Tobias’ Neighborhood

This is the latest series in my EPs reviews. I like doing these because I don't think they take that long to listen to these four or five songs. You get the gist of the band, but unfortunately, it's probably not as detailed and explored as reviewing albums.

Also, I am back on reviewing music as I have stopped going out to see live bands. I am still not accepting new music as I still have to clear out what I've already been sent/requested. Apologies to any promises that I may have made.

SARAH ELIZABETH FOSTER
sarahelizabethfoster.com ♥ myspace

Sarah Elizabeth Foster's EP, Gardening From the Ground Up Part 1 from Studio Sarah Records, is the first submission I've received for a 2010 release. Generally around this time, I get a ton of Christmas music offers (which, hey, I will be doing a roundup next week!).

Foster actually has a degree in music, singing French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and, of course English. While this EP is only in English, it does showcase her classically singing abilities. My favorite song is actually the title-track, "Gardening From the Ground Up". There's something about this love song, from rain drops to the up-beat jazzy tempo, that I really like. This is in contrast to the opening song, "Wake Up", for a song that's about waking up, it sounds like "take it easy" evening song.

While people will automatically associate Foster to 60s girl singers, I think her vocal styles, would actually lends itself really well to modern indiepop music. I'm certainly interested in hearing what part two sounds like. If you live in New York, Foster will be playing tomorrow, December 4^th at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn.

FERAL CHILDREN
myspace.com/feralchildrenseattle

Feral Children is a "backwoods" band from Seattle, Washington. Their self-titled EP was a free released on Sarathan Records, while their forth-coming album, Brand New Blood, will be available digitally December 8^th, while a physical release on January 19^th, 2010.

As their name suggest, their music seems, I don't know, wild. Like "grizzly bear", "panda bear, "deerhunter" and "animal collective" wild, and this isn't surprising, considering Scott Colburn (Animal Collective's Feels producer) is their producer on the Feral Children album. Compared to previous bands I mentioned, Feral Children seems more melodic and less experimental. I'm not sure who produced their EP (I rarely get liner notes for digital submissions), but they certainly have that collective-like influence.

I did give the EP a few listens, and not entirely impressed with the singer (is it Bill Cole?). His vocals is very rough, voice cracking comes to mind on tracks like "Saint". While this may possibly be the greatest song done live, listening to it on headphones made me cringe.

Who knows, maybe their album will be much better than the self-titled EP. It is, after all, their first release, I'm sure they'll improve over time. Information on the free downloads, head over to Sarathan Records.

MOJORISING
mojorisingband.com ♥ myspace

I keep mis-reading this band as Major/ising, so I'm not sure if other people might have the same problem reading the name (it's OK people misread W♥M as "we love music" all the time...)

Mojorising recently moved from Los Angeles from Australia. So prices for their EP at $12 on the merch page might seem high, until you realize it's in AUS dollars.

My impression is that this duo makes some really funky music, but with classic rock attitudes (think Jamiroquai). The funk soul translate well on a few of their songs, "She Woke Up To Me" and "Sooth Me And Use Me". The later is very dancey, I suspect it will play well to a live audience. Incidentally if you are interested in hearing the first song, it's available as a free download.

The band is playing a few dates in California:

Dec 20 2009 THE MINT Los Angeles
Jan 10 2010 EL CID Los Angeles

SEA OF BEES
seaofbees.com ♥ myspace

Lara dismissed Julie Baenziger, aka Sea of Bees, as being too "CocoRosie/Joanna Newsom", and really - what's wrong with that ? As expected, Baenziger's vocal style is that of a small cute child. And also cute is the title of the EP, called Bee Eee Pee. This is a collection of four songs and one intermission song.

All of the songs are pretty minimalistic, usually with just acoustic and Baenziger singing. The stand-out track for me is "Willis", because it  does feature a melodic backing music (vs just acoustic alone). Also, the inclusion of the random intro is nice - it explained that this particular recording happens to be the third take.

Julie is doing some winter dates:

Dec 4 2009 Fox & Goose Sacramento, California
Dec 15 2009 Sacramento, California
Jan 26 2010 Matadero Huesca, Huesca
Jan 30 2010 Tanned Tin Festival Castelo, Castellón
Feb 10 2010 TBA w/ Mountain Man, Chelsea Wolfe and Dead Western Sacramento, California

Bee Eee Pee is out now on Bot Bot Records/Digisquad Records, you can find it on iTunes and Amazon.

