MsS

You say you've grown into a man, well prove it the only way you can

2006-07-03T09:28:00.000-05:00

Fill in the blank.

"________ 's volatile mix of post-new wave dance-punk and electro '70s-infused power pop falls somewhere between Green Day, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and the Scissor Sister, with a healthy love of the Damned."

The band that brought such amazing comparisons from Billboard is Mountainlake Terrace band Mon Frere. The group consists of Nouela Johnston (vocals/keyboard), Kyle Swisher (guitar), and Dustin McGhie (drums). Kyle picked up the band's moniker from the Kevin Smith cult classic, Mallrats. In the movie, Broadie answers the door saying, "If it isn't mon frere?"

It's always interesting when you see a trio that lacks an instrument that most people think is vital to a band. Like Mon Frere not having a bassist. It's even more interesting when the music is so good, you don't even notice until someone points it out to you.

Mon Frere's sound is described as powerhouse electro dance rock. The band came together in 2003 after the bands they were in broke up. They had only played 4 shows before entering Paul Allen's Experience Music Project's Sound Off!, a battle of the bands competition for 21s and unders. Not only did Mon Frere make it to the finals (much to their surprise!) but they ended up winning the whole thing. The grand prize included a two day recording session at Electrokitty Studios with producer Black Wescott. During those two days, Mon Frere recorded their EP, Real Vampires.

Since then, the band has released its debut full length, Blood, Sweat, & Swords. They're currently on tour, and will probably stop by a town near you.

Mon Frere definitely have a powerful lead singer in Nouela, who wails just as well as she sings, and with influences that range from The Smashing Pumpkins to Pretty Girls Make Graves, we can expect even more greatness from this band.

Check out these songs from Mon Frere and be sure to check them out on the road.

Mon Frere - R.V.D.G.S.F (from Real Vampires)
Mon Frere- Drain (from Blood, Sweat, & Swords)

Mon Frere's official site
Mon Frere on Myspace

Mon Frere on Tour

July 5- Chop Suey (Seattle, WA)
July 8- The Lime Spider (Akron, OH)
July 9- Garfield Artworks (Pittsburgh, PA)
July 11- Nectar's Live (Burlington, VT)
July 13- Great Scott (Allston (Boston), MA)
July 14- The Space (Hamden, CT)
July 15- Club Deep (Asbury Park, NJ) *
July 16- The Knitting Factory (New York, NY) *
July 18- Relative Theory Records (Norfolk, VA) *
July 19- Ground Zero (Spartanburg, SC) *
July 20- Swayze's (Marietta, GA) *
July 21- The Cell Block (Mobile, AL) *
July 22- The Bengal Room (Levelland, TX)
July 23- Engine Room Live (Houston, TX) *
July 24- Burt's Tiki Lounge (Albuquerque, NM) *
July 28- Off the Hook (Moses Lake, WA) *
August 2- El Corazon (Seattle, WA) +
August 12- South Lake Union Block Party (Seattle, WA)
August 12- Live on KEXP- Audio Oasis (Seattle, WA)
August 30- The Elbo Room (San Francisco, CA)
September 3- Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle, WA)

*w/ The Pharmacy
+w/ Knives in the Attic

I can't believe what I'm thinking about you

2006-06-20T21:35:00.002-05:00

I've spoken about The Prids a few times on here, and I'm happy to say that the release of their new album is just a few weeks away! Until the World is Beautiful will be released on NYCs Five03 Records on July 11th. For those of you who didn't get the memo, the Prids are a four piece out of Portland, OR. They're a little indie, a little new wave, a little post punk, and a lot more than amazing. At the heart of this band is the undeniable musical chemistry between guitarist David Frederickson and bassist Mistina Keith who have been writing songs together longer than most people stay friends. The melodic dance between these two is something that most bands can only dream of one day attaining. Not only do the Prids have it but they make it better, fuller, and more interesting with each new song they create.

I've been listening to The Prids for a few years now and I'm still just as excited about them as I was when I found Love Zero on the heavy rotation shelf at WUOG. My friend Drew told me that they were a band I should definitely keep an eye on because they were sure to do great things. And he was right.

The Prids are going to tour heavily this summer in support of their new record and if you are reading this, I expect you to go out and see them. I've seen them a couple of times now and their live show is truly breathtaking. You'll be sure to hear (and see) why Mistina is my favorite bass player.

Here are a couple of tunes from The Prids. There are a lot more on their website so if you like this small sample, feel free to listen to more. Five03 Records will also be re-releasing the Prids' debut album Love Zero so you can look forward to that as well.

The Prids- Love Zero (from Love Zero)
The Prids- Shadow & Shadow (from Shadow & Shadow 7")
The Prids- Let It Go (from Let It Go 7")
Check out the Prids' video for the song "Let It Go." It's all kinds of awesome.

The Prids' official site
The Prids on Myspace

The Prids on Tour (check the bands myspace page for the most up to date tour calendar.)

July 8- Center on Contemporary Arts (Seattle, WA)
July 14- CD Release Party (Portland, OR)
July 15- The Comet Tavern (Seattle, WA)
July 16- Columbian Theatre (Astoria, OR)
July 20- The Starry Plough (Berkley, CA)
July 22- The Hemlock tavern (San Francisco, CA)
July 23- The Hard to find Showspace (Goleta, CA)
July 24- The Knitting Factory (Los Angeles, CA)
July 25- The Joint (Los Angeles, CA)
July 28- Plush (Tuscon, AZ)
July 29- Burt's Tiki Lounge (Albuquerque, NM)
August 2- Opolis (Norman, OK)
August 3- The Doublewide (Dallas, TX)
August 4- Rubber Gloves (Denton, TX)
August 8- Supper Happy Fun Land (Houston, TX)
August 11- Caledonia (Athens, GA)
August 12- Drunken Unicorn (Atlanta, GA)
August 14- The Soapbox (Wilmington, NC)
August 15- The Wetlands (Chapel Hill, NC)
August 16- DC9 (Washington, DC)
August 24- Southpaw (Brooklyn, NY)
August 26- Annex (New York, NY)
August 30- Alchemize (Cincinnati, OH)
August 31- Rhino's (Bloomington, IN)
September 4- Vaudville Mews (Des Moines, IA)
September 8- Record Bar (Kansas City, MO)
September 14- Duffy's Lincoln Calling Festival (Lincoln, NE)

It's enough for me to think that's the way you feel

2006-06-07T19:45:00.000-05:00

I wrote about Aviator last year, and posted their song Villain, which still sounds so amazing to me. I've been listening to it a lot lately, and it's one of those songs that when you hear it, you want everyone else to hear it too.

Aviator is singer/guitarist/keyboardist Hilary Yarbrough, guitarist Casey Yarbrough, bassist Robert Heublein and drummer Harry Baxley. Casey and Hilary were members of another Atlanta band called The Rolling Sixties. Robert and Harry played in 1000 Fires. When those two bands went on hiatus, and Robert and Harry heard that Casey and Hilary were looking for a rythym section for their new side project, Aviator was born.

Because the members of Aviator come from different musical backgrounds, each brings something unique to the band. Hilary's vocals, reminiscent of Ambulette's Maura Davis, completes their sound, and I can already tell that the lyrics she sings are going to be on the lips of many.

Aviator recently released a split 7" with Parade, another fantastic Atlanta band. Penelope Shoes is Parade's offering to the split, and its a hypnotic song with very haunting, dreamy vocals. Stickfigure has the 7" for sale. $4. Yeah, it almost seems too good to be true.

I expect great things from both of these bands in the future. I look forward to a full length album from Aviator (you guys are going to make an album right?) and I'm currently enjoying A Red Button, Parade's album that I picked up at Criminal Records when I was in Atlanta. If you get a chance to see either of these bands live, go, and tell me how awesome they were.

Aviator- Villain (from Aviator/Parade split 7")

Parade- Penelope Shoes (from A Red Button)
[psst..I totally have that plaid coat. hehe]

Aviator plays Lenny's tonight..at 9. So if you're reading this, and you're in Atlanta, you should probably leave right now.

Parade show dates:
June 24 - Tasty World/Athfest (Athens, GA)
July 13 - SoHo (Columbus, GA)
July 22 - Vinyl (Atlanta, GA)
August 1 - Live in the Lobby (WUOG, Athens, GA)

Aviator on Myspace
Parade's website
Parade on Myspace

What words are most wise from a blood thirsty youth?

2006-05-25T22:44:00.000-05:00

A few hours before the Pretty Girls Make Graves show at the Earl last week, opening act Giant Drag did an instore at Criminal Records, which is a really cool indie record store in Atlanta. Of course I had to go 'cause why wouldn't I want to see Giant Drag three times in five days? Annie and Micah had a nice little audience watching them and they played a fantastic set. Rich over at Cable and Tweed recorded the set and it sounds just as good as when I was in the store hearing it first hand. Listen to their entire set from the instore here. Be sure to listen to all of the banter...it's great! And if you haven't heard the Wicked Game story yet....well, you're in a for a treat :) Which reminds me, she tells it different every time.

Really thouguh, Giant Drag certainly rocks out, and I very much enjoyed the three times I've seen them so far.

Would you believe that I missed The Joggers again!?! I didn't get to the Earl until their second to last song, Back to the Future. I suck. But it looked like the crowd really enjoyed them. Giant Drag was fantastic. And Pretty Girls Make Graves were phenominal. For me, it was just a perfect thing, being right up front watching this band that I ADORE, and hearing them play all of the songs that I love so much. And as if that wasn't enough, Andrea shouted me out three different times during the set, saying "This one is for Shaliza" and "This goes out to Shaliza because I know she came from far away to see us" and "I said it before and I'll say it again, this one's for Shaliza." Andrea Zollo said my name three times in a room full of people. It was so rad! And did I mention that they ended with Speakers Push the Air? It was perfect.

I met Andrea, Derek, J, and Leona later on that night, and they were all just so awesome to me. I just love it when kick ass bands are really cool people in general as well. If Pretty Girls Make Graves plays a show anywhere near you, you better go. Arlene is at their show in Austin right now, and I know she's having a blast. I can't wait for her to tell me all about it. Oh yeah, and tell them I sent ya :)

My tickets for the Irving Plaza show (I took four of my cousins 'cause I wanted them all to experience the awesomeness that is a Pretty Girls Make Graves show

A blurry picture of Pretty Girls Make Graves onstage at Irving Plaza

Giant Drag at the Earl

Ms. Zollo and me

All mixed up with you in the right kind of wrong

2006-05-13T08:40:00.000-05:00

HAPPY PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES DAY!!

The day has finally arrived. I'm going to see them tonight at Irving Plaza, and I'm so excited! But I'm not really posting to talk about that.

Check out the new Pretty Girls Make Graves site. There are loads of great, new pictures up. To celebrate the new site, the band is giving away tickets to all of the remaining shows on their current tour. For more info on that, visit their myspace blog.

Told ya

2006-05-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

See, I told ya I'd be back. After all these months, I've finally got the internet at home. Yay! So stay tuned for more tunes, just like the good old days. In the meantime, click on the picture below to check out the photos I took at the Snowden show at Arlene's Grocery, April 26. They were incredible!

P.S. You can pre order Snowden's debut record from Jade Tree here. It's gonna be fantastic.

That aint even like myself

2006-04-09T18:14:00.000-05:00

This Tuesday, April 11th, Pretty Girls Make Graves' third full length, Elan Vital, will be released. I hope you're all planning on going out and getting it as soon as possible. Because God loves me, I actually received the cd in the mail this past Wednesday (I preordered it from Insound). It's fantastic! You can get a preview of some of the songs on the band's myspace page. I've got tickets to both the NYC and ATL shows, so I'm pretty thrilled about that. I can't wait to see them again. It's been ages, and I know that they're going to be amazing. If you'd like to keep track of what the band is doing on tour, check out Derek's tour blog here. There are already loads of great pictures there.

On Tuesday, Adhalia and I will hopefully be at Joe's Pub watching Jaymay. She recently released a new EP, and it's amazing. All the songs are fantastic, but the one that really got to me is called Snow White. It's just perfect. You can pick up the EP at Jaymay's show on Tuesday, or order it from Insound. Go here to hear the track Gray or Blue.

Finally, I'm very excited that Snowden has a few shows coming up in New York. They'll be in town April 26th and 27th playing at Arlene's Grocery and Southpaw. This band is incredible live, so you don't want to miss them. They recently recorded a slightly different version of Anti Anti and uploaded it to their myspace page. You can download it from there, or below. Enjoy!

Snowden- Anti Anti

Hi People

2006-03-12T12:57:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm still alive. I've been working for over a month now, and I'm loving being in New York. However, getting the internet set up at my aunt's house has proven to be a major headache. So unfortunately, I'm only really able to get online on the weekends when I'm at my cousins' house. So that's why things have been so quiet here. But I'm still working on getting the net, so don't lose hope!

I want to say congrats to SNOWDEN who announced their signing with Jade Tree this week. I'm totally excited for them, and proud of them. They're definitely one of the most talented, and hardest working bands out there, and it's good to see that good things are happening for them. They're playing at SXSW, which I'm sure they'll be great at. I wish I could be there to see them. I'm definitely going to try and make it out to Austin next year. I've only been to one show since I last posted. I saw The Eames Era at Pianos a few weeks ago. They were fantastic and since the show, I haven't been able to stop listening to their CD, Double Dutch.

I've also been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately. Walk the Line was recently released on DVD and if you haven't seen it, you really need to. It's fantastic. Joaquin Phoenix is so good as Johnny Cash, that you forget that you're not watching Johnny himself. I'm bummed that he didn't get th Oscar for it, but at least Reese did. She did a fantastic job as well.

Well, I guess that's my update. Like I said, I'm still working on getting the internet set up, and hopefully, I'll be able to sometime in the near future.

Hipsters unite, come align for the big fight to rock for you

2006-01-22T14:46:00.000-05:00

Well I've been back in New York for a few days now and I've been so busy that I haven't been able to post anything until today. My cousins and I went out last night to celebrate Jeazette's 24th birthday. We went to this place called Star 64 and danced to some old school hip hop, reggae, and r&b. It was a blast. We got home at 5:30 though, and had to get up early for church, so I'm way tired.

So lets discuss the Pumpkins reunion that is rumored to happen at this year's Coachella festival. It would be SO amazing for me and tons of other Pumpkins fans if Billy, D'arcy, James and Jimmy were rocking out on stage together again, playing favorites like Cherub Rock, I Am One, and Bullet With Butterfly Wings (Billy, you still owe me a live performance of Mayonaise). Even though I consider myself very fortunate to have seen the Pumpkins at all while they were together, I never saw a show with all four original members on stage (the first time sans, Jimmy, the second, without D'arcy). Has enough time passed by to heal all the bad blood between those four people? Jimmy is down for the reunion, which is great because I think few drummers could even attempt to fill his spot. The man is like a machine on those things. But what about James and D'arcy. James seems happy doing his thing in New York, and no one has heard much from D'arcy ever since she left the band. I guess all we can do is wait and see if the rumors are really true, and if so, which Pumpkins decide to come back to the patch (haha, get it, Pumpkin patch....). To read more about my Pumpkins love go here and here and here.

Friday, I watched She Wants Revenge perform on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. I always like watching the live performances from Morning Becomes eclectic because host Nic Harcourt always does short Q and A's with the band in between sets. It's a good way to find out about newer bands that you don't know a lot of stuff about. Anyway, singer Justin Warfield said something really interesting about the kind of music he wanted to make. He mentioned Depeche Mode as an influence, and said that even if you took away all the synths out of DM songs, and just played the songs acoustically, they'd still be really great, really powerful songs. And it's very true. Justin said that he wanted She Wants Revenge songs to be just as meaningful to people, even when stripped down to the core. Nic Harcourt also asks the band about being compared to Interpol, Editors, and bands of the like. It's so funny because, I recently commented on a mistake that NME made on their website, where they put up a picture of Bloc Party with an article on Test Icicles. Besides the total ridiculousness of calling Test Icicles a "non boring Bloc Party," I think a lot of journalists are lazy and tend to use one band to describe every other band in a genre.

To watch She Wants Revenge's performance on Morning Becomes eclectic, go here.

In the LJ Test Icicles community, someone posted pictures from a recent show they went to. The Test Icicles are currently headlining a tour with Damn Arms and Help! She Can't Swim. I'd never heard of Damn Arms or Help! She Can't Swim, but since they're on tour with Test Icicles, I decided that I should give them both a listen.

Damn Arms are a new wave indie act from Melbourne, Australia. The group is made up of former members of Snap! Crakk! and they recently released an EP called Patterns. To listen to some tracks from the EP, visit the band's myspace page.

Help! She Can't Swim is a band that I wish I had heard of a long time ago. Their sound is definitely a perfect fit for touring with Test Icicles, as some of their songs express that sort of frantic and explosive vibe that many Test Icicles songs have. HSCS have a fantastic singers in Lisa Francais and Tom Denny, who sing as well as they wail. I hope they make it around to the states at some point. They have a few songs on their myspace page, but you can listen to two of them below.

Help! She Can't Swim- Knit 1 Pearl 1
Help! She Can't Swim- Little Boy On High Building

And if you haven't listened to Test-Icicles you should, because they're amazing. Check out a couple of songs here. Circle, Square, Triangle is one of my faves. Test-Icicles will be on tour in the states this spring, so you should go out to see them if they're in a town near you.

March 2- Mercury Lounge (New York, NY)
March 3- Northstar (Philadelphia, PA)
March 4- Sonar (Baltimore, MD)
March 6- Nuemo's (Seattle, WA)
March 8- Lola's Room (Portland, OR)
March 9- Popscene (San Francisco, CA)
March 10- Spaceland (Los Angeles, CA)
March 11- Casbah (San Diego, CA)
March 13- Triple Rock Social Club (Minnepolis, MN)
March 14- Logan Sqaure Auditorium (Chicago, IL)
March 16- SXSW (Austin, TX)
March 17- SXSW (Austin, TX)
March 18- SXSW (Austin, TX)

But if your hopes should pass away, simply pretend

2006-01-17T15:12:00.000-05:00

This afternoon on my favorite radio show, The Retroplex, I found out that both Paul Young and Susanna Hoffs are celebrating birthdays today. Paul is 50 and Susanna is 47. Even though I'm aware that the 80s were a while ago, it's still weird to think that the girls in the bangles are middle aged, or that the guy who sang Everytime You Go Away probably has wrinkles now. Growing up, I always wished I was a teenager during the 80s, so that I could've gone to lots of Cure and Duran Duran concerts. But I think music is a lot more interesting now, and so I'm happy to be a teenager of the 90s.

The Bangles- Hazy Shade of Winter

Paul Young- Every Time You Go Away

Paul Young's biggest hit in America was of course Everytime You Go Away. But did you know that he didn't even write it? Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oats) actually wrote it.

The live Bloc Party DVD, God Bless Bloc Party, comes out today. I think when I go back to New York I'll buy it. Adhalia, we're going shopping tomorrow!

Oh and here's an MP3 of the new Pretty Girls Make Graves song, if you're too lazy to go listen to it on their myspace page.

Pretty Girls Make Graves- The Nocturnal House

I've noticed that lots of bloggers are mentioning PGMG in their posts, which makes me very happy. I'm going to be ridiculously excited when the new album comes out. But yeah, you've got at least another 3 months of me talking non stop about it, so you'll just have to bear with me.

Finally, Morrissey has announced a crap load of tour dates in the UK. He'll hit the road in April in support of his upcoming record, Ringleader of the Tormentors. Seeing as how I'm in the US, I'm hoping for a tour of the states this year as well. I took my 16 year old cousin to see Morrissey in 2004 and she had a blast. I told her that if he toured again, I'd take her. He puts on a phenominal show. So if you're in any of the following cities, you better go out and see the Mozzer live.

04-18 Salford, England - Lowry
04-19 Llandudno, Wales - North Wales Theatre
04-20 Leeds, England - Town Hall
04-22 Aberdeen, Scotland - Music Hall
04-23 Stirling, Scotland - Albert Halls
04-25 Dundee, Scotland - Caird Hall
04-26 Greenock, Scotland - Town Hall
04-27 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
04-29 Whitehaven, England - Civic
04-30 Gateshead, England - Sage
05-03 Sheffield, England - City Hall
05-04 Grimsby, England - Auditorium
05-06 Manchester, England - Apollo
05-07 Manchester, England - Opera House
05-08 Manchester, England - Bridgewater Hall
05-10 Halifax, England - Victoria Hall
05-11 Blackburn, England - King Georges Hall
05-12 Liverpool, England - Philharmonic
05-14 London, England - Palladium
05-15 Cardiff, Wales - St David's Hall
05-17 Reading, England - Hexagon
05-19 Portsmouth, England - Guildhall
05-20 Birmingham, England - Symphony Hall
05-21 London, England - Palladium
05-23 Truro, England - Hall For Cornwall
05-24 Cheltenham, England - Town Hall
05-25 Oxford, England - New Theatre
05-27 Kings Lynn - Corn Exchange
05-28 London, England - Palladium

Here's my rad Morrissey belt buckle. I love it.

By Request

2006-01-17T09:42:00.000-05:00

I got an email from James asking me to post repost The String Quartet Tribute to AC/DC cover of You Shook Me All Night Long. So here it is.

The String Quartet Tribute to AC/DC- You Shook Me All Night Long (from Back in Baroque)

If you missed my String Quartet Tribute post, well you really missed out. :)

More stuff later.

Check on me tonight

2006-01-16T20:07:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to post all day, but my mother keeps coming into my room every 2 minutes to tell me something, or to stuff something else into one of my suitcases. So, this is all I've got for today.

These songs remind me on New York:

My cousin Jeazette has this song as her ringtone. I think she decided to download it onto her new phone because our 11 year old cousin Michael was singing this song in the car one day, and we all said, "Haha, was Michael REALLY just singing that."

This song was played at the Christmas/New Years dance. All my cousins knew the words to the song, but I had never even heard it before. Of course, none of them knew the name of the song, so I had to find that out on my own. The dance was way fun by the way. You can see pictures here. Below is a picture of Jeazette and I.

