Parades.

So I know a couple of weeks ago I posted about how it seems that Denmark has incredible bands oozing out of its pores, so today as a testament to that statement I present to you all Efterklang. The symphonic sounds they create are simply incredible and never quite go where you want them. Their songs are filled with tiny electronic snippets, strings, horns and beautiful vocals. Their new album Parades is out now in the UK and is available online, and will soon be available in the States. The bits that I've heard are simply breathtaking. Here is a video of the group performing the lead single from the new album "Mirador":


and the wonderfully animated music video for the same song:

Open up your eyeballs wide.

So, I know it has been all of two days since I last posted about my newfound fav Ben Burroughs, but Ben just updated his myspace with four tracks from his forthcoming LP This Is the End. So I figured I could excuse myself with a little blogger indulgence. The songs are exceptional, but as LeVar Burton would say, you don't have to take my word for it...

And God said...

let there be videos of Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - State trooper
Uploaded by trendwhore

Bruce Stringsteen and Arcade Fire - Keep the car running
Uploaded by trendwhore

...and he saw that they were good.

This must be the place.

So far, no videos have surfaced of what was surely a mind-blowing collaborative performance by Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire. Hopefully one does, but until then here is a video of Arcade Fire covering the Talking Heads classic "This Must Be the Place."

Lets run in circles.

There are words that I absolutely refuse to take lightly. For me, the words "genius" and "masterpiece" aren't ones that I typically dole out on any old artist or album. So when I say that I have been listening to Ben Burroughs pretty much non-stop for the past two days and that he is a genius songwriter and has created several masterpiece albums full of beauty and depth, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Here's a review one of my friends wrote for his first album entitled Sugarbush:


"In April of 2005, in a basement somewhere in Cincinnati, Ohio Ben Burroughs finished recording what would be the first of many notches in his proverbial record release belt over the next couple of years. Titled Sugarbush, it is the story of a family living with, and without, a father, and also husband who has let them down in a big way. Inspired heavily by 60s pop, and 70s folk, as well as current DIY artists such as Phil Elverum and Adrian Orange, Ben recorded Sugarbush in it’s entirety by himself, in his mother’s basement, without any cymbals on his drum kit (a tidbit gone unnoticed until he actually revealed it to me himself.) Wispy guitar noodlings are the first thing we hear on the opening track “As a Film,“ but only for a brief forty-four seconds before being blasted by drowning guitars and a sweeping synth hook that even Kevin Shields would envy, when the albums second track, “Can’t Seem To Stop" actually kicks in. These muffled, death grind guitars sneak their ways into other tracks such as “Meet Me in the Air,” where you don’t even see them coming. Songs, “Sweet Memories,” and “Escape Talk,” are easy listeners, and impressive instrumentally, which ends up being the common thread that holds Sugarbush together. The standout track is found towards the end, titled “Leaving Today.” Charming the listener right away with a haunting waltz worthy of a party in Edward Scissorhands’ courtyard. Ending everything on a relatively melodramatic note, “Remember” gets you thinking: “What if Pink Floyd had written The Wall with only Casio keyboards on hand?” Even if Mr. Burroughs had had a full band of musicians helping him orchestrate every song and nuance on Sugarbush, I’m convinced it couldn't sound any better. Sugarbush is definately a sweet treasure and worth the time."
-Joey Cook, 2007


I would whole-heartedly agree.

Here are two tracks from Sugarbush:
Leaving Today
Sweet Memories

...and two more from Into the Lake:
Treasure City
It's About Time

I wrote about the band Enlou a while back and said that I would post a track from their forthcoming EP the closer it came to being available. Well I cant hold out any longer. Here is a track from their soon to be released EP Passing Islands.

Enlou-Little Owl

The boys also have some live dates, so be sure to check them out:
Oct 20 Fairgrounds Celina, OH
Oct 21 Molly Malones Covington, KY
Oct 26 The Forge Dayton, OH
Jan 18 Stillwater Dayton, OH

Sailing through rainbows.

I'm sure I will add little to the ever ubiquitous discussion on the internet about Radiohead's new album In Rainbows. What can be said that has not been said already?

However after listening to the album about six times through I am thoroughly enjoying it. I will say that I was worried after hearing all the live tracks and videos floating around, and nothing (except the original video of Arpeggi) caught my ear. But as uncanny as it may seem, Radiohead continues to release excellent albums one after the other and all my fears have since been quelled. To me it seems that this is a more settled and peaceful Radiohead, or about as much as we could ever expect from the boys.

When the musical world was riding high on optimism during the dot-com bubble that was soon to burst in the late 90's, they released the dark and dreary masterpiece OK Computer, that is almost more pertinent today than when it was released. Now, some ten years later it seems as though the current culture of war and fear has taken its toll on artists and there is an indecipherable tension in artists albums from The Polyphonic Spree to Arcade Fire. But Radiohead have always peered into the future. Let us hope that what they see is as beautiful and as peaceful, as a rainbow is after the storm.

The wait is over...

Before heading off to work this morning I checked my inbox and sure enough, there it was. In rainbows.

I was just starting high school the last time a Radiohead album was released.

Welcome to the beginning of the end. I can't wait to listen.

You can go home.

I am not even going to attempt to write about what is turning out to be the biggest news in the the music industry at the moment, but if by some chance you have not heard about Radiohead's new album, you can read about it here.

Otherwise...



There are experimental bands, and there are pop bands. Sometimes they are mushed together and make super-band-gravy. Chin Up Chin Up are a band from Chicago that fit the aforementioned description well and they also write songs that feel as if they've been with me all of my life. Kind of like a psychedelically colored blanket that your aunt made you when you were little that you loved, then lost. Lo and behold years later when you discover that oddly colored blanket again you delightfully regain some odd childish part of you that was always there but you had somehow forgotten about. A bit like that.
Lead singer Jeremy Bolen's voice is a bit raspy, soulful and delightfully off kilter and often he is backed by the rest of the band in mantra like sing-alongs. The lyrics and song titles are always clever and witty which is sometimes how their music sounds. Sometimes. The guitars and keyboard parts shift and stutter into each other but always groove and are always fun.

Here is a song from their most recent album, This Harness Can't Ride Anything and one from We Should Never Have Lived Like We Were Skyskrapers.

Chin Up Chin Up-This Harness Can't Ride Anything
Chin Up Chin Up-Why is My Sleeping Bag A Ghetto Muppet