EP Review: Ugly Purple Sweater – Washington, DC

Posted on by halley in Albums | Leave a comment

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Is judging an EP by its song titles as bad as judging a book by its cover? Because even before listening to Ugly Purple Sweater’s new EP I was all about “I Will Not Regret” (which is a personal mantra of mine, along with the likes of “No Shame” and “No Looking Back). Regardless of what you may think about snap judgments and jumping to conclusions, you’ll be happy to know the DC band’s new creation bears up to any and all levels of scrutiny.

The EP is 4 tracks long – meaning my only complaint is that I wish it had more material! Hopefully that will be coming soon. Despite my instant inclination to love “I Will Not Regret”, my actual favorite track ended up being “I Can Tell the Difference” which builds up to its core right around :49 and then proves an excellent example of this band’s story-telling style. “ I Will Not Regret” is a sad, more soulful-sounding song, “Central Detention Facility Blues” has an old-school finger-snapping feel to it, and “DCUSA” will strike a chord with any DC’er who’s seen the gentrification of the district progress and accelerate over the past few years.

Overall, this EP is a great listen for DC- and non-DC’ers alike. It’ll be publicly available January 8th, followed by the band’s performance at Black Cat on the 12th. Take advantage!

SXSW Preview: Third Round Of Bands Analyzed

Posted on by Paul in South By Southwest | Leave a comment

Another day, another round of bands announced for this year’s edition of SXSW and your friendly neighbourhood Panic Manual is here to tell you who we think is of interest.  This is who we are.  This is what we do.  On to the bands:

Ash – A Panic Manual favourite.  They will rock out.  They will be a lot of fun.  That is all.

Camera Obscura – Glasgow’s finest.  Tracyanne Campbell and co. are ready to charm us all with their lovely indie pop.

Prince Paul – Occasionally also known as Chest Rockwell, this is the man behind such gems as Gravediggaz, Handsome Boy Modelling School, and the first few De La Soul albums.  Why would you not want to go see him?

Skid Row – Yes, you heard right.  Skid. Freakin’. Row.  Sure, Sebastian Bach may be conspicuously absent, but still … 18 and Life?  Youth Gone Wild?  I Remember You?  Yes, please.

TOY – Psych-heavy, shoegazey indie rock from London.

Chad Valley – Another Panic Manual fave, Hugo Manual’s one man electronic solo project looks like it may even eclipse his other gig fronting Jonquil.  Catchy and trippy. 

Vampire Weekend – Hey look!  They’re back.  It seems like a long time since the band unleashed their sophomore effort Contra on the public, but I guess they did have to deal with that cover art lawsuit thing.  So yeah, they’re back.  Rejoice.  Or don’t.  It’s really up to you I suppose.  

 

Song of the Day: The Night – Strangers

Posted on by Ricky in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

So I was looking through soundcloud for random music and I saw that a band called The Night had posted a cover of Rihanna’s We Found Love, a song I obviously love. I enjoyed the almost country-vibe of the cover and began perusing their songs and discovered Strangers. When you call your band The Night, I feel like you are dedicating yourself to a certain mood, or sound. In my mind, I feel like, you are going to sound like The Chromatics. Listening to the first part of the song Strangers, that was what I felt – minimal arrangements accompanied by a loungey female voice. It was pretty cool.

Then the song just explodes into some sort of Fleetwood Mac if only by midnight sound that also contains a pretty kickass guitar riff and I had no idea what the song was anymore, only that I liked it.

Not too sure what else I know about the band, except they are from London and they are fairly new. Check it out.

Song of the Day: Free Energy – Girls Want Rock

Posted on by Celeste in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

There are bands out there who are always on the fringe of your awareness – you vaguely recognize the name, you know you’ve heard the tune before, you think you’ve read an article about them – until they land squarely in your consciousness with a great track.

I’ve been hearing about Free Energy for a while now as an up and coming indie rock band out of Philadelphia, but I didn’t pay too much attention until I stumbled upon “Girls Want Rock” from their yet to be released album Love Sign. First of all, great name – girls do indeed want rock. Second of all, the song’s got a softer touch to it with some really adorable “ooohs” and “nanananas” in between lines. These guys are playing the Tomorrow Never Knows Fest in Chicago in a couple of weeks – if you’re in the city I’d get on those tickets – I’ve already got mine.