Love You Moon

You'd think that being unemployed I would have plenty of time to listen to and write about music, and you'd be right. Yet somehow I find myself struggling to motivate myself to find new music let alone write about it. Perhaps living in my parents house in a room with no stereo system and a semi-reliable internet connection has something to do with it.

Today I present to you Love You Moon, the side project RX Bandits frontman Matt Embree. The "group", which basically consists of Embree and a couple guest musicians on some of the tracks released their debut album this fall entitled Waxwane.

I've written plenty before about RX Bandits and their amazing musical abilities, and Matt is a great guitar player and singer. I think this cd is a decent display of his skills, although being an acoustic album he limits himself from the beginning. The cd is full of his powerful vocals, and of course politically and socially charged songs. Also featured, a staple of the Bandits, are lots of complex rhythms and interesting chord progressions. Matt does a great job of varying up the styles and parts that the sound doesn't become stale; however, my one piece of criticism is that at times he tries to do too much with his acoustic and it seems a little overdone.

Overall its a solid disc, and if you are in anyway a Bandits fan I recommend checking it out. If not I at least recommend listening to "Late May's Gaze" which is a beautiful and moving ballad that I have become somewhat obsessed with lately.


Love You Moon - David's Birthday

Love You Moon - Late May's Gaze

Love You Moon - Why Pop Stars Sell Silicone

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

- Alec

Ray Charles (before he was Ray Charles)

I've got some nice relaxing tunes for you today... I'm sure most of you have heard of Ray Charles either from the recent film about him Ray!, or just from hearing your pops play his old records. Charles was one of the R&B/soul icons in the 1960's. He wasn't necessarily the greatest person in the world (heroin addict, fathered children to 7 women, etc.), but he sure put out a whole cache of memorable hits. Georgia on my Mind, Hit the Road Jack, I Got a Woman....just a few of his tunes that once you hear the title you can begin to sing.

Before Charles hit the top of the Billboard charts with his singing, he actually put out a couple of jazz records with buddy and jazz-vibraphonist extraordinaire Milt Jackson. Milt Jackson, along with Lionel Hampton are probably two of the most influential and famous vibraphonists of all time. Milt always felt a little bit smoother to me. With him you would want to kick back and smoke a cigar, but with Lionel you would sit up on your seat and hang on every note.

Soul Brothers/Soul Meeting is the name of the CD which combines two sessions that Jackson and Charles recorded. The first song, "Bags of Blue" is an 8 minute masterpiece where Jackson starts it off with some excellent vibe work. Ray Charles, who predominantly plays piano on this record then hops in with a little bit of saxophone. The traditional jazz swing keeps the number moving and after a while Ray hops back on the piano and riffs over the top of it all. "Deed I Do" is a more romantic-feeling tune where the vibes and piano seem to call back and forth to one another. It almost seems made for a man/woman singing duet. Enjoy!

Ray Charles and Milt Jackson - Bags of Blue

Ray Charles and Milt Jackson - Deed I Do

Fort Knox Five

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up but I've have kind of a crazy couple of weeks. For those of you that don't know, I was laid off from my job in Phoenix as part of some downsizing, and have decided to head back towards the great Midwest to look for work this time around. While being unemployed during a time of such economic difficulty and uncertainty is fairly disconcerting, I am looking at this as an opportunity for a fresh start and a chance to relocate to somewhere I would rather live (probably Chicago). Anyways, enough about me, to the music!

My post today is on the DC group Fort Knox Five. They create a wonderful style of hip hop/funk/latin music that is fun to listen to and great for parties. Similar to some other producer style cds such as Mark Ronson's Here Come The Fuzz or Intramural's This Is A Landslide , this cd features some guest artists to provide the vocals; however, many of the tracks are just bumpin instrumentals.

While the style on the cd varies quite a bit from song to song, I think one way to maybe describe it would be as a mix of Jurassic 5, Parliament Funkadelic and Ozomatli with bits of disco and electronica thrown in. You're thinking that doesn't make much sense? Well then just take a listen and check out these tracks from their 2008 release Radio Free DC.

Fort Knox Five - Insight

Fort Knox Five - Sao Funky (Parts 1 & 2)

Fort Knox Five - Uptown Tricks

Enjoy
Alec

Steel Train minus Scott?? Justin??

I hope things have been great for you 4 religious Track Nine readers... Things have been good in Atlanta, it's down to a brisk 60-65F on most days now, but that didn't stop me from going out last week to catch a pretty sweet concert. Two Track Nine favorites, Steel Train and Dear and the Headlights were playing at a small venue in downtown Atlanta for a crowd of about 40 or 50 loyal fans, haha.

Dear and the Headlights sounded good after the release of their 2 or 3 week old album Drunk Like Bible Times. The new disc brings a little more anguish, a little less foot-tappin, but a lot more crunch than their first release.

After they finished their set, Steel Train took the stage and what happened there marked the true end of an era. Scott or Justin or whoever the vocalist/pianist that I loved to listen play had apparently left the band (I asked the backup guitarist after the show and he confirmed my fear...). I say it's the end of an era because Steel Train has gone through so many transformations, and losing Justin means that there is really no way they will ever go back to or even play a lot of their old tunes. First, Steel Train was a fun-loving group of guys that played acoustic jams. They then turned into a jam-esque band that flowed freely into and out of songs with insane guitar solos followed by soft vocals backed by light instrumentation. Having now fully transitioned into a pop group, I don't think we'll ever see the old Steel Train ever again (not necessarily that it's a bad thing....Trampoline made my best of 2007 list!).

So...below I'm posting 3 tunes to remind me of the old Steel Train with Justin or Scott's (haha) super smooth voice caressing your ears. Enjoy!

Steel Train - Blown Away

Steel Train - Catch You On the Other Side

Steel Train - 1999

Sleepercar

Apparently my post about Sleepercar got deleted by the Blogger folks....

It started like this...

I spent this past weekend playing a little bit of Ultimate in the great state of Wisconsin. We were lucky because the weather was an absolutely perfect 75 and sunny on both days. Coupled with that was the fact that Wisconsin was just then blooming into an incredible autumn. Driving down the small two-lane highways in farm country with the leaves changing and falling all around the roads definitely made me feel a twinge of 'what the hell am I doing in the South'.

Basically they are a sweet rock-tinged alt-country band.

Check em out here.

http://www.myspace.com/sleepercarwesttexas

Wale

I feel my love for Chicago rappers has been well documented throughout the history of this blog. Kanye, Common, Rhymefest, Lupe Fiasco; these MCs have helped define the sound coming out of the Third Coast for the past decade where conscious rap and smooth flows have combined with soul samples and hip hop beats to create a powerful and moving style. It's a sound that has had its share of both club hits and critically acclaimed songs, and the next prince of Chicago Rap appears as if he's ready to emerge. Only one problem...he's from D.C.

Wale has been the buzz of the music community for a couple years now as everyone waits for him to bust out. I had heard the name many times before but had remained unimpressed for a long time until I finally took the time to actually listen to a couple of his mix tapes. Wow, "this kid is the next disciple of Kanye and Lupe" was my thought. Maybe its the fact that D.C. isn't known for its hip hop, but Wale definitely sounds more Chicago than east coast.

His latest mix tape, The Mixtape About Nothing, is a solid mix of songs that really demonstrate not only his MC skills but an ear for catchy beats and hooks. Yes it's a mixtape, so it must be taken with a grain of salt, but if these little glimpses of his skills are any indication of what is to come, I think there is plenty of reason to be hopeful. And with that, Wale is finally working on an actual album having signed originally with Track Nine favorite Mark Ronson's label "Allido" and now onto Interscope. The album is tentativley scheduled for a March 09 release, but til then we'll just have to get by with a couple mix tapes.

So what set Wale apart from other rappers? Well the most obvious thing when listening to TMTAB is his love for Seinfeld, which he makes very apparent with his incorporation of several audio clips from the show and even a shout out from Julia Louis Dreyfus. But he goes beyond that, also incorporating the clip from Michael Richards' infamous racist tantrum as an introduction for a song analyzing the various uses and stigmas of the use of the N-word.

Check out a couple of these songs from Wale and get an early taste of his writing and rhyming skills. And if you like what you hear just get on "the google" and look for his mix tapes to hear more. Chicago style is alive and well... on the East Coast.

The first two tracks are from TMTAN and really feature Wale's rhyming skills laced over some simple but strong beats. The last is his remix of the Justice classic "D.A.N.C.E."

Wale - The Perfect Plan

Wale - The Manipulation

Wale - W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.


Enjoy

-Alec

Remembering The Get Up Kids

So Matt Pryor, the lead singer of Track Nine favorites The New Amsterdams just released his first solo album of his long and storied career. I've given it a few spins so far, and it hearkens back to his earlier New Amsterdams stuff. It's him, a guitar, some harmonies, and some slight production...very bare bones, very listenable, and quintessential Matt Pryor.

However, I'm not sure I can really say that it's 'quintessential' Pryor considering the New Amsterdams really began as a side project for all the songs that got thrown out by his first band, The Get Up Kids. Back in the late 90's, the TGUK were arguably the one and only band that really brought the genre 'emo' to the forefront. With Pryor straining his voice over songs about heartbreak and being 'so close', TGUK released 4 full-length albums over 10 years of pioneering the indie scene. In fact, back in 2005 Alec and I ended up road-tripping it to Kansas City to catch their last show ever. It was definitely sad...but it's great to see that the members are still making music.

Here are my three most memorable songs that they played at their final show in Kansas City.

The Get Up Kids - Don't Hate Me (from Four Minute Mile)
Right before this song Pryor mentioned that they had played it at every show they had ever done...except one. And that show sucked.

The Get Up Kids - Walking On a Wire (from On A Wire)
I felt that this was the most powerful song the entire night. It's simple and a little bit out there, but Pryor really gave it everything he had on the vocals during the show. It felt to me like he should have been utterly exhausted after putting all the emotion he did into singing it for the last time.

The Get Up Kids - Holiday (from Something to Write Home About)
This was obviously a crowd favorite from their 'arguably' best CD. Everyone went nuts when that first guitar slide was played, and the crowd didn't stop getting sweaty until the last note.