NYC band Murder Mystery are back with a new single entitled “The World” that is a nice mellow tune that draws on the best of the Psychedelic Furs, The Cure and the Strokes. Above all the chiming guitars and pulsing synth is vocalist Jeremy Coleman’s charming vocals and lyrics. If you’re starving for some new Strokes material, this will definitely hold you over.
January 13, 2009
New Murder Mystery Song
January 2, 2009
Exclusive! 10 Questions with Steve Schiltz of Longwave!
10 Questions with Steve Schiltz of Longwave
By: Aaron Z. Lee
I was planning to see NYC indie rock band Longwave at the Mohawk in Buffalo, but in true crappy Central New York weather tradition the show was postponed to the spring due to a huge lake effect storm, but I still got a chance catch up with Longwave’s modest frontman Steve Schiltz and discuss a few things including their current tour and electrifying new album that was #3 on my best of 2008 list.
1.Your new album sounds great. Do you think that RCA is kicking themselves for dropping you?
I don’t know. Probably not yet. give us time.
2. There are a lot of songs about being lonely or reaching out to friends on Secrets Are Sinister. I know you guys wrote the album while you were unsigned, did it feel like the end of the road?
Sure, a little bit. The record deal didn’t really have a lot to with it, though. If the band wasn’t going to make a new record it wouldn’t have been because of RCA dropping us, it would have been because we were tired of it. We always thought we could get another record deal somehow. We just had to see if we still WANTED to do it.
3. There’s a noticeably more aggressive sound to this record, with you guys even incorporating some guitar solos into the songs, how did this come about?
There were always guitar solos here and there, and most of the time they were me. Shannon would always say I should do more. I went out on tour for a while with some other bands and I got into playing my guitar more, so I was ready to do it. I wanted the guitars to be important on this record. I had a lot of ideas about what I wanted to do with the sounds, especially with the distortion and fuzz sounds.
4. On There’s a Fire, you and Shannon Ferguson wrote the bass parts and assigned the keyboard parts to new members. Is that how it worked out on Secrets are Sinister?
The record was mostly made by Shannon, Jason, and I. So it was kind of like you are saying, except Morgan did join the band towards the end of the recording. Paul and Jeff, who toured with us on there’s a fire, also played on a song or two. We used some recordings we had done at that time, and they had done a good job, so why not?
5. You guys did most of the work on this album yourselves, how does that compare to the past records you’ve worked on?
We have always been very involved. Shannon and I especially. And every record has had some kind of home/demo recording end up making it to the end. This time we just did MORE of it. It is not the first time we have done it, Shannon recorded our first indie record, “Endsongs”. And we had our friend Pete min mix it. Pete recorded some of THIS record too.
6. Does touring with a new album after so much uncertainty feel like a victory?
YES!
7. How have the crowds been reacting to the new songs in general?
So far so good. I write 12 or 13 song set lists, and people generally shout out a few they want to hear. If we know them, we play them. If we do an encore, we generally end at about 16 or 17 songs. So that is nice. I still write the set lists kinda short in case it feels like the show is going badly…
8. You’re originally from the Rochester, NY area, is there anything about that area that inspired you to go into the music business?
Our drummer Jason is also from Rochester! And I am IN Rochester for the holidays right now! I only knew that I couldn’t stay in Rochester and play music the way I wanted. The guys I wanted to meet just weren’t there. There were people, like Tony Gross at GFI, John Nau who still repairs my amps, the house of guitars guys, and guys in exploding boy, officer friendly, and the dizzy monk guys, who I learned so much from. It was just that after a few years I knew I needed to go to New York. Ironically, Dave Fridmann is from close by. Dave is amazing. There are great people in/near Rochester, I suppose learning from them made me want to keep going. that meant going to New York.
9. Your new album is being released by the Original Signal indie label, how did you guys get hooked up with them?
Our A&R guy now worked on “there’s a fire” at a different company. People shuffle around, and he wound up at this label and they seemed like they really wanted to do it, and wanted to work hard, so here we are!
10. You guys have toured extensively in the past with lots of bands including Spoon, The Strokes, Kasabian and the National. Since it’s the holiday season, do you guys have any great holiday or snow related memories from touring?
Not GREAT memories!! Hmm……I remember rushing to Boston in the snow once to play some NEMO festival or something. I was still booking the band, this was around the time of our first record. Before RCA. Anyhow I booked this show and someone had given me the hard sell, it was big deal, label people there, lots of BS, etc etc. We wound up in a snow storm, and thought we were surely going to miss it. Our drummer Jeremy got behind the wheel and Shannon guided him through all kinds of tricky traffic maneuvers. We somehow made record time! We pulled up 10 minutes before our set time, and the band before us was just playing their last song! We had made it! We loaded our gear down the stairs in the freezing cold, into the middle east downstairs. We parked the van, started setting up the amps, we couldn’t believe how lucky we were. We were awesome! Then we looked out into the crowd. There was no one there. I think that sums up something for us.
Thanks for doing this interview and hopefully I’ll get to see you guys in Buffalo next year!
Thanks for writing about us, Aaron! Come and say hi at the show.
December 24, 2008
AZLTRON Top 30 Albums of 2008 (10-1)
This year has been a surprising one for music. After last year I thought to myself, “How could this year possibly be better than last year for music?” And you know what? Album after album I was shocked, no musical lull in sight. Nothing but quality as far as the eye could see. Well, quality in terms of the albums I was looking for. In particular, bands that released somewhat unimpressive sophomore albums came back this year with some intense and riveting releases. Bloc Party, The Stills, The Killers, and Longwave all regrouped and recalibrated to create releases that will please initial fans as well as fans of their new directions.
Without further ado I bring you the AZLTRON Top 10 Albums of 2008.
10. The Notwist – The Devil, You & Me
The Notwist released their first album since their 2002 stylistic breakthrough Neon Golden this year. This album features a more linear song structure, less blips and clicks, and it is all the better for it. The best songs are built off of acoustic guitar chords and Marc Acher’s saccharine voice. Added into the mix occasionally are emotionally charged tremolo strings and minor key flourishes. A listen to the album from beginning to end runs a full emotional gamut from uncertainty, to sadness, to elation. The Notwist have done it again.
9. M83 – Saturdays = Youth
M83 came back this year in a big way. Anthony Gonzalez continues to plug away after the departure of Nicolas Fromageau and the towering sound of M83 has never been more accessible. Emotionally charged piano instrumentals to full on 80′s pop songs surge and percolate throughout the entire album. If there is a director out there trying to ellicit intense emotion from viewers using only music, there’s not an album out there that can reduce a listener to tears and then convert those tears to joy by the end of the album.
8. Boo Hoo – Hypermarché
Boohoo has crafted an album that combines two of my favorite genres, delicate indie pop as well as touching electro pop. Normally you’d think that bleeps and blips next to glockenspiel and acoustic guitar and heavenly melodies wouldn’t normally work. Normally, you’d be right. Boohoo combines them together in such a way where it makes sense somehow that solo acoustic guitar song should come right after an electro twee jam. It’s a further testament to the album that the topics of the songs revolve around television shows, tabloid magazines, and of course grocery stores. Fans of Peter Bjorn & John and Jens Lekman will find a lot to love here.
Boo Hoo Myspace
7. The Killers – Day & Age
The Killers hung up their Vegas suits and synths and grew moustaches. Their music morphed into christian country tinged post punk imitations of Bruce Springsteen in an attempt to prove that they weren’t a one trick pony at the new wave revival ranch. They accomplished this mission with their sophomore release Sam’s Town and even unleashed an epic single to rival anything they’ve done in When You Were Young. But where were the sleek synths and dance rhythms that drew so many people into their music in 2004? They were present, but with about a pound of sawdust draped over them. On Day & Age, they haven’t abandoned their new found dusty direction, but they’ve enhanced it with everything that they know they do well with a pinch of a spicy something new. Now, not only huge guitars, smooth synths, and dancebeats mark the album but saxophone and steel drums make an appearance as well. The Killers have reabsorbed their best influences and show of some new influences to make an album that is undoubtedly all killer and no filler.
