Palebear Archives

May, 2008

I don’t usually post these quickie types of things – I leave that to the other music blogs who are all caught up in the “grind”. This is a Band of Horses video for “No One’s Gonna Love You” from Cease to Begin. I need not mention BOH is one of my favorite “newer” band.

Hm… but maybe I should post more stuff like this. It takes a lot less brainpower and time instead of making a long post that no one in their right mind will read. Or posting about science articles that no one but 30+ PBS nature show junkies like myself are interested in. It’s like Snap, Crackle, Post. No thought, instant gratification.

Maybe.

by Palebear | Comments Off

Chauchat
Upon Thousands

Out of about 25 CDs I just pulled out of the “queue” to see if they were worth reviewing, Chauchat was the only band left standing at the end. How’s that for an endorsement.

I haven’t yet figured out what it is exactly about a particular type of music that encourages me not to gravitate toward the recycle bin. I wasn’t this way before. It’s definitely not a certain style of music, more of a general feel to it.

I decided in my head that what I made of Chauchat was some sort of engaging blend of East River Pipe, Galaxie 50, My Bloody Valentine and Band of Horses. Maybe Sonic Youth on the louder passages. I thought I was so original (especially with the Galaxie 500 reference which is definitely there as early as the 2nd song on the album). Then I went to read the review on the website that noted Galaxie 500 and Sonic Youth and was little bummed – but hey, at least I was on target. Tyler’s singing style sort of reminds me of the guy from Clinic at times. Also there’s more than a touch of a 90s shoegaze thing hanging around in the background.

Like F.M. Cornog’s ability to translate simple tune and melody into a shimmering space of goodness, Tyler Whitney loads up song after song of excellent but restrained roughness. Bandmates Chris Clunk, Mike Musser and Erik Sahd help to create that broken, inner beauty that all great bands possess. They have the ability to manufacture sonic strength and levitation from musical aspects that would be fatal weaknesses in other bands. Really great stuff.

Listen:
Yoko Turns 71
Fight Obscurity

Visit:
Chauchat on Myspace
on Yer Bird

by Palebear | Comments Off

No, Colony Collapse Disorder is not the title of the latest Apples In Stereo album. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I like to throw in occasional “science-y” stuff into the mix. Because I like to annoy everyone who comes here thinking this is a pure music review site.

Anyhow, this is some serious stuff that I had read about quite awhile ago but it’s only now surfacing in the mainstream media. Bees are dying, and some of it has to do with CCD where the adult bees in a colony mysteriously bail from the hives.

I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but this seems pretty serious. Most people think all that bees provide is honey – I’m no science major but the truth is that they are crucial in pollination for important crops as well. It’s so serious that major food companies are starting to really pay attention. You may have seen Haagen-Dazs commercials about the bees and thought it was some sort of weird marketing ploy. It’s not. They’re VERY concerned about this, and rightly so. If Bee Thousand becomes Bee Fifty, there’s going to be even more problems with the availability of produce in the future.

Edit: I just realized it would have been even better had I named the post “Do The Collapse” to tie in with the GBV reference…

by Palebear | Comments Off

Seeing as how this is my namesake, I must say – it’s about fricken time! Now if we could just get music reviewers added to the list, we’d be in bu$ine$$.

Source: LA Times article

Sorry for the two “science” posts in a row. Music reviews will resume, er, shortly.

by Palebear | Comments Off

What’s wet, wild, and Weezer-esque? Why, the new Pork and Beans video from Weezer’s upcoming Red Album of course.

It’s a mishmash of popular internet memes – but who cares about that, is the song any good? Yeah, actually, it’s not too bad. Having been a Weezer fan since the Blue days, it’s nice to hear them ressurect that sound. I didn’t really care for their forays into metalheadedness.

Pork and Beans on Youtube

by Palebear | Comments Off