Mannuals Mashup Contest – Show in Boston
I picked up Annuals‘ Be He Me a little while back and haven’t really paid much attention to them since. That happens often in today’s crazy fast past world where bands come in and out of the lime light. But there is no question the Annuals are a band that need to stay towards the front of my brain.
They play sporadic and jaunty melodies with instruments galore. It’s not often that multi-instrumental bands find it in to my regular rotation. It’s a hard gig to pull off as you have so many instruments to manage and the slightest miscalculation can ruin the experience. More well known members of this genre are Arcade Fire and to a lesser known degree, Beirut (although a recent MTV News appearance could help change the low profile). But to an even lesser lesser degree are the Annuals. The Annuals popped up on the radar around last years CMJ festival and really impressed the critics and grew a small but growing following.
They originate from Raleigh, N.C. and are currently on tour. They arrive in Boston this Thursday at the Great Scott with another young band in tow. Opening up is the Atlanta based group Manchester Orchestra, who have recently opened up for Kings of Leon and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
The two groups seem to have started a strong relationship as they have started a contest called Mannuals Mashup Contest. The rules are you have to take one Annuals track and one Manchester Orchestra track and mash them together. The bands will then pick their favorite track and the winner gets a brand new Epiphone guitar signed by both bands, a copy of the Annuals’ Be He Me and MO’s I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child, the bands’ split 7″ (only being offered at their show) and a limited edition lithograph of the 7″ artwork. Five runners up will get the CD’s, the 7″ and the lithograph.
Enter the contest HERE
Annuals also have a new EP coming out full of B-sides called Frelen Mas. There will be a cover of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, which I’m interested to hear them play. It comes out November 6th through iTunes but you can have a sneak peak with the download of “Nah Keseyi” below.
Areas of Interest -
Download “Nah Keseyi”
Stream “Nah Keseyi”
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Purchase Be He Me (Annuals Music Store)
Purchase I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child (Manchester Orchestra Store)
Streaming Halloween Mix – Other stuff
Let me throw in a quick pitch for eSnips… It’s very easy to create a playlist using another users uploaded tracks and I find that very useful. Especially if you don’t have the time to upload the songs yourself or if you just don’t have the songs to upload. I’m planning on creating a bunch of mixes using other user uploads and of course giving them cred.
The beginning of my Halloween mix (that is probably playing right now as I turned on the auto play, hope you don’t mind) was entirely built using Brad’s mix – Check out all Brad’s Halloween Mix
I’ll be surfing around eSnips for more ‘weenie goodies so my playlist should grow. That way, you can just turn it on at your party this weekend and let it fly. Or, you can create your own mix using eSnips.
Bonus Halloween Mix:
If you’re in need of some scary background sounds for Halloween night as the little ones come knocking at your door, I recommend WFMU’s mix from a couple years ago. They still have it available for download. I guess they have plenty of server space.
Download Mix Here – Test it out by streaming below
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CMJ Report – Day 1
Reporting from NYC, this is Sneak Easy with a short but sweet overview of his trip to The Annex where he caught a few tunes of Sam Champion and the Tiny Masters of Today.
“we decided to skip out on the Sox for a few innings and wander down to the Annex to get the first taste of CMJ. We tried to time it so we could catch a few songs at the tail end of Sam Champion’s set and the first few songs of Tiny Masters of Today, then bolt back to catch the last few frames of Game 4. We actually timed it fairly well. We arrived just after SC had hit the stage. Admission, Bass and Budlight were free courtesy of NME. Finally, after screwing me for years with lousy recommendations for 3rd rate bands (The Thrills are sweeeeeeeet) they pay me back with two free beers. I’d rather have the $25 back they made me spend on an import by the Coral.
Anyway so Sam Champion – I had been hearing a lot of Pavement comparisons, but the only track I ever heard sounded more like the Libertines. I was wrong and the comparisons were right. They sound just like Pavement, or the singer is at least trying to sound like Malkmus, somewhat shamelessly I might add. We sat towards the back and Ivan and Ada from TMOT were sitting right next to us. 9-year-old Ada looked bored and read a copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Me lady, who is not a Tiny Masters fan (“it’s a novelty act!”), commented that she looked just as she did before a soccer game at that age (ie. I don’t want to be here). I agreed, but at the same time, isn’t acting like you don’t want to be there an integral part of seeing rock n’ roll in New York? Ivan seemed more into it nodding his head along to SC. SC’s last song was the one I knew. It was their best of the evening
Then Tiny Masters played. The place was surprisingly only about half-way full. I was slightly impressed with their record and was certainly curious to see what the kids could do. Well, I’ll say this; despite endorsements from Fred Schneider, Karen O and David Bowie I realized that the kids can’t play. I don’t mean “can’t play” in the ramone-sense like they can’t solo and they don’t know an F-chord – they just really can’t play. They were still mildly entertaining and they certainly looked cool up there. It was just difficult to tell one song from the next. I’m sure they’ll get it together (and I hope they do), but the whole thing smells of a hipster-daddy and not an eleven year old with a stack of Cramps records. We left after the fourth song and went home to see another Red Sox loss. Oh well.”
Check out Tiny Masters of Today on Myspace – Purchase TMOT music
Check out Tiny Sam Champion on Myspace – Purchase Sam Champion music
Fall Foliage Time…
(Photo by Tim Palmer-Benson )
So it’s that time of year again. Get out the mulled cider, the autumn brews and the pumpkin spice beer. It took some time getting here but fall has finally arrived in New England. And thanks to my intuition that this would be peak weekend in Vermont, I rented a 16 person cabin in Southern Vermont for the weekend.
So it’s time to polish off those albums that remind you of the fall. For me, I have a tendency to listen to a lot of bluegrass, alternative country, and basically any and all great singer / songwriters of our past time such as Nick Drake, Dylan, Cohen. As for modern day heroes, Andrew Bird is at the top of the playlist for me around this time of year. I just may blare “Scythian Empire” all the way up to Vermont on Friday.
As for your run of the mug indie / alternative bands, I find myself connecting with Arcade Fire around this time of year. Not that I don’t connect with them any other time of the year but there is something about their deepness that conjures up the heart warming, and homey feel that the fall season embodies. And another band that usually gets a good amount of play time is Radiohead.
And what perfect timing for the release of their 7th studio album, In Rainbows, as I embark on the 3 hour trip north to my fall foliage cabin.
I’ve got a track from the album for your listening pleasure below. It’s not for download because it just wouldn’t make much sense as you can download the entire album for free if you’d like from Radiohead themselves (if this is new to you, then I must divert you to Pitchfork’s page on all this as there is too much to discuss that needs an entire new post from me). While you can get it for free if you’d like, if you’ve got a couple bucks to spare, why not throw them a bone or two – Purchase the digital version or the Box Set at www.inrainbows.com, if you haven’t already done so that is.
The track I’ve posted is “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi“. This was my favorite when I first heard them play it way back during their surprise tour and it’s slowly but surely climbing in the ranks with my favorite on the album. It’s very much in the same vein as Kid A, YES!!!! It’s one of those songs that starts off a bit catchy and then slowly turns in to chaos, but controllable chaos. It reaches a climax and then leaves you hanging with symbols crashing and York whispering sweet nothingness in to the mic. The transition to the following track, “All I Need“, is perfect. In fact, the transition on just about the entire album is perfect. As for the songs themselves, I need more time with the album but it appears to be a grower. In other words, I wasn’t blown away but I was also not disappointed. The more I listen I’m sure the more meaning will come out of each motion, each transition and each lyric.
Listen to “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi” :
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Bonus MP3 download – “Scythian Empire” (Andrew Bird, Purchase Armchair Apocrypha)
Moving On – New artists
No problems. I’m used to it. This feeling of just about getting there and then letting it all go is familiar to all Philadelphia sports fan. I am an optimist and I look at this playoff run as just the beginning for a team that has a great future ahead.
In more positive Philly news, the Flyers beat one of the premier teams in the NHL, Calgary Flames, in their opener. They lost last night to the Oilers but they’re another tough team so I’m currently intrigued by this new line up and look forward to catching a game or two.
Now on to music.
Like most bloggers, I usually open up my email after the weekend to find a plethora of messages from random artists pushing their latest masterpiece. And every now and then something does catch your ear. I got lucky and two caught my ear today. Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, a band from Chicago / Boston and the other artist is a producer / mixer from Sweden, Mojib.
Ezra and The Harpoons hail from Chicago but some, if not all of the members, went to Tufts University here in Somerville, MA. If you’re a fan of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or Violent Femmes, you’ll most likely enjoy this outfit. I need more time with their album before a full critique goes up but their label, Minty Fresh, offered up an MP3 for your listening pleasure so grab it below:
MP3: “My Soul Has Escaped My Body”
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Ezra and The Harpoons play October 12th at Tommy Doyle’s in Cambridge at 8pm. They’re celebrating their album, Banging Down The Doors, which is being released this Fall on Minty Fresh.
Staffan Ulmert, a.k.a Mojib, is a producer and mixer from Sweden who has an album coming out soon off of the Canadian label, NXR (Non-Existent Recordings). He sent me a track from the album, Whimsical Lifetstyle, called “Answering Machine at Night”. It starts off with what sounds like an message on an answering machine and then Staffan mixes a Kings of Convenience guitar part with the vocals of a Jayhawks tune (anyone want to stab at the names of both those songs?). He also sent me a remix of some Avalanche stuff. I enjoy all three of those artists so Staffan definitely deserves more a listen.
