This Is the Song That Never Ends, Because You Won't Let It

I just noticed that my notable music on the side is all from the UK. That's been a trend of late. I'm not abandoning the American music scene, but I'm more in tune with the music coming from over seas.

Speaking of American music, I noticed Nickelback released a new single. Just when you thought they had released the same song enough times, they release...actually a different song. Okay, it doesn't stray too far from the herd, but for the first time in seven years I heard one of their songs and didn't cry out, "Gahhhh, Nickelback! The pain! I can feel the sameness tearing into my eardrums!" Some loyal fans are claiming that Nickelback has sold out to the electronic sound ever so present in mainstream music. (Secret, they already sold out it just took you this long to figure it out.) I seem to remember a similar outcry when the Fratellis released their second album. A message to both parties:

Stop right there. You're complaining because the song doesn't sound exactly the same? Too bad you couldn't just listen to the original songs so you'd never lose that feeling or moment you got from hearing them. Oh wait, you can. So why not let the musicians decide for themselves what direction they want to go?
Deep down, they are still that band that will produce much of the same chords, tones and subject matter as before. The next time though, you may have to look more than skin deep to realize it. If you actually take the time to listen deeper, I guarantee you'll get a closer commitment to some of your bands since you know how they tick and notice how they can surprise you to keep it exciting and memorable.
Don't panic, you will never lose that original flavor from your music library, even if your favorite band starts a new direction you're not as crazy about. And surprisingly enough, they might actually explore their way into a great new hit that you love all over again. That is, if you just let them breathe! Case and point: The Beatles.

I also feel it important to note that my cohort in blog is in France. She's boldly going to teach English in a foreign land. She blogs, or rather will blog, here. Make sure to visit her ^-^ This is also me saying that she should actually blog someday soon. Please?

Special note: This blog is not promoting or even condoning Nickelback in anyway shape or form. You may like the band; I'm sick of their face.

1 2 3 4, Time To Use This Blog Some More

If I were actually thinking about this blog, I could have posted this ages ago. This is a video of Feist on Sesame Street singing a children's counting version of her hit 1 2 3 4.


Time to brush the cobwebs off this here blog. Just have to think of things....

The premiere of Chuck this season features a great song by Flight of the Conchords. Listen for it when you see the new Orange Orange shop Sarah works at.

Burn After Reading had a great trailer. Grounds For Divorce, played here by Elbow, well accompanies the intensity of the insanity. And if you appreciate dark humor, go see this movie now.

If you like Maxïmo Park or The Maccabees, Good Shoes hit their debut this year with Think Before You Speak. Light, bouncy and sharp instrumentals accompany the gritty, tenor lead singer. The sound seems to be a common theme coming from the UK of late.

Fancy Ingrid Michaelson, Casey Dienel, Regina Spektor, Feist and the like? Check out Australia's Lenka in her single The Show. It's as light hearted and gentle as can be. Lenka will lift your spirits and sweeten your day like cotton candy for your soul. When the group chorus joins in and the horns add their faint melody, the song sounds of Sufjan Stevens.

Also, in Morgan Spurlock's new film, Where In the World Is Osama Bin Laden?, University of Minnesota's own Whole Music Club was thanked. I have no idea why, but I'm curious about the reason.

Speaking of the Whole, Baby Teeth is back to play on November 7. More details when I know details. I know Mandi will want to be there.

Alright, enough is enough. Cheers, mates.

Your mom goes to concerts when it's sub-zero

I'm debating a concert this evening. Why I was dumb and did not look up White Light Riot sooner, I don't quite know. I finally checked them out on iLike and I like! Thing is I'd be paying $18 at the door and I don't even care for the main headliner. And Carrie and I are already going to see There Will Be Blood tonight, which is pretty mandatory for me it being a best pic Oscar nom. Fortunately, White Light Riot is based out of Minneapolis so I'm crossing my fingers it won't be too hard to find them again...oh look, March 29 at the Fine Line. Good I can go lose some more hearing at that little venue.

Tomorrow is the coldest day of the week, reaching sub-zero temps again (bloody hell MN). Tomorrow I want to see Kid Dakota at the Triple Rock. At 9pm. Ouch. I'll be running to that venue before I get frostbit. Also, that concert happens to be Small Towns Burn a Little Slower's LAST GIG EVER. I get to hear them for the first and last time.

