W♥M

 11/20/2008 10:20:34  ♥ written by vu ()

Pelle Carlberg released The Lilac Time last Tuesday on US distributor Darla Records, although the album's been out in Europe since August. We caught up with Pelle in October to talk to him in his home in Sweden and he explained a lot of things, so be sure to listen to our interview! I will have to add that some people are hard to interview since sometime people don't understand to make radio interviews that they are the person that needs to talk and tell interesting stories - with Pelle that was not a problem at all. My fifteen minutes limit for calling international went over in no time because Pelle was just so engaging.

For instance, he went onto explain "1983" as if someone who's never heard it, but leaving out the punchline. Of course, since I have already loved the song, I can tell you that despite his to do away with the Belle & Sebastian comparison, that the song sounds incredibly like a B&S song...

I was surprise to find out that all his songs are based on true events, which leads me to wonder his taxi ride in "Tired of Being PC" or his car problems on "Metal to Metal" or his hatred for a certain airline on "Fly Me to the Moon" (you get the impression Pelle travels quite a bit).

My favorite fun song on this album is "51, 3", which tells the story about Pelle taking a facebook quiz that tells him his mental age is 51. Just the opening line is well worth hearing.

Fans of Club 8 should take note of Karolina Komstedt's appearance on "Nicknames". He was apparently touring with Club 8 and had asked her to sing on the song with him. The song is quite upbeat and punchy, about reminiscing in their teenage years - going out to see old friends and drinking.

If you like indiepop and don't already own The Lilac Time, you can get it via Darla Records or Labrador. I will have to mention that I have bought things from Darla, and on the more obscure indie bands they may list it, but it doesn't mean they have it in stock. This was very annoying when several packages I have ordered in the past ends up missing one or two items. To be fair, they did not charge me for the missing items, but still, don't list CDs that you do not have in stock! I haven't ordered from them recently, so they might have changed the way they display what you can or cannot buy. Also, I'm sure with recent products, such as The Lilac Time, they should have them in stock - not to discourage you from ordering, of course.

As a bonus, here are our previous Pelle Carlberg songs we've used in the past:

Clever Girls Like Clever Boys Much More Than Clever Boys Like Clever Girls 7 comments

Go to Hell, Miss Rydell 3 comments

Pelle Carlberg - Rocket Man

 11/19/2008 02:39:48  ♥ written by vu ()

First of all, huge apologies to Paul Doucette from The Break and Repair Method, who I was supposed to do coverage on for this concert last night. I can only tell you that I was confused about the start time, Pantages Theater website lists "8:00pm", which I thought was when doors open. By the time I found the venue, found street parking (the parking gods just was not with me), and walking in the cold - I arrived at 9 and Matt Nathanson had taken stage at 9:15!

The report I got from the two women in front of me was that there was actually two opening band, The Break and Repair Method and Jessie Baylin (who later resurfaced to do a duet with Matt). How they were able to fit both their set in under one hour is beyond me.

What I can tell you, based on what I was told, was that the both were well received, although the girls did not know that Paul is actually the drummer from Matchbox Twenty, a very popular band from the 2000s (moving over 45 million records -- remember their Mad Season album?)

Judging from the mostly college students in the sold-out show, both Break and Baylin probably enjoyed a warm reception. Even after the show, there was a huge line-up at the merch table for all three bands.

Well, since I missed their set, I just wanted to make you aware that Doucette is more into indie folky with his latest project, The Break and Repair Method. Their debut album is called Milk the Bee and it was released earlier in September. You can enter into a contest to win yourself a signed copy. On that link you can find another link to download "You Won't Be Able to Be Sad" - which is the song I'm using.

As for Matt Nathanson, he seems really young and lively on stage. He really loves pop music, and even admitted to stealing riffs and chords from his favorite songs. Some of his covers includes James' "Laid", Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl", Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton's "Island in the Stream", Kim Wilde's "Kids in America", Lisa Loeb's "Stay", and the Everly Brothers' "All I Have to do is Dream" (and probably other more obscure ones that I didn't know about). As a cover lover, I approve.

Other things I've noticed, his guitarist wore a Thievery Corporation T-Shirt and they had brought an upright bass on tour with them - shame it was only used on two songs on "All We Are" and the closing encore song.

