W♥M

The Ocean Blue at The Parkway Theater (09/03/2023)

The Ocean Blue Setlist Denmark All the Way Blue Ballerina Out of Control Cake Kings and Queens Paraguay My Love The Limit Love Doesn't Make It Easy on Us Mercury Cerulean Marie Give It A Try Sad Night, Where Is Morning? Slide Ayn Garden Song Drifting, Falling Ask Me Jon Sublime Vanity Fair Between Something and Nothing -- Encore -- Harlequin Pale Shelter (Tears for Fears cover) Tour Dates Sep 8 - Washington, DC @ Howard Theater Sep 9 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Sep 29 - Philadelphia, PA @ Ardmore Theater Sep 30 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Neptune Festival Oct 6 - San Antonio, TX @ Sam’s Burger Joint Oct 7 - Houston, TX @ Numbers Oct 19 - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern Oct 20 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Bag Oct 21 - Columbus, OH @ Natalie’s Grandview Music Hall Nov 10 - Miami, FL @ The Ground @ Club Space Nov 11 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Nov 16 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah Nov 17 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Nov 18 - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom Read More The Ocean Blue The Ocean Blue is an indiepop band from the late 80s, originally signed to Sire Records. Currently, the band released Ultramarine and is signed to Korda …

It is John Hughes month at the Parkway Theater and what better way to kick off the 80’s film series than a concert from The Ocean Blue.

When I walked into the theater The Smiths “This Charming Man” was playing through the speakers with bands like XTC, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Sundays and U2 to follow (music provided by DJ Jake Rudh of Transmission).

Local Twin Cities band The Hang Ups opened up the evening with “Top of Morning” from their 1996 album So We Go, which Chris Roberts of MPR claimed to be the soundtrack of urban bohemia in Minneapolis in the mid 90’s.

The Hang Ups formed in 1990 with Brian Tighe on vocals and guitar, Jeff Kearns on bass and Stephen Ittner on drums.  (Ittner was not present at the show.)

Tighe joked it had been a massive undertaking already with only two dates completed. Already he felt tired. Maybe that’s why he launched into a new song, “Helicopter” to give himself a lift.

Although a 90’s band their sound has a feel from an earlier time, not the 80’s, but the 60’s. The local radio station The Current wrote a nice retrospective of their work in 2013, calling their music radiant, melodic, “… music with a kind of grace, lightness of touch and economy.” I also noticed a tinge of minor and at times discordant chords to give their songs a wistful note.

The Ocean Blue opened up their set with “Denmark” from their recently reissued album Davey Jones Locker.

From Hershey, Pennsylvania they formed in 1986 with David Schelzel on lead vocals and guitar, Bobby Mittan on bass and Oed Ronne on guitar and keyboards. (In 2000 Peter Anderson joined in on drums.)

Right out of high school they signed with Sire Records and released two hit albums The Ocean Blue in 1989 and Cerulean in 1991. Schelzel said he was influenced by The Smiths and Echo and the Bunnymen, but I also hear Psychedelic Furs in many of their earlier songs.

Schelzel said he was the most nervous about this concert for he was playing in his hometown, he knew a lot of people in the crowd and everyone was seated.

So how did someone from the land of chocolate end up in the land of 10,000 Lakes?

Schelzel took a hiatus from music in his 30’s and went to law school at the University of Minnesota. He loved his time in the Twin Cities so much he decided to stay and become an Intellectual property lawyer. Still he has kept his toes in the musical waters, releasing albums through Korda Records, a music collective he formed with other like-minded musicians like Allison LaBonne of the Owls, Brian Tighe of The Hang Ups and Jim Ruiz.

Although the crowd was mostly seated throughout the evening, fans had no problem rising to dance to “Mercury” “Slide” and “Drifting, Falling,” a song that invited Tighe back on stage to play a saxophone solo, perhaps an ode to that sweet era of hit teenage comedies and cool dance music.

The Hang Ups The Hang Ups The Hang Ups

The Ocean Blue

The Ocean Blue The Ocean Blue The Ocean Blue

The Ocean Blue at the Parkway Theater, Minneapolis (03 Sep 2023)

dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

A Handy Guide

I'll admit that these themed-posts takes forever to write and research, so I hope you appreciate this latest handy guide to handsy albums. There are a ton of other albums with hands on the cover, but I'm only including the ones that we've previously mentioned on W♥M.

Chairlift - Bruises Chairlift CHAIRLIFT chairliftmusic.com ♥ myspace.com Wow, such a great pop song, that "Bruises" song. It's a perfect blend of catchy bass and Rilo Kiley-esque vocals from Caroline Polachek and trying to impress someone with handstand but only regretting getting nothing but black and blue bruises for your trouble. And just when you thought "yes, what a great song", the song turns into a duet! Then ends on a non-sense "doo doo doo", just for good measure. What I like about them, based on their album, Does You Inspire You, is that their lyrics aren't all about love and relationships: "Garbage" is about all the junk we produce ("we're making shit for you to throw away!") and "Planet Health" seems to be a community of health nut and something about putting out fires by stop, drop, and rolling. I won't read too much into their lyrics, because they seem cryptic enough. What I think the band is having trouble with is what musical direction they want to take. They're either really catchy pop song ("Bruises", "Garbage") or no-so-pop music ("Ceiling Wax", "Make Your Mind Up", "Le Flying Saucer Hat" - although the beeps are awesome on this song). I know this sound harsh, but I feel that most people who hear "Bruises" and expecting the band to sound like this for the other 12 tracks might be in for a disappointment. As evidence, I submit one Kate II, who recently saw Chairlift on tour with PB&J. I get the impression that was how the audience react to their show: kind of zombie like, until that "one song" came on. Still, that song is so good and you'll play the pants off that song and ignore what I've said about the rest of the album. The band's currently taking their hit song on the road: 06/09/09 The Village- w/ MGMT Little Rock, Arkansas 06/11/09 Bonnaroo Manchester, TN 06/18/09 Echo Los Angeles, CA 06/21/09 Detroit Bar Costa Mesa, CA 06/22/09 Casbah San Diego, CA 07/18/09 Lovebox London 07/19/09 Latitude Festival Southwold 07/26/09 Secret Garden Party Cambridgeshire 08/01/09 All Points West Liberty State Park, NJ 08/08/09 Lollapalooza Chicago 08/13/09 Oya Festival Oslo 08/14/09 Way Out West Goteborg 08/16/09 Summer Sundae Leicester Does You Inspire You is available now as a re-issue on Columbia/Kanine Records. Apple used "Bruises" for their iPod commercial, so you can get it via iTunes. Get "Evident Utensil" free from killeropeners.net		Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll Yeah Yeah Yeahs YEAH YEAH YEAHS yeahyeahyeahs.com ♥ myspace.com ♥ twitter Let me be clear: we are not a YYY website, I get questions about the banner all the time, showing one model/singer Marijne van der Vlugt. So, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are pretty well-established now, with their third studio album, It's Blitz!. If you've liked the old yyy with their experimental noises and guitars, you may not like their new album - even though I think it's the best and most easily accessible music from them.  If you think that's a joke, well the yolk's on you. Because I'm serious, this is their best work... I would recommend It's Blitz!, not the over-hyped Show Your Bones album, to fans that are just getting into the yyys. The band seems to mostly a collaboration between singer/fashion-trendsetter Karen O and guitarist Nick Zinner. They seem to share most of the spotlight, and you almost feel bad for whatthedrummer's dude (Brian Chase). But I don't think he minds it much, based on his incredibly detailed blog. For the most part, the I really liked the electro-dance songs: "Zero", "Heads Will Roll", and "Dull Life" sounds anything but dull. There's also a few tuned down tracks, "Hysteric" and "Little Shadow", which are great as you can really take the time and hear Karen O singing. If you get the deluxe edition of the album, which I'll recommend, it comes with four bonus acoustic tracks. Maybe you can pick it up at one of their shows: 06/08/09 Marquee Theatre Phoenix, Arizona 06/10/09 Club 101 El Paso, Texas 06/12/09 Bonnaroo Manchester, Tennessee 06/24/09 T-Mobile In Music Festival Zagreb 06/26/09 St. Gallen Festival St. Gallen 06/27/09 Le Rock Dans Tous Ses Etats Evreux 06/28/09 Glastonbury Festival Worthy Farm 06/30/09 Openair Arena Vienna 07/01/09 Roxy Prague 07/03/09 Eurockeenes Belfort 07/04/09 Werchter Festival Werchter 07/05/09 Roskilde Roskilde 07/07/09 Docks Hamburg 07/10/09 T In The Park Kinross, Scotland 07/11/09 Oxegen Festival Punchestown, Dublin 07/18/09 Quebec City Summer Festival Quebec City, Quebec 07/19/09 Ottawa Bluesfest Ottawa, Ontario 07/31/09 All Points West Jersey City, New Jersey 08/28/09 Rock en Seine Paris 08/29/09 Leeds Festival Leeds 08/30/09 Reading Festival Reading Otherwise, just look for their album at most record store, it is on the Interscope Record label.
Two The Antlers THE ANTLERS antlersmusic.com ♥ myspace.com ♥ twitter I've mentioned before that I think a band is important/notable when they have a Wikipedia page... as usually I rely on the user-submitted website for a lot of research. Unfortunately, The Antler's Wiki page tells you nothing about this mysterious band... only to mention that their latest release, Hospice, was "critically acclaimed". Upon digging, NPR calls Hospice Best Record of 2009 So Far. The band seems to center around Peter Silberman, who's been having a lot of success. He recently signed with Frechkiss Records. Apparently the album, Hospice, was inpired by the idea of caring for a terminal patient, who's mentally abusive. It's a difficult situation because they're the one that's dying... This will all be suddenly clear when you hear "Epilogue", which tells the story in song. So, I'll have to say that listening to the album was a struggle for me. It is very atmospheric and you really need to listen with headphones to try and catch everything. The vocals are often drowned in a sea of noise and it feels like shoegazy/spacey for me. It's also too dense for me, and it seems like the sort of music that Pitchfork would love (and they do). I would suggest checking out "Sylvia" as a sample song, but it's a bit too harsh and loud. Instead, I'll direct you to check out "Two". There's a lot of interesting sound on this song, and the vocals sounds like it's being sung far, far away from the microphone. Oh yeah, tour dates: 06/09/09 PLUSH* Tucson, AZ 06/10/09 BAR PINK San Diego, CA 06/11/09 EL REY* LOS ANGELES, CA 06/12/09 VELVET JONES* Santa Barbara, CA 06/13/09 BIMBOS* San Francisco, CA 06/14/09 DRUNKEN UNICORN+ (Peter Solo) Atlanta, GA 06/16/09 LOCAL 506+ Chapel Hill, NC 06/17/09 OUTBACK LODGE+ Charlottesville, VA 06/18/09 IOTA+ Arlington, VA 06/19/09 M ROOM+ Philadelphia, PA 06/21/09 MAGIC STICK# Detroit, MI 06/26/09 SOUNDFIX presents @ ROOFTOP FILMS New York 07/18/09 PITCHFORK FESTIVAL Chicago, IL 07/21/09 MAGIC STICK# Detroit, Michigan 07/22/09 HORSESHOE TAVERN# Toronto 07/23/09 PETIT CAMPUS# Montreal 07/24/09 JERKY’S# Providence, RI 07/25/09 IRON HORSE# Northampton, MA 08/21/09 MERCURY LOUNGE (record release!) New York 09/12/09 MONOLITH FESTIVAL Morrison, CO 09/13/09 MONOLITH FESTIVAL Morrison, CO * w/ Au Revoir Simone, + w/ Cotton Jones, # w/ Frightened Rabbit It should be interesting to see where post-Hospice takes The Antlers, as Silberman stated that anything new will not be solely written by him, but the whole trio (drummer Michael Lerner and multi-instrumentalist Darby Cicci) will contribute in the writing process. In the meantime, you can pick up Hospice on amazon.		Hoots and Hellmouth - You and All of Us Hoots and Hellmouth HOOTS AND HELLMOUTH hootsandhellmouth.com ♥ myspace ♥ twitter So, the first thing I think about when I hear Hoots and Hellmouth's sophomore album, The Holy Open Secret, is that they are good old country folks. You can't help but smile when you hear their music, that's for sure. It would seem that the band name comes from their two primary songwriters: Sean Hoots and Andrew "Hellmouth" Gray (the nickname comes from an ex-girlfriend). The band came together as part of the West Chester University music scene in Philadelphia in 2005. Obviously, as I previously mentioned, I was drawn to the happier songs (banjo-picking "You and All of Us", "Watch Your Mouth"), while the softer, more introspective songs ("Ne'er Do Well", "Family Band") fits well enough in the album, but I don't know how well-receive they will be performed live. To me, they seem like a high-energy live band. It's also worth noting when I saw "What Good Are Plowshares If We use Them Like Swords", this is the first time I've ever heard the word plowshare used in a song. It made me smile as I think of Magic the Gathering. Yes, they're on tour: 06/07/09 Wakarusa Festival Ozark, AR 06/09/09 The Redstone Room Davenport, IA 06/10/09 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MN 06/11/09 Shank Hall Milwaukee, WI 06/13/09 Intersection+ Grand Rapids, MI 06/14/09 Ribfest Chicago - North Stage Chicago, IL 06/18/09 joe’s pub New York, NY 06/19/09 Gullifty’s Camp Hill, PA 06/20/09 Southern Shore Music Festival Millville, NJ 07/03/09 Jewish Mother* Virginia Beach, VA 07/04/09 Jewish Mother* Virginia Beach, VA 07/09/09 Club Passim Cambridge, MA 07/10/09 Empire Dine & Dance Portland, ME 07/11/09 StageOne Fairfield, CT 07/16/09 The Basement Nashville, TN 07/17/09 JJ’s Bohemia#  Chattanooga, TN 07/18/09 The Beacon Pub Swannanoa, NC 07/19/09 Unplugged in the Park @ Park Tavern Atlanta, GA 07/21/09 The Melting Point Athens, GA 07/22/09 The Evening Muse Charlotte, NC 07/23/09 The Camel Richmond, VA 08/05/09 Musikfest - Liederplatz Stage Bethlehem, PA 08/07/09 Infinity Hall Norfolk, CT 08/14/09 Summerfest  Society Owen Sound, ON 09/11/09 The Ark Ann Arbor, MI +  w/ Rev Horton Heat! * with The Hackensaw Boys # w/ Madeline and The Ginger Envelope The Holy Open Secret is out now on MAD Dragon Records (Ryko/WEA). You can pick up both of their albums on Amazon. Their self-titled debut album is being sold used for as little as $1.37 (what a bargain!)

James Kochalka Superstar - Monkey Vs Robot (Vs Kiss Remix)	Neon Neon-Raquel (Radio)	Unwritten Law-Shoulda Known Better	XTC - Dear God	Wendy & Lisa - You And I
The Chemical Brothers (featuring Fatlip) - The Salmon Dance	Mystery Jets - Young Love (Featuring Laura Marling)	Information Society - Where Would I Be Without IBM	Dar Williams-It's Alright	Sonic Youth - Sunday

 06/08/2009 01:25:28 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥podcast.weheartmusic.com♥news.weheartmusic.com

Costanza

 07/06/2008 16:42:30  ♥ written by vu ()

Costanza - Silence Costanza Tour Dates 07/13/08 Eboli (Salerno/Naples), Italy 07/18/08 Arezzo Wave - Livorno, Italy 08/09/08 Carpi/Modena, Italy 08/29/08 Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada Discography [2003] Tricky: Vulnernable [2006] zerOKilled [2008] Sonic Diary See Also Portishead http://weheartmus... Portishead, the band that helped pioneer trip-hop, is back with their new studio album, Third, d...

Costanza Francavilla, or simply known as Costanza is an Italian singer, has a full length album out on July 8^th called Sonic Diary. After putting the album in to listen, I instantly think of electronica and trip hop, but with a dreampop quality, as her singing style is often breathy, sexy, and deamlike.

Looking at the very impressive/see-through press material, it looks like her music's been licensed out to a variety of television shows (CSI, L Word) and movies (.45, starring everyone's favorite Milla Jovovich). It doesn't surprise me, as this type of electronica music (think Moby) works well as background music.

However, I think the one thing people might know her from is her collaboration with British electronic artist, Tricky (and, sure, you might know him from another Jovovich film, The Fifth Element).

Apparently, Costanza who was a fan at one of his show gave Tricky's drummer a three-track demo CD and that was passed onto Tricky, who absolutely loved it. So all the songs on his Vulnerable album in 2003 featured Costanza's vocals with two songs co-written by her ("Stay" and "What is Wrong").

Tricky - Dear God

VS

XTC - Dear God

One of the most bizarre and interesting song from their collaboration is their cover of XTC's "Dear God". I wouldn't go so far as to pronounce their version equal or better than the original grand epic song in three and a half minutes, but I will have to admit that it's "different". I think if I didn't know about XTC, I would really love Tricky and Costanza's version. (Side note: their cover of The Cure's "Love Cats" is better).

Now, if you thought "Dear God" was weird, the very original electronica take on Fugazi's "Promises" and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" must be heard to be believed. The way she sings "promises are shit", with her Italian accent, it doesn't sound bad or naughty at all.

Other songs I thought were interesting is the opening song, "Just Another Alien". Not so much a song, but a series of questions that she was probably asked when she was applying to live and work in the USA. The Italian song, "I Tuoi Occhi Sono Pieni Di Sale" (featuring Riccardo Sinigallia) was also interesting, it made me want to learn Italian. I did use babelfish and it tells me that the title translate to something like "Your Eyes Are Full Of [knowledge?]", so I'm assuming it's a personal/love song?

The one song that I think everyone will really enjoy is "Silence". This is such a dreamtronica song, full of child-like and innocent singing on a very lush music background. I feel like the song belongs to a soundtrack to a movie.

Fans of electronica lounge music, made famous by such compilations such as OM: Chilled and Lounge Experience series, should really enjoy this. These songs are perfect for either laying around the house or at a small party, really good for any occasion.

It looks like she'll be playing a few dates in Italy with Marco Messina. If you aren't lucky enough to live in Italy, her album Sonic Diary is out this Tuesday. For convience, you can actually get high quality MP3 from Amazon right now.

PS, Usually we just have one or two releases on Tuesday that I need to do coverage on. So I normally check on Sunday and work on the review that very day or, at the latest, on that Tuesday. I thought I was sitting pretty as I've already taken care of two releases already that was meant for July 7^th (Connected) and 8^th (Matt Keating), but we still have these that's being release this week: Wire's Object 47, The Coke Dares' Feelin' Up, Son Ambulance's Someone Else's Deja Vu, Patti Smith/Kevin Shield's The Coral Sea, and Costanza's Sonic Diary. If I have missed anything, please accept my apologies and contact me right away.

Links: costanza.tv myspace.com/costanzafrancavilla