Showing posts with label tegan and sara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tegan and sara. Show all posts

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Forget Sarah Palin For a Second, Let's Talk About Me


Alright, so school's back in session meaning that I should get some more posts in, especially since I'm living alone this year. So hopefully I've heard the last complaint about how I don't post enough.

Let me tell you my top 5 complaints about this school-year so far.

5. Now that I'm a junior, I'm starting to feel stupid for being in classes with freshmen. I have two 100-level classes because they were the only two that I could find that fulfilled some requirements. The first day I walked into these classes, it was practically silent because they were full of freshmen that knew nobody and were afraid to talk to their neighbor. I've never had the hatred towards freshmen that others have felt, but my being in the same learning space as them is now starting to make me feel like the creepy old guy. All I need is to have my hair start falling out and to be the guy to stare at a female a little too long after she's finished answering a question in discussion.

4. My TA's are starting to look closer to my age. Maybe I'm having a middle-age crisis of the college variety, but jeez, I feel like these people will be applying for AARP cards at the same time as me.

3. I love Asian people. Please don't get me wrong. But basically my entire floor is made up of people who I can't speak with. I don't know what it is about this building, but it's made up mostly of people that are not from the U.S.

2. The person who lived in my apartment last did not cancel their cable and internet. Now, when I called from my hometown, I was told that I would need to bring a lease in to be able to get service. Well, lucky for me, I had to work in my hometown until Labor Day, meaning that the only time I could get in to Charter would be when school started. So when I got here, I hooked up the internet and cable and it was working. Sweet, free internet and cable. But yesterday the cable went out. Well, today I went to the nearest Charter office... 8 miles away... and set up cable. It's only going to be 6 more days before I have cable. Luckily, I have That 70's Show Seasons 2 and 3 to keep me preoccupied.

1. I miss living with people.

Song of the day: We Looked Like Giants by Death Cab for Cutie. I just really like the line "You'd skip your early classes and we'd learn how our bodies worked". Even though Ben Gibbard seems a bit pretentious, a lot of my bands have ties to Death Cab, especially Chris Walla, and their songs are amazing productions. They are so well arranged, and a lot of that has to do with Chris' production skills and Jason McGerr's knack for picking the perfect drum beat for a given song. I have to give Gibbard credit for writing some amazing lyrics too. Going back to the bands with ties to Death Cab, The Dismemberment Plan were amazing friends with Death Cab, which is interesting considering that their music is quite different. Walla has produced albums for many of my favorite bands, including the Velvet Teen (Out of the Fierce Parade), Tegan & Sara (The Con (which McGerr also played drums on)), and Hot Hot Heat (Make Up the Breakdown and Knock Knock Knock).

We Looked Like Giants by Death Cab for Cutie at Youtube

Friday, February 8, 2008

Who's the Boss? My top 5 bands with More Than One Lead Singer

Like variety? Here are my 5 favorite bands with more than one lead vocalist. Each group will include a song or songs featuring each lead singer (except Broken Social Scene, because there are so many).

1. Menomena
I know, I know, this blog so far has been Menomena-dominated, but it really deserves to be. They barely edge out Broken Social Scene for this list, but each member of this band contributes to lead vocals on songs. Admittedly, they are mostly Brent Knopf and Justin Harris, but Danny Seim leads on a couple, has a solo project, and contributes back-ups on many tracks. Seim's got a very low voice but he'll bring it up to a falsetto from time to time, Knopf's is more sweet, vibrato-dominated, and higher than the other two's voices, and Harris pushes his to intensity very well, but can also have a beautiful falsetto.Their styles are all unique, but fit the instrumentation amazingly.

"Trigga Hiccups" at Menomena.com (Knopf)
"Weird (Live)" at YouTube (Harris)
"Strongest Man in the World" at YouTube (Seim)

2. Broken Social Scene
Okay, we all know Broken Social Scene is Kevin Drew's band. He dominates the vocals for the most part. But the female leads know how to steal the spotlight as well. You can't help but fall in love with 2006's break-out star, Leslie Feist, when you hear her voice in these songs. I love her in BSS more than in Feist because for the most part her songs in Feist show off her sweet, beautiful side, but songs such as BSS's "Almost Crimes" (my favorite BSS song) allow her to belt it out, which I think is her most impressive aspect. She almost has a Robert Plant aspect when she sings the best part of the song: "Love and hate is the only way". But she's not the only other lead singer. Amy Millan and Emily Haines also contribute on tracks. Even K-Os has contributed. This spring, Brendan Canning will release Broken Social Scene's second "Presents..." album, and from seeing him in concert, it should prove to be an amazing Dinosaur Jr.-esque album.

"Almost Crimes" at YouTube (Drew and Feist)

3. Tegan & Sara
No, I'm not ashamed that I like Tegan & Sara. Every guy is allowed to like a maximum of five girly bands I believe. But I don't even believe they are a girly band. Would the White Stripes have a hit with a cover of a girly band? I don't think so. Tegan's songs are probably the ones people think of when they call them girly. Her voice is much more normal, the instrumentation on her song normally less intense. However, she can speed it up on occasion as evidenced with "Living Room", my favorite song of theirs. Sara's songs are unique, odd, and impossible not to love. Her voice is weird, but not annoying. Her songs are often repetative, but not boring (See "Walking with a Ghost"). Overall, the two girls' songs are totally different characters from one another. They split cd's, which is a must because both of these girls clearly love the spotlight and are jealous of eachother's talents. I love them for it.

"Living Room" at YouTube (Tegan)
"Walking with a Ghost at YouTube" (Sara)


4. Headlights
Headlights is he epitome of the pop-folk male-female bi-vocal happy-go-lucky indie band. Erin Fein's voice is so sweet and innocent, Tristan Wraight's is chill. They have a new album coming out on February 19th.

(Both sing backings on the other's songs)
"TV" at YouTube (Erin)
"Signs Point to Yes (Outlook Not So Good)" at YouTube (Tristan)



5. The Receiving End of Sirens (Between the Heart an
d the Synapse only)
Why do I say that? Not because the mixed vocals ended after that album. No, because after the debut album they lost Casey Crescenzo, the strongest part of the tri-vocal attack. Their second album, "The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi", left only Brendan Brown and Alex Bars to contribute weaker, uninspired vocals. Not only that, but it is clear Casey was a large part of the song-writing process, because his solo project "The Dear Hunter" now sounds more like The Receiving End of Sirens than the current Receiving End of Sirens does. Nevertheless, Between the Heart and the Synapse is a fantastic experimental rock record, one of the few albums I still listen to from my high school emo music phase, although I fail to see how this album falls under the emo genre. There's no whining, no talks of cutting oneself, etc. I guess you'll have to listen for yourself.

"Planning a Prison Break" at YouTube (All three)