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Again, I was feeling bored by chemistry, and since its Halloween I figured I would post something. It seemed fitting that since I plan on doing a full writeup about Islands in the next couple of days, I post something about their former band: The Unicorns-- who are arguably one of the most hyped, yet shortest lived bands in independent music in recent memory. Before they broke up they recorded this song about a haunted house. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!
Treat:
The Unicorns - Haunted House
Bonus: The Unicorns - Tuff Ghost
I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but have yet to get to it, and I figure there's no better time than when I should be doing homework to do finally do it.
It's pretty safe to say that The Decemberists are one of my all time favorite bands.
Once in high school I even snuck out of my house while I was grounded, drove 25 miles in a blizzard in my mom's car to see the concert alone (long story short I was supposed to go with my best friend, but due to some extenuating circumstances we were both grounded for the same thing), and it ended up being one of the best shows I've ever been to.
Since then the Decemberists have signed to a major label and released what I believe to be their best album to date. With two songs that stretch past the 10 minute mark, it seems that Colin Meloy is at his best ever, and his the rest of his band is getting sharper too. The CD is very well rounded in my opinion, with all the necessary elements: a perfect pop song ('O Valencia), a perfectly written retelling of an ancient Japanese folk story ('The Crane Wife 1-3'), and my personal favorite three part prog-rock murder epic ('The Island'). My only beef with the album is 'The Perfect Crime 2' which is the only song that I find myself continually skipping when I listen to this album, but I'll leave it to you to decide whether it suits your taste or not. Get the album here.
Rumor has it that 5 songs didn't make the final album cut, and I have two of them up for download here. Look for the rest to be released as B sides on future singles from The Crane Wife. Enjoy.
The Decemberists - 'After the Bombs'
The Decemberists - 'Culling of the Fold'
As I mentioned earlier, I'm heading to the great white north to see Islands on Saturday, which I can't wait for! Look for a post about that later in the week.
It's my birthday today, and I'm having a huge halloween party at my house to celebrate... and this song will definitely be in heavy rotation, as it should be at any halloween party this year. Check it out.
Car Stereo Wars - Hip Hop Halloween Monster Mashup
So I copped the recently leaked Shins album, 'Wincing the Night Away' and spent the entire day listening to it on my ipod between classes waiting for my life to change, but nothing happened... I wasn't approached by Natalie Portman, or even the Scrubs guy, I got a B+ on my cell bio test, and showed up late for a test in my Psychology class, all in all a pretty underwhelming Monday. I consider myself an optimist though, so I won't blame the Shins or the Scrubs guy, but Natilie Portman better show up at my doorstep (yes, wearing that) within the week or I'm never listening to 'Wincing the Night Away' again. Ever.
On a serious note though, the new album is pretty slick, and off the bat you can tell that Sub-Pop forked out the big bucks for the increased production quality (presumably due to the fact that every time the Shins change someone's life, Sub-Pop gets some extra coin... kind of like how God kills a kitten every time you... Nevermind, you get the picture)-- a far cry from the reverb-filled stylings of their first album. That being said, in my opinion I think it's a fairly safe record for them (they still sound like the same old Shins), but it's a solid effort from the best thing to come out of New Mexico since... uh, this?. Highlights include the Beck influenced 'Sea Legs', the upcoming single 'Phantom Limb', and my personal favorite; the mellowed-out, 'A Comet Appears'. Be sure and pick up the album when it drops on 1.23.07 (damn, is 2007 really that close?)
The Shins - Phantom Limb (link removed at artist's request)
The Shins - A Comet Appears (link removed at artist's request)
In other news, I just decided to go see Islands in Vancouver at UBC, with one of my good friends from home. The last time I saw Islands was crazy, let me tell you-- they bring the party, add that to the fact that I'm legal to drink in Canada, and you have the recipe for awesomeness. Can't wait.
I apologize for the length of time between posts about the Sufjan concert, its just taken me that long for the awesomeness of the night to finally sink in. But seriously, the performance at the Paramount was one of the best (if not the best) concerts I've ever been to.
It was the first time I had ever been to the Paramount Theatre, which I was a little bummed out about at first because I think that a general admission show is the best way to see music in a live setting. After everything was said and done Sunday night, however, I realized that the Paramount was a nice change of pace (dare I say classy?).
We arrived midway through opener, My Brightest Diamond's set, having never heard her before (aside from some myspace streaming), I was pretty blown away by her vocal ability, and her performance really set the crowd up for what was about to happen. Sufjan came out after a lengthy intermission (that's what those civilized theatre-goers call it, right?), and played an awesome set that included selections from Illinois, Michigan, Seven Swans, some new material, and even a Christmas song. This was the last stop on the tour and it sounded like it, the backing band (or shall I say orchestra) was flawless, and Sufjan had a slightly hoarse voice (which was only evident when he was speaking in between songs). One thing that surprised me about Sufjan's live performance was his onstage banter, listening to his albums I had always figured him as more of a soft-spoken individual, but this was definitely not the case. He rambled on telling some pretty off the wall stories, some of which either went nowhere, or were used as song introductions. One example was a story about a plastic owl that was placed on a stool next to him that was stolen outside of a Perkins restaurant in Columbus Ohio... totally random. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not criticizing Sufjan's stage banter, it was actually really funny, and quite entertaining-- a good change of pace, after you've heard an entire song about a serial killer.
Highlights of the set included a solo acoustic performance of John Wayne Gacy Jr., a slightly more uptempo rendition of The Predatory Wasp (with a minute long piano/guitar freakout at the end), Jacksonville, Lord God Bird, Majesty Snowbird (also with an extended freakout session not heard on the previously posted mp3), and of course, the encoure, Chichago. My only beef with the setlist was that he didn't play 'That Dress Looks Nice on You', one of my favorites from Seven Swans (hey, there's always next time). In all, it was a great night of music, one that will be hard for me to top in the future, and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I'm pretty excited to see what Soof comes up with next.
Here's the original Christmas song Sufjan performed: That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!
be sure and check out the 5-disc Christmas album from Sufjan and friends when it comes out November 21st.
On another note, fuck the police. Seriously.
I'm leaving to go see Sufjan Stevens perform tonight at the Paramount in Seattle. Should be an awesome show... I'm really excited!
In an attempt to spread that excitement to you, I have posted 3 awesome new songs (unreleased) that he'll most likely be playing. A live show review will follow tomorrow (assuming I don't die on the rain-slicked roads on the way to Seattle-- shit. I just jinxed myself).
Here's the new hotness:
Lord God Bird
Sister Winter
Majesty Snowbird
This really goes without saying, but if you don't already have a few soof CDs get some, here or go see him live.
We arrived to a packed VU multipurpose room just after the opener had finished their set. The room smelled equally one part sweat, mixed with one part marijuana smoke, which quickly reminded me that I hadn't been to a hip hop show in quite a while. Shortly after we got there, RA Scion came out and spit some Common Market lyrics, with Sabzi laying down the beat on the turn tables.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with his abilities on the mic, and he turned out a solid performance.
Almost right after RA Scion had vacated the stage, Sabzi segwayed right into a Blue Scholars beat, and Geo ran onto the stage. The sneak attack caught the crowd by surprise, and it was a good tactic for keeping the momentum of the show moving forward. The Scholars turned out an awesome performance, keeping the sold out crowd into it for the entire set. Highlights of the show included a sample of 'Float On' tracked onto the the Inkwell, and 'The Long March' was also awesome (with everyone swinging their arms to the words, 'left, right, left, right'). As I had expected, the Scholars managed to outdo their performance at the main stage of Sasquatch! (the last time I saw them live), feeding off the sold out crowd in the confined VU multipurpose room. Awesome show.
As for some other news, it appears like HOV is back in the game (surprise, right?), and his first single has leaked. The beat by just blaze is sick, and uses a lot of horns (and a jazz intro). I've linked the mp3, cause I really don't want to get sued by the Roc for posting a leaked mp3 on a site that has maybe 5 readers tops. enjoy.
Jay Z - 'Show Me What You Got'
I'm heading out to the Common Market/Blue Scholars concert tonight at the Viking Union, the show sold out on Thursday, and it seems like everyone on campus is either; A) Bummed out that the show is sold out, or B) Really stoked that they are going. It seems like a whole different vibe than the Ben Kweller show last weekend, where it seemed like most people were luke warm about the whole thing and just ended up going because their friends were.
The show is billed as a CD release party for Common Market, who have founded a new record company with the Blue Scholars called Mass Line Records. Although I haven't heard much of Common Market at all, the duo consitst of DJ Sabzi from the Blue Scholars and MC RA Scion. RA Scion came out during Sasquatch! for a remix of the Blue Scholars track 'Every Last One', it went off pretty well and it seems like he's a pretty good lyricist. (Stream the 'Every Last One' remix and other Common Market at their myspace)
As for the Blue Scholars, I've been following them since well before I moved up to the northwest. I first discovered their blend of progressive beats coupled with meaningful lyrics back in high school (in the days when I used to stream KEXP over itunes). It seems like the entire musical community in Seattle is familiar with the DJ/MC combo, who are now being hyped as perhaps the next big thing to come out of Seattle since grunge. I'm not sure I'm willing to go that far quite yet, but their self-titled LP and EP (the Long March) are a good start (I'm sure everyone around here is holding their collective breath in anticipation of their next LP, which will most likely determine if they are the next Sir Mix a Lot or the next Nirvana).
I've included a few mp3s from their self titled LP as well as their most recent EP, the progressive (socialist) lyrics are what really seperate the Scholars from the rest of hip-hop right now.
Blue Scholars - 'No Rest for the Weary'*
Blue Scholars - 'Solstice (Reintroduction)'*
Blue Scholars - 'Evening Chai'
Blue Scholars - 'The Long March'*
[*Sorry most of these are mp4s, but everyone on the planet has itunes anyway, right?]
If you don't believe me, trust the Scholars who just posted this on their website: "...we're rolling with the entire ML fam this Saturday (10/7) to Bellingham - Western Washington University, to be exact. It's been all love every time we've been up there, but this time its with the whole fam - the first show featuring Blue Scholars, Common Market and Gabriel Teodros since the launch party. Should be a heater." Should be a heater, I'm stoked.
As you can already tell by the title of this post, we ended up going to the Cold War Kids show at Neumo's. As it turns out, the TV on the Radio/Grizzly Bear show sold out sometime in between the time we left Bellingham and got to Seattle. Our initial disappointment was short-lived, however, and we ended up having an awesome night. As you may or may not already know, the Cold War Kids were supposed to be touring the U.S. in support of The Futureheads. As fate would have it, they canceled at the last minute leaving the CWK as headliners of a national tour (their first one). This proved to work in our favor for 3 reasons: 1) I don't really like the Futureheads all that much, 2) the ticket price was lower ($10 instead of $15), and 3) the audience was actually there to see CWK play a headlining set.
We arrived at the venue about an hour early since we had nothing to do in Seattle after we discovered the TVOTR show was sold out, and we were literally the second group to walk into Neumo's. After about an hour of walking around the empty room watching the first band soundcheck, it was 9:00 and time for the show to start. At this point it looked like my hypothesis from the last post was holding up, everyone that may have been interested in seeing CWK was probably at TVOTR. When the opener 'S' came on there were literally 25 people in the building. After their lackluster performance, about 50-75 more people filed into Neumo's and were mostly just sitting in circles talking to one another or leaning up against the walls on the sides of the room. At about 10:00 the band Delta Spirit, ambushed the stage and came out firing on all cylinders. For about half the song it seemed like everyone was in shock (they had expected to wait through another shitty band), at which point I joked to my friend that the band sounded like 'Clap Your Hands Say Yeah' on speed. Needless to say, within about 2 songs the band had the crowd's full attention, and played a really nice set, whose pianos and overall sound would work to compliment that of Cold War Kids. The highlight of the set for me was the song, 'French Quarter' about a man who had lost everything, but was too stubborn to leave desperately calling out, "The south is in my blood!" (stream it on their myspace)
After the surprising performance by Delta Spirit the crowd was warmed up for the Cold War Kids to finally take the stage, by this time even more people had filed in and the crowd size was pretty decent. They came out with the song 'We Used to Vacation', and absolutely killed it. It seemed like the entire band was on the same page, they were all equally emotional, and the sound ended up coming out beautifully. One of the trademarks of CWK is their tendency to integrate a lot of different obtuse noise combinations into their music, this translated into their live performance, with the guitarist taking turns shaking a maraca, then pounding a cymbal set on top of a crate with it (near the end of the song he was so into it that he pounded the cymbal so many times in a row that it fell of the crate, at which point he threw the maraca down at it on the ground). In all, their set was perfectly executed, and very emotional, mixing up noise combinations from every direction. Highlights included an awesome mid-set rendition of 'St. John' (complete with hand motions from the lead singer Nathan Willett to illustrate the story), and the climatic closing song 'Hang me Out to Dry'. Awesome show, by the end of the night we were all asking ourselves TV on the who?
I highly recommend seeing this tour, for $10 it's a steal (check out dates on their myspace). Oh yeah, and get the debut full length from CWK, 'Robbers and Cowards' when it releases on 10-10 everywhere (you might notice a lot of the songs are the same on the LP as the EP, but they've all been re-recorded, so check it out.). As I mentioned earlier, I'm seeing Blue Scholars at the Viking Union on Saturday, look out for a post prepping you for that show tomorrow.
Sometime late last night after yesterday's post while I was aimlessly surfing the internet in between attempts to study, I realized that something had gone wrong, terribly wrong. Although it was always in the back of my mind, I had failed to notice the exact date of the T.V. on the Radio/Grizzly Bear show at the Showbox in Seattle. Turns out that it's the same night as the Cold War Kids show at Neumo's. After some initial disappointment and sulking I came up with the following fool proof plan: my friend and I both decided that we'd rather see TVOTR and Grizzly Bear (arguably one of the best bills to pass through Seattle this year) BUT we didn't want to subject ourselves to the ridiculous fees of Tickets West (although it's not quite the same abominable creature Ticketmaster is, it's still bad). So this is what we came up with: Drive down to Seattle, wait in line for TVOTR, if it's sold out head over to Capitol Hill and have a blast seeing Cold War Kids. Once again, my local hipster knowledge comes into play (see, 8/25 post), with deductive problem solving skills (I knew I was in college for a reason) I determined that if the TVOTR show is sold out, most of the Seattle area hipsters will be absorbed by the Showbox leaving Neumo's and the Cold War Kids show wide open -- damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.
In order to get my self psyched for both shows, I'm posting a sampling of mp3s from both bands, enjoy the fruits of my genius [all the stuff about me being smart is a joke by the way... please, never take me too seriously]
Option 1: TV on the Radio - 'Wolf Like Me'
TV on the Radio - 'I Was a Lover'
Bonus: Grizzly Bear - 'Lullabye'
Option 2: Cold War Kids - 'Saint John'
Cold War Kids - 'Hospital Beds'
Cold War Kids - 'We Used to Vacation'
I'll Let you know how the night pans out... P.S. I got my ticket for the Blue Scholars show at my school on Saturday, can't wait for that one either!
I really don't know what's up with me at concerts since I've started this blog, but I've gone 2 for 2 with the pre concert intoxication, which probobally vastly compromises any journalistic integrety that I might have... Needless to say, I got to the concert about 5 minutes after the opener had finished their set (I heard it sucked anyway... drinking > shitty local emo band). Then the Sam Roberts Band came out, they're apparently pretty big up in the great white north, and all in all, their set was pretty tight. Then BK came out (SIDENOTE-- it freaked me out at first, he looks like the pro snowboarder golden boy Shaun White) and played a solid 5 songs, including good renditions of 'Penny On The Train Track' and 'Run', at which point I drunkenly decided that the keg at my house > BK, and I peaced out. Hey, at least I got there before the keg was tapped and had a pretty solid night. Hopefully I can regain some journalistic integrety later this week though, it looks like I'm going to two shows; Cold War Kids, and Blue Scholars... expect pre-concert posts for both as well as a non-hungover review (I hope).
