Where I've been..

Obviously I haven't posted here in a couple of months. That is because I've been taking my writing "skills" to the much larger audience that http://radioexile.com provides. Yep, that right, I've sold out! Not to say that I won't post in here any more, I am just giving priority to the bigger site. In the mean time, check out Radio Exile cause it's pretty rad.

A Fake Empire Reviews.....Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line

This is a monumental post. This is my first attempt at an album review. Ever. So um yeah, if it's a bit rough, that's why.

But one of my favorite bands is releasing an album on Tuesday. Not only an album but their debut album. So if they can release their debut long-player, I can release my debut review.

Anywho.

Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line.

It is no secret that I love this band. One of the best live shows I've ever seen came from them and if I told you how many times I have listened to their EP, you would think less of me as a person. I think this worked against me with The Rhumb Line. I think my complete and total knowledge of their catalog, of every sound and every nuance of their songs, took away from the experience of The Rhumb Line for me.

First, there were no surprises. I knew everything that was on the record and I knew about how it was going to sound.

Second, I already knew how it should sound (or rather, how I wanted it to sound) so naturally when I heard how it actually sounded, I was disappointed.

Don't get me wrong. I love this album. It will be in my top ten for the year BUT it could have been a ton better I feel. I'll start by talking about what I don't like.

I don't like the tracklisting. It's not bad but it's not how I would have done it. I don't think Ghost Under Rocks is a good opening track and I was disappointed to see one of my favorite songs, A Manner To Act, was left off.

I don't like the production. The EP was underproduced. It sounded tepid and hesitant but that also gave it an endearing and warm quality. Wes's vocals were fantastic and full of authentic emotion. But on the LP Wes's vocals sound distant and metallic, as if they were recorded completely apart from the rest of the band.

The songs themselves sound more live, which is a good thing, but there are little things that bug me. Too Too Too Fast is the best Donnie Darko-esque 80's song that is not actually from the 1980's that I've heard. It has a great synth line and a fantastic rave up. Instead of putting the synth up front in the mix, they bury it behind the drums. Still a really good song but it could have been great. Same thing with the great Kate Bush cover, Suspended In Gaffa. If you listen to live recordings of the song, it builds and swell at the climax in a manner that is almost cinematic and that comes off sounding fantastic. The LP version of the song is still great, still builds but it doesn't swell with orchestral grandeur so it ends up feeling a bit flat.

Finally, Dying Is Fine. Great song. But the EP version is hands down better then the LP/current live version. The EP version is 6 minutes long and has this great Modest Mouse-esque jam in the middle. The version they play live (which is the version on the LP) now is only 4 minutes long and the completely cut out the best part of the song, the middle jam. The 4 minute song builds and builds and builds and then just sits there with its tension and does nothing about it. The EP version was so great because it built the same tension but then it released it, much in the manner of a rollar coaster climbing the initial hill. The LP version climbs the hill and stops while the EP version climbs the hill then rushes downward with a flurry of screams and waving arms.

After all that one would likely feel as if I thought this record was a wasted opportunity and a waste in general. But I don't. I love these songs. They do sound great. The recorded versions of the two newer songs (Oh, La and Run My Mouth Off) are fantastic and show an exiting future direction for this band. I love Wes as a front man and a singer and I love their unique set up and instrumentation.

This is a really good record and I can definitively say that your life will be improved by listening to it. Check it out.

7.9/10

Added Bonus! Here is how I would have made the Rhumb Line tracklist. Listen and enjoy! http://thebetterrhumb.muxtape.com/

In Retrospect....

In retrospect I should have entitled my Radiohead post "Meeting Radiohead Is Easy"


Damn.


"Oh yeah? Well, the stupid factory called. They're running out of YOU".


Enjoy the pictures:

In Yr. Head...Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

I messed up. I didn't charge the battery in my camera. I assumed it would be okay and well, we all know what happens when you assume.....A: you aren't able to get any photos or video of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Please forgive me.

And it's a shame too, cause Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (henceforth refered to SSLYBY) is a great band. Or rather a fun band. Or....it doesn't matter. They're just that band that you constantly underrate, never give the lavish praise so heaped upon so many other bands. SSLYBY does not have a lot going for them on the surface. They're from Springfield, MO (isn't that where the Simpsons takes place?). They're youngish and to call them unassuming is to give to much weight to the word "unassuming". These are the guys who, when you see them on stage, you realize that you'd been standing next to the lead singer for both opening acts and didn't even realize it.

Now that I've been dismissive and condescending towards SSLYBY...

But I love this band. They're just pure enjoyment. They operate in the melodic middle ground between Weezer, The Shins, and Elliott Smith. In fact, I think the Shins are the closest comparison for SSLYBY. Both bands feature short, catchy, jangly pop songs that are the pure embodiment of a hazy summer evening spent with close friends in grassy fields (with grassy clippings under your bare feet), full of diffused light and children running in slow motion.

