You Should Know
As your humble blogmaster here at Captain Obvious, I'm pleased and honored to announce that we've been nominated as Blogger Of The Week over at BreakThruRadio.com, a great source for independent music with a daily listening audience of over 1,000,000 listeners. This week we'll be contributing articles to BTR. A little more info on BreakThruRadio:
"BTR is the World's Source for the Best Independent Music on the Internet. Our motto, "Music for music lovers," perfectly reflects our eclectic playlists with music ranging from death metal to dance party mixes and everything in between. All the music we play is from independent and unsigned artists; music you could never dream of finding on commercial radio. BTR offers listeners instant, on demand access to exclusive content from all over the world. Thanks to the Internet, BTR has gained strong listenership in over a dozen countries. With our unique on-demand musical programming and focus on the best in new independent music, its no surprise BTR has garnered over 1,000,000 listeners daily, the majority of which are 18-24 years old.
Unlike other radio stations, BTR offers on-demand programming; a first in Internet radio. Listeners can cater to their specific musical preferences, and at the same time discover the best independent and unsigned artists from across the world. BTR is constantly evolving, and 2007 saw the creation of a unique BTR Facebook application, making it possible for Facebook users to install a miniature version of BTR's unique media player upon their personal pages. BreakThru Radio services are available through virtually all of the major carrier networks in the U.S., including Nextel/Sprint, Cingular, Verizon, Alltel and T-Mobile."
5.11.2008
BreakThruRadio.com Blogger Of The Week!
The Notwist: The Devil, You + Me (2008)
New Wax
While The Notwist's 6-year break between 2002's Neon Golden and their newest release The Devil, You + Me may not rival reclusive filmmaker Terrence Malick's 20-year break between Days Of Heaven and The Thin Red Line, it's still an extended period of time considering how frequently indie bands churn out albums. Perhaps the German band's disappearing act stemmed from a fear of following up Neon Golden, which has only grown in stature over the years and is credited as helping rewrite the rules of indie-electro music. While The Devil, You + Me isn't shattering any new ground, it does sound like a moodier extension of Neon Golden. Opening track "Good Lies" is astounding. Lead singer Markus Acher's vocals loom under a blanket of crackling distortion that bottoms out into a lone acoustic guitar strum. Acher repeats the line "Let's just imitate the real until we find a better one," and the track once again builds into a perfect union of instrumentation and deft programming. Other moments on the album range from the more glitchy and beat-heavy "Alphabet" to the acoustic-folk "Gloomy Planets." All in all, The Devil, You + Me is a reminder of just how good this band was, is, and will be, regardless of how little they change. -- Capt. Obvious
Listen:
MP3: The Notwist - Good Lies
MP3: The Notwist - Gloomy Planets
5.10.2008
Dignan
You Should Know
Dignan hails from McAllen, Texas, a town whose population is 95% Hispanic. With an eclectic list of influences that looks North to Canadian bands such as Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire, the band incorporates a wide variety of instruments that include xylophone, accordion, and trombone. The songs on the band's 2007 EP The Guest range in length from 4 to 8 minutes and exhibit a mishmash of sounds. With atmospheric guitars fit for a post rock band providing an intriguing backdrop, lead singer Andy Pena belts out the melodies while bandmate Heidi Plueger provides airy backup vocals on the epic "Officer," an 8-minute opus that embodies both the soft and the loud. Crawling along at the deliberate pace of a Jim Jarmusch film, Dignan's songs are slow-moving yet filled with subtle nuance. The EP's title track opens with a clean electric guitar riff that gives way to slow-motion instrumentation and Pena's smooth vocals, but the chorus builds both instrumentally and into Pena's half-scream. For fans of songs that start off slow but build, you definitely want to check this band out. -- Capt. Obvious
Listen:
MP3: Dignan- They're Outnumbered
MP3: Dignan - The Guest
5.08.2008
5.07.2008
No Age: Nouns (2008)
New Wax
No Age is guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/singer Dean Spunt. Associated with the Los Angeles vegan grocery store/all-ages punk venue The Smell and building off the buzz of Weirdo Rippers (essentially a compilation of their EP's), the band makes their Sub Pop debut with this year's Nouns. The band's music has been described as noise rock and art punk, and fresh off a 9.2 rating from pitchfork, No Age is all the rage. Is the hype a little overblown? Probably. Is the band's new album Nouns any good. Absolutely. No Age's songs are painted with a thick veneer of feedback, and songs like "Teenage Creeps" are reminiscent of Bleach-era Nirvana, while other moments recall Superchunk. Most of all, No Age is noisy. With 12 tracks that clock in at a mere 30 minutes, Nouns is a little more riff driven and catchier than Weirdo Rippers, which I honestly had a hard time digesting, but these songs are still plenty raw. Nouns proves in all its fuzz and sloppiness that great music sometimes thrives in its most minimalistic form. -- Capt. Obvious
Listen:
MP3: No Age - Nouns
MP3: No Age - Teen Creeps
Iron Man (2008)
Celluloid
I was never into comic books as a kid, but it's hard not to appreciate the escapism of a good superhero flick. While I wouldn't call John Favreau's (yes, that guy from Swingers) Iron Man the pinnacle of the genre (I'll reserve that title for Batman Begins), the film's script has enough wit to please a thinking crowd while also catering to the mindless drones out there merely interested in seeing shit blow up. I do understand that the two are not mutually exclusive and some people like to think and watch shit blow up. The unequivocal highlight of Iron Man is Robert Downey Jr., and his performance as Tony Stark, a womanizing multi-billionaire weapons tycoon who gets abducted by terrorists and uses his ingenuity to escape, is grade-A. While the accomplished actor/former drug addict probably wouldn't come to mind as someone who would play a superhero, he absolutely nails the role and adds his much needed sardonic comedic flair. Downey Jr. is accompanied by an impressive cast of supporters that includes Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges. While I thought the soundtrack was a bit generic and cheesy, scenes like the retractable stripper pole scene on Tony Stark's private jet almost make that misstep forgivable. Overall Iron Man is a flawed yet highly entertaining blockbuster in a year that hasn't offered much in the way of movies so far. -- Capt. Obvious
Verdict:
5.01.2008
The New Frontiers: Mending (2008)
New Wax
I've been hankering for a good alt. country album lately. I found it. Once known as Stellamaris, Dallas band The New Frontiers have been drawing hefty comparisons to Wilco, and while these comparisons are utterly ridiculous (it's pretty much the standard comparison for any young alt. country band the same way anything folksy is compared to Nick Drake), I am very impressed with the band's new album Mending. The strength in The New Frontiers approach is that they don't try too hard. This is no-quirks, unpretentious songwriting that focuses fully on the integrity of the song. Mending opens with "Black Lungs," which sounds like a brit-rock influenced take on Ryan Adams while exhibiting the kind of measured restraint Adams too often disregards. Lead singer Nathan Pettijohn's vocals are emotive yet never overdone, and his backing band is equally pitch-perfect. There truly isn't a bad decision or wasted moment on Mending, which is deliberate in its pacing yet never becomes a snooze fest. "The Day You Fell Apart" opens with sparse organ that gives way to acoustic strumming and silky vocals. It's in subtle moments like the slide-guitar bridge between verses that The New Frontiers really steal your heart and Mending reveals its true brilliance. This is a frighteningly mature album from such a young band. Absolutely top-notch material. -- Capt. Obvious
Listen:
MP3: The New Frontiers - Black Lungs
MP3: The New Frontiers - The Day You Fell Apart
