Proud Parenting Moment

/ / Opinion, rantings

My wife is off galavanting with the cub scouts today. I had to go to work. Therefore, my daughters needed to be watched. As my wife had to be to her designated meeting place at 6:15, I took the girls to our friends’ house on my way to work. During the drive to drop them off, System of a Down’s “Streamline” came on. As the girls were sitting quietly in the back seat and I was semi-half-heartedly (so … does that make it a quarter-heartedly?) singing along, basically to myself, it got to the chorus. “(I wasn’t there for you) You are gone  (I wasn’t there for you) Goodbyes are long, Goodbye … (I wasn’t there for you) Goodbye. I wasn’t there for goodbye …” And so on and so forth. My six year old pipes up from the back, “Hey, daddy! He sounds like YOU!!!”

Well! That’s quite the high compliment! Granted, it’s coming from a 6 year old who thinks Justin Bieber is the end-all of music (which is precisely why I’m playing other stuff around them when I can), but hey–I’ll take it!

Maybe it’s because my throat is really sore … not sure if it’s allergies or a cold settling in my larynx, but either way, today, I just couldn’t keep up with him.  Normally, I can hit that last “BYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYE!” that lasts something like 10-12 seconds or whatever. Today, though … nothin’. Gave it one shot, and decided my voice needed the rest more than anything.

So a bragging moment. Sort of. Mostly because my daughter is starting to be able to recognize voice similarities and such. THAT is excellent. And I will never tell her to her face that I think Justin Bieber is useless when it comes to contributing musically to the world, She will come into her own as to her musical tastes, and I will not quash anything along the way. Unless it’s hard-core gansta rap or incites a riot. My mom gave me the same gift growing up–excellent music. Of course, she bought me stuff like Ravel’s Bolero, William Tell’s Overture … classical music, which to this day I still love. On my own, I discovered Hall and Oates, Huey Lewis, The Cars, Madonna, Journey … bands that *I* liked. At no point did my mom ever try to tell me, “Umm … no. That sucks. Turn it off.” It was only later in life that I learned just how cheesy Hall and Oates were, and how 50s-era rock-influenced Huey Lewis really was, and how risque Madonna was/is/probably always will be. My daughter will have the same privileges that I had growing up, with the added knowledge of my ever-expanding music collection.

So maybe, just maybe, I won’t have to put up with Beiber-esque junkie hud crap when she ends up collecting her own music. Here’s hoping.

 

iTunes and iCloud First Thoughts

/ / iPhone Apps, Opinion, rantings, software

It is here. iCloud is now a reality. What does that mean for those of us with an iTunes account?

Truthfully, I’m not sure.

Here’s my thing. I have Audiogalaxy installed on my phone. It’s free. From anywhere I can get a semi-decent signal–wi-fi or 3G–I can listen to my entire music collection … not just 25000 songs worth. APparently, that’s the cap on how many songs you can have iTunes match. Why there’s a cap at all is beyond me, but whatever. There is. At an average of approximately 10 songs per CD, that’s 2500 CDs. I’m fairly certain the average listener doesn’t have that much.

I do. And them some. So what am I supposed to do? I can’t create 2 accounts because my phone can only be recognized by one account at a time. If I try downloading songs from another account, I’m sure I’ll get lambasted for trying to. So that’s not really an option.

Now I’m back to the fact that Audiogalaxay has EVERYTHING I own available through its app. Granted, I can’t download a particular song … but I do not have to because IT’S ON MY FRIGGIN’ HARD DRIVE AT HOME.

To be fair, I do see one application where iTunes in the Cloud could be useful. It makes for a handy back-up system. I’d create multiple accounts to host 25000 songs each. Ha ha! Then if a hard drive dies or goes kaput, I can re-download them. But then again, where their songs are only encoded at 256kbps, mine are all encoded at 320kbps. Gain some hard drive space; lose some sound quality. And yes–I’m one of “those” audiophiles.

One thing I *really* like about this new cloud service is the availability of apps I’ve long since forgotten I had due to a reformat and loss of all apps. THAT is pretty cool. ANY app I’ve ever purchased is available to download. Slick. Hopefully, Apple doesn’t “fix” that little hiccup (cuz it kind of seems like it shouldn’t be that way for some reason, right?)

Anyway, I’ll reserve judgment for when I actually start using the service. Maybe I’ll find more to like. Maybe I won’t. For now though, I’m content to download my old apps!

 

Google Creativity

/ / Opinion, rantings

Say what you will about their apps: Google is just downright creative. Have you seen their homepage today? In honor of Les Paul, they created a pretty cool little guitar string logo. And yes–you can strum it and record your tracks. Pretty nice, eh? Here’s one I came up with from “doodling.”

Thank you, Les Paul, for some amazing guitars. Thank you, musical artists, who have supported Les in his guitar making endeavors and making some incredible music. I mean … just look at this list. It’s practically a “who’s who” of the guitar world.

Maybe it’s just me, and maybe it’s the fact that Les Pauls tend to carry a certain mystique to them, but it just feels like, for a guitar player, touching a Les Paul is akin hoisting the Stanely Cup. It’s the coup de grace. The holy grail. Not being a guitarist, I can’t say that definitively, but it just seems like it. And why shouldn’t it be? Is there a more recognized name in guitars? Not that I’m aware of.

Fund This Project on Kickstarter: Rise and Fall of Tower Records Documentary

/ / Opinion, rantings

Sorry for the posting flood. My fellow bloggers over at New Band Day posted this earlier today, and I have to repost. I grew up in southern Ohio and Western New York. As far as I know, we had no Tower Records in our area, but that doesn’t change the enormity nor the importance they played in the music industry. If nothing else, I can respect that immensely.

Their doors closed in 2006. The empire was dead. The story, however, remained relatively unheard.

Enter Colin Hanks. He has taken it upn himself to make a documentary of Tower Records’ history. In an effort to curb funding issues, he’s created a Kickstarter project, and it is literally exploding. While I was perusing the page, over $1000 in donations poured in. Looks like the funding will definitely be there!

For any interested in helping with the project, you can read about and make a contribution here.

The Goodness of Joanna Newsom

/ / Opinion, rantings

A fellow blogging buddy of mine last night wrote that Joanna Newsom was just not her thing. Couldn’t quite get past the voice. To be fair, I understand completely. When I first heard her voice, I was blown away by the raw, unrefined sound to it, and it really caught me off-guard. Her music, with its amazing depth and lushness, was what really kept me coming back for more.

As time wore on and after repeated re-listens of “Milk-Eyed Mother” and “Ys,” I realized just how much I really enjoy the unparalleled uniqueness of her vocals. Some have called her child-like. I disagree. I said it before and I’ll say it again: Alison Shaw has the most child-like voice I’ve ever heard. That’s including Mari Smith, who is 12, so … you know … take that for what it’s worth. As you all should know by now, I *adore* Ali’s voice, and you’ll never read otherwise from me. Which brings me back to Joanna’s uniqueness on her first 2 CDs.

It’s definitely an acquired taste. Her voice can be, dare I say it, un-nerving. One of my other first reactions was the strinking similarity to her style and Bob Dylan’s. 20 years ago, If I were a record producer and I was the one in the studio for his first recording and all I heard were his vocals, I probably would have tossed him out. Yah, that may be met with some harsh criticism and backlash, which is what I would expect from a well-educated musical community. 20 years later, I cantruly appreciate his music for the overall package and not just his nasaly, semi-non-singing approach to vocals. Joanna Newsom is the same way. She is a package deal, and to accept her as an artist (which, just my opinion here, she is very much moreso than 90% of musicians out there today) is to accept the fact that her first two albums were vocally raw and unpolished. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.

Now … having said all that, I would *highly* encourage anyone who has any mis-givings about Ms. Newsom’s vocal abilities to please pick up her 3-CD release, Have One on Me. Her vocals are drastically different, and truthfully, I was a tad disappointed when I first heard them. However, I now underestand that we’re just flat-out lucky to even have these new CDs (long story short, she developed vocal nodules and it literally left her voiceless for 2 months, after which she was never able to sing the same way). Her voice now seems much more … normal? I guess …? For wont of a better term, I guess that will have to do. Sadly, in my opinion, it takes just a bit of mystique away that she had in the first 2 CDs.