That's the sort of overwrought writing that if I read in a review on pitchfork, I'd probably fire off an angry letter to Schreiber. But that's the is the mental image I get when I listen to these songs. And I listen to these songs often because I secretly love pure pop music. SSLYBY is pure pop music.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin is music to fall in love to. It's music to soundtrack a relationship. It's the "holy shit, am I in...LOVE?!" moment in pop form.

Broom, their debut album, is one of my favorite albums of all time. I've listened to it a couple times a month since I first found it in April of 2007. Oh, sad story. The only reason I ever listened to SSLYBY was because Boris Yeltsin himself died and I felt that illegally downloading his namesake band's album would be a fitting tribute. Turned out to be a good move for me. My favorite song on the album is the closer, a breezy two and a half minutes with one of the best and most devastating climaxes in a song I've ever heard. I wish this song was twice as long as it was.

Their second album is Pershing. I've had this album for some time but never really warmed up to it until just the past few weeks. While Broom was more immediate, Pershing it more a grower. But it features the same gorgeously catchy and simple pop songs.

I recently saw SSYLBY at Asbury Lanes in Asbury Park, NJ. What really impressed me most about the band was their fanbase. Here is a band whose fan base transcends your typical hipster scensters. Maybe it was because the show was in NJ, I don't know. But I cannot remember the last time I saw a show where a father accompanied his high school daughter to a show. I cannot remember a time when a band seemed to have an entire fan club at a show (and they were all young). Absolutely one of the most diverse crowds I've ever seen.

A quick note about Asbury Lanes. Best.Venue.Ever. Seriously. It's a bowling alley first and foremost. People were bowling during the show even. The middle half of the lanes were covered by the temporary stage. The place was literally across the street from the ocean (and a few feet from the more famous Stone Pony). I don't think they had invested any money into it since the 1970's at the latest but that's what made it wonderful. If Happy Days was took place in 1977 and had punk undertones instead of taking place in the 1950's, this would take the place of Arnold's Drive-In. It was a bowling alley, yes, but they had somewhat gourmet food (that was cheap!). No horrible pizza here. They had good beer (and cheap!). This place is absolutely my favorite semi-punk rock and non-intentionally hipster bowling alley ever. Such a cool place.

Okay, music. I'm using a new (and vastly superior) site for posting songs, Drop.io. You can find four songs from SSLYBY HERE. Two songs from Broom (Pangea and Gwyneth) and two from Pershing (Modern Mystery and I Think I Want To Die). Listen, enjoy, then go see them live and buy some vinyl.

http://drop.io/afakeempire

On Radiohead OR How I Was Less Than Ten Feet From My Idols

I finally saw Radiohead live for the first time Friday night, at the All Points West Festival. First off, the festival. What a gorgeous location. A large open grassy field on the banks of the Hudson/Atlantic with views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline so good I could not believe they existed. The festival itself seemed to be really well set up and run and they didn't seem to gouge you on the prices (well, $90 a day for tickets is pretty steep....). The only complaint I (and others) seemed to have was the long walk from the Light Rain to the actual grounds. It was probably close to a mile.

Second, Radiohead. Amazing. There is not a BETTER band over the course of the last 15 years. And I'm a weird person because I prefer In Rainbows to any other album of theirs.

Third, I managed to get into Radiohead's after party after the show. I was chilling there, drinking a beer, right next to Ed and Phil. I'm sure to some people who are more involved in the music industry this is a "so what" but for somebody who up until a couple of months ago was still going to crappy college frat parties, to be there at RADIOHEAD's party, the BEST band over the course of the past FIFTEEN years! Me? I, traditionally, am not a cool person. Or so past history tells me. And my friends. And that's okay, I don't really seek to be cool. But....I don't know, call me star-struck. And the funny thing is, as impressed as I am with their music, the true root of my respect for Radiohead comes from their handling of their business.

Like most college students I had no idea what I wanted to do for the longest time. I went to school for five years (in order to use all my track eligibility) and I did not even have a loose idea of what I wanted to do until I was half way through my 4th year of school. It was at that point I realized I wanted to work with music, the internet, and marketing. But while I had a concept of what I was interested in, I didn't even really know if such a place existed in the "real world". It was not until October of 2007 that I really began to construct and articulate what is was/is I want to do for my career and the genesis of this crystallization was the release of In Rainbows by Radiohead. When Radiohead came out with the "pay-what-you-wish" model for In Rainbows and then continued along those lines with numerous innovative and creative promotional events (free live webcasts, etc), I essentially saw my future. I spent the next 6 months or so deep in thought about what Radiohead and their followers (Saul Williams, Trent Reznor, etc) pioneered. I had found the thing I was truly passionate about (oh and if you work at all in the music industry or with social media or marketing then check out the site I just created http://www.hitsingularity.com )

So that is why going to a party with Radiohead has left me a giddy little boy; the chance to be next to my heros, but not in the way you'd think.

