Andy and I (Stevie Wonder Driving School) made it to Kathmandu in 15 days time and we are so damn pleased with ourselves!
There’s loads to tell but the highlight of the entire run was this amazingly bad crash we had on the 11th day — I drove into the back of a parked lorry at 45 kmph! Our rick was absolutely twisted and mangled. I thought GAME OVER! Read the rest of this entry »
I am kind of back but not with stuff about indie or alternative music. Last weekend I took some funny pics of Stewie with my watch strapped around his neck. So I thought I’d post them on here.
Sorry for being ’slightly’ off-topic 
Read the rest of this entry »
Like fragrances and colours, music has the power to change not just one’s state of mind, (which is actually kind of obvious) but also the trappings in which one endures the dullest of quotidian events. Turn on a nice piece and see the hottest of summer afternoons transform into the most pleasant and delightful of evenings. I am sure most Indie lovers have experienced that first hand. The Long Winters is exactly the kind of band that bolsters the trust of us indie-gummers in surrealism. Musical surrealism, that is.
But then again not all songs (genres even) possess that sort of clout. Hip hop, as it is, is yet to get over certain parts of female anatomy– take that homies, ner ner. Admittedly though, even Indie fails to produce such gems regularly. Most of the time, one has to feel content with commonplace tunes. Well as long as it is Indie and tolerable anything goes. Example: Field Music – A House is Not a Home, Love of Diagrams – Pace or the Patience, etc. What were they thinking? It is an atrocity considering how much indie-maniacs like us are in love with all things “obscure”. Obscure reminds me I was going to make this post all about The Long Winters and not turn it into one of my whine sessions. I am tempted to say wine sessions.
The Long Winters are from Washington. Yes, Washington again. The self confessed paranoid John Roderick forms the core of The Long Winters. This singer/songwriter is capable of churning out melodies that prove to be handy whenever you are in that state of ethereal disconnect. However, the USP of the band lies in its lyrics. It is a skill to be able to put complicated thoughts across without being cheesy. “John Roderick writes songs that make you feel like you’ve been talking to someone really interesting in an airport for the last hour and, although you know you’ll never see them again, you just told them your whole life story and a part of you will love them forever. “ (Source: The Long Winters website).
My favourite song by The Long Winters is Delicate Hands (Ultimatum). In fact, this is the first Long Winters song that I heard. Needless to say, I immediately fell in love with it (I want to feed you butter-rum candy/but someone beat you to me/beat you to me/someone beat you to me). This is indie at its best. Even though it fits the bill perfectly, let us just forget about the obscure criterion for just once and concentrate on the tune for what it is. I am sure you’d concur it is quite nice.
Pushover from their latest record Putting the Days to Bed is lyrically not as good as Delicate Hands but it kind of makes up for that by flaunting stronger riffs. Fire Island, AK is well groovy and that is why me likes it loads.
Other songs that deserve a mention: Scent of Lime (The Worst You Can Do is Harm), Stupid, Blue Diamond (When I Pretend I Fall)
Songs on LB’s MP3 player: Delicate Hands, Stupid, Fire Island AK
Till we meet next time…
Keep moving forward (Meet the Robinsons style)
Megha
The Long Winters Discography
Putting The Days To Bed (2006)
Ultimatum (2005)
When I Pretend To Fall (2003)
The Worst You Can Do Is Harm (2002)
Laidbackness says:
Okay, so it had indeed been a long time since the last post (see: The Arctic Monkeys doing covers by Pradster). I honestly wanted to wait a while (or at least have an article about some other band) before posting another Arctic Monkeys article right after the first one about them. But then I thought, “what the deuce”, I’ll do it anyway! We have the usual excuses – work, studies, blah, and blah. Seriously, I would rather have my time and listen to stuff and write about it than do anything that falls a degree below all that on my scale of “Laidbackness like-o-meter”. On second thought, that was an awful name for a scale.
Anyway, so what have I been listening to lately? Umm, Indie/underground of course! The songs have been listed below (in case you are interested). These aren’t brand new tracks but in my opinion the best thing about underground songs is that no matter how long it has been after their release, they always remain fresh. Maybe, that is because most sloppy RJs (who play a song over and over again, until they kill it, grr…) probably never find out about these songs. Good thing. The last thing you want to hear on radio is some junkie toggling between pop and indie. Yes, that happens. At least here in India. That totally kills it. Okay, enough of the rant. Here’s my play list:
1. Heady Like a Kite – Noisy At the Circus
2. OK Go – Here We Go
3. Modest Mouse – Float On (one of the more popular ones, really)
4. My Vitriol – Always Your Way
5. Appleseed cast – Fishing the Sky
6. Arcade Fire – Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
7. Arctic Monkeys, The – All You People Are Vampires
8. PJ Harvey – Good Fortune
9. The Shins – Kissing The Lipless (will review this song later. This song deserves it.)
10. The Subways – Oh Yeah (Laidbackness recommends)
11. Mojave 3 – Breaking The Ice
12. Sonic Youth – Incinerate
13. Be Your Own Pet- October, First Account
14. Nine Black Alps – Unsatisfied
15. 22-20’s – Shoot Your Gun (Laidbackness recommends)
That is it for now. I would love to know what you think about the songs (in case you get a chance to listen to any of the songs mentioned above)!
Megha needs to go now and find nice trousers to go with black jacket.
Laters
Hmm, so what is it that we know about The Arctic Monkeys?
1) They have a certain affinity towards electro pop from 1984.
2) They are simply awesome.
3) People here at Laidbackness totally dig the monkeys (this being the second post about them).
4) They do some real fab covers!
What? Arctic Monkeys doing covers?
It seems the guys from Sheffield woke up one day with a song writer’s/musician’s block and thought of doing a cover. Not a bad decision, me thinks.
So here’s the low down: The Arctic Monkeys have done a wicked job at covering the Girls Aloud song Love Machine, and they have made it their own. It’s a union of electro pop certain, country hooks, good ol’ Brit humour and the lack of understanding that we guys wield for the women in our lives (and suffer consequently). It might irk some of us to find out that it’s a cover but the truth is in fact is that when you catch The Arctic Monkeys singing, “We’re gift wrapped kitty cats”, it pays to put in a disclaimer.
The song is tight, brisk and there is no moment where it slacks. There is more to the song, it’s The Arctic Monkeys biting back at pop or mainstream as you might reckon. Whatever the reasons, here’s a great song. Go check it out and thank the folks here at Laidbackness for providing info on the best stuff.
Laidbackness rating *****
This is your friendly neighbourhood Pradster, out!
It’s a journey. A big throbbing wall of noise greets you, as you pack your bags with wonder. Leave your bags behind, abandon all thoughts for, that big wall will soon be shredded and before you know it you will be submerged in the melody.
Silversuns pickups or SSPS as they like to be called weave an aural web; you can wander around for hours at a stretch, unraveling the many layers of sound. What you look for determines what you find. There you are on your way, lost in the steady tempo preparing for the time ahead and so you should buckle up, for it’s a long ride, stretching to nearly seven and a half minutes.
The song slacks and drags in parts. This journey could have been and honestly should have been tighter, taut and shorter (considering this era of 2 minute sagas!). The Silversuns sound too much like The Smashing Pumpkins for their own good; Brian Aubert’s vocal resembling a certain Boy Scout version of Billy Corgan.
Back to the ride, where the steady melody, which is the hallmark of the song degenerates into guttural wailing shakes you out of your cocoon. The melody fades into the background so if you were on an airplane…this would have been your pocket of turbulence. But then somebody takes control and lands it …before running it into another wall of noise!
The redeeming feature is the melody, that’s why you hopped on in the first place. Don’t bother looking out of the windows for the lyrics just don’t make much sense. Melancholy sounds and strange lyrics aren’t great bedfellows especially when you are looking for an escape!
Lazy eye is not a great song but it is a good song, like a trip which is good while it lasts but which you will forget as soon as it is over, Lazy Eye is good while it lasts but it will certainly not leave any lasting impressions on you.
Rating: *****
Reviewed by Pradster
Question: Name the best song in the World?
The answer:
The Charlatans – How High
Now that you have had a load of it you’d concur that it is indeed one of the best tunes ever! Don’t tell me the electrifying guitars don’t do anything for you.
Death Cab for Cutie is not a new band for sure. Their first release was way back in 97. Why then review this album now? Yes, why then Megha. Why? Well, when this band first came out, I did not have this medium to express my reverence. The same is the case with many other uber-cool bands, as you shall soon find out when I review them aeons after their conception and/or death (memo to self: must review Joy Division).
See the best thing about the alternative music band Death Cab for Cutie is the fact that it is an in fact an alternative music band (scoff at the name you metal maniacs. That is what you do. As if Anathema is not sad). Had it been something else, say for example, a bunch of statisticians or something equally boring then I doubt if it would have been able to get anything sorted for us alternative slugs.
I remember saying – Oh my God, they are good – the first time I heard them being played on a popular underground and alternative online radio channel. I could tell the band apart from the other contemporary underground bands being played at that time.
I think one of the first DCFC songs that I heard was We Looked like Giants. The songs lyrics are embellished with tiny bits of nostalgia. The song goes from talking about things discovered as teenagers (When every Thursday/ I’d break those mountain passes/ you’d skip your early classes and we’d learn how our bodies worked) and works it way to describing the tumultuous events that when thrown together chronologically become life or something like it (God damn that black night/ with its foul temptation/I’d become what I always hated). If I had to use just two words to underline the main aspect of the song, I would say, for the lack of better words – Strong Lyrics. That really is the USP of this song. I am not in any way trying to undermine the musical aspect of the song. The piano solo towards the end, if not mind blowing, is definitely soothing. Very fittingly placed towards the end of the song, it provides the perfect background score while you are lost thinking about your salad days and the farrago of things that followed thereon. All that coupled with grey guitar notes makes for an excellent listenining time. I wish DCFC did more songs in the style of Giants.
Just a few days ago I was thinking that had there been a song writing contest where the participants were required to unprosify totally random and inane things then I think DCFC would have emerged as the clear winners. I mean who else can come up with a song titled Crooked Teeth and then beautifully incorporate that into the lyrics of the song as well (coz that night the sun and the tree/made the skyline look like the crooked teeth/in the mouth of the man who was devouring us both)? The second place would have gone to Zero 7 for Somersault. No points to The Charlatans for Come in Number 21 even though it is a totally fantastic song!
Soul Meets Body from 2005’s Plan is a slight detour from their signature style. The tune is okay at it’s very best. Lyrics – mediocre affair indeed. The funny thing is that I wasn’t able to figure out the actual tempo of the song until I saw its video. The band members moving their heads about in a woodpecker fashion (they are the subtler cousins of heavy metal head banging hawks) while playing the guitar give the impression that the tempo of the song is indeed higher than what you might have initially made it out to be. Funny that. I like the song anyway. I do have this tendency to go substandard sometimes.
I love the song The New Year taken from the same album as We Looked like Giants – Transatlanticism. It is like We Looked like Giants part 2. Although it is talking about something totally different but the total effect of the song is similar. I have to say that I am eagerly waiting for more stuff like that from Transatlanticism.
