MAP Releases - This Is the Ides of March

     As noted in the blog entry of February 15th, the Music Alliance Pact (MAP) makes a collection of songs available for free and legal download. MAP is a collective of 36 blogs (at least) in an equal number of countries.  Each blog chooses a song by an artist from its home country for the monthly post.  Approval from each artist is a requirement. This month, there are 40 songs in the MAP collection.
     There are three options:
1. You can merely listen to the 40 songs at one of the MAP authorized sites. For example, the Canadian participant is Quick Before It Melts, and the Map page is accessed by CLICKING HERE
2. You can selectively download the songs by going to one of the MAP authorized sites and using the "Save as" capability of your web browser.
3. You can download all 40 in a ZIP file at CLICK HERE TO GO TO ZIP SITE.

     We recognize that a first listen through a number of songs is not a good basis for judging music. But that has never slowed us down. This month, at first blush, it appears that there are fewer good discoveries than in other MAP collections. BUT VIGO THIEVES HAS DONATED "HEARTBEATS." So, everything else is a bonus. Last year, "Heartbeats" was one of our obsessions. This is a keeper. The Soundcloud stream is included below, but you need to use the MAP offering for the free and legal download.
     "Heartbeats" by Vigo Thieves


     We also like the contribution from Poland - "The Sun" by Sorry Boys. The write-up in MAP compares "The Sun" to Kate Bush, but we consider Australia's The Jezabels to be a much closer match.
     "The Sun" by Sorry Boys 


     France -- "Monte" by Mermonte


     Indonesia -- "Time Off" by Good Boy Badminton


     
     United States -- "Dear Pressure" by Miracles of Modern Science


     It's time to go to one of the MAP sites!!!

Happy hunting!

The Airborne Toxic Event – Another Coachella + S.F. Primer

     Excuse us while we get our soapboxes…

     Every teacher of a high school class that is intended to increase the appreciation for poetry should be required to spend the first couple of weeks playing songs and discussing the lyrics. It should be a federal law! How many high school students walk out of a poetry appreciation class thinking, “'Fog comes on little cat feet,' hey I’m gonna love this class.”?

     There may be even better choices, but what about one of The Airborne Toxic Event songs on the first day of class? “Sometime around Midnight” is a candidate, since it is an accounting of the emotions experienced by a man who chances into an encounter with a “significant other” from the past. There’s a flow to the story, and no reliance upon being able to regularly return to a chorus. Or what about "All at Once," which walks us through a person's lifetime, and each verse is the next phase of the fictional person's life.

     If there is a knock on Airborne Toxic Event, it is that they seldom venture outside their “sound.” But for those of us who enjoy that sound, we can certainly live with that. With the song “The Kids Are Ready to Die,” the band does take a risk with its message. It would have been a good war-questioning song back when such protest songs were at their peak. Still, before they played the song in a 2011 show at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, the band did its best to downplay the song’s message.

     The Airborne Toxic Event is a Los Angeles band. The members are Mikel Jollett (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Chen (guitar, keyboards), Noah Harmon (bass, vocals), Daren Taylor (drums) and Anna Bulbrook (viola, keyboards, tambourine, vocals). The first time we saw the band (2009 at the Voodoo Lounge in San Jose (R.I.P.)), Bulbrook had not yet joined the band. The performance was solid, but adding Bulbrook's string instrument and female voice has added to the appeal to the band.

     They have two albums, plus an EP ("The Secret") that was released on March 11. The third album is targeted to drop on April 16, 2013.

     "Timeless" by The Airborne Toxic Event (from the recent EP)

     "Safe" by The Airborne Toxic Event (from the recent EP)

      "All at Once" by The Airborne Toxic Event (from the second album)

      "Sometime around Midnight" by The Airborne Toxic Event (from the debut album)

      "The Kids Are Ready to Die" by The Airborne Toxic Event (from the second album)

Airborne Toxic Event will be at the Warfield in San Francisco on April 11 and at Coachella for the two Sundays (April 14 and 21).

Their recent setlist has been:

1. All At Once

2. Wishing Well

3. Timeless

4. Half of Something Else

5. The Secret

6. Numb

7. Gasoline

8. Changing

9. True Love

10. Does This Mean You're Moving On?

11. Something New

12. Welcome to Your Wedding Day

13. Sometime Around Midnight

14. All I Ever Wanted

Encore:

1. Happiness is Overrated

2. Papillon

3. Missy / Ring of Fire / American Girl / Born in the USA / Missy

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Other SF + Coachella primers are:

The Ben Howard Post - CLICK HERE

The Jesse Ware Post - CLICK HERE

The Lumineers Post - CLICK HERE

Citizens! and Midnight Spin – A Concert Dilemma for SF

     On Saturday March 23, there are at least two attractive concert options in San Francisco. The London-based band Citizens! will perform at the Monarch and Brooklyn’s Midnight Spin will be at the Neck of the Woods. Certainly, both events are worthwhile. Since we previously introduced Midnight Spin, we’ll start with Citizen!.

     Citizen! is an Indie electro band that released its debut album “Here We Are” in May 2012. There is an Ohio/Michigan band named Citizen, which may explain the punctuation in the band's name.

     The first single from their album was “True Romance,” which met with favorable reviews. There are certainly many differences between the two songs, but “True Romance” has many of the qualities we like in the subsequently released track “Would That Not Be Nice” from the “supergroup” Devine Fits.

     The other two singles from Citizens! are “Reptile” and “Caroline.” The five members are Tom Burke (vocals), Thom Rhoades (guitar and vocals), Martyn Richmond (bass), Lawrence Diamond (keyboards) and Mike Evans (drums and vocals). 

“True Romance” by Citizens!

“Reptile” by Citizens!

            Opening for Citizens! will be Grayshot from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two brothers form the core of the band. Aaron and Christian Anksum are joined by Reese Kling.

“Future Light” by Grayshot

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     Turning to Midnight Spin, we do have some concern. While the band’s website and ticket-promotion sites agree that Midnight Spin will be at the Neck of the Woods, we cannot find any evidence of their appearance on the venue’s calendar (http://neckofthewoodssf.com/). Hopefully, it’s our error.

      In a March 4th post about Brooklyn bands, we introduced the band to Indie Obsessive and mentioned how much we enjoy “Conchis Bliss.” As noted in that post, the band members are Mike Corbett (vocals, guitar), Danny Scull (drums), Jim Terranova (guitar, vocals), Ben Waters (bass) and Jeremy Cohen (keys, vocals). In comparison to Citizens!, Midnight Spin is about "Rock."
     "Conchis Bliss" by Midnight Spin

     "Phantoms" by Midnight Spin