Micropop

Local bands have found that one effective method of getting their name out, is to pass out CDR samplers of their material to people as they leave shows for other artists at area clubs. Cedars and Exit Clov are two bands from the DC area which spring to mine that have gone this route.

Monday while leaving the 9:30 club after a great show from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I got handed CDs from two bands. One of them represents the right way to do it, the other the absolutely wrong way.

Exhibit A - The CD itself.

Not really sure what the name of the band is with the "arty" graphic.

Exhibit B - Information provided on the CD envelope.

If you are going to hand print a website address make sure it's legible and what's up with the clever note.

Thirdly and most importantly know your audience. If your band just another derivative of every other Emo, screamo, etc group on the scene, it's doubtful that people attending a BRMC are going to interested in you, especially if they can't make out the bands name or website without some effort.

The other CD from Middle Distance Runner was done right. An affixed printed sticker announcing the next show the band was playing and legible hand printed song titles on the CD. The sample tracks were enjoyable indie pop with a beat and clicked instantly with me.

Moral of the story, Middle Distance Runner won me over and I made the effort to find out more about them and the other band's cd will end up on the scrape heap and mocked here.

On occasion I get the opportunity to DJ in between bands at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. The 9:30 club is one of the best venues in which to experience live music period. This past Friday (1/28/06) the club allowed three of DC's best local bands to strut their stuff and I was on hand to provide the tunes during the set changes.

On hand to entertain the crowd assembled were Bicycle Thieves, Cedars and Nethers. My full setlist is over at my DJ website DJ Wren's Record Bag which includes links to some of the bands spun. Information Leafblower and Seeking Irony have nice wraps and pictures from the Gig.

Seeing as this is suppose to be a MP3blog here are links to some of the song spun during the show. Many more are unfortunately only available as snippets or trapped on Myspace.com

Belle & Sebastian - "Another Sunny Day"
e.joseph- "Ain't Life Grand"
Pale Stars-"Everything's Wrong"
Aberdeen City - "In Combat"

Due to a technical snafu on my part, several songs from both local and beyond artists tracked down via suggestions of DCist and other blogs didn't get played. Here are links to some of the missing ones.

Panthers - Thank Me With Your Hands (MSTRKFT Remix)
The Bonaparts - "Tomorrow_and_Tomorrow_and_Tomorrow"
Voxtrot - "The Start Of Something

Also checkout Troy Gregory and the Stepsisters Detroit combo led by the guy behind Witches and also ex-member of Prong.

Hello Tokyo, local DC rock group with nice pop sensibilities.

and finally Computerman new UK band specializing in energetic rock with synths

It dawned on me that the perfect counter programming inorder to avoid the "The State of the Union" address would be to go out instead and see "Brokeback Mountain".

If you live in the Washington, DC area, it's also recommended that one goes to see it at the still independently managed P&G Theatre in Greenbelt, MD at 7:30pm, instead of one those corporate chains...

This is how I occupy my time while crawling to work on the DCBeltway, that and listening to the fab Gavin Elder CD.

