Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A short list of end of year lists

Hey folks here's a short list a end of the year lists, by no means all inclusive but it will get you started.


Rollo & Grady

Ultra 8201

NPR

Spinner

Indie Rock Cafe

Austin Town Hall

Hearya

From here you are bound to find some great new music you have not heard yet.   All the best and have happy and prosperous New Year.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

A great rock album Candidate Waltz Centromatic

  What can you say about an album of solid material done well and played with soul?  Self-described as a meat and potatoes rock and roll record, Candidate Waltz is just song after song of good ol' rock.  You feel that same sort of yearning and earnest desire that rock, from it's R&B and country roots, is built upon.  Nothing pretentious or overly striving here and that is its beauty.  Will Johnson and company have taken the material and sound of rock from the last decade and effortlessly put together a record where song after song keeps you happy.  I find myself humming the hooks and rocking to riffs in my head long after I have listened.  An album making the rounds of best of the year lists, go ahead and get it now because it will only be a matter of months before another musical creation will emanate from the mind of Will Johnson and fight for space in your listening queue.  Centro-matic





Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Spoon A review in the rear view

"I got nothing to lose but darkness and shadows"

 Brit Daniel is a true musical futurist.  Any fan of Austin's seminal indie rock band can tell you, like wine it is really better with age.  You get the album initially and there are a few songs that will jump out but for some reason you can't quite get into it.  Come back a year later and it sounds fresh and on point.  Their last effort "Transference" is no exception. An album mixed with i pod ear buds in mind.  Sounds from no where invade pop structures, attempting to unsettle you, mirroring the lyrical content.   Wading through the myriad of sound you can get lost in the background.  It mirrors the world in which we find ourselves where screens are within screens and you can receive several emails, texts and phone calls at a given moment.  There is an unsettling feeling running through the album, voices telling you other things underneath, phrases and instruments cut off unexpectedly like a call with bad reception.  The thing is you don't notice it at first, everything seems normal.



The album begin with "Before Destruction" and we are left to wonder if the destruction being spoken of is whole scale or personal. "The Mystery Zone"could be about life after college; "All of the people you used to run into, but never do now," when everyone has retreated into the refuge of suburbia all weird for it's lack of weird.  The frustration in the voice in "Written in Reverse" could be seen as the counter to John Lennon's "Don't Let Me Down"  except the writer has been let down.   From this point things take a slightly different turn, the background noise is turned down and the songs move straight ahead.  "I Saw the Light"  attempts to make sense, at least until end, at which point the instruments goes someplace else.  "Trouble Comes Running" rocks us forward into the quiet reflections of "Good night Laura" and "Out Go the Lights".  All this leads to rock and roll super song "Got Nuffin", an anthem of positiveness to fight off the gloom. We then return back to the disorientation with the discombobulating sonic array of "Nobody Gets Me But You".
         As ever, Spoon is subtle in it's attack and multiple listens are required to really appreciate the understated genius of the work.  In this post-CD age, we are blessed that the music never goes out of stock and we can rediscover what we may have missed the first time around.  Check out their website Spoon for some free downloads and other Spoon related news.
Downloads and video.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Repost The Hear ya Review of Delta Spirit History from Below

In celebration of the new Delta Spirit album coming out this March here is a link to a review from Hear ya.
I did not know that this album was inspired by the Howard Zinn novel "A Peoples History of the United States."  For those that like pictures with their words, there is a graphic novel of the same book.  Makes for some interesting reading, especially if you ever wonder why there is a big gap in US History text books  between the civil war and World War I.  I'm not saying, I'm just saying.