Last night I saw Big Troubles video for “Bite Yr Tongue” for the first time, and all I could do was smile. These boys are adorable, and the video represents everything that is Big Troubles and New Jersey…car rides, food (PIZZA and HOT DOGs), soda, great pop music, and more. One of my favorite music videos of 2010.
If you haven’t see this yet, watch it and have a great weekend.
Big Troubles also released the video for “Modern Intimacy” today! This one is all about skydiving…I’m not into adventure sports, but the LP version of this song is super rad.
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Big Troubles WFMU set has been rocking my world (since May!)…if you don’t already have it check it out the live mp3s of the songs above, and then snag the whole thing:
Tonight is a big day for music here in Brooklyn, and even though I haven’t had great internet access over the past couple weeks I still need to let you know what is going on!
Death By Audio has a killer show happening with two of my favorite up and coming acts. First is Swimsuit, a new band that features the one and only Fred Thomas and friends, making sweet surf pop. Their debut cassette was pressed in an edition of 100 copies and sold out within a month! This tape featured this blissful track called evaporation where one of the ladies in the band added some vocals to what has been so far just excellent instrumental surf rock:
Opening this show will be Philly’s own Pet Milk playing their fourth live show ever, and their first in NYC! Pet Milk’s demo has been on at least a couple times a week since I first heard it, and “Cherry Outline” is probably one of my favorite songs of the year. These guys are quenching my thirst for twee in the best possible way. I can’t wait to see them in the flesh I’m sure it will be stupendous!
Although these were previously posted here they are again:
Right around the corner from Death By Audio is Glasslands where New Jersey’s finest will be there in the flesh. Not only will Mathew Mondanile, better known as DUCKTAILS, be there, but another one of my favorites…the one and only Julian Lynch! Along side these two headliners will be Bathetic/ Mexican Summer veterans’ Campfires, another one of my personal favorites Big Troubles, and the up and coming Brooklyn group La Big Vic….all of which is being presented by Microphone Memory Emotion!
No matter which side of South 2nd and Kent Ave you end up on you are in for a treat, and if you get there early you can probably jump back and forth between both shows (if you pay for both!). I’ll see you there. Cheers,
I normally don’t write about two shows happening on the same night, but I love so many of these bands I had too…both shows will be amazing. The heat broke so both of these venues should be pretty comfortable tonight. No more 90 degree heat!
On Tuesday morning Big Troubles had an amazing live session air on WFMU‘s always wonderful Talk’s Cheap with Jason Sigal. Big Troubles currently only have two 7″s out (and one is only kind of out), and now they have made this wonderful eight song live session with WFMU available for free download from the Free Music Archive.
Big Troubles’ slightly fuzzed out shoegaze glazed pop comes through in this session just as you would experience it live. In this session Alex Craig and Ian Drennen are joined by Sam Franklin (Fluffy Lumbers) and Luka Usmani (No Demons Here), and bring us a handful of new Big Troubles tracks. I can’t express how excited I am about this live set, and all of the songs that I already love sound pretty much perfect in their live conception (“Drastic and Difficult” and “Freudian Slips” sound better than ever!), but what I’m really dying over are the new tracks. ”Modern Intimacy” starts off the set, and shows from the beginning of the song that Big Troubles not only create awesome pop songs, but can shred on the guitar. And “Bite Your Tongue” has a beautiful guitar solo toward the end. Check out these two tracks and then make your way over to the Free Music Archive and download the whole set!
Buy the Freudian Slips 7″ from Black Burn Recordings here
Buy the Drastic and Difficult 7″ from OESB, eventually, here .
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If you are looking for something to do this evening, and happen to be in the NYC area….I highly recommend this (maybe after you hit up Harpoon Night at Barcade?):
Not only will you get to see big troubles, but Knight School and My Teenage Stride are both a please to watch.
Tomorrow, Friday May 7th, Blackburn Recordings will host a night at Cake Shop as part of the beloved New York City’s music venue’s fifth anniversary. This party will also kick off the budding relationship between Blackburn Recordings and Connecticut’s masters of hazy psychedelica Sore Eros.
This show will be the 7″ Release party for the new Sore Ero’s record on Blackburn Recordings! I was a big fan of Sore Eros’ amazing full length from last year, Second Chants, and the teaser video for the Taal Compass 7″ evokes the same emotions as the full length, and makes me very excited to hold a copy of this new piece of vinyl in my hands. Here is a sample of the B side of the 7″ that will be released tomorrow which features Gary War on synths:
Blackburn was nice enough to send over the a-side from this new single for download. ”Taal Compass,” the title track of the 7″, shares some of the same qualities as Sore Ero’s other works, but brings more of a olde timey folk side to the forefront. A perfect song for a breezy cool morning like today:
On top of Sore Eros playing Alex Bleeker and his Freaks will be headlining the show, and they also have a new 7″ out on Group Tightener Records! This record is the perfect follow up to his Underwater Peoples debut LP, and keeps with the same folky classic rock vibe that made us all fall in love with Bleeker in the first place. ”Getting By” was premiered by Chocolate Bobka a while back, and could very well be the anthem of your summer, and the b-side “Never Going Back” can be a story that is very telling for many of us in our late 20′s…I know for me it rings home particularly hard over the past couple weeks.
I can’t talk about this show and not mention one of my favorite newer bands that are opening up this show as well. Big Troubles have been tearing up my stereo for some time now, and the new 7″ (which I wrote about here) is just wonderful. I feel like every person I play this band for ends up tracking down a 7″ or at least looking for more songs to download…they just get in your head and stay there. These guys are indie rock at it’s finest, and if you haven’t heard them yet I would take this chance to download a couple tracks. First up is what started the magic for me:
Also take note: BIG TROUBLES will PERFORM LIVE on WFMU‘s TALK’s CHEAP with JASON SIGAL this coming Tuesday May 11th between 9am and noon. Tune and and listen, or check the archives!
(please note I’ve posted these before, follow the links to reviews of the songs)
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Last but not least Black Burn Recordings released a wonderful digital comp that has not only Big Troubles and Sore Eros on it, but other Great Pumpkin favorites like City Center, Lame Drivers, Sleep Over, Cloud Nothings and many more.
Big Troubles have been on constant rotation for me since I initially heard “Freudian Slips” (which I originally posted about back in November). Chocolate Bobka recently brought us a post on their new 7″ (picture of the sleeve below via Bobka) which includes the live staple “Drastic and Difficult,” which also appeared on one of the wonderful Friendship Bracelet compilations.
Drastic and Difficult also happens to be the title of Big Troubles new 7″ on Olde English Spelling Bee, which will be the precursor to their LP that will come out on the same label. The picture of the 7″ is actually a picture of the limited test press version that the band has been selling at their live shows. The 7″ will feature “Bad People” and “Bat Bomb” on the A side, and “Drastic & Difficult” and “Grey Dayz” on the B-side.
On “Drastic and Difficult” Big Troubles bring their fuzzed out 80′s influenced rock to a new plain of existence. The signature of the 4-track is omnipresent on this track from the metronome like tick of the drum machine, to the singled out guitar lines, and the fuzzed over vocals. While the 4-track is a common medium for recording (both for Big Troubles and many others) this song particularly channels the likes of who I consider 4-track gods…Guided By Voices(specifically their early years) …this influence is not only is this present in the the sound of the 4-track recording, but the guitars and even in the vocals, almost eerily so. I can’t get this track out of my head…some damn great indie rock:
“Gray Dayz” which fits into the the overall vision Big Troubles brings more of a surf vibe than the GBV of the previous track. Bringing to mind Shadowy Men from A Shadowy Planet as well as other surf greats, a bit of the shoegaze of the 90′s, and hints from some of their contemporaries like Real Estate and Pure Ecstasy. The vocals on this track bring me back to why I fell for this band in the first place mellow slightly crooning vocals. I can’t wait to hear the A side of this record if the b-side is this fucking good.
The Drastic and Difficult 7″ will eventually be available for purchase here (left over hand made editions soon, and regular edition toward the end of April).
If you want this record now…go see them live and get it from the band:
April 3rd- Brooklyn, NY @ Market Hotel w/ Smith Westerns
April 8th- Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio w/ The Library is on Fire, and Doug Gillard of GBV!
April 10th- Swarthmore, PA @ Swarthmore College w/ Liam the Younger and Sore Eros
I’m really impressed with the diversity this band has shown in the short time that their mp3s have been flying around. Big Troubles have depth and 2010 might be the year of Big Troubles. They have already release of two 7″s in the first three months, and an LP to come soon. I’m very happy for these dudes, and can’t wait to spin this new 45.
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If you haven’t already picked up the Freudian Slips 7″ from Black Burn Recordings do that here. This record was limited to 375 copies, and I’m shocked that it is still available. So good…featuring the title track that I have been obsessed with, and three other hits.
The photo of Big Troubles is from the White Lodge. If you would like to use this photo please link back to the flickr page, and credit the White Lodge. More posts featuring photos from the White Lodge can be found here.
The White Lodgeis the analog photography of klk and myself. We use mainly lomography cameras (holga, diana, diana mini, fisheye, action sampler, and a kodak brownie). We will be updating this flick regularly as we get photos back. Our camera collection keeps growing, and over the past month three new cameras have been accumulated. I will be posting photos from our flickr often here on the Great Pumpkin. I hope you enjoy the photos, and if you repost them please credit the White Lodge.
Above is a photo of Ms. Audrey Horne sitting with our Frank Zappa records (well they aren’t all Zappa, but many of them are).
I have a small collection of band photos from the past couple months, and I would like to share them with you now.
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Julian Lynch live at Bruar Falls
I’ve written a lot about Julian Lynch over the past couple months. I love his music, and Orange You Glad is still on constant rotation at my house… and his split with Ducktails made my list of best 7″s of the year. These photos were taken on January 4th 2010.
