Its finally here!!!so this is an early Fast Free Friday
see you in a month and hope the other MCB peeps hook it up
Free pair of EARLOVE hi-fi ear protection
Free copy of Echo from Matt Stevens
Matt Stevens does guitar stuff.
"Even though that record is a must-buy for anyone with an interest in acoustic Guitar music, his regular online concerts or live performances are just as intoxicating. Let there be no doubt about it, after all: Matt Stevens may have some delicious studio cuts on offer, but the stage is still the best place to appreciate this both experimental and deadly catchy music."Tokafi.com
mattstevensguitar@btinternet.com
Local detroit band The Phage asked us to post up about them
so here it is and one of our peeps will be buying something from them at blowout
so we can give it to you
The Phage will be performing at the Metro Times Blowout
on March 4th at the New Dodge Lounge in Hamtramck.
The Phage
Basement rock with A.D.D.
from Detroit
In the summer of 2002 the Kish brothers, Mike (Queen Bee), Pat, and Tim, stumbled upon the rhythmic stylings of percussionist Ben Moore (Remainder). This band’s been producing hard-hitting, melodic rock for short attention spans, in and around the Detroit area ever since. While they have memorable hooks and up-beat kicks, The Phage’s sound is hardly run-of-the-mill and has been compared to taking a breath of fresh air while stubbing your toe on a brick of solid gold. The Phage’s latest and first full length album, "Princess Magma", is full of catchy lyrics and simplistic melodies that often give way to group chants and even a scream-along chorus or two when played live. As well as being sympathetic to the A.D.D. generation, The Phage takes the time to capture all aspects of great song writing, and is well suited for the music lovers of the world that are thirsty for something fresh in their radio diet. The Phage’s dynamic sound is largely due to a wide variety of influences spanning from Motown to metal and from old world to electronica; but when you listen you’ll find that they seem to have twisted the best parts of Muse and Queens of the Stone Age together to come up with a very entertaining product that will wear out your player before it grows old.
The Phage’s previous EP, "Live Demo/ Studio Rec." is a classic example of the evolution of a band. There are a few songs from this disc still heard at live performances but as it is "Princess Magma" is a much better representation of the type of work this band is currently doing. "Live Demo/ Studio Rec." is fun to listen to and a must have for the die hard fan, but when it comes to over all quality of writing and execution of songs, "Princess Magma" is clearly superior. The Phage is always working toward their next best song and they’re constantly coming out with more and better, well written and well received material.
Every member of The Phage shows a commitment to their craft when they explode onto a live stage, seemingly possessed by the energy of the song at hand. The attention of the audience members tends to be pleasantly ensnared by the mesmerizing antics and ever changing modes of sound. Bombastic percussion, crunchy, ear splitting guitar, over-driven bass, three vocals up front, and a little synth to fill it all in, are some of the main components of this heart racing, lung vibrating, fiasco known as The Phage!
www.myspace.com/thephage
www.reverbnation.com/thephage
Copy of the latest CD from Winnipeg's BOATS
who are coming straight to Detroit from SXSW
and are playing Lager House on March 23rd
Boats just finished recording their 2nd full length album "Cannonballs, Cannonballs" which will be released on May 4th, through Sonic Unyon Distribution.
This album will take you to the beautiful bizarre world where; kids protect their summercamp from a fake mustache tree, TV shows are broadcast on the sides of buildings and Olympic ski jumpers dot the horizon. Including a duet about a fictional performing team: Smokestack who has a hole in his body; and Lucy who thinks she will be the mother of a flock of birds (but won't) (Smokestack & Lucy's Magnificent Cabaret) They are excited to take the rest of the universe to their world of complete, beautiful nonsense again.
Over the years there has been a rotating cast of Winnipeg musicians who have played in Boats, but the current version has a pack of Winnipeg all-stars surrounding singer-songwriter Mat Klachefsky. These can include, but are not limited to, members of The Western States, The Paperbacks, Half Court Prayer, The Details, The Paperbacks, Oldfolks Home, and Transistor Sound & Lighting Co.
Mar 11 – Reggie's Music Joint – Chicago, ILMar 12 – Rancho Relaxo (CMW) – Toronto, ONMar 13 – The Casbah – Hamilton, ONMar 14 – Raw Sugar – Ottawa, ONMar 15 – Casa Del Popolo - Montreal, QCMar 16 – Piano's – New York, NYC Mar 17-21 – SXSW – Austin, TXMar 22 – PJ's Lager House – Detroit, MIMar 23 – The Frequency – Madison, WIMar 24 – Sauce Soundbar - Minneapolis, MN
FREE CD from Silversun Pickups who are opening for MUSEIt’s no secret that Silversun Pickups score the soundtrack for the cacophony and quiet of the urban environment. Their songs curl like a sleeping dragon around the foothills, soar between the skyscrapers, and slouch in the shadows of forbidden offramps and skid row. The Silversun Pickups sound is a city itself and on the new album, Swoon, we tag along on a schizophrenic taxi ride to the dark side. After all, the City of Silversun is a landscape populated with contradictions: the clamor of traffic and the solace of the garden; fashionistas lined up at taco trucks after hours; moonlight bike rides and holdups at knifepoint.
