So we have been covering a lot from Italy’s own Vermillion Sands over the past few months. It all started with the Mary 7″ that totally caught me off guard, and ever since then we’ve been following the Vermillion Sands and whatever they put out next. As of lately, the Vermillion Sands released their first full length, and almost at the same time they put out yet another 7″ record. This most recent 7″ was put out by Hell, Yes! Records, located in Venezia, Italy.
The 7″ features two brand new, never before heard songs from our friends the Vermillion Sands. On the A-side we have the song “Something Wrong”, that has quite a familiar sound to it. There is that galloping bass line that comes out in many of the Vermillion Sands songs, as well as Anna Barattin nasally singing voice. Many times throughout the song we’re face to face with a squealing guitar riff and the quick roll of the snare drum. Within the last minute of the song the lead guitar joins the rest of the gang, playing a rusty guitar hook along with the squeal of the guitarist who is credited as “Krano”.
Flipping over to the B-side, things change pretty quickly. The A-side was faster, more upbeat, and almost at a walking pace. On the B-side they slow things down a bit, almost as if they’re playing outside on an extremely humid summer day. The song is dominated by slow, lazy sounding lead guitars that are sliding up and down all over the place. Once you reach the middle of the song (and at the end) there is a jangly, ear piercing guitar noise that’s not entirely obvious on how it’s being played. Definitely a mysterious sound there. It works wonders for the song, because as a whole it’s in sort of a dazed state. The fade-out at the end also adds a nice touch, because the song never quite reaches a conclusion, which adds to that mysterious vibe throughout the track. Check out the mp3’s below! Thanks for reading once again!
Something Wrong –
Mother of Earth –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Garage Rock, Folk Rock, Italian Something Wrong 7″: Tracklist
1.) Something Wrong
2.) Mother of Earth
Believe it or not, (The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope may have been around for longer than you once thought. The band originally formed in Washington D.C. back in the winter of 2000, when they put out some of their earlier releases, like their first few EPs. The band remained in Washington D.C. until the summer of 2007 when they decided to move to Philadelphia, which from here on out they considered Philadelphia to be their home. As of currently the band still resides in Philadelphia, and they’re most recent release was put out in 2008 on Turnstile Records, and it’s called “All This Heaven”. As far as I know, this is the most recent release from the band.
The album starts off with quite a racket. The first track “Which Witch is Which” begins on a terrifying note, with the song being nothing more than some screeching and scratching. This is bound to leave any listener questioning what they are about to get themselves into. Things don’t stay this way for very long though, and that’s probably a good thing. The following track “Get the Joke” kicks off with a much more inviting sound, and shortly into it you’re probably thinking “Why the hell wasn’t this the opening track?” Right around the 2 and a half minute mark, the song begins to build up into much more, with the lead guitar bringing us along for the ride and moving the song forward.
The next track “Lines” is certainly a highlight from the album. The song starts off with just some guitar, but slowly picks up one instrument at a time. First the fuzzy bass guitar slides on in, which is then followed by the splash of a few cymbals. Then the drummer gives us a steady beat, and this is when the song begins to take form. Right after the 2 minute mark the lead guitar and vocals come in, and that’s when the song continues to grow. A lot of the music on this record builds up in the same fashion, almost producing a soundscape in which you can immerse yourself in. The next track is “The Complete Lights”, and this one kicks off much differently than the prior tracks. They don’t waste any time starting this one, and about halfway through you’re met with a huge, thunderous guitar solo that sounds as if the god’s up in the sky have become angered. The tom-toms and the rhythm guitar help give the solo that destructive feeling before the track closes out with some familiar drum rolls. Moving onto the next track “The Story About the Knives”, this one starts off a bit slower and laid back. The guitars that introduce almost hint at something bigger and better to come, all over top of that groovy bass line. Sure enough, right around the 4 minute mark, the song changes pace and you’re once again immersed in the middle of another “Kaleidoscope” soundscape. Be sure to listen to this song below.
Skipping ahead to the track “Dead Room”, this just happens to be the longest track on the album, clocking in at over 7 minutes. Perhaps they call this one dead room because of the 3 and half minute intro. For 3 minutes it just sounds like all the members were told to screw around with their instruments, and this intro was the result. Complete with screeching door sound effects, this is definitely what it would sound like to be in a “Dead Room”, but remember, this is just the intro. Right at the 3 and half minute mark the song kicks off, and almost immediately the bass line comes in. This is when the song becomes dangerously catchy, and the bass line is sure to keep your foot tapping. The ghastly lead guitars do a nice job of guiding you through the track yet again, right into the vocals of lead singer Damien C. Taylor. Along with “Lines”, “The Complete Lights”, “The Story About the Knives”, and “This is False Telegraph”, this song fits right into the highlight category for this album. Be sure to listen to the mp3’s below.
Dead Room –
The Story About the Knives –
This is False Telegraph –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Post-Rock, Psychedelic, Shoegaze All This Heaven: Tracklist
1.) Which Witch is Which
2.) Get the Joke
3.) Lines
4.) The Complete Lights
5.) The Story About the Knives
6.) 13 Days
7.) Cicada Song
8.) Dead Room
9.) Learn To Forget
10.) Asa Nisi Masa
11.) This Is False Telegraph
12.) You Know Who
(The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope on Myspace
Listen to the album in its entirety right here > Apollo Audio
Hey all, how’s it going? So today was kind of an unusual day in terms of going to concerts. But just because it was unusual doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good time! I say it was unusual because the show started at noon, and that’s definitely not the time I’m used to going to shows. But the good news is that because this show was at noon, I had a great excuse to skip one of my final classes of my sophomore year. I certainly wasn’t about to miss the Hold Steady perform live because of a lame statistics class. I don’t think anybody in the right mind would! The even greater news is that I was able to get into the show and shoot a few videos of the Hold Steady, who were visiting WXPN to play a show for their “Free at Noon” concert series. The Hold Steady? For free? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
The Weekenders – The Hold Steady’s latest album is about to drop on May 4th from Vagrant, so you can probably guess that the show was dominated by brand new songs from the forthcoming album. This song is called “The Weekenders”, and it’s the third track from “Heaven is Whenever”. They played the song “The Sweet Part of the City” before this, so this was their second song of the show.
Hurricane J – This was the first of any songs to appear on the blogosphere from their latest album, and it was the third song of their setlist. This song originally premiered on Pitchfork back on March 22nd, and since then the Hold Steady have toured all over the east coast. Luckily for us in Philly they finally decided to drop by on the 30th! They’ve had a break from touring since their last show in Harrisburg, PA on April 16th.
Barely Breathing – Now I haven’t really given the new album “Heaven is Whenever” an in-depth listen just yet, but this song sounds like it could easily be one of the highlights. It has a shady feel to it, mainly due to that intimidating guitar riff that opens up the song. And just look at how much fun Craig Finn has on stage! His arms are constantly sprawled out all over the place, using his hands and whatever else to kind of “narrate” the story. At this point Finn has nothing else on his mind but to have a damn good time, and I think it’s pretty obvious.
Rock Problems – This was another one of the earlier songs to be unveiled from “Heaven is Whenever”. While Finn sings about all the possible problems involved with a rock and roll lifestyle (drugs, girls, etc.), guitarist Tab Kubler totally melts our faces off with an (almost) flawless guitar solo.
Our Whole Lives – This song features some great guitar work by the one and only Tad Kubler once again. He makes the guitar squeal quite well in this one, and yet, he makes it look so damn easy! Why can’t I do that? This song reminds me of the good old days when Franz Nicolay was still around. If you listen to this song from the album, the intro screams early Hold Steady…or “old Steady”.
We Can Get Together – Before leaving the stage to come back for an encore, the Hold Steady play the slower, more laid back song “We Can Get Together”, which, according to Mr. Finn, is about getting together with a girl and just listening to music. Check out the ridiculous solo a bit after the 3 minute mark by Tad Kubler again. This guy seriously knows how to shred. Wow.
Southtown Girls – Well, here it is. The moment everybody was waiting for. After they left the stage they came back for a short but good spirited encore, in which they played two old songs. Yes! These are the songs everybody came out to hear! They started the encore with “Southtown Girls”, the closing track to their legendary 2006 album “Boys and Girls in America”. Do I even need to comment on the guitar playing in this one?
