Cheer Up, Fellow Obama Supporters!

(Via Ben Smith)

Reminds me of this and this:

DC Show Update

Will be updated throughout the week.

9:30 Club
Sat., 5/31: MSTRKRFT
Sat., 6/14: Battles
Sun., 6/15: Jose Gonzalez
Wed., 6/25: Richard Cheese

9:30 Club tickets go on sale via Tickets.com tomorrow (5/1) at 10am Eastern.

Black Cat
Fri., 6/6: Hackensaw Boys, Mikal Evan Band (EP release)
Tue., 6/17: Sloan
Tue., 6/17: Damon & Naomi, Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh (backstage)
Mon., 6/23: Hypnotic Gurus, Vishal Kanwar (backstage)
Mon., 7/7: Fleet Foxes (backstage)
Tue., 7/8: Boris, Torche, Wolves in the Throne Room

Black Cat tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster on Friday, 5/2 at 5pm Eastern.

Rock and Roll Hotel
Wed., 6/11: De Novo Dahl

De Novo Dahl tickets go on sale via Ticket Alternative next Friday, 5/9 at 10am Eastern.

Margot & The Nuclear So and So's To Release "Animal" on 7/29

Indianapolis' Margot & the Nuclear So and So's debut album, The Dust of Retreat, was one of my favorite albums of 2006 (although it technically came out in 2005).

The band has been working on its followup to that album for more than a year now. If memory serves, they announced the name for the new album - Animal - late last Spring, and went into the studio to start recording last Summer. I'm not sure exactly what happened in those sessions, but the band ended up going on the road last Fall without a finished album, and apparently regrouped in the studio this Spring to finish the album.

And, thankfully, the album is now complete, and will be coming out on... err... the Epic label on July 29th. I in fact did not know (or at least did not remember) until writing that last sentence that the band had signed a major label deal. Maybe that explains the new studio sessions. (In fact, they have even more studio time in June for work on album #3.)

Anyway, the band has a ton of dates coming up in the Western half of the U.S., and is starting to announce a few shows here in the East. They pulled a good size crowd here in DC last fall, so hopefully we'll be getting a DC date announced soon.

M&TNSAS Tour Dates

5/6 - Springfield MO / Randy Bacon Gallery
5/7 - St. Louis MO / Lucas School House
5/9 - Madison WI / Stage Door
5/10 - Milwaukee WI / Mad Planet
5/12 - St. Paul MN / The Turf Club
5/13 - Omaha NE / The Waiting Room
5/14 - Lawrence KS / Jackpot Saloon
5/16 - Denver CO / Larimer Lounge
5/17 - Salt Lake City UT / Kilby Court
5/20 - Seattle WA / Chop Suey
5/21 - Portland OR / Doug Fir Lounge
5/23 - San Francisco CA / The Independent
5/24 - Los Angeles CA / The Echo
5/26 - San Diego CA / The Casbah
5/27 - Tucson AZ / Solar Culture
5/28 - Phoenix AZ / Rhythm Room
5/30 - Austin TX / Emo's (Inside stage)
5/31 - Denton TX / Rubber Gloves
7/26 - Louisville KY / The Forecastle Festival
7/28 - New York NY / The Bowery Ballroom
8/2 - Chicago IL / Lollapalooza
8/8 - Boston MA / Middle East Downstairs

Animal Tracklist
1. At the carnival
2. German Motor Car
3. I am a lightning rod
4. Mariel's bad dream.
5. Love song for a Schubas bartender
6. A children's crusade on acid
7. There's talk of mineshafts (act two begins, mariel accepts her fate)
8. The shivers (I gotz 'em)
9. Cold, kind, and lemon eyes
10. O' what a nightmare!
11. My baby (shoots her mouth off)
12. Real Naked Girls.

Tereu Tereu Goes Three Stars All Over You

Congrats to Fredericksburg's finest, Tereu Tereu, for getting awarded with DCist's Three Stars designation today!

TT have quickly become one of my favorite local(-ish) bands, and it's great to see them getting wider recognition.

If you don't know them yet, you best get on with familiarizin' yourself:



Tereu Tereu at MySpace

Shudder to Think Still Reunited

So it's starting to look like the recent Shudder to Think shows in New York were, in fact, a precursor to an honest-to-goodness reforming of the band. I use the word "reforming" because it doesn't look like Stuart Hill is going to take part, and they're playing with Kevin March on drums instead of Adam Wade or Mike Russell.

Kick ass.

The band is playing on the Sunday of V-Fest up in Baltimore. Still not sure if I'm gonna make that or not, so hopefully we'll get a fuller tour later in the year, including a homecoming show here in D.C. The idea of finally getting to see a band I first fell in love with 16 years ago (but never saw) in their hometown is pretty freakin' cool.

And speaking of Larson and March, what ever happened to Hot One? I really like the songs on their website ("Sexy Soldier" could easily have been a late-period STT tune), but can't remember ever seeing their CD or any tour dates listed anywhere. WTF?

Edited to add: Apparently they released a full-length in mid-2006. How did I miss that?

Some STT classics:

"Nine Fingers"


"Funeral at the Movies" (live at the old 9:30 Club)


"I Blew Away" and "Shake Your Halo Down" (live at All Souls Church)

V-Fest - A Decision to be Made

So in case you didn't see it elsewhere, the full lineup for this year's Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore has been announced. And it's turning out to be a pretty respectable lineup.

Now I just need to decide whether or not to go to this or just go to Delaware to see Wilco on Sunday. I suppose I could do V-Fest on Saturday (8/9) and Wilco on Sunday (8/10), but the Saturday lineup is pretty thin compared to Sunday, and the main attraction for me on Saturday would be Wilco anyway.

Saturday V-Fest Lineup
Bloc Party
Cat Power
Chuck Berry and The Silver Beats (!!)
Citizen Cope
Duffy
Foo Fighters
Gogol Bordello
Jack Johnson
KT Tunstall
Lupe Fiasco
The Offspring
Paramore
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Soulwax
The Swell Season
Underworld
Wilco

Sunday V-Fest Lineup
Andrew Bird
The Black Keys
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Bob Dylan
Chromeo
The Go! Team
Iggy and the Stooges
Kanye West
Lil Wayne
Moby
Nine Inch Nails
She and Him
Shudder to Think
Stone Temple Pilots
Taking Back Sunday

Decisions, decisions...