PS, That's all I can manage today. Check out Ryan as he's retweeting on twitter/weheartmusic. You can see some of the tweets on the right-side of this page. The account is kept active by live blogging by myself, Ceji, and Ryan. Not just a robot account!

This is The Books' last date on their national tour, so they seem very comfortable being on stage. Since this was the Cedar Cultural Center, the audience consists of an older "NPR"-type of crowd. This was one of the most full show I've seen at the Cedar.

Baby Dee ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09)

Opening up for them was Baby Dee (official/myspace), an outrageous soloist cabaret that sings showtunes. Her flamboyant performance style lends itself to not-so-serious songs like "Big Titty Bee Girl (from Dino Town)". She spent most of her set on the piano, before heading over to the ominous harp for two songs. Apparently, this was just a small taste of what's to come, as she's heading back to the Cedar on April 19^th, 2010.

Before her last song, she introduced The Books by telling this joke about next to the dog, a man's best friend is a book. Next because inside a dog, it's too hard to read.

The Books set up two chairs and their movie projector at 9 o'clock. Remember, this is the Cedar, their shows starts early and ends early (no later than 10:30pm). Which its audience is an older (and probably gainfully employed crowd), so they like early shows.

So, back to the Books, they provided the live soundtrack to their movies. Everything is in sync, no technical problems at all. They even went so far as having a one-minute intermission song as they tune up their instruments. The intermission song features anagrams of the word "Immediate". Everything is calculated.

I find that trying to watch the movie and watching Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong was somewhat distracting. I think they prefer you watch the screen, because watching the duo play isn't exactly that exciting.

The Books ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (12/01/09)

Most of their songs are instrumentals, usually with samples, so the few songs that they actually sing on (like "Take Time"), I thought those stood out. The other thing about The Books is that they seem to find inspiration in anything and everything. For instance, their song "Smells Like Content" is basically 10 hours of audio recording from Nick's older brother. Their most interesting song, "Cold Freezing Night", are audio loops from Talkboy tape recordings that they found at thrift stores.

As for the encores, which incidentally is predetermined because of the movies that is associated with the songs, they did two songs. The first is a Nick Drake cover "Cello Song", which Paul explained is their only cover they do. It was for the benefit of the Red Hot organization for Aids awareness. If you recall, I've previously endorsed the organization by buying many of their music releases. Their final song is "An Owl With Knees" from their 2005 album, Lost and Safe.

PS, This is my final concert for 2009 (I hibernate during the winter), I would like to thank everybody for offering shows for me to review. I will be able to accept assignments in March-ish 2010, and/or whenever it stops snowing.

Trying to find quality music in today’s market is similar to trying to find real food at an all-you-can-eat buffet:  plenty to choose from but curiously homogenous, like the tapioca is the same color and consistency as the blue cheese dressing.  HOT bands scrounge for retro hooks that they can polish up with a slick coating of synth, while the kids eagerly line up, mouths open.  Nobody really cares that band Y is basically the same as last year’s band X, right down to the ethnic bass player.  It’s all about excess and intrigue: do it big or do it in a way that hasn’t been done before (or do it in a way that hides the fact that it’s been done before).  Naturally, this is any combination of MGMT, Dirty Projectors, Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, et al (think Pitchfork “seal of approval”); or, closer to home, electro-rock wunderkinds Solid Gold (who cried about their lack of fame like little bitches).  Amidst the fleeting charm, occasionally one stumbles across a band that feels new, despite an adherence to classic formulas.  These bands may value tradition over innovation, but boy do they smell like fresh leafy greens. Even if you’ve never heard of them.

