Video Hits One

A couple of cool videos for your viewing pleasure. Both are highly recommended, but for vastly different reasons.

Pink Nasty, "Away Message"


Thanks to David for the head's up on Pink Nasty. Will have more to say about her as soon as I get through her whole CD.

Kennedy, "Who's Lovin' Your Mama?"


Thanks to the fine folks at Reverb Nation for the tip on this one. I'll also have more to say about these guys (Reverb Nation, that is) before long. Until then, though, I strongly recommend that any and all musicians out there go join up (for free!) and take their site for a test drive. You'll be glad you did.

Dangerbird Records at CMJ

The Battering Room has info about Dangerbird Records's CMJ showcase. The show will be held on Thursday night (11/2) at Pianos, and will include:

Silversun Pickups
La Rocca
Darker My Love
Dappled Cities Fly
Jim Fairchild

Unless something unexpected and spectacular comes up, consider me there. I just checked Ticketweb, and tickets aren't on sale yet.

Long Winters @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC [9/29/06]

The Long Winters, "Cinnamon" (from When I Pretend to Fall)
The Long Winters, "Ultimatum" (from Ultimatum EP)

Seattle's Long Winters returned to New York last night for the first time in several years. I could be wrong on the date, but I think their last show in town was at Northsix back in 2003. At least that's the last time I saw them.

Anyway, their show hasn't changed too much in that time. John Roderick is still the funniest front man in indie rock. The band still has an incredible catalog of catchy, intelligent songs, which includes several of my favorite songs of the last few years ("Cinnamon", "Prom Night at Hater High", "Ultimatum"). They still play a long set (approx. 90 minutes) with no encore. And they're still hit or miss from song to song. On some songs they sound unstoppable (see "Pushover"), on others they're disjointed and off (see "Fire Island, Ak").

At the end of the day, though, you don't go to a Long Winters show (or any indie rock show, for that matter, except maybe Yo La Tengo) for perfect execution. You go to hear a bunch of great songs played loud and have a good time. And the Long Winters delivered on that again last night.




Two other notes/thoughts from last night. First, John mentioned that the band plans to come back into town in March, so keep your eyes out for that. Second, although the show was sold out (they sold their last ticket at the door just before I got in), the crowd was amazingly subdued. While there were a lot of people yelling out song titles, by the second half of the set, it was so quiet between songs that the room felt empty. Weird. It was almost like the energy of the room disappeared halfway through the set. I hope it wasn't John's (pretty funny, IMO) KKK joke.

New Hold Steady Streaming

Stereogum points out that the new Hold Steady album, Boys and Girls in America, is now streaming at Vagrant Records' website.

Gob Iron, "Death's Black Train"

The first single off of the forthcoming Gob Iron album, Death Songs For The Living, is now streaming at Jay Farrar's website. Gob Iron is the new project from Jay Farrar and Anders Parker.

About the song:

“Death’s Black Train”: This song by the Rev. JM Gates can be found on the Legacy box set Roots and Blues; Farrar was attracted to its ethereal quality and the style in which it was originally presented. Although it belongs to a very different time and place, “the bedrock themes of sin and salvation” (as Farrar puts it) found in Gates’ songs make them especially resonant today.

No Wonder Christgau Was Fired

What follows is Robert Christgau's "review" of the new Decemberists album, The Crane Wife. Prepare to be astounded by the analysis and insight.

In the lyrically impaired alt-rock world, Colin Meloy is lionized for his literary prowess because his reading predates Bret Easton Ellis and he knows what "picaresque" means. That was the title of the Decemberists' 2005 Kill Rock Stars album, which came complete with such arcana as a barrow boy, an infanta and a veranda. Supposedly inspired by the Japanese tale of the same name, The Crane Wife makes no concessions to its major label, unless engineering counts. Among its ten tracks are two song cycles that exceed ten minutes; among its topics are a Civil War romance, meat-cleaver murderers and a damsel dispatched with saber and pistol. [SOURCE]

By the way, he gave it 3.5 stars. I guess random number scoring is what qualifies as music criticism today. Pitchfork must be proud.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ Central Park Summerstage [9/28/06]

This will be a short post. No pictures right now, and maybe not at all. I wasn't inspired to take many.

I feel like I threw $40 down the toilet last night. Opener Architecture in Helsinki were 20 times worse than I thought they'd be, and I expected them to be bad. The morning after, I'm still astounded that this is a band that's gotten a ton of buzz over the last year. Simply put, they may be the worst band I've ever sat through in my life, and I'm including Endless Boogie. Speaking of endless, they played for an hour. What business does an opening band, let alone one that suuuuuuuuuuucks, have playing for an hour? None, thank you.

As for headliner Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, well, they weren't awful. I really like their album and I thought they put on a fantastic show back in April at Bowery Ballroom. Last night, however, I was bored. Maybe it's the fact that we're hearing the same songs after 2 years, maybe it was the bad sound mix, maybe it was the completely unnecessary between-song musical "interludes", and maybe it was just that the band seemed kinda bored themselves. Whatever it was, I left early, which I never do. I figured I'd feel guilty about leaving, but I don't. In fact, I kinda wish I'd left earlier. Oh well.

I'm sure the Long Winters will be much, much better tonight.

Let The Battering Room Be Your CMJ Guide

While I do my best to list what I feel are the more interesting CMJ shows, if you really want to know who's playing when at this year's CMJ, get over to The Battering Room. They're pretty much schooling everyone right now when it comes to CMJ.

Edited to add: Actually, just go here for a comprehensive list of CMJ shows and lineups. It's being updated continually as new shows are announced. Awesome.

Gov't Mule Peakin' At The Beacon

Gov't Mule is hitting The Beacon Theatre in New York for a 3-show New Year's Eve run this year:

12/29: With guest Los Lobos
12/30: With guest North Mississippi Allstars
12/31: A special performance entitled "Dub Side of the Mule", featuring special guest Toots Hibbert (of Toots & the Maytals)

"Dub Side of the Mule"? God that sounds awful.

There's a pre-sale which started this morning, and regular tickets go on sale tomorrow at noon.

Those jam bands just love the Beacon. Do they not enforce NYC's smoking ban there or something?

CMJ Just Got Emo-licious

Yet another new CMJ announcement. On Saturday, November 4th, the Knitting Factory will be hosting Straylight Run, Chris Conley (of Saves the Day), Dan Andriano (of Alkaline Trio), Colour Revolt and five other bands I've never heard of as part of "Aquarian Weekly Presents Ellis Industries Night." I've never heard of either Aquarian Weekly or Ellis Industries.

Ticket go on sale next Friday (10/6) at 5pm.

I'll be doing my hair that night. Or I'll be out of the country.

The Mystery That Is Mercury Lounge's CMJ Lineup

While most of the major NYC venues have slowly been announcing some or all of their CMJ lineups, Mercury Lounge has been a tad tight lipped. Well, one small detail has finally come out - blog favorites Forward, Russia! will be playing the Mercury on Thursday, November 2nd.

The band is on Leeds-based Dance To The Radio records, which has a deal of some sort with Mute in the U.S. Not sure if this is a Mute showcase or not. Some other Mute artists? The Knife, Jose Gonzalez, Liars, Nitzer Ebb and Paul van Dyk. I can also tell you that the band is touring in November with Snowden and Scanners. So maybe one or more of those artists will show up at Mercury as well. Or maybe not.

