The Great Migratory Patterns of Bloggers

Holy hell. Has it really been August 20 since I last updated this thing? There has been no lack of activity in my realm. Much has been doing and much has been brewing; many reviews posted on Stereo Subversion and many more albums to dig out from under.

I will be migrating from Blogger (bah!) to Wordpress (heh!). Data needs to be transferred, RSS feeds updated, and you, dear reader (all two of you) will be asked to follow me, if you so desire. This changeover will take place after the new year.

In the meantime, here are the two latest reviews from yours truly posted at Stereo Subversion:

The King Khan and BBQ Show, Invisible Girl
(In the Red Records, 2009)


Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Beware
(Drag City, 2009)

My year-end Top 10 List is coming next.

Merry Christmas, friends! Here's a link to one of my favorite bloggers who is extremely generous with allowing you to grab awesome, free mixes. Check out his previous Christmas mixes, too.

The Sixth Sixeyes Christmas Mix: 2009

The Blind Pig

Photos are up from the Man Man show at the Village Tavern that I was at on March 7. I think they are some of my better photos--mostly because I used a flash and had some decent equipment. Follow this link to see them.

I'll be back in town this Friday from Waldorf, MD. Monday, April 28 I'll be at The Tin Roof taking pics of Athens, GA's The Winter Sounds.
I love this band and you should too. I'll post the interview I did with singer/bassist Patrick Kennan about a year ago for the now-defunct free weekly The Beat.

Thanks much to You Ain't No Picasso who has posted a free download of the entire Man Man show at The Blind Pig in Michigan. Good sound quality, too! Follow this link for all the goodness.
Note that the files are in M4A format, so get out your converters or drop them into iTunes.

Additionally, Sixeyes (have I mentioned how much I love this guy?) has reposted a free Radiohead concert, Live from BBC Radio. As the man says, get 'em while they're hot. Again, amazing sound quality. Here's the link to the goodness.

On Record Store Day I bought the new Helio Sequence album, but haven't had a chance to listen to it, yet. There's something about Maryland that makes one lethargic against all the things we should love. (They're playing the Village Tavern on May 30.) And I managed to snag a copy of Bob Marley, Legend and The Stone Roses, The Complete Stone Roses on the $1 table. I put Nirvana, Unplugged back, though now I wish I hadn't. I've got a fever for some grunge lately.

ABBA Is Everyone's Favorite Band

Eager to beat the dead horse that is the music industry down some more, The Raconteurs have decided to announced the release of their new album, Consolers of the Lonely, one full week before it comes out in a multitude of formats for all types of listeners (including vinyl). Their reasoning and the official press release is here via Stereogum. Nice idea, hopefully the music will live up to the hype. The last record was only just okay--and by okay I mean very derivative with a few nice tracks.

I have been posting a lot about Matt Pond PA...I mean The Dark Leaves. Yep. Apparently that will be MPPA's new moniker.

Sun Kil Moon is streaming their new album, April, at their MySpace page. Fantastic, so far. While you're biding your time waiting for the official release date of April on ummm...April 1, you should get The Retribution Gospel Choir.

Part 2 of the Wilco show at the Riveria is up for download at Sixeyes via this link. Have I mentioned just how much I love this blog? Well, I do. Subscribe to it here. You won't be sorry.

Here's interesting and (gasp!) well-written article from Medialoper. It's about The Clash. And music. That's cool, I guess. If you're into that sort of thing.

And finally, in reference to this post's title, this is just sad. Via con dios, Ola Brunkert. Via con dios, sir.

Some mp3 links:
Rilo Kiley--Let My Love Open the Door (Pete Townsend cover)
Thanks, You Ain't No Picasso.

Matador Intended Play sampler, 2008
Thanks, Matador Records.

Music for Video Games Vol. 1
Haven't heard this, yet. But Sufjan Steven's is on it, so what the hell.
Thanks, Asthmatic Kitty.

Man Man pics and a show review on Friday. Some pics from a Richard Buckner show from this past July at the Village Tavern are up on my Flickr site now. They're not very good but they get the job done. Here's one:

This Phony Beatlemania Has Written Its Course

A few links of interest and then it's on to Destroyer...old(er) Destroyer, mind you. After the links is a review of Destroyer's previous album that originally saw print in The Beat (RIP). I've got Man Man photos from their Village Tavern show and a review coming by Friday. Those guys were unreal; my mind was sufficiently blown.

Trent Reznor may be on to something here... Guess I never really thought of it that way, but he makes a valid point. Go your free download of Nine Inch Nail's Ghosts 1-9 here.

SXSW is streaming like nobody's business at NPR. None of the concerts are up for download, but I strongly recommend their live concert podcast.

Get a giant zip file of 1/2 of a Wilco show over at Sixeyes--consistently one of the best blogs for free music and mp3 of the legal variety.

That's all. Now go get Trouble In Dreams from anywhere but iTunes.

Destroyer—Destroyer’s Rubies (Merge Records, 2006)

Dan Bejar has always been the brainchild behind Destroyer, and while I’ve never cared for his previous releases, his work in the supergroup The New Pornographers has always made he question why he can’t create a Jackie Dressed in Cobras (one of the best songs on The New Pornographer’s Twin Cinema) without the help of his supergroup cohorts.

Well, to make up for lost time, Bejar and his new band members in Destroyer have created an album full of intelligent pop that hasn’t left my ears for weeks. Putting what Destroyer does into words is difficult, but the songs have major structure and guitar hooks from hell. And the lyrics, while puzzling at time, serve to enhance the song when necessary and let it be when needed.

