You may remember the Los Angeles synth pop duo Tic Tic Boom from a ETS Show we did with them! Now they’re at it again and giving away the first single “For Feeling” from their upcoming EP Before the Sun Rises. The release, to be available in April, promises to be stronger, dreamier, darker, and a major evolution of their sound from their previous recordings.
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Well, Valentine’s Day (or “Singles Awareness Day” as I was recently corrected) has come and passed, but regardless of whether you celebrated on Tuesday or were waiting for the weekend to get down to business we have our lock for Artist of the Week ready for your reading and listening pleasure. When everyone else is buttering up on the romance and the chocolate and flowers, this blogger is choosing to brush up on his witty, irreverent, and sometimes (often) bitter musical catalogue; primarily the power-pop part of that catalogue. Our artist this week most definitely falls into this category. Ladies and gentlemen, we here at Enter the Shell bring you Fountains of Wayne as your Artist of the Week.
Somewhere down the line you’ve likely come across the song that, for a brief time in the early 2000’s, sky-rocketed the garden state band into the spotlight. Yes, we all remember the catchy melody accompanying the neighborhood boy ogling Rod Stewart’s wife for the music video to “Stacy’s Mom,” but what few people truly seemed to grasp was the talent and intellect behind the song. While most people write off Fountains of Wayne as a one-hit-wonder, those who are willing to delve deeper into the band’s library discover a couple of friends who are capable and bright songsmiths with great insight into the progression of an individual’s life.
Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood first met at Williams College in Massachusetts in 1986, but little did they know that they would later become an international sensation. After a few years of playing in bands and, under the guise of Pinwheel, trying to get an album released, the two parted ways until in 1996 they reunited and signed to Atlantic to make what is today the band we know and love. Schlesinger and Collingwood, the primary writers for the band, then enlisted Jody Porter and Brian Young as part of their team and began writing some of the best music a young individual could need to deal with the pointless and pedantic frustrations (or as I call them: the finer points) that typically plague a young suburbanite. For years their power-pop has outlined in comedic form the maturation of youth, the college life, and the struggles of a single adult, giving the listener the feeling that someone out there understands their life’s vexations.
The writing talents of Schlesinger and Collingwood would not stop with their own music however, as the two have expanded their penmanship to the world of the big and little screens. Many movies and TV shows you may not have even realized they wrote the music for. Schlesinger alone has had his work written for or featured in movies such as That Thing You Do! (wrote the title song, performed by longtime friend Mike Viola), Josie and the Pussycats, Music and Lyrics, and has written songs and scores for the Tony and Emmy awards, Stephen Colbert, Howard Stern, Sesame Street, and countless others.
Yes, Fountains of Wayne have certainly done much in their 16 year tenure, their most recent production being 2011’s Sky Full of Holes, with the same loveable power-pop that has served them well, but with a slightly darker side, dealing with the escapes and doldrums of adulthood. The band still serve up their dose of entertainment, and now signed to Yep Roc with the likes of Nick Lowe, Gang of Four, and Liam Finn, they’re in good company. As per usual, get your fix with the links below. Enjoy!
Cheap Girls-Giant Orange
Cursive-I Am Gemini
Damien Jurado-Maraqopa
Field Music-Plumb
Frankie Rose-Interstellar
Fun.-Some Nights
Galactic-Carnivale Electricos
Gary Husband-Dirty And Beautiful: Volume 2
Grimes-Visions
Lambchop-Mr. M
My Best Friend-In Ghostlike Fading
One Finger Riot-Come Drag Me Down
Sinead O’Connor-How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?
Sleigh Bells-Reign Of Terror
Terry Malts-Killing Time
The Chieftains-Voice Of Ages
The Menzingers-On The Impossible Past
Tindersticks-The Something Rain
Tyga-Careless World: Rise of the Last King
Jacksonville, Florida native Rebecca Zapen recently released Nest, a record about building a family (and the ups, downs and lessons along the way) that was literally recorded while Zapen was pregnant with her now two-year-old son. The record, filled with varied instrumentation and genres where strings and horns (and the ukulele’s South American cousin the Cavaquino) mix with finger-picked folk and cinematic vocal harmonies, was recently named “Florida Album of The Year” by the Florida Times-Union and Zapen’s local performances have since become sold-out, standing-room-only events.
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While, I can’t say I’ve ever really listened to Erykah Badu, every couple of years I’ll run into the song On & On or Call Tyrone, and fall in love. The song is fantastic and video is simple but hard to turn away from.
