BRILLIANT OCTOBER

I can remember seeing 24 bands in October. Not bad for a month of personal financial collapse, general political melee, and my garbage disposal deciding to quit. Here’s a ten metric tons of videos, information, and free MP3s of the bands I saw last month. There are also some tirades about the bands that made me feel tirade-ish. Oh, and there's a convenient list of free MP3s at the bottom of the post in case you miss one in the fray. Oh! And because I'm figuring this out I have some good, if dumb, news. You should be able to right-click and save all the MP3s posted from now on. You shouldn't even have to be a Yousendit member. Huzzah!



1. TERA MELOS is basically from the regions to the north of Sacramento, CA. Specifically Auburn, CA, Roseville, CA, and Grass Valley, CA.

Below is footage of the band at The Hangar last weekend. They recorded a brand new three song EP.



Click to download ”When Worm Learns To Fly” by Tera Melos.

Tera Melos on MYSPACE.
Tera Melos on PUREVOLUME.
Tera Melos on LAST.FM.
Tera Melos on AMAZON.
Support Tera Melos’ LABEL.

2. FACING NEW YORK is from the San Francisco Bay Area.

This band is playing December 22 at BOTTOM OF THE HILL in San Francisco, so I’ll rant harder then. But this month’s show in San Rafael, CA—the last show of their U.S.A.-in-three-weeks tour—destroyed all my old opinions of this band, even the good ones. Those opinions were replaced with much, much better uber-opinions, opinions effected by the radioactive spider-bite of glee. Two weeks later my face still hurts from smiling so hard for so long. Here’s some of the video Nave (pronounced "Na-vay") took from the show in San Rafael, the band’s (excellent) music video for the (excellent) track “Cutting My Hair,” and a clip of the band killing it in Tokyo. In that order:







Facing New York on MYSPACE.
Facing New York on PUREVOLUME.
Facing New York on LAST.FM.
Facing New York on AMAZON.
Support Facing New York’s LABEL.

3. PUSH TO TALK is from Oakland, CA.



Push To Talk on MYSPACE.
Push To Talk on PUREVOLUME.
Push To Talk on LAST.FM.
Push To Talk on AMAZON.
Support Push To Talk’s already-bankrolled LABEL.

4. TWO SECONDS is from San Rafael, CA.

Oh! What potion of frustration and delight is this, this duo of pre-SAT, reverse-psychology, Sleater-Kinney-in-White-Stripes rawk machine? It’s Two Seconds, who, when I saw them perform last month, committed every nameable on-stage foul, yet still managed to charm the ignorance out of me. I’m sure most of this band is Jewish, but if not they were running away with the Yiddish-stereotype award. The band kvetched about everything: first they were sick, then they hadn’t practiced, then they didn’t have a set list, then they were sicker... oy vey! I shut my mind down when they weren’t playing songs, songs that are sassy, punky, and well performed. I think it’s wrong to ever identify a bad drummer as someone who “hits like a girl,” because there will never be anything wrong with a girl drummer that is good, which Two Seconds’ Lily Faden most certainly is. Singer/guitarist Sierra Frost already has the name, the voice, and the attitude to scare every other girl-fronted Bay Area band I’ve seen back to Algebra One. The improvements I’d request from this band will all be unwrinkled by time, that invisible purveyor of confidence and wisdom. Two Seconds have cool songs. I just want to see them act like they know it.



Two Seconds on MYSPACE.
Two Seconds on PUREVOLUME.
Two Seconds on LAST.FM.
Support Two Seconds’ LABEL.

5. THE SECRET STOLEN is from Chico, CA.



The Secret Stolen on MYSPACE.
The Secret Stolen on PUREVOLUME.
The Secret Stolen on LAST.FM.
The Secret Stolen on AMAZON.
Support The Secret Stolen’s LABEL.

6. OVERVIEW is from San Francisco, CA.



Overview on MYSPACE.
Overview on PUREVOLUME.
Overview on LAST.FM.

