Sunday, April 22, 2007

MML: Where Are They Now?















The two people who run MML have been separated by an ocean for far too long. We have been dealing with a mountain of paperwork, The Department of Homeland Security and an assortment of additional hick-ups but now have some good news to report. Michelle finally has her Visa and will be moving to the States at the end of this week... I couldn't be happier. You must excuse our absence as we get settled and ready to kick your doors in with new music. We appreciate your patience. For now, we will present you with 3 songs from the 80s you are sure to remember.... Have fun with these treats and see you very soon. ~ Casey

MP3: Anne Clark - Wallies
MP3: Cabaret Voltaire - Sensoria
MP3: Book Of Love - Boy

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Le Man Avec Les Lunettes













How about an experimental Italian band with a French name that sings in english... anyone? Yes indeed, here we go with a wonderful indie pop song that sent me happily out of my chair within the first few seconds. This doesn't happen often but, ohh when it does, you can rest assured we will feature it on MML. The initial chaotic electronica quickly forms into subtle vocal harmony acompanied by the organic musical mixtures I was fortunate enough to stumble across. Le Man Avec Les Lunettes is the duo of Alessandro Paderno (vocals, eastwood guitar, microkorg, acoustic guitar, diamonica) and Fabio Benni (vocals, gem imperial organ, omichord, glockenspiel, theremin, tape echoes machine) from Brescia, Italy who have been making music together since 2004. The song featured today is actually from a very recent compilation/theme album titled Let It Bee... This release includes a total of 20 artists with songs about bee related subject matter (like honey) and is available if you visit the band's label My Honey Records (My Honey MySpace.) For more on this international duo and their brand new CD simply titled "?", you will need to stop by the Le Man Avec Les Lunettes website. Also be sure to send a compulsory "friend request" while listening to more new tracks on the Le Man Avec Les Lunettes MySpace page. I hope you are listening to this Italian indie pop. High recommendations from MML are in order this time.

MP3: Could I Call You Honey

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

MML: Update From Sweden

It's been a while since we visited one of our favorite locations for music, so today we return to Sweden for three of our favorite artists featured previously on MML. To start things off, SE/UK musician Gustaf Kjellvander is back with his music project The Fine Arts Showcase. The upcoming May release will be a Rough Bunnies tribute record and today's featured single is one of the cover songs from it. Believe it or not, the entire thing was recorded in 3 days. Next up is another song we neglected to feature last time from DIY bedroom artist Christoffer aka Henry Morgans Solokarriär. He only started recording this music last September and has a very good demo to share as a result. Finally, duo Fredrik and Ola, who make up The Lovekevins, have a brand new debut album in Vs. The Snow which is currently available. The featured track, Tamagotchi freestyle, is a good example of the infectious retro-pop you can expect from this new release. The links you will find below include our previous review as well as the artists myspace page and official websites. All of these are good sources to find more music and are well worth your time to investigate.

The Fine Arts Showcase - Dance With Your Shadow




























Location: Malmö, Sweden / London, UK

[Original MML Feature - July 26, 2006]
The Fine Arts Showcase MySpace Page
The Fine Arts Showcase Website

MP3: Dance With Your Shadow

Henry Morgans Solokarriär - Keeping Me Warm

























Location: Uppsala, Sweden

[Original MML Feature - Feburary 5, 2007]
Henry Morgans Solokarriär MySpace Page
Henry Morgans Solokarriär Website

MP3: Keeping Me Warm

The Lovekevins - Tamagotchi Freestyle
















Location: Malmö, Sweden


[Original MML Feature - November 29,2006]
The Lovekevins MySpace Page
The Lovekevins Website

MP3: Tamagotchi Freestyle

Saturday, April 14, 2007

MML Sneak Peek: The Cherry Tempo



Early this past August, we featured the amazing song In Hindsight I know from Santa Fe, New Mexico based outfit The Cherry Tempo [original review + download]. Since that time, the band has been working on new material in a different direction. I had the chance to message back and forth briefly with guitarist Dave Jordan and was happily surprised with a couple of unmastered tracks that are a work in progress. These songs will be a part of the upcoming 2007 June Records full length release titled Capital! Capital! We are definitely looking forward to giving this a full review upon release. Check out the links listed below for more information.

