The Stranded Local Q&A: Media Made

We welcome our newest blogger, Laura G, to the SIS fold this week. Her first report finds her hanging out with the latest band caught in Boston's spotlight, Media Made.


Media Made began as a solo project for Christian Medice’s (guitar, vocals) pop/rock introspect but in early 2008, it evolved into a full-fledged quartet. Medice’s former band mate, Jared Kaner (bass), was first to jump on board with Media Made. Shortly after, Medice’s college buddies Dennis Dohert (guitar), who has a solid rock ‘n roll background, and Jeff Villanueva (drums), with a jazz background, were added. The four members of Media Made each bring a fresh outlook to the band, producing a very hip and bold sound. With dozens of enlightened pop songs ready to share with Boston and the rest of the world, Media Made is set to tour in the fall.


Christian Medice, guitarist and vocalist of Media Made, took a few minutes to answer the same five questions Stranded In Stereo always asks:

Hailing from Boston makes us better than all those non-Boston bands because:
We can make your booty shake real good… that’s gotta count for something.

Name at least three bands that are still around and touring that you’d love to be on a bill with, and think it fits well:
The Honorary Title (great songs), Boys Like Girls (great dudes), Butch Walker (my man crush).

Your favorite Boston venue to perform in is:
The Paradise and Middle East… both good clubs.

Are there any genres that influence your music conceptually, rather than sonically? (In that you can’t hear from simply listening to the music, but from getting into the structure or mathematics of the song-writing, etc.)
We conceptualize 4 on the floor starting off every song.

Your favorite local bar to hit up when not doing the whole band deal is:
Daisy Buchanan’s. Isn’t that everyone’s favorite bar?


[MySpace] http://www.myspace.com/mediamade
Catch them live: July 29th @ Johnny D’s for a benefit to raise funds for non-profits Veterans for Peach and Iraq Veterans Against War
Listen here: "Picture Perfect" by Media Made

SIS At The Club: Abe Vigoda / High Places

For 7:30 on a Monday evening in Cambridge, I was surprised to see there was already a line of 20, maybe 30 people outside the Middle East. There they all stood, smoking cigarettes, tickets grasped in their hands, as they awaited for the doors to open at the top of the hour. Man, people really want to see No Age, don't they, I thought to myself.

Once I was in the club and I had taken the last spot along stage right, I started to take notice to something. As I looked around the group of individuals surrounding me and took notice to their hands, it was all big black X's abound. No wonder there was already a crowd formed - they were all kids. Usually, I lump in with my age bracket of one slightly older than the people inside the venue already, and I show up with some time to spare to catch the band I want to see. But this night, I was there to see the earlier bands, the bands supporting who everyone else was really there to see. Though feeling like the oldest one there, and because there was next to no one really hanging out in the 21+ section (a first I had never seen at the Middle East since moving here over a year and a half ago,) deep down I was happy. The underage Rusty of yore was elated that night, knowing that the youth was still coming out seeing bands who weren't on the map quite yet, who weren't right above the underground.

After an opening set from local sampler / No Age sound man Palm, they walked on stage, they of Abe Vigoda. They looked sleepy at moments: Michael Vidal tuned his guitar, alfalfa standing up in the back. Juan Velasquez in an oversized Jesus & Mary Chain shirt that wasn't ironic nor unfashionable. Within 10 minutes of Palm ending, the AV had started their set. "Live Long" signaled the start of something I had been waiting for since Skeleton came in to my life like angel from the skies a few weeks back. "Animal Ghosts" would find Vidal singing and shuffling, thrashing on his guitar while Velasquez would play like a light swtich, going from sway to stifle. Reggie Guerrero, the oldest Vigodan at 22, played with precision and pep, clanging on the cowbell when appropriate. Of the nine songs played that night, seven were from the tour de force Skeleton, the others were brand new. The final number, listed on the piece of envelope set list as "Jammer," was the most brutal and abrasive thing I've heard from them, yet beneath it all was one of the catchiest melodies I've heard in awhile. Juan ended the set just clamoring about his side of the stage, before resting his guitar appropriately on his amp. When Michael kept yelling his name at the end, it was overpowered by the feedback erupting. "I like broke my string I play that song on, I had made up the entire song," I heard him say. Improvising never sounded more well rehearsed. Oh, and "Skeleton" was epic as well to see that in the flesh. Abe Vigoda Set List:
Live Long / Animal Ghosts / The Garden / Don't Die / Lantern Lights / Bear Face / Cranes / Skeleton / Jammer

