Do as I say...and as I do. Ok?

I'll be making an actual post about a band later, but for now I just want to update you all on the best shows happening in Chicago in the coming month or so. Also, all shows I will be at--in case you want to stalk me, I make it easy for you! You're welcome.

TONIGHT
Subterranean
8:00 PM
THE SLITS



The legendary Slits playing in Chicago! I've always wanted to see them live, and I sincerely will feel bad for you if you are not at this show. Because you are missing out on one of the most influential and incredible bands in my book. My Book of Universal Truths. Yeah, that one.

The Slits' Myspace
April 18
Martyr's
8:00 PM
SAUL WILLIAMS


Saul Williams is ridiculous. Completely. A couple of my close friends have loved him for quite awhile, and they're the reason a started listening (thanks Jaci/Katie/Jess!)....and now I'm jealous that I haven't been listening since forever. His newest album, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust," is available as a download for FIVE BUCKS via his website. It's produced by Trent Reznor (if you know me at all, you know my deep, ridiculous, slightly unhealthy love for NIN) and the title alludes to my favorite person in history, so I mean, come on now. I am genuinely obsessed with this album at present--come up to me at any given moment during the day, and chances are it's playing in my headphones. I kind of want to talk about every song right now, but I'm going to restrict myself and just make a whole post about it later.

Saul's Myspace

April 22
Reggie's
6:30 PM
THE FALL OF TROY
THE DEAR HUNTER



I know it's a Tuesday and we're all super-adults with super-adult jobs and all but I promise it'll be a good time, so shut up and go. PLUS Reggie's is home to Recordbreakers, a fantastic "Oh Dear God Goodbye Paycheck I Barely Knew Ye" kind of record store. You'll love it. Fall of Troy reminds me of Mars Volta but with more screaming--and I do love a good scream. And HEY DORKS! They have a song on Guitar Hero III. But please listen to more of their music than just that, ok? The Dear Hunter is a band I've just been introduced to, but it's always fun seeing a band live that you don't know much about.

The Fall of Troy's Myspace
The Dear Hunter's Myspace

Remember, THE BEST PART about living in a big city like Chicago is all the incredible live music, so come to these shows with me and SUPPORT THE ARTISTS! And, uh...do me a favor and don't judge me for dancing like an idiot. I tend to lose my mind at concerts...what are you gonna do? You're gonna dance with me, jerks.

Cool as Frost*

What do you get when you keep a rocker cooped up in the studio producing pop hits for too long? "Milliontown" by Frost*!

Jem Godfrey, leader and mastermind behind the project, found success co-writing and producing hits in the UK for artists like Atomic Kitten and Shane Ward. Wanting to break free from the straight-forward, hit-driven mentality of pop music, Godfrey decided to put together a progressive rock supergroup consisting of guitarist John Mitchell (Arena, Kino), drummer Andy Edwards (of IQ), and bassist John Jowitt (also of IQ). The debut album is Godfrey's musical outlet and showcase for his talents outside production. "Milliontown" kicks off with the track "Hyperventilate," a melodic trip that features Godfrey's beautifully intricate keyboard playing. "No Me No You" is one of the two "poppier" tracks, but it only gets better as Godfrey's grand vocal harmonies lead to eerie twist, turns, and changes in pace. But it all makes sense, as the song is wrapped up essentially the way it started. "Snowman," the softest track, is somewhat reminiscent of "Strawberry Fields Forever" by the Beatles, despite its contemporary, "synthy" sound. "The Other Me," though catchy, is probably my least favorite track-- the second of the two poppier songs on the album.

Much more interesting in my opinion is "Black Light Machine," a hybrid track that combines ambiance with moderately fast rock. The synths combined with delayed finger-tapping guitar rhythms set the overall tone of the song, which features powerful guitar solos and rich vocal harmonies. About seven minutes into this ten-minute beast, a slower ambient section suddenly turns into a funky jam session. Even more beastly is the album's title track, a twenty six and a half minute epic. Words can't even express the awesomeness of "Milliontown"-- it's melodic, catchy, coherent, and the instrumentation is great (and even sounds a little "Dave Matthews" at times). And I stress coherent, because many songs of this length tend to shift directions and lose sense of the original theme (or they contain movements that are comparable to tracks on a full concept album.) Nonetheless, the title track remains interesting (and awesome) throughout, and definitely makes the album for me.

Here's a stunning "unplugged" (but not really... hence the quotes) studio rendition of the opening instrument track "Hyperventilate" ...



Make sure to look out for Frost*'s sophomore album, which should be finished up in May!

An All In One Nation

Hey, I know this is a music blog, but working in the digital department I figured I would talk a bit about technology.

