odd nosdam [fat hooks]

bracken [heathens]

enon [mirror on you]

richard hawley [some candy talking]

not actually from richard hawley's excellent, and soon to be released, lady's bridge but a nice cover of jamc from the former member of pulp.

airiel [thinktank]

maybe not extremely original but it works

japancakes [only shallow]

to cover my bloody valentine seems kinda foolish b/c improving on the original seems almost impossible. but what does that say about a band that covers a whole my bloody valentine album? that just so insane that it is almost cool. apparently japancakes thinks so because they are covering the whole of loveless - albeit instrumentally, replacing the vocals with steel pedal and cello. and no feedbacking guitars, i guess. sounds insane but, actually, only shallow doesn't sound half bad. i'm actually curious to hear the rest of the album, which comes out in november. until then, i'll have to make do with the original.

life without buildings [juno]

reminds me a little of the blue aeroplanes.

frog eyes [bushels]

other men [other people]

other men is essentially heavy vegetable reunited (although elea tenuta is missing). so, yes, another rob crow record - we have already seen a solo album this year and a new pinback is on its way. i actually knew nothing about this band when i first heard it (and not until i googled them today) and while it didn't quite grab me right away it constantly had my checking who it was when i had my playlist on shuffle. and, yes, it is actually quite good. better than crow's solo album, which for some reason i found a little annoying and possibly even better than the forthcoming pinback album. somehow it sounds light and fluffy - sort of sea and the cake like in some ways with some post-rock icing. one of the better albums i have heard this.

minus story [stitch me up]

also: aaron

pinback [from nothing to nowhere]

tapes 'n tapes [cowbell]

okkervil river [our life is not a movie or maybe]

always found okkervil river sort of good & for real was, of course, a brilliant song but somehow i never could bother to listen to their albums repeatedly. the stage names changed that. bloody fine album.

sunset rubdown [up on your leopard, upon the end of your feral days]

alex delivery [komad]

Liars - Plaster Casts Of Everything

brilliant video from the liars' forthcoming album, imaginatively titled, again, liars. the album it self is a welcome change in direction, again, for the liars. not that their last album was bad - it was actually really good but listening to it was sort of like going to the gym for me. getting yourself to go there is a pain in ass but once you are there it's actually pretty good. needlessly to say i never go to the gym. and i hardly listened to the last album - even though it was pretty damn good. at any rate, the new one is more like going out to play soccer.

caribou [melody day]

caribou's new album andorra is due out next month. frankly, the idea of caribou always sounded better than the real thing to me. with andorra caribou finally lives up to its promise. still the album doesn't really represent much of a change, caribou is still treading sort of psychedelic electronic waters (for a lack of better description). at times, it sounds a bit like a modernized version of dungen. it is not a perfect album - it sort of loses its pace half way through - but the first few tracks more than make up for that.

white whale [the admiral]

i think i might have posted something about white whale before but, well, they deserve another post - because ww1 might just be one of those criminally overlooked albums. in terms of what they sound like i guess the decemberists are the obvious reference but for some reason the also make me think of the triffids and the go-betweens. and british sea power. ww1 actually works best as an album and it is one of the few albums that i have had the patience to listen to over the last couple of years. Available over at emusic.com.

A couple more:
temporary maam
fidget and fudge

Von Südenfed [rhinohead]

the album didn't really get great reviews but, hell, this track is great. i know i'll get a lot of crap from a lot of people but mark e. smith hasn't sounded this enjoyable in a long time....

goddamn electric bill [lost in the zoo]

Contemporary Noise Quintet [Goodbye Monster]

i'm not sure why i picked this album up - neither the name of the band nor the name of the album sounds to promising. plus its jazz. and, in my mind, most jazz is either about showing off your technical ability or about providing comfy background music. cnq seems not too concerned with either (not that i doubt their technical skills - i just don't care). this is jazz with attitude. as i don't know anything about jazz that's about the best i can do to describe it. but listening to the album names like max richter, amon tobin, goran bregovic, tom waits (wouldn't a goran-tom album be a great idea?) and even some post-rock bands - the start of goodbye monster is not miles away from do make say think, for example.

gui boratto [xilo]

it took me a little while to get into this album but i'm glad i stuck with it. it really is quite nice - I like to listen to it while I'm working. or while I'm avoiding work playing solitaire. it appears that the song 'beautiful life' has been getting the most attention b/c it is the track on the album with the highest potential to annoy you. and wouldn't it have been a much better song if it had been called 'miserable life'? anyhow, xilo is probably the track that was responsible for me giving the album a chance. something tells me that gui was listening to the joy division and the cure...

polyphonic spree [Get Up and Go]

i had sort of given up on the polyphonic spree but so far i quite like their new one, the fragile army, perhaps because they sound more like mercury rev than ever before. or what?

portugal. the man are from alaska. i think they are fun too. [church mouth] [telling tellers tell me] maybe too polished?

other things spinning: new pornographers, shellac, white stripes, mus, liars, bracken, dizzee rascal, stars of the lid, dungen, gui boratto

benoit pioulard [enge]

i stumbled upon this 2005 release, enge, by benoit pioulard on emusic. & it's nice. if you haven't checked out one of the best albums of 2006, precis, you should do so now. perfect music for hazy summer days. or chilly winter days.

