Music Makes Us

Nada Surf – If I Had a Hi-Fi

Nada Surf is an American alternative rock group formed in 1992. The New York band consists of Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums, vocals) and Daniel Lorca (bass, vocals). The band is best known for the song “Popular” from their 1996 album High/Low. The song reached #11 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and propelled the album to #63 on the Billboard 200. Anyhow, this is their new album they released this year.

Track List

• Electrocution (Bill Fox)3:13
• Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode)3:21
• Love Goes On (The Go-Betweens)3:04
• Janine (Arthur Russell)1:05
• You Were So Warm (Dwight Twilley)2:49
• Love and Anger (Kate Bush)4:51
• The Agony of Laffitte (Spoon)3:51
• Bye Bye Beaute (Coralie Clement)3:37
• Question (Moody Blues)5:19
• Bright Side (Soft Pack)3:06
• Evolution (Mercromina)5:11
• I Remembered What I Was Going to Say (The Silly Pillows)1:53

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David Vandervelde – The Moonstation House Band

It took me a while to update today, sorry about that. I was hiding under the covers for a while because I was so burnt out from work. I have been working from when I get up until around 2am minus breaks for this and that. David Vandervelde is a Chicago-based, alternative rock musician, whose works and been featured predominantly, along with Brie Stoner’s, as background music in NOOMA videos. He performed with The Moonstation House Band (formerly known as Where The Moon Came From band). All of his albums to date have been released on the Secretly Canadian record label. David plays both the piano and guitar.

Track List

• Nothin’ No4:17
• Jacket4:43
• Feet of a Liar3:14
• Corduroy Blues5:35
• Wisdom From a Tree3:01
• Can’t See Your Face No More4:34
• Murder in Michigan4:47
• Moonlight Instrumental6:48

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Awesome Color – Self Titled

These guys are on tour, so make sure to check out their myspace for tour dates. Also, this band makes me feel like I should reevaluate the categories I have set up. Good thing I am tagging all of these albums in addition to the categories.

“Is it possible to smash a guitar un-self-consciously? It certainly seemed that way at Cake Shop earlier this month, when Awesome Color left a roomful of in-the-know types gleefully dumbstruck. (Oakley Hall was headlining– that alone means several quality musicians were present.) Singer Derek Stanton’s seemingly unpremeditated ax-whacking lacked any sense of violence or menace(which is fine). It was simply the final blow in a stream of gestures that translate across rock & roll forms; any punk, metal, or bar-rock fan can appreciate the thrill of someone playing guitar with his bare feet–and having it both look and sound cool. (Yes, Stanton did that, too). Considering that Awesome Color has been a band for only nine months, there’s an alarming lack of things to find fault with in their music or its execution; even the name makes sense after witnessing the trio’s unironic stage presence. Some of the group’s songs evoke Sabbath as played by Germans in the ’70s, with Stanton’s terse riffs cruising atop crisp, loping grooves provided by bassist Michael Troutman and drummer Allison Busch. Other tunes come across like lean, airy impressions of classic Southern rock (the three met in Ann Arbor, Michigan–the northernmost Southern state–before setting up together in Bushwick). But the most indelible image from an Awesome Color show is the rapt joy in Stanton’s face when he backs away from the microphone for a solo. It was infections in the close quarters of Cake Shop, and should be at the Lakeside, too.” – Mike Wolf

Track List

• Grown6:54
• Ridin’4:28
• Free Man4:36
• Unknown3:43
• It’s Your Time3:47
• Hat Energy3:29
• See You Hear You5:49
• Animal7:25

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Girls Against Boys – Freak*On*Ica

If you are looking for a band to replace your high school obsession of bands like Orgy and Kill Hannah, I have just the band for you. Girls Against Boys is an indie rock/post-hardcore band, originally forming in washington dc in 1988 and currently based in new york city. The group began as a side project of Eli Janney and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty. Canty soon left the project and by 1991 Janney had gone on to recruit three former members of D.C. hardcore punk group Soulside – Scott McCloud, Johnny Temple, and Alexis Fleisig – to complete the line-up.

Track List

• Park Avenue4:50
• Pleasurized4:40
• Psycho-Future4:32
• Black Hole4:17
• Roxy4:20
• One Firecracker4:48
• Speedway4:44
• Exorcisto4:56
• Vogue Thing4:54
• Push The Fader4:02
• Exile4:20
• Cowboy’s Orbit4:05

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4 Non Blondes – Bigger, Better, Faster, More!

I came across this album recently out of nowhere and felt like it was a good blast from the past. If you don’t remember who they are, I think you will remember track three. Don’t worry, I have some new music coming this week. I just could not resist posting this ablum. 4 Non Blondes were an early-1990s American alternative rock band. Lead vocalist Linda Perry has since released solo work and produced songs on hit albums by P!nk and Christina Aguilera. 4 Non Blondes consisted of bassist Christa Hillhouse, guitarist Roger Rocha, drummer Dawn Richardson and vocalist Linda Perry. 4 Non Blondes had a huge hit single in 1993 with “What’s Up”. A year later, DJ Miko remixed the track as a dance song, and it became a hit again, on radio and in clubs.

Track List

• Train4:42
• Superfly5:37
• What’s Up?5:56
• Pleasantly Blue2:28
• Morphine & Chocolate5:44
• Spaceman4:40
• Old Mr. Heffer2:16
• Calling All The People3:17
• Dear Mr. President5:43
• Drifting4:31
• No Place Like Home3:11

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Tocotronic – Schall und Wahn

This is an interesting album to put on. I can’t understand any of it, but it kind of makes me want a giant pretzel. Tocotronic is a German rock band formed in 1993. Similar to Blumfeld or Die Sterne, Tocotronic not only innovated German language rock music, but also inspired a number of later bands, such as Wir sind Helden. Their influence on pop culture is widespread, from fashion (Tocotronic made the combination of 1970s style track suit tops with cheap second-hand ad-shirts famous in Germany) to the playful and weird look of their early records.

Track List

• Eure Liebe tötet mich8:06
• Ein leiser Hauch von Terror3:30
• Die Folter endet nie4:51
• Das Blut an meinen Händen5:38
• Macht es nicht selbst4:07
• Bitte oszillieren sie2:30
• Schall und Wahn6:53
• Im Zweifel für den Zweifel4:26
• Keine Meisterwerke mehr3:25
• Stürmt das Schloss3:45
• Gesang des Tyrannen4:10
• Gift8:30

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Blonde Redhead – Misery Is a Butterfly

I know I need to find some time to post some new stuff, and I will eventually. For now though you will have to settle for this. Blonde Redhead is an alternative rock band. It was formed by Kazu Makino, Maki Takahashi and Milan-born Italian twin brothers Simone Pace and Amedeo Pace. They take their name from a song by DNA, a 70s and 80s no-wave band from New York. Blonde Redhead caught the attention of Sonic Youth’s drummer, Steve Shelley, who produced their first self titled album in 1993. Shortly afterwards Maki Takahashi left the band and the remaining band members continued as a trio. On their third album, Fake Can Be Just As Good, they were joined by Vern Rumsey of Unwound as a guest bassist.

Track List

• Elephant Woman5:54
• Melody4:02
• Messenger3:07
• Doll Is Mine4:52
• Misery Is a Butterfly3:24
• Falling Man3:56
• Anticipation3:24
• Maddening Cloud5:34
• Pink Love5:11
• Magic Mountain3:23
• Equus6:18

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Rogue Wave – Permalight

This album just came out a few days ago, and I can’t believe I never heard of them before. Rogue Wave is an alternative rock band signed to Jack Johnson’s label Brushfire Records (they released 2 previous albums with Sub Pop). Rogue Wave is headed by Zach Schwartz (aka Zach Rogue), who created the band after losing his job in the dot-com bust. Their first album was Out of the Shadow which was written, recorded and produced entirely by Zach Rogue (except the drums) – released privately in 2003 and finally re-released in 2004 on Subpop.

Track List

• Solitary Gun4:42
• Good Morning (The Future)4:08
• Sleepwalker4:44
• Stars And Stripes3:07
• Permalight3:05
• Fear Itself4:24
• Right With You3:14
• We Will Make A Song Destroy4:53
• I’ll Never Leave You3:58
• Per Anger3:35
• You Have Boarded3:54
• All That Remains1:05

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PJ Harvey – Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea

I was looking through some Alternative to post and came across this singer; she kind of rocks. Polly Jean Harvey, born October 9, 1969 in Yeovil, United Kingdom and raised in nearby Corscombe (Dorset), is an English singer-songwriter. She has recorded as a solo artist under the name PJ Harvey, but she began her career as part of a trio (with drummer Rob Ellis and bassist Steve Vaughan) also named PJ Harvey in 1991. Early material released by the trio on Dry, 4 Track Demos and Rid of Me was praised by critics for its raw lo-fi, many times acoustic guitar sound and melancholic, witty lyrics.

Track List

• Big Exit4:51
• Good Fortune3:20
• A Placed Called Home4:42
• One Line3:14
• Beautiful Feeling4:00
• The Whores Hustle and the Hustlers Whore4:00
• This Mess We’re In4:57
• You Said Something3:19
• Kamikaze2:24
• This Is Love4:45
• Horses in My Dreams6:37
• We Float6:09

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Hum – Downward Is Heavenward

I want to give a thank you to Gavin Dunaway who brought this album to my attention.

Hum is the Champaign, Illinois, United States-based fuzztone/space rock foursome with a shifting but final lineup of Matt Talbott (vocals/guitar), Tim Lash (guitar), Jeff Dimpsey (bass), and Bryan St.Pere (drums). They are best known for their 1995 rock radio hit “Stars” which also appeared in a recent Cadillac commercial.

They formed in 1989, and have four studio albums: Fillet Show (1991), Electra 2000 (1993), You’d Prefer an Astronaut (1995) and the brilliant Downward is Heavenward (1998).

Since breaking up on January 1, 2001, Hum have played five live shows, one at Furnace Fest in Birmingham, Alabama at Sloss Furnace on August 16, 2003, a second at RockFest in Champaign Oct 15, 2005, a third (secret) show at Cowboy Monkey in Champaign on December 27th, 2008, and the last two at The Double Door in Chicago on December 31, 2008 and January 1, 2009.

Track List

• Isle of the Cheetah7:36
• Comin’ Home3:44
• If You Are to Bloom5:09
• Ms. Lazarus4:37
• Afternoon With the Axolotls6:25
• Green to Me4:54
• Dreamboat6:05
• The Inuit Promise6:05
• Apollo6:46
• The Scientists5:23

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