The iTune In 07.25.08: Counting Crows, U2, Candlebox, CSS, One Day As a Lion, Samantha Crain, The Shys, More
Posted by Ari Berenstein on 07.25.2008
Live shows from the Counting Crows and U2 highlight this week in new music (Miley Cyrus? Who?), plus The Whigs on the You Tube Tune In!
The tradition for New Music Tuesday used to be to go directly from school to the local mall, whereupon I would look through the racks and racks of CDs and New Release bins in order to find a treasure trove of music. Nowadays, all I have to do is travel down to my living room, where my computer is stationed, click on my "iTunes" icon and have at it. It literally takes no time at all to find new music these days, and that may be the biggest boon of the music appreciator in the internet age. That and that you don't have to put on pants to find new music.
Well..I feel I have said too much already, so let's get on with this week's finds!
Top Eight & Featured: In a week where Miley Cyrus has her new album "Breakout" (don't expect me to listen to it), Counting Crows surprisingly get first spot on the top eight with their iTunes live from Soho set. I always loved Einstein on the Beach, but don't know if that's on the set. Another surprising powerhouse, U2 shows up with "Live in Paris", which I had no idea was coming out and I'm on their mailing list! Good job there boys. Country group Sugarland, who I guess seems to be very big in popularity, has their new release "Love on the Inside". The bottom four of the top eight are Candlebox, trying to make a comeback after so many years on the sidelines, and three other acts I don't immediately recognize: Gustavo Dudamel & Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (obviously Classical), CSS "Donkey" and Noel Gourdin "After My Time".
No "Einstein" but plenty of great acoustic Counting Crows for their live set, focusing on more the newer material from their latest album, as well as a tribute to their late keyboardist with "Richard Manuel is Dead". Counting Crows usually excel in an acoustic atmosphere, so this should definitely be a worthy pick up for their fans.
"Live from Paris" answers the question "where" in its title, but not "when". The date is July 4th, 1987, and U2 has just released The Joshua Tree. Needless to say, U2 fans on iTunes are going to want this one to hear pristine versions of live songs such as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "The Electric Co." "Sunday, Bloody, Sunday", "Bad", "With Or Without You" and many other signature tracks.
Candlebox rocks with the heart and soul of their old material. It is a great rock album that may go overlooked, but shouldn't.
CSS seems to be a mix between Interpol and The Ting Tings—dancing rock or rocking dance with a female lead singer you're either going to love for her voice and her spunk or you're going to find very, very annoying. Sampling a couple of the songs "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" stands out, as does "Give Up" We're talking a bouncy guitar and bouncy beats. I don't know how memorable their material would be in the long haul, but I'm intrigued and will check them out again later.
Elsewhere new albums from Buddy Guy and Bayside are found (can't get much more different in styles than that) as well as one from Dr. Dog. Would I be racist for not clicking on a group called "Black Kids"? Okay, I clicked, and they're alternative…and they're alternative in the way that they sound like every other alternative band out there, so not really much of an alternative now, are they? But again, if you're into that sort of danceable alt rock, this one would fit you're wheelhouse.
Brendan Canning's album is apparently missing the first two tracks but it is a "Bonus" edition with extra tracks at the end…weird.
Mutlu's "Livin It" is an album filled with upbeat guitars and good, earthy sounds. It's a bit too "adult contemporary" but I think it could find fans as well.
Booka Shade's dance EP doesn't have the hooks I like in a dance track…more dark and subtle textures and beats, which doesn't do it for me.
Pepper has a new album "Pink Crustaceans" mixing rock and ska together. They always provide good rhythms and solid vocals, but somehow I just don't ever purchase their full albums…maybe I'm not a fan enough of that style of music to shell out the dough. It doesn't reflect on their talents and abilities at all, just the pattern of purchases I seem to make. I would definitely suggest giving these guys a try.
Now, Natalie Walker's "With You" is the sort of electronica I'm into…combining female vocals with a sort of dreamscape rhtym and beat.
The Bratz Girls…The Bratz have an album? Really? Really? Really? Really? really? Really?
That's it. I'm done. Give me back Jem. Anything but this.
iTunes' Free Song of the Week is Kerli's "Walking on Air". I mentioned Kerli in an earlier edition of The iTune In. Kind of a mix between Dido-esque song landscapes and modern pop music. The thirty second sample isn't enough for me to download this particular tracks, but there were a few others I was interested in and I'll get back to them at some point.
Indies:
Tori Amos has all of her bootlegs from the previous tour available now though iTunes and very soon through the other mp3 pay programs. They're fourteen bucks a pop and worth it or not worth it depending on the tracklisting from that particular night. Unfortunately her awesome shows in New York City from this past year were not recorded for this series.
One Day as a Lion mixes Zach de La Rocha's raps with The Mars Volta's percussions and voila! Hard and gritty as you'd expect and every bit as good as anticipated.
After giving away the album for free, Nine Inch Nails "The Slip" makes it to iTunes for $9.90. I liked Trent's initial idea better.
The Rest of New Releases:
Calexico is a name I recognize from 90's alternative…their new single "Two Silver Trees" is a slow and subdued track, can't judge too much from what I hear from it just yet.
Finch are back with the titled "Self Titled EP". I was impressed with the album "What It Is To Burn", but these tracks don't make my ears perk up. Best of the bunch is "Chinese Organ Thieves".
The Individuals "Fields / Aquamarine" has a clever cover with a blank white canvas billboard in the picture…but the music is also kind of blank and white as well.
The Loudspeakers "Bips Session" EP shows some verve and moxie with three great rock instrumentals.
Samantha Crain & The Shivers—The Confiscation: The harmonica in the opening track "The River" grabs my attention immediately. This could be the find of the week. It's seven tracks long and billed as a "musical novella". Samantha's vocals are strong enough and her accent is memorable. The rest of the album doesn't quite match the awesome first ten seconds of that harmonica track, but that ten seconds is enough for an INSTANT BUY of said opening track. I'm a sucker for good harmonica.
The Shys—You'll Never Understand This Band The Way That I Do: Just a few names down is this beauty-seemingly inspired by The White Stripes. Simplicity in rock with good start and stop percussions and good vocals, this is almost an instant buy just on the sample tracks. "The Hangman" and "Mercy" are early highlights. I don't have the time to check the full album out now, but I will later on and may just end up buying this one.
The Final Tally:
GUARANTEED BUY: none GUARANTEED DOWNLOAD: Samantha Crain & The Shivers; "The River", CSS "Rat Is Dead (Rage)", "Move"; The Shys "Hangmen", "Mercy" Possible Downloads:
Natalie Walker
One Day As a Lion
The Loudspeakers
The Shys
Pass On:
Booka Shade
The Bratz Girls
You Tube3x3 Tune In
The Whigs were recently featured on spinner.com's 3x3 set. I saw them open for silverchair last year here in NYC and was thoroughly impressed by their efforts to rock loud and hard. One of the better opening acts I'd seen and it spurred me on to purchase their first album. This track "Right Hand On My Heart" is from their newest LP, "Mission Control":
The Best of Last Week:
Emily Wells, "Symphony 1: The Barrel of a Gun"—proving that orchestral music can still be fun, modern and easy on the ears. Reminiscent of Nellie McKay's attempt to fuse piano lounge with hip-hop, Wells scores on the first track of her new album with some genius music score and a fantastically ethereal vocal track.
Top iTunes Songs on 7/15/08: 1. I Kissed A Girl- Katy Perry 2. 7 Things- Miley Cyrus 3. Burnin Up- Jonas Brothers 4. Viva La Vida—Coldplay 5.Disturbia—Rhianna
This week was more like it, with three bands and five total downloads, adding some more new music to my iPod.Thanks everyone for reading. I'll see you next week for the beginning of the second month of The iTune In!
