Summer's Out!, for the Summer...and Fall

So gang, summer's gone, it didn't take the heat with it but it's gone (which is Bush's fault, after all he invented global warming to piss Al Gore off), but since the air is still simmering let's see which songs are as well. That's right, it's reader input time again; aka. I hope Luke and Patrick still read this.
Pass it on, pass it on and LTME will crank out the SONGS OF SUMMER (The Essential 12, thereof).

Who brought the heat? Was it the summer of Rehab? Is Prince the new king? Was it as easy as 1234, or was it Spoon fed? Did Justice and Dan Deacon rock the house or do the honors go to LCD? What about that little wuss song from that emo group that stole the big plain white T fashion from all the playas that are not of Anglo-Saxon descent? Kanye, where you at fool? Did you dig the mellowness to beat the heat with the likes of Caribou or Bishop Allen? There was little rain, so who's for an Umbrella?*

Regardless of who wins, it was a good summer and you all were worthy.

-Thnks fr th Mmrs...jk lol :)


*I don't listen to the radio so I had to Google and find out what the songs were actual real people listen to

Did Made Said Thought

Do Make Say Think - Tremont Music Hall, Charlotte, 9-20-07

Haven't had a chance to review this show and not feeling like getting overly into it, but I do want to hit some bullet points worth covering.

- Tremont's sound system was not at all prepared for this band, way to much fuzz and meddling of the layered noises, but nevertheless I was quite impressed with these folks.

- It's an 8 piece outfit complete with sax, trumpet, violin, two drums, bass and a pretty damn good lead guitar...who is certainly a heroin abuser based on appearance, he was the focal point in a lot of ways, at one point he got off stage and was playing in the crowd, which was small and seemed confused, I liked the move.

- Band wrote a special intro just for the Charlotte gig, it was written in a Cracker-Barrel as they were having their van worked on, which died, 6 days into their current tour

- High Life is very cheap and cold there

- My original mention of comparing this band as being like Explosions in the Sky was accurate, but not so grandiose, more along the lines of Sunset Rubdown and Besnard Lakes...I dug it and recommend getting hold of some of their recorded material

- Although the band had a great sound and interesting song structure and approach, they seemed out of sync, which wasn't all that bad, more free based jazz session feel to it, but members were often looking to one another with lost expressions as one or more kids would head off in one direction and the others were unsure how to follow, give them a few more nights on the road and they should be on fire. Band worth seeing in a better venue

Rating:

Gettin' My Act Together, One of These Days

For now, NEW RATING SYSTEM!!!!!!!!

Settle down, let me explain. I know everyone loved my numerical system that was based on just whatever the fuck kinda mood I was in, but I am tired of having the same rating system as that other blog, pitchforks or whatever. So, with no further delay I give you the greatest thing I have ever done...

No longer will a great album receive some BS rating of 9.3, no sir! Now they will receive the honor of getting:

PRETTY AWESOME HUH! Note the ears in relation to listening to an album, ties in nicely with the name of the blog as well. But LTME, what about when you do one of those amazing reviews of the shows that you grace your presence with, how might you rank them?...you are surely asking yourself.

Have no fear, I have come up with a solution to that as well.

I saw Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in High School, it is probably the best concert I have been to for several reasons (one being they were in LED FUCKING ZEPPELIN!). In conversation, if we conversing numerically, I would give that show a 5. Now, if I were talking about that show I would demonstrate it's might visually with these suckas:

It's almost too much, I know. Genius how I spun the whole ear=listening thing into eye=watching thingy... again making connections back to the name of this blog, which is awesome as well!

So the run of the mill review might look like this from now on...

Obscure Album You Won't Listen To - Band You've Never Heard of (in neat colors :)

Funny remark........reference to where they are from.....last album....how or how not they sound like other bands that you may or may not have heard of.....lots of random words used to describe pretty straight forward things like 'guitar good, singing not good' ......funny remark.....mention of songs from the album....some italicized lyric from that song....possibly some Haiku I write or poem using the same syntax and the band....closing remarks.....

and then the oddly low (and snob) rating I give the album after all the above talk, most of which was headed in a direction that surely was going to give the album a good score, but nevertheless

No need to thank me for all this, I get enjoyment enough knowing that reading my blog is the most important thing you guys have going on in your lives.

