Death Cab Possesses Jimmy Kimmel's Heart

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Weezer does it Again

I have a complicated love-hate relationship with Weezer. However, their videos are almost always great. The new one for Pork and Beans is classic. Classic I tell you!

Death Cab Documentary

Open Windows
A 25 minute clip on the making of the new Death Cab album

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Death Cab for Cutie- Bixby Canyon Bridge Video

A great in studio taping Death Cab for Cutie playing Narrow Stairs' lead-off track, Bixby Canyon Bridge.

Bixby Canyon Bridge

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Common Market - His Eminence Explained

Last week I posted a Common Market track as part of my ongoing "Regional Acts that Should be Huge" series. Just today, RA Scion posted a lengthy post explaining the lyrics of His Eminence. Its some deep stuff - his father committing suicide when he was 6 . . . yikes. This still stands as my favorite track on the new EP. Check it out.

Add them to your collection!




Also, consider their associated act Blue Scholars (same DJ, different MC)

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs [album review]

Initial Thoughts Album Review # 3
Unpretentious album reviews that forgo the big words, analogies and obscure music-references to simply voice some initial thoughts and gut reactions.

I have long suspected that professional music review writers are idiots. It appears that my suspicions were warranted. Everything I have read about the new Death Cab for Cutie album, Narrow Stairs, goes on an on about how weird, raw or daring the new LP was. Now that I have had my first full listen, I disagree. Ben and the boys have stated in various interviews that this album is a little less polished than Plans because they recorded a lot of it in relatively few takes with minimal tweaking afterwards. This, I can hear. However, I don't see the album as too much of a departure for the band. I hear elements of much of their previous work. I don't get why all those early reviews were saying that this album was so different and would either garner widespread acclaim or alienate DCFC's entire fan base. What garbage! The album is great and it sounds very much like a DCFC album. Maybe some reviewers just needed something to talk about. I suspect that some of them had only listened to the album first single, I Will Possess your Heart, and little else.

In any case - the album sounds great.

Here's some Death Cab for Cutie to purchase



Or, hows about some Postal Service?



Or solo Ben Gibbard?

Sigur Ros in the Studio - new video

Regional Acts that SHOULD be huge - Common Market

I am all on-board for Pacific Northwest Hip-Hop.

Honestly - growing up in the promised land (Bellingham, Washington) I new there was a good music scene in the area, but was unable to catch many live shows due to the utter paucity of all-age venues. How tragic! Death Cab for Cutie was playing some of their first shows while I was in town, but I never caught them live. Yes, I have strolled Railroad and Holly, and still do every time I go back, but I regret that I never caught them live during those nascent years.

Now that I am far removed from the NW, it appears that all age venues abound and the local/regional music scene is as strong as ever.

One group that I am particularly excited about is Common Market. Made up of the Kentucky-raised(fried?) MC "RA Scion" and Blue Scholars DJ Sabzi, they blew me (and many others - including KRS ONE) away with their self-titled debut album in 2006. RA Scion already had a couple of solo efforts under his belt and Sabzi had received critical acclaim with his Blue Scholars project with MC Geologic.

Both members of the Baha'i faith, RA Scion and Sabzi market a brand of socially and spiritually conscious hip-hop. Just wait - it gets better . . . . they have new releases coming out soon!

Right now you can purchase Black Patch War, an EP gearing us up for the September release of the full length EP Tobacco Road - both out on artist-run Massline Media.

So - go buy them, listen, enjoy. These guys are great. I hope they break it big.

Also - enjoy this sample track from Black Patch War

Common Market - His Eminence.mp3

Add them to your collection!




Also, consider their associated act Blue Scholars (same DJ, different MC)

Concert Review: Grand Archives at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, 1 May 2008

Since when do good bands come to Lincoln, Nebraska! I have lived here for 4 years, and so far have seen only a handful wander through - never to return! OK, enough exclamation points. On Thursday night, David Bazan and Grand Archives came and played a free concert on UNL campus. Bazan was good, but the room was ill-suited acoustically for his set. Furthermore, I am more familiar with his early Pedro the Lion days, and didn't recognize many of the songs. This said, he was sporting a nice sports jacket.

Grand Archives took the stage around 9:15 and played a great set. Here is the set list:

1. Miniature Birds
2. Orange
   
3. Index Moon
4. Swan Matches
5. George Kaminski
6. A Setting Sun
   
7. Sleepdriving
8. Southern Glass Home
9. Torn Blue Foam Couch
10. Crime Window

Once they got the band EQ'd and balanced correctly a few songs into the set, they cruised through them and sounded really good. 3 guitars all jamming at once, 4 of the 5 band members singing harmonies. The music was very layered. And, when, in Torn Blue Foam Couch, the LP features some great horn parts, the band substituted by yelling "Ba Ba Ba Da Da." Great touch! Another highlight was their version of Southern Glass Home - a great track which didn't make it onto the LP. In the middle, they transitioned into a cover of the Bee Gee's "I started a joke," then the Zombie's "Care of Cell 44," and then a 3rd cover which I didn't know. Very funny. Great harmonies. Some of my friends who came, but were unfamiliar with the band compared their vocal harmonies to Simon and Garfunkel or the Beach Boys. I think the band should take that as a compliment.

I have high hopes for this band. Their self-titled LP has a lot of high points, but also a few mediocre points. I hope that their upcoming Southern Glass Home EP (which according to the band on Thursday, was going to feature the title track plus a few new ones), and subsequent sophomore LP effort takes off where those high-points direct.

Below are some videos I took at the show. We recently got a new camera, and I wanted to test it out. The lighting and acoustics weren't the best, but the videos turned out fairly well.

forgive my amateur cameraman-ship (I know, thats not a word)

Miniature Birds


Index Moon


Swan Matches


George Kaminski


A Setting Sun


Sleepdriving


Torn Blue Foam Couch


Crime Window

Do the Panic video - new Phantom Planet