930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: Barcelona on October 05, 2004, 08:55:00 pm
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You may have already talked about this band, but for what I've listened to so far, this might be a great band.
The Arcade Fire
Any other new or recent band?
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I am digging the new Midnight Movies CD
Midnight Movies (http://midnightmovies.net/)
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Does anyone know the Saturday People? I almost bought this CD as it was filed under Velocity Girl, but I held off in the end....
From AMG: by MacKenzie Wilson
Hailing from the nook that brought Tuscadero, the Dusters, and Unrest, the Saturday People define their own lush indie rock with jangly guitars and an effervescent live persona. The band â?? which features Velocity Girl expatriate Archie Moore (bass), ex-Tree Fort Angst mate Terry Banks (guitar), Dan Searing (drums) from the Ropers, and the Castaway Stones' Greg Pavlovcak (guitar/vocals) â?? have been perfecting their own folk-pop influential stylings in their native D.C. since the late '90s. The debut single Feel So Real was issued in 1999, but their proper self-titled studio effort appeared on Slumberland in early 2001.
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I think I once met one of the guys in that band. They're alright.
Originally posted by Bags:
Does anyone know the Saturday People? I almost bought this CD as it was filed under Velocity Girl, but I held off in the end....
From AMG: by MacKenzie Wilson
Hailing from the nook that brought Tuscadero, the Dusters, and Unrest, the Saturday People define their own lush indie rock with jangly guitars and an effervescent live persona. The band â?? which features Velocity Girl expatriate Archie Moore (bass), ex-Tree Fort Angst mate Terry Banks (guitar), Dan Searing (drums) from the Ropers, and the Castaway Stones' Greg Pavlovcak (guitar/vocals) â?? have been perfecting their own folk-pop influential stylings in their native D.C. since the late '90s. The debut single Feel So Real was issued in 1999, but their proper self-titled studio effort appeared on Slumberland in early 2001.
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there's a london band called special needs who just released their new single "francesca" in the uk... check them out, they're terrific..
www.specialneedsweb.com (http://www.specialneedsweb.com)
(yes, they know their band name isn't great)
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Originally posted by malkmess:
there's a london band called special needs who just released their new single "francesca" in the uk... check them out, they're terrific..
www.specialneedsweb.com (http://www.specialneedsweb.com)
(yes, they know their band name isn't great)
neither is thier website...yuk. i cant bear to look at it....
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Action Action is pretty cool.... except for their commercial on MTV2. Who does that except for lame emo bands? They are neither lame nor emo, if that helps.
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Thanks, I'll check these bands.
However, the more I listen to the songs on the album, the more I like this band http://www.arcadefire.com (http://www.arcadefire.com)
According to Allmusic.com, similar artists include the Pixies, Interpol, Roxy Music or David Bowie. Influenced by Talking Heads, one of the best bands ever, good sign.
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
However, the more I listen to the songs on the album, the more I like this band http://www.arcadefire.com (http://www.arcadefire.com)
Agreed.
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Originally posted by sonickteam2:
Originally posted by malkmess:
there's a london band called special needs who just released their new single "francesca" in the uk... check them out, they're terrific..
www.specialneedsweb.com (http://www.specialneedsweb.com)
(yes, they know their band name isn't great)
neither is thier website...yuk. i cant bear to look at it.... [/b]
try this instead, it's got all the good stuff on it anyway:
http://www.poptones.co.uk/bands/specialneeds/media.htm (http://www.poptones.co.uk/bands/specialneeds/media.htm)
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
You may have already talked about this band, but for what I've listened to so far, this might be a great band.
The Arcade Fire
Any other new or recent band?
They're okay but I much prefer Amusement Parks On Fire (http://www.amusementparksonfire.com/). A little more sophisticated and not as Poppy sounding but they still rock.
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Originally posted by sonickteam2:
I am digging the new Midnight Movies CD
A recent "trend" it seems - bands with "movie" in their name ... The Movies, Monster Movie, Midnight Movies - whatever is next? ;)
Cheers
DJ Medusa.
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Originally posted by Medusa:
Originally posted by sonickteam2:
I am digging the new Midnight Movies CD
A recent "trend" it seems - bands with "movie" in their name ... The Movies, Monster Movie, Midnight Movies - whatever is next? ;)
Cheers
DJ Medusa. [/b]
I remember looking for Monster Movie in DCCD the infamous Sunday of the not to happen Radiohead show at Bull Run and I kept finding all kinds of bands with Monster or Movie in their names but no Monster Movie. Ended up having to buy them online.
