Monday, February 13, 2006
The Rock of La Rocca
For some strange reason, the first thing that popped into my head was "Meat Loaf." Now, this may have something to do with me having nothing but crackers and it's 3 hours past lunch, or my recent viewing of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" which will have my senses warped for at least another week, but really, I can't seem to shake the image of Eddie singing on the motorcycle. Please don't get me wrong, I mean this only as positive insight.
With influences including "a few lads from Liverpool," "The Boss," Nivana, and CCR, the Boss's influence is definitely felt in the vocals, while the guitar solo's definitely scream "Seattle grunge please!" These Dubliners definitely have a driving force behind them and a full hearty song. Definitely good tunes to drink to, did I mention they also like Johnny Cash? Or perhaps name dropping producer Tony Hoffer will get you in La Rocca (Tony has produced darlings Beck and Belle and Sebastian for example.)
I should be comparing them to Jet, The Vines, and Bloc Party, or any other modern rock outfit that happens to think a toy xylophone playing along with the melody is a good idea (which it is, actually). And maybe that's why Meat Loaf as Eddie is a fitting visualization. It's driving, with a hint of playfulness and theatrics. It's fun, you can bop along to it, you can tap your foot, you can sing along. Sing Song Sung has me hungry for the full-length debuting in May 2006.
With influences including "a few lads from Liverpool," "The Boss," Nivana, and CCR, the Boss's influence is definitely felt in the vocals, while the guitar solo's definitely scream "Seattle grunge please!" These Dubliners definitely have a driving force behind them and a full hearty song. Definitely good tunes to drink to, did I mention they also like Johnny Cash? Or perhaps name dropping producer Tony Hoffer will get you in La Rocca (Tony has produced darlings Beck and Belle and Sebastian for example.)
I should be comparing them to Jet, The Vines, and Bloc Party, or any other modern rock outfit that happens to think a toy xylophone playing along with the melody is a good idea (which it is, actually). And maybe that's why Meat Loaf as Eddie is a fitting visualization. It's driving, with a hint of playfulness and theatrics. It's fun, you can bop along to it, you can tap your foot, you can sing along. Sing Song Sung has me hungry for the full-length debuting in May 2006.
Push the Heart
My first exposure to the Devics is there fourth offering, "Push the Heart." In a sea of CD's I picked this one up first based on the playful cover art of a little girl with dragonflies, and haven't been able to part with it since. Two seconds into the first song, "Lie to me" Sara Lov's light and airy voice can be heard over the faint piano twittlings of her "Corsican twin," Dustin O’Halloran.
This boy/girl duo has enough bio and backstory to make at least one movie, but there is focus in the music. While rooted heavily in the "girl sings with piano" genre, other fun things add wonderful coloring and shading of the sound ranging from the standard electric and acoustic guitars to mellotron, toy piano, glockenshpiel, accordian, wurlitzer, and marxophone, just to name a few.
Dustin seems to have the music all under his thumb, having written it and playing most of the instuments on the recording. There are additional players to give that full bodied sound when needed, but even with all the gizmo's this is a very clean minimalist sound pallate. Sara writes and sings most of lyrical content in a vocal style that can only be called "angelic" and it all comes together in a wonderful mellow record perfectly suited for soundtracks and roadtrips.
This boy/girl duo has enough bio and backstory to make at least one movie, but there is focus in the music. While rooted heavily in the "girl sings with piano" genre, other fun things add wonderful coloring and shading of the sound ranging from the standard electric and acoustic guitars to mellotron, toy piano, glockenshpiel, accordian, wurlitzer, and marxophone, just to name a few.
Dustin seems to have the music all under his thumb, having written it and playing most of the instuments on the recording. There are additional players to give that full bodied sound when needed, but even with all the gizmo's this is a very clean minimalist sound pallate. Sara writes and sings most of lyrical content in a vocal style that can only be called "angelic" and it all comes together in a wonderful mellow record perfectly suited for soundtracks and roadtrips.
Friday, February 03, 2006
I got beheaded by the Sword
It's Thursday, it's 10:02, and the Ottobar is strangely enough giving us the Sword on time. It's loud, it's doomy, and by 10:03 the crowd nodding along has already evolved into long hair flying. The vocals don't quite growl, but certainly have a nice gritty texture and not one comprehensible syllable has been uttered until the announcement of the Sword being from Austin, TX.
I'm fairly sure someone just sparked up a J in the crowd and it wasn't me, but I guess this would be the appropriate time to proclaim the Sword as true stoner rock, eh? They fit nicely in my little collection with Nebula, Mastodon, Sabbath, Metallica, Nile, et. al.
As the set progresses the drummer has magically morphed into a total machine with quite a few furious fills done with precision and accuracy. I can only say that his playing is hard, consistent, pounding, heavy, intricate, technical, and interesting. To sum it up, he's pretty fuckin awesome.
I like this, no pussy whiny lead singer vocals to be heard, the singer is busy playing some doomy riffs so for the most part the music speaks for itself and when he does sing, its not a distraction like some metal vocals tend to be by what I like to call "tries too hard" syndrome. I'm happy, and while I've heard some fairly standard metal riffs, they've been used appropriately, and that's all you can really ask.
The Sword have such a full, solid, exhilarating sound. The bass-lead-rhythm guitar arrangements were very well thought out and perfectly synchronized, plus I loved the unison "hold and scream" which was pulled off without a hitch.
These guys are not pioneers in there genre, but they do it well, and in this case I'd rather hear something done well than something too far off in left field (To paraphase Mr. Heinz.) I highly recommend it to any fan of heavy, doomy, groovy, sludgy riffs. My only complaint is that as the opener they didn't get to play a full set. However I think they have the potential to someday get their very 70's logo on the top of the promo poster!
I'm fairly sure someone just sparked up a J in the crowd and it wasn't me, but I guess this would be the appropriate time to proclaim the Sword as true stoner rock, eh? They fit nicely in my little collection with Nebula, Mastodon, Sabbath, Metallica, Nile, et. al.
As the set progresses the drummer has magically morphed into a total machine with quite a few furious fills done with precision and accuracy. I can only say that his playing is hard, consistent, pounding, heavy, intricate, technical, and interesting. To sum it up, he's pretty fuckin awesome.
I like this, no pussy whiny lead singer vocals to be heard, the singer is busy playing some doomy riffs so for the most part the music speaks for itself and when he does sing, its not a distraction like some metal vocals tend to be by what I like to call "tries too hard" syndrome. I'm happy, and while I've heard some fairly standard metal riffs, they've been used appropriately, and that's all you can really ask.
The Sword have such a full, solid, exhilarating sound. The bass-lead-rhythm guitar arrangements were very well thought out and perfectly synchronized, plus I loved the unison "hold and scream" which was pulled off without a hitch.
These guys are not pioneers in there genre, but they do it well, and in this case I'd rather hear something done well than something too far off in left field (To paraphase Mr. Heinz.) I highly recommend it to any fan of heavy, doomy, groovy, sludgy riffs. My only complaint is that as the opener they didn't get to play a full set. However I think they have the potential to someday get their very 70's logo on the top of the promo poster!
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
SHOWS!
I have decided to post some shows of relative importance. I will probably not make it to all of them since I have a dayjob, but these highlights are what I'm picking from, along with some shows I jotted down for some friends:
Tonight - Sword @ Ottobar
Feb. 20 - Umphrees Mcgee @ Ram's Head Live
Feb 20 - BMRC @ 9:30 Club ($15)
Feb. 22 - Disco Biscuits @ Ram's Head Live
March 2 - Eagles of Death Metal @ Ottobar (not yet on sale)
March 7 - Mogwai @ Sonar (for that I have the tickets in hand)
March 15 - Ben Lee (with a full band) @ Fletchers ($12)
March 20 - Matisyahu @ Ram's Head Live ($20)
May 2 - Isis @ Ottobar ($12)
Tonight - Sword @ Ottobar
Feb. 20 - Umphrees Mcgee @ Ram's Head Live
Feb 20 - BMRC @ 9:30 Club ($15)
Feb. 22 - Disco Biscuits @ Ram's Head Live
March 2 - Eagles of Death Metal @ Ottobar (not yet on sale)
March 7 - Mogwai @ Sonar (for that I have the tickets in hand)
March 15 - Ben Lee (with a full band) @ Fletchers ($12)
March 20 - Matisyahu @ Ram's Head Live ($20)
May 2 - Isis @ Ottobar ($12)
Wolfies
January 31, 2006 –
Today Wolfmother’s EP Dimensions hit the streets here in the States and I rushed out to get my hands on copy. All the stuff I’ve read about the band compared them to Led Zeppelin so I figured it was high time to see what these Aussie’s were up to. It’s no small thing to be compared to such a hugely influential name, and it’s an even larger feat to somehow continually get away with it. I was a skeptic at first, but after about 30 second of the title track “Dimension” I was sold.
Right now Wolfmother is in Sydney (Australia, duh) doing a few more shows for the Big Day Out and then they’re off to Seattle, Washington, USA. Myles Heskett, Scorpio and drummer, took time off his lunch to talk to me while I taped American Idol (8pm, Eastern). I just love time zones. Here’s a taste of what transpired:
I’m missing American Idol to talk to you right now.
Are you taping it?
Yes, but what do you think of American—err, Australian Idol and shows like that?
I don’t personally watch it. I have trouble watching it, I feel ill, it’s a strange thing. I don’t like the whole elimination of the bad singers – bad singers are more entertaining. I’m starting my own where the bad ones stay called Evil Idol.
Yes, so stay tuned folks for that gem. I did take the time out to let Myles know that if you watch during auditions you get plenty of “bad ones” and they make TV specials, at least here. He seemed excited and hopes to catch some of our worst singers. But we’re not tying up international phone lines to discuss the wonders of horrific singers…
So, Dimensions came out today and I was really into it, are any of these songs going to be on the album?
Dimension and Mind’s Eye are on the album. There are going to be about 12 tracks on it, so they’ll be more stuff.
What is your part in the song writing process being the drummer?
I don’t write any of the lyrics or anything. A lot of the songs come out of jamming and locking ourselves up in a room. It’s really a group effort.
How long have you been playing the drums?
I started in high school just mucking around, but was never a drummer or anything. I always jumped on the drums as soon as the drummer would leave the room. I just kind of gravitated to them just for fun. I never had any lessons or anything. They’re the most fun, the most loud.
Who has influenced your drumming?
There was a band called Rocket Science here with a drummer named “Kit,” like "drum kit, and anyway he was just full of energy and exciting to watch. When I saw Trans Am I was blown away, that guy was like a machine.
How you feel about the comparisons to Led Zeppelin?
It’s understandable. We’ve got that really old sound. I was more into metal and Metallica, Kyuss too. I was reading about them and they talked about Pink Floyd so I picked some of that up. Sleep was an amazing band. They had a heavy Sabbath influence. I was more into Sabbath than Zeppelin. I don’t have any Zeppelin. I like them but never really got into them. Andrew (our singer) really likes them. I also like funk.
Like James Brown Funk?
Yeah, I got into that earlier in playing the drums, now I’m like applying that groove to rock. Jon Bonham was a funky drummer actually.
We furthered our discussion into metal which somehow allowed me to shamelessly profess my love of unicorns and also get in a cut about a guy that used to listen to metal being in a band with a song called “The White Unicorn” and how hard you can be and still like unicorns. Eventually we got back on track to talk about the upcoming tour.
So, you’ll be coming to the states in a few weeks. Anything you’re looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to exploring a little bit. We’ve only been to New York and LA. I’m looking forward to San Francisco. LA is a little strange.
Yes, I agree.
I love New York. There’s Chicago, really it’s fun going anywhere. We’re kinda just doing clubs in major cities right now. We’re going to go back and forth to the UK and built it up.
Do you have any thoughts or anything else you’d like to say?
