News From the Front

Recieved word today that NPR's All Things Considered will be reviewing Everybody Has A Dark Side on a to be determined show and date. This is awesome news as this is a show that reaches a wide and diverse audience.

"Fiddleback Weaver" will also be a download of the week for Entertainment Weekly soon... we'll let you know more soon about that as well.

We also recieved word of something else brewing that could be really cool if it happens, but we don't want to say anything just yet...

Also, D Magazine named the Happy Bullets as one of the best live acts in town in their recent August Best of issue.

This Friday, in Austin, The Theater Fire will be performing live at Emo's with Brothers and Sisters and Pink Nasty. Go out and show your support!

Theater Fire, Friday nite

This is where Chris and I will be: The Cavern, Friday nite for the Theater Fire. I always look forward to their shows as they are quickly becoming top notch live performers. The last time I saw them, they closed the set with their magnificent version of 'Members of the Show'Em How It's Done" and when that accordion kicked in midway, I got chills (yeah, I'm lame like that)...

I have no idea who the openers are and don't care too much because I'm going to spend my time upstairs preceding the show checking out gorilla vs bear's DJ set, The Jump Off. I bet he plays some stellar music so I'm looking forward to finally catching him.

Come out and join us...

EDIT:

Oh and check this out in Theater Fire related news:

They won Best Song ("These Tears Could Rust A Train") and Best Album (Everybody Has A Dark Side) from the Fort Worth Weekly Awards, voted on by the readers. So congrats to them!

And if you want to hear a stripped down acoustic set (featuring the musical saw and other cool shit) by them check out their recent appearance on the Adventure Club last Sunday. You can download the mp3s and enjoy...

The Best So Far This Year

So here's my list so far this year. It's not in order because I only do that for my end of the year list and I will say that, with a few of exceptions, I have been underwhelmed so far. Yes, I have enjoyed a lot of albums I have picked up this year, but not many that have just stood out. Usually though most good records come out in the fall so it'll probably pick up. My cut-off point is July... I have not had enough time to formulate opinions on some other records.

Liars - Drum's Not Dead
Clearly the best record so far this year is Liars' Drum's Not Dead. It sounds nothing like anything else currently, save their last record. They seem to be following their own path where they draw from a lot of sources like early industrial, krautrock, tribal shit, and post punk like This Heat and others. It is a fantastic record where the beauty is found in the rhythm and that space and absence of sound that just hangs there. There are no huge pop songs (and at times lately I have gotten so sick of the same old retread pop), no easy hooks, no unnecessary instrumentation. I have yet to get sick of this and still crave to listen to it. The first five songs blend so well together that is almost best as one piece and the final song, "The Other Side of Mount Heart Attack,"is sure to win over even the staunchest of haters. Plus, their live show this year was easily one of my favorite of all time and I have seen some great shows.

Asobi Seksu - Citrus
This is a really good record and makes for a perfect summertime listen. It's shoegaze that is bright and warm and upbeat with a great sense for a good pop song. Yes, there are similarities to My Bloody Valentine and some others, who cares? It's a good record even if it does have some clear throw-away pop songs at the end and as stated before draws from the old playbook a bit but they do have more to offer than straight shoegaze. "Strawberries" and "New Years" are a great one-two punch to start off the album and are near perfect as shoegaze songs get. (Yep I said it) Definitely one of the shining lights of the 'new' shoegaze scene.

Islands - Return to the Sea
Ok, forget about me saying I'm sick of pop. This is great music. If you loved the Unicorns you should love this as well. Not nearly as much of the corny humor but that is a good thing because you can only take that so far. "Rough Gem" grabbed a hold me and wouldn't let go for days and still has me hit the back button on the player when it is over. Great instrumentation and song structure throughout, good songs, solid singing, hooks and even a couple of rappers on one song.

Tapes n' Tapes - The Loon
See every blog and every review. This one delivers. Is it overhyped? Yes. It's not going to save your soul or change your life, but it's a very good record.

The Black Angels - Passover
I love their sound, yeah it's derivative of a lot of things but what really sets it apart for me is the combination of sounds along with that droning repetitve sound... but not in a bad way... if you like drone. I think this has been really overlooked this year.

Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
A side project from Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade. A bit rawer and less immediate than his other band but still filled with great singing and that anthemic quality. Very good stuff and deserved all that initial hype.

The Court & Spark - Hearts
This has gotten some fair to bad reviews, I don't get it. It's not outstanding but I feel the band searching for ways to break free of that restrictive and boring 'Alt Country' tag. I like the studio tweaks and the dubby, narcotic haze it has. M.C. Taylor has a great voice and a way with words. Maybe not as good as 2004's Witch Season, but worth a listen. I'm hoping they continue to try new things.

The Theater Fire - Everybody Has A Dark Side
I guess I'm biased, but I love this record. First time I heard the early demos, I knew it was going to be good. It turned out to be great. It has such a cool atmosphere and feel and transcends any kind of genre, hell, time period, you try to put them in.


A few others (that I like):

The Pink Mountaintops - Axis of Evol
Bishop Allen - 12 Months ep series
Ghostland Observatory - Paparazzi Lightning
Mission of Burma - The Obliterati
Brightblack Morning Light - s/t
The Evangelicals - So Gone
Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery

Ain't no 'I' in team

Made this a team effort by adding Chris (co-owner of UnRec) as a member. This is a good thing because he is way more entertaining than me as a writer and if he gets into this whole thing I can see him being a solid contributor. We'll probably argue quite a bit. It'll be fun. It's love-hate with us.

----

In other news... going to try and have some sort of logo designed. Going to add some more links. Will have some 'real' posts soon.

And yeah... movies. We saw Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean recently.

Superman overall was ok, but I'll not want to watch it again. Yeah, it was really well done with amazing special effects, acting was fine - Kevin Spacey was great as Lex Luthor, blah blah. Lois Lane was cute though. But, really did anyone ever get worried that Superman was going to lose? Were you on the edge of your seat in anticipation to see if he would pull out of it ok? Was Lex really going to win this time? No you weren't because it is Superman the guy with every cool power who is invincible (basically). Oh and it was confusing to have the guy that plays Cyclops from the X-Men as Lois Lane's boyfriend. I kept waiting for him to bust out the laser beam from his eyes... what a disapointment. And really, nobody has yet to figure out the whole Clark Kent - Superman thing? Do the glasses and goofy demeanor really fool all these people? Superman as a hero sucks. I'm an old school comic book fan and I never liked him. I want somebody dark like Batman or a team of people with powers, not one all powerful basically god-like figure. I can't relate. And his outfit sucks. Call me biased. That's my motto.

Pirates however was very entertaining. It may not be 'cool' or whatever to say you like those movies, but the first one was fun... this one was fun. I could watch Johnny depp do his Captain Jack Sparrow routine for hours. It's awesome. Cool special effects and good direction with some great over-the-top acting. Go for a matinee to kill some time and have some laughs. Now I'm primed for the third installment. Oh yeah... stay till the end after the credits.