4/25/09

Last night, or rather...a few hours ago, was a special 3-hour broadcast of Aural Life! Thanks to all who tuned in, and a special thanks to my buddy Marcus, who has joined me for a couple of shows and joined me again today for ALL THREE HOURS!!! I (and maybe Marcus) will be back same time, same place next Saturday. Here's the playlist:

1. TV on the Radio - Halfway Home
2. The Kills - Love is a Deserter
3. Q And Not U - Black Plastic Bag
4. The Smiths - How Soon Is Now
5. My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise
6. The Mars Volta - Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)
7. Gang Gang Dance - Desert Storm
8. Coconut Records - Nighttiming
9. Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)
10. Death From Above 1979 - Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix)
11. Metric - Blindness
12. Prefuse 73 - Storm Returns
13. Animal Collective - My Girls
14. Cursive - The Great Decay
15. Silversun Pickups - Growing Old Is Getting Old
16. Liars - The Garden Was Crowded and Outside
17. Minus the Bear - The Fix
18. Cage the Elephant - Tiny Little Robots
19. Torches in Trees - Satchel
20. Halos - Helium
21. We Barbarians - War Clouds
22. The Happy Hollows - Lieutenant
23. Death Cab for Cutie - I Was a Kaleidoscope
24. Bloc Party - This Modern Love
25. Bat For Lashes - Glass
26. John Frusciante - Unreachable
27. Bright Eyes - Loose Leaves
28. Matt Costa - Cigarette Eyes
29. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Black Tongue
30. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Population Council's Wet Dream
31. Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
32. Broken Social Scene - KC Accidental
33. Sonic Youth - Little Trouble Girl
34. Bear Vs. Shark - Buses/No Buses
35. Black Flag - Rise Above
36. Les Savy Fav - Je T'aime

Once again, thanks to everyone who tuned in. I shall be back again next week. Also, (hopefully) starting next week, I will begin podcasting the show. I should have that all set up and worked out by then, so I'd say yeah, I should be good to go.

Until then, remember...

Aural Life
Saturday
8pm-10pm PST
Live on http://radio23.org

peace&love
.erick.

Greetings from Coachella!

Hello everyone!

This is Erick. I am currently sitting in the AT&T Cool Down and Charge Up tent in between the Gobi and Mojave tents at Coachella on this, Sunday April 19th, the final day of Coachella. The experience so far has been epically amazing. Friday was much fun and ended at 1a.m. after Sir Paul McCartney did a two-and-a-half hour set that included two encores and a ton of Beatles repertoire. Yesterday, I spent most of the day in front of the mainstage until M.I.A., which was intense, then I ended last night with MSTRKRFT. It's about 1p.m. here and the events are just getting started, so after I return home tomorrow, I will have detailed blogs of the past three days. Thanks everyone, hope you are all well.

peace&love
.erick.

The Happy Hollows

The badasses above are none other than The Happy Hollows, if not apparent enough by the big blue letters underneath them. They are from, well...I haven't quite figured that out yet, Los Angeles, I can easily assume, specifically, I'm not sure, but from a place they like to call Negahdariland, CA. The Happy Hollows is comprised of the beautiful and talented guitarist/vocalist Sarah Negahdari (makes sense now, right?), bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Charlie Mahoney and drummer/backing vocalist Chris Hernandez. Their music is nothing short of raw, awesome (dare I say rawesome? yay for port-manteaux), energetic and just great. I was fortunate enough to catch them live opening for the Silversun Pickups, and their performance speaks for them to an even further extent. Sarah's performing almost made me think of Karen O (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs) if she played guitar on stage. Charlie's performing reminded me somewhat of when I saw Q And Not U perform. Chris is a very talented drummer and his performance makes it seem like his drumming is effortless and he enjoys himself A LOT. In fact, you can tell they all love playing. I can easily say that now, I love listening and watching. So far, The Happy Hollows have released 2 EPs and a Limited Edition 7-inch (or..at least that's what I know). One entitled Bunnies & Bombs, available through iTunes, and various other digital musical outlets (or, um...these: Emusic, Napster and Rhapsody. ), and the other entitled Imaginary, available for FREE! (or pay what you want), but free if you put 5 of your coolest, raddest, most awesomest, closest friends' e-mail addresses (because you're no friend if you don't introduce them to The Happy Hollows) into the little widget thing that can be found below, then you will receive the album via e-mail. Also, if you like vinyl, you can buy the 7-inch! (which I would have done at the show had I money. Damn economic recession, otherwise known as the American Economy's scapegoat.) Before I go off on a tangent, LISTEN TO THE HAPPY HOLLOWS, NOW!