Oh, and for those deciding at home, V-Fest tickets go on sale this Saturday, May 3rd at 10am via Ticketmaster. There also appears to be a pre-sale starting Thursday, but I haven't seen anything about who's eligible for that.

Two-day passes are $175, and one-day passes at $97.50. Ouch. That's pretty steep when compared to the prices for the 3-day Lollapalooza and ACL festivals, and especially compared to Pitchfork.

Kids... Gotta Love 'Em

This Week in DC

I've been meaning to start doing "week preview" posts for a while now, but like so many other things with this blog, I've been lazy and never gotten around to it. I figured now was as good a time as any to start.

Please note, though - this isn't a comprehensive list. It's merely a list of the shows around town that are either interesting to me or that I think will be interesting to some of you...

Shows I plan to attend are in bold.

Sunday, 4/27
Black Cat: Urge Overkill, Suffrajett
6th & I Synagogue: Elbow

Tuesday, 4/29
Black Cat: Tokyo Police Club, Smoosh, Meligrove Band
Iota: American Music Club

Thursday, 5/1
9:30 Club: RJD2
DC9: The Redwalls, Baby Teeth, Julie Ocean

Friday, 5/2
9:30 Club: Crowded House

Saturday, 5/3
Black Cat: Jukebox the Ghost, Travis Morrison Hellfighters, The XYZ Affair
RR Hotel: South, The Silver State, KI:Theory
Warner Theatre: The Kids In The Hall

Whatchoo Talkin' 'Bout Doctor?

When did they start doing YouTube "minisodes" of old TV shows? And why? Are these advertisements for DVD sets?

As long as I get to see my favorite TV show from my youth, I guess I don't care.

David Ford, "Go To Hell"

I'm not sure why, but it seemed like I got twice as much email from PR folks and bands this week than I normally do. Guess labels are gearing up for a ton of Late Spring/Early Summer releases... or something.

Anyway, one of the more interesting things I got was a link to a video from an artist named David Ford. David used to be the singer in a British indie rock band called Easyworld, but has recently made the transition over to a solo singer-songwriter, a la Damien Rice after he left Juniper (now known as Bell X1).

And the Damien Rice comparisons don't stop there. In it's best moments, David's recent (second) album, Songs for the Road, is reminiscent of Rice's ability to mix a keen melodic sense with an extremely raw, personal delivery and lyrics. Unfortunately, though, Rice isn't the only touchstone for the album - several songs on the album push a bit too far into the false-affected, over-produced realm of James Blunt. Not a good thing. I'm still trying to figure out which side of the fence the album will eventually fall for me.

All that said, Ford has made a video for his song "Go To Hell" which eschews the fuller production of the album and instead relies on numerous sound loops to recreate a full-band sound (similar to what Liam Finn is doing in his live shows these days). And it's pretty damn good:



David is currently touring with Sara Bareilles and Rachel Yamagata (a friend of Damien Rice, natch). You couldn't really pay me to go to this show, which I suppose is good because their show here in DC at the 9:30 Club on Monday is sold out. Starting next week he'll be on tour with Augustana, including a return trip to the 9:30 Club on May 22nd. For a full set of dates, go here.

And while we're at it, here's a video of "Bleach" from David's earlier band, Easyworld. It's pretty solid, IMO.

A Good Week To Live in North Carolina

If you live in or near North Carolina this week, you're in for some quality music options thanks to the upcoming Democratic primary.

First, as you've probably already heard, The Arcade Fire and Superchunk are teaming up to hold One-Stop Early Voting Concerts in Greensboro (Thu., 5/1) and Carrboro (Fri., 5/2). The concerts are in support of Baby, You Got a Stew Goin'-endorsed Barack Obama, and allow new voters to both register and vote at the concerts. For more information about the shows, go here.

Second, and possibly more exciting (to me, that is), is news that Asheville's Reigning Sound will also be playing a Barack-B-Que early voter appreciation show TOMORROW (Sat. 4/26) at Joli Rouge, 130 College Street, Asheville. The party starts at 3pm. Here's the poster:

La Rocca News

One of my favorite new bands of 2006 was Ireland's La Rocca. The band released the excellent The Truth LP on Dangerbird Records, did a few gigs around the U.S., and then quickly proceeded to disappear off the face of the Earth.

Well, there's good news. Not only is the band still around, but they've got a new album coming out called Ok Okay, and they'll be touring across the U.S. this summer. They even have two advance tracks ("Love Under Key" and "Roadway Hymn") available for download over at iTunes.

I haven't seen a CD release date yet, or a full set of U.S. dates, but they do have 5 shows scheduled on the West Coast next month. If you can make it to the shows, I recommend that you do - the boys put on an excellent live show.

La Rocca West Coast Tour Dates
5/13: San Diego (House of Blues)
5/14: Los Angeles (Roxy)
5/16: Reno, NV (Club Underground)
5/17: Sacramento (Boardwalk)
5/19: Modesto (Fat Cat)

Just a thought, fellas, but I think DC9 or the Red and the Black would be excellent options for a DC show...

Okkervil River Played WOXY

Okkervil River's set on WOXY today was pretty great. And best of all was news that the band will soon be releasing an Appendix disc to The Stage Names, must like they did a couple years back for Black Sheep Boy. Can't wait to hear it.

Anyway, go here to download the band's WOXY Lounge Act.

Jimmy Fallon Is The Least Funny Man In America

Yet he's apparently taking over Late Night after Conan O'Brien moves on to The Tonight Show.

Has he never seen this steaming pile of crap? It was either the worst movie of all time, or a close second to this one:



Oh, and then there's this one, which is the only one of the three I had the good sense not to watch on a plane:

Image removed: It was the poster for the Last Holiday remake from a few years back.

Okkervil River on WOXY Tomorrow!

If you do nothing else tomorrow, be sure to be by your computer at 3pm Eastern to hear Okkervil River play a Lounge Act on WOXY.

Okkervil is one of my favorite bands going these days, and their live performances tend to be pretty fantastic. And, with any luck, maybe we'll even get a Wrens cover (Wrens guitarist Charles Bissell is touring with them right now).

