According to Macy's, the holiday shopping season has officially begun, and on this, the blackest of Fridays, I have the pleasure of working in retail once again. There'll be tears. There'll be blood. There'll be savings. And there'll be a myriad of shoppers willing to give us retailers the first two all in the name of that third. Whether or not you be the type to brave the crowds and eye-gouge your way to thrifty glory, I send you off with this Black Friday mix and pray you survive this dark, dark Friday.

A Dark, Dark Friday Mix (artist name leads to site and all songs are right click - save as):
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Au Revoir Simone - Dark Halls
Bishop Allen - Little Black Ache
Division Day - Bad Black Moon
Franz Ferdinand - Shopping For Blood
Jens Lekman - Black Cab
Lily Allen - Nan, You're A Window Shopper
Magic Wands - Black Magic
Okkervil River - Black
Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves - Black Cars
Spoon - Black Like Me
Tunng - Tale From Black


Otherwheres - Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving weekend! And for my sake, stick to shopping your Black Friday on Amazon...

Labels: Mix

During our little hiatus - I've decided to call our unofficial, unannounced period of stagnance a few weeks ago a "hiatus" - we were woken up from our slumber by a few podcasters, BreakThru Radio. In our irrevocable laziness, we actually managed to bring ourselves to productivity again, if not for just a little bit. With Alina in Baltimore and myself in Austin, we reconnected via conference call to put together a program for BreakThru Radio's Anatomy of a Blogger series. Anatomy of a Blogger picks up a blog of the week and essentially dissects our blogger brains to come up with a program that rather much characterizes that blog in a nutshell. It was a bit of work to put Both Sides into an hour, but I think BreakThru managed to do it. Be sure to check out the rest of BreakThru Radio's programming for things like Anatomy of a Blogger and other great series.


Various songs from our program (artist name leads to site and all files are right click - save as):
Asobi Seksu - Strawberries
Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs Bad Arms
Matt & Kim - Good Ol' Fashion Nightmare
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Oh No! Oh My! - The Party Punch
Rainer Maria - Artificial Light
Salty Pirates - Shark Attack
Shout Out Louds - My Friend And The Ink On His Fingers
Sleater-Kinney - Combat Rock

Check out the current blog of the week or listen to other shows over at the BreakThru Radio site.

Labels: Mix

I didn't think I'd have to write about this particular British band, because at this point, I simply thought they had entered everyone's musical library by now. But when I got an email from their promo that starts with the words, "Let me introduce you to..." only to end up being followed up the name Fanfarlo, I realized, well maybe there is a pocket of you out there that still don't know about this quintet - for shame! Fanfarlo is a British-based fivesome headed up by Swedish musician Simon Balthazar. As if mixing two of my favorite foreign bits - Swedish sensibility and a British beat - wasn't enough, how can you not expect good things to come from a band fronted by a guy named Balthazar? Even with good things already expected, Fanfarlo delivers something even greater. There's a quirkiness in their music that's unexpected. An air of disenchantment that's peculiar. Rather than being blatant and ostentatious about it, characteristics of their music are inlaid and organic. When it comes to Fanfarlo, you really get a sense that their music is a character with it's own personality. Ambience - it's all about the creation of ambience. Of course, you'd almost expect that from a band where one of the members is rightfully assigned, amongst other more expected instruments, the position of "noise."

Various songs from Fanfarlo (all songs are right click - save as):
Ghosts
Finish Line

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

This trio hails from Australia, a world of it's own for me ever since I stopped writing to my penpal in Melbourne. Since then, the word coming from that overgrown South Pacific island has been close to mum, but every now and again I'll stumble onto something from Australia that has me wonder why the hell I don't hear about bands from that countrinent more often. The Paper Scissors bring about a brand of rock that has me singing, loudly and badly, along, and when you give a listen to "We Don't Walk," I'm sure you'll get a rather good impression of my honky yodeling. As it stands, The Paper Scissors lean towards the poppier end of the rock fence, which is precisely the direction I like to tip my bands toward. So ready your fist for a game, because quite simply - Paper. Scissors. Rock.

Various songs from The Paper Scissors (all songs are right click - save as):
Howl
We Don't Walk

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

"If You've Only Got" is a feature here on Both Sides showcasing one song, one artist. Whether you have all day to listen to it or just enough time to put it in play once, an If You've Only Got song is gonna be well worth that time. It could be something from way back or something entirely new to you, but ultimately it's just something I really feel like sharing...

Coming in just in time to make a party out of your weekend are none other than Austinite duo CUSTODIAN. What else can you expect from a label that's known to party? Rounding out the roster at Artifact Workshop Records - home to names you might have read on here recently like DJ Car Stereo (Wars) and Neiliyo - with another addition are Adreon Henry and Jay Bradley of CUSTODIAN. See that? All caps, so you know they're serious. With backgrounds that sprout from performance art, Henry and Bradley bring forth a sound that's definitively creative and unique. With these artistic roots at their backing as they press forth into a realm of dance, CUSTODIAN is one group that's sure to throw hearty arty parties. If you're in my area of Austin, Texas and the immediate beyond, definitely be sure to drop by for their CD release party at Bird's on Sixth tomorrow for what's sure to be dance-tastic!

If You've Only Got Series 5 (all songs are right click - save as):
CUSTODIAN - Pop-a-lock

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

Labels: If You've Only Got...

My friend and I arrived two hours before the opening band was to open.  With our free time we explored Mohawk in its entirety and even found where the band members were getting drunk in their own private room.  We are still under 21 (ugh, STILL) so had nothing to drink in our hands.  We were bored.

Darwin Deeez soon made us very not bored.  They began their set with a choreographed dance.  These dances continued throughout their set. Here are two of their dances:

Musically, the band was strange.  The lead singer and guitarist only had four strings on his Squier.  Overall the sound was cheap, if not entertaining.  The lyrics were cute and fun, mostly involving science-y aspects like DNA and such.  Although Darwin Deeez provided a great deal of fun, I would not go out of my way to see them again.

And then Bishop Allen was on.  I thought they would play all their songs I knew and loved from high school.  I guess they've been busy since I graduated high school, because I did not recognize any of their new songs.  A whole pack of semi-formally dressed white people seemed to know every lyric, however, and danced obnoxiously throughout their set.  My friend was forced to dance by a rather large woman, leaving her shaken and angry.  Despite the annoying crowd, I did manage to have my ear drums blown out at the edge of the stage.  I locked eyes with the drummer and realized it was the drummer from We Are Scientists.  The rhythm was much better than before.

However, I missed the Bishop Allen of the yesteryears.  This Bishop Allen was unrecognizable.  There was a new chick who looked like an Urban Outfitters model reject.  There were five people onstage.  They played music I'd never heard. 

Oh well. I need to be educated.

After typing that Gil Mantera line from Elmo's Wish up there, I realize, "I don't know why I love you" pretty much sums up my relationship with Gil Mantera's Party Dream. After exposing themselves, both musically and what may as well have been graphically, to me during South By two years ago, I'm a fan (of the former, not so much the latter). Basing themselves in, out of all places, Youngstown, Ohio, Gil Mantera's Party Dream is a sibling duo that you simply wouldn't guess comes from Youngstown, Ohio. A mental ward's imagination, perhaps. But not Youngstown, Ohio. With a slant to synthesize, Gil Mantera's Party Dream caters to the party rock-inclined, and luckily for them, Gil Mantera has a simple inclination to just party. Nevermind the rock, that's the word that comes after party in party-rock, and party is what you will do. Gil Mantera and his brother, Ultimate Donny, are set to party various venues away and are set to make a party dream out of Emo's right here in Austin tomorrow night. For those of you in Austin, Texas and the immediate beyond, I say head on over and make something out of your Thursday night.

Various songs from Gil Mantera's Party Dream (all songs are right click - save as):
Elmo's Wish
Dreamlovers

Catch up on the dates on the rest of their tour on their site.
Be their friend!

So the few of you out there nerdy enough to actually know the original broadcast date of Orson Welles' presentation of War of the Worlds realize I'm a few days late on this, and to the four of you out there, I say, "Oh well." Before podcasts, when TVs were still a thing of the Devil's, people sat around and listened to radios for entertainment. On whichever frequency you managed to hop onto, you could get pretty much whatever you deemed entertaining - think audiobook versions of everything from Mad Men to 30 Rock. Airing on CBS' airwaves were radio dramas put up by New York drama company The Mercury Theatre on the Air, and on October 30, 1938, Orson Welles directed a broadcast that can only be described as the best unintentional prank in history. Rather than simply reading the prose of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, Orson Welles thought the people would get a better kick out of the narrative being presented as a series of breaking news broadcasts, and with most of the listeners tuning in after the introduction, all people heard were the news broadcasts of people dying and aliens attacking. Needless to say, quite a panic ensued.

And you thought Weather Balloon Boy was bad...

Welles Look at That Mix (artist name leads to site and all songs are right click - save as):
Bishop Allen - True or False
The Chalets - Feel the Machine
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - Details of the War
Hot Chip - The Warning
Salty Pirates - The Alien Invasion
Say Hi - Let's Talk About Spaceships
Shonen Knife - Flying Saucer Attack

Labels: Mix