As my good buddy Kip pointed out the other day, we do not tell someone that their musical opinions are wrong. It’s just not cool. We may disagree and we may present our opinions … heck, some of us may have incredibly strong opinions (read: I do indeed have incredibly strong opinions …) but I will never tell someone that their opinion is wrong because it’s not and never will be. It will always be their opinion, to which he or she is perfectly entitled, just like I’m entitled to my opinions. If they’re similar and we see eye to eye, great! If we have a differing view point, so what? There’s too much music to agree upon to get caught up on telling someone that their opinion is wrong. That’s just ludicrous.

So to you, my SF blogging buddy who may or may not even read this, I respect your opinion to the hilt. I hope you know that by now. You’ve shown me some amazing, fantastic music, and for that, I’m eternally grateful. I just happen to disagree with you on this one small point. Joanna Newsom’s vocals, in my opinion, made her first 2 CDs that much more exhilerating.

</rant>

Primus and those Alemeda County Losers

/ / Opinion, rantings

Talk about prophetic.

Bit of history: Primus originated in the bay area. Les Claypool even penned a couple of tunes about the area, with references to San Pablo bay, fishing, etc. So, now you know that

This morning, as I’m getting ready to go to work, I come out here and check my Facebook stuff. A friend posted a link to this article. If I could ask for a show of hands of how many people find this utterly despicable and reprehensible, I would. Alas, the internet being what it is, all I can ask for are comments, which will have to do. I guess that’s the digital equivalent of asking for a show of hands, right?

Personally, I find it disgusting. So the guy was suicidal? Does that stop law enforcement or fire fighters from stopping the suicidal person who’s standing on the San Francisco Bay bridge? or at the top of the Sears Tower? Or the person teetering on the edge of jumping into Niagara Falls? No. So why the hell is this guy worth any less of an effort?

Are you ready for it?

“The water is too cold.”

I’m sorry … what?

“Yah, you know … 54 degree water … I might get cold.”

It took this man damn near an HOUR standing in 54 degree water to die. You mean to tell me some big, strong, burly cop or firefighter couldn’t get out there and get him back in no more than 10 minutes? he wasn’t that far out in the bay.

Infuriating.

Ohhhhh … but wait a sec. They get to hide behind their red-tape bureaucracy of “policy.” Apparently, it’s “policy” to not save a guy if he’s trying to commit suicide by walking into a 54-degree body of water.

Absolutely the last place on earth I’d want to live: Alemeda County, California, USA. Period. Afghanistan. Ukraine. Siberia. Barrow Alaska. All places I’d rather live than Alemeda County.

Anyway, I mention that and the Primus thing to tell you this next bit.

As I’m on my way to work, having my entire iPod on shuffle, I start the engine, drive down the road, and turn on my music. What’s the first song that comes on?

“Dirty Drowning Man” from Primus’ Anti-Pop CD. How creepy is that? I almost wrecked my car from the shock and pure randomness of the shuffle. Good thing I don’t live in Alemeda County … no one would bother trying to rescue me.

Concert Review: U2 360 Salt Lake City Show

/ / Concerts, Opinion, rantings

Eleanor is dead.

The sword that slayed the elusive concert demon was the set of tickets that my wife and I held in hand as we descended through the bowels of Rice Eccles stadium to attend the concert event of the millennium. Last night, we finally got to go to a U2 concert.

No no … let me amend that. We got to experience a U2 concert. You do not just “go.” It is an experience that, in my opinion, needs to be had by every music fan.

To be perfectly fair, I recognize that I am extremely late to the U2 concert scene. Indeed, it may be said that I’m late to the U2 music scene in general, though I’ve been a semi-fan since The Joshua Tree. I’ve wanted to see them for about 14 years … it just hadn’t worked out.

Until last night. And oh what a night it was.

To understand the surrealistic nature of the night, you have to know that it had been raining non-stop in Utah for 11 days straight, yesterday included. I woke up at 6 to a raging thunderstorm and ridiculous driving condition (exacerbated by the ever-present idiot drivers who insist that their SUVs and trucks are impervious to hydroplaning). As the day wore on, I was convinced that this show would be performed under a torrential downpour. We bought ponchos just to play it safe. However, by lunch time, the rain stopped, the clouds broke, and all of the sudden, there was a tiny patch of blue sky. That tiny patch gave pretty much all of northern Utah a glimmer of hope, which was all we needed.

By the time we got to the stadium, all that remained of the wretched weather from the previous week and a half were some puddles and a few wispy clouds that stubbornly refused to dissipate. When Larry Mullen Jr. took his seat behind his drum kit, the sky directly over the stadium was empty, and a few stars had begun to twinkle.

The PERFECT evening.

We took position about 120 feet from center stage. Not a bad place to be, but not as close as I would have liked. I knew there was supposed to be some inner ring, but I assumed that was in the middle of the stage, but from our vantage point, there was no telling. We stood in awe of the stage set-up that looked like a giant, mechanical 4-legged spider that spanned the entire width of the stadium floor. This thing had to be at least 150 feet tall. There were more lights than I’ve ever seen, and the stacks were larger than life itself—four sets of about 60-70 speakers, all of which sat atop “the claw,” as it’s been dubbed. Just below the stacks was a extendable 360-degree cylindrical screen that could extend all the way down to about 5 feet from the stage (bout for the most part was retracted to about 90 feet above the stage. A disco ball sat kind of counter-sunk in  a needle of lights that dropped down from the center of the setup to about 15 feet from the stage floor. I’m telling you … you’ve never seen anything like this. And THAT was just the main stage.

From the main spanned two bridges that rolled around on wheel tracks and was connected to a secondary stage about 30-40 feet out. This is where the “inner ring” came into play. Those in that ring were a mere few feet from the band at any given time. Those on the outside of the ring were treated to all the band members taking turns walking over the bridges to the secondary stage. Even Larry came out playing the bongos as he and Adam played together, then ran back to his drum set.

(Note to self and ANY avid concert goer with an iPhone: PICK UP A BATTERY CASE! I only got about half the songs because my battery life sucks and I knew I had to conserve, but even still, I died out right at the end of “One.” Can’t have that happening again. Lesson learned!)

My wife and I ended up in the inner ring area by determination and asking one simple question. The ring was being guarded by security, who had no idea what the inner ring was all about. I showed them my stub and asked if the “Fanclub” sub-text beneath “GA” meant anything. He said he had no idea. “So … hmm. Can I go in then?”

“Sure. Have fun.”

Shock. Exhilaration. Euphoria. This is how all first U2 concerts should be, right? 10 feet from the stage, the band literally walking over us, dropping white roses onto the anointed … and no rain.

Like I said, the perfect evening.

The Fray opened first, playing a solid set of some radio hits whose names I don’t know but indeed recognized as songs my wife and daughters like to sing. Very friendly band.

After they closed their set, the road crew came out and dismantled their stage and got ready for U2. Some guy with a camera and a pretty decent-sized lens came out and took pictures of literally everybody. Not sure why, but I would love to find out. He panned the whole crowd, taking incremental shots and making sure he got every square inch of the stadium. It must have taken him at least half an hour and hundreds of pics. Kind of makes me wonder if they aren’t making a “360” panorama of every show. That would be extremely cool. Wouldn’t surprise me either.

U2 opened with “Even Better than the Real Thing.” Before they came out, to amp the crowd, they played the beginning of “Space Oddity.” The girls in front of us were almost spot-on with the “10 ….. 9….. 8 ….. 7…..” countdown. Just after they hit “1,” Larry walked out and started pounding on his drums with anthemic determination. As The Edge came walking out, he smiled at the crowd and started wailing away. Next came Adam, dressed in an all-white suit (and, truthfully, causing a lot of glare on my inferior camera phone), playing his bass. Last of all—the screams most deafening in reserve for just this moment—out walked Bono, and … that was it. Crowd went insane. Jumping, screaming, dancing, waving, thrashing, and of course singing along. Well, as best we could, anyway. There is no vocalist like Bono. 20+ years, and he still sings “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” in its original key. I did noticed that “Pride (in the Name of Love) was dialed down about a step and a half, but oh well.

Energy. Palpable and tangible. Incalculable energy. 45000 fans, and we let them have it full in the face. The four of them put us to shame. They out-energied all of us put together. You’d have to see a live show of theirs to understand it. The amazing part of this is that these guys are only in their late 40s/early 50s. They’ll be around for at least another decade. And I’m willing to bet that they’ll have just as much energy.

