Helping you sort through all of the Holiday Schlock

Cover Me saves you the trouble of sifting through the rubbish pile.  

Happy Holidays, y'all

Heavy Rotators II

December, I'm kinda disappointed in you.  So far you've been an amalgamation of everything I hate about modern music.  Flyleaf? Hinder? Ridiculously terrible Christmas carols sung by pop-hacks? Yarg.

That being said, here is some old stuff that keeps popping up on the store speakers:

                                         Pink Mountaintops: "Outside Love"

Placebo: "Sleeping with Ghosts"

Nine Inch Nails: "Pretty Hate Machine"

Telekinesis!: Self-titled

Electrelane: "No Shouts No Calls"

Black Friday

We've got Black Friday exclusives! 

 You know you want them

Things I Have Missed

Collections of Colonies of Bees' Birds

I'd been looking at this promo since we first got it way back in 2008, but I never quite got around to actually putting into the stereo and trying it.  

That said, this is something I should have been listening to years ago.  It does post-rock wank to a certain extent, but I can let that slide.  It's textured and fuzzy, with guitars that fade in and out; all tracks inevitably build to a crashing finale a la GSYBE.  It's brighter, I think, than many other post-rock instrumentalists--but it's nothing really new. 

I need to find their earlier albums.

November Attempts to Make Up For Last Week

Things You Should Be Listening To:

Warpaint's "The Fool"

Oh my lord, this may be on my top ten list (the first half, anyway).  If Melissa Auf der Maur and Karen O had a three-way with Jessikca Fodera, and then locked themselves in the studio with a bottle of vodka this might be the accompanying soundtrack.  It's dabbling in dark places without drowning.

Bleu's "Four"

This reminds me of Ben Folds and Harvey Danger.  This might get on my nerves later in the week, but for now I'm enjoying the change of pace

 

Matt & Kim's "Sidewalks"

Dance-y and quirky and snare drums and tubas and candy and...

You know I totally adore these guys, right?

Violens' "Amoral"

It's like a gigantic wall of Erasure and bass guitar.

Atlantic/Pacific's "Meet Your New Love"

Soft and sensitive pop (without channeling Chris Carrabba)--perfect with the weather we're having.  Atlantic/Pacific is a semi-supergroup (maybe a Super B-Group?), and I really like where they are going with this.  It's the Radio Dept minus the Scandinavian Fuzz.

*****

I'm sorry to say The Autumn Defense's latest, "Once Around," put me to sleep.  Maybe I just have questionable taste, but meh.

Utterly Flushable:

Danbert Nobacon's "Woebegone"

and

Black Dub's debut.

...I don't even want to talk about it.

Diversions

Have I told you lately that I love you?

Fingertips Music

(one of the best damn music blogs around)

Mike Golden

Remember this guy? Mike Golden was one of our walk-ins the very first Record Store Day we hosted.  He said he wasn't so good, but would we mind if he played a few songs?  Naturally, he was awesome--he climbed on the stool with his guitar and played a few covers and one or two tunes of his own--and we loved it.  He contacted us this past Record Store Day and asked if he could play again, and of course we said yes.  He drew so many people into the store that you couldn't even move.  He's released an EP, and his first music video, and plays all over Chicago.  So here's to you, Mike--we're glad you've made it! <3