Back From A Northern Comfort / Veracruz

I guess I just needed a short vacation. I have loads of review requests lately. Sorry if I played a little slow listening to them all but I guarantee I DO listen to them all. I really cannot put any label onto this Spanish band's record. They more or less sound like an eclectic collaboration or something. They don't sound off-the-wall or bad or anything near. It's just that I don't get to write on many Spanish bands. These guys are called Veracruz and they shift themselves around from the Leonard Cohen-ish "Hollow Heads" to the speed-rock Modest Mouse sonic landscapes of "The Third". I didn't find enough time to listen to their whole album and the two tracks you hear here is pretty much all I know about them.

Veracruz is a four-piece band from Barcelona. This is their second album on the spanish label Yoyó Industrias. The band will only release next march a limited edition of 500 vinyls of the new album. It can be downloaded for free on their blog. It was recorded by Jens Neumaier and Maik Alemany (12Twelve and Giulia y los Tellarini) and collaborates Pablo Díaz-Reixa (El Guincho), Israel Marco (Cuchillo) and Álex Reynolds (Tu madre).

Stream | Veracruz "The Third"


Stream | Veracruz "Hollow Heads"


The band seem to have a strong sense of collaboration as they have gathered a list to work and play with, some of them include: Hello Cuca, The Cheese/Les Aus, Nisei, Grimorio, Sibyl Vane, Bananas, Ensaladilla Rusa, Omega Cinco, Bratmobile, Colder, J Irizar Toca la Bateria, Ginferno, Critters, Erase Errata, Grabba Grabba Tape, Za, Las Dolores, The Movidas, Solex, Tarantula, The Fuck!, Chinese Stars, Le Jonathan Reilly, Lightning Bolt, M.A.L., Mushitcians, Dead and Gone, Deadman on Campus, It's Not Not, Wiseacre, Garzon, Tokyo Sex Destruction, Orfidal Sur Mer, Sixteens, Astrud, Nueva Vulcano, Green Machine, Anticonceptivas, Vic Godard's Subway Sect, Comet Gain, Beef, Extraperlo, Sr. Chinarro, Delorean, Le Pianc, Virus, Cuchillo, Tu Madre, Ex-lion Tamer, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Mazoni, Fuck Buttons, The Extraordinaires...

Thanks to Mario Fort for introducing the band.

81st Oscar Night Moments / Morrissey

Last year I tried to make some wild guesses right here on This Winki's. Not so impressive were the results. This year I preferred to skip that. Slumdogs won the race. I already knew Anil Kapoor (the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host in the film) and A.R. Rahman (the guy who takes both best score and song Oscars home) through MTV India which used to air here years ago.

I was also happy for Heath Ledger (although I was personally into Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in Doubt).

But there were three moments that stayed on my mind. First and second go to the exquisite presentations of Steve Martin and Ben Stiller. I was down on the ground at 5 AM and that doesn't happen all the time. And the third was De Niro's appearance in the Kodak Theater. Now of course it was a bit cringy for five huge actors honoring one (who unfortunately happens to be Sean Penn again despite Mickey Rourke fantastic performance in Wrestler). But I'm happy I saw the event live again, thanks to RedBull! (not exactly I managed to sleep for one hour).

OK, I don't think I will have much to say on Morrissey's new album except the fact that it's better than what he's done since y2k, so here goes a neat track from his latest album The Year Of Refusal. I'm as well testing this new music player on the blog, I'll keep posting the songs from DivShare if it works out well. It's just less trouble for me this way.

Stream | Morrissey "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris"

Top 10 Pixies Songs

What would have Kurt Cobain become if it wasn't for the legendary Pixies? Odds are he wouldn't have to shoot himself in the head. But Frank Black has still survived. So where are we exactly headed? Here are my top 10 Pixies songs:



10 Caribou
09 Bone Machine
08 Monkey Gone To Heaven
07 I've Been Tired
06 Tame
05 Lovely Day
04 The Holiday Song
03 Here Comes Your Man
02 Debaser
01 Where Is My Mind?

Click here to do a song surgery on this wonderful song...
or listen to this magnificent cover of it by Emmy the Great.

