Good Weather For Airstrikes

UPDATE: So we’ll be using FileDen until we get our ezarchive mess sorted out, and we may end up switching to FileDen as a permanent solution depending on how the next couple days go. Fortunately, FileDen allows direct linking so you can now download the files in this post (although the rest of the links on the site are still disabled) by getting your right-click > “save target as” on as usual.

Man, people really love their We Are Scientists - you would not believe the number of emails and comments I received from people crushed by the fact that the links weren’t working thanks to my hosting woes. In response, I’ve uploaded each mp3 to FileDen where from which you can download them directly as usual. Enjoy, and hopefully these can tide you over for a short time until we get our shit sorted out.

MP3s:
“Hoppipolla” - We Are Scientists
“The Great Escape (The Silence Mix)” - We Are Scientists
“This Scene Is Dead (Pete Predicatble Remix)” - We Are Scientists

So check it out. It’s no secret that ezarchive, our hosting provider, has been nothing short of awful over the past few months, going down for hours at a time, making uploads nearly impossible and frustrating pretty much everyone involved on a regular basis. This is presumably the result of their servers being unable to adequately handle the massive amount of bandwith stress put on them as a result of the company’s ever-growing customer base, which has expanded exponentially since the company’s birth as a result of the consistently-growing popularity of mp3 blogs and the fact that ez is the most cost-effective solution for your average blogger looking for an easy way to host their files. To address these issues, ez is introducing ezarchive 3.0, a massive overhaul featuring larger, faster servers but also bandwith and file transfer limits, as well as a somewhat mysterious sound quality clause that states: “Shared music files will be played at a lower quality than in EZArchive 2.0 outside of your archive, while still being enjoyable for your friends to listen to.” I don’t know exactly what that means for us, and I won’t know for certain until we get our shit together and upgrade (which will hopefully be tomorrow), but I don’t exactly like the sound of it so we may be looking for a new hosting provider.

Worst of all, after upgrading to 3.0 all of our current mp3 links will be dead until we transfer them to our new account, so basically you’ll be unable to download anything on the site that’s hosted on ezarchive (pretty much everything). Awesome! Everett and I are working hard to figure out what exactly we’re going to do and are in the market for some alternative hosting solutions, so if you’ve got anything to suggest by all means fire away in the comments. I know webspace and bandwith costs are dramatically cheaper outside of the US (or at least in Canada), so if anyone has access to a Canadian (or other international) server and wants to help us out we’d be forever indebted to you, and you could expect a large number of gift packs overflowing with musical goodness to be sent your way in the immediate future. We’re also toying around with the idea of using MediaFire.com, a free hosting site that doesn’t produce direct links (see: You Send It, Rapidshare, MegaUpload, et. al) but makes a file available for download without wait times or cluttered, confusing advertising and pop-ups. This means you wouldn’t be able to download the mp3s directly via right-clicking and “save target as”-ing, but simply following the link would produce a download link for the file immediately. I loved being able to produce direct links for files and have them accessible directly from the site, but this may be the only solution. Any ideas? Let us know in the comments.

Seriously. We’re desperate.

Man, the UK gets fucking everything. All the exciting buzz bands, all the excellent single releases, all the enthralling accents, and when the US finally produces a herky-jerky guitar-rock band to get excited about, the UK steals them away from us too. Apparently, said herky-jerky guitar-rock band enjoys rubbing it in my face, lavisihing the UK with single releases and tour dates and now this: We Are Scientists have announced a UK-only CD/DVD of rarities and music videos, titled Crap Attack, slated for release November 6th. The CD culls b-sides from the band’s various single releases and features two new remixes and even two covers, of Sigur Ros’ “Hoppipolla” and Art Brut’s “Bang Bang Rock & Roll”, the former of which was only previously available as a live recording from one of the band’s BBC Radio sessions. Its DVD counterpart features music videos for all twelve songs on With Love & Squalor as well as live footage from the band’s April 13th Shepherd’s Bush Empire show, so between the two you’re getting quite a bargain it seems. If you’re in the UK, that is. The band’s got a real gift for words, so I’ll let them take it from here:

Behold Crap Attack, our most unedited expulsion to date. With 15 tracks on the CD, 12 videos and a full live show on the DVD, and emotional, semi-factual liner notes, and a standard plastic case that all that stuff goes in — this is truly a voluminous ejection.

