Your Listening Pleasure
The Whigs, Hello, Blue Roses and Kylie in this week's YLP
The Whigs – Like A Vibration - Admittedly, this Athens, GA-based band isn’t breaking any new ground - male-fronted rock and roll somewhere in between The Replacements and My Morning Jacket. But "Like A Vibration" sounds so good that you can't help but nod your head in approval. Whether or not The Whigs will ever reach the status of fellow Athens rockers REM remains to be seen, but so far, they’re off to a good start.
Mission Control is out now on ATO Recordings...
Posted by Jason Prechtel on Jan 25, 2008 @ 12:00 am
A Cause For Attention
Eddie Vedder helps out Kim Warnick with a heartfelt auction.
An auction that ended this Monday on charitybuzz.com raised over $20,000 to help pay off medical bills for a certain special punk.
Seattle’s Kim Warnick, rocker of The Fastbacks and Visqueen, has faced multiple surgeries in the past year which has prevented her from working - “slinging drinks at the wonderful Cha Cha Lounge.” Luckily, some good friends in the music world banded together, and influential names on the auction helped it sell for far above the posted value.
Mr. Eddie Vedder donated his 1980's Schecter Telecaster, complete with case and a handwritten two page letter explaining the history of the guitar as well as his memories of touring with Warnick. While The Fastbacks are not well known worldwide, they made a strong impression on their hometown city and are recognized as one of the representatives of Seattle’s music scene. Vedder invited The Fastbacks to open some stadium-sized shows during a 1998 Pearl Jam tour, and counts them among one of his personal favorites.
The package also included two signed Pearl Jam posters and an original 8 x 11" black & white photo print of Vedder and Warnick from their 1998 tour, signed by photographer Charles Peterson.
Friends and fans of Kim Warnick can email her at kimfastback@yahoo.com to send their best wishes.
Posted by Leen Morrissey on Jan 24, 2008 @ 12:00 am
Takin' You Back
Sometimes you just don't want to hear someone singing. All of today's artists are big on music but small on vocals. Let the randomness commence.
Martin Denny – The Enchanted Sea – Martin Denny was a master of Hawaiian lounge music. Along with Arthur Lyman, Denny brought lounge music to the masses. Between 1957 and 1959 Martin Denny released eight albums. Not all of them were great, but they were at least decent. Since the resurgence of lounge music in the nineties, numerous compilations have been released in the last fifteen years. Check one of them out because you won’t be disappointed.
Santo and Johnny – Maria Elena – Famous for their song "Sleepwalk," Santo and Johnny have some terrific material. From the late fifties to the late sixties the duo served up pop perfection. They were never as popular after their first famous single, but their catalog is strong none-the-less.
Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman – Possession – Dr. Hoffman brought one of the greatest instruments, the theremin, to mainstream music. This song has a theremin solo within the orchestral composition. Check it out.
STREAM: Martin Denny - The Enchanted Sea
STREAM: Santo and Johnny - Maria Elena
STREAM: Dr. Samuel J. Hoffman - Possession
Posted by Greg Herald on Jan 24, 2008 @ 12:00 am
The British Are Coming
The Streets scrap samples, Klaxons scrap New Rave, and Nick Cave shows us all how it's done...again.
Mike Skinner of The Streets recently revealed some information on his upcoming "slice of life" Hip-Hop opus. After completing what would have been his fourth album, Skinner scrapped the whole thing opting for a more natural approach.
He explains,"It was quite well written and the rhyming was really good from a rap point of view but you were just left kind of empty so there wasn't much to really stimulate people. So I got rid of about 80 percent of the songs on the album and then started again...
Posted by Joe Roth on Jan 23, 2008 @ 12:00 am
We've Got You Covered
Limbeck covers MCS, MCS covers Limbeck - it's insanity!
In 2004, Motion City Soundtrack and Limbeck teamed up to release a two song split EP that featured each band covering one of the other's songs. Motion City Soundtrack chose "The Sun Woke the Whole State," while Limbeck went with “Perfect Teeth.” The former was originally a mellow acoustic track that, after the boys from Minnesota got a hold of it, turned into another one of their infectious, synth-driven tracks that makes you want to dance...
Posted by Wes Soltis, Jason Prechtel on Jan 22, 2008 @ 12:00 am