Thursday, January 29, 2009

Review: Halloween Swim Team - The End of the Sky



The first time I heard about Halloween Swim Team I was intrigued by their name. Come to find out they were given their name by Justin of The Locust. He asked them if they had a band and they said yes but they didn't have a name so he suggested two names. One of them was Michael J. Fucks. The other was obviously the one that they went with. Catchy name for catchy music.

After going through several changes in instrumentation and lineup, going from three piece to four piece and back again, they finally solidified a sound which suits them. The End of the Sky is the end result of their labors.

Caveat emptor, this is a great album, but, if you've never seen HST live, may I recommend listening to the CD first before going to see them live. Like dance records (not that this, by any means, is a dance record) has a difficult time portraying it's full potential in digital form. Unfortunately, because I've seen them live, I can't be 100% objective. Yet I must measure it's worth, not upon past experience, but upon the work and the work alone.

The CD opens with Inside/Out TV's Casio-esque drum machine pitter-patter before kicking into the dancy opening verse. The CD takes you on a wooden roller coaster ride, very bumpy and rickety, scary nonetheless, but that's all part of the charm. These synth geeks, whose keyboard arsenal range from the familiar to the virtually unknown, give this band the unique sound that has now become a reference point, for me, when describing the sound of a band. You know how that goes, when someone asks what a particular band sounds like, you take one band and mash it against another and, voila, new band sound! Yet, anyone who tries to do what they do will be privy to the band mash-up describing game. Oh yeah, sure, you can try to compare them to other synth bands like Ladytron or Le Tigre, but to no avail. You're only heaping them together because they use keyboards as the main instrument. HST's sound is all their own and The End of the Sky is their thesis.

Halloween Swim Team - The End of the Sky
Available through Modern Sleeze! Records

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

As I promised...

Here is the interview we did with Kyle Divine of Dusty Rhodes and the River Band. Enjoy.

Interview with Kyle Divine of Dusty Rhodes and the River Band from Sean Burford on Vimeo.

Special thanks to Sean at Phinds.net

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Sufferkaterz!!!

This is the new video from Sufferkaterz. Mic Legg has been around for a while making beats and rhyming, and honestly, his stuff has always been sick. Him and his crew have been a huge influence on the desert scene, bringing in some of the biggest acts in hip hop. It's time that him and his crew got a share of the glory. Check this video out and see what I mean.

the sufukataz | bump the curb | directed by f/22 from ƒ/22 on Vimeo.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

An Interview with Dusty Rhodes and the River Band...

will be up within the week. Our friend Kyle Divine was kind enough to invite us into the studio while recording their next full length. Let me tell you, I'm very excited for the world to hear it just from the little that we got to listen to. Stayed tuned.




Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Thin Air

If you haven't seen it yet, here is Halloween Swim Team's new video for their song "Thin Airlines". They will be playing here in Palm Springs at J Dee's on January 9th at 9pm and the next day at the Echo Curio in Echo Park. If you have never seen them live, it's time you did.

Halloween Swim Team - Thin Airlines from Halloween Swim Team on Vimeo.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Something old and something new, something The Cars did in 1982

The theme to this show reminds me of The Promise Ring song "Make Me a Mixtape". A song that I will probably put on the ones that I make. Either way come to this show. Maybe I'll give you a mixtape even if you don't make one.