The CD contains:

1. Ram It Home
2. Surprise
3. The Great Escape (The Silence Remix)
4. Mucho Mas
5. Callbacks Under The Sea
6. Hoppipolla
7. Bang Bang Rock & Roll
8. Nobody Move Under The Sea
9. Sie hat Was vermisst
10. Be My Baby
11. This Scene Is Dead (Pete Predictable Remix)
12. History Repeats
13. This Means War
14. The Great Escape (Under The Sea)
15. Textbook (Under The Sea)

Whereas the DVD has only got:

• Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt directed by Akiva Schaffer
• This Scene Is Dead directed by Mathieu Shrontz
• Inaction directed by Eric Gross
• Can’t Lose directed by Graham Rich
• Callbacks directed by Akiva Schaffer
• Cash Cow directed by Keith Murray with Christian Owens
• It’s A Hit directed by Akiva Schaffer
• The Great Escape directed by Akiva Schaffer
• Textbook directed by Randy Bell & Justin Rice
• Lousy Reputation directed by Justin Rice & Randy Bell
• Worth the Wait directed by Mathieu Shrontz
• What’s the Word directed by Agnes Chu
• It’s A Hit (alternate version) directed by Mathieu Shrontz
• Shepherds Bush Empire show, April 13, 2006, with full commentary

I won’t stiff you on the mp3s, so below is the brand new studio version of “Hoppipolla” as well as the CD’s two serviceable remixes, for “The Great Escape” and “This Scene Is Dead”. “Hoppipolla” is the highlight here, as it’s awesome to hear it performed on an acoustic guitar and Keith actually does an a pretty serviceable job of recreating Jonsi’s unparalleled vocals. Who knew that falsetto even existed? Furthermore, dude even nailed the lyrics, an unbelievably impressive accomplishment, as memorizing lyrics in a language as ridiculous as Icelandic is surely no easy task. Downloads, ahoy:

MP3: “Hoppipolla” - We Are Scientists
MP3: “The Great Escape (The Silence Mix)” - We Are Scientists
MP3: “This Scene Is Dead (Pete Predicatble Remix)” - We Are Scientists

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO A WEEKEND IN THE CITY, OR, HOW TO GET RIDICULOUSLY PUMPED FOR THE NEW BLOC PARTY ALBUM, OR, LESSONS IN EXCITEMENT-INDUCED PANTS-WETTING

Exciting exciting exciting. Awh yeah, Bloc Party sent out a press release today revealing their release plans for their upcoming sophomore album, A Weekend In The City, as well as their plans for the singles that will precede the album. Before getting to the singles though, let’s get into those album details. The album is set to be released in the US through VICE (holla) on February 6th and in the UK on V2 the day before. As implied by the title, the album is inspired by “the living noises of the metropolis” and is centered around themes of urbanite relaxation and the workings of everyday life in the city, as well as continuing the theme of the emotional detachment of youth established on Silent Alarm on songs like “Banquet” and “She’s Hearing Voices”. I am most positive that this will be a truly massive album and it should easily obliterate all of the previously-nagging notions that Bloc was nothing more than a Gang of Four rip-off, and hell, I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised if Bloc Party were one of the biggest bands in the world by the end of 2007. If Bloc Party’s primed to steal the international spotlight, then they’ve got the right man to take them there, as producer Jacknife Lee is no stranger to larger-than-life bands and albums, having rocked production duties on Snow Patrol’s last two albums as well as U2’s most recent offering. Blog Party’s got some great quotes taken from Kele’s latest interview in the NME, the most exciting of which I’ve excerpted for you below:

“We wanted to make something that references some of the great contemporary electronic music that’s being made without also lusing the industrial energy of rock music.”

Though I really can’t imagine a more perfect album cover for this album than Hendrik Wil’s “i n a h u r r y” photograph, the band has chosen German photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg to provide the cover art. Incidentally, it’s Blees Luxemburg’s “Towering Inferno” photograph that adorns Bloc’s US labelmate the Streets’ album cover for Original Pirate Material, so she’s no stranger to VICE or album cover photography. Enough with semantics though, onto the tracklist:

01. “Song for Clay (Disappear Here)”
02. “Hunting for Witches”
03. “Waiting for the 7:18″
04. “The Prayer” (formerly “A Prayer To The Lord”)
05. “Uniform”
06. “On” (formerly “Wet”)
07. “Where Is Home?”
08. “Kreuzberg”
09. “I Still Remember” (formerly “It Started In An Afternoon”)
10. “Sunday”
11. “SRXT” (formerly “Seroxat”)

