Palebear Archives

Category : Punk

Burning Idols
The Feeding Bird

This was a pretty interesting little EP called The Feeding Bird by the band Burning Idols that found its way into my inbox the other day. There is something strange and off-kiltre about the mixing of Patricia’s tinny and reverbed Slumber Party meets Madder Rose vocals in the opener “Siempre” with the more edgy, angular and punky musical accompaniment. And in the end I thought it worked quite well.

“Butterflies” has a more standard punky structure. But there’s those vocals again. This time, the guys contribute backup vocals. It’s really interesting… I don’t want to say that the singing lends an element of “twee” to the mix, but the interplay reminds me of Tullycraft, Butterglory, etc.

“Slow Dig” seems to capture the lazy-hazy cadence of Slanted era Pavement, with those shambling “do-do-do”s at the end really reminding me of them. There’s an old band called Star Ghost Dog that comes to mind sometimes, though Burning Idols are much looser than straight-up indiepop. In fact, the closer “Pretty Though” has enough sonic mayhem and machine-gun distortion to sound Sonic Youth-ish. A lovely and dynamic mix of indie rock tunes on this EP.

Band Members:

Patricia Gomes - guitar /vocals
Pablo Andres Lopes - bass
Eric R. Gumulak - drums / vocals

Available Tracks:

Siempre

Band Website:

www.burningidols.com/

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

Capital Sons
S/T

There’s a bunch of different ways to look at Minnesota’s Capital Sons. On the one hand they mix up interesting vocals reminiscient of either Mark Eitzel or The Posies with the pop-punk punch of the Replacements. That side is apparent on “Miss Understood”, the first song off their recently released self titled EP. It’s a great track, just brash enough to break free of the bonds that the early 90s record label punk-puppets were enslaved under. Guitar and drums driven pop, with a bit of soaring in the choruses. Feel-good stuff.

And then they follow it up with “On Your Side”, which is just a little too Counting Crows for my tastes. Granted, they make no bones about their love for roots-rock hooks. It’s just not my thing. The same goes for “Halo” which made me feel like I was at a Pearl Jam reunion. For me, forgettable guitar licks and Eddie Vedderisms are better left buried in the 99 cent bargain section at Amoeba.

The dirtier songs seem to swim along better. When the Capital Sons keep it simple and rough, they can be very good. Or when they slow it down, like in “Spark” which feels even a little shoe-gazey at times. The closer, “Paint This Town” brings back a little of the poppunk magic from the opening track. I’ve got mixed feelings about the disc, but there are certainly at least a few good pop songs worth a listen here.

Members:

Karl Obermeyer - Vocals/Guitar
Jesse Thomas - Drums
Gary Vogel - Guitar/Vocals
Keefe Russell - Bass/ Vocals

Capital Sons website

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

Eisenhower Field Day
Let's Not Tell Lies

Funny, I nearly put this CD by Eisenhower Field Day aside after hearing the first few tracks of “Let’s Not Tell Lies”. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood for the music at the time.

Then, a half hour later I took another look at the press kit and saw that this disc also contains their older EP “Our Time In The Colonies”. On a whim, I put the CD back in and was immediately struck by how good the songs were. I’m not sure why that happened… later after returning to the earlier album I saw what they were going for. I do like a few of the newer tracks, but so far I seem to identify with the older ones more. Lucky for them, they put their old EP on here or else I probably wouldn’t have written about the CD at all!

This is a louder sort of melodic power pop/punk that they’re playing that really harkens back to early 90s indie rock. The band they most remind me of is Superchunk, I think it’s that Noah’s voice reminds me of Mac. I immediately loved “Don’t Throw Away” which is really catchy. The drums are being played really fast on nearly all the songs. “Exit 51″ is great as well, but my favorite track is definitely “On The Weekend”. (The guitar part on the song will remind some people of a Smashing Pumpkins track, but don’t let that fool you.) “Five After” has an off-kiltre sort of groove to it that reminds me of Dismemberment Plan and several other tracks have that same feel. For the newer album, I ended up liking “National Sunday Law” the most. I’ll probably have to go back and give the new stuff some more listening time later on.

Listen:
Exit 51
The Backs of My Arms
Two Pockets

On Itunes:
Let’s Not Tell Lies / Our Time In The Colonies

Visit:
Eisenhower Field Day website

by Palebear | No Comments

Giant Drag
Hearts and Unicorns

It was instant-like with Giant Drag for me. I’ve got a softy spot for bands with just a guy and a girl in the lineup. What always surprises me is the amount and power of the noise that is possible with a imple drums and guitar lineup. Oh sure, there’s overdubs. But still there’s a pretty powerful presence on their album “Hearts and Unicorns”.

The band is sort of like a reverse Quasi lineup; there’s Micah on drums and Annie on guitar and vocals. But they’re definitely more dreamy and less playful and self effacing than Quasi. Other duos that they resemble are Viva Voce, who are similar in hellraisin’ style but definitely more electronic, and Elk City who share a similar atmospheric vibe but tend toward more folkier moments.

There’s going to be some comparisons to shoegazers like My Bloody Valentine of course, what with the powerfully distorted guitars that swim throughout most of the songs. The song “Cordial Invitation” totally has those guitar bends and fogbank cloud of noise hovering underneath the music. But they mostly avoid MBV’s mid-treble emphasis and crackling broken distortion which is probably a good thing as far as radio play goes. The distortion is often more like, er, grungey. There, I said it… whew.

Continue reading “Giant Drag - Hearts and Unicorns” …

by Tyranosaur | 1 Comment

Mission of Burma
2wice

In honor of the new Mission of Burma album “The Obliterati” out, please listen to the single “2wice” from the Matador website. Initial feeling-outs of the latest release from this legendary punk band are pretty cool… same energy-bomb density and urgency. But this is like decades later. The trio seem to have worn awfully well over the years. Well, “worn” is probably the wrong word to use here; their sound is as fresh as back in the day, with frenetic drum hits and bass lines and raw slashing guitars that meld together in a powerful and melodic song.

Band Members:

Roger Miller
Clint Conley
Peter Prescott

Albums on Itunes:

Vs.
Signals Calls and Marches
ONoffON
The Obliterati

Band Website:

www.obliterati.net/

by Palebear | 1 Comment

The Pixies
Velouria

Now, I haven’t actually seen this commercial that features The Pixies song Velouria. Why? Because it had only been broadcast in the UK this year. That’s quite unfortunate because I would have taken The Pixies over the recent so-called punk or “emo” choices of commercial makers in the U.S. Come on you pilgrim, it’s the Pixies - ground zero for a thousand billion fascinated punks and musical imitators everywhere.

Velouria is off of their awsome Bossanova album which a lot of people have noted sounds quite different from their other albums such as Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim. It’s like they’ve collected all the mayhem and roughness of their other work and distilled it into a refined dark punk album that has a really angry sheen to it. Less raw, but nevertheless engaging in a grim way.

Continue reading “Pixies - Wannadoo Commercial” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Ramones
Blitzkrieg Bop

OK, so I confess that I absolutely detest Pepsi. And don’t even get me started on the evil aftertaste in Diet Sodas. So put them together as Pepsi Diet Soda and create a commercial and you get something I’d really, really hate. And in fact, the only redeeming thing about that commercial (well, I admit the CG is not bad for the dancing sodas) is that they used Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones as the background music.

The commercial features a bunch of sodas in a 7-11 upright glass door fridge cooler, each “type” of soda on a different shelf. They actually went out of their way to render “Diet Coke” cans too. So only the “cool” Diet Pepsi cans are the ones to pogo to the beat of Blitzkrieg Bop, while the other sodas are complaining. I dunno, I might be complaining too about neighbors in the upstairs shelf making a racket. The commercial ends with a lone Diet Pepsi can slam dancing through the glass door and spinning around on the floor.

Continue reading “Ramones - Diet Pepsi Commercial” …

by Bryan | Comments Off

Scanners
Violence Is Golden

This is a short review of the band called Scanners, and not the Cronenberg movie. If you’ve somehow managed to stumble upon this page while looking for the movie, head on over to IMDB. Or read about the band’s “Violence is Golden” for a bit, and then off you go.

Anyhow, Scanners deeply channels (and there’s a pretentious review word if ever there was one) Chryssie Hynde and her Pretenders buds with slamming and snarling guitar riffs and a bit of 80s new wave synth party thrown in. Vocalist/bassist Sarah Daly is mostly responsible for the Pretender references with her ringing set of wrought iron pipes.

The music sometimes reminds me of 90s Brit-bands like Elastica, though there’s also modern touch to the music. “Joy” and “Lowlife” start off the album in spectacular fashion, with glossy shimmering soundscapes. Some people are going to gothic-ize their reviews of this album but I’d say its more punky than overall gloomy. Sometimes I can’t figure out what they’re aiming at, for instance in “Changing Times” which has a guitar riff that sounds like a Snow Patrol or Travis track embedded in it. The band is also capable of so-called “birdwalks” away from straight up punkwave.

