Archive for February, 2009

Chillville February 15, 2009

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

Today Chillville is brought to you by the letter “S” and the number “12″.

Also, don’t forget about our “Homegrown Chill” show that is coming up on February 18, featuring Govinda, OHN, and Shuttle Debris. All three of the songs you hear by these bands can be downloaded for free at the 101x.com/Homegrown site.

  • Elsiane – Vaporous
  • OHN – Dear Prudence
  • Gomez – We Haven’t Turned Around
  • Erasure – Always
  • Dido – Burnin’ Love (ft. Citizen Cope)
  • Wax Tailor – Ungodly Fruit
  • (9:30) Primal Scream – Uptown
  • Bjork – Bachlorette
  • Guster – Satellite
  • The Flaming Lips – The Supreme Being Teaches Spiderman How to Fall in Love
  • Hot Chip – Transmission
  • (10:00) J. Boogie’s Dubtronic Science – Oceanic Lullaby
  • Depeche Mode – Home
  • Moby – Extreme Ways
  • Daft Punk – Verdis Quo
  • The Cure – A Forest
  • (10:30) Fujiya & Miyagi – Cylinders
  • Garbage – Milk (The Wicked Mix ft. Tricky)
  • Shuttle Debris – Will They Call Again
  • The Pharcyde – Passin’ Me By (Dave Wrangler Mix – Ghostland Observatory Mash-Up)
  • Radiohead – All I Need
  • Amos Lee – Sweet Pea
  • (11:00) Animal Collective – My Girls
  • Crystal Castles – Knights
  • Gorillaz – Dirty Harry
  • Royksopp – Remind Me
  • Midwest Product – A Genuine Display (Telefon Tel Aviv Remix)
  • Massive Attack – The Man Next Door
  • (11:30) the bird and the bee – Don’t Stop the Music
  • Pet Shop Boys – Love Etc. (Monty’s Catch of the Day)
  • Fauxliage – All the World
  • Govinda – Use to Go
  • Underworld – Boy Boy Boy
  • Underworld – Capa Meets the Sun (To Heal)

Homegrown Live (Chillville Edition) This Wednesday – 2/18

Sunday, February 15th, 2009


Don’t forget about our first edition of “Homegrown Live – Chillville Edition”, or “Homegrown Chill”. No matter what you call it, I can assure you that you’re in for a wonderful night. Local bands Govinda, OHN, and Shuttle Debris will be providing the entertainment at The Parish on February 18. Doors open at 8:30, and it is only $5 for over 21 & $8 for under. We have supported these three bands since the early days of Chillville, and are honored to have them play this ground breaking event. If that is not enough entertainment, then you will be pleased to know that The Parish is also hosting the final round of “The Fastest Bartender” competition. All of the Tom Cruise/Cocktail action will take place before the first band, and in-between sets. So come on over and join us for this fantastic event. Click here for more information, and to get free mp3’s from all three bands.

Artwork by Dan Allison Reid

SXSW Showcase Schedule

Friday, February 13th, 2009

The official SXSW Showcase schedule is up! In our first cursory glance, there are some awesomely killer lineups that make it easy for you to camp out in one venue for the evening.

We’ll be posting some lineup recs as soon as we have a chance to pore over the list.

News Bits

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

If you caught Beck’s ACL performance, then you’ve already heard him cover Bob Dylan’s Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. Well, soon you’ll be able to have a recorded copy of your very own! His cover is going on the War Child: Heros compilation, which raises money for children affected by war. (via Spin)

Indies win 50% of this year’s Grammy Awards (via Hypebot)

Extra Extra, Santogold is pulling a P. Diddy (or is it a Prince?), and changing her name. She’ll be known as Santigold now, thanks very much, and has already changed her MySpace (though the Wikipedia entry and her own website still aren’t reflecting the name-change). See Pitchfork for more details. (via the Daily Swarm)

SXSW
-Echo & the Bunnymen confirmed for the gigantor music conference, which is scarcely a month away
-After the Jump fest, who has done some killer parties before, just announced their official and unofficial sxsw showcases… and can we just say that the unofficial lineup is killer. Even cooler, you can rsvp via Facebook!
-KCRW (the Morning Becomes Eclectic peeps) announced their showcase, which includes Port O’Brien and School of Seven Bells, as well as some of the lineup for their day shows (via Austinist)

SXSW Artist Recs – Part 1 of Many

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Between the official showcases, the pre-shows, the day shows, the afterparties, and the crazy spur-of-the-moment surprise sets (hey, it’s happened before!), keeping track of the bands you wanna check out can be impossible. Never mind researching the thousands of bands you haven’t heard of for those hidden gems; just the thought of sxsw’s official lineup is intimidating. So we’re going to try and make it a bit easier for you, by posting a few sxsw artist reviews per week. Just some of our own personal artists-you-gotta-see picks.

Mirah’s voice is so sweet that if her music wasn’t so dramatic or restrained or orchestrated or… well, let’s just say that Mirah avoids a cloying pop niche so deftly that you can’t even imagine associating it with her. She is charming in the way Regina Spektor is, but without as many obvious quirks. Her new album drops right before sxsw, and we cannot wait to hear it.

Passionpit has a truly intimidating amount of hype built up around them. Music blog darlings after their infectious tune Sleepyhead spread like a virus across the internet, their buzz even trickled into mainstream music magazine websites like Spin. And from the tracks on their MySpace, along with video snippets of their recording process, the forthcoming album may just live up to expectations. With a New York kids choir providing backup for part of the album, mention of “tons of handbells” throughout, and a singer whose falsetto suits their dance and synth-influenced tracks like – well, a bit like local electro-rockers Ghostland Observatory, actually.

Chillville and the Grammy Winners (and my thoughts)

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Monty here, with my opinions and thoughts about tonight’s show.

