- Part 9

K442384N

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Yuck in Concert from The Social, Orlando

Oct 112011

Grunge-y noise rocksters (I love that I just make up words), Yuck, stopped by The Social last night to lay down a wall of fuzzy pop distortion. One indicator of a good songwriting is to develop a signature sound while simultaneously creating catchy songs with great hooks that have instantly recognizable melodies on their own. Yuck is a able to construct relevant indie rock songs like this under the retro blanket of early 90′s grunge influence.

A solid rhythm section roots these songs in a strong foundation as the duel, wall-of-guitar approach adds a heavy and sometimes psychedelic aural aesthetic. Mostly rhythm guitarist and lead singer, Daniel Blumberg, hunches over his Gibson SG and crunches out chords looking like a young, malnourished Bob Dylan. Even more impressive than Daniel is mostly lead guitarist, Max Bloom’s, ability to wrangle the squelching fury of all his pedals enough to hear the harmonics and soft touch he lends behind the noise. I think he is a guitarist to watch as the band evolves.

The opener was Porcelain Raft that sounded something between Icelandic trance rock and American indie laptop pop. It’s a dichotomy: Simultaneously amazing that single songwriter performer can manage all the loops and machines and pedals to create an ambient concert experience while equally amazing how much having a real band would be so much better. Does that make sense?

The show was a short, energetic run through of most of Yuck’s material. Since they had the headlining spot this time around I expected more extended jams and deep cuts or covers to stretch out the show and flex some muscle. Other than a few mini jams and the epic “Rubber” it was quick and concise and I was home by 11:30. Man I’m getting old.

Yuck at The Social Tonight.

Concert Previews No Responses »

Oct 102011

Yuck caught my ear when I saw them open for the Smith Westerns at BackBooth where they summarily blew SW off the stage. They were a scraggly bunch with the Smashing Pumpkin / Sonic Youth girl bass player configuration. Like those bands they also wielded a crunching avalanche of sound with their embrace of squelching feedback guitar heroics. Yuck received nothing but praise for their debut and kept the momentum going by touring with bands like Modest Mouse and Teenage Fanclub and recently re-releasing a deluxe version of their album with 6 new songs.

“Go Away” sounds like a catchier Dinosaur JR. song …

Get Away by Yuck

They’re big guitar sound also lets them get a little psychedelic and experimental like on this performance of “Rubber” from Room 205

They will be at The Social tonight with Porcelain Raft. So go.

Album Review: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Hysterical

Sep 222011

clap-your-hands-say-yeah_hysterical-album-review_kisses-and-noise

Hysterical, the new release from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah sounds anything but. The album is refined and mature. It is closer to Some Loud Thunder being heavier on more elaborate orchestral-type pop arrangements than the thundering disco beats and clean bass lines adorned with jangly duel guitars that made their debut album remind me of an east coast Modest Mouse.

It is actually a nice compromise between the sounds of the first two albums. On the first song, “Same Mistake,” old disco beats marry-up nicely with new strings and the ever-constant forlorn and unintelligible vocals of Alec Ounsworth. The title track, “Hysterical,” combines a quickened pace with a more soaring and tonal guitar approach inflating the song beyond mere indie whimper. Ounsworth’s lyrics ring true with sentimental conviction as always on “Misspent Youth” as he sort of hits the nail on the head. “Maniac” is the first song I hear that sounds like it would lend weight to a live show. “Into Your Alien Arms” feels like Talking Heads until it breaks out into a loud and feedback drenched solo outro a la Sonic Youth and “Ketamine and Ecstasy” is what I’m on right now – ha – no – it kind of sounds like The Cure with echo-y guitars conjuring feelings of 80’s new wave.

“Into Your Alien Arms” by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Hysterical is getting critically pounded because a 5-year hiatus returned a safe, middle-of-the-road effort. I can see how it fails to achieve the charm of their first album and the wild experimentation of the second, but I feel they defined themselves by taking some of the best bits of those two approaches. It’s an album that warrants more than one or two listens before all the nuance of the instrumentation and John Congleton’s (Walkmen, David Byrne) production sinks in.

