Monthly Archive for January, 2008

Sir Salvatore

Published
by
billy
on January 31, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

They sound their best when they hit the shoegaze button the hardest, but that’s not to say that they ever sound bad. This little quartet out of San Francisco consists of Tim Botsford, David Lean, Alejandro Soini, Eric Szyslowski, and dash of self deprecating humour {which I guess makes them a quintet, but who’s arguing semantics?}. This is their sophomore effort, Continental Breakfast (iTunes), and I reckon their sound would tighten up and improve if they were to undertake a proper full length. If this little slice of four and a half songs that comes in just under fifteen minutes is any sort of indicator of Sir Salvatore’s musical aptitude I’d be willing to shell out some dough for a full length {of course I won’t have to, cause as a pretentious non-famous blogger I’ll convince someone to email it to me for free. At least that’s what you’re all thinking}.

mp3 : Sir Salvatore – Ambalina
mp3 : Sir Salvatore – Townies

I really like both of these songs, my only complaint being that Townies is cut far too short. These two tracks serve as the book ends for the five song EP and they do a nice job of encapsulating the indie efforts of Sir Salvatore. {In other news I’ve been watching far too much House lately which is probably influencing my writing style as of late. Oops}

+ twf hype elbows site myspace amazonmp3 itunes
add this post to del.icio.us / digg / facebook

Plastic Operator

Published
by
billy
on January 30, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

For most bands, listing Jean-Michel Jarre, Akufen, The Pet Shop Boys, Vangelis and The Postal Service as your influences might be a bit pretentious. Not so for the dynamic duo that is Plastic Operator. Hailing half from Montreal and half from Antwerp, Mathieu Gendreau and Pieter Van Dessel respectively, this little electronic pop band puts forth a might effort on their debut full length entitled Different Places (iTunes). Mixing drum kit, synth, and various other electronic efforts {including some wicked synth fuzz on the vocals} they succeed in creating a sound that is both modern, retro, fresh, and comfortable. They avoid the trap of so many of their counterparts as they provide a genuinely fresh submission into a world crowded with copy cat electropop acts.

Whatever your opinion, it is rare that you see this musical maturity on a debut full length album. And that rarity makes this disc all that more refreshing. There is not a single dark or disappointing moment from start to end and the album contains enough changes to keep you interested even after repeat listening.

mp3 : Plastic Operator – The Pleasure is Mine
mp3 : Plastic Operator – Home 0207

on tour
Feb 01 – Barcelona – Razzmatazz Club
Feb 08 – Meerbeke – Het Uur
Feb 09 – Antwerp – Petrol Club
March 28 – Opwijk – NIJDROP

+ twf hype site myspace amazonmp3 itunes
add this post to del.icio.us / digg / facebook

Siberian

Published
by
billy
on January 29, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

What would happen if you Dr. Frankensteined together pieces of The Killers, Muse, and Pete Yorn. And not the parts that get repetitive or annoying, just the good stuff. For instance let’s only take the wall of guitar {almost an eighties synth sound} from The Killers, the driving melodies of Muse, and the clever songwriting and strong vocals of Pete Yorn.  Oh, and just for good measure throw in your favorite song by The Walkmen.  We’ll put them in a blender, hit it with a jolt of 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, and send the outcome back to the future.

Well what we would be left with after this little experiment amounts to an extremely strong debut album from the Seattle based outfit labeled Siberian. The album, entitled With Me (iTunes), is solid from start to finish and reflects a song writing maturity and musical ability not usually found on a debut album. The three tracks here are an excellent cross section of the sound Siberian puts out and if they continue down this path they might be one of the few bands this decade that turn a profit on their album sales.

mp3 : Siberian – Belgian Beer and Catholic Girls
mp3 : Siberian – Airship
mp3 : Siberian – Georg Bendemann

Originally I thought their sound was going to be tweedy and sophmoric, due largely to the title of the lead off track, but after a quick listen I was immediately in love with this little band that could. There’s something here intangible that keeps me listening through the album time after time. A good staying power.

on tour
Feb 01 – Bellingham, WA – Underground Coffee House
Feb 29 – Redmond WA – Old Firehouse

