popwreckoning

Steel Train’s self-titled CD, which also happens to be their newest album out June 29, features an eclectic mix of indie rock and pop.

It has an edgy sound thanks in part to the guitars and the staccato drums, while the piano and smooth vocals bring the pop influence to the scene. However, it is done very well and the melodies work synergistically with the harmonies. It is slightly more upbeat than their last album and you can thank the synthesized feel for that.

Steel Train only boasts two slower songs, “You and I Undercover” and the final track “Fall Asleep,” which feature several strings instruments for a softer feel, but every other song invites you to get up and move along with the music. And with song titles like “Turnpike Ghost” and “S.O.G. Burning in Hell,” you can’t help but want to give this album a listen. “Touch Me Bad” and “Children of the 90’s (I’m Not the Same)” are definitely the dance tracks of the album.

In addition, Steel Train is offering a complementary album called Terrible Thrills Vol. 1, which is a different version of Steel Train. Terrible Thrills Vol. 1 offers the exact same track listing as Steel Train but each song is remixed by various female artists such as Scarlett Johansson and Tegan and Sara.

Track Listing:
1. Bullet
2. Turnpike Ghost
3. You and I Undercover
4. You Are Dangerous
5. S.O.G. Burning In Hell
6. Touch Me Bad
7. Behavior
8. Children of the 90′s (I’m Not the Same)
9. Soldier In the Army
10. Bloody Lips
11. Speedway Motor Racers Club, The
12. Fall Asleep

Written by Sara Monahan

Hey Champ will settle as “the third greatest thing to come out of Rockford [, Ill.]” (following, of course, Cheap Trick and a character from early 90′s hit television show “Blossom,” according to the band’s bio), but I’ll take the leap and say they’re the greatest electronic act to make their mark on 2010. 

These guys hooked me with “Cold Dust Girl,” the same single that grabbed Lupe Fiasco‘s attention and started their climb into fame. Within a month of hearing that track, Mr. Fiasco had the trio opening for him on tour. Within my first month of hearing “Cold Dust Girl,” the song hit over 50 plays in my iTunes and a new favorite band was cemented in my heart.

To my immense pleasure, the group’s first full-length album, Star, will hit stores on July 13. I’ve been listening to this album for a few weeks now, and it’s solid.

Straight up: my first couple listens left me a little disappointed. Most of what I’d heard from Hey Champ prior to Star were their DJ mixes (the Jet Set Mixtape and the Winner’s Circle Mixtape, available for free download here), which have a noticeably different tone than this album. I expected the same type of sound from Star, and only two of that album’s tracks, “Cold Dust Girl” and “Face Control” match up with the versions on Winner’s Circle. “Neverest” also crops up on Winner’s Circle, but remixed by Rawman, rather than the slower original version on Star.

So I took a couple weeks off from Hey Champ. Cleared my head of their mixes and reminded myself that most of the Mixtapes are the DJs’ mixes of other artists’ songs, which accounts for the major style difference. And then I gave Star another chance and, sure enough, I was very pleased.

Star delivers a healthy mix of faster songs suitable for club play and slower tracks perfect for late-night summer drives (oh how cliché). Though definitely electronic, a few tracks, like “Word=War,” occasionally rely on a harder rock sound. It’s an interesting juxtaposition not just throughout the album, but within individual songs themselves — and was the reasoning for part of my hesitancy to approve the album. As I’ve listened, though, those raucous bits have made their marks as endearing little Hey Champ signatures in the middle of long, synth-heavy runs.

For those with any taste at all for electronic or dance music, N.B. Hey Champ needs to make its way into your music collection pronto. For now, check the links above to grab their Mixes. Next month, get excited! and pick up Star. You’ll be happy, Hey Champ will be happy, your speakers will be happy. All-around, good deal.

Star hits stores July 13. You can pre-order the album now for just $4.99 here and immediately get the first five tracks for download.

Written by: Caitlin Dean

The Psychedelic Furs were at Kansas City’s Midland Theatre on June 14, performings hits from their expansive catalog spanning the last four decades.

The Furs are a new-wave, post punk band that formed in the 70s. They’re perhaps best known for “Pretty in Pink,” the inspiration for a John Hughes title.

Photographer Todd Zimmer was there to catch the British band in action at the Midland and shares these photos chronicling their performance:

On September 28th, Vagrant Records will release the latest studio album from Pete Yorn.

Produced by Frank Black (The Pixies), this visceral 11-song collection follows Yorn’s two 2009 releases. Back & Fourth, hailed as “haunting” by Entertainment Weekly. While Rolling Stone said,”Yorn has found his voice on Back and Fourth, a mostly acoustic beauty.” It was followed in September by Break Up, a collaboration with Scarlett Johansson that Paste said “succeeds in its ambitious goal of capturing the spirit – if not the sound – of the late 60′s musical partnership between Serge Giansbourg and Brigette Bardot.”

Yorn’s forthcoming album, a self-titled volume with a plain black cover, was recorded on the spur-of-the-moment, in the summer of 2008. Yorn was in the middle of making Back & Fourth in Nebraska when he got an email from Black suggesting that they record some tunes. Intrigued by the notion of experimenting with Frank, Yorn hopped a plane to Salem, OR, where the two set up an impromptu studio. They recorded the albumin a mere five days – even though the singer-songwriter-guitaristcame down with the flu two days into the process.

“Frank didn’t give a shit about getting sick, so we stayed in the flow,” recalls Yorn. “He has an incredible ability to distill a song down to its core.”

