Stone Temple Pilots Still Rock to the Core!

Stone Temple Pilots, Fillmore Audotorium, Denver, 10/13/09 (live show review)

You know what makes a STP show so damn exhilarating?! It's because every time you see them it's like you we're the first one at the Pub, and you loaded the juke-box with all your favorite music before anyone else had a chance to. It is classic after classic song, stirring the emotions you get from a good, no, great melody, coupled with the feelings of nostalgia you get from realizing you are listening to the same band that made you love music this much when you were a young buck. May I make a motion to replace "Livin' on a Prayer" with STP's "Plush" as most all time rockin' karaoke and end-all bar sing along? We can do it people!

All-star front man and top notch character Scott Weiland come to the stage with a presence that begs, "I dare you to fuck with me." Bobbing side to side with the intensity of a tennis player awaiting his opponents serve, Weiland staggers around stage absolutely owning it as the band tears through a set of phenomenal tracks that include: Wicked Garden, Vaseline and Interstate Love Song. Twirling as if on a solo merry-go-round, Weiland moves between band-mates the brothers DeLeo (without whom this amazing music would not be complete).

If you imagine Stone Temple Pilots as a concrete sidewalk, cracking and torn apart from years of use (bare with me I DO have a point), the massive chunks remaining that you skip between to avoid falling in the cracks are hits like "Plush" and "Big Empty," but it is the music that slips into the cracks that you can really cherish about this band. The putty that makes the sidewalk whole again, as timeless as a broken wristwatch. As the band meanders through these chunky hits which gave them their name and recognition, they also stop to fill the gaps with songs like the Beatlesesque "Lady Picture Show," and "Crackerman" where Weiland dons a megaphone in the chorus, a signature move as iconic as Hendrix playing solos with his teeth. And as for the smoothed out "Sour Girl" well, this is the only band that I've seen pull off a light display of falling rose petals to a song and actually make it look cool.

This was the second time in under a year I have caught this act live, the first being just as memory-forging as this one and thus proving that it is not a fluke for this group to pull off a stellar show. They come with the lights, the attitude and of course the music to kill it every time, and they do it with a firm conviction that they know they deserve your attention.

As a favor to the child that still lives inside you, at least pick up a copy of the band's greatest hit's album Thank You, and give it a whirl. The nostalgia will knock you flat, and you don't have to thank me when you rediscover one of the band's that started it all.

Sincerely Dead and Bloated,

Chip

Toi, Moi, Nous!

I have discovered that if there is any place the rain is more acceptable to your environment than Seattle, it is Paris. Creating an environment of warmth that contradicts the air so crisp, your breath says "Bonjour!" in a visible puff with every word. Amidst a sea of designer umbrellas and children far too fashionable for their own good, I have found myself in love with a new city. Drenched in passion and a little bit of Kronenbourg, we have meandered the streets of this fair city, finding ourselves lost and mingling with local students and artists; listening to music the words of which we do not know. Every day seems a dream come true. The chore will be maintaining these romantic emotions upon our return home.



I sit here, wreaking of A & D ointment from a freshly inked tattoo, an admittance of love for my new wife, my new life. I could not find more happiness with a magnifying glass. The more we wander the cobblestone sidewalks, the more we get lost, the more we find in each other; and above all this is true: I am here with my best friend. My lover. True to myself this time would not be complete without a good soundtrack to the little life we've established here. So to stay consistent with my entries, and to inform the seven of you who actually read chipspicks, here is the music I am obsessed with as of late. I am going to keep this rather brief in a "microblog" fashion a la twitter. After all, I have a better half to pay attention to, but go buy these now:



Halloween Alaska: Champagne Downtown (www.myspace.com/halloweenalaska)
Ambient rock at its finest, this Minnesota group has made a new art out of creating gratuitous rhymes like "the end is near/so you steal a cue-card from the token queer ". Subtly poppy in it's melodies, this album is truly a fantastic soundtrack for walking in the rain, preferably in Paris, but your backyard will do just fine. Key tracks: Hot Pink, In Order, Champagne Downtown

Stars of Track and Field: Centuries Before Love and War (http://www.myspace.com/starsoftrackandfield)
This is an older album that I have been paying more attention to lately. SOTAF are big on their delivery and aside from their name making them sound like the jocks you spent your life hating but secretly admiring in high school, this group is superb at paying off their build-ups. Every chorus releases the tension like a lucky kid on prom night (did I just go too far?). This is an album to listen to in its entirety every time, and always sounds good while sipping coffee. It's again more on the ambient side, but apparently that's what I beckon for at the moment.

My appreciation goes out to you for checking up on us. Despite the expressed concerns of some of my colleagues, there is more to blog about while on your honeymoon than just bedroom shenanigans. But not much more. Now I know I've gone to far. C'est la vie! Life's too short to beat around the bush (what a killer pun). I have to go now. The school across the street is getting out and I have to go watch the children to pick up some new fashion tips. Here's a tip ladies: high boots and scarves are in like Flynn this season. Guys: don't even bother.

That is all! Gotta go dance on Jim Morrison's grave like the ugly American he wanted me to be!

Au revoir!

Excuse me? Your Passion Pit Is Showing...

Passion Pit, Manners

I don't know what a "Passion Pit" is, but I-eee Like it!  There is something infectious about this East Coast outfit.  Maybe it's their singalong choruses, or their melodies that etch into your brain like its granite, or maybe its the elementary school choir they use as an unofficial sixth member of the band!  Whatever it is, the first time I heard Passion Pit my reaction was purely primal.  All I could do was dance and beat my fist in the air in rejoice, for I had fallen in love with music all over again!   

