Things may be slow here for the next week or so. I've got finals this weekand and I'm in the middle of getting things with my new hosting provider (yay Dreamhost!) set up. Just in time for the holidays.
Cheers!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Times are a changing -
6
Saturday, November 25, 2006
When the two hearted ale don't flow -
6
I walked into the liquor store this afternoon to pick up a few 22oz. Fat Tire bottles and started looking around. I was extremely puzzled because I saw no Bell's on the shelves where they usually were.
So I asked one of the beer guys, "This may be a dumb question, but where is all the Bell's beer?" His response was that Bell's ceased distribution of their products to Illinois as of October 12, 2006. WTF? Where has all the rude beer gone? I (sadly) settled for some Goose Island instead.
When we got home, I jumped on the interweb for some confirmation and here it is. Read all about why Bell's is no longer selling beer in Illinois and make plans for a road trip to Kalamazoo.
All beer realated issues aside, here are two children's songs for you and your kids to listen to. Oh yeah, one is a version of "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Broken Social Scene.
MP3 | Broken Social Scene - Puff The Magic Dragon Songs For Kids
MP3 | Imagination Movers - I Want My Mommy ST
So I asked one of the beer guys, "This may be a dumb question, but where is all the Bell's beer?" His response was that Bell's ceased distribution of their products to Illinois as of October 12, 2006. WTF? Where has all the rude beer gone? I (sadly) settled for some Goose Island instead.
When we got home, I jumped on the interweb for some confirmation and here it is. Read all about why Bell's is no longer selling beer in Illinois and make plans for a road trip to Kalamazoo.
All beer realated issues aside, here are two children's songs for you and your kids to listen to. Oh yeah, one is a version of "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Broken Social Scene.
MP3 | Broken Social Scene - Puff The Magic Dragon Songs For Kids
MP3 | Imagination Movers - I Want My Mommy ST
Friday, November 24, 2006
Maybe you just ate too much -
0
We hope y'all had a great turkey day! Now to shake you out of that food-induced coma, here are a few songs from Your Black Star. Featuring former members of emo-rock powerhouse Elliott, this Louisville, KY trio knocks out song after song of driving atmospheric rock on their latest full-length Sound From The Ground. Massive guitars scream fervently as powerful and steadfast drumming keeps pounding. It is swirling, fuzzed out, neo-classical indie-stoner-rock that makes me think of late 80's bands like The Cult.
Sound From The Ground is out now on Wonka Vision Records. RIYL: Jupiter-era Cave In, HUM, Elevator Division, etc...
MP3 | Your Black Star - The Silent Me Sound From The Ground
MP3 | Your Black Star - Rockets (Reserved) Sound From The Ground
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Pounding the proverbial pavement -
1
The Seattle trio Lake of Falcons has a killer new 7-song EP out on Beep Repaired Records. This is a band that walks a line between more introspective indie rock and screamy, noisy, gritty hardcore and does it all with a DIY attitude. Mine came via a CDR lovingly packaged in a hand screened cardboard sleeve. You can tell this is a labor of love and that the guys in Lake of Falcons mean business.
Their music is intelligent, heartfelt, and uplifting but somehow leaves me with visions of desolate stretches of rural highways. The songs are oddly catchy, sloppy and unrefined in the best possible way. This is the music that the blue-collar kids in their winter coats are dancing to I'm dancing cuz I just love this kinda shit. RIYL: The Casket Lottery, John Cougar, Hot Water Music, etc...
MP3 | Lake of Falcons - Stone Steps The Panic Solution EP
MP3 | Lake of Falcons - Pretty Little Knife The Panic Solution EP
Saturday, November 18, 2006
An incomplete history of chicago punk rock (vol. 15) -
2
***NOTE: I realize (just as you do) that this band ain't really "history" yet, but they play kickass Chicago punk rock and this just happens to be the perfect time for a write up. Quit yer whining.***
Have you ever seen street people huddled around a barrel fire on a cold December night? You know, a few disheveled guys with shabby winter coats. Their stained & mismatched gloves with the fingers cut off holding bottles in brown paper bags. The glow of the blaze illuminating their dirty faces. At their party, The Falcon is their soundtrack.
Comprised of current members of The Lawrence Arms and Alkaline Trio (Rise Against's original guitar player played on their first EP), The Falcon is the latest band to fall from the Slapstick family tree. They throw ska, cock rock, and hillbilly c&w into a punk rock blender and mix it with Old Style and cheap whiskey. Their debut album is called Unicornography and (simply stated) it is f&^%ing fantastic. It is snotty, trashy, and fun.
