Dear Billy Corgan,

We here at Trivial Design are longtime fans. We even gave Zwan a chance for a little while until we discovered it was The Smashing Pumpkins lite (Paz Lenchatin was a huge selling point). And I personally thoroughly enjoyed "Superchrist" for all its grandiose feel.

But we really think that unless you do something hella awesome really soon, we'd all rather you disappear quietly until a full band reunion can happen, because, well, you're embarrassing us and yourself, especially when the Silversun Pickups is out there making the type of music you should be making.

That's not to say they have bitten off your style completely. No, elements of your Siamese Dream and Gish days are present along with a healthy dose of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. But this LA band has unpretentiously melded snappy lyrics with Brain Aubert's distinct vocals to a melodious, droning guitar-driven music with fantastic bass and drum accompaniment.

We thoroughly enjoy listening to their albums and seeing them live, as they always give us our money's worth. We feel "There's No Secrets This Year" should be as popular as "Cherub Rock" while at the same time don't want the band to get too popular otherwise have to see them with screaming teenage girls with too much makeup at an amphitheater (they and their sullen looking waifs of boyfriends can discover good music when they've all mellowed out a bunch).

Mr. Corgan we think the album you meant to make was Swoon, Silversun Pickups' second LP and that maybe your loneliness after Jimmy Chamberlain left or inability to make James Iha clean your toes has made you go a bit crazier than before (and you were absolutely batshit before). We understand your pain but at the same time are excited and amazed at the fact that the Pickups' Swoon is a better album than their debut LP album Carnavas.

Despite the fact they aren't as angsty as you were (or are) we enjoy them mightily. As your audience we've grown up a bit and don't need every song to be a veiled reference to how much life sucks anymore; that's why we have Jon Stewart.

So please Mr. Corgan, don't emerge from your lair in Chicago until you have done something cool and grown up, or at least made amends with James. Until then we're gonna enjoy the band you should have formed back in 2001.

They are really awesome.

Sincerely,
Your fans at Trivial Design

Trends And Such

Yeah we're a music blog... so the fuck what?

So check out these trailers here; Do you see what they have in common?

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) (Theatrical Trailer #2)
Uploaded by NakedBrotha2007. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

All these videos use music from deep dark rock bands. In the cases I've pointed out two from Nine Inch Nails and the other from A Perfect Circle, although i should add the music of the APC track was done by Danny Lohner, a former member of NIN during it's heyday.

So does anyone else out there realize that major studio companies are using music from artists who have a history of giving away their product for free?

Besides all that it is suffice to say that this industrial-metal-alternative blend is going to keep showing up in movie trailers to add ambiance for awhile; I just wish it didn't become apart of some meathead's work out list as this happens...

And You May Hate Us After This:The Click- Hurricane, Captain Save-A-Hoe

The weather here in the Pacific Northwest is slightly crazy during this spring. A third of the time it's wet and cold and very winter like, another third it's warm (like low 70's), bright and the day begs you to go outside and play. The last third it's sunny, with a few clouds and welcoming, but a good 40 degrees outside so you are momentarily confused on how to dress. Ultimately you go with the tried an true jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket. That type of day is today, and this type of day feels so like the Bay Area it hurts.

I want Ghirardelli Chocolate, clam chowder in french bread bowls, and the smell of the ocean... Man I miss the Bay. I grew up in Northern California, so I made frequent trips to S.F,. Berkeley, and Oakland and, when I got older, San Jose and Santa Cruz where my friends went to college. I also grew up with all of the Bay Area nineties rap.

These songs were far from my first introduction to E-40 and his extremely distinctive voice and flow, but it remains they are the foremost in my mind. They aren't great songs, and they painfully show their age, but they remain those type of songs that are really fucking equated with growing up, the place I first called home, when things were simpler before I had to worry about money, jobs, people, politics, time, etc.

Today you can barely get to The Bay from the central valley (Sacramento) in less than two hours due to the upswing of new suburbs surrounding both areas and the fuck-all-ness state of I-80. But the Bay's ignorant dumb as shit hyphy music travel with break neck speed all around NorCal and somehow (thankfully) stay and settles there (except for that ghostride buffoonery). And if you'll take note this is one of the least dumb songs of the Bay, which is probably why they have ingratiated themselves to me for this long.

Every time in Atlanta I miss being in a city that smells like the ocean... and that's usually when I'll play this music.

LCD Soundsystem- "Someone Great"

LCD Soundsystem - Someone Great
Uploaded by epb21

I have the horrible knack for ignoring wonderful bands and wonderful songs if too many people are talking about them. It's not completely my fault, it's conditioning. Growing up (not that I'm really an adult anyway) all the different bands and artists who were touted before me as the next big thing or the "greatest since..." whoever was the great thing that died in the 90's was a severe disappointment.

So if you come of age where the music that is popularized by pr machines and ad campaigns rather than an honest-to-god recommendation from someone you trust, be it a friend, your local record store employee or an artist you greatly enjoy you'd be pretty initially cynical about any band that got real big real quick. Unfortunately for me, as immersed as I am into underground bands, my concept of "popular" is somewhat skewed. Hence why I've willfully ignored LCD Soundsystem for so long and lately to my detriment.

For the past month I've been fretting about a song I heard on the best terrestrial radio station out and generally being frustrated 24 hours a day due to my not being able to remember a friggen song whose infectious bass line was haunting my everyday. This happens more often than I'd like it but never for a month. Imagine my relief when this morning I turned on said radio station and it was playing (thank you John Waters).

Finally listening in full to the two-year-old song I was happy to learn that the song didn't just stay in my head because it was catchy, but also because it was good. Jesse Murphy has long since proved himself to be one of the top electronic musicians around and "Someone Great" is one of the best his best examples.

Filling your head with a neo-disco groove perfectly suited for a packed house party in someones too-small-to-do-anything-but-stand-and-drink living room. Murphy's vocals seemingly are less important to adding meaning to the song but rather another layer of smooth melody in contrast to the sharp bell tones of which he harmonizes.

But most striking of the song has to be the cool delivery of what has to be some of the most melancholy lyrics in the past decade. The downer tone the song takes when you finally listen to it might be one of the reasons it never received too much notice here in the US and was pretty much relegated to widespread acclaim in the indie music circles; a factor which probably led to my not getting into the group before now.

But for the rest of the day I can now properly listen/dissect/obsess over "Someone Great" and get on with the rest of my life until the next song that gets stuck in my head comes along. If I'm lucky I'll actually have that song too.

You May Hate Us After This (I know I do)

About a week ago Maximus and I were going over the state of the blog and our respective posts. in his infinite wisdom he suggested there be some type of order and consistency to the blog. I agreed not knowing he'd practically assign me weekly homework and that I'd have no way of declining (being that I'm not exactly plying my writing trade for real American dollars yet). So yeah, thank you Maximus. Ya jerk.

Much like the new regular feature of eye candy/cheesecake/soft porn that is going up the folks here at Trivial Design would like to reach out to those who might not have the auditory acumen of the Tendaberry affiliated. We all would like to make it clear that we aren't a bunch of snotty music heads who frown upon anything that hits above a certain level of name recognition.

We like music, we aren't hipsters.

That being said there are plenty of songs and albums we shouldn't like because as we have what can only be described as impeccable taste in music. But we do; there are legions of records that we enjoy for no possible logical reason. And there is a reason for it.

We like music, and we aren't goddamn hipsters.

So yeah we'll get involved in a band that's entirely too popular to be worth it. Or we'll be in agreement that the single of the week by said rapper of the month is hot. Hell, you can have one good song by luck of the draw really.

So to kick this feature of the agreed upon theme "Guilty Pleasures" I thought I'd go all in and pick a song that I am constantly ridiculed for despite it's sheer greatness.


Motley Crue- Too Young To Fall In Love

Motley Crue - Too Young To Fall In Love (Official Music Video) - The best free videos are right here

Motley Crue is obviously not one of the best bands ever. Hell artistically/musically/logically they weren't even one of the best bands during their heyday. What they were though was fun, loud, and cocky, and despite what I have to say about the quality of their music those elements are oddly and shamefully appealing.

Moreso than the song though, I love this video. It has absolutely nothing to do with the song and not in a Spike Jonze "why the hell is this in here" montage but like Nikki Sixx decided he wanted their next video to be an homage to all the martial arts movies they were watching while stoned on the days they were too fucked up to record the song.

The lyrics and music of this song are generic especially for the era in which it came out. Guns N' Roses were a substantially more honest and likable archetype of the 80's LA metal scene. But sometimes you gotta check out what the runner-up has going for them seeing as you've already consumed everything the breakaway top spot has got.

