The National live on WOXY

Seems similar to another post somewhere... hmm...

Anyways, the National joined the ranks of artists whose performances in the WOXY studios are available for download online. Download it.

This is via a couple other blogs so I'm just going to give all the credit to So Much Silence and The State of the Union.

I can't make a clever pun combining one of Bryan Adam's songs and Pakistan

Bryan Adams performed in Karachi, Pakistan. He was the first Western pop star to do so since the events of September 11th.

Muslims, here are the fruits of globalization. Enjoy your crappy music.

On a related note, Ryan Adams begins his U.K tour on February 14th. This is the first time the U.K has hosted Ryan Adams since June, 2005. (Bryan Adams has not been in the U.K since the summer of '03... burn)

Scott Stapp back on the wagon?

This confirms many of my suspicions. Stapp admitted in a Rolling Stone interview he spent much of the time prior to Creed breaking up drunk and freaked out of his mind on drugs. This really explains a lot, specifically the delusions of grandeur.

But he didn't stop drinking. One evening, after polishing off a bottle of Jack Daniel's, he removed two firearms from his collection. "An MP5 SD3 and an MP5 K," he says. "Machine guns. They're what SWAT teams use." Since the Chicago show, he hadn't spoken to anyone from Creed. He'd become convinced that everyone involved with the band wanted him to die, so that he would become a "Kurt Cobain martyr-type" and boost record sales. "I had crazy thoughts going through my head," he says.

I'm not really into the whole mass-media thing, but what a head case.

Film School - Self-Titled Review

First Impression:
Final Impression:

A dreamy mish-mash of genres, Film School's debut awkwardly (yet effectively) falls somewhere between grunge and late-'80s psychedelic pop. The disconnect between driving bass lines and turned-down, tuned-out vocals demands attention by its very evasiveness.

The track "11:11" can initially be a bit misleading. It begins with a disco-punk bass-and-drum beat that evokes recent hit songs. But seconds later, synth and delayed guitar noise banish those visions of newer-wave dancing in your head for the remaining six minutes. The song continues on a disembodied journey that builds, recedes, expands and finally goes supernova, leaving behind a cloud of reverb. Tracks like "Harmed," "Breet" and "Sick of the Shame" offer a bit of contrast to moodier compositions, mostly by turning down the noise. These relatively fuzz-free songs reveal the band's penchant for melody that's often hidden by distortion elsewhere.

Film School toes the line between pop accord and complete chaos. More accessible than some similarly noisy acts, Film School shows a good deal of promise as an emerging talent.

CD Jungle benefit show in Mansfield

Well, I'm not really at liberty to talk about this in an objective way since I was involved. I was taking money at the door and couldn't really pay attention to any of the fun. But that won't stop me from mentioning it.

The annual CD Jungle benefit show for the Mansfield Domestic Violence show was yesterday evening. There were several Mansfield-area bands/artists such as Sir Rob Allen's Tintern Abbey, The Lexington Chapter, Steev Richter and Tears for Fears (as I've dubbed his stage band) featuring the Scooder, Wreck of the Hesperus, and Duff Duff.

I think that they represented. The actual level of talent present I think speaks well for my adopted hometown.

As far as Columbus types go, Eric Metronome also entertained, and Bel Auburn impressed me.

Manager Jason Z. also impressed me when he ran off a kid no less than THREE times for "funny business".

Plus, a ton of money and canned goods were collected for a good cause. Ain't a thing wrong with that.

Ryan Smith on Radio Free Tobias

Columbus artist Ryan Smith will be making an appearance on the Radio Free Tobias radio program this Tuesday, January 24th at 8 PM on 101.5 FM, WOBN in order to promote his latest release, Neil Avenue. This performance will be recorded live and immediately uploaded as a 'podcast', available for download.

Want to be a music journalist?

Adam Williams, a writer from Pop Matters, has concocted what amounts to a music journalism personality test. Here's a sample question:

3. Guitarists are mathematicians, and what they play is aptly described as angular.

I read all the answers, so I think that disqualifies me from taking the test (looks like I'll have to wait until the next test to find out if I'm meant to be a music journalist...), but my intuition on this one would scream that music is never angular. Just a hunch.

Again, going by intuition, being a music journalist involves too much pretension by assigning any sort of worth to your opinion about something as arbitrary as music. Just because I've gotten a review published doesn't make me a creidble source. I'm also not a rock musician. I'm going to have to go with no on that one, too. Although I could change my mind.

Oh, and music is not math.

Shameless self-advocation

I'm currently interning at the Columbus Alive alternative newspaper. Well anyways, I got a CD review for Film School run!

Cool.

Sparta gets new guiarist, record deal

So, in the wake of Paul Hinojos leaving to be a 'sound maniuplator' aka drug mule for The Mars Volta, fellow At The Drive-in castoffs Sparta was in need of a new guitar player.

