Lyn is always rawking to the song in her head, which she would be happy to sing to you. Just ask.
Music posted is for sampling purposes and is only available for a limited time. If you like what you hear, support the artist and buy the album or go to a show.
I’m into Hot Hot Heat’s brand of indie pop with a dancy pants vibe, plus I can’t resist a redhead (Steve Bays, their lead singer, isn’t crushable but has a lot of charisma, especially on stage.) They’ve already scored a prime spot on KROQ’s L.A. Invasion and should be announcing additional tour dates soon. Their new album Happiness LTD will be out on 9/11. In the meantime, the single “Let Me In” is already in the alt rock top 50 and their new video is out for the world to see.
Nominees for the San Diego Music Awards have been announced. Full list here. My condensed (complete with snarky commentary in italics) follows:
Best Cover, Tribute or Bar Band:
80s All Starz
Blasphemous Guitars
Cash’d Out
Detroit Underground
Pink Froyd
Rockola
Soul Persuaders
The Reaganomics
Nice, check out Blasphemous Guitars up for an award. Awesome. Congrats, guys!
Best Acoustic:
Astra Kelly
Chad Farran
Joanie Mendenhall
Kyle Phelan
Marie Haddad
Michael Tiernan
Molly Jensen
Steph Johnson
Marie has my vote.
Best Blues:
Bill Magee Blues Band
Chet Cannon & the Committee
Lady Dottie and the Diamonds
Len Rainey & The Midnight Players
Michelle Lundeen
Fuzzy
The Fremonts
Tomcat Courtney
Lady Dottie anyone?
Best World Music:
Agua Dulce
Al Howard & the K23 Orchestra
B-Side Players
Diego Roots
Elijah Emanuel & the Revelations
Kush & Jah Blood Fiyah Angels
Stranger
Vegitation
I love me some A.Howard and the K23.
Best Hip Hop:
Addiquit
Blame One
Celio Skilz
Deep Rooted
Lil Al
MC Flow
Miki Vale
Ricasshay
Hooray for MC Flow!
Best Pop:
A.J. Croce
Anya Marina
Get Back Loretta
Kite Flying Society
Matt Curreri & the Exfriends
Ryan Ferguson
The Power Chords
This Holiday Life
There are some good nominees here.
Best Alternative:
Fifty On Their Heels
Grand Ole Party
Pistolita
Rafter
Sirhan Sirhan
The Donkeys
Vison of the Dying World
Years Around the Sun
Can FOTH win two years in a row, or is it the year of GOP?
Best Rock:
Arm the Angels
Daredevil Jane
Dirty Sweet
Magnolia Black
My American Heart
Reeve Oliver
The Atoms
Transfer
I can’t believe My American Heart is on this list. Where’s Weatherbox? They are much better.
Best Hard Rock:
Cattle Decapitation
Divided by Zero
Earthless
Medialab
Mother Mae I
Mower
Six Reasons
Underminded
Earthless is getting some buzz around the blogosphere.
Best Club DJ:
Chris Cutts
Dash Eye
DJ Artistic
DJ Demon
DJ Fingaz
Gabe Vega
Mario Orduno
Morgan Young
You think this will be a Punkboard topic?
Best Electronic:
Cosmologic
Goddamn Electric Bill
Microphone Mike
Neonthief
Red Flag
Qu‘est-ce Que C’est
The Album Leaf
Trummerflora Collective
I’m all about the Qu‘est-ce Que C’est
Best New Artist:
Burning of Rome
Crash Encore
Drowning Men
Kemistry
MEX
Society!
The Muslims
The Vultures
Tough choices in this category.
Artist of the Year:
As I Lay Dying
Augustana
Grand Ole Party
Jason Mraz
Louis XIV
Slightly Stoopid
Steve Poltz
Switchfoot
Good luck with this category, I should be more snarky, but I am gonna be nice.