Your Little Hoodrat Friend – Awwwww the Hold Steady!! It’s songs like these that everybody loves you so much! This song was truly a surprise, as I definitely didn’t think we’d hear anything from “Separation Sunday”. They draw this one out for quite awhile with some spacey guitar effects – and my arm was really starting to hurt by this point from holding the camera up for so long.
Well, that brings us to the end of the show. They left the stage shortly after the song to go do an interview for the WXPN Radio Station. I hope this post was a surprise for you guys, because I never listed it in the ‘shows’ section. So thanks for viewing, listen to this mp3 of “Barely Breathing” below, and be sure to check back very soon!
I feel like the word ‘intense’ comes up time and time again when people are talking about music. Most of the time it seems like the word is being overused in all situations, but then there are those times when it’s completely necessary. This is one of those times.
For the past 24 hours I have been listening to Mi Ami’s latest full length effort from Thrill Jockey, and let me tell you people, this one is quite overwhelming, but not necessarily in a bad way. The face-melting trio that is Mi Ami take you on a hell of a journey into their musical world, and once you get sucked in, it might be too late to come back out.
The album kicks off without much time to breath at all – literally right off the bat lead singer Daniel Martin-McCormick is shoving his words down our throat in “Harmonics (Genius of Love)”. This right here might already prove to be too intense, but keep on listening and things tend to become a little less over-bearing. Throughout the song they quiet things down so you can figure out what the hell is going on, but never for too long. By the time you’re in the last minute of the song, the shit just hits the fan entirely. An incredibly noisy, sandpapery, cacophonous guitar drowns out just about everything but the guitar itself, all while Martin-McCormick continues to berate us with his completely unintelligible vocals.
Moving on to the next track “Latin Lover”. This song has a much more welcoming beginning, and perhaps could be the most accessible song on “Steal Your Face” for any listener. The dancey drum beats certainly help make that a possibility, but that decision is really up to you! A bit past the two minute mark of the song and you’ll find yourself in the midst of a metallic, scratchy guitar solo, all while the drums keep guiding you along. By the time you reach the end of the song, you’re forced right into another demonic, shape-shifting electronic mess. I’m not entirely sure what it is that’s making those sounds, but once again the intensity is coming at you full-throttle.
The following track “Dreamers” takes a step back from where the previous two tracks were. They slow everything down significantly, and this is where Mi Ami give you the time to think and put a few thoughts together. This is one of the two longest tracks on the album, so they’re definitely trying to give you some time to catch your breath here. The slow, lazy sounding tom-tom rolls and the echoing bass line can actually be heard in this song, as they’re not being drowned out by ruthless yelping and jarring guitar work. The tribal rhythms continue on this way for the greater portion of this song until the final 2 minutes come into the play. At this point the song slowly gains ferociousness until it’s built up into another huge face-searing guitar solo, which the end result of is an enormous wall of sound that takes us to the end of the song. When the next track “Secrets” starts up, you’ll find yourself back in familiar Mi Ami territory. Martin-McCormick’s squealing vocals and drummer Damon Palermo’s relentless and completely nontraditional drumming styles come back into play, all over top of some screeching sound effects.
This is where I must call it a day. Once again, school work is calling my name, but not for much longer! The end of the year is within sight! Be sure to listen to the songs below if you’re looking to have your face stolen today. OMG band joke!
Latin Lover –
Secrets –
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Noise Rock, Experimental, Psychedelic Steal Your Face: Tracklist
1.) Harmonics (Genius of Love)
2.) Latin Lover
3.) Dreamers
4.) Secrets
5.) Native Americans (Born in the U.S.A.)
6.) Slow
Not too long ago a friend and myself went to go see the Strange Boys play live. This was on their last visit to Philadelphia, and they played at the Danger Danger Gallery. I had been filming the entire set they played so I could use it to put up here on the blog, but promptly after the show singer/guitarist Ryan Sambol kindly asked if I wouldn’t put those videos on the internet. Fair enough. Maybe I can share them with you some day…
When they came to Philadelphia they were touring for their new album “Be Brave”, but that certainly didn’t mean they forgot to play song from their first record, “And Girls Club”. That’s a good thing too – most of the songs on “And Girls Club” are perfect for playing live, tracks like “Who Needs Who More”, “Poem Party”, and “This Girl Taught Me a Dance”. These certainly aren’t the only ones either. But with that being said, looking at the songs from “Be Brave”, not nearly as many of these songs would pack such a punch live. A few that would are “A Walk on the Bleach”, “Be Brave”, and “Night Might”, but after those couple you’re left with “The Unsent Letter”, “You Can’t Only Love When You Want”, and “All You Can Hide Inside”, which don’t necessarily deliver as well as the other songs do – they just kind of fall short of that mark. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still be interested in listening to “Be Brave” – remember, we’re talking about a live scenario here. Songs like “Da Da”, “Night Might” and “Friday in Paris” have that classic Strange Boys twang that we had so much of from the first record. “Friday in Paris” has an acoustic guitar solo in the closing minute of the song, while the ending of “Between Us” is bound to put a smile on your face. “Night Might” quickly becomes another Strange Boys classic with it’s sudden pace changes and the wail of the harmonica. The song gets really good at about 1 minute and 15 seconds in when they slow everything down, but they don’t forget to pick up the pace on last time before the end. I really hope that one day I can share these Strange Boys videos with you guys, so I’ll work on that for everybody. Oh yeah, take notice that the ratings and tags of each post will now be at the bottom of the post. Stay tuned…
My Rating: 7/10 Genre/ Tags: Garage Rock, Lo-Fi, R&B Be Brave: Tracklist
1.) I See
2.) A Walk on the Bleach
3.) Be Brave
4.) Friday in Paris
5.) Between Us
6.) Da Da
7.) Night Might
8.) Dare I Say
9.) Laugh at Sex, Not Her
10.) All You Can Hide Inside
11.) The Unsent Letter
12.) You Can’t Only Love When You Want
The Strange Boys on Myspace
The Strange Boys – And Girls Club previously posted on the Styrofoam Drone BUY Be Brave directly from the Rough Trade Shop
Exactly two weeks ago on this day I put up the Vermillion Sands “In the Wood” record. Shortly after making that post I went over to ALIEN SNATCH! Records to pick up the brand new VS full length record. In doing so, the good people at Alien Snatch decided to send me a promo of one of the other bands that they have on their roster. That band would be known as The Golden Boys, who hail from the beautiful Austin, TX. They play a raucous blend of country-folk punk rock, complete with bluesy guitar riffs and giant face pounding guitar solos, and they do it all with an attitude that’s guaranteed to crack a smile on any listeners face.
Now while the Golden Boys would be great just on their own, they’re even better because they had their friends the Spider Bags join them in the recording process of their album. I’m sure some of you are already familiar with the Spider Bags, but if not I would highly encourage you to look into them. One good way to start would be checking out this post on their first album, “A Celebration of Hunger”.
A good portion of this Golden Boys album was done with the Spider Bags, including songs like “Plainsman’s Lament”, “Kontroll Girls”, “Goddamn I Love the Ocean”, “Mr. Dickles”, and the track “Dish Towel”, which gives writing credits to Dan McGee, who is the lead singer of the Spider Bags. The first track I want to mention is “Goddamn I Love the Ocean”. It starts off with some beach-y sound effects before you’re in the midst of a rolling drum beat, and shortly after you’re met with the howls of Dan McGee and lead singer Matt Hoopengardner proclaiming their undying love for the ocean. Their love for the ocean goes hand in hand with them drinking a beer in a Wal-Mart parking lot, as they attempt to escape their landlocked town in pursuit of going “anywhere but here.” Let’s hope everything works out for them. The following track “Dish Towel” is a unique one indeed. For about the first minute things are a bit slow as the bluesy guitar riffs bring you through the intro. Then a quick drum roll and things change directions completely. The keyboards dominate in this track until about 2 minutes in when a huge guitar solo comes out of nowhere to serve no other purpose then to rock-yr-face off. Before listening to this song, I would have never considered referring to a person as a dish towel, but now after thinking about it, you could probably make that sound pretty offensive.
