the oh so quiet show

Feist – The Reminder

I should’ve gotten Feist’s “The Reminder” earlier. Like when it first came out in May.

But I’m slow. So I have it now. And I really like it. I listened to it while passing through the swampy marshy crap in the Meadowlands under a murky sky that looked as though it were about to barf rain, yet it all looked pretty while listening to Feist. SHE IS DRUGGING ME, THAT’S WHAT, OMG.

Nah, not drugs. Just prettiness. Here are two examples of the prettiness:

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Feist – So Sorry

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Feist – How My Heart Behaves

I suppose I could post some lyrics that I really like, but …lyrics don’t usually mean a great deal to me unless I can relate to them. And I suppose they wouldn’t mean a great deal to you either unless you had some connection to them. And these lyrics are kind of depressing, so nevermind.

Actually, I like this bit from “So Sorry”:

We’re so helpless
We’re slaves to our impulses
We’re afraid of our emotions
And no one knows where the shore is
We’re divided by the ocean
And the only thing I know is
That the answer isn’t for us
No the answer isn’t for us

Mild depression may be abated by watching Charlie the Unicorn. Enjoy:

If you didn’t watch it in its entirety (and you know who you are, NO HIDING)…you should. There’s a really catchy song at around the 2:30 mark. Why deny yourself of such joy? Whyyy?

Closer…to Cooper Union?

It’s mainly Fran’s voice that makes me smile, but the whole band is…pretty important, last time I checked. So! Travis makes me smile. Watch the video for Closer, the first single off their upcoming album, The Boy With No Name coming out on May 10th [via torr]:

My thoughts while watching the video:

• Supermarket…oookay…
• Damn, I really don’t want to work in a supermarket. Again. (My first job was bagging at Stop & Shop in high school)
• Fran…is a giant chipmunk? This is a weird supermarket.
• …This song is very pretty.
• Aw, everyone is like, HAPPY AND STUFF, and full of so much joy, they have forgotten the suckiness of being in a supermarket!!! Fran’s singing heals all emotional wounds. Wow.
• Fran is sweeping his arms around. Why that makes me happy, I don’t know.
• CAMEO, OH DEAR GOD.
• Aha…pwnd.
• Muzak kills everything.
• Kissing between random young peeps feels oddly serious for me. Should’ve just stuck with hugging. Yay! Hugs!
• I want a happy hug.
• …Now I am filled with sadness.

I didn’t say they were deep thoughts or anything.

Most of Travis’s videos are great, not in the groundbreaking sense but in the “it will make you smile and maybe laugh a bit” sense. Which is good for those times when you realize life sucks. …Which is most of the time. Especially when, after listening to this song, I thought about who I have in my life that I wouldn’t mind leaning on. Or rather, wouldn’t mind me leaning on them and crushing them with my lead-like density (yes, I’m thinking of the physical sense of leaning on someone, not the…I dunno, mental lean-age). And there are very few people who fit that description. It’s possible that I could gain more of these people, but I think I’m more likely to lose the ones I have now.

…

In conclusion, woo Travis!

Janet sent out a mass email asking if any of us wanted to see Peter Bjorn & John at Mercury Lounge on January 29th or 30th.

Um…hell yeah?

ow, my eyes

Annnnd thus I am inspired to write about the PB&J concert I went to nearly two weeks ago. (I’ve been a bit busy/lazy lately. It’s finals week and I somehow need to not fail things while say goodbye to people and eat as much in Paris as possible and buy a million gifts and blah blah blah, not that I’m complaining or anything considering that when I walk out of my apartment and turn left I have a full-on view of the Eiffel Tower.)

I disappointingly took very few trips for someone who is studying abroad for one semester, but I managed to plan a weekend trip to London that coincided with the concert. Which was great because there were no concerts I wanted to go to in Paris (or by the time I found out I wanted to go, it was too late).

twinkly

After wandering around under the depressingly early sun-less sky, I met up with my awesome host/longtime Internet friend Leanne, ate a burger for the first time in months, and we both made our way through the chilly weather to ULU.

Peter

Standing in the venue was the most New York City-esque experience I had since leaving NYC. Being squished up against the stage reminded me of the Bowery Ballroom, except…smaller. With additional legal cigarette smoke. And with everyone speaking English.

Bjorn, Peter

I was most struck by how differently they played their songs live as opposed to on the album. Not that they replaced their instruments with chainsaws or anything like that, but…ye know, more noticably different than live performances of other live artists. Either I was really tired, or they made some of their songs longer. Or maybe some songs just feel long, like one of my favorites:

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Peter Bjorn & John – The Chills

It feels endless to me, but it’s only 3 minutes and 50 seconds long. Uh. Maybe it’s just my inherent lethargy.

Victoria, Peter

Victoria Bergsman came out in some ridiculously cute purple dress + vest outfit (you will rarely ever hear me comment on people’s clothing; I usually don’t give a crap) to sing her part for “Young Folks” while Peter did some furious shaker shaking. This song was obviously everyone’s favorite song.

Bjorn, John

Oh yeah, there are other members of the band; I just didn’t get good photos of them. Although Peter and Bjorn did the most talking, John did randomly get a few words in, which were somehow the only words that stuck in my head. He mentioned that the band usually ate Thai food, but went for Japanese food that night instead, consisting of some fish on rice thing. I didn’t get the impression from his nonchalant manner that he was trying to be funny; there was just…something funny about it. The randomness.

The setlist went something like:

* Let’s Call It Off
* See Through
* The Chills
* Paris 2004
* Far Away, By My Size
* Start to Melt
* Big Black Coffin
* Amsterdam
* Young Folks
* Objects of My Affection
* Up Against the Wall

…not including the possibly 4 songs during the encore.

I know this is one of the least enthusiastic reviews one could possibly write, but I really did enjoy the concert aside from the subsequent stench of smoke in my clothing. That night I ended up going to sleep much earlier than usual if it’s any testament to my tired-ness.

I think $15 is alright for their Mercury Lounge show. WHY MUST YOU WHINE? The London show was 10 pounds, aka almost $20. Yes, that exchange rate makes my eyes bleed too. The only souvenirs I brought back from London were four packs of biscuits and a Cadbury advent calendar.

— update-ish —

The Mercury Lounge shows seem to have sold out already. Oooops.

I’m supposed to be studying for my computer programming final that will kick my butt in less than 12 hours, but…

[beep boop] BEGIN PROCRASTINATION TIME [beep boop]

Loney, Dear

I don’t remember whether I talked about Loney, Dear before, but judging from the infrequency of my posts, I’m going to assume, “not so much.” Here is a song that I quite like from Solonge:

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Loney, Dear – I Lose It All

Oh, am I supposed to convince you to download this song? Besides, “Because I like it”? Well…

bun bun

BECAUSE BUNNY SAYS SO. You can’t resist the bunny. Do as bunny says. Bun bun bun.

(Where did bunny come from? My housemate got her as a gift for our homestay family. I told her it wasn’t a good idea, but my god, this bunny melts our icy cold hearts with fluffy fluffness goo. It’s sick.)

[beep boop] END PROCRASTINATION TIME [beep boop]

Too lazy to write a real entry. This will be short ‘n sweet.

The Mary Onettes

Inspired by guitar pop from the 80’s and indie bands from the 90’s they sound like a Swedish relative to Echo & The Bunnymen, New Order och The Jesus and Mary Chain from the future.

…OKAY.

Why am I obsessed with this song?

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The Mary Onettes – Lost

Their only release so far is a 4-track EP on Labrador. You can listen to 75% of it on their myspace page.

I have no idea why, but I’m semi addicted to this song by The Shins:

The Shins – Sleeping Lessons [removed]

…Which means I may get sick of it soon. Hm. I hope not. Their upcoming album, “Wincing the Night Away”, doesn’t come out for another three months, which I didn’t know when I came across it. [cough] It’s the first album by them that I’ve really liked; maybe I should listen to the older ones again.

“WE ARE BROOKLYN AND WE POP REAL FUCKING HARD”

Brooklyn is a band from Paris who sings songs in English. Of course, if you were from Brooklyn you probably wouldn’t call your band Brooklyn. But. I find it amusing anyway. A bunch of people in Brooklyn should form a band called Paris and sing in French to complete the circle.

[via blogotheque]

Even though a part of me thinks myspace is a virtual bucket of ugly crap, I turn to it as the easiest way to listen to music that I otherwise can’t find. “Huuh, their official website doesn’t have any media, but surely they have a myspace with songs.” This works out most of the time…as long as myspace is working (which happens every now and then). Here are some bands with short descriptions:

Port Largo

Port Largo (myspace): Danish, synth-rock-pop, kinda reminds me of Mew/Sigur Ros…because of somewhat unintelligible high-pitched singing. You know the type. Favorite song: “Another State of Mind”

The Ballet

The Ballet (myspace): New York, indie-pop/”Belle & Sebastian after too much cotton candy” (–Logo), bleepy keyboard and clappy drum machine lines, lovingly handcrafted album (sold out). Favorite song: “In My Head”

Kunek

Kunek (myspace): Oklahoma, atmospoheric, sad, delicate, kinda-reminds-me-of-Coldplay (hope that’s alright). Favorite song: “A Sign of Life”

One Trick Pony

One Trick Pony (myspace): Los Angeles, kinda reminds of Sondre Lerche, but I don’t know why. Is it the croon-y voice? Sorry, that wasn’t much of a description, I’m too lazy. Favorite song: “Box Song”

Hooray for Earth

Hooray for Earth (myspace): Boston, synth-y pop rock, and their name is HOORAY FOR EARTH, which might be the main reason I’m mentioning them because this isn’t exactly my kind of leisure listening music. Favorite song: “Take Care”

rejected title: “random people in the woods”

I really like Midlake’s new-ish album, The Trials of Van Occupanther. That doesn’t mean you’ll like it. But you might. Aren’t you curious now? Huh? [poke poke]

…

Yup, I lost any ability to actually describe music, but that’s what myspace is for. It lets you listen to stuff! Wow! I’ve uploaded a lovely mp3 too, if that helps:

Midlake – Branches [removed]

“Branches” is the song where I think Tim Smith sounds very freakishly like Thom Yorke. It’s not good or bad, unless Thom Yorke’s voice triggers a self-destruct command in your brain and you nonchalantly listen to Midlake thinking, “Oh, this won’t make me explode,” but then it does, and you can’t do anything about it because you’re dead.

It happens.

My favorite song from the album so far is “Young Bride”. The music video adds to its beauty:

I listened to it two days ago while driving/hydroplaning down Route 4 in the “likely to cause deathly collisions” downpour. Fun times!

I don’t know what it is either

Midlake’s first album Bamnan and Silvercork is playful and sunshine-happy compared to the mellowed-out TTVO. It’s kinda like freshman year versus senior year of college: “Yaay, I’m in college, all carefree and stuff! / Oh crap, I have to find a real job and make money and be all serious and worry about making my life less doomful.” It’s just like that….but in music form. Maybe.

This music video for Guster’s “One Man Wrecking Machine” explodes with so much cuteness that I think I need a puke bucket.

Yes, little yellow buddy, you move those nubbins like never before! And find love while you’re at it.

…I lurve youuuu, yelllow doooood!

(Monsters courtesy of Monster Factory, which is also blindingly cute.)

not the entrance, actually

Last night I impulsively went to Maxwell’s to see Midlake. I rarely go to concerts at the last minute…by myself…in Hoboken. But all those things had to be done. Besides, it was the last day for me to use my unlimited train ticket to Hoboken. Of course, there was also that nagging feeling in my gut that said “You want to see Midlake”, despite that I still don’t have any of their albums and have based my large interest in them in the handful of songs I’ve found on the Internet. The gut refuses to be ignored.

stage and bar

I hadn’t been to Maxwell’s before (years ago my mum would tell me that it’s a dangerous place and going there would spell my doom…and I think she still has that idea despite that I told her, “I think it’s different now; they have Coldstone and Panera Bread, and I didn’t get mugged”) so I didn’t know how small the performance area was. Well. It’s small. And intimate. There are steps to sit on along one side of the room. I like it.