The track "Little Secrets" opens with such an all-out danceable melody that you'd have to be dead to not move your hips to it.  Match that introduction with a vocal melody that acts like crystal meth (one time and you're hooked!) and you have a purely enjoyable, fun-listening song.  "Moth's Wings" brings in a display of the band's instrumentation skills.  Piano driven and a large chorus, the song is worthy of a stadium of singing fans.  "Sleepyhead" delivers more of the electro-infectiousness that will make this band big (if they're not careful Kanye West will try to steal this beat from them).  Lead singer Michael Angelakos delivers more of his soon-to-be-signature falsetto fringe, alongside more sensational synth melodies.

My itunes download of this album only set me back about ten bucks, and I honestly feel like I stole from the band.  In the coming year I think we are going to hear a lot more about Passion Pit.  I can see them uniting us all in dance at their shows as the audience progressively gets larger and larger.  So let your Passion Pit hang out...or be free...or whatever a Passion Pit does, because it's good.  Real good. 

To get in to the album: listen to "Little Secrets" in a car full of crowded people on your way home from the club, your arms hanging loose out the window like spaghetti, and let the music take you over.

Key Tracks: "Little Secrets", "Moth's Wings", "Sleepyhead", "The Reeling", ....Oh hell just pony up and buy the album!

They Don't Know, But I Do!

Dredg, I Don't Know (single)
When I played this new single from the upcoming Dredg album for my dog Winston, he had the right reaction: rolled over, eyes up to the ceiling, and play dead. The song hits you with the intensity of a grizzly bear, and the only good reaction to it is to feign death and take what's coming to you.
This song grabs you with its catchy hooks, massive melodies and insightful lyrics. At the climax singer Gavin Hayes recites "I don't know if I'll go somewhere special when I die/so I'll just go on living my way," in an epic ode to the unknown, and you can't help but appreciate the Zenfully influenced ponderings that thread the song.
The new album, The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion, is set for a June 9 release. Let me publicly state that i am NOT down with the few leaks of the album I've seen online. This band is hard working and deserve a good release. So quit stealing their music and go pick up the single "I Don't Know" on iTunes for .99 cents ya cheap bastards! It's worth a buck. And If you haven't picked up any of Dredg's previous material yet, each album is amazing in its own right: Leitmotif, El Cielo and Catch Without Arms.

Key Track: "I Don't Know" streaming on http://myspace.com/dredg and available at iTunes now!

Empire for the Masses

Empire of the Sun, Walking on a Dream
Following the current trend in Electro/Indie Pop-Rock, I present you with Empire of the Sun and their debut album Walking on a Dream. If you can, try to imagine MGMT on a month long ecstacy binder and you'll come close to imagining this Australian duo. With over the top imagery that is matched by their insanely poppy brand of electro pop music, Empire of the Sun looks like they stepped right out of sci-fi flic and into the musical spotlight.
"Standing on the Shore" is the opening track on the album, and introduces you to the Empire with a guitar riff of epic potential. The band likes their chanting choruses almost as much as their spacey lyrics. The title track "Walking on a Dream" is a dancefloor grind waiting to happen, with lyrics that express "running for the thrill of it" in such a way it'll make you think about abandoning your job for the sake of just dancing.
The album has gone platinum in their homeland of Australia, and it's easy to see why. Full of catchy hooks and creativity. Singer Luke Steele has a unique vocal performance on the album, sounding a bit like he's singing with his mouth only open enough to let the words escape. I personally can't put aside the comparison of Empire to the boys of MGMT, but as long as they list them as an inspiration I'm fine with it!
To get into the album I suggest you listen to "Walking on a Dream" on a crowded dance floor, grab the nearest set of hips to you and dance, just dance. Dance like you'll die tomorrow.

Key tracks: "Standing on the Shore", "Walking on a Dream"

There's a Silversun on the Horizon

Silversun Pickups, Swoon
"There's No Secrets This Year" is the track that opens the new album from the Silversun Pickups, and if you ask me what the secret we aren't keeping is, it's the success the band is going to have off of their sophomore release.
I see big things on the horizon for this band.
The Pickups have maintained the ability to make beauty out of noise that was so present on their fist album Carnavas, but on Swoon they have applied a much needed maturity to their work. The first single "Panic Switch" is a gleaming example of the band's mainstream potential. The song opens with a crunchy (and yes, Smashing Pumpkinsesque) guitar tone that sets the tension of a well crafted verse, building towards a chorus of such melody that it could melt your brain! Once you have pieced your mind back together from that, listen on...
"Draining" is a spacey, trippy track that allows your jets to cool from your last melody meltdown, and "Sort Of" picks up the tempo and tention again as a friendly reminder that the album is only half done.
There are plenty of nods-to-the-Ninties tracks on this album, sounding more like a work produced in 1998 than 2008, but using their construction of noise to their advantage the Silversun Pickups have really created something fresh for todays airwaves, and I expect them to benefit from that. To get you in to the album, my suggestion is to listen to "Growing Old is Getting Old" with headphones on, uninterrupted, observing the band's well-exercised methods of tension and release, and a chorus melody so fine that you would sell your own sister to have written it yourself (sorry Kate and Caroline).

Key Tracks: "Panic Switch", "Growing Old is Getting Old"