Daft Punk - Random Access Memories(2013) vs Janelle + A&A

1 Give Life Back to Music    4:34
2 The Game of Love    5:21
3 Giorgio by Moroder    9:04
4 Within    3:48
5 Instant Crush    5:37
6 Lose Yourself to Dance    5:53
7 Touch    8:18
8 Get Lucky    6:07
9 Beyond    4:50
10 Motherboard    5:41
11 Fragments of Time    4:39
12 Doin’ It Right    4:11
13 Contact    6:21

Okay, I may or may not elaborate more about this record. But 1st, I guess I'll share what I posted yesterday on FB

I can say, I do enjoy a lot of Daft Punk 's new record Random Access Memories . Namely some of the drum work on "Giorgio by Moroder" and "Contact." And I wouldn't be surprised to see it finish somewhat high in my 2013 Albums Countdown. HOWEVER, (I'll elaborate more soon in the blog hopefully), I am skeptical it'll reach the levels of Janelle Monáe 's The ArchAndroid and especially Apes & Androids "Blood Moon."

I'll admit, I am slowly, but surely forming a somewhat accurate take on this album. And even just today, playing it again, I can say tracks like "Within" and "Instant Crush" I am being won over by.

Within actually is really sad and pretty. Melancholic in a lot of ways. The vocoder vocals on that one have grown on me, and I suppose overall on this album they are starting to.

I will not forget though, like the of Montreal/Kevin Barnes kankersore track on The Archandroid, the Panda Bear featured track "Doin' It Right" frankly, sucks, and that largely has to do with Panda Bear and Animal Collective being as abhorable as they are. 

But this is epic, and not without some cohesiveness and flow. Although the 2nd track "The Game of Love" while not bad, I don't think allows the start of the record to flow as well as it could.

"Touch" is a tune, I enjoy much of, but the melodramatic/cheese factor almost gets tiresome to a point. I could edit that song down and make it much more re-listenable/enjoyable.

"Fragments in Time" is nice, especially the fun synthy instrumental bridge/outro

And I will not deny "Get Lucky" is one of the best songs of 2013, including much of the vocoder stuff that comes later in the tune.

The repetitiveness of that song/song's vocal chorus and some other pieces, I guess I am growing to accept given the music on many of these tunes is worth hearing repeated times. Tapping your foot or hand to, or at least imagine just dancing to like "Lose Yourself to Dance."

Maybe more to add later, but I would say this record very easily will finish in my top 10 for 2013, even AS HIPSTER as it is. I do want to hear the Tron Legacy soundtrack now even more. 

more about how it compares to A&A's and Janelle soon.

edit 1:

"Instant Crush" may not have received the comparisons elsewhere, but I can't help but hear the Tom Petty track "Won't Back Down" and as my girlfriend and friend John pointed out, very closely resembles the Alan Parsons Project hit "Eye in the Sky."

Also the vocoder use, while I guess is nothing new for Daft Punk, can't be ignored how the use recalls groups like The Apples in Stereo, Gotye and maybe more obvious, ELO.

Matt Mahaffey aka sElf : (15min) TED Talk/Performance

he's the perfect person to do one of these. Like Amanda Palmer, he can speak to being blue-collar and not compromising (or at least for the most part).

The thing he mentions about commercials is so true, but also as I've known for a few years, his stuff is all over television ads and animated movies. I've probably heard dozens of his scores and compositions, and wasn't even aware of it.

I also think, the more I think about it, his lifestyle and approach quite easily might be what Kevin Gilbert would be doing today. At least in some ways; as a producer/engineer and someone who not only makes his own music, but also makes music through being resourceful in the entertainment business.

I wonder if Matt's ever heard of Kevin. The similarities are somewhat eery to me. But of course that is all just hypothetical and guessing.

Now, the actual state of sElf and their upcoming music still remains to be announced. The album sampler that was posted a few months ago was the last thing I have seen. I know Matt did a special show, I want to say in February or March in his home state of Tennessee.

And reading some of his FB posts, he seems to be doing much of the day or nightjob thing, as I thought I saw he was tending bar not too long ago. So, the music he is making or has made recently, maybe has taken a bit of a backseat to paying his bills with other means.

Perhaps with some of this exposure per a TED talk, it may get the ball rolling a little more with the future work for sElf or any other *original* rock/pop music he may make.

