vagrant records

The Anniversary All Right For Now Single

The Anniversary | All Right For Now | 7-Inch Single Review

Andy Fenstermaker
April 15, 2023April 15, 2023

The Anniversary was a five-piece band from Lawrence, Kansas, that formed in 1997 and consisted of Josh Berwanger on vocals and guitar, Justin Roelofs also on vocals and guitar, Adrianne Verhoeven on keyboards and vocals, James David on bass, and Christian Jankowski on drums. After a handful of split 7-inch singles, they released this: a 7-inch single titled All Right For Now and featuring just The Anniversary.

Andy Fenstermaker
June 23, 2010June 22, 2010

Stars have always been a group delayed; their albums ultimately get put on hold or set aside for months or even a full year before finding their way into my playlist. Not this time, I said. The band’s new album, The Five Ghosts is here, and I have to say I am impressed. Opening with the romantic “Dead Hearts” and continuing with the pseudo electric “I Died So I Could Haunt You”. It finds the band again maturing in new and exciting ways. The first single off the album is “We Don’t Want Your Body” and it is, perhaps, the best example of the changes undergone by Stars since In Our Bedroom After The War. One listen and you’ll hear an emphasis on electronic production. It may take a few listens to get used to, but it wouldn’t be the Stars we know and love if that weren’t so. (And for those who find it a bit too far out, remember there are still tracks like “Dead Hearts” that have a bit more in common with the band’s past.) I for one, find Stars invigorating in every form. Read More »Stars: We Don’t Want Your Body [mp3]

Electric Owls [Feature]

Andy Fenstermaker
October 28, 2009October 27, 2009

Backed by a few synths and a light guitar strum, Electric Owls‘ Andy Herod has pieced together a surreal soundscape for Ain’t Too Bright opener “Magic Show”. It’s an energetic tune that is true to the pop sensibilities Herod’s previous group, The Comas, never seemed to quite reach. Where The Comas pumped out one rock tune after another, Herod now seems more than comfortable writing pop songs that have a light rock edge, but don’t stray too far into his former stomping-ground. Read More »Electric Owls [Feature]

The Get Up Kids Visit Daytrotter

Andy Fenstermaker
October 26, 2009October 24, 2009

This bit of news may be slightly old, as the session went up last week, but I’m just now catching up on my Daytrotter-ing and it seemed fitting. Coincidence: earlier this month I was scrounging around on eBay looking to see how much that vinyl copy of Eudora would go for (just an estimate, not because I want to sell it – don’t you do that will your records too?), and I wondered if The Get Up Kids would give us anything new soon. Of course, they regrouped and played a live set in Lawrence last March, and this Daytrotter session is our first peek at some of the new tunes they put together over the summer. Read More »The Get Up Kids Visit Daytrotter

EELS Announce Tracklist for New Abum ‘End Times’

Andy Fenstermaker
October 20, 2009October 20, 2009

I’ve only begun to absorb EELS‘ last album, Hombre Lobo. It’s pretty good, I tell you; got that gritty edgy pop/rock sound familiar to the Southwest, and even bits of Texas (I’m thinking about you, Austin). Well the latest tidbit to come from the band is that they’re gonna drop a new album, their eighth studio release – and that the new album will hit stores January 19! That date is well under one year after the release of Hombre Lobo. Today they announced the tracklist and dropped in the cover art as well. See it beyond the fold… Read More »EELS Announce Tracklist for New Abum ‘End Times’

School Of Seven Bells: Alpinisms Deluxe Edition [Album Review]

Andy Fenstermaker
October 16, 2009February 11, 2022

As a whole, the original Alpinisms warrants much praise. Songs like “Iamundernodisguise”, “Half Asleep” and “Connjur” are, quite literally, among the best electro-pop songs released this year. And, in some ways, School Of Seven Bells defies that genre classification, as their music strays into an occasional repetitive shoegaze, hints at a little feedback filled noise, and dives headlong into a swirling and dreamy atmospheric state.

So Many Dynamos: New Bones [Track Review]

Andy Fenstermaker
July 22, 2009May 12, 2023

Surprising a fact as this may be, I am pretty much unaware of the music reviewing world. This is a fact I plan to rectify from now on, as there are surely several blogs and sites worthy of my time and attention. I did a little digging when approaching “New Bones” by So Many Dynamos, a song that many relate to Fugazi, dub as post-punk with forays into math-rock, or said this positive thing or that negative thing… and I start to see why I tune so much of it out. It taints the writing, the perceptions, and the expectations.

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros: Desert Song [Video]

Andy Fenstermaker
July 20, 2009February 5, 2022

“Desert Song” may be buried somewhere in the middle of Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros‘ latest LP, Up From Below, out as of last week on Community Music / Fairfax Records, but it’s the intro to their twelve-part, feature-length movie-musical. The song features an intro filmed by singer Alex Ebert’s mother and a chant by his father.