While the live hits (”Hunting For Witches”, “Waiting”, and “Uniform”) are all present as well as previously leaked track “Song For Clay”, conspicuosly absent are “Cells Shaped Like Stars” and “Blue Moon” (most recently renamed “We Were Lovers” and “England”, respectively), which were two of the better new tracks circulating the net in the form of live recordings for a while. The group have announced that two singles will be precede the album, “I Still Remember” in the US and “The Prayer”, formerly titled “It Started In An Afternoon” and “A Prayer To The Lord”, respectively. From the live versions I’ve heard “I Still Remember” seems like a curious choice for a lead single, but the pulsing beat that develops midway through shows definite promise, and “The Prayer” is not in existence in any form on the internet as far as I know, so I’ve got no insight on that I’m afraid. However, Kele did say that “with ‘The Prayer’ the idea was to do something really interesting with rhythm. It’s got a real, almost crunk feel to it. I know that’s probably gonna frighten people, but it’s still us”. In an earlier interview, Kele revealed that “The Prayer” was inspired by a Venezuelan dance called The Bolero, which - Lizzy had to fill me in here - is apparently comprised predominantly of heavy stomps and handclaps, so I guess we’ve got that to look forward to. And crunk. Handclaps, stomps and crunk. Sounds like the recipe for a hit to me. What… you actually want to hear some of these songs now? Well I can oblige, but only in the form of live versions that vary greatly in quality, indicated in brackets after each track.

First up is the single, “I Still Remember”, recorded live on Bloc’s fanclub-only tour in Northumbria earlier this year, back when it was still called “It Started In An Afternoon”.

MP3: “I Still Remember” (Live In Northumbria) - Bloc Party [QUALITY: B-]

Next up, the highest quality recording to surface yet; the brilliant “Uniform” recorded at Intonation Music Festival last June. I was there, seven rows back, to witness the song and the shit was life-changing. I can’t wait to hear a studio version of “Uniform” moreso than any other song I’ve heard so far.

MP3: “Uniform” (Live @ Intonation 2006) - Bloc Party [QUALITY: A]

The second-best quality live recordings come from April’s Coachella festival, where the band debuted “Uniform” and “Waiting For The 7.18″ for the first time to US audiences.

MP3s: [QUALITY: A-]
“Waiting For The 7.18″ (Live @ Coachella 2006) - Bloc Party
“Uniform” (Live @ Coachella 2006) - Bloc Party

Finally, here are live recordings from Bloc Party’s show this past winter at London’s vaunted Fabric Nightclub, where the band played last March 16th. The show was a very special event, with all opening DJs playing for free including the incredible and very much in-demand Erol Alkan, as the show was to raise money for a friend of the band undergoing an expensive cancer treatment. Before the show, Kele said that ““We want this to be a really special event, one that the people lucky enough to be there will talk about for a long time,” and to ensure that they did, the band played a whopping FIVE new songs. “Uniform” and “Waiting” are the only songs here that ended up making the album, though “Machine” (formerly “Perfect Teens”), appears to be a very early version of “Song For Clay” with it’s opening “People are afraid/To merge on the freeway” refrain, though the instrumentation is completely overhauled and nothing else remains the same. Also played were the aforementioned “Cells Shaped Like Stars” and “Blue Moon”, the former of which I’d been looking forward to hearing a studio version of ever since this set first surfaced, so I’m significantly crushed to find out that it didn’t make the albums final cut. Fingers crossed for it to surface as a b-side though. The quality is not great, with the vocals fairly muffled, but it’s certainly listenable, especially if you’re a fan dying to hear some of the new material. All mp3s are generously provided by Blog Party; head over there and holla at James if you get a chance, he does an awesome job keeping everyone update on absolutely everything and anything that goes down in the world of Bloc Party.

MP3s: [QUALITY: C]
“Waiting For The 7.18″ (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Machine” (formerly “Perfect Teens”) (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Uniform” (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Cells Shaped Like Stars” (formerly “Into The Blue”) (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party
“Blue Moon” (Live @ Fabric) - Bloc Party

There you have it, everything I could possibly give you to get you pumped for the new Bloc Party album. If you’re not excited, you’re not human.

