+ Oceana – Clean Head EP

Greg from Moving Mountains turned me on to this band.  They used to be a deathcore/metalcore band but then changed their style and released an incredible 4 song indie rock EP.  Really digging this.  They just reached their goal on kickstarter so they will be recording a new album soon.  Can’t wait to hear it.

With Clean Head, the band have decided to incorporate this new aesthetic into their music – along with a progression so extreme it will either alienate fans or give them reason to rejoice. Clean Head is different. It is sorrowful. It is marvelous, yet most of all it is happy. Songs such as “Wool God” and “Joy” (obviously) are examples of this newfound happiness, while “Blue” and “Barracuda Capital of the World” showcase mourning, sorrow, wonder, and occasionally a restrained sense of euphoria. Together these songs form a cohesive whole that possesses enough quality to be perfect – yet it’s not quite there yet

via Sputnik

Icelandic contemporary composer Ólafur Arnalds created and released a new song, one per day for a whole week during the month of October 2011. The songs were recorded and filmed live in the living room of his Reykjavik apartment and released instantly for free as streamed videos and mp3 downloads.

Ólafur Arnalds - Frysta

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ólafur Arnalds – Near Light

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch the rest of the series/download his music HERE.  Visit his website for more music HERE.

Here’s a couple albums I enjoyed while I was away.

Now, Now – Threads

I listened to this record from front to back at least 2 times a day in the van.  Now, Now plays ambient indie rock vaguely similar to Tegan and Sara/Mansions.   Threads was released on Chris Wala’s (Death Cab for Cutie) record label and I was under the impression that he produced it also but wikipedia tells me that’s not true – a guy named Howard Redekop produced it.  He should pat himself on the back for capturing such good tones.  The synth parts on this record make me want to buy a mico korg to mess around with.

Threads – the second full-length release from Minneapolis based Now, Now – explores the fragile and often transitory nature of our existence, our perceived understanding of the world around us and relationships shared with others physically and emotionally. Produced by Howard Redekopp (Tegan and Sara, An Horse, New Pornographers), Threads forms a sprawling sonic endeavor that showcases the bands incredible growth as songwriters and musicians. Vulnerable vocals give way to oceans of sound retaining definition via deftly layered guitar parts augmented by lingering synths which alternate between background and center stage.

via Amazon

Buy//Download

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

Two Swedish sisters with great voices write folk/americana songs and then Mike Mogis produces their album and makes it sound like Bright Eyes.  Sounds great, right?

The Lion’s Roar is an intriguing listen, warts and all, simply because to hear a group of young women from Sweden, of all places, make such a folksy country record is so warmly appealing. They definitely have respect for not only the material they’ve written, but the forefathers (and foremothers) who appeared before them that they base it on. The end result is a record that is hard not to like. At its best, The Lion’s Roar is a staggering, beautiful recreation of the sounds of Americana long gone, with a few added sprinkles and melodramatic twists that contribute extra dimension and weight to the material. At its worst, The Lion’s Roar is simply serviceable – not great, but not horrible either. All in all, the long player establishes that even though the Söderbergs are definitely young, they are wise and mature for their years. Here’s hoping that First Aid Kit act as a salve to openhearted wounds for many years to come.

via Pop Matters

Buy//Download

Here’s Henry:

If you’re playing the kind of punk that kids like to call screamo or hardcore,  sooner or later you’ll realize you’re under scrutiny. The critic will probably start off by reminiscing about Majority Rule and pg99, comparing you to Orchid or Envy before rightfully asking what your contribution is to a music that is said to have peaked ten years ago.

Personally, I’m fucking stoked because of bands like Code Orange Kids. I saw them for the first time Monday night at the Charm City Art Space in Baltimore. Something about a post-industrial city – all those tall rusting buildings, the rail yard, the harbor water – it all lends itself to this type of hard, grimy music. Not to mention how creativity always seems to spawn wherever affordable spaces are abundant. Hailing from Pittsburg I bet their town has had a huge influence on their sound.

Actually I first heard about Code Orange Kids from Welch Canavan, a friend from DC who transplanted with several friends to Braddock, a town outside Pittsburgh that is said to be dying. Welch and company has been working on rebuilding houses and have even started booking shows. Their efforts were covered two years ago in a short documentary series as part of a Levi Strauss campaign. Somehow, even though it wasn’t my hands that held the hammer, I still felt proud seeing pictures of their newly refinished houses.

Meanwhile, back in metropolis, forces like gentrification and growing economic inequality are closing community run spaces, banning all age venues and displacing families who lived in neighborhoods that were once cultural hubs. The music that became our religion growing up has been co-opted and repackaged into an embarrassment: whiny white boys screaming I hate my ex-girlfriend and these are all the violent things I’d like to do to her, while assholes in the pit punch each other in the face. This is why people hate on screamo.

During Give, one of the songs Code Orange Kids played off their new album, the song slowed into a sludgy break down. Jami, Reba and Eric, their three vocalists started screaming, hands clenched together in praise while the rhythm pulls away/ there are no walls that can hold this. Tremendous. Reminds me of why I love punk.

It makes sense doesn’t it? The labor of the re-builder and labor of us as musicians is the same. Our music, our old house on the outskirts of another dying city.

http://www.ccspace.org/
http://codeorangekids.bandcamp.com/
http://codeorangekids.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/codeorangekids

This is tight.  I guess she’s kind of big in the UK?

Two of my favorite bands, At the Drive-in and Refused, are reuniting to play Coachella.  Hopefully both of them will tour because I don’t want to fly to California – or pay for Coachella tickets – to see them.  I go back and forth on how I feel about these bands doing reunions because a) it’s viewed as heretical for a punk band to reunite to cash in, and b) it’s rare for a reunion show to top past performances.  On the other hand, it’s great that I’m going to hopefully get the chance to see two incredibly influential bands and why should it matter that they are reuniting since they both make great music.

Here’s an article that sums it up pretty well.

+ Louis CK Interview

Here’s an interview with comedian Louis CK that’s worth reading.

Speaking about his first encounter with the Conan O’Brien writing team:

Then I was so nervous, and Dino Stamatopoulos and all the other writers were saying, “You’re the new writer here,” and I was like, “I haven’t been hired yet,” and Dino was playing games with me, saying, “Congratulations, you’ve been hired,” and I was like, “I haven’t even been interviewed yet.” I hung out with him while I was waiting, then I hung out with Smigel and Conan, who were in this really weird position, that in two months from now, they were going to be on the air to replace Letterman, a complete unknown replacing this massive…they started pitching ideas to me for their opening, and they had just started talking about this open where Conan’s really excited to go to work. Everybody goes, “Good luck, you’d better be as good as Letterman,” they keep saying that to him and he doesn’t care, and he goes into his dressing room and puts his head in a noose and they knock down the door and he has to go on. He told me he was going to put a gun in his mouth, and I was the new guy, and I said, “Are you really going to do that?” and they were like, “You think that’s too dark?” and I said, “You can’t do that, that’s vicious, that’s really hard for people to take.” I talked them out of it, and it was like they were asking me for permission. “Really, is it too much?” “Yeah, guys, that’s crazy.” A gun in the mouth, Jesus.

 + Pianos/Xerxes & Pianos/Touche Tours Announced

So we announced two tours today.  One with Xerxes in Canada and the northeastern US and the other with Touche Amore & Goodtime Boys in Europe.  I’ll post the Europe dates when they are finalized.

Pianos/Xerxes Tour Dates:

Feb. 24 – The Studio at Webster Hall – New York City
Feb. 25 – The Space – Hamden, Ct.
Feb. 26 – 242 Main St. – Burlington, Vt.
Feb. 28 – Cafe L’ Agitee – Quebec City, Quebec
Feb. 29 – L’escogriffe – Montreal, Quebec
March 1 – Mavericks – Ottawa, ON
March 2 – Hard Luck – Toronto, ON
March 3 – The Mansion House – St. Catharines, ON
March 4 – Lounge @ London Music Hall – London, ON
March 6 – Sugar City – Buffalo, NY
March 7 – Carabar – Columbus, OH
March 8 – Bangarang’s – Covington, Ky.
March 9 – Smiling Moose – Pittsburgh, Pa.
March 10 – Altoona Masonic Temple – Altoona, Pa.

Here’s a nice little press release:

For “I.V.” the band’s Deathwish debut, Loma Prieta once again worked with longtime collaborator Jack Shirley (Atomic Garden Studio). With his guidance Loma Prieta tracked to tape 12 songs intensely emotional songs. Written during a time of great personal suffering and transition for the band “I.V.” is the creative culmination of those collective experiences. From the opening breath of “Fly by Night”, Loma Prieta crash and bang melody and discord together into one beautiful work of art. This grinding theme continues throughout “I.V.” in stunning songs like the aptly named three parter “Trilogy 4, 5, and 6″. Creating a powerful and unpredictable ebb and flow to their emotional outpouring. As the dust settles on the distorted haze in closer “Diamond Tooth”, an artistic coherency and clarity emerges that can only be described as Loma Prieta. A new kind of melancholy chaos that should be familiar, yet challenging, to those who enjoy bands like Love Lost But Not Forgotten, Pg. 99, La Quiete, and the ilk.

Download//Buy

+ Bon Iver – S/T

I’m sure if you compiled all of the internet’s “best of” lists for the year this album would rank number 1.  Bon Iver has reached the holy grail of artistry, one that few musicians will ever reach, he straddles the line between artistic credibility and mainstream acceptance.  He writes music so well that your 5 year old son, your grandmother and your indie snob rock girlfriend will all find some enjoyment in his songs.

+ Pygmy Lush – Old Friends

We had the pleasure of playing with these guys at the Fest this year and man were they good live.  I highly suggest you go check them out if you have the opportunity.  It’s hard to pin a genre on these guys so I’ll just be lazy and copy how I described the album earlier this year – “Atmospheric downtempo folk-tinged music.”  Perfect music for relaxing.

+ Breaking Bad – Seasons 1 – 3

My girlfriend’s family suggested that we start watching this show.  The basic premise is this: Walter White, a straight laced high school chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with cancer and is told he has only a few months to live.  He, along with one of his former students, begins cooking high quality crystal meth to earn money for his family.  I’ve never watched a television show that made me feel for the characters like this show has.  It’s well worth your time.  Here, you can read this long IMDB review of the show.

+ Mastellone’s Deli

I will remember 2011 as the year that I first ate the most delicious sandwich in Baltimore – The Old World Italian.  If you come to Baltimore, visit this place.  It has a 5 star rating on Yelp too.

+ Fairweather Reunion Show

I got to see the band that wrote one of my favorite records play live again.  They were just as good as the last time I saw them at their break up show.  Hopefully they release some new material.

+ Joyce Manor – S/T

Really catchy, abrasive and discordant pop punk.  Honestly, my first listen reminded me of Punk in Drublic era NoFX but not musically – just the vibe that their band puts off, like they give no fucks and just want to play punk.  The bass is really loud on the record, the lyrics are clever and the music is kind of snotty and just really fucking good.

+ Touche Amore – Parting the Sea between Brightness and Me & La Dispute – Wildlife

I’m going to group both of these records together for the sake of brevity.  Most people reading this blog probably know what these bands sound like so there’s no need for me to lay that out.

Touche’s new record was the soundtrack to my daily bike commute for most of the year.  I tried to get to work before Method Act came on and I tried to make it home (I ride uphill back to my apartment ) before Sesame and I knew I was getting lazy if I didn’t make it home by the time Condolences came on.  A really solid punk album that I will not tire of and my favorite band to see play live.  We also had the pleasure of touring the USA – and Europe in 2012 – with these dudes and they are just all around great guys.

La Dispute’s new album was my most listened to record on tour.  Vass, La Dispute’s bassist, did merch for us on our final 2 weeks of tour and I was kind of bummed that I couldn’t put their record on while I was driving because I didn’t want to weird him out.  This band rules and deserves all of the praise their new record is getting.  You can tell they put a ton of thought into their music and approached the album writing process from a holistic standpoint instead of trying to write a bunch of disjointed songs they released an incredibly cohesive album that’s tied together by lyricism, artwork and musicianship.

+ Thursday – No Devolucion

It’s sad to see this band call it quits.  Their music had a huge influence on me and most of the people/bands I know.  Their past 3 releases really started branching out from the post-hardcore sound they were known for and their new album got a ton of play in our van.  No Answers has been stuck in my head since I first heard it.

+ DadBoner

Zac introduced our band to DadBoner while we were on tour.  Dad Boner is a fake twitter feed written by the main character Karl Weizen, a recently seperated 40 something with a rockin’ pony tail and a drinking problem.  He loves Chili’s, drinking top shelf margs (margaritas) and Guy Fieri’s show Diner’s, Drive-in’s and Dives.   His twitter feed reads like a first hand account of a sitcom.  It would be easier to just show you an example (read from the bottom up, stolen from StreetBonersandtvCarnage):

+ Arcade Fire – Sprawl II

Watching this video makes me want to go back and listen to The Suburbs.  Definitely an album that I slept on.

+ Pianos Stuff

Our album leaked a month ago so I may as well post it up here.  Hope you enjoy it.  If you feel guilty for stealing the food from our mouths and from the mouths of our children by downloading it, or just want to buy it on vinyl – go HERE.

Someone posted a FLAC (very high quality) version HERE which is kind of cool.  But if you are short on file space download the mp3 version HERE.

Lukas Hodge also made a pretty cool video for the opening track “I’ll be Damned” which you can view HERE.

+ By Surprise – $600 Dollar Exorcism

I’ve been jamming this By Surprise song a lot lately.  Good stuff – insanely catchy emo – but it took a while to grow on me.  Which reminds me, you should go download the Topshelf Records sampler because that’s where I discovered this song.

+ Longform.org

Longform is a blog that “posts great new and classic non-fiction articles, curated from across the web.”  If you have to spend a lot of time in front of a computer, this site will keep you entertained.

A few articles I’ve enjoyed:

+  DISPATCH FROM ANGOLA: FAITH-BASED SLAVERY IN A LOUISIANA PRISON

+  ENTER THE CYBER-DRAGON

+ The Usual – Light Letters

My friend Matt’s band The Usual recently released a new album called Light Letters.  They play a controlled driving style of screamo that instantly brought L’antietam to mind.  Apparently they recorded most of the album themselves, with the exception of drums.  Cool stuff, check it out!