Five things to do this week: November 28-December 4

1. Indie rockers the Dears and the Land of Talk will back kids and their parents on lead vocals at Urockaoke: like Rock Band but, you know, real. Nov. 29, noon-3 p.m. Revival, 783 College St. $8-$12. For details, visit bunchfamily.ca.

2. Steven Page, Keshia Chanté and others will serenade the spectacle of City Hall’s Christmas tree being lit at the Cavalcade Of Lights. Nov. 28, 7 p.m. Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W. Free.

3. With a sound akin to other alliteratively named bands (think Cut Copy and Passion Pit), Friendly Fires’ Brit pop returns to town. Dec. 2, 8 p.m. Phoenix, 410 Sherbourne St. $16.50. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.ca.

4. Parfumerie, Miklós László’s story of star-crossed perfume shop workers, gets the Soulpepper treatment from director Morris Panych. Through Dec. 24. Young Centre, 55 Mill St. Bldg. 49. $28-$68. Call 416-866-8666 or visit youngcentre.ca for tickets.

5. Thomas Keller will be here for an interview and Q&A on his new cookbook — Ad Hoc at Home — a paean to casual family dining. Nov. 30, 7 p.m. Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St. $80 (includes book). Advance tickets at The Cookbook Store, 416-920-2665.

Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/11/28/five-things-to-do-this-week-november-28-december-4.aspx#ixzz0YSkNWwL8
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Songs of the Noughties

1. My Happiness – Powderfinger
This much-loved Aussie hit was voted No. 1 on Triple J’s annual Hottest 100 poll for 2000. Not surprisingly, it is still an Australia Day barbecue favourite.

2. Yellow – Coldplay
In 2000 the little-known UK band Coldplay broke through to the big time with this slow-burning dose of pop melancholy.

3. Beautiful Day – U2
This upbeat hit provided a shot of optimism to kick-start the decade (and, as some would say, the new millennium).

4. Freestyler – Bomfunk MCs
Even your mum was scratching as she bopped along to this pervasive hit.

5. One More Time – Daft Punk
These French house icons have been making music since the ’80s. They reached the pinnacle of their success with this gloriously auto-tuned hit, which remains an early Noughties classic.

6. Stan – Eminem feat. Dido
Slim Shady broke through in spectacular style with what many hailed a work of genius. Even Elton John wanted a piece of the pie, performing the song with Eminem at the 2001 Grammys.

7. Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Kylie Minogue
Our Kylie created one of the decade’s catchiest pop songs in this hit. Altogether now, “La la la la la la la”.

8. Bootylicious – Destiny’s Child
The title of this Destiny’s Child hit spawned a new adjective. Although we are still baffled as to what they meant by “I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly”.

9. Last Nite – The Strokes
Cue “rock is back” headlines. These five sharply dressed New Yorkers charmed the world with their simple formula of lo-fi guitars, good haircuts and New York swagger.

10. It Wasn’t Me – Shaggy
OK, so it drove us all nuts, but there is no doubt this tune was everywhere in 2001.

11. No One Knows – Queens of the Stone Age
This brilliant, punchy rock number was the song of summer for the youth of Australia who voted it No. 1 on Triple J’s Hottest 100.

12. A Little Less Conversation – Elvis vs JXL
Elvis got a reboot for the Noughties. Some loved it, some hated it, but there was no escaping it.

13. Murder on the Dancefloor – Sophie Ellis Bextor
A porcelain-skinned former model had clubs pumping with this catchy pop tune.

14. Hot in Herre – Nelly
Let’s face it, even in 2009 on a sweltering hot day, someone in an office near you will start singing this song. Damn them.

15. Lose Yourself – Eminem
Boy Wonder was back to the top of the charts with this emotive and punchy track from his biopic feature film 8 Mile. It even won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

16. Crazy in Love – Beyoncé
Widely considered one of the best pop tracks in history, this incredible song unites the foxy Beyoncé and her beau Jay-Z in one killer track.

17. Hey Ya! – Outkast
Outkast taught the world how to “shake it” with this vibrant singalong party tune. Check out the raucous film clip based on The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan Show appearance.

18. Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes
This track introduced indie favorites The White Stripes to the masses as the opening track to their fourth album, Elephant. Bond themes, stadium tours and masterful side projects ensued.

19. Are You Gonna Be My Girl? – Jet
After this song featured on a snappy iPod commercial, Jet were propelled from Melbourne pub backrooms on to the world stage. Despite the obvious wink to the past, it remains a no-fuss Noughties rock anthem.

20. In Da Club – 50 Cent
“Been hit wit a few shells but I don’t walk wit a limp.” Can’t argue with that, can you? Word, Fiddy.

21. Bucket – Kings of Leon
Before they became a stadium-filling rock band, Kings of Leon were indie favourites with a southern bent.

22. From the Sea – Eskimo Joe
Fremantle’s Eskimo Joe did us proud with their biggest hit. This song was played on every station from Triple J to 94.5.

23. What You Waiting For? – Gwen Stefani
Accompanied by a whacky film clip that played on Alice in Wonderland themes, Stefani announced herself as a solo artist with this contagious tune.

24. Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand
This song erupted out of Scotland like a volcano. On the back of this rollicking hit, art rockers Franz Ferdinand were suddenly everyone’s new favourite band.

25. Somebody Told Me – The Killers
This single and the album Hot Fuss set The Killers up as one of the biggest bands of the Noughties and singer Brandon Flowers made no secret of his lofty ambitions. Since their debut in 2004, they’ve released two albums and are now headlining festivals.

26. Don’t Cha – Pussycat Dolls
Scarily, this chart topper was a hit with the kiddies. So even seven-year-olds were chirping “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me”. OMG.

27. Feel Good Inc – Gorillaz
Created by Blur’s Damon Albarn and comic-book creator Jamie Hewlett, this virtual band mixed pop, dub and hip-hop to create a modern soundscape matched by exquisite cartoon video clips.

Gaoler’s Daughter – tour dates for December 2009

27 Nov 2009 20:00
New Cross Inn New Cross, London
1 Dec 2009 19:30
Pure Groove – EP Launch Smithfield, London
3 Dec 2009 22:00
Red Lion Twickenham, London
4 Dec 2009 22:30
12 Bar club. Denmark Street Soho, London
11 Dec 2009 20:00
Jambouree Limehouse, London
12 Dec 2009 21:00
FLU Xmas Party – Tommy Flynns Camden, London
20 Dec 2009 20:00
The Red Lion – Xmas All-Dayer Twickenham, London

Black Indie Band Held At Gunpoint By Police

On the day that Denis O'Connor's review of the G20 protest has suggested (on page 67) that the Code of Practice on the police use of firearms might be a model for how public order might also be codified, I received this salutary reminder that its not the manual that matters, but the police themselves:

The Thirst is an indie band based in Brixton that consists of brothers Mensah and Kwame Cofi-Agyeman, Mark Lenihan and Marcus Harris. They were scouted by Ronnie Wood a few years ago, have supported The Rolling Stones, played at the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury festivals and toured with Pete Doherty. Band members are major supporters of Love Music Hate Racism.

On 21st November, The Thirst played a gig in Chase (Cannock) in Staffordshire. The gig went well but when the band left the venue they were confronted by a team of armed police. Under a helicopter spotlight, the band members had guns held to their heads and were all arrested, thrown into police vans and taken to a police station. They were given no information as to why it was happening. They were all released the following afternoon. The only explanation they were given by police was that they were being held on suspicion of possessing firearms.

Because their car had a flat battery, they were treated like criminals. Would the police have acted in the same way if there had been a white driver rather than six young black men?

This is Mensah’s description of what the band experienced:

"We had a good gig. I left the venue and we had to try and jump-start the old Range Rover that we were using, I opened the bonnet and as soon as I did about six police cars came around the corner. I looked to my friend and thought that they'd just want to check our insurance documents. The next thing all chaos erupted, I had red lasers pointed at my chest and on my head. There was a helicopter above us with a spotlight on us. All we could here was shouting.

I had a gun being forced on my neck. "Get down, get on the ground", "turn around, put your hands up" we were getting all different directions shouted at us. It didn't seem like any of them knew what they were doing. The fact alone that I could feel the policeman shaking through the end of the gun he had to my neck was enough to make me feel very nervous. He had my life in his hands and they were shaking.