First the impressive things: Hailing from a wee village outside of Dublin, Director have already managed realtively big time radio play in the UK and got some serious exposure opening for the Goo Goo Dolls on their most recent UK tour, despite the forever irreversible blow that last little tidbit will do to any indie cred the band may ever hope to attain. Furthermore, Director earn serious points having not only produced the “Reconnect” single, but their entire upcoming debut album, We Thrive On Big Cities, as well. Dudes even co-wrote and directed (appropriate considering the name) the video for the track. All impressive facts considering that for all their do-it-yourself gusto they manage an incredibly polished and professional aesthetic when all is said and done.

Not so impressive: “Reconnect” sounds like Editors covering Interpol covering Joy Division, which is to say, there’s not a hint of originality to be found anywhere here.

Thing is, as hard as it is to like for all the derivative-ass shit mentioned above, “Reconnect” remains a great track, all moody atmospherics with intelligent lyrics, a catchy-ass vocal structure and an awesome crescendo building up to an intense wall of sound rounding out the track at the song’s close. Though the general sound best compares with that of the bands listed above, “Reconnect” actually recalls The Stills’ “Still In Love Song” more than anything, with its penchant for huge crescendos, dark atmospherics and identical lyrical sentiment (”I want to reconnect with you”, “I’m stilll innnn lovvve” - same thing), only further impairing one’s ability to get excited by the track, considering the same song’s already been done before and it’s been done, well, better. That said, the amount of plays this thing’s gotten on my iPod doesn’t exactly match up with the harsh criticism leveled at it here because, original or not, it’s a great, catchy song, the perfect dark pop song for the waning light of autumn. The coming months should see Director blowing up, their major-label status and the surprisingly unanimous critical acclaim surrounding “Reconnect” and follow-up single “Come With A Friend”, and if history’s any indication, originality is pretty much the last thing the public cares about when it comes to making a band huge (*cough* Editors *cough*). Thus, the future’s looking bright for the Irish quartet, and keeping in mind how much of this band is completely do-it-yourself, you can’t say they don’t deserve it.

MP3: “Reconnect” - Director

Oh, oh… this is like really good. Here we have Air Traffic, straight outta Sheffield and primed to blow up the charts (the ink’s still drying on the quartet’s recent signing with EMI) with their irresistibly catchy brand of piano-based indie-rock, the best thing to come out of that genre since Ben Folds and the Five were blowing up the spot back in the mid-90’s. Not only do they appear ready to do some serious damage on the charts across the pond, but they’re also giving Snowfight In The City Centre a serious run for their money as the obscure up-and-coming Brit Pop act I’m most obsessed with, a title they’re only that much closer to securing after the release of their newest single, “Never Even Told Me Her Name”. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s take it back to where it all began, with Air Traffic’s debut single, “Just Abuse Me”.

It actually began a bit before that, with the quartet, all just barely 20 years old, meeting in Bournemouth and taking their name from the air traffic control signals that they would pick up whilst rehearsing in abandoned industrial units next to the airport where they first formed. They released “Just Abuse Me” shortly thereafter on upstart imprint Label Fandango, which was declared “the hottest record in the world” upon its release last July by oft-hyperbolic British DJ Zane Low. A rollicking piano-rock romp, the single lends the ivory a raw edge and energy lacking in today’s often vanilla Brit Pop scene and fails to disappoint from start to finish. The track’s highlighted by a falsetto-tinged chorus and a final two minutes that see the band throwing restraint and caution to the wind and allowing the guitars to roar up from their relative slumber and overtake the piano at the forefront of the song’s focus, easily cementing the song’s status as one of the year’s best and most exciting debut singles. The record’s flipside, “Charlotte”, sees the guitars taking center stage for the song’s entirety and does nothing to exceed the A-side, but earns points with its catchy “your face, my place” refrain and shows enough promise to thrust Air Traffic to the tip-top of my British Indie Rock Bands To Get Really, Really Excited About list.

Aforementioned follow-up single, “Never Even Told Me Her Name”, all but ensures that Air Traffic won’t be slipping on that list any time soon, as it’s already surpassed the total playcount of “Abuse Me” after just two days of life on my iPod. At this point in writing this I jumped over to Green Pea-ness to see what was going on over there only to discover that James just fucking posted “Never Even Told Me Her Name” and nailed the write-up (as usual) like I could only ever hope to do, especially when he describes the track as “the best song the Guillemots could ever think to write for the Jimmy Eat World crowd”, thus rendering my entire planned analysis of “Name” pointless in only 16 words. Considering it was GP that put Air Traffic on my radar in the first place, I’m just gonna hang my head in shame, forfeit this one to him and direct you all over there for the time being. Regardless, you should have realized by now how badly you need these tracks so it goes without saying that you should get your download on below with utmost urgency.

MP3s:
“Just Abuse Me” - Air Traffic ((highly recommended))
“Never Told Me Her Name” - Air Traffic (highly recommended))

It must be a tough job being a headteacher, dealing with all those rambunctious teenagers, always with their saracstic comments and their paper airplanes (see the band’s related promo shots as a case in point). In fact, it’s probably enough to inspire some pretty serious fury, and what better way to let off some steam than to plug in and unleash some, er, furious post-punk with a hardcore slant like that found on Fury of the Headteacher’s latest single, “Farewell Comrade”. No word on whether any members of FotH have any teaching experience or if they’re just sympathizing with the teachers on whom they wreaked havoc in their school days, but they manage to unleash a serious dose of raw intensity on “Comrade” all the same.

That raw intensity recalls that found on Bloc Party’s debut EP, and indeed, Fury of the Headteachers sound to me like Bloc Party might if they’d never met Paul Epworth and chose to focus more on the “punk” over the “dance” in the dance-punk equation. That’s not to say “Farewell Comrade” isn’t Epworthy, mind you; it’s as promising a single as any released this year and lord knows there’s room for Epworth or some other dance-minded producer to work some magic within these walls - especially with that insanely catchy and, dare I say, danceable central riff to work with - but up-and-coming Sheffield producer Paul Harris does a pretty flawless job of maximizing the song’s raw intensity, the primary element on which the success of the song really rests its hat. While I could maybe do without that incessant creaking-door effect over the bridge, Harris handles the song’s massive climax in the final minute (a moment on par with any in music this year), in which a ridiculous crescendo peaks in a ballistic white noise explosion, without flaw. Elsewhere, the song rides that aforementioned ridiculously catchy central riff to perfection for three minutes of unabashed guitar-rock glory and makes its real money on that insanely awesome “X! Is! For execution!” chorus, which elevates its status from “hey this is awesome” to “fucking badass as hell” in just four words. Building on a pounding drumbeat and snowballing in intensity throughout, the shit hits that fan at that final ridiculous crescendo I mentioned before - the band unleash a barrage of everything in their arsenal, resulting in an impenetrable wall of screaming guitars, droning bass, bleeding vocal chords, those massive drums and white noise, before everything’s stripped away to reveal only that original guitar riff, closing things out perfectly as the listener regains their composure and tries to get their life back on track.

The flipside features “Stumped”, another lesson in angsty, jittery rawness, and while there’s nothing here that can even remotely touch “Farewell Comrade”, there’s enough potential in the song’s three minutes and twenty seconds to get me very very excited about the Headteachers’ upcoming debut LP, You Took A Scythe Home, and very very frustrated that I can’t find the group’s debut single, “Fables”, anywhere. Hook a brother up in the comments if you’ve got “Fables”, otherwise just sit back and get your shit rocked by this incredible single, one of the year’s best, most mind-numbingly agressive tracks to date.

MP3: “Farewell Comrade” - Fury of the Headteachers ((highly recommended))

Considering that the band only has only released four tracks to date, I’ll point you in the direction of the band’s MySpace page to stream “Stumped” rather than making it available for download here, but if you find yourself waking up in a cold sweat in need of more Headteachers hotness you should check out two of the band’s demos I’ve dug up below. An August update on the band’s Myspace indicated that a mini-LP, You Took A Scythe Home, would be out on October 2nd, but that date’s come and gone with no word of a release and all signs indicate that Scythe’s been updated to full-fledged LP status and word is that it’ll now see a release early next year. “Farewell” is destined to be a definite centerpiece of the LP, and while “Stumped” has been confirmed as a non-album cut, there’s no word on what’ll happen to the three demos below so get them while you can.

