Top 25 Albums Of 2007 – 16 to 20

December 20, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Uncategorized 

Part 2 of my top 25 albums of 2007, coming to you five at a time because my lame typing skills can’t bang it out any faster than that. How’s it look so far? Did I hit your favorite yet?

16: MIA Kala
In a really weak year for hip hop who’d have thought one of the best songs(Bamboo Banga) would open with a line lifted from Jonathan Richman. There’s sheer beauty in just how aggressive, rhythmic, and relentless this whole disc is. It’s music made to be played loud. Turn it up, and then turn it up some more.

MP3: M.I.A – Bamboo Banga
Buy Kala

17: The Cribs – Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever
The Cribs third album, produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand is an energetic blend of pop punk goodness and their accompanying live show was one of the best I’ve seen this year, a powerhouse tour de force. Bonus points for taking chances on one of my favorite tracks, Be Safe, featuring a spoken voice over vocal by special guest Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth.

MP3: The Cribs – Men’s Needs
Buy Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever

18: Bless 1 – Starving Artist
While Kanye,Fifty Cent and Jay-z made mediocre records and spent the year trying to out promote each others ego, Bless 1 holed up in Chicago and self produced this gem of a hip hop record and then gave it away for free via his myspace page. All about the music, the way it should be.

MP3: Bless 1 – The Hunger
Bless 1 Myspace

19: The Silver Seas – High Society
Playing like a long lost seventies classic, when albums were on vinyl records and FM radio still mattered, this blends the sound of that era’s finest, Van Morrison,Jackson Browne,Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, etc. into one great kick back and just listen experience.

MP3: The Silver Seas – The Country Life
Buy High Society

20: The Fratellis – Costello Music
When I first wrote about these guts way back last January I called them the UK version of The Hold Steady, in retrospect that may have been a little over exuberent a comparison on my part but they’re still damn good. The Fratellis can, and do, crank out tunes that come off like a cross between the Buzzcocks and T.Rex. Mostly about girls, girls and girls. Playing good old rock and roll, and they got to make a ipod commercial to boot.

MP3 : The Fratellis -Chelsea Dagger
Buy Costello Music

Previous 21 to 25

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Wrapping Up The Week

April 9, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Uncategorized 

What I’ve been listening to most this week : LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver, The Fratellis – Costello Music, Nine Inch Nails – Year Zero, a lot of iPod shuffle time, and even some radio(WXPN).

K’nise Connections’ pick of the week is the indie alternacoustic sounds of London’s Grand Central. Think Midlake meets Coldplay and you’ll have an idea of what they sound like.

Some Things Coming Up This Week
The first Popped Festival takes place in Philadelphia this week. Although based on the numerous last minute venue and scheduling changes it hints at being a disorganized mess there’s still a lot of great music to check out, and almost all of it is all-ages events.
04/09/2007 08:00 PM – Make A Rising, Pattern is Movement,The Asteroid No.4, The Cobbs@ Johnny Brenda’s 1201 N. Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, 19125 – $10 21+ Event

04/10/2007 07:30 PM – StinkingLizaveta,Grandchildren,NormalLove,BearIsDriving,BarkingSpiders @ Avant Gentlemens Lodge 4028 Filbert St., Philadelphia, Oregon 19104 – $10

04/11/2007 07:30 PM – Notekillers, Low Budgets, Mtn.High,Northern Liberties, Bad News Bats @ Millcreek Tavern 4200 Chester Ave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123 – $10

04/12/2007 08:00 PM – Golden Ball, King Kong Ding Dong, The War on Drugs, Fursaxa, Fan of Friends @ TheParlor 1170 s. broad st., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – $10

04/13/2007 08:00 PM – Dr. Dog, The Spinto Band, Bardo Pond, Illinois
Starlight Ballroom, Philadelphia, Oregon 19123 – $15

04/14/2007 02:00 PM – Hail Social, Phil Moore Brown, Feather Mills, Public Record, and Movable Type
1000 N. block of Hancock St. btwn Front and 2nd St. & Girard and Laurel St, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19123 – Free Philebrity Block Party

04/15/2007 06:00 PM – Pissed Jeans,Sharks With Wings,Birds Of Maya,Satanized,Affirmative Action Jackson, Drums Like Machine Guns – $10
originally at Red Warehouse, this show is now at the Firefighter’s Lounge. 415 N. 5th Street at Willow

Be sure to check their website or myspace for any last minute changes before you head out.

Amazing power pop band,The Celebrities start an ongoing Thursday Night residency at the 449 Room in Trenton NJ. From the bands myspace:
After performing all over the east coast with the likes of OKGO, Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes, The Pink Spiders, and even the legendary Beach Boys with their previous bands LUZER and Dr. Thunder, Timmy Sean (vocals/guitar/keys), Chris Volk (lead guitar/keys), Dan Seeth (drums) and Krishna “The Mania” Vasudevan (vocals/bass) officially formed The Celebrities ringing in the New Year on January 1. Since that time the band has written more than twenty songs, including the four tracks featured on “The Free Four All Demo”, a sampler EP available for free beginning April 7. The four songs can also be downloaded online from the band’s official MySpace page. “We’re really proud of our new music, and we just want as many people to hear it as possible…even if that means putting it out there for free,” says The Celebrities’ chief songwriter Timmy Sean.
MP3: The Celebrities – She’s Mine
MP3: The Celebrities – East Coast Girls

Tags: , , , , , , ,

YouTube Tuesday : SXSW 2007

March 20, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Uncategorized 

I wasn’t there, but thanks to the magic of YouTube we can all experience a piece of the annual music festival from deep in the heart of Texas, SXSW.
The Fratellis with Pete Townshend – The Seeker

Amy Winehouse – Rehab (acoustic)

Tom Morello with Slash and Perry Farrell

OreSkaBand – PANTIME, Hana no Ska Dance, Pinocchio

The Stooges – No Fun

Lily Allen – Heart of Glass (acoustic in-store)

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Boys And Girls In the UK

January 3, 2007 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Uncategorized 

America may have The Hold Steady, but The UK has The Fratellis. Like the bastard child of the punk rock Buzzcocks and 70’s glam T.Rex they spin frenetics blasts of pop about boys and girls and all that goes on thereabouts. Or as the bio blurb on their website puts it :

So Mince was a stoner,Barry was a car thief and Jon was just a jon.
Where
stovable loners meet frustrated aristocratic nymphs. Where shoefetishists will
go to the gang fight and where Stacie Anne meets the Budhill boys in the back
seat…’MON THE FRATELLIS!

With names like Barry,Mince and Jon these Glasgow boys may sound like understudies for the Bay City Rollers, but they know how to kick out the rock and roll. They’ve spent the last year tearing up the UK, playing over 140 shows. Now they’re bringing it to the US, the Flathead EP was just released to Itunes, and their debut full length Costello Music(currently only available in the UK) hits US shores on March 13th.
Here’s a couple tunes for you, Chelesa Dagger – one of their UK singles from earlier this year, and Country Boys and City Girls – number 5 in a series of free mp3s they’re giving away on their website as part of what they’re calling The Budhill Singles Club.

The Fratellis are from Glasgow, Scotland and are :
Jon Fratelli – vocals, guitar
Mince Fratelli – drums, vocals
Barry Fratelli – bass, shouting

website : www.thefratellis.com
myspace : www.myspace.com/littlebabyfratelli

MP3: The Fratellis – Chelsea Dagger
MP3: The Fratellis – Country Boys And City Girls

iTunes : The Flathead EP
Amazon : Costello Music(UK Import Edition)

Tags: