Sunday, October 19, 2008

Well my lovelies, it has been a long while since I’ve had the opportunity to write a column.  My life is on a slightly busy track and for a bit, just a small, small bit I even considered shutting down the old Brain Notes.  Luckily, for everyone, good old Johnny Boy Laird came to the rescue, breaking up the weekly columns in to bi-weekly columns and giving us each a direction that would allow, me at least, to think less.  Since thinking is my mortal enemy, I was more than overjoyed.

Thus, Brain Notes is back but on a new schedule and with a new sort of focus, one that hopefully over the next few months I’ll whittle to a laser beam thin tool of criticism.  Until then, I’m going to be attempting to dissect this wide world of blogs that we here at Side One: Track One exist within.  As of now I can’t really say what this means, but I think it’ll be a way for me to listen to new music as well as be a snarky asshole.  Two things I really enjoy.

This week, and possibly every week, I’m going to pick three bands that are getting a shocking amount of coverage from the blogosphere and give you my take on them.  I’ll also include a band that I’m shocked doesn’t get more coverage on the blogosphere, and make a desperate plea for you, my loyal readers to check them out.

So, keep with me here, this might get rocky.

Passion Pit

There was a time when you could expect one major blog a day to be writing something about Passion Pit. This French Kiss-signed group of Boston-ites absolutely reek of hipster - high energy, well-crafted electronic dance music - and I’ll tell you, I was fairly wary of them. A lot of the bands that garner the hype from the blogosphere as a whole these days don’t suit my musical taste, and I worried that my pants just wouldn’t be tight enough for PP’s block-rocking beats.

I was very wrong.

Sleepyhead the blog-o-loved song in question is a dynamite song, a sort of rampant, schizo blast of energy featuring Michael Angelakos shreaking pseudo-falsetto and an impressive keyboard riff.  As it usually happens on the internet, a single song can be the best of an album, but the Passion Pit EP Chunk of Change is solid all the way through, especially album opener I’ve Got Your Number.  I’m eagerly anticipating whatever’s coming next.

VERDICT: WEEEEE! This one gets my legs a-moving.

:Passion Pit - Sleepyhead:

The Tough Alliance

The Tough Alliance was sent out to me by a friend that could be considered "hipper than me", as he has moved past western shirts and fondness for the 1970s and directly in to the slightly swishy art-electro that is currently being hyped by every glasses-face with a keyboard these days.  The Tough Alliance is exactly this kind of group, a Scandinavian duo that makes bouncy, again swishy electronica that sounds like disco’s stranger European cousin. On album it’s certainly "artsy" but becomes even more so when placed in the context of their shows, shows where they don’t even sing...the admittedly lip sync.

I just don’t get it. I don’t want to see my musicians lip sync, if I wanted that I’d go to a Madonna concert. But these gentlemen seem to think that they’ll make some sort of drastic difference between the dynamics of live music. If anything, to me, it’s annoying. I’ve given their new album A New Chance a couple listens over, and I don’t see how it distinguishes itself from the pack of people currently doing this.

VERDICT: Sorry blog-o-sphere you’ve been bamboozled by these crafty Northern Europeans.

Lykke Li

I’m pretty divided on Lykke Li, from what I’ve heard she’s original and interesting, but I don’t know if I like the general sound of her music enough to dig much deeper. I’ve had quite a few talks with friends of the female persuasion and the majority of them (all two of them) were completely and totally smitten by this, sigh, Northern European.  In terms of blog love there is few others besides Ms. Li that are getting as much, and I guess in terms of excessive blog love she’s as good as anyone, but really just not my style of music.

I will say this, the Bon Iver/Lykke Li Dance Dance Dance video was as good as any of those sort of shoot songs where ever things. They just all seem so excited to be sitting by that fountain...

VERDICT: Eh, not so bad, not so good.

:Lykke Li - Little Bit:

SOMEONE THE BLOG WORLD SHOULD BE GIVING A LITTLE MORE LOVE!

For Jesus, baby Jesus’ sake, why can’t we shower a little love on these good-natured Texans?  I’ve talked about them here, on the other blog I write for, in crowds of people big and small, on a box outside of a church, from a pulpit inside of a church, with Barack Obama (he’s feeling them), with a slew of lovely ladies, and so on and so on and I still don’t see them getting the proper amount of love I believe they deserve!

There album, Ode to Sunshine is one of the best of the year so far, and live, oh jeezum, live they are an absolute revelation. They opened for Dr. Dog a month or so ago, long enough now that I don’t even remember if I’ve already spake about this subject, but they, to some degree, blew Dr. Dog out of the water.  This could be for a variety of reasons (I was far less drunk during Delta Spirit and far more intoxicated during Dr. Dog) but Dr. Dog seemed sort of weak in comparison to the trashcan-pounding, piano-rocking tunes of Delta Spirit.

Open an ear blog-world, these guys need some fucking love!

:The Delta Spirit - Trashcan:

- Noah Sanders -



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