i rock i roll

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Happy New Year Happy New Music!!!!! - Via Audio

It's 2010! On NYE my boyfriend kept asking people what year it was, and they would tell him and then he would hug them. All of them. It was adorable (albiet somewhat time consuming). He is very excited for this year, and so am I - mostly because of all the SWEET NEW MUSIC that is going to be released. For example, I totally forgot that Arcade Fire is putting on a new album, which fills me with hope for LIFE. That is a good feeling.

Today I'm previewing another new release from one of my long time-ish local faves, Via Audio. I originally posted about them three years ago before they released their debut LP, 2007's Say Something. That album, like the upcoming Animalore, was produced by Jim Eno of Spoon and was chock full of quirky indie pop - although judging from the sample track below it seems like maybe they have gone a bit more disco? Either way, "Babies" is a super fun tune, featuring the chorus: "I know the world is overcrowded, but i wanna make babies with you" - is that fucking romantic or WHAT.

Check it out - Animalore is out March 9th (my birthday! wahoo!) on Undertow.

Via Audio - Babies

They will also be playing at Union Hall with Pattern Is Movement (SICK SHOW ALERT) on February 25th and will appear at SXSW.

posted by n. @ 1/05/2010 02:44:00 PM

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Fave Albums of 2009 - the TOP TEN. yay!

1. Metric - Fantasies
Song: Help, I'm Alive

2. Fanfarlo - Reservoir
Song: Finish Line

3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Song: 1901

4. Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
Song: Morning Light

5. Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti is... Skyscraper
Song: On The Esplanade

6. Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
Song: Broken

7. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Song: Hysteric

8. Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
Song: Stranger Things

9. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
Song: Drumming

10. White Lies - To Lose My Life
Song: Farewell To The Fairground

Phew... this list took a LOT of agonizing and debate but I'm pretty happy with it. You can find 11-20 here and here.

Next year I'm certainly excited for new music from Frightened Rabbit, Yeasayer (okay I have the album already and it is SO MUCH AWESOME, Radiohead (please? pretty please?), Surfer Blood, The Dig, Skybox, Depreciation Guild, and of course: TALLY HALL!

Thank you for reading I Rock I Roll - it has been a crazy 6 years in my life since I started this blog and I heart you guys (yes you, my two readers haha).

And I'd also like to try red sparks.

posted by n. @ 12/16/2009 11:17:00 AM

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Fave albums of 2009 Part 2 (#11-15)

11. Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
Song: The Outsiders

12. Passion Pit - Manners
Song: Eyes As Candles

13. Here We Go Magic - HWGM
Song: Tunnelvision

14. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love
Song: Crystal Visions

15. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Self Titled
Come Saturday

Top 10 list to come at the end of the week. Ooo.

posted by n. @ 12/15/2009 11:45:00 AM

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Friday, December 11, 2009

Fun Facts with Lissy Trullie

Fact #1: Lissy Trullie is cooler than me.
Fact #2: Lissy Trullie is probably also cooler than you (sorry).
Fact #3: Lissy Trullie is way talented, writes sexy new wave-y rawk songs and sings them with some seriously smoldering vocals.
Fact #4: Lissy Trullie has an album out now called "Self Taught Learner" on Downtown Records. You should probably go download it on itunes like.. right now.
Fact #5: Lissy Trullie is playing a show at Mercury Lounge on Monday, December 14th that you should go to.
Fact#6: I am djing at the show.

Here are the songs. Happy weekend.

Lissy Trullie - Self-Taught Learner

Lissy Trullie - Don't To Do

posted by n. @ 12/11/2009 03:06:00 PM

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

The Subjects!

How I have not written about this band, I am not sure, seeing as how I have done my fair share of heavy drinking with two of its members. Or maybe that is exactly why it has somehow slipped my mind. Hmmmm. Anywho, The Subjects is what happens when two Manhattan musicians/school teachers start a band with two students which = awesome music, tours with bands like White Rabbits, The Walkmen, and Bad Veins and hopefully soon a record deal! That is totally math I can get behind (and I was never very good at maths).

You can get their digital EP, New Soft Shoe, exclusively on ThinkIndie.com and below is the opening track, "Winter Vacation" which is something I need in my life right now.

The Subjects - Winter Vacation

posted by n. @ 12/10/2009 12:16:00 PM

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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Top 20 Albums I Liked This Year (#16-20)

And so it begins... I have already edited my list approx: 3892735982375892 times. I will probably not like the end result and next year I will probably look back at this and smack myself in the face for things I am forgetting/leaving off. Also I am much more of a song person than an album person, so naming favorite albums is hard for me. And as a final preface, these are just the albums I liked, not really what is probably the best or most critically acclaimed. Enjoy

16. Miike Snow - Mike Snow
Song: Black & Blue

17. St. Vincent - Actor
Song: Marrow

18. The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
Song: Frank, AB

19. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth
Song: You Do You

20. The Bloodsugars - I Can'T Go On, I'll Go On
Song: Falling Makes You Blue (Feat. Bell)

posted by n. @ 12/08/2009 04:57:00 PM

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Monday, December 07, 2009

SEASPIN

Some bands are "growers" (aka you fall in love with them... but only after really spending some serious quality time with their records). There's nothing wrong with this of course, and some of my favorite bands have only really attracted me after more than a single listen. There is, however, that amazing feeling when you put on a song and instantly find yourself drawn completely into it. When I click on an mp3 that I get I am always HOPING for this reaction although it's rare (also because it saves me a lot of time when I'm trying to review things and find something I want to post about!).

As a result, I was really really happy when I put on this track from Los Angeles shoegazers Seaspin. Vocalist Jennifer Goodridge drew me in immediately and all four minutes of this multi-layered pop song were a joy to listen to from a band I knew absolutely NOTHING about. Which is all very appropriate actually given the dictionary definition of Seaspin (taken from the band's bio.. clever!):

SEASPIN -- [seespin] - Noun - 1. The feeling of being lovesick. I am head over heels in a dizzying, but alluring state of seaspin.

Head over heels indeed!

They have a EP entitled Reverser due for release on the 19th of January and hopefully some NY tour dates soon.

Seaspin - Reverser

posted by n. @ 12/07/2009 12:47:00 PM

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Friday, December 04, 2009

The Big Pink (tonight you take a part of my life)

Last night, Samantha and I dragged our hungover tired selves (we went out the night before to an insane Esquire/EVR party where I got to sit in a room and listen to Ian McColloch, Andy Rourke and Peter Hook record songs together... srsly) to Bowery Ballroom to catch UK band The Big Pink's second NYC show ever. They were fantastic really, the lights and the energy of the packed crowd and singer Robbie's sexy vocals (he may be tiny but he can rock) combined to make for an electrifying performance.

Their slower songs may be a bit monotonous at times, but they do have limited material to choose from (playing almost all of their debut album A Brief History Of Love), and the more beat driven songs were definitely their strong suit. The predictably ended the set with Dominoes, and as the floor shook at Bowery and everyone sang along, it seemed pretty clear that this band will be sticking around for a while (I hope!).

They play MHOW tonight - I believe tickets are still on sale!

The Big Pink - Velvet

The Big Pink - Tonight

posted by n. @ 12/04/2009 11:27:00 AM

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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Editors go electro, go on tour

This new Editors album (In This Light And On This Morning) is all delicious synthesizer gloss, the "New Order" to their "Joy Division" if you will. It's still sexy, but darker and more polished, as if someone told singer Tom Smith that he needed to get out of his funk and sent him trotting/sulking off to the nearest discoteque. I don't think we're in Munich anymore, Toto.

The group will be in NYC next February, at (blah) Terminal 5. If they could throw a Brooklyn date onto this tour, I would be way happier about things. Or maybe they could play the Warsaw again (do bands still play there??)... pierogies + songs about the futuristic apocalypse = ace.

Here is the video for the UK single Papillon. Let me summarize this for you: Guy is running (ladies, he's hot). Guy runs. And runs. Then some other guys join him in the running. Run run run run run. Is there a deeper concept here that I'm missing? Probs.

Editors - Papillon

Editors - Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool

North American Tour Dates
Feb 05 || Seattle, WA || Showbox at the Market
Feb 06 || Vancouver, BC || Commodore Ballroom
Feb 08 || San Francisco, CA || The Warfield Theatre
Feb 09 || San Diego, CA || House of Blues
Feb 11 || Los Angeles, CA || The Wiltern
Feb 13 || Denver, CO || Ogden Theatre
Feb 15 || Chicago, IL || Victoria Theatre
Feb 16 || Toronto, ON || Phoenix Concert Theatre
Feb 18 || Boston, MA || House of Blues
Feb 19 || New York, NY || Terminal 5
Feb 20 || Philadelphia, PA || Trocadero
Feb 21 || Washington, DC || 9:30 Club

All tickets will be on-sale 12/12

posted by n. @ 12/02/2009 11:50:00 AM

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Monday, November 30, 2009

The Bloodsugars Can Go On

I seriously heart heart HEART brooklyn band The Bloodsugars, who write perfectly crafted indie pop tunes. And as such, I could not be MORE stoked that they have finally released a full length album, I Can't Go On, I'll go On. I played the first single, "Light At The End Of The Tunnel" on EVR over the weekend (if you didn't listen live, you can go here and listen to be babbling like an idiot and playing songz for TWO HOURS). The album sounds FANTASTIC, so hopefully this will be a huge breakthru year for the band.

Sample tunes below and BUY THE ALBUM HERE.

The Bloodsugars - Light At The End Of The Tunnel

The Bloodsugars - Happiness

posted by n. @ 11/30/2009 05:01:00 PM

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