Fair to Midland News (NOT EXACTLY OFFICIAL)

I came across this yesterday per the dredg fans forum topic about Fair to Midland. And I am friends with Brett on FB, but I must have missed this post a little while ago. But it was just fwd-ed along to a private Fans group on FB for FtM.

The financial issues, while it saddens me to see, I am not entirely surprised by unfortunately. I posted on the group hopefully the band will weather this storm of issues and at least continue to make music in the near future. They could take nods from some other artists of late, rather than breaking up, use things like Bandcamp and the Fan-Funding sites like Indiegogo or Pledgemusic to help still make music, or even tour (see Mercies for example).

The touring is a big deal, as Fair to Midland has come to be known maybe 1st and foremost as a live band, having seen them 11 times I believe in a 5-year period myself.

But their website is down and the fans forum apparently as well. That alone is sad to see, but hopefully the band's future work, still will come sooner rather than later.

From Brett's Facebook Page

"Lately, a lot of people have been asking me if I know anything about the current situation with Fair To Midland. I'm by no means an official source of info, but i'll tell you what I know because I feel like the fans deserve to know what's up.

First off, even before I was no longer in the band, FTM was in quite a bit of debt. This, I'm certain, only got worse as time went on. Second, as far as I know, FTM currently have no label or official management. Third, without getting too much into anyone's personal life, I can say at least a couple members have expressed to me their frustration about lack of communication by certain other members of the band. Finally, the current members of FTM are spread out all over the country at this point. I would imagine that would make getting together for rehearsals/writing prohibitively expensive. (Plane rides, gas, accommodations, etc... you get the picture. Hell, it was hard enough when we were all in the relatively small area of Dallas/Commerce/Sulphur Springs.)

Read into the fact that nobody bothered to renew the band's domain name what you will. (which actually kind of upsets me. there was a lot of FTM history on those forums)

With all that said, like most of you, I sincerely hope that the guys are able to turn things around. Even though I was a member for 10+ years, I was a fan first. I'll be cheering alongside you if a new tour/album/whatever is announced, but i'm not holding my breath."

Chloë (Chloe Alper ex-Pure Reason Revolution) video for "Leaf" (was new song "Oueda")

5/28/13 10:15PM

http://chloealper.com/

this is odd to say the least, and quite a departure from the PRR stuff. But then again, this may be some kind of art video and a segue/intro/outro kind of piece.

The name Peter Gabriel does come to mind, or even Kate Bush, Imogen Heap or Bjork in some ways.


also, I BELIEVE the demo below has been PULLED unfortunately. But hopefully she'll share that piece again, as it was pretty sweet sounding.

4/20/13 8:00AM
Chloe's new demo "One of Two"

Damn, verry very nice!

edit: she pulled the demo unfortunately. Hopefully it'll be back up soon.

1/30/13 4:45PM

12/19/12 12:04PM
I haven't heard it yet, but shall later today. She says she has music coming the end of the year here, and early in 2013.

Music by Chloë Alper; a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She launched her career as a solo musician in 2012, having previously been best known as a singer and bassist in the British New prog rock group Pure Reason Revolution.

Her new facebook page is here http://www.facebook.com/therealchloealper
And the Soundcloud page https://soundcloud.com/chloe-alper

What I'm unclear on a bit here is, the name Flood going to be dropped? This may get a bit like the Jimmy Gnecco/Ours thing if that kind of stuff isn't mentioned early on.

EDIT:  The music she is making will be released under the name "Chloë" and the "Flood" name is not going to happen. Honestly, that makes a lot of sense given there's like a dozen bands with that name

already. Although there's a few "Chloe's as well.

Bobby Jarzombek interview about Fates Warning's new album

still need to watch it, but he talks about the upcoming record I guess.

Also this status update on Facebook from Ray Alder is rather encouraging. But then again, this is Fates Warning, a band whose rarely if ever failed me. I expect this record to be very good to awesome regardless.

Star date: 5/14/2013... Just an update.. After five days of recording here in New Hampshire I've finished six songs so far... SO much work, but I've enjoyed every second of it! ( Well, almost every second...) 
I cannot tell you how incredibly psyched I am for this new Fates album... Every song seems to get better than the last. Also, European tour dates will be coming soon.. I've never been to Israel before.. Hmmm... 
Going home to L.A. tomorrow, it'll be good to rest the voice and see my friends.. Next round of recording coming very soon.. Until then, peace... Kirk out.