Midlake

Midlake started with “Van Occupanther” while an animated movie starring the yellow dude on their album cover played in the background. Odd, but a good odd. The movie for “Bandits” was more straightforward, featuring a bunch of robbers invading a rich guy’s home and then getting beat up, or beating each other up in addition to running through tunnels. You have to see it for yourself though because my description is horrible and makes it sound like a weird action movie when it’s…not.

Midlake

Clips of period films provided a perfect backdrop to their songs. Don’t ask me how; it just worked. One of my favorites, “Young Bride”, has it’s own movie-like video that adds to the song’s beauty:

It has a slow, natural and graceful feel to it that puts me at ease, as opposed to thinking, “GO FASTER, DAMMIT.” I think the high lilting level of the song gets to me. Enters my brain. Makes it gooey. It’s a nice feeling–you should try it. Tim Smith’s voice gives me the feeling of softly fluffy clouds and Thom Yorke. What does that mean? A happier, softer Thom? Of course, that’s just my opinion and it probably doesn’t make much sense to anyone else. (For instance, if soft fluffy clouds attacked you as a child, you wouldn’t find them very comforting.)

They played for about 45 minutes before clearing the stage of their mountains of equipment for Cold War Kids. I wish they played longer, but there isn’t much you can do about that when you’re first to play out of three bands. Or perhaps I could learn to make time bend to my will. Yes, that’s it. Opening bands I like will play longer and I will convert 4 hours of sleep into 10 hours of sleep.

hand waving time

I didn’t know much about Cold War Kids, but I must’ve been one of the few as the room became more tightly packed and people, especially of the female persuasion, smooshed up front for an optimal view of the craziness going onstage. Quite the opposite of Midlake, the members of CWK spasmed around the small stage as much as they could while putting all their energy into the performance as sweat rolled down their faces (the bassist’s at least; like a leaky faucet, yes!) without missing a beat. While their music isn’t the kind I’d leisurely listen to (the kind being blues/soul/etc kind of rock, correct-me-if-I’m-wrong), they’re fun to watch live and even got me, the kind of person who’s nearly imcapable of coordinating body movements to any kind of meat, moving. Barely. But it still counts.

blur

They move around a lot, as you can see. Lots of smashing into one another, yet miraculously not resulting in any bodily harm. Like controlled haphazardness. Cool.

I left right before they were going to play their final song and before Sound Team could come on since I wanted to go home and rest for a smidge before repeating the next day’s life processes (and I mainly went for Midlake anyway). For a more detailed account of the Midlake/Cold War Kids experience, read Music Snobbery’s review.

The other title for this entry was “Endless sweating”, but that’s kind of gross.

endless people?

The sun didn’t keep people away from this week’s Pool Party with headliner Of Montreal. The other performers were Asobi Seksu, Irving and Enon. I was mainly interested in Asobi Seksu and Of Montreal, which left a lot of time in between to bake and unintentionally bathe myself in my own sweat.

makeshift pool

You could cool off in this accidental puddle (or the slip-n-slide in the back).

ice cream

Or by eating Ben & Jerry’s. I wouldn’t normally go for a small $3 cup of cookies and cream, but I wasn’t hungry for anything else. Besides liquids.

Asobi Seksu

Irving

I liked Asobi Seksu most out of the first three bands, but that’s probably because I’m most familiar with their music. I don’t have much to say about Irving or Enon besides that they played and…I watched. I’m just glad that no one died in a pool of their own sweat.

Of Montreal

The members of Of Montreal came out waving home-made flags before Kevin Barnes appeared in his stylin’ green miniskirt, ruffled red shirt and red high-heeled, thigh-high boots. Good lord. He changed outfits two more times during the show. Because he is just that awesome.

the sunglasses make sense, but the hat?

I don’t remember the setlist, but I remember them playing “Old People in the Cemetery” in particular because…it’s a song about old people in a cemetery. It’s funny, in case you haven’t heard it before. They played at least new song from their upcoming album…of course, I have no clue what it was. At some point Kevin pointed out that there was a fork on the wall. I liked that. (But why is there a fork on the wall?) The set ended with a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” for an encore.

