Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Twenty Twelve: A Best of for Playlists

Published by betweenthesound on January 19, 2013 in 2012 review, review, thoughts on a song, Uncategorized and YouTube. 0 Comments

My official 2012 “best of” list. This past year seemed to be more of a year of the side project single releases and/or remixes outnumbering originals.  I found it frustrating that a lot of good music was coming in “one hit” forms so in addition to a best of album list there will also be a best of songs list. Some of my top albums were mentioned when I made a 6 month update. You can see that here.    

 

Blackbird Blackbird – Boracay Planet blackbird   You might have heard this song playing in the background of a car commercial (at least the band gets money out of it!). This album is great, and it also makes good background music if you ever find yourself with a bag of shrooms and a friday night.

 

Errors – New Relics   1349182514_errors-new-relics Errors would best be described as synth, psychedelic electronic music. They remind me a bit of Psychic Ills but with a female singer and more downtempo.

 

 Lorn – Ask the Dust 5021392728193 This Lorn album is possibly their best. The remix album they released this year of this album is fantastic too.

 

Black Marble – Weight Against the Door tumblr_lya1r8HFDE1r4phooo1_1327365548_cover

Black Marble is a really great cold?/new? wave band. The lead singer has a perfectly deep monotone voice and the music is minimal but catchy.

 

Carnivals – Humility EP canrivals If I still had a car, I would turn this up and drive down a dark highway. Very spacey, they sound a bit like the band Hood in their song structure comprising of strung together spacey electronic samples with an indie rock foundation.

 

Chelsea Wolfe -  Unknown Rooms: A collection of Acoustic songs chelsea-wolfe Apparently she is a friend of a friend. Lucky me. I love Chelsea Wolfe and wish she would release more music under the Wild Eyes project as well. No matter, her music is stunning.

added bonus because this is a particularly beautiful cover:

 

Expensive Looks – Dark Matters expensive looks I can’t stop listening to this band, their new album (a 2013 best of) is just as addicting. They sound a bit like a mix of Lemonade, Discovery, and Pictureplane.

 

Tropics – Popup Cinema homepage_large.e05f165e This album filled the void that the disappointing Toro y Moi release created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmYQJmAjlDQ

 

Shad[]wb[]x – Haunted by Colors shadowbox-haunted-by-colors She is amazing and yes I’ll probably post something about  Shad[]wb[]x on every music update.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XFBsfw_uj8

 

Vitalic – Rave Age vitalic-rave-age-nov-2012 This is definitely the best Vitalic album. I’m glad they came back full force.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s77Es2snCc

 

Benoit & Sergio – New Ships Ep benoit-sergio-300x300 Some electronic dance pop, I wish there were more songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y54_cBl9hqw

 

Singles:

Revelator/Wear your Wounds Split

- I put the Adrift in You on repeat and it never gets old. Please let me clarify that this project should be associated with drone metal (like Om or Nadja). For some reason a review comparing them to Cold Cave, My bloody Valentine etc. has been copy and pasted everywhere. I would love to blame Pitchfork for this utter failure of a review but they have yet to word fuck this release. I hope these projects will release more and this isn’t just a “one time” thing like Greymachine because I really need more music like this.

Toro y Moi – so many details

- I didn’t care for the full release this year, nothing can bring me back to the kind of love I had for the Causers of This kind of Toro y Moi. This song kind of brings me back and I wish the whole album had been more like it.

Mixhell – Exit Wound

- This kind of reminds me of A Place to Bury Strangers. This song came out of nowhere from Mixhell and they don’t have anything else like it.

Andre Obin – A Star is Torn

- Dear Andre Obin, If you happened to google yourself and find that you have come across this article please release a whole album. Soon. Thanks.

Dropout Orchestra – Your Girl (Kinema Remix)

- This song is a bit cheesy and completely a dance song but it’s a personal favorite.   And so concludes my list for 2012.

 

 

Disappointments that I might have been caught ranting and raving about in anticipation:

• Purity Ring – Shrines   ———-  They released all of what I considered their best content prior to the album release and then the rest of the album sounded like filler. I was bored with it and definitely disappointed. Oh well… I do tend to get bored easily.

• Toro y Moi (I’m going to stop beating this dead horse)

• How to Destroy Angels – An Omen ————— I loved the initial release and so I was excited to see what Reznor and his wife came up with next. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t even sort of like it (ha but kinda I want to). The only song keeping it afloat is Keep it Together. It’s strange because I generally like all of Reznor’s side projects including the giant instrumental “Ghosts” album. His judgement has usually been spot on especially when he pulled the plugs on the material he worked on for Puscifer saving himself the embarrassment had it ever been released . This particular release of How to Destroy Angels completely lacked direction and therefore lacked a sense of inspiration. The sound and structure of the songs start as a seeming attempt to deliberately be anything but a Reznor song only for it to utterly dissipate into his trademark style. Its been apparent Reznor’s desire to feel something different, to be something different only to be stuck within himself and let that frustration fuel his creativity. This release had a strange impact, it seems as if he finally lost himself. No worries, The Fragile has a special place in my broken bruised forgotten sore heart.

Anything forgotten will be updated as I think of it.

- betweenthesound

world of freakout [now playing volume 02]

Published by breathmint on March 4, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Volume 2 just for you. This mix features shoegaze, with a heavy dose of electronic.

http://8tracks.com/breathmint/world-of-freakout-np-vol-02

world of freakout [np vol 02] from breathmint on 8tracks.

- breathmint

hard to complete

Published by breathmint on December 3, 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

This is a mix which I have tried completing several times, but never got it quite where I wanted it. You may also notice there are a few songs which are out of place form the main theme. I think this is done as it will ever be. No apologies.

- breathmint

Amanda Palmer August 8 2008 Lakeshore Theater Chicago

Published by breathmint on September 24, 2011 in live review, Uncategorized and video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

In 2008, I was in Chicago for a conference. As the plane landed I was looking up shows in town for my week stay and was shocked to find Amanda Palmer was playing a solo gig the next night. And it was totally sold out. I had seen the Dresden Dolls before, but this Amanda solo thing was brand new. Apparently she had done a record, which had leaked just before I left for Chicago, but I hadn’t heard it yet.

After spending nearly my entire first 24 hours in town making calls to the venue, record stores, ticket agencies,  and even asking the hotel concierge if he could help, the evening was upon me and I was ticketless. I decided to head down and see if I could just find tickets waiting in line. When I got to the venue, the line was wrapped around the building. I started walking down the perimeter, and asked if anyone had extra tickets probably each batch of 5 people or so. I got to the end with no luck. So, I turned around and walked straight back up and asked again.

This repeated for about an hour. I had asked many of the same people, probably 5-6 times if they had tickets. The evil looks I was getting were almost enough to make me give up, but I decided to wait in line and see if maybe somehow by the time I got to the front my luck would change. I had taken to discussing the Dolls and AP (FYI: this was the pre-AFP era) with a couple that had driven all the way from Green Bay. They had seen the Dolls about a dozen times, and encouraged me to keep trying. Overhearing our conversation, other people waiting in line shared encouraging words and one girl even said “you were meant to get in this show.” I tended to agree!

When I was about 40 feet from the entrance, a bad falafel saved me. This girl came up to me with one ticket in hand. Her friend had eaten some bad falafel and was leaving. The ticket was mine. Victory was mine. I triumphantly proceeded inside and after checking out some wicked merch I couldn’t afford, I found my seat. And then I was introduced to Vermillion Lies. That could be a whole blog in of itself, but I reserve myself by relating to you that they ended their set with crowd holding hands, swaying, and singing along thusly.

Suffice it to say that the night was off to a great start, and it was about to get even better! The lights went down, the cheering started, and then came the following. I ask you stop here, watch the video, and then continue reading.

Did you watch yet? If not, stop reading and play that video straight through.  I’ll be waiting for you.

Done? Ok, so I will in no way make the implication that Amanda Palmer is Michael Jackson. But if she was, this was her Motown 25 moment. Ok, so I just took a break from writing and watched that performance of Billie Jean. I reiterate, Amanda Palmer is no Michael Jackson. Anyway, Amanda went on to play many songs from the forthcoming Who Killed Amanda Palmer record, mostly just blowing us away one song after another. There were also some Dresden Dolls songs, several covers, and two encores. The full setlist can be found here.  She closed out the night with her now famous ukulele rendition of Creep, joined by the sisters Vermillion. At the time, nobody had heard her do this before. It was so fucking special.

Of course, anyone who has seen Amanda before knows it ALWAYS feels that way. That, my dear readers, is because it ALWAYS is. What makes Amanda so special, is that she knows it’s all about the fans. She gives us everything she has to give, and thats why we always keep coming back for more.  Unfortunately, this is the only video I could find of that closing number. However, despite the clipped audio, that crowd roaring pretty much captures the moment perfectly.

If anyone reading this knows the girl who got sick on her falafel, or her friend who got me that ticket, please have her write me. I’d love to thank the both of you personally for having made possible one of my all time favorite concert experiences.

- breathmint

since we last spoke: version c

Published by breathmint on April 3, 2011 in mixes and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: .

Installment three in my ongoing attempt to keep new music flowing to you even if I don’t have timer for full write ups. Would love to hear what you think about these!

- breathmint

New Snowden Remix / Video

Published by breathmint on October 26, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Check out this new Snowden remix & video by Dave Rice & Mike Burrell. Apparently more is coming soon. We’ll keep you posted.

- breathmint

‘And This is My Lovely Friend Amanda’: The Tallest Man on Earth & Alessi’s Ark 15 March 2010, Bush Hall

Published by quitepeculiar on March 31, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

This was my first show at Bush Hall, and had I not been walking with someone who knew where we were going, I probably would have walked past the entrance. Past innumerable hair shops (and a really good pub) on Uxbridge Road was the modest doorway into Bush Hall.

We got in and weaved through a portion of the crowd that filled up Bush Hall, a spacious yet intimate room with lovely Rococo ceiling detail. It got quite warm in the hall, given the full audience and the apparent lack of ventilation.

Alessi’s Ark started her performance with her friend on backing guitar. Alessi Laurent-Marke gave a lovely performance, despite the ceaseless chatter among the audience–mostly towards the back–which I thought was a bit unfortunate. The music of Alessi’s Ark is very darling, filled with a shy and earnest charm. She’s opening for Laura Marling on at least a couple shows next month in the UK, so if you haven’t had a chance to do so, and you like your indie folk feminine with a heavy dose of wide-eyed wonder, you may enjoy her.

Because I was having difficulty seeing Alessi perform during her act, in-between acts the suggestion was put forth to move up closer, since I’m such a shorty. Bush Hall is very flat. There was a balcony/mezzanine area towards the back of the hall, but already my companion and I were in the thick of the hot crowd, so the only way forward was to move forward, which we did until the crowd didn’t seem to allow us to go any further. There was seriously a gigantic beanstalk next to where I was standing, and I was utterly paranoid he was going to somehow wind up standing in front of me, but luckily, this was not so.

Kristian Matsson sauntered onto the stage, giving a sort of suspicious pirate glare at the crowd as he swigged from his bottle of beer. It was quite an entrance that seemed to have a lot more bravado than when I had seen him in Orlando last year opening for John Vanderslice. I think it was quite amusing.

So, the performance was quite lively and fantastic, punctuated by moments when Matsson would talk to the crowd. At one point, a man in the crowd shouted ‘I love you!’ to the performer. Everything stopped, and you can see Matsson’s face twist into this serious, stern facade as he slowly approached the microphone and asked, ‘What?’ It was comical, but what was interesting about these moments is that you never really knew if Matsson was joking with the crowd, or if he really acted this peculiar way, or if this is him being The Tallest Man on Earth.

I’ve been asked by friends unfamiliar with Kristian Matsson, so I will say no, he is not really very tall. I don’t think he reaches up to 6 ft, but his performances–the way he moves so kinetically to the point where at times he seems to nearly be trying to shake out of his skin–are very big.

Because the staff at Bush Hall did not make me check my camera at the door, I was able to take a few shots of The Tallest Man on Earth. I didn’t take very many, as I normally only like taking a very small handful of photos at an event, because I don’t wish to bother other people around me with the clicking of a camera, and also I because I came to a show to enjoy the performance. A few photos, then I’m done. The performance from The Tallest Man on Earth was definitely interesting and enjoyable, and he will be coming back to London on the 9th of June, and during the performance at Bush Hall, he said, ‘You know what? Next time, I’m gonna bring the banjo! Yeah.’

So yeah, they may get the banjo over at the Tabernacle in June, but we got to meet, in a way, Matsson’s ‘lovely friend Amanda,’ a young woman who did a duet with him on stage, which was quite a treat unless you were a young woman in the audience (or man, for that matter, like the guy who yelled out earlier) who was smitten with The Tallest Man on Earth. Heartbreak rippled through the crowd, as Matsson and Lovely Friend Amanda squeezed close to a lone microphone, or at least so it went in my imagination. Still, it was quite a performance, with a stunning final song that may be from his new album, which is something definitely to be excited about.

- quitepeculiar