Media Addicts RIP

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Hello world. Media Addicts plays its FINAL show tomorrow night (12/19) at the Artists' Quarter in St. Paul. It is a send-off to our dear friend Billy G.- guitarist for Media Addicts, as he will be moving to a bigger pond down the road (L.A.) in the coming months. Eric Miller, our original drummer, has also moved on to bigger and better things, whose part will be played by the great Jendeen Forberg. FYI, the first set will be an open jazz set with guests of Billy's choosing, then Media Addicts will hit immediately following. Again, this is your last chance to see this great band. Music starts @ 9pm

I can't be really all that surprised by this given I knew their drummer was leaving with his wife back to Montana anyway, after speaking with him at their CD Release show a few months ago. And one key member goes, it's never easy to replace them (why I am a little worried about The Book of Right On as well unfortunately..see Painted in Exile and some others whose progress has slowed since losing a band member).

And with Billy also going, I don't see how they are still a band, at least for now. Maybe a reunion will happen at some point. O well, damn.

I might add, here's another example of a far too talented and interesting group that NOBODY caught on to, save for some of the people in town who follow the Jazz scene. And I will fully confess I am guilty of not catching on to them early enough, as it really took til about 9 months ago where I fully got into them. I had their cd Elsewhere for a few years, and even saw it at KFAI, but I really wished I had seen them more often live and knew that album while they were still around.

I imagine there is these guys music, in whatever form, that may come in the future. Maybe David (sax) and Brent (bass) could form a new group? or maybe they could hook up with Mike Linden and JP from The Super Pilots who also are kind of not at a full-strength now here in Minnesota? IT'S WISHFUL THINKING I'll admit, but if the world somehow worked magic like I'd like, that maybe could happen.

Anyway, I shall attend their final show tomorrow night and maybe get a little more insight into what future they all may have music or otherwise.  And of course I will continue to enjoy both Elsewhere and their latest Autonomy, which finished rather high on my 2012 Index.

I will add though, I should credit my girlfriend with situations like these, as she's not crazy about getting attached to BANDS/GROUPS but instead SOLO ARTISTS. That way, this stuff is unlikely to occur.

Media Addicts - Autonomy (2012)

9/7/12 1:05AM

Media Addicts on Facebook
CD Baby link for Autonomy: with samples



1 Seven 7:58
2 Pocket Snake 6:37
3 How the World Ends 0:56
4 Whimper 5:56
5 Mr. Nice Guy 6:12
6 Someday We'll Tell It About You 5:57
7 Intuition Pump 7:39
8 Legend 3.0 5:31
9 Old Hat 5:39
10 Zeitgeist 15:15

I want to bump this entry, as I have finally been able to hear this album, since I picked it up a few weeks ago at the CD release show.

It is terrific. Very much, like Elsewhere, the more I play it, the more each track seems better. The closing epic of sorts "Zeitgeist," while seems soft and quiet, has this nice repeated theme, that goes in and out, and then strays only to eventually be reprised in a coda.

I spoke to their saxophone player David Hirsch at that show about this album, and he remarked how it was heavier than Elsewhere, and I might agree to a small extent. Billy Graczyk their guitarist, does use some dark, heavy riffs, that almost border on a Doom Metal-side.

But this band is outstanding using dynamics and crescendos. "Seven," "How the World Ends," "Intuition Pump," etc all include them. And the new version of "Mr. Nice Guy" might be even better than the original from Elsewhere.

I really enjoy their layering, and the busy drum work from Eric Miller. David's sax of course works well as a lead melody and counter melody to Billy's guitar. While bassist Brent Wallace stands out frequently, namely some of his upright bass parts which act as lead-ins or lead parts.

Like most jazz/jazz-related music, they are even better live. But this album is rather mesmerizing at times, so much so, I likely will continue to back a lot before the end of the year.

The cover art even almost reminds me of The Galactic Cowboy Orchestra's All Out of Peaches in a way with a crazy head piece on a body (see here).