Tell your friends about them. Tell your parents about them. Tell your grandparents about them. Tell your professors, your coworkers, your dog, your cat, your chinchilla, that one relative you haven't really talked to in 12 years but call occasionally to borrow money that you never pay back and tell them about The Happy Hollows!!!

Add them on myspace.com/thehappyhollows.

Here's the Imaginary EP download thingy.

For those in the Los Angeles area, catch them at the Troubadour on May 14th w/ Afternoons and warpaint

4/12/09 Silversun Pickups/The Deadly Syndrome/The Happy Hollows @ Glass House

Hello everyone.

So, last night I went to see Silversun Pickups at the Glass House in Pomona, CA, and the openers were a couple of bands that I heard the names of but had never really listened to: The Deadly Syndrome and The Happy Hollows.

I'll start with...

THE DEADLY SYNDROME

Picture courtesy of (or rather, taken from) http://stereogum.com

The Deadly Syndrome is comprised of four talented guys that make some good music. Personally, they had me dancing, and I rather enjoyed myself. I had never really listened to their music beforehand, but I was pretty pleased with what I heard. They had some very infectiously catchy songs. One that started with keyboard and had and old west saloon "piani" kinda feel, and the one right after was a straight forward disco-rock dance song that had the drummer dancing behind the kit as he was playing. They were really into it, and I enjoyed myself as much as they enjoyed themselves, but, what I couldn't help but do was keep thinking back to what had just happened before they played, and what happened was this.

THE HAPPY HOLLOWS

Picture courtesy of (or rather, taken from) http://stereogum.com

The Happy Hollows are (the beautiful and amazingly talented) Sarah Negahdari, (the also very talented) Charles "Charlie" Mahoney and (very talented as well) Chris Hernandez. To be honest, I had never really listened to their music, although after looking through their myspace pictures and seeing old flyers from the now radio airwave defunct Indie 103.1's Check...One...Two local band showcases, I can remember hearing the name, and perhaps a song on the radio. Sarah (guitars/vocals/awesomeness), Charlie (bassman/keys/cool) and Chris (drums/backing vocals/radguy) took the stage in front of an impatient crowd of people wondering when the show was going to start. Frankly, my peers, I didn't give a damn (you see what I did there?). I could wait, but wait no longer did we, because here they were, The Happy Hollows. Now, I'm not saying this personally, but generally, the way it usually goes, you don't expect much from the opening bands unless it was an established band opening for a world-renowned rock icon at Dodger's Stadium or something. It felt this way when The Happy Hollows came on. The seemingly shy Sarah took the stage, picked up her Gibson SG, as did her fellow bandmates with their respective instruments/sticks, and very timidly greeted the crowd. Her voice seemed nervous, as she asked her bandmates if they were ready. Four clicks of the drum sticks later and they explode into a song, and it's as if the band just broke out of a shell, because any even the slightest hint of any kind of nerves was automatically gone. They knew what they were doing and the knew how to do it. I, myself was dancing uncontrollably and sporadically (which may sound redundant, but that's how it went.) Every song was a hit, and there wasn't even a second of miss. Along with each songs, the talent of each member seemed to grow, until they reached the point before their closing song where the overall raw rock feel of the music took a prog-rock turn with Sarah doing some very impressive tapping riffs and the band doing chromatic passages. A fast-paced song that started at a moderate speed, got faster and later got slower and more melodic until the end, which sporadically gets quick for the last couple of seconds. I later found out this song is called Lieutenant, and it seemed proper. They closed the set with what seems like they're personal "single" Tambourine. Needless to say, I became very disappointed in myself for not having checked them out before the moment they started playing, and EXTREMELY disappointed in myself for the same reason long before they finished, in fact, only moments after they started. I easily fell in love with this band and after the show when I got to talk to them, found out they are not only an awesome band, but awesome people as well. I look forward to seeing them again a.s.a.p.

Well, that leaves me with only one band...

SILVERSUN PICKUPSPicture courtesy of (or rather, taken from) http://stereogum.com

I think this goes without being said, but they put on one hell of a show. This was unfortunately my first time seeing them and I say that because I'd rather it be one of the several times I've seen them. After roadies set up the equipment and us in the crowd waited for probably about 15 minutes, out come the Pickups. The crowd went wild as Brian, Nikki, Joe and Chris got all of their respective instruments ready to go and broke out into There's No Secrets This Year, the opening track off their sophomore effort Swoon, which comes out this tomorrow, April 14th. It was recognized and/or known by some people in the audience, I obviously recognized it. But it was only shortly after that song finished that they immediately broke out into Well Thought Out Twinkles, a particularly well-known (it's a single...), yet amazing song off of their debut Carnavas. From then on, the songs went back and forth from songs we all knew and songs off of Swoon, which I personally thought was really awesome. After a performance of Lazy Eye, their biggest single, yet still a great song (even though some people seem to think that because a certain song is a single, that takes away the song's value as a song), they went into a new song and stepped off stage, the lights still dim and roadies still tuning. The crowd chanting redundant chants for an encore, because 9.8 out of 10 bands encore when they headline (hell, some even encore several times), and the lights would have come back on, but I guess it's the energy of it all that promotes this. So the Pickups come out, play another new one and close with Common Reactor, the closing track of Carnavas. The show was amazing. Silversun Pickups were amazing. I cannot wait to check them out again, although I will most likely not be in the front on the barrier this time around for it will be this weekend at Coachella that I will be seeing them again. They bring raw energy and a more than apparent love of being on stage playing music not only for themselves, but for their fans. Even Nikki, who was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt earlier on when they arrived, dressed very formally, and beautifully, in a long, elegant red dress. Great band. Great performance due to being great performers. I will see them again after Coachella, most definitely.

Tomorrow, I am going to see TV on the Radio at The Glass House and I will have a post about that as well afterwards. Not to mention next week, when I will post three posts detailing my experience at each day of Coachella. A post for each day, because I don't feel like making one super long post, and also I feel it makes more sense that way.

peace&love
.erick.

Radio 23 Official Launch

FROM RADIO23.org:

Radio23.org emerges April 23rd as a new breed of community radio station. Currently based in Brooklyn, NY, but with broadcasters covering the globe, Radio23 is a non-commercial, freeform radio station dedicated to providing an international platform for innovative and creative home broadcasters.

With the launch of our first channel, anyone with high-speed internet can hear a potpourri of music and culture from all parts of the globe, created by over five dozen weekly live broadcasters. Every two hours, a new live broadcaster takes the reigns from a distant land and offers a view of what's happening in their community.

Since underground broadcasting and unknown music are some of our specialties, Radio23 has partnered with Radioactivity.fm and WFMU's Free Music Archive to ensure that, although dynamic DIY content may sometimes be obscure, our listeners will not only find new music, but easily connect to the artists they hear.

If you are reading this using a high speed internet connection, it's possible to broadcast a live radio show from this computer. Join us.

The live broadcast & launch celebration starts at 5pm April 23rd 2009

***all times Brooklyn, NYC -> GMT -5

5:00PM

DJ Sotusura broadcasts every week on R23 from Amman, Jordan ARCHIVE

6:30PM

DJ Thanksgiving Brown broadcasts live from a new location each week.

8:00PM

Live from The Bell House (149 7th St) in Brooklyn, New York, with performances by:

Grade 13

Grade 13 is a group of teenage girls from New York who - through the viBeSongMakers program and under the direction of Young People's Katie Eastburn - met last August to write and record a collection of original songs in collaboration with professional musicians. The resulting album, "Sidewalk Chalk," was recently released with the girls, ranging in age from 15 to 18. They wrote all the songs for Sidewalk Chalk themselves, tackling themes of self-acceptance, poverty, sexual identity, broken families and the pain and confusion of young love with insight and playfulness, unflinching honesty and at times a surprising sense of maturity. (vimeo)

Nine 11 Thesaurus is a group of middle schoolers who broadcast every week on R23 from IS 291 in Bushwick, Brooklyn. They are the newest group formed through the Representing NYC program, presenting Brooklyn’s most fearsome and irreverent rap.

Tiny Toones from Phnom Penh, Cambodia makes their 1st NYC appearance

Tiny Toones Cambodia uses breakdancing, Hip-Hop music, and the contemporary arts as creative tools to empower the youth of Cambodia to live healthier lives free of HIV and drugs, build a more promising future by furthering their educational opportunities, and become positive role models for their community. Seven of the peer mentors of Tiny Toones, former street kids who have matured into the role models of the program, will be performing a breakdancing routine and several of their songs.

Blast Off!!!

Blast Off!!! improvises music for brain melting and feet dancing.

GOD

GOD could be compared to folks like AMM or the Improvised Music From Japan crew, due to the meticulous attention paid to the construction of even the most minute sounds in their pieces. Bryan Eubanks and Leif Sundstrom have been playing music together for more than a decade.

Alexis O'Hara

Alexis O'Hara is a trilingual performance artist with a penchant for experimentation: Producing street theatre in Toronto, making dirty movies in Vancouver, frying her ass for the art-hungry hordes in Geneva, and singing in a myriad of musical projects from jazz combos, to all-girl punk outfits and improv electronic jam collectives. (maple music)

Roberto C. Lange + David Ellis

Over the past couple of years, Roberto has teamed up with visual and sound artist David Ellis to compose his kinetic sculpture creations - the most recent being a 25 foot catfish with paint cans for teeth and fly swatters for taste buds. The catfish is skinned with 12" LP records and beat boxes. Currently, Roberto is working with prolific music producer Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73), helping to produce and create a new palate of sounds for the forthcoming Prefuse 73 album. (vimeo)

Ellis' work continues to interpret music and sound. His paintings are often recorded in a form of digital time-lapse animation Ellis calls motion painting. Like jazz, these works provide Ellis with an opportunity to combine ideas with collaborators or work solo within a form that promotes improvisation and spontaneity. For a recent commission the artist painted a truck from sunup to sundown over five consecutive days. Ellis often stages events when exhibiting his motion paintings, inviting musicians, performers, and sound artists to interpret the work live. His motion painting, Paint on Trucks in a World in Need of Love was recently exhibited at MoMA.

Prefuse 73

(aka: Guillermo Scott Herren) is nothing if not proven. It’s hard to think of a name that carries as much weight in both hip-hop and avant-rock circles as Prefuse 73, who in the past year alone has been asked to remix TV On The Radio, Pelican, BLK JKS and Cornelius, not to mention his early collaborations with School of Seven Bells and Battles. These interactions have clearly helped to shape the evolving Prefuse 73 sonic aesthetic, which has expanded to include Herren’s twisted visions of prog-rock, “machine funk” and global psychedelia. From Delarosa & Asora to Savath & Savalas, through to Prefuse 73 and Diamond Watch Wrists, there’s no way to underestimate the reach of Guillermo Scott Herren’s influence and 2009 appears to be a significant culmination of the artist’s most resounding material.