Bonus MP3s:
“Life In Reverse” (Demo) - Fury of the Headteachers
“Whatever Does For You Will Do Me In” (Demo) - Fury of the Headteachers

Today is a pretty monumental day. Not only did the Shins new one leak this morning (”Phantom Limb” single review in the works for posting in the immediate future), but here we have Brand New’s upcoming single, “Sowing Season (Yeah)”, a song I’ve been waiting THREE FUCKING YEARS to hear. You see, Brand New’s Deja Entendu remains one of my absolute favorite albums of all time despite the fact that I’ve more or less put my emo days firmly behind me, and the interminable wait (two years without a single word of news from the band, much less a single live date) for new material has had me living by a moment (a very long moment, mind you) ever since. Seriously, as surprising as it may seem to some of you considering the typical style of music I usually post in this space, I could not be more excited to write that Brand New has announced that their long-awaited third album, titled The God And The Devil Are Raging Inside Me in typical dramatic fashion, will be released through Interscope on November 21st, and that the first single, “Sowing Season (Yeah)”, was made available for streaming on the band’s MySpace page today and was subsequently ripped by me and is available for download below. The recording is ripped directly from the band’s MySpace and is not the ever-so-slightly lower-quality radio rip with the lame promotional voiceover mid-way through that’s been circulating since last night, so enjoy it and be sure to let me know what you think of the track and I’d also just love to hear what you think of Brand New as a band in general.

MP3: “Sowing Season (Yeah)” - Brand New [webrip]

I was actually in the attendance at Brand New’s show at UVa last year (their first in two years), where they played the track live for the first time ever and it sounded AMAZING, so suffice it to say I’m psyched to finally be able to delete my shit-ass live recording in favor of the real deal, even if it is a mediocre-quality webrip. I haven’t totally made up my mind on “Sowing Season” yet, in terms of whether or not it’s an evolution of the band’s sound or just how I feel about it in general, but “Crescendofest2k6″ (as I’ve taken to calling it) is pretty exciting if for the sole reason that I finally have some new Brand New material to feast on. The song opens with a simple acoustic guitar progression and steadily builds to an intense, emotive (that’s emo for short) climax with the help of a massive, crushing chorus and the metronomic brilliance of drummer Brian Lane. But yeah, about that last emo comment - this is emo, and yes, Brand New are undeniably emo, but it’s about 1000% better than the rest of the angsty screamers out there and Deja Entendu remains one of the best straight-up rock albums of the new millenium. I mean, even Pitchfork gave it a 6.9 (that’s almost a 7!) and actually called one of the tracks (”Guernica”) “brilliant”, though when I try to trove through the P-Fork archives to find the review it’s conspicuously “not found”. Considering that the ‘Fork usually wages critical war on anything even remotely emo, a 6.9 (and a “brilliant”) is pretty eye-opening and should serve as a testament to the unwavering brilliance of that album. While their debut, Your Favorite Weapon, consisted of your typical screamy heart-purging and celebration of the joys of teenagerhood (though I still love it), Deja saw a far darker and nuanced Brand New grabbing the spotlight, and that darker edge only further manifests itself here. Earlier this year, a bushel of untitled demos (nine of them, to be exact) surfaced on the internet, and while the majority of those were cut from the album, “Untitled 08″ was reworked and blossomed into “Sowing Season”, which will be unofficially released as a single on the 21st as a bonus disc (containing non-album b-side “Coca Cola”) to come packaged with all album pre-orders. Those interested in hearing the demos should head over to All Things Go, where Adrian’s got all of them hosted, and the rest of you can proceed below to more downloadable Brand New goodness.

MP3: “Untitled 08″ - Brand New

As a bonus, I’ve got a hard to find and highly sought-after three song radio session, the only one in circulation on the internet as far as I know. The three tracks are singles “Sic Transit Gloria” and “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows”, as well as an awesome rendition of the aforementioned “Guernica”, and I’d highly recommend downloading those below for fans of Brand New thirsting for more of their material. I’ve also included the album version of “Guernica”, for those interested in hearing the song that managed to (albeit temporarily) break down Pitchfork’s wall of strict emo intolerance, as well as “Okay I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don’t”, my favorite Brand New song and one of my ten favorite songs of all time. That’s all time, people. Granted, it’s status on that list has a lot to do with the place I was in my life at the time I discovered it (i.e. high school), but even to this day it hasn’t lost its luster and stays with me, sounding just as incredible as it ever did.

Brand New Live Radio Session:
1. “Guernica” - Brand New
2. “Sic Transit Gloria… Glory Fades” - Brand New
3. “The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows” - Brand New

Bonus MP3s:
“Guernica” - Brand New ((highly recommended))
“Okay, I Believe You…” - Brand New ((HIGHLY recommended))

Also, make a point to check out the enigmatic - and dare I say awesome - album cover for The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me here, and be sure to get yo’ pre-order on here.

