Put it on the board.

Dearest readers, I have a confession to make.

I was born in Illinois and am of moderate intelligence.
Therefore, I am what they call a “White Sox Fan”.
As I type this message I have a baseball signed by catcher (and all-around nice guy!) A.J. Pierzynski, and a mini World Champions banner.
In my closet I have a number 45 Bobby Jenks jersey (road gray with World Series patch and authentic style lettering), and at a recent Brewers vs. Astros game I attended, I happily cheered for Carlos “El Caballo” Lee, though the number of people booing surely outnumbered me. On opening day this year I wore a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words “HE GONE” to class.

Why am I telling you all of this?
Well, the other day I was witness to a grave occurrence.
Let’s just say it involved a loved one and the words:
“Hey Chicago what do ya say…”

So anyway, I figured I’d Sox-up this place, and post a song for a REAL baseball team.
The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox, of course.
I give you:
Go Go White Sox by Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers

Download it.
Listen to it.
Love it.
And that’s a White Sox winner.

Pitchfork Announces Guide to Summer Festivals 2008

It can be seen here.

Enjoy!

Summerfest 2008

Well, it’s almost here folks: Milwaukee’s Big Gig, Summerfest. Summerfest, deemed the World’s Largest Musical Festival by the Guinness World Records in 1999, has been around since 1967, and this year marks the festival’s 41st year.

The festival brings music, comedy, fireworks, kids’ attractions and much more to Milwaukee’s lakefront each and every year.

Summerfest showcases a myriad of types of bands ranging from classic rock to jazz to metal to country to alternative rock.

Previous years have brought bands like Death Cab For Cutie, Wilco, Violet Femmes, Silversun Pickups, Bob Dylan, Nine Inch Nails, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rush, Ben Folds, Tool, Rusted Root, Steve Miller, Paul Simon, Journey, O.A.R., Nickelback, The Black Crowes, etc. (I could go on for ages about the number of bands that have played at the festival.)

This year’s festival begins June 26th and ends July 6th, 2008. Tickets are $15 (quite an increase from just five years ago..) and they grant you admission to the festival and all stages except for the Marcus Ampitheater. (Marcus tickets are sold separately and are for the major headliners.)

Bands/musicians playing this year include Stevie Wonder, They Might Be Giants, Three Dog Night, Gnarls Barkley, Sevendust, Dashboard Confessional, Blondie, Old 97’s, Jack’s Mannequin, The Polyphonic Spree, Joe Cocker, Matisyahu, Rascal Flatts, Paramore, Sean Kingston, Filter, Pat Benatar, Alkaline Trio, John Mayer, Coheed and Cambria, Finger Eleven, Alicia Keys, Tim McGraw, Plain White T’s, Gomez, Kansas, Stone Temple Piolets, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, 311, The Bravery, Earth Wind and Fire, and Jakob Dylan.

For the full Summerfest lineup (or at least what has been announced so far), visit the festival’s website.

Personally, I feel like years past have been much better when it comes to the lineup. Where are all of the indie bands? Where are the bands like Wilco and Death Cab? I’m quite disappointed with this year’s selection, except for bands like Old 97’s and Jakob Dylan. (But that’s just two bands out of hundreds that play each year.)

But, oh well, I guess. Summerfest is still always a great time, and I highly recommend it for anyone who hasn’t been there before (unless of course you don’t like large crowds, because millions of people attend Summerfest each year. So, agoraphobics, stay away!)

If anyone plans on attending or wants to discuss Summerfest as a whole, please comment below…

Old 97’s- Designs on You (Acoustic)

Old 97’s- Nineteen

If I Were in Rooney, I’d Be Singing “Sorry, Sorry”

Okay, so it has definitely been far too long since I have posted. For that, I am truly sorry.. I know that you all just love our musings on indie (or other) rock (Although, I’m sure most of you just visit the site for free tracks. Got ya!) Anyway, expect a post by Saturday or so more than making up for the lack of mp3 samples. I plan on posting a bunch of indie tracks that I think everyone should hear at least once. Also expect a post on the release of the Summerfest lineup…trust me, it’s not good. But, you’ll hear about that later. Until then, you can view their lineup here (but remember that not all of the stages are up yet.)

Have a great day kids!

Ah, Rooney.  They make me chuckle.

Indie Cred vol. 2, are you the destroyer?

My birthday occurred recently, and I asked my parents for a myriad of albums and videogames and whatnot.
Today, dear reader, is when I share (some of) the wealth.

One of the albums I got was Of Montreal’s very highly regarded new album “Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?”

Here is my review (as if you care…HA!):
AWESOME.
Totally diggin’ it, as the kids say (for the record, I just turned 20)*
As some of the more long-term readers will know, I am a HUUUUGE fan of Neutral Milk Hotel, and I recently became interested in looking up some of the other Elephant 6 bands.
I don’t know why I picked Of Montreal…maybe it’s cause they had a song on “Rob’s Party Mix” the “soundtrack” to Cloverfield (and…you know, the Outback Steakhouse commercial…).
Anyway, as I said, I really like the album. From what I understand, Hissing Fauna… is a concept album chronicling both the failing marriage of front-man Kevin Barnes (my response: “He’s not gay? Huh…”) and his transformation from Kevin Barnes into glam-rock-super star “Georgie Peach”.
Awesome, right?

No, he’s not gay. REALLY.
(Photo courtesy of Pitchfork.)

Of Montreal is similar to NMH in the way that all the E6 bands are similar, because on the surface, it’s weird as shit. Once you pay attention though, things start coming together and making sense, and that’s when it gets awesome. (Aeroplane Over The Sea is about Anne Frank. I JUST BLEW YOUR MIND.)

