The Hip2besquare 2008 Year End List Part IV
Passion Pit – “Chunk of Change”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/passionpitjams
Listen and download “Sleepyhead”: (Download courtesy of RCRDLBL)
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Over the past few years we’ve seen various bands go from zeros to heros in a matter of minutes. Success in the music business varies depending on who you’re talking to. Some want it all and some are happy if just one of their songs, albums or jingles gets recognition. For the sake of this post, lets just say success is when you decide to record some songs for your girlfriend for Valentines Day and having those songs turn into a six song EP which eventually gets passed around, has you land some gigs at Pianos in Manhattan, play some showcases at CMJ and then get signed by a major (Columbia Records, UK), all in less then a year.
Passion Pit are Michael Angelakos, Ian Hultquist, Ayad al Adhamy, Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer. They all knew each other from Emerson College in downtown Boston and are slowly but surely becoming top players in the electronic pop world along side LCD Soundsystem and the 2008 newbies, MGMT.
She and Him – “Volume One”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sheandhim
Listen and download “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?”: (Download courtesy of Welikeit.indie)
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Watch weird and sadistic video for above song: Pitchfork.tv
Back in 2007 I was introduced to M. Ward with Post-War. And just like last year, I’m late to the party of another M. Ward creation. Only difference, this year his creation was helped by an unlikely songstress, the actress Zooey Deschanel, the actress most famously known for her role along side Will Ferrell in the Christmas classic, Elf (and now most famously known for getting engaged to Ben Gibbard if your an indie kid).
I knew of She & Him for sometime but failed to connect the M.Ward dot. How I missed this major detail is beyond me. I remember Aquarium Drunkard posting their live recordings from their “wet and wild” set at this year’s Newport Folk Festival. However, I didn’t pick up the album till about a month ago.
While it’s a late addition to my listening cycle, it’s definitely showing promise of a trusty stand by. Besides M. Ward’s ingenious arrangement of classic songs, Zooey’s vocals are a comfort during every listen. Her ability to change her vocal style is impressive as well. She’ll throw in some country, lounge, jazz and has a very distinct Peggy Lee sound.
The stand out song of the album is their cover of the Beatles tune, “I Should Have Known Better”. They completely changed up the tempo, creating a slow waltz with Hawaiian style slide guitar playing out the melody. Not since the Grey Album when Danger Mouse successfully combined the Beatles White Album with Jay-Z’s Black Album, has a Beatles song sounded so good outside it’s original format.
Jason Collett – “Here’s to Being Here”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jasoncollettofficial
Listen and download “Out of Time”: (Download courtesy of Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream)
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The boys and girls in Broken Social Scene may be some of the hardest working musicians in the business. Even when they’re not officially pumping out their own albums, each band member is in some way creating new sounds. This year it was Jason Collett and Brendan Canning (who we’ll talk about soon) that lead the pack in 2008.
Jason’s music has a distinct similarity to Tom Petty. He’s got that slight nasal tone and a rocking guitar to boot. Any fan of Petty would be hard pressed not to go out and give this one a shot.
Broken Social Scene Presents – “Brendan Canning – Something for All of Us…”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/brendancanning
Listen and Download “Hit The Wall”: (Download courtesy of Pitchfork)
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Unlike Jason, Brendan’s sound rings true to the BSS method – loud, sprawling riffs with soaring vocal lines. I would also throw in cinematic to describe Brendan’s work here with hints of classic rock brewing in the background, as is the case with most BSS albums. The odd man out on this album is “Love Is New”. Here Brendan conjures up Talking Heads and produces one of the albums more straightforward grooves and helps to add some depth to the sound of the album as a whole.
AA Bondy – “American Hearts”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/aabondy
Listen and Download to “Witness Blues”: (Download)
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Some of you may know Scott Bondy from his previous work in Verbena, a late 90’s indie rock band that some critics had herald as the next Nirvana and Scott as the next Cobain. Unfortunately I was not an “in-the-know” music man back then but what I know now is Scott has dropped the grundge icons appeal and now applies a different icon to his sound, Bob Dylan.
While us critics can always stand back and make comparisons, in the end, a good musician will differentiate themselves through creative lyrics and melodies and in my opinion, AA is one of those musicians. Lets face it, it was clearly the year for modern day America folk music or as some critics like to call it, the nu-folk movement. AA Bondy’s solo debut, while nothing spectacular, helps make this case even stronger.
Hot Chip – “Made In The Dark”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hotchip
Listen and Download “Read For The Floor”: (Download courtesy of Cafe Eclectica Music)
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Those who know me know that I’m a Hot Chip freak. I’ve been trying to convert both friends and family for a few years now. So I was especially excited this past year when I got the chance to interview one of the founding members, Joe Goddard, before their amazing show at the Paradise Rock Club. This may or may not have been a good idea given how much of a fan and nerd I am about their music. But by the looks of both Joe and the other founding member, Alexis Taylor, they have some nerd in them as well.
What struck me the most about Hot Chip this past year was their refined live sound. During my interview with Joe, he talked about how the band has been practicing alot and perfecting their live performance. There’s a good and bad side to this. The good of course is all the transitions, song extensions and changes are flawless. The bad is the room for improvisation goes away. The argument you can make is that with a band like Hot Chip, where you have several members and lots of intstruments and sounds to manage, having an improvisation session on stage can get confusing. While it’s enjoyable to the player, the listener may get lost. Unless you’re hopped up on a slew of drugs where it doesn’t matter what you’re playing as long as it’s got a beat.
“Made In the Dark” brought about some of the best produced songs Hot Chip has done to date. “Ready For the Floor”, “One Pure Thought”, and “Touch Too Much” were three of my favorites. Yet it’s not the album I turn to the most. You could make a strong argument that “The Warning” is their best studio work but for me, “Coming On Strong” is my trusty stand by.
You can say what you want about one hit wonders or songs that conjure up special moments from the past but to me, albums are like your best friends. They’re there to calm you down, pick you back up or help celebrate life accomplishments. But most importantly, they help keep you moving in the right direction.
Bob Dylan – “Bootleg Series: Vol. 8″
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bobdylan
Listen and Download “Mississippi”: (Download)
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Besides Tom Waits, Dylan is one of the greatest inspirations not only to artists who strive to play music as long as he (good music that is), but also for the listener. The fact that he can continue expressing his emotions in such a pure way to the world is a testament to humanity.
This is not the Dylan your mom and dad grew up with on the eightth volume of Columbia Records “Bootleg Series”. Or is it? Besides the raspy, smoke damaged vocal chords that modern day Dylan has to deal with, the same passion and genius is there in his lyrics. All songs you here are from 1988 and onward. Pretty impressive considering this kid was making heads turn (including the Man in Black, God rest is soul) back in the late 50’s.
I think this is a good place to end the list.
Worthy Albums of 2008
There are plenty of albums I didn’t mention in my lists that I would have liked to but this here blogger just doesn’t have the time. Here is a list of albums worth your time:
Ra Ra Riot – “The Rhumb Line”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/rarariot
Notes: Gained cred during last years CMJ and released their debut without any disappointments to discuss.
The Black Keys – “Attack and Release”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theblackkeys
Notes: Best blues rock duo alive right now and plop in one of the best djs/producers in Danger Mouse and you’ve got a winning combination.
Black Mountain – “In The Future”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/blackmountain
Notes: Yeah, acid folk rock at it’s best.
The Walkmen -”You & Me”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thewalkmen
Notes: This is how SoCal should sound only these guys are from NYC.
Dr. Dog – “Fate”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/drdog
Notes: A great album and they’re from Philly. Enough said.
The Watson Twins – “Fire Songs”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thewatsontwins
Notes: Great cover of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”
Girl Talk – “Fee the Animals”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/girltalkmusic
Notes: There’s genius in his precision to tie both old and new pop songs together.
