Rodeo Massacre

So, here's a band with a girl who came up in the Swedish blues scene, moved to Paris and started a band. The band got ripped off in France and so they moved to London. And then they come out with this album.

I know it's kind of a cop out to compare bands to other bands, but this sounds like if either Grace Potter or Grace Slick were the lead singer of the Black Keys. If that sounds at all interesting to you, you should check it out. Hell, you should check it out anyway. This is one of the most exciting albums I've heard in years. Seriously. Every track sounds different, but every track kicks ass. There are some more bluesy songs and some more rock and roll songs, but they're all amazing.

Here's one now:


Rodeo Massacre - Heaven or Hell from If You Can't Smoke 'Em Sell 'Em

Also, you can go here to get a FREE Rodeo Massacre track that won't be appearing on the new album.


Their album came out today. (In England, albums come out on Mondays. Weird.(Ok, not weird. Just different. In fact, maybe it makes even more sense than Tuesdays. But I digress.))You can buy the album from Amazon and probably pretty much anywhere else you buy music. And you should buy it. It's fantastic

Oh yeah. And I do podcasts too :)

I've found myself really looking forward to doing this podcast this week. Not that I'm not normally excited to do it, but this week it's just been something I've been looking forward to. The blog seems like it has new life for me. And I think that it maybe has something to do with Tricia starting her blog. So thanks Tricia!

Countdown #39

***Featuring***
30 Seconds to Mars
The Black Keys
Cage the Elephant
Cake
Florence + the Machine
Linkin Park
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Neon Trees
Sick Puppies
U.S. Royalty

Guest review of Countdown tracks!

While I was in the hospital helping my wife have the baby (read: trying to keep out of everyone's way), I asked my friend Andy to write up his reactions to the songs that have been on our countdown over the past couple of weeks. I initially gave him the order of the songs as they appeared on the countdown, but since that has changed a bit over the last couple of weeks, I put them in alphabetical order by band name.

I'd like to do this occasionally. If you'd be interested in being on the list of people willing and able to give their impressions of 10 or so songs, leave me a comment or shoot me an email!

And now, without any further ado (I say this so often, but never type it...it's fun to type!), here's Andy!

Let's start off by saying that I don't listen to that much modern
rock, so I was pretty much hearing most of these songs for the first
time when writing this post.

30 Seconds to Mars - Closer to the Edge
I hated Jared Leto's acting career. But I'm loving his work with 30
Seconds to Mars. This latest album is the most polished I've ever
heard them. And this song makes me want to jump in the air and never
land.

The Black Keys - Tighten Up
The Black Keys have a distinct vocal sound. It's definitely one that
grows on you.

Cage the Elephant - Shake Me Down
Everyone's been raving about Cage the Elephant and now I can see why.
This song is very catchy and makes me want to sing along.

Cake - Sick of You

Cake continues their trend of light hearted fun rock music and even
their new stuff reminds me of 1998.

Florence + the Machine - Dog Days are Over
Quite a lovely song is all I can say about this track.

Kings of Leon - Radioactive

For some reason, I can't think of Kings of Leon anymore without
thinking about the bird that crapped in the lead singer's mouth at a
show. I'm not a huge fan of this song, but it is kind of catchy.

Linkin Park - Waiting For the End
I remember when Linkin Park was simply a hip-hop/rock fusion band.
They've changed over the years and now they apparently sound like 311.
Not a fan of the direction they're going in, but hopefully something
new and exciting comes out of it.

Muse - Undisclosed Desires
Muse is going to become the Radiohead of this generation.

My Chemical Romance - Sing

I'm glad My Chemical Romance has stopped screaming for an entire song
and worked on creating harmonies and catchy songs

Neon Trees - Animal
I've been in love with this sick ever since I first heard it back on
Record Store Day. James tells me this album is one of the best he's
hard in the past year. I have still yet to listen to the whole thing,
but he's usually a good judge of music.

Sick Puppies - Maybe
I really like the message of this song - breaking out doing something
on your own even though you're scared of what will happen. Very
uplifting and hits a personal note with me at this moment.

U.S. Royalty: Destined to become....well, you know...

So my brother-in-law asks me if I've heard of a local band called U.S. Royalty. His friend wants him to go to a show in D.C. and he can't check them out at work. So I check them out. And holy cow. This is why I love music and the internet.

Their debut album Mirrors (actually, the first r is backwards, but I don't know how to do that.) comes out on Tuesday (1/25) and I highly suggest you pick it up. They have said they're very influenced by Fleetwood Mac and I can hear it, but really, especially with this song I've posted below, they sound more like what I wish the new Kings of Leon stuff had sounded like. It's catchy as hell and it has guitar parts that are somehow bitchin' AND mellow.

