Golden City

I just came across this: the singer from the greatest emo band from Colorado, Christie Front Drive has a new band:

You can download one of their tracks off of their record label's site. This track has an upbeat feel, but retains the feel of distance that was soaked into all of Christie Front Drive's music. There's a fan-made video for a CFD song on youtube that simply pairs footage of landscape of Colorado shot out a car window with one of their songs. It's completely fitting.

When these singers of older emo bands continue their work they stray into great indie-pop territory, and this song has the pace of a band like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart or Maritime. What was vague emotion becomes more measured and deliberate, and that's not such a bad thing!

http://www.magicbulletrecords.com/bands/goldencity.html

I dream in song;

Last night I dreamed of two songs:

"Red Elephant" by Sunny Day Real Estate. In my dream, the part after 1:06 was blindingly loud.

Stay around
Running out
Time servant
Trip through the warm wind

Feeling
Sulking
My impression grows
Swayed stars part of my room
And you...

You climbed the wreck
Cold diamond heart
Still beating
And no one ever knew the reason why

Well I'd suspect
You would come to terms
With my hand
My eyes reflect your surface very well

Why'd I compromise
Swayed stars and time is slow
The way you restarts again

I'm all talk again
I'm on top of the world
The way you restarts in me too

The night a field and I'll take you there
The years of worry aren't my century

We climbed the wreck
Cold diamond heart
Still beating
And no one ever knew the reason why


"King of the Road" by Piebald. I love the first lines of this song, which inform the listeners what the band members have been occupied with since their last record.

Here is a live performance from their final show:


Andy went back to school. He got sick of Newbury comics
Aaron still rides a lot, except now, now he's just fatter
Alex took over for Alex Van Halen after his major surgery
John, well, he got married to Laura and I teach their kid in first grade

Thought I saw you on the road last night
I need to get my eyes checked
can't beleive I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back

Would you park at the station
my mind is playing tricks on me
can't believe I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back, hell yeah

Loved you in a Carolina
i need to rub my eyes
we keep your door like it's a postcard from you from camp
maybe see you at a junkyard soon
oh man, i really hope not
can't believe I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back

Maybe you're in auto heaven
oh man, i really hope so
can't beleive I loved something as yellow as you
he's gone, so deal with it, man
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back
wait, after all, you did get us across the world and back, hell yeah

Music Review: Brand New - The Devil and God are raging inside me (2006)

I've always liked Brand New. Back in the day I saw them play once in Buffalo and once in Syracuse. I even hung out with them once. One of my friends always told me he was friends with the singer's little brother.

I picked up this record sometime in 2007, which was rare for me, because it was a major label release and I'm a card-carrying indie snob. I had heard them play the song "Jesus" on TV and was really impressed. The song drones in a hypnotizing way, and the guitar parts almost sound like Explosions in the Sky. The vocals are almost stream-of-consiousness styled, but work great because there are more dynamic parts. The song starts off in an almost Pavement-level middle voice but then get into pop-punk territory toward the end. Also, I had loved Deja Entendu, and we played that heavily on WGSU.

This album has some really pretty parts and just some relentlessly heavy and abrasive parts. I love the varied production, which I consider a response to the Audiogalaxy era. The songs contrast each other really well, just like on other great records of the 00 era like "Lifted" and "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." The songs are sad, but expansive. It's pop-punk but it's experimental and ambitious.

This record has staying power. I'm very excited to hear the follow up.

Christmas song: Vermont "Santa Claws"

http://www.joanfrc.com/albums/santaclaws.mp3

Vermont - a side project of The Promise Ring, before Davey started Maritime - recorded this Christmas song, that I just found scouring Joan of Arc's website.

There are a lot of other mp3s on this site - you just have to go through the discography section.

Punk's Not Dead

Oh wow! Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil frontman and CUNY literature professor Blake Schwarzenbach has teamed with the Kerouac of Punk, Aaron Cometbus of Pinhead Gunpowder to form a new band called Thorns of Life.

This has made my day / week. Their sound is superpop/punk with the trademark Jawbreaker heavy / introspective break sections.

Alternative Press Videos on Youtube

Click for hi res image of them playing

Rockets and Bluelights video

Rockets and Bluelights : Forrest Green and Autumn

Video

West of Wakefield - "Lottery"

There is very little information on the internet about this band. They are called West of Wakefield and have one CD, the five song ep "Connecting the Dots." I believe they were from Michigan and released this CD around 2001. Here is the first song.