7. CINEMECHANICA is from Athens, GA.

Cinemechanica was the first band I’ve seen pull off the “new song that doesn’t have vocals yet.” Usually, a band says something nauseating like “we wrote this song on the way to the show so there aren't really any vocals yet” and then the guy that said that gets really into the song for ten seconds, screws up, realizes everyone else is also screwing up, then looks pissed off the whole time. That guy (let’s call him the “songwriter,” but let’s do it really cynically) will shake his head at his least favorite other band member, like the third guitarist or something. It’s worth mentioning that this is the same third-guitarist that will be the first guy to leave the band, quit playing music altogether (except to impress girls), graduate with a double major in computer engineering and middle eastern studies, travel the world in a month, live in Beirut for a year, then start making $85K out of the gates back home while hanging out in the Marina district with gold digging whores who claim to be the offspring of tech boom success stories or moderate-left senators. Meanwhile, three years and seven band members later, the “songwriter” realizes how important practicing is. He’ll never even admit to ever having a song that he “wrote on the way to the show.” But he’ll feel it a little when some asshole with a blog reminds him that most things that seem effortless actually involve a lot of effort. Fortunately, Cinemechanica seemed acutely aware of all this when they came through Club Pow a couple weeks back. Cinemechanica is a band with two crazy-good guitarists, two crazy-good drummers, and a rock solid bassist. These people make incredibly raucous, detailed songs. More importantly, they perform these songs flawlessly—including their brand new material. Their album The Martial Arts is one of the years best, a winning assimilation of post-punk and math-rock. Desireable side note: these guys have a side project where a friend beats the video game Megaman II on a big screen while they play the soundtrack flawlessly.



Click to download ”Antsinjapants” by Cinemechanica.

Cinemechanica on MYSPACE.
Cinemechanica on PUREVOLUME.
Cinemechanica on LAST.FM.
Cinemechanica on AMAZON.
Support the LABEL that Bryant from Cinemechanica controls. Awesome stuff, Bryant!

8. SOUND AND SHAPE is from Nashville, TN.



Sound And Shape on MYSPACE.
Sound And Shape on PUREVOLUME.
Sound And Shape on LAST.FM.
Support Sound And Shape’s LABEL.

9. THE STROKES is from New York City, NY.

…And were awesome at UC Davis! But then I saw them in Davis for free. I missed The Like and then Muse, which is 50% unfortunate because of how awesome Muse were at the MTV Europe Awards (no Youtube?). The singer had a chaos pad in his guitar that he didn’t even use. He’s like too cool for the school he designed himself! Not the point, though. I saw The Strokes this summer at Live105’s BFD Festival at the Shoreline Amphitheater and they were, for lack of a better word, sauced. They played every sing they had in reverse chronological order, which would have been fun had Casablancas realized it wasn’t, in fact, still “Last Nite.” They redeemed themselves in Davis. The new songs sounded great, the light show was so good it was probably Muse’s, and the crowd acted like Aerosmith were playing Day On The Green. I still want to see this band live up to their constant idol-worship of Lou Reed and The Velvets and actually direct their songwriting that-a-way. But I’ll continue to enjoy the wait. Here’s a Lou Reed cover the pretty boys did in Davis.



The Strokes on MYSPACE.
The Strokes on PUREVOLUME.
The Strokes on LAST.FM.
The Strokes on WIKIPEDIA.
The Strokes on HYPEMACHINE.
The Strokes on AMAZON.

10. ROGER WATERS is from England.

As I’ve been vaguely explaining, October seemed like a 31-day anti-gravity rollercoaster. Ups, downs, and undiscovered, trackless turns across the entire boundary of the grim and exciting. All of my issues seemed reflected in my concert going experiences, which included shows with 20 person audiences, shows with 2,000 person audiences, and Roger Waters, where a immodest, frenzied 25,000 people gathered to celebrate one of the greatest bands of all time, Pink Floyd. What a show. My dad declared it the best concert he’s been to. Waters killed it for two and a half hours straight, there was nary a dead moment. He played every one of your favorite Floyd tracks (well, except any of the 17 minutes of “Dogs”) as well as a sprinkling of his solo material that, not surprisingly, also rocked. The experience began with a screen at the back of the stage projecting a cigarette, an empty glass and a bottle of whiskey. After like ten minutes of nothing happening a hand reached for the cigarette, picks it up, puts it down. Everyone goes so crazy that for a minute you can’t hear any of Neil Young’s greatest hits playing on the sound system. Another large group of minutes goes by and the hand comes back and fills the cup, takes a sip, and puts the glass back. Everyone goes crazy. This goes on for, like, a half-hour. And then, all of a sudden, you’re watching Roger Waters actually perform the first song from The Wall. It was a holy moment, man. Here are clips of the pig and “Have A Cigar,” which really cooked.





Roger Waters on MYSPACE.
Roger Waters on PUREVOLUME.
Roger Waters on LAST.FM.
Roger Waters on WIKIPEDIA.
Roger Waters on HYPEMACHINE.
Roger Waters on AMAZON.

