Rough Draft

Modern Minstrels

I've spent the past couple days setting up a new blog called Modern Minstrels strictly for posting about music. I post about music so often here that I decided to set up a more dedicated place for all things music (though I'll probably cross post concert reviews to both blogs).

I have quite a backlog of music posts I've been meaning to write, so in order to facilitate that I'm currently using the same layout for both sites, though as soon as I get some time I plan to give the new site it's own feel.

Here's a link to the RSS feed for Modern Minstrels.

Download Festival

Yesterday I went to the Download Festival with Mike and his friends Katie and Jason. I wasn't originally planning to go to this show because the main band I was interested in was the Arcade Fire, and seeing them at such a large venue couldn't possibly live up to seeing them at The Grand Ballroom in San Francisco.

However when I went to see Bloc Party with Mike the other week, he said he had 4 tickets to the Download Festival, and they were really good seats (about 10 rows back in the center section) so I decided I might as well go.

Jason and I got there just before Mindless Self Indulgence's set. We watched a few of their songs, including Bitches Love Me (which was the only song of theirs I knew thanks to a hilarious fan made music video involving Pikachu). Then we decided to wander around the venue for a while just to see what there was and see if we could find MIke. I was also trying to figure out where and when Extra Action Marching Band (they are a marching band but dress in gothy and other interesting attire)would be playing. Buzz had mentioned them a few times and said they are really something to see. After 30 minutes or so of wandering and no sign of a large marching band (the ticket takers didn't have any idea where and when they were playing either) we went back to the stage where Mindless Self Indulgence were finishing up their set.

Then as they were setting up the stage for HIM, Extra Action Marching Band come out from behind the stage and started doing their thing in the middle of the crowd. They played a couple songs before marching off to other areas of the show. Then I went over to check in on Jason who had entered some kind of video game tournament in the GameTap. Then we listened to two HIM songs before being bored and heading over to the main stage.

Mike and Katie were already there and British Sea Power were just taking the stage. British Sea Power was ok, but nothing too exciting. Next up were the Doves. I have one of their songs, Pounding, which they opened with. The rest of their set was pretty enjoyable as well, but would have been better if I knew more of their songs.

Then came the main reason I went to the show, The Arcade Fire. They played most of Funeral, as well as the song No Cars Go, and a couple new songs. It was a great set as expected, and during Laika when the two band members get into a fight they came off the stage and were fighting in the aisle right in front of us. They ended with Power Out and a long jam session and then Extra Action Marching band came onto the stage to join them. That was quite a site. Extra Action played a couple songs before proceeding up to the general admission area where they played for quite a while.

Finally about 30 minutes later we thought Modest Mouse was about to take the stage, but instead we had to sit through a painfully pathetic DJ performance by these two girls from GameTap who apparently had no idea what they were doing. The transitions between songs were non existent and they weren't even using headphones. It was total amateur hour. Eventually the intro to Smells Like Teen Spirit came on, which was cool, until they put Beastie Boys lyrics on top of it. Finally someone cut the speakers and everyone cheered. Of course they were still on stage attempting to DJ. It was really awful.

Finally Modest Mouse came out. I enjoyed their songs (though they didn't play Ocean Breathes Salty), but they didn't have very good crowd interaction. I think they addressed the crowd twice at most. But their songs was good, so it was all good.

After another half hour or so wait, The Killers took the stage. I really only know two of their songs, Somebody Told Me and Mr. Brightside. That also seemed to be the case for a large majority of the crowd as well. Some of their songs have pretty good beats, but it wasn't the normal sing-a-long fest you would expect for the headliner. We were also highly amused when the lead singer said, "We only have 4 shows left before we are going to start working on our new album, so we're going to do something we don't normally do and play everything we've got". Normally that'd be a fine statement, but when you only have one album, it lacks a certain punch.

All in all though it was a good day out with good music.

Impromptu Concert

My friend Mike called me at this afternoon and said he had an extra ticket to the Bloc Party show tonight. I've been listening to their CD off an on at work the last few months. It never made it into heavy rotation, but it is a good CD, so I took him up on the offer.

We left work around 6 and headed up to The City. We parked at the Metreon where we met another of Mike's friends and then grabbed some food before heading to The Warfield. The first band was The Noisettes, and they sounded much as their name implies. They were pretty good for an opening band. The drummer was pretty crazy with a full head of curly hair and fully beard. He totally looked like Animal from the muppets. The lead singer, this black British chick that could kick your ass had some pretty over the top dance moves.

The next band was a duo (male guitarist, female singer/bass player) called The Kills. The singer had the whole goth look going with long black hair, pale skin, black pants, black and white striped shirt. The music was similarly dark/industrial. They were alright, but not really my thing. The worst part about their set were these two big guys in front of us, who apparently thought this was the greatest band of all time. They were jumping and flailing around and being generally obnoxious to everyone around them. Fortunately they left after The Kills set. On their way out they said they were yelling to no one in particular, "thank you, Bloc Party sucks, up next shitty corporate rock". Uhh, Bloc Party hardly counts as corporate rock. But whatever, we were just glad they were gone.

Finally Bloc Party was up. They played a good set. The two crowd favorites where Banquet and Like Eating Glass. They played a handful of new songs, but for the most part the new songs didn't have that good dance beat a lot of their other songs have. Towards the end of the set (pre-encore) someone crowd surfed to the stage and then jumped back into the crowd. Apparently some young girl got kicked in the face when he did this, and the band stopped playing and got her up on stage and she went off with on of the stagehands. Then they of course scolded the guy that did it. When they came back for the first encore they said the girl was fine, which is good. Unfortunately, the show never got to the same energy level it had before the crowd surfing incident.

Overall the show wasn't anything super spectacular, but it was definitely a fun time and worth the $20.

Upcoming.org

Buzz recently told me about Upcoming.org, a social software site for keeping track of concerts and other live performances. There's over a thousand people registered for the San Francisco "metro", so it's got a decent user base. You can see my personal page here. I added all the shows mentioned in the previous post to my events.

The site has some cool features including RSS feeds, subscriptions for iCal, and "badges". I've added a Upcoming Concerts RSS feed for the site. You can subscribe here and I also put a link to it in the sidebar. I updated my concerts page to use their badge to generate my list of upcoming shows. I'm not taking advantage of the iCal subscription yet. The events are all listed as "all day events" rather than listing the event start time and they also don't show the venue. I'm not sure if that's a limitation in the webcal format or if they just didn't set it up to use those pieces of information.

I was hoping Upcoming.org would also be a good place to find out about new shows. There have been far too many times that I've found out about a show either after it's already sold out or after it already occurred. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how useful it's going to be in that respect though as the only event of the four I'm currently attending that I didn't have to create was Death Cab for Cutie. If anyone knows of a good central site (or better yet RSS freed) that gives listings of concerts (especially for indie shows) in the Bay Area, please let me know.

Update:
Buzz hooked me up with an invite to Sonic Living. It's a site similar to Upcoming.org, but seems to have fixed a lot of the problems I listed with Upcoming. First, they populate their show database on their own in addition to relying on users to add shows. All 4 shows I have tickets for in November were already listed on the site, so that bodes well. In addition the iCal subscription includes the show's start time and the venue so I should be able to use that as my concert calendar rather than keeping my own manual one. The site is currently in an invite only beta. I don't have any invite codes yet, but I imagine some will appear in my account soon, eventually so if you're interested let me know.

Also thanks to Jeff for pointing me to EVDB, I'll have to give that a look too. And thanks to Chris for reminding me of Pollstar. I wasn't aware of Pollstar's abilities to track up to 10 bands for you.

Rockvember

November is shaping up to be the single best concert month, ever. I've already got 4 shows scheduled: Nintendo Fusion Tour with Fall Out Boy, The Starting Line, and Motion City Soundtrack (which I blogged about here) the recently mentioned Video Games Live show, Death Cab for Cutie, and The Drive Thru Records Tour with Allister and Fenix*TX.

Death Cab for Cutie is touring in support of their brand new album, Plans. I can't wait to hear the new stuff live.

The Allister and Fenix*TX show should be lots of fun. I've seen Allister quite a few times before and they always put on an excellent show. They have a new album coming out in October, which is their followup to 2002's Last Stop Suburbia. They actually played a few new songs when I saw them in May 2004 at the Grog Shop in Cleveland and they sounded pretty good. Needless to say I'm anxious to hear the new album. Fenix*TX actually broke up a couple years ago, but they are getting back together for a farewell tour. Mike first introduced me to them during our freshman year of college. It will be cool to finally get to see them live.

Video Games Live

I found out about the Video Games Live concert in one of my weekly concert emails. I'm ordering tickets tomorrow for the San Jose show on Saturday November 5th. It looks like it's going to be a really cool show. If anyone else wants me to order them a ticket, let me know.

The Decemberists

After a nearly three month stint without going to any concerts, I finally made it to a show last Sunday and caught The Decemberists at The Fillmore.

Nick introduced me to The Decemberists a few months ago when he put On the Bus Mall up as a Song of the Week. They use a good number of instruments in their music including a violin, accordian, piano, and upright bass which makes for a fairly unique sound. Even though Nick had been pimping them several months ago, it was only within the few weeks that I started listening to them with any frequency. Fortunately, this was just in time that I was still able to grab a ticket before the show sold out (They actually played both Sunday and Monday and both shows sold out!). And boy am I glad I went as they put on an excellent show.

I found out on Friday that Buzz was also going to the show and he invited me to meet him and some of his friends at Pizza Inferno to grab some dinner before the show. We planned to meet at 6:30, so I left Cupertino just before 5:30 and got to the edge of The City just after 6. Unfortunately, there was apparently a Giants game that night which I was unaware of, so the last 3 miles of 101 before I got into the city itself took me just over an hour to get through. Ugh. After getting through that mess, I got to the fillmore area shortly after 7. Thankfully, there was a cheap parking garage nearby since I didn't see any street parking on my quick pass around the area. I finally made it to the restaurant and got some pizza shortly after 7:15. Buzz and friends were kind enough to wait while I ate my food and then we headed over to the venue and got there just as the opening band was started playing.

The first band was Sons and Daughters from Glasgow, Scotland. They're a four piece band (2 male, 2 female) with guitarist Scott and gutiarist/pianist Adele sharing vocal duties. I quite enjoyed their set. Their songs had excellent driving basslines and catchy choruses (Check them out on iTunes). They also broke out a mandolin for at least one song. I definitely plan to listen to more of their stuff.

Next up was Petra Haden and The Sellouts, an all female (10 singers total) group that did a cappella versions of songs from The Who Sellout. Sound crazy? It was, but it actually worked pretty well. I wasn't terribly familiar with the original album, but I definitely enjoyed their set. Our Love Was and Tattoo were my favorite songs they sang.

Petra also happens to be the violinist (and backup vocalist) for the headliners, The Decemberists. They took the stage to some pretty spiffy intro music and then immediately broke into 16 Military Wives. They had good energy all night and played a nice long set. The craziest part of the set was the jam session that occurred during the encore. They broke into a jam and then Colin (lead singer/guitarist) pulled this lady out of the crowd and gave her his guitar. She didn't seem to know how to play, but that didn't stop her from jumping around and strumming like mad. The bass player similarly brought up a young guy to take over bass duty. Over the next few minutes all the band members switched up instruments. The best switch was the bass player taking over for the drummer without a missed beat.

Songs I can remember they played:

• 16 Military Wives
• Odalisque
• Grace Cathedral Hall
• The Legionnaire's Lament
• Billy Liar
• The Chimbley Sweep
• We Both Go Down Together
• Eli, The Barrow Boy
• The Sporting Life

It was a great show, all three bands played excellent sets and was definitely worth the trip despite the whole getting stuck in traffic suckage.

Other notes from the evening:
Peter and the Wolf was played during one of the intermissions. Cool!

The Fillmore is a great place to see a show, because they often give out free posters after shows, so I now have a spiffy Decemberists poster to hang in my office.

I highly recommend you check out The Decemberists on iTunes.

It seems like as I was watching the show there were more things I wanted to be sure and mention in this blog post, but I can't remember what they are now. Oh well.

The Mixed Tape

In honor of the recently released single The Mixed Tape by Jack's Mannequin, I decided it'd be a good time to add a new section to my site where I can post the various mix cds that I've made / will make. Eventually I'll probably add some descriptions about each of the CDs, but for now it's just a track listing.

Where are you now?
As I'm swimming through the stereo
I'm writing you a symphony of sound
Where are you now?
As I rearrange the songs again

And this is my mixed tape for her
It's like I wrote every note
With my own fingers

August Music Recommendations

Haven't updated the music recommendations in the sidebar for well over a month, so let's do that now. I've listened to pretty much just two albums this past week at work Catch Without Arms by Dredg and Illinois by Sufjan Stevens.

Nick turned me onto Catch Without arms a couple weeks ago, and I've really been digging it. The music is rather dark and heavy, but not in a loud and screamy way. At any rate, it's really good and now I'm really disappointed that I missed their set at BFD in June. Favorite songs include the title track, Not That Simple, and my favorite by far is Sang Real. Definitely check this album out.

I got into Sufjan Stevens from Ricci by way of Nick. When Ricci first played introduced me to them, I asked how he found out about them, and he said Nick. And I responded, "I thought so, because this sounds like music Nick would like". I'm not quite sure how to describe it, iTunes classifies it as Folk. And while there is some folksy-ness to it, it's much more complex than that. You should just check it out for yourself. My favorite songs so far Come On! Feel the Illinoise! and The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders.

The other album I've been listening to a fair amount recently is One Fell Swoop by The Spill Canvas. This may be a bit too "emo" for some people, and some of the lyrics are a bit too over the top for me. But nonetheless, there's a lot of good songs on the album. I definitely like Lusta Prima Vista and Polygraph Right Now, which are two of the more electric songs on the album. I also like the final ballad, Self-Conclusion, even if it is almost the same song as The Tide (my favorite song of theirs). The album is out on Tuesday and you can stream half the songs from it on their Pure Volume site.

Now I just can't wait until the end of the month which will see Jack's Mannequin (Andrew from Something Corporate) debut album as well as a new Death Cab for Cutie album. w00t!

And on a side note, best of luck to Andrew with his bone marrow transplant. You've got lots of people praying for you. We all know you will keep on fighting.

Back to School Shuffle

The iTunes Music Store has a new playlist up called Back to School Shuffle. It's an awesome list of songs, and is arranged such that odd numbered songs are fairly well known and the following even numbered song is from a lesser known band of similar style. Good stuff.

Some personal recommendations from the list:

• Different - Acceptance
• Sugar We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy
• Everything is Alright - Motion City Soundtrack
• New Slang - The Shins
• Helena - My Chemical Romance
• The Killers - Mr. Brightside
• This Modern Love - Bloc Party
• The Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie
• Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire
• Collide - Howie Day
• Float On - Modest Mouse
• Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
• Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
• Best Mistake - JamisonParker
• Chicago - Sufjan Stevens

And there's a bunch of songs in the playlist that I haven't heard of and am going to need to check out. So if you find anything good that I haven't already mentioned, leave me a recommendation in the comments.

Oh, and I love the text from the Playlist Notes:

Does your roommate think he's cool because he loves Arcade Fire? Trump him with Wolf Parade. Wooing that girl in your lit class who thinks The Killers are the coolest thing going? Sing sweet Bloc Party nothings in her ear and see what happens.

Plus the Playlist Notes use the term "musicologist" which is what I have on my business card.

Nintendo Fusion Tour

Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, and The Starting Line @ The Warfield Thursday November 3rd. Can't wait! All three bands have just released great sophomore albums and all put on an excellent live show. This could very well rival the first show I ever went to(NFG, Something Corporate, Finch, and Further Seems Forever) as the most fun lineup of bands I've seen at a single show.