6. Mason Proper – Olly Olly Oxen Free
Mason Proper had a busy year this year; releasing not only their Shorthand EP, Jonathan Visger’s North South EP, but also a brand new full length entitled Olly Olly Oxen Free. The first song The Fog is a great rallying point for the rest of the album because it seems as if all the musical elements in this release are floating around in the atmosphere as a phosphorescent gas that they’ve somehow managed to capture and contain in a magical cauldron of musical goodness. Every element in their songs seems buoyant somehow, guitar riffs ring in the air and the vocals increase the precarious altitude of each song like helium in an untied balloon. Like riding in a glass elevator, Olly Olly Oxen Free is meticulous, utilitarian and spine tingling. Look down all you like.
Mason Proper – Point A to Point B
5. David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Where else are you going to find two artists who are not only veterans of popular music but legends in thier own right, who continue to redefine the boundaries of what their music entails? Nowhere. David Byrne and Brian Eno have crafted a masterpiece here. Christening this new work as electric gospel. The term fits perfectly, the work here is largely uplifting major chords and David Byrne somehow manages to create an uplifting message out of lyrics like “I heard the sound of someone laughing, I saw my neighbor’s car explode”. Rife with bass percolation, soothing harmonies, and clever lyrics, you’ll be hard pressed to find an album this diverse that can please so many people.
Everything that Happens Will Happen Today Official Site
4. Walter Meego – Voyager
Walter Meego’s Voyager is a cornucopia of electronic pop goodness. The first track Forever acts as the guy who starts the wave at a big stadium concert. It makes a big feel good splash that carries through till the end of the album. Justin Sconza’s helium tinged vocals accent perfectly the heavily phased bass processed synths. This album feels good to listen to. This isn’t just a feel good party starter, undoubtedly if you’re looking to get a party started you won’t find a better primer than Walter meego but, just as much attention is paid to the atmosphere and melodies as it is to beats. I’ll leave you with this: listen to Keyhole, it will blow your mind.
3. Longwave – Secrets Are Sinister
Longwave came back in a big way this year. Longwave was previously dropped from RCA after the departure of two of their band members. Even when they were unsigned and the future of the band was uncertain, Steve Schiltz and company strove to continue recording and playing. The Indie Label Original Signal
intelligently picked up Longwave and put out their latest album Secrets are Sinister which is such an incredible return to form you have to hear it to believe it. All the shoegaze elements from The Strangest Things are not only present, they are turned up to eleven. The guitars soar, the bass grinds with foundation shaking ferocity and Schiltz’s uplifting lyrics in the face of certain doom and gloom makes this one of the best releases of 2008.
2. Thieves Like Us – Play Music
Few artists these days can transport you to other worlds through just a few notes. Thieves Like Us does just that. We as the listeners are transported, after just a few finely produced arpeggio notes, into a world of not only late night debauchery and good times but also a land of neon grids and nobility. There is a majesty to the way that the electronic elements combine here. The synths just don’t play over the beats. They crash over them like waves on a rocky shore. The songs play out like an epic play. At times the beats kick in with reckless abandon, but the song after will masterfully describe the cost of living that way. The persistent bass throbs like a hangover after a heavy night of drinking or it pounds in your mind like a guilty conscience. It’s the songs that come after the more heady dramatic ones that stand out though, the songs of reconciliation, of coming to terms with what has transpired and making the best of it. These songs make Play Music an intensely emotional album and a collection of songs that I would be proud to have score the soundtrack of my life.