Forward, Russia!, "Four" (b-side)
Forward, Russia! on MySpace

Forward, Russia! US Tour

10/25, Seattle , WA (Crocodile Cafe)
10/26, Portland , OR (Dante's)
10/28, Los Angeles , CA (Spaceland)
10/30, San Francisco , CA (Café du Nord)
11/2, New York , NY (Mercury Lounge)
11/27, Boston , MA (Great Scott)
11//28, New York , NY (Bowery Ballroom)
11/29, Philadelphia , PA (Johnny Brenda's)
11/30, Montreal , QC (Mile End Cultural Centre Main Hall)
12/1, Toronto , ON (The Legendary Horshoe Tavern)
12/2, Detroit , MI (Magic Stick)
12/4, Cleveland , OH (Grog Shop)
12/5, Chicago , IL (Empty Bottle)
12/6, Minneapolis , MN (Triple Rock)
12/8, Kansas City , MO (The Record Bar)
12/9, Oklahoma City , OK (Conservatory)
12/10, Dallas , TX (Gypsy Tea Room)
12/11, Austin , TX (Stubbs)
12/12, Houston , TX (Walters)
12/14, Atlanta , GA (Earl)
12/15, Chapel Hill , NC (Local 506)
12/16, Washington , D.C. (Black Cat)

And... It's Official

We already knew this, but the fine folks at WOXY updated the front page of their site today to include this awesome, awesome message:

WOXY.com lives...

Could it be true? Does lightning strike the same place twice? Apparently it does. It is indeed the real deal — WOXY.com will be back on-the-air soon and better than ever! Seems like we're proving ourselves to be master escape artists in eluding the icy depths of the deadpool. We can't wait to kick out the jams and hope you are, too. In the meantime, please do join us on the boards, and if you haven't done so already, make sure you sign up for our email list to the right.

More details very, very soon...

- Mike, Shiv and Bryan Jay

Makes me happy.

Greatest Sports Radio Ever

I had no idea Michigan State fans cared so much. Wow.

It's 15 minutes long, but worth every damn second.

(Thanks to MGoBlog for pointing this out, and extra thanks to The House Rock Built for posting the audio!)

GUNS N' ROSES RETURN TO NEW YORK

Two nights!

November 5th, 2006 - East Rutherford, NJ @ Continental Airlines Arena

November 10th, 2006 - New York City, NY @ Madison Square Garden

Tickets for both go on sale Saturday, September 30th at 9AM. That ain't smart.

Catherine Popper Leaves the Cardinals

In other Ryan Adams news, bassist Catherine Popper has left the Cardinals. An announcement on Ryan's newly redesigned website reads, in part:

Immediately following a quick swing through the Los Angeles area in mid-September, The Cardinals will spend six weeks in Europe playing an extended series of live dates (see full itinerary below). The Cardinals regret to announce the departure of Catherine Popper from the group. Catherine's decision to bow out was based on her own personal reasons and we all wish her well in her future musical pursuits. ...

Talk about burying the news. I hadn't heard this anywhere.

So, can we all stop pretending that the Cardinals are a "real" band now?

Ryan Adams... uh.. Raps

Go to Stereogum now. Wow.

Alternatively, head over to Ryan's new website to hear a couple live tracks from Ryan's show in Salisbury UK last week.

Edited to add: Or you can go here and listen to a lot of short "country song" snippets of Ryan singing about how he drinks to much. Hit the yellow buttons. The second one is hilarious.

The Daily Show Coot-Off

Seriously, I need to start watching The Daily Show more often. When I'm home, I usually go with Futurama instead, but clips like this have me re-thinking that decision.

It's a long one, but well worth it. War!

Jay Bennett, "Replace You"

Jay Bennett ia back with his first album in two years, The Magnificent Defeat (Rykodisc). The album's first single, "Replace You", is available for free download at Insound. I like it, but it seems that Jay's gone even more overboard with the number of instruments he throws into the mix. Definitely worth checking out, though.

Jay will be hitting the road next month for a tour of the midwest and northeast, including a couple New York area shows.

Wed., 10/18: Fitzgerald’s / Chicago
Thurs., 10/19: Cowboy Monkey / Champaign
Fri., 10/20: The Picador / Iowa City
Sat., 10/21: Off Broadway / St. Louis
Sun., 10/22: 3rd + Lindsley / Nashville
Mon., 10/23: Uncle Pleasant’s / Louisville
Tues., 10/24: Club Café / Pittsburgh
Fri., 10/27: Iota / Arlington, VA
Sat., 10/28: M-Room / Philadelphia
Mon., 10/30: Union Hall / Brooklyn
Tues., 10/31: Joe’s Pub / Manhattan [TIX]
10:00am On-Air Show at WFUV
Wed., 11/1: Middle East / Cambridge

More Onsales

Two shows going on sale at the Beacon:

Thurs., 11/16: Cheap Trick and Soul Asylum. Wha??

Tickets range from $49.50 to $79.50. Presale begins tomorrow at 9am, and regular onsale is Friday at 10am. Decisions decisions. Do I go see Superchunk at the Daily Show anniversary show, or do I throw $80 at a show that's not worth $30? Hmm.... Didn't Cheap Trick just play in Jersey for free?

Tues., 11/21: Brian Wilson

Tickets range from $58.50 to, dear lord, $128.50. Presale begins tomorrow at 10am, and regular onsale is Friday at 11am.

I really, really hope that Michael Rapino isn't full of shit, because this is just getting ridiculous.

Live Lollapalooza Recordings On Sale

A number of live sets from this year's Lollapalooza festival are now available for sale on iTunes, including Broken Social Scene, Ben Kweller, The Frames, Editors and many others. Head to the website for more info.

A word of warning - it doesn't look like all of the downloads are full sets. Prices range from 99 cents to $9.99, so I'm guessing some of them include only a couple of songs.

Personally, I'm going to wait until October 19th, when they're launching LiveLollapalooza.com, where you'll be able to get recordings of all the bands in MP3 and FLAC formats.

Just wish they had the Flaming Lips set, which was pretty much my highlight of the festival, despite the fact that it was the exact same set they always play.

This Week's On-Sales

I'm posting this on Tuesday night... new things (CMJ?) may pop up overnight, so don't take it as gospel. Also, I'm only listing shows that interest me, so if you're expecting another show to go on sale, you best check for yourself.

All tickets are available via Ticketweb and go on sale tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon unless otherwise noted.

Bowery Ballroom
Sat., 11/11: Mouse on Mars plus Birdy Nam Nam / Lithops, $15
Mon., 11/13: Robert Pollard plus Starling Electric, $23
Wed., 11/15: Hidden Cameras plus Spiral Beach, $15
Sun., 12/3: Straylight Run plus Matt Pond PA / Street to Nowhere / Kevin Devine, $15 (on sale Friday, 9/29 at noon)

Maxwell's
Sat., 11/18: Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3, $15 (on sale now)

Mercury Lounge
Fri., 11/17: Centro-Matic / Bobby Bare Jr., $12 (on sale now)
Sat., 11/18: Centro-Matic / Bobby Bare Jr., $12 (on sale now)

North Six
Wed., 11/1: CMJ/Kork Agency, Magnolia Electric Co. with 5 others, $15 (on sale now)
Fri., 11/3: CMJ/Jade Tree, David Bazan, Snowden, and 5 others, $15 (on sale now)

The Killers, Shark Sandwich

Or is it Shit Town? I'm confused. Anyway, Stereogum points out that the best album in 20 years is now streaming in all its, err, glory, over at MTV.

Stereogum also points to a not-so-glowing review of the album over at Rolling Stone. I won't reprint it all here, but wanted to share my favorite passage:

So this is the Killers in 1980s Springsteen-clone mode: better than Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers; not as good as John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band; about even with Billy Hixx and the New Breed. (That was Rob Lowe's band in St. Elmo's Fire, though the Killers have better fashion sense.)

