Talk about the ultimate indie rock date night! I'm really excited for this show, it should be something special. The only other time I've been to the Disney Concert Hall is to see Brian Wilson perform SMiLE and that was just about as good as it gets. The sound quality there is nothing short of amazing, it's almost as if you can hear every individual note. Information and ticket links below.
So my friend Abed gave me this album a while ago and I FINALLY got around to listening to it and now it's all I can listen to! Well this and the new Gram Parsons & Flying Burrito Brothers release. In any case, this is Beulah's first album and it's pretty much a straight listen through, yep, that's right, you won't be needing that skip button once this is on. According to allmusic this is their lowest ranked album so I'm psyched to check out the rest of their albums because if that's true I'm in for a real treat. But that can't be true, this album is too good for that to be true. It's out of print, so unless you're prepared to pay upwards of $40, here's a link to the Amazon download. Here's my favorite two tracks from Handsome Western States so far, now get your NoCal on!
There was a time when I actually got really excited about a new Black Eyed Peas single instead filled with dread of having whatever new gimmick track Will.i.am. cooks up being shoved down my throat for 15 months, (except I do actually have a soft spot in my heart for Clumsy I must admit, but that's the exception that proves the rule ya see). B.E.P. Empire is one of my favorite tracks from their golden era, and even the crap festival their music's become doesn't tarnish it's shine. The video is excellent as well, but time has added a layer of irony to it that makes it even better. Watch as the Black Eyed Peas poke fun at how commercial rap was becoming only to become the ultimate target of their own venom a few years later.
Side Selecter is my friend Kyle's excellent weekly music blog where he posts sweet mixes of what he's been listening to, and he listens to some really cool stuff. You can stream the mixes right on the website or download them for portable listening. Personally, the shuffle function on my iPod has been collecting dust since he's started posting these. This week I did a guest set for him, so go over there and have a listen!
I went to the Dan Deacon / Ultimate Reality / H.E.A.L.T.H. / Abe Vigoda show at the El Rey last night and it was really awesome, but the biggest surprise was Ultimate Reality. They were the only band in the show I hadn't heard of before and they completely blew the crowd away. From what I can figure out, they're sort of an extension of Dan Deacon's music, but I can't find any albums under that moniker. I'll try to describe it as best as I can, but it really has to be seen to be believed.
Two drummers sit motionless and expressionless in front of a projection screen while a Deacon created loop plays hypnotically. Text scrolls on the screen, and a guy comes out and does his best to read it as fast as he can, it is a prologue to a nonexistent movie that mashes up the plots of Terminator, Kindergarten Cop, Junior, and some other Schwarzenegger movies. That guy leaves, the loop grows more intense, and suddenly without warning the two drummers break into perfectly synchronous drum activity while behind them distorted images from the various Schwarzenegger movies play in sync with the music. And it never stops, it just keeps building and growing.
Truly amazing stuff. I grabbed this off of Deacon's myspace page, it's some of the visuals from the Ultimate Reality set, so you can get an idea. Don't miss this show!
Hey I know you guys are all responsible citizens doing your research on all the candidates, but if you also happen to dig The Fiery Furnaces, you should definitely go over to their website today so you can cast your vote for what their next opus should be in their comments section. There are some really solid album ideas up there, but this one was my favorite:
Archer Ave. Cupid’s Corner Chicago Fall album. (The band and the season (the band The Fall and not the band Chicago).) Music in imitation of the early 80’s, double-drumming Fall, but the ensemble consisting not of that sort of band but, instead, a 18th-century-performance-style outfit like the old Il Complesso Barocco or La Petite Bande. (Though with rock drum kit also, often.)
Not bad eh? Also, I finally picked up Widow City and it's fantastic! (Side note, it's cheaper at Best Buy than at that Amazon link.) Here's my favorite song from the album below!