BFD 2005

On Friday Nick and I went to Live 105's BFD concert at the Shorline Amphitheater in Mountain View. Unfortunately, due to some stuff I needed to do at work I missed two bands I really wanted to see MxPx and to a lesser extent Senses Fail. I got to the show around 4:30 and made it to the stage just in time to catch Alkaline Trio's set. This was the first time I've seen them live, and they played a good set. A couple older songs, some songs from Good Mourning, and a couple from their album which just came out, Crimson. They ended with Time to Waste which is one of my favorite songs from Crimson.

The next band on that stage was Hot Hot Heat who I had actually heard at BFD two years ago when I was out here as an Intern at Apple. They sounded pretty good, I should check out some of their stuff in the future. After that Nick and I made our way over to the main stage. The first band was The Lovemakers who were introduced as "The greatest local band in the world"....only they weren't. Next up were Kasabian, who were alright but I didn't really get into them.

Then came Jimmy Eat World who was another band I was looking forward to seeing (even though I saw them just a couple weeks ago). They played a lot of songs from Bleed American, as well as a few from Clarity, and a few from Futures (woo "nickel and dimed").

Social Distortion followed them and I actually enjoyed their set. I had heard of them before, but wasn't really familiar with any of their songs. They played some good straight up guitar rock though.

Last up were the headliners, The Foo Fighters. They also headlined when I was at BFD two years ago, but I had ridden my bike and had to leave before they played. We stayed for a little over half of their set and then decided to leave lest we get stuck in the sure to be insane traffic jam. Though we should have waited for two more songs, because as we were walking in the parking lot, we could hear them playing Everlong which is one of my favorite songs by them.

All in all, it wasn't the strongest lineup of bands from my point of view, but for $12 it was definitely worth it. It was nice getting to spend time outside and hear to some good music.

CD Purchases

I stopped at Best Buy to pick up a few CDs (all under $10). I saw in their weekly ad that they had Acceptance's new album Phantoms on sale for $8. I've been wanting to pick this up for a while, but hadn't gotten around to it. Needless to say, knowing it was only $8 was all the motivation I needed. Phantoms is an album pretty much anyone can enjoy. Their single, Different, was the free iTunes download last week.

The next CD I picked up was Motion City Soundtrack's Commit This to Memory which just came out last week. This is a great followup to their last album and is filled with fast beats and catchy lyrics. My favorite tracks include Attractive Today, Feels Like Rain, L.G. FUAD and Time Turned Fragile.

The last CD I picked up was Interventions and Lullabies by The Format. I first heard The Format when they opened for Something Corporate and Yellowcard last spring and really enjoyed their set. The album has a bunch of really catchy songs like The First Single, and Tune Out. My recent favorite song is the excellent (if a bit depressing) On Your Porch.

These albums should give me some good music for the start of the summer. Though I still need to pick up the new Coldplay album and the Punk Goes 80's compilation.

All Good Things Have Endings

The Get Up Kids kicked off their final tour in San Francisco on Thursday and you'd better believe I was there. Mike sent me some of The Get Up Kids' mp3s ("Mass Pike" and "Action and Action" were my immediate favorites) back in high school and I was immediately hooked. Very soon after that I picked up the Red Letter Day EP and Something to Write Home About. They got me started with the whole punk/emo/indie scene and I have discovered so many bands since then. But TGUK remains a personal favorite and they will always be the band that started it all for me. So it is a bit unfortunate that the first time I get to see them will also be the last. But alas, on with the show!

Eric and I made it to San Francisco about 7 and stopped at the Subway right by The Fillmore for a quick bite to eat. By the time we got to the venue we still had a good 20 minutes before the show started, there weren't a ton of people in the theater part yet, so we got in the Merch line since I knew I wanted to get a shirt. I picked up a black shirt with a picture of a grain of wheat that says "The Get Up Kids" underneath. I also picked up their new Live CD since it was only $10. We got into the theater about a minute before Punchline (from Pittsburgh) came on and were only about 10 people away from the front, so that worked out perfectly.

I've seen Punchline once before, they opened for Allister at the Grog Shop last April (my last show in Cleveland). So I was familiar with a few of their songs and looking forward to seeing them. Unfortunately, only a handful of other people were familiar with them. Nonetheless they put on a good show and were able to get the crowd to sing along with a few songs and started a chant "The Get Up Kids are the greatest band in the world!" I definitely enjoyed their set and hope to see them on some more tours.

Next up was Say Anything, who I was also looking forward to seeing. They had opened for Straylight Run at the Bottom of the Hill. Fortunately at this show quite a few people were familiar with them so there was lots of singing along. They played a good number of songs including (in no particular order):

Belt
Woe
Yellow Cat/ Red Cat
Spidersong
Slowly Through the Vector
Alive With The Glory of Love

Next up were The Get Up Kids (after what has to be the longest time between sets EVER: pushing 40 minutes). After an amusing welcome message made by James behind the stage, they came out and jumped right into Coming Clean and everyone went crazy jumping and singing. It was great. By the end of the show I had made my way 2 or 3 people from the front.

Their set was pretty much everything I hoped it would be. Lots of songs, lots from Something to Write Home About, and heck they even played their cover of Close to Me. I was really surprised by the double encore. After the main set was over, it was obvious they'd be coming back for an encore. Then when they ended the encore with I'll Catch You, I figured that was the end of the show. But when the lights didn't come on after they had left the stage, you'd knew they'd be back for at least one more song and even better than that they came back for three more. It was great that they ended with a fast, upbeat song like 10 Minutes. So with that I say so long to The Get Up Kids. You've been an amazingly influential band to all your fans and to lots of other bands. Thanks for 10 years of outstanding music.

Set List
(First three songs, and the encores are in the correct order)

Coming Clean
Holiday
Action and Action

The One You Want
Woodson
Martyr Me
Mass Pike
Campfire Kansas
Red Letter Day
No Love
Don't Hate Me
Never Be Alone
I'm a Loner Dottie, A Rebel
At Least 2 or 3 more

Encore 1
Close to Me
Beer for Breakfast
I'll Catch You

Encore 2
Shorty
Out of Reach
Ten Minutes

Edit: Mike posts his review of The Get Up Kids' show in New Jersey.

Mics Are For Singing, Not For Swinging

Eric and I went to see Jimmy Eat World with Taking Back Sunday and Mates of State in Oakland last night. It was at the Henry J Kaiser Arena (the basketball arena for a local college). Eric and I think there were about 1500 people at the show, so it's definitely the biggest show I've been to in quite some time.

We got there just as Mates of State's set started. They were composed of a female keyboardist and male drummer and they shared singing duties. A couple of their songs sounded a bit Arcade Fire-esque, though not nearly as complex given they only had two instruments. Overall they were pretty good. Though for some reason I had thought The Format were opening, but I guess they were only on the first half of the tour. So I was a little disappointed about not seeing getting to see The Format.

Taking Sunday were up next. The lights dimmed and some really epic sounding music played. Music that upon hearing you would expect one of the greatest bands on earth to come out...or a band that is just really full of themselves, and TBS is certainly the latter. Now that I think about it Good Charlotte did some similar shit on their tour, so there you go.

I wanted to enjoy Taking Back Sunday, I really did. They just really weren't that exciting to watch. Most of their songs sounded a lot different than the album versions. I couldn't quite figure out what it was, different effects on the guitar perhaps. And Adam used some sort of Robotizer on his voice for some songs which really didn't sound that good. I was amazed at how still the crowd was for most of the performance. The most jumping around was done during Your So Last Summer (too bad Flava Flav wasn't with them) and Cute Without the 'e' Cut From the Team. But I was really expecting a pretty crazy crowd for their set. The band just really never got the crowd into the show. During all of TBS's set there was only a small circle pit during part of one song. To contrast during all of Jimmy Eat World's encore there was a huge circle pit with ton's of people dancing. I will say I really enjoyed them breaking out the acoustic guitar for New American Classic and then following up that song with Cute Without the 'e'. That was definitely the best part of their entire set. The one other good thing I have to say about TBS is they played all their songs in one stretch and didn't do the whole lame encore thing.

Jimmy Eat Wold came on next and this is definitely who everyone was there to see. They opened by having Jim come on stage and singing (with no instruments) the chorus to Futures, and then the band came on one by one adding background parts and then they jumped into a song from Clarity. I really couldn't even begin to compose a setlist, but they definitely played a lot of songs with a good mix from Futures, Bleed American, and Clarity. They played a great set and interacted with the crowd very well. People were jumping, dancing, and singing pretty much constantly. I even enjoyed their performance of The Middle which is probably one of the most overplayed radio songs of all time. Jimmy Eat World put on a great show, and I definitely recommend seeing them if you get a chance.

New Music Recommendations

I updated my music recommendations for the week in the sidebar. I'm not sure if I'll always make an official entry when I update the recommendations, but I wanted to talk at length about a couple of them.

First up is the album Based on a True Story by The Starting Line. Let me just say: Wow! This album is so much more than I expected. I don't put it in quite the same class as Deja Entendu and Forget What You Know, but there's no denying this album his a huge leap from Say It Like You Mean It. You still get the fun poppy hooks and catchy choruses but there's also a lot more this time around. No longer is the lyrical content strictly songs about girls. The album's title is Based on a True Story and it seems to be just that. Lots of lyrics about being on the road, being in a band, and generally growing up. And Kenny has become quite a musician, as he is credited with Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Wurlitzer, Piano, Glockenspiel, Bongos, Synths, and Harpsichord. Very impressive. I loved the acoustic album they put out a couple years ago, so I was very happy to hear a new acoustic ballad in the form of the song Photography. This album is definitely going to be getting lots listens and is sure to make my Top 5 albums of the year.

The next album recommendation is Songs for Silverman by Ben Folds. The first time I listened to this album no one song really jumped out at me and it just sort of all blended together. After a few more listens though the album has really grown on me. I listened to it at least 3 full times at work today. The songs Bastard and Landed have started to stick out as a couple of my favorites. The entire album is pretty mellow and really just pleasant to listen to. I highly recommend it to everyone reading this.

Ben's going on tour soon with Rufus Wainwright and you can be sure I'll be at that show. Also, Nick pointed me to this interview with Ben by The Onion AV Club. If you like Ben Folds, you should definitely give that read. It talks about the weird area he falls into where he doesn't really get much if any radio play, and yet he sells out huge venues everywhere he plays.

Song recommendations for the week include Grazed Knees by Snow Patrol who I saw in concert last week. Sarah had mentioned this song to me as being one of her favorites, and I have to agree. It's definitely a sad song, and yet there's something uplifting about it at the end, sorting giving you hope that everything's going to be ok.

The next song is Gravity by Days Away from their just released album Mapping an Invisible World. This is another mellow song. I really like the way the song sounds during the lyrics "Hey you, over there, is gravity getting you down?".

The last song recommendation, We Can All Get Along With Dinosaurs, I already posted about the other day.

Woo, so this post ended up a bit longer than expected. Anyways, enjoy the music!

We can all live with dinosaurs

Saw this linked to on AP.net. Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids and New Amsterdams is putting out a children's CD. There's three demo songs for download on that site. I dig it. And this quote from Matt at the end of the article is great:

"My wife was joking that I'm going to do this kids music, and you can listen to that until you're about 14. Then when you go into your angsty teenage phase, you can listen to The Get Up Kids stuff. Then when you go to college, you can start listening to The New Amsterdams," he says. "It's like my own little Viacom."

I'm a Rocker, I Rock Out

Eric and I went to see Fall Out Boy and Midtown at The Grand in San Francisco last night. The venue was a little bit further from the BART station than I thought, so by the time we grabbed some food, we got to the show about 20 minutes late and missed Gym Class Heroes. I had listened to the songs on their PureVolume page, and discovered they're actually a rap group. I wasn't incredibly excited about seeing them anyway, though it would have been cool to hear the song Taxi Driver the lyrics of which are for the most part composed of band names. The second opening band was The Academy Is. We saw them about a month ago when they opened for Something Corporate. They weren't too bad.

Finally Midtown took the stage. Mike introduced me to Midtown (they're from Rutgers, where Mike went to school) our freshman year of college, and I've been wanting to see them live ever since. They certainly didn't disappoint. They were actually introduced by their guitar tech who pretended to be Napoleon Dynamite. He surprisingly looked and sounded quite a bit like Napoleon, except he had his red hair slicked back. It was pretty entertaining. Then the band came out and Gabe had "EMO SUCKS" written in tape on his sweatshirt. He proceeded to declare emo a fad, but that rock was forever. Then they jumped straight into their set with Give it Up. The rest of their set included:

• To Our Saviors
• A Faulty Foundation
• Is it Me? Is it True?
• Empty Like the Ocean
• Just Rock and Roll
• Hey Baby Don't You Know That We're All Whores
• Waiting for the News
• Nothing is Ever What it Seems

It was good to seem them play a couple older songs in there. They were going to end their set with So Long as We Keep Our Bodies Numb We're Safe, but someone from the venue came out and said something to Gabe and they said, "Oh, I guess we already played our last song". I'm not sure if perhaps things were just running late, or if someone got pissed that one of Midtown's members lit a cigarette on stage (there's no smoking in most California clubs). It was disappointing not to hear one more song, but nonetheless Midtown played an awesome set.

The first song played on the venues speakers while they were getting set up for FOB was the Empty Like an Ocean Mash Up (a mix of Midtown's song and some rap song). I had just recently downloaded the song from here, but it was amusing to actually hear them playing it at a Midtown show. Unfortunately then the rest of the inordinately long time between Midtown's and Fall Out Boy's set was filled with standard rap. Ugh. They could have at least played some MC Lars.

Finally, the lights went out and Baby Got Back was played over the speakers as Fall Out Boy took the stage and opened with Dead On Arrival. Eric and I had been in the back-middle of the pit, but as soon as FOB started playing a whole bunch of people rushed from the back of the crowd. After just a few seconds I ended up 5 or so people from the front of the stage. It had been a long time since I'd been in the pit for a show so I decided I'd stay there for at least a while, and ended up staying the entire set. It was just too much fun rocking out. Though not expecting to be in the pit, I hadn't carefully tied my shoes before the show, so by the end of the first song, My left shoe was completely untied. Fortunately I managed to duck down and get it loosely tied and shove the laces inside my shoe before the second song started. Fall Out Boy shows are always incredibly energetic and this one was no exception. The pit was crazy the entire set, but it was a good time.

As far as I can remember, they played all the songs from Take This to Your Grave as well as 3 songs from their album that comes out in May, and one really old song that I don't remember the name of. The new songs were really good. The electric version of Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner (the song was originally only on their acoustic EP) kicked ass, as did Sugar We're Going Down which I had just heard a couple days before the show. This was my 5th time seeing Fall Out Boy, but the first time they were the headliners. Their shows are always a lot of fun and I had a great time at this one and I can't wait for their album to come out in May.

Update: I forgot this amusing story. After one of The Academy Is's songs, their lead singer told everyone to say hi to one of their stage hands. Then he says "He's single...and straight, so sorry San Francisco".

(Not a) Red Letter Day

The Get Up Kids are releasing a final live CD and then moving on. Saw this coming for a while what with Matt's second band The New Amsterdams, and James fronting Reggie and the Full Effect and playing keyboard with New Found Glory, but nonetheless it's pretty sad. Their album Something to Write Home About was what got me into punk/emo music back in high school when Mike first sent me some of their mp3s, and it remains one of my favorite all time albums. And so I say, so long to TGUK and good luck.

Songs of the Moment

Haven't really had any music posts for while, so here's a few "singles" I'm currently listening to:

Waiting by Over It
This song is off their soon to be released (March 8) album Silverstrand. Over It and this album in particular highly hyped by AP.net. The album as a whole is quite good, but not "OMG this is amazing". The song Waiting has been stuck in my head for a few days now. It's straight up pop-punk: upbeat and catchy. And what can I say, I'm a sucker for the lyrics. You can download the original version of the song from their PureVolume page.

Save Me by Unwritten Law
This is the first single off their new album, Here's to the Mourning. It's another song with a catchy chorus. The video is pretty cool too (it's animated) and has been getting some play on Fuse lately.

All That I've Got by The Used
First heard this song on the mix CD Mike included with the anime music video DVD he sent me over Christmas. I immediately liked the song then, and now it's become the second single off their album In Love and Death. They've been playing the video on Fuse quite a bit, as they should because it's an awesome video. It's partially animated, and partially the band performing. It follows this kid who is reading a book and he gets sucked into the story and he encounters animated versions of the band members as he tries to find "the end". It's very Alice in Wonderland-esque and one of the cooler videos I've seen in a while.

So Contagiously by Acceptance
Just heard this song today off their upcoming album, Phantoms, and it's my current favorite on the album. It's a bit more mellow than the other songs I've listed.

Ohio is for Lovers by Hawthorne Heights
This is my "screamo" song of the moment. First heard this song on Fuse, and the band is actually from Ohio...Dayton specifically. If I were still at Case, I'd probably go check out their live show.

Congratulations Zach

Congratulations to Zach Braff on winning the 2005 Best First Feature IFP Independent Spirit Award for Garden State! Zach's Garden State Soundtrack also won a Grammy for "Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television, Or Other Visual Media." I highly recommend the movie if you haven't seen it, and you should give the soundtrack a listen too; it's filled with really good songs by really talented bands. Zach has impeccable taste in music, which you can often hear on the song choices for Scrubs, such as last week's episode which ended with Windmills by Glen Phillips.

The Arcade Fire

I went to see The Arcade Fire with Nick, Eric, and Mike last Friday. I first discovered them through Nick's Song of the Week in September and got pretty hooked on No Cars Go. It was only recently that I had started listening to their album, Funeral (which was Pitchfork Media's Album of the Year). The music has an overall dark sound, and sometimes the "noise" and frantic pace draw you in and make you feel trapped like the characters in the songs.

Anyway, onto the show. The first opening act was actually one of the members of Arcade Fire doing a solo violin performance. It was overall pretty good. He had a sequencer that he would use to record various bits of what he was playing and layer them together in real time. Very Howie Day-esque. The second opener was some solo guitar act. I honestly don't think anyone in the audience was listening. You could pretty much just hear the crowd talking during his entire set. Then came The Arcade Fire, eight of them in all (2 guitars, bass, keyboard, drums, 2 violins, misc percussion). They played a pretty long set (I think all of Funeral and a few more songs). Lots of switching up on instruments between songs. I think my favorite song was Neighborhood #2 (Laika), in which 2 of the band members donned motorcycle helmets and proceeded to bang drum sticks on each other's heads and eventually get into a scuffle. The song is about someone's older brother that doesn't seem to get along with his family. The song became deeper and easier to understand once I googled "Laika" and learned that was a dog sent into space by the Russians and they had no intention of bringing it back. The song also contains one of my favorite lyrics: "If you want something don't ask for nothing, if you want nothing, don't ask for something". All in all it was a really fun show.

Make sure you check out their mp3s on Pure Volume.

iGeneration

Check out these mp3s by MC Lars, self proclaimed "post punk laptop rap". He's been pimped on AbsolutePunk for a while, and Jeff just pointed me to the mp3s on his site, so I figured I'd spread the word too.

More Music Picks

Mike posted his Best of 2004 music list. We have pretty similar tastes in music, but our lists differ quite a bit. His top albums includes several I didn't mention, and my album of the year, Futures by Jimmy Eat World, isn't even on his list. Definitely read his write up on I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business. I really only mentioned it in passing on my list, but it really is one of the top albums of this year. It's something I think almost anyone could get into.

I also agree with Mike's assessment that Midtown's Forget What You Know is 2004's Deja Entendu, as well as his prediction that even though we really want a new Finch album, it's going to suck.

Music of 2004

Well it's the end of the year, and time too look back at all the great music that has been released this year. I've done lots more commentary this year than last year. Please leave your top picks and thoughts in the comments.

Album of the Year: Futures by Jimmy Eat World

The advanced copy of this album lived in my car's CD player for many weeks, only to be replaced when Straylight Run's album came out. The songs are upbeat and extremely catchy. It's definitely a great CD to sing along to in the car. Even when I just have it playing as background music while I'm coding I find myself suddenly singing bits and pieces of the songs.

Now, if you're looking for a lyrically diverse album, this isn't it. Pretty typical emo song content: unrequited love, guy regrets leaving girl, erotic escapades in the backseat of a car, living a care free life surrounded by your friends, one night stands, etc. But Jimmy Eat World does these types of songs as well as they've ever been done.

Though they do dip into politics a bit with the title track. It seems to be from the point of view of someone that's decently well off, but maybe not happy with how they got there ("why is it so hard to find balance between living decent and the cold and real"). And overall corporate greed (things like Haliburton perhaps) dictating politicians decisions. And the line "I hope for better in November" pretty much speaks for itself.

I've found myself connecting with this album more than any other released this year. Yeah, yeah, go ahead, call me a lame emo kid. :-p But even aside from that the songs are just fun to listen to and sing along to, so that's why Futures is my 2004 album of the year.

Runner-up albums

Straylight Run - Self Titled
If I had to predict last year, I would have guessed this was going to be my favorite album of 2004. The demos they released on their webpage last summer have become some of my favorite songs (especially Mistakes We Knew We Were Making). The album ended up being about half songs they demoed last summer and half new songs. I have to say though that none of the newer songs really hit me like the demos did. Don't get me wrong, they are all good songs. They just didn't hit me with that 'wow, this is some of the best music I've ever heard' like their demos did.

With that aside, this is still one of the best albums of 2004. The songs are catchy and fun. When introducing people to new music, this is always one of the first albums I have them listen to. And I have yet to find someone that doesn't like what they hear. Their songs have that catchy "pop" feel that you'll find in Top 20 radio hits, but they also have really well done and deep lyrics (especially when you know the whole TBS/Strayligh/Brand New history) that attract the more discerning listener.

Say Anything - Is a Real Boy
I first learned about this band on AbsolutePunk.net, so it's no surprise this album was at the top of many staff members' End of Year lists. I quite gotten addicted to this album yet, but lyrically it's definitely one of the most fun and entertaining albums I've heard. And the lead singer Max Bemis has such a unique voice.

Other Albums

Green Day - American Idiot
Green Day is back. Great album. Still need to figure out the entire story that's being told

New Found Glory - Catalyst (It's NFG at their best. Nothing too new.)

Midtown - Forget What You Know (Huge step forward from their last album. Need to listen to this album more.

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (My favorite "dark" album of the year)

I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business - Self Titled (Side project of Ace Enders from The Early November. Very different sound and lyrical content. Excellent album)

Don't Look Down - The Fear in Love (Rock with strong guitar sound. Several good songs.)

Sum 41 - Chuck (Haven't really listened to it other than the single We're All to Blame)

Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be (Slightly different sound from their last album. Still angry. Still catchy chorus hooks.)

Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News (Suddenly they appear on MTV and Fuse with this album. Need to listen to this more. Float On and Ocean Breathes Salty were excellent singles)

Punchline - Action (Saw them open for Allister. Pop Punk. Several really good songs.)

Get Up Kids - Guilt Show (Better than On a Wire but still not close to Something to Write Home About)

Sugarcult - Palm Trees and Powerlines (Lots of good songs. Found myself liking this album a lot at first, then just not really listening to it anymore)

Fall Out Boy - My Heart Will Always Be a B-side to My Tongue (FOB does acoustic. And they do it well. Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner is awesome.)

Further Seems Forever - Hide Nothing (Third lead singer in as many albums. Light Up Ahead and Hide Nothing are great songs. Haven't listened to the rest of the album much.)

Senses Fail - Let it Enfold You (Angry and dark. Liked their EP, haven't really gotten into this album at all.)