A Riddle Solved

I've been trying to figure out why Jonathan Rice has been getting so much buzz lately. He's been getting a bunch of press, and even got a plum opening spot for the R.E.M. show during SXSW this year. I saw that show and thought he was pretty awful.

So why is he getting so much attention?

He's Jenny Lewis' boyfriend (and has been for years, apparently).

Lou Reed @ 9:30 Club, Washington, DC [4/22/08]

I can't put into words how disappointing last night's Lou Reed show was.

The last time I saw Lou was in 2005 or 2006 at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. The wonderful Antony was with still with him at that point, and the show was incredible. The setlist was well-balanced between Velvet Underground, older Lou solo songs, and more recent fare, including one of his first live performances of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. And while the latter was pretty damn boring, it was at least interspersed with everything else and came across as little more than an interesting, experimental side-note to the performance.

Last night's show at the 9:30 Club was drastically different. The set list relied primarily on Lou's more recent songs, and most of those were performed as either quasi-jams or bland AOR. The main set itself lasted about 80 minutes, but "Ecstasy" and "Magic & Loss" - neither of which do much for me - probably took up 30-35 minutes of the set. Several other songs also pushed the 10-minute mark. The encore consisted of just one song - a decent though not great rendition of "Perfect Day".

I'm not someone who goes in expecting a "greatest hits" show by any means, and would have been happy hearing a lot of songs from various points in Lou's career. But, honestly, the songs he chose last night, and the way he chose to present them, just about put me to sleep. I was actually ready to head out at around 10:15pm when the set suddenly came to an end.

Oh well. Guess I should have known it was gonna be one of those nights when the venue announced that Lou had requested that the bars close ten minutes prior to showtime. He also requested no cameras, so no photos from me.

See Takka Takka (and Others) for Free on Friday!

If you're in New York, and can take a few hours off on Friday afternoon, I highly recommend that you head up to Barnard College for the annual WBAR-B-Q. In addition to BBQ, games and prizes, there's a ton of great music, including:

Takka Takka
Awesome Color
Japanther
Cause Co-Motion
Crystal Stilts (been hearing a ton of buzz about these guys)
Les Sans Culottes
and more...

And there's a Special Guest still TBA. Haven't heard any rumors as to who it is. Maybe a Le Firm reunion? (I kid.)

The show's at Lehman Lawn at Barnard -- take the 1 train to 116th, and enter at 117th and Broadway.

DC Show Update

I'll update this list throughout the week (in italics). I'm posting a bit early, though, because I know you all want to be ready to buy ABBA - The Tour tickets right when they go on sale tomorrow.

9:30 Club
Fri., 5/2: Crowded House (late show) [canceled already?]
Sat., 5/17: The Speaks, Monako, Dreaming of Eden
Tue., 6/3: Bell X1
Wed., 6/11: The Breeders w/ The Montana Boys
Wed., 6/18: ABBA - The Tour (tribute)
Thu., 6/19: ABBA - The Tour (tribute)

Tickets for all 9:30 Club shows except Crowded House go on sale Thursday 4/24 at 10am via Tickets.com.

Tickets for the extra Crowded House show (the original show is an early show) are currently only available to ticketholders for the early show. It's a kinda weird situation. I personally don't need to go to back-to-back Crowded House shows on the same night.

Black Cat
Wed., 5/14: Cobra Collective, Dennis Kane (backstage)
Sun., 6/15: Shearwater, Cryptacize (backstage)
Sun., 6/22: Cloak/Dagger, Transistor Transistor, New Idea Society [backstage]
Fri., 7/25: Anthony David

Tickets for all Black Cat shows go on sale Friday 4/25 at 5pm via Ticketmaster.

Rock and Roll Hotel
Wed., 6/4: The Field
Wed., 6/18: Centro-matic, The M's
Wed., 6/25: Times New Viking
Wed., 7/2: The Black Angels, The Warlocks
Mon., 7/14: Back Door Slam, Eoin Harrington

Tickets for all Rock and Roll Hotel shows go on sale Friday 4/25 at 10am via Ticket Alternative.

Iota
Fri., 6/6: Julie Ocean, Yell County, The City Veins (3-way CD release party!)

Tickets for all Iota shows are sold at the door.

(UPDATE) After The Jump Fest - Summer Show

Some updated information added in italics below.

Been meaning to post this for a few days since I first saw it over on Product Shop.

The good folks at the After The Jump Fest have announced a Summer show for June 21st to coincide with the Make Music New York festival.

Details are still a bit scarce, but it looks like the show will take place over two three stages at Music Hall of Williamsburg, Galapagos Natural Selection, and also a street stage on North 6th during the day on Saturday 6/21. The day show is FREE.

Then, at night, there will be events at both Natural Selection and Music Hall of Williamsburg which will serve as charity fundraisers.

There are still a lot more acts to be announced, but so far they've confirmed:

The Antlers
The Forms
WakeyWakey
Bell
The Bloodsugars
The Swimmers
Project Jenny Project Jan

Actually, instead of listing everyone, here's their current poster:



I'm gonna do my damnedest to be up there for this one. Might be apartment shopping too. Maybe.

Speaking of the Cheesy 80's Sax Solo

Ed: Yeah, it's a repost. Deal with it.

New Mystery Jets Video, "Two Doors Down"

Really loving the new Mystery Jets disc. No idea when it comes out in the U.S., though.

Shearwater! DC! Yay!

Running out the door to see Lou Reed, but just saw this:

Shearwater with Crytacize
Black Cat Backstage
Sun., June 15th
On sale this Friday

And, wouldn't you know it, it's the same night as Grand Archives.

Given a choice, I'm going to Shearwater. Sorry, G.A.

Sandcastles in the Sand

Still no Embed code, but here's the link for the entire video for Robin Sparkles' "Sandcastles in the Sand".

And, as for that ending... no. Aside from the fact that no guy - well, not many guys - would do that to their supposed best friend, but come on... those characters have zero chemistry. It's almost as bad as that Joey-Rachel thing Friends tried to get away with towards the end.

So, Craig and Carter... find a way to un-do this. Fast.

An Awesome Concert Poster

Not sure if I'm going or not, but check out this awesome poster for tonight's Constantines and Oakley Hall show at the Rock and Roll Hotel. It was designed by the good folks at El Jefe Design, and may be one of the coolest concert posters I've ever seen.

Dead Confederate Hitting DC9 (Updated)

Cannot wait.

Dead Confederate with All the Saints
Wed., May 28th

No, not All Saints. All the Saints.

Looks like tickets may be sold at the door only TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW. I may be out of town that week. Crap crap crap crap crap.

Sensible Shoes Make Sense

1987 Steve Is Totally Stoked Somewhere

Via Brooklyn Vegan:

Nissan Pavilion
August 7, 2008
The Metal Masters Tour
Featuring
Judas Priest
Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath w/ Dio)
Motorhead
Testament

I hate Nissan Pavilion more than just about any other venue location on Earth, but I may just have to go to this sucker.

"Spaced" Coming to BBC America, DVD

Awesome news via USA Today -- one of the funniest TV shows that you've likely never seen is returning to the airwaves this summer, and then to DVD.

Spaced lasted just two seasons on British TV, but nearly a decade after its demise, the Simon Pegg sitcom has a cult following on both sides of the Atlantic. BBC America plans to re-air the 14-episode series in July, ahead of a launch of a special collector's DVD set, Spaced's first North American release.

Spaced, which first aired in 1999, stars Pegg (Run Fat Boy Run) and Jessica Hynes as dysfunctional twentysomethings who become friends and pose as a couple to rent an apartment. "It's a very personal sort of show, being in your 20s at the turn of the century. I think it holds up well today," says Pegg.

The three-disc Spaced DVD (Warner Home Video, $50) has commentary from Pegg and fans including Quentin Tarantino, Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody and South Park's Matt Stone. "I watch and re-watch Spaced from time to time to remind myself how good television comedy can be," Stone says.

DC Show Update

Very slow week this week. So slow, in fact, that I think I'm only gonna list Rock and Roll Hotel shows. Unless you're really dying for information about the U.S. Air Guitar Championships being held at the 9:30 Club.

I didn't think so.

Rock and Roll Hotel
Thu., 6/5: Waco Brothers
Wed., 6/18: Centro-matic, The M's
Thu., 6/19: Johnathan Rice, Maria Taylor, Nik Freitas
Wed., 6/25: Times New Viking

Only The Waco Brothers and Jonathan Rice shows actually goes go on sale this week -- Friday at 10am at Ticket Alternative. The rest go on sale next Friday, 4/25.

Edited to add: One more good show, this one at the Black Cat backstage --

Sunday, 6/1: Headlights, The Submarines

Tickets on sale Friday at 5pm via Ticketmaster.

Headlights' latest album, "Some Racing, Some Stopping", has been on my "What I'm Listening To" list for a couple months now. I caught them at SXSW and am very much looking forward to seeing them again.

Eric Bachmann on Spinner

Not sure how I missed this. One of my favorite musicians, Eric Bachmann (of Crooked Fingers and Archers of Loaf), recently played a 4-song set for the folks over at Spinner.com.

I'm posting a a couple of the songs below, but if you want to see them all, head over to Spinner. He also performed "Devil's Train" and "Run, Lt., Run."

And if that's not enough Eric for you, I also just discovered audio of an in-studio he dud for WNYC a few months back. Go here to check it out.

"Little Bird"


"Web In Front" (Archers of Loaf song)

Yah Gibson Yah

New Weezer, "Pork & Beans"

Head over to Weezer's home page to hear "Pork & Beans", the lead single from their new (third-time over) self-titled album, which comes out on June 24th.

Give it about 30 seconds before making up your mind whether to listen or not. The chorus more than makes up for the goofy samples and lyrics. Those guitars sound like they're right off of the first blue album, and that's a damn fine thing.

Thanks to Product Shop for the heads up.

Quick Links

A few interesting MP3s floating around the web today. Check 'em out:

Stereogum has an MP3 of Les Savy Fav covering Superchunk's "Precision Auto".

Pretty Much Amazing has the new Wilco song from the Hereos soundtrack - "Glad It's Over". As for me, I'm glad it was left off of Sky Blue Sky.

Sixeyes has a great live cut of Spoon's "Don't Make Me A Target" (as well as a bunch of other good stuff).

I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has The National covering Springsteen's "Mansion on the Hill".

And I've got a track off of the excellent new Little Ones EP called "Tallies". I was a little nervous how the EP would turn out, considering that I didn't love the new songs the band played when they were in DC last fall, but overall I think it's pretty great. Maybe not as good as the Sing Song EP, but not too far off. Go buy it here or here.

Robin Sparkles Returns

The full video will be up after next week's episode. And, yep, that's Tiffany.

Sandcastles in the Sand


And in case you're a music snob who thinks Robin's early stuff was the best, here's the original video:

Pete Doherty Doing Heroin In Jail?

Wow. I'm more and more impressed with the British legal system every day.

Pete had better hope that "Ray" doesn't turn on him.

New Delays Video, "Hooray"

Love, love, love this band. Hope they can finally break through in the U.S. with the new album, Everything's the Rush. Not exactly sure when it's getting a US release, but you can pre-order it from Amazon UK here for $20-ish.

An Afternoon Song

Just sitting here at work and this song came up on the old iPod random playlist. Love this freakin' song. Love this freakin' album. Listen and then buy it if for some reason you don't already own it.

And... umm... please tour this summer?

Initial Austin City Limits Festival Lineup

Well, guess I don't have to go back to Austin this year...

Foo Fighters
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss
Beck
Manu Chao
John Fogerty
David Byrne
Raconteurs
Mars Volta
Gnarls Barkley
Conor Oberst and Mystic Valley Band
N.E.R.D.
Erykah Badu
Robert Earl Keen
Patty Griffin
Tegan & Sara
Iron & Wine
G. Love and Special Sauce
Neko Case
Band of Horses
The Swell Season
Silversun Pickups
Gogol Bordello
Gillian Welch
Eli Young Band
Black Keys
Against Me!
Jakob Dylan and Gold Mountain Rebels
Okkervil River
Galactic
Kevin Fowler
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Hot Chip
Vampire Weekend
Slighty Sloopid
Duffy
Alejandro Escovedo
Roky Erickson
Drive-By Truckers
Yonder Mounter String Band
Spiritualized
Flyleaf
Ingrid Michaelson
Stars
Jose Gonzales
CSS
Del the Funky Homosapien
Man Man
Jamie Lidell
MGMT
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Jenny Lewis
M. Ward
Asleep at the Wheel
Mason Jennings
Heartless Bastards
Antibalas
The Nachito Herrera AllStars
Shooter Jennings
Xavier Rudd
Yeasayer
Octopus Project
Joe Bonamassa
The Kills
White Denim
Louis XIV
Delta Spirit
Mates of State
Nicole Atkins & the Sea
Electric Touch
Black Hoe Lewis and the Honey Bears
Back Door Slam
Tristan Prettyman
The Strange Boys
Ryan Bingham
Scott Biram
Freddy Jones
Colour Revolt
Five Times August
Langhorne Slim
Sybris
Eli Paper Boy Reed
Bobby Bare Jr.

