popwreckoning

Meiko‘s a sweet singer with some serious attitude. At a live show at L.A.’s Hotel Cafe, the singer put her sass to use and supported the food service industry with “You Gotta Fuckin’ Tip.” The tune is smart and funny and you can check it out for free below. Just right click and save or stream on our site. 

. “You Gotta Fuckin’ Tip (Live at Hotel Cafe)”

Meiko is currently in the studio recording her next album, which is tentatively scheduled for release in spring 2011. You can hear more of her work at meikomusic.com.

If Ireland’s Bell X1 isn’t on your radar, they should be.  The rockers have been around since 1999 and released four great albums, since that time. Though the band has been wildly popular in their homeland, it seems that many Americans have yet to discover them. Bell X1 is offering up a great opportunity to do that this fall when touring the states in support of the release of their recent Acoustic EP.

The Acoustic EP features a series of digital songs that the band has been offering up for free download. Some are original and some are special covers such as that of Justin Timberlake‘s “Like I Love You.” Check out and download the acoustic version of “Pinball Machine” from the band’s debut here.

The Fall tour sets will feature songs from their catalog, the Acoustic EP and new songs from their upcoming 2011 release. James Vincent McMorrow joins as support.

Tour Dates:
10/6 Philadelphia, PA@ Tin Angel
10/7 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
10/8 Cambridge, MA @ Brattle Theater
10/9 Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse Music Hall
10/11 Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
10/12 Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
10/14 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
10/15 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
10/16 Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café
10/17 Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
10/20 Los Angeles, CA @Hotel Café
10/21 San Francisco, CA @ Swedish American Hall

Experimental rocker Brian Bonz is releasing The Triborough Odyssey October 26, but you can get an early taste for the album with a free download of “Honey Bee.”
The Triborough Odyssey is the follow up to Brian’s debut album, From Sumi to Japan, to which PopWreckoning gave a glowing review for its catchiness and fresh content.

Bonz recorded the album with the help of his musician friends known as The Major Crimes.

Download “Honey Bee” for free at his blog here.

Tim Kasher, the front man of Omaha’s The Good Life and Cursive, is set to release his debut solo album on Saddle  Creek Records.

The album, The Game of Monogamy, hits stores October 5, and is now available for pre-order. One of the songs, “Cold Love,” is also available for streaming and free download. Go here to either pre-order or download the song.

Kasher told Spin.com about “Cold Love” that it is: “Mostly, (the it’s about) really boring sex, couples who have run out of steam in their relationships, whose sex life is reduced to going through the motions.”

Check out a new track from Wild Nothing, the solo-project of Jack Tatum, called “Golden Haze.”

by Tom Jenkinson

. “Golden Haze”

The song is off the upcoming Golden Haze EP, a follow-up to Wild Nothing’s spring debut Gemini. Wild Nothing features nostalgic, lo-fi sounding synth-pop melodies with lyrical themes of regret.

Wild Nothing is also touring ths fall with Stars. Full tour dates are below.

Tour Dates:
08/28 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom %
09/22 Rochester, NY – Water Street Music Hall *
09/23 Boston, MA – House of Blues *
09/28 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club *
09/30 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero *
10/01 Williamsburg, VA – College of William and Mary
10/02 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse *
10/03 Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall *
10/05 Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom *
10/06 Bloomington, IN – Bluebird Nightclub *
10/07 Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre *
10/08 Madison, WI – Barrymore Theatre *
10/09 Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre *
% = w/ Blank Dogs, Cosmetics, Minks
* = w/ Stars

Good things come to those who wait. So for those who have been waiting the very long, seven-year wait for a new release from Manhattan, Kansas’ Ultimate Fakebook, expect very good things. Heck, even if you’ve never heard of the band before this post, you can expect very good things.

After a seven-year hiatus, the power pop group is issuing a new full-length, Daydream Radio Is Smiling Static.  The album is a collection of lost recordings from 2000-2003: 16 originals and a Guided By Voices cover. You can stream it in its entirety below or at ufbrocks.com. Then, if you like what you hear (which we’re betting you will), you can download the album for free just by exchanging your email address for the album.

“Half of these songs were written and recorded to be a follow up to Laughing Week and the
other half were written after 2003’s Open Up and Say Awesome, which was our last album
as a band,” says vocalist Bill McShane of Daydream Radio. “This is 100% a gift to our fans, and we hope that we can gain some new fans as well. Sometimes it just takes awhile for the stars to align.”

July also commemorates the 10th anniversary of the band’s This Will Be Laughing Week, a record that gained the outfit some mainstream success with its Sony/Epic Records release thanks to its catchy hooks, which helped earn the band a loyal fan base.