Minneapolis duo Bella Ruse self-classify their sound as “indie folk jazz,” but when Joseph Barker plugs in his electric, as on opener “Push On,” the result doesn’t quite fit the categorization.  The sparse, moody guitar and Kay Gillette’s intimate vocals would be as appropriate for a sparse, moody Jim Jarmusch film as for a smoke-filled jazz club.  While “Push On” is Bella Ruse’s standout track, the rest of the EP is quietly pleasing.  “J’ai Presque Peur” is a smooth Pinot Noir toast to Edith Piaf and “Heart of Everyone” jangles along nicely.  When Norah Jones released her debut, I remember being underwhelmed at first, certain that her foray into “jazz” was one clarinet short of Lite FM.  However, after a few listens, I warmed up a bit, mostly because beneath the soccer mom ear-bait, I could detect the slightest shade of melancholy, and this interested me.  Bella Ruse is interesting in a comparable way (they had me at “kind of sad”).  Gillette’s voice calms rather than excites and sure, “Hold Me Close” would probably excite a Meg Ryan character (when she realizes that the Tom Hanks character is The One*); still, revisit “Push On” and convince me there isn’t a little Scout Niblett/Chan Marshall angst beneath the romantic sentiments. 

In his track notes, Barker admits that “Push On” was not an immediate favorite.  In fact, it took Gillette’s persistence and encouragement from fans to convince him that the song had a place on the EP.  Although this baffles me, I also kind of get it.  “Push On” is Bella Ruse’s “Hide and Seek”:  a stand alone track that deviates from an otherwise comfortable style.  There’s a reason why I’ve listened to the song a total of 27 times since I received the EP, except the ‘reason’ is actually a sensation—a slight tingling, milder than goosebumps but equally elusive.  My request for the band is simple: more, please.  More blood, sweat, tears, booze, ultra-lights, magic fairy dust or WHATEVER combination birthed this beauty.  More Pinot Noir, too.

Besides their debut EP, Bella Ruse has also released ‘Twas a Bella Ruse Christmas, a 4-song compilation of Christmas favorites.  Both albums can be purchased digitally at http://bellaruse.bandcamp.com.  For more information visit the band’s official website or e-stalk the pair on Facebook and Myspace.

*Sadly, my Nora Ephron references are dated.  Help.

POLYVINYL
One of Kateg's favorite label, Polyvinyl, is offering a free 16-track album at polyvinylrecords.com/mentalmath. The sampler includes a ton of bands we've previously covered: Architecture In Helsinki, Mates of State, Asobi Seksu, Headlights - just to name a few.

Incidentally, one of those band, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are on tour:

12/02/09 Outland* Springfield, MO
12/06/09 Binghamton University Vestal, NY
12/07/09 Bell House Brooklyn, NY
12/08/09 Summit Columbus, OH
12/09/09 Bishop Bloomington, IN
12/12/09 Outland Ballroom Springfield, MO
01/13/10 Maxine’s Pub Hot Springs, AK
01/23/10 Gallery Sounds Collective Springfield, MO
01/28/10 Schubas EARLY ALL AGES SHOW Chicago, IL
01/29/10 Courtyard Cafe Champaign, IL
01/30/10 Mojo’s Columbia, MO
01/31/10 Jackpot Lawrence, KS

* SSLYBY 10th Anniversary show with Brian Azevedo and Lamentia

We are going to cover the all-ages show at the Bell House in New York.

THE YOUNG PUNX
I got a download sample and press release for this band's latest "double a-side single" for Simple Pleasures/Like Dat. Generally, I am not accepting singles, remixes, or demos, but since I did enjoy their previous single for "Your Music is Killing Me" and "You've Got To" (especially the Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim remix), I did give these two new songs a listen.

What can I say ? I really dig the old-school punk intro, followed by this weird 80s pop singing, then some rasta-thing. Not really sure what to classify the whole thing, except that it's quite dancey. As for "Like Dat", I wasn't keen on this as much. Perhaps it's the rap song is such a stark contrast to the other song... but that's probably why people like Young Punx.

Currently, I think you can only get Simple Pleasures/Like Dat on iTunes. If you want to wait, I think these two songs are going to be available on their upcoming album, Mashpop & Punkstep, due out in 2010.

Anyway, since this is the "free" post, you can head over to their official website under theyoungpunx.com/../mp3, you'll find a ton of free mixes and oddities. My favorite are any remix of "Juice and Gin".

NETFLIX+PS3
Also, some random thoughts: I survived Black Friday. I have never seen so many people out in force at 5am. The parking lot at Wal-Mart was completely full, thankfully we got news alert from other shoppers that we went to Wal-Mart at the last stop. Deals were everywhere, it was the worst at Target (which also reflected people flocking to there). One of the item I bought was the Matrix 10^th Anniversary Bluray, which comes in a nice book-format, for $12.99. It's normally $29.99 suggested retail price. My impulse buy was S.T.A.L.K.E.R. PC game for $5.... it couldn't be helped.

I spent most of my vacation catching up on reading and TV shows. TV shows comes in the form of Hulu and Netflix - via the Netflix Instant Streaming disc for PS3. Compared to Xbox's "Gold Membership" which costs $50 a year, PS3's free streaming is a much better deal.

The Netflix streaming is dependent on your internet connection, I have a semi-decent connection at 5 megabit, so the video starts instantly (less than 30 seconds). Compare this to Playstation's own HD digital rental services, you have to wait at least 30 minutes to start the video, while it download the rest of the file. It's probably fast if you just drove to the video store and rent your movie.

Quality-wise, again depending on the connection, was pretty amazing for me. According to 1up.com, the streaming is in HD (however, I think some titles are only available in standard definition).

My gripe is that most of Netflix's titles are only available on DVD, the digital portion is probably less than 1% of their titles (it is only a guess since their selection is so poor). Also, there's no searching via the streaming disc. You can browse the recently added in various genres, but older titles, you will have to search and add to your "instant queue". Kind of lame, I hope they fix this problem in future updates.

If you don't have a PS3, most newer television and bluray player will come with instant Netflix, so this company is quite smart in getting their hands on all devices. Think about it, if you bought a Bluray player with Netflix, you will probably sign up for an account. Anyway, if you have a PS3 and a Netflix account already, you can request the free Bluray disc for yourself at netflix.com/ps3.

Fans lining up outside ♥ The Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (11/29/09)

I was actually at last night's Triple Rock Social Club to do coverage on Those Darlins. But staying for The King Khan & BBQ Show (the headliner) was a bonus. You see, in 2005, I was sent a live video clip of "I Love You So" by a duo called "BBQ King Khan" (the name that was listed on the video).

So, if you need to catch up on The King Khan & BBQ Show (myspace), they are an interesting modern band with minimalistic setup and plays a weird mixture of 50s doo-wop and Surf music. They've got a ton of fans, who lined up hours before the show.

I got the story between King Khan's on stage antics and Jessi Darlin that prior to showing up in Minneapolis, that they were delayed and detained at the Canadian border (I think they had spent the last few weeks touring throughout Canada). This resulted in two things: "Unnamed peed in his pants" and last night's show to be slightly delayed (the doors weren't opened to the public until 9:30pm).

Some notable details about the stage costumes: BBQ uses his foot to tap the tambourine and Khan has a fox's head over his crotch. They dedicated "I'll Be Loving You" to "all the Orientals in the audience", which probably only account to myself.

Nikki Darlin ♥ The Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (11/29/09)

This was Those Darlins' third Minneapolis show. The first time they played, Kelley admitted that she did not know this city existed until they showed up to play - in which Nikki responded, "now you know Canada exist too". It would seem that Minneapolis might be one of Darlins' favorite city to play now - especially because I recognized some of the same dedicated group of fans that was at the 7th Street show at last night's show.

They started off dirty with "Fun Stix Party" with naughty lyrics like "I'll bring the p****, you bring the d***", followed by "Wild One". They also played fan-favorites like "DUI or Die" and "The Whole Damn Thing" (aka the Chicken Song).

Their cover song, "Shakin' All Over", was their last song on the set... which actually went pretty crazy. See the last half of the song in the video.

Jessi Darlin ♥ The Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (11/29/09)

Overall, I think Those Darlins satiated their existing fans, while perhaps gaining a few new fans. I overheard a few people saying how unexpectedly great their performance was. Their self-titled album is available now at Amazon.

PS, Those Darlins' only male member, drummer Linwood Regensburg tried talking me out of buying their "Gay" V-Neck T-Shirt. He said that he made those V-Necks because someone had suggested it. Apparently they weren't very successful as they only sold a few of those shirts. So, as of this writing, I am one of the six people in the world that owns that V-Neck Darlins shirt.

Subscribe to our show at gcast.com (RSS), more information at podcast.weheartmusic.com.

BRITPOPCAST #5: Q MAGAZINE'S BRITPOP QUIZ

Recorded in the same session as Britpop Top Ten Countdown (which I still consider the best show ever), this super hard quiz was written by some hardcore journalist at Q Magazine, published in a paperback book called Q Quiz Book. The book is free, along with Q Greatest Rock & Pop Miscellany Book, as bonuses for an annual subscription. I got the book via one of their magazine off the stand.

Some questions are dubious, as far as Britpop is concern, like The Verve question... but overall one of the better quiz out there.

The later part of the show, we talk a bit about The Abercrombie Hotel closing down, Pavement, and Empire of the Sun.

Also, don't forget to see DJ Sal in Sydney at britpop.com.au.

Below are the questions and answers.

This year Hannukkah is from December 11^th to 19^th, which is in about a few short weeks. I don't really know that much about the Jewish religion, other than that they get like 10 36 gifts for Hanukkah (edit: see updated message below)! So, to take care of two of your gifts idea, for the music lover in your life:

KOSHA DILLZ
official ♥ myspace

We've previously mentioned Kosha Dillz before, with his collaboration with C-Rayz Walz. Derek said that previous album had "classic hip-hop that rests firmly on a bed of oldskool beats", so missing from Beverly Dillz, Kosha Dillz's latest album (released November 10^th on Modular Moods Records), seems to be the "oldskool beats".

Although the album starts off with a surprisingly hip-hoppy "DooDoo" - the rest of Beverly Dillz seems pretty laid back to me. There are a few exceptions like "Jungle" and "Tastes Good" (the best rap song on the album).

Personally, I thought "Puddles" was one of the better song, it's probably because it had Yak Ballz as guest. The song feels really familiar to me, like its bass is from the 80s or something. Speaking of familiar, you'll get that on his single, "Cellular Phone", which features some classic Dilliefied version of "This Old Man" and "Word Up".

Kosha Dillz was recently in the news because he remixed fellow Jewish artist YACHT (aka Jona Bechtolt) for an EP called Swim Club. You can grab the free 8-track EP at Kosha Dillz's website. I didn't listen to the entire 8 tracks, but I can tell you that I spotted some Beastie Boys, New Jack City, and Hansons references!

PS, While there are a lot of "hhheh" Hebrew sounds in "Kol Ha Kavod Lirkod", I believe all the songs on Beverly Dillz are in English.

MOSHIACH OI!
myspace

With the baby picture and my generally association that Jewish musicians tend to be either traditional or modern hip-hop, Moshiach Oi!'s album, Better Get Ready, surprised me with their hardcore punk music. Like typical punk songs, these songs are fast, loud, and brief - like a punch in the face.

The band's singer and found, Yishai Romanoff, actually sings his songs (instead of shouting out loud that you find on hardcore bands). Unfortunately, as religious as some of the songs can be ("I Wanna Learn Torah", "I Wanna Learn Torah", "This Is My G-d", "Hashem S'fasai Tiftach"), I can't help but think that the message will be lost in a loud sea of drums and guitars. The one exception of "I Love Torah", where you can clearly hear the majority of lyrics are "I love Torah, yeah!"

To me, punk bands do not often translate their live energy and performance well on the recorded medium, so to really appreciate a band like this, you sort of have to see them live. They are playing one date - probably to celebrate Hanukkah at: Chabad of Bushwick Brooklyn, New York, on December 12^th.

You can pick up both of these albums from Shem Speed Store (the largest collection of Jewish music).

IN MORE JEWISH NEWS

Jewish singer Girls In Trouble (I previously fell in love with her), has a cute live video of "Hunter/The Bee Lays Her Honey" on youtube, complete with torn stockings and all. The video was previously featured on YouTube's Music Spotlight for a few days. If you recall, that was my song of choice when I reviewed the album, citing it as "my favorite song" easily.

Also, Matisyahu, Yair Dalal & Deleon, among others, are playing the 5th Annual Sephardic Music Festival from December 12^th to 19th, throughout New York City.

For a full listing of events, head over to sephardicmusicfestival.com, what I can tell you is that Matisyahu is headlining on December 14^th, which incidentally is also the most expensive ($35) among all the dates. The rest of the dates are decently priced at $12 or so.