It takes a lot for a band to keep the same members, following and yet progress without too much slack from the fan base that they “sold out.” Minus The Bear, the Seattle based Progressive/Experimental/Psychedelic/Math-Rock, whatever you want to call it band has put out solid releases since 2001 and gotten much love from the Indie music scene for years. So when is it there turn to shine and get some credit from the big boys and grow a huge fan base they so much deserve? I’d say now with OMNI, probably the bands most progressive and original album to date. In my opinion, Minus The Bear albums have gotten better then the one before, which unfortunately means that my used to be favorite album soon becomes second best. I think I’ll be fine considering I have listened to this album about 10 times front to back and still wake up aching to hear every song on the album again. That’s what makes a great band and a legendary album and I can honestly say this is my album of the year for 2010 and can’t see how anyone can top this, especially after two great releases from Circa Survive and The Gaslight Anthem in the past month. If their last release Planet Of Ice is their winter album, then OMNI is the long wait for summer as each track is lit with positive lyrics relating to love, lust, sex and tripping your brain out while a she-wolf stares you down. The album gets deep into your mind with Jake Snider’s soothing and metaphorical lyrics while the band consisting of Dave Knudson on guitar,Alex Rose on Keyboards, Cory Murchy on Bass and Erin Tate on drums all playing their part in the psychedelic grooves of OMNI.
The album starts off with a party hard upbeat track in “My Time” which received some flack from hardcore fans saying the band is trying to get all “MTV” but I didn’t see how since the band is known to throw random tracks like that on all their albums. The band purposely wrote the song around this Japanese Omnichord that makes beats, so for any skeptics, the song was just made for that instrument and the rest of the album is your precious trippy Minus The Bear, oh yeah and the song is about hooking up. The following track is a more poppy but feel good track called “Summer Angel” which breaks down into a bubble gum chorus, but leads into a funky bass breakdown with a backup on the keys that blows your mind. Snider sings “Her kisses came, they rain down” as the keys hit into an almost meteor shower effect as the bass just grooves back into the chorus. The third track is more of a crowd pleaser and one of my favorite tracks called “Secret Country.” A monster of a song that starts off a little slow but picks up into chorus line “We forget, we forget where we are” which sticks to theme of hooking up and getting lost in the moment. Track Four keeps it real by holding it down with “Hold Me Down” a song they have been playing recently live, so it’s probably no surprise to anybody whose been following the band the past year. The following track is a slower song in “Excuses” which is also one of my favorites and Snider sings about not being able to avoid a love affair by saying “Running out of excuses, when we know what the truth is, I’m into you.” The great thing about this album compared to others is the length of each song mostly being around 5 minutes, so it leaves plenty of room for the band to jam out and reason to jam out live.
The album hits the halfway point with “The Thief” which is a good song but doesn’t hold anything to the beast of “Into The Mirror” a trippy, slowed out song with crazy timings and mysterious lyrics. Rachel Flotard does the guest vocals on the chorus with the most beautiful line in the whole song “She senses the fear in him, for one irresistible kiss and the lie that she hangs on his neck like a silver chain to her whim.” This is probably the best all around song on the album and one of the most original and creative songs the band has created and what makes it even more badass is they play the music backwards on the next track with different lyrics. The song is called “Animal Backwards” and it’s a fucking beast of a R&B, Techno, Psych-Math Rock mix with lyrics that metaphorically compare a woman being a wolf looking through his window. I have to talk about every song on this album because the album is an absolute perfect 10 tracks lined up in a row and to not talk about each one is a shame. The last two tracks have quietly became my other two favorites which is “Dayglow Vista Rd.” a happy summer time song that references people just walking around enjoying the beautiful day and their “high” that they have. The song is trippy musically as the lyrics are beautiful and it’s the perfect summer time song in my opinion, which means I’ll be playing it all day on the beach. The final song tends to be their long out jam out song and they don’t disappoint with “Fooled By The Night” which starts off slow but hits you like a hammer about 2 minutes and 30 seconds with the lyrics referencing meeting a woman for the first time. If you haven’t figured it out yet, this album is pretty much about hooking up and being high which is something Minus The Bear tends to incorporate in many of their songs. This album just pushes the envelope musically and is by far their best lyrically written album thus far in their career. I would make everyone in the world listen to this album if I could and if you can’t get into at first listen, play it again because you don’t want to miss out on this “Album of the Year.”
I got an email from Corporate last night telling me to check out this band called Take One Car that won “The Break Contest” for Bamboozle and will be playing on Saturday. At first I was expecting to hear an All Time Low/The Maine type band with big poppy hooks and non complex guitar breakdowns but was pleasantly surprised to see their sound description as Experimental and Progressive as I visited their Myspace. They have a very dark feel to their music with their ambient songs, but then they can rip with some heavier tracks and it’s all available on their Myspace page if you want a taste before ordering their self produced album When Ceiling Meets The Floor. I’m really looking forward to seeing them now on Saturday because I really had no desire to see anyone on that day so it should make for an interesting day. I really enjoy the tracks “Glaucon To Socrates”, “The Menagerie” and the badass instrumental “Pg. 67″ which sounds like a more aggressive Explosions In The Sky type song. If you really enjoy experimental bands and like a little heaviness to your catalog then I suggest checking out this band which I honestly feel will do quite well after playing at The Bamboozle. Check out their Myspace page below:
It’s Saturday, February 6th 2010. It’s around 1 am in Greenwich Village, downtown, New York City. I make up exactly 1/7 of the audience in the basement of the Comedy Corner; a stones throw from Bleecker street. The stage is about 5 feet wide and a single strand of Christmas lights adds a decorative touch to the generator protruding from the cold stonewalls. I’m nursing a warm beer from the tap, listening to the host describe his most recent hallucination from his current acid trip. In his rare moments of audible clarity, the audience learns about his four-year degree in psychology from a reputable institution. He then sarcastically describes finally achieving his dreams of becoming a professional comedian as he pokes an invisible audience member in the front row with his mic stand between his legs, alluding to obscene gestures, in complete disconnect with his audience.
The struggling artist is in no way a new idea. In certain ways, some artists would describe the entire profession as a constant struggle to keep from sinking while picking which battles of artistic integrity they should choose to fight. For the comedians at the comedy corner, the bar for such integrity was set remarkably low. One female comedian casually flirted me into staying for her next set, while others offered free beers from behind the bar in an effort to keep the miniature audience satisfied.
The lack of an audience became the punch line for a majority of the jokes for the comedians who performed. Behind wall of sarcasm, a dark eerie quality of bleak misfortune seemed to be a reoccurring theme for the performers. In moments of extended pause, one could almost feel the comedians asking themselves, “how did it end up like this?” The reality of the situation was that all four were talented performers and I thoroughly enjoyed each of their fifteen minutes under the lonely stage light.
I left the comedy club in a fog. It was either the sheer perplexity of the oddness of the show I had just experienced, or (as I thought more likely) someone had managed to slip something in my drink. Regardless, as I found the myself submerged in the densely occupied streets of Greenwich Village , an imminent reality began to set it. I began asking myself mountainous questions such as “what the hell am I going to do in two years when I graduate?” and “how did such interesting people, find such misfortunate plights?”
The current economic crisis is a reality one will meet everyday in the news and television. However, as college students, how is one affected directly? Personally, the financial sting has gone unnoticed. I sympathize with anyone who may disagree, however my life hasn’t changed. I still work at the same beach I’ve worked at for the last 4 years. My paycheck has steadily increased annually and I had my most successful year yet last summer. Every morning I stop at the same cornerstone, order my breakfast sandwich and a coffee and begin my daily routine of saving lives and tanning. I would ask myself, “what is everyone so worried about?”
My trip to New York answered a number of questions. For one, a Four-year degree doesn’t mean anything until you use it. How people market themselves is going to be the deciding factor for many graduates. Although it’s advised that majors such as nursing and accounting provide job security, finding our niche is going to land you the positions you want. Like the struggling artist, we also need to know where we’re going to draw the line; how far we are willing to push our moral standards to achieve success. Students must also rely on their own self-efficiency and constantly bulk up their resume with programs, internships, and even those “showed up once” group memberships if necessary. The struggling artist can in many ways serve as an example to us that nothing is a sure thing anymore. As students, we must prepare for success as equally as failure. For those graduating, I offer my supreme confidence in your education as well as offer my prayers for their continued growth in the spirit of learning and maturity.
If you haven’t heard by now the crew at Ogden will be ripping at Bamboozle in a tent for the two day event and hopefully making it rain with Ogden. I have been to the Bamboozle once before and it’s a pretty insane time and full of unexpected surprises. For example they tend to put bands on the lineup list who are fake and aren’t really a band at all but rather a pretty popular band among fans in disguise. So randomly when they announce this unknown band on the mainstage, usually a big name comes out and the crowd just goes nuts. As far as Saturday goes I am not too amped on any bands that I want to see,which may be good because I’ll find some new music, but I would like to check out Saves The Day considering they are a pretty legit band from Princeton, NJ.
As for Sunday however, this is my day to really check out some awesome music from some pretty up and coming bands that I really do enjoy on the regular. Foxy Shazam I witnessed at my first Bamboozle and I couldn’t believe how intense their live show was, the lead singer during the last song climbed up to the top of the stage post and locked his feet in so he was upside down 15 feet in the air singing the last song. Spin has them in their top 10 bands to watch this year and their sound can be compared to Meatloaf or The Darkness on Acid. Good Old War is a band I have enjoyed for some time as well since they are fairly local being out of the same town of Philly as Circa Survive and even play as Anthony Green’s band for his solo songs. They have their own album was well and it’s really really really ridiculously goodlooking and if you like folk rock it’s definately worth checking out. Mute Math has some pretty awesome songs and I am interested to hear them live since I do enjoy a decent amount of their first album and hope they have a pretty cool live show since their music is kind of experimental. Red Bank’s own Parlor Mob is playing too and they are just piss and vinegar rock n roll shoved in your face and I’ve missed them the past two times at the Stone Pony like an idiot and have only heard great things about their live show so that will be nice to see as well. This band may sound fake but they are one member of Brand New’s side project called Sainthood Reps and they play in Hoboken a lot actually since they are from the New York area. They only have a handful of songs but every song I have heard is really solid and I really hope they an EP or something I can pick up at the show.
My mind, body and soul will be worn down at this point but I am sure Minus The Bear will be playing later in the day on Sunday so I’ll have to keep my energy composed for them. I have only seen them once but it’s unbelievable how a band so technical in how they play their music can sound so good live. I recently got an advanced listen of their new album OMNI and litterally might not be able to stop listening to it for a good two weeks, it’s hands down probably going to be the best album of the year for me and that’s saying something since I am so up in arms about Circa Survive’s new album. The band will probably blow up mainstream now which is fine and take down MGMT who is a mildly good version of them in my opinion. Not that either of them sound like each other even though MTB has been around for almost 5 years before them but Minus The Bear I feel is just a better more technical band. If you like MGMT who I am also interesting in seeing Sunday, then I suggest picking up Minus The Bear’s last album Planet of Ice or scrapping up any singles you can from OMNI because they are the shit.
Things almost didn’t turn out the way they did for New Brunswick’s The Gaslight Anthem and it seemed that Brian Fallon at 30 would be playing music for fun rather then a living. In an interview after the release of the highly successful The ’59 Sound he said he was planning on being a roofer the rest of his life and working the hard life that his family had done growing up. But it turns out after their sophmore album blew up big, The Gaslight Anthem was destined to play music together forever. It helps that they had the support of fellow New Jersey legend Bruce Springsteen who happens to be a huge fan of the band and has made guest appearances with them randomly at festivals. Their sound could be compared to Against Me!, The Clash, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen and any blues singer from the past mixed into one kickass band. I think the best description of their type of sound is set in their most recent and anticipated release called American Slang, a very blues sounding album with a punk rock mentality.
The album starts off with the title track/first single and sounds like it could of been off of The ’59 Sound that has a very rock n roll/punk vibe to it with catchy chorus lyrics in “they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive, I got your name tattooed inside of my arm.” The following song cuts into “Stay Lucky” a more punk rock song that slowly eases into the tempo of the album and compliments the first song without straying to far from their roots. This is when the album gets interesting and when I mean interesting, I mean that they show some of their evolution since they don’t want to just release another ’59 Sound. The third track, “Bring It On” is probably my favorite one on the album thus far and it’s very Bruce-like in the way it breaks down into the chorus and has a very punk rock chorus where he’s backed up by the rest of his band. What I like about the song is that it’s different from most songs off of the ’59 Sound but it still has that Gaslight Anthem feel and that slight show in progression makes me happy they’re moving on.
The album really starts showing more of their Blues and Soul element at this point with songs such as “The Diamond Church Street Choir” which has a soul type vibe. The lyrics are pretty sweet as well as he sings about driving around New Brunswick seeing all the college kid’s from Rutgers. Something I could connect with since I was going to college there while this band was living up there trying to make a living. The punk rock folk style in “Boxer” is a solid punk ballad that most fans of the band old or new will enjoy and then the bluesy “The Spirit of Jazz” will show how the band isn’t just a one trick pony. The last song “We Did It When We Were Young” is a slow end of the album type ballad that reminds me of a Tom Waits song, particularly “Anywhere I Lay My Head” just without the harsh vocals of Tom Waits. The song really compliments the feel of the album and anybody who just likes straight rock n roll music or is any sort of Bruce Springsteen band you should really check this band out. People that love Bruce Springsteen tend to really enjoy this band because of the similarities in vocals and lyrically style of the two singers. I’m not saying the music is like Bruce’s but you can definately feel the similarities in alot of songs, especially if you look up the YouTube video of Bruce singing “The ’59 Sound” with them this past summer. I wouldn’t say this album is better then “The ’59 Sound” but it’s an awesome album and I enjoy every second of it.
In Washington DC, MGMT took the stage to the warm applause of a private show as the bands presence broke the anticipation. Andrew VanWyngarden, lead singer and guitarist staggered between his amplifier and the microphone as he tuned his final notes over the hum of energy leaking from the crowd. Ben Goldwasser could be seen stage right, standing behind his keyboard, waiting for his counterpart to address the crowd. The lights dawned on the modestly dressed Andrew, wearing a flannel shirt, noticeably without his trademark headband. Ben Goldwasser looked like Andrew’s nerdy counterpart sporting wide frame glasses and neatly pressed collared shirt and tie. As Andrew addressed the crowd, he asked “would you like to hear the title track off our new record, or our hit single Kids?” The crowd erupted at the ladder option as Andrew turned to laugh with his band as if the crowd had made the disappointing decision. Against the crowds decision, the band opened their show with the their new title track, “Congratulations”. The only problem was, the album hadn’t been released yet. Some of those crazy stalker type fans might already know about how the album leaked on the Internet far before it’s release on April 9th. If you couldn’t find the songs, MGMT was one step ahead of you. Instead of trying to ignore the preemptive release, MGMT gave audiences their album free to listen to. Their website offered free listening privileges for the entire album. I personally spent that entire first day in the library so I could have smooth streaming internet without gaps throughout each track. For the superficial MGMT fan, this album is not that easy to listen to. In their last album Oracular Spectacular, MGMT was able to ride the success of such synth poppy hits such as “Time to Pretend” and “Kids”. Oracular Spectacular had it’s introspective independent hits, but for the most part, MGMT was able to keep your attention. Congratulations is a great album, but it does lack it’s stand out hits. The first track “It’s Working” has a great B-Side beach boy’s /Morrissey vibe, but lacks structure. To a certain degree, this lack of structure is what will loose their larger audiences who devoured their remix-able hits. I’m sure the band never wanted such a broad scope of college, dance happy followers, and this album could almost weed out the “non believers” in truly independent rock. Another song that sticks out of this album is the fifth track “I found a Whistle”. Played in a bold four chord, Bob Dylan type progression, the song describes the metaphoric whistle as the escape hatch for the writers life, rescuing him moments after he decides he actually doesn’t want to hang himself. “ Flash Delirium” could rival the unstructured spontaneity of Canada’s experimental rock band Of Montreal. The video for Flash Delirium speaks for the album’s purpose as well, watching as Ben Goldwasser has an “electric eel” ripped from his throat, possibly symbolizing their evolution as a band. We probably won’t be hearing Girl Talk remix these new songs, but it’s a great album nonetheless. I’d strongly recommend a solid pair of headphones, maybe a glass of wine and a long sit down with the freely available new album. It’s refreshing to see bands who can not only redefine themselves, but also risk their own success through simplifying their sound and finding their true roots
So basically the greatest thing I have ever purchased for myself is the iPhone and it’s becasue I seriously use it for everything! It’s compatible as hell with anything Mac and it gets me out of almost any bind that I am in where I can’t get near a computer. It’s no wonder this phone is becoming the biggest rival to the Blackberry and it’s only on one network! I found a site that recently found a demo version of the new iPhone 4 which is set to be released probably the end of this year. Probably one of the coolest additions to the iPhone is the video iChat camera feature which is put onto the front of the phone so you can talk to other iPhone users face to face on your screens. Besides that it’s hooked up with everything juiced up from the 3Gs and will be sure to please anyone who loves their iPhone. The site is below and I put the specs for the iPhone 4 below as well.
• Front-facing video chat camera
• Improved regular back-camera (the lens is quite noticeably larger than the iPhone 3GS)
• Camera flash
• Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display. It’s unclear if it’s the 960×640 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the “Connect to iTunes” screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic
• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery
