The Dumbing of America » julian plenti http://thedumbingofamerica.net Fri, 18 May 2012 15:14:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The Dumbing of America's Top 20 Albums of 2009 http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/12/07/the-dumbing-of-americas-top-20-albums-of-2009/ http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/12/07/the-dumbing-of-americas-top-20-albums-of-2009/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:01:13 +0000 admin http://thedumbingofamerica.net/?p=2484 In the end, we think this was truly a great year for music. We would argue that this was the year of the new band, with 75% of our top 20 consisting of debut albums. As we started going through this list, we recognized that we’d interviewed many of the bands listed. As you know, based on our refusal to accept advertising, we’ve been adamant in our refusal to be influenced by labels, promoters, etc.. Frankly, when we heard some of these albums, we were on the phone trying to track the bands down for an interview. Thus you can always assume that the interviews you read are truly from our favorite bands. We hope that there are a few in here that are new to you and that we help to expand your horizons in the same way that these groups have.

1. Alberta Cross- Broken Side of Time

2. The Boxer Rebellion- Union

3. Heat-Ray- Love All Over

4. Lovvers- OCD Go Go Go Girls

5. Fruit Bats- The Ruminant Band

6. Royal Treatment Plant- Hope Is Not Enough

7. Boat Beam- Puzzle Shapes

8. The Mountain Goats- The Life of the World to Come

9. The XX- S/T

10. The Big Pink- A Brief History of Love

11. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- S/T

12. Julian Plenti- …Is Skyscraper

13. Jason Lytle- Yours Truly, The Commander

14. The Joy Formidable- A Ballon Called Morning

15. Gliss- Devotion/Implosion

16. Grand Analog- Metropolis Is Burning

17. The Black Box Revelation- Set Your Head On Fire

18. Ten City Nation- At The Still Point

19. Jaydiohead- S/T

Jaydiohead – 99 Anthems from Max Tannone on Vimeo.

20. It Hugs Back- Inside Your Guitar

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to get a preview of upcoming interviews, music news and behind the scenes stories about our interviews.

]]> http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/12/07/the-dumbing-of-americas-top-20-albums-of-2009/feed/ 2 Julian Plenti- Live @ The Guggenheim http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/09/26/julian-plenti-live-the-guggenheim/ http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/09/26/julian-plenti-live-the-guggenheim/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:24:58 +0000 admin http://thedumbingofamerica.net/?p=1802 Julian Plenti chose The Guggenheim in NYC as the site of their first concert.  And we’ve got highlights!  Quality isn’t tremendous on these, but it’s well worth watching for those of you who love the album as much as we do.  If you look carefully, it looks like Paul Banks is actually having…..fun.  Hmm, never saw him do that with Interpol.

Here’s the entire set, in order:

Fly As You Might

Unwind/ Girl On The Sporting News

Fun That We Have

Horse With No Name (America cover)

No Chance Survival

H

Madrid

On The Esplanade

Only If You Run

Skyscraper

Into The White (Pixies Cover)

]]> http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/09/26/julian-plenti-live-the-guggenheim/feed/ 0 Taking the Shrinkwrap Off http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/08/11/taking-the-shrinkwrap-off/ http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/08/11/taking-the-shrinkwrap-off/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:53:55 +0000 admin http://thedumbingofamerica.net/?p=1344 We had intended on doing a weekly recap of great new music, but frankly last week was a little….meh. We’d rather wait until there is music worth tweeting about, rather than just regurgitating the promos that Stereogum was paid handsomely to write about (seriously? Muse? Can we assume a review of the new Daughtry can’t be far behind?). Oh wait, did we say we weren’t going to be mean-spirited and snarky anymore? That was so last week…..

Here’s the songs that tickled our fancy this week:

Lovvers- The new album “OCD Go Go Go Girls” from this Nottingham four-piece is chaotic and edgy. But the best of this genre are those that know how to write a carefully crafted melody. Listen closely and you’ll hear manic pop thrilling genius.

Four Count

Ten City Nation- Lulling you into a false sense of security with a quiet little intro….go ahead, turn it up, it won’t hurt you. This British group (do we listen to American bands anymore?!) reminds us of Ride and Swervedriver. Taking the concept of blisspop and using razor blades to cut it to pieces, this group makes a sound that would sound brilliant bouncing around Wembley, Lollapalooza and the world.

Flashing Lights

Zooey Van Goey- ….and because you think we only like loud music. Have we mentioned our undying love for Jenny Lewis? Frankly, we could listen to her sing the ABC’s and we’d be enchanted. There’s nothing like a good singer/songwriter and Zooey fits the bill. Why aren’t we programming music for Josh Schwartz? This would fit the bill on any number of your favorite shows.

Sweethearts In Disguise

Obfusc- Ambient brilliance from New York based photographer and graphic designer Joseph X. Burke. While it reminds us of Phillip Glass’ best work, it engages you in a way that Radiohead’s more atmospheric work does. Put this on and endless loop and you can drive from NYC to LA in one night.

Oceanic Glow (night mix)

The Big Pink- We’ve written about them before, but their new record is the next logical step to immortality. Expect this band to be on plenty of year-end top ten lists.

Dominos

Oh and as a bonus, here’s the Julian Plenti appearance on Jimmy Fallon last week. Epic. UPDATE: Apparently NBC (in their infinite wisdom) doesn’t want you to see this. Here’s our latest attempt to give you a working version of this.

]]> http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/08/11/taking-the-shrinkwrap-off/feed/ 0 Fresh Fish! http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/07/22/fresh-fish-4/ http://thedumbingofamerica.net/2009/07/22/fresh-fish-4/#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:29:41 +0000 admin http://thedumbingofamerica.net/?p=1240 The symbol of The Dumbing of America

Hey, it’s contest time!  We need a name for our weekly, “here’s ten songs that we think are really good” column.  Please submit a comment with your suggestion.  The winner will win….stuff.  We’ll give you an option of something nifty from our box of delicious promos, passes to a show in your area from any of the bands we’ve featured on TDOA or….the opportunity to ask one question of a band that we’re interviewing in the near future!  We think that last one is nifty, but we’ll leave that option up to the winner.  Contest ends on Sunday, August 2nd.

In the meantime, here’s our list of music that Ryan Seacrest ought to be discussing on next weeks’ AT40:

Julian Plenti- Fun That We Have

Jay Reatard- It Ain’t Gonna Save Me

Acetate Zero- Imperial climb

The Answering Machine- Obviously Cold

Fruit Sand- Tell Me Before

Japandroids- Wet Hair

pintandwefall- Jail

Project A-ko- Here Comes New Challenger!

Sebastian Schuller- The Border

The Seven Inches- To Boldly Go

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