Also, it seemed that they were released from Geffen Records. This may or may not have something to do with Geffen Records dissolving.

Anyways, it seems like they've solved both of these problems, as is explained by this press release.

FORMER DENALI/ENGINE DOWN LEADER KEELEY DAVIS NAMED NEW GUITARIST

thats what Sparta has to say about it. Very elucidating.

Cool, I suppose. Porcelain was good, but a bit of a let down, I think. Here's to new things.

Chris Mills @ The Hi-Five "review"

Stephen said a couple things about the Chris Mills show the other week. Good times.

PS: My madness continues

The Attaq MP3 blog had a post about The Cloud room a few months ago which makes references to their tour with We Are Scientists.

Why can't they leave me alone???

Interesting Story on Pitchfork about The Cloud Room

Anyone remember the buzz about The Cloud Room's "Hey Now Now"? For example, Donewaiting added the single to their podcast.

Radio Free Tobias is proud to declare it did not jump on this trendy bandwagon! Of course, those were the dark days before RFT existed. We probably would have missed it even if we did exist.

This story on Pitchfork I think perfectly encapsulates the music industry as we know it. It discusses all the different aspects of music promotion: MP3 blogs, independent radio stations, corporate radio, A&R folk, publicists, etc. A good read. Says a lot about the current state of affairs.

Sorry to keep throwing out links, but on The Cloud Room's myspace, they have a blog post about the feature, dated yesterday.

The success we've been having in Australia--radio, MTV, Rolling Stone, etc.--has proven that we weren't crazy; that a new label and band could in fact achieve succes in a country that required less money. So we'll continue pursuing US radio, head down under, expand to the UK and elsewhere, but most importantly we'll concentrate on the music (see new Sunlight Song demo).

Honestly, life is so damn short, it's important to learn from the past, but not to continue living in it.

It's a good song, anyways. Also, Pitchfork gave the LP it was on a 6.6, which is a pretty solid rating for something that was just 'thrown together' (this may also be a testament to how reactionary Pitchfork and music critics can be). WOXY also listed it as 19th on their top 97 albums of the year, which is pretty distinguished in its own right.

You can listen to Hey Now Now at the aforementioned podcast, or you can also listen to an abbreviated version on The Cloud Room's website. Or, you can stream it from the band's myspace

So many links! Make sure you click on them all!

Considering filing a restraining order...

I'm totally getting burned out on We Are Scientists and I haven't even heard their new release yet!

They had an advertisement on my audio scrabbler station! I didn't even notice Audioscrabbler did ads! But there they were!

I picture this marketing effort to be very similar to Hitler's "Operation Barbarossa".

Speaking on behalf of my demographic, I feel violated.

Akiva from the Lonely Island makes We Are Scientists Video

You know, I really hate to contribute to the media machine behind We Are $cientists (whoa dollar sign!), but this was really noteworthy.

Akiva Schaffer, who's now a writer for SNL and stuff, directed the new video for the WAS song "The Great Escape". The Lonely Island has been doing stuff forever, most notably (at least to me) of which is The 'Bu from Channel 101.

There are two versions available. You can download the boring version available on TV. Or, you can download the totally sweet banned from TV version!!!!11

Lookout Records moves out...

Lookout Records, reeling after Green Day-Gate was forced to move out of their building and sell it.

Lookout currently houses bands like Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Communique, Oranges Band, & Hockey Night.

Here's what the despondent president of Lookout Chris Appelgrenhad to say about it:

I don't know if this part should still be called "from the Prez" anymore. I think that "Letter From Chris" might be a bit more appropriate. As you all know we've scaled down operations over here pretty significantly so while I have retained my title of president, I don't preside over anyone and basically am just Chris....

Not band-related exactly, I am writing this now surrounded by boxes. Lookout Records is moving out of the building in South Berkeley that has been our home for the last five and half years.

They didn't mention where they moved.. hopefully it wasn't into Chris's parents' house or anything.

Here's to hoping they get their act together and make some money.

Celebrity Pilots live on WOXY.com

Cleveland/Columbus/Donewaiting pop darlings The Celebrity Pilots are going to be performing live on WOXY.com Friday at 3 PM. w

We Are Scientists?

Love and Squallor, the major-label debut release from We Are Scientists came out the other day. They had a successful tour with Hot Hot Heat and I think their promo photos are funny and heck, the song I heard wasn't that bad.

But why is everyone and I mean EVERYONE talking about them? It's kind of$cary. $$$$ see I put the $ instead of an S to make a point! Burn!

Interview with Chris Mills on RFT (podcasted)

Chris Mills and travelling drummer Gerald Dowd stopped in today at the WOBN studios to promote their show tonight at the High-Five Bar in Columbus. If you'll remember, The Wall to Wall Sessions, Chris's 2005 release, got my Top pick of 2005 on my top 11 list.