The set list touched on 11 CDs worth of music. They even busted out “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me” from the Batman Returns soundtrack. THAT was an insane song because when they came out for the “second” encore (not sure I consider the first break an encore since they announced that they’d be back, but that’s just me), Bono was wearing this leather jacket with hundreds of red lasers embedded in the sleeves, sides and back, THEN a couple of stage crew guys blew smoke in front of him. The effect was insane, with laser beams shooting everywhere through the smoke. The mic used for that and “With or Without You” was a drop-down mic that Bono used as a swing. Unbelievable stage presence, that man. He knows he’s Bono, and he takes it step for step in stride. One of the few artists who actually gets that his size can be used for something beyond the music stage and does LOTS of things with it. Good for you, Mr. Bono. Good for you.

We sang Happy Birthday to Bob Dylan. 3 travelling sisters came up on stage and sat with Bono while they read a short poem he wrote about Utah. The whole band circled the crowd on the outer stage too many times to count. My wife got petals from one of the white roses that Bono dropped over us. I could not ask for a better show or evening.

And no rain. Not a drop. Nary a cloud in the sky above us.

Here’s the set list for the evening.

Main set:

  1. Even Better Than The Real Thing
  2. I Will Follow
  3. Get On Your Boots
  4. Magnificent
  5. Mysterious Ways
  6. Elevation
  7. Until The End Of The World
  8. All I Want Is You
  9. Love Rescue Me
  10. Happy Birthday
  11. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
  12. Beautiful Day / Here Comes The Sun (snippet)
  13. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  14. Miss Sarajevo
  15. Zooropa
  16. City Of Blinding Lights
  17. Vertigo / It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It) (snippet)
  18. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight / Discothèque (snippet) / Mofo (snippet)
  19. Sunday Bloody Sunday
  20. Scarlet
  21. Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

First encore:

  1. One
  2. Blowin’ In The Wind (snippet) / The Times, They Are A-Changin’ (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name

Second encore:

  1. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
  2. With Or Without You
  3. Moment of Surrender

I’m posting videos to YouTube, but my connection is slow, so I don’t know how long it’s going to take. Just be aware that I get really into my concerts. That’s all I’m going to say about the videos.  Laugh and cringe all you want. I know I suck, but I’m working on it.

In the Name of Love

/ / Concerts, Opinion, rantings

I can’t wait for tomorrow. The day is almost here where my wife and I finally get to slay our “Eleanor” of concerts, for the mighty U2 plays at Rice Eccles stadium on the U of U campus, and we have GA tix. Cannot wait.

This concert slaying has been years in the making. We actually had tickets in hand to see them in 2001, but oddly enough we actually didn’t know until they were mailed to us. The short version is that I hate Ticketmaster and think they’re an abysmal distribution method. At least, they were back then. Not sure how they are to deal with now since most shows here in Utah go through an independent ticket distributer. Anyway, the morning that tix went on sale, I eagerly sat in front of the computer, finger madly clicking refresh until the page would allow me to purchase tickets. After what seemed like an hour of clicking (it was really only just a matter of minutes), the page finally let me select my tickets. I submitted all my payment information and clicked “Submit,” only to be greeted by the “page time out” error pop-up after about a minute of the payment page hanging in limbo. This happened at least 4 or 5 times before I finally threw in the towel. On the last attempt, I saw the page hanging, and just decided to wait until the site traffic died down some, and if any were left over, great! If not, sucks to be us.

So imagine my surprise when I checked our bank balance a few days later and noticed that we were in the negative. After realizing that the payment simply wasn’t going to go through, I allocated the money for the tickets to other things, like actually getting ahead on some bills. I checked the next Tuesday or so to see if the payments had come out and to see what our remaining balance was in our checking account. Our balance was a couple of hundred in the red. “WHAT?!” Quickly scanning, I saw our payment for the bills … and a few line items down was a charge from Ticketmaster. “Oh you sons of …” I called them and asked how they had managed to complete a transaction that clearly had not gone through. “Well, sir …obviously it did go through because we charged your debit card.”