5 Quick Reviews, real quick like

As promised, Fall is going to be awesome. But before we make it official (there will of course be a summer review, which will have my favorite songs of ’07 to date) let me wrap up a few reviews on a few records I ended my summer with.

Run From Safety – Octoberman

To be frank, I looked into this band because I thought the name was cool (back to that whole my liking the fall thing) and I’m glad that I was so superficial. The Vancouver group presents single structured songs that roll at up-tempo pace driven with poppy guitars and insightful lyrics. Think Decemberists and Mountain Goats covering Matt Pond PA after listening to a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah…but not so confusing to follow. The album never blows the listener away, but it does draw you in and like most records that stand the test of time with me, the picture painter grows more clear and vivid with each listen. Lyrically speaking, this album is superb, however the delivery seems lazy at times and the songs often lack any real sense of accomplishment. At the same time tracks that do stand out look strong against the weaker efforts. Cisco Kid sings itself along the tale of a forgotten hero of the west, whom no one sings for anymore. The title song is perhaps the strongest, odd that worked out that way huh? All in all a worthy effort and ideal for the cool lazy weekends of autumn…

As long as we run from safety, we’ll find our way out here, maybe

Rating: 7.7

Our Ill Wills – Shout Out Louds

I’m usually very turned off by the breathy, self important, pop/alt music of the late night 90’s, something about those faked brit accents, and crappy songs. Everyone has weak points and guilty pleasures. Mine just may be Shout Out Louds. I first found this group via a CD my friend (Laz) burnt for me. I liked it, but didn’t spend much time with it, that is until I ran with it again on a road trip last summer and it hit me just right. I had again forgotten about the band, mostly because their style of music is not in my normal rotation, so the recent reintroduction was a welcome reminder. All that being said, I’m still not a huge fan of the band or the style of music, but here on Our Ill Wills I cannot deny the talent that exists. In other words I am reviewing this album positively because I feel that people who like this kind o music will love this album. Tonight I Have to Leave It is a catchy and very well written song so I’ll let it serve as the song to try for this album and although Your Parents Living Room is the cliché song that turns me off to the genre, I must admit it is far superior to most.

Rating: 7.5





The Stage Names – Okkervil River

Another band brought to my attention by before mentioned Laz, but not nearly as pseudo important as SOL’s. In many regards SOL’s and OK River are a lot alike, but where they differ is in the folk, bluegrass styling that OK river brings…which is precisely why I prefer them. There has been a lot of praise for this album, and a lot of reviews, so I won’t waste your time with a long review here but I will spin one popular praise for the album. The strength of the reviews of this album has been in the overwhelming success of the lyrics and the stories they portray. I allow myself to deep into albums and flesh out the meanings of powerful and verbose lyrics (Wilco) and lyrics that are layered yet sharp and simple (Modest Mouse), and given time the lyrics are the biggest reason I come back to a lot of songs over time. Here the lyrics are too much. So much so that I forget about the musical arrangements and focus entirely on the story being told, not because the story is that awesome, but because the music is almost written the push the vocals forward and not distract you from the almost emo like story telling. I don’t really crap on albums on this blog (in retrospect I should have hit Wilco’s SBS even harder) but I will drop the bomb on this album and say its been the biggest disappointment to me all year. The Avett Brothers album just got even better after listening to this one.

Rating: 6.1

Good Bad Not Evil – The Black Lips

This is what a young punk garage band from the south is supposed to sound like. They don’t throw you no flash, they just make it rock and rock like the Ramones did, not giving a fuck if they impress you with award winning songs, just making an album that is blast to listen to and you know would rock live. The perfect punk revivalist, they mix Kinks, Ramones, Iggy and wasted wankers of the industrial burbs of London with the dirty rawness of the southern US and the early Clash thrill of the punk scene. The songs are short, catchy and just like a good punk album, they kinda all sound the same, but you know there is something different. Simple, dumb and refreshing.

