annuals report 2/3

saw the annuals again last night right before demassek! they played a set at pianos with all these thirsty industry types in the crowd. and they sucked! well, they're still a really good band but there was lame moments. the guitarist seemed like he wanted be in coheed, the bassist tries to put isis tapes on in the van [NIXED!], and the singer, well, he could lose some of his thespian moves. a collection of musicians, but not really a band yet.

whereas on record and in a basement the songs sound great, urgent, and huge, the set last night seemed like a bunch of 20 year olds, who are obviously talented as fuck, trying way too hard. but what can you do? i can't remember being 20, let alone having 40 year old execs trying to get you to sign everything.

so... good band. maybe great band! but i think they'll break up and form even better bands. or maybe in 3 months they'll be amazing.

the show tonight with the cold war kids is sold out and i'm not freaking out enough to try to get in. so thus ends my annuals 3 day long strange trip...

live the fantasy

demassek! a band made popular by a couple of blogs. and by popular i mean a lot of their friends show up and make these strange gestures with their hands and freak out. i was honestly expecting something in the vein of a party band, but they actually shredded! great guitars and a totally good singer. you can live the dream, and you can live the dream to a fuller extent, and they are definitely living the dream to the max! there were a couple a jammers and a couple snoozers but it was fun enough.

i've never heard 4 marshall cabs sound so lite though. maybe it was the cakeshop. we should've had our ears blown out! also, it's really hard to groove to a band whose drummer falls in and out of time throughout the whole set. double bass drums sound rad but if you can't keep up then it sounds weird.

but a fun time. yes. oh, i stole this pic from o'dell's site. i think it was from years ago though...

annuals report 1/3

they played this dingy basement last night in greenpoint. $5 cover. all you can drink beers, 50-60 people, of which 5 were over the age of 24. verdict? RAD! the annuals shredded really hard, huge sounds... 2 keyboards, 2 drummers, 3 singers, etc. and they were great! the opened with 'brother' and blazed through a 30 minutes set. i admit they lost a bit of steam at the end, what with so many different people doing so many thing in one song sometimes it didn't gel, but the end product was awesome anyway.

they didn't play 'Footless and wild' which was disappointing, but at least i didn't call this post 'the kids are alright'!

again tonight at pianos. i think they'll be just as good, but seeing them freaking out in a sweaty basement was just about as good as this stuff gets...

'putas report!

last night electroputas played cakeshop! they are rad people and they played a good show, but it didn't destroy my mind or anything. i guess by the time it's 2006 it's harder to pull off noise for 'noise'' sake. i mean, i'm digging the retro vibes, but but it's almost like some bands are fodder for cool artwork or weird names, more than the music. it takes bands like this to create 'a scene' i guess. and i'm loving the social registry thing, but in my old age i kind of pine for a tight song with parts and no throwing of guitars. call me grampa i don't mind. i was at clikatat ikatowi shows too you know...

i know this all may sound harsh but i don't mean it that way. i'm glad they're playing and i would see them again for sure. i'm just saying.

don't step on my pedals

silversun pickups report! the new album is out! it's good, but not as good as i had hoped for actually. a lot of gnarly grunge riffs with melodies coming through, but maybe not as much or as often as i want. there are JAMS. 'Melatonin' 'Little Lover's So Polite' and they re-did [AGAIN] 'Lazy Eye' and 'Dream At Tempo 119'. those songs are like, 4 years old dudes.

anyway all the elements here are good. heavy pedals, solid vocals, 8 minutes jams that go and go, and some heavy mid 90's vibes. a good band! i'm happy they put this out, even though it's no home run, i'm stoked enough!

toosh report 7/25/06

the grey lady reviewed the new southern smoke tape. let's take a look!

1st line: "Last week, when Johnny Cash topped the album charts with his posthumous CD, “American V: A Hundred Highways,” it was good news for his estate and bad news for record executives everywhere."
last line: "And you don’t have to be a nervous record executive, sweating over the latest SoundScan numbers, to know that no CD boom lasts forever."

christ the record industry is fucked! they have to fix this shit. you can get anything a month before it comes out. for free! and then IM it to someone. in 15 minutes! booo. they are too slooow to this problem. fuck em i say. people will figure out how to get their music sooner than later. hello? whose running these labels? maybe they should think twice about charging $16.99 for an ugly piece of disposable plastic... make me want to buy that shit douchebags!

as for the review? pretty good! smallz and drama are peaking. might as well write about them before they start sucking, which they probably will what with their upcoming $16.99 'mixtapes'. luda's track here is crazy! 50? cam? this is how you shred a dis track! luda kinda takes a dump on jeezy and ross pretty 'haaaard'. but how are you gonna showcase this song that goes at these two, and then follow that track up with tons of jeezy and ross!?

who cares this tape is great. all the southern smokes rule. the tape gets its usual 4 mics. this review get the same.

helloooo? isiah? anyone?

shouldn't we be taking on more big contracts? trading future draft picks? maybe getting another shooting guard? hello?

get off my lawn! [kids these days]

annuals report! winton hooked up some jams today and they're good! a bit varied, with heavy strings, orchestrated verses and huge screaming choruses. great production too! it's really fucking good actually! think islands/unicorns maybe. i think these are high college kids in NC with no record/label to speak of, but they have some interweb songs floating around. another bowery ballroom sell-out band in the making. who can keep track these days? great stuff!

man music these days is insane. if this was on a 7" back in 1996 it would've been the craziest shit ever. is it me or has music gotten a million times better what with file sharing and the 'net? blame it on 'puters...

i'm maybe gonna see these guys 3 times in 3 nights coming up, so i'll let you know how they are....

also a bit late, but here is the review anyway

50 and whoo kid's 'Hate It or Love It' tape. i don't really concern myself with 50's arguements and politics, but it was hard to pass up this record. haha the cover is hilarious! so janky! the first skit is funny what can i say. and i love the pic of ja rule with the jiffy lube t-shirt on! and the fat joe shot with the UPS uniform? haha this is some good stuff. the tracks are actually solid on this one too, production wise. but i'm not totally rolling over with laughter either. maybe i never really got 50...

i dunno, i think the game's fine and all and the footage of him on blind date is a zinger, but 50 comes off a little insecure on this one. will this be the summer where rappers try to call out other rappers, and no one responds? Cam looks like a douche now, and if no one responds to this one 50's gonna seem like he's just full of hot air. do it 50! call him a pussy again! tell him you're gonna shoot him again! tell them that you make money again!

a few weeks late, but an okkervil report!

one of my favorite bands lately. this guy is totally great what with the black sheep boy LP and the appendix EP. i ran up to castle clinton as they started and as me and brian were trying to figure out if we had enough money for 2 corona cans they blazed through 'for real', 'black' [which fucking RULED], 'song of our so-called friend', 'a stone', 'no key, no plan' [!], and 'a king and a queen'... by that time we had run out of money and i was totally pleased with their set. great great great. too bad it was outside but they proved to me that i'll be jamming their songs for a long time. i dunno, this stuff is so weepy. how could you not like?

great name! ok artist...

JR's full length on koch! haha i love the cover. we looked at it and it was all, 'do you think he's EVER had more than 2 cameras pointed at him in his life?' another gratuidous 'i'm gonna be a STAR' solo rap record, but i have to admit JR shows flashes of being tolerable. this record is kind of that. it's kind of annoying most of the time, and kinda funny some others.

a lot of byrd gang stuff like bird calls, and more bird calls, etc. writer's block pt 1,2, and 3 basically took care of my JR curiosity, but i guess there are people there who are into this dude. cam's verse is the highlight on this thing [as usual]. i say, congrats to JR! you have a record out now! with flashy artwork! it's says 'the dominican prince' on the sleeve! you got to rap about ninja turtles! that's not entirely shitty at all...

beirut is a kind of a dicey band name

beirut opened for jens the other night, and there were definitely more people to see them than jens! ok i understand they have all the hype in the world going for them right now, but they were still super good! they started with some jams that weren't necessarily sparse or orchestrated, but the build-up was nice for each. i can't really write about then without pointing out that they probably need to listen to a small band called the smiths or the talking heads, whose vocal stylings seem to get lost in indie rock these days.

regardless, beirut powered through a totally solid set, even though he had this freakishly annoying dude pulling arcade fire moves the whole set. dude, we know you're psyched...

check out their myspace page... those songs are totally fucking rad!

the best show of the summer so far

so lite! i got chills at the end! jens!? yup. that shit was so good. he played with 7 blonde swedish girls and declared before his set 'yes. i will play you 14 songs exactly'. at the 12th song [we were counting no homo] it was officially rad. all the hits. punchlines. he mumbled 'i love that song' right after he played a hit! which also brings to mind all the obvious liberal arts/meta fanouts but the truth is, he was super entertaining and not cheesy. he'll give you gags and them sucker punch you with some crazy as fuck lyrics.

like everyone else i was waiting for 'maple leaves', and at the count of 14 he played it. but with no band! no drum machine! no mic! just weird stepping out into a silent crowd with a guitar! 'i think you're beautifuuul! but it's impossible to make you understand that if you don't take my hand i'll lose my mind compleeetley'. haha amazing. i fucks with this show. thumbs up!

almost as big as the two thumbs up i give up to brian and lisa for having us over at the jammer compound a few weekends ago! thank you!

ladyhawk pt deux

fucking great. that band is great. they shredded the knitting factory last night and they had the 40 people there in a frenzy. kudos to them. but it brings to mind a question. what separates a great band, versus a great band with a trajectory to do better things? i know it's a moot point in a way, but immediately i thought of enemymine. remember those guys? selling out brownies to fans foaming at the mouth. fucking spectacular live shows. insane buzz. then a breakup. or did they? they did. enemywho? oh i have that record, it was good...

ladyhawk's show last night was like a giant, hulking tree crashing down in the forest with no one around to hear it. where someone can make another record that's not as good, and maybe play a show that wasn't as good, and get all the hype the probably would've hoped for. envelopes anyone? tapes n tapes? could be the fact ladyhawk are from vancouver. could be the laissez-faire 'tude. could be the music [i don't think so, but maybe], but go see ladyhawk next time they come to town. and make sure you take a few skeptical friends!

the band that everyone's the singer for

ladyhawk review! so-so album. good live show! last night they played the cakeshop for an engangement party... and they shredded it! man see a band once before your friends and you basically joined the band, broke up the band, and fathered them from wild chidren to young adults... there were about 25 people who knew all the words, a couple of said know-it-alls, and a few people asking me 'what's this bearded hippie crap'?

i say, it's really good bearded hippie crap! but that's not even it. the songs just sounded looser, heavier, and more fun live. the next zep they are not. the next whatever whatever they are not, but a good band noneless. that was the consensus. good! 'what'd you think?' 'oh they were really good' . 'yea totally good'. gonna see them again tonight at a 'proper' show but i'm psyched...

posting!

d. lee is the talk of the summer league! dude is putting up low double doubles! i know everyone is stressed about balkman and isiah, but i bet the knicks surprise this year. and by surprise i mean an 8th round seed and a frist round exit. but let's jam a mind session on the lineup as it stands shall we?

1st team
1. marbury - c'mon dude back to 18/9 please
2. francis - we'll see. this guy was a solid player not too long ago. 15/4/4. i know very generous but...
3. jalen - i'd take 9/4/3 averages if he just drains a 3 here and there and moves well.
4. frye - time to start him. i want 14/7 from him. that's all he's got too... he's not kareem
5. Curry - upside schmupside. i'll take the 15/6 and be happy.

2nd team
1. Nate - hustle hustle hustle. 10/3/5?
2. Crawford - i'm a big crawford fan. sure, low hoops I.Q. but 'wants' 'it'. 13/3/5
3. Q - could be a nice year from Q. 12/6/2 13PTM per.
4. David lee - 8/8! my new fave knick?
5. jerome james - 5 fouls to give. that's all. butt of jokes too.

bad band name great album

envy! "All The Footprints You've Ever Left And The Fear Expected Ahead" so killer! heavy heavy melodies over cookie monster vocals. there are just many damn pretty moments... the last 3 songs are these big pop songs filtered through your relapse filter. ok it gets weird when they pull the slint move and talk through a verse [but in japanese]. yea i can do without that detail. but the jams are super catchy, not unlike the last cult of luna record, but less math-y. i'd still take mono over this if i had to decide, but i'm loving envy right now

who wants to jam the 2 day temporary residence showcase at the bowery with me? anyone? hello?

'scura report

well, this has been the litest week ever! first belle and sebastian at the park now camera obscura at the bowery. i was kind of ready not to hate, but not to love them. zzz predictions. but it was great! very very good, i was stoked. the sound was well mixed and she was belting out the jams. sure she's got that 'glasgow i'm a wee bit drunk and shy' vibe but the songs are good. and she sings them well!

some fake hooligans kept heckling them, which was not a big deal, but she was pissed! yea they played 'loyd' and 'if looks could kill' and all the jams from the new record oh man it was really good. i crept up on bro's after the show claiming the band and they were all, 'dude are you high?'

now that's a trade

not a bunch of scrubs for derek fisher. not a bunch of expiring contracts. we're talking 2 players with huge upside who are completely different. i like the trade for both teams! CV's gonna get his 15/7 1 block 1 3PTM in bucktown. i think both teams are stuck with #1 overall pick centers. bargnani i'm kinda shitting on i dunno. i gotta see him but the 'soft and lack of hustle' rap sheet already!? bogut will be fine. a 9/8 guy when it's all said and done i think. a poor man's jamal magloire. ooooh where's jamal gonna go now?

tj for will be fine in toronto. i think his number might take a dip, but he's a good PG. the knock on him is he can't shoot threes, which is kinda retarded to me. at this day an age where centers can step back a drain a couple a game [ok the freak centers], a PG sgould be able to shoot threes enough so that the defenders have to play the 3pt line. i can never be a fan of TJ ford or someone like andre miller until they start draining threes. get to the gym! learn how to shoot that fucking shot!

insert clever lyric here

belle and sebastian 4th of july situations. waiting in line for hours for tix a week ago. downpour right before the show. epic outdoor crowds.... verdict: AMAZING! they totally killed it! stu was in a great mood, cracking jokes to the crowd, slighting the yankees, and calling out crazy fans. they started slow, and then shredded through a set of 'you cover's blown' 'if you're feeling sinister' 'jonathan david' 'tiny little frog' 'i'm a cuckoo' 'dirty dream no 2' 'white collar boy' and 'arab strap'! in a row! i'm forgetting some major jams but you know what i'm saying. the gratefull dead of our generation? except for the hippie part. and the jam band part. and the fat bearded frontman part. and the not-from-scotland part. i will see this band anytime anywhere basically.

congrats to brawnyman and meghan btw!