Let's Trade Mix Tapes

Blase Splee (+ some extra typing)

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:10:00 +0000

Oh, hai! Has it really been 6 weeks since I posted last? More about what I've been doing in a minute, but first I have to tell you what made me show up to the blog today. I actually got a press release from a band that doesn't suck. And they're local. And they're playing a free show at the Lager House June 16. I know! What are the odds!

Blase Splee has an accent mark on the e in Blase, but I'm not going to figure out how to make the internets do that. They're not French, they're from Ferndale. There's something about the sound of Michigan bands that makes me feel so comfortable and happy, like my mom just made me a grilled cheese. They have some keyboard parts in there that sound like an organ from the 70s, the ones with the multicolored tabs that you flip up and down. My grandpa had one, and as a kid I probably thought that Fisher Price had made us matching pianos.

Blase Splee - She's Wanting Me More (last fm)

"She's Wanting Me More" definitely has a throwback feel to it. It reminds me of this 45 that my sister and I used to play when we were kids. Every time we put it on we'd run around the house in circles. The song is off of Et Cetera, their new record that they're officially releasing this Saturday at Small's. You can download the new record and their debut EP for free from their website.

**********

Where have I been?

I stopped listening to music a lot when I became kind of obsessed with This American Life. That show made me think seriously about what unique story I had to tell about music. How is this blog any different than the rest? Being part of the churn of disposable blog posts is not my purpose. I will never post enough mediocre crap fast enough to get free promos, tickets or any of that press stuff.

I thought about what I really found valuable from other music blogs. The answer is things that are permanent and have a story tied to them. I still listen to the mix that You Ain't No Picasso posted when he turned 21. I love the mixtapes that Tsuru's readers make together. The Post-Rockist recently wrote about a long forgotten mix that they found in their car and it was just great writing.

I thought about totally changing Let's Trade Mix Tapes, making it more of a creative writing or podcast based project. I may add some of those ideas still. But in the end, I realized my sole motivation for blogging about music is simple: when I find a band I love, I have to tell people about it. Elbo.ws doesn't want me because I don't vomit often enough into their feed, and I think that's a good thing. I don't want to be part of an aggregate. The blog will be here when something really good comes along to talk about.

Hot Box

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:08:00 +0000

The guy up there eating a meatball is my friend Eric, a former Michigan kid who is currently the drummer for Boston band Hot Box. His band is just about to release their first full length, Four Eyes.

I found out from this article that the band consists of Eric plus three...neuroscientists. This doesn't surprise me because he's the kind of guy that can get along with anyone, but he moved to Boston to work for an ad agency. I can't help but wonder how their paths crossed. How did that first conversation go? "You guys are brain scientists? Dude, that's awesome!! Stick these electrodes on my head while I play drums!"

Eric's everyday enthusiasm can totally be heard on the drums in this album. It's a good contrast between the two girls' dreamy and relaxed vocals. They kindly let me share the first song with you, which is called "Busy, Busy, Busy". Their record comes out on vinyl (with a digital download) on April 29th. You can pre-order Four Eyes here for $10.

MP3: Hot Box - Busy, Busy, Busy

http://www.hotboxboston.com/

The Rural Alberta Advantage

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Arms of Alberta would also be a great name for a band

Have you listened to The Rural Alberta Advantage yet? I'm writing about them for two reasons. One reason is the NHL playoffs, which start today. It's a long standing tradition for Detroit sportswriters to pick on the Lions quarterback and the Red Wings goalie, and around this time of year Chris Osgood gets put under a ton of pressure. So in Ozzie's honor, here's a band from a place somewhat close to his hometown of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Maybe those naysayers won't have a newspaper to write for anymore by the time he retires?

The second reason is that I have a feeling some people listened to the first song on their album Hometowns and dismissed them. They write really great rhythm driven songs, but their one weakness is the singer's schizophrenic vocals. It seems like he hasn't found his style yet, wavering from whiny on the first song to an angry punk, then on to an apathetic frontman's facade and finally into a gentler crooning. For me personally, this doesn't bother me at all. The female backing vocals remind me a little of The Anniversary, and I will always take a xylophone solo any time I can get one. The two songs I have for you below are super catchy.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage - The Deadroads
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage - Frank AB

Album Review - Jimmy Eat World: Clarity Live

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Let’s just get this out of the way now. I don’t think Clarity is Jimmy Eat World’s best work. Do I think that Clarity contains some of JEW’s best work? Absolutely. In fact, there is not one song off the album that I don’t thoroughly enjoy. The simple fact is they have become one of those bands that have gotten progressively better with each subsequent release. A lot of their newer work blows songs off Clarity out of the water.

