gigawave

Will update soon, but for now enjoy your Fourth of July, I will enjoy my birthday on the 5th, and you can check out my fucking dance-a-licious muxtape:

http://solipsized.muxtape.com

I only post this because I just realized who is opening for !!! (chkchkchk) at the Rex Theatre–Italian Ice. Hell, I wanted to see !!! pretty badly in the first place, but little did I know that local Pittsburgh “awesome”, Paul Quattrone, (better known for his Modey Lemon activities) had toured with them as a fill-in drummer earlier this year and will be taking up the position again for the July 22nd date. I got to see the dude in action last night at the Modey Lemon show in Lawrence, so I will have some stuff on that next week (safe to say it was awe-inspiring). For more info on how Paul keeps himself busy, check out Manny’s in-depth CP article:

Local drummer Paul Quattrone joins Brooklyn dance-rockers !!!

I don’t have any Italian Ice audio files, but I did get to see them play last fall, and it’s a pretty crazy show. Here’s some Midnite Snake (watch out) in the meantime:

Midnite Snake - Bigfoot 69

Take the Poll

NPR has put up a diverse poll on their website which ends at midnight, July 6th. Go vote for your top five albums of the year. Here’s what I voted for:

• The Dodos

• Santogold
• MGMT
• Hot Chip
• DevotchKa

Elephant Shell was a good album too, but in the end Oracular Spectacular was longer and possessed a more varied sound.

sorry the drawing sucks, but the song is winner.

Say Hi - Zero to Love

And you can come push the buttons if you like,
just be gentle, I’m still…
making sure all the functions are all right.
But this new heart of mine goes from zero to love in no time.

For those of you not in Pittsburgh, American Eagle has announced a sweepstakes where five winners receive free tickets, airfare, a 3-night hotel stay, and an opportunity to get backstage and meet some of the bands. Click on the image for more details:

The contest ends July 7th so that leaves you eleven days to enter. This isn’t too bad of a deal, I wouldn’t mind getting a bunch of free CD’s if I was one of the 25 runner ups.
listen to the referential derivative of the aural equation:

The Walkmen - They’re Winning
The Magic Magicians - Bored Ticket Taker

I was watching coverage of this on BBC, unfortunately I couldn’t find the original televised report but here’s a good link:

Glastonbury Opens Festival Gates

Via BBC: out of a poll they did from people arriving, they deduced that most festival-goers are not here to see Jay-Z. Via me: LOL JIGGA MAN R U PATIENT

Kings of Leon - Holy Roller Novocaine

To start off this review, let me implore you guys to pick up the 2-cd version, especially if you were into With Love and Squalor. In addition to the Brain Thrust Mastery songs, the live disc has three WL&S songs –It’s A Hit, The Great Escape, and Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt, which are different from the “under the sea” versions. Max Hart can be heard playing the pedal steel and it seems that Chris has gotten better at his harmonies. The acoustic version of Lethal Enforcer strips down the 80’s feel for a swinging western feel which also compliments the lyrics and Keith’s voice rather well. So for those of you bitching about how BTM sounds too different, chew on this. It even includes the banter and Chris picking up a phone call in the middle of Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt. Commissioner Cain can do this and pull it off sketch-comedy style.

NOW, onto the studio recording. What everyone will appreciate is that the album comes with a lyrics booklet this time. Not that they need it–Keith’s voice is stronger and confident, less reliant on pop punk stylings that were rising circa Safety Fun & Learning (released in 2002). Before I go into what I thought about the songs, I want to point out that the underground success of WL&S allowed the band for more experimentation in the studio. This was their time to take what they had been crafting on the road and give it more than just the drums/bass/guitar formula. There’s the buzzing synth on Ghouls to give life to a one-line chorus and the moody saxophone on That’s What Counts to conclude the album, but the song that really shines because of the instrumental diversity is After Hours. Organ, piano, tiny bells, crescendoing church bell–these are all sonic flourishes that make After Hours a rich and uplifting anthem.

LISTEN: After Hours

edit: I initially did not talk very much about the first track, Ghouls (this one is in fact Ethan Fogus’s favorite song), because the message is very clear in the composition of the song–this is the stripped down, this is the bare bones, they start out with this and by the time the album ends they have elaborated on the same idea in a different fashion. It reminds me of “The Ghost of You Lingers” but instead of being light and fleeting, Ghouls drags you down with heavy notes and vulnerable lyrics which invite an image of the narrator being stuck in a quicksand relationship. In fact, it reminds me of “We Suck Young Blood” more in terms of evoking a sense of dead weights on you while listening.