It was a very interesting Grammy Award show that just concluded about an hour ago. I’d have to say that this year’s lineup of performers is probably the best I have ever seen – ever! I mean you’re talking Radiohead, Paul McCartney, U2, Coldplay, Plant & Krauss, Adele, Stevie Wonder, JT, Neil Diamond, Al Green, Kanye, etc…seriously, how can you top this list. For the most part, the performances were pretty solid; however, there were a few disappointments. I thought it was really cool that Paul McCartney was going to play, and was excited that he busted out an old Beatles song. But, I thought he would have kicked in a couple of more tracks to go along with all the hype surrounding his appearance. So what was with the song choice? I really like “I Saw Her Standing There”, but isn’t there about 60 other songs he could have chosen (another Beatles track, or even something from Wings)? Even Kid Freakin’ Rock squeezed in three crappy songs. I thought Coldplay had a very solid performance; however, I was not fooled by the pre-recorded background vocal tracks on “Vive la Vida”. If the other guys in the band sounded that great live, then there would be no need for Chris Martin. I thought the two best performances were from U2 opening up the show, and Radiohead with the USC Trojan Band. Estelle with Kanye was pretty good, but again with the pre-recorded vocals – I also don’t see any instruments. What a coincidence. Some of the classic performers such as Neil Diamond, BB King, Al Green, and Plant & Krause were very solid. However, there were some questionable collaborations that were just not good - Stevie Wonder with The Jonas Brothers, JT with Al Green, Taylor Swift with the nasal voice of Miley Cyrus, Adele with Sugarland? None of them really worked.

So here is my quick re-cap on the night. The Chris Brown/Rihanna incident was the big scandal, U2 can still rock, Coldplay puts on a great live show, the “Swagga Like Us” performance was pathetic, M.I.A. looked ridiculous, Taylor can swing and Miley can’t, Boyz II Men? Where have they been for the past 17 years?, Radiohead is one of the best bands of my generation, Jonas and Stevie didn’t work, Katy Perry is soooo freakin’ hot, Jennifer Hudson sings beautifully, T.I. and JT were actually pretty good, Kid Rock doesn’t sound anything like he did 10 years ago – which, is not good, Carrie Underwood is gorgeous, Kanye has that Jermaine Jackson hair going on, Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban were absolutely dull, Jaime Foxx sounded like Ray Charles singing in The Four Tops, Neil Diamond is still a great artist, Adele and Sugarland put me to sleep, Dave Grohl still looks awesome behind the drums, BB King and John Mayer can play some blues, and last but not least – Katy Perry is still freakin’ hot!

Here are the list of Chillville artists that were nominated, and that won. You can check out the entire list of nominees/winners here.

Coldplay
Coldplay – 3 Grammy Wins

  • Record of the Year (nominated)
  • Album of the Year (nominated)
  • Song of the Year (win)
  • Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals (win)
  • Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals (nominated)
  • Best Rock Song (nominated)
  • Best Rock Album (win)

Radiohead
Radiohead – 2 Grammy Wins

  • Album of the Year (nominated)
  • Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals (nominated)
  • Best Rock Song (nominated)
  • Best Alternative Music Album (win)
  • Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package (win)
  • Best Short Form Music Video (nominated)

Duffy
Duffy – 1 Grammy Win

  • Best New Artist (nominated)
  • Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (nominated)
  • Best Pop Vocal Album (win)

Gnarls Barkley
Gnarls Barkley

  • Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals (nominated)
  • Best Alternative Music Album (nominated)
  • Best Short Form Music Video (nominated)

Daft Punk – 2 Grammy Wins

  • Best Dance Recording (win)
  • Best Electronic/Dance Album (win)

Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie

  • Best Rock Song (nominated)
  • Best Alternative Music Album (nominated)

Peter Gabriel – 2 Grammy Wins

  • Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media (win)
  • Best Instrumental Arrangement (win)

Hot Chip

  • Best Dance Recording (nominated)

Brazilian Girls
Brazilian Girls

  • Best Electronic/Dance Album (nominated)

Moby
Moby

  • Best Electronic/Dance Album (nominated)

Beck
Beck

  • Best Alternative Music Album (nominated)

Kenna

  • Best Urban/Alternative Performance (nominated)

Thievery Corporation
Thievery Corporation

  • Best Recording Package (nominated)

Aimee Mann

  • Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package (nominated)

Danger Mouse (Beck, Gnarls Barkley)

  • Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (nominated)

Nigel Goodrich (Radiohead)

  • Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (nominated)

Justice (MGMT) – 1 Grammy Win

  • Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (win)

Deadmau5 (Morgan Page)

  • Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (nominated)

(2/08/09) Monty’s Catch of the Day – Saint Etienne

Sunday, February 8th, 2009


So Saint Etienne has been one of my all time favorite bands since the early ’90’s, and I fell in love with them after releasing great tracks like “Only Love Can Break Your Heart”, “Nothing Can Stop Us Now”, “Girl VII”, “Calico”, and ”Join Our Club” (I can go on and on). Every album they were releasing was a fantastic piece of work, containing very unique & catchy tunes. Sarah Cracknell has worked magic filling the electronic-pop melodies with her sultry, air-like vocals. Her good looks matched with perfectly with her voice, creating an almost angelic persona. Being a former club DJ, I also got real familiar with the vinyl remixes for a number of their singles, which at times were as good as or better than the original version. Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs, and Sarah Cracknell have continued making records over the years, and they are set to release their third collection of hits over the past two decades, entitled London Conversations: The Best of Saint Etienne. Today’s catch is the only new track that will appear on the double disk album which is expected to be released later this month - “Method of Modern Love”. Check out the clip below to hear a sample. Enjoy!

Saint Etienne – Method of Modern Love