thisurbanbohemia.com - Paradise Paid For

my beds, are always empty, if you don't count the ghosts

Ok, an update to the little personal blurb i put at the bottom of my last post about some big news. Well, I was thinking of buying a condo, but I kinda chickened out when the final price got upwards of 613$/sq ft, which as Anuj told me it more than he paid for his condo in manhattan. So, I'm not a new home *owner* (what a scary idea). Anyway, In other personal news a shout out to Adam who got engaged a week or two ago. Not only does he have the best education deal going (MD/PHP that pays him a stipend every year), but now he's got that whole marriage thing out of the way - congrats!

Some fuckers broke into my jeep and stole my stereo and broke a window. The whole thing is going to cost me $250 in deductables and fuck up the cost of my insurance. Luckily, my iPod was at home, and not in its usual place in the glove box

Ok, back to music. Thanks to Pat I was clued into a band called Menomena who just happen to be playing the black cat on sunday. Menomena's website will most definitely turn you into an epileptic; however, their music is a little bit more subdued. They've got this very minimal lo fi techno craziness thing going. At times they remind me of the Unicorns minus the pop, or squarpusher plus blonde redhead minus their chick singer, anyway check out two tracks from their site:

I donno whats gotten into the black cat but their spring lineup is awesome, here are the shows I'm looking forward to there, and other places this spring (p.s. for those wanting to travel to dc, use this as a guide

If i were to start a band today, it would be called "palpable boredom," and man would we suck.

Now I'm going to go out on a limb and make a rediculously bold claim about who the next big thing is going to be (in terms of the "just below the radar" scene, a la arcade fire), just so if it ever comes true i can feel good about myself and tell everyone how i knew about this band before anyone. The band is called Wolf Parade. They don't really have a website, and frankly they only exist in the context of a page on new music canada and a place holder on their new label the indie juggernaut Sub-Pop. Right now they've got two out of print ep's floating around and supposedly have finished their cd for sub-pop which will be released in June. To get started listen to this song: I'll believe in anything, you'll believe in everything. trust me that song is fucking awesome. listen to it five times, and if its not awesome email me (see right). Then soak up this live taping of their stuff its about 20 minutes, and well, well worth it. I really can't get enough of that show, its just sooo good - the synths, the akwqard voices, the energy - ahhh, expect big things.

I got Interpol tix again for the next DC show, turns out Blonde Redhead will be playing with them for those dates, words cannot describe how happy I am to see BR.

There is a lot of shit going on right now on the personal front, big news could be coming, if not, then not ...

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3
69 love songs

For Valentines day I'm putting up four love songs:

~~SEX ANTHEM!~~

So this year we are going to have a safer, more boobless, super bowl. Thanks to last year's titgate the FCC has gone on a fining rampage. The Bush Administration and their friends at the FCC are convinced that if we cover up all of the "indecent" aspects of our society they will go away. (Clare sent a good op-ed by Rich ...) I mean, eventually if we don't talk about them there will be no Gays, no sexual deviants, and no more Boobs. With all of those distractions out of the way we can focus on our moral superiority on bombing, killing, and oil! Hurray for moral clarity!!! But alas, I want this to be a music blog, not a political one, so here are a bunch of songs that would make great half time anthems!

The Drive By Truckers are doin a lot of good southern rock revival stuff. They are the total package: whiskey, songs about george wallace, and about 100 people on stage at one time - its an underground lynard skynyrd!!!

These songs are full of venerable wisdom for the ages that we should not be hiding from our youth: don't get too drunk to fuck, don't get too drunk to fuck tonight! I can't aggree more.

Oh yeah, and Spongebob is motherfuckingay. boycott the shit out of that homo - but do watch The Flaming Lips video for their song Spongebob and Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall Of Energy off the soundtrack (trust me they are totally anti-gay, so its ok) ...

