Posts Tagged ‘mewithoutyou’

My Favorite Albums of 2012

Posted: January 10, 2013 by Kevin Collier in List
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

It’s a new year again and that means tons of great (and not so great) music, new albums, new bands, new concerts to enjoy. But before we go forward unto 2013, let’s take a quick look back at my favorite albums of last year. I can’t believe this is the third time I am doing this, but here goes. (Click to see 2010 and 2011.) Kevin Collier and The Stereo Lounge.com proudly present:

My Favorite Albums of 2012

7. El Javi Trio - Self Portrait

El Javi Trio - Self Portrait

Yes, that’s right, I’m starting my list with an instrumental EP. To read my detailed thoughts on the band, check out my review of their concert earlier this year. This is a great, albeit short collection of instrumental songs featuring drums, bass and Flamenco guitar, fusing classical and rock effortlessly. Though it’s a great album and currently less than $6 on iTunes (seriously, buy it), this is a band best seen live. Be sure to check them out on Facebook because they may be coming to a town near you in 2013 and you don’t want to miss out. They may play their take on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which you won’t find on their album.

6. Showbread - Cancer

Showbread - Cancer

Though their album Who Can Know It? made it onto my list last year, technically it came out in late 2010. So here we are again with their newest offering, Cancer. Much like their dual albums in 2008, Anorexia and Nervosa, this album tells a story and is named after a malady. Cancer sucks, I think we can all agree on that. I have lost friends and family to cancer and I know several people who are currently dealing with it. On the album, which was crowdfunded via Kickstarter, the story is told of Planet Cancer, an allegory to life on Earth and amidst themes of despair, the story offers hope of an escape from Planet Cancer. Again, I only began listening to Showbread with their last album, Who Can Know It?, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but it appears that album was a divisive one. A friend of mine who has followed Showbread for years hated WCKI? and he loved Cancer, so go figure. Check it out. Once again, just like WCKI? the album is available as a free download (or with a donation if you’re feeling generous) at Come and Live!

5. Muse - The 2nd Law

Muse - The 2nd Law

I have been a Muse fan for several years now and I still rank their sold-out Staples Center concert as the best overall concert I have been to and I have been to many concerts. As I like to focus more on independent bands and artists here on The Stereo Lounge, it would be easy for me to slip into calling Muse or any other band that was once great, yet not popular, well, a bunch of sell outs. It would be easy to say something flippant like, “They haven’t put out a decent album since Black Holes and Revelations” or “I can’t believe they went dub step on ‘Madness’ and don’t even get me started on ‘Survivor’ being featured as the 2012 Olympic theme song…” But I won’t be the one doing that. I am sure there are plenty of those people out there and they are entitled to their opinions. I will say that I really haven’t enjoyed their last two albums, this and 2009′s The Resistance as much as those that came before, mostly because in my opinion, Black Holes and Absolution were so hard to top. I mean they could have stopped there and had a great run; called it a career. I for one am happy they didn’t and though I freely admit to not liking the last two albums as much, that in no way, shape or form means I didn’t like them at all. Quite the opposite. I always look forward to new Muse and the same held true here. They are playing Staples Center again this month and I won’t be attending, but I will be hard pressed to find a concert to top their last Staples appearance, which I was privileged to attend. I hope I get the chance to see them live again because it is unforgettable. They are phenomenal live. So yes, The 2nd Law is poppier and more commercial than ever, but I don’t care. I’m the guy who calls himself a Silverchair fan and also really likes Young Modern, okay?

4. mewithoutYou - Ten Stories

mewithoutYou - Ten Stories

Another band I saw this year and also wrote about here on The Stereo Lounge.com, mewithoutYou is very hard to describe to the uninitiated, but I love their style. They have to be one of the most creative bands out there when it comes to using complex allegories to explain simple truths and telling elaborate stories. This whole album is a concept album, essentially, and I would be lying if I said I understood all its various themes, references and nuances, but the thing is, you don’t need to. The album is yet another amazing release from an incredible band and again is a band I would highly recommended seeing live as soon as possible. I have this album on vinyl, but luckily it came with a digital copy as well, because I want to take this baby with me wherever I go and my turntable is not exactly portable.

3. Imagine Dragons - Continued Silence EP

Imagine Dragons - Continued Silence EP

Though they released their full length album, Night Visions, this year, some of the tracks on the album were repeated on their earlier EP, Continued Silence and in my opinion, while I enjoy the new tracks included on the album, the EP is a more complete and perfectly planned release, with not a single song on it I don’t like. 2012 was a huge year for Imagine Dragons and expect to continue hearing about them in 2o13, whether you like it or not. But like it you probably do, because the highest viewed post on my blog was my review of  the Continued Silence EP.

2. Bad Books - II

Bad Books - II

The moment I typed the words Bad Books on the page, the almost sickeningly catchy single “Forest Whitaker” pops into my head and refuses to leave. It can stay as long as it wants, because if there is one band I don’t mind getting massive amounts of radio play, it’s indie rock supergroup, Bad Books. I meant to write a review of their concert back in October, but my mind was literally blown a la Tenacious D’s ”Pick of Destiny” and as you can see, I haven’t written anything in the blog since before that concert occurred. Here’s a quick rundown. It was great. The openers were Harrison Hudson (cool dude, check him out too), The Drowning Men (Awesome), and what’s not to like about Kevin Devine and members of Manchester Orchestra having fun on stage? It’s not like I had any unused video footage (it was at the Troubadour, which frowns upon that stuff.) Just buy the album. You will not regret it. End of rant. (Now listen to “Forest Whitaker” and try not to get it stuck in your head for the next 3 weeks.

1. Fun. - Some Nights

Fun. - Some Nights

For me, this was an easy choice. No band had a bigger year or deserved it more. I began 2012 with my review of Some Nights, and I had no idea how big it was going to get. I don’t have a single bad thing to say about this album and most of the good things are already contained in my review. This album not only got a lot of radio play, but it was covered on Glee and was constantly featured on my iPod. If you have only heard the singles, however, I would encourage you to listen to the whole album. There are some great songs on there, including “One Foot” and “It Gets Better” that haven’t really made it into the mainstream media yet.

So there you have it, my favorite albums of 2012. Below you will find a few albums that may have made my cut, but I simply did not take the time to listen to them enough to reasonably include them on my list, but you should totally check them out anyway. Happy New Year from The Stereo Lounge.com!

Honorable mentions: Mumford & Sons – Babel, Smile Empty Soul – 3′s, The Early November - In Currents

Related articles

Four Word Letter, Pt. 1: mewithoutYou and Kevine Devine at The Glass House

Posted: August 28, 2012 by Kevin Collier in Concert
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1

(Photo Credit: Ely Brothers)

It wasn’t February, 1878 or January, 1979. It was July, 2012 on the twenty-eighth day at The Glass House in Pomona, CA. I, who calls himself a Kevin Devine fan and a mewithoutYou fan was seeing both for the first time. I was very excited. This was the third show for me at the Glass House within the span of a week and I now live about 2 hours, give or take traffic, from the venue. Buried Beds was the opener and I was unfamiliar with their music. Still, I was looking forward to hearing them and experiencing new music. My friend and I ended up underestimating the time and missing Buried Beds’ set altogether (cue sad face.)

