LiquidGeneration Music

LiquidGeneration Interview: Built To Spill

Built to Spill are an awesome band.  It's nice that their new record, You In Reverse, is finally bringing Doug Martsch and company some much deserved publicity.  I kind of feel like Built to Spill are going to go through what happened to Big Star...in 15 years everyone will look back and realize just how good their records were, but no one gives them the props they deserve right now.  Well not "no one," but at least the mainstream media.  In any case, when we here at LiquidGeneration heard that Built To Spill was actually willing to take one of the internationally renowned LG E-mail Interviews we were so excited we almost forgot wipe.  Of course, that Mr. Martsch has a good thing going...plays in a band, can grow an awesome beard, has tons of "indie cred," and has his wife fill out his interviews!  Now that is pretty cool.  Like James Spader cool.  Stream this track from the new record while you read the interview.  Enjoy!

Built To Spill - Liar     Windows     Quicktime

Dear Liquid Generation,

I am Doug Martsch's wife.  My friend printed out these questions for
me.  I took them home and asked Doug.  Now I am at the public library typing
in his mostly paraphrased answers.

Thanks!

Karena Youtz

LIQUIDGENERATION: Built To Spill has been a band for some 13 years now…does that freak you out as much as it does us?  It seems like just yesterday we were listening to There’s Nothing Wrong With Love for the first time.  Now that being in a “rock band” has become a profession, if you could go back and do it all over again, what would you do if you didn’t play music?

BUILT TO SPILL: Doug is a little freaked out by the band being thirteen years old. 
About not being a musician he said, "That would be like asking, what would
you be like if you weren't a human?"  He was a musician for many years
before the rock band profession allowed him to quit his day job ten years
ago.

FRIDAY MORNING STREAMS!

Ok so I have been collecting and hoarding this stuff for you all week.  I feel like Pete Doherty and a cereal box.  It's time for me to share.  There's a lot here, so don't just rush through and say "Eh."  What's your favorite? 

THE WALKMEN

The Walkmen have a new record coming out on May 23 called A Hundred Mile Off.  Hope to have an MP3 for you next week, but until then you'll have to stream the first single off the new record.  The band will also be hitting the road in late May. MySpace Page. Check it:

5/24  New York, NY - Webster Hall
5/25  Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
5/26  Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
5/30  Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
5/31  Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
6/1   Chicago, IL - Metro
6/2   Milwaukee, WI - Miramar Theatre
6/3   Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
6/5   Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre
6/6   Salt Lake City, UT - In the Venue
6/8   Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
6/9   Seattle, WA - Showbox
6/10  Vancouver, BC - Richards on Richards
6/12  San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
6/13  San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
6/16  San Diego, CA - House of Blues
6/17  Tempe, AZ - Clubhouse
6/19  Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
6/20  Houston, TX - Numbers
6/21  Dallas, TX - Granada Theater
6/23  Nashville, TN - Exit/In
6/24  Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
6/27  Toronto, ON - Phoenix Concert Theatre
6/28  Montreal, PQ - La Tulipe
6/29  Boston, MA - Avalon

6/30  Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw

The Walkmen - Louisiana     Windows     Quicktime

PEARL JAM

You can now stream the entire record over at AOL.  Yippie.

STEPHEN FRETWELL

Mr. Fretwell was recently featured in the LG MusicPlayer #37.  Great music for a rainy day or a good cry.  What?  Check out the videos for two of his songs over at the Tube of You.

Stephen Fretwell - Emily

Stephen Fretwell - New York

GNARLS BARKLEY STUFF

The Hype Machine surrounding the Gnarls continues.  Here's a bunch of stuff to help you decide if you are in or out.  Oh, and if you live in the greater Los Angeles area, Gnarls Barkley will be playing a "secret show" at the Roxy tonight at 7:30 PM.  Doors are at 7:00 and admittance is on a first come basis, so if you want to have any chance of getting in you should be eating lunch there.

Gnarls Barkleys e-card

Dangermouse and Cee Lo get all chopped up - Quicktime

The Gnarls on Top of the Pops

LG MUSIC SHOW: EPISODE #4

Check it out.  This is episode four of the LG Music SHow.  This week I enlisted Monkey to help me out, as I was getting really bored talking by myself.  I am a social being.  Anyway, he was kinda annoying as someone gave him a guitar, but I think you will enjoy everything that I had to say.  Make sure to e-mail me at nixon@liquidgeneration.com and tell me why I suck or why you want to meet me at the corner of 3rd and Fairifaz tonight at midnight...for real.

LG Music Show #4 for April 27, 2006 - Click here to listen right now!!

Subscribe to the show using this podcast feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/lgmusicshow

          Subscribe to the show using iTunes (recommended).

SHOW NOTES:

• Greetings and Monkey's Song
• New Releases
• New Music from the Starlight Mints
• New Music From Margot & the Nuclear So & So's
• News: The National and CYHSY working on new records
• News: Gorillaz write a rock opera and Dave Grohl has a daughter.  Minkey doesn't like her name.
• News: Snoop Dogg arrested
• News: Lemonheads re-unite for a new record!
• Monkey's "Good Bye Song"
• Music: The Lemonheads

Don't forget to e-mail me at nixon@liquidgeneration.com.  Enjoy!

New EFF Campaign Slams the RIAA

Yeah, I know.  This post is all serious and shiz, but I figured any time I can post something that bends the RIAA over AND features a pic of a pirate, well, it really doesn't get any better than that.  The EFF stands for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and if you have time check out the site and the Deep Links section.  Some pretty interesting stuff about "the man" and how he's trying to keep all of us down.

Click on here to get a larger version of the ad.

Oh, and this is what Ice Cube thinks of The Man:

HURRAY FOR THE 90S!

Well as you all know by now, Pearl Jam has a new self-titled record coming out on May 2nd.  Frankly, I don't care all that much about this.  Sorry, but it's true.  You see back in the day while the football team was listening to Ten during their warm-ups, I was getting stoned and singing along to "Frank Mills" by the Lemonheads.  Well Evan Dando has decided to re-unite the band (or at least the moniker) and they've signed to Vagrant Records.  They are in the process of finishing a new record but no release date has been announced.  Remeber when Evan Dano was like best friends with the Gallagher brothers (Oasis, duh)?  I do, and it was hilarious.  First they were friends, meaning they were partying a lot.  Then they had a bit of a falling out.  And finally I think Liam punched him or spit on him or something. The 90s rule!  I am also pretty sure that Evan Dando did a cover of "Live Forever" and actually released it as a single.  Anyone out there have this?  I can't find it anywhere.

Treats:

Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray.mp3 Link Expired

and I always liked this song...don't tell:

Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter.mp3

LIVE: Margot & the Nuclear So & So's, Something For Rockets and South

Last night I saw my first "wow" show in the greater Los Angels area.  It was about time as I had tried on a number of occasions to check out various venues/local acts, and was starting to feel that the Rock had been killed by the glint of whiter than white teeth and bad attitudes.  You would think that the stereotype of pretty-boy "Cali boys" singing about the beach and girls would be dead by now...you would be wrong.  Of course, I know that there is a great local scene here and it's all about where you go.  I am just saying that I have been pretty unlucky. 

Anyway, the show I went to last evening was at the Troubadour, which was an awesome venue.  There were actually people there that only came out to hear music, which in my world is a really good thing.  The lineup was Margot & the Nuclear So & So's, Something For Rockets and South.  It was a kind of strange grouping of acts, in that they all sound really different, but it ended up working because they all put on a top notch live show.  It also helps that they have been on the road together for almost three months and the tour is about to end.  There seemed to be a camaraderie between acts that you don't see all that often nowadays.  Lots of guest spots from members of whatever act wasn't currently on stage, which always adds a little something to the live experience. 