The electric guitars oftentimes sound like shit, the playing is sloppy, and Brendan's vocals can be off-putting and are as irritatingly horrible as they have ever been, but I totally love it. While their 2004 God Don't Make No trash... EP was good, it is the strangely perfect addition of acoustic guitar to the mix that takes The Falcon's sound on Unicornography to a whole new level. The songs are catchy like a venereal disease and (as stated before) way more fun. How can music be gritty, bouncy, quirky, and well-written all at the same time? I dunno, but I just can't help but smile when listening to this record.
I also find it almost laughable (and frighteningly sad) that a band that's virtually unknown outside of Chicago and that began as a less-than-serious side project may have (quite possibly) released the best punk rock record of 2006. Unicornography is out now on Red Scare Records.
MP3 | The Falcon - The Lazyboy 500 Unicornography
MP3 | The Falcon - Scratching Off The Fleas Unicornography
Friday, November 17, 2006
Houses filled with dark black smoke -
1
Helios is the moniker of Berklee College of Music student Keith Kenniff. His second album using the Helios name is called Eingya and its a beautifully atmospheric album that is hugely affecting despite its subtle nature. Eingya is a dreamy affair in which each track slowly builds as layers of instrumentation ebb and flow forth from the minimalist droning soundscapes beneath. It is a quiet album filled with layers upon layers of droning synths, hushed acoustic guitars, delicate piano melodies, pastoral field recordings, and sparse glitchy percussion that (ultimately) falls somewhere into the shimmering space between Boards of Canada and a mellow and more understated version of The Album Leaf.
I was listening Eingya a few nights ago as I was trying to fall asleep and found myself being pulled into the album as it enveloped me like a blanket. Like the aural equivalent of your faded scrapbook photos and tattered picture albums, it is emotionally engaging and has a certain resonance that makes it so much more than just a collection of Eno-esqe synths and fractured beats. If I categorized the best new music of 2006, this would be on the list. Eingya is out now on Type Records.
MP3 | Helios - For Years And Years Eingya
MP3 | Helios - Halving The Compass Eingya
My little needle full of rubella -
2
I'll be a Metro on NYE, how 'bout you?
MP3 | Alkaline Trio - 97
MP3 | Smoking Popes - Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground (Willie Nelson Cover)
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Democracy behind the red brick wall -
2
Do you like punk rock in the same vein as Screeching Weasel, Crimpshrine, Jawbreaker, and The Parasties? You know, gritty yet poppy streetwise punk rock. Well, Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Chinese Telephones is just such a band. Heck, Ben Weasel likes 'em and so should you. They don't have a real website, and they don't even have a CD released. You can (however) find their songs on a handful of vinyl-only releases and they should have a new full-length out next year. Enjoy.
MP3 | Chinese Telephones - I Think I Can Breathe Now S/T 7"
MP3 | Chinese Telephones - Those Hot Milwaukee Nights Split 7" w/ Dan Padilla
MP3 | Chinese Telephones - Basement Child Superstar Split 12" w/ Potential Johns
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
I don't feel like dancin today -
6
People can (and will) sometimes surprise you. Last week a guy that I work with (let's call him Mike) was talking to a co-worker when I overheard him mentioning how good Jose Gonzalez's Veneer was. "WTF?," I thought to myself. So (of course) I immediately jumped into the conversation, and as we got to talking a little he brought up Silversun Pickups, Plastic Constellations, Imogen Heap, Matt Skiba, Cold War Kids (who he went to college with), and more. Mike also said that he regularly reads MP3 blogs like My Old Kentucky Blog. Again, I thought, "WTF?"
Evidently there are closet indie music fans out there and, like I said before, people will surprise you. All that being said, my wife and I can't seem to get the song below out of our heads. Damn Scissor Sisters!
MP3 | Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin' Ta-Dah
Evidently there are closet indie music fans out there and, like I said before, people will surprise you. All that being said, my wife and I can't seem to get the song below out of our heads. Damn Scissor Sisters!
MP3 | Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin' Ta-Dah
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Win a cd from the rewinds (contest) -
11
Are you ready for another contest?
The Rewinds are a band from Birmingham, Alabama that plays infectious power pop that fits somewhere between The Strokes and The Byrds. In other words, it is super-catchy with great golden vocal harmonies as well. Their recently-released self-titled album is dripping with sugary sweet melodies from start to finish. If you are into that sort of thing, you are in luck.
We here at Can You See The Sunset... are giving away a signed copy of the new album from The Rewinds courtesy of the fine folks at Universal Buzz. That's right! To win the album: Just leave a comment with your sign and your email address. One winner will be chosen at random from all entries and the contest will run through Friday 11/18.
MP3 | The Rewinds - Ghostriders ST
Friday, November 10, 2006
Magic in the strangest places -
0
Casey Driessen ain't your typical bluegrass fiddler. Born in Chicago and now living in Nashville, he is Berklee-educated and unafraid of pushing and even breaking boundaries. Now while I'm no real expert on bluegrass or fiddle music, but what Driessen does (even to me) doesn't sound typical.
The music on his solo debut 3D (he's served as a sideman for many, including Steve Earle) is born from old-time campfire bluegrass music and infused with non-traditional elements from jazz, funk, rock, and world music to create something new and magical. Electonic drum programming, Celtic flavors, lap steel guitar, and even furious drumming populate the ground beneath Driessen's (sometimes) explosively multi-tracked fiddles. Heck, even Bela Fleck makes a guest appearance on the record.
Yet for all the sonic experimentation and deep rhythmic grooves that might put off bluegrass purists, it is Driessen's sense of melody that really captured me. Whether on his own compositions or during his reinventions of standards, Driessen's sense of wide-eyed adventure is always progressive and memorable. Sometimes joyous and uplifting and sometimes dreamlike and haunting, his always melodic fiddle playing is like nothing I've ever heard.
3D is a bold and powerful statement from a musician that is doing what all the great innovators do and finding a voice that's all his own. Casey Driessen's debut 3D is out now on the (as I'm beginning to learn) fantastic Durham, NC label Sugar Hill Records.
MP3 | Casey Driessen - Sally In The Garden 3D
MP3 | Casey Driessen - Snowflake Reel/Dance Gone/Cheyenne 3D
Excellence means being in control -
2
I remember buying The Scud Mountain Boys' album Massachusetts back in 1995 at a Borders in suburban Chicagoland. I loved that album and still do over ten years later. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I'm a huge fan of almost everything Joe Pernice (including The Pernice Brothers).
The Pernice Brothers (not coincidentally) have a new album called Live A Little out now on their own Ashmont Records imprint. It is everything you'd expect from a Joe Pernice record. Lyrically complex and immediate with a lush orchestral pop backdrop, this (their fifth full-length) is somewhat a return to form. While the wife and I (in contrast to many others) really liked their last two albums, this new one is more reminiscent of their 1998 debut Overcome By Happiness.
So over the last ten years, Joe Pernice has released 2 Scud Mtn. Boys albums, 1 as Chappaquiddick Skyline, 1 solo album, and 5 (proper) with The Pernice Brothers. Here's to another ten good years of music from JP and another 9-10 fantastic albums. I can dream, right?
MP3 | The Pernice Brothers - Somerville Live A Little
MP3 | The Pernice Brothers - Grudge F*** (2006) Live A Little
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Far from the western shore -
1
Turnstiles is a band from Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. They play charming indie-pop as only those Canadians can. Their debut album 13 Telephone Towers was released earlier this year. I don't even remember how I first heard the band, but I think I stumbled across their Myspace.com page and liked what I heard. Maybe you will too. Heck, CBC Radio 3 said, "We suspect Turnstiles will be thee band of 2006!"
MP3 | Turnstiles - Better Off Lost 13 Telephone Towers
MP3 | Turnstiles - Get Out 13 Telephone Towers
MP3 | Turnstiles - My Town Is On Fire 13 Telephone Towers
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Failing in the unending race -
1
A few weeks back Grubbs mentioned how stellar the new Converge record No Heroes was. He was dead right. No Heroes is the brutal (but totally listenable) new album from Boston's Converge. Wasting no time, the first five songs clock in at 5:40 combined and are over before you know it. They'll leaving you lying on your floor bloodied and wondering exactly what hit you (if only so you can go back for more).
This album is on par with their metalcore classic Jane Doe and (like that album) is more pummeling than 2004's You Fail Me. It is the aural equivalent of having your still-beating heart ripped from you chest. No Heroes is exhausting but excellent and out now on Epitaph Records. Highly rec'd as one of 2006's best.
MP3 | Converge - Hellbound No Heroes
MP3 | Converge - No Heroes No Heroes
Monday, November 06, 2006
Going to the sun -
0
When my father went out west earlier this year, he and my stepmom made a trip to Montana's Glacier National Park and its neighbor to the north, Waterton Lakes Provincial Park in Canada. At a small Italian restaurant in Waterton, they caught a live set from a little group called Head Land and picked up their CD.
I know virtually nothing about this French-Canadian guitar duo and have been able to find almost zero (and I mean nothing) about this group on the internet even after an extensive search. Now the only artifact I have from Head Land is a CD-R that contains their album Un Monde Imaginaire, so all I can tell you about is the music.
The music can be gentle and beautiful but oftentimes has an underlying moody ferocity. The percussive sounds they manage to coax from their instruments using their unique finger tapping technique are almost tribal and conjure images of bloodshed on the frontier. Like the soothing sounds of a babbling brook, Head Land's music is meditative without being new-agey.
While I long to see the majestic landscapes that dominate the West, at least I have Head Land's Un Monde Imaginaire to keep my ears happy. Below are all the songs from the album.
