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.

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