After just having finished watching The Darjeeling Limited, I felt the sudden urge to write and take excessive doses of cough medicine. So here I am, writing (all wired like).
Back in the day, which was a Tuesday, I introduced you to timinganddelivery soundcheck #1. And, just like any shampoo commercial from the ’80s used to do, it’s time to wash, rinse and repeat. Putting the benefits of smooth and silky hair aside for a second, I hope you have as much fun reading as I do writing the soundcheck series.
So onwards and upwards, it’s about damn time for timinganddelivery soundcheck #2 (which, co-incidentally is sponsored by the letter ‘B’):
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Battles (Mirrored) – if you were to get angry in a techno/beats context, you’d start a band and call it Battles. Seeing as though someone’s already done that, you should stick yourself to a copy of Mirrored and channel some synth rage. My first introduction to Battles came in what I like to call Garry Glitter form. What the hell does that mean? Well, pop ‘Atlas‘ into your tape deck and see what I mean. It’s tight, it’s wild, and I swear to good they’ve re-introduced 1972! Great cuts to run/work-out to…nicely done. -
Band of Horses (Cease to Begin) – I swear I think I’m a sucker for anthem-like recordings. Cease to Begin is the horse band’s second release and it struck me first as what the Shins would sound like if they went uber electric. Heavy guitar and repetitive, yet catchy lyrics, dominate my first introduction of this album, ‘Is There a Ghost’ and ‘The General Specific’. Cease to Begin definitely fell into the not-putter-downer category and it lead me to the itunes store for their first album, Everything All The Time – watch out for ‘Weed Party‘ (it’s addictive).
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The Black Keys (Attack and Release)- this bluesy/rocky/almost White Stripes-y duo just rolled through Vancouver and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it. I may have entered into The Black Keys ’scene’ a day late and a dollar short, but let me say this, these guys know how to work 12-bar blues and power chords (laden with hard-a$$ drums) to their advantage. ‘Strange Times’ was my first foray into their stuff and…it’s heavy. Kind of like T-Rex meets The Fabulous Thunderbirds, but cooler, and in this decade, and younger.
As always, lots more to come…
darren
