Tereu Tereu / Light Footwork Split EP

It's been a while since I posted about The Light Footwork. It's been hours since I posted about Tereu Tereu.

The two bands have a brand new, 6-song split EP which I've been listening to a lot over the last week or so. You should go buy it now.

I've been going back and forth trying to decide which band's contributions are better than the other's. Let's just call this one a draw.

The Light Footwork, "Rebellion Time"
Tereu Tereu, "Don't Be Sore, Farmer John"

Light Footwork Video

If you read some of my early posts on this blog back in February-ish, you would have heard me mention how much I like the latest album by a band called The Light Footwork. Although I listened to the album a lot back then, I kinda forgot about it given the number of new albums that have been come out in the intervening months, and the fact that I don't think they've made it to New York to do a show in that time. (Though I could be wrong.)

Anyway, I just noticed over at My Old Kentucky Home that the band has released a video for its wonderful song, "The Art of Everyday Communication, Part 1". Do yourself a favor and check it out. Oh, and buy yourself some Light Footwork here.

The Week in Rock (DC Edition)

It's too late for talk, but here's some pics from some shows in DC this week.

Lots of good music this week, although I did end up missing These United States because I didn't realize that there would actually be about 12 different acts performing before TUS would show up on stage. It got a tad crowded and hot in Iota for me to stick around for 4 hours. I gave up after about two and a half.

So, in reverse chronological order...

Jukebox the Ghost



I'm still not completely sold on these guys, but I can't deny that they put on a very tight, entertaining show. They have some proggy tendencies (which can actually be a plus to me in some cases), and not all of their songs are all that compelling, but there's no denying they have a lot of talent and have a lot of fun on stage. Definitely a band I'll have to keep my eye on before I make a final call.

One other negative, though -- they seem to be the type of band that inspires large crowds of obnoxiously-drunken 21-year old girls to come and sing along loudly to every word. For a long-time music snob like me, that's not exactly the best sign.

Tereu Tereu



I was hoping these guys would be good live, and I wasn't disappointed. I'm a big fan of the songs that the band had on its split EP with The Light Footwork last year, but hadn't heard much else from them prior to the show. While their music is a bit all over the place, all of it is really good and texturally interesting, and they're an impressive live unit. Be sure to check them out the next time they're in DC -- I'll definitely be there.

Julie Ocean



Seriously, folks... ya gotta get to a Julie Ocean show. Their new album, Long Gone and Nearly There, is fantastic (and comes out in May), and they're even throwing in Wire covers for good measure. Their live sets usually top out at about 28 minutes, but it's 28 minutes of top quality rock and roll. Catch 'em next month with The Dirtbombs and Kelley Stoltz at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

Vandaveer


Only got 4 songs from them at the Federal Reserve show at Iota, but they were excellent as always. Still can't understand why they're not bigger than they are.

Tereu Tereu Touring In Support of New Album

One of the DC-area bands that I discovered when I first moved down here a year ago was Fredericksburg's Tereu Tereu. The band released an excellent split EP with San Francisco's The Light Footwork (where'd they go?) last year, and has been hard at work ever since on their debut album.

Thankfully, that album, entitled All That Keeps Us Together, is now finished, and it's fantastic. Don't take my word for it - check out one of my favorite tracks:

Tereu Tereu, "Beyond The Coast"

You can also hear two other tracks from the album, "Perpetual Motion" and "Cheers", over at the band's MySpace page.

The band hits the road today for a week-long tour to celebrate the release of the album. If you're in any of the cities listed below, do yourself a favor and check these guys out. They put on as good of a show as any young band going right now, and you'll be able to say that you knew them "when".

And a Happy Saturday to You

Welcome to the weekend. If all goes according to plan, and if it's up to the folks I work for it likely won't, this weekend is going to be the kickoff of an amazing few weeks of live music here in NYC. Last night was Britain's Mystery Jets at the Mercury Lounge, followed by the Arctic Monkeys tonight, Ted Leo tomorrow, Minus 5 on Tuesday, then the Flaming Lips, Josh Rouse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Alkaline Trio, Lucero, Bob Pollard and Wilco. I seriously have to start remembering to bring my camera to these things..

Anyway, before the aforementioned bands take over my life, I figured I'd share a few songs which have defined the last few weeks for me..

The Buzzcocks, "Wish I Never Loved You"

The Delays, "You and Me"

The Eames Era, "Go To Sleep"

The Light Footwork, "The Art of Everyday Communication Part 1"

Mystery Jets, "You Can't Fool Me Dennis"

As always, these are 7-day limited downloads. If you like what you hear, go buy something.

Album Roundup, 2/18-2/24

Assuming I keep this blog going, I'd like to do a weekly entry as to the music I've purchased each week. It keeps me on my toes, and forces me to listen to everything, and gives you (the presumptive reader/s) a chance to keep up with what's hip. :^) And, again assuming the existence of reader/s, I'd invite you to add your own in the comments. To the day I die, I will always be looking for the next great album that I don't have.

This week's purchases/acquisitions:

Arctic Monkeys - "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not"
Still going to need more listens. I like it, but don't love it. That might change, but first impressions tend to be right -- at least when it comes to music.

The Delgados - "The Great Eastern"
Bought this on iTunes a year or so ago while living in Japan. Much more cost effective to buy online than pay the Japanese import prices. Unfortunately for me, both my computer and iPod decided to crap out at precisely the same time, and I lost it. And while I like to consider myself somewhat tech savvy, I'm also lazy as shit, and spent 5 minutes trying to see if I could re-download the album without paying again. No dice. At least not in those 5 minutes. So I finally just bought the damn thing. At least that's another $1.42 (or thereabouts) in the band's pockets. Yippee.

Eugene Kelly - "Man Alive"
Have not listened to it yet. Think this came out abroad last year. Had no idea it was out here until I saw it at Virgin last weekend. Maybe it's an import, but it wasn't priced as an import. Suppose I should listen to it. I still listen to those Eugenius albums pretty regularly. Though I still don't own a single Vasilines or BMX Bandits disc.. I'm terrible with back catalogues of bands I get into late.

The Glass - "Hibernation"
I believe it was Scenestars, a Memphis-based blog that I discovered this week (they had GNR leak links), has a panel of "recommended" bands on the right-hand portion of their page. I'd like to figure out how to add that here. Anyway, the first band they recommended is Lucero, who may be my current favorite band. Them or the National. The second band was The Glass. Never heard of 'em. Both MP3's were great, so I bought the disc. Like it so far. Great atmospheric alt-countryish disc.

Guns n' Roses - Leaked songs "Better," "The Blues," "IRS," "T.W.A.T."
There are very likely few other people who've followed this week's saga as closely as I. GNR was probably the very first band that I considered to be "mine" -- as in, I worshipped them. Of course, I was 13 when Appetite broke, and that was to be expected. And while a lot of other bands have come and gone in my life since then, I've always had a soft spot for them. Maybe this isn't Guns as we used to know it, but it sure sounds good to me. All 4 songs still need work. I hope these are demos, and I hope that Axl currently has completed versions in the can and ready to drop. I don't feel like waiting any longer for a final album. If nothing else, these songs remind me what GNR used to mean to me, and hopefully what they might mean again. Except that part at the 4 minute or so mark in Better. That's just not necessary.

The Light Footwork - "One State Two State"
They've got two of the best songs I've heard this year. First heard these guys on the best radio station in the world, WOXY, and after the fifteenth time or so, I had to buy the disc. It's great. They get a lot of comparisons to Beulah (I believe the bandmembers played in/with Beulah at one point), but not owning any Beulah discs, I can't really comment. Jesus, for someone with a crapload of cd's (me), I keep amazing myself with how much I don't have.

The National - Bonus songs to "Alligator"
About 3 minutes before emailing my "top 10" list of 2005, I slid "Alligator" from No. 1 to No. 2, and moved Bloc Party into first place. I think I still stick with that decision. These bonus songs -- which I discovered this week can be found on the Beggar's Banquet website as long as you have your UPC handy from the CD case -- make me rethink it a bit though. Primarily alternate/live takes on songs on the album, it reminds you how great this band is. Speaking of back catalogues, this is one of the bands I actually have managed to go back and buy all of their earlier stuff. Now I just need to listen to it.
:^)