Vol. 2, Episode 16

Hey all,

Last night was The Pains of Being Pure At Heart concert at the Triple Rock Social Club. The Doors opened at 8. We showed up a little bit after 8. The place was almost empty at that time. We found a table on the edges of the dance area and planted. I had never been to the Triple Rock and was amazed at how small the place was. I had never been to anything smaller than First Ave. I thought that was the smallest club ever. The Triple Rock is a quarter of the size of First Ave. The opening group, Twin Shadow, did not come on until about 9. They were ok. The drummer was rock solid and so much better than the rest of the band, sorry guys. The lyrics left something to be desired. The keyboards were quite good though. I cant say that I altogether enjoyed the nostalgic sounds of Morrisy or other low toned 80s vocal sound rehashed. But, I am not that big of a fan of The National either, kind of the same sound. The groups lead singer asked if this was where The Replacements came from, he thought this was fact. It was true but the crowd seemed to poo poo this question because it was common knowledge. The replacements are too popular for this particular crowd to acknowledge, hipsters.

There was a break between the sets. This is when I went up to the merchandise booth. They had every thing that was still in production, CD and vinyl. They had the 7” 45 of Say No To Love. I had purchased that earlier in the year on CD. I decided to get it. I looked at the guy that was selling me the 45 and realized that he was the singer for the band, Kip. I had him sign the cover on the spot. I thought that it was so cool that he was selling his own product. I went back to my table and the collector in me kicked in. I had to have all of the band members’ signatures. The group started sound checking after that. I tried to get the keyboardists signature, I thought it was Kim for some reason, just after the sound check. She had her mind on preparing for the concert so I did not get it then.

The second half of the concert started after that. The instant that the music started I wanted to see the group play. I got up on my chair with one knee and the other foot on one of the runs of my chair. That just was not cutting it. I went to a kneeling position on the seat of the chair. That was so much better. I was in that position for the rest of the concert. That was painful when I got down I tell you. Kip was so much fun to watch. As was Peggy, Not Kim as I found out after the concert. The lead guitarist, Christoph, and the bassist, Alex, were just not into the concert. I don’t know if they are always like this or if they were just not into playing for crowds. The drummer, Kurt, was having fun but still was not as fun to watch either. They played all of the singles, some of the regular album tracks and a few b-sides during the show. When they said that they were going to play their last song I was so bummed. They finished that song and like an eighth of the crowed disappeared. I kept screaming for the band to come back on. They came back on for three more songs. It was awesome. The joint basically cleared out after that.

I hung around to get the rest of the bands signatures on that 45. I got Christoph then Kurt. Alex came out a bit after those two. Then I hung around for a bit waiting for Peggy. I finally asked Kurt if he could get Kim so I could get her signature. He said, “Oh, you mean Peggy.” I said, “Yes, Peggy. I don’t know what I was thinking, Peggy.” I felt like a moron. I think that she reminded me of a Kim because I knew it was Peggy. Anyway, I followed Kurt down to the stage. Kip then asked me if I wanted his signature. I said that I got his when I bought the 45 but that I needed Peggy to sign. I think it kind of dawned on him that I was that guy that asked him to sign when I purchased it. He ran back stage real quick and Peggy came out right after him. She signed and I thanked and complemented her while she signed. To the other members of the band, I don’t think I thanked you for the show, thank you so much for a great show too.

I wanted to send a thank you note to the band the following morning. I signed on to the Facebook and wrote a quick note to the group on their page. I went to take a look to see if maybe they made a comment back. I found that the post was removed. I went looking for other ways to contact the group. I went to their web site and couldn’t find a way to leave them a message any where. I went to their record company and couldn’t find anything there either. This was a bit disappointing. How is a group supposed to know where their fans are and get any kind of appreciative feedback if they can’t hear from their fans? I hope that they find their way back to this blog in some way. Thanks so much guys. I hope you can come back to Minneapolis MN again. I had a great time and thanks for signing the 45!

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's Setlist:

Belong
I Wanna Go All The Way
This Love Is Fucking Right!
Higher Than The Stars
The Body
Heaven's Gonna Happen Now
Stay Alive
Heart In Your Heartbreak
My Terrible Friend
Come Saturday
Young Adult Friction
Strange

ENCORE
Everything With You
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

For more on this concert check out the City Pages review too.

