Shit, MTV strikes a favorite Band of mine once again

About two weeks ago my fiancee called me while I was in my dorm and delivered some really disturbing news. Apparently, Passion Pit is being played on MTV! I was so pissed when I found out. I've been listening to Passion Pit for more almost a year now and I was thrilled when I saw them being promoted on iTunes as single of the week a while back. I want people to know how great Passion Pit is but I'm not so enthusiastic about their appeal that I want the uncultured philistines at places like Rolling Stone or MTV to manhandle their delicate, new image. Thousands of dumb scene kids are going to make Passion Pit their favorite band by knowing only the song "Sleepyhead" which will be their new favorite jam next "Sugar we're going down".

Jay Reatard Live!

On Tuesday night I was fortunate enough to catch Jay Reatard at Walter's on Washington. I squeezed this concert in the day before my philosophy final (which I did well on despite the late night) and it was certainly worth the risk. I met Jay before the show, shook his hand, and got an autograph when I spied him hanging out behind a card table displaying vinyls and shirts for sale.
I approached him reluctantly because I didn't see anyone else going up and didn't want to look like an idiot if it wasn't him; but I did and I must say that he's a classy guy to sit outside and meet fans one on one.

The two opening bands sucked hard. I don't think that if you saw them preform you wouldn't think I'm a prick for saying that. The lead singer to the first one sounded like Jello Biafra when he talked so I figured it might be sort of good but he sure as hell didn't sing like him. I normally cut opening bands a lot of slack but I actually wished I didn't come early after the first minute or two of them going on. I think their name was American Sharks or something. I can't remember the second one. Their vocalist looked like Andy Dick. Weird.

Jay Reatard came on stage and immediately activated what seemed to be a stored sample or looping effect pedal and the amps began to pump out some of the loudest feedback I've ever heard at any concert and I was standing very close to the stage. Even though it was just a little bit louder than anything I'm used to at most shows, the tone was great and he had this excellent reverb/delay effect that really added to the fierceness of his playing. His technique was simple but super fast and creative; it almost made me think of Jack White with more punk influence. About half way into his set I got dizzy from the sheer volume and feedback but I was so into the music that I just stepped back a little and got over it.

The best songs were "I'm watching you" and "Trapped here" but his whole set was good.

I only got my full hearing back yesterday hahaha. It was awesome.

Sunset Rubdown: Dragonslayer (and other things)

I picked up Sunset Rubdown's new album in early October and I really enjoyed every song. The highlights of the album are the beautiful and somehow sad sounding "You go on ahead" and the hard driving "Black Swan" but the entire album is exceptional and should have wide appeal for fans and new listeners alike. For those of you who don't know about this excellent Canadian band, they started as a side-project for Wolf Parade (another great Canadian band) front-man, Spencer Krugg but are now a full time group and have released five LPs and two EPs since 2005.

I love Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Swan Lake, and Sunset Rubdown; all are related to Krugg. Sunset Rubdown is by far the quirkiest with songs like "The Courtesan has sung" which is an otherworldly round being sung by Krugg overdubbed a few times accented by strange lyrics, super-simple guitar and almost tribal percussion.

A classmate of mine, Kevin Connell, introduced me to Wolf Parade in the fall of 2007 while I was attending Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. I received six mix CDs as gifts for our customary week-long, secret santa activity and learned at the end of the week that my gifts were from Kevin. He had an excellent taste in music. He introduced me to Wolf Parade, the Handsome Furs (another Krugg side-project) and countless other bands I'd never heard but now enjoy listening to all the time. We even attended the same Wolf Parade concert later that summer in Boston.

On the 13th of October, 2009, Kevin Connell was struck by a car and killed while riding his bike home from his work in Montreal. He was a brilliant writer, student, and musician. He planned to pursue music in Montreal but his life was cut short by a reckless, possibly drunk, driver. Whenever I listen to any band fronted by Spencer Krugg I'll always think of Kevin.

Weekly Review: Jay Reatard, Watch Me Fall

I've been listening to this master of Garage Punk for a couple months now and it seems like he might break into the mainstream with his newest full length album. I personally love all the singles on the Matador Records Singles compilations but it's nice to hear Jay produce his fourth full LP where I can hear him try out some new concepts like the choral harmonies in "Nothing Now". My personal favorite songs off the album are "Hang Them All" and "Nothing Now" which sound a little different than what I'm accustomed to hearing from him as far as tempo and instrumentation (you've even got some strings in "There is no Sun"). "I'm watching you" is also amazingly catchy, especially during the little break where it's just Jay singing and drummer drumming.

A New Career in a New Town

I'm heading out to Texas in just days, leaving all my old friends behind and I have no fucking idea how I'm going to cope. I have my awesome girlfriend but I need to make friends down there and I don't think I'm going to find anyone like my old gang from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts.
I'm listening to a lot of David Bowie's Low lately and preparing myself for the inevitable feeling of loss I know I'll feel not being at Thomas More but I can't dwell on it; it's time for a new career in a new town.

Perez Hilton makes me lmao roflcopter lolololol

Has anyone actually read this guy's blog? What a tragedy that he's been so successful. I've known about him for a long and time and heard his bigoted rants about Miss California and I was secretly pretty elated that will.i.am knocked Perez off his sparkly high horse with a well timed punch to the face but I've never actually taken the time to read his famous blog, before tonight.

Well even for a lowlife, Hollywood, media-whore, I was pretty disappointed by this blog.
He writes like a thirteen year old girl, for crying out loud. Just my two cents.

Flame On!

With great relish I downloaded and dove into the Flaming Lips' newest EP after months of anticipating the release of their next studio album, Embryonic. The EP contains just a taste of the Lips' latest work at only three tracks but should be enough to satisfy me until the new album's projected release date of Septemeber.

Coyne seems to be moving the band back to a more experimental sound than the stellar but admittedly more commercial; At War with the Mystics. Though the tracks seem like they would be a bit less accessible to a casual audience the band appears to be preserving their sound rather than making any drastic changes.

My favorite track is "Convinced of the Hex" which is somehow vageuly remeniscient of the Pink Floyd song "Let there be more Light", probably because of the mysterious sounding key and the octave-jumping bassline.

Enjoy!