Monthly Archives: January 2014

Tweens “Be Mean” is a perfect mix of bratty and sweet

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Tweens

Cincinatti’s Tweens got a sweet break when Shake It Records owner Jim Blaze recommended them to Kim Deal of The Breeders as an opening act, and their perfect bratty garage pop sound influenced by Bay Area punks ended up keeping them around for the whole tour. Bridget Battle has a clarity in both her voice and lyrics that makes their music so easy to listen to, and the rough garage production is a nice yin to her Juliana Hatfield-crossed-with-The-Donnas like vocals’ yang. This spring they will be touring with Waxahatchee and Murder City Devils, but I’m most pumped to check them out at SXSW. Listen to “Be Mean” below, love the last little push of awesomeness at the end.

Feb. 03 MOTR Pub – Cincinnati, OH*
Feb. 07 Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA^
Feb. 08 Webster Hall New York, NY^
Feb. 09 The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD^
Mar. 06 The End – Freakin’ Weekend V Nashville, TN
Mar. 07 Savannah Stopover – Savannah, GA
Mar. 10 LogOn Cafe – Beaumont, TX
Mar. 12-15 SXSW – Austin, TX
Mar. 17 Low Key Arts – Hot Springs, AR
Mar. 29-Jun. 1 Nelsonville Music Festival – Nelsonville, OH

* w/ Waxahatchee
^ w/ Murder City Devils

Bisco Inferno a.k.a one of the cooler photos I’ve taken

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Disco Biscuits at the Ogden

Disco Biscuits at the Ogden

I mistakenly brought my 50mm instead of my wide angle lens, was kicking myself and realized that I really was only getting one shot out of the night, so it better be a good one. Luckily, I was in the best seat in the house in the balcony’s front row, so I got the pleasure of lasers both above and below me. The white spotlights came down just at the right moment, and the print will be available for purchase soon on my website (I’ll update this post). Great weekend, great music, great friends, thanks, Disco Biscuits.

Hangar-51

Hangar-55

Hangar-58

My Westword review of the Ogden show:
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2014/01/review_the-disco-biscuits_ogden-theatre_denver_january-24-2014.php

My Westword review for the 1st Bank show:
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2014/01/review_disco-biscuits_1stbank-center_january-25-2014.php

Woods new single “Leaves Like Glass” has a Bob Dylan feel

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woods

As New York’s psych folk rock act Woods‘ sound constantly evolves, it bears to note that it always evolves for the better. The new single “Leaves Like Glass” from their upcoming album With Light and with Love has a perfect, sunshine-y, jangly spring sound that will be perfectly timed with its April 15th release date. Dylan-esque vocal inflections mix with beautiful organ chords and tambourine to create a perfect pop gem that is at once joyful as well as melancholy and bittersweet; the music builds gracefully before reaching a blissful crescendo.

Bands to check out at SXSW p.1

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Since I am a detailed person and a bit of a nut, I enjoy listening to every single band that is being showcased at SXSW before I attend (if you’d like a link to the detailed spreadsheet, follow the blog and I will put up a post when it’s ready close to three weeks prior with calendar). I’ve picked out the best for those that just don’t have the time for this daunting task, and will continue to through the festival, got my flights and vrbo booked, just need new ankle boots. These are my favorite groups out of Group 2 (with Group 1 to come because I accidentally did it backwards).

The Apache Relay- Nashville- Americana folk rock with mano and harp and Edward Sharpeish melodies and singalongs

Black Pistol Fire- Austin- TX rock/garage/blues goodness

Bobby Jealousy- Austin- big, bright happy pop

Brass Bed- Lafayette- reverbed out indie rock

Bully- Nashville- Juliana Hatfield-esque indie rock

Crying Nut- S. Korea- loud, crashing melodic pop punk done right

The Growl- Perth, Australia- sexy garage rock

Hurray for the RiffRaff- New Orleans- gorgeous female vocals, zydeco folk

La Femme- France- plain hot stuff

The Parrots- Spain- garage rock

Quiet Company- Austin- upbeat indie pop

Rey Pila- Mexico City- Scissor Sisters-like disco pop

September Girls- Dublin- grungy but pretty garage pop

So So Glos- Brooklyn- power pop twangy guitar goods

Spires- Brooklyn- jangly psych pop

Streets of Laredo- Brooklyn- fast paced folk rock

Troker- Mexico- funk with some killer organ and horns

Stream the fantastic new Morgan Delt album today

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morgandeltcover

The wait til January 28th has been long for those anticipating Morgan Delt‘s self titled full length album, and we are fortunate to finally get to hear it today streaming over at Hype Machine! Delt became an underground hero when his tape Psychic Death Hole made the rounds of Los Angeles and beyond. Using tape manipulation skills, he creates such a warped sound that sounds like Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band played underwater. So unique and really makes him stand apart from the plethora of psychedelic acts out there now. Listen today, I’ve had “Obstacle Eyes” on repeat for a month:

http://hypem.com/premiere/morgan%20delt

Ten bands that jam to check out this year

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20140120-225704.jpg pho to by Russ Simon

