Hello.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-12-13)

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:43:40 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-12-13):

Top 10 Albums 2009...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:47:56 +0000

(I’m quite surprised by a couple of these but I was trying to remember what I’ve listened to the most and liked the best.) Here are my favourites:

10. Health - Get Colour

9. The Antlers - Hospice

8. The Twilight Sad - Forget The Night Ahead

7. Grammatics - s/t

6. Johnny Foreigner - Grace And The Bigger Picture

5. Danananananakroyd - Hey Everyone!

4. Mew - No More Stories…

3. Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions

2. Blakfish - Champions

1. Brand New - Daisy

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:11:01 +0000

With Pavement’s reunion plans all but finalized, it was only a matter of time before other defunct acts added their name to the list. The latest: Chicago’s Cap’n Jazz.

It might sound too good to be true, but according to a close source, the band — Tim Kinsella, Mike Kinsella, Sam Zurick, Victor Villarreal and Davey von Bohlen — has been rehearsing old material in hopes of putting together a 10-date tour for summer 2010. While nothing is confirmed, the source says the five performers were asked to learn their individual parts for five songs.

The band’s break up in 1995 spawned several spinoffs, including Joan of Arc, Owls, American Football, Make Believe and Ghosts and Vodka.

The five members of Cap’n Jazz have found varied success with solo and alternate projects. In addition to being the sole static member of Joan of Arc, Tim Kinsella maintains a solo career under his own name, while contributing to a handful of other bands. Mike Kinsella has released five solo albums under the Owen moniker. Sam Zurick continues to play with Joan of Arc and release solo work as Sam Zurick People Dick. Victor Villarreal self-released his first solo record this past July, and Davey von Bohlen struck gold with The Promise Ring and Maritime.

Perhaps the most popular Cap’n Jazz offshoot, Owls, may be reuniting, as well. Sort of. The source says practice sessions are set up for a new band consisting of Tim Kinsella, Sam Zurick, Victor Villarreal, Make Believe’s Bobby Burg, Ghosts and Vodka’s Erik Bocek and Joan of Arc’s Theo Katsaounis.

The source continued as saying the new group won’t be called Owls due to a dispute with old label Jade Tree Records, and that Polyvinyl Records is on the short list of potential suitors. The band has yet to decide on a name, the source said.

Bear in mind that these are rumors. As such, rumors have a tendency to be inaccurate or wrong altogether. Stay tuned to Indie Rock Reviews for the latest on this story.

http://www.indierockreviews.com/2009/12/08/rumor-capn-jazz-owls-to-reunite/

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-12-6)

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:05:49 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-12-6):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

My Band was includuded on this podcast:

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:28:00 +0000

http://thesearchivesaremonuments.blogspot.com/2009/12/thesearchivesaremonuments-podcast.html

We’re track 3. Have a listen if you like :)

Things That Ruled My Life This Year:

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:29:44 +0000

1. The Smiths.

I always quite liked The Smiths. “This Charming Man” would come on when I was out and I’d cheer and dance, and I had “The Queen is Dead” and everything. But for a good few weeks around my birthday this year it was all I could do to put my book down and turn off The Smiths and leave the house. I guess being unemployed and lonely does that to you. Literally from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed if it was possible a Smiths album was on. I remember one day when I got a call from the agency to work up at RS and I nearly said no because I’d have to stop listening to them. Luckily I’m not quite as stupd as that and went to work and the curse was broken a little bit. But they were a good few weeks and they’ve definitely stayed in mind when I’ve been writing songs for the rest of the year.

2. The Wire.

I’m certain I already written about my love of The Wire before but I shall do it again. When I saw series 1 I didn’t quite click with the first few episodes. Each episode is more of part of one big story than a smaller one in itself and that took me a while to get into, but by the end of the series I was hooked and straight on to the next one. I told anyone who’d listen (hardly anyone) about it and watched 3 or 4 hour long episodes a day around uni and doing my dissertation. I even had to make the difficult decision to stop myself watching the last series until I’d finished my dissertation so I didn’t fail uni. I replaced it with drinking tea in the kitchen with Rhys and talking about how much work we had. But I got it done and then finished my beloved. After that there wasn’t much to do or talk about for a while. Never mind.

3. Tour.

Tour was basically the best thing ever, but now when I think about it I get sour because I’ll probably never get to do another one realistically. :(

4. Bruce Springsteen.

I’m convinced there’s a time in every young man’s life where the Boss rules all. It happened to Mike, it happened to James, and it happened to me. Fortunately for us this was around the same time as each other, at the start of this year, so we got to swap recommendations of albums to search out in his massive back catalogue. I even got to see Bruce at Glastonbury. In the weeks before Glastonbury I was giddy with excitement, and when we got to the festival I was in a near frenzy of excitement. Unfortunately for me it was a set filled with newer material I wasn’t into for the first hour and a half. The last bit was quite hit packed, and admittedly was brilliant but the damage was already done. I sat drunkenly around our camp fire too disappointed to even speak, and the only highlight of the rest of the night was wrestling with Keith in our tent. He knows what he did. I’ve hardly listened to Bruce since then, but slowly but surely we’re patching up our relationship.

5. Song Writing.

This year, more than any, I’ve written songs. For the first time ever, full songs, with lyrics and singing and everything, not just some riffs i hoped someone would know what to do with. Sometimes I’ve been happy with the results, other times less so, but I guess that’s how you progress. My dissertation was in song writing, so that took up the early part of the year, and since uni I’ve been doing Bronze Medals with Lloyd and Mike and writing for that.

should i

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:06:56 +0000

sameoldcitydifferentname:

shave my head???

No.

SNOW IS FALLING:

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:35:56 +0000

(snoooooooww is faaaaaaalllllin)

ALL AROUND ME.

(aaaaaaaalllll aaaarrrrrrroooooouuuund me)

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-29)

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:14:54 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-29):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

luciekerley: He was reading The Great Gatsby. I think I should...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:03:45 +0000

luciekerley:

He was reading The Great Gatsby. I think I should read this book.

It’s awesome, but Tender is the Night is even better!

15:26 26.11.09

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:41:13 +0000

jimmyo:

Name: James

Tumblr Name: jimmyo

Nicknames: Jim, Jimmy, Jimbob, JimmyO

Birthday: 18th of April

Age: 21

Location: Nuneaton, UK

Current school/job: Learner Support Practitioner and Part Time Youth Worker

Sexual orientation: Straight

Status: Single

Random fact about yourself: I’ve never been to Scotland

Hobbies/Interests: Music, pro-wrestling, festivals, spending too much time on the Internet

Do you smoke/drink: I don’t smoke but i drink quite alot. It’s good for you, scientists said so *nods head sagely*

Favorite Tumblr blogs?: ringsidereview and fakevince

Why Tumblr?: My mate Ben (Check him out, click) used tumblr to write up his travel journal so i ended up starting a blog as something to do while in my shitty office job

This is the most myspace thing I ever saw! x

Owls could seriously be my new favourite band. So unbelievably...

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:04:17 +0000

Owls could seriously be my new favourite band. So unbelievably good.

R Kelly - Pregnant. There are no words for this. I think...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:44:05 +0000

R Kelly - Pregnant.

There are no words for this. I think I’m going to have to watch trapped in the closet again.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-22)

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:18:04 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-22):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Most heartbreaking song ever.

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:58:18 +0000

Most heartbreaking song ever.

Current Guilty Pleasures:

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:01:27 +0000

johnnyw:

bengilchrist:

“Tik-Tok” by Ke$ha. Yes that is how you spell her name. It’s the worst song ever but the chorus is wicked.

X Factor.

Rereading “Heavier Than Heaven” for about the 6th time.

Making sure I’m up and doing nothing between 12 and 1 every weekday so I can watch the Fresh Prince double bill.

Reorganising (and counting) my CDs.

Looking forward to work.

X Factor, Ben you have got to be kidding me? You’ve crossed over to the dark side!

That’s why it’s a guilty pleasure!

Current Guilty Pleasures:

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:41:36 +0000

“Tik-Tok” by Ke$ha. Yes that is how you spell her name. It’s the worst song ever but the chorus is wicked.
X Factor.
Rereading “Heavier Than Heaven” for about the 6th time.
Making sure I’m up and doing nothing between 12 and 1 every weekday so I can watch the Fresh Prince double bill.
Reorganising (and counting) my CDs.
Looking forward to work.

This is the work of a genius. I stole it from Bish so he is...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:23:27 +0000

This is the work of a genius. I stole it from Bish so he is better than me. I think this completes the internet, they should just turn it off now.

Brand New - Daisy (revisted...)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:10:01 +0000

johnnyw:

johnnyw:

Ok, so i’ve listened to Brand New - Daisy a handful of times now, and yes I was pretty disappointed with it the first time around.
Now I feel it’s an ok record but it still doesn’t grab me like Deja Entendu or Devil & God did. To borrow a line from Nostalgia Critic; “It’s ok. That’s it, just… O.K.” I still love Gasoline and At The Bottom but the rest of the tracks just sound like filler to me. I suppose Daisy isn’t bad being the title track but i’m not sure. If they called it a day tomorrow I’d be gutted but could understand why. Vince is a fantastic rhythm guitarist and could probably write some great songs but for some reason the chemistry just doesn’t seem to work here.
There i’m done with this one now. Closure. Hahah.

x

motherloader:

I’m so surprised to read someone say this because I think it’s a great piece of art from top to bottom. It’s a coherent and cohesive sonic journey. You might be looking for something you’ll never find if you’re comparing this to their earlier albums because this album can, will, and has to stand on its own two feet. My two cents.

I honestly feel it falls short and sounds shallow, almost unfinished. I’m not so much comparing it to the earlier albums but feel that it pales in significance compared to Devil & God. Whereas Devil & God presented thought-provoking, emotional and at times, europhic sounding music, here I feel like Jessie is saying; “there, here you go, it’s not the best I can do but y’all can live with it, right?” Its almost too laissez faire for it’s own good, like people will like it because it feels so lazy. If this was, say their first record, I’d be like: “Yeah it’s good, but I can tell from listening to it that they havn’t achieved their full potential” and thats how the whole record sounds to me, like it could have been amazing but they’re almost holding back, almost ‘achiveing their full potential’, but not quite. Take for example, and i’m sorry to bring them up again, but mewithoutYou. ‘Catch For Us, the Foxes’ or ‘Brother, Sister’. Both records could easily stand out on their own, even the new record ‘it’s all crazy!…’ You could take any one of those records and listen to it on it’s own but I feel with Daisy, not to take anything away from it, but you listen to it and think, “yeah it’s ok, but if you really want a taste of BrandNew, give Deja or Devil & God a listen…” I don’t know…

But yeah, fair comments and opinions from you and thanks for reblogging me :) Hope I havn’t offended you, i’m not trying to start an arguement or be a cock or anything! Of course, people do feel differently about it when listening to it, but thats the beauty of music, it appeals to everyone differently!

That’s a shame! I really love it, I was listening to it on repeat 6 or 7 times a day when I first got it. I don’t think that Be Gone really works but apart from that I think the album is brilliant! I think it flows better than The Devil and God, although maybe that is the slightly better album. The Devil and God was so different to any of their back catalogue that any album after was always going to have a tough time standing up to it. I think this album manages to carry some of the stylistic traits of The Devil… without sounding like a continuation, which is something I really like. It would have been easy to carry on down the same path, especially with the last album being so well received, but this album is much more aggressive. I dunno, I’m just rambling a bit but I think it’s a fantastic album, definitely in my top ten this year. I think my favourite tracks are Bought a Bride, Gasoline, Noro and At The Bottom and I think they’re definitely up there with their best songs. But like you said, each to their own!

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-15)

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:57:35 +0000

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-11-15):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz