50 States, 50 Artists, 50 Songs

Alabama

Alabama Shakes- “Hold On”

Alaska

Volcano Choir- “Alaskans”

Arizona

The Beatles- “Get Back”

Arkansas

Of Montreal- “Little Rock”

California

Foxygen- “San Francisco”

Colorado

Bob Dylan- “Man of Constant Sorrow”

Connecticut

Superchunk- “Connecticut”

Delaware

More Beards, More Fun

Beards. This is the post you never knew you wanted, dedicated to beards. Here are twenty of our favorite bearded bands you should be listening to, in order from ‘that’s some nice facial hair’ to ‘can I marry your beard.’

Local Natives *Stache Alert

Genre: Indie Rock/Pop

Song Pick: “Shape Shifter“

Foxy Shazam

Genre: Alternative Rock
Song Pick: “Killin’ It“

Passion Pit

Genre: Synthpop, Indie Rock, ‘Indietronica’

Song Pick: “Seaweed Song“

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Genre: Indie Rock/Gospel
Song Pick: Home

Gogol Bordello *Stache Alert*

Genre: Gypsy Punk

Song Pick: “Wonderlust King“

Artists Who Are Due For Their Next Release in 2014

I hope that everybody had an excellent holiday season and received gifts which caused them joy, and I would like to remind you that these gifts don’t stop coming once the holidays are over. We receive gifts in the form of hope for the future constantly, and these less tangible items help us to make it through our daily lives because something beautiful may be on the horizon. Being as this is a music blog and I am a man who love speculating on future music releases, here are some artists who are probably due to release their new album at some point in 2014.

 

Avi Buffalo

 

I wasn’t a fan of his when I saw him play live at our Birthday show back in 2011, but Avi Zahner-Isenberg’s ability to put together a terrific studio album shouldn’t be doubted. His self-titled debut album from 2010 holds some fantastic songs on it, such as “Summer Cum” and “What’s In It For?“. I can’t find an official page on the promise of an album from him in 2014, but his wikipedia article does suggest that the sophomore album was being constructed in 2013 and therefore can be hoped for in the upcoming year.

The Antlers

 

Purely speculation on my part, but the band has last released an album in 2011 and have only released the EP Undersea since then in 2012. For a band that’s still actively touring and writing music, I have to speculate that 2014 could reveal the fifth studio album for this talented band to display their version of soft and experimental folk-rock.

Beck

Consistently interesting and well established to the point that he’ll be able to do basically whatever he’d like, Beck is at an ideal place for a musician to be. His last studio album was done back in 2008 and was widely praised in Modern Guilt but that won’t be true for much longer as we are about to hear Beck’s twelfth studio album in February of upcoming year named Morning Phase, supposedly with a ‘Sea Change’ vibe to it.

Bombay Bicycle Club

 

A much anticipated album by me because A Different Kind of Fix was such a stellar release by the group. How will they follow it up and how much will the sound change? I guess we’ll find out on February 3rd

Brand New

 

Honestly I  don’t care to much about the release of the next Brand New album because I think I’m out of the age range where they should be relevant to me. I would agree that they are a legitimate band though, and they’re loved by a lot of my friends who know their stuff about music so it’s worth covering here that they’ve been touring a lot recently and supposedly said at a show that they have been recording new material.

Cloud Nothings

 

Attack on Memory was one of the finest releases out there in 2012, but it seems promising that they’re hinted 2014 release will be a different sound from the Cleveland noise-rockers. They’ve promised a sound which is more true to their playing style and thus the upcoming album should be expected to be more similar to the track “Wasted Days” and not-so-much like “Fall In“. Either way I’m interested in seeing how quality of a release it is and how close they come to crossing over to punk or grunge in the process.

Death Cab For Cutie

 

We’re definitely out of the golden-age for this band, but I’m hard pressed to say that I won’t give a listen to anything that Gibbard releases out of respect for his voice and past writing experience. The group posted a photo on Instagram three months ago to announce the beginning the band’s work on their eighth studio album.

Death From Above 1979

 

It’s hard to not imagine the ‘what if’ for this band and their potential re-emergence into the music scene, filled with energy packed guitar rock hopefully. The album could be coming out in 2014 and I’m hopeful for it being awesome as this could make Canada the place to be for modern noise-rock as it could claim Japandroids and Death From Above 1979 (and Metz too if you want to throw them in that category).

The Drums

 

The fact that this album is coming three years after Portamento is actually a blessing because it will say a lot about how good the band actually is. Their music is incredibly fun to listen to, catchy and funny, but I’m of the opinion that a lot of artists can write about their failed past relationships in a pop song. I’m interested in hearing the band’s third studio album because I believe it will be a defining point for what kind of band The Drums will be in the future.

 

Fleet Foxes

 

I really hope that Jonathan Tillman’s departure from the band is as insignificant as the phrase ‘The Drummer from Fleet Foxes left the band’ suggests, but I don’t think that’s a fair viewpoint because Tillman went on to release a fine solo album in Fear Fun under the moniker of Father John Misty. Still, you should be excited for the future of this band because the last time they released an album it was 2011 and they out-shined Bon Iver’s Bon Iver ,Bon Iver that year in my eyes with Helplessness Blues. The band has indicated via photos on their Facebook page that they are currently working on album number three.

Guided By Voices

 

A safe bet in any year to release an album or two so long as they’re active, Robert Pollard must be writing constantly.

The Hold Steady

 

I love Craig Finn as a lead singer, and I’m very much so anticipating hearing what lines he gets on the upcoming album (can it be much better than “She said the theme of this party’s the Industrial Age/ And you came in dressed like a train-wreck”?). Hopefully they do a national tour in support of the release because this is a band who I would absolutely love to see play live.

M83

 

Haven’t seen any news that this one’s being worked on but the band has never taken more than three years to release an album, even for their most recent double album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming back in 2011. Their next release will say a lot about how much of a premiere alternative electronic artist the band is because their last two albums have been spectacular in the aforementioned Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming as well as Saturdays=Youth in 2008.

Metronomy

 

I don’t know to much about the band, but I do know that their last album release in 2011 was The English Riviera and that one is viewed as a classic by WCDB DJ Luuk. The follow-up to that album is going to be named Love Letters and is scheduled to come out on March 10 according to their website.

Modest Mouse

 

Isaac Brock did decide to name his label Glacial Pace for a reason, though even with that in mind it’s difficult to imagine 2014 passing without hearing the new Modest Mouse album. They’ve been testing out new songs at their live shows for about the past year now, including songs being played at major festival shows, and it was well reported that they went into the studio with Big Boi of all people back in 2011 to work on new songs. I’m excited obviously as this is my favorite band, but it’s also going to be really interesting to see what a Modest Mouse album sounds like when Brock takes five years to actually put the thing together. It’s hard to imagine a potential product that has a lot of holes in it.

The Mountain Goats

 

‘Due’ is a funny word to use hear because we just heard from this album in 2012 with Transcendental Youth, but John Darnielle’s history shows that this band has never had a three year gap between albums. They’re one of those bands who excel by working and writing constantly, and because of this we may very well be treated to their next album in the upcoming year.

The New Pornographers

 

This Canadian super-group is the most consistent modern pop group out there in my opinion, and they’ve been in the studio to record new material in the middle of last year. That article seems to suggest that the album may already be done, and I’m not sure about the validity of that statement, but I would place a monetary bet on the fact that there will be a new New Pornographers LP out  within the next year.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

 

It’s not speculation to say that they plan on releasing an album in 2014, but it is speculation to say that I think it will end up being one of the defining albums of the year. The band has had an absolutely stellar first two albums in S/T and Belong, and the timing seems right for this band to step into the spotlight.

The Raveonettes

 

No news on a new album by this group, but ‘an album every two years’ seems to be a relevant statement with this band’s discography, and their last release was in 2012 with Observator.

Real Estate

 

The band announced via Youtube videos (#1 and #2) that their third studio album will be released in 2014. I’m excited for it because I enjoyed Days a lot in 2011 and find their music to be relaxing, but this album should mean something significant about how legitimate of an artist the group is. Third releases mean a lot, and we’ll see if the band has progressed the sound for their third release or not rather soon it appears.

Robert Pollard

 

See: Guided By Voices

Ryan Adams

 

His Wikipedia page states that he did a live show in 2013 where the venue stated he was playing new songs from his forthcoming album, so that’s what we have to work with here. It makes sense since his last album release came out in 2011, and it’s the better alternative to just drifting out of music which it seemed like he may have been heading towards before I heard this news, so this is a good thing.

Spoon

 

You talk about ‘cool’ bands in the music scene, I will contend that Britt Daniel is the coolest man in the music scene, and I can not freaking wait to hear the next album by this band which will supposedly get released in 2014. The band has been very consistent with their quality so I’m liking the chances of Spoon putting out one of the better albums of the year once it does actually get released.

