Kinch: Advances

I just wrote a review of the new Kinch record Advances over at PHXAgenda.com. You can read it here

This record is a record I was really surprised by. I thought it would be good, but the more I listen to it the more it blows my mind.

The best part is you can go to their site and download the whole record for free. Or just download the songs you want.


Download Advances
Download Fare Froward
Download Girls Are Such A Problem
Download Synaesthesia
Visit Kinchband.com

April 19th Review: Part 1 Miniature Tigers

In part two of my review of the show last Saturday I have video of Miniature Tigers playing their song Dino Damage.

For their show last Saturday the Miniature Tigers played a striped down set sitting on the floor in robes with face paint on. The only drum was a bass drum, that and the crowed clapping along. For a few songs they even added a mandolin. When I tried to ask Charlie what the motivation for the striped down set I got an answer along the lines of why not. I am not sure what he was thinking but it was great what ever it was.

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Miniature Tigers - Dino Damage [VIDEO]

April 19th Review: Part 1 Black Carl

I managed to film a few songs of all the bands who played at Modified last Saturday and over the next few days I will be posting some of them. It was an amazing local show. One of the best all local shows I have seen in a long time with some of the truly most talented bands in town; Lymbyc Systym, Miniature Tigers, and Black Carl.

I have been watching Black Carl a lot over the last few months. They are one of my favorite new bands around here and Saturdays show was a great example of why. They are just always a party, I just don't think you can have a bad time watching them.

Black Carl mixes folky indie rock with a ton of soul and a few bits of retro funk. The vocals of Emma Pew are shockingly breath taking, and the band knows how to lay down a great grove.

The video here is of Black Carl doing their cover of the Talking Heads Psycho Killer. When they played this near the end of their set they got the whole room dancing along.


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Black Carl - Psycho Killer (Talking Heads Cover) [video]

If Only the Rise was as Inevitable

The new album The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! by the musician, poet, actor, philosopher, activist, artist and all genius savant Saul Williams is deserving of far more praise than it has received, both for its bold new DIY distribution method as well as its bold genera-bending sounds, the first being dwarfed by the attention paid to In Rainbows.

On November 1st Saul Williams released Niggy Tardust only at his website NiggyTardust.com. Like the much-publicized Radiohead record Williams released it digitaly, DRM free, either for free or for a donation. For Williams this move was far bolder than for Radiohead, being far less well known in the media and without the legions of fans. Williams is an interesting experiment to see if this kind of model can work for the smaller artist.

The other, more abstract, story of Niggy Tardust is the music itself. The record was produced by NIN‘s Trent Reznor with Reznor writing much of the music. The sound to come out of this eccentric collaboration fuses industrial rock, electronic sounds, Hip Hop beats and punk aggression in a way completely distinct and independent from the rap rock craze of a few years ago. The sounds often compliment for Williams spoken word style. The mood set is perfect for the angry rhetoric.

It has been Williams’s lyrics and poetry that have attracted me to his music. Williams is truly a poet rather than a simple MC, having published four books of poetry and only three proper albums of recorded music. In fact much of Niggy Tardust was adapted from his previously released book of poems The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop. Williams is as likely to tour universities lecturing as he is to tour clubs rapping, having degrees in both Philosophy and Acting.

This record is challenging to the listener, its intellectual and poetic side can obscure the heavy messages Williams drives at. The lyrics are anything but straightforward. Williams songs often deal with themes of race, religion, personal identity and Hip Hop culture, all with a depth few in Hip Hop could attain even if the ever chose to deal with topics this deep and complex. Hip hop in general has turned into little more than club music, shallow and empty of meaning, at least in the main stream. Williams may not have the club hit, but his songs have a soul and are filed with heart and a sharp intellect that makes them at least more relevant and interesting if not more important.

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myspace: www.myspace.com/saulwilliams

Saul WIlliams - Sunday Blody Sunday (U2 cover) [MP3]
Saul WIlliams - Scared Money [MP3]
The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! [FREE ALBUM]

A Less Troubled Good Life

The Good Life - Help Wanted Nights

I have mixed feelings about this album. I think its charm is a little too subtle. I have always preferred The Good Life to Tim Kasher's primary employer Cursive mainly because The Good Life seemed more like a release for Tim. His albums have always been deeply personal and showed a troubled sole in a way that was never cheesy or contrived. I feel Album Of The Year was a master piece that played the way High Fidelity reads.

