It's a rare occasion that I actually get out of the house and see a band play, which is funny considering I always enjoy myself when I do. Case in point - last night's adventure to The Ottobar in Baltimore, where I saw one of my all-time favorite artists David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones).

Opening act was Illinois-based indie pop/rock band Headlights, whose sound is characterized by girl/guy vocals, ever-present synth and surprisingly energetic song tempos. I have two of their albums but they never really struck me as a "must-see" band until last night; their bassist, in particular, carried the songs through the night quickly and simply. By the end of their set I had decided to go home and get the rest of their albums.

Believe it or not, the last time I saw David Bazan play (under his own name at the time, as well) was in 1999. Gimme a break, I lived in Hawaii for seven years. No bands come to Hawaii. Last time I saw him play, he had duct-taped a tambourine on the floor and tapped it while playing a clean electric guitar, with an emphasis on the stories he told rather than the song melodies. Things have really changed in the last eleven years; last night, he was accompanied by longtime bandmate Blake Wescott on second guitar, as well as a drummer and bass player, and I've never heard such a full sound from him. They played songs ranging from fairly old ("Bad Diary Days", from 1998's It's Hard To Find A Friend) to fairly new (four songs from his latest album, Curse Your Branches). Overall, it was a good mix of songs, and he ended the set with the confessional "In Stitches" from Branches, which like many of his songs, was a hundred times more effective live than on tape. As is customary for every set, he had a few question and answer sessions. Of course, his favorite TV show of all time is The Wire (fitting, considering where he was playing), and his favorite super hero is Omar Little.

I was hoping for a few of his really affecting songs ("Priests and Paramedics", "Secret of the Easy Yoke", or "The Poison"), but all in all it was a fun, light-hearted set. I really need to catch this guy every time he comes to town.

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BFF is the moniker of Egan Rice, who hails from California, and The Mossy Rock Album is his debut album. His songs are firmly seated in the indie pop genre, and are both catchy and interesting. On first listen, the album weaves between different tones and styles but remains linked by Rice's ranged vocals and pre-programmed drum loops. These unique songs are arranged traditionally, and in such a way that it's easy to tune them out (in a good way).

As impressive the soundscape is (especially being created by one artist), there are some critical moments that lead me to believe that BFF could do with a couple additional band members. Most apparent are the drums; it's rare when the drum loops do more than serve their purpose and little else, and in some cases bring the song down a few notches (track three, "Not Yet"). There are a couple exceptions to this, like "Stayin' Healthy is a Full-time Job", whose drum loops sync perfectly with the song's tone, but in the end I can't help but wish this album had a real, honest-to-goodness, mistake-making drummer to further flesh out the tracks. For the most part, The Mossy Rock Album's electronic drums literally force this album into a time period that's ten years gone, when actual drums could have created something a little more timeless.

Minor grips aside, this is still an enjoyable listen, and deftly produced. Opener "Mossy Rock" features a mid-90s throwback drum track and some spoken-word vocals; I was immediately reminded of Nada Surf's "Popular" without the over-the-top chorus. The rest of the album is functional but not life changing, until you reach the record's end. Previously-mentioned "Stayin' Healthy..." and closer "Bacon" evoke both Beck and Badly Drawn Boy, and perfectly capture the bedroom-pop sound this album is striving for. In the end, I can't help but enjoy this album and the potential it holds, and I look forward to album number two. You can listen to the whole album streaming (and purchase it) here.



Release date: January 1st, 2009 no comments

This week we have the internet's own Xav de Matos as a special guest, who is nine-eighteenths of The Freelancers. He rolls up and threatens to punch nearly each and every one of us throughout the podcast. We probably won't be hanging out with him in the near future, for fear of those punches. Nice guy, though.

He also writes stories for some site called JOYSTIQ and some magazine called GAMEPRO.

This week is all about Splinter Cell: Conviction, BioShock 2, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Heavy Rain, and Final Fantasy XIII.

Musical guest: Hard-Fi

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Ahhh, free albums. They make me feel so good inside. That tingly feeling of knowing you just got some excellent music, without paying for it, and that band is okay with it. Portland band The Taxpayers released this album for free in September of 2009 (you can get it here), and I quickly downloaded it based on a recommendation and forgot all about it until about a month ago. By then, I forgot how I came across the album, and enjoyed it for what it was. It wasn't until later that I did some reverse-engineering and found out that I hadn't paid a nickel for it. What a pleasant surprise!

The Taxplayers mostly play punk rock, but there is a definite country influence in there. I hear a little bit of extra instrumentation (saxophone on track four, "Dig Too Deep", found above), and a lot of them have movements that are akin to alt-country but at 1.5x speed. Some songs are straight punk rock, a few are ballads, and one song is ridiculously immature and downright annoying ("Montana"), but in the end, this is a really strong album with a lot of great hooks. The whole record is recorded by the band, and it shows - but I like the DIY and raw appeal of hearing unbridled creativity. Reminds me of my punk rock days. It's a short listen (28 minutes), and definitely worth your time.



Release date: March, 2009 no comments

It sounds like a pretty good combo - lead singer of indie pop magicians The Shins (James Mercer) teaming up with Danger Mouse, best known for making The Grey Album, producing several well-known albums (Beck's Modern Guilt, Gorillaz's Demon Days), and for being one half of both Gnarls Barkley and DangerDoom. Anyway, these two got together to create a collaborative project, and if your first thought was that they were trying to play off the success of The Postal Service, then we both had the same first thoughts. If your second thought was excitement because you really liked the song James Mercer did with Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse last year, "Insane Lullaby", then that is freaky and you shouldn't be reading my thoughts like that.

It not only sounds like a pretty good combo, it's also a pretty good album. Note the fact that I didn't say that this album is incredible, or life-changing. If you were mildly interested in Gnarls Barkley, you'll probably like this album. To me, it sounds like a Beck album but with James Mercer singing. My biggest complaint is that the collaborative aspect of this project seems to rest mostly on Danger Mouse's shoulders; there are hardly any moments where I felt that I was listening to a James Mercer song with Danger Mouse accompaniment. On the flip side, everything sounds like Danger Mouse's baby, and Mercer just laid down the vocal track. I could be way off, but I just don't hear any of the brilliance of the first two The Shins albums, or anything that matches that incredible hook from "Insane Lullaby".

There is, however, one moment of brilliance, and it isn't even Mercer at the helm; track five, "Sailing to Nowhere" (you can listen to it through the link above) has some fresh, exhilarating production. It weaves in and out of slow, downtrodden acoustic indie pop and bright, muffled 1960's AM radio pop, to incredible effect. With each listen, I'm transported to a moment that happened twenty years before I was even born.

The rest of the album is satisfying, and an easy listen. Just don't expect it to change your life.



Release date: March 9th, 2010 no comments

Ah, springtime. It's the little moments that count - like our podcast guest not showing up because of Daylight Savings Time, or Tyler fruitlessly trying to join in on the podcast with a 15-year-old laptop - that make me remember why I can't wait for summer to rear its ugly head.

Since we've all been playing the same games, we broke the podcast up into segments based on individual games. It turned out nicely. Oh, and this week is all about Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Heavy Rain, Final Fantasy XIII, and Blur.

Musical guest: Cursive

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True Devotion is the seventh album by Seattle-based folk singer/songwriter Rocky Votolato. It's hard to believe he's made that many albums, and when you consider the three albums he recorded as singer of now-defunct indie rock band Waxwing, we're looking at quite a bit of creative output in the past 10-15 years. True Devotion is a bit of a black sheep for Mr. Votolato - it's the first time he's recorded without a big-name producer (Matt Bayless, Chris Walla) in ten years, it's his longest break from songwriting (three years) since he started recording music in the late 1990s, and the majority of the album was recorded on his own, unlike the full-band release of his last record or the contributions from numerous Seattle musicians in his other work.