The Polyphonic Spree - Yes, It's True (2013)

5/22/13 11:08PM

story

Here's an update; so apparently the cover art they shared with the Kickstarter update was premature? or maybe there could be 2 covers?

They are playing at The Varsity Theater again on June 28th, although I may or may not go. Considering the number of concerts lined up right now this Summer (Josh Rouse, Fitz and the Tantrums and Yes) I may have to think more about that show.

Also the official Street/Release date for this album is August 6th I guess.




1 You Don't Know Me
2 Popular by Design
3 Hold Yourself Up
4 Carefully Try
5 You're Golden
6 Heart Talk
7 Blurry Up the Lines
8 Let Them Be
9 Raise Your Head
10 What Would You Do?
11 Battlefield



3/2/13 1:02PM
So below is a press release for The Polyphonic Spree's upcoming LP "Yes, It's True" sent as an update to the Kickstarter Backers (as I am). May 28th release date.

Also included were 2 songs, 1 which I heard most of "You Plus Me" which isn't on the album, sounded very Orchestral? or Pastoral?..it was odd, and had no vocals from what I could tell. "You Don't Know Me," which is the 1st track on Yes, It's True, sounds more traditional in their spiritual pop style.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2013

'Yes It's True,' Rock's "Heavenly Choir" The Polyphonic Spree Return, 5.28

On 'Yes, It's True' (May 28, Good Records) - The Polyphonic Spree's first studio album of original material since 2007 - "the idiosyncratic Dallas symphonic pop collective" (Los Angeles Times) delivers its most personally charged work to date while retaining the "exuberance of a heavenly choir" (NPR).
Frontman Tim DeLaughter describes 'Yes, It's True' as the band's most unorthodox recording session to date, producing the album in stages and recording a holiday release midway through tracking. As a result, the 11 tracks are particularly diverse, ranging from the euphoric "You Don't Know Me" and somberly anthemic “Blurry Up The Lines," to the reflective “Battlefield,” which DeLaughter describes as his "most personal contribution."
'Yes, It's True' caps a whirlwind 2012 for The Polyphonic Spree in which the band recorded two albums, traversed the US on two tours, debuted their rendition of 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' in London, captured a live concert DVD, and released 'Holidaydream: Sounds of the Season Vol. 1.' The band has released four studio albums, headlined major US and international festivals, and even performed at the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Concert.

1) You Don't Know Me
2) Popular By Design
3) Hold Yourself Up
4) Carefully Try
5) You're Golden
6) Heart Talk
7) Blurry Up The Lines
8) Let Them Be
9) Raise Your Head
10) What Would You Do?
11) Battlefield

Upcoming Tour Dates
Tuesday 3/12 Club Deville 900 Red River St 6:45pm All Ages
Tuesday 3/12 Red 7 Patio 611 E 7th St 1:00am All Ages
Thursday 3/14 The Main 603 Red River St 12:30am 21+
Friday 3/15 "Brooklyn Vegan" The Main 603 Red River St 5pm 21+
Saturday 3/16 "The Big One 2013" 1100 Warehouse 1100 E. 5th Street 4:45pm 21+

Majestyy - (Brian Jacobs, ex-Apes and Androids)

5/22/13 10:58PM

Majestyy's latest Tumblr has a Soundcloud Stream (not an embed or dl) of the new track BEAUTIFUL CHILD OF EVERLASTING LOVE

another great tune, although a little slower. Even some vocoder it sounds like. The only thing I wonder about with their style is how much if any GUITAR will be incoporated (which is one part of Brian/A&A's music I always love).

11/30/12 12:57AM







Oh. My. Gawd. Here's 1 story from stereogum.com

Well, honestly, the Majestyy project/account/pseudo name etc, that Brian Jacobs has had online for a few years, seeing some music from, shouldn't be unbelievably shocking. He's been doing remixes of pop songs, and posting cool videos and political opinions I've noticed over the last couple of years. In other words, he's been using social media, and doing things with technology, and being a musician, odds are he'd want to put down some ideas in his head post-Apes and Androids.

Plus with Morgan Z putting out the Chrome Canyon releases this past year (a Full-Length, and an EP), that may have inspired Brian to want to make some music again.

But, as he refers to these as "jams" I'm not sure what they will end up as. I do know, I am pretty ecstatic to hear them. "The Notion" sort of echoes some Blood Moon stuff, but my impression is, I'm not sure if A&A's would have written something as upbeat and directly pop. But there's still some of their style there certainly.

I guess maybe the coming weeks/months may hold some plans for Brian and Majestyy. Perhaps a big year coming in 2013 for him. Of course, the thing that still springs to my mind, is where is the other half of my dynamic duo of A&A's in David Tobias? I've been asking myself that question for a few years, which kind of leads me to only guess he's gone on and got a real/dayjob and the music stuff may be on hold, if not done. But incommunicado can mean a lot of things that don't surface for awhile.

Orphaned Land - All Is One (2013)

5/21/13 9:32AM

another new song "Let the Truce Be Known"


5/13/13 9:26AM

New song/video "Our Own Messiah."

4/23/13 2:05PM

Pre-Order Page 



01. All Is One
02. The Simple Man
03. Brother
04. Let The Truce Be Known
05. Through Fire And Water
06. Fail
07. Freedom
08. Shama'im
09. Ya Benaye
10. Our Own Messiah
11. Children


3/23/13 6:57PM



https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=493467137375475&id=8776213035

Drop date is June 24th/25th apparently. I enjoyed ORwarriOR, although not nearly as much as Mabool. Which I just recently noticed was issued on VINYL that I would love to acquire.

but this band are ambitious and interesting as any Metal band over the last decade and change, I'm totally looking forward to this record in June.

Israeli progressive folk metal masters ORPHANED LAND are putting the finishing touches on the follow-up to 2010's "The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR". The band's sixth full-length CD, "All Is One", will be released on June 25 (one day earlier internationally).  
Commented ORPHANED LAND singer Kobi Farhi: "I'll say it plain and simple — 'All Is One' is ORPHANED LAND's best album so far. I feel that we took all aspects to a new level — the way we write, arrange, play and produce.  

"We recorded the album in three countries (Turkey, Sweden and Israel) and it turned out so strong, we can't stop listening to it.  
"The album is very rich in sound, with more than 40 people participating (choirs, violins, and many traditional instruments, too).  

"Our secret recipe was always the fact that unlike many other bands, ORPHANED LAND doesn't follow ONE master mind that writes everything; we work in a way that 'all is one.' We create our music in a perfect blend of synergy and harmony and all the band members are a part of this process. We translate the album's title and message exactly in the way we work, and we always hope we could give a bit of an inspiration to the people in the tragic Middle Eastern lands.  

"We have fans all over the Middle East. We live in a place where huge amounts of people who consider themselves enemies still share one thing in common, they are all fans of ORPHANED LAND, and in these lands of orphans and bloody holy wars, our only weapon is music, and hopefully we will grow to understand that 'all is one.'"  

ORPHANED LAND's forthcoming effort will be the band's first to feature guitarist Chen Balbus following the departure of Matty Svatizky in June 2012 due to "personal" and "professional" issues. 
"The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR" sold around 600 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The CD landed at No. 80 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200. 

"The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR" was released in Europe on January 25, 2010. 
ORPHANED LAND's concert DVD, "The Road To OR-Shalem", was released in October 2011 in Europe and November 2011 in the U.S. via Century Media Records. 

Foals @ First Ave 5/20/13

Setlist

 (I'm pretty sure, as it appears this is what they've been playing this whole tour. I just don't fully recall them playing Blue Blood, but perhaps the arrangement was a bit different and I didn't recognize it).

Prelude
Total Life Forever
Balloons
Olympic Airways
My Number
Bad Habit
Milk & Black Spiders
Blue Blood
Spanish Sahara
Red Socks Pugie
Late Night
Providence
Electric Bloom

Encore:

Stepson
Inhaler
Two Steps, Twice


Here's the early comments, more to add tomorrow perhaps (along with something about Sue McLean I hope).

from Facebook:


just got back from a mind-blowing concert from Foals Foals @ First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN . Wow, the Antidotes stuff is so energetic live! I always wondered if their dancey mathrock would be enhanced live, and I was totally right to wonder. They seemed to remind me of a number of my favorite live groups, all in one in a way, like MUTEMATH , Annuals and Local Natives along with their singer/guitarist Yannis Philippakis almost channeling Darroh Sudderth from fair to midland by climbing on top of 1 of the amps.

Man what a show! more perhaps in the blog soon.

Bed of Stars - I Fell in Love in the City [EP] (2013)

Pretty excited for this to finally come out. I remember hearing about it sometime in 2011, when Daniel Victor was talking about Evan for the new Neverending White Lights album.

7 tracks is a little longer than some EPs in fact too. I also think given how much time Evan (and Daniel) spent on this, it likely will be all the better.

June 11th. It's coming on a limited  number on vinyl too as well as cd and digital.

I'm not certain if that trailer at the bottom is fully up-to-date given it was posted awhile ago, but it's probably worth sharing still.

Facebook Announcement Link

 In 2010 I took 2 months to write, demo, and record a mini album called I Fell In Love In The City.

Exactly 3 years later, after many revisions, up's and downs, and a world of patience, it is my honour to release it to you, on June 11th 2013.

A week prior to that, on June 4th 2013 I invite you to join me and the crew as we will be hosting a special radio broadcast via lovelessradio.com.

Where we stream the album in it's entirety, and discuss I Fell In Love In The City, it's creation and writing process.

The word will continue to spread throughout this year, via tour, videos, and more music.

This is just the beginning, and I can't wait to show you what's coming next.

For all the latest
head to: www.bedofstars.com


 

1. Nothing Left To Lose
2. Tell Me If It's True
3. She's Only Pretty
4. The Spell
5. The Wishbone
6. I'll Cross Oceans
7. Ships In Their Bottles

 

Cynthesis - ReEvolution (2013)

5/11/13 10:45PM
http://www.metalunderground.com/bands/details.cfm?bandid=9855&tab=news

new 9 minute track "Persistence of Visions" streaming.

4/11/13 10:49PM
I don't recall my exact words from 2011 about the 1st album from this group which is sort of like a more Atmospheric/Pink Floyd-ish approach to progressive metal. It had some technical parts, but the emphasis was not as much on chops as Zero Hour often is. But the obvious big thing for me and many, was the reunion of the Tipton brothers with singer Erik Rosvold, from The Towers of Avarice period namely.

Unfortunately, I may or may not have emphasized it enough with DeEvolution, how while the songs/music and compositions I really liked most of, the high-pitched almost finger-nails-on-a-chalkboard sounding/feeling I got from the intermittent evidence of COMPRESSION OF THE SPLASH AND CRASH CYMBALS, more or less killed my ability to go back to it.

Now that was probably close to 2 years ago when I last listened to that record, and perhaps another revisiting could change my mind now.

But I will admit, had that not been a problem, DeEvolution might have become a rather addictive record, and finished pretty high on the 2011 Albums Countdown. In other words, if that issue is not present here, I could end up loving this record like I should/could have that and Towers even. Since, I totally think Erik's voice with the Tipton's really works and is a very unique blend. And the songwriting and approach they did here worked well, and even stood out in some ways from the music from Towers.

The release date for ReEvolution is June 4th, 2013.

Facebook Link




1. Divine Night
2. Convergence
3. The Grand Façade
4. A Most Trivial Pursuit
5. Persistence Of Visions
6. The Noble Lie
7. Release The Deity

Amazon.com Preorder Link

http://www.earsplitcompound.com/site/2013/04/11/cynthesis-prog-metal-supergroup-to-release-second-part-of-dystopian-trilogy/


Sensory Records this week confirms the full details for the pending second album from Pleasanton, California-based progressive metal outfit CYNTHESIS, as the final parts to this new opus have fallen into place. 
CYNTHESIS reunites three of the original members of top-tier extreme progressive band Zero Hour — brothers Jasun and Troy Tipton (guitars and bass, respectively, both also of Abnormal Thought Patterns) and vocalist Erik Rosvold, along with Enchant drummer Sean Flanagan. While maintaining much of the tech/metal influence of Zero Hour, with CYNTHESIS the members’ ambitious technical prowess blends seamlessly and organically into the grand atmospheres and melodic passages enveloping their approach, demonstrates the more melodic side of Jasun Tipton’s songwriting. 
Formed in 2010, CYNTHESIS released their massive debut album DeEvolutionthrough Sensory in April of 2011, causing celebration within the prog community with these members aligning, and in some cases realigning, their talents. Following another massive undertaking and countless hours of constructing and executing this new album, now two years later, the middle part of the dystopian trilogy is about to see the light of day as ReEvolution. A shaman, the central character of the series, is sent out to gather more slaves. He comes across a tribe and senses a light within them that triggers a distant memory of his past, making him realize that this is the original tribe he was taken from. He brings them back to the city and encounters what was done to the population and sets them free. 
Mixed and co-produced by Forrester Savell and mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side, with nearly forty-five minutes of some of the most creative and imaginative progressive metal likely to be released this year, ReEvolution will see release via Sensory on June 4th; preorders for the album can be placed here, and view the spectacular cover artwork by Mario Sánchez Nevado below: 

Pain of Salvation St.Paul 5/11/13 CANCELED: NA Tour?

This sucks, although for me personally, having seen PoS 3 times, it's not as big of a downer as for others who've never seen them. But it still does suck as it's been even 9 years for me. Plus I was hoping to actually spend a few minutes talking to Daniel for the 1st time. And my friend Josh Rundquist had an interview scheduled for his Youtube channel That Drummer Guy. Not to mention he has never seen them.

My hope is they can RESCHEDULE this show tonight in St.Paul (and the rest of the tour?) for later in the year, obviously after Daniel recovers. Pneumonia can be SERIOUS as I have heard too many cases of people who actually died from it. Hopefully Daniel will get better soon.

https://www.facebook.com/Painofsalvation/posts/10152044068129657

It comes with heavy hearts and much sadness that we unfortunately must cancel our gig in St. Paul tonight. 
Daniel's condition (the onset to pneumonia) might actually become serious pretty fast under the wrong conditions. We want to get back here as soon as possible and rock these places properly - the crowds have been creating so much wonderful enthusiasm and we truly love you for that. We know some of you will have waited a long time and travelled very far. There's not much more we can do than to apologize here. We know you love Daniel and we want to make sure he lives to come back and play more shows here in the US. Thank you for your understanding.

https://www.facebook.com/nathan.block.52/posts/10151911951439062?comment_id=32190635&offset=0&total_comments=25&notif_t=feed_comment_reply

I regretfully inform everyone that the PAIN OF SALVATION show scheduled for this evening at Station 4 has been CANCELED.

I found out early this morning that Daniel Gildenlöw, lead singer for Pain of Salvation, has developed pneumonia and will be flying home to recover. Obviously the band could no longer perform under such circumstances.

I then tried to negotiate a free show with KINGCROW, IMMINENT SONIC DESTRUCTION and my outstanding local acts in order to salvage the evening. Unfortunately, due to a breakdown in communication, the other bands on the tour package had already started heading home and were now not in a position to make the show on time.

This is the first time in my entire 10 year career of producing Minnesota concerts that I have completely lost a show. I am extremely sorry for the gross inconvenience. Unfortunately these circumstances were far beyond my control.

Advance ticket holders, please return your tickets to your place of purchase for a full refund.

Kind regards,
Nathan Block
SwordLord Productions, Inc.

Bend Sinister - Another Man's Smile

Interesting explanation in the little documentary in the 2nd video. The song itself is aight. Mellow/acoustic ballad. Not unlike some of their quieter, slower tracks, but good none the less. Maybe it'll be on the next record?

I guess this was filmed and recorded when they were at SXSW in March.

Mother Falcon - You Knew (2013) INDIEGOGO CAMPAIGN

5/9/13 1:55PM

 New video for the tune "Dirty Summer." The album "You Knew" by the way, was officially released yesterday to iTunes and what not. I of course have only been able to listen to some of it sparingly with my new job starting this week. I actually may be facing listening to very little music this whole year depending on how much my job prevents my music listening. O well, priorities as many believe. I do like a lot of what I have heard of this record. Style-wise, they seem to be continuing much of the Alhambra elements, with maybe more emphasis on variety. I am reminded of bands like Emanuel & the Fear and Revere off an on.



4/22/13 6:33PM
8 Hours Left!

4/15/13 4:46PM

STREAM THE WHOLE THING (or individual tracks) HERE PER NPR

It's worth repeating, their INDIEGOGO campaign is still ongoing, and they are still looking to succeed in their goal with 7 days left (a little over $22K to reach the $40K goal. Not impossible, but a big RALLY seems like it will have to happen soon).

A super-sized chamber-rock collective from Austin, Texas, Mother Falcon constructs sweepingly
 majestic rock out of a nine-piece string section, multiple horns, a bassoon, a glockenspiel
 and a diverse assortment of voices that sing and shout to the rafters. The band makes
 the most of those many moving parts — its songs shimmer and boom with
 infectious joy — but Mother Falcon doesn't skimp on the songwriting, either. Listen to
 "Marigold" or the brightly galloping "Dirty Summer," from the band's forthcoming album
 You Knew, and you'll hear a group that can juggle more than a dozen discrete components
 while still crafting impeccable, surprisingly airy three-minute pop songs.

Formed as a free-wheeling, 15- to 20-piece side project for a group of orchestra students, Mother Falcon
 maintains an educational mission, as well; its members help operate a summer camp for young classical
 musicians. But on its two full-length albums, You Knew (out May 7) and 2011's Alhambra,
 Mother Falcon's classical chops fuel a sound that soars with the grandiosity of Arcade Fire
 at its most anthemic. There's nothing staid or stodgy about Mother Falcon, 
whose albums capture the hugeness of a band that can't fit on many of the stages it plays.

Self-released and funded via crowd-sourcing, You Knew maneuvers its way through notable shifts in tone, 
often within moments; it doesn't take more than a few seconds for the band to shift gears between
 the booming acceleration of "Marigold" and the plaintive brooding of "Porcelain."
 Diverse and inventive, You Knew positively spills over with ideas and enthusiasm — the hallmark
 of a left-field treasure to discover and cherish.

4/8/13 11:50AM-4/9/13 2:00PM
Here's the cover Art for You Knew, which is a bit odd. But they have 15 days left to succeed with their Indiegogo.com Campaign, which it appears they need almost $26,000 still (of a $40,000 goal).

Hopefully more people will get word and check out what they are doing with this upcoming album in the next couple of weeks.

Track List added below:.

Release Date May 7th noted on Facebook here

LINK AGAIN 

1. Pink Stallion
2. Marigold
3. Porcelain
4. Sleep
5. My Majesty of Madness
6. Dirty Summer
7. Blue and Gold
8. Marfa
9. When It Was Good
10. What’s the Matter?
11. I Dream of Water


3/27/13 6:00AM

I got into this band last year with their debut album Alhambra, from 2011 (my little review from last year). Nice, big ensemble chamber pop/rock group somewhat in the vein of groups like Anathallo, Jared Micah, Sufjan Stevens, The Dear Hunter and others.

Their goal is $40,000 and they are at $11,369 with 27 days to go.

The title "You Knew" and projected release (May) of this were mentioned along with an mp3 download of the upcoming 7-inch single "Dirty Summer."

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mother-falcon-s-new-album/x/2421326


Mother Falcon IndieGoGo Video from MFAccount on Vimeo.

We're Mother Falcon, a band from Austin, Texas, and we're nearing completion of our second album. 

It doesn't have a title yet, but it does have a long list of new songs that we've been crafting since we recorded Alhambra in 2011.

Mother Falcon has a lot of members. We have a lot of instruments too, and musical ideas and touring plans and dreams of teaching young musicians and scoring films and writing better and better songs. 

What we don't have, at this point, is a label. We don't have someone to pay for the recording, mixing, mastering and duplication of our music. We don't have an army, or even a platoon, of publicists, booking agents, and interns alerting the world every time we release a record and sending us out on the road, setting up radio performances, contacting bloggers, and sending out promotional materials. 

What we do have is you. 

So we're humbly asking if you'll help us be our own label, so that we can do all the things necessary to produce an album that reaches a large audience.

With your help, we'll fund the mixing, mastering, and duplication of our second record, which we aim to release in May. Then, we'll take it to New York in June and Los Angeles in August and play as many darn shows as we can. 

And we'll make it worth your while. As you'll see below, you can get recordings, t-shirts, songwriting coaching, private performances, and all manner of other exciting gifts for helping us out. 

Thanks for all of your support,

Mother Falcon

Local Natives - Bowery "City of Music" (Fan Made w/band Video?)

Pitchfork blows chunks, but so be it. This video is really well made, almost surreal video done I believe in Minnesota. My gf's friend did some of the production or filming I guess.