The Felice Brothers – “The Felice Brothers”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thefelicebrothers
Notes: Think party Bob Dylan part The Band. Great energy in their live performance.
Atlas Sound – “Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bradfordcox
Notes: Deerhunter’s lead man, Bradford Cox, stones the listener even if you’re not one to inhale.
Quite Village – “Silent Movie”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/quietvillage
Notes: One word, Chill.
Fuck Buttons – “Street Horrrsing”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fuckbuttons
Notes: One phrase, fucked up noise rock.
The Dodos – “Visiter”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thedodos
Notes: Another power duo from Cali except unlike Two Gallants who hail from the north, these two bring us that SoCal flavor. Some good yelling going on here.
Stephen Malkums & The Jicks – “Real Emotional Trash”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stephenmalkmus
Notes: It’s hard not to love this album if you’re a guitar player.
Delta Spirit – “Ode To Sunshine”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/deltaspirit
Notes: Blew us away opening for Dr. Dog. We were also trashed upon entering the venue so who knows. But seriously, keep an eye on these guys. Not going to say too much cause I don’t want another Cold War Kids on our hands and since they’re already from SoCal, the ingredients are in place for such a thing to happen.
Discovered Albums of 2008
There are always a few albums that I pick up that are from past years. This does not include very old recordings such as the Cocteau Twins album I picked up or the Jimmy Smith recording I got. Those are by default most likely classics.
Great Lake Swimmers – “Onigara”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/greatlakeswimmers
Notes: Highly underrated album and artist. New album out in 2008.
Phosphorescent – “Pride”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/phosphorescent
Notes: Think bon fire style sing alongs and add in some Native American chanting and you’ve got this album. Perfect for popping on during plane rides. Little glass of wine and this album, you’ll be sleeping sweet dreams.
The Ruby Suns – “The Ruby Suns”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/therubysuns
Notes: I was unable to get Sea Lions, which was their 2008 album. So instead, I got this prior release. Plenty good from this New Zealand outfit.
The Glands – “The Glands”
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theglands123
Notes: Yet another great rock group from Atlanta. A mix between Tom Petty and Yo La Tengo if you can belive it. No joke, the guy definitely sounds like Ira from time to time on this album.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND WE’LL SEE YOU IN 2009!
Gettin by with Dylan
It’s been a long time between my last post so I feel I need to vent a little so stick with me, I plan to cover a lot in this post.
The title is “Gettin by with Dylan” because just this week I got my hands on the latest Bootleg Series, “Tell Tale Signs”, and haven’t been able to put it down since. It’s helped me get through a crazy week and a crazy past month that’s involved my home town heros, Philadelphia Phillies, making it to the World Series and some career moves and discoveries that have my brain rattling.
Listen to “Tell Tale Signs” while you read through my thoughts:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95047293
First, I need to get a couple things off my chest. As you may or may not know, I’m originally from Philadelphia so the past few weeks of playoffs have put a strain on my schedule. Games can go till midnight during the work week and that’s brutal for me since I like my sleep. But it’s been 15 years since the Phillies were last in the World Series (I was thirteen at the time) and it’s been twenty eight years since they’ve one the whole shabang ( I was 6 months old). So yeah, it’s kind of a big deal and part of me wishes I was back in Philly during this monumental period.
My thoughts about the first two games have their ups and downs. My ups are that Cole Hamels is the man. Definitely the best pitcher in the series. Ryan Howard finally got his bat talking during the last game and I also felt Brett Meyers kept his cool and pitched a great game. Unfortunately, the rest of the team decided not to show up. during Brett’s outing. Especially Jason Werth. Brett also got screwed over by the home plate ump when he clearly signaled a strike out then immediately called for a second opinion from the 1st base coach. Highly suspect. Brett was able to keep the Rays to only four runs, which should be enough for the powerful Phillie offense to surpass. At least, that’s what you would think. Between the two games, the so-called powerful offense left 25 men on base!! That has to be corrected or else there’s no chance for the fighten Phils to last the series.