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- Bloc Party
- Cartel
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I just bought Bloc Party, but haven't listened to it yet. Also picked up The Fever. I'll report back...
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I'm going to see Jolie Holland in Chicago tomorrow night. Highly recommended. Sort of like an edgy Norah Jones (to oversimplify things). Tom Waits is a fan (if namedropping his name scores any points).
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Anyone heard The Hiss? read a puff profile of them and they sounded of interest, but not enough to plunk down the $15 clams. Described as beer soaked rock n' roll with the blue-collar elements of Rolling Stones, Who, Oasis and Teenage Fanclub. Heard a track on the Shout! the Revolution Rave-up Alive 1997-2003 compliation which has peaked my interest.
This comp is really nice selection of bands, The Vue, Calla, Dead Meadow and Elefant contribute a demo. Of course the comp is for a weekly DJ and Rock band event in NYC which could probably never take place in DC. Unless... I know the perfect DJ for it :)
<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00008OLZI.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" alt=" - " />
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There's a few nights that I have been to that aren't as heavily advertised but decently attended where standard club music is not the norm.
Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
This comp is really nice selection of bands, The Vue, Calla, Dead Meadow and Elefant contribute a demo. Of course the comp is for a weekly DJ and Rock band event in NYC which could probably never take place in DC. Unless... I know the perfect DJ for it :)
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Originally posted by sonickteam2:
I am digging the new Midnight Movies CD
I like "Persimmon Tree" a lot...the rest I like less, but it could grow on me.
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Originally posted by Bags:
Does anyone know the Saturday People? I almost bought this CD as it was filed under Velocity Girl, but I held off in the end...
I saw them open for SOMEONE years ago (some indie-pop band; Marine Research? The Apples In Stereo?) and they were incredibly average. You're not missing out.
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Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Anyone heard The Hiss?
I saw them a couple years ago at Fletcher's with Haven and Division Of Laura Lee.
They are a good band that I'm sure you would like but $15 is too steep. Wait for a bargin bin find or some other sale kind of thing. The CD is good but nothing earth shattering. Sort of a Southern Von Bondies but not quite as good. More Rock and Roll without being Southern Boogie, if that makes any sense to you.
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And would you recommend any of the bands on Merge Records (http://www.mergerecords.com/#) ? Besides The Arcade Fire, there are a few bands that sound pretty good as well. The Essex Green seem interesting. I liked a lot Portastatic when they opened for Yo la tengo. Any other band there that you would recommend?
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Lots of good Merge bands. My favorite right now is The Rosebuds.
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Originally posted by Jaguär:
Originally posted by Barcelona:
You may have already talked about this band, but for what I've listened to so far, this might be a great band.
The Arcade Fire
Any other new or recent band?
They're okay but I much prefer Amusement Parks On Fire (http://www.amusementparksonfire.com/). A little more sophisticated and not as Poppy sounding but they still rock. [/b]
I would also suggest Comets On Fire.
Comets On Fire
<img src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002C4ITA.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" alt=" - " />
Blue Cathedral
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Originally posted by Jaguär:
Originally posted by kosmo vinyl:
Anyone heard The Hiss?
I saw them a couple years ago at Fletcher's with Haven and Division Of Laura Lee.
They are a good band that I'm sure you would like but $15 is too steep. Wait for a bargin bin find or some other sale kind of thing. The CD is good but nothing earth shattering. Sort of a Southern Von Bondies but not quite as good. More Rock and Roll without being Southern Boogie, if that makes any sense to you. [/b]
Sounds about what I expect, haven't seen it in the bargin bins and even at RT&T its not a cheap new CD. Little wonder the music industry is going down the tubes...
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
You may have already talked about this band, but for what I've listened to so far, this might be a great band.
The Arcade Fire
October 18, 2004
CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
A Draining Week in the Indie-Music Spotlight
By KELEFA SANNEH
All right," said Win Butler, sizing up the crowd late last Wednesday night at the Mercury Lounge. "We're the flavor of the month. Let's go."
And they went. A single guitar chord oozed through the speakers, and four of Mr. Butler's band mates joined him at the front of the stage, singing a wordless, full-throated overture while the drummer behind them kept time. Then the crashing subsided and Mr. Butler started to sing, his voice wild and shaky with half-swallowed terror. "Somethin' filled up my heart with nothin', someone told me not to cry," he began, with a violin line swelling and deflating behind him. And a crowd full of ecstatic fans and converts braced itself for the next crash.
Hundreds and hundreds of indie-rock bands descended on New York City last week for the CMJ Music Marathon, an alt-rock expo that annexes Manhattan's nightclubs once a year. But none of them generated more excitement than this one: a brilliant, slanted Montreal-based septet called the Arcade Fire.
The debut Arcade Fire album, "Funeral," was released barely a month ago, on Sept. 14, by the indie label Merge, based in North Carolina. Enthusiastic reviews were written, even more enthusiastic blog entries were posted, MP3's circulated. It used to take months of touring and record-shop hype for an underground band to build a cult, but now it takes only a few weeks. "I'd like to thank the Internet," Mr. Butler said, and he wasn't serious, but he also wasn't wrong.
So the band's Wednesday night concert was one of the week's most exclusive shows: tickets sold out long in advance, and if you had showed up at the club bearing a $545 CMJ badge, you would have been (politely) directed to wait in line.
Even so, the seven members of the Arcade Fire managed to exceed all expectations - the group's live show is much rowdier and more unhinged than the album. During "Neighborhoods #2 (Laïka)," Mr. Butler's younger brother, Will, joined forces with the band's mad scientist, Richard Reed Parry, and they picked up drumsticks to beat on whatever was closest: ceiling pipes, amplifiers, glockenspiels, each other. Régine Chassagne, the band's riveting co-lead singer, squeezed out an accordion line alongside Sarah Neufeld's violin. And Win Butler yelped a frantic, fractured story: "Our older brother, bit by a vampire! For a year we caught his tears in a cup! And now we're gonna make him drink it! Come on, Alex, don't die or dry up!"
Before the concert ended there was a nimble but fearsome ode to Haiti (where Ms. Chassagne's parents come from); a sad but true tale about a keyboard ("Our piano fell out of the back of our U-Haul today," Mr. Parry explained); and a friendly physical confrontation: the night was over when Mr. Butler cheerfully wrestled Mr. Parry to the ground.
Twelve hours later, on Thursday afternoon, the band members could be found in the East Village, on the corner of 10th Street and First Avenue. Their destination was the Russian and Turkish Baths, a few feet away, but before they could get there they were stopped twice by East Villagers who wanted to congratulate them for the previous night's show. They smiled and kept moving, and soon all seven were ensconced inside the one of the hottest rooms on the East Coast, letting sweat seep through their rented shorts.
At its worst, the CMJ Music Marathon is an exhausting thicket of half-empty showcases and bogus promotional ventures. So it helps to be the Arcade Fire. That is, it helps to be "the flavor of the month," the band everyone's talking about, the band that gets summoned to dinner (as happened on Friday night) by Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records. It also helps to be the kind of band that's determined to turn a week of music-biz overload into yet another weird adventure. When Ms. Chassagne, Ms. Neufeld and Mr. Parry discovered that one of the smaller saunas was also an effective reverb chamber, they unnerved an unsuspecting fellow bather by trying out a three-part chorale, which became a five-part chorale when the Butler brothers showed up.
The different parts of the Arcade Fire were assembled slowly and sometimes painfully over the past few years. Win Butler, who was raised in Texas, came to Montreal as a student, and he met Mr. Parry when he put up a flier that said, more or less, "I have this house where you can make a lot of noise and nobody cares." Ms. Neufeld emerged from Montreal's fertile electronica scene to become the band's one-woman string section. And Ms. Chassagne, an autodidactical polyinstrumentalist (her early piano education included time spent studying a composer named Nintendo, famous for his classic, "Super Mario Bros."), was suspicious of Mr. Butler at first: she remembers thinking, "Oh, this is just another bimbo guy who wants to play me a song." But he must have grown on her, because last summer she married him.
An early incarnation of the band holed up in Maine to record a sketchy but enthralling mini album. You can hear a few songs from it at www.newmusiccanada.com, (http://www.newmusiccanada.com,) where the band also lists four major influences: Debussy, Neil Young, the Pixies and Alvino Rey, the late steel guitar virtuoso who happens to be the Butlers' grandfather. By the time the group recorded "Funeral," members had come and gone (the band nearly broke up more than once), and the music had likewise expanded and splintered.
