tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65404362245699584372024-03-16T03:09:45.981-04:00Fuzzy LogicIn love with music. Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.comBlogger4146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-21934993668735153242023-06-08T10:12:00.000-04:002023-06-08T10:12:53.244-04:00A Long Overdue Update, and a Heartfelt Farewell<span style="font-family: georgia;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH3MYbjrWM0LkTWlWgY5K3ZA87FS3gKj75sV5xnJRgwRikx84bjlGwC6_AjIZw4EVqPeFHnIsWwuxF7BZ3WUsJB-lt2CgN4WrIMJLa2qtxyCFvpUIV30AJD0nYIm72fqALk0op4NycUH6f2Kfb0bmBk2Co3XIzwPKSNVo5kKC8o2oezDQv8t4FwoUiPw/s640/image0.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH3MYbjrWM0LkTWlWgY5K3ZA87FS3gKj75sV5xnJRgwRikx84bjlGwC6_AjIZw4EVqPeFHnIsWwuxF7BZ3WUsJB-lt2CgN4WrIMJLa2qtxyCFvpUIV30AJD0nYIm72fqALk0op4NycUH6f2Kfb0bmBk2Co3XIzwPKSNVo5kKC8o2oezDQv8t4FwoUiPw/s320/image0.png" width="320" /></a></div>So here we are. It’s time for the post that I’ve been dreading (and have put off for much longer than I should). But it’s time to make the obvious official. This, friends, is my long-overdue, heavy-hearted farewell post. </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Before I say anything else, I want to thank you.</b> Whether you’ve read a post here and there or have been reading my musical opinions since I started Fuzzy Logic back in what feels like forever ago (but is actually about a dozen or so years ago), it means the world to me that you’ve taken the time to read anything here at my little corner of the internet. Writing about music as a solo blogger can be a pretty scary thing, because there’s no guarantee that anyone will actually a) read your posts, b) care about your posts, or c) take you seriously–especially as a woman. Fuzzy Logic was a passion project, a way for me to share the music I loved with an audience that, much to my constant amazement, seemed to come from all over the globe. This blog has given me more than I can believe, from the people I’ve met to the gigs I’ve been fortunate enough to cover to the music I’ve been able to listen to and love up on. I am forever grateful to those of you who read my posts, those of you who connected me to the music (PR folks, label folks, agents/artist folks), and especially those of you who made the music I wrote about. You are why I started writing about music. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here’s the thing: I love music. I love writing about music. The former will never change, but the latter has become a great challenge over the past few years. My life has completely changed since 2020. My mom had a serious stroke that year, and I had to become her full-time caregiver. She’s had some additional health issues pop up post-stroke. There is no way I can adequately express the physical, emotional, and mental toll this has taken, so I won’t even try. But I will say that this life change has meant that something had to give. Sadly, that something was Fuzzy Logic. You’ve probably noticed I haven’t posted much since late 2020. I’ve often barely had the energy to make it through the day, let alone devote time to something I once loved doing–spending hours going through my inbox and listening to what felt like an endless supply of sonic treasure. My creativity has been at a very low ebb for a long time, and it’s been a while since music has truly brought me joy. That’s another little heartbreak, feeling this creeping detachment from music that I never imagined. As a fellow music lover I know you’ll probably understand how horrible that feels. Unfortunately, my mom’s health has taken steps in the wrong direction, which means I have even less focus for anything else. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">It hasn’t all been doom and gloom, I’m happy to say, though there’s been far too much of that. I met a boy and he and I now live with my mom in our new home of Madison, WI (that’s right, I up and left the East Coast!). I’m lucky to have such a supportive, loving partner in my life (who also happens to love music). Rest assured that I’m being well-loved and cared for. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">With these pretty massive changes, it felt like the right time to bring things to an official close. Leaving the East Coast/Eastern Time Zone feels like an ending, and as such, it’s time to say farewell to Fuzzy Logic. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">I plan on getting back into writing, eventually, and when that happens I’ll post one more time to let you know whatever news I have. We all know what happens with plans, though. I do like to think that I’ll get back in the saddle at some point, so I won’t call this goodbye. For now, though, this is the end of the road. Thank you for being a part of my crazy, wonderful, unforgettable ride. Love to one and all.
</span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-78108362256219506682022-02-22T18:16:00.008-05:002022-02-22T18:36:29.618-05:00NEWSFLASH!: Win Tickets to alt-J + Portugal.The Man @ The Anthem, 2/27/22<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJ9E3bg9CKWl0sHngn-YevAqQWn9ckGElMvdXZOTKDWsHxR-0wHOAxNwXGrkuLNIxanqEFYnuZ0WPpMfjytIns16dWeME06LjqLwlKYxGnCelglj3f3nPF7s4S4-64lRbpstwfBXOc4E6uZCDl_1HWkQLMwo29ZjHW02jWgaHNyZIENBKZSfsDWhjurA=s1650" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1650" data-original-width="1275" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJ9E3bg9CKWl0sHngn-YevAqQWn9ckGElMvdXZOTKDWsHxR-0wHOAxNwXGrkuLNIxanqEFYnuZ0WPpMfjytIns16dWeME06LjqLwlKYxGnCelglj3f3nPF7s4S4-64lRbpstwfBXOc4E6uZCDl_1HWkQLMwo29ZjHW02jWgaHNyZIENBKZSfsDWhjurA=s320" width="247" /></a></div><i>
You love going to shows. I love giving you tickets to shows. It's a match made in heaven. Read on for how you can win you some tickets to a great show. It is a pleasure to be offering a pair of tickets to the following upcoming show.</i><div><br /></div><div>There are few things as wonderful to get up to on a Sunday night as taking in some live music (especially when said live music is happening in a mighty fine venue). And that's precisely what you could get up to this very Sunday evening, if you happen to be the lucky one to win tickets to see <b><a href="https://www.altjband.com/" target="_blank">alt-J</a></b> and <b><a href="https://www.portugaltheman.com/" target="_blank">Portugal.The Man</a></b> at <b><a href="http://www.theanthemdc.com" target="_blank">The Anthem</a></b>. The former is touring new record <i>The Dream</i>, while the latter is readying a new record for release later in 2022. Sunday night's show is the second of the two-night stand; Saturday's show is already sold out. </div><div><br /></div><div>To win a pair of tickets to this here concert, <a href="mailto:fuzzylogicblog@gmail.com" target="_blank">send me an email</a> and tell me what your last concert was. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Please be advised: In order to attend this show (or any show at The Anthem), you MUST follow the venue's <a href="https://impconcerts.com/vaxinfo/" target="_blank">COVID policy</a>. Basically, be fully vaxed (as you should be), and be ready to prove it (vaccine card or other acceptable verification).</b> If you win the tickets but aren't vaccinated, you won't be able to get into the show. Period. If you want to buy some tickets for yourself and/or others, do that <a href="https://www.ticketmaster.com/altj-and-portugal-the-man-with-washington-district-of-columbia-02-27-2022/event/15005B89B785461B" target="_blank">here.</a> <b> </b> </div><div><br /></div><u>
FINE PRINT: Contest is for two (2) tickets to this here show. Contest closes at noon Eastern on FRIDAY, 2/25/22. Good luck!</u><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 2.22.22]</b></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-56553910878844805882021-12-31T14:44:00.001-05:002021-12-31T14:44:43.208-05:00Video of The Day: Paul Draper f/ Steven Wilson<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMXSqXXtK9vnnLRrYtw04S56H3zqq10SvHEo3_kagDi-qyR5eprWIAcyHSDP4LOXA_gEU3SeJn0SRzQwehWAmmCqo_7n9gfHPbc2OIajoZxOaaWgTyygcFSNmDyifcO0FJFQq-lvkzznLuABhM1MV0ZMamKnZ9oNaqkgY2GyQtEe6PZh6Mq-9elM1PlA=s1080" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMXSqXXtK9vnnLRrYtw04S56H3zqq10SvHEo3_kagDi-qyR5eprWIAcyHSDP4LOXA_gEU3SeJn0SRzQwehWAmmCqo_7n9gfHPbc2OIajoZxOaaWgTyygcFSNmDyifcO0FJFQq-lvkzznLuABhM1MV0ZMamKnZ9oNaqkgY2GyQtEe6PZh6Mq-9elM1PlA=s320" width="320" /></a></div><i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><p></p><p>This year there's been incalculable loss, and far too many endings. In the current climate, these losses can feel even more acute, even harder to process and move forward from. </p><p>Paul Draper's latest single, "Omega Man," takes loose inspiration from Richard Matheson's 1950s horror title <i>I Am Legend</i>, which was subsequently adapted cinematically in the movie Omega Man. What's with all this Omega talk, you ask? Well, it's quite simple really: The Greek alphabet ends with Omega. It's the end, the last letter, the point of finality. </p><p>Draper's "Omega Man" is much more of a personal reflection than a treatise on Matheson's terrifying post-apocalyptic landscape; though the song's video definitely takes the latter concept and runs with it. Or, rather, strolls with it - the sublimely-shot clip follows Draper walking moodily through the shudder-inducing landscape of nuclear nightmare city Prypyat, interspersed with fuzzy, static-laden shots of Steven Wilson. Even nature seems to have been in on it, lending an appropriate gloom to the Ukrainian skies. It's a video that works in perfect harmony with the song it was made for, amplifying the bleakness of each and every note. </p><p>As for the song, it's full of decadent despair and also has serious earworm potential. Is there anything better than a heartbreak song that's hard to get out of your head? Wilson's guest turn is spot on. The duo's voices work well together in inducing peak levels of forlorn reflection; both Wilson's ethereal lilt and Draper's dark purr evoke spectral shades of the sadness, despair, and heartache that comes with the end. </p><p>"Omega Man" can be found on Paul Draper's second solo record, <i><a href="https://kscopemusic.bandcamp.com/album/cult-leader-tactics" target="_blank">Cult Leader Tactics</a></i>, due out on Kscope Records next month. </p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MEcYeVEGPVY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1255047128/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1717394431/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="https://kscopemusic.bandcamp.com/album/cult-leader-tactics">Cult Leader Tactics by Paul Draper</a></iframe> </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 12.31.21]</b></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-8714627831514076432021-11-22T10:00:00.002-05:002021-11-22T10:00:57.382-05:00Premiere: Lauds - "Are You There All Alone"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sfuk8uLzo9o/YZuba7U1JMI/AAAAAAAAU6A/KQyIHi9deqkM2Ai8Jum15YZADR2VKw14gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/FL%2BPremiere%2BLauds.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sfuk8uLzo9o/YZuba7U1JMI/AAAAAAAAU6A/KQyIHi9deqkM2Ai8Jum15YZADR2VKw14gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FL%2BPremiere%2BLauds.png" width="320" /></a></div>It's not often in the music world that one gets the chance to share something that's essentially hot off the press, but that's exactly what I have the pleasure of doing with you right here and now. <p></p><p>Wilmington's very own <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/laudsmusic" target="_blank">Lauds</a></b> wrapped up the recording of this, their dreamy new single "Are You There All Alone," just last week, and it's available for your listening pleasure today. I should warn you, though: this isn't the kind of song you'll just be able to listen to once and walk away from.</p><p>Instantly, and I do mean instantly, addictive, the song has an incandescent, almost gossamer-gentle glimmer, a sun-dappled seabreeze swirling around McKay Glasgow's wispy, honey-dripping vocals, and sugar-spun guitar that wouldn't sound at all out of place on a Beach Fossils record, all of which strongly hints at the band's affinity for '90s British music. For those with a taste for that era (such as your humble blogstress), there's a whole lot to love about "Are You There All Alone." As the song opens up, it reveals a sweetly nostalgic slant, something that recalls the retrospective magic of a time before pandemics and mandates and bitter division about vaccination and doing the right thing. Modern context puts Lauds in great sonic company, too, with DIIV and Wild Nothing soon coming to mind. </p><p>It's a mighty fine effort for a band that's relatively new, Lauds having come together in 2019. "Are You There All Alone" comes on the heels of the band's fantastic <a href="https://fortlowell.bandcamp.com/album/lauds" target="_blank">self-titled, four song debut EP</a>, out now on <b><a href="https://fortlowell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Fort Lowell Records</a></b>. This is the the kind of song that's playlist catnip for sure, but not only that, it serves as a tantalizing glimpse at what might be coming next from Lauds, sort of like the musical equivalent of showing some ankle in Victorian times. Ultimately, no matter how many times you listen to "Are You There All Alone," you'll be left wanting more. The only answer is to keep listening.</p><p> <iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1162802425%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-2lhaklKU8rp&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe></p><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/fortlowell" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Fort Lowell Records">Fort Lowell Records</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/fortlowell/lauds-are-you-there-all-alone/s-2lhaklKU8rp" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Lauds "Are You There All Alone"">Lauds "Are You There All Alone"</a></div>
