Little bit of "Yeah Yeah"

So I posted earlier about the collapse of the band The Format and the rise of the hypermelodramtic band Fun., but that is only half the story. The other half of the Format, and some would argue the better half, is Sam Means. There's no news of Sam Means starting his own band, but he has done an extremely lo-fi score for the indie comedy The Sinking of Santa Isabel and one of the songs in the movie is called "Yeah Yeah". It's very simple, but at the same time incredibly fulfilling. It makes me excited to hear the rest of his score!

Stream from Hypemachine Yeah Yeah - Sam Means
Download Yeah Yeah - Sam Means

New Tegan and Sara: "Hell"

Sainthood will be Tegan and Sara's sixth album and their latest album since 2007's The Con, and I have nothing, but high hopes. The first single off the album will be a track written by Tegan Quin titled "Hell".This is the first we've heard from the album and from Tegan and Sara, unless you count Tiesto's "I Feel It In My Bones", and it sounds good. The rest of the album will drop Oct 27th...aka soon.

Check it Out: Tegan and Sara - Hell

Sea Wolf leak White Water, White Bloom

So this is a bit late, but if you didn't know, know now that Sea Wolf's White Water, White Bloom has leaked and it's pretty good. NYU's Alex Brown Church brings us another album with that similar classic feel as Leaves in the River, but this time instead of sounding like it's coming from his underground basement, it's taken a step up and now has a more orchestral feel, which of course I love. The album comes out September 22nd, 2009
Pre-order the Vinyl Here!


Check it Out: Sea Wolf - Orion & Dog

Los Campesinos! "The Sea Is A Good Place to Think of the Future"

I've always liked Los Campesinos!, but having seen them twice in the past two weeks (Los Angeles, San Diego) my opinion of them is steadily rising. Their albums are intense, absurdly fun, and exhausting. I mostly thought that they wouldn't be able to keep it all together on stage, and that their success was probably a result of studio tricks. But I was horribly wrong. They are even better live.

And despite the departure of their female vocalist/keyboardist Aleks, I'm glad that Los Campesinos! is pushing forward. They are set to release a new album in early 2010 and will follow it up with a UK tour. It will be their first tour without Aleks and their first with an unnamed new member. The band has graciously released a new (slow?) song from their upcoming album called "The Sea Is A Good Place to Think of the Future" along with this video:

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future from Los Campesinos! on Vimeo.

UK TOUR:
OCTOBER
WED 21 Kasbah, Coventry 14+
THURS 22 Joiners, Southampton 14+
FRI 23 Phoenix, Exeter 14+ (01392 263518)
SAT 24 The Gate, Cardiff 14+
MON 26 Deaf Institute, Manchester14+
TUE 27 University, Newcastle 14+
WED 28 Garage, London 14+
THU 29 Zodiac, Oxford All Ages (Under 14s to be accompanied by an adult)
FRI 30 Cockpit, Leeds14+
SAT 31 King Tut’s, Glasgow 18+

Check it Out: Los Campesinos! - The Sea Is A Good Place To Think of The Future

Girls "Lust For Life"

I had quite a time researching the band Girls new album Album. All I found was either porn or all girl rock bands, which is fine...but not helpful. Girls actually has no girl in it, despite that in their song "Lust for Life", the first few lines still go "I wish I had a boyfriend", making this the most gender confused band in history. It confuses me as well, but nevertheless it has a good old fashioned sort of beach-rock sound. Their album Album will come out Sep 22 and you can pre-order it on Amazon.

Check it Out:Girls - Lust for Life

Fun.: Aim and Ignite Album Review

Long have I been listening to Fun.’s new album Aim and Ignite, with it’s insane poppiness and theatrical tendencies, how can I say “no?” I previously talked about their opening track “Be Calm” and a few weeks later I’ve only grown fonder of the song. Perhaps it’s one of my favorite songs of the year? Only Last.fm can tell me for sure.

It’d be wrong of me to say that every song on Aim and Ignite lives up to the bar set by “Be Calm”, but the album does have a few gem that compensate for what the other tracks might be lacking. I’ll list off the best tracks, which have survived multiple upon multiple of listens: “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Use To Be)”, “Gambler”, “I Wanna Be the One”. It’s hard for me to pinpoint what I love about these songs. In some ways it’s the subtle changes that I love about “the Gambler”, the slight inflections in Nate’s voice that set one verse apart from another, but at the same time I enjoy the dramatic changes, like going from common time to a ¾ waltz, in songs like “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Use To Be)”.

The rest of Aim and Ignite is hit or miss to me. I wouldn’t say that there are any bad tracks; it’s just that not all songs can stand on their own. “Benson Hedges” and “All the Pretty Girls” are fun and upbeat songs, but they fall into the pattern of the typical pop song. Chorus, verse, chorus verse, chorus…without any element really standing out. Fun.’s strength comes from their theatricality and when the band fails to acknowledge that, they become boring and repetitive.

As an album I think Aim and Ignite is only good. However it’s the perfection of just a handful of it’s songs that make me want to call this record “great”. “Be Calm”, “At Least I’m Not As Sad”, etc. take an otherwise common place album and make it stand out. I can’t say this is one of this year’s best albums, but at the same time I can’t write it off as just another album.

I give Aim and Ignite 7.5/10 Bleeding Heads

Tegan and Sara new LP and tour

The Canadian sisters have announced that they will release their sixth studio album Sainthood October 27th and Los Angeles is lucky enough to be getting a show at the Orpheum Theater October 25th.


Front Cover
Back Cover

Sainthood Tracklist:

01 Arrow
02 Don't Rush
03 Hell
04 On Directing
05 Red Belt
06 The Cure
07 Northshore
08 Night Watch
09 Alligator
10 Paperback Heart
11 The Ocean
12 Sentimental Tune
13 Someday

Tegan and Sara also did vocals on one of Tiesto's new songs, "Feel It In My Bones", for his upcoming album Kaleidoscope. You can check it out here thanks to hypemachine