Another Form of Relief

So this is my first post since friday, making that the longest “break” I’ve taken since I started this thing. I wish I could tell you that it was because I was putting together something particularly stunning for this post or anything else along those lines, but I’d be lying. I’ve actually been a little ill, and the prospect of writing posts, or doing much at all at a computer for that matter, hasn’t been in the slightest bit of appealing.

I did originally intend to get this post up sometime over the weekend, but it got put off and off until we arrived at today. Thanks to my awesome technical skills I was able to get the internet working on my laptop again, meaning I can post from bed. As such, I now present to you a celebration of Another Form of Relief making the 100 post milestone.

I could sit here and write something incredibly meaningful about the time I’ve spent writing this blog, but that doesn’t seem all that appealing. Maybe we’ll do that for the 200th post celebration. In it’s place, we’ll be going through a bunch of fun facts about the blog in no particular order. Which hopefully will be more exciting than it sounds there.

Days Another Form of Relief has existed: 94

Number of different addresses AFoR has had: 3 (anotherformofrelief.com, theclerisy.com/afor, scruntybastard.co.uk/afor)

Favourite 5 artists I’ve discovered since AFoR launched
MC Lars
Malcolm Middleton
Pants Yell!
I’m From Barcelona
The Robot Explosion

Favourite 5 songs I’ve pimped on AFoR
Jenny Owen Youngs - Fuck Was I
Cult of Sue Todd - Burn Tampa
The Young Republic - Girl From The Northern States
Math and Physics Club - Movie Ending Romance
The Mountain Goats - Raid On Entebbe

Artists I’ve seen live since AFoR begun: 1 (MC Lars)

Favourite 5 bloggers that aren’t me
You Ain’t No Picasso
I Guess I’m Floating
Good Weather For Air Strikes
Take Your Medicine
Clever Titles Are So Last Summer

Most bizarre band that emailed me or added me on Myspace: Trilby Tracksuit (”The most notorious crew in Royal Tunbridge Wells, the ghetto of kent.”)

To be honest I thought I’d have more little lists or facts to include in this thing, but apparently not. Coupled with the fact that I’m getting really tired again and the laptop battery doesn’t have a great deal of life left in it, this seems like the best point to bring it a close.

Thanks to everyone who has read AFoR through these early posts (over 18,000 of you!), and I hope you enjoy the next 100 too. Normal service will be resuming in the near future, by which I probably mean sometime tomorrow.

Note for long domain fans: Another Form of Relief is now accessible via http://www.anotherformofrelief.com. Exciting, no?

It occurs to me that during the writing of this blog, I never really get to write about the songs I really like. This isn’t a slight against the songs I do write about as there is a lot of great material there, but I never get to write about my favourites. This is mostly down to the fact I’m largely writing about new bands or new material from established ones and the such. As such, this post is my small attempt to rectify this issue, by writing about some songs I just really, really like. Whether this will be a regular or recurring type thing, I don’t know.

MP3 Weezer - Falling For You (expired) (Pinkerton, 1996)
Weezer were one of the first bands that I seemed to get obsessively into, and it was this album that did it. While I liked ‘The Blue Album’ an awful lot, it was ‘Pinkerton’ that really grabbed me. So much so that I don’t think they have come even close to it with any of their material since. It’s hard for me to pick a particular favourite from the album, but ‘Falling For You’ would be right up there. It’s one of the more messy Weezer songs, all screaching guitars and distortion while Rivers sings about falling for a girl who he thinks is far too good for him. It also features wonderful little comments (”Holy sweet goddamn” / “little ol’ three-chord me”), giving it a far more real feel than most songs of it’s nature.

MP3 Ozma - Natalie Portman (expired) (Rock And Roll Part Three, 2001)
It wasn’t a particularly deliberate decision when picking the songs, but this one actually covers much the same ground as ‘Falling For You’. This is something made all the more fitting given how similar early Ozma and ‘Pinkerton’ era Weezer are. ‘Rock And Roll Part Three’ could easily be passed off as a third Weezer album with very little to challenge that notion. Anyway, ‘Natalie Portman’ is about wanting someone you can’t have (in this case, Natalie Portman) and not being able to do a thing about it. It’s slower and more introspective than most Ozma songs, and all the better for it. Let’s hope that the newly reformed Ozma can get back to the goodness of this first album.