They have two songs available in various places. I'm going to post the more difficult song to find. Also, I like it slightly better. The other one, "Equestrian", is available on their website. I'll be playing that song on my podcast this week, too.

U.S. Royalty - Monte Carlo from Mirrors

Here's the thing about this album. It doesn't even matter if the rest of the songs don't stack up to these two. But somehow, I have a feeling that they will.

You'll be able to get the album from basically anywhere you buy music on the internet. eMusic, Amazon, the band's website

Copyright and my podcast

So, I really am curious about this andi hope I get some comments. If you know someone that has a legal background, I'd love to get a lawyer's POV on this, but I'd also love to do a discussion with anyone.

Is my podcast illegal?

Every week, I post roughly the same ten songs. For free. And don't have permission from anyone involved. What do you think?

One plate breaks, another gets put right in its place

I can think of three songs off the top of my head that have "Bull in a China Shop" as a key part of the song (the title of one and part of the chorus of the other two). Of course, the Dessa song is probably referring to the P.O.S. song, but still.

Are there any other songs like this? Do we have a playlist in the making?


P.O.S. - I Play the Matador (Redo) from Ipecac Neat (Buy Here)
Dessa - The Bullpen from A Badly Broken Code (Buy Here)
Barenaked Ladies - Bull in a China Shop from Are Men (Buy Here)

Also, I realize that these are three artists from my 2010 Artists of the Year. But I love them so much!

Countdown #38 (even though it's episode 40 or 41 or something)

Well, I apologize for the no show last week, but I was a little busy......helping my wife have our daughter! She's perfect and I've already started educating her in music!

So we're back into the good old Alternative Songs countdown this week and in addition to the top ten, I'll play you a second song from an album that has a song on the countdown this week and was released last week. Is it Cake or Cage the Elephant?! Listen and find out :)

Countdown #38

***Featuring***
The Black Keys
Cage the Elephant
Cake
Florence + the Machine
Kings of Leon
Linkin Park
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Sick Puppies
30 Seconds to Mars

King Post Kitsch

So I’ve been catching up on my Toadcasts and at the beginning of Episode 155 (The most recent episode, where he talked about what 2011 holds for Song, By Toad Records), he played an incredibly good song by a band called King Post Kitsch. He said that they had a Bandcamp page where they had 3 ep’s available for free download.

Having enjoyed the song (“Walking on Eggshells”), I raced over to their Bandcamp page (link below) and gobbled up all the songs. Then, while at work later that week, I just hit play for the whole bunch.

Let me tell you about what catches my ear. A band that can skillfully explore an eclectic range of musical styles. And that is KPK to a tee. They have catchy acoustic songs (“Movies and Magazines”), droney, hypnotic songs (“Monomania”), songs with both acoustic parts and electric parts, both of which give me chills (“Fante’s Last Stand”), and just plain rockin' pop songs ("Walking on Eggshells")

They are going to be releasing their debut album on Song, By Toad Records this year (that’s why he was playing the song on that episode) and I can’t wait. It seems to me that with such raw and varied talent displayed on these Bandcamp songs, their LP could be one of the best of the year.

King Post Kitsch – Walking on Eggshells from Monomania

Official Website
Band Camp Page
Song, By Toad Records

2010 Artists of the Year

Here is the podcast where I countdown the top 10 Artists that Last.fm said I listened to most over the 12 month period ending when I looked at the chart on 12/31/10. I wish Last.fm could keep a record of these things by year, too. Maybe they do...hmm...I'll have to check that out.

I'm going to start putting an alphabetical "Featuring" list in these posts. And also making use of the label function, so if you want to see every post (starting with this one) that I talk about Doomtree, for example, you can click Doomtree in the label list at the bottom of the page and it'll sort it all out for you!

2010 Artists of the Year

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
Dessa
Doomtree
Friday Mile
Frightened Rabbit
NOFX
P.O.S.
Radiohead
Smashing Pumpkins
Vampire Weekend

First Song of 2011

So, I started following The Savings and Loan on Twitter (@savingsloan) and from them, I started following The Last Battle (@thelastbattle), who I heard on a Toadcast and I really enjoyed. I woke up this morning and they had a free song posted on their bandcamp page in celebration of the new year! You can get it here

I figured that I would send you to their bandcamp page in case you enjoy it and want to get more from them! Did I do right? Or should I post the song here?