Orlando Calling and Arnold Palmer Hospital Share Healing Through Rock!

Editorial 1 Response »

Sep 142011

Representatives from Orlando Health and the Arnold Palmer Medical Center along with founders of the new rock music festival, Orlando Calling (including Festival Republic’s CEO Melvin Benn), and the ubiquitous Joey Fatone gathered at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children today to release some great news. The Orlando Calling event donated 10-large to benefit the Music Therapy Program at the hospital.

Fatone_Benn_Orlando-Health_check-presentation_orlando-calling

In addition to the giant check – literally (I know a place we can cash that right now) – they facilitated the donation of four Gibson guitars to be auctioned for the program’s benefit. These lucscious axes will be signed by Orlando Calling talent including Bob Seger (Seger!) and The Killers.

Guitars for auction_Orlando-Calling_Arnold-Palmer-Hospital_music-therapy-program

The Music Therapy Program is made possible through Joey’s My Healing Harmony – a program of the Fatone Family Foundation. The program provides a credentialed music therapist to assist children as they heal and grow through music. They help hospitalized children learn instruments and understand music theory as a way to relax and cope with pain and discomfort in addition to providing channels for socialization and self-expression.

Local band and Orlando Calling performers, Savannah, played in the hospital’s atrium. The stars of the show were the hospital patients including a little girl that strummed guitar with the band, twinkled out some melodies on the keyboard, and sang an Adele cover with Joey on bongos in the therapy room.

Locals and Orlando Calling performers, Savannah

St. Vincent Raises the Bar with Strange Mercy

Album Reviews, Video of the Week This Week No Responses »

Sep 132011

st-vincent_strange-mercy_album-review_kisses-and-noise My current celebrity lady crush, Annie Clark, is back with a new St. Vincent album titled Strange Mercy. I always understood St. Vincent to be a pixie-ish waif with a great voice and tender, graceful pop songs. That is until I saw her on Austin City Limits with her full band just tear the ass out of it – changing seemingly mellow numbers into guitar-infused rock. Live, her dainty songs were supercharged with energy and sprinkles of true “axe-work” handled competently by Annie herself.

Strange Mercy highlights some of her live strengths, making great use of charging beats and generous dabs of grinding guitar. The first two tracks, especially “Cruel,” capture the best of what St. Vincent has to offer. Cathartic lyrics housed in elegant and soaring pop and brought down to earth with the chunkiness of electric guitar.

Read my full review at Suburban Apologist

Smashing Pumpkins Begin to Unearth Rarities for SPRC

Coolest Song Ever! ... Right Now, Editorial No Responses »

Sep 102011

Billy-Corgan-in-hoodie-with-fender_black-and-white In usual fashion, Billy Corgan is cranking out music and wading through a pile of projects. In addition to getting behind a wrestling promotion venture and very slowly releasing the 44 free online tracks for Teargarden by Kaleidyscope as well as putting the final touches on the album-within-an-album, Oceania (Due out in November), he is also digging through the mighty SP’s vast archives. They are putting out remasters of their original albums that will be augmented with extra discs that include demos, alternate takes, live performances, and unreleased music from each record’s era.

If you enroll in the Smashing Pumpkins Record Club by visiting their home page and leaving your email you will immediately get a demo version of “Drown.” You will also be able to find this raw, mean-ass instrumental demo of “Geek USA:”

Smashing Pumpkins — Suicide Kiss Geek No Vox by Smashing Pumpkins

This project will connect fans with loads of free material as it is uncovered in addition to the remastered sets for sale. This could prove to be a massive amount of music. As fans of SP know, most songs have several alternate versions and for every one song that makes it to an official album there are dozens of others that don’t. What makes this exciting is that SP b-sides are just as epic as their album material. “Starla,” “Plume,” “Bye June,” “Chewing Gum,” “Drown,” “Slunk,” “Meladori Magpie,” “The Aeroplane Flies High” and hundreds more are considered b-sides.