West of Wakefield - "Lottery"

I came across this as a DJ at WGSU in 2001. It has a real autumnal feel, with a song about winter. It's got a real midwestern pop-emo vibe, heavily influenced by The Get Up Kids and The Anniversary. The recording is clear, and I consider it so good it must only be listened to once in a year. Yes, pop punk worth savoring.

One of the members of this band went on to a band called Flashing Red Airplane, who are really good too.

Photo: Mamma Mias Pizza Geneseo NY Winter 2002.

Bob Nanna

I discussed two of Bob Nanna's acoustic covers at thepunkguy.com today:

http://www.thepunkguy.com/2007/08/01/bob-nanna/

Weakerthans return to USA!

My favorite band from Canada, The Weakerthans, are coming to the USA again!

Yes! They are supporting their new album, Reunion Tour, which should be good!

Click here for more information.

(picture: our friend Joe with John K. Samson of the Weakerthans)

Boys Life - "Sleeping off summer"

I'm going to rip off this blog and post a follow up to my Christie Front Drive post, which had encouraging comments from people I don't know!

Christie Front Drive did a split, one that I still don't have, with one of my favorite emo bands ever. The band released one of my favorite emo albums entitled Departures and Landfalls. This album I like so much because you can't even understand most of the lyrics and it has field recordings of rainfall and crickets and trains mixed in. I love it. It's one of my favorite true albums ever, in the sense that all the songs compliment each other for one artistic whole statement. I even bought a poster of the album cover for my room.

The band is Boys Life and here is track five from it, entitled "Sleeping off Summer." The picture above is a really cool treehouse I walked by this afternoon.

LINK

Christie Front Drive

I have been meaning to post about Christie Front Drive for a while now.

I can't think of any good bands from Colorado except for Christie Front Drive. I bought their self-titled "Stereo" album last year for $5 at one of my favorite record stores.

Their songs are epic and actually sound like Colorado.

Here is a link to some of their tracks as well as an interview with the singer:

http://www.liepaper.com/eric.htm

Here is a link to a few more of their tracks from a fan site:

http://www.christiefrontdrive.com/

THE VERY BEST OF...

A lot of bands that I love are never going to be big. They're on the decline, they've broken up, no one knew them to begin with. It goes like this. But, in my mind they're huge. They're fantastic. And anyone who saw them years ago or even heard of them is rad. They've had superhits stuck in my head for years.

And it's better if this happened for my friends, too. This was the magic of college radio - there were secret superhits that only we knew about. Tons of bands like this: The Dismemberment Plan, The Weakerthans, The Wrens, Ted Leo. Bands that were sort of pop, sort of punk, all indie.

Now, it's been years since I first heard these bands. I feel I should be stopping by Best Buy picking up their "Gold" collections, their best ofs and box sets. But these bands will probably never have best ofs.

That's where I come in. I'm going to put together some best ofs for my favorite bands that will never have their own.

First on the list is Jawbreaker. I'm trying to get Dan into Jawbreaker, so I'm going to pick out my ten favorite songs and see if it works. Wish me luck.

BOUNCIN'

I've been listening to a lot of music from about ten years ago. Kind of unpredictably, I've gotten back into jam rock supergroup PHISH. I have been downloading many shows from www.momadance.com and enjoying them very much. My tattooed punk girlfriend refuses to hear about how DIY and great Phish are, how they are so DIY that they only play guitars made by their neighbor from Vermont, how they give all their profits from Phish Food ice cream to charity, how they have a great sense of humor, and how they became huge without any mainstream radio or pop culture support. Actually, I don't think any of my friends want to hear about how great Phish is. So, here is a performance of Phish's biggest "hit" - hated by all mid nineties Phishheads as the ultimate "newbie" song, only suitable for bathroom breaks mid set:

Bouncin Round The Room, performed in 1990

Maybe it's how I don't want to talk about politics any more and have a boring job that Phish's music calms me for. Maybe it was seeing the Phish tribute band Phix play last year. Maybe it's that I'm getting old and I actually saw Phish shows over the summer every summer from 1997 to 2000. I don't know.

My favorite Phish song of right now is "Punch You In The Eye". Look it up.

For the punkers out there I've been downloading all these tracks and loving them too:
One guy's history of Emo from the 1990s to 2000s:
http://www.canyouseethesunset.com/2007/04/spoonful-of-emo-revisited.html

My favorite song from this collection right now is Jejune's song from the split with Jimmy Eat World. I'm totally ripping off stuff like that and Unrest for our band Apples of the Earth.

