- Aqualaygualry in arcade fire - black wave/bad vibrations Today i watching overlay from here. this is wondeful film. Who are watching this?
- cattartiste in arcade fire - black wave/bad vibrations SplitVideo is a freeware virtual video clone and split video nick driver in behalf of connecting disparate applications to a single video...
- Peggus-interruptus in The Temper Trap Lovin’ The Temper Trap!
the musical treasure i am about to wax eloquent about is actually only a secret here in the usa. formed in 1996, augie march (named after the saul bellow novel) is a quite justifiably popular band in their native australia, as well as britain, which continues to have collectively better taste in music than we do.
i discovered augie march thanks to an aussie guy (named herbert. hi herbert!) with whom i shared a train car on an overnight trip from prague to krakow a few years ago. he let me borrow his ipod while he slept and when i heard the songs from strange bird, i had to wake him up to tell him how transfixed i was. that went over well, as i am sure you can imagine, but i fell for augie march from a great height and counted off the days until their third album moo you bloody choir was released. i got it the day it came out and have listened to it at least once a week since then. this behavior shows no signs of stopping.
the legend of augie march goes like this - when lead singer glenn richards was 15, he became the first minor to get married in the state of victoria, australia. the marriage only last a week though, because his new bride’s parents worked for a carnival and left town, taking their daughter with them. i’m not making this up.
then when this painfully romantic soul went off to college, he hooked up with some childhood friends and started making some music. they got signed in 1997 but have been through a lot since then, including losing a founding member in a head-on car accident in 2000 and then camping out for months in an abandoned building in outer melbourne to write. i am honestly not making this up.
anyway, angsty mythologies aside, this band is seriously something special, shivery melodic poetry in the jeff magnum sense. it’s very folk-rocky with leonard cohen-esque lyrics that manage to be tragic without being trite and yet still leap in tom waitsian fashion from quiet atmospheric moments to powerful rocking out. listen to the song ‘one crowded hour’ on their myspace page and see what i mean - the line “if love is a bolt from the blue then what is that bolt but a glorified screw” always makes my black shriveled raisin heart leap into my mouth. in the best way. and don’t even get me started on the song ‘clockwork.’ just go listen.
so i am kind of over big outdoor festivals, guys. yeah, i went to the first couple of lollapaloozas when it was still a traveling festival and caught some amazing live acts (like the beastie boys and jane’s addiction the first time around), but apparently now i’m old or something. i prefer to see bands in small dark bars where i can hear them clearly and oh, WATCH them play their instruments, as opposed to being hot and so far back in a mass of other sweaty people that i can’t even see the bands’ facial expressions, let alone hear the music for shit.
that being said, i am all about the pitchfork festival held here in chicago every summer - it’s easy to manage, easy to see who you want without having to print out a damn map and hike a mile to get there (cough*lollapalooza*cough), and, as much as i like to scoff at pitchfork for being pretentious, at least the people who attend their festival every year tend to be true music fans and thus less annoying than the crowd who shuffles in to see the dave matthews band at bonnaroo or something. come on, you know exactly what i mean.
anyway, i’m a little late to the party, but here’s the line-up for the 2009 pitchfork festival. let me just inform you that the last 4 bands on saturday evening are 4 of my very favourites. the pains of being pure at heart, yeasayer, beirut and the national? in order? on a beautiful chicago summer evening? um, YES PLEASE! so you know where i’ll be july 18th of this year. i might even have to break down and go sunday too, since the flaming lips are doing an all-request set, including random covers. how awesome is that?
you guys all know how ridiculously addicted to mixtapes i am - trading them, listening to them, but especially making them. there is something oddly relaxing about it, complete freedom constrained in tight categories. i just love categorizing things, i guess…sue me. anyway, here’s one i thought i’d put out there, just because. and don’t jump to any conclusions - the theme was assigned to me.