I would love to keep going on here, but it’s the end of the spring semester here at school, and I have a hell of a lot of other work to do. I’ll leave by saying that just about every last song on this album is worth hearing, especially the triumphant “Kontroll Girls”, the easy-going “She Said It”, or “Old Man’s Coat”. Just be sure to listen to the mp3s below, that’s all I ask. So thanks for coming by, and be sure to check back again real soon!
She Said It –
Kontroll Girls –
Dish Towel –
Electric Wolfman: Tracklist
1.) Electric Wolfmen
2.) Rock With Me Forever
3.) Plainsman’s Lament
4.) She Said It
5.) Kontroll Girls
6.) I’m Black and White
7.) Old Man’s Coat
8.) Goddamn I Love the Ocean
9.) Dish Towel
10.) Mr. Dickles
11.) A Message from Ross Johnson
Hey everyone! So things have been getting reaaaaaaaaally lonely at our group page on Last.fm. I was thinking maybe some of you Last.fm users wanted to join our group and make things a bit more interesting. So why not follow this link here and join up? I promise it will be fun, and it won’t hurt a bit! It’s a simple as clicking the ‘Join’ button! Thanks for reading and be sure to check back for more tomorrow! See you then.
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Alternative, Indie Rock, Pop
Free Energy formed in the Fall of 2008. Most of the band had already known each other from playing in a previous band called “Hockey Night” together. Originally from Minnesota, Scott Wells, Evan Wells and Paul Sprangers moved to the wonderful city of Philadelphia. When in Philadelphia they met guitarist Geoff Bucknam and drummer Nick Shuminsky, and shortly afterword, the band Free Energy came into existence. Their time as a band has been relatively short thus far, but they already have an EP out, and their first full length album “Stuck On Nothing” is due out on May 4th by DFA Records. If you’ve read about Free Energy anywhere else on the web, then you already know this album was produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.
Before getting into this record, I didn’t know what I should be expecting. The most I knew about these guys were that they were from my city, Philadelphia, which is probably the original reason I decided to listen to them. It’s always cooler when the band is from the same city you’re from. But moving on. “Stuck On Nothing” holds a lot of talent on both ends, musically and lyrically. With that being said, I’d like to say that “Stuck On Nothing” was an extremely refreshing listen the first time around. It’s great that a band still wants to make a record like this, reminding many listeners of the classic rock days and the classic rock radio stations that play all of your beloved bands from the past. Lead singer Paul Sprangers guides us through the album with his reassuring vocals, and that becomes clear shortly after the album begins.
According to Sprangers, the first track “Free Energy”, is “kind of a survey of everything that we’re about. That song has a lot of elements of what we’re trying to do. It’s got really driving choruses, big simple riffs, really melodic harmonies, and wild guitar solos.” (via the LAist). Take it from the band member himself, because he’s right on the money. If you have a moment, read the rest of that interview too; it’s quite entertaining and insightful. But you heard the man, and he’s not just pulling our leg either. The album really is chock-full of this stuff. The “wild guitar solos” are constantly popping up left and right, like in “Bang Pop”, “All I Know” and especially “Bad Stuff”. “Bad Stuff”, the second longest on the album, is kind of a song on its own. Sprangers sings “If you feel my heart, then we’re tied by fate,” shortly before the epic ending begins. It’s slower and still full of excellent guitar work, but it evokes a different feeling that you don’t quite get anywhere else on the album. If you haven’t already been able to tell, this album is certainly worth all 45 minutes that it carries. Just about every last song would qualify as a highlight, including “Dream City”, “Light Love”, “Hope Child”, and “Wild Winds”. Just wait until May 28th, when most of these highlights will come to life at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. I think I speak for us all when I say that this show won’t come soon enough.
Last Saturday was Record Store Day, which means you should have had plenty of new records to spin this week. One record that I have been spinning more than others would be the latest from Happy Birthday, the glamorous pop-punk trio that recently put out their first full length record on Sub Pop. Sub Pop released a staggering amount of new records for the wake of Record Store Day, and one of those records just happened to be a brand new 7″ single featuring two unheard tracks from Kyle Thomas and the Happy Birthday gang.
In the first track “Shampoo”, you’re instantly met with an intense, shape shifting sound effect that’s bound to catch any listener off-guard upon the first listen. The bass that you hear in the beginning sticks around for the length of the song, which helps keep a steady, easy-going pace for the listener. Right before the 40-second mark is when the song really takes form, where the bass line and drums are introduced for the first time, which is a dangerously catchy combo. After things get moving, the music never quite takes a turn in any unexpected direction. Instead, you’re thrown into the middle of a well organized song, complete with shimmering sound effects, bell hits, hi-hat rolls and high-pitched vocals that compliment the sound quite nicely. Kyle Thomas is once again addressing a member of the opposite sex in his lyrics, singing “I got to look good for my girl, that’s you.” Instrumentally, this song sounds like it could be the background music for a bunch of people working together on an assembly line in a factory somewhere – sort of like this song right here, but I’m sure not everybody is thinking the same thing. Either way, this song has a nice sound to it. I have the b-side “Alien” below for you to listen to, so hopefully that works for ya. If not, this was a great excuse to post up the amazing “Girls FM” again, the opening track from their full length record.
“Alien” –
“Girls FM” –
Shampoo 7″: Tracklist
1.) Shampoo
2.) Alien
Happy Birthday’s self-titled LP previously posted on the Styrofoam Drone BUY Happy Birthday’s self-titled release directly from Sub Pop Records
Happy Birthday on Myspace
My Rating: 8/10 Genre/ Tags: Dream Pop, Experimental, Shoegaze
If there was ever a good time to be a shoegaze band, the 90’s were it. Band’s like My Bloody Valentine, Galaxie 500 and Ride were prominent in those days, along side many other acts. More towards the middle of the decade, a band that never quite reached any sort of mainstream success started to emerge out of the shadows of New Jersey, and they were known as “All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors”. That name is quite a mouthful, too. The band formed originally back in 1993, when member’s Josh Booth and Steve Doherty left their first band “Senepede” to pursue other ideas. This led them to form “All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors”, who remained active until the year 2000.
Their debut LP, the self-titled “All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors” record, was originally released in 1996. This album would mark the beginning of the band, who are sometimes referred to as “L&L” just to keep things simple. The album, originally released with only 8 tracks, was later reissued to include four more songs, which is the copy I am listening to today. The album kicks off with the short but very sweet “Muffin 57”. The song begins with the squeal of the guitar, and shortly after the rest of the band joins in. Around the 20 second mark the lead guitar joins, and it’s pretty much a done-deal after that. That catchy lead guitar hook sticks around for the duration of the song, guiding us through the final moments. Then it turns into that jangly, chicken-scratch of a guitar solo that brings us to the end of the song. Moving on to the longest track from the album, “Saturn Jig” kicks off with that “wahh-wahh” sound that is reminiscent to the parents when they speak in Charlie Brown. Immediately after you’re thrown into a mess of heavy, swirling guitar that’s enough to make your head spin. Then they take a step back and you’re in the middle of that mysterious verse, complete with those “wahh-wahh” sound effects and the intimidating tap of the hi-hat.
During the album you’ll find many mysterious sounds and crazy voices, and it all works wonders for their hazy yet clear sound. Looking back on it, they all tend to have that crisp, refreshing sound. That being the case, it’s no question how they landed on their band name – just think Sprite, with it’s refreshing, crispness. All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors showcases a fantastically refreshing sound that balances on a fine line between mysterious space rock and in-your-face experimental rock and roll. If you’re still not convinced, do yourself a favor and listen to these couple songs below.
Muffin 57 –
Saturn Jig –
ANL&LF: Tracklist
1.) Muffin 57
2.) Saturn Jig
3.) Salad Forest
4.) All the Time
5.) Jayne Baby
6.) String of Stars
7.) How Come?
8.) Tea with Honey
9.) Nice Soup
10.) Yellow
11.) Blue Balloons
12.) Wondered Why
Styrofoam Drone 