Colour Coding - Had It All

Ahh the sweet sting of regret wrapped up in a pop song package. You could've had it all, but you messed up.



Enjoy some more of this Sydney based duo. You can get 'Kick' on a name your price basis on bandcamp. Find Colour Coding on facebook.

Patrick James - All About To Change

Sometimes all you want is a new life to unfold in front of you and songs like this will make you litter the room with your wanting sighs.  Hopefully that change is just around the corner. Patrick James is a 19 year old Australian whose charming folk/pop music sounds much more mature than his age would lead you to believe.

The Falls - Home

The Falls are a Sydney based band whose bio starts with this story: "They met. They fell in love. They wrote songs. They fought. They made up. They broke up. They wrote songs." We've heard this story a few times (think The Rosebuds and Fleetwood Mac) but it's a situation that never fails to amaze. What came out of it was five pop songs on an EP with palpable and genuine emotions. There's plenty of hand claps and sweet male/female vocals that seem to be a soft spot for many listeners. It's well worth your time listening to all five.

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Boston Concert Roundup 5/23 - 5/29

Last week I wasn't feeling so great and more than anything I was concert-ed out. As a result I missed some big ones like Tune-Yards, Fleet Foxes, and Lykke Li, but at least my wallet is happier. Now that I haven't seen a concert in 10 days, I feel ready to get back out there. This week provides some good ones and Wednesday is full of tough choices and amazing talent. There'll be some good weekend concerts too in case standing in back yards at memorial day barbeques becomes redundant or too rainy. Specific venue information and links can be found on the Boston links tab.




Monday 5/23
Stay in tonight. Get ready for the week ahead.

Tuesday 5/24 
Chris Thile & Michael Daves @ Brighton Music Hall
Chris Thile & Michael Daves - My Little Tennessee Girl (cover)
Major Lazer @ Middle East downstairs
Allison Weiss @ Middle East Upstairs

Wednesday 5/25 I genuinely want to see each and every one of these bands at some point.
Hey Rosetta! w/ Old Abram Brown@ Great Scott
Hey Rosetta! - Yer Spring
Austra w/ Trust @ Brighton Music Hall
Austra - Lose It
Cloud Cult with Wilderness of Manitoba @ Paradise
Wilderness of Manitoba - Orono Park
Diego Garcia @ Cafe 939
The Booze @ O'Briens Pub
The Booze - Down On Your Luck
Coyote Kolb @ Precinct

Thursday 5/26 
Times New Viking w/ The Babies @ Great Scott
Times New Viking - Fuck Her Tears

Friday 5/27
Friendly Fires w/ Wise Blood @ Paradise
Friendly Fires - Blue Cassette

Saturday 5/28
Stornoway w/ Sea of Bees @ Brighton Music Hall
Stornoway - On the Rocks I saw them a few months ago and this song was amazing live
Sea of Bees - Wizbot
Man Man @ Paradise their live shows are supposed to be a whole other level of insanity
Mean Creek, Hands & Knees, and more @ Great Scott local show full of awesomeness

Sunday 5/29
I got nothing. Enjoy your weekend. Be Safe. Wear seatbelts when applicable.

Boy & Bear

Myspace

I was going through my archives and realized that in 4 days it will be this lil' small fry bloggy-poo's first birthday. (Yes, that is my pet name for the blog). I only realized this because I was looking up an old post from last year on my favorite song by the Australian band, Passenger. This is my roundabout way to tell you that in the process I stumbled across the song, "Shape of Love" hiding out in my itunes library. But I am now officially obsessed with the other Australian band, Boy & Bear, and I have been playing their few songs on repeat. They are already a pretty big deal in their homeland after touring with Mumford & Sons and Laura Marling, impressive for a debuting band. Unfortunately, their debut EP is not available to those of us stateside until December 8th, but I can tell you that it is one I will definitely be purchasing.

Their music is instantly attractive, much like Mumford & Sons and Local Natives were the first time I heard them. It has that right mix of indie, rock, and a mysterious dark side that makes me want to play their songs over and over. There is not really much for me to say here, because this is music that absolutely speaks for itself. You'll see what I mean. "Because the shape of love is the only shape that fits my heart. "

A Handful of Summer - Day Three

      Did you know there are an overwhelming amount of concerts to go to this weekend for Boston people? Starting tonight there is the Americana Festival at hard rock or Yacht Club at Harper's Ferry or Theophilus London with The Cool Kids at the Middle East Downstairs. Who knew Thursdays were filled with so many choices? On Friday, Modest Mouse is playing at the House of Blues. If you were lucky to get free tickets for Passion Pit's show on Saturday, that is happing at Royale and should be awesome. Then in the smallest concert venue ever (one of my least favorite) the Middle East upstairs will have Yukon Blonde and some other bands playing Sunday night. Then Delta Spirit with Romany Rye at the Middle East downstairs on Monday, and there are still tickets available which just blows my mind, but is also good because I still haven't trekked over to Cambridge to buy them.
      I am horribly anti-ticketmaster who recently merged with LiveNation just so they can extra screw all us concert goers over. I only buy tickets at the door or box office. You should do the same you save something absurd like $10 for a pair of tickets. Concerts are one of the best ways to support bands you like and are quite often a cheap form of entertainment. If you like any of the bands I list here, check out their websites and see if they have any concerts in your area. These up and coming bands are some of the best concerts you will ever see.
      Here is an example: My $8 ticket for a Hey Marseille concert was easily my top purchase of 2010. I also bought their cd at the show for $6. But I felt guilty that they were only asking for $6 so I also bought Matt a $2 beer. And it was still the best $16 I ever spent. The band was really fun to drink a beer with while watching the other bands, and I also got their set list.

That was my rant for the day, to reward you for reading that, here are some tunes.

MP3: Frontier Ruckus - Nerves of the Nightmind
If you don't want to listen to all the songs I posted today and can only pick one, pick this one!!! I love the  banjo, the male/female vocals, the SAW, the awesome piano, the trumpet. It basically has half of my favorite instruments, which is amazing. Songs like this are my favorites. I hope you like it.

MP3: We Are Scientist - Rules Don't Stop Me
I would have liked this song more in high school when I was all "rules are for communist" and going through my rebellious stage. I also liked this pop-rock stuff more then too. But it is still a decent upbeat song, good to put on your running mix.

MP3: Jenny And Johnny - Scissor Runner
I posted about Johnathan Rice last week because I was looking forward to this new C.D. Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice the talented girlfriend/boyfriend duo. I love male/female duos and they do a great job together. Make sure to check out their new album!

MP3: The Coral - In The Morning
When I found out The Coral was still in existence I definitely fist pumped out of unbridled excitement. It was kind of embarrassing since I was at my office, also known as the silent room at the Boston Public Library. Which means everyone in the massive room saw my absurd looking fist pump. I loved this band to pieces in high school with "Pass it On" and that Captain Kangaroo song. They are a really fantastic British band.

MP3: Stars - We Don't Want Your Body
Another band I have been obsessed with in the past has a new album coming out in a few weeks. Their new stuff follows in the direction of their last album with computery/synthy glitz suitable for the dance floor. I will like it no matter what.

MP3: Hot Spa - Kiola Beach
A summery indie tune from an Australian band. There are limited amounts of info on this band, but I do enjoy this song when I am zoning out in my car with the windows down.

What do y'all think about this new type of post? Good/Bad? Too much music at once? Should I keep doing this? Let me know.

Hi to my Australian visitors, especially Melbourne and Perth. There has recently been an onslaught of readers from Australia, I don't know who to thank for that but I am grateful for it. Come back soon.

Sally Seltmann - Harmony To My Heartbeat

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This Australian singer/songwriter (formerly known as New Buffalo) has recently debuted a fantastic album, Heart That's Pounding. She writes pop songs with a certain charm and likability that lures you in.  In the past Sally Seltmann has collaborated and written for many artists, one being Fiest, and on her own album she gets a helping hand from an impressive group of friends; Cameron Bird and Gus Franklin (Architecture In Helsinki), Jens Lekman, Darren Seltmann (The Avalanches) and Ned Collette play choir in Dark Blue Angel ; The Middle East & Dragging Pianos lend their voices to 5 Stars; Lara Meyerratken (El May) adds back-up vocals to On The Borderline; Mark Monnone (The Lucksmiths) plays bass on many tracks and offers some unconventional percussion on Dream About Changing. Jessica Venables (Jessica Says), who also performs live with Sally, contributes back-up vocals and strings. Below is the video for Harmony to my heartbeat which perfectly conveys the sugary sweet happiness of this song. It is a good little ditty to make you smile. 

MP3: Sally Seltmann - Harmony to my Heartbeat

Jonathan Boulet - A Community Service Announcement

Jonathan Boulet is an Australian act who is doing really well thanks to his free download made available on the internet. Listen to more on his myspace and listen to it or download it here:

Jonathan Boulet – A Community Service Annoucement

The Panics - Don't Fight It

While watching Ugly Betty at 3am last year after a night out, I heard this song and I liked it enough to pick my head up off my pillow and went directly to itunes and purchased the song. It also made it onto last year's Valentines day mix. The Panics are an Australian band and released a new album in the UK called Cruel Guards and is worth checking out. Anyways you gotta love the trumpets in this song, they really make it. You should also check out their other songs Get us Home and Feeling is Gone.