Top 10 albums of 2010... subject to change

By: Kim Manning

Music junkies like myself have had a field day this spring. New artists and break-through albums have flooded the wonderful airwaves and this is my top 10, thus far.

Gorillaz “Plastic Beach” March 3: Damon Albarn’s newest album features guests from Snoop Dogg and The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music and about 12 others. Inspired by a visit to a landfill, Albarn uses the word plastic in nearly every song creating an environmental undertone but remains overshadowed by incredible dance beats and gnarly rhythms.

Yeasayer “Odd Blood” Feb 8: Fueled by an LSD trip, Brooklyn’s Yeasayer pumped out an intense electronic dance party to make anybody feel like they are on drugs. Much more upbeat than their first release All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer has sparked interest in all party-goers alike.

MGMT “Congratulations” April 12: MGMT’s sophomore effort is not nearly as catchy and some may say it was a daring move, yet they pulled it off. Truly psychedelic from start to finish, MGMT mixes beach rock with eerie vocals, smooth acoustics and somehow manages to pull it off. Congratulations.

Frightened Rabbit “The Winter of Mixed Drinks” March 8: Another Sophomore effort is pulled off gracefully by Scottish Frightened Rabbit. Vocalist Scott Hutchison can range from poppy, to electrifying to sappy and it all remains good.

Alkaline Trio “This Addiction” Feb 23: Thank god Alkaline Trio resorted back to their punk-rock, drug-induced, heartbreak lyrics. Cathy tunes, nonetheless, Trio let loose on this album put out on their own label.

Vampire Weekend “Contra” Jan 11: Controversy only draws attention, and Vampire Weekend’s Jamaican influenced Contra is worthy of beach-driven days either way.

Hot Chip “One Life Stand” Feb 8: Experimental and electronic-driven, One life Stand has wispy vocals over keyboard-powered rhythms. This album is lighter and airier than their first, yet shows their musical growth drastically.

Broken Bells “Broken Bells” March 11: James Mercer and Danger Mouse create an interesting mash of both of their styles of music. Experimental yet mellow beats make songs like “The High Road” good for any mood.

She & Him “Volume Two” March 22: Zooey Daschanel’s old time voice masks the pure country music that it truly is. The sunny beats and cheerful lyrics will leave you with nothing but a bubbly outlook on life.

Murder by Death “Good Morning, Magpie” April 6: Even if Good Morning, Magpie isn’t one of Murder By Death’s most eccentric and lyrically intense albums, it still holds true to their Whiskey loving tendencies. Maybe next time, stick with the zombies.

How to train for your first full or 1/2 marathon, for unmotivated runners

This isn't music, but it's informative!

Training for a marathon is not an easy task; hours of training and the right mindset are needed for successful completion. To become a marathoner, it is a complete change of lifestyle. But for those who are looking for the accomplishment of completing their first marathon, there are only a few steps needed to push yourself in the right direction.

1. Start small. You cannot become a marathon runner in a month. Give yourself a longer amount of time than suggested for training (22-weeks is usually suggested for a full marathon and 12 for a half), that way you have a little bit of leeway time and can ease yourself into the process.

2. Join a running club that meets weekly. Most running groups meet on a weekly basis and have a certain mileage planned. This requires you to run during the week in order to keep up. Many groups cost money as well, so it’s easier to push yourself out the door to run.

3. Think of running as more than a means of exercise. Once you are able to think past the pain of running, it will become an outlet and it will become easier to run on daily basis. It will be easier to fit running into your routine and will eventually become an important part of it.

4. Make a bet with someone. It can make things more interesting and the bet can be about your finishing time or about your completion of the race. Either way, it can be that extra push to prove to yourself, and someone else that you can do it. To make it even more fun, it can be a bet over something simple like dinner or a round of drinks.

5. Post your progress on daily sites. It will motivate you to run so you’re able to post your progress, and others’ progress will be motivating as well. Daily sites and forums provide runners with “virtual friends” that are experiencing the same things as they are and can give some very helpful advice. Some helpful sites are runningforums.com and dailymile.com.

6. Volunteer at races. Races of all sizes are always looking for volunteers to hand out water or work tables. Once you see other runners’ satisfaction of completing a race, and being around the energy, it will encourage you to run. Running blogger and 40-time-marathoner, Michael Schilling, said that just being a spectator at a race can also bring encouragement to non-motivated runners. “In essence, my motivation is based on the spirit, happiness and overall positive energy of these events. Every new runner will find the same,” Shilling said. “It's contagious.”

7. Sign up for races ahead of time and while your training, that way you have small goals to reach and you have already paid for the races along the way. Having small goals makes it easier to achieve them. During the summer months, there are multiple races every weekend. It will help you get into the groove of race running.

8. Some runners also use unorthodox tactics while running, like marathon runner Kevin Lemley. “I love that SNL sketch where Sean Connery is playing Jeopardy. I picture him running beside me and insulting me.”

