New blog!

O hai I got a new blog! At first I was seriously lusting this one, you know, 'cos I thought it was really fun, hip, funny, and hippie, but it's kind of boring, no? So I made a new one, a funnier, hipper one, specifically this one. It's off the chain. Trust.

Try it, you'll like it. But come here for the music, show updates, and slightly highbrow-ness in and around Atlanta. It's...AWEsome! Totes!

xoxo Gossip Girl-er...sorry,

Your electric bird,
Erika

Underrated Revisited: Cavil At Rest

Sometimes great bands get overlooked. You know, like how your parents paid more attention to your gorgeous, honor roll making sister than they did you. This section of the blogosphere is devoted to those bands who never really got their due years past...

Cavil At Rest


In the wake of spring 2007, mid March, a video premiered on MTV2's famous Subterranean. In the video, presented like a puppet show, a felt curtain parted and five cardboard musicians began playing pop music.

Cavil at Rest is a five piece group of especially handsome boys from Orange County, CA. The lead singer has an afro (and he's adorable), but what should really get you to like them should be their relatable lyrics and dance-y pop beats. If, perhaps, an archetypal 90s boy band could learn to play the guitar then maybe Cavil at Rest would have never happened. Alas, they didn't, and CaR broke the barrier between pop and rock music.

Few bands before them could rock out and sing in perfect harmony simultaneously (and still retain their severe indie cred), thus Cavil at Rest were both trendsetters and trailblazers. On their first album, Orion Way, Cavil at Rest began to explore just how deep they could take pop music before it became kitschy. They also took advantage of their "on-the-cusp" sound to develop their music into something typically viewed as "Top 40."

The acoustic single, "We Could Love," creates a Hellogoodbye type melody, while backup vocals and tinkling pianos push it close to Augustana. On "Who's There?", the boys make hyped-up, energetic pop reflective with the lyrics, "And I feel I idealize you to death/Dare I speak/Dare I speak/And I am weary under the weight of all the things I could say."

As with many bands that create a new genre of music, Cavil At Rest gained a very loyal Californian fan following, but even after the positive reception of their video on Subterranean, they never really became as popular as they should've, making them one of the most underrated bands of early '07. Orion Way was released under Chop Chop Music, and CaR continues to be unsigned to a record label.

Cavil at Rest site here.
Album available here.

cavil at rest: "who's there?"
cavil at rest: "we could love"


"Who's There?"



Your electric bird,
Erika

Underrated Revisited: The A-Sides

Sometimes great bands get overlooked. You know, like how your parents paid more attention to your gorgeous, honor roll making sister than they did you. This section of the blogosphere is devoted to those bands who never really got their due years past...

The A-Sides


If you live/lived in the city of Atlanta or its perimeter, and listened to 99x on Sunday nights from 8 - 10:oo pm, then you might recognize this band.

The A-Sides are 5 piece band from Philly, US, that make a niche brand of pop music; specifically one that recalls the power of a pop band, the calmness of a folk band, the sensibilities of modern musicians, the lyrics of Joie Blaney, and the ethereal-ness of Band Of Horses. They, in fact, put the "Brotherly Love" in "The City Of Brotherly Love." Along with Social Studies, they were probably one of the most underrated acts of '07.

On their second full length (but first on Vagrant Records, also home to Dashboard Confessional, Murder By Death, and Thrice), Silver Storms, the band harnesses frontman Jon Barthmus' calming voice and their "soft-when-it-needs-to-be-heavy-when -it-needs-to-be" noise to mold a crisp, cool landscape of sound. From tracks like "We're The Trees," with its dance-able harmonies on a sturdily built pop foundation, to ""Diamonds," a slow moving track that chugs along and climaxes 6 minutes later, Silver Storms is that perfect mix of reflective lyrics and smooth melodies with a sprinkling of snow and fairy dust.

Album available here.
The A-Sides site here.

the a-sides: "we're the trees"
the a-sides: "cinematic"

Your electric bird,
Erika

When I Was Fourteen...

I had two diaries.