11. THE FALL OF TROY is from Seattle, WA.

The first time I saw this band they embarrassed each of the other four bands they played with so hard that those bands all short circuited and start bleeding white liquid like Winona Rider in that Alien movie. It was a mess. I’ve seen them twice since then, twice in the last month. I wasn’t awed either time; the newer songs seemed more hardcore-y, which the band doesn’t do as well as unhinged, self-sampled, finger-tapped screamo-pop, which they do very, very well. Still, The Fall Of Troy are a blistering three piece and inventive enough for me to rep them this hard. Check out the MP3 below from their last album, Doppleganger, which I think gives serious meaning to a genre controlled by scary morons.



(Like my sweet self, they are also obsessed with this great book. The song in this video is named “You Got A Death Wish, Johnny Truant?” after a character in said novel.)

Click to download ”Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles” by The Fall Of Troy.

The Fall Of Troy on MYSPACE.
The Fall Of Troy on PUREVOLUME.
The Fall Of Troy on LAST.FM.
The Fall Of Troy on WIKIPEDIA.
The Fall Of Troy on HYPEMACHINE.
The Fall Of Troy on AMAZON.
Support The Fall Of Troy’s dynastic LABEL.

12. O! THE JOY is from Sacramento, CA.

O! The Joy’s “Whoop’s we made a boo-boo” MYSPACE.
O! The Joy on PUREVOLUME.
O! The Joy on MYSPACE.
O! The Joy on LAST.FM.

13. PATTERN IS MOVEMENT is from Philadelphia, PA.

The more I think about these guys, the more I think about unexpected hugs. Like unexpected hugs, Pattern Is Movement is exciting and weirdly goofy. You’re not sure how you feel while it’s happening, but afterwards you realize it made your day. I wish someone would Youtube these guys, because live they don’t stray from their indie-math-pop-rock stylings, they evolve them into a theater of indie-math-pop-rock stylings. This band comes off like Dismemberment Plan at the opera. Another wonderful trio, I can’t say enough about their music. So I’ll let someone else do it: here’s Pitchfork with a well-said review.

Click to download ”She Already Knows It” by Pattern Is Movement.

Pattern Is Movement on MYSPACE.
Pattern Is Movement on PUREVOLUME.
Pattern Is Movement on LAST.FM.
Pattern Is Movement on WIKIPEDIA.
Pattern Is Movement on HYPEMACHINE.
Pattern Is Movement on AMAZON.
Support Pattern Is Movement’s LABEL.

14. AMBROSIA CAPRICE is from Sacramento, CA.



Ambrosia Caprice on MYSPACE.
Ambrosia Caprice on PUREVOLUME.
Ambrosia Caprice on LAST.FM.

15. BOSS THE BIG BIT is from Sacramento, CA.

These guys remind me of my college days. Partially because we all went to school together, but mainly because they sound exactly like every good house party I ever went to. They are like the Tipper Gore-approved version of my favorite Davis house party band ever. Check out these songs and go see them at one of their shows. These guys make dance music for 7"'s, goofball synth singles for the Republic of Devo. The lyrics on this song “Inventory” are currently making everyone I know laugh out loud. They are all about being more organized.

Oh, another cool story is that I met Boss’s front-man-who-sits-in-the-back, Teddy Briggs (the original drummer for Rooney), when I was 11 years old at summer camp. Seven years later we made eye contact at our first college party. We were both freshmen at UC Davis. Teddy Briggs, I said. Brilliant MP3’s, he said. It was like we’d never left camp or gone through puberty or anything.

Word on the street is that Boss’s next show is at the Fools Foundation in Sacramento with the band Numbers (it’s December 14). More amazing is that anyone still cares about the band Numbers. Numbers were so great for like three years, then so awful the last two times I saw them that I’m going to need, like, two Aqua songs, a birth control pill, and some mouthwash before I’ll be able to think again.

Click to download ”Inventory” by Boss The Big Bit.

Boss The Big Bit on MYSPACE.
Boss The Big Bit on LAST.FM.

16. HOSPITALS is from Oakland, CA.

Hospitals on MYSPACE.
Hospitals on LAST.FM.
Hospitals on AMAZON.
Support Hospital’s rad LABEL.

17. CHAD AND KEVIN is from Sacramento, CA.

Support Chad And Kevin’s LABEL.

