Violens @ Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia

Having seen Brooklyn now-quartet Violens back in April at North Star Bar (when a 5 piece), I was more than excited to catch the band again last night at Johnny Brenda’s along with locals Ape School and Relay. Ape School opened the show with an indie acid rock and indie pop rock set that, while not groundbreaking music by any means, was entertaining. Front man Michael Johnson often sang in a falsetto as the band played solidly behind him.

After a lengthy set-up, Violens took stage and got down to business. The stage banter was minimal, save for front man Jorge Elbrecht asking if the audience could hear everything OK and later to mention that the band had an EP for sale at the merch table. Their no nonsense approach to playing wasn’t unwelcomed as they rocked hard, playing a tight and high-energy set of hard rocking tunes. Laptop beats flowed forth from a Mac manned by synth player/vocalist Iddo Arad as Violens ended their set with a series of dance jams.

Drummer Kris King tore up his kit with an ever present grin on his face as Elbrecht shredded on the guitar through the urgent dance tunes and inspired an eager fan into a frenzied solo dance party. In the frenzy, bassist Ben Brantley ripped off the strings from his bass and tossed it to the ground in a fervor, astonishing and pleasing the crowd.

Violens only get better with age and has great commercial appeal. Expect big things.

Jorge Elbrecht

Iddo Arad

Ben Brantley

Kris King

Violens Set List:
Already Over
Perceived
Until It’s Unlit
Grey Reigning
Spectator & Pupil
Trance-Like Turn (download)
Doomed
Violent Sensation Descends
Full Collision

Violens: website | myspace | download, watch “Trace-Like Turn” | Green Owl comp | rcrd labl | interview with | April 2008 live review
Ape School: myspace
Relay: myspace

First Look: Motel Motel

Brooklyn’s Motel Motel, who released their New Denver LP last month followed two days later by the Old York EP, are a “Band We Like” on Oh My Rockness and have been called an “Artist To Watch” by The L Magazine. From the LP, the band has just released single “Coffee” for download.

Preview “Coffee”

RCRD LBL will be featuring “Coffee” next week along with “River” and “Harlem” is still available.

Motel Motel: website | myspace

Skybombers / People In Planes @ Millcreek Tavern

Tucked away on Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia (born and raised / on the playground’s where I spent most of my days…) sits Millcreek Tavern. In addition to having great drink specials and even better beers on tap, Millcreek has a small stage and an amazing sound system. Last Friday night I headed over to West Philly to catch foreign acts Skybombers (Australia) and People In Planes (UK).

Skybombers possessed the most endearing Australian accents and a massive amount of energy that kicked the crowd into high gear. They covered “Money (That’s What I Want)” with more zeal than I’ve ever heard that song performed. They smoked on stage (smoking in Philadelphia bars is a big no!), brought some ladies on stage to dance and had the crowd sing a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” to and toast bassist Ravi.

Skybombers voraciously took over the bar with a wild intensity and totally tight sound that got the crowd more than amped for People In Planes.

Skybombers

Not to be outshone by their tourmates, People In Planes also put on a high energy show and held the crowd rapt rather than causing them to bounce off the walls. The crowd sang along loudly, moved around and watched with admiration as the Wales 5 piece raged on stage.

Guitarist Peter Roberts plays a sweet flying V, which are too rarely seen these days, churning out hooks for dance jams like “Moth.” The band slowed it down a bit with a tune featuring a heavy melody played by newest addition Ian Russell that could easily appear in film or commercials. Led by vocalist Gareth Jones, who also plays rhythm guitar, People In Planes plays radio friendly rock that will no doubt take them far.

People In Planes: Gareth Jones

Peter Roberts

John Maloney

Ian Russell

Skybombers: website | myspace
People In Planes: website | myspace

Head Like A Kite – No Ordinary Caveman EP

I was recently introduced to the fantastic Head Like A Kite, who are able to create a modern-industrial- pop sound to their music, that is overwhelming to both the body and ears. Head Like A Kite is comprised of just two men, Dave Einmo (on guitar, synthesizer, sampler, and vocals), and Trent Moorman (drums, keys, sampler, and vocals). This two-man band calls upon musical friends every now and again to join them in the studio to assist them with the creation or the remixing of their music.

The band’s first major album was Random Portraits of the Home Movie which was released February of 2006. The album was influenced and inspired by the 1970s’ Super-8 home movies, which they applied an experimental-electronic sound that could be compared to that of The Faint. In response to this album, Head Like A Kite was joined by fellow musicians from The Long Winters, Radio 4, Crooked Fingers, Smoosh, Animals at Night among others and, once again, ventured into the studio to produce yet another album. This second record, titled There Is Loud Laughter Everywhere, was released in June of this year. With such hypnotizing songs as “No Ordinary Caveman,” “Six Bags of Confetti,” and “Daydream Vacation,” this album was a musical success.

But they were not finished yet. On August 19th, they released a six-track EP of remixed tracks from this recently released album. The sound for the remixed tracks took the music to a whole new level. These songs where remixed by several known DJs such as Nobody who took a swing at “No Ordinary Caveman,” and knocked it right out of the park. Boom Bip put a whole new spin on the song “Daydream Vacation” with the help of Asya from Smoosh, and Antimc worked the sound of Head Like A Kite’s “Six Bags of Confetti.” All the while, Daedelus Plucks That Broken Arrow got together with Head Like A Kite to transform “We Were So Entangled” into something new and shiny.

Every single one of these DJ’s injected their own special steroid into their song, creating a whole new feel to the song.

Tracklisting:
01. No Ordinary Caveman (download)
02. No Ordinary Caveman (Nobody’s Totally Spaced Remix)
03. Daydream Vacation (Boom Bip’s Homecoming Remix)
04. Six Bags of Confetti (Antimc’s Skinny Gold Chain Remix)
05. We Were So Entangled (Daedelus Plucks That Broken Arrow Remix)
06. No Ordinary Caveman (Her Space Holiday cover)

Tour Dates:
Aug 30 – Rickshaw Stop / San Francisco
Aug 31 – Old Ironsides / Sacramento
Oct 03 – John in the Morning at Night (KEXP) / Seattle

Head Like A Kite: website | myspace | download, watch “No Ordinary Caveman”
Mush Records: website | myspace

Written by: Kyle Thurin

Grateful Dead to Reunite for Obama

Barack Obama’s run for the presidency has launched many different grassroots campaigns. The most interesting may be the revival of the Grateful Dead.

I am told that on Oct. 13, possibly either in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, the Dead will get back together for at least one show to raise money for and awareness about Obama.

All four living original members will play together — Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann. The band’s leader, Jerry Garcia, died in 1995 from a heart attack.

Substituting for Garcia will be Allman Brothers and Gov’t Mule master musician Warren Haynes.

If all goes well, the band will then set out on a major tour in summer 2009.

Wow. Really, just wow.

Source

Beck To Play Hollywood Bowl with Father

Photo: Autumn DeWilde

Beck‘s sold out September 20th show at the Hollywood Bowl will mark yet another milestone in the multi-platinum Grammy winner’s long and storied career. In addition to being Beck’s biggest ever hometown headline engagement, the show will now commemorate the first time he and his father arranger-conductor David Campbell have performed on stage together, when Campbell conducts the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany Beck’s performance.

David Campbell’s work appears on more than 400 gold and platinum albums. Over the course of his career, his work has received no less than 50 Grammys and two Oscars. As a performer, he has played on historic sessions with the likes of Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers and Carole King, while his arrangements can be heard on music by everyone from Paul McCartney, James Taylor, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and the Rolling Stones to Cat Power, The Mars Volta and of course on several of Beck’s albums.

Although Campbell has written string arrangements on most of Beck’s albums, Septmeber 20th will be the first time father and song will have performed together.

Beck: Beck: website | myspace | Modern Guilt review
David Campbell website

The Sound of Animals Fighting: The Ocean And The Sun

Throw on this record and it’s going to be the furthest thing from pop music you’ve heard in a long time. The name of the band, The Sound of Animals Fighting, already evokes thoughts of quick, rapid and harsh images whereas the title of the album, The Ocean And The Sun, conjures up mental pallets of peace and tranquility. And that is what you will find lttered throughout this record: a cross between calm and chaos.

The Ocean And The Sun is the third album by California based The Sound of Animals Fighting. The group consists of four members, who until recently, were only known by their zoological pseudonyms; The Nightingale, The Walrus, The Lynx and The Skunk. With such names I’m picturing characters out of an old fantasy novel: four mysterious, wise beings, rising from the past to lead and bestow upon the people something different, something changing, and that is what you feel like after listening to this record. The group consists of Rich Balling, Anthony Green, Matt Embree, and Chris Tsagakis, all members from a variety of different acts, such as Rx Bandits, Circa Survive, Days Away/Good Old War, Finch and The Autumns.

This is very much a progressive rock album with wild splashes from a variety of different genres: jazz; eastern music; punk; electronic; and hardcore metal. They certainly pull from a diversity of flavors with the least bit of care of sticking to expected and structured song formats. For the most part however, each song sounds unoriginally the same; hyper, metal like guitars and frantic drumming spliced with a strong jazz guitar riff that ploughs through all the other sounds. It’s something Joe Satriani on speed would pulse out.

At the end of many songs, a chaotic mashing of instruments that really just sounds like, well, noise. But then somewhere below that surface of sound, faint and inaudible vocals yearn to break free and make their greatness known. And on the tracks when they do, they add a much desired change of pace and texture. The vocals for me are the true gem of the album, that unfortunately only shimmer instead of burn brightly.

