Music Envy: Whodini - Freaks come out at night
Who can deny the pure awesomeness of this Brooklyn based trio’s hit “Freaks come out at night?” This song is a far cry from current hip hop, featuring a full on singing embrace of friendship followed by the sweet surrender of a 1980’s hip hop beat.
Music Envy: Carl Sagan - A Glorious Dawn
This has been around for quite some time, but here @ hwn central it’s been on repeat all morning. Just wanted to share for anyone who hasn’t seen it, and if you have it’s a great time to take a listen!
Although Steve ends up looking a little dorky because he has a headset on, his technique and control are out of this world.
Steve’s videos, tips and tricks have helped out Darby’s drumming to the Nth degree over the past year. They’ve even helped me learn a thing or two about drums and drumming.
— Jason Abraham
I was just introduced to Florence + The Machine yesterday. The musicians seem to rotate behind the lead vocals of Florence Welch, who provides her very soulful voice, face and name to the project . She reminds me of Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine performance. (Highly Recommended)
I’ve yet to hit the entire album, Lungs, up yet. But I’m quite impressed with the video/myspace/youtube offerings. In particular Drumming Song has really caught my attention. Rabbit Heart gets my body moving with its slow grooving bass-line. The song that first got me was ‘You’ve Got The Love’ It’s over the top video and melody really capture everything I like about Florence and the Machine.
My first introduction to As Tall As Lions came when Darby was on tour as a drum tech for Under the Influence of Giants. The Giants were opening up for the Lions. He phoned me from the road and and told me about this band that brought a fierce intensity with them on stage every night, as if each night was the first time performing each song. The picture above truly demonstrates how much the rhythm section brings it. It’s not often Darby recommends that I listen to a band, especially with so much enthusiasmnbehind the suggestion. I immediately listened to their self titled album release in 2006. I loved it. With songs like ‘Ghost of York’ and ‘Love, Love, Love’ I was drawn in on first listen.
The boys of ATAL have released a new album in late 2009, You Can’t Take it With You. While the album does not seem to capture the same energy that the group emits on stage, I still see a lot of promise in these guys. If you ever get a chance to check them out live I highly recommend it.
— Jason Abraham
Music Envy: Album of the Week
The Shins: Wincing the Night Away
Song Highlight: Australia
“It’s time to put sie ear-goggles on..”
“NO!”
I’m not even sure I can fully comprehend what motivates and inspires The Shins, but i do know that they nailed it with Wincing the Night Away. I’ve been on the fence about The Shins ever since Garden State came out. I went back and bought or listened to in some capacity their previous releases. To be honest, I was baffled. I found the lyrics to be a little too clever for their own good. The melodies a little bit too complex, everything just a little too self indulged for my tastes. Turns out I was just not ready. With this record, I think that the band perfects the formula for a Shins record that has mass appeal. I think Sub-Pop Records would agree with this, as Wincing debuted at number 2 on the charts — a first for Sub Pop.
With Australia, Mercer demonstrates his knowledge of the English lexicon, carefully crafting a tale instructing the listener to seize the day. Although the lyrics are hard to memorize — even after countless listens — its quite easy to see the beauty in them. Lyrically there is no repeating chorus in sight but I still find myself botching the words to “You be damned to be one of us, girl, faced with the dodo’s conundrum - I felt like I could just fly”
Musically — Australia gets my foot tapping immediately with a simple shuffle and a refreshingly bouncy bass line. Who can argue with a few “la la la’s” to get the melody established? Not I. From here the song establishes a delicate ebb and flow of guitars beautifully arranged to near sonic perfection. Let’s not forget the Banjo breakdown at 1:53. Killer. The song’s solo section really builds on the bounciness of the bass line, and captures the mood of song while driving it forward. My take? 4 minutes of Indie-pop bliss.
“Wincing the Night Away” is really a quality record. I hope that everyone who has not heard this record has been given a little bit of insight into a record that halfwaynorth wholeheartedly and unanimously enjoys. For those who are already familiar I hope you gave the record a spin this week.
— Jason Abraham
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Song Highlight: Phantom Limb
A little known fact about guitar players: we actually want to be drummers. I can probably list my top 5 favorite drummers before guitar players (but we’ll leave that for another post). And this is what I love about Wincing’s Phantom Limb. Besides being hooky as hell and somehow haunting at the same time, with great melodies and a killer tremolo echoing throughout, the rhythm section is really making this track. As a guitar player, I love it when this happens. More than occasionally during a halfwaynorth practice, the rhythm section will lock in and take a song to a whole new level. Jason and I will glance over at each other with huge grins knowing full well that Eugene and Darby are in charge and giving us a good face-melting.
The rhythm section in Phantom Limb is reminiscent of Phil Spector’s “wall of sound;” even-keeled, but thunderous. The kick and bass seem to palpitate in time to a collective coronary artery that makes you feel this unassuming track in your chest. All the while James Mercer’s vocals seemingly come at you from the depths of a long, dark hallway. You almost expect to hear Ronnie Spector herself echoing, “Baby, my darling!”
