Transparent Subwoofer

what I am listening to (a lot)

2009-03-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

I've been hot on Animal Collective's latest, of course, but I've been mixing in a lot of other stuff, too. The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs is pretty cool. A quality mix of upbeat synth-y dance and more conventional rock. Very polished sound. Passion Pit is another group I recently took a liking to. They have this wacko sound that is upbeat but just plain weird. The singer has this over-the-top falsetto that is bizarrely catchy. I am not sure if I ever mentioned how much I liked Andrew Bird's Noble Beast album either. I keep coming back to it. Quality songs all around. Crystal Castles self-titled album also snared me recently in a very guilty-pleasure way. Wacky arcade game sound samples with catchy beats. When the woman opens up with her crazy voice it goes to another level. It is just awesome. I see it as total love it or hate it.

On the evil-internets front, I have heard the new Metric and Grizzly Bear albums. They are both excellent. Oh the things on these tubes. And later this week: the new Decemberists!

Merriweather Post Pavillion = AWESOME

2009-02-24T16:38:00.000-08:00

I've been a casual Animal Collective fan, but this album makes me look at the group in a whole new light. Past albums have had their bright spots, but songs would often fall apart into wild sound (purposely, I am sure). Made for a neat listen now and then, but also made it hard to get really into consistently. MPP can be eclectic and just plain weird, too, but what sets it apart is how none of it ruins the tracks or gets annoying. And when it all comes together the strange-ness of it all enhances everything in a crazy way. No hitting the "next" button here either. Musically, every song has something to offer. I really can't get enough of it.

Standout tracks are hard to pick. "Summertime Clothes" easily jumps out of the gate as the best song, but subsequent listens have loving "Daily Routine" and "Bluish" just as much. Search the net, however, and see that nearly every track is on a favorite list by someone.

It is just so good.

Saw Metallica, saw Black Keys

2009-02-09T04:53:00.000-08:00

I saw Metallica the night before the Super Bowl (easy to remember that way) at the Prudential Center. Was a last minute thing; could say I was an alternate. Found out a few hours before that my Saturday night would be better than most. Driving wasn't an issue; my wife came through in the clutch, so we had many a beverage. Prudential Center wasn't as loony as I thought it would be. I was set to see wild-ass metal fans, but it was more or less like any other show I've been to. I guess that's what happens when Metallica fans get old enough to be grandparents (Wikipedia has them forming in 1981).

Our seats were great. I am not sure there were bad seats, though. The rectangular stage in the center of the arena was very fan-friendly. The show had all the quality trimmings--laser lights, fire balls, black balloons from the ceiling. And the music? Quality. I am hardly a model Metallica fan. I own Master of Puppets, S&M (I bough all kinds of stuff in high school, okay?) and Death Magnet (got just a couple weeks before the show). But I am very familiar with the Black Album, parts of Justice for All, and Ride the Lightning. About half the show was from Death Magnet. And, as far as I could tell, the other half pulled from the albums I mentioned (not named S&M). The arena was loud, but, thankfully, not deafening. They played for about 2 hours and it was a great show.

Getting back to the crowd: not as crazy as I thought they would be. Everyone was pretty restrained. Far from the liveliest crowd I've been amongst. I only saw one tiny little mosh area down in the GA section, but it was contained. Before we got into the main seating area we did see one woman being hauled away--she could barely stand. I thought about how shitty it was to be her friend. To get that boozed up before the show even started! With tickets that tough/expensive to get? That is just dumb.

A week later my wife and I saw The Black Keys at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair. I totally loved the album they put out last year, so I was particularly excited to see them. The thing is: the show was incredibly fucking loud. It hit a point where I really felt like I was going to die. Different parts of my body were vibrating at various times. This was old-school loud, with insane (and deliberate) feedback. And it is only two guys on stage. I could barely hear any of the lyrics. It was cool, but I was simply unprepared for that kind of assault. I had not been to a show that insanely loud in years. And I just saw Metallica the week before.

Regardless of the brain damage from the Keys, it was a cool music week. I have subsequently been all over the music map listening to the new Franz Ferdinand CD (it's so-so), back on the Fleet Foxes, the checking out the new Andrew Bird CD, among lots of others. But that has been my deal for a couple months now. Very curious to see what new music is going to blow my mind this year; something always does.

