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Counter Culture Recommended Listens..
Each month, we try to recommend 4 artists and their albums to you, our music-loving listener. These will
be chosen based upon on our personal strict criteria. First and foremost, they are albums by artists that we feel comfortable advising
you to spend your hard-earned money on. That doesn't mean that there are one or two good songs on them, but that these albums have
desirable beats from beginning to end.
We have also selected these albums NOT because of a record company's agenda, but because we feel these are very good and will stand the
test of time. And most importantly, we feel these should be heard not only at our shop but on your own radio.
Below you will find information about the artist, album reviews from some major music publications, as well as links to bios, multimedia
and pictures, if available. Enjoy these albums and please let us know what you think.
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Reviews
Allmusic
DOT Music
Billboard
Wallpapers
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Download
Mammas Room
myspace.com/thegiants
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Under the Influence of Giants - Under the Influence of Giants
What do a wizard, a tumble weed and a pair of floaties have in common? Nothing. The genesis of UTIOG was created with three young ex calibers: Aaron Dick Bruno,
Jamin John Wilcox and Drew (middle name confidential) Stewart. Like the name implies, Under the Influence of Giants has sought the sonic counsel of artists its
admired throughout members' southern California upbringing. Everyone from Sly and the Family Stone to Earth, Wind and Fire to Talking Heads to Madonna has rubbed
off on the foursome, leading to a bizarre but joyously diverse melting pot of funk, dance, rhythmic pop and blue eyed soul. It's an ambitious journey that's finally
come to fruition following some of the guys' time in Home Town Hero and Audiovent. But unlike those short lived blips on the rock n' roll radar, UTIOG is poised for
permanency.
The reasons unfold from the lead cut "Ah Ha," which adapts a 70s funk feel over African tribal beats a la David Byrne and company. It's follow-up "Got Nothing" is
just as impulsive, exploding with a brass section and jazzy flourishes before unveiling husky harmonies during each chorus. The lead single "Mama's Room" continues
to cloud any classification mechanism, dipped in Prince oriented falsettos with a white washed groove.
That dance floor packing ability further drips into the electronically centered "In the Clouds," which could've quite possibly been found on Madonna's latest album, but
without the glossy coat of sugar. It also bears resemblance to the group's recent tour mates Mute Math, offering a no holds barred approach at keyboard driven
experimentation and coming across abundant hooks in the process. Yet the guys pull another unpredictable punch with the acoustically centered "Lay Me Down," its most
stripped back exposition showcasing singer Aaron Bruno's sensitive side. As a result, UTIOG is likely to find a cross section of fans who appreciate boundary breakers
and are coming to despise the mechanical means of the mainstream.
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Reviews
BBC London
Contact Music
Space Lab
Pitchfork
AZ Lyrics
Download
Six Minutes
myspace.com/boykillboy
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Boy Kill Boy - Civilian
BOY KILL BOY Call Boy Kill Boy's debut album Civilian anything you like--epic, ravenous, doomy, electrified, billowing, bilious, brilliant--what leaps out
is just how brazenly alive it is. Listen: how "Ballad Of Ivy Parker" stands triumphantly on its monitor and thumps its chest. How "Back Again" races Hell's
highways on Beelzebub's own flaming Harley. How "Suzie" and "On And On" karate-punch pop music's still-beating heart out of its chest and devour it, cackling.
For all its grandiosity, this kind of defiance, confidence, preen, and pomp doesn't come from a pampered middle class semi-mansion background in Buckinghamshire.
Those sorts of kids make music like Athlete and Keane. No, this sort of thunderous self-belief, like the best art throughout history, is spawned from the deepest
desperation. The best music, it's said, is made by those who've seen the worst of life.
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Reviews
Entertainment Weekly
Stylus
All Music
Pitchfork
Photos
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Multimedia
Watch Rick Ruben's comments on American V: Hundred Highways
Six Minutes
myspace.com/johnnycash
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Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
If you do not already know who Johnny Cash is then I recomend that you crawl back under the rock you came from. With the Cash movie "Walk the Line"
released in 2006, and all the hype that still circles the man, there is no doubt that he will go down as a legend. In the months leading up to his passing
on September 12, 2003, JOHNNY CASH had been recording new material with producer Rick Rubin. On July 4, 2006, American V: A Hundred Highways, the all-new Johnny
Cash album taken from those sessions, was released on the American Recordings label through Lost Highway. It will include the last song Cash ever wrote, "Like the 309".
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Reviews
Pop Matters
Photos
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myspace.com/thefutureheads
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The Future Heads - New and Tributes
"So here it is, the second album from The Futureheads. 6 years since forming, 12 record releases, 5 UK tours, 4 US tours, 3 top 20 singles and 250,000 debut albums sold
worldwide, where did it all begin?
After meeting at the Sunderland City Detatched Youth Project, a lottery funded music scheme for getting kids off the street, Barry, Ross, Jaff and Pete (the then drummer)
played their first gig at Ashbrooke Cricket Club in 2000. The departure of Pete (Brewis, now a member of Field Music) led to the conscription of Barry's younger brother
Dave. He boldly tried his hand at drumming and now, 6 years on, can cite Dave Grohl as one of his admirers. It doesn't get much better than that.
Initially signed to indie label Fantastic Plastic, The Futureheads were quickly picked up by 679 Recordings in 2003. They put out a download only version of A to B' in
the autumn of that year as anticipation for their debut album grew. Co-produced by The Gang Of Four's Andy Gill and the then new boy on the scene, Paul Epworth, The
Futureheads' was finally released in July 2004.
The next 12 months proved all-important in the lives of The Futuremen, they began receiving the attention they had worked hard for and unequivocally deserved. Their
appeal grew both is the UK and the US, after supporting Franz Ferdinand in the States (Sept 04) they went on to tour America twice in early 05 before playing the main
stage at last years Coachella festival.
The support was kicking off back home too; they were booked to play the NME Awards Tour 2004, along with Bloc Party, The Kaiser Chiefs and The Killers -- which proved to
be a huge success. They released Hounds Of Love' in February that year which resulted in their first top 10 hit (and went on to be named NME's Track of the Year 2005').
The re-release of their LP turned The Futureheads' into a Gold selling debut. It entered the UK album chart at number 11. TV, radio and press support mounted up putting
this young Sunderland four piece at the pinnacle of the UK music scene. Not somewhere that they'd necessarily ever wanted to be but they enjoyed it all the same...
The News is -- all of these songs. The Tributes are -- to people, places, events and memories. "Every song anyone writes is a tribute to someone or something" explains
Barry, "and all of these songs are being heard for the first time so are news". The band released a brand new EP, Area' in November 2005 but decided not to include it
on this album, as they wanted the whole thing to be fresh and exciting for the listener. Area' was extremely well received and considered as a move forward for The
Futureheads but having been playing the song live for much of 2005, the band saw Area' as a link to their past, News And Tributes' is their future.
You will not be disappointed with what you find on News And Tributes'. It's the album you might have expected The Futureheads to of taken another year to produce.
Instead they enlisted the renowned production skills of Ben Hillier (Depeche Mode, The Doves, Blur etc) and locked themselves away in a remote farm style studio in
Scarborough at the end of last year. The decision to do so proved fruitful as they offloaded all the new songs they'd been carrying around with them in their heads
for the last year of touring, resulting in News And Tributes' being laid down in only 6 weeks.
It's a bold step forward in the lives of The Futuremen. They're eager, willing and ready to take on 2006. Dismiss them at your peril.
Until Next Time,
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