a camera in the crowd

Once wins Oscar for best original song!

2008-02-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

Last night was the 80th annual Academy Awards and it was a warm and inspiring moment for all independent artists. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová of the movie, Once won best original song beating Enchantment's three nominated songs written by Stephen Schwartz and August Rush's "Raise It Up" by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack, Tevin Thomas.

It's wonderful that finally, the award goes to artists outside of the Hollywood mainstream circle. There was a glimmer of hope when Elliott Smith's "Miss Misery" was nominated in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, but then it was passed over for Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" for Titanic. Markéta said it best when brought out by the wonderful host Jon Stewart after the commercial break. Her acceptance speech was originally interrupted by the wrap-up music.

Congratulations Glen and Markéta and thank you for such a beautiful movie and music!

Markéta: "Hi everyone, I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal not only for us but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling. The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. You know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. and this song was written from the perspective of hope and hope at the end connects us all, no matter how different we are. so thank you so much to those who helped us along the way. Thank you. "

Glen Hansard and Markéta Iglová at the Oscars
by videoyouth

Download + Purchase:

Falling Slowly | Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

Links:

» The Official Once Website
» Once Soundtrack MySpace
» Swell Season's MySpace
» Billboard: 'Once,' 'Atonement' Triumph In Music Oscars

~anne

Have a Happy (Cat Power Covers) Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

*02/14/08 at 10:17pm est, edited: reuploaded "How Can I Tell You" and "Sea of Love"
02/17/08 at 8:05pm est edited: reuploaded "How Can I Tell You"*

how can I tell you, that I love you, I love you
I long to tell you, that I'm always thinking of you
I'm always thinking of you
but I can't think of right words to say.

How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens Cover) | Cat Power

come with me, my love
to the sea, the sea of love
I wanna tell you
how much I love you

do you remember when we met
that's the day I knew you were mine

Sea of Love (Phil Phillips Cover) | Cat Power

I'm gonna find me a reckless man
razor blades and ice in his eyes
just a touch of sadness in his fingers
thunder and lightning in his thighs

Silver Stallion (Highwaymen Cover) | Cat Power

~camera crowd

yes we can

2008-02-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

please go out and vote this tuesday.

love,
anne

Christmas time is here...

2007-12-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

I'm supposed to be studying for my Art History final, write a nice paper analyzing the signs and symbols of a magazine ad and finish and print that lovely design project. As I was walking around today running errands or was it when I was in the lab hogging the scanner for that end of the semester photo CD?...anyhow I found this Belle & Sebastian song on my iPod. It's nice to slow down and realize it's that time of year. I've been so busy with school that I haven't time to even let the warm fuzzy feelings to sink in.

Though I've been listening to the reliable holiday spirit pick me up aka Sufjan Stevens Christmas songs box set, this B&S Christmas rendition does the trick too. It has an odd bit of a clip at the end that leads into another song, I've no idea what it is.

Anyways it's peaceful, subtle. It makes me think of Charlie Brown and Snoopy and hot chocolate and you know Christmas things. Wouldn't it be nice if the B&S team went around and caroled?
Just a thought.

Download:
Christmas Time Is Here | Belle & Sebastian

I'm back in Texas in six days.
You know we're real sorry we haven't been posting.
We do try, but we haven't exactly had time or found any bands that's worth mentioning.
Wow, that wasn't intended to sound mean.
We'll probably do a 2007 round up post.
monkey see, monkey do I guess.

a rambling list to hold you over:

Ólafur Arnalds:
a band's MySpace I keep going to whenever I'm online.
listen to "Fok".

Yann Orhan:
a photographer in France, his work is dreamlike/surreal.
click on portfolio.

playing "The Kiss", a Judee Sill song, a lot.
reading Nine Stories.
going through Autumn De Wilde's book on Elliott Smith.
reading the usual Time and Newsweek.
somehow have a sudden interest in reading about all the campaigning going on in Iowa right now?
smelling like darkroom chemicals all the time.
looking forward to Cat Power's covers record #2.
other than that, no one's releasing anything exciting too soon,
why is that?
missing texas.

also anyone out there recommend buying the buddha sound machine as a present?

~anne

André Kertész: The Polaroids @ Silverstein Photography

2007-11-16T07:10:00.000-08:00

on view October 18 ~ November 24

Silverstein Photography
535 West 24 Street
New York, NY, 10011

***Think we'll start posting about the exhibits, galleries, photography/contemporary art type things happening in New York and San Francisco that we come across and fall in love with. If you know anything that's going on in these two cities that are photography-related and worth checking out, please let us know. I don't know if I want to comment in these posts, because they'll start to sound repetitive partly, because I haven't been to that many galleries to have the right to say anything, but really these posts are more for you and it's up to you to visit the gallery if you wish to see more of the photographer's work. If the photographer is still working, we may provide links + maybe the tiniest bit of info later on. Or leave a comment/email and tell us what you want to know. But right now let's just let the photographs do the talking. Thanks.***

~anne

3 minute entry: The Teenagers

2007-11-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

The Teenagers are playing their last show tonight of their tour with Crystal Castles and These New Puritans sponsored by Vice magazine, who has given them free rein to stumble around England, Scotland and other 'lands' playing free shows with special DJ guests! The tour's called UNITAUR, but that's winding down tonight at Goldsmith College. So if you're around, just sign up here and have fun. They've got more tour dates after playing Festival Des Inrocks in their old city, Paris and going back home to London for a show at Se One with Gods Average Speed. Then the trio will be swinging through Brazil and gracing us with a slew of major US cities and two Canadian stops sandwiched in the middle.

I was first hooked by The Teenagers' remix of Au Revoir Simone's "Fallen Snow" last year and their debut full-length is on its way to the finish line just waiting to trip up your feet. Just to name a few, they've remixed Simian Mobile Disco, Lo Fi Fink, Air, New Young Pony Club, Chromeo, etc, you can hear almost all of their remixes at The Teenagers' Remix MySpace. They've only released a couple of their own songs, but each and every one of them is perfect, meticulously stroked, and labored over, tweaked to the glowing songs they are, into well...pure gold! Their latest single just came out and it's called "Starlett Johansson". It's available on Merok Records and if you're lucky you can still purchase their previous singles and the Homecoming EP from Rough Trade Records.

Mostly, their songs are about what every stereotypical hormone-clogged teenager thinks about and yeah they're a little foul-mouthed, but these three guys are not apologetic about it. They make music for music's sake, and these guys know what they're doing or rather they don't really know or care, because they're just playing music for pure fun and maybe that's better than trying to dig deep in this land of talk/hype.

Tour Dates:

11-10 London, UK - Goldsmith College (Vice UNITAUR)
11-11 Paris, FR - Boule Noire (Festival Des Inrocks)
12-08 London, UK - Se One
01-18 Sao Paulo, BR - TBA
01-19 Rio, BR - TBA
01-22 Los Angeles, CA - Echo
01-23 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
01-24 San Francisco, CA - 330 Ritch
01-26 Chicago, IL - Sonotheque
01-27 Toronto, ON - Social
01-29 Montreal, QC - TBA
01-30 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
01-31 New York, NY - Hiro Ballroom
02-01 Philadelphia, PA - Pure
02-02 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Starlett Johansson | The Teenagers

Links:

» Purchase Starlett Johansson
» Purchase Other Releases
» The Teenagers Official Site
» The Teenagers' Official MySpace
» The Teenagers' Official Remixes MySpace
» The Teenagers' Official Blog
» The Teenagers' FanClub MySpace

~anne

Team Camera Crowd No. 4

2007-10-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

About three months ago we said goodbye to our 3rd batch of photographers and began accepting applications for the new group. It took us awhile to unveil the new group because we were swamped with personal things and the fact that we extended the submission date. I know some of you guys haven't applied due to the traffic in our photoblog. Let's face it, we get more traffic for the music blog rather than the photoblog. But we're a small blog run by two people who don't want to spend the whole day infront of the computer, it's just tough. We're working our way to expanding the photography aspect of this site so that the traffic between the music blog and the photoblog will be balanced.

So without further ado, Anne and I want to introduce to you guys our new batch of photographers who's talented and emotive work will grace our photoblog for the next 3 months. For our last batch, we had two talented ladies and a guy. It's the opposite this time around, we have two talented guys gracing from Eastern U.S and one bright gal from Singapore. Congrats to them and please visit the photoblog every now and then let them know what you think of their work.

Take out the Party Punch from Oh No! Oh My! and let's go go go!

Alexander Bowman, from Greensboro, North Carolina

"I feel like my sense of design and knack for composition , gained from doing other artwork sets me apart from alot of other people. I feel like I can capture colors and moods fairly well, and I still have alot of room to improve."

Christopher Moore, from Westminster, Maryland

"The world is beautiful. People are beautiful. Even if things are not outwardly beautiful…decaying things, destroyed things, things of strife and sorrow…. We can take them in our minds and twirl and twist them with our cameras and our tools and we can take into account the aesthetic and the story and everything that makes this object more than just that and we make it a picture. It is because of this that I think art is the most powerful force of humanity. We change the world around us in six hundredths of a second."

Nurul, from Singapore

"I realize that I’ve begun to shoot with more seriousness. I look out for the messages inscribed in certain compositions I want to frame and emote. Plus, it’s nice to capture these little pockets of reality that is constantly fleeting. Photos help freeze them in thought and memory"

-Charlie and Anne

dear elliott,

2007-10-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

I always listen to your cover of Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping" first, you sound so happy. It's 2002, you're playing in Portland's Satyricon. Remember that's when you invited several people onstage to sing with you and one of the audience members onstage is so into harmonizing the song that you can't help but let out a chuckle while you're singing. There's also a part before that where you say "you gotta get closer to the mic" to a girl on the stage and she laughs. There's a sudden pause during the song, which you fill with a grin and, "oh shit, what's the next part?" When you finish the song and you tell the Portland crowd you have one song left and ask if they want a new or old song, there's silence and then an uproar. People shout their favorite songs and others tell you to play both, and by the time I realize the track ends, I'm listening to another live track which follows right after it on my iTunes.

It's you singing "King's Crossing" at the Henry Fonda Theater, it's January 2003. In the beginning of the recording, I let my mind imagine what it was like. You on the stage alone and a sea of faces all turned to you and you let out a shaky "Hi, how are you y'all?" I can make out some people shouting "We love you," and you return the same three words like you would to your friends in a teasing genuine way, and I can just make out that smile of yours I've seen so many times in photographs, and you follow it by a "thanks for coming..." but sometimes I can't make it through that track, it tears me apart, when you sing "because I took my own insides out", with the last word landing so harshly into the air before it echoes through the theater, how you sound so hurt and in pain.

I never really know what to do when this day makes its way to the front of the calendar, I just know I miss you and I can only hope you finally found happiness and I'll see you in heaven, that is if there is one and if there is one, you're sure to be in it.

Download + Donate:

» I'm Only Sleeping (02.19.2000 @ Satyricon, Portland) | Elliott Smith
» King's Crossing (01.31.2003 @ Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles) | Elliott Smith

~anne

Voxtrot,The Little Ones @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (10/14/07)

2007-10-16T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday night, Voxtrot brought Texas to Williamsburg and what a wonderful and energetic show it was. Doesn't seem a little surgery prevents Ramesh or the band from putting on a freakin' fantasticsuperstellar, show not that I doubted them for one nanosecond, get better Ramesh! The Little Ones also put on a great set, with their sunny LA smiles and addictive melodies and shaking maracas. Both The Little Ones and Voxtrot will be playing CMJ showcases (Voxtrot is playing at BV's Bowery Ballroom show tonight and at 4PM they're playing a free all ages show with Jack Penate at Fontana's!), so make sure you check them out this week and for those who don't live in NY no worries, both bands will most likely be touring in a city near you, just check out their websites listed in links below. The setlist for Voxtrot's set is right after the photos and you can also view all of the photos from this show here.

Setlist:

Introduction
Kid Gloves
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Your Biggest Fan
Ghost
Soft & Warm
Firecracker
Raised By Wolves
New Song
Brother In Conflict
The Start of Something

Download + Purchase:

Ghost | Voxtrot
Lovers Who Uncover | The Little Ones

Links:

» Voxtrot's Official Site
» Voxtrot's Official MySpace
» The Little Ones' Official Site
» The Little Ones' Official MySpace

~anne

PS. We will have a new kind of post that is a sort of follow-up to select show posts. They'll be titled Series: followed by the band name, date and location of the show. (this is what I'm talking about when I said 'special' Beirut post in the pass it on box) These are posts that will only have black and white and one day color photos that are taken by film cameras (not digital pretending to be b/w).

These may be posted as late as a month after the show has happened, since it takes time to process film, develop prints individually, scanned, uploaded, etc. I've been taking photos of shows with 35mm for awhile now, and I guess it's time to share some of them. Since I'm talking about it on this post, you've probably already figured out the second Series post is Voxtrot, but in case, it's a late night where you are, now you know.

3 minute entry: Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader)

2007-10-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

*latest update on 01/17/08*I've been meaning to post about Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader) ***the project name has been changed to Jimmy Two Fingers*** for a long time, boy that's a mouthful, but somehow I never got around to it. What with sweater season right around the corner you might think it's just cold where you are, but it's really his music that's raising goosebumps along your forearms.

It's his deep cavernous voice that you'll fall for first, but then you'll find his lyrics will linger in your head throughout the day. One-liners will make themselves at home such as, "I'll find a hole in the sun and put stuff inside it, and if it gets too full the lights go out and my world will come undone, like this..." in Astronomy (Undone), which then leads to this beautiful banjo part, with backing tambourines.

When you're hearing the songs for the first time, try and listen to the lyrics and instead of following the different instrument parts, no matter how beautiful they are! It'll be hard I know, because I didn't truly listen to the exact words he was singing for about half a year. I was so distracted by the variations of rough and soft nuances of his voice or I'd just get so caught up in waiting for the banjo part to unveil in "Astronomy" or let my mind get wrapped around the falling piano keys in "Curtains". When I finally listened to the lyrics throughout the full song, it was like listening to a whole new song.

I don't know a lot about the guy behind this project except, he was nice enough to send me some songs when I asked if he had any songs I could put on a blog. His name's Jimmy Magliozzi and he has a myspace up for the project, which I linked below. He's also in a four-person band called The Beaux Champs, that is in another musical vein; they put out a full length this summer called Hold Your Fire.

Stream + Download + More:

Astronomy (Undone) | Jimmy Two Fingers

Curtains | Jimmy Two Fingers

Links:
» Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader)'s Official MySpace
» The Beaux Champs' Official MySpace

~anne

Take it Away Annie Clark

2007-10-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know we haven't been posting, Anne's just overwhelmed with loads of school stuff, and what's my excuse? Well I've been focusing everything on my photography and finding a part time job, I have a couple of projects planned and it's just been my main priority. I haven't been up to date with music as well. Until we get that settled, you won't see that much posts from us.

With that being said, I just want to inform all you Annie Clark (St. Vincent) fans that there's three new Take Away shows on Blogotheque. Vincent Moon and Blogotheque has done it again. St. Vincent performs; "Marry me", "Jesus saves, I spend", and "Paris Is Burning". Most, if not all of the Take Away Shows are pretty intimate, but these St. Vincent performances are as intimate as they can get. You have the darling Annie Clark lying in her bed, with her guitar, singing "Marry Me". The mood of the performance just makes you feel like you're actually there, sitting next to her and she's singing to you.

Watch the videos, get the album if you haven't, it's been out for months now, and we'll be back more posts later.

Here's one of the videos:

#67.2 - St Vincent - Marry Me
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Stream + Download + Purchase

Marry Me | St. Vincent

Links:

» St.Vincent website
» The Take-Away Shows
» Buy Album
» Upcoming UK tour dates

*Edit, from anne: for all the people in New York, St. Vincent will be playing an in-store at Other Music, for free, of course, next Tuesday(10/16) at 8PM. get there early, it's kind of a tiny store and St. Vincent is 'kind of' amazing.

and to charlie, I am not overwhelmed!
I'm just living. =)*

-Charlie

Anticipate: Peter and the Wolf is back with a new album and a tour!

2007-09-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

Red Hunter of Peter and the Wolf is back spreading aw-oooohings starting at the CD release party tonight in Austin at Mohawk! So if you're in Austin, go for the love of owls, ghosts, spirits, folky melodies that make your head clear as day! It was a quiet release for the new album, The Ivori Palms and unless you checked his MySpace, you might have believed him when he played his "last" show in Austin a couple months back. Maybe too quiet of a release, because the album is as fantastic as Lightness and his other self-released albums. Hopefully we'll see a studio release for it soon, so I won't have to deal with the puzzled looks and arching eyebrows when I gush about The Ivori Palms.

There are 13 or 14 tracks on the album to listen to again and again, depending on when you pre-ordered the CD, the tracklist may differ from the one tacked on his MySpace. "Where The Summer Goes", "Check Out The River" and "Waiting For A Train" are songs that would've fit perfectly on his self-titled album or the special tour CD, Fireflies. Lovely mellow songs to clear your head to and perhaps slip into a pleasant daydream. So pleasant a dream that when you hear "The Bike of Jonas", you're a little shocked, but oh it's a trippy song. I don't understand how he made or what instruments are used, but whatever it is, it's fantastic! There are also finger-snapping, knee-slapping, ooooh-ing choir songs like "Southern Moon", "Scarlet And Grey" and "Ghost Sandals". If you've heard his work from Experiments In Junk, you'll find some of it lingering in the instrumentation and noise used, but there's an easiness and he makes story-telling and warm melody-making seem easy as pie.

I'm sure there will be a lot of fuss in the days ahead and there is already a lot of it for Iron and Wine and Jose Gonzalez's new releases that I'm rather excited about too, but it's strange to listen to The Ivori Palms, which is technically Peter and the Wolf's fourth release and wonder if anyone else is falling in love with it too. Course Chris from Gorilla vs. Bear is always on top of all Texas artists, you may argue with me as you please, but I still consider Peter and the Wolf an Austin/LA local, you may walk around the earth a hundred times, faraway from familiar faces and that place called home, but home never leaves you! (College is going alright by the way and my heart leaps every time when I see a UT shirt, two times so far.)

To purchase the album, go to their MySpace and click on the image under About Peter and the Wolf or the Buy Now button under the image.

The handmade album came with a piece of paper that explained how the album came to be, that I'll type up a paragraph or two of, oh hell I'll type of the whole thing, I couldn't stand shortening something like this, just pretend you're reading the lovely Blogs Are For Dogs!

Introduction to the album by Redding Hunter

This summer (June through August '07) low on cash and having lost my faithful car of ten years to the trials of touring on American highways, I spent the last of what I had on a plane ticket to a little town in Canada called Peterborough. I'd heard there was no shortage of abandoned 3rd-story warehouses downtown that'd be perfect for hiding out and writing, so I left the country looking for trouble and fun.

I'd been homeless in LA a few years back and missed the days of squatting, busking, and constantly finding adventure. I chose Peterborough because during our previous tour we'd met a very rad dude named Jonas who sold me on the idea of returning. Jonas is a tall, thin, bearded charmer who could easily get by on his jokes alone if he didn't run such a cool studio. He calls it Shuffling Feet, and records/releases his own music as well as the off-radar tunesmiths of his and neighboring cities. Jonas had access to the condemned warehouse above a music store downtown and promised me a key if I ever came back, so I did.

When my plane landed in Toronto, Jonas picked me up and armed me for the summer with an electric lantern, a therma-rest for sleeping on concrete floors, and an old typewriter. more importantly, he loaned me his bike, a cruiser that was so fun to ride I can only describe it the way he did when entrusting it to me: "When you ride this bike you are the mayor of Peterborough."

The room where I would keep to myself all summer was in a barely-standing 100 year old building. My first day there I broke the window trying to swat a wasp; the glass crumbled like it was creme brulee. The power outlets didn't work so I had to discretely run an extension cord downstairs to the music store when using my only piece of equipment: a borrowed 8-track recorder. And I wasn't supposed to be there, of course, which meant working all night by light of the latern and going out to sleep in the park during the day under mostly clear summer skies.

It was heaven. I was and remain cash-low but I strutted around town like I owned the place; I felt like the richest dude in the world.

Once in awhile I'd get lonely at night or not feel like working, so I would ride Joner's bike around town, talk to bums, drink scotch, and find ways to kill time til the sun rose and I could sleep in the park without hassle. During one such morning nap I dreamt I met Dan Eldon, who has been my hero ever since I learned of his expeditions across Africa and his great humanitarianism. In the dream I told him of doubts I didn't even realize I'd been having: how I was squatting in a shithole far away from my family and friends, unsure if I would finish my project and return with a new record to share, feeling stranded and blah blah. I led him to my dirty room with the broken window and the typewriter, which he calmly surveyed and said, "You're not living in a condemned building. This is The Ivori Palms." A neon sign blinked outside my window with tacky Florida resort-style pink palm trees and cursive lettering complete with misspelling. I woke up in the park, had my album title, and got back to work.

Tracklisting:

if you pre-ordered early on you might've gotten this order...

Where Summer Goes
Scarlet And Grey
The Bike Of Jonas
Check Out The River
Ghost Sandals (Live)
The Ivori Palms
Southern Moon
Waiting For A Train
A Hundred Days
Sparks (Live)
The Traveler And The County Boys
Better Days
The Lighthouse

final tracklisting

Where Summer Goes
Scarlet And Grey
Check Out The River
Ghost Sandals (Live)
Waiting For A Train
Southern Moon
The Bike Of Jonas
The Ivori Palms
A Hundred Days
The Lighthouse
Better Days
The Beggar's Waltz
The Traveler And The County Boys
Sparks (Live)

Tour Dates:

09-23 Austin, TX - Mohawk (CD Release Party!)
09-27 Dallas, TX - The Cavern
09-28 Springdale, AK - Pontiac
09-29 Columbia, MI - it's a backyard party!
09-30 Rock Island, IL - Huckleberry's Pizza Parlour
10-01 St. Louis, MS - Billiken Club
10-03 Riverview, MI - Cloak and Dagger House
10-05 Lancaster, Michigan - The Sugar Tank
10-06 Annapolis, ML - Wiley's
10-07 New York, NY - TBA
10-10 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar*
10-11 Scranton, PA - Test Pattern*
10-12 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Tavern*
10-13 Grand Rapids, MI - The DAAC*
10-14 Chicago, IL - AV-aeire*
10-19 Fort Worth, TX - The Modern
10-26 Los Angeles, CA - Pehrspace^
11-01 Santa Cruz, CA - The Bike Church^
11-03 Oakland CA - Mama Buzz^
11-04 San Francisco, A - Hemlock^

*Phosphorescent
^Foot Foot

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Where Summer Goes | Peter and The Wolf

Traveler And The County Boys | Peter and The Wolf

The Bike Of Jonas | Peter and The Wolf

Links:

» Peter and the Wolf's Official MySpace
» Purchase The Ivori Palms
» Purchase other Peter and the Wolf CDs
» Details on the tour
» Liner Notes of The Ivori Palms

~anne

Basia Bulat, Oh, My Darling

2007-09-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone! It's Charlie here! I apologize for not writing anything since the beginning of August. Summer just really took its toll on us and we couldn't find the time to sit infront of the computer and write. I myself was piled with an overwhelming amount of foreign movies from friends that I had to watch. And also spent the majority of summer taking medium format fotos. But we have a new season ahead of us, one of my favourites actually, so Anne and I are going to try and build up on this and post more and more.

I'll be introducing you guys to some artists I've been listening to for awhile now that I think will fit perfectly into this coming autumn season. Although her album hasn't released yet here in the U.S, I've been enjoying some of Basia Bulat's released singles since last spring. I knew I found something good the moment I heard her voice. Basia Bulat, who's based in London, Ontario (yes another good act from our neighbours up north) will be worth your time. You can easily compare it to the big names out there, such as Chan's voice, Feist, and Regina Spektor. But like the artists I just mentioned, Basia can stand her ground and easily set herself apart from the crowd. She has a voice that will stick around in your head for awhile, and is a nice companion for this coming autumn season. That's a good thing!

So what else is there to do after aquiring a good voice, well take a good band with you to back you up. A support band with violins, guitars, ukelele to back that magnificent voice of hers does the job. Who knows when we'll see her and her band here in the States. She's been touring all of Canada and Europe lately and will be touring Canada again this autumn, but we have two lucky cities in the east, Chicago and Minneapolis who'll get the chance to see her. As for her debut album, Oh, My Darling well it's out in the UK already and it comes out in Canada on the 18th. But if you don't wanna wait and don't mind paying a little bit more, you can go to Rough Trade's site.

Stream + Download + Purchase

Before I Knew | Basia Bulat

I Was a Daughter | Basia Bulat

Links:

» Basia Bulat's Official Site
» Basia Bulat's Myspace
» Live Performance courtesy of B(oot)log
» Purchase the CD from Rough Trade

-Charlie

Greetings from New York...

2007-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know yet, a little over a week ago, I left the grassy green lawn suburban town of Spring, Texas for another type of greenery, the Village aka Greenwich Village aka New York aka the city of the world and I'm sure there are other names it falls under.

I came here with two suitcases full of clothes, extra long twin sheets, and a carry on that held all the CDs that I couldn't part with, I also brought a natural curiosity for what New York's music community would offer me. Of course, the main reason I am here is to attend college, Parsons the New School for Design, one of the eight divisions of The New School and I'm majoring in direct entry photography. Four hours of sleep is considered lucky or so the upperclassmen say, lucky me.

I haven't been to any shows yet, but I've already bought tickets for Rilo Kiley at Webster Hall on the 23rd and Beirut at the Wordless Music Series on the 24th. Hopefully soon though, I'll unearth some New York bands that are worth digging for.

So right now I'll have to work with the ones I do know that reside in my new home, they're all in Brooklyn really, and I guess we'll see if I find any or not in these next oh...four years.
(hint: this is the time + place to namedrop any bands, venues, restaurants, record stores, upcoming shows, anyplace, event you love that reside, take place in New York/Brooklyn.)

Download + More:

See Her, Seer | Inlets

Eastbound | Ola Podrida

The Way To Here | Au Revoir Simone

Easier | Grizzly Bear

~anne

Singled Out: A Sunday Smile by Beirut

2007-09-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

There is no mistaking that familiar voice sailing along the swells of brassy, golden horns. The mouth it originates from moves swiftly, dragging out the last syllables of select words, or are those really words? They're more like sounds, cries of emotion that can't be tied down by wholly confining pre-established vocabulary, but freely delivers its message through its sheer volume and it lifts even the heaviest of hearts. We hear it fed through a megaphone, an audio trick that we've heard before, making his voice sound even more foreign and faraway than it already is.

The lone voice belongs to of course, Zach Condon, the one who brought us last year, The Gulag Orkestra, an album that for most of us ventured into unfamiliar territory that was filled with the hearty sounds of Balkan brass orchestras and made trumpets more than just mere solo decorations within songs, but centered the particular brass instrument in the spotlight and most likely inspired a mousy haired youngster out there to leave the finger-blistering guitar in the closet for a shiny, promising trumpet along with a much needed spit cup.

And yes this is one of the new songs off of the October 9th-slated album, The Flying Club Cup and it's called "A Sunday Smile". You may have heard it already from watching the Take Away Show presented by La Blogothèque, which Zach Condon preformed with one of his musical influences, The Kocani Orkestra. Without them, The Gulag Orkestra would probably never have existed, seeding its gypsy sounds within Condon, but this time for the new album, the seed was planted by the late musician and lyricist Jacques Brel.

From start to finish the song plays out like a circus affair, a towering Jack in the Box with the handle winding round and round, accordions squeezing the summer air and stretching to reveal a painted design like a flag unfurled caught in a breeze. The album is said to be the result of French influences both culturally and musically and the visual inspiration for Condon this time around was the photograph that is now gracing the cover of the album.

Beirut right now is somewhere in Brooklyn rehearsing for their upcoming tour that will hit off at Brooklyn's Masonic Temple on Sept. 20th, following two more New York dates and making their way to the somewhat major American cities before leaving on a jet plane to spend November in Europe.

I confess, I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am about The Flying Club Cup. The only thing that could possibly be better than the new album releasing, would be seeing Beirut themselves on Sept. 24th at the Wordless Music Series in New York at the Society for Ethical Culture venue.

If you're even doubting if it's worth to see them live, oh which is surely a crime, you had better watch the Take Away Show that features Condon with The Kocani Orkestra playing the reprise of "Siki Siki Baba" (scroll to the last video) and then you'll wish you were there just like I do every time I watch it and that whatever you did on July 30th, 2007 would never have topped standing in the Parisian venue, La Flèche d'Or and being part of the audience that happily sang and swayed as one. And if you are already convinced, you had better watch it anyways. It's the best live show footage I've seen in years, Vincent Moon is a mad hand-holding cameraman genuis!

Stream + Download + Purchase:

A Sunday Smile | Beirut

Links:

» Beirut's Official Site
» Pre-Order The Flying Club Cup
» Beirut's Official MySpace
» Beirut's Tour Dates
» La Blogothèque presents: #60.9-60.10 Beirut + The Koncani Orkestra playing "A Sunday Smile" (video)
» La Blogothèque presents: #60.1 Beirut + The Kocani Orkestra playing "Siki Siki Baba" reprise (video)
» YouTube: Zach Condon singing "Knife" by Grizzly Bear (video)
» The Kocani Orkestra's Official Site
» Wikipedia: Jacques Brel

~anne

3 minute entry: The Monks Kitchen

2007-08-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

*latest update on 09/12*

I found myself a few weeks ago knee-deep in a completely, utterly, tangled, wonderful mess that a London band called The Monks Kitchen makes. Their music warmed up my room and gently nudged a stack of folded laundry and shifted around a few pictures hanging on the wall to make it feel more like home. It's the kind of mess where you know exactly where everything is and if you tilt your head you can instantly hear the guitar part by itself, the bass stands out stockstill, and the drums march on alone, but tilt your head the other way they all join hands and soon enough you hear the whole song alive settling into your furniture, your room, your home.

The Monks Kitchen is comprised of four childhood friends and is due to release a six-track EP called The Wind May Howl on Sept. 17th. Their sound calls upon some of Simon & Garfunkel's friendly acoustic charm and Bishop Allen's homemade feel, and their wandering, mellow melodies could sit comfortably and play tic-tac-toe with Midlake's own.

Their debut EP, The Wind May Howl will drop down its six tracks on Sept. 17th. Right now you can hear its single, "Bringing Hurricanes" on their MySpace, so trust me and click on over to their page. We may or may not get a track for readers to download in the near future, so just sit tight. For the ones who are lucky to call England home though, The Monks Kitchen will be playing a handful of shows starting Sept. 8th.

To purchase the single or to pre-order the EP if you live elsewhere, just order it online here.

Tour Dates:

09-08 London - The Gladstone
09-13 London - Louvana
09-18 London - ~~The Proud Galleries~~ *The English Maid (a boat!)*
09-23 Birmingham - This is Tomorrow
09-28 Manchester - Up At the Redbricks
09-30 Nottingham - The Maltcross

Links:

» The Monks Kitchen Official MySpace
» Purchase single/Pre-order the EP
» More info on the tour

~anne

How do you view the world?

2007-08-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Once again, the three guest spots for Camera Crowd's photoblog has opened up and those spots are waiting to be filled by another set of three lovely talented photographers. For people who are unfamiliar with this blog, we hold a contest every three months for photographers, published/unpublished, it really doesn't matter to us, you just have to knock our lens off (ha - ha!). The three photographers who win will be our guest photobloggers posting, sharing their work with our readers for three whole months. It's a wonderful way to give our readers something other than a bunch of paragraphs droning on silly things such as music and at the same time our guest photographers get exposure and feedback on their work.

Charlie and I, me being Anne, started this blog to not only to share our love of music, but also of photography and that's when we thought of giving others the opportunity via a photoblog. It's important to us that the photographers who win this contest will post regularly. If you don't take photos at the very least once every two weeks, we strongly reccommend you to not apply. We're also looking for a new, fresh approach to photography, so if your portfolio is dusty chock full of backyard flowers, kids, pets and oh who knows the occasional snapshot of graffiti, we suggest you go out and shoot "outside the box".

To apply there are a few things you'll need to have and do before sitting in suspense for our reply.

How to apply:

1. You have to create your own flickr account, if you don't have one already, don't worry flickr is free and easy, just sign up for the basic account.

2. After that upload all the photos onto flickr to show us. Remember this is your portfolio, only include the photos that you want us to see.

3. Then there is a Q&A to fill out, we'll provide a download link below and then email that word document to us with the subject line as, "Camera Crowd application".

Links:

» Camera Crowd's Photoblog
» Create a Flickr
» Download the Q&A
» Email your application to us!

Also here are a few songs for you to listen to while you're out shooting to spruce up that portfolio. Think outside the box!

Download + Purchase:

Everything I Cannot See | Charlotte Gainsbourg

Your Picture | Camera Obscura

Deadline: Sept. 15th*
( *Saturday, 11:59PM, EST)

Love, Team Camera Crowd
(Anne & Charlie)

Is Is? Yeah Yeah Yeahs!

2007-08-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

So according to filter-mag.com, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have added two California dates to their current mini U.S tour which kicks off tonight in Kansas. They added two dates, one in San Francisco @ the Fillmore (YES!) and one in L.A. As you know, the group is currently on the road supporting their EP Is Is which came out over a week ago.

Don't expect a new sound coming from Is Is, the songs in this EP were written around the time Fever to Tell came out, back in 2004. This doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad EP, I actually like it. It's the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound I fell in love when my cousin introduced them to me a couple of years ago. Is Is has that typical Yeah Yeah Yeahs energetic, garage, juiced up sound we know and love. So get it! Plus it's nice to have them come out with something they can tour on amidst the rumours of them separating months ago. Yeah we don't want that.

The tour dates are below, tickets for the San Francisco show go on sale Aug. 5th @ 10 am, and the LA show goes on sale the day before also at 10 am.

August
01 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre
02 Columbia, MO - The Blue Note
04 Chicago, IL - Grant Park [Lollapalooza]
05 Baltimore, MD - Pimlico Race Track [Virgin Festival]
07 New York, NY - Webster Hall
16 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
18 Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center [Download Festival]
21 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
22 Los Angeles, CA - Mayan Theatre

Track listing:
1. Rockers To Swallow
2. Down Boy
3. Kiss Kiss
4. Isis
5. 10X10

Kiss Kiss | Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Links:
» myspace
» Buy the EP

-Charlie

...and we're back!

2007-07-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

We're back! After 22 days of inactivity on this blog, we're returning to posting regularly now. The hiatus kind of just grew from a week to two and then Charlie and I just gave in and put the blog in the back of our minds. All we can say is we're really sorry for such a long hiatus, at least we're not that big of a blog that we caused an integer overflow right? So what exactly have we been doing? The real answer is nothing really, after all that's what summer is for.

To all the readers that actually missed our long-winded posts, you may indulge yourself in our detailing of the exact kind of nothing-ness below. Anyways it's good to be back.

Charlie:

My summer so far can be summed up in three words; movies, medium format, and music. Yeah those are some of the reasons why I haven't been really writing here. Unlike, Anne, I don't have a part time job to keep me busy and I haven't been attending summer shows. I've just been keeping my summer occupied by watching endless movies. I'm not talking about your usual summer blockbusters that includes transforming robots and what not, more like foreign films.

If you know me well, you know I like my foreign films, from French, Spanish, and now Japanese and Cantonese, I just love them. For the past couple of months, friends and pen pals have recommended several of their favourite Japanese and Cantonese films, old and new. I really enjoyed all of them so I'm going to share them with you guys and recommend you add them to your netflix queue. :)

Kamome Shokudo (2006) (Japanese/Finnish w/ English Subtitles)

It's a lighthearted Japanese comedy about a young Japanese woman, Sachie, who moves from Japan to Finland to start her own Japanese diner. The diner doesn't do so good in the beginning until she gets her first customer, a Finnish manga fan (Tommi) who eventually befriends Sachie. Soon after that, Sachie meets two new Japanese women who just arrived in Finland and have their own reasons for being there. They eventually start working at the diner which slowly starts aquiring customers later in the film. Not a lot of people like this movie because they think it's a little slow and nothing much happens, but I really enjoyed it because of the relationships that developed throughout the course of the film. It's a laid back film that'll be perfect for a nice and lazy sunday afternoon.

Days of Being Wild (1991), In the Mood for Love (2000), 2046 (2004) (Cantonese, Mandarin w/ English Subtitles)

Probably my most favourite trilogy ever! These three movies are an informal trilogy from one of the best directors ever, Wong Kar-wai. Informal trilogy meaning they weren't really marketed as a trilogy, the three stories just all go together. I won't even dare try to summarize each film because that will probably take up 2 or 3 posts because of the number of characters involved in all 3 films and its very intricate plot. What got me into these movies in the first place was the movie 2046, which came out a couple of years ago. A lot of people suggested I should watch Days of Being Wild and In the Mood for Love first before seeing 2046 or else I won't understand and enjoy it. Boy, were they right, I downright understood what was going on in 2046 because I was so familiar with the characters that were already introduced in In the Mood for Love. I just have to say, Wong Kar-wai's films are just beautiful, each scene is a beautiful photograph and puts him up there in the ranks of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro.

When I'm not at home watching movies, I'm out with my cameras doing what else, taking fotos of course. But while the masses are enjoying the digital world, I'm slowly leaving it and moving to medium format photography. I've fallen in love with the feeling and atmosphere of 120 film and I just wanna keep using it. Added to my arsenal is my unpredictable but dependable Holga, and a recently purchased Seagull 4A TLR. Shooting medium format is fun and just rewarding, but it can get expensive, with the rolls of 120 and processing that's only available at some pro photography shops, not your local drug store. Here are some medium format shots I've shot with my holga, I don't have any TLR shots yet cause I just got the camera, so once I finish the roll of slide film I'm using right now, definitely expect them on the photoblog.

As for music, I've been listening to a lot of Basia Bulat, this lovely Canadian singer-songwriter from Ontario. She has one of the loveliest voices I've ever heard, she might be new but I rank her voice up there with the big guns such as Chan Marshall, Feist, and Regina Spektor. I've also been listening to 8mm sky, a post indie band from Taiwan that Anne introduced briefly here on Camera Crowd last January. They're a perfect nightly reading companion and they usually keep me company whenever I'm out shooting fotos. I won't go into much details about these two and other artists I've been listening to because I'm planning to write about them more later on.

Links:

» Kamone Shokudo
» Days of Being Wild
» In the Mood for Love
» 2046

Other recommended movies...
» Paris Je T'aime
» Chungking Express

Music...
» Basia Bulat
» 8mm sky

Photography...
» What is medium format?

Downloads + Purchase:

Snakes and Ladders | Basia Bulat

Finders Keepers | 8mm sky

Anne:

It's so strange how fast summer goes by, even though I haven't been doing much. It's pretty hot and humid down here so no one really ventures out of the house except to run into somewhere else with a working AC. These days I can be found straightening racks, doing go-backs, rushing around in the fitting room, folding and picking up hangers on the floor at a huge clothing store in the Willowbrook Mall wearing a perfected customer-friendly expression amidst all-out chaos. On the better days or rather nights, I'm witnessing fantastic shows, Menomena at the beginning of summer, catching Voxtrot, Brazos and Tacks, the Boy Disaster all in one fell swoop at the Proletariat and St. Vincent with Scout Niblett at good old Walter's two weeks ago.