First off, highly suggest Wings Over the Rockies museum at Lowry Air Base in Denver. Cool stuff, sweet retired military men telling you stories, and some really fun lighting to shoot.

I compiled a list of “jam bands to watch out for in 2014” for the Westword, and it was my best performing article yet. I figured many people were tired of listening to the same old stuff. Do not be deterred by the words jam bands, these are just straight up funky, rocking bands that get a little loose. Their music feel alive:

http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2014/01/ten_jam_bands_to_watch_in_2014.php

Westword article I wrote about the stigma of jam bands

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jamband

After writing a band an apology for calling them a jam band in a recent article, (they said they didn’t care what I called them as long as people were listening phew!), I started to get annoyed that the term “jam band” had become such an offensive insult. I wrote an opinion piece for the Westword which quickly accumulated comments from jam band haters saying we stink, and because jam bands suck. There were also some fantastic, valid arguments, some prefer the song craftsmanship of singer/songwriters over extended jams, others don’t like the fusion of genres. But the majority had the knee jerk reaction I spoke of in the intro. Here’s a link to the Westword article, the comments are pretty funny:

http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2014/01/jam-band_stigma.php

If you go to the Westword’s main page, they put it front and center next to an article about where to buy weed in Denver: http://www.westword.com/

The Minneapolis City Pages music blog Gimme Noise liked it so much they published it as well. There too, jam bands are hated on:

http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2014/01/why_do_jam_bands_have_such_a_stigma.php

The vitriol, it’s so amusing.

Quilt’s new single “Tie Up the Tides” released today

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quilt

I’ve been carefully devouring every single Quilt has thrown out before their new album Held in Splendour releases on Jan. 28th. While the previous fuzzy single showed Shane Butler on main vocals, the effervescent Anna Fox Rochinski is back here, with a voice that sounds like Mary Margdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar. She sounds like a good person to have around if you are sick, absolute soothing while the bouncy beat brings a golden hue to some slightly melancholy vocals. I can’t wait for the album to come out, Houston, you have a Fitzgerald’s date. Don’t miss this band before movie soundtracks scoop all this up for various good indie romances.

Want to see a video of a song about crop circles that should be viral?

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Thanks to a wonderful poster at the witty and always-friendly Phish messageboard Phantasy Tour, this video was brought to our attention when the original poster ran into this guy at a recent Railroad Earth show. The musician, Gregg Brown had a cardboard sign that said “youtube: Crop Circle Song”, and when you do exactly that you get this precious treat from the internet. At first it comes off as something you would see on public access; I didn’t know if it was a joke or someone being completely sincere, this repetitive droning sound under lyrics about the meaning of crop circles (aren’t they hoaxes?). I kept listening because the music is trancey and pleasing, and his voice is actually nice and melodious, pleasantly asking “Are they harbingers of world change? These secrets in the fieeeeeeelds”. Eventually I realized I was on my fifth listen in a row and took a break. You tell me. Is this greatness? Is this horrible? Kinda leaning on the former. Whatever it, this man deserves to be seen, and if anyone has more information of him, I would love to hear it. I don’t know what to call this other than “something else”. Get this man to sxsw, this is exactly what people want there:

He definitely read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Crop-Circles-Harbingers-World-Change/dp/0946551898

And buy the single for a dollar here. I have already listened to this five time today, it’s worth the dollar:

http://www.amazon.com/Crop-Circle-Song/dp/B001NG9Y4S

Jenny Lewis continues to do no wrong with new track on Girls soundtrack

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jennylewis

Combining excellent songcraft with a great voice that hits your soul, Jenny Lewis can do no wrong in my eyes. Her long reign of awesome songs continues with “Completely Not Me”, a song that ran with the credits for HBO show Girls’ premiere. Recorded with Vampire Weekend‘s Rostam Batmanglij, the stomping beat, banjo, and effervescent backing vocals give the song a country church feeling complete with angels watching over.