Archive for category Alt-Rock
New From The Flaming Lips
Jul 21
DISCLAIMER: These are the thoughts of Brian Karadsheh and not of the rest of the site. Because no one in their right mind would give some Penthouse Punk (copyright pending) band a near perfect score for a concert in a poor venue with material and lyrics that ESL students could write. Thank You.
RE: This was a concert review and not a band review. It doesn’t matter how much you hate the band. If a band puts on an amazing show, they put on an amazing show. I suggest you reserve judgment of a concert you didn’t attend and leave that to someone who actually did. Kthx
So last night I made my way to the Palace to see Green Day and the Bravery…Say what you will about Green Day, but I suggest you hold judgment until you see them live.
I had heard about this concert back in May, and I really wanted to go. Only problem is, it’s hard to find someone in my group of friends that is willing to pay $50 to go see a band they hate…To each his own I guess. Luckily, My coworker told me that he might be able to snag us a couple of tickets in the Company Suite. Of course, I was excited. This suite is one of the lower level ones about mid court. Perfect location to watch a show.
Ok so the Bravery. I really felt bad for them as I do for any band opening at the Palace. The crowd is never into it, nor do they care to be, and the sound just sucks…especially for a band like The Bravery. This was my first time seeing them live and I could tell that they would put on an absolutely amazing show given the right time, crowd, and venue. I would kill to see them at say, The Majestic. However, their sound just wasn’t big enough to fill the Palace. On top of all that, they got fucked because Green Day is scheduled for a 2hr set which puts them right to the Curfew of the Palace, and seeing as it took a good 30minutes to set up for Green Day, The Bravery only got 30 minutes…That just sucks. 30 minutes isn’t even worth it.
Green Day came out at 8:30, and they cam out firing. I’ll spare you the details, but they played a decent mix of new and old. I’m not a huge fan of their new cd, and I generally despise American Idiot except for a few songs. My big problem with them is they basically tried to glitter up Pop Punk and make it Arena Rock by adding a few affects and lengthening the songs. The problem is that it is still pop punk at its core, which as Sam Witham has pointed out is basically a 3 chord progression. Billie Joe actually pointed this out last night…He pulled up a kid to play Jesus of Suburbia on guitar…While he was searching, he mocked his songs saying that “Come on! There has to be someone here who can play this song. It’s only 3 chords…Ok maybe 6. We’ve progressed since we first came around…Though not much because they are still all Power Chords.” I really don’t have a problem with simplicity. In fact, it’s what drew me to the White Stripes. But back to the show. It was ridiculous. I thought I would hate it because I hate the Palace, but man, they killed it. They played for 2 hours and 30 minutes solid. I have never seen anyone play that long…They first 1/3 was basically new stuff, but then they switched to old stuff like Basket Case, Brain Stew, Hitchin’ a Ride, King for a Day and some more old goodies, before returning to a couple 21st Century Breakdown songs to close the set. Their encore had even more energy, which I didn’t think was possible. They played American Idiot, Minority, and Jesus of Suburbia. Then Billie Joe came back out on Acoustic to play Time of Your Life, but he added a song even though the Palace was trying to get him off stage. He shouted that he doesn’t give a fuck and is going to play as long as he wants. He happened to play my favorite Green Day song, Macy’s Day Parade. The show was a spectacle of pyro and awesome stage backdrops. The energy was unlike any show I’ve seen and because of this I have to say that this was the third best concert I’ve seen next to Muse and The White Stripes….
9.2/10
*The .2 is very important.
Here is a professional review if you are interested. They gave a glowing review as well…
Julian Casablancas is hard at work recording new music…it’s just not the music that we all want. He is currently finishing up work on his Solo album that is due in the Fall of 2009…hmm, and I was really beginning to believe that we might see a Strokes album in ’09…My guess is 1st quarter 2010 for some new strokes.
Read the full article here
This better be good....
