Friday, January 31, 2014

Vishuda!



I made the acquaintance of most of the members of Vishuda back in July at the Summer Slaughter show at the HOB Sunset edition. I subsequently became facebook friends with Michael the bass player and have systematically bitched out on seeing them live ever since (it's not entirely my fault, of the half-a-dozen or so shows they've played since I was out of town for two of them and working for another - just saying). In a random facebook snafu earlier I was reminded of my oversight and found myself searching youtube to see if footage existed as the band is currently - I believe - in the process of recording their debut record.

What I found isn't the best footage, but it's the content that interests me to no end. I really dig the sound and style here and think that both on recording and in the flesh these guys probably command total props and attention.

You can check out more about Vishuda on their very elegant website here.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The National - Conversation 16



The album High Violet by The National has been sitting in a pile for... hell, almost three years now I guess. I gave it a listen but never connected with it. I think my exact words after that previous listen was, "It's wine and cheese music". That's not a bad thing, it just doesn't come up much in my house.

Two weeks ago I discovered Bret Easton Ellis has a podcast. It's fantastic. I downloaded and listened to all the episodes (there's only a handful so far). During one of them - I think the episode where Chuck Klosterman is his guest - Ellis mentions that he has been listening to The National because, he supposed, he is white and over forty years of age.

I chuckled at this, thinking yeah, wine and cheese music.

Yesterday I listened to the newest of Ellis' podcasts where he interviews Matt Berninger, The National's singer. The podcast began with a snippet of music - it was the second verse of this song - and I was instantly haunted by it. I listened to the entire conversation Berninger and Ellis had, came home and dug out High Violet, hoping this song was on it (at the time I did not know the name of the song or what album it was on. For that matter I didn't know the name of the album I had as it was a burn someone gave me). Using Internet Music Database I found the name of the album and sat down to listen to it. I have not stopped since.

This is definitely not an all the time band for me but what I initially dismissed as a "wine and cheese" tone is actually a very sophisticated band big on sparsely appropriate arrangements and intelligent lyrics that are often much more fun than they appear to be given their delivery (this song is a perfect example of that by the way). High Violet has a very similar tone to some of Ellis' novels, a tone I refer to as "Haunted".

Monday, January 27, 2014

New Pixies Video for Magdalena



The Pixies have increasingly been the go-to on how to do a tasteful, relevant and successful reunion. Let's hope it continues because I don't know about you but after EP 1 and EP 2 I am definitely ready for MORE.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Isley Brothers - Make Me Say It Again Girl



From The Isley Brothers' 1975 The Heat Is On. My wife just found this song tonight - I was drifting in and out of sleep and this was playing, near the end, and as I put my feet more firmly on the wakeful side of consciousness my thoughts were of how truly epic this felt. Not "The Wall" epic, but almost... transcendent. There's a lot of 90's rap/R&B that was influenced by this. You can hear it, especially the refrain as the song fades out.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Drinking With Comics



The premiere of the new web-show where myself and two colleagues discuss comics while drinking excellent beer. First up, Miracle Man, Rick Remender, Fraction's Hawkeye, Guardians of the Galaxy and Hoegaarden. Beautfiful, delicious Hoegaarden...

If you dig it, please take a moment to like us on youtube and possibly even pass us on with a repost of a facebook bump or whatever! Thank you!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Portishead - We Carry On



An abandoned lot. A half circle of headlights illuminate figures dancing in fog. Something nearby awakens.

The Knife - We Share Our Mother's Help



This song is just so awesome it's not even funny. The Knife is apparently beginning a US tour go to their site for the dates.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Velvet...

image courtesy of http://benjaminherman.wordpress.com/

... is on tap in this week's Comic Column on Joup, right here. Great espionage book that really just has to be made into a movie or I will freakin' scream.

Shawn's Favorite Films of 2013

image courtesy of theguardian.com

On Joup.There were a lot of great films this year. There were also a lot of films I wanted to see that I did not have a chance to. From what I saw here were my favorites. I believe it bears mention that with most of these, especially Upstream Color and Antiviral, I knew immediately that they were the top of the chain the moment I saw them.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

John Frusicante and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in a band together???


image courtesy of scannerfm.com


Apparently so. And the band is called Kimono Kult! Read about it on mxdwn here.

Though I am quite familiar with both these gentlemen's music and have never even once contemplated what it would sound like if they were in a band together this must be the best music news in quite some time. It will be amazing.

Pre-order on their bandcamp HERE.

Liars "Mess" Album Trailer



Color me bad? Yo, color me good. Good with the info that the new album from Liars, titled "Mess" is out on my birthday! (well, in England, a day later on our side of the pond, but still...). Learn more on the band's website HERE.

And you know, everything this band does visually is just as interesting to me as what they do sonically and that's really saying something because, A) I don't find that many bands visually interesting and, B) Liars are very interesting sonically.

And one last thing, interesting how much the cover image for Mess looks like the cover of Chuck Palahniuk's novel Rant.

NEW LIARS!!!



This band just gets better and better every freakin' year!!!

Props to Mr. Brown for sending this to me, I knew another album was coming our way but had lost track.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Brian Eno - Driving me Backwards



Although I am a massive fan of the several Brian Eno albums I own those are the only Brian Eno albums that I know. My friend John - who is of an age where he experienced Eno's records as they were released - lent me Here Come The Warm Jets. It is spectacular. Right now, this song is freaking me out.

Released in 1973 I can very much hear the influence this record had on Bauhaus, Daniel Ash most especially.

Author & Punisher Live @ The Echoplex, 01/05/14

image courtesy of wiretotheear.com
Over on Joup I have just posted my thoughts on what was an amazing show that changed how I view music. I know I've talked a lot about him here lately but I simply cannot recommend Tristan Shone's music enough. It is the first of its kind and something truly different in a world where different is increasingly impossible.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

She Lives in My Lap - Andre 5000



Because I was critical of Andre in a previous post I should throw some props his way as well. This is a PERFECT song.

The Coup - Your Parents' Cocaine



My second favorite song on The Coup's record Sorry to Bother You. Why? Obvious reasons numbers one and two: The Kazoo and the lyrics. And an outstanding video to boot. Really digging this group.

The Coup - The Guillotine




Mr. Brown turned me on to The Coup when he gave me their record Sorry to Bother You. The entire record is fantastic but this is THE stand out. There are moments where I see shades of Andre from Outkast, but thankfully without his penchant for digressing into lowest common denominator territory. Looking forward to getting into more of this group's catalogue.

My Favorite Comics in 2013...

image courtesy of comicsalliance.com
... are the topic of discussion in this week's issue of Thee Comic Column on Joup. Drop by and let me know if you agree, or what your favorites were.

Monday, January 6, 2014

New Qui - Mucho Sex In America (via Mxdwn)



Ahhh, the fine folks at mxdwn have once again made my day by posting a heads up that Los Angeles' own Qui have an album due on February 25th. Go here to read more about it!

I love this video. I'm not positive but it seems to me that at least part of the vocals for the song were recorded live while they were filming this, which adds an extra layer to the overall song and how it meshes with this wonderful visual tomfoolery. Props Laban Pheidias who directed it, Danozone who shot it and Occupy Films.

Nurse With Wound - Soliloquy For Lilith



I'd recommend not even trying to listen to this unless you can do, if not the entire thing, then a sizable chunk. It's a slowly burning evolution of sound and tone that will do some very interesting things to your consciousness if you grant it full attention.

You've been warned.

Author & Punisher



For a better idea how the man does what he does, here is a great video by Music Tech Fest (great site).

Old School Monday: Sepultura - Refuse/Resist



You know how there's all these TBT (throw back Thursday) and whatever other ones pop up as shorthand on facebook and twitter? Well, I don't know if Monday is already taken, but actually I don't care if it is (by what? Yankee Candle Monday?). Here on the blog and hopefully out into the world I christen this Old School Monday. To begin, some Sepultura. Sure, it's from their crossover album, but I really like this album and think they ended up being a better band squeezing some of the more rigid death metal elements out of their sound - but again nothing against those years cuz they're great - even if it did really only last for one or two records before it all imploded and then everybody concerned started making music I could care less about. Chaos A.D. was worth the price, whatever it was.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Wrekmeister Haromonies



Heading out to LA's Echoplex to see Author & Punisher, Corrections House and Wrekmeister Harmonies in a little while. I had never heard of Wrekmeister before, and it was by sheer luck I happened to remember that there was a third band on tonight's bill and, you know, I should probably do a little research before heading out so I knew what I was in store for.

Man am I glad I did that research. I would hate to think that I could have missed this, Chicago's J.R. Robinson's installation-like project you can read all about on Invisible Oranges here (great article by Brad Sanders, btw).

You can buy this wonderful piece of music from Thrilljockey here and there's a great live performance on member/contributer Chris Brokaw's bandcamp.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Liars - A Ring on Every Finger



In preparing for that forthcoming new Liars record I dug out the band's previous records and while punching around on the ol' youtubes found that they had released a music video for A Ring On Every Finger that I was completely unaware of. Liars videos are always an event, and this is no exception.

The End of The Cobra Files

image courtesy of xplosionofawesome.com

Is on tap at my Comic Column on Joup this week. Drop by and raise a glass with me to the end of one awesome comic.

Mike Patton & Sepultura - Procura O Cara

Friday, January 3, 2014

David Lynch & John Neff - Mountains Falling



From the BLUEBOB album that David Lynch did with John Neff, also featured on the ST to Mulholland Drive. There's a journey in this song that pulls me right up and out of myself.

And More Good News - The Veronica Mars trailer is here!



I may have related this here before, but my wife was into Veronica Mars before I was. The first time she got into it, buying the season sets and binge-watching it over the course of what probably amounted to only a few weeks back circa 2007 I kind of dismissed the show. Not really sure why. Then maybe two years ago I had this weird itch while looking at the sets on the shelf and said, "Hey, do you think I'd like this?" We watched the three seasons in rapid succession and I was stoked. While all three years of the show are great the first season ranks as probably my number three of all time  - that list by the way, goes: 1) Breaking Bad, 2) Twin Peaks, 3) Veronica Mars ssn 1.

Anyway, to say my wife and I have been waiting for this movie with a high level of anticipation would be an understatement. We contributed what we could to the kickstarter and now all VM fans stand to reap the rewards!

New Pixies E.P/Video



I woke up at 4:30 AM this morning and saw an email from The Pixies' newsletter that they released a new 4-song EP and this video for Blue Eyed Hexe. I've waited ALL DAY to listen to this. Now I am happy.