There Is No Enemy [2009] <-Download

O sétimo álbum do Built To Spill será lançado nos próximos dias pela Universal. Sua sonoridade dá sequência à do viajado You In Reverse, de 2006. There Is No Enemy é a primeira experiência do BTS com gravação digital, o que proporcionou à banda uma liberdade de experimentação inédita. É impressionante como Doug Martsch consegue transformar camadas sobrepostas de guitarras em canções grudentas. Por outro lado, o novo método também atrasou o lançamento — Martsch preferiu remixar tudo em equipamentos analógicos, sentindo certa frieza no som. Sam Coomes (Quasi), Paul Leary (Butthole Surfers) e Roger Manning, entre outros amigos, participaram do disco. A atual turnê, que começou em agosto, inclui shows com o Dinosaur Jr neste mês.

Built To Spill - Hidsight

First of the year here but this covers the last three months, mostly!

• 2000 and One — Heritage
• Phantom Band — Checkmate Savage
• Marion Maerz/Ingfried Hoffman — Burt Bacharach Songbook
• The Drones — Havilah
• OvO — Croce Via
• KTL — IV
• Robert Henke — Atom/Document
• Humcrush — Rest at Worlds End
• Piemont — Strange World Beyond
• Elegi — Varde
• Revolting Cocks — Sex-o Olympic-o
• Tim Hecker — An Imaginary Country
• Oh Darling — Nice Nice
• The USA is a Monster — Space Programs
• Wino — Punctuated Equilibrium
• Lorna — Writing Down Things to Say
• False Icons — God Complex
• Hotel Hotel — The Sad Sea
• Northern Valentine — The Distance Brings Us Closer
• Grayceon — This Grand Show
• Viking Moses — The Parts That Showed
• Marykate O’Neil — Underground
• Phosphorescent — To Willie
• J. W. Farquhar — The Formal Female
• Necroblaspheme — Destination: Nulle Part
• Steve Roach/Erik Wollo — Stream of Thought
• Roger Manning — Catnip Dynamite
• April — Anthems for the Rejected
• Gary Farr — Take Something With You
• Gaiser — Blank Fade
• Charlie Louvin — Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs

It’s a Jellyfish triple-shot! Sort of.

This is from Roger Manning’s solo album.

Dias y Flores Garden on East 13th St. between Avenues A & B announces the Anti-Mike Summer Open Performance Series, starting this Wednesday, July 23rd and continuing every  Wednesday through August 27th.

For those not too familiar with Antifolk, it is an indieacoustic/folk movement that exploded on New York’s Lower East Side during the post-punk days.  Some of its better known alumni include Cindy Lee Berryhill, Beck, Roger Manning, Michelle Shocked, John S. Hall, Brenda Kahn and more recently Regina Spektor and the Moldy Peaches.  Kirk Kelly, a founder of the Antifolk movement whose debut CD on legendary punk label SST records helped make Antifolk a national underground phenomenon, hosts the new series.  The Dias y Flores series welcomes back the neighborhood’s Antifolk alumni while introducing a next generation of Antifolk icons.

Songwriters, poets, performance/spoken word artists, storytellers, jokers and anyone else looking for almost 15 minutes of relative fame can sign-up at 6:15pm.  Admission is free, all ages welcome.  No booze or controlled substances.

This is just getting a bit frustrating to me already. I really want to get this CD done before the end of the year but it seems like I have been traveling on the slow side of musical creativity for a while now. Could it be that I’m getting a little old for this? Yikes! Hopefully I’ll get a song produced completely before the end of summer. That’s actually better than nothing at this point. So, here I am in the basement… and I couldn’t produce a decent note all morning. For some inspiration, I am now listening to my favorite Internet Radio Station while lifting some weights. Yep! And in between sets, I am scribbling a little something while waiting for a light bulb to pop over my head as I keep myself busy with other things. Hang tight, gotta do another set of curls.

Ahhh, cool! The radio just played Jellyfish. Remember Jellyfish? They’re one of my all-time favorite Indie Rock acts from the early nineties. I love the almost unique features of this hippie/glam/punk outfit, like the drummer/singer playing a stand-up drumkit and is in front with the band as opposed to being behind it like the usual setup. If you’re not familiar with them, their sound is a mixutre of A Day At The Races-era Queen, Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles with retro as well as alternative sounding pop hooks. Their second release, Spilt Milk, was almost like a modern-day rock opera! Too bad they only put out two CDs before calling it quits. But it was enough to keep a cult following alive and well to this day. Okay, wait a sec, time for the bench press.

Let’s see, I’ve collected some youtube embed scripts from videos of Jellyfish that I’ve checked out just moments ago. It took me awhile as I was really enjoying these mightily. Oh alright, I guess I’ll share! These are some of my favorite ones. It’s a good time for you to check them out… as I do my crunches.

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Sebrina, Paste and Plato

This is one of my favorite songs. It’s got that With A Little Help From My Friends kinda vibe to it.

Bye, Bye, Bye

I love the folk sensibilities oozing off of this song. It’s done in an almost sarcastic manner. So punk, so beautiful!

The Ghost at Number One
Excellent bridge, in my opinion! Very classy! I’m a sucker for good bridges.

Joining a Fan Club

The first time I heard this song, I thought it was Queen. From the vocals to the bombastic drums and guitars, it will, uhmm… rock you.

The King is Half Undressed

Although it’s got a typical 90’s alternative sound, the chorus progression reminds me of a 60’s folk/rock song, like Jefferson Airplane or something like that. Really cool!

New Mistake

That is Why

He’s My Best Friend

Could this be a tribute to… the Bishop?

Jet/No Matter What

And lastly, a fun medley of a couple 70’s songs. There’s also an awful joke on Linda McCartney during the synth solo.

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I wish I could put more. But I’ve got to work on my own music now. Hopefully, I can get a song done today.

But wait… a couple more sit-ups! Sore muscles might just get me motivated and inspired. Ya think?

The new Jason Falkner, I’m Ok You’re OK has been out in Japan since April with the fleeting promise that it will be released this summer in the US.  It’s quite good, though it’s no Author Unknown.  Of course it’s pure Falkner (literally, I think he plays everything on it), meaning it is the long awaited follow up to Can You Still Feel?, with the pop song and hook dominating throughout.  The first half of the record has a decidedly new wave feel with The Knew and NYC showing off processed guitars and Hurricane employing washes of synthesizers giving it a bit of a sheen.  The second act is more in the old power pop vein of things with a decidedly 60’s production. Contact is the standout on the second half with its catchy riff and the lone song that isn’t a ballad. Slow songs are fine, but back to back to back kind of blows the momentum near the end of the album.

It seems the new wave influence on I’m OK has come from one of Falkner’s many side projects, TV Eyes.  Too many ballads is definitely not a problem for TV Eyes.  In case you missed it (I did), a full album was released near the end of last year in Japan (again).  The group is Falkner, his old Jellyfish pal Roger Manning and former Redd Kross drummer and soundtrack compiler (music supervisor in Hollywoodspeak) Brian Reitzell.  They’re totally going for it in an early 80’s, Gary Numan, Japan, Ultravox! and Depeche Mode way.  It’s kind of goofy in parts, but this record is a lot of fun.  Mission Submission’s synth line is Gary Numan plain and simple, and Love to Need has Falkner sounding like Jimmy Sommerville and then he turns into Howard Jones on Need to Love.  These three guys got together a few years back for the pseudo soundtrack, Logan’s Sanctuary, but they were having nowhere near as much fun as they are on this album.  You’ll be doing spot the 80’s euro synth group the entire way through, but it’s done in a way that isn’t making fun, but not totally serious either. 

Who knows if either of these will get released outside of Japan? Big in Japan and virtually unknown everywhere else…too bad, everywhere else is missing out.

mp3: Jason Falkner – The Knew

mp3: TV Eyes – She’s a Study

A few weeks ago, I picked up Beck’s “Guero.” It was hailed by many critics as a throwback to his 1996 album “Odelay.” On my website, I confessed that it was good, but it didn’t jump out at me, but it would take me a couple of spins to get into it. Well, I took it for a second spin, and it totally sucked me in.

It’s a great album. Like “Odelay,” it is peppered with well-conceived samples and stellar production from The Dust Brothers. Unlike “Odelay,” he has a wider array of guest musicians helping him out. Not just his normal back-up band (featuring, among others, keyboard whiz Roger Manning, Jr. from Jellyfish), but Jack White of the White Stripes and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Petra Haden (who did an all a capella version of “The Who Sell Out” earlier this year) come in and lend a hand. The results are as sprawling as “Odelay” is, from the catchy pop of “Girl” and the funky electronica of “Hell Yes” to the earthy, late night cool of “Black Tambourine. The strongest cut on the album is “Rental Car,” simply because it’s a whirling dervish of a song that is more befitting of a listen rather than a spewing of copy here.

That’s the odd thing that I’ve noticed about Beck more than any other artist. Each one of his albums has needed to grow on me, but when they do, they hook into me pretty deeply. Turns out “Guero” is no exception.