March Band Of The Month

Each month we will post our current favorite band for the present month. It will be based on opinion. Strictly opinion and growth of said opinion. For Example, Radiohead are always held in high regard here at Musicolgy nyc, so even though they were very active this month and In Rainbows is still playing away like crazy, it will be very difficult for them to win a band of the month award because it would be nearly impossible for us to love them anymore than we do.
This month we have a lot of veterans that were in high contention for the reward. And the winner will not surprise anyone. There will be no discovery of new artists this month. A couple contenders were the Grand Archives, Thao Nguyen and NIN, but with the release of the new REM album and the new Portishead on heavy rotation it really only came down to those two artists.

And the winner is...

As if you can't tell from the attached photo...

Portishead, by a landslide. What a great album they have coming out this month. We cannot wait to see them live, when they will probably win this award again.

Your prize can be collected when you contact me.

Top One Countdown: Reasons REM is Back

We have been listening to REM's new Accelerate record and we kinda enjoy it. A lot of people are saying that it's a return to form for the band, and the last time they said that we were stuck with that monster (as in monster bad, not monster good) of a record called..errrr...Monster. This one feels better than Monster did for sure.

And the number one reason we feel so good about it is...

1) "Man Sized Wreath"

Listen to it and the rest of the album here.

New REM Album Stream, Stipe Comes Out Of the Closet, and Interview

I swear I - along with the rest of the entire world - thought REM's singer Michael Stipe came out of the closet at birth, but that's not the case. In coming out of the closet he told Spin this:

“I recognize that to have public figures be very open about their sexuality helps some kid somewhere out there”

Either way, we're happy that he has come to terms with this. The band's new album, Accelerate that supposedly is a return to form is streaming at iLike. Additionally there is an interview with his Stipe himself over at Pitchfork.

If I were at SXSW...

This is where I'd be:

La Zona Rosa

Van Morrison (7PM)

Times New Viking (10:30PM)

Yeasayer (11:30PM)

Simian Mobile Disco (12:30AM)

Although this one was a close second:

KCRW.com
Jesca Hoop
8:00 p.m.

Goldspot
9:00 p.m.

Salt & Samovar
10:00 p.m.

Division Day
11:00 p.m.

The Ting Tings
12:00 a.m.

The Duke Spirit
1:00 a.m.

and oh yeah isn't REM playing?

Retro video(s): REM-Radiohead and Radiohead-REM

Thom Yorke with REM doing "E-bow the Letter" and Michael Stipe with Radiohead doing "Lucky". Must have been amazing shows to have experienced live. Was anyone there?

REM - "E-bow the Letter"



Radiohead - "Lucky"

New R.E.M. Album Due in April

I'm not going to pretend that I have any R.E.M. album after Up, but I'm also not going to pretend they haven't created some amazing music up to that point. And I'm also not going to pretend that with every release I don't get really excited.

Anyway, enough rambling. They have a new album titled, Accelerate, that will be released on April 1, 2008. It will be their 14th and apparently it will have the "old" R.E.M. sound with the guitars “turned up”. But that to me is not "old" R.E.M. Oh well.