Published February 14, 2008
in Pop.
Listen to “Bag of Hammers” on MySpace.
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down gives you great taste bottled in significant, building, upbeat, danceable bites of fruity cake sweets in “Bag of Hammers” (from the album We Brave Bee Stings and All). You think that everything cool has been introduced in the first 30 seconds of the song, but no! There is dessert! Several times over! Just wait for it. As further testament to their good taste, they’ve gotten some photos done by Sarah Cass, who is fast becoming my favorite band photographer.
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Published February 13, 2008
in Country.
Watch a video of The Rainieros doing “Anarchy in the U.K.” on YouTube.
The Rainieros pick on Sex Pistols by covering “Anarchy in the U.K.” And bye “pick on”, I mean that this is a classic example of a song taking on new meaning when placed into an entirely different genre. The fact that it’s a live recording doesn’t hurt one bit, either….
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Published February 12, 2008
in Rock.
Listen to “meh 4″ on MySpace.
Something often gets lost when bands try to write songs and try to produce them and try to sell them etcetera. The thing that gets lost is fun. You may have experienced this before, but probably not recently if you’re stuck to mainstream corporate music passageways (feedlots). However, A Carmine Carminative is not stuck in such a passage. This track is rough, unstructured, and at times somewhat chaotic. But it is ultimately a thousand billion times more fun than anything on the Billboard charts this week. Huzzah!
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Published February 11, 2008
in Folk.
Listen to “The Owl and the Pussycat” on MySpace.
Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez is one of many projects by Lesser Gonzalez. Not only does Lesser Gonzalez do video, animation, painting, and music (and all of it in highly original ways)–he can also take a tale like The Owl and the Pussycat (the poem by Edward Lear) and turn it into a good song. “The Owl and the Pussycat” (from the album Why is bear billowing?) is quite possibly a grand statement of enormous proportion–who would know, with this coding genius behind it? I also highly recommend Fish, available for viewing on thinplastic.com.
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Published February 8, 2008
in Blues.
Listen to “Baltimore Blues No. 1″ on MySpace.
Deer Tick captures the romp of the beer brawls and the colorful shades of grey of Baltimore in “Baltimore Blues No. 1″ (from the album War Elephant). Why Baltimore? Because it’s beautiful. Every gutter, every beggar, every piece of litter on the dark, dank streets. You can taste it in this song.
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Published February 7, 2008
in Pop.
Listen to “Fake Yer Death” on MySpace.
“Fake Yer Death” was the only song so far that made me want to create a genre* category just for that song. And at first the name of that genre was going to be “Sad”, but the more I listened to the song the happier I got. “Fake Yer Death” has a way of nestling itself down into a dark and twisted corner of your psyche and then slowly, ever so slowly, wresting your soul free of the evil that lurks there. Trust me, Orion Rigel Dommisse is well worth learning how to spell the name.
* “Genre” of course being a farce, because genres are stupid. Still, lables provide a way of sorting through chaffe to get what you like. When it comes to music, it doesn’t quite work this way, but it can still work for you if you’re in a certain mood. (And no, I didn’t create the genre just for this song, but I came close.)
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Published February 6, 2008
in Pop.
Listen to “Vegas” on MySpace.
Sara Bareilles is as photogenic as they come. Similarly, her songs are about as catchy as can be, no matter what angle your ears are at. In “Vegas” (from the album Little Voice), she strikes out with a deep booming sound and a good driving beat. In fact, I give “Vegas” a lot of points just for being a reference to Vegas that isn’t tied to that stupid joke about everything staying there. If this song had stayed there, the world would have been much the worse for it.
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Published February 5, 2008
in Hip Hop.
Listen to “babaeng mandirigma” on MySpace.
How do you find time to write and record sweet, provocative, important hip hop sounds while organizing the single most important music revolution in the Northwest? Only Rogue Pinay knows, for only Rogue Pinay has done it.
“babaeng mandirigma” is just one of the many reasons why Seattle is now the premiere source for pro-womyn hip hop that isn’t just taking on the Northwest–this collection of artists is using hip hop to voice a significant, growing awareness: that the entire planet is connected and responsible for one another. If being in it together, with all of us, scares you, listen to “babaeng mandirigma”, then gently tell yourself that it’s all going to get better because of this. Because seriously, it’s true.
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Published February 4, 2008
in Country.
Listen to “Wicked Jokes” on MySpace.
Jimmy Peters, pedal steel guitarist for the Rainieros, needs no accompaniment to place you in a small lonely town, in a small, lonely, desperate situation, with “Wicked Jokes”. Bathe yourself in this for three weeks. After that, you won’t know where you are anymore, and you won’t know how to escape, either. In fact, you won’t even be aware that there is an escape.
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Published February 1, 2008
in Country.
Listen to “Certainly Tonight” on MySpace.
Yes, when country’s good it’s good. Widower joins the ranks of…well, a few people…who are out to prove it’s true. On “Certainly Tonight”, Widower adds just a touch more grit to the voice that carries this song out into Wail-But-Good Land. You’ll see. Certainly tonight, you will.
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