I thought Reese Witherspoon could run for president

All of my clothes came from the Charlotte Russe clearance racks and Old Navy

My allowance was 10.00 a week

My friends and I had a collective Myspace that only we would comment on

All of my lip gloss had sparkles in it

I hung out with high school seniors

I finally got my braces off

I seriously considered taking high school online

Looks like there's a reason the past shouldn't be revisited.

New music to your right!

Your (adult) electric bird,
Erika

Stop Pretending

The year is 1983. The scene: in the wake of poppy, glossy, girl bands with crimped hair, electric eyeshadow, and cowboy boots, a gaggle of badass chicks with a penchant for 60s psychedelia, style for days, and too much attitude to bottle straight up killed the paradigm of innocent chicks with Fenders. They were the Pandoras, and, in a way, they were the predecessors of the Donnas. With spunk like the girl garage band successors Thee Headcoatees (and, more recently, the Coathangers) and guitar shred-ability like the Gore Gore Girls, the Pandoras were the epitome of the kind of "fuck you" attitude that spawned abso fabso frontwomen like Karen O, Jemina Pearl, and Beth Ditto.


(The Pandoras circa '85. Walking Urban Outfitters poster children.)

The 1986 LP, Stop Pretending (via thee head vein), recorded with frontwoman Paula Pierce, but with a new band, is an amazing blend of 60's surf rock and 80's pop that makes you want to simultaneously jump on your bed with a hairbrush microphone and slip into a leather jacket and smoke a cigarette.

Muh-Hollaaand!

Your electric bird,
Erika

Ohai Survey!

I don't know what a meme is (and nope, I'm not bothering to find the meaning of it) but whatever it is, I guess it's like a survey. Or something. But I found a popular one on the internet and since a) I don't know what else to talk about besides myself, and b) no one reads this shit anyway, I thought I would fill it out. You know, to make me sound kind of interesting or something.

My Foundation: Don't wear any. But if I abso have to, it's MAC Studio Fix. Apply that shit with a blush brush instead of the sponge pad and it'll last you all day.
My Mascara: L'Oreal Panoramic Curl. It's a bit craptastic, but I love how black it is.
My Blush: MAC blush in Blushbaby
My Eye Shadow: I don't wear eyeshadow, but when I do it's this plum-y color I bought back when I was in middle school. The container is like nondescript. I think it's probably N.Y.C. since that's all I could afford.
My Day Cream: Oil Of Olay, the dry skin version. Which is kind of weird 'cos my skin's sort of oily but I keep buying the dry skin one.
My Lipstick: MAC lipstick in Brick. Or Maybelline lipstick in Nude Blush. It just depends on how much I care about my appearance that day.
My Beauty Product Brand: Rimmel London. It will make you look like Kate Moss, no lie.
My Essential Beauty Product: Eyeliner. Everyday, two colors: navy on the bottom lid and emerald on the top.
My Favorite Makeup Product: Makeup removing sponges. I use mine to smudge my eyeliner.
My Perfume: Princess by Vera Wang, or for special occasions, Burberry Brit.
My Nails: (I'm assuming this means polish, since only anal people use nail cream) Nothing. Ever since middle school, my piano teacher didn't let me paint my nails and now I'm just used to it.
My Feet: N.Y.C. Taxi Cab. Yellow on tan skin is fabbbb!
My Hands: Cetaphil. Yep, just Cetaphil.
Three Products to bring on a Deserted Island: Eyeliner, blush, and Chapstick!
Woman I admire for her beauty: Twiggy...her eyes were gorgeousie!
Woman with the Best Sense of Style: Charlotte Gainsbourg. Everything she wears, no matter what it is, looks tailored for her style. Also Basia Bulat because she looks like an APC advert all the time.
My Ultimate Dream: To become completely content with my life.
How Do I Define Womanhood: Confidence.
My Favorite Fashion Publication: Missbehave!

Your (fresh faced) electric bird,
Erika

You Wanna Be On Top?

Tyra Banks: Delusional headcase or entrepreneurial and marketing mastermind?

You be the judge.
(Also this is to distract from the fact that I don't really have anything else to write and this question has been mulling around in my head after watching seven seasons of ANTM)

Your electric bird,
Erika