"Funeral" is a scruffy epic, with 10 interlocking songs united by overlapping themes and sounds: the sharp thwack of Howard Bilerman's drum kit (he has since been replaced by Jeremy Gara), the slow-motion bass lines by Tim Kingsbury, the elegiac melodies that seep out in sobs and spasms, the intensifying instrumental passages that gather momentum slowly but ruthlessly.
Throughout, Mr. Butler and Ms. Chassagne sing about proud characters humbled by storms and fire and violence. Mr. Butler says his obsession with thunder and lightning is really an obsession with helplessness: "Like, oh, there's an ice storm in Montreal, and there's no power for a week. I think people interact differently in those situations they have no control over - it could be weather, it could be war." You get the same feeling from Ms. Chassagne's wild-eyed warble, whether she's evoking the madness of Haiti's Tonton Macoutes or repeating a puzzling, intoxicating elegy: "Alice died in the night/I've been learning to drive my whole life."
The band members' visit to the Russian and Turkish baths may have been the last time they relaxed all week. Later that night they headed to Midtown to play a brief set at the Museum of Television and Radio, to be broadcast on the Seattle alt-rock station KEXP. (Will Butler was gently reprimanded for using an invaluable old radio poster as a rhythm instrument.) The next day, Friday, they suffered through three photo shoots in a single afternoon, and by Saturday afternoon they were installed at Arlene Grocery, the Lower East Side club, for their third CMJ performance in four days.
It was a chaotic show, thanks largely to a pair of obstreperous (and seemingly untune-able) guitars; Mr. Parry declared it the worst Arcade Fire show ever, although Ms. Neufeld disagreed. Needless to say, the crowd loved it anyway (except for those poor people stuck outside on Stanton Street). And as the band began a cracked but still-lovely rendition of "Une année sans lumière," with guitars glimmering to match the bilingual lyrics, Mr. Butler said goodbye to this year's CMJ Marathon. "We've never done one of these doodads before," he announced. "It's been" - a pause, the faint outline of a smile - "fine."
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Originally posted by ggw™:
Originally posted by Barcelona:
You may have already talked about this band, but for what I've listened to so far, this might be a great band.
The Arcade Fire
October 18, 2004
CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
A Draining Week in the Indie-Music Spotlight
By KELEFA SANNEH
All right," said Win Butler, sizing up the crowd late last Wednesday night at the Mercury Lounge. "We're the flavor of the month. Let's go."
And they went. A single guitar chord oozed through the speakers, and four of Mr. Butler's band mates joined him at the front of the stage, singing a wordless, full-throated overture while the drummer behind them kept time. Then the crashing subsided and Mr. Butler started to sing, his voice wild and shaky with half-swallowed terror. "Somethin' filled up my heart with nothin', someone told me not to cry," he began, with a violin line swelling and deflating behind him. And a crowd full of ecstatic fans and converts braced itself for the next crash.
Hundreds and hundreds of indie-rock bands descended on New York City last week for the CMJ Music Marathon, an alt-rock expo that annexes Manhattan's nightclubs once a year. But none of them generated more excitement than this one: a brilliant, slanted Montreal-based septet called the Arcade Fire.
The debut Arcade Fire album, "Funeral," was released barely a month ago, on Sept. 14, by the indie label Merge, based in North Carolina. Enthusiastic reviews were written, even more enthusiastic blog entries were posted, MP3's circulated. It used to take months of touring and record-shop hype for an underground band to build a cult, but now it takes only a few weeks. "I'd like to thank the Internet," Mr. Butler said, and he wasn't serious, but he also wasn't wrong.
So the band's Wednesday night concert was one of the week's most exclusive shows: tickets sold out long in advance, and if you had showed up at the club bearing a $545 CMJ badge, you would have been (politely) directed to wait in line.
Even so, the seven members of the Arcade Fire managed to exceed all expectations - the group's live show is much rowdier and more unhinged than the album. During "Neighborhoods #2 (Laïka)," Mr. Butler's younger brother, Will, joined forces with the band's mad scientist, Richard Reed Parry, and they picked up drumsticks to beat on whatever was closest: ceiling pipes, amplifiers, glockenspiels, each other. Régine Chassagne, the band's riveting co-lead singer, squeezed out an accordion line alongside Sarah Neufeld's violin. And Win Butler yelped a frantic, fractured story: "Our older brother, bit by a vampire! For a year we caught his tears in a cup! And now we're gonna make him drink it! Come on, Alex, don't die or dry up!"
