I was listening to the 90s on 9 channel on Sirius/XM last weekend (love those old awful countdown shows) and I was reminiscing to the fact that nobody seems to make songs quite in the same way Filter, Wide Mouth Mason, Barenaked Ladies, Treble Charger, and bands of their ilk did so well. You know the type of song I’m talking about; loosely based on the loud/soft/loud grunge formula, lubed up with a touch of light-hearted lyrical styling, and lots of funky bass. And Shawn M. Smith (your friendly neighborhood Radio Exile editor), who must have an RSS feed on my reminisces, decided to drop down a package containing the new EP by All of Us/None of Us [MySpace}, a band who must listen to more 90s on 9 than I do. …read full article…

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There’s something to be said for the legalization of recreational drugs, and though nobody will admit it, that something almost always everything to do with enjoying psychedelic rock music. Can it really be that much of a coincidence that the prevalence of Pink Floyd-inspired era of overlong synth solos, incomprehensible lyrics, twenty-minute “jams” and trippy concert posters occurred at the same time when everyone under the age of 30 was hopped up on illegal substances?

I have two insignificant questions about psychedelic rock: Is something good if the majority of its fans are rarely sober? If so, what does that say about the sober music critic, who prefers to have a clean head when doing their job and thus has no idea how to approach this genre?

Oh, I suppose I could go out to my local corner supplier and pick up some shrooms to do the job proper, but then you wouldn’t be getting 500 words out of me, would you? No, you’d be getting something along the lines of “Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound’s AWESOME MAN. It…ROCKS, you know?” And I don’t think anyone wants that. …read full article…

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At the end of the day, all we really want from pop music is a crafted feeling. When “Young Folks”, Peter Bjorn & John’s catchy summer piece of pop perfection slowly crept along every surface of western culture distribution (radio, television, commercials, and, finally, your mom’s minivan), we can be forgiven for believing that Peter Bjorn & John [MySpace] is a pop music band. We can also be forgiven for believing in the hype of this new release, Living Thing, as a continuation that faith. This belief is fortified by the first single, another annoyingly-catchy and whistle-able “Nothing to Worry About” that absolutely highlights the experience. But these hopes are quickly dashed under the freight train of inevitable truth: Peter Bjorn & John craft noises and sounds, and while these noises and sounds can sometimes produce what we like to call “absolutely excellent pop music,” it is more of an accidental side effect of what’s really going on here. …read full article…

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I know most people who read this blog are American, so you only have a faint idea of The New Pornographers. Like most Canadian bands, The New Pornographers are really 7 bands in one, featuring members from Swan Lake, Immaculate Machine, Maow, The Evaporators, Age of Electric, Limblifter, Destroyer, and Superconductor. AC Newman [Myspace], the band’s lead singer, is also the guy behind The Slow Wonder, long considered to be the “missing” NP album. 2009’s Get Guilty is a terrific sophomore effort by the singer, and will soon be inevitably known as “the other missing NP album.” …read full article…

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We generally want three things out of an EP: first off, we want a sense that the band knows it only has 20-30 minutes to “show and tell” the hell out of themselves, as EPs act like business cards more than real showcases of artistic legacy. Secondly, we want a sense that the band isn’t “finished” yet, since EPs are also great places to showcase more experimental fare. Lastly, we want to want more out of the band, as if an EP is the free trial for the new fancy program coming in 90 days. It’s a simple formula to grade just about every EP we get to review here at Radio Exile. Lanterns. [Myspace], a San Diego punk rock band, eagerly succeeds on all three fronts. …read full article…

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EP releases after two somewhat-successful LPs can be strange things. They can signal a change in sound (Radiohead), or as a reassurance that the band hasn’t actually gone anywhere, but can’t afford to record a full new record (just about everyone else). Golden Bear’s Everest EP steadfastly lands in the latter category, not because they can’t afford to record six more songs (how would I possibly be privy to that information?) but because the sonic quality of this release strays only inches from the last two collections. …read full article…

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Though I would have never guessed it in a million years back in 2002, The Strokes have turned into a great little pot from which quality side projects have bloomed. First, Albert Hammond Jr turned his modest guitar work into two surprisingly catchy LPs, and now Fabrizio Moretti continues this wave of good faith by creating Little Joy [Myspace], a mish-mash of various easy-rock genres that creates a messy and fun record of songs that feel like they were recorded forty years ago. …read full article…

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Conor Oberst would be proud. The grandiose mix of stretched-out personal lyrics matched with a crescendoing snare drum is alive and well in the confines of Boris Smile’s new EP, Beartooth. Loosely-wrapped strings and drums are nothing new in indie pop, but it’s a fine line between sounding like the next wailing emo bitch who can’t tune and The Mountain Goats. Boris Smile [Myspace] has a few production tricks going for them, which at once makes the EP more palatable and makes the idea of listening to them live a precarious thought. It’s too early to call if they are a well-rounded band, and I’m afraid this EP only gives a few faint ideas in both directions. …read full article…

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This guy, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson [Myspace] had the unfortunate duty of playing in Toronto a few Wednesdays ago - I say unfortunate because it was -35 outside and I can guarantee very few people were in the mood to brave it to see a relative unknown from Brooklyn. It’s a shame, though. On a warmer night, he would have had a better time. The audience would have too, as Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson has a great set of sad little numbers here. …read full article…

I’m not the biggest fan of Chapters’ [Myspace] style of low-note rock; the style went out in 2001 when Nickelback and Three Days Grace overdid it and essentially killed rock radio. However, public rock radio still exists, and rock radio DJs need new bands that sound exactly like those nu-metal bands from 2001 (if only to prove they were right in overdosing us on it) to play right along with them. I’m sure Chapters will find a nice, warm home there and their latest EP, Wife, fits neatly into that format. …read full article…

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Stars [Myspace] is a band from Montréal that uses heaping helpings of romantic/revolutionary themes in every one of their songs. It’s an effect that has left them as one of the few indie bands whose lyrics actually matter; it also makes them seem a little lame sometimes. Following last years’ In Our Bedroom After The War, Stars issued this EP for their new tour, entitled Sad Robots EP. It’s a 6-song collection that manages to touch on every facet of Stars’ arsenal: bombastic love songs about lost youth, long instrumental numbers begging to be added to movie soundtracks, and genuinely heartfelt lyrics.

“Sad Robot” is a short, French song that acts as little more than an introduction. “Going Going Gone” is a live rendition of one of their b-sides, and illustrates their fine line between messy romance and electronic subtleties. “Undertow” does more of the same, but falls short on delivery as it goes nearly nowhere. The best Stars songs are those that tell a story of some kind. In this respect, two songs stand out as keepers, and one of them is possibly the best song Stars has ever done. …read full article…

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I’m going to quote a DJ from the XMU station on XM radio. Before playing a new Animal Collective [Myspace] song from this terrific new disc, he said “by 2015, the only band talked about on blogs will be Animal Collective. They will be the only band played on the radio. At my funeral, Animal Collective will play me into the ground. And he will play you into the ground, too.” It’s one of the few times where brash hyperbole is welcome. While Animal Collective’s difficult-at-times melodies and lyrics inhibit them from complete world domination, very few things are going to stop this band from becoming the be all and end all for indie music fans worldwide. Merriweather Post Pavilion, the first great album of 2009, is only going to further the cause. …read full article…

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Oww…

The first day of the New Year is always the most painful. This is largely to do with the severely unhealthy alcohol habit most of us have, compounded with our communal masochistic desire to be as inhumanly inebriated as possible the minute before midnight (just in case the world ends). More bathrooms are used for bedrooms, more bad disco is trolled out like its 1979, and more people quit drinking forever the morning after. There are also some good points.

But this being a music site and us being music critics, we tend to doll up our preferred choices around for everyone to see. I am far more than anyone sorry I missed being a part of the top 15 picks from Radio Exile, but I was away on vacation and had next to no free time. They are all fantastic picks, and in and of themselves make one of the best playlists of all time. The various writers here at RE have exhausted themselves in good taste, and it should be everyone’s privilege to take a crack at listening to those 15 records. I know I’ll be catching up on the few I haven’t already digested. …read full article…

The first thing that comes up when I type “mkULTRA” into Google is a startling Wikipedia entry about a secret government mind control experiment. Here’s a troubling quote:

“Project MK-ULTRA, or MKULTRA, was the code name for a covert CIA mind-control and chemical interrogation research program, run by the Office of Scientific Intelligence. The program began in the early 1950s, continuing at least through the late 1960s, and it used United States citizens as its test subjects. There is much published evidence that the project involved the surreptitious use of many types of drugs, as well as other methodology, to manipulate individual mental states and to alter brain function.”

This is troubling not because of the conspiracy, but because Marykate O’Neil’s [Official Site, MySpace] newest 6-song EP is named after it, and on the surface has absolutely nothing to do with it. That makes this reviewer worry. I’m sorry, but actively listening to audio files named after a mind control experiment makes me a little uneasy. …read full article…

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In this episode of Soundloading Audio, I call up Shawn M. Smith, editor of RadioExile.com (this site right here. That’s right, you’re reading what is essentially a feedback loop), and discuss how Radio Exile came to be, why it’s a good idea to write for a professional blog rather than your own, how strange it is that Best Buy has vinyl, and what the challenges and perks are of leading the charge in the indie music blogosphere.

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This week on Soundloading, CBS Radio trumps all in net traffic, Warner Music wants more royalties from video games, and Radiohead is and is not scoring the theme for Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke. Also, a bluesman gets a record deal by busking in Second Life.

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This week on Soundloading, Éisee talks about the online experience for Lollapalooza, the blogosphere’s response to Dell announcing a new mp3 player, and the closing down of the Yahoo! Music Store. Video spotlight on the Mountain Goats.

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This week on Soundloading Audio, Yahoo’s music store shuts down and they try to appease their audience; Online concerts getting better, but are they good enough to actually watch?; Radiohead is doing fine, thanks for asking; and finally, Dell is probably coming out with a new Mp3 player. Yay?

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This week, I called up YouTube sensation and Super Bowl contest winner Kina Grannis on how she feels about being an internet celebrity, the Digg song, becoming famous as an indie singer, recording new material, and what she’d do if YouTube disappeared.

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