Aside from the heat and feeling more like a sponge than a human, it was a fun day. The event seemed well organized to me, although I heard that there wasn’t enough water. (After the show there were definitely enough empty water bottles strewn about the pool floor to give someone who likes recycling a bit of moolah.) I’m pretty sure that the beer line wasn’t as scary as at the Bloc Party show, which resembled the DMV. On a bad day.

this pool is too big

I got to McCarren pool yesterday at around 5:45 to see Mew. On the walk from the subway station, we ran into other concert-goers.

“Who are you here to see?” asked CJ innocently.

“Secret Machines and Bloc Party.”

“Annd…what about the opener?”

“Oh no, I don’t care about them.”

“WHAT, I’M GONNA RAISE SOME HELL!” At which point CJ’s eyes shot laser beams.

…Okay, the exchange didn’t happen exactly like that. But I could read CJ’s mind. Lasers, I say.

they’re so tiny

Mew came on at around 6:30 and proceeded to make some people very happy for the next…30 minutes. Yes, I know openers don’t get a lot of stage time, but it’s still a shame. The sound was surprisingly good. Jonas’s voice was as clear as on the album, but better since you could see where the sound was coming from. That little guy on stage, eyes closed, hair being wisped by the wind, standing almost perfectly still, but in a natural way, not rigid. Jonas would go from singing softly enough to put a baby to sleep (and looking like a sleeping baby at the same time) to opening his mouth to Totoro-like proportions and holding out a high note of other wordly pitch and clarity.

so..far…

The setlist:

* Circuitry of the Wolf
* Chinaberry Tree
* Amy I Wry? No
* 156 (or was it something else?)
* Special
* Comforting Sounds

Comforting Sounds is one of the first Mew songs I ever heard and is still one of my favorite songs out of…all songs. Beautiful enough to make me cry, if I felt like it. (No song has every actually made me cry, but sometimes you get the feeling. Yes? Especially when it’s live.) The music video is great:

Download the song:

Comforting Sounds (Frengers version)
Comforting Sounds (Half the World is Watching Me version)

The performance felt peaceful even while being surrounded by a bunch of tall average-sized people and craning my neck every now and then for a better view (overall, I thought the crowd was good. There were either a lot of Mew fans or a lot of Mew fans in-the-making). I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like at Hiro Ballroom in a dark room…hell, in a room. Since some of my friends had to leave early and I figured I already experienced the best part of the concert (for me, at least), I left as Secret Machines started to play. After I got home three hours later (important note: 1 hour isn’t enough time to get from the pool to catch a train in Hoboken), I’m still Mew-happy and feeding their songs into my brain.

More photos:

jen c
baonguyen
tammylo
ewanian
thisismecl
Parka9898
bluberd

—

On a random (but still Mew-related) note, after wondering who sang the other part in “Symmetry” (one of my favorite songs!…damn, there are a lot of “favorites”), but never actually looking it up, I found out that the source is a 13 year old Becky Jarrett. Her story is sweet:

When I was 11, I decided to get on a music chat line to talk to other Hanson fans (yes I use to like Hanson). I asked,” Does anyone listen to Hanson?” and I received a private message saying ” no, but what other music do you listen to?” Little did I know that it was the lead singer for the band Mew. We chatted for a while and exchanged email addresses so that we could keep in touch. I sent Jonas some videos of me singing and he decided that he wanted me to sing a song called “Symmetry” on their upcoming album. So of course I was so excited! My mom and I flew to Copenhagen, Denmark in July of 1999 (I was 13) to meet Mew and record “Symmetry”. It was such a great experience and all the guys were super nice!

Interesting way to find a vocalist, but it worked out. For some reason I didn’t think the singer was actually a young teenager, despite that she sounded like one. I may as well upload these songs too, eh?

Symmetry (Half the World is Watching Me version)
Symmetry (Half the World is Watching Me version)

You know, you should just buy Frengers. I love And The Glass Handed Kites, but not nearly as much as Frengers. God knows why it hasn’t been released in the US by now.

Mew may be touring in the US again this fall. Hopefully as headliners. I miss them already.

—

Update (8/2):

Video of Comforting Sounds from ewanian:

Judging from other people’s reactions, Mew’s show on Wednesday night was awesome. Not that I expected anything else. I figure that tomorrow’s show opening for Bloc Party will not be as awesome. It will most likely be shorter, sunnier, and hotter. But I’m still very muchly excited.