The reason why Brain Thrust Mastery has the ability to grow on you is due largely to We Are Scientists’ ability to pick and choose nuggets from different musical periods and integrate them into a style that is reminiscent of their earlier releases, such as the Inaction EP. I love the 80’s nod in Lethal Enforcer with the graceful pizzicato guitar but can also really appreciate the power pop feel of the following song, Impatience. Let’s See It makes me a fool every time I hear the New Order-esque guitar line come in at the bridge of the song; Cain’s fuzzy, loud bass ushers the song along at a groovy pace even though it’s a tad slower than what fans are normally used to from With Love and Squalor. The fuzz bass comes back in by track six, Tonight, but I find the arrangement on that song a little dull and the bass can only do so much to counteract those annoyingly ominous bells. Nevertheless, I noticed that We Are Scientists implemented what I think is a contrasting verse-chorus format throughout Tonight (and especially towards the end).

Spoken For is the softest track on album, but also contains the strongest transition of the album. I’m not sure how I feel about the almost-metal breakdown; it’s quite pronounced and almost ruins the song for me. Altered Beast takes it back up a notch though. This is Ethan Fogus’s favorite least favorite (to paraphrase “cookie cutter arrangement reminiscent of SF&L“) song and the drums really reiterate the pounding bass but could use a little less smashing on the crash cymbal if it’s not going to be as ferocious asChick Lit. Speaking of which, wow, what a ridiculous cock rock feel to this tune. Remember Ram It Home? Chick Lit is all that, add clapping, muffled crowd shouts, flaring guitars and a funky bass that makes a pronounced appearance right before the chorus at the end the song. Well, I still like Ram It Home better, but seeing as Chick Lit is full of surreptitious death threats, I can’t be surprised if it varies from the hormone-ranging aesthetics of Ram it Home.

LISTEN: Chick Lit

Dinosaurs is a bit acoustically constrained, but I do like the part where Keith sings that “Soon it will come and pass us by/The shifting tones and the rising tide/We’ll learn to swim or learn to die/Be cast in stone or cast aside.” He weaves poetic elements to a this-or-that logic throughout the album which I really appreciate. The last track, That’s What Counts, initially put me off because I heard it and thought, “Wtf? R&B? uhhhh…” Nevertheless, the lilting vocals can’t help but make me want to sing along. Unfortunately I won’t be able to sing along to these live because I’ll be in Kansas City while they play Pittsburgh on August 11th (@ Diesel w/ Oxford Collapse), but if We Are Scientists keep up their fastidious pace I’m sure that I’ll see them again soon.

BUYING:

I wouldn’t buy the sketchy two disc versions off of Amazon that are under 20 bucks…will have more information up about the this. Insound.com pretty much has the best deal on the album itself at $12.99.

Recordbar:

• July 5th - THE MAI SHI - 21+

• July 8th - Kaiser Cartel - 21+
• July 14th - SSION w/ GRAVY TRAIN!!!! - all ages
• August 4th - The Octopus Project - 18+

Jackpot Saloon:

• July 7th - Kaiser Cartel - 18+

• August 8th - Thao Nguyen w/ the Get Down Stay Down - 18+
• September 8th - Coat Party w/ Boo & Boo Too - 18+

  other shit:
  6-28 // the republic tigers // crosstown station
  7-2 // the bravery // kc power & light district
  7-8 // mewithoutyou // the bottleneck
  7-28 // harry & the potters w/ math the band // the granada
  7-30 // gnarls barkley w/ the black keys // city market

It’s not a secret that I am a huge fan of We Are Scientists. Not only are they one of the most congenial bands I’ve had the pleasure to meet, they are also great at putting on a sincerely amusing performance. I have a Brain Thrust Mastery review in the works, so you can hear what I have to say about the new album soon. In the meantime, check out these icons I made. I’m running out of trial time on my CS3, so I figured I should take advantage of these last days and what better way than making graphics with gorgeous textures?

all icons are free to use but please link back here if you distribute them

No post would be complete without some tunes, so here are some b-sides & oldies:

We Are Scientists - This Means War
We Are Scientists - History Repeats
We Are Scientists - Secret Handshake
We Are Scientists - Bomb Inside the Bomb