So yeah, all three bands were great but I was there to see Margot and they stole the show.  So this review is going to be about them.  However, I also recommend you check out Something For Rockets.  They are from the LA area and have a kinda electro meets the Strokes sound.  At least live they did.  I downloaded a couple of songs from their site and it's a bit nancier recorded.  And the new South record, Adventures in the Underground Journey to the Stars, is a return to form for these Brits.  I think I enjoy the record a bit more than their live show though.  Here's a track for you...sounding very New Order-ish:

South - A Place In Displacement.mp3 Link Expired

Like I said, Margot & the Nuclear So & So's was the act I really went to see.  I had caught a bit of   their set at SXSW and was immediately smitten.  They are an eight piece (2 guitars, bass, keys, drums, cello, trumpet and percussion) from Indianapolis who I can honestly say have created something new on their debut record Dust of Retreat.  The band has called their music "Scarf Rock" and others are labeling it as "Sex Folk," but whatever you want to call it you can't help but be impressed by the originality of their sound.  Of course there are touch stones you could use such as Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes, the Decemberists or even the Arcade Fire, but Margot doesn't really sound like any of these artists so much as they have the same philosophy in terms of creating music.  The concept for their current batch of songs was to write about what Greenwich Village must have been like in the 60s.  While I don't know if they exactly hit the mark with that, it did enable them to create a literate, almost cinematic feel to their songs.  This romanticism comes across even more so in their live show, as you can see that all eight people on stage really believe in what they have created.  This more than anything sucks an audience in.  I really did enjoy them live and I'm quite please they didn't totally suck.  The band also had just enough quirks and follies to lighten the mood.  Their percussionist really enjoys hitting things hard, and he made some of the craziest devil faces I have ever done seen in my life.  Which is really funny when there's a cello and acoustic guitar playing.  He was really good though, and adds a key element to Margot's sound.  I also found singer/guitarist Richard Edwards' spitting habit quite entertaining...of course I don't think the people in the front felt the same way.  You can see a clip of their SXSW show in the LG SXSW piece.  Also check out the latest MusicPlayer to hear one their single.  Here are a couple more goodies for you...I am now done gushing.  Margot's MySpace page.

Margot & the Nuclear So & So's - Quiet As A Mouse.mp3 Link Expired

And another live clip:

LiquidGeneration Playlist: Must Have Collaborations

Collaborations are fun.  It's always interesting to see what your favorite, or sometimes most despised, artist sounds like when they team up with another artist, group, collection or whatever.  I did some thinking, and here are 10 collaborations I came up with that everyone must have in their collection.  Let me know what you think and if you have any other pairings I might have overlooked.  Enjoy!

LiquidGeneration Playlist: Must Have Collaborations

1. Drugstore and Thom Yorke - El Presidente (MP3) Link Expired

2. Ron Sexsmith and Chris Martin - Gold In Them Hills (MP3) Link Expired

3. Jonny Cash and Joe Strummer - Redemption Song (MP3) Link Expired

4. The Rentals and Damon Albarn - Big Daddy C (iTunes)

5. Chemical Brothers and Noel Gallagher - Setting Sun (iTunes)

6. Air, Mark Ronson and Rhymefest - Alpha Beta Gaga (MP3) Link Expired

7. Unkle and Richard Ashcroft - Lonely Soul (MP3) Link Expired

8. Gorillaz and De La Soul - Feel Good Inc. (iTunes)

9. Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty and friends (The Traveling Wilburys) - Handle With Care (MP3) Link Expired

10. David Bowie and Queen - Under Pressure (Quite possibly the greatest collaborations in the history of Rock.  Up there as one of the best songs ever as well.) (iTunes)

The Streets Videos...last time, I promise.

Even if you don't care all that much for/about the new Streets record that came out today, it's still pretty entertaining to hear Mike Skinner talk about each track with that silly little accent of his.  If you like this idea, you can go to Music For Robots or Lemon-Red to check out a new video each day this week.  You can also win passes to check out the Streets at the Intonation Festival this summer.  So quit being such a baby and go check it out already...it's def. more interesting then playing pool on Yahoo! Games.  Nerd.

Oh, and if you really can't get into the Streets, you should check out this guy.  It's only a demo, but has potantial to be one of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time!

New URL

SO I know that this page has been all messed up since last Friday, but we are in the process of fixing it.  The new address is going to be:

http://liquidgeneration.blogs.com/music/

So change your bookmarks.  Loff.