Stream | Emmy the Great "Where Is My Mind?"

Just Because It's Grizzly Bear

It's viddy time again and what can be possibly more delightful than a bizarre dreadful mix of fine visual art and hauntingly lovely vibrations by one of today's most prestigious bands. Don't ask me what's going on here in this too-remarkable-for-an-indie vid. It's like a pseudo-Christ stepping into a desert watching some miners (played by band members) working on an unsual meat grinder and then the rest of the story.

I had no idea that peculiar ghostly love/murder ballad could have a video quite like this but I was instanly amazed and intrigued by the exotic artwork. I hardly can wait for the upcoming Grizzly Bear album but meanwhile let's return to the Yellow House days for five precious miunutes.

Grizzly Bear - Knife from thisguy on Vimeo.

Nine Inch Nails Calls It Quits (For Good? )

I've got nin.com rss on my Firefox panel and today I got this poppin' out there: "A Note From Trent & A Wave Goodbye".

The post entry on nin.com blog is a bit vague but apparently Reznor has decided to take some REAL time off. That will be one of the most prestigious rock bands in history disappearing from the public eye. I'm not quite sure I will cry upon this. NIN has been one of my permanent favorites throughout these years, but I guess TR feels too exhausted to carry on. Well, no hard feeling then. Some folks have expressed their grief and sorrow on this and I'm sure I'm gonna miss them. They have been pioneers in every room have stepped in. Here's what Reznor said upon their departure:

"Towards the beginning of my career in Nine Inch Nails, our biggest break came in the form of an invitation to perform a series of shows with Jane's Addiction. These performances essentially created and defined the term "alternative" rock in the US, created an ongoing festival franchise that is still thriving (Lollapalooza), set the stage for Nirvana to shift popular taste a few months later, and were really fucking FUN to play and attend - truly the best times I've had. The shows were epic. So epic, they propelled NIN to the "next level" (whatever that means), but caused Jane's to implode. The band broke up at the end of that tour.

Fast forward to the present. Corporate rock STILL sucks. A friend tells me they saw the original Jane's lineup play a tiny show in LA that was unbelievable. I break out my Jane's records and am amazed by how vital they sound. These guys were the real deal and in this current climate mostly dominated by poseurs and pussies it was refreshing to hear something that sounded dangerous, volatile, beautiful and SINCERE.
Emails were sent, phone calls were made, dinner was arranged, ideas were discussed and the next thing I know we're in the studio experimenting. We laugh, we get to know each other, we cry, we yell, we almost quit, we record LOTS of guitar solos, we discuss, we actually begin to all communicate, we yell some more, we become FRIENDS, we laugh again and we do some great things. I get to see first hand why they broke up all those years ago but I also get the chance to see four distinct personalities that become an INCREDIBLE band when they're in the same room.

In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's "Lights in the Sky" tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year. The approach to these shows is quite different from last year - much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted. Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye. I reached out to Jane's to see if they'd want to join us across the US and we all felt it could be a great thing. Will it work? Will it resonate in the marketplace? Who knows. Are there big record label marketing dollars to convince you to attend? Nope.
Does it feel right to us and does it seem like it will be fun for us and you? Yes it does.
Look for tour dates soon and I hope to see you out there.

Trent"

Well, what can you possibly add to this. Goodnight and Good luck!
But I guess NIN is still too vibrant to say goodbye and obviously there hasn't been any conflicts or disputes, it's just the way it is. Below are some links you might find quite useful on this wonderful band (All ThisWinkis.com material).

Links:
This Winki's Top 10 NIN Songs
Record Review: NIN - Year Zero
Record Review: NIN - Ghosts
Record Review: NIN - The Slip

ZirGround: Bijan Moosavi - In My Headphones (Free Download)

A bit late to write on this album. It was released in late 2007 in a bedroom somewhere in Tehran, Iran by a talented DIY soul i.e. Bijan Moosavi. Categorizing himself under a misinterpreted moniker like Persian Underground Movement, In My Headphones sounds much more promising and well-crafted in the genre’s weak and hopeless history. To be brutally frank, comparing this seven track long play to what’s going on in Iran’s musical helter-skelter is an understatement. I never believed in the existence of such phenomenon, it was merely some disturbed souls digging in a shallow puddle craving for what’s buried underneath metal or hip-hop ashes. Therefore it unfortunately fails to be considered a genre. Bijan is apparently an exception to this rule.

