The Hold Steady

Go listen to some real music you techno-slave, post-punk whore, too hipster for your own good, little bitch.

http://www.theholdsteady.com/ths_stuckbetweenstations_live_current.mp3

http://www.theholdsteady.com/the_hold_steady_-_your_little_hoodrat_friend.mp3

http://www.theholdsteady.com/ths_killerpartiesremix.mp3

Website:
http://www.theholdsteady.com/

From Brooklyn and on Letterman:


Deep lyrics and songs of import:


No, damnit. He doesn't remind me of Elvis (Costello you fools):

Ben Folds saved my masculinity

One of the disadvantages to marriage is the inevitable situations of unavoidable imasculinity it heaps on you. There I was, last night, in the midst of 20,000 screaming 17 year old girls, along with my wife, at the John Mayer concert. The saving grace was the special guest, one Ben Folds. Not only was he probably the only person in the entire stadium older than me, but he rocked out with a wit and cynicism that only Elvis (Costello you fools) himself could have replicated and with a piano virtuoso that is second to none.

So, to celebrate, let us recap with some oldie but goodie Ben Folds.

There is the cover of the Postal Service song "Such Great Heights"


And the terrific remake of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit"


And just to prove he isn't a cheap party trick, some samples of his terrific lyrics






I, for one, slept quite satisfied with myself last night, thank you very much.

Mash-up Madness - good plain fun or plain evil?

So I'll admit, these are a completely "mixed" blessing or curse - there is nothing worse than a badly made mash-up, but a good smart one can make you, dance, think and even transport you back in time - and often even if it hurts your indie cred they are just plain fun. There is a favorite fun DJ I like from LA, who is responsible for the Smash Mix on Indie 103 in LA. His name is DJ Paul V, and he hosts some varied interesting nights out on the Left Coast( Dragstripp 66, Miss Kitty's Parlour & Bootie LA)....

Take a listen at The Smash Mix and let me know what you think...They also host a Bootie NYC, like bootie LA & SF - good fun, but the moratorium of mash-ups at a club is exactly 90 minutes!

smalltown america

While surfing the web, I discovered this independent record label called "Smalltown America." It's based out of London, which I love because London's neither a small town nor in America. But they have a cool website where you can discover a number of new bands. Plus it has an interesting business model to help young undiscovered talent get their music out.

leila zerai

I ran across this singer/songwriter from the UK, Leila Zerai, on The Hype Machine. She's a bit raw, but shows promise. Her songs are small gems; soft and melancholy in the style of someone like Keren Ann. I rather like them. You can find out more about her and hear her song "This is a Song About Horses" here. You can also hear more tracks here.

Wussy Singer-Song writers - but their songs are sweet!

So being from SF you might have heard of this one - this here is a local boy, Sean Hayes (not from Will & Grace fame), but of Oakland..He's got that folky dreamy sound going, which was a great respite after all the Electroclash I had been gorging myself on.. He's been around for a while, and what put him on the Map was Mark Farina's remix of Dream Machine....Can't find that sample online...

but this might give you an idea -Haven't quite figured out how to embed audio

All For Love

It's was a good show at Joe's Pub on a nondescript Monday, it was sold out, and the acoustics were great - the silent hipsters helped (a la ani defranco style)...He's playing again tonight at Rose Live Music in Brooklyn - supposedly a secret show - but someone was giving flyers to everyone in line...

I think this is a clip from the show i saw on Monday --

the ladybug transistor

The Ladybug Transistor, an indie-pop band from Brooklyn, released their latest album, Can't Wait Another Day today.


I heard them for the first time when I saw them open for The Rosebuds on May 24th, less than a month after their drummer, San Fadyl tragically passed away. (The actually played a tribute show today.)

I liked them the instant I heard lead-singer Gary Olson voice over melodic hooks punctuated by Olson playing the trumpet on the bridges. (I've always had a soft spot for the trumpet since it was the only instrument I ever learned to play -- albeit half-heartedly and very badly.) Their sound beckons back to 60s-era surf-rock, but with a harder edge and an 80s vibe. I know that sounds strange, but it works.

Below are some videos of them in action:

"Reclusive Hero"


"Burial at Sea"


Definitely check them out, and of course, if you like them, show them some love by buying their album.

the new world of music promotion

Wired has an interview with Anthony Volodkin, the founder of Hype Machine, an MP3 blog aggregator and great source if you want to discover new music. I find it interesting that in the two years he's had the site, he's only received a handful of cease-and-desist letters, and I think that hints to a broader revolution in how labels (and the bands themselves) plan to promote themselves in the future.