The Cherry Tempo Myspace
The Cherry Tempo Website
June Records

Please note: these mp3 files are low audio quality (64kbps so you will need to crank the laptop speakers)
MP3: Specialized Ground Control
MP3: Electrickery

From the debut self titled 2006 album. (audio quality: verrrry good)
MP3: In Hindsight I know

Shhhh!... this last song actually made it's way onto episode 15 of MTVs The Real World (Denver) but don't hold it against them.

Friday, April 13, 2007

MML New Music Flash: The Sky Drops















MML just received word last evening, via MySpace, that one of our favorite previously featured artists have a pair of brand new songs to share. At the end of last May, we featured The Sky Drops [original review + download] and have been adoring their specific brand of guitar rock ever since. Now that I listen to these new tracks, it becomes clear that an evolution beyond the band's initial shoegaze-heavy focus was a step forward in the right direction. The vocals are now more pronounced, while not interfering with the lovely, well measured guitar centerpiece we are all too familiar with. You'll want to take some time in listening to the music available here on MML today. I can assure you... plenty of well deserved attention is on the way for this band.

























In case you are just now finding out about them, The Sky Drops are a Wilmington, Delaware duo consisting of Rob Montejo (guitar, vocals) and Monika Bullette (drums, vocals). We also featured the excellent solo work of Monika Bullette in August of 2006 [original review + download]... The brand new music featured today is also available on The Sky Drops Website. For more info and an enormous list of upcoming tour dates, visit them there. Also check out the additional links below. These new songs get ridiculously high recommendations from both Michelle and myself. Take a listen to both of the following.

MP3: Million
MP3: Sentimental

The Sky Drops Website
The Sky Drops MySpace
Bullette Website
Bullette MySpace

Thursday, April 12, 2007

MML: More Love From The West Coast

I hardly spend enough time searching for and featuring music from the west coast these days. It's gotten to the point where there was even a suggestion made that we rename our blog Brooklyn, Sweden. Nice one but no thank you. Since we finally made it back out to Portland, Oregon with our last post, we figured it would be a good idea to stick around a bit longer. For our first submission, The Olive League, we actually get to stay in PDX for a dose good lo-fi rock. From there, we travel (musically speaking) south down the coast to San,Francisco, California for Bellavista, another good shoegaze-infused rock band some of you are probably more familiar with. In any case, I have been listening to both of these artists recently and wanted to share the love. I hope you enjoy.


The Olive League






















The Olive League is a musical duo consisting of multi-instrumentalists Matthew Murphy and Elizabeth Sarp of Portland, Oregon. They have been creating music together as TOL since 2004 when they met while residing in Austin, Texas. What impresses me most about this band is that they do not attempt to mask that they are only a two piece with what could otherwise be an infinite (and unfortunate) number of sound layers. Instead, what you get is a raw, less than polished invitation into their home studio recordings. Both of today's featured songs belong to the upcoming self released full length CD titled Vagrants. You will be able to get your hands on a copy this June to coincide with the band's limited tour kicking off June 13 at local arcade/music venue Ground Kontrol. For more information, visit the The Olive League Myspace as well as another link below to view the artwork of Elizabeth Sarp. All good stuff to investigate.

The Olive League Myspace Page
Art by Elizabeth Sarp

MP3: Island To City
Bonus MP3: Our Demon Authors Rendered


Bellavista
















Assuming the number of friends on any given myspace music profile is a semi-accurate indication of popularity, quite a few of you will have at least heard of this San Francisco outfit. Formerly known as Vue, re-formed members Rex Shelverton (guitar, vocals), Jeremy Bringetto (bass) and Cary LaScala (drums) are back with a droning reverb-a-billy classic in Temptation By Your Side, which is the first of today's featured tracks. The second song Put It On, although more subdued, might give you an equal idea of what you can expect within the complete body of music from this band. Both of these songs will be a part of the forthcoming self titled LP which should be available through Take Root Records soon after the CD release party April 25th @ local venue The Rickshaw Stop. Check the links below for more details. Thanks once again to my cat Robbie over at Musebox Marketing for the heads up on this one.

