I Guess I'm Floating — Music Blog, MP3s, Videos, Songs, Reviews

12Jan2006

Jets Under Fire; Flying Solo

Anyone that loses their job and decides to be a professional musician for the remainder of their days, in my book, is a cool cat. That doesn’t mean that every striving musician out there with a day job should give it up for the “cool cat” title, because it is possible to lead two lives. That’s what Jason Poe is doing.

Well, leading two lives in the musical world anyway. Jason Poe is the frontman of the Austin, TX band, The Professional Americans. However, his side and solo project, Jets Under Fire, is the real gem behind his musical mind. While Professional Americans sound something like Fall Out Boy, his solo work is piano driven with specs of Ambulance LTD and Coldplay-esque influences here and there. His first official release came out a few years back to a warm welcome by local fans and has been picking up steam on both MySpace and purevolume (2,000+ plays a day). With a fanbase that is continuing to expand, I can only hope that his Ben Gibbard routine of having two successful bands results in Poe sticking with his side project. Give him a listen and you’ll probably agree.

[MP3] Jets Under Fire – Moonlight
[MP3] Jets Under Fire – Because We Care
[MP3] Jets Under Fire – It’s Your Fault

Jets Under Fire purevolume, MySpace, and for your own comparing and contrasting, The Professional American’s purevolume.

Posted By Nathaniel at 8:08 pm

FILED: Uncategorized

Thursdays and Covers

That time of the week again for those kind of songs.

[MP3] Flaming Lips – Bohemian Rhapsody
This band is already getting massive hype with a new album release later this year, along with a slew of yet to be announced tour dates, but this cover is great. There aren’t many bands that could do justice to an already legendary song recorded by a more than legendary band, but the Lips cover it perfectly and even add some great new synth and vocal melodies.

[MP3] Rogue Wave – Everyday
Something about taking songs from the 1950s and covering them is very appealing. The vocals and piano used in this song are unmatched. Although the original by Buddy Holly is a great song, the talented Rogue Wave make their version just as good as the original if not better.

[MP3] The Postal Service – Grow Old With Me
This track was released on the Make Some Noise EP, which was a compilation featuring a variety of artists covering John Lennon songs for amnesty international. Now, I don’t know how Ben Gibbard found the time to lay down vocal tracks for this song between releasing Plans and touring, but I am sure glad he did. This song is so well done; you want to believe that Gibbard himself wrote it for Jimmy Tamborello to lay some beats down on.

Posted By Nathaniel at 12:08 pm

FILED: Covers

11Jan2006

Live from the Trail of Dead

…Trail of Dead has posted the audio clips from their performance at the UK’s Reading Fest ’01. So since you’ve got nothing newer to listen to by them (album plans or ep plans for 2006 maybe?), check out this set:

[MP3] Trail Of Dead – Mark David Chapman
[MP3] Trail Of Dead – Gargoyle Waiting
[MP3] Trail Of Dead – It Was There That I Saw You
[MP3] Trail Of Dead – Baudelaire
[MP3] Trail Of Dead – Homage
[MP3] Trail Of Dead – Fake Fake Eyes
[MP3] Trail Of Dead – A Perfect Teenhood

…Trail Of Dead’s Official Site, their Unofficial Fansite, and their merch store.

Posted By Connor at 11:30 pm

FILED: Uncategorized

The Young Republic

I really like The Young Republic. I heard of them through the increasingly popular band/protégé Eagle*Seagull, which every blog from Tupelo to Timbuktu has started to drool over…in fact, I’m going to see them together in Boston soon (more tour dates here). I could most easily describe TYR as recalling the laid-back, light 60′s-style indie-pop of Belle & Sebastian…not as cute but certainly just as likeable. Take a listen:

[MP3] The Young Republic – Girl From The Northern States (Highly Rec’d!)
[MP3] The Young Republic – The Painter (Highly Rec’d)
[MP3] The Young Republic – Seeing People You Know 17 Miles Away (Highly Rec’d!)
[MP3] The Young Republic – When I See Your Eyes I Swear To God That Worlds Collide
[MP3] The Young Republic – Always Together
[MP3] The Young Republic – Modern Plays

There are more tracks available for free download over at TYR’s Official Site and MySpace Page.

Posted By Connor at 4:07 pm

FILED: Uncategorized

Coldplay B-Sides and News

Regardless if you like them or not, it’s hard to deny the greatness of Coldplay and their unrefined ability to produce great music. Sure, lots of people like to blame Chris Martin‘s marriage to Gwenyth as a reason for a “mediocre” release with X&Y, but I still think it’s pretty damn good. Anyways, here are some tracks from various B-Sides as well as singles/EPs.

[MP3] Coldplay – Easy To Please (Apparently, this “first single” got them signed?)
[MP3] Coldplay – Your Love Means Everything (feat. Faultline)
[MP3] Coldplay – Things I Don’t Understand

Amongst reading Ted Leo‘s site, only to discover new tour dates were posted and he is writing showtunes (Hearts of Oak: The Musical??), he also had a nice little politically active article posted that you can read here.

It’s been 2 years since The Shins last released an album but James Mercer said, “I told SubPop, ‘We go on tour so consistently that when we get home we’re not rarin’ to jump into the studio, OK?’” Needless to say, The Shins are currently working on their next album, as previously announced and I just now got around to reading a funny article in Rolling Stone about the band’s use of marijuana and it’s influences on their music.

“Sonically, Mercer is exploring new territory, with more synth, piano and finger-picked guitar than on previous records. And where their creative process is concerned, the band wants to return to the laidback feel of recording their debut. “Oh, Inverted World, was a lot of sitting around with headphones on, smoking pot at five in the morning,” Crandall confesses. “Sometimes it’s crap, and other times it’s great.” Mercer adds, “Instead of mixing in a hurry, we want to get back to the ability to treat each sound with special effects and have it be a more atmospheric-sounding record. We really think of ourselves as a psychedelic band. That’s the shit we listen to.”

Or, as Hernandez puts it, “Our roots are getting high and listening to Pink Floyd.”

Pretty radical, eh dudes? The album is going to be released this summer, at some point, with the title being debated between Sleeping Lessons or Wincing the Night Away, both being direct reference to lead singer James Mercer’s insomnia.

In other news, Sia (who made iGIF’s Top 25 Songs of 2005 at #10), is finally getting an official U.S. release after taking England by storm. Just a few months ago the Austrailian native feared her second full length album would never see American soil, but after her song Breathe Me made impacts through various TV shows (i.e. Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, etc.), the album is now being slated for a U.S. release.

Posted By Nathaniel at 2:40 pm

FILED: B-sides