- Joseph Shields
The Shins: Wincing the Night Away
Song Highlight: Sea Legs
I’m definitely no Shins expert, but I love James Mercer’s eerie vocals on top of unconventional off-center pop arrangements as much as the next indie-pop fan. There’s a strange allure to his music that I’ve always had trouble describing. I wasn’t even sure I liked it much at first, but I couldn’t help but listen to it over and over.
From ‘Wincing the NIght Away’, ‘Sea Legs’ stands out for me because, in addition to the band’s characteristically lush, hypnotic melodies, this song has a quality that interested me most about the Shins in the first place: it’s surprising. In an album with mostly upbeat pop songs, ‘Sea Legs’ breaks the flow and introduces a tone that’s not simply different, like ‘Black Wave’ (which takes on a darker sound - a more typical route to go), but sort of… funky… while maintaining melodious pop sensibilities. The 40-second intro builds on a tight groove established by the drums, acoustic guitar, and bass, which carries throughout the track and grows in sophistication as it interacts with full-bodied vocal arrangements, both smooth and rhythmic synths, lavish guitars and strings, and something resembling a flute. Needless to say, the underlying rhythm is what makes this song uniquely interesting and mesmerizing, but the song would get old quickly without the dynamics that are so well-executed by the vocals and strings. It’s a song that keeps revealing more to me every time I listen to it.
— Eugene Limb
The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
Song Highlight : Girl Sailor
My first exposure to The Shins was a review I heard on National Public Radio. Initially I did not like what I heard. I thought it was too college radio, too radio friendly — just another song tailored to appeal to the masses. However, I did manage to give the record a listen. During that listen my musical mind was taken over by the superb recording quality, clever lyrical content and the unusual vocal melodies. There was at least a 3 week period where the album was my companion while I spun my way to work on a ten mile bike ride.
Girl Sailor is one track in particular that grabbed me. I think it was the track’s placement in the album that had me hooked. It comes at the point towards the end of an album where the next track can either pull you back in or help fade the album into the background. Girl Sailor takes off with an exclamation from the rhythm section followed by smooth decay of the guitar. Once I heard the walk down scale, I was in. The subtle complexity of the instrumentation, particularly its well placed syncopation, keeps the songs moving. Again, the unusual vocal melody and delivery really sell this song.
Lyrically, The Shins are on another plain of existence. I often wonder exactly what they are trying to say but I somehow manage to find some parallels in my own life that give the songs a personal touch. I have often heard from die hard Shins fans that this is the worst of The Shins releases. Oh well, let them hate if it makes them feel better. For me, this will sit on my shelf as one of the heavy hitters in my arsenal.
— Chris Darby
15+ years after this release from The Smashing Pumpkins, halfwaynorth takes a look back.
Eugene:
First Listen? I purchased the album in 1994 and eventually replaced it in 2001 after the disc wore out.
Favorite Song? Mayonnaise (probably)
Tidbit: I learned how to play guitar by buying the album tab book and learning all the parts to almost every song.
Jason:
First Listen? Like Eugene I purchased SD in 1994. And then later again in 1996.
Favorite Song? I go back and forth between Geek USA and Quiet.
Tidbit: Despite being the largest SP fan amongst my circle of friends, I actually bought and sold this album in 1994. Everything was just so loud and angsty. I look back on this and laugh. I do remember liking the track Hummer in ‘94. I repurchased Siamese Dream after attending my first SP concert in ‘96.
Darby:
First listen? Release day 12 am.
Favorite song? Mayonnaise, Silverf*ck a close second.
Tidbit: I attended a cd release listening party. 11 pm listened to Gish until the 12 am release. I remember walking home listening to SD and wishing it sounded more like Gish.
Joe:
First Listen? Honestly, I don’t remember specifically buying Siamese Dream. I was getting into music just a little bit behind others in my generation. Sometime during 1993 the pieces started to fall together… Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and of course, Smashing Pumpkins. Once I got a sense of the musical terrain my collection grew exponentially. Siamese was probably acquired during a CD purchasing bonanza around this time.
Favorite Song? Geek USA. This song makes me want to throw a Radio Flyer wagon down a set of stairs in an office building. I dare you to not rock out when this song is on. The guitar tones are just sick. And the break down… oh the break down. If I had listened to this song before every match when I wrestled in high school, I would have been state champ all four years.
Tidbit: The first thing that comes to mind when I think about this album is being in the car with my cousin somewhere around 1996-1997. We were driving back home from a day of skiing listening to Siamese. I remember saying, “This album is classic. I mean it’s only been out for a few years. But this thing is in classic. Ten, fifteen years from now, we’ll still be listening to it and losing our minds.” I was right.
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Chicago-based, face-melting rock 'n' roll.