1. The Faint – Fasciinatiion
It’s been four long years since The Faint released a new full length album. But, luckily as soon as the bass on Get Seduced kicks in, you know the Faint are back and we are in for a treat. Todd Fink’s astute observational lyricism is this time directed at all kinds of sociological structures. From tabloids to religion, to the origin of the universe, to arguments with others and even arguments within yourself. Whenever I describe The Faint to people who have no idea what electronic/indie/punk is, I always say that their songs are very direct, very confrontational but also extremely intelligent, and Fasciinatiion has undoubtedly solidified that notion inside my skull. The Faint pick up right where they left off with Wet From Birth and without warning surge into uncharted territory like the rap-esque Fulcrum And Lever, to the razor sharp ballad Fish in a Womb. Every note of Fasciinatiion has been looked over, every effect finely tuned after endless tweaking. The album is wrapped in a warm blanket of sonic experimentation that will make it a gem for decades to come.
The Faint – Machine in the Ghost
For More Top Albums of 2008 Click Below
November 15, 2008
Wesley the Robot and A Superb Saturday Mix♦
Upon his way to investigating the reason that the power is out across the city, Wesley has a “Human moment”. Maple leaves huh?
The Secret Machines – Underneath the Concrete
Longwave – The Devil & The Liar
The Killers – Human (Armin Van Buuren Remix)
Red Light Company – Scheme Eugene (James Yuill omega 3 Remix)
The Banshee – Colder
The Faint – Mirror Error
October 11, 2008
Longwave’s Forthcoming Album "Secrets Are Sinister" Features huge atmosphere and epic hooks!
Longwave, the Brooklyn, NY based indie rock quartet are set to release their fourth album “Secrets are Sinister” November 11. Their new album features soaring guitar melodies, huge epic atmosphere, grinding bass and Steve Schiltz’s voice ringing louder and clearer than ever before. They were previously dropped from the RCA record label, presumably because of the shake up of the band’s line-up which at the time seemed rather ridiculous because I felt that their “There’s a Fire” album showed incredible potential, even moreso than “The Strangest Things”. The indie label “Original Signal”, intelligently, picked up Longwave and is about to release “Secrets are Sinister”. I suppose the joke’s on RCA now, since this new Longwave endeavor is the loudest, coolest, and most concise Longwave have sounded to date.
Here is their fall tour schedule:
Oct 24 2008 8:00P Bowery Ballroom — w/ Jay Reatard — CMJ Show New York City, New York
Dec 9 2008 8:00P The Casbah (21+) San Diego, California
Dec 10 2008 8:00P The Troubadour West Hollywood, California
Dec 11 2008 8:00P Rickshaw Stop San Fransisco, California
Dec 12 2008 8:00P The Phoenix Theatre Petaluma, California
Dec 13 2008 8:00P Dante’s Portland, Oregon
Dec 14 2008 8:00P Chop Suey Seattle, Washington
Dec 16 2008 8:00P 7th St Entry Minneapolis, Minnesota
Dec 17 2008 8:00P Double Door Chicago, Illinois
Dec 18 2008 8:00P The Pike Room @ The Crofoot Pontiac, Michigan
Dec 19 2008 8:00P Mohawk Place Buffalo, New York
Dec 20 2008 8:00P TBD —- New York City, New York
July 27, 2008
Falcon
There’s something mythic about Brooklyn based band Falcon. It’s not a penchant for face melting solos, mystic robes, or even a rock legend in the band’s line-up. Their concept is mythic.
Falcon is a new band founded by three classmates of a junior high student named Jared Falcon. Jared Falcon was a songwriting prodigy that wrote nearly a song a day from 1986-1988 on a fischerprice tape recorder until he was institutionalized. The band studies the recordings and then fleshes out the musical arrangements to create some stunningly affecting rock songs. Neil Rosens’ boyish vocals add to the stark poignancy of the lyrics. They may have been the compulsive musings of a junior high student but the band gives incredible power to the simplest lyric. If some of the power present sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because the band is powered by the guitarist and drummer of Longwave. With a debut EP of this high a caliber, not only are Falcon making Jared proud, they’re making some really great music too.
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