VENICE IS SINKING-”AZAR”

Posted on February 16th, 2009 by ekko

Venice Is Sinking is not your average everyday band, and “Azar” is not your average everyday album. A series of orchestral, shoegazestrumentals by Keyboardist James Sewell, named “Azar One,” “Azar Two,” and so on, are strung out across the record, between songs that are sometimes organic and simple (“Ryan’s Song”) and other times complex and dramatic, like “Okay,” which sounds like a Cranberries cover. But the thing that most marks a VIS album is the complex textures and wide variety of sounds. Singers Daniel Lawson and Karolyn Troupe are perfect for each other–his voice is light and strained, hers is rootsy and powerful, a reversed expectation that leads to upside-down harmonies. The album never gets into high gear, but it’s not supposed to. The changes here are more subtle, layered, and precise.

Take “Young Master Sunshine,” a six-minute song that features a slow, almost march-like theme, that creeps forward, threatening to explode but instead ending just slightly faster than it began. This album is meditative but constantly surprising. It belongs right up there with the best work of Yo La Tengo: Experimental but grounded, sad but hopeful, and always, always fascinating.

Ryan’s Song

Older VIS:

The Grey Line

VIS cover!

You Got Lucky (Tom Petty cover)

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Posted on February 15th, 2009 by ekko

Tags: Picture of the day

MEMPHIS REIGNS (Free album!), WOODHANDS (Free cover!), AND TOUBAB KREWE (Free remix!)

Posted on February 15th, 2009 by ekko

In this three-for-one post, I’m going first to the new album by Memphis Reigns & D-Mitch, a free digital release that showcases how good myspace rappers can sometimes (but rarely) be. It’s called “Skeleton Crew Diaries,” and it features some hard, skillful rhymes mixed with several instrumentals. The band shows lots of promise, and is definitely worth your time. The great thing about the internet is we can find artists like this, who used to have to struggle even to get heard locally. Here’s one of the best tracks:

Post Script to Mars ft. Hypoetical

Here’s a yousendit link and when that goes down, they are offering it at the following sites:

myspace.com/downwriterecords
myspace.com/mmechanics
myspace.com/hypoetical
soundclick.com/dmitch

Next, it’s electro band “Woodhands” cover of Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue.” Some of you may think of Eddy as a great reggae artist, and he was, but he also dabbled in pop. Remember the theme to “Romancing The Stone?” (“I’m romancing the stone/Never leaving your poor heart alone/Every night and every day/Gonna love the hurting away.” Bloody awful!)

Electric Avenue-Woodhands

Finally, it’s Toubab Krewe’s remix of Youssou N’Dour’s “Wake Up,” a charity cut for the IntraHealth OPEN Initiative, to which you can make a donation here.

Wake Up and Let it Go

Tags: Hip Hop

THE HAVE NOTS-”Serf City USA”

Posted on February 14th, 2009 by ekko

When you hear The Have Nots, you can’t help but think they’re punky like Green Day, Dropkick Murphys, Offspring, and Sublime’s hardcore numbers. And indeed, if this were the 1990s, I’d be betting on big things for them. But with that style of music no longer in vogue, The Have Nots would be at risk of being a novelty act, another ska/hardcore/kinda Clash band. That is, if they weren’t so Goddamn talented.

Their lyrics are deep and complex, eschewing accessibility for true punk philosophy; the hooks are nonstop; the lyrics are spat in spoken shouts; and the drumming is simply phenomenal. I dunno where this Steve Patton dude came from, but he deserves widespread renown. His relentless, driving beats give the record it’s spine, supporting the anarchic philosophy, surprisingly interesting keyboard accents, and steady guitar riffs.

The best song on the record, “Used to Be,” is all about the stuff we leave behind when we grow up and get too old to headbang and mosh. I’m sure I’m not the only one who relates to it. Other standout tracks include “Army of One,” an anthem for veterans that should be blasting out of every radio in Iraq, “There’s Gonna Be a Riot” (it’s meaning is obvious), and the punny title track, “Serf City U.S.A.,” with it’s chorus: “Serf City, U.S.A./How long must we live this way?”

The band is D.I.Y. after some issues with their record label, and just self-released their first album.

Buy it at their myspace

Army of One

And you can hear their original 4 song demo for free at Pure Volume.

GUILTY PLEASURE OF THE WEEK: Huey Lewis!

Posted on February 13th, 2009 by ekko

San Francisco’s gayest looking straight bandleader, Huey Lewis burst on the music scene by slamming his whole head into a sink full of ice water in the video for “I Want a New Drug.” It was a tight song, if a little cliche, and became wildly popular. Wow! If you sing about drugs and sex, you get a hit! Whodathunkit? Anyhow, I don’t feel guilty for liking I Want A New Drug and, moreover, I don’t really like it all that much . . .

I Want a New Drug-Keller Williams

I Want a New Drug-Apostle of Hustle

He went on to have a slew of hits. A much better one was

Heart and Soul-Umphrey’s McGee

His next big break was when he was featured in the movie “Back To The Future,” in which Huey chaperoned Michael J. Fox’s prom, where McFly Jr.’s mom kept trying to make out with him. Great movie. Decent song. Still no guilt.

Time is Of the Essence/Back In Time-Animal Liberation Orchestra

I don’t even feel guilty for getting pleasure out of this one, but it’s getting closer to cringeworthy . . .

Power of Love-Bill Owens

Power of Love-Fat Maw Rooney

Power of Love-The Balance

So where’s the guilt? Here it is, the corniest HLandTN tune ever, performed by a band who deserve far more attention than they’re getting.

If This Is It-Throw Me The Statue

Why does this one make me feel guilty? Maybe it’s the heads-on-the-beach image from the video. Maybe it’s the lame attempt to duplicate Billy Joel’s success doing doo wop on “Innocent Man.” No. It’s the lyrics.

If this is it, please let me know,if this ain’t love, you better let me go!

And that’s just the chorus. There’s gemlike verses as well:

You’ve been thinking
And I’ve been drinking
We both know that it’s just not right
Now you’re pretending
That it’s not ending
You’ll say anything to avoid a fight
Girl don’t lie, and tell me that you need me
Girl don’t cry, and tell me nothing’s wrong
I’ll be all right one way or another
So let me go, or make we want to stay

God, this song is stupid. Yet I love it!

Tags: Covers, Guilty Pleasures

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Posted on February 12th, 2009 by ekko

Tags: Picture of the day

AMERICA, THE CLASH. THE CLASH, AMERICA. NOW PLAY NICE.

Posted on February 12th, 2009 by ekko

It’s bootleg time again.  And this time, it’s the first Clash show . . . Ever!  (In the U.S.)  Or at least it’s part of that show.  Enjoy.

From February 7, 1979 . . .

01. Complete Control
02. I Fought the Law
03. Jail Guitar Doors
04. Drug Stabbing Time
05. City of the Dead
06. Safe European Home
07. White Man In Hammersmith Palais
08. Tommy Gun
09. Clash City Rockers
10. English Civil War

UNCLASH MY ZIPPER

Tags: Clash

BELL X1-“Blue Lights On The Runway”

Posted on February 12th, 2009 by ekko

Can I say I’m overjoyed to be writing about the new Bell X1 album? The band was with a major label for a while, which meant that to write about it was to risk being sued, but they’ve since settled with Yep Roc, making them blog-friendly, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been with the band for several years now, having listened to “Flock,” their second record but the first to be released here in the U.S. of A., over and over again.

For those unfamiliar with the band, it’s easiest to compare the Irish lads to their more famous contemporaries, Snow Patrol and Coldplay. Bell X1 have a little bit of a rougher sound–they lack the huge studio backing to make their work sound slick and glossy, and they are the better for it. Unlike (especially) Coldplay, Bell X1 records sound like they’re being worked out in the studio. They have an organic, genuine feeling to them that makes them transcend easy listening or wallpaper. But it’s still hard to write about individual tracks because the songs flow together to create more of a mood than a collection of singles. Especially on this newer release. Previous Bell X1 albums did indeed try to cull a few radio-friendly, catchy-riff songs, but they seem content here to settle into what they are best at: Creating sonic poems, sung in easy tones with the kind of gentle music that encourages the mind to wander around the often provocative lyrics about “hearty dogs of chuch and state” and the “God of eagle, God of light, push[ing] us to the corner of our own life.” (Lyrics taken from “Blow Ins.”) The music may be mellow, but the words have more in common with U2.

Even the titles of Bell X1 songs are touching and intimate: “Light Catches Your Face,” “How Your Heart Is Wired,” “One String Harp” . . . The two most single-like tunes, “The Great Defector” and “A Better Band” are some of the best, most hook-y tunes the band has ever created. Blue Lights on the Runway seems to represent the band’s attempt to make the album it’s always to make. It seems unconcerned with polish and accessibility, and, as such is a true work of art. It’s their greatest work so far, in the career of a band that’s already done some pretty great work.

Unless 2009 provides a dramatically better crop of records than the 10 years that have preceded it, there’s little doubt that this will be one of the best records of the year.

Buy it!

The Great Defector

BONUS MELLOW ROCKER COVERS!

Yellow (Coldplay cover)-Petra Haden and Bill Frisell

Stay (Faraway So Close) (U2 Cover)-Smashing Pumpkins

JENN GRANT-”Echoes”

Posted on February 11th, 2009 by ekko

Jenn Grant has already received lots of accolades based on her first record, “Orchestra for the Moon,” and when you hear her new album, you’ll see why. It’s a collection of quiet, mellow, and often broken hearted songs. Her voice is wonderful, her song-writing skills are top notch, and her backing band are no slouches either, smoothly moving through rootsy Americana and nightclub jazz. Most of the songs on the album are originals, but I’m posting her Neil Young cover to show you how she can transform this sad, depressing song into a meditation on hope.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Neil Young cover)

BONUS NEIL YOUNG COVERS!

Mr. Soul-Uncle Tupelo

Helpless-Ryan Adams

Neil Young-Dana Carvey

(I’m using Mediafire instead of Savefile–what do you all think?)

LORRIE MATHESON-”In Vein”

Posted on February 10th, 2009 by ekko

You gotta figure that any record with a track called “Falling Down Sober” is at least worth checking out. And “In Vein,” Lorrie Matheson’s third record, is that and more. The sound is similar to most of the Canadian Americana you’ll find: Honest, basic music about hard living. Good stuff!

Hollow Wind

BONUS AMERICANA COVERS:

Carmelita (Warren Zevon cover)-The Wildhearts. A cover of my favorite Warren tune: One of the original Americanans.

You Got Lucky (Tom Petty cover)-Setting Sun