This is the first version of “Here’s to the Atom Bomb” which appeared on the original free Internet album, 2001′s Machina 2: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music and again on Judas O: B-Sides and Rarities. This is the rockin’ version:

“Here’s to the Atom Bomb” by Smashing Pumpkins

Here is the more new wave-y alternate take. In addition to the musical approach, this version also has alternate lyrics. Despite these changes it is still the same song at the core. This is what I mean about how much stuff could possibly pour out of this SPRC project.

“Here’s to the Atom Bomb” (alt) by Smashing Pumpkins

NOTE: I actually stole the name of my blog from this version: “With Kisses and Noise / Now they belong to you all.” I feel like I have to put that out there because there is a song by The Used called “Noise & Kisses” and I dread the mistaken connection.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra: “Little Blu House”

Video of the Week This Week No Responses »

Aug 302011

unknown-mortal-orchestra_kisses-and-noise There has been sort of an “Incense and Peppermints” roots revival of 60′s psychedelic guitar rock. Bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre have been doing it all along but more recently, outfits like Tame Impala, The Love Dimension, and even Smashing Pumpkins are busting out albums characterized by pop melodies drenched in guitar effects and reverb, harkening that hazy Hendrix meets Blue Cheer on the corner of Haight and Ashbury sound. Unknown Mortal Orchestra is capitalizing on the same vibe. This trio is out of Portland although the singer is from New Zealand. UMO can be pretty eclectic, but fuzzed out retro guitar rock is the constant theme. This is a live performance of “Little Blu House” from 4Eyes TV.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – ‘Little Blu House’ from 4eyes on Vimeo.

New Find: Morning Teleportation – Expanding Anyway

Coolest Song Ever! ... Right Now 1 Response »

Aug 272011

morning-teleportation_expanding-anyway-album-review Finally! A band named after a technology I could totally use! Modest Mouse frontman, Isaac Brock, discovered some serious talent in Portland via Kentucky’s Morning Teleportation and signed them to his new Glacial Pace record label. Brock also took production duties on the band’s debut album Expanding Anyway. Their sound is frantic and eclectic. They sometimes even sound like Modest Mouse with a dash 70′s guitar rock and a large intravenous dose of methamphetamine.

The tunes are frenetic, changing tone, tempo, and style on a dime. Large rock choruses give way to folk undertones then charge straight into psychedelic math rock. The descriptions are schizophrenic, but the bipolar shifts in the music are always held together with creativity and strong songwriting. The album is varied, but never seems to make a misstep. There are grinding, off-kilter guitar progressions, fiery guitar solos. samples, bits of synth, banjos, horns, and lots more sprinkled throughout the Expanding‘s solid rock core. Singer, Tiger Merritt’s voice shifts from indie rock to folks-y balladeer to a howling, angry Frank Black – often in the same song. It is hard to pick a track that sums up all their sound. The title track, “Expanding Anyway,” “Snow Frog vs. Motor Cobra,” and the epic, 9-minute “Wholehearted Drifting Sense of Inertia” (sounds like it could be a Modest Mouse album title) are great examples, but the slightly shorter “Just a Figment” may be easier to digest on first listen:

“Just a Figment” by Morning Teleportation

Orlando Punk Rock: Grave Return

Local No Responses »

Aug 232011

gravereturn-orlando-punk-rock Local punk music is not usually something I get into. I mean, I love the music and the fact that it’s out there; it means people’s heads are in the right place and music isn’t completely losing its balls, but local punk acts are generally too numerous to sift through for the gems. Local punk bands become local rock bands once they develop some dynamics and grow more adept at crafting melody. Rarely do purists polish their sound to be a true, solid punk act. But, now the current socio-political climate is begging for punk music to rip through and amp up awareness and angst.

