This is fine.
Emo’s is the place to be this week! After checking out Throw me the Statue on Tuesday night, why not make it two nights in a row with another sure to be killer set by These are Powers? Local Austin band, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, will also be playing during Wednesday night’s events. Tickets look to be sold only at the door.
Corey Taylor of Slipknot recently stated that the record labels are to blame for music piracy. Corey says the problem is that the bands that are being promoted aren’t “up to standard”. You can read what he has to say here. Hmmm, I could probably take that argument a bit more seriously if it were coming from, say, anyone other than a member of Slipknot…
One of our favorite Polyvinyl bands, The M’s, have a nice little live set featured on the Daytrotter website. Have a listen and find out why we like these guys so much.
My Old Kentucky Blog alerted us to this intimate cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make you Love me” by Denison Witmer. This follows his release of another superb cover of the Red House Painters tune “Have You Forgotten” which can be download from Denison’s myspace. Mr. Witmer also has a new album Carry the Weight due out on November 11th.
Download: Denison Witmer – I Can’t Make You Love Me[MP3]
One of our favorite new bands, Throw me the Statue, will be showcasing their talents at Emo’s tonight with The Lovely Sparrows opening things up. Tickets for the show are only $8 and can be bought from Ticketweb. You can also preview the show by listening to the band’s new song “Ship” on our new media player or read the original post.
Rating: 
Fresh off her new found fame from the Juno soundtrack, Kimya Dawson decided that those hordes of kids would appreciate an album directed solely at them. Alphabutt is her chance to win the kids over, again.
Of course, we all aren’t surprised at this move, considering her lyrical output up to this point has typically revolved around childishness. I wondered, of course, would she further this venture and aim directly at the child market. Well, she does, but not necessarily in a successful manner.
Those of you that fell in love with the Juno soundtrack, and fell in love with Kimya for the first time will find yourselves extremely disappointed. The songs are not as neatly crafted as her previous solo efforts. Often times, the tinkering noises in the background are far too distracting for a listener to even focus on the music itself; how those kids will get it I don’t know. One thing for sure is that she could definitely get away from using the baby noises in the background. It was cute once, but to keep using it is absurd.
There are a few songs on this album with redeeming qualities, namely “Happy Home” and “Sunbeams and Some Beams.” They are more traditional in the style that Kimya has come to give us, though they do seem a bit boring. Still, this is the closest she comes to replicating her unique sound.
My reference point for indie stars going the child route is Matt Pryor’s Terrible Twos. Sure, Matt sings about things most of us no longer adore, like ladybugs, but he still manages to maintain his talents as a songwriter within the childhood realm. The style is still Matt Pryor. In contrast, you have Kimya Dawson who seems to have walked down this road blindfolded with her dick and fart jokes still strapped to her back. It doesn’t do much for this listener, and I doubt it will do much for the childhood genre.
As Matt mentioned in our interview with him, the child music market is pretty wide open. We might see many more indie stars with kids take this route, but for me, I just hope Kimya focuses more on what she is offering us in the future. This piece didn’t turn out too well. There are some high points, but in the end, you wish she would go back to her adult-centric output. That’s where I’ll stay.
The Fratellis recently played some songs and did an interview for Minnesota Public Radio. Listen to the set/interview on the MPR site.
Swedish pop group Love Is All has given us a new track off their upcoming album A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night. Have a listen to “Big Bands, Black Holes, Meteorites” right here:
Download: Love Is All – Big Bangs, Black Holes, Meteorites [MP3]
Just heard this new track from We Landed On The Moon! and thought we’d share it with you. The song is called “Re: Your Letter” and will appear on the band’s latest effort These Little Wars due out on December 16th.
Download: We Landed On The Moon! – Re: Your Letter[MP3]
Tonight at Stubb’s we will be able to catch the fun instrumental music of Ratatat. Although it is often hard to review such a band (my review of LP3), they always put up ridiculously good shows. Last I checked, plenty of tickets were still available at the door.
And say, you make it out and you want to send us pictures. That could be cool.