But Silversun Pickups would be nothing without the community that fostered them. Or so says guitar conjurer and siren songster, Brian Aubert. Brought together as a group of neighborhood friends, SSPU evolved into a homegrown behemoth as their muddy guitar fuzz, and ear-bursters blew across the world on the titanic 2006 stargazing, rocking debut LP, Carnavas. But for Aubert, the life of the rocker was never out of reach. “I’ve always lived around bands, so it took away all the myth and romanticism of being in a band. You knew you could do it.”
This band came of age in Los Angeles’ multicultural, bohemian enclave, Silver Lake, where the members learned to overcome their fears through playing in the organic network of clubs and bars that birthed Beck and Elliott Smith.
“When we were starting out, we were too shy to turn up the volume. Now we’re not afraid to get loud,” Aubert says. “I used to be nervous to go to the mic, now I swallow it.”
The sediment of experience accumulated for the band, and they were eager to spit it out. They went back into the studio to produce what would become their much-anticipated second album, Swoon. The success of Carnavas offered a blessing and a challenge. There’s the breathing room that comes with a successful record and the pressure to produce a follow-up. SSPU returned to the studio with familiar friends, producer Dave Cooley (J Dilla, Darker My Love), and mixer Tony Hoffer (Depeche Mode, The Kooks), who helped create Carnavas. For Swoon, the aperture of the band opened up and allowed for possibilities the band never imagined.
Swoon is a thick, layered listen, burgeoning with rich strings and crunchy guitars. The warm noise frothing from what sounds like a thousand guitars nearly crushes the opening track, “There’s No Secrets This Year.” Aubert’s delicate, wafting voice ties the driving drums and blistering bass together in a tightly wound web that keeps the track from imploding. At the peak of noise the track does what the album proclaims: it swoons, falling backward into a free flowing Eno-esque soundscape.The albumcelebrates the intimacy and anonymity of getting lost in a sea of people or the swarm of the cityscape, Aubert says.
Like a community garden in Silversun City, Swoon creates spaces of introspection in the middle of chaos. For every grand concert hall built from a gentle string swell, like on “Catch and Release,” Swoon burns it down in a conflagration of noise, scorching with searing bass and growling guitar, as on “Panic Switch.”
Silversun Pickups pull their sound from the soil of their backyard, which reconciles frenzy with solitude; sprawl and the structure; and innovation with collaboration. “It can be lonely here, because the city is so disconnected,” Aubert explains, “but here you can also escape the noise of the city into your own house, your own private place.
And it is the community that holds Silversun Pickups in the palm of her hand.
www.myspace.com/silversunpickups
FREE 7" vinyl from MORAKESTRAFounders and key creative minds David and Will Mora are twin brothers who were proudly born and raised in the West Texas border city, El Paso, Texas. Fellow El Pasoan Jim Ward contributed to the rebirth of Morakestra via production and recording of the bands latest album, Witness to Connection, released June 2nd on indie label Stratking Records. A musical legend in El Paso, Ward founded post-hardcore innovators At the Drive-In, rock quintet Sparta and alt-country act Sleepercar. Witness to Connection is the first for Ward's new producing partnership with jack-of-all-trades musician and sound engineer Gabe Gonzalez, who is getting greater acclaim for his production work with bands like San Antonio's Girl in a Coma.
The twins took guitar lessons as children from local guitar legends Mario Otero and Charles Teitsworth, who pushed the boys towards honing original compositions into solid tunes. In early 2007, the Moras began recording their debut album Live from Moraq in Austin. An acclaimed line-up of session musicians contributed to the project, including Robert Palmer drummer Donnie Wynn, Eric Johnson's bass player Chris Maresh and the Tosca String Quartet. The brothers did all the guitar work and vocals themselves, also producing it on their own. Live from Moraq was released in Summer 2007,while the brothers continued to assemble an ever-revolving cast of musicians around them for live gigs. Word of mouth built up about "the twins who were dueling guitar players." Success with recording Morakestra's, Witness to Connection, was Gonzalez and Ward's expertise. "The guidance we gave them I dont think I can put into words ...that’s the intimate part of making a record with someone," says Ward. "I've had that experience as an artist with producers that I look up to. It's so much more than just music; you end up spending so much time together in close confines that it extends to a personal life. I want to leave younger bands with a more positive experience, be a positive role model "it's fun to be around that energy, that push of, "I'll do anything to get my music heard thing, because that inspires."
For while the subject matter of their songs is universal, the Morakestra sound is very much their own. Ward felt a felt a greater connection to the Moras' music beyond the city kinship. " They have interesting chords, which I like, and even though their voices are similar they're distinct enough to complement each other really well," he explains. Witness to Connection displays interesting guitar signatures, thunderous drums, and effective melodies. Drummer Daniel Gomez and Bassist Guillermo Vargas joined the Morakestra in post-production. They have played together in bands in the past and have a similar connection with the twins in time signature and musical structuring.