“Evil Twin” starts off almost folky semi-sweet, like a Jeff Hanson tune but quickly gets good and creepy, while the keyboard beeps of “Look What You Started” puzzle and ponder their way through a reversed 16th century classical melody.

The band is releasing stuff on Dim Mak. Have a listen…

Available Tracks:

Lowlife

Band Website:

Scanners Music

by Palebear | No Comments

Silversun Pickups
Carnavas

The Pickups put out their latest album Carnavas more than a month ago, but I’d actually received it when it was still titled “Title TBA”. As in to be announced - just goes to show how far we are behind again.

Having finally absorbed some of their CD finally, I can say it’s one of my favorite “noisy” albums this summer. By noisy, I’m saying it falls into the range of MBV and The Swirlies though it’s often more structured. You should probably start out with the second song “Well Thought Out Twinkles” which has some great riffs accompanied by great doses of crunchy distortion and Brian Aubert’s saw blade vocals chopping through the mix.

His voice may take some getting used to - he has a higher raspy delivery, like Smashing Pumpkins plus a band from long ago, For Squirrels. Maybe a bit of Matt Suggs’s Butterglory days or Mac from Superchunk thrown in there.

There is a definite quirky and spacey feel to more than a few of the tracks - it’s not typical rock. Fans of basement experimentalists will probably like this. There’s a sludgy heaviness to the songs as well (like a 90s Seattle feel), enough on a few tracks to make your teeth rattle. The album is pretty well produced, however, so don’t expect any lo-fi comparisons. One cool thing - I just found out they’ll be touring with one of my favorite duos, Viva Voce.

Selected Albums on Itunes:

Carnavas
Pikul

Band Website:

www.silversunpickups.com/

by Palebear | Comments Off

Sonic Youth
Rather Ripped

The confession with Sonic Youth is that the first album I ever got was “Dirty”. I worked backwards from that album through Goo, Daydream Nation, Sister and Evol. But actually, I think Sonic Youth is one of the few seminal bands where you might be better off starting from the most recent albums and going backwards, especially if you’re not used to their artsy noisepunk approach.

So anyway, I’ve been listening to a promo advance of their latest album “Rather Ripped” on and off for a couple months now. And I think this might be as good as any entry point for someone looking to see what they’re all about.

I actually don’t have any of their most recent stuff (Sonic Nurse, Murray Street) so I can’t say what the latest Sonic trend has been. However, if it’s been anything like Rather Ripped, then it just shows how nicely their punk has aged along with them like fine wine (well as much you can expect for slightly aging punkrockers).

It’s become even more balanced while keeping their elliptical tunings / chord changes and rapid fire strumming /drumming intact. The vocal duties are pretty equally split between Kim and Thurston, with the occasional Lee song popping up.

I like to compare the distribution of songs on their albums to road trips. You’ve got your slight speed bumps (#4 Sleepin’ Around, #6 Jams Run Free, #8 Turquoise Boy) but at least they’re not immense potholes in this case. You’ve got your crowd pleasing, long stretches of highway with scenery (#2 “Incinerate”, #5 “What A Waste”). And there’s the requisite sleepy time songs, where you’re driving at night with everyone else asleep (#3 “Do You Believe In Rapture” and #9 “Lights Out”). Finally, there’s at least one impulsive but epic side trip which is track #11 “Pink Steam”, though it’s a bit short for a Sonic Youth epic at under 7 minutes.

Do I mean to say that they’ve become formulaic? Not at all. But balance is here to stay with Sonic Youth (with allowances for occasional noisy and experimental albums like SYR 1-4).

By the way, they are streaming the entire album here, though I don’t know how long that’ll remain up on the site.

by Tyranosaur | Comments Off

Speaker Speaker
We Won't March

Once in a great (great) while I feel the need to speed up my usual slowcore, acoustic guitar loving brain. In that case I usually reach for jumpy stuff like PB&J or Masters of the Hemisphere. But Speaker Speaker might also do for those times as well. Frenetic, fast paced slamdance indie rock is the name of the game for the Seattle based band on their We Won’t March EP.

They’re like a nosebleed on overdrive, coming down hard on you like The Thermals with extra snarls, a little Mission of Burma, a little old school 90s punk grunge. The emo moments don’t please me as much, but you can’t ignore their enthusiasm. The better moments are when they soar rather than scream. I sort of wish they were a little more melodic and less rawk. Still, they’ll give you a punky earful - have a listen.

