Culture Bully

Archive for January, 2006

Bands To Watch: Novillero

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Accumulating a solid rock band from the ruins of a “lounge pop” band from Winnipeg might not always be as easy as it sounds, but Novillero seem to have done so without losing an ounce of their clever delivery. “Hypothesist,” a glossy garage rock number, outshines “Ceremony” slightly though both sound reminiscent of a scene [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Best Buy Devalues Music, Undercuts Indies

Monday, January 30th, 2006

There is a really interesting discussion between a gentleman at Merge Records (Spoon, The Arcade Fire, yada yada) regarding a recent sale at Best Buy of independent albums. Before I continue, please check the “sale” out here, just to see what all the fuss is about, and the discussion here. I have my own views [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Bands To Watch: Mates of State

Sunday, January 29th, 2006

This husband-wife duo hailing from California have some of the most infectious drum & keyboard driven rock that you might hear this year (or ever…). Their simplistic pop style is one that easily shifts from an ambient rock (in “Think Long”) to something along the lines of a broader, well rounded Atom and His Package [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Bands To Watch: Nic Armstrong & The Thieves

Friday, January 27th, 2006

Rolling Stone recently remarked that “He looks like Gary Oldhamand writes battered love-songs like Bob Dylan with a case of Badfinger.” I don’t know that I fully agree with that statement. There are exceptions such as Armstrong’s Beatles-esque track “The Finishing Track.” On the other hand, “Broken Mouth Blues” makes me reconsider that statement with [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Bands To Watch: NOMO

Thursday, January 26th, 2006

NOMO offers a unique insight into the genre of free form, Spanish funk with African tribal-like syncopation; if such a genre does in fact exist. With a blend of those tribal beats, horns, keyboards and more, this eight-piece brings their act to the pinnacle of new wave jazz. Their unprocessed, multi-layered sound leaves me dreaming [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Bands To Watch: Moving Units

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

Christian Death is as sexy as anything Marvin Gaye did…or so says Moving Units’ singer/guitarist Blake Miller. Falling into fashion isn’t always planned, sometimes it’s just right place, right group, right time. Miller relates to the band’s similarities to the recent “dance-punk” trend in rock, “The truth of the matter is, what we did at [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Division Day “The Mean Way In”

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Just like a solid mix tape, it’s hard to determine the audience, their tastes and preferences and willingness to listen to whatever it is that you think is good. If you start with a song too rigid, or hard, you risk the chance of quickly alienating your listener. On the opposite end of [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Review - DJ Shadow: Preemptive Strike

Saturday, January 21st, 2006

DJ Shadow makes me thing of what I would want to play at a social gathering, a party, a get together. Maybe I’d have some overpriced underappreciated fine alcohols, or some wines which I can’t stand but flaunt anyhow. Maybe I’d accompany the drinks with some costly appetizers or cheeses; something which I wouldn’t be [...]

Read the rest of this entry »

Bands To Watch: stellastarr*

Thursday, January 19th, 2006

Now after hearing the band, I don’t know why I haven’t heard them before. It could be my ever-declining brain stamina which led me to believe that they were the same band as the lackluster Starsailor, but stellastarr* really plays a mean tune (the other difference between the two…well, that and they’re not from England). [...]

Read the rest of this entry »