Twelve-Bar News

Top 5 for 2012

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:00:56 -0500

Hey everyone, the year is (relatively) new and the semester is (unfortunately) right around the corner. Without further adieu, here’s some music-related things that we’re looking forward to in 2012!

-Billy

Sam’s Top 5

5. Bjork’s Biophilia tour- While the album wasn’t Bjork’s best work, her 10 day residency in NYC is sure to be an experience, set to feature a 24 piece Icelandic Choir, performances at the New York Hall of Science, and a 3 week long educational series for children.

4. Guided By Voices- Clown Spots A UFO- The 2nd album in 6 months by GBV is unlikely to lose any of the energy of it’s predecessor, the excellent “Let’s go Eat The Factory”. It is great to see the band back on their game again after being broken up for over 15 years.

3. Titus Andronicus-LP3- “The Monitor” was my favorite album of 2010, so naturally, i’m quite excited about the band’s next record. The band has stated that the album will be partly inspired by singer, Patrick Stickles recent encounter with a lightning bolt in the middle of a concert. As good a concept as any.

2. Whatever the Flaming Lips have planned for 2012- Events of 2011 include the release of a six-hour song, a 24 hour song, a 12 part song designed to be played at once, 6 twelve inch eps featuring collaborations with Neon Indian, Lightning Bolt, Yoko Ono, Bon Iver, Zola Jesus, and Weezer, the release of several eps trapped inside of various human body parts, and the sale of actual human skulls.

1. The Magnetic Fields- New album and tour- This band has yet to disappoint me in the slightest in their 20 year career, and their new release, (the first to feature synthesizers since 1999) does not look to change that position. This will be my first opportunity to see the group live, an experience I have been looking forward to for a long time.

Dan’s Top 5

5. Pearl Jam - There have been reports of the band putting in studio time in L.A. earlier this year, so I would expect to see some new tunes from them hopefully in early 2012. The new album would be their 10th studio album.

4. Queens of the Stone Age - One of the most anticipated releases for the new year. The band is prepping for their 6th studio album, since Era Vulgaris in 2007. Lead guitarist and founder Josh Homme reported on the band’s facebook page, “Locked away in the desert. & shit yeah. it. sounds. fuckin. killer.”

3. The Shins - The alternative rock group have already released their first single, “Simple Song”, from their upcoming 4th album, Port of Morrow. Sounds pretty decent. Check it out here: http://soundcloud.com/theshins

2. Lamb of God - Yup, even for a not-so-crazed metal fan, this is a highly anticipated release. Resolution, their 7th studio album, is set to release January 24th.

1. Lights on the Horizon - That’s right, you may have heard of them. The local Oneonta band comprised of James Walrath, Lucas Rock, and Seth Masten, all SUCO students, are set to release their first EP since forming the band in their Spring semester of last year. Check them out here: http://www.facebook.com/lightsonthehorizon?sk=app_178091127385

Billy’s Top 5

5. Clutch ‘12 - The band initially intended to write a new record last year, but touring took over. The guys are first and foremost a live band, but drummer Jean-Paul Gaster told me that, if time allows, Clutch will put out a new release this year. It’ll be fantastic, undoubtedly. Also, I expect to catch them live at least once this calendar year and they never disappoint. True road-dogs, none better.

4. NAMM - The Winter NAMM tradeshow is one of the music industry’s biggest. It happens later this week and I’ll be joining other SUCO Music Industry cohorts out in LA, as well as covering the event for a couple of magazines I work for. Can’t wait.

3. Lamb of God - As Dan pointed out (Hell Yeah, buddy!), the unstoppable LOG will be unleashing Resolution next week, on the 24th. The next night, I’ll be in Boston to see them destroy the city in person. God damn! Life is good.