February is here and just around the corner is the day that singles hate and couples go all out to make sure that they’re going to get some. That’s right, Valentine’s Day. That hallmark holiday made to get people to spend more money in the holiday dead months. As a man who has spent every Valentine’s Day alone and brooding in both his teen and adult life, I felt it would be a fitting time and fun idea to recognize some artists who have spent their time writing self-effacing, bitter, tongue-in-cheek music about the lack of love. This week we honor the artist still breaking out of his shell in the music world, but got schooling from one of the best in the business. Singer-songwriter Jordan Zevon is our first Artist of the Week for February.
Son of legendary musician Warren Zevon, Jordan has a huge pair of shoes to fill, which one would think has worked against him during his musical career. While being descendant of a lyrical master, Jordan himself picked up the talent and has taken his writing in his own direction. Like many youngsters interested in music, Jordan got his start in high school playing in a cover band, and like those same youngsters who dedicate their time to the practice; Jordan Zevon was able to do something with it. He began playing with his band The iMPOSTERS (not of Costello fame), writing music and helping to sell out shows in the LA area.
Before Jordan’s solo career took flight he had the opportunity to work with such talents as Notorious B.I.G., Sarah McLachlan, and Outkast during a stint at Arista Records. He later tried his hand at creating Trademark Entertainment with Jordan Summers (of The iMPOSTERS), co-writing film scripts, doing web design, and working for an amp company. It wasn’t until the news of his father’s illness that Jordan seemed to settle down, and after both his parents’ deaths that he dedicated himself to his music. He helped produce Warren’s final album as well as aided in the posthumous tributes to his late father.
Though Jordan Zevon has only released one album, Insides Out, he demonstrates his knack for songwriting and his ability to poke fun of himself (which you would hope for when the opening song is entitled “The Joke’s On Me”). In the album you see the peppering of his father’s influence with his version of Warren’s Studebaker coming in as one of the songs, but a good amount of the album showcases Jordan’s own road down the path of professional musician. His grasp over the power-pop song is often reminiscent of the Candy Butchers and pre-“Stacy’s Mom” Fountains of Wayne with its quick-witted writing and self-deprecating humor, making him easily likable to anyone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously (everyone likes sarcastic songs about being down and out when it’s put in an up-tempo, right?).
While Jordan’s father may have been a big influence on him, it is both unfair and a sad circumstance that people will often compare him to the late Warren when, at least in this blogger’s opinion, he has done an excellent job of making the point that he has his own originality that is sorely missed in commercial music today. While Insides Out may be the only full-length album, new music is still trickling in from our artist of the week, with his sophomore album Imperfect in the works we can only hope that more will be arriving from Mr. Zevon in the near future.
Band of Skulls has a new album!!! and some other stuff.
Band Of Skulls-Sweet Sour
Barry Adamson-I Will Set You Free
Breag Naofa-Breag Naofa
Exdetectives-Take My Forever
Howlin Rain-The Russian Wilds
Islands-A Sleep & A Forgetting
Mitch Ryder-The Promise
Mya-K.I.S.S. (Keep It Sexy Single)
Shearwater-Animal Joy
Tennis-Young And Old
The Explorers Club-Grand Hotel
The Phenomenal Handclap Band-Form & Control
The Saddest Landscape-After The Lights
Tonight Alive-What Are You So Scared Of?
Vintage Blue-Strike The Mics
Young Magic-Melt
Yuksek-Living On The Edge Of Time
The High Strung do not present themselves as ironic; their absurdist scenarios are delivered in a way that reveals they mean it. And the band is on their way up, having scored the theme song for Showtime’s new hit series Shameless, starring William H. Macy as an impossibly drunk father.
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Rockers, The Danvilles’ latest LP, Women is a quick shot of equal parts garage swagger, 50s charm and blues heartache; all wrapped up in a 23-minute package.
Michael Hindert, Gary Schaaf, Dex Fontaine, Anthony and Kenny Pirog combined their musical efforts to create an album devoid of superfluous nonsense and overt production. The end result is a 10-pack of straight-ahead jams that sound better than any Jack White penned ego trip.
If you’re like me (and I’m not sure why you’d want to be) and you’re on the hunt for some rock that harkens back to a time before ProTools and fancy studios, The Danvilles are your prey. One spin of Women and you’ll want to crank tracks like, “Somethin’ to Say,” “Good to Go” and “Cold Sweat.” Here’s hoping these cats don’t get roped into some car/iProduct/clothing commercial and stick to what they’re good at: kicking out the jams.
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