LIVE AT PIANOS: ARMS

Ah, ARMS. As our long-time favorite appendage-monickered band (apologies to Bear Hands, Limbek, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, etc.), we've been behind these boys since the early days and couldn't be more excited that they're ruling their own Pianos empire every Wednesday this month.

Over the past year, we've seen them play in the summer, we've seen them play in the fall, we've seen them play in our old home, our new home, and soon, we will have them in our next one. By watching these guys evolve with additional albums, humans and songs over the past thirteenish months, we feel like their nerdy little brother, trailing quietly behind, observing, and unabashedly liking everything they do.

(Except that time they got us with that Nerf gun. Not cool, big bro.)

If you haven't popped by Pianos to see their month-long mania, you have two more Wednesdays to make it happen. Don't drop the hump-day ball on this one, folks — we'd say you could see them at Bowery Ballroom at the end of the month, but, well, it's sold out. So you can't. Mwahahaha.

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Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session: ARMS

Big Ugly Yellow Christmas: ARMS

ARMS on MySpace

We Need You. And Maybe You, Too.

Big Ugly Yellow Couch is currently looking for branding opportunities and to bring someone on to do part-time ad sales.

If you are interested in either or know of someone who is, drop a line into our inbox at BigUglyYellowCouch[at]gmail.com.

Making magic happen, one ad at a time.

Hey, Look At That!

Blogs.com included lil' ugly us in their list of Top 10 acoustic music session blogs! We're positively jazzed to be among such good company, musical pun only slightly intended.

The website says they're the best in blogs. The best, people!

We're putting this one on the fridge.

Live At Pianos: Yellow Ostrich

I ate an ostrich burger today.

I'm not sure if that's species-specific cannibalism, considering how excited I also was for the first night of the band's residency at Pianos, but as unbelievable as eating melted cheese and avocado on a non-cow was, it still wasn't the best of the breed I saw that night.

Every once in a while, every few sessions, we have a band come by that transcends the two hours we spend with them on the couch. In these instances, they're not just a couple of people whose music we loved that shared a room and a spat of oxygen with us once. Sometimes, they win us over in such a way that we're in it for the long haul. And, after watching Yellow Ostrich perform on that tiny Pianos stage to a jarringly packed crowd, myself looking forward to each song as the album order carried on, I realized that we're in deep. We ate pulled pork for lunch and fell in love with the pig by dinnertime, and there's nothing we can do to change that.

We could tell you their harmonies are infectious! And that those melodies will keep you reeling for days! But instead, we'll cut through the descriptive fat and say the one thing you need to know: see this band at a venue this size while you still can, because it ain't going to be like this for long.

Check the boys out every Thursday for the next three weeks at Pianos. Next week is old, never-before-performed tunes, the following is all-new material, and the final week is greatest hits.

Good lord, I hope they cover something by Mariah Carey.

MP3

Yellow Ostrich - "WHALE (live at Pianos)"

Yellow Ostrich - "Mary (live at Pianos)"

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Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session: Yellow Ostrich
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Couch Session: The Republic of Wolves

Couch Session #30: The Republic of Wolves

Boys on tables, boys on the couch,
boys on amps and in the living room throughout.
This session had our home packed to the gills,
the space filled with an expanse of instrumental trills.
We've had groups of people traipse back and forth,
entering and exiting, traveling back south, west or north,
but with this band in particular, they left something there,
a notable ambiance hanging lightly in the afternoon air.
The Republic of Wolves write tales told through song,
a calligraphy-minded novel that could do no wrong.
it rises above a three-minute number or a random album track,
living amongst itself as a emotional attack.
there are more layers to these pieces than myself on this winter day,
an ice-covered world lying beneath a sky hovering in grey.
Tuck in, for you're likely lucky to be inside,
and let The Republic of Wolves' session live free and thrive:

MP3

The Republic of Wolves - "Wood/Bricks (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

The Republic of Wolves - "Tashbih (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

The Republic of Wolves - "Mirage (Big Ugly Yellow Couch Session)"

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