October 2010
1 post
shawty post
• I honestly never understood the whole shawty thing, but this is going to be abbreviated.
• Somehow, Johnny Foreigner has remained incredibly interesting and relevant over (almost) 4 albums now and a shitton of singles. Waited Up Til It Was Light is probably going to become my official #1 album after seeing songs from it live.
• The new version of The Echo & The Light by Castevet is...
August 2010
1 post
10 tags
Bleep bleep bleep.
• Apologies for not posting are for Megatokyo fans.
• I’m going to join the swelling chorus in praise of The Suburbs. While I didn’t believe in the singles being strong enough to carry the album like in Funeral or Neon Bible, I stand entirely corrected. The Suburbs, Ready To Start, Modern Man, Empty Room, City With No Children, Month of May, and Sprawl II are ALL worthy heirs.
• What...
July 2010
10 posts
The Big Show
Best local show in history. Going to change Chicago music forever. Full writeup soon.
But first, I’m doing an experiment.
3 tags
This Band is Killing Us
• I wonder if bands can ever really be aware of the kind of psychological effects their music creates in you.
• The Cap’n Jazz reunion show was last weekend. Plague Bringer was off-kilter but decent, and Gauge reminded me how far we have to go before my scene hits the highs of the 90’s. But C’J… Man. Three feet away from Tim Kinsella. He grabbed my hair. He fell on me. He...
Burnout
I really really really want to do a proper writeup about the Cap’n Jazz reunion show, and music I’ve been listening to, and some deep and interesting commentary about my paranoid fears with indie music, but for right now, I’m just too… wiped? Drained? I haven’t really even been listening to music in the car lately, it’s been just getting me stressed.
I need to...
Nervous Passenger
• Nnamdi is an indie god. Mosquitos suck. Underage kids shouldn’t drink.
• Mishu opened the night. I was surprised, because they were actually pretty good this time. Mishu has such an incredible record for terrible shows that they’ve become something of a running joke amongst our scene. We were all surprised and impressed.
• Touring bands! Black Churches were impressive,...
I’m too tired to hash up a full write-up of...
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I'm risking serious damage to my street cred,...
I think Childish Gambino’s Culdesac is objectively a better album than Drake’s Thank Me Later.
“Well,” I hear you mumbling under your breath to your Tumblr dashboard, “of course the kid who posts to Multitrack is going to think that. Between his background in Derrick Comedy and as a writer for 30 Rock, his regular appearance on Community, and his spokesmanship for...
Giant Shows are Best Shows
• Deadmau5 was insane on so many levels.
• First, just to get it out of the way; this was amateur hour, both on the attendee’s side and on the venue’s side.
• This was unlike Coachella, where I first got a chance to see the Mau5. See, anyone baller enough to drive out to the middle of the desert for a three-day drug-fueled party is a stone cold concert professional. This, one the...
House Shows Are Best Shows
• For any of you who live in the south suburbs of Chicago, you are missing out by not hitting up the (newly named) Pancake House.
• Nnamdi (drummer for Albatross, The Para-Medics, in about a thousand other bands) is in a neat position; his parents have moved to California, and left the house to him and his siblings. Which means, assuming he can keep paying the mortgage, the entire house is...
June 2010
12 posts
The Lock To My Office Just Fell Out, Whoops
• As mentioned earlier, but perhaps not mentioned with enough gusto: Steel Train. Guys, I know I’m prone to excitedly yammering about bands that actually suck, but there is something honestly huge about their new album. I count at least four singles in the first six tracks, and the rest of the CD is delicious and incredible and YOU SHOULD REALLY PROBABLY GET THIS ALBUM.
• Got home from a...
Sunday @ 5:50 PM and I'm Stil At Work
• I was only half right about the new Stars album being fantastic. It gets off to an incredible start; bombastic, if you would. But around “He Dreams He’s Awake” someone slips the beat a NyQuil and the whole CD gets the nods.
• By way of general complaint, god damn it, bands, enough with the fucking five-track mid-disc walls of mid-tempo ballads. When in doubt, play it faster.
...
Wavvvvvvvvvvvves
• The new Wavves album leaked, and my suspicions after hearing Post Acid were entirely accurate. This is nothing short of amazing. Who knew that under fifteen tracks of feedback, compression, and bullshit, we had a genuinely talented songwriter hiding? I’m probably going to listen to this a dozen times before the week is out.
• Reburned the first Pigeon Detectives album for the car CD...
The Last Few Days
• Saw This Town Needs Guns, Native, and Castevet last weekend at Beat Kitchen, before a disastrous night out with friends. Castevet is still one of the best little-known gems in Chicago, and the fact they have their record on vinyl right now makes me almost primally happy. Native was okay, a little too much on the hardcore posing, not enough of hardcore energy. This Town Needs Guns? Shit, son, if...
Stars
Their new album is going to fucking rock. I like everything I’ve heard from it. Fixed, especially, is amazing. Wasted Daylight, too. GAH
Indie World Domination Conspiracy Theory
Black Keys, LCD Soundsystem, The National, The Dead Weather, Broken Bells, She and Him, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Death Cab for Cutie, Arcade Fire.
I’ve just given you ten well-known “indie” bands (air quotes because wtf does indie even mean everything nothing etc). All ten of them have released an album that appeared in the top ten of the Billboard 200. At least two of them released albums that...
Lollapalooza Schedule
Not as bad as I was expecting. Could have been so, so much worse, but most of the heavy conflicts (for me, at least) don’t exist.
Now, Dirty Projectors, or Fuck Buttons?
Japandroids - Younger Us
The new old Japandroids...
Johnny Foreigner - With Who, Who, And What...
Right, well.
Because I can:
• Holy Fuck’s Latin is stellar. Instrumental album of the year, probably one of the top 10 across the board, and this has been a very good year.
• Kanye’s “Power” is a awesome return to form. I don’t care if people think he’s an asshole (or if he’s actually an asshole), the man is an incredibly talented performer, and one of the brightest...
February 2010
1 post
January 2010
1 post
December 2009
4 posts
2 tags
November 2009
11 posts
1 tag
5 tags
Dear Julian Casablancas, →
Stop whining like a goddamn child, get in the studio, make a new album, and ROCK OUR WORLD AGAIN. Like you did back before you made a stupid solo album. Who the hell wants a stupid solo album when we could have another Strokes album? We’ve had at least three now, plus a few random-ass side projects. Shit, man, I’d be okay with another First Impressions, at least that had a couple tunes...
3 tags
OH MY GOD YOU GUYS
Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel are probably boning RIGHT NOW.
RIGHT
NOW
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4 tags
We Have The Facts And We're Voting Yes
Maybe I didn’t give this album enough of a try the first time (read: most definitely). There’s something fascinating about hearing a band that’s now That Huge™ in its embryonic form like this.
It also makes for beautiful nighttime driving music.
Current Death Cab - Chris Walla Learning How To Produce - Ben Gibbard Marrying That Hussy Zooey Deschanel - Good Recording Equipment...
5 tags
3 tags
Post-Rock is bullshit
Okay. Explosions in the Sky. Appleseed Cast. Sigur Ros. Fuck Buttons. Seriously, guys, I can’t take this airy instrumental thing seriously. It’s just, shit, someone give me a hook, SOMEWHERE.
Music - Hooks - Intelligible Vocals + Reverb - Structure + 10-Minute Run Time - Interestingness = Post-Rock
The Raconteurs
Broken Boy Soldiers was an album built around a single. Stop right now, don’t go to your iTunes playlist, name me more than two other songs on that album besides Steady As She Goes.
Consolers of the Lonely, however, is just CHOCK FULL of killer tunes, but it seems like that didn’t have the rave reception that the first album did. Why is that? Why is this bullshit allowed to proceed?
6 tags
Show : Maps and Atlases, Vacations, Old Fake @...
I had my first show in a long time at the freshly-opened Lincoln Hall in Chicago, the new venue by the owners of Schuba’s (the quintessential Chicago bar+stage combo). I’ll write about the venue itself some other time, as it was actually exceptionally nice, perhaps almost too nice, and a great backdrop to the night.
This would be my third (?) time seeing Maps and Atlases live. Though...
2 tags
And It Starts Like:
Owl City sucks.
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