Last Minute: Illinois and Hallelujah the Hills at Great Scott Tonight!
Alright, I can stop screaming now about the Phillies becoming the World Series Champs. Voice is a little raspy but it was worth it.
To break my silence, I’m quickly posting about a show tonight at the Great Scott that I’m recommending you check out if you have nothing else better to do.
Illinois is a band from Doylestown, PA. You may be saying to yourself, “wait a minute, Kip’s just promoting these guys cause they’re from PA and are probably Phillies fans so I’m not going to listen to this recommendation.” Well, part of me does have a soft spot for PA based groups such as Brighblakck Morning Light, Dr. Dog, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The A-Sides, and must bands on Park The Van records. But that doesn’t mean these bands don’t have talent.
Illinois is a clydoscope of music. Sometimes you’ll get noise and sampled sounds along with a little banjo thrown in for good measure. Sometimes you’ll get soft pop rock. They remind me of Ween in this sense. It also helps that they grew up in a similar town as Ween. The Ween boys grew up in New Hope, PA, a town that’s very rural and like Doylestown, it has this All American, down home, farmer joe and in their own words, “…where little league children still ride their bicycles in the street and the first girl you kissed is now your wife”, vibe to it.
The openers should be familiar to you, Hallelujah the Hills. We’ve featured them on the square often. Really enjoyed their debut LP, “Collective Psychosis Begone”. Caught them opening for Silver Jews a little while back at the Middle East Downstairs. They’re a tricky opening band because of their intensity. They really give it their all no matter if they’re playing for 5 minutes or 50 minutes. I say tricky because it can throw you off guard if you’re not ready. So prepare yourself accordingly if you plan to catch their opening set, which I recommend you do.
Download “Alone Again” (Illinios, courtesy of Ace Fu Records)
Download “Hallelujah the Hills” (HTH, courtesy of HTH)
Bonus Download: Prepare to Qualify EP (Free courtesy of HTH)
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.
