First Week in Boston

Getting to know Boston has been an interesting experience for Jose and me :). The day we arrived, it was a lot hotter than we'd anticipated; it was about 91 degrees. So when we got to the apartment, we were a little disappointed that it didn't come with an AC unit. But we weren't too upset. What we'd seen on the way from the airport to our new place was enough to put us in a good mood for the rest of the day. The taxi driver was hilarious and I think we saw our lives flash before us the whole time we were in the car, let's just say the taxi drivers like to keep you on the edge of your seat when they're behind the wheel, literally :D. They honk for any reason, sometimes I think it's their way of greeting other drivers.

Anyhow, as I mentioned, the drive home was beautiful. The homes and apartments look like what you'd see on a stereotypical postcard of the East Coast. Tall, old, and classic, with just enough character to not be considered intimidating, the deep red brick buildings look cozy and inviting next to the many Christmasy looking trees. And the homes? They remind me of the Victorian ones in San Francisco, but they're a tad bit bigger...and I mean a tad. Every once in awhile you'll see a larger one, though. They usually have nice sized patios, tall pillars, and detailed molding on their exteriors.

So how does our apartment compare to these homes? It's old, about 100 years. It has creaky wooden floors and tons of character. The oven was probably from the 60s (I say was because it's no longer with us :P...), at least, and the heaters? They look like antiques, but they definitely match my style :). The oven started sparking the first day I used it, and it got so hot that it set off a fire alarm in the building. I didn't hear it, but I called 911 when the oven started to pop and sizzle after I turned it off, and they'd mentioned that an alarm had just gone off in the building. The head firefighter said it was no longer safe to use, so he, along with a few others, disconnected it from the wall...and I got a brand new beautiful oven a few days later! It works great! I don't think I've ever used an oven this new before, but it's nice to know I can bake again without having to worry about whether or not I'm going to start a fire in the kitchen :P. All in all, the kitchen is great. Not up to date, but huge! There's a ton of counter space, which makes cooking and baking a lot easier than it used to be in our old apartment.

Our new apartment has really turned into a home over the past few days. Our boxes arrived from Austin just two days ago and, anxious to set everything up and get this place feeling cozy, Jose and I unpacked all but one box the first night. UPS delivered them outside the building, so it was difficult getting a few of the 100lb boxes up here (the delivery guy was, apparently, supposed to help [he refused to and later got in trouble for it!] but he didn't, so Jose had to carry them all in on his own, injured shoulder and all!).

Other than that, we've gotten lost nearly every time we've left our apartment in a car :P, at least until today (you'll find out why in a minute :D). Though we did sell our car, Jose signed us up for a service called Zipcar; they charge their members a reasonable hourly fee to use one of their vehicles whenever an online appointment is made in advance. Thankfully, we live literally 2 blocks away from 18 Zipcars, so getting access to one is easy...getting back in time before our car rental ends isn't, though :P. This has made getting lost in Boston a bit more stressful for us (if we don't make it back before our time with the car is up, Zipcar charges us $50. They monitor their cars via satellite, cool huh?).

Good news, though! Our GPS system came in today! We decided to take a trip to Home Depot a few hours ago, to pick out a few flowers for our cute patio and try out the new GPS system, and it works wonderfully! We didn't get lost and we got back half an hour before our Zipcar reservation ended! I don't know why we didn't think of getting one before, but I really recommend it to anyone who's moving to a new city. It's a really cool device because it reroutes your trip if you take a wrong turn! Part of the reason why we were getting lost so much was because the streets here aren't named (a lot of the signs are missing), but the GPS is able to track our every move, so now we don't miss the streets we're supposed to turn on :).

We plan on going back to Harvard Square (click here to read about it) tomorrow.  Jose checked out a few stores and restaurants they have online, and they sound awesome. They have a bookstore that specializes in selling reallllly old books, some of them are from the 16th century! 

CD Review: A New Hope by Minipop

San Francisco is one of my favorite places on Earth. Its busy streets are bathed in creativity from the countless artists and musicians that give the city its spark. Minipop calls the great SF home, and their music accurately captures one of the city's many faces-the one that's usually covered with the make-up of a more eccentric stereotype. Sometimes gentle and carefree like the dandelion featured on the cover of their latest release, while other times appropriately mellow and candied, Minipop offer a generally smooth brew of music. Possibly inspired by groups from the 90s, like The Sundays, Minipop create hummable tunes that are melodiously comfortable. Using simple instruments like keyboards and guitars, Minipop easily create the kind of glowing dreampop that's light on emotions and easy on the ears.

