The Giant Panther

This may sound over the top, but the new Sigur Ros album is quite possibly the greatest thing I've heard in 10 years. After streaming the album non stop last week, I'm now hearing for the first time in full def (don't give me the mp3 lossy speech). If you have a pulse this album will strike you on some level.

Grab the DRM Free 320 kbps at the link below today, if it's the only thing you buy all year.

Purchase the album today

Just finished my first listen through Seattle band Fleet Foxes self titled album. I've been anxiously awaiting this release after hearing their amazing Sun Giant EP. If you like lush layered harmonies that hearken back to simpler times I think you will enjoy.

I'm starting a much despised review style among bloggers - comparisons to other artists. I know it's often insulting to bands to be compared to someone else, but c'mon, we could all use a little guidance on whether we might like a band or not when deciding whether to give them a listen. So here we go with the first ever TGP sounds like math equation:

Fleet Foxes = America + Grizzly Bear + Midlake + My Morning Jacket - Electric Guitar

MP3: Fleet Foxes - Your Protector

Buy Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes Website

This is one of the best songs I've ever heard. Not very profound "music reviewery", but skip the reading and get to the song.

Then pick up everything Annuals you can get your hands on. This one comes from their Wet Zoo EP.

MP3: Annuals - Sore

Annuals Tour Dates:
ANNUALS TOUR DATES

June 4 - Phoenix, AZ at Modified
June 5 - San Diego, CA at Beauty Bar
June 6 - Los Angeles, CA at the Natural History Museum
June 7 - San Francisco, CA at Cafe DuNord
June 10 - Seattle, WA at Neumo's
June 13 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
June 14 - Chicago, IL at Empty Bottle
June 16 - Toronto, ONT at Drake Hotel
June 18 - Brooklyn, NY at Union Pool*
June 19 - Arlington, VA at Iota
June 20 - Philadelphia, PA - Millcreek Tavern
June 21 - Carrboro, NC at Arts Center

*You can purchase tickets for this show at Mercury Lounge

Annuals are also playing the Siren Music Festival in NY on July 19!

Just got my first listen to Fleet Foxes new EP Sun Giant. I forget where I first came across Fleet Foxes, but I remember making a mental note to try and keep track of these guys. Hailing out of Seattle on Sub Pop, Fleet Foxes have a sound that at first listen bring many comparisons to mind. But upon deeper listen, layers unfold (even though at times instrumentation is sparse) that set them apart from others I've come to know and love.

Vocals are covered in thick reverb as lead singer Robin Pecknold belts out notes in a style similar to My Morning Jacket's Jim Jones. With complex backing harmonies that somehow remind me of America (see track "Drops in the River"), or more recently Giant Panther favorites Midlake and Grizzly Bear ("English House"), I'm really liking what I've heard so far.

I don't like to share tracks off EPs, so head over to their myspace for a preview, then pick up the EP.

Driving up to Vermont for a ski trip this past weekend, I came across an album that completely flew under my radar in 2007, and should have had its spot in my un-coveted top albums of 2007, nestled appropriately somewhere between the loving arms of The National and Band Of Horses. The album I'm referring to is For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver.

I don't know anything about Bon Iver to be honest, and rather than regurgitate Pitchfork's decent write up on the album, I'll just give you the link to that. Speaking of regurgitating, before I saw who was singing, I literally thought it was the dude from TV On The Radio, very similar voice - but I'll leave the credit to Pitchfork since they said it first.

According to Pitchfork, Bon Iver is Justin Vernon, who holed himself up in a cabin for a winter where he wrote much of the album.

The album is at times touching, lonely, haunting, powerful to say the least. I'll keep the mushiness to a minimum, but it served a proper soundtrack for the long drive. Standing outside staring at the giant mountain, equally giant snowflakes were crashing down all over me, yet somehow I didn't feel them - somehow it was warm and sunny. Maybe it was just the Evan Williams talking, but it felt this was fitting backdrop for my first time through the album. Here's a track to give a listen. Strongly recommend you pick up this album:

MP3: Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Buy The Album
Bon Iver's Website

I somehow came across the new Michael Jackson Thriller 25th anniversary "super deluxe" album, and I just puked in my mouth a little bit. With remixes featuring artists who I'm sure will one day be know as some of music's all time greats like Fergie, WilliAm, Acorn?, and even Kanye taking a turn (sarcasm should be stressed), they have officially murdered one of the greatest albums of all time.

Man I really sound like on old, sour bastard right now, heck I have been known to bust out a Bill Cosby dance move or three to all the artists mentioned above, but cmon, has anybody ever heard Billie Jean and thought "Man, this song really needs to be remixed"??

I'm assuming Quincy Jones is responsible for this travesty? What does everybody have to say about this, am I the only one who thinks it's insanity?

Hot Chip is set to release their new full length, Made In The Dark next Tuesday, Feb 5. I just finished my third listen through this entire album, and in Giant Panther's humble opinion, it gets two VWF (Video Wrestling Federation) championship belts up! With each Hot Chip release, the UK band gets sharper and sharper. Constantly refining their sound, Made In The Dark is probably the most dance-worthy release to date.

Highlights to get busy to are "Ready For The Floor", "Shake A Fist". On "Hold On", they chant "Son, I have a good mind to take you outside". Is that a threat? On the next track "Wrestlers", it's "Me versus you alone, the gloves are off". There is a theme developing here. I'm confident I can't even come close to holding my own inside on the dancefloor with Hot Chip, but I may fare better outside, as I "fight dirty". I'll get my chance to find out on Monday April 14th at the Paradise in Boston. I think tickets are sold out, but you can always watch Craig's List like a hawk, or hit up stub hub and pay more than twice face value plus 10% commission.

My favorite tracks so far are the organ droning "We're Looking For A Lot Of Love", and, with a rare glimpse at electric guitar, "One Pure Thought". I'd share a track with you, but there are plenty of them out there already.

Long story long, pick this album up on Tuesday, so far the best I've heard of the young 2008.

Buy it at Amazon

Oh how I wish I had more time to add links, samples, and meaningless rants:

1. The National - Boxer
2. Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
3. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
4. Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times
5. Radiohead - In Rainbows
6. Rogue Wave - Asleep At Heaven's Gate
7. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
8. LCD Soundsystem - Sounds Of Silver
9. Kanye West - Graduation
10. Deer Tick - War Elephant
11. The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
12. Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger
13. Great Lake Swimmers - Ongiara
    
14. M.I.A. - Kala
15. Burial - Untrue
16. Feist - The Reminder
17. Glass Candy - B/E/A/T/B/O/X
18. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
19. Kevin Drew - Spirit If
    
20. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
    

I think I'm officially done ever going to the Tweeter Center again. It's a long drive for most in the Boston area, and things have gotten out of hand. I saw at least 3 people being arrested for drinking a beer in the parking lot (granted they were probably under age, but man things have changed since my high school days). Then when you get inside the venue, it's 8 bucks per beer, and they were enforcing a 1 beer per person rule. I bought one for me, and one for a friend back at our seats. As I was walking back, I was stopped, and told I had to dump one out, because I wasn't allowed to carry two beers. I told the guy there was no way in hell I was going to pour 8 bucks out onto the ground, so had to pound the first magic hat.

The entire event was a pretty sad state of affairs, I'd be surprised if there were 5000 people there. There's some unexplainable weird vibe I get from watching a show in a huge venue that is mostly empty.

The first band we caught was Wolf Parade, they had them on a second stage in a sectioned off part of the parking lot. They had some awful VW sponsored tent with a loud punk band playing not 50 yards from the Wolf Parade stage. Just as they were about to start, Spencer was like, what the hell is that noise? What a poor setup. Wolf Parade didn't even think about doing an encore, not sure if that is just how this festival was setup or if they just didn't dig playing for 75 people in a parking lot and competing with the Vdub tent.

They played at least 5 new songs, all of which sounded very promising, looking forward to their new album.

We then moved into the actual Tweeter Center for Neko Case. She sung her heart out as expected to an empty stadium, but she sounded great.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs were up next, I've never seen stage presence like Karen O. She came out in a tinsel covered cape and leopard print leotard. They were high energy and put on a good show except for Maps which they did acoustic, could have done without that.

I made myself scarce for Guster, because the thought of another 8 dollar beer was just too good to pass up.

We decided to stick around for Modest Mouse, a lot has changed since the last time I've seen them. It was mixed poorly, all I could hear was Isaac Brock's guitar (which seemed particularly sloppy that night). What a waste of Johnny Marr. The whole vibe was extra sloppy and we left after 4 or 5 songs.

Overall pretty disappointing, but at least we didn't hit any traffic!

Thanks to Ashley for finding the set times, (and Brad for pointing me to them!)

Main Gates 12:00
APOLLO SUNSHINE 1:00-1:35
BANG CAMARO 1:55-2:40
BAND OF HORSES 3:00-3:45
WOLF PARADE 4:05-4:50
NEKO CASE 5:10-5:55
YEAH YEAH YEAH'S 6:15-7:15
GUSTER 7:45-8:45
MODEST MOUSE 9:15-10:45
Curfew 11:00

I'm back in action. You're probably asking yourself, why did the Giant Panther do a best of 2006 album review and stop at #16? I wish I had a better answer for you, but the bitter truth is I actually started having work to do at work, unfortunate. But in case you were curious, here are the rest, I found them scribbled down in an old notebook. Looking back, it's amazing how much my tastes have changed already, or maybe I just played the albums too much, but here they are anyway:

15: TVOTR - Return To Cookie Mountain
14: Tapes N Tapes - The Loon
13: Decemberists - The Crane Wife
12: Black Keys - Magic Potion
11: Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
10: Aloha - Some Echoes
9: Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye
8: Cat Power - The Greatest
7: Hot Chip - The Warning
6: Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
5: Sunset Rubdown - Shut Up I Am Dreaming
4: M. Ward - Post War
3: Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
2: Sound Team - Movie Monster
1: Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther.

There you have it. So does anyone have any details on the Download Festival at the Tweeter Center tomorrow in Mansfield, MA for set times or anything? I will be there, and will surely have a lot to write about. Who am I kidding, nobody is checking this blog anyway, but it was fun to type again.

I found this today thanks to IGIF, will keep track of any upcoming shows in your area. Scans your itunes library, and then goes into a concert database to update a calendar within itunes. Check it out.

I'd planned to review Joanna Newsom's new album Ys today, but I don't have the brainpower at the moment. You've probably never heard of King Biscuit Time, but I'd be willing to bet from the very first track, you'll recognize the sound. King Biscuit Time is the side project of Steve Mason, lead singer of the now defunct Beta Band. Plain and simple, if you like Beta Band, you'll like King Biscuit Time. Black Gold offers some intimate moments from Mason, and overall sounds slightly more condensed than most Beta Band efforts, with far fewer instrumental breakouts. His cold delivery has always reminded me of Mark Sandman of Morphine, one of my favorites.

I've said this before, but there is an unexplainable force that drives Masons music. He's always had a very looped approach to his vocals and beats, where each new phrase pulses like a chant. Highlights include the single "Kwangchow", The cleverly titled "All Over You" which harkens back to Beta Band classic "Dry The Rain", "The Way You Walk", and "Paperhead". The opener, "C I Am 15" doesn't seem to belong here - I expected to hear Busta Rhymes chime in at any moment, in my opinion it doesn't really set the stage properly for the album.

Black Gold gets the job done as far as fixing the hole Beta Band's departure has left in my musical repertoire, and it's a good album for a long drive or time spent with the headphones on. Mason continues to deliver what I've come to expect from him as the foundation that made Beta Band so appealing.

MP3: King Biscuit Time - Kwangchow
King Biscuit Time's Website
Buy Black Gold

MP3: King Biscuit Time - All Over You
King Biscuit Time's Website
Buy Black Gold

Bonus MP3 - Morphine - All Your Way
Buy Yes

I haven't posted in a while. I'm feeling uninspired, and haven't really heard anything new lately to get me kicked into gear. Anybody out there have anything inspiring to share? Anytime I try to grab something from a blog, I end up with a weird recording of some guy saying "We're sorry, this website has been extremely busy." I take it EZ-Archive has now officially tanked.

Rather than write-up something just for the sake of it being new, I'm going to talk about 2005's excellent Superwolf, in my opinion the best thing Will Oldham has ever been a part of, and the only album that's been on constant rotation on my ipod. Sometimes I think I subconsciously categorize my music into seasons, and I can't think of a better soundtrack for the transition from warm to cold as the last of the autumn leaves lay stuck on the roof of my car than Superwolf.

For this effort, Oldham takes on the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy moniker, and is joined by Matt Sweeney on guitar and backing vocals. If you've never heard Will Oldham before, like I before this album came into my possession, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's amazing to me how something as rough and raw as Oldham's voice can come across so beautiful. With a voice you'd expect to hear bedside at 3 am in the half-light, there is simply no other way to present this material. That's not to say this album lacks dynamics, the excellent peaks on songs like "My Home is the Sea" and "Goat and Ram", balance this album with precision. Matt Sweeney's guitar work and backing vocals add a subtle touch that I've found lacking in some of Oldham's other work.

Oldham's writing is poetic to say the least, stringing together the story of the creature Superwolf, that touches on all the important points in life: love, sex, and death. I'm posting the lyrics to one of the most beautiful, devoted songs I've ever heard, "Beast For Thee". If you don't have Superwolf yet, it's an impressive album front to back, and strongly recommended. With every listen I grow fonder of this record.

Beast For Thee
Why aren't you kind to me?
You could so easily
Take me in your arms and see
A Donkey, a beast for thee.

If you had half a mind
Leave wordly things behind
Devote to being kind
You to me, a beast for thee.

Love in some way you choose
God's plan can easy bruise
One bone and blood mass we fuse
And I can be, a beast for thee.

I will toil for years and years
Give you muscle tone and tears
Overcome and flay all fears
Leaving me, a beast for thee.

And at home on Wednesday morn
Astride my horny horn
You'll be in glory born
And I will be, a beast for thee.

Happily, a beast for thee
Quietly, a beast for thee
endlessly, a beast for thee

MP3: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney - Beast For Thee
Buy Superwolf
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Website

MP3: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney - What Are You
Buy Superwolf
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's Website

Head over to Kwaya Na Kisser and grab the M. Ward set from KRCW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. Looks like he's off to Europe for a few months, so if you missed the chance to see it live, at least you can hear it. By the way, what is a Kwaya Na Kisser? I saw M. Ward last month, review here.

What better way to kick off a fall tour then to start in front of 200 college students, at a University you can't even pronounce, in a location you believe to be somewhere near Boston. That University was Brandeis, and the location was Waltham, MA. Broken Social Scene, the best indie band in Canada (or probably anywhere else in my opinion), pronounced it "Brandees", "Braandeece", and finally settled on "Brown Dice". They took full advantage of this opportunity to work the kinks out of their act. It almost had the vibe of a dress rehearsal.

As I've said before, any opportunity to see Broken Social Scene live should be seized at all costs. Their appearances in Boston are few and far between. I was feeling a little bit better after a weekend of sickness, and decided to venture out into the cold October air, by myself I might add. This may seem like no biggie for some, but this was the first time I've ever attended a show by myself. Further adding to my alienation, I realized I may be slightly older than I thought. I wasn't alone in this feeling, I got the same vibe from the band. This was best demonstrated by the dead silence after Brendan Canning made a Bob James reference, the composer of the Taxi theme song. I'm pretty sure most of the audience has never even seen the show Taxi.




I found out BSS was playing last night after reading Bradley's Almanac around 5 pm, and couldn't track down anybody to go with me. It wasn't listed on their website, and I'm not sure how he found out about it. But he did, and I thank him for that. I wanted to thank him in person at the show, but I never tracked him down. It turns out I was standing right behind him for the entire show, and got many wonderful pictures of his camera taking pictures, exhibit A:

On to the show itself. The lineup was at about half-capacity, at around 7 members. Amy Millan was there, fresh off either touring with her other band Stars, or tour support for her own album, Honey From the Tombs. Her voice is amazing, soft and breezy.

The show was ridden with technical difficulty. Feedback, mics not working, the occasional possessed synth, and the mix started off completely unbalanced. Probably due to the small room and poor acoustics, and an amp or two turned up a little too loud. There might have even been a forgotten chord or two, and a few verses omitted, but who's counting?





All technical blunders aside, it was still a BSS show, and still kicked ass as always. Brendan Canning's bass and Justin Peroff's kick drum never missed a beat together, and I continue to believe this is the driving force behind their music. Throw in 4 or 5 electric guitars, synth, the occasional horn, voice harmonizer tweaker box thingy, and it becomes quite an amazing spectacle. With all the instruments they throw in, you'd think it would be one big muddy mess, like mixing too many hues of paint together. They somehow manage to find space for everything, which is their greatest asset. Look at all my name dropping, I'm finally starting to piece together names to faces in this ensemble. Can anybody tell me who's the dude with the mustache?

The highlight of the night for me, besides Kevin Drew and company's hilarious banter was probably "Ibi Dreams of Pavement", or "Major Label Debut". Or when Kevin asked everybody how much they paid to get in, and then said "Five Dollars? Ok we're done." I have to tell you, he's a very well tempered guy, after the third or fourth mic being completely off, or monster feedback, I probably would have been pissed off. Broken Social Scene remains my favorite live act, and although last night's show couldn't possibly trump last years show with Leslie Feist at Avalon, it was still pretty damn good.

I wanted to start a conversation about everyone's favorite BSS side project as there are so many: Stars, Metric, Apostle of Hustle, Feist, Jason Collett, Amy Millan etc, I'm sure I'm missing many. Mine is Apostle of Hustle. But nobody comments on here anyway, so f it.

Keep a close eye on Bradley's Almanac over the next few days.

Here's their latest video, taken from clips on the road.

I was supposed to do a write-up for Filter's tourzine on the Silversun Pickups/Viva Voce show at the Middle East last Sunday. I ended up getting really sick this weekend, and couldn't get my ass out of bed to get to the show.

Luckily, Ashley was there, and wrote about it here. Head on over to Noise For Toaster for the Friday show at BU. I'm bummed I didn't make this show...

Just learned about this thanks to Brad. If you are at all able to get out tonight, definately a great band to see live.

MP3: Broken Social Scene - Superconnected (Live)

I'm back, and only a little worse for wear. My journey was a soul-seeking adventure into the world of way too much work. The first thing on my plate, as I contemplated my return, was to talk about The Crane Wife. I think this is the greatest leap for The Decemberists to date. Their first non-indie release leads them, as you might have guessed, to a more polished effort. Genre-hopping from track to track, at times, even psychedelic/prog rock, this is an epic album. With two tracks clocking in at over 12 minutes, how can it not be? When I first heard the second cut, "The Island", I could swear my itunes had been possessed and had flipped itself over to some lost Yes album. I'm almost tempted to go track by track here and list the artistic influences that lie behind each of these songs. That's hardly just to de-construct what I consider to be The Decemberists' finest work. I have to do just one more, can you hear "No Quarter" in "When The War Came?

While previous works were primarily acoustic driven, The Crane Wife finds The Decemberists plugging in a bit more, and pulling a few new instruments off the wall. It's a delicate balance to up the ante on instrumentation without killing the songsmanship The Decemberists are famous for. Does Colin Meloy spend his days and nights buried in turn of the century novels? I've always admired song-writers that can hearken back to a time they didn't live through, and tie that in to their own modern day joys and troubles.

MP3: The Decemberists - Summersong
The Decemberists Website
Buy The Crane Wife