I Never Got My Ears Pierced and Look How I Turned Out

Los Campesinos! were so much fun at the Echo last night. I had high expectations going into this one as all of their songs are insanely catchy, and they produced what is so far my favorite single of the year, "The International Tweexcore Underground." They did not dissapoint. The only minor complaint that anyone in my group had was that Aleksandra Campesions!' mic wasn't quite loud enough. Though what we could hear of her vocals sounded great. Of course the live full energy blast of the aforementioned single made my week, but the same level of energy was present in every song. The breakout hit, "You! Me! Dancing!" worked particularly well in a live setting, as did closer "Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks." That one ended with choreography! Also worth making note of was Gareth Campesinos!' charming stage banter. Self depricating comments, genuine exitement over the fact that they were staying in Hollywood, sincere appreciation for the crowd, and intros like this one, "This is a cover of a song by a band called Pavement..."

It broke my heart just a little that they didn't have vinyl copies of the "Inernational Tweexcore Underground" single along with them. The b-side contains covers of BOTH Heavenly's "C is the Heavenly Option, and"Black Flag's "Police Story," in order to appease the two characters in the song who are engaged in a pretty heavy twee v. hardcore argument. I was anxious obtain a copy so that I could finally hear what they had done with both songs. Fortunately I discovered that they are now posted on their Myspace page. Shockingly enough I'm slightly partial to "C is the Heavenly Option," but the Black Flag cover is pretty damn cool as well. Anyone else have any thoughts on the covers, and/or the live show? I'd love to know!

Indie In One Minute AND Goth In One Minute

Wow, never again will I let another day go by without checking Rock Insider at least once, and nor should you. Jax posted this last Monday. So in case you missed it like I did, I'm reposting it here.



Then yesterday she posted this one, so I figured I would go ahead and make today "Twofer Tuesday." Except instead of back to back Led Zeppelin songs, you get back to back hilarious (and quite informative) videos. Almost as good, right?...

Listening Too Long To One Song: The Whitsundays "Sorry James"

Mmm, tracks like this one make me feel like I am visiting some sort of parallel universe that is three parts 1964/ one part 2007. I also kind of feel like I want to stay there forever.

"Sorry James" is the sort of psychedelic, bouncy, reverb drenched pop that makes me want to put on a mini skirt, find a club filled with like minded people, and dance! Though the story it tells is a bittersweet one, it is nearly impossible to hear the music behind it without wanting to move.

The project is an intriguing direction for Paul Arnusch who spends most of his time wandering about in the territories of post punk (his work with the Floor,) and post rock (his work with Faunts.) I, for one, am ready to hear so much more from The Whitsundays. Fortunately for all of us their self titled debut album will be available via the excellent Friendly Fire label on January 22, 2008.

You can download "Sorry James" here:

The Whitsundays "Sorry James"

You can also check out the song "I Want It All" on their Myspace page (and become friends!)

Listening Too Long To One Song: Bubblegum Lemonade "That Thing You Do"

I recently received an email alerting me to the release of a compilation called "The Matinee Hit Parade" in celebration of the fact that Matinee Recordings turns 10 years old this month. The party that the label put on in celebration of this birthday remains one of my favorite live music events so far this year. You can click here to read my review of that show. So naturally an email from them announcing a "very special compilation," that features 13 Matinee artists providing "a new, 45-caliber A-side," made me jump up and down a little bit. It also made me feel a little guilty over the fact that I had not yet taken the time to become familiar with the myriad of exciting new Matinee signings including The Electric Pop Group and Bubblegum Lemonade. I immediately made my way to Matinee's Myspace page with the intention of using it as a spring board to get to the individual bands' pages. What I was greeted with, however, was a cover of a song that I love from a movie that I love, but not that many people seem to share my opinion of. Except the sweet, sixties style, pop that I adored in the original had been replaced with sweet, fuzzy, eighties style (but sixties influenced,) Scottish pop that I just might adore even more. Listening to the song repeatedly for the past few days hasn't helped me to make up my mind. I think that a viewing of "That Thing You Do" might be the only thing to resolve this. Although, Bubblegum Lemonade do get bonus points for being a band that actually exists, and for being Scottish.

You can listen to Bubblegum Lemonade's cover of the song "That Thing You Do"
here.

