Merry Christmas

Art Brut...

...takes a loooong time to figure out. The review of Brilliant! Tragic! may take a while longer.

Top Ten Albums That Shaped My Music Taste

I got an idea that both Hannah and I could write about, so here it is! Hopefully her Ten will be up sometime in the next few days.


I think that more than any others, these ten albums were massively influential to my music taste. They're in the order that I heard them, as far as I can remember. Accompanying this post is a mix of ten songs, one from each of the albums, on 8tracks.com.

1. II - The Presidents of the United States of America
   I think that the first Presidents album may have been the first album I ever got that was actually intended for adults, not kids. The second one, though, is what made me a fan for life. Realizing that a band (rock stars! When you're six, everyone who can play a guitar is automatically a rock star) was singing about a mountain just south of my hometown ("Volcano")  blew my dumb little kid brain. I can guarantee that I didn't understand what half the lyrics meant - "Bath of Fire" and "Supermodel" were big examples of that - but I knew I loved them. The song on the mix is "Mach 5", which I believe is the reason that I own the full series of Speed Racer on DVD today.
   
2. Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone? - Harvey Danger
   I probably spent two full years of my life wondering what the title of the song was that had "I'm not sick, but I'm not well" in its chorus. The internet was utterly beyond my comprehension, and somehow my father had forgotten seeing this band at Bumbershoot, so he was no help. Eventually I found the song title and band in the credits to American Pie, and got the album for Christmas. I listened to it so many times that I still get thrown off when my iPod is on shuffle and the songs don't follow the order on the album. I now own ever Harvey Danger EP & LP except their rarities album, and accidentally (no, really accidentally) found out where the lead singer lives. The song on the mix is "Old Hat", which is the one song that I always get confused about, even after listening to it for ten years.
   
3. Add It Up (1983-1993) - The Violent Femmes
   At some point in middle school, my father bought me four very eclectic albums: Thank You by Stone Temple Pilots, My Private Nation by Train, More Than You Think You Are by Matchbox Twenty, and this. I'm pretty sure it was the final order from Columbia House, or a sale or something. I pretty much thought that this album was the most twisted, raunchy, forbidden thing that rock and roll could accomplish (I'm pretty sure the Frank Zappa and Alice Cooper best-of albums that my dad also got me had the same effect). It's the only album of those four that I still listen to tracks off of at least once a day, and the only one of the four that I admit to liking in mixed company. The song on the mix is "36-24-26", which pretty much speaks for itself. This was the hardest song for me to pick, by far.
   
4. Comfort Eagle - Cake
   I believe that this album planted the seed in my head that trumpets in rock music are cool. I stand by that, and my love of swing revival and the Dusty 45s proves it. The song on the mix is "Shadow Stabbing", which has a line about a typewriter that I quite enjoy.
   
5. Plastic Surgery Disasters/In God We Trust Inc. - The Dead Kennedys
   Oh, punk rock. You and I have had a tumultuous relationship, but this is the album that started it. My love of the Dead Kennedys continues, but trying to branch out to a few other hardcore bands killed my love for the genre. Going to a DOA and MDC concert buried it for good. But in high school? This album was the best. Well, about half of it was the best, the other half was mediocre. Luckily, the album was really long, so that worked out. The song on the mix is "Bleed For Me", which made me feel like I knew way more about politics than I did.
   
6. Common Market - Common Market
   Yup, this is the first hip-hop album I ever got. I checked it out from the library. I have no regrets. From here I went to Blue Scholars, also from the library, to actually going to shows and buying my albums. Unlike the first three albums in the list, this one is the first that really diverged from my dad's taste in music. I suppose that at 16, I was a little late to that party. The song on the mix is "G'Dang Diggy", which is a silly name for a song.
   
7. Nuclear Winter - The Lonely Forest
   Have you ever gone to a show with ten other people, where you didn't know any of the bands, been convinced to stay by the lead singer of one of the bands, and ended up buying their album with the weekend? Then a few years later, after attending many shows and buying many more albums of theirs, seen that same band play only a few hundred feet away at an arena to hundreds and hundreds of people? John Van Deusen once gave me a hug for being at that first show. I love the Lonely Forest! The song on the mix is "Hangman", which I didn't know I liked until I re-listened to it today.
   
8. Singles 45's And Under - Squeeze
   This is the album that made me realize that I needed to steal a lot more music from my mother's CD collection. It also was when I realized that something called "New Wave" existed, and that it was the best thing ever. All the indie rock I like now sounds a lot like New Wave, so I think I can say with some confidence that I made the right call. From there I went on to Talking Heads, Devo, the English Beat, and all that other eighties stuff that wasn't hair metal, hip-hop, or punk. The song on the mix is "Black Coffee In Bed", which I used to always put on the jukebox at the diner, before they pulled that album.
   
