Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience

So the Gin Blossoms recently came up in conversation...  they will be performing at a small theater in downtown New Bruanfels called the Bruantex.

I briefly considered attending until I heard that tickets would be retailing for over 45 dollars.   That's a hefty sum for a band I rarely go out of my way to listen to and I'm pretty sure I saw them perform in some capacity in the late 90's.   

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The album New Miserable Experience is certifiably one of the best debut albums I've ever heard.   I recall purchasing this my Freshmen year of high school and listening to it a lot while commuting on bus between Mercedes and San Benito.

I didn't really listen to the record much until college...  when the band kinda came up again in conversation.  I vividly remember my friend Donald getting upset at me for owning the album.  He had some weird issue with the band for failing to pull together a proper follow up album.  He said something to the effect of "they were supposed to be the next Replacements...  "  then he drunkenly changed the subject to something else.   Donnie is difficult like that sometimes.

Slipped the album out for a few spins last year when I heard my friend Robert Vito had covered them on his Blackbird Sing album.   I'm still shocked by how incredible the song tracking is on this album.

The first four tracks are absolute keepers.  The song "Cajun Song" is one of the few southern hill country songs I can actually stomach... and the deep tracks on the record such as "Found out about you", "Allison Road" and "29" make this album so easy to listen to all the way through.

If you haven't listened to this album in a while, give it a spin.  I think you'll find it reading as I did.

Stand out tracks:

Artist: Gin Blossoms
Album: New Miserable Experience
Producer: Gin Blossoms, John Hampton
Label: A&M
Recorded: Ardent Studios, AB Recorders

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Penning today's entry from the work desk...  came into the office after the Market Meeting to get some additional things done on an ERP project we launch in 86 days.

Reached for a trusty album to give me the urgency I needed throughout the day.   

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Whatever People Say I AM, That's What I'm Not came at a time in my life when I didn't go out of my way to listen to a lot of music.   I was in between residencies really...  I had relocated all of my music to Texas by way of Detroit and when I moved from the valley to San Antonio, it took several months before I even displayed and catalogued my stuff.

My entire collection was kept in boxes and I didn't want to unbox any of it until I got proper shelving.  This in turn, lowered my interest to buy anything that was coming out.  I would occasionally make a few exceptions and did so when my friend Heather insisted I check them out.

I'm not sure how someone doesn't immediately fall in love with their blistery delivery...  Take for example the song "Still Take You Home".  If you listen closely, you can imagine seeing them performing this live and feeling the floor underneath you give way.  

I can't stress how fucking brilliant the lyrics are on this album.  One of my favorite lyrics can be heard on "Riot Van" - involving an exchange between an officer and Alex Turner. 

Anyhoo... the entire album is amazing.  Here are my favorite tracks:

Artist: Arctic Monkeys
Album: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Producer: Jim Abbiss, Alan Smyth
Label: Domino
Recorded: Chapel Studios, 2 Fly Studio, Telestar Studio

Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues

So I've spent the past couple of weeks listening to the new Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues...   it only took one listen for me to realize that I needed to learn more about Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas James Gabel).

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Before I type another letter, I need to point out that I arrived at the foot of this record from a point of complete ignorance.

I was vaguely familiar with the band Against Me!, but never went out of my way to listen to anything they've released since the album Reinventing Axl Rose.  I was completely unaware that that Thomas came out as a transgender in Rolling Stone in 2012...  so I sorta had my bell rung when the opening lyrics of the album start with:

Your tells are so obvious: shoulders too broad for a girl.
It keeps you reminded, it helps you to remember where you come from.

You want them to notice the ragged ends of your summer dress,
You want them to see you they see every other girl; they just see a faggot.
They hold their breath not to catch the sick.

The bell ringing doesn't stop in the opening track... I've poured over every lyric on the album and haven't been this moved by an artist sharing a genuine story since I heard Perfume Genius - Put Your Back Into It.

Can't recommend this album enough.  It's likely going to be the most courageous albums I'll get to listen to in 2014.

Stand Out Tracks:

Artist: Against Me!
Album: Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Producer: Laura Jane Grace
Label: Total Treble Music
Recorded: Total Treble Studios, Studio 606, Earthsound Recording, Motor Studios

3 Apps You Should Check Out - Pacemaker/Reporter/Three's

Picked up two apps this week for my iPad/iPhone that I wanted to quickly recommend...

