A week ago yeserday, I went into work thinking it was going to be a normal day. It was for a company that I have done a lot of freelance work for, and it seemed like the run-of-the-mill, somewhat-routine pre-production day that they had called me in for. They were doing a shoot for Motorola, and they needed some hands preparing for it. Well sometime shortly after lunch that day, I was informed that I had just been hired on to travel with them to finish out the shoot and that I’d be leaving the next day. So I hurried home, packed a bag, and was off the next day. First stop was San Francisco, then to (Hot)lanta, then to Phoenix, then back to LA. Due to the short notice of the scheduling, we had to produce each shoot the day before it took place. This led to extremely long work days, very little sleep, lots of moving around, heavy stress, and tons of music. Overall, it was one of the better weeks of my life, especially in terms of work and/or my “professional” career. In some ways however, it was all I could do to just maintain my sanity. This is how it went down from my playlists perspective:
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LxListening: One Helluva Week
2 MarTop Ten Thursday: Dynamic Duos
23 Feb
The week of Valentine’s Day, we did a breakup songs list and nothing else relating to love. This week, we have given off a couples barrage with reviews of Sleigh Bells and Tennis, two duos, and now this list. While most bands are five, the Beatles were the Fab Four, and three is a magic number, two can no doubt still kill it in rock & roll. Here is our top ten musical duos.
Sleigh Bells Review
21 FebSleigh Bells
Reign Of Terror
From the opening ear-shattering moments of “Tell ‘Em” to the last menacing moments of the title track, listening Sleigh Bells’ debut front to back was like being blind-sided by a Rock shovel and loving every moment of it. On Treats, the New York duo pioneered a bit of a new sound, with their music being what it would sound like if a cheerleading squad discovered heavy metal or Black Sabbath crashed a crazy train into M.I.A. So because of the astonishment found with their debut, I expected their follow up, Reign of Terror, to fall way short of the debut since it would lack the novelty of hearing their sound for the first time. And while Reign of Terror is indeed more of the same, it is no doubt another really good record, full of plenty of excellent moments, but also its handful of redundant ones.
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Top Ten Thursday: Most Anticipated Albums of 2012
19 JanTo continue this positive outlook on what music we have to look forward to in the upcoming 2012 music season, we have decided to dedicate this week’s list to what bands/artists we are most looking forward to hearing from this year. Overall this was a fairly easy list to come up with for the three of us. In fact, had it not been for one pro-longed scurfuffle about a producer that is no longer even relevant, I’d say this was our easiest list to come by yet …
10. Outkast
We at LxL have been too hurt by the false promises about the forthcoming Outkast album, that we feel like we need to keep it at arms length. If it were a guarantee release for this year, it would surely be our #1. However, we have been too let down by Andre before. So this time, we are excited, but not excited enough to ruin our year if it doesn’t happen.
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LxListening: Listening Back, For the Future
13 Jan
"Your kids are gonna love it!"
Now that 2012 is in full force, it’s time to put a rest to all our 2011 themes and focus on the future. A lot of bands are lining up for their sophomore efforts this year, some new acts are already getting high praises before their debut has even launched, and some old favorites will hopefully be reappearing for the first time in years to show us what they still got. In any case, and in lieu of being sick and tired of 2011 music for the moment, I revisited the last efforts of some bands recently, that I am looking forward to hearing more of in the upcoming new year. So here is my what I’ve been listening to as of late, in an attempt to arouse my appetite for these music acts once again. Hopefully it does the same for you.
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