2. Rammstein - For the second year in a row, I’ll be spending OH-Fest weekend on a much more worthwhile endeavor: seeing Rammstein live. Last year, I hit a double-shot road trip (a near requirement on any bands I love) in NJ and Montreal. This year I pull an unprecedented (for me) trifecta: NY, MA, and Montreal. 4 days, 3 Rammstein concerts. What could be better?

1. Rob Zombie - This. The high (un)holy one himself teased that “The Greatest Show On Earth Returns in 2012”. There is no exaggeration there and, although I have no dates or locations yet, you better believe I’m seeing Zombie multiple, Demonoid Phenomenon-ological fuckin’ times!

Top 5 Songs About Other Artists

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:55:00 -0500

This would be too easy if it was listing songs that tear apart other artists, but we wanted tributes instead. It was Sam’s idea and, as such, only he could think of 5. I’ll throw in an honorable mention though.

-Billy

Sam’s Top 5

5. David Bowie- Queen Bitch(About The Velvet Underground)

While their are few refrences to the band in the lyrics themselves, Bowie has stated on many occasions that this highlight of the pre-Ziggy Stardust era is squarely about his love of Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground. Bowie has written many songs about his idols, such as Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan, yet the somewhat controversally named “Queen Bitch” is by far the most catchy and recognizable of his string of tribute songs.

4. Neutral Milk Hotel- Naomi(About Naomi Yang)

This fuzzy masterpiece is a song about singer, Jeff Mangum’s fictional relationship with the bass player from Galaxie 500. 17 years after the songs release, and 11 years after the band’s breakup, Naomi Yang herself would create a video for the song, adding yet another layer of ambiguity to the already cryptic lyrics.

3. Stevie Wonder- Sir Duke(About Duke Ellington)

This one doesen’t need too much of an introduction. Wonder creates his tribute to the legandary jazz composer utilizing extensive horn arrangements one of the finest vocal melodys ever concieved.

2. Pavement- Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence(About R.E.M.)

What this song lacks in technical proficiency it makes up for in originality and humor. The lyrics describe civil war general William Sherman’s march through the state of Georgia, and coming face to face with the state’s most successful rock band. The song is one of the few that always make me laugh throughout. It may be a bit sacreligious to place a joke song above a Stevie Wonder Classic, but where would music be without a little comedy?

1. The Replacements- Alex Chilton(About Alex Chilton/Big Star)

There are many parallels between Replacements songwriter Paul Westerberg and his hero Alex Chilton. Both led severely under appreciated bands that would come to be influential decades later on countless artists, and both had an eye for heavy, yet heartfelt songwriting. This skill is most successfully displayed in “Alex Chilton” in which Westerberg imagines a perfect world in which “Children by the millions scream for Alex Chilton when he comes around”. The song led to a new generation of fans discovering Chilton’s music, which eventually led to his resurgence in the 1990’s. Chilton unfortunately died unexpctaedly a day before he was scheduled to perform with a reunited Big Star. Yet it was this song that would allow him to live out his last remaining years with the respect and admiration he always deserved.

Billy’s Honorable Mention:

Primus - Lee Van Cleef

I heard this song on WONY towards the end of the semester, and was blown away. The distinctly Les Claypool rhythm is funky enough, but the lyrics touched me deep. I love Clint, but I also really love me some Lee. Enough said.

Top 5: Film Scores/Soundtracks

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:55:37 -0500

It’s been a while since we got anything up here, but big things are on the way. Trust me. Anyways, here’s a new “Top 5” and this time Dan and I are talking film scores and soundtracks. God damn I love movies.

-Billy

Dan’s Top 5

Note: *This Top 5 list contains mostly modern films and shouldn’t take away anything from older soundtracks*

5.Tron Legacy - A different twist of sounds than the others, but this electronic mix is full of energy.

4.Back to the Future - I absolutely love all of these films. The soundtrack (along with a sensational plot) makes this movie. Includes hits such as, “The Power of Love,” as well as the brilliantly composed music by Alan Silvestri.

3.Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - These films changed the film industry, not only through the technology and animation, but the soundtrack, by John Williams, is phenomenal.

