Hi Everyone. The  National posted their tour dates and you can find the list here. It looks like they’re playing at the Wiltern on May 21st and 22nd which is a Friday and Saturday. I need to find my way to one of those shows!

A couple of weeks ago the NY Times website had a pretty in-depth article about The National and their whole musical process. It seems to me after reading the story I would fail miserably as a band member. Not only because  I can’t play an instrument, but it seems pretty stressful at times and I’m a pretty no drama type of guy. Highlighting the article was all their songs off of the new High Violet album available for free streaming. I read on another forum that the NY Times took it down, but NPR now has it up, so go to their site and check it out. I believe you’ll find at least one song that you’ll connect with.

And last but not least, Pitchfork has a wonderful series called Castle Rock where bands would play live in abandoned castle that overlooks the Hudson River.  Here are the videos for your viewing pleasure.

This is going to be short and sweet. The National just released their single “Bloodbuzz Ohio“. You can also download it here for free.   That’s the sweet part. If this single is any indication of what their next album is going to be like, you can count me in.

One more thing, the band is going to be playing at The Wiltern in LA May 21 & 22 (Friday and Saturday night folks!) The new album drops May 11. Can’t wait.

The other night I was looking for new bands to listen to and I stumbled upon this gem of a band.  Taking their name from a character from the movie Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, the female trio from Brooklyn produces soft synth pop beats over laid with lovely female vocals.  Their music is described as hip, alt-folk, synth, soft electronic, and  you just can’t help  feeling really relax when listening to them. If you’re looking for something soft and poppy Au Revoir Simone might be the band you’re looking for. Check out this vid.

The first one is a band called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They’re an indie pop band from New York and I have to admit I was hesitant about them at first, but I couldn’t resist. I kept on coming back to them and listening a bit at a time (I mentioned awhile back that I’m weird like that). They have a self titled album which I suggest listening to it loud.  They are on tour and I believe they’re playing at the Echo in LA on the 20th of this month and in San Diego sometime in September. Here’s a couple of videos from their album (last video is some tribute I believe).

The other band is called The Bridal Shop. They’re from…wait for it…you guessed it, Sweden. They have a sound similar to Radio Dept, but I would say cleaner in the electronic side of things, but still kind of shoegazeresque. Have a listen to “From Seas“.

The Legends just released their new album Over and Over today and it has about 12 songs. I haven’t bought it yet, but what I’ve heard it’s not too bad (I know that doesn’t sound good).  Some songs are very distortion heavy and others are more on the regular  indie pop sound. I tend to listen to the songs and come back at another time and listen to songs again and then buy them. I know, I’m weird.

The Radio Dept. released a new single called “David” and I  found it on another music site called Brooklyn Vegan. Here’s the link to the song.  It sounds pretty cool and I hope they tour on the west coast when their album comes out.

Last week I saw Camera Obscura and I’m still not over it yet. For a fix I just watch the video below.

Tuesday night was a great kick off for the summer concert series with Camera Obscura. They were at the Glass House in Pomona and I was glad that it was only thirty minutes away.  Cara, my friend Rob and I got there around 7:30pm, which is pretty damn early to think of it.  We didn’t realize until later that they had two bands opening for them, actually a DJ and a band called Agent Ribbons.  Camera Obscura wasn’t going to play until 9:40, so we took our time and Rob bought tickets for the Band of Horses concert at the Glass House box office.  They’re actually playing at the newly restored Fox Theater in downtown Pomona in late August. I still got to get the tickets.

Hurry up payday.

After Rob and his girlfriend Suzie got a bite to eat (Suzie showed up later), we decided to finally show our faces at 9:00. It was an interesting scene to say the least. I overheard the singer say to the audience that they will cut their show short due to her voice, but that wasn’t the interesting point. It was a man with a bird mask hitting a tambourine against his left handed boxing glove which caught my attention. I felt like I was in a David Lynch movie. The stage was very Twin Peaks with the red drapes in the  background, so I guess it makes sense. I wish I had a picture to show you, but this might do.

Camera Obscura came out as promised at 9:40 and I believe they opened up with “My Maudlin Career”. I have to say they sounded really good live and Tracyanne’s voice just resonates so well. When she sings, it just pierces through the air. They played a couple of songs from their new album like, “James”, “Swans”, and of course the danceable “French Navy”.  They went back in the archives and played “Eighties Fan” which is off of Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi. They played many of their other songs especially off of Let’s Get Out of this Country, probably their most popular album. Of course they played “If Looks Could Kill” and their encore song of choice,  my beloved “Razzle Dazzle Rose”.  They did mess up in the beginning and had to start over, but I’m totally fine with that. They’re human after all and it was funny to hear Tracyanne joked that they played this song for two weeks and they still screwed the song up.  After they found their sync, the song was amazing live  just as I imagined it would be.  It was at the end of the song where it was a glorious chaos of instruments all playing at the same time with the signature horn keeping it all together.

If I had the time and money, I would definitely see them again in LA. They’re a great live band and I wished they would of played for another hour. I believed their set was roughly around a hour and fifteen minutes. If they would of gone more, I’m sure nobody would of complained.

I would say the only weird thing about the night, besides bird man, was the vibe of the crowd. Some people were getting into the music and I understand not all of their songs are danceable or upbeat, but it just felt like the crowd was not all there. It was like a group of zombies staring at the stage. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but you would think people would be more excited about a band who rarely comes out to the states to be more into it.  I’m pretty sure bird man was excited.

Here’s some videos for your entertainment.

Okay here’s a gem. This is their cover of “Some Guys Have All the Luck” by Rod Stewart. Golden.

“French Navy”

“Let’s Get Out of This Country” aka “Let’s Get Out Riverside” for my version.

Here’s the original Alternate video for Slowdive’s “Alison”

P.S. I mentioned on my last post about the latest Legends album being released on May 6th. Well, I messed up again and it’s actually being released here in the U.S on June 16th. May 6th was the released date for all the other cool countries I guess.  Sorry for the confusion.

The new album is out so buy it!

Itunes: My Maudlin Career

Amazon: My Maudlin Career

I’m listening to the songs and I haven’t got a bad thing to say about them. I’ll probably discuss more of the album later, but for now I’m just letting it soak in. Good summer time music.

On Sunday I decided to take a chance on another site other than Itunes or Amazon Music for my music downloads. I did some research and decided on eMusic.  I realized that Itunes wasn’t cutting it for me. What I needed was a site that I can pay a monthly fee for whatever price and get a certain amount of downloads.  Emusic is the place to do that.

The biggest problem with Itunes for me was the amount of music I like to download.  I was paying like $9.99 an album for usually about 10 songs. The way I spend money on downloads; I knew it was going to add up in the long run. Another problem I found with Itunes was the scenario of me constantly converting my purchased Itune songs to MP3s. I guess I’m still old school and I like making mix CDs for my car. With eMusic.com and even Amazon, all the songs are MP3s and are DRM free. Itunes still has DRM music on their library.

Emusic has several subscription plans to choose from. They have month to month and they also have annual plans as well. The one I chose was the bottom tier eMusic basic for 11.99 a month. This plan is a limit of 30 songs a month, but when you first sign up they give you an additional 50 extra songs (Booyah). So like a kid in a candy store, I went freaking ballistic. I couldn’t stop myself. I had a list of all the albums I wanted to get, but couldn’t, because I just didn’t feel right in buying that much music on Itunes.

I have to say that eMusic may not be right for everyone. First off, eMusic is more of an independent music supplier. If you’re looking for more mainstream music like oh, Britney Spears, then you’re not going to find it. Hell, they don’t even have New Order. As matter of fact they steer away from most mainstream labels to keep the prices down. Another important tidbit is that unused songs do not carry over to the next month (I guess it’s not like unused minutes), so it’s important to get your money’s worth and make sure to download to your limit. If you’re interested in eMusic, but don’t know for sure, you can type in several band names in the search bar and see if they come up. If they have your type or taste in music, then enjoy.

Well, I still have 26 more songs to go for the month…

Some good news for Camera Obscura fans. They announced they’ll be releasing their fourth album, My Maudlin Career on the 21st of April in the U.S., and the album is being release by the cool 4AD label.  A good choice by 4AD to add this band to their arsenal.

If you haven’t heard of Camera Obscura, they have a light hearted sound that makes you think of riding a bike around a park during the spring time (maybe not Southern California parks, but more Seattlesque). The band is most notably linked with Belle and Sebastian and is fronted by the soft voiced Tracyanne Campbell. I first heard of this band when looking for music similar to Trembling Blue Stars, but always end up skipping or overlooking them.  I finally took the time to listen, and I’m glad I did. They’re definitely worth it.

I’m looking forward to the release of their next album and hopefuly a North American Tour. Here’s a sample of the self titled track.