interviews, listen

Poetic Memory: Cougar (List)

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Cougar

Cougar, Madison Wisconsin’s all-foxy-grandma-instrumental-post-rock band, just released their sophomore effort, Patriot. Along with it came two starkly different—yet excellent—singles,”Stay Famous” (MP3) and “Foil Épée Sabre” (MP3, EP only). “Stay Famous” plays with old-school indie dynamics, while “Sabre”, a meandering folky piece, may or may not have something to do with fencing. You can check out their catalog at iTunes, as well as other places.

We recently got together with Cougar to talk Poetic Memory, and after listening to the two songs above, it should be no surprise that their influences range from Timbalada’s “boobs” album (whose cover is NSFW, by the way), to Bach, Hendrix, and Tortoise’s TNT. If you are surprised, it’s all explained below.

They have one gig in their hometown of Madison, Wisconsin before they embark on a European tour. Tourdates are at the bottom of the post. Continue reading →

music news

Don’t Monkey Around with Rock Band

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The Beatles: Rock Band

We at Owl and Bear are strongly against the Beatles version of Rock Band, releasing 9/9/09. Look, we have nothing against people trying to make some money. Plus, we think it’s great that kids are getting into music and learning that getting good with a guitar-shaped joystick will automatically translate into the ability to shred with an ax. Dylan and Hendrix used to go head to head on the Atari version of Rock Band, to be sure. But this Beatles version is ridiculous.

As children, we used to watch the TV show The Monkees and were convinced for many years that they were an actual band. In middle school, this led to the unfortunate incident during a class presentation—while trying to hide our unstoppable erections—where we confessed that the Monkees (sic) were our favorite band. Everyone laughed, especially the teacher, who led the charge. We wet our pants—no easy task while sporting an erection—and ran straight home. Continue reading →

interviews, listen, san diego

Poetic Memory: Local Natives (List)

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local-natives

Silver Lake-based Local Natives just completed a U.S. tour with Ben Kweller, then went to London, then stormed barns across the midwest. They even blog. Needless to say, these guys (and occasionally girl) are both creative and busy. They’re also great musicians who put on a rewarding and fun show. They have a new album called Gorilla Manor coming out soon.

Recently, the band recorded an acoustic version of their song “Camera Talk” (MP3) for the website Aurgasm, who pretty aptly summed up our feelings for the band:

The quintet’s unique brand of indie folk highlights their tight vocal harmonies without sacrificing on rolling guitars, keys and percussion or sharp lyrics. Their laid-back and layered folk is a perfect way to wind down the rest of summer.

Local Natives are also currently touring extensively in the west through late September, with a stop Thursday (9/3) at San Diego’s Casbah, and then they’re moving on to Europe for six weeks. Complete list of tourdates is below.

Meanwhile, we caught up Ryan Hahn, Taylor Rice, and Kelcey Ayer to talk Poetic Memory. Check it out. Continue reading →

music news, video

Ellie Greenwich: 1940-2009 (Video)

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Ellie Greenwich

As if living in a world without Ted Kennedy weren’t bad enough, today also saw the passing of Ellie Greenwich. Through her collaborations with Jeff Barry and Phil Spector, Greenwich’s songwriting had a profound influence on American pop music in the 60’s, with masterpieces like “Be My Baby”, “Then He Kissed Me”, “Going to the Chapel”, “Hanky Panky”, and “Leader of the Pack” being just a handful of the songs to her credit.

She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991, and her songs continue to be revered as pop classics. Aspiring songwriters can check out her charmingly antiquated tips for writing a hit song here. Greenwich died earlier today of a heart attack while undergoing treatment for pneumonia at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. She was 68.

In her honor, we’ve got a video (well, actually it’s just audio with a still image) of We Are Scientists performing Greenwich’s greatest song, “Be My Baby”, after the jump, as well as the famous long take from Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, set to “Then He Kissed Me”. Continue reading →

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