So much music, so little money
By Nick Hrkman, Blogger
October 19, 2007 | 7 a.m.
Welcome back, my fellow impoverished music fans. Still recovering from last week’s Radiohead blitz? Well, you can’t live on Radiohead alone (I’ve tried), so take a gander at all the new stuff this week. Time is money, so I’m just going to jump into the thick of it.
First up on my list for this week is an up-and-coming band straight out of North Carolina. Red Collar takes the best of its punk influences (Fugazi, Mission of Burma) and throws on a little pop and classic rock garnish for good measure. The single “Hands Up” on the Hands Up EP is the standout track, but all four songs on the disc are phenomenal. Red Collar has already started to appear on some music bloggers’ radar, so I’d keep an eye out for an explosive debut sometime soon.
My next recommendation is Chromatic’s Night Drive. The stripped-down, electronic dance-pop group evokes fellow minimalist electronic duo Junior Boys, but, I think, has a little more kick. The group's cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” tickles me in all the right places, and tracks like “Healer” and “Mask” reminds me that synths will never, ever die.
Those of you hip to the local music scene should surely have heard of Kaslo by now. When I heard the band play a quick show at Donkey Coffee last year, Kaslo struck me as Southeast Engine’s little brother. Similar sound, but something wasn’t clicking. Jump forward a year and whatever wasn’t clicking had suddenly fallen into place.
Kaslo played its first show in over six months at the Baker Theater and it floored me. It was a completely different band – literally. Several line-up changes and months of recording and rehearsal had polished the group into a first-class act. To be brutally honest, Kaslo's debut album, Watching the Carousel Collapse is the album that Southeast Engine should have made. Support the local boys and pick up the CD quick-like, and be sure to check out any live gigs the band has planned around town.
If there were ever an old video game in which the objective was to run around and hug as many kittens as possible before time ran out, listening to The Octopus Project would be its musical equivalent. The album Hello, Avalanche takes you to a very different world – a place where small, furry things eat sunshine and poop rainbows. A world where the dishes wash themselves, and Chris Martin is out of work. There really isn’t anything else to say – go get the album and drink the happy for yourself.
If you aren’t sold on any of the above, try Division Day on for size. Beartrap Island, released a couple weeks ago, is hard to pin to any particular genre. The album’s strongest track, “Reversible,” reveals airy synths coupled with thumping beats and plenty of guitars. “Tigers,” another of the album’s stronger songs, is a more straightforward rocker that makes good use of piano. Some tracks are stronger than others, however, so I might suggest picking up the individual tracks that you deem appropriate. Leading up to the album’s release, the band released a series of great covers. If you’re a Depeche Mode fan like myself, search the internets for their cover of “Enjoy the Silence.”
My final suggestion for this week’s blog is Cannonball Jane’s EP, titled Knees Up!. I know what you’re thinking: Red Collar’s Hands Up and Cannonball Jane’s Knees Up! couldn’t possibly both fit in the same blog. Just a crazy coincidence. Anyway, if I’ve done my research correctly, Cannonball Jane is actually a grade school music teacher who has this project on the side. The track “Take It To Fantastic” will immediately grab any fans of The Go! Team. Sounds like something the Shangri-Las or The Go-Go’s would be doing if they were raised on hip-hop. The end product is, well, fantastic.
What are you waiting for? Go listen to music.
/DJ Starman
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