Check out this track. It’s called “Sun Hand” and its by Local Natives.

I first saw this band open up for one of my favorite bands, Facing New York at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. That was in October 2008. Phew, that sounds like a longgg time ago.

Anyway, one of the openers was a group called Local Natives, who true to the name, looked like a bunch of barefoot hobbits bouncing around on stage playing guitar, jumping, stomping, screaming and singing. It was a spectacle.

My friend Jon was even more blown away than I was.

I never got around to listening to them because I was so infatuated with FNY’s new release, “Get Hot.”

Which, by the way, was hot.

Now, the Natives are buzzworthy, receiving rave reviews from NPR and coverage on Pitchfork.

The five-piece has an eclectic, energetic folk-heavy indie rock sound with a roots in the ground kind of feel. They were just signed onto Frenchkiss Records, the same label as Passion Pit. Now there’s a winning combination.

I chose “Sun Hands” because right around 2:55 into the song, shit starts getting really good. Right at the breakdown, I’m jolted awake. It’s not hard to fall asleep to the shimmery guitars and airy vocals of a lot of indie, but as soon as the stomping and clapping kicks in, it turns the song into something much stronger. I just wish they could have a whole song like that. So I didn’t have to wait three minutes just to get to the good part.

The Natives’ debut album “Gorilla Manor” isn’t actually “out” until Tuesday February 16, but I’ve had it for a couple weeks now. (Don’t tell the RIAA!)

And it’s sounding real good. “Airplanes” is the single-ready track, which I’m sure will blow up in exactly six months until this band becomes revered along the lines of Yeasayer, Passion Pit and maybe even MGMT.

KCRW is all over these guys, so catch on while it’s hot. You’ll thank me later.

Catch an acoustic version of “Airplanes” below:

Today, our good friends in the government approved the merging of Ticketmaster and Livenation. The Justice Department, who oversees antitrust policy, says the joint will “preserve competition.”

I sincerely hope they are kidding. If we’re lucky enough to see ticket prices go down, the fees will surely only go up.

The latest in major corporate mergers gives the new company, Livenation Entertainment Inc. an 80 percent stranglehold on not just the concert market, but the music business as a whole.

The merger doesn’t significantly expand the market share of either company. Instead, it creates one company that will have a hand in just about every corner of the music business. - WSJ

This vertical integration gives one corporation a piece of the pie in just about every aspect of music from ticket sales to artist management and concert promotion.

It might as well be Clear Channel all over again. Which, if you don’t recall from the early ’00s, was the corporate juggernaut of last decade, (still) running the majority of radio stations and live music events, along with all the advertising needed to create one giant load of synergy. The conglomerate’s practices weren’t exactly friendly, and it pretty much forced any significant artist to run with Clear Channel stations and venues for fear of being dropped from of all of the subsidiaries.

For a much more recent example, we need only look back a little more than a month. General Electric just sold NBC Universal to Comcast on Dec. 9. With 51 percent in Comcast’s pockets (49 percent is still owned by G.E.), the nation’s largest cable provider now has even more power over what transmits through our tubes and how much it costs.

Consumer choice seems all but lost.

Perhaps today’s merger was unstoppable, but we have most assuredly created one more monster:

Live Nation stages more concerts and concert tours than any other promoter, and owns or operates 75 major venues in the U.S. Ticketmaster sells tickets for the majority of major sports and entertainment venues in the U.S., and has an artist management division that handles the affairs of hundreds of the biggest acts in pop, rock and country. Ticketmaster’s Front Line Management unit represents over 200 acts, ranging from veterans like the Eagles and Journey to newcomers like Miley Cyrus and Kings of Leon. - Wall Street Journal

The only good news? A few restrictions thanks to Obama’s new antitrust chief Christine Varney:

•Livenation Entertainment Inc. will not be able to retaliate against artists that use competitors for ticket services — like when Clear Channel threatened to pull bands like Blink 182 off all its stations in 2001.

•Ticketing and concert promotion will have be sold separately, not as a bundle, within the new company.

•Certain data will not be shared between departments to prevent the stifling of whatever competition is left.

Somehow, I get the feeling government isn’t really working these days. This is a failure of Washington on multiple fronts. These massive mergers are textbook cases for what our country’s antitrust laws are supposed to prevent.

Read the laws for yourself: http://www.ftc.gov/bc/antitrust/antitrust_laws.shtm

“…Certain acts are considered so harmful to competition that they are almost always illegal.”

So much for that.

cobra starship "hot mess"

The new wave synth-rock of Cobra Starship is back for another! Onto its third album, Cobra has gotten more produced, more poppy, more synthy and more mainstream.

It’s good at times, but it’s also bad. I’m afraid this band may be turning into my guilty pleasure. Ironic, since I’m all for music you can just dance to.

