More Reason To Live In Sweden: The Legends

They've got beautiful scenery, beautiful women, a high standard of living; they even have ABBA for Christ's sake. Well, now they've got another one, The Legends, and let me tell you, these guys are good.

On the whole, I'm usually fairly skeptical of bands from foreign countries. Call it unreasonable, call it xenophobia, call it what you will, but sometimes the singing is just too wierd to take seriously, and the lyrics generally lack complexity (although this last part goes for plenty of American/British bands as well). Whatever the case may be, it takes a little more for a foreign band to earn my respect, I won't lie.

Now, enter the Legends. They've been around for only 3 years, forming in early 2003. They already have 2 albums out, and from what I've been able to hear from them (thanks to MySpace), they're nothing short of incredible. While their vocals are distinctly European, it in no way is distracting. The effect on the vocals which seems to be used often is again, not distracting as one would imagine it would be, but only accentuates the music being played. The music is sufficiently complex as to keep ones attention, but songwriter/guitarist Johan Angergard found the formula to keep the songs confoundedly simple and catchy all the same. I just regret that, being poor, I'll most likely never hear an entire album of theirs.

As a side note, Johan and his brother, Niklas, are collectively in four other bands, The Acid House Kings, Club 8, Red Sleeping Beauty, and Poprace, however, The Acid House Kings and Club 8 seem to be the only active ones besides the Legends. The Acid House Kings (Johan and Niklas) is much slower and sort of retro-pop oriented. They do site Burt Bacharach as an influence, as a matter of fact. Club 8, featuring only Johan and a mystery woman Karolina Komstedt is fragile, minamalist pop, with Karolina pulling most of the vocal duties. They pull the venture off excellently.

Anyway... take a listen for yourself.

The MySpaces:

The Legends
Club 8 I
Club 8 II
The Acid House Kings

The Websites:

Club 8
The Acid House Kings

The Label:

Labrador

Last Weekend's Photos

Hey there loyal readers,

Sorry about the delay, I had some camera troubles. However, they are most certainly worth the wait. Here are some samples, and if you download the full collection, you get a free WAS/Oxford Collapse video!







Download The Sheezy

Shy Child
Oxford Collapse
We Are Scientists
ODAWAS (I think this is them)
Alex Delivery
Die Romantik
My Best Friend
Diane Cluck
Clogs
Bell Orchestre

Fridays Bring Progress, But They Can't Bring Colin Back

Well... for post #3 for today (more than I have all week, sorry about that), I'm going to bitch and moan over the fact that I missed Colin Meloy playing solo yesterday at Town Hall. BV seemed to like the show. It's reported there that Lou Reed, Sufjan Stevens, and maybe even David Bowie all went. Just imagine getting to your seat, and you're inbetween David Bowie and Lou Reed. Although, they probably don't have seats. I would imagine that they just sorta hover in a spot where no one can reach them. Unfortunately, I had Econ, and lack paper money, so I couldn't attend. I guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow like everyone else for when NPR airs the Virginia show. Ah well, nothing more that I can do except wait for readers to comment on how much fun they had (at least I can rest easy, as we don't have any readers, and thus, no mocking will take place).

The Decemberists
NPR
Brooklyn Vegan (maybe I'll be one soon... who knows?)

So, as many of you can tell, this site hasn't traditionally been a record review site. I'm going to make my best effort, and my best use of a thesaurus, and start. I have a few treats for all of you that I've been considering, and the Bishop Allen EP's will doubtlessly be talked about as well. Look forward to it.

Grandaddy's Dead...

According to Pitchfork, the answer to Grandaddy's post of "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." in their tour section has been answered. They're gone. One more album, and no tour. Another one I've missed out on. Damn. And to think that just yesterday I practically listened to their discography and was wondering if they were going to tour. It looks like some cruel man in the sky was toying with me. I'm sad.

Grandaddy
Pitchfuck
Perry Bible Fellowship

The Weekend Last

Now that all my work is squared away... here it goes.

Last Saturday was supposed to come with two shows, one in the afternoon, one in the evening. It didn't. Allow me to explain.

The new talk of the Norwegian scene, Serena Maneesh, were supposed to play a show, pro bono, at Soundfix records. They showed up, but without equiptment. And thus our little venture into Brooklyn was nearly a bust (I did buy The Wall and Wish You Were Here on vinyl at a different record store, so all was not lost). I was fairly disappointed that the show was cancelled, but the world continued to turn, and time was a-wastin'. There was of course little chance that we would get into the sold out Mercury Lounge show later that night, seeing as neither of us are 21.

