We’re a little late this week (again). I know we’ve promise to get our act together before, but the lure of the summer sun proved too strong this weekend. Anyway, here’s what caught our eye last week.
Attention: garage rock supergroup Almighty Defenders are releasing their album on September 22, clear a spot on your Year’s Best Records list now.
Pure Groove has exclusive rights to the new Cymbals Eat Guitars 7″ - buy low sell high!
Total bummer - Sub Pop announces Oxford Collapse break-up. “In Your Volcano” and “Please Visit Your National Parks” were some killer tunes.
A mildly famous pop star passed away…
Slate’s Seth Stevenson takes the Black Eyed Peas to task and questions the notion (or lack thereof) of selling out in the modern age.
In what we are hoping to become a regular feature, here is our first installment of 12 minutes. The concept - find 4 music videos (4 videos x 3minutes [approx.] = 12 minutes) and aggregate them here for you. These videos may be old, they may be new, they maybe live, but they probably won’t be the video for “Thriller.”
Pixies - Plant of Sound (Live on 120 Minutes)
I guess since we sort of owe MTV for the name, we should pay them some sort of homage. Anyhow, back in the day, if you were were willing to stay up late and sacrafice your weekend, there was plenty of good music to be found on MTV : 120 Minutes, Alternative Nation, Headbangers Ball, etc. This aired in 1991 — MTV’s video highlights for that year included Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but also Gerardo’s “Rico Suave” and Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up.” So with the good comes the bad(d). A few years down the road a Bouncing Souls album would be final piece in the puzzle that led to me eschewing MTV altogether. For every Toni Braxton video I didn’t have to hear 100x, there was also some cool Sonic Youth video that I missed altogether, and that’s kind of a bummer.
MENEGUAR - Some Other Life
Woods are getting a lot of love right now for their current record Songs of Shame, but lets not forget about the members’ other efforts in Meneguar. Hooray lo-fi pop!
Wu-Tang Clan - Gravel Pit
It’s offically summer now (or at least I think it is), anyhow that said there is the need for some good windows down jams, that kick off epic road trips or random ice crem runs. For that, we turn to Bobby Boulders, Joe Quarry, Old Dirty Blocks and crew, who have been turning it out since 2,000,000 B.C.
Felt - Early Mornin’ Tony
Felt is Atmosphere (Slug and Ant) + MURS, talking about stuff they are into (comic books, skateboards) and where things go amiss for them (everytime they’re around women). Ant (aka Anthony aka the dude who produces the beats for all of the Atmostphere records) looks like he should be registered under Megan’s Law.
Look, I know you probably don’t need my review of this album. On the other hand, I don’t care, and feel like I need to discuss this, so you’re stuck with me. Most of you already know what you’re going to get out of Grizzly Bear. In the off chance that you’ve been living in a hole that doesn’t get exposed to good music, or maybe you’ve been putting off getting this, wait no longer.
Sure this is more expertly crafted pop music, but there just seems to be something extra. Veckatimest makes you feel like you’re sitting in on everything coming together for these guys. Listening to this gives me the same feeling I got when I first listened to Oh Inverted World by The Shins. It’s that almost undefinable feeling that you’re listening to something that’s going to define a certain band…if that makes any sense at all.
The best thing about the whole album is from open to finish it sounds fresh and at the same time familiar and comfortable. Like any other great album it is a band taking ownership of a sound or sounds and putting their stamp on it. From the soaring, and at the same time, intimate opener Southern Point you are welcomed in. You get that feeling that Edward Droste and Co. are singing just to you. Moreover they use classic pop melodies, harmonies, progressions and such to lure you in, and then mix you up with odd tempos and understated yet effective production.
All in all it’s a perfect blend of a musician’s album and a pop album. Get it, get it now. Listen to it first if you must.