It also looks like I'm going solo to a concert. If it's awesome like the 1990s, I'm going to play "You're Supposed to Be My Friend" on repeat as I should have done after the 1990s themselves. But I never remember who I actually ask to come, so if you didn't know, here's your invite! ^-^

Editors/Hot Hot Heat Concert - 1/30

I'm completely drained and nearly deaf today after the concert at the Fine Line last night. The venue is a smaller version of First Avenue with classier floors giving the place a golden tint instead of seeming like a dark pit. My biggest qualm with this concert was the crowd. Normally, people keep to their place and move aside when someone passes through. The people around me were spot stealing vultures that moved every time you stepped slightly to the side to talk to your friend. As the night went on, the people crammed in closer as if the walls were closing in. Generally, it's nice of you to keep to your area and avoid too much jolting about so as you don't elbow strangers in the side when trying to mime things for your girlfriend. Since you can't generalize about such things, I didn't care that I bounced off everyone around me whilst grooving to the music for the rest of the night.

The three acts that night had a progression in themselves from grungy to clean cut. Nearly every member of Louis XIV had a greasy mullet going except for the two violinists. It was fitting for their hard rock tunes led by their drunken master (he took a swig from a bottle of wine after and sometimes during every song). One of the things that surprised me was the backup singer. He had his moments and his own songs and boy was he singing high up. His nasally singing received grand applause every time he sang solo, but sometimes unfortunately sounded like an alto chipmunk. All in all, they were an entertaining motley crew but I won't go searching for their next gig.

However, the other two bands I'd love to see again. They would both be from the UK.

Hot Hot Heat has the power pop/rock down. The entire set was a huge bundle of energy, pushed out by the band and sent back by the crowd. The lead constantly shuffled back and forth on the stage to sing to both sides. I thought he might swallow his mic because of how wide his mouth would open. I loved the feel of it all, but I couldn't help cringing when the singer threw back his head and a rainstorm of sweat would fly into the air. I'll just be ignoring that little factor. When the band left the stage, the drummer told some people in the crowd to come buy him a drink. Nothing like socializing over a pint.

Then there was the band I came to see: Editors. They were the nicely trimmed short hair group of the evening. I must say, some of their songs I didn't really care for. What I basically knew was I loved "Munich" and some of their other songs were okay too. Their sound live enhanced the originals beyond levels I imagined. I could pick out each part clearly without struggling, which might have attributed to my massive hearing loss that night. Many songs I never really listened to are now embedded in my brain. The Editor's lead looked like if you mixed Shia LaBeouf and younger Edward Norton, at least I think so even if Gretchen doesn't agree with me. It seemed as though he was pouring his soul into his music, so much so that he bent low over his piano sometimes to the point of collapsing. A bit awkward, but understandable. The Editors may have more mellow vocals but they brought the intensity and pace of HHH. The lights are obviously the coolest for the headliner, so the whole ambiance was brilliant. After the concert, my feelings about the band changed from "like" to "love".

There was one band that had a few mess-ups I found amusing, but it's been so long since the concert, I can't even remember who, what and when. It took me long enough to finish this post I began a week ago.

Checking In With the Locals

Found this comment on Hockey Night's MySpace:

"My god are you the most frustrating band on the planet?

Where the fuck are you? I NEEEEEED Hockey Night."

My feelings exactly. I can't even remember the last time I saw them (I do remember it was a bit lacking though). My iPod music changes relatively often when I get new tunes or get sick of tunes, but HN's For Guys' Eyes Only hasn't ever left. Of the 400 some songs currently on my iPod, it managed to be randomly shuffled back into my life.

Please come back soon, Hockey Night.


At least Roster McCabe is coming out of hibernation February 23. Missed Kubla Khan as they crept from the shadows for a few January shows. Of the many Hopefuls related bands, Kid Dakota is the only one with shows coming up of which there are several so I need to finally see them! I'm thinking Feb. 9 at the Triple Rock! ^-^

The Bird and the Bee Concert - 1/10

The Bird and the Bee were kindly welcomed by a full house at the Varsity Theater last night. The Varsity was looking chic with full carpeting, seven disco balls and little christmas trees tucked in corners. The crowd trickled in for the first hour to form what looked like a sell out show. The opening band sounded more like the recorded ambient music that played as people mingled instead of an in the flesh performance. I hardly remember much more than they played soft rock.

