Ethan is back, and the staff and users of that’s punk all collectively cheer. everything is as it should be. if you remember correctly, the last The Loneliest Cowgirls post was a shift of style, sounding more like The Sky Looks Pissed. this is a continuation of that style change. it’s not as extremely lo-fi or abrasive as the début, but just as painful and just as frail. what… might… surprise you though is that… this is in fact a Ke$ha cover. i.e. a cover of the American pop artist Ke$ha’s début album. that’s right. the album responsible for million dollar hits such as “Tik Tok”. now personally I much prefer Lady GaGa to Ke$ha. but then again I haven’t really dived into Ke$ha’s album yet.. anyway, this cover album definitely makes me want to check out Ke$ha some more. the only problem is that I’m confident that she isn’t one tenth as interesting as The Loneliest Cowgirls (or Lady GaGa, for that matter). and interesting is the first word I’d use in describing this cover album. I never imagined getting to hear Ke$ha in a folk rock setting. I certainly didn’t expect Ke$ha in a folk rock setting to *work*. with the stumbling lyrics and the faltering vocals – The Loneliest Cowgirls trembles along. if you’re into folk rock or Ke$ha, get this.
archive for May, 2010
The Loneliest Cowgirls – Animal
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Oh, Apollo! – End EP
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010for all of you nostalgic and sentimental Oh, Apollo! fans out there – here are their last three recordings. musically, this is a continuation of what was started on Kingdoms, then continued on Twin Peaks. Oh, Apollo! has perfected their sound by now, and is ending their career at the top. they are going down in style, with an honest document of who they are. spending three years contributing to the DIY scene and making a community in the Bay Area, their eventful journey has now come to an end, and this is End EP – the perfect document of that end. jangly, messy but pretty. this is their maybe finest material, and I highly recommend you get it. all of these songs appear on a cassette split with Lost In Bazaar, which you can get here: http://dyinghorse.com/distro/ – for only $2.25!
The Bridgeheads – Foreigners
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010c.a. six years ago I saw fifteen seconds of a music video on the Bulgarian (I think it’s Bulgarian) music video channel Musicbox, and ordered this band’s début album. at the time they were known as The Bridge, and they weren’t all that big. at least not in Norway. and frankly, they still aren’t that big. why? I can’t for the life of me figure that out. their début was insanely good, and fairly ambitious – coming in a beautifully designed digipack, with cover art by their vocalist and main songwriter, Tomas. a two disc mammoth, that album was glorious. it would go three more years before I got new material by these guys. with a change in their line-up as well as name change, they released a three song EP in 2007. it was just as good as their début album… but it was just an EP, and after listening to it a thousand times, all I could say was GIEF MOAR. and now, three more years have past, and I’m finally getting MOAR. it’s 2010, and their new album is finally here. it’s called Foreigners and it’s released for free today. to put things into perspective, Tomas describes it as his Guernica, or his Tournesols, and they’ve been working with this for approximately three years, the last half of which period being spent in isolation, to avoid any loss of focus. this is extremely ambitious, and definitely a high risking project. Tomas has also written, directed, produced etc music videos for each and every of the eleven songs. and now it’s here. on their previous records they primarily played this kind of goth-y form of alternative (a bit comparable to Placebo), but when your début consists of 34 tracks, you obviously cross experiment with other sounds as well. so they dipped their toes into both pop rock, experimental rock and garage punk, avant-garde piano-driven compositions, claustrophobic acoustic lullabies… among other things. that alternative sound with an affection for the experimental is still at the core of their sound. but now they are far more experimental. their sound is vastly different. there are no longer tendencies towards the experimental, but a sound that is completely sui generis. they are different from every other band out there, doing something entirely unique of their own. they call it expressionism. though they probably don’t mean the contemporary classical genre, that would actually not be all that off. because like that, this is acute, avant-garde and emotionally distressed. just in a more rock setting. the mix is completely unorthodox with no bass, a ton of mystical reverb, Joseph’s soft drums that sounds like it’s behind a wall, guitars that usually vary between the clean and semi-distorted, and just a very different sound altogether. to compensate for the lack of bass guitar, Tomas plays an octave guitar with no A-string, adding some deep and soft touches. while the record captures quite a few moments of alternative magic, it more often dwells in a sparse Joy Division manner, a comparison significantly enhanced by the baritone vocals – even though they often seek for the otherworldly by utilising Tomas’s signature falsetto. the Slovakian band The Bridgeheads relocated to London some years ago, and I don’t know if it’s coincidental that this record sounds like it borrows quite a bit from English ’80s music, particularly (art) punk and goth rock. other bands that come to mind are both Radiohead and The Cure (Disintegration and post Disintegration). take this into the experimental alternative sound, and you’d probably still be way off if you were to take a guess as to what this record might sound like. it’s an experience that needs to be… experienced. The Bridgeheads do not adhere to a single genre I know of. this album is a fresh breath of air for music as a whole. it’s one of a kind. it needs to be heard to stand any chance of being even remotely fathomed. you need to hear this.
