Your Friday Fix (07/24/2009)
Friday, July 24th, 2009 by Ipequey
One of the things I love about doing the Friday Fix is the feedback I get from folks. Especially if they live in the same town/state/country as the band, and take pride in that. Even better when they recommend artists to check out! I have no idea where I’m going with this…after all, it’s early Friday morning and I’m jonesin’ for the weekend. So, enough talk. On with the music!
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – Down In Front (2008, Los Angeles, California) Roger Joseph Manning Jr.’s music can best be described as “power pop”, but honestly, it’s so much better than the label infers. At times, I hear Queen, others, Billy Joel, and his vocals kind of remind me of Weird Al Yankovic, if sedated on horse tranquilizers (ie, less spaz, more quality). Most of his stuff is upbeat, high tempo gold. This song can be found on his second solo album “Catnip Dynamite”. Roger is not a stranger to the music industry, by any means though! He’s also been a member of “The Moog Cookbook”, “Jellyfish” (I know Trey likes this band…), “Imperial Drag”, “TV Eyes”, “Beatnik Beach” and has worked with other musicians as well. If you dig this track, you won’t be disappointed by the entire album, it’s really solid! It’s one of those “had I discovered this last year, it’d have made my top 10 list” types of albums.
House of Heroes – If (2008, Columbus, Ohio) Ok, ok. I’ll admit. I’ve got a weakness for this kind of emo-punk-rock stuff, but only if it’s good. What’s make this style good? Well, fast tempo, awesome guitarists and non-whining vocalists. Sure this band kind of sounds like a lot of the others out there, but is that always such a bad thing? Well, yeah, if they lack the creativity to set themselves apart from the flock. For “House of Heroes” this is not the case. They combine the best of the modern alternative/punk scene but definitely add their own ideas and style to it. “In the Valley of the Dying Sun” is a prime example of what I mean, as it demonstrates just some of the range to this band’s sound. If you liked “If”, the rest on “The End Is Not The End” are pretty good as well.
Math and Physics Club – Darling, Please Come Home (2006, Seattle, Washington) If you like “Belle & Sebastian” or “The Lucksmiths”, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to enjoy this band. Can you hear it? Well, I can. With only one album released, and three EPs, one has to wonder what exactly happened to this band? Before starting “Math and Physics Club” Charles Bert (vocals, rhythm guitar) and James Werle (lead guitar) were in a band called “drive car girl” (named after a “Beat Happening” song). Drummer Kevin Emerson played in a number of bands in Connecticut and Massachusetts before moving to Seattle, including a stint with a soul band called “Soulwork”. Kevin is also the singer and co-leader of the band “Central Services”. *shrugs* I know these aren’t answers, but they do explain that the talents in this band are at least busy still making music.
Republic Tigers – Golden Sand (2008, Kansas City, Missouri) I’ve put this band on the fix before, but bands that deserve respect, get it! I love this track. It totally reminds me of good “Placebo”. The style of this song is completely different than the last song of theirs I posted on here (”Buildings & Mountains”), which reminds me of good “Air”. Having just released their first album last years, “Keep Color” is amazing and is definitely worth the investment. “Republic Tigers” started as Kenn Jankowski’s (”The Golden Republic”) side project. With that band now defunct, “Republic Tigers” have gone on to tour with “Nada Surf” and have their song Buildings & Mountains featured on ABC’s show “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Dear Reader – Dearheart (2009, Johannesburg, South Africa) Dear Reader is a South African band whose music could be described as alternative pop, covering a wide-range from acoustic ballads to electronic loop experiments. Their name used to be “Harris Tweed”, but they were forced to change it when the Harris Tweed Authority in Scotland sent them a lawyers’ letter demanding it. In fall 2008 they played their first European shows as the support act for “Lambchop” and “Andrew Bird”. They returned in February 2009 to play shows with “Sophia”. This track can be found on “Replace Why with Funny” and if you dig this album, you can get “The Younger” when they were titled “Harris Tweed”.
Memory Cassette – Ghost in the Boombox (2008, ???, New Jersey?) Memory Cassette is one guy from New Jersey, with two projects – “Memory Cassette” and “Weird Tapes”. Soon, both will merge to become “Memory Tapes”. Memory Cassette is a pretty secret about who/whom they are – their myspace page makes no mention of whether “Cassette Memory” is a ‘he’ or a ’she’ or a ‘they’. Other websites suggest that Memory Cassette is a collection of musicians from the Philadelphia and New Jersey. Apart from that all I know is that there are four EPs released by them, and that this track can be found on “The Hiss We Missed”. Mad props to anyone that can give me more info on the band/artist!
One of the things I love about doing the Friday Fix is the feedback I get from folks. Especially if they live in the same town/state/country as the band, and take pride in that. Even better when they recommend artists to check out! I have no idea where I’m going with this…after all, it’s early Friday morning and I’m jonesin’ for the weekend. So, enough talk. On with the music!
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – Down In Front (2008, Los Angeles, California) Roger Joseph Manning Jr.’s music can best be described as “power pop”, but honestly, it’s so much better than the label infers. At times, I hear Queen, others, Billy Joel, and his vocals kind of remind me of Weird Al Yankovic, if sedated on horse tranquilizers (ie, less spaz, more quality). Most of his stuff is upbeat, high tempo gold. This song can be found on his second solo album “Catnip Dynamite”. Roger is not a stranger to the music industry, by any means though! He’s also been a member of “The Moog Cookbook”, “Jellyfish” (I know Trey likes this band…), “Imperial Drag”, “TV Eyes”, “Beatnik Beach” and has worked with other musicians as well. If you dig this track, you won’t be disappointed by the entire album, it’s really solid! It’s one of those “had I discovered this last year, it’d have made my top 10 list” types of albums.
House of Heroes – If (2008, Columbus, Ohio) Ok, ok. I’ll admit. I’ve got a weakness for this kind of emo-punk-rock stuff, but only if it’s good. What’s make this style good? Well, fast tempo, awesome guitarists and non-whining vocalists. Sure this band kind of sounds like a lot of the others out there, but is that always such a bad thing? Well, yeah, if they lack the creativity to set themselves apart from the flock. For “House of Heroes” this is not the case. They combine the best of the modern alternative/punk scene but definitely add their own ideas and style to it. “In the Valley of the Dying Sun” is a prime example of what I mean, as it demonstrates just some of the range to this band’s sound. If you liked “If”, the rest on “The End Is Not The End” are pretty good as well.
Math and Physics Club – Darling, Please Come Home (2006, Seattle, Washington) If you like “Belle & Sebastian” or “The Lucksmiths”, there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to enjoy this band. Can you hear it? Well, I can. With only one album released, and three EPs, one has to wonder what exactly happened to this band? Before starting “Math and Physics Club” Charles Bert (vocals, rhythm guitar) and James Werle (lead guitar) were in a band called “drive car girl” (named after a “Beat Happening” song). Drummer Kevin Emerson played in a number of bands in Connecticut and Massachusetts before moving to Seattle, including a stint with a soul band called “Soulwork”. Kevin is also the singer and co-leader of the band “Central Services”. *shrugs* I know these aren’t answers, but they do explain that the talents in this band are at least busy still making music.
Republic Tigers – Golden Sand (2008, Kansas City, Missouri) I’ve put this band on the fix before, but bands that deserve respect, get it! I love this track. It totally reminds me of good “Placebo”. The style of this song is completely different than the last song of theirs I posted on here (”Buildings & Mountains”), which reminds me of good “Air”. Having just released their first album last years, “Keep Color” is amazing and is definitely worth the investment. “Republic Tigers” started as Kenn Jankowski’s (”The Golden Republic”) side project. With that band now defunct, “Republic Tigers” have gone on to tour with “Nada Surf” and have their song Buildings & Mountains featured on ABC’s show “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Dear Reader – Dearheart (2009, Johannesburg, South Africa) Dear Reader is a South African band whose music could be described as alternative pop, covering a wide-range from acoustic ballads to electronic loop experiments. Their name used to be “Harris Tweed”, but they were forced to change it when the Harris Tweed Authority in Scotland sent them a lawyers’ letter demanding it. In fall 2008 they played their first European shows as the support act for “Lambchop” and “Andrew Bird”. They returned in February 2009 to play shows with “Sophia”. This track can be found on “Replace Why with Funny” and if you dig this album, you can get “The Younger” when they were titled “Harris Tweed”.
Memory Cassette – Ghost in the Boombox (2008, ???, New Jersey?) Memory Cassette is one guy from New Jersey, with two projects – “Memory Cassette” and “Weird Tapes”. Soon, both will merge to become “Memory Tapes”. Memory Cassette is a pretty secret about who/whom they are – their myspace page makes no mention of whether “Cassette Memory” is a ‘he’ or a ’she’ or a ‘they’. Other websites suggest that Memory Cassette is a collection of musicians from the Philadelphia and New Jersey. Apart from that all I know is that there are four EPs released by them, and that this track can be found on “The Hiss We Missed”. Mad props to anyone that can give me more info on the band/artist!