The fabled Magnolia Electric Co. is going on tour to support their new album. You can go so far as to guess that I'm freaking STOKED for this. They'll be here August 4th at the Hi-Dive. Go there.

Here's a track from the new, as of yet unreleased (July 21st), album:
Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine

Here is my favorite MEC song (the original name of the project is "Songs: Ohia"):
Songs: Ohia - Lioness

MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. TOUR DATES:
5/29 Barcelona, Spain - Primavera Sound Festival
7/10 Bloomington, IN @ Russian Recordings *
7/11 Chicago, IL @ Schuba's *
7/12 Chicago, IL @ The Hideout
7/14 Newport, KY @ Southgate House *
7/15 Pittsburgh, PA @ Andy Warhol Museum *
7/16 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk *
7/17 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East *
7/18 Northhampton, MA @ Iron Horse *
7/20 Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
7/21 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 *
7/22 Athens, GA @ 40 Watt *
7/23 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone *
7/24 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves *
7/25 Austin, TX @ Mohawk *
7/27 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culuture *
7/28 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo *
7/29 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill *
7/31 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir *
8/01 Seattle, WA @ Crocodile *
8/03 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge *
8/04 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive *
8/05 Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar *
8/06 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room *
8/07 Minneapolis, MN @ Street Entry *
8/08 Dubuque, IA @ Busted Lift *

* w/ The Donkeys

Math the Band - Don't Worry
My Thoughts: Love More (<3)

Few albums have expertly honed musical energy as well as Math the Band. Resembling the (now) classic stylings of the genre (whichever it may actually be) set up by Adam Goren (read: Atom and His Package), MtB's mastermind Kevin Steinhauser has come out with what I would like to think is his most fun and ridiculous albums to date (though, admittedly, I have exactly 0 of his first few CDRs). A little short for my taste, but when that is one of two downsides about an album, one can't complain too much.

Don't Worry is, from start to finish, a caffeine high blast of synth notes over hardcore, gritty, low-volume guitars, sextacular bass lines, and body rocking drum beats. I'm not sure how much influence the addition of the new members has had on the songwriting, but I for one think the music by Math the Band has never sounded more full and engaging.

Like I said, there were two downsides to the album, one being that it's rather short. The other is the first and last track tend to drag on a bit. They both repeat the last line about twelve times or more, and after about four I'm usually changing the song.

But, again, when these are my issues with an album, I can't say I'm too unhappy with it. Nicely done Keven + teammates.

Math the Band - Why Didn't You Get a Haircut?
Math the Band - Almost! (removed by request)

hey everyone. I'm moving at the end of the week, so this week and next will be sparse. but then I'll be knee deep in reviews and everything. all right!

I'm gonna go see Kevin Devine tonight at the Marquis. What a strange show for the Marquis. Maybe. C-ya there? Hopefully :) I'll talk bout it tomorrowz

Monolith 09

So the only thing to plan for in the late summer in Colorado, otherwise known as the Monolith Music Festival (maybe you've heard me mention it once or twice?) has started to announce the artists who've signed up to play. They're announcing it in a rather peculiar way though: one at a time, every couple of hours, at about 3 per day. They're doing it though their facebook profile and their twitter account. Very interesting way of going about it, if anything. here's the line up so far:

Thunderheist
Frightened Rabbit
The Walkmen
HEALTH ***************************
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Method Man & Redman
Speakeasy Tiger (Denver's own)
Thao with The Get Down Stay Down ***************************
Girl Talk ***************************
Starfucker

my friend Caleb told me about this

One For the Team - Build a Garden EP
My Thoughts: Like ()

I was unfamiliar with One For the Team until only recently when they did a Daytrotter session, and, after picking up their new EP, I do have to say I think these guys are simply wonderful. Catchy, simple, and summery, Build a Garden has this "around the campfire" feeling to it that cannot be denied ... they will simply smile and nod at you, singing louder, until you sing and sway with them. Thing is this is not entirely unenjoyable.

The downfall of some of the ablum is that the campfire motif doesn't really translate well to the album world, because we, well ... I, want something different than the last song (as opposed to campfire songs who's purpose is mainly to warm your heart and sing your lungs out), and a couple of the songs kind of feel and sound similar to each other. Luckily, there are only a few songs on the album that are a little interchangeable, but because of the fact that it is an EP, short by nature, it's a little disappointing, considering the strengths of each of the individual songs.

I have only heard this one album and the few songs on the myspace, and I have to say they're very talented, and I think it was very brave of them to branch out and do a bit of an acoustic album, because when artists do the same thing all the time, it gets oooold.

The EP seems to say to me that if I were to fall in love with it, it would always be there for me, and I don't doubt that at all.

