Not much to explain here. One demo, two songs. The shabby recording quality gives these songs a much more endearing spin, which sound like a good mix between Braid and Rainer Maria, and on one track, feature a cute female vocal as well. I don't even think this guy has recorded anything else. The following is taken from his old website, which hasn't been updated in a year or so.
My name is Nick, and this is my solo music project “Howard the Duck”, named after the 1980′s George Lucas film. I have friends help me from time to time, but in the end it’s usually just me playing live/recording.
I’m currently recording a demo which will probably be out on CD-R sometime in the next month or so. I’ve also recently started playing shows (sorry but i really can only keep it local). That is my excuse for making a page.
The Summer We Went West were a pretty incredible band from College Park, MD.
Featuring current/ex-/former members of current D.C. sweethearts Monument, as well as Dawn Treader, Boat Water, Gentlemen, For The Agenda, (and others I'm sure), The Summer We Went West has kind of flown under the radar in comparison to projects they have played in, or friends they made while a band (like a band you may have heard of named Algernon Cadwallader), but that does not mean that they should be counted out. These guys are a great, great band.
The band began as more of an acoustic project featuring Erik Pecukonis and Anton Krupp before they enlisted their rhythm section and grew into more of a Kinsella-esque emo band. Anton explains it in TSWWW's Scene Point Blank interview, which you can find a link to below.
Anton: We all lived in this suburb in Maryland called Columbia that had a surprisingly active music scene while we were all in high school there. That's how I met Jeremy, Erik and Al originally, though I only recognized them from shows I went to. When I went to school at the University of Maryland, I saw Erik at one of the dining halls and asked him if he wanted to play some music with me. We actually started as an acoustic duo, famed for our ridiculously drunk performances. Jeremy had seen me around campus and at shows at the University and started to come onto my radio show that I did at WMUC, and we started to become friends there. We all moved in together because Erik and I were at the WMUC recording studio one day and Jeremy called asking for roommates. Erik and I immediately agreed. The Summer We Went West as a full band came out of Erik and I drunkenly playing the guitar in our living room and Jeremy saying "lets take this party downstairs" which really meant "I'll play drums, you two idiots play the guitar." Al has known Jeremy for a really long time and hung out at our house all that year. It was only natural to ask Al to play bass because he was the only bass player we knew. Al lives with Jeremy and I now, and Erik moved to an apartment down the street but still sleeps on our couch more often than not.
The 8/9 split and WMUC set features the Anton/Erik line up, and "Following The Holy Moon Goddess", the band's first full length and first release as a proper band shows progression in the group's sound by leaps and bounds. The album incorporates elements of emo, punk, folk, indie rock, and even electronica (the instrumental tracks which feature Baltimore native Frank O'Hara reading poems over the glitchy beats are actually some of the highlights of the album). The album also features TSWWW's most popular and well-known song, "Jackon Hole, Wy." which is an absolute giant of a song. I'm not sure anyone who has heard this band hasn't become obsessed with the song for at least a week or two. Pecukonis' bare-bones honesty and wild, drunken vocal deilvery is instrumental to TSWWW's power as a unit. Other highlights on the album include "Gin" and the epic nine minute long "Drive, Green Sky and Blue Grass".
My favorite release by these guys by far though is the Summer 2006 Tour CD-R. It takes all the elements that made "Following the Holy Moon Goddess" a great album, cuts the slack, and amps up the energy by a few notches. One listen to the opening track "Counting Time with Coins" should be all it takes. The album's flow is also a major accomplishment: the album swings between loud, racuous, tracks that are much louder and heavier than anything on "Following", (largely due to more band members piping up to add vocals, which gives the songs a chaotic feel), and beautiful, lilting "emo-folk" (I'm going out on a limb with that one) ballads like "Mr. Johnson", and "Red Carpet Blues," a song which is unbelievably moving both lyrically and musically. The album closes with "That Midwestern Town", which seems like it could be a kind of sequel to "Jackon Hole, Wy.".
The other three releases here include a drunken acoustic set at Small Brown House, a collection of b-sides compiled from their website, and their posthumous cassette release, which features some really great acoustic songs that Krupp and Pecukonis were working on early on as well as some electric tracks recorded before the band's break up. It also features the playful "Ashlee Simpson", a love ballad about...well, you can guess who, and a spoken word track with an acoustic guitar in the background while one of the band members tells a story about being on tour on the west coast, which may well be the highlight of the tape.
Really cool guys, I've had the pleasure of playing a show with Anton and hanging out with Erik, and their music, past and present, deserves to be listened to. Check it out.
The posthumous cassette release was just put out by Anton (guitar/current guitarist in Monument) and is limited to 100 pieces. It can be purchased on their myspace here for the reasonable price of $5, so if you like the mp3s, BUY THE TAPE.
Here is a video of "Praise the Holy Moon Goddess", the intro to "Following the Holy Moon Goddess".