What is a bit sad and ironic, is the fact I finally got to see them live after wanting for a couple of years, and their drummer Eric Miller is apparently moving away soon. I'm not sure how that will effect his and the band's future, but in the short term, they may not have many shows to support this album for awhile. It makes me glad I didn't miss that cd release show even more too. Also Eric's a really good drummer, whose very busy and precise (which you kind of have to be to play this kind of music), who I wonder how easy it may be to find someone good enough to fill-in or replace him.


Also, they played a couple of new tunes live that were not on either of their records. 1 being this extremely cool, almost Pink Floyd or Space Rock-like echoing sections from Billy's guitar effects specifically, that had my jaw dropping. I really hope that song gets recorded, as it would be a shame to never get to hear it again.

7/17/12 2:38PM
This is the 2nd full-length record from this Twin Cities-based Jazz-Rock group. I honestly can't trace where I 1st saw their name, but I know I picked up a copy of Elsewhere their 2008 debut record, in June of 2010. I may have even mentioned them in this blog then, but my memory escapes me right now.

As far as Jazz and Jazz-Rock/Jazz-Fusion or even progressive rock-related artists in Minnesota, these guys are definitely in there. Although I'll confess, I haven't grown attached to their debut album, and maybe more importantly, I still have yet to see them live.

But they have a CD-release show scheduled for Friday August 24th at The Artist Quarter in downtown St.Paul. So, hopefully that'll finally give me a chance to see them in person, and pick up a copy of this new album of theirs.

Could this be one of, if not the best local record of 2012? Lehto & Wright, The Bewitched, The Royal Veil, Brice Plays Drums and The Book of Right On of course will likely factor in there, among others. But I'm pretty excited to finally hear this next month.

Kaddisfly - Demos & Rarities (2011)

http://kaddisfly.bandcamp.com/





1. Man On a String 3:49
2. Lately 4:12
3. Hourglass 2:58
4. It Has To Be This Way 3:34
5. Conan 3:04
6. You Are A Painter 4:11
7. Slow Motion 4:10

Holee Fuck.

Seriously, these are TREMENDOUS. I dig Water & Bodies, but these are just, so fucking good. So big, dynamic, epic, powerful.

Most fans, including those who are very into W&B still stand by the belief K-Fly are more or less done. But if you do hear it from some that know the guys (Dan Fury and some others namely), they'll still stick with Kaddisfly is not ultimately done, and someday Horses Galloping on Sailboats will be fully written and recorded.

edit: This is a collection of demos and rarities recorded between 2007- 2008. There is no timeline for when Horses Galloping on Sailboats will be recorded. These songs are for all the fans that have stuck with us and shown their love. This marks our 10 year anniversary. Thank you.

credits
released 17 December 2011
Tracks 1-3 recorded at Rain City Studios (Portland, OR). Produced by Ryan Furlott.

Tracks 4-6 recorded at Interlace Audio (Portland, OR). Produced by Kris Crummett.

Track 7 recorded at East Lake Recording (Springfield, MA). Produced by Enoch Jenson.

Original Artwork by: Ryan Case
Cover Design by: Christopher Ruff

The last thing I heard in regards to Kaddisfly, was some talk of doing a reunion show, I want to say the hope was this fall, but I don't believe it ever happened.

Anyway, as far as this release, they sound awesome, and you know what? I am going to likely include these in my 2011 Index, as silly as it sounds. These songs I'll probably go back to, at least a few times in the coming weeks, to believe this collection, even just as demos (and what sounds like pretty damn well produced demos, at that), they are as good if not better than many records from earlier this year.

Also the fact, I fucking love Kaddisfly doesn't hurt.

Along with last year, while at least it was in November, those The River Empires Demos/Rarities were somewhat in a similar in coming-in-at-the-last-minute-but-still-too-good-not-to-forget.

I dunno, maybe putting these up may spark something new from Kaddisfly camp in 2012? Water & Bodies have done their thing, 2 EPs and a full-length. If Kile and Beau are both available in some capacity, maybe those guys could find the time next year. I know a ton of fans would be totally overjoyed. In the mean time, I and those fans are going to love the fuck out of these tunes.