Kind of Like Spitting - “March 25th, 1998"

On Friday I was walking around town when I ran into Ben Barnett. Ben is the artist formerly known as the one man band Kind of Like Spitting. On my computer, the top two most frequently listened songs are Kind of Like Spitting ("You Got Served," "A Song for Annie's Harmonica") and so it really brightened my day to say hi to one of my favorite songwriters.

Ben told me he is getting training at Stumptown Coffee and has formed a new band that's looking for another guitarist. I forget the name of this new band, but I told him I would love to see them play when he gets it together. He told me to "myspace me" and then he and I both had to get back to work.

Here is my first favorite Kind of Like Spitting song:
Kind of Like Spitting - "March 25th, 1998"

What's your interpretation of the course of events that swings from a line on the outside of the fence. I got in a fight at the Team Dresh show and always fighting, me, it came off macho. And I am a lion roaring out loud. In my dreams I'm angry I never touch the ground. I feel like I'm flying somewhere underneath the sheets. I took your bracelet from the bathroom I've had it ever since we met. check your lipstick in the mirror, sway and swing your hips. Head out to the New Bad Things show at the end of Burnside at the oh hell used to be the x-ray, not all that familiar with the history of this town, only been here for a short while, but you knew it. Say your sick of all the narrow eyes and all the lies and the actors feeding on our hearts. We had this one drive, don't talk, don't lie. Everyone is on call for a job that they hate. Check the mirror, check the bathroom, check the toilet, filling up this room. Room that you made yourself from the hangers from the closet down, he was asking for it but you knew it.

Purchase the album "The Thrill of The Hunt" from Redder Records.

Jawbreaker – “Accident Prone" (live)

Last weekend I was in a minor car accident. Everyone is okay, though. No one was hurt. I was wearing my Jawbreaker shirt and so here is one of my favorite Jawbreaker songs.

The song isn't about a car accident, but here it is nonetheless.

Jawbreaker - Accident Prone (Live - April 30, 1996)

It's off their fantastic live album which is available from Blackball Records.

What's the furthest place from here?
It hasn't been my day for a couple years.
What's a couple more?
And if I go, don't forget the one good thing I almost did.
I learned your name without words.
I used my eyes, not my hands.
What's the closest you can come to an almost total wreck and still walk away,
All limbs intact?
And when I go, you'll be there crying out, begging me.
I won't hear.
I'll just go fast into this night on broken legs.
A near miss or a close call?
I keep a room at the hospital.
I scratch my accidents into the wall.
I couldn't wait to breathe your breath.
I cut in line,
I bled to death.
I got to you, there was nothing left.
What's the meanest you can be to the one you claim to love
And still smile to your new found friends?
In the same confusing breath,
You pull away and draw me in.
I wanted you. You wanted more.
I built this life and now it's mine.

The Best Concerts I Saw in 2006

In 2005 i only saw 2 bands that weren't my friends. Those shows were Jason Anderson and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Granted, both were fantastic, and of course my friends bands were fantastic (Kalpana, Get Awesome Ninjas, Pink Cammies) but this year really was epic.

I saw a lot of great shows this year, and some I even went to with girls. This is a nice new trend that I would like to continue in 2007. Strangely, my top three shows are all ones I went to alone. It was a tough task to narrow it down to a top 5, but there were some real standouts that were just absolutely stellar. Some of the close ups include: Kind of Like Spitting, Jonathan Richman, Damien Jurado, Flipper, Japanther, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, Jeffrey Lewis, and The Thermals.

5.
For fifth place, I would say the Mirah show was fantastic. This was the record release party for Mirah's new remix album entitled "Joyride." The album has great cover artwork of the Fremont bridge, which is quite close to my house, and the show was really close too - at the Here was what the flyer said: 8pm, $5 - Featuring performances, visuals and DJ styles by Mirah, Mt. Eerie, DJ Beyonda, screamclub, Bryce Panic, DJ Anna Oxygen, Pash".
I almost didn't go to this show because I was really getting into sanding my Vespa beforehand, but then Dan twisted my arm and we drove off in the rain even though it was super close. When we walked in Calvin Johnson was selling merch and Phil Elvrum was playing guitar and singing. There were tons of cute girls there and this one band had a song about being a pedestrian and how they love walking around. But I don't even know what band that was because all the acts were so pretentious that they didn't introduce themselves. However, Mirah was super cute and her songs are fantastic and I absolutely loved it.