1) 2753 Screaming Guy bands signup on Myspace.
2) Pogues fans continue to find reasons to complain about the 9:30 club
3) The Shins play two nights at the 9:30 club, the keyboard player will get dissed.
4) The Raconteurs CD and tour will be tops in 2006.
5) Artic Monkeys and Go Team! land in the US to a collective whatever.
6) Kelly Clarkson goes country.
7)INXS and Duran Duran release an albums of covers.
8) CYHSY breakup and thousands of their CD continue to collect dust in 2007.
9) De Novo Dahl, The High Strung and The High Dials will play red hot shows in DC with 35 to 40 people in attendance at each.
10) Drive-By Truckers play four hour shows, offer couches for a premium price.
11) Indie bands try harder to sound like every Indie band thatÔø?s preceded them.
12) Next 9:30 Broken Social Scene show will be an instant sellout at $35 per ticket. Complaints will be aired about people talking at the show. After that theyÔø?ll be at Stratmore with tickets costing $65. By 2008 the real fans will back and tickets will be $15.
13) Second Arcade Fire CD will not be as good as the first. Tickets for the Spring tour will be $25 and $40 for the Fall tour. People will complain not enough were dancing at the shows. TheyÔø?ll be on some expensive summer package tour.
14) Clutch and The Slickee Boys will rattle the rafters in post Holiday shows.
15) Ted Leo will play two nights at the 9:30 club, complaints will be made about everything.
16) Jellyfish reform and support Paul McCartney on a secret club tour. McCartney will be playing with his smokinÔø? new power trio, Jason Falkner on guitar and Josh Freese on drums.
17) The Killers release third version of debut record, breakup during recording sessions for second due to Ôø?creativeÔø? differences. Singer moves to Hollywood and gets reality tv show.
18) The Strokes release third record of ho-hum material, hit the arenas with The Killers and Louis XIV. Finish the year with a, just time for the holiday season, Greatest Hits record. 2007 and beyond theyÔø?ll be seen occupying barstools in NYC waiting for some to care about them again.
19) More fuss from me about underdog bands
20) The Clash reissue "Give 'em Enough Rope"

At this moment in time these are the records which mattered most to me this year.

1. The Sugarplastic "Will" and "7x7x7"
2. Kate Bush - "Aerial"
3. De Novo Dahl - "Cats and Kittens"
4. Nic Armstrong and The Thieves -"The Greatest White Liar"
5. Brendan Benson - "The Alternative to Love"
6. Do Me Bad Things - "Yes"
7. e.joseph - "Absinthe Minded"
8. Detroit Cobras - "Baby"
9. The Shout Out Louds - "Howl Howl Gaff Gaff"
10. The Coral - "Invisible Invasion"
11. Roger Joseph Manning Jr - "Solid State Warrior"
12. The Decemberists - "Picaresque"
13. Bettye Lavette - "I've Got My Own Hell To Raise"
14. The Magic Numbers - s/t
15. LCD Soundsystem - s/t
16. Brazilian Girls - s/t
17. The Orange Peels - "Circling The Sun"
18. Petra Hayden = "The Who Sell Out"
19. Franz Ferdinand - "You Could Have It So Much Better With ..."
20. Bloc Party - "Silent Alarm"

A couple enteries too late for this list, but definitely worth checking out!

The Pale Stars @ Myspace
Gavin Elder - "Rock and/or Roll" also @ Myspace

Information Leafflower recently polled a number of MP3 bloggers in order to compile a list of the top 40 American Artists. Thinking about what would have gone on my list I realized as my neglected blog will indicate, that list would consist of lesser known acts that should be considered by more as the best. The list compiled is an interesting one reflecting an indie rock skewed point of view, with some chart toppers included.

Admittedly of late I've been listening to a vast amount of 60's pop, garage rock, and soul, verses staying up on the current state of musical affairs. Championing the underdog, be it someone I know personally or just a record which completely does my head is where the energy is focused. So with out further ado here is my list of Artists deserving of wider recognition, lets compile a top 40 list of them.

The Sugarplastic
De Novo Dahl
John Hoskinson
The Features
Jason Falkner
Splitsville
Eugene Edwards
Myracle Brah
The Cynics
The Detroit Cobras

Honorable mention goes to The Bigger Lovers who with three great records to their name have unfortunately just called it a day as a band.

So it's been awhile since I've made comments here.  So here are
some fun things that have happened since April.

The Sugarplastic tied for the "Best Pop/Rock Band" in the 2005 LA Weekly music awards.   They also recently got airplay on BBC1 during the Gideon Coe Show.   Order their new record at Tallboy Records

De Novo Dahl continues to make headway into the public's consciousness.  Their CD is being distributed nationwide, they performed live on WOXY, and make gained some notice in blogsphere.

I'm scheduled to DJ the Teenage Fanclub show at the 9:30 Club in
DC  on July 20th, which will be a great show with the Rosebuds opening. Other great shows in July include Nic Armstrong and The Thieves, The Dead 60's, The Ceasars, The Sights, and The Kaiser Chiefs. 

