Nada Surf played Let Go in its entirety last Thursday

Read my review of the show on Late Night Wallflower.

The Loyal We release debut album

The Loyal We are Kate Sikora and Lindsay Lueders, two gifted twenty-somethings from America who met in Japan and formed a magical and musical friendship. While both Kate and Lindsay have solo albums, they recently released their debut as a duo in Japan on January 20. It’s called Homes and it’s a rare combination of catchy and earthy. With minimal instrumentation, these resourceful girls produce noteworthy rock ‘n’ roll. Their musical styles are different, but disjointed The Loyal We is not. Where Kate is edgy, Lindsay is refined, and they happily combined their strengths to create tracks that range from airy and somber to fast and melodic. Though no song is overly optimistic, they reveal the often overlooked possibilities that exist when you’ve got your feet are on the ground. In short, The Loyal We are royally awesome!

You can listen to their songs on their label's website. http://www.contrarede.com/artist/loyalwe.html   

You can also check them out on MySpace. http://www.myspace.com/theloyalwe 

Track listing for Homes 

01. Accordion Song 

02. Stars 

03. Still Quiet 

04. Synecdoche

 05. Ichabod 

06. Fresh Crop 

07. Counting Song 

08. Super Hero Theme

 09. Mister Burgundy 

10. Box Is A Rocket

Standard Fare in NYC March 11 and 14

Standard Fare crossed the pond to play two shows this past weekend, on Thursday and Sunday, in New York City; one at Death By Audio and the other in the basement of Cake Shop. At Cake Shop, they played a nice chunk of songs off their album The Noyelle Beat in a quick half hour set, causing fans to request that certain songs, such as “Philadelphia”, be played a second time.

NME Shockwave Awards 2010

photo from NME.com

The NME Shockwaves Awards were held at the 02 Academy Brixton in London on Wednesday, February 24. Jarvis Cocker hosted, playing games before performances, giving the audience clues as to who was coming to the stage. Alexa Chung and Nick Grimshaw briefly interviewed bands immediately after they won an award.  

Compared to American awards shows, like say the Mtv Video Music Awards, it was much smaller and less flashy. Not to mention that no one took it seriously and the bands didn't really care if they won. Some seemed insulted. Also, people did not even try to pretend to be sober. They were there to party and it showed. It was a lot of fun. Winners included Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys (Alex wasn't even there! Big disappointment.), Blur, The Big Pink, and some other people I've never heard of. There was no mention of Camera Obscura whatsoever. Lady Gaga won to some guy I don't know, probably because she's too big to attend.  There was a tribute to The Specials (C'mon who cares?) And Paul Weller won the God-like genius award. I was happy to see Effy from my new favorite show Skins, present an award and Richmond, from my old favorite show The IT Crowd running around with vampire make up on.

You can watch the show in six videos at http://www.nme.com/video/bcid/69203973001/search/bhazan. I think they cut some parts out though. 

Books I would like to read

Here's a list of books I'd like to read this year. Let's see what I end up reading.  

The Beautiful and the Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Bit of a Blur: The Autobiography by Alex James 

The Business of Books: How International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read 

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami 

Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks 

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 

The Somnabulist by Jonathan Barnes 

Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott 

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan 

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz 

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson 

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road by Cormac McCarthy


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I finally read The Road, although I still haven’t seen the movie. The man and his son were trying to survive in some sort of post-apocalyptic world where bad guys had taken over. The stark and short wording throughout echoed their plight of living (barely) an existence that prohibited them from saying or doing more than what was required for survival. They couldn’t take any chances and their lives were almost void of feeling. The father loved his son, but he saw nothing redeeming in the world and trusted no one. He stayed alive only for his son. His son, on the other hand, still wanted to see the good in other people. Whenever they came across a child or man, he wanted to take them in and take care of them. I think it’s interesting that the son survived and not the father. If the son wanted to take people in, he had hopes that the larger community would someday come together and rebuild the world. The father had no such hopes. He could not see past the day-to-day. It was interesting, enjoyable, and a fast read.

View all my reviews >>

Taken by Trees at Union Hall on Feb 13

Bill took me to see Taken By Trees at Union Hall on February 13 for Valentine’s Day. This pre-tour show was sold out and took place in the crowded, dark basement of Union Hall. It was as lovely as songstress, Victoria Bergsman. Victoria’s elegance and soft-spoken nature are reflected in this, her solo project. There were no loud guitars, if any at all. The psychedelic sound of the music, along with a smoke machine, helped to create an ambiance of hanging out in your friend’s basement, listening to records, and burning incense. Not to mention that Victoria had made a video for each song to be projected on the wall behind the band, but apologized because they could not get it to work. They played songs from their new album, East of Eden, as well as some favorites from Open Field. Songs included Lost & Found, Way Too Young, To Lose Someone, and Anna.

Towards the end of the show, a couple of girls in the audience were talking very loudly. It is my guess that they were too drunk to be aware of how loud they were talking, but their voices echoed throughout the room. Victoria called them out on it. She thanked the audience for being brilliant with the exception of the girls who were “talking about massage and other girlie things.” Everyone laughed. It was so funny, but the girls continued to talk even after she embarrassed them.

After the show, I went to the merch table to buy the new album on vinyl. Victoria was standing right there so of course I told her how much I enjoyed the show. She thanked me and I’m very excited now to say that I talked to her. With the purchase of the album I got a free cd of the songs that played before the band went on. Very awesome show!

This is funny. You can donate money to the band on their website. http://www.takenbytrees.com/donations/