Be On the Lookout!

Well, I'll be heading over to Chicago tomorrow for Lollapolooza. Be prepared for an onslaught of pictures, and perhaps some reviews when I get back.

NIN or Kanye?
Broken Social Scene, Lupe, or Wilco?
autographs or up front?
Oh the decisions!

Have a good weekend everybody,
Tony

New Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks

This is a new one by Grizzly Bear. To be honest, until recently I was not very familiar with their music. I first heard the guys voice over at a pitchfork festival 2007 video of a Girl Talk live performance. He came in and started singing and the song was stuck in my head all day. This led me to their website and yadda yadda yadda....

I really dig this performance. You can catch them on tour with Radiohead this summer - I'm Looking at you Cuyahoga Falls.

Anyway, happy monday,

Tony

Why Can't We Wear A Sherlock Costume With Shiny Underpants?

I have attempted to get into this band for some time, and to no avail. This video has inspired me to try again and try again. This is Les Savy Fav at the Pitchfork Music Festival performing "We'll Make A Lover Of You". Truly an awesome performance, gotta love the crazy off the wall shit.

Enjoy,
Tony

Listening To: Great Northern - Sleepy Eepee

Alright, I just wanna get this out of the way, I really can't stand the album name. Luckily my response to the music is the complete opposite. So this EP was apparently recorded before their debut album "Trading Twilight for Daylight". I really enjoyed their debut, full of haunting, melodic vocals and dreamy soundscapes. It's hard to believe that after Trading Twilight, they had a few more unreleased gems. Sleepy Eepee picks up where Trading Twilight for Daylight...uh...started? The album gives a lot of the same vibes, which is a good thing.

I have been looking for a copy of this album for some time and I'm really glad I could finally give it a listen. Sleepy Eepee is perfect for putting on and just soaking in your surroundings. I first listened to it on a 12 hour car ride, and I can honestly say, it made those 25 or so minutes of the ride a lot more enjoyable.

The music has an epic feel to it, like something meaningful should be happening when the song is being played. A while back I noticed they were featured on this really dramatic NBA playoff commercial, perfect usage, my props go out to NBA marketing.

The standout song on the EP is definitely "This is a Problem" in my opinion. Solon Bixler takes the lead on the vocals on this track. His vocal style seems very relaxed, fitting in perfectly with the dreamy synths and shoegazing. The piano in this song is really what grabs me though, it really ties together the unique vocal harmonies resulting in a very climactic 4 minute and 42 second journey.

That is two extremely solid releases by the group, and I think there will be plenty more to come. It is the perfect blend of catchy, relaxing, and melodic music. I would like to personally thank Solon for ditching 30 Seconds to Mars in favor of Great Northern. I would keep an eye out for this band.

I'm Talkin' bout Chi-Town

So, apparently the Pitchfork festival went pretty good. Some videos including Sebadoh, Animal Collective, Public Enemy, Spoon, M.Ward, and Jarvis Cocker have surfaced on youtube. The proverbial "Noise" was apparently brought. So make sure you check those out, and I wish you well on your inevitable youtube journey.


Oh and this kinda caught my eye, it's Spoon's "Mountain to Sound", guest starring Bradford Cox from Atlas Sound/Deerhunter. They dusted off the ole Soft Effects EP for that one, pretty cool performance.

Speaking of Chicago festivals, I FINALLY bought my Lollapolooza tickets after much procrastination, so hopefully I'll have some pics/perhaps video of my own when August rolls around. Chicago is a pretty happenin' place.

tony

Third Times A Charm

Well, just so none of us faithful ticket holders forget about the show that got canceled twice in Columbus, here is a Volta video. If they bring this type of energy to the show, I think I'll be able to forgive them. There are a bunch of videos over at yahoo music, happened to stumble onto them a few moments ago. Make sure to check em out here.

The Mars Volta - Sept 12 - The LC

Tony

Two things:

I finally went back and read the comments for the indiana gregg post, and I'd like to say:

I'm Sorry Indiana, the last bit was not directed at you, and I don't think you're rich or that you do coke--Just a bit of sloppy writing on my part. AND I'm sorry I said that thing about the guy with a boner. Although I still disagree with you on the sharing thing. So there's that.

