Weezer

As an avid weezer fan for most of my life (no joke I remember loving the blue album in the 3rd grade, not to sound pretentious or anything, but I've always had great musical taste... not true at all), I've been pretty disappointed by their last couple releases. So I refuse to let myself get excited about a new Weezer album in April of '08. However, I feel like it's at least worth mentioning that it will be happening.

Rivers is also releasing an album of "unheard" songs (can't really call them b-sides, but weezer fans circa 98-post green album will have heard almost all of them) in December called "Alone, The home recordings of Rivers Cuomo", which really isn't news, but... well, I got nothing. If anything, I would certainly recommend you purchase this cd if you're a fan of early Weez. It'll have some stuff post-blue and pre-pink. Buy it, it'll be good. It'll be much more raw and less produced than Weezer's last three albums, which is what we all love.

copelame? copelawesome?

b-sides albums are inherently bad. if the songs were amazing, they would have made it onto a full album. that said, b-sides are fun for the fans and can contain something amazing (tisbury lane by mae would be an example of this). despite this, there are good b-side's albums and really bad ones (anyone who bought anberlin's recently released b-sides knows that pain all too well. and if we find out you paid money for it, we'll feel bad for you, but we will tease you too. seriously, what were you thinking?!).

in truth, dressed up and in line is a fair compilation of my personal experience with copleand and is a pretty good b-sides project. the militia group would want me to talk about how some of the tracks were re-recorded and they really spent time and effort instead of just slopping together a bunch of demos. real copeland fan's won't care one way or the other though and i don't care either.

some tracks are impressive and amazing. "may i have this dance" was one of copeland's first recorded songs and it's great to have it and i know it will be played often in my home. i will love it like i loved beneath medicine tree, which in my opinion is one of the best albums the militia group has released so far (if ronnie day reads this, he'll be so pissed). other tracks like their cover of soundgarden's black hole sun are really not anything special and sum up the way i feel about eat, sleep, repeat - an album that for me, was disappointing.

other tracks are just what you'd expect on a b-sides: early demos, alternate versions and covers - some of them you'll love and others you will really hate and maybe even delete them off your itunes. copeland fans will want to buy this album. for the casual fan though, i would still just suggest buying beneath medicine tree. either way, your money will be better spent on this cd than on the anberlin b-side that curiously was released on the same day as copeland's.

as for copeland, who knows? with the recent friendly departure of bassist james likeness and their recent booting from columbia records, copeland's future isn't as rosy as they are portraying. i am sure that they'll land on their feet and keep making music; i just don't think it will be as easy and quick as they're saying. i hope this isn't the last copeland cd that comes across my kitchen table, but if it is, it is a fair remembrance of copeland.

per lauralee's fabulous ideas...

here's la blogotheque's video for menomena's wet & rusting. lauralee mentioned it in the comments (see, we read and we care) so i thought i'd post it. pretty much any excuse to post about menomena and we're going to do it.

#62.3 - Menomena - Wet and Rusting
Uploaded by lablogotheque

tim wishes he found this first

here's a video of surrogate from a show they played a few weeks away with the format and brighten.



bookmark the ship because all next week we'll be reviewing our top albums of 2007. each day will be a different staff writer along with a guest submission from people in bands you love.

how come no one ever comments on my posts?

Seriously, is my musical taste not good enough for you people? Or am I just the Solid Ground Cafe version of Andy Kauffman and no one gets my jokes?

These two bands are made to get your feet moving. Actually, I don't really know how much I would listen to either one long term, but they're fun for a little while, if you just want to get your body moving to the beat that just won't stop, take you to the top, make you wanna pop (that's a dance move right? I don't know).

Anyway, heard these two bands while driving along listening to some sirius blog radio, which in its own right is a beautiful thing. Muscles reminds me of a dance pop version of TV On The Radio. They're on the verge of being strange, but it's still good. Listen to the song Ice Cream, it'll get your feet moving.


Junior Senior is a hip hop group from Denmark who has actually been around for a couple years, and we're just now starting to catch on here in the states. They have a little bit of an old school hip hop feel to what they do. It's good, check it out. You can play them at your christmas parties, and watch Grandma get down.

Last, but not least, for you Jason Mraz fans, La Blogotheque just did some stuff with him. I don't really listen to a lot of his stuff, but in usual Blogotheque form, his videos are really cool.

oh! the review

i hung out with tate from the lionelle today. if tate were a mommy, the lionelle would be his baby. to call him the lead singer is like coloring a picture with only two crayons. calling him lead singer also assumes that much of what he does as front-man is singing, which is a highly discussed point of contention.

in the few lionelle shows i've been to, i've noticed that a portion of the crowd simply cannot handle that tate chooses to warble and shout when it's plainly obvious that he can sing normally. the difference here is that tate isn't aiming to sound like mae (or what mae tries to sound like after an afternoon with the auto-tuner). he could if he wanted. he just doesn't want to. if i'm not mistaken, isn't that rock and roll? knowing you're different and not caring?

at any rate, if tate was the mommy and the lionelle was his baby, oh! the company that we keep would be the babies' shiny new toy that isn't just shiny and new, but is actually a really great toy like one of those learning toys from germany that helps kids learn.

oh! isn't a local cd. the lionelle just happen to live here and record here. oh! sounds like it was made by people that make music for a living. it has rich textures, multiple layers, guest musicians, guest vocals and lots of fun in between. if it were a soup, it would be equal parts appleseed cast and mewithoutYou with a bit of bright eyes (bear in mind that i hate comparisons like this).

so here it is. they're throwing a FREE cd release party this saturday at slowtrain (i can't wait until they know we exist!). they'll have oh! available for $10 and the lionelle are playing with calico, tolchock trio and paul jacobsen. it's free and you should go. i can't.

This "Is nice"

Weatherbox is a very lovely band composed of Brian Warren, Lowell Heflin, Dave Silverman, and Cory Stier. These San Diego boys are a part of Doghouse Records which includes bands like Meg and Dia, The All-American Rejects, and Say Anything. Impresive, yes? I would most definitely like to think so. What is also impressive is the music. I'm not quite sure how to describe it in any other way than a little different with a little of the normal. But, like many things, different and normal in very good ways. Brian Warren's vocals are, thankfully, not like everyone elses, and they hold your attention. The instruments work with his voice and each other to create a (can i say it?) catchy sound that actually sort of reminds me of The Early November. Maybe I'm all wrong here but with two EPs and one LP, I'd say they are on their way. But if you MUST decide for yourself you should check them out at the cafe tomorrow evening (Tuesday November, 27) with Get Back Loretta, The Lauderdale, and Paxtin. OH yes, how is that for promotion?

P&L sexys.