Music Spiel

Noah and the Whale

By admin | Published 24 January, 2012

Noah and the Whale is an indie folk band from Twickenham, London, England, formed in 2006. The group consist of Charle Fink (vocals/guitar/ukelele), Tom Hobden (fiddle/keys), Matt “Urby Whale” Owens (bass guitar), Fred Abbott (guitar/ keys), and Michael Petulla (drums). Their sound is often compared to that of Neutral Milk Hotel and Bonnie “Prince” Billy , no doubt two of the bands biggest influences. The band cites folk and punk as their biggest influences. The band are also avowed fans of the film The Squid and The Whale (which was the partial inspiration for the band’s name), and film director Wes Anderson.

In 2008, after a few singles, ther band released their debut album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. It went to #5 on the British Album Charts and eanred many great reviews. Up until the release of the album, the band was joined by Laura Marling as a back-up vocalist, but since she has fledging solo career, she had to leave the band shortly after the release of Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down.

Hurt but undaunted, the band began work on their second album in 2009 with an entirely different approach. Their second album, the First Days of Spring, does not contain any female back-up vocals, a response to Marling’s departure from the band. The album was released in late August 2009, a little over a year since the release of their debut album. It further cemented the band’s career, selling well and earning positive reviews.

Their most recent album, Last Night on Earth, was released in March 2011, selling well due to the strength of the single “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” which peaked at #14 on the UK Singles Charts. The album propelled to the UK Top Ten, and is even experiencing modest chart success in the US, peaking at #135. The album has gone Gold in the UK.

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Alexandra Stan

By admin | Published 19 January, 2012

Alexandra Stan is currently the most successful solo artist in her native Romania. Born on 10 June, 1989, shortly before the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu, she studied music at the Traian Lyceum in her hometown of Constanta, and is currently pursuing her education at the Faculty of Management Andrei Saguna. She is pursuing a degree in International Relations and Law.

In the meantime, she is also actively pursuing a career in music. In 2009, she released her first single “Lollipop,” which sampled “Fergilicious” by Fergie, Her second single, “Mr. Saxobeat,” topped the charts in her native Romania, and has made headway in other parts of Europe, even reaching #6 in France. Her first album was released worldwide in September on Ultra Records, entitled Saxobeats, with “Mr. Saxobeat” going platinum in Italy and her YouTube videos earning millions of views. It is due to be released in the US at the end of October and has yet to have a release date in the United Kingdom. “Mr. Saxobeat” was also the first Romanian language single to top the singles chart in Germany since 2004’s “Dragostea din tei” by Moldovan act O-Zone.

There is also another single released from the record, entitled “Get Back (ASAP),” which is making the rounds on the charts internationally. It has peaked at #4 in her native Romania, and has charted in other countries, such as France (where it peaked at #18), Slovakia, Czech Republic and Belgium. The single has yet to be released in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

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So This Is The New Year….

By Kyle | Published 2 January, 2012

The Mayans are predicting that 2012 is going to be the end of the world. I really hope this is not true. I hope that it’ll be a new beginning for me and for the world in many different ways. I plan to accomplish a lot, and I have some things I hope come into fruition.

-I hope to keep blogging about music

-I hope to write music and start a music project this year

-I hope to start that Album Review website I’ve been saying I’m gonna do since 10 years ago but never got to.

-I hope 2012 is a better year for music

-I hope Mission of Burma releases a good album this year. Their last one (2009′s The Sound The Speed The Light) disappointed me.

-I hope Radiohead releases a better album this year (or soon) than The King of Limbs; It really was their worst album since Pablo Honey

-I hope Lady Gaga goes away

-I hope Kevin Shields gets off his lazy ass and finishes the new My Bloody Valentine

-I hope I get to go to some awesome shows this year

-I hope the second season of Portlandia is as great as the first one

-I hope Soundgarden’s new album is worth the wait. Their most recent tour certainly was.

-I hope to find happiness inside myself this year

-I hope I don’t lose focus

-I hope none of the guys in the GOP field become president

-I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams

-I hope…

POSTSCRIPT:

…And another great thing about 2011 was the Iraq War ending. Until the next war…

This Heat – “Cenotaph”

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Songs That Got Me Through 2011

By Kyle | Published 2 January, 2012

Not gonna lie, this year for the most part sucked. Aside from a week in Seattle that changed my life forever, the other 51 weeks were mostly shit. And to top it off, 2 days before New Years, my iPod got stolen, with me starting off 2012 going into debt, when I’m trying to get out of debt, to get a new one. A nice way to polish off 2011. And after a decent holiday season too.

I did discover some great music though. And it got me through those hard times. Here are 5 of the songs that helped me survive 2011.

1. Christian Death – “Cavity (First Communion)”

Early 80s death rock. Bauhaus meets LA trash. The opening track to their 1982 album, Only Theatre of Pain, contains some bitchin’ guitar lines and the distressed vocals of Rozz Williams, got me through a shitty February. Emo kids, eat your heart out!

#2. The Dismemberment Plan – “The City”

A song about not feeling right in the particular city you live in, in this song’s case Washington D.C. Few lyrics have resonated with me as much as “This is where I live/I’ve never felt less than home.” Here’s hoping me moving cross-country will change that sentiment.

#3. Barfly – “DSM IV”

Support your local scene!

A rousing doom metal track from my favorite defunct local band (New Haven, CT representin’!) Barfly. My former band played a show with them (the same night as this video was taken), and made friends with them. They put out a 4 song EP, entitled Ambition Handicapped By Laziness, which was awesome, and “DSM IV” was the highlight for me. Two of the band members are in a hardcore band called Heavy Breath, which is also great, and the drummer moved to Chicago and has a whole shitload of music projects going.

#4. Chavez – “You Faded”

Underrated 90s Chicago band that I got into this year. My favorite song by them. Aggressive yet emotive as good alternative/indie should be! A good song to listen to when you’re pissed and on the road.

#5. Boris – “Feedbacker”

2010/2011 was the year I really got into drone/doom metal: Earth, Sunn O))), Boris, Sleep, etc. Boris, particularly, struck a major chord with me because a lot of their music just flows the way I need it to, in my opinion. Feedbacker is my favorite Boris record. Definitely a good record to drift off to when you’re feeling down.

“Feedbacker Part 2″

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2011 Roundup Part 4: The “WTF” Moments of 2011

By Kyle | Published 1 January, 2012

I explained the good of the 2011 and the bad of 2011, and now i’m going to get to the ugly.

*Cue in the theme to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly!*

Seriously, though, 2011 was filled with some moments that made me scratch my head so hard my scalp constantly was bleeding. Some of them ranged from funnier moments of 2011 to moments that just flat out infuriated me. So here goes.

#1. Lulu

I went on an epic rant about this around the time this was released back in October, and I still can’t get the horrid taste of Lulu out of my mouth! For both Metallica and Lou Reed, this was the ultimate way to fuck with their fans, even if they had been fucking with their fans for years now.

#2. Born This Way

Yeah, fuck Lady Gaga. “Born This Way” is a direct ripoff of “Express Yourself” with a pretentious video that makes “November Rain” look like “Bastards of Young,” and now she’s bigger than ever. To the record buying masses: She is not unique. She’s not doing anything that Grace Jones or Siouxie Sioux did already. Her songs are mostly disposable Top 40 horseshit, and she’s laughing all the way to the bank.

And this song is a gay pride anthem! I have nothing but support for the homosexual community. I have donated money to a few LGBT causes, signed petitions for the legalization of gay marriages and I have a few gay friends, but I think the Westboro Baptist Church’s parody of “Poker Face” would be a better gay pride song than this sack of horseshit.

Oh, I’m sorry. That was a bit too harsh.

"This is so deep! Bjork so ripped her off!"

#3. Zoo Kid changing his name to King Krule

I dig Archy Marshall’s music, and “Out Getting Ribs” is one of the most real singles I’ve heard in the past 10 years. But he recently changed his moniker from Zoo Kid to King Krule. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, except that I really liked the name Zoo Kid, and King Krule sounds like a huge donut. Maybe Divine was eating a King Krule in Female Trouble

“Out Getting Ribs”

#4. Foo Fighters v. The Westboro Baptist Church

Speaking of the Westboro Baptist Church…

The Foo Fighters somehow pissed them off, which really isn’t hard, prompting the clan of probably inbred brainwashed Calvinists to protest their show in Kansas City, MO. However, in probably the coolest move ever, the band came out to counterprotest. Only they dressed up like truckers and played the country parody song “Keep It Clean,” much to the delight of their fans and the confusion of the WBC. A “WTF” moment that had you laughing the way you do when a friend pulls a prank, or if someone surprises you.

In short, Dave Grohl is the coolest motherfucker alive.

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2011 Roundup Part 3: The Biggest Bummers of 2011

By Kyle | Published 1 January, 2012

As 2011 was a great year for music, it also contained some disappointments and sad moments.

#1. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore splitting:

I think I’ve whined about this enough. But listening to Sonic Youth just ain’t the same now.

The “Dirty Boots” video seems less like an early 90s underground dream but a sad, nostalgic trip of a bygone era where nothing will ever be this cool again…

#2. Fucked Up – David Comes To Life

Fucked Up’s last LP, The Chemistry of Common Life, was a fantastic album. David Comes to Life was kind of boring. My friend Tobey disparagingly called it David Watches Paint Dry. Perhaps it’ll grown on me if I ever want to listen to it again.

#3. The Cure not being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame;

You've made Robert Smith sad.... very sad

Despite being nominated, I guess the R&R Hall of Fame committee decided that the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Donovan and Guns N’ Roses were more important. And let’s not list the countless other acts that deserve to be in but aren’t.

Maybe next year?

“A Forest”

#4. Coasting – You’re Never Going Back

Great band, good album, but they didn’t need to rerecord some of their songs, such as “Kids” (one of my favorite songs ever), and “Same Old Same Old.” They stripped the reverb off those tracks, and the album just sounds dry. It’s a shame.

“Kids” (the superior 2010 single version)

#5. Album reissues:

Because I’m now old enough that Nevermind has gotten the 20th (!!!!) anniversary treatment, and Smashing Pumpkins’ best stuff was released well over 15 years ago. Feels like yesterday I was 12 and rocking out to those albums. Time sucks.

Nirvana – “Aneurysm” (Live, MTV studios 1992 – I wish I was at this!)