Middle of the Night
MP3 File
Sunday, May 25, 2008
What made Milwaukee famous is not What Made Milwaukee Famous
Needless to say, What Made Milwaukee Famous hails from Austin, Texas. This band has been getting a fair amount of buzz. I still haven't fully immersed myself in What Doesn't Kill You but "Middle of the Night" really grabbed my attention. It's fair to say that you'll know whether you like this song in about the first 15 seconds as it leads with its chorus (which I think is sort of a ballsy move).
My new favorite instrumental...is this one!
First things first, I don't know much about Kelley Stoltz. I'm not sure if he's related to actor Eric Stoltz, or, with a name like that, if he's like one of those "professional" snowboarder/skateboarder dudes. Fear not, dear reader, Stoltz's music doesn't resemble Jack Johnson's in the slightest. But you're going to have to take my word on that as Stoltz doesn't sing a word on this song.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Al Green is Still in Love with You
Al Green has a new album called Lay it Down. I haven't heard it yet, but I bet that it isn't nearly as ridiculously smooth as I'm Still in Love with You--almost every song on the album is classic. "Look What You Done For Me" is one of my favorites.
Gay Dad
Anyone remember the mild hyping of Gay Dad back in 1999-2000 by the British music press? I'm not sure I even do anymore, but Gay Dad had sort of a attention-getting name and I am pretty huge devotee of all things Britpop (with the exception of Oasis), and so I bought Leisure Noise back in 2000 while interning for a summer in D.C. (big ups to my main man, Sen. Dick Lugar). This is one of those albums that I bought, listened to a few times and then sort of forgot about, along with the rest of America. But the thing is, this album has aged pretty nicely. "Black Ghost" is a pretty mellow but engaging little pop song.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Ratatat -- Shiller
Ratatat might be to 2007-08 what Air was in those pre-Millenium francophile and Brian Wilson obsessed times. Both are instrumental groups who use vocals sparingly and often through a vocoder-synthesizer. But while Air's instrument of choice of the synthesizer, Ratatat instead chooses to layer guitars in addition to other odd instrumentation, but this is clean, efficient music. Give "Shiller" a chance, this one will grow all over you.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Tulsa -- Shaker
By now, it's pretty apparent that My Morning Jacket have sparked a subgenre of indie rock. In a biblical-sense, MMJ begot Band of Horses which begat bands like the Fleet Foxes and Tulsa. The sound of all these bands suggest southern roots rock, a penchant for reverb and an indebtedness to Neil Young--at least in regards to vocals. I got no problems with any of this, given the high quality of the output of all these bands. "Shaker" sounds very reminiscent of Band of Horses but hardly derivative, or at least derivative of all the aspects of Band of Horses and MMJ that I really dig.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Phantom Planet
After checking out this butt-ugly album artwork, I was fairly sure that this new Phantom Planet album, Raise the Dead, was gonna suck. But looks in this case are deceiving, this is a pretty solid rock album. I listened to it pretty all afternoon long without tiring of it or Alex Greenwald's excellent voice. For those who only know Phantom Planet as the band that played the theme song to The O.C. or as the band that actor, Jason Schwartzman, used to play drums in (he left the band after the first album), Phantom Planet have gotten better with each album (this is their third). "Dropped" is one of my immediate favorites so far.
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab have a new album out today called Narrow Stairs. A couple of weeks, I posted the jammy "I will possess your heart" that unfortunately might be the best song on the album. Like Plans, Narrow Stairs has about five good songs, but nothing to get too excited about. Death Cab play it pretty safe, ensuring that at least a few songs can be used as soundtrack music for network television dramas. And I understand that, with gas at $4, Death Cab's got bills to pay, but I'm sad to say Narrow Stairs with a few exceptions is nothing to get too excited about, kind of like its album cover art.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
2 Songs about Blondes
No time for anything profound. I'm driving to Detroit tonight. I really dig the Bad Plus who are known for instrumental versions on piano, stand-up bass and drums of famous rock tunes. But "Dirty blonde" is one of their originals off Give and it is very solid. "Lebanese Blonde" is probably Thievery Corp's most well known tune. Adios!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Funk Sounds Better in the Summer Time
Yesterday it felt like summer. Today, it feels more like spring. So maybe yesterday this post was a little more appropriate. As an aside, I'd be the first to acknowledge that the blogosphere has been great way to gain exposure to funk and soul music of the 1960's and 1970's as well as current acts like Sharon Jones and Dapkings. But, over the past couple years, I've had occasional bouts of funk fatigue. So my posts have been relatively funk free with a couple of exceptions. For all those suffering from funk fatigue, take hede of this funky tune by James Reese & the Progression off the Funky 16 Corners compilation. It is pretty damn superb.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Stereolab is Baaaack too!
Freshman year at U of M, I burned Stereolab's Dots and Loops, and thereafter I was buying Stereolab albums and EPs like they were going out of style. Now, it seems Stereolab has gone out of style. Other bloggers have been discussing Stereolab's modest fall-off in quality over the past few albums and EPs (apparently, the last one Fab Five Suture was a collection of EPs and so isn't technically an album). And I too have been a little bit less than enthralled with Stereolab. Then again, Stereolab still makes fascinating music, even if they have been treading water stylistically for the last five years. So these same bloggers are calling "Three Women" off their upcoming album Chemical Chords a return to form.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Coldplay is Baaaack, bitches!
Coldplay is one of those bands that people (ok, mainly rock snobs) love to hate. But, I'm not one of those people. Sure the last album, X & Y, was a little bit of a let down, but it has its moments like "White Shadows." And I have a strong emotional connection to their first album, Parachutes, as it was one of the albums that I listened to ad nauseum in Sevilla (after I lost my mp3 player)--that album like Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints just brings back good memories. So a new Coldplay album comes out in June called Viva La Vida. I kind of like the album cover. The first single is called "Violet Hill." To be honest, I haven't even listened to it yet, so let me know what you think of it.
Funkadelic
Before P-Funk, there was Parliament and there was Funkadelic, both of which were fronted by George Clinton. Parliament initially was meant be the vehicle for making soul music, while using Funkadelic to make not only funk music, but rock and metal as well. By the mid 1970s, George Clinton was attracting some of the best musicians. Whereas there is a strictness, a tension in the funk music of James Brown, Funkadelic sounds like their having a party right in the middle of the session. "Sexy Ways" sounds almost like a parody of sexy soul song in the mode of Sly and the Family Stone or Al Green.
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