And I always see the video for this song when we're flipping through the music channels.

P.S. Oh and remember how I mentioned American Hearts in my post yesterday? Well Beathanne at Clever Titles Are So Last Summer posted it today, so check it out.

My heart swims in a sea of devotion for you

2006-01-15T15:15:00.000-05:00

I'm back in Atlanta ya'll! But only for a few days. I'm going back to New York on Tuesday. I should be getting a laptop this week. But even if I don't, I'm still going to try to get back into posting every other day or so. But don't hold your breath or anything.

Pretty Girls Make Graves uploaded a new song on their myspace page. It's called The Nocturnal House and it's great. They also have their new site up and HOLY SHIT I see new merch that I MUST have. Especially this:

I have this shirt, but mine has red on it instead of white, so I think I need this too.

Also Happy Birthday wishes go out to my favorite ATL frontman Jordan Jeffares who celebrated his 25th birthday this past week. Jordan and his band Snowden are going to Austin tomorrow to make a record. I can only imagine how awesome the music they make down there is going to be and I can't wait to hear it. But for now, I'll keep listening to Anti Anti and Like Bullets on their myspace page.

My other ATL favorites eNTERTAINME.nt recently put up a rough mix of the b-side to their upcoming single. It's called The Wasteland Horror (I think). You can listen to it here. Again I say, what would we ever do without Myspace?

I haven't been able to visit my favorite music blogs since I've been in New York, so I'm trying to catch up this weekend. It's probably an impossible task, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. I noticed that Clever Titles Are So Last Summer recently posted about Piebald, and reading that post made we want to listen to their super catchy anthem American Hearts. But I couldn't find my cd anywhere. However, I did find my Go Sailor cd, which I haven't listened to in FOREVER, so that was just as good.

My friend Ariel was the first person to introduce me to Go Sailor. She loved their song Bigger Than An Ocean and suggested that I play it during one of my DJ shifts at WUOG. So I did, and I totally fell in love with it too.

Go Sailor was a twee pop band made up of members of Tiger Trap, Henry's Dress and Crimpshrine. They only released 2 EPs and some of their songs appeared on a couple of compilations. But all of their material was re-released in 1996 on their self titled record, Go Sailor (Lookout!).

Go Sailor songs have great melodies and all the cutesy love lyrics that you tend to hear in twee pop songs. If you're a fan of groups like The Softies and All Girl Summer Fun Band, you'll definitely dig Go Sailor. Their self titled release is great from start to finish, but the highlights for me are the songs I've posted below.

(from Go Sailor)
Go Sailor- Last Year
Go Sailor- Bigger Than an Ocean *highly recommended*
Go Sailor- Together Forever In Love

We keep moving

2006-01-09T16:31:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd stop in quickly and let you guys know what's been going on. I've been in New York for three weeks now, and I'm having a blast. I've been spending loads of time with my awesome family, seeing new places in the city, and pigging out on the best chinese food ever. This weekend, I went to my very first New York show/surprise party. I saw C.B.C. , Leaders, and Burbis at The Trash Bar in Brooklyn. Jenny had a surprise party for Carlos there and much fun was had by all. Oh yeah, Carlos just turned 31 so go wish him a happy birthday.

C.B.C. does acoustic covers of rap and hip hop songs. They were AWESOME. Their set list included:

Notorious B.I.G.'s Big Poppa, Nice & Smooth's Sometimes I Rhyme Slow, Ciara's Oh, Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby, R Kelly's Ignition Remix, Biz Marke's Just a Friend and The Geto Boys' Mind's Playing Tricks on Me just to name a few. They also did this amazing medley of Jay-Z songs including Dirt Off Your Shoulders, Izzo, and Big Pimpin. If you're ever in New York, and these guys are playing a show, you must see them play.

Burbis gave away cds at the end of their set, and so I thought I'd post the songs from it here. I especially dig the track I left my heart is Sri Lanka (Slumber Mix).

Burbis- The Surf Song
Burbis- Luca Brasi Sleeps with the Fishes
Burbis- I Left my Heart is Sri Lanka (Slumber Mix)
Burbis- There is No Life Left in This Monster a.k.a. Hotpants

In other awesome news, I made it onto Pretty Girls Make Graves' top 8 on myspace! How did that happen? I have no idea, but it's awesome. Check it out here. The band's official site is supposed to be relaunched shortly, and I'm very much looking forward to it. The band has also posted some tourdates for Australia in their latest blog entry here.

And here's the cover for the new album, Elan Vital.

The We Are Scientists record, With Love and Squalor, will be released in the U.S. tomorrow. If you've heard the entire record as I have, then you know it's awesome.

Yep, so I guess that's all for now. How are you guys? I hope you all had a great holiday.

Toodles

2005-12-16T20:33:00.000-05:00

Well kids, I'm leaving town tomorrow morning. I'm going to New York for a month, mostly for Christmas, but also to look for a job. I'm pretty sure that that my access to the internet will be sporadic at best, so More Sweet Soul will be going on hiatus. But no fear! I will be back, because I love this blogging thing way too much. Thanks to everyone who has been a loyal reader. You guys are awesome and I love the feedback you've given me.

In the event that I do acquire a job in New York, I will quickly work on getting a laptop and and finding a reliable internet provider, so that I can get back to blogging. I'm hoping that I'll be able to start regularly posting again by mid Febuary, but don't quote me on that. I hope you guys will still be around when I get back :) Until then, take care, Merry Christmas, and I wish you all the best in 2006.

You've given me a heart like a gun

2005-12-14T14:20:00.000-05:00

A while back, my friend Akeem said to me, "Shaliza, do you realize that if we lived in New York, we could've seen Glassjaw like three times this year?" I'm thinking about moving up there, and Akeem wants to move back in a year or so. A few years ago, it was pretty much an unspoken rule that everyone in our group of friends listened to Glassjaw. If you didn't, there was seriously something wrong with you.

Glassjaw played a few shows around New York this year, and were supposed to go on tour with The Used back in August. But lead singer Daryl Palumbo, got sick so they had to drop off the tour. For those of you who don't know, Daryl suffers from Crohn's disease, and it's knocked him out of commission on several occasions. I know Daryl hates having to cancel shows, but when your body says "Ok, hold on a minute." you have to listen, or you won't get better. With Daryl's other band, Head Automatica going strong, there were rumors going around that Glassjaw was no more. This, however, is not the case.

(Here's a picture of OldSkool GJ: Beck, Sammy, Daryl, Todd and Manny)

In August, Guitarist Justin Beck posted a letter to fans on the Glassjaw website. He explained the seriousness of Daryl's condition saying that Crohn's was like having,"the biggest ulcers ever on your intestines and then multiply that by 100." Clearly, Daryl's health should come before touring, 'cause I would hate to see him get really sick on the road again. "He's more than a musical act, and for this reason I ask only for understanding," said Beck.

In his letter, Beck also assured fans that Glassjaw is still a band. They were excited about going on tour with The Used, and even had new material written. It would be fantastic to hear new stuff from them.

Glassjaw is a hardcore band from Long Island, NY. People have described their sound as Elvis Costello singing with Bad Brains, or Morrissey fronting Fugazi. Glassjaw's first release, an EP entitled Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, came out in 1997. I didn't hear their music until 2000, when they opened up for the Deftones at the Tabernacle. I didn't pay much attention to them, because I was so anxious for Deftones to come on stage. And I probably didn't listen to them again until the next year.

(This is a picture of Daryl from the Tabernacle show. For years, I totally wanted that Spitfire buckle)

When I started college, it seemed that a lot of the people that I was becoming friends with really liked Glassjaw. My friend Jeremy especially was just crazy over them. But I didn't give Glassjaw a chance until I read that one of my favorite singers at the time (Elias Soriano of Nonpoint) was a huge Glassjaw fan.

So let me set the picture for you guys. At this time, I was mostly listening to hardcore and nu metal. Bands like Deftones, Nonpoint, Poison the Well, Chimaira, Soulfly, etc. One day, Melina and I went over to Jeremy's house to hang out, and as we were just sitting around, Jeremy put on a cd. I was almost certain that it was Glassjaw that I was hearing. It sounded like some of the stuff I had heard at the Deftones show, but I wasn't sure. And then as a certain track started to play, Jeremy said to me, "Hey it's your boy Elias' favorite song," and I knew he was talking about When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros, the third track from Glassjaw's album, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence.

I ended up buying the album over Thanksgiving break in 2001. When I started to listen to it, it didn't wow me like I was expecting it to. It wasn't bad or anything, but I was waiting for the UMP that everyone else was hearing. Then about a week or two later, I listened to it again, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Something clicked, and I got it. From then on I was hooked. My friends only fueled my obsession with this band, and it got to the point where we all seemed to be under the Glassjaw spell.

I'd heard from several people and had read in magazines that Glassjaw got a lot of crap for their lyrics. People thought they were incredibly misogynistic and believed that Daryl hated women. Here are some lyrics that those people may have been referring to.

From Pretty Lush: "You can lead a whore to water. And can you bet she'll drink and follow orders."
From Piano: "I only beat you when you're drunk, you're only pretty when you're crying."
From Motel of the White Locust: "I like your pretty eyes better blackened, and my fists all fucking red."
From Siberian Kiss: "If I can't have you, no one will."

So you get the idea. These lyrics rubbed some people the wrong way. But My female friends and I were never offended by any of these lyrics. We knew that Daryl didn't hate women. He had clearly gone through some things, and was just writing about how he felt (and quite honestly at that.) Sure it may have seemed harsh to some but that's the way that he chose to express himself. The people who related the most to Glassjaw were the ones who could just as easily put 'he' in the place of 'she' and 'him' in the place of 'her'.

Glassjaw released their second album, Worship and Tribute, in July of 2002. They went on tour in support of it, and I was lucky enough to see them three times on that tour: At Treemont in Charlotte, NC, at the Cotton Club here in Atlanta, and finally at Five Points Music Hall in Birmingham. The guys were incredible each and every night, and after every show, there was a good story to tell, from talking to Todd after the Charlotte show and saying, "Hey! I was going to wear a Michael Jackson shirt too!", to Daryl saving Kevin from getting kicked out at the Cotton Club show for stage diving, to finally meeting Daryl after the Birmingham show. Oh to be 20 again. I used to have the biggest crush on Daryl, and he was so sweet when I met him. He called me sweetheart twice and I totally could've died happy after that. Sorry, I had to be a girl for a minute. Moving on.

(Glassjaw in 2002: Larry, Daryl, Dave, Todd and Beck)

Worship and Tribute is definitely not Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence Part 2. I think some fans were expecting it to be though. Lyrically, Daryl was much more tame, not as angry, less aggressive. Musically, the band explored a more thoughtful and quiet side. While there are definitely some songs that express their hardcore roots, I think the highlights on the album are the more mellow tracks like Trailer Park Jesus, Ape Dos Mil and Two Tabs of Mescaline.

I hope we hear some new music from Glassjaw in 2006. I'm not totally sure who's in the band at the moment, but I know that most certainly Beck and Daryl are still at the core. Until then, you guys can listen to their previous efforts. It was really hard just picking a few songs, because I pretty much love all of them.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang always seemed very raw to me, and I love songs like Black Coffee and The Snow Veil. I'm pretty sure you can still get the album through Glassjaw's merch page. Most people would say that When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros is lyrically one of the best songs on Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence. I'd have to agree. But I still like Ry Ry's Song the best, mostly for the last 58 seconds. It's totally righteous. Vincent Gallo was in the video for Cosmopolitan Bloodloss. At the end he was supposed to kill the band, but it ended up that he just unplugged their amps as they were performing. Haha. So yeah, here are the songs

(from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)
Glassjaw- Black Coffee
Glassjaw- The Snow Veil *highly recommended*

(from Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Silence)
Glassjaw- Pretty Lush
Glassjaw- When One Eight Becomes Two Zeros *highly recommended*
Glassjaw- Ry Ry's Song *highly recommended*
Glassjaw- Piano

(from Worship and Tribute)
Glassjaw- Cosmopolitan Bloodloss
Glassjaw- Ape Dos Mil *highly recommended*
Glassjaw- Trailer Park Jesus
Glassjaw- Two Tabs of Mescaline *highly recommended*

And now I leave you with my favorite picture of Daryl and Beck, taken by my friend Janelle. You can get a better look at that Spitfire buckle that I wanted so badly.

There are no black people in Arizona

2005-12-12T18:24:00.000-05:00

I'm spending Christmas in New York and I've been busy trying to pack. I'm leaving Saturday morning, and there's no way I'm going to be able to squeeze my huge ass sweaters into my suitcase. And I have to bring them because I hear it's freezing up there.

Did you guys see The Boondocks last night? It was HYSTERICAL. Definitely be sure to catch the repeat this Saturday at midnight on Cartoon Network. We had a fun time over at Negroclash quoting lines from it.

Also, Voxtrot posted a bulletin on myspace saying that they had to cancel the rest of their tour due to van troubles. Totally a bummer 'cause they were supposed to play here at Lennny's tonight. Here's what they had to say:

1. We've had to cancel the rest of the tour [Norfolk, VA/Chapel Hill, NC/Atlanta & Athens, GA] due to our van problems. Sorry to all of those who were planning on coming to see us, and thanks to those who have written nice and encouraging letters to us.

2. We'd like to announce a last minute show in Brooklyn at Magnetic Field. It's an effort to try to make some of the money back that we've lost on this tour, so we appreciate all who can make it!

Weds, December 14th @ Magnetic Field
doors @ 8pm, Voxtrot at 9pm / $5
97 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY, 11201 (718) 834-0069
http://www.magneticbrooklyn.com

3. To top it all off, after all of the confusion with Houston and dates being changed, it seems as if we've been booted off of the December 17th show at Numbers. We'll try and make Houston happen again someday.

Thanks to everyone for being supportive!

Love,
Voxtrot

I'm sure you've all heard about the death of comedic LEGEND Richard Pryor. I know that he's been sick for awhile, but I don't think anyone expected him to die of a heart attack. He was only 65. I told my mom when I heard, and she said, "Oh wow, that's so sad. Boy could he cuss a ton of bad words!" She's West Indian, so she has her own way of saying things :)

Here are two clips from his 1982 Live on The Sunset Strip performance. If you're easily offended, you probably shouldn't listen.

Richard on Prison
Richard on Africa

Are you gonna make this resolution last?

2005-12-09T16:30:00.000-05:00

If you 're out and about in Atlanta tonight, stop by Smiths Olde Bar to check out a set from Ken Will Morton and the Wholly Ghosts. Ken Will Morton is a fantastic singer/songwriter from Athens, GA. He's been playing guitar for over 15 years, and was a member of both Wonderlust and the roots rock/power pop band The Indicators.

Ken released his debut solo record, In Rock 'n' Rolls Hands, in August 2004. Forever the prolific musician, Ken played guitar, harmonica and banjo on the record. He has this fantastic raspy voice, reminiscent of greats like Bob Dylan, Paul Westerburg, and Bruce Springstein. Ken's songs are heartfelt, and his lyrics touch on the subjects of life, love, and triumph over rough times. His music is a great mix of country, blues, and folk rock. He's already shared the stage with acts like Tommy Stinson, Cary Hudson, and Sugarland. I think he'd be great opening up for Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins when Rabbit Fur Coat comes out next year.

Here are some songs to listen to. Little Victories is definitely one of my favorites from In Rock 'n' Rolls Hands, and Oh Lord is a great track from Ken's upcoming album, King of Coming Around, which is set for a February 2006 release. For more mp3s, go here and be sure to check out Ken's myspace page here.

(from In Rock 'n' Rolls Hands)
Ken Will Morton- Little Victories *highly recommended*
Ken Will Morton- Unbreakable Heart

(from King of Coming Around)
Ken Will Morton- Oh Lord *highly recommended*

Tonight at Smiths Olde Bar
Ken Will Morton and The Wholly Ghosts
8:00 p.m.
$12

And all you are is brand new

2005-12-09T01:34:00.000-05:00

After months of silence Billy Corgan finally posted a bulletin last night on myspace.

Subject: Cowboy Back in Action

Hello everyone!

I have finally returned to myspace to check up on things. How is everyone doing? I have been away for some time now working on some very exciting things to come! I will be back to update more on things soon! Be good!

bc

Gina posted some classic Smashing Pumpkins tracks the other day (and a cover of Landslide yesterday!), and so I thought I'd continue the SP love.

One of the best things I ever spent my money on was The Smashing Pumpkins' Aeroplane Flies High box set. Wouldn't it be great if after every band's album, you could get a box set of all of the album's singles and b-sides? 'Cause there's always that one single that's nearly impossible to find, or those b-sides that you've heard about but have never actually heard.

The Aeroplane Flies High was packaged in this really cute black and white box. Billy wanted the box to look like the old time 45 boxes that he used to have as a kid. The box set contains five cds. Each cd contains a single from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as well as tons of extra songs. My favorites are the cd singles for 1979 and Bullet With Butterfly Wings.

1979 contains that single, as well as two of my favorite Pumpkins songs. While Siamese Dream is my favorite Pumpkins record, there's just so much great stuff that the band wrote during those Mellon Collie years. Ugly and Set the Ray to Jerry are two standout tracks on the box set. Set the Ray to Jerry is a song that I honestly listen to every single day. There's such a hypnotic quality about it, that I can't help but listen to it on repeat. And Ugly, well, the title is pretty much self explanatory.

The songs from the Bullet with Butterfly Wings single are mostly all covers. I posted the Cure cover on Wednesday, but that's not even the best one. I think the Pumpkins' version of The Cars song You're all I've Got Tonight is incredible. I love all the quiet and pretty Pumpkins songs, but really, they're at their best when they're just rocking the hell out. And they definitely do that on this Cars cover.

They also do a great job of covering the Missing Person's track Destination Unknown. I actually like their version better than the original. The Pumpkins ability to completely transform a song definitely shows in their version of the Blondie classic Dreaming. It sounds nothing like the original. When I saw a solo acoustic set by Billy 5 years ago, I asked him if they were planning on doing anymore covers. He said that they probably wouldn't, but that when they did do a cover, they wanted to either make it as a tribute to the band they're covering, or just completely fuck it up (in a good way of course).

The other cover that I really like from the Boxset is on the Thirty Three single. My Blue Heaven is a very old jazz song. It was written by Walter Donaldson and George Whiting in the 1920s and it's been recorded by people like Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Fats Domino, Jackie Gleason, Lena Horne, and Jerry Lee Lewis just to name a few. Billy's interpretation of it is pretty simple actually. It's just him singing and playing the piano, but I think it's really beautiful.

A lot of bands just kind of throw on any old song for the b-sides of their singles. But all of the songs on The Aeroplane Flies High were just as good as the songs that made it onto the Mellon Collie cd. So I gonna post a couple from each single. Be sure to check out all the covers from Bullet With Butterfly Wings and Set the Ray to Jerry.

(from Bullet With Butterfly Wings)
The Smashing Pumpkins- You're All I've Got Tonight *highly recommended*
The Smashing Pumpkins- Destination Unknown
The Smashing Pumpkins- Dreaming

(from 1979)
The Smashing Pumpkins- Ugly
The Smashing Pumpkins- Set to Ray to Jerry *highly recommended*

(from Tonight Tonight)
The Smashing Pumpkins- Rotten Apples
The Smashing Pumpkins- Meladori Magpie

(from Zero)
The Smashing Pumpkins- God
The Smashing Pumpkins- Pennies

(from thirty-Three)
The Smashing Pumpkins- Transformer
The Smashing Pumpkins- My Blue Heaven *highly recommended*

Finally, while I didn't do much in high school, I made sure to fill up all the room they gave me for my senior quote with words of wisdom from the Pumpkins. Yesterday, I scanned this from my St. Pius X senior yearbook.

Tolda ya I was a hardcore Pumpkins fan in high school. Even though my favorite band was and still is The Cure, Pumpkins lyrics were made for senior yearbook quotes :)

We don't have to talk it over

2005-12-08T23:47:00.000-05:00

I know a lot of people have been posting their best of 2005 lists, but I don't think I'm qualified to do that. 'Cause you know I've only listened to M.I.A., Bloc Party, and Nikka Costa this year, right? Just kidding...sorta. And Speaking of Nikka....

I know you watched The OC tonight, yes? And I know you saw the scene where Sandy and Ryan confronted Matt in the strip club. BUT did you hear the song that was playing in the background? It was none other than Nikka Costa's On & On. I totally jumped out of my chair and started screaming. It was rad.

If you missed On & On when I posted it a while back, here ya go. Just look at these lyrics, you know you want to listen.

Make your mama proud like a real man should
Scream so loud I wake the neighborhood
Gonna write a song 'bout the way you do it
Baby don't fuck around put your back into it yeah

Nikka Costa- On & On

Now, do the best thing you've done all year, and go buy this record immediately.

I know I'll often stop and think about them

2005-12-08T13:16:00.000-05:00

When I was a sophomore in high school, my friend Amy and I were huge Doors fans. Our friends Kirby and Terri were huge Beatles fans. One year we got this idea to honor Jim Morrison and John Lennon, who both died far too young. Jim Morrison was born on December 8th, 1943 and John Lennon died on December 8th, 1980. We made a bunch of signs with pictures of the two musicians on them. They read, "Hello Jim, Goodbye John." and we put them on our lockers. The following year, I saw a few other lockers belonging to underclassmen that had similar signs, and I felt like my friends and I had started something. While, Jim Morrison died at the age of 27, and John Lennon died at the age of 40, John's death definitely impacted people's lives a lot more. Not only because he was a Beatle, but because he was a good person, a great father and husband, and if not for his killer, would most likely still be alive today.

Today is the 25th Anniversary of John Lennon's death. A few weeks ago, Dateline NBC aired a special about Mark David Chapman, the man who shot John Lennon. It was about two hours long, and even Michael Grace watched it and wrote about it here. There were so many things that disturbed me, but a few stood out in particular. The first being that the day before Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon, he met John's son, Sean, outside as Sean was going back into the Dakota with his Nanny. Chapman stuck out his hand to shake Sean's, and Sean shook it. Sean was incredibly polite and was used to his father's fans coming up to him. How could Chapman shake that little boys hand knowing that he was there to kill his father?

The other thing that really bothered me was a picture of John signing a copy of the record Double Fantasy for Chapman. Another person waiting to meet John had taken the picture, and while part of Chapman's face isn't shown, you can see John's, and he has a smile from ear to ear. He truly was happy to sign autographs and take pictures with people. And he loved New York so much and felt so free and safe and alive there. He even asked Chapman if there was anything else that he wanted after he had signed the album for him.

I've had so many friends over the years that have introduced and reintroduced me to The Beatles. Each one had a favorite Beatles era, a favorite Beatles record, and usually a favorite Beatle. While George was a favorite for a few of my friends, most of them adored John.

John was killed about 11 months before I was even born, and most of my other Beatles loving friends were also born after 1980. But they grew to love the Beatles through their parents, and aunts and older siblings. They listened to them on oldies radio, or gawked over pictures of them arriving in America for the first time in their history books. I remember my friend Karen wanting to play me all of her favorite Beatles songs, and being so anxious for me to hear them all, that she'd go to the next track before the previous one had even finished.

The great thing about music is that it will always be here. If you put something down on record, you can trust that people a hundred years from now will be able to hear it and enjoy it. I think John would be pleased to know that the world has not forgotten about him or the Beatles and still continue to listen to him 25 years after his death.

Below I've got three versions of a great Beatles songs, In My Life. One is the original version from the 1965 Beatles album, Rubber Soul, and the other two are covers by Ben Lee and Johnny Cash. I know you guys are definitely going to listen to Johnny Cash's version, 'cause it's Johnny Cash and all, BUT don't miss out on Ben Lee's awesome interpretation too.

The Beatles- In My Life (from Rubber Soul)
Johnny Cash- In My Life (from American IV: The Man Comes Around)
Ben Lee- In My Life (from This Bird Has Flown)

There's another way if I leave here today.

2005-12-07T19:29:00.000-05:00

With James Iha's remix of Stellastarr*'s Sweet Troubled Soul circulating around the blog world, I've been listening to a lot of the Smashing Pumpkins lately. They're definitely one of my all time favorite bands and one of the first bands that I became extremely enthralled with as a teenager. James sang on a few Pumpkins tracks. When I saw the Pumpkins at their final Atlanta show in 2000, one of the biggest cheers from the crowd took place when the band started to play the first few notes of Blew Away. And when James, in a very stylish white suite, started to sing, the cheers grew even louder. It was a great thing to witness, since I'm sure most of us had never heard him sing in person. And Blew Away is a great song too.

Being a Cure fan, I was really excited when I heard on the Week In Rock (remember that show?) that The Pumpkins were covering A Night Like This for their Aeroplane Flies High boxset (which I've been dying to post a bunch of songs from and may do tomorrow or something). They played a clip from it, and I was kind of surprised when I heard that it was James and Not Billy singing.

In 1997, James said this in an interview with Guitar world about the track.:

This is one of my favorite Cure songs, but in doing a cover we always tried to change something about it. I decided to make it a slow, acoustic dirge with different drum feels for each part instead of a straight beat through the whole song. There's also a cello, which gives it a gothic feel. At the end, it sorta rocks out with some Big Muff and Neil Young & Crazy Horse kind of rhythm guitars.

James released a solo record in 1998 called Let it Come Down. I definitely enjoy that record alot more now then I did back then. I don't know if he's still writing songs, but it would be cool to get a second solo record from him one of these days, even if it turned out to be completely different from Let it Come Down.

So here's some Iha for you.

The Smashing Pumpkins- Blew Away (from Pisces Iscariot)
The Smashing Pumpkins- A Night Like This (Cure cover from The Aeroplane Flies High)

(from Let it Come Down)
James Iha- Beauty
James Iha- Winter
James Iha- Jealousy *highly recommended*

Also, here's James' remix of Sweet Troubled Soul

Stellastarr*- Sweet Troubled Soul (James Iha remix)

James at MisSHAPES, dressed as Thurston Howell III for Halloween

Won't someone give me some fun

2005-12-05T15:33:00.000-05:00

First of all, the current issue of URB magazine has, what might possibly be, the best magazine cover ever printed.

I'm totally jealous of both of them.

Also, someone just posted the raddest thing over at the Live Journal Bloc Party community. Thereabouts was looking through old Suede fanzines and came across these ads from two 1997 issues:

Suede Fanzine, Winter 1997 (issue #14)

Spring 1997, issue #15

So Kele was looking for people to play art rock with, trade Suede music with, and contribute to a fanzine. Why couldn't I have been born in London? I ask my mom that all the time. Not such a farfetched idea as my Aunt Mary lives there and had many children there. Also, most of my Uncle Arthur's children and grandchildren live in the UK as well.

Seeing as how Kele is only 9 days younger than me (yeah I know it's kind of ridiculous and stalker like that I know that) he was 15 when these ads were placed. Aww, just imagine how adorable a 15 year old Kele was, all rocking out to Britpop. And from the first ad, it seems he had already discovered what a great voice he possessed. Anyway, I thought you all might get a kick out of seeing this. And it's been at least a week since I've mentioned Bloc Party, right? Oh and for future reference Kele's birthday is October 13th and mine is October 4th (ya know, in case you ever want to send presents or something)

I found a Bloc Party song called This is Not A Competition on Soulseek a few days ago. I can't find too much info on it. BlocParty.net only says that it's an old song, which means it was recorded in the early days of BP, possibly when they were known as "The Angel Range" or "Union."

Bloc Party- This is Not a Competition

And here's a great song from Suede

Suede- The Drowners (from Suede)

Calling all female R&B singers. Christopher Richards wants you.

2005-12-05T12:09:00.000-05:00

(from the myspace blog of Ris Paul Ric)

Friday, November 25, 2005

I'm starting a(nother) band....

Hey all... Making the band 22:

I've been busy with Ris, and yeah that's nice, but I'm also trying to start a new group with a friend of mine. Here is the ad we have up in certain places. If you know anyone interested, have them get in touch. Thanks! Here's the ad copy.....

FEMALE R&B SINGER WANTED - WASHINGTON DC/ BALTIMORE MD

Lady R&B singer/rapper/vocalizer wanted for crossover group to write, record, and tour like crazy.

Stealing moves from: Aaliyah, the Clash, Ciara, Prince, Dipset, Queen, Public Enemy, Amerie, Roxy Music, Eno, Mary J, Crydamoure, Trax, Flyte Time, Rich Harrison, Lil Jon, Talking Heads, Wu Tang, Janet & Michael, Bmore club, hardcore, booty, riot grrrl, crunk, gogo, grime, great!

One of us lives in Washington Deep Sea, one of us lives in Bodymore. If this isn't you then tell your friends about it!!! Thanks.

I wrote a song for you

2005-12-05T00:05:00.000-05:00

I'm happy that the OC has been more interesting in the past two weeks. Although Ryan didn't beat anyone's face in on Thursday's episode which was unfortunate, but it was still a good show.

Earlier this week, I found out that the guy who plays Johnny (Ryan Donowho), is in a band with Michael Pitt. They're called Pagoda. I suppose everyone grew to love Michael Pitt when they saw him on Dawson's Creek and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. But I became acquainted with him in Murder by Numbers, since I watched that movie at least once a day when I was in New York a few summers ago. It was constantly airing on one of those all movie channels. Anywho, here's a track from Pagoda called Sadartha. If you like it, you can download three more songs from the Lonely Journey EP on their myspace page. They're pretty much grunge all the way.

Pagoda- Sadartha (from The Lonely Journey EP)

And for good measure, here's a song from Adam Brody's band, Big Japan.

Big Japan- The Rise and Fall of Bill (from Music For Dummies)

The OC has been really good about playing great tunes throughout their shows. Whoever decides which songs to put in each episode and what bands should play at the Bait shop must have the most fun job ever. On Thursday night's episode, there was this awesome cover of Coldplay's Yellow that was played at the end. Say what you want about the Coldplay, but you've gotta admit that Yellow is a great song. Through Central Village, I found out that the cover was sung by the lovely Petra Haden. I got the track from Rose Music Project, but you can download it below:

Bill Frissell and Petra Haden- Yellow

I know what you're thinking

2005-12-02T20:51:00.000-05:00

Because I'm HTML challenged, it took me forever to figure out how to put that banner up at the top of my blog. But I did it! For those of you who might be wondering, it's a picture of the DJ booth at WUOG that I took in 2003. I mention WUOG quite a bit, I know, but honestly, I'm so grateful to that radio station and to all of the great people that I met while I was a DJ and a member of the music staff. It was my favorite thing about college, hands down. If not for WUOG, I wouldn't know about 90% of the bands that I listen to now, and that would be a terrible, terrible shame. Below are pictures of the Lobby, and the entire DJ booth as it looked a few years ago.

This is what I wrote in my journal on April 4th, 2002, the day after my first DJ shift:

So today I slept...a lot. I had to I was SOOO tired. Yesterday I got an email from our training director Anna, asking if any one of us new trainees wanted an early Thursday morning shift from 3-6am. the first person to respond would get it. I found the email about an hour and a half after she had sent it. So I emailed her saying that I'd like to do it. Later I got an email and a call from Chris Lozzo, the programming director, confirming that I was now the 3-6am Thursday morning dj. Wild. I was a little nervous because I didn't know if I would remember everything. I made out a list of opens that I wanted to play,and wrote down the track numbers. I woke up at 2 am this morning and went to the station. My shift went really well I think. I played lots of cool stuff in my opens including, further seems forever, shun, minus, swift, glassjaw, far, refused, nonpoint, rival schools, siouxsie and the banshees, and poison the well. I didn't think anyone would listen to the show. But I actually got a call after I played "New Year's Project" by Further. Some kid wanted to know the name of the song and the band. So that made me feel good that at least that person was listening. Also Curtis was sweet enough to stay up the whole time and listen to the show. I don't even know any of my friends who would do that. Not that I blame them. Who wants to get up at 3 and listen to a show until 6 in the morning?

That 3 to 6 shift was rough, but I got used to it after awhile. And honestly, I was just SOO excited about being a DJ that I didn't so much mind waking up that early to go to the station every week. I LOVED playing music on the radio. Of course, I never had a 3 to 6 shift ever again. I'm not crazy or nothin' :)

Here's a song that I heard a lot during my days at WUOG. This was definitely a favorite of many of the DJs and listeners. Masters of the Hemisphere was a local indie pop band, and we very much loved them. Anything, Anything is just a great song.

Masters of the Hemisphere- Anything, Anything (from Protest a Dark Anniversary)

Now here's some music news. Bella Lea had to change their name because another band was also named Bella Lea. So now they're called Ambulette. I wonder what they're going to do about their old merch. Their music is still awesome though. Visit Ambulette's myspace page here.

Head Automatica have headed back into the studio to record the follow up to their debut cd, Decadence. They're documenting the recording process on video, and the first installment can be see here (quicktime) or on their myspace page here. Daryl talks a lot in the video, and he hasn't lost that awesome Long Island accent. Hmm, I think I might make a glassJAw post soon.

If you enjoyed my Terribly Empty Pockets post the other day, you can check out another track by the band here on Columbus Discount Records' myspace page. I believe it's called Trucks and it's the B-side to the Sexxy World 7"

Finally here's a great song to get your Friday night dance parties started

Captain Sensible- Wot (from Collection)

Players only love you when they're playing

2005-11-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

Aviator recently put another track on their myspace page. It's called Waking, and they'll probably shoot a video for the song sometime in the near future.

Aviator- Waking

Also, here's an awesome cover of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams by Kill Peaches. Dreams of course appeared on the legendary Fleetwood record Rumours. And who doesn't love Fleetwood!

Kill Peaches- Dreams

Never heard of Kill Peaches? Go here.

And they shine like ashes

2005-11-30T13:35:00.000-05:00

Remember when you used to go to shows and every single opening band was good? Yeah, me neither. When I go to see a headlining band, I'm quite surprised if I end up liking the opening bands enough to get a cd or a shirt at the merch table. Sometimes you look at the bill of a show and wonder who the hell decided that Oil should play with Water, 'cause they don't have anything in common. One of the few opening bands that I can remember really enjoying was Two if By Sea when they opened for Snowden at the Caledonia last year. Besides that the fact that it made great sense to have those two bands on the same bill, Two if By Sea put on a great performance.

Two if By Sea is a new wave post punk band from Baltimore Maryland. In their songs, you can definitely hear traces of their new wave and post punk forefathers. Their present day peers consist of bands like Editors and Franz Ferdinand. In 2004, they released their debut record Translations. On their site, the band has 2 minute clips of five songs from the album, and one entire song, so I just posted everything below. 100 Days is the full song.

(from Translations)

Two if by Sea- 100 Days *highly recommended*
Two if by Sea- Aspida *highly recommended*
Two if by Sea- Contract
Two if by Sea- Swords or Pistols
Two if by Sea- The Affair
Two if by Sea- This Will Hurt Someone

Two If By Sea on Myspace

Let's hope it's a good one

2005-11-28T11:36:00.000-05:00

I had a very fun, and very busy thanksgiving holiday. My cousin Nerrissa visited from New York and we had a blast. But I definitely need this week to recover from all of the turkey eating, black Friday shopping, and Harry Potter movie watching (I got the 1st three Harry Potter movies at Target for $5.88 on Wednesday and saw the new Harry Potter movie on Friday with my cousins).

Not to be all Ebeneezer Scrooge about it, but I hate that some radio stations have already started playing Christmas music 24/7. Can we at least wait until December people? It'll be here on Thursday. That's a big part of the reason that people get burnt out on the holiday before it's even finished. I actually like Christmas songs. I've always loved Away in a Manger and O Holy Night. I quite enjoy Big Crosby's and David Bowie's Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth duet and of course the Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas. But after hearing Mariah Carey sing All I Want For Christmas Is You for the 23rd time in one day, I get a little aggravated. I think that we should only listen to great Christmas music from now on. I'll even get you started.

Here are the tracks from Snowden's Licorice EP. Three are covers and I think my favorite is the cover of John Lennon's Happy Christmas (War is Over).

Snowden- White Christmas
Snowden- Happy Christmas (War is Over)
Snowden- Christmas Time is Here
Snowden- China Light

Keep on Dancing

2005-11-24T13:42:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, Clint left me this comment on my myspace page:

Just got back from the vegoose festival where I saw Beck and Sleater-Kinney. I thought about you because I saw a guy with a "Pretty Girls Make Graves" shirt. You got me addicted, I can't wait for a new album.

I think everyone has those bands that they love so much, that their name becomes synonymous with adoration for the band. Like if I see Duran Duran on tv, I think of my friend Melina who loves them. Or if I hear an Oasis song, I think of Michelle. To a lot of people, I'm that girl that LOVES Pretty Girls Make Graves.

You might not believe that I love Pretty Girls Make Graves more than Bloc Party or M.I.A. since I haven't gushed as much over PGMG as the other two. But that's because they haven't had a new album out in a while. But that will soon change.

Obviously, my blog is named after a PGMG song. I don't know what it is, but whenever I hear this band, I'm instantly happy. I don't really understand why this happens. It's not that their songs are especially upbeat or all happy go lucky. But whenever I listen to them, I immediately remember how I felt the first time I heard The Getaway. How excited I was to hear something so different from the stuff that I had been listening to. To me, there are few things better than the first day you discover an awesome band. And for me, there's never been a first day discovery better than the day I discovered Pretty Girls Make Graves.

PGMG was the first female fronted band that I really became infatuated with. I remember Andrea Zollo saying in an interview that a few girls have come up to her and said that they really never listened to female fronted bands before they heard PGMG. But after hearing PGMG, I guess I became more aware of other girl fronted bands like The Gits (who were also from Seattle) and The Gossip.

Earlier this week, the band updated their myspace blog and this is what they had to say:

We are finally going to have a new website up , I feel like we have been saying that forever..But yeah it's true...Until then, this is the only place we will be posting news and such..So here is some news...

Our new record, "ELAN VITAL" will be released on April 11th on Matador Records, and yes, that is a very long time from now..Here is the track listing for it..

1. The Nocturnal House
2. Pyrite Pedestal
3. The Number
4. Parade
5. Domino
6. Interlude
7. The Magic Hour
8. Selling the Wind
9. Pearls on a Plate
10. Pictures of a Night Scene
11. Wildcat
12. Bullet Charm

We are really excited for you to hear it, and will post a few of the songs up on this site in a little bit.

We are headed back to Australia for a bunch of shows with The Gossip, that tour is in late Feb. and the shows are all getting worked out now..There will be a limited tour only single released on Popfrenzy records for those shows.

In other band member news, J has been busy remixing some great songs. You should pick up the Bloc Party remix record and the Neon Blonde ep, J did awesome remixes on both of those..

Nick is busy working on the next Dutch Dub release, he is currently on an Island in a cupcake working like mad..Check out www.mistakemachine.com for more info..

Derek and Andrea have been working on songs for an upcoming film from our good friend Mike Ott (Sound-Virus records). You can see the trailer from the movie and hear one of those songs at www.inbetweendaysmovie.com The song is called "Endings" and is still a pretty rough demo.

Andrea also just got finished recording a song with local Hip Hop group Grayskul for there upcoming record...

More Later.

I'm SO excited about the new Pretty Girls Make Graves album. April is way too far away, but I guess I'll just have to wait for it. But I know this album is gonna to be amazing.

Here are some PGMG tracks. The first one is from the Matador at 15 compilation and the second one is from their self titled ep that was released on Dim Mak a few years ago. Liquid Courage is usually the only song from the EP that they tend to play live. The last song is a NEW song recorded at a Pretty Girls Make Graves show. I have no idea what this new song is called, but when I came across it the other day, I definitely remember hearing it the last time I saw Pretty Girls Make Graves in concert, which was in March of 2004. Man, that was AGES ago. If I had the means, I'd totally follow that band around on tour. Anyway, this new track is fucking awesome and I hope it's on the new record. The track is made even better because Mahjongg adds a little extra somethin somethin to the song. Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Pretty Girls Make Graves- C-30 C-60 C-90 Go! (from Matador at 15)
Pretty Girls Make Graves- Liquid Courage (from Pretty Girls Make Graves)
Pretty Girls Make Graves- New song (live) *highly recommended*

Oh yeah, and the other girl in this picture is Leona Marrs. She's the newest member of the band.

No twista's gonna still your stuff away

2005-11-22T22:39:00.000-05:00

About a week ago, I won a great auction on ebay, and this afternoon, I finally got my package in the mail. I won a very rare Nikka Costa single, Get Off My Sunshine. It's even one with the original cover (the single was released in 1997 with a different cover). And it was only $5 which is even better! I love ebay.

The song Get off My Sunshine is the first track from the album Butterfly Rocket, which was only released in Australia. I'm not much of a singles collector, even for the bands that I love. But when I saw this particular single up for grabs I had to get it because of one song: Nikka's cover of Miss Celie's Blues. Yes THAT Miss Celie's Blues. The one from the movie The Color Purple. I'd never heard Nikka's version before (and trust me, I was looking all over the place for it) but I know how awesome that song is, and I know how awesome Nikka's voice is, and so I figured that the two together would be pretty damn good. And of course it is.

So here are the songs from the Get Off My Sunshine cd single. See how much I love you guys?

(from Get Off My Sunshine)

Nikka Costa- Get off My Sunshine
Nikka Costa- Get off My Sunshine (Grits and Gumbo Mix)
Nikka Costa- Miss Celie's Blues
Nikka Costa- Master Blaster

One of these days, I'll get around to posting the other tracks from Butterfly Rocket. It's not as funked out as Everybody Got Their Something and Can'tneverdidnothin' but still a very good record. Enjoy! And one more hot picture of Nikka.

You can always count on me to bring you down

2005-11-18T23:44:00.000-05:00

I don't know if anyone else does this, but I have this folder on my computer where I keep all of the songs that I've downloaded from other blogs. After a couple of weeks, I go through them and listen to everything. That's right, I don't listen to stuff right away. I delete the stuff I don't like and keep the stuff I like. When I hear something that I REALLY like, I want to go to the blogger who posted about that particular artist or band and give them a big hug. Or bake them cookies. Or ya know, say "Thank You." But unless the blogger puts the name of their blog into the tag of the MP3 (like SVC) I have no idea where I got it from. I visit so many different blogs, that it would be hard to even narrow it down. Last night, I got around to the J's in my download folder, and the awesomeness that is Jaymay poured out of my speakers.

So I did some yahooing (I know everyone else googles, but yahoo is my main shit) and I discovered that lots of people have written about Jaymay. Most recently Chris over at Gorilla Vs. Bear, so I'm thinking that's where I picked up the tracks. So thanks Chris! Craig at Songs: Illinois wrote about her all the way back in March and Gothamist did an interview with her in May. Basically, there's a good chance that you've heard of her. If you haven't, continue reading.

There are a lot of people singing and playing acoustic guitar. Most are mediocre at best. But the cream of the crop usually possess one of two things: a great voice or fantastic song writing skills. Rarely will you find both in one performer, so when you do, it's very exciting. While one of the tracks below features some accompaniment (drums, piano, etc.), the beauty of Jaymay is what she does with just her voice and a guitar, and how effortlessly she seems to do it.

You know I'm a sucker for a great voice. And Jaymay has a fantastic voice. I think if Jolie Holland and Jeff Buckley conceived a child, that child would sing like Jaymay. Her lyrics tell great stories, sometimes with a fantastic sense of humor, and other times with an incredible vulnerability. Always with a sense of honesty.

Jaymay has made quite a name for herself in Manhattan. She started off playing open mic nights around the city, and since 2003, she's played over 300 shows. She has a lot of tunes floating around between her myspace profile and her website (check both the music and setlist section for mp3s). Below are just a few. They're all really great, but if you're lame and only want to listen to one, listen to the first one.

Jaymay- What Happened*highly recommended*
Jaymay- Tragedy
Jaymay- Color Confused
Jaymay- You Are the Only One I Love

I don't believe my own two ears

2005-11-16T17:15:00.000-05:00

I have to mention that April's newest shirt got noticed by Gawker today. It's pretty awesome and I totally want one.

If you don't know who Anderson Cooper is, SHAME ON YOU! He and Christiane Amanpour are the only reasons I watch CNN. Hopefully, April will whip up a few of these shirts and sell them at some point. But for now, visit her site Emotion Lotion . Now onto the tunes.

There's this band from Columbus, Ohio called The Terribly Empty Pockets. When I mentioned Daniel Radcliffe's Clap Your Hand Say Yeah adulation on TRL last week, Sean P said that Terribly Empty Pockets do what Clap Your Hands Say Yeah does, but much better. Could this be true? Of course it could be true, but is it true? It's all a matter of opinion I guess. However, I will say that you can definitely trust Sean's opinions on bands, as his mixed cds have been known to change lives (and of course music listening habits).

I can't find too much info on this band. Josh Holt met Sarah BB one day and together they formed the Terribly Empty Pockets. The two later met Justin Riley, Ryan Jewell, and Ben Colburn and the duo turned into a five piece. I found two TEP songs on their website, and three more songs at Columbus Discount Records. Was Sean P right yet again? I'll let you make up your own minds. But I will say that I think I'm in love Tiny View, Christine and A-Okay.

(from Go to Bed Early)
The Terribly Empty Pockets- Christine *highly recommended*
The Terribly Empty Pockets- Sweet When You Were Young
The Terribly Empty Pockets- A-Okay *highly recommended*

I don't know where these are from, but you'll definitely, definitely want to listen to these as well.
The Terribly Empty Pockets-Help is on the Way
The Terribly Empty Pockets-Tiny View *highly recommended*

But that's all she wrote

2005-11-16T12:40:00.000-05:00

I was listening to my Outkast playlist on iTunes this morning, and Rosa Parks came on. Last month when Rosa died, it was of course very sad to see such an icon pass away. But it was really great seeing how people all over the country were honoring her, celebrating her life, and praising her courage and strength.

Most people know that that there was lawsuit involving Rosa Parks and Outkast in 1999. The lawsuit alleged defamation and trademark infringement because the group titled one of the songs from their 1998 Aquemini album Rosa Parks. You all know how the chorus goes:

Ah-ha, hush that fuss. Everybody move to the back of the bus

Outkast said that the song wasn't false advertising or a violation of Parks' publicity rights and that the use of her name was protected by the First Amendment. Even though Outkast was later dropped as defendants (the suit went on against their label), I wonder if what made this lawsuit legitimate was because her name was the actual title of the song. Because in the Outkast song song So Fresh, So Clean (from 2000's Stankonia), Andre has a line that goes:

I love who you are
Love you ya aint
You so Anne Franke
Let's hit the attic to hide out for 'bout two weeks

Is that defamantion against Anne Franke? I mean, she's probably just as important to the Jewish community as Rosa Parks is to the African American community. Can you imagine how many rappers would be in trouble if they weren't allowed to make lyrical mentions of public figures in their records? I mean, so many of them would be getting sued right about now.

I've noticed that a lot of people don't know that it wasn't Rosa who filed the lawsuit. Rosa's lawyer filed the lawsuit on Rosa's behalf. Last year, he filed a second $5 billion lawsuit against LaFace Records, Sony BMG Entertainment, Arista Records, and two other bookstore chains that sold Aquemini.

I remember hearing about some of Rosa's friends and relatives who thought that her lawyer was only filing the lawsuits for his own financial gain. But he probably would say that he was just looking out for the best interest of his client. Some people even said that Rosa was too ill to really even know what was going on and she also reportedly suffered from dementia. Rosa received a court appointed guardian in Dennis Archer to look out for her and make sure nothing sketchy was going on. But it still kind of sucks when you have to have someone look over your lawyer's shoulder.

The lawsuit was finally settled earlier this year and as a part of the settlement, a tribute CD and a TV broadcast special will be produced to inform young people about Rosa and her huge contribution to the civil rights movement in this country. I suppose, if anything good came out of the lawsuit, that would be it. And now that Rosa has died I think that there's going to be a renewed interested in her life and her importance in American history.

I think Outkast have all the respect in the world for Rosa Parks. Rosa did so much for black people in this country, and I know that Outkast are aware of that and appreciative of it. They've certainly benefited from her courageous stand against segregation, as have I, as has every other black person in this country. I sincerely believe that they wouldn't have named that song Rosa Parks if they felt it would be disrespectful in any way. I'm sure there were some people who didn't know who Rosa Parks was before they heard that song. You'd' be surprised what some people don't know in this country. And if seeing her name on the back of an Outkast cd made some kid in North Dakota pick up a book and find out who this Rosa Parks was, then I say it's all the better.

Outkast- Rosa Parks (from Aquemini)

If I could be anything I want to be, I would be you

2005-11-15T16:05:00.000-05:00

First of all, Threadless is having one of their awesome $10 sales. It started yesterday afternoon, and the servers must've been overloaded because it took me forever just to get my order through. So I suggest you head on over there and get the shirts you want before it's too late.

You all probably remember hearing that Edwyn Collins suffered a brain hemorrhage back in February. He was able to leave the hospital in August and is still recovering. If you'd like to send him a card or a letter wishing him well, here's the address:

West Heath Studios,
West Heath Yard,
174 Mill Lane,
London, NW6 1TB

Yesterday, Between Thought and Expression posted the Ladytron cover of Tweet's Oops! Oh My from the Softcore Jukebox cd. Even though this cd has been out since 2003, I'd never heard it. This song is pretty rad though, so I had to post it for you guys.

Ladytron- Oops! Oh My (from Softcore Jukebox)

The Eames Era, everyone's favorite indie pop band from Baton Rouge, released a new album last month called Double Dutch. Ok maybe they're not everyone's favorite indie pop band from Baton Rouge, but they're mine! A few months ago a lot of bloggers were posting this amazing track by The Eames Era called Could Be Anything. I fell in love with that song last year when it was in rotation at WUOG. It's just one those really infectious songs that you just want to listen to over and over again. It's even featured on the Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. By the way, Grey's Anatomy is the only show you should be watching at 10 p.m. on Sundays. Patrick Dempsey has come a very long way from the dorky kid you saw in Can't Buy Me Love, Heaven Help Us, and Loverboy. By the way, I totally saw Can't Buy Me Love this weekend. Still a really great movie.

You can listen to two tracks from Double Dutch on The Eames Era's myspace page. They also have a non album track that you can download called A Scandal in Bohemia. If you're a fan of groups like Mates of State and Rilo Kiley, you'll love this band. And Ashlin Phillips is just as cute as Jenny Lewis. She even has red hair! (I totally saw Troop Beverly Hills this weekend too). Listen to the songs, would ya?

The Eames Era- Could Be Anything (from The Second EP)
The Eames Era- A Scandal in Bohemia

And if you fuck with me I gone dash my curry

2005-11-12T21:54:00.000-05:00

The following is for the M.I.A. obsessed, which I'm proud to be a part of.

I FINALLY heard Dash the Curry Skit from the UK version of Arular. It's pretty easy to find URAQT, which is also on the UK version of Arular, but for some reason, I could never find Dash the Curry Skit. Maybe because it's not like an actual song. Although, that doesn't really matter does it? Ok, so yeah it's only 40 seconds long but you know you love every little bit of M.I.A. that you can get.

M.I.A.- Dash the Curry Skit (from Arular, UK)

Also in the last few days, I got the demo version of You're Good and the original version of Lady Killer (thanks to the lovely people over at M.I.A.fans). You're Good appeared on a demo of Arular (there's a different version on Piracy Funds Terrorism). At first I thought it was Untitled a.k.a. Macho (from Piracy Funds Terrorism) 'cause the beat sounds very similar. But nope, totally different song. Diplo's remix of Lady Killer is on Piracy Funds Terrorism but the original version is yet another bonus track from Arular.

M.I.A.- You're Good
M.I.A.- Lady Killa

Last month, callmeMICKEY posted a bunch of Galang Remixes. But most are all new to me so, they might be new to you as well. I like the Dave Kelly Remix the best.

M.I.A.- Galang (S-Unit Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Cavemen Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Cadence Weapon Earthbound Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Serj Tankian Remix)
M.I.A.- Galang (Dave Kelly Remix featuring Cham)

And for all of you budding DJs out there, here are acapella versions of a few songs from Arular. Remix the hell out of them.

M.I.A.- Pull up the People (a capella)

M.I.A.- Bucky Done Gun (a capella)
M.I.A.- URAQT (a capella)

And I've posted this one before, but I really like it so...

M.I.A.- Do Ya

You look like Harry Potter

2005-11-11T18:21:00.000-05:00

Earlier, I was watching TRL ('cause, well Maury Povich is doing his 500th paternity show, and they get boring after awhile) and Daniel Radcliffe a.k.a. Harry Potter was on, and he said, "Who's heard of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah?! They're absolutely brilliant!"

Harry Potter is an indie rocker! Who would've thunk it. Ok. just some useless information.

Here's some music by Harry and the Potters. Harry and the Potters is Paul and Joe DeGeorge. They're brothers (duh) and they've been together since 2002 (as a band, not as brothers). They write songs about Harry Potter and his gang. All the cool kids like them.

(from Harry and the Potters)
Harry and the Potters- Wizard Chess
Harry and the Potters- Save Jenny Weasley *highly recommended*
Harry and the Potters- The Godfather

(from Songs from Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!)
Harry and the Potters- Stick it to Dolores
Harry and the Potters- The Human Hosepipe *highly recommended*
Harry and the Potters- The Godfather, Part II

+Unrelased track+
Harry and the Potters- The Wrath of Hermione

Be Harry and the Potters' myspace friend.

The boy in the photograph

2005-11-11T12:09:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd fall in line with The Modern Age and mention rock photographer Andrew Kendall who recently had 5000 GBP worth of camera equipment stolen (that's about $8,732 USD). This week he heard back from his insurance company, and they are refusing to pay for the stolen items, even though he's spent thousands on insurance over the past few years. I've linked Andrews photos before (here and here) and he's truly an amazing photographer. While it was suggested to him that he set up a paypal account, he doesn't feel right about asking for donations. Instead, he's selling 12"x8" prints of his photos for 15 GBP each (that's $28.65 USD). If you're able to help out, definitely look at Andrew's massive gallery of pictures, and I'm sure you'll find one or two photos that you like. He has photos of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Interpol, Arctic Monkeys, Kanye West, Madonna, The Go! Team, Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Goldfrapp, R.E.M., and LOADS more. So if you can help Andrew out, please do.

Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) at the Astoria in London, April 14th, 2005

I'll take these secrets to the grave

2005-11-10T18:09:00.000-05:00

Days like today are when I wish I was still going to school in Athens. There's a FREE show tonight at the Caledonia Lounge with DJ Twin Powers, Snowden, and Psychic Hearts. If you're in town tonight, you should definitely go. If you live on the Georgia/South Carolina border, you should also go. Trust me, if you left now, you'd make it there in great time. The OC has been kind of lame this season, and Making the Band 3 is going to come on like 85 more times this weekend, so there's no need to stay home and watch tv.

Psychic Hearts is a great band out of Athens who describe their sound as "heavy new-wave, disco shoe-gaze." Michelle used to tell me about how great they were, and I finally heard their music late last year when their self titled EP was in rotation at WUOG. This three song EP got quite a bit of airplay on the station, and I especially grew to love the track Pavement.

Psychic Hearts is definitely one of the most promising bands in Atlanta. They beat out hundreds of other local groups to land one of the few local spots at this year's Music Midtown Festival. Their energetic live shows have allowed them to sell out Athens music staples like Tasty World and the Caledonia Lounge. I'm really looking forward to hearing the music that this band will bring to us in the new year. But for now, we've got these three great songs below.

(from Psychic Hearts EP)
Psychic Hearts- Hands
Psychic Hearts- Golden
Psychic Hearts- Pavement *highly recommended*

You're the only one that makes me feel this way

2005-11-09T23:08:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I picked up my guitar for the first time in ages. I don't think I've even looked at it since May. Whenever I haven't played for awhile, I'm always interested in seeing what songs I can remember right off the bat and which ones I kind of have to play around with for a bit before remembering how to play them.

Like a lot of kids, I started playing guitar in high school. There were quite a few kids at Pius who played guitar, and I just thought they were so cool. I remember going into the band room after school one day so that my friend Karen could pick up her flute. We found our classmate Andy in the room, playing No Doubt's Don't Speak on his guitar. I was so impressed because it sounded EXACTLY like the actual song. I wanted to be able to do that too.

I was 15. I loved Nirvana, The Smashing Pumpkins, Bush, and The Cure. I was pretty certain that I was gonna be a rockstar because I loved music so much. So, I figured I had to learn how to play something.

The day I got my guitar at Jackson's music, I also got The Gig Bag Book of Picture Chords, which I still use whenever I don't know how to play a certain chord. I took lessons for about a month with this lady at Woodward Academy. My lessons were usually on Saturday mornings. She wasn't a guitar teacher per say (she mostly taught piano) but she still knew the basics to teach me. She asked me what songs I wanted to learn how to play, and had me write the lyrics out on lined paper. Then when we practiced, I'd play her the cds that the songs were on, and she'd write the chords over the lyrics. When she realized that I'd need a capo to play certain songs that I wanted to learn, she suggested I buy one. So I had Kevin take me back to Jackson's and I got a capo as well as the Nirvana in New York guitar book.

There was a handful of songs that I was set on learning when I first got my guitar. My teacher taught me how to play Glycerine, Sunny Came Home, and Make it Home, and on my own I learned how to play My Forgotten Favorite, Fire in Cairo, and Free to Decide. And thanks to my trusty Nirvana guitar book, I of course learned how to play Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam. I only had lessons for a short time because my teacher felt that she could only teach me so much, and I was learning pretty quickly. The songs that I set out to learn right away were some of my favorites at the time, and ones that I thought I could learn fairly easily.

When I wrote about Juliana Hatfield over the summer, I mentioned that I got the chance to talk to her after a show she played in Athens. She said the coolest thing when I told her that Make It Home was one of the first songs I learned how to play. She said that when she first started playing, she was so amazed that she could actually learn how to play songs that she loved listening to. And I thought, "Yeah, that is pretty amazing." We all have those songs that we just adore, and to me it's just so awesome that if you want to, you can pick up a guitar and learn how to play one. Sure some songs are easier than others, but you are capable of doing it. It's something that's possible. And that's pretty cool.

Here are some guitar tab sites that I like going to. Check them out for (generally) easy to follow guitar and bass tabs.

Guitar Tab Universe
OLGA
Ultimate Guitar

And here are the first songs that I mastered on the six string! Ok, not really mastered but ya know...

Bush- Glycerine (from Sixteen Stone)
The Cranberries- Free to Decide (from To the Faithful Departed)
The Cure- Fire in Cairo (from Boys Don't Cry)
Juliana Hatfield- Make It Home (from My So-Called Life)
Nirvana- Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam (from Unplugged in New York)
Shawn Colvin- Sunny Came Home (from A Few Small Repairs)
Velocity Girl- My Forgotten Favorite (from Clueless)

Check out how dorky I was in high school. My awkward stage lasted forever. Are those glasses the worst or what? My 5 year reunion was last month, but I didn't go. I don't think I've done anything that interesting in the past five years to really tell anyone about. Maybe I will in the next five. At least, I hope so.

Fall back quiet like graves

2005-11-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

I've gotta thank Carlos for making one of my life long dreams come true. I've always wanted to see my name in liner notes, and thanks to Lakota, I know have. See? What I love most is that my name is right after Carlos D's. Los, you're the best.

I guess it wouldn't be cool for Carlos to tell you how awesome his own band is, so I'll gladly do it. Lakota is a four piece pop punk group out of NYC. Think Foo Fighters meets Sugar. In Spring 2003, bassist Carlos Ramirez met singer/guitarist Kayne Konecny. Kayne played Carlos a demo tape he had, and the two decided to start a group. Kayne knew guitarist Pat Lane from a previous band, and he asked Pat to jam along with him and Carlos. After finding a drummer in Lou Lagno, Lakota started working on songs.

When I spent a month in New York during the summer of 2003, I was lucky enough to catch one of Lakota's practices. It was the closest thing to an actual show that I could see (since I was going back home to Atlanta in a few weeks), so I was thrilled. For four guys who hadn't been playing together all that long, they sounded great and I was really impressed with how amazing the songs sounded resonating off the walls of their practice space. They were incredibly energetic and having a great time playing.

A few months later, Lakota picked five of their best songs and recorded them with producer Juan Garcia at Magic Shop Studios in Manhatthan. This 5 song EP included Idle, So Simple, Shouldn't Have To, You Know I Know, and Standing By, and was sent out to venues around NYC (and friends of the band *wink*).

In 2004, Jimmy Herbst joined Lakota as their new drummer, and in March of this year, the band released their Aquaintances EP, which included almost all of the songs from their unreleased EP, as well as the song A Rich Man.

Lakota recently released their debut album, Hope for the Haunted, on Pop Up Records. Kayne and Carlos have definitely proved what an amazing songwriting team they are and this record will surely make a fan out of many.

You can downloaded Hope for the Haunted's first track, Quiet Like Graves, from the bands myspace page here. Or if you're too lazy to go there, you can download it below. But be sure to check out their myspace page anyway for 3 more tracks and their Pure Volume page to listen to the entire record, and some older recordings. Also, be sure to check out Lakota's awesome new site. Kayne did the whole thing and it looks great.

Lakota- Quiet Like Graves (from Hope for the Haunted)

We got a lot in common, not a big deal.

2005-11-08T14:34:00.000-05:00

You guys know how much I LOVE M.I.A. Clearly, I am not the only one. Over the weekend, I came across Aziz Ansari's myspace page (he's a total riot) and I found a download to a stand up piece he did about meeting M.I.A. It's pretty funny. It's from all the way back in February (so maybe you've already seen it), but it's still funny. You can download it from Aziz's myspace profile here, or download it from here.

The whole routine is about how he met M.I.A. after a show at the Knitting Factory, and how the meeting didn't go quite the way he would've liked. So he gives three different scenarios of what he wish had happened instead.

J Lo's got a batty, well you can't see mine 'cause I wear my trousers baggy

2005-11-07T23:40:00.000-05:00

Lady Sovereign's album Vertically Challenged, is coming out next Tuesday, November 15th (at least that's what Amazon says) and Hoodie Part 1 and Part 2 come out November 24th. I've been listening to a lot of the Cheeky One lately and have been thoroughly enjoying the remixes that I've found. Here are some of my favorites.

Lady Sovereign- Random (IG Culture Remix)
Lady Sovereign- 9 to 5 (JME Vocal Mix)
Lady Sovereign- 9 to 5 (Gas Panic Remix)
Lady Sovereign- Cheeky (remix)

When i heard Sad Ass Strippa for the first time, I wasn't expecting to hear some of THE BEST LYRICAL DISSES EVER!

So, this is Jentina. She and Lady Sovereign have two things in common: 1. They're about the same age (19ish) and 2. they're both from the UK. That's about it.

This is Jentina's song Bad Ass Strippa.

Jentina-Bad Ass Strippa

There's really nothing special about her. We've seen talentless, scantily dressed pop stars like her before, and there's really no good reason for record companies to continue churning out clones of Britney Spears and Xtina. The S.O.V feels the same way. So she ripped Jentina a new one in Sad Ass Strippa as heard here.

Lady Sovereign- Sad Ass Strippa

This is my favorite part:
You been chattin' bout ya Gucci Thongs
But how many weeks, bitch have you had it on
I can tell by your dances
Dat it's somewhere stuck up your bum

Clearly, The S.O.V wins. Anywho, here's a list of Lady Sovereign's upcoming shows in North America. Go out and see her or she'll kick your ass.

North American Tour Dates:

November 28- Boston @ Middle East
November 30- NYC @ Knitting Factory
December 1- Philadelphia @ Silk City
December 2- Montreal @ La Tulip
December 3- Toronto @ Revival
December 6- Chicago @ Empty Bottle
December 9- San Francisco @ Live 105 Not So Silent Night Afterparty
December 13- Los Angeles @ Cinespace

Be sure to check out Lady Sovereign's Save the Hoodie site too.

But then a strange fear gripped me and I just couldn't ask

2005-11-04T15:41:00.000-05:00

I was so excited when I heard that Morrissey is currently mixing his new album in Rome with producer Tony Visconti. It's set to be released in mid March, and hopefully, Morrissey will hit the road with it, and play some shows here in the states.

I found a great Moz interview on Soulseek the other day, and thought I'd post the tracks. It's always great hearing the things Morrissey has to say, because you're never quite sure what might come out of his mouth. But it's always entertaining.

I've been trying to figure out exactly what year this interview was done (if any of you know, let me know). The tag on the mp3s say 2000, but that could just be the year that the interview cd was put together. I'm thinking that the first part (tracks 1 through 10) was taped in the late 80s or early 90s at KROQ in LA, because Moz talks about White Snake and Janet Jackson being shown on MTV, and Richard (the interviewer) talks about the cliche heavy metal video. Moz also brings up Margaret Thatcher being in power, and I believe she was Prime Minister in England only up until 1990.

Parts in the second half (tracks 11 through 17) lead me to believe that there was maybe a second interview done with KROQ in 1997, because Richard asks Morrissey, "Did you see the fight on Saturday referring to the Tyson/Hollyfield fight where Tyson bit off a piece of Hollyfield's ear. That happened in 1997. In track 13 (Moz on Life) Morrissey says it's been about 6 years since he's been at KROQ, so that would put his first appearance around '90/'91. The clips are chopped up strangely, so it's hard to tell if they're in the right order or not. Nonetheless, they're still great to listen to, and Moz is witty and hysterical as always. Forever a quotable figure.

01 Fans, Influences, Releases (6:30)
"Well, sometimes I don't mind, if they're good, and sometimes I buy them. I know you're supposed to be very annoyed because people make lots of money and none of it comes to you. But that doesn't really bother me. I'm very glad that there is enough interest in The Smiths for there to be bootlegs, and soforth, so it's just really pleasing."- Moz on Smiths bootlegs
"Well, the right people like it."- Moz on the song There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.