1. Nirvana - Lithium
2. Mansun - Serotonin
3. Josephine - Respirodol
4. Garbage - Medication
5. John Vanderslice - Amitriptyline
6. Ben Kweller - Tylenol
7. Eels - Novocaine for the Soul
8. Pretty Girls Make Graves - All Medicated Geniuses
9. Manic Street Preachers - Methadone Pretty
10. The Fall - Mr Pharmacist
11. Blur - Ultranol
12. Snow Patrol - Days Without Paracetamol
13. The White Stripes - Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
14. The Velvet Underground - Heroin
ps the title is a quote by salvador dali, if you care.
may i interrupt your regularly scheduled programming at this time to call you a square if you aren’t playing the new great lake swimmers album on repeat these days? i feel like it’s my civic duty to inform you that lost channels will restore your faith in folk-pop. or whatever the kids are calling it these days.
lost channels has that enviable perfect flow that’s rare on an album, no need to skip anything. the songs are simple and jangly and soft, the strings sneak in at the right times, the harmonies are tight and smooth, the slide guitar is slide-y like slide guitar should be. lead vocalist tony dekker’s voice is lightweight and makes the supple melodies sound almost blue-grassy, in the best way possible. the lyrics have a little more weight, almost like free-form poetry, but this is by no means a slow and serious album - the songs “pulling on a line” and “still” (my favorite song, if you care) may be the catchiest tunes gls have ever recorded. and “she comes to me in dreams” practically rocks out, at least in the context of this country-tinged ethereal band’s prior 3 albums.
i would call lost channels a great release in the americana genre, and you would know what i mean, except great lake swimmers are canadian and this album was recorded in the thousand islands area of ontario, located vaguely between toronto and montreal. is canadiana a genre yet? well anyway, not only is this area historic and picturesque, it is also where my father’s family comes from, so it would be wrong of me not to like music inspired by it, right?
anyway, catch a listen for free at their last.fm page and then get the whole album so you can listen to it on repeat like all the cool people are doing. and then maybe go see one of their spring tour dates.
2008 was the year of the rat:
1. vampire weekend - oxford comma
2. why? - vowels pt 2
3. the airborne toxic event - wishing well
4. british sea power - lights out for darker skies
5. the welcome wagon - sold! to the nice rich man
6. mogwai - the sun smells too loud
7. fleet foxes - white winter hymnal
8. martha wainwright - you cheated me
9. okkervil river - lost coastlines
10. dirty pretty things - plastic hearts
11. hot chip - ready for the floor
12. noah and the whale - shape of my heart
13. bon iver - skinny love
14. the killers - spaceman
15. devotchka - the clockwise witness
16. alive in wild paint - anxious disease
17. the mountain goats - autoclave
18. walkmen - in the new year
19. the weepies - wish i could forget
20. of montreal - an eluardian instance
21. wolf parade - california dreamer
22. islands - creeper
23. glasvegas - go square go
24. tv on the radio - golden age
25. mgmt - kids
26. coldplay - lovers in japan/reign of love
27. hotel lights - firecracker people
28. the helio sequence - keep your eyes ahead
29. the magnetic fields - drive on driver
30. nick cave and the bad seeds - hold on to yourself
31. throw me the statue - this is how we kiss
32. cut copy - hearts on fire
33. cloud cult - the will of a volcano
34. the indelicates - we hate the kids
35. james - i wanna go home
not only is the airborne toxic event’s new s/t album one of my very favourite records of the year, this reply to pitchfork! at the disco’s ridiculously pretentious review of it makes me like them as people, not just as musicians. i want to have drinks with them. and maybe help them do things like pick up their dry cleaning. yes, that’s how impressed i am - i don’t even pick up my own dry cleaning.
you can listen on their myspace. they will be making an appearance on my ‘best of 2008′ list, so i will wax more eloquently about them at that time.
Best known for their cover of Alphaville’s ballad “Forever Young”, which was a minor indie hit due to its inclusion on a soundtrack to a teen soap opera that shall remain unmentioned, Youth Group is an Australian 4-piece that definitely deserves more credit in this country than “that band that they played on The OC.” Oops, I mentioned it. Anyway. They have a very melodic sound that channels the old Madchester bands - sometimes the singer Toby Martin sounds so much like Tim Booth from James that it makes me question my vast knowledge of the latter band’s catalogue.
This post, however, is not about James. Rather, it is about The Night Is Ours, the moody new release that Youth Group recorded in a 1920s mess hall on the harbour in Sydney. I’ll be honest with you - this album doesn’t sound like anything that special at first…just kinda melodic with nice use of synths and lovely vocals, but nothing that would instantly capture your attention. If you have the patience though, it definitely rewards with repeated listens.
Some standouts: “Good Time”, the record’s first track, is fragile and haunting and carried by strings and Martin’s effortless vocal work. Featuring the lyrics “I had myself a good time / and now I don’t feel like myself,” it sets the tone for what tends to be a bittersweet album both musically and lyrically. The song flows directly into “One For Another”, probably my favourite tune on the album. It’s catchy and fast and driven by rhythm guitar, with triumphant horns adding a different vibe toward the end.