PS, sorry for the dodgy photograph, I was at a respectable distance from the stage - and this was an old-fashion seated theater so I could not move around.

 11/18/2008 12:03:14  ♥ written by vu ()

Ever tried typing with frozen fingers? Because that's what I'm doing right now. Holy moley, it's freezing in here.

I have here Ed Ackerson's Ackerson2 album in my frozen fingers, I don't think there is an official release date, other than that it's already available for purchase. Incidentally, if you don't know who Ackerson is, he is probably best known for being the singer/founder of Polara.

Sleeper and Polara ♥ Whiskey A-Go-Go, Los Angeles (29 Apr 1995)

I do have a funny anecdote about Polara, way back in the mid-nineties, I was really into Sleeper and had saved up all my hopes and dream to see them at the Whiskey A-Go-Go. This was a very special show for me, I even saved the concert ticket from Ticketbastard.

Polara opened up for Sleeper, I didn't know who they were back then, but my friends were all savvy to them. It was 90s alternative rock and from this set, they threw a Polara T-Shirt into the crowd and my friend Shawn ended up grabbing it.

So, that's how I was introduced to Polara.

I can't say I have followed them that closely through the years, I am happy to see that they recently released Beekeeping, so be sure to check out Andrew's review.

As the '2' on Ackerson2 indicate, this is Ackerson's second solo album. While, I don't have his earlier album for reference, I can tell you that it's somewhat of a departure from Polara. I get the impression that Ackerson have a lot of songs and demos in his head, and they don't necessary fit in Polara's noisy rock music.

The one song that really sounded different is a banjo-driven song called "Run Away With Me". Maybe it's the banjo, or maybe it's the singing style, but it does bring up that folksy question.

Ackerson explains it:

In a lot of ways this record is about me exploring my pre-noise roots, the influences at the beginning of my musical life before I got into more experimental stuff. Sixties stuff, like Beatles, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel—the first material I learned to play on guitar. The tight harmony singing, odd juxtapositions of instruments, and playful production on records from that time is still very appealing to me.

- Ed Ackerson, City Pages - November 19, 2007

"Go Ahead And Cry" is my favorite song on the album. It's a little upbeat, for the title and theme of the song, but I like it. I'll bet it should be fantastic live, especially with that banjo section. Which, shock, there will be a CD release party at the Varsity Theater on November 28^th. Going there is now a pleasure as they have finally fixed that 35W bridge (it looks and drives much better now!).

You can pick up Ackerson's album via Susstones Shop.

 11/18/2008 09:21:48  ♥ written by jaklumen ( / jaklumen.vox.com)

If you've read my VOX at all, you know I'm a passionate fan of mashups-- I created an individual group called Monday Monster Mashup, just to document some of the better pieces out there.  It is very unapologetically MTV-ish in its presentation, as I actually search out YouTube videos where an accompanying video has been mashed up in complimentary fashion.  It's actually pretty common for mashup artists to leave no stone unturned, sometimes mingling elements of cover art as well to create new cover art for the songs.

Sometimes DJs/VJs release mashup tracks individually, and others create compilations, often where the tracks have common elements or a unifying theme.  Mark Vidler, as the one-man Go Home Productions, released Spliced Krispies in May 2008 and I was very interested in the content.  Not only had he created videos (in the manner I described above), but he also had chosen a lot of older material.  I'm a very firm believer that mashups are not a passing fad and the music can be very accessible to everyone-- if only to show that history can very much repeat itself in the music business, especially in popular genres.

Mark Vidler is based in Watford, UK and produces remixes as well as mashups.  His work extends into radio and television, such as XFM's 'The Remix' and 'Rinse' radio shows as well as projects with MTV Mash.  His hit mashup "Rapture Riders" was included in Blondie's Greatest Hits on the EMI label, and his "Ray of Gob" mashup of Madonna and The Sex Pistols (featured on Pistol Whipped on Half Inch Recordings) has become quite notorious.  (I've referenced the "Rapture Riders" video here.  I was very surprised that for a time, an excerpt was featured on the Blondie official website.)

