Kitty Daisy & Lewis Review on Late Night W/ Fallon

Very great show.

The band is featured as a duo-lead singing piece ( I am guessing Kitty and Daisy ) anchored by a pianist ( I am guessing Lewis ), a guitarist and bassist.

The two lead women are on stage wearing beautiful ruffle dresses ( strapped, with one green and one blue ), along with Lewis, formally dressed in a nice tuxedo. The whole motif is pretty much a homage to the 50’s swing-like atmosphere, and their musical talent pulled it off.

They played this song for Jimmy Fallon’s audience:

I have heard this song in the past, but was very unfamiliar when they had played it. But the emotion, the vocals, and the affect of the combination of all the acoustic instruments made it worthwhile to listen.

The song was very hard and had a head-bopping appeal, especially considering the only rhythm was created by the initial clapping of the band supplemented with one the of the girls performing on a single snare while singing in tandem with the other.

My only qualm ( and it might be because of my affinity to Burt Bacharach ) might be that towards the end of the song there wasn’t much they did to enhance their combined vocals. They didn’t really get louder, nor did they harmonize any chords with each other. It might have been the way the audio was rendered to television, but it didn’t sound as loud as it should’ve been for three voices to belt out the chorus simultaneously.

But the talent is there, the ferocity is there. Hopefully the fans will follow. I happen to have the unlucky luck to write about them without having a chance to expand upon my knowledge of them live, since they won’t be touring in my area. I will try to check them out though.
Here is their Myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/kittydaisyandlewis

Tired of The BubbleGum Crap? Well, Anna Yvette Answers her Own Question with BubbleGum Music!

I have received enough response from this article that I am going to cross out what I have written. I spoke to the artist herself and she was very upset that I had blasted her band and her music. I think her band is good, but I think I didn’t make my point with this article. I am not taking it down, but I am showing goodwill by admitting I may have pushed the button onto someone’s feelings who didn’t deserve it. Nonetheless, I will continue to write as I have done in the past. I got work so there won’t be too much going on for a lil’ bit.

Titties. Tame Music. You want a better Review? Give me better Music.

Never. Ever. Ever. Never. Please. No. Fucking. Way. You would call yourself the anti-thesis to bubblegum pop music and then show me this type of music. It is this type of hyping, to reason that somehow this band stands above the rest on the edge, only to fall into a pit of monotony & soft-core guitar work & vocals that has now run rampant in every Americana/ Hipster bar in the Northeast. Also, she showcases a great deal of “bosom” exposure in her fan introductory page on Facebook. She has an amazing body, but I think both the advertising and the photo permits an aura that her music may only be catchy enough only with a supplement of boobies to stand alongside her musical talents.

Things Bands Should Not Do Case #37: Do not pose as something against the mainstream marketing & production of music ( “Tired of the Bubblegum Crap”, was the gracious 1st line of the advertising to introduce this band), and then unveil yourself with partially covered bosoms and a Myspace introduction song with these intense once-in-a-lifetime lyrics:

“Maybe I should change the way I look… Maybe I should feel like everyone else”

Really bad lyrics. How many songs have started off with “Maybe” or “What if” or something about a woman following the crowd but with the essence that the singer is somehow independent and against the crowd. I am not trying to shoot down her talent, but this is the pure example of bands who are trying to stem the tide of the mainstream sweetness that gets bombarded from my drive home from work ( when I ever get a car) and replaces it with the underground tastes that is familiar with the same type of pop music they strive disassociate from their “vibe”.

Leslie Gore: I put this in because she says maybe; and its a good song:)

Her sound and production is really good. It does remind me of Dave Matthews a little bit. But it is so tame that if mainstream music needed more members for its Casey Kasem Club, Yvette will probably get a handwritten letter and a lunch date with Avril Levine.

The song “Promise” sounds like a compromise between Kansas and Jewel. When I listened to Zombie Party, I thought it was pretty good, but at points it could’ve hit me in the face, the song promptly stands rigid as a decent bar song. But if I had a dime for every song I heard from a live bar band I thought was decent, my bank would close my account because I would then be an asshole for depositing so much change.