Volodkin created the site partly in response to the dearth of good radio stations. I can't remember the last time I listened to a radio station -- the only time I do is when I'm driving (and I don't currently have a car right now). When I go visit my family (in much more car-friendly place) I listen to the radio while driving, but it's always a crap radio station. Ever since the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which relaxed the rules for owning radio and television stations, independent radio stations have been gobbled up by the Clear Channels of the world leading to a proliferation of boring, overproduced, "music product" being peddled over the radio waves.

Luckily for us, the internet stepped in to filled the void. I haven't really explored the internet radio station thing, although friends tell me there are a bunch of good ones out there. But MP3 blogs and sites like Hype Machine, Last.fm, and MySpace allow consumers to discover new music and bands on their own terms, so long as they know where to look. And sites like YouTube make it irrelevant that MTV doesn't show videos anymore. Although it takes more effort, it's refreshing to have some ownership in this search rather than listening to what's fed to you by an increasingly corporate and synergistic media machine.

The flip-side, of course, is that major labels have less importance. In the past, major labels could promote bands by pushing product out to radio stations (to get air time) and distribute albums to record stores. Now there's less need. Not when you can promote yourself on MySpace and sell MP3s to anyone who has an internet connection. I'm not saying that having major label backing is meaningless, it's just a lot less important than it was five years ago. This Wall Street Journal article describes the new economics.

The Album Leaf

For my inaugural post, I'm writing about my band of the moment - The Album Leaf. There are elements of Nordic acts like Sigur Ros and Nils Petter Molvaer in the music, but true to the 80's resurgence we are seeing, there are bits of Brian Eno, and even some esoteric and instrumental New Order tracks. The guy behind the music is guitarist Jimmy LaValle, who has shown an ability to morph his talents into a bunch of different sounds. He is also part of the punky sounding The Locust, as well as the more ambient sounding Tristeza.

Anyway, on to the music.

Here is a rather horrible video to a great song from his latest album Into the Blue Again (just press the little play button on the left):



Some examples from the very ambient Seal Beach EP album:
The Album Leaf – Seal Beach
The Album Leaf – Brennivin

stuff from their latest album can be found on their myspace page here.

booking bands

Coudal Partners had a "Booking Bands" contest for the readers of its website -- combine the names of bands with book titles (e.g. Courtney Love in the Time of Cholera). The results make for interesting reading. Some good ones:

The Sun Also RZA
Life, The Universe and Everything But the Girl
Green Eggs and M.C. Hammer
Charlie and the C&C Music Factory

And my personal favorite:

Qur'an Duran

They have plenty more, so you should really check them out. Also, the entire Coudal Partners site is really cool, particularly the Swap Meat (check it out to get the details). I'm not exactly sure what they do except for a variety of creative things, but it's all interesting. Enjoy!

the rosebuds

Went to see The Rosebuds show last night at Bowery Ballroom. If you haven't heard them, you can check out some songs here. The band, consisting of Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, are from Raleigh, NC, once again proving that the Research Triangle area is hotbed of cool indie bands.

They put on a great live show -- playing a number of fun danceable songs. (Although the crowd wasn't really dancing...or really moving. They mostly just stood and stared, which I thought was weird. Maybe they were mesmerized by Kelly Crisp's platinum blonde hair. Sorry boys, she's taken.) They're touring to promote their new album, "Night of the Furies," which they released on April 10th. If they're coming to a town near you, you should definitely check them out.

arcade fire...in an elevator

This is random, but here is the Arcade Fire performing "Neon Bible" in an elevator. I don't know if it's because it's an acoustic version, or if it's the acoustics of the elevator, but I like this version a lot better than the album version. Okay, I'll stop with the Arcade Fire posts for now...

This was filmed by La Blogotheque for Take Away Shows. I encourage you to see the entire short film which follows the Arcade Fire backstage, through a freight elevator (where they play "Neon Bible"), to the middle of the crowd at a show where they play "Wake Up." You can see the entire film here.

dice

This video by Fujiya and Miyagi for "Ankle Injuries" obviously bears some resemblance to the White Stripes' iconic video for "Fell in Love with a Girl", but I thought it was cool. Who knew you could use dice this way.

waiting for the national's new album, boxer, out may 22nd

I meant to write about The National earlier, but I'm just getting around to it now. I saw them open for the Arcade Fire at Radio City Music Hall last week, and they were amazing. If you have a chance to see them play, don't miss it. Like the Arcade Fire, The National is a band that puts on an incredible live show.

