Adele
21 2011
★ ★ ★ ★ ★


Far from a Sophomore slump, Adele’s new album, 21, is blowing up, and for good reason. Pure and simple, emotional and heartfelt, Adele delivers something so honest it’s sometimes hard to listen to. A sober and more passionate Amy Winehouse, Adele croons and belts with the kind of powerhouse voice some singers would kill for. But this album is so much more than just astounding vocals. Adele writes lyrics so poignant and heartbreaking you feel as if you’re a walking along the long road of recovery of love and loss right there beside her. Her album is a story and we are her audience. Where some artists leave things out, Adele gives her listeners every bit of herself, opening herself up and letting her heart spill out onto the floor. 21 is a true combination of vocal talent and the kind of lyrical prowess that makes music worth listening to. Anyone who has ever begged for someone to stay, while feeling their heart break, can get wrapped up in this album. Adele is opening up to us, like a real artist should, and saying “hey girls, I know it hurts, but we can get through this”. 

Song Picks for the Week: 06.05.11-06.11.11

Song: Take It All
Artist: Adele
Album: 21

Song: One More Night (Your Ex Lover Remains Dead)
Artist: Stars
Album: Set Yourself On Fire

Song: Skinny Love
Artist: Bon Iver
Album: For Emma, Forever Ago

Song: April Fool
Artist: Manchester Orchestra
Album: Simple Math

Song: Lover I Don’t Have To Love
Artist: Bright Eyes
Album: Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear to The Ground

Queens of The Stone Age; April 11th, 2011 Oakland, CA

The first thing I notice as I step into the wonderfully majestic venue that is Fox Theatre Oakland is the most incredibly diverse audience I have ever set eyes on. Within moments of stepping into this venue it is clear that Queens of The Stone Age appeal to twenty year old guys in plaid and glasses, slutty girls with glow sticks and fake boobs, cougars with jeans and shirts that are just a little bit too tight, even forty something moms and dads with there twelve year old kids. It makes for an inviting atmosphere. Everyone is here for one thing, and that’s to see Queens of The Stone Age rock.

The opening band comes out at eight on the dot. They’re a rockabilly group by the name of The Dough Rollers with sternly hair sprayed hair, funky suits, cool ties and definitely the right attitude to pull of the whole thing. The bass player is the hot one that doesn’t talk. It’s pretty much obvious that he is who all the girls are screaming for, he plays it cool though. The lead singer has the look too, and there is no doubt he’s talented, but there’s something about him I don’t like. His vocals are good, but they feel strained and forced, like he is trying too hard to win us over with this seemingly authentic rockabilly sound. I wish he’d just relax and be more real. All the songs seem to be about how his baby left him, or how his baby isn’t in his bed, or how his baby is with another man, it is definitely fun to listen to, but it gets tiring and repetitive after awhile and I start finding myself getting restless for the main event.

Only a half hour after The Dough Rollers finish their set, Queens of The Stone Age are gracing us with their presence. Josh Homme doesn’t say anything before starting to play, it is just an instantaneous transition from the audience waiting, to Queens of The Stone Age delivering what everyone came here for. For the first part of the set Homme’s doesn’t say too much, he just plays, and takes some time between songs to take unreasonably large swigs from a bottle of Ketel One. It isn’t until a sufficient way through the show that he starts having things to say. It’s a Queens of The Stone Age show so people are rowdy, and having a good time, and the big dudes armed with flashlights at the front keep shining them into the crowd to make sure nothing gets too outrageously out of hand. Josh Homme is in the middle of saying something when one of the security men shines the light into the crowd, “hey, hey, security guy. Shut the fucking flashlight off, this is a Queens of The Stone Age show, people can do whatever the fuck they want”. The flashlights remain off for the rest of the show. It’s not too long after this that Homme’s starts smoking on stage in between drinks from his half gone bottle of vodka and, you know, actually singing songs and stuff. His state though hardly effects the show. They play their self titled first album in entirety and then bust out some other favourites. The crowd goes crazy for "Burn The Witch", a personal favourite of mine, that rocks hard, has a killer bass line, and a sort of cool, dark fairy tale feel to the lyrics.

They leave the stage after a solid hour of playing, but the crowd goes crazy for their return and it isn’t long until they’re back. Josh Homme walks out along with the rest of the band, including the terrifying looking guitar player in his purple suit and the keyboardist who looks like a creepy Bill Hader. “This means so much to me,” Homme’s says sincerely, “ You guys are probably thinking, Josh, you’re drunk. And I am. But all I know is you guys look beautiful.”  They start the encore after that and it’s all screams from the crowd and perfect rock and roll. Crowd surfing ensues and I actually see one guy make the round at least a half dozen times, he’s an older man with a puffy vest and sneakers, not what I imagine when I think crowd surfer, but hey, like Josh said, this is a Queens of The Stone Age show and you can do whatever the fuck you want.

After two encores, some drunken words from Josh Homme, and at least an hour and forty five minutes of glorious music, the night is over. The floor is littered with plastic glasses and remnants of spilled alcohol and our minds are spinning from the awesomeness of it all.

Song Picks for the Week: 04.11.11-04.17.11

1. Song: Parachute

    Artist: Ingrid Michaelson

    Album: Parachute- Single

2. Song: Comin' Home

    Artist: City & Colour

    Album: Sometimes

3. Song: Magdalena

    Artist: Brandon Flowers

    Album: Flamingo

4. Song: The Gambler

    Artist: Fun.

    Album: Aim & Ignite

5. Song: Changes

    Artist: Stars

    Album: The Five Ghosts

Upcoming Tour Dates For The Bay Area: April-July 2011

Queens of The Stone Age
April 11, 2011
The Fox Theatre Oakland

Bright Eyes
April 12, 2011
The Fox Theatre Oakland

Broken Social Scene
April 13, 2011
The Warfield

Fun.
April 22, 2011
The Clift Hotel

Frank Turner
May 5, 2011
Bottom Of The Hill

Iron & Wine
June 1, 2011
The Warfield

Gold Motel
June 10, 2011
Bottom Of The Hill

Panic at The Disco
(with Fun.)
June 22, 2011
The Warfield

The Avett Brothers
July 19 & 20, 2011
The Fox Theatre Oakland

Albums To Check Out: Coming Soon

Artist: Manchester Orchestra
Album: Simple Math
Release Date: May 10, 2011


Artist: Death Cab For Cutie
Album: Codes and Keys
Release Date: May 31, 2011

Artist: Frank Turner
Album: England Keep My Bones
Release Date: June 7, 2011

Song Picks for the Week: 03.28.11-04.03.11

1.  Song: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)
     Artist: Emily Browning
     Album: Sucker Punch (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
 

2.  Song: Fire
     Artist: Childish Gambino
     Album: Sick Boi
 

3.  Song: Where Have You Been?
     Artist: Manchester Orchestra
     Album: I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child
 

4.  Song: Approximate Sunlight
     Artist: Bright Eyes
     Album: The People’s Key
 

5.  Song: Kiss With A Fist
     Artist: Florence & The Machine
     Album: Lungs

Wanna check out pictures from the Hellogoodbye show? Here you go!

Pictures courtesy of Tim C. McLaughlin.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordofthisworld/sets/72157626065258949/with/5494791809/

Song Picks for the Week: 03.21.11-03.27.11

1. Song: Love Ire & Song
   Artist: Frank Turner
   Album: Love Ire & Song

2. Song: Nude
   Artist: Radiohead
   Album: In Rainbows

3. Song: Brooklyn Boy
   Artist: Kevin Devine
   Album: Put Your Ghosts To Rest

4. Song: My Manic & I
   Artist: Laura Marling
   Album: Alas I Cannot Swim

5. Song: Shell Games
   Artist: Bright Eyes
   Album: The People’s Key

Gold Motel
Summer House 2010
★ ★ ★ ★

Gold Motel is The Hush Sound’s Greta Morgan’s solo project and Summer House is their debut album. Worlds different from anything we heard Greta put out with her former band, Gold Motel takes themselves far less seriously than The Hush Sound ever did and with this debut album ends up creating something fun and carefree. The lyrics are light and with fun, upbeat indie pop music carrying them along the album glides on out of your speakers no doubt invoking a smile or two. Songs like “Summer House” and “Stealing the Moonlight” make it impossible to listen without wanting to spend the night sitting on the beach with friends watching fireworks off in the distance. It's the kind of music you find yourself wanting to turn up while you roll down the windows of the car and let the wind whistle by. Catchy choruses, toe tapping beats and killer tambourine, as well Greta’s undeniably unique vocals make it a debut worth checking out. The perfect LP to have for the coming summer months. 

Song Picks for the Week: 03.14.11-03.20.11

 1. Song: Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise
     Artist: The Avett Brothers
     Album: I and Love and You

 2. Song: Summer House
     Artist: Gold Motel
     Album: Summer House

 3. Song: Borne On The FM Waves of The Heart
     Artist: Against Me! Featuring Tegan Quin
     Album: Unknown

 4. Song: Sleep Alone
     Artist: Hellogoodbye
     Album: Would it Kill You?

 5. Song: Rise To Me
     Artist: The Decemberists
     Album: The King Is Dead

Hellogoodbye Set List; Slims February 28th, 2011 San Francisco

Finding Something To Do
Would It Kill You?
Getting Old
Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn
When We First Kissed
Baby, It’s Fact
Coppertone
You Sleep Alone
Dear Jamie....Sincerely Me
Oh, It Is Love
When We First Met

Encore

The Thoughts That Give Me The Creeps
Something Misplaced
Here [In Your Arms]

Hellogoodbye; Slims February 28th, 2011 San Francisco

Hellogoodbye step out onto the tiny stage at Slims and it's an explosion of beanies, glasses and plaid. As soon as Forrest steps up to the mic and the rest of the band take their places on stage it's clear that this show is going to be a personal experience, like friends playing for friends. You can tell that they appreciate us being there just as much as the girls screaming "I love you, Forrest" appreciate them being there. They start the show with "Finding Something To Do", a song off their newest album, Would It Kill You? Four songs in they bust out an old favourite, "Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn", and the crowd comes alive. You can almost feel the people standing there, turning back the clock five years and reliving the way it felt to be in high school, listening to this music, and having it get them through the day. Hellogoodbye is all about the fans, performing to us rather than around us. They are all energy and humor. Making us laugh between songs and pulling out all the stops when the music starts to play. It's nice, honest, the way a night watching a favourite band should make you feel. They're not here to take our money, they're here to spend the evening with us, make us smile, make us feel like we're with friends. Jokes are told, eyes are rolled, songs are played and tambourine is pounded fiercely.

Fourteen songs have been played, Forrest has used effects on his mic to talk to us like a tranny, Travis Head, the bassist, has drunkenly thrown a cell phone, he supposedly found in a toilet, into the crowd, Joseph Lemble, the hot British addition to the band, has been pushed off the stage into a swarm of girls I'm pretty sure violated him in some way or another and Joseph Marro, keyboardist and tambourine extraordinaire (seriously), has added his share of sarcastic quips to the onstage conversation. Most importantly, these guys played a kick ass show. Forrest may not have the most amazing vocals, and these guys may not play their instruments as cleanly and tightly as some other bands, but they have more energy than a group of Kindergartner's hopped on Halloween candy and they play with a whole helluva lot of heart and soul. By the end of the night it's clear, they love the crowd, and I've gotta say, we love them back.

3 Albums You Need To Check Out Now

1. Sigh No More 2009
    Mumford & Sons
 

No doubt you’ve already heard of this tornado of a newcomer. Perhaps you’ve heard a song here or there, or maybe you’re a full fledged, hardcore, folk rock, Mumford loving fan already. If you’re living under a rock though and by some miracle have not yet had the pleasure of letting your ears feast on, what is in my opinion, the best album of 2009, drag your ass on down to the record store and pick this beauty up. A combination of beautiful lyrics and classic folk rock sounds, Mumford & Sons manages to make something unique and wonderful, heartfelt and real. With lyrics like “in these bodies we will live/ in these bodies we will die/ and where you invest your love/ you invest your life”  Mumford is exemplifying song writing at its best, something that, unfortunately, with people like Kei$ha hijacking our beloved music venues and climbing to the top of Billboard’s Top 100, we don’t see as often as we should. But even with this trying time for lyrical genius, honesty and ingenuity, Mumford stays true. Writing songs that are best heard late at night, loudly over our speakers, wind in our hair. Songs that tear our hearts out and smear the blood over the dash, leaving us feeling raw and alive, the way great music should.

2. I Speak Because I Can 2010
    Laura Marling

You may have heard the lovely voice of Laura Marling playing quietly in the background as you enjoyed your moderately priced latte this week, as it has come to my attention that some of her earlier work has now landed on Starbucks’ latest playlist. But I find that listening to this goddess of folk in a din of other people talking and espresso machines roaring to be almost criminal, as do some others fans I know. Marling is the real deal and should be taken in, in all her glory. So let’s talk about this British songstress. With a dollop of folk and a whole helluva lot of heart, this powerhouse songwriter, whose subtle vocals bewitch you at first listen, is blowing my mind. The intricacies of her lyrics make the album flow like a story unfolding chapter by chapter. She draws you in with her desperation and her pain, but also with her hope and her wit. Marling has the rare gift of making you crack a smile, while simultaneously choking back tears. She hits you with all her emotions at once, leaving you with an honesty that is sometimes overwhelming.


3. The King Is Dead 2011
    The Decemberists

The Decemberists are bringing us folky, beautiful goodness with their newest release, The King Is Dead. These storytelling gods do not let us down with this new record, weaving together classic folk sounds with  gorgeously thought out lyrics. We find here a complete balance between hopeful, optimistic, upbeat songs that make us want to bask in the sun of life and perfectly melancholy ballads that hide that sun behind a grey, rainy cloud. “Dear Avery” perfectly exemplifies the latter. With simple music that carries the lyrics forth with a wave of honest emotion, head strong/ you and your long arms/ listing lazily on the cusp of your teens”. It’s the kind of song you want to put on repeat while you slip into one of those enjoyable sadnesses. If The King Is Dead is any indication of what’s to come in 2011, then we’re all in for an exceptionally good year for music, but with a stand out record like this, The Decemberists have made themselves a very hard act to follow.

Stars

The Five Ghosts 2010

★ ★ ★

In June of 2010 the Canadian indie pop band, Stars, released their fifth studio album, The Five Ghosts. Though less mature and lyrically compelling as previous albums, such as Set Yourself On Fire and Nightsongs, which collectively include brilliant examples of lyrical storytelling in songs like “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” and “The Very Thing”, The Five Ghosts though by no means a bad record, has it’s share of bland tracks and leaves the listener and fans of Stars yearning for a bit more substance, a bit more beauty, and a bit more to sink their teeth into. However, The Five Ghosts doesn’t entirely disappoint. Though this album finds itself to be less intriguing than expected from Stars, it still manages to deliver a few outstanding tracks that pull the album together and make it worth a listen. The track “Changes” does a wonderful job of showcasing Amy Millan’s exquisite voice and is mildly reminiscent of another Stars’ standout, “Calendar Girl”. Both share simple, yet beautiful lyrics that are woven into something intricate and wonderful by Millan’s unique vocals. The opening track on the album, “Dead Hearts” weaves Torquil Campbell’s voice with Amy Millan’s in a sort of musical Q & A, as he asks Amy to relay to him some sort of unreal experience. The song comes together nicely, and as always, when Torquil and Millan’s voices are paired, delivers a certain amount of beauty that cannot be ignored. The album as a whole, however, lacks the lyrical and musical spark that was so obviously present in their last few albums.

The Weepies

Be My Thrill 2010  

★ ★

If you’re a hardcore The Weepies fan and with their new album were looking for something bland and monotonous, that essentially reiterates their last two studio albums, then you’ve received exactly that with their new release, Be My Thrill. Not to say that there aren’t a few gems amongst the excruciatingly boring indie folk pop explosion that is this album. The opening track, “Please Speak Well Of Me” has gorgeously melancholy lyrics overlaid on top of rather up beat music in true The Weepies fashion and makes your heart hurt just the appropriate amount. The track “Be My Thrill” is quick and cute and though it lacks certain lyrical maturity and substance it does the job of making the listener smile and perhaps spare a thought for that special somebody. These two songs, however passable and catchy, do not, in any way make up for the rest of the album. As a long time fan of The Weepies and beautifully heartbreaking songs such as the simple and yet sublime “The World Spins Madly On” and the wonderfully honest “Gotta Have You” as I sat listening through Be My Thrill my disappointment grew dark and ugly. I won’t sit here saying that this album isn’t catchy, it is. Writing catchy folk pop is something that The Weepies mastered with there 2006 sophomore album, Say I Am You. The lyrical maturity and beauty that flooded both Say I Am You and Hideaway, however, are devastatingly lost in Be My Thrill. It sounds, quite simply, as though Deb Talan and Steve Tannen took the music from their last two albums and paired it with new, less meaningful, less beautiful lyrics. Most every song stares you in the face seeming all too familiar. The less talented little brother of it’s predecessor.

Oh My God; A Mission Statement

About four months ago I found myself dancing barefoot in an empty apartment to Ida Maria’s wonderfully blatant single "Oh My God". I could go into details about why I found myself in this place. I could spend an hour telling you about how, at the time, I was struggling financially, how I had someone I trusted and cared for lie to me and hurt me. I could write about how I was confused about life, how I had no idea the direction I was going in, or if I was going in a direction at all. But the point of this isn’t the why’s of the situation, the point is the situation itself. The bottom line is that there was a moment four months ago where I felt my world falling apart and instead of drinking myself into oblivion, or doing some mind numbing drug, I cried hysterically and danced around an empty room to a song that said exactly all the things that I couldn’t seem to put into words. This is what this blog is about. The idea that music is some of our drugs of choice. That when things are falling to pieces around us we put on the song or the album that makes it okay. The song that says, “Yeah, fuck everything. It’s okay to cry.” That when love hits us we make a playlist or mix tape to describe just how wonderful it is, because our words just aren’t enough. Why Apothecary Of Sound? Because the record store is my drugstore. I don’t need a prescription to make the pain go away, I just need to know that somewhere there’s someone singing about what I’m feeling. That this thing I can’t describe has already been put down on paper by someone else, someone who knows all about the joy or the pain or the insanity that is pulsing through me at that moment. This is why I decided it was time for me to share my love of music, to write a blog about what I hear and what it means to me. Because music is the drug that everyone can take, no prescription required. It’s an idea that proves that we’re never alone, because somewhere someone is listening to the same song you are and maybe they’re even feeling the same things. Music is the string that can connect us, show us what it’s like to be human, to feel and relate. That’s why I love music, that’s why I want to write about it, and that’s why I chose Apothecary Of Sound to be the name of this little experiment. Because it sums up why I love music. It can heal us, get us high, take us low, let us explore everything we’re feeling in four minutes of sound and lyrics. Music is the drug. Welcome to my Apothecary Of Sound.