This music is good, but how is this isn’t better than bubblegum music I have no clue. Acoustic instruments, piano interludes, Americana vocals and violins CAN a mediocre song make!

I really don’t see her music as bad. But this is NOT better than bubblegum music. It might have an edge here or there, but like a papercut, it’ll get you riled up for a minute, then you remember bands who are actually playing something different:

Esthero in 1998, when she was probably only 17-18

If anything, it only justifies that most genres, regardless of their appeal, talent pool, and marketing, presents a great deal of people who pose themselves against other genres claiming to be superior. The sad fact is a lot bands are hitting the neo-Americana and hipster music scenes to produce music that is different from mainstream. Yet these new sonic pioneers have failed to witness the deterioration of music in GENERAL is the essence that both mainstream and non-mainstream music have a lot of horrible music. A lot: I’ll go on to say that my band sucks ( but I will weep in my pillow once the post is written).

But in addendum and conclusion to all of this, my hypothesis to the bad music that has risen and permeated throughout the industry is due to too many people pretend to bend the envelope into a territory of greatness by comparing themselves to the simplicity and cookie-cutter designs of corporate music structures. For every band that goes against the grain of the 50 Cents, or invokes disdain of Jack Johnson in their ballads, or re-invents sexuality in contrast to the submissiveness of MTV Video vixens, fails to compare themselves to their own limits, their own styles, and their visions of what they can offer to music. When they pay more attention to how different they are, in some fucked up ironic way, they end up becoming just a tame & and unrecognizable as the other millions of bands that now exist in the new Myspace arena. And as I finish writing this post, I am slowly forgetting the band I was even reviewing. Whether they become famous, they are just another blip on the radar of bands trying to make a name for themselves, falling short of even writing the first letter on the wall, falling short of doing something better than what has already been done.

Flying Lotus & Gas Lamp Killer ( Live Video ).

I heard about these guys before and never looked them up until now. They sound amazing. I guess this guy posted the video so here is the link to his blog:

Flying Lotus Video

Remember This? Electric Light Orchestra – Last Train To London

For all you kids ( including myself ) who weren’t blessed with hearing this band on the radio, I bring to the band responsible for such good hit as ” Don’t Bring Me Down” & “Mr. Blue Sky,

Electric Light Orchestra!

Rehya Stevens’ ” This Time It’s Over”.

Thank god I’ve been in a Mariah Carey pop mood; I usually don’t sit down to these songs longer than 30 seconds. But this piano acoustic ballad by Rehya Stevens does hit the mark on decent songwriting and singing. I still wait for her to hit the high notes; it can be a tease since her voice sounds really strong.

Rehya Stevens’ page on Ourstage.

Ourstage College Clash: Review of the Best College Bands in New England

Quinn Strassel told me this. I didn’t say that they were the Best College Bands in New England. But Ourstage did, and have gone through heavy toil to build a really good website to democratize the value of bands in the eyes of the common people. There are small quirks and problems to how the system works, but I could say this might be the best system I can find on the net that can define what people think is good and what sucks ( My band, The History Righters, suck on here. I am FUMING ON THE OUTSIDE, but crying naked in the fetal position on the inside.)

Four Bands: I will review them, and tell you Ourstage’s winner, including my own true winner. Let’s take a look shall we.

The Zach Hillyard Band

This band is pretty slick. They have that good tight sound coordination with the organ sound and the bass. The guitar complements it all with coming in with great rhythm riffs. The lead singer has decent lyrics; they come off pretty strong although I can pretty much say they are radio pop to a beat ( I just think if Maroon 5 stole music, this band could easily be a victim, and vice-versa).

Throughout all of that, I can’t see this band being the best in all the six states of the fake-liberal federation. The sound, really reminiscent of Maroon 5, Vertical Horizon, Dave Matthews, & all of that non-controversial soft rock, doesn’t place it anywhere to define it as “amazing”. As a live band, and given their tightness with their instruments, I think they are worth seeing.

But to place this band anywhere as someone I am going to Digg or post a youtube love video about them, would give me the chance to simultaneously shave my pubes and throw pieces of them at my girl while she is showering. Because if I am going to be crazy enough to like this band, I probably will be crazy enough to shave my pubes and decide to chuck them at the people I love the most. Sorry Zach!