if you're familiar with Rocky Votolato, let me tell you how True Devotion differs from his previous canon: it isn't quite as conventional as some of his earlier albums, but rather I found it to be an elegant mix of tried-and-true stylings, the softer side of Waxwing, and a newfound embrace of what I consider a true "Seattle" sound - firm guitar downstrokes, an atypical interplay between guitar and bass, and a slight jazz undertone. Some of these songs, like opener "Lucky Clover Coin", are quiet and beautiful introspections, while songs like track three, "Red River", are busy, nearly-upbeat singles. When Rocky's tone gets a little more aggressive he doesn't get dark or violent, like in previous songs (I'm thinking mostly about some tracks on 2003's Suicide Medicine); and I always felt that his threatening voice never had a place in the sound of his music. As a downside, though, when his excited moments are without substance, they lose their bite - in the end, it sounds almost like he's braying. Luckily, these moments are few and far between.

Lyrically, this album has some of the clearest, well-formed phrasing I've seen from him, which is a big plus considering that some of his previous lyrics have been downright awful at times. His words in these songs are direct, sincere, and easy on the ears. Without any distractingly-bad lyrics, I'm able to get reacquainted with Votolato's raspy, intimate voice and remember why I was drawn to his music so many years ago.

As a whole, this is Rocky Votolato's strongest solo-focused record since 2001's Burning My Travels Clean. It is deft mixture of style culled from his vibrant career, and at 34 minutes, it's the perfect introductory length for new listeners.



Release date: February 23rd, 2010 no comments

Whether it's due to their inability to settle on a single genre, or the way that they combine samples and synth with more traditional instrumentation, there's no denying the fact that UK band Tall Ships are a somewhat unconventional band. On this, their self-titled debut EP, the band pick and choose from several genres, from indie-pop to post-rock, and throw in a curiously nautical theme for good measure. As strange as it all sounds, the result is a varied, entertaining, and vibrant experience.

With this in mind, each track on the EP has its own unique hook, such as the slow, synth build-up of opening track "Books"; the samples and charming Neutral Milk Hotel-esque trumpet on brisk post-rock oddity "Words Are Pegs Upon Which We Hang Ideas"; the quirky guitar on instrumental number "Beanieandodger"; or the slow build of closing track "Vessels", during which the bobbing, lurching instrumentation does a great job of conjuring the idea of a boat in water to the minds eye.

With this debut effort, Tall Ships have delivered something far more than ordinary; they have delivered four well-realised tracks, and have proven that they are a band with a lot of potential. Here's hoping we see some new material from them again soon.

Tall Ships EP is available from iTunes as of March 15th , or can be ordered from http://www.bsmrocks.com. If you want to check out some of the band's music, check out the track below, or visit the band's myspace page.

Track 01 - "Books"
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Last night on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon", The National debuted the opening track from their new album, High Violent, which comes out in May. The sound quality isn't the best, but it still sounds damn good. The song is called "Terrible Love".

You know what I love most about this band? Besides the music. It's the fact that the two brothers that play guitar both look like that guy from Lord of the Rings that plays Charlie on LOST. It's like having two hobbits in your band. no comments

If you're one of our lucky readers that have followed my album reviews over the years, you might think that this album is a strange pick for me. First and foremost, this is a Portland band, and everyone knows that Oregonians are the sworn enemies of Washingtonians. Secondly, this is an electro-pop band, or new wave band, whatever you want to call it. And I'm not usually a fan of electronic-heavy rock bands, personally.

So what is it about this band that keeps me coming back? For serious. These guys almost sound like a top 40 band, and there's even times when it sounds like white boy rap, one of my most hated music genres. It's up there with rap rock.

I guess when it comes down to it, the ambiguously-named band Hockey just writes some damn catchy songs that are interesting enough to keep me from turning my iPod's click wheel. Take track one, "Too Fake". That little ditty is a mini masterpiece of aggression, indifference, and style. It sounds like The Strokes and LCD Soundsystem had a little baby and named it Phoenix.

These songs may not last me all year long, but for now, this is a light, hypnotic album that's got more hooks than a fishing store. Yeah, I made that previous line up all by myself. You can have it if you want it.

Release date: September 28, 2009

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