steppin' out

My lovely lady friend and i are headin' west to the city of angels for a week or so, so I (probably) won't get a chance to update. Planned trip highlights include: a) seeing the Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Zach Galifinakis, Bob Odenkirk, et. al. show, at the Troubador tomorrow night, b) Amoeba Records, c) drinks at the Dresden, d) and meeting the waiter from Chuck Klosterman's hypothetical movie script, which I anticipate, will not be hard at all.

Two L.A. songs, including my favorite Kozelek track.

Murs - L.A.
Red House Painters - Cruiser

metric...

i effin' love this song. and emily haynes.

Metric - Calculation (Theme)

don't forget, tomorrow in government center (boston) tv on the radio plays fo' free at 6. you also have the option of ragin' with the hot topic set immediately afterwards while the yeah yeah yeahs play all the hits. yawn. actually, that's not fair (as my friend pointed out) because i totally sing "maps" for hours after i hear it on the radio.

Comets on Fire

Today is the day, friendlies. Well, for those of you who have been clamoring over the arrival of the latest Comets LP. My favorite of the Ben Chasney projects, Comets on Fire blend an interesting mix of 70's psych-rock, sprawling guitars and full tilt spazz, which never lacks intensity or direction.

Avatar is a departure from 04's Blue Cathedral, though. It's tamer, for one thing, but also much tighter musically. Fans of Cathedral will certainly dig it, especially those that are into Sunburned Hand of the Man. Folks that found Blue Cathedral too "out there", will probably give them a second chance with this offering. I'm a longtime Comets/Six Organs fan, and this just might be my favorite studio release from a Ben Chasney outfit. I'll sing it's praises all day long.

Lastly, if you get the chance, see them live. I promise you will not leave disappointed.

Comets on Fire - Sour Smoke
Comets on Fire - Dogwood Rust

The Long Winters

I know they've been peppering the blogosphere like mad all summer long, but if you're the type to grovel over who has it first, then you probably don't read this anyway. I think I heard through Stereogum, but I've been hooked on this catchy brand of guitar power pop thoughout these non-winter months. The Long Winters do it right. Vocally similar to and intelligent like an Okkervil River record, but not as depressing. They manage to pull off tragedy without the gloom, and veil it under a warm musical veneer. Check out Fire Island, AK.

The Long Winters - Fire Island, AK
The Long Winters - Rich Wife

late review

my new friend Sam offers this of the Silver Mt. Zion show at the MidEast last week. I post this because he's a cool cat, and because it's only their second show in this country. ever.
so thanks Sam.

I was really disappointed when they finally came on at 10:30PM, thinking to myself "What the fuck? Where is the grand piano I know they are carting around for this tour and why are there two guitar amps up there? What the fuck is ASM without a piano?" But I totally forgot about it when they started playing. Efrim--you know, the singer with the beard and the wild mane of brown curly hair--tuned his guitar and cutely told us that they were all nervous for their second time playing in America. Some anonymous voice from the crowd told them they shouldn't be, and they were right. They opened up with God Save Our Dead Marines, which was about 10 minutes of epic, jaw-dropping amazingness ending in the whole band singing together in chorus. When they were over, another anonymous got in a loud, quick "holy shit!" before every one started expressing the same sentiment with their applause. The rest of the show was pretty much more of the same for another hour and fifteen minutes. They played God Save Our Dead Marines, two new ones (called Blind, Blind, Blind and A Million Died to Make This Sound, the latter of which was as impressive as their opener), I believe For Wanda (which was relatively boring compared to the rest of the set without as strong of a rhythm component when the drummer picked up a guitar), and one or two others I didn't recognize. It was pretty amazing, and I was more impressed than I was with the album mostly because just to feel the sound they were making and be in the same room was pretty overwhelming; for a while I just kind of closed my eyes and forgot where I was and enjoyed being surrounded by sound.

A Silver Mt. Zion - God Bless Our Dead Marines