Along with those,  I'm also digging at the moment
Do Me Bad Things - a nine piece outfit from London who will hopefully get released here.  Imagine a stoner rock trio who picked up a few extra singers on the way to the gig.  A fun mixture of rock, soul, pop etc...
Eugene Edwards - a recent find courtesy Tallboy Records, Eugene takes cues from Elvis Costello, Squeeze and Rockpile.   He has recently moved on to Flagship Recordings who has a stream of the his debut record available.
John Hoskinson - a frequent member of the Eugene Edwards band, has his own great record out.  It got a four star from Uncut magazine and is highly recommended for fans of Elliot Smith and Crowded House.
Cartel - Hard to believe but one of the upcoming bands out of the DC music scene these days is a Cartel a band who could have easily fit in with the shoegazer bands of the past. Melodic, atomospheric are words oftne used to describe them.

Lastly, because there are other things besides music,  be sure to catch Robot Chicken on the Cartoon Network.  Seth Green, of Buffy the Vampire fame, has created a hilarious stop action animation show using action heroes.  It is about the funniest thing on TV at the moment.  The "Behind The Music" bit on Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem from the Muppets was truly inspired.

Several of my current favorite artists hang their hats in Baltimore. Two of those highly regarded Charm City Singer/Songwriters have exciting new releases coming at ya!

I've closely followed the various projects of Ed Neenen for the past couple of years, both as band leader and solo artist. Ed's most recent project is a solo record released under the nom de plume E.Joseph. "Absinthe Minded" is a collection of tracks Ed has been demoing and performing since his last band went down into the Bunny hole never to be seen again.

Ed has this ability to write songs which often reflect thoughts of my own. "Low-Flying Aircraft" from the new collection is one such example. Once the sound of an airplane or helicopter flying over head was just another part of the experience of living near DC. Now, however, when one does fly over, it does make one wonder if indeed something bad has happened and should I be turning on the news.

Besides "Low-Flying Aircraft", I've included the track "Ain't Life Grand" which has potential hit single written all over it...

Full details will soon emerge but another one of my fav Baltimore-based songwriters has recently signed a deal with a major record label. Based on what was passed along to me, the deal calls for a greatest hits record to be released soon, followed by new material next year. Fingers crossed on the success of this one...

Low-Flying Aircraft (MP3, 7MB, 192kbps)
Ain't Life Grand? (MP3, 5.3MB, 192kbps)

Bonus Track
Don't You Breathe A Word (MP3, 6MB, 192kbps)

Thanks to a last minute angel, I managed to get a ticket to the Bloc Party show at the Black Cat, a sold out sold show which became one of the hottest tickets of 2005. Based on their great show, Bloc Party have become a band I will want to see in concert again and again. Like Sloan and Idlewild this band enjoys playing live, something which makes the concert going experience that much more fun to attend. The songs all sound and are treated like hit singles. The audience was singing and clapping along through out the set. While the bands influences leak through on the record, in concert there is a more defined Bloc Party sound. It's great they don't feel the need to replicate the record live, ragged around the edges is fine by me. Chaotic drumming always a plus.

The other bands, The Ponys and Pony Up became a distant memory a couple songs into the Bloc Party's set. Pony Up were just not my thing, the bands "basic" indie pop sound really didn't grab my attention. Wasn't really sure where sonically The Ponys were headed, but the garage/mod tinged third song won me over briefly. The post-punk influences then began peeking out and eventually were front and center. A transition in sound didn't seem as froced as with other bands. Which is the case with Kasabian.

I'm very glad to have gotten to see Bloc Party, a show which surely will be a quick sellout at larger venues down the road.

Had a great trip out to LA to attend The Sugarplastic record release party for Will which I will fill in the details for soon. Also saw a couple other new artists worthy of Micropop stamp of approval. Linkage, etc for Eugene Edwards, John Hoskinson and The World Record on it's way also.