“Yes … but your website never once showed a successful charge.” And I went through the whole story of entering payment info > click submit > watch page hang > page time out error > rinse > repeat. The Ticketmaster kid didn’t care. All he cared about was that Ticketmaster got their money. “Look … all I want is a refund for these tickets. You guys can’t handle a high level of traffic on your site, and I suffered the consequences for it. I had no idea that payment had gone through because I closed the page mid-way through the hang. Just refund my money please.”

The process to refund my money, I was told, would take 6-8 weeks, which, of course, is nowhere near acceptable. “That’s ridiculous. All you have to do is credit my bank account. How hard can that be? What … do you hand-deliver all the 1s and 0s one at a time? Just reverse the payment.”

No. Of course it’s not that simple. I had to write Void on the tickets, photocopy the voided tickets, fax that to Ticketmaster, then destroy the tickets (how they wanted proof of that is beyond me …), THEN they would refund my money. And yes—it took the full 6 weeks. Since that time, I have done everything in my power to avoid using Ticketmaster. Not hard in Utah, since most concerts were going through SmithsTix.

However, we now have tickets to U2, and we want to use them! This is the concert that was postponed last summer due to Bono’s back surgery. We found out about 24 hours before the show that they weren’t going to be playing, so we patiently waited for an announcement on the re-schedule. I think it was actually last August or September when we found out. The date has been circled on our calendar for a LOOOONG time, and we’ve been amped to get to the show.

Enter Mother Nature.

May in Utah is typically really warm and breezy. Typical day time temperatures range from the high 60s to the low 80s—perfect concert weather. I had actually started formulating a day-of-concert schedule when I found out the new date, assuming that the weather would be more than perfect. Well, ha ha. In true Eleanor fashion, we have had nothing but rain for about 10 days straight. There have been sightings of blue sky for about 5 minutes at a time, but the rest has all been gray, cold, and rainy. Tomorrow is not supposed to be any better, with a high of about 55 and 50% chance of rain (translation: 110% at Rice Eccles because that’s just my luck).

As if I would let a little rain stop me from going to this show, as of Friday, I have now developed a lovely throat irritation that feels like someone has slit the inside of my throat and vocal cords, then forced me to drink freshly-squeezed lemon juice. Beautiful, isn’t it?!? What fortuitous timing! How perfect! Well, guess who’s still going. Guess who’s going to stand outside at noon because he has GA tix and WILL be on the rail for this show. Guess who’s buying a poncho tonight. GUESS WHO IS GOING TO FINALLY SEE U2 TOMORROW BECA– USE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WILL STAND IN THE WAY.

Well, okay … that’s not true. If one of my family were to get sick or become seriously injured, obviously that would take priority. I’m not that determined that I would put U2 above loved ones, and the truth is, I think they would be highly offended if one of them found out. If I were a rock star and I found out that a fan of mine put me above family, I would ragingly censure him or her for having such whacked out ethics. There is nothing that should ever come before family. Period.

However, as it stands, everyone is healthy and well, so … it’s on with the show! I will be clearing off my iPhone and making sure it is fully charged for the show so I can use it to record video and take pictures. I still stand by it as an incredible concert-recording tool. And with the prospect of the new iPhone having 1080p capability with an 8MP camera, I will more than likely upgrade when it is released. For now though, my phone is more than ideal for concerts.

Can’t wait. I’m so maniacally pumped for tomorrow.

New Music Saturday

/ / New Music, Opinion, rantings

I love it when I go to Graywhale and get handed a bunch of great recommendations. Example: The Fire Theft. Basically all members of Sunny Day Real Estate whose label wouldn’t let them out of their contract, so they recorded a record under The Fire Theft name. Ha ha ha. Love it! Also Tamryn’s The Waves CD. If you’re inclined to sit on a beach and sip whatever your drink of choice is while you watch the sun set and listen to the waves crash on the shore, this would be the soundtrack to your evening. Fantastically mellow music. HIGHLY recommend.

