Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Phantom Kicks
San Francisco’s Phantom Kicks is in the works on their debut EP set for release this summer and it sounds like it could be a local gem.
Formed from two members of the eerie apocalyptic indie rock band Raised By Robots along with the help of a mutual friend and guitar player extraordinaire, this trio is slated to make some waves in the next year.
At its core, the music is powered by an arsenal of beats, waves and cloud soft atmospherics. Against that light lo-fi background, every song sounds dense and interesting. But it’s their skill with experimentation into solidly structured and appealing tunes that makes the Phantom Kicks special.
Catch them at The Hotel Utah on April 22nd with Portland’s Spesus Christ and Soap Collectors.
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[mp3] Phantom Kicks – Cut From A Different Clay from Unreleased (2010)
Holy Fuck
Holy Fuck have given away their new single Latin America, a mature and relaxed new track from their recently announced album. The amazing and super fun instrumental pop group will follow-up their widely acclaimed LP (2007) with Latin on May 11th.
SXSW FESTIVAL DATES
18.03.10 Austin TX – Scoot Inn · Baeble Day Party
18.03.10 Austin TX – The Mohawk · Young Turks Showcase
19.03.10 Austin TX – Peckerhead’s · My Old Kentucky Blog Day Party
19.03.10 Austin TX – Galaxy Room · AAM 2010 Extravaganza
20.03.10 Austin TX – Radio Room · Brooklyn Vegan/M for Montreal Party
20.03.10 Austin TX – MWTX Lot · Mess With Texas Party
20.03.10 Austin TX – Do512 & Shiner: The Big One · American Youthworks
21.03.10 Austin TX – The PureVolume House · The PureVolume House
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[mp3] Holy Fuck – Latin America from Latin (2010)
Tags: Holy Fuck, Latin, Latin America, Phantom Kicks, SXSW
Posted in Music | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
It’s overwhelming with all the promotional crap and amount of epic event popping up here and there to decide what to do. Here’s a another bunch of tracks from bands that have impressed me so far and I may check out while I’m trying to figure out what I want to do next.
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[mp3] The Boxing Lesson – Lower from Wild Streaks & Windy Days (2008)
Couch Professor High Five Day Party @ 705 Red River Elysium, March 18th, 1pm
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[mp3] Rival Schools – Take One for the Team from Rival Schools United by Onelinedrawing (2001)
Red 7 (611 East 7th Street), Friday March 19th, 12PM
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[mp3] Circa Survive – The Most Dangerous Commercials from On Letting Go B-Side (2007)
Stubb’s , March 20th, 11PM
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[mp3] Frightened Rabbit – Nothing Like You from The Winter Of Mixed Drinks (2010)
FYF Fest & Fun Fun Fun Fest, MARCH 19th, 12PM
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[mp3] Sleepy Sun – Golden Artifact from Embrace (2009)
The Bay Area Takeover at Austin’s Beauty Bar, March 18th from 11:30am to 6pm (We’ll definitely be here, come say hi)
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[mp3] Minus the Bear – My Time from Omni (2010)
Filter Showdown at Cedar Street, March 18th, 3:30PM
Tags: circa survive, Frightened Rabbit, minus the bear, rival schools, sleepy sun, sxsw 2010, the boxing lesson
Posted in Music, sxsw 2010 | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
One Eskimo, a four piece indie rock group from London, England consisting of Kristian Leontiou (vocals), Adam Falkner (drums), Pete Rinaldi (guitar), Jamie Sefton (bass and horns) is a freewheeling act with experimental roots and a desire to bring a soulful side to acoustic instrumentation. With songs like Kandi and Chocolate evincing a spirit born of boundless imagination and a long-standing collaborative relationship. One Eskimo is building a reputation for crafting classic, inward-looking Pop songs highlighted with psychedelic guitars, pastoral sound effects and intricate rhythms. On tunes from their debut, however, One Eskimo steps away from the norm with synthesizers that simultaneously sound brittle and blissful.
One Eskimo will be supporting Gomez at the Great American Music Hall on March 18th. You can win 2 tickets to the show if you comment here. Winner will be announced tomorrow.
This week (as we fly out to SXSW), drummer Adam Falkner answers the Kuestionnaire and shares some great tour locations.
____
1. Could you state your name and what you do in the band?
Hello, I’m Adam from One eskimO. I play percussion.
2. How would you describe your sound?
Warm, woody, acoustic-based pop music wrapped in an ambient blanket.
3. What is your favorite local band?
‘Local’ is hard to ascertain as we’re London-based but have spent most of this and last year in America. The last album I bought was Them Crooked Vultures – looking forward to them at Coachella.
4. Any concerts that blew your mind recently?
It’s been a while but I thoroughly enjoyed Chris Cornell in London a couple of months ago – loads of old Soundgarden stuff and tracks from his first album, and a couple of Led Zep covers too.
5. Any non-musical influences you would like to mention?
As a lyricist, Kristian’s a big film and animation fan, as I think is evident. I think in general you tend to absorb and interpret so many non-musical experiences that go on around you. As jazz musicians used to say, you should ‘Play the day’.
6. What musician/artist would you like to collaborate with for a day?
I think we all have a range of varying people we’d like to collaborate with, but Joni Mitchell would be at the top of my list, along with Kelly Joe Phelps.
7. What is the album you listen to on a cold rainy day?
Donny Hathaway Live, or Largo by a pianist called Brad Mehldau are great rainy day albums for me.
8. List four songs you would listen to on a roadtrip?
In the last few weeks in the van, it’s been Regulate by Warren G, I Keep Forgetting by Michael Macdonald, Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, and an album by some friends of ours called Hempolics.
9. Where do you see yourselves in 7 years?
I couldn’t possibly answer that in a snappy sentence.
10. What is the last book you read?
Any Human Heart by William Boyd. I loved it to the point of that I’m missing it now. I finished it last week in a cafe in Chicago and was sobbing into my oatmeal.
11. Is image a factor in music or is it a waste of time?
It’s inescapable in such multimedia-driven times, so you might as well create something with integrity that you’re proud of, as we did with our animation, otherwise it’s a wasted opportunity to do something interesting.
12. Any embarrassing moments on stage you would like to share?
We played a show at the Fillmore Theatre in Miami supporting Tori Amos last year. I tend to play with my eyes closed but halfway through Kandi I heard several thousand people audibly gasp and opened my eyes to see my whole drumkit collapsing to the ground. Obviously there was no option other to stop, but to make things worse, as my sampler (that is attached to the kit) hit the ground, it randomly fired off a cheesy funk drum loop. It was awesome.
13. Any favorite tour locations?
We’ve seen so much of America recently and played in all sorts of fantastic venues. Some highlights that spring to mind are Humphrey’s in San Diego last year – it’s an outdoor gig on the edge of a harbour, so you see people rowing in on little boats to watch the gig then disappear as soon as it’s finished! Radio City in New York was great, just because of its long history, but I think I equally enjoyed The Living Room for different reasons.
Just last week we had a couple of great gigs in Madison, Wisconsin and in Minneapolis supporting Gomez that we really enjoyed. One of the great things about doing this is that you can never really plan when you’re going to have a great gig; they just happen, and it’s brilliant to be pleasantly surprised by that or to have your preconceptions of a place challenged. I’d barely heard of Spokane or Akron but we turned up and had fantastic gigs at both, so I guess always being open-minded is key.
14. Lastly, what is your present state of mind?
Yesterday we had a massive diversion and consequently a 15-hour drive to Aspen but we just had this morning off so we went skiing, which we’re still buzzing from. However, we are now in the middle of an 8-hour drive to Salt Lake City, so I have conflicting states-of-mind at present. I’ll settled with Contented.
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[mp3] One eskimO – Kandi from One eskimO (2009)
Tags: free tickets, Gomez, kuestionnaire, one eskimo
Posted in Concerts, Contests, Kuestionnaires, Music | No Comments »
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Manchester Orchestra
I have heard about the theatrics of a Manchester Orchestra show and was looking forward to what they had in store that night. After (purposely) skipping the first two acts, I made my way through a seemingly 16-21 aged crowd to get a few good shots of the band.
The Features
Opening act, The Features, shared their Americana folk rock with a mixed and very young crowd. It was well received and they seemed to be having fun and confident with their presence in the tour. Last year’s Some Kind of Salvation oozed Modest Mouse recklessness and the clumsy beauty of Tom Waits making The Features a band to know this year. Keep on the look-out.