2.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Hard to pickup where John Williams left off from the first Harry Potter. Nonetheless, Alexandre Desplat does a beautiful job of ending the epic series in an emotional way.

1.School of Rock - enough said.

Billy’s Top 5

5. Mortal Kombat- Up until just about high school my CD collection consisted of two things: Queen and movie soundtracks. While I initially bought the soundtrack to Mortal Kombat for the awesomely cheesy theme song (“Techno-Syndrome” by the Immortals) this soundtrack (and the one to the sequel) would be my first introduction to bands that—more than a decade later—would become a huge part of my musical identity: Rammstein and KMFDM. In fact, the soundtrack to Annihilation included Rammstein’s “Engel” and KMFDM’s “Megalomaniac”, easily making it 1000x better than the actual film. On the first movie’s soundtrack, “Control” by pornstar-turned-musician/actress Traci Lords is the black horse pick and the coolest track by far.

4. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly- Ennio Morricone is a genius of a composer and this is his masterwork. Whereas some of his other spaghetti western scores border on annoying (what’s with that theme in “A Fistful of Dynamite”), this one is iconic across all genres. It doesn’t hurt that Clint Eastwood is the biggest badass this side of Godzilla and the movie deserves its own religion. I just watched it this weekend. Twice.

3. A Kind of Magic (Queen)- This might be a tiny stretch, but this Queen CD is a de facto soundtrack to the movie Highlander. The film didn’t do so well when it premiered so Queen released the album under a different title and without soundtrack credit, but just about every track is in the movie and some even feature clips from the film. Highlander and the song “Princes of the Universe” got me into Queen and life has never been the same since.

1B. Jurassic Park - John Williams is the biggest of the bigtime film composers and his music, whether you’re aware of it or not, has thoroughly pervaded American culture. As Dan noted, he did Star Wars films. He did Jaws; Indiana Jones; and on. But Jurassic Park is my favorite. It’s fucking majestic. Check out my previous homage to JP and Mr. Williams.

1A. Gojira- So, I couldn’t really choose a true favorite. To go alongside John Williams, I have (in my mind) his Japanese counterpart: Akira Ifukube. The man is likewise an absolute legend who’s reach spans the globe. Even non-Godzilla fans know his theme and as a Godzilla-holic, I think his score to the original 1954 Japanese is the crown jewel. I’ve got chills just thinking about it.

Review: The Beach Boys' "Smile Sessions" Box Set

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:13:29 -0400

Famously cancelled and abandoned in 1967, The Beach Boy’s proposed Smile album was consistently hyped during its recording process to be a masterpiece, or as Brian Wilson called it, “a teenage symphony to God”. So when Wilson suddenly pulled the plug on the highly-anticipated project, it became something of a legend in pop music history, earning the moniker of “the most famous unreleased album of all time”.

About 44 years later, the surviving members have finally decided to release all of the Smile sessions commercially, including a version of the album that Wilson insists is the closest thing to his original vision as there can be. In addition to the album, there are 4 extra CDs as well as 4 vinyl LPs featuring hundreds of outtakes, studio banter, and newly remixed versions of some tracks. Capital records have gone all out in presenting as much of the mythic sessions as possible, which will certainly be appreciated by Brian Wilson fanatics.

Given it’s reputation as a psychedelic masterpiece, I naturally expected there to be some level of strangeness to the album, but nothing could have prepared me for the finished product. Listening to the album really feels as if you are exploring Brian Wilson’s drug-addled brain. You never quite know where the album is going to go next—it suddenly goes from the sounds of a workshop to a piano ballad followed by Theremin-backed warnings to keep off the singer’s vegetables. It’s easy to see how the record company saw the project as unfit for release; nothing this experimental would get released for 20 years. Perhaps it’s for the best for the album to be released now, in a musical climate that will accept it as brilliant rather than a confused 1960’s audience. The 5 CD, 4 LP box set is only recommended for hardcore fans, however I believe that everyone should at least own a copy of the 2 CD version also available. It is notable note only for historical value, but as an experience that I can guarantee will blow your mind and will leave you wondering how much farther along music would be had the band continued on this route.

-Sam

Interview with Stefanie Murphy of AMPmusicians.com

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 13:57:00 -0400

by Julie Hirsh

Earlier this fall, Stefanie Murphy, creator of website Beyond The Barricades, began working on a new project—entitled AMPmusicians.com—that will be featuring behind-the-scene looks into performers as they take the stage every night. We talked to Stefanie to get an in depth explanation of what AMPmusicians is about and what it is like to create and run a site in the music industry.

12B: What made you decide to start a website like AMPmusicians?

SM: In 2008, I met the band-members from Honor Society—I was junior in high school with no idea of what I wanted to do when I got older. The musicians proposed the idea of helping them run their street teams. A street team is a group of fans from a relative area that focuses on getting more people to support the band in the hopes of having the band come to play a show there for them.

After helping out Honor Society, I decided that I wanted to branch out and help more musicians: my eyes had been opened to the indie/underground music scene after having no clue that it had existed. I’ve always said, ‘I don’t know if I have an extraordinary dream of my own to put my life towards achieving, so why not help those who I know deserve it?’. I had then made my interest solely based off of marketing musicians—and other figures—to an audience they wish to appeal to and to make a family connection between the people who’s ears hear and those who’s bodies play for them.

My last publication, “Beyond the Barricades”, had done just that but now AMPmusicians will take that to the next level. Standing for “Alternative Media of Progressing Musicians” I will be showing the viewers how much work truly goes into being a musician.

12B: How will this website be different than your previous website “Beyond the Barricades”?

SM: AMPmusicians will solely concentrate on portraying HD video clips of the bands setting up, practicing, meeting fans, performing or selling merchandise for gas money. On the contrary, “Beyond the Barricades” had just been interviews of me asking the bands what the fans wanted to hear. The new videos for AMP will only display the musicians narrating the clips taken of them. Much more professional, I feel.

12B: What is your ultimate goal for the website?

SM: If this website can take off and be one of the number one publications a band thinks of when releasing a new music video/album/single and also help many smaller bands grab the attention they have given up everything in their life for I will be the happiest person alive.

12B: When will the website be ready for views?

SM: Right now we are looking to release on November 1st, 2011—although the date is coming up fast and we have a lot more to set up before taking off. Hopefully we can release, however we may take an extra week if really needed. For now everyone can join us at facebook.com/AMPmusicians to build up the hype!

12B: Any particular bands you would like to feature on the website?

SM: One musician we will definitely be featuring is Mark Hoppus from Blink 182. We actually had a meeting with him a week ago to produce the AMP video but due to his personal schedule I allowed him to reschedule with us for the very near future. For those who had viewed “Beyond the Barricades” I did a feature with Mark previously. I think another awesome band to grab would be Foster The People. Totally random answer but let’s see where this goes!

12B: What advice do you have for others who would like to start a website like yours?

SM: Anything having to do with the music industry is cutthroat so make sure you know what you’re doing and that you bring something different to the table than whoever inspired you to start or you’ll be wasting very valuable time! A good way to start is to intern with one and get a feel before investing time and money into your own!

12B: What have you learned from working within the music industry?

SM: People are gonna hate on you no matter what. And if people aren’t? You’re doing something wrong. Simple.

In celebration of Jurassic Park (and its sequels) being released...

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:19:00 -0400

In celebration of Jurassic Park (and its sequels) being released in blu-ray this past week, here’s one of the two greatest themes ever written for a movie (the other being the great Akira Ifukube’s score for Gojira). God bless John Williams.

Jurassic Park is a landmark in my life—as it is for many of our generation. I spend way too much time (read: exactly the right amount of time) squeezing JP quotes into conversations, often regardless of if it makes sense, and I’ve only ever met two people in my life who had never seen the movie (two co-workers at separate jobs and, needless to say, I stopped talking to them). I have never met someone who didn’t like the movie, and hope I never do.

Also, check out Michael Crichton’s book: it is just as unbelievable, albeit in a different way.

-Billy

Top 5: Live Shows

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:34:49 -0400

Each week, two or three of 12-Bar’s writers will share their “Top 5” of a given topic. After all, everyone loves lists, right?

Sam, Richie and I kick it off with the “Top 5 Live Shows”. Enjoy our picks and share yours as well!

-Billy

Sam’s Top 5:

5. Titus Andronicus @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY- 3/30/11

It’s refreshing to see an indie rock band that still hasn’t given up their guitars for laptops. This great American rock and roll band put on a crazy show featuring their usual 14 minute punk operas—plus not one, but four Bad Brains covers!

4. The Flaming Lips/Weezer @ Jones Beach Theatre, Wantagh, NY-7/29/11

This one was interesting! Each band took turns playing three songs each before sharing the stage for the encore. The Lips’ set featured giant bears, several giant eyeballs, about 15 women all dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, several balloons filled with slime, 2 space bubbles which the band traversed the audience in, a few hundred pounds of confetti, megaphones, a gong, and giant inflatable hands that shot lasers which reflected onto a giant disco ball…The Weezer set featured Rivers Cuomo standing on a chair.

3. Arcade Fire @ Madison Square Garden,Manhattan, NY-8/4/10

The sheer size of the band likely contributed to the anthemic nature of the show, but the 20,000 screaming fans couldn’t have hurt. I maintain that “Wake Up” is the greatest set closer of all time.

2. LCD Soundsystem’s last show ever @ Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, NY- 4/30/11

The band played for 3 hours and 40 minutes. They played nearly every song they recorded including the 45 minute song they did for a shoe commercial. There isn’t a much better send off than that but, just in case, they threw in guest appearances by Reggie Watts, Arcade Fire, and a 20- piece all men’s choir.

1. Guided By Voices @ Terminal 5, Manhattan, NY- 11/7/10

The enthusiasm at this show from all involved was astounding. The band blew through 40+ songs with every member of the crowd singing along to every single word, ending with 4 different encores (each better than the last). Along the way, we were treated to karate kicks, the most enthusiastic bass player who ever lived, and the singer chucking empty beer bottles into the crowd—everything a rock show should be. I am also in no way biased by the fact that I received a big drunken hug from the guitarist immediately after the show.

Richie’s Top 5:

5. Guster - In concert, these guys have a rockier sound than their studio work. Nonetheless, the show was great and they had one of the best setlists I’ve seen.

4. The Airborne Toxic Event - One of the most recent concerts I’ve seen. The band members were surprisingly funny and the music was great. They created a fun environment for new and old fans.

3. Coldplay - Aside from the energy and interaction with the audience, the light show was cool. Also, they sound great live.

2. John Mayer - I’ve seen him three times so far and each time has been different, but always enjoyable. Whether on the lawn or in the first few rows, this was one of those concerts to be around people and sing along.

1. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - The crazy high energy of lead singer Karen O combined with the excitement of the crowd made this the most memorable concert I’ve been to.

Billy’s Top 5:

5. KMFDM - Irving Plaza in NYC - 8/18/11

This concert was a big occasion for me: KMFDM was the last of the bands (currently) on my list of “Have to See Live Before I Die” that was left to be checked-off. Also, I made a short vacation out of the trip: Wednseday night I got into the city and spent several hours shooting the shit with the label manager of one of my all-time favorite bands before meeting up with my brother to stay with him in Brooklyn. Thursday, we mulled around the city for the day before wreaking havoc with Kapt’n K and KMFDM’s “Ultra-Heavy Beat” and Friday was recovery and return from the best “weekend” in recent memory—outside of my 2010 Mayhem Festival coverage, but that’s a story for a rainy day.