Before the concert ended there was a nimble but fearsome ode to Haiti (where Ms. Chassagne's parents come from); a sad but true tale about a keyboard ("Our piano fell out of the back of our U-Haul today," Mr. Parry explained); and a friendly physical confrontation: the night was over when Mr. Butler cheerfully wrestled Mr. Parry to the ground.
Twelve hours later, on Thursday afternoon, the band members could be found in the East Village, on the corner of 10th Street and First Avenue. Their destination was the Russian and Turkish Baths, a few feet away, but before they could get there they were stopped twice by East Villagers who wanted to congratulate them for the previous night's show. They smiled and kept moving, and soon all seven were ensconced inside the one of the hottest rooms on the East Coast, letting sweat seep through their rented shorts.
At its worst, the CMJ Music Marathon is an exhausting thicket of half-empty showcases and bogus promotional ventures. So it helps to be the Arcade Fire. That is, it helps to be "the flavor of the month," the band everyone's talking about, the band that gets summoned to dinner (as happened on Friday night) by Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records. It also helps to be the kind of band that's determined to turn a week of music-biz overload into yet another weird adventure. When Ms. Chassagne, Ms. Neufeld and Mr. Parry discovered that one of the smaller saunas was also an effective reverb chamber, they unnerved an unsuspecting fellow bather by trying out a three-part chorale, which became a five-part chorale when the Butler brothers showed up.
The different parts of the Arcade Fire were assembled slowly and sometimes painfully over the past few years. Win Butler, who was raised in Texas, came to Montreal as a student, and he met Mr. Parry when he put up a flier that said, more or less, "I have this house where you can make a lot of noise and nobody cares." Ms. Neufeld emerged from Montreal's fertile electronica scene to become the band's one-woman string section. And Ms. Chassagne, an autodidactical polyinstrumentalist (her early piano education included time spent studying a composer named Nintendo, famous for his classic, "Super Mario Bros."), was suspicious of Mr. Butler at first: she remembers thinking, "Oh, this is just another bimbo guy who wants to play me a song." But he must have grown on her, because last summer she married him.
An early incarnation of the band holed up in Maine to record a sketchy but enthralling mini album. You can hear a few songs from it at www.newmusiccanada.com, (http://www.newmusiccanada.com,) where the band also lists four major influences: Debussy, Neil Young, the Pixies and Alvino Rey, the late steel guitar virtuoso who happens to be the Butlers' grandfather. By the time the group recorded "Funeral," members had come and gone (the band nearly broke up more than once), and the music had likewise expanded and splintered.
"Funeral" is a scruffy epic, with 10 interlocking songs united by overlapping themes and sounds: the sharp thwack of Howard Bilerman's drum kit (he has since been replaced by Jeremy Gara), the slow-motion bass lines by Tim Kingsbury, the elegiac melodies that seep out in sobs and spasms, the intensifying instrumental passages that gather momentum slowly but ruthlessly.
Throughout, Mr. Butler and Ms. Chassagne sing about proud characters humbled by storms and fire and violence. Mr. Butler says his obsession with thunder and lightning is really an obsession with helplessness: "Like, oh, there's an ice storm in Montreal, and there's no power for a week. I think people interact differently in those situations they have no control over - it could be weather, it could be war." You get the same feeling from Ms. Chassagne's wild-eyed warble, whether she's evoking the madness of Haiti's Tonton Macoutes or repeating a puzzling, intoxicating elegy: "Alice died in the night/I've been learning to drive my whole life."
The band members' visit to the Russian and Turkish baths may have been the last time they relaxed all week. Later that night they headed to Midtown to play a brief set at the Museum of Television and Radio, to be broadcast on the Seattle alt-rock station KEXP. (Will Butler was gently reprimanded for using an invaluable old radio poster as a rhythm instrument.) The next day, Friday, they suffered through three photo shoots in a single afternoon, and by Saturday afternoon they were installed at Arlene Grocery, the Lower East Side club, for their third CMJ performance in four days.
It was a chaotic show, thanks largely to a pair of obstreperous (and seemingly untune-able) guitars; Mr. Parry declared it the worst Arcade Fire show ever, although Ms. Neufeld disagreed. Needless to say, the crowd loved it anyway (except for those poor people stuck outside on Stanton Street). And as the band began a cracked but still-lovely rendition of "Une année sans lumière," with guitars glimmering to match the bilingual lyrics, Mr. Butler said goodbye to this year's CMJ Marathon. "We've never done one of these doodads before," he announced. "It's been" - a pause, the faint outline of a smile - "fine." [/b]
I can't wait to see them live, this the best album I have listened in a long time. Can't wait to listen to "Wake up", "Neighborhood 2 (Laika)", "Rebellion Lies" or "Neighborhood 1 (Tunnels)" live, excellent album.
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These Essex Green (http://www.essexgreen.com/home.html) sound pretty good. Have they ever played in DC?
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
These Essex Green (http://www.essexgreen.com/home.html) sound pretty good. Have they ever played in DC?
Yes.
I saw them open for some other band that I can't recall at the moment at the Black Cat, oh maybe a year or two ago. Personally, I thought that they were kind of boring but maybe they're better on record or with time. From what I remember, they weren't bad, just very uninteresting. Or maybe it wasn't a fair band match and I was ready to rock.
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Originally posted by Jaguär:
Originally posted by Barcelona:
These Essex Green (http://www.essexgreen.com/home.html) sound pretty good. Have they ever played in DC?
Yes.
I saw them open for some other band that I can't recall at the moment at the Black Cat, oh maybe a year or two ago. Personally, I thought that they were kind of boring but maybe they're better on record or with time. From what I remember, they weren't bad, just very uninteresting. Or maybe it wasn't a fair band match and I was ready to rock. [/b]
I like the new album, The Late Great Cassiopia is one of the songs (along with Wake Up of The Arcade Fire) that is helping me recover from Sad Tuesday. Actually, most of the bands at Merge Records are pretty good. About time something good came out from Durham! ;)
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A few bands new to me from last week's Subterranean:
Gerling -- this song was great, had a great drum and bass beat. A tad retro 60s. I wonder if the whole album is good or too retro-garage like so much stuff these days. Either way, really good song, "Get Activated"
The Sun -- can't remember the song too much, but thought they could be good. Lot of guitars with just a bit of keyboard.
Sparta -- pretty catchy song, but could be more of the same in terms of 'indie' rock. Pretty full sound. ??
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Originally posted by Barcelona:
These Essex Green (http://www.essexgreen.com/home.html) sound pretty good. Have they ever played in DC?
They opened for Ladybug Transistor at DC9 late this summer...I think it was one of those weeks in September full of a bajillion shows, so I missed it. Someone here said Essex was a good show...
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Tegan and Sara on some new bands from today's NY Times:
November 7, 2004
PLAYLIST
A Warm Montreal Autumn, and the Chilly Dreams of Adolescence
By TEGAN and SARA QUIN
The Arcade Fire
At a Constantines concert in Montreal last year, the lead singer, Bryan Webb, told the audience that they should all feel proud to be living in a city with one of the best bands in the world. He was talking about the Arcade Fire, which had just finished a feverish set. We may have been the only audience members then to agree, but the rest of the world is quickly catching up. The Arcade Fire is a band that makes us wish we were singing with them or being sung to. Sounding very much like the Replacements or the Talking Heads, the production on "Funeral" (Merge) is a bit dirty, and occasionally we wish Win Butler's voice was a little less buried in the mix, but only because the lyrics and stories are so wise and moving. The characters are so clearly developed, with so much emotion, that we desperately want visual imagery to accompany it. We don't believe in hype, but we believe in the Arcade Fire.
The Organ
On "Grab That Gun" (Mint), Deborah Cohen's guitar melodies are as hooky and sad as Katie Sketch's vocals, forming an awkward reply to each chorus. Comparisons to the Smiths and Joy Division are easy, but Ms. Sketch's lyrics have a remarkable way of being aloof without sounding arrogant. Anchored by a pumping Hammond organ, the songs on "Grab That Gun" are often quirky and unconventional, a record for daydreaming about breaking hearts and basement suites in the winter. We wish we had had this intelligent and subtle music in high school, when we needed something to explain what we would be feeling through most of our 20's.