9. Furr - Blitzen Trapper
   This one is a little bit contentious, because their earlier album Wild Mountain Nation probably deserves this spot. I think though, that if I hadn't gotten Furr, that I wouldn't have been pushed towards Americana and bluegrass music. Now, thanks to a friend's extended stint in the South, I have a healthy appreciation for country as well. This may be the first band that I started listening to because of the KEXP Song of the Day podcast, which will continue to be important for the next album on the list. The song on the mix is "Not Your Lover", which I believe is one of their more folk-y tunes (but honestly I forget the instrumentation a lot of the time and only remember the awesome).
   
10. Hold On Now, Youngster - Los Campesinos!
    This is the second album that I ever bought because of the KEXP podcast. Maybe, it may have been the other way around. The poster that came with the album is still on my wall, and its hit single still makes it into 4/5 mixes that I make. I really like their newer stuff, but haven't gotten around to buying it yet. I think that this album, along with Passion Pit, got me into electronica. LCD Soundsystem sealed the deal. Actually, it hasn't really gone beyond that, but I am open to the idea! This album is also partially responsible for my love of Wales and Welsh people and things, so that's something as well. The song on the mix is "My Year In Lists", which is really neat and kind of weird, just like all of their other songs.

A quick note...

Wondering why every single one of our reviews recommends that you get the song or album? Look at the name of the site! If we don't like it, we don't post about it.

Album Review: Love Everybody - The Presidents of the United States of America

Yeah, it's nearly a decade old. I don't care, I just found it after two or three years of looking for it. And it's still great!


It's their first album with their new backup guitbassist (or bassitarist, they use weird instruments), and it shows. Both this and their sixth album have a very distinct sound, different from both the early sound of their first three and the very much experimental sound of the somewhat lackluster Freaked Out And Small.

In particular, I point to a few examples of the super-upbeat sound that they've embraced in their current incarnation: "Love Everybody", "Some Postman", "Highway Forever", and what is arguably my favorite: "Shreds of Boa".

All four are quick, irreverant, and will have most people singing along even before they know the words. You can practically hear the crowd singing the callback in Highway Forever, and Some Postman will be in your head for years after you first hear it. Shreds of Boa tells the story of the best and worst party ever, and Love Everybody is practically a manifesto for the Presidents' musical style.

I'm sure you can find this album used for under ten dollars, somewhere. Go buy it.

Album Review: Strange Negotiations - David Bazan

This album is Bazan's latest, from last May. It's fantastic, and like much of his other work it's a strong mix of powerful fast songs and emotional slow ones. Personally, I prefer his faster, angrier stuff, but I can appreciate the others just fine. There are four standouts that come to mind immediately, mostly in the up-tempo range: "People", "Eating Paper", "Strange Negotiations", and "Wolves at the Door".


Wolves at the Door, more than the other two, is a fast and angry political tune. I first heard it on the Grapes of Rad (who also happen to have Bazan on each year for their Christmas show), and was immediately ready to buy the album. Like Arrows, though, my wallet demanded that I wait for a sale.


Eating Paper and People are a little more back and forth, getting faster and slower throughout. The title track, Strange Negotiations, is generally pretty low-medium compared to the others and, like many of Bazan's songs, threatens to bring a tear to your eye even if you aren't listening to the words.


If you were a fan of Pedro the Lion or Headphones, or if you just like Bazan, check this album out. It was live-streaming on his Facebook page for a while, but I think you'll have to look somewhere else to preview it now. If you want some of his stuff for free, though, check out Daytrotter, where he has two older sessions up.

Album Review: Arrows - The Lonely Forest

It took me far too long to buy this album, but then it went on sale! So here we are. Many of my favorite tracks off of this album were released before, but three new ones stand out: "Coyote", "(I Am) The Love Addict", and "End It Now!"


I've heard them all in concert plenty, and Coyote was on the KEXP Song of the Day podcast many moons ago. They're all fantastic examples of the sound that the Lonely Forest has become, far away from the aesthetic of 2007's Nuclear Winter. When that album came out, they were playing to ten people at the Vera Project. After this one launched, they played to a packed house at KeyArena. So, take from that what you will.


If you like anything the Lonely Forest has released in the last two years (We Sing The Body Electric or EP, mainly), or if you've just heard one or two songs and are intrigued, this album is well worth picking up. You'll love half the songs and absolutely love the other half. Go get it.




A side note! I just remembered that I also got another new album, recently: Strange Negotiations, by David Bazan. I'm going to try and get one or two more reviews out today and the next two out within the week.

