Thursday, October 9, 2008

Estelle, Your Music is Trapped in My Head


I was looking for some excuse to post the new single by Estelle and I found it in the Chronicle. Apparently the Roots, Gym Class Heroes and Estelle will all be at the Backyard on Sunday, October 12th. I'm not a big fan of Gym Class Heroes but the Roots are always a good show to catch. If you've never been to the Backyard you should go because this is the last season it will be open.

For those of you who don't know, there was a big shopping complex built around the Backyard and they have pretty much given the classic venue the squeeze. So don't park at Lowes, or whatever other box store is there they will tow your ass...jerk wads. The ironic thing about that is the Backyard was there first, and most of those stores are closed by the time the concerts are going on. But what're you gonna do? You can't fight city hall or whatever.

Check out the Estelle videos after the jump...



Estelle ft. Kanye West - American Boy video via YouTube


Estelle - Pretty Please video via YouTube

This one is one part Gossip Girl and one part Project Runway...spot the cameos.


Estelle - No Substitute Love video via YouTube

I was going to add a video by the Roots too, but they're on an imprint of Universal Music Group. So if you want to see some Roots videos you're going to have to go directly to the UMG YouTube channel, which I refuse to link. Man, I really hate UMG.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Kings of Leon Rawk!


Kings of Leon - Use Somebody video via YouTube

Review after the jump...

I've been a fan of Kings of Leon ever since I first heard Molly's Chamber years ago. I even had the chance to see them at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston during their Aha Shake Heartbreak tour. Live, these guys are so tight that they managed to tear through their whole set, including encore, in less than an hour. Smoking about a pack of cigarettes a piece all the while.

Well the latest Kings of Leon record, Only By the Night is more great, straight-forward Rock n' Roll. These guys certainly aren't trying to re-invent the wheel they put passionate vocals over riffy guitar parts accentuated with a killer rhythm section. Most of the songs on the new disc already sound classic. The video from above the jump is a great example of this, and it's not even a single...yet. The Kings first single from the new record was the song Crawl, which was good but the latest single Sex on Fire is going to be huge on radio. In fact you may have already heard it if you listen to a decent radio station...as if any of you listen to radio anymore. But I digress...

For those of you here in Austin, you can catch the Kings later this month at the Austin City Music Hall. If you're interested you better get tickets fast cause Austin LOVES these guys. When they played during SXSW last spring at Stubb's it was def the event of the week...which is saying a LOT. This time around, they are playing with We Are Scientists and the Stills. So all in all a great line-up and a great show to catch if you can.

These guys are VERY popular in the UK, which is why I have all of these live from UK TV vids. Also, because their label disables video embedding :-( But it certainly helps that they sound so good live, and that their records also have a live sound.


Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire video via YouTube


Kings of Leon - Crawl video via YouTube

Even though this song is fairly old now (3 yearsish) I'm posting it cause it's the most well-known song by We Are Scientists and it rocks!


We Are Scientists - Nobody Moves, Nobody Gets Hurt video via YouTube

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Department of Eagles, Next Big Thing


You know a band is going to be the next big thing, when their first performance as a full band is on the Conan O'Brien show. Well that performance was this passed Friday night and that band was Department of Eagles. Chances are you have never heard of these guys but trust me you will soon enough.

See before, Daniel Rossen became a member of Grizzly Bear he formed a band with his NYU roommate. The first Department of Eagles record came and went with little acclaim, then Grizzly Bear took off. Well, now you can finally purchase the second Department of Eagles record entitled, In Ear Farm. It has the same slow, haunting sound as Grizzly Bear with more focus on tighter composition and a little more electronic influence. But don't worry this isn't a dance record or anything. Here are a couple of tracks for you to sample:

Department of Eagles - In Ear Farm

Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You

Find some video after the jump...

First of all this song is a cover of an awful pop song by Jo Jo and this track has been making its rounds on the internets for almost a year now. However, it has re-emerged as a B-Side to the first DOE single, No One Does It Like You.

Daniel Rossen - Too Little, Too Late video via YouTube


Department of Eagles - No One Does it Like You video via YouTube


Grizzly Bear - The Knife video via YouTube