Hype Machine – The Music of 2008

2009-01-21T15:50:00.001-08:00

Few weeks back the Machine started dropping their best-of lists. In the album category (the only category that matters), each day 10 albums were revealed leading up to numero uno. I was checking on it for a few days, but then I (predictably) forgot to come back. Just checked again earlier today, though, and the top is pretty good:

The Zeitgeist

I have 8/10. Beyond this I don’t feel like counting. Obviously, this means I am painfully cool and know what other cool kids like. My simple thoughts: M83 should not be anywhere near that high. MGMT only made a half awesome album (the first half). Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes don’t surprise me—alt country was huge this year. I was pleasantly surprised to see Vampire Weekend at 3; they put on a great show and have probably the better sound to stand the test of time. And TV on the Radio is on everyone’s list so big whoop.

Regardless of my thoughts, this is really cool because all of the albums can be listened to in their entirety. I loved just exploring. In addition to 50 albums, there are the 50 Songs and 50 Artists of the year. All of it is fun to check out. The internets are all about best-of lists (and music, videos and porn).

Nick Drake for 2 bucks

2009-01-14T15:41:00.000-08:00

Amazon has this Nick Drake album for 2 dollars today here. Its just some chill layered acoustic stuff. Pretty cool though check it out if you have 2 dollars laying around.

2008 Favorite 5 Albums

2008-12-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

Last day of the year, so I wanted to get down my 5 favorite albums this year. This is by no means a best of list, though, because I am sure there were better albums (not that I even known know how to qualify how a CD as being best). I also had to think hard (and check plays, purchases, etc) to get past my bias towards the back half of the year. Much easier to remember what I've loved the last few months, but I can't forget what I was hot on earlier. Anyway, here goes:

My Morning Jacket: Evil Urges

This album is awesome. I expected it to be very good because their previous album, Z, was my 2005 favorite, but this exceeded my expectations. They do a little of everything here: Prince homages, classic country, synth infusion. But it doesn't feel experimental or pretentious because it works.

2.Santogold: Santogold

This album caught me off guard. Had a lot of buzz back in the spring, so I snatched it up and then listened to it extensively. Great pop hooks, catchy beats and cool voice. She mixes it up, too, in style. Many of said she is a 2008 M.I.A, which, I suppose is fair. But I listened to Santogold much more than I did M.I.A...

3. Ra Ra Riot: The Rhumb Line

Wow-y, this one is good. Very, very catchy songs I can listen to on a loop. I saw them earlier this month with Vampire Weekend and it was excellent. Songs have driving beats that are, surprisingly, carried by violin work and a wonderful singer. I love every song on the album. Not really sure what else to say

4. Kings of Leon: Only by the Night

My wife and I both got on the KOL wagon back when Aha Shake Heartbreak came out a few years ago. And I still think seeing them for the accompanying club tour was the best live performance I've ever been to; the crowd was insane and everyone was into whatever they played. This album, like Because of the Times, is more polished with bigger, more stadium-like tracks. But while hardcore fans (that obsess about being the only people in the know) pan this album, I like it a lot. I could care less if the group has gotten big (I actually like that they are getting some mainstream US attention because they deserve it). There may be a couple too many slow songs but it all sounds great regardless. They have grown as a band (and little by little, more of the songs have coherent lyrics!) and it's cool.

5. The Mars Volta: The Bedlam in Goliath

Mars Volta is still my "favorite" band, and this album is excellent. It is also less "weird" when compared to Amputecture (or even Frances the Mute) from a couple years ago. They took a more basic approach with song structures here, too; no 20 minute epics that go on and on. The album is another concept, though, so each of the tracks lead into each other seamlessly. Still, this is hardly a group people casually like; the group likes smashing expectations, so songs still collapse into noise now and then, the singing still has impenetrable lyrics, and it is just loud and aggressive in its style. But, oh, how I love it.

+Honorable Mentions+

Wayne, The Black Keys, MGMT, TV on the Radio, Of Montreal and Vampire Weekend all put out terrific albums this year that I continue to listen to. But I don't want a bloated list and top 5 means some great stuff gets left out (Carter III really should be number six though). It was another great year for music, and I can't wait to see what surprises come out in 2009.

Back on the Concert Train

2008-12-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

Not that I ever got off it, but this season has been particularly good. In September we saw the Fratellis (my wife particularly likes them), then Mars Volta, and then in October it was Of Montreal. This past weekend we were able to attend a private All American Rejects show, for a sponsored video/product shoot (it was weird, but interesting--I'll write something up about it with links once I know more about what it all amounted to). Despite not being a fan, they sounded exactly like on their records. And it was a fancy place (Manhattan Center), with perfect lighting and sound.

