dear philadelphia, I MISS YOU.
beauuuutiful!
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Real Estate - Younger Than Yesterday
This song was great live and its now on the Reality EP. Video also.
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Kyuss - Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop
This song was probably the most listened to track on my first ipod.
The genre of stoner rock probably has a somewhat maligned reputation, by virtue of its misleading name. Certainly, the genre used to be known for its artists and fans being stoners — it’s said that the effects of marijuana complement the music quite well — but there’s no reason anybody can’t enjoy it, provided slow-to-mid tempo, low-tuned guitars, melodic vocals, and a whole lot of bass sounds good to you.
Stoner rock’s influences go right back to the 1960s if you look hard enough, with the likes of Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Grateful Dead, and Iron Butterfly being notable influencers. But Kyuss are said to have made the first true stoner rock album with “Blues for the Red Sun” in 1992. The release of “Welcome to Sky Valley” (1994) marks their finest point, as far as I’m concerned, and this track is from that album.
The most interesting thing to note about Kyuss, for my money, is the history of its band members. Josh Homme was one of Kyuss’ only continuous members, who of course later went on to form Queens of the Stone Age. That’s the most notable mention, but far from the only one: members of Kyuss at one point or another have been responsible for great bands like Fu Manchu, Eagles of Death Metal, Slo Burn, and Mondo Generator. Stoner rock seems like a fairly incestuous genre in that respect, with a lot of bands sharing members, which is true, but it was also a lot of shared talent, and they’ve been responsible for producing a lot of music that still sounds great today, 17 years after Kyuss started making music, and 14 years after Kyuss broke up.
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Public Safety - Mutual Feedback
I don’t know anything about this brand new Amherst, Massachusetts band. But this. track. rocks. Let it get going - it’s long, 8+ minutes - and it takes a bit to find its groove. But when it does… my goodness. As they call themselves on MySpace: shoegaze/rap/trance. I think that covers it.
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Beach House - 10 Mile Stereo
Maybe just as good if not better than the last record.
It’s not just that the album is good, which was a given, but that the group sounds even more at one with their sound. Each song is lusher and grander. The whole thing sounds triumphant, really, especially on songs like the above.