Murder By Death/ The Builders and the Butchers

Reggie’s Rock club is a small, basement like atmosphere. It’s very well situated, and unlike some bigger, more pretentious venues, Reggie’s is intimate and always puts on a great show. February 12 was no different.

Fake Problems, The Builders and the Butchers and Murder By Death took the stage. The show started at 6:00pm and didn’t end until 10, and unlike many other venues, Reggie’s wasted no time in between sets packing the night with outstanding music.

The Builders and the Butchers took stage shortly after Fake Problems. The Portland-based folk band uses unorthodox percussion creating a truly unique sound and filling the room with overwhelming bass.

During the last song of their set, nearly 45 minutes later, B&B played “When it Rains” accompanied by half of the audience. Fully performed with audience singing, clapping and even playing instruments the band passed out to a few lucky fans.

Murder by Death soon scrolled across the projected screen above the stage. This tour was different from the rest.

Murder by Death was playing their albums Red of Tooth and Claw and Who Will Survive and What will be Left of them, both in entirety. After touring in Chicago for so many years, the band was assured to have many dedicated fans that know the ins and outs of these two albums.

They weren’t wrong. The crowd was filled with regulars and new fans. The screen that once simply said “Murder by Death” was now playing old horror and zombie films, a genre that the band was often associated with. And in the background was a cameraman.

The band was filming their first documentary, only in select cities, but Chicago was one of the lucky few. Not only did Chicago become lucky by being filmed, the original keyboardist, Vincent Edwards was playing for the three-night stint the band booked for Chicago.

Adam Turla started off that first growling note with “I’m Comin’ Home” off of Red of Tooth and Claw but not before he took a shot of whiskey, the drink the band is known for, with a fan that I’ve seen at several shows before.

The four turned into five for the night, and they sounded better than ever before. The sold-out crowd was enthralled with every move and every note echoing in the small bar of Reggie’s Rock Club. The whiskey went down and the beer spilled the floors as Murder by Death continued to tell their stories of zombies attacking cities, lust, betrayal, horror and of course drinking.

Between the songs the band relaxes for a minute, takes a sig of their beer and tells hilarious anecdotes of bed tacos, Iron Maiden, White Snake and Rambo. “Murder by Death has no mercy,” says Turla in reference to a Rambo movie.

Who Will Survive and What Will be Left of Them was their first big album, like the tag line to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Their encore treated the lifelong fans that lined up against the railings playing nearly half of Like the Exorcist, But More Breakdancing which was their first album.

The band admitted to playing a few songs that they haven’t played in five years. They pleased the crowd, whether new fan or old, and they definitely left the audience wanting more even after a two-hour set.

Jean-Paul Gaster Interview

Metal band, Clutch, made a drastic change with their side project and “alter-ego” blues jam band in the 90s called The Bakerton Group. With their heavy following with each band, the group recently decided it was time to start their own label, Weathermaker Music. On February 17, The Bakerton Group released El Rojo produced by J. Robbins, on Weathermaker Music. Drummer, Jean-Paul Gaster talks about the switch, the recording industry and shares what’s in store for Clutch and The Bakerton group.

Many band members have side projects, but what made you guys decide to have a jam band "alter-ego" with all the same members (with the addition of Per Wiberg)? How does Bakerton differ from Clutch?

We originally started The Bakerton group in the 90s. Neil actually moved to Denver for a short amount of time and we found ourselves with downtime and wanted to try the instrumental thing.

We’re all way into jazz and the blues and wanted to play that style of music, so at the time we played some Thelonious Monk and Coltrane covers. More than anything it was an experiment.

We decided that when we started Weathermaker we wanted to make and release a Bakerton record now that we had some real distro and a real label. We’ve been friends with Per for a long time and toured with him a bunch in Europe.

He’s a monster keyboard player and has an affinity for funk, jazz, and the blues so it was a natural fit. It turned out he had time off after an Opeth tour to record so it worked out perfectly.

What influenced the completely different sound?

The biggest difference is being able to write songs that aren’t focused around lyrics. After the years we’ve become really good at writing Clutch songs, and on the flipside, it’s a great challenge to write the Bakerton tracks. We’re much more concerned about the form of the songs and trying to find what melodies are working where, and really the instruments themselves become a lyrical focal point. At the end of the day its still hooks. We’re trying to write those things that still stick in peoples’ heads.

Why did you decide to create your own label, Weathermaker Music?

We realized after we were finally done with D.R.T. (our previous label), that it was time to do something drastically different. The idea of running our own label was always something we’ve been interested in, but at the time the distributors were not into the idea of working with just bands.

Over the past few years though, it was apparent that we as a band could sell as many records as any of the indie labels out there… that’s kind of what spurred it. It’s exciting to have our own label; we have a lot of projects planned that we’re excited about.

Would you recommend other bands to create their own label?

No doubt about it. The idea of a label as we know it really is nonexistent nowadays. The industry’s changed so much.

There’s a lot of ways for bands to get recognition today. The internet has had a large impact on the way bands do business. Anything you can do yourself is the way to go; you can’t wait around for people to get interested in your band anymore.

These labels were trying to sell millions of records and that doesn’t happen today, whereas years ago that happened way more frequently. Major labels are definitely a dying breed and anyone who can start their own label should definitely do it.

Two bands, a record label... What's next?

I’m pretty sure we have our work cut out for ourselves at the moment. These days we’re either on the road or writing more songs for both bands. It’s really gone like that steadily for the past year. We’ve had no time off in over a year so I think we’ve got our work cut out for ourselves right now.

I don’t think we’ll put out any bands on our label not related to Clutch, that was never the plan, but we’ll have the new Clutch full length this summer which we started recording after this tour, and maybe some other surprises coming soon as well.

-AlarmPress

Dancehall: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture

By: Beth Lesser

Dancehall: The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture explores the ups and downs of Jamaican music that has led Kingston to have one of the largest recording industries today. Dancehalls started in the backyards of those who were lucky enough to own soundsystems and grew into a political and cultural struggle throughout the 1970s. Dancehall brings you to Kingston, where it all began, and takes you through the years with full page pictures of artists, dance-goers and the culture of the music of the dancehall.

Dancehall tells the story of Jamaica’s adaptation of early American R&B that turned into the creation of a local recording industry made to spread the word on Jamaican pride and musical significance. The creation of Ska, Dub and Reggae take their place in the development of Jamaican music. The history and growth of Jamaican music culture told in this book is bittersweet and caused death and struggle for the island.

The economic struggles and political instability of the 1970s fueled violence throughout Jamaica. This caused many citizens of Kingston to stay inside for fear of being killed also caused most artists to flee the country in order to pursue their music and keep themselves and their families safe. Dancehall recognizes and unravels this period through various quotes and stories of the struggles.

With the end of the war and the election of 1980, musicians headed home towards Jamaica with what they had learned and the connections they made to pick up where they left off and create a more diverse music scene. Dancehall recounts the music and cultural revolution that began. Without the beginning of soundsystem and dancehalls the Jamaican culture would not be the same. “The development of the soundsystem dance was the most natural thing in the world for Jamaica,” said author Beth Lesser.

Dancehall shows the inside of a dancehall session, the first dancehall label, various influential artists and the evolution of dancehall and soundsystem into the late 80s.

-Alarm Press

The Format: B-sides & Rarities (Vanity)

Prior to scamming my favorite band's website I had no idea that they were no longer. I was shocked to say the least. Looking on the bright side, before The Format packed up their things and waved goodbye, they released an album of their b-sides and rarities late last year.

The Arizona based indie pop band has never failed their fans when it comes to breaking out fantastic albums. I assumed this wouldn't come short of that expectation and I wasn't let down. Lead by vocalist Nate Ruess, the band of almost 10 succeeded in heading out with a bang.

Their poppy beats coordinated with downright sad lyrics are what the band is known for. You never realize the subject matter until you actually listen to the lyrics. The boys mask it fantastically, causing listeners to break out in dance. This album is no different.

B-sides and Rarities is a compilation of what the boys have done throughout the past five years of their career. It greatly shows their growth as people and as musicians. album also has five demos from their previous studio album, Dog Problems.

A Good Time at Your Expense is an acoustic song about hatred. However Nate’s melodic voice carries the song through, as always.

The boys also threw in a short cover of Do You Believe in Magic? A classic, that they kept a classic.

The last two songs on the album are probably two of their best songs ever released. Apeman and Does Your Cat Have a Mustache? are fun and dance-worthy songs. The quirky titles caught my eye right from the start. It’s a great way to end an album, and since this is their last to be released it’s a great way to tie up their career as The Format.

French Kicks: Swimming (Vagrant)
New from Vagrant Records is the album Swimming from the Brooklyn band French Kicks. The new release is out on Itunes but doesn’t come out on disc until May 20^th. Some of their die-hard fans bought the album online and raved about it. I, however, have a little less raving to do. I really don’t want to tear this album apart, but if I won’t, I don’t know who will.

French Kicks’ lead vocalist Nick Stumpf’s airy and melodic sound almost resembles Thom York’s of Radiohead. However the airiness doesn’t subside and while some people like that, I’m not a big fan.

The album is entirely produced and mixed by the band itself. Impressive. I won’t go too far into praise though, because I find the I-mixed-this-in-my-basement-sound to be a little immature for a band of their class. It makes the album sound live, but isn’t that what shows are for?

Next on the list: variety. Their sound is unique and there is no doubt about that, on the other hand their sound from song to song is not. This is an album that I got bored with really quickly. Instead of three minute songs, I felt like I was listening to one really long song. One that I wish would have ended at three minutes. If it would have, I think I would have liked it.

It started off good, but ended sour. Kind of like those sour patch kids commercials; but opposite.

Throwing a little bit of good in the mix; it was pretty upbeat. There was a lot of finger snapping and hand clapping which always makes for an audience pleaser. But in French Kicks case, it just wasn’t enough.

The album ends with a song that fits perfectly called This Could Go Wrong. It seems like a good idea, but in the end it really isn’t a mind-blowing creation.