Athens66

The Walkmen are one of those groups blessed and cursed at the same time by a single song. They achieved their glory moment with their marvelous single The Rat from the now classic Bows+ Arrows record back in 2004. However, the expectations by their fans for more similarly guitar/indie-rock songs where never fully satisfied. Instead the band chose to follow a much more subtle, low tempo path, turning away from stardom.
Ten days ago, the Walkmen released their fifth studio album titled You & Me out from Gigagntic records. The album once again focuses on Hamilton’s lyrics and the emotionally intense music, which seems miles away from their punk past (the remains of previous bands). It also feels very concrete as a whole, with solid production and consistent sound. This is probably its biggest downside as well, since it seems to lack the rise-and-shout explosions of previous albums digging deeper into melancholy and introversion. For what it’s worth, it kind of reminded me of Fleet Foxes in some tracks (perhaps I’m the only one to notice this). All in all, this is yet another Walkmen release that will be appreciated by a lot of fans (including myself) but will fail once again to make this band as big as it deserves.

For those out there that have come across our Facebook status, today's Clip of the Day pretty much says it all. From our beloved Belle & Sebastian and their masterpiece The Boy with the Arab Strap, this song pretty much sums up our mood these days..

Is it wicked not to care when they say that you're mistaken
Thinking hopes and lots of dreams that aren't there?

The Pop Project is a pop (obviously) band from Detroit that’s been around for almost a decade (although it just came to my attention from the band’s bassist Will Yates who is also playing for Zoos of Berlin). After their initial release back in 1999 and their second full album Let’s Eat Green Beans in 2001 (both of which I haven’t been able to find anywhere), they are back (a couple of months ago), with their third LP titled Stars of Stage and Screen, which has been in the making for 5 years now.
If you’re looking for the newest hippest sound around, then you better look a bit more cause the Pop Project are sticking to classic pop/powerpop with beautiful harmonies, alternating vocals and classic but captivating formulas. This is pop at its purest form, from a band that has been delaying this release for way too long but are finally hitting the stores with a really enjoyable album that could get us out of our misery for a while during this back-to-work period. Here are a number of tracks for you to enjoy along with one of their latest clips. Is this too pop for u? Only one way to find out…

We're finally back from our vacation! We've actually returned a few days ago but a sore throat and a touch of fever (along with a heavy workload) haven't left much time for posting. Hopefully both will pass soon and we'll return to our usual rhythm. Until then, here's today's Clip of the Day, inspired by our sickness. It's Snoop Dogg's unusual tribute to Johnny Cash with My Medicine from his latest album (released back in March) Ego Trippin'. I'm no big fan of Snoop but this one is quite fan :-) Spread the word brother...

Athens66 is finally leaving today for their summer vacation. However, we'll only be missing for one week, so I guess no one will notice. So where off to this time? Patmos is the place, where BLR and the rest of the gang is already there for a couple of days now and I'm personally heading to join them tonight. So, until we return, have a great summertime and see (or hear) from all of you (yes those known 10-15 people) in a week! Ciao everyone, we are all getting away with it!!!

Today's Tune of the Day comes from Bodies of Water, a band that many consider the American (or LA) answer to Canada's Arcade Fire. The track Under the Pines is from their latest (third) album A Certain Feeling out on July 22 from a great indie label under the sarcastic name Secretly Canadian (which currently also has favorites such as Antony & the Johnsons, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Jens Lekman and Throw Me The Statue). There's still no official video for the track, but the grande entrée is enough to lure you in...

Great Northern is yet another of those great bands that went unnoticed (at least by us) last year, although they delivered an exceptional debut. The LA based quartet delivers folk-rock with a mix of dream pop and in their debut album Trading Twilight for Daylight (on Eenie Meenie Records) produced such an amazingly mature sound that is hard to believe that the record is actually their debut LP.

Their style reminds the likes of Mercury Rev, with atmospheric music backed up by indie guitar melodies. Our friend BLR is already a fan (after a pre-post introduction to their debut) and hopefully more will follow. In February, they released a follow-up EP titled Sleepy Eepee and we are awaiting their sophomore album soon. We promise this time it won’t get unnoticed! Until then, here’s a video for their single Home and a couple of songs from both their LP and EP. A real cool breeze from Great Northern in the midst of summer..

Last week was the end of the summer festival season for me. After Roskilde and Fly Beyond, it was time to give an end with two solo concerts by great artists. Unfortunately I had no camera with me at either venues and now don’t have too much time (before I leave for my only week of summer holiday) to post a separate post for each of them (although they deserve even more than that). The first one was on the 30th of July (last Wednesday) outside Athens at the Terra Vibe venue, where legend Leonard Cohen gave an amazing 3-hour performance that left everyone dancing to the end of love and beyond. Leonard is just such an incredible singer/composer/poet and performer, so I’m more than happy that a good friend from school convinced me to go along with her (seeing Cohen live on stage will be one of those things you’ll always come to remember in the future).
Dead tired though from work and the endless trip back after the concert, I was once again convinced by my brother and fellow blogger elafini this time to head over on Thursday (31 July) to the Olympic Basketball Stadium (OAKA) for Bjork’s concert. This one I had planned in the past to see, so it didn’t take me much to decide. After more than an hour, Bjork finally made her entrance. I’m not the biggest fan of her last albums (although I was a great fan of her early work), but on stage Bjork is just one of the best performers around. Highly energetic, constantly moving around, dancing, shouting, singing; backed-up by a great show of lights, flags, lasers and a handful of surprises, she kept everyone on their feet and especially after half way in the show, raised the beats and started an insane dance/techno party! While at the end we were all waiting for more (only lasted something more than an hour), one thing is for certain; Bjork remains one of the most unique singers in the world and seeing her live at least once should be on everyone’s list of things to do.
So that was it for this year as regards to concerts. Hope from September a new (even better) season starts, with lots of great artists and amazing performances. Until then, here are two clips on a head-to-head live confrontation of Bjork and Cohen in Athens .

Scissors for Lefty are a five-piece band from San Francisco flirting with both post-punk indie and Brit-pop. Their sound is genuinely upbeat pop/rock which is instantly likeable. The band released their first album Bruno back in 2005 and followed-up with Underhanded Romance in 2007. I’m sure I’ve heard their songs in various places before (at Pop probably) but never got around to match the song with the band (up until now). It is one of those cases, where you are fronted with one of the great releases of the past year that just went unnoticed (at least by me). It even passed the test of friends (I already gave away a copy of their CD yesterday to a good friend and even got BLR into the loop today). Here’s a video of their single Lay Down Your Weapon and a couple of songs from last year’s release. The perfect soundtrack for a summer weekend singing/shouting/dancing Oh our sins are so tasty!!