2 posts tagged “ponsonby dc's”
As the 1950 song "Why Does The Sun Shine" (download over at ACME.com) states:
They Might Be Giants loved the song so much, they covered it for a singles-only release.Yo ho, it's hot, the sun is not
A place where we could live
But here on earth there'd be no life
Without the light it gives
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walkingonadream.com ♥ myspace.com Empire Of The Sun, named after the novel-turned-movie of the same name, is a collaboration between Sleepy Jackson's Luke Steele and Pnau's Nick Littlemore. Based on the cover artwork and songs, the album have a theme to it: a fantasy world ... of dance music. Surprisingly, this is a really good dance-ish album, very electronica and not something you'd expect if you were already a Sleepy Jackson fan. Also, maybe it's just me, but there's more emphasis on the nasal and falsetto-singing style. It's not as annoying as it sounds, as I think it fits the album. Their album, Walking on a Dream, debut late last year, and already reached the top ten in the Australian charts. It wasn't long before the UK (particularly the BBC) picked up on this hot new band. As usual, the US is far behind, but take my words: they are good and you'll probably hear a lot about them in the coming weeks. Some songs to check out: "Standing on the Shore", "Walking on a Dream" (this was a free iTunes download), "We Are the People", and "Tiger by my Side". I really like "Tiger", especially the when Steele sings quickly: "Television changing channels, telling people wearing flannels, culture shocking walkways to the shore" Below is a video for "We Are the People", shot in Mexico. As you can see, they really get into their exotic costumes and characters (Emperor Steele and Lord Littlemore). I love it, check out these cute paper cut-out dolls. Walking on a Dream is available now via my favorite Astralwerks Records, you can pick it up anywhere that carries CDs. |
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batforlashes.com ♥ myspace.com Just like Empire Of The Sun, Khan has the flair of the theatrics, often dressing up in Indian attires and using Shaman instruments (as witness at their live show). Bat for Lashes' new album is called Two Suns, the title seems to have come from her song "Glass" (and not from her song "Two Planets"):
My favorite song is "Sleep Alone", with its catchy chorus of "lonely, lonely, lonely". I think people will also love "Daniel", where midway there is this constant percussion and electronic sound that pulls you in. Bat for Lashes are currently on tour - be sure to check them out:
5/22 Le Bikini Toulouse 5/23 Salle Victoire 2 Montpellier 5/25 Le Ninkasi Lyon 5/26 La Laiterie Strasbourg 5/27 Le Bataclan Paris 5/29 Primavera Sound Festival Barcelona 6/10 Seattle WA, Crocodile Café 6/11 Portland OR, Doug Fir Lounge 6/13 San Francisco CA, Great American Music Hall 6/16 Los Angeles CA, El Rey Theatre 7/16 Somerset House London, London and South East 7/17 Latitude Festival Southwold 8/9 Lollapalooza Chicago 9/5 Electric Picnic Stradbally 9/11 Bestival Isle Of Wight |
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ra-band.net ♥ myspace.com Ra, as you may have guessed, they were named after the Egyptian sun god. So it's not a surprise that their official third album is called Black Sun. Most people will probably know them from their From One album, with their strong "Do You Call My Name" single on various games and sporting events, at the height of their popularity. Black Sun mark the band's first studio album since departing from Universal Records, and continues the band's hard-rock/alternative sound. I'll have to confess that I was expecting it to be harder, but surprisingly this album is pretty accessible. You know what they say, you have to make a good impression with the first song on the album, and I think "Broken Hearted Soul" does just that. The first time I heard that spanish-acoustic guitar, followed by electric guitars and Sahaj Ticotin's vocals, I knew I would like this song. Another track that stood out for me is called "Waste of Space", it's a bit of rage and hate and disenchantment, possibly directed to their ex-label? That's the impression I get hearing the spoken dialogue in the song. The use of uncommon instruments like the violins and sintars (?) found on "Lost Along the Way" or piano on "I Believe Again" are a nice touch to counterpoint the typical guitar/bass/drums music we're so used to hearing. Like what you hear? You can download their live album, Raw, (as well as an acoustic version of "Broken Hearted Soul") over at ra-band.net by signing up with an email address. Black Sun is out now, you can pick it up at most store, including Best Buy. It also looks like there will be a new album in the works called Black Sheep. |
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corsicaband.com ♥ myspace.com Their debut album is called Sight Of The Sun, which I think was only released in 2008. They do have a few EPs, but these are only sold at their live shows. What I like about this band, besides the knowledgeable and deep songwriting, is they seem to make use of violins (particularly on "Sunspell", "Lights Of Tuscany", and "Strangely Moving"). The violins also made "Safe Harbor" sound more epic. You can hear many of the songs from Sight Of The Sun, on Ear Candy Podcast. Anyway, the good news is, just as recently as May 17th, the band made an announcement that they are planning on recording a new album called Ocean Born of new original songs, including two covers (one of which is a cover of Donovan). Meanwhile, singer and guitarist Brad Orgeron can be found on the band Jack Orion with an album tentatively called Darker My Sky. Sight of the Sun is available now, see Shock Hound or their website. * Edit 5/19/09 10:56am: Dion is their guitarist, who also doubles on bass if needed. |
05/19/2009 06:13:04 ♥ vu (
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♥weheartmusic.com♥podcast.weheartmusic.com♥news.weheartmusic.com
Here are a few non-indie rock album reviews for you. One of the nicest thing about W♥M is that we don't necessary serve a niche music genre, so we're often sent a huge variety of music genre. Below are some genre of music that I don't normally listen to - but all equally enjoyable: oldies, reggae, death metal, and Christian.
By the way, someone should do an article called "putting the pot in potpourri" and have a series of, er, grassy music.
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OPM
opmden.com ♥ myspace.com
California's OPM's Golden State of Mind was released in August, and features a diverse collaborations with Jim Perkins (acoustic folk), Pato Banton (reggae), Big B (rap/hip hop) and Jamie Allensworth (soul/funk). This album is mostly chill reggae, but with a small splash of rap - mostly through collaboration with Big B & Dirtball. This is also radio-reggae, so if you're looking for reggae dubs, you might want to look elsewhere - however fans of reggae should really enjoy the mix of rock, rap, reggae (and even punk!). This band first exploded on the reggae scene with their major label (Atlantic) debut 2000 album, Menace To Sobriety, mostly due to their popular skater song, "Heaven Is a Halfpipe". They left Atlantic and have been with Suburban Noize Records since 2004. The one clear song that I think is such a good song is "Family & Friends". There are two mixes on this album, the Saber mix seems to stress certain music riffs/beats, but the original mix I thought was just fine - if not better as is. I think mostly because you can hear the vocals more clearly on the original mix. It looks like they've been touring all summer long, and continuing:
15 Sep 2008 CROSSROADS Fresno, California 16 Sep 2008 FAT CAT Modesto, California 17 Sep 2008 FISHLIPS BAR AND GRILL Bakersfield, California 18 Sep 2008 JILLIANS Las Vegas, Nevada 20 Sep 2008 THE ROCK Tucson, Arizona 22 Sep 2008 HAILEY’S Denton, Texas 23 Sep 2008 EMO’S Austin, Texas 24 Sep 2008 THE ROCK BOTTOM San Antonio, Texas 26 Sep 2008 MERCY LOUNGE Nashville, Tennessee 27 Sep 2008 THE FIVE SPOT Atlanta, Georgia 28 Sep 2008 THE PARISH ROOM@ HOB New Orleans, Louisiana 29 Sep 2008 MARKET STREET PUB Gainesville, Florida 1 Oct 2008 JANNUS LANDING St. Petersburg, Florida 2 Oct 2008 CULTURE ROOM Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 3 Oct 2008 THE SOCIAL (TWO NIGHTS!) Orlando, Florida 4 Oct 2008 THE SOCIAL (TWO NIGHTS!) Orlando, Florida 5 Oct 2008 FREEBIRD’S Jacksonville, Florida 7 Oct 2008 THE MUSIC FARM Charleston, South Carolina 8 Oct 2008 THE NORVA Norfolk, Virginia 9 Oct 2008 RECHER THEATER Towson, Maryland 10 Oct 2008 JC DOBBS Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 11 Oct 2008 HARPER’S FERRY Allston, Massachusetts 12 Oct 2008 WEBSTER UNDERGROUND Hartford, Connecticut 13 Oct 2008 HIGHLINE BALLROOM New York City, New York 15 Oct 2008 MOD CLUB Toronto, Ontario 16 Oct 2008 THE SHELTER (downstairs St. Andrews) Detroit, Michigan 17 Oct 2008 THE BASEMENT Columbus, Ohio 18 Oct 2008 REGGIE’S ROCK CLUB Chicago, Illinois 19 Oct 2008 PEABODY’S Cleveland, Ohio 21 Oct 2008 THE ANNEX Madison, Wisconsin 23 Oct 2008 STATION 4 Saint Paul, Minnesota 24 Oct 2008 RECORD BAR Kansas City, Missouri 25 Oct 2008 GOTHIC THEATER Denver, Colorado 26 Oct 2008 THE BELLY UP Aspen, Colorado 27 Oct 2008 AVALON THEATER Salt Lake City, Utah 28 Oct 2008 THE BIG EASY Boise, Idaho 29 Oct 2008 HAWTHORNE THEATER Portland, Oregon 30 Oct 2008 MEDIA CLUB Vancouver, British Columbia 1 Nov 2008 EL CORAZON Seattle, Washington 5 Nov 2008 THE HOUSE OF BLUES West Hollywood, California 6 Nov 2008 THE HOUSE OF BLUES San Diego, California 7 Nov 2008 THE PHOENIX THEATER Petaluma, California 8 Nov 2008 SENATOR THEATER Chico, California 9 Nov 2008 SLO VETS HALL San Lius Obispo, California PS, I never found out what OPM stands for. Is it for "Other People's Money"? |
STEPHANIE
iamstephanie.net ♥ myspace.com
You probably
don't know this, but I often get interested potential writers with
interesting proposals for music angles. One of them included someone
who wanted to write about Christian music, so I requested some of this
genre of music from our PR people. When it came to actually producing
