Cold War Kids | Tympanogram - Music and its Exploration. Reviews and the Like With a General Merriment.

Tym-pan-o-gram (noun)

an examination used to test the condition of the middle ear and mobility of the eardrum, and the conduction bones by creating variations of air pressure in the ear canal.

Basically, it sounded like a cool name for a blog intended to be primarily about music. We’d both had other blogs previously, but over beers it was decided that more damage could be done as a joint venture. And here we are.

We share a passion for the undiscovered and under-appreciated, and hope that you’ll be able to find something you love as well.

About the Author: Dave

I like music. I can't describe how I came to like the music I do, because I don't know how or why, I just do.

Many years ago, Napoleon's brother, my great-great-great-great-great-great Grandfather, came to America. He was asked his name on Ellis Island while being processed as an immigrant. Not understanding English, he was under the impression that he was being asked how he had arrived in the new land. So he turned around and pointed at the sea vessel and said, 'LaBarge.'

Upcoming Western NY Concerts

NOTE: All concerts are in Rochester unless otherwise noted.

8/28: My Morning Jacket and The New Pornographers
9/2: The Black Keys (Buffalo)
9/3: Coheed and Cambria (Syracuse)
9/4: These Electric Lives and Mikey Jukebox
9/8: Chali 2na
9/10: Vampire Weekend and Beach House
9/16: Wavves (Buffalo)
9/16: Jesse Malin and The St. Marks Social
9/16-9/19: Rochester Indie Fest
9/19: of Montreal with Janelle Monae (Buffalo)
9/21: Holy Fuck (Buffalo)
9/22: Stars and Wild Nothing
9/25: Broken Social Scene and The Sea and Cake (Buffalo)
9/29: Bear In Heaven (Ithaca)
10/18: Dr. Dog and Here We Go Magic (Buffalo)
10/22: Tympanogram Presents (at Bug Jar) - TBA
10/28: Matt and Kim
11/14: Sarah Harmer

1000 Minutes: Andy #48

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Mar 232010

It’s been 3 weeks exactly since I did an installment of this, so if you’re unfamiliar with my personal list, go here to check the whole thing out. If you’re caught up, read on:

97. Blitzen Trapper – Furr (mp3) from Furr (4:08) [Time Remaining: 546:34]

Dave and I started this blog about 14 months ago now (if you couldn’t tell by all our references to it over the past month while talking up our birthday show) – and didn’t really have any idea about what the reception to it would be. Early on – about 3 weeks after the blog went live, Blitzen Trapper came to Rochester, and we decided to see about getting an interview with anyone in the band. The band’s manager Matt was nice enough to allow us some time – and the band was nice enough to comply – and make us feel like we weren’t wasting our time or theirs – even if it was painfully obvious that we might have been. And for that, I’ll always be thankful.

Beyond that support from the band, their track “Furr” is a constant favorite of mine. It lives in my girlfriend’s car on mix CDs I made her from 2008, and it comes on every so often when we’re driving, and I sing along heartily. There’s not much else that anyone could ask for, really. As a bonus, I’m putting up the version of “Furr” that they played that night we saw them because it sounds fantastic, albeit a little quiet. Turn it up and sing along yourselves.

BONUS: Blitzen Trapper – Furr (Live at the Bug Jar, Rochester NY) (mp3)

98. Cold War Kids – Rubidoux (mp3) from Robbers & Cowards (4:16) [Time Remaining: 542:18]

This is my second and final track from Robbers & Cowards. It’s probably not the most popular one, but I’ve always found it one of the more intense tracks on the album, and that’s why it finds itself here. It’s a nervous, jumpy road-tripping track that makes me listen 2 or 3 times whenever I hear it.

Santa Ana Winds

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Feb 042010

I know there are many diverging opinions concerning Cold War Kids, not unlike those pertaining to Vampire Weekend. Put simply, I am a fan (of both really). Cold War Kids’ ‘Hospital Beds’ has been, is, and forever will be, one of my favorite songs and justly found its way into my 1000 Minutes. That said, I did not enjoy Loyalty to Loyalty. Something about the album was just off to me; a feeling lost from their first release. Upon listening to this EP I received a similar feeling as I did from Robbers and Cowards, and it pleased me. If I had to guess where LtL went wrong, I think it would be that I felt it to be an angrier record. The intonation of the lyrics and musical tone were a bit edgier. I think this EP finds the band in a calmer place, and it works better for me.

Cold War Kids – Santa Ana Winds from Behave Yourself EP

New Releases - January 19

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Jan 182010

This is another good week for new music. I’m most excited about the new Spoon album, but I’m also going to get the Eels album and the Surfer Blood album as well. The new EP from Cold War Kids finally sees physical release as well, but if you don’t care about holding the music in your hands, you probably have had it since December.

Either way, we hope that there’s something out there that you’ll enjoy, even if you don’t agree with us. And, if you’ve got an extra $330 laying around, we recommend the Miles Davis Columbia collection. A couple of tracks are after the list, in case you forgot what Cold War Kids sound like or something. Have a great week everyone.