Meet LaLa.com

As I mentioned last night, my favorite radio station in the world, WOXY.com, is coming back in a couple of weeks. What I haven't mentioned is how.

WOXY is being saved by a man named Bill Nguyen. Bill is an internet entrepreneur based in San Francisco who owns, among other things, a music venture named LaLa.com. Bill heard about WOXY's plight a few weeks ago, and like all good businesspeople, he saw an opportunity - an established trade name, a dedicated fanbase, and a huge potential for growth. So in the space of about 10 days, Bill contacted the principals of WOXY, starting talking about a deal, and reached an agreement in principal to revive WOXY sometime in the next two weeks. Talk about fast.

While the exact details of the new WOXY.com are still kinda murky, the generalized outline includes more live in-studio performances, an expanded physical presence into San Francisco, and close integration into LaLa.com.

What is LaLa? Essentially, it is an online CD trading forum. You set up an account, and then list all the CDs in your collection that you don't want anymore. If someone else wants your CD, LaLa tells you, and gives you a postage-paid envelope (much like NetFlix), and you send it to the person who wants it. For every CD you send out, you can choose a CD from someone else's collection for the price of only $1.75 (not sure if this is variable at all), which includes, among other things, shipping costs and a royalty to the artist/songwriter.

In a nutshell, LaLa allows you to give up CDs you no longer want, pay an additional $1.75, and have a CD you DO want. Oh, and they also sell a number of brand new CDs at good prices from Newbury Comics. So they're indie through and through. Go here for a better explanation of exactly how LaLa works.

I think this is a great idea. I just joined, and I'm looking forward to getting rid of the Sufjan Stevens, Devendra Banhart and Winger CDs in my collection. And, very soon, LaLa will be integrated with WOXY, so that any time you hear a song or band you like, you can click on a button to add them to your LaLa "want" list. How easy is that?

If this sounds interesting to you, do me (and all WOXY fans) a favor, and head over to LaLa.com and check it out. Show Bill that he made a wise choice!

New Portastatic Album Streaming @ Merge

Portastatic's new album, Be Still Please, is now streaming at the Merge Records website. The album comes out on October 10th, but can be pre-ordered here.

In other Merge news, the lineup for Merge's CMJ lineup has been set:

White Whale
Richard Buckner
Portastatic
The Brokedown

Exact order of bands has yet to be set. The show is on Friday, November 3rd at the Knitting Factory, beginning at 7:30pm (sharp!). Tickets are still available, but I guarantee they'll sell out soon.

(Thanks to Matt for the heads up!)

Cool Videos

Since MTV doesn't show videos anymore, I figured I'd post a few good ones you might have missed. They're all courtesy of my dad, who's pretty hip to the indie rock. I've taught him well:

Flaming Lips, "SpongeBob & Patrick Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy"

Josh Rouse, "Come Back" (live)

McCluskey, "She Will Only Bring You Happiness"

Michael McDonald, "Reach Out, I'll Be There" (sorry, I tried to find "Ya Mo B There")

Sleater-Kinney, "Entertain"

And, from the "Are You Fucking Kidding Me?" department, check out Dashboard Confessional covering, ahem, R.E.M. Carraba totally wants to kiss Michael Stipe.

Dashboard Confessional, "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight"

WOXY To Return - Free Pants for Everyone!

The word from Cincinnati (Ohio, for those geographically-impaired) is that WOXY.com will return to the internet airwaves in less than 2 weeks! Not too many other details right now, but Mike and Shivvy will definitely be on board. Not sure about Bryan Jay or the DJ Princess. Will pass along info when it comes in.

BAM! The future of Rock and Roll is back!

How To Waste An Afternoon... or a Week

Go here. And here.

There's no way this thing stays up long, but enjoy it whilst you can.

Trail of Dead Cover GBV

Aversion.com reports that the new album from ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of The Dead, entitled So Divided, will be released on November 14th via Interscope Records. That's three days after I'm seeing them at Irving Plaza, so I hope the album leaks ahead of time so I'm somewhat familiar with the new songs.

One song on the album that I don't need to become familiar with is "Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory". That's right - Trail of Dead are covering Guided by Voices. And it's the fifth track on the album, so it's not like this is some random b-side. Odd.

AOL Roundup (Week of September 25)

A so-so week from AOL. It's better than last week, though, when I couldn't find a single album worth linking.

Scissor Sisters, Ta-Dah
Tori Amos, A Piano - The Collection
Jerry Garcia, The Very Best of Jerry Garcia
Samiam, Whatever's Got You Down
The Lemonheads, The Lemonheads
George Harrison, Living in the Material World (re-release)

Personally, I'm really liking the new Lemonheads disc.

You Can't Kill Rock and Roll

OK, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much on this, but there's some serious talk out there about a possible revival of WOXY.com. If you're interested in the details so far, go here or here.

In a nutshell - an internet investor who has some other successful music-related internet holdings is looking to buy WOXY and integrate it into his holdings. So far he has indicated he wants to keep most or all of the WOXY format, and as much of the staff as wants to stay.

We'll see. Word could come as soon as this week. Keep your fingers crossed.

In The Mood For Emo

After hearing the news last week that Texas Is The Reason is re-forming for a show here in New York next month, I got to thinking about all of the other emo bands I used to love. I had a 4-year period (1998-2002) where emo, or post-punk as we liked to call it, was pretty much the main (sub)genre of music I was listening to.

Since 2002, though, I really haven't listened to a whole lot of emo. Most of my favorite bands broke up, and few of those that stayed together have put out much worth listening to. (Although, IMO, the Alkaline Trio have put out some decent stuff in recent years.)

So after a few years away from it, I figured now was as good a time as any go back and revisit some of my old emo favorites. To my ears, at least, they've held up amazingly well. Here are five of my favorite songs from that period.

Blueline Medic, "Making the Nouveau Riche" (from The Apology Wars)
Braid, "First Day Back" (from Frame and Canvas)
Cadillac Blindside, "Straightjacket Weather" (from These Liquid Lungs)
Get Up Kids, "One Year Later" (from Red Letter Day EP)
Mineral, "Gloria" (from The Power of Failing)

Merge Records CMJ Showcase on Sale Now

This year's Merge Records CMJ showcase will be held at the Knitting Factory on Friday, November 3rd. No bands officially announced yet, but one can assume the lineup will include Portastatic, White Whale and recent signee The Brokedown, among others. Tickets went on sale at midnight.

I already have a ticket to see the Decemberists that night, but now plan on attending the Merge show. Partially because I really don't like the idea of seeing the Decemberists in freaking Hammerstein Ballroom (capacity 5,500). But mainly because I can't wait to finally catch The Brokedown.

New Damien Rice!

I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has some spectacular news... It only took him 4 years, but apparently Damien Rice has finally finished his followup to O. The new album, entitled 9, comes out in Ireland in November. No word on a US release, but I can guarantee you I'll be ordering directly from Eire.

The album's first single, "9 Crimes", is now streaming at 14th Floor Records.

Anyone worried that the lovely Lisa Hannigan might not be involved in the new album can rest easy. She pretty much makes this song. That's her on the right. Seriously, Damien could put out an album of El DeBarge covers, and as long as Lisa was on it, it would pwn.

Have a Wife-Swappin' Weekend

Check Out Reverb Nation

There's a new challenger to MySpace in town, and it's called Reverb Nation.

From what I've seen so far (it just launched this week), Reverb Nation is aiming to be a much more streamlined, easier to use, and just plain prettier version of MySpace aimed primarily at music. It also seems to be a lot more intuitive. For example, if you designate yourself a "fan" of a band, Reverb Nation will automatically tell you when that band is scheduled to tour in your area. That's awesome.

You can also create a "playlist" of songs from bands' pages, and exchange playlists with friends. That means no more having to go a band's specific page - your friends can give you a direct link to a song they want you to hear. Another neat idea.

The site also offers "widgets" and other add-ons. Haven't tried them yet.

These guys really seem to have some great ideas about how to improve upon the MySpace experience. Face it - while most of us use MySpace, very few of us like it. It's ugly, it's not intuitive, and it's just a jumbled mess of information. Reverb Nation appears, on first impression, to solve a lot of these problems. It's definitely a site worth watching.

(PS: I have no affiliation to Reverb Nation whatsoever.)

La Rocca Playing Pianos for CMJ

CMJ shows are popping up veeeeeery slowly. Mercury hasn't announced any of its CMJ shows yet, and there's still no word as to the Merge showcase or Sub Pop showcase. At least not that I've seen.

One piece of good news - La Rocca are set to play Pianos on Thursday, November 2nd. Tickets aren't on sale yet.

Oh, and check out the band's new video for "This Life":

Gob Iron Pre-Sale

Tickets for Gob Iron's (Jay Farrar and Anders Parker) short fall tour are now available for pre-sale. As mentioned here previously, the shows will feature solo sets from both Jay and Anders, and then a joint set featuring songs from the forthcoming Gob Iron album.

Tour dates:

11/3: The Parish -Austin, TX
11/5: Park West - Chicago, IL
11/7: Paradise - Boston, MA
11/8: Northsix - Brooklyn, NY
11/10: Black Cat - Washington, DC
11/11: Cat's Cradle - Carrboro, NC
12/2: Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
12/3: Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
12/4: Slim's - San Francisco, CA
12/5: The Troubador - West Hollywood, CA

If you miss the pre-sale, regular tickets go on sale via Ticketweb next Thursday, 9/28.

Gone In 30 Seconds

Wow. Pre-sale tickets for the Texas Is The Reason reunion show sold out in 30 seconds. For those who got shut out, more tickets go one sale via Ticketmaster next Saturday, September 30th. It's not listed on the website yet, but that's the word from the band's site.

Really looking forward to this show. I discovered them at about the exact time they broke up in 1997, and never got a chance to see them.

Eric Bachmann @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC [9/20/06]

Some photos from Eric Bachmann's show at Bowery Ballroom last night. For those scratching their heads, Eric is the main man behind Crooked Fingers, and long ago was the lead singer of Chapel Hill, NC's Archers of Loaf. Eric is touring in support of his excellent new cd, To The Races.

Eric Bachmann, "Carrboro Woman" (from To The Races) [BUY]
You can also stream the album courtesy of Aversion.com.

I've seen Eric live 4 times now, and each time has been different. One was a full-band mainly acoustic set (Village Underground), one was a full band, powerful electric set (Irving Plaza), one was Eric alone with a guitar (Rothko), and last night was Eric with a couple of supporting multi-instrumentalists. I haven't been disappointed yet. Eric writes some of the most starkly beautiful music I've heard over the last few years, and the power of his music comes across on stage regardless of the instrumentation. He could probably show up with a guitar and a kazoo and make it work.





Eric is touring through the end of the month, so do yourself a favor and check him out if he comes to your town. Richard Buckner is opening (with Doug Gillard on guitar), so be sure to get there early as long as you're not bi-polar. Holy crap is that guy depressing. Talented guy, though.

Birdmonster on MPR

Head over to Minnesota Public Radio's website to check out an in-studio performance that Birdmonster did on Monday. Love this band.

And start getting used to seeing the letters MPR around here. Now that WOXY is gone, I think I've found my new source for internet radio. It's not WOXY, but as of next month, it will have WOXY's DJ Princess.

Bad Brains + HR + CBGBs = Hooray Beer!

Brooklyn Vegan is reporting that legendary 80's punk/reggae act Bad Brains are reuniting with lead singer HR for two shows at CBGBs next month. Tickets are $40 each, and go on sale this Sunday.

HBO Cancels Lucky Louie

And the world rejoices.

Full story here.

Maybe now someone can get Jim Norton his own show.

Wednesday On-Sales

Sorry I'm late on this today... work. Not a huge list of stuff, but a few interesting things.

Tickets for Lucero's show at the Bowery, on Sunday, 11/12, are finally on sale. Still no Robert Pollard for the next night, though.

Recent Astralwerks signees The Little Ones have been added as
openers for two of the three Gomez shows at Bowery. Tickets are still available. They're also a redonkulous** $27 a pop. I don't particularly like Gomez, and I certainly don't like them $27 worth. Nor am I paying $27 to see the Little Ones for 35 minutes. I'll have to hold out hope that they add a Pianos show or something.

Buckcherry is playing the Bowery on Thursday, October 26th. Remember Buckcherry? They were the band that was supposed to be the “next Guns n’ Roses”. Then they were the band whose lead singer was going to be chosen by Velvet Revolver as their lead singer. Now they’re just a crappy band that's being sued for allegedly coercing an underage girl to get naked in a music video by giving her alcohol. Rock and roll. This may be the first ever Bowery show where women in the audience flash.

Oh, and finally, that not-so-super-secret Killers show at Bowery Webster Hall this Friday still isn't sold out as I write this. Granted, it went on sale a little over an hour ago, but still... Maybe their audience is primarily Jewish? (Friday night's a Jewish holiday.) Doubtful. Anyway, if you're into self-torture, go buy yourself a ticket.

** = I've stolen my new favorite word from Jax. I hope she doesn't mind.

Clem Snide Live in Milwaukee in 2003

Just randomly noticed that there are about 18 minutes of a live Clem Snide in-store show up on YouTube. Awesome. Check it out:

Part One



Part Two

Rogue Wave Drummer Needs Your Help

Word comes from AOL's music blog, Musically Left, But Always Right, that Rogue Wave's drummer, Pat Spurgeon, is in pretty bad shape and is seeking help to obtain a kidney transplant. The band is hosting a benefit concert in San Francisco and will also be taking donations for Pat online. The details are on the band's MySpace page:

Rogue Wave Benefit

On September 30th 2006, San Francisco band Rogue Wave will host a benefit concert at The Independent to raise money for their drummer Pat Spurgeon, who is in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

The benefit concert will feature performances by Rogue Wave, Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie,) Matthew Caws (Nada Surf,) Ryan Miller (Guster,) John Vanderslice, and other special guests. Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snickett) will MC the event.

Pat was born with one kidney and it failed. He had his first transplant in 1993, which served him well until now. After 13 years, it has started to deteriorate. He has been on dialysis since April and is hoping desperately to find a donor. Some of their friends have gotten tested to see if they are a match, but Pat has yet to hear good news. Provided he finds a donor, there will be an enormous amount of costs that both Pat and his donor will incur.

In a logical world, medical insurance would cover his donor's and his expenses after the procedure, but it does not; so he and his family must carry the financial burden. The expenses can be huge. We are trying to raise money for costs like: donor's travel, care, bills, lost work wages, etc., as well as Pat's expenses, care, bills, etc. while he is in recovery.

If you cannot attend the show, we encourage you to donate whatever you can by visiting www.roguewavemusic.com

Thank you for your love and continued support,
Rogue Wave
(Zach, Pat, Gram, Evan)

9/30/06
The Independent
628 Divisadero St., San Francisco, CA 94117
Doors: 8:30pm; Show: 9:00pm
Tickets available now on www.ticketweb.com

New Hold Steady, "Southtown Girls"

Two songs from the Hold Steady's forthcoming album, Boys and Girls In America, are now streaming over at Vagrant Records. You need to click through to the home page, and you'll get a pop-up playing both "Chips Ahoy" and "Southtown Girls" from the album. I've linked to the former before, and it's great. This is the first time I've heard the latter. It's okay.

What amazes me is that this album still hasn't leaked. I'd love to know how Vagrant can manage this when no other label on earth can.

Boys and Girls in America comes out on October 3rd, and can be pre-ordered though Insound. Pre-orders come with a "comic book inspired by the songs" on the album. Hot dog.

Separated at Birth?

We may finally have an explanation for Charlie Weis', uh, girth.

The Boston Bloggers

A couple of my favorite blogs, Bradley's Almanac and RBally, have been posting some really great live music lately. I keep forgetting to link them, so I figured I'd just give them their own post. Do yourself a favor and take a listen, and add these guys to your "daily read" list. The Boston bloggers are pretty much owning the live MP3 blogging world right now.

Bradley's Almanac

Snowden, Allston, MA, August 25, 2006
Ted Leo, Middle East Upstairs, August 6, 2006
The New Year, Middle East Upstairs, August 11, 2006

RBally

Jane's Addiction, King County Fairfgrounds, August 28, 1991
REM, 2006 Georgia Music Awards performance
REM, Rockpalast, October 2, 1985
Ryan Adams, Ann Arbor, December 11, 2003

This should help carry me through my first week without WOXY.

[Photo source]

Superchunk / Daily Show Tickets on Sale

Tickets are finally on sale for the Daily Show's 10th Anniversary party at Irving Plaza, featuring Superchunk and Clem Snide. The show is on Thursday, November 16th, and will supposedly feature numerous members of the Daily Show cast, as well as various "surprises", including a surprise musical guest. My money's on a Supertramp reunion. Or maybe just this guy.

Mercury Rev at Irving Plaza on November 30

Mercury Rev are hitting Irving Plaza on Thursday, November 30th. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday (9/20) at noon. Tickets are an amazingly low $18.50.

Four Band Night > Three Dog

Busy night last night, which followed a fantastic afternoon beatdown of Notre Dame by my Wolverines.

First up was the Knitting Factory for Shearwater, Bottomless Pit and Magnolia Electic Co.. This was an early show with 7pm doors, so I figured that, like all NYC shows, that meant the first band would go on around 8pm. Err, no. I headed to the Knitting Factory as soon as the Michigan-Notre Dame game ended, and got there around 7:30pm, only to find that Shearwater had started at 7pm sharp. Crap. I managed to only catch about 10 minutes of the band's set. What I heard was great, though.

Shearwater, "Johnny Viola" (from Palo Santo)


Next up was Bottomless Pit, my most anticipated band of the night. Bottomless Pit is the new band from Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett of Silkworm, formed after the tragic death (murder) of Silkworm's drummer, Michael Dahlquist. This is the band's first foray out east, and they were pretty fantastic. Be sure to catch them if they make it to your town.

Bottomless Pit, "The Cardinal Movements" (from their untitled(?) EP)

Silkworm, "Treat the New Guy Right" (from Lifestyle)



Next came headliners Magnolia Electric Co.. I'd never seen them live before, and unfortunately had to cut out after about a 1/2 hour to make it to a friend's birthday party. I definitely like the band, but find that my attention wanders at times when listening to them. Some songs are great, some are just so so. The same seemed to hold true of their live show, but I can't say for sure having only seen about half of their set. I'll definitely try to catch them next time they're in town, and give them a better chance to make an impression.

Magnolia Electric Co., "The Dark Don't Hide It" (from What Comes After the Blues)



After a short foray into Brooklyn for a friend's birthday party, and after several wrong turns wandering around south Williamsburg looking for the J train, I headed back into the city to catch The Whigs at Mercury Lounge. Whereas the band's show on Thursday at Maxwell's in Hoboken was, err, sparsely attended (yet rockin'), the Mercury show was PACKED. They seem to have quite the following among recent University of Georgia graduates, and I had to keep reminding myself that I was standing in the middle of Manhattan rather than a frathouse in Athens. Pretty much the same crowd that forced Jon Auer into the fire hallway back in May. Again, though, the young ladies were quite attractive.

The band? Loud and pummeling as always. And damn good. That said, this was the 5th (!) time I've seen them this year, and I may need to take a break until there's more new material. Or maybe next time I'll just stick with the Maxwell's show and skip Mercury.

The Whigs, "Violet Furs" (from Give Em All a Big Fat Lip)

Chad Henne Pisses Off Coaches At All Levels

MGoBlog, the best Michigan sports blog on the web (IMO), has an incredible link to some footage of Chad Henne's high school coach absolutely freaking out on his team in a pre-game "pep talk" in 2003. Absolutely freaking awesome.



If only Lloyd Carr had this type of fire.

That said, I think Henne's team lost the game after this speech anyway. And Danny went on a 5-state killing spree.

Fare Thee Well, WOXY

You shall be missed.

[Source]


Edited to add: WOXY's final three songs-

(3) Oasis, "Acquiesce"
(2) Public Enemy, "Fight the Power"
(1) MC5, "Kick Out The Jams"

God fucking bless.....

The Whigs, They Continue To Rock

Seriously folks, you don't know what you're missing. Get thee to Mercury on Saturday.

A couple pics from tonight's show at Maxwell's.



Buy tickets for Mercury Lounge here.
Check out The Whigs on MySpace.

The Dears, "Ticket to Immortality"

One of the songs that WOXY.com has been playing a lot in the last few weeks of its broadcast is the new Dears song, "Ticket to Immortality". While the song didn't grab me the first couple of times I heard it, something clicked a few days ago and now I'm absolutely in love with the song.

I don't have an MP3 for you to listen to right now, but I can link you to the band's video for the song.

The Dears' new album, Gang of Losers, is out in Canada, Europe and Australia, but hasn't gotten a U.S. release yet. If the rest of the album is this good, I'm gonna have to get an import.

Edited to add: Head over to The Yellow Stereo to hear several songs off of both the Dears' new album, Gang of Losers, and their last album, No Cities Left. According to TYS, the new album comes out in the U.S. on October 3rd. Based on these songs, I can't wait to hear the full album.

One More Day for WOXY

In less than 24 hours, the wonderful WOXY.com will be no more. Do yourself a favor and take some time before 5pm tomorrow to take one last listen.

Tomorrow's schedule:

8am-11am: Barb
11am-12pm: Bryan Jay
12pm-2pm: Mike
2pm-4pm: Shivvy
4pm-5pm: Everybody says goodbye

And to this I still say "FUCK!"

But the rock goes on.

My Morning Jacket Touring Again

Via Brooklyn Vegan comes news that My Morning Jacket are hitting the road this fall in support of their fantastic new live CD, Okonokos. This is great news, as MMJ are one of the best live acts going these days.

The bad news for us in NYC? Roseland. Show is Thursday, November 30th. However, they are playing The Electric Factory in Philly the next night (Friday, 12/1), but that's the one big Philly venue I haven't been to, so I don't know if it's any better. Thoughts?

Oh, and the band is doing a presale. The presale schedule can be found here, and the actual presale can be found here. NYC and Philly presale starts October 11th.

Borrowin' Bob Strikes Again

Sal points out an article over at the Gray Lady discussing new allegations that Bob Dylan is a plagiarist. Much like his last album, Love and Theft, people are finding numerous lyrics from his new album, Modern Times, bear a striking similarity to works that have come before. Whereas last time it was a little-known Japanese author, this time it's a Civil War-era Confederate poet.

I'll give him this - he picks obscure sources. At least he's not stealing from this guy.

Moe Hitting NYC for NYE

Geez, are bands really announcing their New Year's shows this early this year?

Jam-band Moe has kicked things off by announcing two shows:

Saturday, December 30th at Irving Plaza
Sunday, December 31st at Radio City Music Hall

Tickets for both shows go on sale tomorrow at noon.

Normal Happiness Streaming at Merge

Thanks to Matt for pointing out that Robert Pollard's new album, Normal Happiness, is now streaming at Merge Records' website.

Tell me how it is, because I'm not listening to anything other than WOXY (except maybe Ted Leo's set at ACL Fest) until it's final broadcast tomorrow at 5pm. Sniff sniff...

Reminder! The Whigs in NYC!

If you're in the New York area and are looking for something to do Thursday, Friday or Saturday night, look no further. Do yourself a favor and see my favorite young live band going right now (sorry, Birdmonster), The Whigs. They're playing on Thursday at Maxwell's, Friday at the Stone Pony, and Saturday at Mercury Lounge.

If you're a wuss, bring earplugs, because these boys are loud.

See you at Maxwell's and Mercury.

Listen to The Whigs on Myspace.

Austin City Limits Webcast

Much like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza before it, this weekend's Austin City Limits festival will also be broadcasting a number of performances live over the internet. The ones I'm hoping to catch:

Friday:
1:30pm: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
3:30pm: Stars
7:30pm: Sparklehorse (I'll probably be at Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos by this point)

Saturday
2:30pm: Ben Kweller
3:30pm: Secret Machines
7:30pm: Iron & Wine (I'll probably be at Bottomless Pit by this point)

Sunday
4:30pm: Calexico
5:30pm: Son Volt
6:30pm: Flaming Lips (partial set only - why???)

Go here for a full schedule.

One More Season For The Wire

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - The Wire is the best show on television. And while apparently only about 1.5 million agree with me (the audience for this season's debut episode), among that number are the programming folks at HBO, who have decided to renew the show for its fifth and final season. No word on when it will air, but with 11 more episodes to go in this season, there ain't no rush.

The best part of this season? The impending return of Wee Bay!

(Info via today's Hollywood Reporter.)

Two Thirds of Stella Coming to Irving

Just saw this on Ticketmaster:

Michael Ian Black & Michael Showalter
Irving Plaza, New York, NY
Sun, Oct 29, 2006 09:00 PM

Tickets are on sale today at noon.

I finally caught The Baxter last week. Ehh. Worthwhile solely for Elizabeth Banks and Michelle Williams.

Twilight Singers Coming Back to NYC

Tickets go on sale today at noon for The Twilight Singers at Warsaw on Thursday, November 16th.

As of now, this is the last stop on the band's second round of shows in support of the completely fantastic Powder Burns album, which is sure to show up in my top 10 of the year. The band's full itinerary this time around:

OCTOBER
24 San Francisco CA - Great American Music Hall
25 West Hollywood CA - House of Blues Sunset Strip
27 Tucson AZ - Club Congress
28 Albuquerque NM - Launchpad
30 Omaha NE - Sokol Underground
31 St Louis MO - Mississippi Nights

NOVEMBER
01 Chicago IL - Double Door
02 Chicago IL - Double Door
03 Newport KY - Southgate House
04 Nashville TN - Mercy Lounge
06 Orlando FL - The Social
07 St Petersburg FL - The State Theatre
08 Atlanta GA - The Loft
09 Athens GA - 40 Watt Club
11 Norfolk VA - The NorVa
13 Philadelphia PA - Theatre of Living Arts
14 Boston MA - Paradise Rock Club
15 Washington DC - Black Cat
16 Brooklyn NY - Warsaw

Ticket On-Sales

Not a huge day of on-sales, at least for acts I'm interested in... the bulk of the action is at the Bowery, where tickets for Helmet (10/19), Cary Brothers/Matt Costa (10/28), Lady Sovereign (10/29 and 10/30) and Hot Chip (11/2) go on sale. There's also several November shows going on sale for Mercury Lounge, but I don't recognize any of the bands.

Still no word on Lucero (Bowery, 11/12), Bob Pollard (Bowery, 11/13), or the better CMJ showcases (Merge, Sub Pop, Theory 8).

My Name Is Sweetness and I Like to Dance

Go here. No questions. Just go. Give me a chance and I'll rock you good.

Jay Farrar News

There's a couple of interesting items in the latest Son Volt newsletter.

First, the new Son Volt album is now officially due to be released in "Winter 2007".

Second, the long-rumored album from Gob Iron, the collaboration between Jay and Anders Parker (of Varnaline), will be released on October 31st via Transmit Sound/Legacy.

The album is entitled Death Songs For The Living, and, according to the newsletter, "will feature different takes on American folk standards. Also known as the folk process, these include songs by the likes of Stephen Foster and The Revered JM Gates which have been given new lyrics or new arrangements in an effort to re-interpret the songs." Sounds like someone wishes that he had gotten a shot at those Woodie Guthrie songs instead of Tweedy.

Starting on September 30, the first song from the album, "Death's Black Train", will be featured on Jay's website.

Finally, Gob Iron (am I the only one who thinks of Arrested Development whenever I see that name?) is touring in November and December. The shows will feature solo sets from Jay and Anders, and then a joint set as Gob Iron. No word on dates yet.

Annuals

I've been seeing references to the band Annuals all over the place for the last few weeks, but had never gotten around to checking them out. Thankfully I happened onto a post about them over at Moroccan Role and decided to finally give them a chance.

Very interesting band with a pretty good range of styles. While "Brother" sounds very Arcade Fire-ish, both in songwriting as well as instrumentation, "Bleary Eyed" sounds a lot like Hope and Adams-era Wheat, and "Dry Clothes" is airy pop along the lines of what the Polyphonic Spree might sound like if they didn't suck. And guess what? They're only 20, those fuckers.

Annuals, "Brother" (highly recommended)
Annuals, "Bleary Eyed"
Annuals, "Dry Clothes"

Annuals' debut album, Be He Me, is out on October 17th. The band is touring pretty extensively right now, and is in NYC this Thursday (Sin-e) and Friday (North Six), and again on October 19th opening for Art Brut at Irving. Check their MySpace page for full tour dates.

Lemonheads Playing Irving Plaza on 12/15

Ticketmaster is confusing me.

The Lemonheads are playing Irving Plaza on Friday, December 15th. However, Ticketmaster says that tickets go on sale the day before, on December 14th. I assume this has to be a typo, and they mean this Thursday, September 14th. But who knows...

Anyway, tickets are $22.50 a pop, and based on what I've heard of the new album, consider me there. Assuming I can figure out when to buy tickets, of course.

The Little Ones Sign to Astralwerks

Coolfer is reporting today that The Little Ones have signed with Astralwerks , and that the label will be re-releasing the band's fantastic Sing Song Sung EP [BUY].

Yet another great band getting a deal. Congrats to all involved!

Two CMJ Shows Going On Sale

And so it begins...

Thurs., 11/2: Earlimart, Lavender Diamond (and others) @ North Six
On sale tonight at midnight

Sat., 11/4: Clipse @ Knitting Factory
On sale Friday at 1pm

Texas is the Reason (Part 2)

Today's news about the impending reunion of Texas Is The Reason made me realize that I've never gotten around to putting the band's EP and LP onto my most recent iPod. Figure while I'm doing that, it might be a good time to drop a couple songs on you:

Texas is the Reason, "Antique" [from the band's self-titled EP]
Texas is the Reason, "Back and To the Left" [from the Do You Know Where You Are? LP]

These guys pretty much epitomize mid-90's emo. They were part of what I referred to a while back as the "second wave" of emo, coming a couple years after Sunny Day Real Estate's seminal Diary album. Had things shaken out a little differently - i.e., had they not decided that they hated each other - these guys were in the middle of a pretty big label bidding war in 96/97 and could've been the band that sparked emo as a commercial force. Then again, maybe not - some pretty commercially acceptable emo bands failed to make a real dent in the late 90's (e.g., Jimmy Eat World's Clarity, The Promise Ring's Very Emergency, The Get Up Kids' Something To Write Home About).

Maybe the world needed Chris Carraba before it could be ready to embrace emo.

P.S. Chris still wants to kiss you.

More CMJ Shows Announced

Is it me, or is the process of announcing CMJ shows really, really, really drawn out this year?

A huge list of shows were announced today, but still no word as to dates, locations or on-sales for most of them.

Key new additions:

Archie Bronson Outfit
Architecture in Helsinki
City on Film
David Bazan
De Novo Dahl
Elvis Perkins
Forget Cassettes
Forward, Russia
George Clinton
Human Television
La Rocca
Magnolia Electric Co.
Medeski, Martin and Wanker Wood
Portastatic
Snowden
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Steve Earle and Alison Moorer (I already tipped you to this)
Tapes n' Tapes
The Clipse
The M's
The Thermals (I think we knew this already)
White Whale

The current full list can be found here (bottom of the page).

Texas Is The Reason at Irving Plaza (11/25)

Holy freakin' crap. Brooklyn Vegan is reporting that Texas Is The Reason is regrouping for one-night on Saturday, November 25th at Irving Plaza here in NYC. The show is in celebration of the ten year anniversary of their album, Do You Know Who You Are.

Presale tickets will eventually be available here.

Awesome.

Steve Earle and Friends at Southpaw

How did I miss this?

Steve Earle is playing Southpaw on Wednesday, November 1st. Allison Moorer and Laura Cantrell are opening (together), as is Tim Easton. Tickets are on sale.

I'd like to see the full CMJ lineup before buying a ticket, but I doubt there will be anything better than this on Wednesday.

Shoegaze Heaven

So I decided to go to the Asobi Seksu/Sereena Maneesh show tonight after all. And crap am I glad I did. What an awesome show.

Asobi Seksu



Sereena Maneesh



More words tomorrow. Tonight, photos and sleep.

U2 Recording With Rick Rubin

One band I mention even less on this blog than Keane is U2. I'd say I respect but don't really like the first half of their catalog, but I can't freakin' stand anything they've done since Bono decided his shit doesn't stink (sometime in the early-mid 90's).

Anyway, even though I don't really care for them, I thought it was interesting when I noticed on Billboard that U2 is recording their new album with Rick Rubin. Seriously, that's one of the oddest pairings I've ever heard.

They're also going to recording a song for the album with, ahem, Green Day.

If you ever wanted to hear a musical interpretation of a bad bowel movement, that's gonna be it.

The Only Remake The World Truly Needs

This is supposedly a leaked image of the new K.I.T.T. from the forthcoming Knight Rider movie:



And this, of course, is K.I.T.T. at the height of his 80's popularity (and Gary's):



My only question is this - Bonnie or April? I'd pick April.

Reminder! Go Get Free Live Music at WOXY!

Before WOXY.com shuts down forever next Friday (sniff sniff), do yourself a favor and head over to their Lounge Act page to download some of the many wonderful live performances they've broadcast over the last couple of years.

They have about 100 different performances available, including:

Alexi Murdoch
Birdmonster
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
De Novo Dahl
Editors
Low
Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos
Neko Case
Rogue Wave
Silversun Pickups
The Long Winters
The M's
The National
The Wrens
Voxtrot
Wussy

Just one more reason to miss those guys.

Go now, before they disappear.

Margot and The Nuclear So & Sos Hitting The Knitting Factory

I completely spaced on this announcement. Indianapolis' Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos are coming to the Knitting Factory next Friday, September 15th, with Rosewood Thieves and Stab the Matador. I think the latter played the Annex show with Le Firm last week. Tickets are on sale. It's an early show starting at 7pm, because there's a benefit for Col. Bruce Hampton starting at 11pm. Is he sick or something?

Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos will also be playing a free gig next weekend as part of Time Out New York's "back to school" party in Union Square. The show is Saturday afternoon (9/16).

AND, I just noticed this too -- MATNSAS will be back again in November opening for The Elected (featuring Blake of Rilo Kiley) at the Knitting Factory on Sunday, November 5th. Tickets are also on sale.

Denis Loves Mel

If you haven't seen it yet, Denis Leary and Lenny Clarke, both currently of the fantastic Rescue Me, appeared in the announcers' booth at a recent Red Sox game and, err, had some comments about Mel Gibson. Rumor is it's been taken down from YouTube at the team's request, but you can find it in all of its glory here. Good stuff.

Birdmonster @ Mercury Lounge [9/7/06]

I've seen a lot of shows so far this year, and aside from the Frames, who are simply, in my opinion, the best live band around, my favorite shows have been by young bands. Right now it's a neck and neck race as to who's put on the better live show - The Whigs or Birdmonster.

Tonight I got a chance to see think a little deeper on this subject, as Birdmonster returned to town with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Catfish Haven. I missed SSLYBY, but managed to catch most of Catfish Haven's set. They were pretty interesting. Kinda an indie soul band. I spent much of the set having flashbacks to The Commitments (in a good way). Definitely worth catching if you get a chance.

Anyway, back to Birdmonster. Holy crap they rock. My favorite thing about them, aside from the rocking, is how obvious it is that they love what they're doing. The band jumps around from the start of the set to the end, leaning on each other, bumping into each other, smiling, laughing, etc. It's really a fantastic feeling to watch a band and feel like there's nowhere on earth the band (and the audience) would rather be. Not many bands give you that feeling. I just wish they had a little more material, because 45-50 minutes isn't enough.

I have tickets to Serena Maneesh and Asobi Seksu tomorrow, but I'm tempted to skip and see Birdmonster again at Union Hall in Brooklyn. Or there's also The 101 at Northsix. Decisions, decisions..

Birdmonster




Catfish Haven


More pics, as usual, at Flickr.

WOXY is Dead... Long Live WOXY

Although WOXY.com may be shutting down next Friday, September 15th, the voice of at least one of its DJs will continue on the radio. WOXY's morning DJ, Barb, has taken a job as morning DJ with Minnesota Public Radio's The Current. Her first shift will be on Tuesday, October 3rd at 9am. And given the great lineup of live performances MPR has had (see list), I have a feeling we can expect some very WOXY-like things from Barb at her new gig.

The Current airs on KCMP 89.3 FM in the Twin Cities, KMSE 88.7 FM in Rochester, and, most importantly for those of us not in Minnesota, online.

Another Crowe Bites the Dust

Just a week after losing longtime keyboardist Eddie Hawrysch, Billboard is reporting that the Black Crowes have lost another member - guitarist Marc Ford. This was Ford's second tenure with the band, having playing with them from approximately 1991 until his 1996 firing, and then returning to the fold in 2005.

Despite the recent turnover, the band is remaining pretty active. Two of the bands' previously-unreleased albums / album sessions are being released as The Lost Crowes by Rhino on September 26th. Billboard also reports that the band have been recording a new album which should see release in 2007.