4.
Earlier in the year, on June 8th at the Wonder Ballroom Joe and I saw The Streets and Lady Sovereign. I didn't really "get" lady sov, but the Streets were so great. They busted out all these songs I had forgotten about and it was really dancy. The crowd was super hip with lots of those tee shirts that have offset designs on the bottom and sides that I own none of. Mike Skinner poured brandy straight into peoples' mouths in the front and it was like a big party. It was fantastic. North Star Ballroom at 635 N. Killingsworth Court. This show took place on November 26, 2006.

3.
So the only reunion show on this list took place at the Roseland Theater on July 26. I have seen Weezer play three times and all three were really cool, but none of them were as rad as when I saw THE RENTALS this summer. Ozma, one of my old favorites opened and they weren't as great because they changed some members, but The Rentals were awesome. Matt Sharp came out dancing wearing an Ozma tee shirt and big glasses strapped on to his head. He bounced around and they played a ton of hits, up to and including "I Just Threw Out The Love of My Dreams" which is technically a Weezer song. The moog synths sounded great and the Matt's singing was top notch. The crowd there was kind of jockish, strangely and I went with a friend but after they played "Friends of P" and I left I called him on the phone and he was across town at some bar, so I consider this show to be one I went to solo.

2.
Okay so imagine you're driving cross country in the snow and by accident you stop in some weird town in the middle of nowhere and imagine the singer of your favorite band is playing an acoustic set at a crappy bar and no one is there but you and also imagine he played your favorite song by said band. This is what happened to me in February when I saw Bob Nanna play in Iowa at Gabe's Oasis.

1.
In an ironic showing of capitalism prevailing for a socialist singer, the best show I went to see this year was also the most expensive. I shelled out $27 to see BILLY BRAGG play at the Aladdin on October 2, 2006. It was so fantastic. I once again went by myself and sat IN THE FRONT ROW! Billy Bragg is so charming and his songs are so punk rock and, dare I say, emo. He had the best stage presence and banter of anyone I've ever seen play. I can't believe I almost didn't go to this show. I loved it!

Kind of Like Spitting - "Valentine's Day is over"

Only a short time ago I was lucky enough to see Billy Bragg play. Tickets were kind of pricey, and thus I could not find anyone to go with me. Most of my friends had never heard of Billy Bragg, and I could only give so much explanation about how he was a big influence on tons of our favorite bands (The Weakerthans and Ted Leo are the ones that quickly come to mind). I definitely knew Billy Bragg would be great, and so I went it alone. I got to sit in the front row! I hardly ever go to shows with seats and rarely if they have seats, will I sit in the front.

Billy Bragg was fantastic. His between song banter was really great and despite me only having one of his albums, I knew a lot of the songs he played.

I figured I might run into someone I know there, and I figured that person might be Ben Barnett. I've met Mr. Barnett on a few occasions, and I saw him walking up the street with a cup of coffee in his hand a few months ago when I was driving to work. Unfortunately, I didn't meet anyone I knew there, but I did have lovely chats with the other people there by themselves (an older woman who was so happy to meet Billy a few years ago at a show in the midwest, a kid who looked exactly like me). Also, I recently heard Ben Barnett is not going to be recording under the Kind of Like Spitting name any longer. At one point a year or two ago he was supposedly going to record with my friends Kalpana as his band and be called Worker Bee. (He was even billed as Worker Bee formerly known as Kind of Like Spitting at a NY show.) In any event, had he been there I would have thanked him for introducing me to Billy Bragg through this cover.

This song is "Valentine's Day is over," which was originally off of Mr. Bragg's "Workers' Playtime" record.

Kind of Like Spitting - "Valentine's Day is over."

Buy Kind of Like Spitting releases at Redder Records

Someday boy you'll reap what you sown
You'll catch a cold and you'll be on your own
And you will see that what's wrong with me
is wrong with everyone that you want to play your little games on

Poetry and flowers, pretty words and threats
You've gone to the dogs again and I'm not placing bets on you
coming home tonight
Anything but blind
if you take me for granted than you must expect to find
surprise, surprise!

Valentine's day is over, it's over
Valentine's day is over

If you want to talk about it, well you know where the phone is
Don't come 'round reminding me again how brittle bone is
God didn't make you an angel
the devil made you a man
That brutality and the economy are related now I understand
When will you realize that as above
so below there is no love

Valentine's day is over, it's over
Valentine's day is over

For the girl with the hour-glass figure, time runs out very fast
We used to want the same things, but that's all in the past
And lately it seems that as it all gets tougher
Your idea of justice just becomes rougher and rougher

Valentine's day is over, it's over
Valentine's day is over

Thank you for the things you bought me
Thank you for the card
Thank you for the things you taught me when you hit me hard
That love between two people must be based on understanding
Until that's true you'll find your things all stacked out on the landing
Surprise, surprise!