And about 15 more that I've never heard of.

New Pornographers & Okkervil River @ 9:30 Club, DC [4/14/08]

This is normally the place where I would post a short review of last night's New Pornographers and Okkervil River show at the 9:30 Club here in DC. I'd also normally post a few pictures of varying quality.

Sadly, though, the most I can really say about last night's show is that it looked like it was pretty good. And folks who stood upstairs told me it was pretty good.

I, however, stood on the floor about 5 feet back from the stage near Blaine -- and I couldn't hear anything.

Well, "anything" is a bit much. I couldn't hear anything coming out of the PA. So I heard guitars. I heard bass. I heard the drums. But I could barely hear Carl's vocals, Katherine's vocals, or keyboards of any kind. It was a bit like listening to stereo headphones where one side isn't working. And it wasn't much better during Okkervil River's opening set, though admittedly they seem to be experimenting with a slightly different live sound with Charles Bissell in the band (almost a quasi-solo sound with Will's voice and acoustic high in the mix, and the rest of the band very low-key in the background).

I've heard from a ton of artists that they love playing the 9:30 Club. They're treated like kings by the 9:30 folks. That's awesome. And I can speak from experience that the staff inside the 9:30 are about as friendly and accommodating as any club I've ever been to.

But, after living here for 8 months and seeing a large number of shows at the 9:30, I can say in all seriousness that the audience experience at the 9:30 Club is terrible. I've mentioned before that the club often seems like it's way oversold, and you can barely find a place in the entire club to stand, let alone actually see the stage. And when you actually get there early, as I did last night, and get near the stage, you can't hear anything (I had an identical experience with the Spoon show last fall).

I'm not an expert on club design, but why can't they position at least one PA towards the center of the floor? I've been to many, many rock clubs in the U.S. and abroad and have never had an experience where I couldn't hear half of what was being played standing 5 feet from the stage.

Anyway, as I said, it sure looked like the bands were giving it their all. I love both of them and I'll see them again. But just not from the floor at the 9:30 Club.

Postscript: I left two things out. First, there was a strict "no photography" rule in effect last night, so that's why there are no photos. Second, there's a lot of hubbub around the net about the fact that Neko Case bailed out on last night's set due to illness. Big deal. The band tours without her all the time, and they're great with or without her. Kathryn may not be Neko, but she's a hell of a singer. Just wish I could have heard her better.

Stereogum Gains a Sister

Just saw this over at Politico of all places -- Gawker Media is selling its music site, Idolator, to Buzznet, the parent of the long-running New York-based music blog Stereogum.

In addition, they're also selling GridSkipper to Lockhart Steele and the fine folks at Curbed, and they're spinning off Wonkette to that site's managing editor Ken Layne. (To be honest, I haven't read the latter since Ana Marie Cox left.)

It'll be interesting to see what becomes of these sites -- especially Idolator, which despite posting updates like crazy has never really become a "must-read" site for me.

Bottomless Pit Hitting the East Coast??

So I just saw in last week's Knitting Factory email that Bottomless Pit is playing the KF in New York on Sunday, July 6th with The Kadane Brothers. Tickets are on sale now for only $10.

I have no idea whether this is a one-off gig or part of a wider East Coast tour, as there's no mention of even the NYC show on the Bottomless Pit website.

I'll keep my eyes out, and fingers crossed, for a DC show.

Edited to add: Many thanks to Brad for pointing out that there are a bunch more dates on the Bottomless Pit schedule. No DC show as of now, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

^ w/ The Effigies
^^ w/The Kadane Brothers

06-13 - Highwood, IL - The Alley ^
07-11 - New York, NY - Knitting Factory^^
07-12 - Cambridge, MA - The Middle East^^
07-13 - Montreal, QC - TBA^^
07-14 - Toronto, ON - TBA^^
07-17 - Chicago, IL - Schuba‘s Tavern ^^
07-18 - Madison, WI - TBA^^
07-19 - Milwaukee, WI - 7th Street Entry^^

Checking In With Jammin' Java

I either forgot to check their listings for last week's DC Show Update, or they've updated their schedule in the last few days. Either way, there's a few notable shows coming up at Jammin' Java, and two of them are already on sale.

Mon., 5/19: Marty Willson-Piper (from The Church), The Electric Mood Maidens
Tue., 5/20: Laura Veirs, Liam Finn
Tue., 6/3: Jeremy Enigk, Damien Jurado

Tickets for the Laura Veirs and Jeremy Enigk shows are on sale here. Doesn't look like Marty Willson-Piper tickets are on sale yet.

By the way, I find it amusing that Jammin' Java's bio for Jeremy Enigk is straight from his 1996 fall tour in support of Return of the Frog Queen:

Better known as the principal singer/songwriter for (the now disbanded) Sunny Day Real Estate, Jeremy Enigk (pronounced ee-nihk) arrives here with his debut solo work, Return of the Frog Queen. This return precipitates a near-audible sigh of relief from Sunny Day fans as they feared the worst after the break-up of the band. The SDRE rhythm section have since gone on to national prominence as Foo Fighters, but the question remained what was up with Jeremy? Jeremy's spiritual re-awakening was the stuff of legend thanks to his self-penned, and subsequently oft-posted, email testimonial. Now, almost 2 years later, Jeremy follows that testimonial with Return of the Frog Queen, and a more auspicious affirmation of musical intent one could not hope to ask for.

I actually caught Jeremy on that tour at the Knitting Factory in New York. Kinda doubt whether I'm gonna make it this time around.

Centro-Matic and The M's Hitting DC on 6/18

This one isn't on the Rock and Roll Hotel's schedule yet, so I'm not sure when it goes on sale, but I just noticed here that Centro-Matic and The M's are playing RR Hotel on Wednesday, June 18th. Awesome.

Centro-Matic will be touring in support of their new CD, Dual Hawks (out 6/3 on Misra). It's actually a double album, with the first disc featuring songs from Centro-Matic, and the second disc featuring songs from South San Gabriel, which is basically Centro-Matic with a bunch of friends. You can hear about half of the songs from the album here and here.

The band starts a 3-week European tour this week, and then heads back to the U.S. for a month-long tour of the Eastern half of the U.S.

Centro-Matic U.S. Tour
5/30: Denton, TX (Dan's Silverleaf)
5/31: Austin, TX (The Parish)
6/4: St. Louis (Schlafly Tap Room / Twangfestwith Chuck Prophet, The Builders & The Butchers)
6/5: Rock Island, IL (Huckelberry's Pizza / Daytrotter with the M's)
6/6: Minneapolis (400 Bar with the M's)
6/7 - Chicago, IL (Schuba's with the M's)
6/8 - Chicago, IL (Schuba's with the M's)
6/10 - Buffalo, NY (Mohawk with the M's)
6/11 - Toronto (Horseshoe with the M's)
6/12 - Montreal (Le Divian Orange with the M's)
6/13 - New York, NY (Bowery Ballroom with the M's, Grand Archives)
6/14 - Cambridge, MA (Middle East with the M's)
6/17 - Philadelphia, PA (Johhny Brendas with the M's, Shearwater)
6/18 - Washington DC (Rock N Roll Hotel with the M's)
6/19 - Chapel Hill (Local 506 with the M's)
6/20 - Asheville, NC (Grey Eagle with the M's)
6/21 - Athens, GA (40 Watt)
6/23 - Atlanta, GA (venue TBA)
6/24 - Nashville, TN (Mercy Lounge)
6/28 - Dallas, TX (Granada Theatre)

Monotonix et al @ The Red and The Black, DC [4/12/08]

I gotta say, I had no idea what I was getting into with last night's Monotonix show. David tried to warn us before the band went on, even going so far as to tell me that where I was standing - directly at the back of the room by the bar - was "in the line of fire". But I still didn't really understand what was about to happen.

What happened was pure anarchy. Shirtless bandmembers, beer being flung from all ends of the room (even the bartenders got involved), lots of fire (flaming drumsticks, lighter fluid on the floor), beer being poured down the lead singer's pants, the lead singer dancing and writhing on top of the bar, the entire band relocating from one end of the room to the other mid-set, the lead singer asking a woman in the audience to caress his chest, and a drummer who looks like the living embodiment of Borat.

And I'm still leaving stuff out.

Frankly, I have no idea what they were singing about (they're Israeli), and I have very little recollection of the music (lots of riffs), but it was a hell of a time.

Monotonix




Dark Meat also brought their own spectacle, but even considering that they had 15 people playing on stage (and in the crowd) at once, including constant confetti and streamers flying around the room, at the end of the day it paled in comparison to Monotonix.

I remember even less of Dark Meat's music than Montonix's, but I think it had less to do with the spectacle than with the music itself.

Dark Meat



The Jet Age opened the show and were, unsurprisingly, awesome as always. Eric was sporting a brand new, custom-built amp which was beautiful, even if my ears couldn't really hear too much of a difference from the last time I saw them. The highlight of the night for me was probably seeing them play the awesome "Please Come Home Now" from their first album. Good stuff.

The Jet Age


Oh, I'm kinda leaving out CPC, who played second on the night. I didn't take any pictures, and kinda spaced out a bit during their set, so no review...

One More Hour of Lost

Sorry for the relative silence here on the blog the last few days. Things have been a bit busy over at Rogomo this week.

Anyway, before we get back to our regularly-scheduled music coverage, I figured I'd share a great piece of news I just noticed over at IGN - there's going to be fourteen total episodes of Lost this year, instead of thirteen.

Apparently, even though producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse agreed to shorten the season as a result of the writers' strike, they simply weren't able to tell the story they wanted to tell this season without a fourteenth episode. Whatever, man... I'll take all the Lost they want to give me, especially the way this season is going.

The remaining six episodes of Season 4 will start airing on Thursday, April 24th, take the night off on May 22nd (when you'll instead get a two-hour Grey's Anatomy, if that's your thing), and then come back with a two-hour finale on May 29th.

Then we get to deal with a potential actors strike, and see whether or not that puts a final nail in the coffin of broadcast television or not.

Oh, and FINALLY, if you're reading this and it's still Saturday evening - and you're in D.C. - be sure to get to the Red and the Black tonight to catch The Jet Age, Dark Meat and Monotonix. Sure to be a very, very loud show.

DC Show Update

Pretty good week so far. I'm particularly looking forward to Grand Archives, Julie Ocean, Lightspeed Champion and finally seeing Rancid after 15 years or so.

I'll be updating throughout the week in italics.

9:30 Club
Sun., 5/18: Alice Smith
Thu., 6/5: SOJA
Mon., 8/11: Rancid

Black Cat
Sun., 5/11: The Scare, Police & Thieves, Lion of Judah
Tue., 5/20: Helio Sequence [Backstage]
Wed., 5/21: Suns of Guns, Pontiak [Backstage]
Thu., 5/22: Islands
Sat., 5/24: KRS-One
Wed., 5/28: Joe Lally, Glorytellers [Backstage]
Sat., 5/31: Exit Clov, Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears
Tue., 6/3: Adam Green, Lightspeed Champion, Flowers Forever
Fri., 6/13: Callum Robbins Benefit w/ The Bakerton Group, Caverns, Hammer No More the Fingers
Wed., 6/25: The Toadies

Iota
Fri., 6/5: Julie Ocean

Rock and Roll Hotel
Tue., 5/27: Eyedea & Abilities
Fri., 5/30: Army of Me, Jealousy Curve, The Kin
Thu., 6/5: Waco Brothers [on sale 4/18]
Sun., 6/15: Grand Archives
Thu., 6/19: Johnathan Rice, Maria Taylor, Nik Freitas

Wolf Trap
Sun., 8/3: The Black Crowes

TICKETS
9:30 Club: Tix go on sale Thursday 4/10 at 10am via Tickets.com
Black Cat: Tix go on sale Friday 4/11 at 5pm via Ticketmaster
Iota: Tix are sold at the door on the day of show
RR Hotel: Tix go on sale Friday 4/11 at 10am via Ticket Alternative
Wolf Trap: Black Crowes tix are available here.