02 Vegetarianism, Benefits, Multi-Artist Concerts (3:18)
"No, I wouldn't be interested in a hostile crowd."- Moz when asked if he'd like the challenge of winning over a hostile crowd.

03 Himself & The Music Industry (4:23)
"I was told that I would be destroyed by my own record, which sounds actually reasonably exciting. But it didn't happen, I'm still here, and I'm quite healthy."- Moz on the BBC's reaction to Ouija Board, Ouija Board.

04 Hope & Despair (3:25)
"I do despair a great deal of time. That's all I can say really. I feel disappointment a great deal of time in the human race generally."- Answering a caller's question about the contrast of hope and despair in his lyrics.

05 Reading, TV & Pop Music (2:27) *this is cute because Morrissey didn't know what Nintendo was*
"I think children throughout the generations of the world change in any case. I mean, a hundred years ago, they were probably chasing sticks. Which, it wouldn't be a very good idea if children these days were chasing sticks. So I think that's just how the world changes and moves on. I don't know that it makes them more interesting individuals or less interesting. I really don't know. But television, obviously, quite naturally, I find quite destructive."- Moz when asked if things like video games and Nintendo negatively affect children of today.
Morrissey: "But Janet Jackson, as far as I can see, has no talent at all."
Richard: "She just dances, right?"
Morrissey: "Badly (laughs)."- When talking about whether or not there's room in 'his world' for pop music.

06 Drinking, Actors, & Manchester (4:30)
Richard: "Everyone knew you'd be intelligent."
Morrissey: "Well, I try not to hide it."- When it was mentioned that no one at the station knew what Morrissey would be like in person
Caller (Richard's mom): "There must be a flaw in this wonderful person."
Morrissey: "I assure you there isn't."- When talking about the healthy life he leads.

07 Fans, Childhood, Johnny Marr (5:40)
"Generally, very witty. Generally, the bright sparks who weren't possibly, terribly athletic, but terribly quick. And the ones who were always in trouble. But I was very athletic, which is something that I never personally understood."- Moz on his childhood friends.

08 Books, Celibacy, Import Records, Oscar Wilde (6:06)
"Well if it's in Spin magazine, it must be true."- When asked by a caller if he was really celibate.

09 Flying, The Royal Family, School Days (5:28)
"If there were only two (political) parties in England, she wouldn't even be, ya know, in the kitchen making the tea."- Moz on Margaret Thatcher.

10 Music in America, Videos, Manchester, Loneliness (6:15)
"I think the musical audiences of America are very underrated. And I think their intelligence is very underrated. And I think really, if they were exposed to more intelligent music and more innovative music, they would take it. But see, they don't really have much choice, do they?"
"I get so many letters complaining about music in America, and how people are fed a constant barrage of White Snake, followed by Janet Jackson, followed by White Snake, followed by Janet Jackson. I mean MTV really, which is a brillitant idea executed dreadfully, is just really a succession of the same video. And it's always the same style. There's lots of interesting, smaller groups who, if they had exposure in this country, everything would change. But it won't change until that time occurs."- Moz on music in the U.S.

11 Moz on Music (:38) *this is mainly about the Smoking Popes*

12 Moz on Boxing & Fans (1:27)
"I thought Tyson was extremely badly behaved. I think he should be arrested. Because if I walked onto the street and bit somebody's ear, I'm sure I'd be arrested. I don't think they'd hand me $27 million and say, ya know, 'See you at the next fight.' "- Moz on the Tyson/Hollyfield fight.

13 Moz on Life (2:16)
"I'm still the same person that I ever was. I'm a very secluded person. But I'm not neurotic or anything."- When asked if he'd been in seclusion.

14 Moz on Working (1:51)
15 Moz on Other Live Bands (:45)
16 Conventions and Reunions (2:53)
17 Moz on Mick Ronson (:41)

The rest is the interview with Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke. I'm not sure what year this is from. Mike mentions having hundreds of unreleased Smiths recordings in his posession, which is pretty cool to think about.

18 Mike and Andy (1:22)
19 On Conventions (:55)
20 Compilations & Unreleased Music (1:36)
21 New Projects (:26)
22 Listener Calls (4:25)

And so that you have some actual music to listen to, here are some songs: There is a Light that Never Goes Out, Ouija Board, Ouija Board, and just because I think that nothing is sexier than Jeff Buckley singing The Smiths, Jeff covering The Boy with the Thorn in his Side.

The Smiths- There is a Light that Never Goes Out (from The Queen is Dead)
Morrissey- Ouija Board, Ouija Board (from Bona Drag)
Jeff Buckley- The Boy with the Thorn in his Side

And if I still had eyes, then I would surely cry

2005-10-31T18:37:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween everyone. I hope you had fun at your Halloween parties this weekend and didn't get sick from eating too much candy. In honor of Halloween, I'm writing about Zombina and the Skeletones. If you haven't been fortunate enough to hear Nobody Likes You yet, you're in for a treat!

I found out about Zombina and the Skeletones either late last year or early this year. I can't really remember. Someone on my LJ friends list had mentioned them, and so I decided to check them out.

Zombina and the Skeletones are rock 'n' roll from Liverpool. But they're also a surf/rockabilly/punk/horror rock hybrid and they sing songs about graves, vampires and of course zombies. They definitely would've fit in perfectly at Drop Dead this year (they played last year I think.)

The first song I heard by them was Nobody Likes You. Probably one of the funniest songs I've ever heard, but not in a cheesy, novelty sort of way. I mean it's a really good song, about how hard it is to make friends when you're dead. I imagine it's a big problem. But really, the song is great and you're going to want to listen to it over and over again.

Believe it or not I was a beauty queen, yeah
I was the toast of the rock and roll scene
I had all the friends that money could buy
But I would trade it all in just to be alive

If they could see me now
That little gang of mine
You can bet your ass that they'd run a mile
If my friends could see me now....

Nobody likes you when you're dead
It just ain't right
Just 'cause I'm biting on your head
There's no need to be impolite
And if I still had eyes
Then I would surely cry
Nobody likes you when you're dead
And that's the story of my life.

See the repulsion on your faces
Have you looked in a mirror lately?
Have you ever been a teenage dream?
My daddy was a tv, my mommy was a magazine
The only man that I ever loved
Was the same motherfucker who cut me up
He cut me up in a special way,
He made me what I am today
And if my friends could see me now....

Nobody Likes You (from Taste the Blood of Zombina and the Skeletones) *highly recommended*
I Love Rock 'n' Roll (from I Was a Human Bomb for the F.B.I.)
I Was a Human Bomb for the F.B.I. (from I Was a Human Bomb for the F.B.I.)
The Count of Five (from Silver Bullet)
Meteorite (from Taste the Blood of Zombina and the Skeletones)

Zombina and the Skeletones have a ton of mp3s for download through their site. Go here to hear more from them.

Here are some more songs that remind me of this scared day.

Mon Frere is a band from Mountlake Terrace, Washington. They've got a rockin keyboardist with a mad wicked wail. Their single is called Real Vampires Don't Get Shitfaced (Fighting Mad). Awesomest title ever or what? Listen to it.

Mon Frere- Real Vampires Don't Get Shitfaced (Fighting Mad) (from Real Vampires)

When I was like 10, I was obsessed with my DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince tape, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. I knew every song word for word, including A Nightmare on My Street. Still a great song to listen to.

DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince- A Nightmare on my Street (from He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper)

Whenever I hear the Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil, I always think of the final scene in Interview With a Vampire (even though the version that played in the movie was done by Guns 'n' Roses).

Rolling Stones- Sympathy For the Devil (from Beggars Banquet)

Ever since I saw the movie Jeepers Creepers, the song Jeepers Creepers has always made me feel a little weird. Even when Siouxsie and the Banshees sing a similar chorus in their song Peek-a-Boo, it gives me chills. But Peek-a-Boo is a fantastic song. The accordion in it definitely bills up the creepiness. I love it!

Siouxsie and the Banshees- Peek-a-Boo (from Peepshow)

And finally, the quintessential monster song, Monster Mash.

Dr. Demento- Monster Mash (from Dr. Demento's 20th Anniversary Collection)

I see you every time I open up my eyes

2005-10-29T12:14:00.000-05:00

I know a lot of us tend to let music reviews that we read sway our opinions. You might not want to admit it, but if a magazine or blog that you respect tells you that a record by so and so is the best thing you'll ever hear, you'll probably be inclined to believe them. And if the same said magazine or blog tells you that the new record by another so and so is the biggest pile of cow manure ever made, then you'll probably be inclined to believe them about that as well. I'm definitely guilty of this.

So, I try to make an effort to listen to something first, make up my own mind, and then read what other people have to say about it. I don't want to decide that I hate something before I've even heard it, just because someone else didn't like it.

I heard Lansing-Dreiden's cd, The Incomplete Triangle (Kemado, 2004), long before I read any reviews about it. I really loved songs like I.C.U., Metal on a Gun, and Glass Corridor. Other people around me seemed to like it as well, and so it wasn't like I was the odd girl out, really digging some random record that sucked to everyone else.

However, recently, I came across Pitchfork's review of the cd. They gave it a 3.7. This is the first paragraph from the review.

Shrouded in put-on obscurity and not a little cocksure bravado, Lansing-Dreiden live by the totally unoriginal posit that image is everything. A collection of early-twenties college students transplanted from Miami to New York (where else), they've relied on the easily controlled written word to build a foppish, pseudo-intellectual house of cards that folds on even the slightest examination. Refusing to either play live or give face-to-face interviews, they pepper carefully constructed e-mails with oafish Aristotelian philosophy and that bold, naÃÂ¯ve conviction exclusive to the young

If I had read that, and seen the rating they gave before hearing the cd, I'd definitely be discouraged from listening to any of their songs.

OK yeah, so it's a little annoying that they refuse to give face to face interviews, will not allow themselves to be photographed, and also refuse to tour. But I think their record is definitely way better than a 3.7. I think a lot of people who reviewed them negatively held their "image" in higher regards than their music. Their decision to stay "hidden" and keep out of the public eye probably distracts a lot of people from their music. Although, that's their choice, and to each his own I guess.

What I like about this band is when I first heard The Incomplete Triangle, so many of the songs were showcased different genres. In this record you've got 60s guitar rock, shoegaze, post-rock, and new wave. Yes these styles have been done before, but rarely does a band do all of them on the same album, and which makes Lansing-Dreiden unique.

If you're a fan of bands like The Stone Roses, My Blood Valentine, and The Clientele, you might dig these tracks from Lansing-Dreiden. And if you're a fan of Television, The Mamas and the Pappas, and New Order you also might dig these tracks. I really like I.C.U. because it's kind of a cross between Depeche Mode and New Order, but Glass Corridor is probably my favorite.

(from The Incomplete Triangle)

Lansing-Dreiden- I.C.U.
Lansing-Dreiden- Metal on a Gun
Lansing-Dreiden- Glass Corridor

And when she saw what she had done.....

2005-10-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

AMC has been airing Monsterfest since Sunday. They're showing horror movies for a whole week, in honor of Halloween. I'm kind of disappointed with some of their selections (like do we really need to see Tremors more than 2 times?) but some of the movies I've seen have been really good. I'm such a wuss when it comes to scary movies, so I don't know why I like watching them so much. Click here for the entire Monsterfest schedule.

I just finished watching Strait-Jacket, starring the legendary Joan Crawford. I haven't seen too many Joan Crawford films, but Strait Jacket definitely exhibits that sort of campy over acting thing that Joan Crawford was famous and loved for. Although, I think actors in those older movies usually overacted most of the time anyway. But that was the style then, so they really couldn't help themselves.

Now I think that Joan Crawford was scary enough in real life (Have you ever seen Mommie Dearest? ), but Joan really outdoes herself in this movie. Strait-Jacket was a modern twist on the Lizzy Borden story. There's even a part in the movie where Joan Crawford's character, Lucy, thinks she hears two little girls singing:

Lucy Harbin took an axe
And gave her husband 40 whacks
And when she saw what she had done
She gave his girlfriend 41.

The movie starts out in a bar. A man is having drinks with his old girlfriend while his wife is out of town. His wife, Lucy, is seven years older than he is, and he really only married her because she had property.

He decides to take his ex back to his place, knowing that his wife won't be home until the following day. He takes her into the bedroom, and they go at it. Little does he know that his 3 year old daughter, Carol, is awake, and can see everything that's going on.

He also doesn't know that his wife took the midnight train, and is on her way home.

When Lucy gets to her house, she can't wait to see her husband. But when she walks up to the window to catch a of glimpse of him, she sees him in bed with another woman.

She snaps. She sees an ax in a tree stump, and tugs it out.

She walks into the house, past her daughter, and into her bedroom. Without much hesitation, she chops off her husbands head, and then his ex's head.

Then she continues to hack away at their bodies, her daughter witnessing the entire thing.

Lucy gets put away in a mental institution. 20 years later, she's released, much to the dismay of her doctor, who doesn't think she's completely well yet.

Her daughter Carol, now all grown up, is anxious and eager to see her mother again and catch up on lost time. She wants to show her mother her artwork (she's a sculptor), introduce her to her boyfriend Michael, and regain the close relationship they once had.

But Lucy is timid and nervous, and finds it hard to integrate back into the society. Carol tries to help. She takes her out shopping for shoes, jewelry, a stylish wig, and a hip new outfit to make her feel more confident about herself. But the new Lucy is maybe too confident (she flirts relentlessly with Michael one night over drinks), and Carol thinks that maybe her mother wasn't ready to leave the asylum after all.

Lucy constantly has bad dreams about the murders. She think she sees dead bodies, and hears things (like the two girls mocking her) and she completely freaks out when anyone mentions anything about the asylum to her. She almost gets obsessed with how she was 20 years ago, which is bad when you consider what she did 20 years ago. She hates what she did, but can't help remembering it almost every second of every day. And sometimes she just can't control her rage. Once the bodies start piling up, you pretty much know who's responsible for them. Or do you? The ending was kind of shocking to me, but I guess you'd have to see for yourself.

Strait Jacket was pretty decent though. I couldn't sleep this morning, and woke up around 6:30. I decided to watch some television until I got tired again, but I just got caught up in the movie. So maybe I'll go take a nap now. Remember that Monsterfest continues until Monday morning, so be sure to check it out for Michael Myers, Pinhead, Freddie Krueger, Jason, and those gross wormy things from Tremors.

Here's the song Joan Crawford by Blue Öyester Cult. Listen for this part in the song:

Christina....mother's home.
Christina....come to mother.

Seriously, if you haven't seen Mommie Dearest, you really need to. I just saw it about two weeks ago for the 100th time, and it still gives me chills.

Blue Öyster Cult- Joan Crawford (from Fire of Unknown Origin)

Here's another interesting fun fact: Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte is on right now, and the main characters in the movie are Bette Davis (Charlotte) and Olivia De Havilland (Miriam). Initially, Joan Crawford was supposed to play Miriam (the movie was supposed to be another Davis/Crawford hit like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, which had been made 3 years earlier). But when filming started, Joan was already too ill to do the part. So Bette Davis suggested her best friend Olivia for the role. It's well known that Bette Davis and Joan Crawford hated each other immensely. On the first day of shooting, Bette and Olivia toasted each other with Coca-Cola, a clear stab at Joan, whose husband was an executive at Pepsi. See, actresses were just as catty back then as they are now.

Ok, hopefully I'll have an actual music post for you later on today.

*pictures from Horror Talk.

String Quartet Tributes

2005-10-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

The first String Quartet Tribute cd I heard was Whisper: The String Quartet Tribute to The Cure. It was in rotation at WUOG and I played a track off of it during one of my early morning rotation shifts. Instrumental versions of some of my favorite Cure songs, I was in heaven! For those of you who don't know anything about the String Quartet Tribute series, I'll fill you in.

Vitamin Records is a Los Angeles based label that releases string quartet, lounge and electronic tributes to different pop and rock artists. Their very first release was The String Quartet Tribute to Led Zeppelin. It's definitely really interesting hearing some of these songs done in a completely different fashion. But for the most part, you can always tell what the song is once it starts playing.

All the songs are completely instrumental, and it's really quite impressive the way they interpret them. Some songs that you'd never think would sound beautiful, like Slayer's South of Heaven, sound amazing when played in a new way. There are a myriad number of String Quartet Tribute cds, including ones for Radiohead, Bjork, Sonic Youth, Jeff Buckley, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, U2, Weezer, Pink Floyd, Elliot Smiths, and Guns 'n' Roses, just to name a few. I think there are over 170 in all, which is pretty amazing.

I really love the covers of these albums as well, because they try to mimic the actual album covers of the artists they're covering. For instance the cover for The String Quartet Tribute to the Smiths looks like it could've been the cover of an actual Smiths record.

And clearly, the cover of The String Quartet Tribute to Red Hot Chili Peppers is similar to the cover of Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

There are lot of great String Quartet Tribute songs. It might seem like I got a little carried away posting all of these tracks. Ok, so I definitely got carried away. But I couldn't help myself. So many of them are really good. So have at 'em.

You could meet somebody who really loves you

2005-10-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

Wow, check me out posting a little something every day. Go me! Don't expect it to keep going this way though. I'm sure Comcast will screw up our internet connection again at some point, since it's like a weekly occurrence now.

First of all, I'd like to the mention that The Prids have 3 new songs for you to listen to on their myspace page: Like Hearts, Back Up Slow, and Infection (Instrumental). The Prids make the best instrumental tracks ever. The 4th track up for your listening pleasure is the demo of All That You Want, but that's been around for awhile now.

The Prids also have a new drummer. His name is Joey Maas. I know he's gotta be awesome if he's playing with them. Their next show is in Portland, OR at Towne Lounge on November 5th. The band goes into the studio on December 5th to start recording their new album. It should be ready for release in March or April of next year. I can't wait, since they haven't put out an album since Love Zero in 2003. Actually, that's not very long to wait for another album. And The Prids have definitely been keeping super busy with all of the touring that they do. With the release of the new record, the Prids' new label will also be re-releasing old material and previously unreleased recordings (YAY). So looks like next year will be full of amazing music from The Prids

Yesterday afternoon, I watched The Smiths Complete Picture DVD. While I usually skip over it, I decided to watch the video for How Soon is Now? In the video, there's a girl with blonde hair in a red sweater, images of buildings and smoke stacks, a couple of shots of the band performing. Nothing terribly exciting. I have to not hear the song for awhile to really appreciate it, and to remember how epic it sounded when I first heard it. Classic Morrissey lyrics, but the song almost sounds bigger than the men who were playing it. Before I even knew who the Smiths were, I'd heard that song a million times. And it's probably the most recognized Smiths song there is. I think There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (the only one that I can play on guitar), is probably the favorite although Rubber Ring is mine.

The cover version of How Soon is Now? that I know best is the one done by Love Spit Love. It's the theme song for the television show Charmed, and was featured on the soundtrack for the movie The Craft. Love Spit Love was fronted by Richard Butler, lead singer of the Psychedelic Furs. Still, one of my favorite quotes ever is one from Mr. Butler:

"Just because you call yourself psychedelic doesn't mean you are psychedelic."

Brilliant.

Below are a few different versions of How Soon Is Now? I was going to post the original, original, but Morrissey doing it at Earl's Court is just as good, yeah?

Morrissey- How Soon is Now (from Live at Earl's Court)
Love Spit Love- How Soon is Now (from the Charmed soundtrack)
The String Quartet- How Soon is Now (from Tribute to the Smiths)
Afghan Whigs- How Soon is Now
Quicksand- How Soon is Now

eNTERTAINME.nt, Boulevard, and Girls on Film

2005-10-22T21:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight, eNTERTAINME.nt, Boulevard, and Girls on Film are playing at the Drunken Unicorn. I've never seen Girls on Film before, but eNTERTAINME.nt and Boulevard both put on great live shows.

I've written about eNTERTAINME.nt before. I haven't seen them since last year, and unfortunately I can't make it to tonight's show. All of my after show rides fell through. All three of them! Hopefully Trey and Steven won't be too upset with me. eNTERTAINME.nt is signed to Luminal and they're playing the big Drop Dead Festival next week in New York. So if you're going to Drop Dead, be sure to catch their set.

eNTERTAINME.nt- Patroness (from Patroness)

I saw Boulevard for the first time when they played a show with eNTERTAINME.nt last year at the 40 Watt in Athens. I actually had English classes with both Donavan (drummer) and Emily (ex keyboardist) during college. Boulevard is a great band to see live. Benji Barton is an extremely charismatic frontman and the band has a really fun guitar pop sound. They just released a new record called Vice and Daring which you can get here. You can listen to a few tracks from the new album on their myspace page.

Boulevard- Marie (from Vice and Daring) *highly recommended*
Boulevard- Here's to the Days (from Signal)

Dancetronic Glam Wave. That's how Girls on Film describe their sound, and they certainly pay homage to the whole new wave 80s sound in their songs. They definitely dress the part, too (as you can see from picture below). These girls are from Tallahassee, FL, and recently released their album Danceteria. Trey says that they're a blast to see live. Hopefully they'll come back around to Atlanta soon so I'll get a chance to see them.

Girls on Film- Vaporized (sample from Danceteria)

After writing all that, now I REALLY wish I could go tonight, especially since it's Roman's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROMAN! I'm sure everyone's having a great time rocking out. I hope they're rocking out for me too.

Official Sites:
eNTERTAINME.nt
Boulevard
Girls on Film

Myspace Sites:
eNTERTAINME.nt
Boulevard
Girls on Film

These are the happiest days of my life

2005-10-21T15:10:00.000-05:00

I was watching this week's episode of MADE (again) on MTV and they just played My Favorite's The Happiest Days of My Life in the background. I also just checked my email, and there was a message from the My Favorite newsletter saying that Michael had a new blog. So go check out My Hope & Anchor. I wrote about My Favorite in August. They're another great band that I wished more people listened to. You can listen to some mp3s of theirs here. If I don't get to hear Burning Hearts at least once a day, I just don't feel right.

Paste Magazine's Rock 'n' Reel Festival (0ct. 22d & 23rd)

2005-10-20T18:57:00.000-05:00

Paste Magazine's 1st annual Rock 'n Reel Festival hits Decatur this weekend on Saturday October 22nd, and Sunday October 23rd. Over 30 bands will be playing, including Cary Brothers (a favorite of Dodge's) and Low, as well as local acts such as Hope For AGoldenSummer, Red Letter Agent, Anthony David and Elf Power. You'll also be able to check out over 12 hours of short films during the festival. Who doesn't love a good short film. It's very IFC. By the way, did I show you guys my IFC shirts that I got during Threadless' last $10 sale.

Yeah, they're awesome. I love them.

So if you don't have any plans this weekend, head on down to Decatur for the Rock 'n' Reel festival. And if you do have plans, well work them around the festival. Go here for more info on the lineup, schedule, and ticket prices.

They still need volunteers to help out during the festival, so if you're interested, please send an email to Kate Kiefer at kate@pastemagazine.com. You'll get in for free (which is always a plus) AND you'll get a free tshirt.

Oh and here are two songs:

Elf Power- Drawing Flies (from Walking with the Begger Boys)
Cary Brothers- loneliest Girl in the World (from Cary's website [:)

Finally, I'd like all of you to check out What We All Want, a great blog from a fellow ATLien, Austin. Go over and say hi, and add him to your links and visit him every day like good little blogging boys and girls.

Ok, I think that's all I had for today. Until next time people. Oh you all better be listening to those Nikka Costa tracks. Or I'm going to hunt you down and make you eat cold brussel sprouts for breakfast. Or something equally as horrible.

Baby don't fuck around put your back into it

2005-10-19T15:58:00.000-05:00

I got to see Nikka Costa Monday night for the first time ever. FUCKING AMAZING. I wrote about Nikka back in August, and if you read that post, you know how much I absolutely adore her music. I never could've imagined that her live show could possibly be as good as it was. She really blew me away. The following is what I wrote in my LJ.

Nikka Costa played here in Atlanta at Smiths Olde Bar. I've always wondered why she isn't more popular, and now I'm convinced that everyone NEEDS to hear her sing. Not only did she keep her energy up throughout the entire show (while running around and shaking every part of her body non stop) but the girl sang her ass off. Girlfriend worked it out like she was broke and the rent was due today. I mean, no one on earth should be able to sing THAT well. Vocally, she's up there with Aretha, Gladys, and Patti. Tickets were kind of expensive (especially for the venue, $19) but after the performance she put on last night, I can honestly say that I'd spend three times as much to see her again.

Nikka opened up for Lenny Kravitz when he played the Tabernacle earlier this year. I didn't go to that show so I'm glad that she came back to Atlanta for her headlining tour.

I recorded a few short video clips of Nikka performing at the beginning of the show. Her performances during the first couple of songs were tame compared to the stuff she was doing in the middle of the show and during the encores. She was all over the place, straddling the microphone stand, grinding on the guitar players, and shaking her ass harder and better than anyone I've ever seen. And I still think that there's a black girl in her somewhere. There just has to be.

Matthew picked me up around 8:20 and we got to Smiths Olde Bar a little before 9. I thought that Smiths was kind of a weird place for Nikka to play, but I guess there was no where else really where she could play. Maybe when she gets more popular (and it just has to happen) she'll play the Variety Playhouse or something.

There were already a lot of people upstairs when we got there. A really diverse group too. I was really glad that Nikka had so many people come out to see her. The opening band was called DriveBlind. They're originally from Scotland (the lead singer asked the crowd if we could understand him when he was talking in between songs) but they now live in LA. They were ok. Kind of your run of the mill modern rockers. But they did have awesome accents and the lead singer kind of reminded me of Tom Chaplin from Keane (looks wise, not voice wise). They played for about 30 minutes or so. By the end of their set, the room was packed. Michelle had made it to the show by then, so she and I got up closer to the stage while Matthew went to get a drink. And then the waiting began. That's always the worst part about shows for me, the waiting in between bands. And last night it seemed like Nikka was never going to come out on stage. But she finally did around 10:45.

Nikka opened up with Til I Get to U, the first track from Can'tneverdidnothin' and it sounded awesome. Her band was amazing. She has these two guitar players who are just really wicked good. Her piano player was phenomenal as well. The 2nd song she played was Like a Feather, and it sounded a little different from the album version. Like a Feather is of course the song that was in the Tommy commercial, and it was great last night too. Highlights of the show for me were So Have I For You (a song co written by the Beastie Boys which used to be my favorite song of Nikka's) and Push and Pull, which Nikka strapped on a guitar for (she told the crowd to sing along if we knew the words, and it was great hearing everyone around me sing it). She also did Tug of War, Everybody Got Their Something and Hope It Felt Good from the album Everybody Got Their Something. The other songs she did from Can'tneverdidnothin' were Fooled Ya Baby, On and On, Swing it Around, and Happy in the Morning. When she started Happy in the Morning, she stuck the microphone out in to the crowd so that we could repeat that one line after her. She was shocked when the crowd started singing the rest of the chorus, and she got this look on her face like, "Holy Shit! They actually know this song too?" Of course everyone was going to know Like a Feather and Everybody Got Their Something, but I think she was pleasantly surprised to see that so many people knew a song from the new record that wasn't even a single.

Nikka had a hard time remembering the words to Swing it Around (which oddly enough is a song that I tend to forget the words to as well) and she messed up at the beginning on the last verse and had to ask one of her guitarist what the next line was. But she just laughed it off. Swing it Around is a great song about men hitting on women, and Nikka said that if the men listened closely it would give them advice on what not to do. She said something to the effect of that if a man wants to get with her, he has to engage her mind first before she'll get interested in his dick (yes she said dick). Although, Nikka is married to producer Justin Stanley, so that doesn't apply to her anymore. She was totally dropping knowledge all night, and was funny as hell. Love Nikka! But the best part of the show was before she started Can'tneverdidnothin'. If you watch the Can'tneverdidnothin clip below, at the beginning she talks about her Georgia connections:

Nikka: ...and nobody in the industry wants to hear that shit, so I do gigs. And it's all live. And thank you so much for coming (crowd cheers)
Nikka: My mom's from Atlanta... (band starts to play) Hold on a second. It's Atlanta I gotta tell the story. My mom's from Atlanta (Loud yells from the crowd)
Nikka: My grandma lives in Conyers (Even Louder yells from the crowd)
Nikka: Is that near here? (some yeahs and nos)
Nikka: It is? Oh shit! (crowd laughs)
Someone from the crowd: She was at the last show
Nikka: She was at the last show, that's right. I brought her up at Lenny Kravitz. She's like 90. (laughs) Anyway, and ugh when I was little my mom used to always say "Can't never did nothing, and neither did couldn't." And I know ya'll know what I'm talking about. So I don't really have to explain it to you. Can'tneverdidnothin!

She did two encores: in the 1st one she did Some Kind of Beautiful and Funkier than a Mosquita's Tweeter, which sounded amazing with the bongo drums at the beginning. She did another song in the 1st encore, but I didn't know what it was. Maybe its from Butterfly Rocket (an album that was only released in Australia and is now out of press). The second encore was Around the World, and it was a perfect song to end the night.

The show ended I guess after midnight. It was fantastic though, and no one has ever impressed me more live than Nikka Costa did Monday night. If she comes to your town, please, please, please go and see her. Even if all you ever listen to is country or punk. I can't imagine anyone going to see her and not having the best time ever. She's great with the crowd, she gives 150% through the whole show, and she makes it clear that she's having a blast up on stage performing.

Sorry to any of you who live in Nashville because Nikka played at Exit Inn last night and you missed out. Big Time. But for everyone else, here are the rest of her fall tour dates. I think DriveBlind is the opening band for all dates. Atlanta was the first night of the tour, so she's not even close to finished rocking out.

Oct. 20: Raleigh, NC (Lincoln Center)
Oct. 21: Black Cat (Washington, DC)
Oct. 22: Canal Room (NY, NY)
Oct. 23: Axis (Boston, MA)
Oct. 24: World Cafe (Philadelphia, PA)
Oct. 26: Magic Bag (Detroit, MI)
Oct. 27: Rave II (Milwaukee, WI)
Oct. 28: Club Majestic (Madison, WI)
Oct. 29: Double Door (Chicago, IL)
Nov. 1: Bluebird (Denver, CO)
Nov. 3: The Clubhouse (Phoenix, AZ)
Nov. 4: Roxy Theater (Los Angeles, CA)
Nov. 6: The Independent (San Francisco, CA)

Here are links to the video clips. Now, all of the bad singing you hear is from the crowd and myself. Nikka was perfect.

Til I Get To U
Like a Feather
So Have I For You
Can'tneverdidnothin'

And here are a couple of tracks from the new record. Since I already posted some in August, here are a few different ones. Again, if you like what you hear, get her records. You'll love every song. ?uestlove played drums on Happy in the Morning, Lenny Kravitz played drums on On and On, and Lenny also played drums and bass on Fooled Ya Baby.

(from Can'tneverdidnothin')
Nikka Costa- Happy in the Morning
Nikka Costa- Fooled Ya Babby
Nikka Costa- On and On

We can start this dream again, we can have it all

2005-10-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

Aviator hasn't been around for a long time. As a matter of fact, I don't think they have an official website yet, and I only found out about them through myspace. The group got together just a few months ago when guitarist Casey Yarbrough and bassist Hilary Yarbrough (I think they're husband and wife) went on hiatus from their other band the Rolling Sixties. They were looking for other musicians to fill out the rhythm section of their side project, and were happy when they learned that bassist Robert Heublein and drummer Harry Baxley were also taking a break from their band, 1000 Fires. And so Aviator was born.

There are two songs that you can download on their myspace page. My favorite is Villain. I also love the fact that they have both Maura Davis (Denali/Bella Lea) and Keely Davis (Denali/Engine Down) in their top 8. Bands with good taste in music are usually pretty awesome. So take a listen.

Aviator-Villain

If God has a master plan, that only He understands, I hope it's your eyes He's seeing through

2005-10-14T09:27:00.000-05:00

I once had a massive crush on a guy who's a HUGE Depeche Mode fan. He was really cute, funny, and very sweet. He listened to The Smiths, New Order, and The Cure, but Depeche Mode was by far his favorite band. He even boasted that when he was a kid, he attended the big Rosebowl show the band did back in 1988, and swore that if you looked closely at the video of the concert, you could see his face in the crowd.

I was really surprised when I found myself crushing on this guy, especially since my first impression of him wasn't that great. He looked like one of those guys that hung around clubs trying to look cooler than they actually were, feeding corny lines to girls until one was foolish enough to fall for them. And he also looked like he'd have really bad taste in music. I knew that we'd never get along. But then one day, I was humming a Smiths song, and he started to sing the lyrics word for word. And I was shocked. Turns out that we listened to a lot of the same bands, and there was a lot more to him than I initially thought.

I've always wondered what people's first impressions of Depeche Mode were. One of my friends used to make fun of me for liking Speak and Spell era Depeche Mode (Dreaming of Me, New Life, etc.) because she said it all sounded like video game music. She was more a fan of songs like Never Let Me Down and Enjoy the Silence, which I suppose are less arcade sounding than the "video game" Depeche Mode tracks she couldn't stand.

But the thing about most of the songs from Speak and Spell is that they were written by Vince Clarke. I think Martin Gore only wrote Big Muff and Tora! Tora! Tora! and co-wrote Just Can't Get Enough with Vince. It's kind of frightening to think of all of the songs we may not have if Martin hadn't taken over on songwriting duties for the band when Vince left in 1981. But I don't think anyone can say that all of those great lyrics and catchy hooks weren't already in Martin Gore's head. He just needed the opportunity to get them out for everyone to hear.

With each album they put out, Depeche Mode seemed to get better. Their music became more introspective, more personal, more emotional. This seems like a natural progression of course, but it always amazes me when I see bands taking more steps backwards than forwards. Thankfully, Depeche Mode hasn't done that.

I've always thought that Dave Gahan had one of the most amazing voices in music. Sure there are people who sing better, but the bold and demanding quality of Dave's vocals grab onto you at the beginning of a song, and won't let go until the end. He sings with such confidence, that you expect every line to be some sort of proclamation. Maybe they are. With Martin Gore's writing style, you know that there isn't a word wasted in a Depeche Mode song.

Most people think that Violator is the quintessential Depeche Mode record (Carlos D once said it's the best record to have sex to). But even on your least favorite DM record, you still have those songs that hit you with an intense honesty and a passionate assurance. And isn't that what we love about this band?

The new Depeche Mode record, Playing the Angel, comes out on Tuesday. The band will kick off their North American tour in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on November 2nd. The first single from the record is called Precious. It seems that whenever I get into the car and turn on the radio, this song is playing. I absolutely love that.

Depeche Mode- Precious

If you just can't wait until Tuesday to hear the rest of the record, you can listen to it on the bands myspace page here. It's good. Really REALLY good. How did we ever get along without myspace?

Now for some of my favorite Depeche Mode tracks. It was hard to pick just a few, so that's why you're gonna get a whole bunch.

Depeche Mode- New Life (from Speak and Spell)
Depeche Mode- Stripped (from Black Celebration)
Depeche Mode- Everything Counts (from 101)
Depeche Mode- Sweetest Perfection (from Violator)
Depeche Mode- Condemnation (from Songs of Faith and Devotion) *preach brotha Dave*
Depeche Mode- Barrel of a Gun (from Ultra)
Depeche Mode- Shine (from Exciter)

Here are a few great covers of some Depeche Mode favorites. I totally forgot how amazing Tori Amos' cover of Enjoy the Silence is. And don't even get me started on the Placebo cover. They rocked the hell out of I Feel You.

Originals
(from Violator)
Depeche Mode- Enjoy The Silence
Depeche Mode- Personal Jesus
Depeche Mode- Clean

Depeche Mode- To Have and To Hold (from Music For the Masses)
Depeche Mode- I Feel You (from Songs of Faith and Devotion)

Covers
Tori Amos- Enjoy the Silence (from Strange Little Girls)
Johnny Cash- Personal Jesus (from American IV: The Man Comes Around)
Converge- Clean (from Deeper the Wound) *Yeah, the hardcore Converge*
Deftones- To Have and To Hold (from For The Masses) *You suck if you pass this one up*
Placebo- I Feel You (from Black Market Music) *If you don't listen to this, you're missing out BIG TIME*

So what did we learn today children? Depeche Mode kicks ass. But you already knew that. Indoor Fireworks posted some cool Depeche Mode mixes last week, so you should give them a listen.

Oh, and as far as the guy that I had a crush on. Well I never knew for sure if he liked me even remotely and I was far too shy and easily embarrassed to find out. But whenever I hear a Depeche Mode song, I always think about him. Just the other day (Tuesday) my mom and I were at the grocery store and People are People came on over the speakers. And I wondered if he was hearing it whenever he was.

Official Depeche Mode site
Depeche Mode on Myspace
Violator (all female Depeche Mode Cover Band)

I'm not the one you want babe, I'm not the one you need

2005-10-12T10:37:00.000-05:00

I found this cool cover over at Muruch: M.I.A. covering' the Kaiser Chiefs song Everyday I love You Less and Less. But the best part is that Maya does the song over the beat for Sean Paul's Deport Them. Yes it's as awesome as it sounds. Deport Them is pre Dutty Rock Sean Paul, and it's good. Makes me want to wave my West Indian flags in the air carnival style.

M.I.A.- Everyday I Love You Less and Less
Kaiser Chiefs- Everyday I Love You Less and Less (from Employment)
Sean Paul- Deport Them (from Stage 1)

There's new Franz Ferdinand, Metric, and The Strokes over at Moroccan Role so give a listen (if you haven't heard them yet). Metric actually played here last night, but I didn't go. I've been slacking on going to shows lately, although I'll probably be going to see Nikka Costa on Monday. Calla and Gang of Four played in the same building on Saturday (one upstairs, the other downstairs) and I didn't go to either one. Michelle saw Gang of Four in Athens Friday night and said that they rocked the hell out. Apparently the R.E.M. boys were also there, and so again I've missed another chance to see Michael Stipe in person. Will it ever happen? Who knows. But probably not since the only time I've been back to Athens since graduation was for M.I.A. at the 40 Watt. Speaking of R.E.M., did guys here about the original members playing at a wedding this past Saturday?

Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix were on Oprah on Monday. So was Ricky Martin, but we don't so much care about him. Anyway, I think I'm developing a crush on Joaquin, and I'm excited about seeing his gorgeous mug all over the place in the next couple of months. Did you know that he's been vegan since the age of three? Interesting fun fact!. Anyway, Walk the Line comes out November 18th (although who knows when I'll actually see it). Both played their own instruments and sang all the songs in the movie, which is really impressive since Joaquin said that he never even hummed in the shower before he started working on the movie. All together they recorded 26 songs for the movie, which is really amazing. On Oprah, they showed a lot of clips from the film, and Reese and Joaquin had to actually perform in front of 3,000 people. I would've been terrified. It'll be interesting to see what the soundtrack sounds like. It comes out November 15th. Here are the tracks:

"Get Rhythm," Joaquin Phoenix
"I Walk the Line," Joaquin Phoenix
"Wildwood Flower," Reese Witherspoon
"Lewis Boogie Blues," Waylon Payne
"Ring of Fire," Joaquin Phoenix
"You're My Baby," Johnathan Rice
"Cry Cry Cry," Joaquin Phoenix
"Folsom Prison Blues," Joaquin Phoenix
"That's All Right," Tyler Hilton
"Juke Box Blues," Reese Witherspoon
"It Ain't Me Babe," Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon
"Home of the Blues," Joaquin Phoenix
"Milk Cow Blues," Tyler Hilton
"I'm a Long Way From Home," Shooter Jennings
"Cocaine Blues," Joaquin Phoenix
"Jackson," Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon

I saw Clay Pigeons this weekend on Bravo. It's a movie Joaquin did back in 1998 with Janeane Garofalo and Vince Vaughn. I haven't seen Joaquin in too many movies (Gladiator and Inventing the Abbots are the other two I've seen) but he's definitely come into his own. Now when I hear his name, I think, "Great actor", and not "River's brother."

I think I had a point to all this...oh yeah. So when watching the show, I remembered something I read in Newsweek last month when I was serving jury duty. There was a piece done on Joaquin and he talked about how he met Johnny Cash five years ago at a party. Johnny played a song on his guitar for everyone and June sang along. And then I guess Johnny was getting ready to leave, and he came up to Joaquin and said, "I really loved that Gladiator. I really like the way you say, 'Your wife moaned like a whore as they ravaged her again and again.' "

Ok, so it's one thing to meet Johnny Cash. It's also one thing to have him tell you that he likes one of your movies. But having him actually quote a line you said word for word is pretty awesome. I'm sure Joaquin was never more flattered.

Maybe he's just a really modest person, but Joaquin said that just preparing to make the movie ( learning how to sing and play guitar, learning more about Johnny) was reward enough for him, and that anything that might happen afterwards (The Golden Globe or the Oscar) is just like icing on the cake. The more clips I see from this movie, and the more people talk about it, the more I think that it's going to be amazing. I'm totally jealous that Oprah's audience got to see it more than a month before everyone else does. Oh well

Here's a song from June and Johnny.

Johnny Cash and June Carter- It Ain't Me Babe (from Carryin' On)

And now, a hot picture of Joaquin. So what if this whole post was just an excuse to show you his picture. Sue me.

Edit: 2:41 pm
Wow. 17 of you have already downloaded the M.I.A. track and it's only been up for a few hours. Does that mean you like it?

One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you

2005-10-08T10:15:00.000-05:00

I've been looking for some black boots. I didn't want them to have really chunky heels or stiletto heels. And I already have 20 eye docs, so I didn't want those either. I also didn't want to pay an arm and leg either. Thursday, I found the perfect ones when I was at the mall with my mom.

I also got them in brown. And yes I do have on shorts. You just can't see them. Get your minds out of the gutter people!

My most recent purchase made me think of the Nancy Sinatra song. And like usual, I wondered how many other people had covered that song. When I do these covers posts, I'm always really surprised with the kind of covers I find. We all know that Jessica Simpson covered These Boots Were Made for Walkin for The Dukes of Hazzard remake. But who would've thought that Megadeth would have a cover of this song as well. And Crispin Glover. And KMFDM?

Apparently when Nancy Sinatra first started recording music, her first couple of singles didn't do very well. But then she teamed up with producer Lee Hazlewood and arranger Billy Strange. They told her to lower her voice and toughen her delivery. The two men created material for her that emphasized go-go tempos and heavy basslines. One of the first songs they came up with was These Boots Are Made for Walkin' and the rest, as they say, is history.

Here are the many different versions of the Nancy Sinatra classic. First, here are Nancy's version as well as Lee Hazzlewood's. Lee's version is really interesting, 'cause he kind of tells the story of how the song was written in between the verses.

Nancy Sinatra- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Boots)
Lee Hazzlewood- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from The Very Special World of Lee Hazzlewood)

Here are the rest:

Crispin Glover- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Big Problems Does Not Equal the Solution)
Geri Halliwell- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Bag it Up)
KMFDM- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Boots)
Jessica Simpson- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Dukes of Hazzard)
Loretta Lynn- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection)
Megadeth- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Killing is my Business...and Business is Good!)
Nick Cave & The Boys Next Door- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Boy Hero/These Boots single)
Operation Ivy- These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
The Ventures- These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (from Go with the Ventures)

I really wanted to post Lil Kim's version of These Boots which is the theme song for the reality show Growing Up Gotti on A&E. But I couldn't find it anywhere. I still can't believe that she's actually in jail. Anyway, if you want to write to Lil Kim here's here address in the big house.