MP3: “Answer Machine at Night”
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MP3: “Mojib vs. The Avalanches”
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Playoffs so far
Well, my Fighten Phils don’t look like they’re putting up much of a fight. Besides some offensive sparks from J Roll, Rowand and Howard, the rest of the team looks to be shell shocked. It was a gamble going in to the post season with the pitching staff that we have. I was hoping that the bullpens end of the season successes would carry over but it looks like the bullpen of old is back on track. Perfect timing fellas.
It is a five game series and 3 games in a row is not entirely unrealistic. I expect the Phils to shake of their nerves as they move away from the pressures of their home town. For some it may seem that playing at home would be to your advantage but in a town like Philly where we’re craving a trophy after hitting an all time high of 24 years without a single championship from any of the major sport teams, then you might be tooting a different whistle. I’m predicting that Moyer keeps us in the game until the sixth inning. He’ll let two guys on base with two outs and they’ll bring in J.C. Romero who will get us out of the jam. Our offense will come alive and Alfonseca and Meyer will pull off a save for the first win of the series.
As for the other series, the Indians looked dominant last night. Of course, their ace was on the mound so we’ll how things shape up as the Brooklyn bats will most certainly come alive in the next game. Poor Cubies, poor poor Cubies. And while the Sox won 3-0, they’re going to need some more offense to stay on track. While I don’t doubt their pitching can single handedly win the games for them, i.e. Beckett in game 1, it’s unrealistic to think they’ll keep the Angles bats quiet for all the games. And 3 runs may not be enough insurance. I predict a Sox – Cleveland ALCS. As for the NLCS, you know I can’t count my boys out no matter how much their down by so I say Phils – D-backs.
So off to a nice long weekend.
You didn’t think I would leave you be without a song to sing. The Electric Six have a song for you from their upcoming album, I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master (Releases on October 9th). The Song is called, “Down at McDonnelzz”. Hilarious titles. Sure beats their last album…Switzerland? Boring. Download this track below and go to Metropolis-records.com to pre-order album and to pick up another mp3.
Download “Down at McDonnelzz”
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Mysterious Sax Friday
What in the world is Mysterious Sax Friday? Glad you asked. Have you ever had a day when all the songs you heard had a certain instrument that stuck out in your brain? Well, it happens to me a lot. And it’s probably 70% of the time a guitar but every now and then another instrument overpowers my thinking. This time it was the cool cat sounds of the Saxophone.
If Belgium has anything to be proud of, it’s the fact that they brought this lovely instrument to the world. Invented back in 1840 by Adolphe Sax, this instrument is most commonly known for its work in Jazz and Funk. The two artists that I was listening to today that sparked this post embodie some Jazz and some Funk. One having more roots than the other and one having more modern day exposure than the other. But while both are from completey different worlds, both sax solos bring out the sexy side in the instrument.
Let’s Go Phillies!!!!
We’ve Got The EyE of the Tiger…
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Follow up to Fujiya & Miygai / Dirty on Purpose Show
“Ahhh, Light Pollution”
See legitimate pictures from this show over at Pitchfork, here.
The boys from Dirty on Purpose were great. They’ve got a sound that could easily carry in a larger venue. This past year was their first in the lime light. If they stay on the same path and release a solid follow up album to Hallelujah Sirens, they could easily be the headliners at the Middle East Downstairs this time next year. They pulled off a solid rendition of the 80’s classic, “Send Me an Angle”. Trust me, this song works with their floating vocals and echoie effects. “No Driver” was a solid crowd pleaser and even with the bass player losing a string, which is rare, the sound was rather top notch for the Middle East Downstairs, which is also rare. The vocals are usually brutalized by the overpowering bass in that place.
After this tour they will be taking a break from the road as they focus on some new material for their next album. Oh, and make sure you visit their myspace page and wish their guitarist, Joe, a happy birthday (belated as it was on Sunday).
Fujiya & Miyagi came on shortly afterwards. By this point I was pretty much at the point of no return for the remainder of the night. Keep in mind that on Saturday my hometown team, the Philadelphia Phillies, were playing for their playoff lives and had lost on Saturday only to make Sunday that much more of a ridiculous day for sports fans. More on the Phillies later as I will be conducting a series of posts concerning the post season.
However, I was still conscious enough to be aware that their set was a bit too short. Perhaps it’s due to their lengthy tour but if it’s not, they need to step it up a notch. I understand that they don’t have a ton of material but maybe a cover or two would be nice.
I’m happy to hear that they are adding a drummer to their line up. Not having a drummer on the album is one thing but there always feels like something is missing when there isn’t a drummer at the live show.
But in the end, F&M do get you moving. Just take a look at this guy. Wait for his spin move.
About Editor
Name: Luke "Kip" Owen
Location: Boston, MA
Contact: kippy[AT]hip2besquare[DOT]net
Twitter: twitter.com/kipdog
Youtube: youtube.com/kipdog
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