We were all forced into the van with no information as to why we were being arrested, no explanation. I still can't believe that there was man with a gun to my head shaking. They were apparently waiting outside for two hours for us to finish the gig. Is it reasonable to believe that they thought that our guitar cases and coats were concealing shotguns? We were headlining a gig in Staffordshire! It was like walking into a movie set but it was too real.

The whole band, our manager and our sound engineer were locked up. There was no explanation from the police, we heard that fans from the show had contacted the police. In the end, the promoter of the gig even rang the mayor of the town for his support in order to get us released. All that the police said when they released us was that we were held overnight as we were suspected of carrying firearms. It's hard to believe that this can still happen today. We were treated like animals, we had no human rights."

The Yummy Fur (members of Franz Ferdinand & 1990s) reuniting for a short tour (dates), releasing a 'best of'

Pitchfork reports that '90s-era Glaswegian indie band The Yummy Fur -- who existed from 1992 to 1999 -- are reuniting and will be playing their first-ever American shows in January, including a NYC stop at the 171 Lombardy space on January 15. For those who don't know, The Yummy Fur was fronted by John McKeown, now of The 1990s, and included Franz Ferdinand's Paul Thompson and Alex Kapranos (who at the time went by Alex Huntley) late in the band's career. McKeown and Thompson will both be in the reunited line-up, but Kapranos will not (though he does live here at least part-time, so who knows about the Lombardy date?).

This unexpected tour will be in support of a new "best of" compilation being released by What's Your Rupture? sometime in January. The band's catalog -- four albums and seven singles full of scratchy, Fall-inspired low-fi twee punk -- has been out of print for ages. The band were kind of legendary on the '90s Glasgow scene that also included Uresei Yatsura and Pink Kross, and it will great to (hopefully) have singles "Policeman" and "Plastic Cowboy," among other tracks, available again somewhere besides Ebay. No word yet as to who else will be in the band besides McKeown and Thompson, though, as bassist Jamie McMorrow is also in the 1990s, it seems fairly likely he'll be along for the trip as well.

Interview with Element 57 Guitarists Chris Galyon and Justin DeFreece

Element 57 was born out of the ashes of nationally acclaimed Indie band 4th Plane Jaiant, who’s two albums, Tideline and Bipolar, received national college radio play with the band maintaining an incessant touring schedule. In 2004, founding members Chris Galyon, Andy Kallenberger and Jason Wilbur changed their musical direction from a Dave Matthews inspired progressive jam band to the riff heavy, groove oriented modern rock that Element 57 thrives on today. New band members Mark Banner and Justin DeFreece were added to complete the current line-up, a move intended to help further the bands musical vision.

Recorded with long time Portland engineer and producer Sean Norton, Element 57’s new record Ripcord, is a record filled with a strong sense of duality. On the one hand it’s chalk full of modern rock radio-ready songs such as “20 Minutes,” and “Weather,” while on the other hand it maintains a dark, more emotive demeanor. From the ever-climbing title track, “Ripcord,” to the driving pulse of “Lifeline,” the songs overflow with energy, while still focusing on melody and form. Guitar and saxophone rise and fall over a waterfall of sound and a pounding groove. All of which is led by Chris Galyon’s dynamic vocals, that simultaneously conjure up both Peter Gabriel and Chris Cornell.

Winning the 2006 Independent Music Award for best rock song, “Woke Up Late,” Element 57 is hoping for even more industry accolade with Ripcord, and they seem to be getting it. All forms of radio, traditional and online, have been quick to respond to the new record. Portland radio stations KUFO 101.1FM and 94.7FM KNRK as well as over 250 college, FM and public radio stations around the nation have added the songs “Ripcord”, “Weather” and “20 Minutes” to their play lists.

In the fall 2009, MTV, VH1 & The E Channel have licensed the new album for popular TV shows such as The Real World, Road Rules, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Bad Girls Club, The City, Cribs and several others. In August of 2008, the band was named as the MTV2 Emerging Artist, landing the band two live music videos and an interview broadcast on MTV2, NBC Sports, MTV2.com and Comcast On Demand. MTV2 also chose the band to represent the Portland Music scene during the Dew Tour 2009 by broadcasting live performances and interviews with the band across the nation.

Guitarists Chris Galyon and Justin DeFreece recently sat down with Guitar International Magazine to discuss the bands accolades, their latest record and how they plan to build on the bands early success.

***

Matt Warnock: Being based out of Portland, Oregon, you guys are close to Seattle, which has probably the most well-known music scene in the Northwest. What’s the scene like in Portland right now compared to what’s going on in Seattle?

Chris Galyon: I think Portland actually has a more interesting music scene than Seattle does. There are a lot of old jazz and blues players on the scene in Portland, which gives it a distinct vibe. Portland’s also a big city with a small city vibe, so the music city has a small town feel to it, we all kind of know each other and there’s an intimate feeling to it.

I’m not really that in touch with the Seattle scene to tell you the truth. We play there every few weeks but I don’t know if that’s where I’m drawn to for live music. Portland’s got a great scene, so there are tons of great bands to check out here, and great places to play.

Justin DeFreece: My exposure to the Seattle scene has been playing in roots, rockabilly bands, so that’s the side of the scene that I’ve been exposed to. In Portland there’s this heavy jazz thing going on right now, and in the rock genre people tend to be pretty eclectic.

I hear things here that I haven’t heard in other cities. Bands are drawing from a ton of different influences, there’s the reggae influence, the folk influence, so we hear a lot of acoustic stuff here. It’s kind of all over the map, which makes it a very cool place to make, and check out music.

Honesty in the youthfulness

Trade in Your Pieces, the new self-produced album from year-old experimental rockers Articles of Separation, is scheduled to drop on Wednesday, November 25. AOS will be joined by fellow Alamo City acts Deer Vibes and Pygmaeus that night for the release event at the White Rabbit. The $10 admission fee includes a copy of AOS’s full-length debut. We talked with lead vocalist Tim Warlow about the album, his love of all musical instruments, and SA’s growing indie-rock scene.

How do you feel about the new album?

I think that the album is an honest reflection of our love and passion for music. We were tired of going to studios and not being a big part of the end product, so we just decided to go all out and put in all our time and effort to make this exactly what we wanted it to sound like. There are always things you can think could be improved, even with something you spend this much time on, but I just mark those as lessons and let the flaws speak for the honesty in our youthfulness.

What was different about producing the album yourselves? Do you think it benefited from this approach?

It gave us the freedom to make choices in the sound of every song. I don’t think any of the songs sound forced or over-produced. We had a vision for the album and were able to fully carry it out by putting our own money into it.

What was the inspiration for so much emotion in both instrumentation and lyrics?

During the writing of some of the early songs I was going through a tough time, obviously a relationship that wasn’t going to last regardless of the efforts. This album was honestly the realization for me that things in life are always changing, and while the past has its purpose in our lives, we can get stuck on it. The final song, “Carousels,” reflects that exact feeling. Musically, we are influenced purely by passion and honesty.

What was appealing to the band about employing less conventional rock instruments such as horns and strings?

I started music with the trumpet in sixth grade or so, and that’s the instrument I relate to the most. I brought it with me to the studio just in case, and it turned out to be very fortunate. We had access to a bunch of different instruments — an organ, a Rhodes, piano, marching-band drums, and all kinds of amps — and used every single thing in that studio to make it blossom. It’s more interesting to hear a variety of sounds on an album.

Do you feel the local music scene has been receptive to AOS’s style?

There are a lot bigger crowds for metal shows here, but I think the indie scene is definitely growing. There’s some really talented bands out there, and a few of them are playing our release show. There have been a lot more indie bands coming through here after the opening of the Ten Eleven — that place has really helped change things. We know that it’s hard to survive these days, but we love what we do and probably won’t stop till we’re dead. •

Promoting Your Indie Band

When you find a really great local indie band, there is nothing quite like the experience of catching their show at a local dive. The music, the atmosphere, and the intimate venues are never the same as big name music concerts. If you’ve ever been to a local show, you’ve likely seen someone making the rounds at the concert passing out fliers for their own upcoming show. A few years ago the best way to promote a local concert was to hand out handbills and fliers or put up concert posters around town advertising the upcoming event. But with the transition to easier digital marketing methods, your ordinary handbill has to be a little more than ordinary to catch someone’s eye.

