Sep 25, 2008
Jeff Mangum- Live at Jittery Joe's
DL
*Request*
Jeff Mangum is the frontman of Neutral Milk Hotel. This album is basically him live in a pretty crowded room it sounds like, anyway he plays mostly songs from "On Avery Island" and "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" but there are other tracks too including a cover of "I love how you love me" and one of my favorite NMH's songs "Engine".
Heatmiser- Mic City Sons
DL
*Request*
Elliott Smith has been my absolute favorite artist for about 6 years, my musical tastes have changed but my dedication to Elliott has never wavered. In 2003 when he passed away I (like many others) was devastated. I would replay all his albums over and over again for weeks, an started to listen to various bootlegged shows and demo tracks. After it felt like I exhausted everything Elliott, I remembered Heatmiser.
Heatmiser was a grunge-ish(?) band he formed with Neil Gust in the early 90s. This is a basic album for any Elliott Smith fan, but I hate to break it to you that Elliott doesn't do most of the singing on this record. Don't let that discourage you though "Plainclothes Man" is a very distinctivly Smith track as well as "Not Half Right".
The Replacements- Tim
DL
*Request*
"Tim" was released after the The Replacements' breakthrough album "Let It Be", I actually personally prefer to "Let It Be" a bit more actually. But this album is definitely a basic, and kicks off great with "Hold My Life".
Sep 23, 2008
The Feelies- Crazy Rhythms
DL
*Request*
This is definitely a basic, I probably should have posted it sooner. I found it last year and I instantly like it. It's a solid album from start to finish (well maybe with the except of "Everybody's Got Something To Hide".
Sep 21, 2008
Violent Femmes - S/T
DL
This album has been a bit of a secret favorite for awhile now. I used to hate Gordon Gano's voice, but I guess that changed. I often find myself scrolling down to this album on my iPod when I just want to listen to a full album I enjoy. I've always considered this album for some reason, probably because of "Blister In the Sun" who knows.
Recommended Tracks: "Blister In the Sun" (duh), "Kiss Off", "Please Do Not Go", "Good Feeling"
Sep 20, 2008
Boyracer - Happenstance
Oh shit, Boyracer. Twee music that isn't annoying. Its fuzzy, quick bursts of indie pop. Listen to "On bleached grass," "I was the drummer in altered dreams" "Where to place your trust,"and "I thought even more of you when you told me you wanted me dead." I was going through the tracks and pretty much wanted to put every song on the recommended list.
Back to basics - a classic.
DL
Sep 17, 2008
The Bats- Daddy's HIghway
DL
First off, I'd like to apologize by going MIA on posting, I just arrived in the Netherlands and was getting settled.
Alright, so I don't know if it's because of the success of Flight of the Conchords or not, but recently there have been more buzz around New Zealand bands (mostly past ones) like The Clean, The Verlaines, and The Chills. "Daddy's HIghway" is from 1987 and it does sound like it was made 20 years ago, but not in a dated way.
Top Tracks: "Treason", "Tragedy", "North by North", "Calm Before the Storm"
Sep 14, 2008
Capstan Shafts - Consumption Violets
Dean Wells is the singer/song writer/entire band. He writes most songs under 2 minutes and writes a ton of them. After a few listens these songs will grow on you and one song perfectly leads up to another. He gets compared to Robert Pollard because of his prolific songwriting and lo-fi sound. And because they both write catchy songs that they seem to throw away. Check this out if you like catchy, lo-fi, short songs that are classics and sound like uncovered gems.
DL
Sep 10, 2008
Honeybus - Story
Take my word for it, the opening track of this album will be used in a trailer for a Wes Anderson-like movie. The drums will alternate the takes and the build-up is perfect for the coming of age revelation that the boyish adults will go through in the film.
This is a collection of lost hits, or mostly lost I guess, from British band Honeybus. The real winner on the album however is not the stellar opener but "Fresher than the sweetness in water." Its on a small list called perfect popsongs. Check it out.
If anyone is interested I have a cover of the song by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, from their Blue Trees album, a band I'll probably get around to posting a good deal of.
