August 23rd: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at Amoeba Music Hollywood

After being crazy in love with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks' song "Senator" I decided to go see them play for free at one of my favorite places to shop, Amoeba Music in Hollywood. Thanks to my good friend Theo, My friends and I got into the VIP section, which basically means we got to go straight to the front. The band goes on soon after starting with the first track off of their record "Tigers" an almost straight out pop song. They then commence to play songs like "Forever 28" which Stephen called, "A live favorite," (The song never being played before made this comment amusing) They played a few other songs and a clean version of "Senator" where the lyrics are "I know what the senator wants/ What the senator wants is a corndog." The set was good, but I wish it was longer. After their set they did a signing and I crawled back under my rock waiting for new shows to come up.

Buy Mirror Traffic at your local record stores or off the internet!

ALBUM REVIEW: Barry: Yawnin' in the Dawnin'

Here's another one in the folk-rock genre! Yawnin' in the Dawnin' is a superb first release! This record is a very emotional record and it really shows that there are still bands out there who can put out music that you know that they really felt what they were writing. Songs like, "Three Years in Carolina," "Love Something Too Much," and, "Great Unknown," are really powerful tracks with sweet vocal harmonies and the instrumentation backing that up very well. I'd also like to note that there was harmonica on a few tracks which made me really like the band, and the added organs make this record even better. It really feels like a record that came from the south. Its no surprise that this was recorded in a converted barn. I've listened to this record a few times already in the day I've had it. It shows a bright future for the upcoming releases of this band!

You can buy this record on iTunes!

P.S. Thanks to Sean Schrader and Ben Barry at 100% Records for sending me this album for review!