There is one unique marketing technique that has become popular recently with music promotion. That is the flier CD sampler. Instead of a plain piece of paper that people are most likely just going to throw away, a flier CD sampler is a CD that contains two or three recorded tracks of the band doing the promotion. The label of the CD, which can be made by any custom label printing company, contains the information for the upcoming concert, so you’re essentially putting your flier on the CD.

This method gives people a chance to, not only learn about the upcoming concert, but to hear a sample of the band. Giving someone free music with the flier increases the chances that they will be interested and make it a point to come to the show. Don’t rely on old methods. Innovative marketing is the best way to build a fan base.

Johnny's on Patrol after taking Berlin

he 33 year-old Culmore Road native had little rest in betwe
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en performing his anthem to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on Monday of last week and the opening of the Snow Patrol tour in Brighton on Wednesday night. However, he did spare some time to speak to the 'Journal' about his life in the rock and roll fast lane.

The Derry man - who fronted the popular Vega4 before leaving the band which enjoyed success in the US - revealed that he has just entered into a music production venture with Snow Patrol.

Johnny spoke candidly from his studio in London, where he's lived since embarking on a career in music at the age of 17.

"Snow Patrol set up a production company recently and I've signed with them - its called Polar Patrol Music. The guys are some of my closest friends - for years we've worked together, toured together, written together, we even live in the same street."

It's been a hectic time for the Derry talent recently.

"When I came back from Germany, I was straight into rehearsals for the tour - there was no time to spare. The tour's called 'Reworked', we've been tearing all their songs apart and putting them back together in different ways. I'm used to performing with them so it will be great to go on the road - we do secret pub gigs all the time and hang out in each others houses. It'll be like the old days for me. I love being on the road although I don't do it much anymore, I mostly write and produce songs now for other popstars, films and TV."

Johnny has performed in 15 different countries this year with Germany's king of trance, Paul Van Dyke - with whom he collaborated on the Berlin Wall anniversary anthem 'We Are One'.

Berlin anniversary
"We were mostly performing at club festivals including Creamfields and in Central Park."

However, Johnny - who remembers his first guitar lesson with The Undertones' John O'Neill at 'The Collective' at Northland Road (forerunner to the Nerve Centre) - described the Berlin performance as "truly amazing".

"Three million people turned out in the lashing rain to celebrate a massive moment in history . . . it was a pretty nerve wrecking experience. To take part in something that size, which meant so mush to so many people, was truly amazing.

"Just to look out and see the people in the streets for miles and miles - people turned out in their millions to take part."
Johnny and Paul (Van Dyke), who co-wrote 'Time Of Our Lives' from the Grammy nominated album Reflections and number one club chart hit 'Home', penned the anthem in the summer and, when it came to performing it live, the Derry man even tried to speak a little German.
"I don't know whether I had a John F Kennedy moment, but I tried."
As well as the millions on the streets, including Johnny's mum and dad, about 700 TV channels from around the world covered the concert. Johnny performed alongside a line-up that included Bon Jovi and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Success
Johnny's success in the music industry is not new-founded. Vega4, which was signed to Columbia in the UK and Epic in the US, enjoyed great success before calling it a day.

Vega4's single 'Life is Beautiful' was featured on popular TV series Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill and Defying Gravity while 'You and Me' was used by RTÉ 2fm to re-launch the station's new look and line-up. Vega4 tracks were also used on the films Into the Blue and My Sister's Keeper.

Despite all his success Johnny remains single - something he attributes to heavy workload. He quipped: "I don't have a girlfriends at the minute so I suppose you could say Johnny needs love, maybe the Journal's readers can help me out!"

The mtvU Woodie Awards rock New York City

he sixth annual mtvU Woodie awards, the only award show that showcases the best music voted on by college students, took place on Nov. 18 at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom, near Times Square.

The event is best known for catching rising bands just before they go mainstream. With the winners being voted on by college students, the Woodies offers a unique perspective on the music industry.

As Friendly Fires stated in a red carpet-side interview, “[the Woodies] are less influenced by fans and more by normal people.” Janelle Monroe shared enthusiasm for the show, praising college students as “trendspotters” of the music industry.

This year’s awards maintained its colloquial touch with Christofer Drew, of Never Shout Never, setting the mood by bravely parading down the red carpet in a Mickey Mouse sweater.

Brooklyn-based indie band, Matt & Kim kicked off the ceremony by biking right into the lobby, along with an entourage of backup singers who were more than eager to strip down to their underwear (in typical Matt & Kim fashion) to perform the song “Lessons Learned” from their album Grand, for which they received Best Video Woodie later that evening. Kim ended the song by literally walking onto the crowd.

Pete Wentz continued the light mood by dropping the first “F-bomb” of the night, just before cracking a joke about being diagnosed with swine flu as someone in the crowd asked to share the rest of his beer.

Actress and singer, Zooey Deschanel, who struggled with reading her lines on the teleprompter, causing one of the first awkward moments of the night, presented the first award of the year. The band Never Shout Never, who rose to fame on Myspace, was given the Breaking Woodie Award, and was able to make up for Deschanel’s blunder by giving the shortest speech of the night, simply shouting “Power to the people!” before hastily withdrawing back into the crowd.

3Oh3! presented the Left Field Woodie, honoring those artists who are completely unique, and took the award too seriously by dressing the part. Donning a concealing red dress and exaggerated white bird’s nest in the style of Lady GaGa, they nearly stole the limelight from the award winner, Tech N9ne. In a red carpet interview, Tech N9ne expressed his surprise that the Left Field Woodie even exists. He expressed his surprise and delight and described his style as totally different, as he simply likes to “take a ride on left side.”

Another special award presented was the Best Music on Campus Woodie, which honors musicians from college campuses. The OverUnder, one of Baruch’s own bands was nominated for the award, but was ultimately beaten by Hotel of the Laughing Tree from Suffolk County College. One of the band member’s parents and girlfriend were in the crowd, pumping up the excitement level of everyone around them, as his mother screamed, “That’s my son!”

The real excitement of the night came from the performances. Passion Pit took the stage and performed three of their biggest and boldest electro-indie tracks, pumping the crowd for Death Cab for Cutie’s performance of their new single from the New Moon soundtrack, “Meet Me On The Equinox” and their hit “The Sound of Settling.”

Will.I.Am presented the Good Woodie Award to Jamie Tworkowki for his work with To Write Love On Her Arms, a non-profit organization that helps people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. Tworkowski, the first non-musician to win a Woodie, dedicated his award to those struggling with these issues .

“No one was meant to do life alone,” he told the crowd.

The final award of the night was presented by Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester and 80s pop-rock queen Cyndi Lauper. Meester also had some trouble working with Lauper’s free-spirited take on the introduction and then took an awkward pause when the cameras didn’t cut away to the nominees fast enough.

Kings of Leon were awarded the Woodie of the Year award, but were not present to receive it.

Jack White’s newest band, The Dead Weather, closed out the night with an epic rock performance, playing three singles from their album Horehound “Cut Like a Buffalo,” “Treat Me Like Your Mother” (which was nominated for a Best Video Woodie) and “Hang You From the Heavens.”

One crowd member was so moved by the music that he jumped on the stage during “Hang you from the Heavens” and began head banging on his knees, next to singer Alison Mosshart. Mosshart’s vocals were beautifully shrill and White’s drumming was the stand out of the band, strong and skilled. The band took a bow to the most thunderous applause of the night and exited just after White through his drumsticks to the crowd.

Band of the week 21st November 2009

Solar, from Uruguay are a new entry and go straight to the Indie Bans Blog – Band of the week chart. With the charts comprising bands from 8 different countries and 4 continents, the chart truly reflects indie bands around the globe
Solar Foto: Agustin Fernandez

Band of the week: Top 10. Saturday 21st November 2009.

1. Solar Uruguay (New entry)
2. The Gadsdens UK ( + 7 places)
3. Krakatoa UK (+ 5 places)
4. Reader’s Wives Ireland (-3 places)
5. Armstrong? Italy (new entry)
6. Bombay Bicycle Club UK (new entry)
7. Mono Stereo Sweden (- 6 places)
8. Segba Argentina (- 2 places)
9. The Drums USA (- 2 places)
10. Rajasthan Roots India (re-entry)

Solar, play experimental rock, which is hallmarked by mood and tempo changes in tracks as they use their music as an art-form on which to paint the world around them.
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Ben Meyercor's Live Music Picks for Saturday, November 21st

Hello Dear Readers,

I know that lately I have not been going to a lot of shows. But they are always there and I will keep writing about them because, in my heart of hearts, I wish I was at all of them. Music is awesome and shows are one of the best ways to experience it. There are so many good shows tonight. Here are some example of what looks to be a good experience in music:

Saturday, November 21st

Mississippi Studios is having a show with Don of Division St., Celilo, The Very Foundation, The Maldives (Seattle). The main reason I am writing this show is because it is the first Celilo show with out the recently deceased drummer Kip Crawford. This is a band that I have written up consistently because I think they are a good Americana band ( and I like good Americana). I imagine this will be a very weird if not very sad show for those guys. Don of Division Street is the project of a drummer turned main songwriter/lead man, Matt Cadenelli. He makes nice enough pop-folk. He also used to drum for Celilo and he lists band members of Celilo in his band, my guess is that he will be playing drums with the band tonight. The Very Foundation are also releasing their new album "The Restless Enterprise". They make rock music. The kind that has organ doing the job of the the rhythm guitar. I don't know, they play rock music not particularly hard or soft. The show was $8 and starts at 9 PM.

Backspace is having a Homeless Benefit called Give 2009 with Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls and Menomena, Jason Weebly (Seattle), and Calvin Johnson (Olympia). This looks an amazing show regardless of the fact that you will be doing good by attending. I had the pleasure of opening up for Brent Knopf's Ramona Falls a few times this year (as part of Y La Bamba). Those songs are really good but what got me every time was the opening number "Diamond Shovel" which he performed solo on an acoustic guitar. It kills me every time. So pretty. From what I understand this will be a special all acoustic show with Brent so I would imagine a lot of cool moments like the ones I have experienced previously. Jason Weebly plays music that treads somewhere between gypsy folk and punk. Not too dissimilar to, but not near as good as, Tom Waits. Oh and he also sounds nothing like Tom Waits, and I regret making the comparison in the first place, but listen to his song "Dance While the Sky Crashes" and you will see where I got it. Calvin Johnson, co-founder of K Records and Beat Happening, males goofy and fun music with a very low voice. He is a very charming fellow and has some really cool dance moves which I have yet to see him shy away from. The show is $8 and starts 9 PM.

The Knife Shop is having a show with Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, The Ocean Floor, and Invisible River (Olympia/Portland). I love me the throw back pop of Sallie Ford and her excellent band, The Sound Outside. The songs are well written and catchy and her voice. Oh my god her voice. You just have to see and hear it for yourself. The Ocean Floor is the project of Lane, the drummer of Church. He has been doing this project a lot longer and it is a bit different. I really like it though as a fan of people who make pop music interesting or really good. Lane does both. I don't really know anything about Invisible River. The show is $5 and starts 9:30 PM.

The Press Club is having a show with Billygoat and Tahoe Jackson. Billygoat is hands down one of the most impressive new bands I have seen in a long time. They make cinematic instrumental music as a duo that involves a lot of instrument switching and programmed drums and various keyboards and stringed instruments. The music builds and you can just imagine different scenes taking place in your mind, or just point your peepers at the animations that they provide for you that syncs up very accurately with their music. A billygoat show is an audio visual experience spectacle. Tahoe Jackson is someone whose name I heard around but did not see until recently when Y La Bamba played Live Wire with her. Her voice is incredible. Listening to her and the band she had assembled was like seeing an old soul record come to life in front of your very eyes. So smooth, and so soulful. The show is FREE and starts at 8:30 PM.

Virgo & Pisces is having a show with Dinner Pelonca. I first met Dinner, yes that is his real name, at a Meyercord show he told me that he wanted to play a show with me. I went home and took a listen. Good stuff ( I still want to play show with you Dinner btw). it is Piano based indie-pop. My friend Sean Flinn also vouched for him as he caught a Dinner Pelonca show at the Waypost a few months ago and scored a CD. I was over at his place one and he played it for me. It was very good. Plus if you want to see something very ompressive check out the video I found of him with some collaborators at the bottom of the post. The show is FREE and starts at 9 PM.

The Green House is having a show with Reporter, Jeffrey Jerusalem, Doubleplusgood, and a special guest. Nothing like a good house show. And this looks like a good house show. I seen a few shows at The Green House and have yet to be disappointed. All the bands listed as playing tonight are very easy to dance or generally get your groove on to. Reporter is has in recent years turned into an excellent electro-rock band full of cool triggered drums and keyboards and cool guitar lines. Jeffrey Jerusalem is an awesome one man Disco Inferno. Or at least a dance inferno. He is good at what he does which is dance around his keyboard/laptop/drum set up. It is fun to see him because it is obvious that he is having a good time (he also really entertaining to watch play drums in Inside Voices). DoublePlusGood is someone who I haven't seen in years but as I recall makes homemade ghetto beats and croons atop them with great pleasure for both him and the audience. I have no idea who the special guest is. The ALL AGES show is FREE and starts at 8 PM.

If you see me at any of these shows, please say "Hi". But if you don't see me, please don't be mad.

Why MTV can never befriend Indian indie rock

he “fascinating article” (by Arjun S Ravi on MTV Iggy) that Cicatrix speaks of in Sepia Mutiny reads like ‘The Best of RSJ (1992-1999), with Notable Exceptions’. It’s all been documented before with elan and sincerity by Amit Saigal. Today, it’s dated. Because it casually ignores a significant slice of Indian rock history — the independent music scene in Bangalore, which was where the really surprising stuff started to emerge from the mothballed closet in the late 1990s. In businesspeak, this era was when Indian rock music sought to “differentiate” itself. Not through marketing strategy (a la Parikrama et al which still have nothing to offer the discerning music fan) but through inventiveness, performance and startling creative energy. Ergo, I am not sure if Ravi’s omission stems from ignorance (which is unforgivable) or from personal bias (which is charlatan).

Thermal And A Quarter, as those who know their Indian indie scene know, began this revolution by playing entire three-hour sets comprising only originals — as early as 1999. No Indian band, repeat, no Indian band (save some in that fantastic cultural pocket — the Northeast) was doing that then. One other band that did it explosively — and I was witness to their memorable show at Madras Christian College’s Deep Woods in 1996 — was (then not-yet-Mumbai’s) Chakraview (with Dhruv Ghanekar on some serious gizmo-led guitar).

Perhaps Ravi also might want to remember that Laila Rouass-starring black-and-white music video, Colourblind, by the Mumbai band of the same name (the duo of Ram Sampath and Siddharth Achrekar). It was a brilliant new statement (very indie) and added a dimension to Indian rock that did not hitherto exist (or last). Sampath (now a composer for films and famous for his copyright victory over the Roshans for copying the music of Krazzy 4) told me off the record when I interviewed him (about Ram Madhvani’s Let’s Talk for Rediff.com in December 2002) that Colourblind “had not been viable”.

Viability has always been the gradient against which Indian indie rock has laboured. Indus Creed, after showing us the light, disappointed us by disbanding and resurfacing again as Alms for Shanti, with an eponymous album that was released both in English and Hindi (Kashmakash, Free Spirit, 2001). Alms for Shanti, with a name that sounded like it had been coined by an armchair Indologist at the University of Hawaii, plays the club circuit in New York where they have established themselves as export-reject exotics. Although singer Uday Benegal cribbed about the sleaze in the music industry as an aside during an interview with Rediff.com in 2002, he also told me this: “We went West because we were disillusioned with the East. Because the music we were doing at that time had absolutely no place here. Not that we were seeking salvation in the West. We wanted to go ahead with the music we make and look for the audience in the West.”

That’s one way to go, but if you know the audience to be here you have to be loyal to it. It must be remembered that around the same time that Alms for Shanti announced their album to a crowd of wine-sipping and tikka-nibbling celebs at a swank Tardeo lounge bar, a lot of bands that had been either influenced by TAAQ or shared the same struggle emerged from Bangalore — Kryptos, Myndsnare, Galeej Gurus, Zebediah Plush… And I am not even talking in any detail about the metal scene (which, being loud enough as it is, deserves an altogether different celebratory writeup amid a full-flowing headbangathon at Styx).

That TAAQ (still an unsigned band) was not from Bollywood-besotted Mumbai or Hindi-mein-gao-yaar Delhi or still-smoking-the-Sixties Kolkata was really what went against them when they started. Or the fact that their music was a leap year ahead of the public imagination — I mean, how many Benadryl-swillers orgasming in the moshpit had actually heard of (let alone heard) Steely Dan and Pat Metheny, or even imagined that they could influence an Indian band’s sound? The few critics of this counterculture — jealous jilted lovers of it mostly — judged the music by a myopic yardstick: the done-to-death genres of metal and dinosaur rock.

With Jupiter Cafe (2002), TAAQ’s second album, Bangalore shot into the limelight. It continued with Plan B (2004), the first album from India to be distributed with a custom Creative Commons-like license. These, inarguably, were milestones in Indian rock. Indie media (Indiecision, Split, RadioVerve… hell, even the un-indie Rolling Stone) acknowledged and celebrated them. MTV, which has always fed off the now happily moribund record industry (recently resuscitated by MJ’s passing) and now mooches off Bollywood to survive in the subcontinent, has no authority to comment on the indie scene. In the two fitful decades of Indian rock, MTV has neither recognised nor supported the indie movement. And to pay lip service to it now, with a limp biscuit such as this, is both embarrassing and shameful.

As the man who named his daughter Moon Unit said: “In the fight between you and the world, back the world.”

Lyrics From Malaysia Indie Band,Bunkface

Diskriminasi menjatuhkan aku
Reputasi kini menjadi bisu
Dan aku, ku layu
Disitu

Mengharapkan sesuatu yang baru
Itulah impian aku

C/O
Dan bila kau menghilang
Musnah la, musnah impian
Tuk menggapai bintang
Terangi hidup ku
Ku mahu kau tahu
Engkaulah, destinasiku
Dalam ingatanku... oh oh oh...

Kerana diri ini tak daya lagi
Menempuh hidup yang ku temui
Dan aku, ku tunggu... oh oh oh
Disitu

Mengharapkan sesuatu yang baru
Itulah impian aku

Western companies use rock music to tap into China's youth market

It could have been any other night on China's burgeoning underground rock scene, a group of close-packed, sweaty Chinese kids pogo-ing deliriously in a dark club to the sounds of post-punk rock served up Chinese-style.

On stage Yang Haisong, lead singer of P.K.14 is half-eating a microphone, wailing out the trademark, strangled vocals that have made his band one of the icons of China's burgeoning alternative music movement.

The sound may be a bit retro for Western ears – you could describe it as The Clash meets The Cure – but it is also, say marketing analysts, the way to the heart of a new brand of young Chinese consumers that many Western brands are looking to for their next big growth opportunity.

However, the audience that night in 2008 in Nanjing, on P.K.14's "Love Noise" tour was different in one crucial respect from those that fill the music clubs of Beijing – they had won their tickets through a brand promotion scheme for Converse shoes.

The tie-up was part of a growing trend for Western brands seeking to understand China to piggy-back on the credibility of what market analysts have identified as an increasingly self-confident alternative art and music scene in China.

Back in the early days of China's "opening up", Western brands had an in-built allure merely by dint of their "foreign-ness". That, however, is rapidly changing according to London and Hong Kong-based based brand consultancy, Hunt Haggarty.

"After being detached from the rest of the world for so long, China's youth have been playing catchup when it comes to popular culture," they argue in China's Creative Voice, a new report. "When restrictive laws began to relax, they looked to Japan and the West for brand and lifestyle identities, but a unique Chinese voice is beginning to emerge."

It is, says the report, the voice of an only child who grew up free from the hangovers of China's Cultural Revolution; a young person who perhaps finds greater solidarity with his friends than family and whose rising self-confidence, tinged with a new cultural nationalism, is mirrored by that of the nation as a whole.

In a country imbued with ancient traditions of conformity, where elders are respected and education is still centred on testing and rote learning, this marks a fundamental step-change. They could be called the "rising power generation".

Source, a Shanghai-based lifestyle clothing brand with gallery dedicated to street life, tries to sum up a nascent new Chinese individualism as "there are those who find a need to live their lives the way they want, to express themselves, to have their own identity…our ideals are simple – the right to choose the right to be unique".

It is marketing-speak, but with the US and European consumers looking likely to remain anaemic for several years to come, the importance of identifying and then tapping into the zeitgeist has never been more important.

China's retail sales are currently growing at 9pc-15pc (depending on how you dice the data) which offers serious long-term growth opportunities to those companies who hit the right notes.

Brands as including Wrangler, Motorola, Levis, Pepsi, Ben Sherman, Nokia, Budweiser, Umbro and Converse have all tried to ensure that a bit of the "new cool" brushes off on them, sponsoring rock festivals or using their retail spaces as galleries or impromptu concert venues.

Michael Pettis, a former investment banker and Beijing-based professor of finance who also runs Beijing's D22 club and China's Maybe Mars indie music record label, sees the emergence of an authentic modern Chinese cultural voice from both a local and broader historical perspective.

"Eight years ago many of my Tsinghua [University] students hadn't even heard of Nirvana, they were into syrupy pop like Celine Dion," he says "Even five years ago most hadn't heard of indie bands like P.K.14, but now at least 10pc-15pc know the band and have even heard the music."

More sweepingly, he sees the rise of a distinctively Chinese popular culture as an inevitable by-product of China own rise in an emerging new world order.

"With exception perhaps of Japan, when countries become major economic and political powers, they also become cultural powers, but there is a lag," he says, "The US was already a world power by the 1880s, but didn't become a cultural power until the 1920s."

Tapping Chinese youth culture is an inexact science, however. While some brands, like Converse, have gone to the cultural fringe for their piece of reflected "China cool", bigger brands such as Pepsico have sought to dominate the mainstream.

This year, in a twist on the American Idol series, Pepsi staged a 10-part battle of the bands telethon in which 10 bands selected from more than 6,000 who auditioned from 121 cities competed to win a cash prize and a production deal.

The heavily branded show, which also included a partnership between the beverages giant and a Chinese record production company, was an attempt to design a new model for China's record industry which is governed by the fact that most Chinese download their music for free.

For Harry Hui, a former MTV and Universal Music executive who is now Pepsi's chief marketing officer in China, the opportunity was to create stars organically rather than hire established acts off the peg as is Pepsi tradition.

"When we did the research we discovered that downloading music is still the number one activity on the Chinese internet, accounting for 85pc of usage. We also found out there were 20,000 bands in China playing at clubs, bars and universities," he said.

"We also discovered that the live concert business growing by 30pc a year, but there was no single television platform or other creative venue that gives bands an outlet, so we provided that. There was a real untapped demand."

In a country as vast as China, where levels of cultural exposure can differ hugely from place like Shanghai or Beijing to third and fourth-tier cities, there is no single solution: brands, as much as bands, will have to fight for their customers.

"I think consumers in China today are undergoing an economic transformation and all consumer brands are battling for market share," adds Mr Hui, "Chinese consumers tend to be more experimental and less loyal, so you have to work to engage them in innovative ways."

However when we meet in a Beijing café, P.K.14's Yang Haisong – surprisingly softly-spoken in his off-stage guise – says talk of a new "individualistic" young China is more a construct of the marketing men's imagination, then a reality in contemporary China.

Culture in China is already homogenising. True individualism, he adds, was his decision to quit the engineering degree that back in the early 1990s that still guaranteed him a job, so he could learn to play guitar and go on to form P.K.14.

"The youth culture in China was never mainstream, you can't even say it's a counter-culture, in fact we have no youth culture, because everyone is subject to the media and external influences – they do not have their own point of view," he says.

"For us when we were kids, music was like a religion, it took us to a new place, to a new world of opportunity, a different lifestyle. We had no hope of becoming rock stars, we played because we loved to play. Now there's a TV show to make you a rock star.

"For the new generation of kids it's not the same, it's just for relaxing, for being cool."

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Indie Hype

Passion Pit are one of the most talked about bands of 2009, particularly on the internet. They’ve gotten a lot of buzz since they formed in 2007, a result of lead singer and songwriter Michael Angelakos first writing songs for his then-girlfriend and starting a band “because [he] had nothing else to do” that took over the Boston music scene. After being upstreamed to Columbia via Frenchkiss Records, however, the band began to garner national attention as well, and their major label debut, Manners, was released with the kind of overenthusiastic fanfare that Vampire Weekend received during 2008 and MGMT got the year before that.

They’re a band in the middle of what seems to be a well-oiled machine at this point: indie hype. Last year Current aired “Hyping Indie Hype,” a segment about creating buzz for underground artists in both rock and rap, suggesting that even with the marketability of “indie” as a genre since television shows like “The OC” made indie cool to the masses, it’s still hard for independent artists to really break the mainstream. For those that do, however, the praise is overwhelming, pushing emerging bands at consumers so much so early that a backlash can happen before the band even fully establishes their sound. These days, some consider Clap Your Hands Say Yeah a cautionary tale.

Lime Wire contributor Matt LeMay says that indie music has fallen prey to a tendency towards online “groupthink,” mirroring the same mainstream trends that independent music is supposed to be getting away from.

Conmoto festival is back. Did you just say, “What’s that?” Conmoto Art and Music Festival Friday and Saturday in downtown Jacksonville

The Conmoto Art and Music Festival is back.

Some of you may ask: “Was it ever here?”

Yes, it was. It’s been around for 15 years but used to be called the Conmoto Trench Festival. In fact, the festival this weekend is the 10th of its kind.

The music starts at the Florida Theatre Friday and continues from 7 p.m. to midnight (or later) Saturday at multiple downtown venues, where dozens of local artists will have their works on display.

Friday night’s show features the funk/blues band kLoB, indie rockers Shangrala, electro-rock from Lazerstar and Rob Roy, a rapper/singer getting national attention. Roy recently played during the CMJ Music Marathon in New York.

Some of you may also ask: “What the heck does 'conmoto’ mean?” In classical musical terms, “con moto” means to play with movement.

Back in 1994, local music enthusiast Jon Bosworth took the space out of “con moto” and organized the first Conmoto festival. The most recent was in 2006.

It was put on hold back in the late ’90s, when Bosworth started a family, and the Jacksonville music scene was lacking in a few of the other non-festival years, Bosworth said.

“There’s an ebb and a flow to the music scene in Jacksonville,” he said. “I’ve always focused it on when there’s a lot of great bands and a good feeling all around.”

This year, the time is right. And it’s not just the name that’s changed.

For the first time, hip-hop acts are on the schedule. They’ve been added to a lineup featuring mostly indie rock, punk and singer/songwriters.

And shedding some of the underground vibe, a family-friendly stage with free shows at the Burrito Gallery on Adams Street has also been added.

A testament to the enthusiasm flowing through the Jacksonville music scene, none of the bands has “asked for a dime,” Bosworth said.

“Every band donates their performance for the cause,” Bosworth said, referring to proceeds benefitting HabiJax, Americans for the Arts, and the Got Your Back Movement.

Mellow Mushroom and other businesses have stepped in to help this time, and Bosworth envisions Conmoto growing in the coming years. Eventually, he hopes it will be an event like AthFest in Athens, Ga., which draws crowds from cities around the Southeast.

He sounds decidedly optimistic, and said he’s also been talking with local promoter Tim Hall about possibly creating Jacksonville Music Awards to coincide with Conmoto.

Members of Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Black Kids, who have far surpassed the local level, have played at previous Conmoto festivals, he said.

So folks who head out to the festival this weekend could have a story to tell later on. It might start with: “I saw them when …”
IF YOU GO: CONMOTO ART & MUSIC FESTIVAL

All access both days, $20; opening night only, $10; all venues Saturday (except parties), $10; single venue Saturday, $5; free shows at Burrito Gallery. This schedule is subject to change. For more information, visit www.conmotofest.com.


TONIGHT (FRIDAY)

Florida Theatre, 128 E. Forsyth St.
7 p.m. to midnight: kLoB, Shangrala, Lazerstar and Rob Roy.

SATURDAY
Burrito Gallery, 21 E. Adams St.
7 p.m. Jameyal
7:45 p.m. Strange Fires
8:30 p.m. Fountain
9:15 p.m. AC Deathstrike
10 p.m. Manatella
10:45 p.m. Thumbnail Sketch
11:30 p.m. Rusholme Ruffians
12:15 a.m. Airport Factory

TSI, 333 E. Bay St.
7 p.m. Business Casualties
7:45 p.m. Single White Herpe
8:30 p.m. Sephiroth Chorus
9:15 p.m. Rich and Mindy
10 p.m. Crash the Satellites
10:45 p.m. Lazerstar
11:30 p.m. After the Bomb, Baby

The Sinclair, 521 W. Forsyth St.
7 p.m. Scared Rabbits
7:45 p.m. When Tides Collide
8:30 p.m. Eugene
9:15 p.m. Tuffy
10 p.m. Rails
10:45 p.m. Pine and Bone
11:30 p.m. Lackawanna Carriage Works

Cafe 331, 331 W. Forsyth St.,
10 p.m. Hip-Hop Hell with Mas Appeal, Al Pete and Daryl.

Dive Bar, 331 E. Bay St.
7 p.m. I Hope You’re a Doctor
7:45 p.m. Pilar A revalo
8:30 p.m. East China Sea
9:15 p.m. The Heyday
10 p.m. Christina Wagner

London Bridge, 100 E. Adams St.
7 p.m. Grabbag
7:45 p.m. National Dairy
8:30 p.m. Locust Grove
9:15 p.m. Dig Dog
10 p.m. Chicken and Whisky
10:45 p.m. X Sister Z
11:30 p.m. Status Faux
12:15 a.m. Skatterbrain

Minus the Bear gets hairy with rock that's hard to define

Minus the Bear is missing something … and it’s not a grizzly. It’s a sound that falls neatly into an established musical genre.

It could broadly be called indie rock, but there’s a certain laid-back vibe that doesn’t match other indie bands. And there’s definitely some progressive-rock tendencies, but it’s only hinted at rather than developing into the full-blown glory and self-indulgence of that genre. The Seattle quintet dabbles with electronic sounds and keyboard-driven soul, but also strips songs down to simple, acoustic arrangements.

The bottom line is that the songwriting is smart and complex, with an easygoing pop sensibility.

“I have no idea what the (bleep) we sound like. It’s rock ’n’ roll,” said drummer Erin Tate. Then, he too must add a caveat. “But it’s not like we’re ZZ Top or anything.”

Music listeners can hear Minus the Bear for themselves at The Black Sheep on Wednesday, where the band will perform with openers As Tall As Lions and Denver band Meese.

Minus the Bear came together in 2001, as the mainstream music industry was falling to pieces. They’ve grown organically since then, putting out albums, garnering a devoted fan base, and watching each national tour get a bit bigger.

At home, they rehearse together five days a week. The band’s songwriting process is messy and democratic, as they work out ideas together from the first riff to the finished product.

The band will preview three songs off their forthcoming 2010 album, Tate said. It’s the best-sounding batch of songs they’ve recorded, he said, and a testament to what a creative, hard-nosed producer can do for a band.

The boys brought in outside producer Joe Chiccarelli for the project — a Grammy-winning producer who has worked with The White Stripes, U2 and Elton John — the first time someone outside their circle took the helm.

“He kicked the living (doo-doo) out of us,” Tate said. “It was terrifying and amazing. It got to the point where, before we were even beginning to track a song, I’d have played the song 30 or 40 times already. Then we’d play it 40 or 50 more times.

“But it gave the songs a natural feel and allowed us to avoid a lot of overdubs. So it came out with a live feel and that’s something we feel like we’ve lacked in the past. I think it’s the best-sounding record we’ve ever done, because of the time we spent on the details.”

And really, does music need a definition, as long as it sounds good?



Minus the Bear, with As Tall As

Lions and Meese

Where: The Black Sheep, 2106 E. Platte Ave.

When: 8 p.m. doors, Wednesday

Tickets: $15 advance, $17 day of show; ticketweb.com

Hear the new single “Into the Mirror”: myspace.com/minusthebear

เพลง รีวิว ของ คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club โดย คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club
19 พฤศจิกายน 2009 - ผู้ ดูแล ระบบ

คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club เป็น pop indie (หรือ Indie Rock band) ที่ ใช้ ใน Seattle, Washington. พวก เขา จะ Charles Bert (เพลง / จังหวะ กีตาร์), Kevin Emerson (กลอง), Ethan Jones (เบส / Keyboards), James Werle (นำ กีตาร์) และ Saundrah Humphrey (ไวโอลิน). พวก เขา เกิด ใน ปี 2004 และ ได้ ออก อัลบั้ม สาม และ กำไร ต่อ หุ้น ระยะ หนึ่ง เต็ม ผ่าน Santa Barbara-based หนังกลางวัน บันทึก. ประเภท ของ พวก เขา ยัง มี twee และ ตาม PitchforkMedia เพลง ของ พวก เขา อธิบาย ว่า "เพลง เพื่อ จับ มือ กับ." :-) เหมาะ สำหรับ คู่ dovey lovey ที่สุด!



คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club เพื่อ ให้ น่า ฟัง. คุณ สามารถ ฟัง เสียง ของ Charles วัน และ เพลิดเพลิน กับ เพลง ใน เวลา เดียวกัน. ร้อง เรียน ไม่ เกี่ยว กับ เสียง ของ เขา (และ ส่วน ที่ เหลือ ของ คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club) และ ความ ง่าย ของ เพลง ของ พวก เขา และ ยัง ประทับใจ เพลง และ เนื้อเพลง ได้ ฝาก เครื่องหมาย สดใส ใน ใจ ของ ฉัน. :-)



อัลบั้ม เปิด ด้วย "Darling, มา โปรด Home" ซึ่ง เป็น เช่น ติดตาม การ ติด เชื้อ ที่ ฉัน คิด ว่า มัน เป็น หนึ่ง ใน แท ร็ ค ที่ ดี ที่สุด ใน อัลบั้ม. กีตาร์ การ ติดตาม นี้ เก็บ ซ้ำ ใน จังหวะ และ ก้าว ที่ เพื่อ เป็น มิตร กับ หู และ i เรา ไม่ สามารถ ช่วย ได้ แต่ เยาะ เย้ย เล่น กีตาร์ เมื่อ ฉัน ฟัง เพลง นี้. เมื่อ Charles sings "ดาร์ ลิ่ ง จะ ไม่ ชอบ มา ที่ บ้าน ..." ฉัน รู้ ว่า พวก เขา ฉัน พวก เขา ฉัน คิด เกี่ยว กับ เพลง ตลอด เวลา นี้. เปิด ซ และ น่า รัก! ฉัน เก็บ imagining ฉัน ว่า "ดาร์ ลิ่ ง จะ ไม่ ชอบ มา ที่ บ้าน ..." :-)



"ฉัน รู้ ว่า ฉัน ต้องการ" จะ สมบูรณ์ แบบ เมื่อ คุณ เสนอ! ;-) บันทึก การ เล่น ดนตรี ของ เพลง นี้ เป็น เพียง เพื่อ ธาร และ ใช้ ของ เนื้อเพลง ของ เพลง นี้ "ทราบ หรือ ไม่ ว่า ฉัน จึง ดี อย่างไรคุณ ยิ้ม แต่ คุณ ไม่ เคย จะ บอก ... เป็น คุณ ... ฉัน รู้ สิ่ง ที่ ฉัน ต้องการ .. "คุณ สามารถ ได้ยิน เสียง น่า รัก Charles 'ซึ่ง เป็น โบนัส ให้ เพลง นี้! เขา sings เพื่อ ง่าย ใน ขณะ ที่ เหลือ ของ คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club เข้า ร่วม ด้วย กีตาร์, เบส ของ กลอง และ ไวโอลิน แม้. เป็น เพลง สั้น ๆ แต่ แน่นอน worths เวลา ของ การ ฟัง ไป. :-)



หยุด การ กล่าวหา เกี่ยว กับ วัน ที่ สิ้นสุด ว่า ใน น้ำ ฝน และ ตรวจ สอบ "เมษายน ฝน". ก็ตาม ที ฉัน จะ รู้สึก ว่า Charles มี การ ร้องเพลง เกี่ยว กับ วัน ของ เขา. ร้องเพลง เกี่ยว กับ ฝน วิเศษ อย่างไร ได้ (คุณ สามารถ เปลี่ยน ฝน "" ด้วย "ฝักบัว :-)") ถ้า คุณ อยู่ กับ คน ที่ คุณ รัก. Charles ไป "จะ มี สถาน ที่ ใด ที่ ฉัน ควร จะ เป็น กว่า กับ คุณ ขวา ถัด จาก ฉัน huddled ขึ้น ภาย ใต้ ร่ม ของ ฉัน แม้ว่า ฝน ถล่ม เก็บ ..." คุณ สามารถ ได้ยิน มากมาย plucking กีตาร์ ใน "เมษายน ฝน ตก" และ ก็ เหมือนคณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club จะ เล่น ใน ถ้ำ เมื่อ ฉัน ได้ยิน เสียง plucking กีตาร์ / ส่วน. BA, BA, BA, BA, BA ... เมษายน ฝน ตก ... แม้ว่า ฉัน ชอบ ตุลาคม ฝน เดือน เกิด ของ ฉัน ;-)



วัน หยุด "และ วัน เสาร์" เป็น เพลง ช้า-paced และ แสดง คณิตศาสตร์ และ ความ สามารถ รอบ ตัว ของ Physic Club. พวก เขา อยู่ แล้ว ดี มาก กับ กลาง และ เร็ว เพลง จังหวะ "วัน หยุด และ วัน เสาร์" เป็น เพียง เพลง แสดง ว่า พวก เขา ยัง สามารถ ดำเนิน เพลง จังหวะ ช้า-อื่น. ปิกนิก ใน สวน ที่ กีฬา ชนิด หนึ่ง ใน สนาม หญ้า ที่ อยู่ และ พูด คุย โต้รุ่ง ... เหล่า นี้ เป็น สิ่ง ที่ เรา ทำ ใน วัน สุด สัปดาห์ ไม่ ได้? วิธี ที่ ดี เพื่อ ชะลอ ความเร็ว ของ อัลบั้ม. :-)



"La La La Lisa" นำ ทำนอง กลับ! มี เริ่ม น้อย และ หยุด ใน ระหว่าง แต่ แม้ กระนั้น ก็ ยัง คง ทำให้ เพลง ดี. :-) ฉัน สงสัย ผู้ Lisa (ผู้หญิง ที่ เขา พบ / เห็น ใน คลับ หรือ ไม่), Charles sings เกี่ยว กับ เธอ เป็น ถ้า เขา เป็น มาก รัก ของ นาง ตาย ไป จับ มือ ของ นาง ตาย ไป หอม นาง ตาย จะ มีเธอ. ก็ ไป "ฉัน ตาย เพื่อ เพียง หนึ่ง จุ๊บ ฉัน มี โอกาส เพียง แค่ ถือ มือ ..." เพียง เพื่อ ส มา ร์ ท ของ คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club เขียน เนื้อเพลง ไหวพริบ เช่น. เมื่อ Charles sings "La La La La La La ..." มี ต้อง มี หลาย สิ่ง ที่ เกิด ขึ้น ระหว่าง Lisa และ เขา. :-)



"ดู เรา ตอน นี้" starts off with acoustic กีตาร์ และ ไวโอลิน. น่า รัก! Nice เปิด รับ ฉัน สงสัย เพิ่มเติม. "เรา รัก แต่ ดู เรา ตอน นี้ BA BA BA BA BA ..." เป็น ประหนึ่ง พวก เขา มาก รัก จน ตอน นี้. "ดู เรา ตอน นี้ ..." Charles เพิ่ม. แล้ว มี โซ โล กีตาร์ ตาม ด้วย โซ โล ไวโอลิน สิ่ง ที่ เล่น ใน เพลง ดัง กล่าว สั้น!



"คุณ จะ น.ส. Me" เป็น เพลง จังหวะ อื่น ช้า ใน อัลบั้ม. เป็น หนึ่ง ใน เพลง โปรด ของ ฉัน ใน อัลบั้ม. ฉัน รัก กีตาร์, เบส, เปีย โน, ไวโอลิน และ แม้ กระทั่ง เพลง ใน เพลง นี้. ก็ พบ วิธี เพื่อ หัวใจ ของ ฉัน แม้ ที่ แรก ฟัง. Charles ไป "ไม่ ควร มี ซ้าย นี้ หา นาน แล้ว แต่ ผม กล้า พูด ว่า คุณ จะ พลาด ฉัน ..." แล้ว เขา ไป อีก ครั้ง กับ "La ดา ดา ดา ดา ดา ดา la ...." I gotta กล่าวเพียง ดี เพื่อ! :-D ครั้ง หลังจาก ที่ ร้อง พร้อม กัน แต่ละ เปีย โน ใน มา ว่า ใน เวลา ที่ เหมาะสม. ประทับใจ จริงๆ!



