May
28
2008

Two Hours To Doors

(Add / View Comments) (0)Wednesday, May 28, 2008 - 08:20:24 pm
(Posted Under: Music Music)
Okay, so it's actually 24 hours to doors. Tomorrow night is the Kisschasy / Donnas show.

Up until two weeks ago I had been moreso anticipating seeing The Donnas. And similarly, knew that I needed to study up on Kisschasy songs other than the singles, which I didn't feel like I had enough time to do. At least not to know them as well as KJ did. But all that has changed in since picking up Too B Or Not Too B. Since that I've been listening to that, Hymns and United Paper People virtually non stop. Not that consciously for the show, but because they rock. Surprisingly I hadn't gotten into them too much when I first got United Paper People last September, but as of the last two weeks I haven't been able to get enough of Kisschasy. Certainly now I'm as equally excited about seeing them as The Donnas.

Now Playing: The Perfect Way To Meet - Kisschasy
May
17
2008

The Do Dos and Woah-Oh's

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 05:17:29 pm
(Posted Under: Music Music)
On Friday night Katie suggested that we needed to take a trip to a music store - for what purpose was kept a secret to me. We stopped past one before seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall last night, and the secret was revealed - Kisschasy have just released Too B Or Not Too B, a b-sides collection, that of course, includes their cover of Hey Jealousy.

It was originally on the Do Do's and Whoah Ohs single, that I briefly looked around for in October 2005 when I heard about it. Unsuccessfully, partly because I didn't look hard enough, and partly because it had been released in July 2005, and singles have a short shelf life. And we'd only been talking about it a few months ago, and went on somewhat of an online search to try and get it. So the band putting out this CD is awesome!

We picked up the CD, and it's a really great rendition of the song. I was quite impressed that they'd kept the solo, which is fairly true to the original. When we looked for the single online recently, we came across a ridiculous number of covers on iTunes (who knew), ranging from techno, to country veersions, as well as other less weird ones. The Kisschasy version is by far the best, and more true to the original than the Hit The Lights version, which I admitadly do like a lot. But regardless, I very much enjoy hearing Kisschasy's eersion being a lot truer to the original. And it'
s great hearing it, finally after three years! [smile]

The other cool part about the timing of this release is that we're seeing them in two weeks.
Now Playing: Kisschasy - Hey Jealousy
May
10
2008

Violet Wild Album

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, May 10, 2008 - 05:49:16 pm
(Posted Under: Music Music, Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene)
Violet Wild - Abcde Ghijklmnopqrst VwyzViolet Wild's album is finally out. It technicaly came out on April 15. I ordered it over the weekend, and it arrived on Wednesday, not a bad turn around from CDBaby.

A large portion of the album I have been listening for the last year, largely through the mixes that were put up on myspace, when the band finished re-recording in April last year. As a result, there are no huge suprises, although these versions of Without You and Book Of Reasons were new to me. I hadn't heard a Violet Wild version of Book Of Reasons until June last year, and had been thinking was a newer mix, but in actuality is from the first recoding of the album that was scapped. Similarly I hadn't really heard the newer version of Without You.

The hands down standouts are all the new, non Mink Rebellion tracks. The best of which being Water & Chemicals and Rare Disease. Initially I didn't like this new version of Water & Chemicals, though I like it just as much as the version from the original recordings now. What is also is impressive is the number of times I've hear I've heard this song over the last year and a half, yet the song still seems really a new fish.

Rare Disease is perfect, and it's nice to now have a fully mixed copy of the song. Definitely the second single of the album if you ask me. Another one that I've been listening to for a year, and still seems really new. It's easy to lament The Black Moods and Mink Rebellion breaking up. Rare Disease is such a perfect representation of the pairing of Josh and Bobby.

Glorious Day, Luna and Invention are all great. Another One has never been a favorite of mine, however it does seem to work well in the context of the album. Although, Even If Your Light Is Fading is missing from the album, which I think is a much stronger song. But who knows if that one got re-recorded. Basically there is nothing to fault with the new songs.

The versions of Mink songs on the other hand I'm on the fence about. The majority of which I'm a big fan of, but they just don't translate well to Violet Wild. And I think more to the point there wasn't much to improve on with the Mink Rebellion versions. The exception is certainly Burning Girl, which while my favorite version is Mink's, the Violet Wild version is almost as good.

Along For The Ride really for me doesn't carry across that well, particularly on this recording of it. Comparitively, the version from the first recording had some appeal, even while not being as good as the Mink version. This latest version just seems too overproduced and over thought. Which is a shame, as it's still my favorite Mink Rebellion song.

Book Of Reasons and Concrete Lake both suffer the exact same problem. They're not bad on the record, but just don't translate, if you know the Mink Rebellion versions. Again the versions from the first recordings of the album work better.

Similarly, Bent is the low point of the album for me. It was never my favorite Mink song (probably second least favorite behind Sometimes Always), however I definitely dig it, and their version is really cool. Neither of the Violet Wild versions I've liked that much, and this one with Bobby screaming is kind of hard to listen to. But someone obviously wants this song to make it - what with it appearing on both Mink Rebellion CD's, the Violet Wild E.P, and the album. Much like the other ones, I think it looses it's punk-ness, which ghave it appeal in the first place. Not sure about calling it 'Bent' now either - 'Hitchhicker' was a cool title.

I'm fairly convinced that if I wasn't familar with Mink Rebellion I could easily pick which songs are new, and which are Mink remakes. Definitely listening to the new tracks make me wish that the band had recorded more new songs.

The other downside is the album title - 'Abcde Ghijklmnopqrst Vwxyz'? Really? When I first saw it on the cover art about 2 months ago, I thought that it was going to be self titled or something. Why they didn't go with 'Water & Chemicals', which I believe was the working title for the first version of the album, I don't know. And what's up with the two missing letters? Fuck U. *Shrug* I don't know.

With that said, it's an excellent album, and it's really nice to finally have a full length Violet Wild CD out, especially since it's almost 2 years since they recorded it the first time, and almost that long since I started listening to them. The other cool thing with finally having the CD is the country version of Water & Chemicals as the bonus track.
Now Playing: Violet Wild - Invention

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