I think Clarity suffers from the “I liked their old stuff better” syndrome. It’s become the thing to throw in someone’s face to prove you listened to band X for so many years longer than somebody else. But alas, this is not why I’ve come out of blog hibernation fellow bloggers. I come to you with a tale of excitement, adventure, epic fight scenes and big explosions. Would you settle for one of pure nostalgia? I did not have the good fortune to catch JEW on their Clarity X 10 Anniversary, as it appears all good bands hate Michigan nowadays. Although it saddened me, I was enthralled to hear that they were recording the last show of the tour for a digital only release to be sold through their website.

On top of giving you something like 5 available formats to purchase the album, you get to hear clarity from front to back including two bonus songs (b-sides What I Would Say To You Now and No Sensitivity), a digital booklet with photos from the tour and two hi-res press photos of the band. Not a bad package right? And for only $8.99, nothing should stop you from picking this up.

If you’re a fan of the band, you will love this. If you’re a fan of Clarity, you will absolutely love this. And for those that signed the petition, you’ll be happy to know the rendition of Goodbye Sky Harbor pushes eight minutes with plenty of harmonies, looped vocal tracks, xylophone. It sounds…PERFECT. Like the goosebumps on my arms kind of perfect. The album as a whole is flawless. It’s exactly what I would expect a live recording of the band to sound like. The raw emotion put into songs like “Blister”, “For Me This Is Heaven”, and “Crush”, just for example, go above and beyond what I expected.

On top of releasing this through their website and not through iTunes so the fans could get high quality lossless formats of the recordings, the band also performed a 6-song Clarity set on their website last night. You just don’t see this from bands nowadays.

From the moment I first heard “For Me This Is Heaven” as a freshman in high school, I knew this band would be one of those that I looked back on with great pride, one that shaped me as a person both musically and emotionally. The Clarity Live album brings back every single memory I had ever attached to the songs. Here’s to ten more years.

For more information, check out the band's website

You can also stream a song (A Sunday) from the album: here!

The Rentals - The Story of a Thousand Seasons Past

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:26:00 +0000

April 2nd's Photograph About Days

Before reading this, you have to understand the context in which I listened to the first of three EPs to be released this year by The Rentals. I had just heard that Blink 182 and Weezer might tour together this summer, which got the 16 year old in me very excited indeed. Twitters and tweetings from Mark Hoppus has me thinking that Blink isn't going to try and reinvent itself, and that they're just going to play the simple punk rock that they started out with. (Case in point: he was not feeling "I'm Feeling This" but excited to practice "Don't Leave Me".) I hope they still use masking tape to spell dirty words on their amps, too. Let's not pretend we're all above this, ten years later.

Weezer's music, on the other hand, has become like honey to a beehive full of douchebags. I'd have a hard time swallowing the high ticket prices for this tour knowing it's going to put gas in Rivarz's party bus.

March 27th's Photograph About Days

And here we arrive at this morning, when I heard Mr. Matthew Sharp's voice and thought: Thank you, sir, for creating music that doesn't require the word "kids" to be sung as "kee-yaaads". The Story of a Thousand Seasons Past is a cute little four-song EP that The Rentals are streaming on the Songs About Time website. The word "cute" describes exactly how I feel about it, in the same way that you'd say someone is cute instead of hot. The 90's Rentals were hot. There was a sultriness back then, an energy, that's lacking now. But what it's been replaced with isn't bad by any means. My head was just stuck in the past, and I was hoping for the growling of a certain Moog keyboard.

The whole Songs About Time project (music, photos, and film) is pervaded by wonderment and curiosity about the world around them. It's like I'm a voyeur of the fresh start that they're experiencing. If I look at the non-musical elements of the project, I find myself getting sucked in. Through the lens of their camera, I'm seeing the world through someone else's eyes. There's an escapist element to Songs About Time that reminds me of their past songs set in exotic places (Must Be Wrong, Overlee). Unfortunately, you need to take in the photos and films in order to get there, because the music so far doesn't do it on its own.

You can stream or purchase The Story of a Thousand Seasons Past in The Rentals online store.

A Proper Review: The Chairs - Laugh, It's a Fright

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Faithful readers may recall that when I ordered the new album from The Chairs, I made sure to note that they promised me my very own haiku. And I got one!! Did you? I invite anyone who ordered Laugh, It's a Fright to post theirs here for all to see.

So, favorite blogger? What? To roughly quote Tsuru, I am not a type of Fork, Pitch or otherwise; I am not Gorillas, nor am I Bears; I'm Not Floating, or sinking, or Drinking Aquariums. Maybe The Chairs should have laminated their haiku and strung it on a lanyard so that I would have the credentials to be on their press page, where they so kindly keep quoting me.