Last night was a tough one for me as I was at a wedding downtown at the Langhorn Hotel near Post Office Square. There was a piano bar that had a TV but most of the patrons were not interested in the game. In fact, they all stared at me when I opened up the doors to the reception where music came blaring in. Everyone gave me the stink eye. So I had to find another way in order to prevent the flood of noise coming in. So it was back and forth just like the end of the game. It was also rain delayed so it didn’t end till 2 in the morning but in the end they pulled it out thanks to Old Man Moyer and go up 2-1 in the series. Go PHILLIES!!!!!!
The career aspect of my life has also been hit with ups and downs. As you may know, I work in the financial world and sell a marketing system to banks. That’s right, I’m trying to sell a product to the folks who everyone is pointing fingers at for causing the current economic crisis. But you know what, there are 3,000+ banks throughout the country and the majority of these institutions didn’t have anything to do with the subprime and adjustable rate mortgage market that is causing several institutions to go under. The only real problem facing many of these institutions is the overall perception their customers have of the industry and their personal bank. If they can calm the fears of these customers and make it clear that they’re well capitalized, then nothing should be holding them back from looking forward and preparing to keep the bank growing. And one important part of growth is partnering with companies like ours who specialize in building unique systems that would normally cost a bank thousands of dollars to build on their own and several more thousand dollars to maintain. Our focus is helping banks to rethink how they market their services by providing an Education-based marketing system that helps cross sell their services to both existing and new customers.
Bankers are notorious for being behind the curve when it comes to new and innovative marketing techniques. One technique that I’ve been aware of but have recently been learning more about is the concept of Inbound Marketing. As a blogger, I’m familiar with how SEO (Search Engine Optimization) works and the theory behind using Key Words and Meta Tags to boost your websites Google rating so that when people search for “Music Blog” I come up some where in the Search. Of course, this general term probably has me way back in the pack considering the thousands of music bloggers that put more time into their blog then I. You have to be posting at least once if not twice a day for the entire week in order to get the kind of traffic that has your site at the top of a Google search.
But there’s a lot more to the whole Inbound Markeitng concept then just SEO. For example, one of the more important techniques is getting exposure through writing interesting articles on your blog and having other sites that have very high Google ratings with high traffic link to your site because of an interesting article that relates to their audience. Typically, sites with high ratings have thousands of visitors every day so literally over night you could go from little to now exposure to being the hottest thing since slice bread. For example, when VH1’s Best Weeek Ever blog linked to me, I saw almost 100 times more visitors in a single day on my site then I normally do. As a blogger, this just helps boost your ego but if you’re a company, this helps you grow your businesses and the other important part about Inbound Marketing is making sure that once you’ve gained that exposure, your admirers are given simple “calls to action” where they can download White Papers, request demonstrations of your service or have easy access to more education about your company as well as your product.
Thankfully for our company, back in March our president came across the book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott. Because of this book, our President has opened himself up to trying some of these new techniques. In fact, I’m currently in the process of building a company blog that will be focused on how these new concepts work in the banking industry. The one main ingredient in all of this is having good, quality content that keeps people coming back to you for answers. If you don’t have this, then all the techniques fall apart.
Phew, that felt good.
You don’t come here for Inbound Marketing or Phillies talk, you come for music!
A few weeks ago the first single off of Columbia Records latest Bob Dylan Bootleg Series album was available for free download over at Amazon MP3. If you didn’t get to download this in time, don’t worry, you can do so right here:
If you’re unfamiliar with the Bootleg Series, here is the lowdown. It began back in 1991 and it’s focus is releasing songs that have up until now never saw the light of day on an official release. If you follow Dylan you know that when he records an album there are usually dozens and dozens of songs that don’t make the cut. Usually the songs are different versions of songs that do make the album but have a completely different sound such as a waltz versus a tango or in the key of E versus key of Bb and so on. Now, thanks to this great series, we get a glimpse into these hidden gems.
