We're nine days away from what will be the greatest night of summer. Next Friday, we'll all be in a movie theater somewhere seeing The Dark Knight. Until then, we all need something to do this Friday don't we? Well don't I just have the cure!
Wonderful Spells are playing a free show this Friday, July 11th, at the Alchemist Lounge in Jamaica Plain, which is my neighborhood! It's a rare thing that band's come by my neck of the woods, so I strongly encourage you check this show out. The band plays at 10PM and isn't just playing one, but two sets! While the first one will be all delicate and acoustic, the second electric set will probably melt your faces off if the humidity doesn't. Did I mention that this show is free?
This should hold you over. The video for their song "Vermillion"
Also be sure to check out their MySpace for some new streaming goodness.
Is there anything more nerve-wracking than making an album in the midst of a long and difficult breakup between band members? Granted, there have been some classics to come from this sort of emotional turmoil, like Rumors (Fleetwood Mac), Foolish (Superchunk) and Look Now Look Again (Rainer Maria), but more often than not, it's a battle that tears a band apart. With All or Nothing, The Subways' second release, the split is the catharsis which drives the music, almost making me forget how much I loved their debut. Album opener "Girls & Boys" packs in all of their Ash-inspired guitar crunch, while tracks like "Move to Newlyn" and "Strawberry Blonde" show a band is growing by leaps and bounds with a new found melodic mastery. Buy the import now or wait until Sept. 9th for the US release. [Buy Here] Download: "Girls & Boys" [mp3]
For the longest time, I thought all remix albums were self-indulgent and artistically lazy, and really, a lot of them still are, but Health is a smart band, one that is adroit enough to make a remix CD unlike any other. At times, it's not even listenable, but that's one of the charms of these guys. Unlike band of today's bands that are reaching backwards to go farther, Health just continues to reach ahead, so far in fact that it's sometimes tough to full wrap your head around what the fuck it is they are doing. But this isn't the sort of music that you should allow to go over your head, because for the most part, the band produces likable post-hardcore. What their music does require is time, and like any good novel, if you're willing to put in that time, then you'll be rewarded. [Buy Here] Download: "Triceratops" (Acid Girls Remix) [mp3]
It's up in the air as to whether or not this song will end up on Bloc Party's third album. First off, this video is weird, and the song comes off like a distorted version of "She's Hearing Voices." There's been a lot of smack already talked about this, but since BP is the type of band that likes trying on a few different hats, this should be taken with a grain of salt. By no means the band's best song, it is a solid tune from a band that is almost obsessed with not being categorized. [Buy Here]
These guys are at the forefront of the two quasi-scenes in the UK: the glut of amazing music coming out of Leeds and the countrywide resurgence in post-hardcore. Putting scenes aside for a moment, these are quality in their own right, first release a record whose titles were simply numbers, and then leaving the label which they started for the release of this new record, which has quickly become an office favorite and contender for record of the year. "Breaking Standing," "A Prospector Can Dream" and "We Are Grey Matter" are already summer '08 hits. [Buy Here] Download: "Breaking Standing" [mp3]
Since the age of 12 when the phrase 'two turntables and a microphone' was engraved in to my skull, Beckhas been a healthy part of my music regimen. 14 year old Rusty was blown away by "Tropicalia," the lead off single from Mutations, a song of the likes which he had never heard before. Early 20s Rusty will always hold The Information close to his heart, just as much as late teen Rusty will note Midnite Vultures as a perennial favorite. With his newest album, Modern Guilt, he teams up with Danger Mouse to make a record that sounds exactly like everything Beck has done before - and also like nothing he has done before.
Picture the Guilt ridden opener, "Orphans," as a music video. After some thumping and thudding like a poor man's "Low Rider," Beck's gringo acoustic wipes the slate clean. We find him walking down the street to pick up his date, played by the illustrious Cat Power, who's deadpanning her contribution while applying lipstick in the mirror. Before we know it, we're plugging noses and shimmying to the ground in black and white in the song "Gamma Ray", before the epic "Chemtrails." The auditory version of the last high, the track soars like a latter day "Helter Skelter" with the fades-back-in ending that is total calamity, the drugs taking their toll and life ending. After this, its the title track that could be the afterlife to "Chemtrails" downward spiral; while the drums keep the pace, a faint guitar is sneaking up on a Beck we find walking to the light. And just when you think it's going to explode and flourish, it fakes out, and keeps going for the duration.
Now, if only the second half were as memorable as that first half. There's a dud here ("Walls"), a huge stinker over there ("Soul Of A Man,") and a song that I've been told is even more intense when high than it already is ("Replica"). The album seems to come back around towards the end, with the rave-up that is "Profanity Prayers" and the introspective "Volcano" that would've made Guero that much better. So what are we left with exactly? Is this a great album? Sure. Is it the best album he has ever made? Not quite. What is most interesting about this release is how by teaming up with someone new in the producer's chair, he can do something he's never done prior by being as concise as ever. Typical Beck fare can run pretty long (The Information for example, with its 15 tracks and near hour-long runtime, made some people a bit leary), but this new found sense of brevity seems to work in his favor. The collaboration of Mouse and Beck might've been something people were salivating over from the second it was announced, but really he does nothing more than help Beck hone in on what he's always made best - that great 3 minute pop song. [Buy Here]
Other releases from today? Some Abe Vigoda record I haven't ever said a word about. Speaking of Abe Vigoda, I just finished interviewing them and the results will be published on the Stranded main site this Friday.
Rage Against The Machine broke up in October of 2000. It was then that Zack De La Rocha promised us a solo album. It’s been eight years later and we’ve got bupkis. Ok so we have a couple of tracks he did with DJ Shadow, but a solo album that is not. The new rumor is that Rocha is working with Jon Theodore from Mars Volta. The project is called One Day As A Lion and Anti- will be releasing their self-titled debut EP July 22. His mystery album recorded with Trent Reznor remains in the vault.
LeRoi Moore, saxophonist for Dave Matthews Band was severely injured in an ATV accident recently. He was on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia and flipped the vehicle. He is at the University Of Virginia Medical Center. Amigos don’t let amigos drive borracho.
Red Sparowes will be releasing their next EP, Aphorisms, digitally on August 1. Sargent House will be handling the downloadable duties and the physical release this fall. As with their previous releases, all song tiles are ridiculously long. It’s difficult to explain how but this entire newsletter is a song title.
The BBC reports that the gravestone of late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis has been stolen. The stone simply read "Ian Curtis. 18-5-80. Love Will Tear Us Apart." A police spokesperson told the BBC that there are no security cameras in the cemetery. Anyone with any information about the missing gravestone can contact British authorities here.
In a last-ditch effort to regain their former fame, ZZ Top has allied with Rick Rubin. ZZ Top ended their relationship with RCA two years ago after a decade of neglect. Rubin’s label American Recordings will be issuing their comeback album sometime next year. I guess that guest appearance on Deadwood didn’t help.
Eddie Vedder will be touring the East Coast solo this summer. His string of East Coast dates runs throughout the month of August. If you recall his last set of solo dates he performed songs from his soundtrck to the film Into The Wild, along with other Pearl Jam deep cuts and some random covers. Here he is last summer at a Cubs game.
As has become traditional, Slipknot have unveiled new masks in preparation for their newest album. The new masks are even more detailed and frightening than in the past. This set includes horror icons such as Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld and others. They are said to be grotesque and more terrifying than anything previous.
We had major drama in St. Louis this week. Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes was arrested on one count of third degree assault. As you might have guessed the assault did occur during the band’s set at a Warped Tour stop. Apparently some redneck broke out the N-word and McCoy smashed the inbred little ditchpig cracker with his microphone. Anybody have video?
