And the time that it takes well it goes so slow
She laid on the brakes and she dulled the glow
Now, doesn’t it go so slow?
- The Decemberists
Hopefully everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I enjoyed mine, although three slices of pie may have been two too many. It’s hard to come up with lyrics when you’re listening to a band that uses none. This post isn’t going to really go anywhere, I don’t think.
The Format broke up this past winter. Their album, Dog Problems, is one of my favorite albums of all time. Lead singer Nate Ruess has formed a new band, called Fun, and their myspace page contains a demo. Good stuff.
I think that I need to unofficially give Los Campesinos! the title of Band of the Year. To come out with two albums of such good quality in an eight month period well. Ok, I understand that their first album came out in 2007 in the U.K. but I’m going to put on the stupid American blinders for a moment and forget that a world exists outside of our borders.
This feels like a Deerhoof kind of Friday. Check out The Tears of Music and Love.
Sorry to be tardy to the party, loyal readers. I’ve been out of town the past two days and I’m drawing a blank for lyrics, so we’ll just get right into it.
It’s almost December, meaning it’s almost time for end of years lists to start popping up. That also means that I’m probably not going to be finding any new albums and should instead focus my efforts on looking to the past rather than looking to the future.
So here we are. I’ve cleaned out my remaining eMusic tracks for the half-month (I think they renew on the 14th of December) to pick up some albums that I hadn’t picked up earlier this year. But guess what, I liked the one that I hadn’t heard of more than any of the others.
That band is called The Rural Alberta Advantage and they are the first band from the eMusic Selects program that I’m really digging. This is some really good stuff, people. Think Neutral Milk Hotel with more emphasis on drumming. Instead of describing it, I’m just going to play a song. Check out Don’t Haunt This Place.
I taught myself the only way to vaguely get along in love,
Is to like the other slightly less than you get in return.
I keep feeling like I’m being under-cut.
- Los Campesinos!
Indie rock tends to fall into the slightly depressing category, so there are a lot of lyrics that I find cool that don’t apply to my life. I decided to get permission from my wife to print the above lyrics.
I hopped a ride to the cities on Saturday night to see School of Seven Bells and M83 at the Triple Rock Social Club. The Triple Rock is the last place on Cedar that I hadn’t seen a show at, so now my conquest of the venues of Cedar Avenue are complete.
This was only the second time that I’ve showed up at a concert without a ticket and gotten in. Handing my money to a large man with a bull nose ring made me feel like it was college all over again. We could hear SVIIB (I really like this abbreviation) as we were waiting in line to get in.
Overall, SVIIB put on a solid, no-frills show. There wasn’t much improvisation, just slightly faster versions of the songs you hear on their album. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the band is made up of two guitarists and a keyboard, although the guitars are being put through heavy filtering. I was curious as to whether we would have a guy behind a synthesizer and the two women meandering around the stage or what.
M83 was loud – so much that we quickly retreated after two songs. I wasn’t there to see M83, so I didn’t think that getting my eardrums blown out by their music was really worth it.
Today’s song comes from Volume 4 of MPR’s Live Current series. Check out an in-studio performance of For Emma by Bon Iver.
On Tuesday, two albums are coming out from bands that haven’t released albums in over 10 years – the first you’ve probably heard of, the second, maybe not. The first is Guns N’ Roses new (old new old new old) album, Chinese Democracy. Really? That’s actually coming out? Don’t forget to get your free Dr. Pepper.
Check that… apparently the Guns N’ Roses album is coming out Sunday. Interesting. Dr Pepper!
The second album coming out is from Paul McCartney’s lesser-known side project, The Fireman, and the album is called Electric Argument. This album is apparently made up of 13 tracks each recorded in one day, with band members showing up and jamming for a day with no real direction until they had a song.
Today’s song is an early release of a song from A.C. Newman’s January release called Get Guilty. Check out There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve.
Well… I can’t get the song to play… If you click on the album below, it will take you to his site where you can supposedly download it. It plays fine on my home computer, but apparently not here. My bad.
Well, the robots cleaned at alarming speed,
All the bedroom sheets and the tv screens.
But without you,
I haven’t a thing to do.
- Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s
No robot attacks that I’m aware of, unless you consider roomba’s to be kind of frightening, but while they can clean, they can’t really get up on the bed unless you help them. And if you’ve helped your roomba up onto the bed, well, there’s no more hope for you anyway.
