Posted in Indie Rock

Stream: Animal Collective – Centipede Hz

It was revealed earlier last week that Animal Collective would premier Centipede Hz today during Geology’s radio mix. Geology’s set featured songs supposedly given to Ben Allen as a reference during the mixing process of the album. After the hour-long set, fans were treated to the eleven tracks they were promised. For those of you that missed the monumental stream of Animal Collective’s 10th LP earlier today, you can still catch the stream of the here. Centipede Hz will be out September 4th; watch band member Geologist talk about the radio show and album below.

Stream: Why? – Sod In The Seed

Why? recently released their new EP Sod In The Seed, which will be the first release since Eskimo Snow (2010) for this four-man indie/hip-hop/new-wave band out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Naturally, I’m excited for this EP since I have always been quite a big fan of Yoni Wolf and his extensive list of bands and collaborations including Clouddead, 13 & God, and Hymie’s Basement. The EP gives a different sound than their last LP Alopecia and the songs don’t carry as much of a dark feeling to them. I wasn’t digging it at first listen and the change took a bit to get used to, but eventually the songs really start to groove.

Why? will be preforming their new EP on their 2012 tour. You can stream the entire release below. Tour dates can be found further down the page.

Sod in the Seed EP Tracklist:
01. Sod in the Seed
02. For Someone
03. The Plan
04. Probably Cause
05. Twenty Seven
06. Shag Carpet

WHY? 2012 Tour Dates:
08/24 – Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note
08/25 – Norman, OK @ Opolis
08/26 – Santa Fe, NM @ SOL @ Santa Fe Brewing
08/27 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
08/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
08/30 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
08/31 – Arcata, CA @ Arcata Playhouse
09/01 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
09/02 – Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Festival
09/03 – Boise, ID @ Reef
09/04 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In the Venue
09/05 – Englewood, CO @ The Gothic
09/06 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
09/07 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada
09/08 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
09/09 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
09/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
09/11 – Ithaca, NY @ The Haunt
09/12 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
09/13 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
09/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
09/15 – Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
09/16 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
09/17 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
09/18 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
10/05 – Düsseldorf, DE @ New Fall Festival
10/06 – Evreux, FR @ L’Abordage
10/07 – Paris, FR @ Maroquinerie
10/08 – Brighton, UK @ Old Market
10/09 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
10/10 – Manchester, UK @ Central Methodist Church
10/11 – Bristol, UK @ Fleece
10/12 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3
10/13 – Oxford, UK @ The Bullingdon
10/15 – Berlin, DE @ Volksbühne

Listen: The Knocks – “The Feeling”

The Knocks have already brought us huge hits like “Brightside” and “Dancing With The DJ”, and now, they bless us with yet another uplifting summer song. The Knocks are known for releasing catchy songs that are remixed by famous artists around the world and the likes of Madeon, Chiddy Bang, TheFatRat, and Xaphoon Jones have all taken a turn. The version of “The Feeling” below is the original from The Knocks, but I’m sure someone is going to end up remixing it into a club anthem.

“The Feeling” sees The Knocks changing their style a bit compared to their previous song by adding a glitchier sound to the drop, but they still have a catchy beat that we will all enjoy listening to. Check it out for yourself below.

Listen: Professor O’blivion – Demo 2012

Professor O’blivion is an experimental project featuring John Deguide on bass guitar and Patrick Piper on drums, two hip boys rising from the depths of Barrington, Illinois. I’m big on supporting local and self produced music — “Think locally, fuck globally.”  When I found out long ago that they had almost finished their first demo, I hassled John about it for months. I was extremely pumped to finally hear some local music that didn’t reiterate the stereotype of Barrington. Alas due to some problems they ran into, I was forced to be a patient crow and waited for my moment to strike.

This demo is exactly what I had hoped it would be: it’s creative and very experimental. The intro to the demo has the same kind of vibe as Old Gray‘s track “Instrumental”, even though the music overall doesn’t have the same Old Gray pop/emo feel. Professor O’blivion has a very heavy sound that is really raw, but in no way is it trashy noise-rock. They use a very deep bass, which in my opinion really rounds out and enhances the flow of the songs. The drums are sick and Patrick is a pretty hardcore drummer. Together, they equally create this hip underground sound that is Professor O’blivion.

