Land, Sea, and Air

PANDA TRANSPORT
pandatransport.com ♥ myspace.com

According to Panda Transport’s biography, they are a Frenchman (Ti) and an American woman (Kat). They play a sort of low-fi indiepop music. Their EP, Monorail was released last month.

What I immediately like about the duo is that Kat’s sweltering vocals sometime makes their music sound like a lazy evening at a jazz club. However, the upbeat music can be as fun as on “Monorail” to somewhat silly “Freakshow” (complete with doo-doo-scat).

The one non-Kat song, “Cicadas in Stereo” definitely stands out. I’m also not certain what is being sung on this line: “I want to ____ every single butterfly“? Did I just hear that right?

You can hear their entire EP streaming at their official website.

I will say this, they’re cute, and their songs reminds me of one of my favorite band the Would-Be-Goods if they were to go jazz lounge. You can pick up Monorail digitally at usual (itunes, le amazon). Physical CD list can be found here (available last Tuesday?).

Tour Dates   01/23/10 Borders  Charlotte, NC 01/30/10 Borders  Apex, NC 01/21/10 Paris-Mann  Grill Canton, GA Discography [Oct 2006] End of the Ride [Nov 2009] End of the Ride Revisited

PARIS KEELING
pariskeeling.com ♥ myspace.com

I will admit that what made Paris Keeling’s CD packaging for End Of Ride Revisited memorable was that it came with this cardboard plastic airplane. Which I did put together and had a twirl (it took a nose-dive and crashed).

Paris Keeling’s moniker should be obvious when you hear that it’s from their two main songwriters, Marty Paris and Kelly Keeling’s name. You can deduce this from hearing the introduction on their live track “Head Straight”. Speaking of which, I kind of wish there were more live tracks on this album. I think this is the band’s strong point, jamming and playing to an audience. You pick up the energy in the vocals, while their studio tracks seems too well-polished and produced.

As suggested by “Revisited”, this is the second release of End Of Ride. Based on seeing the tracklisting for the original release, this new version comes with a different track order and contain new songs (mostly at the end of the track order). Two songs were left out of the revisited album, “Welcome” and “Middle of the Road”, so I suspect due to the time limitation of the CD format.

It seems obvious to me that singer Paris Keeling’s been singing and playing for most of his adult life (a quick biography check tells me that he’s played on Alice Cooper’s Hey Stoopid, so the guy’s been around!).

The new revisited songs started with an aggressive guitar song, “Don’t Disturb The Occupants”, so I thought the band’s new direction would be more hard-rock … but I was quickly corrected with a ‘sensitive’-type song, “Feel”, and acoustic-ish “Alive”.

The one stand-out track for me is the all-guitar song “I Learned from the Inside”, which demonstrate what an excellent guitar player Marty Paris is. As I previously mentioned, I think this band will be at their best by playing live to an audience. They are doing some instores and appearing live at the end of January, check them out if you’re in the area.

Tour Dates   01/21/10 Beaumont Club – SOLD OUT!! Kansas City, Missouri 01/22/10 Diamond Ballroom – SOLD OUT!! Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 01/23/10 The Pageant- SOLD OUT!! St. Louis, Missouri 01/24/10 Egyptian Room at Murat Center – SOLD OUT!! Indianapolis, Indiana 01/26/10 Majestic Theatre – SOLD OUT!! Madison, Wisconsin 01/27/10 Madison Theatre – SOLD OUT!! Covington, Kentucky 01/28/10 Lifestyle Communities Pavilion- SOLD OUT!! Columbus, Ohio 01/29/10 Ram’s Head Live – SOLD OUT!! Baltimore, Maryland 01/30/10 Norva Theater – SOLD OUT!! Norfolk, Virginia 02/01/10 Music Farm – SOLD OUT!! Charleston, South Carolina 02/02/10 Freebird Live – SOLD OUT!! Jacksonville Beach, Florida 02/03/10 The Ritz Ybor – SOLD OUT!! Tampa, Florida 02/04/10 Culture Room – SOLD OUT!! Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 02/05/10 House of Blues – SOLD OUT!! Orlando, Florida 02/06/10 The Melting Point – SOLD OUT!! Athens, Georgia 02/08/10 WorkPlay Theatre – SOLD OUT!! Birmingham, Alabama 02/09/10 Varsity Theatre – SOLD OUT!! Baton Rouge, Louisiana 02/10/10 Revolution Music Room – SOLD OUT!! Little Rock, Arkansas 02/17/10 Komedia Theatre Brighton, UK 02/18/10 Electric Ballroom **VENUE CHANGED** London, UK 02/19/10 O2 Academy Oxford Oxford, UK 02/20/10 O2 Academy 2 Newcastle Newcastle, UK 02/21/10 O2 Academy 2 Birmingham Birmingham, UK 02/22/10 Manchester Academy 2 Manchester, UK 02/24/10 Melkweg – SOLD OUT!! Amsterdam, Netherlands 02/25/10 Orangerie – Botanique Brussels, Belgium 02/26/10 Le Nouveau Casino Paris, France 02/27/10 Die Werkstatt Cologne, Germany 02/28/10 59 to 1 Munich, Germany 03/01/10 Magnet Berlin, Germany 03/02/10 Amager Bio Copenhagen 03/12/10 Great Hall, Auckland Town Hall (w/ Cobra Starship) Auckland, Auckland 03/14/10 SMX Convention Center, Hall 1 & 2 Manila 03/16/10 University of NSW Roundhouse (w/ Cobra Starship) Sydney, New South Wales 03/17/10 The Tivoli (w/ Cobra Starship) Brisbane, Queensland 03/19/10 The Hi-fi (w/ Cobra Starship) Melbourne, Victoria 03/20/10 The Hi-fi (w/ Cobra Starship) Melbourne, Victoria 03/21/10 Metro City (w/ Cobra Starship) Perth, Western Australia 03/30/10 Knitting Factory Boise, Idaho 03/31/10 Knitting Factory Spokane, Washington 04/01/10 Paramount Theatre Seattle, Washington 04/02/10 Vogue Theatre Vancouver, British Columbia 04/03/10 Roseland Theatre Portland, Oregon 04/05/10 The Fillmore San Francisco, California 04/06/10 The Fillmore San Francisco, California 04/07/10 The Fox Theater Pomona, California 04/08/10 Soma San Diego, California 04/09/10 Club Nokia Los Angeles, California 04/10/10 Marquee Theatre Tempe, Arizona 04/12/10 Salt Air Theater Magna, Utah 04/13/10 Ogden Theatre Denver, Colorado 04/15/10 Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre Austin, Texas 04/16/10 Verizon Wireless Theater Houston, Texas 04/17/10 Nokia Theatre Dallas, Texas 04/19/10 War Memorial Auditorium Nasvhille, Tennessee 04/20/10 The Tabernacle Atlanta, Georgia 04/22/10 Constitution Hall WASHINGTON, Washington DC 04/23/10 House of Blues Boston, Massachusetts 04/24/10 Terminal 5 **MATINEE ADDED!** New York, New York 04/24/10 Terminal 5 – SOLD OUT!! New York City, New York 04/25/10 Electric Factory Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 04/27/10 Sound Academy Toronto, Ontario 04/28/10 House of Blues Cleveland 04/29/10 Royal Oak Music Theatre Detroit, Michigan 04/30/10 Aragon Ballroom **VENUE CHANGED** Chicago, Illinois 05/01/10 State Theater **MATINEE ADDED!** Minneapolis, Minnesota 05/01/10 State Theatre Minneapolis, Minnesota 05/02/10 Eagles Ballroom Milwaukee, Wisconsin Discography [2008] Maybe I’m Dreaming [2009] Ocean Eyes

OWL CITY
owlcitymusic.com ♥ myspace.com

Universal Records sent me this promo to listen to last year. At first, I didn’t know why they’d do such a thing, I’m actually not a big fan of pop music. And I loathe autotune. But then, as I found out talking to a local blogger at a concert last year that I was told that Owl City is some dude in his basement who lives in Minnesota. We thought that was so weird, considering that Owl City is the hottest/best-selling on the Billboard Top 100 (for “Fireflies”). As it is, Owl City is the stage name of Adam Young…. and his certified “Gold” album is called Ocean Eyes.

So. All of Owl City’s songs are autotuned (with the exception of “Vanilla Twilight”?). I guess this is just the state of modern pop music. Just check out all the top forty bands and they’re using it. I guess I don’t really get it. Of course, I also don’t understand the Lady Gaga, who every young person I know is in love with her.

Anyway, I even made a point to listen to Owl City’s hit song, “Fireflies”. It was OK. I can see why people would like this song about being an insomniac, especially that line “I’d like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly“.

If I were to pick some good songs, I did like “Umbrella Beach”, “The Tip Of The Iceberg” (for the fading in and out) and “The Saltwater Room” (mostly for the duet with Breanne Duren). Duren’s vocals was a nice change of pace, and incidentally I saw last year. I described her as a quiet girl with her Casio keyboard.

Well despite my not-so-fondness of Owl City, it looks like he’s doing quite well for himself. He’s playing to a bunch of sold-out shows, so if you are a fan, I suggest picking up tickets before they sell out. I am definitely not the demographic for Owl City, but I’m happy to see this Minnesotan doing so extraordinary well.

PS, if you were wondering what’s on the cover, it is the hotel Burj Al Arab