Dischordian

Over the past year or so, I've watched quite a few Indian bands live. They've all been mostly pleasant experiences because I've been picky. But what struck me was that my taste in music is all expansive in that I can be interested by most types of music but to hold my attention takes a very specific type of sound. Dischordian, an Indian acoustic outfit that plays quirky alternative, slightly 'punk'ish, folksy music, has come closest to striking a chord (Pun patrol!) with my highly inconsistent taste in music. I guess it's because they have a little bit of everything I need, aurally speaking.

I love that Garreth's voice is a razored stalk of rum tinged throaty heaven; it would have any normal Joe who took a stab at it clutching at severed vocal chords and coughing like a TB patient. But with him, it comes natural. And I love that.

I love the lyrics. Indian bands will probably always have to be slightly anglicized and americanized but as long as the lyrics don't sound contrived, I haven't been a stickler for pronunciation. Dischordian kicks the shit out of that fine line and gives you something raw and amazing and you don't feel like a total tool, singing any of their songs.

Album: Feni Farm Riot

Tracks: 'The Old Whore' and 'Lover' are popular but I'm going to say - 'Scourge of Love', 'One of These Days' and 'Same Old Conversation'.

Be sure to check them out on Facebook; they're quite entertaining, they are! ;)

Okay, that's it from me. Noops is next. She'll have something fun in store!

Shar

Sweet Sweet Vandalism!

Nope, I haven't turned crook since the last time I posted (despite a short stint at the police station), and neither have I fallen head-over-heels for a rugged, manly petty thief (my straight-laced boyfriend probably wouldn't like that very much), but what has got me in a spin is some good old funk from The Sweet Vandals. They're a vintage funk band from Madrid (MADRID!) and their vocalist has a voice that I'm sure has been tempered with honey and razors! There's a fine line between constantly sounding like you're bootlegging it, and actually being phat enough to pull off the genre effortlessly. My only qualm is that they haven't added anything original to it, but let's be honest: what could you possibly do to make funk better?

Let me get straight to the reccos!

First on the list is my absolute favourite; it's been effectively ravishing all machines of mine that could possibly play music (and some that can't, but what the hey?!). Here's:

I Got You, Man

Another favourite of mine is:

Thank You For You

 

This one immediately takes me to high speed chases (on foot) featuring bedazzled cops with great weaves and grungy criminals in jumpsuits and platform boots. Have a listen!

 

And the last one I'm gonna throw at you. No puns intended, but it's beautiful:

Beautiful

Hope you enjoyed this latest instalment of Treble Notes and be a bunch of dears and check out Kris' brilliant post before mine!

Shar

 

 

Fake French

My "colleagues" have apologized enough about our shameful absence. So let me just say this,

If our blog were the sahara, our posts are like oases - few and far between but definitely worth trudging through blistering, parching heat for.

That said, here's the song I'm putting up!

La Tigre - Fake French

To answer a lingering question (which to me is like an elephant in the room) we are not being lazy. We're introducing songs because we like um.

Okay, so back to Fake French. Awesome awesome song by an average post-punk (to me), all-female, electroclash feminist band. I've had a listen to their album and as much as I'd like to say they were the find of this year...we'll they're not...but they're musicians with a cause and I like that about them. It's not all clashing symbals, making noise and screaming about insecurity; it makes them about something more. (Not to diss the bands who somewhat fit into that categorisation.)

Fake French is one of those songs that you either like or you don't. I would rather just leave the description to that and usher you to the link below, but I feel I owe the song a little more considering people may just read my lukewarm sentiment and move on to something else, short attention spans that we nurture these days. If you listen to the song and then go check the lyrics out, you'd be surprised (Read: I'd like you to be surprised). The bassline on this one has me from the get go. My shoulder start moving in imitation of some dance move I didn't know I knew! But more importantly, the juxtaposition of the mellow rhythm with the clearly strong lyric makes it feel like a little package wrapped up nice and pretty! I haven't taken a shine to any of their other songs because this one kind of built the band up a tad too much.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to say. Go listen! Enjoy! And come back for more; we promise we'll be good little bloggers. :)



(Image: Courtesy http://www.whattheballs.com/. >D)

Chuck the Seventh

Yes, I've been bad.
Yes, I've been so utterly caught up in the business that has come to define my life that I have neglected to really do ANYTHING constructive.
You know how it is.


Anyway,
LAURA MARLING!
Actually I may find it a tad difficult to be passionate about this little lady because the phase is up. I have deleted all her songs off my phone, stopped humming them every single second of the day and have quite frankly stopped liking her. Why put her stuff up here then, you ask? Well, in someone's universe she is still awesome and why, oh why, would I deprive you of some really good songwriting?!

