Charts 3/30/10

March 30th, 2010 • 1 comment Charts
Tags: beach house, black rebel motorcycle club, broken bells, frightened rabbit, Joanna Newsom, rogue wave, seabear, shout out louds, Spoon, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Charts for 3/23/10

March 22nd, 2010 • Charts
Tags: beach house, black rebel motorcycle club, broken bells, frightened rabbit, Joanna Newsom, rogue wave, seabear, shout out louds, Spoon, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

WRBC New Rock Charts and Adds, 3/9/10

March 10th, 2010 • 1 comment Charts
Tags: beach house, hot chip, Joanna Newsom, johnny cash, len price, magnetic fields, ruby suns, shout out louds, Spoon, surfer blood

CHARTS and ADDS 3/2/10

March 3rd, 2010 • 1 comment Charts
Tags: beach house, charlotte gainsbourg, hot chip, johnny cash, magnetic fields, retribution gospel choir, ruby suns, shout out louds, Spoon, surfer blood

Music Video Log 2/10/10

February 10th, 2010 • Commentary, Video
Tags: beach house, jonsi, MTV, Music Television, Music Video, The Very Best, Toro Y Moi

This week was a huge step back for those of us who grew up with Music Television (MTV). The cable channel originally set up to feature predominantly music based programming, specifically music videos officially dropped the subtext of “Music Television” from their now-famous logo.

Granted, I personally only had a few years of ‘real’ MTV before the network was, in my opinion corrupted by the influences of reality TV, notably The Real World and Road Rules, which ultimately are, at this point, among the most influential shows of our time, leaving us a legacy of ratings hits ranging from Survivor to The Mole and even the insufferable Jersey Shore that is apparently the new craze on MTV itself.

Fortunately for the next generation of music fans, which I might as well be a part of as well, online video sites, such as YouTube and Vimeo are constantly being flooded with music videos from artists of all levels of fame and genres. These videos are available for free and whenever I want them, so, I am willing to see music television go the way of the Dodo, just as long as the record labels do not stop producing this subgenre of film of which I have much affinity.

There are always new and different videos being released on the Internet, here is a sampling of a few of my most recent favorites.

Jonsi – Go Do

The Icelandic singer (of Sigur Ros) is putting out a solo album (Go), this is the video from the first single, Go Do

The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa

The interplay between Esau Mwamwaya and Ezra Koenig (of Vampire Weekend) in this video is hysterical.

Toro y Moi – Blessa

For the video for the first single from his new album, Causers of This, Toro y Moi (Chaz Bundick), buzz artist of the moment, creates a dream-like, lap dissolve heavy recreation of a good old fashioned house party. Pay attention to what he is drinking from.

Beach House – Silver Soul

The Baltimore duo presents a rather fantastic hula hoop user in sepia with an intricate use of speed augmentation and fantastic cinematography, very befitting of the song

Read more »

WRBC Charts 2/9/10

February 7th, 2010 • Charts
Tags: beach house, eels, hot chip, Jeff the Brotherhood, Owen Pallett, retribution gospel choir, Spoon, tegan and sara, vampire weekend, Watson Twins

Album Review: Teen Dream by Beach House

January 21st, 2010 • 1 comment Album Review, Rock
Tags: Baltimore, beach house, Dream Pop, Teen Dream

To many, Baltimore, the city on the bay, may seem like a decidedly unlikely source for some of the most innovative music being produced currently in the United States. Quietly tucked between New York and Washington, the home of the Orioles has managed to produce numerous bands that represent a myriad of genres.

I think perhaps most surprising is that the still-fledgling genre of dream pop has managed to flourish on the mean streets of Baltimore of all places. Animal Collective is no doubt the biggest name to grow out of this tradition, but before you empty your crab bucket, take notice of the increasingly popular duo, Beach House, which also lives and works out of Maryland.

Their third album, Teen Dream, is slated to be released by SUB POP on January 26, 2010, but has been floating on the internet for several weeks. The band’s first major label release, Teen Dream is less ambient when compared to their two previous LPs, Devotion (2008) and their Self-Titled debut album (2006).

The elements that band members Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally draw upon in the production of Teen Dream are not all specific to the dream pop mantra. I am particularly fond of the use of percussion, which is a fairly significant shift in their music. This album is by no means dance music, but there is a decidedly potent rhythm that would lead me to believe that if I were to see a live show of theirs I would be raving about it for weeks and weeks after the fact. Read more »

Upcoming Album Release Dates of Note

January 1st, 2010 • News, Release Calendar
Tags: album release, beach house, calendar, dr. dre, eels, erykah badu, field music, final fantasy, groove armada, hot chip, jonsi, Lil Wayne, lupe fiasco, ok go, seabear, Spoon, the whigs, the white stripes, three 6 mafia, vampire weekend, wyclef jean, xiu xiu, Yeasayer

It takes a few weeks following the holiday season for album releases to really pick up, but by the time we have all reconvened in Lewiston, Maine and throughout the up coming weeks and months there are a few releases to look out for. Here is a list of some that I am particularly excited about.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy) — Heartland

OK Go — Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

Vampire Weekend — Contra

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Eels — End Times

Spoon — Transference

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Beach House — Teen Dream

Los Campesinos! — Romance is Boring

Three 6 Mafia — Laws of Power Read more »