Good Music Is Good: The Felice Brothers

Sometimes there is no reason to make any attempts towards creating something wholly new and unique. Sometimes you're just better off creating your own new and unique versions of the established Good. In the history of American music, The Band and Bob Dylan (who, incidentally, was announced yesterday as a Pulitzer Prize winner) raised the bar to a height few have reached since. So sometimes reaching for that level still pays off with more Good.

Last month, Team Love Records released the self-titled debut from The Felice Brothers. The Band and Dylan influences are apparent (and rampant), but really - what's so wrong about sounding like The Band or Bob Dylan?

The band-approved provided bio appears to sum things up quite nicely and directly:
"Simone, Ian and James Felice are the three eldest boys from a family of seven, born carpenter’s sons in the wilds of New York’s Catskill Mountains. Less than a year ago, the Brothers adopted a runaway dice-thrower and chancer, a 19 year old called Christmas. They convinced him to quit his job and the motley quartet forsook all else but song and moved their Sunday BBQ sing-alongs from their dad’s upstate house out onto the streets and subways of NYC. After months of toil, living in a 1987 special education bus, with arrests, and genuine panhandler fun, a freelance music writer named Gabe Soria (Mojo, Vice) stumbled upon the boys singing and barking their wares at a farmers market in Brooklyn and one thing led to another. Now the Felice Brothers and blood brother Christmas all live, tour, sing, write and gamble together on their little bus."

Listen: "Frankie's Gun" mp3
Listen: "Wonderful Life" mp3

Watch: "Roll On Arte"


Make friends @ http://www.myspace.com/thefelicebrothers.

{Props to Jesse Elliott of These United States for turning mC on to The Felice Bros!}

-J2

Music & Movies

This autumn has brought with it three films revolving around musical icons that we at middleCoast are actually excited to see. The first is a documentary chronicling the life of self-proclaimed Punk Rock Warlord, Joe Strummer, entitled "The Future Is Unwritten". Filmmaker Julien Temple guides us through the ups and downs of The Clash frontman with his deluge of raw footage spanning decades.

The other two films have cast actors to represent their stars in a more narrative format. There is much ado about Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There", however the Todd Haynes film actually features six different actors depicting Zimmy in different stages of his life.

Finally, "Control" is Anton Corbijn's biographical film showcasing Joy Division's Ian Curtis. Sam Riley has received rave reviews, as they say, for his portrait of the troubled songwriter. At the very least, the soundtrack should be worth our while.

With the hullabaloo surrounding Joy Division, Radiohead (fresh off their own revolution) recently performed middleCoast fave "Ceremony" on their live webcast:




Enjoy.

-

Lists! Top 10 Musicians/Artists/Bands I'll Regrettably Never Get to See Perform Live (& Will Have to Settle for YouTube)

We at middleCoast are big music nerds, and can't get enough of the live shows. Regrettably, there are a number of musicians and bands that we'll never have the chance to see live. Some of these artists have passed away, and some have just passed their prime to the point that they are no longer worth the ticket price (see: Rolling Stones). Fortunately or unfortunately, we have YouTube to tease us with what once was...

Here are the Top 10:

10. Elliott Smith
Probably safe to assume that you could never be sure what kind of show you were going to get at a live performance, but certainly the word "emotional" would be involved. Not many performers are able to create the kind of atmosphere Smith could:


9. The Clash
One of the most influential bands ever, we're seriously pissed off that we'll never get to see The Clash perform live. Obviously "London Calling" would be the highlight (and, combined with whiskey, makes us want to break things and revolt against all things institutional), but here's a rarity that displays why a whole live set would've been amazing:


8. Queen
Like a Wagnerian opera in Vienna, Queen live at Wembley defines a classic performance. Freddie Mercury had one of the top five greatest rock vocals of all time (a whole other future blog), and this happens to be one of the top five greatest songs from the 80s (a second blog-to-be):


7. Bob Dylan
Maybe a better poet than performer, Zimmy still helped lead a revolution. As he so eloquently put it himself, Bob Dylan WAS the 60s. To see him perform live in those days would've been special:


6. Talking Heads
With no reunion in sight, looks like we missed our chance at seeing these cats freak out on stage:


5. Pixies
I guess technically back together and performing, it's just not the same as when the drug-addled rockers were still drug-addled and rocking in the 80s:


4. Black Sabbath
Ozzy before he turned into...well...whatever-the-hell he's turned into plus face-melters equals RAWK:


3. Led Zeppelin
Possibly the greatest rock vocalist, greatest drummer, and greatest guitarist all in the same ass-kicking rock band. They'd be number one on this list if it weren't for the top two:


2. The Beatles
I mean, come on - it's the fucking Beatles:


1. The Who
Without a doubt the greatest rock vocalist, greatest drummer, and greatest song writer ever to take the stage together. Here's a double-dose:




Thanks, YouTube!

-jT

-