And to think, some moron at Atlantic Records chose Circa Survive over hearing these? lol. So typical, yet still incredibly pathetic.

oh and one other note, I likely would have been on these earlier, but I just saw The Book of Right On headline at The Cedar Cultural Center. Incredible show (from them namely). But to say that along with a cold and stuff with the gf may make the near impossible, just that (impossible) given net hours to write 50 some blurbs. My best guess will be I'll email and call-in to Used Bin Radio on Tuesday night, and at least by the time said show is aired the next week on purerockradio.com along with the podcast shared, a great amount if not all 50 + blurbs will be available.

But for now, tomorrow, maybe Monday, I will only get done what I can, and publish what makes sense. All of it by Tuesday's call-in? if I get in-the-zone, perhaps. But pulling that off would be one of those miracle-jobs of mine.

It also is probably worth mentioning, the 5-year anniversary of this blog came on December 4th, 2011, but I didn't write anything officially until December 21st. So this Wednesday is sort in-effect my 5-year anniversary. What may I do for it? I honestly don't know right now; perhaps something along the lines of sharing 1 or 2 memories/entries or something, lol. Or maybe nothing more than writing "Happy 5 years. Now it's time for me to quit..or maybe my goal now is to see if I can waste more of my life away in the next 5 years, so by December 21st, 2016 I'll know."

The Book of Right On - How Many Ways Can You Say That You're Speaking (2012)

They just shared one of the songs from this they played last night "You'll Get Nothing and Like it" (and you can hear me utter "The World Needs Ditchdiggers too" hehe)





This is the title of their upcoming 2nd full-length record, that David, their singer mentioned last night at the show at The Cedar Cultural Center. I'd love to write an extensive review of the show right now, but I also have 50 blurbs to write for the Index. I will say, it was awesome to see them at a venue like The Cedar, and the new music that is expected to be included on this upcoming record of theirs sounds rather promising. Some instrumental songs, at least one being rather funky/groove-oriented. When this gets released? well, they have 1 more show scheduled for February 11th at Cause Spirits and Wine Bar, but more or less what David and maybe some of the others I was able to chat with said, they are going to focus on finishing this record after that point.

In other words, if all goes planned, the record could be done the 1st half of 2012, and come out sometime in the Summer or possibly earlier.

The Book of Right On are probably my favorite local band now (no disrespect to Between Two Skies, but I rarely see them, and their album may never come out ala Bubblemath) after seeing them last night.

one or two other opinions to add;

-I guess their name is taken from a Joanna Newsom song. Not a big deal to me, even though I'm not a fan of Joanna Newsom. I would be curious if Joanna Newsom has ever heard of them. Maybe she could play some harp with them sometime. Just as long as she keeps her voice off the mic.

-Some descriptions are calling them "punk" well, I guess having heard their music enough, including 2 shows and their previous/debut album All These Songs About Music, I'd say they have very-little to no punk rock in their sound. The bombastic nature I guess might fit, but they are so meticulous and busy with many layers, parts, etc punk really seems almost the last thing I hear in their music. Now "prog" on the other hand, without question is apparent. But it'll be interesting when this record comes out, what some of the other bloggers and media sources say. Prog, punk, jazz, funk or whatever. I really hope they could become a lot more visible with its release, especially if they have just 1 tune that 89.3 and Radio K is interested in playing.

The Book of Right On Facebook
The Book of Right On Reverbnation Page

Ian Anderson:Thick as a Brick Tour 2012!

tull homepage link

Ian Anderson Announces the Thick As A Brick Tours for 2012.

Ian Anderson performs Thick As A Brick in its entirety for the first time since 1972, going out for a world tour commencing in the UK in Mid-April. Then, it's on to European countries in the late Spring and Summer before landing in the USA for two tours spanning September, October and early November.
This tour will feature a more theatrical production with video, additional musicians and a troupe of dancing elephants. (Just kidding about the dancing elephants: they don't dance.,...)
In 1972, Ian wrote the music (and the lyrics which were credited at the time to the fictitious character, 8 year-old Gerald Bostock, whose parents lied about his age) and recorded with Jethro Tull, Thick As A Brick. The record became a number one Billboard album and enjoyed huge commercial success in most countries of the world. The album featured only one song, lasting nearly 45 minutes. To accommodate the album on LP vinyl and cassette, the seamless track was split on both sides of the record. It reached number one on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart.

Tull then dutifully took the somewhat theatrical show on the road in the Great Britain, USA, and other world markets.

Since 1972, the album has never been performed in its entirety although a few minutes of the material have been a regular repertoire staple in both Tull and IA solo shows over the years.

Now, scheduled for performance again in 2012, Ian will take the original album to a theatre near you. It will be performed in its entirety in a theatrical setting with band, and additional guests.

Well this past Summer (2011), Tull did the complete Aqualung live, which I missed unfortunately (but saw The Book of Right On and Zebulon Pike instead at least). But while I like Aqualung, Thick as a Brick is a bloody fucking masterpiece to me, my favorite Tull record, and one of my favorite records of all-time. So this very much will seem to mean a lot more to me.

Ticket prices? who knows, but given it's not the actual "Jethro Tull" name, the cost very easily could be less. Regardless, as long as there's a show in Minnesota (Fitzgerald, Orpheum, State or somewhere else), and I don't have another conflict, I certainly plan to see this.

A bump hopefully will come once the dates are announced.

The Book of Right On - All These Songs About Music (2010)

1 Pinpointing the Exact Moment Hollywood Said Good Enough 5:18
2 Year of the Acronym 4:28
3 Obligatory Jam for the Lady Folk 3:51
4 Manchild at the Helm 4:50
5 Frankly, Ms. Janke 3:07
6 Silk Scarves & White 'Zin 5:04
7 Sense of Entitlement is the New Herpes 6:57

Wow, yet ANOTHER local Minnesota band who are really good, who I just heard about. This band opened for Zebulon Pike on Saturday night at the Triple Rock. There's more to why I even ended up at that show, and ZP themself which hopefully I can share soon in here.

But this band more or less floored me. After their set, I had to pick up both this record on vinyl (+ a download card of course) along with a limited to 100 pressing 7" single of theirs which I have yet to hear actually (no d/l card, although it's supposedly online on 1 of their links to stream).

But referring to this, their debut LP of around 30 minutes, it's pretty much without an uninteresting song. Quite percussive, very organic sounding at times, and many of the songs transition rather well into different sections, including 1 with I think 3-part vocal harmonies. They even use 2 drummers at times, one of them named Kelly, also plays keys and guitar.

The lead vocals are a bit odd, and pretty lyrical in emphasis, but at the same time, the lyrics seem so random and esoteric, they almost sound like they are being used for-how-they-sound (rather than what they mean literally).

I should try reading through them though, as I have yet to do so, and I recall noticing on their myspace blog seeing them posted. And in chatting with their trumpet/sax player, David I think he said his name is, the lyrics are rather significant to what they're doing. Their singer, seems rather opinionated, almost to the point of outspoken-ness, but I think he actually gives them a distinct element that adds a lot to what they are doing. At the show on Saturday, at one point, he was doing a Spoken Word of sorts and ranting pretty good at times. And I guess some of the Hip-Hop fans/community actually digs them, perhaps even just due to that side of the band.

Is there any spoken-word specifically on this album? no, not really. But there certainly are many moments to enjoy. I guess comparing them to other music, stuff like Primus, Battles, or King Crimson makes a little bit of sense, but the melodies, namely from the guitar parts, really adds more to their style.

At times they're atonal or just rythmically driven, but other times the melodic sense shines.

My only really criticism about this album is how short it is. It seems more like an EP being only 7 songs and about half an hour. I guess that's why among other reasons, I am really curious on what they do next. Definitely one of the best new bands, or bands in general, in Minnesota. And one of the best I've found out about for the 1st time in 2011.

Minnesota, land of 10,000 sadly unknown, yet still incredible bands. The Book of Right On being another, and one of the best, which a lot more people would like if they were given the exposure to them. Including the progressive rock scene, as they are most definitely doing (the good kind of) prog. They should get on bills with local bands like Brice Plays Drums, The Royal Veil or even Run at the Dog among a number of others.

The Book of Right On facebook
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