In a very four-track-wise sense of saying, In My Headphones is a bedroom recording sung completely in Persian. Although it’s been labeled an experimental album (and how it can makes sense in an overall comparison to its inland rivals), Bijan Moosavi acts intensely careful in what he’s doing. What we hear is an alternative rock amalgam of mid-90s inspirations divulged with Bijan’s hushing voice behind the pseudo-megaphone releasing its fantasies under a break-the-Persian-cliché approach of songwriting. On the opener “The Earth” he reveals his sense of internationalism and longing for a past that could just be better but somehow never was and that's pretty much why Bijan is reluctant towards any sense of patriotism, now that's someting noble in mind. “Dark City” is undoubtedly one of his best works as he gives himself away around the city he’s inhabited for almost three decades, only from a different and more straightforward perspective. Most of what he utters out, the words, the sounds and the gloomy/psychedelic atmosphere are quite realistic and therefore satisfying. The LP stretches on with two more personal tracks “Guess My Mind’s Gone Wrong” and “Must Get Out Of My Mind”, neatly composed and vigorously performed. In My Headphones then takes a different direction with two hypothetical fantasy songs “Uncle Mustache” and “Mister Fox” can turn the audience on if they thought the album to be too dreary and melancholic. The closing “Wind” sounds soothing and environmental and sums up the whole thing the way it should.

Bijan has also had his own experimental performances in Berlin recently which can be viewed through his official site. We’re just looking forward to hearing more of these kinds of headphones, anyway. The album is available for free out there so make sure you get it.

A Li'l Talk Of Despair / Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses EP

Not the best week I’ve ever had. Had a serious argument with one school principal, realizing how asshole can a human being get sometimes and discovering some deep troubles I have inside that just never seem to heal.

I badly long for a vacation out of this mess. I have almost lived a vacationless year since early 2008. That Thailand excursion was probably just what I needed but not a single soul joined my company for this year. So is it me or is it friends being fucked up all along? All I’ve heard during the last week was nothing but negative energy to me. The problem they claim I have is my state of being straightforward (while I'm doing my best not to be rude or look awkward). But I never truly meant a thing; I just told them what I feel. I just told them what I hate or love and that was all. I have always crawled my way out of cliché and that’s exactly where people misinterpret me. They just think I’m being pretentious. Well, I’m not.

I just never seemed to fit in my society and that’s why I’m not going to vote for the next Iranian presidential election. I have been through enough shit. I don’t play an asshole but I just don’t like to vote for one of them. You know, they just…don’t speak for us!

However things could look much better if:

• I can get an elaborate vacation outside of Iran;
• Get a reasonable IELTS result;
• Change my perspective about some folks and vice versa;
• Find a wealthy soul to waste my time with
• ...And another thing that I’d rather not share
  

But one thing I’m not willing to do is playing this Ulysses EP from Franz Ferdinand once again. It’s completely worthless. Tonight was a great nightlife album and the fact that the band could curve themselves down to more electronic approaches just to provide some good time was both frank and cash-making I guess. But this Ulysses EP has absolutely nothing new to offer. Starts off with “Ulysses” itself and then fails to make sense for the rest of the story. Even the closing remix of the song by Beyond the Wizard Sleeve acts as nothing but another simple DJ remix of the song being heard almost anywhere in local night clubs all around the globe. I just pray for the better no matter what! There are much better things to hear this year I guess. Listen to M. Ward for instance.

Glasvegas - Glasvegas

Yes. James Allan is that peculiar Scott! Only if you’ve watched Braveheart 12 times or in case you have lived in Glasgow, you may find a clue for the lyrics and the accent. Actually, I became into this eccentric sound that accents make since Twilight Sad. But there are things missing here. Twilight Sad were stylish and sounded exactly as they explained in their song titles. Glasvegas jump starts pretty much the way they should on their debut. I don’t know if that pseudo-noise that lingers all along the nu-Glasgow bands is a result of the Scotch environment, or is it the rain or is it the God-given greenery that is granted freely for these people. But it outrageously sounds pleasant and vibrant.

This debut album (which was primarily released in 2008 but didn’t see a major release until this early 09), starts its freezing path with the same Twilight elements. “Flowers & Football Tops” is exquisitely lively and stadium-sized. James Allan sings such tenderly romantic lines as we pass the wonderful soundscape of the intro. This longest track on the album looks so promising when it reaches its ending limit with “You are my sunshine!” but as we go further, we somehow lose track of it all, or is it the band doing their best effort to sound like the wonderful opener and then fall by the wayside. Yeah, that’s the Achilles’ heel here. Glasvegas uses so many forces: the overwhelming noise, the Arcade Fire’s grieving tunes and the mentioned Scott formula. The combination looks so astounding on the paper but are they really trying to make it big, or are they intending to remain Glasgow darlings? Glasvegas suddenly turns itself into a high-school act. “It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry” sounds so teenager, unarranged and naïve :A pile of lyrics and impromptu melodies that never seem to fit.

Stream | Glasvegas "Flowers & Football Tops"

The rest of the story is just as hopeless, so I guess we just have to cling on to the next Twilight Sad thing or let me know of another dazzling act in Glasgow or Edinburgh. But meanwhile let me just go back to my good ol’ Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters.

On 51st Grammy Winners

My friend's granny had a little pet squirrel with a huge tail. The very little squirrel a.k.a. Planto had a mate, Alice she was!

Alice had a small tail, and Planto unluckily had tail-fetish! Alice didn't realize it for the beginning years of their relationship. She sometimes observed Planto jack-off watching the squirrel traffic from the window. Such squirrels with such large tails. At first Alice thought Planto had depression or another minor disease!

So there was this one time Alice sees a doctor. Doc prescribes a medicine causing the tail to expand to an abnormal size. Alice felt happy she could finally keep his horny mate satisfied. Instant pleasure you know.

Days went by. On a night as Planto got home having a hard day, he suddenly realized Alice wasn't there! There was just this one huge tail. Planto felt sad for a while, he shared years with Alice. They used to sing silly country songs for no one. But, yeah she's gone now. Despite the fact that things had changed, Planto was still bound to jack-off living with the huge tail. Tails have no holes. Fetish led Planto nowhere. Fetish no hole. Planto fetish grammy hole tails #51.

Here's the link to the grammy winners this year.

Interview w/ Michael Cardenas

On the release of his first full length Yeai, we interview the folk newcomer Michael Cardenas. Interesting how Michael gives some genuine elaborate answers. Even if you're not interested in what he's good at, you'd better read this.

TW: Tell us more about that death-metal-to-folk shift. Was it about us aging or was it the world turning upside down reaching its hand for sympathy?

MC: Norway, Sweden and Poland all have metal acts that weave folk sensibility within their compositions. Regarding maturation: metal bands from Scandinavian countries tend to acknowledge folk elements in contrast to western or American metal that adheres to habitual neoclassical influence, debatable examples might be Slayer, Metallica or Pantera, but I get a punk feeling from those bands not blues. The folk factor or blues isn't a strong element in American metal, traditionally metal from the U.S. favors mimicry of neoclassical forms that would appear European. Those traditions were started during the new wave of British heavy metal and among bands like Iron Maiden. This circumstance brings up an interesting point about death metal or thrash metal, some would argue that these forms are descendants of punk. So if you consider that aspect in metal and punk's rejection of rock n' roll you might see that blues or the folk idioms within western culture were eschewed by the time death metal was galvanized.

Folk music is a survival mechanism as result of my dissolved relationship with death metal. During those six years playing guitar I became fond of many Norwegian, Swedish and Polish metal bands. One band that I admire a great deal is Drudkh from Ukraine. The folk mechanism within their music is foundational to their sound. I would cite their approach as the logical bridge a metal guitarist might recognize in acquiring a taste for folk music.