Bellavista Myspace Page
Bellavista Website
Take Root Records

MP3: Temptation By Your Side
Bonus MP3: Put It On

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Saturna













The last time we focused our sights on PDX (Portland) this past July, there were plenty of bands to take in. One of our favorites from that virtual visit was local dream rock quartet Saturna [original review + download]. The song featured then was part of the band's debut six song EP ...All Night, which is currently available on CD Baby. Since last year, a full length follow up has been in the works and is now set for release. It includes some of the songs from the above mentioned EP and was a big treat over the weekend. It's not often an artist will give complete untethered online access to their unreleased material, but Saturna was kind enough to do so for us. Besides the original track posted, there is another new song on our MML MySpace page to check out. The tracks featured here are also highlights and either could be a serious contender when we sort through our rock-based favorites for end of year honorable mention. The first song, Periwinkle, almost has a Ticket to Ride feel along with what I can only explain as a beefed up guitar version of a song off the record Big Shot Chronicles from delicate 80s garage classic Game Theory. Chasing the Unpredictable starts in true Ride fashion and brings out a nice and heavy sparkling guitar delivery at around the 1:00 mark. Be sure to stick around for it. This is a solid release with not one weak track in the mix and gets high recommendations from both Michelle and myself here at MML.













Saturna is a Portland, Oregon based four piece rock outfit consisting of musicians Ryan Carroll (vocals, guitar, bass), Steve Anderson (vocals, guitar, bass), Eric Block (guitar) and Matt Badger (percussion). The upcoming full length album titled Some Delicious Enemy will be self released next month on May 29th. For more information and streaming music visit the Saturna MySpace page. There are also downloadable tracks as well as details of where to buy this music on the well-designed Saturna website. Lookout folks... The band just finished up their first SXSW performance last month and you will probably be hearing much more about them very soon if my buzz-o-meter is gauged correctly. Great new stuff from PDX.

MP3s: Periwinkle
Chasing The Unpredictable
Extra Special Bonus MP3: Fall

Saturday, April 07, 2007

So you want to blog music?

I probably could have taken up any hobby, craft or crime spree to make life worthwhile... so why create a music blog? The answer is quite simple but will take a few moments to explain. Growing up with music largely controlled by radio was not so bad at all. Up until the mid to late 80's you could still hear artists not usually pumped into shopping malls and tanning beds if you tuned in at the right time. To be honest, I really have no idea how or why it all changed. I could easily blame MTV or some random entertainment monopoly like Clear Channel but I never paid enough attention to either of them to give a sharp left hook in this article. Should we blame Nirvana, Green Day or Smashing Pumpkins for allowing themselves to arrive at the ridiculous? I'm not sure. Something happened during the early 90's that changed everything and I can't put my finger on it. Can you?













The original Satan?

Anyway, since the advent of the internets (largely for the purpose of pornography...thanks Mr. Gore you fucking clown) there is a new, and sometimes irresponsible,outlet for finding new music that most people would have no access to otherwise. From your everyday local garage rock band to an experimental audio project, artists from around the world can now be found and, more importantly, heard. All you have to do is look beyond the crumbling establishment that is, for now, the mainstream media. It's actually kind of nice to see this long festering blister collapse and dry up into a scab after all of those years of Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie developed into an assortment of lip-sync boy bands, TMZ tots and political opportunist country bumpkin babes. Simply stated... If you despise American Idol and what led up to this sheep like state of foot-on-neck media we are left with, you might want to consider blogging your own music.













American activists in action.


If you would like to take part in what many bored music fans like myself do on a semi-regular basis, the following hints might make things a bit easier for you. Anyone can start a music blog and I think taking some of the mystery out of it is well worth the sacrifice. If you look to the right column of this page there are several other music weblogs that do things the right way. They are not just displayed for decorative purpose or to make it seem as though we have friends in high places. We hardly know any of them but have serious respect for the content they present. You too can develop a good blog with the following basic tools. Let's get started!!

MySpace


















This is a given. You absolutely need a MySpace page to blog music. As much as you might hate Rupert Murdoch and having to sort through fake porn profiles (for research), you will need to find music on this free social networking site. Every band under the sun, although sometimes in a joking manner, has a page there. You can remain anonymous and still find music on myspace even if you are disgusted by the thought of it. It's not that bad at all. We still have our Listening Room Group Page of around 5000 MySpacers there to work out some of the bugs/typos before posting here.

Blogger
















Put your blog on blogger.com just to make things easy. You will need to know something about HTML to make it nice but the same code that is needed for MySpace page color, style etc. can be used there. Just copy it from the code you already have. It's fairly simple, free and can be addictive. Plenty of the best bloggers out there still use it.

Sitemeter


















This will record your visitors and give you the web page and location they are visiting from (and what they googled to get there.) You can also check what content they click when on your page. When it works, it is something you will spend most of your time analyzing. Yet another addiction. Oh yes... It's free also.

Music Hosting: Midphase


























Let me first say that we are not a part of any referral based commission program with the above mentioned company. I am only giving you the best plan available for starting a music weblog. You will need to host your own music since most up and coming bands, however happy they are that you noticed them, will not take kindly to having bandwidth from their tiny websites drained. This is the first part of the equation that requires you to make a financial investment. I'd plan on having $100.00 USD available for a year of hosting that cannot possibly be used to the fullest. Besides, they have a phone number you can call to ask ridiculous questions. 24 hour phone support from Chicago... not New Delhi. If you don't have the money to do this, you probably have more pressing issues at hand than starting a music blog.

Music Aggravators














Of course I am joking with the title of this section. Did you notice the little boxes at the bottom of the right of our movable screen? Those are mostly unknown to me since Michelle put them there. I suppose there are a couple I can comment on. First of all, Hype Machine is probably the best place to find out whats going on in and around the music blog scene. When you add those little tags to your blog, every other time you post something, your information will show up for all to see. Elbo.ws is another good little tag to add to your blog for exposure. We show up on both sites often.

Image Hosting and Logo















When you find a picture of the band you would like to post, don't just copy the link into your blog. They call that bandwidth theft and we are as guilty as anyone from our earliest posts. Photobucket is awful and Flickr seems like some bad version of YouTube so I highly recommend Imageshack for hosting. It is simple and free. If you look back at some of our blog entries from the past, you will see plenty of pictures missing. Host them yourself. It takes 2 seconds. Our logo (pictured above) was just a Saturday night photo taken by my then 6 year old daughter. We had gone to the candy store late night and had my camera handy. Abigail took this perfect shot inside my Mazda3 while balancing our camera on the steering wheel and munching her licorice. My little girly clone is good with cameras and this will always be my logo. Now you know.

To finalize this monster of a blog post I will feature random songs from my computer desktop. There might be plenty of pissed off motorhead and other such fans stopping by but who really cares. Hopefully some of them become regulars here. I hope you enjoyed my massive ramble and now have a better idea how to start a music blog. Success only depends on taste and also remember this big ole cliche... "The harder you work, the luckier you get." Now for the random music!!!

Motorhead - I'll Be Your Sister

Bruspi - Yota

The Cramps - Human Fly

James Brown - Superbad

Friday, April 06, 2007

Bad Veins





























This new year is already 4 months into building serious steam and it really is amazing how quickly the days seem to get away from us. Do you have your 2007 favorites list started yet? I only have a few previous artists in the running at this point, and can now honestly say that today's featured musical duo are definitely worth consideration. It was only just this past January when we first discovered local Cincinnati, Ohio based Bad Veins [read original review + download]. Since that short time ago, some well deserved attention from both promotion and label-folk continues to develop. It was really good to hear from new friend Chris Vinyard who provided a brand new track for our listening pleasure. If you would like to check out more from this band, you will first want to visit the Bad Veins website (I still keep wanting to say Bad Brains.) After that, you will probably also feel the need to stop in and check the Bad Veins MySpace page for another listen to this new song and to send a customary friend request. The track Gold & Warm really is brand spanking new and, whether or not you believe it, the band is currently unsigned but shopping labels at present. As mentioned in our January post, Benjamin Davis (guitar/synths/vocals) & Sebastien Schultz (percussion) make up this Queen City duo along with their trusty 1973 Pioneer reel-to-reel audio recorder they affectionately named Irene. I have to say, this is a wonderfully talented local Cincinnati duo I look forward to experiencing in a live performance setting very soon.