+ twf hype elbows site myspace amazonmp3 itunes
add this post to del.icio.us / digg / facebook

BOTM vol 04

Published
by
billy
on January 28, 2008
in botr and music
. 5 Comments

Well it’s not quite the end of the month, but in my life it feels close enough. Here are a collection of the best tracks I found this month on the interwebs. Thanks again to all the anonymous donors, blogs, and aggregators for providing us all with some awesome music. If you’re just stumbling upon this blog for the first time take a second and check out all the other Best of the Month posts here, check in on the Best of the Remix project here, or take a peek at what I considered the best albums of 2007 here. For you regular readers and subscribers I will be doing BOTM a little differently from now on. In the past I was told that my blog stood out, to some, because I seemed to actually care about the music instead of just dumping random files to drive traffic to my site. As this truly is the case, although site traffic doesn’t hurt, I will actually be writing a bit about each of these tracks as opposed to previous iterations of BOTM where I just dumped the tracks.

All the tracks in one zip file : here {zshare = left click}

mp3 : Death Cab for Cutie – World Shut Your Mouth (Julian Cope Cover)
To be honest this isn’t my favorite Death Cab track of all time. In fact I wouldn’t even put it in my favorite twenty songs by Gibbard and company, but I had never heard it before and it’s always nice to hear Ben Gibbard’s perfect voice over a driving song. Not to mention the repeated phrase “world shut your mouth” is sometimes what I’m thinking.

mp3 : Evangelicals – Skelton Man
The first ten times or so I heard this track I didn’t know what to think. What I think it proves though is that I’m a sucker for the indie sound {by indie I mean Belle and Sebastien meets Flaming Lips} when it’s used in a song that builds and builds and builds until it is a fuzzy sonic shower of joy. Even with the confusion apparent in the first ninety seconds of the song {specifically from 57 seconds to 1:27 in the track} I still really enjoy this band.

mp3 : Feist – The Limit To Your Love
There should never be a limit to your love, but it’s not often the case as we mere humans are flawed, selfish creatures who battle jealousy and greed, neediness and trust issues. In a perfect world there would be no limit to your love, but then we wouldn’t have this melancholic song by Feist to comfort bruised egos, tattered hearts, and romantic dramedies for years to come.

mp3 : M Ward (feat Zooey Deschanel) – When I Get To The Border
This is what happens when you cross one of my favorite new musical acts with undeniably my favorite new actress. And I like it. I probably would have given a kidney to sit in on this recording session, but instead I’ll just give them a little slice of this blog. Congratulations to both of you, this is a fine song.

mp3 : Radiohead – 4 Minute Warning
Here’s a band whom I will always love. They’ll be top shelf music for me until my ears cease to function {and even then, just the energy of their live shows would get me to see them in concert}. This song hails from the extended series of In Rainbows {not the pay what you want edition} and to be honest I wish I would’ve shelled out the eighty plus dollars for the rest of the collection.

mp3 : Radiohead – Up on the Ladder (93 Fee East Acoustic Version)
Another rare recording by the Brit’s here. I think Thom Yorke could sing over the worst noise core music you’ve ever heard and I would still like it.

mp3 : Regina Spektor – My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year)
Has it really already been four full weeks since new year’s eve? It feels like just yesterday we were sipping champagne and reminiscing about how wicked awesome 07 was {I went to Everest}. This track starts out a bit odd with crowd noise and the sound of a chopper flying by. Then there appears to be gunfire about midway through the song. If that background noise was beefed up a bit I would say this a modern day take on Simon and Garfunkel’s 7 O’Clock News (Silent Night).

mp3 : Robbers on High Street – Seasons Greetings
It’s a feel good song that is quite dated {now that it’s a month past the holidays}, but it’s still a solid holiday song. Who says you can’t enjoy the holiday cheer all year long? I know I miss it already.

mp3 : Sleepless Nights – Arabian Nights
Sleepless Nights easily qualifies as one of my favorite new bands. I’d put them up there alongside Lightspeed Champion, Wakey!Wakey!, and Siberian in terms of bands I’m most excited about right now. This song is gorgeous. From the slow methodical beginning to the clean guitar riff that drives the song along there is a not a moment of this song that I don’t love. Just wait for the falsetto “ooh ooh oh!”

mp3 : The Battle Royale – Let’s Leave
Taking a break from their danceabilly style {I just made that genre up} The Battle Royale take a turn at a pure folk track on this song hailing from their debut Wake Up, Thunderbabe. The entire album is quite awesome and I love how diverse they sound from track to track. Half of the album is really solid dance pop with a mix of acoustic folk thrown in while some of the tracks are absolute pure new folk {nu folk, alt folk, post folk, whatever-you-want-to-call-it folk}.

mp3 : The Magnetic Fields – Zombie Boy
I really don’t know what Stephen Merritt was thinking when he decided to release an entire album filled with every type of distortion known to man. I really don’t like the new sound, to be honest, I miss the old purity and playfullness of ukulele, mandolin, and cello. I guess using the title of your album, Distortion, as a concept for the entire album is an undertaking worth hearing, even if just once or twice.

mp3 : The White Stripes – Jimmy The Exploder
This is an old track from Jack and Meg and I think it shows off the beauty found only in simplicity. Lately they’ve been experimenting a bit with new instruments and arrangements, which I like, but I hope the joy of two instruments isn’t lost. For all aspiring musicians this track stands as a testament to the joy that can be found in the simplest of tunes.

mp3 : Wale and Justice – W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.
Although the start of this track is Wale expounding on how he invented the trend of tight jeans and graphic sneaks {think Kanye West’s style of arrongance} this track is really brilliant. Easily the best remix, use, mix, whateve, of the Justice track D.A.N.C.E. ever. By the way, Wale reminds me a lot of Kanye in almost every way {musically, flow, style, clothing, attitude, self assuredness, etc.} and I think that’s a good thing {as Kanye indisputably epitomizes the creativity of present day hip hop}. And honestly, who’s ever used that much Saved by the Bell material to slam people before? He really is a word surgeon.

+ twf hype elbows amazonmp3 itunes
add to del.icio.us / digg it / facebook share

Sleepless Nights

Published
by
billy
on January 25, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

Although these boys hail from beautiful Halifax Nova Scotia I would easily place their debut full length disc alongside the stalwart acts of the western American pop rock music; Death Cab for Cutie, the Long Winters, and Band of Horses. From the opening note of track one, Allyson Got Robbed, to the swirling delerious end of the album’s closing track, Breathe Deep Tornado, there is not a moment on Turn Into Vapour that will only leave you wanting more. Although the term shoegaze is bandied about a bit much I do believe these boys take the best parts of that genre and turn them into a weapon of mass musical bliss. Take a listen to these two tracks here and you’ll be a convert immediately.

mp3 : Sleepless Nights – Got Caught
mp3 : Sleepless Nights – Amounts To Nothing

The album, available at CD Baby, is a sparkling debut and I would definitely recommend putting it into your collection in some form. All eight tracks are gems and they range from the driving pulse of Got Caught, to a melancholic rocker Kids on Fire, to the eight minute sprawling landscape of Breathe Deep Tornado. Trust me good reader you will not be disappointed. I know I wasn’t. And if you’d rather catch them on tour, and you are somewhere in East Central Canada, then feel free to stop by these fine venues.

Jan 26 in Peterborough at The Spill
Jan 27 in Toronto at Sneaky Dee’s (Wavelength)
Jan 28 in Toronto at Lee’s Palace
Jan 29 in Hamilton at The Casbah
Jan 31 in Windsor at Avalon
Feb 01 in Bayfield at Black Dog
Feb 07 in Moncton at The Paramount
Feb 09 in Halifax at The Attic

+ twf hype elbows site myspace cdbaby
add to del.icio.us / digg it / facebook share

Joseph Arthur

Published
by
billy
on January 23, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

I was first introduced to Joseph Arthur through a rather eclectic roommate I had in university because this friend of mine admired the paintings that Mr. Arthur made. I must admit I wasn’t particularly thrilled when shown the artwork {although I do admire a lot of his work}, but I was immediatley blown away by the other endeavor of Joseph Arthur, that being the creation of music that will stand the test of time. Regardless of how much fame he achieves, or fails to achieve, I believe the cannon of Joseph Arthur works will live on long after he has stopped producing new songs {which probably won’t happen until after he passes away considering he’s currently in a little competition to be the most prolific singer songwriter of his generation with Ryan Adams}.