Anyway, here's how I'm feeling:

Emotions Running Wild At the Beach

Ha, I saw this from the balcony and just HAD to take a picture. Look close... Apparently someone wasn't having that good of a time at the beach. Art Photo award please.

haha,
tony

Now Playing: The Dark Knight

I'm not sure if there is a better way to see a movie than going to the 12 o'clock premier. It makes the movie that much more exciting. Not that a film with the anticipation and prestige of a title like Batman needs any added excitement. Anyway, I made it to the theater for the premier, and I gotta say, after the first movie, I was expecting quite a bit out of the film, and I had a good amount of confidence that I wouldn't be disappointed.

The film continues where the first left off with Batman being introduced to the new villain in Gotham, The Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. The Joker, the most recognizable of Batman's classic foes, is made out to be a manipulative loony anarchist. He seems to be obsessed with the psychology of both Batman and the people of Gotham, testing their limits of humanity with desperation and vengeance.

Also, as with the first, Batman, although busy with maintaining his playboy status, still manages to keep a love interest, Rachel Dawes, who is played by Maggie Gyllenhaal (previously Katie Holmes). I just read on wikipedia that it was due to scheduling conflicts...weak excuse, Ms Holmes. I was a bit torn up by this decision, due to my celebrity crush on her, but I quickly got over it during the movie.

The film also introduces the familiar villain of Harvey Dent or more commonly known as "Two-Face". I'm not gonna ruin any of the surprises, but Aaron Eckhart plays an excellent part as the chance taking "bad guy".

The movie as a whole is unlike any other brand of superhero franchise out there at the current time. While it seems as though most modern superhero flicks, referring mostly to movies taking place in the marvel universe, attempt to add some comedy and lighter moments to the film, Christopher Nolan opted to take a much more dark and serious route. This is mainly due to the excellent performance by Heath Ledger. His portrayal of the Joker is pure demented terror. I personally would be shocked if it wasn't an Oscar-winning performance. Truly a shame that the young actor recently passed away.

In conclusion, I would go so far as to say this is the best movie I have seen in some time. I would recommend seeing it ASAP, and definitely catching up with the series if you missed out on Batman Begins. The Dark Knight truly is the pinnacle of the barrage of modern superhero movies, and I'm really crossing my fingers that the series continues.

Enjoy,
t0ny

Glorious

...which is the name of a song by MUSE, my still-favorite band. Here's a lyrical snippet:

Faith, it drives me away
But it turns me on
Like a strangers love
It rockets through the universe
It fuels the lies, it feeds the curse
And we too could be
Glorious

I like this lyric because it expresses what I felt last night: I was gazing into the Ocean's blackness long after the beach had emptied, and it suddenly revealed itself as a perfect metaphor for my belief in the Universe: All I can see is an insignificant little piece of this huge blackness that is filled with so much life and which laughably dwarfs my own existence. Who knows what the Universe contains? Other worlds? Other beings? God himself? Humans are an insignificant speck on an insignificant speck.

It's a great song too...I am so devoted to Muse because of songs like Glorious:

Listen

Where da Shows Be?

I really lucked out on my last out-of-state trip. It just so happened that one of the most exciting bands I've seen live, British Sea Power, was in town. Today I was looking through the last.fm events to check if I might have lucked out yet again. Unfortunately I'm not the biggest fan of Matisyahu, although I do appreciate what he has done for the "hasidic reggae" genre. Regardless, after reading a bit about his life, I think he would be a really cool guy to meet. Also, a few spots down on the list I saw the R&B dancing sensation, Mario, has lined up a gig. I'd t o t a l l y be game, but I don't think any performance can top when he opened up for T-Pain at the free OUAB event last year at Ohio State. Heh, talented guy, no doubt, just not my cup of tea.

I find it hard to believe that the only events scheduled during the week are at the local House of Blues. I don't know if we have any readers from the great state of South Carolina, but if so, think you could point me in the right direction?

Haha, s'all good though, I'm more than content knowing that the New American Music Union Festival and hopefully Lollapolooza are looming around the corner. The Beach doesn't hurt either ;)

Take 'er easy everybody,
Tony

Listening To: The Walkmen - You and Me

Well, if you've been reading this for a while, you might have noticed that the Walkmen have grown to my liking significantly over multiple concerts and album listens. Although they do have that NYC post punk vibe, the Walkmen go about it in a different way then most. Their instrumentation really only plays the role of setting the mood and almost always seems to be building up to some type of climax. Hamilton Leithauser truly is THE band in my opinion. The strength of his voice is quite impressive, like a vocal explosion being set off by the winding grove ambience of the rest of the bands haunting instrumentation.

On You and Me, the band doesn't seem to deviate from this formula much, but rather, chose to continue and refine, which is always a good choice. Too many critics bash bands for their lack of innovation, which is double edged sword in most situations because a change in style normally results in a drop in quality. The Walkmen need not worry about either of those options, because they just flat out make it work, and I'm sure once some more reviews come out, critics will agree.

To me, it seems You and Me is a more personal and mature album for the band. A lot of the songs are pretty meandering and filled with obvious attachment. Lots of horns and piano are scattered across the album creating a more serious and heartfelt mood. The wait has been worth it, this album should rank pretty high on my charts this year, and I'm sure you will dig it if you are a fan. If not, give them some listens before you dismiss it. Like I said above, it took me two live performances and multiple album listens before I fell in love. Perhaps You could have the same moment of enlightenment as Me.

oh yeah, ticketmaster just sent this to me:
The Walkmen
The Basement, Columbus
9/15/08, 7:30

I hope you caught that Pun at the end,
t0ny

Winner and still champion...

...because I'm going to the beach two days before tony. Ha.

Also, a graph:

Here I am...

Hey there everybody!

***HEY EVERYONE I FIGURED IT OUT
ZONE ALARM + RECENT MICROSOFT UPDATE = NO INTERNETZ

...way to be awesome

I've been having some wireless trouble at the 'ole crib, preventing me from gettin' online and such. But I got something ghetto rigged currently to give you the hap. Anyway, I'm gonna gank a new router from staples to try and figure out the problem. Seems like everything always breaks around the same time. (Bike derailer died last week) But what can ya do besides try and ghetto rig something temporary and procrastinate, right?

Anyway, Monday I'm heading to the beach with the fam, hopefully I'll get a few posts in before I leave.

Keep it real,
tony

Sountrack: Dan In Real Life

Happy Tuesday ya'll. Today is kind of an unusual post, unusual because I'm not usually one for soundtracks. However, a few days back I rented the movie Dan In Real Life with Steve Carrel. I just saw his face and rented it, I'm a pretty big fan, not sure how you can't be. But anyway, it ended up being a 'cute' romantic comedy, which I am in no way above. I gots feelings too, heh. The supporting cast was pretty impressive too, with Dane Cook, the dad in Frasier, and the lady that replaces Toby in the Office.

But anyway, the real stand out was the soundtrack. The majority of it is done by a Norweigen artist by the name of Sondre Lerche, and let me tell you it could be the 'feel-good-pick-me-up' you've been looking for. There are also some appearances by Regina Spektor, A Fine Frenzy and his band that goes by the name of 'Faces Down'. I'm definitley going to check out his other work, in which he goes by either Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down or Sondre Lerche and the Faces Down Quartet. It's just some real uplifting feel good pop with a bit of a swing vibe.

So definitley check out the movie, unless you are too manly. Oh yeah, and the soundtrack :) I should start giving more soundtracks a shot. Lesson learned...

Sondre Lerche lastfm : here


See you on the other side,
t0ny

Listening To: Beck - Modern Guilt

Wow, how did Beck slip an album past me? I mean I was diggin' the single Chemtrails but I completely forgot about the impending LP to be released, Modern Guilt. I remembered today after reading the review on Pitchfork this morning. So, I grabbed a copy and loaded it up on the 'ole Pod and went out for a nice afternoon bike ride. The album was produced by Danger Mouse, which is never a bad thing. Lately, Danger Mouse has heavily infiltrated my most recent listening escapades, which the new Black Keys release, the hip hop gem I recently stumbled upon: DangerDoom, and now this.

Anyway, on to the album. I think the best way to describe it would be: If Beck had a short term celebrity marriage with Spoon, only to be broken off because Spoon just didn't have the thetans to make it work. Only to find out that during the course of things, the two churned out a booming baby boy named Danger Mouse. Heh, all jokes aside though, I really enjoyed the album. Beck seems to have run out of genres to mimic, relying on the straightforwardness of good ole rock and roll, with a touch of Danger Mouses signiture style. Although not groundbreaking, he makes it work and the result is very satisfying. However, at second glance it's not as one dimensional as I thought, lot's of socially relevant lyrics that make me think Beck really put exactly what he was feeling into the album. I'm not sure where I would place it in his exciting storyline of a discography, but I'm sure it will rank pretty high looking back years from now.

video stream:Beck - Chemtrails

Happy Listening,
t0ny

Indiana Gregg is an Idiot

"Who?"