Ian Attacks!

Adam from Tereu Tereu - who are recording an album as we speak, BTW - posted this video earlier today. Good stuff. I had no idea this was going on.

Big Day at WOXY

Been meaning to mention this but keep forgetting. WOXY.com has a great afternoon of live music on tap today.

First up, in just about 45 minutes, is Cursive at 1pm EST.

Then, following right behind at 3pm EST is Matt Pond PA (I thought they'd changed their name??).

I'm especially excited to hear the Cursive set, as they always put on an excellent live show.

Lightspeed Champion (Finally) Coming to DC!

Just saw this over on the Black Cat schedule:

Tue., 6/3: Adam Green, Lightspeed Champion, Flowers Forever (Main Stage)

This is great for a couple of reasons. First, of course, I finally get to see Lightspeed Champion, who have released one of my favorite albums of 2008. Second, they're opening for Adam Green, which means that they'll go on stage relatively early, and that I can comfortably leave after their set and be home at a reasonable time on a Tuesday night.

Because, really, who needs to sit through an Adam Green set?

Will this sell out due to the lingering Juno effect? Will Adam play that stupid Jessica Simpson song? These questions, and many others, will be answered on June 3rd.

What is a Hypocrite?

From Merriam-Webster Online:

Hypocrite:

1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

From Pearl Jam's prepared statement to Congress on June 30, 1994:

Many of Pearl Jam's most loyal fans are teenagers who do not have the money to pay the $50 or more that is often charged today for tickets to a popular concert. Although, given our popularity, we could undoubtedly continue to sell-out our concerts with ticket prices at that premium level, we have made a conscious decision that we do not want to put the price of our concerts out of the reach of many of our fans. Moreover, we do not want to be responsible for teenagers, who may be influenced by peer pressure to feel that they must see Pearl Jam perform, spending more money for that concert ticket than they can really afford. All of the members of Pearl Jam remember what it is like not to have a lot of money, and we recognize that a teenager's perceived need to see his or her favorite band in concert can often be overwhelming.

For these reasons, we have attempted to keep the ticket prices to our concerts to a maximum of $18. We have also tried to limit any service charges that may be imposed on the sale of those tickets to 10 percent of the ticket price, and to ensure that any service charge will be separately identified from the price of the ticket itself so that fans know how much is being charged for the ticket and how much is being added on by the company selling the ticket. As a result, even where a service charge is imposed, our goal is to make it so that no one will pay more than $20 to see a Pearl Jam concert.

Pearl Jam is playing the Verizon Center here in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 22nd. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am, and are $69.00 before fees. Assuming a normal fee add-on of about 30%, tickets will likely be about $90 total. Face value for tickets for the band's New York City shows are $77 before fees, so those will likely be about $100 total.

So, according to Pearl Jam, antitrust law apparently doesn't apply when your customers are over 19. Guess all that political posturing over the years was just that... posturing.

Edited to add: According to the Department of Labor, $18 in 1994 prices would amount to $25.71 today. Not $69, let alone $90 or $100, obviously.

Grand Archives @ RR Hotel on 6/15

Very excited about this one... just saw that Grand Archives is playing the Rock and Roll Hotel here in DC on Sunday, June 15th.

The band's debut LP, The Grand Archives, is one of my favorite albums of 2008 so far, and I sadly missed them while in Austin a few weeks back. If you haven't already picked up the album, I strongly recommend that you do so now.

Grand Archives, "Torn Blue Foam Couch"

The band's full itinerary hasn't been announced yet, but there are a few other dates listed on their MySpace page:

Fri., 4/11: The Craig Ferguson Show (CBS)
Sat., 4/12: Portland, OR (Aladdin Theatre)
Sat., 5/24: The Gorge, WA (Sasquatch Music Festival)

Lollapalooza Lineup Announced

What, no Jack Johnson? I might just have to go to this.

Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West, Wilco, The Raconteurs, Louis XIV, Love and Rockets, Gnarls Barkley, Bloc Party, The Black Keys, Broken Social Scene, Lupe Fiasco, Flogging Molly, Mark Ronson, Cat Power, The National, G. Love & Special Sauce, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Explosions in the Sky, Brand New, Gogol Bordello, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Dierks Bentley, Okkervil River, Amadou & Mariam, Blues Traveler, John Butler Trio, Girl Talk, Your Vegas, CSS, Eli “Paperboy” Reed & the True Loves, Battles, Steel Train, Jamie Lidell, Bang Camaro, Butch Walker, The Blakes, Mates of State, Tally Hall, Spank Rock, White Lies, Brazilian Girls, Magic Wands, Chromeo, Electric Touch, Duffy, Innerpartysystem, The Kills, The Postelles, Rogue Wave, The Parlor Mob, The Go! Team, Bald Eagle, Mason Jennings, Krista, The Gutter Twins, Ha Ha Tonka, Yeasayer, Witchcraft, Grizzly Bear, We Go To 11, MGMT, Sofia Talvik, The Weakerthans, Booka Shade, Santogold, Black Kids, Black Lips, Dr. Dog, Nicole Atkins & the Sea, The Ting Tings, Kid Sister, Office, The Cool Kids, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, The Whigs, Manchester Orchestra, Foals, Uffie, The Octopus Project, Cadence Weapon, Ferras, De Novo Dahl, Noah and the Whale, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, K’NAAN, Serena Ryder, Newton Faulkner

Flight of the Conchords Touring (DC too!)