<p></p><p>I strongly suggest you keep an eye on Lauds. North Carolinians can also see the band up close and personal on November 28, at Chapel Hill's Local 506 (buy tix <b><a href="https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/7825087/lauds-wthe-sheepseasy-overtxdf-chapel-hill-local-506" target="_blank">here</a></b>).</p><p></p><p>Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a song to keep listening to. Incessantly.</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p><b>Lauds - "Are You There All Alone"</b></p><p><b>Personnel: Glasgow McKay (lead vocals, guitar), J. Holt Evans III (vocals, keyboards), Ross Page (drums), Gavin Campbell (bass)</b></p><p><b>Bio: Lauds are a band from Wilmington, NC that was formed in the spring of 2019 by songwriters McKay Glasgow and J. Holt Evans III. Bonding over their love of Slowdive and Neil Young, the band plays in the style of the former while channeling some of latter’s more untamed guitarscapes. They are part of the dream pop-shoegaze-post-punk continuum, but carry an unpredictable edge. Other influences include acts on Creation Records and Captured Tracks, as well as British alt rock legends like Ride, Chapterhouse, and The Cure. </b></p><p><b>Glasgow and Evans were both craving an outlet to make guitar-oriented rock music, and Lauds is the result. Glasgow is also a member of Tumbleweed, a folk-rock group, but had songwriting ideas that didn’t fit within their confines. Teaming up with Evans, who has spent a lot of his free time in recent years recording reverbed-out bedroom pop songs, the two founded Lauds as a project to unleash their Jazzmaster ambitions. Eventually, lifelong friend Rett Nabell and younger brother Boyce S. Evans joined them on bass and drums respectively, rounding out the four-piece. In recent news, B. Evans is making the switch to keyboards and third guitar; Ross Page, another prolific Wilmington songwriter (Color Temperature, Seeking Madras, also Tumbleweed) will fill his spot on drums. </b></p><p><b>Released on: Fort Lowell Records</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 11.22.21] </b> </p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-58144967864328713572021-09-10T16:33:00.001-04:002021-09-10T16:33:09.731-04:00Happy 28th Anniversary, Black Cat!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5nUV0U3618M/YTuk3uBXgkI/AAAAAAAAU5c/KkqZN3LoNZM2QDHzSCtXzo11eGZw8anHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s605/ann-poster-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="460" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5nUV0U3618M/YTuk3uBXgkI/AAAAAAAAU5c/KkqZN3LoNZM2QDHzSCtXzo11eGZw8anHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ann-poster-2.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>Tomorrow night, the good folks of the <b><a href="https://www.blackcatdc.com/" target="_blank">Black Cat</a></b> will be celebrating their 28th Anniversary, which made today feel like a pretty good time to talk not only about <a href="https://www.blackcatdc.com/shows/anniversary.html" target="_blank">that particular anniversary show</a> but to gush a little about the venue in general.<p></p><p>On that legendary DC stage tomorrow night will be the stacked bill of <b><a href="http://algierstheband.com/" target="_blank">Algiers</a></b>, <a href="https://www.tedleo.com/" target="_blank"><b>Ted Leo</b></a>, <b><a href="https://theowners1.bandcamp.com/album/the-owners-pandemic-demo-live-at-the-black-cat" target="_blank">The Owners</a></b>, <b><a href="https://teencobra.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Teen Cobra</a></b>, and <b><a href="https://annaconnolly.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Anna Connolly</a></b> (with Hannah Burris). I'm not saying there <i>will</i> be special guests, but what I am saying is that the possibility of special guests shouldn't be ruled out. </p><p>And now, because I can't be at the show tomorrow, I want to spend a little time celebrating the Black Cat. I've been going to shows at the Black Cat since 1997, way back when it was in its first iteration at 1831 14th St. NW. It feels impossible to state (let alone wrap my head around) exactly what that club has meant to me since I first had my mind blown by the boys of <b>Blur</b>, during those dizzy heights of the closing stages of the Britpop era. One of my most enduring concert memories is from that first Black Cat show, and involves watching Blur's Alex James playing his bass in such a languid, yet disdainful way, cigarette dangling from the corner of his sneering lips. My first show at the Black Cat, and so many thereafter, was one for the ages.</p><p>After the venue's move to 1811 in 2001, I spent more nights in that venue than I could ever hope to count. Another of my most enduring concert memories was seeing <b>Fleet Floxes</b> in 2008, and witnessing Robin Pecknold shut the entire place up with a beautiful solo encore. In DC, where so many people tend to drown out the stage, to feel that quiet and feel everyone's silence, was one of the most powerful moments I've experienced in my nearly three decades of gig-going. Thanks to the venue's size/name recognition/savvy booking over the years, I've seen not only big names but some before-they-were-huge names. I saw <b>The National</b> at the Black Cat, way back when. The first time I saw <b>The Black Angels</b> was at the Black Cat - and they weren't even the headliners. Not only have I seen some of the best shows of my life inside those dark, cozy walls, but I've spent so many nights cutting a rug and playing pool (badly) and shooting the breeze with old friends, new friends, friends who've drifted, friends who've moved, friends who are gone. Indie dance nights galore, birthday parties, pre-show drinks, band interviews, Rock & Shop and record fairs, mid-week rituals (Black Cat Wednesday for life). When I die, it's entirely possible that I'll end up haunting the Black Cat. At least every once in a while, anyway. </p><p>The importance of strong independent venues has always been obvious (or should have been), but these days it's at critical mass. We all know what the COVID-19 pandemic has done to the music world as a whole, let alone the havoc it's brought to individual local communities. Several DC venues are gone now, and it's crucial to keep the ones that are left going, and going strong. As life is slowly able to return to some semblance of what it was before, and as it's safe to do so, getting back to live music is going to be a must - not only for the venues and their staffs but for those of us who love them. As I've been writing this I've been overwhelmed with memories and emotions, and I know I'm far from the only one to have that kind of emotional tie to this wonderful place. No matter where I live, no matter where I go in life, the memories I made at the Black Cat, and even the place itself, will always be a part of me. </p><p>And so, I want to wish the one and only Black Cat, Black Cat (if you know, you know) an incredibly Happy 28th Anniversary. May there be at the very least 28 more. Thanks for the memories, I love you!</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 9.10.21]</b> </p>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-26076837056607176232021-08-06T14:16:00.002-04:002021-08-06T14:16:45.179-04:00Video of The Day: Nation of Language<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uo5LyTQfpg4/YQ14TX3QUkI/AAAAAAAAU4k/SNaXCFg_FJ4qw6jJ1ti1hbt5yZtxFZnHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/vid%2Bdec%2B48.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uo5LyTQfpg4/YQ14TX3QUkI/AAAAAAAAU4k/SNaXCFg_FJ4qw6jJ1ti1hbt5yZtxFZnHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/vid%2Bdec%2B48.png" width="320" /></a></div><i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><div><br /></div><div>I've fallen head over heels for <b><a href="http://www.nationoflanguage.com" target="_blank">Nation of Language</a></b> during the course of the past year. Regretfully, this has coincided with some personal life things that have made writing difficult, and as such this is, unfathomably, my first post about the band I've listened to so much over the past year and a half.</div><div><br /></div><div>The band will be releasing the follow-up to their incredible debut <i><a href="https://nationoflanguage.bandcamp.com/album/introduction-presence" target="_blank">Introduction, Presence</a></i> this November, and will also be touring the heck out of both new record <i><a href="https://nationoflanguage.bandcamp.com/album/a-way-forward" target="_blank">A Way Forward</a></i> and <i>Introduction, Presence</i>, as they finally get to hit the road later this year. Those dates are below. </div><div><br /></div><div>"This Fractured Mind" is the third single plucked from <i>A Way Forward</i>, and is yet another sublime, synth-laden composition with the capacity to end up ingrained in your mind. The video captures both the beauty and anxiety of city living, while tight shots on the band emphasize that duality on a more personal level. Both the song and video keep things off-kilter, and both find joy in the unexpected. </div><div><br /></div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QikHjoLtfcw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=757808853/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="https://nationoflanguage.bandcamp.com/track/this-fractured-mind">This Fractured Mind by Nation of Language</a></iframe>
<div><br /></div><div><b><u>Nation of Language Tour Dates </u></b></div><div><br /></div><div>08/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Sultan Room [SOLD OUT]
</div><div>09/09 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s </div><div>09/10 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom [SOLD OUT] </div><div>09/11 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair </div><div>09/25 – Queens, NY @ Governors Ball [SOLD OUT] </div><div>09/30 – Montreal, PQ @ Bar le Ritz </div><div>10/01 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern </div><div>10/02 – Detroit, MI @ Tangent Gallery</div><div>10/03 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle [SOLD OUT]</div><div>10/04 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon</div><div>10/05 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club</div><div>10/06 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village</div><div>10/08 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar</div><div>10/09 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake</div><div>10/10 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall </div><div>10/12 – Vancouver, BC @ Fox Cabaret</div><div>10/14 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile</div><div>10/15 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studio</div><div>10/17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent</div><div>10/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Lodge Room [SOLD OUT]</div><div>10/20 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah</div><div>10/21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Lodge Room</div><div>10/22 – Anaheim, CA @ The Parish </div><div>10/23 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar </div><div>10/26 – Dallas, TX @ Deep Ellum Arts</div><div>10/27 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall</div><div>10/28 – Austin, TX @ Levitation @ Empire Control Room [SOLD OUT]</div><div>10/29 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl</div><div><b>10/30 – Chapel Hill @ Cat’s Cradle</b></div><div><b>10/31 – Washington DC @ Songbyrd</b></div><div><br /></div><div>01/10 - Cologne, DE @ YUCA</div><div>01/11 - Antwerp, BE @ TRIX Bar [no pre-sale]</div><div>01/12 - Amsterdam, NE @ Paradisio</div><div>01/14 - Hamburg, DE @ Turmzimmer</div><div>01/15 - Copenhagen, DK @ Ideal Bar</div><div>01/16 - Stockholm, SE @ Obaren [free]</div><div>01/17 - Oslo, NO @ Bla</div><div>01/19 - Berlin, DE @ Kantine am Berghain</div><div>01/20 - Zurich, CH @ Kater</div><div>01/22 - Barcelona, ES @ Laut</div><div>01/23 - Madrid, ES @ Sala El Sol</div><div>01/25 - Paris, FR @ Supersonic [free]</div><div>01/27 - Leeds, UK @ Hyde Park Book Club</div><div>01/28 - Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast</div><div>01/29 - Dublin, IE @ The Grand Social</div><div>01/30 - Manchester, UK @ YES Basement</div><div>01/31 - London, UK @ Lafayette </div></div><div><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 8.6.21]</b></div></b>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-16701518494018821642021-08-04T17:13:00.002-04:002021-08-04T17:13:44.528-04:00Get Yer Pedals Out: Starring Don Potter (Outerloop)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YNG2Xi3kZs8/YQr-lv-qHqI/AAAAAAAAU4Y/5pkKWDqhSIQu1yKvQT9gnKg_OOwR3ZJ8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/image_50417153.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YNG2Xi3kZs8/YQr-lv-qHqI/AAAAAAAAU4Y/5pkKWDqhSIQu1yKvQT9gnKg_OOwR3ZJ8ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/image_50417153.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><i>I couldn't quite tell you why, but for the longest time I've been somewhat moderately obsessed with pedals. Since I'm no guitarist I don't really have a valid reason for this, other than the fact that they both make pretty noises and are rather nice to look at. Much, really, like the folks who use them. I've decided to turn my inexplicable pedal fancy into Fuzzy Logic fodder, and I do hope you'll enjoy my foray into the ins and outs of pedal worship.</i><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Outerloop.nova" target="_blank">Outerloop</a></b> might be relatively new, but some of its members are no stranger to the DC scene. Guitarist <b>Don</b> <b>Potter</b>, for example, has been featured on Fuzzy Logic a time or two over the years, with his prior projects Loose Lips and Fire & The Wheel. These days, Potter's focus is on guitar duties with post-punk/art rock/free range rock collective Outerloop. </div><div><br /></div><div>The foursome is having a big week, what with their scheduled appearance at famed summertime venue Fort Reno tomorrow (8/5) and the release of their <a href="https://outerloop.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">split A-side single</a> "Seeping Mirrors" and "El Control" on Friday (8/6 - Bandcamp Friday, coincidentally). </div><div><br /></div><div>Read on to get to know what makes the mind behind the riffage tick, and be sure you keep Outerloop on your radar. <div><br /></div><div>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div><div><b>Which pedal is your very favorite and why? </b></div><div><br /></div><div>This is hard so I will cheat and break it down by categories… </div><div><br /></div><div>All-time-MVP-don’t-leave-home-without: Boss - BD-2 Blues Driver </div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe some people find them boring but there’s a reason everyone still buys Boss pedals. The tone on this one is great, you can get a wide range of dirt, but it gets out of the way and doesn’t overpower the character of your playing.
