Perfectopop's Best Albums of 2009:
#17 The Listening by LIGHTS
Canadian electropop darling LIGHTS (and winner of Canada's prestigious Juno award for Best New Artist) may claim to be from another galaxy, but her songs sound like they take place on a plant not to different form our own. If they truly are intergalactic, though, they must take place in the same dark but beautiful galaxy of auto-tuned beings that Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak took place on.
Yet LIGHTS' planet has an interesting mix of desolate cities and majestic natural areas. Songs like "Drive My Soul" and "February Air" are about trying to make a human connection in immense and impersonal cities, much like 808s. Despite all LIGHTS' pictures of herself posing with candy-colored ray guns (disclaimer: she totally did it before Lady Gaga and Beyonce), the album starts out with LIGHTS as a damsel in distress looking for a "Saviour" and somebody to drive her soul.
On the other hand, LIGHTS sings of nature as though it is a magical force that can rescue her from this isolation. Her song "River" is a prayer to a river. Conceptually, it's similar to Owl City's "Hello Seattle," whose last eight lines are like a prayer to the city. LIGHTS is frequently compared to Owl City, with good reason: both deal in a subdued style of electropop not often heard. And the fact that they're touring North America and Europe together can't hurt. (If I wasn't such a crazed Owl City fanatic, I probably would have compared her music to his instead of Kanye's, but I could write a whole 'nother post about how the world his music creates is much more magical yet similar to our own than hers... And don't even get me started on the subtle differences between Owl City and the Postal Service...) But I digress.
By the middle of the album, LIGHTS has made a human connection and spends her time comforting this guy, insisting that he shouldn't worry about her ("The Last Thing on Your Mind") and should face every situation with courage ("Lions!"). And in this world of isolation, LIGHTS eventually finds lots of people in similar situations. In "Face Up," she instructs this boyfriend to "Look at the people all around you/The way you feel is something everybody goes through."
Though none of the tracks are as dynamite as the cartoon weapons she loves to pose with, the album's only true dud is the treacly ballad "Pretend," whose sappy nostalgic lyrics sound especially bad with LIGHTS' weak and breathy voice. The album's timeline isn't perfect either, but if a few tracks were switched around, LIGHTS could weave a wonderful story about finding compassion and courage in a disconnected world remarkably similar to our own.
Showing posts with label lights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lights. Show all posts
Monday, January 4, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
'Tis the Season...
Ah, 'tis the season for generosity, sappy stories, and happy holiday tunes. In the holiday spirit, I'd like to point you toward some of the most generous music websites out there, and spread some heartwarming stories. (See yesterday's post about my Christmas playlist for more of the holiday tunes.)
First off, I'd love to give you all the gift of great holiday music, but Amazon's already playing Santa for me. In case you haven't heard, their 25 Days of Free promotion is giving out a free Christmas song every day. Today's release: Relient K's beautiful "I Celebrate the Day," one of their most moving songs about struggling to be close to Jesus.
If you're looking for something a little lighter, don't worry - you can still download the other 21 songs released earlier this month. I, of course, had to snatch of a copy of Lady Gaga's deliciously and disturbingly provocative "Christmas Tree" feat. her buddy Space Cowboy. As with all of her songs, her infamous advice to not listen, "just dance" certainly applies with this track.
The only problem with the Amazon giveaway is it works best when you download the songs with their free Amazon MP3 Downloader, and by "it works best," I mean it barely works at all. But rather than crappy software, I prefer to think of it as a daily exercise in meditation and self-restraint. By Christmas, you'll be ready to tackle those pesky plastic packages that can only be cut with knives, no sweat.
If Amazon's 22 free holiday songs aren't enough, you can download 25 free songs at Green Label Sound. No reindeer or baby Jesuses in this collection, but nothing says holiday excess like four versions of "Big Bills" by Flosstradamus. Still, I can't complain about free songs from Matt & Kim and Chromeo. (And okay, Flosstradamus is officially my new fave dance-pop duo.) Maybe I'll make a New Year's resolution to actually listen to all these remixes I just downloaded...
Oh, and for the truly tireless, if you can download those and still stand to download another free remix, LIGHTS is giving out a free download of the Spike Club Mix of her (minor) hit "Ice" to all members of her website. I highly recommend joining, not just because joining is free and lets you comment on all her pictures of her adorable self holding ginormous ninja swords, but also because she and Owl City appear to be Siamese twins when it comes to touring: she's opening for him on both his winter and spring North America tours and squeezing in a Europe tour with him in between. I feel reassured knowing that in case his email list, MySpace blog, and official Street Team don't alert me of one of his concert presales in time, her mailing list will :]
And speaking of their spring tour, you've heard Adam's sneaky presale announcement, right? April 22, Constitution Hall will def be where the party's at. Me and eight of my coolest friends already snatched up our tickets; I suggest you follow suit. I know I haven't gotten around to posting my review of his fall tour yet, but like everything he does, it was fairly magical.
Oh, and speaking of Owl City, Adam sparked a minor panic over his marital status when he tweeted "DING DONG! WEDDING BELLS!" on Friday. He's rumored to be dating Ann Monson (whose tweets he occasionally retweets), but sources relatively close to Adam reassured us crazy fangirls and boys that Adam's not tying the know anytime soon. Coincidentally, Skillet's guitarist Ben Kascia confirmed that Adam was just celebrating a friend's wedding when he tweeted that a friend of his, whose sister is dating Adam, got married on Saturday... It's a small world. A strange, small world.