DJ Marty McSorley might just be the best DJ at WFMU

We wish thank our very special guests:

The Metasynergistics Evaluative Media Experience

1:00AM

ROB WALMART MOBILE ONE

Rob Walmart will be Adventurizing the streets of Portland from their a/v broadcast mobile unit/sound system/venue/van/ portable bootleg emporium aka "THE CUBE" via WiMAX provided by Stephouse Networks

ROB WALMART broadcasts live every week on R23 from Portland, Oregon

LISTEN andre - lionel - waterskiing and read the XLR8R article

2:00AM

The Fix takes the Bell House celebration home with a live broadcast from The Someday Lounge in Portland, Oregon.

THE FIX presents A special live broadcast from Portland's legendary Someday Lounge: The Fix takes the celebration home with Hip-Hop/Rare Groove/Afrobeat/Baile Funk/Soul/Funk +++, hosted by the city's beloved DJs Rev. Shines (Lifesavas), Ohmega Watts, Kez & Dun Diggy

FIN

from http://radio23.org/launch.html

4/11/09

Thanks to all who tuned in to this past Saturdays show. This show was Aural Life: Coachella, and consisted entirely of music from bands playing Coachella this upcoming weekend.

1. Band of Horses - Islands on the Coast
2. Devendra Banhart - I Feel Just Like a Child
3. Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins - The Big Guns
4. Okkervil River - Singer Songwriter
5. Conor Oberst - Souled Out!!!
6. Beirut - Carousels
7. Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood
8. Franz Ferdinand - Jacqueline
9. Peter, Bjorn and John - Blue Period Picasso
10. Late of the Pier - The Enemy are the Future
11. Crystal Castles - Courtship Dating
12. MSTRKRFT - Paris
13. M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun
14. Girl Talk - All Eyes on Me
15. My Bloody Valentine - Soon
16. The Black Keys - Modern Times
17. We Are Scientists - Dinosaurs
18. Liars - Broken Witch
19. Dear and the Headlights - I Know
20. Silversun Pickups - Future Foe Scenarios
21. TV on the Radio - Playhouses
22. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons

Thanks to everyone who listened. I will be at Coachella this weekend, so I will not be broadcasting, but remember: a week from Friday Radio23's OFFICIAL LAUNCH!!!! YAY! The launch party will be broadcasted LIVE on http://radio23.org. So tune in!

I'll be back next saturday.

Aural Live
Saturdays
8pm-10pm PST
Live on http://radio23.org

Thanks.
peace&love
.erick.

Album Release Calendar: April 2009

Heeeeeeeeeerrrree's APRIL!

April 7th
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Bob Mould - Life and Times
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Vs. Children
Crystal Antlers - Tentacles
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
The Hold Steady - A Positive Rage (Live Album)
Neil Young - Fork in the Road
Telekinesis! - Telekinesis!
The Thermals - Now We Can See
Zoé - Reptilectric



April 14th
The Boy Least Likely To - The Law of the Playground
Death Cab for Cutie - The Open Door EP (Physical Release)
Ida Maria - Fortress Around My Heart
Metric - Fantasies
Prefuse 73 - Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Silversun Pickups - Swoon


April 21st
Art Brut - Art Brut vs. Satan
Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing
Pet Shop Boys - Yes
Tinted Windows (Feat. James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins and Taylor Hanson of, well..Hanson) - Tinted Windows


April 28th
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Gomez - A New Tide
Great Northern - Remind Me Where the Light Is
I Monster - A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars
Pilot Speed - Wooden Bones
Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - Songs in the Night
Thee Oh Sees - Help
Young Love - One of Us


I put up quite a bit more this month than I did for last month.
If there are any mistakes or something I missed that you think I should put up there, feel free to let me know, either through comment or e-mail me at auralliferadio@gmail.com.

4/4/09

Hello everyone.

Thanks to all who tuned in to the show last night. Here's the playlist:

1. mewithoutYou - Wolf Am I! (And Shadow)
2. Cursive - Excerpts from Various Notes Stewn Arond the Bedroom of April Connolly, Feb. 24 1997
3. The Dismemberment Plan - One Too Many Blows to the Head
4. Minus the Bear - Spritz!!! Spritz!!!
5. Les Savy Fav - Blackouts
6. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - La Tirania de la Tradicion
7. Death From Above 1979 - Losing Friends
8. Q And Not U - X-Polynation
9. Death Cab for Cutie - My Mirror Speaks
10. We Are Scientists - The Great Escape
11. Regina Spektor - Your Honor
12. Pavement - Flux=Rad
13. Sonic Youth - Youth Against Fascism
14. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Shame and Fortune
15. Blonde Redhead - Falling Man
16. TV on the Radio - New Health Rock
17. At the Drive-In - Invalid Litter Dept.
18. Bloc Party - Positive Tension
19. Torches in Trees - New Life
20. We Barbarians - War Clouds
21. Maps & Atlases - Witch
22. !!! - Dear Can
23. The Faint - Machine in the Ghost
24. Idiot Pilot - A Day in the Life of a Poolshark
25. Don Caballero - In the Absence of Strong Evidence to the Contrary, One May Step Out of the Way of the Charging Bull
26. TV on the Radio - Shout Me Out
27. Crystal Castles - Vanished
28. Explosions in the Sky - Have You Passed Through This Night?

Thanks everyone who tuned in to the show. Next week, I'll be playing songs from bands that will be playing the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that is taking place April 17-19 in Indio, CA and that I will be attending. Hope to have you back.

Remember.

Aural Life
Saturdays
8pm-10pm PST
Live on http://radio23.org

Thanks.
peace&love
.erick.

FEATURED RELEASE FRIDAY (FRF) Yeah Yeah Yeah's - It's Blitz!

So, the past couple weeks have been busy for me, so rather than two weeks ago, this marks the first Featured Release Friday article.

Today's featured release is...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

It's Blitz!
Released: March 31st, 2009

Well, here we are. Three years since Show Your Bones, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' mellowed out (compared to their debut Fever To Tell) sophomore release, comes It's Blitz!. Much like Show Your Bones took YYYs sound in a different direction, bringing in quite a bit of acoustic guitar and all but dropping the in-your-face, we'll kick your ass attitude that was apparent in the sound of Fever To Tell, It's Blitz! yet again brings some new definition to the name Yeah Yeah Yeahs. From punching each other in the face (FTT) to apologizing for it (SYB), now the YYYs believe it's time to dance. The first single, "Zero" sounds like the band found all their Tears for Fears and New Order albums, popped in The Breakfast Club and channeled their memories of the '80s to write this one. It's difference than what we've heard from YYYs on any album or EP prior, but it's a good thing, I think. The second track "Heads Will Roll" starts off with some synth organ/string sounding chords and Karen O comes in a few moments later with "Off with your head/Dance 'til your dead/Heads will roll on the floor" then proceeds to go into a full-on dance song. The song has potential to be a Pop hit, if not for Karen O's vocal style, Nick Zinner's raw guitar and Brian Chase's interesting touch in the drum beats. The next few tracks mellow it out a bit, especially "Skeletons", which has Karen O comforting her love with the words "Love, don't cry/Skeleton me." Although, I must say, I rather enjoy "Skeletons". The album then picks up again after that with "Dull Life" which is a bit more reminiscent of Fever To Tell, yet does somewhat sound like it was left off of Show Your Bones. A couple tracks later, we come across "Runaway", another song that starts of pretty slow, but picks up a little near the end. "Dragon Queen" is a catchy track that will have you moving, definitely. The last couple tracks of the album are pretty good to come to a close. The very last track "Little Shadow" is another slower one, but a good one to end the album with. If you want, you can pretend you are the "Little Shadow" as Karen O and gang close out with "Little shadow, to the night, will you follow me?" Why, yes, Karen O. I will.

Overall, I enjoyed the album, but am the kind of person who waits for YYYs to return, not completely, but at least somewhat to the hard-hitting rawness that was most of Fever To Tell, but that's not to say I am not going to enjoy this album until their next effort.


So, I'd recommend you go buy it, or at least borrow it from a friend and see what YOU think of it.

Aural Life score: Ha...tricked you. I don't rate albums.


thanks everyone.
peace&love