Feist
Since relocating to Toronto in the late 90's, Leslie Feist has become somewhat of an indie legend in Canada. Her new CD, "Let it Die" (Interscope), is a surprising departure from the more straightforward guitar rock on her first album, "Monarch," but the lighter arrangements and cabaret-style instrumentation give this record the charming, articulate feel of French pop. Her smoke-cracked vocals are sexy and smart, and although we were disappointed that there were not more original songs, the five she offers here are strong, especially "Mushaboom," a hand-clapping pop song that started out, in a demo version that floats around the Web, pared down to a sad electric guitar and passing cars.
The Futureheads
With their slightly off target four-part harmonies, the Futureheads come across as young ruffians ready to down a pint of beer with you, punch you in the nose, make out with your girlfriend, then run off to the nearest library to engross themselves in Victorian literature. There is a carefree exuberance on the Futureheads self-titled debut (Sire Records) that makes their short blasts of post-punk pop nonsense undeniable and refreshing. Songs like the "Carnival Kids" express a sweet innocence you can see right through, like four lads acting nice in front of their grandmother. The song that will catch most listeners off guard, though, is the brilliant, somewhat indiscernible cover of Kate Bush's classic "Hounds of Love."
Against Me!
Against Me! harks back to the days of classic punk rock, expressing the emotions of frustrated youth, a fight against the wrongs of an older generation. On "As the Eternal Cowboy" (Fat Wreck Chords), songs like "T.S.R." and "Cliché Guevara" instantly transport us to the frustration of being a teenager with something to say and nowhere to say it. It's the band we wanted to be in when we were 13, but writing songs we would sing now at 24. The mix of alt-country and punk makes this record a politically charged, impassioned sing-along, but Against Me! writes memorable, meaningful songs that exceed the political moment.
Delays
Delays' new record, "Faded Seaside Glamour" (Rough Trade), confused us right away. Where are they from? Is that a girl singing? How come we've never heard of them before? As we listened we became obsessed and almost sickened with how much we liked the record from start to finish. We didn't want to find all the answers, we just wanted to get T-shirts telling everyone to get the record fast and then go see their show while they can still get up close. Maybe it's Delays' infusion of Fleetwood Mac or the early '80s shimmering guitars or the orchestral background noise that strikes a chord and draws us in, but quite simply, Delays are the type of band you should be happy exists.
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essex green opened for the delgados once at the black cat
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That was the show!
Thanks Pollard for straightening me out on that one. ;)
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futureheads for me. anyone else heard their album? i think only two things when i listen to it: 1) wow they really love the jam; 2) wow i can't stop dancing...
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anything new?
I've been loving the new Tegan & Sara album, but they're not really new (though they would be to many of ya....)
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Today I discovered The Departure (http://www.thedeparture.com). I think you might like them, Bags.
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The Departure sound interesting -- they are *definitely* up Chatty's alley. I noticed they haven't hit the states yet; must keep eyes peeled!
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Man, these guys were gifted with the right guy to have as a fan -- amazing coverage to hit some small Phillie band playing to only dozens in NYC.
December 14, 2004
Amid Harmonies and Chaos, a Young Band Starts to Find Its Way
By KELEFA SANNEH
The New York Times
Last week, an obscure Philadelphia band called Dr. Dog embarked on a compressed tour of New York City. First came an early show at Rothko, on the Lower East Side, where the band roared through its extraordinary catalog of off-kilter ballads and light-headed riff-rock, harmonizing all the while. The few dozen people in the audience applauded after every song, but the band played extra fast anyway, as if to make sure no one had a chance to object.
When the set was over, the group's minuscule but enthusiastic New York City fan base (in case you haven't already guessed, it includes at least one reporter) traipsed three blocks west to another club, Pianos, where the same five musicians were setting up: it was time for the second Dr. Dog show of the night. This set was even better, half an hour of friendly chaos, with band members trading instruments and stumbling through old songs. Then they packed up their van and drove back to Philadelphia, leaving only a handful of homemade CD's in their wake.