Later that night, Ross and I, with nothing to do, we decided to go to a show where bands we've never heard of were playing. It took a bit to get there; it was in a fairly shady area of Brooklyn, at the Syrup Room. It's fortunate that I knew the exact address of the venue, as the only thing that clued one in about the venue was a door with a "100" marked on it. The pseudo-venue itself was no more than an industrial garage, from what it seemed. It was outfitted with a makeshift bar and even more makeshift bathrooms.

The first act was a band called ODAWAS, were good, but nothing earth shattering. The three-piece consisted of a guitarist/vocalist/harmonica, a drummer, and a keyboardist who didn't seem to fit with the others. It seems he was a fill in, as the vocalist was always telling him the key. Their songs tended toward the melancholy, and didn't deviate from it much at all. The harmonica was a very nice touch though.

Next were Alex Delivery. They specialized in the kind of noise that is getting big these days. I must say, I'm not much a fan. Some of the songs did add some slow pop elements, which was nice, but on the whole, it was swallowed by unintelligible noise. They relied too much on a laptop, which played loops of sounds in the background of every song. Interestingly enough, the two bassist/guitarists both played a six string bass, and when they played guitar, they played it like a bass, i.e. let the fingers do the walking style. It was pretty odd to see and hear. On the last song the female vocalist/odds and ends percusionist played a cymbal with a violin bow. I couldn't believe my eyes when she began rosining the cymbal up before the song. Again, it was hard to distinguish the noise from the cymbal and various feedback noises.

Finally came the band on which I had done a little research on, Die Romantik (pronounced "dee," not "die"... it's a German thing... trust me). Their work online had been interesting, nothing particularly special, but interesting none the less. I've come to the realization long ago that it's a terrible idea to base your approval of a band entirely on recordings. Anyway, they took the stage all dolled up in full suits (the drummer's was impressive, blue crushed velvet, with a matching vest. Surely I was jealous). They went through their set, generally alternating between songs in French and those in English, and were excellent. They spiced up the whole set with songs of differing moods perfectly, and the entire time I was nothing less than amazed. This is a band I will definitely see again.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the set of the last band, My Best Friend. It had to do with sleeping arrangements, the fact that we were in the heart of Brooklyn, and it was nearly 1:30 in the morning. They seem to be moving up in the world of indie, being featured on Oh My Rockness!, and it may be worth checking them out again.

* * * * *

The next day went by fairly slowly. I didn't leave the room in which I slept until two hours before the Bell Orchestre show. At Bowery, they had a really cool looking spray-painted sign outside that said something in French.

Ross and I got very good spots up at the front for the show, and we were in for a treat: a kind of show we hardly ever go to, a slow, relaxed one. Diane Cluck was opening, and she was amazing. There was something about her and her music that seemed very familiar. She used her acoustic guitar and spectacular voice to bring to life some beautifully crafted songs. She was, as she noted, the only person to put forth lyrics all night (with the exception of one Clogs song), and they were a nice interlude into the two upcoming bands.

Clogs came on next, with a guitarist, drummer, violinist, and bassoonist. I had been a bit skeptical as to how well Bryce Dessner of the National would pull of this whole orchestral sort of feel, but it worked quite well. He was far from the lead role on stage; that privilege went to
the violinist. He was all over the place and full of energy. They went through a multitude of songs, with the keyboardist and drummer usually switching from instrument to instrument. There was a vibraphone, mandolins, and even a steel drum. On the whole, I was very impressed, they more than kept my interest through the whole set.

Finally, to finish up my entire weekend (and this behemoth of a post), Bell Orchestre filed on stage, all in white, with little lights under wristbands and one on various places on their shirts. Their set, like the others, was simply amazing. I never would have guessed that a band with no vocalist could be so fun to listen to and watch. Toward the end of the set, Bryce from Clogs came back on his Les Paul. Unfortunately, he was having difficulties with his pedals most of the time and didn't come in toward the end of the song. He was able to stay collected, even though he seemed in a very frustrating situation.

And as soon as it seemed to be begining, the weekend was over, and I knew I had to go back to school, catch up on work, and finally get around to this damn thing.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Dan Fetherston of the Oxford Collapse was at Soundfix for the show that didn't happen/to hang out. Ross was wearing the Oxford Collapse shirt he bought at Maxwell's, and we got a good comment on it. Later on, while looking for the Syrup Room, we saw Michael Tapper walking down Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg with a small entourage. It was pretty wierd.

The Links:

Serena Maneesh
Die Romantik
My Best Friend
Diane Cluck
Clogs
Bell Orchestre

Burnin' Down The House

Alright. This has gone a little too long. Forgive me, having had not weekend for homework, I'm struggling to catch up again.

Last weekend saw SOT going to various shows, as you can see in the post below (except for Serena Maneesh, but more on that later). I'll be doing a 3-day installment for all three days. First of which being this.

