Sep 03 2010

Balance And Composure / Tigers Jaw – Split LP

Category: Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 07:00

Balance And Composure / Tigers Jaw
Split LP
No Sleep / Run For Cover; 2010

Having reviewed releases from these two bands in the past, it took me a few listens to figure out the aural connections between them. Besides their common roots in Pennsylvania, Balance And Composure trolls heavily in the waters where punk meets hard rock, while Tigers Jaw makes some really good Pavement-meets-Superchunk indie-fied power-pop. But as I delved deep into the eight songs on this split LP, it eventually became clear that both groups possessed strong anchors in second-wave emo, complete with gritty guitar riffs and heart-on-the-sleeves lyrical sentiment.
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Sep 02 2010

Museum Mouth – Tears In My Beer

Category: Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 07:00

Museum Mouth
Tears In My Beer
Self-Released; 2010

From beginning to end, Tears In My Beer is a terribly fun listen, as it’s replete with short, tight hooks reminiscent of ’60s pop and ‘70s garage rock. The three folks who make up Museum Mouth obviously revel in the relative dearth of flash, what with the bare-bones instrumentation, verse-chorus-verse-chorus song setup, and the primarily girl-fronted vocals that are a nice balance between sweet and salty. This is bouncy, neo-classic riot-grrl music that’s begging you to pogo.
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Sep 01 2010

Save KTRU

Category: H-Town Rock,Life As I See It,Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 12:00

I’ve been reluctant to comment on the impending sale of KTRU by Rice University (Rice) to the University of Houston (UH), mostly because I would simply be regurgitating the information of others. But this is the internet, and linking your friends’ stories to yours is the name of the game, so here are my two cents (currently undervalued due to inflation).

I’ve listened to KTRU, I like KTRU, the band I’m in has performed on KTRU, and I have hordes of friends who are either current or past DJ’s at KTRU. Hell, I was talking to one of the main DJ’s about stepping into a gig of my own there in Fall 2010. In a city where the radio waves are overwhelmingly dominated by Clear Channel stations that all play the same 30 songs in their respective genres, KTRU is a welcome breath of fresh air for indie, underground music in general and Houston music in particular.

The short version of this sordid tale is as follows: Houston woke up a couple of Mondays ago to find that Rice was selling KTRU (its transmitter, license, call sign, etc) to UH. There are two primary quibbles with this scenario: the dirty deed was done without ever speaking to current KTRU employees, current Rice students, or Rice alumni; and UH already has its own radio station, KUHF. UH was going to turn KUHF (whose current programming is split between piped-in NPR stuff and piped-in classical music; i.e. very limited in-house DJ needs) into a 24-hour NPR channel, while converting KTRU to KUHC and making it a 24-hour classical music channel.

Does Rice have the right to sell what it owns? Sure it does, but administration has been really shady during this entire process. Do I like classical music? Sure I do, but Houston has already seen two different attempts to build a 24-hour classical music station fail miserably in the past few decades.

So, tonight, after a couple of weeks of protests both online and offline, and a Save KTRU concert at The Mink, KTRU station management is going to attempt to have a Question-and-Answer session with the principal antagonists – Rice President David Leebron, Dean of Undergraduates John Hutchinson, VP of Public Affairs Linda Thrane, and VP of Administration Kevin Kirby.

So, in case you’d like to attend the chat, here’s a rundown of the key pieces and prime bits of analysis on the subject from around the Houston interwebs. Inform yourself properly.

Sep 01 2010

Thinking Machines – Work Tapes

Category: Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 07:00

Thinking Machines
Work Tapes
TMvFM; 2010

I’m a big proponent of a band creating a distinct atmosphere with its music; call it context, if you will. I want to hear songs that dredge up certain memories, scenarios, and situations in my mind, whether real or imagined. To put a finer point on what I’m describing, I like art that seeks to put me in a specific frame of mind, the more challenging the better.

And with Work Tapes, the four men of Thinking Machines instantly thrust me into a foreboding post-industrial environment where I’m forced to exist on my wit and guile alone, because I can’t really trust anyone else. This ten-song offering accomplishes this by pushing into my ears a driving, urgent form of clattering post-punk that sends chills up my spine. Sonically, the record calls to mind John Darnielle and Ted Leo collaborating on an homage to The Fall and Mission Of Burma – rough bleats for vocals, buzzing, fuzzy guitars, and a pummeling rhythm section that would sound amazing through a good stereo.
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Aug 31 2010

The Best Music of 2010 So Far (2/3 Edition)

Category: H-Town Rock,Media & More,Music In My Ears — dryvetyme @ 07:00

Yes, it’s that time of year again already. We’ve now made our way through the first eight months of 2010, so this marks another opportunity to reflect back upon the great music that we’ve all been enjoying.

As per my usual, I’ve reviewed a few of these albums on my site already, so please feel free to read (or re-read!) what I’ve written about them. I look forward to listening to more great music over what remains of of 2010 and seeing whether or not these records will rise and/or fall in relation to what I listen to next.

The Top Albums of 2010 (So Far…)
Big Boi – Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty
Everyone Everywhere – Everyone Everywhere
Harlem – Hippies
Lindstrom and Christabelle – Real Life Is No Cool
Motion Turns It On – Kaleidoscopic Equinox
Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me
Pantha Du Prince – Black Noise
The Roots – How I Got Over
The Wonder Years – The Upsides

Honorable Mentions:
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh
Best Coast – Crazy For You
Bun B – Trill OG
The Dead Weather – Sea Of Cowards
The Depreciation Guild – Spirit Youth
The Fall – Your Future Our Clutter
Four Tet – There Is Love In You
The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang
Go Rydell – The Golden Age
Holy Fiction – Hours From It
Indian Jewelry – Totaled
JBM – Not Even In July
LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Look Mexico – To Bed To Battle
Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid
The National – High Violet
Past Lives – Tapestry Of Webs
Rick Ross – Teflon Don
Rooftops – A Forest Of Polarity
Serena-Maneesh – S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor
These New Puritans – Hidden
The Unthanks – Here’s The Tender Coming
Vampire Weekend – Contra
Wait What – The Notorious xx Mixtape
A Weather – Everyday Balloons
Wild Moccasins – Skin Collision Past

Best EPs, 10″s, and 7″s of 2010
Class Actress – Journal Of Ardency EP
Dirty Projectors – Ascending Melody 7″
Dirty Projectors and Bjork – Mount Wittenberg Orca
Grandfather Child – Waiting For You / Dog Water 7″
The Holy Mess – Benefit Sesh 7″
Junior Battles – Junior Battles 7″
Maker – I-91 7″
The Manichean – Whispers EP
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Say No To Love 7″

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