Later today, I am excited as Hell to see Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot (!) in Montclair, which is practically my backyard. I totally owe this find to Last.fm, too; I checked my home page and they had recommened events. I saw Vampire Weekend tonight at the Wellmont Theatre and checked for the Hell of it; I had no idea where this was. A quick google map search surprised me--just a few minutes away, with tickets still available! Madness > point-and-click-"BUY NOW".

After this, the next big thing is going to be My Morning Jacket at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. This is going to be pandemonium, and I cannot wait. Along with Volta and Kings of Leon, MMJ is easily my favorite band playing today. I don't even know how to describe my excitement (struck mental).

A good batch of concerts this season, to say the least.

Stars Website

2008-12-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

Stars came out with an album called Sad Robot and the website that goes along with it is pretty nifty. Check it out here.

Amazon has a ton of music deals right now

2008-11-26T09:34:00.000-08:00

On the heels of Shane's last post about the Cold Play EP $.99 sale I noticed that Amazon is offering many other similar music treats. Not sure what the occasion is, but they have a lot of quality $5 dollar albums right now. This includes Vampire Weekend, Portishead, TV on the Radio, The Killers, and Metallica. And plenty more (can be seen in the "customers also bought section" of said albums). Many of these were daily deals earlier in the year; I am happy to see them back, too, because I missed many of them. This is a great time to catch up on missed opportunities (or just to get some cool albums), but I have no idea how long the deals will last. I wonder if this is for Thanksgiving/Black Friday, or if Amazon has something else up its sleeve for that...

In other news, I have been meaning to write more impressions posts for several albums, including the latest Kings of Leon (quality); what it was like seeing Mars Volta; and how I may sell a piece of my sanity to see My Morning Jacket on New Year's. BUT, work has been incredibly irritating lately and it has been difficult not to digress and spew vile (and creative?) expletives both vocally and in print. Some day I'll write down something more meaningful than "buy these!" posts--just not now.

Coldplay EP .99 Today on Amazon

2008-11-25T16:26:00.001-08:00

I don’t know how much people care after the crap that they put out this summer, but their new EP is only 99 cents on amazon today.

Fleet Foxes

2008-11-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been listening to Fleet Foxes, *ahem*, a lot. And seeing as how I always miss bandwagons, I jumped on about six months too late. But dispite that, here is an amazing video of them playing on Letterman.

M83 at the Middle East, Boston

2008-11-23T22:33:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday this past week M83 played at a smaller venue that is not seated in Cambridge, Ma. They were an extremely cheap 15 dollars with no service fee because I am cool and go to the box office. The Middle East is an interesting venue. The upstairs is a bar, the downstairs has two bars and a performing stage with a standing area, and then there are other strange stores attached to either side. The best part about The Middle East is its 18+ only, which means no screaming thirteen year old girls, and hopefully, no needless mosh pits.

They have five albums now, of which I only own the latest one, Saturdays = Youth. I have been listening to this album a lot over the past couple of months. A friend of mine gave it to me and my girlfriend and I just happened to turn it on one day and enjoyed it. The only way I can describe it is every song you ever wished was in an 80's movie and was not is this album. I know that sounds strange but if you give it a listen I am sure that you will fully understand what I am talking about. One of the lyrics in a song is "I am only 15 years old and I already feel like there is no reason to live, Do you?" I know, ridiculous but awesome at the same time.

They played for roughly an hour and a half and played about half new stuff half old, all of which I enjoyed a great deal. They have a drummer, a girl singer/keyboardist, and two guy guitar player/keyboardist/computer guy. They have an electronic sound that seems to be getting more popular these days, but the difference is that they do it well. They are tight on stage, the singing sounded as good or better than on the album, and they moved around enough to make me happy. The crowd was lame, as USUAL in Boston, but there is nothing that M83 could have done about that. I will probably go on and on about this in every review I write but seriously, what the fuck is wrong with people. No one dances, they just stand there and take it in like it is church and we are listening to a preacher. Dance, have some fun for once. Some guy behind a friend of mine actually said to him, "Hey man can you, uh, not dance so much. We all know the music and you are ruining my vibe." I could not believe my ears when I herd this, though really why should I be surprise? He aptly replied with a, "Well you should go stand over there then." with a point across to the other side of the room.