The New Pornographers [My Rights vs. Yours]

The New Pornographers - My Rights vs. Yours
Modest Mouse - King Rat
Shannon Wright - Everybody's got their own party to play
Cocorosie - Rainbowarriors
The For Carnations - Emp. Man's Blues
Pinback - Fortress
Sounds like Violence - The Greatest
Bonde de Role - Quero Te Amar

interpol [heinrich maneuver]

heinrich?!

Thee More Shallows [Fly Paper]

ra ra riot [each year]

the little ones vs. crystal castles ...

pitchforkmedia posted this splendid remix of an already good song a little while ago (& has also been in heavy rotation on ghostdogjr's webjay): lovers who uncover

the original one: lovers who uncover
& one of crystal castles own: air war

& some other stuff:

white rabbit - the plot

illinois - one on one

el-p - smithereens (stop crying)

cursive - dorothy at forty

bang gang - find what you get

amon tobin - chronic tonic

tub ring - when the crash happened

the comas - red microphones

calla - swagger

single frame - exact copy of this in the basement

detachment kit [18 yrs.]

just thought i'd throw up a couple of detachment kit songs b/c their last album is so damn hard to find. great album. & you can by it here: www.detachmentkit.com. mr. dash dash

laura veirs [don't lose yourself]

a change in direction for laura veirs. if i wanted to be mean i would say it was sort of a poor man's version of the postal service. but i'm not mean so i won't say that. all i'll say is that i find it quite enjoyable.

cex's sketchi is a nice departure from his recent output and makes me miss his earlier lo-fi ambient stuff which was kinda brilliant. rattler bin

dntel's dumb luck is a bit of a let down. dumb luck

paul duncan's (pictured) above the trees is a bit too folky/country for my taste but when the results can be quite stunning when mixed with the right amount of chamber pop (think lambchop). the fire

31 knots' the days and the nights of everything anywhere is, ummm, interesting. the vocals get a bit on my nerves but the songs are damn good. manbecomeme & for what it is like when it is all instrumental, the kickass immitation flesh

arboretum's rites of uncovering is another a-bit-too-folky-for-me one but if you turn up the amps a bit i'll be happy. pale rider blues

low's drums and guns i just don't seem to get into. breaker

radicalfashion's odori is sort of max richter + some electronics. shousetsu

i have been surprised by a few releases this year. lcd soundsystem's , which previous album i absolutely loathed, new one is actually a lot of fun. and, yes, i hate to admit it. i also didn't think modest mouse and marr would mix so nicely. actually, i didn't think it would mix at all but it is certainly better than their last one. and somehow, although i really liked their last album, i wasn't really expecting much from blonde redhead. but 23 takes a step backwards and in some ways reminds me more of their first two albums (which also happen to be their best).

Planningtorock - When are you gonna start

james murphy mentioned this video being genius in a pitchfork interview. not sure i agree but judge for yourself

big business vs. battles

music has become wimpy. have people forgotten rock is supposed to rock? so it is big sigh of relief when a band like big business comes around a makes a big racket. even if you sometimes suspect it may be little tongue in check. but big riffs, big vocals - what more could you ask for. if your kid is looking a little wimpy this is the perfect prescription. grounds for a divorce. and conveniently, another song of theirs over at pitchforkmedia: just as the day was dawning.

& battles... these guys are definitely wimps. mathrock, of course, was rock for geeks and wimps. but battles are damn good at it. ok, sometimes it borders on stupid wankery but there are moments of brilliance here that cannot be denied. much of it is thanks to addition of manipulated vocals. at first it makes the music sort of cartoonish but once you get over the cartoonishness it is actually quite enjoyable - at least most of it. i didn't care too much for first single, atlas. but i think leydendecker kills.

Morrisey vs. Eurovision

Thankfully, it looks like Morrisey has finally decided that he is not going to represent the UK in the Eurovision song contest so now we will not even be slightly tempted to watch. [This is no joke, the BBC was trying to get Morrisey]. Somewhat interestingly, supposedly the concept of Morrisey's video for "You have killed me" was the (1970) Eurovision song contest.

new(ish) songs

explosions in the sky [welcome, ghost]
jesu [conqueror]
trans am [north east rising sun]
richard swift [kisses for the misses]
bright eyes [tourist trap]
dinosaur jr. [been there all the time]
heartless bastards [all this time]
andrew bird [heretics]
marnie stern [grapefruit]
dungen [gor det nu]

ted leo & the pharmacists [some beginner's mind]

can we forgive ted for putting a reggae song on his new album? i guess we have to... b/c the song isn't that bad and the rest is just what the doctor ordered... [hey if you don't expect bad jokes don't call your band something like that!]

blonde redhead [23]

somehow i wasn't quite prepared for a new blonde redhead album. it sounds strange to me. and, judging from the songs i've heard so far, it is perhaps their first that really sounds like they should be on 4AD (actually, circa 1990). somehow i thought cocteau twins vs. abba. so, i'll withhold any judgement until i've had a chance to listen a little better. above, the title track.

marnie stern [every single line]

i don't think i've heard anything like this - although if i could listen to say just the guitar or just the vocals it wouldn't sound that strange. let's just say that marnie has a sweet voice and zach hill provides the drumming. and, yes, your instinct may tell you that you don't like this after the first few notes but your instincts are wrong. just give it a couple of minutes. here's another one: precious metal

& just because they share a label: deerhoof - 81. they are also lovely.

