The confessional style and restless spirit of songstress Amy LaVere
By Troy Farah Published on 09/01/2011 in Flag Live
Soft-spoken,with a voice like a Midwestern version of Fiona Apple,Amy LaVere wields an upright bass almost bigger than she is when playing her Americana tunes about falling in love,falling out and,sometimes,murder.
LaVere’s third album, Stranger Me,was written over four years while LaVere dealt with the deterioration of a long-term relationship and the death of friend and producer Jim Dickinson. Filled with bitterness,confusion and LaVere’s trademark self-sufficiency for coping with loss, Stranger Me was lauded by Spin magazine as the “breakup album of the year,” and certainly earns that title.
With their fourth LP,the Arctic Monkeys seem to be continuing this bizarre descent into bleakness. Coming from their post-punk debut to Suck It And See,12 heavy-hearted tunes,obscure with meaning,with frontman Alex Turner’s vocals leaning toward something gothic,this doesn’t offer much. And unfortunately this descent leads to utter nonsense.
Arctic Monkeys used to be a band rife with clever metaphor (equally matched with groan-worthy puns) or fresh perspective on some oddly chosen fairy tale,but somewhere along the line,Turner’s lyrics became muddled analogies trying too hard. Read More
It’s getting nearly impossible to count the heartfelt pet projects of mega-producer Brian Burton,better known as Danger Mouse. His latest collaboration, Rome,includes Jack White,Norah Jones and most notably,Italian composer Daniele Luppi,not to mention a reunited Cantori Moderni (the choir from “The Good,The Bad and The Ugly”).
The music,a mix of bluesy guitars and dramatic operatic pop,was directly inspired by the soundtrack work of the brilliant Ennio Morricone,famous for his score on “The Good,The Bad and The Ugly” and other Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns.
Beach House had a teen dream way before Katy Perry and there,I win,with the most hipster statement you will hear all week. In all seriousness,I’ve been playing this beautiful little gem over and and over and I even heard “Zebra”in a Starbucks,which made me want to wear a lot more plaid,grow a beard (too bad I can’t) and drink my weight in PBR.
Overplayed is a column about songs I’ve been playing over and over again. They are songs I like or keep hearing. Discuss?
What can I say? More indie stuff you’ve probably heard a thousand times before but that opening line kills me,especially the way it builds like a “confetti-burst”and blows “through the balls of my eyes.”
Overplayed is a column about songs I’ve been playing over and over again. They are songs I like or keep hearing. Discuss?
Our intrepid music writer thumbs his way to and from the legendary music fest By Troy Farah Published on 04/07/2011
Hitchhiking is easy;getting into certain shows at South by Southwest—not so much.
I got 11 free rides from good ol’ Flagstaff to Austin,Texas,for one of the biggest interactive,film and music festivals in the country,with well over 2,000 performers in more than 90 venues. It took four days on the road and along the way I met,among many others,a chatty truck driver from Poland who used to trade alcohol to Soviet soldiers for gasoline;a judge who saved me when I got kicked out of a truck stop;a survivalist who drove from Spokane to San Antonio without stopping or sleeping;and a chill lighting director who smokes pot,yet still strongly believes in Jesus and who dropped me off in the midst of downtown Austin.
Soundtrack to the Working Life Irish-American punks Flogging Molly are taking their vision much further than they ever imagined possible By Troy Farah Published on 05/05/2011
They’re Irish. They’re punk. They’re Irish-punk. You know,they’re Flogging Molly.
For 14 years,Flogging Molly have circled the globe on a nearly endless tour playing intense,intoxicated tunes evoking the Dead Kennedys and the Dubliners. Only Dave King,lead singer and guitarist,is actually from Ireland. The band itself was formed in Los Angeles around the Irish pub Molly Malone’s,where the seven-piece band played so often they felt like they were flogging the bar to death. Now the name makes sense,doesn’t it?
Their name was torn from the pages of a magazine—not the Herman Melville classic,but the members of the Devil Whale are still well versed in literature from Carl Sandburg to Theodore Roethke,blending smarts with rock.
According to lead singer Brinton Jones,a lot of their influences are “the kind of generic ones”—the Beatles,the Kinks,the Velvet Underground. But the band throws in plenty of modern influence from Destroyer to Dear Hunter to Guided by Voices. The result is good old-fashioned,multi-layered indie-pop—a bit melancholy,but rife with sharp lyrics like on the track “Underwater”:“If you wanna be rich like them/don’t rob them—become their friend/but don’t give them your middle name.”
Much like the controversial law SB 1070,a new piece of legislation dealing with immigration,SB 1611,has drawn some angry critics. Protesters gathered outside Flagstaff City Hall Wednesday evening waving signs and chanting “Si se puede” at traffic. Students and citizens,young and old,stood together and later took turns giving speeches through a bullhorn.
If passed,SB 1611 will tighten identification requirements on every level from school enrollment to hospital visits to getting a job to driving a car. It would be illegal for an undocumented immigrant to enroll in university,to drive,to get treatment from a hospital or talk to a police officer. Russell Pearce,the bill’s main supporter,says this is just to stop taxpayers from paying for illegal immigrants and the bill is merely “cleaning up.”
Well,NAU hosted a debate about lowering the drinking age and with all the graphs and statistics thrown around like t-shirts at a Wildcats game,it was hard to concentrate,but I did learn one important thing tonight – debates are some of the most boring places,next to doctor’s offices and graduation ceremonies,to show up to drunk as fuck.
I only had four vodka shots in the “Mountain Dew” bottle I snuck in and only suckled down two beers and three additional shots before stumbling into this event,but I sat quietly and listened intently to some argument between Bill DeJong and Barry Seaman. Both men seemed aptly intelligent and were patient with each other’s responses. That’s nice. They talked mostly about alcohol abuse and how America’s 21-plus law is an influence.
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Arizona’s Authority Zero have become international icons while staying true to their roots By Troy Farah Published on 01/12/2012 in Flag Live
With hit singles like “One More Minute,” “Revolution,” and the Wall of Voodoo cover “Mexican Radio,” Authority Zero are arguably the most popular band to come out of Mesa—and they’re especially familiar with any kid who got into skateboarding or punk around the turn of the century. Noted for their mix of reggae,ska-punk and their Spanish and Portuguese inspirations,the four-piece admit a deep admiration for Sublime,Pennywise and Bad Religion,making them a distinct . . . →Read More:Punk Heaven
The confessional style and restless spirit of songstress Amy LaVere
By Troy Farah Published on 09/01/2011 in Flag Live
Soft-spoken,with a voice like a Midwestern version of Fiona Apple,Amy LaVere wields an upright bass almost bigger than she is when playing her Americana tunes about falling in love,falling out and,sometimes,murder.
LaVere’s third album, Stranger Me,was written over four years while LaVere dealt with the deterioration of a long-term relationship and the death of friend and producer Jim Dickinson. Filled with bitterness,confusion and LaVere’s trademark self-sufficiency for coping with loss, Stranger Me was lauded by Spin magazine . . . →Read More:Love,travel,murder,music with Amy LaVere
Soundtrack to the Working Life Irish-American punks Flogging Molly are taking their vision much further than they ever imagined possible By Troy Farah Published on 05/05/2011
They’re Irish. They’re punk. They’re Irish-punk. You know,they’re Flogging Molly.
For 14 years,Flogging Molly have circled the globe on a nearly endless tour playing intense,intoxicated tunes evoking the Dead Kennedys and the Dubliners. Only Dave King,lead singer and guitarist,is actually from Ireland. The band itself was formed in Los Angeles around the Irish pub Molly Malone’s,where the seven-piece band played so often they felt like they were flogging . . . →Read More:Flogging Molly’s Soundtrack to the Working Life
Much like the controversial law SB 1070,a new piece of legislation dealing with immigration,SB 1611,has drawn some angry critics. Protesters gathered outside Flagstaff City Hall Wednesday evening waving signs and chanting “Si se puede” at traffic. Students and citizens,young and old,stood together and later took turns giving speeches through a bullhorn.
If passed,SB 1611 will tighten identification requirements on every level from school enrollment to hospital visits to getting a job to driving a car. It would be illegal for an undocumented immigrant to enroll in university,to drive,to get treatment from a . . . →Read More:Protesters pissed about impending police state
Well,NAU hosted a debate about lowering the drinking age and with all the graphs and statistics thrown around like t-shirts at a Wildcats game,it was hard to concentrate,but I did learn one important thing tonight – debates are some of the most boring places,next to doctor’s offices and graduation ceremonies,to show up to drunk as fuck.
I only had four vodka shots in the “Mountain Dew” bottle I snuck in and only suckled down two beers and three additional shots before stumbling into this event,but I sat quietly and listened intently to some argument . . . →Read More:Slightly Drunk at NAU’s Drinking Age Debate
Well,NAU hosted a debate about lowering the drinking age and with all the graphs and statistics thrown around like t-shirts at a Wildcats game,it was hard to concentrate,but I did learn one important thing tonight – debates are some of the most boring places,next to doctor’s offices and graduation ceremonies,to show up to drunk as fuck.