Black Kids – Wizard of Ahhhs

You know what sucks?

I mean aside from house fires, speeding tickets, and being mauled by bears.

Trying to stay on a diet.

Not to say I’m pushing maximum density or anything, I can still see my genitals and all, but I am heavier than I’d like and I have clothes that don’t fit as well as they did say…eight months ago. So I’m trying to buckle down and drop a few pounds.

The only obstacle seems to be my friends.

All I want to do is eat a healthy lunch, hit the gym for an hour, eat my Lean Cuisine and be done with it. But with my circle of friends it’s harder and harder to do so. Never mind the fact that I’m a partner in a Bar and Grill and therefore have access to free buffalo wings and burgers whenever I want. My friends always want to BBQ somewhere and always want to drink.

On Monday I was settling down when Billy called me (we were going over our new menu at the bar) and asked if I’d eaten. I told him I had and was taking it easy, but if he wanted to cook for himself on my grill he was welcome to.

The next thing I know, he shows up with four huge fresh sausages and two giant stuffed portobello mushrooms. Then, the next night he showed up with fresh foccacia and olive tapenade and two excellent cheeses as well as some wine!

I know this doesn’t sound like something to complain about, but fucking-A! How’s a man going to stay thin with shit like this going down on a nightly basis?

Well, the one thing I don’t have a problem doing is listening to The Black Kid’s album from last year, the highly acclaimed “Wizard of Ahhhs.” This is what you’d hear on the radio if radio wasn’t a repetitive wasteland where hit’s go to die.

Formed in early 2006 in Jacksonville Florida, the band consists of siblings Reggie and Ali Youngblood on guitar, keyboard and vocals; Kevin Snow on drums, Owen Holmes an bass and Dawn Watly on keyboard and vocals too. That’s a lot of vocals and keyboards!

At first the band did pretty well as an opening act for larger bands that toured through the area, but soon hit it big after a stunning performance at the Athens Popfest in Georgia that August. With a flurry of favorable reviews and coverage they released this EP for free download off their MySpace page soon after, showing once again that giving away music for free isn’t the career suicide that it was once accused of being.

Their sound is kind of indie, but as I’ve said before it’s more good than anything else. Catchy and uplifting. Check out the awesome ‘I’m Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You’ or my other favorite ‘I’ve Underestimated My Charm (Again).’ I find it no wonder that they were picked up by Quest management who also manages the equally badass Arcade Fire. 

(I’ve heard a lot of peolpe hating on their music lately, but I take it as a backlash to the overhype they’ve been getting as of late. This is pop music.  What do you want from it anyway?)

They’ve recently released their first full length album “Partie Traumatic” which is not up for free download, but you can still find “Wizard” online at their MySpace page. I haven’t gotten a chance to check it out yet, but I figure it probably rules.

Go get it, people.

The Postal Service – Give Up

I feel a bit biased putting this up. Mostly because I went to college with Jimmy. 

Not to say Jimmy and I hung out exclusively or anything, but he was around the radio station group enough that I knew him. (go KXLU!)

Come to think of it, he probably wouldn’t remember me at all…even if you asked him at gunpoint.  And I never even knew he made music until this album came out and Farmer Dave said “That’s Jimmy Tamborello’s band…” in that dry monotone voice of his.

Regardless, The Postal Service “Give Up” definitely deserves a place on this blog no matter what my connection to the members are.  Even if I never knew any of them.

Turns out that while in collage, Jimmy started producing electronic music and soon was releasing stuff under the name Dntl.  In 2001 he was collaborating on a track called ‘(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan’ with Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie.  Since Ben was in Seattle and Jimmy in LA, they would work on the track individually then mail it to the other guy.  The single was so well received that it spawned a remix EP, and Ben and Jimmy decided to do a whole album that way, under the moniker of The Postal Service.

Jimmy wrote and produced the instrumentals in LA, then mailed them to Ben to add his vocals and edit in any way he saw fit. They brought in some nice guests like Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley, Jen Wood, and additional production from Death Cab’s Chris Walla who also added keyboard and piano.

I’m a huge fan of ‘We’ll Become Silhouettes’ and ‘Clark Gable,’ but the group will mostly be recognized for the ubiquitous ‘Such Great Heights’ which many will know from Garden State and the UPS commercials.

If you are familiar with Death Cab for Cutie, then I’ll have to let you know that this is much happier music then Ben usually does for them.  Full of amazing synth pop and great writing all around, the album goes down with a spoonful of sugar, but avoids being to sweet. Now that I think about it…I don’t even think synth pop is a good label. Nor electronic, or indie rock.

In fact,  I don’t think this music needs a label…

Unless that label is “Good Music.”

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – ST

 One of the best things about digging is finding new things. Sometimes these are good things…sometimes these are strange things, but they’re always new and they’re always out there.  Take the other day for example.

DJ Andrew and myself were sifting through the stacks at one of our spots, assaulting the 45 section from opposite ends when I found a cardboard record from the 1940’s.  Back in the day they would print out promotional pieces like this and insert them into magazines.  This one was for the Norelco electric razor and was aptly titled “Music to Shave By.” 

I was immediately struck by the realization that I had no music to shave too, and since the record featured Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, I had to buy it.

I can now say in all honesty that you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Louis Armstrong sing ‘Baby, I’ll shave myself for you!’

Awesome…and mildly creepy.

One of the best surprises I had in the last few years though was the discovery of the internet phenomena: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.  You gotta love any band who sold 20,000 copies of their first album over the internet with out the benefit of a major label.  The first pressing sold out and they were forced to press up more.

Formed at Connecticut College and based in Brooklyn, CYHSY made their name and their fame mostly through enthusiastic responses from MP3 Bloggers and other denizens of the internets before getting some Hot List Action from Rolling Stone Magazine.  But all statistics aside, this is a great band pure and simple. Drawing inspiration from such artists as David Byrne and Jonathan Richmond, the band plays it fast and loose with their production…riding almost completely on the sheer energy of their songs.

And it works too.

The only downside to the album is that you can barely understand what front man Alec Ounsworth is singing.  And the thing is…you want to understand.  You want more.

The group recently release their second album “Some Loud Thunder,” that while different from the first is just as good and they seem to be slowly building in maturity and depth as they head toward the future.  They may not be the second coming, but they sure do sound good.

Money Mark – Marks’ Keyboard Repair

You know what I like about Money Mark Ramos-Nishita, aside from him being like, the fifth Beastie?  He’s the coolest musician in LA.  Most of these music types are real skittish and will not let you get near them, or some will say a few quick words, then run away.  Mark will hang out, chat with you for some like 20 minutes…then just sort of hang around.  It’s really something.

When I went to see Shuggie Otis at the El Rey (see the end note of my very first post), and the show ended up sucking in an almost cosmic way, it was Mark who stood around in front of the building with me, lamenting the disaster.  He was like:

“Dude, I would have said fuck all the band shit. Just Shuggie on guitar, and me on piano and there wouldn’t be this horrendous mess we have right now!”

And he was right.

But anyway, the other thing I like about Mark is his rare first full album “Mark’s Keyboard Repair.” 

And while I’m on the topic, what’s with first albums anyway!?!?  Why are they almost always the best?!?!  I have know idea!!!  Why am I yelling?!?!

Actually, all Marks’ albums are pretty cool, independent and just as lovable as this one. But this one has, like 3o tracks!  When was the last time you bought an album that had more than 14 songs on it, let alone 30?  All I know is that it doesn’t happen too often, and when it does, it usually isn’t as great as Marks.

Released in sunny 1995, it’s technically not even Nishita’s first solo album (That was the Performing chicken EP that only Farmer Dave had on vinyl…the bastard.) But it has an unmistakably raw demo sound and feel to the whole thing that I really dig.  And most of the songs are short little slices of goodness that tend to top out at 2:30.  You have some sweet indie crooning on songs like ‘Cry’ and ‘Pretty Pain,’ and jazzy funk numbers like ‘Insects are All Around Us’(my personal favorite.)

As a whole album, the sound takes me back to hanging out in the garage on a sunny LA Sunday, drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and shooting pool.  I also highly recommend his other LPs “Push the Button” and “Demo? or Demolition?”  I haven’t caught the newest one “Brand New by Tomorrow” yet, but I have a feeling it’s equally enjoyable.

Yeah, it’s like that.

Below, Money Mark Performs ‘Hand in Your Head’ at the HiFi Club in Leeds.