A friend just pointed out to me that Flight of the Conchords is touring in May. There's no on-sale info on Ticketmaster yet, but here's what Sub Pop has to say:

Mon., 5/5: Philadelphia (Tower Theater)
Tue., 5/6: New York (Town Hall)
Wed., 5/7: New York (Town Hall)
Fri., 5/9: Washington, DC (Lisner Auditorium - early/late show)
Sat., 5/10: Ann Arbor, MI (Michigan Theater)
Sun., 5/11: Milwaukee (Riverside Theater)
Tue., 5/13: Minneapolis (Orpheum Theatre)
Wed., 5/14: Chicago (Chicago Theatre)
Thu., 5/15: Denver (Ellie Caulkins Opera House)
Mon., 5/26: Sasquatch Festival
Tue., 5/27: San Francisco (Nob Hill Masonic Center)
Fri., 5/30: Los Angeles (Orpheum Theater)

Oh, and according to their MySpace page, the HBO show has been renewed, and should start airing... in January 2009. Arg.

Journey + Stryper = Even More Awesomeness

I was gonna add this as an addendum to the last post, but figured it deserved it's own post.

Check out new Journey singer Arnel Pineda covering Stryper's "Honestly".

Now if only we could get him to cover "When A Man Loves A Woman". I don't think it would get any better than that.

Edited to add: And, completing the circle, here's Arnel's old band covering Boston's "More Than a Feeling."

You know you love it.

Boston + Stryper = Unstoppable Rock

How did I possibly miss this back in September?

Michael Sweet, the lead singer of Christian hard rock band Stryper, has joined the venerable rock band Boston. So too has Tommy DeCarlo, a fan who posted Boston covers on MySpace and subsequently was discovered by the band (yep, just like the dude from Journey).

Sweet and DeCarlo will apparently be trading vocal duties on tour this summer in place of Brad Delp, who passed away last year.

Wanna hear what it all sounds like? You're in luck - the band had made audio from one of their early rehearsals with Sweet available for streaming. Check it out.

Hmm.... maybe if I post some audio of me singing Paradise City I might have a shot at the vacant Velvet Revolver gig. (Sidenote: For anyone who has ever heard me do "Paradise City" karaoke - and there are about 40 of you, with about 35 of you being in Japan - you'll know the odds of this happening are very, very, very, very slim.)

NBC Greenlights "Office" Spinoff

So NBC has finally green-lighted the long-rumored "Office" spinoff. Interesting. All of the rumors that I've seen to date had the spinoff focusing on Dwight, but Rainn Wilson called that "preposterous" in an interview a couple of weeks ago, so who knows...

Maybe a show about the crew at Bob Vance Refrigeration? Maybe Karen is coming back after her other show on Fox crashed and burned? Maybe Kevin's getting his own show about trying to hit it big as a Police cover band?

Edited to add: In other good NBC news, apparently 30 Rock was picked up for a 3rd season.

Weiland Out of Velvet Revolver

Neither surprising nor particularly relevant to the world of music, Rolling Stone is reporting that Scott Weiland has been tossed from Velvet Revolver.

That obviously frees Weiland up for the forthcoming Stone Temple Pilots reunion (and, if we're super-extra lucky, another awesome solo album).

And it also frees Slash and Duff (and Matt Sorum?) up for the long-rumored, still-highly-unlikely-to-happen Guns N' Roses reunion.

Somewhere Steven Adler is smiling... and Buckethead is wearing a bucket on his head.

DC Show Update

Getting an early start this week... will update as the week goes on.

9:30 Club
Fri., 5/2: Crowded House
Sun., 5/4: Bilal
Thu., 5/15: Serj Tankian
Tue., 5/27: The Raconteurs, The Black Lips
Wed., 5/28: The Raconteurs, The Black Lips

9:30 Club tickets go on sale this Thursday at 10am via Tickets.com.

Merriweather Post Pavilion
Wed., 6/11: R.E.M., Modest Mouse, The National

R.E.M. tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am via Ticketmaster. The R.E.M. fanclub pre-sale started this morning, and I assume it's over by now...

Rock and Roll Hotel
Fri., 5/2: See-I
Sat., 5/3: South, The Silver State, KI:Theory

Velvet Lounge
Mon., 6/23: Morningbell, The High Signs
Fri., 6/27: Ulrich Schnauss, Auburn Lull, Screen Vinyl Image

Not Gonna Do It

Jack Johnson? Foo Fighters? Nine Inch Nails?

Umm, no thanks.

Cool website design, though.

R.E.M. Played the Today Show

Good stuff, though the crowd reaction shots are beyond unnecessary. I used to work about 50 yards away from this stage, and never once saw a performance there. I did consider going to ogle Hilary Duff once, but figured I'd be the only person over 15 there without a child. Oh, and I could hear Sting's voice reverberating all the way to 6th Avenue once, and it still gives me nightmares to this day.

Oh, and the "founders of indie rock"? Really, Matt?

"Hollow Man"


"Losing My Religion" (obligatory)


Thanks to Product Shop for the heads up!

Georgie James and Tereu Tereu, Together At Last

A quick heads up for those of you in the greater Washington, D.C. area this weekend (sadly, I'll be out of town) - you have two chances to catch two of my favorite local bands playing together. Specifically, Georgie James and Tereu Tereu.

On Saturday (4/5), the bands are playing here in D.C. on the Main Stage of the Black Cat along with Olivia & The Housemates. Tickets are still available for only $10.

On Sunday (4/6), they're playing in Fredericksburg, VA at The 3rd Floor with Carlos, I'm Pregnant! Tickets are only $5, and you can get more info here.

If you're any kind of actual music fan, you'll be at at least one of these shows.

Pre-Order The Night Marchers!

Just noticed over at Vagrant Records that the debut LP from The Night Marchers, See You In Magic, is now available for pre-order for $10.

The album is now due out on Tuesday, April 22nd (a slight push-back from its original street date). All pre-orders will ship on or before 4/22.

If you haven't been paying attention, The Night Marchers are the new project from John Reis a/k/a Speedo a/k/a Swa,i of Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, The Sultans and Drive Like Jehu fame. The songs I've heard live kick ass.

Tracklist
1. Closed For Inventory
2. In Dead Sleep (I Snore ZZZZ)
3. I Wanna Deadbeat You
4. Jump in the Fire
5. Branded
6. Who's Lady R U?
7. You've Got Nerve
8. Open Your Legs
9. Bad Bloods
10. And I Keep Holding On
11. Total Bloodbath
12. Panther in Crime
13. We're Goin' Down

Get Your Ass To Mars

More info here and here.