A Quick One...

So a quick little post here but I MUST share this song. Because I am in love. In love. Or perhaps, more accurately, in love again. Eddie Argos, lead singer of Art Brut, mastermind of my year-end topping Bang Bang Rock and Roll, the songsmith who won me over completely with Good Weekend (with possibly the best line/delivery in a song ever...."I've seen her naked....twice.....I'VE SEEN HER NAKED......TWWWWICEEEE!"), and the artist who disappointed me with the rifftacularly disappointing A Little Bit Complicated (okay fine, Nag Nag Nag Nag rocked) is back in full form with the band Glam Chops and I am, once again, in love.

So in love I'm resorting to horrific run-on sentences. Yes yes indeed.

But first, back history (if this post were a movie, this would be a cool flash back, possibly in black and white and absolutely in slow motion). Summer of '04. I, but a wee youth in the summer post freshman year of college, had for the first time a job and thusly, for the first time, money. And like any 18 year old college student with money for the first time, I spent it. All of it. You do not care to know how many CD's I bought that summer but I did receive a personal letter from the RIAA thanking me for my efforts to help negate the effects of piracy. Most likely my best purchase that summer was Rhino's No Thanks! punk rock boxset. A four disc education into the miracle of d.i.y., lo-fi, and three chords played quickly. It, if I may refrain from hyperbole, changed my life. I like lots of types of music. Heck, I like most types of music. But I love punk. I love the ideas behind it, I love the loud guitars, I love that you don't actually need to know what you're doing to be able to make some incredibly powerful and long lasting statements. Looking back now, four years later, I can see a large part of the personal philosophy that I follow today was derived from the No Thanks! box set, Our Band Could Be Your Life, and Please Kill Me; all things I experienced that summer.

So how does this relate to Glam Chops? First off (and most importantly, I feel), Glam Chops is the best name for a band that ever has been and likely ever will be. Honestly, all bands from now on should be given a numeric name, preferable in chronological order. No more will we have to deal with Clap Your Parade of Arcade Stars. No, they'll simply by known as Band #217. It is now useless to go on naming our bands with words because there will never be a more perfect name that Glam Chops.

Now that we've established that fact....

I love their song (and it's the only song of theirs that I've heard) "Are You Ready Eddie, Eddie Are You Ready?" because it sounds JUST like it came from the No Thanks! box set. It is absolutely perfect three minutes and thirty two seconds of of mid-1970's punk rock. Think (appropriately enough) of Eddie and the Hot Rods. It's glam-y, yes (it does have horns and a hit of Bowie after all) but it's also punk but more pub band punk. This song could be slipped onto No Thanks! and given to a 18 year old me and I wouldn't be able to tell it didn't belong. I'd probably actually guess it was just a Modern Lovers track.

Oh and did I mention that the last minute of the song is Eddie Argos singing/speaking/rapping over a bit that is highly (and by "highly" I mean they flat our stole but it's punk, it's okay) reminiscent of The Ramones, specifically Pinhead? I didn't? Well, I just did. It's amazing. Probably the pinnacle of my life, really.

But I don't wanna hype up this song too much. Here is the link. Click. Listen. Love. And, um, give me a job. Seriously.

Glam Chops - Are You Ready Eddie, Eddie Are You Ready?

To Potential Employers -

I am now at that point where I am (very) actively looking for a job, ideally jobs that are new media/social media related. I'd love to work in the music industry since that's what I'm truly passionate about. Again, those of you who actually know me are already sick about my rants and ravings about the music industry and it's future. Get me started and I will talk about how things are and how things should be and how the industry as a whole can get there for hours. I've posted some of these thoughts on other blogs I write and on my facebook. Although I'd love to be in the music industry, I am almost equally fascinated by media in general, especially how technology applies to it. The changes wrought by the Web 2.0 blow my mind and I want to be a part of them and the changes that will are on their way with the coming of Web 3.0/the Semantics Web.

