Once again, we’re bringing you another nice little contest, this time involving London-trio South. They’ve always been a highly underrated band in my opinion, since their great debut back in 2002 - which effortlessly blended Britpop with electronic ambience. I’ve yet to hear their recently released album, You Are Here, but I assume that it’s pretty solid from the few songs that I have actually heard. Anywho, the prize pack for one lucky winner will include a signed poster + signed copy of the new cd from the band. Just leave a comment if you’re interested, and i’ll pick a winner next week!
Update:This was originally posted around the same time last year, and to this day it remains one of my all-time favorites posts that i’ve done for this blog. I’ve had many requests to re-upload the mp3s, since they weren’t up for a significant amount of time - due to the site getting shut down from an overwhelming amount of traffic. I’m also putting this back up because i’m currently working on the long overdue second edition of ‘Films on the Mind’; though, i’ve currently hit a wall and figured i’d open this up to our readers. What i’m asking is if you would like to contribute to this, email me with your favorite music in film moment, and i’ll compile the best choices - along with my own - to post at some point in the upcoming weeks. If possible, a mp3 to accompany your choice would be excellent. Looking forward to hearing from you!
First off I want to say that this has been in the works (well in my head) for almost six months, but i’ve never had the time to just sit down and think about what I wanted to include. I make no secret about my love for film here on the site, as it’s almost equal to my love of music. The connection I find between films and music is simple. It’s that one scene and that one song that if they’re both put to use correctly, than it can set that mood perfectly without there even being any kind of a hint as to what’s going on. You hear a song during a scene and if it has any kind of emotional impact, well you’ll remember both for that one moment forever.
Last year found a multitude of great film soundtracks (Marie Antoinette, Little Miss Sunshine and Stranger than Fiction to name a few) released. it’s nice to have such refreshing takes from the typical movie soundtrack. I can’t stand when movies are stocked full of whatever is popular in music at that moment, as it can hamper a film. It makes it connected to that period in time, to where it doesn’t age well. But if you were to truly put some care into what kind of music you want to represent your film than it could create something that is timeless and memorable like directors Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino and Cameron Crowe films.
The following list is nowhere near anything complete or absolute, but it’s a nice representation of some memorable scenes from recent films that had some emotional impact to me. A few I can connect with on a personal level, but some as you notice are just fun scenes that stood out in my mind when I was sitting at my desk thinking throughout the entire weekend. I tried to avoid film scores as much as possible and concentrated on songs that were not based on the films themselves. Hope you enjoy these, and i’d love to make another list with choices that all of you come up with. Click the continue link to see the entire list!
Bias is really a soft word for it. Suffice it to say, last year one of my friends fake signed my birthday card as Spencer Krug. No, I didn’t fall for it, but I still enjoyed it.
So I’m on pins and needles waiting to obtain the new album, coming out June 17th. In the meantime, I enjoy a bootleg of live performances pieced together from either one very inconsistent recording session or many sessions of varying degrees of good. The song tracks I have in no way match the track listings for the album on stereogum, but having seen Wolf Parade I will say that their live shows are excellent, more thrilling than listening to their album, though just as heart stopping. But, then again, I think Spencer Krug rocks out.
So I just have to get over my hatred of ticketmaster to get my tickets at The Fillmore but hopefully you will not have to suffer $10 service charges and can get your tickets tommorow!
Of the two tracks I picked, Things I Don’t Know most reminds me of my favorite song off the last album, I’ll Believe in Anything. It has the same urgency that compelled me to listen again and again and again…
07-07: Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
07-08: Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
07-09: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
07-12: Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
07-13: Seattle, WA @ Marymoor Park (subpop festival)
07-15: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
07-17: San Francisco, Ca @ Fillmore
07-18: Hollywood, CA @ The Music Box at the Fonda
07-19: Hollywood, CA @ The Music Box at the Fonda
07-20: San Diego, CA @ Cane’s
07-21: Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
07-24: Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
07-25: Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
07-26: Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
07-28: Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
07-29: Carrborectric Factory
07-31: New York, NY @ Terminal 5
08-02: Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
08-03: Montreal, QC @ Metropoliso, NC @ Cat’s Cradle-Disco Rodeo
07-30: Philadelphia, PA @ El
08-09: Toronto, ON @ Koolhaus
Definitely didn’t want to go out on Wednesday night. I was bloody exhausted and paying $13 to see a band I wasn’t sure that I liked (and am still not convinced that I like) just did not appeal. However, I’m glad that my outright addiction to shows won out over my desire to sleep since the opening act, Team Robespierre, put on the sort of raw affair that usually gets lost in the atmosphere of a true venue. For starters, the drummer was the only person actually on the Black Cat’s mainstage. The other three moved their instruments and mics down to floor level and moved in and amongst the crowd, starting a feeding frenzy of shared energy as they jumped and climbed all over one another. The name may give a nod to an infamous Frenchman but they seem to have more influence from the Brits as their first song made it obvious that they have clearly been listening religiously to their copies of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. The Brooklyn foursome would have been just as comfortable at a house party as they were at the Black Cat, especially if such a party was being thrown by The Black Lips or Les Savy Fav. The vocals are very reminiscent of Tim Harrington although there’s definitely more keyboard than you’ll ever hear on an LSF album.
