Living Things – “Oxygen”
And in other movie music news…St. Louis garage rockers Living Things are about to appear as one of their hero bands, The Ramones in the upcoming film, The Runaway – the biopic about the groundbreaking 70’s all-girl hard rock group led by Joan Jett. Kristen Stewart plays Jett, with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon as the band’s “Svengali” Kim Fowley.
Monsters of Folk, “Say Please”
Monsters of Folk – comprised of Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and singer/songwriter M.Ward – will be releasing their first collaborative album on September 22nd. Although these critically acclaimed artists have shared the stage before, this album marks their first recorded output as a band.
Tickets are on sale for the supergroup’s Bay Area performance on October 17 at The Fox Theater in Oakland. Though I’m not sure how smart it was to schedule a performance during The Treasure Island Festival.
The first in a series of five clips from the upcoming Yo La Tengo album, Popular Songs, “Here to Fall” kicks off director John McSwain’s visual accompaniment to the diverse and arresting sounds of YLT’s new album which is set to drop September 8th. Pre-order the album here.
Yo La Tengo will be playing San Francisco’s Treasure Island Festival on October 18.
.
I’ve been long overdue for a mixtape. This is one I’ve been collecting for a while – pulling tracks here and there from the greater garage rock movement that’s exploding right now in San Francisco. This playlist is a subset of that sound that I’m really digging right now….lo-fi, fuzzed out rock with a distinct punk edge and surf riff. Or Surf Punk for short. Yeah, I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of flack for that label but what the hell. There’s a nice south swell in town, and if I’m packing up my long board and wetsuit to go surfing, you can bet this is the mix I’ll be listening to.
Enjoy a taste of San Francisco.
the OCMD Mixtape: SF Surf Punk
Had a great time tonight mingling with like-minded music geeks at the launch party for the new Sonos Controller 200. What is Sonos, you ask? Simply it’s the best digital music management system out there. It gives you the power to access all of your music in your house anywhere, anytime. And I’m not just talking about your digital music library. The system comes with a host of embedded services like Rhapsody, Last.fm, Pandora, Internet Radio, Sirius/XM…it’s the perfect music tool for those afflicted with OCMD.
The original Sonos Controller was a bit of a beast. So the Sonos Controller 200 (CR200) is a definite form factor improvement, and who doesn’t like that? It’s palm sized and touch screen operated, just like an iPhone or iTouch. The company also has a free app for those devices that gives you essentially the same functionality, but that’s a little personal for everyday public consumption. So the controller still serves as a necessary component to the system and I will be happily swapping out the 100 for the 200 in my home.
The Blacks bowled me over when I stumbled across them at SXSW a couple of years ago. The San Fran/NYC based band has one of the most raw, energetic live shows I’ve ever seen. Featuring guitar (Luisa Black), drums (Gavin Black) and wild-eyed tambourine player JDK Blacker, their sound has been described as the love child of Karen O. and The Jesus and Mary Chain. They flat out rock. And tambourine man JDK Blacker is a sight to behold. He plays like he’s exorcizing demons and it’s absolutely spellbinding.
In a bittersweet moment last week, The Blacks released their third and final album, Tiger Songs, on Tricycle Records. Turns out the band is calling it quits after two and a half years. Death by tambourine, they reported. They’re breaking up because tambourine man JDK Blacker is quitting and the band wouldn’t be the same without him. True that.
Buy Tiger Songs now through iTunes.
Tuesday night, San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop played host to quite a line up of music, featuring our very own Girls and Brooklyn’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I was there primarily for Girls and was pleased to see them pack the house. I’ve been smitten with this band for a while, (especially their drummer – he rocks!) so it’s nice to see them get their due recognition.
But I must admit I was pleasantly surprised with the Brooklyn hipster quintet with the annoying name, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I hate even typing it and I could never quite make it through the entire album. Listening to it always felt like a game of name that 80s band. While I still stand by my opinion that their sound is a bit redundant, they definitely played a powerful and most enjoyable set.
Whew, I’ve been wanting to get this post up for about 3 weeks now, but you know how it goes – life prevails and hobbies sometimes take a back seat. Well, here it is. My mid-year Best Albums of 2009…so far. Out of all the music I’ve sorted through thus far this year, these are the albums that bubbled to the top, the ones I happily came back to again and again. They may not all be Pitchfork approved (or even rated for that matter), but they worked for me.
I’m not going to go through the diligence of ranking them, so I’ve listed them in alphabetical order. I’ll save the ranking exercise for the end of year round up. Until then, I hope you find some new music to enjoy!
Band of Skulls
Baby Darlin Doll Face Honey
“Death by Diamonds and Pearls”
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Why There Are Mountains
“And The Hazy Sea”
Dan Auerbach
Keep It Hid
“The Prowl”
Fever Ray
Fever Ray
“If I Had A Heart”
Foreign Born
Person to Person
“Vacationing People”
Grizzly Bear
Veckatimest
“Ready Able”
J. Tillman
Vacilando Territory Blues
“First Born”
Leopold and His Fiction
Ain’t No Surprise
“Broke”
Papercuts
You Can Have What You Want
“Future Primitive”
Speck Mountain
Some Sweet Relief
“I Feel Eternal”
Shadows on a River
Shadows on a River
“In Business”
The Veils
Sun Gangs
“The Letter”
White Rabbits
It’s Frightening
“The Salesman”
Obits‘ video for “Pine On” off their 2009 Sub Pop release “I Blame You”. Love the song, love this video!
the OCMD 