September 28, 2009 · 7:16 PM

Jam of the Day – Animal Hands Shape Audio Lakes

animalhands_bandphoto

Our friends from Brooklyn-based Animal Hands just released a free, 3 song EP titled Suntan on their website, and they’re playing a show tonight at Pianos to celebrate! Come on out and party with them – Leo O’connor and P.D. Brennan on vox and guitars, T. Stephen Farrell on keys, Kiernan Moriarty on bass, and Thomas O’Connor on drums – and wash away your Monday blues:

Animal Hands_Pianos

Later this week we’ll be writing up a review of their full-length Unrealists, set to be released really soon, but in the meantime here’s a tasty little preview of the forth-coming LP, called “Lavender Lakes.”

Animal Hands – Lavender Lakes:

-Drew

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September 25, 2009 · 7:13 PM

Jam of the Day – Flaming Arrows from Jupiter

jupiter_one_logo You may never have heard of Jupiter One, but after hearing their new album Sunshower, you might experience the same sort of “this sounds familiar” reaction that I did. Which is not to say that J1 is derivative, but rather that this group of songs is so diverse and touches on so many genres and bands that as I was listening to the record today, my co-worker asked me about 5 times, in disbelief, “is this really the same band?” As the press release for the record states, this is “a brazenly positive, unapolegetically upbeat pop record that simply can’t fail to put a smile between any set of ears.” With a whole slew of good songs on there, including “Volcano,” “Anna,” “Flaming Arrow,” (which kind of sounds like Guster to me) and “Find Me a Place” (is this a lost Police song or something?), the disc does not disappoint, and I recommend checking them out.

Jupiter One, from Brooklyn, which is made up of members K Ishibashi, Zac Colwell, Mocha, David Heilman, and Pat “Panda” Dougherty, have a lot going for them right now: They’re about to open a bunch of shows for Regina Spektor, and tonight they play their “record release party” show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (I’ll be there if you want someone to hang out with). So go check them out before they get too famous.

Although my favorite song from the album is probably “Simple Stones,” I could only find this relatively poor quality video of them playing it online. So for today’s jam, check out the pretty fun animated video they just released for “Flaming Arrow,” the first single off the record.

Jupiter One – Flaming Arrow:

-Drew

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September 24, 2009 · 8:19 PM

Jam of the Day – Ghostface Visits Emerald City, Brings Back Baby-Making R&B Record

ghostface-killah-wizard-of-poetry

It’s been about three months since we posted up “Forever” and Ghostface Killah’s comments about his upcoming R&B record, Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City. Here’s a little recap:

“How long you gonna be 40 years old and actin’ like you still sellin’ cracks and you on the block and you doin’ this and you doin’ that when times is more serious, man. We in a fuckin’ recession, B! Ain’t nobody gettin’ no money, man! We gotta stop lyin’ to ourselves and lyin’ to the fans. And the fans gotta stop bein’ so dumb and ignorant, and know it’s time to talk about grown-man situations. Shit that happen in the real life, inside your household, your love life, your personal life…”

The album, GFK’s last for Def Jam, is set to drop next week on September 29, 2009, but it’s already been getting some rave reviews, and today Ghostface actually teamed up with imeem to offer a streaming version of the whole record free online. 2dopeboyz has it up also in case you don’t have an imeem account.

All I can really say is that this whole album is dope; Ghostface really delivers on his promise. My man has a whole rap about being paranoid fantasizing about a new man enjoying his ex-woman! Real talk. But I’m a sucker for a slow R&B jam, and Tony Starks (AKA Ghostface Killah), so I guess it’s not surprising. Early favorites from the first few listens are opener “Not Your Average Girl,” “Guest House,” “I’ll Be That,” and “Goner,” and even though the “Back Like That” remix was originally on More Fish, it really pops here in the smooth R&B, love song context. This record will be spun for many a baby-making session/fireplace cuddle this winter, fo sho. If you think that I’m sweating the album too hard, I would say to you just pardon my gangster, a line from what I assume is the first official single, “Baby.” Check out the video for it below. Run, Ghostface, run!

Ghostface Killah – Baby (ft. Raheem “Radio” DeVaughn):

-Drew

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September 23, 2009 · 7:55 AM

Jam of the Day – Too Soon To Ignore The Rising Oceans

In New York this week, the ongoing UN meetings are covering a range of topics, one of the most important being climate change. For policy makers, as the Times reports, this debate has been “an intricate challenge: building momentum for an international climate treaty at a time when global temperatures have been relatively stable for a decade and may even drop in the next few years.” Seriously, this is a challenge? Of all of the important issues being debated in these meetings, one would think that the future survival of the planet would trump them all. Skeptics that are trying to stall these discussions and treaties to further their own political agendas are being incredibly short-sighted, and it won’t be long until they are going to be faced with a disastrous climate situation and rising tides that they can’t ignore.

heyocean_band_photo All these doubters need take a queue from the name of Vancouver-based jazz/pop band Hey Ocean!, and deal with the issue head on. From what I have heard of Hey Ocean! so far, they are pretty adept at blending various musical styles into some solid pop-tracks that they showcased at SXSW this summer. Band members Ashleigh Ball, David Beckingham and David Vertesi released It’s Easier To Be Somebody Else in 2008, a fusion of playful, lyric-driven ballads. Today’s jam is the first track off of It’s Easier To Be Somebody Else, “Too Soon.”

Hey Ocean! will be in NYC soon, playing two nights at Piano’s on October 8th and 15th, so if you like what you hear, mark your calendar.

Hey Ocean! – Too Soon:

-Melissa

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September 22, 2009 · 5:16 PM

Jam of the Day – Watch Out for Monsters

Watch out! There are all kinds of monsters lurking about today:

(Where the Wild Things Are trailer; this excerpt of Dave Eggers’ new novel edition of the screenplay that he wrote with director Spike Jonze of the Sendak classic is pretty great too)

(random video; the scariness of these monsters goes down by about 20 points because of the Blink-182 soundtrack, for sure)

Monsters of Folk – Ahead of the Curve:

But wait, what are those sweet sounds I hear? These last ones don’t seem to be monsters at all..

Oh that’s right, it’s because they’re Monsters of Folk! The “supergroup” Monsters of Folk, which consists of Coner Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, Jim James of My Morning Jacket (performing here as Yim Yames), and M. Ward (most recently performing as part of She & Him with Zooey Deschanel), apparently doesn’t like to be called a “supergroup” (but will accept super group as a moniker). And admittedly, after a listen to the whole album, Monsters of Folk, which was released today, I wouldn’t necessarily categorize the project as “super” whether there’s a space in between the words or not. But still, there are a lot of solid tracks here, especially the track above, “Ahead of the Curve,” which is probably my favorite on the album (hence Jam of the Day status). Other standouts are the opener, “Dear God (sincerely M.O.F.),” and “Temezcal.”

Monsters of Folk perform on Conan tonight, and you can listen to the entire new record on their myspace page. Don’t be scared, it’s just folk.

-Drew

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September 21, 2009 · 7:38 AM

Jam of the Day – Keeping It Fresh By Breaking It Down

Everyone has been saying for years that print media, particularly book publishing, is a dying art form. But, for those adept at using new media to get people excited about books, (like the creators of the Amazon Kindle) there is hope. Today, the publisher Hachette Audio will begin releasing on iTunes a serialized version of a new book “Transition” by Iain M. Banks, a day before the book’s hardcover release. The abridged versions will be broken down into 23 episodes, uploaded two days a week for 12 weeks. This is the first attempt by a publisher to give part of the book away for free with the hope that listeners will like what they hear and be willing to pay for more. If they have enough impatient people on their hands, this could work. As Anthony Goff, publisher and director of Hachette Audio and Digital Media, explained to the Times “the promotion began with the book’s publication there on Sept. 3, and where the free episodes are the eighth-most downloaded podcast on iTunes; the full-length version is the 11th best-selling audio book.”

Another attempt to keep an old-school art form current and fresh is happening tomorrow night, when L.A.’s hip-hop duo People Under the Stairs play at the new Knitting Factory. The two MCs, who has released five albums since 1998, was called “one of the best acts in hip-hop’s underground” by Spin Magazine back in June after playing amped-up gigs at Bonnaroo and Coachella. They have been able to hold on to their old-school sound, partly because the beats, chorus, rhymes, and scratching, are all done by PUTS’ members Thes One and Double K themselves. According to their MySpace page, their new album, Carried Away, was also produced old-school style and was recorded entirely on reel to reel with tons of rock samples, distorted vocals, yelling, drum machines, etc.

The album is due out in early October, but today’s Jam is from their 2002 release, O.S.T. (Original Soundtrack). Ease into the week with a listen…

People Under the Stairs – The Breakdown:

-Melissa

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