Pittsburgh friends and future professors of your children, John (left) and MattI received an email last night from my Pittsburgh friends Matt and Danielle breaking down their top ten lists for the year that was 2006. Some of them were pretty interesting, and it's always great to see what comes out of the mind of a PhD candidate who loves Mad Dog 40/40. Here's some of what they came up with for your own curiosity and mine:
Concerts
Honorable Mention. Henry Rollins Spoken Word
5. The Slip- Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
4. Built to Spill
3. Frank Black; Henry Rollins Spoken Word
2. They Might Be Giants; Frank Black
1. Apollo Sunshine- Pittsburgh; They Might Be Giants
One of the benefits of receiving these sorts of lists from friends is that it gives you the opportunity to find some artists you previously had not been introduced to. That sounds almost funny coming from a quote unquote "music blogger", but there are a lot of great new artists out there that slip under the Veritas Lux Mea radar now and then. And since I had never heard of The Slip before this email, I decided to check them out.
Featured Artist: The Slip
Their website explains that "Contemporary avant-rock trio The SLIP formed when bassist Marc Friedman and brothers Andrew and Brad Barr (drums and guitar/vox, respectively) moved to Boston together after graduating from high school, where they had met and first began playing music as a group.
In 1996, the trio of recent Berklee dropouts put out their first studio album as a self-release and began establishing a dedicated fan-base through relentless touring in and around the northeast. A late-nineties blend of extended roots pop compositions and experimental rhythmic approaches, the band developed and found their sound through an extremely supportive local scene of artists, musicians, and actors - coupled with a rigorous, and soon national, tour schedule. An eclectic new brand of exploratory roots psych-rock emerged; Van Morrison meets Coltrane meets Talking Heads." [READ MORE]
The Slip - "Headshot"
The Slip - "Ashland"
The Slip - "Poor Boy"
The Slip - "Seventy-Four"
Albums
5. Sam Champion- Slow Rewind TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
4. Built to Spill- You in Reverse The Raconteurs- Broken Boy Soldiers
3. Apollo Sunshine- Apollo Sunshine Built to Spill- You in Reverse
2. The Decemberists- The Crane Wife The Decemberists- The Crane Wife
1. TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain Apollo Sunshine- Apollo Sunshine
Again here, Sam Champion and Apollo Sunshine are new to me, so I decided to delve into discovering who they were, especially since Apollo Sunshine landed a share of the No. 1 spot with TV on the Radio.
Featured Artist: Sam Champion
Sam Champion is a four-piece rock band from New York that makes smart pop songs and wooly rock epics. Their live experience is a dexterous call back to shirtless festival crowds and the innocent grunge workouts of yesteryear. Redefine Magazine says "Sam Champion is a band thats not to be ignored."
Stream Sam Champion at Myspace
Featured Artist: Apollo Sunshine
According to the band's website,
Since the release of their 2003 spinART debut album, Katonah, Apollo Sunshine has thrilled audiences. Their unique and eclectic sound - from avant-garde noise experiment to ultra-melodic pop, to rock, to punk (sometimes all within one song), combined with quite possibly one of the best live shows you will ever see (a controlled rock chaos of pedal steel, guitar, bass, double necked guitar/bass combo, two handtaped-together keyboards/samplers, percussion, drums and how the hell does he play bass with his left hand, keyboard with his right and sing lead vocal?!), have left audiences screaming, dedicated, breathless and unable to hold still!
The New York Times says "...in its own songs, bouncy 60's-style melodies crack wide open, breaking into outbursts of pummeling and feedback before jumping back into the tune. It's all neatly and cleverly plotted, but with a looming chaos that's anything but nostalgic."
Their debut release and live shows garnered incredible reviews nationally. Apollo Sunshine were named one of "THE bands to watch" in 2004 by Alternative Press magazine, voted "Best New Band" by the readers of the Boston Phoenix. The Boston Herald placed them #3 on the top 5 Things To Change The Face Of Boston Arts and Entertainment in 2004 (#4 was the Democratic National Convention). The New York Post called it, "Electronically twisted power pop," and Real Detroit Weekly said, "A wild bonanza of colorful rock candy."
...Hailing originally from Boston, MA, Apollo Sunshine formed as a trio while Jesse Gallagher, Sam Cohen and Jeremy Black were attending Berklee College of Music. After their recent string of successful shows opening for the likes of Sonic Youth, Built to Spill, The Walkmen, The Roots, The Decemberist, and My Morning Jacket, the band added guitarist Sean Aylward. With one more guitarist, Apollo Sunshine are able to further augment their already unique approach to pop music making them even more dynamic on stage - switching instruments, singing 3-part harmonies, and recreating the complex arrangements that were so carefully crafted on their debut album, Katonah...[READ MORE]
Apollo Sunshine
Live at Lupo's on the Strand, Providence, Rhode Island, 2005
Apollo Sunshine - "Magnolia"
Apollo Sunshine - "Flip"
Apollo Sunshine - "Ghost"
Apollo Sunshine - "I Was On the Moon"
Apollo Sunshine - "Today is the Day"
Apollo Sunshine - "Phyliss"
Apollo Sunshine - "Lord"
Apollo Sunshine - "Phoney Maroney" (live in Andover, MA)
Apollo Sunshine website