MUSIC REVIEW: oh this band… Lots of harmonies and nice guitar with subtle touches alla Johnny Marr; are what is We Are Scientists. This new A-Side is strictly for indie pop fans. “Something About You” is coming out on heavy 7″ wax via 100% Records and it sounds the most like Death Cab for Cutie to us. It’s the tenor of the versus that on first spin this is made clear. 2nd listen you hear all the little stuff that makes them cool. In particular off the album Change I guess. Granted there are only 3 chords in most recorded rock music and so many notes you still can’t help but dig their sense of happy song. You know if Nada Surf were ever happy about a potential relationship or Gedge were not a pompous ass you would get music like these guys make. It’s not shout out for Glee happy with rainbows shooting out of your ass. The vibe does make think a little bit of when your girl was blowing bubbles at you. That feeling – you know happy. Not sure about the B-Side on this one. So can’t tell you anything except it’s called “Let Me Win”.
While the band works out the details for their next release they are giving you this. Bassist Chris Cain mentions in the press release:
“The new album’s finished, but we’re taking our time setting up the release, and we wanted to get something new to fans on the sooner side.”
“I guess ‘charity single’ is the wrong word for this,” said singer Keith Murray, “since none of the money generated will go to a good cause. But in the sense that we did this because we knew some of the fans desperately, desperately needed it — in that sense, yeah, it’s a charity single.”
Non US Shows:
20th July – Super Bock Super Rock Festival, Meco, Portugal
22nd July – Thekla, Bristol – SOLD OUT
23rd July – Wedgewood Rooms, Portmsouth – SOLD OUT
25th July – XOYO, London – SOLD OUT
26th July – Club NME, Koko, London
27th July – Kasbah, Coventry
29th July – Oran Mor, Glasgow – SOLD OUT
30th July – Gorilla, Manchester – SOLD OUT
31st July – 53 Degrees, Preston
2nd Aug – Indiependence Festival, Cork, Ireland
3rd Aug – Limelight, Belfast
MUSIC REVIEWS: I have A.D.D when it comes to music. I need fireworks or something to draw my attention to new music. Either way, here’s some tunes for you we’ve gotten this past week we think is pretty decent or we would not share. Along with some of our belated 4th of July Instagram videos to watch while you listen. First band up is Blue and Gold with a track called “It’s Only You.” It’s blues. It’s not JSBX but more like the poor cousin of Deer Tick. What’s it called? Oh yes Diamon Rugs mixed with a little bit of that Jack White greatness. They got a vibe. So check it out.
Here is… It Came Without Warning...As Most Disasters Do. Sorta proggy with movie samples. I hope they don’t get sued but if you like Don Cab and or Shellac this might be your bag. Lots of guitar swank and arpeggios masked with delays. No Eddie Van Halen in this band but more like Godspeed You! Black Emperor or some other off-shoot like that. It’s space rock. Fuck this band is called Cmn ineed yr hlp from Chicago. I give up on vwls.
GOOD CAUSES: Jesus — the Kickstart trailer is gut-wrenching in this real life documentary of artist Kathryn Calder of The New Pornographers making a album for her mother as she disappears with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). The Yellow Bird project needs support to help finish this film called “A Matter of Time” which chronicles the making of a real album from the point of view of a survivor making an album for her mother while taking care of her. If you’re not balling after watching just the trailer below I don’t know what to do about your lime encased feelings (horrible pun) but the point is this is real “reality”. One can question what might drive an artist or person as the survivor to make such a experience; open for all to see. The hope is sharing this experience with you will bring more awareness to a disease we don’t yet know the cause of and for that matter have a cure.
“Our goal is for every person who sees this film, to leave with at least an understanding of what ALS is. That’s how we believe awareness can be achieved.” – Casey Cohen Film Producer
Some of the Kickstarter ‘goodies’ include copies of the soundtrack and DVD, signed merchandise, concert tickets, meet and greets with The New Pornographers for all you star-stalkers, personalized artwork from Kathryn, and more. Support this cause at your leisure.
