(Editor’s note: Two straight weeks of entropic wandering on Lazy Saturday, principally because of the following: I’m tired. I’m stressed out. I’m busy. I’ve got a grant burning, a paper cooking, IEP progress reports to write, hogs to feed, a harem to tend to, capital gains taxes to calculate, and so forth. I don’t have [...]
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Life, the Universe and Lazy Saturday
Celluloid Dick #2 – Vampire Weekend – Cousins
God damn you Vampire Weekend. Why do you make it so hard for me to defend my positive feelings towards your material? Why do you constantly feel the need to remind me that I didn’t go to Princeton (or Cornell or Dartmouth or Bryn Mawr)? Why do you have to rub your madras shirts and [...]
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Heavy Trash – Beachland Tavern – 11/11/09
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My buddy Vin and I arrived at the show just in time to see Whiskey Daredevils, a local band with a lot of buzz. They started off their set by saying “Thanks for coming out on Wednesday night, we know you could be at home watching Modern Family.” That’s true, it’s a good show, which [...]
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C.D. Singles Club #37 – Coconut and the Duke – Walcott
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Let me be clear – I love me some covers. But what I really love are covers that are better than the original.Such is the case, in my marginally humble opinion, with Coconut and the Duke’s recently released take on Vampire Weekend’s “Walcott.” The duo, which usually perform a delightful blend of original lazy-folk, have [...]
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Jessie Torrisi – brûler brûler – Album Review
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What exactly does it mean to say a particular musician is indie? Any reasonably comprehensive definition of that word is going to be necessarily complex, but if you let me get parsimonious on your asses for a second, I’ll say the indie tag employs a combination of (a) financial integrity and (b) a songcrafting/recording/producing style [...]
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Medeski, Martin & Wood – The Kent Stage – November 17
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Before I dive into my impressions on Tuesday’s killer Medeski, Martin & Wood show, I thought it might be appropriate to talk about the spirit embodied by the band. It goes without saying that the show was amazing. (They’re one of the four or five tightest live acts in the world, irrespective of genre; you [...]
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C.D. Singles Club #35 – Stricken City – Small Things
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We aren’t even three dozen deep into this singles club series and already we’ve found our first repeat performers. Kora Records’ Stricken City, a London-based art/indie dance pop outfit, follow up their mid-September appearance in the series with another tune, “Small Things.” The second single to be released off the band’s just dropped debut album, [...]
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The Mess Hall – For The Birds – Album Review
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The Mess Hall’s new album, For The Birds was sent to me a bit ago, and since I’ve been a huge fan of their work for several years, I was really stoked to finally get my hands on it. I first heard about them when they were opening for Kings of Leon and The Strokes. Since [...]
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Afternoon Naps – Parade – Album Review
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The first three tracks of Parade provide the perfect introduction to Afternoon Naps, a rust belt pop band that has been bringing sunshine pop to their gloomy post-industrial climes since 2006. “Plum City Fight Song,” the band’s homage to their hometown, begins the album with a healthy dose of guitarist Tom Dechristofaro’s Moz-lite vocals, while [...]
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White Denim + Brazos – Grog Shop – 11/7/2009 – Live Review
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Rolling into shows in full pre-game mode has its benefits, particularly when artists exceed lofty expectations and melt faces. Full disclosure, I’m not a big live review blogger, and toss the blue-ribbon to my colleagues Brian, Justin, and James in this arena. I’m much to erratic cognitively during live performances and my mind can just [...]
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C.D. Singles Club #34 – Collider – Time Concerns
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I’ve been doing this kind of cultural criticism writing on and off now for more years that I care to count. Since my junior year in high school, about half my life ago, rarely has a period of more than several months or a year gone by between times when I was writing something in [...]
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Success is counted sweetest by those who Lazy Saturday
(Editor’s note: My father and I went to New York City to see a Mets game in the fall. While there, we toured a submarine. It was his idea. I am a vegetarian and, obviously, a pacifist. I took pictures of everything on the sub that was circular. The picture above ties in with today’s [...]
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Weekend Playlist: Keeping It Local Edition
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This past Halloween I was tipped off by Justin that there was going to be a Black Keys show in Akron this month. Like many, I’m a big fan, so I try to make their shows whenever possible. I even purchased some tickets to the Chicago NYE show (still haven’t found anyone to take the [...]
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Hey there, internet.
Dear internet:It’s me, Brian. I miss you. I remember the time that we spent together, holding hands, listening to tunes, saying mean things about stupid people and the like. There were times when we’d just look into each others’ eyes, secure in the knowledge that we’d always have our love.I feel like we’ve drifted apart [...]
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Eddie Argos – Citizen Dick Interview
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(Editor’s note: today’s interview comes to us with permission from Cleveland Bachelor, where the Q&A was originally posted.Yesterday was one of those work days that you dread, meeting after meeting after meeting. From the moment I got to work until nearly 4 PM, I was shuffling from one room to another, trading brain cells for [...]
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C.D. Singles Club #33 – Dragon Turtle – Island of Broken Glass
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I used to find those crazy and implausible self-identified genre descriptions on indie band myspace pages endearing, or at least amusing. Now, when the latest indie songstress once again defines themselves as “zouk/concrete/death metal,” I tend to just roll my eyes. At least I do before trying to remind myself to get over my humorless [...]
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C.D. Singles Club #32 – Golden Shoulders – Mountain
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Formed in 2001, the Nevada City, CA collective known as Golden Shoulders has been around long enough to learn a few things about songcrafting. Sure enough, on 2009’s Get Reasonable, we find songwriter Adam Kline and his ever-evolving cast of characters at there most dynamic and conscientious. The album begins with perfection in the form [...]
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Celluloid Dick #1 – Megafaun – Impressions of the Past
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I don’t know about you, but for quite some time I’ve nursed a possibly silly grudge against the music video as a popular culture artifact. Over the last couple years, I’ve found them a useful way to add images to words when writing here and on my personal blog, but still only viewed them as [...]
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C.D. Singles Club #31 – Social Studies – The Hourglass
Here’s what I like about Social Studies: They release a digital single titled The Hourglass, yet neither song on the single is actually titled “The Hourglass.” Makes you think. Or, rather, it makes me think. You probably wouldn’t stumble so easily on something so small. My metaphorical feet are dainty, I guess, and my similitic [...]
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Radio Dick – Sunday Tea Edition
At the very moment you’re reading this post, I, Kevin, of Citizen Dick, do solemnly swear that last night’s White Denim concert was the cat’s ass, and I also swear that I won’t wake up until at least 12:30 this afternoon. Leave a message at the beep.In all seriousness, this post was compiled and completed [...]
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