reviews, that person was never heard from again. I haven't gotten a Christian album in a while, but this one recently turned up: the self-titled album by the artist simply known as "Stephanie". Surely she must know that she's not the only musician called Stephanie? I had a heck of a hard time looking up her myspace/website. With the exception of the live recording of "Wake up Arise", all of these songs are studio-recorded and mixed. It sounds very clear and professional - including the live song. The closest "rock" song is the ironically named "Back to the Rock", featuring pianos and Céline Dion-style singing and wooing. I did enjoy her songs when it had more than a few instrument arrangement, like "The Rain", "Through Christ" (electric guitar!), and "Back to the Rock", as they seem to bring more of a full-music experience for me - at least for this album. I can understand the route to keep it simple (either with just pianos or acoustic guitar), because I felt they were trying to spotlight Stephanie's vocals. If you like vocals and minimal music, songs to check out are "Now I Know", "Bless Those Beside Me", and "Take Away". The overall feel of this album is that it's Christian pop music, at times inspirational. If you enjoy other Christian pop acts like Amy Grant, this should fit right in. After a few listen, you forget that it's even Christian, despite the obvious religious overtones. If you're in the Texas area and just generally like pop music, you should check her out:
14 Sep 2008 Word of Love Church Hurst, Texas |
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THE PONSONBY DC'S
myspace.com/ponsonbydcs
This band doesn't have anything to do with death, sans for their gloomy "Death Doom and Destruction". This song is actually pretty good, sampling some speech from George Bush. This band have been around since 1984 (WTF!) and currently based out of Canterbury, New Zealand, according to their myspace. By 1986, this band was in top form with their self-titled album featured in Spin Magazine and all over the college radio airwaves. Their third and latest album is called That's What All The Girls Say, released this year. Just look at their cover art, featuring what looks like a "serious" Cubism style - yet showing a pop-art style of a boat captain to the right. Maybe I'm over analyzing it, but this has a very serious and a not-so-serious tone to it. This also reflects in their songs, some songs have modern social commentaries to them, like the "Death" song mentioned above to "Pluto's Not A Planet Anymore". Other songs ("Son of a Street Fighting Man", "Girls!") are just fun. Other trends I notice from this band is that they have a late 50s "oldies but goodies" feel to them. Check out "Little Baby You're Mine" and "Ponsonby Waltz", both are well worth a look if you love classic oldies songs - done by a modern band. PS, Gavin Buxton's NZ accent definitely shows up on "Just Another Kick" and "Son of a Street Fighting Man". I love it! |
NETHERBIRD
netherbird.com ♥ myspace.com
Since we already mentioned the life-inspiration songs of Stephanie, I thought it would be fun to balance it with a little bit of the Dark Side. Usually I reserve this sort of music for Dr Soup, as this is a death (read: Satan) metal band from Sweden. I was actually pretty impressed with the production on The Bone Collector, it doesn't sound too "cookie monster" but it's clear that their inspiration lies in death metal. Even though I think some of their songs sounds like operatic metal (especially on "Carcess Symphony"). I thought "Forever Mournful" was the stand-out track on this album - and I'll tell you why. You have Nephente's demonic/agonizing vocals (I'm not even sure what he's saying!!) with a counterpoint of a sweet, angelic voice (no idea who's singing as the promo copy I have doesn't have any liner notes). The song lends itself to an epic feel as its theme seem to flow right into "Adrift Towards Eternity" (with its sweet violins and thunderstorm soundclip). Speaking of epic, check out "Boulevard Black" - the very first song that Netherbird recorded. This is a fourteen minute, utilizing lots of guitar, bird sounds (crows?), pianos, and includes a semi-cheesy voice over that seems to sound like an old 80s horror movie. Even the reprise song have a feel of Phantom of the Opera with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre! The most surprising thing I found out is that Target.com is carrying their CD. Wow, right? Apparently there is a standard release and a collector's edition - as usual, I always suggest getting the deluxe version if you can swing it. |
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