My desire for antiestablishmentarianism led me to Grave Return. This band is a culmination of years of local circuit experience. Members have been in bands like Racin’ for Pinks and The F Pipes to The Shaking Hands and Shyster. It’s not that Grave Return is highly political or anything, but their sound is steeped in classic SoCal spirit. They cite Adolescents, Descendants, and Agent Orange among others as influences and the first-wave California punk shines through on songs where Guitarist / Vocalist, Matt whiting takes the lead:

Black Surf by Grave Return

Most of the buzz is around Grave’s SoCal leanings, but I also hear dashes of northeastern punk like Dropkick on anthemic tracks that Vocalist / Guitarist, John Grimaldi shouts through. GR mixes the right portions of classic influence, modern cues, and loving spiritual guidance from Jamie Gillis to create a powerful and resonant brand of music.

Rocket Summer by Grave Return

The band is currently on hiatus as drummer TJ Weeks awaits the birth of his daughter. They will be smashing faces again in October.

MORE AWESOMENESS FROM GRAVE RETURN:

Follow Grave Return on Facebook

Orlando Punk Rock on BandCamp

Listen to Grave Return on SoundCloud

My Morning Jacket Review and Video from Red Rocks 8.4.11

Concert Reviews, Concert Video No Responses »

Aug 092011

my-morning-jacket_red-rocks_concert-review_kisses-and-noise I wouldn’t flinch if some governing body deemed My Morning Jacket the best live rock band in music right now – not a bit. The band is tight and rocks the fuck out – capable of cranking out pop rockers, electronica-tinged experimental indie, psychedelic jams, crisp country ballads, and anything in between with ease. They are incapable of doing wrong because their eclectic and masterful sound is tethered by Jim James expansive vocals.

What better place to experience the voice of a bearded Kentucky angel than the majestic splendor of Red Rocks Amphitheatre? A geological anomaly of sandstone projecting from the foothills of the Rockies creates one of the best, most natural acoustic environments on the planet. The acoustics are preserved by massive “Ship Rock” at the back of the venue and “Creation Rock” to the side, all while the bands performance emanates from another, smaller sandstone monolith behind the stage. The scenic beauty and acoustic perfection are accented by sweeping views of the park and greater Denver on the horizon. MMJ’s performance was further supplemented with a sustained, cool mountain gust for 3/4 of the show and a heat lightning storm in the distance.

mmj_setlist_aerial-view-of-red-rocks OK, now that I got all this talk about powerful rock bands and acoustically perfect venues out of the way, there were some serious sound issues for the first half of the show. This would have been a large let-down considering the excitement of seeing a band that sounds like MMJ in a venue like that, but the overwhelming grandeur of the experience prevailed. It seemed, at times, I could hear the band playing through their onstage rigging while the large PA system cut in and out. The discrepancy between the volumes was irritating. The acoustic and quieter songs came off without a hitch, but the larger songs with effects like distortion and reverb were marred. I chalk this up to electrical problems, human error, or the relatively strong breeze during most of the show. Somewhere past the halfway point the PA system took over with crushing volume. The earlier patchy sounds were gone and the amphitheatre was filled with rock (no pun intended) the way I anticipated.

Jim James and company brought a big setlist with new stuff like the rousing “Victory Dance” as an opener as well as “Circuital” and “Out of My System.” They played a good mix of classics including “Golden,” “Magheetah” (the only song in the second half with a sound issue. For about 20 seconds there was this god-awful sound of which I could not determine the origin that was louder than the instruments ), and they even brought out a rarity in “The Bear.” The highlight was a magnificent, 20 minute extendo-jam of “Dondante,” a swirling and chaotic “Run Thru / Strangulation” and a crushing encore that included a huge “Wordless Chorus,” “Holdin’ on to Black Metal,” “Anytime,” and “One Big Holiday”

On albums, MMJ is taking on a more mature singer / songwriter approach to music as opposed to the big alt-rock jam sound of the past. Catching them live brings the best of both worlds.

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