Thom Yorke – Eraser
This is a solo effort from Thom. It is mainly glitch beats but there is a fair dose of real instruments involved as well. Even though there are lots of electronic sounds this album sounds good. I think that anybody could get into this album. It is done very well and musically sounds great. The album was released in 2006. I like the album but I don’t really have a specific memory associated to the album. This was during a time where Christian music was starting to push out every other album. I tried to keep up with my other music tastes while learning about new Christian acts at the same time. I did not have time to listen to every thing but I still bought the things that I liked in pop music. It is good music, I know the songs, but I don’t have a concrete memory associated.





The Postal Service – Give Up
The group is Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel. The group decided on the name The Postal Service because of the way in which they wrote the music for the album. Jimmy would record the music for the songs and send them via USPS to Ben and he would edit and add vocals. I liked this group but did not know much about them when the album was released in 2003. It was not until 2006 that I got the CD. I got this album and the other three singles as a birthday gift from the girl that I would end up marrying. Our birthdays are about a month apart. We each got each other a music gift. I got her a copy of Tapes ‘N Tapes – The Loon. I had no idea who they were, some local band. Any way, back to The Postal Service, the groups sound is a smooth sign wave of synth geniusness. I also just realized that all of the songs on this album, in iTunes, are labeled wrong. How weird is that? I was looking at the track list thinking where are the singles. I also have this album on vinyl. I have never listened to it but I own it. I really should listen to it though.

Nine Inch Nails – The Slip
This album was released in 2008. It is the last album that Trent Rezner has released as NIN. He sais that there will be more music from NIN but is not sure when. This album was originally released for free on the NIN web site with a physical release done later. The album was released on CD in limited quantity, 250,000 units, and as a 180 gram vinyl. The CD also came with a DVD that had some live rehearsals of some of the tracks on the album including the single Discipline. There were some artwork stickers that came in the package too. I remember coming back from my wifes’ parents place and stopping at the Best Buy on the way to pick this up. It was just a quick run into the store to pick it up but it was my fist time in that particular store. It is neither a good or a bad memory, more of a first time memory. The single from the album, Discipline, did not have a physical release. This is the first time this has happened with the group. This is also the first album that does not have a major record company backing NIN. This is probably the reason for the lacking CD single. The single charted well on the charts, top ten peak position for the most part.

Oingo Boingo – Nothing To Fear
This is the second album that the group released. It was released in 1982. I believe that there were a few singles on this album. There was a video shot for the song Private Life. The video basically depicts the lyrics as they are sung by Danny Elfman, the lead singer. The second single was Insects. This song featured electronic sounds that sounded like bugs buzzing around. The third single, Wild Sex (In The Working Class), was a song used in the John Hues movie, Sixteen Candles. Danny has an unmistakable voice. This album is one of my favorites. It was one of my first vinyl purchases when I started getting into collecting vinyl. I remember purchasing this album along with a few others used from a local record store called Cheapo Records. This was at their old location. The new location looks almost the same as the old on the inside. This is sort of funny to me. The only difference is that the toilets are located at a different part of the store. I kind of like it, it is a change but it is the same. The album is come classic new wave music that should be in everyone’s collection.

Owl City – Ocean Eyes
This album was released in the summer of 2009. This is the second album from Owl City, Adam Young. The big hit from this album was the song Fireflies. It was the most downloaded song that summer, what ever that means. My son loved this song. Every time it came on the radio he would sing along. I downloaded the song for free as it was featured on iTunes as a free download. He was able to listen to the song when ever he wanted. My wife was taking him to school and they would listen to the song every day that she took him to school. I bought this album for my son that Christmas. I got it for him as his first album. He was so excited. What is better is that I got it for him on vinyl. We did not know it until he opened the packaging but the records, it is a double vinyl, were colored. One is white and the other is a clear rich blue color. The album came with a digital download coupon too so we could listen to the album on the go. The album is really a great positive album for kids. I am glad that we got it for him.

Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits EP
The Foo Fighters put out a greatest hits album. I have no need for a greatest hits album from the group. I have all of their albums already. There were some extra tracks included. I wanted these tracks but was not willing to shell out the money to get 13 songs that I already owned. I found out that iTunes was selling an EP with the tracks that I wanted. I purchased that in an instant. The EP consists of 4 songs and a video of one of those tracks. There are two new songs, Wheels and Word Forword. There is also an acoustic version of Everlong and a cover of the song Band On The Run, originally recorded by Paul McCartney and Wings. The cover is very faithful to the original recording. This is what I like best about the cover. It is not done in a way that the Foo Fighters think it should have been done it was done to sound as close to the original song as possible. The acoustic version of Everlong is very good. It is just Dave Grohl singing and playing guitar. It is just a good version of that song. The two new songs are good but obviously would not have worked on a full album. Wheels sounds like something that Tom Petty would have written. I like it. The video is of Wheels and is nothing more than the group playing in a recording studio with very little light. The video is nothing special really. I am glad that I found a way to get the songs that I was missing with out buying a bunch of songs that I already owned.

Vol. 2, Episode 15.5

I have uploaded my demo album to the sound cloud (SoundCloud.com)

You can check it out here.


I will try to get a full post up tomorrow.

Vol. 2, Episode 15

Record Store Day (RSD) was this past Saturday. I took my son over to Down In The Valley in Golden Valley. We stood in line for about 10 minutes. We talked to the guys in front of us while we waited. For some this day is a big deal. As we talked to these guys I found out that they had coordinated with others to visit other stores at the same time. They had also been to other stores that had already opened to pick up other rare items. I was surprised to find this out. I knew that the items were limited for RSD but I am the only one of my friends that would drive out to a record store to stand in line fore something like this. It was definitely an experience for my son. He had no idea about what was going on. I had asked him if he wanted to look at the list of items that would be available the night before. He said yes and then completely forgot about the whole idea. I did look through the list with him in mind but I did not see anything that he would have been interested in. He really likes Owl City and Linkin Park. Neither of which had a release for RSD. I think that he is too young to expand on the hard rock genre yet. There are some good bands similar to Owl City but he is not ready to expand the music he likes yet. He has access to our iTunes library on his computer but it is too overwhelming for him now.

So when the store opened we were handed numbers. I got 26 and the boy got 27. We went through the line. When it was our turn I asked about the few items that I was interested in and ended up getting two of the possible five things that I was interested in. I did not get any of the singles that I wanted. They were not all that important anyway. I wanted the Death Cab For Cutie single but it was sold out. I later found out that it was not a single but a sampler for the upcoming album. I was not so disappointed for not getting the 7” after finding this out. What I did get was the Gorillaz – The Fall and Pearl Jam – Vs. The Gorillaz LP was a RSD release only, limited and numbered. The album was only to be released on CD for the regular release. I listened to both albums and they both are spotless, the best sound that I could hope for from a record. I will be going over both of these albums along with a few others next.

Gorillaz – The Fall
So the album is based on apps available on the iPad. There are some really great sounds that are made on this album. What I really like is that some of the songs do not have any lyrics. It is my kind of music. There are some guest appearances but not as many as on their previous albums and some of the appearances are musicians not vocalists. The music is composed of live artists and electronic beats. Both Mick Jones and Paul Simonon from The Clash make appearances on separate tracks. I have a high respect for the clash so to have them on tracks from this album makes it that much better to me.

Apparently the album has been released to the fanclub in a download format last December. If I were a part of the fanclub I would have downloaded the album but I would rather have an album in a physical format anyway.

I found these quotes from the fictional band members. I thought that they were funny so I will share them here.

Fictional frontman 2D stated the following about The Fall:
"Uhmmm....The first Gorillaz album, our debut record, was more Russel's...like.... Lots of hip-hop, funk, and Cuban dub stars. Demon Days, right, came more from Noodle and her dark doomy demos that she made, and all of her contemplations on the world in a place of night. Plastic Beach came out mainly from Murdoc's head: all of his mucky exploits and global collaborations and legendary mash-ups recorded on the Plastic Beach island in the middle of the ocean. Very rum and piratey.... And this one, The Fall, is mostly just me...something more gentle and just...well...it's just me and an iPad really mucking about...trying out some stuff. Just looking at America and then tapping on the screen...I'm not really concentrating too hard on it.... So, right, each album got all of us on it somewhere, but each time it's...more of one of us than the others.... Well, that's how I see it anyway."
—2D
Fictional bassist Murdoc Niccals also said about The Fall:
"Well, this is curious.... I don't remember recording this one at all. A whole album...and nothing. But it's got the Gorillaz name on it so I must have done it! Did I? Really? Yeah...I probably did. Did it on an iPad using all the music apps...Fatbooth, FaceAche, iBeer, InstantAlbum...all the great apps. Great appz.... Anyway...to all of you technology lovers out there...the CD and digital release will be out soon. "April-ish!" Parlophone said to me...."
—Murdoc
Then via the official Gorillaz Twitter, 2D said, “If Plastic Beach was an island, The Fall is it's jetty...just a nice bit of...er...wood sticking out the side.”

Pearl Jam – Vs.
Originaly released in 1993 this album is seven times platinum. It was released on CD, Cassette and vinyl. You could even download it now. I first purchased this album on CD. The case was a special design called an eco pack. It has very little plastic in the case mostly paper. I remember that my girlfriend in 93 bought the cassette. The title of the cassette read “five against one”. I did some research and found that some of the cassettes were sent out early and some of them had the title “five against one” and some of them did not have a title at all. The vinyl release did not have a title ever. I remember thinking that it was so cool that she had a limited edition version of the cassette. I am sure that she has since completely lost the cassette. What I thought was cools is now lost for ever. I do still have the eco-pack CD so what ever.

I was excited to get a vinyl copy of this album. I did not get the great memory recall that I usually get with this album. This could be that I have so many memories attached to this album. I will try to go over as much as I can though.

When this album first came out I had gotten my first CD Walkman. I remember listening to this album after school while I was having fun with the other music students that stayed after school. The Walkman fit in the pocket of my letter jacket just right.

My girlfriend and I had a group of friends that would get together to play D&D. We would listen to music during and afterword. I did not introduce them to this album but it was an album that we listened to while we played the game in the basement of the girlfriends house. It was an album that we were all excited about so it got played frequently once it was finally released.

I remember listening to the album one particular fall day. I was driving, taking the back way over to North Town. I remember the sunlight that only shines a specific way on a fall day. I remember the breeze that blew the colored fallen leaves across the road. I also remember the red brick buildings of the school that I passed on the drive. It was a great day for that drive with that music on. I also remember singing along with the music with all my might. Singing the first track, Go and then on to Animal. It is a great memory. I must have recorded the album to a recordable cassette. I never had a CD player in my car during those years.

U2 – October
Although this album is not one of their best albums it is part of the trilogy that makes up the first three albums that the group put out. This is the second album from the group. This is the one piece of said trilogy that I was missing. I still need the third part of the second trilogy. But that is a story for another day. This album, October, is usually ranked least liked by fans of the group. There are a couple good tracks on the album though. Gloria, the first single released for this album, I a good track. The track reminds me of The Police. Something in the way that Bono sings on this track reminds me of The Police any way. The other two songs that were released as singles, Fire and October, were not that great. They are good songs but could have been so much better. All in all it is a good album that could have been so much more. I think that the group realized this and made a better effort on the next album, War. I was only six when this album came out and my parents did not listen to the under ground sounds. As a result I only remember Gloria from this album. I don’t remember it very well either as it probably got very little airplay on the radio. I like the stuff from U2, especially the 80s stuff. I like the music from the 90s too but it seems to be harder to find. I am not a big fan of the 00s music though.

Elvis Costello – Armed Forces
I knew that I wanted the first three albums from Elvis Costello. Last year the three of them were repressed on vinyl. I found the first two a few months ago. I was happy with that. I just couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t find the third one. I knew what the cover photo was supposed to be, a bunch of elephants on a rampage. Recently I looked the album up on Wikipedia. I found that the US cover is a paint splatter and not the elephants. The elephants were on the cover for the UK edition of the album. They are also on the cover of the repressing. I felt like an idiot because I had seen the paint splatter cover many times at the various used records stores that I go to frequently. Well, I knew what I was looking for now at least. Lo and behold, the first record store that I went to after finding this new information out had two copies. I bought the better of the two. Then, after that, every record store that I went to had copies of this album. What a world that we live in.

Of the two singles released from this album I remember the first one better. The two singles from the album are Oliver’s Army and Accidents Will Happen. I remember Oliver’s Army because the music on this song is very catchy. I never listened to the lyrics for this song; they seemed to blend in with the music when I listened to it. The other single is kind of watered down but the chorus seems to stick out to me a little bit. I have probably heard both of these tracks on the radio as a kid. I heard these songs mainly because my mother listened to the top 40 station of the day. It is all good music but his voice is not always the best to listen to.

John Lennon – Imagine
I have wanted this album for a long time. The title track is so meaningful in so many ways. The music that accompanies the lyrics is just perfect. The piano is recorded to perfection. It is truly a sad but positive and powerful song. This is the only single released off the album that I am aware of. I could honestly care less about the rest of the album but the rest of the album is pretty darn good to my surprise too.