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The first one is a very simple game by the name of Three's.  It's a simple puzzle game that pairs matching numbers...  it then becomes insanely addictive.

Currently my high score is just above 2,700 points...  I will undoubtedly be on the brink of breaking it when time doesn't permit to play.

 

 

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The second application I want to quickly plug is called Reporter.  I've only had it for one day, so by "plugging" I mean - check out this application created by Nicholas Felton.  His report creation skills are sick!

 

 

The last app I want to plug is called Pacemaker.  An application that transforms your iPad into a DJ mixing table.  

What I love most about the app is that it allows you to mix music on Spotify.   I spent an absurd amount of time the other day mixing Fugazi's - Waiting Room with LL Cool Jay's - Rock the Bells.

The application is free... but you have to drop a couple of bucks to have access to all the awesome effects.   I dropped the 10 bucks and picked up every single offering.  I would have spent twice as much, because I think that highly of the application.

 

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The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

Another frigid day outside and brutal workday within the office space...  I've spent an alarming amount of time at the office this week and have decided to take a record player to the office.

The idea is to not only encourage some of my officemates to bring in some vinyl to spin, but to also spin records I pick up at Sting Ray's on Friday's.

Brought in an album I picked up on one of my recent travels out of the city...  haven't had a chance to spin it properly - so I was pretty stoked about getting to listen to it while getting some work done earlier this evening.

The album reminds me of Modest Mouse's - Lonesome Crowded West

The album reminds me of Modest Mouse's - Lonesome Crowded West

Discovered this album during a breakup a number of years ago, but rarely go out of my way to revisit it.   It doesn't bring back any painful memories... it just vividly transports me to a time and place I don't care to revisit.

A few weeks ago, while attending a Front Bottoms show, said person came up to me to say hello.  While I wasn't shocked to see her at the show - I introduced the band to her a couple of years ago and she genuinely expressed interest in them.   I was in the middle of a deep conversation with my friend Donald and quite possibly upset her by appearing disinterested in catching up with her.   It was bad timing and decided to just leave it alone...  

Her birthday was yesterday... I thought about sending some birthday wishes, but opted out of doing that so I could address it indirectly in this post.

If you're reading this, it was nice to see you the other night.  It wasn't my intention to blow you off...  it just happened during a deep discussion with Don.

Happiest Belated Birthday...

Now that I've got that off my chest, this album is quite breath taking.   It's a very raw recording... by a Swedish guy who performs as the Tallest Man on Earth.  He's a folk singer...  almost all of the songs are him plucking/strumming his guitar while tenderly singing into a microphone.

Before ever listening closely to the lyrical content of his work... I found myself getting lost in his guitar playing abilities.   If you've never heard him before, you're in for a treat.

Stand out tracks:

Artist: Tallest Man On Earth
Album: The Wild Hunt
Producer: ?
Label: Dead Oceans
Recorded: ?

Jets to Brazil - Orange Rhyming Dictionary

Another terrible day...  another Jade Tree album to provide me comfort.  Just when the work load began to seem insurmountable, I had the lyric "I typed for miles" pop into my head and decided to stream Orange Rhyming Dictionary by Jets To Brazil.

Couple of quick facts:  

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  • JTB got their name from a poster that can be seen in Breakfast At Tiffany's.  
  • I learned about the band through a friend (Josh Freeman) in College while taking a film appreciation class together. 
  • I  spent a good part of a summer in Detroit playing the game Banjo & Kazooie and always played this album while completing every portion of that game.  It's hard to listen to the song Chinatown and not picture honeycombs. 

In recent months, I've sorta seen a number of people reference this band and album...   which is a little weird because it always felt like people were incredibly dismissive of this band.  I don't know if people were apprehensive to like them because of their love of Jawbreaker or if they didn't want to be associated with "emo" or Jade Tree.

Stand Out Tracks:

Yup.  My album is signed by every member of JTB.

Yup.  My album is signed by every member of JTB.

Artist: Jets To Brazil
Album: Orange Rhyming Dictionary
Producer: J. Robbins
Label: Jade Tree
Recorded: Easley McCain Recording

The Ex's Move into the house & all things Reality Fantasy Real World Ex-plosions Week 5

So the wheels have officially fallen off the Reality Fantasy league...   I kinda feared that the addition of old flames in the house would make things so awkward that scoring would undoubtedly suffer.

