unpiano: music

Some times I feel bad when I live in a city and don’t know about a band that has been around for bit. Railcars used to just be songwriter Aria Jalali until recently when they became a four-piece and started playing with the Handsome Furs. Now their new ep is being produced by Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu) and I’ve started hearing about them more and more. The songs below are from both previous solo material and newer songs as a full band. The newer songs are a bit more noisy and washed out which I think sounds just right. They canceled their last San Francsico show, but go check them out next time.. should be a good show.

Railcars - There Is Ice It Is Blue
Railcars - Bohemia (with a sea)
Railcars - Lovers Glowing, On A Dull Night
Railcars - I Was A Submarine

Hmmm.. So from what I can gather, Hi! Hello! is pretty much this guy from New Jersey named Daryl Shelton. Sounds like he may do all this on his own, but sometimes I see hints of another person in the band. Anyways, these are all just guesses from things I pulled off the web and some emails I’ve gotten. If anyone else knows more, please say so in the comments. I’d like to hear more from this band and I could probably listen to that ‘Rulers (preview)’ track all day long (I also have no idea why the preview for the song is not in the actual song).

Hi! Hello! - Rulers (preview)
Hi! Hello! - Rulers
Hi! Hello! - Machine Song
Hi! Hello! - Hustle and Flow

Bonus:
Hi! Hello! - Machine Song (video)

You can see more videos, including the writing of songs and some practice recordings here.

I have a hard time listening to the new Foals record while sitting around the house or in the car, but it’s ideal for bike rides when you need some energy or maybe playing records at a bar. I had this same problem with the Bloc Party records and I’m not quite sure why this is. I think I find this type of Brit-pop (and it is pop for sure) borderline cheesy. Maybe it’s the accent or the fact that they are taking it so seriously. And I can tell it’s serious because the production value is impeccable and the drumming is always so tight and complex (almost math-rock-like). Also, I head they fired TV On The Radio Dave Sitek as a producer because he mixed the record too spacey. Geeez relax guys, there will be another bus along in five minutes.. All this aside though, Big Big Love is a great song and Balloons is classic coke-jam if I ever heard one.

Foals - Balloons
Foals - Big Big Love (Fig. 2)
Foals - Olympic Airways
Foals - Heavy Water

Bonus:
Foals - Olympic Airways (video)

It’s still nice and warm out, so here’s some more Ariel Pink to play in the park..

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Interesting Results
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Shaven
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Ghost Town
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - My Molly

Wow, it’s like eighty degrees in San Francisco right now and it’s two in the morning. That happens rarely, even in the summer, and it makes me want to hear summertime music. I read about Brooklyn’s Santogold a while back and then after seeing an article in Entertainment Weekly, I decided that I was over it (because I’m a music elitist). However, it got played in my car the other day and I got proven wrong yet again. There are some really good songs on her album. Yes, most of the good songs sound like other bands (M.I.A., The Pixies and Yeah Yeah Yeahs respectively), but her voice is sort of amazing and the songs are produced by Diplo, Switch etc. so you know something good is bound to come out of it. ‘Lights Out’ is a great track, but it sounded too polished and slightly in the same vain as that Kelly Clarkson song ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’. Luckily there’s a remix that takes some of that polished edge off and still keeps that Summertime bike ride feeling. I feel like all these songs might have been made with that music statistics machine I’ve ranted about before (the ones that music companies use to tell them what combination of notes people like to hear) because I can’t get this song out of my head. Or not.. I dunno, I’ve been drinking and I should probably go to bed.

Santogold - Lights Out
Santogold - Lights Out (remix)
Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes

Bonus:
Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes (video)

Man, I’m really disappointed by the new Portishead record Third. I keep listening to it again and again hoping I’ll change my mind, but to no avail. Granted, it gets points for not sounding dated. Somehow they managed to keep sounding like themselves but not sound like it was 1994. That’s no easy feat and I give them credit hands down. Unfortunately, it’s just a boring record. The production value is incredible as always, but there aren’t really any songs that grabbed me or sounds to be intrigued by (remember that kick drum on ‘It Could Be Sweet’?). I don’t know what else to say about this. Maybe they should have gone out on a high note with that live show in NYC. Anyways, I posted the best couple of tracks below.. and p.s. I think they should do the theme song for a Bond movie at some point. Just putting that out there.

Portishead - Threads
Portishead - The Rip
Portishead - Magic Doors

I wasn’t able to find out that much about Chicago’s Daniel Paquette. I pulled the name off a mix I heard on a friend’s website after hearing the song ‘Too Little Too Late’. Most of his music has that sad-but-hopefull feeling that I’ve come to incorporate into my everyday life. I’m not sure why I’m so drawn to melancholy.. I think I just find it very honest. It doesn’t mean you’ve given up, you’re just thinking stuff over.. and it’s probably going to be okay.

Daniel Paquette - Too Little Too Late
Daniel Paquette - Kelso Believes In You
Daniel Paquette - For You To Knock Down
Daniel Paquette - Jump Into This Sack

Yet another band that has snuck up on me. San Francisco’s Scrabbel has been around for a minute but never had a track I felt I could really sink my teeth into. However, it looks like there are some new songs popping up from the new album which could mean I change my tune 180 degrees. Contradiction is perhaps one of my favorite pastimes if you didn’t already know. Seriously though, keep an eye out for their upcoming shows, I head the SXSW performance was really fun. Also check out their records covers and t-shirts which are sometimes designed by the always impressive Nathalie Roland.

Scrabbel - Emily, I
Scrabbel - The Getaway (Sorry, you’ll have to listen to it on MySpace)

Bonus:
Scrabbel - Emily, I (video)

Back in 2001 and before forming Beirut, Zach Condon was part of an band called The Real People (not to be confused with the UK band from the eighties). Like a lot of artists in their early bands, the music is heavily electronic and sort of lo-fi. All of this sounds fantastic however, when paired up with Zach’s unbelievable crooning. His mellow delivery just cuts through the synth lines and sits happily out on top. The other amazing thing about this band if he is something like 21 now, he would have been very very young when all this was recorded (try 15). I can’t help but draw instant Ian Curtis comparisons, but can you blame me? Young kid with an incredible voice, deadpan delivery, electronic sounding rock band, lo-fi demos.. get my drift? Anyways, all of this talk aside, this record is great.. and long. It clocks in with 21 untitled tracks that were very hard to choose from. If you look hard enough around this post you might find a couple more..

The Real People - Track 1
The Real People - Track 2
The Real People - Track 5
The Real People - Track 7
The Real People - Track 10

Bonus:
Read more about the album..

I heard this song while I was watch the Julian Schnabel movie The Diving Bell And The Butterfly. The movie was pretty good if you’re asking. More importantly though, most of his movies have great soundtracks. Did you ever see Basquiat? That soundtrack was a huge part of the movie (as it well should have been). I don’t really know much about Ultra Orange and Emmanuelle except they all look really pretty, they’re from France and they make some pop songs. Anyone else want to research them? I’m feeling pretty tired right now.

Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle - Don’t Kiss Me Goodbye