Anyway, Laura Marling is this incredibly young (read, she is younger than I. Born in the nineties, ferchrissake!) singer, songwriter from Hampshire, England. Her lyrics are just really simple and they're absurd in places but that just adds to their appeal. Plus her voice has just the right androgeny to it that you're taken by it. I was VERY excited indeed that I was going to see her live here in Bangalore and tottered off to Kyra all excited. And then these absolute gods by the name of Mumford and Sons come on and it's like going to see Ronan Keating, only Cat Stevens shows up! Mumford and Sons are an English folk/rock/pop group that are just really talented that you're left drooling by the side of the stage and you won't even realize until you have to mop up the mess you made and/or the set is over and you make a sound that's something between Jabba and Yoda.
They were both brilliant live acts and since they tour together, I'm going to bend the rules a bit and make this a duel post.


Linkses:
Marling
New Romantic
Ghosts
My Manic and I

Mumford
White Blank Page
Roll Away Your Stone
Little Lion Man
The Cave

Photos courtesy:
Villagevoice
bbc

Chuck the sixth

Wow. It feels like a lifetime since i last posted here. Feels like I've lived one anyway! :) Hope you'll aren't puffer fish like me who bloat up with all consuming rage when you encounter this crazy heat wave thingy. Its better now so I decided to update Trebby! :)

I was struggling with this because I had to choose between two really great artists but The Jayhawks won! This band is just great! Their sound is laidback and they're all about the music which is something I love!

The core members are Gary Louris and Mark Olsen. They've been around for quite a while now and they've evolved greatly from their country/bluegrass vein into something akin to alternative country rock I'd say :) There's something distinctive about them that I was drawn to. It could be anything from their simple lyrics to the...well different tone their voices take on together. Their earlier stuff (I'm gonna make you love me, Crowded in the wings, Settled down like rain) sound a bit Eddie Rabbit-ish to give you an idea.
Anyway check um out pwease! :) If you're not a fan of the typical bluegrassy sound I'd probably advise you to limit your listening to a few songs from their old albums and the ones listed below from their new album Ready for the Flood because it can get a bit dry. But anyway, we recommend songs not the entire discography so here are the ones i liked. Not all acoustic unusually..but what beats two guitars and simple percussion eh?

Blue (must must listen)
Bicycle (must listen)
Save it for a Rainy Day (Strangely Bharat Natyam is featured in this vid! hehe)
You look so young

Chuck the fifth

Im not much of a techno person. Not at all. But recently, for reasons unknown to me, i have begun to relate to trance and its repetitive rhythm. Every time i happen to catch a snippet of it i imagine a smokey club and light head banging and droopy eye-lids and other things i don't want to waste time mentioning.

Well, Ladyhawke makes me feel that in a very watered down way. Also, its great to listen to when you're in a 'mood'. When you don't want to exactly concentrate but want some music in the background that can't distract you but just melds into the surrounding. Not abrasive, not distracting, great voice that goes with the arrangements she comes up with. Definitely worth your attention.

I'm listening to My Delirium as I'm writing this. Perfect writing companion! Also, I love the video(don't ask me how i can write and watch at the same time) . Its a watermark sort of video that features paintings by a certain lady. Ok, this is the third time i'm listening to it and its growing on me. FAVOURITED!

Two songs you should listen to/watch:

My Delirium

Paris is burning

By the way HAPPY NEW YEAR! :)
First post of the new year. yay!

Chuck the third

Well, chuck is in love with "Love love love". I heard this song ages ago during one of my frantic jaunts for good music and i loved this one song so much! I've been saving it for a special day on treble notes and here it is! :)
At first I'd have said that Tristan Prettyman is pretty much the female version of Jack Johnson. But then i think that's degrading her own potential and talent so i'll just say that;
she has an awesome voice-sultry and raspy in the right places,
the girl can play guitar-effortlessly (that's how i like it!),
and her lyrics are worth a read.

The first song i heard that had tristan in it was "Beautiful". Its a collab with another funky indie artist called G.Love (another post!). Now this song is just perfect! Its one of those songs that you love every part of! Nothin untoward, nothing that doesn't fit. And the lyrics are just so quirky but mushy...teehee! I love the video as well! Five stars! And a thumbs-up for good measure!

And since this post is about Tristan prettyman ima put up my favourite song of hers:
Love Love Love. Its difficult to describe why i like her music. There's just some music that gives you this feeling, you know. Like you're heart is swelling up with something (emotion? arteries? FAT?), i dunno. Its nice. Give it a listen. I've got two links, an acoustic version and the official video. Contrary to my usual choice, i like the studio version better.

Love Love Love
Acoustic
Studio

Chuck the Second

I hope you'll like the title i have come up with. On the spot. Please like it. Thinking about thinking of another makes me tired. In the (slightly altered) words of PCD..."I'ma stick with iiitttt!"
So...on to the latest song for Treble Notes...Someone new! At least to me! A new love!
His name is Brett Dennen and he's the next big thing in the folk rock scene I ( and a LOT of other people) think! He bolwed me over completely! His voice is a little on the reedier side than i usually prefer but he just makes up for it in every other way....AWESOMENESS includes:
Guitaring skills
Lyrics
A funky accent
The first song that I shall recommended is called She's Mine. And its pretty darn awesome(all other adjectives fail at this point). Its an acoustic as usual..
Check out his other songs...one being Ain't No Reason(for the lyrics!) Very very cool!
Ain't No Reason is the better song in every way but She's Mine is catchier and has an awesome base riff that just repeats throughout the song-simple n sweet.
More than anything else, i love how this guy looks at the world around us and critiques what goes on in it in the most humble way possible. He writes a bit like Mayer or Jack Johnson but his stuff is tinged with a tad more social concern.
Another song is Blessed...i LOVE the beginning of this song. Upbeat!
And i also have another video which is live and raw, on a beach somewhere in SF or was it California...Doesn't matter. Here, its John Butler (Awesome musician also. Shall devote whole post to him another time) and Brett Dennen performing Come Together.
Enjoy! And comment :)

Chuck the Roman Numerals!

First a few details about the blog and its contributing members.

Me!: Well, yuh knows me. I had another blog and was putting up too much music stuff there so thought i'd start a new blog and blah blah blah blah blah. To give you a rough idea of what my choices will be like; I have eclectic taste in music. I could skip from cheesy pop(yes), to indie to afro punk to gothic bass driven melodies and so forth. Though I think i'll always be into indie music. And i can tell you that most of my links will inevitably lead to an acoustic version of a song.

I got off to a good start on the blog but knew there was something missing until i realized that i hadn't asked the most compulsive blogger and most deeply music loving music lover i know-KRISTOFER-to join the blog as a contributing member! And so...

Kristofer!: She has a beautiful take on music. You could pretty much make her listen to anything and she'll appreciate it in a way that you never could. Great great taste in music as far as mainstream is concerned. Manages to weed out the crap and love a song for what it really is. (Umburella!) Unlike me, she can dig the greatness of instrumentals and so you'll have that side of music from her. So kris will divert her attention from her other blog to contribute here!

And the last but not even in the vicinity of the least member is:

Tups!: She has the most wholesome view of music. She's trademark hippie in some ways and is in love with the flower era more than i could possibly be! She could know the most obscure Joplin song and love it and convince you to love it as well! We like the same music occasionally and this is a cause to celebrate. Tups is also the most passionate music-lover between the three of us methinks. So when tups isn't busy with her thoughts she'll be here! :)

Anything more to add guys? Well, do it on your own time!

Now for the musica! My pick for now is POP all the way!
Introducing....>drumroll<

Those Dancing Days!

A tween pop band from Sweden. You really can't avoid getting a complex when you see these girls. So young and so talented. Well, you can't see the full range of their talent for now but considering their average age is about seventeen and they're making music, lets give em a break yes?
Two songs that are released as of now with an album due out in September.

Hitten (I think this is the better of the two songs!)
Run Run

The songs are real light and breezy and have a tinge of the eighties in them, the percussion is very synthetic and the synthesizer is pretty dominant throughout. I recommend them to anyone who likes stuff from the eighties. Also, the singer has a beautiful deep voice uncharacteristic for a young girl.
I love the videos of both the songs! Strange techniques and very unusual camera angles. Even if you don't like the songs you will like the videos! :)
Give em a listen for sure and temme watcha think!!
Ciao!

WEEK V(and what a week it is!)

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
Obssession obsession! AHOY!

Two words. Tom Waits. The strangest most wonderful musician i have ever heard! Thirty seconds into the movie Coffee and Cigarettes(Jim Jarmusch's. Another God) and i just HAD TO google this song and i struck gold! The song was:

Jockey full of Bourbon
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=SZI3wGJ9C4E&feature=related
(If you can, watch the movie, coz the initial sequence matched the song perfectly)

His voice is horrendous! I keep wanting to clear my throat! But its jagged and cool and his songs'd be nothing without it! And his monologue-ish way of singing is perfect for his songs. In my head he's like the dark, murderous version of a troubadour. :D

Also, i love his music arrangements! For a moment you actually think that they're totally out of sync and out of tune and everything else negative but then you start to feel the music and everythign just melds perfectly! When you first hear the music, you're like, oh a nice soothing number, light, kinda cuban even! But then he starts to sing and its like the big bad wolf walked in and took control of the mike! You can barely make out the words either!

But more than his beautiful chainsaw like voice i just couldn't resist the lyrics!! Awesome stuff. Just so vivid and......SURREAL. It just makes you think of the craziest things and my overactive imagination just goes wild! Take for example On the Other side of the world. The mini movie that plays in my head is BEAUTIFUL!

On the Other side of the world
There's a blue eyed girl with a red bow tie
and a string of pearls with one good eye
in a rainy town the chimney smoke will curl
no one likes clowns on the other side of the world
and the children know she'll never let me go.

there's a one legged priest that tangos with the farmers wife
Beauty and the beast is taking her own life
and a tear on a letter back home turns into a lake of your own
and a crow turns into a girl on the other side of the world
and she tastes like the sea and she's waiting for me
in the spring the weeds will show that he brought back the only rose
and he gave it to his girl on the other side of the world.

And I drink champagne from your thin blue veins
She visits his grave wearing her mother's shawl
should I shave or end it all.There's an old sailor song that the children know
as their fingers curl around the other side of the world
on a bone white mare lost in Kathleen's hair
in the spring the weeds will show that he brought back the only rose
and he gave it to his girl on the other side of the world.

Other linkses for other songses:
Cemetary Polka http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=5FKpX2MgDsU
Crazy bout my baby http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqEEf-TPjY&feature=related

The dude is almost sixty years old and he STILL peforms live!
Words cannot describe how into his music i am! YAY!
But i still love McFly! :)

Week IV

Hey ya'll!
This day's...erm week's....whatever! This post's pick is a really really strange, dark and morbidy kinda but lovely song by My Brightest Diamond called Something of an End. I have fallen in love with this one riff in the song! Its just awesome! I love the idea of just a bass accompanying a song. Very very cool! Please please check her out...i mean her song. I can provide a youtube link now, since my explorer decided that watching me die of youtube deprivation is not somthing he wanted. YAY!

My Brightest Diamond-Something of an end

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=p7sowVYQz3M

WeeK III

Its only week 3 and I'm wondering how i'm gonna maintain this roman numeral lettering system i've chosen....
Anyway...I'm in a particularly erm....well....lets say soft mood and so the next song on the blog is a version of
I Wanna Hold Your Hand from the movie Across the Universe

Kristofer deserves ALL credit for this one...but in all fairness if Pari and Su and me had finally watched this movie (as we had planned) I would have put it up anyway. The song is slow, beautiful and not at all like the Beatles' version though i dunno if the Beatles did this song any differently later on. The girl's voice is very steady...nothing to write home about but beautiful nonetheless.
Temme if you want the song and I'll e-mail it to you because youtube has stopped working on my computer and so i can't provide the link. It sucks. I am gonna die of youtube deprivation.
Cheers!!

Week II

I thought I'd update every week or so but i couldn't resist.

Seems there's a lot of good music floating around and i came upon a treasure trove last week. Two soul men i'm loving right now. I have blogged about them on my other blog but i have got to have them here as well!

Song 1 that graces this post is an old favourite from an all-time favourite of mine.

Marc Broussard's: Come in from the cold
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FGf2VUb2ICk

Yummy yummy vocals. His voice isn't perfect and thats perfect! You can catch the gravelly tone of his voice on the high notes. Very very cool! 'Home' is another song of his that is beautiful. Very soul....its a testament to his incredible range.

Song 2 is an awesome awesome number i recently discovered.

Shawn Mullin's: Lullaby

He half sings, half talks through this number and its just beautiful! Another song of his worthy of a listen is 'Beautiful Wreck'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoWEpKBgNM8&feature=related

I am lazy and can't think of another wittier title so the same title remains even though it massacres any hopes of its use as a time frame.

Week I

What I'm listening to right now is keeping me pretty occupied, obsession-wise. I'm ever faithful to the McFly boys but a few songs here and there can't possibly be construed as cheating!

Heaven
Los Lonely Boys

Number one pick from this beautiful band will have to be Heaven. The intro is delicious as in it actually makes me drool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCP2TJ0TTsU

I discovered the magic of Los Lonely Boys while browing through Youtube. Beautiful beautiful skills with the guitar. Their music isn't like the usual spanishy style which relies completely on acoustic guitar but they have a dash of bassy sound that just makes their music that much better! Their arrangements are pretty perfect, nothing untoward or out of sync.
And the solos they come up with are just heaven and hell to listen to. Heaven because of obvious reasons and hell because you know you'll never be able to play as good as that (not that I'm hoping or anything, it just reminds me thats all) They remind me of the Eagles.

Fire
Augustana

This song is just beautiful! Its not complex, no deep lyrics but its perfect to listen to when in the right mood. The chorus is haunting and i just had to continue listening to it over and over. I have a mini-movie that plays out in my head every time I listen to this song. Not happy but very apt nevertheless. Liten to it and tell me yours why don't you?