Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (left)
Talk about instant gratification--one of the most anticipated indie-rock releases of the year comes out six days into 2009.

Glasvegas, Glasvegas
Take a little bit of Glasgow, a little bit of Las Vegas, and you come up with a charming indie-rock group from Scotland.

The Gourds, Haymaker!
Alt-country from Austin, TX--you can already taste the barbecue sauce!

Backyard Babies, Backyard Babies
Don't let the name fool you, this hard-rocking band from Sweden open up their album with a song called "Fuck Off And Die."

Erin McCarley, Love, Save The Empty
Destined to have her own iTunes commercial.

By Jim Shearer in SUPER TUESDAY | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (0)

Tags: Animal Collective, Backyard Babies, Erin McCarley, Glasvegas, The Gourds

Every first of the month in 2009, D.I.Y.-feel-good-punk-rockers, The Bouncing Souls, will be releasing a brand new digital download to celebrate their 20th Anniversay as a band.

The year-long subscription is $11.99, and the first track, "Gasoline," is available now through Chunksaah Records (the band's original record label).

By Jim Shearer in NEWS | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

Tags: 20th Anniversary, Bouncing Souls, Chunksaah, Gasoline, One Song a Month

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day many Americans are returning to work from their holiday breaks. 2008 is over and 2009 is on. Blogs will get back to business as normal, and the search for the 10 best albums of the year begins all over again.

So here's my question for the first cerebral day of 2009--with so much promise in the upcoming year and so much to celebrate from the previous one (though it did have its share of crappy moments), why does the start of a new year always suck?

(left: Don't judge a year by how it starts...or finishes.)

Being the king of all letdowns--New Year's Eve that is--I've lowered my expectations and have learned to not expect much during the final hours of any given year. I've tried to enjoy New Year's Eve, but no matter how I fandangle it, I never come out a winner. I've been to parties, thrown parties, seen live music, paid really high cover charges to get inside a dance club that was so packed you could barely lift your arms to remove your coat (let alone bust a move on the dance floor), and even did the Times Square thing. None of them ever lived up to the hype.

By Jim Shearer in HOGE POGE | Link | 1 Comments | Recommended (1)

Tags: 2009, Carson Daily, Dick Clark, Happy New Year, Jonas Brothers, Robbie Knievel, Rocky V, Ryan Seacrest, T.I., Ting Tings

To the Indie Ear faithful (I really hope I'm not taking liberties by saying that), you may have noticed that during the last few weeks this very blog has been littered and/or garnished (you pick) with best-of/year-end lists for 2008. Not only was it fun to do this (some might say "lazy"), but it's a necessity as the world of music goes on shut-down mode between the week of Christmas and New Year's.

(left: 2009, the last year we'll be able to make these type of sunglasses.)

I'm here to let you know, two days into 2009, that my list making for 2008 is officially over. Come Monday, I may have a couple more anicdotes from last year that I have to get off my chest, but it's time to move on to bigger and better. 2009 is here, and let's treat it with some respect.

Here's a little sumthin' we have to look forward to...

By Jim Shearer in HOGE POGE | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

Tags: 2008, 2009, Best-of Lists, Upcoming Releases

2008 was a pretty decent year between me and my favorite music. I liked a handful of albums, but hardly loved any. (Tim Goldsworthy's production with Cut Copy and Hercules and Love Affair was probably the one thing that impressed me more than any specific record.)

(left: Kraftwerk, "I couldn't hold their inaction against them.)

I went to a lot shows and enjoyed many, but rarely walked away dragging my jaw on the ground from amazement. And isn't that the point of going to shows? To feel like there's nowhere else you'd rather be during that hour, or so?

The band that made my favorite album of the year couldn't wow me live. However, bands with albums I was very lukewarm on made me want to spend the rest of my life at their shows. And the many acts I saw multiple times, with the exceptions of Constantines and Jamie Lidell, were noticeably better one time. So it wasn't quite great, but there's plenty I'll remember, especially the three below. They're not necessarily the best (only so many times I can write "transcendent" about seeing Mavis Staples, plus she's not exactly indie), but they hold some tremendous memories for me. In chronological order, three shows that I'll recall fondly:

By James Ziegenfus in '08 WAS GREAT!, LIVE | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (0)

Tags: 2008, Best of, Kraftwerk, Live, M83, Magnetic Fields

Jim: Ben, we're two days into 2009 and I never got a best-of list from you, what's going on?

Ben: It really isn't that much, but I'll write some of my thoughts about my lists if you want.

Jim: Go for it!

Favorite Albums of 2008
11. Fall Out Boy, Folie à Deux
10. PlayRadioPlay!, Texas
9. The Hush Sound, Goodbye Blues
8. Steel Train, Trampoline
7. Valencia, We All Need a Reason to Believe
6. Fire in the Hole, Love & Malice
5. Jack's Mannequin, The Glass Passenger
4. The Matches, A Band in Hope
3. Forgive Durden, Razia's Shadow: A Musical
2. Lydia, Illuminate
1. Underoath, Lost in the Sound of Separation

Nice, no Lil' Wayne or TV On The Radio. You also went Top-11, way to think out-of-the-box!

By Jim Shearer in BEN & JIM | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

Tags: Ben, Fall Out Boy, Fire In The Hole, Jim, Lost In the Sound of Separation, Lydia, PlayRadioPlay!, Steel Train, The Hush Sound, The Matches, Top Albums of 2008, Top EPs of 2008, Top Songs of 2008, Underoath

Ironically, Metallica released a single in 2008 called "The Day That Never Comes."

(left: Oh the memories of '08.)

But in many ways, 2008 was "The Day That Did Come," even for the band mentioned above, who released a back-to-form album, Death Magnetic, which included 8-minute songs, guitar solos, and the return of the old Metallica logo (surfaces of high school desks beware).

For those who have ever uttered the word "never," 2008 was a year for them to eat their words:

By Jim Shearer in IT'S LIKE THAT | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

Tags: 2008, Axl Rose, Barack Obama, Brett Favre, Guns N' Rose, Metallica, Michael Phelps, Never Say Never, NIN, O.J. Simpson, One Day As A Lion, Sarah Palin, The Day That Never Comes, Trent Reznor, Usain Bolt, Yankee Stadium, Zack De La Rocha

The following is not a list of the Top-10 Albums of the Year (c'mon, I'm one man, who am I to say if these are the best albums of 2008?), instead, this is simply a list of my Top-10 favorite albums of the year:

10. Girl Talk, Feed The Animals
Yes, he's just a mash-up artist, and what can a mash-up artist do besides layer acapellas over well-known instrumentals? Well, if you're Girl Talk you take hundreds and hundreds of not just instrumentals, but bleeps, breaks, and beats and masterfully intertwine them with the naughtiest dirty south rap lyrics you can find. Feed The Animals isn't just a simple collection of click-and-drag MP3 files, it's an A.D.D.-pop-culture-musical-collage pieced together like a fine work of art.

9. Sons & Daughters, This Gift
Ah yes! They've made their first great album. This was my initial reaction after listening to Sons & Daughters' sophomore effort, This Gift. Their debut, The Repulsion Box, had some "moments," but it still seemed like the Scottish foursome hadn't found their identity. This time, they found it, crafting one of the best rock albums of the year. Adele Bethel's vocals are beautiful, Scott Paterson's guitar licks steal the show on many of the tracks, and each song will leave your feet stomping for more.

By Jim Shearer in '08 WAS GREAT!, LISTS | Link | 1 Comments | Recommended (3)

Tags: Best of '08, Consolers of The Lonely, Feed The Animals, Girl Talk, Hot Chip, International Superheroes of Hardcore, ISHC, Made In the Dark, Red Album, Santogold, Sons & Daughters, Talking Through Tin Cans, The Bake Sale, The Cool Kids, The Morning Benders, The Raconteurs, This Gift, Top Albums of 2008, Vampire Weekend, Weezer

Another day, another dollar. Does that phrase work for the whole year? Another year, another $365. Doesn't have the same ring to it. Ah well, another year has come and gone and probably most of us don't even have $365 to show for it. But with the bad comes the good. Let's not forget all the awesome things that happened in 2008.

My personal favorite was of course the summer Olympics. While it may not seem that I would be into sports, I'm obsessed with the Olympics. So much so that when I was younger and able to stay up late--because I didn't need to wake up early for work--I'd watch them in the afternoon and then again when they re-aired in the later evening hours. And of course there was that little Presidential election that occurred in the first week of November. This could go on forever, so to avoid going too far on this tangent, you can see the rest of what happened in '08 on Wikipedia, but I warn you, it's mostly depressing.

As this is the Indie Ear, what's a discussion about 2008 without music? Useless, I say. So, without further ado, here are my Top-5 shows of 2008. I considered doing eight, to be kitsch, but decided to stand my ground and be selective!

By Sarah Pesin in '08 WAS GREAT!, LIVE | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (1)

Tags: Best of, Foals, Futureheads, The Cribs, The Rifles, The Young Knives, Top 5 Shows of 2008, year end