was puttin’ out tunes. Regardless of their label choice, Matt & Kim continue to make some pretty solid pop jams.
Download: Matt and Kim – Daylight [MP3]
Amy Millan is a quite the busy lady. She sings for major Canadian bands Stars & Broken Social Scene, tours with both acts, and somehow found the time to put out a solo record. The Canadian songstress, currently on tour with Stars, answered a few questions for us before her band’s performance at last weekends ACL festival. Amy and I discuss why she won’t be doing a BSS Presents album, how Stars can win a Juno award and why MP3s are just as good as vinyl. Read about these topics and many more after the jump.
This could be the best week at Spinner’s CD listening party I’ve ever seen. The week in music is pretty crazy as far as releases go and Spinner is streaming a whole mess of them. New albums available include the new Glasvegas, Of Montreal, Deerhoof and too many others to list here. Listen to ’em all now!
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Surprisingly, Jay Reatard is releasing all the songs off of his latest seven inch series on Matador Records in an easy to use CD format, not to mention the fact that you will actually be able to get your hands on this compilation, rather than bidding the hundereds of dollars required to acquire the 7 inches.
Okay, so there might be some bias in that first paragraph, but now that the CD version of the 7 inches has been made available, does it live up to the adoration for those Jay Reatard fans out there? Yes, and no.
Opening the album with “See/Saw” is a good choice, as it is one of the two best songs on the entire collection. It’s full of that classic pop sensibiliity that the band incorporates into their garage-punk sound. It’s a good introduction to the collection–but the band has to step it up from here in order to win over the listener on this compilation.
But, the band doesn’t really go much further on the album, aside from “Always Wanting More,” which is one of the better songs the band has created. It’s easily the most pop driven effort that you will find here; this is the best formula for creativity with concerns to Jay Reatard.
Aside from those two highlights, there isn’t a lot of quality offered on the rest of the complilation. Sure, you get a cover of Deerhunter‘s “Fluorescent Grey,” but even that isn’t the most remarkable of covers. There are also a lot of flaws, such as the quality of the vocals. It seems that the lo-fi recording process could have been a little more fleshed out here. Sure, it’s got that 7 inch quality, but is that what you want on CD? It’s an entirely different medium, and the vocals sound nothing at all like they did on Bloodvisions.
So at the end of the album, you have to judge the compilation as one would judge a complete album. As far as complete albums go, most will find that its a fairly poor effort. Some extreme high points, but nothing as consistent as the band’s last full length. In fact, you can find lower moments here, then anywhere else in the band’s catalogue (extended and as Jay Reatard). It seems that as prolific as this man has become, that it might do him well to take a break. He might get more from spending a little time in the studio writing and mixing, and we, the listeners, might get more as well.
Still, as a different medium, as the collection was orginally intended and produced, it was pretty glorious; this despite the fact that various record stores–I’m looking at you Waterloo–hoarded the 7 inches for their employees, or even for eBay sales, which will cost you two arms and a knee-cap to get the final 7 inch. So as compilation it fails, other than providing you with an easily transferable format to carry with you, but as a collection of 7 inches, go Jay Reatard!
Austin Town Hall caught up with guitar players Carol Parra and Ana Rezende of CSS after their bands killer set Saturday at ACL Festival. We discuss their favorite American foods, why Brazil is struggling in the soccer world and what the iPod commercial meant to them. Check out the entire interview with CSS after the jump. Read more
One of the great pop/rock bands to make it out of the 90s, The Presidents of the United States of America, will be making an appearance at Stubbs Wednesday evening. Lucky for you, local Austin act The Black and White Years will be opening for the veteran band. Doors for the event are set to open at 7 with The Black and White Years starting around 8. Get them tickets now! We also finally have a reason to post “Peaches” on our site. YES!
Download: The Presidents of the United States of America – Peaches [MP3]
We read about this new SoCal band, The Japanese Motors, a few places online and thought they were worthy of mentioning. The song we have for your listening pleasure is entitled “Spendin’ Days” and appears on the bands self-titled effort due out 10/7. It’s quite the catchy little diddy.