Kimberly Jones / 56198-054
FDC PHILADELPHIA
FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER
P.O. BOX 562
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106

I just don't know for sure

2005-10-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

When I mentioned on my LJ that I was going to see Bloc Party, Tal asked if The Noisettes were opening, because they had opened for Bloc Party in New York. I said that I didn't know, and asked her what the sounded like. Tal said, "the singer reminds me of Leila from The Duke Spirit, and they kind of remind me of early PJ Harvey. The singer is nuts though. She did a cartwheel with the mic in her mouth Karen O style!" Of course I had to listen to this band immediately.

When I went to their site, I was surprised to learn that there is a band from Athens, GA also called the Noisettes (I've never heard of them which is kind of strange). Funny huh? Anywho, the track Don't Give Up was available for download on their site, so I gave it a listen to. It's fucking awesome and so you should listen to it too.

The Noisettes- Don't Give Up

The Noisettes are Shingai Shoniwa (bass/vocals), Dan Smith (guitar) and Jamie Morrison (drums). They're from the UK but I can't say that I've heard of any other UK band that sounds anything like them. NME said that they're, "the best kept secret in Rock 'N' Roll." The band was recently in Los Angeles for three months recording songs for their upcoming album. It will be out sometime next year, February at the earliest.

The few Noisettes reviews I've read have all mentioned that Shingai has a great blues rock voice. One reviewer even said that she has "the ability to wail and shout like a female Robert Plant for the post-punk generation." So even if you're not a Led Zeppelin fan, you've gotta admit that Robert Plant could do some really amazing things vocally. And so can Shingai.

I was gonna be super awesome and give you two more tracks from their four song EP, Three Moods of the Noisettes. But then I thought it was too good for people NOT to buy immediately. I only heard one song of theirs before ordering it. So after listening to Don't Give Up, your next action should be pretty obvious. However, don't be fooled into thinking that the rest of the EPs songs sound like the first one.

The second track, Monte Christo, stands in great contrast to the chaotic style of Don't Give Up. On Monte Christo, Shingai definitely demonstrates the "sultry purrs and jazz diva scats" that she's loved for. With Dan backing her up on vocals and playing acoustic guitar, the song almost feels as though it could've been played during the time of the actual Monte Cristo.

Signs and Burn are also great tracks and the EP even has the video for Don't Give Up. The video is the next best thing we have to seeing them live, and gives a small look into how energetic their shows must be.

If you like what you've heard so far, I urge you, beg you, PLEAD with you to go and pick up Three Moods of the Noisettes. Pretty Please?

They say it's your birthday

2005-10-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

Today is my birthday! I'm 24 years old. Don't worry if you didn't know before. I'll still accept presents throughout the rest of the year. I share this birthday with Susan Sarandon, Rachael Leigh Cook, Buster Keaton, Charlton Heston, Anne Rice, Jackie Collins, Russel Simmons, Liev Schreiber, Patti LaBelle, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Alicia Silverstone. Here are some other things that have happened on October 4th in the past

On October 4th of....

1824, Mexico becomes a republic

1895, The first U.S. Open Golf tournament was held in Newport, Rhode Island

1931, the comic strip Dick Tracey by Chester Gould debuted

1941, Anne Rice was born

1957, the television sitcom Leave it to Beaver debuted on CBS and the Soviet Union launches Sputnik I

1970, Janis Joplin Died of a heroin overdose at the Landmark Hotel in Hollywood. She was 27

1965, Pope Paul VI became the 1st Pope to visit the Western Hemisphere

1988, televangelist Jim Bakker was indicted on federal charges of mail and wire fraud and of conspiring to defraud the public

According to This day in Music, the # 1 song in America on the day I was born was Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross. The # 1 song in the UK was Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants. Is it weird that I have both The Essential Adam Ant and Lionel Richie: The Definitive Collection?

Adam and the Ants- Prince Charming
Lionel Richie and Diana Ross- Endless Love

Ok, now for the birthday songs! Here are different renditions of the traditional song.

Babyshambles performing Happy Birthday to Mick Jones
Janis Joplin singing Happy Birthday and Happy Trails
Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to President Kennedy
The Ramones singing Happy Birthday to Mr. Burns on The Simpsons

And here are some other happy birthday songs

Altered Images- Happy Birthday (from I Could Be Happy)
The Beatles- Birthday (from The White Album)
The Birthday Party- Happy Birthday (from Hits)
Jimmy Hendrix- Happy Birthday (from The Summer of Love Sessions)
Stevie Wonder- Happy Birthday (from Hotter Than July)

This was me at my 2nd birthday party. Who let me stand on the chair like that by myself? At least I had enough sense to hold on to the back :)

I Used to Love H.E.R.

2005-10-02T18:47:00.000-05:00

The beauty of this song is that you don't realize what it's really about until it's almost over. But it makes just as much sense afterwards as it did in the beginning.

Common- I Used to Love Here (from Resurrection)

I met this girl when I was ten years old
And What I loved most she had so much soul
She was old school, when I was just a shorty
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me
On the regular, not a church girl she was secular
Not about the money, no studs was mic checkin her
But I respected her, she hit me in the heart
A few New York niggas had did her in the park
But she was there for me, and I was there for her
Pull out a chair for her, turn on the air for her
And just cool out, cool out and listen to her
Sittin on bone, wishin that I could do her
Eventually if it was meant to be, then it would be
Because we related, physically and mentally
And she was fun then, I'd be geeked when she'd come around
Slim was fresh yo, when she was underground
Original, pure, untampered, a down sister
Boy I tell ya, I miss her

You're my favorite number. All that counts is you.

2005-09-30T12:45:00.000-05:00

Today I'm going to give you some tunes from The Diskettes and Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Ok so I've been planning on writing this entry for a while now and finally got around to doing it today. And wouldn't you know, today is Frankie Lymon's birthday! Craziness. If he was alive today, he'd be 63. So Happy Birthday Frankie!

Now you might be thinking, "What do Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers have in common with The Diskettes?" Well for their 2003 self titled release, The Diskettes did a cover of the teenagers' hit song, ABC's of Love. Earlier this year, my friend Stafford and I were ordering CDRs practically every week from Asaurus Records, a label that specializes in indie pop, lo-fi, and "quiet noise". If you haven't been to the Asaurus store, I suggest you go visit. There's some great stuff there and most of their releases are less than $5. You can really go crazy ordering things from them if you're not careful, which Stafford and I found out when we first discovered the label. Anywho, during my Asaurus shopping spree, I ordered the Diskette's self titled record and loved their sound.

The Diskettes are from Canada and consist of David Barclay and Emily Beliveau. Their sound is a really friendly and happy go lucky sort of indie pop. But there's nothing that fancy in their sound. It's usually just some guitar, David and Emily's dual vocals, and the occasional maraca. Their music is perfect for lounging around and taking it easy with your friends. Their bio on Asaurus puts in perfectly. It reads, "The tunes sit perfectly for the poolside set, those who wear shorts, landlocked surfers, anyone who sells anything homemade, amateur local historians, professional hobbyists and anyone who enjoys wearing canvas deck shoes with no socks for the months of April to October."

Frankie Lymon died in 1968, long before the Diskette's recorded their version of The Teenagers song ABC's of Love. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers (originally just called The Premiers) were a doo wop group that formed in New York in the 1950s. In 1955, the group group had been working on a song called Why Do Birds Sing So Gay? Richard Barrett, lead singer of The Valentines, heard them singing one day, and wanted them to audition for George Goldner, owner of Rama Records, the label that The Valentines were signed to.

There are a couple of versions as to what happened the day the group went to audition for George. One was that lead singer, Herman Santiago, was sick with a cold and therefore couldn't sing lead that day. And so Frankie was the one who took over on lead vocals. In the other version of that days events, while Herman sang lead when the group auditioned, Frankie's voice (even singing backup) was the one that really stuck out. Frankie was a cute, 13 year old, bold in his singing style, but with a maturity that only seasoned performers usually possessed. Whatever really happened that day, Frankie became the lead singer, and the group was renamed Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.

In November of 1955, the group recorded Why Do Birds Sing So Gay? (which was retitled Why Do Fools Fall In Love?) at Bell Sound Studios in Manhattan. There would be lots of disputes later on about who actually had written the song (Herman Santiago or Frankie Lymon).

The song received lots of local airplay and entered the Billboard Charts in February of 1956. It would reach # 1 on the R&B charts and #6 on the Pop charts. Frankie Lymon became the first black teenage pop star, and the Teenagers singing style would serve as an initial inspiration for Barry Gordy, who modeled his entire Motown production approach around Frankie's vocal style.

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers were only together for 18 months. In the movie Why Do Fools Fall in Love (the story of Frankie Lymon), you can tell that there was an atmosphere of jealously that sprung up within the Teenagers when they saw that Frankie was becoming the stand out star in the group. Tensions came to a head when the group discovered that the label and Frankie's manager were trying to make Frankie a solo star while leaving the rest of the Teenagers in the dust. Frankie and the group split, and neither would have a successful career afterwards.

As with many child stars, Frankie got caught up in drugs and struggled to stay clean and sober while simultaneously trying to revive is ailing music career. Career wise, he was was pretty much over by the age of 18, and he died of a heroine overdose in 1968 at the age of 26.

If you ever get the chance, definitely watch the movie Why Do Fools Fall in Love? It comes on VH1 every now and then, and Larenz Tate plays a great Frankie Lymon. The story is told from the point of view of Frankie's three ex-wives, who battled in court over the royalties to the song Why Do Fools Fall in Love? One of Frankie's ex-wives was Zola Taylor (played in the movie by Halle Berry), a member of the doo wop group, The Platters. I believe Frankie's last ex wife was the one who got what money was left over in the end, although in 1992 a U.S. Federal Court ruled that Herman Santiago and not Frankie had written Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Anyway, the movie gives great insight into Frankie's crazy life, and his struggle to regain the success he has as a 13 year old boy.

So now that you know a little about the Diskettes and way more than you probably wanted to know about Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, here are some songs to listen to.

First, here are the two versions of ABC's of Love
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers- ABC's of Love
The Diskettes- ABCs of Love

I also really love The Diskettes cover of OMC's How Bizarre which can be found on Asaurus Records' box set You Already Have Too Many CDRs. So here's the Diskette's cover as well as OMC's original version
OMC- How Bizarre (from How Bizarre)
The Diskettes- How Bizarre (from You Already Have Too Many CDRs)

And here are two songs from The Diskette's newly released record Weeknights at Islandview Beach
The Diskettes- 1 2 3 4 5
The Diskettes- Get! Together!

For more Diskettes tracks visit these places:
The Diskettes on Myspace
Official Diskettes site
Asaurus Records

Ok, now for some more Teenagers stuff. I love the old doo wop sound so I think all of these songs are pretty damn awesome. All of these songs can be found on The Very Best of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Definitely listen to Goody Goody and Baby Baby

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers- Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers- I Want You To Be My Girl
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers- Baby Baby
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers- Goody Goody
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers- Little Bitty Pretty One

Kanye and Jesus are like THIS

2005-09-28T13:55:00.000-05:00

This was just posted in Negroclash. I found it funny so I thought I'd put it here.

K-Dubs: "So, nobody cares about us?"
JC: "Well, there's always the month of February. And c'mon, VH1 LOVES you guys..."

(from Late Registration)
Kanye West- Gold Digger (featuring Jamie Foxx)
Kanye West- Hey Mama

Bloc Party at the Tabernacle (Atlanta, GA) 9-26-05

2005-09-28T09:35:00.000-05:00

Bloc Party was awesome. I got there around 7:30 and was surprised to see that doors were already open. So I got two shirts, and went upstairs to find a spot near the stage. And guess what? There was hardly anyone in there! So I got the very last spot on the baracade, on the left side. Next to me was this guy named Tim who turned out to be really cool, and I talked with him throughout the whole show. The opening band was The Tom Collins band. They were like hard rocking americana almost, and I wondered who's idea it was to have them open up for Bloc Party since it seems as though their genres are miles apart. Oh well. Bloc Party went on a little after 9:30 opening up with So Here We Are. Kele was adorable as always. He has the best smile ever and they sounded awesome. Again, I don't know why people think they suck live 'cause they were fantastic. They pretty much played every song they've ever written. They played Blue Light, The Marshalls Are Dead, Banquet, Price of Gas (which Kele said is about evil), Helicopter (Whenever I've seen footage of Kele singing the line "Stop being so American," he always smiles. It's almost as if he's waiting to see how people are going to react to it), Little Thoughts, Positve Tension, She's Hearing Voices, This Modern Love, and Like Eating Glass. I can't remember if they played Luno or Staying Fat. Gordy was wearing a Death From Above shirt and it seems like they would've played Luno, but I just can't remember. The last two songs they played before the encores (yes as in more than one encore) were Plans and Pioneers. It's funny because Kele asked the crowd what songs they wanted to hear next, and people were shouting out all sorts of things, but mostly Plans and Pioneers. So they started playing Plans, and then Kele said, "If you play your cards right, you might get the other one as well." When they came back out to do the encores, the first song then did was Tulips which sounded AMAZING. I never thought I'd hear that live. They also played a song called The Present, which I can't remember if Kele said was a new or an old song. The final song they did was Skeleton which is like the fucking B-side of the Helipcoter 7 inch. Seriously, they were really playing EVERYTHING. Of course they didn't play Always New Depths which is the song I REALLY wanted to hear, but that's ok. There were a lot of people there, and it was nice to see that Bloc Party can pack the Tabernacle. This was the final show of Bloc Party's American tour, and Kele said, "I'm pleased to report to you that's it's gone very well." When they finished playing he said, "See ya next year." All in all, they were absolutely fantastic. And I'm happy that I finally got a chance to see them live.

Here's the best picture that I snapped during the show.

And here's a very, very short clip of the boys tuning in between songs. I would've recorded more, but the security guard was looking at me weird. And I would've recorded a performance but it would've sounded all muffled since I was right in front of the speakers.

Now for some music. Here are two songs that came on over the speakers while we were waiting for Bloc Party to play.

Les Savy Fav- Hold On to Your Genre (from Inches)
Kylie Minogue- Slow (from Body Language)

Also, I'd like to say congrats to Michelle who can die happy now after meeting Noel Gallagher last night. I've never been a massive Oasis fan, but even I know THAT'S HUGE! So I'm really excited for her. So here are some Oasis tracks.

(from (What's the Story) Morning Glory?)
Oasis- Roll With It
Oasis- Champagne Supernova

(from Be Here Now)
Oasis- D'You Know What I Mean
Oasis- Don't Go Away

It's taken me all this time to find out what I need

2005-09-25T16:42:00.000-05:00

I don't know if they still do this, but about once a year, 99x would put out a cd of Live performances and donate the money from the sales to a charity. The live performances were taped as apart of the Live X series, which is a program on the station where bands come in and perform in front of an audience. Usually the sets are acoustic. I had the pleasure of going to the Live X that Billy Corgan did back in 2000 and it was definitely a great experience for me.

I only have one Live X cd, and that's the third volume, 99X Live X III RAINN Songs. I'm sure I got it for the Bush track Comedown. I was OBSESSED with that band at the time. I think this particular Live X cd was released in 1996 or 1997 and proceeds from the sale of the cd went to RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) which was co-founded by Tori Amos in 1994. Definitely a great organization.

This cd is of course out of print. Only a limited number of copies were made, and most probably ended up in the hands of Atlanta radio listeners. But I think almost all of the tracks are here are really great, so I'm gonna post the whole record. The ones with * next to them are the tracks that are especially amazing. I'm sure you've all heard most of these songs before, but not done in the ways you're going to hear them.

Tori Amos- Silent All These Years *
Goo Goo Dolls- Name
Dave Matthews Band- Satellite
Melissa Etheridge- I Want to Come Over*
Better Than Ezra- Desperately Wanting*
Joan Osbourne- Ladder
Paul Westerberg- Love Untold*
Tracy Chapman- Fast Car*
Jars of Clay- Flood
Dishwalla- Counting Blue Cars
Jewel- You Were Meant For Me
Bush- Comedown*
Barenaked Ladies- The Old Apartment
Fleming & John- Love Songs*

If you need me to be sweet, then I can give you what you need

2005-09-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

Remember Luscious Jackson? They put out some really great stuff when they were together. The other day, Ladyfingers came on while I was listening to my iTunes library on random, and I remembered the first time I heard it, and how much I loved it right away. So I thought I'd write about them today.

The main players in Luscious Jackson were Kate Schellenbach (drums), Jill Cunniff (bass) and Gabby Glaser (guitar). They met in their teens during the NY post-punk scene of the early 80s. Kate played drums with the Beastie Boys when they were still a hardcore punk band. Jill met Kate when she interviewed the Beasties for her fanzine, The Decline of Art. The three girls started hanging out together and went to hardcore, reggae, hip-hop, and post punk shows together. Clearly all of the bands they saw in the early days would have a major influence of their sound when they formed Luscious Jackson.

After high school, Kate stayed in New York for college while Jill and Gabby moved to the west coast to attend art school in San Francisco. In 1991, Jill and Gabby returned to New York, and started working on songs together. They asked Kate, and Jill's friend, Vivian Trimble, to join their group. They called themselves Luscious Jackson, after a 60s basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers. The group released their debut EP, In Search of Manny, on Grand Royal in 1991. The EP was reissued in 1992 on Capitol/Grand Royal. The rest, as they say is history.

Vivian left the band in 1998, after the release of Fever In, Fever Out. I clearly remember the video for Naked Eye, since it was on MTV every time I turned on my television. Fantasic video. Luscious Jackson put out their final record, Electric Honey, in 1999, and broke up in Early 2000.

Here are a couple of songs from Luscious Jackson's last two records. Electric Honey was a lot more upbeat than it's predecessor. Fever In, Fever Out, was more of a chilled out record that had this really great dark and haunting quality to it. Electric Honey was more fun and meant to be dance to. Luscious Jackson had a great ability to interpret many different genres of music and showcased a little bit of everything on all of their records. Everyone's probably heard Naked Eye and Ladyfingers, but definitely check out the other tracks as well.

(from Fever In, Fever Out)
Naked Eye
Why Do I Lie?
Mood Swing

(from Electric Honey)
Ladyfingers
Devotion
Sexy Hypnotist

M.I.A. at the 40 Watt (Athens, GA) 9-19-05

2005-09-20T18:47:00.000-05:00

I'm lazy, so I'm pretty much just gonna copy and paste from my LJ.

M.I.A. last night was amazing. If someone tells you that she isn't good live, don't listen to them, 'cause they don't know what the fuck they're talking about. She had a packed 40 Watt jumping up and down and singing their heads off to her songs.

Akeem picked me up from the North Ave. station around 7:30ish. we got to Athens a little after 9. There's was already a long line outside of the 40 Watt which I expected. But we got in quick enough and found a good spot near the front. Most of the people there, it seems, had come from outside of Athens (there were a lot of Atlanta people there) and while the crowd seemed small at first, it got bigger and bigger as time started to pass.

There was one opening act called Spank Rock who were from I believe Baltimore. They consisted of a DJ, a Hype man, and this skinny black guy rocking a fedora and an old school track jacket. There first song was I believe called Put that Pussy on Me. Yes. You read that correctly. I think it threw everyone off when he started singing about that particular part of the female body. But they were actually fun to watch, and got the crowd excited for M.I.A. I'm not too sure how long they played. These annoying girls got in front of us, and were all, "YAY! I love M.I.A.! I Can't wait til she plays Galang." But I tried to not let their ridiculous drunken yells bother me. They tried to give ma a beer as a peace offering for cutting in front of me but I declined.

I guess M.I.A. went on some time around 11:20 pm or so. The DJ came out (it wasn't Diplo) and spun for a bit, and then M.I.A. and her back up singer (Cherry I think her name is) came out and everyone just went nuts. By this point, the whole place was packed and I think she started off the show with her 16 bars in Bad Man, the final track on Missy Elliot's new album, The Cookbook. You just knew the rest of the show was going to be awesome after that. This is why M.I.A. puts on a good show:

She sounds exactly the same as she does on record which is awesome
She and Cherry are mad awesome winers (a west indian slang term that has to do with dancing)
She's all about crowd participation and gets close to the audience and has them shout back lyrics to her.
She rocks out just as hard as any band I've ever seen, with just a microphone.

So the songs she did were Pull Up the People, MIA, Fire Fire, 10 Dollar, Amazon, Bucky Done Gun, Sunshowers and of course Galang. I want to say that she did MIA over the beat for Bubba Sparxxx's Ugly (she asked the DJ if he had that) but don't quote me on that. It's weird, 'cause I'm usually really good about remembering stuff like that. But maybe I was just soo concerned with getting pictures (and I got some good ones). The DJ also kept ramdomly playing the sound bite of Kayne West saying that George Bush doesn't care about black people. The crowd especially loved that.

She did one encore: two songs, the last one being URAQT which I actually didn't think she'd play since it's not on the US version of Arular. I could tell that a lot of people didn't know that song, since the crowd wasn't screaming the lyrics to that one very loudly. I was of course, since it's been my favorite M.I.A. song for a while now.

M.I.A. finished around 12:30 am. Akeem and I waited around so that I could meet Maya and so that he could find out the name of the MC in Spank Rock. Maya was hanging out towards the back of the venue, talking to some people after the show. People were waiting for her to sign things so she started signing copies of Arular that people had with them. I brought my copy of her Pocko book to sign, figuring that it would be a more unique thing to get autographed. Maya was really surprised to see that I had it. She said, "Wow, you have my book! This is the first time I've seen it in the states." Akeem said that made me special. Haha. Then I waited for someone else to ask her for a picture first ('cause ya never know how people are about that) and then asked for one. I was pretty calm the whole time, but wish I had thought to ask her if she listens to soca at all. Although she probably does, especially since Cherry is from St. Vincent. I also wish I had mentioned that Akeem's and my parents are all West Indian. This was definitely one of the most culturally diverse shows I've been too. There were white kids, black kids, hispanic kids, east indian kids, just a little bit of everything. I think M.I.A. appeals to so many different kinds of people because her music is so diverse. She should be proud of the fact that no one else even comes close to doing what she's doing. After she took the picture with me, I said, "Thanks" in a kind of shy voice and Maya said, "Aww, it's ok." haha. She's super sweet. I love her more even now.

After getting the picture, Akeem and I left. We went to Walmart for snacks, and Quick Trip. I got home around 3, and had to get up 6:30. But it was all worth it. The show was amazing, and I'm so thrilled that I got to see Maya live.

Me and Maya

Pocko book

Go here for more pictures

M.I.A. day

2005-09-19T16:18:00.000-05:00

Looks like I definitely have a ride to Athens today for the M.I.A. show. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have cool pictures and a good story to share. I've gotta go get ready so, here are some more random tunes. Be good kiddies

~~Sunny Day Real Estate- In Circles~~ (from Diary)
~~Elastica- Connection~~ (from Elastica)
~~INXS- Need You Tonight~~ (from The Greatest Hits)
~~Refused- New Noise~~ (from The Shape of Punk to Come)

Oh and everyone should get one of these rad shirts from Threadless. They're only $10 and proceeds are going to the Red Cross to help Katrina victims

You are the very first time I felt alive

2005-09-18T12:40:00.000-05:00

Before my computer crapped out on me, I planned on writing about Estrela, a band from Augusta, Georgia. This morning I visited their myspace page to see what they've been up to lately, and it looks like they've gotten a new bass player. The split wasn't amicable it seems. You can read more about it here.

I first heard Estrela a couple of years ago, and remember them having sort of an emocore feel to them. In fact, I think they even likened themselves to Glassjaw. I wasn't that crazy about the singer's voice though (I totally can't remember his name right now), so I didn't really listen to them after that. But then earlier this year, my friend Akeem told me that I really had to listen to them. I explained to him that I had heard them before and wasn't really into it. Then he said, "But they have a new singer and she's amazing."

Changing singers can really make a band something completely different. And this was certainly the case for Estrela. With Chelsea Logue fronting the band, their sound changed to more suite her voice, and they sound like a completely different band now.

I saw Estrela at the very last Cotton Club show in Atlanta and was amazed at how well Chelsea's voice sounded live. I was thrilled when the band played Intramural, the first song of theirs that Akeem had me listen to. Intramural is one of those songs that have to listen to like 8 times in a row, because there's so much going on, and every lyric is one that you want to commit to memory. I've already listened to it 5 times today.

Some of the bands Estrela lists as influences are Dredg, The Mars Volta, and Incubus. You can definitely hear some old school Incubus in their stuff, so if you're a fan of Fungus Amongus/S.C.I.E.N.C.E. era Incubus, you'll definitely be able to hear similarities.

So here's the song that I love listening to over and over and over again as well as another track from their self titled demo.

~~Estrela-Intramural~~
~~Estrela- Eddifice~~

Estrela on Myspace
Estrela on Pure Volume

I'm back

2005-09-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

Hi People

Sorry that you haven't heard anything from me in a while. My computer crapped out on me, and for three weeks I was without the internet at home. That's right, no email, no flickr, and no music blogs. Yes it was as horrible as it sounds. Thankfully, I'm back online now. I've changed the template for the blog, 'cause the old one was getting...well old. Here are some random songs to start you off with.

Jane's Addiction- Jane Says (from Kettle Whistle)
N*E*R*D- Lapdance (from In Search Of...)
Incubus- A Certain Shade of Green (from S.C.I.E.N.C.E.)

But in the end it's you, without you I shake

2005-08-24T18:22:00.000-05:00

How much do I love the Prids? I love them SO much that when I went to a local radio station to meet Robert Smith, out of the hundreds of shirts, blouses, and tops that I own, I decided to wear the Prids heart and crossbones one.

No really, how much do I love The Prids? I love them so much that whenever they're in town, I ALWAYS see them play, even if I have to take the train to MJQ and then get a taxi all the way back to East Point. Because just even the thought of me not seeing them when they're in town makes me want to cry. The picture below is from Last summer when the band played at MJQ. I'm right down in front between the dude in the red shirt and the dude in the white shirt.

The Prids are Mistina Keith (bass/vocals), David Frederickson (guitar/vocals), Lee Zeeman (drums), and Eric Hold (keyboard). They call Portland, OR home and have been entertaining the locals with their post punk flavored brand of indie rock. I found out about the Prids through my friend Drew. I got to know through Mistina through LJ and a few AIM conversations. And when I finally saw them live for the first time in November of 2003, I was completely blown away. They are seriously one of the best live bands I've ever seen. And the chemistry they have in real life comes through in their music. They're totally in sync and in tune with each other, which makes for really amazing music. Mistina and David have been making music together for years, and their musical partnership continues to foster great songs.

The band has been described as New Order and My Bloody Valentine at their peaks. Besides being great musicians, the members of The Prids are also music fans, and know the importance of making every song as good or better as the last.

The Prids spent a lot of time in New York this spring, playing lots of shows, quite a few opening for Built to Spill. They've sold out of their Duracraft and Glider Screamer EPs. They're constantly working on new songs to amaze us with. Did I mention that they're also one of hte hardest working bands out there? They are everything a good band should be and more. Listen to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE SONGS. More can be found on their official site as well as their myspace page.

~~Shadow and Shadow~~
~~Let it Go~~

(from Love Zero)
~~The Problem~~
~~Contact~~

Official Site
Myspace
Luminal Records

It's a shame that our Messiahs move their pawns from different mountains

2005-08-21T10:09:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week in Georgia, there was a candlelight vigil at the state capital for the soldiers who had died fighting in Iraq. I imagine that all soldiers realize that there is a possibility that they won't make it back home, especially since so many of them have died since the war began. But it's so awful when you hear on the news that another soldier has died. And they're always so young. I'm 23 and there are so many things that I haven't done, and that's definitely the case for other people my age and younger. Some of these soldiers will never have the opportunity to get married, or travel to Greece, or learn how to play the drums.

I don't think I'd feel very brave if things were constantly blowing up around me, if I had to constantly watch my back. Even the toughest of men fighting in Iraq must get a little scared at times. There's so much uncertainty there. And it's hard to be hopeful all the time.

For the ones who do make it back home, there's still so much emotion that they have to deal with afterwards. I can't even imagine what having to shoot another person would feel like, or seeing your best friend get shot right next to you.

I hope all the soldiers get to come back home soon, and for good. Almost everyone knows someone who's over there. You want to be optimistic and say that one day there will be peace everywhere and that one day everyone will get along. But that will never happen. I guess the best we can do is hope that things will get a little better before they get a whole lot worse. And maybe people will be able to live full lives that won't be cut short.

I'm sure you've all heard War by Bob Marley and Love Vigilantes by New Order. I think both are great songs with a lot of strong imagery. You probably aren't as familiar with Glassjaw's Radio Cambodia, which appeared on their second full length record Worship and Tribute. I've always thought the lyrics were incredibly hard hitting and Daryl's voice in this song has such a sense of urgency to it, that I think it really brings across his feelings about war.

I'm not impressed, I guess I'm not impressed

with which dialect, which dialect marches best

and who reaches heaven in what order

when our kids are baptized in mortar.

~~Bob Marley- War~~ (from Legend Lives On)
~~New Order- Love Vigilanetes~~ (from Low Life)
~~Glassjaw- Radio Cambodia~~ (from Worship and Tribute)

2005-08-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

My computer has been acting especially awful these past few days and that's why the right side of my blog is all funky. I don't think I'll be able to fix it until my computer gets fixed. But you can still download stuff so it's all good.

Whatever falls to the ground, whatever sinks in the dirt

2005-08-15T20:20:00.000-05:00

When I was going to school in Athens, people in other towns used to ask me what the music scene was like nowadays. I guess that's something a lot of people wonder about 'cause Athens has been responsible for tons of great music over the years. Athens of course is home to legendary groups like R.E.M., The B-52s and Pylon. Talking with older Athens residents, I feel kind of sad that I wasn't there to watch one of the many shows R.E.M. played or hear the first time a B-52s song got a spin on WUOG.

One lady I know told me that back then, everyone went out to shows just to go see shows, no matter who was playing. There was this really great community of musicians and music lovers and everyone supported each other. But I think there's still that sense of camaraderie with Athens bands. Everyone in a band in Athens has at least one side project, and those side projects have people from other bands in them. Bands stick around for each others sets, borrow each others equipment, and play on each others records. I think all those things allow for so much great music to come out of that town.

While lately the Athens scene has become overrun with frat boy types starting bands that sound like some sort of Phish/Dave Matthews/Jack Johnson Frankenstein, people should take comfort in knowing that you can still go downtown to Tasty World or the Caledonia and catch Iron Hero, Coulier, or Boulevard. I'd say one of the biggest local groups in Athens right now is the "calculator funk" quartet, We Versus the Shark. The sharkies as they're affectionately called, have some of the most loyal and dedicated fans in Athens. Whenever they play a show in town, there are gonna be a ton of kids to see them. Everyone loves The Sharkies.

this is an old picture but i like it so deal

You might be asking, "Hey Shaliza, what the hell is calculator funk?" It's exactly what it sounds like silly. We Versus the Shark mostly get thrown into the Math Rock/Experimental category and would probably be enjoyed by fans of Les Savy Fav, Q and Not U, and Fugazi. Words like manic, cerebral, and quirky have been used to described their sound. There's definitely some of all of those things in the Sharkies music. But there's also something that makes you want to listen to their songs over and over again. Oh and dance too. Definitely dance. That's why the Athens kids can't get enough of them.

There was this rad picture of guitarist Samantha Paulsen on the cover of The Red and Black, UGA's student newspaper, about 2 years ago. I hadn't really heard any We Versus the Shark songs at that time, but when I saw that Sam was wearing a Pretty Girls Make Graves shirt, I figured they deserved a few listens.

Here are my three favorite tracks from the We Versus the Shark cd Ruin Everything! You can purchase it here.
~~You Don't Have to Kick It~~
~~Slide~~
~~Easter Island is for Lovers~~

A little bit country

2005-08-14T01:01:00.000-05:00

Since I've been super busy lately, I haven't been able to visit my long ass list of blogs, which is what I loved doing every day when I first started blogging. So I'm using today to catch up.

Looks like I missed a bunch of awesome stuff at Blow Up Doll, including The Waitress' I Know What Boys Like, and Leslie Gore's You Dont Own Me. This blog is great and features songs by female artists. Go here for the Waitresses' track, here for the Leslie Gore track, and go here to check out a song by Sissy Spacek. For the longest time I thought that Loretta Lynn had recorded a version of the Patsy Cline song There He Goes. In the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, there's a scene where Sissy Spacek sings it at a honky tonk. I was so impressed with that song when I first saw that movie (great movie if you haven't seen it) and was forever looking for that track. Then I discovered that it was actually Sissy singing in the movie, and not a recording of Loretta. It was really impressive.

Here's Sissy's version of the song from the Coal Miner's Daughter Soundtrack, and Patsy's original version.

~~Patsy Cline- There He Goes~~ (from The Patsy Cline Collection)
~~Sissy Spacek- There He Goes~~ (from Coal Miner's Daughter Soundtrack)

Thanks to Daily Refill, I found out that Adrien Grenier is the drummer for a band called The Honey Brothers. I've only seen Adrien in one movie (Drive Me Crazy) so it's really hard to rate his acting abilities. But these days it seems like a lot of actors want to do the music thing too ( Jared Leto, Adam Brody, etc). You can listen to song Honey Brothers songs on their myspace page.

There's a great new blog called Jukebox Upchuck, brought to you by Get Levitation's thenoiseboy. Check it out for The Go Betweens, Bell and Sebastian, and The Outsiders.

Now I'm not really a fan of mash ups. I mean I guess some of them are cool, but most of them just get on my nerves. But I've been going through my folder of downloaded stuff and I came across this mash of Amerie's 1 Thing and M.I.A.'s Pull Up the People. I think I only like this because it's two of my favorite songs, so I don't have a choice. It's all sorts of awesome ya know what I mean?

~~Carrasco - MIA's Thing~~

And in honor of the upcoming Johnny Cash bio flick Walk the Line starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon here's a track by June Carter Cash. I'm *hoping* the movie will be amazing, or else people are going to be pissed as hell. Check out the trailer here. Joaquin looks like he'll be a pretty convincing Johnny Cash. And I think Reese will do a good job as June. I love it when she lets the southern girl in her come out.

~~June Carter Cash- Heel~~ (from Keep on the Sunny Side)

We're all going to hell for the songs we sing.
What about me Jerry Lee? Am I going to hell?
Naw June. You're beautiful

No use on dwelling on the things you'll soon forget.

2005-08-13T14:48:00.000-05:00

Last week one of my favorite bands traveled to a Vancouver studio to start mixing their third album. Pretty Girls Make Graves finished recording their new record last month, and hopefully it will be out on Matador before the year is up.

If you've looked over to the left in my "about me" section and wondered who the hell Andrea Zollo is, she's the lead singer for one of my top 5 favorites, Pretty Girls Make Graves. I met her and Nick after a show and Nick signed my copy of Good Health with an Andrew W.K. quote he had heard a few nights before.

And when I met Andrea, she told me that I had a pretty name, and of course that made me happy for days. She's just awesome, it's as simple as that.

In June I posted about Pretty Girls Make Graves but only talked about songs from their first full length Good Health. That cd was released on Lookout! in April of 2002 and is definitely an indie rock favorite for many. I was really excited for the band when I heard that they had signed with Matador. Every band wants to sign with Matador.

The first time I saw them was at the Masquerade when they opened for Alkaline Trio. They only played about 4 songs from Good Health. The rest were all new songs from The New Romance. Out of the new songs that they played that night, the one that stuck out in my head the most had Andrea singing, "You aren't the ones who fascinate us." A few months later I heard the entire record before it was released and The Grandmother Wolf immediately became my favorite track. But then The Teeth Collector became my new favorite, and then after that This Is Our Emergency. It changed every couple of weeks. I bought The New Romancethe day it came out at School Kids Records in Athens. Every single song is fantastic. This band isn't capable of writing bad songs. Every thing they do is amazing and everything they release is better than the last.

Now, this might be blasphemy to some Pretty Girls Make Graves fans, but The New Romance is definitely my favorite out of their two full lengths. Don't get me wrong, both records are phenomenal and every song is great. But The New Romance seems to have so much going on that every time I listen to it, I hear something new. And with as many times as I've listened to it, that's pretty amazing.

The band has lots of tour dates on their website and there's a good chance that they're coming to a town near you. Well unless you live in the South East. I haven't seen them since March of 2004 and its definitely about time. I'm totally jealous of the people who live on the west coast 'cause they play shows constantly over there. I hope you guys know how good you have it.

Below are my favorites from The New Romance. There are a lot of reasons why I love this band. I love their sound, I love it that I feel like dancing whenever I hear one of their songs, I love the fact that Andrea's lyrics mean more and more to me with every listen. So check these out.

(from The New Romance)

~~The Grandmother Wolf~~
~~All Medicated Geniuses~~
~~The Teeth Collector~~
~~This is Our Emergency~~
~~A Certain Cemetery~~

If you like these songs, definitely get the record, and definitely get Good Health and definitely get PGMG's self titled EP. I promise that you'll love everything.

Oh and if you want to hear More Sweet Soul, the song that my blog is named after, you can listen to it on PGMG's myspace profile.

But you didn't have much to say. But you were beautiful anyway

2005-08-10T19:27:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I try holding off on writing about certain bands because I want the largest possible audience to read about them. And I think that if I wait a couple of months, there will be at least a few more people who find my blog and in turn a few more people to read about said bands. But I've really wanted to write about Snowden for a while now, so here goes.

I first heard Snowden when they opened for The Prids at Lenny's in Atlanta. Before they went on, one of my friends pointed to their flyer hanging on the wall and said, "These guys are supposed to be really good. People call them the Atlanta Interpol." Being that I was absolutely enthralled with Turn on the Bright Lights at that time, I was definitely interested in hearing them.I casually listened to Snowden's set that night. I got distracted because my cousin was in town that night and I was hanging out with The Prids and doing other stuff. The little that I remember hearing I thought was good thing.

A few days after that show, I decided to find Snowden's website to REALLY give them a good listen like they deserved. I can't remember all the tracks that they had for download on their site at the time. But I can definitely remember one. The band had done a cover of The Zombies classic Time of the Season. I'm not a die hard Zombies fan or anything, but that's just a kick ass song. I was really interested to see how Snowden would interpret it. What I heard blew me away. This was my reaction to the song in an LJ post:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

EVERYONE go HERE right NOW and download this AMAZING cover of the Zombie's TIME OF THE SEASON that SNOWDEN did. WOW WOW WOW.

This is just about the coolest thing I've ever heard.

Even my friend Seth, who is the biggest music snob in the world, said that this track was genius musicially. Sometimes when you hear a cover and you end up really liking it, you wonder if you like it because that particular version is actually very good or because the song itself is a great song and hard to mess up. I was happy when I heared Snowden's other stuff because it was clear that they wrote really amazing songs too.

Jordan Jeffares is Snowden's founding member and main songwriter. When I first got a hold of Snowden's selt titled EP, I was so thrilled to hear such a great local band. Atlanta is known more for hip hop than indie music, so it was definitely nice to find out about Snowden. I can hear a little Interpol in their music, but there's definitely more Radiohead and My Bloody Valentine going on in their songs.

The first song that I really took to on the EP was Good News, which is funny because when I interviewed Jordan for my radio show a year ago, I think he said that Good News was his least favorite recording on the EP. I think everyone can agree that the line "It used to break my heart but it doesn't anymore," will get you every time. As if you wouldn't be pulled in by their gorgeous, lush sound, Jordan's lyrics are really incredible too.

I'd say that Snowden is one of the most popularbands in Atlanta right now. They're absolutely amazing live and every day people are catching on to just how wonderful their music is. Jordan's brother Preston runs Kiss Atlanta and hosts Decatur Social Club every Friday night. It's honestly one of the best times you could ever have dancing to the best music you've ever heard.

I've always thought of Snowden as one of those bands that will make it HUGE one day, and then every one will brag about how they were fans from the very beginning. So you should start listening to them now, so that you won't have to lie later on.

Snowden have all of the songs from their EP available for download on the music page of their site. But if you're too lazy to go there, you can download them below. You should definitely download each and every song. Trust me. They actually re-recorded all of the songs from the EP and so the versions you'll hear are different from the ones that appear on the cd. Having talked to Jordan on a few different occasions about his music, he always strives to make things the very best that they can be. But that's good because you know that you'll always get his absolute best. The cd and the 2.0 versions are both fantastic so you won't be losing either way. If you like what you hear you can purchase the EP here.

(from Snowden)
~~Victim Card~~
~~Good News~~
~~Chin Up~~
~~Kill the Power~~
~~Come Around~~
~~Anybody Else~~

Here's Snowden's recently released 7 inch single Black Eyes. Very, very good. Definitely listen to this one.

~~Black Eyes~~

And finally here's the track that first got my attention, Snowden's cover of the Zombies' Time of the Season.

~~Time of the Season~~

I drew the Eiffel tower upon her dress so we could see the world

2005-08-07T17:24:00.000-05:00

When I first started visiting music blogs, I came cross The Suburbs Are Killing Us. Great blog by the way, check it out. Anyway, I was totally excited when I saw this blog 'cause they took their moniker from a My Favorite song of the same name. And God knows, I LOVE My Favorite.

I discovered My Favorite a few years ago when I was doing my DJ shift at WUOG. We had one of their EPs, Joan of Arc Awaiting Trial, on our RC wall and I decided to play a track off of it during my set. There's a little slip of paper on all of the cds at the station where we kept track of what song was played last and when. I noticed that the most played track from the EP was the song Badge (Grace Under Pressure). I decided to play that one since it had to be good if everyone else played it. And It was.

My Favorite is another massively underrated band that you all should be listening to 'cause they're fantastic. They're from Long Island, which may seem a little odd when you hear their music. Most LI bands tend to lean towards the heartcore/screamo thing and My Favorite sound nothing like that. One writer described their music as an 80s mix tape, which is quite fitting actually. I hear Duran Duran in Love Absolute, The Cure in White Roses for Blue Girls, and The Smiths in The Happiest Days of Our Lives. I can't understand why they aren't more popular, especially since that sound has made quite a comeback in recent years. Also, I really enjoy the dual male/female vocals by Andrea and Michael that occurs in some of the songs, especially since Andrea has such a sweet voice.

I told Matt about My Favorite like a week or two ago and he was so impressed with the few songs he heard on their site, that he ordered one of the records and can't stop listening to it. In 2003, the band released The Happiness Days of Our Lives, a double cd that included all of the songs from their EPs (A Cult of One, The Kids Are All Wrong, Joan of Arc Awaiting Trial, and the unreleased Famous When Dead EP). This is a great thing to have since their EPs are no longer available to purchase. The first disc includes all the songs from their EPs (also known as The Joan of Arc Tapes) and the second disc has remixes of several of the songs from the EPs.

Go here to watch their videos for The Happiest Days of Our Lives and Burning Hearts. And definitely download the mp3 of Burning Hearts 'cause it's a fantastic song. Also sign up for their mailing list and tell them to play wherever you're from. I'm dying for them to play a show in Atlanta but I think they've yet to do a full out nation wide tour. Sadness.

Here are some standout tracks from The Happiest Days of Our Lives as well as three tracks from their 1999 record Love At Absolute Zero. 1,000,000 cool points for you if you can answer this question: From what movie was the scene at the beginning of The Suburbs are Killing Us (Double Agent Remix) taken? Here's a hint. The moving had a running Joan of Arc theme. Also definitely listen to the Phofo remix of Le Monster 'cause it's got a Jazzy/Bossa Nova feel to it.

(from Love at Absolute Zero)
~~Absolute Zero~~
~~Go Kid Go~~
~~Working Class Jacket~~

(from The Happiest Days Of Our Lives)

Disc 1:
~~The Suburbs Are Killing Us~~
~~Let Monster~~
~~Badge~~
~~L=P~~
~~White Roses for Blue Girls~~
~~Rescue Us~~

Disc 2:
~~The Suburbs Are Killing Us (Double Agent Remix)~~
~~Le Monster (Phofo Remix)~~
~~Badge (Soviet Remix)~~