MP3 R.E.M. - Find The River (expired) (Automatic For The People, 1992)
I don’t tend to think of myself as much of an R.E.M. fan, despite owning all but one (’Reckoning’..) of their albums. I think this is mostly down to my general disappointment in everything they have put out since 1996’s ‘New Adventures In HiFi’, which I feel was their finest work. ‘Find The River’ though is just about my favourite R.E.M. song of them all, nearly four minutes of utter perfection. The abstract lyrics are here. Michael Stipe’s restrained vocals are here. Fantastic use of piano is here. I don’t know of any album closer that betters this song.

MP3 Malcolm Middleton - A New Heart (expired) (Into The Woods, 2005)
I’m relatively new to Malcolm Middleton, only discovering him earlier this year. His album, ‘Into The Woods’ is one of the best discoveries that I’ve made this year, being a wonderful essay in despair. ‘A New Heart’ is about the most upbeat song on the album, a thundering piece where Middleton spits out his words with such urgency through the three minutes. It has a wonderful unfinished air to it all, with some lines never reaching their end before he bursts into the next.

MP3 Rilo Kiley - Pictures Of Success (expired) (Take-Offs & Landings, 2001)
Oh how I like Rilo Kiley. I discovered them when XFM playlisted ‘The Execution Of All Things’ for all of a week back in 2003 and I’ve been a fan ever since. One of the most fun parts about discovering an already established band is that you get to explore the older material to find new treats. This is the case with ‘Pictures Of Success’, one of their finest songs, from ‘Take-Offs & Landings’, which I didn’t get hold of until a year later. A nice little downbeat song about getting used to the adult world (”I’m not scared, but I’d like some extra free time / I’m not scared, but the bills keep changing color”) with a wonderful use of trumpet, something that we don’t hear anywhere near enough of on pop songs.

Well that’s about it for now folks. Tonight I might be going to see some local folk bands which could be an interesting experience. Who says Kent doesn’t have a music scene? Back tomorrow with a report on the horrors of that. Or not if we just end up in the pub instead.

Electric President is a two-piece consisting of Ben Cooper and Alex Kane. Given the picture, they also appear to be rather secretive. I don’t know a great deal about them, other than that they are from Florida and used to perform under the name of “Radical Face Versus Phalex Sledgehammer”. So let’s all be thankful that they quickly changed that.

It’s hard to precisely pin down their music as they seem to enjoy experimenting with just about everything. I guess electronic pop would be about the closest description, but that in itself seems hardly hair. The songs are multi-layered, and at times challenging, while others go for simple and upbeat pop hooks. Both styles work in their own way.

‘Good Morning, Hypocrite’ is the more abstract of the two, with various shifts occuring in it’s style throughout it’s five minutes. It’s also the more downbeat of the two lyrically, dwelling on a boredom with modern life (”I’ve lost my taste for modern things / They’re not for me / I want mundane / A quiet place, where time is free”). ‘Label My Mind: Blown’ is the more simplistic pop song of the two, and it’s still a lot of fun.

MP3 Electric President - Good Morning, Hypocrite (Electric President, 2005)
MP3 Electric President - Label My Mind: Blown (You Have The Right To Remain Awesome, 2004)

Something not music related..

Most people know I’m pretty political, and as such I read a lot of political blogs. One of these is Andrew Sullivan’s. To be precise, his was the first blog I ever read after seeing him guest on Bill Maher’s show a couple of years ago and I’ve kept going back ever since. I disagree with him a lot, but he always puts across a well reasoned and well written argument whatever his stance may be. That alone puts him above most political bloggers in my book.

This week he has been running a “View From Your Window” feature in an attempt to get a little insight into his readers, having them submit, well, the view from their windows. He’s had a ton of submissions, and I’ve been finding it fascinating going through the selection he has posted. I sent in mine merely for fun, and so was rather surprised today to see it appear on his blog. This may be a rather pathetic thing to enjoy, but it’s the closest I’ll ever get to being referenced on a serious political blog, so I’ll take it. Go over there and have a look through the pictures though, they really are very interesting. I can see a lot more blogs doing this kind of thing in the future too.

I found Takka Takka thanks to them being in the Myspace Top 8 of one Hartley Goldstein. One of the dirty little secrets in how I find new bands is to see who other artists I like put in their top 8 and explore from there. Usually it results in me listening to a lot of crap, other times it throws up something great like Takka Takka.

Takka Takka are a New York four piece who make fun, yet accomplished rock songs. There actually isn’t a great deal more to say about them beyond that. No prizes for originality here, but they know how to make a catchy song about life in the city and they do it well.

They are also one of the increasing number of bands that have embraced the internet as a way of getting the word out about their music. Earlier this year they released an entire EP, ‘Fall Apart Art’ onto the internet for free, including the full artwork. You can get hold of it by clicking here. They are currently recording a new full length album, and you’ll find some demo songs from it below.