I alternately use a couple other distortion/fuzz pedals but this one gets the most action. It’s on both “Seeping Mirrors” and “El Control” as well as many other Outerloop tunes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most Versatile: JHS - Kodiak Tremolo </div><div><br /></div><div>You can get some really lovely or jarring tremors out of this, and the built in tap-tempo is very nice - but it also has a great volume boost feature so I can turn down the modulation and just use it as a clean boost.
</div><div><br /></div><div>Most Demented: Death By Audio - Pinned </div><div><br /></div><div>I use this crazy fuzz/distortion/octave pedal on only one Outerloop song right now, but I look forward to using it more.
When we were recording at the Magpie Cage with J. Robbins, I clicked this thing on to get some levels and asked J., “How does it sound?” He said, “sounds good,” then he quickly clarified. “I mean... it sounds demented but I think that’s what you’re going for.”
He was right. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>What's your favorite chord? </b></div><div><br /></div><div>My favorite chord is all the open strings at the same time in standard tuning. I think it’s called an Emin11. I use it as sort of an exclamation mark sometimes - a quick dissonant stab. It can help buy myself time when I have to move my left hand between different places on the fretboard. It’s like flipping over the card table in an old west saloon to surprise everyone and give you an extra second to draw your gun. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Who's your guitarist icon?</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>I don’t know that I have one in particular, but I can say that these days I’m into guitar players who push themselves to play something interesting and focal throughout the song, rather than just strumming or chugging away on power chords behind the vocal. Carrie and Corin really keep it interesting in that way on those Sleater-Kinney records. Jawbox, Jesus Lizard and Drive Like Jehu are other great examples. I also really admire Tom Morello, Mary Timony, Robert Fripp, Devin Ocampo, Fugazi, Annie Clark, Eddie Hazel, Protomartyr, and Savages. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>With all the pedals out there, how do you decide which ones to procure? </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Since I’m the only guitar player in this band I look for ways to add different textures to my lines in order to keep it interesting, and so it doesn’t sound so stark all the time. Delay can be good for that and I use both the EHX Canyon and the Boss Giga Delay. I also have a few pedals where you can blend in various synth tones with your guitar. The Matryoshka synth pedal by Bananana gets some good use. It's actually a bass pedal, but does great with chords, or at least has a fun glitchy quality. </div><div><br /></div><div>Before I get a pedal I need to watch all the online demo videos, of course, to make sure the thing makes sounds I can work with. It’s cool that you can just do that now - back when I started playing, if you were interested in a pedal you had to hope that your local guitar store had it and would let you try it out and then it was stressful because you’re trying to remember Megadeth riffs or whatever and everyone in the store is listening and judging you. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>What's your dream pedal?</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>I put a hold on buying new pedals a little while back because I have a full board now and want to make sure I’ve reasonably exhausted its potential. I’ve been having fun experimenting with different combinations lately like Ring Mod-Big Muff-Chorus which created this wild phasing effect that I used on one song in the studio. The thing is, I’m really bad at documenting the effects and parameters after I dial up an interesting sound - so when I try to recreate it later I'm never confident that something isn’t “off.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Maybe if there was a pedal to help with that, like when you click it on it records all the knob positions of all the active pedals along with a video of you playing the riff or whatever - and then catalogs it all together. While we’re at it, it could be a multi-effects pedal that does all the things I’m too lazy to do. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3890741681/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="https://outerloop.bandcamp.com/album/outerloop-demo">Outerloop (demo) by Outerloop</a></iframe>
<div><br /></div><div><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rqv7Ovl4kTs" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>[photo courtesy Don Potter] </b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 8.4.21]</b></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-54509330287512233392021-08-04T13:50:00.001-04:002021-08-04T13:50:56.487-04:00On The Road Again: A Place To Bury Strangers<i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Abceq-6cVmU/YQrNhuPUPlI/AAAAAAAAU4Q/xhINutGoWekVI-jSSu_REKQb2pm8Vxm0gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/OTRA.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Abceq-6cVmU/YQrNhuPUPlI/AAAAAAAAU4Q/xhINutGoWekVI-jSSu_REKQb2pm8Vxm0gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/OTRA.png" width="320" /></a></div>Well, well, well. Look who's taking their show on the road? </i><div><br /></div><div>It's been nearly a year and a half since I last posted about a band going on tour. We all know what's been going on since March of 2020, and we all know that things are still not back to "normal," despite many efforts to suggest the contrary is true. That being said, it's a heartwarming thing to welcome back the return of live music into our lives - in whatever capacity.</div><div><br /></div><div>I find it fitting that my first On The Road Again post of 2021 was inspired by the announcement of US tour dates from one of the very best (and loudest) live bands I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing: the one and only <b><a href="https://www.aplacetoburystrangers.com/" target="_blank">A Place to Bury Strangers</a></b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>The past year has seen major change within the APTBS sphere, with departures and arrivals seismically altering the lineup. However, thanks to mastermind and anchor Oliver Ackermann, the sound remains largely the same, which is evident from the singles released from new EP <i><a href="https://aplacetoburystrangers.bandcamp.com/album/hologram-ep" target="_blank">Hologram</a></i>. These newest songs will undoubtedly slot perfectly alongside whatever else the setlists will have in store. </div><div><br /></div><div>All dates listed below, including the previously-announced Euro dates and fall dates with Future Islands. US 2022 dates will <a href="https://www.bandsintown.com/a/16447-a-place-to-bury-strangers" target="_blank">go on sale</a> this Friday. Make sure you bring your earplugs, and be on the lookout for guitar debris. </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><b><u>
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS TOUR DATES</u></b> <div><br /></div><div>Wed. September 15 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom $ </div><div>Mon. October 11 - New Orleans, LA @ Civic Theatre * </div><div>Tue. October 12 - Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre * </div><div><b>Wed. October 13 - Raleigh, NC @ Ritz * </b></div><div><b>Thur. October 14 - Washington, DC @ Anthem *</b> </div><div>Fri. October 29 - Austin, TX @ Levitation Festival </div><div><br /></div><div>Tue. February 1 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s # </div><div>Wed. February 2 - Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz # </div><div>Fri. February 4 - Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace # </div><div>Sat. February 5 - Detroit, MI @ El Club # </div><div>Sun. February 6 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle </div><div>Mon. February 7 - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club # </div><div>Tue. February 8 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave. 7th Street Entry # </div><div>Fri. February 11 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos % </div><div>Sat. February 12 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios % </div><div>Sun. February 13 - Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre % </div><div>Tue. February 15 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel % </div><div>Wed. February 16 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom % </div><div>Fri. February 18 - San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar % </div><div>Sat. February 19 - Tucson, AZ @ Hotel Congress % </div><div>Tue. February 22 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge % </div><div>Wed. February 23 - Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck % </div><div>Fri. February 25 - Nashville, TN @ The High Watt % </div><div>Wed. March 9 - Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang </div><div>Thu. March 10 - Dresden, DE @ Beatpol </div><div>Fri. March 11 - Warsaw, PL @ Klub Poglos </div><div>Sat. March 12 - Prague, CZ @ Futurum </div><div>Sun. March 13 - Bratislava, SK @ Randal Club </div><div>Mon. March 14 - Budapest, HU @ Durer Kert </div><div>Wed. March 16 - Bucharest, RO @ Control Club </div><div>Thu. March 17 - Sofia, BG @ Mixtape5 </div><div>Fri. March 18 - Thessaloniki, GR @ Eightball </div><div>Sat. March 19 - Athens, GR @ Temple </div><div>Mon. March 21 - Skopje, MK @ 25th of May Hall </div><div>Tue. March 22 - Belgrade, RS @ Club Drugstore </div><div>Thu. March 24 - Zagreb, HR @ Mochvara </div><div>Fri. March 25 - Bologna, IT @ Freakout Club </div><div>Sat. March 26 - Rome, IT @ Largo </div><div>Sun. March 27 - Milan, IT @ Legend Club </div><div>Tue. March 29 - Zurich, CH @ Bogen F </div><div>Wed. March 30 - Munich, DE @ Backstage </div><div>Thu. March 31 - Martigny, CH @ Caves Du Memoir </div><div>Fri. April 1 - Paris, FR @ La Trabendo </div><div>Sat. April 2 - London, UK @ Lafayette </div><div>Mon. April 4 - Antwerp, BE @ Kavka </div><div>Tue. April 5 - Munster, DE @ Gleis 22 </div><div>Wed. April 6 - Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg </div><div>Thu. April 7 - Groningen, NL @ Vera </div><div>Sat. April 9 - Stockholm, SE @ Hus 7 </div><div>Sun. April 10 - Oslo, NO @ John Dee </div><div>Mon. April 11 - Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset </div><div>Tue. April 12 - Berlin, DE @ Hole 44 </div><div>Wed. April 13 - Cologne, DE @ MTC </div><div><br /></div><div>* with Future Islands </div><div>$ with Maxband & Wah Together </div><div># with Glove
% with TV Priest </div><div><br /></div><div><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2627635982/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2171599759/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="https://aplacetoburystrangers.bandcamp.com/album/hologram-ep">Hologram EP by A Place To Bury Strangers</a></iframe> </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 8.4.21]</b></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-34219128415726645942021-03-06T09:07:00.000-05:002021-03-06T09:07:00.677-05:00Video of The Day: Unschooling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JhSpXsX-wn4/YENStV-gM3I/AAAAAAAAUuU/pG6Ek9mV5fAqylTQEVAOtZ3CMVJdkbXewCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/vid%2Bdec%2B42.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JhSpXsX-wn4/YENStV-gM3I/AAAAAAAAUuU/pG6Ek9mV5fAqylTQEVAOtZ3CMVJdkbXewCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/vid%2Bdec%2B42.png" /></a></div><i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/unschoolingband" target="_blank">Unschooling</a></b>'s "Social Chameleon" is the kind of song that's a bit like playing musical chairs - you never quite know when the music is going to stop, or what's going to happen when it does, but until then you've got this nervy, overstimulated energy coursing through you. With this lean, jittery song, the Rouen ensemble picks up the mantle of abrasive, thorny art punk from dearly departed forebears Women and adds a bit of a twist, bringing the rawness out into the sunshine. </div><div><br /></div><div>There's a playfulness to "Social Chameleon," a mischievous feeling that's echoed in the song's video. As the song careens between waves of prickly riffs and breathlessly off-kilter drums, a rapid barrage of disparate images flashes across the screen. Like the song, it provides a potent dizzying sensation. </div><div><br /></div><div>You'll forgive the predictable pun, I hope, but "Social Chameleon" belongs at the head of the class. </div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aH9fb3bMusU" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2851438417/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1817151389/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="https://unschooling.bandcamp.com/album/random-acts-of-total-control">Random Acts of Total Control by Unschooling</a></iframe> <div style="text-align: center;"><b>[posted 3.6.21]</b></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-5337120643838002122020-10-09T12:04:00.001-04:002020-10-09T12:04:29.813-04:00Video Premiere: Life of Saturdays<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V8D7QJyLEfA/X4AWsNAfllI/AAAAAAAAUrI/Q8Jggkk9lOMvHm0uHSO2SIw_041PPzLkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1080/LoS%2BPrem%2B6.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V8D7QJyLEfA/X4AWsNAfllI/AAAAAAAAUrI/Q8Jggkk9lOMvHm0uHSO2SIw_041PPzLkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/LoS%2BPrem%2B6.png" /></a></div>Back in 2015, <a href="https://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20150623/News/605043703/WM">John Staton of the Wilmington <i>Star News</i></a> described <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lifeofsaturdaysNC/">Life of Saturdays</a></b> as "the best Wilmington band no one's ever heard of." Five years down the road, and that's not so much the case anymore - even non-Wilmingtonians might already know/love Life of Saturdays; if not by name, perhaps by note, thanks to the band's song "If U R Alive" being featured in an episode of Vice Principals (please allow me to save you some searching - season 2, episode 7). <p></p><p>For the uninitiated, I'm thrilled to be able to introduce you to Life of Saturdays through this here video premiere. The video you're watching, for the unreleased "That Kind of Love," is special - not only because it's a gem in its own right, but because it's part of the <b><a href="https://fortlowell.bandcamp.com/">Fort Lowell Records</a></b> <i>GROW</i> compilation (full name of the record being <i><a href="https://fortlowell.bandcamp.com/album/grow-a-compilation-in-solidarity-with-black-lives-matter">GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter</a></i>). The record is officially released on October 30, and features songs from Wilmington/Wilmington-adjacent artists. 100% of sales from the album will be donated to the New Hanover County NAACP, so your purchase will go to an extremely worthwhile cause. </p><p>You'll be hearing more from me about <i>GROW </i>in the very near future, but let's get back to Life of Saturdays. </p><p>"That Kind of Love" is all sorts of intriguing. The beguiling beat hints at the early 2000s slink of Ladytron, the sort of sound that makes for a glorious good time, underpinned by an acute sense of unflinching resignation. The vocal interplay between John Jeremiah Sullivan and Jessie Williams is both warmly complementary and far out free-wheeling. Sullivan, the band's ringleader, and Williams both have the kind of rambling, offbeat vocal styles made for storytelling, and both imbue Sullivan's lyrics with a poignancy that hits hard. </p><p>The more I listen to "That Kind of Love," the more I keep thinking to myself, "Magnetic Fields." Sullivan seems to have a knack for spinning yarns, but there's something sardonic about the lyrical realism mixed in with his vibrant, poetic tendencies. At times diverging from one another, Sullivan and Williams consistently find their own ways to yank the heartstrings, while also doing plenty of damage together. The song's video certainly hits the spot, a collection of grainy moments pulled from vintage movies, with plenty of Hollywood kisses adding dramatic effect to the cinematic feel of the song. </p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FCfk1Rrbrys" width="560"></iframe>