I picked up a repressing of this album, from the Capitol vaults as the sticker on the plastic said. It is a faithful repressing featuring the poster and the postcard that came with the original release. The pressing of the album is not that great. Side one has a bad scratchy sound that comes in and out through the whole side. This is disappointing since the title track is why I bought the album. The second side is perfect. I think it was not able to cool enough at the pressing plant so when it was released from the press it was a bit warm still or stuck to the press when it was released causing the scratch sound. It is not that big of a deal for me though since I have records that sound worse than this in my collection. It is just that it is a new record and you always want the new records to sound better than the used ones.

Phil Spector was given producer credit next to Lennon and Ono on this record. This is probably why there are so many soaring background instruments on this one. I think that this album would have been fantastic if it were just Lennon and what ever instruments he used along with just a sparse backup band where needed. It is still a great album and I am glad that I have a copy of it finaly.

R.E.M. - Reckoning
This is the second album from the group released in 1984. I bought this album repressing because I couldn’t find a used copy. I have found quite a few of the early albums from the group but not this one for some reason. I am still looking for a couple other albums, Lifes Rich Pageant and Green, from the group and would probably buy repressings of them too if they came out and I still had not found used copies yet.

There were two singles off this album. The first was So. Central Rain. I remember the chorus from this song. There is not really much to say about it except that it is something that I recognize from hearing on the radio. The second single from the album is (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville. The song has a great country feel to it. the chorus is basically the title of the song. It is apparently a song to one of the members girlfriends pleading that she stay with him instead of going back to her parents place in Rockville MA. It is a good song and anybody and everybody would probably recognize the song instantly when played. The album is good especially if you are into the jangle pop that was popular in the underground (college rock) 80s sound.

At The Drive-in – Relationship of Command
This is the third and last album from the group. It is also the one album with any commercial success for the group. They are a post-hardcore group or at least that is what they have been dubbed. If you can handle the heavy sound and loud voices there are some great melodies that happen in the music. That is the real reason that I like this album. The group has a great sound and shows that heavy music can have great melodies too. It is really too bad that they disband after this album.

There are a few singles from this album. The first single released was One Armed Scissor. Apparently a one armed scissor is a mix of vodka and Red Bull. Not that this is what the song is about but this is a neat little tidbit about the song title. “The song is about their tours told from the omniscient character named the one armed scissor who sees their hardships they deal with while on tour.” This is pulled from Wikipedia according to a Channel V interview. The next single is Rolodex Propaganda. This song features Iggy Pop doing backup vocals. The third single from the album is Invalid Letter Dept. This song is a bit more slowed down. It is still a heavy sound but there is more space between the notes that are played. The song's lyrics and music video deal with the Juárez murders, a series of rapes and murders in Cd. Juárez of young women who worked in factories called maquiladoras. Cd. Juárez is located just across the U.S.-Mexican border from El Paso, Texas, ATDI's home town. The song explicitly criticizes the federales, or Mexican police, for their lack of response to these cases.

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
Bon Iver is Justin Vernon. Vernon independently released Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago in July 2007, the majority of which was recorded while spending three months in a remote cabin in Northwestern Wisconsin. The name, Bon Iver, is a play on the French phrase "bon hiver", meaning good winter. The album was given a full commercial release in February 2008. When this album was commercially released I thought about getting it. I decided not to. I did not know it but my wife and I went to The Electric Fetus in November 2008 to look through some music. She bought this album for her sister to give to me for that Christmas. I was happy to receive it and had no idea that they had corresponded together to accomplish this task. I really thought that my sister-in-law knew what I liked.

