Keeping New York on its Feet

I must admit, im a bit late to the party on this one. The Harlem Shakes are an indie rock band from NYC that have been brewing up a storm in the music scene these days. With a sound reminiscent of a slew of bands, including Born Ruffians, Saturday Looks Good to Me and Pomegranates, their future looks quite bright. They recently released their first album on record label Gigantic Music, called Technicolor Health. This comes a year after the band self released their first EP, Burning Birthdays.

Now to me personally, the album is a bit of a let down. I truly enjoy their EP, it is constanly on repeat these days, each of the 5 songs oozing everything that is great about indie pop. The album though seems to lose the gumption of the EP. Of course that isn't to say it lacks some great tunes. In fact, the opening two tracks, "Nothing But Change Part II" and "Strictly Game" display the Harlem Shakes at their best. The songs have the pace and vocal stylings that make their EP songs so strong.

However, i will leave below a track from each and you can decide for yourself which you prefer.

Harlem Shakes-Carpetbaggers

Harlem Shakes-Nothing But Change Part II

P.S. I hear teir live shows are quite a riot, so if you enjoy these songs i suggest looking into the April 16th Philly show, at kick ass small venue Kung Fu Necktie.

*UPDATE: Sorry boys and girls but the aforementioned Harlem Shakes show in Philly was canceled. Don't worry though, they'll be in the area again soon enough.

Beirut, Make New Friends, But Keep the Old

Zach Condon’s latest offering comes in the form of a double EP, entitled “March of the Zapotec/Holland.” Parts of the first disc were recorded in Oaxca, Mexico in April 2008, and feature Condon backed by a 19-piece band from the region. He’s up to his old tricks, with heavy Baltic influence and his oh so appropriate voice, though there is a definite Latin influence, thanks to his trip south of the border and his backing band. Most of these songs would feel right at home on any one of Beirut’s previous recordings and any fan or the band will find something to enjoy here. It’s on the second EP, “Holland,” where Condon shakes things up a bit. He’s replaced his traditional backing band for electronic beats on most of the tracks. I have to admit when I first heard Condon’s voice crooning over a synth track and computerized bass beat I wasn’t sure what to think. The backing track is decent enough, but what got me, as with everything else Beirut, were the vocals. There’s just something irresistible about Condon’s singing. The final track, and unfortunately the longest on the EP, “No Dice,” is noticeably devoid of vocals and could (and should) be disregarded. The length of both discs put together is only a paltry 35 minutes, but considering the consistent flow of music from Condon, I suppose I shouldn’t complain. Overall the effort here is a good one and I commend the jump to the electronic sector, just as long as it’s not the entirety of the next full length.

Cover This

So here we are, months since the last post, and i am once again am driven to apologize to the meager readership that Brett and I maintain (even i barely read this stuff). But this is the last one. After this i will not apologize for our lack of constant updating, and chances are if you do read this blog, then you know Brett and I well enough to accept that.

My lack of posting recently, and always, has never been because i don't have the time to write a little diddy like this (i do), or that i don't have any new music to share (i do), but that i just don't. I hope to remedy this soon and i plan to increase my posting to once per week! Now i can't speak for Brett, and i don't know about the current favorites and upcoming shows being updated as frequently (that requires more effort) but i will do my best to make this at least something i can be proud of (regardless of who even reads this).

Moving on. I was inspired to write this post after hearing a cover today by The Kooks. Covers are kinda hit or miss for me. For instance, at the Bon Iver show that Brett and I never reviewed, the opener Tallest Man on Earth, played a great cover of "These Days" by Nico (a classic cover piece). However, Bon Iver played a cover as well of a song i sure as hell didn't know, and though it was nice to have them play another song, i would have rather had them play a song they wrote or that i could at least recognize. Granted it is a bit selfish of me, i imagine most people would agree.

The Kooks cover though, which i came across today on a new music site, the name of which i will not divulge in fear of you cutting out the middle man, was of an MGMT song. Not just any MGMT song at that, but one of my favorites, "Kids." I gave the song a listen and enjoyed the acoustic style and very accented voice of the Kooks, and appreciated their take. I thought, this should be shared with an even smaller audience, and so i will upload it below.

But thats not all! I decided that in this post i should include some other covers that make the whole idea work for me, and so those are also included for your listening pleasure. Please enjoy.

The Kooks-Kids (MGMT cover)

The Submarines-Waiting for a War (The Morning Benders cover)

The Botticellis-Here I Go Again (Whitesnake cover)

Ben Gibbard-Complicated (Avril Lavigne cover)

P.S. If anyone could please try these links for me and let me know how they work that would be great. Thanks.

Pomegranates; rich in antioxidants and rock

There has been quite a lull in the posting schedule for this blog, but considering our readership is limited and the fact that Brett and i are avid practitioners of laziness, we request some slack. In truth, Brett and I discussed quite a number of things that we thought we should write posts about, but thats as far as we got. We had this great post about our top albums of 2008, but as you can tell it never made the blog itself.

I don't quite have a top album list for you today, but i do have a review of a band who would have definitely made the cut. The Pomegranates are a four piece from Cincinnati that make incredible indie rock. The arrangements are lush and complex, often containing very distinct parts that draw the ear this way and that. Personally, it took a while for me to enjoy the album, but looking back on it, i don't really understand why. There is not a single track i would skip, but there are certainly songs that stand above the rest. "Appreciations" has a guitar riff that makes me smile every time it comes on. In fact im sure plenty of innocent drivers have had to see me air guitaring (and/or air drumming) my way down the highway to this song. The slow track, "Desert Hymn" is beautiful in both lyrics and instrumentation. The closer to the album, "Thunder Meadow" was my first introduction to the band and is the real reason i even followed up on getting their album.

I have included two tracks below, and i really hope you enjoy them and get your hands on one of my top albums of 2008.

Pomegranates-Thunder Meadow

Pomegranates-Desert Hymn

P.S. They are playing in Philly on the 23rd of February at the Kungfu Necktie for only $8! Unfortunately its 21+, but if you can make it, i would suggest it.

The BPA Blast from the Past (Well From This Summer Anyway)

Isn’t it funny how listening to a song a second time gives you a completely different experience from the first time you heard it? Countless times I have listened a song, or an entire album for that matter, and disliked it the first time only to come back to it a second (sometimes third or fourth) time and wonder why I didn’t like it in the first place. Well, it has happened again. This summer I heard a little ditty by The BPA (The Brighton Port Authority) another pseudonym for Norman Cook a.k.a. Fatboy Slim. The particular song I heard featured David Byrne and Dizzee Rascal laying down the vocal tracks and was entitled “Toe Jam.” It was originally released in July of this year and I remember hearing about it through the likes of Pitchfork Media. I remember the song being a fun to listen to, but nothing very memorable. Recently I was perusing Pitchfork.tv’s best music videos of 2008 when I saw the video for the aforementioned song. Perhaps it was all the beautiful, naked women, or the clever use of censor bars, but this time the song really got me. The light poppy beat paired with Byrne’s lyrics and an interlude from Rascal make for a highly listenable song. Upon hearing this song again I decided to do a little research on The BPA and found this up on their website:

The Brighton Port Authority were an outfit who built a huge word-of-mouth reputation on England's south coast from the early 1970s onwards before petering out in the mid-'90s. From what can be easily pieced together, they were a loose-limbed jamming unit, originally known as the Brighton Phonographic Association. At its core were local musicians Norman Cook and Simon Thornton who gathered various singers and session men around them, built the rather ramshackle BPA studio, and would occasionally hold multi-day warehouse parties from which their semi-legendary reputation stems.

The BPA certainly has a reputation and they live up to it on this song. “Everyday is fucking perfect, it’s a paradise,” Byrne’s lyric pretty much sums up the songs upbeat rhythm and theme. Dizzee keeps the lightheartedness going as he raps, “I'm skankin, I'm Bazzer Raseal, I'm drunk off that heathenisms/I ain't sober, I don’t mix with coca cola, or sober.” All in all “Toe Jams” delivers a jocular tune that brings a little bit of summer (appropriate to its release date) to your cold December days.