One pop star did go off the market this weekend, of course: Kevin Jonas married his girlfriend Danielle DeLeasa on Saturday. Details on the "fairy-tale"-like ceremony here. [Be sure to notice the part about the faux-icicles at the New York ceremony. If they'd waited a day, they probably could have gotten a few icicles from Mother Nature, free of charge.] According to People magazine, when Kevin popped the question, Danielle responded "Yes, yes, yes like 500 times super fast in a row." Awww.
Looks like Kevin and Danielle won't be getting much of a honeymoon, though - the JoBros are slated to perform at the Walt Disney World Christmas Parade this Friday. Pity; they're some of the only pop stars I can think of who probably wait until the honeymoon.
Wait - this just in - Inspirational Story Alert!
If you love a good overcoming-adversity-to-sing-tear-jerking-ballads story, well, you probably already watched Charice Pempengco perform on Oprah. But in case you didn't, meet one of the most adorable Asian exports since Hello Kitty. During interviews, this Filipina singer looks like a harmless little ball of cuteness, but put her onstage and the girl can sing. Her unbelievably strong vocals have drawn rave reviews from everyone from David Foster to Josh Groban, who says she has one of the most beautiful voices he's heard in a long time. And to top it off, she's got a great inspirational story about being raised in the Philippines by a single mother. Her mother left with Charice and her brother after their father domestically abused them. After receiving only informal vocal lessons from her mother, she performed well on the American Idol-like singing competition Little Big Star. Her career didn't really take off, however, until videos of her singing reached YouTube. Since then, she's appeared on every talk show ever, as well as in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. I think her rendition of Alicia Keys' "No One," accompanied by the Chipettes, is sure to become a classic.
Here's a video of Charice performing her new single "Note to God" (sans rodents) on Oprah. And be sure to stay tuned for her adorable interview afterwards, in which she talks about her career, as well as her crushes on Justin Timberlake and Josh Groban. (Spoiler alert: Then Oprah gives everyone Xboxes.)
Also, check her out on David Archuleta's Christmas album singing a duet of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with him. Treacly Christmas song, American Idol's favorite teddy bear, and a girl whose voice is the only thing better than her back story? Sounds like a downright Christmas miracle.
And finally, before you head over to the fireplace or sip some hot chocolate, here's a video to put you in that warm-n-fuzzy mood. For a song questioning the substance of love in the light of his parents' divorce and his off-again on-again relationship with his girlfriend, NeverShoutNever's new video "What Is Love?" still manages to be incredibly heartwarming.
What Is Love?
nevershoutnever. (new song & video) | MySpace Music Videos
Happy Holidays!
First off, I'd love to give you all the gift of great holiday music, but Amazon's already playing Santa for me. In case you haven't heard, their 25 Days of Free promotion is giving out a free Christmas song every day. Today's release: Relient K's beautiful "I Celebrate the Day," one of their most moving songs about struggling to be close to Jesus.
If you're looking for something a little lighter, don't worry - you can still download the other 21 songs released earlier this month. I, of course, had to snatch of a copy of Lady Gaga's deliciously and disturbingly provocative "Christmas Tree" feat. her buddy Space Cowboy. As with all of her songs, her infamous advice to not listen, "just dance" certainly applies with this track.
The only problem with the Amazon giveaway is it works best when you download the songs with their free Amazon MP3 Downloader, and by "it works best," I mean it barely works at all. But rather than crappy software, I prefer to think of it as a daily exercise in meditation and self-restraint. By Christmas, you'll be ready to tackle those pesky plastic packages that can only be cut with knives, no sweat.
If Amazon's 22 free holiday songs aren't enough, you can download 25 free songs at Green Label Sound. No reindeer or baby Jesuses in this collection, but nothing says holiday excess like four versions of "Big Bills" by Flosstradamus. Still, I can't complain about free songs from Matt & Kim and Chromeo. (And okay, Flosstradamus is officially my new fave dance-pop duo.) Maybe I'll make a New Year's resolution to actually listen to all these remixes I just downloaded...
Oh, and for the truly tireless, if you can download those and still stand to download another free remix, LIGHTS is giving out a free download of the Spike Club Mix of her (minor) hit "Ice" to all members of her website. I highly recommend joining, not just because joining is free and lets you comment on all her pictures of her adorable self holding ginormous ninja swords, but also because she and Owl City appear to be Siamese twins when it comes to touring: she's opening for him on both his winter and spring North America tours and squeezing in a Europe tour with him in between. I feel reassured knowing that in case his email list, MySpace blog, and official Street Team don't alert me of one of his concert presales in time, her mailing list will :]
And speaking of their spring tour, you've heard Adam's sneaky presale announcement, right? April 22, Constitution Hall will def be where the party's at. Me and eight of my coolest friends already snatched up our tickets; I suggest you follow suit. I know I haven't gotten around to posting my review of his fall tour yet, but like everything he does, it was fairly magical.
Oh, and speaking of Owl City, Adam sparked a minor panic over his marital status when he tweeted "DING DONG! WEDDING BELLS!" on Friday. He's rumored to be dating Ann Monson (whose tweets he occasionally retweets), but sources relatively close to Adam reassured us crazy fangirls and boys that Adam's not tying the know anytime soon. Coincidentally, Skillet's guitarist Ben Kascia confirmed that Adam was just celebrating a friend's wedding when he tweeted that a friend of his, whose sister is dating Adam, got married on Saturday... It's a small world. A strange, small world.