MP3 Takka Takka - Do You Feel City?
MP3 Takka Takka - Sofia
MP3 Takka Takka - Subway Shanty
MP3 Takka Takka - Enough

You’ll find more about Takka Takka, including a bunch more songs, on their simple yet wonderful website, entitled The Misery News. They also have a Myspace, obviously. How else would I have found them?

I’m pretty much clueless when it comes to the whole ’shoegaze’ genre. I own and like My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’, which I think is a good, if not great, album, and that’s about as far as I venture into the genre. I’ve tried listening to others, but it all sounds pretty similar to me, and the idea of drowning out vocals by fuzzy guitars doesn’t really appeal. As such, you can imagine my expectations when I went to give The Sky Drops a listen today. Surprisingly enough, I found myself really liking their music.

The Sky Drops are a two piece from Delaware. To veer wildly from the issue, how many great bands have come from Delaware? I can’t think of any. They are made up of Rob Montejo (formerly of Smashing Orange) and Monika Bullette, both of whom have had critically acclaimed solo albums of late.

The distortion and fuzz are here, but they never let it get in the way of their vocals. The vocals include some wonderful harmonising, something that works for me in any genre. The songs are melodic and accessible, even for those of us who wouldn’t usually like this kind of thing. I hate to sound like the kid who doesn’t really know anything (even if I don’t), but there really is a My Bloody Valentine feel to these songs, particularly on ‘Now Would Be’. ‘Green To Red’ is the more rocking of the two, but both have a lot to offer.

MP3 The Sky Drops - Green To Red
MP3 The Sky Drops - Now Would Be

Both of these songs make up a double a-side single, released exclusively on the internet as a preview for their upcoming debut album, entitled ‘Clouds of People’. They are picking up a lot of internet buzz of late, and will be touring throughout the US this summer before heading over this way to play some London shows in September. You can find out more about The Sky Drops on their website or Myspace.

Boy am I running out of puns for these things.

Well it’s that time of the fortnight for one of these posts. As usual, we have an entirely random batch of coverings, including some excellent ones, and at least one that may actually be considered a crime against music.

MP3 Bright Eyes - Burn Rubber (expired) (Simon Joyner)
I should probably get this one out of the way first seeing as it’s the one here where I don’t actually know the original. I’ve looked around for it but can’t find it anywhere. If you happen to have it and would like to send it to me, that would be greatly appreciated. It’s a little more abstract than most Bright Eyes songs, although beyond that, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell that it wasn’t one of his. It appeared as a b-side on the ‘Take It Easy’ EP and does work rather well as one of the Digital Ash type songs.

MP3 Nickel Creek - Spit On A Stranger (expired) (Pavement)
So we come to this weeks “ear bleeding” entry, thanks to those nice folks at Nickel Creek. First of all, covering ‘Spit On A Stranger’, one of Pavement’s finest works, is a bad idea idea as it is, but to do this to it is just downright wrong. How exactly did anyone think that this might be a good idea? I’ve included it here as I think most cover songs are interesting, even ones like this. Hell, one of you might even enjoy it. I don’t know what it is about it that makes me dislike it so much, but it just seems horrible to me. I don’t know what Nickel Creek are like beyond this song, so they might be pretty good for all I know. Doing this to a classic is just awful though.

MP3 Paul Anka - Smells Like Teen Spirit (expired) (Nirvana)
I’m sure that some of you may consider this one to be a musical crime too, but showing how bizarre taste can be, I think it’s absolutely fantastic. This is made all the more intriguing by the fact I can’t stand Paul Anka on the most part at all. It takes a hell of a lot of skill to take a seminal song like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and turn it into something completely different that still works though. If you thought the Ukulele Orchestra version I posted the other day, wait until you hear this one. Somehow turning the song into a full on big band swing song without a hint of irony, it really is one of the best covers I’ve heard in quite sometime.

MP3 Snow Patrol - You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will. (live) (expired) (Bright Eyes)
I’m no Snow Patrol beyond a handful of songs, but all credit to them for taking on this song and managing to pull it off. I think this was recorded as part of a BBC session a while ago, but I’m not entirely sure. It’s not perfect, and at times sounds like Lightbody is reading the lyrics from a piece of paper or something, but it still sounds pretty good. It’s a shame that it takes a cover song to hear that Snow Patrol can actually do more interesting things than release twelve different versions of ‘Run’ and ‘Spitting Games’.

Obligatory pimping time

Just a quick reminder that there is only just over a week left on the eMusic 50 free mp3s promotion so be sure to grab them while you still can.

