New Death Cab song.

Relevant Magazine slices linked to this article with a short blurb on Death Cab for Cutie’s new song, “I Will Possess Your Heart.” It’s available to stream from the article or from Death Cab’s myspace page. It’s a hefty 8 1/2 minute song and Gibbard doesn’t even sing ’til the 4:45 mark. Definitely not radio friendly, but I think this makes me even more interested in their new album dropping in May. (Although Wikipedia reports that it was actually played in its entirety on a radio station the other day!)

Concert recap: The Bravery w/Switches, Your Vegas, and Electric Touch.

I’ve been a fan of The Bravery since their self-titled album dropped in 2005, strangely drawn to their disco beats and synth sound. They definitely helped open the doors to my increasingly acquired taste of “electro-indie” rock. And let’s face it, it makes you want to dance. Or at least nod your head and tap your toes.

I saw The Bravery when they opened for Incubus a few months ago at the Smirnoff Center - in fact, they were the main reason I forked over the cash. Unfortunately, the huge venue ate them up and I was unable to really experience the high octane show I knew they were throwing. So, although my income is lacking nowadays, I decided to go ahead and splurge and experience The Bravery at the Granada Theater.

An ex-coworker, Matt, and I headed to the venue after dinner. We took a few accidental detours, so we actually missed the first band, Austin’s own Electric Touch. I checked their myspace before the show and really dug their song, “Breakdown.” I’ll have to catch them next they hit Dallas.

The next band was from the UK called Your Vegas. Unfortunately, the singer Coyle Girelli was down with the flu. However! The trooper went on with the show anyway! His voice was obvious shot when he spoke in between songs, but wasn’t too bad while singing. I think this held the band back a bit, but it was still a good set. In fact, I just purchased their three song EP, A Town and Two Cities for only 99 cents from iTunes. It’s almost a steal. Since I had only listened to their myspace tunes, I was caught off guard by their ballad, “The Way the War Was Won.” This actually blew me away so I am glad it is part of the EP I bought. (It made me forget how ridiculous their hair was, ha ha.)

The opening acts concluded with Switches, another band from the UK. Before the show, I actually jammed out to their myspace page for an hour. They totally delivered and I really loved the 3- and 4-part harmonies they pulled off. I could tell the crowd, although unfamiliar with their songs, enjoyed it as well as their bobbed up and down more excitedly. I ended up buying their three song EP, Drama Queen, at the show. It was $3 and Thom, their new bassist, signed it. We had a brief talk about Shiner Bock and “when in Rome.” Admittingly, I’m glad he signed it so I won’t forget the grin he had during the show and how much fun they were having. Their full-length album doesn’t drop ’til the end of March, but definitely check out their myspace and listen to “Lay Down the Law” and “Drama Queen.” I have never enjoyed opening acts as much as I did this night and hope to see Your Vegas and Switches do well in the future.

The theater was definitely crammed packed suddenly when The Bravery took stage. As soon as the first song dropped, I was instantly glad that I splurged to attend this show. Definitely worth seeing this band in a smaller venue. They played old favorites, like “Public Service Announcement” and “Swollen Summer” as well as new hits, “Believe” and “Time Won’t Let Me Go.” They announced they were “remixing” a few old songs which I think meant “speed it up and add a bit more rock.” I enjoyed the new versions for “Tyrant” and “The Ocean” though and look forward to the “new” album, “The Sun and Moon Complete.”

All in all, one of the most raw and energetic shows I’ve seen in a long time and definitely worth my $18!

Get to work!

Thanks to my buddy Jody, I have a website redesign to work on in hopes of bringing in some dough and killing some time. It’s freezing outside and I am running out of video on demand to watch, so it’s the perfect stay-at-home-and-work environment. I’ve also been in a creative mood lately, so I think it’s all very win-win.

To keep me company, I’ve been listening to my Pandora stations all day long. Then, I remembered reading something about being able to combine Pandora and last.fm and I found this: http://pandorafm.real-ity.com. Its logs all the songs I’ve listened to on Pandora into last.fm. So, if I get bored with Pandora, I can switch over to my last.fm stations and have even more random songs to listen to. What I’m trying to say is, if you hear me complain about not having any new music to listen to, you can punch me in the face.

If you have an account with either, add me and say hello!
Pandora: http://www.pandora.com/people/nchantan
last.fm: http://www.last.fm/user/theneener

*Note: If you use the Pandora/last.fm mashup, make sure you log in with the correct last.fm username and password. I put in the wrong info and although the mashup would say it submitted songs, it never did. When I did refresh and log in with the right info, voila! It works!

Mozart - Sonata KV 332 F major, Allegro assai

A friend saved a tub full of piano music from being thrown away, knowing I would value this “trash” as treasure. It’s been sitting in my closet for months until I pulled it out last weekend, knowing my brother would appreciate this find. He took some pieces, but I still have more music than I know what to do with.

Not sure why, but classical music has yet to grow on me. The only times I would listen to it was when I’d study (as lyric-filled music causes me to dance and sing, er, moreso sing) or when I was getting to know a piece for the piano lessons I took. Thirteen years of piano lessons which meant countless hours of practicing and lying about practicing. I had excellent sightreading skills, so I could pull off reading a piece for the first time and telling my teacher I had practiced. I say this not to brag, but to also expose my flaw of having a peanut memory. I sightread well, but can’t remember most pieces I played. (I can only confidently play the beginning to the “Maple Leaf Rag” and the theme to “Beauty and the Beast!”)

Today I decided to make use of the Tub o’ Music and pulled out some Mozart tunes since I consider them a little easier to pickup than Bach or Beethoven. I filled through a book of Sonatas and ran into one I played in high school. I was amazed at how much my finger muscles had remembered this piece, each little quick run, the highs and lows, each phrase. And I was even moreso impressed with my former self, as I have no idea how I memorized this whole piece and performed it at contests and recitals. Maybe I’ll keep practicing it and add it to my two-piece repertoire soon.

Here’s the song as performed by some dude. He plays it insanely fast, so bump it down a notch or two and that’s how a young Nina played it. (Bump it down fifty notches and add in a bunch of wrong notes and that’s how I played it today!)

Explosions in the Sky…

…is such good stuff. Fell in love with their music when I watched Friday Night Lights the movie. It’s because of them that I never fast forward through the opening credits of Friday Night Lights the television show. I usually indulge in Explosions in the Sky while reading, studying, and writing because there are no words, just moving music. Their live show I checked out last year was pretty intense as well.

I’ll type up my 2007 music list sometime soon. ‘Til then, if you need some lyric-free music to listen to, check out Explosion in the Sky’s “So Long, Lonesome,” “Your Hand in Mine,” and “What Do You Go Home To?” And if not, at least check out Friday Night Lights this Friday night at 8 P.M. CST on NBC.