So I’m standing in my kitchen browning ground turkey to put in some Hamburger Helper (who says you have to use hamburger?), and my three year-old son comes running in and begs me to turn on the stereo. He is my son, after all.
I flip through the discs that came in the mail that day searching for something, anything that’s upbeat, happy and danceable. I land on the effervescent cover of Wells, Minnesota disco-pop band The Golden Bubbles new album, A Good Time Had By All and was not disappointed.
After building their fan base in the Black Hills, TGB have brought their piano-rock trio act to the MSP area. And although piano plays an important role in each song, this ain’t no Billy Joel piano man crap. AGTHBA is intricate, bouncy and vibrant. The boys aren’t afraid to bust out the falsetto, hum along a chorus or destroy a pop chorus with electro-bleeps and samples.
Perhaps the most overused lovers’ line ever used is “You had me at hello.”
Saint Paul songwriter Nick Hensley, former lead singer of The District, has struck out on his own and recently shipped me his debut solo effort. And if Love Songs for Angry Men was a Jerry Maguire movie, it would be more like: “You had me at…
take your grande, soy latte
and shove it up your ass
it’ll go so well with your low fat smoothie
and your shot a wheat grass
did ya get those fabulous dreadlocks
at a ritzy uptown salon
yeah I gotta few problems with you
in fact, your life wrote this song
and the list is so long
Whether singing about barefoot prophets in his front yard or a crush on a Saint Paul girl bound for Hollywood, Nick Hensley has a knack for telling it like it is in his rootsy, alcohol-induced, alt-country way.
Love Songs for Angry Men lives up to its promise. Just don’t expect a phone call the morning after.
Hensley has many many gigs coming up, including a gig at the EP Champps tonight and Savage Bonfire tomorrow. Check his MySpace for details.
Dengue Fever announced today the July 14 digital-only release of a four-track EP, Radio Dance Floor, featuring a collaboration with the Bird and the Bee’s Inara George on lead vocals on the disco classic “I Feel Love” made famous by the lovely Donna Summer.
“Inara George and I grew up together in Topanga Canyon, California and it’s such a pleasure to finally get to collaborate together,” said Dengue Fever guitarist Zac Holtzman. “Recording a disco classic like Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” was the ideal situation to work with Inara and still keep the feel of Dengue Fever. There was absolutely no pressure, a ton of fun play something so iconic and we still were able to get our lead singer Chhom Nimol to sing backup, which made it even better.”
Okay, I know streams suck. STREAMS SUCK. But that’s all I have to offer, and this is worth checking out:
The new All Smiles (aka Jim Fairchild of Grandaddy and Modest Mouse fame) album is out today. It’s Fairchild’s second full-length and is called Oh For The Getting And Not Letting Go.
After listening through a few times, I can testify the album is a safe, unobtrusive, shoulder-shrugging effort.
If this was baseball, OFTGANLG would be a base hit. Definitely not a foul ball and certainly not a home run. However, it’s a solid effort and worth a post-game pizza party with Fairchild and his teammates.
Director Marcus Herring: “The visual look of the video was inspired by the beauty of low resolution pixel art in classic arcade games. I was intrigued by the idea that a face can still look beautiful even when it is scaled down to a resolution of 12 pixels tall.” As Delicious Vinyl Curator Rick Ross, who produced the video, says: “We really aimed to break that proverbial fourth wall in the gaming universe – the fine line between man, woman and machine.”
The video’s concept was based on an original arcade game specially designed for the 12-inch artwork for Bobby Evan’s “Freak-A Zoid Robotz.” Herring expanded upon that arcade game concept, fleshing it out with a video full of players/gamers including L.A. Rap duo The Keyishe, Team G, performance artist Yasmine Kittles, dancer/choreographer Amanda Furches, dancer Erin Beneze, Anthony Julio (creator of the golden robot mask seen in the video) and the world famous KXLU DJ, Bianca Bracho.
“Freak-A-Zoid Robotz” is the lead track and theme song from Delicious Vinyl’s critically lauded RMXXOLOGY album. The song itself is inspired by a truly obscure cut from deep in the Delicious Vinyl catalog: an electro-bass number called “The Fine Line Between Hyper And Stupid” that appeared on the b-side of Tone-Loc’s 1990 single “I Got It Going On.” With “Freak-A-Zoid Robots”, Bobby Evans (half of L.A. hip-hop duo Brother Reade) has taken it back to the real pioneers of Miami Bass, with whip-it-good drums, ass-clapping bass, and synapse-snapping synthesizers… all perfect for robot booty shaking.
San Fran’s Trainwreck Riders are sharing “Chug Along” off their new EP, The Perch (Alive Records). It’s an unobtrusive meandering soundtrack suited for a cloudy Monday morning recoviering form a weekend of exhaustive extended family visits and chores.
Silversun Pickups are touring on their new album, Swoon, which has already surpassed the 100k sales mark. Lead single “Panic Switch” recently ranked #1 on Billboard’s Hot Modern Rock Songs chart — even more impressive since it’s been 11 years since an independent artist hit #1.
Manchester Orchestra are touring on their sophomore release, Mean Everything to Nothing and are giving away a free download of their single, “I’ve Got Friends,” with a chance to score Lollapalooza tickets. I really do love this track. See widget below.
"March of the
Balloon Animals"
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