release date: January 5th, 2010

Orient Is His Name is a new moniker for one of my favorite singer/songwriters of all time, Lee Bozeman, who is the voice of the criminally-overlooked rock band Luxury and his other solo project, All Things Bright And Beautiful. The Mea Culpa EP is available to download here for any price you set (as in free if you want).

Easily his most stark output, this EP's simplicity effectively conveys the majesty and depth of Lee's songwriting. Opening track "Mea Culpa" floats by with some well-placed piano keying and some fitting end of life/world lyrics. Track two, "The Hyacinth", features a single and somber acoustic guitar, bringing me back to when I first heard Luxury's "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" in 1997. The following track, "The Great Entrance (My Heart Is Already Under the Earth)", features nothing but layers of Mr. Bozeman's voice, to stunning effect. Okay, there's a tiny bit of guitar in there, but it's just to keep the song grounded. The vocal melody takes a turn right at the end of each verse that's both unexpected and beautiful. Also, he references Children of Men in it. Awesome. Finally, "Chrysanthemum" closes out the EP with a persistent electronic drumbeat and in-the-other-room reverb that ends the record on a slightly biting end note. All in all, Mea Culpa fits right alongside everything else Lee Bozeman has worked on, and I can't wait to hear what he comes up with next. no comments

It's hard to believe, but this year marks the 17th anniversary of Spoon's formation, and the 10th anniversary of me blindly stumbling upon their music. You'd think that after all these years Transference, their 7th full-lenth album (and 14th release if you count EPs), would showcase a band that's settling into complacency. Instead, we are treated to another great album that's both challenging and satisfying.

Let's talk about all the things that make this album so great. "Before Destruction" is the best opening track to a Spoon album since Girls Can Tell's "Everything Hits At Once". Second track "Is Love Forever" is stunningly direct but also features some over-the-top vocal effects, deftly marrying the two sides of the recording spectrum. Standout singles "Writing in Reverse" and "Got Nuffin" carry the weight of the rest of the album, even past the skippable tracks like "The Mystery Zone". And finally, it closes with "Nobody Gets Me But You", a swirling, meandering dance track that is reminiscent of 2005's most excellent Gimme Fiction.

I'd say that this is a good starting point for anyone that hasn't ever heard Spoon before, but then again, almost all of their albums are good starting points. At the very least, Transference solidifies Spoon's rightful placement on my top bands of all time list.

Release date: January 15, 2010 no comments

Editor's note: NBC pulled the video from YouTube, and isn't nice enough to put it on their site. Instead, you get the video above.

Last night Baltimore's dream pop darlings Beach House made their television debut on Jimmy Fallon, playing one of my favorite songs of 2010 (so far). Funny thing is, I thought the guy sang on this song. no comments

To be fair, the only song I've ever heard from Ok Go was "Here It Goes Again", which was on Rock Band, and everyone probably heard that one at some point in time. I liked the fun and simplicity of that track, so I decided to give Ok Go's most recent release, Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, a decent playthrough. Unfortunately, it failed on two parts.

1. I hate it when Americans use British spelling to look sophisticated. I realize that the album is a excerpt from some old book (another attempt at looking sophisticated), but let me have my annoyances.

2. The music isn't very good. Opener and lead single "WTF?" sounds like a sorry attempt at marrying Prince and The Flaming Lips, and it never takes off. Second track "This Too Shall Pass" is the one excellent track on this album, and is worth its download price. The rest of the album, unfortunately, is unabashedly shallow. For a band trying so hard to establish credibility, the songs themselves are written with such simplicity and accessibility that they quickly become boring. I realize that I just praised "Here It Goes Again" for its simplicity, but the simplicity on this album feels less like restraint and more like they ran out of ideas. It's like they're grasping at straws. Adding a bit of post-production fuzz can't save weak songs.

I'm trying not to be a bastard about this, but this album is uneventful and trite. Aside from "This Too Shall Pass", I'd pass on it.

Release date: January 12, 2010 no comments

As we transition from our old site to this new one, we've decided to bring along some of our favorite posts as well. Enjoy our trip down memory lane.

In June of 2008 I was a little fed up with the lack of good full-album downloads available as Rock Band DLC, and decided to do something about it. Here is my (unchanged) list of indie 1990s albums I would like to see on Rock Band.

The 90s are when things get heated. Everyone's got an opinion. We're still feeling the reverberations of this decade, and I can see this list changing over the years. I had a hard time fitting only six albums into one list, so I split them by popular releases and indie titles. This is the indie list.

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The first episode of the new Easy Mode Podcast. I can't help but imagine centuries from now, as some archaeologist of Earth-2 excavates an ancient laptop and mind-links with it to access the precious data therein. He'll pause for a moment... "What is this glorious sound mine ears doth perceive?!?" He'll say, as he listens to Mark, Giang, Steven and I make jokes about handjobs.

Topics: Bayonetta, Brutal Legend, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Arcade Cabinets, Plants vs. Zombies, Gamer, Solo, Heroes of Might and Magic, Dear Wendy and Darkstalkers.

Musical Guests: Dr. Dog, Franz Ferdinand, Blue Roses, Grand Master Flash.

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no comments

As we transition from our old site to this new one, we've decided to bring along some of our favorite posts as well. Enjoy our trip down memory lane.

In June of 2008 I was a little fed up with the lack of good full-album downloads available as Rock Band DLC, and decided to do something about it. Here is my (unchanged) list of popular 1990s albums I would like to see on Rock Band.

The 90s are when things get heated. Everyone's got an opinion. We're still feeling the reverberations of this decade, and I can see this list changing over the years. I had a hard time fitting only six albums into one list, so I split them by popular releases and indie titles. This is the popular list.

no comments

As we transition from our old site to this new one, we've decided to bring along some of our favorite posts as well. Enjoy our trip down memory lane.

In June of 2008 I was a little fed up with the lack of good full-album downloads available as Rock Band DLC, and decided to do something about it. Here is my (unchanged) list of 1980s albums I would like to see on Rock Band.

Unlike my 70s list, my 80s list is influenced a little more by the singles that some of these albums produced, and I would be okay with skipping a couple tracks from each of these records. I must also admit that The Pixies' Doolittle would have made this list if it hadn't already dropped.

no comments

As we transition from our old site to this new one, we've decided to bring along some of our favorite posts as well. Enjoy our trip down memory lane.

In June of 2008 I was a little fed up with the lack of good full-album downloads available as Rock Band DLC, and decided to do something about it. Here is my (unchanged) list of 1970s albums I would like to see on Rock Band.

no comments

Vampire Weekend's sophmore album was one of my most anticipated albums of 2010, and I'm happy to see it come so early into the year. Wife, baby and I all love their self-titled debut album, and we were hoping for some tunes that complemented their smart and catchy debut. There's a heaping helping of afro-pop to be found in Contra, and a spoonful of expansion as well; but a retread of their debut this is not.

Contra is an album full of peaks and valleys, and the listener is given a much more full-bodied experience this time around. Opener and lead single "Horchata" almost sounds like it could fit on the Disney Channel, with its marimba-based lead melody and lazy afternoon lyrics. The album peaks on song number two, "White Sky", which is the best representation of both the former and current Vampire Weekend - it's full of electronic backbeats and falsetto oohs and aaahs that simply require head bobbing and singalong. Closers "Diplomat's Son" and "I think UR A Contra" are both ballads that end the album on a bit of a down note. But really, could they have actually made as good of a closing song as they did with "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance"?

In the end, this album doesn't quite have the impact of album #1, but it still showcases a band of guys that make the music they want to, without heeding what actually makes a popular single. For this, I respect them. But when it comes to longevity, I have a feeling that I'll be popping in their debut album six months from now whenever my family and I get a hankering for some V Dub.

Release date: Janurary 12, 2010 no comments