the m's - trucker speed

not exactly new but a great video

calla [televise]

just to prove my point

calla [bronson]

calla is releasing a new album, strength in numbers, on feb. 20th. their last album was a little bit of a disappointment. although it wasn't bad, it just was missing something. or maybe it had too much of something. and from what i have heard of strength in numbers i worry that it is still the case. televise and scavengers were beautiful albums - they sounded great and they had a very nice dark quality to them. the same elements are still present to a certain degree here, although they can't resist the temptation to rock out a bit more (which is ok), but sometimes the lyrics are too direct. frankly, i would just prefer some gibberish. calla have begun reminding me of starflyer 59. they have a great sound, they write good songs but, damn, it could be so much better.

updates

well, i've begun editing my webjay playlist again - cleared out some of the outdated links and addes some new songs. so if you had become bored with the same old songs you may find something to your liking on the top player above. also new - click on the link to the right to play all the songs on this page. yes, i know, not a whole lot of stuff here right now but maybe i'll get motivated one of these. especially since there is some exciting stuff coming out. i'm, for example, strangely fascinated with the forthcoming lcd soundsystems. i never thought i would say that. and of montreal keeps surprising me: here is one from the new album.

the world without magic

some guy from brooklyn making pretty nice music. another song: quiet life. and another one: up the wrong one. and buy the album here.

menomena

menomena's friend and foe is worth checking out.

top 2006

1the like young: last secrets
appropriately the like young called it quits after releasing last secrets. and it is a shame b/c last secrets is probably their best album so far. of course, it took me a while to realize it - at first i thought it lacked the energy of their previous efforts but a few more listens revealed a different kind of energy. less power-pop than they normally produce but more of an emotional rollercoaster. for some reason it reminded me of what music sounded like when i was seventeen. not in terms of what the music actually sounded but how i perceived it and how important it all seemed. or maybe people have just stopped pouring their souls into the music and spend their time learning to play the banjo instead. at any rate, the most listened to album of the year.

2tv on the radio: return to cookie mountain
i was very disappointed with tv on the radio's debut album b/c it followed a splendid single and a fantastic show at airwaves. the album just didn't click. the vocals sounded fine. the guitars sounded fine. but somehow it was if they were playing in different rooms. so return to cookie mountain was a stunning surprise. punk-soul at its best (not that there really is anything to compare them to...)

3sunset rubdown: shut up i'm dreaming
i was very very skeptical about sunset rubdown. the sounded like a poor imitation of frog eyes to me. and, again, it took a live show to convince me otherwise. though, of course, i maintain that they are influenced by frog eyes. but the guy from wolf parade virtually outshines wolf parade on this album.

4ratatat: classics
classics is simply a shinnier, more layered version of their debut album. and i thought things couldn't get much better...

5man man: six demon bag
i completely misunderstood this band the first few times i listened to them. it wasn't until i saw them live that this was just pure party music. that is, for people that like ukrainian folk music and tom waits. and everyone else will also get it when you crank it up loud enough.

6cadence weapon: braking kayfabe
braking kayfabe is cadence weapon's debut album (discounting the ...is the black hand "mix-tape") and it is a hell of an album. and thank god, because 2007 was not really the year for rap/hip-hop. braking kayfabe is probably less about the beats and more about the sound and the rapping. in some ways it reminds me of dalek shed of its metallic sound. and you might want to check this out even if you don't like rap 'cos the guy used to write for stylus and pitchforkmedia.

7detachment kit: +
this really is a disappointment compared to detachment kit's previous output but you have to give them credit b/c the call the album an ep despite containing 13 songs and it is self-released and some of the songs could have used a bit more studio time. but still it stands head and shoulders above most of what released this year. it is an outrage that these guys are signed - 18 yrs. should rightly be a huge hit. at any rate, + takes the dk in a poppier direction, which is interesting but being an old fart i hope they'll return to the post-rock fold again. this is enought to qualify as one of this year's best albums - there other stuff would top the list almost any year.

8malajube: tromp l'oeil
i suspect these guys jumped on the montreal/arcade fire bandwagon b/c their previous (first?) album sounded like someone had jumped on the strokes bandwagon. but what the hell, if the result are this good i don't really care why. as an added bonus they sing in french and my friend tells me the lyrics are bit dirty... they get an extra point for that.

9clark: body riddle
clark used to be chris clark who released the brilliant clarence park in 2000 (1999?), which sounded exactly like something that should be released on warp (as it was). on body riddle the clark has dropped most of the chopped up beats along with his first name and what remains is what sounds like detuned synths that makes the album a little sinister sounding. which, of course, was always what made clark special to begin with. for some reason i think of ian banks when i listen to him.

10beach house: beach house
it is never really fair to bands to describe by referencing other bands but, as you can tell, i'm too lazy to actually try to describe the music. so: galaxie 500, mazzy star, shannon wright. soft music and very very very nice. that's really all i can muster.

& some other albums i wouldn't have wanted to miss:

*the blow: paper television
a strangely brilliant non-recognizable mixture of r'n'b, eighties electronic sounds, and messed-up relationships. and if you haven't heard it, it probably doesn't sound at all like what you think. or like what i just described. it reminds me in some ways of how ratatat's reworking of hip-hop songs added a new dimension to the songs. another point of reference might be mirah.

*final fantasy: he poos clouds
well, i can hardly think of a worse album name this year. so final fantasy had a large hurdle to overcome. but this is the best violin pop i've heard since shelleyan orphan

*benoit pioulard: precis
precis gets on the list almost on the merit of its cd cover. a very next of ambient electronics and guitar. a little bit like tim hecker mixed with joze gonzales - although there is no guarantee that you will like this album if you like either of those two (or both).

*chad vangaalen: skelliconnection

*fiery furnaces: bitter tea
i've fluctuated from liking to disliking the fiery furnaces. bitter tea managed both but at this point in time i like it. who knows whether it would be on my list tomorrow.

*max richter: songs from before
just very quiet and very pretty. don't really know what else to say.

*tapes'n'tapes: the loon
i guess it was released in 2005 but i didn't hear it until this year. really should be in the top 10.

*the very hush hush: mourir c'est facile
pop gems buried under sheets of hi-hats, organs and static. it is actually a little hard to listen to at first but once you just give upon trying to hear the words it is fine - perhaps that is exactly the point. the music has a sort of tragic quality and burying the vocals beneath the music adds to that feeling. but i have a feeling that there are even greater things to come from this band.

*red sparrows: every red sun...
in short, i listened a lot to this album in 2006. and live they are even better. and b/c it is kinda impossible to describe post-rock i'll just stop here.

*trentemoller: the last resort
people have referred to this as dance music but it doesn't strike me as a very accurate description. the beats are quite minimal and in some ways it is a very ambient album. but without being boring as there is always enough going on to keep you interested.

*mogwai - mr. beast
not everyone agrees but i thought mr. beast was a return to form. in fact, i think mogwai has rarely rocked this much. i even went back and listened to some of their old stuff to make sure i wasn't wrong. and, of course, i wasn't. mogwai certainly aren't breaking new ground any more, there are plenty of worthy post-rock challengers out there and the quite-loud-quite formula doesn't work quite as well as it used but music has always been about formulas anyway and we don't really complain if a song goes verse-chorus-verse, which sort of serves the same purpose (i.e. to break up the boring parts :-) ). i guess the bottom line is that there are some damn good songs here.

*the M's: future women
usually when i hear a band i can picture what they look like - and usually i'm not all that far off. with the M's i'm kinda clueless. or rather, i change my mind from song to song. right now i'm leaning towards the walkmen. a more melodic and happy walkmen.

*subtle: for hero for fool
indie hip-hop all grown up and it is neither particularily indie nor particularily hip-hop. doseone's rants are recognizable throughout the album but each song is a rollercoaster ride. within a single song you may be reminded of mike patton, the danielson family and mercury rev but you have probably never heard anything like this.

*cursive: happy hollow
pitchforkmedia described cursive as a sort of hold steady for high schoolers. which i takes a proof that i'm young in spirit. but i don't really like the album for the words - to be honest i can't really bother to listen to lyrics any more. most of the time i listen to music i'm working. what i like about about cursive is that tim sings like he means it even though he doesn't scream as much as he used to. however, the greater departure here is the use of brass that to me sort of takes the place of the screaming. so i guess this is sort of big band emo...

*cat power: the greatest
the greatest is a bit of misnomer is far from cat power's greatest album. the titlesong, however, is a different story and is possibly the best song i've heard all year. or the prettiest. the rest of the album is probably a bit too country for my taste but the half of the album that are slower makes for a splendid mini-album.

*charlotte gainsbourg: 5:55
just strangely pleasant. especially because charlotte and her collaborators seem to take their inspiration from sarge, which really is asking for it. so i don't know if it is a gutsy or a foolish move but it turns out to be quite enjoyable. and in the absence of any decent output from air in recent years this is a nice substitute (air being on of the aforementioned collaborators).

*the paper chase: now you are one of us
sort of like man man on a bad trip, which might sound something like nick cave before he became, well, a little boring. at any rate, the paper chase do their best to convince you something is wrong, which almost certainly it is. a healthy dose of paranoia.

*the blood brothers: young machetes
oh, how i wish there were more bands doing this. musicians are getting to damn polite and quiet. it's sad when having a tif with stephen colbert counts as rebellion. or was that a publicity stunt. actually that was entertaining so i shouldn't be taking a piss. at any rate, loud, spastic, and inventive counts for something in my book. on young machetes, the blood brothers get a little too close to the faint for comfort but, hell, it is still very enjoyable.

*mahogany: connectivity
the shoegazing revival subsided a bit this year. although there were some good efforts like asobi seksu. mahogany gets it right though and sound a lot better than a lot of their influences.

and this is where i have run out of steam. there are probably a dozen more albums that should be on the list but, damn it, the idea of putting together a list is a lot more fun than actually doing it. however, the absence of sufjan stevens, joanna newsom, junior boys and the knife is not an accident. just thought i'd make that clear...

benoit pioulard

don't be fooled by the name - this frenchie is actually a michiganite. of course, his name isn't benoit but it sounds much better than his actual name. a couple of more from his album precis: triggering back and ash into the sky

beach house

beach house kinda reminds me a little of galaxie 500 and, therefore, i like 'em.

trentemoller

there is plenty to hate about trentemoller - at first it sounds like flaccid house music and, frankly, i don't know how many times i skipped over his songs after listening to the first few beats. but laziness clearly pays b/c yesterday i was too lazy to get up of the couch so i was forced to listen to a whole song and, well, it was a bit like having a hamburger that tastes really good. the ingredients are kinda boring/normal but for some strange reason it actually tastes really good. and, yes, it is a hamburger with a generous helping of cheese. not everything on the album, the last resort, is equally good, but the standout tracks are really quite tasty. if i weren't so prejudiced against house music i might even say it was a great album.

thee more shallows

san franciscans thee more shallows have been growing on me. the album is pretty solid but in a sort of quite way that you might not notice if 2am wasn't there to catch our attention.

a few random tracks...

it's been a while and, well, i figured i should throw something up here to dispell any notions that this blog is dead. or that i am dead. still alive, just not kicking. so some random new-ish stuff.

golem - warsaw is khelm

midnight movies - patient eyes

repellent - low earth orbit

clap your hands say yeah! - love song no. 7
clap your hands say yeah! - underwater

the shins - phantom limb

the thermals - here's your future

okkervil river - the president's dead

menomena - wet and rusting

viva voce - when planets collide

what made milwaukee famous - i decide

black sunday - this heart is now aluminum

mystery jets - elizabeth

the like young

tly have apparently decided to retire - old news i guess but i'm damn disappointed. anyhow, i like this video.

malajube

malajube hail from montreal and i wouldn't be surprised if they came to be regarded one of montreal's finest bands. which is no small feat given that montreal has spawned some of the finest bands of the last few years. montreal -40c is one of the band's poppier moments. but it's the band's louder moments that i favor (see filles a plumbes video below). and at times they sound a little cheesy... their first album was a fairly straight laced indie rock album. their new one, trompe l'oeil, is far more adventurous - and i hate to say it - it sounds like these guys learned a trick or two from arcade fire and wolf parade. but that doesn't make it any worse. actually, it makes it much better because malajube ad something new to the mix - or perhaps something old - there is trace of polishness that reminds me of some very much disliked rock from the 70s. but it works lovely when you add in lyrics in french. at any rate, i'm pretty sure this is on my top 10 for the year.

airwaves day 4

i barely had the energy to go to any shows this last day of the festival. but i did want to see ulpa... and i had to grab something to eat so i went anyway. ulpa, as always, was great. i guess this is the their third airwaves performance that i see and they have consistently been among the highlights. walter meego was next and i was not impressed - i thought the songs i had heard had some promise but they were pretty dull. some of the music was alright but the vocals sounded pretty much if the postal service went horribly, horribly wrong. benny crespo's gang was next and sometime in the future they will probably become quite good. right now, they just make me think of muse - this is not a complete put down b/c secretly i like muse a little bit. the keyboard parts seemed to drawn out and the songs didn't seem very dynamic. watching them i kept waiting for something to happen - when something happened it wasn't bad. or maybe i was just too tired - at least, my friends liked them a lot more than i did. but i have to admit that their female singer has a really great voice, which the band should use more. then i went to get some pizza and contemplated going home to sleep. but since i was curious to see patrick watson i kept going. i was somewhat surprised to see that the line to see the kaiser chiefs was longer than for the brazilian girls, which was enough to resolve my difference. and the brazilian girls turned out to be fun - just pretty solid and pleasant pop (for the most part). patrick watson ended the festival for me and may just have been the festival highlight. the only thing that you can really complain about (which is pretty much all i do) is that his voice sounds a lot like jeff buckley. which isn't really much of a complaint. musically, there isn't much of a similarity - as much as i like jeff buckley, his music was almost generic. not bad but it didn't bring anything new to the table - he just did it better or put his own twist on the formula. in patrick watson's case, you could take away the vocals and it would still be interesting. at any rate, a great end to the festival for me. there were still some bands playing but they couldn't possibly top patrick and i was quite happy to head home with his songs on my mind.

so overall, this year's airwaves was pretty good. obviously, i would have liked to see wolf parade. it is unbelievable that the organizers would make such a bad mistake to put them in one of the smaller venues. but then again, this is not exactly the first time the organizers make such mistakes. another downside (yes, i like to complain) is that people talk too damn much during performances - especially during relatively quiet acts like trost or patrick watson. but then again, icelanders aren't exactly known for being polite.

Patrick Watson - Giver
Patrick Watson - Luscious Life

airwaves days 1-3

wednesday - a half hearted attempt at seeing we are scientists. instead i checked out ultra mega teknobandid stefan, which was entertaining but not groundbraking. but hell, i'm sure they'll be a lot better by the time they hit puberty. damn kids these days. then i caught the last four minutes of lokbra. all i can say is that receive a pretty high score using the good music/bad name ratio. in the end though, it is kinda hard to like a band one of whose members sports a korn tattoo. weapons was just boring.

thursday - mates of states turned out to be slightly better than i predicted. but still not the most exciting live band and occasionally they get a little annoying. tilly and the wall were alright as well but perhaps a little too cute - in any case i had had my fill after a couple of songs and headed over to nasa to catch skatar and reykjavik!. i'm not sure what to make of either of them. skatar certainly had moments of polvoesque brilliance but, on the whole, the didn't leave a strong impression. but i would definately check them out again. reykjavik! was a similar story - there is much to like about the band. for example, they are loud and they look funny. but i couldn't figure out what they are aiming for - which may actually be a good thing. metric was up next so i made a run for it and caught a few songs with mugison. there is no question that mugison is talented but the first couple of songs were just a little too slick, which had me worried a bit but thankfully he slipped into his death metal shoes for a song. i returned to nasa before metric finished up but hid away in the back and managed to ignore them almost completely. finally, love is all was quite good actually though their sound is a little limited and kinda wears on you. but i have to give them credit for pulling off, first, a squeaky sounding singer, two, a saxophone, and, three, being swedish. and copying biggie smalls is pretty cool.

friday - i was feeling pretty beat but i made it to the festival after running into bobby fisher at a reception. islands were brilliant, as expected, and the best band of the festival so far. it would have been nice if their set had been longer. next up were apparat organ quartet who, well, try to rock with keyboards. and they kinda succeed. jakobrinarina (or whatever their name is) were up next - i had heard a lot about them but for some reason i had always been a little sceptical. but these kids rock - something tells me they have gotten into their parents' record collection b/c they certainly heard joy division somewhere. though they are a tad more upbeat perhaps. anyhow, a pleasant surprise. then the go!team, which quickly scared a good chunk of the audience away by turning up their guitars and rocking out like i hadn't expected them to. so, another pleasant surprise. the poppier songs were alright but what really won me over was the fact that they like noise. i guess, i'll have to give their album another listen. then, over to grand rokk to see gavin portland. gavin portland sounded massive - in the unsane sort of way. some great heavy riffing but unfortunately the singers yelling in no way matched the band's sound - or at least didn't add anything to it. i think actually would like them a whole lot more if they went all instrumental. and at the end of the night, we went over to the national theater's basement to watch trost. trost was pretty good - a kinda seedy cabaresque music if that means anything at all. but trost was an entertaining performer who liked to climb up on tables and play tug-of-war with the sound guy using the microphone cord.

my private own airwaves

so another year another airwaves festival. i swore i would never again go to the festival after last year's disaster... but, well, reykjavik is just too boring to let it pass you by. if nothing else i can always catch ulpa again. but it, of course, it won't stop me from complaining. so here is a list of the "international" acts ... and who is playing instead of them at my festival.


120 Days (NO) well, listening to the album certainly feels like 120 days. my guess is that these guys overdosed on the cure and new order and, no, those don't mix very well. i would have preferred 31 knots or 7 year rabbit cycle. or if you are going to stick with norwegian's, how about serena maneesh? i know, i know, i don't really like them either but if you are going with late 80s sound they are a vastly better choice. or actually, mustafa et monique would actually make me happy.

Brazilian Girls (US) strangely enough, i rather enjoy brazilian girls.

Call to Mind (UK) if you are going to bring dull emo-pop, why not go all the way and bring coldplay. wait, no we have the leaves so we don't really have to get an "international" band. but, of course, the leaves don't get to play my festival either

D�lek (US) are just fine and just great once you get used to the rapping.

Fields (UK) "Combining a harmony pop sensibility to rival the Magic Numbers with My Bloody Valentine style soundscapes, Fields are already shaping up to be one of the most talked about bands of 2006." (Airwaves website) man, i'm really out of the loop. Field Music would have been a better choice.

Datarock (NO) not enough data, not enough rock.

Gojira (FRA) not really my cup of tea but at least they are the least scary looking guys on their label's website. if there is going to be screaming i think i'd prefer isis.

Hot Club de Paris (UK) couldn't make it through their album even once. i suggest new young pony club or tokyo police club.

Islands (CAN) excellent choice. the only thing better would have been the unicorns....

Kaiser Chiefs (UK) can't really say that i've heard them but if you are dealing with kaisers franz ferdinand would seem to be the more obvious choice.

Klaxons (UK) might be fun to see

Leave Calmer (US) i think "Leave Calmer shifts from floating, ghostly vocals reminiscent of Buckley to the organic, textural explosions akin to Reznor" (Airwaves website) says all that needs to be said.

Love is All (SE) i have actually be warming up to love is all but i still find them a little annoying and i can't quite figure out who they remind me of.

Mates of State (US) are a decent choice but somehow i suspect they are not going to put on the most exciting show. which the like young most certainly would

Metric (CAN) if getting rid of the metric system would get rid of metric it would be worth dealing with feet and inches. i assume celine dion and barenaked ladies were busy? why? why? not only does the music suck, emily is also the most annoying "performer" out there.

Patrick Watson (CAN) may not be a bad choice. his 2003 album was kinda nice and what i've heard from his new one is promising - though some of it sounds a bit too much like buckley. but i still think it would have more interesting to see patrick wolf or patrick phelan. but it still might be one of the highlights of the festival.

Spektrum (UK) apparently they meant to book spectrum, i can't think of any other reason

The Cribs (UK) might turn ok. a bit like franz a bit like the strokes but they have a couple more cards up their sleeves.

The Go! Team (UK) should be fun. they are also playing on my airwaves festival. except at mine they don't play at the same time as wolf parade!

The Handsome Public (US) what, this sounds like the electric six without guitars. at my festival the electric six would play instead of the handsome public but the only song they would play would be fire at the disco.

The Whitest Boy Alive (NO/DE) is alright but i think they may end up feeling kinda silly with that name since reykjavik only gets about 2 hours of sunlight a year and consequently everyone is pretty damn pale here.

Tilly and the Wall (US) i feel are here because architecture in helsinki was such a success last year. but the problem is that tilly and the wall aren't quite as good. should be good fun though. at my festival the danielson family is playing instead.