One pop star did go off the market this weekend, of course: Kevin Jonas married his girlfriend Danielle DeLeasa on Saturday. Details on the "fairy-tale"-like ceremony here. [Be sure to notice the part about the faux-icicles at the New York ceremony. If they'd waited a day, they probably could have gotten a few icicles from Mother Nature, free of charge.] According to People magazine, when Kevin popped the question, Danielle responded "Yes, yes, yes like 500 times super fast in a row." Awww.
Looks like Kevin and Danielle won't be getting much of a honeymoon, though - the JoBros are slated to perform at the Walt Disney World Christmas Parade this Friday. Pity; they're some of the only pop stars I can think of who probably wait until the honeymoon.
Wait - this just in - Inspirational Story Alert!
If you love a good overcoming-adversity-to-sing-tear-jerking-ballads story, well, you probably already watched Charice Pempengco perform on Oprah. But in case you didn't, meet one of the most adorable Asian exports since Hello Kitty. During interviews, this Filipina singer looks like a harmless little ball of cuteness, but put her onstage and the girl can sing. Her unbelievably strong vocals have drawn rave reviews from everyone from David Foster to Josh Groban, who says she has one of the most beautiful voices he's heard in a long time. And to top it off, she's got a great inspirational story about being raised in the Philippines by a single mother. Her mother left with Charice and her brother after their father domestically abused them. After receiving only informal vocal lessons from her mother, she performed well on the American Idol-like singing competition Little Big Star. Her career didn't really take off, however, until videos of her singing reached YouTube. Since then, she's appeared on every talk show ever, as well as in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. I think her rendition of Alicia Keys' "No One," accompanied by the Chipettes, is sure to become a classic.
Here's a video of Charice performing her new single "Note to God" (sans rodents) on Oprah. And be sure to stay tuned for her adorable interview afterwards, in which she talks about her career, as well as her crushes on Justin Timberlake and Josh Groban. (Spoiler alert: Then Oprah gives everyone Xboxes.)
Also, check her out on David Archuleta's Christmas album singing a duet of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" with him. Treacly Christmas song, American Idol's favorite teddy bear, and a girl whose voice is the only thing better than her back story? Sounds like a downright Christmas miracle.
And finally, before you head over to the fireplace or sip some hot chocolate, here's a video to put you in that warm-n-fuzzy mood. For a song questioning the substance of love in the light of his parents' divorce and his off-again on-again relationship with his girlfriend, NeverShoutNever's new video "What Is Love?" still manages to be incredibly heartwarming.
What Is Love?
nevershoutnever. (new song & video) | MySpace Music Videos
Happy Holidays!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
More Tours to Fall For
(^Don't you love my rhyming skills? Door, chore, folklore...)
A lot has happened since I last posted fall tour info, and even though the days are getting darker earlier, the concert options are looking brighter than ever...
Didn't really want $100 seats for the Jonas Brothers World Tour this summer? Still remotely interested in checking out their protegee/Ken dolls, Honor Society? Honor Society will be playing a much more intimate show at Sonar, a Baltimore club the size of your closet in an area that will make the parents of many JoBros fans want to hop right back in their cars and take their kiddies to Port Discovery instead. But for the serious Honor Society fans, their show on Wednesday 9/30 should be the perfect antithesis to seeing them open for the JoBros. Get your $15 tickets here and wonder when the last time you could see the JoBros for that price was.
In case you didn't get tickets to Owl City's show this Saturday before they sold out, don't worry too much; there are other fish in the sea and birds in the electonica sky. Lights, often called Owl City's female counterpart (a moniker I completely disagree with, but whatever) is playing at Sonar on Saturday 10/3. Electronic indie trio Stars of Track & Field are opening. At Warped Tour, Lights performed one of the most awkward sets I ever seen (and I have seen Hottub, so I know awkward). There were over 150 people in the mosh, and I was one of the six who danced. The rest just stood there and gaped at her. I mean, she is certainly worthy of gaping at, but really, she's up there for half an hour; surely you can wrap your mind around her music within that time. Anyhow, when people have to shell out $12 for tickets, more than 4% of the crowd should dance. Get your tickets here.
Saturday 10/3 is actually a pretty huge night for Sonar, what with Geist's CD release party in the Talking Head Club and five bands playing a Sonar-sponsored event at Ottobar. Jay Reatard is headlining the Ottobar event, and if you're not the electropop type, his punk rock should provide some equally-electrifying entertainment for the night.
Is touring the East Coast every fall an annual tradition for Relient K? For the second year in a row, Relient K is coming to the area in October. Last year, I missed seeing them play at the 9:30 Club on a school night. This year, I'm going to miss seeing them play at the Recher Theater in Towson on a school night. Tuesday 10/6, to be specific. The same day they release their new album, which I'll talk more about later. Last year, their fall tour had a Halloween theme. This year, it's called "A Three-Hour Tour," so can we hope to see Matty T dressed up as Gilligan and Matty H as the Skipper? I think the guys would tell us there's always hope... More info on the tour with Barcelona and Copeland here.
Kate Voegele is coming to Rock & Roll Hotel on Friday 10/16 with Green River Ordinance. I saw the perpetually sunny Kate perform at Ram's Head a few years ago, and her on-stage exuberance matched only the love coming her diverse group of fans. Buy tickets here.
