Broken Bells, "Broken Bells"

Do you miss the Shins? Or more specifically, do you miss lead singer James Mercer?

How about Danger Mouse? Miss him?

Well, what if they both dropped out of the sky one day and into a collaborative full length album then straight to your waiting ears?

Broken Bells new self titled is that album. A collaboration between Danger Mouse and James Mercer.

And it is scrumptious!

Lead tracks "The High Road" and "Vaporize" are its strongest songs. It does taper off at points. But overall, the album is a treat for the ears.

At times, highly electronic. At other times, it has that unmistakable guitar that seems to pop straight off of a Shins record.

This album comes just in time for those of us like myself who have been feeling musically nostalgic lately. Missing the old days, etc. I won't be like this forever, but Broken Bells delivers a massively warm shot in the arm for me. It's both new and old at once and you should definitely check them out if you're a fan of either of its contributing members.

Ok Go review to come later, but I was just sideswiped with this album yesterday and felt the need to give you a quick review.

Leave comments if you feel lead! I'd like to know that I have readers if I have em.

Show Review: Williamsburg Hall of Music, June 4th, 2010

I went to my second New York show on Friday night at the Williamsburg Hall of Music.

The venue itself puts you in the mood for music immediately upon entering. Dim lights and a nice intimate setting really set a great tone to listen.

I decided that for this show I was not going to make the mistake again of showing up too early. I ended up getting to the show an hour and a half "late".

One hour later...the show started.

Music Hall of Williamsburg

Just checking in

Hey readers! (Do I have readers?)

Just wanted to let you know that I will be putting up a new review asap. I have Stars concert tomorrow night, which excites me to no end. Hopefully this weekend I'll get up my review of Ok Go and their new record.

Preview: It's really really good. Like...woa.

DMCA

Well then...

I just got a cease and desist from whoever the nameless drone is that hands out DMCA notices. (Digital Millenium Copyright Act, aka, Big Brother)

Needless to say, I have removed the offending material and going forward I will only be posting links to other sites where you can hear the music that I'm writing about. Because...you know...this is the fucking internet! You can find anything, anywhere, any time and there is nothing any nancypants DMCA official will ever be able to do about it!

But because I don't want to be sued by the lawyers of some band that I love because, namely, I don't have the money to pay if I did...I won't be uploading any more songs to my site directly.

I'll just be posting links. To other places. Where you'll be able to hear the music. Which will produce the exact same result without making me a scapegoat.

Oh, and please keep in mind going forward that I don't make a dime doing this. I write about music because I LOVE MUSIC. And I want you to love it to. But here's the catch, and any band who thinks about hiring lawyers to squash little crooks like myself should hear this, people actually have to hear the music to decide if they want to listen to it...and more importantly, go to shows and support you.

Just keep all that in mind.

Until later on,
Jeege

Crystal Castles, "Crystal Castles II"

I've held up on this review for a week or so now because I can't decide how I feel. This is a complicated album for me.

I Love/Hate the new Crystal Castles album. Their second studio record shares the name of their first.

I must confess, I'm not very familiar with the first album, blasphemy for an electro fan. (Especially one who lives in Brooklyn) So, I'm unqualified to discuss how this album compares with their first effort.

There are moments of real beauty and moments of intensity bordering on the insane sprinkled throughout the record. It sounds like something a madman would dream up. Perhaps Ethan Kath, the driving force behind Crystal Castles, is such a madman.

There is a mixture of cutting edge electro technique combined with old school, europa-lectro house music. Sometimes the album is just downright trance.

It disturbs the ears, and then soothes them. It delivers a potent melody, and then tears it down. It makes you want to dance, then it makes you want to sit and think.

I Love/Hate these elements and the way they are presented.

The track "Celestica" sounds eerily like something Dido would do if they started taking lsd and went to an island in Greece to write. Truly beautiful.

The track has some truly unique elements including the use of a sound like a track skipping. This plays at the beginning of each new chord pattern and literally had me doing a double take, "Is my ipod skipping?!"

Vocals by Alice Glass range from a Dido-like quality and fullness to an outright punk rocker screech. At times her voice is modulated to literally a screeching level. Lyrics are difficult to pick out without actually reading them online, though lyrics play almost no importance to Crystal Castles music. Their goal is sound...lots of sound. Sometimes too much sound. Her name is oddly fitting as she sounds at times like breaking glass. I mean that as a compliment.

I would not point someone in the direction of Crystal Castles unless they were an avid fan of music, and more importantly of electro music. "Crystal Castles II" is a musical experience. Meant to be explored and thought about, not necessarily "listened" to in the classic sense of listening to music. The combination of old school techno elements with new school presentation is both disturbing and fascinating.

I Love/Hate this album, but you may Love/Love it. Check them out.

The Postal Service

I was listening to an old favorite this morning, The Postal Service.

I had such a wave of nostalgia and warm memories wash over me as I listened that I just had to tell somebody about it.

The Postal Service started as a project between Ben Gibbard (of the still small at the time Deathcab for a Cutie) and Dntel (Jimmy Tamborello, I'll get to him in a second) with the addition of the (pretty much unknown at the time) Rilo Kiley.

This collection of artists collaborating is akin to a film starring a group of young actors who will become stalwarts of the industry in the future. It's the kind of thing that never happens once the artists become big, or if it does happen it is not organic. Collaborative efforts at a later stage of a career are generally done to try and generate a buzz about a song or an album. It's a desperate plea for attention.

Not The Postal Service. This was a labor of love for the three of them. Quite literally, it was difficult to produce.

The band would "mail" (The Postal Service...get it?) each other new sounds, lyrics and tracks they were trying to create back and forth for months. This process would culminate with a completed album which was meant to be no more than a side project but would turn into so much more.

The Postal Service launched Ben Gibbard's career into the stratosphere. It did so much more for him than Deathcab ever could. It put him on a platform, a stage to showcase his remarkable talent for lyric spinning and vocal crooning. His smooth melodies and heartwrenching hooks made for a once in a lifetime sound.

Rilo Kiley owes everything to The Postal Service. She was a relative unknown to the general public, despite years of good production in her own band. The Postal Service did the same thing for her that it did for Gibbard, it put her on the stage. She reached millions of new listeners because of that album.

Dntel was a big time DJ and producer, but had never managed a very successful pop record. He had never really been in the public eye with his own work before. After The Postal Service, he hasn't stopped working. More on him in a second.

This album does not have one dull or uninspiring moment. It is perfect from beginning to end. Every note is fascinating. Every emotion feels as real and as raw as the moment it was written into existence. You feel this record in your bones.

I was falling madly in love when this album first came out. Every time I hear "Such Great Heights" I am flooded with memories of exact moments that song would come on as we kissed in the park. Or, times when I'd just be driving and looking out the window at the stars (a rarity in Los Angeles) and listening to this album.

I love it. You love it. If you don't know it, then get to know it.

Finally, a quick note on Jimmy Tamborello.

As you know, I have an affinity for the "electro" sound. Jimmy Tamborello is one of the fathers of it's concept. He is one of the first producers to create legitimate pop records with an electronic foundation. The Postal Service was his biggest success, but he was around long before that.

Jimmy Tamborello may have been just a tad ahead of his time, but he is a visionary. Anyone who makes electronic music and does not list him as an influence or inspiration...is lacking in influence and inspiration.

People like myself have been clamouring for a new album from these collaborators since...well, since the last second of the last song. But maybe it's ok that it will probably never happen. Maybe it's ok that this is a special group that existed in a special time for music, and for many of a us, a special time in life.

Keep it special, Postal Service.