DL
Sep 9, 2008
Passion Pit- Chunk of Change
Passion Pit is an electro-pop band from Boston.
I really enjoy this album, kind dance-y pop-y, a lot like MGMT actually. They're slowly gaining popularity and were named the Best New Local Act in 2008 by the Boston Phoenix.
Recommended Tracks: "I've Got Your Number", "Cuddle Fuddle", and "Tons of Guns"
http://www.myspace.com/passionpitjams
The Spinto Band- Nice and Nicely Done & Moonwink
DL
DL
*Double Request*
The Spinto Band is an indie pop band from Delaware. Their album "Nice and Nicely Done" is pretty good. You may recognize the song "Oh Mandy" from a Sears commercial, but my favorite is "Brown Boxes". I'm a sucker for the kazoo what can I say?
I haven't listened to "Moonwink" yet, so you can let me know how it is.
Sep 8, 2008
Teenage Fanclub - White Sessions
DL
Teenage Fanclub acoustic radio session. Mostly its singles, like Sparky's Dream, but there is also a Creedence cover of Have You Ever Seen The Rain. This band has three singers but they harmonize so well its tough to tell which is which sometimes. They often get compared to Big Star, which is a major compliment. I hope they release a full acoustic album someday, or even tour America. Its been 4 years now.
The Power of Suck - GBV
This is an amazing find. This is a proposed album that Pollard made between Alien Lanes and Under the Bushes, Under the Stars. A bunch of the songs eventually made there way to Under the bushes, but many are different versions. The track list is great and it actually sounds like mid-period Guided by Voices because it has enough weird songs. The opener Pantherz should hook you right away.
DL
Here it is....
I just had to give an even bigger shout out to my main man, gil-T. How many times does it say Laura Nyro on his myspace? like a billion.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=104715375
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=104715375
Boson Spaceships- Brown Submarine
DL
*Request* for my new co-blog owner Glacier.
The Boston Spaceships are a new Robert Pollard side project. I haven't listened to it a ton but a friend of mine says its cool.
Apparently this is where the name cam from:
"Let me tell you the story of the name Boston Spaceships.
On a sunny afternoon back in '02 or '03 when GbV came to Amsterdam my mate and I went to the city to hang out and have a beer or two. We ran into Bob and his girlfriend in a recordstore near Paradiso and talked music. Bob knew all the old Dutch beat bands, weird.
When we discussed ugly artwork my mate said: 'how about those Boston Spaceships?'. Bob laughed out loud and had his girlfriend take a note. We laughed out loud when we saw Bob use it as one of the bogus band names on Suitcase 1. On a dreadful song by the way.
And now it seems the Boston Spaceships is coming to live as Bob's next real performing rockgroup. How cool is that. I wonder what it will sound like, it seems they're touring the US only so far."
Descendents- Milo Goes To College
DL
I'm not a huge pop punk fan, but I really like this album. My favorite tracks on it are Myage and Hope.
Ride- Nowehre
DL
*Request*
Ride is a shoegaze band from the late 90s early 2000s, this is probably their best album though. Oh and the bassist for Oasis is the vocalist for this band.
Sep 7, 2008
Archers of Loaf- Icky Mettle
DL
If you like music that sounds like it was made in the 90s then you will probably like this 90s band.
Prince- Purple Rain
DL
Without a doubt a basic. This album along with the movie is fantastic.
Actually I was wondering which came first the movie or the album? Because the album isn't usually presented as being a soundtrack....
Maybe the movie is just a platform for the album. Like a concert DVD except with more Morris Day, nudity, domestic violence, slutty vampires, and disgruntled, lesbian bandmates who apparently wrote the song "Purple Rain"
Top Tracks: All of them except "Computer Blue"
Sep 6, 2008
Alien Father- Knives With Journalism
DL
Alien Father is a band I'm friends with , and their new album is very good. Definitely worth downloading.
Influences: Daniel Plainview and videogames
http://www.myspace.com/alienfather
The Tank- S/T
DL
A must-have classic album. Electronic music written by a tank that wants to kill his neighbor Jason.
I Made a Blog
I'm probably going to post albums that I've been listening to and like in here. And you can probably download them too.
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