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks

 

Wig Out at Jagbags is set to be released on January 7 2014, thus making it the earliest release to be excited about that I’m aware of. Malkmus is a terrific front-man, and if they consistently give hysterical social commentary like they did on “Senator” off of Mirror Traffic in 2011 then I will be one happy man.

Sufjan Stevens

 

The time seems right to start hoping for a new release from Sufjan. He did release his second Christmas Songs box set in 2012 with Silver & Gold: Vols. 6-10 but the last true album which we’ve received from him was the widely experimental and interesting Age of Adz back in 2010. It should be very interesting to hear what direction Stevens chooses to take for his next album as the last one was so unprecedented that it’s difficult to know if it is a permanent sound shift or an artistic experiment in the same way that Arcade Fire’s Reflektor is making me ask the same question about that band. Guess we’ll just have to wait to find out in both cases.

Tame Impala

 

The band’s got a lot of attention on it after the success of Lonerism in 2012, so if 2014 does hold the follow-up to that album then there will be a lot of coverage on Tame Impala in the upcoming year. For most band’s that rise to national recognition is a wonderful thing and justification for the effort, but I’ve got to speculate on how well they would handle the actual role considering the recurring song themes, and even the actual album name of their last release. A band that has the talent to be a premiere group, but a band who likely don’t feel comfortable with the modern social demand that fans give to their favorite artists, and the truth is that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that if that’s how they prefer to work.

Titus Andronicus

 

A motivated Patrick Stickles is a wonderful thing to hear as The Monitor has shown us, and the upcoming release is getting billed as a 30-track modern rock opera with the theme of Manic Depression. In other words, this release is probably going to be mind-blowingly good while also being completely different from anything else that they’ve released before. There’s a lot of reason for excitement about this release.

Wilco

 

No announcement of studio work for the group, but that doesn’t seem all that strange since Tweedy does all of that stuff internally now anyways. The last time we got a Wilco album was the solid The Whole Love back in 2011 so it would make sense to hope that 2014 will be the landing point for studio album number nine from the group.

Anybody else? Likely. Realize that while it’s incredibly fun to speculate on what albums are going to define the upcoming year, it’s a difficult thing to be completely accurate on because years will often get best represented by albums which nobody saw coming. Still, these are all releases which are going to demand a listen from me and carry the hope that 2014 could be an excellent year for music where many talented artists are due for their latest release.

Kyle’s Favorite 100 Songs: 70-61

Here are numbers 70-61 on my countdown of my 100 favorite songs.

70. The Flaming Lips- The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)

“It’s a very dangerous thing to do exactly what you want”

“The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” brings up an excellent social point in my mind, in that we shouldn’t be able to critique those above us without first considering what we would actually do in that situation. No hypotheticals, if you were placed into a position where you actually did have power what would you do with it? The whole song is really an accusation that you would probably misuse the power you had too in some way, and that that’s just a natural part of being human and not something to hold against a person. Try to find the good things in those people and understand that they could be infinitely more cruel and inept than they currently are and we’re lucky to have them.

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69. Jeffrey Lewis- Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song

“If I was Leonard Cohen or some other song writing master/ I’d know to first get the oral sex then right the song after.”

One of my favorite things in music is when you fall in love with a song on the first listen. I listened to “Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song” for the first time a few months ago and Jeffrey Lewis’ story-telling ability amazed me alongside his openness about being a nervous male. There are so many things that get captured perfectly within the interaction, like how he slowly becomes more confident as everything in the conversation seems to progress perfectly, but then he lets you know ahead of time that the conversation only lasted for a few minutes and he never saw her again afterwards. After this, you learn that not only did the girl like him but she basically invited him to have sex with her, but he still couldn’t bring himself to suggest it. That interaction is tough for him to look back on in hindsight, but he reveals that that wasn’t the true motive he had in mind while writing the song. Rather, he realized that he wrote a love song for a girl that met him for two minutes and who he will likely never meet again, and realized that there could be people all around the world doing the same thing. There may even be people out there doing this for you and me, and that’s a beautiful thing to consider.

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68. The Mountain Goats- No Children

“I hope you die. I hope we both die.”

This was the Mountain Goats track that introduced me to the side of John Darnielle which is crazy. “No Children” is the story of the alpha couple which he wrote numerous song about, but stopped doing so after this track was made. That’s because Darnielle was becoming to depressed writing these songs, and after the chorus of “I hope you die. I hope we both die.” arrives you understand why. This couple has grown to despise each other so much that they want to see their pair die, but a fear still exists about what they would be if they had to exist alone.

Kyle’s Favorite 100 Songs: 90-81

Continuing from where we left off last week, here are numbers 90-81 on my list of favorite songs

90. MGMT- Time to Pretend

“I’ll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.”