This song and ballet really fit well together.

Steven Wilson Band: 5/4/13

This was an incredibly loud, dynamic,extensive performance by Steven and his band. Guthrie Govan is a master of sorts. Really someone whose as adept from a technical standpoint, as most any guitarist I've seen or out there right now. And Marco Minneman, from what I could tell as I only saw parts of his playing from the angle I was sitting at, seemed as versatile and precise a drummer as Steven could ever play with.

Many of the moments of this show were incredible dark thematically. The video screens and even just down to a moment where Steven used a demonic voice to speak to the crowd.

Such as with Raider II, as he told about it being inspired by a serial killer from the 1980's.

I think Steven has right now, a band that musicianship wise, that compares to Dream Theater or you pick any modern band of virtuosos. Steven himself is really not, as he's admitted. But he has written with this new record, some incredibly technical music.

And even I think many of the Grace For Drowning songs were more interesting live. Jazz or Jazz-inspired music often is (or Jazz is supposed to be better live anyway).

Setlist (I think)

Luminol
Drive Home
The Pin Drop
Postcard
The Holy Drinker
Deform to Form a Star
Watchmaker Intro Video
(Bass Communion song)
The Watchmaker
Index
Sectarian
Insurgentes
Harmony Korine
Raider II
The Raven That Refused to Sing

Encore:
a Medley (but I don't believe it included Radioactive Toy, as most if not every other show on this tour did. Why? likely because it's been 8 years for our town).


Here's what I've posted in brief amounts about the show thus far

it was great, save for some of the sight-lines given I was upstairs off to the side a bit. But it was really an epic show. I wrote this on this dreamtheaterforums.org the other day "saw him in Minneapolis last night after sadly, an 8-Year Hiatus (which the other 2 previous shows with PT SOLD OUT by the way). Epic show as I'm sure others who've seen him and his band know. 

3 hours, complete Raven and much of Grace.

Constant Video screens of course too."


More to hopefully add later. But the biggest reason I want to include this review now is beyond the worth thousands of words perhaps show, my friend Josh Rundquist aka That Drummer Guy got to interview Steven Wilson before the show the other night. He also is going to interview Daniel Gildenlow on Saturday in fact before the Pain of Salvaton show in St.Paul.

Rock for Justice: TDH, HOTLT and Brooke Waggoner!

 http://rockforjustice.bandcamp.com/

The Dear Hunter, Hotel of the Laughing Tree and Brooke Waggoner? I shall check these The Beach Boys, Queen and David Bowie covers out later certainly. And it's for a good cause of course per Hotel of the Laughing Tree's Facebook:

The 'Songs for Justice' compilation is now available for preorder (and you can stream it!). Go check out a bunch of awesome covers. We did Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen. Throw a few bucks in if you'd like. All proceeds go to Invisible Children, The Hunger Project, and Give A Damn? Documentary.

;

1.Generationals - Here Comes the Night 02:22
2.William Beckett (feat. Cara Salimando) - Come Pick Me Up 05:05
3.The Dear Hunter - God Only Knows 03:01
4.Savoir Adore - Local Joke 03:04
5.Funeral Party - Ooh La La 03:16
6.Kindred Fall - Who Is It 03:52
7.Tapioca & The Flea - Nowhere Man 02:33
8.Jhameel - My Girls 02:56
9.Les Sages - The Love Cats 03:45
10.Hotel of the Laughing Tree - Crazy Little Thing Called Love 02:55
11.Young Statues - Ashes & Fire 03:19
12.The Narrative - Heart of Gold 03:36
13.Brooke Waggoner - Life on Mars? 03:25

Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. (FT. Erykah Badu) SINGLE Rel 4/22/13

5/2/13 9:30AM

damn.


4/22/13 7:00PM


STREAM IT NOW

verrry nice! the outro especially with the strings and rapping totally works!

"Categorize Me, I defy every label"

"And while you selling dope we gone keep selling hope! We rising up now you gotta deal you gotta cope!"

"Will you be electric sheep? Electric ladies will you sleep Or will you preach?"

4/15/13 11:55AM


6:54 PM next Monday April 22nd


Should be nice to hear next Monday evening. Here's recent entries about Janelle:

Covering Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" on Jimmy Fallon
Electric Lady 1st Entry