Posts Tagged ‘Music’
28 Sep
If you’re not a member of tourfilter, you probably should be: list all the bands you want to see live, and they’ll e-mail you when they’re coming to town. Just make sure you sign up in the right city, because I got e-mails about shows in Boston for weeks before I figured out what was going on.
I mention this because several weeks ago – well, closer to two months ago, now that I think about it – I got an e-mail notifying me that two of my favorite bands would be in town soon. And lo and behold, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are opening for Against Me at Black Cat on October 8!
Tickets for that have sold out (sorry, I meant to post about this weeks ago), but you should still sign up with tourfilter. It’s a hell of a lot easier than checking every band’s website every couple months.
06 Jun
You know, out here in the exurbs, I’m not sure other people will get the sarcasm in the song I posted about the other day, and I am reluctant to play it in the car with the windows down, because I think some people around here actually have “God is on our side” bumper stickers.
03 Jun
A couple days ago, Fonny (this Fonny) told me about Defiance, Ohio, a great acoustic folk punk band. I mean, they’ve got a fiddle, a double bass, and a cello, and they release all their music for free on BitTorrent – how could I possibly NOT love these guys?
My favorite song is The New World Order, and I know that no one likes song lyrics in blog posts, but tough nuggins. These were copied straight from their site, without any high-falutin’ formatting:
They say the new world order is just god’s master plan but if the blueprint calls some to starve, don’t blame god’s right-hand man, ’cause the president is holy, and the president is pious, and hallelujah! he’s a good ol’ boy! hosannah in the highest!
The plan is written in god’s hand so only bush can read it, and it calls for battle in god’s name and it calls for bush to lead it, and the blueprint calls to drill for oil, and exterminate the land, and if you can’t hear god’s calling, then you’re probably from france! cause the USA is holy, and the USA is pious, and hallelujah! god is on our side! hosannah in the highest!
And god is great, and god is good, and let us thank god for our food, we may well have more than we need and god well yet have mouths to feed, but god is great, and god is good, and someday soon, he’ll feed you, too, ’cause once we’ve got our yachts and crowns, god planned some food to trickle down, so just keep those thoughts holy, be patient and be pious, and hallelujah! god’ll grant your prayers, hosannah in the highest!
And I thank god for a god so mild, who spared the rod and spoiled the child, and signed a blank check so his boys and girls could buy up the entire world, so don’t think us rude if we intrude, but god in heaven ordained us to, so you best improve that attitude and step aside we’ve work to do and thanks for keeping things in shape ’til we could come and take our place. Oh hallelujah! ain’t life great? Hosanna in the highest!
21 Apr
(It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, at least in part because I don’t bother getting pissed at much these days. But, every now and then, someone will do something that really irritates me, like:)
People who say they like all music – “except country”
Now, there have been times when I’ve listened almost exclusively to country – in particular, 2003 through 2004, but that was a dark time for all of us. I don’t really listen to country at all anymore; I can appreciate a handful of artists for their own reasons, but that’s not my point here.
In my experience, people that say “I like everything but country” mean “I like whatever crap is looped on the corporate-owned top 40 station in my town.” They listen to the musical range that falls between Soulja Boy and Fallout Boy, but that’s like visiting every town between Boise, Idaho, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama: there’s a little variety, but it’s all pretty boring and you still won’t come across any oceans, let alone Paris, London, or even New York.
Seriously, just be honest with yourself and just admit that you own every Nickelback album – because hey, they’re not country, right?
22 Feb
If there’s anything I like more than the Dukes of Hazzard, it’s The Apple Bros. cover of Good Ol’ Boys. Get it on 3hive.
28 Jan
I can no longer listen to music without imagining how I would play it on a color-coded plastic guitar.
20 Dec
To the organizers of the Atheist Alliance International Conference:
Greydon Square was good this year, but I hope you’re thinking bigger for 2008. May I suggest Bad Religion?
Get back to me.
Hearts,
Brock
01 Dec
A bunch of things happened in the past few months that I never really got a chance to mention here. Let’s have us a quick recap, eh? (More or less in chronological order)
Atheist Alliance International Conference, in Crystal City
So, a lot of atheists – the kind that would go to the conference, anyway – are WAY more involved than I am. I met a few group organizers and a number of people that are involved politically, and the crowd was generally older than I would have expected – I’d say that less than 10% were under 30 (granted, not a lot of 20-somethings have money to travel to DC for a conference). I’m really glad I went – it was enlightening, I learned a lot, heard some interesting opinions, and got some good argument points in a couple sessions. Well worth the money.
Matt Pond PA, at 930 Club
I didn’t know any of their songs when we went, but Erin wanted to see them. It was a cool show, but really not the kind of band I would see by myself.
Street Dogs, opening for Tiger Army at Black Cat
One of the best punk shows I’ve been to. Honestly, even better than expected. I think my favorite part was when they started playing Fatty and all the big fellas pushed their way up front. We didn’t stick around for Tiger Army.
Gogol Bordello, at Sonar in Baltimore
Gogol never disappoints. Fun as always.
Against Me!, at 930 Club
The songs from their new album, New Wave, went over better than I figured they would. I really like most of them, but they’re not really the kind you would dance and sing to at a concert, I thought. We hung out near the back and I just sang my little heart out – I’m gettin too old to keep getting punched in the chest in the pit, so I didn’t even both jumping in for this one. Sometimes, it’s nice to just stand back and enjoy the band.
25 Sep
Dear Ticketmaster,
I just bought tickets to see Street Dogs open for Tiger Army and you offered me a free sampler disc from iTunes. Bloc Party, Finger Eleven, and a Kaiser Chiefs single I didn’t even know about? Right on!
Thanks,
BrockLi
24 Sep
Just a quick update to let you know that The State of Massachusetts from the new Dropkick Murphys album, The Meanest of Times, is the song of the week. I love the whole album, particularly Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya and Flannigan’s Ball, but State of Massachusetts is probably the best song they’ve ever done.
22 Aug
I’m not going to sugar-coat it for you: after the one-two combo of Use It and Bleeding Heart Show on Twin Cinema, I’m more than a little disappointed by Challengers, even if I do love All The Things That Make Heaven and Earth. More later.
27 Jul
Tonight was the Swell Season show at 930. As tired as I am, I feel like I need to write about it before I go to bed.
First off, the opener – Amy LaVere – was way better than I expected an opener for Swell Season would be. She plays a bluesy southern rock, and I have never seen a girl play an upright bass like that before. Plus, she’s adorable, so big plus there.
Swell Season really threw their hearts into it. Glen Hansard is sort of like the awkward, shy-but-charming underdog that everyone’s rooting for. That crowd was putty in his hands before he even struck a chord. Frankly, they don’t really play my kind of music – sort of a mellow, Irish folk acoustic rock – but it’s heartfelt and more honest than most other bands I would throw into their general category.
That having been said, that was the biggest bunch of douche bags I have ever had the displeasure of seeing a show with. And let’s be honest, most of the shows I go to are attended by a bunch of drunks, but tonight, they took obnoxious to a whole new level. A handful of frat-boy types a few rows behind me spent the entire show screaming “STAR STAR!” Now, yelling the name of your favorite song is played out as it is, but at this kind of show? It was like they got lost on their way to the Nickelback concert. And then, when he DID finally play the fucking Star Star song (second to last in the encore), it was one of the weakest, whiniest, sensitive-guy fucking candy-ass anthems of the evening. Seriously? If THAT’S your Freebird, you need to re-think your musical priorities.
So, in summary: Amy LaVere: wonderful. Swell Season: pretty good, but not my style. Everyone else there: can go fuck themselves.
12 Jul
A couple days ago, Gogol Bordello, Against Me, and Smashing Pumpkins all released new albums. Obviously, I’d been looking forward to it for a while – Against Me and Gogol are two of my favorite bands, and the Pumpkins haven’t released anything in 7 years (and anything GOOD in 9 years).
Honestly, I haven’t listened to the Pumpkins album Zetigeist much. I got Tarantula a few weeks ago and absolutely love it. The rest of the disc is pretty good, but that’s the only single that really sticks out to me.
I’d been waiting for Against Me’s New Wave for months, and honestly, I’m kind of disappointed. I got the White People For Peace single a while ago (which included Full Sesh), and both of those tracks are fantastic. The rest of the album? Well, I haven’t really decided yet. This may well be the sell-out album. I mean, it’s catchy, but it barely sounds like Against Me. I was expecting a biting, politically-charged anarchist opus – really, I wanted a full CD like White People for Peace. Borne on the FM Waves sounds like Jimmy Eat World. I do like Americans Abroad, but I liked it on the live album – it sounds exactly the same, just without the crowd in the background. The rest of the tracks are mellower; it’s a more introspective album, and I suspect the die-hard fans are losing their shit over it.
Gogol’s Super Taranta may well be the best album of the year. Tribal Connections feels like a long-winded jam band tune – it reminds me of the long live version of OAR’s Crazy Game of Poker. Forces of Victory is really good – really, the second half of the album is great. I love the opening of Supertheory of Supereverything – “First time I have read the Bible, it had stoke me as unwitty, I think it may started rumor, that the Lord ain’t got no humor.” The whole album is a little more polished than Gypsy Punks was, more self-referential and continuos, and really, it’s just a fun album. Like New Wave, it’s mellower and deeper, but Gogol did a much better job of it than Against Me. Their show next week is going to be unbelievable, and I may wet myself with glee if it’s half as great as I’m expecting.