The nine minute opener Rubies displays alternating shifts between acoustic strumming and picking and an electric guitar takeover. And even though the chorus consists of little more than Bejar singing, “la da da da da, da da da dum” the song never wears you out as you might expect it to. To counterbalance the chorus, however, are great lines like, “Don’t worry about her/ she’s been know to appreciate/ the elegance of an empty room” and “please don’t wake me/ from this my golden slumber/ I am proud to be a part of this number.” If I didn’t know better I’d say that Bejar was cueing his listeners in to his comfort level; a clearly reflected element in these relaxed and focused songs.

Tracks like 3000 Flowers and Painter in Your Pocket feel like some of the most well-designed songs I’ve heard: they’re elegant in their simplicity, but layered in their meaning. And I love to hear a man write lines that amount to modern poetry—“Where did you get that line?/ Where did you get that rook?/ Where did you get that penchant for destruction in the way you talk?. The only slump is the Neil Young-esque guitar blues on the last track Sick Priest Learns to Live Forever.

There are constant themes throughout the record that I have yet to decipher. For example, blood, oils, priests, and “your blues” (the title of Destroyer’s previous release) come up repeatedly. One could take Destroyer’s Rubies as a concept album, but of what, has to be left up to the listener. And modernist lyrics like, I was Clytemnestra on a good day, can puzzle those not versed in mythology. But one thing that shouldn’t be left up to listeners is the delicacy and greatness of this, Destroyer's finest moment.

Saturday Night's Alright...For Being Alone

The weekend was spent in the comfort of my home, mostly due to the fact that I locked my keys in my car Friday morning at work. With no way to get in until Monday, I hunkered down and did what any late-twenty-something would do on a Saturday night in a bustling town: painted my guest room.

The soundtrack of our nights:

Ryan Adams--Rock n' Roll

...still just a genuine throwaway CD. I was really only in the mood to hear "So Alive" and "Note to Self: Don't Die."

Various Mix CD

...compiled by Fletch in 2003. Lots of emo, the irresistable kind; especially from a band called, Believe In Toledo. (Now defunct?)

Braid--Frame & Canvas

...is it wrong to call it emo? Doesn't feel like it. This album might crack my Top Ten. The first three songs are flawless.

Modest Mouse--We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

...completely overlooked in my opinion. It received above-mediocre reviews mostly, I believe, due to the fact that critics only focused on the fact that Johnny Marr was now a part of the band. Isaac Brock's songwriting on this one was the gem, though. Don't believe me? Listen to "Missed the Boat" and "Parting of the Sensory."

Silversun Pickups--Carnavas
...summed up best by Nick Frost as "the band that Smashing Pumpkins could have been, if the Pumpkins didn't suck."

The Thermals--The Body, The Blood, The Machine

...stayed on my player all last summer. Still a solid album and great freakin' songwriting (e.g., "I regret leaving my mind/I forgot I needed it to think/and maybe to keep me alive/can't believe I got so far with a head so empty")

Never made it to:

Constantines--S/T

...but I plan on rectifying that siutation today. In the meantime, looking forward to the new Constantines, Kensington Heights. (Those boys look like extras from The Lost Boys in that picture, don't they?) Here's an mp3 link courtesy of Sixeyes.

Link for today:

Test your music IQ. 30 questions, and it's a lot of fun. Although what's scary is how accurate the descriptions of the your music personality are. I'm a Mix Tape DJ--what the hell are you?

Love Comes Like a Kennedy Curse

Back from the Matt Pond PA show at The Map Room on Tuesday night. The "storm of the century" as E called it didn't amount to anything--no tornadoes or severe lightning or anything. Quick update on areas of interest on this here interwebs:

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have a session up at Daytrotter for download.

Pitchfork has photos up of the recent Bill Calahan/Johathan Meiburg show at the Village Tavern. I don't know who Drew Katchen is, but apparently he was at the Village Tavern on 2/29 taking photos. I missed the show, but plan on tracking this guy down.

I just discovered JunkMedia; looks like a cool site.

And the award for concert-in-an-amphitheater-that-I-would-go-to-and-then-leave-before the-main-act goes to...Jack Johson with special guests Rogue Wave and Neil Halstead! I know Rogue Wave released Asleep at Heaven's Gate on Jack Johnson's label...but where did they pick up Neil Halstead from? I do recommend "Sleeping On Roads," though.

The Silver Jews are emerging from whatever hole they live in to release a new album, (title here). And their second-ever tour is to follow. The album features Pernice Brother's guitarist Peyton Pinkerton.

Sixeyes has a new mp3 from the Notwist's new album; their first in 6 years since Neon Golden (a fine record).

If I cared I would mention that you can stream Tapes 'n Tapes LP, but their last LP was crappy and for some reason critics went ape-shit over it. And by the time this posts, you can't listen to the streaming album anyway, so nevermind.

Man Man and The Felice Brothers play at the Village Tavern tomorrow night. The Felice Brothers play an in-store at Monster Music beforehand. Apparently they're good.

Dave Eggers is giving a public reading at the Brooks Center, Friday, March 7 at 7:30. It's free and it's part of the Clemson University Literary Festival. Apologies to Woody b/c I can't be there.

That's all. Pix from the Matt Pond PA show and a review coming either tomorrow or Monday.