(We debated the use of a photograph of actual track marks, but felt that doing so could upset our more drug-addled readers. You never know when a Nickelback fan might stumble across our site. © 2008 Benjamin Luk.)
Welcome to the very first edition of "TRACK MARKS", where every two weeks or so (read: whenever the hell we feel like it), we dive into our extensive iTunes collections and randomly pull out a few songs that we feel you oughta know about. We haven't yet established a real formula for how we're going to go about these articles, so expect "TRACK MARKS" to be a bit of a gong show as Pearce, Ian and Kaleena eventually get around to tackling this as an assignment. In the meantime, just sit back, enjoy, and download like a fiend.
Disclaimer: As far as I know, these are all legal downloads, but in case any record company officials come sniffing around, we're not hosting a goddamn thing. Finally, we're not endorsing illegal downloading in any way. Just because it's more convenient, free, a good way to stick it to the man, and one of the best inventions of the 21st century doesn't mean it's "right". Ahem. Moving on then.
Good ol' Tilly's come a long way since Conor Oberst's project Park Avenue died off, loosing current Tilly members Neely Jenkins and Jamie Pressnall out onto the world. From then on, along with three other Omaha tweeheads named Nick White, Kianna Alarid and Derek Pressnall (who's lucky enough to be married to sexy Jamie), they then went on to form the saccharine indie pop band Tilly and the Wall. Now, not everyone's into this happy shit, but with their new single "Pot Kettle Black" experimenting with distorted vocals and a bouncy 70's rock guitar line vaguely reminiscent of The Stooges, it's nice to know that Tilly's somewhat gimmicky quirk of having a tap dancer instead of a drummer hasn't held the group back from charging forward with their artistic vision. Nick White's keys, which come into play about a minute and a half into the song, then blend that 70's rock groove with a more contemporary indie style. Think Sleater-Kinney if they habitually sang about unicorns and bunny rabbits. And were on a sugar high 24/7.
So that's that. I hope you've enjoyed your first foray into our music collections, and you can do your part to help us out by continuing to invite everyone you know to the ThatRockBlog.com Facebook Group. That's also a good place to let us know what we need to listen to, so sign up or die trying.
Finally, if you've got a Tuesday, July 8, 2008 issue of The Province kicking around, check out Page B4. Center photo's mine, but it looks like someone forgot to issue yours truly a photo credit. FedEx your turds to The Province, 200 Granville Street, Suite #1, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3N3.
Disclaimer: As far as I know, these are all legal downloads, but in case any record company officials come sniffing around, we're not hosting a goddamn thing. Finally, we're not endorsing illegal downloading in any way. Just because it's more convenient, free, a good way to stick it to the man, and one of the best inventions of the 21st century doesn't mean it's "right". Ahem. Moving on then.
Good ol' Tilly's come a long way since Conor Oberst's project Park Avenue died off, loosing current Tilly members Neely Jenkins and Jamie Pressnall out onto the world. From then on, along with three other Omaha tweeheads named Nick White, Kianna Alarid and Derek Pressnall (who's lucky enough to be married to sexy Jamie), they then went on to form the saccharine indie pop band Tilly and the Wall. Now, not everyone's into this happy shit, but with their new single "Pot Kettle Black" experimenting with distorted vocals and a bouncy 70's rock guitar line vaguely reminiscent of The Stooges, it's nice to know that Tilly's somewhat gimmicky quirk of having a tap dancer instead of a drummer hasn't held the group back from charging forward with their artistic vision. Nick White's keys, which come into play about a minute and a half into the song, then blend that 70's rock groove with a more contemporary indie style. Think Sleater-Kinney if they habitually sang about unicorns and bunny rabbits. And were on a sugar high 24/7.
Probably best known as the rhythm guitarist for The Strokes who just so happened to play lead on "Last Nite", Albert Hammond, Jr. now has a solo project up and running. His second album, ¿Cómo Te Llama? (which means "How do you call yourself?" in Spanish, but to me, will always remain "How do you like my llama?"), is quite the departure from typical alt rock fare, melding genres all over the place from jazz to funk, and making tracks like "Lisa" sound like Architecture In Helsinki went to town on a My Bloody Valentine song. With a soaring axe solo that makes me want to hit the road stoned out of my mind on my way to a Supertramp concert, and an opening guitar intermezzo like sparkling water, "GfC" is a must-hear for anyone bored with typical contemporary rock. Those falsetto oohs could put a baby in you too. Wear protection.
You've probably heard all about this from Pearce's review already, but since this is just about the most epic track we've run into here at the blog within the past few months, I figured I might as well drag it into the limelight just one more time before everyone dismissed The Last Shadow Puppets as some musical curio and went back to listening to Arctic Monkeys. Lyrically, it's a bit like a Harlequin romance written by Keats, and musically, it's a bit like Clint Eastwood busting a cap in your ass. With those galloping drums and that Ennio Morricone-esque six-string and string quartet combo, "The Age of the Understatement" is a favourite of ours here at the blog, so we're giving it to you now in hopes that it'll be a favourite of yours too. And yes, we spell "favourite" with a "u" here. Just like Alex Turner would 'cuz he's all British and we're all proud Canadians.
Hey, Girl Talk's coming to town soon! If the powers that be are smiling down upon us, we may actually get to cover that show. Feel free to annoy some of these people, by the way. My individual e-mails requesting passes never seem to get replied to, so let's see how fifty of them do. Don't harass 'em though. All I'm saying is that one e-mail per reader saying that you'd like to see ThatRockBlog.com cover Girl Talk at The Commodore on July 24th would be hugely appreciated. Anyway, the whole frickin' Feed the Animals album is available for download online and though they encourage you to donate $5, you can just do what I did with In Rainbows and pay nothing, justifying that by the fact that Pearce forked out the whole enchilada just because he loves Radiohead. I'm sure you know someone who'd buy the Girl Talk album but then again, if it feels good, do it.
Even then, the latest Girl Talk album is worth every penny you may or may not choose to spend on it. I personally liked Night Ripper better, but if you're like me and love all music, you should dig everything Gregg Gillis does and his uncanny ability to mate everything from Queen and Fleetwood Mac with Dolla, BLACKstreet and Lil Wayne. "Shut the Club Down" finally makes Avril listenable without shame as Gillis mashes "Girlfriend" up with Dolla's hilariously titled "Who the Fuck Is That?". Then, shake over ice with Toni Basil's "Mickey", get your Flashdance on with Michael Sembello's "Maniac", and pour over some "Young Turks" courtesy of Rod Stewart, and you've got a tall, frosty glass of "Shut the Club Down". In fact, you know what? Just stop reading and go download already. Today, princess. Go. Now.
Now, here's a curio for you. It turns out that a few months ago, some asshole fan thought it would be funny if he swiped a whole bunch of music from another mashcore artist out of West Chester, Pennsylvania and put up a Torrent proclaiming it as a leaked copy of Girl Talk's Feed the Animals. Not only that, but it looks like this douchebag also got the song titles wrong, naming "Mystery Hypnosis" as "Doesn't Really Matter". Speaky's mashups don't necessarily have the same crunk as Girl Talk's material, but it's not total trash. I wouldn't even be talking about it if I hated it, so this guy must be doing something right. Aside from a slightly annoying habit of over-processing certain samples and making them sound like Alvin, Theodore and Simon contributed guest vocals to everything from Paramore to one of the many versions of "Mambo Italiano", it's all just good, fun club music. Also, it turns out Linkin Park goes really well with decent rap. We never would have known, having had to listen to white boy Chester Bennington get his wuss on in drivel like "In the End". I swear, he's this close to becoming the new Vanilla Ice.
You've probably heard all about this from Pearce's review already, but since this is just about the most epic track we've run into here at the blog within the past few months, I figured I might as well drag it into the limelight just one more time before everyone dismissed The Last Shadow Puppets as some musical curio and went back to listening to Arctic Monkeys. Lyrically, it's a bit like a Harlequin romance written by Keats, and musically, it's a bit like Clint Eastwood busting a cap in your ass. With those galloping drums and that Ennio Morricone-esque six-string and string quartet combo, "The Age of the Understatement" is a favourite of ours here at the blog, so we're giving it to you now in hopes that it'll be a favourite of yours too. And yes, we spell "favourite" with a "u" here. Just like Alex Turner would 'cuz he's all British and we're all proud Canadians.
Hey, Girl Talk's coming to town soon! If the powers that be are smiling down upon us, we may actually get to cover that show. Feel free to annoy some of these people, by the way. My individual e-mails requesting passes never seem to get replied to, so let's see how fifty of them do. Don't harass 'em though. All I'm saying is that one e-mail per reader saying that you'd like to see ThatRockBlog.com cover Girl Talk at The Commodore on July 24th would be hugely appreciated. Anyway, the whole frickin' Feed the Animals album is available for download online and though they encourage you to donate $5, you can just do what I did with In Rainbows and pay nothing, justifying that by the fact that Pearce forked out the whole enchilada just because he loves Radiohead. I'm sure you know someone who'd buy the Girl Talk album but then again, if it feels good, do it.
Even then, the latest Girl Talk album is worth every penny you may or may not choose to spend on it. I personally liked Night Ripper better, but if you're like me and love all music, you should dig everything Gregg Gillis does and his uncanny ability to mate everything from Queen and Fleetwood Mac with Dolla, BLACKstreet and Lil Wayne. "Shut the Club Down" finally makes Avril listenable without shame as Gillis mashes "Girlfriend" up with Dolla's hilariously titled "Who the Fuck Is That?". Then, shake over ice with Toni Basil's "Mickey", get your Flashdance on with Michael Sembello's "Maniac", and pour over some "Young Turks" courtesy of Rod Stewart, and you've got a tall, frosty glass of "Shut the Club Down". In fact, you know what? Just stop reading and go download already. Today, princess. Go. Now.
Now, here's a curio for you. It turns out that a few months ago, some asshole fan thought it would be funny if he swiped a whole bunch of music from another mashcore artist out of West Chester, Pennsylvania and put up a Torrent proclaiming it as a leaked copy of Girl Talk's Feed the Animals. Not only that, but it looks like this douchebag also got the song titles wrong, naming "Mystery Hypnosis" as "Doesn't Really Matter". Speaky's mashups don't necessarily have the same crunk as Girl Talk's material, but it's not total trash. I wouldn't even be talking about it if I hated it, so this guy must be doing something right. Aside from a slightly annoying habit of over-processing certain samples and making them sound like Alvin, Theodore and Simon contributed guest vocals to everything from Paramore to one of the many versions of "Mambo Italiano", it's all just good, fun club music. Also, it turns out Linkin Park goes really well with decent rap. We never would have known, having had to listen to white boy Chester Bennington get his wuss on in drivel like "In the End". I swear, he's this close to becoming the new Vanilla Ice.
* * * * *
So that's that. I hope you've enjoyed your first foray into our music collections, and you can do your part to help us out by continuing to invite everyone you know to the ThatRockBlog.com Facebook Group. That's also a good place to let us know what we need to listen to, so sign up or die trying.
Finally, if you've got a Tuesday, July 8, 2008 issue of The Province kicking around, check out Page B4. Center photo's mine, but it looks like someone forgot to issue yours truly a photo credit. FedEx your turds to The Province, 200 Granville Street, Suite #1, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3N3.
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