Weekly Tape Deck posted a track by Julian called “Sisters” a while back. This atmospheric haunting number is full of the many instruments we come to expect from someone as talented as Julian. It’s tones (specifically the ones created by wind and brass instruments) just give me the chills in the best way possible. A version of this song will be on Julian’s upcoming second LP, and has been renamed “Ruth, My Sister.”
My first show of Twenty Ten will be tonight, and as far as I’m concerned it couldn’t be any better than Julian Lynch. Julian Lynch made one of my favorite records of 2009 (my lists are still to come), and he will be contributing his own best of list to the Great Pumpkin later this week! I also hope to shoot a little video at the show tonight as well…we will see.
If you can make it this should be a really good show(oh and it’s FREE!), honestly it would be a really good show if Julian was the only one playing…but I’m pretty excited to see Big Troubles as well.
I’ve been digging on the Julian Lynch tracks that Friendship Bracelet posted a while back from the Birthday CDr on Buffalo Songs, and I thought I would share one here with you now. Just as dreamy as Orange You Glad, but with some found tapes and loops added in…initially reminded me of the backwards speak in Twin Peaks.
What is Speed Dating? Well on the Great Pumpkin that is where a bunch of singles get together, and hang out, but this time it’s mp3s, 7″s, and EPs rather than people. Speed Dating is where I highlight some tracks that I have been listening to lately. Whether I like them, hate them, am intrigued by them… no matter what I think they are note worthy for one reason or another. Each post will feature one to five songs by different bands, and aim to get my thoughts out on music that I have been trying to write about, but might not have formed a strong enough opinion to write a full post on. Hence I think that Speed Dating is an appropriate heading for these posts….brief thoughts on singles from my record player and the web.
CO.is from Charleston South Carolina, and first caught my attention earlier this year when I heard “Waiting for Saints to Arrive” on Somebody Come and Play. That song again showed up on the Charleston 2009 Compilation Zine (which if you are wondering what is going on artistically in Charleston, SC right now email Kim (at) maltedmilk.org for availability of the zine…lots of good stuff on there…and some more of it will be showing up here on the Great Pumpkin). “Waiting for Saints to Arrive” is a fuzzy stoner jam that brings me back to college in a very good way. As bored college kids in the south this song feels very true to life, but then again I feel that it is an anthem for bored youth everywhere. It really captures something important about life, and the first time I heard it remember rewinding the Somebody Come podcast to listen to it five times in a row. Starting off with just an electric guitar and vocals for almost the first thirty seconds I almost didn’t expect the rest of the band to kick in, but when it does it goes from a minimalist to full blown 90′s influenced indie guitar rock. It’s a song I find myself returning to now, even months after I initially heard it.
CO. seems to be moving away from the fuzzy guitar pop in favor of more complex, almost classic rock driven, jams. They have posted five tracks from their upcoming full length, The Shepherd’s Ocean, on their myspace (and a lot more) for your listening pleasure.
Sole is one of those artists that I can credit with turning me on to hip hop, but I unfortunately haven’t been following him that closely in recent years. Bottles of Humans, Sole’s debut, is possibly my favorite hip hop album ever, but in recent years he picked up a backing band…the Skyrider Band. As expected this new track has what I remember best about Sole…his lyrics. This particular track was remixed by Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow, and adds a touch that I didn’t expect to hear in a hip hop track, even with a live band…Tobacco successfully gives Sole a synthy psychedelic touch…not overwhelming, but enough to make the track unique and still let Sole shine. Either way it was enough to make me seek out the EP, and check out the new full length.
Big Troubles? The initial information about this group only pointed to good things…from Ridgewood, NJ…associated with Underwater Peoples…and now I read that they have a 7″ and an LP coming out on Olde English Spelling Bee, another 7″ on Blackburn, a split with Fluffy Lumbers scheduled for Transparent, and will also be on the Underwater Peeps Winter compilation. Musically Big Troubles has a bit of the fuzzy beachy surfiness you would expect hailing from this New Jersey crew, but unlike the rest portrays an almost authentic 80′s vibe on the track “Freudian Slips.” This track got me hooked, and so far Underwater Peeps and OESB can do no wrong…can’t wait to hear the LP…only good things can come from these guys. Keep an eye on the record labels listed above for ordering info (and from the looks of it…I’ll be writing about some of these releases in the future).
This is it for Speed Dating Vol. One, but I hope to have another edition up next week. I’m really looking forward to this new segment on the Great Pumpkin, and I feel like I will be able to cover some bands that I have been meaning to talk about for a long time. Cheers, Tom.
the white lodge is a photography collaboration between klk and myself. We specialize in analog photography using both 35mm and medium format film. Please check out our flickr.
i occasionally post mp3s and videos on this blog for the sole purpose of promoting artists that I believe deserve attention. all songs are for sampling purposes only, if you like it there will be a link to buy music from the artist (or tour dates...go see them!). if by chance I post an mp3 or video with audio that you own, and you would like me to take it down please let me know. you can reach me at:
(tom at gprecs.com)
in this instance i am very sorry.
it's a slippery slope. RT: @mattlemay: This whole "hit the 'like' button to access this content" thing on Facebook is incredibly obnoxious.about 14 hours agofrom Echofon