I've been traveling a lot lately. Over the past month or so I've been in DC, Baltimore, Louisville, New York City, Princeton, Philadelphia, and Boston. Its been very fun seeing family, high school, and college friends. I'm not sure why, but I'm seeing a pattern develop - every year around this time that no matter how many familiar faces I see I gravitate toward very acoustic, somber folk (or folk inspired indie) music. Maybe its just the cold, I mean you can't really appreciate the craziness of The Go! Team (see below) when there is snow outside (well, at least there was in Boston and Louisville). Something about melancholic voices and muted guitars just fit in to where the mind wanders in the winter. Maybe seeing all the old friends from various stages makes you remember all the other ones who aren't there. Whatever the reason, I told Gal I'd help him dig up some good acoustic music to supplement his Kings of Convenience addiction (the CD is forthcoming! - if you too would like said CD drop me a line). So Without adieu:

In other music news. The Unicorns broke up, which is pissing me off, but I do have tix for Arcade Fire in two weeks! Maybe I'll post some unicorns later. Otherwise, take care, take some time to listen to some good acoustic music and reflect while the days are short.

Why #1? MM make another great CD, this one has a few almost non-depressing tracks on it, the talking heads esq flow to "Float On" can make anyone happy, incredible cohesion in terms of album flow and keeping the listener in tune for all 48 minutes even with interludes and instrumentals that usually destroy cohesion, and it had incredible cross market appeal coupled with heavy radio and mtv rotation. Though panned by some critics, I really enjoy seeing a band who's made such a career out of wallowing in their own pity to make a CD with a semi-positive message. I think it all sums down to something my cousin said:

I'm glad they made a happy CD, if they didn't they'd die - look at Elliott

I couldn't agree more, after losing his drummer to a mental breakdown Isaac went into the studio and created this year's best cd.

Track Highlights: Float On (video mov), Bukowski, Blame it on the Tetons, fuck, the whole CD on this one...
Cons: I can't see MM anymore (or ever) for that matter because they're too popular now

Where the hell did this come from? If I was basing my entire review on individuality, uniqueness, ingenuity this CD would be blow everything else away. Its very difficult summing up The Go! Team to people who've never heard them - but take everything fun you think of when you think of the 80s: members only jackets, chest hair, big hair and hair spray, really early video games with those bleep and bloop soundtracks, black michael jackson, Sesame Street, and the cold war lay over it some incredibly funky, sonic, happy, soulful beats and you've got The Go! Team. Hell, that made no sense, but it was as close as i could get. The Band samples some really funky dance hooks over a full rock and horns band and then throw in some school kid type chants, harmonicas, and synths ... This is the "funnest" CD put out this year.

Track Highlights: Panther Dash, Huddle Information, Bottle Rocket (you can stream the video "super 8" off their site
Cons: Trying to put it into words, there is very little info about this band and their touring schedule.

Unfortunately the only Hip-Hop CD to make my list (sorry kanye, it was good, but it didn't floor me). MF Doom and Madlib come together to create an exceptional blend of solid production and smooth rhymes. Doom continues his use of Dr Doom and Villain imagery to frame a number of tracks about the "illest villains ever born." Doom's production really shines on this CD as the rhymes just blend into the back ground and work as an additional instrument. Doom uses wide array of samples to create songs ranging from jazzy, to lounge-y, to aggressive, to humorous, and always back to the relaxed jazz/lounge that makes this CD so enjoyable.

Track Highlights: Curls, Rhinestone Cowboy, Moneyfolder
Cons: Suffers from the unnecessary hip-hop interlude virus

Everyone's fav neo-folk boy was back this year with the b-sides from greetings from lake Michigan that were too religious to make the CD. Sufjan's ability to craft such beautiful songs about his faith and personal relationship with Jesus is unmatched and gorgeous. Somehow he gets away with 46 minutes of songs of praise / reflection without inducing any gagging or vomiting from even the most discerning of critics; however, the lack of gag reflex isn't the only reason to love this CD. The banjos, acoustic guitars, relative minimalism, and smooth voice overs by sufjan and his backing vocalists create a calming and serene escape from modern electro driven meaningless music. Somehow Sufjan can get away with the line "I've never known a man whose loved me" when talking about his relationship w/ JC ... its amazing.

track highlights: Seven Swans, To Be Alone With You, A Good Man is Hard to Find, Sister (mp3)
cons: It is a Christian themed CD, although the words God or Jesus are never mentioned (although Lord is) it is a spiritual CD, which turns some people off.

Hailing from the same city that produced Belle and Sebastian, the Delgados, and the Jesus and Mary Chain, Glasgow, Scotland's latest explosion Franz Ferdinand sure as hell came out of nowhere to first rock the "indie" crowd and quickly blow up to ridiculous international success. Regardless of the acclaim and annoyance of hearing their songs blasted out of every drunken frat boy party, their self titled CD was packed with an incredible amount of energy, cohesion, and overall fun. Dance inducing beats seem to be making a comeback these days, and FF runs with this idea through all of there swing heavy foot tapping quasi anthems. Guaranteed to get the party moving, and drinking.

Track Highlights: 40 ft, Take Me Out, Cheating on You (vids at their site media/movies)
Cons: Being woken up by my neighbors playing Take Me Out, over and over and over and over again...

Ok, how to describe these guys. Well for starters the opening track is half English half Inuit and clocks in at 10:25 with about 5 different pitch/tempo/cadence changes and could be an entire single all to its own. Blueberry boat is a concept album, and as far as flow and unity, it delivers an incredible experience. Its very difficult to look at any Furnaces song in the singular because they really must be surrounded by the other's albums tracks to really have accurate perspective. Oh, and an ironic fact about the FFs - they are from my old hood of Oak Park Illinois.

Track Highlights: Quay Cur, Chris Michaels (here), My Dog Was Lost - But Now He's Found.
Cons: 10 minute songs, really crazy

This CD probably should be closer to the top, but I have one main complain about it: it is very unbalanced. Some tracks are brilliant, like the entire Neighborhood Suite, and then the rest are just ok, like the french downer Une Annee Sans Lumiere and crap ballad Crown of Love. But where this album shines, it shines above everything else released this year. Emotion shines in this CD. The brother sister led Canadians really know how to get into things.

Track Highlights - Neighborhood 1-4 (stream #2 Laika), and Wake Up
Cons: the unbalanced nature of the CD - the second half is lacking

When most people think of Kings of Convenience the think of two lovely Simon and garfunkel esque chaps singing nice acoustic songs. Its surprising then that this year's best techno/dance/dj CD comes from 1/2 of KoC in Erlend �ye. Dj Kicks is a series of compilations put out by !K7 records with a revolving cast of DJs. The latest, as assembled by �ye, features tracks by the Rapture, a smith's cover, and plenty of Oye's voice. He jokingly refers to himself as "the singing DJ" - but he actually does, and it works really well. The album has a great flow and is a very enjoyable experience.

Track Highlights: If I Ever Feel Better,So Weit Wie Noch Nie
Cons: The terrible track in the middle about being drunk and the bitches bein angry, can't find any example tracks on the net

So these guys won the Shortlist prize this year, which i guess means something. I like em because its an incredible fusion of soul, electronica, jazz, and some great beats. It brings back memories of the some of the better parts of massive attack's work on the mezzanine album.

Track Highlights: Starring at the Sun (mp3), Don't Love You
Cons: It can be a "bit" much, this CD does trend toward the dramatic

4 albums into their career, the french duo Air is still doing what they do better than anyone else: subverting the label of "electronica" by cleverly infusing jazz, well balanced rhythm, and ultra catchy almost poppy beats into a concise "electronic" package. In fact, one of the album's singles "surfing on a rocket" scored the background music to the 2004 campaign for the Nissan Armada demonstrating its cross market appeal.

Track Highlights: Surfin on a Rocket (vid), Cherry Blossom Girl (vid)
Cons: Air tickets at the 930 cost $35 bucks.

First thing First: you're either going to love her or hate her. Her voice is either unique, scratchy, emotive, painful, or reminiscent of finger nails on chalk boards. BUT, if you can get past that, and even learn to enjoy Joanna's voice's timbre, you may be able to start to get an bob dylan-esque appreciation for some great song writing and harp laden folk ballads.

Track Highlights: Peach Plum Pear, Saddie, The book of Right On, Sprout and the Bean (vid)
Cons: the scratchy voice, see above

I'm a sucker for dark, brooding, complex music. Don't know why, but these ex-Sonic-Youth-esque noise rockers dove into some new depths with their latest release and with their label change to 4AD records. They're putting more stress on the subtleties of Kazu Makino's voice and less on distortion and feedback. They've added some great effects, keyboards, and melody (one of the better songs on the album is titled 'melody' ... any correlation?). Misery is a Butterfly is fairly epic and complex, great late night listening.