Rating: 7.9






Super Taranta! – Gogol Bordello

All the adjectives I want to use to describe this album I used when I relayed my impression of the Man Man show from earlier in the year, but I’ll try something. Wild, Wacky and Weird. Euro, Mixed Up, Bizarre! It’s part DeVotchka, part Man Man part Fiddler on the Roof and its all pretty damn cool. Nothing something you can listen for long periods or very often, but if you have the right setting, maybe latenight with your craziest Eastern European pals in an underground club chugging vodka from mother Russia’s supple bosom. It’s punk, it’s electro, its worldly, ambitious, and its gotta be freakin awesome live.
Here’s to em! Whoever these Gypsies immigrants are.

Rating: 7.6

and you're my fact checking cuz

First off the Led Zeppelin reunion is official, and it's officially one show and officially going to be well out of my price range and that officially sucks.
Read more from Pitchforkmedia


Also in non-related media,
This video is getting some hype, not as stellar as I had hoped but Bill Murray is always worth watching.

The first leaf 'fell'

Forgot to include the movies of the fall...
1. The Kingdom

2. We Own the Night

3. I'm Not There

4. King of California

5. Into the Wild

Things Fall in place…and sometimes apart

I told my roommate last night with all sincerity that I enjoy the fall more than any other season, more than Spring, Summer and sometimes Winter. It has everything I look for in a season. Sports, Music, Movies, Temperature, Holidays, new line of garbs at TJ Max…the list goes on. I really cannot even wrap all I like about fall up in a few words, but I’ll do my best.

Here we stand, amongst the leaves of brown and red and orange and the grass so dry. Here we stand on the brink of what’s to come and what has just been set aside. The passing of summer brings about the breeze of change and a skip to the stride. Here’s to the days of pigskin and rye.

August is hot, fuckin’ real hot. But August also marks the start of football season, so August is pretty damn good, fuckin’ pretty damn good. I won’t waste yours and my time by explaining why football is the best of the major sports in the world, because if you do not already feel the same way, then I don’t want you reading my blog no more.

I grew up in what once was a simple southern city that had real aspirations to make it big someday. We had very little by way of entertainment and both my brother and myself were high-energy involved kids, so my parents had to find things to occupy our busybodies. The two most successful activities my parents found to occupy my time in the fall was football and the Boy Scouts. Subsequently the fall has been held in a special spot in my being ever since. But long before I became the best 190lb center Charlotte Country Day has ever known, I used to observe the game high up the stands rooting for the best basketball school in the national to win one on the gridiron. Not that it has any bearing on my falls since, but I do still remain a UNC football fan.

As I grew I took the game on in many ways and my base of teams grew. I branched out of the Carolinas and began to follow the likes of FSU, Michigan and Colorado. To be completely honest I also liked some school from Alabama, the one that doesn’t have crimson on their uniforms…that was before I discovered a little town aptly titled the Classic City.

Fall also meant camping, hiking and climbing, which I found to be the most fascinating stuff in the world. Just me and the stuff on my back working outdoors, it just felt so natural to me and these days are among my most fond. I have dwindled in my outdoor activities for many reasons, but I need to get back to those ways and I need to do it soon.

Now for the rest of why I love the fall.

Television:
I HATE BASEBALL. Fall means football on TV, far too much of it, but I’ll watch Northen Illinois vs. Western Kentucky hightlights before I suffer through mindless blurbs about how so and so has been hitting well for that team and facing a left handed pitcher that listens to Metallica in a speedo before the game, on a Thursday evening, when its between 72-76 degrees, with slightly overcast skies, 32 people in the second row, one goat sacrificed and 20cc’s of elephant testosterone pumping through his veins he is likely to get on base twice…and that will be AWESOME!

Beyond Sports this is why fall TV is awesome.
1. Curb Your Enthusiasm
2. The Wire
3. Dexter
4. Friday Night Lights
5. Heroes
6. Californication

Music:
The shows are always the best in the fall. The Flaming Lips at Amo’s and Echo Project are the highlights to come, but there will be plenty to report.

The Albums I cannot wait for.
1. Band of Horses
2. Devendra Banhart
3. Sunset Rubdown
4. The Raconteurs
5. Britt Daniel
6. Tapes N’ Tapes
We’ll see if Wolf Parade has time to put another one out as well.

Here’s to the end of the wedding season and the start of all things Pue!