I’m finally getting around to writing something about Against Me!’s latest album (and major label debut) “New Wave”. This band from Gainesville FL has long been a fan favorite in the punk crowd. They’ve never been on my radar until now for a few reasons. I always had the perception that they were one of those screamo bands that I wouldn’t be able to get into. And even though they’ve been around for 10 years, they haven’t got much of a sniff as far as radio play is concerned. All of this has changed with the release of “New Wave”. You could say it is the mastery of Butch Vig at producer that is making the difference. (Actually, I am sure a lot of the industry is thinking that.) If you’re an old fan, you’re probably saying that the band has sold out and are making more commercial records. There is no need for this debate once you listen to this album. I don’t really care how it got to this place. All I can tell you is that this album is good. And it’s going to appeal to a broad range of listeners. There is no mistaking the political bent to their songs (from “White People for Peace"):
The people sang protest songs to try and stop the soldier’s gun
Protest Songs in a response to Military Aggression
Protest songs to try and stop the soldier’s gun
But that’s not all this album has to offer. The single “Thrash Unreal” is making its way up the alt rock charts as I type. It’s got what is takes to stick on the radio. It’s telling a story…
This night is going to end when we’re damn well ready for it to be over.
Worked all week long now the music is playing on our time.
and then later…
She can still here that Rebel Yell just as loud as it was in 1983.
There ain’t no Johnny coming home to share a bed with her and she doesn’t care.
Then you have the infectious chorus (where the lyrics are kinda harsh but the bop-bop-bop stuff totally distracts you so that is what you sing.) People hear this on the radio and they are like “what is that bop-bop song?”
But to me, the best song is “Borne on the FM Waves of the Heart”, the collaboration with Tegan Quin (yes, that Tegan of Tegan and Sara fame). Tom Gabel shares the vocal duties with Tegan on this song. They alternate on lead and then sing together on the chorus. The melody is super catchy and the lyrics are good. (Who uses “trepidation” in song lyrics? That in itself is genius.) This is definitely another song that could catch fire on the radio.
Against Me! is currently out on tour in support of the new album, but they aren’t swinging this way in the next month. I’ll keep you guys updated on that because I’m gonna make at least one of you guys go with me to check them out.
I would usually just mention in my weekly new release post, but I didn’t want to wait since I won’t post that until Sunday or Monday.
So yeah, stream the new Straylight Run now on their myspace. Standout tracks include “The Miracle That Never Came”, “We’ll Never Leave Again”, and “Still Alone”.
Great Northern is generating all sorts of buzz with the release of their new album. Their single “Home” is a featured single on I Tunes. Next week, they will be at The Beauty Bar on Friday for the SD album release party. Also, they are scheduled to pay a visit in studio with none other than KBZT’s Hal on Thursday 5/31 at 5pm. This is exciting stuff! If you want to get a preview on how they may sound in studio, check out their performance on KCRW here.
I haven’t really mentioned this too much, but I am really into the ARG (alternate reality game) that has been going on in conjunction with NIN’s release of Year Zero. You may have noticed the “Art Is Resistance” logo to the left, which is what I got tattooed on my wrist last week. Yes, I am so into it, I got the logo tattooed on me. But really, this stuff is beyond marketing at this point. It’s really supposed to make you think. About our government and what it’s doing. About what you can do to make a difference. I never talk about politics on here (and I am not going to start now), but this whole thing has brought on a renewed sense of activism in me and that, I dig.
So to catch you up on last week’s finds. A bunch of people in the L.A. area got cell phones as part of being in the resistance. Last week, they got a phone call and part of it said “You and your friends can carry on the message, you have a voice. You are the resistance.” Another part of the message led to the discovery of Hour of Arrival, which has some of the best writing yet. People on the NIN board were talking about how much this particular site moved them. Especially this:
“At the end, everything you thought mattered burns away and all that’s left is love and ashes. “
Wow, right? One more thing I will mention. There was a site that was found from the “Capital G” garageband files. In it was a list of people who are subversives in the movement. Whenever there are names or lists or random emails sent in this ARG, they are pulled from a bunch of lists - the Spiral fan club, registering for the NIN site, etc. So I went to take a look at Exhibit 24 not really expecting to see myself on there, but yeah. Totally. #24.24.2.1735.
If you are curious about Art Is Resistance or want to spend some time looking at the websites and/or reading the obsessed NIN fan ponderings, check out Echoing the Sound.
