...a music recommendation blog run by d where she and her friends can recommend a song, album or artist regardless of genre or newness. some of our contributors are musicians, some write about music on their own excellent sites (see links above) and some just like to recommend, grammar be damned!
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9.11.2007
And today it looks like a busted lip
Dear friends,
Guitar Feelings by The Muggabears has a pleasing symmetry. The hissed "Rejoice" which is muttered twice in the song works like brackets; the thrill that leads to another, greater thrill and the seemingly ordinary experience in between. Not that the song itself is commonplace. It teases by working in tiny bursts of well...feeling. It sounds, by turns, flirtatious and shy. Like a boy at a party crushing on a girl and letting alcohol make him slowly bolder. Until he's shoving her around a bit too roughly and she just takes off. It doesn't matter that much to him though. He got what he wanted, namely, some kind of small social interaction and tonight he will fall asleep with a smile on his face.
Personal note: when Travis Muggabears first played me this unreleased song months ago after ANTM or something*, I started laughing and slurred, fauxpagne-goofy, "It sounds JUST like Bone, Thugs + Harmony!" This makes a kind of sense, in that it's the first Muggabears song where the vocals are actively leading the beat. It's probably what makes me feel, despite the gnomic specifics of the lyrics, that this song is the most playful of Muggabears tracks. The vocal part jerks and stops in unexpected ways, forcing you to pay a little more attention to what's being said. Well played, Travis Johnson, well played. So what's next?
1. The Monkey is in a band. Yes, it's true! He actually does stuff besides put up with my music nerd babbling. Tonight his band is having a listening party for their brand new CD at The Delancey. It starts at 7:30PM. It's free, The DJ is great and if you are one of the first 25 to arrive you will also get free BBQ*. See you there?
2. My friend Olga from Neon Lights alums Bell has moved in to Pianos for a Tuesday residency. Earfarm has some stuff from their last show. I hear the 90s cover tonight is going to give people flashbacks. Make sure you catch Balun who is playing at 9. Wouldn't it be great if they joined Bell on a song? Hmmm... One can dream.
3. My plan to live blog the Lost finale with The Muggabears has fallen through due to Travis Muggabears inability to withstand my singing "Evenflooooow!" every time Desmond makes an appearance. Sorry dood. Can't help it. I'll still write about it though. Expect ! and ? and #$%&@!
Love, D
* CORRECTION: As per JLM in the comments, the first 25 people to arrive who have RSVPed on Going.com get free BBQ. So if you want the free, go RSVP.
1. The Muggabears may not be doing a Pussycat Dolls cover any time soon (which is, quite frankly, a shame) but they are having TWO release parties for their marvelous new EP Night Choreography. The first one is tonight at Mercury with Soft Communication faves Enon and the other one is at Cake Shop on Saturday, April 21st with other Neon Lights presents... alumns, Please Dept. Go, go, go!
The Goth Tarts by The Muggabears is not only good to meow along to, it reminds me of The Afghan Whigs; it has a bite similar to the tracks off of Gentlemen. Le sigh. Love that record.
For extra fun, insert your own images/words to go with the beeps. "You got a real big heart but I'm looking at your (SHEEP)/You got real big brains but I'm looking at your (FIRST EDITION OF JOSEPH CONRAD'S NOSTROMO)" and so on, and so on. It's the small things in life that make a difference.
Love, D
PS Seriously, Muggas. Please consider it. I have a birthday coming in a few months. Make it happen.
1. Tonight at Brooklyn's Union Hall, The Battering Room presents Sure Juror, Johan, The Muggabears and The Antlers. $8, 8PM, Rachael Underrated is DJ-ing between sets. I will be there, splurging on prosecco and acting like a fool.
2. Tomorrow night at The Delancey, Neon Lights presents A Sunny Day in Glasgow performing live at the release party for their brand new CD, Scribble Mural Comic Journal. $8, 8PM doors, 8:30 show.
Neon Lights partner Jeff K did some excellent write-ups on all the bands with handy mp3s for your listening pleasure. Click on the names above to read and listen.
This song reminds me of high school. Especifically, 10th grade English on the fourth floor of Tillinghast Hall. Mr. B babbling on and on about The Once and Future King as the snow fell and tucked into the corners of the faux gothic windowsills. I had a free period after that class so I'd always take the mostly unused back stairs down to the cafeteria. I'd sit there, sip my tea and try to fake my way through James Joyce's Ulysses. You can imagine how that went. I had better luck with his short story collection, Dubliners and became particularly enamored of "Araby." Because it aches. In that formless and frenzied way which colors adolescence. She Moves Through The Fair has nothing to do with that tale's plot. But somehow in my mind, it has come to represent the fantasy within the story. The beautiful girl, the gift at the fair which you'd like to give her and of course, loss.
I'm not a huge fan of Sandy Denny with her treble and tremble pipes and faerie-love. But I do think her vocals are perfection here; cold and mysterious. She sounds like she's walking in slow motion and you listen accordingly.
2. Last night I bundled off into the snowy night looking vaguely like THIS and made my way over to Blog Show headquarters for a live Muggabears recording session. After some fauxpagne, talk of Kirk Cameron's angry God and who will be the next America's! Next! Top! Model!, we quieted down and da Bears jumped into three acoustic versions of songs from their new EP, Night Choreography. I swayed in the corner to Rings, thinking that it was really rather beautiful in a tender, "We don't need no stinking prom to LOVE"* way and that I can't wait to hear it again in all its electric glory. Which is why I will be seeing The Muggabears live TWICE this week, first at Union Hall on Friday, then at The Delancey on Saturday 2/17 for the A Sunny Day in Glasgow CD release show presented by Neon Lights.
After their performance, Blog Show vixens Nora and Rachael allowed Jeff K to say a few words about the Neon Lights bill and about us giving away a guest list spot and a bag full of yay to one lucky listenener. Because I had inexplicably decided that I wanted to be hype man** to Jeff K's spokesman, I didn't say anything the entire time 'cept maybe "Aaaaw yeah!" which prompted a startled look from my Co-Neon Lighter that I shall treasure for the rest of my life***.
Thank you Nora I Rock I Roll and Rachael Underrated for kindly letting us crash your party and thank you Ryan Ryspace for making sure that the sound was tops. Thank you Muggabears for going along with my harebrained schemes and thank you Jeff K for talking real good.
Listen to The Blog Show on Breakthru Radio at noon on Thursday for your chance to win a guest list spot for you and a friend plus a lovely gift bag containing The Muggabears Teenage Cop EP, A Fast One on Julian by Please Dept and the brand spanking new A Sunny Day in Glasgow full length, Scribble Mural Comic Journal.
3. In other Neon Lights giveaway news, we will also be offering more of those aforementioned fabulous gift bag/guestlist spots both today AND tomorrow on The New Afternoon show on WNYU (89.1 FM), so attention impoverished indie rock show lovers of NYC! Now's your chance for FREE goodies! Go listen!
4. Today is Valentine's Day and I won't lie, the constant commercials and specials on TV and those ubiquitous giant diamond circle necklaces that they keep telling me I'm supposed to want as a symbol of commitment make me want to hurl. If you feel the same way and just want to ignore the weather and dance! dance! dance! go to Jenny P's Hot Rocks party tonight at The Delancey or if you don't wanna leave Brooklyn, go to the WNYU Valentine's Day bash at Coco66 in Greenpoint.
Me? I shall be fine dining with The Monkey. He is lovely and mysterious and keeps me from falling in the snow.
I will post my snowy weather Valentine mix next week so I don't have to compete for your affections with white teddy bears and heart-shaped chocolate boxes. You are all my Valentines, ya hear?
Love, D
* I am 150% sure that this is NOT what Travis Muggabear is singing about, but that's how I like to interpret that particular number. I'm so emo, as my friend Marts would say.
** Well, maybe not inexplicably. I was nervous AND we had been talking about the most famous hype man of all time, Flavor Flav. In retrospect, my homage could've been much, much worse.
*** Actually the startled look was for something else. Listen to the show and wait for my bizarre, high pitched "Thank YOU ladies!" towards the end. Classic!
"Like Grizzly Bear, ASDIG's got a steep pop-to-noise curve, so their most gorgeous melodies become thick and swampy before you've noticed the tide has come in. Even the brightest colors look black if you smear them all together. " - Pitchfork
"(Apache Beat) decided to ...make music that sounds like Nick Cave dangling above the mother of all K-holes, at the bottom of which lie Cluster waiting to bludgeon him to death with blunt, rusting instruments " - Vice Magazine UK
"Flush with noisy indie rock that reflects well-rounded late 80s indie rock, but nothing of the cribbing sort, The Muggabears can bring you the hip indie rock yet they often leave the hook of pop, catchy love dangling and not entirely fulfilled. " - The L Magazine
"...the Please Dept. want you to want them and with output like this it's hard not to. In a borough brimming with first rate talent, Please Dept. are aiming to be the next big thing." - Treblezine
1. First the disclaimer: I enjoy the company of Emily and Travis Muggabear* of The Muggabears. Especially if there's television involved as it will ultimately lead to my laughing my ass off.
2. Part of the reason we became friends is because I loved their music and booked them for a show. The fact that we got along and kept in touch was a bonus.
3. They recently sent me an copy of their upcoming EP, Night Choreography.
4. I listened to it and thought to myself, this is some sexy music. I mean if you think Dirty Boots by Sonic Youth is sexy. If you're an indie rock pervert then it most certainly is. Don't front, you know who you are. There's a certain downward guitar stroke that gets you going. Or a whispered line that rises into a scream at just the right juncture. It's the sheer massive sound of it that thrills. Noise like a bee buzzing in a honey-drunk zig zag or a reverb wave that crashes over your head.
5. Now I've Got a Sword has noise like that. It's also got a weaving swagger that's all nasty hate-fuck come on. Plus a little background piano twinkling that suggests a more pleasant side to the raunch.
6. My Space conversational fragment between myself and an anonymous member of The Muggabears:
From: The Muggabears Date: Jan 26, 2007 6:21 PM Hope you like the EP, coming your way now.
From: Neon Lights Date: Jan 26, 2007 1:48 PM Listening to it...trying to figure out a way to write about it without sounding mega creepy.
From: The Muggabears Date: Jan 26, 2007 5:05 PM Ha, how would you sound creepy?
From: Neon Lights Date: Jan 26, 2007 3:21 PM 'Cause I want to write up Now I've Got a Sword, how it's like dirty, scuzzy hot indie sex in a club bathroom with a zombie eyed but attractive hipster. I'm worried that's a little too fan fic/dirty old man in a raincoat. A dilemma!
From: The Muggabears Date: Jan 26, 2007 6:27 PM I fucking love those old guys.
Don't let the cuddly name fool you, this trio has a ferociously elegant simplicity. No jam band nonsense here; just lean mean post punk. Befriend them on My Space.
I haven't heard the other bands on the bill but those Crackers United fellas always put on a good show. See you there!
Love, D
* You wanna know how nerdy I am? I have a dance that goes with the little guitar squiggle motif that starts around the 1:21 mark. No, I will not do it for you. Come up with your own moves.
because I am lazy & because tonight's host said it so well, this post is ripped straight from the beg yr pardon site.
"Hi, hey. What's up? Oh, sorry let me introduce myself...I'm Matt from EAR FARM. Know what you're going to do on Tuesday, October 10th from 7:30pm-12:00am? I'm going to tell you. You're going to come to BEG YR PARDON #10 @ The Delancey (168 delancey st. btw clinton & attorney). It's a special co-operative effort between Beg Yr Pardon and EAR FARM. We've joined forces to celebrate EAR FARM's 1st anniversary by putting together a great lineup and a guaranteed fun time.
For a $5 entry fee you will get to enjoy music from FOUR great bands, FREE baked goods, $5 all you can eat bbq (with vegetarian options) on the roof from 7-9, 3 kick-ass DJs from the band Mancino, and FREE BEER from 11:00 to 12:00. Doors open and DJs start spinning @ 7:30.
Even though you already have more than enough reason to come to this show, I'm going to give you some more info just to get you really excited.
Music For Robots says: "They sound like early, "I Will Follow"-era U2, that grandstanding semi-punk band that came out of nowhere. They've got the melodrama, but they've also got the melody and passion to pull it off fantastically."
EAR FARM says: "If you're a fan of Creedence Clearwater Revival and/or ragtime fun then "Miss Marie" is one of those songs that'll grab you immediately. It's a two minute long romp through Southern tinged rock with dual male/female vocals that sounds like something you might hear from a band comprised of Jimbo Mathus, John Fogerty, and Nancy Sinatra."
Subinev says: "...they still amaze me, not just because they’re talented, but, well, there’s something that they’ve got going on that I just don’t see in many other bands in NYC. I guess it could easily be said that it's just that I don’t go to punk shows anymore, so a little bit of excitement, fun, dancing, and audience participation can just make me fall for a band quite easily, but it's something more than that. Every one of their songs is really just so perfect, even when their bordering-on-ska side comes through. But at the heart it's all great rock n’ roll. Like '50's style. That, and they put on one hell of a show."
Now, check out the amazingly awesome poster below designed by Destroy Space:
So there you have it...your plans for Tuesday October 10th. See you there, and hey - be sure to get one of those EAR FARM magnets from me that everyone's talking about.
missed the siren festival. can you believe it?! I always go. fact is, I didn't feel so hot on saturday. opted instead to stay at home most of the day. listened to the eraser by thom yorke. have things to say about it, just not know.
later that evening, the monkey & I took the bus from one end of brooklyn to the other to see minnesota's low lustre play galapagos. got to the venue too early, went to eat, came back to catch exactly one & a half songs. felt like the prize horse's ass. luckily for me (& you, you'll see) low lustre is moving to beautiful bushwick in september. who doesn't love second chances?
2. the light fantastic
here are some pictures from the polish disco show at club europa last thursday. the venue was admittedly out of the way BUT made up for it by being very spacious & having excellent sound.
I have to say, I'm a bit in love with emily & travis from the muggabears. & isn't just 'cause they came over with their stuff at 7:30 on the dot, or that travis played an unplanned, last minute solo set (the highlight being I'm coming true which has a great little guitar hook that curls & wiggles & ends with a CLANG CLANG. listen to it on their my space page), or their sticking around & enjoying the whole show. they were funny & sweet & not the least bit perturbed that I'm a member of an electro franchise.
according to their aforementioned my space page, they are playing a "not so secret show" with emma la reina & limbs. once I know more details, I will let you know 'cause I'm a'be there!
you all know I love them unsacred hearts. joe willie was in top form. sadly most of the pictures I took were piss poor thanks to the...fog machine. yes. you read that right. & did I mention the discoball & light show? actually, the smoke & lights were kind of all around fabulous, just bad for the photo-takin'. this one's good though.
as you can see, tinagray joined them for an electrifying two three four. in keeping with the song, a sorta indie rock "he said, she said, he realizes he really doesn't get it" duet, joe watched her sing like a man who knows he's going to eaten for breakfast but is secretly quite pleased at the prospect.
the fabulous mistakes previewed material from their forthcoming album. my favorite moment was hearing them play what sounded like a prog power ballad (?!) during soundcheck, watching the out of town metal band that the club had hired to play at 11 listen on in confusion, hearing same prog power ballad performed later complete with fog machine & swirling disco ball. m to the stakes, I LOVE THAT SONG. what's it called?
thanks to all those that performed & all those that came! you are superstars!
3. favorite videos from childhood, part four
aaaw yeah, one thing djearfarm should know about our beg yr pardon#5* tag team dj-ing extravaganza is that this will most definitely be played.
electric avenue/eddy grant
I'm not really sure why I loved this video, it makes not one iota of sense. it must be the fake motorcycle sounds followed by that OH!
love, d
* AHEM, BYP #5 is on 8/1, the one after BYP #4 tomorrow on 7/18, which YOU will be attending, no?
songs to seek: I'm coming true/the muggabears, the two three four/the unsacred hearts, (awesome pseudo prog power ballad I don't know the name of complete with harmony oooo's) moon/the mistakes, electric avenue/eddy grant
I received some sad news this morning that the muggabears will not be able to play as a full band at tonight's jezebel music showcase because of a death in the family. it's hard to express how one feels over someone else's loss especially when condolences always seem so paltry. my thoughts are with them.
travis johnson, lead singer/guitarist from the muggabears, will perform solo at 8:30. the unsacred hearts & mistakes will go on at their regular times. there is an open bar from 8-9, so if you plan to come be sure to take advantage of that...
now how does one get to club europa?
by subway: G train to nassau ave. stop - walk 1 block north to meserole ave. & manhattan ave. club is located near the corner of manhattan ave. & meserole ave.
I will cave in & buy the eraser because I love thom yorke like I was fourteen years old & nothing else in the world matters! ok, maybe not all the time. it would be difficult to get through the work day feeling like that all the time. but something close to it. a cards-close-to-vest fantaticism, perhaps? that sounds about right.
yesterday, soaking wet 'cause of sudden downpour, I sat on the bus & read the thom yorke interview in spin. the interviewer asked yorke if anti-depressants help him with his overwhelming anxieties & he replied in the negative, & continued by saying that music is all that's ever worked for him in that regard. I found myself nodding stupidly in agreement. then instantly felt embarassed because I realized that I've been on the bus, drenched by sudden downpour & nodding to some musical hero's pronouncements in some way or another FOR MOST OF MY LIFE. does this still happen to other people? or am I stuck in a teen time warp? just wondering...