“All in one, Nation.” We are a nation obsessed with having everything in one place--all of which is supposed to make life more productive and easier to manage. But I say it’s all a disguise. Amazon is now adding web hosting services to it’s line up of products to compete with Google and Microsoft.

Amazon goes on to explain how they will undercut the pricing on hosting and services for internet-based companies. This is very typical of Amazon, saying they are competing with everyone by cutting prices. Their most recent achievement was going for the Itunes market by offering a better quality download for ten cents cheaper. Now, they are going for the business market. My problem isn’t so much with Amazon, but they prove that our nation is obsessed with getting all of their needs fulfilled in one spot.

In the beginning, this always seems like a good idea--prices go down, quality goes up. It’s great for consumers. But then, eventually, the competitors consolidate, prices go up, and quality goes down. It’s happening with cell phones, it’s happened with cars, it’s going on every where. And what was all in one place actually hurt us more. Think of Wal-Mart. Everything you could possible need in one location. Food, clothes, doctors, dentists, cars, plants, home improvement everything except a church service. So what ended up happening is they now have suppliers backed in a corner. Wal-Mart has controlled their profits because they have to have low prices. Now manufacturers have to cut corners so they can keep up with the low prices. Not to mention the loss of community and local business. So did this make things easier? Not really. The economy is down, jobs are lost and people need cheep prices because they are in poverty now.
Another example is email.

Let’s examine the email chain. Where I work I have three emails, plus the two for my own company, and then of course my two personal emails (because Google is just too cool to pass up). Then they all go to my Microsoft Outlook which shoots them all to my blackberry--for a grand total of seven emails. Having this all go to one spot--my phone--seems cool.

Let’s for one second forget the social distress this creates for always being connected to work and think about how this was supposed to make my life easier. Well, any given day I receive about ten to fifteen junk emails per account, maybe one that is relevant and one that is really important. So that’s 119 emails a day that I have to filter through just in case a clients request got filtered in my junk mail. By the time I get to the really important email that was time sensitive, I’ve lost my window and now have to back track even more. This has not made my life easier at all.

So what can someone do in my position? Well, I have come up with some solutions: tell everyone if it’s really important, send a carrier pigeon, send a letter or give me a call. That way I’m not so stressed about the time I have to spend filtering through junk. As for the seven different emails, that’s an issue of being an entrepreneur. I have different clients with different needs, and I need different emails for them to contact me at. Plus, it’s not fun if my family and friends have to keep losing my email address because I switched jobs again.

So, my next move is to step away from the addiction to email and get back to talking to people like a regular human being. This won’t stop the junk mail; this won’t prevent the need of having many different emails. This will take the stress and dependency off of using email as my main tool of communication. This way my life won’t be all in one spot (like Wal-Mart). Not to mention, if the black berries go out again, I won’t commit suicide.

Get excited!

This blog is sorely lacking in chick-punk-rock-pony-thrash. Don't worry, I've got it covered with one of my current, favorite bands: the ladies of Mika Miko.



These girls are insane in the best kind of way. Mika Miko is an all girl punk band who bring it back to bands like The Slits (one of my favorite albums is still Cut). They also have this habit of playing shows in the middle of empty rooms and not onstage, which--I probably don't have to tell you--is pretty ridiculously amazing.



I saw Mika Miko a few months back at the Empty Bottle, and the room was more packed than I ever remember a show at the Empty Bottle being. It was a nonstop dance fest and one of the most impressive live shows I've seen in quite awhile. One of the lead singers sings into a microphone shaped as a bright red, telephone receiver...it's a very interesting thing to see.

A friend I brought along who had NEVER heard of them before that night turned to me after the show and said, "I want to propose to all of them." Isn't that alone enough to intrigue you?

But declarations of love and proposals aside, the music really speaks for itself. It's fast paced punk-thrash that's as easy to dance to as it is to headbang to. The mix of the lead singer's voices compliment each other in a variety of ways--it's fun to hear the gutsy screaming of Jenna Thornhill mixed with the light, girly sing-talking of Jennifer Clavin.

One of my favorite songs is "Capricorinations":



And check out the video for "Business Cats":



See? They're talented, exciting AND adorable. Also? Please note that the drummer is wearing a SKIRT. Get it, girl!

Check out more of the ladies of Mika Miko at their Myspace.

And I encourage you to pick up one or both of their albums:
C.Y.S.L.A.B.F. (which contains Capricorinations and Business Cats) and/or 666 (the newest record) at Post Present Medium!

Sounds like pony thrash to me! And I like it.

A Touch of Metal

Hey everyone,

I'm back with another dose of metal... only this time, I'll admit that what you'll hear is pretty balls-to-the-wall. Based in Sweden, Evergrey puts the metal in "progressive metal." Some things are to be expected: heavy riffs, plenty of double kick rhythms, and a decent amount of black eyeliner. That being said, Evergrey somehow blends the darkness and evilness of your typical metal band with melodic gospel-style choruses and Pink Floyd-esque solos and duets. Frontman Tom S. Englund not only shows off his powerful pipes on the band's live DVD "A Night to Remember (2004)," but he also tears it up on guitar in harmonized solos with lead guitarist Henrik Danhage. Sure, the title makes it sound like a bar mitzvah video, but rest assured, it's not. Here's a video of the song "More Than Ever" from their live DVD. It's one of my favorites-- another favorite being "A Touch of Blessing" (so check that out if you liked the first one.)



For a first album, I would recommend "The Inner Circle." It's different from their earlier albums in the sense that it's a little more interesting stylistically, but it still rocks. Also, look out for Evergrey's new album sometime before Christmas 2008!

ROCK,

The Real Dan.

easy, breezy, beautiful Cover Girl...

Soulstar back again, with another dose of good music; digest it well. This entry is dedicated to a pint-sized bombshell with a unique swagger, who took control of her career after dealing with the majors: Brooke Valentine.

With music ranging from Crunk to Country and R&B to Rock, Brooke is most known for her 2005 hit “Girlfight”. Largely considered a one-hit wonder, her successful debut Chain Letter (which she co-wrote) took the listener on a musical journey, from the emotional ballad “Laugh Til I Cry”, to the urban patriotism of “American Girl”, to the Broadway-esque dramedy “I Want You Dead”.

Featuring an organ and acoustic guitar accompaniment that recalls her Texan background, “Cover Girl” tells a story of the insecurity of a woman in a relationship.

"Cover Girl"

You can find more information about Brooke Valentine on her MySpace page as well as at her Wikipedia page.

Brooke Valentine is the latest in a sea of artists affected by the Virgin/Capitol merger. Her sophomore record, Physical Education, was set to be released in the summer of 2006; yet after months and months of delays and inaction, it was put on hold indefinitely (similar to Stacie Orrico).

Aware that Virgin Records wasn't doing much to help her, Brooke refused to give her sophomore record to Virgin Records, and fought to seek release from her distribution deal (She is signed to Subliminal Entertainment and was distributed by Virgin).

Until next time, stay blessed and support good music.

Soulstar

...And Then There Were 3

Now that I, The "Real" Dan, have recovered from the massive article I wrote about Pain of Salvation's "Be," I can finally muster up the energy to let you know about an incredible band from Woodstock, NY that's been rocking my world for weeks. They're called "3" (aka Three,) and they've recently released the studio album "The End is Begun." I would describe them as the more progressive version of Coheed & Cambria (a band they actually toured with... and 3's old drummer Josh Eppard actually played with Coheed at one point.) But they're not "proggy" in the way you might expect (I assume you'd usually expect some combination of Rush, Dream Theater, Symphony X, etc.) Think Coheed meets the Mars Volta meets Zeppelin meets the Beatles meets Primus... and the list could go on. The point is that they've drawn from an array of influences and come up with their own unique sound. Joey Eppard, composer and frontman of 3, rocks audiences with his rapid flamenco-inspired slap-guitar playing, Middle-Eastern vocal techniques, and incredible energy. He's simply a natural.

Although I really feel that every song on their latest album could be considered a highlight, here are just a few of my favorites:

Diamond in the Crush - frontman Joey Eppard sounds like the Middle Eastern version of Michael Jackson, and it's awesome. Very fun song to listen to.

Been to the Future - eerie, great; kind of reminds me of Eleanor Rigby for some reason, even though the two songs are musically very different.

My Divided Falling - reminds me of the Mars Volta, another great band. The track kicks off with a funky, high-energy slap-guitar riff. The band moves together as a whole through odd rhythms and double-kick sections with precision.

These Iron Bones - one of the heavier tracks. A fine example of Eppard's clever songwriting. Lyrics and vocal melodies that refer to a common children's playtime tune (when Eppard softly sings, "We're gonna get you no matter where you turn") creates an eerie contrast with the heavier "These Iron Bones" sections.

Amaze Disgrace - this isn't even off the newest album-- actually from the album Wake Pig, this aong is by far my favorite. The title (and the lyrics that relate to it) is a musical and lyrical reference to "Amazing Grace." Maybe I'm partial to it because it's over 16 minutes long. The whole piece, including the Moby Dick-esque drum solo almost 11 minutes into the track, showcases the band's talent so well-- not just musically, but also creatively.

Update - Here's the video for "All That Remains," the single from 3's new album:



Also, look out for 3 at the Progressive Nation tour in North America this spring. They'll be playing with prog legends Dream Theater and Opeth. Check out 3's MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/3