So, i get this Facebook message yesterday from a kid i used to go to school with (one of my brother’s friends, IIRC). Anyway, apparently he is now in music promotions business (I’m jealous), and he was pimping a new singer/songwriter out of NYC named Zachary Williams. I get stuff like this from time to time and I usually don’t mention it since I don’t like the artist, but I hit his MySpace page and I actually am really digging it. He’s got a good little Amos Lee-vibe going on, with a bit of Patrick Monahan (Train - come on; that’s not entirely bad) and traces of Neil Young with a flicker of Buckley-esque desperation. You can really hear his Georgia/Florida roots, which is something I love.
I didn’t like the song “Stinky Feet” that much, but “Hospital,” “Fears,” and “Down to the Blood” are highly recommended. If he happens to embark on a little tour, try to check him out.
(IRH note: this has been sitting in my drafts for three or four weeks. sorry)
I picked up the new Chris Walla (guitarist and producer for indie gods Death Cab For Cutie) solo debut Field Manual the other day at the now closed (!!!) Fremont Sonic Boom Records. The buzz was really good, so I was stoked to check it out. I like very much (but maybe not love) Death Cab, but I thought Walla’s production on Tegan and Sara’s The Con was brilliant.
The Field Manual . . . well, i like it very much (but maybe not quite love it). Parts of it remind me of Plans-era Death Cab (which makes sense, since a couple tracks were rumored to be Plans B-Sides), and it’s easy to see Walla’s influence in the band that made him indie-famous. Walla’s not quite the lyricist that Gibbard is, but I kinda like his voice a bit better. All in all, it’s worth checking out, and i’ll say that i’m quite surprised that no one in my Death Cab-loving circle has had anything to say yet.
I’ve never been more than a casual White Stripes fan, but this new song is pretty good. It’s nice to see that Jack White’s playtime with The Raconteurs didn’t sever the telepathic link that Meg has to his guitar.
I had a chance to catch a Young Love show a couple nights back with my buddy Kirk, and it was a good live set. Young Love has been slowly building a buzz, and it’s easy to see why. Frontman Dan Keyes pulls influences from Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters) to Kenna to Prince to varying effect, and he worked our crowd (of mostly girls) with a wry grin and a shimmy. I will say that he deserved a much bigger crowd than he got, and the venue was quite odd - it was almost exclusively a metal club, and its dank interior contrasted poorly with the lightness and energy of the music. I was grossly misinformed by the music on his MySpace page, as I was expecting something more similar to Moby. What I got was a set much more suited to my tastes, as he moved through songs influenced by Fall Out Boy (not a fan), Bloc Party (hooray), and Abandoned Pools. The highlight for me was probably "Too Young To Fight It," a reggae-ish tune that displayed the strength of the band and got the crowd moving.
I’m not as big of a fan of dance/club/house/trance music (as evidenced by the fact that I just lumped all of them together. A fan of these genres would skin me alive for that.) But, there are a few bands — The Knife, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk — that do reside in my iPod. I heard a new one today - Young Love. The frontman, Dan Keyes is a former member of Austin post-punk staple Recover, but he’s now joining the ranks of the NYC scenesters and making a name for himself with Young Love. The tunes are catchy and danceable without sounding insufferably all the same.
"For anyone who has heard The Eraser, there are some remixes coming. Yes. I got excited. I’ve been listening through. I mean. There’s some freaky shit. They may start appearing soon. Gradually. Briefly. Just a taste. And then gone. On www.theeraser.net. First there is Surgeon’s Rmx of The Clock. This was the one that made me think, we got to start getting these out I was chuffed he wanted to do it as think he is a MASTER. He has turned it into something really hard. And disco. Well what i call disco anyhow. It made me very proud.
I hope it gets played in a club somewhere. Not that i get out much nowadays.
Posted by klnussbaum
Posted by klnussbaum
Posted by klnussbaum