Listen:
Speaker Speaker on Myspace

Visit:
Speaker Speaker website

by Palebear | No Comments

The Femurs offer up a frenetic style of acoustic indie rock with punk rock count-em-off stylings like the Ramones. At least that’s what it’ll seem like on the surface - however they’re much less distorted (actually, no distortion), which is where I guess the Violent Femmes comparison comes from. The track offered on the SXSW site is “Not Giving Up” is really energetic and a little big wiggy with the superfast acoustic guitar line underneath that sounds almost like a spaghetti western played by Dick Dale. Fun songs from this Seattle based band.

Playing At:
SXSW Friday March 16 11:00 p.m.
at Whisky Bar

Listen:
Not Giving Up

Visit:
Femurs on Myspace

by Palebear | No Comments

The Bruises
Connected

It’s simplistic to just say that San Francisco’s The Bruises remind me of the Donnas and of Sleater-Kinney. But, it’s Xmas Eve and I’m just trying to reduce the CD “stack” for the new year. So there you go - I guess it’s better than nothing hey?

Really, there are some pretty decent grrl-punk pop songs in here that I hope to get into next year. But time is short - so rock on, Aja and Jen. I’ll catch up to you later.

Visit:
The Bruises website

by Palebear | No Comments

The Like Young
For Money Or Love

I’ve been a fan of the super-energetic poppypunk of The Like Young ever since I was passed the “Looked Up” Plus Four EP off Kittridge Records. (”You Can’t Get It Back” is a serious pop anthem on that record).

What’s that? You say there’s another band called The Like that I might be getting them confused with? Not so… and in fact IMHO The Like seem a bit overrated. Give me The Like Young anyday over them.

To make matters even more confusing, the married musical couple of Amanda and Joe Ziemba (remember the band Wolfie? That was them) have just been signed to Polyvinyl Record Co. who are home to another, slightly more famous married duo… Mates of State. Though the Mates are pretty cool, they never really knocked my socks off… I always thought their songs were a bit jarring. The Like Young, however, have been regulars in our CD players for some time and provide that winning combination of un-pop punk smarts with really good pop songwriting.

Anyhow, they are coming out with an album called Last Secrets on Polyvinyl in the spring but until then you can get a taste of what’s to come by listening to their track “For Money Or Love”. By the way, apologies that the thumbnail above is NOT the album cover but just a pic of them. I’ll change it out when the album comes out.

Brash and bratty vocal melodies by mop-topped Joe are wrapped in Amanda’s cooling vocal harmonies and the whole thing is rolled unceremoniously up in head-bobbin’, chugworthy punk rock. Imagine mid-period Sleater-Kinney with a guy on lead, or Quasi with much less acrobatics and keyboards. There’s also a throwback to the simpler pop-punk times of Weezer, The Rentals, even X at times.

This is a band that you just gotta root for. One reason for that is unlike some bands that have a tough exterior shell around their music, all the tough and crazy problems that The Like Young have survived through both as a musicians and as a couple are laid out bare in their songs. And according to the website, their next album is going to have even more of that heart-sleeve angst. They’ve truly lived through this. I mean, that one song is called “For Money Or Love” which pretty much says it all. Powerful, catchy stuff.

Members:

Joe Ziemba - guitar, vocals
Amanda Ziemba - drums, vocals

Albums available on Itunes:

“Looked Up” Plus Four (Kittridge 2002)
Art Contest (Parasol 2003)
So Serious (Parasol 2004)

The Like Young website

by Bryan | Comments Off

The Speedies
Let Me Take Your Photo

One of the companies that have really stepped up to the plate with cool music in their commercials is Hewlett Packard. Even without the addition of interesting music, their commercials would still be really cool… featuring Michel Gondry-like shots of photos or video being moved around and becoming one with parts of the actual commercial shot. It is pretty hypnotizing to watch.

I still am trying to figure out this one commercial of theirs that has music that sort of sounds like the Apples In Stereo (no it’s not the Kinks track). But I finally DID figure out a newer commercial that features a woman repeatedly being dressed up in various clothes and handed a photo which becomes the backdrop for the next shot. The song in question is a pretty fast sounding punk song with these snare drum rolls that really move it along.

Continue reading “The Speedies - HP Commercial” …

by Tyranosaur | 1 Comment