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16 Oct 2010 20:33

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Music: Showoffs: Atomic Tom plays song using iPhones on NYC subway

  • Want to get attention for your music? Find a clever way to get noticed on YouTube. And make sure it involves iPhones. And possibly subway cars. That’s what the four dudes of NYC band Atomic Tom did, and it’s worked out pretty well for them in the last two days (200,000+ views). If we were these guys, we’d probably just ditch the instruments altogether and keep doing stuff like this, because they’re insanely good at it.
  • iPhones + Subway = awesome Our money is on these guys actually having their instruments and lying about it because it makes the whole thing a better story. That said, they seem waayyyyy too talented at their iPhone instruments. Clever marketing either way.
  • For comparison’s sake Here’s the same band playing the same song on NYC music show Fearless Music. As you’ll see, the iPhone version does a good job of getting very close to this even without the benefit of guitars or drums. Show-offs. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

08 Oct 2010 13:16

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Music: Fleet Foxes classic watered down for Spanish soccer commercial

  • That sounds familiar. We can’t quite place it. … it has that “one of the best indie-rock songs of the last decade” sound to it. Wait, did this company totally rip off Fleet Foxes and think that nobody would notice? Bastards. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Sep 2010 20:18

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Music: Deerhunter’s new video, “Helicopter,” totally effing brings it

  • In front of a backbeat that we can best describe as “underwater reggae,” Deerhunter’s new song, “Helicopter,” doesn’t blaze like the band’s most well-known hits (“Strange Lights,” “Never Stops,” “Nothing Ever Happened”), but if nothing else seems to suggest that the band might have yet another artistic breakthrough in them. It’s them and Animal Collective at the top of the indie game, and based on this, they deserve it.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Jun 2010 17:59

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Music: Psh, Modest? Portland solidifies place as America’s most indie city

  • Modest Mouse is a cool band and all but we think we’re not alone in thinking that this painting of lead singer Isaac Brock currently on Portland Mayor Sam Adams’ wall is more than just a little bizarre. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Apr 2010 19:12

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: Delorean, Dom or Dum Dum?

  • 1. Dan Snaith’s Caribou has consistently pleased the critics with the variety of ideas it brings with each album. Last time, it was ’60s sunshine pop. This time? Disco. In a good (though somber) way. “Odessa” is definitely a catchy, danceable song, but it feels like a bit more dejected than your average dance record.
  • 2. Feel like MGMT blew it with their second album? Consider switching to Dom, who’s a little more low-rent in their overall sound but hit all of the same pleasure spots on “Living in America” as “Time To Pretend” did three years ago.
  • 3. Delorean sounds like it was pulled out of Ibiza on “Real Love,” and with good reason – they’ve gone a long way to embrace the sound, but not the parts that made the Spanish island the subject of jokes around 2005 or so.
  • 4. Thought Vivian Girls had a good idea but thought the music sucked? Good thing we have Dum Dum Girls as a solid alternative. Like that band, the angle is poorly-recorded twee pop from an all-girl group. The band even has Vivian Girls’ former drummer. Unlike that band, it’s led by singer Dee Dee, who shines brightly on “I Will Be.”
  • 5. Hunx and His Punx seems to be the other side of the coin from Dum Dum Girls. A girl-group approach to gay-themed pop songs, complete with overly sweaty album cover. It’s a dynamic twist that works surprisingly well, actually.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Apr 2010 10:57

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Music: Protip: The National’s new “High Violet” streaming free this weekend

This, of course, is only for fans of anthemic indie rock sung by dudes with really low voices. In other words, everybody. (Right?) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Mar 2010 19:11

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Music: Saturday Mixtape: We’re suckers for a hazy, summery vibe

  • Summer can’t come soon enough for indie rockers, it seems, because the sound du jour at the moment is a hazy brand of indie rock, much less abrasive than 2008’s noisy lo-fi model (we’re looking at you, No Age and Wavves). Guitars, synths, doesn’t matter: The vibe is key here. And it started with some guy named Ariel Pink.

  • 1. The sad, whining tone of the guitar intro on The Morning Benders’ “Excuses” gives way to a fairly clean sound, but it’s one clearly informed by the calming fuzz of a warm summer day. The Beach Boys wrote the outline, but not the plot, here.
  • 2. They like Neon Indian, they really like him. Last year, the Nintendo-baked project actually drew a degree of success that put it in the forefront of the “chillwave” movement. It’s a lot more accessible than some of the other stuff here. In a good way.
  • 3. A buddy of Animal Collective, Ariel Pink never got the critical praise of his mentors, until it became clear that indie’s path was colliding into his often-bizarre, noise-worn sounds. This song, one of the hundreds he’s recorded over the years, had a proper release way back in 2004, yet it fits in perfectly here. Hm. With the extra attention (he recently signed to big indie 4AD), expect him to have a solid 2010.
  • 4. Bradford Cox, too, has been around a while between Deerhunter and Atlas Sound, but his last Atlas Sound album “Logos,” has a definite worn-out-summer vibe that fits perfectly here. It’s one not reflected in any of his previous albums, but seems to nail the moment perfectly. When we hear “My Halo,” want to laze out. Seriously.
  • 5. Somewhere, below the layers of noise covering up Best Coast’s “Sun Was High (So Was I),” is a killer hook in a killer female vocal. Like the best hooks, it cuts through, saying “listen to me again.” And usually, we’re forced to comply.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

23 Mar 2010 10:34

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Music: Good night, sweet WOXY: Great internet radio station in flux

  • A sad day for internet radio. WOXY, an internet station run by Future Sounds (which notably went from terrestrial to online-only), was forced to shut down live broadcasts today. While they could come back to life, it doesn’t sound super-promising based on the message left here. *sigh* If only they were charmed, like Pandora. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2010 23:20

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Music: One-word album reviews: We forgot the mainstream bands this week

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Dec 2009 21:34

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Music: One-word music reviews: Hey guys! A new feature! Check it out!

  • We like short posts, duh. And we figure you do, too. We also like music. And reading reviews. So every Tuesday, we’re gonna cover a bunch of recent albums using a single word for each. Is the new Spoon album gonna be “consistent” or “mediocre”? Keep reading. We’re getting there, guys.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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