I think now is probably a good time to let you all in on one of my favourite bands ever. This is a band that had a few members graduate from the same high school that I went to, and are still friends with english teacher from my Senior year in high school. They make incredible summer driving music, and are pretty much the paradigm (or at least I like to think so) of Los Angeles/California/Beach music. They're most recent album, Over and Over, is incredible, and has been played more times than almost any other thing on my iTunes.
The 88 (though originally known as The Freeloaders) have a pure sound that hearkens back to the 1960s. I've never had anyone listen to it and not immediately ask who it was that was playing. The vocals, done by Keith Slettedahl, are pure bliss, and the jingly piano with electric guitars sounds just majestic. I really can't get enough of The 88.
They've been featured recently in a Target commercial, on plenty of TV shows (including How I Met Your Mother, and The Hills) and the (quite awful if I don't say so myself) movie, You, Me and Dupree. More recently, they signed with Island Def Jam Records, which isn't the best label in the world, but will allow them to get some more national exposure.
The mp3s I have today are available from their website.
Friday night was a great night for me. I went to one of my favourite spots in Los Angeles, up in Runyon Canyon off Mulholland where there's a view of the city that is unbeatable. I hung out with some friends for a couple hours up there, and then drove home. On the way however, I stopped off at Canter's Deli to pick up a Black + White Cookie with some milk. For those of you that live in Los Angeles, you know what I'm talking about. Black + White Cookies are some of the best cookies in the world.
Anyway, I was at Canter's when I see a familiar face waltz in. I guess he wasn't waltzing, but he definitely looked happy. Who was it? None other than Jemaine Clement, half of Flight of the Conchords. He was with some attractive looking girl. The friends that I was with and I ran up to him and immediately applauded him for his wonderful music and hilarious TV Show. We told him to get a cookie, and he told us that was exactly what he was coming for. We talked for a few more minutes, and then we went on our merry way, a lot happier than we came in. He was actually quite an awkward fellow, but nonetheless it was still quite cool to hang out with him, even if for only five minutes.
Here's a clip from a live show that Jemaine and Bret did:
Well, with the start of this blog, it might help to know a little about me.
My name is Travis, and I'm originally from Los Angeles, California. I'm 19 years old, and I'm going to be a sophomore at Kenyon College (a small liberal arts deal) in Ohio. I'm hoping to major in American Studies with an emphasis on Pre-Law, and eventually go in to intellectual property law (dealing with copyright law in essence. One reason to promote a legal mp3 blog)
Before College, I went to a public high school in Los Angeles, that has a great music program. There, I developed the skills to play eight different instruments (though I never learned guitar), and music became an integral part of my life.
Welcome to "The Bridges Smell Like Chocolate". I'm here to promote new and old music alike and hopefully I'd like to show those who read this blog some unknown stuff that they'll come to adore. The name of the blog comes from an episode of This American Life, a radio show that I love dearly. In the episode "In The Shadow Of The City", Ira Glass interviews a man from Chicago, where the Bridges Smell Like Chocolate, thanks to a nearby chocolate factory that let out a lot of cocoa particles into the air. Unfortunately, the EPA came in and restricted the flow of the cocoa powder because it was more than the legal amount. In truth, a quite sad story.
Submit if you are in a band are work for a label and would like to get it featured on this blog, please email me with a link to an .mp3 or a link to myspace and I'll give it a listen. If I like it, (which is probable) I'll be sure to post about it. However, please don't send any attachments (my inbox is full as it is), and I'd like to avoid actually hosting the music myself.
On the other hand, if you work for the record company, and would like me to remove any tracks from my website, please notify me and I'll comply.
I'm a little jealous of the talent that Canadian born twins Tegan & Sara have. Although they haven't received quite the hype that they deserve, they're one of the few bands I like that have female singer(s). They're also one of the few bands I like that has more toes in the punk genre than in the indie genre. This past Tuesday they released a new album, "The Con". The LA Times review I read of it can do a lot more justice for it than I can. Needless to say, it's pretty good. I'm still getting through the first few listens, but it definitely is building upon "So Jealous", which was an amazing album, and on which I adore every single song. So far, I think my favourite song is "Knife Going In". The T&S website doesn't have any legally available tracks that I can give you, but go out and buy "The Con", and check out Tegan & Sara's myspace, however, here's a track from "So Jealous", and it's one of my favourites.
Team Turnip is one of those bands that no one has heard of. This is really quite unfortunate, as Russell Kostulin, the one and only member of Team Turnip plays the guitar (and other instruments) quite wonderfully. The recordings on his Myspace have all been done at home with a drum machine (unfortunate), however he's in the process of getting his tracks mastered, and creating a demo CD in order to try and get a deal with a record company.
He classifies his music as "sour-pop", which is power pop, but with a Scottish tinge. However, I believe he could classify himself with the likes of Belle & Sebastian, the Magic Numbers, and Aberfeldy (although he is missing the token female backup singers) He's a member of the Wendy House Collective, which include bands Finniston, Attic Lights, and Evan Crichton.
Two songs that he's written are absolutely fabulous. Both "Photos of the Staff" and "Wendy House" are beautiful songs that I've listened to (get ready!) 330 times on iTunes (believe me, it keeps track). Although that figure is sort of dismal, the songs are really worth listening to.
[mp3]Photos of the Staff - Team Turnip(missing the drum tracks unfortunately. You can still hear the ideas inside this tune. You can find the version with drums on Team Turnip's myspace)
It's funny how much we care about death. So many artists write songs about death, or in a depressed state, and yet they continue to earn money, not that money is the key to happiness; it's not. Artists who die unexpectedly develop somewhat of a cult following, whether or not they had it before. And yet, a surprising amount of artists have died way before they were supposed to: Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, I figured I'd spend some time to write about some of my favourite songs, which, for some reason or another all manage to deal with death in some way. Obviously, some of us may have heard of these songs before, but listen to them before you die, ok?
There is so much of an aura surrounding death, it's quite uncanny. People are afraid of it, dearly, and yet some people are ready for it to come. Some people are so depressed they commit suicide. Others die tragically, when they least expect to. Many musicians spend songs, albums, and entire careers to the mystery of the subject, so let's start looking at a couple of these songs...
"Funeral Music", which is also the title of Seely's most recent and only solo album, is probably the most upbeat song on the album, and it's also the best one. Seely's career is one of disappointment: signed to Capitol Records with his band the Actual Tigers, they released one album in 2001, Gravelled & Green. Although the album is quite incredible, it was marketed poorly, and when the Tigers didn't make any money, the contract ended . Seely retreated to Mississippi (although he hails from Seattle), and spent months with producer Dennis Herring (who also produced Modest Mouse), and eventually emerged with Funeral Music. (Do you notice any resemblance to Sam Beam and/or Zach Galafinakis?)
[myspace]Funeral Music - Tim Seely (stream the entire album here) Eels, (which is, essentially, Mark Oliver Everett) came up with quite an outstanding album, Electro-Shock Blues, despite all that he was experiencing. Many of his friends died, his sister committed suicide, and his mother was diagnosed with cancer. All of this trauma that he was dealing with lead to the major themes on this entire album, suicide, death, and cancer. Give it a listen and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Last Stop: This Town - Eels
I think we all know Elliott's story. It's one of my favourite songs, (but I love all of them), and it's ironic howpoignant it is being one of the first songs he played at his live performances, yet, released on an album after his death. I know, despite the sadness, I can smile while listening to it, knowing that I'm just listening to Elliott.
Duke Special really really is special. He's a crazy from Ireland, but that doesn't mean his music isn't any good. This song starts out with some orchestra arrangements a la The Beatles and then moves to an upbeat piano figure, a la The Four Tops and "I Can't Help Myself" (what a wonderful song!). On the other hand, the Irish flavour is definitely still apparent. He sings in a distinct Belfast accent, which is quite rare actually - often singing transcends accents, but this doesn't seem to be the case here. For those who like they what they hear, Duke Special has set up a website where you can sign up for their mailing list, and in exchange get five rare tracks/B Sides, and they're all really good ("Feet in the Sky" is especially recommended).
Can I tell you how excited I am about The Shepard's Dog? Well, Sam Beam has been making great music for years, and although it's, for the most part, happy (though indie low-fi folk, "stuff"), one of my favourite songs by Iron & Wine is all about death. "Sodom, South Georgia". Here's a live version I found of Iron & Wine (Sam Beam) performing at Messiah College (which I've never heard of actually) in Pennsylvania.
For a first post, this wasn't half terrible. I guarantee most posts will be much shorter than this, but should contain many lovely songs, and a lot of lovely information, and I'm definitely looking excited to share.
This site only offers MP3s that I get permission to post, or tracks that are made freely and legally available on the web by the artists/labels themselves.
If you are interested in having your music featured on TBSLC or have any questions about the site, please contact me directly.
