Indie on the House

Its Been A While...

2006-09-27T17:37:00.000-04:00

So...its been about three months since I posted, and a lot of things have happened. France lost the World Cup after Zidane headbutted the Italian guy. That sucked. The crisis in Sudan remains as Bush has completely ignored the genocide because he is trying to back up his reason to go to Iraq. I've been a lot of places and seen some good bands. I went to the Pitchfork Music Festival. It was absolutely amazing. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (above) was probably my favorite act, though The Futureheads, The Liars, and Art Brut were also quite good. The band I was most surprised by was Destroyer. I had probably only listened to their new album, Rubies once. When we got there, we weren't doing anything, so we decided to watch their act before heading over to Art Brut. We were blown away. Their singer had an absolutely amazing, unique voice. Since Pitchfork, I have been listening to Destroyer quite a bit. Rubies, released in 2006, is in my opinion their best album, though I like Your Blues a lot as well. Here's a couple Destroyer mp3's.

3000 Flowers

European Oils

If you don't have Rubies yet, buy it

Explosions In The Sky

2006-06-17T23:09:00.000-04:00

Explosions in the Sky is a band out of Austin, Texas that I just discovered today. They are instrumental rock much like Mogwai. They are very melodic and focus on passion and mellowness instead of the pace and fuzzed-out electronica Mogwai brings. In place of Mogwai's agressive guitar is a clean melodic one. The band is a fourpiece with two guitars, a bass, and drums. In 2001, the band released theire first almum under the label Temporary Residance Limited. The label signed the band after listening to half of the demo. The demo was sent by American Analog Set with a note that said "This Fucking Destroys." Here a couple mp3s.

A Poor Man's Memory

First Breath After Coma
Day 6

Ahhh, the concerts begin...This Story

2006-06-16T20:38:00.000-04:00

So in the last couple weeks I have seen a lot of good bands live to kick off the summer season. To kick the season off, I went to Luna Music to check out This Story. Here is their Myspace. I'm not going to try to list the band members because there are just too many. Out of Muncie, IN, This Story is kind of like if Conor Oberst's family was very musically talented and decided to start a band with a collage of instruments from banjolins to marimbas to regular electric guitars.

The singer, Gavin Wilkinson, played guitar, one girl had backup vocals, a girl played violin, there was a saxaphone, a bells player, a drummer, a bassist, an electric guitarist, a banjolinist who also played harmonica, and a trumpet player.

During the hour or so that the instore actually lasted, the singer first broke a string on his acoustic, then switched to an electric and promptly broke two strings. The rest of the band laughed at him and told him he was terrible and an asshole.

So yeah, the band was awesome. The crowd was really small, probably ten people there that didn't actually tour with the band. It didnt seem to bother them at all, as they delivered seven excellent songs full of pain, passion, and a little bit of fun. They had the painful lyrics of Oberst with all the simplicity taken away, replaced by banjolins, marimbas, and violins. Here are some mp3s. All of them are live recordings, so the sound quality is bad, but bear with me. Follow the links, people.

Madeline Get Your Gun
Bounce
Mothers In the Kitchen
More mp3s at MFT

Their album is supposed to come out in late summer...should be good...cant wait...
Here are some tour dates. If you live in the midwest, you should definitely come check these guys out because they are awesome live.

Jul 5 2006

7:00P

The Irving Theater w/ Caleb Engstrom and Kiss Kiss

Indianapolis, IN

Jul 8 2006

7:00P

The House Cafe w/ The Like Young ( Polyvinyl)

Dekalb, IL

Jul 21 2006

7:00P

South Union Arts

Chicago, IL

Jul 22 2006

7:00P

Arrah and the Ferns Tour Kick Off at Luna Records

Indianapolis, IN

Jul 29 2006

7:00P

The Firehouse w/ The Like Young ( Polyvinyl)

North Manchester, IN

Aug 12 2006

7:00P

Standard Recording Midwest Music Summit Label Showcase

Indianapolis, IN

Aug 13 2006

7:00P

TBA w/ KaiserCartel

TBA, MI

Aug 14 2006

7:00P

TBA w/ KaiserCartel

TBA, IL

Aug 15 2006

7:00P

TBA w/ KaiserCartel

TBA, IN

Sep 30 2006

12:00P

Ameritrust Circus Building

Peru, IN

Oct 7 2006

12:00P

YART

Muncie, IN

I will probably go to the instore July 22 and The Irving Theatre July 5. Hope to see some of you locals there.

The Futureheads

2006-05-28T19:20:00.000-04:00

Finally, school is over and summer has begun. Which means, among things like some pickup games of bball, that I will be posting more often. Anyway, after a nearly two-week layoff, lets start another Pitchfork post. Here we go...

The Futureheads were formed in 2000 in Sunderland. They are from Northern England and consist of four members, all of whom sing in this vocal packed band. The members:

Barry Hyde (vox/gtrs)
Dave Hyde (vox/drums)
Ross Millard (vox/gtrs)
Jaff (vox/bass)

Their first, self titled album was released in 2004, and their second, News and Tributes is scheduled to be released tommorow, though people of the blogging world pretty much all already have it.

The Futureheads are a post-punk type band in which the vocals dominate and are used commonly as instruments as they respond to eachother like competing guitars. The result is a catchy, energetic, get-up-and-dance sound. In some parts, they actually remind me of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen because of vocal disparity and the oohs and aahs. Here is their myspace, and here are a few mp3s.

Descent Days and Nights

Meantime

Some Pitchfork Bands

2006-05-16T18:04:00.000-04:00

Okay, so first of all I haven't been able to post the last few days, so sorry about that. Anyway, onto the post. The Pitchfork Music Festival, something I mentioned in association with Chin Up Chin Up, so far has 19 artists announced on the main stages, out of the scheduled 38. Unfortunately, they have only added one in the last five weeks or so. Anyway, the festival is July 29-30 at Union Park, Chicago. Some of my favorites playing are Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Futureheads, Band of Horses, Spoon, and Devendra Banhart. It will be very hard to choose which shows to attend; everyone on the lineup looks good! I know this isn't nearly as big of a thing as Lollapalooza or Coachella, but the tickets are way cheaper ($30 for two days) and the crowds will be smaller. This will be my first major festival, so hopefully it lives up to my expectations. Anyway, about a few of the bands...

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists was founded in 1999 in Washington D.C. The sound consists of a classic rock sounding guitar and a more modern sounding voice. Throughout the years, they have stayed true to their classic rock roots. They have a kind of sing-a-long quality which makes you just want to stand up shake your head and belt out the chorus. The band consists of singer/songwriter/guitarist Ted Leo (who else?), bassist Dave Lerner and drummer Chris Wilson. Leo formed the band after his previous band, Chisel, broke up in the late 90's. The band has four albums, most recent Shake the Sheets in 2001. Here is their site. Here, also, are some mp3's. "Timorous Me" is from The Tyranny of Distance. "Counting Down the Hours"

Timorous Me

Counting Down The Hours

Okay, well I am actually running out of time right now, but I will post more Pitchfork bands later. Cya.

Shakermaker

2006-05-12T17:13:00.000-04:00

The band, out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, consists of Jesse Moorefield, Mitch Eubanks, and Brian Toomes. All three sing, including drummer/guitarist Moorefield. They released their first album Music Room at the beginning of this year, and just started work on their second. They have opened for Say Hi To Mom and Dios Malos in Raleigh and other North Carolina places. Here is how they say it started, as nobody can say it so well but them.
It started with an empty old house. Then we moved in. Then we had 3 tiny amps, guitars, an old crappy bass and 2 beep-boop keyboards in the smallest wooden room in the house. Then came the piano. And we bummed some drums. Mics and more mics. And bigger amps and a shiny new bass. And then a drummer and then no drummer. And all of our friends gave us their dust-covered instruments. And we needed a bigger room.

So we transplanted our den to the small room and sacrificied the biggest room in the old wooden house. Now it's the music room. It's the heart of the house. It's why we live where we live. We are still just 3 guys who love to play music. So we all play all the parts. We're Shakermaker in Chapel Hill, NC.

Shakermaker blends light pop with 60's guitars to form a sound kind of like the Shins gone electric. Here is their myspace and here is their site. They have four more mp3's on their myspace for you to check out. Here our the Mp3s. As always, enjoy.

Nice

Fire in the Sky

Hot Skip Jump

Architecture in Helinski

2006-05-11T20:51:00.001-04:00

Created in the late nineties in melbourne, Architecture n Helsinki is an electronic indie band, consisting of Cameron Bird, James Cecil, Gus Franklin, Isobel Knowles, Jamie Mildren, Sam Perry, Tara Shackell, and Kellie Sutherland. The instruments include analog synthesizers, the glockenspiel, tuba, clarinet, oboe and recorder along with the more typical drums, bass, and guitar. Cameron Bird is the lead singer, and the eight members play the variety of instruments.
They began playing in 2000, and released Fingers Crossed in 2003 after recording in numerous places ranging between beach houses and studios. Bar None released Fingers Crossed, but Architecture release 2005's In Case We Die on Taliem Bend, their own record label. Here is their site and Here is their MySpace. Here are three mp3s. "Maybe You Could Owe Me" and "It'5" are off of In Case We Die, and "Souvenirs" is off Fingers Crossed. Enjoy.

Maybe You Could Owe Me
Souvenirs
It'5

Chin Up Chin Up

2006-05-10T18:58:00.000-04:00

One band I simply cannot wait to see play at the Pitchfork Music Festival is Chin Up Chin Up. The chicago favorite now has two albums out, the second, self titled, above, and the first called We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers. The first was released in 2004 and the second in 2005. They are currently working on a third album, set to release in October. The band is made up of:
Jeremy Bolen: main vocals, guitar
Nathan Snydacker: guitar, vocals
Greg Sharp: keyboards, vocals
Chris Dye: drums, percussion

One note about the member list is former bass player, the late Chris Saathoff. Saathoff was hit and killed in a hit-and-run accident midway through writing We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers. The band was struck very deeply by the loss, and spent many months regrouping. When the got back together to write music again, they finished the record with the remaining bass lines kept as intact as possible, played by Nathan Snydacker.

The music of Chin Up Chin Up is hopeful, all about optimism. The music is based around hushed vocals focused on soft choruses and piano riffs. Here is their official site. Here are two mp3s off their first album. Enjoy

Why Is My Sleeping Bag a Ghetto Muppet?
We Should Have Never Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers

Ambulance LTD

2006-05-10T17:44:00.000-04:00

Ambulance LTD started four years ago, and have released there first self titled album and an EP New English. Ambulance LTD consists of vocalist and guitarist Marcus Congleton, drummer Darren Becket, bassist Matt Dublin, and guitarist Benji Lysaght. Their songs are extremely varied, and therefore hard to compare. The vocalist doesnt have a voice that is really different, but it blends well with the music. Check out their site here.

I will also leave you with three very different mp3's from their new album. "Yoga Means Union" is an extremely instrumental song based around a soft acoustic melody and harmony. "Primative" is a harder song, starring good old electric guitar and catchy vocals. Finally, "Anecdote" is based around strumming acoustic guitar, soft vocals, and a melodious keyboard. Enjoy

Yoga Means Union
Primative(The Way I Treat You)
Anecdote

Hello

2006-05-02T18:46:00.000-04:00

Hey I'm Mikey. Music is a very big part of my life. In addition to blogging and listening to music, I play bass, trombone, and a little guitar. I hope you enjoy my blog.