Showing posts with label alternative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alternative. Show all posts

Monday, February 4, 2008

Cccome?, Maneuvers, and Amadis - 242 main - 1/28


We've mentioned Maneuvers and Amadis before, but not cccome?. We had run across them in our spidery interweb music quests, but the mp3s we found were lackluster and didn't seem promising.
Enter the live show.
The mandolin player cranked the gain and just shredded it to bits, with RATM style riffs interspersed between solos. One of the coolest, most original things I've seen here.
The vocalist used his voice like an instrument and his harmonica like a voice. He had a great stage presence too, like he was playing from another world.

Act 2 was the Maneuvers. They put on a stunning display of alt-punk power. Their songs have a complexity that breathes new life into their style, but remain incredibly catchy.
I purchased their new EP and highly recommend it, but definitely go see these guys play if you can- the recordings just cant capture the energy I saw last week.

Amadis played like it was the 70's all over again. Leather, shredding, and flying v's...
I wasn't able to attend their entire set, but what I did see was full metal. I gotta say, Vermont having an old school metal band is pretty awesome.

Myspaces-
Amadis
Cccome?
Maneuvers

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Foxymorons


Despite the joke name, these guys make some seriously good music. Incredibly stylistically diverse too- Acoustic, Folk, Pop-punk, Alt-rock... They also manage to pull off the atonal, Pavement style vocals very well, as well as soaring melodies more akin to ELP.
Definitely true indie-rock. Definitely worth listening to.

If you have a myspace account you can download an excellent set of 4 songs from their Official Myspace.


Free mp3s-
Hesitation Eyes
Harvard Hands

Monday, January 14, 2008

The Pernice Brothers



It's really just Joe Pernice, and his brother Bob comes and goes. But great music.
Major Flaming Lips vibe- you know, that pure, concentrated happiness with just the right tinge of melancholy.
Speaking in genres, I classify it as indie-pop. Not that that says much.
Subtle vocal harmonies, lo-key guitar solos, ahh.

Recommended Albums-
well, all of them, but
Live A Little
Nobody's Watching (Live)

Links-
Official Site

Official Myspace
Free mp3 of Somerville
"Live A Little" Full Album Stream


In addition to making superb albums, Joe also makes this brilliant MTV Cribs spinoff about what its like for indie artists. Highly hilarious.
You can find the episodes here.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Lowell Thompson Band


It's great to see a local band making some waves- especially when they deserve too. The Lowell Thompson Band plays really good alt-country with some old time rock n roll. Their cd has a pretty diverse collection of tunes, at times branching out into folk and indie-rock.
I really like the track "Crenshaw"...it conjures Red House Painters and the sk6ers.

I saw these guys live last August, and hopefully will see them again soon. Very nice show.

Links-
Official Site
Myspace
A few streams. (bad quality, sorry)

Monday, January 7, 2008

American Gothic EP


Smashing Pumpkins
Time for a brief foray into mainstream alt-rock.

These are the first new Pumpkin's tracks since Zeitgeist, and I think they are much better.
It could be because this is an acoustic EP, and is therefore less overproduced, or just because I have an affinity for acoustic music.
The stripped-down tracks also make American Gothic also sound like less of a Billy-athon than Zeitgeist.
Pox has a great edgy feel, Rose March is kinda folky, Sunkissed is growing on me, and I'm not a huge fan of Again, Again, Again.
Lyrically, as far as I can tell, Corgan has gone back to his deeper, personal, and enigmatic style- much better than the abstract, politcal-pop on Zeitgeist.

Someone has uploaded the tracks as Youtube vids, so here's a link to Rose March. You should be able to link to the rest from there.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Descended Like Vultures

Rogue Wave

For their second release, and last album with SubPop, Rogue Wave releases a set of tracks ranging from grandly urgent to smoothly relaxing. There's a more orchestral aura than their first album, and the arrangements are well developed. The catchy, alt-pop vocals are, for the most part, backed up by solid, accessible lyrics. (A few exceptions, but nothing's perfect.)

For free mp3s, visit the SubPop artist page.
(10:01 and Publish My Love are from "Vultures")