A New Hope offers perfect picnic music that's also worth listening to on a rainy day. "Precious" is beautifully sung in a mildly sad tone as instruments whisper-in the melancholy feeling that isn't aggressively conveyed in the lyrics. A little bit more on the upbeat side, "Someone to Love" comes to life as Nick Forte's bass guitar is effectively showcased alongside lead singer Tricia Kanne's mild and delicate voice. The last song on A New Hope shares its name and marks the end of the listening experience perfectly as it comes together like a sweetly composed farewell song.

In A New Hope, Minipop has created a complete album without any holes that could reveal a lack of talent. All in all, like cotton candy, Minipop's tunes will satisfy your musical sweet tooth, but they'll do so without leaving you sticky and covered in pink sugar.

The Birthday Massacre

Check out their MySpace page here

The Birthday Massacre give bland, computerized music a make-over by combining two different genres (electronica and rock, aka rocktronica) that would seem to clash if they weren't blended with just the right amount of color. Chibi, the lead singer, has a voice that takes plain old vanilla ice cream rock and gives it a good dose of purple sprinkles. A little less girlie than the color pink, Chibi's voice offers an unexpected but perfect amount of lightness that contrasts with the generally heavier notes created by airy synthesized sounds mixed with lower guitar tones. Borderlining goth rock while incorporating dreampop/electronica elements, The Birthday Massacre create an appealing, unmatched sound that's upbeat while, paradoxically, slightly macabre.

If you judged their album by it's cover, you'd get a good idea of what their music represents: Something dark and youthful, almost like a musical fairytale including goblins and a Peter pan-like hero. But you'd never guess they liked creating songs like "To Die For" with simple lyrics and a happy tune. Nonetheless, they do stay true to their image by covering heavier topics overshadowed by mysteriosly eerie sounds in songs like "Video Kid" and "Kill the Lights".

If you took all of the fun Halloween memories you had as a kid, collected them in a jar, then threw in a few sparkles, you'd end up with a snowglobe that resembles what The Birthday Massacre creates with music-something that's easy to grasp and hard to let go of, once you've seen and heard what it can do.

MySpace Music Discovery: Standfast

Visit Standfast on MySpace Here

There is something very welcoming and familiar about Standfast's music. Just a few seconds after discovering their MySpace Page, my ears easily drank in the new but familiar sound of their featured tunes. How do I describe this experience? It felt like I'd actually stumbled upon a page presenting an artist with years of experience behind them; musicians that might've toured with bands like the Mama's and the Papas. They definitely make the kind of music that could've filled the psychedelic airwaves about 20 or so years before my time.

Standfast is a band that gives an obvious nod to many groups of the past. But, of course, their music is crisp and far from cloudy or stale; they're not just recreating someone else's work. Standfast makes sure to add the more "modern" beats in all the right places so that they work well with the accompanying vintage rhythms. This is how they've put their own signature on this somewhat mellow but modernized happy hippie music. And, last but not least, I can't forget to mention lead singer Suzanne's voice, which is like the perfect pair of shoes that make any outfit worthwhile-the outfit being the music. It fits the band's image just right, and it makes their music what it is.

As for brief bio info, Standfast started making music a few years ago in the place they call home, Stockholm, Sweden. With one album already behind them, they recently released their second one here in the US entitled, Beneath and Beyond; I believe it was this past August. There are more details on their MySpace site, which I highly recommend you check out. Standfast has created the kind of music that reviewers will often fail at fully capturing in words, but that's a good thing in this case.

CD Review: The Cake Sale

Here are a few songs from The Cake Sale:
Last Leaf and
Some Surprise

When you think of a dessert, what comes to mind? Something to satisfy a craving; something that leaves you wanting more of it, even if you’ve already had “enough”; something that tastes best handmade--when it’s been put together with the kind of ingredients that complement each other perfectly. The Cake Sale offers all these attributes in a record. It’s sweetened with just the right amount of emotion, and you better believe it took a lot to make it that way.

You try getting a bunch of Ireland’s notable musicians together so that you can cram all their talent into a little 9 track record without leaving gaps or making a mess. It’s a tough job, and it was successfully accomplished by many, including a few musicians we recognize here in the United States. Take the familiar voice we heard in a few early Damien Rice tracks, Lisa Hannigan… Let’s not forget to mention Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol’s leading man, along with the well-known voice of a gal we recognize from the Cardigans, Nina Persson. Yep, these artists and a few others are on here, and they’re sounding better than ever.

The Cake Sale’s cover looks delicious, so you’d expect the music on the CD to sound just as tasty. It does. I’d say some of the best tracks on there are “Black Winged Bird,” “Some Surprise,” and “Last Leaf”. All these songs are smooth, sounding natural and earthy—far from heavy, in both the emotional and musical sense. This release can easily be classified as mellow folk, with a few hints of rock thrown in for spice.

