Wednesday 9 July 2003: HolidayI won't update the site in the next few weeks, because I'll be in a tent on a camping in Zeeland, a southern province of Holland. I will be home tomorrow, but I'll be busy packing my bags. Tomorrow evening I'll go to The Thermals in Rotown. So, have a nice holiday everyone and see you in a couple of weeks.

MP3 Of The Day: Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
The last MP3 before my holiday is a really good one. Neutral Milk Hotel is one of my favourite bands of all time. Their EP Everything Is and debutalbum On Avery Island are packed with some great songs. But their second and last album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is a record of extraordinaire beauty. Because all the songs run together the record sounds like one really long song. The usage of horns and trumpets and such, which isn't uncommon for Elephant 6-bands, adds more depth to songwriter Jeff Mangum's already great melodies. (AllMusic Entry)

Monday 7 July 2003: Metropolis (II)As I had already announced earlier, I went to the Metropolis festival in the Zuiderpark in Rotterdam yesterday together with my father and my brother. The first band we saw were The Riplets on the main stage, a punkband from Rotterdam itself. For more about them see my MP3 Of The Day of Saturday. After the Riplets we watched the bluesrock-duo The Black Keys in the Vera-Waterfront-Tent from a distance. When Electric Six began to play on the main stage we went to see that. Partly because of the humour and the charm of singer Dick Valentine their performance became one of the highlights of the day. The audience got really excited, especially when the band played the singles Danger! High Voltage! and Gay Bar. After Electric Six we went to the Rotown-Ekko-Paradiso-Tent for the concert of The Buffseeds. Mainly because of the high voice of singer Kieran Scragg this English band had a high JJ72-likeness. After this concert I met Martijn Grooten of the Dutch webzine Think Small. Thanks again for the Sportique-compilation. The next performance was by the Californian band The Tyde. Later I purchased a t-shirt of that band. Although they partly consist out of Beachwood Sparks members, they were pretty heavy. But The Thermals were even heavier. Some people even had to be removed by security. However, the gig was very good. I found it so good, that I'm going to see them again next Thursday in Rotown. Because The Thermals started a little later, we had to miss the concert of Sandusky in seacontainer 1. The next concert on the program was Eastern Lane. They did their thing kind of nice, but it couldn't really grip me. Then we went to the main stage to catch some of Interpol's gig, but we saw too little to form an opinion. Because after three songs we went back to the Rotown-Ekko-Paradiso-Tent, where we lounged about almost the entire day, for The Warlocks. My brother and I got the chance to show off our recently bought Warlocks t-shirts, which got me an approving look from the lead-gitarist of The Warlocks. The t-shirts were money well spent, because the last performance of the day was also one of the best. The great cast, consisting of one bassist, two drummers and three guitarists, was one of the major reasons of the great show. Altogether it was a great day with a lot of nice music. We are definitely going back next year.

You can see pictures of Electric Six and Interpol at Dubbelmono. At the luisterpaal (listening pole) of 3voor12 you can not only listen to the latest records of The Thermals and Electric Six, but also to a lot of other great albums. I've bought some new records at the fair at Metropolis yesterday. You can see them at my record collection page.

MP3 Of The Day:
Voicst - We Are On A Chemical Push
Because they played during the set of The Tyde I didn't see anything of the concert Voicst gave in one of the seacontainers. Actually, it's a shame that this Dutch band had to play in one of the containers in stead of on a real stage, because everything I heard from them up to today has been really good. The song We Are On A Chemical Push for example, that has been made especially for the MP3voor12 compilation, is full of energy. Voicst have played as a support for Nada Surf, McLusky, Ikara Colt and The Catheters in the recent past, but to name a few. (No AllMusic Entry)

Saturday 5 July 2003: MetropolisTomorrow I will go to the Metropolis festival in Rotterdam together with my father and my brother. This is our planning:

13.05-13.35: The Riplets, after that we are going to check out the market
14.00-14.40: The Black Keys
14.45-15.20: Electric Six
15.25-16.05: The Buffseeds
16.15-16.50: The Tyde
17.05-17.35: The Thermals, then off to see the rest of...
17.35-18.00: Sandusky
19.20-20.00: Eastern Lane
20.05-21.00: Interpol, halfway through we're switching to The Warlocks on the other stage

I've bought some new cd's again today. The first one was Fevers And Mirrors by Bright Eyes. It cost me 7 euro. I've paid 4 euro for Rock And Roll Part Three by Ozma. My last purchase was a very cheap one: I'm Coming Home by St. Thomas for 1 euro. Hopefully I can buy some cd's on the market on Metropolis tomorrow too.

Now, some news from Think Small: The next few months we'll see some new Elephant 6 albums coming out. Artists like Beulah (September), Ladybug Transistor (October), The Minders, Elf Power, The Sunshine Fix and The Music Tapes (three albums!) have gone back in the studio, or will do that soon. Will Cullen Hart (Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System) will release a solo album. Robert Schneider is also working on a solo-project. On top of that there is also new material from his bands The Apples In Stereo and Ulysses coming out in the near future. See the full list of forthcoming releases here.

Because I will be out the entire day tomorrow, I will put the new charts online on Monday.

MP3 Of The Day: The Riplets - Rock 'n Roll Beat
The Metropolis festival will start with the Dutch punk-band The Riplets for me this year. I've already seen them live as a support for The Undertones in December and back then they played really enthousiastic. Their live-shows are always being cheered up with identical costumes and stuff like that. But their music is good too. Listen to Rock 'n Roll Beat. (No AllMusic Entry)

Thursday 3 July 2003: Four new cd'sI have four new cd's. The best of them is Introducing Gorky's Zygotic Mynci by, the name kind of gives it away: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. It's a compilation of songs from the early albums, EP's and singles from the Welsh band. The debutalbum Satellites by Vega 4 is also very good. Just like Muse and Serafin this band is on the British Taste label. From the four cd's Thickfreakness by the American bluesrockers The Black Keys is the most recent. My dad recommended Push The Button by Money Mark to me. I didn't know who the man was until now, but AllMusic refers to Beck, U.N.K.L.E. and Cornelius, so it can't be really bad.

MP3 Of The Day: Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - How I Long
The cover of the Gorky cd I've bought is displayed above. The downtempo song How I Long isn't on this cd, but on the more recent How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart. (AllMusic Entry)

Tuesday 1 July 2003: Just another MP3I've added another nice MP3 for your listening pleasure. I will update the archives the day after tomorrow.

MP3 Of The Day:
Motion City Soundtrack - My Favorite Accident
Recently, the punk-label Epitaph (Bad Religion, Dropkick Murphys, The Hives) released the first studioalbum I Am The Movie by Motion City Soundtrack. Fans of Jimmy Eat World or The Get Up Kids (the somewhat more accessible emo) will certainly enjoy this band. They keep their label's name high, because except for emo, there is also a major punk-influence on this record. The single My Favorite Accident shows that the band has some potential, but the album still has too many weak songs. (AllMusic Entry)