Palomar - All Thins, Forests - mp3 review

You ever think about how many people are out there that have stories about you that you don’t know.  Like one of those, “oh my god, I was at this party once and this guy just…….”  How many stories do you have about people you don’t know.  Anyway, I went into Matt’s rehearsal space the past two nights and did some recording.  I forgot how fun that shit was.  Anyone want to start a band with me?  We could tour with the photo.

Sort of in a hurry so you get straight last.fm info again:

Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, Palomar was formed by former Trixie Belden singer and bassist Rachel Warren and Sasha ???, plus drummer Matt Hauser. After their self-released, self-titled debut, they added second guitarist Christina Prostrano, and Sasha left the band, to be replaced by Sarah Brockett. After their second album, Palomar II, Matt was replaced by current drummer Dale Miller, in time for their third album, Palomar III: The Revenge of Palomar. In 2006, Palomar signed to Misra records, and a fourth album (which, odds are, will be called Palomar IV), is due out in 2007.

real quick though, the tracks are from their upcoming release ‘All Thins, Forests’ (not Palomar IV) which is coming out on misra 3/20/07:

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/170117-01-010.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/170117-01-006.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/170117-01-009.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/170117-01-003.mp3

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Student Film - SF Mastered - mp3 review

I put some pics up from the modular party, and the mixed up party at savalas last week if anyone’s interested.  The question is, were the skyline shots taken at the end of the night or beginning of the day.  Hmmmmmmm.

http://www.r8e8r.com/gallery/main.php/v/modular_savalas/

Student Film are a band from Norman, OK, named for the film backgrounds that a majority of the members have.  I had trouble finding more info on this band (you try searching for ’student film’ on google and see what happens).  I was unable to find out when their record is coming out (possible 3/6/07?), or even what its called (mp3s were tagged with ‘SF Mastered’).  Anyway, these tracks are from that upcoming release on Little Mafia records.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/05%20Crows%20In%20Action.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/10%20Whirling%20Dervish.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/09%20Cliche.mp3

BTW, please, please, please, don’t feel intimidated to write a review.  I know a lot of you express your opinions vividly when we talk, but never write anything.  I feel like reading the reviews is half of the fun of this whole thing and lately there haven’t been many.

your mom’s house.

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Captain - This is Hazelville - mp3 review

Prolly one of the coolest/lamest things I’ve ever heard of:  http://www.newmindspace.com/pillowfightnyc.php.  Did anyone go to this?  I really wanted to go and take some pics, but I was feeling pretty shitty this weekend and ended up staying in all weekend.  Save a quick grocery store trip, I spent the entire weekend held up in my apartment.  Gross right.  A brief holiday from social life.  I did discover this wonderful new service on my TV called IFC In Theaters though.  You can basically subscribe to this channel and watch independent films at home that are currently playing in theaters (I sound like the promo spot now, jeez).  Anyway, needless to say I watched every fucking film on that thing this weekend.

I like what captain says about themselves in their bio: “Five square pegs in one round hole. Five opposites; no common dress code, no two-tone hair, no skinny T-shirts, wildly different pasts, no mention of Joy Division, The Stones, The Clash or Blondie.”  Their guitarist is also Greek, which means that he’s prolly late to practice a lot. Anyway, these tracks came from their 8/14/06 release ‘This is Hazelville’ released on EMI.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/05%20Frontline.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/10%20Summer%20Rain.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/07%20Wax.mp3

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Dinosaur Jr - mp3 review

Sarah and I made the hottest shrimp jambalaya on the face of the planet last night.  I thought it was great, but everyone else had tears in their eyes and were cursing us for tricking them into eating it.  The problem was that we didn’t have a sauce pan big enough to cook everything in so we decided at the last minute to use two small pans instead and when we split the ingredients we sort of over compensated in one of the pans.  Anyway, I put the recipe below in case you want to torture anyone or brave the heat.

With all this ALT talk I felt this would be appropriate.  J Mascis!  Guitar solos!  You can’t get much more ALT than that!  This record doesn’t come out til May, but it leaked all over the place.  I’m sure some of beeotches prolly already have it.  I’m sending it anyway, cry about it.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/04%20Back%20To%20Your%20Heart.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/09%20I%20Got%20Lost.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/02%20Crumble.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/08%20We’re%20Not%20Alone.mp3

-mark

—————— DISH OF DEATH ———————————–

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Kalxons - Myths Of The Near Future - mp3 review

Went to see ‘The Lives Of Others’ last night at Angelika.  A German film about the GDR spying on a playwright and his actress girlfriend in the mid 80s.  I liked the film and left with a compassionate, humane feeling.  As I’m waiting for the train I’m deep in thought, reflecting on this ideas in the film.  How can a government be so cruel to people, so untrusting, so frightened of other people.  How can people be so mean to each other.  I step onto the train still in thought, but my thoughts are interrupted by a loud, harsh, high pitched Jamaican voice.  It sounds like that annoying character on Cool Runnings (Sanka? the one with the dreadlocks).  I can’t figure out what he’s saying, but he keeps repeating it over and over.  At first I thought he was singing or something, but then I hear what he’s actually saying, “I cut your troat off.”  He just keeps saying it, for like 10 minutes straight.  To no one in particular, or rather to everyone.  After repeating it for a good 10 minutes he supplements his soliloquy with “In my country you roll me, I cut your troat……New York City…..HA……Devils Island…..DEVILS ISLAND….DEVILS ISLAND!”  And he leaves us with that.  Ah, its good to be back in the city.

Kalxons have self-proclaimed themselves the “4 Horsemen of 2012″ and hail from New Cross, London.  They are influenced by the early nineties rave scene, The KLF, The Prodigy, novelist William Burroughs, the astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and Aleister Crowley.  I got their Modular release sometime last year, but didn’t send anything out cuz they only really had 1 good song on that record.  These tracks are from ‘Myths Of The Near Future’, which was released in the UK on Polydor on 1/29/07 and is scheduled to be released in the US 3/27/07 on Universal.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/07%20Gravity’s%20Rainbow.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/10%20It’s%20Not%20Over%20Yet.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/09%20Magick.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/05%20As%20Above,%20So%20Below.mp3

BTW, referencing Cooling Runnings = ALT!!!!!

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Calla - Strength in Numbers - mp3 review

I was rather sad to find that playing the Blackcat is not what I remembered it to be.  I’ll leave it at that.  Thanks to everyone that came out though, it was great seeing you all.  No really good china bus stories from the DC trip, but I ended up having to take the 1:50 am bus back this morning and I was kind of scared to sleep on the bus because of the the last incident.  It was ridiculous.  I picked a seat in the back again so I didn’t have to be around anyone, and once again in Baltimore these fucking creepers roll up and sit in seats all around me.  I kept my bag on my lap almost the entire trip.  I did end up crashing for an hour or so using my messenger bag as a pillow so no one could fuck with it.  I felt like an inmate in jail protecting my virginity……Did I just say that?  I gotta stop taking that bus man.

Although I don’t have any pics of the band playing I posted some pics from this weekend and the Marnie Stern show from the last email. 

http://www.r8e8r.com/gallery/main.php/v/DC_trip/

Calla is NY band but their roots can be traced to Texas and a band called The Factory Press.  I’ve never really been a big fan of this band.  Not that I dislike them, just never really got into them much.  I know some of you guys are fans so here ya go.  These tracks are from their most recent release ‘Strength in Numbers’ released today on Beggars Banquet.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/10%20A%20Sure%20Shot.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/03%20Sylvia’s%20Song.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/04%20Sleep%20In%20Splendor.mp3

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Do Make Say Think - You, You’re A History In Rust - mp3 review

I went to see Marnie Stern at Cake shop last night, met some friends there and promptly got shit faced on whiskey.  We all ended up at Happy Endings after the show, getting even more wasted.  My intentions for the night were two-fold: 1) get really wasted 2) get Marnie to make out with me.  I had already achieved half of my goal so it was time to make good on the other half.  I had several approaches to choose from as one of my friends knew Marnie pretty well, and I had already met a few of her friends that night so I had my game all set up.  To be completely honest I don’t remember what exactly happened after that, most of the story was relayed to me via a more sober 3rd party.  I do remember getting a kiss from Marnie, and that my friend had to arm wrestle the bouncer to get in because he didn’t bring his passport.  I don’t remember getting slapped by some random girl, getting kicked out of Lulus in Greenpoint, or how or why I ended up there in the first place.  Yes, valentines day was a success for me, I don’t remember shit.

