Notes From Underground

The Dirtbombs @ Southpaw

Like the White Stripes, The Dirtbombs started out as a Detroit garage rock band, and followed a musical path away from the typical garage rock sound. But while the White Stripes took the smarty-pants route, making artsy videos and dressing like Bob Dylan, The Dirtbombs have kept things a lot more rough around the edges. They're intelligent and even virtuosic, but they rock with a raw power and unfettered soulfulness that makes you want to jump up and dance all night.

That's how the crowd responded at The Dirtbombs' show at Brooklyn's Southpaw a couple weeks ago. This band is just fun to rock out to. Their energy and precision is amazing. They're one of those double-drummer bands, so you know they gotta be tight! You don't mess around with 2 drummers if you're about to get sloppy.

The audience, however - that's a different story. Many beers were drunk and spilled. Drinking and dancing can get messy. New friendships were forged then lost in the crowd. The couple standing behind me concluded the show with a major makeout session. So I think it's fair to say - a good time was had by all.

http://www.thedirtbombs.net/

Yeasayer at The Bowery Ballroom

Last week I saw a band featuring a longtime friend's younger brother, which reminded me how old I am. But I'm cool with it.

Yeasayer are based in Brooklyn, with roots in Baltimore. (Like me!) They're very different from most of the music you hear today, more complex and ambitious, which is a good thing. They have a world music side to them (they've opened for M.I.A., I believe) but I also hear an early 80's INXS thing in some of their songs (also a good thing, no matter what my boyfriend says!), some Fleetwood Mac-ish vocals, and some other prog rock stuff I can't exactly put my finger on.

Also, many of their songs have a good beat and you can dance to them.

After Yeasayer I watched a little of Oakley Hall, which was boring in comparison.

Check Yeasayer out here:

http://www.myspace.com/yeasayer

http://www.nowwearefree.com/headquarters.html

Sneak Peak of Linkin Park's new cd.

Quick introduction since this is my first post here:

Hi! I'm Lisa, and I'm interning here at Fuse...and I LOVE it.

O.K. - So this morning some reps from Warner Bros. came in to give us a sneak peak of the new Linkin Park album.  I learned that this band pretty much locked themselves in the studio for 14 months, and came up with about 150 demo's!!! That's nuts.  So you can imagine they had a large pool of songs to choose from.  They worked with producer Rick Rubin (who also did the Dixie Chicks album) to make their new cd exciting, different, and something they can truly be proud of.  We heard 6 songs today, and honestly, I was never a huge LP fan, but they were really good.  You can tell they worked hard, and the sounds on the album - the engineering, the production, the harmonies and instrumentations....really good. All the songs are so different, and they all demand your full attention. I feel like I would have to listen to them a couple more times to pick up on all the different pieces of the songs, because of all the work that went into them.  Let me just say that if you are a Linkin Park fan, you should be pumped for this album.

Love,
Lisa

marya: too much music?

oh my god, it's march.  time flies.

artists i've been listening to too much:

gym class heroes

brand new (the new album is amazing)

cara beth satalino (www.myspace.com/carabeth)

phantom planet (the self-titled release)

that is all.

Marya: Maritime

So, I don't really have much to report as far as shows go.  But I will say that for the last two weeks I could not stop listening to "We, the Vehicles" by the band Maritime.  I have to say "Tearing Up The Oxygen" might be one of my favorite songs.  No joke. 

The melodies on this album are quite fun and catchy, and you'll find yourself singing it at all hours.  It's kind of nice actually, to have a song stuck in my head that I actually like instead of the last obnoxious pop song that came on the radio.  So, really, do yourself a favor and check out Maritime.  www.maritimesongs.com