Mighty Little Man

Aaaah... a relaxing Saturday night with nothing to do. Beautiful.

I kind of need a rest, actually, because my band played two shows this week, on Thursday and Friday night, respectively. It was especially great to see the boys again and to just hang out. They are some of the coolest guys ever and tremendous musicians, so I'd like to give them individual shout outs: Thomas (happy now?), John and Robbie, I love you guys. You make it worth it.

Thursday night was okay. We played with local (at least, local to where I'm from) favorites Denison Marrs, who have released a few CD's and are generally respected (although they've started to act like rock stars now, which I'm not down with. I knew you when you were Divine Child, so chill out). There were some unfortunate technical aspects that we had to deal with, namely some tuning problems and my keyboard fritzing out right before my solo and losing all my settings. The show friday night was great, despite some unfortunate placement on the bill (we were first, followed by a cover band). I tried to record it, so we may have some new material up on our site soon.

One of bands I've been listening to is The Twin Atlas, made up of former members of Lenola (a psych-pop band from Philly). The Twin Atlas plays beautiful, shimmering folk pop with some shoegaze elements and incredible vocal harmonies. These are some of the best songs I've ever heard, extremely well-written and produced. Like Stephen Merritt and the Moonbabies, these guys just seem incapable of writing a bad song. Check their site out here and listen to them here.

I've also been listening to The Swords Project lately, and really digging their take on the whole post-rock genre. Their new disc is kind of paradoxically cool, holding you at arm's length while simultaneously pulling you in. Musically, they're very hard to describe; echoed guitars and subtle electronics float through the songs while the drummer and keyboardsist drop some nearly dancey beats in among the samples and string parts (they have their own violinist!). Maybe a less bombastic Mogwai with more of an urban feel? I dunno. It sounds cool, anyway. Check out their ultra-cool website here.

Also, check out Steve Burns' (yes, the guy from "Blue's Clues") new album (on which he's backed up by The Flaming Lips, of all people!) and his website, they're both pretty good. The website is hilarious (in that random way), especially the FAQ section.

Oh, yeah, I finally saw "Identity." Creepy.

The Amazingly Large and Idiosyncratic Playlist:
The Twin Atlas- Bring Along the Weather
The Twin Atlas- The Philadelphia Parking Lot Authority Must Die
The Breeders- Divine Hammer EP
The Breeders- Cannonball EP
Echo and the Bunnymen- Reverberation
Unwed Sailor- The Marionette and the Music Box
Mercury Rev- Boces
Knapsack- Silver Sweepstakes
Bedhead- Beheaded
The Swords Project- Entertainment Is Over If You Want It
Laika- Lost In Space, Volume 1
King Of Woolworth's- Ming Star
The Long Winters- When I Pretend To Fall
Steve Burns- Songs For Dustmites
Brian Eno- Ambient 1/Music For Airports
Sister Sonny- The Bandit Lab (trying to find a review)