Filed under: Issue 22 | Tags: Arcade Fire, ashley cox sullivan, bitch cassidy, corey koniz, Dinosaur Jr., penalties and punishment, Professional Victims, shawn sullivan, TV on the Radio
Syracuse's Professional Victims play their own unique blend of 21st-century punk
Part of our Issue 22 coverage!
PREVIEW: Click to access music by and learn more about Syracuse’s Professional Victims!
Syracuse’s very own Professional Victims have all the makings of a bona fide late-20th century punk rock band—in the 21st century. Bandmates Shawn Sullivan, Ashley Cox Sullivan and Corey Koniz have the basics down: anti-establishment attitudes; punchy, guitar-driven songs under three minutes; and the hope of raising their own army of like-minded rebels.
Like the independent spirit of punk music itself Continue reading
Filed under: Releases of the Week | Tags: Arcade Fire, frightened rabbit, Midnight Organ Fight, Morrissey, The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
Frightened Rabbit manages to do some good things, with a lot of sameness as well
PREVIEW: VISIT Frightened Rabbit’s MySpace
WE GIVE IT: 14/20
Frightened Rabbit make anthems. Their songs soar, rise and crescendo, coalescing in choruses that the listener is powerless not to sing along to. Their songs are sweeping, epic and grand, cataloguing nothing but the most deeply felt emotion. Frightened Rabbit seem incapable of writing anything without an almost obscene level of pulsating energy just below, and more frequently above, the surface of the song. Their new album The Winter Of Mixed Drinks, is more of the same. But, that’s not always a bad thing.
Sounding like a Scottish version of Arcade Fire, all crashing crescendos, ghostly atmospherics, and expressive vocals, The Winter of Mixed Drinks takes the self-loathing of their previous album Midnight Organ Fight, and manages to keep it entirely intact. Scott Hutchinson, the lead singer and songwriter of Frightened Rabbit, may be the most depressing British lyricist since the glory days of Morissey, yet the band never sounds anything less than hopeful. The credit for this belongs both to Hutchinson’s powerful, passionate delivery and the wonderful, thrilling guitars pounding along right beside him. Continue reading
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: andrew bird, Aphex Twin, Arcade Fire, Beirut, Belle & Sebastian, Choir of young believers, Daft Punk, deer tick, Deerhunter, Devendra Banhart, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Explosions in the Sky, Fleet Foxes, Girls, Kanye West, Kings of Convenience, Mika, Neon Indian, pavement, Peter Sarstedt, Ra Ra Riot, Siouxsie & The Banshees, St. Vincent, The Antlers, The Cool Kids, The Hold Steady, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rural Alberta Advantage, the static jacks, the white stripes, Vampire Weekend
20 WATTS RADIO: THURSDAY FEB 25TH ON AUDIOCANDY
Preview: Make sure you check out Audiocandyradio.com
It is Thursday night and 20 Watts Radio is on Audiocandy. Make sure you tune in and don’t miss out on our great selection of awesome tunes. We have some cool news happening at 20 Watts you simply cant miss. We are gonna give you a run down on some local shows that will be happening this weekend. If you are in Cuse you are most likely snowed in anyway, so join us for a quick getaway as we give you a run down of the awesome stuff you can do in Syracuse once this snow melts. Not to mention if you wanna request a song, all you need to do it tweet at you host here. So make sure to join 20 Watts on Auodiocandy 10 pm sharp. To tune in Click Here.
Show Playlist
Filed under: Best of 2009 Albums | Tags: Actor, Annie Clark, Arcade Fire, best of 2009, Death Cab for Cutie, Grizzly Bear, Releases of the Week, St. Vincent, sufjan stevens, the Polyphonic Spree, Urban Outfitters
St. Vincent's Actor is number 13 on our Best of 2009 list
PREVIEW: VISIT St. Vincent’s MySpace
TOP TRACK: “The Strangers”
Annie Clark, the adorable, skinny, curly-haired musician behind St. Vincent has been connected with some of the biggest names in indie music. Clark dropped out of Berklee College of Music to join The Polyphonic Spree, and sang with Sufjan Stevens on his 2006 tour. She’s opened for huge acts such as Arcade Fire and Death Cab for Cutie. Plus, she’s currently touring with Grizzly Bear.
Her latest effort, Actor, is an audible treat. The Brooklyn-based Clark has put together the ideal internal soundtrack for the best day ever, with the album. St. Vincent released Actor in May and its beauty stunned listeners. The first track, “The Strangers” opens with a hauntingly moving choral and woodwind arrangement, introducing us to a world far, far away of St. Vincent’s playful melodies and clever lyrics. “The Strangers” is a dynamic song that presents a musical journey more complex than that of many entire albums. A steady bass drum keeps the song connected throughout. Clark’s voice is relatively staid and mellow. Haunting instrumental breaks provide a heavy contrast to her singing.
“Actor out of Work” was the single release from Actor–you may have heard it on the Urban Outfitters’ playlist (don’t be ashamed, we know you’re downloading it). The song demonstrates St. Vincent’s songwriting talent. From a bit of an electronic feel to the guitar line to an operatic chorus, the song combines seemingly disparate sounds into pure cohesion. With a quick escalation into the chorus, Clark creates the perfect pop song condensed into 2:15.
With Actor, St. Vincent proved her ability to surprise with music that is perfectly pop despite an odd mix of mysterious melodies, choral backgrounds and a dash of straight-up adorability. However, it serves her well, with the contrast directly contributing to the effort’s overall success.
–Mary Cappabianca
Filed under: Genre Columns, Indie Rock, Music Theory | Tags: Alex Turner, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Bob Dylan, cousins, Crown of Love, EP, Fleet Foxes, Funeral, humbug, Led Zeppelin, MySpace, Neighborhood #3 (Power Out), Neon Bible, Pete Doherty, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Rubblebucket, Sun Giant, The Beatles, The Libertines, Up The Bracket, Vampire Weekend, Wake Up, Whatever People Say I Am That Is What I Am Not, Wilco, YouTube
With bands like Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys making mediocre follow-up albums, will the same happen to Fleet Foxes?
Vampire Weekend just came out with a new single “Cousins” — and what a disappointing pile of shit! You’d figure that after making their debut album with so many great tunes, they’d be bound to make a more brilliant follow-up album. Unfortunately, with “Cousins” it sounds like the sun just rose on a Monday morning for this skeleton crew. To be fair, Vampire Weekend are not the only band that seem to be facing this problem. Throughout the decade a whole lot of new Indie bands with brilliant debut albums have been popping up—where they have barely been able to create a worthy-enough follow up.
The list goes on and on with bands and artists that got their big break this decade on both sides of the pond. In Britain, bands like The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys each released debut albums that were universally adored by critics and new fans alike: Up The Bracket and Whatever People Say I Am, That Is What I Am Not—the latter of which is currently the UK’s fastest-selling debut album (note: Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle recently topped this accolade with her I Dreamed a Dream album). Nevertheless, these two bands–led by the apparent songwriting genius’ Pete Doherty and Alex Turner — never seem to have been able to top their debuts with their later works. Continue reading
Filed under: 20W Magazine, Emerging Artists, Indie Rock, Interviews, Issue 20, Issue 20 Interviews, XCLUS!VES | Tags: Arcade Fire, Interviews, Issue 20, Montreal, Parlovr
On the eve of a new EP and still unsigned, Parlovr is anxious to branch out
PREVIEW: VISIT Parlovr’s MySpace
Check out 20 Watts’ exclusive interview with Parlovr’s Louis Jackson. Jackson and Parlovr are an unsigned indie rock band based in Montreal, and one of 20 Watts’ favorite emerging artists. With just a little guitar kit from K-Mart and mountains of spirit, Parlovr is clawing it’s way to the top of the exploding Montreal music scene.
— Jett Wells
Filed under: 20 Watts Radio | Tags: 20 Watts Radio, a sunny day in glasgow, ambling alp, Arcade Fire, Asobi Seksu, Atlas Sound, attention deficit, Audiocandy, Bibio, Blue Lines, Dark Was the Night, DJ Shadow, Dummy, Echo and the Bunnymen, future islands, Grizzly Bear, Massive Attack, Maxinquaye, memory tapes, new moon, omar rodriguez lopez, Portishead, post office chapel, rewolf, seek magic, the apple and the tooth, The Fountain, Tricky, Wale, xenophanes, Yeasayer
20 Watts played Asobi Seksu, DJ Shadow and more on WERW
Eric, Chris and Caitlin are in the studio this evening spinning an hour of new music, an hour of trip-hop and an hour of local songs! Tune in by opening iTunes and selecting radio > college radio > WERW or by clicking this link. We’ll be in the studio until 1 a.m.!
Want to talk to us or request a song? IM werw1570, tweet @20_watts or call (315) 443-1278. The third caller gets Chris Parker’s voice on their voicemail… it doesn’t get much better than that.
New tracks are in bold, local artists are italicized.
And don’t forget to tune in to 20 Watts’ Audiocandy+ shows on Wednesday and Thursday from 9-11 p.m.!
artist: Asobi Seksu [read our review of Transparence]
title: New Year
album: Rewolf
artist: Echo and the Bunnymen [13/20 watts — read the review]
title: Life of a Thousand Crimes
album: The Fountain
artist: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
title: Azoemia
album: Xenophanes
