Radio Free Tobias: November 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Jason Quicksall : Interview

This is totally an interview!

I spoke with Jason Quicksall in regards to his release A Touch Broken (on that note, I think italicizing all album titles seems to be a good way to go) the other week. I finally got it all typed out and now I'm releasing it to the world. Enjoy.

Jason Quicksall: A Touch Broken


Singer-songwriter Jason Quicksall is a native to New Philadelphia, but found himself a new home after going to school at the Ohio State University.

He also found something else: a love of music.

"It really just began with me sitting in my dorm room and playing guitar," Quicksall said. "When I should have been studying, I was playing guitar. It felt more productive."

Quicksall, 26, had never really tried his hand at music before college. Now one of the more familiar faces in the Columbus scene, having played a number of shows in the area in the past few years, he has released his first full-length album, A Touch Broken.

The first track, Cool & Graceful, can indicate several different things. A very strong track in its own right, it is by far the most saturated with the alt-country that's been so popular for the last decade or so.

However, it just leads the way to a different feel overall. Supplemented by a slew of Columbus musicians, whose parts seem largely improvised, Quicksall takes a stab at blues and sings about everyday concerns. This can cause a few songs to seem a bit melodramatic, but this mostly is compensated for by the more spry numbers.

Despite being recorded at several different places by different people over the span of six months, there is still a good overall album to be found, despite some disconnect. A Touch Broken is well-paced and well-crafted, showing a lot of musicianship on the part of Mr. Quicksall. With consistently singable melodies and strong, versatile vocals, Quicksall really shows that he has something.

A Touch Broken at CD Baby.

Here are some tracks from the album:
Cool & Graceful.mp3
Tick Tock.mp3
Never Be Another.mp3

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Podsafe Network



If you'll recall my commentary, podcast licensing can be an unpleasant old woman.

Groups like Tables Turned are fighting the good fight.

Another crusader (relatively speaking) for podcasting rights is The Podsafe Music Network.

This organization is committed to providing podcasters, artists, and podcast-listeners with resources for finding each other.

This website is a superb idea and is still growing. There are currently hundreds of pages of artists with music listed, and a slightly smaller number of podcasts. Among other things, there are a ton of tracks from Fat Wreck Chords.

This project is still in its beta stages, and I assume the interface/participation will continue to improve.

For those of you looking for more interesting podcasts, this is a place to go. For artists who are looking for a way to promote their music, this is a place to go.

For devoted listeners, an as-of-now unheard promo for RFT is available for utility at the RFT Podsafe page.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Pat Morita dies of natural causes


The Karate Kid was one of those movies that helped define a generation dominated by ninja-fighting turtles, ninja-fighting superheroes, ninja-fighting robots, etc, etc. This is one of the first movies that turned me on to ninja-fighting as a whole. The Karate Kid ranks with Bloodsport as my favorite martial arts movies from the 80's.

Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita who played Mr. Miyugi in The Karate Kid died of natural causes at the age of 73.

Morita also played Arnold on Happy Days, among other roles throughout his career.

Grey Will Fade

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I gave myself the day off of blogging because I really value my contributions to this site and I really deserved a day off. Thanks, me.

Anyways, the blogger known to me only as "D", aka, the maintainer of Grey Will Fade is running down their 'top 50' of the year list. I am making note of this not only because it is a worthwhile undertaking, but also because D runs a tight ship over there. Feel free to check out Grey Will Fade for some musical recommendations and sample mp3's.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

RFT Podcast #3

New Ohio-edition RFT podcast.mp3

This podcast is comprised entirely of Ohio artists (mostly from the mid-Ohio region) and also is the debut for future RFT broadcast anchor, Stephen, alongside myself.

Artists featured are The Celebrity Pilots, Dyslexic Film Society, Miranda Sound, Jonathan Hape, The Whiles, Fine Dining, Jason Quicksall, The National, and Tiara.

Feel free to subscribe to the RFT podcast RSS feed here, courtesy of Feedburner.

NOTE: this doesn't seem to work too well with Safari, if you are just using this browser. Oh well. Safari is dumb.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

HOT PIX of the Jeff Buckley Tribute Show


Jonathan Hape.

Kim of Picture the Sound took some great photos. They are SUPER HI REZ and good quality, especially considering the lighting. The lighting was nice and ambient and chill and cool and hip... but also very dim for photo-taking. Kudos.


The Whiles.

