Bah.

HUMBUG!

*Links Removed*

_______________________________________________________

So I posted the new arctic monkeys yesterday, I listened to it once, had an opinion, thought that I might have a better one after a second listen but then decided to listen to the rumble strips instead. I'm not into reviewing newly released albums because it's like forcing an opinion on someone before they really get a chance to hear it properly for themselves, like loads of people won't hear rumble strips "welcome to the walk alone" because it got a 4/10 in nme where, for example, wild beasts got 9/10 this week when they just happen to be in with this whole animal name trippy flavour of the month thing. So yes, I shant be reviewing it, I reserve this for live gigs that not everyone had the opportunity to be at. I have an opinion sure but ya know.

Anyway bottom line is I haven't posted much due to work/gigs/illness and any music finding energy I have going towards the indie/rock playlist but I feel like i'm all better now and want to review all the great gigs I've got in august and maybe even a retrospective on truck so I'll get this up and going.

New arctic monkeys single- Crying Lightning

Crying Lightning Listen/Download

Artist of the day- Fight Like Apes

Alright let's get this thing back on track, each day recently i've tweeted my artists of the day and sometimes I remember how refined my taste is.. and so i'm going to expand on them here, give people links to the music and info about them and stuff.































Fight Like Apes

I fell for the music before I even saw how hot the lead singer was! Brunette's with blue eyes I canNOT get enough of, so quit making out like I can yeah!

FLA are from Ireland, front by MayKay Geraghty with synths and keyboards thrown in with all the other usual band stuff. Each song musically has its own journey driven effectively by the keys and bass and the emotion filled wail of MKG, which at times is insane like on battlestations I've never heard a screech like it and i've seen little fish.

Her lyrics and style are part Hole, Giant Drag and something less definable, a little new young pony club with infinately more sex. This band are on the whole refreshing and don't take themselves too seriously and you know I dig random titles, some of theirs- How am I supposed to kill you if you have all the guns?, David Carradine is a bounty hunter whose robotic arms hate your crotch. And the best- You Filled His Head with Fluffy Clouds and Jolly Ranchers, What Did You Think Was Going to Happen?.

..Here's the torrent link to their only album to date..

Check them out and let me know what you're thinking and catch them live because I missed out on them at a festival earlier this year and it doesn't feel good trust me..

Outroversion Returns/Blalocks IRP July

O.K I'm back, I have the internet. For the next month or so I'll try and get things as back on track as poss. I have so much new music to get through so there will be a lot heading your way. Also plenty of gigs and festivals coming up for me- oasis, silversun pickups, birthday massacre, spinnerette, truck, summer sundae and dinosaur jr. I'll be reviewing all those too, so let me know what you've been digging and how much you've missed me so i don't get all dispondent ;)

But first things first-

http://www.mininova.org/tor/2730435

Hey everyone! Was a really great month for new music. So many albums came out and good albums at that.

So I'm sure you guys know I've been mentioning the website quite a bit lately. Well its finally up and everyone should take part in the community!

www.BlalocksIRP.com Make sure you check it out and introduce yourself in the forum. :)

I made this months list an extra large one simply because of that reason. I'm really excited at where this is going.

Also, next month is LOLLAPALOOZA. I will be there! Making a 14 hour roadtrip to enjoy all the great music in Chicago. Would love to meet some of you guys that download the playlist so if any of you happen to be there let me know! I'll make you a mix! :D

As always I'm still trading CD's with the community but I'm a bit behind sending them back. I haven't forgot you guys! I am actually still looking for a house in my town so don't have all my things together. Once I'm done moving I'll have them out soon. I promise! If theres anyone who would like to send me a CD please E-mail me at joshblalock@gmail.com and I'll return the favor! I've received quite a few lately, but no wall as of right now to put them on! Will keep you guys update on BlalocksIRP.com

As always, thanks to:
Agemo for initiall seeding.
Conrad Duncker
Simon at outroversion.blogspot.com
and Totalmilkaholic for making the Album Art!

Enjoy July and until next month!

-Josh

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VA - Blalock's Indie/Rock Playlist: July (2009)
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Artist...............: Various Artists
Album................: Blalock's Indie/Rock Playlist: July (2009)
Genre................: Indie
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 2009
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: LAME
Version..............: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality..............: Extreme, (avg. bitrate: 222kbps)
Channels.............: Joint Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3, APE v2,000
Information..........: www.BlalocksIRP.com

Ripped by............: Blalock on 7/1/2009
Posted by............: Blalock on 7/1/2009
News Server..........: www.last.fm/group/Blalocks+Indie+Rock+Playlist
News Group(s)........:

Included.............: NFO


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tracklisting
---------------------------------------------------------------------

1. (00:00:15) Blalock - www.BlalocksIRP.com
2. (00:03:24) The Sounds - 4 Songs & A Fight
3. (00:04:31) Floating Action - 50 Lashes
4. (00:02:46) Cast Spells - A Badge
5. (00:02:47) Built By Snow - A-Beta
6. (00:03:22) Reverie Sound Revue - Arrows
7. (00:03:24) Golden Silvers - Arrows of Eros (The Shoes Remix)
8. (00:04:06) fun. - At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)
9. (00:03:37) Modest Mouse - Autumn Beds
10. (00:06:32) Pertego - Bideri
11. (00:03:27) Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer
12. (00:03:03) The Little Hands of Asphalt - Blue & Green
13. (00:02:37) Smith Westerns - Boys Are Fine
14. (00:01:25) Fishboy - Bricks Part 1
15. (00:03:35) Sonic Youth - Calming The Snake
16. (00:03:58) Teitur - Catherine The Waitress
17. (00:03:05) The Amsterdams - Chased By Housewives
18. (00:04:18) Anthem In - Cloudbusting
19. (00:03:19) Her Space Holiday - Come On All You Soldiers
20. (00:04:22) You Can Be A Wesley - Creatures
21. (00:02:32) VV Brown - Crying Blood
22. (00:03:34) Matt & Kim - Cutdown
23. (00:03:14) Los Campesinos! - Death To Los Campesinos! (Napoleon IIIrd Remix)
24. (00:02:22) The Danks - Die Young
25. (00:02:36) almonds, cohen - Digging For Clams
26. (00:04:15) Tiny Vipers - Dreamer
27. (00:04:49) Acetate Zero - Dry
28. (00:05:18) Mirah - Education
29. (00:02:56) Wheat - El Sincero
30. (00:02:19) Tap Tap - Emma Will You Come Back
31. (00:04:15) Lord Cut-Glass - Even Jesus Couldn't Love You
32. (00:03:33) Lacrosse - Excuses, Excuses
33. (00:03:35) Regina Spektor - Folding Chair
34. (00:03:58) A-ha - Foot Of The Mountain
35. (00:02:32) Sharon Van Etten - For You
36. (00:03:09) Luke Top - Friends
37. (00:04:18) Scary Mansion - Go to Hell
38. (00:04:19) Juan Son - Goldfish
39. (00:05:10) Hjaltalin - Goodbye July / Margt ad Ugga
40. (00:04:10) The Blacks - Gravitas
41. (00:03:55) Chris Garneau - Hands on the Radio
42. (00:04:21) Dark Mean - Happy Banjo
43. (00:03:33) Patrick Wolf - Hard Times
44. (00:03:10) Esser - Headlock
45. (00:02:39) The Most Serene Republic - Heavens To Purgatory
46. (00:04:22) Marina And The Diamonds - I Am Not a Robot
47. (00:03:49) Mark Sultan - I Am The End
48. (00:03:16) Cancel the Astronauts - I Am The President Of Your Fanclub (And Last Night I Followed You Home) [EP Version]
49. (00:03:44) Flashguns - I Don't Not Love You
50. (00:03:25) Discovery - I Want You Back
51. (00:03:35) Jeff Hanson - If Only I Knew
52. (00:02:51) Baddies - I'm Not A Machine (NME Master 2)
53. (00:03:45) Culture Reject - Inside the Cinema
54. (00:03:45) Slow Club - It Doesn't Have to Be Beautiful
55. (00:04:54) Our Book And The Authors - Killing Flies
56. (00:05:20) Yellow Tricycle - Killing the lambs
57. (00:03:47) Mum - Ladies Of The New Century