Dedicated Japanese Mew fan no snow rounded up lots of photos and reviews.

taken by newstreamer

Flickred:

blueberd
metal guru
newstreamer
marcymakesaparty
irockiroll

Video (by slidesong):

Update: Another video by marcystuckinjersey:

Reviews:

brooklynvegan
Central Village
JANEMAG
musicsnobbery
cmj blog
the trip wire
Official Mew Forum topic
Sound Bites

Setlist (plus CJ’s excited comments):

* Special
* Shelter….Swanky
* Am I Wry? No…156
* White Lips Kissed
* She Came Home for Christmas
* Apocalypso….Saviors of JAZZBALLET! (WHAT!?)
* Snow Brigade….Zookeepers Boy
* Louise Louisa
Encore:
* Comforting Sounds (AWESOME!)

“They actually were supposed to play SheSpider but Jonas told me that they were running too long (70+ minutes). ”

There was an after-party at The Annex.

ONE MORE DAY UNTIL…TOMORROW!

my god, they glow!

It’s probably more like “cute song of the week/month”considering how much I update this thing. Today I became attached to Midlake’s happy lazy feeling twinkly song, Balloon Maker from their album Bamnan and Slivercork. You can listen to/download it on their myspace page. It will fill you with warm fuzzies. And bleeps. It might also make you feel like drawing ginormous bouncing bright-eyed wide-mouthed grinning faces…or maybe that’s just me. (Probably just me.)

Get the faces out of my head, good lord…so smiley…

I have no idea what’s going on

Midlake’s latest album, The Trials Of Van Occupanther, just came out yesterday. You can listen to it at AOL Music.

no rainbows, just grayscale

Upon first listen, I would’ve never guessed that The Hourly Radio hailed from Dallas, Texas. Then again, I’m not sure what bands from Dallas sound like. At least one of them sounds like this:

[video courtesy of Torr]

I could toss out a bunch of words to describe what they sound like, but you can more easily listen to the album in this handy ecard for their debut album, History Will Never Hold Me. And that is easier because I don’t know what to say. The things that stood out to me were 1) I do not love any one song, but I like all of them enough to listen to the album repeatedly and not feel compelled to skip anything and 2) the lead singer Aaron’s voice is…crisp…y.

Crispy? No, not like fried chicken. I went through my meager vocabular and somehow came up with “crispy”. “Warbly” is another. But it’s not always warbly and it’s not always crispy. A press release describes it as a “yearning high tenor”…yearny! It’s yearny. After a few listens, I grew to like it.

I should’ve stopped writing two paragraphs ago.

Related links:

The Hourly Radio on You Tube
…and on Myspace!
…and they have a blog!

[On a very unrelated note, my primary exposure to Dallas is through dallasfood.org, which gives me the impression that 99% of the food comes in the form of marginally edible chicken-fried steak.]

If I weren’t so lazy, I would see Ian Love perform at Knitting Factory tonight. Or rather, if I lived in my old dorm, I would just pony up the $8 and walk over, as opposed to driving, taking the train, taking the path, taking the subway, and then walking.

Ah well, there are worse things. Like lung congestion.

Like I said before, I did buy Ian Love’s album after sample a few songs on his myspage page–it’s easily become one of my favorite albums of the year. Beautiful, sweet songs, somehow energetic and relaxing at the same time. I feel like I could lie around and do nothing all day whlie listening to this album. …Although I guess even without the music I’d feel like doing that. (I’m doing laundry and editing websites right now, mmkay? Multi-tasking!)

I like every song on the album. But I do have a favorite.

Ian Love – Black Diamonds [removed]

The last minute makes me happiest. Nothing like, “And you’ve lost control and have got no hope / You’ve got no hope” to raise your spirits. I’m not joking. He sounds so exuberant that it makes me feel optimistic about my impending doom. Life is just slow death, so you may as well be happy about it. I am prancing around…on the inside.

He’s playing a free show at Punkslope/Bar 4 on Thursday, July 20th. DOESN’T GET MUCH BETTER THAN FREE!

