Sweet treats for the literary, the musical, the feminine, and the generally filthy.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Two-Door Vampire Pearls

Though clearly I don't like him enough to actually attend any of his band's shows (damn my work schedule!), my friend Ryan of the DC band Typefighter showed me a great video by Two Door Cinema, a trio of shamelessly eyebrowless Irishmen. Their video showcases these bare-browed boys' creativity. (Okay, so only the ginger doesn't have eyebrows. They're still unbearably adorable).


And from the same horse's mouth comes news of some grunge resurfacing in the form of catchy, almost pop-punk (spare me the Hit the Lights, Four Year Strong, et. al.) only better because they're not still obsessed with the girls who broke their hearts ten years ago, or the roommate who shafted them out of three hundred bucks. Actually, I don't know that for sure. What I do know is that Pearl Jam's new single "The Fixer" is surprisingly awesome. Observe.

The next Showgasm undoubtedly will be Beach House opening for Vampire Weekend at Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 11. I don't even want to comment on the obvious awesomeness of this since I may not still be in the area. In fact, but for this show, I have all fingers crossed that I won't be. But tarry not, for sell-out is imminent!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Treats Treats Treats

Just the other day I was thinking, boy, I'd really like to hear a distorted synthdancepop group led by a really bangin', smooth lady singer in shiny pink leggings.
Then I saw this:

Sleigh Bells: Ring Ring from Amplified on Vimeo.

Their album Treats is sort of exactly what this very blog is all about. It's extremely sample-able, every song, one into another, and all resemble a very clashy-trashy yummy pop assembly of recklessness and cuteness.



Also, for all you hardcore heads, there's a show at the Corpse Fortress in Silver Spring this Sunday. Sick Fix is some OG-DC straight edge, and they're playing with Sorry Excuse from Kansas and Kicked In from the Midwest. I'm trying to find someone to come with me! Six bucks, starts at six.

I forgot all about it last night when I was out, but Brian Jonestown Massacre is going to be at 9:30 June 9, and I'm trying to cop two tickets. Anyone have an extra, mayhap?

In other news, the search ensues for jobs/housing in Brooklyn! I'm looking for work copy-editing, writing for blogs or more unlikely yet, a magazine. I didn't get a degree for nothing, after all; so it's the maddening sting of entitlement for me!



Thursday, May 13, 2010

Minus the Dominant Sevenths

What is it about a band that has made so many albums relying on the sound of absurdity and indecision that they have to come right out and explain what they've been thinking the whole time? Okay, let me back up. Minus the Bear just put out their new album, OMNI, and I'm all but impressed, frankly. From cheesey lines like "Running out of excuses/I'm into you," to repetitive choruses and Owl City-wannabe synth additions (oh yeah, I went there), the stink of pandering is potent. Maybe they're just trying to get on the radio.

Serious MTB fans, do yourself a favor and skip the first like five tracks and go straight to "The Thief." Yes, bands are allowed to grow and change, but to demote your own sound? Keep the dominant sevenths and clang clang for heaven's sake! Sure, add some funk and synth or whatever you feel is necessary to keep up with the postmodern 21st century sound or whatever, but keep the eyes on the shoe-prize, if you please. All's I'm saying.

Is it just me, or has Widespread Panic taken over the studio? And reamed the hell out of Daft Punk in the process? Yikezoid.

And I'm totally spooked by the song "Into the Mirror." I swear to god I've heard that loop before. And it was Battles. I'm almost completely positive. Or maybe it was a video teaser for this new album. But I don't think so. It has to be a sample. I'm researching madly, but if anyone finds it before me, I need to see it for myself. I could swear.

"Animal Backwards" and "Dayglow Vista Road" are maybe the best produced on the album. "Caught in the pull of your green-eyed glow/I wanna feel my skin on the snow." Not bad. "Dayglow" is positively transcendent. If I'd had a whole album more like this one, I'd be tempted to buy it.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Random RVAlution

Once again, my friends come through for me and decide they have a place for me backstage. Sigh, she sighed. Something happened between the time that I woke up on Tuesday and wound up in Richmond, VA, at the Hat Factory, dancing in a Hawaiian lai behind a bunch of candy raver-types in front of circa 1500 people. If you had been there, you would have been staring at a long line to get into a heavily-guarded venue. Music pumps from within. Girls are sparklier and taller than usual. Guys stand around in collared plaid, arms crossed sizing up the potential of the cattle they're about to drive. A lot of them have already dropped or rolled or somersaulted or catapulated, and this f*#$^&'n line isn't helping the fact that all the cars have turned into giant potato monsters (think evil Mr. Potato Head), and there are computer-generated lemmings marching and falling off the side of the building, forming an ominous yellow radioactive puddle on the concrete. If only the door guy could see what's eating the soles of his shoes right now he might decide you're small papitos and let you slide by the VIP.

Luckily I got to skip the linemare by virtue of my liaison with DJ Throdown and his old getup crew of track tinkerers. But this is a bigger party than the music. It's positively Dionysian. For six bucks you are offered eye candy on every level from the traditional spun cotton on paper cones to the chicks in tutus and spandex dancing on platforms. Not to mention the obligatory light-spinning hula hoops, twisting their way up and down a young female's curvy body. Which never gets old. (Young Chick in Underwear Dances to FrankMusik). And if I'm getting my full six bucks worth, there had better be an acrobat hanging from a long red rope in front of the stage, and a balloon sculpturist, and other assorted dark circus characters. I spectacled the spectacle from some pretty interesting perspectives...but my camera battery was kaput. So you'll just have to take a glimpse of the video someone posted on facebook (and look for the suddenly average six-foot blonde wearing a Hawaiian lai).

Did I mention this happens every Tuesday night?

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Mad Decent!


Albums that have recently been helping me keep head above water:

1. Weezer, The Blue Album

2. Miles Davis,
Sketches of Spain

3. Belle and Sebastian,
BBC Sessions

4. The brand spankin' new LCD Soundsystem album, which leaked several weeks ahead of release date. You can, should, and at this point are totally about to get it here. We're talking about manic pop songs that recall everything from Duran Duran to Erasure, of course a dark twist o' Depeche. Mode, that is. Oh yeah, and that schoolyard call-and-response at intervals. (Other great call-and-response utilizers: Cake!) Listen. Absorb.