Minus the Bear…I think I owe you an apology. When I last saw the Seattle band, I implied that the quality of their performance might be venue-specific. They were in Kansas not too long ago playing an early daylight opening set for the theatrical Flaming Lips and I found them too mellow for that venue/time slot. Now I was finding myself seeing them at an even earlier set time: 8 a.m.

Minus the Bear was at the Firefly Lounge in Kansas City to play 96.5 the Buzz‘s Kegs and Eggs. This is not an easy event for any band to perform at because it is a tiny venue with a tiny stage and the audience waits since 4 a.m. in the heat just to hear a few acoustic songs. Bands typically have a show the night before and essentially have to drive straight to the venue to perform on no sleep. Plus, there is the added challenge that the radio station gives patrons free beer, so the bands play to hot, sweaty and very rowdy fans – not an easy performance situation.

So going into this, I had my doubts that Minus the Bear would be able to impress. Their songs are complicated, progressive rock songs and for anyone who spends enough time listening to their albums, they have tendency to go effects-happy with their material. Yet, Minus the Bear surprised me and their songs transitioned beautifully into mildly funk-tinged acoustic numbers.

They played three acoustic songs off their latest release, OMNI: “Hold Me Down,” “Summer Angel” and “My Time.” In between “Hold Me Down” and “Summer Angel” the band bantered with the audience about this was like a Bon Jovi concert with girls sitting on shoulders to get a better view. They quipped that they might cover, “Living on a Prayer,” but I’m glad they stuck to their own material. “Summer Angel” was my favorite of the acoustic versions: the vocals here perfectly lent themselves for an acoustic rendition and the use of acoustic drums actually gave this song  a summery sound.

Of course, “My Time” was the song most wanted to here, this being a radio function and all. Though the band is known for their signature guitar lines, this song really lets the piano shine. The fun keyboard line was all the more in the spotlight in this acoustic version. Once completed, the audience cheered for more, but the band held back from an encore, saving more special treats for their fans who would attend their evening set at the Granada.

So yes, I think I owe Minus the Bear an apology. They survived Kegs and Eggs with a great performance and positive attitudes: a double feat that few bands pull off at these sorts of events.

You can download the entire acoustic set by right clicking and saving from here. And be sure to check out video of the band performing “Summer Angel” below:

The Cloud I’m Under is the experimental-synthpop laptop project of an individual who supposedly lives in New York, prefers to remain anonymous, and claims to have been making music since the age of six. He’s been steadily releasing digital EPs every couple months with titles like There’s More To Life Than Indie Rock and Roll, My 80’s Comedown EP, Lo-fi Kids With Electro Dads EP, and in the time since I began writing this review and now, he’s already posted another one, called the Someone Has Foiled Our Plans EP. As with many lo-fi projects that pump out albums at a frenetic pace, the differences between each of these releases is understated: each sounds hushed, flush with hip, synth-centric influences like New Order and Berlin-era Bowie, and like they were created by someone awake late at night, alone.

The six song John The Carpenter EP is divided between the pop songs that make up the first two thirds and the synth experiments that make up the last. On those first four songs, it’s clear that The Cloud I’m Under has an obvious grasp on pop structuring and hookcraft, best displayed by the snakey, whispered melodies of the goosebump-y “Smile Awkwardly” and leather jacketed “Still Friends?”. The sinister, ambient title track has some experimental tendencies (or is just kind of weird, particularly that bobbing synth line that kind of hovers around for a bit), but buried beneath the layers of reverb it’s also got a bit of a sweet tooth.

The last two tracks on the EP are “Accidental Nap” and “Pfft And It’s Gone”; the former an ominous ambient synth piece, the latter’s florescent, cascading melody sounds like SNES-era videogame music.

As with all of The Cloud I’m Under’s work though, the bland digital production of John The Carpenter mars the final product, making it sounds like it was recorded in Garageband or Reason or whatever we used in my grade 10 music class. It takes the edge off the songs, making them sound cheap (in a bad way) and bloated. Though some compression and more live sounds are recommended, check off The Cloud I’m Under’s box for “interesting.”

Downloads and more mp3s from The Cloud I’m Under are available here.

Repping Austin, TX and Lawrence, KS, rapper/producer Spence returns with his second full album release, Planet Pluto.

The album draws inspiration from electro, drum & bass, and Bollywood with lyrics touching on music criticism, his Texas to Kansas migration, love, pressure and everything else.

Planet Pluto also features appearances from local Kansas favorites such as Marty from Cowboy Indian Bear, Steddy P, Approach and Ebony Tusks.

It is available for free download online and on an exclusive pressing of CDs.

Download it for free here.

Kansas City’s T H I E V E S worked on this video for “Swan Song” with their friend Bret Palmer just before playing at SXSW. It features tight camera angles and an even tighter sound.

“Swan Song” is off the Divider EP, which is available for free download at isoldthetruth.com.