Roughly one year ago, I trekked up to the Black Cat in Washington, DC to see my favorite band ever (in the universe, twice) reunite for the two shows that topped my year-end list. I have made no bones about how much I adore The Dismemberment Plan to the point that the Pitchfork readers of America have dismissed my continued tolerance and yes, enjoyment of Travis Morrison Hellfighters as inability to let go of the past at best (and flagrant fangirlism at worst.) I’ll admit, that a few months after I said “Pitchfork review be damned!” I deleted Travistan from my Itunes library because it is, in fact, pretty bad. I’ll also admit that I like only select few songs off of All Y’all and don’t listen to the album with anything resembling frequency. However, seeing Travis and his Hellfighters open for Jukebox the Ghost (haven’t talked about them in a week, right?) for the only time on their tour reminded me that the mediocrity of his studio efforts haven’t changed that Morrison can breathe life into a room once he hits the stage. He put on the sort of performance that makes me feel like this isn’t a Cubs’ fan’s long-suffering faith…he is still worth my damn time.
I reviewed Travis Morrison’s CD release show back in September and I gave it a good review but as much of that was by virtue of Travis being the king of banter. I could’ve seriously written a review just saying every funny thing he uttered that night but that would be ignoring that a) the good songs were even better live and b) he got tired and at those points, the set lagged big time. The banter wasn’t as fun but there was really only one lag in the music on Saturday night and that was during All Y’all opener “I’m Not Supposed to Like You (But),” an aptly titled song which very well could be a meta-narrative for how his fans tend to feel about his post-Plan output. But here’s the thing…he played songs like “Saturday Night” and “Song for the Orca” which I have never liked but the Hellfighters have clearly gelled to the point where they can pull together and tighten up the too-loose songs in Travis’ catalog. Songs like “As We Proceed” that are pretty good on the album straight up ruled live. I’m a huge believer in the value of improvement, and I definitely saw it.
Then there was his appearance during the Jukebox the Ghost encore. In between the end of his set and the Jukebox the Ghost encore, Travis had apparently gotten pretty sloshed. At least that’s what he said before asking Ben Thornewill if they could make out and Ben told him that he was a creepy uncle (which is apparently what Morrison told Thornewill that he strives to be for the younger bands he likes in the DC area.) Still not the excessively awesome banter that I’m used to but all was made well once he took the lead on a cover of The Clash’s “Spanish Bombs” and I proceeded to lose my shit. No dignity left. And despite some early sound problems…they killed it.
As for the rest of the Jukebox the Ghost set, they were playing comfortably…and that worked well for them. This may be the most enjoyable time I saw them this year (performance of their lives, included) They were playing for an established fan base and doing what they do best while goofing off between songs while trying not to do excessive introductions to their songs since apparently someone in the DC press gave them flak for that. They were relaxed and they also covered Rage Against the Machine’s “Guerilla Radio” which was simultaneously hilarious and brilliant. This show might well show up on a year-end favorite list, it’s definitely up there as we reach the halfway point of the year.
This small clip was added to Sigur Rós’website today, which provided a small glimpse of the band working on a new song off their soon-to-be completed album. It’s very short (about 90 secs.), but damn if it’s not an incredibly epic piece of work. My mouth is now officially watering at the thought of what the completely finished album will be like.
Well, now it looks like we have a little more than the great song “Get Better” with its accompanying video (PJ posted on it earlier) to whet our appetites for the upcoming Mates of State album Re-Arrange Us. “My Only Offer” is another slab of Mates of State goodness, and shows their sound staying true to its roots with sunnyharmonies and keyboards galore. However, as with “Get Better” there seems to be a bit more craft to things than in the past- and the result is pop perfection. Enjoy!
So I listened to No Age’sNouns while I was at work last night, and I must not understand this album’s appeal at all or something, because it just isn’t doing anything for me. It’s just a lot of noisy guitars and drums, but i’m definitely no critic, so what do I know? Anyways, lots of other releases this week that I can wholeheartedly recommend which include Elvis Costello’s new album Momofuku, Pattern Is Movement’sAll Together, and Lykke Li’sLittle Bit EP.
After hearing a new song from The Radio Dept., surely there couldn’t have been better news to lighten up my day, could there? One more surprise seemed to have awaited me, as You Ain’t No Picasso had some fanfuckingtastic news regarding Beulah frontman Miles Kurosky’s new solo album. In fact, a link was provided to Kurosky’s myspace page which contained a brand spanking new song! Beulah fans have waited patiently for something since the band’s breakup in 2004, and rumblings of this solo album have been going on for a while now, even as recently as a week ago when Caleb of Hard to Find a Friend interviewed Miles and was able to get in a few questions regarding it’s release.
I still miss Beulah, but hey, who doesn’t? I didn’t discover the band for myself till 2001, but in the time since, their albums have become some of my all-time favorites. Hopefully this upcoming solo album from Miles will alleviate some of that sadness that occurs whenever I happen to listen to Yoko.
Back in January I mentioned that one of my favorite bands right now, The Radio Dept., were set to release a brand new record some time this year. At the time, it appeared to be sooner, rather than later, as all signs pointed to a release sometime in the spring. According to Labrador, those plans have gone kaput, as the still untitled album has been delayed till September. Very sad, yeah? But not to fear, as news has arisen that an EP titled Freddie & The Trojan Horse is set to be released on June 4.
The title track had been made available on Pitchfork since last week, but I had only just found it yesterday. Of course, the song is gorgeous, even though I have no clue what Johan Duncanson is singing about. That seems to be the case for nearly all the songs (unless I look up lyrics), but the songs are always gorgeous pieces of work that it doesn’t really matter to me what he’s singing about.
Listen to it below, and let me know what you think! It kills me that we have to wait till September for a full-length, but I think an early EP will satisfy me just fine. I think as the year continues, that this will probably be my most anticipated album of the year.
MP3s are for sampling purposes only. Please buy the album if you like what you hear. If you have a complaint about the ownership of a track, please contactme directly and I will be sure to remove it at request as soon as possible.
Also, all songs featured here will now be removed within one totwo weeks of posting.
Entries (RSS)