2010 Grammy Nominees
Alice Soundtrack
Aziz Ansari – Intimate Moments For a Sensual Evening
Cold War Kids – Behave Yourself [EP]
Crazy Heart Soundtrack
Eels – End Times
Gretchen Wilson – Greatest Hits
Lindstrom & Christabelle – Real Life Is No Cool
Miles Davis – The Complete Columbia Album Collection
Motion City Soundtrack – My Dinosaur Life
RJD2 – The Colossus
South Memphis String Band – Home Sweet Home
Spoon – Transference
Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
The Hotrats – Turn Ons
The Len Price 3 – Pictures

Cold War Kids – Audience (mp3) from Behave Yourself EP

Spoon – Got Nuffin (mp3) from Transference

Cold War Kids - Against Privacy (Live at Fingerprints)

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Oct 112009

If you’re at all interested, I share my thoughts with the world at my personal Twitter page. (Feel free to follow me, but be aware that you have to ask me first. I’m generally pretty lax with who I let in on my constant stream of idiocy, though.)

Anyway, I was letting my iPod shuffle through yesterday because a) I was bored and b) because my iPod was so spectacular the day prior. While listening yesterday, Cold War Kids’ “Against Privacy” came up, reminding me again of just how much I love it.

With that in mind, here’s a live version of the song from the 4-track EP they put out for this year’s Record Store Day entitled At Fingerprints. There’s a bit more anguish/immediacy in this one than the version that ended up on the predictably underrated Loyalty to Loyalty.

Cold War Kids – Against Privacy (Live at Fingerprints) (mp3) from At Fingerprints

1000 Minutes: Andy #17

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Jun 092009

Today’s installment of my 1000 Minutes project – in addition to netting me marriage proposals via e-mail – is brought to you by the letter ‘C.’

35. Cold War Kids – Hair Down (mp3) from Robbers & Cowards (3:41) [Time Remaining: 800:38]

I can only imagine that, when this exercise has run it’s course, I’ll have relatively few songs on it which can’t be attributed some kind of memory to explain why it’s on my list. “Hair Down” is one of those relative few. I’ve loved this song on my headphones, in my car, whenever it finds me – but never because of an explicit recollection on my part.

Love – especially of the young variety – is a difficult emotion to explain. It’s often fleeting, more often misdirected, generally unreciprocated, and frequently an ultimately unpleasant experience. “Hair Down” is a melancholy remembrance of time spent with a past love – someone who brightened you in a very specific and memorable way. It’s regretful, wistful about the experience – a gentle reminder of the simplicity of how we all used to love when we were first learning how. And besides that, the song is downright fucking incredible.

36. Counting Crows – Round Here (Live) (mp3) from Across a Wire: Live in New York City (10:00) [Time Remaining: 790:38]

I’ve always been a fan of the way Adam Duritz sings his songs. He has an uncanny ability to communicate – at least to me – his feelings through his vocal inflection. In this particular version of “Round Here,” he sounds alternately overwhelmed, inconsolably weary and angry as hell.

I’d wax poetic about the song – how much it meant to me when I was 15 and looking desperately to balance myself out – to walk the line between the way I was being raised and the need to figure out what I personally thought. But really, everyone has that particular song; this one was just mine. And it’s still as heart-wrenching today as it was 15 years ago.

There’s a part of this version – a little more than halfway through, after he quiets the crowd down – where there’s some piano, and he starts singing again, where it really feels like he’s just telling me the story. I love that.

Thursday Afternoon's News

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May 212009

A couple things we’ve seen today that warrant a post.

- Have you seen the interactive video for Cold War Kids‘ “I’ve Seen Enough?” No? Well go and watch it at MTVMusic. (Which is a redundant title for the website, if you ask me.) You can switch the parts each band member plays, or shut them up altogether.

- Irish band Ash is releasing 26 songs over the course of the year, starting in September. In anticipation, they’ve put a song up at their website for free – as long as you give them a valid e-mail address. The song’s entitled “Return of White Rabbit,” and you can get it through the band’s official website. I wonder if the songs for their singles project are already written, or if they’re restricting themselves to writing one song per two weeks. That would seem to be a difficult task.

Ash – Sometimes (mp3) from Free All Angels

- The full length effort from Vampire Weekend/Ra Ra Riot electronic hybrid Discovery is set for release on July 7, NME is reporting. Get some.

Discovery – Orange Shirt (mp3)

1000 Minutes: Dave #12

Music View Comments

May 142009

I’ve got some catching up to do so I’ll move straight into the music. That and I need to further digest the Lost season finale.

23. Cold War Kids – Hospital Beds (mp3) from Robbers & Cowards (4:39) [Time Remaining: 904:23]

I don’t have much to say about this song other than I’m a sucker for it. I love the repetitiveness of the pianos and I love the lyrics. I love the slow build and I don’t care how anyone else feels about this song.

24. Great Lake Swimmers – Your Rocky Spine (mp3) from Ongiara (3:36) [Time Remaining: 900:47]

Apparently all I wanted today was to write about two bands that have three-word names. But regarding the song, I’ve already waxed poetic about how beautiful it is(on two sites actually). If you want to read further concerning my feelings about this song, which I seriously doubt anyone will nor even cares about, you can search it in that little box on the upper right hand side of this page.

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