It has been confirmed that The Roots will be Jimmy Fallon’s house band when he takes over for Conan. Still not sure what I think about all of this.
Lately, I’ve been playing a game called, “Try and think of as many of your top albums from this year as you can so you don’t accidentally forget one.” I have a smart playlist on iTunes that collects all of the albums from 2008, but I’d like to be able to at least recite some information about a good number of them. I guess I’m weird that way.
Today’s song comes from The Rosebuds. Check out Cape Fear.
Breaking news from gawker… apparently The Roots may be retiring from touring to become the house band for Jimmy Fallon when he takes over for Conan O’Brien when Conan takes over for Jay Leno next year. Follow that?
My second thought: how long can this really last? I mean, we all know that Jimmy Fallon isn’t what one could call “funny” or “entertaining” so how long can he go before being replaced? Wait, you say that Carson Daly’s been going for almost six years now?
Goodbye guys, congrats on the cushy job. If anybody deserves to be set for life, it’s The Roots.
Growing up, my siblings and I visited our grandparents’ house a lot. And when you visit grandma and grandpa, you usually get spoiled, so occasionally we would all hop into the Oldsmobile and head down to Showbiz Pizza. For those of you unaware of what Showbiz Pizza was, it’s pretty much Chuck E Cheese’s.
They had a big mechanical band called Rock-Afire Explosion that must have been torturous to the parents who were already suffering through sitting around waiting for their kids to run out of tokens and eat their pizza. Then again, if I remember correctly, they also served beer, which seemed kind of the opposite thing to do in a restaurant for kids.
Chuck E Cheese’s eventually bought out Showbiz Pizza and replaced the band at the one I went to, but apparently the nostalgia of this big band was not lost on others. This summer, some of the more adventurous owners of these discarded mechanical bands decided to reprogram them and have them play popular music. Here are some youtube links.
The Usher video is my favorite. Better cinematography and robotics in that one. I understand that it’s kind of creepy, but it’s also pretty hilarious. I’m not at all weirded out by people who have decided to reprogram them to sync up with popular songs – if I had enough time or money, it seems like a fun project. No, I don’t plan on going all House on the Rock on you (I’m pretty sure that he had about a dozen mechanical bands in that place).
Today’s song comes from Parts and Labor. Check out Nowheres Nigh.
The Get Up Kids have officially reunited! Perhaps for this weekend only, but it’s at least a start. The funny part about all of this is that I had heard rumors of it ahead of time. We’ll just say I’ve got an in and a recording studio. Anyway, for any of you in the Kansas area, they’re playing one show on Sunday at Kansas City’s Record Bar.
To add to my inner 18 year old’s angst, Jimmy Eat World is playing a Clarity-only tour. For those of you unaware, Clarity is the album prior to the Self-Titled/Bleed American and I consider it the best that Jimmy has to offer.
A phone on the table,
A man on your side,
Someone that you think that you can trust,
Is just another way to die.
- Alicia Keys and Jack White
I’m not much for going to the movies. The A.V. Club had an interview with Kristen Bell yesterday where she questioned why movies have become more polarized lately. It’s either an action movie or a chick flick. Erin and I can’t necessarily agree on a movie to see, so we don’t go see movies.
Where am I going with this? Well, the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace is opening this weekend, and I kind of like the theme song. I could potentially write a post about James Bond theme songs, but I really don’t know enough about them to write about. Instead, I’ll talk about how I don’t like soundtracks.
The problem is that I’m an album person and soundtracks naturally have a lack of cohesion. They’re there to add ambiance to a movie. On top of that, you’re not going to hear an entire song in a movie, you’re just going to hear a clip.
Since I referenced it to a friend the other day, I’m going to bring up the soundtrack from Donnie Darko. It’s probably one of the soundtracks that I actually like. Like I said, I’m a sucker for the 80’s, and when you combine the 80’s with a slow-mo sequence… well, I’m pretty sure that’s how Erin got me to marry her.
The funny thing about this post? It’s really just an excuse to play the new theme from James Bond. Check out Another Way To Die.
Just thought I’d throw it out there. ABBA cover band, Björn Againwill be gracing Rochester with their presence for one night only tonight. Guess who’s going to be there? Not me. If I’m paying over $20 for a ticket, it better be to see the real ABBA.
I’ll be the guy outside in the rain playing real ABBA songs and holding a sign that says, “Will the real ABBA please stand up?” That way, the original ABBA supporters will understand me, and the Eminem generation will find me amusing.