On “Another Leather Lung” one is reminded of The Smashing Pumpkins; at first listen one might think Billy Corgan is at the helm of dictation. Corgan is the closest comparison to these vocals, though in a softer nature on the other tracks.

My favorite song on the album is title track “The Ocean and the Sun,” which follows a completely different style than the other tracks and is really just an overall beautiful composition. It’s a slow electronic number with heavy eastern influences, particularly that of modern electronic Indian music, with wispy, nostalgic, fantasy-esque vocals. It reminds me of the Nitin Sawhney track “Letting Go.” The song takes you back to another time/another era, the electronic aspect creating a dreamlike experience.

“Cellophane” is another standout track that breaks the harshness of the album and falls on the tranquil side. The sound stems from its name it seems and has an airy, light atmosphere, with a well played jazz guitar riff that floats throughout the song. The barely audible vocals seem to be only sounds rather than words that do well to bolster the airy atmosphere. The end, however, is lost to the album’s characteristic format of spastic guitar/drum thrashing that sounds like animals fighting.

The Ocean And The Sun might not be an album you can quickly enjoy on first listen, as the initial noise and musical mashing can be a little harsh. However, it is an original and diverse record that can be appreciated for its uniqueness and effort of combining a variety of instruments and genres to produce sounds that are vastly different from other records out there today.

The Ocean And The Sun will be released on September 9th by Epitaph Records.

Tracklisting:
01. Intro
02. The Ocean and the Sun
03. I, The Swan
04. Another Leather Lung
05. Lude
06. Cellophane
07. The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer
08. Chinese New Year
09. Uzbekistan
10. Blessings Be Yours Mister V
11. Ahab
12. On the Occasion of Wet Snow

The Sound of Animals Fighting: website | myspace

Written by: Ali Hussain

VMAs: Behind The Scenes

Some Pete Wentz for your Thursday afternoon because, really, why not?

Catch the VMAs Sunday, September 7th at 9PM

Interview with: Mike Rosenberg of /PASSENGER

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to chat with Mike Rosenberg, the lead singer of Brighton band /PASSENGER. As we sat on a park bench in New York’s Lower East Side amidst the chaos of screaming children and a four piece creole jazz band playing their hearts out on a nearby street corner, we discussed the DIY nature of busking, the intimacy of writing partnerships, and the importance of lyrics. Check it out:

Dese’Rae Stage, PopWreck(oning): What was the origin of the band name? /PASSENGER?
Mike Rosenberg: I think it kind of started with my writing, this sort of observational theme, telling stories within our songs. And the idea is kind of maybe someone sitting in a passenger seat of a car and watching the world go by and everyone has a story to tell, whether it be an old alcoholic man or a stray dog or a stalker.

PW: Who are your influences?
MR: I grew up listening to a lot of Neil Young, Van Morrison, and Graham Parsons. People like that. I listen to Beirut, Iron and Wine, Calexico, Bonnie Prince Billy, all sorts of things. I’ve gotten into hip hop, as well.

PW: I could tell you were into hip hop with “Wicked Man’s Rest.”
MR: I think the way I write my lyrics sometimes, yeah. Especially the newer stuff that’s coming out on the second album has got much more of that kind of feel to it.

PW: You’re already working on a second album?
MR: It’s written. This came out a year ago in the UK. So yeah, there’s much more of that to come.

PW: “Wicked Man’s Rest” samples Allen Ginsberg performing “A Supermarket in California.” Where’d that come from?
MR: The guy I write songs with, Andrew [Phillips], did his master’s in English, specifically in American poetry. I think it really works. It’s such a confused song and that sort of consumeristic panic really mixes in nicely, I think.

PW: How are the audiences here receiving your stuff in comparison to back home?
MR: Generally, really well. The reaction over here has been great. I think, in America, I might be wrong, but it kinda feels like there’s a long tradition of this kind of music. You know, acoustic guitars and harmonies and lyrics. People really care about lyrics here. A lot of people have been asking me about the lyrics, which is really great because I care about lyrics. And so much music today, it doesn’t seem to be a priority at all. And I just think words put to music is such a powerful thing and if you have the opportunity to do that, don’t waste it just by writing stuff that rhymes. So I’m really thankful for people actually taking the time to concentrate on what I’m saying.
I think that’s been a bit of a difference. I think England’s a really difficult market because it’s small and very trend-driven. And if you haven’t got the right jeans and the right haircut, it’s a bit of a problem, to be honest. I think there’s an element to every scene like that, but there seems to be a gap in the market here.

PW: So you’re doing a busking tour. Where did that idea come from?
MR: We’ve been busking for the last six months or so. I think it just came from the weather getting better. Just the idea of not sitting on your ass and hoping it’ll happen. Being able to do something yourself. Not relying on an agent and a whole team of people, which you need to do the gigs and to do loads of stuff, but actually busking, you can book a bus ticket and you can book a youth hostel and bring your guitar and an amp. It’s not hard. So we started doing that in England and we’ve been all over the place. Up in Scotland and Manchester, along the south coast. It’s been so much fun. You meet so many people. It’s such a personal way of getting your music across. And we’ve sold over a thousand CDs doing it. It’s just a really human thing to do. Playing music, you can become quite adrift from what you’re doing. It really brings you back down to earth and makes you realize what you want from music.

PW: So I was under the impression that it was just you and Andrew at first, but now it’s a five piece?
MR: Well, it’s a long story. Me and Andrew write the songs. He was in the live band for awhile. He’s got two small kids, so we actually changed the band about eight months ago when we started traveling and got three new members. Now I travel around with Steven a lot. He’s the guitarist. So it’s cool. I still do all the recording and writing with Andrew, but the live band’s kind of a separate thing now. It works. He’s [Andrew] a bit older—he’s like 43—so it’s like, when I’m 43, I don’t want to be lugging amps out of some basement in Williamsburg, I want to be home with my kids watching them grow up.

PW: I’m assuming that Andrew did all the producing. The album has this ethereal feel about it. Is that him or the pair of you? How does the songwriting dynamic work between the two of you?
MR: He’s done loads of music for film and documentaries and TV. That’s been his main line of work for the last twenty years, so there’s definitely that sort of cinematic, big feel about it. As far as the writing goes, the lyrics are pretty much all mine. Most of the production ideas are his and we work on the music together. Sometimes I come to him with a song and we rearrange it and work on it. I’ve been writing with him for about five years and it’s amazing to have someone you totally trust, not just musically, but generally. You trust their taste and opinion in everything. He’s heard hundreds of my songs and knows when I’m taking shortcuts or could do a bit better or have rushed it or whatever. It’s amazing to have that.

PW: He can tell you straight out and it’s not gonna upset you.
MR: Yeah. Writing partnerships are such a…writing is such a personal thing. It’s cliché to say it, but it’s the most real part of you, and to share that wholeheartedly with someone is an amazing feeling. It’s really, really good.

PW: I don’t know if you have any formal training in writing, but one of the mantras repeated in creative writing classes is: “Show, don’t tell.” Your songs definitely give concrete visuals. How did that come about?
MR: I don’t know. I’m rubbish at spelling. I’m dyslexic, I think. I’ve not been good at school. I just started writing songs when I was fourteen and they were really bad.
You just learn over time what you do uniquely and you learn to focus in on that so it doesn’t sound generic and so it’s something unique and really honest. I think that’s what really annoys me about music and that’s why I don’t like a certain band, when I don’t think it’s honest. I think it’s kind of put on and contrived. I can’t stand that. It’s boring.

PW: So, I’ve been listening. I tried to make relevant comparisons because everyone likes to do that, and I failed. How does it feel—is it scary to be peddling a new brand of pop music?
MR: No, it’s really exciting. I’m really happy you said that, because when I get asked what kind of music we do, I still haven’t got an answer. I’ve been doing it for years and I still can’t say, “Oh, it’s like this.” Which is sometimes problematic because people can’t just put it in a box and, “Oh, right it’s this and I like this.” Do you know what I mean? Sometimes I’ve been frustrated by it, but ultimately I’m delighted that it’s different and unique. I think it affects people and I think, even if you don’t like the music, I think people can see that it’s different. Hopefully. Some people just think we sound like James Blunt. I think it’s a really lazy comparison.

PW: What are you listening to right now?
MR: I just got the Fleet Foxes album, which I like a lot; Bon Iver; Bonnie Prince Billy’s new album, which is okay.

PW: Last question: if you were headlining your dream tour, who would be supporting you?
MR: Alive or dead? I don’t know why, but Otis Redding, although everyone would see him and just be disgusted by us.

/Passenger: website | myspace | download “Umbrella (Rihanna)” live from Mercury Lounge | live review

Jerry Finn, You Will Be Greatest Missed

In what has been a fairly busy week at Popwreckoning, a bit of sad news slipped through the cracks.Longtime producer Jerry Finn (39) passed away after suffering complications from a massive brain hemorrhage last month.

Finn, who produced an unthinkable amount of substantial albums within the genres of punks and power-pop, will no doubt leave an almost nonrefillable void within the musical world he left behind. Contributing to the careers of Green Day, Rancid, Blink 182 (and multiple side projects), Sum 41, The Vandals and countless other bands, it is both virtually and literally impossible to picture the state of current music without his legacy.

Jerry Finn, you will be missed.