Vanessa Carlton - Harmonium (Guilty Pleasure)

Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown (Good Rock. Have really only heard Meant to Live and Dare You to Move off of this albums but both are excellent songs)

Most Underrated Band of 2004 - Midtown
This band has loads of talent and I don't know why they aren't a hell of a lot bigger than they are. They did have a song on the Spider-man 2 soundtrack and a music video on Fuse, but still haven't really gotten much recognition. Their new album, Forget What You Know, is great and a big step forward both lyrically and in musical complexity from their previous album. They've moved far beyond songs about girls (or songs about another falling out they had). Their lyrics are a lot more metaphorical now and cover a much wider range of topics. This can be seen just in their song titles: To Our Saviors, God is Dead, The Tragedy of the Human Condition, Hey Baby Don't You Know That We're All Whores. Music this good can't go unnoticed for long, so I'd be willing to bet they get pretty big in a year or two. This also means I should catch them performing live in a small venue soon before they get huge.

Top Songs (no particular order)

Gifts and Curses - Yellowcard
Written specifically for the Spider-man 2 Soundtrack. YC (and myself) are big Spider-man fans, so this was a perfect mix. The song is absolutely beautiful and perhaps the piano is showing a future direction for YC to expand their music

Mistakes We Knew We Were Making - Straylight Run
While this song was released as a demo in Summer 2003, it also appeared on Straylight's debut CD. It's another beautiful sounding song and has great lyrics.

Kill - Jimmy Eat World
Hard to pick one song from Futures as my favorite. Looking at playcount in iTunes, this ties with The World You Love and Work as the most played (40 times each). So I picked Kill since I can relate to its lyrics the most.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Second single off American Idiot, and also one of my favorites on the album.

Failure's Not Flattering - New Found Glory
Classic New Found Glory. (Plus James Dewess from Reggie/TGUK on keyboard) One of their best music videos also.

I'm Not Ok - My Chemical Romance
Great song to sing (scream) along with. Also has a very amusing music video.

But When the Little Fellow Came Close - I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business
Nice acoustic-y song. I love the lyrics.

Put Your Phasers on Stun - Taking Back Sunday
First song on their new album. Fast paced, catchy chorus. Infectious sound that makes it nearly impossible to sit still while listening to this song.

Float On - Modest Mouse
The first single off of their new album. Really catchy and has a good beat. Good song to drive to.

Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner - Fall Out Boy
My favorite song on their acoustic EP. Really fun to sing along with.

Admit It - Say Anything
Incredibly amusing (and accurate) take on the whole "scene" thing. Makes me laugh every time I listen to it.

Run - Snow Patrol
This was a free download on the iTunes Music Store and also a Song of the Week for Nick. I just got hooked on the song recently but it has quickly become one of my favorites. I definitely want to hear the rest of their album. Also, this song manages to do something I wish I could: express strong feelings for someone without sounding cheesy or cliche.

Climbing in the Rafters - Atticus Finch
This is another recently discovered song. I first learned about Atticus Finch from Nick's Song of the Week last year. This song is off their new album. It's hard to say exactly what it is that has me hooked on the song, but I love it. Definitely a different sound from a lot of the guitar heavy stuff I usually listen to. The lead singer has a great voice.

Favorite Lyrics

This is just a small collection of lyrics that have gotten stuck in my head in 2004.

"The city lights shine for her, above them I cry for her" - Gifts and Curses by Yellowcard

"Sing like you think no one's listening" - Existentialism on Prom Night by Straylight Run

"And when they say you're not for me, I'll say 'they say a lot of things'" - Climbing in the Rafters by Atticus Finch

"How does it all add up? How does the story end?" - Autographs and Apologies by Motion City Soundtrack

"I can't help it baby, this is who I am. I'm sorry I can't just turn off how I feel. " - Kill by Jimmy Eat World

"Keep quiet. Nothing comes as easy as you. Can I lay in your bed all day? I'll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake" - Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner by Fall Out Boy

"Prototypical non-conformist. You are a vacuous solider of the thrift store Gestapo." - Admit It by Say Anything

"Alright don't worry, even if things end up a bit too heavy, we'll all float on" - Float On by Modest Mouse

"Change is coming, know it's nothing personal" - Hide Nothing by Further Seems Forever

Newly Discovered Artists

Matt Nathanson

His newest album came out in Oct. 2003, but I just learned about him this summer when I saw him with Guster and Howie Day. Beneath These Fireworks is a great album. You have to love his 12 string guitar. He is very entertaining live (both the songs and the in-between song talking with the crowd). He's from San Francisco so I hope to get to see him a few more times before he gets big.

Atticus Finch

Another band Nick introduced me to. The lead singer has a really unique voice. Very melodic music. Definitely becoming a favorite.

Lola Ray

Saw them open for Allister at the last show I saw in Cleveland. Fun, amusing songs.

The Format

Saw them open for Something Corporate and Yellowcard. They're out of Arizona and have a slightly similar sound to Jimmy Eat World (also of out of Arizona). Lots of upbeat catchy tunes.

Bands That Blew Up in 2004

Yellowcard

While their CD Ocean Avenue was released in 2003, Yellowcard really took off this year. They've done several videos which have gotten lots of airtime, played live on Pepsi Smash, wrote a song for the Spider-man 2 soundtrack. Their song Ocean Avenue is the number 18 most downloaded song on iTunes. Much of their success can be attributed to pretty much non stop touring the last year and a half. I've seen them play live 3 times since Fall of 2003. The best show being at the Agora Ballroom where Dana and I were in the front row.

Death Cab for Cutie

They signed to a major label (Atlantic). Apparently their music also gets played quite a bit on The O.C.. While I'm happy for their success, I'd love to be able to see them in a tiny venue. Transatlanticism was in the top 40 most downloaded albums on iTunes.

Modest Mouse

They've been around for quite a while, but got big really suddenly with their new album Good News for People Who Love Bad News. I'm not really sure how they all of a sudden got noticed.

Guilty Pleasures

• Vanessa Carlton (Fine the music is girly and admitting to listening to it means Sarah laughs at me. But regardless, she has a good voice, and the songs are good. And hey, she's damn cute.)
• Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved (Top 40 song. Nothing wrong with Maroon 5 in general but the lyrics in this song are so incredibly sappy...and I love it.)
• Simple Plan - Welcome to my Life (As generic and whiny a song as it is, I still sing along when it's on Fuse. Damn you Simple Plan)
• Good Charlotte - Predictable (Another song I admit to enjoying when it's on Fuse. Can't say the same for their second single, I Just Wanna Live)
• Gwen Stefani - What Ya Waiting For (Incredibly catchy. Love the video.)

Most Anticipated Albums of 2005

Brand New
Deja Entendu was one of the best albums of 2003. The band has said they have big plans for the next album, but it isn't going to sound like Deja. I can't wait to hear the new stuff. I just recently introduced Nick to Deja Entendu and he loves it. We've listened to songs from it (always including Sic Transit Gloria) on all our recent SF concert trips. So that has just heightened the anticipation.

Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab never disappoints. This will be their major label debut (on Atlantic).

Motion City Soundtrack
Mark Hoppus is producing their album (his first time producing). Can't wait to hear it.

Yellowcard
It will be interesting to see if more piano is incorporated to their songs now that Pete is back.

Fall Out Boy
Take This to Your Grave was one of my favorite albums in 2003. FOB does pop-punk better than almost anyone.

And since they did these on AP:
Movies
Garden State (Easily one of my favorite movies ever)
Napoleon Dynamite (The movie for the socially awkward dork in all of us)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (I need to watch this a second time)
The Incredibles (Yay Pixar. Ranks slighty behind Monster's Inc. for Pixar movies.)

TV
Scrubs (Incredibly funny show. Zach Braff is the man.)
The Daily Show (Jon Stewart is brilliant.)
Rescue Me (Drama mixed with Denis Leary humor. Good stuff.)

Harmonium

If you're looking for a fun pop CD coupled with a melodic female voice, check out Vanessa Carlton's Harmonium. White Houses, San Francisco, and the cover of U2's Where the Streets Have No Name are my favorite tracks so far. The CD has been my background music for the past couple nights while playing Final Fantasy: Dawn of Souls so I thought I'd recommend it.