And for the rest of the days in between I've been watching Seinfeld, I can't resist a good rerun. There was also my long term project of re-reading the Harry Potter series before the seventh book came out, which I managed too quickly and left myself open to restlessness a full week before the release date of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Then when it finally came out at midnight, I took the chance to further my already ruined sleeping habits...and finished it without so much of a pause or breath till 3pm later that afternoon. Brilliant, that's all have to say!

I also took a vacation from reading music blogs and keeping up with all the "buzz bands", though I still read Pitchfork's news feeds, skimming the headlines for my favorite artists. What hasn't left my stereo is Feist's latest full-length, The Reminder, it's perfect to wake up to and end the day with. I sometimes practice sketching and drink coffee, but mostly it's work work work and a quick game of solitaire or two on the computer.

Anyways, photography-wise I haven't been shooting much other than live shows and until then with exception to the possibility of August 11th, you won't see any photos till August 23rd. So here are some photos I shot at the St. Vincent show at Walter's on Washington. Her debut album, "Marry Me" is breathtakingly beautiful and it's as edgy as it's pretty.

While we're here, I am in love with La Blogothèque's Take Away shows shot by Vincent Moon. They're all so wonderful, warm and have the rare ability to conjure smiles out of thin air. Thank you for such beauty! Paris Je T'aime as Charlie recommended above, was also lovely to watch and I'm lastly, terribly impatient for Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited.

Anyways, till next time!

Songs I've got on repeat:

Brandy Alexander | Feist
The Start of Something (100dBs + Brennoir Remix) | Voxtrot
End Scene Fade (Daytrotter Session)| Sparrow House

Love, Camera Crowd
(Charlie and Anne)

Voxtrot @ The Proletariat, Houston (06/30/07)

2007-07-05T02:08:00.000-07:00

Live reviews, shmive reviews...do I really have to describe how painstakingly amazing a Voxtrot show is? Though it wasn't a surprise to me since I've seen both bands live before, I do have to mention to you, oh fellow reader, how Brazos and Tacks, The Boy Disaster were the best opening bands I've seen for a long while...they are from Austin after all. Some photos, some links, some words below...

» More photos from the show.

Voxtrot's setlist:

Introduction
Kid Gloves
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
Your Biggest Fan
Soft & Warm
Raised By Wolves
Brother In Conflict
The Start of Something
Missing Pieces

Songs I wish were on the setlist, just pure 2AM blogger wishful thinking/fun:

Ghost
Steven
Every Day
Real Life Version
Blood Red Blood
Wrecking Force
Four Long Days
Dirty Version
This Is Not My Bloody War

To everyone who was rushed (rudely) out of the venue and didn't get a chance to buy their new merch, please order it online here at the Voxtrot store. More tour dates will be added, that means you Europe and select US cities. For now there is Pitchfork Festival & Siren Fest and two remaining dates for the Wrecking Force to road-trip to.

Word of advice: To the people who live in Austin or near it, you should all go to Belaire's CD release party at Emo's on July 6th, it's a foolproof fun show to attend. If this motivates you in any way, Jason Chronis and Matt Simon from Voxtrot are in the band!

Links:
» Voxtrot's Official Site
» Voxtrot's Official MySpace
» Order Voxtrot Merch
» Voxtrot on NPR
» Voxtrot + Sparrow House "Take-away Show" videos by La Blogothèque
» Brazos's Official MySpace
» Tacks, The Boy Disaster's Official MySpace
» Belaire's Official MySpace

~anne

Our 100th post and celebrations of sorts mix!

2007-06-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

Unlike a lot of other blogs, who easily hit their 100th post mark in their first few months without breaking a sweat or computers, Camera Crowd is a blog that has always taken time with their posts and well we like to think that's a good thing. There is enough "stuff" out there on the Internet for you to read and digest and as much as we'd like to shove bands down your throat every day(blogger joke?), we just want to make sure who we post is worthwhile of your time. It's also a good excuse for not letting a blog run our lives and not being on the computer once in awhile.

While we're at it there are a few other minor calls for celebration. This blog was started last year in June and now that the earth has made its way back again, Camera Crowd is now one year old and we hope we'll stay with it and who knows what will happen. Tomorrow is Charlie's 22nd birthday and then on Tuesday it's Anne's 18th birthday!

Now that we got those out of the way, here's a playlist that we've compiled to celebrate these lovely landmarks. All the songs are by the bands/artists we've written in any of the past 99 posts and we've provided a link to the post if you missed it the first time around.

Finally, we'd like to thank you, yes you reading this silly post right now! Thank you for reading whether it be your first time on this blog or your 29374932th time. For readers who've been on here before, we hope we introduced some music you've enjoyed and will continue to or try at least. The big thank you goes to the people who make the music of course, after all, you are the reason why us bloggers are here.

Alright, as always downloads are only available for 7 days!

{You can hear the whole playlist by using the music player below and then you can either download individual songs or the whole playlist. We don't want you wasting summertime by being online all day, so save time while listening: go check your email, facebook, myspace, insert latest social networking obsession...}

{What you're clicking from left to right: click on the song title to download, we use yousendits, so right-click to open in another window/tab. Click on the artist/band name for their MySpace or official site. Click on the » to read past posts we've written on the artist/band. }

Tracklisting:

Concrete Love | Habitat^# »
Now. Now. | St. Vincent ^# »
My Eyes Are Disconnected From My Head Is Disconnected From My Body | Maestro Echoplex ^* »
Cosmia | Joanna Newsom ^# »
5:55 | Charlotte Gainsbourg ^# »
Instead | Ola Podrida ^* »
The Reflection (With Red Hunter) | Sparrow House ^* »
Boa | Eglantine Gouzy ^# »
Elephant Gun | Beirut^* »
Ghost | Voxtrot ^* »

*anne's picks
#charlie's picks

» Download the whole playlist here!

Love, Camera Crowd
(Anne and Charlie)

Ohbijou

2007-06-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Just like Anne had said, yes, summer is getting to us. I know I promised you guys more write ups around the start off my summer break, but I haven't had the motivation to sit in front of the computer and write. I've been too busy with photography and the world of medium format. I need a blogger's recharge!

To those who know me personally, you know that I have a love/hate relationship with summer, I love being on break but my body hates hot weather and I get sick. So I usually surround myself with cold drinks and songs from artists that remind me of fall/winter. This is where the Canadian seven piece band Ohbijou comes in. Hailing from Toronto, Canada, this seven piece set consists of sisters Casey and Jennifer Mecija, Heather Kirby, James Bunton, Anissa Hart, Ryan Carley and Andrew Kinoshita. Some of their musical instruments of choice includes; a violin, ukelele, trumpet, glockenspiel and mandolin. So before even listening to them, you can already assume that they'll sound like a mini orchestra.

I've been listening to them for almost half a year now ( yes that's how behind I am) and they're easily comparable to other bands out there such as the band Eisley from Texas. But what stands out the most from all the other bands is that Ohbijou uses a wide array of musical instruments and they manage to keep that mature and polished sound intact. It's really an interesting and relaxing feeling when you hear the soft vocals along with the unique instruments mixed together in one song.

They have an album out right now titled Swift Feet For Troubling Times and it keeps my head cool on those hot, and unbearable summer days. If the Fall season was to have a soundtrack, it would be this album. Ohbijou manages to capture that piles of foliage, warm sweater feeling and transport all of it into an orchestra like environment. Fall is months away, but Ohbijou will keep me wishing over and over again for it to be here already.

Download:

The Woods | Ohbijou

St. Francis | Ohbijou

Links:

>> Ohbijou site
<< Myspace ( to listen to more songs, videos)

P.S: To purchase the album, just visit their official site or myspace.

-Charlie

Singled out: Postcard From Kentucky by Rocky Votolato

2007-06-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is how I'd like to remember Texas, the way Rocky Votolato sculpts the stories in fly-over states and the ones down low, with swaggering harmonicas, rolling drums, a heart-strumming banjo and a low voice revealing some rare kind of Western wisdom while singing bottom of the bottle songs.

His fifth studio album, The Brag and Cuss following up Makers is full of lost and found sepia-toned sounds of America out West, rootsy, folksy and in every way so darn good to sing along to. I recommend streaming the whole album here, all of songs are warm and wonderful for a lonely summer night. "The Wrong Side of Reno" has won my heart along with "Lilly White", "Silver Trees" and oh the whole album is just a charmer. The eleven track album will drop into stores next Tuesday, June 19th, including the first single "Postcard from Kentucky".

It starts out with Votolato setting up a too familiar scene, "Jack Daniel's in one hand/a basic light in the other/my two best friends for so long/that I can't even remember...." Casey Foubert (Pedro the Lion) on the banjo follows his vocal melody closely and James McAllister (Sufjan Stevens) let the drums stay dry and remain out of the spotlight for this song.

For the most part, the song has an unwavering melody making its familiar rounds with each verse, but there are three certain points when his voice swells with emotion, rising higher above than the repetitive string of notes before, striking the listener most unexpectedly. Even though, it happens multiple times throughout the song, the sudden turn is so genuine that your reaction will remain a wonderful surprise and you'll come to look forward to those larger waves to overwhelm you when the song is played again. The thing with Votolato is that he doesn't come off as a sad sack, he sounds his best when injured and you don't need to have your arm twisted to sit down and join him in the ditch he dug himself in. You sit down, nodding and singing the blues away with him or try to anyways.

Stream + Download + More:

Postcard From Kentucky| Rocky Votolato

Links:

» Rocky Votolato's Official Site
» Stream The Brag and Cuss
» Pre-order/Purchase The Brag and Cuss
» Rocky Votolato's MySpace
» Rocky Votolato's Tour Dates

~anne

Shout Out Louds

2007-06-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

So let's focus our attention on Sweden for a moment. Over the years they've given us a lot and we've overlooked them. Some of our favourite artists have hailed from Sweden; Peter Bjorn and John, Jose Gonzalez, The Cardigans, and ABBA ( I grew up listening to them ;) ). Let's also not forget our beloved Ikea stores, you gotta love those low-cost modern furnitures. Another Swedish product to add to the list is the band Shout Out Louds.

My friend Marina (who's also one of our photobloggers) introduced me to this indie/pop band hailing from Stockholm that's been around since 2001. Let's just say listen to your friends when they recommend a new artist, friends don't let friends listen to awful music, to those who do, you guys are awful! I was instantly hooked after hearing a couple of their songs from their upcoming sophomore album Our Ill Wills which won't come out in North America till September 11th, but is already out now in Sweden. Yeah that's right, September 11th?! No worries though, Shout Out Louds are nice enough to give us a 5 track EP that's out today. It includes the song that got me hooked on them, "Tonight I Have to Leave It", and two other remixes to that song.

Summer has officially started and if you're looking for a band to fall in love with and keep you company this summer, listen to Shout Out Louds. This Swedish group will make you dance and sing along with their distinct European pop sound. The ignorable percussions and the sound of the violin will have you craving for more, I promise. It's definitely what I expected from a Swedish pop band. If you wanna catch these guys on tour this summer, I hope you live in either N.Y, L.A, or San Fran, cause those are the only stops they're making.

Tonight I Have to Leave It | Shout Out Louds

Time Left For Love | Shout Out Louds

Tonight I Have To Leave It EP tracklisting:
1. Tonight I Have to Leave It (album version)
2. Don’t Get Yourself Involved
3. Streams Of Whiskey (w/ The Essex Green)
4. Tonight I Have to Leave It (The Russian Futurists Remix)
5. Tonight I Have to Leave It (Kleerup Remix)

Buy the EP now at Insound.com

Links:
>>> Official Site
<<< Myspace

-Charlie

Camera Crowd's Summer Mix!

2007-05-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

{Click on the song title to download, we use yousendits so right-click to open in another window/tab. We will not re-link these so all the songs on here will only be available for 7 days. You can still stream it though on the music player for as long as you want. Click on the artist/band name for their MySpace or official site!}

Tracklisting:

Here Comes The Sun | The Beatles *
Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow (Felt Cover) | Voxtrot *
Surfing The Warm Industry | Kashmir #
Beautiful Life | Gui Boratto *
Sunset Beach | The Teenagers *
Get Up Get Out | The Rosebuds #
Seems To Be On My Mind | Suburban Kids With Biblical Names *
Feet Upon The Sand | Nobody & Mystic Chords Of Memory #
Not Going Home | The Elected #
Wanderlust | Björk #

*anne's picks
#charlie's picks

» Download the whole playlist here!

Love, Camera Crowd
(Anne and Charlie)

New Release: Magic Bullets

2007-05-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Charlie's back! I didn't really go anywhere, the month of May just kept me on my toes and I was swamped with a lot of things, but school's over now and I can get back to writing again so yeah. Okay let's get down to it.

Although you've probably forgotten by now, I introduced Magic Bullets to you guys last November. I fell in love right after I saw them perform with Voxtrot. I've been waiting since then for their debut album to come out. And finally, today is the official worldwide release of, a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in Love. With this release, I can finally enjoy ten simple and short yet powerful songs instead of only three (heatstroke, lay low, new kicks) that were available over six months ago.

The album kicks off with "Yesterday's Seen Better Days", it starts off with a sweet guitar riff that you just want to hear over and over again. Then several of my old favourites follow up after that including "Heatstroke", "Lay low", and my new favourite "Will Scarlett".

It's definitely what I expected from these bay area guys. The album makes you dance, snap your fingers, and bob your head from time to time without breaking a sweat. It's that distinct calm, and collected yet upbeat sound I crave for whenever I'm getting ready to spend a day at San Francisco. Basically, Magic Bullets starts of my day and recharges me just like a can of caffeinated red bull would. Yes, it gives me wings. So please, check them out, they'll be touring the west coast soon.

Yesterday's Seen Better Days | Magic Bullets

Heatstroke | Magic Bullets

Tracklisting:

Yesterday's Seen Better Days
Heatstroke
Lay Low
Will Scarlett
Short Circuit
Circumstances
New Kicks
Tender Throes
Spilled Milk
Spent Nights

Links:
>>> Homepage
<<< Myspace
>>> Purchase the CD ( It's also available on amazon.com and Itunes)

-Charlie

Team Camera Crowd No. 3

2007-05-24T03:16:00.000-07:00

Well, another three months has passed and we're now welcoming our third group of guest photographers onto Camera Crowd's photoblog. Hence the name of our blog, we are both a music & photography blog and with the endless possibilities that the Internet offers we somehow had this idea of building a tight-knit photography community online with this photoblog and getting people to participate posting. In turn giving well-deserved exposure to young talented photographers around the world and it's also a nice way to let music lovers to rest their ears for a moment and open their eyes to the possibility that there is something outside of a computer screen. We're just teasing, we love/hate our laptops as much as you do.

Charlie & I are still learning how to find our way around this tricky blogosphere, so thank you for reading and growing up with us. To everyone who's reading and/or went through the application process, you have no idea how much your participation means to us. Thank you.

Alright, so go ahead and get acquainted with the three photographers who will be showing their work from now till the end of August. Click on their names below to check out some of their photography on their Flickrs now and in the future, thumbnails of the two latest photos on the photoblog will be shown on the top right sidebar of this blog.

Congratulations to Marina, Birdie and Ian! David Bowie knows how to party it up, so let's dance!

Marina Chu from San Francisco, California

"You never really know what's going to happen in the city. Something exciting is always happening and you have to capture that moment or else it'll pass by in no time."

Birdie Michaels from San Marcos, Texas

"What’s more exciting than making a piece of art in a matter of seconds? The world, along with the human body is remarkably unique and beautiful. Technology has enabled us to not only to embrace these things, but also look back on the way they were, share it with others, and start to see them in a more artistic way."

Ian Witlen from Fort Lauderdale, Florida

"Photography is my life, plain and simple. Both of my parents are artists, so needless to say I grew up with strong background in art. Though I always thought I would end up a scientist, I wasn’t happy in the field of science and realized my true love has always been photography. If I’m not taking photos for myself, I am assisting commercial and fashion photographers."

~ anne and charlie

Ben Gibbard @ Emo's, Austin (05/17/07)

2007-05-22T01:06:00.000-07:00

I'm a few days too late on covering this, but at least now I have a few more hours of sleep to run on compared to last week! So last Tuesday, Ben Gibbard along with Johnathan Rice and David Bazan of Pedro The Lion stopped by Emo's for a fun night of solo acoustic material. Here are the photos that came out of that night and Ben Gibbard's setlist. I loved singing to every song with the audience and clapping our hands sore. What a night.

Setlist:

To Sing For You (Donovan cover)
Brand New Colony
Title and Registration
Crooked Teeth
You Remind Me Of Home
We Will Become Silouhettes
Why'd You Want To Live Here
Photobooth
I was A Kaleidescope
Soul Meets Body
Passenger Seat
??? (American Analog Set Cover)
405
A Lack Of Color
I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Encore
Harvest Moon (Neil Young Cover)
Blacking Out The Friction
All Apologies (Nirvana Cover)
The Sound Of Settling
Such Great Heights

For more photos from the show...

~anne

Bright Eyes @ UT Bass Concert Hall, Austin (05/13/07)

2007-05-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

Last night decked out in white attire, Conor Oberst and his troupe played at UT's Bass Concert Hall, even the piano was white! The setlist would satisfy any devoted Bright Eyes fan, including songs from his beautiful new album, Cassadaga and older albums such as Lifted, Fevers And Mirrors, Digital Ash In A Digital Urn and I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.

The acoustics of the Bass Concert Hall was amazing and the 11-member band filled up the grandiose venue wonderfully. This Spring tour has Conor gracing venues that are more use to the sound of chamber orchestras and music appealing to your mom and dad. Of course I would've preferred a more intimate and familiar venue, but this show opened my eyes or rather ears to how music can still be enjoyed while sitting. My friends and I were more on the edges of our seats, clapping our hands and cheering our throats sore anyways. I guess some things never change no matter how big or small a venue is.

The neat visual display was from a projector all done while the songs were played on stage. Interpreting the songs with various photos moved from one side to the other, colorful marbles blurred and focused again, colored water drops nudged and blotted on the screen and more. Conor kept saying your name and I can't remember it for the life of me, but you were wonderful.

It's so lovely that they're bringing a string section with them on this tour, since a lot of Cassadaga's beauty rests on the string players. (Oh Nate Walcott, you and your string arrangements, Cassadaga wouldn't be the same without your work!) For the violinist that gets to play solo on the stage though, you are amazing. I mean I thought "Four Winds" was absolutely terrific on the album, wait till you hear it live, my stomach literally dropped! They also played full band versions, on the songs from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. The only thing I could've requested was the presence of lovely Mister M. Ward and oh much closer seats! Well we did get a nice bird's eye view, since we were sitting from the first balcony.

When I saw Bright Eyes on their Digital Ash In A Digital Urn Tour at Stubb's(Austin), Conor was zipped up in a black hoodie and stayed mostly in one spot for the whole set. He seemed so comfortable on stage last night and would stage banter a bit and move from one side to the other. Again the setlist was wonderful generously dipping into four of his albums. I think the surprise of the night was "The Calendar Hung Itself", you could hear the sudden roar of the audience clapping and screaming when they recognized the song within the first few seconds. "False Advertisement" drew a similar extreme welcoming response. The night ended perfectly with a beautiful full band version of "Lua".

Setlist:

Clairaudients (Killed Or Be Killed)
Hot Knives
Middleman
First Day Of My Life
Four Winds
No One Would Riot For Less
False Advertising
The Calendar Hung Itself
Brakeman
Soul Singer In A Session Band
Lime Tree
I Believe In Symmetry
Gold Mine Gutted
Lua

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Lime Tree| Bright Eyes

Upcoming Tour Dates:

05-14 New Orleans, LA - Republic
05-16 Tampa, FL - Carol Morsani Hall at Tampa Bay PAC
05-17 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
05-18 Atlanta, GA - Fox Theatre
05-19 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
05-20 Columbus, OH, - Wexner Center
05-21 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
05-22 Toronto, ONT - Massey Hall
05-24 Boston, MA - WANG Center
05-25 New York, NY - Town Hall

Links:

>>> Bright Eyes' Official Site (with details on rest of tour)
<<< Cassadaga's Mini Site: two free downloads!
>>> Purchase Cassadaga

~anne

Upcoming Release: Elliott Smith's New Moon

2007-05-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's so good to hear your voice again, Elliott.
We miss you.

The double-disc album named New Moon will release this Tuesday and is a collection of the late Elliott Smith's songs from 1994~1997. That was during the time when he was still in Heatmiser, but started gaining more attention for his solo work, back when he was still signed on Kill Rock Stars. These recordings could have ended up in any of his three albums he released during this time period: Roman Candle, his self-titled album or Either/Or. Larry Crane, Elliott Smith's friend, editor of Tape-Op magazine and owner of Jackpot! Recording Studio became the official archivist of the many recordings Elliott Smith left behind and is the one to thank for giving the rest of the world such a beautiful collection.

Each disc has 12 songs and includes many of the songs that were leaked online a year ago, referred by many though incorrectly(considering the songs were recorded much earlier than From A Basement On The Hill) as Basement II. The songs on New Moon sound just like what Elliott Smith would have done in the studio, in line with his usual no fuss, lo-fi recording style. The songs were left mostly untouched except for some additional light EQ and compression. Here is a clip from a Glono interview with Larry Crane on the studio work:

"Most of the ones that were tracked on the 8-track 1/2" machine were pretty well done, the same as tracks from Elliott Smith or Either/Or. I was really just balancing the mix and adding very simple, light EQ or compression to some tracks. Nothing fancy or over-the-top."

The album is a digipak, with extensive liner notes that include details on where and when each song was recorded. Also in the album sleeve are filled with words depicting fond memories of Elliott and his music from Larry Crane, Sam Coomes, Christopher O'Riley and Sean Croghan. A portion of the proceeds will go towards Outside In, a social service organization based in Portland, OR that helps low-income adults and homeless youths.

Out of the 24 tracks on New Moon are two completely new, unreleased songs:, "All Cleaned Out" and "First Timer". Both songs and an early version of what would become "Miss Misery" were from the Jackpot! recording sessions in 1997. "All Cleaned Out" is a hard acoustic-driven song that is just heart-wrenching, I've rarely heard his voice so hardened, unlike his usual whispery style: "Here comes your pride and joy/the comic little drunk/you call your boy/making everybody smile/who takes your pretty plan/and then becomes a disappearing man/after a little while..."

The early version of "Miss Misery" has a set of different lyrics and "Go By" now has lyrics, whereas the leaked version was an instrumental version. The three songs "Angel In The Snow", "See You Later" and "Big Decision" have been officially released, but only on compilations. The Big Star/Alex Chilton cover of "Thirteen" is an earlier recording than the one on the Thumbsucker's soundtrack. It's hard to get through sometimes, his voice shakes and slides off tune on occasion and reminds me of the feeling that people tried to describe when they were at some of his live performances.

The song I keep going back to is "Pretty Mary K (Other Version)" on disc two, track nine. It is a totally different song than the one we know on Figure 8. No instrumentation is added here, except faint background drums and it has different lyrics and a different melody. It has a haunting melody, like how "Independence Day" and "Condor Ave." feels. There's also a different version of Heatmiser's "Half Right" on there without drums.

The only song that Larry Crane combined different takes was "New Disaster", including a vocal take from one reel and the instrumental take from a later reel with organ and drums that he thought was meant to be put together, but Elliott just never got around to it.

"Almost Over" is a brilliant example of his unique guitar work, just listen to it, it'll bowl you over! Throughout all the songs there are his classic double vocals and additional echoes. He's most known for intricate melodies and tricky chord progressions. New Moon is a great collection of songs meant to reveal and share more of Elliott's work in the 1994~1997 period, that could have very well been left buried and unheard, but thank goodness we have Larry Crane to dig through and preserve his tapes and cassettes.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with Elliott Smith's past work, here's an anniversary post from last year that touches on his discography and hopefully convinces you to get acquainted with the music by one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time.

{We usually put three or more songs for upcoming releases, but for this one only "High Times" will be featured as a download, since it's the only one that's been officially given to the public to preview the album. I'm sure other blogs will offer other songs off this album, but what I sure hope is that you'll buy this album, if you already have some of his albums or if you're completely new/have downloaded a handful of his songs, please read that post I recommended and start with Either/Or , sorry for such a long read.}

Tracklisting:

New Moon | Elliott Smith
(Kill Rock Stars/Domino)
05/08/07

Disc One

Angel In The Snow
Talking To Mary
High Times
New Monkey
Looking Over My Shoulder
Going Nowhere
Riot Coming
All Cleaned Out
First Timer
Go By
Miss Misery (Early Version)
Thirteen

Disc Two

Georgia, Georgia
Whatever (Folk Song In C)
Big Decision
Placeholder
New Disaster
Seen How Things Are Heard
Fear City
Either/Or
Pretty Mary K (Other Version)
Almost Over
See You Later
Half Right

In other related news:

The lovely music photographer, Autumn De Wilde, who took unforgettable images of Elliott and was one of Elliott's close friends is putting together a book titled Elliott Smith. It's full of her photographs of Elliott, handwritten lyrics, a 5-track live CD of his performance at LA's Largo and conversations with his close friends/musicians, including Joanna Bolme, Ben Gibbard, Chris Walla, Jon Brion, Rob Schnapf, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes and more.

A portion of the proceeds will go towards the Sims Foundation in Austin and Portland's Outside In. It is available for pre-order on Amazon for $19.77 and it's slated to release in October or November of this year. I really cannot wait for this one to come out and I know it'll be definitely something worth buying, right now there's only one biography of Elliott that I know of and that's Elliott Smith And the Big Nothing by Benjamin Nugent.

Also, there is another interesting project called 33 1/3, it's a book series attempting to cover important/seminal music albums and Elliott Smith's XO was selected and will be written by Matthew Lemay. It's due out sometime in spring of 2009, so sit tight. Here's an affiliated blog that has the other featuring records listed so far.

Stream + Download + Purchase:

High Times| Elliott Smith

Links:

<<< Pre-order New Moon
>>> Sweet Adeline: Official Elliott Smith Site
<<< Read John Mulvey's thoughts on New Moon
>>> GLONO Interview with Larry Crane
<<< Pre-order Autumn De Wilde's book Elliott Smith
>>> List of featured albums on the 33 1/3 project
<<< Sweet Addy Forum, Larry Crane answers questions

~anne

Voxtrot @ KTRU benefit, Houston (04/28/07)

2007-04-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

Last night, Voxtrot played a free show for the KTRU benefit at Houston's Rice Village Urban Outfitters. This is the second engagement of Free YR Radio's efforts to raise awareness and funds for noncommercial radio stations. The next benefit is for Seattle's KEXP with The Long Winters to play on May 1st. For more information on the next ten benefits, click here.

A line started growing outside Urban Outfitters an hour and a half prior to the 7:30 door time. I was impressed with how they had an actual stage for the band to play on, I originally thought it might just be in the center of the store and a free-for-all chaotic event. Though it's still a bit strange to be around clothes racks and dance to live music.

The set included a well-rounded range of new songs off their upcoming album and material from their old EPs. The setlist as best I remember included, "Raised By Wolves", "Kid Gloves", "Ghost", "Soft & Warm", "The Start Of Something", "Brother In Conflict", "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives" and "Your Biggest Fan". Their new album is self-titled and will drop in stores on May 22nd, you can pre-order it at Insound here(Type in voxtrot to get 15% off). Urban Outfitters was filled up all the way with listeners, in fact during the set there was this guy who was crowd-surfing to Voxtrot. It was absolutely a fun show, everyone was dancing, clapping and singing along to the songs. For more photos from the show go here. For Houstonians, Voxtrot is coming back on June 30th at an all ages show at The Proletariat with fellow Austin band Tacks, The Boy Disaster.

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Kid Gloves| Voxtrot

Links:

>>> Free YR Radio's Official Site
<<< KTRU's Official Site
>>> Voxtrot's Official Site
<<< Pre-order Voxtrot's debut album
>>> Purchase Voxtrot's EPs
<<< More photos from Voxtrot's set

Our Related Links:

>>> Anticipate: Free YR Radio
<<< Singled Out: Kid Gloves by Voxtrot
>>> Anticipate: Voxtrot's Upcoming Summer Tour

~anne

3 minute entry: Ola Podrida

2007-04-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

∞

{I've been down with a serious case of blogger's block(is that what we call it now?) so although, my mind can't find the right words to describe a band, my ears still work and this band is nothing short of perfection.}

Sometime back in December, Ola Podrida's forlorn piano keys collapsing on one another in "Pour Me Another" took my breath away. There was something arresting about David Wingo's voice, its huskiness and soft, whispery parts were unforgettable. Now there is something we can hold in our hands and spend an evening sitting beside the stereo. The Brooklyn band's debut album was released this Tuesday with a tracklisting of 11 folky-Americana songs.

The self-titled album is old-fashioned, it's made carefully with nimble, beautiful acoustic finger-picking creating a lush landscape, but don't let it fool you. Some songs will start out ever so quietly, but wind up slipping in a backdrop of guitar noise underneath trailing "ooooohs" like in "Cindy". With "Jordanna", it begs me to give in and drop Okkervil River as a reference, but the climactic parts of the song are more toned down than Will Sheff's idea of a good time.

It walks about your room with a helplessness that you can't help but stop whatever you're doing and listen as a concerned friend would, it's hard to ignore when someone is singing "Some folks just don't give a damn/whether they're coming or going/Hey man/take a stand/When you're up put yourself back in place" or "Here we go/I don't know/If there's any point to it all/but I sure love hearing your voice". "Instead" is likely to hush and silence the honking horns during morning commute and the only problem left would be making sure you don't fall asleep on the wheel. They re-recorded "Pour Me Another" with a fuller piano sound, but other than that everything else is still left unchanged.

Right now, it seems there are only two dates up and both are in Brooklyn, but if there is good in this world, there will be more dates. To sample the album, Vice is offering five full-length tracks available for streaming.

Tracklisting:

Ola Podrida (self-titled)
(Plug Research Records)

The New Science
Jordanna
Instead
Cindy
Photo Booth
Run Off The Road
Day At The Beach
Lost And Found
A Clouded View
Pour Me Another
Eastbound

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Jordanna| Ola Podrida

Instead| Ola Podrida

Links:

>>> Ola Podrida's Official MySpace
<<< Purchase self-titled album
>>> Stream five full-length tracks from Vice

~anne

Charlotte Gainsbourg finally arrives in the U.S

2007-04-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

So yesterday, Charlotte Gainsbourg's album 5:55 finally got released here in the U.S. I reviewed her album last October when it came out through the French label, Because Music, I obviously had to spend lots of money because it was an Import and silly shipping and handling. So after I got it, I quickly decided that it was a good financial decision. I mean I would've had to wait for it to come out here in the U.S five months after if I didn't buy the import.

Anyhoo, I'm not going to tell you how good the album is and how lovely Charlotte Gainsbourg's voice sounds, because you can read all that here, the review I wrote five months ago. I'm just here to let you guys know that you can finally purchase the album without those added Import fees, it's available through Vice Records.

Read my review if you haven't, then check out the songs below, if you like what you hear, buy it!

Oh there's a video too for the song "The Songs That We Sing", it's a simple video, but it has the beautiful Charlotte Gainsbourg in it, so you can't really beat that.

5 55 | Charlotte Gainsbourg

The Songs That We Sing | Charlotte Gainsbourg

Links:
>>>Official Website
<<< Because Music
>>> Vice Records
<<< Buy the C.D
>>>Watch the Video

-Charlie

How do you view the world?

2007-04-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

It's getting close to almost a year since Anne and I started this music and photography blog. Our intent was to fuse the music we love along with another shared interest, photography. Along with our music posts, Camera Crowd also has its own photoblog. For over the past eight months or so, we were lucky enough to see amazing photos from photographers all over the world including Paris, New South Wales and more!

We invite three photographers every three months to be guest photobloggers on Team Camera Crowd, and it's now the time to thank and wish our Camera Crowd's second group of guest photographers good luck in their future endeavors. We loved the beautiful works you've showcased, thank you Jane from New York, New York, Glen from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Veronique from New South Wales, Australia.

So here we go, there are no qualifications or long-term photography experience needed, we're looking for unique photographers who share our love for photography and can show how they view the world.

How to apply:

1. You have to create your own flickr account, if you don't have one already, don't worry flickr is free and it's easy to create one.

2. After that upload all the photos onto flickr as your portfolio to show us.

3. Lastly, there is a Q&A to fill out and email that word document to us with the subject line as, "Camera crowd application".

Links:

>>> Camera Crowd's Photoblog
<<< Create a Flickr
>>> Download the Q&A
<<< Email your application to us!

Deadline: May 19th

While you're creating a flickr and filling out the Q&A go ahead and listen to this mini mix:

I Love L.A. (Live) | Rilo Kiley

You Remind of Home (Live) | Ben Gibbard

Alone in Kyoto | Air

Love, Team Camera Crowd
(Anne & Charlie)

3 minute entry: Fanfarlo

2007-04-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Fanfarlo.

Hmm, doesn't ring a bell right? Yeah they're still pretty small. But try googling them and you might come across search notes such as "David Bowie." Yeah if you go on, you'll find out that the famous David Bowie, likes Fanfarlo.

"I've heard four or five of Fanfarlo's songs now, and, like a few of my other favourites, they have that particular knack of being able to create uplifting music that's blessed with a delicious melancholia at the same time. [...] I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more of Fanfarlo. "

- David Bowie

I damn well agree with Mr. Bowie on how uplifting Fanfarlo's music is. They only have several singles out as of now, but it's enough to keep you on your toes. Fanfarlo mentioned in an interview on Playlouder that they wanna create an upbeat sound that you would get if you combine Sufjan Stevens and The Arcade Fire. So you have 6 band members from London, add a violin and a trumpet with that, the upbeat sound of Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, and finally a recommendation from David Bowie. What do you think you'll get? Gah!! Just go and listen to the song below!! Then head on to their myspace and listen to more songs!! Please!!

The single, You Are One of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us is now available, along with the song In the Trunk. You can purchase that over here.

You Are One of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us | Fanfarlo

Here's a cute stop motion video of the song above. Enjoy!

Links:
>>> Official Site
<<< Myspace

-Charlie

Anticipate: Free YR Radio and yes that is how it's spelled

2007-04-10T19:25:00.000-07:00

*latest update on (04/15/07)*

Yaris and Urban Outfitters have teamed up again to present another neat idea under Free YR Radio and all for the good cause of spreading awareness and helping out noncommercial/college radio stations. This time it'll not only be in one city, but 12! With an ear-popping band lineup...if I may, drumroll please...Klaxons, The Ponys, Voxtrot, The Long Winters, Annuals, The Rapture, Rogue Wave, Tapes 'N Tapes, Dinosaur Jr. and a few TBAs. If you went to South By Southwest last month, you may remember Free YR Radio's spectacular launch party featuring The Rapture, The Pipettes and a set by DJ Dave P and now it's only five days away from this brilliant idea to unravel.

{Click above on the poster to save yourself from squinting.}

Your local Urban Outfitters stores will serve as the venue for these FREE in-store events and Yaris will roll out 12 band customized cars to give to radio stations who will choose how they will give it away (ie: auctioning it off). The only exception is the first one off the calendar, in which the Klaxons will be part of WLUW's fifth annual Record's Fair. As the tour gets going, you'll be able to create and embed music videos using footage from the events. Looking ahead, Free YR Radio will mix up a CD that will released and sold exclusively through the Urban Outfitters stores for this upcoming fall season and all the proceeds will be divided evenly among their partner radio stations.

Last but not least, here's this wonderful Beatles cover from Rogue Wave, which we were introduced by the lovely I Guess I'm Floating back in February.

***The Houston show location has changed to the Urban Outfitters in the Rice Village shopping center [ 2501 University Blvd. Houston, TX, 77005 ] instead of the Urban Outfitters in the Galleria.

Download + Link-ed:

All You Need Is Love (The Beatles Cover) | Rogue Wave

Tour dates:

04 -15 Chicago, IL - Klaxons (WLUW @ Record's Fair)
04-24 Lawrence, KS - The Ponys (KJHK)
04-28 Houston, TX - Voxtrot (KTRU)
05-01 Seattle, WA - The Long Winters (KEXP)
05-09 Durham, NC - Annuals (WKNC)
05-21 Philadelphia, PA - The Rapture (Y-Rock on XPN)
05-25 Santa Cruz, CA - Rogue Wave (KZSC)
06-05 Minneapolis, MN - Tapes 'N Tapes (The Current)
06-11 Cambridge, MA - Dinosaur Jr. (WERS)
TBA Boulder, CO - TBA (KGNU)
TBA Westlake, OH- TBA (WBWC)

Links:

>>> Free YR Radio's Official Site
<<< Full-Size Tour Poster
>>> About Free YR Radio
<<< Free YR Radio's MySpace

~anne

Anticipate: Peter and the Wolf's Spring tour

2007-04-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

Peter and the Wolf has now thinned out band members to a more tour-friendly number of three at least for now. The trio is already on the road for their Spring tour with a special tour CD called Fireflies chock full of ten new songs. How sweet life is, right? The CD is also available over the Internet for purchase in case Peter and the Wolf doesn't visit your town on this one. cough. Houston. cough. There is already one of the songs, "A Race Around The Earth" up on MySpace for streaming.

In case anyone did miss this wonderfully casual radio session by Detroit's Cloak & Dagger with Peter and the Wolf this past November, look below for the download link. My possibly favorite song by him is up for streaming and downloading below too. It's off his self-titled handmade CD that was self released, recorded with Dana Falconberry!

For all the tour dates click on the poster or visit his MySpace for the latest on tour info:

Fireflies tracklist:

1. Timeflies
2. Fireflies
3. A Race Around The Earth
4. Images
5. Balloon Voyage
6. Island Rose
7. Henry D.
8. Palace In The Sun
9. Spanish Absinthe
10. The Wind

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Red Sun| Peter and the Wolf {from self-titled}

11.09.06 Cloak & Dagger Radio Session | Peter and the Wolf

Links:

>>> Peter and the Wolf's MySpace
<<< Purchase special tour CD Fireflies
>>> Purchase other PatW CDs

Our related Links:

>>> SXSW: Day One | 03/14
<<< Two fave Austin bands on the move
<<< A few weeks ago...
<<< Flickr-ed

~ anne

Upcoming release: Night of The Furies | The Rosebuds

2007-04-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Duo acts are intriguing, there's only two individuals singing and playing instruments, yet they manage to make catchy sounds that put 5 piece bands to shame. Take for instance a couple of duo acts we've featured here in the Camera Crowd; the instrumentally good duo of We Will Build, and one of my favourites, Habitat from Guelph, Ontario. Another duo I'm adding on to the list is the duo act of Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, also known as The Rosebuds.

Hailing from Raleigh, North Carolina, The Rosebuds have released two full lengths and a couple of EP's and singles since then. I discovered them recently after getting a taste of "Get Up Get Out", a track from their newest album, Night of the Furies which is due out this coming Tuesday. The song just stayed in my head for days and I couldn't get enough of it. Finding out that The Rosebuds are a duo, (for tours, they have Giorgio Angelini and Matt McCaughan with them) I got even more excited about this newly discovered band, so I decided to dig deeper.

I haven't had the chance to listen to The Rosebuds' old stuff so I didn't know what to expect from Night of the Furies. So I spent some quality time with it on Rhapsody because it was available for stream, (sorry folks its not there anymore) and wondered if there are any more tracks in the album just as fun and energetic as Get up Get Out. And after a couple of listens, I couldn't find any other tracks just like Get up Get Out. What I got was eight other tracks that reminded me of one of my favourite bands Jesus and Mary Chain, hints of The Cure and an injection of today's indie pop sounds. Several tracks including "Get Up Get Out" quickly stood out. Such as "I Better Run" where we get to hear Kelly Crisp's soft and seductive voice. Another track that can easily make it to the dance floor is "Hold on To This Coat", not as energetic as "Get Up Get Out" though. And "Silja Line", a song that starts out slow and raw with Ivan Howard's voice then gets really powerful and almost Arcade Fire-like towards the end.

Night of the Furies comes out this Tuesday, so stop by your local record store or on Insound.com and get this lovely self produced pop album. The Rosebuds have a U.S summer tour starting mid May, so make sure to check their myspace page for the dates.

Tracklisting:

1. My Punishment for Fighting
2.Cemetery Lawns
3. I Better Run
4. Get Up Get Out
5. Silence By the Lakeside
6. Hold On To This Coat
7. Silja Line
8. When The Lights Went Dim
9. Night Of The Furies

Get Up Get Out | The Rosebuds

I Better Run | The Rosebuds

Links:
>>> Official Site
<<< Myspace ( for more songs and tour dates)
>>>Buy the CD

-Charlie

Anticipate: The Postmarks North American Tour

2007-04-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

The Postmarks will embark on a North American tour starting next week. Accompanying them along the tour are teen sensation Smoosh, Torquil Campbell's Memphis, and The Frequency. Camera Crowd hasn't introduced The Postmarks to you guys so I think now's a good time to do that. The trio of Tim Yehezkely, Chris Moll and John Wilkins make up The Postmarks. Hailing from the coast of Florida, this trio creates soft pop very reminiscent of Camera Obscura and sprinkles of Rilo Kiley's debut album, Takeoffs and Landings.

The band recently released their self titled debut album which includes the ever popular and catchy song "Goodbye". They also have a "remixes" EP out which features 6 different version of "Goodbye" and 3 versions of the song "You Drift Away".

Here is an e-card that lets you stream the entire album. So get into that, then hopefully catch them on tour this spring.

North American Tour Dates:

Apr 12 2007 @ The Drunken Unicorn w/ The Preakness, Atlanta
Apr 14 2007 @ World Cafe Live w/ SMOOSH, Philadelphia
Apr 15 2007 @ Black Cat Backstage w/ SMOOSH, Washington DC
Apr 16 2007 @ The Knitting Factory w/ SMOOSH, New York
Apr 17 2007 @ Middle East Restaurant w/ SMOOSH and HARRY AND THE POTTERS, Cambridge, MA
Apr 18 2007 @ Pearl Street w/ SMOOSH, Northampton, MA
Apr 19 2007 @ Union Hall, Brooklyn
Apr 20 2007 @ Petit Capus, Montreal
Apr 21 2007 @ Amp’d Mobile Studio, Toronto
Apr 22 2007 @ Magic Stick, Detroit
Apr 24 2007 @ Bluebird Nightclub, Bloomington, IN
Apr 25 2007 @ Schubas Tavern, Chicago
Apr 26 2007 @ TBA, Minneapolis
Apr 29 2007 @ Chop Suey w/ MEMPHIS, Seattle
Apr 30 2007 @ Doug Fir Lounge w/ MEMPHIS, Portland, OR
May 2 2007 @ Cafe Du Nord w/ MEMPHIS, San Francisco
May 3 2007 @ Troubadour w/ MEMPHIS, West Hollywood
May 5 2007 @ Belly Up Aspen, Aspen, CO
May 6 2007 @ Larimer Lounge, Denver
May 9 2007 @ The Door w/ THE HERO FACTOR, Dallas
May 10 2007 @ Stubb’s Bar-B-Q w/ THE HERO FACTOR, Austin

Goodbye | The Postmarks

Links:
>>The Postmarks Myspace
>>The official site
>>E-Card

Other notable links:
>>Smoosh
>>Memphis
>> Memphis : Camera Crowd Upcoming Release
>>The Frequency

-Charlie

Camera Crowd's Spring Blooms Mix!

2007-03-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

So long old man winter! Those long and cold days are gone and won't return for another nine months. Let's welcome the familiar sights and sounds of our beloved Spring. You know what I'm talking about, the birds and the bees, (not referring to the awkward talk with your parents) the beautiful cherry and plum blossoms blooming, bears finally leaving their caves, and the inevitable allergy symptoms.

Yeah! It's time to get out of the house and seize the day, well I don't know about the East Coast and the Midwest, looks like you guys still need several layers of clothing. Lucky for us Californians and Texans we've been blessed with close to t-shirt weather. Don't worry Spring will soon come your way.

For those of you who have been having sunny days and clear skies, go out and take advantage of it! We've compiled ten songs which hopefully will convince you to head out the door and enjoy the pretty weather.

So here's how it should work:

1. Take the songs with you! (Oh, don't forget your camera!)
2. Grab a couple of friends
3. Head to the park
4. Have a small picnic and enjoy the sun!!

{You can hear the playlist by using the music player here and then download the songs you like below! Save time by multi-tasking: check your email, facebook, myspace while listening...}

{Click on the song title to download, we use yousendits so right-click and open it in another window. We will not re-link these so all the songs on here will only be available for 7 days. You can still stream it on the music player though for as long and as much as you want. Click on the artist/band name for more info!}

Tracklisting:

*anne's picks
#charlie's picks

Love Team Camera Crowd,
(Anne and Charlie)

Singled out: Kid Gloves by Voxtrot

2007-03-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

∞

{Here is a new addition to the different types of regular posts we write here. You could say this song inspired this new type of regular post, to be honest we just really wanted to post about this song and then it seemed like a good idea to make it into something bigger than just a one-time post. There were a lot of songs that could've started this, "Heretics" by Andrew Bird, Arcade Fire's "Intervention", but it seems Voxtrot's a stronger incentive. Maybe we're trying to right some wrongs, but in the end it was this song that made this post happen.

Anyways, not all the songs we'll feature will be technical "singles" the name was just too good to pass up. But the mp3s of the songs featured have to be offered to the public from either the band's own site, MySpace, record label and/or their promotional company websites. These are the kind of songs that everyone will know the words to at a show and we hope you will learn them too.}

This is the first song offered by Voxtrot to preview their self-titled debut album slated for May 22nd. This isn't going to be the first single though, that's "Blood Red Blood", which will be available on May 14th on a download and a limited edition 7" for UK featuring the single with a b-side called "New Love & Loan Shark". Anyways, there are a lot of mixed feelings on "Kid Gloves" and here is our take on it...WE LOVE IT.

It starts out with a swift stroke of guitar and a dark atmosphere is unveiled by the hard as nails drumming, ominous background vocals "uh-uh" and a skittish xylophone that you'll hear repeated throughout parts of the song. Ramesh Srivistava's voice rings out and there's a sense of urgency with the stressed words and sharp intakes of breath; it comes off more like what Voxtrot sounds like live. When Ramesh is singing the instruments seem to distance themselves from the vocals. Instead of crowding up the song, there are long notes held down on the keyboard and occasional shimmering crashes of cymbals.

There are quite a few places where the song builds up, that job falls to the keys and the drums, both working together sharing the same rhythm. The "uh-uh"s come back with a cleaner layer with faraway drums and a soft quilt of guitar and bass-work. Then the fuller noise returns increasingly building up to a potential climax. There's a neat guitar solo fuzzing out paired with faint background "woooos". Just when you think the song ends, they build up one last time and by now Ramesh's voice can almost be considered a growl having increased with emotion as the song moved on.

For people who have been familiar with Voxtrot's previous material, this is drastically different. I think the closest song we can connect this to is "Missing Pieces" off of their first EP Raised By Wolves. From this song we feel they're moving away from The Smiths and definitely their Belle & Sebastian references now, but we'll see on the album in May. "Kid Gloves" has the bark and the bite, actually there is more of everything really. More instruments and much more going on in the song compared to their past songs. "Kid Gloves" will probably need to be allotted some time for it to grow on listeners, which may come across as alien for Voxtrot fans so use to falling immediately headoverheels. So fans suck it in and grow up, they did.

Stream + Download + More:

Kid Gloves| Voxtrot

Links:

>>> Voxtrot's Official Site
<<< Voxtrot's MySpace
>>> Purchase Voxtrot's EPs & other merch
<<< Read our post on Voxtrot's summer tour

~anne

SXSW 2007 through the lens

2007-03-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

Shooting Southby was no easy task and lugging around a big bag full of camera equipment was not my kind of fun, but now looking back at these photos I'd say it was worth the work and effort. The group of photos below are just some from the pool of SXSW photos I selected, you can view all 17 photographs in a slideshow. I also have some advice below on how to shoot live music if you're interested. Hope you enjoy these!

View the selected SXSW photos as a slidehow here.
Veiw all the SXSW photographs here.

A few tips on shooting live music...

When shooting shows try not to use flash, I know it'll be harder for people who have the smaller digital cameras, unless you brought along your external flash. Try shooting on the manual mode and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. Another neat effect is using someone else's flash, this is easy since most people out there will use flash no matter what and the different angle of light and distance will make your photo less washed out and more interesting.

If you're at a venue who just loves dim lighting, try putting your flash on rear curtain sync. This means you'll freeze your subject, but also have a neat motion blur too. Remember to hold the button focusing and pan your camera when you're using this so you'll get those cool extra trail of lights.

Wait for the right moment. There is no need to take 20 photos of your subject in the same strumming guitar pose, knowing their songs is a plus and if you've seen them live before use it to your advantage. You know when the climatic moments are and you'll know when to shoot the photo. Remember to put your camera on continuous mode, where you can just focus then hold the button down to take multiple photos per second. This increases your chances of getting a photo where your subject's in focus and not blurry.

Also when shooting live music don't forget that there are people who are trying to watch a show around you, there is no need to elbow people out of the way to get that perfect shot. If you're going to go in front of someone shorter than you, tell them first that you just want to take photos for a few minutes, then kneel on the ground to get that shot without ruining someone else's experience, don't forget your "please, thank you and excuse me"s. Try and be subtle in your movements and don't get too consumed by your camera, you shouldn't forget to enjoy the music too!!!

~anne

SXSW: Day Four | 03/17

2007-03-18T19:03:00.000-07:00

The Polyphonic Spree + Rosie Thomas

So day four was a bit of a downer, one of the main flaws in my schedule was simply the fact I wanted to go to too many events and didn't trim it down so I can actually walk like a normal person to a venue and not step inside a venue halfway through someone's set. That and we barely caught the last song of Peter and the Wolf's set at Okay Mountain Gallery, essentially missing him completely. So next year I'll have to stop being this greedy!

Alright, The Polyphonic Spree! What a band! What a set! What the heck was I doing all this time without a single Spree song in my life? There were 17 some members all dressed in black uniform with bright red crosses decorating the pockets, cut out fabric hearts hanging on the right, every one of them just pouring in all their energy into the set, well with a frontman like Tim DeLaughter who can stay still?!

I didn't know a lot of their songs, except embarrassingly "Light & Day/Reach For the Sun", but they got me convinced and probably everyone else to just go sprint to Waterloo Records for anything that had their name on it. It could be the six member chorus's dance moves, the neat lit up drums, that amazing piano solo/improv from Evan Jacobs, the three multi-instrumentalists, the crazy violinist to the very left standing/swaying on an amp, Tim Delaughter clinging onto the bottom edge of the stage's roof, pointing to the sky as if poking the sun...no it's all of this and more!

This makes me so excited for their third full-length, The Fragile Army coming out in early June under their new record label TVT Records. That and if you haven't yet gotten it, they released an EP in January called WAIT full with three neat covers, one including a cover well of DeLaughter's old band, Tripping Daisy and two fresh Spree songs all this produced by no other than Jon Brion! Hear some songs from The Fragile Army on their MySpace!

If anyone was there too, wasn't it strangely cool that whenever Tim Delaughter was singing/shouting and thrusting his head up to the sky, "hail to the sky, it's time to watch a show, the trees wanna grow, grow, grow, grow...!!!" that the clouds kind of parted and the sun started to shine in on him?

If you live in Colorado go make a trip to see them, because they're playing in Boulder and Denver, this Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. They're also going to be playing in their hometown Dallas on Saturday the 24th!

Download + Purchase:

Sonic Bloom (Tripping Daisy Cover) | The Polyphonic Spree

Links:

>>> The Polyphonic Spree's Official Site
<<< The Polyphonic Spree's MySpace
>>> The Polyphonic Spree's Blog
<<< Purchase WAIT EP
>>> Purchase any Spree album
<<< More photos of The Polyphonic Spree's set

Austin has the nicest people, I swear we probably asked a half dozen people for directions and they were just incredibly nice. Sometimes we didn't even have to open our mouths, I guess we just looked confused and were squinting at street signs, but nevertheless Austin itself is a great city to be in. Great food and a lot of neat one-of-a-kind shops, especially if you just walk down South Congress. That's pretty much what we did after watching the Spree.

We then lost track of time and made it to Waterloo Records midway through Rosie Thomas's set She played mostly off of her new album, These Friends of Mine, which she recorded in a simple set up in an apartment in Brooklyn with Sufjan Stevens and Denison Witmer. With the signature banjo of Stevens' and the backing vocals and guitar of Witmer both did justice to Thomas's beautiful voice. She closed with "Why Waste More Time?" and signed CDs and met with fans after. She has a short tour in April scheduled to hit both coasts, to check if you're in one of the lucky cities go here.

Download + Purchase:

If This City Never Sleeps | Rosie Thomas

Links:

>>> Rosie Thomas Official Site
<<< Rosie Thomas MySpace
>>> Purchase These Friends of Mine
<<< More info on her April tour

All in all there is my first South by experience as best as I can report on. A few lessons learned, a lot of good memories made and tired beyond imagination, but definitely oh most definitely worth it.

So yes this experiment was a success, I saw about 18 bands in four days and only spent $20 for one, which was the Kork showcase mainly to see The Octopus Project and Voxtrot. $3 on bus transportation buying the 24 hour passes. Probably $50 or less on food and water and bought a couple CDs at Waterloo. The drive from Houston to Austin and back is sponsored by my dad, thank you, I owe you! The apartment aka place to sleep for three hours aka more importantly somewhere to shower is provided by my brother, thank you for going to UT. Going to possibly the best music "festival" on earth with a close friend, who would probably kill me if I put her photo on here...priceless.

I'll have a post tomorrow filled with what I think were the best photos that came out of Southby to make a nice, easy visual read for you and me.

~anne

SXSW: Day Three | 03/16

2007-03-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

Evan Jacobs (Tacks, The Boy Disaster) + Okkervil River + Beirut

Finally back in Houston and currently uploading all the photos on my flickr, will give you the links when they're done. I will get around to that day four post soon enough. Alright.

Been discovering Austin's hidden gems: their coffeeshops and restaurants are one-of-a-kind. Eating brunch this morning at the South Congress Cafe was so nice and a good start of a rather long day. We managed to find the way to Progress Coffee in time for their Solo Sets: Lead Singers taking a break from the stage, to start.

Evan Jacobs is part of the four piece Austin band, Tacks, The Boy Disaster and flushed out "Paris", "Forget-Me-Not", "Queen Of The Fishermen" and a couple others on the guitar and on the keyboard. You may recognize him for he is also the keyboardist of The Polyphonic Spree! It's always interesting see how an artist interprets a song you've known for awhile with only one instrument. The bill was filled with other worthy Austin musicians all in the Tonewheel Collective group though we had to early to catch the KEXP's event. Catch Tacks, The Boy Disaster playing at The Octane [ 201 2nd St. ] at 9PM tonight.

Download + Purchase:

Matilda | Tacks, The Boy Disaster

Links:

>>> Tacks, The Boy Disaster's Official Site
<<< Tacks, The Boy Disaster's MySpace
>>> Tacks, The Boy Disaster's Blog
<<< Purchase Oh, Beatrice EP

Okkervil River was on Chicago radio station KEXP's Southby event at the ACL studio that is located in UT's Communications building. You can download their live recorded performance in its entirety for free here! The dark narratives of "For Real", "The President Is Dead" and "Westfall" were included in their setlist, along with a couple new songs off their new album now due out tentatively in August. Will Sheff's always full of energy, jumping at the climactic times and going around the stage when he could get away from the mic.

Download + Purchase:

Westfall | Okkervil River

Links:

>>> Okkervil River's Official Site
<<< Okkervil River's MySpace
>>> Purchase Black Sheep Boy + other albums
<<< More photos of Okkervil River's set

Another band played at KEXP's Southby event, who filled up the 300 seating venue till it overflowed with people standing inches from the stage area...you would be right if you guessed Beirut. Nothing draws a bigger crowd than the leader of it all, Zach Condon along with his troupe of multi-instrumentalists. There were so many instruments, I want to say 30 some odds and ends laid out beside the mic stands and their feet ready to be picked up and played on one song or another. Beirut remained humble and thankful to the crowd that filled the studio seats, floor area and anywhere there was a place for a pair of feet to tip-toe.

The set included "After The Curtain", "The Gulag Orkestar", "Elephant Gun", "Scenic World", "Carousel", "Postcards From Italy" and many more rounding it to a 50 some minute set, you can also download the entire performance for free here. There's one part I'm not sure if they'll cut it out, but Zach Condon kept emptying his spit valve from his trumpet in between songs and there's a long pause of silence and scattered giggling. Then he says something along the lines of, "for people who are listening, that was me emptying my spit valve for 2 minutes,".

It's really strange and also understandable how alluring their music is yet it is totally different from the majority of bands today. I stood next to a few people who didn't look like they were in middle school and yet they knew a lot of the words to Beirut's' songs and I thought I was young! Of course, there it is, the proof that no one can turn away from Beirut.

Download + Purchase:

Elephant Gun | Beirut

Links:

>>> Beirut's Official Site
<<< Beirut's MySpace
>>> Purchase Gulag Orkestra
<<< Purchase Lon Gisland EP
>>> More photos of Beirut's set

~anne

SXSW: Day Two | 03/15

2007-03-16T01:55:00.000-07:00

St. Vincent + The Octopus Project + Voxtrot

Wow, just came back from the Kork showcase mainly cheering on The Octopus Project and Voxtrot! It's three minutes away from 4AM, so I'll try and make this as short as I can. For anyone who might have gone to the Tonewheel Collective's show at Progress Coffee today from reading the post from yesterday night, I'm really sorry and I'm doing the best I can to double-check everything. Thank you so much for reading...okay here we go.

First off, not only were we turned away at shows/parties that did not mention it was RSVP or 21+ on their websites, we spent almost the entire half day going back and forth causing us to miss a key artist, Andrew Bird. But enough complaining, just make sure and double-check if the event needs RSVP or if it's invite only or it's 21+.

We ate breakfast at a neat place on W. 4th Street called Halcyon, the blue sign has a drawing of a couch! It has really nice seating, couches, sofas everywhere, but also big tables for larger groups and tables for two and higher level small round tables for people with laptops nursing a cup of coffee. The food and beverages aren't bad either and there is a wide variety, if you're a sweet tooth like me, their chocolate cake is heaven.

Anyways, we found ourselves at Jo's Coffee to see St. Vincent and also saw the band before them called The Missing Tapes. St. Vincent is from Dallas and is also one of the guitarists for The Polyphonic Spree, her solo stuff is definitely different from the Spree. Annie Clark has darker songs under her belt, just listen to "Paris Is Burning", "Your Lips Are Red" and "Bang Bang". She played a slew of new songs off her upcoming album releasing sometime in June, songs like "Bang Bang" and "Now Now" gives me shivers to think what the album will be like. She alternated between two mics, one regular and the other was this strange neat vintage sounding one. She stomps with one foot as makeshift drumming giving her set an attention-grabbing sound.

Now she'll be playing two events on Friday (today), first one is a 21+ event at Mohawk for the Hot Freaks!: Blogger Curated Music Experience hosted by some of the best music bloggers out there sharing a stage with Bishop Allen, Sea Wolf and many more! The second one is the Billions showcase at Antone's with My Brightest Diamond and more! After that she'll be getting ready for her wide-range April tour with John Vanderslice!

Download + Purchase:

Paris Is Burning | St. Vincent

Links:

>>> St. Vincent's Official Site
<<< St. Vincent's MySpace
>>> More info on Hot Freaks! show
<<< More info on Billions showcase
>>> Read more on St. Vincent with our three minute entry
<<< St. Vincent's blog
>>> See tour dates for her April tour with John Vanderslice!
>>> More photos of St. Vincent's set

We missed Andrew Bird's free show at Emo's by mere minutes! After going on a shopping spree at Waterloo Records to cheer us up, we speed walk-ed all the way back to Emo's to join a huge line for public tickets to the Kork showcase. Thankfully we got in and slowly made our way to the front of stage after each band finished their sets. The Octopus Project was incredible, the absolute genius of the band's use of keyboards, theremin, laptop, multiple keyboards, drum machines, samples, basic drums, guitar and bass shone like a beacon. They give electronic music a nice makeover glazing it with a bit of energetic rock vibes. They played a lot off their latest album, The House of Apples And Eyeballs and also of course the popular oldies "Music Is Happiness" and "The Adjustor".

Also they make their sets more unique by decorating the stage with cute ghosts made from white sheets over amps draped over Christmas lights and sometimes if you're lucky they'll have pinatas! Even if you don't know their songs, they are after all instrumental making the set more comfortable with strangers to The Octopus Project, all in all extremely fun and energetic!

They're playing at a 21+ venue called Elysium [ 705 Red River St. ] on Saturday the 17th with 65daysofstatic, Girl Talk and many more. For more info go here! After that they're traveling to Taiwan for the annual Spring Scream Festival! Also if you haven't gotten it yet grab the latest issue of the Austin Chronicle that has The Octopus Project on its cover, hint: it's purple.

Download + Purchase:

Lollipopsichord | The Octopus Project

Links:

>>> The Octopus Project's Official Site
<<< The Octopus Project's MySpace
>>> Purchase their new album, The House of Apples and Eyeballs!
<<< Info on their show at Elysium
>>> More photos of The Octopus Project's set

Sometime after 1AM, Voxtrot's set started and I think that the audience was amazing, it seemed like everyone was singing along to their songs and cheering like there was no tomorrow. They brought in the Tosca String Quartet, which is the same group that you've heard on the past EPs and will hear on the upcoming Voxtrot album due out on May 22nd. I really thought they were going to play "Sway", but nevertheless their set was amazing. I loved the new songs they played, "Kid Gloves", "Brother in Conflict", "Steven" and many more which I can't remember the names. Though I think "Steven" was written a long time before, maybe they touched it up a bit. I would do anything for them to include "This Is Not My Bloody War" on an EP or something tangible!

Anyways, they included old songs like "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives", "Soft and Warm" and "Raised By Wolves". I think one more, due to my carelessness of forgetting my journal on the Emo's stage which has a concrete, fuller setlists of the bands I've seen so far and just a lot of past journal type writings/sketches. I'm going to go back and see if they didn't trash it, just in case anyone picked it up please be kind enough to leave a comment so I can get my journal back.

Also, Voxtrot will be having a listening party of their new self-titled album at the backroom of The Whisky Bar [ 303 W. 5th St. ] from 5PM~6PM this Friday(today), yes it is 21+. The only other show they will be playing until their summer tour is going to be in Mexico City at Pasageuro celebrating Ibero 90.9FM anniversary show on March 22nd. For what info I can find on this party, please go here. The anniversary show for 90.9FM was canceled, sorry guys!

Download + Purchase:

Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives | Voxtrot

{ Tip: if you want to buy their latest EP, Your Biggest Fan from InSound, go ahead and get 15% off just by typing in voxtrotdiscount!!! }

Links:

>>> Voxtrot's Official Site
<<< Voxtrot's MySpace
>>> Purchase any/all of their 3 EPs
<<< Read about Voxtrot's upcoming summer tour
>>> More info on the Ibero 90.9FM anniversary party
<<< More photos of Voxtrot's set

I am so elated that I got to see Voxtrot and we caught the 2:10AM bus just barely! Okay I will have more photos hopefully uploaded by tomorrow morning before I leave for Day three of SXSW. It is time to catch some sleep.

~anne

SXSW: Day One | 03/14

2007-03-14T01:22:00.000-07:00

Sparrow House + Teitur + Peter and the Wolf + Midlake

Anne here in Austin for SXSW doing that little experiment called going wristband/badge-less. So we actually got to see everyone on our list except for Loney, Dear and Headlights and discovered a new love, Teitur. I will not complain about the short sets, since I didn't have to pay for anything today. Though it hints that you should arrive early to get a good spot to make those 17 minutes worth it. If someone on here perks your interest, we'll tell you if he/she/they are playing other SXSW events, public and the ones that require wristbands/badges.

First up, we saw Sparrow House at Mohawk for the Gothamist, Gorilla vs. Bear, and Austinist sponsored party. He played four songs two of them were new probably off his upcoming EP, Television Snow. In between the two new songs, he sneaked in crowd favorite "When I Am Gone" and also "You Sang Along". Seems like he's going to be sticking with the new lyrics for "When I Am Gone", differing from the original version on the Falls EP, which you can purchase here. Jared Van Fleet of Sparrow House will be at Progress Coffee on Friday set to play at 2PM, with fellow talented Austinites in the Tonewheel Collective group: Bill Baird of Sunset (SOUND Team), Evan Jacobs (Tacks, the Boy Disaster), Red Hunter (Peter & the Wolf) and many more! For more photos of Sparrow House's set go here.

Corrections:
***Sorry all the tonewheel collective show at progress coffee is actually on Friday, I really hope no one read this and went there today! I am so sorry!!! Thank you so much to whoever caught my mistake!***

Download + Purchase:

You Sang Along | Sparrow House

Links:
>>> Sparrow House's Official Site
<<< Sparrow House's MySpace
>>> Info on Progress Coffee show
<<< Buy Falls EP
>>> More photos of Sparrow House's set

Then Teitur came on, a one man band, who calls Denmark's Faroe Islands home and plays sweet narrative acoustic songs like "I Run The Carousel" and throws in a little nostalgia with a reminiscent song of his childhood friend, "Josephine". Teitur Lassen is a very energetic performer, leaning back and forth into the mic and strumming the guitar vigorously and not afraid to make a few political jokes at Texas Mayor Rick Perry or saying something along the lines of "Oh only seven minutes left, I guess I'll have to get into my romantic mood now..." His 2006 release, Stay Under The Stars is on sale if you catch him on Friday on the 18th floor at the Hilton Garden Inn sharing a stage with Dana Falconberry, Josh Pyke and many more.

Download + Purchase:

Don't Want You To Wake Up | Teitur

Links:

>>> Teitur's Official Site
<<< Teitur's MySpace
>>> Purchase Stay Under The Stars
<<< Info on the showcase at Hilton Garden Inn
>>> More photos of Teitur's set

Ah, Peter and the Wolf. Nine people were crowded onto the small inside stage at Mohawk, accompanying Red Hunter. I am so grateful I was one of the luckier ones up front, the place was filled to the brim! The set was crazy, of course in a good way, Red Hunter the leader of his junk orchestra pulled out two odd-looking instruments that looked impossible for anyone to play, but he is definitely a talented multi-instrumentalist, Sufjan move over.

He also relied on his duct-taped, now painted black guitar to ease out his music. The chorus of backing vocals of "ooohs" was so nice, almost like it sounds on the album, Lightness. The set included, "Strange Machines", "Safe Travels", "The Fall" and a few more, which I can't remember. He's so comfortable with the mic, just making strange noises and really enjoying playing his music. It's amazing how a 17 minute set can re-energize and mesmerize a crowd! Look below, he's playing a slew of shows, so that gives you Austinites and SXSW attendees no excuse to miss one!

Download + Purchase:

Safe Travels | Peter and the Wolf

Links:

>>> Peter and the Wolf's Official Site
<<< Peter and the Wolf's MySpace
>>> Purchase Lightness
<<< Info on Gorilla VS. Booze's show
>>> Info on Progress Coffee show
<<< Info on SXSW SESAC showcase
>>> Info on Asthamtic Kitty & friends show
<<< More photos of Peter and the Wolf's set

We basically waited about an hour and a half for two burgers at some place on Red River, which was absolutely frustrating and quite the challenge to run to Momo's for the NX35 Denton Music Party hoping that Midlake didn't start just yet. Thankfully we were safe and Momo's wasn't too far away, when we came in Robert Gomez was just finishing his last song when we got there. It's still so hard to grasp that I didn't have to pay for tickets to see anyone today! Sure Midlake took a long time to set up, but that didn't matter when they started playing.

They have a great stage presence, not so much crowd interaction, but just this really focused and passionate atmosphere appears when they're playing. Really humble guys too and all in all amazing performance getting the crowd all cheering and happy. They played the ever-loved "Roscoe", "Young Bride", closing with the amazing "Head Home" with Eric Pulido's surprise guitar improvisation at the end. They make me wish I lived in Denton and listen to "Roscoe" all day on repeat.

They'll be having another free all-ages show at Yard Dog Gallery joining Bishop Allen, Benjy Ferree and more for Schuba's 11th Annual Round-up!

Download + Purchase:

Young Bride | Midlake

Links:

>>> Midlake's Official Site
<<< Midlake's MySpace
<<< Buy The Trials of Van Occupanther
>>> Info on Yard Dog Gallery show
<<< Info on SXSW Bella Union showcase
>>> More photos of Midlake's set

~anne

SXSW: wristband&badgeless

2007-03-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

This is an unofficial guide to SXSW for people who don't have a wristband/badge. I'm going to be wristband/badgeless in Austin with a friend to join in on the fun that SXSW brings in. So I have no idea if I get to see even half of what is on my tentative schedule. This is my first year of SXSW and I just want to see what it's like and hopefully hear some good music.

Before reading this exciting yet crammed list, you must realize there is no reason why someone should stay at one party all day unless that is if you want to! For me other than the very first day, the other three days are full of events that will conflict each other. So this means a lot of walking/running/speed-walking...

I bolded the bands that I want to see at the event. I also put the better known songs by the band/artist up for download, they'll only be available for 7 days. Also a lot of bands/artists are playing multiple events, so sometimes that frees up your time and you can plug in another event with the extra space.

Also, if you have a gmail account there is a neat calendar feature they have! So when you see something you would like to attend go ahead and start adding events to your gmail calendar or just write this down the old fashioned way with a pen and paper. Hopefully I'll have enough energy/time to post everyday for these four exciting days! Let's see how this goes...

Click on the...
song name = download the song by yousendits
band/artist name = band's official site/MySpace
show poster = larger image
venue name = venue's site

Day One | 3/14

11~6pm | Austinist, Gothamist and Gorilla vs. Bear presents Gonna Gonna Get Get Down 2 @ The Mohawk | free!

[ 912 Red River St. ]

Architecture In Helsinki | Headlights | Nicole Atkins | Peter and the Wolf | Tom Brosseau | Apes & Androids | The Shivers | Hello Stranger | The Forms | Sparrow House | Teitur | Earl Greyhound | Lexie Mountain Boys | Stars Of Track And Field | Loney, Dear

12:00 - Bright Eyes Cassadaga Premiere & BBQ
1:00 - Grand Ole Party
1:45 - Great Northern
2:30 - Midnight Movies
3:15 - The Besnard Lakes
4:00 - Kenna
5:00 - Youth Group
6:00 - Badly Drawn Boy

1:00 - Li'l Cap'n Travid
2:00 - The Missing Tapes
3:00 - St. Vincent
4:00 - The Octopus Project
5:00 - The Glass Family
6:00 - Zookeeper
7:00 - Gulf Of Mexico
8:00 - SOUND Team
9:00 - David Garza

12:10 - The 1900s
12:55 - Elvis Perkins In Dearland
1:40 - Prototypes
2:25 - David Vandervelde & The Moonstation House Band
3:10 - Cold War Kids
4:00 - Midlake
4:50 - Bishop Allen
5:35 - Russian Circles
6:20 - Benjy Ferree

Roscoe | Midlake
The Monitor | Bishop Allen

12pm ~ 5pm | FactoryPeople + Anthem Magazine Party: DJ Sets By Rockstars @ FactoryPeople | Free

[1325 South Congress ]

more info on this event and Friday & Saturday's

12:00 - IHeartComix Bloody Mary Mix
1:00 - SOUND Team
2:00 - Surface To Air Installation(ongoing) w/DJ Gordon Hull
3:00 - Kudu
4:00 - Crystal Castles
5:00 - (Ramesh Srivastava) Voxtrot VS (James Minor) Blacklist
11:00 ~ 4AM - Anthem Magazine + FactoryPeople Private After-Party (21+)

Day Three | 3/16

1PM ~ 7PM | Tonewheel Collective Showcase: Solo Sets By Lead Singers On A Break From The Rock Stage @ Progress Coffee

[ 500 San Marcos ]

for more info on this event and many others

12:00 - Evan Jacobs (Tacks, The Boy Disaster)
1:00 - Martin Crane ( Brazos)
2:00 - Jared Van Fleet/Sparrow House (Voxtrot)
3:00 - Mark David Ashworth (INK)
4:00 - Bill Baird/Sunset (SOUND Team)
5:00 - Red Hunter (Peter and the Wolf)
6:00 - Michael Winningham (The Glass Family)

1PM~7PM | KXEP Live-On Air Performances @ KLRU Studio aka ACL Studio (on UT campus)

[ Guadalupe and 26th (Dean Keeton) Street ]

Not in Austin? Listen to this event while it's happening!

1:00 - The Stooges
3:00 - Okkervil River
5:00 - Under Byen
7:00 - Beirut

Postcards From Italy | Beirut
For Real | Okkervil River

Day Four | 3/17

12PM ~ 5PM | Filter Magazine's High Noon Party @ Cedar Street Courtyard | Wristband or limited guestlist: RSVP (rsvp@filtermmm.com)

[ 208 W. 4th Street]

for more info on Filter's Thursday&Friday setlists

12:00 - Doors open & BBQ
1:00 - Mohair
1:45 - Kate Havnevik
2:30 - The Pipettes
3:15 - Mando Diao
4:00 - Mew
5:00 - The Fratellis

Judy | The Pipettes

2PM~6PM | Waterloo Records In-Store @ Waterloo Records | Free

for more info on the other Waterloo in-stores taking place!
(Amy Winehouse who was playing at 3pm cancelled!)

2:00 - Money Mark
4:00 - Danava
5:00 - Rosie Thomas
6:00 - Young Knives

Pretty Dress | Rosie Thomas

12PM~5PM | British Underground & Mojo Magazine @ The Mean Eyed Cat

[ 1621 West 5th St. ]

for more info on British Music Industry's other events!

Gruff Rhys | iLiKeTRAins | Blanche | Bat For Lashes | Fionn Regan | The Explorers Club...and very special guests!

The Underwood Typewriter | Fionn Regan

All 3 days! | Flatstock 12 @ Austin Convention Center | Free

[ Trinity St. & 4th St. - Exhibit Hall #4 ]

This is such an exciting event, not only do you get to see all these amazing concert posters that featured shows you've attended, you also get to buy them. Flatstock is also going to have screenprinting booths in the streets to spread awareness of this underrated art form. You can snag free limited addition posters there and free snacks and water and Wi-Fi here! To the right is the winning poster of the student Flatstoc poster contest from Eric Drommerhausen from Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

for more info such as when it'll be available for viewing and which designers will be there!

Helpful Links:
Donewaiting | constantly updated with new public shows!
Showlist Austin | lists all the shows in Austin, also only public shows!
SXSW Baby! | useful blog with tips like on where to eat/shows & parties!
Oh My Rockness | organized list of public & wristband/badge shows!
See You In The Pit | lovely blog introducing all the SXSW bands/artists!
Flatstock 12! | don't forget to swing by and snag amazing posters!
Austinist's SXSW Interactive Guide | Austinist's list of picks, automatically add onto your gmail calendar and very useful and organized info!

~anne

Explosions in the Sky w/Eluvium @ Numbers, Houston, 03/07/07

2007-03-08T21:13:00.000-08:00

Last night was the Explosions in the Sky show with Eluvium opening and it was glorious. This was my third time seeing Explosions play and every time they put all of their energy into making the music come alive on stage, it is breath-taking. They're so focused on the music and don't break the atmosphere by talking onstage especially in between the songs. They keep strumming while playing with the pedals in between songs making a lovely connected set.

I underestimated people and thought I could get a good spot if I arrived at the venue an hour before doors opened, but when I got there, there had to be at least 100 people already lined up sitting, talking to each other from the door to the parking lot. As a photographer I was in a rough spot, there were three tall and I mean tall guys in front of me, but as a show goer, I enjoyed the show immensely. So all the photos I took have peoples' heads in them and blurry faces, I'm really really sorry, after all this is half a photography blog!

Which means if you're going to see them arrive maybe an hour and a half or two hours early if you can! Plus, I love getting there early so I can hear bands warm up from outside the venue, it's just a neat feeling for some reason, I heard "Welcome, Ghosts" while I was waiting outside of Numbers it was at that moment that it really sunk in that I was going to see Explosions in mere minutes!

Eluvium the opening band, which is also on Explosion's label Temporary Residence Ltd. will be touring with Explosions for the rest of the tour. I feel his set didn't settle too well with the audience. A lot of people acted as if it was background music talking on their cell phone, texting, playing solitaire on their PDA?!, talking to their friends really loudly...all while someone is onstage playing music for them, just makes me mad just thinking about it.

Matthew Cooper of Eluvium stayed on the right side of the stage and I think that threw people off since about 75% of the audience standing in the left and middle part couldn't see where the music was coming from. I picked up a copy of his new album Copia and it is amazing and beautiful music...if only the audience knew what they missed!

From the moment Explosions played their first notes to the end of the set the audience was in rapture. I'm not exactly sure of the setlist and order, but they did play "Catastrophe and the Cure", which is possibly my favorite song off their new album. They did have an electric Yamaha keyboard out for the songs with piano parts and also Munaf (guitarist) plays a single drum that's placed in the front of the stage; it was one of the coolest parts of the shows to see him drum so energetically. They also played of course "First Breath After Coma", "Yasmin The Light" and "The Only Moment We Were Alone". They probably played one or two more new songs off their new album, All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone, but I don't want to name any songs unless I'm sure.

In "The Only Moment We Were Alone" there was one part where the crowd started clapping along with the drums, I always loved things like that, crowd participation makes you realize that everyone around you in that very room has something in common with you, the love for the same band. I remember after "Yasmin The Light", someone said, "That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen," referring to a certain part in that song where Michael James (bassist) and Mark Smith (guitarist) just shred their instruments in sync as if there were no tomorrow. I have to give it to Numbers for their amazing lighting, beautiful, beautiful sound and air conditioning/fans to clear out the smoke! Thank you so much!

Explosions also have new merch on board for this tour including the most beautiful tee shirt designs you've ever seen. What's available are I think a total of five tee shirt designs all printed on American Apparel, all of their four albums, a tote bag and two LPs! Try and buy merch before the show so you can get the size that you want!

There isn't much to say except this: if you want a truly, good show please do yourself a favor and go see Explosions in the Sky. If you do, it will be the best show you'll see this year.

For tour dates and where to buy tickets, click here and check back often if your city/country isn't on there just yet! For more photos you can go here, but I have to say they are not my best.

Download {7 days} + Purchase:

{We use yousendits, which we usually replace with sendspace files that won't expire, but for the song we're uploading by Explosions In The Sky we will only have it available for the 7 days. Please buy the album, you'll only be giving yourself the best album of 2007 and that doesn't sound too bad right?}

Catastrophe and the Cure | Explosions In The Sky

Prelude For Time Feelers | Eluvium

Links:

>>> Explosions In The Sky's Official Site
<<< Tour dates and where to buy tickets
>>> Explosions In The Sky's Unofficial MySpace
>>> Purchase All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
>>> Eluvium's Official Site
<<< Eluvium's Unofficial MySpace
<<< Purchase Copia

~anne

The Barmitzvah Brothers

2007-03-05T14:07:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you put together musical instruments such as; a fiddle, trumpet, keyboard, banjo, wurlitzer, and hand them over to five friends from Guelph, Ontario? Why you get the "superhappyfunshine band" known as The Barmitzvah Brothers. No, they're not brothers, and as far as I know, not Jewish either.The band has been around since 2000 that included members Geordie Gordon, Jenny Mitchell, and John Merritt. They recently added two more members, Sylvie Smith, who's also in the duo Habitat, and Tristan O' Malley.

Ever since their formation in 2000, they've released four albums including "The Century of Invention" which came out last year. Also over the years, they've toured all over Canada with bands you're all familiar off such as The Arcade Fire, and Final Fantasy. I discovered The Barmitzvah Brothers through Habitat who's also from Guelph, Ontario. Their unique, energetic, and indescribable sound is what caught my attention and led me to buying "The Century of Invention" a couple of months ago.

The Century of Invention consists of 11 songs with a concoction of different sounds ranging from electro pop,
country-hoe down, folk, and a bunch of other things, like I said, indescribable. The first track on the album, Car #7 literally turns on the ignition to this energetic album with loud cheers that remind you of the old Arcade Fire. It's one of my favourite songs on the album and it always begs for a repeat. It's a roller coaster feeling of songs that follow after, to the finger snapping Hollow Time of Night and the calm sounds of what seems like a ukulele on Little Jack

Unfortunately, I haven't seen them live since im nowhere near Guelph, Ontario or any part of Canada. So if you decide to pick up their cd, you can do so on Permafrost Records or get it on Itunes.

Car #7 | The Barmitzvah Brothers

Hollow Time of Night | The Barmitzvah Brothers

Links:
>> Official Website
>> Myspace (Don't forget to check out "New Orleans" when you get there.)
>> Permafrost Records : Buy the album there
>> Sylvie Smith's other band : Habitat
>>Habitat's Myspace

-Charlie

St. Vincent signs with Beggar's Banquet

2007-02-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

One of Camera Crowd's favourites, Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent has signed with the record label Beggars Banquet (Voxtrot/The Mountain Goats/Devendra Banhart) And one more thing, are you ready for this? According to Gapers Block, we can expect a full-length from her this spring! Isn't that awesome? Anne and I absolutely love Annie Clark, you've probably read the 3 minute entry I wrote.

She just finished touring with Midlake two days ago, but if you're in the San Francisco area, she'll be playing a Noisepop event at The Fillmore four days from now. Sad to say I won't be attending because I don't have the money, but I will be at the French Kicks/ Magic Bullets Noisepop event this coming Thursday because Magic Bullets was nice enough to put me on their guestlist. So expect something from the Magic Bullets soon.

Other than the Noisepop show, you can catch St. Vincent at this year's SXSW on March 16 at the Billions showcase at Antone's. If you don't have a SXSW wristband or badge, don't fret, you can also swing by at the Hot Freaks! day show that is curated by none other than the best music tastes: Chromewaves, Gorilla vs. Bear, Largehearted Boy, My Old Kentucky Blog, Rock Insider and You Ain't No Picasso. Not only will you get to see St. Vincent, but also Bishop Allen, Sea Wolf and many more! For more information and schedule details on Hot Freaks! go here.

Paris is Burning | St. Vincent

For more on St. Vincent, check out the links below

>>>Gorilla vs. Bear Midlake, Tacks, St. Vincent review

>>>St. Vincent Website

>>>St. Vincent myspace

Other links

>>> Magic Bullets 3 minute entry

-Charlie

New Release: Explosions In The Sky returns with All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone

2007-02-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

We have waited two and a half years for another album to satisfy our hunger of new songs, new cover art, a new shiny jewel case, new sounds to sit by the speakers and today is that very day. Today is the day you are going to walk yourself to a record store and pick up All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone. It isn't only this particular album that will make anyone in the vicinity of the speakers immediately realize they have found true {music} love, but it is this particular band that will truly change your life.

No Natalie Portman you got it all wrong, the answer is not The Shins. It is Explosions in the Sky! Now this band is made up of only four people armed with only the basic two guitars, one bass, a set of drums, but they can create a cinematic-like sound that seems to fill up the Milky Way and beyond into the infinite, endless space.

Their music climbs, crashes, burns and then gets smothered quietly into soft strokes of lullabies...have you ever heard a guitar whisper? It is as if they reached out with gigantic hands and waved across the sky, blurring the blues, reds, yellows, whites of clouds, those gray days, those rainy days, those Sundays, the sunsets, the sunrises, the many lunar phases, all in all smudging reality, filling the empty spaces left with pieces of their own dreams. They show us what will be the loudest and the quietest moments of our lives. They re-create planet Earth for an hour or two. You'll find when listening to them, time will become irrelevant since they seem to have found the power to make the hands of a clock slow or speed up and in the most heart-wrenching moments...they'll make time stop.

So now that I have either embarrassed myself or enticed some sort of curiosity...let's talk about their new album.

All Of A Sudden I Will Miss Everyone has a theme of solitude and the songs represent that theme for the most part, what I mean is don't be surprised when the first few seconds of their album makes their grand entrance by a towering, looming distortion storm cloud. You can't recognize the quiet parts without knowing what loudness sounds like anyways. This is their fourth album and is the follow-up to their 2003 album, The Earth Is Not A Dead Cold Place. Their new album was produced by John Congleton (The Paper Chase). The album was written in their hometown, Austin and recorded in the summer wilderness of Minnesota last year. The beautiful artwork is done by Esteban Ray who is not a stranger to their music, he drew the artwork for their first and third album.

What makes this album different than their last three? The melodies are allowed more time to elaborate, uncovering new ways to manipulate the main melody. There is also a new instrument welcomed into the fold, a piano is used frequently throughout the album, but it's more prominent in "What Do You Go Home To?" and "So Long, Lonesome". They use the piano just as a good post-rock band should, playing the piano as a way to make a sound have a texture. The soft falling of the notes sound like raindrops drumming on the pavement or pitter-pattering against your bedroom window. That softer sound contrasts with the harsher instruments such as the crashing of the cymbals or Chris's flurried drumming. On "Catastrophe and the Cure" there is a 'chorus' or rather frequent melody in it, in which they synchronized the drumming with the ascending guitar notes and it's breathtaking, like watching a flower bloom or an airplane takeoff.

If you want more info about Explosions In The Sky's current tour read our Anticipate: Explosions in the Sky's gearing up for a long tour for new album post. There's also another post titled, Why You Should Listen To: Explosions In The Sky, which is like an introductory post to anyone new to Explosions In The Sky, it summarizes their last three albums, talks about the history of Explosions, a bit of information on their new album, it's basically me trying to again, explain their 'greatness'.

For anyone who is in Houston and subscribes to the Houston Chronicle, flip to today's Entertainment section, I wrote a short review of their new album on the Yo! page. The Yo! page is all written by teenagers and is in the Entertainment section every Tuesday.

I will also be attending their Houston show at Numbers on Wed. March 7th with Eluvium opening. So if you haven't bought your tickets, you should probably do that before they sell out!

***Someone tell Pitchfork they made another mistake by giving this album a mere 6.0 when it really deserves a 9.0+, preferably the big 10.0, but I'm not going to be that demanding. Really Pitchfork...a 6.0? Not exactly sure why Explosions would reinvent their sound when it works so well and anyways even that is your reason, they did change a few things with this album.***

Stream + Download + Purchase:

{Click on play button to stream, song title to download & band name to purchase}

Welcome, Ghosts| Explosions in the Sky

Links:

>>> Explosions in the Sky's Official Site
<<< Buy All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
>>> Full list of tour dates and links to buy tickets
<<< (great) Explosions in the Sky fansite (footage&audio of live shows, frequent updates)
>>> Interview w/Michael & Munaf on new album, 2004 tour by A Slice of The Shiny
<<< Eluvium's Official Site

~anne

Camera Crowd's V-Day mix!

2007-02-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

"Valentine's Day is a day invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap. "

And so we are told by the narrating thoughts of Jim Carrey's character Joel Barish in Eternal Sunshine of A Spotless Mind. Whether you are single or taken, have a problem with Valentine's Day or you don't have a problem with this holiday, take a second and let it go this year.

All that stress and anger can't be good, instead focus on the good things like, how tomorrow you can run to the grocery stores and buy Valentine chocolates for half the price! Also, Valentine's Day doesn't have to stop at couples, take this holiday as an excuse to show how much you care about the people around you. Small things like an emailing a friend you haven't talked to in awhile, holding the door for a stranger, calling your mom or dad or making a mix cd of your own and pass that around as Valentines...it's pretty eye-opening when you see how many people you know and love are around you.

Now that you're all inspired and eager to show how cheesy you are, be nice to yourself and listen to some good music. Oh yeah...Happy Valentine's Day!

{You can hear the playlist by using the music player here and then download the songs you like below! Save time by multi-tasking: check your email, facebook, myspace while listening...}

{Click on song title to download, we use yousendits so just open it in another window. Click on the artist/band name for more info!}

Tracklisting:

If You Rescue Me (Afterhours melody-Velvet Underground) | Gael Garcia Bernal & Co. *
Annie Waits | Ben Folds *
Cheated Hearts | Yeah Yeah Yeahs #
Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometimes | Beck #
Angel In The Snow | Elliott Smith *
Overs (live) | Simon & Garfunkel *
Mon Amie La Rose | Francoise Hardy #
Bulletproof | Rilo Kiley #
She Moves In Her Own Way | The Kooks *
Free | Cat Power #

* anne's picks
# charlie's picks

Bonus track!

Careless Whisper {live cover} | Ben Folds feat. Rufus Wainwright

Love, Team Camera Crowd
(Anne and Charlie)

SF Indie Film Festival

2007-02-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

If you're a Camera Crowd follower and have read my movie recommendations, you know very well I'm a big fan of foreign/independent movies. Good ones come out here and there, but the most unnoticed films where you have to dig really deep are the best ones. Well for two weeks in February, the San Francisco Indie Film Fest ival unleashes a line of fresh foreign and independent films for people like me to drool over. The films, long and short, can't get any more original and independent. Or can they....

This years lineup consists of over 90, (yeah 90!) full length and short films. Full and short length films ranging from animation to documentaries. And these films are spread out over 4 different venues over the Bay Area.

>>Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco
>>Roxie Cinemas, 3117 16th Street, San Francisco
>>Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th Street, San Francisco
>>Landmark’s California Theatre, 2113 Kitteridge Street, Berkeley

General tickets are 10 bucks a pop. But if you're hardcore fan and plan on seeing more than just one film, check out these discount passes.

>>The IndiePass = $195 >> (good for all films and parties) less than $5 per program and you get the front of the line.
>>5 Film Pass = $45
>>10 Film Pass =$80

As for my recommendations, with the help of a friend, I've narrowed it down to around 6 films. It'd be nice to check out all of them, but that's just impossible for me. I might've missed some good ones, so if you have any films in your To See List that I should check out, let me know.

Dante's Inferno

"a unique, subversive, darkly satirical update of the original 14th century literary classic. with paper puppets, "

Rock N Tokyo

"In today’s Tokyo you can find anything you can imagine—and at the same time get a new surprise on every corner. While most of Japanese society still preaches uniformity and order, there is an important underground world, where people lead a freer life. This is the Tokyo of “Rock N Tokyo."

LOL

"Alex, Tim, and Chris view the women in their lives through a computer screen or the lens of a camera-phone, struggling to balance their online fantasies and addictions with the demands of real life."

G.R.A.: Graffiti, Roman Art

"This energetic film documents a city-approved annual graffiti project in which hundreds of graffiti artists participate to make their mark on long stretches of designated walls."

Your Mommy Kills Animals

"A brilliant documentary shows how animal-rights activists may be killing free speech."

Mojave Phone Booth

"This is the story of four disparate people whose lives intersect at this mystical outpost. There is Beth (Annabeth Gish), a troubled woman facing dilemmas with her love life and a recurring, baffling crime; Mary, a young South African, who is contemplating selling her body for the funds to escape her dreadful existence; Alex, a woman who is losing her lover to the belief she is plagued by alien parasites; and Richard (Robert Romanus), driven to desperation, who happens upon the booth after his failed suicide attempt."

The film fest starts today and ends on the 20th, so if you live in the Bay Area or have enough money to fly to the Bay Area and want to see this films, get up and go!!!

More Info:

SF indiefest |everything you need to know is on the official website.

Tunes you can Listen to while checking out the flicks.

Double Feature | Camera Obscura

In The Cinema Alone | Memphis

postscript: Thanks to my friend Marina for helping me pick and shortening the list of flicks worth seeing.

-Charlie

Au Revoir Simone

2007-02-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

As Anne mentioned in the Voxtrot post below, Au Revoir Simone, an Indie/Pop trio from Brooklyn, NY will be touring with Voxtrot this summer. I've been meaning to write about this colourful trio since last summer when we started this blog but something always came up and they ended in the bottom pile of my posts. But I think now is the perfect time especially with a new album coming up and then a tour with Voxtrot.

Even if you haven't heard of Au Revoir Simone, after seeing one of their pictures you might assume, "beautiful and talented triplets". Hey that's what I thought! Sorry guys, these beautiful women aren't related at all. Actually the group consists of Erika Foster, Heather D'Angelo, and Annie Hart. The band started out with Erika Foster and Annie Hart meeting on a train ride home to New York City. On the ride home, they discovered that "they shared a common desire to form an all-keyboard band." And that's what happened, they started hanging out regularly to play music and along the way they picked up Heather D'Angelo and Sung Bin Park who left the band in early 2005. And the rest is history.

Their first album, which was considered a mini album, Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation came out in 2005, where electro/pop fans like me got a taste of what three beautiful and talented girls who can sing and play keyboard sound like. With Au Revoir Simone, you get that soft female vocalists sound you so want, and the finger tapping beat that you can't avoid. And you multiply this by three!! To me Au Revoir Simone is what forest fairies would sound like if you hand them a keyboard during spring time and let them reveal their magical side.

Their second album titled The Bird of Music gets released in the U.S through Moshi Moshi Records on May 1st. The U.K and Japan get much earlier release dates than we do. Although you can buy the entire album digitally starting February 19th. But where's the fun in that?

Even though you can't wait to get your hands on a copy of The Bird of Music after hearing two songs from it, I suggest getting their first album first. It's the developing side of Au Revoir Simone, how they sounded in the beginning. I can tell you now, after hearing a couple of songs from The Bird of Music, Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation is a bit calmer, kinda like an afternoon nap lullaby.

The Bird of Music
Moshi Moshi Records
5.1.07 (U.S)

Tracklist :

* The Lucky One
* Sad Song
* Fallen Snow
* I Couldn't Sleep
* A Violent Yet Flammable World
* Don't See The Sorrow
* Dark Halls
* Night Magestic
* Stars
* Lark
* The Way To There

Fallen Snow | Au Revoir Simone

Stars | Au Revoir Simone

Fallen Snow Video

Verses of Comfort, Assurance, And Salvation
10.31.05
Purchase C.D

Tracklist:

* Through The Backyards
* Hurricanes
* The Disco Song
* Where You Go
* Back In Time
* The Winter Song
* And Sleep Al Mar
* Stay Golden

Hurricanes | Au Revoir Simone

Links:
Au Revoir Simone Official Site
Au Revoir Simone Myspace
Moshi Moshi Records
Au Revoir Simone Flickr

Europe Tour Dates

February 13 2007 : The Fly, London, England
February 16 2007 : Debaser, Stockholm, Sweden
February 17 2007 : Storan, Gothenburg, Sweden
February 18 2007 : Blå, Oslo, Norway
February 19 2007 : Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
February 20 2007 : Haus, Hamburg, Germany.
February 21 2007 : Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland.
February 22 2007 : Botanique, Brussels, Belgium.
February 24 2007 : La Marchoquinerie, Paris, France
February 26 2007 : Hoxton Bar and Grill, London, England.
February 27 2007 : Nice and Sleazy, Glasgow, Scotland
February 28 2007 : Whelans, Dublin, Ireland
March 2 2007 : Studio 672, Cologne, Germany.
March 3 2007 : Bastard, Berlin, Germany.
March 4 2007 : Nato, Leipzig, Germany.
March 6 2007 : Atomic Cafe, Munich, Germany.
March 7 2007 : Casa 129, Milan, Italy.
March 9 2007 : Bad, Düdingen, Switzerland.

-Charlie

Anticipate: Explosions in the Sky gearing up for a long tour for new album

2007-02-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

We were promised a tour by Explosions in the Sky and since that early November news, it's now time for the tour to kick off! 2007 is sounding better everyday with new albums, upcoming tours and the crazy festival lineups we're seeing coming out. EITS will start their tour in Brooklyn on Feb. 19th at Warsaw and then jet to Europe for the rest of February and come back to the US for a nice, long tour.

They're actually going to revisit Europe two times during the tour to give fans a chance to see them if they missed them the first time around and if that's not forgiving enough, you get a third chance to see them at All Tomorrow's Parties VS. The Fans at Somerset with a nice lineup of Modest Mouse, The Books, Band of Horses, Do Make Say Think, Built to Spill, Grizzly Bear and more! For a full list of tour dates and links to buy tickets go here. For everyone in Japan, Taiwan and Australia, hold in those complaints:

We are also really excited that we will be playing the Coachella festival for the first time (in April), and All Tomorrow's Parties again (in May). There will likely be other festivals in the summer, and we're working on tour dates for later in the year as well, including Japan and Taiwan and Australia, we hope.

Two beautiful things happening on Feb. 20th, their new album, All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone will release for the US and Canada and they also will play on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, so that will be interesting to see how they try to shorten their set, but here is how it'll debut for the rest of the world:

Feb. 2nd Japan (Human Highway Records)
Feb. 17th Australia (Spunk Records)
Feb. 19th Europe (Bella Union)

To buy the album with the remix CD shop at an independent record store in your neighborhood and not at the big chain stores, we're told that they won't have that special version available. The remix features Four Tet, Adem, Jesus, Mountains, Eluvium and The Paper Chase each remaking a song off the new EITS album. Eluvium and The Paper Chase will join EITS on tour for most of the dates.

For more information on their upcoming tour, EITS keeps fans with a mailing list and their homepage, to sign up for their mailing list scroll to the bottom of their site. For more information on the history of Explosions in the Sky, downloads, short gists on each album on their discography and details of their new album, please visit our post or mail it to a friend who you think might like EITS, but haven't gotten around to listening to them: Why you should listen to Explosions in the Sky.

There is also a great interview with Munaf (guitarist) and Michael (bassist) on A Slice of the Shiny, you can listen and download it here. They talk about their exhaustive tour in 2004, where Munaf actually passed out at a show in Belgium and also discusses how the albums parallel what has happened with Explosions in the Sky since they formed in 1999:

Well, I think each album has had it's own theme. For example, we're four records in now, so our first record, "How Strange, Innocence", it was quite that, it was a very innocent attempt, at making music and writing an album, we were very young and almost naive to an extent.

Then we moved onto the next record, "Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live " which was very war-oriented and that became it's theme, a lot of marching, the idea of battle.

From that, we moved to "The Earth Is Not A Dead, Cold Place", which was our version of a romantic album, we wanted to write love songs, this was our version of love songs and then it came to this one, "All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone", which was this feeling of solitude and loneliness and I think that that is possibly something maybe in our subconscious we were really feeling and experiencing over the last couple years.

Because like I said, we went from everyday being in a new city, being surrounded by a lot of people just in the days of hundred miles of an hour, just stopping. And It became quite silent. In all of our rooms, in kind of in our lives, it was by our own volition, we wanted it to stop, and so that's where we were...all of a sudden I miss everyone. It was this long feeling of loneliness and what have you, so that was the kind of progression in what has led us to this point. Now, with the next album, well I don't know, we'll see when we get to that point.

Each of the records, they relate to the moment, the time because that's what we're feeling, innocence to war to love to loneliness and so on.

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Welcome, Ghosts| Explosions in the Sky

Links:

>>> Explosions in the Sky's Official Site
<<< Pre-order All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
>>> Full list of tour dates and links to buy tickets
<<< (great) Explosions in the Sky fansite (footage&audio of live shows, frequent updates)
>>> Interview w/Michael & Munaf on new album, 2004 tour by A Slice of The Shiny
<<< Eluvium's Official Site
>>> The Paper Chase's Official Site

~anne

Anticipate: Voxtrot's upcoming tour and debut album!

2007-02-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

{Photo by Rebecca Miller}

Finally! Go run around the house and kiss the ground and yell to the neighborhood that "Voxtrot is going on tour!" It seems too good to be true, Voxtrot is finally touring and will start off by playing overseas in Europe for most of this month and have two shows in Germany in early March, then it's flying back to Austin for South By Southwest! For all tour dates, please scroll down. {If anyone knows if Voxtrot is playing shows outside of the two SXSW showcases during that week, please let me know!}

When summer rolls around, they're going to headline a tour with Brooklyn's Au Revoir Simone, who will release their sophomore album, The Bird Of Music on May 1st, listen to some songs on their myspace!

Voxtrot will be starting this tour with a CD release party at Austin's Emo's on May 25th. Voxtrot's debut album produced by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, PJ Harvey), still untitled will release worldwide on May 22nd on Beggars/Playlouder. Pitchfork has a nice interview up with singer/guitarist Ramesh Srivastava on the debut album. There will also be a UK-only limited edition 7-inch with "Trouble" and a download available on Feb. 26th.

Tour Dates:

02-21 London, UK - Rock Sound
02-22 Manchester, UK - Night And Day
02-24 Glasgow, SCT - The Hold w/Big Face 18+
02-25 London, UK - NME Awards (The Astoria) w/The Shins!
02-28 Paris, FR - La Fleche D'Or

03-02 Berlin, Germany - Mudd Club
03-02 Hamburg, Germany - Molotov
03-12 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa (Austin Chronicle SXSW Film party PASSES ONLY)
03-14 Austin, TX - SXSW Beggars showcase (inside Emos) AA
03-15 Austin, TX - SXSW Kork showcase (outside Emos) AA

(touring w/Au Revoir Simone)
05-25 Austin, TX - Emo's (CD release) AA
05-29 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey AA
05-30 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall AA
06-01 Portland, OR - Doug Fir 21+
06-02 Seattle, WA - Crocodile 21+
06-05 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock AA (5pm)
06-06 Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection AA
06-07 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick AA
06-08 Toronto, ON - Sneaky Dees 19+
06-10 Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place
06-11 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom AA
06-12 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar AA
06-13 Washington, DC - Black Cat AA
06-14 Boston, MA - Middle East 18+
06-15 New York, NY - Webster Hall 18+
06-16 Philadelphia, PA - Pure (Making Time)21+

Download + Purchase:
{click on artist/band name to purchase!}

Your Biggest Fan | Voxtrot

Four Long Days | Voxtrot

Through The Backyards | Au Revoir Simone

Links:

>>> Voxtrot's Official Site
<<< Voxtrot's MySpace
>>> Pitchfork Interview w/Ramesh
>>> Au Revoir Simone's Official Site
<<< Au Revoir Simone's MySpace

~anne

This is Living: a short film by Zach Johnston from We Will Build

2007-01-31T19:32:00.000-08:00

Something dropped in our inbox and it made us smile, laugh and ponder a little, so we thought it might amuse somebody out there. This is Living is a short film written and directed by Zach Johnston who is the guitarist in the electronic, experimental duo, We Will Build.

It's only a little over three minutes and keeps a lighthearted poke-fun-at-human-nature tone, so even when it ends, you're still smiling. I could be reading too much into this short film, maybe it is to be taken surface value and not showing, how even though we know the phrase, "Take time to smell the roses", we hardly ever put it into action. Anyways, the video begins with a rather morbid statement with birds chirping,

"You may find this hard to believe, but I'm actually dead,"

Download:

This Is Living | Zach Johnston

3D Classic| We Will Build

Links:

>>>We Will Build's Official Site

Oh Snap!

2007-01-28T12:06:00.000-08:00

Hey there readers, It's time for Oh Snap! Camera Crowd's weekly photography links. I know it's a bit late and a new week is already starting, but i've finally caught the dreadful flu bug and I just feel gross. It's just been non-stop green tea, supplemental vitamins, airborne, and vitamin water. I hope it leaves soon. Anyhoo, I wanna go back to bed soon, let's get down to business shall we?

I haven't gone out shooting in awhile and my finger is just itching for that trigger. I sold my old camera and the new one is on its way. And when I get it, it's back to the good 'ol routine again, taking the camera with me all the time for some good street photography. If you're like me and prefer street photography more than anything else, you've probably encountered people who yell at you for photographing them, or those pesky security guards. Yes those security guards or rent-a-cops telling you to stop photographing and leave the premises right away or there will be some trouble. I've been stopped twice by security guards, and they had to search my backpack first and inspect my camera. They probably think it's a weapon or something.

Seriously, security guards, cops, and private citizens are treating photographers these days like they're terrorists plotting something. The following links below will provide you with tips if you ever get in a tough situation where you are ask to leave or give up your memory card.

Photopermit.org
If you've never been in a situation where you had to deal with pesky security guards who think they're all that, then photopermit.org is the place for you. It's filled with unbelievable stories of photographers being mistreated including a dad photographing/filming a high school football game and mistaken for a sniper, so the school called the swat team and he was this close to being snipered until they realised he was only filming. With photopermit.org, photographers can really take advantage of the forum, it has first hand accounts from other photographers about their encounters with rent-a-cops and suggestions on how to deal with them.

Photographer's Rights Flyer
So you've read photopermit.org and you tell yourself, "how am I going to remember all of that information?" especially if a security guard is towering over you with his/her beating stick! The only thing to do then is to pull out your Photographer's Rights Flyer. Based on the Bust Card and Know Your Rights pamphlet from the ACLU, this flyer tells you what security guards can and can't do to you. Definitely print this out and take it with you all the time, especially if you're a street photographer like me. Although I haven't used it yet, I know for sure it'll come in handy in the future. When a sleazy rent-a-cop hassles you, just whip it out and BAM!

Flickr pool of the Week : Decisive Moment Pool
As for the flickr pool of the week, we have the Decisive Moment Pool. The pool strictly follows the footsteps of the famous photographer, Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French photographer who developed the style of street photography. The pool is pretty strict too, it has no photoshop, no HDR, and no pool spamming rules, so you know the photographs are going to be good, its quality over quantity.

And here's a little advice when it comes to street photography, obviously don't go photographing in a spot where it clearly states "No photography". Also try not to attract too much attention, like in an underground metro station, don't set up your tripod in the middle of the platform especially during commute hours, security guards absolutely hate that! Trust me I know. And as for security guards and rent-a-cops telling you to stop shooting in a place where its perfectly fine, talk to them and show them your photographer's rights flyer, hopefully they'll understand. If not then, then take those shots you wanted and then run!

Here are a couple of songs you can listen to while you read up on those rights.

Rebellion (lies) | Arcade Fire

The Freest Man | Tilly and the Wall

-Charlie

3 minute entry: Fionn Regan

2007-01-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

∞

*latest update on (01/27/07)*

Soft-spoken, but strangely confident is his delivery of the twelve songs off Fionn Regan's debut album, The End of History. His voice glides up and down notes with the guitar so smoothly that you'd think the two were one instrument.

What will keep strangers listening to a song of Regan's though is the work of his clever melodies creating a song from beginning to end that reels in even the most unwillingly listener. This is without relying on much else other than an acoustic guitar, a few strings and foot tapping here and there. Don't underestimate the sound of one acoustic guitar, Regan makes the instrument fill the room, quiets it into a whispery lullaby and wakes it up creating climbing waves of intricate finger-picking giving the song, highs, lows and every volume inbetween.

Turning those strangers into loyal fans is his songwriting. He grew up in a coastal town outside of Dublin called Bray, Ireland, which can be pointed back to his frequent details of coastlines, hills and rock pools... Seeing as the lyrics he writes are incredibly short, a sure fan of the traditional verse, chorus, verse, chorus; it's interesting how he can use so few words to trigger so many images that will stick in the listener's mind.

His debut album, though released last summer in Europe is still unavailable in America. He's signed onto Bella Union, fellow Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice's record label, Heffa and Australia's Etch N Sketch. Gearing up for another tour, Fionn Regan will start it off in Bristol next Monday, Jan. 29th and will preform live on the Meteor Ireland Music Awards for his two nominations as Best Irish Male and Best Newcomer, to vote, go here. He will be supporting Damien Rice on some dates and will be joining a nice lineup for the Australia's Laneway Festival. *Regan will also stop byAustin, Texas for South By Southwest and currently scheduled for another US date at New York's Mercury Lounge on March 20th.* Scroll below for all tour dates!

Digging deeper you'll find Fionn Regan isn't exactly new to the music scene at all, in fact he has released two EPs and a single before The End Of History. The only one left available to purchase is the limited edition(1000 copies!) of the five-track, Hotel Room EP released in 2004. To find out more on Fionn Regan please read the two articles I linked at the bottom, especially the one from Drowned In Sound, very interesting stuff.

Tracklisting:

The End Of History | Fionn Regan
(Bella Union/Heffa/Etch N Sketch)

Be Good Or Be Gone
The Underwood Typewriter
Hunters Map
Hey Rabbit
Black Water Child
Put A Penny In The Slot
The Cowshed
Snowy Atlas Moutains
Noah (Ghost In A Sheet)
The End Of History
Abacus
Bunker Or Basement

Stream + Download + Purchase:

The Underwood Typewriter| Fionn Regan

Put A Penny In The Slot| Fionn Regan

Black Water Child| Fionn Regan

Links:

>>> Fionn Regan's Official Site
<<< Fionn Regan's MySpace
>>> Vote Meteor Awards
<<< Buy The End Of History
>>> Buy Hotel Room EP
>>> Read more: Drowned In Sound
<<< Read more: Gigwise

Tour Dates:

01-29 Bristol - Thekla
01-30 Sheffield - Boardwalk
01-31 Liverpool - Barfly
02-01 Dublin - Meteor Awards (live preformance)
02-06 London - Dingwalls
02-07 Brimingham - Glee Club
02-08 York - Pocklington Arts Centre
02-09 Dipton - Cap-A-Pie
02-11 Glasgow - King Tuts
02-12 Aberdeen - Tunnels
02-15 Perth - Fremantle Theatre
02-17 Adelaide - Thebarton Theatre
02-19 Melbourne - Palais Theatre
02-20 Melbourne - Palais Theatre
02-22 Sydney - Enmore Theatre
02-23 Sydney - Enmore Theatre
02-24 Melbourne - Laneway Festival
02-25 Brisbane - Tivloi Theatre
02-25 Melbourne - Laneway Festival
03-03 Brisbane - Laneway Festival
03-04 Sydney - Laneway Festival
03-16 Austin, TX - Stubbs
*03-20 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge*

~anne

3 minute entry : Dana Falconberry

2007-01-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

I like it when a musician makes music stripped down to the bones. Meaning that raw sound I really look for where all you can hear is the musician's vocals and whatever instrument they're using. It's the reason why my ears noticed Dana Falconberry, also because she has worked with Camera Crowd favourite, Red Hunter a.k.a Peter and the Wolf but I'll get to that later.

Dana Falconberry, another product of good 'ol Austin, Tx, who's producing good talent like a canoodling rabbit. According to Ms. Falconberry, "We looked for the balance between me sitting alone in my apartment at four AM and the sound of a polished studio recording..." And that's exactly what you get with the Paper Sailboat EP. Track after track of Paper Sailboat EP has that raw acoustic sound I told you about and at the same time it sounds clean and polished. My favourite track on the EP is Paper Sailboat, the lyrics are so simple yet they usher in these familiar images in our head. And my favourite part of the song,

" If i could I would make time go backwards
the river would run upstream
and everything I've lost would come back floating"

I know they're just plain words here, but when you listen to Dana Falconberry singing them, it triggers some childhood memories of yours. As I mentioned earlier, she has worked with Red Hunter, and at Gorillavs.Bear, there's a live session of Red and Dana playing in a Saab. You have to check that out!

Paper Sailboat EP

1. My Sweetheart, My Dear
2. Leave in the Middle of the Night
3. Paper Sailboat
4. Sophie
5. Old Red Hat
6. Sadie

Purchase the CD here

Also available on iTunes

Paper Sailboat | Dana Falconberry

Links:

Website
Myspace
Gorilla vs. Bear Live Session

-Charlie

Oh Snap!

2007-01-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

As you all know, Camera Crowd is also a photography blog. We already have our photoblog, but Anne and I decided that we need photography related posts to go along with it. So here I bring you, Oh Snap! I'll be posting photography related gizmos, and gadgets you've never even heard of. To go along with it, I'll have my choice of Flickr pool of the week. Also if you guys have interesting photography related things that you wanna share with us, just email them and we'll post them the following week along with your name to give you credit.

Let's start things off shall we?

You've all heard about Flickr's geotagging right? I use it all the time to remind me where exactly I took that certain photo in case I wanna go back there again. Well Ricoh has released a new camera, the 500SE. An 8 megapixel camera that has a GPS chip inside so you'll never have to geotag manually ever again. It'll cost you around $1000 though, so you decide if you wanna trade that DSLR for a GPS camera.

Splashr.com
Tired of looking at photos on flickr by clicking photo to photo, or by using their boring slideshow? Well then checkout splashr.com. It has different flash players that will allow you to view/present your photos in a more interesting way. Just put the tags or the user id of the photographer you wanna see and its goodbye boring slideshow.

Flickr pool of the week: Winter Wonderland

With all the unexpected snow falling all over the U.S this week, i just had to pick the Winter Wonderland pool. Part of Texas got a snow day and freeways in So Cal were closed cause of snow and ice. What about San Francisco and the Bay Area? How can you miss us?!
Tip: use splashr.com to view all the recent snow photos. It's better than having to click through the pool.

A couple of songs to listen to while you're looking at the Flickr pool of the week

Snow Song | Habitat

Damn It's Cold | We Will Build

-Charlie

Halfway around the world and back again

2007-01-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

{Scroll down and stream the music, while reading this rather long post, it may make the post seem a bit shorter. Sorry for so many words!}

As most of you know, I went to Taiwan during the Christmas holidays to visit relatives and also took a chance to see if where I came from had somewhat of a music scene. (The answer to that question is yes and no.) A little refresher on World Geography as to where Taiwan is located on the map (Hint: look beside China...). So, I went to a few of the regular record stores that appear in multiple cities around Taiwan. Kind of like our F.Y.E. or Warehouse Music, but I think Taiwan record stores have a slight advantage from all the foot traffic. Taiwan's easiest to navigate on foot compared to America's potential customers driving past the small record stores in the suburbs.

Still, the situation may already be changing, since Internet has Taiwan's music industry in a tight hold. This is bad news, especially for the genre specific stores like the one I bought most my CDs from: a hidden indie store underground called White Wabbit Orange. Most people who walk into a record store, which focuses on music that is not on the radio, had the intention of going there for that music in mind: people don't stumble upon a store and decide to go in if they had no interest in what's inside in the first place.

I realized how strange loneliness can be in a foreign country, even though I was born there. (My family moved to Canada when I was 4.) So even Mandarin, the main language there, was a bit of a challenge coupled with the nervousness I had to speak it in front of my relatives. The fact that no one around is interested in the same things you are or even speak the same primary language is frustrating. So when I first discovered a record store, I was elated. Familiar faces staring up at me as I listened to them through the store's headphones. I was saying quiet hellos to home: The Octopus Project, Broken Social Scene and Camera Obscura. It is also a relief to know that there are people in Taiwan who knows the same songs and recognizes the same names. I finally fully understood the line from Almost Famous, "...and if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends." Hopefully you'll get to experience this sometime in your life and come to appreciate the great music that is being made today and how lucky we are to be surrounded by it. Okay, so here are the record stores that you will probably stumble upon in any city in Taiwan for a quick purchase.

The first two photos on the top are the regular chain record stores you'll find easily just by taking a walk in any city. If you do find yourself clueless, navigate yourself to a Sogo (one of Taiwan's biggest department store, think Macy's, but bigger) and take the elevator to their book department, they sell music there too and have a lovely music listening station that lets you preview CDs. I was surprised to see a few familiar faces: The Octopus Project, Camera Obscura and Yndi Halda.
There is another chain store I didn't get a photo of: Rose (In Music We Trust), watch for a big pink sign with yellow letters. For the regular CD stores there are for a few familiar names on the shelves and you'll find them under international artists. The very bottom photo is the White Wabbit Orange records entrance: the record store is a branch from the Taiwanese indie record label White Wabbit Records. Their record store is where you'll have to venture out to Taipei for its huge collection of bands you recognize and also the Taiwanese bands you should listen to. White Wabbit Orange is literally underground that sits beside a CD store specializing in metal; it's also where the music venue called The Wall is fitted in. To see them for yourself: you have to first slowly descend a curvy, dark flight of stairs sandwiched between the two walls covered in graffiti, yes slightly creepy, but once you see the record store it's worth it. One thing to remember when shopping for CDs when in a different city/country is to buy CDs from the local bands. Especially in a different country, since some bands won't be able to release it where you call home.

Don't be afraid to ask for help, the people who actually live there probably know more about the music scene there than you do and you might find yourself with good company and in a really nice conversation. I'd just like to thank the person who was working at White Wabbit Orange for helping and suggesting which Taiwanese bands to look into. Most of the bands in this post here wouldn't have been possible without you. I could've just picked random CDs off the shelves based on their band names or the artwork. Another good idea, is grab a compilation or two that's from a local record label. Ideally the more bands you buy from, the better your chance is finding a real jewel. Of course, it's kind of idiotic to buy out the whole record store, so do some researching yourself before getting off the airplane and in a whole different culture, language...etc.

Unfortunately I was not able to attend a show while I was there due to the poor timing of things, so maybe next time. Okay, below is a preview of what I'll write about individually in later posts. We finally figured out how to let you stream the music before you download a song without pulling out our wallets or loading this blog with ads.

(For any other bloggers or anyone else who is interested, we were tipped off from what The Hype Machine uses for music players, make sure you upload everything to a site that allows direct linking: we used filexoom. If you find another site that's better please tell us! Feel free to email us if you run into trouble, I know it took us way too many hours to figure this thing out despite how easy they make it sound.)

For now, this is just a sneak peek of what's coming up, when I do post about the bands separately I'll provide more songs for downloading. Take note that I may talk about more bands later on as they naturally grow on me. Also here are some photos I took from Taiwan if your eyes want the visual side too.

Atonia | Selfkill

So, Let's Go | 8mm Sky

Winter Passing | VARO

Travel With Sound | Cheer Chan

Pendantic Mushroom | Bad Daughter

~anne