But I'm getting a bit off topic. This post is mainly meant as a greeting to people who are reading this blog after reviewing my resume. First off, thanks. Really, thank you for taking the time to check this out. I do appreciate it, even if you come here and think I'm nuts or have terrible grammar or whatever. Which brings me to my second point. I was a bit conflicted about whether or not to include this blog on my resume. It was not and is not written for a professional audience. I write it for people who are passionate about music, especially undiscovered music and who want to read about band who deserve more attention then they are getting. As such, this is not the ideal endorsement of myself as an employee. I talk about stuff such as music downloading and the writing style is not polished but is rather an explosion of ideas and thoughts jotted down as quickly as possible. Yes, there are misspellings and yes my grammar is not always perfect. I could go back and edit everything and clean it up but I fear that would take the spirit out of my Lester Bangs-like ramblings (okay, comparing myself to Lester Bangs is a bit much, I know) and as I said, this is not written for a professional audience. I'm aware that they will read it but it's not for them.

The reason I included this blog on my resume is because I felt it was an easy way to show knowledge of and experience in new media, in social media, and passion for music/media. It was much easier (and space saving) to just include a link to this blog than it was to list out all the other blogs and tumblrs that I have, the flickr and photobucket accounts, the memberships on multiple social networking sites, the accounts on multiple video sites, the memberships to so many message boards dating back as far as 2000 (and the untold number of posts....I would guess more than 10,000), and so on. So yes, posting this blog was a lot easier than listing all that out on my resume. So I hope you read it for what it is and judge it based on that. Thanks

In Yr. Head...The Acorn

Those who have the honor (or curse....more likely curse) to hear my rants on a somewhat daily basis know that I can be prone to hyperbole when I describe things I like. I know this and they know this so it works. They just block out about half the adjectives I dispense and everything is alright. With this in mind, one would be hesitant to take my word when I say what I am going to say about The Acorn but honestly, I swear, I'm not exaggerating. Not much at least.

This story starts in September of 2007. Heady times full of mirth and innocence. Ahh, glory days. I had heard a few good things about on this internet thing about this band called Vampire Weekend so I made a note to check them out live. Conveniently they were playing a free show Vassar College (5 minutes from my apartment) three days from when I made a note to check them out. Really, it doesn't get much more convenient than that. So I went with not much in terms of expectations, having only heard a couple songs.....and was promptly blown away. I remarked to my friend at the show that this band, Vampire Weekend, would soon be playing on a much later stage. Much much larger. Well, here we are about 10 months, a Spin cover, and a SNL appearance later and I think it's fair to say that my prediction was pretty much on target (admittedly it was pretty obvious).

The first time I saw The Acorn was under similar circumstances. I'd heard a couple songs and really liked one. I'd heard some good rumblings on the internet about them. So I checked them out after work in May at the Mercury Lounge. I had low expectations. I was blown away. Once again I found myself telling a friend that this is a band that you're going to see playing much larger stages and soon.

Not that The Acorn is Vampire Weekend. They are obviously not. They don't have the same commercial appeal nor the same ability to write a great 3 minute pop song. No, on record they remind me more of early (EP) Arcade Fire, or maybe Arcade Fire with Vampire Weekend's sense of rhythm (technically wouldn't that be Paul Simon's sense of rhythm?). They play folk music with a world beat and that aspires to be grand and great without trying to be epic. Unlike so many other bands, The Acorn are not self-consciously hip. Maybe it's a Canadian thing?

Did I mention they're are from Ottawa? Not quite Montreal but you can see a similarity with many of those bands. They certainly are an interesting band to watch. The lead singer is half Honduran half Swiss. Their lead guitarist is asian. They have two drummers. Their latest album is a concept album about the lead singer/songwriter's mother. Not exactly your typical indie rock band (though the concept album about your mother sounds sort of like a Jeff Mangum/Fiery Furnaces collaboration...).

The record is good. Not great. Good. Interesting at times. Sort of boring at other. But live, they are fantastic. Live, these folk songs take on a grandeur and scale that brought to mind (and I hate to say this since I'm not really a fan of this band) U2. Yes, I just said it. The Acorn are the new U2. Lets hope Rolf is less insufferable than Bono.

Check this band out live and tell me if you agree.

Here is the band at City Sol on June 28th: Crooked Legs

Here are some links to some other videos I shot of the band in early May at the Mercury Lounge: Low Gravity, Crooked Legs, Flood

10,000 Words About No Age

Taken at Bard College and the Bowery Ballroom in early May of 2008

Don't Call It A Comeback

I'm back.  With power power?  No.  Just back.  Where have I been?  I've been hustlin'?  No, I've been busying graduating (Can I graduate?! Yes....yes I can) and looking for jobs (um.....no snarky songs to quote here) and looking for a new apartment.  Yes, I felt being a 20 something unemployed blogger wasn't cliched enough so I'm moving to Brooklyn, hopefully in a few weeks.  

But now that the horror/whore that was capping is over with, I can re-focus some attention here.  

So for my triumphant return, a list.  Mainly because I don't really have an videos or photos to post as of yet.  Shush.  Don't hate.