This is the video for their new song…looks pretty funny
So I caved and bought the 60 dollar Vault subscription. Vinyls. Do Want. But, I found that they are streaming the album, which I’ve already listened through, thought was very good, but won’t review it yet. You take a listen.
Jack White has decided he wants to stir things up a bit in the music industry. I don’t know if you all heard, but he opened his own record label called Third Man Records. Not only that, but it is a physical store located in Nashville that sells vinyls of all Third Man Artists (Dead Weather, Raconteurs, and The White Stripes…Their are others, but they aren’t worth checking out.) The things is, he does things a little different…It’s basically a vertically integrated Record Shop (For those of you who aren’t business majors, it basically was an idea of Henry Ford’s. He wanted to produce all the raw materials needed for cars in order to reduce costs.) Well Jack basically did the same things. This record store is not just that…It’s a recording studio, has a vinyl press, photo booth for cover art, all the materials needed to make vinyl sleeves, and a stage for performances…Awesome.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
He recently opened up something a little different…It’s kinda like a fan club. It’s called the Vault. Basically, it’s a fan club but one that doesn’t suck and costs more because of it. You can either be a premium subscriber ($7 a month) or a platinum subscriber ($20 a month)…I of course signed up for the platinum subscription because of my Jack White Fetish.
Here is what the $7 a month gets you:
- Unlimited Access to Online Vault Content
- First chance at presale tickets
- Steaming video content and other video content exclusive to the Vault
- Exclusive photos and blogs from all Third Man Artists
Here is what $20 a month gets you:
- All the above
- Every quarter you the following (This thing is broken up into quarters…You need to pay for 3 months at a time so it’s basically $60 bucks): 1 Third Man 12″ LP, 1 7″ Record, and 1 T-Shirt
This may not seem like much, but let me tell you, it is. Whites Stripes shit is extremely rare and sells for a god awful amount of money on eBay. These LP’s and shirts and stuff are made to order every quarter. This means that there will only be a certain amount ever made and it will most likely be extremely exclusive.
Here’s what I can say about the content so far: It’s a dream come true for a fanatic like me. They have footage from when the White Stripes played the 4th street fair in Detroit…People didn’t think it existed…Everyone on the WS boards thought it was a myth. Rare shit…Not only that, but they have a ton of other never before seen footage from Racs, WS and DW…It’s basically my heaven on earth.
It seems pricey and I’m sure most of you will criticize it for that. But let me assure you, it’s a good deal. The price of a 12′ LP, 7′ Record, and a t-shirt in the WS store is right around $60. But remember, this stuff is very limited which would normally jack the price up.
I dig it.
Read the official message below:
Yup. Check out the info on their site:
Panic at the Disco Split
Jul 8
Matt Ferrel says, "This was the only talented member." Farewell Ryan Ross...looking forward to the solo project. Brian Karadsheh says: Who really knows who the creative force behind this band was? I wasn't even aware that they had a creative force...
I know…You all care!
As much as you might hate them, it’s still relevant info people.
Their creepy lookin’ guitarist and bassist split due to creative differences…My guess is that they weren’t seeing eye to eye on their next LP. I think that the signer wanted to stay the Folky route of their last cd, which in my opinion was amazing, while their creepy guitarist wanted more emo trash.
Panic at the Disco is technically still alive with Brendon the signer and their drummer, but most likely will find two new replacements. Their tour with blink-182 this summer is still a go.
From their site:
“We just wanted to let you know, that the news of Ryan and Jon leaving the band is unfortunately true. It’s been an amazing journey being in a band with them, but sometimes individual tastes take friends in different directions and you can’t ignore it. They are some of the most talented guys we know, and we’re sure that whatever they do next will be great. That said, Panic At The Disco is alive and very very well. We are working on new songs that we are excited for you to hear. Our dates with Blink and No Doubt start in a little less than a month, and we wouldn’t miss those for the world. We know everybody has a lot of questions at this point with everything being so out of the blue, most of those should be answered in the coming weeks. We appreciate every one of you, and hope you continue with us on this incredible ride.
Pay attention we have a surprise in store for you.
-Brendon and Spencer
PS we were cleaning out the practice space and you’ll never guess what we found!”
Album Leak Alert!
Jul 8
You didn’t hear it from me, but…the following albums have leaked:
- The Dodos – Time To Die leaked, due out September 15th.
- Twista – Category F5 leaked, due out July 14th.
- The Dead Weather – Horehound leaked, due out July 14th.
- Spoon – Got Nuffin EP leaked, due out June 30th.
- Portugal. The Man – The Satanic Satanist leaked due out July 21st.
- The Fiery Furnaces – I’m Going Away leaked, due out July 21st.
- Yacht – See Mystery Lights leaked, due out July 28th.
Discovery – LP
Jul 7
On this weekend of our nations Independence, I spent the majority of my time listening to music, new and old. However, I found myself consistently wanting to listen to only one album: LP. We blogged about a couple of their songs earlier, but here’s my run down of the album after a good week of letting its musical juices soak into my temporal lobe.
The band consists of two members: Rostam Batmanglij and Wes Miles. Rostam comes from Vampire Weekend in which his main duties are keyboards and backing vocals. Wes is lead vocals in Ra Ra Riot. In my mind, these guys are already proven musicians. However, it’s quite the opposite. Each of their main projects are only one album deep. Vampire Weekend may only be one album in, but it was acclaimed as one of the top albums of 2008, and I would agree. On the other hand, Ra Ra Riot is one of those bands that is struggling a little in a popular sense, but has a dedicated following. Summing this all up, it seemed odd to me that two unproven musicians that seem to have very long careers ahead of them with their main acts would take a risk like this in releasing an electronic album riddled with the much criticized auto tune. I, for one, am very happy that they took the leap, but I honestly don’t see this album being a critical success.
Such was not the case with The Postal Service. They were a huge critical success and it is them that Discovery most reminds me of. I think a better way to say it is that Discovery is a Postal Service stuck in the 80′s (That is if the 80′s had auto tune addiction). On paper, this album sounds like it would be something I would hate. I don’t use hate softly here…I really dislike auto tune, and the last thing I want are a couple of indie hipsters trying to follow in the footsteps of the potentially defunct Postal Service…but this album is like crack (the freebased stuff). It’s crack laced with 80′s synth pop/dance beats. The vocal melodies are infectious and the tempo changes and quirky song structures are abnormal to say the least. Some may look at this album and say that it is just a messy mash of electronic beats laden with auto tuned shit caked vocals. Those people can fuck off. Apparently they aren’t easily wooed by a catchy melody like I am. If those catchy synth and vocal melodies didn’t have you at hello, then I suggest you listen a little closer and try to make out the lyrics. The lyrics might be taken as juvenile in the sense that most of them are relationship based, but I find them very mature and well thought out. I don’t really need to get into the nitty gritty details of the lyrics, but lets just say that most everyone who reads this blog can relate to them in some way…unless you prefer to reproduce asexually. Lyrics like this don’t please me: “My friend showed me pictures of his kids, and all I could show him was pictures of my cribs.” Who the fuck can relate to that except CEO’s of fortune 500 companies and celebrities with coke habits…and Kanye West? “You love talking fast, but every sound that I hear from your mouth is so deliberate.” Much better.
Overall this is a great album if you enjoy electronic music and don’t mind something that might remind you of the 80′s (If you were abused as a child/raped in the 80′s and/or are afraid of Prince, then I suggest you do yourself the favor and not download this album). It’s an album you can queue up when your bored of browsing the interwebs or, better yet, while driving. However, when I originally heard this album, it became an overnight favorite of mine. I easily classified it as one of my favorite albums of the past two years. However, after letting the eargasm subside for a few days and allowing for proper soakage, I still realize that this album is amazing but not quite 10/10 amazing as I had originally thought. It’s just one of those albums that will either click or will leave you asking why? I will leave you with my Brother’s thoughts on the album: “It’s a great album if you want to start a dance party.”
8.5/10
