Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Bohemian Rhapsody, Muppet Style !!!

For no particular reason, Ladies & Gentlemen…..The Muppets!!!

Song of the Day

SCANNERS
Salvation

DOWNLOAD: Salvation

London-based Scanners first popped on my radar when a lotta people thought they stole the show whilst touring with another Song of the Day featured band, The Horrors. I picked up their debut album, Violence Is Golden and was immediately taken by the tight production and powerful, angsty lyrics. Sarah Daly’s tough-girl vocals can bring Elastica to mind, but Scanners is a bit more polished…more refined…and now they’re set to release their second album, Submarine, in February. Check ‘em out on MySpace

Song of the Day

THE LONDON SOULS
She’s So Mad

DOWNLOAD: She’s So Mad

Matthew Morgan and James Spooner, the Afro-Punk guys, have come through again with Afro-Punk Vol. 2: “FUCK ROCK STARS”, a killer compilation of 16 tracks from bands as varied as IrRAdio, The oOohh Baby Gimme Mores, Peekaboo Theory and The London Souls, who get their first Song of the Day with ‘She’s So Mad’…a straight-up rocker from three guys who are, in fact, not from London, but New York! But wait…here’s the best part! You can download the entire album for free by simply clicking HERE!!! and if The London Souls get your blood pumpin’, check ‘em out on their MySpace page

Song of the Day

THE SUN
In Perfect Time

DOWNLOAD: In Perfect Time

I don’t wanna sound like an old fart, but The Sun obviously didn’t name themselves with Google in mind! Maybe if they weren’t so damned hard to find, they still might be together! I dare you…try to get any information about these guys…it ain’t easy, but here’s what I know…..The Sun were from Columbus, Ohio and was made up of Sam Brown (Six feet One inches tall and enjoys the beautiful mountain state of Alaska. He’s a rugged mans’ man), Bryan Arend (Four feet Eleven inches tall and two hundred and thirty-seven pounds. He usually carries a firearm), “Bobby” Brad Forsblom (A handsome Five foot Eleven and walks with a limp. He is a craftsman and was injured in an unfortunate kiln-related accident), Chris Burney (Five feet and Six inches tall. He suffers from the short mans view of things. Don’t get too close) and Bradley Caulkins (Six foot and Four inches tall, all muscle. He was primarily added to the group so the other four could start shit, then get Brad to kick their asses). They apparently packed it in back in January, but if the fuzzy blast of melodic noise kicked up on ‘In Perfect Time’ gets you going, then you can visit Rock Proper and download their entire new/last album, Don’t Let Your Baby Have All The Fun, for nothing! And then why not check ‘em out over on their MySpace page to show them a little post-breakup love?!!

Song of the Day

LISSIE
Everywhere I Go

DOWNLOAD: Everywhere I Go

You might have noticed that things have been kinda slow here on the Song of the Day…sort of a combination of me bein’ jacked up with other things and my not finding a lot of good new music to toss out to you guys. Then yesterday I heard ‘Everywhere I Go’ off of the just-released debut EP from Lissie Maurus, an L.A.-based singer/songwriter who says she’s influenced by Gram Parsons, The Mamas & The Papas and The Flying Burrito Brothers. Her arresting, achingly beautiful vocal on this track stopped me dead and finally, for the first time in a week, I knew I had something truly worthwhile for The List. The EP, Why You Runnin’, was produced by her friend Bill Reynolds, whose day job is playing bass in Band of Horses and his bandmate, Tyler Ramsey, is on guitar for some of the tracks, but the real reason you’re here is for the haunting voice and raw emotion that Lissie has spilling out of her. Head over to her MySpace page and check her out.

Song of the Day

THE DRUMS
Let’s Go Surfing

DOWNLOAD: Let’s Go Surfing

The Brooklyn (by way of Florida) duo (sometimes quartet) of Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham claim to only write about two feelings…..one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. The other is when you’re walking alone in the rain and realize you will be alone forever. Well…I’m uplifted and depressed all at once…I guess ‘Let’s Go Surfing’, off of their ‘Summertime’ EP, draws more from the former feeling than the later. The boys are workin’ a wonderful new-wavey/post-punk vibe with the low-fi guitars, trash can drums and doo-wop backing vocals and the music press seems to be noticing, with even NME calling them “New York’s official Coolest New Band”. Check out The Drums on their website or over on MySpace

World Champions Again!!!

Song of the Day

VIA AUDIO
We Can Be Good

DOWNLOAD: We Can Be Good

I’m gonna do a bit of Friday afternoon blog-rolling on The List today. Frank Deis is a wine geek friend of mine and his son Tom plays guitar with the highly-regarded gang of Berklee College of Music grads who call themselves Via Audio. Frank did a shout-out to see if I could garner a few hits for the band the Fearlessmusic Weekly Poll that’s running over at www.fearlessmusic.com…..look over at the right side of the page…Via Audio is the last band listed….go on, give ‘em a click and they’ll be eternally grateful!

You would have to be deaf not to hear a bit of Tracey Thorn in Jessica Martins delivery and I know singers hate to be constantly compared to other vocalists, but the similarities are there, and wonderfully so…especially when she cries, “…but when it’s good, it’s really good…”…..damn…it gave me goosebumps! Pleading, mournful and just the right amount of sad. And the production, handled by Spoon’s Jim Eno, blends her voice with the infectious, stuttering electric guitars and singalong harmonies perfectly. Head on over to their MySpace page and give a listen to a few more cuts.

Still Life Of The Day – BusinessWeek Shopping Bag Cover

A couple of weeks ago I got a 5:00PM call from Ronnie Weil, BusinessWeek’s Director of Photography, asking if I was available to shoot a rush-rush cover. The magazine was doing a feature on retailing and wanted to show a shopping bag filled with various products….and they needed shot the next morning….and the finished art that afternoon! Fast forward to the next morning and my stylist Megan Terry swoops into the studio with bags full of props and we get to work on Rich Michiel’s layout…..

Rich would be adding a houndstooth pattern to the white shopping bag in post, but we had to shoot multiple variations of the bag’s contents for them to decide on the final mix of products. After moving the props around into a hundred or so different arrangements, Bo, Megan and I managed to squeak in before the deadline…..

…and the cover (without the Teddy Bear) hit the stands that Friday!