Red House Painters - Rollercoaster

Red House Painters isn't a band you want to listen to when sad. It leads to nowhere. Kozelek's songs are too depressingly beautiful to ever drag you out of a ditch.

Nor should you listen to Red House Painters when happy, because it will make you unhappy.

I guess you just have to be content in staying low. I need to stop listening to Rollercoaster but I can't.

I thought you'd come over
But for some reason you didn't
Glass on the pavement under my shoe
Without you is all my life amounts to

Katy Song mp3
Strawberry Hill mp3
Rollercoaster Part 1, part 2

Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

I read about the debut album from this band being a mix of black metal and indie pop. That's a good description, but only if it is also mentioned that the two genres mix between songs rather than within them. The songs where the female sings are great and do a better job of mimicking post-punk than a great deal of the more popular revival bands. The good songs flow from poppy guitar work with Joy Division-ish bass lines to shoegazey walls of sound and its all overlain by sweet female vocals.

I can't stand metal so I have to skip a few tracks from the album. I really hope the band goes on to focus on the poppier sound. I read that the girl singer has a solo project so maybe that will be worth looking up.

The good tracks are Les Ruches Malades, Faux Semblants, Video Girl, Le Reine Trayeuse, and Amesoeurs.

Preorder from Tower (best price I've seen)

Faux Semblants mp3
Download album

As a side note I have been spending way too much time playing Broken Picture Telephone. It's basically an online version of the telephone game but instead of whispering a phrase around a circle you try to convey a consistent message while alternating between pictures and words. Try it out!

The Vandelles - S/T EP

Recently I have gotten into surf music so I thought I would follow up on a previous post by uploading The Vandelles' self titled EP. This isn't surf but the influence can be clearly heard throughout the EP. The 60s girl group influence is also obvious with the -elles suffix. I'd call the music surf-y noise pop and it is great! Fizzbombs are a good comparison and I wonder if The Vandelles have listened to them.

So this EP. Noise pop is "in" right now, with Wavves and The Pains coming out as best new music on Pitchfork, but The Vandelles have escaped attention. They certainly deserve some recognition for this EP. Swell to Heaven sounds you're submerged in the surf with half of your ears peeking above the crackling foam. Lovely Weather is another great song, with a loud guitar starting things off noisy real quick.

This self titled is a great debut and I can't wait for the album that is supposedly coming this year. The surf approach is great and I'm on the prowl for more of this sound. So if anyone reading knows some send me a message!

Visit The Vandelles on MySpace. I don't know if you can still buy the CD, but it's being rereleased by SVC records soon.

Swell to Heaven mp3
Lovely Weather mp3
Download EP

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Primary Phase

I read the HHGttG series in middle school and they immediately became my favorite series of books. Douglas Adams' writing is hilarious and the Hitchhiker's series beats any other science fiction novel in terms of comedy.

Before the books were written the HHGttG was a radio show written by Adams for the BBC. The story has actually been retold multiple times but Adams always made sure to vary things between the radio show, TV show, and novels so no one is a copy of the other. Recently I have been listening to the radio show and must say that it is great.

The radio show takes the form of 30 minute episodes. There are twelve in the original series which includes the Primary and Secondary phases produced in the 70s. In 2003 the series was picked up again by the BBC and an additional three phases were created. The show is incredibly well done and worth listening to even if you have already read the books.

The files are too large for Mediafire so I had to make a split archive. Download all four parts then extract "Primary Phase.zip.001"
Download Primary Phase (1)(2)(3)(4)