just you wait and see

So, yea, I know I've been out of the loop for a while, but hey, I had some really good reasons! I started a company, had yet another child, and completely renovated my life and outlook of it. I'm not going to make any excuses as to why I left for so long. Just be happy I'm back! I'm going to do my best to post once a week, and if I do it twice a week, well that's my gift to you :)

Onward and upward from here with a band that's not new, like me, but I want to remind you of them-like me. Holy Ghost! has been around for a few years and have made a great career of remixing and reinventing bands and artists. They're electronic sound is a bit Kraftwerks in their minimalism, and slightly reminiscent of Revenge of the Nerds (you have to listen closely to get what I mean). One of my favorite tracks, Wait & See, has that aura of late 70's Giorgio Moroder, early 80's Devo that I can really sink my teeth into.



Although they released their album in April of last year, it seems most of their tracks are still trickling out to the masses.

It's not over has that Studio 54 sound from the get go and takes me directly into a smoky dark gay leather bar then into the turquoise and hot pinkness of the late 80's with a touch of Power Station Some Like it Hot. It's a journey from beginning to end:



Find them on myspace (yep, that's still around as well): http://www.myspace.com/holyghostnyc

Find their tour dates there, and fall in love with their sound. And as the song says it best: It's Not Over....

Hooray For Earth!

Lately it seems the world around me has gotten super crazy-both personally, and outside of my realm. All kinds of changes have come to pass, changing me, and the universe around me, permanently. Some of it is welcomed, and some of it is sad. I didn't really want things to change (well, certain things), but then, I know that everything has a good reason behind it, so I accept the change, the journey, and the forks in the road....

These changes of season, air, energy, and life are what solidify the elements on earth, and what better way to celebrate then by discovering new music by, none other than, Hooray for Earth! I've been a fan for a while now, but never got around to blogging about them-not for any other reason than, I just never got around to it. My first exposure to them was the fantastic song, Rolling/Nectarine off last year's Momo EP. It has a great rythmic tribal beat, with soaring angelic voices set to a lo-fi vocal courtesy of Noel Heroux. The track is both catchy and poetic. A great sound that stands above the sea of other lo-fi bands.



The newest track that has truly got me hooked, True Loves, is a fantastic blend of sci-fi tinny echoes, tribal stick banging, hiding behind a reggae beat. The video is beautiful-strangely beautiful:



The band fits in well with Yeasayer, Caribou (specifically Odessa), with a touch of Lykke Li added for good measure. Don't hear it? Well, hear this-a collaboration with Twin Shadow, A Place We Like:



visit their webpage on MySpace-http://www.myspace.com/hooray4earth for more information, and touring dates. Listen to more music there as well, and you'll find you'll be just as captivated by them as I have been. Hooray!

Too Much MIDI (Please Forgive Me)

For those of you who have been following the latest trends in hipster indie music, you'll notice the deep running trend in early and mid 80's rip offs. Some sound like Scritti Politti. Some sound like Oingo Boingo. Some sound like Animotion. Heck, there's even some that sound like Prince, Apollonia 6, Sheila E, Sheena Easton....you get the point.


There is just one group that encompasses all these groups, and more. They have managed to find the best parts of the 80's-digging up the gold and purple glitter at the bottom of the pink jelly bucket, if you will. Ford and Lopatin, formally of the group Games, have come together again to release more funktastic tracks on their new album, Channel Pressure to be released June 7 on Mexican Summer-everyone's favorite indie label- imprint label, Software (a subsidiary of Kemado Records).





Sounding a bit like a Thomas Dolby production peppered with a Sufjan Stevens-esque voice, Emergency Room is a mid-tempo toe tapper that brings to mind the talent show scene from Revenge of the Nerds. Don't remember? Weren't born yet? Here's a refresher:





Tell me you don't hear the similarities-I dare you! Ah, but I digress...


The duo is made up of Daniel Lopatin, otherwise known as Oneohtrix Point Never, and Tigercity member Joel Ford. To no one's surprise, the duo are heavily influenced by 80's production techniques such as analog synthesizers and drum machines. The recent change of name is less about artistic creativity, and more about artistic confusion. Sharing the name with an equally impressive rapper, the pair decided to forgo any possible legal ramifications and permanently changed their name. But the legacy lives on as is the case here with Midi Drift:





Here is a preview of the new album, Channel Pressure:





No tour dates are listed currently (nor is there a designated website). I will list them when and if they become available. In the meantime, enjoy this totally tubular 80's movie montage:

pink redemption

It's the weekend y'all!! Well, excuse the enthusiasm, I thought it would be the perfect segue to the newest band I'm lady gaga about. I've been in a folksy funk for a while now, but when I heard Moving Units it threw me back into a techno tizzy.

Moving Units is not a new band per se-they're actually credited with fronting the dance punk movement, a nice niche of live instruments (as opposed to the synthetic sound of true techno) at a bpm most recognizable in dance music.

Tension War is their newest EP released on February 14 (Moving Units Recordings, Post Modern Recordings, Cobra Music). Awfully apropos to release an album with such a name on Valentine's day, don't you think?

In any case, these songs are pretty mainstream compared to their older songs, and are easily comparable to the likes of 303, Cobra Starship, and even-don't hit me-Metro Station. Moving Units, however, have a darker sound and slightly off lyrics that still seperate them from the glitzier, cheesier groups-keeping them slightly still with groups like Shiny Toy Guns.

The standout track for me is Until She Says. I love the drum/cymbal hits, and the almost disco feel to the track:



It makes me think of Duran Duran or similar groups that gave an homage to the disco sound back in 1984-1986 but made the sound more modern and fluid. This track has the same flavor of those tracks but a new dimension in that the voice of the singer is of a modern sound-not like that of Simon LeBon and all the other sound alike singers.

Case in point; Liquid X:



After you listen to this track, you'll see what I mean. I almost imagine these guys running through a Morrocan bazaar searching for a woman painted like a panther.

If you like what you hear, you must check them out on their website: www.movingunits.net
and while you're there, you can take a look to see if they're coming to your town. They are known for electric, crazy, sexually charged live shows. Sounds like a typical tuesday night for me, but whatevs.....

Enjoy Pink Redemption, and challenge me if you don't think this woman looks like your grandmother:



Happy Friday!

the problem with your daughter

If you haven't noticed, I've been in this folksy, beachy, tin can vocals (I think the technical term is 'lo fi') kick for a while now, and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. Especially since the weather has been a bit drab and making me both love the melancholy state of the days, and wish for sun drenched moments all at the same time.

Lately, I've been fascinated with Lord Huron. Gotta love a name like that (mostly for the nod to Michigan's Great Lake), which made me a bit curious about the group, the songs, and the men behind the ideas. What got me interested in Lord Huron is the song, The Stranger. Beautiful and haunting in both lyrics and video. The imagery and the essence is thought provoking-and isn't that the goal of indie rock at it's most basic level?



Imagine my pleasant surprise when I read that this L.A based group originally hails from, none other than, Michigan! Yes, and they are very vocal and proud of this fact-as they should be. Their newest EP, Mighty, is a 4 song homage to their native land, and is, track by track, an amazing grouping of tribal, jangly rock that evokes the spirit of Michigan-the frontier men sounds, the wilderness, the lakes and the hills.

Many groups sound great on record-not so much live. But Lord Huron manage to sound amazing live just as well as on record as is the case of this live performance of The Problem With Your Daughter:



Listen to the whole album, and fork out the 4$ to buy it here: http://lordhuron.bandcamp.com/album/mighty-ep

Learn more about the man behind the Lord here: www.lordhuron.com

And while you're at it, take  a look at the tour list also posted on their website, and make sure you go out in droves to one of the most amazing bands you'll ever see....well maybe not THE most, but it will certainly be up there.....

Quiet Hours

I've been trying for a very long time to wake up early to get things done quicker in the day, and have more daylight to myself. It's not easy. I think my plateau time is 6:30-at which time I lay in bed till 7AM. In my defense, this is a vast improvement from my 'wake up at 10-10:30 and go to bed around 2AM'. I've spent years working on this sleep schedule and I'm pretty damn proud of myself. Even though everyone around me says they get up at 4:30-5:30. Show offs.

On these mornings when I'm feeling heroic and able to take on the world, I tend to do research on a band I either heard about her heard the music of. I have to say, I've been on this jangly, singing from a tin can at the beach sound, bender-and there's no relief in sight!

Wild Nothing, coming to us from Blacksburg VA (woo!), is one such 'band' that has evolved over the years from a College Rocker, to a sophisticated beach boy. Jack Tatum began recording under the monikor Wild Nothing in 2009, and released his first single, Summer Holiday, in 2009 as well under Captured Tracks.



Quiet Hours is from his newest album Golden Haze, released in October of 2010. The mood of the track captures the same sound I've been talking about for a while now-Beach Blanket Bimbo. However, this is a bit more haunting to me. Kind of like the feeling of the beach when the weather's cooled and everyone has moved on to school, or wherever they went, and all that's left is the memory of the fun that was had on the shore.

But Tatum is no one trick pony. He's geniusly taken the echoey sound that has dominated the airwaves and translated it into different forms of the same genre of music. Take for instance The Witching Hour:



There's a certain late 1980's, Genesis quality to this track. Promise, goes in a totally different direction-more like a funky 1985 pink and purple haze layered with a fog of sound:



You can find more information about Wild Nothing on his website: www.myspace.com/wildnothing
Expect to see him tour soon....

been a million years full of tears

I'm so drowsy. I want to say it's this damn time change. I still don't get why we still do it-but I guess some things are a force of habit that steep themselves in tradition, which then become a known way of doing things in the subconscious. That can be said for a lot of things that really aren't necessary but we do them/have them anyway.

There's quite a few things I can think of, but I won't bore you with them right now. I will say though, that if I were to think about what kind of music I would use as the soundtrack for the spinning of this wheel, I would use any song by Alexander Ebert.

Much like his other band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros,  Alexander Ebert has taken a sound that reminds you of the corn fields of Iowa in the heart of Summer (never been to Iowa, but this is what I think it sounds like), and justified it with a heart felt twang that even indie rockers can't deny. The words are poetic and honestly, must be read to truly understand. But just listening to Ebert is good enough to get a glimpse inside the tumbleweeds and kicked up dirt feel his music inspires.



A Million Years' lyrics are beautiful, and make me think of Summer in the Midwest in the 1940's-just like Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros does. But unlike Edward Sharpe, Ebert evokes a Baptist Church standing outside a river, dunking people into the water to show them the light. There's an underlying current of redemption, revision, and transcendent in Alexander's music. As if Edward Sharpe were the lost soul seeking love and light-and Alexander Ebert found it.



Ebert's Indie Folk Rock solo album, Alexander, is infectious and soul soothing, reminiscent of Bob Dylan and late Beatles after their trip to India.



Unfortunately there are no tour dates listed, but I will be sure to check and post them when and if they become available. There also is no website to be found, so stay tuned for any updated information I may find on this blog....