You might want to save your $16, though. The Friday after that, 10/23, though, mtvU brings out the big guns. Their inaugural Haloween-themed Ulalume fest will move in to the Merriwether Post Pavilion. Supporting acts Kid Cudi and Dead by Sunrise are sure to scare up a crowd before big-name headliners Paramore and AFI go in for the kill. With costume contests and other events that should put the "boo" in "booths" scattered around the pavilion grounds, this festival should be spooktacular. (Don't you love Halloween-themed puns?) Zip over to mtvu.com for all the details and ticket info. Hurry - I hear everyone's dying to get in (Oh gosh, I'm even making myself groan now...)
Give yourself a day off, then check out The Used at Sonar on Sunday 10/25. Or just go there instead of Ulalume because my incessant punnery has made you despise everything Halloween-related. (Sorry!) Get your tickets, along with a free song and uncensored music video, here.
Sunday 10/8, go to the Black Cat to get one last glimpse of local rocker-philanthropists Mae (buy a new song for $1 every month, and the money will buy materials for underfunded schools) before they jet off to Japan with Owl City. Or just for them to come home; they're only playing 3 shows in Japan. But still, isn't it so exciting when people tour Japan?
It's a pretty good season for electropop buffs: Pretty Lights is bringing his jazzy electronica to the 9:30 Club on Wednesday 11/18. Not to be confused with just plain Lights, Pretty Lights is actually not a pretty girl. (I think a name swap may be in order here.) He is actually producer Derek Vincent Smith, who brings a live drummer with him to live shows (as opposed to the dead drummers at... okay, I'll let it go). He also happens to be my newest favorite reason why electronic music is not all soulless, evil, and murdering other genres. To hear the instrumental beauty for yourself, download all three of his albums for the unbeatable price of free at his official site, give him a donation on his PayPal because, dude, you just three albums for free, then head over to his MySpace to leave a little more love and find some more info on his tour with Gramatik.
And last but definitely not least, Boys Like Girls is headlining one of the most exciting tours of the fall for the Fueled By Ramen crowd, supported by the dream team of Cobra Starship, The Maine, A Rocket to the Moon, and VersaEmerge. The only problem? It's not stopping in DC. But anyone who cares to travel a few hours to Philadelphia should be in for a treat on Saturday 11/21, when they play at Electric Factory. Tour dates & tickets here.
A lot has happened since I last posted fall tour info, and even though the days are getting darker earlier, the concert options are looking brighter than ever...
Didn't really want $100 seats for the Jonas Brothers World Tour this summer? Still remotely interested in checking out their protegee/Ken dolls, Honor Society? Honor Society will be playing a much more intimate show at Sonar, a Baltimore club the size of your closet in an area that will make the parents of many JoBros fans want to hop right back in their cars and take their kiddies to Port Discovery instead. But for the serious Honor Society fans, their show on Wednesday 9/30 should be the perfect antithesis to seeing them open for the JoBros. Get your $15 tickets here and wonder when the last time you could see the JoBros for that price was.
In case you didn't get tickets to Owl City's show this Saturday before they sold out, don't worry too much; there are other fish in the sea and birds in the electonica sky. Lights, often called Owl City's female counterpart (a moniker I completely disagree with, but whatever) is playing at Sonar on Saturday 10/3. Electronic indie trio Stars of Track & Field are opening. At Warped Tour, Lights performed one of the most awkward sets I ever seen (and I have seen Hottub, so I know awkward). There were over 150 people in the mosh, and I was one of the six who danced. The rest just stood there and gaped at her. I mean, she is certainly worthy of gaping at, but really, she's up there for half an hour; surely you can wrap your mind around her music within that time. Anyhow, when people have to shell out $12 for tickets, more than 4% of the crowd should dance. Get your tickets here.
Saturday 10/3 is actually a pretty huge night for Sonar, what with Geist's CD release party in the Talking Head Club and five bands playing a Sonar-sponsored event at Ottobar. Jay Reatard is headlining the Ottobar event, and if you're not the electropop type, his punk rock should provide some equally-electrifying entertainment for the night.
Is touring the East Coast every fall an annual tradition for Relient K? For the second year in a row, Relient K is coming to the area in October. Last year, I missed seeing them play at the 9:30 Club on a school night. This year, I'm going to miss seeing them play at the Recher Theater in Towson on a school night. Tuesday 10/6, to be specific. The same day they release their new album, which I'll talk more about later. Last year, their fall tour had a Halloween theme. This year, it's called "A Three-Hour Tour," so can we hope to see Matty T dressed up as Gilligan and Matty H as the Skipper? I think the guys would tell us there's always hope... More info on the tour with Barcelona and Copeland here.
Kate Voegele is coming to Rock & Roll Hotel on Friday 10/16 with Green River Ordinance. I saw the perpetually sunny Kate perform at Ram's Head a few years ago, and her on-stage exuberance matched only the love coming her diverse group of fans. Buy tickets here.
You might want to save your $16, though. The Friday after that, 10/23, though, mtvU brings out the big guns. Their inaugural Haloween-themed Ulalume fest will move in to the Merriwether Post Pavilion. Supporting acts Kid Cudi and Dead by Sunrise are sure to scare up a crowd before big-name headliners Paramore and AFI go in for the kill. With costume contests and other events that should put the "boo" in "booths" scattered around the pavilion grounds, this festival should be spooktacular. (Don't you love Halloween-themed puns?) Zip over to mtvu.com for all the details and ticket info. Hurry - I hear everyone's dying to get in (Oh gosh, I'm even making myself groan now...)
Give yourself a day off, then check out The Used at Sonar on Sunday 10/25. Or just go there instead of Ulalume because my incessant punnery has made you despise everything Halloween-related. (Sorry!) Get your tickets, along with a free song and uncensored music video, here.
Sunday 10/8, go to the Black Cat to get one last glimpse of local rocker-philanthropists Mae (buy a new song for $1 every month, and the money will buy materials for underfunded schools) before they jet off to Japan with Owl City. Or just for them to come home; they're only playing 3 shows in Japan. But still, isn't it so exciting when people tour Japan?
It's a pretty good season for electropop buffs: Pretty Lights is bringing his jazzy electronica to the 9:30 Club on Wednesday 11/18. Not to be confused with just plain Lights, Pretty Lights is actually not a pretty girl. (I think a name swap may be in order here.) He is actually producer Derek Vincent Smith, who brings a live drummer with him to live shows (as opposed to the dead drummers at... okay, I'll let it go). He also happens to be my newest favorite reason why electronic music is not all soulless, evil, and murdering other genres. To hear the instrumental beauty for yourself, download all three of his albums for the unbeatable price of free at his official site, give him a donation on his PayPal because, dude, you just three albums for free, then head over to his MySpace to leave a little more love and find some more info on his tour with Gramatik.
And last but definitely not least, Boys Like Girls is headlining one of the most exciting tours of the fall for the Fueled By Ramen crowd, supported by the dream team of Cobra Starship, The Maine, A Rocket to the Moon, and VersaEmerge. The only problem? It's not stopping in DC. But anyone who cares to travel a few hours to Philadelphia should be in for a treat on Saturday 11/21, when they play at Electric Factory. Tour dates & tickets here.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Concert Update! or, Want some PB&J?
I thought that huuuge list of upcoming concerts I posted a few weeks ago pretty much covered the entire spring season, but you learn something new every day, and the new thing I learned today was that Peter Bjorn & John are coming to the 9:30 club on May 2nd! (Oh, I also learned some stuff about drawing genetic family trees and the shell method of antidifferentiation, but Peter Bjorn & John are cooler.)
And if you did not rush to your calendar the minute you read May 2nd, I am here to tell you kids with curfews to rejoice because May 2nd is NOT A SCHOOL NIGHT!!! Yes, it is a Saturday. Hallelujah & all that jazz.
Chairlift will be opening for PB&J, and I actually stumbled across the concert on their MySpace, since it's not listed on 9:30 Club's website yet. (No ticket info yet either :/ )
[Note: When checkign out Chairlift's MySpace, skip rtight to the fifth song, "Bruises" cuz it's amazing.]
The 9:30 Club show appears to be the last show on PB&J's U.S. tour, making it either an extra-special treat or a subpar performance since their voices will be all worn out, depending on your perspective. I tend to agree with the latter, but there may be some special closing-night vibes I've never experienced, having never been to a show that was actually the last on the tour.
Then again, Secondhand Serenade didn't exactly seem pumped about the last show on his recent tour... Again, I swear I'll give you all the deets on our encounter later. This weekend. Promise.
Other concerts I wish I'd mentioned in the last concert post:
Cute is What We Aim For at Rams Head Live! tomorrow (um,yeah,hurry.)
Lights at Sonar on 2/24
Tapes n Tapes at Rock N Roll Hotel on 2/27 (NON-SCHOOL NIGHT ALERT!!!!)
The Click Five at World Cafe Live like once a week every week in March (yeah, that's actually in Philly, but they have like 4 shows there, so I think you could work something out)
Butch Walker at 9:30 Club on 3/21 (awesome producer who's worked with Bowling for Soup, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Simple Plan back when I actually liked them, The Academy Is... & a bunch of other great bands)
Then PB&J at 9:30 Club on 5/2. So, actually, not as many concerts as I thought... Maybe I should go back to thinking about that biology & calculus stuff I learned today...
And if you did not rush to your calendar the minute you read May 2nd, I am here to tell you kids with curfews to rejoice because May 2nd is NOT A SCHOOL NIGHT!!! Yes, it is a Saturday. Hallelujah & all that jazz.
Chairlift will be opening for PB&J, and I actually stumbled across the concert on their MySpace, since it's not listed on 9:30 Club's website yet. (No ticket info yet either :/ )
[Note: When checkign out Chairlift's MySpace, skip rtight to the fifth song, "Bruises" cuz it's amazing.]
The 9:30 Club show appears to be the last show on PB&J's U.S. tour, making it either an extra-special treat or a subpar performance since their voices will be all worn out, depending on your perspective. I tend to agree with the latter, but there may be some special closing-night vibes I've never experienced, having never been to a show that was actually the last on the tour.
Then again, Secondhand Serenade didn't exactly seem pumped about the last show on his recent tour... Again, I swear I'll give you all the deets on our encounter later. This weekend. Promise.
Other concerts I wish I'd mentioned in the last concert post:
Cute is What We Aim For at Rams Head Live! tomorrow (um,yeah,hurry.)
Lights at Sonar on 2/24
Tapes n Tapes at Rock N Roll Hotel on 2/27 (NON-SCHOOL NIGHT ALERT!!!!)