Click Here to See Scores and Rules for our Reality Fantasy League

Sure enough...  scores were freakishly low for everyone on the show.

The LEADING POINT PER EPISODE character Corey (Team RoRo) got ZERO points this week.  ZERO.   He took a shower with his ex and still managed to surface with ZERO points!  WTF MTV!

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Recapping the episode is pointless...  and I'm suspending "Ballerz of the Week" because no one "balled" this week.

Highest score: 20 points - Brian
Half of his 20 points came on shedding tears and expressing his love to Jenny.  (vomit)  Brian is your textbook knuckle dragger...  he walked around the Real World House and box jumped an oversized windowsill.   He then stared around the apartment looking for other challenges/things to box jump/things to pee on. 

Worst episode of the season.   The show will return in 2 weeks.

 

Pedro the Lion - Winners Never Quit

Rather odd but true fact...  I never really paid any attention to any of the lyrics on this Pedro the Lion album until this evening.  I have always loved this record and can sing along to every song, but I never really paid any attention to what I was saying.

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The album is a conceptual record and it contains a small set of characters.  The cast consists of a pair of brothers (one good, one bad), a woman (wife of the "good" brother - who gets murdered) and a father who is mentioned in a song at the end of the album.

The album art features four images - all related to content within the album.  (note: I have always wanted to get all four of these drawings tattooed on me and likely will one day)

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  1. Two gentlemen exchanging a briefcase (a bribe presumably, there's a song called - Simple Economics - about people in a campaign office and a lyric about paying for something like sex)
  2. There's one of a cop cuffing a guy (there's a lyric in the song called -  Protect the Family Name - about a guy not wanting to be arrested for being drunk again)
  3. A photo of a woman being forced to hang up the phone (there's a lyric in the song - A Mind of Her Own - that has a character telling his wife to put down the telephone)
  4. A photo of a man with a pistol to his head (A murder occurs on the song "A Mind of Her Own" and in the song "Eye on the Finish Line" I think the character (murderer) is making a plea aloud before killing himself)

The album closes out with a couple of songs that punctuate the story described above....  must say, this is a pretty dark album to listen to.

Stand Out Tracks:

Artist: Pedro the Lion
Album: Winners Never Quit
Producer: Dave Bazan
Label: Jade Tree
Recorded: ?

Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow

Woke up today in hopes of streaming one of two albums:

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  1. Broken Bells - After the Disco
  2. Sun Kil Moon - Benji

Neither were available on Spotify... so I ended up checking out a band I had never heard of called Bombay Bicycle Club.  I was immediately drawn in by the artwork of the album, there's a silhouette of a guy walking at sunrise on the 12 O'clock position and a silhouette of him walking in the moonlight at the 6 O'clock position.  The stages of the sun and moon fill out the 8 adjacent spheres and there appears to be a silhouette of a woman in some spheres within.

I truly didn't know what to expect of their music.  I would lazily describe it as "style-hoppy"?  edm/hip-hop production elements can be heard on nearly every track.  There isn't anything excitingly new, but it's still pretty well put together.

There's a track in the middle of the album Luna that I really took a liking too....  It's begging to be listened to when the weather gets a little warmer and I'm drinking on the apartment porch with friends.

Stand out tracks:

Artist: Bombay Bicycle Club
Album: So Long, See You Tomorrow
Producer: Jack Steadman
Label: Vagrant
Recorded: ?

Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

The skies were gray and temperatures hovered around 40 degrees all day, so I decided to listen to one of my favorite dead of winter albums - Emergency & I by the Dismemberment Plan.

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What I remember most about this album was that it came out the same year that The Flaming Lips released The Soft Bulletin and Built to Spill released Keep It Like a Secret.  Picking ones favorite from the three varied just as much then as it does now.

The album captures the pains of being 20 something, possibly better than any other album I have in my collection.  The sounds on the record are simply amazing and it happens to be co-produced by one of my favorite producers - J. Robbins.

Had the pleasure of catching this band play live in Detroit once and it was one of the best shows that I had ever attended.  It may have also been one of the only indie shows that resulted into a freakish dance party where everyone in attendance looked amazing.   I recall a girl who was wearing clogs and a mid century flight attendant outfit...

Standout Tracks:

Artist: Dismemberment Plan
Album: Emergency & I
Producer: J. Robbins, Chad Clark
Label: DeSoto Records
Recorded: Water Music Studios