Here’s the complete haul list:

  • Starrring – Wife of God
  • Tamryn – The Waves
  • La Sera – Hardly Art
  • Tera Melos – Patagonian Rats
  • Kaki King – Dreaming of Revenge
  • Vivian Girls – Share the Joy
  • Sunny Day Real Estate
  • The Fire Theft
  • The Kills – Keep on Your Mean Side
  • The Kills – Midnight Boom
  • The Knife – Silent Shout
  • The Knife – Tomorrow, in a Year

Also, because I’m a sucker for hardcopy, I picked up The Kills’ Blood Pressures. I like collections–what can I say?

As I was discussing with a buddy on Facebook who introduced me to Niki and the Dove, who sound a lot like The Knife except with a lot more accessibility to the vocals and lyrics, The Knife kind of has a death metal pop sound to them, minus the metal. So what does that make them? Death pop? I guess … I dunno. The way Karin’s vocals come across, and I don’t know if that’s Olaf who’s “singing” with her, but whoever it is, it sounds like someone’s done the vocals then tuned them down an octave and sped them up to keep the beat with Karin … anyway, the effect is utterly creepy. I love it. No way I’d let my 5 or 6 year old hear their stuff from Silent Shout, though I’d consider letting them in on Deep Cuts. My 6 year old digs Cranes though. That made my day. We were out driving around on some pre-Mother’s Day errands, and “Worlds” came on. She loved it and asked me to play it again. Who am I to deny her the goodness of Ali Shaw?!

Review: The Kills – Blood Pressures

/ / New Music, Opinion, review

I have to confess … the first time I heard of The Kills was when I was hunting down info on Gypsy Death and You–the Philadelphia-based band. The Kills have a song by the same title on their Keep On Your Mean Side CD.  I have since become a HUGE fan.

The Kills is Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince. Pretty cool concept of how they started off–mailing recordings back and forth over the Atlantic. He was living in London, she was living in South Florida. She, of course, provided vocals for the music he would send, and they’d send stuff back and forth. Finally, she just moved to London. Makes sense to me … no sense wasting postage when you could move to London!

So yah … this was released about a month ago, but it’s so worth reviewing that it very much still warrants the tidal wave of positive comments that I’m about to heap upon it. From Alison’s incredible vocals to Jamie’s bluesy, lo-fi, grinding, gritty guitar work, there’s plenty to enjoy on this new offering.

The first thing I noticed about this CD is that the whole thing is just riddled with vibe. It’s  fat and thick with heavily distorted guitar. It’s a great sound, reminiscent of Jack White (yes, I know there’s a connection with Jack and Alison through the Dead Weather). In fact, on “Satellite,” I’d swear that Jack is playing guitar.

Speaking of, that’s one of my overall favorites. The largeness of the guitar, the almost weepy quality to the vocals on the “ohhh ohhh” parts … it’s very easy to get lost in the emotion and weight of the overall sound. Its reggae-style of syncopated thickly distorted guitar chords, blending with the rhythmic, relentless pounding of the drums evokes a very somber mood. LOVE IT. Here’s a performance they did on the Conan O’Brien show. Absolutely lovely. Every time I hear this, it gives me the chills … live or studio.

Then we have “Nail in My Coffin”–a musically much more upbeat track, again heavy on the guitar. It kind of has a sort of dance sound to it. Not in a electronica kind of way; there’s an infectious beat that makes you want to get up and move around. You could spend a good amount of time bouncing around to this one.

“DNA” is another one of the stand-out tracks, in my opinion. There’s a 70s straight-up rock sound that’s infectious and brooding. Jamie plays low-key and fluctuates between picking out the matching melody to Alison’s vocals and a great riff that absolutely hounds the chorus. Alison’s vocal range oscillates between soft crooning to unleashing herself on the song. If you can imagine a cross between Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac, you can kind of get a sense of how this song sounds.

As always, I don’t want to review every song; the rest is up to you to enjoy and form your own opinion. Hopefully, this will at least whet your appetite and get you excited to pick this up as soon as possible. I’ll tell you this much: the more I listen to this CD, the more I want to acquire the rest of their discography. I’ve heard a few songs from other CDs, and the sound is similar, sort of … I don’t know. I’ll need to get the rest of their stuff to make a more accurate assessment, but this CD sounds like it’s pretty different from their previous work. Only one way to find out, right?

Go ahead and file this under “shiver” and “shake” cuz you can do both on this one!

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