Tag Archives: Muse

SXSW

The Soundtrack of Our Lives, In Theaters Now

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Even in Sweden, you can have alternative, grungy sounding music. Just look at The Soundtrack of Our Lives. Now they are not head banging type grunge, but something I like to call Swedish Grunge. Yes, Swedish Grunge, where one can get lost in the sound of harpsichords and bemoan wistfully about lives and days gone by. The Soundtrack of Our Lives, led by Ebbot Lundberg, will be at SXSW supporting their first greatest hits album this year.

When one listens to TSOOL, as they are known by the TSOOL-oupies, they can’t help but come square down on the conclusion that they are also the Swedish version of Muse. Which is the newer British version of Pink Floyd. Not unlike the American version of Tool, which found its progressive roots pulled from the foundation of American grunge. It’s all there in black in white. Listen to ‘Second Life Replay’ to hear a Nirvana/Pink Floyd mix blowing up to the Muse/Tool mix. Are we clear?

[audio:http://146.190.132.255/audio/The_Soundtrack_of_Our_Lives-Second_Life_Replay.mp3]

Events

Happy Record Store Day!

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Hey everyone, I just wanted to wish everyone out there a happy Record Store Day!  Every April, the vinyl record store owners across the world band together and celebrate the regal round objects that are vinyl records.  Today found me crate digging at Vinyl Renaissance and Zebedee’s RPM.  The pull was decent and so was the schwag.

The schwag consisted of some sampler cds, postcards, buttons, and stickers.  Very nice indeed!  Although the 429 Records All-Stars claims to be the best in alternative yet they sport Cracker and Everclear on the compilation.  What’s up with that?  My guess that’s why it was free.  Anywho, here’s my pull:

  • Peter Gabriel/Stephin Merritt : A single where they cover a song of each others
  • Gorillaz – White Flag:
  • Muse – Exogenises Symphony (Parts: 1-3) : After their show at Stubb’s I will get anything new by these guys
  • Paul Simon – Graceland: I think I already have this, but I had to get another copy.  One of the greatest openings ever on an album lives on this bad boy.  I’ll even go as far as to say it’s one of the best albums of the 1980s.

It’s not too late.  Hop online and buy some 45s from the online stores.  If you’re lucky enough to have a record player, plop down your favorite LP and just sit back.

SXSW

SXSW Wrap Up

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This chocolate covered bacon I just ate is starting to be all acid refluxy.  Looks like it’s time to wrap up the SXSW music experience!  I’m sitting here in the hotel chilling out saving up juice for the long drive back tomorrow.  The bacon treat came courtesy of a specialty candy shop down on South Congress in Austin.  Much like the sweet release of flavor both the chocolate and bacon provides my taste buds, the SXSW Music Showcase provided the sweet release of sounds to my ears.  Here’s my highlights of the whole shebang:

  • Mariachi El Bronx really kicked off the tunes even though I saw them at the Interactive closing party.  The happy bounce I had in the chair came from when I discovered that they were, in fact, The Bronx and they decided to take the Mariachi route from their hard rock road.
  • Sharon Jones and Dap kings stole the NPR opening night showcase.  Look, Spoon’s great and Austin local, but the party music and soul motions Jones and company brought to the stage eclipsed everyone else’s performances.
  • Muse delivered.  I have yet to see them and now I can say that the live show is worth every penny.  They do so much more on stage than just play their songs.  I’m now even more of a fan of Muse than what I was before they hit the stage.
  • Street Sweeper Social Club rocked harder than anyone else out here.  Even more so than F@#$ed Up.  Maybe it was the funk tones or the fact I got to see Tom Morrello work his magic.  It doesn’t matter.  The show was the only one I was at where the crowd actually all jumped up and down.
  • Miike Snow impressed me and the whole crowd.  They fused together clear tones of electronic bleeps and bloops with some distorted guitar jams to create a sound that touched everyone at the Mohawk.  You know what?  Wave Machines did that too.
  • Ray Davies can still kick you in the face with his music.   The Kinks patriarch played about 2/3 of his show as you would expect from an old rock.  He was all acoustic and reminiscent.  Then all of the sudden, The 88 came out and they all brought the house down with some Kinks classics and new tunes.
  • Gordon Gano can play the violin.  I didn’t know he could but he showed off his pluckiness with the wooden instrument with the Ryan Brothers.   He totally dipped into the Violent Femmes well so it was a guaranteed win of a show.

That’s all I can remember off the top of my head.  There were so many high points, it’s hard to remember them all.  Well that and the bacon is starting to hit.  I’m sure in the ebb and flow of recovery this week I’ll figure it out.

Concerts, SXSW

SXSW Day 3: Stuffed On Music

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I’m sitting here in the Clarion Inn at about 3:30 in the morning Saturday and I’m wondering if it can get any better than this.  No, I’m not talking about Old Milwaukee, I’m talking about this Music conference and the events leading up me typing this in my underwear.  Sure, my feet are super sore, they have been after every night, but each day passes and my mind continualy is blown up by what we’re doing down here.  Today’s music consisted of a smorgusboard of variety and some pay off from very well known to virtually unknown artists.  Let’s take a look:

  • First up was the Fangs and they bite pretty well in the Euro synth punk genre.  The lead singer lady is all sultry and punky while the rest of the band rocks it out eurocore.  Oh it’s catch and popppy, but has a slight edge.
  • After a couple of detours, I actaully ran into And So I Watch You From Afar playing again.  Me and my lovely girlfriend stayed and watched these guys play again. Go see them if they are in your town.
  • We heard rumor during the week that a major band would be playing at SXSW this week and we got in line at Stubb’s to check them out.  First of was Metric and what I thought was a Swedish smart rock band ended up being a New York rock and roll with synth Blondie send up.  The lead singer lady again had some great energy on the stage.
  • Next up was Muse.  They were the big rumor and Spin brought these guys here for a great show.  I’ve yet to see them live and now I will if they ever come around Kansas City.  Everyone knows who Muse is, or at least should, but what hit the home run for me was the Ennio Morricone cover of the them to Once Upon A Time in The West that they started out with in the encore and ran into Knights of Cydona.  Truly a site to see.
  • We piled out of there and ran back to the Mohawk to see some tunes.  We watched the Cool Kids rap and it was a great palette cleanser.  Good ole fashioned hip hop with some spliff references.
  • Next up at Mohawk was Miike Snow.  Again I thought this was Swedish smart techno but again I was proved wrong when the went alot harder than I expected.  This guys had the crowd at their fingertips by the time we left for our last show.
  • The last stop of the night pinned the tail on our ecclectic donkey of music.  Dengue Fever is a world music band featuring a Cambodian singer and hails for LA.  If you enjoy some rousing world music, check these guys out.  They had us bouncing around the room.  You know at first I thought the singer was a Bollywood type diva but I guess Cambodian divas sound alot like those.  Good fun at the end.