Valentine's day is over, it's over
Valentine's day is over, it's over
It's over

Vitreous Humor - "Why Are You So Mean To Me?"

This band is named after the liquid in eyeballs, and actually live up to such a name. They are a midwestern emo band who did a split record with one of my favorite bands ever, Boys Life, and this song was on it.

It's also on their record "Posthumous," which was the first record I bought after moving here. I found it for $2.50 at CD Exchange on Hawthorne. The whole record is really good, but this song and the first song "My Midget" are incredible. This song was recorded in 1994 and sounds better than anything else I have that was recorded that year. Apparently this band was courted by the major labels, but never signed. Thus, "Why Are You So Mean To Me?" is a secret superhit.

You might know this song because a "popular" band, Nada Surf, picked it up and covered it a few years ago. That's where I first heard it. Their cover is really good, but this original version is screamin' great. The guitars sound like the ocean on rocks and the drums are anxious and may not even be on time but still sound spot on. I hope you like this song.

CLICK THIS LINK, SISSY! then click "FREE" (bottom right)!

Vitreous Humor at Crank! Records : link
Vitrous Humor at MySpace : link

The Promise Ring - "Electric Pink"

Continuing on with the "Music My Sister Wants to Hear" series, we have the song "Electric Pink" by one of my favorite bands ever, The Promise Ring. I think of The Promise Ring as a very summery band, except for their early stuff like on The Horse Latitudes, which I consider to be a little bit autumnal and nocturnal.

This is one of the songs my sister would hear in the car with me driving. It's off of their EP of the same name, which came out after "Very Emergency" but before "Wood/Water" (both of which I associate with the summertime). Please listen to this in honor of an Indian Summer.

CLICK ON THIS, SISSY!

This disc was really great because it's artwork is almost all just a solid pink block on the cover, but with the song titles in small type at the top. One of the members of The Promise Ring is a graphic designer, so all their albums had fantastic artwork that made you excited to be buying their albums. This EP also included a re-recorded version of the song "American Girl" which was off of their "Boys & Girls" EP, which is an interesting statement in itself. It's kind of self-indulgent, but kind of neat and relaxed. It really lets the band get out their material in a great way. I wish more bands took having fun as seriously as The Promise Ring did.

I live on a small street, with very small shoes but in a big house, with a big wardrobe. I've got the whole world in my hands; it's a small world after all. And there's not much to say on five bucks a day, and there's no other way, so we're just hanging around. For the weekend to come we're all hungry and dumb for Friday. Please don't press that we dress, high heels and loud shoes are a mess step out with quiet feet. I'm pleased to meet; meeting is so hard to do when you're dead. Between a wink and an earthquake there are conversations and complications go on, on, and on I pretend that I understand my hands and the rest are only a test. To be paid to be pressed when we end we will be softly kissed.

Yeah, I feel electric
Pink in the cheeks
We look like animals
Seven days a week
I'm too polite
You're too brief

{There's more of The Promise Ring, including buying their stuff, at www.jadetree.com
I love The Promise Ring so much, I'll probably post more of their stuff soon.}

Tamiroff - "Feet From A Music Video"

Music this good makes me wish I lived in Rochester. I never had the pleasure of seeing Tamiroff play live. They kind of sound like an old Emo / DC style of punk. They have twinkly guitars and harsh vocals and sweet melodies and start-stop rhythms; all the stuff that I like. I have been meaning to write about them for a long time. Chris from this band went to Geneseo and was in a few of my classes and involved in WGSU.

"Feet From A Music Video" is another example of my favorite song from a band being the first song I ever heard from them. It's track one on their disc "Bittersweet and Strange."

There are a few more songs of theirs available on myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/tamiroff

Apparently, their website no longer works but here was the link:
http://tamiroff.cjb.net/

This is probably because the band broke up. Fortunately, some of the members of this band went on to a new band called Polar Bear Club.

Tamiroff "Feet From A Music Video"
Stop window shopping
placement product
top shelf secrets
should of stopped us
our story is an advertisement
for some remix of love
I turned around faced the cinema
It turned us all into
The hopeless romantic
Teeting our lips, moving our hips
It says a lot
to be so wet and in-between
We've made our point
We let everyone win
I noticed it
when your feet were wet and blind
Follow me into the place
of perfect pediatrist harmony