Anyways, you can listen to the interview here. There are four or five tracks off the album and some witty banter to boot.

I'll hammer out the RSS details later.

My microphone sounds a little crappy and due to circumstances it was transferred from audiocassette, but that's ok! It's still gold.

"Rise of the Yupster"

MSNBC has an article about the rise of indie (read: adult alternative) music in recent months.

Thanks, Stereogum.

Fine Dining - Debutantes and Dilletantes

An interesting aspect of indie-rock, particularly on a more local level, is that members of bands which play the music are often relics from college days of times past. That's why it's particularly refreshing to hear a type of music, which is most typically marketed to college kids, played (well) by college kids.

It is worth pointing out that the members of Fine Dining, currently members of both The Ohio State University and Ohio University, are all set to graduate this coming spring. Perhaps this makes them collegemen, although I'm not really sure where the age cut-off happens.

After indeed "co-opting the Columbus and Athens markets" as my counterpart Stephen pointed out, locals Fine Dining have recently released their debut full-length album Debutantes and Dilettantes to a fair amount of acclaim in local circuits. After procuring gigs at Elbo's and the Grog Shop and some favorable local press, it seems Fine Dining is on track for a five-year success plan (interestingly enough, probably by this point becoming college-rock relics themselves).

Jaded, aging hipsters will have a pretty easy go naming off influences (and maybe counting them off on two hands) as Fine Dining compositions invoke The Strokes, The Shins, Wilco, Braid, The New Pornographers, etc. While borrowing from all of these, they manage to forge ahead with a sound of their own. Combining catchy melodies and distorted guitars with time signatures, keys, and rhyme schemes that can change on a dime, the proceedings are fairly mathematical.

Debutantes and Dilletantes features some clever wordplay, this bit from the track 'Stranded':

As my thoughts began to wonder, I found my mind's eye set on you, and I smiled/ but when I stepped outside I found myself beguiled / at the treacherous conditions in the wild.

That might be iambic pentameter or something; I imagine the English majors of Fine Dining could clue me in.

The production has a lo-fi quality which sounds somewhat contrived, but is conducive to the garage-y atmosphere they are attempting to provide. These songs are best when they aren't trying too hard, and it seems like Fine Dining accidentally does this from time to time.

It's exciting to hear a band possibly headed for success in their fledgling days, as the Fine Dining boys have released a fine record full of energy and charisma. Mild shortcomings don't derail what is a clever and spirited ride.

Debutantes and Dilettantes won't shock you, but it will catch you off guard from time to time. And you'll probably smile when it does.

Fine Dining - Rattlin' The Bricks.mp3
Fine Dining - Here Comes the Warm Jet.mp3

Fine Dining's official website

Radio Free Tobias Broadcasts

Radio Free Tobias is having its inaugural broadcast (having already reached old age by podcasting-standards) Tuesday evening at 8 PM. RFT can be experienced by tuning your radio dial to 101.5 FM (if you are within a 10 mile radius of Westerville... WOBN is a small but mighty station).

The playlist is going to be a little off the cuff due to the hubub of moving back into school, but we will be getting our act together for next week. The tracks will be music from our (Mallory, Stephen, and I) top 11 albums of the year.

On that note, RFT had its first new year, and has plenty to celebrate. Even though I have been busy with other things, we have been announced on a couple official newsletters, gotten some links from other blogs, and procured some nice interviews (a few more are in the works and should be coming in the next couple of weeks). Radio Free Tobias has received a few thousand hits in the past couple of months.

The RFT podcast is estimated to be circulating somewhere around 100 listeners. The RFT weekly broadcast is beginning.

Thanks, everyone for playing. Here's to another year.

TW Walsh leaves Pedro the Lion

This is straight from Riot Act's website, Pedro the Lion's publicity firm thing (via Done Waiting).

Pedro the Lion's TW Walsh has decided to leave the band and take his life in a different direction, returning to his career as a software engineer. "Dave and I are still buddies," says Walsh, "I wish him the best, and I know that he'll continue to thrive and grow as an artist on his own...I think his best work is still ahead of him. As for me, I'm thankful for all the experiences that my tenure with the band provided, but I am sure that this was the right decision for me and my family."

With TW’s departure, Bazan has decided to drop the Pedro The Lion moniker and forge ahead under his own name. This is not to say that the Pedro The Lion name will never be used again. But for now there will be no new releases or touring using the band name.

Bazan plans to work on a new studio album in the spring and summer that will be released by Jade Tree in early 2007. Bazan’s other musical outlet, Headphones, will most likely have a new album prepped for release by Suicide Squeeze sometime after the solo effort.

TW will continue work on his new project, the Soft Drugs, and will release a debut sometime in 2006.