Meanwhile the discography:
1997 You Can Play These Songs with Chords
1. President of What?
2. Champagne From A Paper Cup
3. Pictures in an Exhibition
4. Hindsight
5. That’s Incentive
6. Amputations
7. Two Cars
8. Line of Best Fit
1998 Something about Airplanes
1. Bend to Squares
2. President of What?
3. Champagne From a Paper Cup
4. Your Bruise
5. Pictures in an Exhibition
6. Sleep Spent
7. Face that Launched 1000 Shits
8. Amputations
9. Fake Frowns
10. Line of Best Fit
2000 We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes
1. Title Track
2. The Employment Pages
3. For What Reason
4. Lowell, MA
5. 405
6. Little Fury Bugs
7. Company Calls
8. Company Calls Epilogue
9. No Joy in Mudville
10. Scientist Studies
2001 The Photo Album
1. Steadier Footing
2. A Movie Script Ending
3. We Laugh Indoors
4. Information Travels Faster
5. Why You’d Want To Live Here
6. Blacking Out The Friction
7. I Was A Kaleidoscope
8. Styrofoam Plates
9. Coney Island
10. Debate Exposes Doubt
Limited Edition Bonus Disc
1. 20th Century Towers
2. All Is Full Of Love [Bjork]
3. Stability
2002 You Can Play These Songs With Chords Re-Release
1. President of What?
2. Champagne From A Paper Cup
3. Pictures in an Exhibition
4. Hindsight
5. That’s Incentive
6. Amputations
7. Two Cars
8. Line Of Best Fit
9. This Charming Man [The Smiths]
10. TV Trays
11. New Candles
12. Tomorrow
13. Flustered / Hey Tomcat
14. State Street Residential
15. Wait [Secret Stars]
16. Prove My Hypotheses
17. Song For Kelly Huckaby (facts version)
18. Army Corps Of Architects
2003 Transatlanticism
1. The New Year
2. Lightness
3. Title and Registration
4. Expo ‘86
5. The Sound Of Settling
6. Tiny Vessels
7. Transatlanticism
8. Passenger Seat
9. The Death Of An Interior Decorator
10. We Looked Like Giants
11. A Lack Of Color
2005 Plans
1. Marching Bands of Manhattan
2. Soul Meets Body
3. Summer Skin
4. Different Names For The Same Thing
5. I Will Follow You Into The Dark
6. Your Heart Is An Empty Room
7. Someday You Will Be Loved
8. Crooked Teeth
9. What Sarah Said
I spent the last month scouring various e-malls, electronic stores and grey markets looking for a good mp3 player. I had wanted to buy an iPod but I just could not justify paying its cost considering the fact that once its battery dies you need to get it replaced. So I decided to have a look at the various iPod imitations available in the market. Sadly enough, not only are they awful to look at but they are also really dodgy when it comes to reliability.
I had almost given up on finding a good, reasonably priced mp3 player when I came across Transcend T.Sonic 620 MP3 player listed on eBay. Its cool looks immediately caught my attention. Moreover, Transcend is a world famous company when it comes to flash drives. I could not have asked for anything better. One, I get a branded mp3 player. Two, it looks great. Three, it does not cost an arm and a leg. Last but not the least; the sound quality is comparable to that of an iPod! Sweet!
The one that I have is blue in colour and can store up to 512 MB of data. The user interface is intuitive and easy to use. Sound quality, like I said before is awesome. Volume level can smoothly go up to 100 decibels. The ear phones provided with the player are top quality. It has a voice recorder and an FM tuner with 20 configurable stations. It is a nifty little plug and play device. That means you don’t need to install drivers in order to make it communicate with your PC (unless you are using Win 98).
The only thing that I do not like about this player is the fact that you can not charge it using your computer’s USB port. It uses a single AAA battery which needs to be replaced after (approx.) 13-14 hours of usage. That is not necessarily a drawback. It means that the player is usable even if there is no PC or a laptop available to recharge it.
To sum it all up, Transcend T.Sonic 620 is a great mp3 player and definitely a great buy! Honestly, I don’t see how it is different from an iPod, disregarding the obvious factors such as glam value and price. As long as an mp3 player sounds great and works fine I am a very happy girl!
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