Filed under: Issue 21, Issue 21 Reviews | Tags: Death Cab for Cutie, Permalight, Phoenix, Rogue Wave, The Shins
20 Watts' gives Rouge Wave's Permalight 10/20 Watts
Part of our ISSUE 21 coverage!
PREVIEW VISIT Rouge Wave’s MySpace
WE GIVE IT 10/20 Watts
With Permalight, Rogue Wave don’t offer many good reasons to listen to their new album twice. Not because the album is terrible, but because Permalight is, for lack of a better word, boring. Its sun-drenched, synthesizer-driven indie rock is cut from the same mold as what you hear in a thousand Toyota commercials. Rogue Wave used to be an interesting part of the musical landscape – essentially a poppier, twee-less Elephant 6 band. But now they’ve remade themselves into Death Cab for Cutie’s less talented cousin.
Songs like “Per Anger” and “We Will Make a Song Destroy,” with their jangly guitars and sing-along Continue reading
Filed under: Releases of the Week | Tags: Death Cab for Cutie, Elephant 6, Permalight, Phoenix, Rogue Wave, The Shins
Rogue Wave's Permalight does nothing to differentiate itself
PREVIEW: VISIT Rogue Wave’s MySpace
WE GIVE IT: 9/20
There is hardly a reason to give Rogue Wave’s new album Permalight more than a single listen. Not because the album is terrible, but rather because Permalight comes off as boring. Mind-numbingly, ear-dullingly boring. It’s sun-drenched, synthesizer-driven indie rock, just you’ll find in a thousand car commercials. Rogue Wave used to be an interesting part of the musical landscape; essentially a Elephant 6 band with the twee removed and a poppier sound. Rogue Wave were never great, but they were likable enough. But now, either in a misguided attempt to sell out (one that obviously isn’t working) or an even more misguided attempt to follow their muse, they’ve remade themselves into Death Cab For Cutie’s less talented cousin. Continue reading
Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: 3Oh!3, Cobra Starship, Common, Drake, Editor's Picks, Keri Hilson, Kid Cudi, LMFAO, Ludacris, Lykke Li, MGMT, Miike Snow, Modest Mouse, Mos Def, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Pit Bull, The Newshouse, The-Dream, UU, Vampire Weekend, Weezer
No, Passion Pit is not going to be the big "surprise" act for Block Party this year.
The Drake announcement for Block Party was expected, but what wasn’t expected was the hush-hush mystery of a “surprise middle act.” The act will be named later, but there’s enough information available to break down the mystery. The Newshouse’s Otto-Tune blogger, Nathan Mattise, does a solid job of analyzing the possible candidates that might be the surprise act. It’s more than speculation, because Mattise refers to the student survey posted online, highlighting UU’s thought process to fill out the lineup.
Drake was on the list for UU’s headlining act, along with Common, Kid Cudi, Ludacris, MGMT, Modest Mouse, Mos Def, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend and Weezer. We know how this played out.
However, the list for the possible supporting acts goes as follows: 3OH!3, Cobra Starship, Passion Pit, Keri Hilson, LMFAO, Lykke Li, Miike Snow, Pitbull and The-Dream. Now, it’s easy to eliminate candidates by process of elimination based on their tours already scheduled, and who is available for April 30th. It also makes sense for the band to be near by Syracuse, NY at a nearby date.
Let’s break it down:
Filed under: 20 Watts Radio | Tags: a place to bury strangers, Bearplane, Daft Punk, Devendra Banhart, Dirty Projectors, Discovery, DJ Consequence, El Perro del Mar, Magnet ft Gemma Hayes, Matt and Kim, Neon Indian, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nouvelle Vague, Phoenix, Portugal. The Man, Ra Ra Riot, Radiohead, Rilo Kiley, School of Seven Bells, Starfucker, Stephen Babcock, The Album Leaf, The Flaming Lips, The Magnetic Fields, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Temper Trap, Tiny Vipers, Vampire Weekend, Wilco
20 WATTS RADIO: THURSDAY Feb 18th ON AUDIOCANDY
Listen: Download the full show right here
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. Also, today most of the 20 Watts staff is sitting in on a massive production meeting, making our lovely blog impeccably ready for the transition to our forthcoming official web page. So to make their night of hard work a little more fun, we will be playing some of staff favorites on top of the best local music here in Cuse. 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.
Filed under: Editor Picks, Uncategorized | Tags: Air, Editor's Picks, Phoenix, Playground Love, sofia coppola, Spin magazine, Thomas Mars, Virgin Suicides
Preview: WATCH the Spin Magazine Video
All you film lovers out there probably know of “Playground Love” thanks to AIR‘s score of Sofia Coppola‘s The Virgin Suicides, but here is a little trivia you may not have heard before. Spin magazine recently did a video with this year’s favorite:Â Phoenix, covering the acoustic version of “Playground Love.” However, as the performance vocalist Thomas Mars stated: “We are cheating, cause it’s not really a cover, it’s half a cover, we wrote it with our friends from AIR and they put it out; it’s called ‘Playground Love.’ We wrote it and sang it with them for the movie The Virgin Suicides.”
So, while Phoenix may not have received as much recognition for this work as AIR, it looks like Mars still came out a winner–being married to Sofia Coppola and all. It gives a whole new meaning to ‘you never know what might happen,’ now doesn’t it? Anyways, make sure to check out Phoenix’s “cover” of “Playground Love” and keep your eyes peeled for Coppola’s next film Somewhere, the score of which is gonna be a collaboration with none other, but Thomas Mars.
–Irina Dvalidze, Multimedia Editor
Filed under: Editor Picks | Tags: Black Eyed Peas, Editor's Picks, Jersey Shore, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, MTV, Phoenix, The Grammy Awards
Snooki blowing everyone a kiss on the Grammy's red carpet
PREVIEW: WATCH Snooki’s interview with Phoenix.
Last Sunday was the Grammy Awards. I know no one watched, but the coolest thing may have happened before the show even started. MTV, which for some reason still bothered to show up even though they rarely show music videos any more, decided to send Jersey Shore star Snooki to the red carpet for some interviews. She talked to Black Eyed Peas, Miley Cyrus, and hit on 15-year-old Justin Bieber (yes, he seemed frightened). Â The best interview was when Snooki interviewed Phoenix. Neither party knew who they were talking to, and at one point Snooki actually asked the Frenchmen, “Do you have guidos in France?” This is comedy gold. Good work alienating a really talented band MTV.
– Eric Hoffman, Managing Editor
Filed under: City Sounds | Tags: Cassius, City Sounds, Daft Punk, Etienne De Crecy, France, Justice, Paris, Phoenix, WERW
Paris: The City of Lights
PREVIEW: VISIT WERW’S MySpace
The music of Paris has a history that goes back way further than American civilization all together. It’s a difficult thing to look back and do a history of Paris music. To pick a “Best Of Paris” would be a challenge as well. But City Sounds has found a way to bring to the listeners a taste of “the city of lights,” so don’t fret.
In the mid-90s, Daft Punk put Paris in the spotlight as a center for house music. And while I’m not a professional when it comes to house music, I know what music can be danced to and Paris has plenty of that. Other “innovators” in the French dance scene include Cassius and Etienne De Crecy, each having their own distinct sound.
It’s been a solid 15 years, at least, and the music of Paris hasn’t stopped. Daft Punk is still going, but artists like Justice and Phoenix keep our feet moving while taking their genres to new heights and gaining new audiences. We’ll also see what else is brewing in Paris along the way.
Listen to City Sounds on WERW Monday night from 11pm-1am for the sounds of Paris, France.
— Kyle Kuchta