"เย็น เป็น เก่า" มี bassline อย่าง อร่อย และ groovy ไป. Bassline เอง เป็น สินทรัพย์ ที่ ดี ที่สุด ของ เพลง นี้. พร้อม handclaps หลังจาก หยุด ก็ เป็น หนึ่ง ใน การ เต้นรำ มาก ที่สุด-เพลง สามารถ ใน อัลบั้ม. เพลง นี้ เป็น ถ้า Charles ได้ รับ บ้า ที่ คน "ขั้น นอก ใน เย็น ฉัน ไม่ ต้องการ คุณ ที่ นี่ วัน พรุ่งนี้ เมื่อ ตื่น นอน" แต่ คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club ทำให้ ติดตาม groovy ที่ เพื่อ อร่อย กับ หู ของ เรา . ฉัน ไม่ สามารถ กล่าว ไม่มี :-)



จาก เนื้อเพลง ของ "นั่น Simple Plan" ดูเหมือน ว่า จะ เป็น เพลง เศร้า. แต่ อีก ครั้ง คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club ทำให้ สามารถ ติดตาม สนุก และ เต้นรำ-. Charles sings เกี่ยว กับ ผู้หญิง ใคร มี ความ สัมพันธ์ ที่ ล้ม เหลว "เปิด ฤดู ร้อน ใน เดือน มิถุนายน ที่ เธอ ใช้ เวลา กลางคืน เช้า และ เที่ยง ใน ห้อง เล็ก ๆ พิมพ์ ออก ไป ยัง อีก เศร้า โร แมน ติก ..." มัน ลงท้าย ด้วย "She cries และ อ่าน เอง ไป นอน แทน" . เช่น วางแผน ง่ายๆ แต่ มี ความ หมาย ลึก! :-)



คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club ลงท้าย ด้วย "Last Dance", เพลง งา ดำ และ ชื่น ใจ ที่ คุณ ต้องการ ประปา ฟุต และ เต้นรำ ของ คุณ. :-) สอง กีตาร์ เล่น ได้ ดี และ จัด ผิด. หนึ่ง เป็น กีตาร์ นำ, กีตาร์ จังหวะ อื่น ๆ. "ทำไม มัน ต้อง เศร้า? ตอน นี้ รัก ไม่ บ้า ให้ เป็น อดีต ใส่ หลัง และ กด ชั้น ก่อน ที่ จะ เต้นรำ สุดท้าย ... เพื่อ ให้ คุณ ตก สำหรับ ฉัน "ครั้ง ถัด ไป เมื่อ คุณ มี บุคคล โปรด เต้นรำ กับ partnet ของ คุณ และ จำ เนื้อเพลง จาก "Last Dance". คุณ จะ มี การ เต้นรำ สุดท้าย ที่ ดี ที่สุด ตลอด กาล! :-)



คะแนน: ฉัน สามารถ คิด เอง ร้องเพลง สอง สาม เพลง นำ จาก อัลบั้ม. "คณิตศาสตร์ และ ฟิสิกส์ Club" สร้าง จริงๆ สำหรับ คู่. เพลง และ เนื้อร้อง ของ เพลง ของ พวก เขา ขึ้น เพื่อ จะ รับ ฟัง และ สนุก โดย คู่รัก และ รัก! :-) หาก คุณ ได้ มี โอกาส ร้องเพลง กับ คน ที่ คุณ รัก ต่อหน้า ธารกำนัล คุณ จะ รู้ ว่า ที่ อัลบั้ม มอง หา! ง่าย ;-) แต่ หัวใจ ร้องไห้, ฉัน ไม่ สามารถ ช่วย ได้ แต่ ให้ มัน 7.8 out of 10. :-)



Stand-Out แท ร็ ค (My เลือก โดย): Darling, มา โปรด หน้า แรก ฉัน รู้ ฉัน ต้องการ คุณ น.ส. Me, Last Dance และ เย็น เป็น มินนิโซตา.



ไชโย!

The Finish Ticket Band From Alameda

An indie rock band from Alameda, Finish Ticket, has been named among 15 finalists that may open Live 105's well known Not-So-Silent Night Concert. Four are students at Alameda High, one graduated from AHS last year. Selected from a field of 116 bands in the first round of the Live 105 radio contest, the band now needs to win votes online at the Live 105 Web site. Voting is open through Dec. 6. The top-five vote getters will be judged at a live show, Dec. 7 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. The winning band will open at the Not So Silent Night concert at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Dec. 11. Headliners include Muse, AFI, 30 Seconds to Mars and Vampire Weekend in a sold out show. Finish Ticket consists of lead singer and songwriter, Brendan Hoye, Chris Arellano and Alex DiDonato sharing lead guitar, Michael Hoye on bass, and Garren Orr on drums. Brendan, Chris, Michael and Garren are all seniors at Alameda High. Alex graduated from AHS last year. To find out more about Finish Ticket, visit www.myspace.com/finishticket.

Snow Patrol

The career of Snow Patrol is an example of pragmatism paying off. They began life as a winsome indie band with a passing resemblance to Belle and Sebastian, performing songs called things like Get Balsamic Vinegar ... Quick You Fool, apparently by mistake: their 2001 album Final Straw suggested what they'd really wanted to do all along was make commercial, post-Coldplay stadium rock of the sort that gets played in the background while children expire on Grey's Anatomy. In fairness, you too might consider a musical volte-face if performing songs like Get Balsamic Vinegar ... had resulted in your playing to 18 people in a strip club in High Wycombe.

But now, umpteen million sales later, something odd appears to have happened to Snow Patrol. "I hope you realised before you bought the fucking tickets that we're going to do something different," offers frontman Gary Lightbody, before launching into what seems like a concerted effort to turn Snow Patrol back into the band they once were. They play a plethora of tracks from their first two flop albums – alas, Get Balsamic Vinegar Quick ... is noticeable by its absence – and that of Lightbody's obscure solo project Reindeer Section. Abetted by an army of backing musicians, they perform the big hits in, and there's no getting around this, a style reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian: muted French horns and strings, delicate electric piano, splashes of banjo and pedal-steel guitar.

A sceptical voice would suggest that, having made millions courting the mainstream, they're now doing what they actually want to again. Lightbody presents it as a charitable treat for the fans: "The idea is to give you something different from the last time we played." You get the feeling some of the audience wish he'd curbed his munificence, given that the show lasts nearly three hours. They receive the old stuff politely, rather than with the enthusiasm of people experiencing a Damascene conversion, and they have a point – whatever you make of the chart-chasing sound of Run or Chasing Cars, they're better songs than, say, their debut single Starfighter Pilot, although the real problem may be one of a cultural clash. When Lightbody mentions Belle and Sebastian, the audience react as if he's started speaking in Urdu. There's a baffled silence, as if no one has any idea what he's on about.

Eventually, they come round, won over by Lightbody's cajoling and a fantastic version of If There's a Rocket Tie Me to It. By the end, they're on their feet, demanding an encore. If you were feeling cynical, you'd say they're doing that in the hope of hearing some songs they know, but cynicism is hard to maintain when the show, for its flaws, displays more in the way of risk-taking and bravery than you might normally associate with the band behind it.

Former Jay Reatard Band Join Wavves-Indie Rock!

Former members of Jay Reatard's touring band have joined up with Wavves singer Nathan Williams.

The world of indie rock is a close knit, some would say deeply incest ridden, place. Bands can swap labels at the drop of a hat, switching styles in the space of a download. Now exiles from the world of Jay Reatard have done the logical thing and hooked up with another volatile frontman.

Jay Reatard was abandoned on an American tour earlier this year when several members of his backing band walked out. Bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes upped and quit, leaving Reatard to post some spectacular Twitter messages.


"Band quit ! Fuck them !" the singer screeched. "They are boring rich kids who can't play for shit anyways .. Say hello to your ugly and boring wifes".

However soon after Jay Reatard calmed down and mellowed to the idea of gaining new band members. It seems that Pope and Hayes have lost no time in hooking up on a new project, teaming up with Wavves singer Nathan Williams for a recent show.

Wavves played a show in Mexico recently, with Pitchfork reporting that Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes were among the line up. A spokesperson for Wavves revealed that the pair are now full time members of the band.

Nathan Williams of course has a long standing grudge with Black Lips singer Gerard Swilley. The pair exchanged punches in a Brooklyn bar recently, resulting in a fairly unique triangle of hatred emerging in American indie rock.

Wavves are set to return to the UK soon to complete an upcoming tour. Opening on November 17th the tour takes the band across the nation, playing shows in Liverpool, Glasgow, Newcastle, London and more.