Bright Eyes is a polarizing band. It seems that people either really love them or hate them. I don't care about the people who hate them. They are my favorite band, and I want to lie in a bath of Bright Eyes. What does that mean? It means that I want Bright Eyes to float all around me (not the actual musicians-- the music). Anyway, Conor Oberst is touring right now, and he is sharing some great music with people who aren't me. He played two new songs (temporarily titled "You Are Your Mom's" and "Kick") the last couple nights, and they are refreshing. Their last album was spectacular, but this is taking it back a little bit. New mixed with old.
Here is a video of one of my favorite songs, "Laura Laurent." Maybe I cried, but I'm not really sure.*
I saw Passion Pit at Sasquatch Music Festival in 2009 and I wasn't really impressed. It was really hot, my wife's ex-boyfriend was there . . . I just wasn't feeling it. I tried to listen to their album, but couldn't really get in to it.
The other day I decided to listen to their new album, Gossamer. I had reservations going in, my memories from their show, his overly high pitched falsetto etc. But what I found was something totally different and unexpected from my first experiences with the band.
Gossamer is one of the best pop albums of the year. It kept my attention from start to finish. His voice is more refined and the music is catchy without being annoying. For a pop album the lyrics are deep. From what I've read the lead singer,Michael Angelakos, has dealt with addition, mental illness, and other problems that he sings about on the album. The lead off track, 'Take a Walk' is my favorite song on the album, but keep on listening, it gets better as the album takes off. You can listen to it below if you have Spotify.
In high school I went through a really big Lou Reed/Velvet Underground phase. I loved him. He was so cool and rock and roll. After high school I moved on. Still loved him but never really listened to him much. Until recently. I've started listening to him again. I love getting back into old loves.
Drew Grella was in Seattle this week and I was telling him about how I love Lou Reed and he was telling me how is brother knows him and I was freaking out about that. Then he asked me why the love? To me, Lou Reed is the epitome of rock and roll and cool. He just does his thing, keeps it simple and doesn't care. His rhythms are great and his lyrics are interesting. And, I dunno, I just love him. Does one need a reason to love? Reed's voice, far from being beautiful has a great edge to it and is unique to him. A perfect rock n roll voice if you ask me. No one sounds like him. Maybe that's why I love him so much. No other band sounds like the Velvet Underground. At least that I know of.
Right now I'm really digging the album Lou Reed American Poet. It's live and it's soooo good.
If you haven't already, listen to Doolittle. I really want to listen to Surfer Rosa all the way through but I don't want porn on my mp3 player. I disagree with Bowie, Pixies to me are far better than the Sonic Youth.
Why didn't anyone tell me how incredible Margot & the Nuclear So & So's are? I can't stop listening to this song. Please listen to it and cry tears of happiness with me.
A.V. Club is a pop culture website a lot like Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Paste. They have a really cool feature they do every week called A.V. Undercover. The have a list of popular songs and invite musicians to come in and cover one of the songs. This is their third season and I would dare to say their best season. Below are a few of my favorites from this season and from the past seasons. You can listen to all of them at www.avclub.com
This past Memorial Day, my wife, some friends and I were able to see Bon Iver in Salt Lake. It was AMAZING!!!!! Seriously, every time I look back on it I still get chills. Here are a few pics from that beautiful concert. Hope you enjoy.
Every Saturday night I'm going to post my top listened to artists of the week from my last.fm account. If you haven't heard of last.fm it's an application you download to your computer that keeps track of everything you listen to on iTunes, Spotify, and your iPod. Then it compiles the statistics on your online profile. I've had mine for 5 years now and I constantly check it. It keeps track of your weekly, monthly, yearly, and overall listened to songs and artists. It's free and I love it.
Anyway these are my top ten this week. I pretty much just listened to the Walkmen's new album "Heaven." If you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend it. You can also read Ryan's post about their recent show in Salt Lake City by clicking here
http://wireswavesmusic.blogspot.com/2012/07/concert-review-walkmen.html
I'm going to talk about something other than music for a second. More specifically I'm going to talk about this blog. Even more specifically, my last post. Then I'm going to get even more specific and talk about the internet.
So I posted this blog and it really pissed one person off. Someone who doesn't even know me. While I secretly take great pleasure in this, it also concerns me a bit. I've noticed this happens on the internet all too often. So, let's all just take a deep breath and remember that not everyone is going to love the things that we love and that's okay. It doesn't make them close-minded. It doesn't make them stupid. It just makes them different from you. Let's also remember not to come to outlandish conclusions based on a couple sentences. ALSO, why does everyone get so offended by the term "hipster." It's been used since the 1800's. Why all of a sudden do people hate being described as one? I've been defined as a hipster before and I'm ok with it. Call me whatever you want. I don't care.
Anyways, my point here is you don't know me! Don't judge me! (Pretend I was saying that like a sassy black girl, k?) When we're on the internet, let's just remember to be kind and not take offense so easily. Let's be less defensive and accusatory in general.
DISCLAIMER: Not all the people in the studio I work in are hipsters. It was just the easiest word to use to give you a sense of the environment I work in. I don't think new music is bad. Most of it is pretty good. In fact, there is quite a bit of it I really love. I just find that there is a lot of it I don't enjoy as much as the older stuff.
Damn dirty hipsters be up in my grill about my opinions!
In less than two weeks I am traveling to Japan. I have never
left North America and I'm excited for this adventure! Here are a few examples
of cool bands from Japan so you can share in my excitement a little bit…
PS some of this stuff is pretty noisy and eccentric
PPS if you like Explosions in the Sky listen to the Mono album "Hymn to the Immortal Wind". It’s similar, but dare I say… better.
I like a lot of new music. That being said, most of my
favorite bands date back to 2003-2005. Those were big music discovering years
for me, I guess (Thanks Kazaa, Hot Topic, and FYE). Anyway, Eisley is one of
those bands that started in the year 20-five for me. I got my license around that time, and I
listened and to Eisley on the way to school every morning (Thanks, Eisley, for
helping me discover my singing talent). In 2006, I saw Eisley at the Great
American Music Hall in San Francisco, the greatest city in the world. It was a
lot of fun. Everybody sang along and had a magical time.
Move to the year 2012. It’s hot, and we’re in a foreign land
far from the equator. It’s Missouri. Zach and I drove 1.7 hours to reach
Springfield. Sadly, we didn’t see any Simpsons. On a good note, we saw Eisley.
They played at the Outland Ballroom, a really tiny venue above a shop in
downtown Springfield. They were preceded by Ski Lift, a local band, and
Merriment, made up of their two youngest siblings.
They started the show with “Smarter,” which is a really
badass song that I love. I even told Zach in the car, “I hope they start with ‘Smarter.’”
They mostly played songs from The Valley and Deep Space (their new EP), but
they did play the Eissentials (Eisley + essentials) such as “Golly Sandra” and “Marvelous
Things.” I am a really big Sherri Dupree fan, but my favorite part of the show
was when Chauntelle (lead guitarist) played and song. She has said in past
interviews that she didn’t sing much because she was shy, but I’m really glad
she got over it and has started singing more. Also, she is pregnant (and so is
Stacy)! She is the coolest mom ever.
They are a really talented band, and I am glad they haven’t
stopped making music. They’re taking time off to make some babies or something,
but they’ll be back with a new album sometime next year. Here is a video:
I suppose it's my turn to say a little something. I've sort of fallen out of the blogging world since college. It's not that I don't like blogging. I love it. I just don't do it. Even worse is the music world. I'm totally in my own little world when it comes to that. These last two years I've just been sticking to what I know and if I start listening to anything "new" it's usually something older than I am. Like, recently I've been getting into the blues a lot more and listening to musicians like Muddy Waters or Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Getting into new music stresses me out sometimes. Everyone will be raving about these bands and I'll try listening to them and get bored. I don't know what it is. There are just so many new bands anymore and to me, they all sound pretty much the same. Am I the only one that thinks this? I think maybe there's something wrong with me. I just need something catchy, something with and edge to it. It's rock and roll for me.
I've been working at this studio recently (I'm a photographer) that's packed full of young, twenty-something hipsters (same age as me). They're always talking about these bands that they love that I've never heard of before in my life. So we'll start playing them and it just puts me to sleep. I don't know how they do it. How do they stay so up to date? How do they not fall asleep with all these new bands that sound exactly the same and have no edge? There are just too many new bands for me. I'll stick to what I already know, thank you. It's rock and roll for me.
I feel like an old lady.