Do Make Say Think is an instrumental group from Toronto, Canada. The band formed in the 1990s as a recording project for one of the members’ sound engineering classes in college. Their first rehearsals took place in an empty schoolroom where four basic verbs — Do, Make, Say and Think — adorned the walls.  These tracks are from “You, You’re A History In Rust” which is coming out on 2/27 on Constellation.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/03%20The%20Universe!.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/08%20in%20mind.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/06%20You,%20You_re%20Awesome.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/05%20herstory%20of%20glory.mp3

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Secret Mommy - Plays - mp3 review

Its snowing in NYC.  Not really snowing, kind of icing.  I’ve was starting to get kind of bummed about not having any snow this year.  I hope we get like 2 feet.  I always love how it transforms the city.  I got all giddy on the train this morning when I looked out the window at 4th Ave and instead of a city horizon I just saw a wash of light grey.  I have many fond memories of braving the freezing Brooklyn streets to get wasted at the Brooklyn brewery, tackling friends in the middle of street, throwing snow balls at NY Post delivery trucks during snow storms.  Things happen on first snow nights in the city.  Technically, this isn’t the first snow, but I feel like its our first significant snow.  Anyone want to get a drink with me?    Marnie Stern is playing at cake shop (guitar tapping indie sweetheart from a few emails back)  I realize its valentines day, so let me rephrase:  any other desperate single kids want to get wasted with me on the worse holiday of the year.

Secret Mommy is basically Andy Dixon, an amazing designer, label owner, former member of The Red Light Sting, and current member of Winning.  Even though Andy has done some amazing design work for insound in the past, I really don’t know much about his musical career.  It’s really glitchy stuff so be prepared.  These tracks are from his latest release ‘Plays’, which was released last Tuesday.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Secret%20Mommy-Plays-04%20-%20Kool%20Aid%20River.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Secret%20Mommy-Plays-10%20-%20I%20Can’t%20Get%20Down.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Secret%20Mommy-Plays-12%20-%20A%20Bear%20At%20Hotel%20Cuba.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Secret%20Mommy-Plays-02%20-%20Grand%20About%20The%20Mouth.mp3

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Land of Talk - Applause Boo Cheer Hiss - mp3 review

I was walking behind this couple last night.  The guy was talking really loudly on his cell phone.  Laughing and making dumb jokes and shit.  When he finished his call he suddenly grabbed his girlfriend and kissed her passionately in the middle of the sidewalk.  They stopped right in front of me and I almost ran into them.  As I passed them I couldn’t help but notice that it didn’t really look romantic at all.  It looked like he accosted her.  He just kind of slammed his face into hers.  I wondered if she thought it was romantic.  If she was ’swept off her feet’.  If his seemingly blunt, rough nature was exciting to her.  If it gave her chills, or butterflies in her stomach, or if it just made her sick to her stomach like it made me.  It just kind of made me think how strange the idea of kissing is.  Two people putting their mouths together.  Its interesting to me how easy it is to fail or refuse to see the ardor in that.

Land of Talk consists of Liz Powell (vocals/guitar), Chris McCarron (Bass), and Bucky Wheaton (drums). They formed Land of Talk after forging friendship at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. These tracks are from their debut EP “Applause Boo Cheer Hiss” released on Dependent Music last year in Canada.  It’s being released here in the US on Rebel Group sometime next month I think.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/06%20All%20My%20Friends.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/04%20Breaxxbaxxx.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/02%20Seafoam.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/05%20Magnetic%20Hill.mp3

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Apostle of Hustle - The National Anthem of Nowhere - mp3 review

Wanted to say thanks to Sean and Matt for an awesome show on Saturday night.  I didn’t make it to Coney Island after the show after all thanks to Dan’s sober judgment and fatigue.  Prolly a good thing, but I think at the time I gave him a hard time for it, sorry Dan.  I did however drink lots of whiskey and made an ass out of myself several times that night.  Here’s some pics if you’re interested:

http://www.r8e8r.com/gallery/main.php/v/bigbangtv/ 

Check out the shot of Dan on the last page.  That’s his response to me trying to get him to go dancing at studio b at 4:00 am

Apostle of Hustle is the creation of Andrew Whiteman. Whiteman is a Canadian musician and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario.  After a series of groups and musical projects he had during the 90’s, Andrew was invited by Leslie Feist to collaborate with herself and what was then essentially the core of Broken Social Scene — Brendan Canning, Kevin Drew and Justin Peroff. The chemistry was successful and Whiteman became one of the band’s four members to consistently appear in every tour.  These tracks are from their upcoming release ‘The National Anthem of Nowhere’ which is due to release sometime in early March.

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/10%20Justine,%20Beckoning.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/01%20My%20Sword%20Hand’s%20Anger.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/07%20Chances%20Are.mp3

http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/12%20NoNoNo.mp3

-mark

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »