My blog has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 6 seconds. If not, visit
http://giantpanther.com
and update your bookmarks.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

The Acorn: Not Just For Squirrels



The Acorn hail out of Ottawa, and that's pretty much all I can tell you. I came across their music at GVB one day, and tucked them away in my itunes among 180 GBs worth of music. Sometimes you just aren't paying enough attention when listening to a song for the first time. "Sent (Awake the Kraken)" came up on shuffle today, and I says to myself I says, "Who are these guys?" I'm still wondering that, but enjoying their music nonetheless. If you like Midlake, you'll probably like The Acorn. Good luck finding a place to buy the mp3s, but you can order the albums here.

Their 2005 EP Blankets is excellent, a little more acoustic than their LP The Pink Ghosts, which has a few instrumentals as well. Download two more tunes on their myspace page, and grab a free live set at The Acorn's old website.

MP3: The Acorn - Sent (Awake The Kraken)
The Acorn's MySpace
Buy Blankets

MP3: The Acorn - Plates & Saucers
Buy Blankets

MP3: The Acorn - Evidence
Buy The Pink Ghosts <- Temporarily Sold Out??
Posted by Giant Panther at 4:24 PM 1 comments

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Upcoming Boston Shows Pt. 2


M. Ward @ Somerville Theatre
Somerville, MA - Sept. 17
There's something ancient in M. Ward's songwriting. Everything about his recordings is intimate. Acoustic driven tracks recorded so you can hear the fingernails scratch across the strings, electric fills drenched in reverb with perfect Knopfler tone, pedal steel, brushed drums, and warm, inches from the mic vocals that have a slight hint of Tom Waits. Like all my favorite artists, there's no single genre label for M. Ward: folk, country, blues, all contribute to his sound.
Portland Oregon based Matt Ward is an old soul, and it shows in everything he touches, whether on his own albums, or co-producing efforts such as Jenny Lewis' Rabbit Fur Coat. I can't think of a better soundtrack to a long drive with the windows down on a summer night than Ward's Transistor Radio.
This will be my first M. Ward show, and first time at the Somerville Theatre (even though I lived in Davis Sq. for a year) but I'm anxiously awaiting this show. Be sure to visit the Ducat King website to pick up pre-sale tickets for this show. One of the most anticipated releases of the summer, Post-War comes out on August 22. Here's a track from that album along with a few other of my favorites.
Posted by Giant Panther at 9:57 AM 0 comments

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Chow Daddy

Ok, I know this is supposed to be a music blog, but I just found the best clip of all time. If you grew up in the Boston area in the 80s, you know exactly what I'm talking about, the PSA for school lunches, Chow Daddy!



Posted by Giant Panther at 10:37 PM 0 comments

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Figurines - Skeleton


I'm a bit late posting on this album, because I was too busy not having a blog when it was released. Denmark's Figurines have been compared to Built to Spill and Modest Mouse, so I'm not going to do that. Although the vocals do sound very similar. "Skeletons" does at time have it's Built to Spill moments, but it's the organic non-rockers like "Ghost Town" and "Back In The Day" that impress me the most on this album. This is a tough album to sample based on a few tracks. Figurines really are an indie sponge, soaking up influences from a great number of different bands, and he really does happen to sound just like Isaac Brock. OK, I'm not comparing them to Modest Mouse anymore.

The album opens unconventionally with "Race You" (video below is the actual take from the album), a beautiful piano ballad full of longing and anger: "Don't call if you need a friend", that certainly doesn't set the tone of the album, but I'm glad it's not tucked in the middle of the album, where songs like this tend to get lost. Putting it first almost says "Hey sizzlechest, listen to this song and pay attention."

The second track, "The Wonder" is probably how the album was slated to start, but somebody snuck "Race You" in at the last minute. It's a pretty standard pop- rock tune, not the most impressive track on the album

As "Skeleton" progresses, you start to realize this isn't just a "Sounds like Modest Mouse and can write a catchy song" band. Other early highlights are "Silver Ponds"and "Rivalry".
The ninth track"Ghost Town", is Figurines take on "Love the one your with", and has hints of an Uncle Tupelo banjo sing along.

MP3: Figurines - Ghost Town

If my favorite song on this album isn't "Race You", it's probably "Back In The Day", a hollow Western accompanied by an acoustic guitar and cymbal. Sometimes less is more, and this song highlights lead singer Christian Hjelm's talent writing melodys.

Definitely one of 2006's early best, and cool cover art to boot. Grab two more tracks from Figurines website here.

Figurines Website
Buy Skeleton

Video: Figurines - "Race You"
Posted by Giant Panther at 2:55 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Upcoming Boston Shows Pt. 1

Since I just added a nifty tourfilter button in my sidebar that will post all my favorite upcoming shows in the Boston area, (thanks Chris!), I'm going to feature a few bands that are coming to Beantown this summer.


Midlake & Sound Team: TT The Bear's Place, Cambridge, MA, July 26
TT's is a great place to see a show: it's small, you can get as close as you want to the stage (bring ear plugs), and if you need a breather, you can escape to the opposite side of the bar for a drink.
I'd been planning on hitting this show up because I've been listening to Midlake non-stop, and hadn't paid much attention to the other appearing act, Sound Team (Cold War Kids also appearing). That was before I got a hold of their album "Movie Monster". Another band out of Austin, which this year seems to be the new Montreal for my music source. Movie Monster got hammered by Pitchfork recently, and I'm not sure why, other than to piss of bloggers everywhere.
I've never seen either of these bands live, but am expecting good things out of Sound Team. Their new album "Movie Monster" is very new wave (shouldn't it be new-new wave?) at times high energy wailing, and at others shows a darker side. Thanks to the wild side of Movie Monster, it never quite lets itself fall into the "Bands that sound like Interpol" bin, which is it's best asset (nothing against Interpol, just don't need another sounds like Interpol). Check out the recital part of Sound Team's website, fun.
OK, I spent too much time writing about Sound Team, and forgot Midlake. I've already posted on them, you'll have to settle for that. Still my favorite album so far this year.
Bonus: Midlake's Young Bride Video:



Posted by Giant Panther at 3:46 PM 0 comments

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Aloha, July!




I've finally recovered from my 4th of July vacation. Ten burgers, a few firework close-calls, and a good number of missed spots with the sun screen later, I'm ready to tell you about Aloha. They've been around for a a few years, each album in my opinion getting better and better. Their excellent latest release, "Some Echoes", doesn't have quite as many vibraphone breakdowns as some of their older stuff, but adds some nice organ layers. It's also the closest thing to love songs I've heard from them, where the past releases, "Sugar" and "Here Comes Everyone" were a little more on the serious side. Definitely pick this album up. Aloha is playing TT The Bears in Cambridge, MA on August 24. Get tix here.

MP3: Aloha - Your Eyes

MP3: Aloha - Between the Walls
Aloha's Myspace Page
Buy "Some Echoes"

"Let Your Head Hang Low" was the first Aloha tune I heard, I remember thinking how different this was than anything else I was listening to:

Bonus MP3: Aloha - Let Your Head Hang Low
Buy "Sugar"
Posted by Giant Panther at 1:36 PM 3 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)