Black and White photos are the best.

Sometimes I feel very unaccomplished when I look at what others have achieved in their lifetimes.


I mean, the Radical Sons have already been signed to RCRD LBL and most of their members are still in high school. I looked them up over mySpace and read over their profile briefly before their tracks started to autoplay.

"The four future members of The Radical Sons met while loitering and skateboarding around the St. Louis Delmar Street Loop. "

Already I was biased. "Loitering skateboarding teens?... Probably another set of whiny emo kids."

NOPE.

Radical Sons - Jungle (mp3 via RCRD LBL)
Radical Sons - Brother Speed (mp3 via RCRD LBL)

They've got that gritty sort of garage rock feel going on. No doubt the upcoming EP they're releasing will sound a little more cleaned up, like the tracks that are up on their mySpace.

I've got a good feeling about them. Considering how young they are, they've got a pretty sophisticated style, and they've got ample time for improvement. I just know that a few years from now, when they're being interviewed about their sophomore album, they'll look back on Jungle and Brother Speed, and they'll laugh reminiscently at their past efforts. Then they'll exchange friendly banter with the journalist, telling him that those tracks were nothing compared to what they've been working on more recently. That's how I picture it anyway. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for the Radical Sons in the future.

More currently though, the Radical Sons will be opening for...

Little Joy, who are playing in St. Louis, Missouri this Wednesday November 12th. Their debut self-titled album just dropped last week.

Little Joy - The Next Time Around (mp3)(buy)

Little Joy made to main points to me:
1) They're another rebuttal against that "the drummer's making a solo effort ha ha ha" cliche.
2) Statistically speaking, the members of the Strokes must have so much talent that there should be city-wide power shortages when they're within the same vicinity. However, this isn't happening because they won't be near each other for while and their fourth album won't be out til late 2009, and still likely to be postponed. =(

Good on you though, Fabrizio Moretti.

Ironically, the show I mentioned earlier is 21+, so really the Radical Sons aren't really of age to play it. Speaking of age restrictions though...

Franz Ferdinand is playing a show at Lee's Palace in Toronto on December the 4th and IT'S NOT ALL AGES.

WTF?!

I'm gonna go commit suicide now.

Franz Ferdinand - 40 ft (acoustic) (mp3)(buy)

And it's all because of this:



Damn alcohol. I'm one year away from legal drinking age, and it's torture. Not because I wanna drink. But because I'm missing out on shows like, the Franz'.

Although I guess I should congratulate the Young Lords for having their track, Rodeo Songs highlighted in that Guinness ad you just saw.


Young Lords - Rodeo Songs (mp3)(buy)
Young Lords - Turn It Up (mp3)(buy)

They like giving their music away for free (said so themselves!), so there. I need to make Turn It Up my anthem.

Anyway, case in point:
1) Age restrictions suck.
2) Black and white photos are the best.