The new demo is currently available for free on the band’s Bandcamp or you can stream it below. Be sure to also check out Patrick’s side project BlackWindom.

Demo 2012 Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. Curmudgeon
3. John Haley
4. That Would Be The Closet

Live Review: Blink-182 @ London, England’s Brixton Academy (07/25)

Band: Blink-182
Location: London, England’s Brixton Academy
Date: July 25, 2012

The sun certainly made Blink feel welcome to London, as it looked more like Coronado Beach than Brixton last night for their last gig in the UK this tour. The fans were out in the skimpiest of summer clothing as this is the first real week of summer London has yet to see; vests, shorts and converse were the most popular combo, but the ladies were not afraid to show a bit of flesh even during the proceedings of the gig. The boys, touching late 30’s were still happy to see that the females were as eager to show a bit of under-garment as they did back in the late 90’s when the band were busting out tunes like “All The Small Things” for the first time.

Brixton Academy certainly looked at its finest last night with a set up that you’d presume a relatively new band would be gracing the stage with, but no, they just want to show the fans a good time and that’s exactly what happened, with the band been no less than 20ft away from the front row. The venue was rammed and it was time for the support slot to come on; Watford born boys Lower than Atlantis gave it a shot and to be fair to the boys, they did pretty damn well. I mean, it’s not gonna be easy supporting any big band when you’re the only support slot on, but having to warm the crowd up for Blink, I have to give them a pat on the back, frontman ‘Mike Duce’ certainly gave it his all and then some. At one point even trying out a classic ‘Hulk Hogan’ ear salute to the crowd, and when it failed replying, “That was a tad Butlins wasn’t it?” and a lot of people had time for that kind of banter. Although, their actual playing and performance didn’t meet up to the mark and I would have liked to see someone more tight and professional filling that 30 minute slot they luckily received from God knows where. LTA seem like a great bunch of guys, but come on promoters, supporting Blink, wake up and listening to the great bands out there that deserve this instead of putting some FAD on that won’t last more than three years from now.

So it was time for Blink to come on as the black curtain of excitement drops, everyone’s screams simmer into the pits of their stomach where the butterflies have been dwelling, waiting to burst out full throttle back and forth across the room. Get ready for action, “Feeling This” opens the set and fans automatically charge towards the front, crowd surfing along the 5000 people venue. The atmosphere was never tainted with any negativity as everyone was enthralled with the spectacular and legendary pop punk band stood before them. It just got bigger and better for fans as they did not stop playing hit after of hit with classics such as; “All The Small Things”, “What’s My Age Again?”, and “Man Overboard”. They even intervened with an acoustic set of four songs including “Going Away To College” and “Roller Coaster”, which was a new experiment for Blink to try out this tour and they knocked it out the park and had fans dancing throughout. Travis even played “Can a Drummer Get Some?” off of his own debut solo album which had fans going wild throughout the venue.

Mark, Tom and Travis’ relationship seemed like it was better than ever. Mark was the most talkative of the bunch and often spoke to the crowd getting them warmed up even more so than needed. Tom and Travis had a little mix up during the set, as timing was of the essence; luckily it was just during “The Blowjob Song”. Tom went on to say on twitter last night; “I think this is the best time of Blink 182’s career, and we will be carrying on doing great things in the near future.” I hope they do as this is band that will never get old even with the next generation of music lovers to come. I’m happy I got to see this band during this point of this career.

Setlist:

  1. Feeling This
  2. Up All Night
  3. The Rock Show
  4. What’s My Age Again?
  5. Down
  6. I Miss You
  7. Wishing Well
  8. Dumpweed
  9. Always
  10. Violence
  11. After Midnight
  12. First Date
  13. Blow Job
  14. Heart’s All Gone
  15. Blow Job
  16. Man Overboard
  17. Fuck a Dog
  18. Ghost on the Dancefloor
  19. All the Small Things
  20. Josie

Acoustic set:

  1. Reckless Abandon
  2. Going Away To College
  3. Dick Lips
  4. All of This (without Robert Smith)

Encore:

  1. Can a Drummer Get Some? (Travis Barker drum solo)
  2. Carousel
  3. Dammit
  4. Family Reunion
  5. Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepsen cover)