As far as the story behind The Cake Sale goes, it’s actually a “charity” album, created with the intention of raising money for a Make Trade Fair Campaign headed by Oxfam Records—The Cake Sale’s record label. Just because the money this CD brings in is going to support a worthy cause, it doesn’t mean the artists are skimping on the music quality they’re offering supporters. In this case, both parties benefit. The Cake Sale will not be a disappointing buy; it has already gone double platinum in Ireland!

Band Review: Rilo Kiley Album Wars!

Wanna hear a few of my favorite Rilo Kiley songs? They're each taken from the albums I mention in this entry:

More Adventurous
and
Under the Blacklight

Ok...so I have to admit, I was actually introduced to this Rilo Kiley band a few years back. A friend of mine was/is a big fan and it seems I didn't appreciate the group's music much until now. Back then, the few clips I did hear consisted of Jenny Lewis talk-singing in a one-notch-above-whiny voice that didn't appeal to me, but since then, I discovered she also sings! I'm glad I didn't give up on the band altogether. If we, as individuals, change with time, then why wouldn't a group's overall sound also change? There are some bands that I just can't stand, mostly the ones with incoherent, insincere lyrics and beats, but Rilo Kiley wasn't and isn't one of them. I admit, they do have a special place on my playlist now.

So what's this about Rilo Kiley Album wars? You might ask. Well, being that I am an Amazon.comer (I use it to check out the ratings of books/music I want to purchase) I couldn't help but come across Rilo Kiley's latest work, Under the Blacklight. By the time I actually read the reviews, I already had the album--thanks to MySpace (I decided that if I liked the few songs they showcased on their page, it was worth my time to listen to the rest of 'em).

Well, they didn't get the 5 stars, not even 4, sadly. The couple of other albums they released beforehand seemed to make the cut with the amazon.comers, but this one didn't. Some of the reviewers mentioned that this album was to popified, for lack of a better term; it simply was a perfect example of how a good indie band goes bad by selling-out to a more familiar but boring sound. They miss the old Jenny, this one was too modern for them; I have to admit, Under the Black Light's lyrics aren't as fabulous, as some mentioned. I'd even say that at times, they're just a little too lustfully raw in a sort of unclassy, distasteful way.

But, another confession, I love the first couple of tunes. Not-so-great lyrics aside, the first few songs on the album make me wanna do a combination of a skip and a dance; their happy sound is contagious and catchy. But it seems Rilo Kiley ran out of ideas toward the end, where they tried to give a brief nod to the 60s, or maybe 1970s...one of those eras. It's also evident that their general instrumentation and song arrangement styles are a little less country and a tad more rock and roll--another change that might've disturbed some of the long-time fans.

And the conclusion? New-comers to Rilo Kiley might just find their latest music fun, while long-time fans will find it flawed. I'm somewhere in the middle. I appreciate Under the Blacklight, because I can see how Rilo Kiley was trying to go somewhere new with it. Even though they might've gotten a little lost along the way, it's obvious they're still a worthwhile band. More Adventurous, their previous release, does a fine job of capturing the band's song-writing ability and uncanny "skills".

All in all, I think Under the Blacklight deserved 4 stars instead of 3.5. Like I said, those couple of songs were pretty darn mood-boosting, so they should get the spotlight, it's just too bad the other colorless songs seemed to hover under a blacklight.

CD Review: Shivaree

Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs

Ambrosia Parsley, lead singer of Shivaree, still has her peppy but mysterious voice that makes me think of a more refined Betty Boop, but this recent release is a little different from the rest of the band's albums--maybe a bit more elegant while still being comfortable and sincere. Of course, I think Ambrosia's voice is wonderful, and that cartoon reference wasn't an insult at all, it's part of the reason why I find Shivaree's music so appealing. How would I describe their sound? Like a fresh salad served on fine china next to the rotting head of cabbage resting on a paper plate (the cabbage being the not-so-tasty music of so many other girl-led bands).

Shivaree has the ability to take rock, dress it up with just enough fun so that it's not boring, and soften its rough edges so that what results extends beyond any limited musical genre. Tainted Love is easy to listen to, without being easy-listening; it offers the edginess of Shivaree's more alternative side, along with polished, jazzy, and modern rhythms. This combination makes for a perfectly eclectic album that won't have you wanting to skip from one song to another. For instance, "Cold Blooded" is soaked in the happy roughness of a hyped up electric guitar and it's featured right before "Looks That Kill," a mellow but classy tune that brings a 60s mystery movie theme song to mind. I can't forget to mention "Shame On You," which stands out as a fun surprise because of its country-western feel that doesn't conjure up images of a scruffy John Wayne riding on a horse. Shivaree even ventures into the world of R&B, giving a much needed and successful make-over to R. Kelly's original, "Half on a Baby".

I have yet to find a song on this release that disappoints me. Yes, Tainted Love: Mating Calls and Fight Songs gets a star and happy face in my book, which is much better than an A+; it's definitely an album worth checking out and purchasing legally!