Also don’t forget that Audiolunchbox are also offering 50 free mp3s. I know that you crazy kids can never get enough free music.

In the blogs..

There’s a fantastic post up over at Good Hodgkins where a bunch of music bloggers talk about the songs that are significant to them. Not only do you get a bunch of great songs, there is also some fascinating commentary alongside it.

I can’t believe I forgot to link to this earlier, but I Guess I’m Floating has an excellent piece called ‘Mommy, Where Do Blogs Come From?‘ that looks into the songs behind the names of the major music blogs. As well as being rather enlightening, it’s also an awful lot of fun.

Cult of Sue Todd are an indie folk pop punk (is that a genre?) band from San Francisco. They were one of the earliest bands that I wrote about on here, largely because their first release, 2005’s ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’ was one of my favourite discoveries from the previous year. Combining quirky lyrics with a bunch of unique instrumentation (including a banjo), it was sixteen minutes of pure joy.

Recently lead singer and guitarist Steven Perry was kind enough to answer a few questions about the formation of the band, what they are currently up to, and their upcoming release ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’.

How are you today?

Steven: I’m hungry. My ladyfriend has me on a diet. I’m not fat, but I really wish I were. I’m not supposed to drink coffee on the diet, but that’ll never happen. The bus was slow this morning, so I was irritated. I hate MUNI. How are you?

How did Cult of Sue Todd originally come about? Your website mentions that Sue Todd wrote the songs but is dead now, but doesn’t offer any further detail. Is there more behind that?

Steven: No–no more. It’s a complete fraud. We lie. Please don’t tell anyone. I have no idea what or where Sue Todd is.

Your new album is entitled ‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’. Was this chosen simply because it’s a damn cool title or is Frasier actually a fan of your work?

Steven: Kelsey Grammer is my dog’s name. He likes it when we play and sing and dance. There is also an actor named Kelsey Grammer, but I’m not familiar with his work. He was in Down Periscope, yes?

The songs posted up on your Myspace from the new album seem to rock a little bit harder than your last release, and that the banjo has been toned down a little. Was this an intentional move and what other differences can we expect to hear in your sound?

Steven: I guess it’s partly intentional. Most of the songs on the new album were constructed by me and Jordan, our one-testicled drummer (we call him Uni-Ball).

We lost the banjo. Literally and figuratively. Nobody knows where it is. There is still banjo on a bit of the new album and there will be in the future (if we find another banjo in the garbage), but Mr Nagle (our banjoist) now teaches Japanese kids.

How helpful do you think the internet has been in getting the word out about your music?

Steven: That’s about the only place that has our word. We’re still only drawing friends and family at shows, but I get a lot of nice emails from nice people through myspace and our main page. I’ve made friends, so that’s cool. I just wish we could make it to all the different places they live so we could play for them. Hopefully soon.

Did you ever hear from the thief that stabbed you and stole 20 copies of your first EP? Do you think that he could be a fan now?

Steven: No, I never heard from him. He was just a crazy Mission Streeter. I rather doubt he has internet access or the coordination to type. But I do look for him when I’m down on Mission. He’s probably at Burger King.

What do you think you would be doing if you weren’t making music?

Steven: Crying. Eating more. Drinking less. Not being creative at all. And I’d probably have a savings account.

What does the future hold for Cult of Sue Todd?

Steven: We’re going to attempt to take this thing from a hobby to something more. Hopefully I can get a little exposure for ‘Kelsey Grammer’. Also, we have sack full of songs we’re about to take into the studio, so we should have enough recordings for a third album sometime this year.

MP3 Cult of Sue Todd - Burn Tampa
MP3 Cult of Sue Todd - Foul Fetor

‘Kelsey Grammer Loves Us’ will be released on September 19, although if you don’t think you can remember that far ahead, don’t worry as I’ll probably end up writing about it closer to the date. You can hear three songs from the release on the Cult of Sue Todd Myspace, and get a bunch of fun information from their website. You can purchase ‘Nothing Noteworthy Happened Today’ for less than $5 from Insound. Now you can’t really argue with that kind of price, can you?

It’s not often that I get hold of entirely unknown music that manages to really grab me straight away. I was a tad skeptical when first listening to Nathan Asher and The Infantry. When you start listening to a band that the press blurb compares to Bright Eyes, Bruce Springsteen and The Counting Crows, it seems pretty much impossible for the music to be anything other than a letdown. This was a feeling that disappeared within the first few minutes of the first song I listened to.

‘Turn Up The Faders’ is hands down one of the best songs that I have heard this year. It also confirmed exactly what the comparisons had promised: somehow this young, unsigned band had a sound that evokes both Bright Eyes and Springsteen. Asher’s vocals are very similiar to Oberst’s, partly shaking yet also full of power. He drives through the song with such urgency that you’d think that lives depended on it. This is supported ably by some excellent instrumentation, including a fantastic piano breakdown toward the end of the song that could have come straight off of ‘Born To Run’.

MP3 Nathan Asher and The Infantry - Turn Up The Faders (expired)
MP3 Nathan Asher and The Infantry - Sex Without Love / A War (expired)
MP3 Nathan Asher and The Infantry - Storms (expired)

The other two songs are also very good, and I’d probably be raving about them in their own right if they were by any other band, but next to ‘Turn Up The Faders’, they struggle for recognition. All three of these songs are taken from the bands 2005 album, ‘Sex Without Love’. You can pick up the album from CDBaby.

It seems amazing to me that a band like this aren’t actually signed to a label and are having to put out their own records, but hopefully with the critical buzz that is circulating ‘Sex Without Love’, things will soon change. You can get more information on Nathan Asher and The Infantry on their website as well as their Myspace.

Is it a mere coincidence that I’m writing about The Eighteenth Day Of May on, well, the eighteenth day of may? No, not really. I was actually sad enough to hold off posting about this for a few days just so I could put it up today. Not sure what difference it makes, but it amused me nonetheless.

The Eighteenth Day Of May are a “neo-folk” band from London. I’m not quite sure what neo-folk is. I assume it’s the way that folk music is being put across to the kids these days, but if it works, I’m not going to argue. The cite a number of traditional folk influences, none of which mean a great deal to me as I’m not particularly familiar with the scene. I like their sound a lot though, all twangy guitars and world weary vocals.

MP3 The Eighteenth Day Of May - Hide & Seek (expired)

Their latest (self-titled) album was released back in October in the UK, and was released in the US last week, seemingly already building a good critical buzz around it. You can get a lot more songs from The Eighteenth Day Of May on their website. Be sure to say hi to them on their Myspace while you are at it.

I’ve written about Desaparecidos before, so I’ll spare you the full details about the band. Let’s be honest, most of you already know who they are anyway. They seem to have a pretty big following in the US at least (not so much in Singapore and Belgium apparently), largely because of the Oberst connection. Which actually raises an interesting question. Would anyone really be paying attention to them if he wasn’t their singer? Possible I guess, but it seems far less likely.

Most will already be familiar with their excellent album, ‘Read Music/Speak Spanish’ (if not, you’re missing out), so today we’re going to look at a few of their songs that didn’t make the album, but are still worthy of a little attention. The songs on the album are largely political, sometimes personal, and that theme carries on through their other songs.

MP3 Desaparecidos - What’s New For Fall (expired)

This is something of a cheat as ‘What’s New For Fall’ is actually on the album, but for some reason, not on the US version of it. I have no idea why that decision was made, particularly given how strong of a song it is. It was used as a single itself in the UK, but only appeared as a b-side for ‘The Happiest Place On Earth’ single in the US. Very strange. One of the songs that deals more with social problems than political ones, it’s an incredibly bitter ode to the fun that is superficiality. Played with a backing track that features random comments from girls about what they want from guys, Conor rants over the top of it about being shaped into what his girlfriend wants (”Come on and dress me / I’ll be your mannequin / Make me attractive, so sexy and thin”). By the end he finally accepts that she isn’t really going to like him no matter what he tries, leaving us with another cheerful Conor song.

MP3 Desaparecidos - Give Me The Pen (expired)

This was Desaparecidos’ response to 9/11, and of course it takes aim at American society rather than anything else. Essentially arguing that the US was far too complacent (”So they crashed those planes / and we all woke up from the dream”), but then argues that nothing is really going to change even afterwards. Which obviously isn’t entirely true. It’s kind of a mess song wise, the lyrics are pretty hard to decipher through much of the song, but it’s still rather interesting.

MP3 Desaparecidos - Popn’ Off At The F (expired)

Originally appearing on the ‘Saddle Creek 50′ compilation, this is just about the most brutal anti-war song that I’ve heard. Set amongst a ton of samples from the Cold War documentary “Atomic Cafe” about the A-bomb, this is a loud, shouty song about the pointlessness of war, from the point of view of the soldier who is sent into harms way for those above him. It also concludes with an atomic explosion, which is pretty damn cool way to end a song.

That’s about it for now. There is some good stuff coming up over the next few days, including some great new bands that I’ve found, and a highly entertaining interview with Steven from Cult of Sue Todd. So be sure to come back every now and then. Or not. It’s up to you really I guess.