So a list.  What manner of list?  Well, it was going to be a Top X Albums.  But then, that's so arbitrary and limiting.    So I'm going to pick a method just as arbitrary but more suitable for my use.  So, without further ado, here is my Top 10 Favorite Arbitrary Collections of Music...

10 - Arcade Fire - Funeral > cause it's the best album of the 00's.  

9 - Animal Collective - an album consisting of 3 songs each from Sung Tongs, Feels, and Strawberry Jam > because AC singles - atmospheric filler = perfection

8 - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Broom > cause I love the last 30 seconds of "Gwyneth"more than I should.

7 - Pixies - first 6 songs from Surfer Rosa > lets be honest, it goes downhill steeply after that....but the first 6 songs were their best.

6 - Ra Ra Riot - not their debut album but an album of my own creation featuring, in this order, A Manner To Act, Each Year, Can You Tell, Suspended in Gaffa, St. Peter's Day Festival, Oh La, Everest, Too Too Too Fast, Run My Mouth Off, Ghost Under Rocks, Dying Is Fine.  

5 (tie) Tokyo Police Club - Tesselate > where Dave Monks sings "running barefoot, you and I"

Yeasayer - 2080 Live on Conan O'Brian > when they do the "YEAH YEAH" chant towards the end of the song

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - The entire first album is underrated and over hated.  It's crazy pop music sung by a crazy bob dylan impersonator and I adore it.

4- The Beatles - Abbey Road, side two > if I have to explain this then you don't love music.

3 - Mission Of Burma - An album that is mostly Signals Calls and Marches but also with Peking Spring, Max Ernst, Academy Fight Song, The Ballad of Johnny Burma, and That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate

2 - Neural Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea > As is because it's completely perfect as it is.

1 - The National -  Alligator + Boxer (but more realistically, most of Alligator but plus Fake Empire, Slow Show, Apartment Story, Squalor Victoria, and Mistaken For Strangers)

Update

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been busy trying to graduate, etc. I write this as I take a break from my 40 page paper (single spaces, of course) which is due in a little over a week.

Also, I've been hard at work on a new venture I hope to be able to pull off. I'm not going to say much about it now but it relates to the ideas I've been putting forward on the Tumblr I started, which is here: ThirdWaveofMusic

I'm seeing Man Man twice next week and Yeasayer once so I should get some good pictures/video to post after that. I also have some thoughts on lo-fi/Emperor X written that I need to post.

Things will pick up considerably once I finish up my degree in a few weeks.

In Yr. Head....Ra Ra Riot

Ra Ra Riot is a hard band to photograph.  You have to have a pretty good camera and actually have some skills as a photographer to capture them.  Why the difficulty?  Well, Ra Ra Riot is always on the move.  There is six of them: vocals and keyboards (Wesley), guitar (Milo), bass (Mathieu), drums (Cameron), cello (Alexandra), and violin (Rebecca).  But this is no chamber pop sextet, like they are so often portrayed.  No, Ra Ra Riot is like a Mentos thrown into a bottle of Diet Coke.  They are an explosion of energy, of limbs flailing, and instruments colliding.  Think band-in-a-blender wild exuberance of Minor Threat combined with the instrumentation and ernest enthusiasm of the Arcade Fire with a solid dose of the melodic nature of the Police.  

I'm trying to describe the band and I feel like I'm failing.  Ra Ra Riot is one of those bands that is greater than the sum of it's parts, greater than it's recordings (thus far) and a band that needs to be experienced.  

I've been trying to figure out, what was the best live show I ever saw.  Was it the Arcade Fire back in May or was it Ra Ra Riot last night at the Bowery.  I think it's Ra Ra Riot and here is why.  The Arcade Fire was a incredible band giving a good show.  But they could roll out of bed on a cold Canadian winter morning and give a show that good.  That's not to take away from them, that's actually a compliment.  But Ra Ra Riot last night was a good band giving the performance of their lives, a good band giving an incredible show.  The band knew it.  The crowd knew it.  The crowd was causing the band to escalate and the band returned the favor and caused the crowd to escalate and the whole night everybody in the Bowery Ballroom just spiraled upwards, out of control.

This was the 4th time I've seen Ra Ra Riot live.  I first heard their music courtesy of somebody from Syracuse, where the band formed at college.  This was back about a year ago, in April of '07.  I thought they were okay.  They only had an EP out and while it was interesting, had a Arcade Fire meets the Police vibe to it, I didn't obsess over it or anything.  Later that summer, in June, they headlined a show at the wonderful South Street Seaport Festival.  By this point I was starting to really enjoy their EP and hey, free show in the city.  So I went with the girlfriend, sister, and her friend.  None of us really knew the band at all outside of a song or two.  We were all blown away. We all proceeded to become completely obsessed with the band.  So much so that the girlfriend, another friend and I drove all the way to Boston to see them at the Friends of John Benefit concert in the middle of a blizzard. Disappointingly, they kind of sucked.  They were lifeless and boring.  