So today I sat at home, without having to suffer through a day job, and as I watched the snow blow through the neighborhood where I live I was reminded once again of this old album from 2004 entitled Our Shadows Will Remain (iTunes) which I always thought referenced the way that if an atomic bomb went off we might disappear, but our shadows would remain. And seeing as how I’m concerned with Global Warming, and I frequently theorize about the effects of a Global Winter {brought on by nuclear warfare or careless stewardship of resources}, my twisted brain was reminded of Joseph Arthur as I sat watching the snow drift and swirl, much like his melodic brand of music. As such, these three tracks hail from that album.

mp3 : Joseph Arthur – Echo Park
mp3 : Joseph Arthur – Puppets
mp3 : Joseph Arthur – A Smile That Explodes

Now due to a rather insatiable curiousity and the aforementioned lack of a real job I sauntered amongst the interwebs, looking at Mr. Arthurs website, checking out the new MOMAR, reading up in wiki, and finally stumbling upon the fact that just two days ago Stereogum debuted a song from Joseph Arthurs upcoming EP entitled Could We Survive which is set to be released on March 18 of this year. Following that release will come three more EP’s, roughly one a month, before a proper full length entitled All You Need Is Nothing drops on August 5. Until all that wonderfully prolific goodness hits the shelves you can satisfy yourself with this song that was premiered by the good folks over at Stereogum.

mp3 : Joseph Arthur – Rages of Babylon

+ twf hype elbows site mypsace wiki amazonmp3 itunes
add to del.icio.us / digg it / facebook share

The Who

Published
by
billy
on January 22, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 4 Comments

Sometimes I am appalled at the state of music ignorance the kids these days have about them. Driving through town the other day a classic rock radio station happened to be playing a song by The Who and my younger brother immediately changed it saying that he didn’t really like that type of music, even though he had never listened to the entire song. Needless to say this shocked me to my core. I’m tired of people complaining about the state of pop music, hearing them go on and on about how music has lost its creative edge, or how there’s nothing fulfilling in songs about apple bottom jeans or cyclones. While some of those arguments may be true they ring hollow from mouths who have never sung along to bands like The Kinks, The Who, BTO, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or Styx. {not that those bands are an all inclusive list, but you get my point}

I thought I would post a few tracks by the legendary Brit band The Who in hopes that a few download hungry and misinformed youth out there might take a listen and hear some true musical genius. All three of these tracks come from the album Greatest Hits of The Who (iTunes) and it would be a genuine benefit to the listener to hear the entire album {or even their entire discography}.

mp3 : The Who – Baba O’Riley
mp3 : The Who – My Generation
mp3 : The Who – Who Are You (Single Edit Version)

I would like to point out, as this is the first lesson I’m teaching in Music History here at TWF, that Baba O’Riley is the correct name for this particular song although many friends and fans have incorrectly given it the title of Teenage Wasteland throughout the years. It is also, and quite easily, one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded in the history of the world. The song My Generation has been incorrectly given to bands ranging from Aerosmith to the Rolling Stones {and everyone inbetween} although it has always been a classic staple of The Who. And to close out the trifecta of The Who classics there stands the simple and eternal question of Who Are You. Who are you anyway?

+ twf hype elbows site wiki amazonmp3 itunes
add to del.icio.us / digg it / facebook share

BOTR vol 02

Published
by
billy
on January 21, 2008
in botr and music
. 4 Comments

Well it’s not the end of the month yet, but I decided that the Best of the Remix series shouldn’t have to wait a full month to be posted. Originally this series was going to parallel my BOTM {Best of the Month} series as a monthly publication of sorts. But seeing as how I have over thirty great remix tracks to share with you all, and the end of the month is still awhile off, I thought I would just start to do this BOTR series at random times whenever I feel like it. So here you have volume 2 of the Best of the Remix series here at The World Forgot. Enjoy the music.

All the tracks in one zip file : here {zshare = left click}

mp3 : Burial – Archangel (Leif Remix)
mp3 : Chromeo – Needy Girl (datA Remix)
mp3 : Daft Punk – One More Time (Krames Remix)
mp3 : Daft Punk – Television Rules The Nation (Roccanova Remix)
mp3 : David Guetta – Love Is Gone (Fred Rister & Joachim Garraud Radio Edit Remix)
mp3 : Digitalism vs. The Killers vs. Fatboy Slim – Idealistic Brightside Night
mp3 : Gwen Stefani – 4 In The Morning (Thin White Duke Mix)
mp3 : Jackson 5 – I Want You Back (Rogerseventytwo and the Walk Remix)
mp3 : Justice – D.A.N.C.E. (Benny Blanco Remix feat Mos Def & Spank Rock)
mp3 : Justice – D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)
mp3 : Justice – D.A.N.C.E. (Paste Back Remix)
mp3 : Justin Timberlake – Love Stoned (Justice Remix)
mp3 : Kanye West – The Good Life (S in the mauS Scuola Furano Remix)

To be honest I’m kinda sick of the ever present remixed versions of D.A.N.C.E., but I thought this was a good time to unload them (and all three of these versions are great). All the remaining tracks are quality and range from minimalism (Burial) to eighties synth (Chromeo) to standard pop remixes (Jackson 5, Justin Timberlake) to the totally abstract (Kanye West). Take what you want or download all the tracks in one spot from the zshare link above the mp3 links.

+ twf hype elbows amazonmp3 itunes
add to del.icio.us / digg it / facebook share

The Battle Royale

Published
by
billy
on January 18, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Lately I have seen a rash of patients presenting with the general symptoms of excessive amounts of boredom appearing in the early stages of many a late evening party. After careful research I have determined this general malaise to be brought on by an overdose of bands who borrow acronyms from television technology and music tracks whose titles are often followed by a parenthetical phrase. Luckily a cure for this party sickness has been found in the form of a cheeky band from Minneapolis who refer to themselves as The Battle Royale. Their latest album, Wake Up, Thunderblade, is the perfect dose of dance pop and pure folk that is sure to cure any and all party killers from here until the afterlife. Careful with your dosages, though, as too much of The Battle Royale has been proven to provoke uncontrollably giddy dancing, chilling out, and relaxing all cool.

All nonsense aside I probably would have loved this band simply for entitling one of their tracks Hollercopter. I honestly laughed just reading that word out loud. Seriously, try saying Hollercopter in your best Schwarzenegger accent and you’ve got the beginning of a great party already.

mp3 : The Battle Royale – Hollercopter
mp3 : The Battle Royale – Wake Me Up

Although these two tracks present the more danceable version of The Battle Royale their album is rife with acoustic folk goodness as well. In some artists this clever dichotomy would be bashed and much maligned but with The Battle Royale it feels as if you’re really getting the best of both worlds.

+ twf hype elbows site myspace amazonmp3 itunes
add to del.icio.us / digg it / facebook share

Wakey!Wakey!

Published
by
billy
on January 17, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

To be honest, if all I could listen to this week was one album I would probably choose this series of covers put out by Wakey!Wakey! For the past few months my email has been graced with brilliant cover songs and the only thing about these tracks that makes me sad is that each week brings this series closer to the end. This week the ninth cover was released and it is a cover of a song that I have never heard before. The track is originally by Joie, also known as Dead Blonde Girlfriend, who apparently plays a fervent live show with an acoustic guitar. Once again Mike Grubbs imprints another solid song with his now trademark style and sound and creates something haunting, aching, and full of emotion. There’s just something about his voice, and the way that each line of these covers seems to speak directly to the heart of life, that I cannot get enough of.

mp3 : Wakey!Wakey! – Letters Home (Joie DBG Cover)

Once again, this is the ninth song in a ten song series called Wakey!Wakey! Wednesdays. If you would like to hear the rest of this brilliant series just click the link below labeled twf. I’m waiting with bated breath for the conclusion of this great cover album.
+ twf hype elbows site myspace itunes
add to del.icio.us / digg it / facebook share