Category Archives: Indie

Those Darlins Made My Day

Before I even begin this blog, props need to go to my good pal Matt at Addicted To Vinyl for his assistance in helping me through rather vulgar texts on some mp3 help…  Thanks jerk.

I had one of those days today.  It was a bad day at work.  It was just too much for me and I really wish I had a special remote control to help fast forward through all the BS.  Unfortunately I do not so I had to go through my work day at a regular speed hating stressful moments.

Those Darlins indeed...
Those Darlins indeed...

Finally getting home I just needed some chill time and what better way to do that than to geek out on the laptop.  I checked my emails and one in particular grabbed my attention.  It was an email inviting me to check out a band called Those Darlins who are currently touring with Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys).  Having never heard of them and being a huge Black Keys fan I decided it could not hurt to listen to the attached MP3.

What I heard completely changed my entire day and I am not just saying that.  After hearing the song “Wild One” I just felt better.  It was a fun folky honest song of sorts and something I really needed to brighten up my day.

So who are these three darlins I speak of? Those Darlins are a folk/country/indie/punk/appalachian/blue grass (hope I did not miss anything) band featuring Kelley Darlin on bass, Jessi Darlin, on guitar, and Nikki Darlin on, get this, baritone ukulele.  Awesome.

The trio currently resides in the college town of Murfreesboro, TN a city that rests somewhere between the country capital of the world Nashville and the Woodstock replacing town of Manchester, the city Bonnaroo is held in.  Taking their love of playing music and love for a variety of bands of all genres Those Darlins created their own style of music and released the sassy Wild One EP.

Before I even continue you should just click on the link for the song and listen to it for yourself…

Download This! – Those Darlins – “Wild One”

With one song not enough of a sample I headed to their MySpace page to check out a few more tracks.  The vocals on some of the tunes reminded me of a female version of Hank III as well as a twangy Jenny Lewis or even Zooey Deschanel.  The music is classic at times and all around enjoyable.

I have a feeling these three cuties and their mustache sporting drummer really will be going places with their unique and chipper sound.  To make things even better, I just found out that Those Darlins are coming to the Beachland Ballroom next week.  I have to go see them in person and I think I will.  Look for an update next week.

-To pick up the EP for just $5.00, or to purchase some of their self-made merchandise visit their site at:

www.thosedarlins.com

Until then check this video out…

Ben Folds Your Clothes

The other day I left a FaceBook comment for my non-manual vehicle driving pal Matt.  He had tweeted (yes, tweeted on Twitter) that he was listening to Ben Folds.  I thought I would be witty and clever and posted the following:

Ben Folds is watching you...
Ben Folds is watching you...

“Ben Folds Your Clothes”

 

 The statement was funny and bold.  I am sure Matt got a laugh out of it or cried himself a bit that night to sleep.  Regardless I chalked one up on the board for being funny.

Today he tweets that Ben Folds is playing in Lakewood, OH on 3/22…

Coincidence?  Hell yes it is.  I am sure Ben Folds was looking at both of our FaceBook pages this morning and thought to himself “man I really need to visit these two lame-o’s…maybe I’ll play a show in Lakewood.”

Good idea Ben Folds…  Thanks for extending your tour to the cool city of Lakewood on a Sunday.  I have got to find tickets for this.

-Check out the tour dates on Ben Folds’ website. (note, I am not seeing that Lakewood date but I know Matt would not lie about this…)

-Did you know another Ben Folds CD was released?  It is called Stems & Seeds and Amazon.com has is for a nice price.  I am very interested to hear the remixes as I was not a huge fan of Way To Normal.

More Bonnaroo 2009 Bands Confirmed

I have to say that Bonnaroo 2009 is looking pretty good this year. Tickets go on sale this Friday and I already envision a sellout with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street band performing as well as Phish (2 shows mean major hippie joy). I am more excited to see Coheed & Cambria, the Beastie Boys, NIN, Andrew Bird, Wilco, Elvis Costello, Down (seriously???), and Jenny Lewis.

Here’s the current line up taken from Bonnaroo.com:

Tickets go on sale this Friday.  They will run you about $224.50 at first and then will escalate to $249.50 after the early tickets sellout.  Pricey, indeed, but this year Bonnaroo is making it easier for you to go as they have introduced a payment plan.  Call it a rock layaway of sorts…  Here is some info on that:

BONNAROO 2009 TICKETS ON SALE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2009 AT 12:00 PM EASTERN. PURCHASE PAYMENT PLAN TICKETS.

GA PAYMENT PLAN
General admission tickets will also be available for (5) payments of $50.00 plus applicable fees through our payment plan.

Payment plan ticket fees are $28.90 per ticket, which includes a $6.00 facility fee, $3.00 contribution to Coffee County, $1.00 charity donation, and $5.00 payment plan fee ($1.00 per payment), and service fees.

There is a limit of (10) general admission payment plan tickets per order.

GA Payment Plan Schedule*
Payment 1    $90.90 including all fees    DATE OF PURCHASE
Payment 2    $50.00                                Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Payment 3    $50.00                                Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Payment 4    $50.00                                Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Payment 5    $50.00                                Tuesday, May 19, 2009
*For each GA ticket purchased starting on Saturday, February 7, 2009.

That is a great idea if you ask me. Everyone these days are hard on cash so this payment plan will pull in those folk who may now have been able to dish out all the loot at once.  Keep in mind though that if you do the payment plan and miss just one payment, Bonnaroo will keep the ticket, keep your money, and still bill you for the balance.  I knew there was a catch to this.  Always make sure you read the fine print or in this case the part that says “IMPORTANT“:

IMPORTANT: If, for any reason, any of your payments are declined, in whole or in part, then all of the following will apply: (i) your order and your tickets will be canceled (ii) any payment received as of that date will be kept by Bonnaroo as partial offset for your default, (iii) you will still owe the balance of the full amount due for each ticket and you authorize Musictoday and Bonnaroo to charge your credit card for any balance due, (iv) Musictoday and Bonnaroo will be entitled to pursue all of their legal and equitable remedies to recover the full payment from you, and (v) you agree to pay all costs of collection incurred by Musictoday or Bonnaroo, including legal fees, that they may incur in collecting the balance of each ticket price. Payment plan tickets are subject to all of the other terms of the ticketing agreement.

I can only afford one festival this year.  That is my limit.  So far Bonnaroo is winning me over.  One thing about Bonnroo that deters me though is the camping.  I don’t camp anymore.  I especially do not camp with 80,000 other people with camps set up as far as 3 miles from the venue.

I went to Bonnaroo in 2006.  We stated in a dump hotel but it the the best thing we could do.  We could come and go when we wanted to as we were not jammed into to the camping area like sardines.  Trust me, once you park your car and set up camp you are done.  There was hardly any traffic movement during the whole weekend as if you camped you were stuck.

No showers, no air conditioning, no running water… yeah I am too old for that these days…  I can rock it at an all day long summer festival no problem, but at the end of the day I need a bed with some A/C cranking after a shower.

Just look at the picture below.  The lower half of the picture is the festival grounds.  The top half is the camping community.  There is also an equal portion of the camping community behind the festival grounds too.  Honesty it is an incredible site…

Aerial shot by Taylor Crothers
Aerial shot by Taylor Crothers

With tickets on sale at the end of the week I am really wishing the Virgin Festival line up would release so I can figure out which way I am headed this summer…  I lean towards the Virgin Festival mostly because I have been to all of them so far so why ruin a tradition?  This Bonnaroo line up though has me very interested…

To be continued…

Nobunny – Love Visions – CD Review

Nobunny
Nobunny

Chances are if you were to pick up a CD and see a Ramones looking cover with a guy wearing a bunny mask dressed like Joey Ramone, you would put it back down and continue with life.  In the case of solo act Nobunny, I almost did the very same thing.  In fact I have had the CD for a few weeks now and could not for the life of me force myself into playing it; that is until today.  Today was like any other day except I finally put Love Visions into my CD player and what I got out of it was a complete surprise.

