A Sunday at the beach was very very nice. The drive out gave me a few hours of good old 80s Rock and Roll! Only tune I can particularly recall is Styx’s “Too Much Time On My Hands”, along with at least two R.E.M. songs. Weeee… back to the future.

Well, we’ll get through August, I’m sure. There’s more shows coming up, I’ll have to write them up soon.

S.

Plastiq Passion (NYC)

So we have an 80’s comeback. Yeah! Glad I was there the first time. If you get a second check out NYC’s Plastiq Passion. See bio below.

BIO-Jessica Chaos picked up a guitar 3 summers ago, silently rocking on her lonesome. She soon got down on her knees and prayed to the Gods of Rock n’ Roll to send her a few great musicians. Soon after, the heavens began to part, and behind numerous luminous gold-plated clouds, the Gods did reply! In July 2004, she found Kat D., a sweet guitarist who had been playing for about 3 years on and off. Kat shared a love for alternative and new wave music, as well as a healthy obsession with The Cure.
Like Jessica, Kat also liked to write and arrange songs; the two complemented each other very well and began to collaborate. Together they searched for other like-minded musicians. A few came and a few went, and then, Cecilia Song, a heart–pounding, energetic drummer and Susan Therancy, a sweet playing bassist, entered in.
And thus began plastiq passion!
They have since performed in NYC and NJ venues such as the legendary CBGB’s, Arlene’s Grocery,Lit Lounge, Fat Baby’s, Trash Bar, 169 Bar, and The Whiskey Bar. They are rapidly gaining exposure with the recent release of their first EP, I Can’t Wait.
plastiq passion, loves to make music for you! They are very, very, very, VERY excited and proud of their EP. It truly has been a labor of love, shooting straight out of their hearts, and into yours.
The members of plastiq passion reside in NYC and NJ.

:s:

The Bicycats first release, i love you for your mind, is a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing. Keep in mind, however, that the wolf is clever and jaded, and the sheep is a campy lighthearted hipster. Zachary Bernstein is The Bicycats. He wrote, performed, and produced each song. Initially, his simple, bouncy melodies disguise themselves as harmless. These melodies are like a new best friend, who is relentlessly trying to get you up off your heartbroken, melancholy ass, and go out for drinks, on a night when you’re hell bent on sulking. His “aw c’mon man I SWEAR we won’t even think about her” tactics eventually win, and you submit. The next thing you know, you’re at the bar with this offbeat guy, and the painful subjects you were purposefully avoiding have come up. Thing is, you’re not mad. This guy is damn funny. It turns out; the searing pain of heartbreak IS kind of absurd in this lighting, and man you needed to get out of that stale old house anyway. Such is the case with ‘i love you for your mind.’ The Bicycats trick you into meeting up during recess, and then serve up intelligent, weighty subjects using form and lyrics that are just silly and random enough to not leave you full of regret for having tackled such lofty tomfoolery. Bernstein gets away with it because clever fun is contagious. Don’t fight it.

Directly tied into this cleverness, is a mischievous, almost stylish self -deprecation that appears in songs like “Every Time We Say Goodbye (Not A Cole Porter Song).” Lines like “Every Time we say goodbye, my heart sinks to the pavement…we seem to be developing a thing here, where we say everything we wanna say, then one of us decides that we are tired, and the other person sadly walks away” are tongue-in-cheek followed by the afterthought, ” I think we all know who that guy is.” In the context of the song’s infectious nursery school-esque keyboards, this admission is half precocious- nerdy -adolescent; half friend-of-a-cousin you’re completely relieved shows up at Thanksgiving. Oh thank god, an unexpected and welcome goof, just when The Fear was beginning to set up house. And this goof just might be gay. But you don’t think so. But you’re not sure. And this makes them intriguing. There are perfect, odd, even flirty songs like the remarkably short “Very Subtle Moustache,” or the delightfully hostile “Dance The Night Away” will certainly find themselves on carefully thought out mixed CD’s, for those of us who make such things for those ‘people who matter.’ The not so subtle queerness of these songs, as opposed to the aforementioned moustache, is refreshingly surprising, and again just further celebrates The Bicycats’ richly textured “Otherness”. Even though you swore you didn’t feel like celebrating, dammit. Well then. Bernstein’s hooks stick to you like red mud on your corduroys after the kickball game at recess. With effort it will go away, but for now there is proof that you like to play, even if it gets messy.

–Beth F. (the kid)

S/R (307 Knox Records)

myspace.com/thebicycats

Boy/Girl is from Brooklyn, NYC. The duo met in 2005 and formed the band. This was one of the more interesting duos we have heard this year. Add the support of the Ace Fu-FB label and you have success. Lisa Cusack plays drums in the format of noise, rock and other. She keeps time and creates spazzy beats to Eric Stiner’s vocals/guitar. Did I say there is some noise to this? There is a bit of sex to this EP too. I was not sure if it was him or her or both. Depending on what team your on. If you can check out http://www.thefamilybusinessnyc.com/ Label: Ace Fu-Family Business Release#: FB014
review posted by: liza

Right now North Carolina has two bands whose music really shine through with their stripped down sound.
In the case of the Bowerbirds and the Midtown Dickens, less really is more. The Bowerbirds album, Hymns for a Dark Horse, is chock full of haunting melodies that you just can’t get out of your head.
Many of these songs concentrate on humanity’s relationship with mother earth. On the song, “In Our Talons,” they sing, ‘You’re in our talons now and we’re never letting go.” A beautifully arranged tragic song about how we are plundering this earth. As these minstrels sing their song, you can almost feel the earth crying out to you please stop. When I first heard this song, I was indeed hooked on the Bowerbirds and never realized how much texture and emotion an accordion along with a simple drum beat could bring to a song. They are truly angels as they sing in harmony on “My Oldest Memory.” These hymns are truly something to behold.
Similarly, the Midtown Dickens, take instruments like the accordion and a simple banjo and weave an emotional fabric through their songs. These songs on “Oh Yell” are not as dark as ones by the Bowerbirds.
Many of the Midtown Dickens songs portray what is like to grow up in our society with a focus on our interactions with other human beings. Listening to “The Job Song,” it takes me back to those days of trying to find employment in an auspicious economy just after graduating from college and taking any job I could get.
Perhaps it built character, but nevertheless, it was pretty gut wrenching.
The song “Eggs and Toast” exposes the vulnerability you experience when you meet that person you like so much, but fear that they will not reciprocate. Secretly, you hope that they feel the same way. We have all been there. They lighten the mood with “Tetris”. You know you have been there interlocking little blocks over and over again. All the while, loosing all moisture out of your eyes and hands cramping from holding the controller.
Both these albums will charm the pants off of you.
The subtle beaty of the Bowerbirds and the disarming charm of the Midtown Dickens are both worth possessing and adding to your collection. In this day and age of high tech music, they prove that lyrics and choice of instruments can convey so much more genuine warmth than a digital loop.

-Parker

The Bowerbirds CD-Hymns for a Dark Horse you can purchase here www.burlytime.com/shop

The Midtown Dickens CD-Oh Yell! you can purchase here www.307knoxrecords.com

:s:

Aha …

Music has many facets - as I listen to the Boys sing a love letter to New York, or to the Distillers sing a torch song to the City of Angels, I feel…When was the last time a song about your town made you stop and think? Is there a song about your town? How about Iris Dement’s ‘Our Town’? Springsteen’s ‘My Hometown’?

My Boo is heading out of LA today. She’s pined that ‘I no longer live here, I’m just a guest’ - maybe if her iPod has the right tunes on it, she’ll realize that under the bridge is right where she’ll see that LA is burning, but it is a city of angels.

I hope she tunes into A.M. Dial, and know that a couple of hot dogs over at the Bull’s park is the place she’ll be hanging.

But really, I hope that we can share the music that means something to you, be it about the town you live in, the city you want to live in, or a place you’re hoping to visit on Holiday. Be prepared for the winds of change to keep you excited about what’s gonna happen, and pehaps - as I do - use the tunes to take you back to places you’ve been. Say, under the milky way.

peace

:s:

Sage advice from some televised pundit, or perhaps a wisened silver screen character - either way, what it means is - here we go.

Music - it’s some of the most important stuff in the world. Think of the wedding march. Think of pomp and circumstances. Think of the NBC sound logo. Think of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Think of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Think… and listen… and hear.

I picked 5 audio memories while sitting at the kitchen table - the washing machine whirring in the background, clicky clacky of the lappy toppy keys; the echoes of ‘Crazy Cars’ by the Naked Brothers burning into my DNA (Thanks Zach, thanks a lot!)

Did you get any of the 5? Well, kinda made my point, didn’t I?
+++

I could go on - pick on how the wedding march is German, I think. Pink is British. NBC probably used an American composer.

Music - it’s a cool think, and if you embrace melodic as it’s definition, we can even bring in the birds who choose to give my awakening a pretty nice soundtrack every morning (I’ll have to pause and consider what sounds I hear in LA next weekend, but I don’t think it’s as nice as the North Carolina mornings have been)

Music was the most important part of some many chapters of my life - from the time on the front porch of 1 Trinity, to the bicycling to and fro in the later years of my Upstate life. How many CDs did I have in ‘89? Lots - lots and lots, and I listened and loved them all. Boo is bemoaning the 6 cassette storage cases I’m moving from LA to Durham, but you know what? They represent how I felt at those moments of creation - and from someone who’s best paintings are trumped by a slightly blind, aged cat with mud on it’s paws, well - I grab the creation where I can get it.

The music of the moment is what we’re gonna try to track here at 9PC. You send it to us, and we’ll share it with the world. We’ll put together the playlists we’re listening to so you can see if we like what you like; but here’s the thing - you’re not gonna like everything I listen to (Styx, you sweet sweet sweet indulgence, why do you have no street cred? Where did I go so wrong?), and you’ll be totally amazed by some of the tracks I’m lucky enough to have enjoyed (The Midtown Dickens throwing down Tetris comes to mind).

Like our namesake, sometimes you have no choice but to be wrapped up in foil by those larger than you, photos taken to prove your reality, and then a website spontaneously erupts and your on a path to nirvana. No, not that Nirvana, dude shot himself!

peace.
:s: