Albert Hammond/Junior Boys at Hiro Ballroom

So, last night found the McAD and I at Hiro Ballroom to hear the Junior Boys DJ and to catch the Albert Hammond, Jr. set. The Hammond set was fun enough, but there were a couple big problems. First off, I was really enjoying dancing to some Jackson 5, when someone decided to cut it off so the band could get on stage. Wack. Then there's the issue of being all "ooh I'm gonna distance myself from the strokes and not play any strokes tunes". So instead he covers a Frank Black song (not a pixies song, but a frank black song. maybe a commentary on solo careers? who knows.). For as much as I could bash it, it was a fun set. But it was like drinking a miller lite when you're really craving an MGD.

Brett Beyer

The Junior Boys were fun, but they were kinda just rocking some house stuff, nothing that I really recognized. We did dip out during their set several times to drink cheap beers ($7 for one bottle of beer is just never okay), so maybe we missed something. I don't think so though.

On your radio dial

I've been a casual fan of the Peak since it started broadcasting almost three years ago. I mean, it was still typical rock radio fair, but it was a good mix of classic rock with more contemporary stuff, plus they were never a station to just stick to the singles. Whereas most radio stations will play "Rock The Casbah" till your ears bleed, I remember catching "Clampdown" and "Lost in the Supermarket" on the Peak on more than a few occasions. Sometimes they'd even spin a Smiths track. Apparently now they're trying to move even further from mainstream commercial radio, including live music and studio cuts from regional acts, plus more Indie rock. I caught the tail end of "Phantom Limb" tonight as I was driving around at work, then heard the DJ say he'd be spinning some Kings of Leon within the hour. I went and checked their website's playlists and saw that they've actually got some pretty cool stuff in heavy rotation, like PB&J and Albert Hammond, Jr. Plus it's not even like they just play Phantom Limb, they've got a couple other Shins tracks going through rotation too. Although it'll be hard to steer myself from Conservative talk radio I enjoy so much, I'm definitely gonna be listening to the peak more these days.


Each one of these tracks has been played on the Peak at least once in the past day or so:

"Young Folks" by Peter, Bjorn, & John
"On Call" by Kings of Leon
"Sleeping Lessons" by the Shins
"Back to the 101" by Albert Hammond, Jr.
"Rosalita" by Bruce Springsteen.

Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!

So I finally got around to listening to a couple tracks off of Albert Hammond Jr.'s solo album. With the first song I put on ("In Transit"), my knee jerk reaction is just to say, "It sounds like the Strokes," but then I remember that the Strokes don't exactly sound like this anymore. "In Transit" is an enjoyable song. Technically speaking, Hammond has a better singing voice than Casablancas, but that means it lacks the gritty edge. As I sit here, I'm really enjoying the song, but I can't shake the feeling that it's soon going to fade into my memory. That being said, I just moved on to "Everyone Gets A Star" and he's already starting to grow on me. Maybe I can just pull a "Ministry of Truth" move and replace First Impressions of Earth with his album in the history books. "It Never Rains In Southern California" and "Call an Ambulance" even move beyond the Strokes sound and go into a "beatles/something familiar that I can't put my finger on" thing. The only thing here that I don't really like much is this track "Scared", but hey, he's doing fine everywhere else.

In summation, thumbs up Al.

"In Transit" by Albert Hammond Jr.
"Everyone Gets a Star" by Albert Hammond Jr.
"It Never Rains In Southern California" by Albert Hammond Jr.
"Call an Ambulance" by Albert Hammond Jr.
"Scared" by Albert Hammond Jr.

Note: I've been having problems lately using yousendit.com, so I'm giving sendspace.com a whirl. The only difference for you the reader is that now you just need to right click and save as. Carry on.