58. (00:02:55) Revolver - Leave Me Alone
59. (00:01:20) Cheap Red - Let's Start A Riot
60. (00:03:23) Chase Pagan - Life Garden
61. (00:02:34) Eels - Lilac Breeze
62. (00:04:02) Phoenix - Lisztomania
63. (00:04:14) Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man
64. (00:03:24) The Silent Years - Madame Shocking
65. (00:03:07) Electric Owls - Magic Show
66. (00:03:20) Nouvelle Vague - Master & Servant (Originally By Depeche Mode)
67. (00:03:29) Cosmo Jarvis - Mel's Song
68. (00:03:40) Bachelorette - Mindwarp
69. (00:03:22) No And The Maybes - Monday
70. (00:03:46) Taxi Taxi! - More Childish Than In A Long Time
71. (00:02:57) Whitley - More Than Life
72. (00:04:16) Passion Pit - Moth's Wings
73. (00:03:17) Neufvoin - Mouse on Mars
74. (00:03:04) Drug Rug - Never Tell
75. (00:02:22) The Rumble Strips - Not The Only Person
76. (00:04:37) Snowglobe - Nothing I can Do
77. (00:03:39) Marina & The Diamonds - Obsessions
78. (00:03:47) Dinosaur Jr. - Over It
79. (00:02:58) Portugal. The Man - People Say
80. (00:05:08) YACHT - Psychic City
81. (00:03:28) Woods - Rain On
82. (00:03:02) Skint & Demoralised - Red Lipstick
83. (00:03:14) The Longcut - Repeated
84. (00:02:33) Mew - Repeaterbeater
85. (00:03:56) Ash - Return of White Rabbit
86. (00:01:35) Apollo Ghosts - Shaolin Barhop
87. (00:08:33) Taken by Cars - Shapeshifter
88. (00:03:04) Donora - Shhh
89. (00:03:44) Valery Gore - Shoes Of Glass
90. (00:03:18) Dublin Duck Dispensary - Shoot The Curl
91. (00:03:52) Nick Sheqz - Sirens
92. (00:04:07) Benjamin E. Morsberger - Skins and Lights
93. (00:04:32) St. Vincent And The National - Sleep All Summer (Crooked Fingers Cover)
94. (00:03:12) Discovery - So Insane
95. (00:03:51) Failures Art - Stars
96. (00:04:50) Lisa Mitchell - Stevie
97. (00:02:51) Great Lake Swimmers - Still
98. (00:05:14) The Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is The Move
99. (00:03:46) Diving With Andy - Sugar Sugar
100. (00:04:00) New Models - Surrender
101. (00:03:43) Dan Black - Symphonies
102. (00:02:41) Handsome Furs - Talking Hotel Arbat Blues
103. (00:02:43) Maribel - Taste The Trash
104. (00:03:45) Strangeways - That's The End
105. (00:06:38) Noah And The Whale - The First Days Of Spring
106. (00:03:08) Annuals - The Giving Tree
107. (00:05:05) Maximo Park - The Kids Are Sick Again
108. (00:02:52) Mice Parade - The Last Ten Homes
109. (00:03:20) Color of Clouds - The Look
110. (00:04:04) Owen - The Only Child of Aergia
111. (00:05:15) Dead Confederate - The Rat
112. (00:03:15) Elevator Music - The Treason In The Season of Summer
113. (00:05:58) Modest Mouse - The Whale Song
114. (00:03:53) Brian Olive - There is Love
115. (00:02:40) Joie De Vivre - This Ship Has Sailed
116. (00:02:01) And Selby Jase - This White Everything BJB11 Ma
117. (00:04:11) Kissy Sell Out - Through The Leaves
118. (00:03:27) TiMaria - TiMaria - "Pretty Girls Are Pretty High"
119. (00:04:12) Animal Kingdom - Tin Man
120. (00:03:13) Black Moth Super Rainbow - Tooth Decay
121. (00:04:41) Cymbals Eat Guitars - Tunguska
122. (00:03:13) Cara Beth Satalino - Turn & Turn
123. (00:04:35) Kinetic Stereokids - Twisted Thoughts
124. (00:04:38) Kasabian - Underdog
125. (00:03:46) The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa.mp3
126. (00:04:55) The Brian Jacket Letdown - White Sky
127. (00:02:10) Gran Ronde - Wisdom
128. (00:03:28) Babygravy - You set me on fire
129. (00:03:08) Napoleon IIIrd - Zebra
130. (00:04:06) Black Hat Brigade - Zombie City Shake
131. (00:03:34) Starlight Mints - Zoomba

Playing Time.........: 07:58:44
Total Size...........: 762.15 MB

NFO generated on.....: 7/1/2009 1:59:38 PM

-Blalocks Indie Rock Playlist

Outroversion offline

Got no net at the mo. Back 1st of next month but remember to check out the indie/rock playlist.