It’s with regret that I present to you “Whatever You Want From Life” not in the sunny ebullience of Springtime, but in the waning light of fall, as it’s the fairer season that provides the perfect environment for this song to be experienced, but it was 75 degrees in Charlottesville today and it’s always better late than never when it comes to these kind of things. Straight outta Amsterdam, guitar-rock power trio Voicst serve up a hefty slice of exuberant punk-based rock with their debut single, “Whatever You Want From Life”, and while the ideal climate within which to take in the track may have passed a few months ago, it’s never really too late to enjoy a good pop song. I tend to try to shy away from the overused Recommended If You Like writer’s cructch, but such a lazy technique may never have been more appropriate than here in regards to Voicst’s aping of everything that makes Ted Leo & The Pharmacists great. Guitar/bass/percussion trio? Check. Irresistably catchy, falsetto-tinged vocals? Check. Sing-a-long choruses that make you want to frolic in sunny fields or drive at high speeds with the windows down? Check. Curiously hispanic-sounding vocal bridge? Well I guess that’s something Voicst has that Ted Leo and company lack, but you get the picture. Clearly, Voicst aren’t breaking any new creative ground or scoring many points for originality here, but if they set out to craft the perfect guitar-pop song they’ve pretty much succeeded on all accounts.

MP3: “Whatever You Want From Life” - Voicst ((highly recommended))

Voicst’s debut LP, 11-11, dropped in Europe last year but just hit American shores this past summer, and while it’s certainly hit or miss (”Porn”, one of the worsts songs of the year, is every bit as bad as “Whatever You Want From Life” is good, for example), it delivers punchy, catchy guitar rock in spades, as can be seen on stand out follow up single “Dazzled Kids”, available below as an added bonus mp3. And why not, I’ve included Ted Leo’s “Me and Mia” below for comparison’s sake as well.

Bonus MP3s:
“Dazzled Kids” - Voicst
“Me and Mia” - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists ((highly recommended))

ELSEWHERE: Today was a pretty big day for music videos, but I don’t even know why I’d attempt to cover it when Shots Ring Out (as always) has got that shit on lock. Michel Gondry’s new one for Beck’s “Cell Phone’s Dead” is ridiculously awesome (not like anyone would expect otherwise), and the Hold Steady’s new clip for “Chips Ahoy!”, which also surfaced today, is pretty great as well.

So, HUGE bummer two weeks ago (almost on par with Sunday’s humiliating Redskins loss at the hands of the Titans) when I got all pumped to see Regina Spektor for the second time this year at DC’s 9:30 Club, only to get there to find it sold out. You see, I had no money on my credit card (and no way to get money on it at short notice since there isn’t a JP Morgan branch in Charlottesville), so I couldn’t get a ticket in advance, and since it wasn’t sold out when I left I figured as long as I got there by doors I had a pretty decent chance of getting a ticket, even if I had to get it from a scalper outside. Also, it was my mom’s birthday the next day so I figured I’d bring her present up with me and surprise her if I couldn’t get into the show. With the always-lovely Jia Tolentino as my co-pilot we made record-setting time on the first half of the commute, but ran into standstill traffic just 10 miles outside of DC, in which we stagnated for two hours before finally making it to the venue as she was taking the stage, and suffice it to say, the show was sold out and I was too late to even get any scalper loving. Fortunately, Jia had a ticket and was able to meet up with her other friends inside and enjoy the show. I was able to persuade her to do a brief recap of the evening’s events, which you’ll find below. For once you get to read a review on here that’s concise, to the point and not ridiculously long-winded; rejoice!

“Watching Regina Spektor is like playing with a kitten - a musically brilliant, adorable kitten. After every song of her October 3rd performance at the 9:30 Club, Spektor sort of nuzzled herself and smiled winsomely, immediately leading the crowd to yell “I love you!” and “You’re so fucking cute!” and “Hey, play Samson!” (which she did, eventually.) Playing with a bassist, guitarist, and faux-hawked drummer who all contributed back-up vocals, Spektor’s set was unusually lively, upping the ante notably on “That Time,” “On the Radio,” and “Sailor Song.” Her encore, which was just her solo at the keyboard, turned into a fittingly adorable sing-along when she urged the sold-out house to sing with an enthusiastic “Come on, people!” Spektor sang “Us,” “Ghost of Corporate Future,” “Fidelity,” “Samson,” and brought the band back on for her last song, which I can’t remember because - to be perfectly honest - I was high. I feel like she’d be cool with that, though. I’m still convinced she wrote “Ghost of Corporate Future” on shrooms.”