The Click Five at World Cafe Live like once a week every week in March (yeah, that's actually in Philly, but they have like 4 shows there, so I think you could work something out)
Butch Walker at 9:30 Club on 3/21 (awesome producer who's worked with Bowling for Soup, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Simple Plan back when I actually liked them, The Academy Is... & a bunch of other great bands)
Then PB&J at 9:30 Club on 5/2. So, actually, not as many concerts as I thought... Maybe I should go back to thinking about that biology & calculus stuff I learned today...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What Could Be Better than a Magical Bin of Free CDs?
Last Thursday, my friend and I ditched school for the afternoon to partake in a unique, exclusive educational opportunity to learn inside info about radio production and the music industry ( and yes, using this line will make Shindel let you out of class). We won tickets to "chill out" with Secondhand Serenade, and while this experience was more interesting (and educational!) than we ever expected, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you the story of my experience listening to the free CDs I picked up at the radio station.
LAME! you say. I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SECONDHAND SERENADE! To which I say, no, you really don't. But also, this story is not that lame. It is filled with fear, love, disappointment, and betrayal. Yeah, I could like make an action movie about me listening to CDs.
When my friend and I first arrived at the radio station (Hot 99.5), the receptionist waved us over to a group of couches where I learned why I am in love with radio stations: their reception areas have magical postal bins filled to the brims with FREE CDs!!!! *o*
Upon discovering that the CDs in the bins were free for the taking, I let out an exalted exclamation of "Sweet!" and dug through them like a pirate with a treasure chest.
It soon became clear that most of the discs weren't as gold as the signed singles decorating the walls of the reception area, but I soon found about 10 pieces of musical treasure buried in the chest.
The disc that stood out the most to me was one of the only ones not in a plastic jewel case. It was just an inauspicious 700 MB CD-RW from Staples with End State Let's Get Living! written on it in Sharpie, but what warmed my heart about it was an adorable picture of a castle and three clouds drawn on the disc. I absolutely loved the disc because it was hand-decorated. I mean, what if these End State guys hit it big soon and I'm one of the few people with a first edition, homemade, hand-decorated version of their first single??!
Sadly, I think End State (local band from Stafford, Virginia, fyi) has a long way to go before hitting it big... Their pop-punk instrumentals were great, but their lead singer left a bit to be desired. I'm totally cool with bands with poor vocalists (see Hellogoodbye and Millionaires), so I was okay with the vocals until he started screaming. I am not a huge screamo fan (except for the screams on "Admit It!!!" by Say Anything - gotta love it), so this was a bit of a turn-off. When he started creepily rasping something that sounded like "Lindsay, what are you doing?", I started wondering if there were any axe murderers in the area... Okay, it probably wasn't scary enough to freak a normal person out, but I just picked up this CD for free from a radio station; who knows what could be on it...
All in all, I can see why Hot 99.5 was giving it away for free. I would love to give it away for free. If I ever go back to Hot 99.5 headquarters, I may return it to its rightful place in the Magical Free Bin. Or maybe its rightful place is the trash...
So, after End State was a dead end, I decided to save my other spur-of-the-moment picks for sometime when the sun was shining and listen to something more on the safe side. And who's safer than acclaimed indie band Tokyo Police Club? "Tessellate" and "Your English is Good" aren't exactly anything you haven't heard before, but it was cool knowing that the CDs I got them from might actually have been popular enough to played on Hot 99.5... And I've never been a big enough fan of Tokyo Police Club to buy any of their music, but their nasaly Canadian voices sounded like heaven after creepy-raspy-screaming-off-key-NoVa guy. I actually listened to their songs three times in a row I was so glad they weren't some punk/screamo band. Then I realized that "Your English is Good" is not just good; it is amazing, and I totally should have bought it before this. But, I have it for free now, so it's all good ^^
Next two singles I checked out were "Graduation Day" and "Beating Heart Baby" by Head Automatica. Though repetitive, "Graduation Day" was pretty fun to listen to. "Beating Heart Baby" wasn't so fun, but my patience was wearing pretty thin by this point. I barely registered the next single I picked up, "Strange Times" by The Black Keys, except to note that their sound is a lot more hard rock and less cutesy indie than I previously thought.
After listening to "Your English is Good" again for the fifth time, I decided to call it a night and check out the rest of the CDs later, preferably when the sun was out so I would be sure no crappy NoVa punk bands would lead the axe murderers to me. The next day brought no sunlight (just a few weak snow flurries), but I felt safe enough to check out the CD with the best cover art, one whose title was simply "LIGHTS" but whose covers were decorated with colorful pictures of a girl and a gun... Yeah, the gun freaked me out a bit, but she was a really cool-looking girl...
When I opened the case, I realized there was no disc inside! Great cover art, some contact info, and a list of who wrote each song, but no disc! Feeling a bit dumb, I decided to go to the MySpace listed inside the cover to see what I was missing.
In contrast to End State's adorable album art and creepadelic songs, Lights had slightly creepy art and beautiful pop music. Her MySpace's tagline "To err is human; to forgive is interplanetary" clued me in to the fact that the guns were meant more for shooting fictitious aliens than like, actual people... Oh.