Though only two acts remained, to be fair, they were Kevin Devine and mewithoutYou, so it would definitely be worth it. We shuffled in and Kevin Devine took the stage. Though there were certainly a vocal few around me who knew his music, I got the sense the rest of the crowd was either very respectful or had no idea who he was. Early on, he launched into “A Story, A Sneak.” Here is video evidence:

Yes, you’ll hear the aforementioned “vocal few” in the video. These guys were fans, but they were annoying and probably high and almost ruined it for the rest of us. But nothing could ruin it for me. I was finally seeing Kevin Devine live. I get to see him again because I bought a ticket to see Bad Books at the Troubadour in October. He put on a great performance. There is something to be said about a great stripped down set with just a voice and a guitar and I’d be hard pressed to find a better lyricist and performer with this much passion in a solo show. Sure, I would place City and Colour higher on my list of favorites than this one, but mostly because KD’s set was shorter and he was not headlining. Speaking of thought-provoking lyrics, here is one of the best examples from his repertoire, “Another Bag of Bones.”

Then, just because he knew I missed out on Buried Beds, Kevin brought up Eliza Jones of Buried Beds to duet a song called “Cupid.” It was cutesy, but more in a Walk Hard “Let’s Duet” way than a Walk The Line “Hey, wait a minute, Reese Witherspoon sounds better than June Carter” kind of way. Take a listen:

Eliza would later make an appearance on keyboards with mewithoutYou. Kevin Devine played a few newer songs and a few older songs. He did not play “Me and My Friends” which the guy in front of me loudly suggested, but he did play “Enter Sandman” by freaking Metallica. Yes, it was a joke, but it was also kind of awesome because it was so unexpected. After that, he played “All of Everything Erased”, which you can see here. As you’ll see, he got really into the song, which was cool to see live.

He also played “Cotton Crush”, which I did not record because if you like him, you should really go see him in concert and I like to enjoy the concert myself and not watch through a tiny screen the whole time. It was a short set, but it was fantastic. After the show, I got to talk to him for a few minutes at the Merch table. He was really down to earth, nice and actually took the time to talk to me and listen to what I had to say. If by any chance you read this: Thanks, Kevin Devine and keep making great, thought-provoking, intelligent music. Oh, here’s him saying hi:

Next came the main event: mewithoutYou. Their set was like a rollercoaster. Start to finish, energy, passion and delight upon the faces of the individuals in the crowd. I didn’t get a lot of footage of their set, because it really has to be experienced wholly, without video or cell phones clouding the experience. I did let my friend film a little bit and he did his best, okay? Here’s his version of filming a song two songs:

Though I didn’t film much of their set, I did get “The Angel of Death Came to David’s Room” because it’s one of my favorite songs from them, especially lyrically. It’s a bit simplistic and Biblically based, but quite simply the message is we’re all going to die someday, so live your life. Here’s the footage I got. Enjoy!

After the show, I bought Buried Beds’ Tremble The Sails on vinyl and have since listened to it. They’re awesome. I will definitely have to catch them some other time. As I closed out my week/month of Glass House concerts, I felt equal parts excited, accomplished and tired. It took me so long to recover, that I’m just now posting this about a month later. That or, I don’t know, laziness or something. I hope you enjoyed and will check out these bands if you haven’t and find out when they’ll be in a town/city/state near you and experience if for yourself. (Still wish I could have seen mewithoutYou back when they opened for Brand New and Thrice. Oh well. Hindsight’s 20/20.)

Related articles

My Concert Calendar: July 2012

Posted: June 26, 2012 by Kevin Collier in Concert, List
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2
Ben Jorgensen, Nash Breen and PJ DeCicco perfo...

Ben Jorgensen, Nash Breen and PJ DeCicco perform live for Armor For Sleep (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kevin here. Just thought I would give you guys a quick rundown of the concerts I plan to attend in July. Here goes:

Wednesday, July 11th – KROQ Locals Only Presents Robert DeLong w/ Tapioca and the Flea, Incan Abraham – Troubadour

Friday, July 20th - Armor For Sleep (Farewell Show) w/ I, The Mighty, PebaLuna – The Glass House

Monday, July 23rd – Emery w/ My Children My Bride, To Speak of Wolves, Eighth City Takeover, Vale of Avalon – The Glass House

Saturday, July 28th – mewithoutYou w/ Kevin Devine, Buried Beds – The Glass House

(All links lead to Ticketfly for ticket purchasing.)

If you’re in Southern California or even just visiting, you should come to a show and join me! Here’s to a month of awesome concerts!

Related articles

‘Tis The Season…

Posted: December 7, 2011 by Kevin Collier in List
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Well folks, it’s December and you know what that means…while many are celebrating Hanukkah (Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay…) and some Kwanzaa, and let’s face it, Festivus (for the rest of us), around this time it’s Christmas music that permeates the airwaves. Department stores, Starbucks and just about anywhere that regularly plays radio is going to have at least a few of these songs during the season. So, in the spirit of Christmas, I’m going to share what I’m listening to this time of year.

First, This Good Night is Still Everywhere by Dustin Kensrue

This may come as no surprise to anyone who knows my taste in music, but for those unfamiliar, Dustin Kensrue is the lead singer of the band Thrice. He has done solo tours sporadically over the past few years and I am excited to see him live again headlining the Where’s The Band? Tour throughout January and February. I already bought my tickets for the House of Blues San Diego show on February 4th, 2012. But let’s talk about about the album itself, here’s the track listing:

1. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

2. Christmas Blues

3. Blue Christmas

4. Fairytale of New York

5. This Good Night is Still Everywhere

6. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

7. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

8. God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

9. O Holy Night

10. This is War

11. A Stick, a Carrot & a String

12. O Come, All Ye Faithful

All songs are acoustic and there is a fair amount of harmonica in there, too. While there are many Christmas favorites on the album, a few songs really make this stand out from the pack for me. First, there’s the original song This is War, which, lyrically resonates with me as a Christian who chooses to celebrate the birth of Christ on this holiday. That’s what the song is about and more. There is a great music video to go with the song, that can be found here. Another highlight, for me is Dustin’s cover of MeWithoutYou’s A Stick, a Carrot & String. I’m a big fan of MeWithoutYou and their musical style is unique. While this is an unexpected cover for Dustin, he’s not a stranger to covers and always works a few of them into his live shows, including a cover of Radiohead’s Creep, Sinnead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares to You and countless songs by Elvis Costello. His version stays true to the style of the original while still maintaining his signature sound. Interestingly, I don’t think I really realized how much of a Christmas song it was until I heard Dustin include it on this album. This Good Night… was originally released for Christmas 2008 and was re-released last year under Vagrant Records, Thrice’s current label. You can find it on iTunes, Amazon and other online stores.

So, what else do I like this season? Why it’s A Very She & Him Christmas. To be honest I don’t have too much to say about it, but Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have been a very good combo since She & Him: Volume 1 in my opinion. I’ve always been a fan of Zooey as an actress and yes, I do watch New Girl every week. If you’re a fan of her and or her singing, you will enjoy this. If you don’t like old school vibes and are only into very modern pop music…then what are you doing reading this blog? Just kidding. This album is exactly what it advertises, Zooey and M. Ward singing Christmas songs with their sappy, happy, old school style. If that’s what you’re into, then I recommend it this season. You can pick it up anywhere you buy music, your local Starbucks, or on iTunes.

And finally, if you’re looking for something a little different, let’s say a bit darker or harder…check out This Time of Year by Project 86, it has a real A Nightmare Before Christmas vibe to it. So if you’re not into Justin Beiber singing about mistletoe or you’re tired of your 7,000 Manheim Steamroller Christmas albums, put the old Alvin and the Chipmunks records in storage and shell out the measly $4.95 to experience This Time of Year on  iTunes.

I can’t promise I’ll be posting a lot as we get closer to Christmas, but I’m excited to once again bring you My Favorite Albums come January 1st. So, if nothing else, stay tuned for My Favorite Albums of 2011!

Song of the Day 11.16.2011

Posted: November 16, 2011 by Kevin Collier in Music Video
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

Like Nirvana? Like mewithoutyou? How about mewithoutyou covering Nirvana’s In Bloom? Interested? Check it and as always, enjoy!