Another thirty minute wait though there was no mass set change needed and Bird and the Bee stepped out. Inara was the voice and the storyteller while Greg played the life out of his guitar and various keyboards. All the backup singing was prerecorded so just the two of them were there. Inara wore a fun pink, orange and white polka dot dress while Greg just had a casual black suit and white tie. The music was twisted enough to be different but not ruin their songs. At the end of Because, Greg pulled out a tiny keyboard that played notes that sounded amusingly like techno dog noises. They played one new song that's expected on a digital Valentine's Day EP. Keep your eyes peeled, it's worth a listen.

Between songs, Inara semi-awkardly told stories with swearing and an occasional flop ("that was a joke" she had to inform us). But she praised the audience enough to keep them happy when she told her weird stories. Minnesota is apparently colder than Canada. My favorite story was about her friend's shirts. The friend thought that if her shirts weren't worn in awhile they felt neglected. Poor shirts. In the end, they just spun around to pretend they had gone off stage and immediately followed with their encore.

Overall, The Bird and the Bee pleased. They could work on their stage presence, especially the quiet Greg (except when he was strumming that acoustic guitar!), but I'm sure they'll have another sell out next time they come around. My pictures and vid of the event are a pathetic blurry distant mess. We stood so far back we were five steps from the merch table. I like it back there many times, particularly when it's a newish band to me or I want to see the whole stage. Plenty of heads were in the way, but we all enjoyed our time squeezed in the Varsity. I found myself wishing for Mates of State seeing the duo up on stage. I hope they'll be touring around by fall since they're recording a new album with Jim Eno. But who knows with their brand new kid (congrats to them).


Inara and Greg in shake-o-cam


Inara on bass


Greg; I thought it was cool how he seemed like the only thing in it.

My friends at home in Louisiana and I decided that instead of exchanging Christmas presents this year, we would instead exchange mix CDs. I was pretty excited about this plan, as I kind of tend to be a fan of imposing my musical tastes on other people. Oh, and acquiring lots of new music from my friends with very little effort has been pretty great as well.

Before I listened to the CD that one of my friends had made, she told me that a couple of the songs were by a band that had actually played in my hometown last summer. They're called Them Who Must Not Be Named and, as their name suggests, they mostly sing about things relating to Harry Potter.

From what I've heard, their story is something like this: The three or four members of the band met at a release party for the sixth Harry Potter book, and they decided that they should form a band. Even though they don't even all live in the area, between the release of the sixth and seventh Harry Potter books they managed to scrape together something like five songs for a CD, then performed them at a local release party for the seventh book. That was really all they wanted to do and, having served their purpose, they disbanded immediately after.

All of this didn't really make me believe that this band would be terribly worth listening to. The list of Bands Who Have Played In My Hometown is very unimpressive, both in length and in content, and while bands like Harry and the Potters or Draco and the Malfoys can entertain me for a little while, it's hard for me to take them entirely seriously. But in the course of listening to the CD my friend made, I of course listened to Them Who Must Not Be Named. And contrary to my snobbish expectations, they are actually good.

I realize that it's hard to say that a band is Good when they only have five known songs and when I've only heard three of them. But what I mean is that they have a good sound, something of a mix of Rilo Kiley and Tilly and the Wall and something a little different. They're cute and happy, and their somewhat unpolished sound seems intentional (think Sunny Day Real Estate) rather than due to the things that are certainly actually to blame (lack of funds and such). My friend mislabeled the track listing for her CD and completely left one of their songs off of it. I listened to the mysterious unlabeled track on the CD a few times before I asked my friend what it was and had absolutely no idea that it was by them. No joke. They sound that much like a Real Band.

All in all the band's songs were a pleasant surprise and I wish there were more of them. I'm not saying that everyone should rush out and listen to them, because I honestly don't know where they would exist outside of a bookstore in Bossier City, Louisiana in July of 2007. It's just that they came together so randomly, and very likely didn't take their little project seriously, but then they actually did something impressive. I can't help but wonder what might have happened had these people come together for more than five songs and one night, or how many other little groups are out there who truly have the potential to do something but, for whatever reason, either don't want to or can't make themselves heard past a small community. Of course there is the possibility that a band like Them Who Must Not Be Named would lose its momentum after five songs and fall into the Okay category, but really, who knows? Apparently nobody, because they're already over. But it's interesting to speculate.

In high school my Very Smart friend gave me a CD he'd made entitled "Unsigned Bands" and told me that I would probably only like about seven of the songs on it. He was exactly right, as it turned out. I told him so and said that some bands are unsigned for a reason. But, I'm realizing, not all of them.