Click here for our top 20, geographic breakdown, individual voter lists, etc. Thanks to all the voters for humoring me. Happy New Years to all.
For real now, my last post: Saying Yes to Blood Feathers
Even though the blog has been still for many a month now, my love-life hasn’t. After a Russian doll-worthy series of lies, I conned my then-girlfriend into arriving at the PEP Boys parking lot at Broad and Federal in Philadelphia. That is, directly outside the stately row home we met six years ago as roommates. Where the Blood Feathers happened to be playing their beyond-lovely “You’re Welcome.” And Bands in the Backyard happened to be filming. The rest, as they say, is engagement history.
Thank ya’ll. And Kandace, this is the punishment for never posting on Noise Narcs: you become the subject of the post. And the subject of the rest of my life.
The Blood Feathers will be playing Johnny Brenda’s 5th Year Anniversary on Friday, September 30th 9:15PM, with Like A Fox and Matthew O’Neill opening. Tickets are $10, available here.
Exit Music (for a Blog): Thanks and goodbye from Noise Narcs
As you, our single digit readers, may have noticed, our posting has “slowed.” Although I’ve had a ton of fun writing about music, bands, and Philadelphia for the past year and a half, Noise Narcs will no longer be regularly updated. At the very least, this site will stay active in its current form until the end of the year, and then I’ll move it to cheaper (read: free) hosting, where it will live in semi-retirement, gathering moss and making future generations snicker. Like a Geocities X-Files fansite. It’s likely that there will be a few more sporadic posts, as whim strikes us, over the next few months. And the site will live on as a portal for our friendly Best Album of the Year poll.
So thank you. Thank you readers. Thank you to all the bands who submitted music. A special thank you to all the bands who submitted who didn’t suck (a surprisingly large percentage).
A big thanks to all the bands who endured our awkward interviews: Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Incan Abraham, Work Drugs, Bridge Underwater, Drew from Blood Feathers, The Eeries, and Grubby Little Hands.
Thank you to our loyal contributing narcs: Christopher “I know how spell psychedelic” T, Cydney “Music to dance/read/write to” A, Billy “I actually know things about music” L, Greg “I’m confused about The National” W, Matt “Gaga” K, Trent “amazing Italian video” W, my brother Aaron “I teach the children of rock stars” G, Katherine “I’m adorable about talking about how I don’t know anything about music but still am willing to post” H, Kenny “stills owes a Mog post” R, Andrew Mattey from Cozy Galaxies, Matt “What’s PBR&B?” S, Miya “Dairyland” T, and Dave “Ugly Furniture” B. And thanks to all of you who contributed to our year end lists: I hope you’ll keep doing it.
Thanks to all of our commenters. At the most spiteful and banal, you made us feel read. At your best, you made us feel challenged, intrigued, and appreciated.
Our sincere gratitude to the bands who played our show in March: Cozy Galaxies, Bridge Underwater, and Grubby Little Hands. You guys killed it, and I’m excited to hear where you guys will be going next.
Thanks to MOG, who ran our advertising. And I say this with all impartiality, if you love music, you should subscribe. Their pitch-perfect streaming has changed, permanently, the way I listen to music. So one last heartfelt advertisement: .
Penultimately, a few shoutouts to a few highlights among the Noise Narc features and posts:
- our wonderful “back in time” feature Hot Tub Rock Show
- David Lynch Week, which featured, in my opinion, the best overall Noise Narcs post by Billy L: The Voice From Another Place: Jimmy Scott and the Black Lodge
- the most hilarious comments definitely go to PBR&B: The Weeknd and Frank Ocean
- Chris teaching us about death
- interviewing Jeremy Barnes
- Matt K’s Oscar piece, which had the highest lol-to-word ratio
- Material Lives’ calling Eddie Fisher “the equivalent of [her] Madonna, Prince, or Andre Agassi.”
- songs that feature whistling
- my best post, a Noise Variation on “Memphis, Tennessee.” Not a brag: any idiot could write well about that perfect song.
This really has been a pleasure for me. And, on Friday, tune in for my last “official” post: numerous versions of the saddest goodbye song I know. It’ll be a real tearjerker, jerks.
Stream Man Man’s Life Fantastic
Do you like Philadelphian music? Do you like neo-circus (nu-circus?) music? Do you like bands with names like The The, Duran Duran, the Go-Gos, and Talk Talk? Do you have a thing for streaming an album before it’s released? Oh, or a blistering dose of delicious musical explosive weirdness?
Then you’d be wise to jump over to Stereogum to listen to Man Man’s Life Fantastic: Stream.
Indie Rock Is Dead: Paul Krugman’s Posting on Arcade Fire
On his blog, Paul “Cassandra” Krugman posted on Arcade Fire last night. I’m just going to repeat that: Paul Krugman wrote about Arcade Fire.
I’m ashamed to say that I wasn’t even aware of the band until the Grammys — but hey, I’m 58! And as I suspect is happening with Brad, as an aging baby boomer I find it vastly reassuring to see that there are honest, creative artists still making their way up amid the commercialization. And their live performances are truly addictive. So:
Two notes. 1.) Starting today, Noise Narcs will cease its coverage of last week’s Pitchfork and instead cover last week’s Keynesian economics. 2.) James Fallows, you better step up your game from Pomplamoose.
Happy Easter, Christians!
I am Senor Chang, and I'm so ill! This is a warning: I can't be killed.
Jacques Slade, “I Never Die” [youtube] (from the Community soundtrack)
Your 420 Post: Argent, “Liar”
It’s not like I’m obligated to post one, but if you were expecting a 420 friendly tune, then the following should serve nicely.
After the lackluster sales of Odessey and Oracle, one of our favorite misspelled albums, The Zombies tragically dissolved. Distinctive vocalist Colin Blunstone left to work in the insurance industry for a little while before ultimately returning to music, but keyboardist/song-writer/sometime-vocalist Rod Argent quickly formed his own band, Argent, which would go on to release several albums throughout the early seventies.
Several tracks off the 1970 self-titled debut would sound right at home on an Odessey and Oracle follow-up, for example, “Schoolgirl,” “Dance in the Smoke,” and “The Feelings Inside.” All are very highly recommended.
"Come right in! Your keys go in that bowl there. We were just listening to Argent on our Koss headphones. It's 1970."
But then there’s a track like “Liar,” which would turn into a much bigger hit for Three Dog Night when they covered it that same year. It is not like the Zombies, but I like it. To begin with, the driving blues riff sounds more like something Alvin Lee was doing around that time with Ten Years After, but there’s also an edge that, to me, makes it way more of a freak-out than anything the Zombies did together.
Enjoy.
Skeleton Dead premiere: New songs, debut album “done and dusted within the month”
Just got an email from the British duo of Skeleton Dead, who we first fell for back in December. Not only have they released two more sparse, gorgeous neo-trad folk tracks on their Soundcloud, there’s also album news: “We’re currently finishing off the album – should all be recorded, mixed, done and dusted within the month.”
“Lock the Doors” starts with an ominous thrust of crawling echo that would fit well with “U Smile 800% Slower,” before a car engine turns over and the tale of a murderous burglar begins over jangling guitars and slowly progressing organ. But underneath the bright, gentle instrumentation, the echoed retardation never leaves: drifting in and out, providing ballast and biting menace.
Lock the Doors by The Skeleton Dead
“Taken by the Tide,” is Skeleton Dead’s most sunshine-y song by a country mile. A train-like acoustic rhythm guitar is overtaken by a warm electric that would fit well in a ’50s ballad or a Cass McCombs song. “If we’re taken by the tide / I can’t say that I’ll mind.”
Taken by the Tide by The Skeleton Dead
These two additions make Skeleton Dead’s album one of our most anticipated of the year. And for our UK readers, they’ll be playing some dates in June. So keep an eye out.
Tripping Through Vanguard’s Vaults
Tomorrow, April 16, is the fifth annual Record Store Day, so be sure to run out and support your local record store whether it’s a.k.a. Music in old city, Repo on South St, tequila sunset or milkcrate records up on Girard, or whatever.
To celebrate the occasion, Vanguard Records has dug deep in its vaults and come out with Follow Me Down: Vanguard’s Lost Psychedelic Era (1966-1970), a two-disc compilation of mostly single album artists from that golden, paisley age.
Tracks range from the Hammond-soaked agnosticism of Listening’s “Stoned Is” (It’s a mean life / I mean, you don’t even know why you scream / but someday I’ll find out what I’ve got to say) to the more experimental, thirteen minute raga-rock vision-quest (complete with electric banjo) of Serpent Power’s “Endless Tunnel,” a personal favorite that exchanges the blue bus of The Doors’ “The End” for a mysterious passenger train headed for death or conformity or something.
Here is “Stoned Is” for your enjoyment. If the bass sounds a bit familiar (solo starts at 3:20), it’s because Walter Powers would later be known to hold the groove for the (moderately more successful) Velvet Underground.
The Antlers new track, “Parentheses”: The opposite of slight
I initially fell in love with The Antlers’ Hospice, but its emotional tug fell off for me after repeated lesson. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how my taste in music has been affected by my life situations: music that’s too slight (overwhelmed by the subway) or too harsh (too distracting for work, etc.) tends to get unfairly minimized. And Hospice‘s fall from my good graces was likely the result of that sort of unfair squeeze; no matter how beautiful it was, it was just too slight for what’s going on with my life.
This new track, “Paanetheses” [via Pitchfork], however, won’t fall prey to that. Pulling a major, major page from the last couple of Radiohead albums, it ups the ante with a Greenwood-esque guitar and Selway-esque drums. To be honest, this is as good as, if not better than, most of King of the Limbs.
Keep an eye out for The Antlers’ May 10 release of Burst Apart.