The big babygravy party @ Oxford Academy 13/6/09

I heard about babygravy through my random blog searchings, while looking at oxford artists for I think their scene has a lot going on right now. I checked whether they were playing and not only were they this saturday but had organised an audacious evening of music at the academy single handedly. Impressive. Ambitious. The way forward for sure.

I was kind of in two minds whether to go like money wise, as I have a lot of gigs and festivals coming up not to mention blur and oasis at the start of next month. But I left a post on their last.fm and they kindly offered to put me on the guest list so I resolved to tell work i'd be finishing an hour early on saturday (and to SMahB's) and head over to cowley road, the epicentre of indie oxford.





















Babygravy/The vibe/Motor City shuffle/mr. Shaodow/G-block & Silecta @ Oxford 02 Academy 13/6/09

So I was going into this in a pretty good mood, the band are clearly nice people and have put in a hell of a lot of ground work to make this happen. In particular the drummer, zahra who set me up on the guest list and is pretty easy to get hold of if you want to book babygravy or they seem they'd be happy to chat with you if you were having a bad day! But i'm getting ahead of myself for their are many acts to be seen before I can even begin to pass comment on babygravy's live show...

Silecta

I don't know if it's right to call him the compere for the evening but if I were about to then i'd say he was a fine compere. Seriously though this guy was good, all night. He kicked off rapping ABOUT the evening and I couldn't tell whether it was a song or if he was just saying things, this happened quite a few times, he blended with the beat and rhythm that well and just seemed to have a natural poeticism in his speaking voice.

It all started off with unbeatable energy, helped in a large part to the group of like 3 or 4 dozen highschoolers who seemed to have access to a kind of enthusiasm us indielites could only dream of! But if this level of energy continued and infected the whole place then this was going to be a great night...

Motor City Shuffle

Now here's some guys wearing the same genre of shirt as me! After silecta left the stage it seemed like there was going to be a fairly short turn around and it turned out ot be sensationally quick. So far everything was seeming to be worked out to perfection.

They went straight into a high temp number which of course cued moshing, certainly think a slow song wouldn't have gone down too well it was catchy stuff though. Noticed more and more people filtering in as these guys proceeded. There was one track in particular that had really impressive lyrics, sort of from the semantic field of literature and writing. I'd imagine if I was sitting in a library and wanted to write this it wouldn't come out nearly as coherant. "I need a light" was a great track as was "wednesday". Great songs, both of which you can check out on their myspace.

Seemed to communicate well with the crowd despite not saying much in between songs but during people seemed to really be digging them and rightly so. Mr Brown was another good track. Could pretty much name their whole set list each song was that memorable. Playing a few more oxford dates this summer and i'd expect to see them at truck or indietracks next summer. Problem is they don't, as a few acts don't this evening, have a last.fm and it is kinda essential these days.

G-block

Before these guys come out silecta is out again being as charming as ever. Reminding us to hit up the merch stand and also to bag on old people, a favourite pass time of mine of course ;) Crowd seemed insanely excited for what was coming up next...

Starts off with a guy playing acoustic guitar, kinda unclear as to what is about to happen! First track was a little static but two more fellas hit the stage and things started jumping. One of the guys, wearing plaid with a badge, has a great laid back style. He just seemed to be ahead of the beat, I don't mean he was out of time lol I just mean he was controlling it seemed to be one step ahead lyrically. There were... alot of people in this group! So many going off and on stage that it was hard to keep up and I'm sorry I couldn't get everyone's name but credit to-D-Dot-Anger, Rawz, A-Star, OMC, El Capitan,Biscuit, Black Knight, N-Zyme, Precise and Goldline for making this a truly visceral experience and everyone up there seemed to be having a great time which was a pleasure to see.

They also gave out free cd's which is always a cool thing to do but man, the girl in front of me was a MAGNET for these things! First she got hit in the head by one, then she caught one, then another and gave it away, it was all rather impressive ha.