Bottomless Pit

Bottomless Pit, the new band from Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen of the incredible Silkworm, are hitting the road next week for three shows with Magnolia Electric Company and Shearwater. What an incredible lineup. If you don't have tickets yet, do yourself a favor and pick one up.

After those three shows, the bands take a short break, and then Magnolia Electric Company and Bottomless Pit (sorry, no Shearwater) hit the road again for a two week Texas/West Coast tour.

Full dates:

15 Sept 2006 - Middle East Downstairs (Boston)***
16 Sept 2006 - Knitting Factory (NYC)***
17 Sept 2006 - First Unitarian Church (Philly)***
28 Sept 2006 - Rudyard's Pub (Houston)%%%
29 Sept 2006 - Emo's (Austin)%%%
30 Sept 2006 - Rubber Gloves (Denton)%%%
6 Oct 2006 - Knitting Factory (LA)%%%
7 Oct 2006 - Great American Music Hall (SF)%%%
9 Oct 2006 - Holocene (Portland, OR)%%%
10 Oct 2006 - Neumo's (Seattle)%%%
11 Oct 2006 - Richard's on Richards (Vancouver, BC)%%%

*** = Magnolia Electric Company, Shearwater and Bottomless Pit
%%% = Magnolia Electric Company and Bottomless Pit

If you haven't heard Bottomless Pit yet, and there's a good chance you haven't, since they haven't circulated any MP3s yet, be sure to check out their brand new website for four new songs. Just click on each of the four runes. I promise they don't sound like Led Zeppelin.

More Bob Pollard (Shocking, I Know)

As I've mentioned a couple of times, Robert Pollard's new CD, Normal Happiness, is out on Merge Records on October 11th. If you were going to pre-order it, you may want to rethink that - word is that all copies sold through independent record stores will come with a 15-track live disc entitled Moon. The disc was recorded during Bob's show this past June in Cincinnati opening for Pearl Jam. Moon will also be available as a bonus CD from UK indie shops and from Must Destroy Mail order, shop@MUSTdestroymusic.com. (Thanks to Matt for the heads up.)

Still no word as to an on-sale date for Bob's November show at Bowery Ballroom.

Two Notable Shows

I was out of the office most of the day, so I'm just getting a chance to check Ticketweb for the new shows that went on sale today. So far I've found two of interest:

Forward Russia! at the Bowery, Tues. 11/28
Silver Jews at Webster Hall, Sat. 12/30

I'll unfortunately (?) be in Buenos Aires over New Years, so no Silver Jews for me. I'm definitely in for FR! though.

Beirut Signs to 4AD

Full story at CMJ. The band is also releasing a 5-song EP with the European re-release of their debut LP, Gulag Orkestar. That sound you hear is a million American hipsters rushing to Amazon.co.uk.

AOL Roundup (Week of September 5)

I have just two words for you this week... IRON MAIDEN.

Iron Maiden, A Matter of Life and Death

oh, and there's also

Grizzly Bear, Yellow House

But that's pretty much it.

Rainfall of Envelopes

Not to go all A VC on you (a great blog if you don't read it), but I wanted to drop a post about a company that a couple of friends of mine have started.

The company is called Rainfall of Envelopes. In a nutshell, it's a Web 2.0 company that allows you to create a gift registry to ask for cash. Although it's not as common in the United States, there are numerous countries around the world where it's traditional for couples to indicate on their invitations that, rather than gifts, they'd like a gift of cash. They do this by writing "rainfall of envelopes" on their invitation.

For whatever reason, this hasn't really caught in the U.S. yet. Even though most couples would prefer cash, so they can use it to pay for their honeymoon, a new car, or a new house, they end up feeling obligated to register at all the usual places. As a result, they end up with a lot of crap. (My closer friends may see a pattern here... maybe not.)

Anyway, Rainfall of Envelopes now makes it easy to both ask for that $70 bread and butter plate and cash for a honeymoon. Or you can register for a housewarming gift, a birthday present, or for any other occasion. Because the fact of the matter is, when it comes down to it, we'd all prefer cash.

If you or a friend have an event coming up, be sure to give Rainfall of Envelopes a try.

And now back to our usual programming.

More Margot

A quick followup to my post about Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos from the other day. Brad from the always excellent Bradley's Almanac stopped by to remind me that he is currently hosting an 9-song live set from the band's show in Boston back in May of this year. Check it out, because he'll probably take it down sometime in the next few days.

On a different note, I gotta decide whether to vegetate on the couch tonight or motivate my ass down to Pianos to see Forget Cassettes. Since Entourage is over, and The Wire hasn't started yet, consider me a probably.

Edited to add: Oh SNAP! TVLand is running a JEFFERSONS marathon through 6am on Tuesday morning. Decisions decisions..

Edited again: The Jeffersons and a bottle of Stoli Ohranj win. You knew they would.

Robert Pollard Coming to Bowery Ballroom (11/13)

Robert Pollard has announced dates for a November tour in support of his forthcoming album, Normal Happiness. The tour includes a stop here in NYC at the Bowery Ballroom on Monday, November 13th. Guess that means I'll be at Bowery two nights in row - Lucero is there the night before.

No word yet on when tickets go on sale. By the way, take a look at who's opening the Dayton show. Glad to see the boys have made up. Oh, and I'd love to see that Baltimore show, if only to see if Jon Wurster (Bob's drummer) and Mac McCaughan (Portastatic singer) hook up for a couple songs. If you've been living in a cave, they are also 2/4 of Superchunk.

Tour Dates:

Thurs., 11/9: Bloomington, IN- Bluebird (w/ Nassau)
Fri., 11/10: Chicago, IL- The Abbey Pub (w/ Nassau)
Sat., 11/11: Dayton, OH (19 something and 5)- The Foundry (w/ Mitch Mitchell's Terrifying Experience and Murder Your Darlings)
Mon., 11/13: New York, NYC- Bowery Ballroom (w/ Starling Electric)
Tues., 11/14: Philadelphia, PA- World Cafe Live (w/ Starling Electric)
Wed., 11/15: Baltimore, MD- Sonar (w/ Portastatic)
Fri., 11/17: Boston, MA- Paradise (w/ Starling Electric)
Sat., 11/18: Northampton, MA- Pearl Street (w/ Richard Davies)

Thanks to Matt for the heads up.

Afghan Whigs Return!

One of my favorite bands of all time, Cincinnati's Afghan Whigs, has announced that they are regrouping to record 4 songs for a forthcoming Rhino retrospective.

The official word from Summer's Kiss:

Aghan Whigs Hit Studio!

Following the current leg of The Twilight Singers 2006 world tour, the band will take a short break while Greg Dulli, John Curley, Rick McCollum and a to-be-named drummer convene to work on four Afghan Whigs tracks for the upcoming Rhino retrospective. An updated release date for that album has not been publicized.

These recordings will be the first new tracks from the band in 8 years, since The Afghan Whigs’ swan song, 1965.

Earlier this year, the band’s previously unreleased cover of Nightime appeared on the Big Star Tribute Album.

Any chance of a few reunion shows??? Please??!?

Music to Ruin Your Day

It's already a crappy enough day. U.S. Basketball got embarrassed. WOXY is shutting down. I'm working all weekend.

And now we're forced to endure this:



Oh, and word is K-Fed has a part in the next season of Entourage as, wait for it, the freeloading husband of a celebrity. Can't. wait.

Being the optimist that I am, though, there is a silver lining - K-Fed's music, as crappy as it is, is better than his wife's. And it's been years since she released anything. Keep your fingers crossed, maybe she's done. (Unlikely, but we can dream.)

(Thanks to Stereogum for the info and link.)

Rock