18. AND A FEW TO BREAK is from San Francisco, CA.

Apparently, this band has a singer who missed a flight and couldn’t make it to the show. Should I feel like a lame-ass to wonder who takes a Monday night show in Sacramento when they know they were flying that day? I mean, I’d do it, but I would just hope the show was this sweet:



Did you catch that pan to Verne Troyer rocking the f*** out? How about Durst trampling a lucky bunch of fans who were probably dehydrated and malnourished to begin with? How did the Grammy committee miss this?

And A Few To Break’s Sacramento show looked a lot like that, only without any similarities at all (except for the celebs, of course). But damn did they kick ass! Without a singer they sound like From Monument To Masses, only less Ivy League-y and more school of Dischord-y. All the guys with guitars play crazy, tangled riffs, scream in unison (they were all microphone shy), then apologize for the singing. I’m eager to see them again. For the mean time:



And A Few To Break on MYSPACE.
And A Few To Break on LAST.FM.
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19. MEW is from Denmark (Duh!).

Read what BRILLIANTMP3S had to say about Mew HERE. Pitchfork mentioned the bands silly new video for the terrific song “Special:”



Click to download ”156” by Mew.

Mew on MYSPACE.
Mew on PUREVOLUME.
Mew on LAST.FM.
Mew on ALL MUSIC.
Mew on WIKIPEDIA.
Mew on AMAZON.

20. OXFORD COLLAPSE is from Brooklyn, NY.

Pitchfork just asserted that these guys sound like Cap’n’Jazz. I think the comparison is mostly visual: the singer looks like KINSELLA to the max! I’m not a fan of the comparison, but I definitely like this band. They write smart punk songs with good riffs and better hooks. They have vintage looking gear and funny shirts. They are from New York and have a lot of albums; their most recent is on Sub Pop. I’m not crazy about the single, or even the video for the single, but the rest of the songs they rocked when we played with them in Rohnert Park, CA had just the right mix emotion and invention to make me want to hear more. Minus bonus points for trading me one of their old albums for my new album. Maybe I should take a hint and quit music forever. I’ve always wanted to be a stewardess.

Here’s a song I just got from their new album. I haven't listened to it yet. You know what that means: adventure.

Click to download ”Return Of Burno” by Oxford Collapse.

Oxford Collapse on MYSPACE.
Oxford Collapse on PUREVOLUME.
Oxford Collapse on LAST.FM.
Oxford Collapse on HYPEMACHINE.
Oxford Collapse on AMAZON.
Support Oxford Collapse’s very nice LABEL.

21. MONSTERS ARE WAITING is very much from Los Angeles, CA.

More eye candy than ear candy.



Monsters Are Waiting on MYSPACE.
Monsters Are Waiting on PUREVOLUME.
Monsters Are Waiting on LAST.FM.
Monsters Are Waiting on HYPEMACHINE.
Monsters Are Waiting on AMAZON.

22. SO MANY DYNAMOS is from St. Louis, MO.

Read what BRILLIANTMP3S had to say about the ever-vital So Many Dynamos HERE.

Click to download ”How High The Moon” from the album Flashlights by So Many Dynamos.

So Many Dynamos on MYSPACE.
So Many Dynamos on PUREVOLUME.
So Many Dynamos on LAST.FM.
So Many Dynamos on ALL MUSIC.
So Many Dynamos on AMAZON.
Support So Many Dynamos’ LABEL.

23. THE EVENING EPISODE is from Sacramento, CA.



Click to download ”New Love” by The Evening Episode.

The Evening Episode on MYSPACE.
The Evening Episode on PUREVOLUME.
The Evening Episode on LAST.FM.
The Evening Episode on AMAZON.
Support The Evening Episode’s great LABEL.

24. THE DIVORCE is from Seattle, WA.

The Divorce on MYSPACE.
The Divorce on PUREVOLUME.
The Divorce on HYPEMACHINE.
The Divorce on LAST.FM.
The Divorce on AMAZON.
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BRILLIANT OCTOBER
Right-click the song name and save the attached MP3.

1. ”When Worm Learns To Fly” by Tera Melos.
2. ”Antsinjapants” by Cinemechanica.
3. ”Mouths Like Sidewinder Missiles” by The Fall Of Troy.
4. ”She Already Knows It” by Pattern Is Movement.
5. ”Inventory” by Boss The Big Bit.
6. ”156” by Mew.
7. ”Return Of Burno” by Oxford Collapse.
8. ”How High The Moon” from the album Flashlights by So Many Dynamos.
9. ”New Love” by The Evening Episode.
10. ”Grammy Family”by DJ Khaled Feat. Kanye West and John Legend (BONUS because I love this song!).