record review: feist-the reminder

so i bought this for 5.99 at cd trader because it also had best new music ties and "one of the best albums of the year" shit attached to it so i thought "why not?" well i should have chosen "not" this SHIT SUCKS! she sounds exactly like norah jones except her PR person happens to be focusing on the indie world oh and she used to sing in broken social scene. who the fuck cares they havent done anything interesting since their second album and that was a fluke. fuck this shit. this shit belongs in upscale coffee houses where dumbasses can pontificate on how deep they are because they "get" the lyrics or some shit. save the coffee i'll drink beer instead and listen to something worthwhile. this bitch isnt fooling me...is she fooling you?

record review: okkervil river-the stage names

so i found this album at a goodwill for 1.99 and i thought i would give it a try, ya know since it is one of the highest reviewed albums of the year, best new music blah blah blah. i liked okkervil river when they were an interesting slightly experimental alt country band. i dont like okkervil river when they jump on the indie pop bandwagon and end up sounding like the new cars mixed with arcade fire. this shit is whack and i dont need to devote any more time to this. it sucks and if you like it either you are lying or something is wrong with you. fuck it.

i'm not gonna lie, i stole this from pitchfork

Okay people! Take a couple deep breaths, count to 10, switch the caps lock off, clean up the triple espresso you just spit all over the computer screen, and check this: that new Radiohead album, In Rainbows? The one that the world knew practically zilch about 24 hours ago? The one that drops digitally (DRM-free, no less!) in nine days, for a price of your own choosing? The one that's also coming out in a deluxe "Discbox" in December? Well, it's also coming out in good, old fashioned CD format early next year.

No word on when exactly or through which label-- if any label at all-- but that's the news thus far from the band's publicist.

So, let's sort this whole mess out, shall we? You will eventually have three ways to pick up the seventh Radiohead LP, the Nigel Godrich-produced In Rainbows. It all depends how much you want to pay, which goodies you'd like, and how soon you want the tunes. Observe:

1. As a DRM-free mp3 download, beginning October 10 (and available for preorder now), via www.inrainbows.com (interestingly enough, last week's RickRoll, www.radioheadlp7.com, now directs here as well). This version contains the 10 tracks that comprise In Rainbows, and you can pay whatever the hell you want for it. This is basically the band leaking the album and asking you for a donation to access it.

2. As part of a deluxe "Discbox", available for preorder now and shipping in December. In addition to the 10-track In Rainbows on CD, you also get the release on LP and as a digital download, plus an enhanced bonus CD packed with eight more tracks, photos, and artwork (and an LP of the bonus tracks), plus art and lyrics booklets and some nifty looking packaging. This thing costs £40.00/$81.00.

3. As a traditional CD, available in early 2008. This will presumably cost as much as traditional CDs tend to cost.

What Radiohead's doing here is actually pretty cool. Rather than preface their new album's release with the usual three months of press ballyhoo, only to have it leak at some random time before it comes out, they've kept it completely under wraps, then essentially gone and leaked it themselves. What's more, they've turned this into a moral question of sorts, by giving us the freedom to pay actual money for what amounts to an album leak.

Only a band in Radiohead's position could pull a trick like this. Well played, gentlemen.

Indie Pop Is Not Dead!

REVIEW: Sunset Rubdown-Random Spirit Lover(Jagjaguar)






So when I was at CD Trader a couple of days ago I picked up the new album by Sunset Rubdown, it was cheap and I liked their second one. This one might be better. The sounds are virtually the same; keyboards, wavering vocals, quirky and sharp guitar lines, and odd little flourishes of percussion. Same deal on this one, only bigger. The songs are longer have multiple parts and they play with silence quite well. His vocals where they should annoy me given my current taste in vocals instead sound earnest and they invoke something from my past. The base melodies are very simple yet melodic which gives each player room to play around the repeated patterns mostly coming from some form of synth.
Oddly enough this album reminds me of baseball it's not just because i just got back from seeing the dodgers a few nights ago but it really does have this kind of summer night organ wafting through the air kind of carelessness about it, it reminds me of fireworks and old timey shit. The first track reminds me of deerhoof a little mixed with a lot of frog eyes, you can hear a lot of frog eyes in this also you can hear some xiu xiu and a lot of medievel influences with the use of flutes and harpsichords. The album has kind of a retro look towards the future kind of thing going on. There is one part in the song "Colt stands up, grows horns" where it completely apes the theme to Halloween I think and it's exceptionally creepy but damn effective in creating a mood. Elsewhere the album takes the whole big is better Arcade Fire kinda thing and improves upon the formula making it intimate yet with a wide scope at the same time and I feel that is a feat to be proud of.
Every track is excellent with a few standouts namely track 6 that I mentioned before and "Up on your leopard, upon the end of your feral days" both are the best tracks but the whole album is pretty much blowing me away. Thank you Sunset Rubdown for not fucking Indie Pop up and keeping it alive for a little while longer.

