Canasta: We Were Set Up

Music blogging has been good to me. It's turned me into a tastemaker. Maybe I started off just wanting to talk about one of my favorite things in the world - music, but over time I have come to realize my passion for songs has morphed into a keen sense for identifying the fantastic, the merely enjoyable, and the plain mediocre. The perks are also great...I get an average of two cds a week from new, established, indie and mainstream bands. Some I like, some I wouldn't play a second time. Each time I open up a new one, I am filled with expectation, much like a kid on christmas morning, and when I discover some great new sound, it's so intoxicating I hit the blog immediately.

Four songs into We Were Set Up, the latest LP from hardly known Chicago indie pop sextex, Canasta, and I knew I had to recommend it. Of course, it could be that I was so impressed with one of the most catchy songs I have heard this year, the orchestral "Slow Down Chicago" which showcases the surefire confident delivery of velvet-toned vocalist Matt Priest (instrument of choice: "The Tambo"), the carefully orchestrated backing vocals of the entire band (everyone is a vocalist) and the well-timed introduction of horned instruments to the song's staccato melodies. But then by the time fourth song "Impostors" ran its course, my inner Belle & Sebastian had been awakened. But of course that is a lazy comparison, and this is no more apparent than on the pop-rock mid-tempo burn of "Heads Hurt Better" or the folk-rock-sy "Just A Star". Somehow these guys manage to sound like a lot of your favorite bands...from the Drive-By Truckers to the New Pornographers, Belle & Sebastian to Calexico...without sounding derivative or sloppy. Album closer "All this Dust" is an lovely blend of chamber pop, folk rock and Shins-que melodies, cleverly maneuvered around a symphony of voices. Smart pop eclectica with impressive vocals. Seriously recommended. Here's some sample tracks off the cd.

Microphone Song
Slow Down Chicago
Sympathetic Vibrations

Buy the cd or songs.

If you are in the Chicago area this weekend, go see these guys play with Voxtrot, Dorian Minor and Yellow Fever at the Empty Bottle. Have no idea where that is but you Chicago-ites or Chicagoose will know.

Looking For a File Hosting Service!

So I had to leave Ezarchive, my file hosting service, same one used by many music bloggers...for reasons too numerous to mention. If you are interested, you can read my email exchange with them here. I am now looking for a good file hosting service and would be grateful for any suggestions. Till then:

No new posts; and
You probably can't listen to anything on this site as the EZ guys have messed up all the links.

When I do find an alternative:
I hope it's not too expensive or we just have to close shop (unless of course those of you who enjoy the site are willing to donate to offset hosting costs); and
I won't repost any old post...we'll just forge ahead.

This is messed up. Meanwhile, enjoy this here and there collection hosted on Box.net, one of the file hosts I am trying out. Lemme know if you dig their style of hosting.

Muriel Tom Waits
Glowing Reebosound
So Wa? Lagbaja
New Years Asobi Sesku
Cartoon Music For Super Heroes Albert Hammond, Jr.
I'm Afraid of Japan Final Fantasy
Southtown Girls The Hold Steady

The masked man in the photo is Lagbaja, a Nigerian Afrojuju musician.

Oh My! Ezarchive!

The text of my email to Ezarchive early today should put things in perspective for those of you experiencing problems listening to music here:

Hi guys,

I understand this is a busy time for you but I'll like to point out a couple of snags I have run into since moving to the new 3.0. I run a music blog and from the look of things, this new system is going to make life a lot difficult for me. The old one was definitely more manageable!

Quirks:

1. New system is not user friendly
2. Flash-based? This is not very good for audio file archiving. Flash is a very unstable medium. Already, I have had issues with loading pages on Firefox and Safari. And I have the latest flash plugins.
3. I keep getting this "we're sorry. this account has been very popular today and we've reached the maximum volume allowed..."message when trying to access the files. This is not good at all seeing as I get about 3000 hits a day on my blog. Not good, not good.
4. You mentioned in your email to me that the old links will be available for 30 days. However, the links no longer play as mp3 files and they certainly are not behaving normally! The links now play as snippets or 5 second sound bites. Frustrating to say the least.
5. I post mp3 files on my blog, not flash or some webalbum type thing. The sharing tab in the new system provides mp3 links alright, but they don't work right. Maybe this is because you are still in transition. I should mention however that for mp3 bloggers, there is an obvious disadvantage here. You have to navigate to the sharing page and copy the link for each song. This was the case in the old system except that a "next" button allowed you to do this fairly quickly. This is gone in the new system. I was also expecting the process of posting new mp3s to be simplified significantly in the new system but it appears its been made more onerous. Groan!
6. Downsizing mp3s? Oh my!
7. Seeing as I am probably not going to like this new system, allow me to ask: Can I get a refund on what's left of my subscription? Note: I am just asking, not requesting for a cancellation.

Thanks!

Pierre