The awful, selfish Sammy Sosa has likely ended his baseball career. (ESPN article)In a well-deserved display of public humiliation and shame, Sosa was widely reported to have considered a meager $500,000 non-guaranteed contract from the Washington Nationals.
I find all of this amusing, because, as of this moment, now the Baltimore Orioles have become an answer to a future sports trivia question:
The bands I hear most when listening to this record: the Velvet Underground, Radiohead, the Doors, Pink Floyd, the Pixies, the Cars, the Stooges
More blogs about the Strokes.
If you haven’t heard about these guys, you had better put on your fleet feet and sprint to catch up to the fucking wagon. If you were a big fan of The Talking Heads, well, you’d better do the same. This band is going to fucking explode, probably the biggest underground buzz I’ve seen since Interpol, and they’re MUCH peppier; I even threw away all my razor blades. If this song doesn’t get your head nodding and your foot tapping, you’re probably just plain deaf. A dead-on driving drum beat, simple and clean rhythm guitar work, and insidious whining vocals bring this song together into a fantastic orgy of positivity. If you needed any further proof, the NBC show “The Office” featured a party scene in which this song was in the background.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/clapyourhandssayyeah
Letter Never Sent Exclusive BONUS: a review of a Clap Your Hands show! Fuckin' A!
This misty, grave-faced band from Chicago blew me away when I first heard "Slide Song" and “the Old House & Its Occupants.” I felt like I had just walked into a ghost jazz club and when the songs ended all the ghosts would hold me down and suck out my soul. Fortunately, this treat doesn’t stop with these songs. The above tracks only serves as a vocal break between tremendous movements of violently contrasting drum work that slaps and hammers your wandering imagination to follow the plunky lead guitar as it spirals its way down into the deep echoing guitarwork. The album, “…as if by ghosts,” easily wins one of my Best of 2005 awards for being a terribly intense concept album. You might be tempted to classify it in the “post-[rock]” category, but I think the band members would hang me and offer my soul to Satan if I did that. Dark Side of the Moon is nuts and gum compared to this.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/dreamend
Smart-rock combined with punk; there’s nothing like it that you’ve ever heard. The gritty garage sound of this track combined with the incredible (yet odd) lyrical flow and off-beat drumming create one of the most rocking underground songs I’ve heard in my life. If you need to win a broomball championship game at 2am, or a kickball flipcup competition, this is the song you listen to beforehand.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/emperorxxxxx
[you can find the song on the band's website]
Did someone say Barracuda? No, this isn’t Joan Jett, but this chick rocks just as hard and just beat up Ms. Jett in the parking lot. Don’t be fooled by the simple guitar work or harmonious lyrics (she is a woman after all), these lyrics sink deep and tell a bitter tale of love gone horribly wrong. She is not gonna take any shit, and she wrote a cool song to tell the world about it, so listen to it or else you’re next.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/giantdrag
Irving. Who? Never heard of ‘em. Damn right. Here’s a one-hit wonder waiting to happen, but regardless, this song is catchy as all hell. It truly reminds me of a mid-90’s I can’t put my finger on, but somehow sounds like a tribute to that song which I can’t think of. You won’t be disappointed.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/irving
So much cheer thus far, let’s make room for some brood metal. What’s brood metal? It’s long-winded, self-indulgent, muted guitarwork dripping with distortion and doomsday vocals. From the mind behind “Godflesh,” Jesu (I suppose Jesus is redundant since Jesu already has an “s”) tears into your soul and eats it instantaneously. Then it vomits a new one for you and makes you eat it. You’re meek, you’re small, you’re hopeless, you should’ve died when you were born. Welcome to Jesu and the horrific introspection that he inspires. Make sure you cue a ramp-up song after this one, or grab the razor blades you threw away after ditching your Interpol albums a few days ago.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/jesujesu
It’s often subliminally understood within indie rock pretentia that electronic and sample rock/dance went out about 5 years ago when Moby hit it big, and again when Fatboy Slim paid Christopher Walken to dance to a track off of “Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars.” Well, this “band” (actually a single person) is about to show you that there’s plenty of dark energy left in the flagging electronic scene. Throughout Books On Tape’s individual tracks, you’ll be passed from sinister synth rhythms to hollow beats until you finally reach the precipice from where you’re dropped headfirst onto rock-hard bass. It’s as if the Beastie Boys teamed up with the Crystal Method to beat the shit out of Fatboy Slim, and everyone took a shitload of whipits and red bull in the fray. Enjoy.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/booksontape
If you can’t make it past BSP’s seemingly homoerotic opener “Men Together Today,” you’re going to miss several gems, including the standout track “Carrion.” I mean holy shit does this band know how to cut through the muck surrounding catchy indie rock. The New Pornographers could take a lyrical (not to mention a wardrobe) lesson from this crew of Londoners. Not nearly as forced as a Decemberists whaler’s chanty, BSP manages to create a simple, catchy melody backed by throaty and peculiar vocals that really gives you the sensation of being shipwrecked on a beach in the 17th century…with a rock band. “Carrion” only makes you want to listen to the rest of the oddly naval album. Check out tracks “Favours in the Beetroot Fields” and the Gregory Maguire’s Oz-inspired “Something Wicked” as a follow up.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/britishseapower
Somewhere between a Weird Al song and the Crash Test Dummies, The MagFields fantasize about everything their conscience wouldn’t allow in “I Wish I had An Evil Twin.” One of the most “curious” bands around, and who performs entirely drum-free shows (which are rudely interrupted by high-fives sometimes…), decided to toe the folk rock line with their album “i.” On “i,” every song begins with an…”i.” Wee! Either way, this song is pretty cool, and it’ll get a few smiles in social situations that could eventually lead to gay sex. This brings me to another point. Folk is coming back, no matter how you classify it. Decemberists, MagFields,…. All folk. You’ll see. Like MTV News, you heard it here. First.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/themagneticfields
Ever wish you grew up in Bikini Valley, CA? Well, now you can revisit that bizarre fantasy I just had. Mixel Pixel writes a whiny, irreverent homage to teenage life in the Valley with “At the Arcade,” and one to just how random and superficial it is, but viewed from within a 15-year old arcade fan’s mind, tinting the whole sordid affair so that it’s not only forgivable, but humorous, and more intelligible than this run-on sentence.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/mixelpixel
Counting Crows meet The Wallflowers. This Jersey (seriously) band hits the bullseye with this track, not to mention the album. There hasn’t been an acoustically patient band this talented and focused since, well, ever? This track in particular unfurls a blood-boiling tale of abuse and jealously which will easily resonate with any male. If you don’t check out this free tune, you’ve done yourself a serious disservice.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/okkervilriver
You are a fool if you can’t dig this song. Psych-pop rock genius Zack Rogue (who legally changed his last name to “Rogue”) lays down unbelievably tuney (a new word!) rhythms and harmonies in this lyrically indecipherable track. The entire album culminates to this eventual release of psychokinetic refrain, and it still somehow leaves you wanting to hear it over and over again. No amount of description can do it justice. Another crystal example of a passionate song becoming unwound and ending as if you swore you wrote it in the first place.
http://www.myspace.com/roguewave
See ya Weezer. This solo New York musician who lives with his mom (still) enjoys writing fuzzy guitar rhythms while singing warm vocals about robots, spaceships, and teenage romance promises over them. There’s nothing you won’t miss about everything else on your ipod while you’re listening to SHTYM. The ignorant youthful expectations and promises just make you want to build your own time machine and travel back to 5th grade (to invest in Google…sigh). Fuck yeah, it’s about time.
songs... http://www.myspace.com/sayhitoyourmom
[you can find the song on the band's website, too]
Yes... quite a blasphemous and crazy thing to say, don't you think?
Well, this particular Maryland kid has been saying just that for about 4 years now, and the claims of grandeur have been finally justified in the form of a mainstream breakthrough, which was inevitable.
Forming near Rockville, MD, the founding members of O.A.R. all attended Ohio State University in Columbus, OH. At OSU, they picked up the sax player that was to give them their signature sound, which, along with a raggae-dominated approach and a party-like mood to their songs and lyrics, continues to define the band to this day. The band started out as the ultimate frat band, but has evolved into a touring force with a sterling, hard-earned reputation for a kickin' live show and solid major studio releases (2 thus far).
Hard work and determination have paid off after years of blood, sweat, and tears, and these Maryland boys have conquered all the major rock hotspots in order to become successful: New York City, California, the Midwest, Boston, Philadelphia, and, of course, their own backyard in the NOVA/DC/MD corridor.
Top 11 O.A.R. Songs
1. That Was a Crazy Game of Poker
2. Black Rock
3. 52-50
4. Hey Girl (NOT any of the studio versions, only the live versions)
5. City on Down
6. Dareh Meyod
7. Trajedy in Waiting (early live version)
8. Program Director
9. Night Shift
10. Road Outside Columbus
11. Old Man Time
Ok, Ok maybe that isn't the best example and probably proves only one thing-that D needs to get laid really, really bad...
Let's get back to the music shoegazer side of me..
They say the term shoegazer was coined by the infamous New Musical Express due to the fact that certain types of band members tended to gaze at their shoes or more appropriately their effects pedal (stomp box) while playing deep in concentration. Hence, music played while shoegazing.... Another way to think of shoegazer bands is to envision no lead guitarist but rather two distorted fuzzy rhythm guitars constantly interweaving to develop a melodic but full 'muddled' wall of sound. Also, shoegazer vocals tend to be subdued, flowing on top of the weaving intertwined guitars. The key though is underlying the distorted guitars, a smooth sense of melody is found.
The renowned labels such as 4AD and Creation were the major merchants of this sound during the early 80's. As all good things in rock music, the sound emerged from the UK. Think bands like Lush, Chapterhouse, Pale Saints, Ride, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and you will be in the world of the shoegazer.
So, that brings me to Lab Partners (not crazy about the name) from Dayton, Ohio who released 2005's Wicked Branches on Portland's cool Reverb Records label. Not a bad effort and they do a decent job of bringing together the sound of Ride, some Chapterhouse and maybe even a little Spacemen 3. No, this is not a new sound but a sound that will please the shoegazer in all of us.. Check it out...
Blood Moon (mp3)
Burning Fields (mp3)
And here is some classic shoegazer.....
If You Want Me (mp3-Chapterhouse-Whirlpool)
13. [Today] is the fifth anniversary of the huge comeback game against Maryland at Cole Field House, where you guys scored 10 points in 54 seconds to force overtime before winning. What do you remember still about it?
Duke ESPN.COM Simulated Final Fourcast
Redick, Williams are a devastating Batman and Robin combo (ESPN.com)
#2 Duke and J.J. Redick demolish Virginia (Duke Basketball Report), 82-63 (Diesel, you owe me an Irish Car Bomb!)
More blogs about Duke basketball.
Sir Jon Theodore recently sent me an e-mail concerning Letter Never Sent, it went roughly as follows:More blogs about Jon Theodore.
The Mars Volta official website
Windows Media stream of "The Widow" here
