Chris Brokaw

Thanks to Bradley's Almanac for reminding me that Chris Brokaw's new record Incredible Love is available tomorrow. Chris is probably most identifiable as Thalia Zedek's right hand man in Come, although he's recorded and toured with Steve Wynn, Evan Dando, Consonant and The New Year among others. Visit his MySpace page for some streaming songs and his website for some older MP3's. The new song Move has me salivating.

Hallowe'en 2005

Here are a couple of pictures of me and the brothers at a Halloween party Saturday. Left to right: Phil, Me (Matt), Adam. The only real requesite for attendance is that you either wear all black or dress up in costume. Thankfully, Phil left his kilt at home and opted for his new wizard outfit. I kept it simple with a black cape, pants and shirt with a blood red and black paisley tie. Adam opted for the dapper black and white pinstriped shirt. The pictures are dark because a)there was no backlighting outside and b) I was using a crappy digital camera. What you can't see in these is my kick ass black cape. If you look at the second picture, my right hand only shows 4 fingers. That's because I was holding up my cape with the 5th. I wish they'd have turned out better, but oh well. We had an excellent time anyway.

Metric

Today it's been all about Metric. I'll be honest, I don't know much about them and I haven't read any more about them than what is on their website. I've heard a couple of tracks on woxy.com and a few other people have talked about seeing them live, so I figured I'd give 'em a shot. I picked up Live It Out yesterday and cracked it open today. It hasn't left the player since. Check out a few songs/videos at their website.

A couple of Quickies

There's a new Out of 5 mix up, one voice, one (acoustic) guitar. This week there is a little more information on the contributors and links to their blogs.

There's a new blog called I See Sound that is featuring bands and events happening in and around the Cincinnati music scene. You'll find MP3's and links to local bands, interviews and reviews from local concerts by national touring acts as well as occaisional editorials.


In Guided by Voices news:
Suitcase II has arrived. Along with all the other music I've got in the last couple of weeks, it should keep me plenty busy.

Guided by Voices: A Brief History : Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll is now available. It was written by former GbV member Jim Greer and features a foreward written by Steven Soderbergh.

Where does the time go?

Do you ever have those days where you go from Point A to Point B and you don't remember how long it took you to get there? Like when you you get up after a short night's sleep, drive to work the same route you've driven every day for 3 years and your autopilot kicks in to get you where you need to go. Before you know it, you're on your way home from work, driving the same route home, and thinking back on your day wondering where the time went. I've had several of those days lately and I think they're catching up to me. I've been so busy there hasn't been much time to sleep, let alone sit down and post anything here.

About the only time I have to listen to music anymore is in the car to and from work. I'll turn on the car, put some music on and hit the road. There's been a lot of new music come my way lately, so I've been able to catch up on recent stuff that I've not yet heard and listen to some newer stuff that's just come out. Maybe I've just been so entranced with listening to the new music that my autopilot kicks in and gets me where I need to go, allowing me to soak up the new tunage. Here's a rundown of what I've been listening to the last few weeks (and a couple I've yet to sit down and listen to start to finish).

Death From Above 1979 One of my favorites for the year. Two thumbs up.

Another brand new release that is already a favorite is the new record by Calla. Collisions follows in the same direction as their last album, Televise. Two thumbs up.

Bloc Party's The Silent Alarm - Remixed. I typically don't like remixes of songs, as they usually do nothing to enhance the original versions. However, the concept of having different artists remixing the entire album track by track piqued my interest. While there are some worthwhile versions of some of the songs, it probably won't make my top 10 for the year. One thumb up.

Neil Young - Prairie Wind. Another strong album from Neil, follows the path laid out by Harvest, Harvest Moon and Silver and Gold. Two thumbs up.

Supergrass - Road to Rouen. After not hearing the last two records, I figured I'd pay them another visit. One thumb up.

Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel. Not bad, but not their best by far. Classic DM fans will like the classic DM-sounding songs. Thumbs in the middle.

Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better. This will probably make the top 10 of many lists this year. I give it two thumbs up.

On deck:
Echo & the Bunnymen - Siberia
The Arcade Fire - Funeral
Johnny Hickman - Palmhenge
The Fall - Heads Roll


Some other music-related points of interest:

Out of 5 is a website that posts a weekly mixtape in both Flash and MP3 formats. I know little about the website or who is behind it, but they supposedly put up a new mix with a different theme each week with different contributors and corresponding cover art for the mix.

Pete Townshend has a blog. He's working on a novella called The Boy Who Heard Music and the first three chapters are posted there. I haven't read them yet, but I plan on doing so this weekend. Keep up to date with everything else Pete-related at his website, eelpie.

Alright. That should do for now. Until next time...