Exactly. This no-name singer-songwriter, who was gifted a record deal by some bigwig executive with a hard-on, recently wrote an ignorant, preachy open letter to all file-sharers...

http://torrentfreak.com/indiana-gregg-pirate-bay-internet-police-are-coming-080704/

You can read more of her stupidity at the Pirate Bay's "legal threats" section, but I don't recommend it lest your head explode.

I get so angry when I think of these privileged "artists" sitting in their million-dollar homes on the Mediterranean coast, piously rallying against file-sharing because of some misguided vendetta they picked up only because it got boring burning money in the fireplace and crashing expensive cars whilst on coke-fueled escapades. Shut up and make music.

Listening To: From Here to Infirmary, by Alkaline Trio

So I've heard the new AT disc, Agony and Irony, and it appears the once-pretty-badass group has gone full pussy on me. In response to my sadness I got out an old album of theirs, titled "From Here to Infirmary" (I like the name, and it sounds like a play on words, but I can't think of the phrase it'd be playin' on).

This disc, released in 2001, represents everything I actually enjoy about good post-punk records, like lyrics that drip with self-deprecation, strong guitar hooks, and vocals delivered in a masculine style by a man, unlike the seemingly female vocalists on these modern-day-Fall Out Boy-shite records. It's also got some bomb-ass drumming, which is surprisingly tasteful and creative when given the genre :D

That the track listing is engaging all the way through, whilst maintaining a distinct sound and style, is also a commendable feat. Alcoholism, broken relationships, and failed dreams are front-and-center in most tracks, but that's okay with me because I'm always semi-depressed and I like sad junk like that in songs ha. ha. ha.



-R.D

Yub Yub! OoooTeeni!

Ha, the ewok humor genre has really been untapped, who would have thought, out of all the tv networks, spiketv would be the first to pioneer into the uncharted funnies.


Don t Mess with the Ewoks

FREEDOM IS THE ONLY WAY, YEAH!

Today I was awoken by the sweet American sounds of a flock of eagles scattered in my orchard of apple-pie trees singing the melody of the national anthem. I took a fresh breath of freedom and was ready to kick some ass for the day.

ROCK, FLAG AND EAGLE!!!



happy 4th ya'll,
tony

Introducing: The Scare Bear

Ever seen that t-shirt ad on the side of some website with the girl wearing the t-shirt that says "we're going streaking"? She is also fake taking her top off. Well, call me a pig, but I was won over and HAD to check out this t-shirt website. I'm not the biggest fan of the screen-printed-funny-saying-t-shirt industry, but I was browsing for a few seconds and ran across this creature called the scarebear! Needless to say, I chuckled...now you get to see it.


I don't think I'd pay for it to be in my closet, but it is a pretty funny thought. Anyway, I'm all about the free promotion. So if you are into that kinda thing: snorg tees

Oh yeah, another thing, I heard via pitchfork that Zach de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine and Jon Theodore, who used to be drum for The Mars Volta, are teaming up to create the band One Day as a Lion. If I remember correctly, Jon is pretty politically charged as well, so hopefully they can channel their strong feelings into some ground breaking stuff. Now I feel the post isn't completely useless. To bad they didn't name the band One Day as a Bear, I would feel clever.

I'll be on the lookout,
t0ny

An Amazing Feat

Well, tonight we have a MoreTunesMan exclusive post. Everyone's favorite local musician, Amazing Feats of Strength, has dropped off a brand new mp3 to grace our ears. Although somewhat of a change of pace, the Columbus artist has provided us with another home brewed tune. It looks as though he has set aside the electric guitar, opting for a more folk inspired acoustic sound, and I must say, I really dig it. Be sure to check out all of the amazing feats on his myspace.

I'll keep you posted. But for now, have a listen.

***For right now the mp3 is a 30 second preview, working on that.
*FULL VERSION ON ABOVE MYSPACE LINK

Cool Kids Drop 'That's Stupid: The Mixtape'

uh, yep, like I promised, here is the link. Lotta Cool Kids love lately, hit me up with some coin, yo.

LINK'd <========

Got That New Walkmen Tune to Play

So I finally got a chance to listen to the first track off of the Walkmen's new release You & Me. For the longest time it wouldn't load right on imeem, at least for me. This song rings bells, they must have played it when I saw them with the White Rabbits and Spoon. I really dig it. Oh and here it is just in case you haven't heard it yet. It's been all over the music community, so thank them, not me. Can't wait to hear the rest of the album, these guys have really grown on me in the past 4-5 months or so.