<div><br /></div><div><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2984614477/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1583567749/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="https://fortlowell.bandcamp.com/album/grow-a-compilation-in-solidarity-with-black-lives-matter">GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter by Life of Saturdays</a></iframe> </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b> [posted 10.9.20]</b></div>Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-22488358231087805462020-08-24T13:16:00.001-04:002020-08-24T13:17:29.816-04:00Video of The Day: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-3uJAn0h_4/X0PvGhkuRkI/AAAAAAAAUp4/R45Rfu00q5MIJ7Vd1Kt29-guuw1EXhi5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/vid%2Bdec%2B41.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-3uJAn0h_4/X0PvGhkuRkI/AAAAAAAAUp4/R45Rfu00q5MIJ7Vd1Kt29-guuw1EXhi5wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/vid%2Bdec%2B41.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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Hearing <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ThePainsofBeingPureatHeart">The Pains of Being Pure at Heart</a></b> for the first time was the best kind of sugar rush. Their starry-eyed, impeccably raw fuzz was laced with twee and shades of Scotland and New Zealand, a swirl of bittersweetness that still sounds like sheer magic 11 years after their debut <a href="https://slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com/album/the-pains-of-being-pure-at-heart">self-titled record</a> was released. My first taste of the Pains sound was their poignant, irresistible ditty "Young Adult Friction," a divine little song filled with bookish charm tempered with scenes of a sexual nature and (possibly) fondly-remembered, slightly awkward stolen moments in libraries. Kip Berman's cherubic vocals float through luxuriant waves of scuzzed, plush jangle, a blissful combination that saturates the entirety of this particular record.<br />
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The video's grainy, home movie feel picks up the songs youthful abandon and runs with it. The band's lighthearted shenanigans with skulls and various young adult titles feature prominently, making it a perfect accompaniment for the stellar single.<br />
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Pains fans new and old can relive the glory of <i><a href="https://slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com/album/the-pains-of-being-pure-at-heart">The Pains of Being Pure at Heart</a></i> this very afternoon (4 PM Eastern) through the rescheduled band's <b><a href="https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/">Tim's Twitter Listening Party</a></b>.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/01ui9GR84OU" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1089159807/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3909660198/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://slumberlandrecs.bandcamp.com/album/the-pains-of-being-pure-at-heart">The Pains of Being Pure At Heart by The Pains of Being Pure At Heart</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 8.24.20] </b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-13021919964387696112020-08-21T14:22:00.001-04:002020-08-21T14:22:51.751-04:00Video of The Day: Blur<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aui-OkzGCsU/X0AJkNribaI/AAAAAAAAUpo/_eCS2Wd8YaMqYbOrrCRPJEZw_55vxuRGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/vid%2Bdec%2B39.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aui-OkzGCsU/X0AJkNribaI/AAAAAAAAUpo/_eCS2Wd8YaMqYbOrrCRPJEZw_55vxuRGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/vid%2Bdec%2B39.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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For whatever reason, <i><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Blur-The-Great-Escape/master/94767">The Great Escape</a> </i>was my gateway drug into the world of <b><a href="https://www.blur.co.uk/?frontpage=true">Blur</a></b>. That first foray led to me falling hard. How that record is 25 years old already I can't quite wrap my head around, but it is - and it's still great. I can't even venture a casual estimate of how many times I listened to the languid, silken fantasia of "The Universal," the song that was for so long my favorite Blur song. As with so many Blur songs, this take on the rubbishness of modern life is glorious, a theatrical puff of smoke that swells with the band's veiled snark nearly as much as it does with orchestral confections.<br />
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"The Universal," while released as a single, probably isn't one of the Big Ones that comes to mind when you think of Blur. "Girls & Boys" it's not. There's none of the "Parklife" saltiness here. "Country House," which also comes from <i>The Great Escape</i> (and which won that legendary singles chart battle with Oasis), is certainly more in keeping with that golden era of Blur. But for me, "The Universal" has always held a special kind of magic. <br />
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I don't care what Damon Albarn says. I love <i>The Great Escape</i>.<br />
<br />
The video is oh-so '90s, shades of A Clockwork Orange coursing through the over-the-top clip's somewhat creepy lounge setting. Blur, in their matching white Nehru-collared ensembles, star as both house band and curious onlookers, watching the gaggle of club patrons behaving badly (and downing intriguing blue cocktails - no moloko here, thanks).<br />
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Interested parties should hop on Twitter tonight (5 PM Eastern time) to catch the <b><a href="https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/">Tim's Twitter Listening Party</a></b> for this classic album.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BrbxWOMpwfs" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 8.21.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-8195748721331749162020-08-15T08:11:00.000-04:002020-08-15T08:11:34.335-04:00Video of The Day: The Longcut<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ktAcKSg_XBc/XzepUsgsf5I/AAAAAAAAUpc/9i2Yz1RIp8cLyXUqujij7rAN17tXfUk2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/vid%2Bdec%2B38.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ktAcKSg_XBc/XzepUsgsf5I/AAAAAAAAUpc/9i2Yz1RIp8cLyXUqujij7rAN17tXfUk2QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/vid%2Bdec%2B38.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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To my immense delight, one of this week's installments of <b><a href="https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/">Tim's Twitter Listening Party</a></b> was a celebration of <b><a href="https://thelongcut.bandcamp.com/album/a-call-and-response">The Longcut</a></b>'s immense 2006 long player <i><a href="https://thelongcut.bandcamp.com/album/a-call-and-response">A Call and Response</a></i>, which just so happens to be one of my favorite records to come out of the Naughts.<br />
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A favorite from this Mancunian maelstrom was/is/always will be "Vitamin C." The song starts with an ethereal, Eno-esque glow, a hint of frisson crackling just under the surface as some serious tension builds within the song's pulsating, beating heart beats and palpably lovestruck lyrics (delivered with raw perfection through Stuart Ogilvie's trademark howls, plaintive against the swells of industrial dance grooves). The lovestruck part comes as no surprise, given that, according to Ogilvie, the song was written for his missus - "It’s about realising that you’re falling in love with someone while at the same time missing them terribly." Pardon me while I swoon.<br />
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The video, while not necessarily the most romantic visual, plays on the idea of distance, at least in the opening moments - with glitchy shots of green fields and roadways and other aerial scenes. Much of the video takes the viewer on a walking tour through different city neighborhoods, perhaps as a means of walking to distract yourself from being lovesick. An absorbing clip to go along with this gorgeous song.<br />
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If you missed the listening party, check out the replay <b><a href="https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/pages/replay/feed_374.html">here</a></b>. And if you missed <i>A Call and Response</i> the first time around, there's no time like right now to dive in. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mo1-vC9KExw" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1129647227/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1320484652/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://thelongcut.bandcamp.com/album/a-call-and-response">A Call And Response by The Longcut</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 8.15.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-41217882592175094252020-08-10T13:26:00.000-04:002020-08-10T13:26:00.470-04:00Hello: A Fuzzy Logic Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6TGQ0kiJatU/XzGA96eaVRI/AAAAAAAAUpU/JoAVmLF4DmsR84cfljq2haVMulnbH3bgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hello..png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6TGQ0kiJatU/XzGA96eaVRI/AAAAAAAAUpU/JoAVmLF4DmsR84cfljq2haVMulnbH3bgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Hello..png" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
Hi friends.<br />
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You’ve probably noticed (at least, I hope you've noticed) how quiet it’s been around Fuzzy Logic HQ for the last little while. I thought it was only polite to give y’all an update, and to do so without infringing upon an actual post about music to do said update.<br />
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I’ve been finding life a little overwhelming lately, which is a sentiment I suspect a great many of you have also felt/are currently feeling. Whether it’s being flabbergasted by the sheer lunacy of our “leaders” or being perpetually heartbroken over various news reports, not to mention struggling to stay afloat financially and mentally in the midst of a global pandemic, my creative inspiration has been at a pretty low ebb for the past few months. I know I’m not alone in feeling that way, and that’s something that’s both comforting and incredibly depressing - I hate knowing how hard this year has been on so many people. <br />
<br />
I’m posting today because I wanted to say that Fuzzy Logic isn’t dead, just temporarily dormant. Please know that I start every week with the best of intentions about going through my email and plucking new, wonderful sounds to share with you and your ears, but as you can see those intentions haven’t been manifesting themselves in any tangible way. You never know, this could be the week.<br />
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Please continue to bear with me as I work my way through the fog and, for lack of a better term, get my mojo back. I know we’re all dealing with some kind of darkness right now, and I want to do my small part to try to put something positive out there at a time when there’s a lot to make life feel pretty bleak. <br />
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Stay strong, stay safe, and be kind to each other. Lots of love to all. Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-66892529946154296992020-07-25T11:10:00.000-04:002020-07-25T11:10:17.425-04:00Video of The Day: Yuck<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t30996vqTW4/XxxGr2xVgDI/AAAAAAAAUo8/KNLwHZpRQocP7mTl_bbuuynH7pr9uSWaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/vid%2Bdec%2B37.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t30996vqTW4/XxxGr2xVgDI/AAAAAAAAUo8/KNLwHZpRQocP7mTl_bbuuynH7pr9uSWaQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/vid%2Bdec%2B37.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
<br />
As we all know, the dumpster fire that is 2020 has been incredibly hard on independent musicians. Without the ability to tour, so many musicians (not to mention venue staffs, etc.) have been in a bad place since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. But every now and again, there are bright spots, one of the brightest arguably being <b><a href="https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/">Tim's Twitter Listening Party</a></b>. Serious Good Guy (and most excellent musician) <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/timburgessmusic/">Tim Burgess</a></b> created a social media phenomenon with his listening parties, and they've given bands both old and new some much-deserved attention. Burgess should either be sainted, knighted, or perhaps both, for providing so many with such a positive, uplifting experience (not to mention the boost in streams for featured bands).<br />
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That's all a very long way of getting to today's chosen video. It's a throwback, ten years into the past or thereabouts. But it's tied in with Tim's Twitter Listening Party, because <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/yuckband/">Yuck</a></b> just so happens to be one of today's featured bands. Yes, friends, at 4 o'clock Eastern time you can join in and spread some love for Yuck's <a href="https://yuck.bandcamp.com/album/yuck-deluxe-version">2011 self-titled debut </a>record. And what a debut it was! To get you in the mood, here's the clip for one of the singles from said record, the absolutely delightful, honey-dripping, syrupy sludge that is "Georgia." Juxtaposed against the fabulous irreverence of vintage racing footage, the song's bittersweet charm harks back to a time when things felt much simpler.<br />
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Catch you at the listening party. <br />
<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3HfHGURWVnU" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2877305856/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2906083785/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://yuck.bandcamp.com/album/yuck-deluxe-version">Yuck (Deluxe Version) by Yuck</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 7.25.20] </b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-55284836177975262462020-06-28T06:24:00.000-04:002020-06-28T16:38:28.540-04:00Lonely Singles: Back to Nature<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIEDZoQCtng/Xvf8V1dFW6I/AAAAAAAAUoE/F1aZNmVLZ5APN11-JyQsC1a-CjowSJD9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Lonely%2BSingles%2B1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="940" height="268" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IIEDZoQCtng/Xvf8V1dFW6I/AAAAAAAAUoE/F1aZNmVLZ5APN11-JyQsC1a-CjowSJD9ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Lonely%2BSingles%2B1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>Quarantine is making everyone feel pretty lonely. Hunker down and spend some quality time getting to know some of <b><a href="https://twitter.com/bk77">Ben</a></b>'s favorite new songs.</i><br />
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The big winner of our season of quarantine? Nature. According to Google Trends, searches for terms like “<a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=best%20hiking%20trails%20near%20me&date=today%205-y&geo=US">best hiking trails near me</a>” are exploding. We’ve all seen the stories about our environment’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/23/coronavirus-photos-show-effect-of-air-pollution-drops-from-global-lockdown.html">opportunity to take a deep breath</a> for the first time since the Industrial Revolution. It’s not enough to stop the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-if-we-stopped-pretending">eventual climate apocalypse</a>, but it does make you feel a little better to know the <a href="https://kval.com/outdoors/quarantine-is-for-the-birds-bird-watching-soars-amid-covid-19-as-americans-head-outdoors">birds are getting some love</a>.<br />
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Nature—in its innocence and darkness, accessibility and mystery, its ability to provide and destroy—has inspired artists since the days of the cave painters. Let’s look at the loose natural and rural themes running through a handful of singles to pop up over the past few weeks. <br />
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<b><a href="https://www.blitzentrapper.net/">Blitzen Trapper</a></b> —”Magical Thinking.” Classic Blitzen Trapper from the jump—the country-rock melodies that amble up the necks of Eric Earley, Erik Menteer, and Marty Marquis’s guitars, the locomotive chug of bassist Michael Van Pelt and Brian Adrian Koch’s rhythm section, and Earley’s Western Gothic/small-town mystical lyrics. <br />
<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4077403985/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3766466873/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://blitzentrapper.bandcamp.com/album/holy-smokes-future-jokes">Holy Smokes Future Jokes by Blitzen Trapper</a></iframe> <br />
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This track, the first release from September 2020’s <i><a href="https://blitzentrapper.bandcamp.com/album/holy-smokes-future-jokes">Holy Smokes Future Jokes</a></i>, would be right at home on the band’s 2010’s commercial breakthrough, <i><a href="https://blitzentrapper.bandcamp.com/album/destroyer-of-the-void">Destroyer of the Void. </a></i><br />
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What’s the thought process behind “Magical Thinking?” According to the band’s artistic statement, it’s part of a broader collection of songs inspired by author George Saunders’s bestseller <i>Lincoln In The Bardo</i> and the <i>Tibertan Book of the Dead</i>.<br />
<br />
“Earley’s lyrics take the listener on a wild and dramatic journey through rivers of waist-high water in the aftermath of a tragic car wreck and the hazy morning before a murderous moment, and from getting blitzed to the point of extinction inside a masonic temple to a stop for chips and dip before the apocalypse,” <a href="https://blitzentrapper.bandcamp.com/album/holy-smokes-future-jokes">the notes explain</a>. “Along the way, there’s also an occasion to smoke dope with Abe Lincoln and play bones with Brian Jones, slide through the ether in a dream, and confront the Intermediate States while bathed in the glow of the bardo’s light—that transitional state between death and rebirth.” <br />
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That’s Blitzen Trapper, folks.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.logicfuzzy.com/2020/01/show-spotlight-modern-nature-comet-ping.html">Modern Nature</a></b> — “Harvest,” featuring Itasca. Modern Nature recorded a mini-album, <i><a href="https://modernnature.bandcamp.com/">Annual</a></i>, at the end of 2019, and “Harvest” is the first of the new tracks to see the light of day. <br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2111737053/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2585384449/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://modernnature.bandcamp.com/album/annual">Annual by Modern Nature</a></iframe> <br />
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In fitting form for the Jack Cooper (guitar, vocals) and Jeff Tobias (saxophone) indie-jazz-folk supergroup, it’s a dark soundtrack for the modern world’s catastrophic disassociation from the natural world. The current pandemic is only a coincidence! <br />
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The fact that the record art looks like something straight out of Midsommar is no mistake, either. “'Harvest' represents Autumn on the record and centres around rituals and superstitions,” <a href="https://bellaunion.com/2020/04/modern-nature-share-harvest/">Cooper writes on label Bella Union website</a>. “A lot of the words and ideas that became the bones of the song were written the days after a vivid experience in Lewes for Bonfire Night.” <br />
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Bonfire Night, of course, being a 350-year-old tradition in which crosses are burnt on a November night in celebration of the foiled Gunpowder Plot (also an excuse to party to the point of riot). <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-50264867#:~:text=But%20the%20biggest%20event%20takes,always%20held%20on%205%20November.&text=While%20Guy%20Fawkes%20and%20the,the%20town%20in%20the%201500s.">According to the BBC</a>, the East Sussex folks party even harder. A semi-anarchic, paganistic festival that threatens the invisible shackles of power and order? Sounds about right for this band.<br />
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<b><a href="https://neilyoungarchives.com/">Neil Young</a></b> — “Try.” A short, beautiful song from a legend. "Darlin,’ the door is open / To my heart, and I’ve been hopin’ / That you won’t be the one to struggle with the key / We got lots of time to get together if we try," sings Neil Young in this country-twinged to unrequited love. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p5zxOWgCVbA" width="560"></iframe><br />
Age and experience don’t dampen longing: “I’d like to take a chance / But shit, Mary I can’t dance / So here’s looking up your old address / Paulie, what a mess / We gotta take a rest and try.” The travails of an old guy with a crush, right?<br />
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No! “Try” is a single from Homegrown, a lost and near-legendary Young album recorded in 1975. “Try” was written after Young split with Academy Award-nominated actress Carrie Snodgrass, and features backing vocals from Emmylou Harris and percussion from the late Levon Helm of The Band. <br />
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“It’s the sad side of a love affair. The damage done. The heartache. I just couldn’t listen to it,” <a href="https://relix.com/news/detail/neil-youngs-lost-1975-album-homegrown-to-be-released-in-june/">Young recently wrote</a>. “I wanted to move on. So I kept it to myself, hidden away in the vault, on the shelf, in the back of my mind… but I should have shared it. It’s actually beautiful.”<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.builttospill.com/">Built To Spill</a></b> — “Tell Me Now.” <a href="https://www.hihowareyou.com/">Daniel Johnston</a>, the prolific lo-fi singer/songwriter, was a character so unique that people would likely scoff at a fictional equivalent. While bouncing between West Virginia and Texas, Johnston battled mental illness, loneliness, and desperation while building an underground following of dedicated fans, journalists, and musicians that marveled at his ability to write simple and profound tunes. <br />
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Much of his recorded work sounds like field recordings from the most earnest point in the soul of the American experience: a desire for love and acceptance so universal, so raw, so laden with hope, despair, and nostalgia, that it not only cuts through the primitive technology but actually can become too much to handle.<br />
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Built To Spill accompanied Johnston on his final tour before he died in September 2019, and the band—as founder/stalwart Doug Martsch (guitar, vocals), Jason Albertini (bass), and Steve Gere (drums)—is set to release an album of Johnston’s work following an initial delay.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2524530178/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=701750338/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://built-to-spill.bandcamp.com/album/built-to-spill-plays-the-songs-of-daniel-johnston">Built To Spill Plays The Songs Of Daniel Johnston by Built To Spill</a></iframe><br />
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“Basically, we wanted to get a good documentation of what our rehearsals were like,” <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/built-to-spill-daniel-johnston-cover-album-bloody-rainbow-945835/">Martsch told Rolling Stone’s Angie Martoccio</a> in February. “It was pretty special for us...It was a lot heavier than what I thought it would be.”<br />
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The album, <i><a href="https://built-to-spill.bandcamp.com/album/built-to-spill-plays-the-songs-of-daniel-johnston">Built To Spill Plays the Songs of Daniel Johnston</a></i>, is out now through the Ernest Jenning Record Co.<br />
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<b>[posted 6.28.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-45112242738964933462020-06-24T05:42:00.000-04:002020-06-24T05:42:22.631-04:00An Interview With Ben O'Brien (Ben The Illustrator)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you've been around Twitter at all over the past few months, odds are you might be familiar with a wonderful phenomenon known as <b><a href="https://timstwitterlisteningparty.com/">Tim's Twitter Listening Party</a></b>. For the uninitiated, these parties were started by <b>Tim Burgess</b>, fabulous frontgent of longtime FL favorites <b>The Charlatans</b> (and rather fantastic solo artist). The concept for the listening parties is brilliantly simple/simply brilliant: Choose an album, have people listen to said album at the same time, bring in the artist (and/or someone who worked on the record) to tweet about it, and encourage fans to share memories and thoughts on Twitter.<br />
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As someone who's partaken in quite a few, these parties are a fantastic way to get some serious warm fuzzies about records one has loved for a long time, as well as a great way to get acquainted with something new. Burgess has given music lovers a light in the middle of a whole lot of darkness. Without a doubt, TTLP has been one of the best things to come out of the COVID-19 lockdown period. <br />
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Nostalgia and new records aren't all I've discovered through TTLP. Thanks to his collaboration with Tim's Twitter Listening Party, I've been introduced to the rather stunning work of <b>Ben O'Brien</b>, otherwise known as <b><a href="https://bentheillustrator.com/">Ben The Illustrator</a></b>. Ben's work is modern, minimal, playful, sleek...Ben's use of bold colors and a sense of whimsy make his works feel immediately familiar, not to mention uplifting. His work truly is the perfect companion for the TTLP experience.<br />
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Not only is he a hell of a talent in his own right, Ben also happens to be a huge music buff - you can find him hanging out at various listening parties himself. Ben graciously took some time to sit down and do a virtual Q + A, which you can enjoy below. Be sure to keep your eye on the schedule for TTLP, and keep an eye out for Ben's work in the months to come.<br />
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<b>How the hell are you?</b><br />
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Not too bad thanks, generally making art and fighting the good fight.<br />
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<b>What was the last song you listened to?</b><br />
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"Agility" by SickOnes, they're a punk band from around my way (Somerset, South West England), they've been around for a few years but changed singer and have recently been getting some good hype, it's been great hearing them on the radio.<br />
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<b>Beatles or Stones?</b><br />
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Beatles, nothing against the Stones, but Beatles.<br />
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<b>Top 5 albums (of now, of this month, or of ever):</b><br />
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Since we're halfway through 2020 I'm going for my top 5 of the year so far, in no particular order...<br />
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Fiona Apple - <i>Fetch The Bolt Cutters</i><br />
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Run the Jewels - <i>RTJ4</i><br />
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Tim Burgess - <i>I Love The New Sky</i><br />
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Hayley Williams - <i>Petals For Armor</i><br />
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Tame Impala - <i>The Slow Rush</i><br />
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<b>Favorite music-related movie?</b><br />
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There are so many! I really loved <i>Beastie Boys Story</i> just recently, it follows on perfectly from reading <i>Beastie Boys Book</i>. There's also <i>School of Rock</i> (a family favourite of ours) and <i>Boyz n the Hood</i> (I was 15 when this came out, learning about the world, and so much of my political foundations and understanding of the modern world was set down around that age, with films like <i>Boyz n the Hood</i> and Ice Cube's first 3 solo albums). BUT! I think my favourite music-related movie would be <i>Scratch</i>, the hip hop DJ documentary, it was so good to get that insight into the world of the DJ, after MCs getting so much attention through the '90s with Jay Z, Eminem, Dr. Dre etc. all becoming superstars. I was brought up on vinyl, my dad's Bowie collection and my mum's love of jazz, but as I became a teen and got into hip hop I could take that passion for vinyl into a different direction, never quite becoming a DJ myself but always loving and respecting the artform.<br />
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<b>Half-full or half-empty?</b><br />
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Half-full of nothingness. (Sneaky lyric drop there, anyone know it?)<br />
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<b>What’s the last record you bought?</b><br />
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<i>RTJ4</i> by Run the Jewels.<br />
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<b>Shaken or stirred?</b><br />
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Stirred, thanks.<br />
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<b>What’s the first thing you think when you wake up in the morning?</b><br />
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"What does he want?!" (I have a 10 year old son and a dog, every morning one of them will wake me up).<br />
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<b>The greatest record store in the world is:</b><br />
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Your local one. <br />
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<b>What bands are most conducive to making great works of art whilst listening to? And do you listen to the particular album you’re doing a Cover Version of as you work? </b><br />
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I listen to music all day every day and there's plenty of bands I go to while working, I like things with a particular flow to them, nothing too intrusive and distracting or too minimal, so....The Chemical Brothers, Michael Kiwanuka, Oasis, Robyn, Haim, The Japanese House, Slowdive, The National, and CHVRCHES.<br />
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With the Cover Versions, I really do find it's best to listen to the album I'm illustrating! Really works to get into the vibe, especially if you have your own nostalgia for it<br />
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<b>What was the very first Cover Version?</b><br />
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<i>Blue Lines</i> by Massive Attack, it was early on in lockdown (before I was doing any collaboration with Tim Burgess' Twitter Listening Party) and I was taking an early morning walk, listening to "Unfinished Sympathy" from <i>Blue Lines</i>, I've always loved that album cover (I even have the barcode from <i>Blue Lines</i> tattooed on my back!) and then the idea to do my own version of that album cover popped into my head, and Cover Versions were born.<br />
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<b>Which Cover Version image is your favorite? And is your all-time favorite album a part of the collection? </b><br />
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I've been doing Cover Versions of quite a few of my own favourite albums, whether they've been TTLP's or not, so my favourite album ever has had the treatment already, De La Soul's <i>Three Feet High and Rising</i>. <br />
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As for my favourite Cover Version of them all, that's a really hard one! There's plenty, Ride, The Streets, Ol Dirty Bastard, Kraftwerk, I'm happy with them all, but there's something about the Cover Version of Pulp's <i>Different Class</i> that I am still especially proud of. The tidy little layout, all those little people lined up like little wooden block toys, it makes me smile.<br />
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<b>On your website you mention a “chance encounter” leading to your involvement with Tim’s Twitter Listening Party. It’s such a perfect fit, your work and those parties, but what was the encounter, and how did it evolve into your regular contributions?</b><br />
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After a few weeks of Tim hosting the Listening Parties, he tweeted that Twitter were giving him the chance to have his own hashtag emoji. I replied and offered to design one if he was interested (last year I worked with Elton John and designed the emoji to promote his autobiography, it was something I loved doing and wanted to do more of). Unfortunately for me Tim already had a brilliant emoji designed by Pete Fowler, but it led to a DM conversation with Tim on how we could collaborate. Initially I illustrated a set of scenes for the Listening Party website, they went down great, but it was the album covers you could see depicted in the scenes that people really loved. Tim suggested I pull them out of the scenes and we start playing with them, and so we did!<br />
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<b>Which Cover Versions have proven the most challenging to give the Ben treatment? </b><br />
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There's actually a few I just couldn't get right, which won't be seeing the light of day, but I think the trickiest one that I did complete was Orbital's <i>In Sides</i>, there's so much going on, and I wanted to get it all in, but making it minimal was quite an exercise, if I put in too much it would lose the style and simplicity. You need just enough information to make it instantly recognisable, it's quite a balancing act!<br />
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<b>In <a href="https://medium.com/@bentheillustrator/how-noel-gallagher-brought-us-together-a9c568a2f6ec">a blog post</a>, you wrote that “Music, and art, and life should make people feel like that, part of something greater, all together now.” That essentially feels like what’s going on with the listening parties. Have you been surprised at the way they’ve exploded into this wonderful, celebratory phenomenon? </b><br />
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I think they're amazing. I wasn't involved from the start, I'd seen mention of them but until I followed one I hadn't quite realised how uniting they were for such a great music-loving community on Twitter. And there's so many sides to them. Firstly you have the artist themselves (and Tim) tweeting about it, I find it's similar to watching an interview about the album, telling little stories, emotions and nostalgia coming to the surface, or there's the other people who were involved chipping in, musicians, producers, sleeve designers, photographers, so you get a whole new picture on an album. Or you can see everyone else, the listeners sharing their own memories, connecting with new friends over a favourite album, and then there's people listening to an album for the first time. It's amazing, people getting excited over their new favourite songs. It's just such a whirlwind, such a beautiful whirlwind.<br />
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<b>What’s been your favorite TTLP thus far? What album would you love to see featured, for your own pleasure and/or as part of TTLP? </b><br />
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I think it would have to be The Go! Team's <i>Thunder Lightning Strike</i>, it's a favourite album of mine for a start, but also my best buddy was listening along and tweeting too, so we could share our own stories of how we loved the album together, including a certain Go! Team gig in Brighton one Halloween. Three of us decided to go in fancy dress, there was Superman, Batman, and a giant rabbit (me), and when we got there we realised that fancy dress wasn't as popular a choice as we'd thought it might be, but we had an absolute blast anyway. For my Cover Versions, I HAVE to do some Beastie Boys covers, I think <i>Licensed to Ill</i> will come first, I stared at that artwork so much as I was growing up. For TTLP I would love to experience more hip hop albums via the Twitter community, I'd also love to listen along to some of my favourite singer songwriters of recent years including Courtney Barnett and Michael Kiwanuka.<br />
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<b>Are you working on more covers for the listening parties as we speak? Any hints if so? </b><br />
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I've already shared a few for listening parties this week, CHVRCHES and Kate Nash, but I'm hoping to have artworks for Bowie's <i>Aladdin Sane</i> and Madness' <i>One Step Beyond</i> which are both coming up soon!<br />
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<b>Some folks (including your humble blogette) might in future wish to purchase a print of the covers series. Will they be included in <a href="https://bentheillustrator.mysupadupa.com/">things you offer for sale</a>?</b><br />
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I would LOVE to be selling prints, I've actually had some test prints done which are amazing, 12" size and on a really nice card stock. I've given some to friends, but as yet selling them is a little tricky, there are legalities involved and the last thing I want is to be in trouble with my favourite bands, sleeve designers, and record labels! We'd love there to be an exhibition some day, so maybe we could sell some prints then (more than likely for charity), as you'll see in <a href="https://twitter.com/Tim_Burgess/status/1261228047526748160">Tim's tweet</a> from a month ago..<br />
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<b>Little-known Ben The Illustrator fact? </b><br />
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If you open up the 12" cover to Skid Row's 1991 single "Wasted Time" there's a huge photo of the band. If you look right at the back, top row, count along three blocks from the left you'll see two tiny little blurry blobs. I'm one of them.<br />
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<b>Your boots were made for:</b><br />
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Bit of a cliché but... walking.<br />
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<b>If you were so inclined, whom would you form a tribute band in honor of?</b><br />
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It would be easy to say some great band or singer from the past, but I think I'd go for something more underrated, so I'll say MC 900 Ft. Jesus. He was an early '90s American musician/rapper, he did a few great albums but his one song "If I Only Had a Brain" is still up there as one of my favourite songs of all-time! I may have rosy nostalgic glasses, but I remember seeing him at Phoenix Festival in 1995 and he and the band were great live too.<br />
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<b>Best song ever written?</b><br />
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"Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday, especially as the world reflects on itself and brings about change at the moment. No song has ever stopped me in my tracks like that did. My mum was a big fan of Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, so these greats were always playing in our kitchen at home, but I didn't knowingly hear this song until I was 17 or so, during my final year at school. Our art teacher played it to us as an example of politics meeting art. I did my final school art project based on that song before leaving school, leaving home, and moving to London to study.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1893191969/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1098469952/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://timburgess.bandcamp.com/album/i-love-the-new-sky">I Love The New Sky by Tim Burgess</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 6.24.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-61687330861837003622020-06-24T05:23:00.000-04:002020-06-24T05:23:07.489-04:00Video of The Day: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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I've been listening to <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rollingblackoutscoastalfever/">Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever</a></b>'s latest ditty, "Cameo," quite a bit (i.e. incessantly) lately. "This is a love song," says Fran Keaney, whose tender warble gives way to bursts of exuberant power jangle from his bandmates in this sunburst of a song. It's an expectant tangle of sound, a sentimental gem, and it's simply luscious.<br />
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"Cameo" is the latest in a string of singles pulled from RBCF's latest record, <i><a href="https://rollingblackoutscoastalfever.bandcamp.com/">Sideways to New Italy</a></i>, and shares the sense of balance between the band's carefree clamor and modern day maturation of the songs that came before it. And, as with so many of their other songs, the ability of "Cameo" to get firmly under the skin is clear and present.<br />
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The video for "Cameo" shows a band that's not afraid to be a little silly. "We made this video with Nick Mckk, who shares our vision for the earnest and the absurd," says Keaney. Clearly, Mckk was the right call. "This is our first video to feature skivvies, a wall of cardboard boxes, and a human-powered rotating stage." On the surface of it, there's shenanigans aplenty, but we all need a bit of fun these days. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i4b6SeuKI2E" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1058589797/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=2673092828/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://rollingblackoutscoastalfever.bandcamp.com/album/sideways-to-new-italy">Sideways to New Italy by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 6.24.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-1254394029491764062020-06-21T23:15:00.001-04:002020-06-21T23:15:46.668-04:00An Interview with Matthew Schufman (Graveyard Club)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Having had Beatles on the brain for a while now, specifically the early years of their hysteria-inducing mop tops, I started to think about their early interviews. I looked up some of those early pressers and was taken aback by just how many times the fab foursome was asked about money and marriage, but there were also some gems hidden amongst the clunkers. And so, inspired by the early press conferences of The Beatles, especially their US tour interviews, I decided to ask some of those very same questions to some of the best and brightest making music today.</i><br />
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Twin Cities outfit <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/graveyardclub">Graveyard Club</a></b> put out one of my favorite records of last year, <i>Goodnight Paradise</i>, a record full of what <a href="http://www.logicfuzzy.com/2020/03/the-fashionably-late-top-125-of-2019_55.html">I lovingly refer to</a> as "cemetery pop." The band recently released standalone single "Valens," an irrepressible, tear-stained shadowpop treasure that takes inspiration from the tragic death of (too) young Ritchie Valens. Lyrics like "Lost in a coin toss/a roll of the dice/isn't that the same way Ritchie Valens died?" are not only bittersweetly succinct, but also hit the exposed nerve of the very luck-of-the-draw moments that are an everyday part of life. How many lives are altered because of a split-second decision or action? "Valens" is another truly divine ditty from the Minneapolites, and once more shows their deft hand with turning the glum into a gorgeous pop song. <br />
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Longtime Fuzzy Logic readers might get a bit of a lightbulb moment right about now, because this is actually <b>Matthew Schufman</b>'s second interview appearance for FL (check out Matthew's first interview <a href="http://www.logicfuzzy.com/2014/12/the-untitled-interview-203-starring.html">hither</a>). Seeing as it's been about six years, mind you, it's definitely time to check back in with the man behind the vocals/synth tomfoolery and see what's cooking in the world of Graveyard Club. Pull up a chair, get cozy, and read all about what Japan, the Sour Patch Kids House, and kayaking all have to do with Matthew as he takes on the Beatles Q + A.<br />
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<b>What has been your most exciting moment in the last year? </b><br />
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Well, the year has turned into a strange one, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of excitement in the past few months, but we played the First Avenue mainroom this past winter, which for every Minneapolis band, is kind of a dream – it’s such a great venue. It’s strange thinking of live shows right now and I’m not sure what the future will hold, There are a lot of amazing independent music venues out there that will hopefully be able to continue after all this.<br />
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<b>Who are your favorite recording artists? </b><br />
<br />
We all listen to different stuff, but there are some artists we all agree on. We all like The Cure, Arcade Fire, Big Thief, The Pixies, Beach House. Recently, I’ve been listening to the new King Krule record, the new Bright Eyes singles, Sea Wolf, Choir Boy, Dragon Inn 3, and Ruby Haunt. <br />
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<b>Do you feel safe riding in airplanes? </b><br />
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Overall yes, I’ve had one or two really turbulent flights through the years and sometimes in those moments I get a little freaked out, but most flights I have felt safe. It freaks me out to read about plane crashes, though.<br />
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<b>Does every city look the same? </b><br />
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One of my favorite parts of touring is getting to see so many cities in a short amount of time. Some of them end up blending together but there are some unique ones that stand out. We all have our favorites in the band; Portland is great, we like New York a lot. We’ve played Iceland Airwaves a couple times and Reykjavík is an incredible place.<br />
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<b>What message are you trying to get across, if any? </b><br />
<br />
I don’t think there has been a single, unified message that we have specifically tried to convey. I think we’ve worked to create a more of a mood or aesthetic with our music. Lyrically, I have always appreciated songs that could have many meanings and I have attempted to incorporate that into our songs. I want listeners to find their own message.<br />
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<b>How would you describe yourself in one word? </b><br />
<br />
Minnesotan.<br />
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<b>Where would you like to go that you haven't gone yet? </b><br />
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I would love to go to Japan! That’s probably the top of the list.<br />
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<b>Do you feel that you're setting a new trend in music? </b><br />
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No, there are so many amazing musicians doing great things. I think due to the internet, everyone is pulling inspiration from so many places and decades, so trends are harder to come by. We are just trying to stay focused on what we like and what inspires us.<br />
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<b>What kinds of guitars do you use?</b><br />
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Mike plays a Fender Stratocaster and a Telecaster, Amanda plays Fender Mustang Bass.<br />
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<b>Does anybody ever ask you for advice? </b><br />
<br />
Sometimes bands will ask us for tips or recommendations where to play (in Minneapolis) but otherwise not really. I don’t think we are well known enough to dispense advice…We are probably the ones who still need advice. <br />
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<b>How do you prefer for your fans to act at your concerts? </b><br />
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It’s always rewarding to play for an engaged audience, but we don’t really care that much, as long as people are respectful to each other (and us ;)).<br />
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<b>How do you go about writing your songs?</b><br />
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Most songs start with a “bedroom” demo version that I create with a general feeling or melody – some are close to being finished and others are just rough sketches. From there Amanda, Mike, and Cory all write parts and help change or add to the structure.<br />
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<b>What is one question you would like to be asked that probably nobody has ever asked? </b><br />
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I eat a lot of candy and nobody asks me about my favorite one. It’s Sour Patch Kids. There used to be a “Sour Patch Kids House” in Brooklyn and they would let bands stay there as they came through town. I emailed them so many times because I wanted to stay there and then, FINALLY, I got an “inbox full” message. They never wrote back. I looked into it and I don’t think it’s a thing anymore.<br />
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<b>What do you call your sound? </b><br />
<br />
I don’t think we have ever labeled it ourselves, but most people tell us it’s a mix of new wave, dream pop, goth, and more modern alternative. I don’t think we’ve ever set out to have a “sound” on purpose, it’s been pretty natural.<br />
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<b>Have you ever had a mental block-out on stage? </b><br />
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I have definitely forgotten lyrics on stage, or mixed up verses a couple times, but knock-on-wood it hasn’t been too severe. One of the four of us usually has one weird mistake per show and afterwards we are like “Did you hear that!?” and most of the time none of us noticed haha.<br />
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<b>What are your unfulfilled ambitions?</b><br />
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We have wanted to do a European tour for a number of years, but it just hasn’t worked out yet. Maybe one day (fingers crossed).<br />
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<b>What advice do you have for teenagers? </b><br />
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In general? Probably to find things you actually like regardless of if they are popular or not. Be weird. Life is much more enjoyable if you don’t get too concerned with what people think.<br />
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<b>What is the closest you have come to losing life and limb? </b><br />
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When I was a teenager I went kayaking and got stuck underwater in some rapids for what felt like 3 minutes and I thought I was going to drown. It was probably like 20 seconds.<br />
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<b>Do you think of yourself more as an entertainer or a musician, or do you think it's more of a combination of the two? </b><br />
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I have never felt like much of an entertainer, so definitely more of a musician. I enjoy playing live, and I believe that our band sounds really good in a live setting, but we aren’t like doing backflips or anything. Mike has never slid on his knees before any guitar parts. One time I stood on Cory’s kick drum but I was too scared it was gonna crack so I jumped off. Sometimes Amanda will throw in a fist pump with the hand she isn’t playing synth with.<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3022361926/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://graveyardclub.bandcamp.com/track/valens">Valens by Graveyard Club</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 6.21.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-83425999050064238822020-06-21T07:41:00.001-04:002020-06-21T07:52:06.929-04:00Video of The Day: Private World <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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Cardiff's <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/privateworldband/">Private World</a></b> boasts a description of being "a return to sophistication." In latest single "Hypnagogia," that sophistication manifests rather obviously, the band's sleek synth pop elegantly draped in velvet folds of '80s nostalgia.<br />
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Hypnagogia itself is a curious thing. It's the time between waking and sleep, and it's often associated not only with the blurry place between being awake and being asleep, but also with some serious sleep issues like narcolepsy and sleep paralysis. The band's <br />
soothing, elevated slink taps into a dreamlike, ephemeral vibe with ease. The lyrics, too, delve urbanely into the stuff of dreams (not all of which are sweet). "Musically, the song is intended to ring like a sort of lullaby, or a mid-late '80s R&B/Madonna song, without sinking too far into a feeling of parody," they explain. Successfully avoiding the realms of parody, Private World cozies up nicely to the likes of Spandau Ballet, Simple Minds, and Roxy Music.<br />
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The video for "Hypnagogia" was shot at Cardiff's Temple of Peace and Health, a late 1930s edifice that's suitably statuesque. Having played host to several episodes of <i>Doctor Who</i>, the Temple's grand interior feels fantastical in its own right. With visuals that don't hide their ardor for the '80s, the clip for "Hypnagogia" pays clear homage while feeling fresh (and rather impressive).<br />
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You can find "Hypnagogia" on Private World's <a href="https://www.daisrecords.com/products/private-world-aleph?mc_cid=a1cf81fccf&mc_eid=2bbea75a39">forthcoming debut LP <i>Aleph</i></a>, out August 28 on Dais Records. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9fsgh0xrHGo" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4082146415/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=4275079469/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://privateworld.bandcamp.com/album/aleph">Aleph by Private World</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 6.21.20] </b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-62258495094242317182020-06-14T14:30:00.001-04:002020-06-14T14:30:33.767-04:00Singles Club: Big Black Delta + Low Lite + Young Ejecta<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Consider Singles Club your musical matchmaker. I do hope you'll give all these ready-to-mingle bachelors and bachelorettes your ear as you listen to some new favorite tunes. Read on in the hopes of finding your musical love connection.</i><br />
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My birthday is tomorrow, but I'm struggling to feel at all celebratory when there is so much darkness happening on a daily basis. I'd like to take this moment to remind you to support your fellow humans however you can, whether it's donating to one of many important causes, getting out and protesting, and educating yourself. Also, I'd like to remind you to not be an asshole. We're all equal, we all deserve the chance to live our lives and try to be happy for as long as we're in this mortal coil. With that in mind, I hope these three songs will add some bounce to your step and some shimmy to your Sunday.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bigblackdelta">Big Black Delta</a></b>'s latest single, "Canary," was inspired by synesthesia. What is synesthesia, you might wonder? <i><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/synesthesia">Psychology Today</a></i> explains it as "a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway (for example, hearing) leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway (such as vision)." The condition isn't the same for everyone, of course. In layperson's terms, think of it in terms of what good old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia">Wiki</a> notes as the earliest record example of synesthesia: the blind man who "experienced the color scarlet" while listening to the trumpet.<br />
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BBD mastermind Jonathan Bates has been a synesthete since he was a youngin, and says of "Canary," "if I could show what I see, you’d get sunburned." Since he can't show us the visuals, he shows us through sound. "Canary" is a sleek, skyscraping synth sunburst, a song that hits dizzy heights before gleefully pulling the magic carpet out from underneath. It's a look at what upcoming LP <i>4</i> has on offer, and it sounds like that's going to be a heck of a record.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/787623121&color=%23e069b8&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/big-black-delta" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Big Black Delta">Big Black Delta</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/big-black-delta/canary" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Canary">Canary</a></div>
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"Feelin' Lost" doesn't sound like the work of a teenager, but <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/lowlitemusic/">Low Lite</a></b>'s Lorenzo Gordon is indeed in the twilight of his teenage years. At just 19 Gordon already shows an impressive aptitude for constructing a beat. His latest features sultry vocals by Yazmin and sticky, bluesy guitar from Stephen Maxwell, both guests adding to what was already a pretty nuanced little number.<br />
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According to LA-based Gordon, "Technology has given us an understanding of the world around us and the most powerful means of which we have ever had for harnessing sound." With "Feelin' Lost," Low Lite takes his electronic sound and elevates it into something both nodding to the past and hurtling into the decade ahead.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/839011123&color=%23e069b8&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<a href="https://soundcloud.com/lowtemp-music" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Lowtemp Music">Lowtemp Music</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/lowtemp-music/low-lite-feelin-lost-feat-yazmin-stephen-maxwell-1" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Low Lite - Feelin' Lost (feat. Yazmin & Stephen Maxwell)">Low Lite - Feelin' Lost (feat. Yazmin & Stephen Maxwell)</a></div>
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/EjectaEjecta/">Young Ejecta</a></b>'s "Call My Name" is a winsome, cinematic, dandified electropop love song. Of sorts. "I get a bit sweeter when you call my name," coos Leanne Macomber against the glossy, sinuous synth fantasyland pulsing and swelling behind her. From the duo's upcoming LP <i>Ride Lonesome</i>, "Call My Name" is a song that sounds plenty sweet on the surface but hints that all is not completely golden.<br />
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Macomber's voice at times carries a whisper of wistfulness, and Joel Ford's highly-polished soundscapes have a starry-eyed sheen that offer plenty of style and substance. An entrancing effort from a record that's sure to be an intriguing listen. <br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3472587301/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=3779700932/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://youngejecta.bandcamp.com/album/ride-lonesome">Ride Lonesome by Young Ejecta</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 6.14.20] </b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-10318037866835124762020-06-09T12:39:00.000-04:002020-06-09T12:39:39.854-04:00Video of The Day: TORRES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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Florine Stettheimer's 1939 painting "The Cathedrals of Wall Street" is almost reminiscent of World War era propaganda, with its bright colors and overt Americana. But Stettheimer's painting, one of a series of four, is much more than just an attractive work of art. From the huge statue of George Washington to the New York Stock Exchange building with a portrait of FDR featured prominently to the tower of banks lurking off to the side, this painting speaks to the very cozy relationship between Wall Street and the government, and how essentially those institutions prop each other up, how they celebrate each other. Funny how some things don't seem to change.<br />
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<img height="400" src="https://collectionapi.metmuseum.org/api/collection/v1/iiif/488733/1005823/restricted" width="332" /> <br />
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In the bottom left corner of the painting there's a small dais, from which some guests watch the Salvation Army band as it parades in full regalia past the banks and the Stock Exchange. The dais bears the inscription "Glory Hole," which leads us to today's chosen video.<br />
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Mackenzie Scott's latest <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TORRESMUSICOFFICIAL/">TORRES</a></b> video is for <i><a href="https://torrestorrestorres.bandcamp.com/album/silver-tongue">Silver Tongue</a></i> b-side "Too Big for The Glory Hole," a song that, though written last fall, speaks to the uncomfortable isolation that many are feeling as quarantine season continues. As Scott tells it, "I wrote it before I moved in with my girlfriend. I was living alone in the East Village before and having a hard time of it. This song is what came of the loneliness." The song has a sense of the grandiose among the resigned desolation, Scott's gilt-edged voice sounding raw and plaintive and her organ casting somber shadows. "I want you to love me forever," Scott echoes at the song's closure, a plea that feels defiant in the face of finality.<br />
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The video, starring Scott in her cowboy boots, takes the song into the world of the lockdown. Directed by Scott's girlfriend Jenna Gribbon, the video uses stop motion and lighting to set a mood on par with Scott's song. The solitary sentiments of the song are reflected throughout the video, Gribbon's use of light and Scott's emotive ability combining to create something quietly powerful. <br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/06DGdGvxOK0" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1996366336/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://torrestorrestorres.bandcamp.com/album/too-big-for-the-glory-hole">Too Big for the Glory Hole by Torres</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 6.9.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-8088690931288388812020-05-29T13:30:00.000-04:002020-05-29T13:31:38.949-04:00Video of The Day: Under The Reefs Orchestra<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qoFRKl3NTeA/XtFBLvtYFLI/AAAAAAAAUl0/RWvqz4072DcLD3fTlXJz35zVUqw4mH9mgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/vid%2Bdec%2B28.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qoFRKl3NTeA/XtFBLvtYFLI/AAAAAAAAUl0/RWvqz4072DcLD3fTlXJz35zVUqw4mH9mgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/vid%2Bdec%2B28.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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Blue-tinted footage of sumo wrestling wasn't something I expected to see today, but the and-now-for-something-completely-different kind of unexpected is pretty on-brand for 2020.<br />
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The video for <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/UndertheReefsOrchestra/?utm_source=Music%20Industry%20Movers%20%26%20Shakers!&utm_campaign=6422533333-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_29_04_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_df750511a6-6422533333-249818641">Under The Reefs Orchestra</a></b>'s tropical-tinged dreamscape "Hana" is the kind of transportive, fascinating visual that offers some much-needed mental reset. Watching the large, scantily-clad athletes meet in a graceful battle of wills while the Belgian band's liquidly dulcet, escapist sounds swirl soothingly allows for three and a half minutes of calm in a world that is, increasingly, anything but.<br />
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The band perfectly describes "Hana" as "a piece of pure light and lightness," and that's something 2020 could definitely use a lot more of.<br />
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<b>[posted 5.29.20] </b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-33883675884280202132020-05-28T12:57:00.000-04:002020-05-28T12:57:01.204-04:00Video of The Day: Muzz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>There’s a bunch of videos out there. Some of them are good. Some of them are a cut above. I like to think my picks for Video of The Day are a cut (or two) above.</i><br />
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I don't know about you, but I enjoy seeing creative co-mingling amongst bands. It's of great interest to see how individuals from different bands come together with other individuals, to see what happens when they work together on something new. New trio <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/muzztheband/">Muzz</a></b> is one such sonic conglomeration, featuring the instantly recognizable vocals of Interpol's Paul Banks, along with partners in crime Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horsemen) and Matt Barrick (The Walkmen). When it comes to Muzz, the parts are pretty great, the sum even better.<br />
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Banks <a href="https://muzztheband.bandcamp.com/album/muzz">refers to Muzz</a> as, "a three-headed monster," which feels pretty right on (he's talking more about collaboration between the three, but the phrase definitely works for the sonic output of each). The band's latest single, "Knuckleduster," carries with it sounds of modern anxiety, an all-too familiar sense of darkness that's constantly searching for something lighter. Shifting rhythms and especially dynamic drums (courtesy Matt Barrick) create a captivating noise that marries together elements of earthy folk, dark city glamour, and nervy, urbane slink. The song almost seems to end on a question mark, winding down but feeling almost open-ended.<br />
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The video, recorded in the basement of a museum, keeps it simple but stylish. The anonymity of the basement and the lack of any gimmicks keep the focus on the sounds. As Banks describes it, "hair was greener and times were simpler back then."<br />
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You'll find "Knuckleduster" on the forthcoming self-titled Muzz debut, out next week on Matador (pre-order your copy <a href="https://store.matadorrecords.com/muzz">here</a>). <br />
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<b>[posted 5.28.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6540436224569958437.post-79648916877461687012020-05-19T09:50:00.000-04:002020-05-19T09:50:14.305-04:00Lonely Singles: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - "Cars in Space," "She's There," "Falling Thunder"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Quarantine is making everyone feel pretty lonely. Hunker down and spend some quality time getting to know some of <b><a href="https://twitter.com/bk77">Ben</a></b>'s favorite new songs.</i><br />
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rollingblackoutscoastalfever/">Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever</a>’s</b> <b>new singles fall in line for anticipated sophomore release</b><br />
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Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s May 29 show at U Street Music Hall (sadly one of many venues whose future is in doubt, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/arts/music/independent-venues-coronavirus.html?auth=linked-google1tap&fbclid=IwAR089N8LrqOOYKwTkeykSJFqPvmPJIlSiocgIt4GOnUefD8wCUlLnkrQClg">according to <i>The New York Times</i></a>) was one of many memorable local performances of 2019. While the band was touring in support of <i><a href="https://rollingblackoutscoastalfever.bandcamp.com/album/hope-downs">Hope Downs</a></i>, its first full-length album, they weren’t exactly rookies—Rolling Thunder C.F.’s been in business since 2013, and the core members have been playing together since high school.<br />
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While it may be quite a while before we see the Australian quintet on American shores again—they do have performances at October’s Splendour in the Grass festival in Byron Bay and a November club show in Edinburgh in November on their schedule, for what it’s worth—the gentlemen of Rolling Blackouts C.F. are gearing up to drop a new full-length in the very near future. <br />
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Sub Pop/Ivy League are slated to release <i><a href="https://rollingblackoutscoastalfever.bandcamp.com/">Sideways to New Italy</a></i> on June 5, and its delivery into this world has been heralded by a trio of singles from the record: “Cars in Space,” “She’s There,” and “Falling Thunder.”<br />
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Here’s what the band has to say about the new work:<br />
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“On their second record, Sideways to New Italy, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have turned their gaze inward, to their individual pasts and the places that inform them,” notes <a href="https://rollingblackoutscoastalfever.bandcamp.com/">a press release</a> on Bandcamp. “The inspiration for the record came from the attempts people make at crafting utopia in their backyard (while knowing there is no such thing as a clean slate). In searching for something to hold onto in the turbulence, the guitar-pop five-piece has channelled their own sense of dislocation into an album that serves as a totem of home to take with them to stages all over the world.”<br />
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An album about dislocation and attempts to turn home into place that allows you to turn your back on the rest of the world? Timely. Here’s how the singles line up with the zeitgeist.<br />
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“<b>Cars in Space</b>.” Released on Feb. 10 with a video directed by fellow Aussie and Fuzzy Logic favorite Julia Jacklin, “Cars in Space” came out when the world was a much different place (“Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are gearing up for a big year,” <a href="https://consequenceofsound.net/2020/02/rolling-blackouts-coastal-fever-tour-dates-cars-in-space/">wrote Consequence of Sound’s Nina Corocoran </a>at the time). <br />
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Maybe “Cars in Space” is the song we need right now. Corocoran also described the single as “...an uptempo track that clocks in at five minutes in length, but with such an intense, stirring rhythm, it flies by. Between the sunny guitar lines, the dueling riffs, and the burst of horns, ‘Cars in Space’ sounds like a perky anthem to give you confidence.” Maybe stream this instead of watching the news.<br />
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“<b>She’s There</b>.” On <i>Hope Downs</i>, Rolling Blackouts C.F.’s 2018 full-length debut, the band leaned heavily on an industrial-powered rhythm section overlain with guitar breaks alternately dreamy and drilling. “She’s There” follows that pattern to a tee. Does it work? Oh yes it does. <i>Rolling Stone</i>’s <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rolling-blackouts-coastal-fever-shes-there-976187/">Jon Dolan is bananas</a> about the track—after comparing the group to R.E.M. and Television, he croons that “It’s pure guitar-mad elation...Hooks get piled on top of hooks, and the fleeting beauty of the music opens up a sense of urgency and drama in the lyrics.” <br />
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“<b>Falling Thunder</b>.” Brighter and poppier than “She’s There,” “Falling Thunder” is about the closest thing to a classic summer track we’ve heard from Rolling Blackouts C.F. to this point. There’s a vacation vibe to the whole thing, a feeling manifested in the video. “The accompanying video was shot by a friend of the band, Jamieson Moore, and is comprised of footage from Sicily, Sardinia and the Aeolian Islands, the ancestral homeland of (the band’s) Russo Brothers,” a <a href="https://www.subpop.com/news/2020/05/05/rolling_blackouts_coastal_fever_share_new_single_video_falling_thunder">Sub Pop presser</a> explains. <br />
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“(It’s) about pushing on through the relentless march of time, against the constant cycle of seasons,” singer-guitarist Tom Russo adds. “And the way people change and relationships change. It’s set in that time when autumn is turning into winter and the trees are getting bare.” <br />
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There goes my summer theory! Regardless, it’s a different side of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever for a very different kind of year.<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HCSUQfyn53k" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1058589797/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=f171a2/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=288459665/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://rollingblackoutscoastalfever.bandcamp.com/album/sideways-to-new-italy">Sideways to New Italy by Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever</a></iframe><br />
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<b>[posted 5.19.20]</b></div>
Meganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183052105137152643noreply@blogger.com0