What is Nobunny you ask?  Nobunny is a man of sorts, a jokester performer who is more of a modern day GG Allen. A gimmick act who sounds a lot like a mix between the Dead Milkmen and the Ramones, all while sporting  a bunny mask.  His live shows are for the less timid mostly because the masked Nobunny loses his pants during performances after drowning himself in booze and sings into a microphone that looks like a carrot.  The result of his actions, on top of his music, however have won over an elaborate array of fans.  This is Nobunny’s first CD release thanks to 1234 Go Records.

Not much is publicly known about the man behind the mask or the band that backs him up.  The only known fact about Nobunny is that he is from Tucson.  From there it is said that he was living in a trailer with no utilities and came to realize he wanted to be an Animal Elvis impersonator to help pay the bills.  Soon thereafter Nobunny was writing his own material and booked his first show in Chicago on Easter Sunday in 2001.  The set was in fact dedicated to Joey Ramone, who had actually died that day.

Nobunny has been known for his shenanigans while touring.  He once booked two shows on the same day, at the same time, and had a fill in for the show he did not perform.  Sometimes he doesn’t even show up to the venue at all leaving fans with a not so funny feeling.  Nobunny even mentioned receiving a gift while on stage at Cleveland’s Tower 2012, but you will have to read the interview to find out that gift.  You would not think that someone who acted like this would have fans, but the truth is a lot of folk like him and have paid outrageous amounts of money to acquire his Love Visions record on Ebay.

With knowing what Nobunny is all about I finally checked out Love Visions.  As soon as “Nobunny Starts” played I could not decide what I liked about it except that it was a direct rip off of a classic song from the past that I can not for the life of me grasp the title.  I only imagine Junior Senior while listening to it and realize it is only a gimmick.

The second “I Know I Know” started I realize I was hooked.  I am reminded of classic punk rock from the 70s like Iggy & The Stooges.  “Mess Me Up” started mixing that said 70’s punk with good, garage rock fun for a great sing along of sorts.  I loved the guitar and simple drums and the baritone “Bo bo bo bo” at the end. 

“I Am A Girlfriend” is a clear imitation of The Ramones and I loved it as well as the following “Tina Goes To Work”.  Perhaps one of the more memorable songs “Chuck Berry Holiday” had me thinking at times of the Rolling Stones in the earlier years.  The song was a continuing surprise to my ears as I moved through.  “Boneyard” was a track that stood out above the rest with a drum machine sounding beat backing up some easy going distorted guitars.  It almost sounds like a White Stripes b-side with a twist.

Ending the CD is the DIY sounding “Not That Good”.  I sure hope the song was not how he felt about his debut because I would have to disagree.  I enjoyed the simple punk rock entertainment throughout.  The CD is not solid by any means and the songs are short and sweet, possibly aiding in the appeal to the act. 

Having not heard of Nobunny before and reading a very short bio on him I was not expecting much of anything when I initially put the disc in.  I was guessing what I was about to hear was going to be either too artsy for a simple guy like me to understand or just downright ugly.  I was wrong.  I was dead wrong.

Indie rock, punk rock, and even a little garage rock, it’s all there in Love Visions.  Even if the guy wears a mask that is sure to scare the hell out of small children he should not be underestimated and will be heard.  His live performances are to be left determined as I have not had the opportunity to see Nobunny in the flesh yet but I did notice on his MySpace page that he will be playing at the SXSW this spring in Austin, TX. 

Catch him live if you dare as I have heard good and bad things about him.  The bad outweighs the good of course mostly because by the time Nobunny has finished he is hammered and pants-less which may not be appealing to all viewers.  The good thing is that regardless how he presents his act, solo or with a touring band, he is there to entertain, bunny mask and all.

Here are a couple of videos I found of Nobunny…  Try not to be too scared.