Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Monday, December 17th, 2007
Fun
One of my favorite blogs is I Rock Cleveland. Dude just seems to get it. His list of “Top 40 Tracks of 2007″ brought the awesome and just plain rocking video of Kevin Drew’s (Broken Social Scene) “Backed Out On The…” to my attention. great song, amazingly fun video.
Finally something cool without trying to hard.
Sunday, July 22nd, 2007
Okkervil River - The Stage Names
After hearing a buzz about this band for some time, I finally checked out their 2005 masterpiece, Black Sheep Boy and have since been obsessed with this album. I literally have been listening to it non-stop for almost a month. Needless to say, I was excited to hear that after a two-year hiatus, they were releasing a new album this fall.
Stage Names, due out on August 7th is a change in direction for the band. While “Black Sheep Boy” is a powerful and sweeping album of raw, unrestrained emotion. While pleasing, the new album lacks some of the pain and grit that made the last so compelling. Songs like “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” is probably the most gratifying song, incorporating singer Will Sheff’s familiar cracked-voice howl and unsettling urgency. Much of the albums remaining tracks suffer from a lack of passion, often feeling like over-polished and unimaginative contemporary pop. Oddly enough, that’s precisely the sound they seem to have aimed to cultivate. In an interview with Pitchfork, Sheff states he wanted to “make a record that’s unemotional, that pushes people away and is sort of flippant.” Sadly, I suppose he succeeded. He also mentions that they recorded 15 songs for Stage Names, but pared it down a mere 9 tracks to keep the album “precise.” Let’s hope that these lost tracks contain more of the bitting poignency that made me a fan. I myself will continue to listen to their last record (and the Appendix album). You should too.
Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Okkervil River - A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene
Our Live is Not a Movie or Maybe (Live from Austin City Limits)
Friday, June 1st, 2007
Sufjan Stevens + Innocence Mission = Good
I somehow stumbled on this brillant video of Sufjan Stevens performing an impromptu cover of The Innocence Mission’s beautiful song, Lakes of Canada atop Cincinnati’s Memorial Hall. His sparse banjo version sounds like it easily could’ve been an outtake from the Seven Swans album.
#50.2 - Sufjan Stevens (MusicNow) - The lakes of Canada
Video sent by lablogotheque
Credits and stuff
Copyright © Extra Classic | Powered by WP 2.3.3. | Tree Reloaded by Pixelita, a minimal theme based on Tree by Headsetoptions