Time for a little change of scenery. Given that the majority of content on this blog is heavily laden with indie rock bands, one might conclude that this consortium is only listening to… indie rock! This just simply isn’t true. In addition to indie/alternative/math/prep/whateveryouwannacallit rock, hiphop has long been a favorite music styling of mine. This affinity dates back to the purchase of my first parental advisory album, the Above the Rim soundtrack, when I was 12 years young (much to the dismay of Tipper Gore, I’m sure). One listen of the Warren G classic “Regulate” and I was hooked 4 life. Today, there is a plethora of amazing hiphop that has yet to achieve baller status. Check out some of these ballerific MC’s that are hovering below the radar:

As Death Cab for Cutie’s new album Narrow Stairs drops in a few short weeks here on May 13, it amazes me to reflect on the fact that they released their first album You Can Play These Songs With Chords over ten years ago in 1997. The driving force behind the success of all the things Death Cab, is their front man Ben Gibbard and his perchant for songwriting. His broad career as lead singer in All Time Quarterback, vocals of the ever reaching Postal Service, and his anchoring of Death Cab have allowed us to enjoy his voice and songwriting in a variety of settings. Personally, the first indie album that I fully embraced was Death Cab’s We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes. The album is a song by song chronological story of a man who finds a lover and comes to realize that she actually is engaged to someone else, and the emotional complexities of seeing her marry the other man. Gibbard’s lyrics carry the listener through the complete arch of the relationship cycle; passion, betrayal, bitterness, and regret in a liberating and refreshing way.

This month’s Paste magazine ran a special self penned article on Ben Gibbard, giving the listener an insight into his song writing and motivations. It was a real treat if you enjoy his songs as much as I do….Enjoy

Paste Magazine Article

And check out Death Cab’s new video for “I Will Possess Your Heart”

The idea behind Muxtape is simple. Put together and share a mix of up to 12 tracks — then let the masses stream it over the Interwebs.

The site is so beautifully simple looking with a cool retro feel. It reminds me of the radioheadremix site we discussed a few weeks back. My only gripe is the 12 track limit. Can we get that bumped up to 20? Thanks.

Look for a muxtape mix in the future from sayno, and check out some of the recommended mixes from the site’s creators over on their blog.

If this doesn’t get blocked at work, I know what I’ll be listening to all day.

guest post from Ryan Graves

chilirec is like TiVo for internet radio. You log in, choose your music that you want to record, and within about 5 minutes you have music that has been recorded for you off the internet. chilirec then stores the music in “your personal space” on the web and you can return to listen to it whenever. This service is totally free, however, it is questionably legal (just like this entire genre of services). For you say.no.radio’ers the quality of music is subject to the web radio stations. If you can find good indie channels you will probably be able to record, save, and listen via chilirec.

One awesome feature of the service is that you can actually upload a copy of the playlist you create on chilirec directly to your ipod and listen on the go! No need to be tied to your comp. Awesome. chilirec is still in beta release so check it out.

How it works

Zooey D stole some hipster hearts last night; mine included. Not exactly the most unbiased way to start a review, but what are you going to do. Half the appeal of the newly formed She & Him lies in the celebrity of one Zooey Dechanel (it doesn’t hurt that she has paired up with the incomparable M. Ward). They recently put together a pretty quality LP entitled Volume I. Overall, I give this an 8.5/10. I’ll be honest, that’s more so than most reviewers, but I’m a sucker for risk takers. I like the Sharon Jones, Amy Winehouse’s (pre cracked-out), and now the She & Him’s who are willing to mix up convention. But, this isn’t an album review so much as a concert review.

I’m telling you the show was pretty decent, besides the short run time of less than 1 hour. Zooey had lost her voice, so refrained from talking between songs. But, surprisingly, it didn’t affect her singing all that much… she trudged on with the occasional cracked note and sang her signature Folk-Americana-Country-Jazz-Indie sound; surprisingly representative of the album. M. Ward takes a back seat to this collaboration, but nevertheless provides amazingly smoky, soulful background that enhances the overall sound She & him is going for.

The hyped ‘Why Don’t You Let Me Stay Here” lived up, as Zooey rocked out on Keyboard, and her voice rang true to the sentiment of the song. “Change is Hard” slowed the crowd down to just the right pace. A great interlude and a solid way to showcase the voices of Zooey and M. By far the most crowd enjoyable tune of the evening was the finale of “Sweet Darling” – a late 60’s throwback with the backbone to get a crowd moving and wishing for more.

I’ll say the best part of the night was seeing Zooey’s youthful enthusiasm for being on stage. When M. Ward would be rockin a solo, she was wide eyed, grin from ear to ear, looking at the crowd with the admiration we were equally returning. I say it was great as it’s refreshing to see artists who don’t expect admiration, don’t expect praise. They preform their craft and create music for themselves that we, the crowd, loves. There’s something to say about musical inhibitions when its clearly overshadowed by raw talent.

If you aren’t fortunate enough to live in NYC, LA, or San Fran, you may be out of luck to catch them. They chose to debut their songs on a whopping 3 city, 4 date tour. I think their expectations under estimated the true impact of their music.

I highly recommend checking them out… it will mix up the typical indie tunes with some solid country throwbacks. If you get the chance to see them live, hit it up. Ifor no other reason than the beautiful Zooey Dechanel.

The latest release from Cut Copy, Australia’s #1 New Order tribute band (I kid), entitled In Ghost Colours is already one of my favourite albums of the year. Experience it for yourself, using the track-by-track rating guide provided below as a reference. Next step is to check out the fan video for “Hearts on Fire” followed by a download of the So Cosmic mixtape found by clicking the album art below. Enjoy!




Hearts on Fire [fan video]

OVERALL RATING: 4.5 / 5

Blake - Antidotes, the first full album release from the UK-based band Foals is not average. The band sticks to their experimental math rock roots, using plenty of atypical rhythm structures throughout. I’ll admit that the first time I listened to the album, a lot of the songs sounded the same - but after a few listens I could really appreciate each one. Overall, I give this album a 4/5, but here are some clear 5 star songs (Olympic Airways, Big Big Love, Hummer). Overall favorite… Big Big Love, for that sick intro. Foals is signed to the Sub Pop record label who’s lineup also includes Band of Horses, the Helio Sequence, and the Shins.

Dan - Let’s start things off by answering the obvious question first: A foal is a horse that is one year of age or younger. Foals, on the other hand, is a five-man Oxford-based outfit that is no longer a secret thanks to their superb debut album, Antidotes. Either way you look at it, the band is young, on track, and leading the proverbial indie rock horse race. Moving along, the record kicks off with a sprawling track [The French Open] that eventually tears into a crescendo of math-rock beats before seguing perfectly into the band’s first single, Cassius. Utilizing a myriad of instruments that include horns, synths, and laptops throughout, the band has created what I refer to as a “musical epic”. The mixing and arrangement are perfect and succesfully take the listener through a journey of emotions that can only be achieved via well articulated sound. I’m giving this record 5/5 stars and expect big things from them in the future — starting with their performance at Lollapalooza this year. Personal favorite tracks: Olympic Airways, Balloons, Big Big Love, and Hummer.

Phil - Solid album. I feel like I’m listening to Bloc Party, The Editors, and a Sega Genesis all at the same time. Combine this jam with massive Bose headphones and a pair of Converse All Stars and this classic instantly makes me forget about Randy In the Morning on shitty Connecticut radio. Try searching Foals on YouTube to check out the behind the scenes creativity of these guys 4/5 stars.

Stumbled upon these nasty vids of drums prodigy Travis Barker (Blink-182, +44) putting a fresh spin on some songs that would ordinarily never appear on this blog.

(Soulja Boy - Crank That)




(Flo Rida - Low)

Can I kick it? Yes you can!

Check this sweet new music tool that allows you to select your favorite artists and automatically receive e-mail tour alerts when they come to your town. Definitely eliminates the manual process of checking iLike, MySpace, ticket vendor sites, venue lineups, etc. on a regular basis. As an added bonus, you’ll also be given the date and location of concerts from similar bands you might also like. For example, I searched for Cut Copy shows in Chicago and was informed that they are playing with Black Kids and Mobius Band on May 7th at Abbey Pub. In addition, I see that Hot Chip is playing the Vic tomorrow night. Hey, I like Hot Chip! Sweet!

Read more about it here. See you at the shows this summer!

Just finished listening to a clip of Weezer’s first single off their forthcoming sixth studio album. That being said, I refuse to use any immoderate punctuation (e.g. WEEZER IS BACK!!!1~) to announce that Weezer is indeed back… and their classic sound appears to be returning as well [hesitantly inserting a period rather than an exclamation point here]. Why is my guard up, you ask? Probably because their last album sucked or something like that. A cynic I am not, but I’d prefer to remain lukewarm in regards to the new LP so as not to get my hopes up. Emotional attachment to 90’s alt-rock aside, the new once-again-self-titled album (aka “The Red Album”) drops June 17th and is poised to be the band’s triumphant return to true form!! [Ahhh, that felt good]

Check out the clip for yourself and keep those fingers crossed.

Weezer - Pork and Beans

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Studio album ratings rundown:

1994 Weezer (The Blue Album) - 5/5 stars
1996 Pinkerton - 4.5/5 stars
2001 Weezer (The Green Album) - 4/5 stars
2002 Maladroit - 3.5/5 stars
2005 Make Believe - 2/5 stars
2008 Weezer (The Red Album) - a break in the trend? we hope so.