Download: Japanese Motore – Spendin’ Days [MP3]
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Deerhoof is often inexplicable; difficult to pinpoint their location in regards to musical genres, and Offend Maggie poses many of the same questions for listeners; a fact that completely works to the benefit of the band.
Their newest effort offers much of the same discordant guitar work accompanied by the unique vocals of singer Satomi. This unique dynamic, or unique sound I should say, keeps the album interesting throughout, as you are not quite sure what to focus on: vocals or music.
Musically, this is the most accessible set of songs that the band has created, wavering back and forth between classic pop structures and post-punk sounds. On the first listen, you can tell that the band put forth a great effort by creating entire songs, rather than the stop-start song structures of their last album, Friend Opportunity.
Offend Maggie would earn fans of all genres based entirely on the music. Their are elements of grunge, early-emo, post-punk and, honestly, commercial rock n roll. All of this demonstrates that the sound of the band is growing and developing beyond what most adoring fans expected, yet the continual focus will always be the listener’s interpretation of Satomi’s vocals.
Deerhoof will always risk total adoration due to these vocals. At times, the heavily accented voice makes comprehension difficult for listeners, and as their focus heads toward deciphering the lyrics, their attention detracts from the overall listening experience as clever band interplay is missed. Although the formula is so simple, one often finds that following the band is quite difficult, as if we all had ADD. They do offer a more traditional song by way of “Family of Others,” which lends its sound to that of west coast Beach Boy revivalists, yet the absence of Satomi on this song makes it entirely unfitting as a Deerhoof song.
Nonsensical vocals make it difficult to take much from the album, meaning wise. One listen to “Basketball Get Your Groove Back” will lead most listeners to question the seriousness in the band’s approach to songwriting. Still, it is the dark contrast between instrumentation and vocals that always makes it difficult to define such a genre splitting band.
At the end of the day, you’ll find that despite its incessant pitfalls in the lyrical department the album is ultimately one of the more rewarding listening experiences you will come across this year. Deerhoof continue to explore their options whilst maintaining their ability to rest upon what has always made them interesting, Satomi’s inclusion as lead vocalist. It’s the dark horse for 2008’s Top Ten.
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Daniel Rossen probably receives the majority of his acclaim from his participation in Grizzly Bear, but as more people catch on to his side-project, Department of Eagles, that won’t last long. The band’s second album, In Ear Park, has enough bedroom beauty to take the acclaim to an all new level.
Much like his other band, Department of Eagles specialize in ethereal pop gems, catering to the changing of fall into winter. Every inch of every song seems so carefully crafted that one would find it difficult to recreate the moments that exist on this album, no matter how great an ear they had.
The first stand out track, “No One Does It Like You,” begins with an extra step, but quickly goes into subdued harmonizing vocals, reminiscent of multiple harmony bands such as Fleet Foxes. Layer upon layer is piled atop the song until the track completely transforms into perfection.
“Teenagers” is driven to fruition by delicately dark piano work, and the hollowness in the vocals seem to echo from the past, that is until the hand-claps come into play, carrying the song further, only to return to the lone piano work you hear at the beginning.
Amidst all those perfect moments come some dense atmospheric sounds, but they don’t necessarily detract from the album. In the strangest of ways it provides a haunting element to the album, deepening the emotional connection between the band and the listener. Each song progresses as they should, but each listen offers more and more, as layers reveal themselves to the listener in an unusually gratifying listening experience.
The vocals differ from those of Grizzly Bear due to the more personal touch Rossen has placed on this album, which is said to be due to the unfortunate passing of his father. As the album touches on the personal emotions of their own world, the listener, too, can dive into the subconscious where our own innermost desires and fears may rest. See “Floating on the Lehigh” or “Classical Records.”
Their is a quality to this record that is difficult to place. At times the songs are haunting, ultimately revealing themselves as gems. During other moments it’s touching, as harmonies are shared between listener and band. In the end, you might find that the overall beauty in this record changes depending upon what your ears and mind bring to the table; you might find that it surpasses pieces for which Rossen has already achieved great success. No other album is more fitting to the onset of winter.