I first heard the newest single, “Good Girls Gone Bad” on Grant Damon Is A Blog. While irresistibly catchy, it’s got all the qualities of everything I hate about mainstream music: cheesy computerized sounds, talentless lyrics, and the as long as it’s got a good beat I’ll dance to it no matter how degrading mentality. While Gabe Saporta, Cobra’s lead singer, is no Lil Wayne, or Lil Mama for that matter, he’s got to be borderline selling out.

The former Midtown singer has got pop punk roots, but it’s looking like he’s sold his soul to the top 40s. Lost is a conventional rock appeal that fits right in with the ’80s-influenced synth. (In sound and fashion – check out their digs)

Found is something along the lines of Fall Out Boy meets Kylie Monogue. Calling this rock music is a little like calling Kelly Clarkson rock and roll. The only difference is that Saporta is part of a band and Clarkson has her own personal backup band. But to credit the guy, his vocal range has made some serious headway since his Midtown days. He’s not bad in person either — I’ve seen them at the Glasshouse in Pomona.

But fuck! It sure is catchy. From the Gwen Stefani breakdown of “Good Girls Gone Bad,” which features Lieghton Meester of Gossip Girl and Entourage (who knew actors could sing?!), to the call and response of “Nice Guys,” to the Patrick Stump-like singing of “Hot Mess,” the songs have some great elements in them.

The production quality is excellent. It’s just a little too excellent. If the music they’re playing sounds like it could just as easily come from a DJ or some hotshot producer in the studio, you’re not really that awesome of a band.

All we can hope is that some of that synthesizer is being played by the ever-gorgeous Victoria Asher, the most recent band member who very possibly was added purely for sex appeal. Cobra just hit the Troubadour in Hollywood, and the show was long sold out. So they’ve definitely breached the market and continued beyond being known for the Snakes On A Plane song. Which, by the way, is still incredible.

Listen for yourself below…I can’t totally figure out the LaLa widget onto embed here on WordPress, but I’ve got you a link for a free stream:

But first off, a quick thank you. Thank you to the LA Times for calling Grizzly Bear overrated! Nothing against the guys, but the music is really so-so. Granted, I still haven’t really gotten into Animal Collective either, who were the “it” band  6 months ago when “Merriweather Post Pavillion” came out. Nonetheless, LA Times’ overrated/underrated gallery claims Grizzly Bear and Zoey Deschanel overrated, Mad Men and Nine Inch Nails underrated. Heres’ the excerpt on GB:

OVERRATED

Grizzly Bear: We’re suckers for hearing the band of the moment, and the quartet’s new album, “Veckatimest,” is touted as this summer’s must-hear. Though the first single, “Two Weeks,” is an addictively airy confection, the rest of this ornate, harmony-rich album left us kind of cold. Each song is undeniably pretty but feels like an impossibly delicate construct, making us wonder whether there’s any blood underneath it all.

Check out the full list HERE. It’s pretty awesome — upscale burgers and indiefied mix casette tapes are also overrated.

Now to the music. I hit up Rhino Records in Claremont last week and got some gems. Raided the uber cheap used section for some An Angle, Brandston, Eisley and a couple other randoms. Haven’t gotten to those yet.

The good stuff though was in the new Portugal. The Man and an album from a band I just started listening to: “The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left” by Kiss Kiss.

Portugal does it again, with another great album. I can’t get enough of this band. Listened maybe three times through the new one (which has great artwork), and I’ll definitely approve. A more thorough review to come soon.

Kiss Kiss, which I have just noticed from checking out their myspace, has a concert scheduled in space. Yes, space. This could be completely untrue, but their tour schedule is claiming an appearance at the international space station in 2010. Somehow I doubt that, but hey I’d be down! This band has rich strings to complement some slightly avant-garde rock. The falsetto voice, slightly imperfect, is a great match and you can really hear the anguish in a few tracks. Pretty epic music, so I like it a lot. A bit like …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead or Vendetta Red.

Also checked out Spinnerette, a new group from former Distillers‘ frontwoman Brody Dalle. She’s the wife of Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Hommes. Rolling Stone article here.

Also checked out War Tapes and Parachute at the listening stations. Stellar, but I’ll download.

Also bought 4 old school DVDs for $2.99 each: Johnny Mnemonic, Code 46, DeRailed, Species. My favorite so far (I’ve only watched Species and Code 46) is Species. Who knew that the blazing hot Natasha Henstridge walked around half the movie butt naked? Sexy, indeed.

Grand total? 4 DVDs, 6 CDs for $40. Not bad.

addendum: uploaded tracks so you can hear what I’m talkin’ about. Check out “The Home” from Portugal and “The Best Mistake” from Kiss Kiss.