Under The Influence Of Giants

An alphabetical list of great music I found through my fellow Moggers. (cheeseball '70s imitators, which is alright by me)

Lately, my iPod, George, has been acting somewhat...odd. I am a little worried about him. I recently had to "restore" him, which was rather horrifying, as this meant I had to refill him. Casey kept saying, "It's like a clean slate! A brand new start!" No. It's the chance for me to somehow not put some tres important song back on George. It's the chance for potential disaster as I'm driving down the road in desperate need of hearing "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses... MORE

I heard this song not too long ago on Indie 103.1, which just a genius station. Anyway! I love it and you should too.

On this past wintry and windy Sunday evening, Under the Influence of Giants brought their inspiring brand of dance-pop sunshine to warm up local Boston bar, Great Scott. A small crowd filled the floor as these four SoCal boys, disguised in winter coats appropriate to the 12 degree weather, hung out next to the bar’s bathroom and waited for their crew to finish setting up the stage. When ready, they shed the coats and quietly assumed the stage to check sound levels. More ... MORE

Struggling through the deep winter months? Tired of dealing with snow, rain, and cold? Try going Under the Influence… of Giants, that is. The self-titled debut album from this Southern California band will pick up your spirits and remind you of the warm summer months. At the very least, it’ll get you to dance and generate enough heat to forget the cold for a few minutes! Read the rest of the review here: http://www.interference.com/stories/id171980.html

Wow. Finally a new band I can get excited about! Bands that I dig at first listen come far and few between. This is an on going topic of conversation between me and my friend Gakker (on Mog and in real life) - why are all these new bands, even the critically acclaimed indie bands, all so slow to grown on you? Then they grown on me, and I end up a big fan, but rarely do I sit up and take notice like I did for In The Clouds by Under the Influence of Giants. It was the sa... MORE

Well, I'm going to post a bit of a long one today... I've been away for a few days, working and slaving and whatnot... To go the long way round: I'm a Borders Rewards Member, which means whenever I spend my hard earned pesos at that venerable store (yes, it's cheese. the holey swiss kind) I get a little bit of "free" money socked away for me to use during the "most wonderful time of the year" (read: Christmas). I didn't spend bucketloads this year... so I only had $45.51... MORE

Love, love love love. There's nothing I love more that coming across a record that has me listening obsessively to it. I've been dancing around my living room for most of the afternoon. While it's definitely more of a Saturday night record than a Sunday afternoon one, I can't seem to keep it out of rotation for more than a few minutes. Check out my favorite track: Mama'a Room There's a few more tracks you can listen to here (thank you bobatlarge)

I'm digging this band a friend told me about. I think it's groovey and catchy. at the prompting of ndintenfass, i'll tell you i think i like this song because i'm an indie pop whore and because i love the ol' school (Stevie, Bee Gees, Prince). if you like them for different reasons, i'd love to hear why. listen here: http://www.box.net/public/hi4rrvovrh

Looks like it's gonna be a kicked back Friday night. I'm glad to see that MOG is back in full force. Just poured a glass of wine and I'm kicking back playing with.... MY NEW FREAKING IPOD!!!! Well, not so much playing with it as watching it charge, I think. Is it supposed to blink "Do Not Disconnect" over and over the first time it's plugged in? There's not much help in the "manual" that comes with it. But it's so pretty and shiny and new, and I'm quite smitten. I name... MORE

I find myself playing this record again and again and it's forced me to come to terms with the inner conflict I'm sure I would have felt had I grown up in the militant rock-vs.-disco era. Shouting "DISCO SUCKS!!!" into dance clubs a la Freaks and Geeks (do yourself a favor and watch that show. Netflix it or something.) and then sneaking back to my bedroom to listen to a BeeGees record on my gigantic headphones. I tend to drift by the end of the album, but the first 6 tra... MORE

Not sure if I should like these guys this much. They're a funky rock group kind of like the scissor sisters, but not quite. Hard to pinpoint, but just take a listen to their first five songs and you'll get hooked. I was feeling kind of odd grooving at my desk listening to songs like "Ah Ha", "Got Nothing", "In the Clouds" and "Mama's Room". They smartly shoved all the good songs up front, so the last half isn't as strong, but still it's a breathe of fresh air to hear a ban... MORE

Wow, What a great new find for me! (and hopefully you too!) Picture a less "gay"...slightly more rockin' version of the Scissor Sisters and it may sound close to UTIOG. Still exceptionally catchy! I found them as a result of a free download-of-the-week (Mama's Room) at iTunes a few months ago and then their whole (self titled) CD was just released. Please, Please, Please give them a listen...trust me...you'll like it (Like Mikey and Life Cereal!)