7 hours with the Mars Volta

On Wednesday as I was leaving for class, I decided to listen to nothing but the Mars Volta until I finished listening to their discography (in chronological order, of course)*. Though TMV was one of my favorite bands in years past (especially freshman and sophomore year of high school), I hadn't listened to some of their albums in months and months.

It took me about 7.5 hours of listening to get through the 5 studio albums, ep, and live album that comprise the Mars Volta's discography (in addition, there is live ep, but I haven't snagged it yet). Going back to old favorites was incredibly rewarding. While I won't say that all (or many) of my friends these days would be super-keen on them (i know #johnhashtag isn't), I am a big big fan of the insane drumming of Jon Theodore, the quiet/loud/quiet louds, the over-the-top lyrics, and Omar Rodríguez-López's otherworldly guitar playing. I haven't been able to see them live yet, but I would certainly travel to see them play.

If you haven't listened to the Mars Volta (or if you don't know them from The Zutons), you really ought to give them a try. Also, if you're reading this and are a fan, you should let me know so we can bro down to Tremulant EP.

Concertina (from Tremulant - 2002)

Cygnus Vismund Cygnus (from Frances the Mute - 2005)**


*took me less than two days
*fun fact: my myspace url is myspace.com/cygnusvismundcygnus1251, after this song (and the strokes' 12:51, obvs) .Yes, I had to spell that out for people often.

voxtrot in chicago - 1/14/10

Most every time I get to work, I check the Chicago Reader's Early Warnings page. I don't make it down to chicago that often to catch shows, but it's good to keep up to date on what's going down there. Today's peruse through the newly announced dates proved more fruitful than most: Voxtrot is playing the thursday before winter break is over.

AAAAAH.

So I guess Schuba's does this thing called "The Future Never Knows", which is a five day 'fest' showcasing 'up-and-comers'. Because hey, the future never knows, right?

Anyhow, this year's lineup involves Bowerbirds, Final Fantasy, Voxtrot, Rural Alberta Advantage, and more next-big-things and is being held from January 13-17 at Schuba's and Lincoln Hall.

This is huge for me. Voxtrot really is one of my most favorite bands of all time. In case you haven't acquainted yourself with them, it's never too late. Though their crowning achievements are still their first two eps, the album is great in its own right and the most recent single is very promising.

Voxtrot's show is on thursday the 14th with Solid Gold (who played a deliriously groovy show at the rath this fall) and Gemini Club. See you there.

listen=sleigh bells

ahhhh listen to sleigh bells!

LOUD JAMZ. And they are undeniably some of the loudest and most jammy jams out there right now.

sleigh bells on hypemachine

listen=5 years of hyperdub

hyperdub. fresh sounds.



edit - 10/28/09

glad to see this album get the red flag. one of my favorite compilations of the year (there were a lot of them, weren't there?)--great from getting from place to place to, especially in the dark. If you don't know anything about dubstep this is a fine starting point - the second disc is comprised of classics from the now 5-year-old hyperdub label, and the first is new material.

Chill bros. It's just autumn.

With this week's chilly weather came the apocalypse of the Year of the Summer Jams. Tuesday morning, all 7 inches and cassette tapes and free (or $250) sunglasses produced, bought, and stolen this year were shelved in exchange for stocking caps, mittens, and, I don't know, Björk or Skinny Love or whatever it is that people listen to when it's cold out.

Or not. I never understood/bought into the Summer Jams concept (which doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy a ton of the summer jams themselves). Obviously, unless 'winter' is in the title or something, music can be enjoyed in all seasons. Most has nothing to do with any particular season. Some of the 'Summer Jams' this year didn't explicitly market itself as such, but certainly most of them did.

Real Estate
Beach Fossils
Best Coast
Pearl Harbour
Tanlines
Beachniks
WAVVES
Rainbow Bridge
Washed Out
'deadbeat summer'
Memory/Weird Cassette/Tapes
all of underwater peoples' stuff
lefse records comp
crocodiles' 'summer of hate'
etc etc etc

In mid-July, Patrick emailed me the pitchfork track review of Rainbow Bridge's 'big wave rider' along with part of that list of bands and other musings on the ridiculous nature of this seemingly created-by-blog niche that so many new bands were so eager to create music for. Seems like no one gets it. I wonder what No Age Guy would say about it.

My question is, now that summer's over, what's gonna happen to these bands? Are they going to go into hibernation (serious question)? Is anyone actually going to care less about them now that it's fall? How important was the summery aspect of their music, really? Sure, people are going to listen to Beach Boys more in the summer, but will the same hold true for Neon Indian? When these bands put out new singles this winter, are they going to still be 'summer songs' if they sound the same as ones from June?

What's good, world?

I'm listening to this bootleg from Panda Bear's ATP show on Friday. It is excellent so far- I love the inclusion of Animal Collective tracks that they seem to be done with (live, at least) as a band.





I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Andrew Bird, Wavves+Zach Hill, Low, Collections of Colonies of Bees, Megafaun, Antlers, Atlas Sound, Ganglians, and a whole day to do homework and recover from Ghetto Division. Should be a good time.

I just listened to Ganglians for the first time a few days ago--I thought I had listened to them before but I guess I hadn't. I recommend checking them out. A lot more listenable then most of their psychedelic lo-fi brethren.

I'm also enjoying Kurt Vile. And the Volcano Choir album. Lately I've also been really into making sandwiches and picking up things in my room and putting them in another spot.

Wish HEALTH could have played Club 770.

After the excellently-attended Music Committee kick-off meeting on Thursday, Danielle and I walked to the High Noon to see Ramona Falls. Twas an excellent show. There was a remarkably small crowd (about 25 people tops) but it was an early show, a Thursday, and unfortunately I guess a lot of concert-going folk don't even know the band's frontman's main band Menomena. I didn't myself until prepping for their Chicago show (with White Rabbits, Hollywood Holt, and Mt St Helens Vietnam Band, all for 5 bucks!) that I went to this summer with John, Brigid, Danielle, Will, and Sam. Well, they're both pretty fantastic bands so I recommend checking them out.

bonus traxxx

Fatboy Slim - Praise You (figure rave edit)
Smith Westerns - Imagine, Pt. 3
Fever Ray - Seven (Crookers Remix)

listen=cool jumper

New Wavves track with Zach Hill behind the drums.

GvB says 'haters will continue to hate', but I think that William's ability to crank out tunes post-hype may (hopefully) be a testament to Wavves' longetivity. Somewhere along the line at least some of the haters will have to admit that Wavves has made it further than they'd assumed.

With the variations in Wavves' sound in 'Cool Jumper' and 'Mickey Mouse', I'm pretty excited to see the directions further releases go in. If Nathan goes on tour with Zach, will they play old songs with this new edge?

Wavves - Cool Jumper (at Gorilla vs Bear)