I am pretty shameful for liking this song at all, not to mention having put the vid in my Youtube favorites whereas not all of my fave metal songs have even been looked at. It's not a great song, and it's chart position reflected that, and it's hardly a good song, but I like it for all it's campy visualization and forced earnestness. I am sorry world, so very sorry.

"Friendly Neighborhood" Tendaberry

Apparently we have a couple of post out there about us on the internet and we would like to share them with the rest of the world...so...world...check this out. We have a review from our Athens Popfest gig coming from The Flat Response blog. You can listen to all our songs from that performance. Also, we have a review from Stop.Okay. Go referring our soon to be released EP AM I STILL ILLMATIC? Which will be out in May. Read 'til your hearts content.

The Flat Response Link

Stop.Okay.Go link

Something Different

NSync - Tearin' up my Heart
Uploaded by SUUZAN

The other members of this blog have kindly pointed out the different bands and artists that they have personally enjoyed and have influenced them and it makes perfect sense to do that. Well, that's all well and good but being the intelligent and conscious people we are, we also know that we aren't just influenced by the things we like, but just the crap that happens around us and we can't hope to filter out. And much of these type of influences guide the guys on the choices they make for Tendaberry as much as the experiences and sounds of The Smiths or Heatwave.

All being of similar ages, we all grew up listening to bubblegum pop during our formidable years, and not on purpose. During certain time periods certain forms of music are inescapable; the sixties had rock & roll, the seventies made disco popular and during the late nineties/early 2000's all were inundated with sickening sweet sugary quasi-dance pop and hammy power ballads. And no one was more important and as big as 'N Sync.

To be fair it turns out even they didn't particularly like their music, hence all the solo ventures which strayed away from their pop background. But this early clip pretty much encompasses the vanguard of popular music we all very much suffered through, a much insincere sound originating from the bowels of Lou Pearlman and manufactured by a couple of Swedes who were basically a PG version of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. What it boils down to is that the whole 'N Sync act was staged, at least in the beginning, which contributed to their split from the handler and later to their quiet yet obvious disbanding.

But to this day the specter of the pop mega-group hangs over all of the music industry. Look at how record companies push individual songs instead of whole albums and then try to bleed artists for money by charging for everything except what the tours nets the artist. Look at how success is measured in the amount of swag you can push and the name recognition you have amongst tween girls, the target audience for music apparently. It is a poltergeist that has only gotten more potent in latter years and one we all hope will be exorcised in the coming musical movements, of which guys are entrenching themselves in and getting closer and closer to leading.

But I guess what it all comes down to is I want Carlton to stop playing this shit while I'm in the car with him. What are you some kind of masochistic freak? I have ears and I'd rather not have to try to rip them off every other time we go to Krystal's after we close down a bar. I have feelings too, don't make me beat you.

Incredible Roots Picnic at Philly's Festival Pier

The Roots launch The 2nd Annual ROOTS PICNIC!

Check it out:The Roots (two sets), TV on the Radio, The Black Keys, Santigold, Antibalas, The Pipes featuring Zoe Kravitz and...(are you ready?)...A Special Performance by Public Enemy....Public Enemy will be performing "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" in it's ENTIRETY, backed by both The Roots & Antibalas Orchestra.

*JAZZY JEFF IS DJ'ING ON STAGE BETWEEN BANDS*

Indie rap superstars Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, Writtenhouse, Back to Basics w/ King Britt & Dozia and Making Time's Dave P. are all set to perform on the second stage.

The can't miss event of 2009.Saturday, June 6th at Festival Pier at Penn's Landing.

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO http://www.okayplayer.com/rootspicnic/

YOU CAN BUY YOUR TIX HERE NOW:http://www.livenation.com/event/getEvent/eventId/405097

Hip Hop Heads!....The Wait is Over!!!

I know you guys been waiting for that next great sound outta Philly. Well, esta aqui mis amigos. South Broad is to the rescue. Philadelphia-based hip-hop quartet comprised of MCs Leo Miles and P Soul and producers Tracknique and DJ Extra Medium.

Feel-good lyrics and soulful hip hop productions gives their sound that unfiltered head nod. No catch phrases, no snap dances, just pure fidelity to the art. I encourage all to check out their myspace, http://www.myspace.com/southbroadmusic , download their EP, A Lil' Louder, become their fans on facebook, and show some love.