But first...

Busy, Busy, Busy

Two New Albums, One Old

I finally got new music! Well, a while ago. I finally remembered to write about it! Or at least, write about planning to write about it. I got two new albums (one is actually fairly new, the other is from a few years back, I believe), and finally found my copy of an old one. Hopefully I'll have all three pieces up real soon, depending on how the week goes.

The albums are....

1. Arrows - The Lonely Forest
2. Brilliant! Tragic! - Art Brut
3. Love Everybody - The Presidents of the United States of America

Update! Also, Strange Negotiations by David Bazan!

Album Review: Shimokita is Dead? - Tennis Pro

Normally, when someone gets an advance copy of an album with the intent to review it, they write and post that review before the album comes out. That's not what we do here, though! Despite getting the new Tennis Pro album Shimokita is Dead? a few weeks ago, I'm just now posting this review - days after the album dropped.


This album, based heavily on the time the band recently spent in Japan, is 15 tracks long and much more musically diverse than their previous offerings. Not all the tracks are considered by the band to be full songs, but they're all worth a listen. Here are a few of the album's highlights:


Track 1: "Dance Hit Number One" - A good, very eighties-influenced song residing far outside the band's power pop wheelhouse. Though its style isn't repeated on the album, its strangeness serves as a good introduction to the rest of the tracks' divergent styles.


Track 2: "Satomi Bicycle" - Immediately, the album shifts back to power pop. The narrative style that characterizes some of their best songs is evident here. One of the album's top three new songs.


Track 6: "Rock Over Tokyo" - See the review of Happy Is The New Sad, but like some of the other repeated tracks, this one is a new and slightly different version.


Track 10: "Clothing Optional Christian Barbecue" - Based on a melody written for a beer commercial and the creepy vibe of a middle-aged nudist, there is no way this song wasn't going to be fantastic. Its origin gives it a slightly different vibe, instrumentation-wise, from a lot of the other stuff on the album, but paired with the vocals it's the perfect weirdo party song.


Many of the other tracks would merit a description as well, but let me simply summarize by saying that the album's experiment with guitar-driven post-grunge make for an interesting - if not always completely effective - contrast. I fully recommend the album, but if the price tag seems a little much I would at least recommend downloading these four songs.

Minipost: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

I only have a few songs from this guy (these guys? I'm only aware of the main dude, but I know he at least occasionally had help), but there are two that I want to point out as awesome:


"Streets of Philadelphia" - A Bruce Springsteen cover, I got it off of that PIAPTK Sampler I wrote about a looong time ago. It's really good - if there's one thing the CFTPA nails it's the straining, heartbreaking vocals.


"Tom Justice, the Choir Boy Robber, Apprehended at Ace Hardware in Libertyville, IL" - Ho-lee crap I love this song. I got it off of the CFTPA Daytrotter session, and it describes the (apparently, though I'm not sure) fictional life and exploits of the title character. The line "All those times they thought you were praying/Some you should have been praying" is pretty fantastic, but it's just one among many.


Alright, just had to get that out there. No podcast this weekend, I have two parties and an exam. Yeah, I know, stop bragging. We'll see what we can do for you next weekend.

Karaoke

For over a year now, I've been on a real tear about karaoke. That's about the time I started to think about buying a karaoke machine, which led to my turning my laptop INTO a karaoke machine, and has culminated in my receiving a karaoke video game called Lips for my Xbox. Now, what I learned is that this is no ordinary karaoke game. Yes, it has "Video Killed The Radio Star" and "Hungry Like The Wolf" (which, we learned, one can sing perfectly even if they've never heard it before), and yes I did pay to download "Baby Got Back".

Most importantly, however, it allows you to import songs and then sing OVER them. No on-screen lyrics, and it can only reduce the actual vocals so much, but I don't care because it's awesome. My roommate and I each made a playlist to import. Here's mine (I'll post his later):

1. Ben Lee - "Catch My Disease"
2. Billy Joel - "Only the Good Die Young"
3. Blitzen Trapper - "Furr"
4. Blue Scholars - "Joe Metro"
5. Blue Scholars - "The Ave"
6. The Dandy Warhols - "Bohemian Like You"
7. Danko Jones - "Lovercall"
8. Danko Jones - "First Date"
9. David Bowie - "Ziggy Stardust"
10. Death Cab for Cutie - "Crooked Teeth"
11. Dire Straits - "Money for Nothing"
12. Harvey Danger - "Flagpole Sitta"
13. Harvey Danger - "Wine, Women, and Song"
14. Hey Marseilles - "Rio"
15. Pavement - "Cut Your Hair"
16. The Presidents of the United States of America - "Peaches"
17. Queen - "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
18. Skee-lo - "I Wish"
19. Stellastarr* - "Freak Out"
20. The Tallest Man on Earth - "King of Spain"
21. XTC - "Statue of Liberty"

Facebook Page!

We have one!

WLI Radio: Episode 1

The podcast is available here.

It's finally up! The first episode of our new podcast, WLI Radio! This first episode is a mixtape, twelve songs that Hannah and I put together, for you! Normally the episodes will have a lot more talking, but every so often we're going to put out one of these.

Here's the tracklist:

1. "Never Had Nobody Like You" - M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel
2. "Come On Mona" - Mona Reels
3. "Auctioneer" - The Broken West
4. "Seaside" - The Kooks
5. "Northwestern Girls" - Say Hi
6. "The Capitol" - Visqueen
7. "Chips Ahoy (Acoustic)" - The Hold Steady
8. "Shelly Gets High" - Tennis Pro
9. "Forever" - Walter Meego
10. "In the Sun" - She & Him
11. "Pure Imagination" - The Smoking Popes
12. "It Started With A Mixx" - Los Campesinos

We're still trying to get the feed going so that you can get it like a normal podcast, maybe even through iTunes. Right now though it's just a download.

Making Up For Lost Time

Whoops! We... may have forgotten to post for a bit. Hannah and I have been working hard on the podcast - getting it online is giving us enough trouble - and soon we'll hopefully get into a nice pattern of a few posts for every episode we put out. Here's the plan now (once the hosting service comes together):

Every other week, a new episode will come out. Every third episode will be all-music, with only short song intros from Hannah and I. We're going to try and go about half-and-half between new and old music, but that's a little bit money-dependent. Sorry, I can't bring myself to torrent my favorite bands' music, not even for you guys!

ANYWAYS...

Since there were some issues with one of the podcasts we recorded (three in and we've already got a Lost Episode), here's a quick run-through of what got lost:

• Starfucker/Champagne Champagne concert: Awesome!
• New season of Doctor Who: Awesome!
• Bang Bang Rock and Roll by Art Brut: Maybe even TOO awesome?!
• My roommate's music collection: Still not proving to be interesting!

More on those three bands later, and sorry for the missed posts!

WLI Radio Premiere - Ep. 0

The podcast is available here.


Well, pilot more than premiere - Episode Zero of WLI Radio is finished! It clocks in at a pretty hefty length, but we think it's worth listening through to the end. Here's what you have to look forward to:

1. Artist profile: The Lonely Forest
2. "Be Glad You Don't Live In Brooklyn, Part 1"
3. Album profile: 69 Love Songs, by The Magnetic Fields
4. Movie review: Sucker Punch
5. Album profile: Happy is the New Sad, by Tennis Pro
6. Artist profile: LCD Soundsystem

Album Review: Happy Is the New Sad - Tennis Pro

I finally broke down and - as one of the first parts of a totally inadvisable but completely worth-it spending spree - bought my first Tennis Pro album.


I picked Happy Is the New Sad because it had one particular song that I loved, which I believe I've mentioned before: "Rock Over Tokyo". That song alone is good enough to merit a ten dollar purchase, but the rest of the album isn't slacking.


Most of the songs are pretty straightforward rock numbers, since the band is a pretty straightforward outfit: guitar, bass, drums. They swing back and forth between totally rocking and very melodic, but this album generally staying in the first category.


Out of thirteen songs, seven of them are currently rated as five stars on my computer. The rest? Four stars. The only thing keeping that average as low as it is is the lack of a 4.5 rating.


Top tracks: "Rock Over Tokyo", "Fireball", & "Why Break Curfew (If You're Only Going to Break My Heart)"

Coming soon...

...ish.

Something new, something... auditory?

Minipost: Hello Saferide

In another podcast-delivered bit of musical awesome, I recently remembered a song I had heard by the band Hello Saferide. The song was called "Anna", and is fantastic - a little downbeat, in a twee way. Granted, the people on the podcast spent most of the show calling them "Hello Saf-er-di" because they assumed it was Swedish, but the song stuck with me.


I listened to a couple other songs on the Hype Machine, one of which ("San Francisco") I really liked. It was a little more upbeat than the rest of their songs, but I expect that I didn't get a great sample. They were all good, though! Check them out.


Note: The same band also released two albums entirely in Swedish under the name Säkert! with a lot of success. So if you want good music check them out too, but if you want to understand the lyrics make sure you check first.

