Some top videos for you to peruse: TVOTR, Annuals, Team Love…
The following are some really cool videos from some really cool artists that if you don’t already know of, you should.
TV on the Radio - “Dancing Choose”
This is the second video for TVOTR’s new album, Dear Science[comma]. The first to appear was for their lead single, “Golden Age”. While the latter is a great song, I wasn’t too keen on the video. The video for “Dancing Choose” on the other hand is much more entertaining. It has this 1980’s MTV video vibe going on. I think of Peter Gabriel when I see this. The song reminds me of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” with it’s rushed vocal stream (don’t believe I’m the first to mention this).
Buy Dear Science
Annuals - “Confessor”
Annuals sophomore album, Such Fun, is set for an October 7th release on Canvasback. I haven’t heard the album yet but this video for “Confessor” has sure peaked my interest. The song itself is quite uplifting with rollicking rifts. For the making of the film, Daniel Auber, long time special effects designer for Terry Gilliam, decided to give his directorial skills a shot. Gilliam is one of my favorite directors. He did Time Bandits, Brazil, Adventures of Baron Munchausen and several others. If you’ve watched any of these films, you’ll know that they’re stooped in fantasy. So it seems fitting that Daniel decided to translate Zach’s script. The video is made of a series of still, animated drawings set in midevil times. The characters are actual Annuals band members. As the scenes emerge, we’re shown flashes of story lines across the screen to tie the story together.
http://www.myspace.com/annuals
New album, Such Fun, out on October 7th on Red Int / Red Link. Preorder from Insound.
Download: “Sore”
Team Love - “Felice Brothers”, “Tilly and the Wall” and “McCarthy Trenching”
I’ve been digging on some Team Love bands as of late such as Felice Brothers and Tilly and the Wall. Felice are the perfect bar room rock band with big burly dude playing accordion and Dylanesque tinged vocals to boot. Tilly are the rhythmic happy pop crew that use tap shoes instead of snare drums for their beats. And the latest intrigue to hit my musical tastes, McCarthy Trenching. The video for “The Most Attractive Disguise” off of Calamity Drenching, McCarthy’s latest release, is deceptively interesting. You would think that a lonely man cruising around on a row boat alone singing to himself would make you reach for the remote. The smart lyrics such as, “some folks are better off single cause they’re always falling in love” and “lonliness aint half as bad then being with someone who’s making you sad cause no matter how dark it gets at night at least your the one who turns out the lights“, keep you wanting to hear the next line and the piano lulls you further into the story as you join our hopeless romantic along his boat ride.
Download: “Mormon Girl Blues”
Download: “Roasting Song”
Download: “Cassette Tape Massacre”
The Felice Brothers video is a live version of “Frankie’s Gun”. Come on, don’t tell me you won’t be at their next show in your hometown after watching. This, my friends, is what you call a good old fashion American hoedown.
Download: “Wonderful Life”
Download: “Frankies Gun!”
Tilly and the Wall bring us “Alligator Skin”, a video that sums up their style, persona and sound perfectly. You can’t help but love these guys (in my opinion at least).
Download: “Cacophony”
Learn more and buy their music over at www.team-love.com
McCarthy Trenching - The Most Attractive Disguise from Team Love on Vimeo.
The Felice Brothers - “Frankie’s Gun!” from Team Love on Vimeo.
TILLY & THE WALL - ALLIGATOR SKIN from Team Love on Vimeo.
What do Passion Pit, Piano Creeps, YELLE and the Great Northwest all have in common?
They all were at the top of my list of things to check out from messages received in my inbox but going even deeper, there is a connection with Passion Pit and YELLE as Passion Pit is opening for YELLE, the french new wave gal that’s got all the boys in a tizzy, here in Boston at the Roxy on October 15th. And Piano Creeps from Ithaca, NY and The Great Northwest are on the same label, The Kora.
So it’s not all that random. But you should check out these artists for various reasons. Here are those reasons.
Passion Pit - http://www.myspace.com/passionpitjams
From Boston, this Emerson College original is basically the brain child of Michael Angelakos who originally wrote their EP, Chunk of Change, as a Valentine’s Day gift for his girlfriend. As soon as their friends caught ear it wasn’t long before other people in the Boston music scene took notice. It also helps that they go to Emerson which is largely known for their communications department. One of Boston’s best independent music stations, 88.9 WERS, is also an Emerson establishment so all this combined has given Passion Pit some well deserved exposure. On stage they are Angelakos, Ian Hultquist(synths), Al Adamy(synths, sampler), Jeff Apruzzese(bass, synth) and Nate Donmoyer(drums).
The songs are catchy but in a spastic manner. This is not your typical Boston based indie rock band sound. I’ve lived here for five years now and I can honestly say that Passion Pit are one of the more unique bands I’ve heard from these parts.
Stream “Sleepyhead”
Download “Sleepyhead” over at RCRDLBL: http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Passion_Pit/track/Sleepyhead
Piano Creeps - http://www.myspace.com/thepianocreeps
A couple things about Piano Creeps caught my attention. One, their music is the perfect backdrop to the oncoming fall season and if you know me you know that most of my current and new music tastes revolve around the seasons. Two, their bio’s, while I knew nothing about the bands mentioned, seemed impressive enough to garner a listen to their first single, “Hey Love”.
The threesome is Billy Cote, Mary Lorson and Kathy Ziegler. Mary and Billy were in a 90’s alt-pop band called Madder Rose. They’ve also co-written various songs for film scores such as an HBO show you may have heard of, “The Sopranos”, and also in “Alias” and “Felicity”. Kathy has toured with various artists such as Abra Moore, Jim Lauderdale and Donna the Buffalo. She’s also a guitar maker! See what I mean about impressive yet mysterious.
Piano Creeps, as mentioned above, share space on Kora Records with The Great Northwest, a band I’ll talk about in a second.
Listen and Download (Right click and ‘Save As’): “Hey Love”
The Great Northwest - http://www.myspace.com/highcouncilpdx
These guys fell into my lap a few weeks back but their album has been out since July. But like with Piano Creeps, their sound seems to work with oncoming fall months where life seems to slow down. Slow is a good way to describe The Great Northwest. Their songs take their time and it’s as if every note is drawn out till it can be drawn out no more.
I was never into bands like The Dandy Warhols or My Bloody Valentine, and not because I didn’t like them but because I was never exposed to their music. For example, I didn’t know who MBV were until I saw Lost and Translation. But If you’re in to those bands, then you may find The Great Northwest’s latest album to be right up your alley.
Brian Coates is the main head behind the band. Peter from The Dandy Warhols makes an appearance but apparently the group involves, in one way or another, about 20 people stretching from the east to the west coasts. It was while Brian was working with Dead Meadow (another group I’ve been meaning to explore more) in our nations capital that he ran into Kora Records and after a chat and some listening to Brian’s new tunes, they signed him immediately and started working on The Widespread Reign of The Great Northwest.
Listen and Download the lead single (Right Click and ’save as’): “Chief John”
YELLE - http://www.myspace.com/iloveyelle
I’m throwing this one in for good measure and also in honor of our good old French buddy, Alex V. Ah, yes, the French and their crazy electroclash pop kids that have some how found a way to take the fashion of the 80’s and turned it into a hip style. YELLE is a crazy French girl who has no boundaries when it comes to lyrics. She raps over produced beats by GrandMarnier and most of her raps are about sex. What a surprise from the French.
I don’t have a song for download (no surprise from an EMI artist) but you can check out the video for “Je Veux Te Voir” (”I wanna See You”) below:
If you like what you see, vote for this video over at the MTVu awards page for the Left Field Woodie: http://woodies.mtvu.com/nominees/left_field_woodie
She’s also currently on tour in the U.S. and is filming a documentary of the tour. If you want to be involved with the filming and also are interested in getting a “special” kiss from YELLE during one of her shows, then make sure to wear your custom made YELLE Masques which fans can download over at her myspace page. To be in the documentary you have to fill out the form which is also found on her myspace page. There will be one winner per city and the winner gets, besides being filmed for the documentary, tickets to the show and will meet with the band backstage.
As mentioned ealier, Boston’s very own Passion PIt is opening for YELLE on a few select West Coast dates. Seel below for the full tour schedule:
- 10/7 House of Blues - Dallas, TX +
- 10/9 Mohawk - Austin, TX +
- 10/10 Polish American Club - MIami, FL +
- 10/11 The Social - Orlando, FL +
- 10/13 9:30 Club - Washington, DC +
- 10/14 Webster Hall - New York, NY +
- 10/15 The Roxy - Boston, MA +
- 10/21 Logan Square Auditorium - Chicago, IL +
- 10/22 Turner Hall - Milwaukee, WI +
- 10/24 Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO +
- 10/25 Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, UT + *
- 10/27 Neumos Crystal Ballroom - Seattle, WA + *
- 10/29 Berbati’s - Portland, OR + *
- 10/31 Mezzanine - San Francisco, CA + *
- 11/01 Henry Fonda Theatre - Los Angeles, CA + *
- 11/02 Beauty Bar - San Diego, CA + *
- 11/03 UCSD - San Diego, CA
+ with Funeral Party
* with Passion PIt
Raphael Saadiq - Like 60’s / 70’s r&b soul? Then win this contest
Hey there all you hip, funky, soul loving cats. Heard Raphael Saadiq’s new stuff? You dig? Not sure, well, check out “100 Yard Dash” from his new solo album The Way I See It
(track found over at Soul Sides. Read more of Oliver Wangs review)
If you said, “Right On”, after listening, listen to some more over at this myspace: http://www.myspace.com/raphaelsaadiq
Now, if you continue to dig this music, then answer the following question and win a copy of the new album. Leave your question in the comments or, email us at kip [AT] hip2besquare [DOT] net.
Raphael was the lead singer of what late 80’s ‘/ early 90’s R&B group?
First one to get the answer right is the winner.
Silver Jews w/ Hallelujah the Hills @ Middle East Downstairs - 9/5/2008
Did you know that David Berman doesn’t shower while on tour? If you’ve seen the man backstage before a show or out front meeting with peeps beforehand, you’ve probably realized that he doesn’t. As he walked by a whaf came upon us that threw us all for a loop. But he’s married to her so he must being doing something write. For starters, he has gotten a lot more comfortable with his stage presence then when we first saw David and the Joos hitting the road for the first ever Silver Jews show a few years back. This time around David was free as a bird without a guitar strapped around his shoulders, giving him the ease of stage strolling. He’d walk off to the side, say hi to his fans down in the front row, and got chummy with his bandmates as he peered over their shoulders during their solid performance.
They kicked things off with one of my favorites, “Smith and Jones Forever”. For me, this was a show where the classics reigned as the new album has yet to make it into my library. Why, I don’t know, lack of motivation to download music these days but that is kicking back in. I’ve had their single, “Strange Victory, Strange Defeat”, which even my good friend who’s more a casual Joos fan could spot as the single from a mile away. It’s a great song and if you haven’t heard it yet, give it a listen below…
Listen and Download “Strange Victory, Strange Defeat”
Some other highlights were “Random Rules”, “Punks in the Beerlight” and “Tennessee”.
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea is now available on Drag City records (Click on image below to purchase):
The whole ensemble topped it off by all wearing matching red collard shirts and dark colored jackets and pants. Yes folks, they are really from Tennessee and it shows.
Check out pictures from this show over at Prefix Mag courtesy of Bryan Bruchman, a recent NYC to Portland, ME transplant.
Hallelujah the Hills - Opening band
Hallelujah the Hills, a local Boston group who I’ve been following since they released their debut album (Collective Psychosis Begone) last year, didn’t have such a stellar performance. This was my first time seeing them live and I have to say that I enjoy their album more then this experience. To their defense, their loud, instrument heavy dynamic may not be a right fit for the Middle East Downstairs where the ceiling hangs low and the sound can get lost in the deep pockets that hang all over the venue. I’ve always loved the Mid East Downstairs for its decor but from a sound guy’s perspective, it’s a living nightmare. But still, the problem I had with their performance was the melding of the instruments, making it almost impossible to truly hear every instrument during the songs. Instrument were attacked with the same force during most of the songs leaving the clarity of each instrument and their melody making muffled. So from the crowds perspective, while the energy was clearly high and that’s important for a band to have, the overall sound was confusing and didn’t give us a clear hook or sound to hang on to.
I’m not about to stand here and tell you that you’re suppose to sound just like you do on your record when you play live. In fact, I hope you don’t. But make sure, no matter what the venue, the integrity of all your instruments are kept intact.
I’m not writing off HTH. If you’re someone who likes to look deeply into lyrics, then you should definitely pick up their first release and recent EP (which is available for free from their website). Ryan Walsh, lead singer, is well known for being inspired by guys like David Lynch and Byrne and his songs have a tendency to follow their same strange nuances.
Hallelujah the Hills just release their first LP, Collective Psychosis Begone, in 2007 on Misra. Their free EP, Prepare to Qualify, can be downloaded from their website: http://www.hallelujahthehills.com/ptq.html
Purchase Collective Psychosis Begone
Listent to and Download “Hallelujah the Hills” (Off of Collective Psychosis Begone)
