Los Piedra - Antiperro (2009)

 

Something pretty fun that certainly wont win any originality awards

post-punk vibe with math

again wont light your house on fire but then again prolly not a good idea anyway.

Paper Mice - Paint it Pink (2009)

Chicago, a name that is notorious for post-rock also houses the ever energetic Paper Mice. A power trio in every sense of the word. This is tightly tidy twitchy post punk group with a healthy dallop of the Math Rock we crave on a daily basis. I use the word tidy above because these guys keeps things generally around the 2 minute mark or less. It's a great way to really condense everything down to the best of the rest. Twitchy? well they tend to stop on a dime (frequently), pick it up, chew it around in their mouth and spit out gold.  Vocals are also pretty prominent and only add an extra dimension to the otherwise bonkers punk experience. GREEEAAAT stuff gentleladymens. 

Can not forgot to mention that they will be playing along with Our Daily Fix and Mouth to Mouth to Mouth.  http://www.facebook.com/events/402437086473256/
If anyone is even considering coming out to Ithaca NY, I promise it will be a wonderous show

Not to mention.. DIONAEA is playing that Sunday!
http://www.facebook.com/events/325861787497140/

Should prove to be a lovely weekend :)

Paint it Pink

Chairlift- Something (2012)

Thanks to Abigail for reminding me about these guys. Chairlift are an electro-pop trio-turned- duo that made it big with that darn Bruises song off their first album, Does You Inspire You. I never checked out that album, and was only vaguely aware of them because of that iPod commercial. Then, in January I read a glowing review for their follow-up album, Something, and gave a few songs of theirs a listen, and almost immediately, I forgot about them.

My pal Abigail recently brought them back to my attention yesterday, and I was very happy to quickly rediscover a neat band I almost let slip through my mind-cracks. Lovely vocals reign supreme and sit on top of some interesting synths and guitars that provide nice pop song structures; chill catchiness ensues. Their video for Evident Utensil from their debut is awesomely trippy (definitely check it); Amanamonesia was the first single off Something and the video is awesomely weird; Sidewalk Safari is track one. Its just awesome:



something
does you inspire you

Here We Go Magic

I was watching an episode of Portlandia, and in one skit an acupuncture recipient was being treated to some awfully inappropriate music. The band kept switching songs, and one of them was titled Tunnelvision. It reminded me a great song of the same name by Here We Go Magic, a band I remember Ed Droste recommending on the Grizzly Bear blog. I liked them a lot from the videos I checked on youtube but never got around to checking their album.

Here We Go Magic make nice folky psychedelic pop with cool rhythms and great catchy vocals. Their third album is due in May according to their tumblr page, and in the meantime I suppose its time to check out their 2010 release, Pigeons, as well as what I haven't heard from their 2009 self titled debut. This track, Fangela, is from their self titled:



here we go magic
pigeons

1Q84- Glenn Gould

This is a rather random post. As some of you may know, haruki murakami recently released his 2009 novel, 1Q84, in the States, translated from his native japanese into english. He is a very intriguing writer, with works that instantly grab you with their thoroughly detailed descriptions of mundane life that quickly turn surreal and engrossing, demanding your imagination in ways that relate to dream states and memory. 1Q84 is his grandest work, and throughout it he mentions pieces of pop culture, referencing songs and places and historical milestones to help you subtly set the scene as you read. As i have been reading along, whenever a song is mentioned i will quickly search it out and play it in the background as i continue through a scene. It is a fun way to "read along", as i am sure that while he was writing these passages he too was listening to the songs mentioned. He is an avid music collector, with an office lined with countless vinyl.

To make a longer story short, he mentioned a Bach piece called Well-Tempered Clavier early in the novel, as a focal character was introduced: I went to youtube and found the piece, preformed by the (apparently) legendary Glenn Gould. He was a highly regarded pianist that interpreted classical music with critically acclaimed style.

As i read, i had to stop my progress in the novel to watch the performance Glenn gave of this selection of the Clavier pieces. I thought of its execution as compared to watching a spider weave its web: you understand it fundamentally, as a flawless piece of mathematical construction; you can tell that the subject creating it has its scheme built into its nature, its very existence; and though you may doubt the slow, meticulous, ever-complicated crescendo of its progression while it is being created in front of your eyes, the end result is perfection.


For those of you not keen to most classical music, please skip to 3:40. Shit just gets out of control from that point forward. Below is Goulds interpretation of Bachs Goldberg Variations, another epic piece of classical solo piano subtlety.

goldberg variations

Mew- No More Stories..(etc) 2009

i found this Danish trio a year or two ago while rocking some Pandora, and had to stop everything to check into what the hell it was i was hearing. although they are studio fiends and im not sure if they have a bigger band for live shows, No More Stories is a tight rock/pop album with great hooks. it goes many interesting places with a distinct, purposeful layout of songs, some rocking the fuck out with a huge sound, while others will be nicely composed minimal tracks with just piano and vocals. they start things off with a proper bang, after an intro track, with their single Introducing Palace Players, and a few tracks later comes Repeaterbeater, below. a bit artsy fartsy vid but aww yeah.



no more stories..

The Organ Beats- Cruise Show June 3rd

Ok, this is just a reminder to all you boston fools who may have forgotten that the FUCKING organ beats are playing a GODDAMNED show on a FUCKING BOAT on JUNE FUCKING 3RD with MELLOW BRAVO and VIVA VIVA, so go fuck yourselves and get some tickets.

Also, they are playing a show on friday may 27th at ralphs diner in worcester. Should be awesome; i posted about the Beats a month ago in a more in-depth article here, but just as a current reminder of how sweet they are, heres another video of theirs, the title track from their 2009 album Sleep When We Are Dead:



boat show ticket info
sleep when we are dead