Tim, Face Berlin – Youth
Friday, May 21st, 2010I’m assuming you all remember Tim, Face Berlin? if you don’t, I posted their début some posts down from this one. you should definitely get it, because it’s really good. this is their sequel, Youth. because in my opinion, this album is even better. it’s everything the first one was, only better. the climaxes are louder, and the calm parts are calmer. Youth is an accomplishment in terms of dynamics and a titillation of the soul. it hits nerves I didn’t even know I had. this band has grown and matured. while their sound certainly isn’t being redefined on Youth, it definitely is being refined. Tim, Face Berlin’s greatest weakness is still the predictability and their failure to create something unheard of. however, this might just be their *only* weakness. so they are doing pretty much everything right, they’re just in danger of drowning in a sea of all too similar bands. honestly, the only thing preventing this is the sheer quality present in Tim, Face Berlin’s songs. because while they are still not the most original band in the world, they are undeniably highly gifted performers. their compositions do not surprise me in the slightest – but they do touch me and move me in a way few others do. I for one value their soaring emotional intensity and beautiful flowing sensibility much more than I would or could value their creativity and originality if they lacked these qualities. this is an album that everyone should definitely check out and give a chance, if you are into extremely appealing, albeit generic instrumental layered progressive rock.
Captain Credible – Planet of the Eternal Electro Breakdance Orgy
Friday, May 21st, 2010I bid you welcome to the Planet of the Eternal Electro Breakdance Orgy. I promise nothing but an *eternal* electro breakdance orgy. at least that’s what you’ll get if you put this album on repeat. stating «coffee, and other music» as his influences, English-born Daniel (who now resides in Norway) is Captain Credible. and what exactly is Captain Credible? a one-man band? sure. an electronica art explosion? sure. but he’s all that, and so much more. from the home-made instruments, to the radiator he uses at his gigs to ensure a warm sound – this is an experience like none other, and this record is an eventful journey into the absurd imagination of Captain Credible. we partake on a nice little trip with Captain Credible, as he invites us to come join him on his spaceship. introducing us to what I can only assume are charming people (I mean, Dr. Testicles sounds like a fine man indeed), and describing exciting adventures such as “Pillaging With Astrodog”, the Captain sounds like he has a fairly hectic schedule on his hands. but thankfully he found the time to record these songs, despite being somewhat busy “Shooting Elephants on the Plains of the Serengeti”. the fact that he found the time to record this has to be one of the greatest things to have happened to this world, because these joyful and playful epileptic seizures are nothing short of spectacular. this record is all over the place. Captain Credible is incredible. download this asap! then buy it from http://howisannierecords.com – from which you can get it extremely cheaply. well worth the money and then some.
Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains – …Is Dead
Friday, May 21st, 2010eighteen songs that take forty-two minutes to listen through – this is probably the most valuable of all Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains collection, and it’s also the last post I’ll do on them. for those missing Chaos Infiltration Squad and Love Songs for the Apocalypse – this record is those records combined. with deliciously supreme recording quality (especially compared to the earlier posts), this is probably the ultimate record by this band. if you’re a casual fan or an emerging folk punk fan, this is the record to get. if you’re a omg zuper fan – you’ll obviously want to get all the records by them that I’ve blogged… but prepare to be paying this one the most attention though. partially due to the recording quality, partially due to it containing eighteen tracks and consequently being the biggest song collection. as for the style of music – it’s basically the same formula as on the other records. it’s energetic and catchy folk punk that somehow manages to be both nonchalant yet passionate; snarky and nihilist; ugly though brilliant. you’ll want this. get get get it! (I’ve been playing a fair deal of Skate 3 lately… – it’s a disappointment, if you were wondering.)
Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains – Live at Bandit H.Q.
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010as the album title evidence, this is a live take of Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. it’s a split with Captain Chaos (Chris of Plan-It-X), but the songs appearing in this post are merely Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains’ side of the matter. that side consists of five songs that are c.a. sixteen and a half minutes long in total. all of the songs apart from one appears on one or more of the older posts, so this post is for you guys who can’t get enough of Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. again, apologies for those of you who do not really care for this style of music. anyway, this live take has really good recording quality and is well worth checking out. the great thing about anything Pat the Bunny is involved with is how energetic the live shows are, with Pat and the audience screaming their lungs out as if a competition was going on. this is just really, really great, so check it out.
Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains – Sunday Easter Hangover
Monday, May 10th, 2010another shortie. three songs, fifteen minutes. one of which appeared on the previous post (“New Mexico”). you know the drill by now. it’s Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. it’s folk punk. acoustic guitar, trumpet, harmonica and shouting about the revolution etc. I don’t want to belittle this shit, because it truly is awe-inspiring – but there’s only so much detail I can put into the description of the music itself. it’s folk punk. catchy and memorable protest songs. this release even has fairly good recording quality, so there will be no annoying compromising of these beautiful songs! which is pretty great, because you cannot possibly listen to these songs without getting inspired and agog. so put these nihilist punk songs on, and dream of the future with Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. «you wish the world was clean but I’m in love with the way it’s dirty.»
Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains – Caught in the Act of Not Being Awesome
Friday, May 7th, 2010ok this is where the Johnny Hobo and The Freight Trains discography gets mildly confusing to me. I have no release year on this record, and there are highly conflicting rumours going around on forums. I must admit I’m a bit lost at the order and release dates by now (already), and even the legitimacy of the release. for all I know this is a fan-made collection of unreleased songs. but it sounds like it’s merely a live concert, but at the end of the songs there’s a studio take of parts of the song? it’s a bit weird. three of the songs are on Anarchy Means I Hate You, but this concert has no drum machine, no nothing. it’s just a man and his guitar… and what sounds like a stand up bass, but it’s sort of hard to tell, because it’s rather awkward-sounding in the mix. sometimes it sounds like it’s a drum? wtf? yeah. but thankfully the guitar and vocals both get across perfectly. so if you are interested in hearing Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains cursing the world live, then you should definitely get this release. the nihilist folk invasion continues, and will continue to continue over quite a few more posts. if you’re one of them who don’t like folk punk: sorry! if you like folk punk: you’re welcome!