I guess I’m going to have to write something down. People keep asking me that and I don’t know what to say. I’m not good at coming up with something to say. Stay calm, don’t panic, don’t pay too much attention to your TV, we’ll be there soon. Don’t kill anybody. Hopefully we’ll make it over to see the bad singers on Idol.
Yes, Myles, I hope so too.
Today Wolfmother’s EP Dimensions hit the streets here in the States and I rushed out to get my hands on copy. All the stuff I’ve read about the band compared them to Led Zeppelin so I figured it was high time to see what these Aussie’s were up to. It’s no small thing to be compared to such a hugely influential name, and it’s an even larger feat to somehow continually get away with it. I was a skeptic at first, but after about 30 second of the title track “Dimension” I was sold.
Right now Wolfmother is in Sydney (Australia, duh) doing a few more shows for the Big Day Out and then they’re off to Seattle, Washington, USA. Myles Heskett, Scorpio and drummer, took time off his lunch to talk to me while I taped American Idol (8pm, Eastern). I just love time zones. Here’s a taste of what transpired:
I’m missing American Idol to talk to you right now.
Are you taping it?
Yes, but what do you think of American—err, Australian Idol and shows like that?
I don’t personally watch it. I have trouble watching it, I feel ill, it’s a strange thing. I don’t like the whole elimination of the bad singers – bad singers are more entertaining. I’m starting my own where the bad ones stay called Evil Idol.
Yes, so stay tuned folks for that gem. I did take the time out to let Myles know that if you watch during auditions you get plenty of “bad ones” and they make TV specials, at least here. He seemed excited and hopes to catch some of our worst singers. But we’re not tying up international phone lines to discuss the wonders of horrific singers…
So, Dimensions came out today and I was really into it, are any of these songs going to be on the album?
Dimension and Mind’s Eye are on the album. There are going to be about 12 tracks on it, so they’ll be more stuff.
What is your part in the song writing process being the drummer?
I don’t write any of the lyrics or anything. A lot of the songs come out of jamming and locking ourselves up in a room. It’s really a group effort.
How long have you been playing the drums?
I started in high school just mucking around, but was never a drummer or anything. I always jumped on the drums as soon as the drummer would leave the room. I just kind of gravitated to them just for fun. I never had any lessons or anything. They’re the most fun, the most loud.
Who has influenced your drumming?
There was a band called Rocket Science here with a drummer named “Kit,” like "drum kit, and anyway he was just full of energy and exciting to watch. When I saw Trans Am I was blown away, that guy was like a machine.
How you feel about the comparisons to Led Zeppelin?
It’s understandable. We’ve got that really old sound. I was more into metal and Metallica, Kyuss too. I was reading about them and they talked about Pink Floyd so I picked some of that up. Sleep was an amazing band. They had a heavy Sabbath influence. I was more into Sabbath than Zeppelin. I don’t have any Zeppelin. I like them but never really got into them. Andrew (our singer) really likes them. I also like funk.
Like James Brown Funk?
Yeah, I got into that earlier in playing the drums, now I’m like applying that groove to rock. Jon Bonham was a funky drummer actually.
We furthered our discussion into metal which somehow allowed me to shamelessly profess my love of unicorns and also get in a cut about a guy that used to listen to metal being in a band with a song called “The White Unicorn” and how hard you can be and still like unicorns. Eventually we got back on track to talk about the upcoming tour.
So, you’ll be coming to the states in a few weeks. Anything you’re looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to exploring a little bit. We’ve only been to New York and LA. I’m looking forward to San Francisco. LA is a little strange.
Yes, I agree.
I love New York. There’s Chicago, really it’s fun going anywhere. We’re kinda just doing clubs in major cities right now. We’re going to go back and forth to the UK and built it up.
Do you have any thoughts or anything else you’d like to say?
I guess I’m going to have to write something down. People keep asking me that and I don’t know what to say. I’m not good at coming up with something to say. Stay calm, don’t panic, don’t pay too much attention to your TV, we’ll be there soon. Don’t kill anybody. Hopefully we’ll make it over to see the bad singers on Idol.
Yes, Myles, I hope so too.