TONIGHT WEDS JUNE 26th: This should be a great night of redefined indie rock all around at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn. First on the bill is Adam Rubenstein who was an ax-man in the band Chamberlain. Who is evangelizing his release Excavator via Arctic Rodeo Recordings.So get there early. Like by 8:15.
Following his jams wil be Review Stalker Music Blogs’s house band Eastern Anchors. If you don’t own any Anchor swag you should. Since you already have all music right if not get on the bandcamp? Seriously, folks come for the handsome and leave with the rock stapled back in their heart. Do check out the latest lead track called “It Made Me Cry” on the Songs for Molina Compilation put out out by Steven Vineis which was recently featured on My Old Kentucky Blog.
Sewing up the night will be local, locals Gladshot. We hear their previous release was done up by our twitter pal John Agnello. He owes RS Blog a cocktail but either way from way back during a Male Bonding rant last year. Either-who they will be bringing melodies galore.
Singer-songwriters Debbie Andrews and Mike Blaxill front this quintet…great harmony-laced pop with a touch of 70s California. Infectious songs like “Feel You” and “Running Past Rosetta” should be drop-kicking inferior tripe off radio playlists everywhere. They have everything – sing-a-long hooks, strong harmonies, efficient but great guitar solos .. Gladshot is one of the nicest suprises I have had all year
– Pop Matters
MUSIC REVIEW: Self titled 6 song EP by Black Wing Halo. We’re big fans of anything that can punk you into submission to get all you grungers and metalers in the mood to crush some heads. Distorted guitars made out of sharp shovels used to pummel you into the ground and burry you. Yeah that was a sentence. We’re partial to the deeper cuts on this EP like “Wish” and “Rats” which reminds us of Ministry off of Land of Rape and Honey with all the snare-drum action and guitars. If you are a TAR or COWS fan the punk influence for amp rep fans will also dig this. A good entry point is the 90’s grunge metal fest of “Bite My Lip”. The 2nd track is actually the most metally tune which we’re giving to you right here. Shaved Dice wins for funniest title. I imagined the one’s hanging from my rearview mirror but then realized that is actually a thing for gaming folks in the streets trying to make a buck off of tourists. To that end these guys got something dark going on. Here’s freebie from us to you from them below. Fuck it up ya’ll.
It does not get much more rock-n-roll than this. Here’s Jeff Tweedy just being a lead singer guy while Tommy Stinson from the temporarily reformed Replacements playing “Color Me Impressed” on guitar. This is at some festival in Mass we think. Looks fun. This is the rocking wilco we like.
Because we’re equal parts exploiters (not just punks with decent haircuts) and mostly men over here at the mighty Review Stalker Music Blog. We like decent looking women who can sing and do pretty chill alternative covers every once in awhile. Here’s two summer jams by Kendra Morris doing “Miss You” by The Rolling Stones and “Karma Police”. We knew it would come to this one day. Nobody can write a good song so they they wrap themselves on a lesser known artist’s “hit” songs. Granted if we saw her singing at an outdoor bar in the Hamptons or for a wedding band we would be pretty impressed. Don’t get me wrong she does a real good job on both. Good instrumentation. These kind of tracks are good in particular when you are stuck at block party and everybody hates your music anyway. This here is white lady blues I tell them. It’s all good. My damn neighbors only know one song by Thom Yorke anyway… Enjoy.
It’s Saturday and sometimes music just collides. We get a lot of crap all day long and we politely say we’ll check it out. We do believe in that courtesy. We know from experience pushing our own damn band though most blogs and clubs just don’t give a fuck to do even that; because they have it worse. So the importance of the words you use to describe your group better ring big ass bells or we’re hard pressed and too damn stressed to find the time to have the pleasure of listening to a band we might actually like. We might forget 5 seconds later too. Let alone after 100’s of release emails we’re churning through on the bus. If we’re awake or after after a cocktail or two. But never mind our issues.
MUSIC REVIEW: One trigger is the Album itself. With a title like Mechanics & Energetics of Stilt-Running which clocks in at 21 minutes by the EndAnd. Says hey they have cut out the parts you don’t need. It’s noise rock/punk the description goes. It’s better we say than this. Schizophrenic for sure but the kind of noise metal milieu riffs that start off with anthems and give you heart-attacks after a long run with the cops chasing you. The good shit that you can feel in your ferrel bones. Apparently they are popular but what the hell do we know. We work in a cave up on the 14th floor. Too tired to Click play but when we do make the time we’re glad we did. A bunch of guys from Brooklyn, blah blah blah. They have a fuck-load of Facehooker fans etc but that shit is meaningless if you can’t deliver; in particular if you get to name your price. The opener “At Fault’s End” and third tune “The Detach” are stand-out tracks. Start there if you too are in hurry like us. “I’m One Of Three” has this messy Sorry Ma forgot to take out the trash thing. Anyway… we don’t care too much for some of quick tapping kick-drum prog stuff because it’ starts to sound like Alice in Chains trying too hard but as a whole this band is great. I’m sure it’s all awesome live. Thanks to James from I.M.P for sending this along without people like him everything would be silent and dull around here.
RIYL: Botch, Iceage, Propagandhi
Next up is band we’ve been following for years. Sludge pop-punk this guy said from The Young Leaves back in 2009 and Christopher from Holliston, Mass has not gone away from the original thing we liked at first when got an actual CDR in the mail. Yes! We say to this latest single Alive and Well/The Love Song Single. If you like loud songs with more melody in one chord than your average boy band. Then give this trio a free download. They even have the token chick bass player which we like to see. But seriously, grow some internet balls. They are coming to NJ on 6/28 and 6/29 Smithtown, NY. So check out some live music. Get the Deets from them my dear facehookers on their page and if you are not already fuckin’ stalk us back already. What the hell is wrong with you.
GOOD CAUSES: We all go through the exit door at some point in our short journey on earth with the living and sometime that shit just happens too fast for some and we leave some folks behind. Being sensitive to this fact Steven Vineis has put together a compilation benefiting the late and great Mr. Jason Molina formerly of the Magnolia Electric Co which you should just buy now at songsmolina.bandcamp.com
He recorded under several names at Electrical Audio in Chicago but in essence the output was all his energy and ability to crank out tunes at an amazing pace. Not just any basic singer songwriter stuff but the stuff that can make you cry. Mr. Albini had some very kind words on the news of his passing back in March of this year.
I loved hearing Jason Molina sing. He was a genius at turning a phrase and making it into something more than the words in it. Jason was almost supernaturally prolific, and several times I watched him write an album’s worth of songs in a weekend, recording them on the spot. Much of his recorded output with Magnolia Electric Co is the evidence of him and the band playing his songs for the very first time. It’s amazing, really, that it was any good at all, much less so touching and fully realized.
Jason was a unique talent and I will miss him. My heart goes out to all his friends and family, all of you I’ve met have been good people who did well by Jason.
-Steve Albini
Here is the first song on the compilation by Eastern Anchors.
The compilation is a mixed bag of covers and dedications by 39 bands for a $10 suggested donation. All proceeds go to his family to help them cope.
SINGLE REVIEW: We love any rock music and all things that remotely mirror bands we love. Here’s a new single with the vocals drenched in reverb and delay called “The Kid” via DeltaSonic Records. In this case these five young lads from Liverpool peaking our interest are called The Dirty Rivers. They are what we want to see with the next generation of musicians carrying the cross. They look like babies straight outa of school in this video single but sound astonishingly like Jesus and Mary Chain meets The Black Angels. Not entirely derivative of that sound since they are English (The Uk kind) under the black clothing and old VCR late night tv noise and intentionally bad graphics is a heavy psychedelic nod to a paisley era garage rock manchester and warehouse scene. Imitated well also by the Anton Newcombe’s, BRMC and Dandy Warhols of the world. The guitar riffage is strong with these guys though so totally check them out. Just keep the tambourine or maracas out of the singers hands and you will be headed in the right direction.
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