Plus KMFDM played a dominating setlist that included classics like “Megalomaniac” and “Hau Ruck” and soon-to-be classics like “Lynchmob”—added bonuses that the band offered download cards of their 2011 tour stops so I have a permanent record of the show (and my brother and I make an appearance in the tour’s photo album on the group’s Facebook).

4. Slipknot - Monteal, QC - January 2005

This was one of the first great metal shows I went to. My dad had gotten me a pair of tickets for Christmas that year and we tore it up in Canada—to be honest, we got the shit beat out of us. I don’t remember the name of the venue, but it was a glorified warehouse: small stage, no pyrotechnics and huge, hydraulic drum-risers. That stuff is awesome, but I’ll take the intimate brutality anyday.

To this day, this show holds the record for the closest I came to death during a concert (a near-death caveat comes later in the list). My dad and I wriggled our way up to about 2 people back from the barrier by the time Slipknot got on, but I was still a relative novice and was completely unprepared.

Long story short, my dad got his glasses broken and fled from the crush to save his own ass while I was entombed in a full on crowd-collapse. Everyone fell over pushing into a dogpile that I was in the middle of…luckily I survive to write about it, but it goes without saying that I ignored my dad’s chivalrous advice on the way back to the hotel and no one was going to get my subway seat, even if they had been elderly, pregnant, and paraplegic.

3. Lamb of God - New England Metal and Hardcore Festival - 4/18/09

I’ve seen LOG more than ten times already (at least) and it’s hard to pick the best. I chose this one because it was the firs time I ever got to meet any of my heroes: my friend, Joel, and I won one of the entries for LOG’s “Escape the Plague” contest and chose to meet the band. We got to go on their bus outside of The Palladium in Worcester, MA (great venue, by the way), talked with the band for a few minutes, took pictures, got free t-shirts, and were fed the most delicious bag of Pop Secret in history. It tasted like victory.

2. Rammstein - The Bell Centre, Montreal - 12/9/10

I would go on to see three more Rammstein concerts in the next six months—including the landmark Madison Square Garden show two days after this one—but this was the first and the best so far. I luckled into getting floor tickets to the show and Joel and I spent three hours waiting outside in line. Three hours. In Montreal. In December. Not a good idea: This is the closest I’ve come to death. Period.

You know how they say that when you start to die of hypothermia, you just sort of drift of to sleep? That happened to me. Also, by the time Rammstein came on stage, I still couldn’t feel my feet (one toenail was black for a good while after that night).

We promise that we’ll never do something that reckless again, but it was 110% worth it. Rammstein is a once in a lifetime band and the show had all the fire, explosions, and confetti/foam-shooting, ridable dick-cannons you could ever want.

1. Rob Zombie - Higher Ground, Burlington, VT - 1/13/08

Anyone who knows me for more than five minutes should know that Mr. Zombie is my abso-fucking-lute idol. I’ve seen him live more than twenty times, easily. The man can bring the effects-ruckus and the Hell-raising like nobody outside of Rammstein (check footage of the 2010 Mayhem Festival or the ”Demonoid Phenomenon” video if you don’t believe me), but—similar to Slipknot—my favorite Zombie show was no frills, no fuss.

On that wondrous day back in ‘08, Zombie played the Higher Ground Ballroom in Burlington (a fantastic, small venue: about the capacity of Northern Lights in Clifton Park but 1000x nicer to be in). No openers. Just Zombie for a blissful hour and a half. Naturally I waited for hours in the frigid winter (t-shirt only if I recall) to be at the barrier. Once again: Worth. It.

I was feet from Zombie at all times, got a guitar pick from John 5, and took a free special-edition, glow-in-the-dark print made by a local artist for the concert. Zombie also played “Feel So Numb” for the one and only time out of all the shows I’ve been to and had a fat-bearded man on stage doing the dance moves (hey, he didn’t have the room for his pyrotechnics and hot female dancers this time, so you gotta improvise).

The icing on the cake was that I had to drive straight down to Massachusetts right after since the new semester at Boston College began at 8am the next day. That, and (while I was freezing outside in line) my dad was killing time in the Hooters across the street. Apparently a waitress propositioned him: blowjob for ticket to the Zombie show. He declined.

A good man always knows his priorities.

Review: Bjork's Biophilia

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:20:36 -0400

Bjork has always been among the most eclectic and widely considered “weird” musicians of the past 20 years. Some would argue that her strangeness is what made her so popular in the first place, but in today’s pop culture world—where there is an arms-race to see who can be the weirdest and grab the most sensationalist headlines—artists like Bjork are only another face in the crowd among the Lady Gagas of the world. Perhaps this oddity-overload caused her to feel that she had to push further past the boundaries of the bizarre to stand out and this new insecurity provoked her to make an album such as Biophilia (her 8^th album as a solo artist).

The album contains ten tracks that are all intended to be listened to while playing with 10 ipad apps that were created for the album. In addition, those who truly want what Bjork describes as “the ultimate experience” with the album, can pay $800 for 10 tuning forks intended to be played along with the album. This amount of pretention could easily be forgiven if the music holds up. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. The majority of the tracks are incredibly dull musically, with instrumentation that never seems to grab onto an idea; it merely sprawls slowly against lyrics concerning topics such as bacteria, crystal growth, microbes, and tectonic plates—all of which are used as bad metaphors for relationships. The one redeeming track on the album, “Crystalline”, sports a chaotic dub-step section near the middle of the song, but it ends far too quickly. Even Bjork’s vocals are lacking on this record: due to the subject matter of the lyrics, she sounds as if she is reciting your geology textbook. Biophilia is an incredibly disappointing album from a truly talented artist that let her pretentions get the best of her.

-Sam

Texas in July exciting the crowd at Hunt Union Ballroom.

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:37:00 -0400

Texas in July exciting the crowd at Hunt Union Ballroom.

Photos from the Texas in July Show show, in case you missed it...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:31:00 -0400

Photos from the Texas in July Show show, in case you missed it (photos by Dan Ainspan).

Take pictures and videos @ any show or event and send them to us: 12.bar.news@gmail.com!

Recycled Percussion performing a Beatles tune!

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:25:00 -0400

Recycled Percussion performing a Beatles tune!

Recycled Percussion exciting the crowd.

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:24:58 -0400

Recycled Percussion exciting the crowd.

Photos from the Recycled Percussion show, in case you missed it...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:20:02 -0400

Photos from the Recycled Percussion show, in case you missed it (photos by Dan Ainspan).

Take pictures and videos @ any show or event and send them to us: 12.bar.news@gmail.com!

Yellowcard’s Longineu Parsons drum solo!

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:15:37 -0400

Yellowcard’s Longineu Parsons drum solo!

Reel Big Fish performing, “Take on Me.”

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:04:00 -0400

Reel Big Fish performing, “Take on Me.”

Photos from the Yellowcard/Reel Big Fish show, in case you...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:48:00 -0400

Photos from the Yellowcard/Reel Big Fish show, in case you missed it (photos by Dan Ainspan).

Take pictures and videos @ any show or event and send them to us: 12.bar.news@gmail.com!

Anberlin performing, “Pray Tell.”

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:42:05 -0400

Anberlin performing, “Pray Tell.”

Atomic Tom performing, “Let Let Go Tonight.”

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:14:07 -0400

Atomic Tom performing, “Let Let Go Tonight.”

Switchfoot performing, “Meant to Live.”

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:00:06 -0400

Switchfoot performing, “Meant to Live.”

Some photos from the Switchfoot show, in case you missed it...

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:45:00 -0400

Some photos from the Switchfoot show, in case you missed it (photos by Dan Ainspan).

Take pictures and videos @ any show or event and send them to us: 12.bar.news@gmail.com!