I saw them again, a month later, on a whim, opening for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.  They were really good.  Not as great as they were at Seaport but still damn good.

But then last night.  Wow.  Like I said earlier, I'm still searching for words to describe them.  Probably the best show I've ever seen.  

I would be remiss if I didn't go into some of Ra Ra's songs.  So without further ado:

- A Manner To Act: a two minute blast of swirling strings and skronky guitar before it all collapses in on itself

- Can You Tell - a sweet Police-esque number

- Dying Is Fine - Tragically relevant yet ultimately triumphant with a middle jam session reminiscent of Modest Mouse.

- Suspended in Gaffa and Hounds of Love - The two covers they perform, both by Kate Bush, both work wonderfully with the Ra Ra's strings. 

- Too Too Too Fast - This song should have been on the Donnie Darko soundtrack.  It sounds like something you'd hear on one of the multitudes of the Best of the 1980s! cd's they used to hawk on tv all the time.  It's like a great lost song by a-ha or Tears For Fears.  It has such a good 80's vibe that for the longest time I thought it was a cover.  Hell, maybe it is a cover.  

What I think I love about Ra Ra Riot is how they use their string section.  Stings are not uncommon, especially in adventurous indie rock (thanks a lot Sufjan).  But most bands use strings as an after thought, an arrangement, a finishing touch.  Not so with Ra Ra Riot.  Not only are the strings integral to the songs themselves, they're often the lead instrument.  Not many bands write riffs for a cello or violin and not too many bands have the hooks of their songs played by strings.  Pop music?  Yes (Toxic, anyone?).  Indie rock?  No.  But not only are the strings integral to the songs but Ra Ra Riot doesn't forget the first rule of rock like so many other bands, namely, don't forget to rock.  So there are strings but the songs bounce along with a punk urgency.  

So I guess I've pretty much exhausted my feelings on Ra Ra Riot.  I'll leave by beseeching you to check these guys out.  They may not be my favorite band right now (The National) but they're my favorite new band and when they actually release an album, they could very well overtake the National for that top spot.

Here are the links to some video I shot at the Bowery Ballroom last night:

A Manner To Act

Run My Mouth Off

Too Too Too Fast

Ghost Under Rocks (2nd Encore)

Here is a link to an mp3 of A Manner To Act: Download

Here is the link to a recent live show on WOXY that's very good: Link

Coming Soon: Pictures from last night

Coming Soon....

Tomorrow (well, later today if you want to get technical) I'll have a lengthy review of the Ra Ra Riot concert from tonight/a fawning piece I'll write that'll completely gush about Ra Ra Riot and why I love them so much and why you should to. But now, off it bed cause it's 6:30am and if I write anything now it's going to come off looking like it came from the pen of a 13 year old girl.

The Response Thus Far...

This blog is less than 10 days old but already the response has been far greater than I could have possibly  hoped for.  I'm amazed anybody other that my sister and friends have seen this (and only them because I forced them to) but I've received very positive feedback from several sources already.

I'd especially like to that at this point aikakone for his comment on my piece about Liam Finn and to Sonic Parthenon for linking me to his blog.  Both of your comments completely made my day.

That being said, everybody should go listen to some National RIGHT NOW!

Top 5 Coolest People In Rock

5) Tom Waits.  

Why? 

 Um, because he's Tom Waits?

4) Larry Norman

Why? 

 Because he's the father of Christian Rock and yet he was one of the biggest influences for Frank Black Francis, founder of the Pixies, one of the coolest bands ever.  At the time of his death he was working on an album with Frank Black Francis and Issac Brock, who may or may not be the anti-christ.  Steve Albini, who is the anti-christ if Brock isn't, was also a fan.  I mean, how cool is that?

3) Thurston Moore - 

Why?

Because he's like the Godfather to indie rock and yet he still looks 14.  He's also written some sorta decent songs and he is in one of the two coolest bands of all time. 

2) John Cale

Why?  He left the Velvet Underground, the coolest band of all time.  How cool do you have to be to be too cool for the coolest band of all time? Because he played the ELECTRIC VIOLA in the coolest abnd of all time. Cause he has an awesome Welsh accent.  Because he's still relevant while Lou Reed is making new age yoga music.

1) Coco Moore

Why?

