Archive for October, 2009
Weekend Anthem
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
Hometown: Hamilton, Canada
Hear more: http://www.myspace.com/therestband
Pigeonhole: U2, The National
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Tweet nothings
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Music journalism, ostenisbly, is dead. Words? Pah. Who needs them? Who even wants them?
With the advent of Twitter, full-winded critics have become the dinosaurs of rock ‘n’ roll – grumpy old cynics, notebook in hand, missing the event itself, lost as they are in their own self-indulgent monologue. What we really want is to feel like we’re there, see and hear the show come alive, borne of the right words from real people, writing because they feel the need to express the personal impact of the most universal art form there is.
It’s a sign of the times that even the informal, free medium of blogging is being surpassed by the 140-character ruled Tweet: if you can’t say it within the space, you don’t really have to say it at all. Bloggers have become the establishment, whilst Tweeters are guerilla commentators: always ready to give the world their opinion. We’re cutting everything down to the bare, essential minimum in the interests of clarity, decisiveness, integrity and, when it’s done well, wit.
But hold up. Isn’t this fondness for brevity just symptomatic of the two greatest character flaws of the modern music consumer: a short attention span and a lack of substantial love for the product itself? It even feels cheap to describe music as a product – wasn’t this once the food of your soul? Or am I getting all serious on you?
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Words
Speeder – Feelings
*Thanks again to Josh Baskin, who wrote today’s guest post by text message. No shit.
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Turn around, Bright Eyes
Monday, October 26th, 2009
Do you remember when you were a really young child and it mattered so much to always be making something?
Well, you might be relieved to discover that some people don’t grow out of such invention and imagination. While drones like you walk the eternal treadmill of work and routine, there are some who are not just living the dream, they’re actually living while you, pal, are just alive.
Kyle Wood has barely entered his 20s yet the Whitburn lad has produced three collections of LOVERS TURN TO MONSTERS songs, formed an “emotional rock band” BOYGIRLANIMALCOLOUR, made a YouTube hit video for Beerjacket’s Rolling Stone and Springsteen-approved take on Dancing In The Dark… and he’s even the voice of Dennis The Menace on the new series’ theme tune, Unstoppable (written by Iain Cook, formerly of Aereogramme, no less)
The best of these projects is arguably the former. His Bright Eyes-flavoured moniker is certainly a nod to the debt he pays to Oberst’s confessional songwriting, although our raspy-throated Nebraskan couldn’t claim too great an influence on Wood’s heart-on-sleeve project, which is arguably more ‘lovers’ than ‘monsters’.
Lovers Turn To Monsters – Fall
October 27, Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, Glasgow (supporting Chris T-T) (tickets)
November 15, The Flying Duck, Glasgow
Boygirlanimalcolour – Shakespeare’s Prizefighter
*Big thanks to Josh Baskin, who wrote today’s guest post
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