How is everyone on this lovely evening? I am in an exceptionally good mood. I saw Pearl Jam perform 2+ hours of awesomeness in Cleveland yesterday and am still riding my Vedder high. That was the eighth time I’ve seen them live and I’m already jonesing for more.
Speaking of awesome amazing stupendous things I feel the need to rave a bit about a band I recently discovered. I mentioned them briefly a few days ago but I don’t think I did them enough justice.
Foxy Shazam are fucking awesome. I had never heard of these guys before last week, when I was assigned their CD to review for one of the sites I work for (I’ll link to my review when it’s up). I wanted to listen to them at first because A) They have an amazing name and B) They’re playing Lollapalooza this year and since I’ll be there I like to know the bands I might be seeing beforehand.
I knew nothing about these guys before I started playing the CD. It stars, there’s dogs barking. I’m confused. Then a man with a voice of Freddie Mercury on ‘roids (Eric Sean Nally) starts some polite crooning…before unleashing a beastly howl that is a sonic slap of super sexy awesome. From that second on this band has been my obsession. This album, which is self-titled, is without a doubt my first contender for album of the year. And if it had come out one year prior it would have made my top five albums of that decade. Yes. It’s that fucking good.
Now, why am I going off on this? Why don’t I do this for every album I love this much Well, if I heard albums this unbefuckinglievable more often I would. But this is the first time in recent memory that I can recall falling in love with a record this much. According to my Last.fm stats I have listened to Foxy Shazam over 180 times in the past week. Number two for that time period is LCD Soundsystem – and that’s only because I had to review their new album as well.
(And on a quick aside, This Is Happening is the anti Foxy Shazam and is the worst album I’ve heard from an artist I liked since I can’t remember when. “Drunk Girls” is a shit rip-off of “White Lines/White Heat” (edit: “White LIGHT/White Heat, I’m retarded,) and aside from three very good tracks the whole thing is an abortion of a record that should be set aflame and forgotten).
For whatever reason, this record is not getting the promotion it deserves. I haven’t seen any notable reviews on Pitchfork, Stereogum or any blogs of note. And I’m not hearing the songs on commercials, in trailers or anywhere else for that matter. I do know that “Unstoppable” played briefly during the Super Bowl, but that was months ago. I don’t even think they’ve released a single since the album came out. Which is fucked up. “Wanna-Be Angel” should be force-fed to every radio station in the country!
I urge all of you to BUY Foxy Shazam’s new self-titled album. BUY it. Don’t download it. Don’t get the MP3s from a friend. Fucking go to the record store (or iTunes or Amazon, whatever) and spend your hard-earned cash on it. It will without question be the best 10 bucks you spend all damn year. And if you listen to that record and somehow are not completely blown away by the amazing awesomeness of it. If you aren’t convinced that Foxy Shazam are the best RAWK band in the world and that they should by all rights be selling out stadiums around the world, well then you don’t have permission to read my blog anymore.
Yeah. So I like them. Anyways, all of tonight’s music (completely unrelated to Foxy Shazam) was taken from 7” Record Store Day exclusives.
Tegan And SaraAlligator
Hell
The Cure
On Directing
Have you bought Sainthood yet? You should. It’s amazing. It’s better than The Con, but not as good as So Jealous, which I love more so because I think about half the tracks on that CD were either written specifically about me or several of my best friends. Seriously, some of the tracks on that one were freakishly close to home.
Passion PitLittle Secrets (Felix Da Housecat Pink Enemy Remix)
Chicks dig Passion Pit. If you’re a dude who likes chicks and you don’t like this group you should pretend you do at the very least. I wrote an article about the kinds of songs you should put on a mixtape, and this would be a good one for that. Whenever that article ends up online I’ll be sure to link to it.
Against Me!I Was a Teenage Anarchist (Acoustic Version)
I’m loving this song right now. I always enjoy it when a band has the balls to insult their fanbase in an intelligent way. Mindless Self Indulgence did it brilliantly with their scathing You’ll Rebel To Anything, a record so critical of the Hot Topic culture it made the band’s exclusivity deal with the retailer even more depressing, and Against Me have done it with this excellent track. Against Me are frequently labeled as a “sell out” band because they had the nerve to become better musicians and sign to a major label. This song turns the tables on those proclaiming sell out and explains that ideals are a hell of a lot easier to live by until you get to the real world. Besides, anarchists are such whiny little cowards anyways. I was happy to see them get maced by the police during the G20 protests. Because putting on black handkerchiefs and running around like idiots is a surefire way to start the revolution. Pussies.