I like the idea of a band growing up into stardom and not getting a say in it. It’s hard to complain because of how fortunate you are just to continue to be relevant for the time being, but the lifestyle robs you of some of the best parts of being alive. “Time to Pretend” dives into this mindset really well and covers a lot of the awful parts of the lifestyle, along with the necessity to pretend that things are never going wrong to maintain the image. In reality, MGMT never wanted to be the pop superstars, and that envious.

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89. Guided By Voices- Closer You Are

“The closer you are/ The quicker it hits you.”

High energy, quick punching song to capture the awesomeness of Guided By Voices. It’s amazing to think about how talented Pollard is at working his way to choruses, and it’s how they always fill forty minute rock albums with twenty-two tracks. This one was one of the first GBV songs I loved when I re-dove into their discography, and it stays on the list because of the rock mentality message. The closer you are to a person/situation, the quicker it will hit you.

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88. The Hold Steady- Ask Her For Adderall

“If she happens to suggest/ A love based on trust and respect/ Tell her I’ve been wasted since last week.”

It’s crazy to me how this is just the beginning to a bonus track on Stay Positive. It’s the ultimate dodger anthem; the guy who’s not really doing anything with his life right now, but wants to keep that a secret so people don’t have to worry about him. Lie about what we already did, come up with an excuse for why I never answer the phone, and try to get them to send more stuff.

DJ Survey: What’s the Best Live Show You’ve Ever Seen?

As WCDB DJs, one of the perks that you get is the opportunity to see a lot of live shows, be it free or not. This survey asked our DJs what the best live show is that they ever attended.

Jordan Hill: Rock The Bells 2011

featuring Blackstar, Common, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Nas.

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DJ Brian: Tegan and Sara

I loved t&s their harmonies were fantastic. And their banter was pretty hysterical. Best live show I’ve seen by far.

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Taco Party Box:  Lollapalooza in ’96, Starscape 2002

Best Festival (Live Music) Lollapooza 96 (Syracuse NY)’: Ramones Farewell(actual) tour, Rancid (when they were still in their 20’s), Wu Tang Clan (with the Ol’ Dirty Bastard), Soundgarden, and Metallica (which i didn’t stay for, too much of a red-neck presence).

Best Festival (Electronic Music), starscape 2002 (Baltimore MD) This was the last year when they still had 7 stages. Since this was right around the time of the “Crack House Law” crackdowns on parties there was a very light drug presence. Lonnie does an amazing job on putting together his parties. It was amazing. 

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Metal Tony: Mayhem Festival

The best live show I’ve ever been to was mayhem festival. All day, all metal. I mean, with bands like Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, and Machine Head on the same bill, how could you go wrong? On top of that, I saw Job for a Cowboy’s Nick Schizendielos, one of the best metal bassists today. To wrap up the show,  Rob Zombie tore it up along with John 5 and Ginger Fish. Loved it.

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Teddard Stark– Wilco

For sure.

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Luuk– Deerhoof

Deerhoof at Valentines was amazing. Best show I’ve ever been to.

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Kyle: WCDB’s 34th anniversary

Mainly based upon the mosh pit of CDB’ers past and present during Titus Andronicus. I got to yell in people’s faces phrases like “THE ENEMY IS EVERYWHERE” and “YOU WILL ALWAYS, BE A LOSER” and sway with them arm in arm two minutes later. All in all it was probably the most exercise I’d had in years.

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DJ Milky– Black Moth Super Rainbow

One time I saw Black Moth Super Rainbow in a fancy hotel ballroom. I was 16 and wearing a homemade cardboard robot helmet and dancing furiously. There was a man on stage whose job it was to dance around and wave a flag while wearing a fur body suit and a rubber mask that resembled an elderly Asian man. At one point this man was throwing water bottles out to the thirsty crowd. The man foolishly threw one underhand in an attempt to reach the back of the crowd. This particular water bottle hit the strange chandelier that hung over the croud. (For a visual, this chandelier looked like a bunch of upside down waterglasses) The water bottle shattered a few of these “glasses” and shards of glass rained down upon the audience. Though the glass shattered directly above me, I was saved by the large cardboard helmet I decided (perhaps due to some sort of divine providence) to wear. To this day, I cannot forget the visual of angry bald reporter with a bloody head yelling at an extremely apologetic masked man in a fuzzy suit. Their words could not be heard behind the sound of Dandelion Gum era Black Moth (who never stopped playing by the way). But they could be seen flailing about cartoonishly. Black Moth played a pretty great set too.