Grant Manship

Supergrass - Bad Blood

Beach House - Heart of Chambers

Favorite New Release of the Week - Feb. 26th, 2008

Mezzanine Owls - Mezzanine Owls

If you're a fan of the post-punk genre and eventual shoegazers that followed you'll love this record.  The band exhibits just the right amount of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Doves, and Mercury Rev without having to worry about sounding like some cheap imitation.

Personally, the record has been a fitting play around my place with its various discussion of snow drifts and snow globes.  The ground around here has been blanketed for some time now and it's beginning to feel like we're living in the aforementioned snow globe.

Regardless of my reasons for liking this record, I'm sure you'll find plenty too.  That's because it's a solid rock record from top to bottom.  As I said above, the Owls are one of those bands that remind you of other bands you love but who also bring something completely unique to the table.  You can pick up the digital EP on iTUNES, AMAZON (MP3s), MTracks, Rhapsody and probably ever other digital music retailer.  Here is "Snow Globe" for your listening pleasure.

• Mezzanine Owls - "Snow Globe" from Mezzanine Owls

Evangelicals - Midnight Vignette

Adam Green - Morning After Midnight

Here is the new video for the first single off Adam's new album Sixes & Sevens due out in the US on March 18th, 2008.

This Makes Sense...

I found this comic to be both plausible and humorous.  Thanks to everyone's favorite big box discounter, grandmothers across the country are getting a bad rap and their grandchildren are being exposed to bad music.  Click the image to view a larger version.

Spoon - Don't You Evah

Megafaun Prep Debut

If you're a fan of Akron/Family you'll probably dig their recent tourmates Megafaun and their brand of experimental folk music.  You can check out a track from their upcoming debut below.  Make sure to pick up the album when it come out Feb. 19th on the new Radium imprint from Table of the Elements.

• Megafaun - "Lazy Suicide" from Bury the Square

Beach House - You Came To Me

Caribou - She's The One

Dr. Dog Releasing Rare Tracks

Dr. Dog is getting ready to release a collection of rare tracks on March 4th via Park the Van Records.  The tracks were originally made available as unmastered streaming audio on the band’s website.  The re-mastered tracks on the album, entitled Passed Away, are a lo-fi assortment of 4-track recordings made over the past five years. 

The album will have to help tie the fans over as they eagerly await the release of Dr. Dog's new studio album later this year.  You can hear one of the tracks off of Passed Away below.

• Dr. Dog - "A Long Time Ago" from Passed Away

Bobby Knight Retires

It was reported last night that The General, Robert Montgomery Knight, was finally hanging it up after 42 years as a Division I men's basketball coach.  I would be remiss if I didn't say the news struck me as a little sad.  I grew up going to Indiana Basketball games and as many kids in Indiana do, dreamed of playing for Knight while shooting hoops in my backyard.  While that obviously didn't happen, I always enjoyed going to games and watching Coach Knight in action.  It was extremely disappointing when Coach Knight was fired during my Junior year at IU.  I watched in awe as the campus turned out to protest the dismissal and was front and center when he said his goodbye to IU in Dunn Meadow.  As much as I've loved Indiana basketball, it hasn't quite felt the same since he left but at least it seems like the program's doing better now than in recent years.

All I can say is I wish Coach Knight and his son Pat, who will take over as coach of Texas Tech, the best of luck.  Despite what his critics might say, Coach Knight became the winningest coach in Division I men's history and he did it with the utmost integrity.  He never broke the rules and made sure his players knew that they were students first and athletes second.  In closing, I'll leave you with the following song because if ever there was a coach who did things his way, it was Bobby Knight.

• Frank Sinatra - "My Way" from My Way

Super Tuesday

Up until this point, I've tried my best to refrain from making any kind of comments related to politics on here.  With today being a huge day in the election process and the following video being a powerful music-related message, I think it's a good time to post about the candidate I feel could be the most inspiring of my lifetime.  That candidate is Barack Obama.  This might not be news to many of you but for someone such as myself, who has grown up a Republican, deciding to support a Democrat at this stage is a pretty significant realization. 

I'm not going to get into a long discussion of why I'm drawn to Senator Obama but I will say that I'm tired of what has become the status quo in Washington.  I'm frustrated with the self-serviant attitude that permeates our nation's capital.   I really feel that Senator Obama has shown that he is committed to serving our nation in a way that no one has in a long time.  I may be wrong but he seems to possess a sincerity that could spell an end to the priorities of private interest groups and lobbyists coming before those of everyday Americans.  Listening to him speak makes me feel like the changes needed to make this country as great as it can be could actually happen. 

Anyway, that's all I have to say about that.  I don't want to come across like I'm telling anyone how they should think or who they should vote for.  We all have our own feelings and beliefs and the ability to vote in an expression of those beliefs is the best part of this process.  With that being said, the main priority of this site is the great music we love and that will always be the case so now back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Favorite New Release of the Week - Jan. 29th, 2008

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

I've somehow managed to steer clear of all the buzz surrounding Vampire Weekend until now.  With the release of their debut album hitting stores this week, I decided I should probably see what all the fuss is about.  While I was initially skeptical, this record is chock-full of great moments.  You'll wonder where the 30 or so minutes it takes to listen to record all the way through as you're reminded of a little Paul Simon here, some Police or Peter Gabriel there, and a touch of the Strokes or Walkmen peppered throughout the band's brand of Afro-pop.  "Oxford Comma" is one of those songs I wish I could write.  It's ridiculously infectious.  The same can be said for "Walcott" and it's driving piano.  The more subdued tracks on the record are just as addictive.  I've found myself listening to "I Stand Corrected" and "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance" over and over.

The one problem the band is sure to face, is many people will say this is indie-pop for the Sperry wearing, cardigan covered hipster (dare I say trustfunder) out there.  I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just the impression I get.  It's hard not to get that feeling after reading all the discussions about their backgrounds, style, etc... and the mention of butlers, bleeding madras, and Cape Cod in their lyrics.  Whether the members of Vampire Weekend are really going for this means nothing to me.  I could care less about the socioeconomic elements of their lives.  This line of discussion in the press reminds me a lot of what was discussed ad nauseam when the Strokes burst onto the scene.  Now, just as then, I don't think it has any bearing on the fact that the music is in this case, as it was with the Strokes, is well worth listening to.  I don't think the members of either band have ever claimed in interviews or in their songs as having lived rough-and-tumble, down-and-out lives to this point.  They aren't pretending to be something they aren't.  I think that's something the haters tend to forget.  The other thing the haters tend to ignore is how enjoyable the music can be which isn't really a big deal, they're the ones missing out.

Anyway, enough of talking about anything other than the music.  Here is a track off the record for your listening enjoyment.

• Vampire Weekend - "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" from Vampire Weekend