MP3: Gold And Warm

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

The Answering Machine














It's a fairly late start to the week since my work and away from computer life has been complete insanity but now the "slow motion-radio-type-thingy" here moves forward with another really good new band from the UK. Sometimes I read before listening to the music, while other times, when the artists are young, it makes more sense to listen before reading. After all, what potential new fan within any given band's age group would want to stomach historical interlude from some blogger my age? I know it sounds as if we are championing a cause for the youth of today... but not a chance, my friend. I mostly despise the bubble gum we have to sift through in order to find something worthwhile to feature on MML. The Answering Machine, however, deserve a good listen and plenty of your time. I was actually kind of surprised to find that the blogosphere paid little attention while a few large music resources gave this band a fair amount of praise. The links below will give you additional information on this up and coming gem of a band.
























The Answering Machine
are an unsigned pop trio from Manchester, UK consisting of members Martin (vocals, guitar), Patrick (guitar, vocals) and Gemma (bass). Where is the percussionist you might ask? You need look no further than the band's pet drum machine Mustaffa Beat (yes they made a MySpace page for it... bravo!) To hear more music, check The Answering Machine MySpace as they do not have a proper website up and running just yet. Unfortunately, the band's debut Oct. 2006 single Oklahoma is temporarily sold out in physical form, but you can still buy the tracks online at tunetribe. The next string of live performance dates in and around London will commence late April. My recommendation would be for the second date at a favorite Camden venue (although I felt quite old there) The Dublin Castle the next day for Club Fandango's regular Tuesday night lineup (CF MySpace) April 24th. Finally, there is a YouTube Video from the band as well...



MP3: The Hold Up

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Erik Voeks - Sandbox (1993)












What can possibly be done when one your favorite artists of the mid 90s is missing in action? Today's featured musician is one of the most elusive out there. Given a scale of 1 to 10 on the Alex Chilton-O-meter this is a definite 9. After an extended sift through some old shoe boxes in my closet, I decided to post this music on the blog to cough up some attention for a long time favorite. I originally found this artist after getting my hands on the first version of the Buy This Used Compact Disk compilation in 1993. For those who own a later copy of that CD, New Radiant Storm King was not the original lead artist. As much as I love NRSK, I am sitting here with the original and American Music Club was track #1 on this disk with the song "I am an Architect". Actually, this might just be a misprinted version I have which would probably make it one of the rarest CDs here in my collection. Now that I google around a bit it seems the lyrics of NRSK match the AMC song listed clearly on my CD?? I am completely confused now. Anyway, upon listening to track 19, I was instantly on a mission. Since the Internet was not an option back then, I ordered the 1993 release Sandbox at a local record shop in Athens, Ohio. Every year or so, I blow the dust off this gem for a marathon of sorts and this time I get a chance to share it with you.















From what little information exists out there, Erik Voeks is originally from Australia. He moved to the states and eventually ended up in St. Louis, Missouri around the time this album was released. It might have been a year after playing this CD constantly that I called a phone number listed on the inlay and left a message for his manager Susie Hopper to ask for updated info. She returned the call but had little info herself. As mentioned above, this album, Sandbox, was released in 1993 and, from that same CD inlay, I will list the musicians who took part in the recording in case anyone has an idea of who they are. Jay Bennett (guitar solo track 7 & 8), Patrick Hawley (drums, Percussion), Nick Rudd (anti-percussion), Steve Scariano (bass), Adam Schmitt (guitar, bass, backing vocals, keyboards) and of course Erik Voeks (vocals, guitar,keyboards) performed on this classic which was released on now defunct Rockville Records, a small arm of the Dutch East India/Homestead label. I could locate no current website or myspace page for Mr. Voeks but did find where he contributed his vocals to the song Look Up by North Carolina based outfit RC Flyer. This is one of the most intelligent and amazing guitar pop records of the 90s... a true classic. Enjoy.



















MP3s:
My Dentist
Finger Painted Cat
Hannah
Oh My Darlin
The Symmetry
Let Go Now
Desiree And I
Compass
Rhymes With Train
Maissie
Unwind