single frame ii

i completely sold myself on single frame and had to go back and listen to their old album wetheads come running. it is about 10 times better than i remembered. and not as much keyboards as i remembered. brilliant.

single frame

single frame released a quite brilliant little album a few years back that sounded a little like pavement with loads and loads of fun keyboards (and some guitars). only much better. (and by the way, i must admit that i was wrong about malkmus - his new one is quite good actually - especially when compare to his post-pavement output). anyhow single frame's new one body/end\basement basically say goodbye to the melodies and produce an electro-creepy album. can't help but think of brainiac's last and, as always, brilliant ep but sometimes the music is more funky a la the faint. the link to the video above is a good example of that side of the band - which may even outfaint the faint. but somehow i still keep expecting single frame to do even greater things - this is not the great album i was hoping for but it certainly surprised me, which can only be a good thing. but this is a killer song.

manta ray

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just got back from spain, hence my inactivity here, where i managed to discover some new spanish music. I guess manta ray hails from madrid. the music is a bit difficult to classify. there are definately some post-punky math-rocky leanings here but it is also a little bit emo (not yucky dashboard but more in the vain of that band that released birch - my memory fails me). and then there is a touch of jamc-type rock (pre-shoegaze rock?!?) to it. yeah, i make no sense but the album is quite nice. so there you have it.

wasting time i don't have

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forgot to get you friend a birthday present? no problem, go here and print out the calendar.

seona dancing

it appears that ricky gervaise from the office was in a band in the early eighties, made it onto the pages of the NME, and finally had a hit in the phillipines after they the broke up. although under the name fade - supposedly because the radio station that 'discovered' the song didn't want its rival stations picking it up. no mention of the freelove freeway though... more details all over the internet...

i also happened to catch the first episode of the american version of the office. clearly they opted for copying the original almost right down the facial expressions (with a little americanized dialogue) but the result is just a disaster. and my expectations weren't high to begin with.

red sparowes

i recommend that you give this album a couple listens before you head over to the red sparowes' website. i certainly hope some silly PR person put that together and not the band because it reeks of pretentiousness. sure, the website correctly notes that the album is stunningly beautiful - only it takes about hundred words to say so. it puts you a little off. but i can't help it but forgive them that. the music. well, post-shoegazing, post-rock. the obvious comparisons are probably mono (which i apparently have to mention in every post) and mogwai but in some ways a little bit more muscular overall, which is countered with some great use of slide guitar. something about the music also calls to mind stoner rock a la kyuss or perhaps the god machine (which may not really belong in that category). stunning.

a couple of songs are also available on the band's website (but don't tell me i didn't warn you).

british sea power

i was a little disappointed when i first heard bsp's new album open season. gone were the noisy, almost irritating guitars and instead it all appears rather polished and, honestly, rather boring. even so, just like its predecessor the decline of the british sea power, open season improves with each listen as the melodies sink in. but the faint traces of echo and the bunnymen that were buried under the "chaos" (ok, far from black dice but relatively speaking) appear very clearly here. at other times i am reminded (again) of the kitchens of distinction and the suede. distinguishly less original sounding than their debut but pretty solid, intellectual pop (as we used to call it back in the day).

mono vs. eluvium

dreams somtimes come true i guess. finally got to see mono this past weekend - in short: every bit as good as the records. and if you haven't given them a chance this is your final warning. give them a few spins and you may even decide that they out-mogwai mogwai and rub shoulders with godspeed. eluvium opened up and, well, caught me by surprise b/c i hadn't really thought that much of his album, which admittedly isn't the kind of music that you like the instant you hear it. but with a backdrop of a very nice and bit edward gorey-like animation it was well, just very enjoyable.

however, the show made me rethink my position that free shows are bad. now i also think cheap shows are bad too. shows should really be ridiculously expensive. how f**king annoying can people be? why do people go to show if they are too busy talking? and for some reason they always seem to be standing behind me. if not them, it is the guy who insists on singing along with the band - often in some sort of a falsetto. remember the shooting at the dimebag show in december? bet that guy just went nuts just because the people behind him were talking. anyhow, expensive shows might keep the people that aren't really interested in the music away.

thunderbirds are now!

i once spent a year in east lansing, michigan. not really a place that has a lot going for itself (unless you like american football or basketball). the whole year the theaters only showed one foreign movie (amores peros). one of the few things keeping me sane were these guys that had shows in the basement. anyhow, if i'm not mistaken i caught the thunderbirds are now! there once. and i was fairly impressed. and i'm probably more impressed by their new cd justamustache. basically new wavy power pop with some nice twists. locate them somewhere in between hot hot heat (just to avoid confusion - i did like hhh. not sure about the new one though) and les savy fav. i've also heard people mention brainiac but noone can really touch brainiac. anyway, hell of a lot of fun.

bellafea

bellafea is a duo that hails from north carolina. they just released an ep "family tree" that is, well, quite excellent. listening to thorn bird one can't help but think "hey, they've listened to blonde redhead" (which, really, can only be a compliment) but then they take the song in different directions and, well, pretty quiet directions at that. i look forward to hearing more.

jeff hanson

awfully busy these days. anyhow, jeff hanson's first album son sort of kept under the radar, which was very unfortunate for those who missed it. simply excellent stuff that sounds a bit like elliot smith if elliot had sung like a girl. no, jeff is not a girl. his new self-titled album treads much the same water as his previous effort but is perhaps slightly less poppy. perfect music for sunday mornings and thursday afternoons. highly recommended.

other stuff sticking to my cd player. the norwegian shining. on the label rune grammofon that is single handedly saving norway from the bottom seat on the list of interesting countries. the shining really can't be described without making them sound awful - words like prog, fusion, etc. pop up in my head so it was with great trepidation that i pressed that play button. but hot damn, did this stuff blow my mind! definately not the stuff i listen to normally but this one won me over. rune grammofon also deserve for their covers, see some here: http://www.boomkat.com/promotion.cfm?id=2. then there is red sparowes. another surprise. contains members of neurosis, isis and, uh, some other band. if you like mono, or mogwai, then this is something you must check out. stunningly beautiful and loud.

oxes

i hadn't listened to the oxes in a while. so i did. i still love them. and then i also have a soft spot for red martian. though they sound nothing like the oxes.

pony up!

yet another montreal band. this one actually counts as its member my former hair stylist - i guess that is my brush with fame! [pun not intended at first but i'm leaving it like this]. anyhow, quite nice. jangly guitar pop probably goes a far way to describe the bands. at any rate, their s-t ep is promising - except for an apparently unhealthy obsession with matthew modine, which is really the only blemish on the 7 song ep. above, great pop fun. check out their website: http://www.ponyup.ca/

les georges leningrad

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i never liked the name of this band - i was expecting some sort of russian folk punk or something (which actually sounds kinda fun) - so i never checked them out. that was probably a mistake. but not my only one so i'm not going to feel too bad about it. oh, well. this is of their sur les traces de black eskimo. they call it post-punk electro but in the end is sounds a little industrial - but with a sense of humour.

the talk

i quite like this. from the album like magic in reverse that is out in about a month or so on the north carolina's moRisen label. something to look forward to if the rest of the album sounds like this.

j & lou

who would have thought? dinosaur jr. is reuniting for a few shows. i'm not sure how i feel about that. but then again dinosaur jr. always just sounded like one long guitar solo live and you would never have guessed how great their albums were from seeing them live. at any rate, this should keep lou from releasing more crap for a little while. here is one of their best.

mary timony

well, well, mary timony (and her ex-outfit helium) seemed always a little underrated to me. and any polvo fan that hasn't checked helium out should be ashamed of themselves b/c of ash bowie's role. anyhow, mary has a new album coming out soon and although bowie is absent we should be in for a treat nevertheless.

kitchens of distinction

the first time i heard interpol on the radio i thought "cool, they are playing the kitchens of distinction." digging out my kitchens' albums and listening again to them after years of gathering dust of course makes plain that i must have been drunk. yet, there are certainly strong similarities in place. i guess the kitchens were lodged somewhere between shoegazing and the wedding present and, yes, their music hasn't aged terribly well - mostly thanks to the sound on the albums, which seems a bit thin. however, it is somehow easy to imagine how the albums would sound if they were recorded today - they would sound a bit like interpol! above, a sample from their love is hell album and here one from strange free world.

is this funny?

remember veruca salt? sort of weezer for the boys. decent fun, anyhow. then nina gordon left the band (she was the cuter one!) and started a solo career. the results were so horrible that you have probably never heard any of her stuff. i mean really horrible. anyhow, when i saw that she had done a cover of N.W.A. I thought maybe she had snapped out of it, stopped making whiny crap and would perhaps deliver something interesting. instead, it sounds like this. this is so incredibly bad. i can not believe how bad it is. it makes me laugh. but it also makes me a bit nauseous. therefore i had to post it. for nina's sake i hope that ice cube never hears this. but then again, i don't really care.

calla et al

what else is new. well, calla is preparing a new album - first taste over at www.callamusic.com. not disagreeable at all. caribou has been spinning but not scoring the points that manitoba managed to get. 13+god, the collaboration of themselves and notwist, is a little disappointing - each band is, well, absolutely fabuous (esp. notwist) but thinks don't really click here. the queens of the stone age, which i secretly love, aren't doing it for me either. the best track already appear on the desert sessions 124-125. still fun though. thee silver mount zion.... have been singing too much. british sea power is overpolished. hell, everything just seems crap these days.