Monday, November 21, 2005

The Promise Ring Reunion Show Photos!



Total exclusive! Maybe illegal?

RFT had agents in the crowd at the recent one-and-only The Promise Ring November 12th reunion show. These photos, due to budget constraints, were taken with a disposable camera and then transferred digitally to the internet.

I would remind you to kindly please enjoy.

if someone is reposting, I would appreciate consideration for my licensing situation ... just credit radio free tobias.

ps: see if you can spot jimmy eat world frontman jim adkins

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Jeff Buckley Tribute Rundown

So I went to this "Jeff Buckley" thing last night at Workbook Studio, hosted by the Columbus Music Co-op.

The drive there was ever-so-slightly treacherous as it is in a part of town with which I am unfamiliar and I was depending on google directions to get there. I printed them off and took them with me, only to realize they didn't actually specify which way to turn at intersections. A hit curb and a minor panic attack later, I made it (by associating panic attacks with hit curbs, I think I've just identified myself with the young, driving, schoolgirl crowd).

Having been told to just 'look for the crowd of smoking people outside', I found it with little trouble once I found it. A door hung open for what appeared to be a dilapidated warehouse, adorned with a Clint Reno poster (the fancy-pants poster is the prior post and also hanging proudly on my 'rock trophy' wall in my room).

I imagine a somewhat similar experience for those non-past Jeff Buckley Tribute attendees / non-clientelle for the studio types.

Regardless, my limited night-driving hi-jinx were overshadowed by the rest of the evening.

Having been somewhat shunned by local publications (and overshadowed by the Bob Mould performance the same night), I was hoping people would still show up, and by all measures of assumption, it seemed people did. A crowd of seventy-five or so,20-30-something hipsters streamed in steadily the entire night. Admittedly, my hipster-dar was a little thrown off by the fact that when it's cold in Ohio, people tend to dress much the same. I had to turn to secondary measures of appraisal, such as the bottle of wine a group was sharing, etc.

There weren't any drunk OSU revelers, which scores points.

One of the things that struck me the most about the actual main space in Workbook where the concert took place was that in spite of the ambient lighting, the cool-retro arcade games, the white and red walls, the general level of kitsch-charm, etc, there was literally thousands and thousands of dollars of expensive recording equipment. Not being involved in recording of music, I can't shed much more light than that, except to say that Workbook is most definitely a recording studio.

Oh yeah, and the music. There were a few misses, but the musical quality was pretty top-notch. The Whiles played some tracks from their upcoming release, the "William F's" had some musical revolving door action and more or less almost shredded the backdrop art off the wall during their set, Steev Richter played with a band for the first time I've ever seen with late-addition guitarist Jonathan Hape (who had a great opening set) , Chris McCoy stretched his vocal chords a little bit, and The New Republic (formerly known to me as "The Pits" from Angry Son Records) recaptured the attention of a crowd that was getting ready to leave.

The musical stylings invoked were diverse, ranging from the folky-post punk of Joe Anderl and the Universal Walkers, to something bordering on hard-rock/metal, to some straightfoward acoustic-type stuff to blues and latin influence; all heavily soaked in pop. The Buckley covers were all interesting and again, fairly diverse.

There were also some Jeff Buckley trivia with prize giveaways, raffles of donated music-paraphernalia, and a generally low-key and amiable atmosphere. This night was definitely worth the $7 I spent to get in and the 15 minutes of my life I lost worrying about finding it.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Jeff Buckley Tribute Concert 11/19


Hey, this is going to be pretty cool. Erin and Jess of the Columbus Music Co-op are putting on a Jeff Buckley tribute concert, the third in Columbus in the past few years, at the fabled Workbook Studio. Tons of talented Columbus musicians will perform Buckley covers, including Jonathan Hape, Chris McCoy & The Gospel, Steev Richter, and The Whiles.

The Co-op has the entire 2002 Jeff Buckley setlist on their website. Here are some highlights:


Brian Lucey - Hallelujiah.mp3
Chris McCoy - Lover/Satisfied Mind.mp3
Miranda Sound - What Will You Say.mp3
Steev Richter - Lilac Wine.mp3

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Gold "Give Up" Record on sale on Ebay.



Stereogum posted this. I'll give credit where credit is due. I think 80% of bloggery involves reposting.

There is a "Give Up" (the Postal Service) Gold Record on sale at Ebay. This probably gets the illustrious Tobias Personal Choice Award for best Ebay description.

As you can see the record is in mint condition. Usually these things have lots of scratches from razor blades and things like that. Don’t get me wrong, I like partying, but I also have an Iron Maiden mirror that I got at the fair a few years ago.

That's jaded indie-promoter gold!

Monday, November 14, 2005

Turn the Tables on the Music Industry


Kudos to Tabled Turned, an all-volunteer organization which has organized in response to licencing concerns with podcasts.

For those who haven't considered the nuances of podcast licencing, (including myself until very recently) I will give a quick idiot's description of licencing law.

Radio stations are able to broadcast recorded materials because they have a broadcasting licence, which protects them from being sued to death by record labels who claim they are illegally distributing their materials. Now, I don't know whether some albums are labelled legal for brodcast or what. I imagine a lot of college radio stations cut corners when it comes to this kind of thing. A lot of songs at college radio stations are most likely downloaded.

Podcasters are not protected because they are run by amateurs (mostly) and thus don't have the means to get licenced. Even moreso (which affects me specifically), college radio stations, while legally being able to broadcast stuff, cannot save their radio shows as MP3 podcasts for public consumption.

Tables Turned is an all-volunteer organization which is appealing to labels and artists to give permission for their music to be podcasted. Anyone who supports independent music or college radio should definately sign the petition. To quote TT's manifesto:

College radio is the only platform that gives the independent record industry broadcast access to the public. The internet has finally given us the ability to increase our broadcast scope beyond the tiny local distances afforded by our University-subsidized, low wattage radio towers.

If college radio began podcasting (sending our radio shows over the internet in an mp3 format), it would finally be able to be heard in living rooms, buses, and subways across the whole world. But we can't expand beyond the tiny world of terrestrial radio until we have the support of the bands and record labels that we currently promote on our shows.


Here is a list of labels that have shown support to Tables Turned.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Interview with Death Cab guy Ben Gibbard

The San Fransisco Chronicle interviewed Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie. The types of of things that are said kind of reflect on the media explosion these fellows have been a part of lately. I like how he's all wistful and ironic about it. That's how I'd probably be if my music were ever featured on the preview for that one Steve Martin movie.

Interview here!!!!

PS: I was made aware of this link from Largehearted boy.

To lift the same (funny) quote as LGB;

Q: Is Death Cab for Cutie on a mission to make lite rock cool again?

A: What's really at the core of what we're doing right now is to try to bring back that smooth, early- to mid-'70s soft-rock style that was all over radio. We also want to bring AM radio back. We want to make it a viable bandwidth again.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Some Cool Shows This Weekend in Columbus

Here's a brief rundown of some interesting shows this weekend in Columbus. (NOTE: I have been trying to make this post repeatedly, but my inability to save my work combined with the goblins that inhabit my network's internet service have elongated this process significantly).

Even if you're not of the Columbus-persuasion, you could check out the great bands that are going to be involved with said events.

First, there is a benefit concert tonight to benefit breast cancer research at Little Brother's. Some bands that are going to be there include Miranda Sound, Ryan Smith & The Agency, Red Dahlia, and The Lab Rats.

Likewise, there is a benefit concert for the Women's Spirit Fund, a pro-choice group, at Little Brothers Saturday night. Bands here include Tiara, and The Proper Nouns.

Also going on Saturday night is the Fine Dining CD release show at Larry's. Also rumored to be there are The Dyslexic Film Society, a fine new Columbus band, and Knife Crazy, which includes a former member of Vox Humana. This is not a benefit concert of any form as far as I'm aware of, so if you're pro-life and looking for a show tomorrow night, this seems to be the place for you.

So how's that for a flurry of local bands?

Here are some songs by some of these fine Columbus bands:

Dyslexic Film Society - Streetlamp.mp3

Miranda Sound - Midas.mp3

Tiara - The Night Air.mp3

Arrested Development Kicks the Bucket

It seems Arrested Development is ready to take a long vacation in the sky.

Here's a CNN story which makes reference to AD's passing. Incidently, 7th Heaven is also getting cancelled, which I think restores balance to the force and makes up for the loss of Arrested Development.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Pitchfork Interviews Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!




A guy from Pitchfork sat down with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and interviewed them. I imagine they've been interviewed elsewhere prior, but this was the first I've seen.

Pitchfork: How many copies did you have pressed up before the first round sold out?