Turns out, Lights is the work of a Canadian chick (full bio in comic form here) who strongly reminds me of Skye Sweetnam (like, freakishly, like, wow) and will be performing at my fave sketchy Baltimore club Sonar next Tuesday (another unfortunately scheduled concert, but I recommend you go & tell her your supercool blogger friend adores her! ;) ) Her pleasant pop music isn't as bold as her album art, but its production is certainly as pretty as the EP's pink & purple cover. So now I am quite bummed because I will actually have to pay money for these songs. But I have no reason to be bummed; I discovered a supercool new Canadian chick & have a pretty decent story to tell about it!
Also, I may buy the album on pink vinyl, which will make it soooo much cooler...
Another single I picked up was +44's "155". The pleasant pop-punk song with its chorus of "Let's go down to the water" totally blows End State out of the water but is not quite good enough to keep the song afloat when compared to blink-182's stuff. Mark Hoppus, I expect better.
Having gone through all the CDs by bands I've actually heard of, I had to check out another pick based solely on cover art: The Becoming by After Midnight Project. Their album looked almost as dark as their name, but their first track, "Take Me Home," was still ten times more fun than any song by End State. Gee, I love having my standards lowered. These bands all sound so professional compared to End State... Sorry for the constant End State abuse. I still think the picture of the castle they drew was adorable... and... okay, that's the nicest thing I have to say about them...
AMP (love the abbrev) got a bit screamy on "The Real Thing." More metalheads should visit Hot 99.5; they'd get some great deals.
Third track "Digital Crush" reminded me of "Party in Your Bedroom" by Cash Cash in that both seem to be about guys who are enamored with girls who do dirty things to their webcams without explicitly saying that the girls do dirty things to their webcams. Sonically, of course, the songs are totally different - AMP is not exactly an electro-pop-punk boy band in highlighter yellow skinny jeans. But I wonder if their songs about love online are just a coincidence (especially since neither of them are exactly a big deal) or if they're an indication that we'll be hearing about more musicians' crushes on girls who make their own softcore porn... Then again, "I.M. Me" by Nikki/Brittney Cleary didn't exactly spawn a bunch of hits about AOL...
I think I'm going to listen to that song now. It was kind of hilarious when it was released; I can't wait to hear what it sounds like now that AIM has ttly been replaced by G-chat... Besides, "Words" and "The Becoming" are nothing special either.
TTYL
No time to spell
Oops, there goes that little bell
Bye, bye for now
BBFN
Ahahaha, that song was even more unbelievable than a magical bin of free CDs...
[In case you are not familiar with this glorious example of early-2000's pop songwriting, read these free scrolling lyrics:]
[Note: OMG I was lyk so ttly sad I could not find "I.M. Me" on Rhapsody or YouTube or ANYTHING, but after 3 pages of Google results, I found this crappy lil mp3 of it. Maybe it's just my computer, but I've only been able to hear about 30 seconds of music form it. Either way, I wanted you to have the link and the knowledge that it was not worth 10 minutes of searching for this obsolete little pop song. Crappy early-2000's pop is crappy early-2000's pop, no matter how innovatively tacky it seemed at the time.]
[Edit: JK! I managed to get about 2 more minutes of audio out of that crappy lil mp3, and "I.M. Me" is so horrible, it's fabulous. I recommend you listen to it for as long as your ears can stand. It is more hilarious than half the skits on SNL these days...]
LAME! you say. I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SECONDHAND SERENADE! To which I say, no, you really don't. But also, this story is not that lame. It is filled with fear, love, disappointment, and betrayal. Yeah, I could like make an action movie about me listening to CDs.
When my friend and I first arrived at the radio station (Hot 99.5), the receptionist waved us over to a group of couches where I learned why I am in love with radio stations: their reception areas have magical postal bins filled to the brims with FREE CDs!!!! *o*
Upon discovering that the CDs in the bins were free for the taking, I let out an exalted exclamation of "Sweet!" and dug through them like a pirate with a treasure chest.
It soon became clear that most of the discs weren't as gold as the signed singles decorating the walls of the reception area, but I soon found about 10 pieces of musical treasure buried in the chest.
The disc that stood out the most to me was one of the only ones not in a plastic jewel case. It was just an inauspicious 700 MB CD-RW from Staples with End State Let's Get Living! written on it in Sharpie, but what warmed my heart about it was an adorable picture of a castle and three clouds drawn on the disc. I absolutely loved the disc because it was hand-decorated. I mean, what if these End State guys hit it big soon and I'm one of the few people with a first edition, homemade, hand-decorated version of their first single??!
Sadly, I think End State (local band from Stafford, Virginia, fyi) has a long way to go before hitting it big... Their pop-punk instrumentals were great, but their lead singer left a bit to be desired. I'm totally cool with bands with poor vocalists (see Hellogoodbye and Millionaires), so I was okay with the vocals until he started screaming. I am not a huge screamo fan (except for the screams on "Admit It!!!" by Say Anything - gotta love it), so this was a bit of a turn-off. When he started creepily rasping something that sounded like "Lindsay, what are you doing?", I started wondering if there were any axe murderers in the area... Okay, it probably wasn't scary enough to freak a normal person out, but I just picked up this CD for free from a radio station; who knows what could be on it...
All in all, I can see why Hot 99.5 was giving it away for free. I would love to give it away for free. If I ever go back to Hot 99.5 headquarters, I may return it to its rightful place in the Magical Free Bin. Or maybe its rightful place is the trash...