Last.fm

I recently set up a Last.fm page, so now anyone can see the shear magnitude of my current Death Cab obsession. . It's a great way to share your musical interests and discover new bands. There really wasn't much to setup. I installed the iTunes Audioscrobbler client set up on both my Powerbook and my work computer and then just listened to my music. It uploads the current track and then as you get a large track listing built up it computes charts of top artists, top songs, etc. Then it links you to "neighbours" who have similar musical interests. Finally, everyone has a personal radio, so you can stream your music, or someone else's. Great for the occasional day when I forget to take my iPod at work. The service is completely free, though they request a donation for using the radio after 30 days of use. I definitely recommend giving it a try.

Piano Rock x2

Straylight Run and Something Corporate @ The Fillmore on February 7. Rock on!

Cigarette

One thing I don't think I've mentioned before is that in California, there isn't any smoking allowed in the clubs, which I think is great. No more smelling like smoke after shows, or ending up standing right next to, or worse, behind, someone that's smoking.

The Perfect Ending

The concert tri-fecta ended on Sunday with Straylight Run at Bottom of the Hill. Andrew joined Nick and I this time around. He hadn't been to a show before, so I lent him their CD and he really liked it. It's funny, when I saw them in Cleveland a bunch of people who didn't go to any other concerts (Angie, Tim, Jeff, and Dave) all came. I guess that just shows that Straylight is good stuff.

There were three openers: Say Anything, Northstar, and Hot Rod Circuit. I just recently started listening to Say Anything, so I enjoyed their set. Their songs and lyrics are just fun to listen to.

I haven't really heard much Northstar or Hot Rod Circuit before the show. Both were decent, but didn't greatly excite me. One interesting note is that Northstar is from Alabama, definitely not the typical pop/punk band home.

Finally Straylight took the stage. They played all the songs on their CD and John and Michelle covered Radiohead's I Will. Every song was great. Apparently no one knew the Radiohead song, because it was quiet for a second after they finished, but Nick being a huge Radiohead fan quickly started the clapping.

I absolutely love Mistakes We Knew We Were Making, and The Tension and The Terror was great live. And they totally rocked out at the end of their last song, Sympathy for the Martyr. Even MIchelle was tearing it up on the keyboard.

There was one amusing moment during the show when someone shouted "John!" in between songs. So John says, "Yes?". "You're the man!" "You're right, I am the man, thanks for pointing that out" Silly John.

After the show I was able to get everyone to sign my liner notes. And I even talked to Michelle a little this time, she was really nice and is such a cutie. :-)

Oh, and if going to this show makes me a jackass, then I'm proud of it!

Why You'd Want to Live Here

On Saturday Nick and I went up to the Warfield for a band I've been waiting a long time to see live, Death Cab for Cutie. I've mentioned them and Ben Gibbard here numerous times before. They were simply fantastic.

And stealing the list of songs they played (not in order) from NIck:

* Pictures In An Exhibition

* Title Track
* Employment Pages
* For What Reason
* Lowell, MA
* Company Calls

* Photobooth

* I Was A Kaleidoscope
* Styrofoam Plates
* A Movie Script Ending
* We Laugh Indoors

* The New Year
* Title And Registration
* Expo ‘86
* The Sound of Settling
* Tiny Vessels
* Transatlanticism

* This Temporary Life

The standout songs for me were Photobooth, Title Track, I Was a Kaleidoscope, A Movie Script Ending, The New Year, Title and Registration, and of course the closing with Tiny Vessels / Transatlanticism.

There's also a slight mishap to tell about this show. When we arrived, we went to the will call booth and Nick gave them his credit card and they said they couldn't find our tickets. So they called Ticketmaster, and apparently Nick had selected the print at home option. Fortunately though they wrote us up tickets. But here's the best part. By the time we found out about the show, only balcony seats were left, but the tickets they wrote up for us were GA tickets! Huzzah! So we ended up dead center of the tier above the pit, right at stage level. It couldn't have been more perfect than that

I also got a really cool DCFC shirt which I'll have to post a picture of at some point.

If you haven't checked out Death Cab yet, you really should. You don't know what you're missing. And if they're in your town, go see them live.

All You Need is Hate

So two weeks ago Nick and I had 3 concerts in the city in a span of just 4 days and now I'm finally getting around to blogging about them.

On Thursday, Nick, Eric, and I went to Bimbo's 365 to see a British band called The Delgados. I hadn't heard of them before, but Nick sent me some mp3s and I liked what I heard so I decided to join him. There were two openenrs. The first was 3 guys from California, can't remember their name, pretty standard rock, nothing exciting. Next up was a guitarist who went by the name Crooked Fingers. Nick had seen him before when he was in London, and promised he was good. And indeed he was. He played at least 4 different guitars throughout his set, the acoustic stuff being the best, in my opinion. He also broke out a harmonica for at least one song. Then the Delgados came up and put on a good show. Easily my favorite song of theirs is a little upbeat number called All You Need Is Hate.

Update:
I forgot to mention that the bouncer lady was convinced the picture on my driver's license wasn't me. She asked me my birthday, zipcode, and I had to get out my college ID, which looked even less like me, and show a credit card. She never really acted like she wouldn't let me in, but she was certain the picture wasn't me. I don't know what the deal was, I've not had a problem before and I showed it to people at work and they were like, "that's pretty much you."

Explosions in the Sky

I went with Nick to see a band called Explosions in the Sky at Cafe du Nord in San Francisco on Friday. First I'll say the two opening bands left something to be desired. The first was a guy and a piano. I shouldn't be hard on him though because he said he lost his voice, so he didn't sing anything and instead just played the piano. He played 3 songs, and they sounds pretty simplistic, so I think the singing would have helped. The second band, Lazarus, rather unfortunately did sing. The lead singer really didn't have a good voice, and the lyrics weren't really that exiting. They did do something cool which was have this home video type thing playing behind them on most of their songs. The lead singer was definitely drunk, high, or both and after 3 songs in a row asked "Can I get some more electric guitar in the monitor?" (said in a drunken slur). Then came Explosions in the Sky and it was all worth it. Their music is completely instrumental. You can preview some tracks on iTunes here. The changes in mood throughout any given song were amazing. It would be all slow and then they would go into these fast, crazy guitar riffs. They were really awesome to hear, and if they're ever playing a show in your town you should definitely check them out.

Warm October Night

Last Sunday I went to the Yellowcard show at The Warfield in San Francisco. Yellowcard played, without a doubt, the best set I have ever heard. They played a 20 song, hour and a half set. They played lots of their old songs and quite a few songs they haven't done live before. The setlist was as follows (all the songs are right, but might be a little out of order):

• Piano/Violin Intro (Pete and Sean)
• Inside Out
• October Nights
• Breathing
• Believe
• Powder
• Finish Line
• One Year, Six Months
• Rough Draft
• Trembling
• View From Heaven
• Empty Apartment
• Back Home
• Life of a Salesman
• Only One
• A.W.O.L.
• For Pete's Sake
• Way Away

  Encore

• Rocket
• Gifts and Curses
• Ocean Avenue

I was most excited to hear Gifts and Curses, which is a song they wrote for the Spider-man 2 Soundtrack. It's a great song, and the piano and violin sound really good together. Sean also gave a shout out to his Dad who was at the show, before playing Life of a Salesman.

The opening bands were quite good. The Starting Line played about a 45 minute set right before Yellowcard. It included Best of Me, Up and Go, Cheek to Cheek, Leaving, Left Coast Envy, A Good Night's Sleep, Given the Chance, and about 4 new songs. Good stuff.

The other two openers were Reeve Oliver and The Matches. Reeve Oliver was your typical 3 person punk band. Not bad, but nothing exciting. The Matches had a bit more unique sound and I enjoyed their set. Even better though was after the show was over, The Matches were outside with acoustic guitars rocking out on the sidewalk. It was pretty entertaining.