They ended their set with an breathtaking version of "About Today," which starts off slowly before building to a crescendo of violins and guitars. I defy anyone to listen to the entire song and not fall in love with the band immediately. Here's a grainy video of their performance of "About Today" at Radio City Music Hall. (Sorry for the video quality, but the audio is decent.)



I just purchased their album Alligator and I can't stop listening to it. Their new album, Boxer, sounds even better and is out on May 22nd. You can preview the entire album here. "Fake Empire" and "Squalor Victoria" are personal favorites (I fell in love with both songs during their live show).

Here is another version of "About Today" that has better video and sound quality:



And here is a version of "Start a War," another great song off of Boxer.

i don't think the staff was too happy with the arcade fire last night...

I went to the Arcade Fire show last night at the United Palace Theatre. I assume the staff wasn't too happy when Win Butler invited folks up on stage for the final song of the night, a rousing rendition of "Wake Up." It looked like a couple hundred people rushed the stage. The staff tried to prevent it at first but eventually gave up. I'm still trying to figure out how the band played given that the stage was packed with people. I wasn't able to participate since I was in the "Upper Loge," but it looked like fun -- although (and I think betraying my age here), I also thought it was a lawsuit waiting to happen since some of the stage pieces looked like they were about to fall on the crowd of people. (Damn you law school!!!) But it worked out in the end and everyone on stage seemed to be having a great time.


As for the concert itself, it was absolutely terrific. Especially a beautiful version of "In the Backseat," a high energy "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" that lead into Rebellion (Lies)," and of course, the amazing "Wake Up," which ended the show. Their new stuff from Neon Bible was great as well, including "Keep the Car Running," "Antichrist Television Blues" (which sounded Springsteen-esque), "Ocean of Noise," and "The Well and the Lighthouse."

UPDATE: Here is the inevitable grainy video of "Wake Up" on YouTube:

communique

I first heard Communique, a Bay Area band, when they opened up for Tegan and Sara almost two years ago. I immediately bought their album, Poison Arrows. Haven't really caught up with them since then, but I just found out that they released a new EP, Walk Into The Light, about six months ago. From what I've heard, it sounds terrific. You can download some songs here and here.

songs for a lazy afternoon

Here is just a playlist of songs that I've been listening to over the past couple of weeks. I've blogged about some of the artists. I hope to blog about the others later. Let me know what you think...

modena vox

A friend told me to check out "Modena Vox," a band from Columbus, Ohio. They're pretty good. Check them out here.

busdriver

I randomly found Busdriver on YouTube. I had never listened to his stuff before, but I like what I hear.

"Imaginary Places":


"Avantcore":

random music for the weekend

Here is some random music that I found over the past couple of days...


The North Atlantic Explorers are a down tempo indie rock band from British Columbia. They have lush, distinctive melodies -- most often described as dreamy. They're great. You can check out their music here and here. (Via the Hype Machine.)



Nuuro is a kid, Alejandro Ghersi, from Venezuela. If you believe the internets, he's only sixteen years old, but that's hard to believe once you've heard one of his songs. Think Postal Service or Death Cab. You can check out tracks from his second album, All Clear, here, here, and here. I love the song "Waiting." He's released a purely electronic album, In Transit, on the Poni Republic label, that's available for free here. But I don't think it's as good as the stuff on his second album. (Via Fat Planet.)

mattafix

My roommate has been raving about Mattafix, a hip hop/reggae/dancehall duo out of the UK. Mattafix consists of Marlon Roudette (an "Anglo/West Indian ... [who] is a steel pan virtuoso and was brought up in tropical St. Vincent") and Preetesh Hirji ("of Indian heritage, ... a self-confessed computer geek brought up on London’s Harrow Road"). Don't know how the two of them hooked up, but their diverse background leads to an eclectic mix of styles with an infectious sound. Their albums are a bit hard to track down in the U.S., but you should definitely check them out.

Their song "Big City Life":



"To & Fro":



"Cradle" (not an official video):

feist

Feist seems to be the current indie media darling. Last week, she had glowing profiles in the New York Times and the New Yorker, just in time for the release of her new album, The Remainder, which is out May 1st.

I'm not sure what to make of her new video "1 2 3 4." It looks like a G-rated American Apparel ad. It seems nothing like what I saw when she opened for Rilo Kiley in 2005 -- a stripped down set that featured her, a guitar, and her beautiful vocals on a sparse stage. But the song is catchy:



That was the first Feist video I had seen, but evidently she's no stranger to the group dance number. Here's her video for "Mushaboom."

yo gabba gabba

Next time I visit my sister, I'm going to make my niece and nephew watch this new show on Nick Jr. (I think) called "Yo Gabba Gabba." You gotta love a kid's show that has a segment on it called "Biz's Beat." That's right, Biz Markie teaches kids how to beatbox. Check it out:



I can't wait to turn my nephew into a beatboxing machine.

(via Your Daily Awesome)

deconstructing a hit song

Hilarious. The Village Voice uses Venn diagrams, flow charts, and logic to deconstruct Mims' #1 song, "This Is Why I'm Hot."

bloody mother fucking asshole

If you haven't fallen in love with Martha Wainwright yet, you must do so immediately. Try to track down her version of "Dis, Quand Reviendras Tu," which is one of my favorite songs ever.

Here is her heart-wrenching "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole," set to highlights of Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica because...well, Starbuck kicks ass. Simona, you can thank me later.

the connells

Earlier this week, a friend of mine introduced me to The Connells, a (now defunct?) North Carolina band. Maybe she reintroduced me to them because I'm sure she played them for me while she drove me around in her car while we were in college. I'm not sure how I missed out on them the first time since their music is great. I think they came around a decade too early because I think they'd be indie darlings today. Of course, because they're not putting out any new records, it's almost impossible to find their music online. What's that you say? I should just go to a record store? Ummm...that would actually require me to get off my lazy ass. In other news, I hear there's an obesity epidemic in this country.

Here's the video for their song '74-'75.

you can thank my postcolonial marxist history professors for the views in this post

I thought this piece in the Post was interesting. It struck me, however, that the author (and the Washington Post), was a bit elitist about the whole thing. I confess, I would never have stopped to hear the guy. Specifically, I would have been the guy with the iPod saying "violinist, what violinist?"

But even if I didn't have my iPod on, I don't think I would've stopped. Personally, I never really "got" classical music. It's nice, I like some pieces, but at the end of the day, I'm never going to run out and purchase an album. In fact, I wouldn't be able to tell that a world class musician is playing an incredibly difficult piece of music, even if I went to Carnegie Hall. As long as it's fairly proficient, it all sounds good to me. Maybe that means I have no ear for music. But I get the feeling that a whole bunch of old white dudes are really invested in convincing us that there is something inherently transformative and beautiful about classical music. It's the same Eurocentric bullshit we've been fed our entire lives. I'm not saying the music is bad; just that whether you like it or not may be about history, culture, and taste as much as anything inherent in the music. I'd probably find a raga more compelling than a piece of classical music. But I don't expect the rest of the world to necessarily understand.

That being said, I get the author's larger point -- that we should stop and enjoy life more often. I'd like to, but I'm too busy being the right's poster boy for the decline of western civilization. Really guys, maybe you should take a look at Britney Spears instead of me.

obsessively happy sunday music

explosions in the sky

I can't stop listening to Explosions in the Sky, an Austin band that is probably best known (at least outside of Texas) for providing the score for Friday Night Lights (the movie and the NBC TV show). I feel like their songs evoke a nostalgia for small town America (where I spent some formative years of my life), but I'm not sure that's because I associate it with the TV show or if the band is actually connecting with some essential piece of Americana. I'd be interested in what people who haven't seen the show thought. Take a listen:

Also, if you're interested in how the show uses the music, check out:



Actually, you should just watch the show. I don't want it to get cancelled.

this is musiclogue

What is musiclogue? I wanted to do something a little different than your usual blog about music. Rather than just posting about music I liked, I thought it would be more interesting if a group of friends could have "conversations" about music in a blog format. (Plus, my friends are much more knowledgeable about music than I am.) I also thought it would be an easy way to find out what my friends were listening to, since I'm music junkie and always need a new fix.

This may turn out to be just another normal blog about music, or it may turn out to be something more. We'll see what happens. But if you're interested, come along for the ride.

-- sujal