Awesome Music Week: The Shins

I've decided that Awesome Music Week will now last indefinitely. As such, this will be the last time I justify squeezing a band into awesome music week even though it ended like a year ago.

Most interesting part about this post: My suspicion is that, despite his uppity musical tastes, I really feel like LJT would like this album. That should be enough of a review, but, inexplicably, I'll keep typing.

The third album from The Shins, Wincing the Night Away, is awesome. Their first two albums are also very good, but, right at this moment, Wincing has hit me in the sweet spot. The thing about the sound of this album is that it's poppy and catchy and melodic while at the same time having a drama and maturity about it. Ok, I'm officially a pretentious douchebag for using the word maturity to describe a band, but that's the best I can come up with at the moment. The thing about this is that it sortof takes a pop type formula but turns it on its head.

I'm really having trouble putting this sound into words, so I apologize. It's a bit like if a band from the 80s evolved from a fluffy new wave type thing into a band who learns to play their instruments and use other sounds. The mellow vibe of this album really lets it stand on its own without the sense that the band is trying too hard. It's slickly produced, but not overproduced.

I'm guessing that I'm the only who has the album by The Script, but you may have heard their song Breakeven on the radio, if you still do the radio thing. The Script album is really good, but what you notice most about it is how polished it is, in particular for a debut album. Again, while it is a good album, they were trying too hard. This album by the Shins is just as polished, but with a deftness that reflects the actual level that the band is on.

I had trouble picking just two songs to represent this album, but I think these two do it well.

This song is called Sea Legs. Good example of the melodic thing mixing with the drama thing.


This one is called Split Needles.

Awesome Music Week: Ra Ra Riot

I guess it's not really awesome music week anymore, but I'll bring it back for these guys. Speaking of Awesome Music Week, the reason I did that was because of three bands in particular, The Ting Tings, Glasvegas, and Phoenix. Out of those three I must say the one that has really stuck with me is Phoenix. Their most recent album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is just great. If you don't have it yet, then get it.

Anyhow, this band Ra Ra Riot is fucking dope. Tons of energy, catchy, poppy, violin filled, indie style rock band from Syracuse, NY. Remember when indie bands were called alternative? Why can't they just be called rock bands? I can't get enough of this album at this point in time. A lot of the reviews of this band compare them with Vampire Weekend, who I have spent a couple posts on in the past, including one during awesome music week, but I don't really get that. Ra Ra Riot is way more like Phoenix and they actually remind me a little bit of Keane. Dude, if you don't have the first Keane album, Hopes and Fears, then you need to go out and get that one, too. You really don't even need to go out, just download it.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for violins in rock music. I'm pretty sure the violin thing is what initially drew me to the Dave Matthews Band. I didn't realize until just recently that a lot of people associate me with DMB more strongly than they associate me with anything else. I think that's kindof interesting. In particular since I feel like I've personally sortof outgrown them. That's not to say that I don't still love them, but they do not occupy the singular space in my life that they once did. This doesn't have anything to do with the current post.

In conclusion, Ra Ra Riot is awesome.

I like this song the best at this moment in time. It's called Too Too Too Fast. I dare you to listen to this chorus and not bop your head around.


This is a really interesting video for their song Dying Is Fine.

Old School Album of the Day: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

Now, I call this old school because the album was released in 1998. The truth is, however, I only heard it for the first time about 3 weeks ago. This band is called Neutral Milk Hotel and this album is called In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. I just want to say fuck you to everyone on Earth for not telling me about this album for the last 12 years. (This is especially true for Open Bar if he has heard of them before just now. I can't expect Side or LJT to keep me appraised of indie music happenings.) It's a little bit like how no one watched The Wire until the show had actually ended its run, but now that you've seen it you know how the world actually works (incidentally, that post about how The Wire is the greatest show in the history of television is noticeably missing from this blog. Although at this point the entirety of the post might just consist of the sentence "The Wire is the greatest show in the history of television." To be honest, I would write the post, but something inside me really wants to hear what Open Bar has to say about it.)

Anyway, this Neutral Milk Hotel album is genuinely one of the most beautiful records ever released. The lyrics are so strange and interesting and really stand out while at the same time blending in really well to the music. They also make really great use of the trumpet throughout the whole album. I don't know that I've ever really heard the trumpet used in such an interesting way. Especially in rock type music. Relatedly, you can definitely hear how this band would go on to influence Arcade Fire in the following years. Arcade Fire also has some strange instrumentation and ear filling sounds and awkward lyrics that somehow weave into the songs.

But this isn't really like Arcade Fire. Kathy says it reminds her of Bob Dylan. I can see that, although I don't know if I neccessarily agree. It definitely reminds me of Arcade Fire, as mentioned. It's a bit like Radiohead's quieter stuff, but at the same time not really. But it also really kindof stands out on its own. I would suggest that everyone go and download this on iTunes right now. It's that good. (YP, MP, I don't know all this industry jargon. What movie? Open Bar don't ruin it for everyone.)

There are lots of Open Bar shout outs in this post.

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Select Start

I know you read the title of that post and immediately thought of Contra, one of the best games ever created for the original NES. (Incidentally, did you know that the "select" was only necessary if you were going to play a 2 player game?) This post is not about that, but, tangentially related, is about Vampire Weekend's new album, which came out today, entitled, wait for it, Contra. (I've reread that senctence about 5 times and I'm pretty sure it holds up despite all the tangents.) You may remember Vampire Weekend from Awesome Music Week a while back.

Vampire Weekend gained the bulk of their success from internet buzz and, as such, continue to have a strong internet presence. You can listen to their whole album online and you can even embed the album into a blog post to listen to it from here. I don't know if Vampire Weekend is everyone's cup of tea, but man do I love them.

Can You Help A Brotha Out?

I need your help everybody. This has been driving me crazy for months now.

Listen to this song by Phoenix, who you may remember from Awesome Music Week, for the song "Lost and Found". Right at the 1:20 mark there is sortof a downward chord progression that I'm like 99% sure is from a Simon and Garfunkel song, but for the life of me I can't figure out which song. What song is this from?

Old School Album of the Day: Kid A

I've had this record for a while now, but for some reason I never really listened to it. Is it still appropriate to call it a record since I don't actually even own a physical copy of the record. I'm talking about the Radiohead album, Kid A, for the record. Ha, record has two meanings. Something made me actually listen to it recently. I can't really say what it was, but whatever it was I want to thank it.

This album is practically ineffable. It's transcends the "good" label. It's working on an entirely different level. It's simultaneously beautiful, dissonant, challenging, attainable, linear, disjointed, depressing, joyful, multi-layered, stripped down, non-musical, and perfectly melodic. I don't know what it's trying to accomplish, but I'm at a point right now where I can't stop listening to it. It's like my brain hasn't completely heard all the sounds on the album and I have to come back to get all the data. I'm like Johnny 5 rolling around America looking for more input.

To say that this album is challenging I think would be an understatement. The only thing I can compare it to is the album by M.I.A., Arular, except that despite my blogging for years about how I love that M.I.A. album, I know none of you have ever heard it. Except with Kid A it's not challenging because the sounds are unique or anything, which is the case with the Arular, it's more like the sounds are just put together in a way that I've never heard before. I had to listen to it about 3 or 4 times just to even wrap my head around the whole idea of the album, and now I'm at a point where I'm just hooked.

And I typically hate saxophone in rock music (I love you, Clarence), but here it's used enormously effectively throughout the whole album (I love you too, LeRoi). I have all the Radiohead albums; I haven't listened to any of them nearly enough, but it's just amazing how different each of them sounds from each other one. OK Computer is similarly good, but I haven't listened to it enough to really comment on it yet.

Anyway, I think Idioteque is the most approachable part of the album as a single unit.



ADDED: "The National Anthem"

Awesome Music Week Day: DMB - Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Yesterday, the Dave Matthews Band released their latest studio album, Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King. The release was a bit anti-climactic, because as Dave himself joked at a New York City concert on Monday night, the album had pretty much been leaked entirely through web clips and snippets on YouTube and iTunes.

Much will be made of the fact that one of the founding members of the band, Leroi Moore, died in August while the band was still working on Big Whiskey. I don't know if the album is good because they re-focused their efforts after Moore died, or because it inspired the band to write better, or play better, or if his death has absolutely nothing to do with the album (though it's probably not the last one, because starting with the title of the album, to the cover artwork, to at least three or four of the songs, the album is rife with references and tributes to Moore - whose nickname was "Groo Grux.")

But I do know the album is good.

The previous stuido release from Dave Matthews Band was Stand Up in 2005 which followd Busted Stuff in 2002. Neither comes close (Stand Up was widely considered a disappointment). In fact, Big Whiskey hearkens back to 2001's Everyday (my favorite), and in a few places even compares with the band's breakout 1996 offering, Crash (which, despite its popularity with screaming drunk girls everywhere, remains an incredible album).

Big Whiskey is probably not going to be remembered for radically changing the band's direction, and it's a little too cliche to say that with this album they "got back to their roots." But what is best about the album is that it is a solid offering from a great band; true to their sound but not a total rehash of previous work. Given whispers that the band might be finished (Dave himself admitted to writing a letter to his bandmates claiming that he was done last year), it is incredibly exciting for fans that they can still put out an album of this quality.

The album opens with Grux, a minute-long solo by the late Moore, reminding listeners of the segue from #41 to Say Goodbye on Crash. Up tempo pieces like Funny The Way It Is, Why I Am, and Spaceman are probably the highlights of the album, and will be easily recognizable to fans for the sound and their lyrics, with Matthews ruminating on the happy and sad elements of every day life (funny the way it is/not right or wrong/somebody's heart is broken/it becomes your favorite song). But there are softer, sadder and more reflective tracks as well, including Lying in the Hands of God, My Baby Blue, and You and Me, showing the band's fidelity to their acoustic sound (which, by the way, leaves my dumbfounded at critics who say this album is "too plugged in"; there is no way anyone who listened to the entire record could write that).

Is this the best album DMB has ever recorded? No, almost certainly not. Under the Table and Crash were so great when they came out, and Everyday brought together the best things about the band, so it is impossible to put Big Whiskey at the top of the list. But with the release of Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King did the Dave Matthews Band prove that they can still turn out great studio recordings that offer a fresh but familiar sound?

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

To the judges:

Would Chuck like it?: Good god yes.
Would Open Bar like it?: Not sure he'd admit it, but I think yeah, he will acknowledge that this is a good album.
Would LJT like it?: Come on.

Awesome Music Week Extended: Stereo Total

Stereo Total is a German-French duo that are based in Berlin.

They're like synthsizery, pop, new wave and electronica.

I randomly saw this song, "I Love You, Ono" on a commercial and tracked it down in the interwebs. It is a remake of "I Love You, Oh No!" by some 1980s Japanese New Wave band, The Plastics. While not rap or classic rock, the Yoko Ono inspired pun makes it acceptable for me, kind of....actually, who am I kidding? I hate it but I'm trying to be cool - like Chuck Jerry.


Will Sidebar Like It? Probably Not

Will Open Bar Like it? I think so.

Will Chuck Like it? Yes.

Do I like it? No, I only like rap from the early 1990s and The Beatles.

Awesome Music Week: The Bravery

I first heard them: On iTunes, after having it recommended to me by a smart computer
Would Side Bar like them?: maybe to no.
Would Open Bard like them?: no
Would LJT like them?: surprisingly, he's probably the most likely fan. But I'll still say probably not

The Bravery are another synthesizer based rock and roll slash new wave revival band. Lots of energy, good use of the synthesizer, very 80s throwback from the music to the wardrobe and everything. I really like them, but my guess is that none of my blogmates will really like them.

Interestingly for their second album they made two versions. First they put out a non new wave version called which was "The Sun" and then a few months later they remixed all the songs into sythesized versions and released bascially the same album and called in "The Moon". And so together their second album is "The Sun and The Moon".

This is really the only video I could find of them that I could embed into the page, although this song is kinda wack. I would suggest you check out An Honest Mistake off their first album. I like their second album much better, but there isn't even a good video to link to off their second album. It's sortof too bad because even though this is a band that you all may not like, I don't feel like these videos available accurately represent them.

Awesome Music Week: Phoenix

I first heard them: Last week on Saturday Night Live
Would Side Bar like them?: possibly
Would Open Bar like them?: probably not, it's a little new wave-ish
Would LJT like them?: Since the default is no, we'll go with that.
Bonus Guess, Would WinIt like them?: Indubitably. If there were a party at his place, this would be on the playlist before the party would be canceled.

(Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a debate raging among grammerians as to whether canceled is spelled with one or two L's? It seems like it should be two, but for some reason, one L seems to be the technically proper use. Both are acceptable in Microsoft Word. It's kinda strange.)

There's a thin line between real good band and a bunch of douchebags, and Phoenix toes that line really well. There's a real possibility that I'd be the only of the four of us who'd like this band. These gies have what some might deem strikes against even before any songs play. First of all they're from France. Secondly they have a real distinct 80s laid back pop sound. You can almost imagine them with huge hair and androgenous clothes jumping around on the stage. Despite that fact, however, I'm really digging on them in the last week or so. I've basically spent the last week listening to a lot of these gies along with our last two entrants, Glasvegas and the Ting Tings.

This particular band just seems to hit me in a sweet spot. Really mellow vibe, catchy tunes, the singer has a cool voice. And they use their synthesizer really well. It's not overused, as is probably the temptation, but it really adds to every song. Phoenix seems to me like the type of band that would really appeal to people under the influence of mind altering substances. I can't really say this for sure, but for some reason they just throw off that kindof vibe to me. This band has actually been around for a long time. They released their first album in 2000, I believe, and actually have 4 albums all together. Their first couple records are not as great as their more recent efforts, in my opinion. They really seem to have grown into their sound. This song posted below, 1901, represents everything that is good about them. Kick back, put your feet up, and break out your phat nug if you're still into that sort of thing, because you'll need it.

Awesome Music Week: Glasvegas

I first heard them: Last week on the Jimmy Fallon show. Maybe it was the week before.
Would Side Bar like them?: Yes.
Would Open Bar like them?: Yes.
Would LJT like them?: Actually, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say yes.

Glasvegas is just a fucking rock and roll band from Glsgow, Scotland. The "fucking" was definitely necessary in that last sentence, lest you were wondering. The absolute best part about this band is that the guy sings with a phatty Scottish brogue on every song and it's great. In addition to that, though, the songs are really good.

What I love about this band is that you kindof get glimpses of their influences, but you really can't say that it sounds particularly like anyone else. Part of it is the accent that the gie sings with, but just when you think it's about to get derivative, it goes and switches it up a little bit. The sound of the band is not groundbreaking or drastically different or anything like that, but in an era when other gies are trying to reinvent the wheel, Glasvegas is just coming out and kicking ass.

I genuinely believe this is the one band that all of you gies would like.

Awesome Music Week: The Ting Tings

I first heard them: Like two weeks ago on the Jimmy Fallon Show
Would Side Bar like them?: ahhh, perhaps not
Would Open Bar like them?: almost certainly
Would LJT like them?: Obviously since it's not ultra-legendary classic rock or nascent rap, then he would not

Ok, the Ting Tings fucking rock. I know I've said that at least two out of three of our other authors probably wouldn't like them, but that's just because they're malcontents who don't have open minds. This album, We Started Nothing, by the Ting Tings is just super retro punk pop. The album is just super duper fun, has slamming bass beats, and can't help but remind you of Blondie. It weaves between punk and pop, harkens back to some disco, and skips over that new wave thing that apparently Open Bar doesn't love like I do.

Listening to this album is like being lifted up for about 45 minutes and floating around for a while and then being put gently back down. I've had the album for about a week now and I've listened to it a ton despite the fact that I've also bought a lot of other music in that time. Who are the Ting Tings? You may recognize them from such songs as "That's Not My Name" which is currently getting some play or from that iPod commercial a little while back with "Shut Up and Let Me Go". Anyway, I love this record. I love the one wave of energy that starts with the first track and never lets up.

...and the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums.

Awesome Music Week: Vampire Weekend

I've been tearing up iTunes recently downloading tons of music. I've discovered a bunch of music that isn't necessarily new to the world, but is new to me. At the same time, I've had a couple of discussions, with Side Bar in particular, about where I hear about new music or find new bands. Well, I've been making a real effort recently to find new music and such so I'm going to make a series of posts regarding this music and some notes and so forth.

It was over a year ago that I made a post about Arcade Fire being my new favorite band, and it was about two weeks ago that Side Bar says to me, "Chuck, I have to talk to you. I downloaded the Arcade Fire album and it's really good." My response was a civilized, "Fuck you." In that vein, I'm going to try to match some of these picks to our other authors in the hopes that maybe they'll take my advice.

Ok, here we go. Awesome music week.

Vampire Weekend
I first saw them: On Saturday Night Live in March of last year.
Would Side Bar like them?: He would love it over time.
Would Open Bar like them?: Yeah, I think so.
Would LJT like them?: LJT only likes the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and rap music produced between 1989-1995. So, no, he won't like any of this.

Ironically, I first encountered these guys within a couple of days of my posting about Arcade Fire. I say ironically becuase these guys are another of my favorites. They have only one album to date, but man is it great. Describing their music is moderately difficult in that it's really a fusion of pop music with some really interesting international influence. They've got interesting drum cadences, flute like instruments, strings all over the place, and all sorts of strange and exciting energy. Their music makes you think of Paul Simon's Graceland given the obvious international influence except with a bit more vigor.

Another thing that makes these guys awesome is that they formed when they were all students at Columbia. So that's cool. I only bring that up because the lyrics of a lot of their songs are really New York-centric. They also really play up an image of a bunch of preppy WASP kids, but it seems clear that it's more of a parody. Many of their songs, however, are also about summering in Cape Cod and things of that nature.

Here's a sample for you. I think this song, "M79" really exemplifies their style. This isn't a music video, which is good, since their videos are actually kinda wack, especially in relation to the goodness of their songs. I've seen them perform on TV several times and they play with a lot of energy and get the crown hyped up and their videos really don't relay what I think is great about them.