Modern Minstrels

Under the Muck

Nick just pointed me to this highly amusing parody of the "new" Decemberists album, Under the Muck. I could totally see any of the proposed song titles being actual an actual Decemberist song and the guy that actually wrote lyrics and performed the songs did a really good job.

Indie Pop Rocks

I recently discovered the awesome internet radio station SomaFM and specifically the Indie Pop Rocks station (the station is run by a girl named Elise who lives in the Bay Area). You can find the station in iTunes if you go to the Radio item and look under Alt/Modern Rock. They play a great selection of indie music and I highly recommend you check it out.

I've been using Indie Pop Rocks to discover new music, but it's not always convenient to take time out to take note of the current artist and song, especially when I'm listening at work. I need to write a quick little app that will let me type a global hot key and append the artist and song title of the currently playing song to a text file.

American Analog Set

Last night Nick and I went to see The American Analog Set at Bottom of the Hill. I hadn't even heard of them until about a week ago when Nick told me he had tickets to the show. He hooked me up with some mp3s, and I liked what I heard so I said I'd join him for the show.

Nick and I met up with his friends Doug and Zach at the show. We were there about an hour before the show started, so we talked for a while and checked out the merch table. I decided to buy their 2001 album, Know By Heart, since I had already listened to it 3 or 4 times in the week I had the mp3s from Nick and it contains my favorite song by them, The Postman.

The first band of the night was a fun local band called Scrabbel. Their music wasn't anything mind blowing, but it wasn't at all bad either. I quite enjoyed the cello and maracca that looked like an orange. Being the night before Halloween, the band members were dressed in various costumes and you could tell they were having a really fun time playing.

The next band was a local all female group, Vervein. They also had a cellist and played an enjoyable, fairly mellow set. The main thing I remember from their set is the singer dedicating a song to "the guy wearing a leotard, that takes balls...and we can all see them."

And finally we were treated to The American Analog Set. I was quite happy when they played The Postman for their second song. Partway through the set, someone called out for Punk As Fuck, which is another of my favorite songs. Sadly they said they said that song was for the previous night's show. However, the person that requested it said back that they would have been there last night, but he the show was a 21 and over only show, so Andrew said something like they'd think about it. A little while later Nick called out for Aaron and Maria and Andrew laughed and jokingly replied, "I love how you said that with so much hope when you knew the answer was going to be no. It was like you were saying, can I have $20?" The band gave a shout out to Elise of Indie Pop Rocks who was at the show, which I thought was cool. After they had finished their set and left the stage everyone was still clapping, so they came back on and played Punk As Fuck for the encore!

This was most certainly the most mellow show I've been to, but I greatly enjoyed it and Know by Heart is going to be getting some heavy play in iTunes for a good long while.

October Recommendations

I'll kick off the new site with an updated list of recommendations in the sidebar.

Thrice's latest effort, Vheissu, is knock-you-on-your-ass good. It was getting lots of hype on AP.net, which always makes me a bit worried that it's not going to live up to my expectations. And indeed, the first listen or two I didn't think it was anything too special. But then, it just hits you and you can't stop listening. I was talking to Mike about it, and he felt the same way. I know the screaming/hardcore music isn't for everyone, but you will find songs you'll love on the this album regardless of that. The album deserves a fuller review which I plan to do in the near future. For now I'll just highly recommend picking up the Deluxe Edition of Vheissu with the 32 page booklet where the band talks about each song and the spiffy 7" vinyl for Image of the Invisible and The Weight of Glory.

I got the re-release of Say Anything's ...is a Real Boy in the mail today. I posted about the initial release of this album here and here. This is one of those album's I've been meaning to buy for a while, but hadn't gotten around to yet. However, being able to get the 2 disc re-release for $10 was all the reason I needed. ...is a Real Boy is simply a fun album to listen to, and was lyrically one of the most entertaining albums of 2004. The songs on the bonus disk, ...was a Real Boy were originally recorded for an AIDS charity record, thus (from the CD insert) "the songs focus on a period of exploration and confusion every young man and woman goes through where they struggle to find what satisfies them sexually and emotionally." Of course the same thing could easily be said about half the songs on ...is a Real Boy. At any rate both discs are a lot of fun and you should definitely give them a listen.

Last up for CD recommendations is the new Straylight Run EP, Prepare to be Wrong which I picked up earlier this month. It's got a couple new songs, a couple proper recordings of previously released demos, and their cover of Bob Dylan's With God On Our Side which they've been playing at live shows for a while. The stand out track for me is without a doubt Hands in the Sky (Big Shot). The gradual build up from the slow, somber beginning to loud, stomping and desperate sounding vocals towards the ending gives me chills every time I listen to it. You should download the song from their PureVolume page immediately. And while you're at it, grab the amazing video. The album itself is a pretty strong anti-war album, from the album art to the content of the songs, especially Later That Year, Hands in the Sky, and obviously With God On Our Side. The CD booklet contains the following: "We would like to send our deepest love and support to the men and women who have been forced to fight this pointless and politically motivated war. We want nothing more than to see them returned home quickly and safely."

Welcome to Modern Minstrels

Welcome to my new site dedicated to music. Since nearly half of the posts on my personal blog fell into the music category, I decided it was time to have a dedicated space for my music related ramblings. For a bit more about what this site is meant to be and some insight into my musical tastes visit the About page.

I copied over all the posts from my previous blog that fell into the music category. I may cross post my concert reviews to both sites, but otherwise all my music related posts will be on this site.

To get the site up and running, I just used the same style as my personal site, but as soon as I get some time, I intend to fancy this site up a bit to give it it's own feel.

I'll definitely be continuing making music recommendations, reviewing CDs and concerts, and posting other bits of music news. Let me know what other things you'd like to see on this site either in the comments or by emailing me.

Download Festival

Yesterday I went to the Download Festival with Mike and his friends Katie and Jason. I wasn't originally planning to go to this show because the main band I was interested in was the Arcade Fire, and seeing them at such a large venue couldn't possibly live up to seeing them at The Grand Ballroom in San Francisco.

However when I went to see Bloc Party with Mike the other week, he said he had 4 tickets to the Download Festival, and they were really good seats (about 10 rows back in the center section) so I decided I might as well go.

Jason and I got there just before Mindless Self Indulgence's set. We watched a few of their songs, including Bitches Love Me (which was the only song of theirs I knew thanks to a hilarious fan made music video involving Pikachu). Then we decided to wander around the venue for a while just to see what there was and see if we could find MIke. I was also trying to figure out where and when Extra Action Marching Band (they are a marching band but dress in gothy and other interesting attire)would be playing. Buzz had mentioned them a few times and said they are really something to see. After 30 minutes or so of wandering and no sign of a large marching band (the ticket takers didn't have any idea where and when they were playing either) we went back to the stage where Mindless Self Indulgence were finishing up their set.

Then as they were setting up the stage for HIM, Extra Action Marching Band come out from behind the stage and started doing their thing in the middle of the crowd. They played a couple songs before marching off to other areas of the show. Then I went over to check in on Jason who had entered some kind of video game tournament in the GameTap. Then we listened to two HIM songs before being bored and heading over to the main stage.

Mike and Katie were already there and British Sea Power were just taking the stage. British Sea Power was ok, but nothing too exciting. Next up were the Doves. I have one of their songs, Pounding, which they opened with. The rest of their set was pretty enjoyable as well, but would have been better if I knew more of their songs.

Then came the main reason I went to the show, The Arcade Fire. They played most of Funeral, as well as the song No Cars Go, and a couple new songs. It was a great set as expected, and during Laika when the two band members get into a fight they came off the stage and were fighting in the aisle right in front of us. They ended with Power Out and a long jam session and then Extra Action Marching band came onto the stage to join them. That was quite a site. Extra Action played a couple songs before proceeding up to the general admission area where they played for quite a while.

Finally about 30 minutes later we thought Modest Mouse was about to take the stage, but instead we had to sit through a painfully pathetic DJ performance by these two girls from GameTap who apparently had no idea what they were doing. The transitions between songs were non existent and they weren't even using headphones. It was total amateur hour. Eventually the intro to Smells Like Teen Spirit came on, which was cool, until they put Beastie Boys lyrics on top of it. Finally someone cut the speakers and everyone cheered. Of course they were still on stage attempting to DJ. It was really awful.

Finally Modest Mouse came out. I enjoyed their songs (though they didn't play Ocean Breathes Salty), but they didn't have very good crowd interaction. I think they addressed the crowd twice at most. But their songs was good, so it was all good.

After another half hour or so wait, The Killers took the stage. I really only know two of their songs, Somebody Told Me and Mr. Brightside. That also seemed to be the case for a large majority of the crowd as well. Some of their songs have pretty good beats, but it wasn't the normal sing-a-long fest you would expect for the headliner. We were also highly amused when the lead singer said, "We only have 4 shows left before we are going to start working on our new album, so we're going to do something we don't normally do and play everything we've got". Normally that'd be a fine statement, but when you only have one album, it lacks a certain punch.

All in all though it was a good day out with good music.