CityBeat's Local Music Issue Annotated with Websites and MP3s!
San Diego CityBeat came out with their exhaustive and excellent local music issue today. It's full of interesting articles about local bands and local music, and it is all available on their website. Besides the great demo review project they put together, there are some more interesting musings about music in San Diego. These include:
-Obervations and predictions for '06. My favorite is "In an attempt to take disinterested hipster cred to new levels, someone will drag the Casbah's Pac Man game into the main room during a sold-out show and play for the entire set without once looking up."
-13 Local bands being asked how they came up with their name. Holiday & The Adventure Pop Collective was "Inspired by titles like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the band put together a batch of words that gave the feeling of escape."
And then of course there is the reviews of demo tapes the magazine received. There is a Best Of section, but that is not nearly as entertaining as the Rest Of section. After sifting through not nearly as many entries for the NH5D soundtrack project, I can definitely relate to wanting to accurately and viciously describe how bad a song is. I just didn't have the balls to put statements out there in the fashion that the CityBeat did. I mean what if at some point in time through some horrible twist of fate I actually met the person about whom I wrote:
The cheese and schmaltz remained funny until my own penis actually receded into my body. Wait. Hold on... yep, I'm a girl now. Thanks, Andy!
Or
This album came with a note announcing that, "If you've ever heard of the Beatles you will like this CD." Well I've never heard of these Beatles guys, but if they sound anything like Weckel, then the only people who are going to like them are coffeehouse art-fags who dig bad David Bowie impressions. The aural equivalent to spilling a grande brew-of-the-day in your crotch.
That second one Definitely makes me want to hear the album, but I can't find any info on the artist, Will Weckel. Below are a few more artists on the "Rest Of" list that sounded intriguing to me, along with CityBeat review excerpts and attempts to track down their music to sample.
Blame - Priest Thief & Wizard :
"Blame, on the other hand, has this shit down. The rhymes are unique, the flow is tight, the beats are funky. Give this kid the deed, because he owns you. "
MP3s available at his myspace page
Cape May - Under Arrest EP :
"Obvious standout is âThis City Rolls,â a fist-pumper thatâs as worthy of FM radio as any song I can imagine." They got that right, this song kicks ass.
MP3: This City Rolls
Cosmo Speedway - Exoskeleton/Traveling Bloodcells :
"Both these discs are great if you like artists like Badly Drawn Boy and more experimental Bright Eyes."
MP3: 35 Cent ID & When Sea Creatures...
The Essentials :
"Rockabilly drums and guitar. Aggressive melodic drive interspersed with syncopation. An even tenor with a sexy drawl." Dammit. This one sounds good and it's the first one that I can't find any info on...Except for some band in Oregon that can't possibly be the same band. Anybody with any leads?
Fully Operational X Japan - Fully Operational X Japan :
"Built to Spill-meets-Weezer vibe"
MP3: You Emasculate Me & Jesus Would Be Ashamed of You People
Inkblot :
"vaguely Isaac Brock/Jeff Tweedy-ish and very good." No dice on a webpage here either.
Jonathan Paulo :
"chorus harmonies that evoke The Byrds, Brian Wilson, even Ryan Adams. Pauloâs voice can strike a satisfying balance between blurred diction and stark imagery, with potential to burn."
MP3: Take It All & Call Me Up
Robin Henkel - Bad Bongos :
"Somewhere between jazz and blues, Robin Henkelâs latest shows why heâs such a revered local figure in both the local blues and acoustic scenes." This guy definitely sounds awesome and looks the part to boot.
MP3: Tonopah
The Red States :
"These fellasâ X-rated take on country is certainly entertaining. âJesus Tossed My Sausageâ isnât as dirty as it sounds, but âLookinâ For a Holeâ certainly is." These are definitely as good as you would hope.
MP3: Jesus Tossed My Sausage & Lookin' For A Hole
Old Man Hands - Under The Weight Of Night⦠:
"With a voice as soothing as early Neil Young and a songwriting approach that rivals Bright Eyes or Sufjan Stevens...This is the best of the bunch" This is actualy from the Best Of section.
MP3s available at the myspace page.
Bands written about in the article that were previously mentioned on this blog include Your Favorite Band and The Wagon
Thanks a whole bunch to CityBeat for putting this issue out and giving voice to artists that we'd likely not have discovered otherwise. If it's not too much to ask, could you maybe post some of the MP3s of the artists that don't have websites of their own? I imagine I'm not the only one dying to hear what Will Weckel, among others, sounds like.