MP3 | Head Land - Nuit Blanche Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - Cap-E-L Anse Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - Danse St. Georges Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - Quartier De Lune Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - Chevy Ride Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - Dead On The Trail Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - Malgre Tout Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - Bleu Un Monde Imaginaire
MP3 | Head Land - La Premiere Un Monde Imaginaire
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Lucero and friends -
3
What an exhausting/awesome weekend. On Friday night, my wife and I met up with my sister and her boyfriend for some Thai/sushi and then to the Metro to see the Lucero show. Two of my favorites, William Elliot Whitmore and Rocky Votolato, opened the show and (as usual) Lucero was amazing They played for nearly two hours, which was long enough for the crowd (and the band) to get a few drinks in 'em. Quantity and quality ain't such a bad deal. Here's a few sounds and pictures.
MP3 | William Elliot Whitmore - The Chariot Song Of The Blackbird
Rocky Votolato
MP3 | Rocky Votolato - Portland Is Leaving Makers
Lucero
Ben from Lucero
Ben w/Rocky
MP3 | Lucero - I Can Get Us Out Of Here Tonight Rebels, Rogues, & Sworn Brothers
Ben (again)
Oh yeah, the following morning (after minimal sleep and severely hung-over) I went down to the University of Illinois with my Dad and my brothers to see some Big Ten football. Surprisingly, the Illini actually looked somewhat respectable against the #1 ranked OSU Buckeyes and only lost by 7. I'm tired just writing this.
MP3 | William Elliot Whitmore - The Chariot Song Of The Blackbird
Rocky Votolato
MP3 | Rocky Votolato - Portland Is Leaving Makers
Lucero
Ben from Lucero
Ben w/Rocky
MP3 | Lucero - I Can Get Us Out Of Here Tonight Rebels, Rogues, & Sworn Brothers
Ben (again)
Oh yeah, the following morning (after minimal sleep and severely hung-over) I went down to the University of Illinois with my Dad and my brothers to see some Big Ten football. Surprisingly, the Illini actually looked somewhat respectable against the #1 ranked OSU Buckeyes and only lost by 7. I'm tired just writing this.
Underhanded wagons of resources -
2
So the band Brazil (actually from Muncie, Indiana) have a new record called The Philosophy Of Velocity out now and it ain't exactly what I expected it to be. Yes, the band still dishes out emo-prog-rock with blistering buzzsaw guitar acrobatics and jagged tempo shifts but also shows that they aren't afraid to slow things down a bit and infuse some "classic" elements more akin to the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and even Queen. It is a stylistic leap forward for the band that shows them exploring new ground to create music that is both epic and accessible. The Philosophy Of Velocity is out now on Immortal Records.
RIYL: Coheed & Cambria, At The Drive-In, Murder By Death...
MP3 | Brazil - Crime And The Antique Solution The Philosophy Of Velocity
MP3 | Brazil - Au Revoir Mr. Mercury The Philosophy Of Velocity
Friday, November 03, 2006
Looking for an answer -
4
All virtually all you other bloggers have already stated, I too have been dealing with the headaches of the "new" EZArchive for the last week or so and am actively seeking suggestions of new hosting services. Any suggestions?
Thursday, November 02, 2006
In new england during the autumn -
0
So is all the hype washing away on these guys yet? Are The Hold Steady so three weeks ago? It almost seems like that in this blogosphere that switches gears and latches onto the latest trends faster than you can say... well... The Hold Steady.
I first heard the music of The Hold Steady earlier this summer when I was digging for songs from artists appearing at Lollapalooza. I listened and though, eh... After having spent a month (or so) listening to their latest album Boys And Girls In America I can now say that I'm totally hooked. The songs just keep calling me back for another listen. Not sure if it is the references to booze and drugs (almost in every song) or the familiarity of its commentary about the sad realities of Midwestern youth. Either way this is an instant classic from the world's greatest indie bar-band.
I mean, its quite rare that a band this literate will also namecheck someone like Izzy Stradlin. I absolutely love it. The lyrics are sad, poetic, sarcastic, and paint a true-to-life picture of wayward America. Even then, this is music that is meant to be played loud. I get chills when the chorus for "Massive Nights" simply explodes out of my speakers. There is even guest spots on the record from Dave Pirner (of Soul Asylum fame) and Elizabeth Elmore (who my wife has always claimed I had a crush on) from The Reputation. And even though The Hold Steady calls Brooklyn home, you can tell that frontman Craig Finn's heart is still back in Minneapolis.
However and whatever you call it, Boys And Girls In America is (without a doubt) one of the best records of the year. Its so good even Pitchfork couldn't get it wrong.
MP3 | The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy Boys And Girls In America
MP3 | The Hold Steady - Massive Nights Boys And Girls In America