There's nothing I love more than a record that has a down home feeling, the feeling that you are in the room with said artist as they lay down the tracks that make up a masterpiece. That's the vibe Jennings gives off with his first album on Jack Johnson's Brushfire imprint. Listen to the piano clang over to your right on "I Never Knew Your Name"; get your campfire-sing a long-boot stomp game face on for the crowd pleasing "I Love You And Buddha Too." But what makes this album imperfect, or feel more like an EP or collection of outtakes, is the strangely displaced live track right in the middle. What's up with that, Mason? [Buy Here]
As much as I love these guys, I cannot say enough about how this album is missing something. Actually, it's not that it's missing something, it's all there. It just needs to be arranged a little bit better.If anyone has read my review, you'll know that I was upset with how the album was resequenced at the last minute or whatever, moving original closing number "See These Bones" up to lead off which was just totally bizarre. The rest of the first side stayed intact, while someone played 52-pick up with the second side. But at the middle, at the heart of the record is quite possibly their finest moment in "Are You Lightning?" A song I once thought was about impending parenthood is about what I really thought it was about anyway: impatiently waiting for true love to find you. [Buy Here]
I decided last year that I was going to finally make due on something I had wanted to do for quite a while now. Upon completion of their new album, I was going to finally go and see R.E.M. in concert. Sadly, I did not, but that doesn't mean they haven't made their best album in a decade. yes, the purveyors of the Athens legends are true when they say this is their "return to form" album, I'll totally drink the Kool-Aid on that statement. I read somewhere online how "Man Sized Wreath" reminded them of GBV, so I immediately put it back on and, by God, Peter Buck's guitar licks totally mimic that of Doug Gillard. Or was it Doug that stole from Peter? Haven't we all borrowed from them anyway? They do have the whole Godfathers of College Radio title to hold on to. [Buy Here]
Allow me to be honest - upon first listening, this album did not do it for me. It had great moments, like "Made Concrete" that I had been salivating about for well over the past year. For some reason, I felt Color was paling towards the end. But with every listen I'd find something new to enjoy about it, a new favorite song, a new sound not heard on the last listen. And before I knew it, it became clear that Color wasn't so dull after all - it was bright and full of life. And with this mention, they have to be the band I have blogged about the most so far this year. [Buy Here]
And from most blogged about to a record (and band) I've yet to even mention here. This album has been under my radar for several months and is one of the best things to come out of my homestate of PA since, well, ever. The 10 minutes that it takes to get through the licks and drones of "Show Me The Coast" are so epic that, thanks to the updates to Muxtape, it'll open a future mix as I'll challenge all to get through it. But it doesn't stop there! The album is covered in swirly guitars and dirges that haven't been displayed with such pinache and style since "Teen Age Riot" 20 years ago. Sonic Youth fronted by The Boss? That's all you can say about them. [Buy Here]
I took several years of Spanish in high school and college, so I can confirm that the name of Albert Hammond Jr.'s sophomore effort translates in English to "What's your name?" It does not translate to something close like the Destiny's Child smash "Say My Name". It also doesn't translate to "Comb the llama's hairs" just like Yo La Tengo doesn't translate to "pass the ketchup, please."
All translations aside, something easy to comprehend is that his new album, ¿Como te Llama? is out next week. The best thing is you have to wait no more to hear it, as he is streaming it from his MySpace page. So get out your pencil and paper, prepare to conjugate your verbs in to the past-perfect tense, and jam out to songs with such great titles as "Spooky Couch" and my personal favorite "Feed Me Jack, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Peter Sellers". I hope that you can apperciate that title and its in joke that corresponds to the late great actor.
For you NYC Stranded readers, Hammond will have a free in-store performance next Tuesday at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square. Don't miss it.
The Virgins have popped their video cherry with this clip for the track "Private Affair" (or maybe they have made ones prior to this? Either way, it's a joke that I'm sure wasn't first used by your favorite blogger.) The video takes after a performance that it looks like one would find on some late night cable access show in the 1980s, but it's not too far from reality - it appears that it takes after the New York based Robyn Byrd Show, and I believe that is Mr. B making a cameo at the beginning introducing the band? Either way, a fun video to start off your Tuesday.
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We're nine days away from what will be the greatest night of summer. Next Friday, we'll all be in a movie theater somewhere seeing The Dark Knight. Until then, we all need something to do this Friday don't we? Well don't I just have the cure! 