I guess you could call Grave, Shovel...Let's Go! a indie/post hardcore band. I mean, they have noodly guitars and scream sometimes, but then again, they are not really a screamo band. I thought they were kinda screamoish, but then the band sent me their demo, and it just really sounds like good post-hardcore with some sweet emo riffs and shit. Anyways, Grave, Shovel are from Germany and the United States, which is fucking sweet. Its cool enough when band members do the long distance thing from town to town, but from country to country? That just kinda rules. I first heard Grave, Shovel when i downloaded their split with Me and Goliath, and fell in love with the song "Edgy Electrician". I got kinda pissed though because I couldn't find any other music by these guys anywhere. One day way back I messaged them via myspace and told them about le blog and how I wanted to do a post and what not, and then last week they sent me a message with links to all their music and some pictures. Its so cool that some bands are all behind being on blogs and really support the whole underground music trading scene and all that hip shit. Blah blah blah, I couldn't find any videos, sorry dudes.
Below is everything that the band sent me, which I'm assuming is everything they have.
In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I would post these. David Bazan aka Pedro the Lion's limited run Christmas releases. I'm pretty sure I have them all except the newest. Thanks to Joey for e-mailing me these!
David Bazan has always heralded special attention in the independent music scene. For as many die hard Pedro the Lion fans as there are, there may be just as many running for cover as soon as they hear the word "Christian". The most common fallacy attributed to Bazan's body of work is that simply because he is a Christian his songwriting is somehow tainted. As one who doesn't believe in a supreme being, I can still say: entirely untrue.
Instead of writing songs that warrant group sing-a-longs and cheesy camera close ups of teary eyed teens holding their hands above their heads and singing to Heaven, Bazan's songs often directly confront his faith and the idiosyncrasies he faces as both a Christian and the modern man. Perhaps the best example of this is in "Letter from a Concerned Follower" (Progress EP, The Only Reason I Feel Secure), which directly questions God's ability to remain relevant in the modern world:
It's weird to think of all the things That have not been keeping up with the times It's ten o'clock the sun has just now Begun to set the western hills on fire
And I hear that you don't change How to you expect to keep up with the trends? You won't survive the information age Unless you plan to change the truth To accommodate the brilliance of men, the brilliance of men
Some folks think we're better now Social evolution's new synthetic will Will keep us on a straighter path As better men use brand new math With no wrong answers
I'm just a little bit worried Do you have some sort of plan? Have you been finally defeated By the cunning of these fully evolved men?
And I hear that you don't change How do you expect to keep up with the trends? You won't survive the information age Unless you plan to change the truth To accommodate the brilliance of men, the brilliance of men
It seems that far too often people are willing to write of Bazan's work as shallow and close-minded, but these individuals are guilty of the same narrow-mindedness as a Christian refusing to listen to hip-hop or punk rock. Although Bazan narrates his depressing tales from a Western Christian point of view, the themes in his work and his struggles with his faith are universal.
Certainly, on tracks like "Slow and Steady Wins the Race", Bazan's Christianity come to the forefront. Starting off with the line, "All the way to Grandma's house/I stayed on the narrow path/While my brother wandered off/Deep into the woods..." it serves as a sort of parable for the straight life vs. one of faithless hedonism, but even if one cannot buy into the story of personal salvation offered up by Bazan when he sings,
And when I get to Heaven I'll be greeted warmly Surrounded by the angels As Jesus takes my hand
one cannot help but recognize the unbridled passion and longing in his voice as he delivers the lines.
But it is the juxtaposition of such songs with scenes like the ones described in "Rapture" (Control), which kicks off with Bazan's signature warble: "This is how we muliply/Pity that's it not my wife..." that allows us to explore the darker side of his struggles with faith and morality. As much as he is a Christian man governed by his faith, he is also a visibly mortal individual, concerned with far more than simply Jesus.
Like "Bad Diary Days" (It's Hard to Find a Friend), a perfect bitter break-up song; an account of a man who slowly comes to realize his girlfriend is cheating on him. And "When They Really Get To Know You They Will Run" (also on It's Hard...) takes a sarcastic look at Western culture's fascination with personal beauty:
i don't like girls the way they are so shave their legs and make them look like movie stars then we can pretend it's natural
put on whatever makes you attractive if it's not you then do it for the sake of fashion your friends like a certain you that's who you've got to be
Some are put off by Bazan's lyrics. Others, simply his faith. Others still cannot get behind his bassy voice and deceptively simple song structures. I for one cannot get enough!
I am missing basically all the singles and the Christmas singles, if anyone has them I would really appreciate being able to add them to my collection!
P.S. Keep on the lookout for a post of David Bazan's post-Pedro output, including live performances, and a rare pre-Pedro demo.
Here is an old video of David performing "Diamond Ring", a favorite of mine.
We are committed to bringing punk rock to everyone! however, you must (read: should) delete these files after 24 hours - they are the property of the artists who wrote the songs and are not really ours to give out! Please, if you like the album, support the artists! Don't just pirate, it's selfish!
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AUTHORITY FIGURES: Most if not all of the music posted on this blog is either out of print, DIY, or released by an independent label with no ties to major distributors or the RIAA. Just sayin'.
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