Emocapella

You might be familiar with the a capella style of music where a group recreates the vocals and instrumentation of music with their voices. Take that concept, and throw in punk/emo from my sophomore year of high school (thats about 2001) and you get Emocapella. I found this 13-member group from George Washington University a few days ago on i guess i’m floating and was overfilled with nostalgia and the realization that emocapella often sings the songs better than the original groups.

MP3 Emocapella – Even Hitler Had A Girlfriend (Mr. T Experience)

MP3 Emocapella – At Your Funeral (Saves The Day)

here’s the original (for comparison purposes)

MP3 At Your Funeral (from Stay What You Are)

From the Emocapella’s site I found a video of one of their “guerilla performances” in which they basically become street singers for walker-bys on campus. They’re singing Taking Back Sunday’s “Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team)” and it’s hilarious. They actually start rocking out at the end and throwing chairs.

Download Emocapella – “Cute Without The E” video

You can buy their debut album here

In Other News:

Oscar Nominees and the line-up for Coachella were announced today. Check them out here and here.

Rock Kills Kid

When you first hear this artist name, you can assume it refers to one of three things, sorted from most likely to least likely:

A) Rock (as a style of music) killing a kid (maybe he listened to loud, Pete Townsend warned you)
B) Rock (the hard, naturally formed mineral) literally falling on a kid and killing him.
C) A mascot for an imaginary anti-rock slogan, “Rock Kills” (As in: “hey there’s the ‘Rock Kills’ Kid, my mom made me destroy my AC/DC album because of you!”)

Whatever the case, be Rock Kills Kid is a fresh new rock band that describes themselves as “the best elements of early U2, The Cure, and Killing Joke”. Of course, when I saw this, I investigated and found that their song, “Paralyzed”, did alternate between verses that were Cure-like and a chorus that had background vocals straight off of “War”.

MP3 Paralyzed
Video – Paralyzed

“Hide Away” is going to be featured on The OC in an upcoming episode. The song is very radio-friendly, with a catchy chorus and soaring vocals. I think it will do well on the OC, especially if it plays right when Seth Cohen’s going on a drug-trip and Ryan and Johnny are duking it out for Marissa. Yea, I watch the OC, so what?

MP3 Hideaway

Make sure to visit Rock Kills Kid’s official site (plus their myspace) and buy the album when it comes out in April.

*Update – A commenter just mentioned that Rock is a form of cocaine. Good point! Though, I think that the statement “Rock Kills” referring to a kid is a bit of a stretch since there would have to comma between Kills and Kid.

U2 + Hip Hop / Jesus Is Just Alright With Me

‘Diddy’ supposedly has Bono on speed dial, U2 and Kayne toured together for a few dates last year, and Bono has been seen sunbathing with Jay-Z and Beyonce, but I still wasn’t prepared for this:

“I happen to be in really a truly great band, and experimentation has been the lifeblood of this band. We of course will look and are looking across at hip hop and see the amazing innovation in the studio…it will be somewhere very special or you won’t hear about it, because there’s no reason for you to put out an album now unless its very special. You know, we don’t need the cash.”

Every avid U2 fan knows that U2 have been at their best when they’re experimenting with their sound (see Achtung Baby/Zooropa) but I’d rather not see Bono ever freestylin’ or poppin’ his collar. Then again, their duet with Mary J. Blige of “One” (which will be reprised at the Grammies) was outstanding.

MP3 Mysterious Ways (Perfecto Mix)

What Would Jesus Blog is always a good read. If you’ve ever had a question for God, want to hear Jesus’ Lost theories, or would like to suggest a painful mid-90’s rock song for the hell-goers to listen on the elevator ride down, go there.

MP3 The Doobie Brothers – Jesus Is Just Alright

Trashcan Sinatras

A seriously good Scottish band I’ve been listening to lately is Trashcan Sinatras. This band has been around for quite a while and they’ve developed a fantastic sound, layering acoustic guitars over each other to create lush, complex arrangements. Throw in the occasional horns and strings and you have some of the catchiest pop/rock you’ll hear. Their latest album, Weightlifting, is available here.

MP3 All the Dark Horses
MP3 I’ve Seen Everything
MP3 Obscurity Knocks (via MyExBestFriend)

Trashcan Sinatras are also one of the most generous bands I’ve ever seen, when it comes to online sharing. There is a huge downloads section on their site of rare/live MP3’s.

Where are they now? Update

Nine days ago I wrote an entry wondering when Appleseed Cast would start recording again. Shortly after I wrote it, I found out that they had already recorded a new album and it was going to be released in March. I guess next time I’ll do a little more homework before my post.

Anyway, I just got a hold of the CD yesterday (it leaked the day of my post) and have been enjoying it quite a bit. The sound has evolved a bit, but they still have the melodic guitar and progressive sound their known for. i guess i’m floating already posted two very enjoyable songs from the CD, and here’s another great one.

MP3 Appleseed Cast – Here We Are (Family In The Hallway)

The Blogs Are Back in Town!

It’s already been reported that Welcome to the M!dwest! is back to its blogging ways, and everyone knows that Veritas Lux Mea is better than ever now that its back, especially with a layout that finally works. (Looks great, Goose). But now, When Apes Rule The Earth is back from Relapse (literally). Addie has some great offers on there including Back to the Future 2 and some great covers.

Blogging is like Cher, you keep saying your going to leave but you know your going to keep coming back, because people really want to hear the “Do you believe in life after love?” one more time…

MP3 Cher – Believe

Jenny Lewis

A couple of days ago, I had my friend Evan from work draw a picture of Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley, Postal Service, and now solo fame) for me. He’s quite the artist as you can see. He based his drawing off of a picture attached to a current article in Spin Magazine. As most of you know, Jenny’s new album Rabbit Fur Coat is coming out tomorrow and its already gotten some great reviews.

This will give you a full scope on Jenny’s work.
Child Actress
(From Troop Beverly Hills, 1989)

Rilo Kiley
MP3 Bulletproof (From Take Offs and Landings, 2001)
MP3 Better Son/Daughter (From Execution of All Things, 2002)
MP3 Portions for Foxes (More Adventurous, 2004)

The Postal Service
MP3 We Will Become Silhouettes (Give Up, 2003)

Solo (with Watson Twins)
MP3 Big Guns (Rabbit Fur Coat, 2006)

As you can see, Miss Lewis already has had quite an illustrious career and I can only imagine what the future holds for her. Maybe soon she’ll have her own Alias-Type Show or join the Blue Man Group.

Welcome to the M!dwest! is back!!!

Welcome to the M!dwest! is one of of my favorite blogs, and was one of the biggest influences for me to start a music blog, so you can imagine how sad I was when Aaron (the man behind the blog) stopped blogging in Septemeber (school starting). M!dwest had some fantastic offerings last year, I think it was the first place that had Sufjan’s Colorado concert and the his Live @ KCRW that has been circulating ever since. Last Thursday, the blog made its triumphant return.

Do yourselves a favor and visit. There’s a great Wheat post featuring a live version of the song “Closer To Mercury” which I particularly enjoy.

In Other News:
-Thanks to i guess i’m floating for the mention. It’s a very new blog, but causing a big stir already.

-Check out the Elbow.ws MP3 Bloggers Community Forum. Thanks songsillinois for helping start this!

-A blog called Sex, Prose, & Glamourous Indie Rock’n’Roll called called this blog, “consistently giggle-worthy indie blog by a seppo with tops taste, themed loosely around a certian really really ridiculously good-looking man.” The writer is from Austrailia which is really awesome (I might go there this summer). Could someone explain what a seppo is though?

String Quartet Tribute to… – Muse

I’ve been collecting some of the String Quartet Tributes, which I find to be absolutely fascinating and starting today I’m going to begin sharing some of my collection.

My first choice is the Tribute to Muse, which is easily one of my favorite collections. The technical difficulty of the quartet is upped substantially to recreate Muse’s complex arrangements. Here’s two great tracks from the album:

MP3 New Born
MP3 Stockholm Syndrome

You can browse through their whole collection here. There’s a ton to choose from!

The John Merrick Experience

The John Merrick Experience (otherwise known as JME) are a French electronic/indie/rock band from France. There influences range from Pink Floyd to Depeche Mode, and they have plenty of interesting sounds and psychedelic guitars to keep you engaged in the music. They get there name from the lead character of the movie, Elephant Man (of which you can find out more on there myspace).

Nick from the John Merrick Experience recently sent me a song from their upcoming album called “Under My Skin, which I’ve been listening to for a couple days. It’s a very good song with influences coming from all over. The beginning sounds Bowie-like, especially with the cabaret-like piano, and the end has a rocking/bluesy guitar solo that Jimmy Page would have been proud of. Heres the track:

MP3 Under My Skin

And for no real reason, heres a bonus MP3 which is from an album titled Under My Skin. I don’t care what anyone says, I agree with Ben Gibbard when he says that Avril Lavigne is “pretty good.”

MP3 Fall to Pieces