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Wed. March 15, 2006, 06:57am PST
Popping with Tapes 'n Tapes and rocking with Mogwai
Since getting one of these last Friday, I've had my eyes and ears out for new music to fill it up with. The following are a couple groups I've taken a liking to. More tracks here.
Tapes 'n Tapes
These guys put out a ragged, upbeat pop sound that stops just short of punk. They seem to have no problem trying something that seems to put them out of a normal 4/4 beat pattern. My favorite track, Cowbell comes across as a fun, albeit dark sounding track that seriously gets my foot tapping. The background vocals that include the band give it a somewhat Irish pub song feel that everyone can join in a sing. Their crisp guitar is pretty refreshing as they use it to plow through some driving rhythms that rival that of what the drummer puts out. Insistor is another track I downloaded with a rock shuffle mode that makes me think (very fondly) of the tracks I was introduced to from the Red Elvises when watching Six String Samurai for the first time in college.
These guys are worth a listen especially since you can download full tracks free from their site.
Mogwai
I'll admit I've only listened to one of their songs so far but I like what I heard. The track is Folk Death 95 and I love it because of its refreshing lack of lyrics. This flowing rock ballad slowly builds up to a peak that makes me think of high school sweethearts just torn apart by forces out of their own control. Sappy? Maybe but if I can't envision a song somehow fitting in an imaginary movie in my mind, it doesn't cut it for me. Anyway, another solid instrumental track is Close Encounters and, yet again, it's a pleasure to see what they're trying to paint. Best of all, these lyric-less tracks do well for me to listen while programming at work. You can find more tracks here.
So there's some great tunes. Download, listen, and let me know what you think. If you have any suggestions for good, free music I'm all ears -- literally. It's amazing once you get into a personal media player how much more you realize the fact that you need more music. That's me now but seeing as how I'm cheap I'll take anything free.
All bands found via 3hive.com -- a great site for new, free music.
Wed. March 15, 2006, 03:22pm PST
New Grand Cinema website launched
Tacoma's Grand Cinema launched their new website today. Although I can't take direct credit for this one, it is a product from my office. The site is worlds above the former incarnation that always had me thinking it was time to head out and buy my Christmas presents. The green, white and red has been replace with a cool design that's pretty easy to get around. I especially love how darn easy it is to find out what's playing when as well as get detailed info on the flick itself.
The local art house theatre is a true gem in Tacoma and hopefully a spruced up website will show the community that they're here to stay. Plus, they screen cool movies lates nights -- who wouldn't want to see Fight Club on the big screen again?
See if you can guess which one's the newer site:
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