Brian Bergeron

Two Soft Rock Bands are vying for the title of Best college Bands in New England? Out of all the people making bands, buying synths, snorting coke, ranting about Coco Crisp vs. Jacoby, being fake-liberals and squirming over minorities moving into their neighborhoods, being fake-conservatives and whining about losing tax subsidies on business, being fake-libertarians and simultaneously condemn corporate ownership… woah, big digression. Most of it is just hateful lies:)

Ok, back to cocaine, snorting coke, ranting about sports, being around all types of crazy people, selling their guitars to survive the recession, playing music at Berklee or the Conservatory, having a record collection that is worth a two-story house, drinking and throwing stuff out of windows, starting sports riots, doing covers of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer, experimenting with a band with 5 telecasters etc. You think with all of this madness that occurs ( or could occur since the last two paragraphs were bullshit) that the band would have a little more balls and less Americana than Briano sticking his guitar in my direction ( nice pic though ).

I am not against the Country/ Americana genre. If anything, the musicians in these bands have more experience and abilities to create music than most other types of groups out there. But there is so much of it out there, and it is easily popularized with an Abercrombie background music vocal, motionless lyrics, and a cute frontman who has nice hair and puppy-dog eyes ( Can you see these types of bands with a lead singer who looks like this?).

It takes VERY LITTLE to make this genre sound good and it always is good enough to pass by other bands who were easily better, but probably not received as quickly.

Everything about this band is OK, and the lyrics are sparse ( which make the riffs even more redundant when you don’t hear much in front of it).

When they do have lyrics, some are pretty good ( ” When I ran into you in the bar by mistake/ The guy you were with I almost punched in the mouth”), but like his actions, his music halted from doing the unnatural, performing the untamed. It is tamed, it has no emotion, it didn’t punch me in the mouth, and I shake my head, wishing that it would.

Last two bands are equal to me. They lack the ummphh I need that would want me to listen to them more than once. But fans, you fucking picked them! And you wonder why Dick Cheney is an asshole and does his shit without regard to popular American thought.

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Sam R-P ( Is he in the world of Tron?)

His music is actually not that bad, and it varies from song to song. In the song Remember, he has a girl backing up vocals. It is pretty decent, but it is pretty tame. This is a song I feel I have heard in many a dorm rooms, while the dealer passes an 8th you know is .2 short of the mark. But hey, the market’s tumbling, so daddy’s money will save you at least another year of free drugs. And the dealer always has chill parties with girls and Pabst; are you complaining? I hope not.

Although his songs are nice, it reminds me nothing more than a decent jam session between roommates that knew each other for about two years, and they like Dylan, Velvet, STP, Zep, Hendrix, and maybe Pearl Jam ( Magic Sky riff is familiar).

” A shooting start knows where we are/ because its watching from above all day long.” Shooting stars are never there all day long. I know I am harping on the smallest lyric which could mean anything, but most of the lyrics aren’t really good.

“In a Dream” is actually really well done. I enjoy listening to this song; if more songs folow that emotion, I can see how this guy can go above the latter two bands.

Ameranouche

Ameranouche is a string trio instrumental, and by far the most unique band of the four. I don’t want to guarantee them as winners because I think their is a method to easily be instrumental than it is to write and produce songs. But nonetheless, I really enjoy listening to the band.

I have little to say about them because like the others, they don’t float over as something different. But they do approach that realm, and is a band I will give more a listen to in the future as I find more content.

Spike’s Blues is a really fun song to listen to. Wouldn’t be surprised if a publishing deal to place it in a movie or show would be on the way in their futures.

The Ourstage Winner for Best College Band in New England:

The Zach Hillyard Band

They won it because of music fundamentals and doing everything right. In sports, that is the equivalent to watching the New Jersey Devils trap defense. My vote for the best band by far goes to Ameranouche. But, I do understand people’s short attention span for virtuoso instrumentals ( I tune off even when my friends try to play John McLaughlin, but will go nuts over Castle Made of Sand.).

This wasn’t done to showcase great bands ( except for Ameranouche ) but to showcase the good job Ourstage.com is doing and hopefully lead more sensible people to come around and check out the talent. For now, the Americana Pop is getting a lot of high praise from this contest. Let’s hope these contest pools won’t be as diluted in the future.