Shart now, ask questions later

REVIEW: Qui-Love's Miracle



So this is David Yow's new project. It's not new per se but new to him, Qui have been around as a 2 piece since 2003. In late 2006 David Yow hooked up with them to do a guest spot for one of their live shows and ended up sticking around long enough to coalesce into a full on working band and released this album. This album is pretty awesome. It's not as good as their live show but it captures them quite nicely. 9 tracks, 2 are covers the rest sound like lost mclusky meets jesus lizard tracks. The subject matter ranges from pissed off to very angry to laughing about being pissed off and angry. This music seems to seethe and teeter on the brink of a breakdown. It's excellent dirty rock n roll and it sounds like an Albini production but its not.

Let's do a track by track:

1. Apartment-The only track of Qui as a duo without Yow and it's one of the best on the album, I want to believe it's about the drummer's apartment not lasting through a rainstorm. 9/10
2. Today, Gestation-The first track Qui did with Yow and it's a barnburner fucking awesome, intense. 9/10
3. Gash-Pretty incredible, lyrically very reminescent of Jesus Lizard musically very Mcluskyish. Has some pretty interesting yet slightly distracting backing vocals during the "chorus". 8/10
4. Freeze-Might be the best song on the album it seems like it's shitting on a "handsome businessman" or something and telling him they hope he freezes to death in a place who knows where it is. This song ends with Yow talking some rant about baskin robbins and a penguin eating their ice cream and something about how the vanilla looks like sploogh on the penguin's chin.10/10
5. New Orleans-One of the more meandering and lackluster tracks on the album, nice musicianship with not much else going on, slightly boring but still pretty good. 7/10
6. A#1-I have no idea why they titled this like this since the only lyrics on the song are "baby blue" sung very softly and almost comically given the mood of the album, I like this one because it shows they have a sense of humor and it's almost sweet. 8/10
7. Willie the Pimp-The first of 2 covers on the album. This one's by Frank Zappa and I love it but i cant even begin to see this as a Frank Zappa song. It is like a long lost garage rock gem that i have never heard, very catchy and very sarcastically sung, way high energy and another one of the best tracks on the album. 10/10
8. Belt-This song is another fucking awesome rocker, this one is a little heavier and definately wears it's Jesus Lizard on it's sleeve. Very pissed very cathartic. 9/10
9. Echoes-Yep, Pink Floyd. Pretty straightforward doesnt deviate too much from the original, i saw them perform this live as an encore without Yow on vocals which leads me to believe he isnt on this one and it would make sense and it would make the first song and last bookends to a Yow involved album. This song is kinda boring but a nice sendoff.8/10

This band seems like Yow's logical progression from the Jesus Lizard to now. Good Job!

Animal Collective at the Henry Fonda Theater

so i went to see animal collective last night and this is what i have to say.

ultimately the music was pretty good, the sound was pretty supurb especially the bass. panda bear was spot on so was avey tare and the geologist.

so there, band great.

now...onto the crowd

the crowd was awful, i am thinking of swearing off all large concerts alltogether(500 plus)
too many people means a bigger chance of idiots fucking up your concert going experience.
to me animal collective are a personal thing, something to be shared with a small number of friends, something to take in on a drive or with some early morning coffee...anything except enjoying it with the crowd last night.
i am sick of dancing hippies, bros who somehow wander into these high profile indie shows, assholes who feel that the closer you are to the band the better the concert(not the case) and i am sick of the amateur photographers who shove their arms up everytime one of the members of the band moves a finger to snap a photo. this is what takes a big giant shit all over the animal collective experience.

now onto the venue...any band that would be willing to play a show where they charge 10 fucking dollars for a gin and tonic needs to rethink there touring schedule. this place of all places should not charge that much for a drink, they make 4 times the amount per ticket over a small venue like the smell or a loft show yet for some odd reason they charge triple the drink price...this to me makes no sense. they should be somewhat cool and change their overcharging bullshit and ultimately no bands should ever play a venue that overcharges the fans. sorry but i wont be returning to the henry fonda anytime soon.