Listening to the album, one track, aside from their first single, “Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse” (and fro some reason Firefox is telling me “Heimdalsgate isn’t a word…) really stood out.
Clocking in at almost 12 minutes (AWESOME), I give you:
The Past is A Grotesque Animal

So yeah, Of Montreal gets my stamp of approval.
I’m still trying to track down more Mountain Goats albums, particularly Tallahasse, which features the AMAZING “No Children”.
Unfortunately, the local record store closed or moved or something and thus, I haven’t really gotten to look anywhere that might actually have it in stock. THANKS CORPORATE AMERICA, AMIRITE?
I could always buy it on iTunes, but that’s no fun.

Thanks for reading, folks.

-Mr. Sam
*I did get Mario Kart for my birthday though…

Mr. Sam’s Vault vol. 1

Hello, readers!

I’m currently bored, and I figured I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought I’d make a post I’ve been considering for a while.
Welcome to the first edition of Mr. Sam’s Music Vault.

As some of you may know, I’m a rather big fan of a little-known Long Island pop/punk/emo band known as “Jesse T. Lacey and his Brand New Boys (Vin and Brian and Garrett)”. Because of this, I enjoy collecting semi-rare mp3s recorded by them. Today, I’m gonna share some of them with you.

The mp3s I’m gonna post this time aren’t technically “Brand New” songs however, but they are still appropriate. Don’t worry, I’ll explain.

The first song is Museum, by The Rookie Lot.

“But Sam,” you say “I thought you said these would be Brand New songs! THAT’S NOT BRAND NEW!”
Easy there, big fella. Give the song a listen.
You may recognize our good friends, Jesse Lacey, Garrett Tierney, and Brian Lane.
The Rookie Lot was active in the late 90s, and three of its members would obviously go on to create Brand New after The Rookie Lot disbanded.

HOWEVER, that is not before Mr. Lacey briefly followed a different path:

Recognize any of these guys?
Well, obviously one of them is Jesse.
Jesse was a member of Taking Back Sunday for an early self-titled EP they released.
And not only was he member, he was the bass player. Like, ew, amitire?
Anyway, here we have Summer Stars by Taking Back Sunday, featuring Jesse Lacey on backing vox.

Thankfully, Jesse left TBS for whatever reason, and went on to be the lead singer for the best band of all time (And that is a fact. Look it up.)
Oh, and at some point in between Jesse and co-TBS member, John Nolan, may or may not have had some sort of falling out.

But who knows anything about that…

*cough*

Well, I hope you enjoyed getting a rare look into the top secret CRAZY RARE (or not…) Mp3s that I’ve got.
Until next time,
-Mr. Sam

PS: I’m totally gonna get the “Brand New” in that tag cloud big enough to compete with the “Vampire Weekend” one…

SOTD: Oxford Comma

So, I had this crazy dream last night that I was on some sort of island, but kind of flying above it, if that makes sense. (It was a very odd dream.) Anyway, when I was on the island I went into a department store of some sort, and I ran into the boys of Vampire Weekend. They asked me to start playing a song with them, and it was “Oxford Comma.” It was such an incredibly odd dream, but it inspired today’s song of the day, so enjoy:

Vampire Weekend- Oxford Comma

SOTD: Paperweight

Happy Earth Day everybody! I hope everyone is trying to Go Green.

Today’s song of the day is one of my favorite love songs ever. It’s “Paperweight” a duet by Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk. The song was featured on the soundtrack to The Last Kiss, starring Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Casey Affleck, and Rachel Bilson. Oh yeah, and it had a cameo with Harold Ramis (that makes is a winner in my book.) The song has such beautiful lyrics:

Been up all night staring at you
Wondering what’s on your mind
I’ve been this way with so many before
But this feels like the first time
You want the sunrise to go back to bed
I want to make you laugh
Mess up my bed with me
Kick off the covers I’m waiting
Every word you say I think
I should write down
Don’t want to forget come daylight

Here’s a YouTube clip of Joshua and Schuyler playing the song at the premiere of The Last Kiss at the Toronto Film Festival:

Paperweight- Joshua Radin & Schuyler Fisk

Enjoy! And buy the soundtrack!

SOTD: Not About a Girl or a Place

Last night I saw the zombie movie 28 Days Later for the first time. In honor of zombies, today’s song of the day is “Not About a Girl or a Place” by Jonah Matranga, probably my favorite musician of all time. (You’ll know why it has to do with zombies after watching the video.) I could go on for hours about why I love Jonah, but considering I’m supposed to be writing a paper for an Ethics class, I just don’t have the time. But, enjoy this video for the song, off of his record And.

I don’t have an MP3 for “Not About a Girl or a Place,” but here are two tracks off of And. (Please, please support Jonah’s music. He is the most caring musician on the planet; he always helps charities out whenever he can.. so do me a favor and buy his music if you like it!!)

I Can’t Read Yr Mind- Jonah Matranga
I Want You To Be My Witness- Jonah Matranga

Discussion: Favorite Album (Thus Far) of 2008

Hey guys and gals.. hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

It seems as though no one really comments on anything here, and the writers of Nothing Much To Say would like to change that. Whether you know us or not, it would be really cool to hear your opinions on whatever we write or the artists that we write about. (We love new people…don’t be shy!)

To expedite the thousands of comments that are now going to be coming in (no sarcasm in there…nope, not at all), I’ve decided to write “Discussion” posts every now and then. We honestly would love to hear all of your differing opinions on the art of music.

So, without further ado… please discuss! Comment below and share what you think has been the best album so far of 2008.

xoxo