Ok, ok, so there are few good ones that I've started listening to over the last year and a half. Especially recently since I've started working with hipsters. Im' really loving The Black Keys (duh, everyone loves them, I'm just a little behind on it), The Butcher and The Builders, The Alabama Shakes, Old Crow Medicine Show and Fitz and The Tantrums. If you're into older, bluegrassy, bluesy, and/or motowney sounds, you'll like some of this stuff.
So I'll post on here about music, but it may be nothing new and exciting. I'm not that cool.
And just as a side note, let's talk about how all the cool new bands are photographed exactly the same...
The Walkmen are a five piece band who formed in New York City about ten years ago. They have released six full length albums and have toured extensively. I first saw them play a small all ages only club in Seattle in the winter of my freshman year of college (which was 2003 for those of you that are counting). I saw them once again at the Bumbershoot festival in 2008 and just this last Thursday I was in attendance at their performance at Salt Lake City’s Twilight Concert Series. This is a biased review, but most are. The Walkmen are one of my favorite bands.
The show began with only guitarist Paul Maroon playing a spare few notes on guitar. Within a minute singer Hamilton Leithauser joined him onstage and began singing their new song “Line By Line”. They were then joined by the rest of the band to round out the song. It was a cool way to start the show. The band played a lot of songs from their new Album Heaven and their 2 year old album Lisbon. The new songs really shone live! I really enjoyed “Heaven”, “Love Is Luck” and the beautiful vocals harmonies during “We Can’t Be Beat”. But the greatest moment of the show was when they played “The Rat”. This song literally elicits a physical response from my body! I basically am forced to jump, dance and thrash around uncontrollably and I love every second of it. Hamilton introduced the band and thanked the crowd a handful of times. For one of the best bands around they basically come across as just regular guys.
The band played together so well and Hamilton sang his guts and throat out, just like every time I have seen them. My friend asked me how he could sing like that and not lose his voice and I honestly don't know but as long as he keeps it up I will keep listening. I highly recommend checking The Walkmen out live and on record! This little review does not do them justice!
Check out this live clip and a song from their new album...
Esquire Magazine posted a really cool list on their website. They chose a song about each state in alphabetical order, starting with Alabama and ending with Wyoming. Good thing Spotify exists. I made my own modified playlist (I changed a few to fit my taste in music). My playlist is also in Alphabetical order. Listen to it and pretend you're on a really fast road trip.
I was driving around in the Honda CRV the other day listening to NPR (I'm a snob), and they were playing a world summer music preview. Most of it was weird music from India and South America, but they played something that caught my attention, a little band called the Mynah Birds, not to be confused with the Saddle Creek band the Mynabirds. These Mynah Birds formed in 1964. These Mynah Birds put out a record with Motown. These Mynabirds had Rick James (yes, that Rick James) on lead vocals and Neil Young playing guitar.
I was floored. Who knew the same guy who sings 'Super Freak' was in a band with one of the greatest singer songwriter, rock n rollers of all time? The two songs were released on a 7" on record store day just a few months ago. The first song reminds me of early Rolling Stones. You can stream it from Spotify below. Enjoy.
Looking at these albums made me realize my definition of Emo is pretty loose, but it's still my definition. All of it's good though, I promise you that.
American Football- S/T
At the Drive-In- Acrobatic Tenement, Relationship of Command
Braid- Lucky to be Alive
Brand New- Your Favorite Weapon
Cap'n Jazz- Analphabetapolothology
Fugazi- 13 Songs
The Get Up Kids- Something To Write Home About
Jawbreaker- 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, Dear You
Jets To Brazil- Orange Rhyming Dictionary
Jimmy Eat World- Clarity, Bleed American, Futures
Northstar- Pollyanna
The Promise Ring- Nothing Feels Good
Saves The Day- Through Being Cool, Stay What You Are
Say Anything- ...Is a Real Boy
Taking Back Sunday- Tell All Your Friends, Where You Want to Be
Weezer- Pinkerton
1. Wires and Waves is primarily a music blog, though we do write about other things occasionally.
2. We are a group of friends from college who love music.
3. We hope you enjoy our blog.
4. Contributors:
Tori Dickson,
Christina Gibson,
Zach Gibson,
Myke Olsen,
Jeff Poole,
Ryan Ward
5.Thanks to Amy Poole for our fantastic
blog design.
