Random Music Thoughts – June 26, 2012

I’ve been super busy with travel lately but I managed to settle down long enough to catch some bands at Green Music Fest. Dinosaur Jr. were great. I’m glad I finally got to see them.

I recently bought my tickets to Riot Fest. I’m just going on Saturday but I’m super excited about seeing Hot Water Music, Slapstick, Descendents, Gaslight Anthem, and Teenage Bottlerocket.

I’ve been listening to Hot Water Music all day and I stumbled upon this video of them playing an acoustic version of “Our Own Way”:

Also, I can’t get Jets to Brazil’s “Sweet Avenue” out of my head:

Random Music Thoughts – May 14, 2012

Do Division finalized its lineup, including Craig Finn, the Antlers, and Le Butcherettes among others. Check out the complete lineup over at Brooklyn Vegan.

Hot Water Music’s new album, Exister, is streaming over at Spin.

Here’s a random Lawrence Arms song:

My Top Ten Favorite Emo’s Shows

So Emo’s in Austin is moving locations. That gives me an excuse to list my ten favorite shows there:

1. March 14, 2003 – Death Cab For Cutie, Pinback, Quasi, John Vanderslice, Britt Daniel @ Emo’s Outdoor (SXSW) (poster) (recording)
2. May 1, 2003 – Cursive, The Appleseed Cast @ Emo’s Outdoor
3. October 9, 2000 – At The Drive-In, Murder City Devils @ Emo’s Outdoor (poster)
4. September 22, 2000 – The Get Up Kids, The Anniversary @ Emo’s Outdoor
5. February 13, 2001 – Death Cab For Cutie Cute, The Jealous Sound, The And/Ors @ Emo’s Indoor (review) (set list)
6. March 21, 2001 – Propagandhi, Avail, Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike, Leatherface, J Church @ Emo’s Outdoor (poster)
7. November 1, 2001 – The Anniversary, Mars Volta, Mates of State @ Emo’s Outdoor (recording)
8. January 16, 2001 – Spoon, Cursive, Recover @ Emo’s Outdoor
9. October 10, 2001 – Q and not U @ Emo’s Indoor
10. April 3, 2004 – Pinback, American Analog Set, The Rhythm of Black Lines @ Emo’s Outdoor

Do You Remember When?

Think of your top 5 favorite bands. Do you remember the first time you heard them? Describe it. What song was it? When was it? Etc.

Alkaline Trio
What was the first song you heard by them? “Cooking Wine”
When was this? High school, 1998
How’d you hear it? I downloaded it off of some web page but it was legal. They were promoting the band
Did you like it? Yes, that bass line rocks. Which is kind of weird because I don’t think Alkaline Trio normally has bass-driven songs like that.

Jimmy Eat World
What was the first song you heard by them? “Claire”
When was this? High school, 1996
How’d you hear it? This girl made me a mix tape and this song was on there.
Did you like it? Yes, it’s a slow song but it’s definitely good. At the time, high school me thought it sounded like Smashing Pumpkins.

The Lawrence Arms
What was the first song you heard by them? “An Evening of Extraordinary Circumstance”
When was this? High school, 1999
How’d you hear it? I bought the CD and put it into the Discman
Did you like it? Not at all, I was fan of the Broadways but this song just left me disappointed but I like it now for some reason.

Hot Water Music
What was the first song you heard by them? “Difference Engine”
When was this? High school, 1997
How’d you hear it? It was on this Blindspot Distribution CD Sampler.
Did you like it? Yeah but it was kind of weird. The bass line does rock though. It definitely wasn’t like any of the music I was listening to at the time. I got the sampler at a Less Than Jake show if that provides any context.

The Get Up Kids
What was the first song you heard by them? “Coming Clean”
When was this? High school, 1997
How’d you hear it? I bought the CD and it’s the first track so yeah.
Did you like it? Yeah, it was good. I definitely liked this band from the start. High school was filled with lots of Get Up Kids.

[Note: I adapted this from an old Facebook note circa 2008, thanks timeline.]