Adventures is the name of the Reba Meyers-fronted Code Orange Kids side project. It's really good. Like really really good.
"Like Seed" is currently my favorite track from this four track 7incher.
Reba has an awesome singing voice that is both rough and smooth. I would have to say, out of the female fronted releases that came out this year i.e. Traveling, Slingshot Dakota, Lemuria, Cerce and Hop Along, Reba and Adventures takes the cake. That's definitely saying something.
Last.fm (scrobbles to "The" Adventues... watch out!)
The Devil and a Penny were so impressive when I saw them last spring. So impressive that I can't get over how much different they sounded live than they do on their recordings. That energy and catchiness I heard live is not captured the same way here on 'C.'. It's a gift and a curse that I saw them I guess. None the less, I must give this album an honorary mention and a high recommendation. They deserve it!
I feel bad that I haven't given The Guru's new release, 'Go Easy' a proper review of its own, (it was high up there on my agenda too) but with finals coming up and all that nonesense, I must place it here for now.
The Guru had a tough task of following up with another album after releasing the super catchy and fun magic-carpet-ride-on-fire, 'Native Sun' just last year, but 'Go Easy' is still a stellar sophomore album. Is it as good as 'Native Sun'? Ehh maybe - maybe not - but that's not really what's important. What's important is that they still have that disco-rock-whatever sound that got me interested in their sound to began with and tried a little less to sound just like Modest Mouse. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a fan of Modest Mouse... It's just, these guys aren't Modest Mouse... They're The Guru. And I believe this album really shows that they aren't just being a Modest Mouse-sounding band, they are a band making their own catchy music that is very much their own.
...And fun!
I was also meaning to mention that these guys were giving both 'Native Sun' and 'Go Easy' away for free this weekend but by the time I found out, it was just too late. Sorry about that...
Last.fm (avaliable for scrobbling on Spotify under "Guru"...)
Stay tuned for more honorary mentions coming soon.
Canadian lol-fi garage rock about getting a ride to Bikini Island to kiss some french girls, worrying about dying, girls being as cold as the North Pole (they know because they've been there), and then quitting girls all together.
The hype ship has pretty much set sail on this album since its blog-talkative release in 2009, but I still like to listen to it. It surely hasn't lost any relevancy with me yet.
Oh, and I guess they have a new album... I don't know.
Halfway to Holland is pre-Algernon Cadwallader, a band I was fortunate enough to see the other night. If you know Algernon Cadwallader then this is a little more emo and with a bit more Blink 182 pop punk flare. If you don't know Algernon Cadwallader, you should check them out first. I'm not saying the prequel isn't as good as the sequel, it's just, you will get a good kick out of this a little more if you heard what they became. If that makes any sense.
My favorite track has to be, "It Comes With the Territory" which features the voice of Bill Murray from the almost perfect movie for this time of year, Meatballs (and Sexual Awareness Week). Give it a go!
By the way, Algernon were totally awesome and played up a storm as much as they could for how late it got when they finally were on. That also meant they couldn't play as many songs as I hoped they would. Plus, Pachangacha just had to show up and steal the whole show. Also, I felt a little bad afterwards about not grabbing up any of Algernon Cadwallader's merch or meeting them after the show but I had only just learned Chalk Talk's side project (that's Pachangacha) would be playing with them the night before. So yeah, I got a little overzealous about that. Algernon was still great though, don't get me wrong. The show actually went so well that I would have to say it was better than Men in Black 3. Yep, you heard it here first; Algernon Cadwallader live is better than Men in Black 3 at the drive-ins. Men in Black 1 and 2 would be different story of course.
Along with Algernon Cadwallader, Pachangacha, and the local pop punk rarity Laces Out, there was also a band on the bill called The Devil and a Penny and when I asked around about them no one seemed to know who they were, not even the other musicians that were playing last night. So when I went down to see them (since it was a house show at a punk house), I was kind of surprised to find five pretty diverse looking people with instruments at hand. The singer in particular reminded me of Hardy Morris of Dead Confederate though when he began to sing it sounded almost like he was going for a Bradford Cox of Deerhunter (and Atlas Sound) impression. But the music going on behind him did not just sound like drowned out indie rock with reverb to go along with reverb. No, actually the accompaniment of the four other normal looking characters were actually playing some groovy beats and noodly riffage. All in all, these mysterious guys (and gal on the bass), where quite the surprise and definitely kept me entertained. I was always interested in hearing what that had to play next.
"Roots." is not necessarily a good example of what I had seen of The Devil and a Penny but more of the blueprints of probably what started as one of the musician's little hobby and now is a full-fledged band with full-fledged sound. The recordings that I've heard so far jump around from indie rock to folk to ambient and back again just to prove that The Devil and a Penny are as diverse in sound as the people in the band.
Members of this band are also in the band Flesh Forest and The Elephant Only Zoo. I say members but I think it may just be the lead singer. Please don't quote me on that though. I do know however, that they release their music on the indie record label, New Neighbor. Check it all out!
And speaking of Hardy Morris, Dead Confederate, and even Memorial Day, Dead Confederate's 2007 debut self-titled EP features all of the above.
It also features a less polished than the LP version of "The Rat", dusty psychedelic/miserable southern rocker jams like "Get Out" and "Shadow The Walls", a straight-up psychedelic epic in "Tortured-Artist Saint" and one of the saddest songs I have ever heard called, "Memorial Day Night".
Even though I may have since grown out of my Dead Confederate days, I still come back to this EP once and a while to remind me of how much of an impact it has had on my life. And every Memorial Day I listen to "Memorial Day Night" to remind me just how somber and emotionally gripping it is. Along with being on my personal saddest songs of all time list, I would have to say it also has a spot on my top 20 favorite songs of all time along with "The Rat" and "Goner".
Be sure to also check out Hardy Morris in the super group of the year, Diamond Rugs and their new self-titled debut. Diamond Rugs is Dead Confederate + Deer Tick + Black Lips + Los Lobos.
Kinda fun fact: The cover is of their mascot, the 'Spider Bomb'. It has 10 legs.
