Um, this song is pretty sweet.

The Young Knives | MySpazz | Buy their shit

 Up All Night - The Young Knives [2:58m]: Play in Popup | Download

It is a very respectable thing to know more about the Violent Femmes than their über-hit "Blister In the Sun."  For a long time before I really got into the Femmes, I got by on my knowledge of "Gone Daddy Gone" but with that being recently covered by Gnarls Barkley, it won't quite do anymore.  On the radio today I heard the Femmes classic "Add It Up" and it hit me that I need to be doing double duty with this post: educating you fine people about the Violent Femmes and giving you songs that are horribly inappropriate for a mixtape directed at your significant other!  All at once!

Violent Femmes Official // MySpace // Buy One of Their CDs, for good measure.

Add It Up MP3

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/Violent%20Femmes%20-%20add%20it%20up.mp3]

Gimme The Car MP3 

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/Violent%20Femmes%20-%20Gimme%20The%20Car%20%5BLive%5D.mp3]

When I praise NYD's live stylings, I mean every word.  They are engaging and energetic and pleasing to the eye; all of 'em, not just Ashley.  However this is one of those sad situations where the live lustre we loved when the opened for a band we adore doesn't quite come through on the album [I'm referring to when I saw Moneen open for Saves the Day last year, but I've come to really enjoy the Red Tree].

The first thing I'd like to mention is that Ashley Costello doesn't sing her own backing vocals.  It's extra cool when a female-fronted band has the fellers singing the backgrounds; not just because it sounds cool, but because it shows a type of band equality.  You know, so things don't end up like the "Don't Speak" video.  I always figure that's how band's like this will end, especially when the Eric Stefani element [in this case former Home Grown bassist Adam Lohrbach] leaves and the band becomes a solo project.  But I digress.  There's not a whole lot of new ground covered on this album, but that's not always the point, is it?  The point here seems to be to make some good musics and have some good times.  Mission accomplished.
Final Verdict: My Dear is pretty much what you'd expect, really.  Catchy songs about bein' done wrong and lovin' SoCal.  I'm going to keep listening because I see no reason not to.

Part Time Lover - New Years Day

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/04%20Part%20Time%20Lover.mp3]

New Years Day Official MySpace // Buy My Dear 

This has been both the busiest and most satisfying concert season I've ever had, even with all the lateness and missing opening acts.  This exciting season of loving continued recently with my second Ozma concert in less than a year.  Before I get going on the concert, lemme just say again that Kilby Court rocks my socks all the way off.  There.  I said it.  Again.
First act of the night was former Something Corporate guitarist William Tell.  He plays nice poppy guitar-based musics, sometimes piano-y ones.  It reminded Dave of an edgier Counting Crows, although I'm sure he's forgetting just how raw and emotional Recovering the Satellites was [I'm not alone on this, right?].  What I thought of was when Weezer toured with The Fray a few years back, if those two bands somehow merged.  But without Weezer's quirky sense of humour.  Anyhow, I've included his single "Fairfax" for your consideration.
Next was a Portland group called Kaddisfly.  These guys really upped the energy level of the show, lemme tell you.  When I saw the guys and the set up I was half worried that we were in for thirty minutes of screamo sludge.  Not so!  The band is really quite interesting to watch; Christopher Ruff [vocals/piano] really made the most of that tiny stage, running about, smashing his cymbal, shaking his maraca, etc.  He also played an emergency flashlight.  Way cool stuff.  Speaking of multi-instrumentation, one guitarist played guitar [obviously], keyboards, and drums during the same song.  An impressive feat.  Kile Brewer [bass] is both a very nice guy and an obvious Primus fan.  Not that he said anything, or has thunder thumbs, but his five-string sits about belly high, not around his knees, he plays technical bits, and even has the Les Claypool stance going.
Usually you can kind of get a feel for what a band's about before they start playing, but New Years Day threw me for a loop.  The guitarists, Keith and Mike, looked very metal with their long hair and all blackness.  Keith even had some metal band's shirt on [the more metal the bands get, the harder their fonts are to read, so I couldn't tell who].  Then Adam and Russell [drums and bass, respectively] were in nappy tuxedo shirts, which indicated a genre more ironic than metal can muster.  During warm up we heard snatches of both NoFX and Rage Against the Machine songs.  Turns out they play music that's hard to categorize, not because it's so highly stylized that you don't have words for it, but because it's so simple.  You don't want to just call it rock because we have all these subgenres that go to waste if we do.  So, if I must, I guess they're a little pop punk.  Even littler emo tones.  Their singer's a girl, too, so that puts them in whatever category people put those bands in.  But the important thing is they put on a great show and Keith looks like Alan Ruck.  And if it's important to you, Ashely Costello is pretty cute, and Adam Lorbach used to be in Home Grown.  Their first album just came out, I kinda got flirted into buying it, so you'll get a review of that pretty soon.

Then there's Ozma.  They've got a new album out on Tuesday.  Hearing songs from it live made me realize that Ozma is a lot like AC/DC: they aren't all that interested in musical evolution, just rocking out; new albums are mostly an excuse to go back on tour.  And I really mean this in the best way possible.  I was going to buy the new Ozma record so I could be hip and review it before it's released proper, but, as I said, I got flirted into buying the NYD album.

Verdicts!

William Tell: Fairly good California pops.
Kaddisfly: Heady hardcore, kinda progressive.  Excellent live energies.
New Years Day: Very probably going to be hot business in the near future.  Super fun.
Ozma: Still rocking socks.  Also, Daniel Brummel is still the sweatiest manbeast ever, but he's learned his lesson and started wearing black.
Overall Final Verdict: Amazing tour, only a few dates left!

P.S. Sorry this one's a little wordy.  I'll do better next time.

Related Links:

Ozma Official MySpace // Buy CD

Kaddisfly Official Website // MySpace // Buy CD

New Years Day Official MySpace // Buy CD 

William Tell Official Website // MySpace // Buy CD

Related Audio:

New Years Day - I Was Right

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/01%20I%20Was%20Right.mp3] 

Kaddisfly - (Noyabr) Empire

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/07-kaddisfly-(noyabr)_empire.mp3]

William Tell - Fairfax

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/William%20Tell%20-%20Just%20For%20You.mp3] 

Ozma - No One Needs To Know

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/02%20No%20One%20Needs%20To%20Know.mp3]