"Paper Planes" covered by The Pale Young Gentlemen (Go to the Related Links Section)
-S
Showing posts with label Phish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phish. Show all posts
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sunday Soundtrack
The pleasant end to a much needed weekend, here's a couple of hits-done by others.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Summertime blues
Well, I realized that posting a full on post was a little ambitious-I get real tired over the summer so a full post is a little much. So, instead, I'll just post a 5-song playlist weekly.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Lost revelations that I'll never find
OK, I'll admit it, I have judged a book by it's cover, in this case, MGMT's new album Celebration. I heard the first released song on the album on YouTube, and to be honest, didn't think much of it. I felt like I was expecting to show up at a rave, and I had walked in on Rosh Hashanah Services at Temple Beth Eloheim. I said to myself; "Really? Really MGMT? What happened to "Time To Pretend" and "Electric Feel"? Where was the techo-esque rock and roll I was expecting. Where were the synthesizers and drum loops? Immediatly I dismissed Congratulations. They had duped us, just another band putting out commercially sucessful hits and then using them as the foot in the door for what they really want to do (usually artsy crap that won't move and units off of the shelves.)
Anyway, already biased, I was handed the album by my English teacher. I was skeptical at first having already heard "Flash Delirium," my hopes and dreams of what a new MGMT already smashed all over the floor. With nothing to lose I put it on. Surprisingly enough, I liked it. This showed and entirely new side of MGMT, a softer, more acoustic side. I kind of, dare I say, liked it. This was much more chill than their first album, relaxed and layed back. Sure it wasn't what I had hoped, pop-y tunes with a flaring beat and synthesizers up to the eyeballs. This was something different, not worse in any way, just different. This different side, in the end proved to be really something great. I went in with low expectation and I have ended up pleasently surprised. I mean, this isn't the best album ever to be laid down, but it is pretty great, one of the better CD's I have heard this year, and the flow is like nothing else. It melts in to each song like a Phish set.
There are a couple stand-out track on Congratulations. Particularly the title song "Congratulations" ends up being a great song, the beginning is slow, starting out with more of a more eastern feel, with a VU influence. The vocals are great, and the acoustic guitar fits in perfectly with a elegant drum beat. I want to say the song almost feels like it was written for a Wes Anderson movie if that makes sense. Another great track is 12-minute behemouth "Siberian Breaks" which I don't want to write about at any particular length, but it is totally hypnotic and well worth a listen. The song that stands out most like it would fit on their first album is "It's Working" but even saying that is a stretch. It definitely has more of a pop feel but it is far from techno, almost having a 60's feel-good vibe (almost beach rock?).
Anyway, for once I was wrong. My sincerest apologies MGMT. You have proven me wrong and bested me. What remains to be seen however is if MGMT is an acoustic band dressed like a techno band or the reverse. Only time will tell, but their next album will be worth the wait. It will also recieve my undivided attention, and get the respect it will undoubtedly deserve.
"Siberian Breaks" by MGMT from Congratulations (2010)
"Congratulations" by MGMT from Congratulations (2010)
"It's Working" by MGMT from Congratulations (2010)
-S
*Editors Note: Yes I am aware this was an album before MGMT's 2007 album Oracular Spectacular, however they were still under the name "The Management" and only really released a demo album called Climbing To New Lows (2005), which for the most part was ill-received and is only really remembered for the debut of "Kids" which didn't hit it big until recently.*
Anyway, already biased, I was handed the album by my English teacher. I was skeptical at first having already heard "Flash Delirium," my hopes and dreams of what a new MGMT already smashed all over the floor. With nothing to lose I put it on. Surprisingly enough, I liked it. This showed and entirely new side of MGMT, a softer, more acoustic side. I kind of, dare I say, liked it. This was much more chill than their first album, relaxed and layed back. Sure it wasn't what I had hoped, pop-y tunes with a flaring beat and synthesizers up to the eyeballs. This was something different, not worse in any way, just different. This different side, in the end proved to be really something great. I went in with low expectation and I have ended up pleasently surprised. I mean, this isn't the best album ever to be laid down, but it is pretty great, one of the better CD's I have heard this year, and the flow is like nothing else. It melts in to each song like a Phish set.
There are a couple stand-out track on Congratulations. Particularly the title song "Congratulations" ends up being a great song, the beginning is slow, starting out with more of a more eastern feel, with a VU influence. The vocals are great, and the acoustic guitar fits in perfectly with a elegant drum beat. I want to say the song almost feels like it was written for a Wes Anderson movie if that makes sense. Another great track is 12-minute behemouth "Siberian Breaks" which I don't want to write about at any particular length, but it is totally hypnotic and well worth a listen. The song that stands out most like it would fit on their first album is "It's Working" but even saying that is a stretch. It definitely has more of a pop feel but it is far from techno, almost having a 60's feel-good vibe (almost beach rock?).
Anyway, for once I was wrong. My sincerest apologies MGMT. You have proven me wrong and bested me. What remains to be seen however is if MGMT is an acoustic band dressed like a techno band or the reverse. Only time will tell, but their next album will be worth the wait. It will also recieve my undivided attention, and get the respect it will undoubtedly deserve.
"Siberian Breaks" by MGMT from Congratulations (2010)
"Congratulations" by MGMT from Congratulations (2010)
"It's Working" by MGMT from Congratulations (2010)
-S
*Editors Note: Yes I am aware this was an album before MGMT's 2007 album Oracular Spectacular, however they were still under the name "The Management" and only really released a demo album called Climbing To New Lows (2005), which for the most part was ill-received and is only really remembered for the debut of "Kids" which didn't hit it big until recently.*
Thursday, March 25, 2010
When your around me I'm someone else
Once in a while I come across a band that I am surprised not to have heard about. I recently started listening to Pavement at the suggestion of my high school English teacher. He's a huge fan and is even going to their reunion show in New York this September.
Regardless, they were a whole section of indie music that I had not heard influencing bands such as The White Stripes and Modest Mouse (a couple of my favorites). Recently though, I stumbled upon Guided By Voices led by singer/songwriter Robert Pollard.
The band from Dayton, OH, started up in 1983 and recently broke up in 2004 (I guess '04 was a bad year for bands, Dispatch and Phish broke up that year too). Regardless, you can here the song writing of Pavement and the guitar tones familiar to Modest Mouse and The Mountain Goats in Pollard's songs (of which he has claimed over 1,300 to his name). Pollard brings 'it' with the catchy lyrical structure and the punchy guitar that I love so much.
"Teenage FBI" by Guided By Voices from Do The Collapse (1999)
"I Am A Scientist" by Guided By Voices from Bee Thousand (1994)
"My Valuable Hunting Knife" by Guided By Voices from Alien Lanes (1995)
-S
P.S. Fun Fact: Guided By Voices basically released an album every year while active from '83-'04. They also used the same Lo-Fi style that John Darnielle loves to use with The Mountain Goats.
Regardless, they were a whole section of indie music that I had not heard influencing bands such as The White Stripes and Modest Mouse (a couple of my favorites). Recently though, I stumbled upon Guided By Voices led by singer/songwriter Robert Pollard.
The band from Dayton, OH, started up in 1983 and recently broke up in 2004 (I guess '04 was a bad year for bands, Dispatch and Phish broke up that year too). Regardless, you can here the song writing of Pavement and the guitar tones familiar to Modest Mouse and The Mountain Goats in Pollard's songs (of which he has claimed over 1,300 to his name). Pollard brings 'it' with the catchy lyrical structure and the punchy guitar that I love so much.
"Teenage FBI" by Guided By Voices from Do The Collapse (1999)
"I Am A Scientist" by Guided By Voices from Bee Thousand (1994)
"My Valuable Hunting Knife" by Guided By Voices from Alien Lanes (1995)
-S
P.S. Fun Fact: Guided By Voices basically released an album every year while active from '83-'04. They also used the same Lo-Fi style that John Darnielle loves to use with The Mountain Goats.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Let's get a bottle and drink alone tonight
When I was a freshman in high school I met this girl who, as it turned out, had a music taste very much like my own. This was surprising to me at the time because I never met another person whose music library was almost alike in every way to mine. I was really happy about this considering it was my first couple of weeks in a new town where I didn't know a soul.
We shared a lot of music that year, one of the bands she turned me on to was Minus The Bear. I instantly fell in love and downloaded every song I could find and even bought some CDs (who buys those anymore? Sorry Record Labels.)
As with most bands I download, I get more songs than I can handle at the time, and a few songs fly under my radar, some for months or years at a time. One such song was Absinthe "Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse" a behemoth of a song for me at the time, weighing in at five and half minutes (At the time this was an absolute ballad for me, I was still a year or two from listening to Phish and the Grateful Dead, everything is relative I guess...)
To get the full experience, close your eyes. This song is truly amazing, great intro, lyrics are solid, and a droning but evolving sound (not unlike Modest Mouse's "Dramamine" in the sense that they both build off of a single riff.)
This past December I got to see this band in concert, I was waiting the whole show for this song and they walk off stage, and I'm eagerly waiting to see what the encore was, and lo and behold! This was it! (This song is a horse of a completely different color live, trust me, possibly even better)
Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse by Minus The Bear from Highly Refined Pirate (2002)
— S
We shared a lot of music that year, one of the bands she turned me on to was Minus The Bear. I instantly fell in love and downloaded every song I could find and even bought some CDs (who buys those anymore? Sorry Record Labels.)
As with most bands I download, I get more songs than I can handle at the time, and a few songs fly under my radar, some for months or years at a time. One such song was Absinthe "Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse" a behemoth of a song for me at the time, weighing in at five and half minutes (At the time this was an absolute ballad for me, I was still a year or two from listening to Phish and the Grateful Dead, everything is relative I guess...)
To get the full experience, close your eyes. This song is truly amazing, great intro, lyrics are solid, and a droning but evolving sound (not unlike Modest Mouse's "Dramamine" in the sense that they both build off of a single riff.)
This past December I got to see this band in concert, I was waiting the whole show for this song and they walk off stage, and I'm eagerly waiting to see what the encore was, and lo and behold! This was it! (This song is a horse of a completely different color live, trust me, possibly even better)
Absinthe Party At The Fly Honey Warehouse by Minus The Bear from Highly Refined Pirate (2002)
— S
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