So, after End State was a dead end, I decided to save my other spur-of-the-moment picks for sometime when the sun was shining and listen to something more on the safe side. And who's safer than acclaimed indie band Tokyo Police Club? "Tessellate" and "Your English is Good" aren't exactly anything you haven't heard before, but it was cool knowing that the CDs I got them from might actually have been popular enough to played on Hot 99.5... And I've never been a big enough fan of Tokyo Police Club to buy any of their music, but their nasaly Canadian voices sounded like heaven after creepy-raspy-screaming-off-key-NoVa guy. I actually listened to their songs three times in a row I was so glad they weren't some punk/screamo band. Then I realized that "Your English is Good" is not just good; it is amazing, and I totally should have bought it before this. But, I have it for free now, so it's all good ^^
Next two singles I checked out were "Graduation Day" and "Beating Heart Baby" by Head Automatica. Though repetitive, "Graduation Day" was pretty fun to listen to. "Beating Heart Baby" wasn't so fun, but my patience was wearing pretty thin by this point. I barely registered the next single I picked up, "Strange Times" by The Black Keys, except to note that their sound is a lot more hard rock and less cutesy indie than I previously thought.
After listening to "Your English is Good" again for the fifth time, I decided to call it a night and check out the rest of the CDs later, preferably when the sun was out so I would be sure no crappy NoVa punk bands would lead the axe murderers to me. The next day brought no sunlight (just a few weak snow flurries), but I felt safe enough to check out the CD with the best cover art, one whose title was simply "LIGHTS" but whose covers were decorated with colorful pictures of a girl and a gun... Yeah, the gun freaked me out a bit, but she was a really cool-looking girl...
When I opened the case, I realized there was no disc inside! Great cover art, some contact info, and a list of who wrote each song, but no disc! Feeling a bit dumb, I decided to go to the MySpace listed inside the cover to see what I was missing.
In contrast to End State's adorable album art and creepadelic songs, Lights had slightly creepy art and beautiful pop music. Her MySpace's tagline "To err is human; to forgive is interplanetary" clued me in to the fact that the guns were meant more for shooting fictitious aliens than like, actual people... Oh.
Turns out, Lights is the work of a Canadian chick (full bio in comic form here) who strongly reminds me of Skye Sweetnam (like, freakishly, like, wow) and will be performing at my fave sketchy Baltimore club Sonar next Tuesday (another unfortunately scheduled concert, but I recommend you go & tell her your supercool blogger friend adores her! ;) ) Her pleasant pop music isn't as bold as her album art, but its production is certainly as pretty as the EP's pink & purple cover. So now I am quite bummed because I will actually have to pay money for these songs. But I have no reason to be bummed; I discovered a supercool new Canadian chick & have a pretty decent story to tell about it!
Also, I may buy the album on pink vinyl, which will make it soooo much cooler...
Another single I picked up was +44's "155". The pleasant pop-punk song with its chorus of "Let's go down to the water" totally blows End State out of the water but is not quite good enough to keep the song afloat when compared to blink-182's stuff. Mark Hoppus, I expect better.
Having gone through all the CDs by bands I've actually heard of, I had to check out another pick based solely on cover art: The Becoming by After Midnight Project. Their album looked almost as dark as their name, but their first track, "Take Me Home," was still ten times more fun than any song by End State. Gee, I love having my standards lowered. These bands all sound so professional compared to End State... Sorry for the constant End State abuse. I still think the picture of the castle they drew was adorable... and... okay, that's the nicest thing I have to say about them...
AMP (love the abbrev) got a bit screamy on "The Real Thing." More metalheads should visit Hot 99.5; they'd get some great deals.
Third track "Digital Crush" reminded me of "Party in Your Bedroom" by Cash Cash in that both seem to be about guys who are enamored with girls who do dirty things to their webcams without explicitly saying that the girls do dirty things to their webcams. Sonically, of course, the songs are totally different - AMP is not exactly an electro-pop-punk boy band in highlighter yellow skinny jeans. But I wonder if their songs about love online are just a coincidence (especially since neither of them are exactly a big deal) or if they're an indication that we'll be hearing about more musicians' crushes on girls who make their own softcore porn... Then again, "I.M. Me" by Nikki/Brittney Cleary didn't exactly spawn a bunch of hits about AOL...
I think I'm going to listen to that song now. It was kind of hilarious when it was released; I can't wait to hear what it sounds like now that AIM has ttly been replaced by G-chat... Besides, "Words" and "The Becoming" are nothing special either.
TTYL
No time to spell
Oops, there goes that little bell
Bye, bye for now
BBFN
Ahahaha, that song was even more unbelievable than a magical bin of free CDs...
[In case you are not familiar with this glorious example of early-2000's pop songwriting, read these free scrolling lyrics:]
[Note: OMG I was lyk so ttly sad I could not find "I.M. Me" on Rhapsody or YouTube or ANYTHING, but after 3 pages of Google results, I found this crappy lil mp3 of it. Maybe it's just my computer, but I've only been able to hear about 30 seconds of music form it. Either way, I wanted you to have the link and the knowledge that it was not worth 10 minutes of searching for this obsolete little pop song. Crappy early-2000's pop is crappy early-2000's pop, no matter how innovatively tacky it seemed at the time.]
[Edit: JK! I managed to get about 2 more minutes of audio out of that crappy lil mp3, and "I.M. Me" is so horrible, it's fabulous. I recommend you listen to it for as long as your ears can stand. It is more hilarious than half the skits on SNL these days...]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