As you can imagine, playing extreme music isn't exactly a mainstream activity and there's a curious result in all this. After a life of performing challenging music whether it was free jazz, funk or melodic death metal the one genre that has proven successful in a mainstream context is the folk music I play now. I agree that it's uncommon for an artist like me to make a shift into folk material and ironically it's the most extreme path I have taken.

TW: You told me about your song "Freestandin'" and how it can relate to living in a third-world country like Iran, what was that about?

MC: "Freestandin'" is a song about the Islamic belief system. Jihad is included as a thematic pivot (struggle). I looked through the initial notes I took when writing "Freestandin'" and found this:

WE HAVE RETURNED FROM THE LESSER TO THE GREATER. MEANING WE HAVE RETURNED FROM DESTRUCTION OUTWARD ONLY TO BE LEFT WITH THE DESTRUCTION IT HAS CAUSED OUR LIVES. WITH NO GAIN, WE ARE LESS FOR HAVING DESTROYED OBSTACLES RATHER THAN USING OUR MIND AS THE TOOL OF OUR HEART TO SOAR PAST SIMPLE OBSTACLES. A RUNNER DOES NOT HANDLE A WEAPON IN A RACE TO SHOOT DOWN HURDLES, FIRSTLY THE WEAPON WOULD ONLY SLOW THE RUNNER THE RACE IS BEST TIME, BEAT TIME.

One apparent parallel in comparing western and eastern culture is the divide between extremism or fundamentalism and moderate practitioners. In the west there is the same schism occurring between neoconservatism and social democracy. Regardless of the accumulated wealth in a country like Iran or America there will be ideological undercurrents that define not only the richest demographic, but the poorest as well. It seems that social democracy functions as a bonfire for the working class to huddle around. In contrast fundamentalism roots itself as a tree would challenging any fruit to prove it's source. This fundamentalist affectation retains an alpha state or "point A" perpetuating/awakening fundamental fear, the cornerstone of monotheism. So what does fundamentalism have to do with the economic development of nations like Iran or America? The same fundamentalist ideals that propelled Quakers and Anabaptist during the 19th century's manifest destination of America are comparable to the social ideals or fundamentalist motivations found within the development of Iran, i.e., poor people who happen to be fiercely devout believers and political leaders who patronize religion as a channel to the people.

TW: How do you like to sound on your live shows and how do you like the audience to interpret your folk music for the sad and beautiful world?

MC: An audience can be as large as a venue holding 1,000 people or as small as a dozen. In either case as a solo performer the intimacy is obligatory and inescapable. My role on stage is making sense with clarity to both people in the front row and those in the balcony. Everyone should feel at home and my motivation in performing is total inclusion. I try my best to sing and play in a way that holds the listener's attention. Once people embrace the tonality and appearance of a song they naturally gravitate to the message of a lyric. The acoustic tradition of singer-songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake or Elliott Smith are the standards by which modern artists should be judged. It's more than I could ask for that people would embrace or interpret what I do in the spirit of my predecessors. My intent is to honor their legacies while carving out progress.

TW: Share your top 3 post-millennium folk albums with us, will ya?

MC: José González - Veneer
Joanna Newsom - Ys (Read Review)
Mariana Sadovska - Songs I Learned in Ukraine

Thank you Michael Cardenas for the interview.

Links:
Read about Michael Cardenas new album Yeai
Michael Cardenas on MySpace

Michael Cardenas - Yeai

Michael Cardenas has manifested his music to be “folk music for the sad and beautiful world”. On a major scale, yes that’s pretty much what his music is about. Born in Montebello, CA and having lived a life less wealthy and easy, started playing guitar at ten before facing many ups and downs in his career. But that’s not exactly why I’m writing about him here. The weird thing about all the sad folk is Michael’s undeniable tendency towards death metal in not a real distant past. Having worked with some death metal acts, Cardenas has made his decision to somehow never sound like that stuff again for the rest of the time to come. So what we’re left with is a voice potent with folk ingredients, sometimes as tender as Nick Drake and sometimes as vibrant as Joseph Arthur. So that 180 degree shift is quite impressing. In fact he still looks like a death metal player but... hey this guy is now a million miles away from that undecided galaxy. So wouldn't it be nice to experience a former man of winkled guts and unpleasant vibrations, get down on his acoustic guitar and sing the awakening lullabies?

Stream | Michael Cardenas "Illness"


Stream | Michael Cardenas "Freestandin'"

As Michael Cardenas divulges himself in lyrics, he doesn’t sound disappointing. None of the songs appearing on his debut long play called Yeai have a constant hit-appeal; somehow the context is more important. This very numb charisma and light appetite lingers all along, therefore Yeai can be mostly easy listening and enjoyable. Cardenas sees the bright side of the story through an Elliott Smith lens to be honest. So he aims towards a sun quite difficult to reach, even when it comes to love, he proclaims his dark side. In "Illness" he confesses “Tie me up call me a fighter, bind my throat you can make it tighter my love is ignorant I'll be dumb forever, I don't know pain.” But you can’t quite call him a pessimist. His smooth hands on the guitar and his conscious lively folk are in contrast with the lyrics and if you ask me that’s what makes sense about his music.

Links:
Buy Yeai through his online store
Buy MP3s at Amazon
Michael Cardenas MySpace page
Michael Cardenas on Virb

Dark Was the Night

What makes this compilation almost impossible to avoid is the rich sturdy list of indie artist it takes advantage of. Produced by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, its aim is the benefit of the Red Hot organization - an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. Go and buy the record a.s.a. you can anyhow but that’s not the point. The double disk, unlike many other similar compilations earns a wealthy 31-track material from the kind that hasn’t been heard or at least you can say seldom heard.

Well if you want names, too many to mention. But I can’t stop screaming them out everywhere: David Byrne, The Books, Jose Gonzales, Feist, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, The National, Yeasayer, My Brightest Diamond, Antony (Hegarty) and Bryce Dessner, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), The Decemberists, Iron & Wine, Sufjan Stevens and if that’s not enough go mad with the second disk containing tracks from Spoon, Arcade Fire, Beirut, My Morning Jacket, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, David Sitek (TV On the Radio), The New Pornigraphers, Yo La Tengo, Stuart Murdoch, Riceboy Sleeps, Cat Power, Andrew Bird, Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Gillian Welch, Blonde Redhead, Devastations and Kevin Drew. There’ve I’ve said it.

Now what can we possibly miss here? Indie music fans have all their needs now go and pray for the AIDS to vanish but before that, rest your bones beside the fire as this eclectic gallery of sound unfolds its sound. Most similar compilations come with such tracks least likely to hear. They simply offer their worst works but luckily that’s not the case here on Dark Was the Night. The Decemberists offer their best on an eight minute epic “Sleepless” just the way Sufjan Stevens gives away everything on his 10 minute opus “You Are the Blood”, a mixed recipe of everything Sufjan has accomplished so far from his electronic Enjoy Your Rabbit to the depth of his gospel soul. Feist and Ben Gibbard join hands on an exquisite cover of Vashti Bunyan’s “Train Song”. The ship will continue to sail with a vibrant combination of covers, original songs as well as wise duets. Take the Books collaboration with Jose Gonzales on a Nick Drake’s “Cello Song” (a bit weird but isn’t that what you craved for all along?) The compilation will be released on February 16th through 4AD, so the wait is almost over. This is what Aaron Dessner has written about the album:

As we invited friends and peers to contribute, our collective social awareness became apparent: anyone that had the time was willing to donate their time and their music to the Red Hot cause. But there were many different stories behind each song: some we had heard live and knew had to be on the record (The Books “Cello Song”, My Brightest Diamond’s “Feelin Good”); close friends whose arms we knew we could twist enough to give us special tracks (Arcade Fire, and Sufjan Stevens); bands we asked who were too busy but had solo projects or side projects they could include (Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and Jonsi Birgisson of Sigur Ros); songs we had always imagined certain artists singing (Cat Power’s “Amazing Grace” and Antony’s “I Was Young When I Left Home”); and dream collaborations (David Byrne and The Dirty Projectors, Feist with Grizzly Bear and Ben Gibbard, and my own song with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver).
In the end, there was enough great music to produce two discs–one dark and homegrown with almost classical arrangements of folk themes; the other more bright and evocative of the best of independent rock music at the beginning of the 21st century. “Dark Was The Night” and the Dore illustrations for Milton’s Paradise Lost, which make up the art imagery in this booklet, evoke a “fallen” world of struggle, but also the capacity of art to inspire us to rise above the obstacles put in our path. Our nights may be dark, but music gives us inspiration and hope of brighter days to come.

Purchase Dark was the Night through the original website.

Pedram Is Virbed

I finally got myself a little Virb profile and I'm glad I did it. I never had a public profile before and I can connect to more indie musicians this way.

I'm new to this so I'm gonna need a li'l time to figure this thing out. But Virb will replace MySpace soon if you ask me. It's much neater and more versatile. I think I'm gonna add a couple of good musicians there as well.

Bruce Springsteen - Working On A Dream

Let me guess! If John McCain became the next president of USA, Bruce Springsteen would have probably released a freak-folk album with lyrics about worms and cockroaches. Or, let’s step a bit further. If Bruce was living in Iran living under Ahmadinejad’s regime he would have come up with something like Tool or Slipknot. But none of the above happened. Springsteen was so disappointed on George Bush’s second four years winning over John Kerry. So he came up with Devils & Dust: An album that was almost going nowhere. And finally Bruce became even more disappointed at the end of the 8 years; therefore he did his best to sound arrogant and hopeless on last year’s Magic. “Radio Nowhere” expressed it all. Thank God Barack Obama is elected! Now we have an album at last.

Working On A Dream is Bruce coming back to size with his long time allies i.e. The E Street Band. Despite the overproduction of this album and the dreaded fact that it sounds badly edgy and harsh, too harsh actually for a rock album, Working On A Dream is more or less the best thing Bruce has come up with since the new millennium (although I admit 2002’s The Rising was not bad at all).

Stream | Bruce Springsteen "Surprise, Surprise"

It starts off with an 8 minute opus that… OK the melody resembles KISS “I Was Made For Loving You” but the song sees E Street Band at their Born To Run peaks and that’s the good news about it. I just don’t know why I get a feeling Bruce’s voice sounds like Jakob Dylan, but anyway. But “Outlaw Pete” is fortunately not the end. The album stretches the neat sound with “My Lucky Day”, a pretty much 80s-Springsteen tune therefore memory-making. My favorites are the title track, a neat grower with “Hungry Heart”-like moments and of course the most optimistic work on the album “Surprise, Surprise”. It also comes with a bonus soundtrack of The Wrestler which is mediocre but satisfying. It’s among the few times since Bruce has not disappointed us in let’s say 2 decades. He shifts with politics. He and Pearl Jam! Them and Neil Young!

Mother Theresa? Not Exactly. Elliott Smith!

The story is, in my Islamic country there should be almost nothing that bothers a Muslim. OK? No matter what you like, do the world a favor and DON'T!

Do you listen to music? DON'T.
English? No, Arabic.
This? Not exactly. Something preferably else.
And that's how it really goes.

In the schools in which I teach the Interchange coursebooks, each unit ends with a reading. And one particular reading is about Christina Aguilera. Now watch your tongue!

Stream | Elliott Smith "Division Day"

Things were going as they should have. They taught the readings about Agui! Until this year that we surprisingly saw Agui's text being replaced by Mother Theresa! (El Oh El) So, what are the odds, mate? What does an Elliott Smith fan do in such dilemmas. The next thing I did, I taught the old Christina one and when it came to take the quiz, I wrote about Elliott! Haha. Now that's the question which students had to choose the best word that fits in the short paragraph! No I didn't ask them mourn over him. It would be a bit stark and dreadful for a 15-year-old to say figure he stabbed himself in the chest with a kitchen knife twice. But this is what I wrote.

Elliott Smith is one of the best musicians in today’s music. He was (burn, born, borned) in Portland and died in 2003. He has (multiply, so far, multiple) hit singles and some say he was the best folk singers of his (generation, population). In 1998, at the Oscars (talent show/ceremony) Elliott (showed, appeared) and played his hit song “Miss Misery” and that’s one of the (importants, highlights, headlights) of his (career, carrier, professional).

Yeah! That's pretty much how I react in such situations. And I'm proud, I tell ya! Now choose the best answer from the words given in parenthesis.

Sublunar Minds

There are times you wish you were the one sitting on that dreaded time machine and then decided to head somewhere. I’ve actually fantasized that a couple of times. Do I really fit here or not? USA’s 60s? London’s 70s? 50’s Cuba or China? Or Prague’s 1915? But then I lost that fantasy instantly as I realize I heard a multitude of hundreds of great songs back in the '90s. Don’t shoot! I have nothing against other decades. Buddy Holly and Syd Vicious are probably shaking their graves out to come and kick me in the buttocks and then get back. But people at my age usually know what I’m talking about.

Now what do I mean by all this nonsense: It’s the music of this Manhattan based rock ensemble spearheaded by Ben Cockerham called SubLunar Minds (with the capital L, yes) that play '90s influenced pop rock, a very pleasant reminiscent of Dave Matthews Band’s early days as well as Matchbox Twenty and Third Eye Blind and etc. Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound like this millennium, but it definitely sounds proper and suitable when they add up their funk with harmonica and horn and whatever else. If you’re sitting in a local club having this band performing, you’ll undoubtedly be surprised by the defined sound and mood that SubLunar Minds create.

Download | Sublunar Minds "Watching the World Pass By"


Download | Sublunar Minds "While You Walk Away"


And well, they are giving away their EP for free through their website and you might go “Ok! That’s it, a six song EP, they’re starters.” while actually they’re not. An insignificant glimpse at their Amie Street page and you figure out they’ve been playing! I mean playing, you know. Click here to download the whole EP or just, hang around the website and hear the rest.

(photo "Untitled" by Paul P. on Daniel Reich Gallery)

Beirut - March Of the Zapotec / Realpeople Holland EP

Among other inevitable attractions in listening to what Zach Condon creates, aside from the vintage Balkan-Gallic wedding-like sounds of love and devotion is the false illusion you might get to realize they might all somehow come from a remote state-of-mind you had before and that they might not be all that original. But the distinctive thing about Beirut is that the sound merely sounds like something else while they’re essentially original. They are just massively inspired and soul-infected. That's all!

Stream | Beirut "La Llorana"

I’m not taking this double EP as the next Beirut product, honestly. March of the Zapotec can be interpreted as simply what Condon has accomplished in 2008. The first disk is mostly Condon’s collaboration with a local Mexican band who could only speak a language called Zapotec in a remote Mexican state called Oaxaca. Zach went through some hardships finding the connections and getting the band together. Now what it turns out to be is exactly what they wanted, I suppose. March of the Zapotec is the epic sound of a high-profile Mexican movie if we only close our eyes. The Ennio Morricone tendencies of another Guiseppe Tornatore film. After the helter-skelter instrumental opening, there comes a segmented epic tune called “La Llorana” which is technically the best thing found on this work. There’s actually not a significant sound left for the rest, however all the remaining tracks such as the closer “The Shrew” are least likely to be hopeless. But the absence of Condon’s tender heartfelt voice in most spaces on the EP might somehow remind us once again that March Of the Zapotec is probably not a music album. So that might explain why they sound boring sometimes.

Then comes the second disk i.e. Realpeople Holland i.e. the home recordings of Condon. Although the previously heard “My Night with the Prostitute from Marseille” sounds neat and…well electronic. I don’t think this could be something categorized as a Beirut sound. It should somehow be somewhere else, as a side-project or something. The last thing I’d like to hear from Beirut is electronic and that’s how the second disk almost disappointed me. I just hope the upcoming (or is it?) Beirut thing would stick to its core fundamentals which are more satisfying and enjoyable. But for now, this semi-soundtrack album may suit you well. Beirut is one of my handpicked bands around anyway, I can barely have anything against what this DIY genius does in his room. So I’m totally reluctant to show a two-thumbs down.