Afterwards, the duo of High Places plugged in for their set. Showcasing breakbeats, exotic noises and Mary Pearson's sweet vocals, Robert Barber cooked up a sweat as he turned knobs and playing his drum pad. While her vocals were buried in the mix earlier in the set, they would soon become as prominent as the beats and loops that pulsated through my body for their entire set. While playing what I hope are already underground club hits outside of their native Brooklyn from their 03.07-09.07 singles comp, they also previewed new material from their upcoming self-titled full length and that amazing contribution of their's on that split single with Xiu Xiu. Did the crowd prove Pearson wrong on her welcoming claim that Boston was nothing but prudes when it came to shaking money makers and getting the groove thing on, or other assorted cliche phrases described to dance? She exclaimed at the end of the set that we weren't prudes after all. The crowd's reception was very warm to High Places for their first night ever in Boston. I could only predict big things for them as the year goes on. High Places Set List:
Sandy Feat / The Storm / Golden / Oceanus / The Tree / Namer / Head Spins / From Stardust to Sentience / New Grace / Gold Coin / Vision's The First / Freaked Flight

View more pics [here]

Buy: Skeleton [here] // Buy: 03.07 - 09.07 [here]

Cold War Kids Bring Us Loyalty

Almost a year ago was the last time I caught the Cold War Kids - playing to one of the biggest crowds I saw at one of the side stages at Lollapalooza. Sure, I was excited to hear "St. John," "We Used To Vacation" and "Hang Me Up To Dry" for the millionth time live, but what was even more exciting was the few new songs they rolled out. While my mind is vague now on how some of the new songs sound, I do remember them introducing the track "Dreams Old Men Dream" and being blown away by the progressions the band was making.

Apparently, making progressions is the case with their sophomore effort, Loyalty To Loyalty, due this September on Downtown. According to the communique I've received, the 13 songs string together a masterpiece that is both lush and textured. It's an album brimming to the cusp with the poignant, intimate narratives and brooding atmospherics the Kids be known for.

Loyalty Numbers:
Against Privacy
Mexican Dogs
Every Valley Is Not A Lake
Welcome To The Occupation
Golden Gate Jumpers
Avalanche in B
I've Seen Enough
Every Man I Fall For
Dreams Old Men Dream
On The Night My Love Broke Through
Relief
Cryptomensia

The band will be touring this fall in support of Loyalty, with dates starting in late August:

08/22/08    Outside Lands Festival, San Francisco, CA
08/23/08    Sunset Junction Festival, Los Angeles, CA
08/24/08    Les Schwab Amp, Bend, OR
09/20/08    Street Scene, San Diego, CA
09/27/08    Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
09/28/08    Richards on Richards, Vancouver, Canada
09/29/08    The Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA
10/01/08    The Neurolux, Boise, ID
10/02/08    In The Venue, Salt Lake City, UT
10/03/08    Boulder Theatre, Boulder, CO
10/10/08    Fine Line Music Café, Minneapolis, MN
10/11/08    Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
10/14/08    Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
10/15/08    Webster Hall, NYC
10/16/08    Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
10/17/08    Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
10/18/08    Nightclub 9:30, Washington, D.C.
10/20/08    Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC
10/21/08    Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN
10/23/08    Lola's, Ft. Worth, TX
10/24/08    Emo's Alt. Lounge-Outside, Austin, TX
10/25/08    Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
10/26/08    Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans, LA

And, as an added bonus, here's the band playing "Welcome To The Occupation" at their most recent Brooklyn gig. Oohs and aahs all around.

Monday Morning Newsletter (07/14/08)

Police have issued an arrest warrant for Joshua Wilkes, lead vocalist of the Legendary Shack Shakers. The arrest warrant charges Wilkes with exposing his genitals to hundreds of teens and adults in the audience. The venue was a nonprofit facility in downtown Nashville with three stages, an indoor skate park, and a coffee bar. A Rocketown representative stated "we are all treating this as a very serious criminal matter." The band claims that it is a mass hallucination brought on by ergot in the sacramental wine.

The Cargo Cult Revival will be heading out on tour this August, bringing their dirty stoner prog mess from Hartford to the Midwest. The governor of Iowa was quoted as saying “Damn yankees better stay away from our women and children!”

David Vincent, the lead singer of Morbid Angel, was detained by police this week in Italy. The charge strangely enough was for weapons possession. Vincent was taken into custody at the Milan airport when custom officials found his bullet-belt. The belt was not worn but was inside his checked-in luggage. José endorses both bullet belts and bandoliers. Vivá la revolución!

Metallica has announced that in addition to traditional CD and digital releases for their upcoming album, Death Magnetic, they will also have a special edition coffin box. It includes a CD of album demos a “making of” DVD, and some tchotchkeys. The coffin box joins the ranks of other coffin boxes put out by the Misfits and Alice Cooper.

Zao has confirmed that they are entering the recording studio this summer with original drummer Jeff Gretz. Zao stated on their website: "There is a new record written and we will be recording in the next few weeks. We are really excited about the new material and hope to have a new song up soon."

The band Boston has a new singer, 43 year old Tommy DeCarlo. His resume indicates his previous gig was as a credit manager at Home Depot. DeCarlo replaces original lead singer Brad Delp, who committed suicide last year. DeCarlo got the job through his MySpace page.

The band Why? have scheduled a massive summer tour. They begin in Germany in July and return to the U.S. in September. Then in October they begin a strong of dates in France, then England and Ireland in November and a scheduled deportation for illegal narcotics before Christmas.

The Recording Academy's Grammy Foundation gave a career award to Sir George Martin this week. Martin, now 82, is the most successful record producer of all time. He’s has over 50 chart-topping hits and one-billion units sold.

Scottish indie-pop band The Vaselines formed in 1986 and existed just long enough to release a handful of much-loved cult EPs and a single album. This week the Vaselines played their first-ever string of U.S. shows leading in to their performance at Sub Pop's 20th Anniversary explosion in Seattle.

DemROCKracy is in Order

Are you in a band? Do you believe in democracy? Big supporters of the upcoming election? Want to give your band some exposure? Well, don't we just have the ticket for you.

Rock The Vote has teamed up with MySpace Impact to bring you the DemROCKracy contest. It's pretty simple: if you're in a band and have a MySpace, head on over to their site to download a voter registration tool to place on your MySpace. And the band that gets the most fans to register to vote by August 15th wins a pretty sweet prize: the chance to open up the Rock The Vote Ballot Bash, which is being held during the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25th.

What are you waiting for? Sign up here!

The Lost Ones Now Available

I’m not much of a comic book guy, at least I haven’t been for quite some time. But man, when those new Spider-Man and Batman and any other movie hits the big screen, I’m the first one in the door. But then there was this new graphic novel called The Lost Ones that actually piqued my interest. A first for a man who doesn’t like to read cartoons, but watches them on a daily basis.

So, what is The Lost Ones all about? No, it’s not a sequel to The Lost Boys -- that just came out on DVD. Lost tells the story of four friends who leave their beloved planet Earth and find themselves in the middle of one epic, intergalactic adventure. All they wanted to do was go out on the town for the day and hop, skip and jump from planet to planet. Instead, they find that if they don’t watch themselves, they might not even make it back home.

What makes The Lost Ones is that it doesn’t follow traditional ways of distribution. Sure, they’ve made it available in paperback in select stores, but the easiest way to get it is to download it as a PDF – for free mind you – from the Zune website. And if you’re too lazy, you don’t even have to download it, you can just read it on the website. That way you shouldn’t get lost trying to find it.

Here's the trailer:


Download: The Lost Ones [here]

UNKLE MP3's For You

This time last year, I was starting to question if War Stories, the third album from the legendary electronic/trip hop/call it what you want UK outfit UNKLE, was going to take the cake as my Album of 2007. Although it didn't, I'm pretty sure it ended up some where in my Top 20.

So here we are, a year later, and we've already got a new UNKLE record among our collection of other records we've been playing lately. End Titles...Stories For Film features a whopping 22 tracks that were all inspired over the last few years by the "moving image" as UNKLE's James Lavelle puts it.

To get you ready, four of the album's tracks have been posted on various for you to download. And when you play them in the correct order, they segue perfectly. Oooh. This should hold you over until it's digital release next Tuesday. For those who must have a hard copy, Surrender All will release that here in the states on September 2nd.

Download "Kaned and Abel" [mp3]
Download "Chemical" featuring Josh Homme [here]
Download "Blade In The Back" featuring Gavin Clark [here]
Download "Synthetic Water" [mp3]

Buy: End Titles... Stories For Film [Here]