This site died for a while. :’(

But now it’s back!

…I don’t blame ya if you didn’t notice.

the trees are attacking

I have a problem with Band of Horses’s Everything All The Time; it’s too short. In the past week, I’ve listened to it straight through about…[counts in fingers]…jagillion times. Yes, I know that’s not a real number.

I’m not sure why I like them so much, but it’s kind of rare that I enjoy something to such a high degree all the way through. So what do Band of Horses sound like? Uh. Um. Kind of like “The Shins”:http://www.theshins.com/, but not. Sometimes shouty, sometimes soft. Lots of echoing. Possibly grating, high pitches that I happen to enjoy. Happy. Sad. Swirly. Sweet.

It’s got guitars and stuff, if that helps. Which it doesn’t.

I JUST LIKE EM. To prove my point, I even uploaded mp3s! Just fer youuu:

Band of Horses – Wicked Gil [removed]
Band of Horses – St. Augustine [removed]

For some reason I have listened to Band of Horses over and over again for two days straight. NO SLEEP, JUST MUSIC. Okay, some sleep. I can’t pin down why I like them, as listening to them makes me think about how they sound like other music that I don’t particularly like, but I guess there’s something different about them that I like. Like that their name contains the word “horses”. Yes, that’s it.

…Okay, that’s not it. But I’m not going to describe their music. All I know is that it makes me happy.

Listen to two songs from their album “Everything All the Time” on myspace. I found that myspace isn’t so bad if you only use it to listen to artists who don’t suck or subject you to staring at a page that makes your eyes bleed. The mp3s are also available from sub pop:

Band of Horses – The Funeral
Band of Horses – The Great Salt Lake

They’re playing a few shows in the NYC area soon:

* Friday June 16th: Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
* Saturday June 17th: Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ
* Sunday June 18th: Warsaw, Brooklyn, NY

Figures that when an artist I want to see actually comes by, it’s during a time I can’t go. Mrrh.

Holy crap, it’s a giant kitty. Check out Grandaddy’s video for Where I’m Anymore. This groundbreaking method of “biking around with a video camera and a cat statue and singing to oneself” also has a behind the scenes video. Awesome? No—it’s…awesome³ . Listen to more songs from “Just Like the Fambly Cat” on myspace.

Although I went by Other Music last night for Jason Lytle’s performance, it took my friends and me a little too long to eat dinner, resulting in the lack of punctuality. Crap. And then my friend who agreed to tag along didn’t feel like waiting, meaning that I didn’t either since we both live far away and were suffering from “sleepy brain syndrome”. If only the store were a bit larger, perhaps we could’ve easily smooshed in. Of course, I suck for not sticking around or failing to eat more quickly.

The Music Slut has some nice words and photos of the performance. She also asks if women hate Grandaddy. NOOOOOOO! I made a friend listen to them two days ago and she liked em! Yeah, one down, only a gajillion to go. Actually, I first got into Grandaddy a few years ago when one of my friends of the female sort put “The Crystal Lake” on a mix CD for me. And then a few albums later I found out I liked…all their songs. I can’t believe the crowd was so highly testosteroned though. The only time I’ve been in a crowd of almost no women was at the 8-bit music thing, which kinda made sense because geeky game people tend to be male. Can’t really argue with that.

Jason’s voice is kind of odd—sometimes whiny, sometimes very sweet, usually soft, kind of lilty. I find it cozy and comforting. Like blankets.

BV has provided the latest Bloc Party / Secret Machines / Mew tour info. The more I listen to Mew, the more I think “…God dammit, we need a tour of JUST Mew.”

Oh well. I guess this is close enough. Which means I should try to go to that Irving Plaza show on July 27th (are they playing there?) or the McCarren Pool show on the 29th. Or…the Boston show? IS IT TIME FOR A ROAD TRIP? The last time I went to Boston was to see Beck. In 2000. ‘Twas a while ago…yeah, holy crap, I’m old.

CJ gave me this non-rock-filled alternate version of Mew’s “The Zookeeper’s Boy” recorded at Livingstone Studios. It’s sweet:

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Mew – Zookeeper’s Boy (Livingstone Version)