Favorite Blogger Status put some pressure on me, because I didn't love the song they sent me as a preview ("If You Were a Murderer"). What if I hated the record? I decided right away that I just wouldn't write about it. Thankfully, I didn't hate it at all. Quite the opposite. It made me smile knowing that this amazing sleeper cell of a band was out there making good music in their dorm room.

The album starts off with my favorite track as of right now, "This Isn't a Fire Fortress". Smart, crisp lyrics are set to a driving beat and adorned with little surprises like neat synth effects, trumpet phrases and nice harmonies. The first three songs are a perfect introduction to their sound. Then "No Fingers" started to play and I stopped everything I was doing to listen. It was only 1:38 long. I played it again.

"No Fingers" is an achingly beautiful song. It's one of those songs that you will play over and over again, using the length as an excuse every time you hit the play button. It's nothing but their signature vocal harmonies and a piano, and it just kills me how pretty it is. Bands like The Arcade Fire and The Decemberists make gorgeous music like this all the time partly because they have dramatic instrumentation to help. But The Chairs are making my jaw drop without any superfluous stuff, and now that I think about it, very few bands have done this in the last decade. "Magic" by Ben Folds Five and Radiohead's "Exit Music (For A Film)" are two songs that come to mind in comparison.

This record isn't perfect by any means; they screw around with a T-Pain-esque auto tune effect and misuse the word "concubine". But on their other hand, it can't be denied that the lyrics and melody in "Until We Stand Together" are flawless. The excellent songwriting can't be ignored regardless of whatever experimentation they try that works or fails. I look forward to the day when they are in a car commercial or on NPR or marry Zooey Deschanel so I can fall on my sword and die.

MP3: The Chairs - This Isn't a Fire Fortress

Buy Laugh, It's a Fright

Show Review: Ra Ra Riot @ The Blind Pig, 3.26.09

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:06:00 +0000

all photos stolen from rarariot.com

It is an extremely rare occurrence that a band will come to Detroit at the same time that I'm falling in love with their music. I first heard of Ra Ra Riot on design blogs because The Silent Giants did their album art. (Those guys screenprint some pretty amazing concert posters, too. It's pretty cool to see them putting Detroit on the map in the design world.) Then I started to see their 2008 record The Rhumb Line mentioned every which way to Sunday within a ton of best of 08 music lists. No doubt, that album was one of the best to come out last year.

The band is a six-piece, consisting of your usual rock staples plus a cello and a violin. The string players were classically trained prior to the band forming during their college years. The result is a band that's technically flawless and non-pretentious in their stage presence, relying entirely on their sound to blow you away. Unlike the overhyped, overgroomed opening act, these guys clearly spent more time making music together than combing thrift stores for their clothes. They happily played us the whole record, and their live set was tighter than the studio recording. Although I'm sure they're used to the crowd reacting to "Ghost Under Rocks" they played it jubilantly, like it was their favorite song too.

The best part of the show was the violin and cello soaring back and forth between each other during the string solo in "Dying Is Fine". The violinist has MAYBE replaced Petra Haden on my list of rock stars I want to be. And the cello player...you should really see her for yourself. She's quite attractive and somehow plays her instrument kind of erotically. I thought I was going to have to turn the hose on my guy friends after this show.

Afterwards, I escaped the "scene" as fast as I could, clutching my orange vinyl and rare debut EP with a big nerdy smile on my face. The EP has older versions of some of the songs on The Rhumb Line, my favorite being "Can You Tell". The lyrics are a little different on this recording, leaving out the "I'm standing by your sister fair" part.

MP3: Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell (Debut EP Version)

Ra Ra Riot will be also opening for Death Cab + The Gibber at MSU on 4/18.

Alaska in Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:01:00 +0000

I kept seeing Alaska in Winter come up in SXSW recaps. Either I'm the last one to hear about this guy, or he really broke free from the pack this year in Austin. Brandon Bethancourt, the guy ~~behind the guy behind the guy~~ Alaska in Winter, released the electronica album "Holiday" late last year after a stay in Berlin. They say Berlin is the Detroit of Europe, so maybe that's why I'm liking this.

I'm very tired; I can only tell you that I still made the effort to post about Alaska in Winter despite two disparaging things:
1) The color palette and typography on their cover art and t-shirts are horrible in that they look like my Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper from 1991.
2) The top 4 friends on his MySpace page are fake accounts made solely to create the look of a chopped up "banner" type graphic along his top row of friends. Unnecessary.

The following song is the last track on the album and features Zach Condon of Beirut. His yodel-y sort of singing oddly fits well among the synthesizers and drum machines.

MP3: Alaska in Winter - Close Your Eyes (Remix)

I think Harlem Shakes wrote me a theme song.

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Today I left my job and will start a new one on Monday. I'm stuck somewhere in between self-doubt and first day of school nerves. I must have said goodbye to more than 50 people today, which made the ties I was leaving all the more tangible and more difficult to let go of. I got home deep in thought, my head full of second guesses and my face tired from expressing so many different emotions today. It was time to get ready to go out and drink and instead I was feeling really weighed down.

Then this song called Strictly Game by Harlem Shakes came on, with a repeated reassurance just for me: this will be a better year. How can I argue with that? The beat of this song reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on - then I realized it sounded like Kinky, a band that my best friend is completely obsessed with. How familiar and comforting.

MP3: Harlem Shakes - Strictly Game
Harlem Shakes on MySpace

He Emerges! Or, Concerning the Sufjan Sighting Near Brooklyn, NY

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Yesterday while catching up on my music blog reading, I found out that Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond recently made a surprise appearance with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Clogs and Bell Orchestre were already slated to play, but it was Soof's appearance that set the internets all aflutter. And so my heart followed! I wanted to set one of the pictures as my desktop background, but I had newly papered it with The Periodic Table of Typefaces. Plus I'm 26, not 16. The grown up alternative was to find an excuse to post these pictures on the blog.

I found my excuse tonight while trying to tame the wild jungle that has become my iTunes library. I had come across a collection of Sufjan rarities a while ago but never pushed the play button. It was perfect timing to rediscover these. My two favorites are "Borderline" and "Opie's Funeral Song". "Borderline" was on one of the CDs that accompanied the now defunct magazine Comes With A Smile, and "Opie" was on a 2006 Asthmatic Kitty compilation.

MP3: Sufjan Stevens - Borderline
MP3: Sufjan Stevens - Opie's Funeral Song

More pics can be swooned over at this Stereogum post.

Metric's Fantasies

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Metric's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? was one of the defining records of my college period. I must have put "Combat Baby" on every other mixtape I made in 2003, and "Calculation Theme" and its cryptic lyrics somehow expressed the misalignment I was feeling as I fumbled my way through those years. Their next album was a little lukewarm, and while Emily Haines' solo effort was moving, it obviously didn't have the energy I was missing. Their latest record, Fantasies, is exactly what I've been waiting for.

Emily Haines is at her best when she's a little bit of a tease and a little bit of a smart ass. Her salty disposition is perfect in songs like "Satellite Mind" and "Stadium Love", where she completely owns her vampy lead role. "Help I'm Alive" and "Gimme Shelter" serve as the very catchy pop gems you'd expect on a Metric album. But where I think the band shines is on the down tempo, more thoughtful tracks. "Collect Call" is a standout, centered around feelings of longing for someone but this time coming from a more confident person.

Metric - Collect Call

Ok Go + Dashboard Fall Into the Banana Republic

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Everything related to advertising is my fault. Since I work at an ad agency, I get yelled at every time a bad commercial comes on TV. When an indie band's song is in a commercial, it's my fault they sold out. But when McDonalds makes an ad with a singing fish that you like, do I get any thanks at all? No, I do not. I'd rather watch a Ford ad with Band of Horses in it than listen to that irritating fish, but no, we can't have our precious weird beards selling out like that! You want the singing fish instead.

Although I'm fine with indie bands getting their songs into commercials, today was the first time I saw one in a print ad. Ok Go is all prettied up and wearing suits in this ad for Banana Republic.

There's no doubt the boys look good - you can put a suit on any man (especially a smarty pants frontman who has a totally hot linguistics degree) and he looks like a million bucks. But something about this rubs me the wrong way. It's a classic corporate move of putting a celebrity in an ad to make the brand seem young and cool.

The worst part is, this will probably work, and that means it's not Banana Republic's fault for paying Ok Go tons of money. It's Ok Go's fault for taking it. Using a song in a commercial merely creates a mood, but putting a on stuffy Banana Republic suit erases any trace of fundamental rock star image and culture. This ad has turned willingly turned the members of OK Go into corporate puppets.

Here's another Banana Republic ad with Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba. My favorite part about this one is how they rolled up the sleeve, just so you know that Banana Republic is down with tattoos. Congratulations Carrabbie, you look like our generation's Chris Issak.

/sellout rant.

I don't know why I like Tune-Yards

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Tune-Yards is what one might call "experimental", which is a genre I usually despise. It makes me madder than an old man chasing kids off his lawn with a hose. Call it a sound collage, or something you recorded when you were high, but please don't call it music if it just sounds like you put a Nintendo through the juicer.

Tune-Yards is most definitely music, and very interesting at that. A girl named Merrill Garbil from Montreal chants and moans over pre-recorded sound effects and a ukulele. At first, it seems like nothing but noise. But with only her digital voice recorder and a computer, she's created complex compositions of sound that build up occasionally into all-out rock songs. There's a time signature, there's a melody, there's a progression from beginning to middle to end, and that makes the skeleton. Then it's dressed up with all these weird sounds that make it wonderful and different from anything else I've ever heard.

You can order the album Bird-Brains from tuneyards.com by paying any amount you wish. Her MySpace page mentions that there's a vinyl version of the record coming out March 10th.

MP3: Tune-Yards - Fiya
MP3: Tune-Yards - Sunlight

The Chairs - New Record + Haiku Available for Pre-Order

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 04:30:00 +0000

The Chairs are releasing Laugh, It's a Fright on March 17. By "releasing", they mean they will personally mail it to you. You can order it at their website as of right now. They promise to spend the money on Christmas ornaments, funny hats and hamster food.

If you pre-order before March 17th, the band will write you a haiku. I'm going to keep them honest by inviting everyone to post their haiku on my blog. It's not that I think they'd lie. It's just that their honesty is one of the best things about following the band, and if they became too jaded I'd be sad. They even admitted that they recorded the album in a dorm room next to their adopted hamster, Margot. Now, don't you want to buy the record/feed the hamster?

They have two songs from the new record on their Myspace page, my favorite of which is "This Isn't a Fire Fortress". Also up there right now is "Polly"and an excellent Neutral Milk Hotel cover from their last EP.
http://www.myspace.com/thechairsband

Weinland

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:52:00 +0000

Weinland makes deliberate, carefully arranged folk rock. Their music soars and falls effortlessly, never becoming oversentimental. Their restraint creates a ton of drama without whiny or angry vocals. Harmonies lean on each other like two chairless people standing back to back for a rest. The piano pieces are my favorite, either stopping to tug at my heartstrings or moving ahead like a strong current flowing underneath everything else.

MP3: Weinland - Sunken Eyes
MP3: Weinland - I'm Sure It Helps

The band has a new record coming out on April 21st from the Badman Recording Co. They want to release a vinyl version through Jealous Butcher, but just like the rest of us, money is a problem right now. If you donate $20 to the "Weinland Vinyl Fund" you'll get an early release, autographed copy of Breaks in the Sun on 180 Gram vinyl. I wonder if they'll accept the cheap sweater I just bought at H&M that I didn't need.

Weinland's Adam Shearer will also be performing with The Portland Cello Project at the March pre-release shows I posted about earlier.

http://www.weinlandmusic.com/

We Swim You Jump

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:43:00 +0000

In February, my anticipation for spring reaches its fever pitch. Everything outside stays dead despite the sun shining hard, trying to wake everything up. Dutch band We Swim You Jump is a little shot of life that's getting me through until green things start to shoot out of the ground.

The band's sound is dominated by its vocals, with pretty harmonies that remind me of The Thrills. It's simple, sunshiney pop that's good to listen to while you imagine warmer days. They recently released an EP via Subroutine Records in the Netherlands. I was hoping you could pay for it in Heinekens, but I guess those guys use the Euro now, too. The label supports young designers and photographers, and ten different designers have earned album art credits so far.

We Swim You Jump on MySpace

Buy the EP from Subroutine Records

Yes! Michigan, on Future Perfect Radio

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:37:00 +0000

Image from Handmade Detroit

Matt and I recently got sucked into Twitter thanks to @jimmyeatworld and @colinmeloy. At first I didn't get the point of it at all, but I soon started finding new things from other people's tweets. One excellent discovery was Future Perfect Radio. This internet radio station is up to 29 different channels now. You can choose channels by the type of music like Lo-Fi, Post Rock or Twee Pop. Then, once you know which category your favorite band belongs to, you can pretentiously reference their genre's obscure name. If you're heading out to a music festival in the near future, they have channels set up for those also. The SXSW channel would be a good one to listen to if you're still trying to decide which bands to check out in Austin.

I personally love the city and region channels the most. I was so happy to find out that they just added a Michigan one called Great Lakes Soundtrack. Bands on there include Mason Proper, Bug Lung Baby, The Silent Years, My Brightest Diamond, and PAS/CAL, plus a bunch more. They rightfully count The Raconteurs as Michiganders, too. Sorry, Jack White.

It seems to me that the people running Future Perfect Radio really want it to be more like a community than a radio station. They openly accept suggestions for channels, and they'll even accept a whole playlist from you if you're interested in programming your own. They're pretty responsive on Twitter, so follow @FPRadio if you're on there. While you're at it, you can follow me, too! (@christinajacobs)

Link: Future Perfect Radio

Morning Drive: February 20, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Ra Ra Riot album art by Detroit's own Silent Giants

The Morning Drive is a new feature on Let's Trade Mix Tapes. I have a 70 mile round trip commute to work, and some days it's the only thing I like about my job. My trusty iPod is old, beat up, and I have to bang it on the steering wheel to get it to play, but no other driving companion can beat it.

I thought the songs I listened to this morning were exceptionally perfect for a mix to kick off the weekend. They were full of optimism, hopeful that I would actually have a weekend this time without work or wedding stuff to get in the way. As of 4:00, I think that wish is really going to come true.

Midlake - Roscoe

A.C. Newman - Submarines of Stockholm

The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

Port O'Brien - I Woke Up Today

Ra Ra Riot - Ghost Under Rocks

An Interview With Punchline

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:30:00 +0000

Most of you should remember my recommendation Punchline from a few days ago. Well Steve Soboslai, lead singer from Punchline was kind enough to answer a few questions I sent his way. You can check that bad boy out below. I want to say thanks again to Steve for taking the time to do this interview.

For those that aren't familiar, what's your name and role in the band?

My name is Steve Soboslai. I play guitar and sing in Punchline. I am Leonardo.

As a writer, do you do anything out of the ordinary when trying to write songs or find inspiration?

I try very hard to remember melodies conjured within dreams. Every idea I ever have is recorded on my phone.

What is your favorite song off the new album? Favorite Punchline song to play live?

My favorite song off of the new album is currently Ghostie. We are currently filming a video for it, so it's definitely been on my mind! My favorite song to play live is without a doubt "Somewhere In The Dark."

I read somewhere that you guys were planning on writing/recording a new album this year and self-releasing it. Any truth to that?

We are definitely going to record a new album this year. I am unsure of how/when it will be released.

Speaking of self-releasing, one thing I've always wanted to ask...Any bitter feelings towards Fueled By Ramen? From a fan's perspective, it almost seemed like the label pushed you guys aside so that they could promote the, in my mind, less talented sounding bands on the roster.

No bitter personal feelings toward FBR. It was our decision to not renew our contract. I completely understand why we did not thrive in regard to our time spent there.

Any summer touring plans? Please don't skip over Detroit if so (I've noticed a lot of bands doing that lately)

We always play Detroit! Your city should get the entire stimulus package. We're currently looking to get back on the road and go wherever it may take us.

If you could put Punchline on a dream tour, who would be on that bill?

It would be a tour that could survive on talent and not competition.

Punchline / Barely Blind / Triangle Shirt Factory / Endless Mike & The Beagle Club

How is the local music scene in Pittsburgh? Any local bands I should check out?

There are so many good bands in Pittsburgh right now - Triggers, Gene The Werewolf, The Takeover UK, Donora

Anything else you'd like to add?

Check out Chris's new book, "Whistle Pig.' Out now on Modern Short Stories. www.modernshortstories.net

Also, check out the video the band made for a song off their latest album, Just Say Yes, called "The Hit"

Excited for: The Portland Cello Project, The Chairs, The Decemberists, The Hard Lessons, Port O'Brien

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:17:00 +0000

After a mostly unimpressive 2008, good music is flying at me so fast in '09 that I can't keep up. Here are the upcoming releases I'm looking forward to the most.

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love (March 24)

Let's get the obvious one out of the way: I can't wait for the new Decemberists record! I've heard studio versions of three songs off the album and I'm in love with two of them, including the one I'm posting here. Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck, in a good way, with her role on this track. It's just as "dark and mossy" as I was hoping for.

MP3: The Decemberists - The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid (on UK radio)

The Hard Lessons - Arms Forest (May)

The strength and forcefulness of Shara Worden's voice in that Decemberists song reminds me a lot of Koko Louise from The Hard Lessons. I started imagining how amazing it would be if she toured with the D's. They've had a different female vocalist on every album since Rachel Blumberg left the band, so it could happen...right? Here's a video of Augie and Koko announcing their upcoming record while holding a puppy.

The Chairs - Title TBD (March 17)

The Chairs' November EP is great and it's been getting a ton of play time on my iPod. They're working on a new album that should be ready March 17th, but in the mean time there's a new cover song to tide me over.

MP3: The Chairs - Flume (Bon Iver Cover)
Read The Chairs Interview, 1.22.09

The Portland Cello Project - Title TBD (June 9)

The Portland Cello Project put out a really interesting and diverse album last year, and they just announced that they've signed to Kill Rock Stars. For their next record, they're working with Thao Nguyen of Thao With The Get Down Stay Down and musician Justin Power. The album features four collaborative songs apiece. Five pre-release shows will be performed in Portland from March 6-8. I love Detroit, but things like this really make me want to move out there. Here's a taste of what's to come.

Port O'Brien - Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall

Working in the auto industry has made me identify more and more with Port O'Brien's music. I imagine the parallels between Detroit and a freezing cold Alaskan fishing boat have never been so close. "I Woke Up Today" and "Pigeonhold" are often heard blaring from my laptop at inappropriate volumes on particularly tough days. The band's next project consists of four 7" singles to document each of the seasons. "The Whiskey Song", released today, according to the band "acts as a proper introduction to the project, but also fully embodies the spirit of Winter, a time for reflecting on the past year while pondering the implications of the next." I'll drink to that!
Buy "Winter" on iTunes for $1.98

Punchline

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Fear not dear readers. Though the state of Michigan cannot decide whether it wants to let winter stay or go, I have just the band to cure your winter blues. Punchline is by no means a new, up and coming band, think of them rather as a band that has yet to "catch on". Though I don't know that that really bothers the band all that much.

You see, growing up in Michigan doesn't really have a lot of perks to it. There is no skate/surf scene, no Jersey-scene basement shows, no New York-hardcore underground. As a kid, I could have either stuck to listening to what the mainstream was force feeding me, or find bands on my own. Anyone remember mp3.com (RIP) ? We have nothing but word of mouth. That's one of the reasons we started this here blog. That and the music scene that I hold so dearly to my heart, yet am beginning to lose faith in, has become an embarrassing case of who can have the brightest merch or the most ridiculous swooping haircuts. Bands put far more work into developing their image than they do their sound.

Don't look so discouraged pop-punk kid. There are bands that still care about making music. Real, genuine music. Please welcome to the stage...Punchline. Punchline has a handful of releases behind them (5 to be exact) and a fierce following. Their energetic brand of pop-punk is just what this music scene needs. Their past releases have become a staple to my music collection but it wasn't until recently that their latest album, Just Say Yes, really truly hit me. I can think of at least 3 ex-girlfriends I'd like to send a copy of this album to.

Close your blinds, close your eyes and put yourself on a sunny beach somewhere. I guarantee you Punchline will accompany that daydream perfectly.

Check em out: http://www.myspace.com/punchline

Recommended if you like: dude ranch-era blink 182, new found glory, good music

finally.

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Fanboys rejoice! That's right, blink 182 are back. My life somehow feels complete again. I've waited four years for the moment where I would be able to post something like this. This summer is going to be awesome.

Keytar Hero World Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Someday, the makers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band are going to realize that a very important instrument is missing from everyone's pretend bands. That instrument is the keyboard. I can't understand why they've left it out. The only reason I can think of: it's really hard to look cool while you're playing the keyboard. You can't move around too much, and there's so many keys that you kind of have to concentrate.

But this is easily solved! All they have to do is make a keytar controller. You can play it standing up. The star power tilt would apply. The rock star cool factor could definitely be achieved with a keytar. It's the obvious solution.

The next step would be picking songs, and more importantly, figuring out who you'd battle in the game. Here's who I'd want to take on in order to beat each difficulty level.

Adrienne Verhoeven, The Anniversary (Beginner)

To this day, I still check eBay and Craigslist periodically to see if I can find a Moog Prodigy. I remember back when The Anniversary were still around, they were regularly available for about $400. I really wish I would've saved up for one even though I was a poor college kid. I so love that simple sliding-up-an-octave synth noise thanks to Adrienne and her Moog.

MP3: The Anniversary - The D in Detroit

Eric Harvey, Spoon (Easy)

photo by Arthur Maughan

Spoon's piano parts are good to play when there happens to be a piano at a party and you're kind of drunk. They're in happy major keys, they aren't too difficult, and chances are most people don't know the song you're trying to play anyway.

MP3: Spoon - The Way We Get By

James Dewees, The Get Up Kids / Reggie and the Full Effect (Medium)

photo by out_of_rhythm

This picture of James Dewees decked out head to toe in Hannah Montana clothing is the least disturbing picture of him that I found on Flickr. I'm not kidding. I took the time to give photo credits for a reason.

Reggie and the Full Effect - Your Girlfriend Hates Me

Jenny Conlee, The Decemberists (Hard)

Jenny is hands down the most underrated member of The Decemberists. She supplies their trademark olde-timey accordion sound as well as the keyboards and organs that were so prominent on The Crane Wife. Her organ part on The Island just amazes me every time I hear it. The few seconds of her solo is my favorite part of the entire record.

MP3: The Decemberists - The Island

Ben Folds (Expert)

This one is a no-brainer. To beat the game on expert, you have the toughest boss, or the Bowser of Keytar Hero if you will. The guy who will fight you to the death and then tell you that the princess is in another castle. Who else if not Ben Folds?

MP3: Ben Folds - Zac and Sara

Horse Feathers

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:25:00 +0000

Horse Feathers was the only new band I discovered in 2008 that I really fell in love with. After hearing "Mother's Sick" on the Portland Cello Project record, I bought House With No Home on vinyl late in the year. It's beautiful, sparse acoustic guitar against rich strings. Justin Ringle's vocals are emotive but gentle. I think this band is the reason that I can't appreciate Bon Iver. I guess I understand why people like Bon Iver, but Horse Feathers just blows that guy out of the water.

I recently came across Horse Feathers' first record, Words Are Dead. I was bracing myself to be disappointed since I loved the last one so much, but I was anything but. It's just as gorgeous. The best part it that the very last song is a simpler arrangement of "Mother's Sick", the first song of theirs that I ever heard.

MP3: Horse Feathers - Mother's Sick

You can buy Words are Dead from Lucky Madison (I just did!) and House With No Home from Kill Rock Stars.

Visit Horse Feathers on MySpace

An Interview with The Chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Christina) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:43:00 +0000

The Chairs came to my attention after the free self-release of their November EP. They write honest, simple rock songs that slowly build up and explode with heartfelt harmonies and sparked up guitars. Although they're not nearly as dark as Radiohead, there's an unmistakeable plaintive quality about lead singer Alex Schaaf's voice that reminds me of Thom Yorke. Their music has a subtle, deep-seated urgency to it that wormed its way into my head and left me wanting to hear more. I decided to ask the band what they were up to in Appleton, Wisconsin and when I'd get to hear something new. Here's what they had to say.

Why did you guys name yourselves "The Chairs"?
Our guitarist Phil had a nasty incident in his childhood involving some chairs, and so he wanted to be in a band called The Chairs in order to gain some sort of revenge. Also, according to Wikipedia, there is a French "tragic farce" play called The Chairs, so when we need to sound hyper-literate we say we're all so influenced by French drama that it was an obvious choice as a band name.

How long have you been playing together?
We've only been playing together for a few months now, we got together in October, recorded the EP by November and have been playing lots of shows since then. In band terms we're still young, like an infant, but I think we're like those movies when an adult gets trapped in a child's body. Like Robin Williams in that movie...Big, I think it was. [Ed. Note: I think they meant Robin Williams in real life.]

The Chairs are quite nattily dressed. Tell us a story about ruining your school clothes at a show.
At a show in Chicago a couple weeks ago, Collin (the drummer) had dressed up quite nicely because he had a lady friend coming to see the show or something, but midway through the set this parrot that was perched up in the ceiling started defecating on him, ruining his suit. And then it flew down and stole his hat. He's never been the same since.

I really enjoyed The November EP. Are there any plans to record something new?
Yes, we are starting to work on our new album right now. It's going to be a full length, we've got all the songs for it, we just have to sit down and record it. It's going to be a bit different than the EP, I think, but I hope people like it. Hopefully it will come out in March or April.

The November EP has a great cover of In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, and you've done Simple X by Andrew Bird as well. What other songs would you want to cover?
We pick our covers carefully, and we're still deciding on what we want to do next. Probably Kanye or Beyonce.

I've noticed a lot of bands have started to skip Detroit when they go on tour. As a Midwest band, what are your thoughts about playing a show here someday?
We would love to play in Detroit someday, if we can find a place to play. Eric, our keyboardist, was banned from Michigan for a short time, but I think that's up now, so we should be okay. We're planning a short tour at the end of March, maybe we could get up there, if there was a place that wanted us.

Any Wisconsin bands I should check out?There's this really unknown guy from Eau Claire called Bon Iver...wink wink. But besides him, there's The Daredevil Christopher Wright from Eau Claire, who we are opening for in a couple weeks. And check out Collections of Colonies of Bees, they are from Milwaukee and they are a really sweet group, I always think of them as a Midwestern, acoustic version of Sigur Ros, but I'm not sure if that makes any sense.

Which record coming out in 2009 are you most excited about?
I think we're all looking forward to the new Andrew Bird. I could have downloaded it by now but I ordered it on vinyl so I'm waiting for that to come. We're going to see his show in Chicago in April, he's pretty much a superhero to us. Wilco, too, they are supposed to come out with a new one this year, so that should be good. And for me, personally, I'm most looking forward to the new Menomena and the new Dan Deacon records.

Although I did fact check the hyperliterate French play reference, I make no promises that the parrot story was really true. We value our journalistic integrity here at Let's Trade Mix Tapes. You stay classy, San Diego.

You can stream or download the entire November EP for free at The Chairs website.

The Chairs on MySpace