Once I'm finally past my current state of nostalgic bliss, I expect to dive fully into the Matinee Hit Parade compilation. The track list looks kind of amazing:

1. Math and Physics Club - A Little Romance
2. Would-Be-Goods - Temporary Best Friend
3. The Lucksmiths - Good Light
4. The Electric Pop Group - My Only Inspiration
5. Clay Hips - Failure
6. Bubblegum Lemonade - Tyler
7. The Hermit Crabs - Sophia
8. Harper Lee - Ilene
9. The Guild League - Call To Prayer
10. Strawberry Whiplash - Summershine
11. Slipslide - Let Things Fall Apart
12. The Pines - Train From Wycombe
13. Lovejoy - Astronauts

You can download TWO tracks from the compilation below. The first is Bubblegum Lemonade proving that they have so much more to offer than simply great covers. The second is The Electric Pop Group proving that they have so much to offer period.

Bubblegum Lemonade "Tyler"
The Electric Pop Group "My Only Inspiration"

You can pay a visit to the Matinee Recordings website to pick up your very own copy of this release:

Matinee Order

Check out the news on all of the aforementioned new signings, and long-time favorites as well:

Matinee News

And listen to songs from these artists by going here:

Matinee Sounds

Your new favorite band might just be waiting for you...

There's Really Nothing To Understand, Let's Go And See Our Favorite Band

If only every night of mine could be spent watching outstanding ROCK bands while also getting to play Archers Of Loaf to a crowd of people who are actually excited to hear Archers Of Loaf.

Last night at the Scene was tremendous ammounts of fun. Huge thanks go out to the Bentleys, The Forms, The Valley Arena, and Signal Hill. All played fantastic sets. Signal Hill closed the night on just the right note with their beautiful, LOUD, instrumental, post- rock jams. I'll be the first to admit that LOUD, instrumental post- rock jams aren't my number one go to when it comes to music, but WOW! I strongly recommend that you see them live as soon as you can.


Speaking of my number one go to when it comes to music though, the YAY! label has a night at the Smell on Saturday. I don't think that it is actually possible for me to be more excited about this. The YAY! label has been my favorite local (well, Oxnard, close enough) musical discovery in recent memory. They claim to be, "Here to put the fun back in pop!" So far they are doing a fantastic job. They prefer releases to be on vinyl, and publish fanzines. Seriously, fanzines. What is not to love? Four of the YAY! bands will be at the Smell on Saturday November 17:

Maria

The Tartans

Catwalk

Sea Lions

So far I've only seen Maria, and Sea Lions live. Both bands made me smile. I'm fairly confident that the Tartans and Catwalk will have the same effect. Hopefully, I'll see some of you there.

Come Spend Some Time With Us! This Wednesday November 14th at the Scene Bar!

It's here! It's here! Us Squaregilrs are beyond excited to be presenting this night along with Radio Free Silver Lake, and Rock Insider.

You can (and really should) visit all of the bands on myspace by clicking on the following links:

The Valley Arena

The Forms

The Bentleys

Signal Hill

We've heard some amazing things about each band's live show. Including this quote from Radio Free Silver Lake,

"We are helping put on a great night at The Scene with Rock Insider and Square Girls featuring The Valley Arena, The Bentleys, The Forms, and Signal Hill – the latter of which are a fucking incredible post rock outfit who are responsible for one of my favorite shows so far this year."

And that guy goes to ALOT of shows. Surely this one is not to be missed.

The Squaregirls will be your DJs for the night, so come on over and say, "hi." We can't wait to see all of you there!

Listening Too Long To One Song: John Cale "Charlemagne"

Is it just me, or do we all have a handful of songs that we have to hear again and again, try to unravel until we can finally pinpoint what it is that makes them so good, and why exactly it is they have the effect that they do on us? The Hold Steady have song called "Certain Songs" which states that, "Certain songs get so scratched into our souls." John Cale's song "Charlemagne" has been one of those for me for a long time. I recently noticed it on a playlist that I made awhile back. I put it on, and sure enough, I have found it difficult to listen to anything else. "Charlemagne" shows up a little over half way through the album Vintage Violence. Though the entire album is great, I always seem to get stuck on that particular song. There is something about the lovely intro, beginning only with piano and viola while the rest of the instruments unassumingly filter in. Something about the line "Many tries, many tries, simple stories are the best." Something about the vocals, the outro...

You can buy a copy of Vintage Violence through either of the links posted below:

John Cale Vintage Violence

John Cale Vintage Violence-Remastered