If it weren’t for Dispatch, I don’t know if my love for music would be what it is today. And it is hard to say whether or not this site would even exist if it weren’t for that first great Napster discovery. So it is hard for me to ignore anything that those guys are doing, even if their solo efforts will never amount to the greatness of their communal effort.
Which brings us to old Pete Heimbold, who has been recording under the moniker Pete Francis for the past several years. Francis has a new record that comes out today called The Movie We Are In. While he may have sung lead on many of my favorite Dispatch songs, I always felt that he was the weakest member of the trio. And I think that is becoming more apparent as I follow each of their post-Dispatch musical careers. But what I have heard of The Movie has a better sound than anything I’ve heard from him so far. It has more of an uplifting jam band groove to it than his previous solo efforts, which I feel suits him much better.
Inevitably though, I am sure that this album will simply serve as a sad reminder that Dispatch no longer exists and that I’ll probably never get that final concert or album that I so desperately desire.
So there wasn’t too much else this week other than iTunes, so I’m going to get right into it:
iTunes:
Single of the Week: “Catch Me If You Can” – Outasight (3.8) This is the kind of instrumental hip-hop I like. Lot’s of brass, an actual bass instead of a beat, and a little bit of that Motown style I love. I’ll give this song a nod.
Discovery Download: “Wells” – The Expendables (3.2) It reminds me of a fuller band version of Dispatch’s, with some nice jazz guitar, and a sort of Sugar Ray “rap” in the middle too. Not the strongest vocals, but a decent song.
Video of the Week: “Opposite of Adults” – Chiddy Bang (4.0) You know the video that Nathan wrote about a little bit back that he saw on Carson Daily’s filler between car commercials? Well, here it is for free! Nice, right? Creative remix of “Kids” by MGMT. “Somebody tell Roth that I don’t love college…”
Canción de la Semana: “Colores Colores Colores” – Furland (2.0) It sounds like a bad Waking Ashland song in Spanish, pretty flat.
Jack Antonoff and the rest of his band, Steel Train, were apparently floored by this year’s Coachella performance by La Roux. So much so, that they felt compelled to do an acoustic cover of their hit song “Bulletproof.” I wasn’t sure this synth-pop jam would be able to translate, but in the end I found myself humming along just as much as I do to the original.
So it was an awfully slow week as far as music releases go. But when The National release a new record, it doesn’t really matter what else is going on. Because you are going to want as much time as possible to dedicate to devouring that album. Because you know it will be as slow-cooker, but you know that it will only be a matter of time before you absolutely love it. Fortunately, or unfortunately; however you want to look at it, there really isn’t anything else worth mentioning. But don’t worry. We have plenty of great May releases yet to come.
If it weren’t for Dispatch, I don’t know if my love for music would be what it is today. And it is hard to say whether or not this site would even exist if it weren’t for that first great Napster discovery. So it is hard for me to ignore anything that those guys are doing, even if their solo efforts will never amount to the greatness of their communal effort.
