Friday Five: March 30 '07

This week has seen more bad then good in my music listening. So, to offset all the crap being thrown at us by the record industry I've dug out the best five records I could find. But hey, you knew that already, didn't you? Enjoy these records, see you all back here on Monday.




Kathy Diamond - Miss Diamond to You

No, no! Wait, come back! I swear, this isn't one of those crappy LeAnn Rimes-style country albums. In fact, it isn't a country album at all. Quite the contrary, Miss Diamond to You is probably the best indie-electro-pop album I've heard since Hot Chip's The Warning. Speaking of Hot Chip, thats a great place to start when trying to describe Kathy Diamond's sound. Pretty cleaver how I worked that in, don't you think? Sadly this fab LP won't be out for another month or so, but I'm sure that if you're resourceful you can track down a copy before then.

Listen: Kathy Diamond - Over (MP3 link)


Frog Eyes - Tears of the Valedictorian

On is Frog Eye's umpteenth release they have actually won me over. After being turned off by the chaotic craziness earlier efforts their new one sounds more like Swan Lake or - dare I say it - Wolf Parade. As I type I'm sure a group of hipsters from BC have put a bounty on my head... Either way, Carey Mercer and Spencer Krug (and the rest) have a real winner on their hands here. Check this out just pretend its one a new Spencer Krug side project.

Listen: Frog Eyes - Bushels (MP3)




Rob Crow - Living Well

Yep, Pinback frontman has pulled a Thom York and releasing a solo album. The good news is also sort of the bad news in this case. The album sounds like...well...a Pinback album. A really good Pinback album, but still a Pinback album. Let's throw in one more for good luck, shall we? "Pinback!" Through and through this LP is really consistently good, twangy, indie rock. Tracks like "I Hate You, Rob Crow" (see below!) make you think back to the first time you heard "Microtonic Wave" and smile. This will be a big hit at partys with your friends who dug last year's Boys and Girls in America. Namely, good music to hang out and get drunk to.

Listen: Rob Crow - I Hate You, Rob Crow (MP3)


The Harlem Shakes - Burning Birthdays

Forget Tokyo Police Club. Cold War Kids, who? The Harlem Shakes will be the new hot thing. Sounding a whole lot like Voxtrot on this new EP, they absolutely blew me away. If anything, Burning Birthdays left me wanting to see them live...conveniently they're touring, EVERYWHERE! So don't be lazy, go out and boogie with those patent indie dance moves.

Listen: The Harlem Shakes (MP3 Link)




Devin the Dude - Waiting to Inhale

Ironically, the feature that really catches my attention on a hip hop album usually isn't the lyrics. It's the production. I find that I'm always drawn back to LP's that have really interesting backing music (see: J Dilla, Ghostface, Mf Doom, Madlib, Zion I). Well add Devin the Dude's latest release to the list. Yeah, we all know he's been around for a million years and has some solid lyrics to top off those backing tracks. But still, the production on this album alone makes it worthy of the Friday Five. Yeah that's right, it's the second edition of this column and it's getting a reputation already. What can I say? I'm hot shit.

Listen: Devin the Dude (MP3 Link)

New Music: Art Brut - It's a Bit Complicated Preview

Well well well, I guess that Eddie does read my blog!

(Wishful thinking or sexy reality?)

As mentioned last week the new Art Brut album is all but done! While it only comes out in June, the band's been nice enough to give us three new tracks from the forthcoming It's a Bit Complicated to tide us over until then. All three are equally good, if not better then the band's material on 2004's Bang Bang Rock & Roll. In particular I'm digging "Pump Up the Volume", it's musically and lyrically fab.

Check out the 3 tracks posted below, and get ready to have your socks rocked:

[edit: the links are acting funny...head here instead]


It's a Bit Complicated will be out 06/26/07 on Downtown/Atlantic

Under Review: The Slip

These guys have been around the block a few times but seemed to have slipped under the radar. Considering their Shins-ish sound I find it pretty weird that the cool kids have yet to pick up on them. Maybe it's the fact that I don't watch Grey's Anatomy.

I know, I hate that show too.

But enough about lame doctor shows, this Boston trio has some serious good stuff going on pretty much throughout their new LP Eisenhower. While there isn't anything "new" here, The Slip seem to have figured out exactly how to write catchy, cute indie pop. Personally I would love to hear them get diverge from their sound a bit and add some synth to flush out the sound they hint at in "Mothwing Bite". Meanwhile, what The Slip do, they do well, pretty much everything from opener "Children of December" to closer "Paper Birds" is pretty damn good.

I'm sure that anyone who liked the Garden State soundtrack will dig this LP bigtime.

Eisenhower is out now on STUDIO PLATEAU Records.

Site News: New Feature Ahoy!

Yep, I got tired of that crusty ol' "Weekly Playlist Powered by Last.fm" thing.

I'm sure you hated it too.

Well, if you mosey on over to the right side of the screen you'll see the brand new addition to So Overdone, "So Hot Right Now".

Start Ooo'ing and Awww'ing.

Rant: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

After buying a new guitar and playing it like mad for the past few days I found a very helpful site on the internets. Chances are if you play guitar (or like to think you do) then you may need some help figuring out how to play diffrent chords (I'm far too lazy to list examples).

Enter Chordbook!




This site has a flash application where you select what chord you want to play and it shows you where to put your fingers, how it should sound (on electric and acoustic) and you even can add a capo (the guitar tool thing, not the mafia type) onto the e-guitar.

We'll return to our regularly scheduled snob related news shortly.

Weekend Update: Album Leaks and Starbucks

...And we're back!

I hope you've all managed to get by this weekend without a constant fix of overdoneness.

A recap of what happened this weekend in bite sized news bits:

- A new Ratatat remix album leaked...and it's sadly really bad. Oh well, maybe they're just buying time. That or they're getting lazy
- A new Wilco album leaked...I've yet to listen to it, but it's safe to assume it sucks but will be loved by a fair few people with less then good taste.

In equally crappy news the McDonald's of the espresso world - Starbucks - has started another record label. So far they've signed the better of the two still living Beatles. Rumor has it though that they've been talking to critic wet dream subjects Radiohead. Oh well, maybe if they sign they'll do a split EP with Nora Jones.

Friday Five: March 23 '07

Warning: Cheesy intro ahead

...

This is the first installment of a weekly series that I've been really excited to write. Every Friday I'll share five of the best records I've had in rotation that week. These hand picked albums are the very best that the music world has to offer - served up fresh weekly.

Ok ok, enough of the sales pitch, let's get going. Because this is the first installment I wanted to include some of the stuff I've been listening to no just this week but for the past little bit. Enjoy!

Crystal Castles - Alice Practice EP

Noisy. Unpredictable. 8-bit sound.
Those five words pretty much sum up Crystal Castel's Alice Practice EP. Another way to describe it would be ''really good''. If you like electro crazyness like Miss Violetta Beauregard but want something a bit more accessible, this is it! Think Deerhoof meets nintendo (the original on..with duck hunt). Should you check it out just because it sold out of stores in a matter of days? No, you should check it out because I'm recommending it. Oh, it's only a few songs long, so no excuses.


LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

After his startlingly good first LP, DFA founder James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem has repeated with a great sophmore LP. Yeah, yeah, I know you read that type of thing on Pitchfork, but now you're reading it here. And here is just SO much cooler, isn't it? Belive me, despite an amazingly crap opening track, Sound of Silver really delivers on everything that was good about their first release. Tracks like ''All My Friends'', ''New York I Love You'', and ''North American Scumm'' make this one of the year's best...for now.


Menomena - Friend and Foe

I've been a fan of this Portland group since I first layed ears on their first album, I Am The Fun Blame Monster. Their music is a fine tuned mix of jazzy electro and acoustic guitar indie. All in all, it's a great LP, start to finish. I'm not the first or the last to praise this album so you might as well check it out. Cuz, yeah, all the cool kids are doing it. And you want to be cool, don't cha?




Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?

Kevin Barnes recent divorce sure had an impact on Of Montreal's 10th..no 11th..no wait, 12th release. But despite what some people say, this album's more towards a darker, harder electro sound is more of a natural evolution of where they've been going since Satanic Panic in the Attic. As I mentioned in my review of their live show, their new material is so far gone from the cheery innocence of Cherry Peel, but don't see that as a bad thing - see it as one of the better albums released this year. Top marks for Kevin Barnes!


Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position

Yes, this album really is as wierd as it looks.
Melding a day-glo circus vibe with cheery indie pop isn't as easy as you might think. I mean, look at the train wreck that was the last Scissor Sisters' LP. Where they failed, Patrick Wolf comes out prancing...victoriously. The title track alone makes this album worth listening to. If you're still too put off by the album art, then just imagine that Islands' frontman Nick Diamond had reeeeally let himself go. Hey, musically, you wouldn't be too far off.


Note: Sorry about the lack of MP3 links for these. I'll make sure to include them in next week's installment!

News: Welcome to the temporary home of Wetlabel.com

Omigosh!

Did you want to check out Wetlabel.com only to be redirected here?

While Wetlabel.com gets a makeover you can get all your snobby news here. Not to worry, the new Wetlabel should probably be up in the next few weeks (barring some sort of alien/dinosaur invasion). More details on that to follow, but in the meantime enjoy the brand spankin' new awesomeness that is So Overdone.

If you do start jonesin' for a bit of the old stuff you can always check out the archive.

Link:
Ye Olde Wetlabel Archive

New Music: Ghostface Killah ''Chunky''

After releasing 2 albums - one amazingly great, the other forgetable - in the same year Ghostace Killah is back again with more new material. His new track, released on the comp Street Savior Pt. 5, seems to be a stylistic return to Fishscale. Which is to say that the track is comprised of Ghost regaling us with tales of drugs and ladies set to an old school r'n'b track.

Which is to say it's pretty damn good.

I don't know if it compares to the overall quality of Fishscale, but it's definitely refreshing to hear after the disappointing More Fish. Either way, if you never wanted to give ol' Ghost a chance because of his Wu-Tang roots, now is a great time to check him out.

Ghostface Killah - Chunky (MP3)



Street Savior Pt. 5 is out now via the internets.

Rant: Start Listening to The Hold Steady

Why oh why do they never come to Montreal? Even after 3 albums and getting tons of press coverage The Hold Steady don't really seem to have caught on in Canada. According to their website they've only toured Canada minimally and even then have only hit small venues. Could it be their Americana roots? Or could it be their rejection of the typical "indie" sound?

Sure!

But that shouldn't stop anyone from seeing how amazingly talented these guys are.

Check out the video for their first single on their latest album.

Just 'cuz you're late on the bandwagon shouldn't stop you from yelling at your local concert promoter to book them in your city!

*cough* Montreal *cough*

PS. I'll post their new video as soon as it pops onto youtube.

News: Subtitle Ends Career

Sorry to be bringing this to you late kids but...I have some bad news. No, no, your dog is still fine, don't freak out just yet.

...

Ok, now freak out.

Subtitle (oft confused with Busdriver) has announced via his myspace that he's calling it quits. It would seem that the lack of label support finally got to him and put his otherwise promising career to bed early.

Even if you never listened to his solo material you may remember Subtitle from his cameo on Islands' hit track "Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone" which features the aforementioned rapper's frantic, high speed style.

Maybe if you send him a funny e-card he'll reconsider.

Islands feat. Subtitle - Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone (MP3)

Under Review: Mice Parade

Even though I'm only a few posts in I can already see a habit forming - the second installment of Under Review is also a self titled album. Mice Parade is Mice Parade's 7th release and when you listen to it you ask yourself "how the hell have I not heard about this band until now?!". A Wolf Parade knock off, this band is not.

Mice Parade really stands out because of it's blend of styles. They mix acoustic guitar and Boards of Canada-ish IDM electro; layered one atop the other. Ironically the closest comparison I can come up with is Sunset Rubdown mixed with Sparklehorse. Needless to say, they rocked my socks.

Mice Parade - Tales Of Las Nigras (MP3) (Click On Listen button)



Mice Parade's self titled LP will be out April 12, 2007 on FatCat Records.

Rant: Art Brut in 20 years?

While this isn't a shot at Eddie and the boys (and girl) in Art Brut, you've got to admit that they have something in common. In the bizarro world way...



Now then Eddie, where the hell is that new album I keep hearing about?

Admit One: Of Montreal + Special Rant Bonus

Last week I caught Of Montreal in...Montreal, of course! Their live show was a fun as last time I saw them and I was dancing it up the only way I know how. Even though I listen to their albums pretty often and have (obvs) noticed a stylist change between Cherry Peel and their latest release Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer?, the enormity of the change hadn't really dawned on me until seeing them live. How could the band playing "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal" at a near deafening volume be the same that wrote "Don't Ask Me To Explain" (which verges on twee) all those years ago. While I am a self professed snob I'm not crotchety - so don't think that by saying that their new material is diffrent I'm condemning it. Far from it, I think that Hissing Fauna is one of the best releases of 2007 so far (more on that later). But seeing the huge divide in their work does make you wonder how so many other bands stay together and never change their sound.

That said you have to wonder if there was an actual lightbulb over Kevin Barnes' head when he tried a casio for the first time.


Whew, with that tidbit of concert reviewing out of the way I can point out the thing that I saw at Of Montreal that absolutely drove me nuts. What the hell is it with people buying band t-shirts, then putting it on over what they have on? And why do people seem to be doing this more often? Of course as a long time show goer I've seen this happen at nearly every show I've been to...but it seems to be getting worse. I mean why would you:

a) choose to do this
b) choose to do this in the sweltering heat of La Tulipe?

Comfort aside, it just looks really really silly.

Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse (Mp3)

Under Review: Voxtrot

Voxtrot sure have had a weird history of releases, opting for several EPs instead of an LP. The traditional path, this is not. Regardless, these guys have gained a nice amount of blog buzz and earned a spot at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival. Impressive.

Last December, lead singer Ramesh Srivastava announced that Voxtrot would stop being so coy and release a proper album. Ok, so big deal, why is this news if it happened months ago? Good point imaginary reader!

While their new LP won't be in stores until May 22, it certainly has hit the interweb. And judging from the reaction of most people on certain unnamed music sites the reaction to this album is pretty hot and cold. Needless to say I needed to check it out for myself.

After giving the record a few spins I can tell you this: it's both more and less then you were expecting. The bad news is that it lacks the consistent "wow" factor of their EPs. Pretty much every song on a Voxtrot EP made its way onto a mix cd of mine at one point or another. The good news is that what it lacks in consistency it makes up in it's high points. Songs like "Kid Gloves", "Ghost", and "Blood Red Blood" totally make up for record's more *cough* forgettable *cough* moments.

Voxtrot - "Kid Gloves" (MP3)
Voxtrot - "Stephen" (MP3)

Voxtrot's self titled LP will be out on May 22, 2007 on Beggars Group

Making a Dent?

Well after running a big ol' music website for a few years I thought it would be fun to minimize a bit and blog it up. We'll see how long this lasts but with a bit of luck I won't get lazy.

Look out for daily posts on So Overdone.