That homemade CD is "Easy Beat," and the band released it without a record label a few months ago; it's the kind of album that seems sure to attract a rabid cult of indie-rock fans - if only they can find it. (Start your search at the band's Web site: http://homepage.mac.com/sonofsheepdog/.) (http://homepage.mac.com/sonofsheepdog/.)) There are nine songs, all filled with breezy vocal harmonies and unexpected digressions. "Oh No" begins as a blissful love song, pauses for delicate string arrangements, then explodes into a hard-charging sing-along. And "Say Something" slowly builds up steam as folk rock gives way to a wailing guitar solo; as with a lot of Dr. Dog songs, it sounds both epic and cobwebby.
On Friday night, the five members of Dr. Dog played a show closer to home in West Chester, Pa., the town where Dr. Dog was born. The band's songwriters, childhood friends Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman, were terrorizing the town with a chaotic project called Raccoon, living in an overcrowded apartment known as the Pirate House while spending just enough time at West Chester University to emerge with bachelor's degrees.
A recording session in the flooded basement gave birth to "Psychedelic Swamp," a concept album that laid the foundation for Dr. Dog. Suffice it to say that the album received limited distribution: Mr. McMicken - the long-haired, plastic-sunglasses-wearing guitarist, who's always paying more attention than you'd suspect - estimates that he passed around perhaps 20 copies of the album, 10 on cassette. He remembers, "We were just stockpiling songs," and the band eventually compiled 10 of these recordings for its second release, "Toothbrush."
Gathered for an interview in a friend's apartment, the members of Dr. Dog cheerfully acknowledge the debt they owe to classic rock. Some of the members spent time playing in a just-for-fun Beach Boys cover band called Heroes & Villains, and they admit that studying the vocal arrangements on the "Pet Sounds" box set helped them learn how to sing harmony. When Mr. Leaman mentions that he loves Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale," Mr. McMicken mentions that he's recently recorded his own version of the song, two in fact.
But if you get your hands on a copy of "Toothbrush," you won't hear anything that resembles Procol Harum. Instead, you'll hear 10 tape-hissy songs that capture a wildly idiosyncratic band figuring out what it sounds like: the left-field love song "Jealous Man," for example, could be a bunch of glassy-eyed kids trying to reinvent doo-wop. In short, it's irresistible.
The band won its first break when Mr. McMicken gave a copy of "Toothbrush" to Jim James, the lead singer of My Morning Jacket, the celebrated neo-Southern rock band that now records for Dave Matthews's ATO Records. Not only did Mr. James listen to the CD (Mr. McMicken says he was charmed by the rainbow sprinkles rattling around beneath the transparent tray), but he also invited Dr. Dog on tour - twice.
Using the $1,000 they earned during the first tour, the members of Dr. Dog bought a microphone, which they used to record "Easy Beat"; the album shows off not just the group's range but its ambition, too. This is not the sort of band that cherishes its obscurity, and there are songs on "Easy Beat" that wouldn't sound out of place accompanying the closing credits of "The O.C." The indie-rock label Devil in the Woods plans to reissue "Easy Beat" in March (through a new imprint, National Parking), and the band members are hoping that having an album in stores will raise the group's profile even more.
Still, the Dr. Dog bandwagon hasn't started rolling yet, as the members were reminded later on Friday night, when they took the stage at Rex's, a rock bar that Raccoon used to play. There was a group of Dr. Dog fans near the front, but many other patrons were clearly just there to hang out and the listless atmosphere was contagious: Dr. Dog's set never quite ignited, and it didn't help matters when the sound man quickly threw on a heavy metal CD after the last song, before Dr. Dog could play the encore that people were clapping for.
Whatever happens, the band members don't seem terribly distracted by the prospect of cult favoritism. Earlier, Mr. Leaman provoked howls of laughter from his band mates by declaring: "This has been a long time coming. Dr. Dog has been trying to happen for 15 years," a big claim from someone who's only 25.
He continued in a humbler but no less determined vein, remembering his early recordings with Mr. McMicken: "The difference between us and most high school bands was that we knew we weren't as good as we wanted to be."
Mr. McMicken thought about it. "I still feel that way," he said.
"Yeah," Mr. Leaman said. "We're getting closer."
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Originally posted by Fico:
- Bloc Party
- Cartel
Bloc Party is definitely one of the best CDs I've heard all year. Just picked it up last week, cant put it down.
if you like the "Banquet" song....check out the remix they have a cool one on the site...a little long, but nifty
Banquet Mp3 (http://www.blocparty.com/downloads/banquetPhonesDiscoEdit.mp3)