For this album, a majority of the unrealesed material comes from “Oh, Mercy” and “Time Out of Mind”, both produced by Daniel Lanois. The latter album was hailed by critics as a turning point in Dylan’s late career. He won three Grammys for “Time Out of Mind”. On this album it’s been said that Daniel and Dylan were modeling the sound around 1950’s era recordings that Dylan often cited as big influences on his career. The sound on these albums have a natural feel to the depth of each performer meaning you can tell the singer is out front, the bass and guitarist are off to the side and behind and father back is the drummer. Instead of making this sound with modern day technology, they just set up the instruments in this fashion and positioned the recording mics in a way that created this 50’s vibe.
There’s a ton of music on “Tell Tale Sigs”, a doube disc (three disc if you get the deluxe), that there’s no way I can go through all of them to describe the feelings I get from each listen. So I’ll just pick one song that’s currently my favorite. It’s a track that was originally off of “Time Out of Mind”. On “Tell Tale Signs” we hear an alternate version of “Can’t Wait”. My suspicion is that this version comes from Dylan and his bands initial demoing of the tunes for this album back in 1997. It was rare for Dylan to demo like this but it had been so long since he wrote original material that he was probably itching to hear how everything sounded. At the beginning of this version you hear Dylan say, “If we do it in…how about Bb”.
Now, I’ve not heard the original “Can’t Wait”, but this version is such a slow, hard rocking groove that it gives me goose bumps when the guitar hits those high notes in the little riffs sprinkled throughout Dylan’s proses. The tension and grit sticks to this song like a thick bowl of oatmeal sticks to ones ribs. You can’t ooze anymore “cool” into this song.
“I’ve been living on lame excuses”, says Dylan. “My hands are cold. The end of time is just begun. I’m getting old. Anything can happen now to anyone. I walk all across the floor till I was out my shoes. Think you lost it all there’s always more to loose. I was so clear. She can keep my head on straight. And I don’t know how much longer I can wait.”
This is Dylan at his knees. This is Dylan confessing his love and pleading for it to return. He drinks”forbidden juices” and lives “on lame excuses” and can’t wait any longer for his fate to arrive.
Tracklisting – Disc 1:
- Mississippi (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
- Most of the Time (Alternate version, Oh Mercy)
- Dignity(Piano demo, Oh Mercy)
- Someday Baby (Alternate version, Modern Times)
- Red River Shore (Unreleased, Time Out of Mind)
- Tell Ol’ Bill (Alternate version, North Country Soundtrack)
- Born in Time (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
- Can’t Wait (Alternate version, Time Out Of Mind)
- Everything is Broken (Alternate version, Oh Mercy)
- Dreamin’ of You (Unreleased, Time Out Of Mind)
- Huck’s Tune (From Lucky You soundtrack)
- March\n’ to the City (Unreleased, Time Out Of Mind)
- High Water (For Charley Patton) (Live, Niagara, 2003)
Disc 2:
- Mississippi (Unreleased version #2, Time Out Of Mind)
- 32-20 Blues (Unreleased, World Gone Wrong)
- Series of Dreams (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
- God Knows (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
- Can’t Escape From You (Unreleased, December 2005)
- Dignity (Unreleased, Oh Mercy)
- Ring Them Bells (Live at the Supper Club, 1993)
- Cocaine Blues (Live, Vienna, Virginia, 1997)
- Ain’t Talkin’ (Alternate version, Modern Times)
- The Girl On The Greenbriar Shore (Live, 1992)
- Lonesome Day Blues (Live, Sunrise, Florida, 2002)
- Miss the Mississippi (Unreleased, 1992)
- The Lonesome River (With Ralph Stanley, from Clinch Mountain Country)
- ‘Cross The Green Mountain (From Gods And Generals Soundtrack)
Buy Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8
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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