You tube channel

As promised, I have made a Sound of Marching Feet you tube channel. You can find it here. I just added a bunch of videos to my favorites list for now. I'll toss some more stuff up there tomorrow. It looks like shit currently, but I'll work on that when I get back from NYC. Speaking of, I'm off on Thursday and will be back on the 10th of July. Hope everyone has a good 4th of July and I'll see you when I get back.

Menomena videos

I'm still working on that Menomena show review. I forgot to bring my camera to the show, so i was hoping some photos would pop up on flickr or something but nothing has appeared. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get creative. In the meantime here are some Menomena videos to tide you over.

This is the official video for Rotten Hell. I am such a sucker for high quality slow motion video.



This is a video of Menomena performing the song "Weird" in a basement in Brooklyn. This one showcases pretty well what makes them one of my favorite bands to see live. For three guys, they play so many different instruments. The moog pedal piano thing is so awesome.



Same show as the above video, this one is for the song Muscle n' Flo.



Also, I'm thinking that since I post so many youtube videos on here, I'm just going to start a youtube channel and link it to the site. That way I can just throw up whatever videos I like and everyone can check them out.

Shows this week

The Polyphonic Spree are headlining Stubbs on Sunday night. This is definitely a recommended show. Tickets still available as of my typing, 18 bucks plus fees. Make sure you get there early to see opener Jesca Hoop. Tom Waits has described her music as "like going swimming in a lake at night." That's seriously how he described it. I, personally, think that is enough reason to show up a bit early.

The Polyphonic Spree - Running Away

Jesca Hoop - Intelligentactile 101

On Wednesday A Sunny Day In Glasgow play two shows in Austin. The first is an in-store at End of an Ear on S. 1st at 4pm. The second is a show at Mohawk with My Teenage Stride and Austin's own All In The Golden Afternoon. The show starts at 10pm. A Sunny Day In Glasgow are a very textural band. I would never describe their music by pointing out any one instrument or band member. It's an all or nothing thing. The entire sound that the band creates is what is important here. They've been compared to My Bloody Valentine before, but I think people do that more because of the similarities they have in mindset rather than the similarity of the music. Both bands make music that is very full of sound, but they make different sounds, so the comparison sort of ends right there.

Head over to Red Blondehead to check out some mp3s from the bands.

Kevin Drew - Tbtf

Download it here

Spirit If... is the first of several planned "Broken Social Scene Presents" albums that will feature the solo efforts of various band members. According to Arts and Crafts the second edition will be a Brendan Canning solo album due in early 2008. Spirit If.. is comprised of Kevin Drew penned tunes but features many of the familiar BSS members. Tbtf is the first single from the 14 track set. If you've already heard the song then you already know what Tbtf stands for, if you haven't heard it yet you'll figure it out during the first chorus (psst it stands for too beautiful to fuck). The song follows in the tried and true BSS formula of writing absolutely beautiful songs about less than poetic situations (see You Forgot It In People standout Lover's Spit for another fine example). I'm all over this one. One of my favorite songs of the year. It makes me quite excited about hearing the full album and all of the BSS presents to come.

Money gets in the way

I read on Pitchfork today about the Smashing Pumpkin's plans for the commercial release of their new album Zeitgeist. To say that I hate this is a wee bit of an understatement. To say that this is a PERFECT EXAMPLE of why the major labels deserve every ounce of shit they're getting lately is much more accurate. To say it makes me a little sick to my stomach is, sadly, the 100% truth. Greed is a fucked up thing. It drives a lot of what we see around us everyday, and is especially present in the sales and marketing strategies of the majors. I could go on for a really long time about exactly why it's a slimy move to make someone buy MULTIPLE COPIES OF THE SAME $15 ALBUM to get all of the bonus tracks (does anyone else remember the concept of the single, and b-sides and all that wonderful stuff) but you are smart people and I'm sure you share my sentiments. Hopefully by this point in time even the hardcore lifelong pumpkins fans will realize that this amounts to nothing more than robbery and extortion on the label's part and they will go out and download the bonus tracks instead of buying 4 copies of an album. The only way things will change is if people stop going along with all of this nonsense. Don't buy it and they'll stop doing it. After all, as the old saying goes, if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense.

note: The article linked above infers that this was all the plan of the smashing pumpkins themselves and not that of the label releasing the album. I personally am more inclined to believe that it is the label's idea, so I'm going to reserve judgement until I figure out the whole story. I'll update as necessary.

I'm a lazy bitch

title is self explanatory. I'm going to try to update this shite a lot in the next week because I'm going to be out of town from the 28th-10th. Things to come:
1) a review of the Menomena show at the Parish
2) some new album reviews
3) links to cool stuff i guess.

'tis all.

New Iron and Wine

Check out the new Iron and Wine song "Boy With a Coin" at My Old Kentucky Blog. This is the first single from Sam Beam and co's new album The Sheperd's Dog due out Sept. 25th on Sub Pop. I dig it.