Crazy but true. I am now a home owner, complete with mortgage and all the headaches that go along with renovating a 40 year old house.

I consider myself to be a fairly loyal radiohead fan. I own a few shirts, and something like 35 albums ranging from live  and studio to imports and b sides. Needless to say, I was looking forward to the release of “in rainbows”

So like 100 million other people, I woke up ealry this morning and jumped on my favorite torrent site to download what I thought would be radiohead’s latest jewel.

 10 hours later, im still confused. Only 3 good tracks? And they had 4 years to work on it? They could have just released “in raindows” as a 5 song EP.

 No wonder they let you pay what you wanted for it….

 I’m still a fan, but I expected a lot more.

so i have hit a rut here lately. up until last week, I had not even had any new good music to listen to. thank God that changed recently :

First off,

Laura Imbruglia - too bad I didn’t hear her stuff earlier. her self titled debut came out last year and i am just now hearing about it. yes, her sister is Natalie Imbruglia, but a last name is about the only similar thing the two share. I think Laura is half psycho, but I always had a thing for crazy chicks.

Tegan & Sara - new album “the con” is pretty much awesome. rough and not over produced sounding. really matches up well with their vox.

Eisley - “combinations” is the title of their new release. it’s has some great tracks. another plus, they are currently touring with mute math. so go see em both.

minipop - ok, these guys are awesome. in my opinion, the should be the band touring with mute math. their debut “a new hope” is scheduled for release in november. it’s the only album i would consider actually buying if i have to.

~bk

p.s. - check out BNC. more on this later.

Recently, I have been looking into getting my real estate license for a number of reasons. Property is like gold in “them thar hills”. I have found the housing market out here to be quite an interesting game, and wouldn’t mind getting involved a little deeper. More on this later, on to music.

Rarely do I think of new acts as long term successes, but I think that there is some hope. Amy Winehouse, in my opinion, is the best female vocalist to hit mainstream in the last 10 years. Her first album, “Frank” was never released in the U.S. , but 2006’s “Back To Black” is seeing major traction in America.

Another new release, Silverchair’s “Young Modern” has been peaking my interest. I personally love it, but I don’t see it being a heavy indie hitter.

And the Beastie Boys? I think they just finally gave up, releasing a completely instrumental album “The Mix Up”.

Now Go Check It All Out!

~bk

has gone well.  Currently looking for a commercial property to buy, all sorts of cheep property around here.

Do yourself a flavor and go get the new Mark Ronson album “Version”. All sorts of covers re-sung by some of this years best artists.

more later!

~bk

Moving time makes you realize just how organized, or unorganized of a person you are. I, of course, am a very unorganized person. So, therefore, it is 48 hrs. before I am supposed to move, and I haven’t even started packing. I actually just got started thinking about getting some boxes….

I have grown quite sick of Nashville in the last few months. Too congested, and people tend to be quite rude. I think there is a little too much money here? Or maybe a lack of good people with money. Either way, the atmosphere becomes stifling often.

14 years is long enough…

So Long Tennessee!

Where have all the good guitar players gone? Surely they are still out there? Back in the day you could pick up a record and know who the guitar player was by just listening to the tone and style. Now, if you aren’t using a triple quadruple rectumifier, you ain’t cool. What happened to the days of good old fashioned guitar heroes?

There is one. Granted, he’s not the best player, but he has a signature tone. Enter Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I thought I would get bored of his tone real quick, but it’s just so massive. You forget that they don’t have a bass player.

So props to Nick for doing what no one has in a long time….

~bk

At the request of a friend, I was told to stop writing stupid short posts about music for a while, and to talk about me. Well Keri, here ya go.

Life has been strange these last few months. I am leaving a place I’ve considered home for 14 years, and going to a place I was avidly against moving to. However, I have since found myself looking forward to having this much change in life. Change is good, right?

The next few months should be rather exciting:

May - Move

June - Start new job

July - Friends come and visit

August - Europe (Not Confirmed)

September - New House?

Oct-Dec - PARTAY!

Ok, maybe that last part might change…

Oh yeah, forgot to mention I’m single again. So Keri, hook me up!

~bk

Some of you might not be familiar with the band Cartel, they had minor success with their song “Honestly”. Their most recent marketing ploy, basically has them recording their next album in a huge bubble. Industry insider, Bob Lefsetz recently had a field day with this. Well, now, it was the band’s turn to respond.

I can see both sides of the story. Do I think Cartel sounds any different from what they call other “popular” music? No. Same no character vocals, same bland writing with no strong choruses. And they go on to list all these bands that they have as “influences”, then why does your music not sound even remotely similar? I didn’t see relient K on your “list of bands that we love”, yet you sound strangely similar….

But maybe their new album holds some hope of a new musical direction.

The Hits That Keep On Hitting

Lately, I have been pondering what makes a hit a “hit”. Obviously being hooky is a given, but what gives it longevity? Often I hear catchy songs that I love for about a week or two, then forget forever.

I have been digging the new Fountains Of Wayne release “Traffic and Weather“, but I fear that its days in my player are numbered. It’s almost too catchy.

So I am wondering what makes me throw in my old Missing Persons albums still. Maybe it’s because of an almost total lack of good new music, but I am still mainly listening to 10-15 year old releases. I think a lot of people that really love music are in the same boat. I still pop in Coldplay’s “Parachutes” at least once a week. Lately, I have been on a Cardigans fix. I still think they are one of the best bands of the last decade. But that’s just me….

Meanwhile, In My Player:

I just got a pre-release of the new Travis album “The Boy With No Name”. I rate them right up there with Coldplay. It’s good to see some consistency writing wise. I consider them more “mood” music than anything else, something to put in when it’s raining…

I also recently picked up Silverchair’s new album “Young Modern”. Took a bit to grow on me, but it rocks just as much as “Diorama” did. I wish these guys were big in the states, cause I would love to see them live. They definitely have come a long way since “Frogstomp”.

Feist sure is blowing up on myspace and virb. I got her album, and at best she sounds a little better than Cat Power. Feist’s “My Moon, My Man” still rocks though.
Guess that’s all for now.
~bk

I consider myself to be pretty tolerant to most types of music. I can appreciate the production values of music when the music alone can’t hold my interest for one second.
2 exceptions:

Rap

Emo

If you want to make a “career” out of looking and sounding the same as 12 bazillion  other “musicians” out there, be my guest. But PLEASE, stop flooding my myspace inbox with friend requests and messages telling me to check out your band. Obviously you really don’t want me as a fan because your music makes me want to kill you to make the noise stop. Even worse is this Screamo crap. Not only does your music blow, but now I cant hear you, or anything else for that matter cause you blew out my speakers.

Music was based on individualism, can we please return to that?

Not to say all the bands I listen to are charting new territory, but at least their music is catchy.

Example

Grant it, every track is not a winner, but take “My Moon, My Man”. Strangely reminiscent of early B-52’s.  I don’t think I could make 3 cords any more catchy. I could dance to that, and I don’t dance.

Ever.

~bk