Original Post: http://queencitycommotion.blogspot.com/2012/03/men-name-used-lightly.html
Last night I headed down to the Queen City's ugly, long-lost step-sister, Princess Winooski, to attend a show where a band by the name of 'The Men' would perform their garage rock-induced jams. Like most half-decent shows at The Monkey House, I predicted this night would be full of self-induced ear aches and general joint discomfort from standing awkwardly for three hours consecutively – I was sadly and truly mistaken.
Monday, April 30, 2012
The Name-Changers
Original Post: http://queencitycommotion.blogspot.com/2012/03/name-changers.html
What inspires a band to change their name? I was always under the impression that once you pick a name, you're kind of stuck with it – like a bad lower-back tattoo. There are so many band names floating around out there in the music-universe, so it's pretty darn important to find a sweet name that suits your sound and to run with it. But what happens when a band with an already fitting name goes ahead and changes it up on everyone?
What inspires a band to change their name? I was always under the impression that once you pick a name, you're kind of stuck with it – like a bad lower-back tattoo. There are so many band names floating around out there in the music-universe, so it's pretty darn important to find a sweet name that suits your sound and to run with it. But what happens when a band with an already fitting name goes ahead and changes it up on everyone?
Animals. Colors. Numbers.
Original Post: http://queencitycommotion.blogspot.com/2012/04/animals-colors-numbers.html
Sociologists observe society, psychologists study patients, and marketers (in a sense) study trends that relate to both. I'm not a marketer by any means, but I do pay special attention to trends in band names. I work at Pure Pop Records in downtown Burlington, and on an average day I thoughtfully and purposefully read at least a hundred+ band names - my boss likes to have me categorize vinyl by quality, and it's usually by the truckload. By the end of my shift, my hands are covered in dirt, dust, and grime, but it's worth it of course, because I am then able to report back to all of the QCC followers out there with what's ^ and what's neu in the world of music.
Sociologists observe society, psychologists study patients, and marketers (in a sense) study trends that relate to both. I'm not a marketer by any means, but I do pay special attention to trends in band names. I work at Pure Pop Records in downtown Burlington, and on an average day I thoughtfully and purposefully read at least a hundred+ band names - my boss likes to have me categorize vinyl by quality, and it's usually by the truckload. By the end of my shift, my hands are covered in dirt, dust, and grime, but it's worth it of course, because I am then able to report back to all of the QCC followers out there with what's ^ and what's neu in the world of music.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
The Mallard - Yes On Blood
I think that what we have with The Mallard's debut album, Yes On Blood, is the-next-big-thing in the psychedelic-garage-tripping world of rock and roll. Bold statement – yes, I'm aware, but much bolder have been said about bands that suck, so just take my word for it for now. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm pretty much ready to order/DIY a band-tee with a sweet image of duck on the front, because apparently that's what a mallard is and I should've known that before I Google-image-trolled the crap out of some duckies. I feel like now is as good of a time as any to explain why The Mallard floats my boat so hard, and also why I think they'll float yours, too (that is, if we're working under the assumption that you're a rational human being and for sake of time we'll all assume you are).
This is when I explain that they're on a killer label and that means they're guaranteed to be at least half decent-sounding (though Sub Pop has managed to somehow make that statement at least partly untrue). The Mallard's first release is on Castle Face, alongside other jangly-fuzz gods including the-man-the-myth-the-legend, Ty Segall, for his 2010 self-titled release, Thee Oh Sees, Bare Wires, and The Fresh & Onlys, also for their 2010 self-titled release. Now you must be more inclined to give The Mallard a fighting chance. Take flight, you weird winged-creature, into the hearts of garage-scuzz, 40 oz guzzling basement dwellers everywhere.
Exhibit A:
Yes On Blood is modern day psychedelia (if there is such a thing) meets garage rock meets screeching monkeys and startling weasels. Perhaps this trio took some candy from a stranger in their hometown of San Fran and crafted this album after falling down a rabbit hole near Danny Tanner's house, or maybe they just did what everyone else does and smoked pot in a basement for a couple months and pumped out 11 tracks of artificially flavored heaven. Either way, the psych-injections are not too overwhelming and not too underwhelming – in fact, they sit right in the middle, the green of Roy G. Biv if you will, and that's just the kind of porridge everyone wants to be snacking on if you ask me (how many irrelevant references does a poor boy make in one post? as many as possible. and there's another one).
Exhibit B:
This is where I don't go into too much detail about the stand-out tracks on the album, but note and/or comment on a few of the more catchy ones so you know which tracks to listen to first instead of just starting from the beginning because that makes too much sense. "Shallows" is a climactic and hauntingly mesmerizing track that resides somewhere off the beat and path in a lose-yourself in the disillusionment sense (could I be any more vague?). "Lying In The East" is the album's resident slow jam, cuz every album has to have one. "Iggypop!" gets bonus points right off the bat for having such a great name, and I would share some lyrics that reference the holy one, but the vocals are so distorted and muffled that I can't make out a word anyone's saying. Alas, you must go listen for yourself and decipher the cryptic Iggy-messages and relay them to me! Get decoding.
 |
| Obsessions are healthy. |
This is when I explain that they're on a killer label and that means they're guaranteed to be at least half decent-sounding (though Sub Pop has managed to somehow make that statement at least partly untrue). The Mallard's first release is on Castle Face, alongside other jangly-fuzz gods including the-man-the-myth-the-legend, Ty Segall, for his 2010 self-titled release, Thee Oh Sees, Bare Wires, and The Fresh & Onlys, also for their 2010 self-titled release. Now you must be more inclined to give The Mallard a fighting chance. Take flight, you weird winged-creature, into the hearts of garage-scuzz, 40 oz guzzling basement dwellers everywhere.
Exhibit A:
 |
| This is your childhooustd on drugs. |
Exhibit B:
This is where I don't go into too much detail about the stand-out tracks on the album, but note and/or comment on a few of the more catchy ones so you know which tracks to listen to first instead of just starting from the beginning because that makes too much sense. "Shallows" is a climactic and hauntingly mesmerizing track that resides somewhere off the beat and path in a lose-yourself in the disillusionment sense (could I be any more vague?). "Lying In The East" is the album's resident slow jam, cuz every album has to have one. "Iggypop!" gets bonus points right off the bat for having such a great name, and I would share some lyrics that reference the holy one, but the vocals are so distorted and muffled that I can't make out a word anyone's saying. Alas, you must go listen for yourself and decipher the cryptic Iggy-messages and relay them to me! Get decoding.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
La Sera - Sees The Light
 |
| Cassie looks 12, but she's really like, 27. |
La Sera is Katy Goodman (of Vivian Girls) plus a drummer and a guitarist. Katy is known for her bass-playing days in Vivian Girls alongside killer songstress/babe Cassie Ramone (I saw Cassie perform in the flesh a few months ago at a Babies show,
it was pretty much like waking up to a breakfast in bed with all your
favorite foods). I don't think her last name is actually Ramone, though I
might be wrong. If it's not really Ramone, I'm not really all that mad about it... I just sort of wish I had thought of it first. In other news, Sees The Light is actually a surprisingly infectious album, especially in comparison to their first full-length, self-titled release. Snooze.
Sees The Light is mind-numbingly simple in the most frustrating of ways. It's frustrating because I wish I could write songs that are based off a three-chord progression that don't sound like a chorus being repeated over and over (trust me, I do have songs like that, and they are all pretty boring and not in the cool, swanky, sultry, slow-jam sort of way). All of the tracks on Sees The Light (all ten of them) virtually sound the same, give or a take a few 'doo-doo-doos' and a couple 'oooh-ooooh-oooohs.' At least that's how it feels to me when I listen to it, but that might just be because I've played it so many times continuously.
 |
| I heard she's crazy. |
That's not to say that there is no variation from song to song whatsoever, it's just that the transitions are all pretty darn subtle. It could be Katy's singing style – she rarely deviates from the confines of her vocal boundaries – or it could be the simple, upbeat, jangley melodies that seem to be looped through every track. Regardless of its simplicity, the album works. I can just see Katy laying in a bed of flower pedals and dandilions with her little kitty, frantically uploading Instagram photos to her various social media sites while singing "I'm Alone" and batting her lashes all the while.
"I'm Alone" is one of the most difficult songs to forget on Sees The Light, and that could be because you may have heard a song that sounds just like it from a different "musician." I put the word musician in quotes because I hate the "I'm Awkward and Quirky" "Zooey Deschanel" more than all of the world's evils combine (and because you can't see the fervor with which I am air-quoting all that is associated with "Zooey Deschanel"). No but really, I think she's a robot.
Listen to the theme song for her dumb show about being that awkward girl
everyone loves to hate because she's just so cute and silly! And tell
me they don't sound pretty similar, except Zooey is Satan reincarnate.
IN CONCLUSION, Sees The Light is a pretty mellow, low-key album that gets better the more you listen to it. It's hard to appreciate its greatness the first time through, in fact, you might decide it's too boring for your taste on the first go-around, but I can assure you that with just the right amount of time and thoughtful consideration, you'll be humming her hooks in no time. Here's "It's Over Now." Enjoy, you sappy bastard.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Listen to vinyl...or die.
Before I start expounding upon the many reasons why listening to vinyl is best way to enjoy music, I want to clear up a common misconception many of you (out there in the blog-o-sphere) might have about the types of people who listen to records, vinyl, LPs, EPs, 7"s, 12"s – whatever you want to call them. It's true, listening to records might seem like a fad, and the fact that Urban Outfitters now sells vinyl doesn't really help the case for that at all, but I'm here to tell you that there are legitimate reasons for listening to records over mp3s, CDs, cassettes, and virtually any other form of music-listening you can think of with the exception of a live performance.
 |
| Hipster kitty gets me every time. |
Monday, April 16, 2012
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)