Help Wanted Nights seems to be lacking something. It is missing most if not all of the personal torment and struggle that defined his previous works. It may be that Tim is just in a good place in his life right now, and I hope that is the case, but it didn't lead to a great record this time. The record is more upbeat, but it doesn't work as well for them. I hope giving this record some more time will reveal more depth to me, be cause I know Tim has it in him.

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Help Wanted Nights [Full Album Streem]
You Don't Feel Like Home To Me [mp3]

Radio Nowhere Is Right

As if there was a chance of the new Springsteen track being played at radio anywhere these days anyway. Bruce Springsteen is back with the E Street Band, they have a new album and a new world tour. It is first in at least 5 year and the first since "final" tour that we all knew would not be the last.

Right now and for the next week at iTunes you can download the new single "Radio Nowhere" for free. I can get behind free.

Springsteen is one of my favorite artists. Few can craft a pop song better than he can. I also think he is one of the few classic acts to be still putting out relevant material and not just trying to recreate his past work. His last two albums "Devils And Dust" and "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" are both masterpieces greater than almost any other albums being put out today. The new track is neat, a throw back to the straight rock of classic Springsteen rather than the folk records he has released recently. But is also fresh and new. It may not be his best track he has ever released but it is a solid song.

Ben Lee's New Wave

Ben Lee - New Wave

So Ben Lee apparently shares my love for Against Me! Recently on his bolg he posted covers of the entire Against Me! Record New Wave.

"I fell in love with the album. Really. Like, couldn't stop listening to it. As heavy and gnarly as it sounds at times, it is unmistakably a pop masterpiece." - Ben Lee

Hearing Lee cover AM you can really hear the greatness of each of these songs. I liked the record from the moment I heard it, but these covers just reinforce what I liked about it.

I think this is a great example of what the best of what the Internet can offer to art. In years gone by the cost of a recording like this (not that it is the best recording) would have prevented this type of recording for fun, and with out the Internet their would have been no cheep, let alone free, way for people to hear it. Lee even manipulated the album their album cover which must have taken him all of five minutes in Photoshop. Now an actual artist like Lee can spend an afternoon recording something great just for fun and we all get to hear it.

I always love artists doing something cool for no other reason than they think its cool. Even if you don't think it is that neat what did it cost anyone?

Not to mention the great PR angle for both Lee and Against Me! This is one of those times when everyone wins.

Am Radio by The Lymbyc Systm

The Lymbyc Systym need to win a Grammy for best sound track. I just don't know what movie it would be for. Their instrumental mix of jazz, indie rock, hip hop beats, and electronic sounds create a rich and moving sound.

Recently they have been taped by Hrishikesh Hirway of The One AM Radio to not only open for him on his current US tour but also to play as his backing band. Recently I got to see two of these shows (one in LA and one that happened to fall during a short trip back to AZ). These shows are incredible. The Lybyc Systym are the perfect compliment for Hirway.

In addition to their tour The One AM Radio remixed a Lybyc Systym song Astrology Days and Lybyc Systym "rymyx"ed a One AM Radio song Mercury.

The One AM Radio - Mercury (Lybyc Systym rymyx)

Lymbyc Systym - Astrology Days (The One AM Radio remix)


Read An interview with The One AM Radio in the Arizona Republic by Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard.

Smart Politics, Heart, Passion and the Street Dogs

Street Dogs - Final Transmission

I do not really listen to punk rock anymore. Like many I discovered underground music and culture through punk. It is where I learned that what was on MTV and the Radio wasn’t the best of what was out there. Back in high school I started throwing “punk rock shows” and was the start to the path to where I am now. One of the first punk bands I discovered on my own was The Dropkick Murphy’s. While I no longer listen to them often I still think their first record Do Or Die is one of the best punk rock records I own.

A few months ago I was hired to be the tour manger an unheard of punk band from Sweden on the Flogging Molly Green 17 tour. The third band on the bill was Street Dogs. I had only ever heard their name, seen it one line-ups, but knew nothing about them. Turns out Street Dogs is the newest project by Mike McColgan the original singer of the Murphy’s and main songwriter on Do Or Die. So when I was 15 I discovered underground music threw one of Mike’s records and now at 24 through a weird act of fate I was on tour with him and his new band for seven weeks.

Even though I do not listen to much punk these days I can say Street Dogs are not just another punk rock band, they are simply a great band. Their show last night in LA was nothing if not confirmation of that fact. Unlike many of their contemporaries singing empty or stupid political songs about rebellion by yuppie rich kids playing squatter, Street Dogs have something very real to say. Mike’s songs serve to provide a voice for those torn between their hatred of this cursed war and a deep sense of patriotism and civil responsibility.

Mike McColgan served in the Army in Iraq during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield. Many of his songs grow from that experience. Many of their songs are very political, anti-war but also pro-soldier and extremely personal. What set these songs apart from other political bands are Mike’s perspectives, his passion, and his unquestionable sense of patriotism and civil responsibility (between The Murphy’s and Street Dogs Mike worked as a fire fighter in Boston).

In “Final Transmission,” a song calling for the troops to be brought home, Mike sings about a fictional 19-year-old soldier killed by an IED outside of Baghdad and his “Final Transmission,” a note to his parents hidden under his helmet. Although it is a fictional it could be about anyone serving, and draws from Mike’s days in Iraq when he kept just such a note under is own Helmet.

Almost ever day on tour in addition to the gutter punk kids in their “not my president” shirts Mike would have soldiers come up to him and talk to him about their time in Iraq or Afghanistan and thank him for his song. Often they would tell him about how his words helped them get through their time in the war. Often these exchanges would be deeply emotional and were always personal.

Last night at the The Troubadour in addition to dedicating this song the troops as he does ever night on stage, Mike also led the crowd in chants of “Johnny comes marching home again, Hurrah! Hurrah!” during the song.

It is hard to find any singer in any genre with more heart and passion than Mike McColgan.

The Format Matured to be a First Rate Live Act

The Format - Inches And Failing from Dog Problems

The Format has always been a solid band, always a crowed pleaser. Years ago I was one of their first people to hear “the First Single,” when I was working for Sam’s old production company. I saw Sam and Nate’s first show playing Format songs on a couch in the Nile Basement in Mesa as part of what used to be Sam’s traditional yearly 420 show. I saw their first show as “The Format.” I think I even saw the first 5 or 6 shows they played. They were good back then. They were band with undeniable potential. At that first show they had 5 or 6 labels (I don’t remember the exact number) fly to Phoenix to see the show at the old Nita’s Hideaway in Tempe.

But Wednesdays show at the Avalon in LA was undeniable in another way. It was brilliant. It was what live music should be. They have reached that potential we all new was there years ago. The show was pact to capacity if it was not sold out. They crowed was eating ever second of the show. They played songs of both albums and the snails EP as well as a new song. On stage the band had a string section, a horns section and at times during the set members of Steel Train, Honorary Title, Limbeck and Rubens Accomplice all played with them. For the encore the band came out with members of all the 5 bands on the show for a 15-18 person jam. Mike Schey was on Saxophone, Rob from Limbeck on Trumpet. It was reminiscent of something The Band would do, and was at the quality of the E Street Band. And my words of praise here does not do the show justice.

In 2001 I put out a small EP of a Phoenix band called The Solo Project. Mike Schey who is now in the Format was the lead guitarist (he was also on the cover of that EP). When I got the 1,000 CDs I had pressed in the mail Mike came over to my dorm room to get a few copies. He dumped the box CDs on the floor and started rolling in them scaring my roommate. Back then it seemed like the biggest deal to both of us to have a “real” CD with our names in it. At the time Mike was one of the most talented guitarists I had ever seen, and still is. I knew he was destined for huge things, and when the Solo Project broke up shortly after I would tell Mike that he was going to go one to do great things. Watching him from the side of the stage in front of a sold out crowed 400 miles away from that dorm room in a historic Hollywood Theatre was the fruition of my predictions.

Tera Melos Live

Last week I got to see Tera Melos twice on their current tour with Portugal the Man and The Photo Atlas. Both shows were inspiring!

Tera Melos is one of my favorite unsigned bands right now. They are basically and instrumental band. Recently they have added some vocals, but their vocal style is almost an added sound effect and not a driving force to their songs. When they do add vocals they are low in the mix and are not intended to stand out above the music.

Their sound is a mix some where between Pelican and Explosions in the Sky, with the melody of Explosions, and the explosions of Pelican. Like most instrumental bands their charm is their technical abilities making them bands band to be sure. Unfortunately you may not hear their name a lot in the next year but all the bands you are listening will be listening to them.


Next month they will be out with Fall Of Troy:
Aug 14 Clovis, California @The Barnyard
Aug 21 Tucson, Arizona @ The Rock
Aug 22 Albequerque, New Mexico @ The Launch Pad
Aug 24 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma @ Bricktown
Aug 25 Wichita, Kansas @ Eagles Lodge North
Aug 26 Kansas City, Missouri @ Grand Emporium
Aug 27 Omaha, Nebraska @ Sokol Underground
Aug 28 Colorado Springs, Colorado @ The Black Sheep
Aug 30 Boise, Idaho @ The Venue
Aug 31 Spokane, Washington @ The Big Dipper

Facing The Valley (Part II: New York)

Part two of my adventures at the Facing New York/Valley Arena Show (Part I).

Next up was The Outline. I am not a huge fan of the band; they definitely were the week link on the bill although any other night they may have stood out, just not on this line up. They are a solid band with some great pop rock songs.

Finally the last band was set to play. Facing New York.


Facing New York is another band I have helped in Phoenix in the past and have been pleased to watch grown. This group is PHENOMENAL on stage. The intensity is almost unmatchable. Watching them you remember that this is a craft and an art that few have mastered, and they have. They play beautiful jazz influenced indie rock with a passion that has always been rare, but is rare still today. FNY are a band that have to be seen live. The songs are great, but how they play them is what makes it.

At the show last night they killed it. They were on stage for one reason, to play.

I need to go to more shows like the one last night. Scratch that, there need to be more shows like the one last night.

Facing New York:

Facing The Valley (Part I: The Arena)

Last night Rock Insider and The Troubadour had one of the best line-ups of bands I have seen in a while; Facing New York, The Valley Arena, Cavil at Rest and The Outline. It was so good in fact that I decided that this entry would be split into two parts.

Kicking of the night was a neat band from Orange County called Cavil At Rest. I have seen them a few times now, at least once was at another Rock Insider show. For such a young band they are extremely tight live. They have an almost 70s rock vibe, you know back when a band could rock out for a minute or two with out being a lame jam band. There is something about these guys where they manage to pull of serious and fun at the same time.

Next was The Valley Arena.

The Valley Arena - Kick AT The Ceiling

I have been a huge supporter of this band for a few years now. I have booked shows for them in Phoenix a number of times, as well as helping set up two short tours with them (one with DeSole and one with The Stiletto Formal). They were always a good band but recently their live show has evolved so much they are becoming a force to be reckoned with. When I first started seeing them it was their raw energy that attracted me to them, to many bands feel forced or contrived on stage, these guys feel alive on stage. While this raw energy was what made those first shows, it also was their weakness, they were rough and not always to solid, not that they ever cared, it was almost the point.

By last night they have grown as a band to the point that they still have all that same energy and they nail every song. Their songs rock and are dancy. Not dancy with a drum machine beat and a single catchy hook, their songs just have rhythm without that predictable beat. You can tell they learned how to dance in the pit at a Fugazi show and not in some hipster club. On stage they are alive and real, no act, no gimmick, no forced image, just them and the music.

It was hard to believe that when they left the stage the show was less than half way over.

Of Michigan not Canada

Canada - Beige Stationwagon

On Monday I went with my downstairs neighbor Jack to Spaceland to see the last residency of Deadly Syndrome. The highlight and surprise of the night was a band from Michigan named simply Canada. I wish they had a better name, if only to find them on google (do bands not think about search engines when naming their band?). Apart from the name, which I did not know while I watched them, they were an interesting and pleasant group that intrigued me.

Canada is a seven piece, in their best songs two members play cello and they just about all sing. Between songs they all switch up instruments playing all sorts of instruments and percussion, and I am unsure if they ever use the same arrangement for more than one song. They reminded me of a less energetic Architecture in Helsinki or a less intense Arcade Fire. The music in this song reminds me of Elliott Smith on Figure 8, but not the vocals or lyrics. They were fun and cute, and I mean that in a good way. While they have been around for a little while they still seem quite new and have room to grow. I am really interested to see where they go from here musically, I could see them doing something great.

Riverboat Gamblers on a half pipe

The Riverboat Gamblers - Save You.

Last night I saw one of the best shows I have seen since I have lived in LA. The Riverboat Gamblers played at 6th street wherehouse in down town LA.

The show was packed, the band played on a half pipe and it was only $6. What more can you ask for? I think I will always have affection for DIY venues like this one. There is just something real about a room with little more than a PA and people who are actually there to see a band they like. You really don’t need more.

If you have never heard Riverboat their music is a cross between the MC5, the Bad Brains, and American Steel all on speed. They are one of the liveliest and energetic bands around and playing on a half pipe only gave them more room to run around. I don’t think they played a song in which the singer didn’t see both ends of the half pipe 6 times. They are one of the few new punk bands today that I think are doing anything interesting.

Chuck Regan does sing like no one is listening

Chuck Ragan - "Do You Pray"

Those who know me know that Hot Water Music was on of my favorite bands. While I am still sad they are no longer playing together at least their demise has set Chuck Ragan free to move on to something far new and great. While his solo work is reminiscent of Hot Water in substance the style is far from it.

This week I had the pleasure of seeing Ragan twice, once at the Troubadour (on of my favorite venues to hear music) and The Alley in Fullerton. He just released a live record “Los Feliz” that was recorded last February at the Tangiers in Los Feliz of all places. I also had the pleasure of being present at that recording. The record captures the passion of his live performances perfectly.

Chuck Ragan’s solo work is music is raw and earthy. The lack of any electric instruments or even drums is a departure from the distorted guitars of his past work. While the base of all of his songs are just him an acoustic guitar the addition of fiddle, accordion, banjo, mandolin, and even some harmonica add a fullness to the songs that could not be gained merely by adding distortion or volume. The music has an element of folk, or old backwater country blues but yet is really neither. The rawness of his voice and the passion in his words are what make these songs, as what drew me to Hot Water years ago.

Today to many songwriters have no substance and even less to say; Ragan is nothing if not substance. He may not be as hip as many indie rockers moving into the world of country and folk or even into Los Feliz, being more likely to ware worn out hiking boots and be seen fishing than designer jeans at a dance night, but he has more to say and more passion than almost everyone else today.

In “Do You Pray” he belts out the lines “I wanna dance like nobody's watching, and sing like nobody cares. Climb to the top of those mountains we see, to find peace, and die up there.” Ragan is not playing for anyone but himself; he is writing what he needs to write for him self. In “California Burritos” he sings, “I can’t stand feeling nothing, I can’t stand feeling old. I can’t stand standing for nothing when stand is all I know.” In these recordings you can hear the sincerity of these words and know they come from deep within his soul.

Ragan does sing like no one is listening and he does not just stand for nothing. I think that is why it connects so personally to those that are.

Dan Deacon shows reviewed

Dan Deacon - The Crystal Cat.

I saw Dan Deacon twice last weekend. The first was at Check Yo Ponytail at the Echo Plex. I had heard a bout this night a few times from a few different people and figured why not.

What struck me about the show was the crowed interaction. The Echo Plex is a huge venue and was far from sold out but there was a large crowed in front of the stage and on it, Deacon set up on the dance for instead of the stage and asked people in the crowd to dance on stage. The crowed was electric and explosive. Something about it was fare more punk than dance and that was what drew me into it. Lots of dance bands / DJs can be hard to distinguish form an Ipod shuffle to me. Not Deacon. The whole shows was crowd interaction, constantly involving the crowd. For his last song he past out lyrics so the crowed could sing a long, and sing they did.

I don’t really know how to best describe Deacons music. He uses keyboards, pedals and Ipod Nano and a range of other electronics I couldn’t see for the crowed to make noisy dance music. DJ is certainly the wrong word but it almost has that vib.

The second show was at Pehrspace on Monday. I went to mainly because of how moving the show was on Saturday. Not quite as moving. The setting was much better, being a small art gallery with no stage but crowed was not as involved, probably being late on Monday as opposed to Saturday night (the lack of a bar might have factored in too). Still a great show by Deacon.

The music isn’t the best out there; I don’t know how often I will listen to it. But the show is something to see. Actually see is the wrong word, you really have to participate in it.