Last Friday saw a fair amount of people going to what I would venture to say will be one of We Are Scientists last small shows they will ever play. Fortunately, we were able to get in to the sold out show (Keith snuck us on the guest list), and we met the first people at a show who knew about this blog. Uh... w00t? There were also the first sign of swooning adolescent girls with homemade shirts with "i <3 Keith" on the back. But more on them on a later date as well. Now to the important part, the show.

Opener: Shy Child.

At first, I was very intrigued by their set up. I mean they had a key-tar for Christ's sake. On the whole, the two member band (the aforementioned key-tar and drums) was fairly decent. At times their sound bordered too close to techno, however, and one song in particular was no more than a loop of the same lyrics and notes. Some songs were pretty entertaining, though, and it was if nothing else an interesting set.

The Oxford Collapse came on next. They played a slightly shorter set than I remembered at Bowery, but a good one. They covered "Proud Mary" by request; I had remembered they played it at Galapagos last summer. The set was similar to the Bowery one, intense as always, although with much less stamping, which has its pros and cons of course. The last song of their set was reminiscent of "sing-a-longs at Hebrew Camp," for which the Scientist's all came on stage and sang along.

After a short set change, We Are Scientists were up. Again, not much different from Bowery, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. They covered "Be My Baby" again, for which this time The Oxford Collapse came on with tambourines and sang along. Lots of fun. At one point, the Scientists' tour manager lept up on stage and started dancing around, of which we took incriminating photos at the prodding of Christian Owens. After a fair amount of their set had gone by, something utterly amazing happened. We Are Scientists, through sheer power of their rock, set a speaker ablaze. That's right. A speaker was too puny to withstand the barrage of angular guitar riffs to do anything else but spontaneously combust. Unfortunately, this tolled for a shortened set, as they were forced to end their set. After the show, Ross and I headed over to Manhattan for our next day of shenanigans.

We Are Scientists
The Oxford Collapse
Shy Child

Oh, and kudos to the bastard who stole my peacoat. Nothing like making a scrawny kid with no natural insulaiton freeze all weekend. Well done.

Venturing Again Into The Big City

We'll be gone for a few days folks; we'll be going to some shows and things. You will most assuredly be updated once we get back. For this weekend:

Tonight - WAS and Oxford Collapse at Maxwell's
Tomorrow - Serena Maneesh at Soundfix Records
The Sabbath - Bell Orchestre/Clogs at Bowery

Maybe we'll even throw in another one tomorrow, since the Serena Maneesh show is in the afternoon.

Wish us luck.

We Are Scientists
The Oxford Collapse
Serena Maneesh
Bell Orchestre
Clogs

Oh, and excited about the Bishop Allen news brought to light by YANP. Christian wasn't kidding when he said they were making EPs. I had assumed it meant lots of one EP, not an EP a month.

You Ain't No Picasso
Bishop Allen

Stuck NxNE

So, it seems that my spring break falls right on the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. Reading the full list of acts going to be performing is a bit too tempting. It seems doubtful that I'll be able to convince any member of my family to let me go, but Of Montreal, John Vanderslice, WAS, Belle & Sebastian, The New Pornographers, Man Man, The Velvet Teen, The Foxymorons, The Willowz, Apples in Stereo, Ted Leo, Kissing Tigers, The Go! Team,... I could go on all day. It's just a little too much to miss and not be regretful. Well, only time will tell what will happen.

SXSW

WAS/Bishop Allen/Oxford Collapse All At Bowery

To start off with, sorry this wasn't up earlier. Going back to school is a bitch, especially when they don't give you internet until the today.

Anyway, to the point, all those bands above played Bowery Ballroom. 'Twas amazing.

I have been We Are Scientist and Bishop Allen fans for a while now, and I was fortunate enough to see the Oxford Collapse play with them at the Galapagos back in July(?). So, when I saw that they were all playing at Bowery Ballroom, my heart skipped a beat. However, in my unmatched naivety, I assumed that it wouldn't sell out, and boy, was I wrong. This show was not to be missed though, and Ross and I went to Bowery day of to see if any extra tickets were released. There were, and the evening was wonderful. It was pretty surreal, Virgin people were putting up posters and whatnot. All really foreign.

Downstairs, the Scientists were bustling about, namely trying to pick up all the flyers saying they were going to be signing things after the show, so as no one would know about it, and they would save themselves the... I believe the term they used was "degradation." After a bit of that, some sort of manager informed them that Virgin would pull them from promotions if they didn't, at which I poked a bit of fun at Keith.

Upstairs, Ross and I got absolutely perfect spots, front and center. The first opener was the Kites. On the whole, I was unimpressed. The five piece was alright, but the songs seemed repetitious, and worse, all fairly similar. Now, I'm not saying they were bad, because they weren't. I've seen much worse openers. But it just seemed they were lacking that variation that would make them a little more interesting. On their behalf, Ross was a fan.

Next was the long awaited Bishop Allen set. I was slightly disappointed/really excited at the fact that they only played new songs. The new stuff is excellent, nothing less than I would expect from BA. They played a few that I knew, like "Last Chance America," and "Toast from Benefit Street," and a few that I didn't, but I was enthralled nonetheless. Their set always seem too short. Christian R. also let the audience know that they would be releasing an EP of new material some time soon. Oh man, the implications of Bishop Allen selling recorded material! I must get my dirty mitts on one of those. I'll be waiting for Clementines as well.

Oxford Collapse was next on the bill, and they didn't come to disappoint. Much rock and stamping about the stage was had. The new darlings of Pitchfork played a pretty solid set, although they didn't cover "Proud Mary" like they did at Galapagos. They're so good at keeping their songs clean while putting a ridiculous amount of energy into them all the same. They're really fun to see on stage. I'm looking forward to maybe seeing them and WAS again in Hoboken later this week.

By the time WAS took the stage, the place was packed. I longed for the days of old with the smaller venues; I felt like a sardine at Bowery. The set was outstanding, although there was no guitar throwing or any other ridiculous spectacles. They did, however, play their cover of "Be My Baby," which I watched with envy online when they played it at Paradiso in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, a shoving war broke out during "The Great Escape," at which I was extremely disappointed, but I should probably get used to it. After going through nearly their entire catalog (not including the old stuff of course), they guys came out for an encore of "This Means War." Oh, and Ross nabbed the setlist.

After the Scientists signed this, that, and Ross's chest, there was an afterparty to attend at Rothko's. Try as we might, we couldn't get in, or get snuck in, so we called it a night and head home (Next time we'll have to get those fake IDs).

We Are Scientists
Bishop Allen
The Oxford Collapse
The Kites

Save Me Ted!

So... Brooklyn Vegan posted my embarrassing story about the Ted Leo Save CBGB's show from this past summer. Pretty wierd. I'm glad everyone who left messages were sympathetic to my situation.

Anyway... Do you think this means I get those WAS tickets?

Brooklyn Vegan

Malkmus at Knitting Factory

Well... chalk this one up for just one more reason why I want to live in NYC.

According to Brooklyn Vegan, Stephen Malkmus played an all request opening act at the Rebecca Gates show last night at the Knitting Factory in New York. He played 6 Pavement songs. I need to find out about shows like these before they happen.

This show came shortly after SM played two shows in the Pacific Northwest with Sleater-Kinney, and one of my favorite bands Quasi. Perhaps more Malkmus will be in store in the near future. At least one could hope.

Brooklyn Vegan
Stephen Malkmus
Knitting Factory

By the way...

The prices for the B&S/New Pornographers shows are up. The venues are releasing the tickets somewhere between 10AM on January 12th and 12 noon on January 14th. Depending on your venue, you'll be spending somewhere between $26.50US and $35US. Get your credit cards ready!

Tour Dates/Prices via www.belleandsebastian.com

Have a peekee

I was wandering around the internet today when I came upon the Amazon entry for "The Life Pursuit", Belle & Sebastian's upcoming album. It doesn't have a track listing yet, but it does have the release date (February 7th, 2006) and what will become the cover art... It's salacious... So pre-order away!!

The Life Pursuit
Belle & Sebastian

OMG!

The dates are up for the New Pornographers and Belle & Sebastian shows. Clear your calendars for these dates. Sounds Of Thunder will make our appearance on the third, and maybe the second if we have enough time and money.

02-25 Toronto, Ontario - The Docks
02-26 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
02-27 Boston, MA - Avalon
02-28 Boston, MA - Avalon
03-02 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre
03-03 New York, NY - Nokia Theatre
03-04 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
03-05 Washington DC - 9:30 Club
03-06 Washington DC - 9:30 Club
03-08 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
03-09 Louisville, KY - Brown Theatre
03-10 Chicago, IL - Riviera
03-11 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre
03-12 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
03-14 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre
03-15 Austin, TX - Stubb's (SXSW)*#
03-18 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
03-19 Los Angeles, CA - Wiltern
03-21 San Francisco, CA - Concourse @ SF Design Center
03-23 Portland, OR - Roseland
03-24 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom #
03-25 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre

* with Cat Power, Mogwai, Pretty Girls Make Graves
# without New Pornographers

Twee pop will never be the same...

The New Pornographers
Belle & Sebastian

Pandora

What I have for you today is one of the reasons that I love the internet. You'll love it too if you like music. What you do is input a band or song name and this program will play songs from that band and other similar bands. It's a really good way to discover new bands that you will like. You may or may not have heard of this service before, and I know that it used to be bad, but they have recently added a good amount of indie bands. Give it a try, it's neat.

Pandora