This is a guest post from my brother, Kurt, who currently goes to school at Wisconsin (second best school in the Big Ten). If anyone else wants to guest post, please send Alec or I an e-mail! We love to hear new stuff too.
With the Brewers creeping ever closer to the Playoffs for the first time since 1982, I can’t help from going to game after game at MillerPark. They probably want me to go to every game because as of now I’m 8-1 at Brewer games.Those car rides to the park lend for lots of music listening and this small startup band has caught my eye.
Based out of a suburb of the Twin Cities known as Apple Valley, Ferris has been playing since 2004 and has only grown since then. From recording their songs at one of their houses, they now are featured monthly at the Fine Line in Minnesota. The piano/ukulele/lead singer, Dustin Hatzenbuhler, has been writing and mixing their songs straight onto the Top Played lists of my iPod. The other members of the band: Ben Huhner (guitar/vocals), Kevin Burke (keyboard/vocals), Colin Burke (drums), and Jake Romero (bass), play smooth and easy rhythms and ease you into a nice relaxed mood. If you’re ever looking to play music to study to and then get stuck in your head, Ferris is the way to go.
The three songs that I’m putting up hit every spectrum that Ferris brings to the table.First up is ‘Fly’, which brings some thoughts of a funkier O.A.R. or Dispatch. I’ve grown to know and love the wa-ish guitar effects that keep you bobbing your head and feeling silky smooth at the same time.The second song is one I personally love because of the piano trickling throughout the song, especially during the end. ‘We Are Life’ has great lyrics and a beautiful sound to it. Lastly is ‘Where I’m Going’, which exposes more of Ferris’ talent. With a similar vibe to 'Fly' (less wah, more jangly piano), this will definitely get your foot tapping and wanting more.
And if you just can’t get enough and need more right now, their next concert is August 14th at 9:00PM at the Fine Line in Minneapolis ($5.00 cover).
Kyle's last post about Owen and describing it as a good cd to put on while "cleaning your room" got me thinking about ambient/background music. While not a genre I listen to routinely, there are times where it fits the mood, and one of the cds I like to use on such occasions is "The Four Trees" by Massachusetts based Caspian. Their sound is a an ambient rock style which has heavier parts but tends to stay on the space rock side that is slower and drawn out. Oh and they're an instrumental group as well.
I'm not usually a huge fan of rock "instrumental" groups just as the genre itself doesn't seem to be musically interesting enough by itself to remove the lyrical aspect. Caspian is a nice exception, and I think part of this is that they don't try to overcompensate by becoming too experimental musically that the sound loses focus like other "post rock" groups. To be honest I think they aren't as experimental as they would like you think they are, but perhaps that's why I like their sound in a genre I don't normally listen to.
The music itself is good, and they do a nice job of incorporating different aspects and dynamics to their songs to add depth that isn't there from the lyrics. Because their style is very ambient and flows together nicely, I don't even really know what my favorite songs would be. I just tend to put it on and let it play. So instead of trying to pick any certain ones out and describe them, I'll just post a few random ones and let you decide.
I hope that everyone had an amazing 4th of July. I got a chance to catch a few Brewer wins over the Pirates which was a beautiful thing. Then CC Sabathia got signed, the Cubs realized they had no chance, so they retaliated by signing a guy who goes on the DL 4 times per year. Nice.
Today I wanted to profile the artist Mike Kinsella's latest project, Owen. Kinsella has been in a ton of projects during his life from the rough-ish, emo 'Cap'n Jazz' to the chiller, more technical 'American Football' (my personal fav) to a few others, and now Owen.
First things first. If you are a person who watches American Idol religiously for people who can actually sing, Owen is probably not for you. Kinsella almost always sounds just a hair off key, which I think adds to his emo-ish feel of just a normal guy who sat down and wrote this song for a girl. In fact, 'Who Found Who's Hair...', the first song I posted from his CD, I Do Perceive, is probably exactly that. The lyrics are prototypical emo with the trashing of some girl based on the rumors he's heard, but if you can get past that, listen to how he puts his pieces together. At about 2:40 into the song he combines some electric noodling, distinct acoustic stumming, and a fade-in electronic beat with incredible results.
The second tune I put up has a little more get-up, but that's really about as far as Owen ever goes. If you are waiting for it to explode, you are waiting in vain. He brings back the semi off-key singing, but I really like the moods that this song takes you through. It goes from a bouncy instrumental to a very subdued verse and then it feels like a weight is lifted off his chest when the song goes back into an airy guitar line.
Let me know if you dig it. Play Owen's I Do Perceive it in the background when you are reading or doing some work around your room. It's outstanding.
I need to confess another guilty pleasure of mine lately. I know the remix fad has been around for a long time but I've been drawn back to it recently with the concept of remixing hip hop and R&B songs (read: club songs) into techno and electronic songs (read: Euro club songs). I don't really know why, but for some reason I've been drawn to this mini genre of remixes lately and therefore have spent my time recently looking for remixes (and there are plenty of bad ones out there let me tell you) rather than good new bands.
Maybe it was the techno/club music from South America a couple months ago or something, but I find it really interesting how DJs are able to take songs that are popular in North America and able to rework them to sound like hit songs from other places (i.e. Europe). So my post today features some of the better reworks of songs I've found recently. The first one "American Boy" is the one that started it all off. I've been obsessed with this remix; the upbeat techno beat combined with the sped up Kanye West verses just becomes addicting. Furthermore, if you're not familiar with the song be sure to check out Estelle who is lighting it up across the pond with her release Shine featuring tracks by a who's who of top American hip hop producers (there that's a legit rec for you).
The other ones are a couple of my other favorites, and I'm sure you'll recognize the originals. I think its pretty interesting how the various DJs have taken the songs and broken them down and put them back together along with their own elements to make them fit another genre of music. The One Republic remix might be a little over the top, but I think its unique in a way to hear all the stereotypical techno/electronica tricks and effects applied to such an American sounding song.
And finally, I can't do a post on remixes without mentioning the fact that the king of remixes, Girl Talk, has released his new album which is available here for whatever price you feel like paying (I chose zero dollars. Actually to be honest I still downloaded illegally from a 3rd party...beam me down Satan. Hey with his success he was able to quit his engineering job, I shed no tears for him).
Ok enough of this euro trash, time to celebrate the 4th of July. America! Fuck Yeah!
