July « 2009 « Knox Road

In Case You Missed It: Week in Review

This was a VERY busy week for us. So I guess if you don’t like to read I’d understand if you missed it. But that’s one sorry excuse. A better one would be “Ugh, I couldn’t get to all of Knox Road this week because I printed and analyzed every post to get […]

Lee

Video for Wheat’s “Changes Is”

I don’t have much to say about this video, except that I like it. A lot. It’s a mix of retro/play around on your digital camera/have a lot of fun/modern art all together in one. Oh and I love the “party”. Impossible not to smile.

“Changes Is” is off of Wheat’s new album White Ink […]

Jon

Flight of the Conchords is still freaky, not Australian

New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-parody duo, Flight of the Conchords, have just released the art and track list for their second album, I Told you I was Freaky, which is set to come out October 20. It’s made up predominately of songs from the second season of the show, which is pretty […]

Lee

[Keep an eye on…] Collider

San Fransisco’s Collider released their debut album Down In Saturines at the beginning of the year and have since been working on promotion for their garagey pop style of music. To get a feel for how they like to describe themselves and their sound, check out their influences section on MySpace:

Named after […]

Jamie

Why is the new Alice In Wonderland trailer not exciting?

Look, I love Tim Burton. And Johnny Depp. I’m not going to lie to you guys, I’m on the boat with all those Hot Topic teens to Burton/Depp island full of colorful, twisted landscapes and friendly, scissor-handed creatures. So when I finally got a chance to watch the trailer to the duo’s […]

Lee

Bear Hands @ Siren

BearHands01 Bear Hands was a pleasant surprise – musically. On stage they were nothing special, but certainly sounded nice. They were kind of funny to look at, as the lead guitarist, who actually added the necessary atmosphere to fill out the sound and bring together some of the dreamy, ambient parts of the songs, was soooo disinterested. I got bored watching him act bored. So it goes, I guess.

But the bashing stops there, because I enjoyed what I heard. And it’s hard to rag on a band when the music sounds good. They were one of the few performers at Siren to sound cohesive enough on stage where I could actually make out the subtleties of the arrangements and structure. It’s not like Bear Hands are treading new territory here – they sounded fairly standard for a pop/rock group, but they did layer their sound very nicely and played well off of each other. Definitely good chemistry, which was a plus, helping to offset the lack of a “wow” factor. After Siren it’s easy to forget that you don’t (…necessarily) need to induce mosh pits or to crowd surf on bass drums to be heard.

Bear Hands -“Bad Blood” [MP3]

More photos after the jump. (this is the last of our Siren reviews – hope you enjoyed ’em)

Continue reading Bear Hands @ Siren →

Lee

Tiny Masters of Today @ Siren

TinyMastersofToday01

I really hate doing this to such young artists. And as much as I try to avoid excuses when reviewing music, it’s just way too difficult to throw out the age factor with Brooklyn’s Tiny Masters of Today. Because it was SO unavoidable at Siren. For those who are unaware, Tiny Masters of Today are, in actuality, tiny. Ivan is a mere 15 and his sister Ada is 13. And that’s your whole band right there – the two of them, making punk rock and taking the world David Bowie by storm.

While they may talk like punk rockers, they certainly don’t walk like punk rockers. There’s something to be said about watching music that has received legitimate press and thinking you accidentally walked in on the Napoleon Dynamite sequel. Or maybe prequel. Because they’re like, younger.

The siblings’ stage presence was… GOSH they’re so YOUNG. I don’t think I ever saw Ivan’s face for more than 10 seconds. His hair was draped over it the entire time. But not in the Monotonix way. More so in the way that kid in the corner stares creepily at everyone’s feet. Yeah, kinda like that. Ada was cute… I guess. She earnestly sang um, expressed vocals, into the mic. I’m not really against their recorded music either – some of it sounds really good. Especially considering age and all. (Have I mentioned their age yet? No?) They just have a lot of growing up to do on stage. I’m willing to give them a couple years to develop and then see what they’ve got.

More photos after the jump.

Continue reading Tiny Masters of Today @ Siren →

Jamie

[MP3] New Yo La Tengo: “Here To Fall”

The highly anticipated twelfth full-length album, Popular Songs, from New Jersey’s own Yo La Tengo is due out September 8, but that’s not stopping tracks from being thrown to the masses by their label, Matador. The second released single, “Here To Fall,” is the opener to the album and it’s pretty solid. Alongside […]

Lee

A Place To Bury Strangers @ Siren

APlaceToBuryStrangers01

Thus begins my string of negative reviews. We weren’t going to be pleased by all of these shows – so I might as well just let you know from the start: I did not like A Place To Bury Strangers. If you’re one of those folks who hate on people disagreeing with you and that statement goes against everything you stand for, then bring it on. I like to hear another side and I accept that I may catch some flak for this. But be forewarned, if you choose the other side, the dark side (I’m such a hypocrite), do offer an explanation and analysis. Because what I heard of APTBS at Coney Island on Saturday was messy, and their stage presence was underwhelming at best, leaving the show pretty darn forgetful.

Mindfully thinking, they did play when the sun was ablaze, yet summertime is no time to lose your grip on an outdoors show. A Place To Bury Strangers have been playing New York City for quite some time now (4-5 years?), so they must have something in their live shows that wasn’t happening at Siren. Or maybe they don’t, and that’s why it’s taken them so long to “break out” to people outside the indie mecca of NYC. I don’t know. Musically, the bass was way too loud and the guys just sang low voiced gurgles with a bunch of background clutter, which I guess was supposedly an accurate portrayal of “psychedelica” to some people. If by psychedelica you mean “absent”, then I wholeheartedly agree. Sadly, that can be taken literally too: I actually saw several individuals leave during their first couple songs (though, that isn’t entirely fair – even more people – including me – left upon first listen to Future of the Left’s show. Oh god. Good thing I’m not reviewing them, eh? You can read Jamie’s take on that one.)

More photos after the jump.

Continue reading A Place To Bury Strangers @ Siren →

Lee

Gets the Girl. Because music is involved, of course.

Gets the Girl, a duo based in NY, is a bold band name in these days of quippy hipster critique, putting their credibility on the edge a bit too early. But I applaud the sincerity, as it’s truly an accurate portrayal of what the guys are aiming for. Per their MySpace:

The music […]