Not to go A&R on a Mothafucka but…

Disclaimer: Picture has nothing to do with the article. My jokes digress and regress whenever they please. You’ll enjoy them.

 

There’s no way we can have public sex here, my darling.

Why? Because I will not look cool without my umbrella. Can I hold it over

us while we do the nasty?

Bands like this with press like this annoys me. Tiger, Tiger!, with their new album The Kind of Goodnight has been really under the radar, and some people ( well, just me since I am the only mofo reading my work) will say, “But oh great writer of SID, this has to be the type of band you would put on your site, right? They are touted to be a mix of R&B & Punk and have two lovely chicks in the band. Surely two hipster-looking chicks add some brownie points to the mix?”

No. Good gracious no. No. No. No. No. This is a band that when I listen to it, I DO like their sound. I DO like the feeling and the counter-pop style they produce. I DO like the seductresses in the forefront. But the music is OK. OK. Like OK Soda. Mixed with orange soda, a little different, maybe even some questions and riddles on the side, but I am not bedazzled by the sound. I only heard their single, but if this their best sound, or even their median sound, I don’t feel there is much that will make me thrilled to hear them again.

Movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches!

When I made his blog ( like an hour ago ), my purpose was to promote really good music. I know this is the eye of the beholder conundrum, but I think that if anything, I am going to showcase the really good music. A lot of music contains a serious amount of mediocrity or attribution to other bands that you don’t see too many bands rise above that sea level of talent and scream ” Look at how amazing this sound is!”

When I hear a song, or want it to be put on here, I place it on here because it resonates higher beyond something I can comprehend.

I want to showcase that sound that makes a woman take off her top with no thought of consequence, her tits bare & reverberating from the sheer power of her hands ripping off her shirt for all to see. I want to give to you the music that the hard-faced alpha male will break down in front of peers and sob about the days he was molested by a fat man on the beach. I want a reaction after the end of the song that culminates into people having sex without concern for their surroundings or law enforcement, a reaction that can incite a mob mass drooling for blood and mayhem as they head to burn down the capital where the lovely imperialism complex resides.

Seldom do I find these types of bands, up to the point that not all the bands on this blog WILL BE that GOOD. Barely anyone is, and it is always disputed when someone nominates a song so highly. But I will promote music that is closer to that spectrum than to the spectrum of ” That’s great, honey. I think it sounds nice.” Nice is OK. OK is not bad. Get over those two humps, and you will probably have a spot on this blog.

I will showcase more bands in our weekly carnival, to be democratic of course. But I am doing this for my ego, and my ego appreciates good music. And band reviews like the one for Tiger, Tiger! ( thank god Google knows to look for two tigers in the search or you would’ve been fucked finding them otherwise; search engines were not that good in the old days) make me cringe because their sound doesn’t correlate with the praise.

It is the equivalent when I did my social studies project ( which they give you months to do) the day before class in the 8th grade and I WON third place ( my teacher was pissed; he knew I was a fuck-up). I felt happy not because I was talented, but I was an asshole who got my way because I was good at the craft of bullshit and deadline bullshit work.

In music, bullshit sucks. Even B- work makes me throw up my hands and go “WTF?! Why?”.

I don’t mean to have this rant, but this isn’t a shot against Tiger, Tiger! They are actually a decent band and I do hope to hear more of their work. But from what I heard, it wouldn’t make the cut if I ever had a record label. The Salvo goes out to the writers who do their best to market it by calling this band a “cohesive sonic menace” that would constitute bar music ” if more bars actually cut loose enough to play stuff like this“.

This is why if someone tells me I write really badly or don’t make much sense in my reviews, I can show them these diatribes on Tiger, Tiger!, show them a logo of Pitchfork Media, pour some gasoline on it, shove it down their throats, and while they CHOKE TO DEATH, I will scream, ” I could’ve made it worse by burning the paper before I shoved it down your throat, but I feel bad for you since you will die eating SHIT!”