Robbie: The first pressing was 2,000, then it was 5,000, and then it was 10,000. I think we've done like 30 or 40 thousand now, because we did have 25,000, and we have another 10 coming.

Pitchfork: Holy shit! You guys aren't still self-distributing, are you?

Alec: Yeah...

It starts to help answer the question that's at least been on my mind: how in God's name did CYHSY! get so big DIY?

The interview.

The Promise Ring Reunion Show


The Promise Ring is playing a (just one) reunion show this Saturday at a charity event at Flower 15 in Chicago. I tried to dig up some information and found something in the Chicago Tribune.

Most artists aren't household names or radio favorites, yet attract dedicated audiences that appreciate artistic integrity, reject image-consciousness and are eager to hear stimulating music that isn't drawn up in a corporate boardroom. They will be treated to a cornucopia of ear-opening sounds, including wordless jazz-rock (Tortoise), narrative folk-punk (Ted Leo + Pharmacists), arena-ready emo (Jimmy Eat World), restrained drone-pop (The American Analog Set), psych-pop (The Essex Green), pitch-shifting instrumental (Pelican), religious metalcore (The Chariot) and hummable hardcore (Hopesfall, Evergreen Terrace).

Through blogcritics, I was offered a ticket to the afterparty, DJ'ed by Ted Leo, and that makes it all the more painful I can't go.

For those of you who ARE going (you know who you are)... for God's sake, have a great time.

You'll have to register, but Epitonic has some free, legal, high-quality TPR mp3's right here.

Monday, November 07, 2005

RFT Lifts Off

Well, it's not so much a liftoff, but it's a bit of a bon voyage.

Radio Free Tobias is still a work in progress, but it's more and more resembling a "legitimate" blog (whatever that means. I've taken to expanding operations a smidge. Here are some interesting things going on with RFT:

Team Columbus!, the donewaiting.com Ohio blog recently announced the creation of RFT... albeit a months or so late, but I really wouldn't want anyone looking at RFT a month or two ago. Now it's ok, but it's still kind of like pulling out the old naked baby photos. (Now I might get some hits to my blog by people searching for naked baby photos. That's an interesting distinction)

Anyways, these gentlemen, while my sworn bitter rival as the equivalent of a monster behemoth corporation (in the painfully obscure world of Columbus music blogs), run a tight ship and I appriciate the publicity.

I don't know if there's any sort of judicial process in the selection, but I've been accepted as a writer at Blogcritics.org. This, at least, will serve to get RFT some attention, and may also land me some free stuff.

I've optimized the feeds for both RFT content and the RFT podcast, thanks to Feedburner. Feel free to subscribe in the sidebar on the right, and if you're already subscribed, I would appreciate it if you would re-subscribe so I could better track my reader/listenership.

Speaking of the RFT podcast, I have applied for a show license at WOBN for Radio Free Tobias to be a weekly radio broadcast in the Columbus area on 101.5 FM. My future co-hosts, Stephen and Mallory, and I, are looking foward to working together. Recordings of these shows are likely to be uploaded to the RFT podcast directory.

And finally, although the folks at Oddity of the Mind have been very nice to host my podcast files, I am seeking to syndicate Radio Free Tobias to its own URL in the future (as necessitated by webtraffic). The more you download, the more you push RFT towards getting out on its own two feet. Feel free to do so!

Thanks, readers. This will be the only 'state of the blog' post for quite some time.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Great Photos from Little Brothers, Used Kids


Kim from Picture the Sound has posted some great pictures from a couple different dates.

Little Brazil, Miranda Sound, and the Statistics at Little Brothers - I saw Little Brazil open for one of my favorite bands, Communique (although I'm more of an American Steel fan) a couple months ago and I'm happy for their success. Miranda Sound is one of my favorite local bands. I really wish I could have made it to this show.

Tiara and the Proper Nouns at Used Kids Records

Chris Mills: The Wall to Wall Sessions Review


There has been a bit of a mounting theme with my reviews, including Chris Mills' new release The Wall to Wall Sessions. That is, it seems that I don't really like to review anything but country-laced, increasingly heavily orchestrated, alternative pop/rock/indie. There has been an abundance of pedal steel guitar, cello/french horn, and piano in the material I have reviewed. Make no mistakes, RFT (aka: myself) likes to rock with the best of 'em. I'm all about rockin'. I'm the rockin'est. All that aside, I'm doing it again, and that's my prerogative.

Chris Mills, AKA: the guitarist for the Fruit Bats, is an alt-country rocker who hails from the Chicago indie scene, following in the footsteps of Americana/REM-punk legends Uncle Tupelo.

For his fourth release, The Wall to Wall Sessions, it would seem Mills is attempting to go for the gold, as a promotional copy has landed in my hands (indicating a massive college promotion barrage).

The credited 17-piece "Chicago indie rock big band" lends to the rock-opus marketing of The Wall to Wall Sessions. The 'orchestra' was recorded live, to 2-track tape.

With this release, Mills says he's going for
“Something like the Phil Spector sound I’ve always loved, but combined with the imagery of bands like Neutral Milk Hotel or the Flaming Lips.”

And that really sums it up. In addition to bass, guitar, and drums, arranger David Nagler orchestrates vibraphone, glockenspiel, tambourine, spoons, trombone, viola, trumpet (played by Dave Max Crawford of The Sea and Cake), pedal steel guitar, banjo, tenor sax, baritone sax, flute, cello, piano, alto sax, clarinet, and oboe. Nora O'Conner of the New Pornographers provides backing vocals, although the indie-rock pedigree of the supporting band goes on and on. There are 25 musicians credited in the liner notes.

So, that's all pretty daunting. The Chris Mills Band makes Matt Pond PA look like the Ramones by comparison. In the post-Illinoise indie world, it seems like now is the best time for this album as any.

The Wall to Wall Sessions is a crescendo. It takes a lot of time to build up, and thus, the first track didn't really blow me away on the first listen. First impressions are something I always reflect on, and I've found that the music I come to really enjoy, I don't really like the first time. Upon more critical listening, I noticed things that I really dig, musically.

WtWS successfully blends lots of different types of music. Not allowing itself to be stuck to one category, it always leans on a pop/country foundation, but expresses itself through genres and decades, jumping from alternative, big band, Dixie (complete with the aforementioned spoons), classical, folk, bebop, and classic rock. These transitions are executed very adeptly, and do not detract from the listening experience.

This is a rather small point, but I have a soft spot for dry, crisp drumming, mostly so on the first few tracks. I don't know what kind of post-production was done, but the drums definitely don't sound like they were recorded in an orchestra pit. I love me some dry drums.

So with all of these points being scored with me, how can WtWS go wrong? Well, it can't. This is a really, really, really good album. The orchestra arrangements, while sometimes dangerously sauntering on the cheesy side, mostly accomplish what it seems they were intended to: to contribute to the 'wall of sound' and to add a timeless quality to the music. The lyrics are both world-weary and humorous.

Each track perfectly leads into the next. Mills pushes the tempo and then slows it back down, sometimes in the same song. Take note, singer/songwriters. This is how you make an album. In the orchestrated folk-flavored hipster kingdom, Chris Mills gives Sufjan a run for his crown.

PS: I almost went the entire article without mentioning Wilco.

Chris Mills tour dates (Ohio shows in a few days!)

Chris Mills - Chris Mills is Living the Dream.mp3

Chris Mills - You are My Favorite Song.mp3

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Stereogum Writes up The Celebrity Pilots

There is some positivity on Stereogum expressed towards the Celebrity Pilots AKA Chris Sheehan.

Cool deal. I mean, Sheehan is a Cleveland product, but at the very least their/his affiliations/band members make them/him Columbus property.

In addition to linking to Stereogum, I'm linking to some Celebrity Pilots tracks from Sunken Teasure Records, linked from Stereogum.

This whole blog thing is a web isn't it? A world wide web!

We've Lost Kasparov.mp3
Lemons from Lemonade.mp3

I promise I'll have some original content up, soon.

Sufjan Stevens releases three Christmas EP's



I feel a little guilty about just re-posting but thus is the nature of bloggery.

Sufjan Stevens has released three Christmas EP's (that is, full of Christmas carols). I love how it's totally "cool" for Sufjan to produce Christian-related material without being pigeonholed as a "Christian" artist.

They are available for download here.

I'm not so sure about the legality of this, but I'm forced to assume that they are free for public consumption. My hands are tied. Sort of. Regardless, best to download them now!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Pete & Pete Season 2 on DVD

Now I'm not one who's gone wild over nostalgia or anything. I'm not going to really write too much more on this topic because it would make me seem like a huge elitist indie jerk. Wait, nevermind.

Season two of The Adventures of Pete & Pete was released today nationwide. I bought one. You should too.