Manchester Orchestra
Just as Manchester Orchestra do what they do best, they let the music talk and leave it to be admired throughout the 90 minute set. Kicking off with Pride and going into In My Teeth, the band quickly prove these songs can fit well into this type of venue. As the set comfortably takes some of the best bits of their last 2 albums, with previous singles I Can Barely Breathe and I’ve Got Friends, along with a cover of Neil Young’s Walk On as well as a declaration of love to 50 Cent, one of the night’s more humorless highlights.
Manchester Orchestra
They even dipped into a new track entitled, Schwing!, a very high energy and poppier sound similar to Shake It Out, which was also played. Given the might, majesty and bowel-quivering rock greatness of Manchester Orchestra’s recent album, Mean Everything to Nothing, it was a bit more enjoyable to hear the grandeur of I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child.
Manchester Orchestra
An overall faultless set, that despite the bands non-mainstream status, proved anything is possible and can be done, as Manchester Orchestra’s minimalist stage approach allowed the band and fans to appreciate this band and how far they have come. Their bold, progressive sound mixed with humor was a joy to see live.
For entire picture collection, click here.
Tags: Manchester Orchestra, Show Review, The Features, The Great American Music Hall
Posted in Concerts, Music, Show Review | No Comments »
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Our own Morning Benders return home on March 30th to headline the Independent, and we have a pair of tickets + the Limited Edition Promises 7″ to give away; leave us a comment or @tweet us and I’ll pick a winner at random the week before the show. Phoenix, Arizona’s Miniature Tigers supports.
Pick up Big Echo now.
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[mp3] The Morning Benders – Excuses from Big Echo (2010)
Tags: free morning benders tickets, The Independent, The Morning Benders
Posted in Contests, Music | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
by Mike Rohde
For those of you asking what SXSW is (yes, I have people asking me what SXSW is), according to it’s wiki, South by Southwest (SXSW) is a set of interactive, film, and music festivals and conferences that take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States of America. SXSW first began in 1987 and is centered on the downtown Austin Convention Center. Each of the three parts runs relatively independently, with different start and end dates.
I will going to cover the music portion the best I can with our newest member, Tanner. Neither of us have experienced this and are currently coordinating schedules so we can bring you the best of our insane journey to center of the future of music as we know it. This is going to fun.
Here are some of our favorites to give you an idea what we’re looking forward to.
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[mp3] Rainbow Arabia – kabuki (PICTUREPLANE NEGATIVE SLAVE RE-WORK) from Unreleased (2010)
SXSW – Alliance Talent Showcase at Submerged, March 18th, 10PM
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[mp3] Holy Fuck – They’re Going To Take My Thumbs from Holy Fuck EP (2007)
Baeble Takes On Texas – Thursday March 18th, 12 to 6PM
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[mp3] Neon Indian – Sleep Paralysist (Co-produced by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor) from Green Label Sound (2010)
Force Field/Terrorbird Party @ Red 7, March 17th (3 pm)
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[mp3] Toro Y Moi – Blessa from Causers Of This (2010)
FORCE FIELD PR PARTY @ MS BEA’S aka CHEER UP CHARLIE’S, March 20th, 12PM
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[mp3] Wallpaper. – I Got Soul, I’m So Wasted from Doodoo Face (2009)
The Bay Area Takeover at Austin’s Beauty Bar, March 18th from 11:30am to 6pm (We’ll definitely be here, come say hi)
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[mp3] Oh No Ono – Eleanor Speaks (Caribou remix) from Eggs (Remix) (2010)
Billions day party @ The Mohawk, March 18th, 3:20pm
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[mp3] Letting Up Despite Great Faults – Photograph Shakes from Letting Up Despite Great Faults (2010)
Sneak Attack Media, Sneak Attack Austin & Playing in Traffic Records @ Clive Bar, Friday March 19th, 11 to 6pm
Tags: Holy Fuck, Neon Indian, Oh No Ono, Rainbow Arabia, sxsw 2010, Toro Y Moi, wallpaper.
Posted in Concerts, Mixes/Playlists, Music, sxsw 2010 | 1 Comment »