One For The Team - Best Suporting Actress
One For The Team - Build a Garden

One For The Team will be at the Hi-Dive tonight! 8PM! Take this chance to hear this album the way it ought to be heard. Live! learn the key songs now so you can sing along :)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
My Thoughts: Love More (<3)

I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now. Whenever I listen to the album I undeniably have a good time, but whenever I think about listening to the album, or think about the album at all (when it’s not currently playing), I’m reminded of the fact that it’s an album by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that doesn’t really have any heavy, crazy bits to it. Regardless of the fact that I’ve heard the album dozens of times now and, every time, loved it, I find myself question whether or not it really worked, whether or not the album was good or if I just wanted it to be good so bad that I keep tricking myself into thinking it is.

Craziness, I know. It’s like I’m afraid to listen to it again because I’m afraid I’ll actually find that one thing about it that I’m afraid is lingering below the surface that, one I find it, I’ll hate the album. Well screw my awkward subconscious, this album freaking rocks.

It is comparable to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ older albums only in style and sassiness, but apart from that, it’s a hecka stretch for someone unfamiliar with Karen O’s vocals to believe that it’s the same band. All that said, I feel that, again, I must submit that this album rocks.

There are low, unassuming synth lines throughout, and jazzy but raw drum beats all accompanied by the endlessly familiar sassy vocals (too much sass to keep me from mentioning it twice, wow!). There are occasional ball blasting heavily distorted guitar, possibly bass, lines that are safely hidden in the back most the album, but have a couple moments where they surface and blast away all previous thoughts of what one thought was awesome.

This is not the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that we’ve all come to know and love, it’s another side of them that they were afraid to show us earlier, but, now that we’ve gotten to know them a little better, and we’ve been together for a while now, they feel safe in letting us know that they are more than that raw, frantic band that we see on the surface, that they have this softer, but just as harsh, inside that, once we get to know it, they’re sure will make us love them even more.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Runaway
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Dull Life (most like the YYY we have previously seen)

Silversun Pickups - Swoon
My Thoughts: Like ()

Silversun Pickups’ new album is probably on my list of most perplexing releases of ’09 so far. I had only listened to their last album and EP once each, and neither of them really struck me, save for the obvious blockbuster “Lazy Eye.” But I had to go back and see if they had sounded the way they do now. The answer I came to is “kind of.”

I needed to do this searching because, on the new album, Silversun Pickups are invoking a great deal of other musicians from an array of genres. It sounds like “Bad” era Michael Jackson got “Bleed America” era Jimmy Eat World with Head from KoRn to cover My Bloody Valentine songs, all produced by Xiu Xiu’s producer. What all that means is that the vocals (very) occasionally sound like MJ, the rhythm and flow to the songs are occasionally comparable to the way Bleed America makes you feel, and the drums sound very much, to me anyway, like the way Xiu Xiu likes their drums. The MBV part is speaking to the idea that it sounds heeeeeavy and distorted. The KoRn part is tricky.

I think, and this is a bold statement, but I stand by it, that Silversun Pickups inadvertently made a N-Metal album. I don’t think their song writing style has changed in any way, I think that they finally had the time and financial backing to make their instruments sound they way they wanted them to, which is really heavy and distorted and blown out, something I would argue is something that they’ve been searching for this whole time. The thing I don’t think they realized was they by doing so, with their current style and leanings toward melodrama, they’re going to sound an awful lot like they might be able to go on tour with bands like KoRn or Evanescence. They got a whole heck of a lot of exposure very quickly off of their one, admittedly, amazing song, and I really don’t think it went to their head. I think it put them in a situation that was all to common in the 1980’s: they all of a sudden had all these resources about them, so they just turned them all on and said “go.”

I say inadvertently, but I might just want to believe that they wouldn’t have done some of these things on purpose. The fact that the song “Growing Old Is Getting Old” is on this album really makes me think that they had good intentions. That’s because GOIGO is a freaking awesome song. It’s this album’s “Lazy Eye,” in more ways than one. It has a similar structure to LE, in that it’s pretty calm most the way through, then near the end it explodes. It would feel tedious if they did it all the time, but I’m a little worried that these are the only type of songs I really like by them. I mean, Pikul was one heck of a promising EP, it really is (I recommend listening to it), but other than they have kind of lost me.

All that said, I feel like Swoon shows a lot of promise, because the songs are really bad songs, but because of my stupid bias against things from the N-Metal era (as guilty as I am for having purchased one or two albums by bands at that time), I can’t see past the similarities to really let the album grasp me. I feel like a lot of people will like it though, because it is a solid album, and I feel that Silversun Pickups will continue to write solid songs, which gives me hope for the future.

Silversun Pickups - Growing Old Is Getting Old
Silversun Pickups - The Royal We (this one is a pretty good example of the things I said above)
Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch

I'll be getting to writing about music later today. for now:

I'm off to sell my books. take that college.

posts next week. oh my gosh

today ends the first day of (hopefully) the last finals week I have to go through. I'm saying I'll be preoccupied this week. after that, I guess life starts?

anyone have any career ideas?