There were many songs off this album that were released as singles. It is really a great quiet album. Skinny Love was the first single released from the album. This is the first time that we hear Vernon sing in his falsetto that is used throughout the album. It really draws you in to his pain and the seclusion that he was in while living in the cabin. The cabin becomes an instrument of its own on the album and it is especially heard on this first single from this album. The next single from the album is For Emma. This is a slower song with some echo/reverb applied to an electric guitar sound that uses a slide ring. It is a good song but not as good as the first single. The third single is called Re-Stacks. This is another good song but still not as good as the first single. I thought that Flume should have been a single. This is just as good as Skinny Love in my opinion. This is the first track off the album.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out
I like jazz music. I played jazz growing up in school. When I find albums with songs that I have played or recognize I will buy them. I picked up the album Time Changes from a used record store. I liked it and did some research on Dave Brubeck. I found that he has put out a lot of music in his life time; he is still alive I think. I then found that the song Take Five is on the album Time Out. I looked on line and found that the album had been repressed on 200 gram vinyl. I got it as soon as I could. There is something great about this song, the smooth jazz feel and the solo that fits the song perfectly. The album is very short, only 7 songs but it is still a full album. It is not that I am thinking that it is good that the album is over but that it has a good ending and feels complete when it is finished. I don’t own much jazz music but I really like jazz music. I guess it is more that I don’t know where to start with jazz because there are so many recordings of the same song. It is not like today where the studio recording is the standard recording and the live recordings are extra. With jazz music it is more that the live recording is so different every time depending on the soloist. One could drive themselves nuts going after every recording of the same track with jazz music.

Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
This album was originally released in 1993. This was also an album that my friends and I would listen to during our D&D gaming sessions. I take credit for introducing them to the group and this album in particular. I had originally seen the music video for the first single on MTVs 120 Minutes. This was a great show that aired late at night and featured new and upcoming artists that were making videos. I saw the first single, Cherub Rock, on this show. I liked the song so much that I went out and bought the cassette. The second single, Today, caught everyone else’s attention. I am sure that none of the kids that I played D&D with would ever give me credit for introducing them to the group but I know what the facts are on this one. I liked the album so much that I went back in their history and found that they had also released a previous album and an EP. I picked up both of those too.

This album was well liked by the public and many singles were released from the album. The first was Cherub Rock, which I mentioned earlier. The second was Today. The video for this featured the group driving around in an ice-cream truck over to a gas station. It appeared that the gas station was not being used anymore; it was out in the country. The group found various paint cans that may have been in the gas station. They proceeded to paint the ice-cream truck and themselves in the process. They painted the truck in all different colors. At the end they drive off and drop off each member as the song fades out. The next single is Disarm. I thought this song was great at first. The problem came when I couldn’t turn on MTV or the radio with out hearing this song. It started making me sick only hearing this song. It is not that it got stuck in my head after hearing it. It was just the hearing the song over and over. I got sick of hearing it. The instant I heard the opening with the bells and timpani I would instantly turn it off or change the channel. The last single from the album is Rocket. This song leads off with a cool distorted guitar sound and just before the vocals start the guitar gains a second layer of the same sound. It is so cool. This is an important album in the history of rock especially if someone is after the grunge/post-grunge sound of the 90s.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Daytrotter studio live recording
This is a live four track studio recording from Daytrotter studios. I have never heard of this company/studio but I got a message from TPOBPAH that they had done this little recording and that it was free. I downloaded the recording and listened to it. It was perfect, almost to perfect to be honest. It sounded almost just like the studio recordings. But, the difference was that the recording space was different. Just like I said earlier about the cabin that Bon Iver used gave it’s own personality to the recording. The same holds true for this recording too. It is different in the recording space and that all of the members of the group were playing at the same time. That gives some added dimension too.

That is all I have for now...

Vol. 2, Episode 14

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Belong (album and 7” single)
Alright, as promised, here is the review of the new album and the single released just before the album. I was excited to get the new single from TPOBPAH for the song Belong. This single is in support of the album of the same name. I got the package and opened it right away. I was shocked to find that the new single was shrink wrapped instead of in the plastic sleeve bag that I had gotten from the record company. It was not that big of a deal I guess. When I opened the shrink wrap I was also surprised to find that there was not an inner sleeve. This was also not a big deal. I was excited to find that the record inside was a bright pink. The record was still pressed at 45 rpm, I was also happy with that. The record is also a very clean sounding record. I haven’t had a problem with any record that came from Slumberland yet. The single is a great song, incredibly catchy as well. The B-side is I Wanna Go All The Way. I have the demo version of this song on the CD single for Say No To Love. The demo was an OK version but the final studio cut on this 7” is a lot better. The music is a little more subdued and the vocals stand up a bit more. There is also a more distorted sound on the final cut of this B-side. It is a different mix and I like it.

I got this album from Insound. I thought that the record was supposed to be colored. I guess that I was wrong. The record also came shrink wrapped. The record came in a rice paper sleeve with an additional graphic sleeve. The record also came with a download card. As it turns out the downloaded files are at 320 kbps. The album, Belong, starts off with the track Belong. There is some really cool distorted sounds and clean sounds that contrast each other very well. The album is, over all, a slight change from what the first album is. I am not sure if the change is strictly in the producers of if the group has actually gone in a slightly different direction. I like the album but it doesn’t seem like enough of a change to hook me further in with the group. It is good but it could have been better. The couple singles off this album jump out at me when I listen but I don’t hear the hook that draws me in on the other tracks. It may be that I am not hearing them because they are all lined up with the other songs or it could be that there just are not any more singles off this album but the two that have already been released. This remains to be seen I guess.

Talking Heads – Speaking in Tongues
I remember the first single, Burning Down The House, off this album. Actually, I remember seeing the video for the song. It was for sure an interesting watch. This song was the first song that made it to the top ten for the band. This is the fifth album for the group so it took a while for them to make something that the public thought was great. The album was released in 1983. The album was liked so well that the group also put out a live album supported by a video. Both were called Stop Making Sense. I will try to get to this at a later date. The other song that I remember hearing is Girlfriend Is Better. This song contains the lyric “Stop Making Sense” which is where the title for the live album/movie comes from. It is a good fun song. The last song, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), on the album was the second single from the album. David Byrne has said that this was a love song, just a straight up love song. He has also said that the Naïve Melody in the in the title of the song refers to the fact that the bass and guitar parts are playing the same thing. I recall seeing the video to this one also. In it he is dancing with a lamp similar to Fred Astaire’s dance with a coat rack in the movie Royal Wedding. This is a great new wave album from the early 80s. There are some great tracks on this album and the rest of the album if very good too.

Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
This album was released in early 2007. This was about the time that I had a musical epiphany. I found a new kind of music. I had been stuck on the late 90s alternative rock for so long. I started looking for new music. What I found was a new radio station, 89.3 The Current. It is a public radio station that plays everything and then some. I learned of so many new bands that I liked from this radio station. I think that I spent about 600 bucks on music that spring. I loved it, everything was new. It was a completely new world of music that I didn’t know existed. I guess sometimes that it is difficult to keep your hand on the pulse of music. Especially of you turn a blind eye to it. I wanted the hard rock to continue but it some how faded away to unimportance and other genres popped up in its place. This album was on a much more grand scale. It was recorded in a defunct church giving it that grand sound that very few albums actually have.

The first single was Black Mirror. This is the first song I remember hearing on the radio and the reason that I bought the album. The song starts with a rolling thunder sound that leads into the bass and lower end piano sounds, encompassing the grand sound of the album to start off with.

The next song, Keep The Car Running, is also the second single. This is my favorite song on the album. The bass guitar has that rubber band sound that I have talked about in the past and the bass line is a fun bouncy riff that I may have come up with myself if I wrote music more often. As it is now I may just have to rework the riff to use it later.

Intervention is the third single off this album. It starts off with a grand organ. It is probably the one that was left in the church that the album was recorded in. It is a good song but it seems to drag. This may actually be due to the organ that is used.

The last single from this album is No Cars Go. This is more of a rock song. It is also my second favorite from the album. There is an orchestra that is used that seems to keep pace to the rock and roll parts of the song. The orchestral parts also have their place in the song. It is not present throughout the whole song. This is a good thing and adds to the general tension of the song.

This is a good introduction to the group and a good start to the new indie music that is out there now starting from the mid 00s. There are many bands that are out there now that I would/could say this about and I will try to get some more of these out there for you readers.

PurelyHim
I did about eight hours of work this weekend on my own music. I did some mixing and cutting and even a little recording. I still need to do some recording for one last song before I will consider this project finished. I started work on this project in 2007. It has taken an extra long time to get through this project. I had a few life changes that happened and my recording process had also changed. I was recording using only a piece of software called Reason for the 2 years prior. It only allowed me to record using synth and sampled sounds. At that same time I also purchased an M-box 2. This came with a copy of ProTools but I was trying to learn one software at a time. I made two albums with Reason, one a year. I then decided to start to learn ProTools. It took 4 years to get through recording and editing that third album. I am now going to start using a new piece of software. It is called Record and is made by the same company that put out Reason. The two pieces of software work together. Record can also use the M-box 2 to record analog sources like ProTools did. This should be an easier way to record music for me but I have yet to use it. I just need to finish up this last track so I can start creating new music.

That's all for now.