As I said before, Spliced Krispies features a lot of older tunes, and I think that's a very good thing.  It gives both the younger and older generations a fresh perspective on some old favorites.  As some mashups are, it sometimes takes a few listens to get used to the songs if you're very, very familiar with the original tunes.  While it would be nice for Vidler to have some studio magic to make the tracks very clean and smooth-sounding (say, compared to Simon Iddol), I think he's worked very well with the material and likely the recordings that were available to him.

My favorite on the album was "3 X A Raindrop", which takes Burt Bacharach's "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", and the Commodore's "Three Times A Lady".  The video splices scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which movie "Raindrops" was featured, with cuts of Lionel Ritchie singing the other song in a live performance.

"Luther's Orange Crush" which mashes Luther Vandross's "Never Too Much" and R.E.M.'s "Orange Crush" is also worth a listen.  Vidler's own words on the track are especially amusing:

"This one will probably piss-off the purists, I dunno.  After acquiring the REM 'parts' I thought it would be funny to put them with something completely alien to their style. Don't get me wrong, I'm a massive fan of REM's early stuff. Chronic Town, Murmur and Reckoning [were] definitely brilliant...but to put them with something more disco or funk was the intention."

The album with mp3s and videos is available at the Mark Vidler // Go Home Productions site here.

 11/17/2008 09:31:40  ♥ written by vu ()

PLEASE NOTE: Mypodcast.com's servers and services are experiencing some difficulties, possibly due to the weak economy. Looking at their forums, it seems some people have had problems for weeks now with no feedback from the people running the website.

I'll see what happens, but if they go out of business by next week, I'll have to switch back to my original podcast address over at gcast.com. You can find widgets and how to subscribe through that website. With the widgets - please tick the 'auto-play' to "no", it is on autoplay by default.
 

Download Episode #33 (43 min)

Download each segment individually:
Part 1: Devi
Part 2: Mary Shelley Overdrive

So hey, welcome back to our weekly podcast show. Please see note above to why this episode is slightly delayed - even though I had finalized everything by late Sunday evening.

Also, I don't normally jinx myself for announcing future guests on the show, but we have three scheduled next week. Hopefully the one from overseas will work out, so I'm crossing my fingers.

So, I also suggest you check out Emelia's previous mention of Del Shannon's "Runaway" and my article and fascination on the morbid "Jack the Ripper" and 50s-inspired The Raveonettes.

This week:

PART ONE: DEVI
devi-rock.com ♥ myspace.com/devirock
Devi (pronounced "Davy") is a rock trio from Hoboken, New Jersey. Debra was kind enough to stop in and talk to us about her debut album, Get Free, which was just released a few weeks ago. They just also finalized agreements with Red Eye Music Distribution, so you'll be able to find their music at the usual places. In the meantime, you can get their album for $10 CD or $5 digital download via cdbaby.

Topics up for discussion:

• The name Devi and its origins
• How she met her band
• "Demon in the Sack" and "C21H23NO3" explained
• "Runaway" Del Shannon/Bonnie Raitt cover
• Hair-blowing photo session
• Special guest appearance on Get Free

PART TWO: MARY SHELLEY OVERDRIVE
maryshelleyoverdrive.blogspot.com ♥ myspace.com/maryshelleyoverdrive
Simon and Mark from Mary Shelley Overdrive, a band based out of South Carolina, in need of a drummer, as I just found out.

We talked about:

• The Secret Origins of Mary Shelley Overdrive
• Using the Internet to distribute music, etc.
• "Jack the Ripper"
• Pop culture, comics, and horror movie influences
• Werewolf on Motorcycles cover artwork
• fond of masks and playing live

UPDATE: Well the mypodcast.com problem isn't so much that they are bankrupt, it's that they ran out of disk storage.  According to an admin, they posted this:

We had problems increasing disc space. Now...

We had problems increasing disc space. Now everything is fixed. There's plenty of free space for podcasts.

So there you go. Hopefully they'll get some bigger raids.
S.

So hopefully, if you're already subscribe to our show via mypodcast, you don't need to switch or make any changes.  However, going forward, I'm still uploading to gcast as well (since I still cannot update my mypodcast).

 11/15/2008 23:52:26  ♥ written by vu ()

Although nothing to do with music, I thought I'd report on my recent attendance at Crypticon 2008 today (November 15^th). Although a pleasant experience with the Q&A with various guests (the two I attended was Fright Night's Chris Sarandon and The Cryptkeeper John Kassir), I thought the rest of my time spent there dragged on a bit. The turnout was really good, I even ran into people I knew, which is unusual as I don't really know anyone.

So what does one do at these conventions ? Usually buying stuff, like 8x10 signed actor portraits and sometime overpriced merchandises. My sister did get a nice deal on the Lost action figures Todd McFarlane put out a few years ago. I contemplated on buying bootleg Hellraiser and Evil Dead stuff, but instead got an autographed Hellboy II. Was disappointed that there were not more obscure horror DVDs and packages for sale (it seems I already own 90% of whatever they were selling).

My brother took most of the photographs, including James Duval (Frank the Bunny), Chris Sarandon (famous for playing Jack Skellington), Doug Jones (Pale "Jazz Hands" Man), and here's a picture with Michael Berryman (that The Hills Have Eyes dude). Berryman, no offense or anything, is such a nice guy, but he's really scary-looking. He even seems like a fanboy as he was collecting autographs from the other attendees!

My complaints and suggestions for future shows is to keep the cost down. $30 per day is really expensive, and adding on additional purchases, you can easily tap out $100. The other problem is that the convention extends for three days - perhaps just keep it to the weekend. I also think that it would've been better to have it in the Summer or perhaps closer to Halloween (but I can understand that October might be too insane to try and organize anything).

Other disappointment was that legendary make-up artist and actor Toni Savini canceled out.

Other than that, it's worth checking out these conventions if you want to meet actors and get more merch. I wouldn't mind attending a Star Trek convention one of these days if they held one closer to home.

 11/15/2008 01:57:12  ♥ written by vu ()

Minneapolis is the last stop for famed The Faint before heading off to Scotland, England, Germany, Italy, and Spain, before heading back stateside in mid-December. UK concert goers should be in for a real treat, as these guys put on a spectacular light show consisting of part rave, part Casio-crashing, part discotheque, but all fun.

Everyone in the band was dressed in dark clothing, except for singer Todd Fink, who came out with tinted circular glasses/goggles and dressed up as a mad scientist or chemist. He does his same dance he does for all the songs, smiling and laughing the whole time, while the rest of the band do their thing. I will have to say that "Dapose" rocked out pretty hardcore on the guitar.

There was a long experimental noise intro before "The Geeks Were Right", which was well-received, although I suspect fans weren't used to their new songs.

Speaking of which, and I won't spend too much time on this, the audience seem to be a lot of younger kids (with black marked "X" on their hands indicating they are under 21), and they all seem to be really into their hair.

The ended their set with a three song encore, including the very last song, Agenda Suicide, which is not listed on their set list.

The Faint - Desperate Guys 2 comments

The Faint - Agenda Suicide 2 comments

I should also mention the two warm-up band, His Mischief (official/myspace) and Baby Walrus (myspace). His Mischief was a three piece band from St Paul, they sounded more power-pop/rock - like they might be more in their elements opening up for Motion City Soundtrack.

As for Baby Walrus, they are from Nebraska, and they seem to be more blues-influenced, with a bit of Ben Folds with the keyboard-thing. I don't know the song they ended their set, but it was really good.

 11/14/2008 20:02:32  ♥ written by vu ()

Curtis Peoples - Holding Me Down Curtis Peoples Tour Dates 11/13/08 Merrifield, VA 11/14/08 New York, NY 11/15/08 Annapolis, MD 11/18/08 Philadelphia, PA 12/03/08 Philadelphia, PA 12/05/08 Fairfax, VA 12/06/08 Vienna, VA 12/08/08 Blacksburg, VA 12/09/08 Charlotte, NC 12/10/08 Decatur, GA 12/14/08 Palm Desert, CA 12/18/08 San Franscisco, CA 12/20/08 San Diego, CA 12/21/08 Los Angeles, CA 01/17/09 Miami, FL 01/18/09 Miami, FL 01/19/09 Miami, FL 01/20/09 Miami, FL 01/21/09 Miami, FL 01/22/09 Miami, FL