Tennis Pro

On one of the podcasts I listen to every week, they recently (well, a few months ago, give me a break) had David Drury - singer of a band called Tennis Pro - on the air. They had previously played a few of their songs, but I hadn't looked up what they were. It turns out, this Seattle band recently made a movie called Big in Japan (watch the trailer), about the band's tour through Japan and the general feeling towards American rock and roll there (hint: they effing love it).


So, Tennis Pro is fantastic. They have one song up on their MySpace page and a few MP3s available at their website. Also, because they're still trying to recoup their tour, you can get all sorts of goodies in exchange for a donation - up to and including a private concert. I recommend "Shelly Gets High" and "Kimberly", but my favorite of their songs is the one backing the trailer that I linked earlier.


Definitely going to need to get more of their music. The actual sound is very standard guitar-bass-drums indie rock/power-pop, done extremely well. Go listen.

My Oh My

There are two reasons that I wouldn't think that the song "My Oh My" is awesome: I've never paid any attention to baseball or Dave Niehaus, and I've never really listened to Macklemore. Those reasons did not do anything to change the simple fact that this song is really fantastic.

It's about growing up in Seattle, and the impact that Niehaus had as the announcer for the Seattle Mariners. Even without it having any bearing on my own life, it's one of the most poignant songs I've heard in a long time.

Soundtracks

Just watched Pirate Radio - though if I was British it would have been twenty minutes longer and called The Boat That Rocked - and it had the most fantastic soundtrack. I actually had all the music before I saw the movie, but seeing everything in context was really amazing. I didn't think many movies could make me appreciate the Beach Boys, but they did it. "My Generation" was also used about as fantastically as I've ever heard a song used in a movie.

Speaking of most fantastic way a song has been used in a movie: "Golden Brown" in Snatch, and whatever crazy J-pop sounding thing that's used during the final fight seen in Kick-Ass.

That's all!

Two Songs (and a third, but only in passing)

"When They Really Get to Know You" - David Bazan

David Bazan, formerly Pedro the Lion, sings with the kind of voice that makes the happiest songs seem heartbreaking and the saddest songs into masterpieces. This one is a comparatively upbeat-sounding number that drips with Bazan's most potent sarcasm: "Put on whatever makes you attractive/if it's not you then do it for the sake of fashion". It's really fantastic. 

I can't talk about Bazan without mentioning "Bless This Mess", if for nothing else than the line (when talking about his baby daughter): "Wondering if she'd soon despise the smell/Of the booze on my breath, like her mom".

"Old No. Seven" - The Devil Makes Three

A great bluegrass number all about the infinite Jack Daniel's that the singer gets to drink in heaven. Annnd how it makes him want to sleep with angels. And how they don't really like that, so he has to go to hell. Basically bluegrass is fantastic and everyone should listen to more bluegrass.

Daytrotter

So, I just rediscovered Daytrotter.


Daytrotter.com is a wonderful site that allows you to download in-studio tracks from a huge number of bands, for free. Bands go in, record a set of songs, and then you get them! For free! I had forgotten about the site for a while, but I just went back and downloaded 14 sets. That's 54 songs, from 9 bands, and all I had to do was sign up. Blitzen Trapper, David Bazan, Dutchess and the Duke, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, Josh Ritter, Mountain Goats, Say Hi, Tallest Man on Earth, and Throw Me The Statue. Woo!


The service does use its own downloader, which you have to install first, but it's just in Java so it's pretty much painless. I also had to go in and move around the files to get them into iTunes without cluttering up my computer with copies, and delete the "Welcome to Daytrotter" track that comes with each set, but really those are not big deals.


UPDATE: The new Downloader just came out, now it's slicker and can add the tracks directly to iTunes!


It's free, dangit. C'mon.

Brass & Shellac

Among the many ridiculous (but great! Well, mostly) LPs I received for Christmas, one caught my eye for a couple reasons. Whipped Cream and Other Delights, by Herb Albert's Tijuana Brass, stood out for both the very pretty lady on the front covered in whipped cream, but also for its version of "Love Potion No. 9". The whole record goes to about the farthest lengths a brass band can, genre-wise. I expected it to stay in the realm of swing and blues, but there are a couple numbers that veer much more to the side of jazz. Apparently this is the band that first recorded "The Lonely Bull" (though that's not on this record), which was covered fantastically by the Dusty 45s - another point to Herb Albert.

I'm not nearly well-enough versed in this style of music to give a decent review of this 45 year-old album, but suffice to say that it got a lot of playtime when my apartment was converted into a speakeasy. Also, the cover of Love Potion No. 9? Pretty good, you guys.

(Note: according to Wikipedia, Love Potion No. 9 was "rendered in 'strip-tease' fashion" on this record. Bonus points!)