JENNY AND TYLER-Faint Not

Posted on March 8th, 2011 by ekko

Jenny and Tyler are a church-going husband-and-wife team who are getting major play at my house.  Yes, my house.  And coverage on my site.  The same house, and website, that thinks violent fart jokes are hilarious and that features foul rap and mind-numbing hardcore.  So what the hell are such a wholesome couple doing here?  Simple.  “Faint Not” is one of the best pop-duo records I’ve heard in years.

How so?

Well, it all starts with the vocals.  The focus here is on the sung words, and Tyler and Jenny Somers voices are perfect together–his lower register compliments her ability to hit and maintain the high notes, his slightly worn, slightly painful inflection is mirrored by the hope and love that Jenny naturally, seemingly effortlessly, puts into every syllable.  Then there’s the music: It’s pop and hooks, but it’s not simplistic.  When necessary, it soars.  When appropriate, it lays back, content to support the singers.  Lyrically, it’s sensitive and introspective–songs about being human.  “Carry Me” could be about faith, but it could just as easily be a straight-up love song.  That’s how I hear it, anyway, and it almost breaks me.  It’s anthemic, it’s powerful, and it cries to be heard.

There’s nothing overtly religious about this (other than “Psalm 46″) or preachy, nothing that screams of intolerance or preachiness, just honest, beautiful music.  If all Christian music was like this, the genre would be surely less maligned.

And to top it all off, they’re a nice looking couple.

This is their third album.  Get it as nine bucks for a download off their site.

Carry Me

KURT VILE-Smoke Rings for My Halo

Posted on March 8th, 2011 by ekko

Why I >heart< Kurt Vile:

- His voice is haunting and forlorn

- He has a funny name

- That can’t possibly be his real name

- His lyrics are creepy and special

- Matador is the most steadfastedly anti-RIAA label around

- It comes out today and it is so amazingly good that if you don’t buy it you will get leprosy

In My Time

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Posted on March 7th, 2011 by ekko

THE BROKEN WEST–LIVE

Posted on March 7th, 2011 by ekko

Remember how freakin’ great The Broken West were?  I do.  Another great Merge Records band who never went anywhere.

Here’s a boot to remind you.

THE BROKEN WEST
The Picador, Iowa City, Iowa
March 13, 2009

01 So It Goes
02 Auctioneer
03 On the Bubble
04 Please
05 Gwen, Now and Then
06 Ambuscade
07 Got It Bad
08 House of Lies
09 Back in Your Head (Tegan & Sara cover)

10 Perfect Games
11 Down in the Valley
12 Baby on My Arm

ZIP FILE
Alternate LINK.

PANIC YEARS-Finally Today is Tomorrow

Posted on March 6th, 2011 by ekko

Givin’ a shout to some self-released indie pop.

Farther-Panic Years

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Posted on March 5th, 2011 by ekko

From Daily Waddle.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Posted on March 3rd, 2011 by ekko

“I heard Justin Bieber has a 10 inch dick, but it’s in his ass and belongs to Usher.”

- Mos Def via Twitter.

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Posted on March 3rd, 2011 by ekko

Last time, in our review of what is in my opinion the consistently greatest super-hero comic book of all time, I talked about the lowest point for the book: The clones had killed the joy in one of Marvel’s longest-running titles, The Amazing Spider-Man, and that, coupled with the company’s creative dearth and legal problems in the 1990s led the company to cancel the book.  This post will be my last one in this series, and will take us to the present day.  Here’s all the others:

THE HISTORY OF THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, PART ONE: THE STAN LEE YEARS

THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, PART TWO: CONWAY, WEIN AND WOLFMAN

THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, PART THREE: MEET ROGER STERN, THE GREATEST SPIDER-MAN WRITER OF ALL TIME

THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, PART FOUR: THE 1990s, AND THE “END” OF THE TITLE

So what are you waiting for?  Hit the break!

Read the rest of this entry »

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