But enough digressing, GO SEE M83. IT WAS SWEET. THEY ROCK PRETTY HARD. AND DANCE...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Music at Work

2008-11-05T05:36:00.000-08:00

The Joy of Music

My job can be stressful; deadlines, client calls, project meetings get a guy worked up. Factor in a plethora of emails and my head explodes. The funny part is that I am an easy guy to calm down: music goes a long way. Plunking on a small pair of headphones (or switching on a small pair of desktop speakers) easily puts a smile on my face while also increases my productivity. Easy, right? The only "problem" is what to listen to, or more specifically, how to listen to what I want. Many people tune into a favorite radio station, but I find this boring; radio never plays what I want in the car so why would I turn it on at my desk? But if I shun radio, where can I turn?

All Kinds of Options on the Web

The web has seen an explosion of new ways to listen to music over the last few years. Perhaps the most popular, at least among people I know, has been Pandora. The site makes users define radio stations based on bands they like. These stations then play songs that are acoustically similar in sound and style. Make the recommendations better by flagging songs with a thumbs up or thumbs down. Start a free account and the stations will be remembered anytime you log in. Pandora is a fantastic service that continues to fight through its financial problems, at least here in the US.

Another great service is Last.fm, which takes a different approach: recommendations based on users listening habits. Last.fm is more of a quasi-social network focused on music. Users sign up and then have all of songs they play tracked, recorded, and then compared to others. This can be done with their desktop radio player, on the site, or via a "scrobbler" that, once installed, hangs out in the background and sends listening habits to the site (is "sees" what you play in Winamp, itunes, etc.). While this freaks some people out, I like it; I periodically like to see what I have been listening to because I often forget how much good music I really have. Also, you can "friend" others on the site to easily see what they are listening to. This may be my favorite part. Have a friend with quality taste? Check out they have been into and its a music discovery site. Last.fm is actually even bigger than my blurp suggests, too: bands have biographies and catalogue listings (including popularity rankings), songs have lyrics, concerts and events are posted, etc.

When I am at work I often want to hear a particular song, which can be tricky with Last.fm and Pandora. This is where seeqpod comes in. An ingenious website that crawls over the web looking for any media that seems similar to your search terms. It works with video in addition to music (among other things), although I am partial to the music offerings. Search results are listed on the left, and users can pluck out what they want to be put into a play list. As I mentioned, this is great when I really just want to hear particular things.

Seeqpod is necessary (musically) because I do not have access to my media library all of the time. Ipod users may scoff at this (but I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a mini-hard drive with a fancy LCD), but most people are in this boat. Several sites, however, look to correct this by offering users the ability to upload their libraries onto the web, which can then be accessed with a user name and password. Lala and anywhere.fm both have this core feature, despite being different in other ways. Lala had a lot of buzz a few weeks back when it introduced a new purchasing tier: the web (only) track for $.10. It seemed silly for a split second, but then I realized the brilliance of the move: it does not care about iPod or other PMP (personal media player) users. That market is locked up with iTunes, Amazon and Walmart. This caters to the rest of humanity. While collar works sit at their desk for 8+ hours a day with easy access to the web. Why not cater to them? Will it catch on? I have no idea, but I like that novelty of the idea. Lala also has many of the social/tracking features of Last.fm; Anywhere.fm has the music discovery features as well.

Bonus: The Digg Effect

A while back I stumbled onto thesixtyone, which has its own niche: rankings. Ostensibly a music discovery service, users get "points" with which to "bump" tracks. If others bump those same tracks, more points are earned. While this may sound silly, it does effectively turn music discovery into a crowd sourcing game. Much like Digg (or reddit, or propeller, or Yahoo Buzz, etc), this mechanism has a weird way to bringing users back by playing off human psychology. We all want to earn points, which means, essentially, that we want to know (explicitly) that other people like what we like.

Just the Beginning?

These are merely a few of the sites I check out now and then, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. I could easily have listed plenty of other sites: imeem, grooveshark, hypemachine--the list goes on and on. New sites devoted to music, be it discovery, blogs, or rankings, pop up all the time. And plenty of startup companies are introducing new ideas as well. In the future, I really have no idea how I will get my music fix on the web, or what that will entail (I dream of a web car radio now and then, but that may be way off, if ever). The important thing, however, is that I just get something that makes 9-5 work easier and more enjoyable (not to mention listening at home).

Ra Ra Riot: The Rumb Line

2008-10-31T19:18:00.001-07:00

The best part of buying from Amazon is that I often stumble on awesome music simply because it is cheap. A couple weeks ago Amazon had the new Of Montreal album, "Skeletal Lamping," for $3.99--a terrific deal on its release day. This particularly excited me because I saw them live just a couple weeks ago. Before I bought it, though, I checked Amazon's top albums of the day and noticed "The Rhumb Line" from Ra Ra Riot high on the list; the day before it went for $1.99--a hard deal to pass up. Before the price leapt up I was able to snatch it up, although, it was afterthought to Of Montreal.

At work that day I listened to "Skeletal Lamping" and remembering many of the songs from the show. It is a good album; a couple play throughs and I was satisfied. Good, but not great. Then I listened to Ra Ra Riot, and I have been listening to it ever since. The band put together 9 quality tracks on this, their first full length album (several tracks come from their EP last year). Every track is great, although standouts are "Ghost Under Rocks," "Each Year," "Dying is Fine" and "Run My Mouth." Just selecting these 4 tracks is tough, though, because I could easily pick others. Many have compared Ra Ra Riot's sound to Vampire Weekend, but that feels wrong; I like Vampire Weekend, but this album blows them away. It rocks. "Rhumb Line" is much more upbeat with better vocal work, eclectic arrangements, and excellent songwriting. And it doesn't feel forced, or put on. This is not a group trying to be sophisticated or cool. The album is just awesome. I want to listen to it all the time.

I hope to get a chance to see them in concert if they come around NYC.

And I know, this felt like I was gushing. What can I say?

www.rarariot.com/

Broken Social Scene at Wilbur Theater Boston

2008-10-27T08:17:00.001-07:00

Broken Social Scene is one of my favorite bands as of late. I discovered them this summer while driving with a friend of mine and was instantly hooked by their complexity, rawness, drumming, and overall catchyness. While at a State Radio concert about two months ago some kids were handing out these little cards that have every show going on in Boston for the next few months and to my surprise BSS was playing.

The Wiblur Theater is a new venue for me because most bands played at the Axis or Avalon but those have been recently ripped down and turned into some sort of nicer seated venue. There are now almost no non-seated venues in Boston which is extremely disappointing. The venue is like a smaller version of the Palladium out in Worcester, Ma. It looks like an old church or theater with unseated floor space on the bottom and two balconies of seats up top. Usually they serve alcohol but right now they can't because they are waiting to get their liquor licence renewed. You can walk right up to the stage and touch it which is one of my favorite things about The Roxy which is also in Boston. It has a nice feeling of intimacy being able to get that close to the band.

The opening band was from Montreal Canada (like BSS) called Land of Talk and they played seven songs. I had never herd of the previous and was pleasantly surprised. They are a three piece girl band lead by singer/guitarist Elizabeth Powell. They are a decent stock indie girl lead band reminiscent of (to no surprise) Feist. She has a lot of energy and dances around the stage and does not just stand in front of the microphone. My friend and I were speculating that she was going to sing for them that night seeing as how Feist has sworn off playing with them and Metric (the other girl singer for BSS) is on their own tour and we wound up being right.

BSS consisted (last night) of seven different members with Elizabeth Powell coming in for about a third of the songs. She sounds as good (if not better) than Feist and was spot on for every song. The band is extremely energetic and tight considering that they have three guitars, a bass player, one or two drummers, a saxophone, keyboard player, trumpet, and up to five people singing at the same time. All the band members play at least the guitar and bass if not keyboard and drums as well. Every song they would all switch around instruments and different people would sing different songs. It is incredible how musically talented they are.

One negative note is that the started the show with a slow song which I think is a bad idea because they have so many good faced paced songs. Another thing is that at some points I felt the energy dip (which could have been due to some tech issues during the show) but it always picked back up. THEY PLAYED FOR THREE HOURS! I have never seen a band play for longer than two hours before and they played every song that I wanted to hear. During the show there was a technical problem with the microphones so they just started having a jam session which was fun to watch. Everyone sat on the floor and they turned the lights way down and started jamming. I thought it was a good way to handle a bad situation. Seeing as how this is one of my favorite bands (and top play count on Lastfm) I am a little biased, but if you can see Broken Social Scene I would do it. The show is extremely unique and is nothing like anything I have experienced before.