New Music

Picked up a couple of debut album's yesterday, Straylight Run (self titled) and Denver Harbor (Scenic). Didn't know the Denver Harbor CD was coming out already, but I saw it was listed on the iTunes Music Store. Then when I got to Best Buy, they had it for a mere $7 so I had to get it. Denver Harbor features 2 members (including the singer) from a band called Fenix TX that Mike introduced me to freshman year but they broke up a year ago or so. Their one "mainstream" appearance was their song Phoebe Cates included on the American Pie 2 soundtrack. Anyway, the Denver Harbor CD is a good CD, definitely very similar to some of the heavier Fenix Tx songs such as Ben. Not much needs to be said about the Straylight Run album, it is amazingly beautiful. My one gripe with it is the first song, The Perfect Ending. Even from the name you might question why it's the first track. Even aside from that the song is waaaaaay to slow to be the first track, so I pretty much always start on track 2, The Tension and the Terror. Don't get me wrong, The Perfect Ending is a good song, though it has taken some time to grow on me, but it really should have been the last song on the album. Mike put up a couple Straylight songs from an acoustic radio performance which I highly recommend you download. In addition to those albums Sarah brought me a couple movie soundtracks, namely Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite. Both were great movies, and have equally great soundtracks. The Napoleon CD is worth it just for the audio clips from the movie, including the greatest pickup line ever: I see you're drinking one percent, is that because you think you're fat? (pause) Because you're not, you could be drinking whole if you wanted to.

Album Reviews

Mike reviews several albums which I too have picked up recently. I thought I'd comment on his thoughts and mention a few other albums that have been getting heavy play by me lately.

Midtown - Forget What You Know
Definitely a good album as a whole, and Give it Up (which is also on the Spider-man 2 soundtrack) and Is it Me? Is it True? are really catchy. I haven't really given it a lot of listens since I've had it, so I can't echo Mike's album of the year praises. I'm definitely going to have to spend some more time with this album though.

Straylight Run - Self Titled
Straylight rocks. Period. There is not a song they've done that I haven't loved. I've heard the two sampler CDs which combined contain about half the tracks from the full length, and I have to say I can't wait for this album to come out.

My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
I saw them live when they opened for Finch and enjoyed their set. This is the first time I've heard their recorded songs though, and it's a good album. The music itself is darker and a nice change from standard rock/pop punk. Helena and I'm Not Okay (I Promise) are the top tracks.

Green Day - American Idiot
Like Mike, Dookie was one of my first "punk" albums. Hard to believe that was 10 years ago. I still listen to Dookie fairly often, though I haven't really kept up with Green Day's releases since then. Nonetheless, I picked up American Idiot, and it is a spectacular album. Mike puts it best, "a giant punk-rock opera". I too am still trying to figure out the entire story of the album, but that's what makes albums like this so fun. Are We the Waiting was the track that immediately grabbed me the first time I heard it.

Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be
Not too much to say about this one. It's a good collection of songs, and overall better than their debut album, Tell All Your Friends. Set Phasers to Stun and New American Classic are my favorite two songs.

Say Anything - Is a Real Boy
This is a really fun, wacky album to listen to. From the spoken word intro "and the record begins with a song of rebellion" to the final song Admit It! the album is filled with amusing lyrics. Admit It is a hilarious take on the whole "emo" scene, which Jeff has blogged about. You can read all the lyrics here, but the lead singer has such a good voice it's something completely different to listen to.

Jimmy Eat World - Futures
This album isn't actually out until October 19th, but I've had a chance to hear an advance copy of it, and it is my favorite new album. I will definitely be purchasing it when it comes out. I've rated 9 out of the 12 tracks 4 or 5 stars. The album starts off loud with the title track and ends with the slower and mellow Night Drive and 23. All three of which I've rated 5 stars. In between is a collection of very solid, catchy rock songs. This is a must own album.

Hey Cutie, Here's Your Death Cab

While searching on Ticketmaster for tickets to the Taking Back Sunday show next month, I discovered Death Cab for Cutie will be in San Francisco on November 6th. Talked to Nick and he ordered tickets for us. Woot! I missed Death Cab when they were in Cleveland last spring, so I'm excited to actually get to see them. Ben Gibbard is the man when it comes to writing lyrics. Also, the video for Such Great Heights by The Postal Service (Ben's other band) is good stuff. Love in a microprocessor fabrication plant, you betcha!

Tunes in Berkeley

Last Saturday Nick, Mike, Lora, Tristan, and I went to Berkeley to see Matt Nathanson, Howie Day, Guster, and O.A.R at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. I had only heard of Guster and O.A.R before, but it turned out to be an excellent show. A few days before the show I got Matt Nathanson's new CD, Beneath the Fireworks and became completely addicted to it. His music has a peppy beat, the lyrics are meaningful, and he has a great voice. In just over a week, I've listened to the entire album 20 times according to iTunes. And oh yeah, he's incredibly funny during his live show. Here's from the Bay Area and Nick said he plays a lot of shows here so I'm definitely planning to see him again.

Up next was Howie Day. After the standard break between sets he comes onstage, but I'm not expecting him to start playing because there wasn't anyone else on stage with him. I was expecting an entire band with him, like Matt Nathanson had. But no, it was just him, a guitar, and his foot pedal controlled recorders. He would start playing and then use the foot pedals to record and play back guitar parts and vocal parts. It was quite amazing to see and hear. Nick purchased his EP and posted the live version of Bunnies. Download and you can get a sense of the sound, but it's still not the same as watching him doing this right in front of you.

Guster played third and was the band 90% of the crowd was there to see. I was only familiar with a couple of their songs. I did enjoy their set though. Mike didn't like the songs off their new album which were quite a bit slower than their other songs. The best part about watching them was the drummer. He didn't use drum sticks, but instead had white tape around his fingers and played drums, bongos, and cymbals all with his hands. It was pretty crazy how fast he would move, and hitting the cymbals looked like it had to hurt.

The headliners were O.A.R.. None of us were terribly impressed with them. Mike described their music as "Jamaican Island Ska." Everyone was pretty tired, so we started to leave after their second song. But just as we were about to leave the venue, we hear their singer say Matt Nathanson's going to come out and sing a song with them. They played a cover of U2's Sunday, Bloody Sunday and it was great.

After that we left and stopped by a frozen yogurt place on campus. We got huge cups for under $3, easily 2-3 times the amount of Gelato I was used to getting in Cleveland for the same price.

Concert Outlook - Rockin!

There's quite a few excellent shows coming up in the Bay Area in the next couple months that I'm planning to attend. Nick just called to invite me to join him and some other people I know to see O.A.R., Guster, Howie Day, and Matt Nathanson at Berkley in a couple weeks. He also told me the Scissor Sisters will be back in town in September. They have an absolutely great disco cover of Comfortably Numb.

Finch will be in San Francisco on September 10. Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, and Matchbook Romance will be there October 12th. And finally (and perhaps best of all), Yellowcard and The Starting Line are touring together and will be here October 16th. I can't wait!

Bay Area Concerts

I haven't had a chance to look into the concert situation to deeply out here yet, so anyone out there know of any good shows coming up in the Bay Area that I should be checking out? A lot of the bands I want to see are on the Warped Tour right now, but I did see Fall Out Boy is doing a show at Slim's this Thursday. Anyone interested in hitting that show? Leave a comment or send me an email.

New Albums

I've been listening to several excellent new albums lately.

1. New Found Glory - Catalyst


2. Autopilot Off - Make a Sound


3. The Format - Interventions and Lullabies


4. Lola Ray - I Don't Know You


5. Midtown - Forget What You Know


6. Punchline - Action

Yay Lyrics

Woohoo! Songmeanings.net is back up after well over a year of downtime. It is by far the best place to find song lyrics. This also means the links on my Recent Tunes page work again.

YACC (Yet Another Cool Concert)

I found out yesterday that Less Than Jake, The Early November, and Fall Out Boy will be at Peabody's in Cleveland on April 22, just one day after SoCo and Yellowcard. I've been wanting to see Less Than Jake for a while, so I just might need to hit 2 concerts in as many days. I'll have to wait and make sure the Cocoa Programming Competition awards aren't rescheduled for that day though.