Yeah, that sounds good and all, but I got to do something nice for my mom, which I don’t really do nearly enough (unless of course throwing parties at your parents’ respective houses and getting caught on a regular basis is now considered doing something nice for your parents, I’ve been slacking in that department). One of the casualties of that June hiatus I went on was that I didn’t get to review the secret Regina Spektor show I attended at the Oren-Santz church, the oldest (and most beautiful) church in Manhattan. The incredible venue yielded one of the most amazing and unique concert experiences of my life. Unlike her 9:30 Club show, Regina played solo, alone at her piano in front of the 50 or so awestruck concetgoers in attendance, and the natural acoustics of the venue were just unbelievable. Suffice it to say, it was majestic as shit. Loose Record was at the same show and wrote up a nice review, but if even if you’re not big on words (in which case I have no idea how you made it this far), you should definitely make sure to check out their stunning pictures of the show to get an idea just how unbelievable the scene was. Aside from the sheery beauty of the venue, another awesome factor was the open bar, and since I guess they assumed everyone in attendance was over 21, things worked out quite nicely for me in that regard. I’d just picked up her new album at the time, Begin To Hope, which Everett and I were both obsessed with (documented here in Evro’s artist profile of Regina) and pretty much still are, so all of the new songs were an obvious highlight, as well as her incredible solo rendition of “Us” and a song I hadn’t heard before, which I’ve since come to discover is called “Baby Jesus”. Unavailable on any album, the song sees Regina at her most playful and showing off her most whimsical vocal acrobatics ever. Fortunately, I was able to track down an extremely high quality recording of Regina Spektor’s 2005 show at the Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh, Scotland, which features Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls (for whom Regina was opening at the show) on “Uh-Merica”. It’s a fairly pristine recording, and Regina performs solo just as I saw her in NYC this summer, so it’s an added bonus that you get to here their songs in their most intimate and stripped-down versions.

SOUND QUALITY: B+

Regina Spektor, Live @ The Cabaret Voltaire: DOWNLOAD .ZIP [follow link]
01. “Talking Intro”
02. “8 Miles High”
03. “Pound of Flesh/Ezra Pound”
04. “Sailor Song”
05. “The Flowers”
06. “In Another Town”
07. “Dance Anthem of the 80s”
08. “Names and Faces”
09. “That Time”
10. “Mermaid”
11. “Apres Moi”
12. “On the Radio”
13. “Poor Little Rich Boy”
14. “Carbon Monoxide”
15. “Consequence of Sound”
16. “Fidelity”
17. “UH-Merica” (w/ Amanda Palmer)
18. “Samson”
19. “Us”
20. “Baby Jesus” ((highly recommended))

You can grab some more Regina mp3s by checking out Everett’s profile of her from last May here, or hit up the Hype Machine for more. Below is “Us”, my favorite Regina track, as well as a surprisingly excellent remix of the song courtesy of mc DJ of Illin’ Noise fame, with “That Time”, my new favorite track on Begin To Hope, just thrown in for good measure. As one final bonus I’m also reposting below Regina’s 2003 b-side collaboration with the Strokes, originally posted in Everett’s artist profile and titled “Modern Girls And Old Fashioned Men”.

MP3s:
“Us” - Regina Spektor ((highly recommended))
“Us” (mc DJ Remix) - Regina Spektor
“That Time” - Regina Spektor ((highly recommended))
“Modern Girls And Old Fashioned Men” (ft. Regina Spektor) - The Strokes

Shit, I really can’t get enough of this girl… here’s “Samson” as well. “Samson” was originally featured on Regina’s Songs album, but has been reprised on Begin To Hope because it’s just so amazing. With glossier production and the classy addition of strings, the new version doesn’t differ greatly from the original out side of these touches and some altered lyrics, but it’s still the best song Regina’s ever written and will benefit from the exposure gained by its inclusion on Hope, as otherwise it might remain forever buried in obscurity on her much lesser-known Songs.

Bonus MP3: “Samson” - Regina Spektor ((highly recommended))