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 Caught in the Carousel "There will be music despite everything"
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The Adventures of Stickboy
1. "I'm Pretty Sure I'm Gay"
2. "Please, Please, Please"
3. "I'm Pretty Sure I Can't Go On Vacation with My Parents Anymore"
4. "Kiss Me on the LRV"
5. "It Just Came to Pieces in My Hands"
6. "I'm Pretty Sure I Want to be a Famous Comic Book Artist"
7. "Brushes with Greatness"
8. "Exterminate the Brutes!"
9. "Kill Cat Stevens"
10. "Strip Club Strip"
11. "O' Come Again, Terrible Summer"
12. "En El Fondo: Pages from an (Anti) Depression"
13. "The $100K Bowl of Shit"
Shawn Brown
The Trews: Canadian Riff Rock With Indie Sprit and a Pimps' Heart
Quit Sellin' Amos Lee Short
Carousel Roundup
February 2011: Have a Heart (It's So Tasty)
November 2010: I See Dead Things
October 2010: I'm Running Away to Join the Circus
September 2010: Almost Strictly Instrumental
August 2010: The Booze Tour
July 2010: Sisters of Mercy
June 2010: Groovy Singer-Songwriters
Composition Breakdown
Brian Vander Ark
Thomas Cooney:
"Another Thing!" (March 2012)
"Another Thing!" (January 2012)
"Another Thing!" (October 2011)
"Another Thing!" (August 2011)
"Another Thing!" (June 2011)
"Another Thing!" (April 2011)
"Another Thing!" (February 2011)
"Another Thing!" (January 2011)
"Another Thing!" (November 2010)
"Another Thing!" (October 2010)
"Another Thing!" (September 2010)
"10 Years of Swing Out Sister's Somewhere Deep In The Night"
"The Twenty-Five Year Seduction: Bryan Ferry’s Boys and Girls"
"Decade in Review"
"The Deep Night Of Day"
The Cyprus Chronicles:
"Life Itself"
A Desert Island Scenario
Risa Nye - Stardust
Katrina Geco:
"Daydreamer's Holiday - The Clarks and the Sounds of Pittsburgh"
Kevin Griffin:
"The Bass Man"
Kelly Haigh:
"Stage Fright at the Railway Club"
New Crush/Old Crush
Vampire Weekend
War Elephant
Theresa Moorehouse
Kaya Oakes' Miscellany:
"Dylan: He's Just Like Us"
Recess
March 2012
The Roberge Report:
"Just for Openers"
"Jay Walter Bennett"
"Closet Classics"
"Urinal Tour Diary; A Week on the Road with the most Punctual and Polite Band in Punk"
"Room #8, Joshua Tree Inn"
Studio Musician Gossip:
"We Need A Public Option Radio Station"
"Make Out/Make Over"
"Re-Make, Re-Model"
Wildflowers
Philip Stevenson on Arthur Doyle
Book Reviews
Amphetamine Heart by Liz Worth
Got No Secrets by Danila Botha
All You Get Is Me, by Yvonne Prinz
Getting in Tune, by Roger Trott
Hew, Screw + Glue: How Stuff is Made, by James Innes-Smith
Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride With Tommy James And The Shondells , by Tommy James
Mingering Mike, by Dori Hadar
New York Dolls, by Bob Gruen
Red Album of Asbury Park, by Alex Austin
Satchmo: The Wonderful World And Art Of Louis Armstrong, by Steven Brower
Stalker Girl, by Rosemary Graham
Stone Roses, by Alex Green
Three Wishes: An Intimate Look At Jazz Greats, by Pannonica de Koenigswarter
The Vinyl Princess by Yvonne Prinz
DVD Reviews
Pet Shop Boys - Pandemonium
Rush - Snakes and Arrows Live
Live Reviews
2011
2011 - The Kills
2011 - Lost Lander
2011 - Bryan Ferry
2011 - Joana and the Wolf
2011 - Jasmine Minks
2011 - Gardens & Villa
2011 - Mike Watt & the Minutemen
2011 - The Royal Bangs
2011 - Dropkick Murphys
2011 - The Decemberists
2010
2010 - English Beat
2010 - Toadies
2010 - Sick Puppies
2010 - Jennie DeVoe
2009
2009 - Forever Young Dylan Tribute
The Meat Puppets
Bob Mould with Juliana Hatfield
Pet Shop Boys
Pixies
Bonnie Whitmore
2008
2008 - The Kooks
The Subways
2007
Big Star
Coachella
English Beat
Sondre Lerche
Placebo
Sonic Youth
Best Of:
Best of 2010
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Gardens and Villa
April 8, 2011
Amnesia Bar, San Francisco, CA
Gardens and Villa, a young band out of Santa Barbara, channels both New Wave and R&B into a vibrant brand of West Coast Indie-Rock. They are about to take the stage.
Vocalist, guitarist, and well…flautist, Chris Lynch, steps to the mic with a telecaster and a woven quiver of flutes slung across his shoulder. Adam Rasmussen curls forward, leaning with anticipation (and possibly the weight of his mustache) into his double-rack of keyboards. Bassist Shane McKillop, plugs into his amplifier, across which he's pasted a larger-than-life portrait of Bad-era Michael Jackson. On the back line, drummer Levi Hayden perches behind his kit and Dusty Ineman stands at the ready over a synth, his drum pad and a cache of small percussion.
They open with the driving groove of "Black Hills," one of the tracks off of their two-song EP. Rasmussen's synthesizer sets up an eighth-note pulse that's picked up by McKillop and Hayden; the three of them double and triple this rhythm throughout the piece, both building up the sound and letting it fall away to reveal Lynch's understated guitar playing and Ineman's bell lines. The opener creates a momentum that's carried through the show, and even when the band cuts songs off with abrupt accuracy, the energy in the club is pushing forward into the next piece.
There's a dynamic combination of musical restraint and release throughout the set, a patient groove and a youthful surge. Hayden pairs both acoustic and triggered drums with a '50s rock beat on "Thorn Castles," keys double flute over pull-off, funk bass on "Orange Blossom," and Lynch carries the chorus of "Star Fire Power" like a torch, cradling notes in his controlled falsetto, bending one pitch into the next. Near the end of the set, they pull off an awesome update of Gary Numan's "Cars."
When it's over, I want more.
Amnesia is a great small venue—good sound, a good selection of beverages—and if you get a chance to check out Gardens and Villa in such an intimate setting, take it. After their self-titled debut drops this summer, it's going to get harder to catch them on a small stage.
Oh, and if you can't wait for the album, their two song EP is available here: http://gardensandvilla.bandcamp.com/
—Michael Sherer
All Photos © Meg Underwood
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