Okay, your father is Thurston Moore.  Your mom is Kim Gordon.  BOTH your parents are in Sonic Youth.  I mean, this is some like horrible Disney TV show come to life but instead of a Hannah Montana soundtrack you have Teenage Riot.  Your parents are normal suburban people by day but by night they preside over one of the coolest bands of all time.  I mean.....HER FATHER IS THURSTON MOORE!  HER MOM IS KIM GORDON!!!  How could she NOT be the coolest person ever?!??  Imagine being this child.  "Daddy, tell me a bedtime story"  "Okay...did I tell you about that one time me, Henry Rollins, and J Mascis...oh, I did?  How about the time that Daddy discovered Nirvana?  Oh I did, um how about the time Daddy was on the Simpsons...."  And so on.  Coolest.  Person.  Ever.

Why The National Are The Only Band That Matters (to college educated middle class white collar 20-somethings)

I have a confession to make.  For the longest time, almost four years now, Neutral Milk Hotel has been my favorite band.  I can no longer say this is case and be telling the truth.  I fear that The National have overtaken them.  Neutral Milk Hotel is dead, long live the king.

The first time I ever heard of The National was how most people heard about them "Hey!  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is playing my town!!! Wait a second, they're OPENING?!? For WHO?!? The National!? I never even heard of them".  Sad but true.  I was ignorant.  I had a friend tell me for the past couple of years that Alligator was brilliant.  Whatever.  He said that the Dismemberment Plan was brilliant too.  I brushed him off.  I might have at some point come into contact with Alligator.  I probably downloaded it (RIP Oinks), listened to two or three songs then got distracted and wandered off.  Hey, with a 30GB ipod and a 160GB hard drive, I have a lot of music.  If you don't grab me fast, I'm liable to wander off.  

Then came the girl and her offer of tickets to see the Arcade Fire.  "Who's opening?"  "I don't know...some band called The National"  " You know, I never got into them but I've heard good things...."

So they opened and they were good.  I liked them as much as probably is possible to like an opening band that you've never heard before (unless of course it's Man Man).  I probably went back, listened to Alligator again, probably downloaded Boxer as well.  By that point I think Alligator had made it onto my ipod but still, that's not saying much.

And yet, as the summer progressed, I began to make a transition in life.  My college career has begun to wind down.  My life as a business major is beginning to start up.  I started to spend more time in offices than I did in class rooms.  More time wandering dark cobblestone city streets than I did grassy campuses.  I began to be less of a teenager and more of a twenty something.  And Alligator began to make sense.  

As the summer turned into fall turned into winter and I managed to score the internship in the city that I most wanted, as relationships began to fall apart only to be resuscitated only to fall apart again, as I began to spend much of my time packed into commuter trains or in empty subway cars or in office buildings 5 floors above the trash strewn streets, as I no longer looked upon college students with any sort of connection, Alligator began to look positively genius to me.  Secret Meeting scored an interstate drive to see a friend.  Mr. November was the soundtrack to efforts to save a failing relationship.  I remember driving around back country Dutchess County one night, staring at the infinite night sky listening to Looking For Astronauts.  

Then as soon as my dalliance with Alligator began to reach it's peak, another lover, Boxer, began to try to steal my attention away.  Mr. November marked one pole of my life and Fake Empire the other and everything that I do, everything I feel, and everything that I think happens on that axis.  

I saw it written somewhere that Bruce Springsteen wrote songs for the blue collar American worker and that The National write songs for the white collar American worker.  That's exactly how I feel.  Me, the new blue blood, in my beloved white shirt with the tie I tied all by myself, have found my spokesperson.  The National speaks for those of us who despite putting our college degrees to good use, despite the daily commute and the daily grind, still harbor dreams of being an indie rock star.  After all, if Robert Pollard can lead the double life, why can't we.  And if that indie rock stardom fails than we'll just settle for a nice apartment and somebody else who returns out love and lets us listen to our vinyl as loudly as we want.

This is who the The National sing for and that is why I think they're my new favorite band.

In Yr. Head.....Liam Finn

The first thing you need to know about Liam Finn is that his manager sounds like Murray, the manager on Flight of the Conchords.  I heard the man on his cell phone before Liam played at SoundFix (a record store and bar in Brooklyn) on 2/26/2008 and I had to double take to make sure that indeed, it wasn't Murray.  It very well could have been what with Liam being from New Zealand and all. But atlas, no.

That being said, let me also say that Liam Finn is a hell of a performer.  His records are of the later period of Elliott Smith school of gloriously messy Beatles influences singer-songwriter rock and roll.  But what separates Finn from the thousands of other people doing the same things (well, besides the fact that he's far better at it, at the age of 24, than everybody else) is that live, he performs all the instrumentation from the album.  Guitar, vocals, bass, drums, theramin, everything.  That, my friends, is the miracle of loop petals.  

It's both fascinating and engaging to watch Finn construct a song live and not only that, but the songs work even in their skeletal state as he sculpts their structure (sorry...i wanted to see how many "s"'s i could fit into that line). His performance is never a staid and or dull but rather raw and and energetic.  By the time Liam gets to the crescendos of his song, he has created a glorious cacophony, a dense skronky wall of organic loops that play off each other in with interaction you rarely even see in a four piece band; by the time Liam throws down his guitar and runs to his drum set, it's all over and you're in love.  Your ears are in love, your eyes are in love, and your musical soul is in love.  High (and admittedly pretentious) praise, yes, but the guy puts on quite the show.  

It all wouldn't work, of course, if Finn couldn't write a decent song.  Despite being just 24, as I mentioned before, Liam is on the verge of breaking into (if he hasn't already) that elite group of songwriters populated by people like Elliott Smith and Jeff Mangum, people who you sit down and write a song that just stops you in your tracks, songs that would make you cry if you weren't so into it that you forget to.  Or are too busy banging your head.

In short, Liam Finn is amazing and his debut album, I'll Be Lightning, is already guaranteed a spot on my top 10 list for 2008.

Here are two songs, Second Chance and Lead Ballon

Here are links to three videos I shot of the show (sadly I missed the night's standout performance, Lead Ballon.  Also note that this being a show in a small bar, there were no drums.  Check out other videos on youtube to see his show in all it's glory)

Second Chance

Better To Be

Energy Spent

Top 5 Rejected Names For This Blog...

5) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Blog

4) In the Blog Over The Sea

3) There Will Be Blog

2) I Wanna Be Your Blog

1) Pitchfork Media

Oscars '08

My crystal ball says:

Picture: There Will Be Blood

Director: Coen Brothers

Actor: Daniel Day Lewis

Actress: Ellen Page

Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchette

Screenplay: Juno

I have spoken.

A Introduction Of Sorts To This Blog

Me: A 22 year old male student from somewhere in New York.  I'm a marketing major and I hope to get a job within or relating to the music industry in the upcoming months.  My friends are all getting tired of having to listen to me wax poetically about Ra Ra Riot and why In Rainbows was brilliant, from a business standpoint (and from a musical standpoint as well, but who's keeping track.  Not I.  Actually I am.  It was the best album of 2007) so I'm starting this as an outlet for my thoughts regarding music and the music industry.

You: 18 years old from small city in Japan.

If you get that reference, then, well, hats off to you.  

This Blog: I will try to post many features like the one below, where I will document a new or unknown band that I feel like deserves attention and acclaim with music and original photos and video. I will also post a lot of lists (cause lists are fun) as well as random musings about what ever is on my mind (though I'll try to keep it music related).

So I hope this works, feel free to comment, send me hate mail, whatever.

In Yr. Head....Beat the Devil

You should know Beat the Devil.  Odds are you don't.  But you should. 

Trying to describe the band is a rather futile endeavor.  The first time I heard them was when they opened for Vampire Weekend; I had never heard of them before.  Their first song was arranged thusly: tiny girl with a huge voice, banging on a giant metal shovel with a pair of pliers, a basher of a drummer, and a guy in the back of the audience wacking on a giant drum with a skull on it.  But it worked; it wasn't gimmicky. For the rest of the set the girl moved to harmonium and and and the guy in the back of the audience moved on stage and played bass.  That's it, that's the band.  Harmonium, bass, drums, vocals. 

I had two initial reactions: (1) what the HELL is going on here and (2) WHY have I not heard of these people before???  The few mentions I have found online have described their sound as a jazzy folk blues.  Well, if you throw classical in there, you'll have almost all modern music covered.  I've heard that lead singer Shilpa Ray sounds like Billie Holiday.  I can see that.  I personally thought Janis Joplin.  Either way, the girl has some serious pipes.  At times there is a weirdness to their music, a sense of off-kilter, that is often associated with Tom Waits.  In one song (Shine In Exile), there is a certain sensibility that I associate more with bands such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Trying to describe BEAT THE DEVIL is made even more difficult because their live sound is so different from their recorded sound.  Live they were angry, loud, in your face, cathartic, bluesy, demanding, defiant, proud, and drunk.  Recorded they are much more restrained.  The drums don’t pound, the bass doesn’t scream, and Shilpa doesn’t wail like she does live.  But yet, their recorded output works just as well (possibly better) than their live show.  It’s much more restrained but no less intense.  

There is one thing that I feel is certain, irregardless of what adjectives you decide to use to describe Beat the Devil's sound.  They are one of the best band in Brooklyn right now.  Certainly one of the more original.  Their lyrics are fantastic.  They evoke moods and feelings I've never seen or felt in songs before.  

They have a new album coming out soon called Idiots Guide.  It should be amazing.  Like, Best New Music amazing.  

Here are two songs:

Shine In Exile

Plea Bargain

Here is a video of the song "Plea Bargain" from their @Seaport show on 2/22/2008