The Vibe

This band was YOUNG. Plus one of them had a guitar that lit up! What do I gotta do here?! Didn't notice until now but it was getting pretty packed. I felt like it would be worth the entrance fee to see what the hell this was gonna be like they are definately THE youngest band i've ever seen. The lead singer poppy, I must say, has incredible composure, leading these four guys well. She can shred and seemed relaxed in the rhythm, was highly impressive. Alfred on the synths was 'kin lovin it and the drummer surprisingly deliberate.

One track called messed up sounded like a proper track, coulda been by tegan and sarah or smoosh. Speaking of which it's hard to really not compare young female leads to smoosh before they mature and certainly resonates here. The last track had proper electro rhythm too they seem to know what they're doing, be interesting to see what comes of them on the oxford scene.

Also during this set I saw a kid shiftily going to buy condoms from the machine and two guys having a little dance off right in front of me! Ha, it was awesome but damn it was just that kinda atmosphere.

Mr Shaodow

Before Mr. Shaodow came on an old guy came onto talk about LMHR. I could tell he was old because he used "do" as a noun ha. Seriously though this is why I like the zodiac room in the academy because it does allow a forum for serious issues without really distracting from the music. This was where I first saw to write love on her arms. Obviously spoke about the recent gig in Stoke and about the BNP and it was good to see all us young folks united in opposition to such oppression. I heard someone say today "evil comes from good people not doing anything" so yeah obviously vote against the BNP.

So, Mr Shaodow. He played truck last year. I definately noticed people feeling this further and further back in the room and was starting to hope by the end of the night the room would be unified in one big fat dance off. They're way too cool alright.

After his first track he introduces this guy as being able to "rap about anything off the top of his head" and to be fair it was amazing! The subjects he was given were "horses, sex and cats" I recorded it on my phone but everything's being videod anyway and I missed out the best line at the end. grr. You gotta wonder though how much preparation you can put into freestyling but I think this guy just prepares by being awesome.

Shaodow though was hella impressive, glad I finally got to see him everyone was feeling it was a great time. Apparently Tim westwood, the big dog, says all us cats should be eating him up too ha though it is right that he's getting the attention his talent deserves. Check out his myspace for "are you stupid".

Babygravy

Kicked off with did it again which stats wise is their most popular track. The singer has a hugely powerful voice and jagged crystalline delivery. Drummer 'kin meant it tonight! Everybody's somebody. Bassist had huge control and worked well with the keyboards. Red eyes, infectious as ever. Not going away again. New track, could be their signiture tune. Bit gossip. Don't touch me ft. mr shaodow was about as sweet as fuck!

They go off but come back for the encore which was "you are where i am" yeah I know I said that the other track could be their sig but i 'kin love this track! It's got four stars on my ipod! Haunting, pumping, awesome.

_____________________________________________________________

It was still light outside when it finished but only because summer solstice is next weekend. Great atmosphere in the academy. And this whole straight edge thing is amazing, I go in and have fruit juice and come out even healthier than I went in and of course can truly appreciate the music and remember it all in the morning. Feels like i've been SxE my whole life :)

Driving back my main contemplation was over the organisation of the night and I was thinking if I organised a night like that that would be how I'd dream it would turn out. Of course i'd wake up and go there in the evening and no one would turn up lol but I'm sure babygravy are pleased with themselves. A huge success in my opinion, gives hope to all of us little guys.

Free mp3-
Babygravy- Set me on fire

3hive.com

3hive.com

It's difficult to know exactly what to say about 3hive, without gushing at least. It's a phenomenal site, probably the first music blog I became aware of around 2003. It would pretty much render all other music blogs obselete if it was as well known as the hype machine but it remains alot of people's favourite secret.

I discovered innumberable bands through this site but due to the sheer volume and consistancy and amount of (legal) mp3s on the site it's been impossible to keep up. You can navigate through artists, genre, labels you name it. It's an amazing tool for discovering your new favourite artist of the moment. Without them I may not have known say hi to your mom, !!!, all-girl summer fun band, imaginary baseball league or suburban kids with biblical names oh and up up down down left right left right B A start... of course I chose them all because they had awesome names and just turned out to be as cool.

I don't use the site as much as others for the simple reason that the amount of music on there is overwhelming like you don't know where to look and there's so many names you don't know that you start to question your very existence... Just check it out you'll see what I mean and hopefully find some new pet sounds.