My point of all this: I am adamant of the music that will be on this blog as good. If you don’t think it is good, then maybe I am losing my edge and you should contact me immediately and shove a pitchfork logo up my ass. That’ll get me working again to bring you the best underground music around. I am such a masochist.

PS: I am a sucker for the female hipster look, but its a faze that won’t last ( like my Mariah Carey faze = 1 year).

Doyle & Debbie : Country Duo With a Hilarious Edge

Doyle & Debbie: Marriage of Melodic Perfection

I think I am done writing today, but I will leave you with the country parody duo Doyle & Debbie. I had seen them on Conan O’Brien a few months back. I thought these guys were at least getting somewhere in the Flight of the Concords popularity, but they are still pretty much underground.

Watching it I thought it was weird, since they were arguing and he kept talking about her being “his third singer” (since it is a husband/wife duo, I guess you can get the hint from there). Great singing, and it ended up being really funny. Reminds me a lot of Ween’s country album, but its way more wacky.

Screwin’ Other Women is a great song to start off to. Check out their Myspace page here.

Shot in The Dark: Red Knife Lottery

Ashley Chapman and Dan Yingling of Red Knife Lottery

When I first listened to Red Knife Lottery, they actually were a random album download from a friend. I didn’t really know what it was, and probably left it there for about a year before it came time to start throwing away shitty albums. Going through my music, I usually give albums a few seconds listen before the recycle bin needs to be fed.

The album, So Much Drama (2005), was on the chopping block of the soon-to-be-disappeared albums from my squeezed hard drive. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks!

Bam! ( Writer falls to the ground. He is shaken, but not stirred)

“What was the thing that hit you, writer of this blog?” says the Rhetorical Question! He just doesn’t get his existence in the world, does he?

“Why, a fucking ton of bricks! Weren’t you reading the former part?”

RQ – ” But, I don’t see any bricks. I am confused; I am looking around and all I s…”

It’s a joke RQ. Actually, it really was the first goddamn song on the album! Now Rhetoric, go sit down over there while I talk. I might need you in the future. Does this count as Gonzo literature?

The band is fronted ( guessing from the MySpace page) by the very beautiful Ashley Chapman ( hey, look who updates his blog!). Listening to it at first, you think it is good but have that feeling that its going to soon bore you with the same Noise and Alt. Hardcore ( think: At The Drive In ) that it pushed on you in the beginning of the album.

But somehow her vocals, along with the clash of the high-toned guitars ( sometimes a little to high on the hertz, but I can take some earbleeding), pushes you into listening to each siong over and over again.

Nicole’s voice reminds me of the Yea Yea Yeahs, but if only the reminder could be embellished with Karen O and the gang doing a shitload of coke, playing a gig pretending to make a genre called neo-Emo, but actually doing a hell of a job at it. Their time-signatures change around a lot, but they have that decent pop-punk speed and 2 minute song structure that keeps you head-banging from one track to the next.

Their MySpace page has some newer stuff. Starting this blog made me think of them. After all this time, I am still surprised this band is still off the radar ( Their main site, www.RedKnifeLottery.com, doesn’t work; they have 2 youtube vids). But as my first post of a Shot in the Dark, I am happy to give this band the inaugural award.

You can check out their Myspace page here. I think So Much Drama might be their best song from what I’ve heard. This is one of those bands that are probably really good live. If anyone has been to any of their live shows, pass it by me.

 

 

Redmask & Dave Attell Had A Baby! Skanks Remix Albums.

No, they didn’t. Because if they did, you know he would’ve called it PizzaPussySanta! What did happen is an instrumental remix was done for Dave Attell.

There are albums and torrents flying around the ‘net, but you can find a couple of the tracks on the ‘tube. Can we start consolidating Youtube now and call it the ‘Tube? My spellcheck is more sympathetic. I hate those goddamn red lines.

If anything, this album is awesome with or without Redmask. But if you heard the normal one, the Redmask one is another decent add to your collection. Here is a ‘Tube (gotcha!) video of Dave Attell – Skanks Remix Album Track.

Redmask is a band of friends of mines ( OH NO! I am already doing the glad-handing on my blog! Fuck I am already screwing up! …….not.) and I like the album. They have a page on Ourstage but nothing like this album. Listen to them here.