Track highlights: Messenger, Equus (video hi lo)
Cons: They played Siren Fest for free last summer w/ Death Cab and I didn't know about them then, or go to the show.

Ok, this one definitely wins most original. So get this: Take one computer nerd who hacks dot matrix printers, ataris, old apple iie's, and commodores into creating all instrumentals and add one girl who sings with a nice little muffled baritone and you've got a winner! This album sounds great, has a great concept, and re-uses hardware we all thought was DOA. All I want to know is when they'll tour DC so that i can see their effects show (the project the garbled images created by the hacked machines onto over projectors and what not to server as a light show - wow)

Track Highlights: May Banners, Sleep, and Same (mp3s at bottom)
Cons: A 7 track EP w/ 4 songs containing vocals and one acting as a data track to be loaded into a Commodore 64. Too Short!

This is one of this year's hype CDs that i actually really enjoy. Its an easy formula - bubble gum pop, I don't know what really seperates this from kylie minogue, but i do enjoy it a lot more (probably because its not all over the radio and somehow cool / indie). I will give Annie credit in the the "hooks" department - Chewinggum has some of the catchiest hooks I've ever heard. Pitchfork said heartbeat was the best single of the year, I wouldn't give it that, but this album is really really fun. Lets also not forget that Annie is really hot.

Track highlights: chewing gum (video hi lo), heartbeat
Cons: the hype over this one

A solid sophomore release from everyone's favorite prada suit wearing, constantly smoking, 80s brooding revival, joy division knock off. While not as tight as their debut Turn on the Brightlights Antics has so many potential singles and such a solid sound that listeners and Fans of Interpol will feel right at home.

Track Highlights: Evil, The Length of Love, Slow Hands, Narc (videos)
Cons: Next Exit (i guess not terrible, i just don't like the line "we're not going to the town, we're going to city over and over and over again)

Its hard to give a compilation a spot on a top whatever list. While there is a definite art to creating the mix cd, I think it is less of an accomplishment than laying down 13 tracks and 40+ minutes of original music. BUT! The songs on this CD are a great match to a great movie. The Iron and Wine Postal Service cover is a gem and the zero 7, frou frou, and Colin Hay songs all stand out.

I saw the Eagles of Death Metal in early December. It was one of the more entertaining shows of I've ever seen. See, EoDM is a huge joke, but one delivered perfectly. From the get go, their album "Peace Love and Death Metal" sets the tone for a more serious (and better sounding) tenacious d. They take the "devil rock" genre and create MC5 esque biker tunes about the Devil, Love, and Drinking - the three pillars of rock. Their main strength probably comes in their live show when they make all their passes at "the beautiful ladies in the front - get to the back mens!" but the cd is worth a listen.

I can't get past how fun it is to listen to the first four tracks off this CD. I also can't get past how much the rest of the CD is a complete waste of time. Jenny was a friend of mine, Mr brightside, smile like you mean it, and somebody told me all bring back this great neu-new-wave thing that going around and create some great harder-cars-esque tracks - but then the rest of the CD blows.

I'm adapting a new stance on mp3s/music purchasing/etc... If your music can be found on kazaa, I probably won't buy it. If I can't find it, I probably will shell out whatever necessary to find it. I ordered two CDs this week from bands I couldn't find.

Well kids more music soon. Until then read this. Its a little blog entry entitled "our relationship requires a spreadsheet". It makes me so mad that i didn't write this first...

A couple things have jarred my attention, and now i think i must post:
violence and aggression!

this site is still a work in progress. i like it though. simple. easy. cold filtered...

On the main site i jokingly wrote gone.till.november as the title of the page way back in june or something. Since then I've been trying to code a bunch of sites simultaneously to reflect different aspects of what i would like to write about on the web. These efforts were expressed over here. Anyway, this is my new blog of sorts, cleaner, sleeker, and simpler. I also like that my name is no longer tied to it, that way i could maybe bitch about work or something and it wouldn't be indexed on google with my name attached.

However, I don't really plan to do much bitching. More comenting on what I find amusing to start to participate in this wildly growing "blogsphere" of an internet. (the rss for this site should be up soon for those interested...) ...

Ok, this was pretty much a test post - hope all is well ...