Since I don’t live in Australia, I have no clue what the single from The Night Is Ours will be, but I’m willing to bet it is the New Order-esque “Two Sides”, which is all about bass and frankly makes me want to dance. Not like many dance clubs in Chicago would ever play good music from a lesser-known band like this, but I digress. And the album’s closing song ” What Is A Life?” adds weight to the overall melancholy quality of the album as a whole. Every time this song ends lately, I get struck by a small feeling of nostalgia that forces me to go back to the beginning of the record and start it over.
Anyway. This isn’t the record that will convert those that still think these guys are ‘that OC band’, but if you are smart enough to base your music choices on awesome reviews like this one and not second-rate television show soundtracks, it may be the record that will make you a Youth Group fan.
I’m going to go have a heart attack now, the good kind. Even though i just saw them in London in April, this news makes me giddy. I cannot even tell you how much I love this band, or how awesome their live show is, or how glad I am that they are back together and touring. And Hey Ma is a kickass album too.
Official press release:
We are pleased to announce that James will be embarking on a three week tour of North America this autumn to coincide with the US release of Hey Ma on the 16th of September. The tour will include concerts across the USA as well as Canada and their first ever visit to Mexico. More ticketing info will be released over the coming weeks. Keep an eye on www.wearejames.com for the details.
The tour will begin on September 15th in Boston, Massachusetts, the day before the US release of the album - their first in 7 years. In addition to their headline tour, the band will make a stop at Radio City Music Hall in New York City as special guests to Squeeze on the 19th.
The dates are as follows: Read more »
i have spent much of the last few months mildly obsessing, as i tend to do, over beaks to the moon, the new album by nyc 5 piece band the shivers. it’s an eclectic, lonely album, always surprising and impossible to categorize. that being said, i’d categorize it as…hmm…slightly jazzy yet sparse folk music with a deliciously twangy center. because dammit, i like categories.
but regardless which of the many ways one chooses to describe beaks, it’s a treasure. not many bands are doing anything quite like this, it’s wry and mournful at the same time and even gets almost reggae-esque with the peppier “mr officer.” my favourite track is “lonely road” though, slightly reminiscent of beck at his most depressed. they make all kinds of odd sounds and samples work in the songs too…lots of piano, birds, an ice cream truck (?), and without even being annoying or pretentious about it. it all just works melodiously without being too obvious, if you know what i mean.
anyway, i called upon them to answer superstarcastic’s (in)famous 5 questions, and Keith and Jo of the shivers were kind enough to humor me. they also have a myspace page, so you can lend an ear and thank me later for hooking you up.
1. when historians listen to your most recent CD 1000 years from now, what will they say?
Why am I a historian, not a musician?
2. if you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
Keith: I would probably have to say Oval. Because his music inspires me.
Jo: I would say Ovaltine.
3. what is the strangest band-related dream (one of) you have had?
Jo: i dreamt evan was a pizza.
4. what do your fans look like?
Keith: we appeal to the transgender vertically challenged community.
5. what bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “man, this bullshit again?”"
apathy.
bonus question: i’m not sending you the bonus question because it was used too much the first time around - make up your own.
why?
why not.
i used to feel really sorry for athens, georgia’s band now it’s overhead because i am a punctuation geek and people are stupid and kept leaving that apostrophe out, which changes the whole meaning, people…geez! but anyway, back when i was in my saddle creek phase, this was my favourite band of the lot, and i still quite enjoy their albums, especially their first self titled endeavor. and andy lemaster himself was kind enough to answer our five questions - check ‘em out and then go to their myspace to check out the tunes.
ps. best answer to question 2 EVAR.
1. when historians listen to your most recent CD 1000 years from now, what will they say?
“Good thing the World Court passed the law of 2286 that made mandatory the bio-engineering of melancholy out of the human genome .”
2. if you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
Paris Hilton and I’d choose dead.
3. what is the strangest band-related dream (one of) you have had?
No one in our band is actually related, but it’s a dream of mine to marry a band-mate one day. I’d choose Curtis.
4. what do your fans look like?
Angels of mercy.
5. what bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “man, this bullshit again?”"
Sodomy laws.
bonus question: why won’t you forget to tip your bartender?
Karmic blackmail.