Trost (DE) i don't know much about. her band, cobra killer, is kinda cool though. and the couple of songs i've heard sound pretty promising. i'm curious enough to invite her to my festival too.

Walter Meego (US) don't know about that name. they sound ok though when they aren't singing. i would invite trs-80 instead - and not just because they don't sing. who knows, maybe i'll check them out.

We are Scientists (US) kinda missed the train. the aren't really any worse than the killers or hot hot heat or any of those bands. poppy and fun to a certain degree but instead i opted for spoon, which is a far classier act as you can tell by the jaguar ads.

Whomadewho (DK) get to play my festival as well b/c i) sometimes they sound like a mellow version of the queens of the stone ages and ii) they released two versions of their album, one electric and one acoustic without making acoustic one (which came after the electric one) seem like a joke. this might be fun.

Wolf Parade (CAN) is clearly the big name here. that's why they get stuck into crappy little venue that will be extremely unpleasant and most likely you will not be able to see the band. at my festival, not only do they play at a bigger venue, but i get sunset rubdown and swan lake as well because the bands share a member anyway. and then i might as well get frog eyes and new pornographers to play as well.

and on a completely unrelated note, i've kinda been enjoying swissair

de rosa

i've kinda been digging de rosa lately - scots on the delgados' chemikal underground label. these couple of songs are actually not among their best but you would do yourself a favour if you were to head over to their myspace page to check some of their other stuff out. New Lanark

in other scottish news, the arab strap are apparently no more. love detective

madvillain all caps

bonnie 'prince' billy & the red sparowes

big day for shows yesterday. first, bonnie 'prince' billy and, then, the red sparowes. needlessly to say, the red sparowed won that contest hands down - i mean how much fun can a guy with an acoustic guitar be (unless, of course, you are damien rice)? not that i dislike bonnie 'prince' - i just much prefer listening to him on record. anyhow, this is an entertaining ad for his new album "the letting go". the reference to pissed-on shark probably has something to do with it being recorded in iceland. everyone knows icelanders like pissing on their food. that's why the girls are so pretty. there are a couple of more - undoubtedly to be found on youtube.com

the red sparowes have a new album, every red heart shines towards a red sun, coming out in september. the album does not represent a radical change from their previous album, which is a relief - at the soundless dawn was one of my favorite albums last year. if there is any discernable change, every red heart is a bit harder and, perhaps, less accesible. and if you get a chance to catch them live, they are certainly worth checking out. like always the songs have long titles like: Like The Howling Glory Of The Darkest Winds, This Voice Was Thunderous And The Words Holy, Tangling Their Way Around Our Hearts And Clutching Our Innocent Awe

swan lake

swan lake consists of carey mercer (frog eyes), spencer krug (wolf parade and sunset rubdown), and dan bejar (destroyer and new pornographers) so in theory this should be the best band in the world, or at least, in canada. whether that is indeed the case remains to be seen but this song, all fires, is certainly promising. the album arrives in november and is called beast moans.

i stumbled upon this cover on pitchforkmedia. now i'm not a huge fan of velvet underground (i know, i know... but i won't go into that) and covers are rarely good but i like this one:

DeVotchKa - Venus in Furs

ladyhawk from vancouver sort of remind me of okkervil river. pretty nice stuff: the dugout
and since i mentioned okkervil river, why not listen to for real once again. it's such a nice song.

and check out patrick phelan. his album cost had been sitting on my desk for a while and i never really got into it but one day.... favour. nice and poppy.

i also rediscoverd centro_matic: calling thermatico

and snowden from atlanta just released their first ep (?) or album (?) - well, they released something and it isn't bad at all: anti-anti

the big sleep

i've been kinda bored with music lately. and even more bored with blogging. although the guillemots' rave reviews were almost enough to get me started again - i actually listened to the their albums several times to try to figure out what i was missing and that supposedly makes their album so good. i never figured it out and except for a couple of decent pop songs i think the album is absolute shit. just had to get that out of my system. anyhow, i'm pretty excited about hearing the big sleep's forthcoming album son of the tiger. it seems like quite a few bands these days are inspired by late 80s-early 90s indie music with the great majority of them zoning in on my bloody valentine but unfortunately mostly ending up sounding like chapterhouse. with some exceptions, of course. the big sleep's influences are less obvious perhaps but i'm pretty sure their record collections/harddrives contain a fair amount of music from this period. they actually remind me quite a bit of the faith healers who, at least in my opinion, were somewhat underrated. at any rate, the big sleep shares the same driving, almost mechanical, beat, which also brings stereolab to (my) mind. at any rate, definately worth checking out. murder & you can't touch the untouchable.

pitchfork infinitemixtape

for convenience's sake.... the songs are listed here. or this may be better.

frog eyes

i've mentioned frog eyes here before but after seeing them play with beirut recently i feel obligated to mention them again. i had sort of mixed feelings about beirut as you can see below and seeing these guys live confirmed pretty much everything i thought before. beirut was nice but failed to excite. i just couldn't sense any sort of emotional investment in their music. to be fair this was their second show (or so they claimed).
but there do seem to be an awful lot of bands these days that are making 'nice' music - sonically, that is. but a lot of it sounds kinda hollow to me. personally, i blame sufjan. though i wouldn't lump in with these bands. but i think he has set the trend, accidentally, by using 'different' instruments and i think some people miss the point and mistakenly think sufjan's music is good because he plays a banjo. i guess beirut isn't the worst offender - i still like them but i just wished they'd inject some passion into the music. to me, someone like patrick wolf, another youngster, would be far more deserving of the hype.

or frog eyes. this post was supposed to be about frog eyes but all i want to say is frog eyes does exactly what beirut is missing, they are raw and they spit passion. a song from the folded palm is above. and, oh, since these guys deserve some hype - this is spencer krug's (wolf parade) other (sunset rubdown), other band. though i suspect this is more carey mercer's band - who incidentally reminds me of screaming jay hawkins...

tenement halls

tenement halls released the unappealingly titled "Knitting Needles and Bicycle Bells" last year and I guess I was a little late catching on to it. tenement halls is, from what I gather, essentially Chris Lopez who used to be in the Rock*A*Teens, which I never really listened to but I did like the few songs I heard and I was always going to check them out. Anyhow, for those of you in the know, tenement halls sounds a bit like the Rock*A*Teens (or at least how I remembered them sounding). There is something very likeable about that sound - somehow I always picture tenement halls playing small sleazy dark clubs with everyone sitting at the bar paying little attention to the band. Don't ask me why. tenement halls would also be a good for a David Lynch movie. If you like the song above you can check out a few more here.

beirut

beirut's first album has been getting quite a lot of attention and there are probably good reasons for that. or least a good reason - it sound quite a bit like the legendary Neutral Milk Hotel, which is probably not a coincidence since Jeremy Barnes of NMH assisted with the making. but basically this is the work of a yet another 19 year old wunderkind. at any rate, it sounds pretty nice but it is also a little restrained and, as a consequence, it feels a little bit gimmicky. i mean, if I was 19 and could make music like this i can't help but feel that there should be a greater sense of urgency. but still, a perfectly enjoyable album. Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)

mustafa et monique

there are still a few people out there waiting for my bloody valentine to release a new album. these people served as the definition of "optimism" in the hipsters dictionary. then these people were to be moved to the definition of "a dreamer" but by then mbv had fallen out of favor. however, now that shoegazing is making a comeback these people again have useful function in the definitions of "disillusioned" and "just plain crazy". at this point i'm not sure a new mbv album would be desirable at all. besides, the swedes mustafa et monique seem to do exactly what mbv used to do and do it quite well. you might hold it against them that they sound eerily like isn't anything era mbv. in most instances that would be something to complain about but what always liked about mbv was the sound on isn't anything (loveless was good too but i favour the rougher sound). unfortunately, these guys appear to copy mbv's every move since they haven't released anything since 2004 (i think). [correction: mustafa et monique released houdini aubergine ep in 2005.]

ecstasy like you
mailman bike

islands

the unicorns were quite a brilliant band and i was terribly disappointed when the broke up. but at least the band's members didn't give up on music and went on (some/all ... i don't know) to form islands. perhaps not quite as brilliant as the unicorns (more polished, less manic) but it is a pretty damn good album nevertheless. rough gem from return to the sea.

the double

somehow i missed this album when it came out last year. maybe there isn't really a reason why i should have noticed. but if there is it is definately the song idiocy, which is pretty much a perfect indie pop hit. it is actually good to the point it almost seems too calculated. and there is a bit of annoying killers type of sounds to it but if you can ignore it. of course, having said that you probably can't. much like igor ruined heineken for me by saying it tasted like olives...

the walkmen

the walkmen have a new album out on may 23rd. something to look forward to. there is a song on their myspace page (link above) and it sounds, well, sort of strange. it's still the walkmen's signature sound but the song is a little country... and mariachi. i kinda hope that the rest of the album is bit more raucious.

do make say think

i do seem to make my way back to do make say think every once in a while. & every time i wonder why i don't listen to them constantly - which may sound like a backhanded complement but isn't intended to. basically, these guys are liable to outlast 94% of my record collection although at any given time i may fall in love with some other band. i can't really pinpoint exactly what it is but do make say think also sound a lot like broken social scene to me. without the pop sensibility. something about these bands sounds seems very similar to me. at any rate, if you haven't checked them out now is as good a time as any.

tapes 'n tapes

i don't really know much about this band except that i find them entertaining. in sort of the arcade fire/wolf parade way... although they seem a bit more chaotic in sort of a unicorns way. but to the best of my knowledge they are not canadian. something about them also reminded me of namelessnumberheadman (a truly stellar band).

tv on the radio's new album finally sees them live up to their potential. i found desperate youth... rather disappointing and completely failing to capture what the band was like live. now they managed to be rough and hyper-melodic at the same time. this may just be the album of the year. the same can not be said for yeah yeah yeah's soon to be released album. it it perhaps best described as competent pop. good work music. it will probably be very successful. but if you liked the first one you will probably like this one as well.

i have also come to realize that the best album of 2004 was probably castanets' cathedral. here is a song: three days four nights

jason forrest

jason forrest started out by releasing stuff under the name donna summer, which is fitting b/c his/her music borrows heavily from other artists. technically an electronic album but it is really a rock beast in spirit. lots of fun to be had here.

jason also runs a record label called cock rock disco and here you can find a free compilation with a bunch of artists on his label.

The song above is satan cries again but for a far more rockin' song check out the video for war photographer.