Frank recalls, “Pete told me he wanted to better define himself as an artist. I think he just wanted to rock out. But as we headed down a path of realization I stripped him down a whole bunch. We battled in the best sort of way. I tried to get the session into a fearless and raw place, and to his artistic credit Pete took his songwriting to a fearless and raw place. This listener will find his or herself sitting right next to Pete on the couch. And the record totally rocks out.”

The resulting songs are raw, born of shattered nerves and shifting dreams – yet edged with hope.

Yorn will be touring in Fall 2010 in conjunction with the new album’s release. Tour dates will be announced shortly.

Track Listing:
1. Precious Stone
2. Rock Crowd
3. Velcro Shoes
4. Paradise Cove I
5. Badman
6. The Chase
7. Sans Fear
8. Always
9. Stronger than
10. Future Life
11. Wheels

Philip Selway of Radiohead will release his first solo album, Familial, August 31 on Nonesuch Records. The album will be available for pre-order late June.

A collection of sublimely fragile, haunting and heartfelt songs, Familial is likely to surprise many-and not solely because these beautifully understated performances are coming from a drummer. Familial is so persuasively good as to make a case for Selway as a natural born singer-songwriter.

The very first seeds of Familial were planted in 2001 when Neil Finn organized an impromptu gathering of talent, including Johnny Marr, Eddie Vedder, Lisa Germano, former Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Steinberg, Selway and his Radiohead bandmate Ed O’Brien, in aid of charity. The resulting album 7 Worlds Collide was credited to Neil Finn and Friends, but when the project was revived in 2008 the singing/songwriting was divided among the ranks, which by then included members of Wilco. During those sessions at Finn’s Auckland studio, Philip came up with Familial‘s “The Ties That Bind Us,” on which he made his debut as a lead vocalist. That song, and an earlier number, “The Witching Hour”–also on Familial-appeared on 7WC’s The Sun Came Out album, released August 2009.

Back home, Selway asked Courtyard Studios’ resident engineer and producer Ian Davenport to work with him on sessions that would yield Familial. Selway then invited Germano, Steinberg, and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Sansone to join him in the studio. Familial finds these varied and accomplished creative voices working in concert to craft a subtly complex and completely hypnotic atmosphere. Curiously, traditional drumming is virtually absent from the record, which favors underlying textures and loops for percussion. At times Familial‘s beats and instrumental colours are so subtle, it seems as if the acoustic air in the room is setting the mood, leaving space for the lyrics, which clearly come from the most intimate of places.

“Alejandro” has arrived! Watch the highly anticipated video for Lady Gaga’s third chart-topping single from The Fame Monster right now. For the full experience, watch at LadyGaga.com.

We’d love to know what you think: what’s the best Gaga video?

Acoustic singer Tyler Brown Williams performs live at the All Together Now Showcase at SXSW 2010. The pop rock musician also took the time to answer a few questions. Check it out in the video below:

The All Together Now Showcase was made possible with help from ATN Management, Invisible Children, Big Picture Media, PopWreckoning.com, Fox Clothing, Pop Chips, www.borrowlenses.com, www.philipgrey.com, Jacob Mengelkoch, Bayou Lounge, Kelsey Eckberg, Jennifer DaRe and MTV.

It was the only showcase at SXSW where bands could be sure their music would be heard by MTV.

You can learn more about the showcase and other bands featured at www.atnshowcase.com. We’ll also be featuring more bands’ interviews and performances in an ongoing feature at www.PopWreckoning.com.

Were you there? We’d love to hear your memories…

Indie rock musician Wil Seabrook performs live at the All Together Now Showcase at SXSW 2010. The singer also took the time to answer a few questions. Check it out in the video below:

The All Together Now Showcase was made possible with help from ATN Management, Invisible Children, Big Picture Media, PopWreckoning.com, Fox Clothing, Pop Chips, www.borrowlenses.com, www.philipgrey.com, Jacob Mengelkoch, Bayou Lounge, Kelsey Eckberg, Jennifer DaRe and MTV.

It was the only showcase at SXSW where bands could be sure their music would be heard by MTV.

You can learn more about the showcase and other bands featured at www.atnshowcase.com. We’ll also be featuring more bands’ interviews and performances in an ongoing feature at www.PopWreckoning.com.

Were you there? We’d love to hear your memories…

Folk act Thurlow performs live at the All Together Now Showcase at SXSW 2010. The group also took the time to answer a few questions. Check it out in the video below:

The All Together Now Showcase was made possible with help from ATN Management, Invisible Children, Big Picture Media, PopWreckoning.com, Fox Clothing, Pop Chips, www.borrowlenses.com, www.philipgrey.com, Jacob Mengelkoch, Bayou Lounge, Kelsey Eckberg, Jennifer DaRe and MTV.

It was the only showcase at SXSW where bands could be sure their music would be heard by MTV.

You can learn more about the showcase and other bands featured at www.atnshowcase.com. We’ll also be featuring more bands’ interviews and performances in an ongoing feature at www.PopWreckoning.com.

Were you there? We’d love to hear your memories…

Kansas City rock trio Thieves performs live at the All Together Now Showcase at SXSW 2010. The group also took the time to answer a few questions. Check it out in the video below:

The All Together Now Showcase was made possible with help from ATN Management, Invisible Children, Big Picture Media, PopWreckoning.com, Fox Clothing, Pop Chips, www.borrowlenses.com, www.philipgrey.com, Jacob Mengelkoch, Bayou Lounge, Kelsey Eckberg, Jennifer DaRe and MTV.

It was the only showcase at SXSW where bands could be sure their music would be heard by MTV.

You can learn more about the showcase and other bands featured at www.atnshowcase.com. We’ll also be featuring more bands’ interviews and performances in an ongoing feature at www.PopWreckoning.com.

Were you there? We’d love to hear your memories…