there's a radiohead song called a reminder* which I put on a mix for j when I was a'courting him (female rob gordon, c'est moi?). it's a woozy number that sounds like sitting in a lounge in the world's most beautiful airport & it's not just the boarding call pronouncements audible in the mix, it's the WHITENESS of the sound. all the notes in the song seem to drip in the air, everything molasses-slow with a guitar line that swirls around & around aimlessly. it's just like watching take-offs & landings when you get to the airport too early & you're headed someplace that isn't where you want to go. yorke mumbles & slurs his way through it, a man who hasn't slept in days & there's a strange urgency behind his drowsy rambling. this song is a message about transitory things & that old twitch inducing truthism: just because things change doesn't mean it wasn't real & true at some point.
a tender & damaged little thing. go find it.
love, d
ps I'm buying the eraser this weekend. I'll let you know what I think.
As some of you may have heard I've been trying to book a night for Jezebel Music at a Polish dance club in Greenpoint called Europa that is branching out into rock nights. I'm not really sure if I'm allowed to say much about the process since technically, it's "work" so instead I'll just say: The Muggabears, The Unsacred Hearts, Mistakes.
Should this be your very first venture to Greenpoint? I think so. And those that live in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, should this be your first venture to the disco that's this (insert gesture of tiny-ness) close to your house? Definitely.
The Muggabears, who I have not had the pleasure of seeing live yet, combine qualities from two of my favorite bands of the 90's: Pavement and Polvo. They have the same fascinating and unexpected instrumental shifts paired with vocals that repeat what could be slogans but sound too crumpled to actually be anything so emphatic. In short: hypnotizing. I would love to put them on a bill with those wacky Emma La Reina kids... oh wait. Never mind. (Whistles, looks innocent)
For fans of the math rock (the only math I like) who've been itching to stand there staring like eagles at the musicians as they make your eyes cross with beautiful guitar squalor.
The Unsacred Hearts, written about recently here are fine, fine men who are so...enraptured (and I don't bandy that word around) with music that you can't help but get sucked into their church of boozy Rock & Roll as well. Sounds like a roadside bar experience you'd rather avoid? Wait. Not quite. Tthis is genuine live band mojo that feels as good as dancing around your living room with your headphones on, not like standing there with your arms folded worrying about the quality of the club bathrooms. Trust me. Or if you don't, trust Earfarm's take on The Hearts live show.
On a side note, frontman Joe Willie is leaving shortly thereafter for a rollicking bike-a-thon through Vietnam with his lovely missus Melissa. I don't know about his biking skills, so this might be the last time you see him, especially if he decides to stay there and write the great American novel, so come wish him well, bring him gifts of travel pillows and books, both dirty and poetic, etc... He'll appreciate it.
Mistakes are one of the very best live acts in NYC. I said so here and so did this gentleman HERE, and he goes to way more shows than I. If you have not had the pleasure of seeing them play ever, I'd recommend you start planning the fixed grin of enjoyment that you will acquire at this show. Guaranteed excellence!
2. The shoe, the gaze, amen
I'm more of a blog-reader than a blogger. This is a fact. Who is a blogger? Well, Merz from Mars Needs Guitars, that's who. I came across Mars Needs Guitars when I stumbled across this shoegaze series with guest writers*, because as y'all know, the shoegaze is a fetish o' mine. I keep coming back every day for the fresh posts on all things that sound real good plus pictures of rockets of course!
Do yourself a favor and make it a daily read.
3. Favorite videos from childhood, part 3
Yes, this one's a doozy. But I'm not alone, my opinion is shared by Contributor Jared, he of the long tooth for Chinese and the scarce but superb contributions to Soft Communication. One day he and I will sing this song at karaoke, thus alienating all of our friends because Jared will most likely take his shirt off AND insist on singing the Philip Bailey part.
Easy Lover/Phil Collins and Philip Bailey (video)
4. A venue I can walk to
Man in Gray is playing with the wonderful Up the Empire at the Brooklyn Lyceum tonight and I could be wrong, but I think there was some mention of burlesque dancers(?!) between bands. That's a first for me...I'll let you know if that’s a good or bad.
Love, D
Bands to see live: The Muggabears, Unsacred Harts, Mistakes
* I really wanted to write to him and ask if I could do one of those but realized that the whole don't even know how to post an mp3 might be a serious problem.
