FUTUREBIRDS

Last night I made my way to Local 506 in Chapel Hill to catch Futurebirds and Lonnie Walker. There may not have been less than 50 people there but the show was awesome. The energy the two bands brought was impressive and it was definitely worth more than the $8 I paid to get in. I got there album about half way through the summer after seeing them on some of my favorite blogs. I gave it a few listens and it ended with thorough 3 and 4 stars consistently. The band is from Athens, Georgia and formed back in 2008 [well they created their Myspace page in Nov. of 2008] and it's clear that they have something good going for them. They incorporate their southern roots into their folk rock with a banjo, a pedal steel, and a singer [drummer] with a backwoods accent. When you can gain a greater appreciation for a band by seeing them live then they have done their job as musicians and I was blown away last night. The fact that they still brought the heat and the crowd was small is very respectable, because I have seen bands be pissed w/ small crowds. I am definitely going to have their 2010 release Hampton's Lullaby on spin for the next few weeks, it's definitely one of the best of the year. Hands Down.

Download a 2009 EP for free from their Bandcamp, it has a song or two from the album.

Check out their website for a free download and support these dudes.
Follow them on Twitter.

[new MP3] Freelance Whales | "Enzymes"

Check out the latest single from the Freelance Whales courtesy of Green Label Sound.

I Just Don't Get It [Sufjan &Tare]

       Music these days is all over the place. From Diplo to Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings to Kings of Leon to Kid Cudi. It's hard to say these artists are good but much more; it's harder to say that you actually like their music. When it comes to Avey Tare (of Animal Collective) and Sufjan Stevens I have a hard time grasping the overall impact and concepts they are trying to get across with their latest releases. I respect both of these artists for the work they have done and where they have been able to take music in regards to crossing boundaries and opening doors where they haven't existed before. 

    

         
       Age of Adz, Sufjan Steven's latest release and his first full length album since 2005s Illinois, is more avant-garde than John Coltrane and Charlie Parker in the 1950s. The album is electronically based but has classical strings sewn through its technological pinging. I'll have to say that I have never really been much of a Sufjan fan. I will say that "All Things Go" is one of the best songs of the last decade and is brilliant, but I can't give him solid praise throughout his catalog. The absolutely ridiculous ending track is 25 minutes long, a polar-swinger, with tinges of Illinois and the electro-classical he used on the rest of an album. He is ahead of his time with this album. The world isn't ready for the multiple-layered music that creates a musical schizophrenia on every track. Maybe five or six years down the road half of albums released will be based on the musical foundation of Age of Adz, regardless this album is too hard to take in right now.
Sufjan Stevens - Vesuvius

    
       Animal Collective is one of the best groups out there today. It's comprised of Panda Bear, Avey Tare, Geologist, and Deacon. I don't know if the band is trying to have a competition with solo careers right now, with Panda Bear working on a 2011 release and two 7" singles already released, Tare's Down There, and Deakin working his name into the mix as well. Whatever the case they need to reconvene and produce a follow up to 2009s Merriweather Post Pavilion. Tare, a founding member of the band, experiments with noise and silence through inflections of odd electronic sounds but leaves the listener feeling empty-handed. He takes the weirdness of Animal Collective to a new level on Down There. Some songs sound like a jumbled mess of dead sound and others have a hint of flow and predictability but outside of these sparse occurrences the album is a lame duck. It may spark philosophical debate on the legitimacy of the noise genre as a legitimate category to place music or just a name given to sounds thought to be music. I'll be interested to see what the Best New Music review of Down There will receive from Pitchfork; you know it's going to happen because it's new, just like Age of Adz recently received.
Avey Tare - Lucky 1

       Partiality and bias comes into play when listening to music but I have been listening to Deerhunter's Halcyon Digest and digging it thoroughly. It's a brilliant combination of noise rock and harmonious indie glory. It is one of the best album's that has been put out this year and deserves to be compared to these other two albums in regards to its experimentalist approach and majestic conquer of a diverse album. It has droning songs and techno-esque indie songs and I get it. The light bulb turns on when I spin this on my iPod. When it comes to the experimentation on Age of Adz and Down There, I don't get it; they just don't speak volumes for their respective artists.

Wake Up Scott Mescudi

Yo Mr. Cudi,

       Having listened to your stuff for close to two years now, I can safely say that you don't give fuck about what I am going to say, b/c this is just another blog, but you're transforming into a lame beast. Case and Point: "Erase Me." This song is not hip/hop, it's not rock, it's maybe a Weezy-inspired fusion of the two. It's not what I have come to expect from arguably one of my favorite rappers. When I go back through your catalog and dig up songs like "T.G.I.F." and "Switchin' Lanes", songs that sparked our relationship, then listen to/watch this, I have to say you've changed up your game for the worst. Now I know evolution is a natural occurrence that affects 99% of musicians, but I believe you've overstepped your boundaries. I haven't been too impressed with most of the leaks ("Mojo So Dope," "Did You Get It" and "Manic") from Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, though I don't know the set tracklist I have a feeling a good majority of those songs will be included. Please, don't get me wrong I'm digging what you're doing with G.O.O.D. Music and their Friday releases, that stuff is dope, as well as the leaks "Mr. Rager" "Wylin' Cause I'm Young," and "Dangerous." And I plan on buying The Legend of Mr. Rager, on vinyl hopefully if that is an option, because I know that once it's together it will make since (I have faith) or it'll be a reality check for you. I know you've been having some personal addiction problems but you're the indie-sampling and emotive lyricist that got me off Lil Wayne's nuts (for which I am eternally grateful) and  searching out for real hip-hop. I have mad respect Scott, but I think you're taking your 808s and Heartbreak tangent too early in your career.

Endearing Fan On The Moon,
Joe

(Please Don't Erase Me, lets make this a REVOFEV towards you're next masterpiece, not just All Talk)

Mumford & Sons | "The Cave"

I listened to Mumford & Sons album again after push from my buddies. I found a brilliant little gem that was a diamond in the rough, or rather a diamond in "The Cave." Led by guitar plucking, "The Cave" is slowly layered with banjo, drums, piano and eventually the full ensemble until it crescendos at the end. Then the deeply majestic lyrics that accompany the majestic instrumentals are moving. Whether it is a Plato reference of becoming enlightened as you leave the cave or a story of finding strength in god it's absolutely awe-inducing. Please grace your iTunes with this song.

Mumford & Sons - The Cave

Cee Lo Singing That Song You Love, LIVE

Live on Jools Holland 10/6.

[YTE MIXTAPE] Glenn Beck Swag

     I decided that I need to make a mixtape that is straight thug. What comes to your mind when you think of thug? Denzel in American Gangster? Well for me, it so happens to be Glenn Beck, the Tea Partyin, Palin-bootycallin', white haired man-among-boys, Fox News political correspondent. He doesn't have pretty boy swag, but his swag is turned on. He'd agree that in all his prudishness that the next song about swag should be about him and just like that, he gets a mixtape. These are a few tunes that this Real OG might play in his stretch-hummer limo on the way Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity, to get him pumped up to have some great counter arguments and say something controversial. I give you Glenn Beck Swag.

     Well I just thought that would be a fun name for a mixtape. I'm not a big fan of the guy but he's put himself out there and in doing so, I'll name a mixtape after him. This one is strictly Hip-Hop based. From Kanye to K.R.I.T. to Khalifa, this rap-tastic collection of songs is sure to give any sub a run for it's money. Hopefully you haven't heard all of these rappers before and you're getting a fresh slice of this RAPple Pie. So sag those jeans/khakis/sweatpants and put on that old Charlotte Hornets jersey stashed in the attic because Glenn Beck Swag is just that OG.

Tracklist and Download Link After The Jump

Disappointment

I don't know what I was expecting but the latest release from Kings of Leon, but they don't impress on Come Around Sundown. There may be a few not as dark spots in "Back Down South" & "Radioactive," but they are nowhere near the high-quality Southern rock exerted on Youth, Young, and Manhood. Here more ranting on the Kings on an earlier post.