album news

Quickly...

Voxtrot will release their self-titled full length debut on May 22 (Beggars/Playlouder). Tracklist:

01 Introduction
02 Kid Gloves
03 Ghost
04 Steven
05 Firecracker
06 Brother in Conflict
07 Easy
08 The Future Pt. 1
09 Every Day
10 Real Live Version
11 Blood Red Blood

Ryan Adams will release a real, honest-to-goodness physical record on June 5 (Lost Highway). Disregarding the 1,058 albums he released via his website last year, Easy Tiger will be the first new music from Ry-Ry since his slightly over-prolific 2005. Tracklist (order TBD):

Goodnight Rose
Everybody Knows
The Sun Also Sets
Halloween Head
Off Broadway
Two Hearts
Tears of Gold
These Girls
Two
I Taught Myself How to Grow Old
Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.
Rip Off
Pearls on a String

Oh my god, whatever. :b

because apparently i'm in a blogging mood and everyone else is doing it anyway...

Artwork for the very highly anticipated Wilco release - Sky Blue Sky - due out in May:

Tracklist:

01 Either Way
02 You Are My Face
03 Impossible Germany
04 Sky Blue Sky
05 Side With The Seeds
06 Shake It Off
07 Please Be Patient With Me
08 Hate It Here
09 Leave Me (Like You Found Me)
10 Walken
11 What Light
12 On And On And On

Seems like forever since our last Wilco release...

i'm such a pimp...

some minnesota love

A couple of weeks ago I found a new band to obsess over... a band which comes from Minneapolis and goes by the name of Cloud Cult. Since hearing their new album, The Meaning Of 8 (due out 4/10/2007), I just can't get enough. Yes, this is old news I know... but it begs the question: just what are they putting in the water in Minneapolis?

Beyond Cloud Cult I've recently "discovered" two more Minneapolis bands who've recently put out some really good shit.

Mouthful Of Bees. Their record The End was released on 2/15/07 and is of the indie art/power pop persuasion. Of course this is not the first blog ever written about Mouthful Of Bees, and in some light research (i.e. the first page of a "mouthful of bees" google search) I found several blog posts about them. Unsurprising to me is that I saw them at least twice compared to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah & fellow Minnesotans Tapes n' Tapes. Mouthful Of Bees skillfully wind their way through rockers as well as slower tempo songs. The album's production is fuzzy, and there are sporadic bursts of noise (hence the CYHSY comparison?) but at the center of it all are some real fun songs. Personally, I rather like the fuzziness in some cases. Who wants to forever listen to slick production that completely masks the spontaneity and even heart of the songs? So are these youngsters poised to become the next indie blog darlings? Time will certainly tell... just remember that although you may not have heard them here first, at least you heard them here before you heard them on Pitchfork... :)

Listen to The Now. Buy the album.



Download "The Now" (mp3)
from "The End"
by Mouthful of Bees (Afternoon Records)
Buy at eMusic

The Original Mark Edwards. He's not as new as and not quite as "my cup of tea" as Mouthful Of Bees, still The Original Mark Edwards released a great album entitled The Doom Loop on February 13. Sadly, a google search turned up precious little information about this man. Besides his MySpace page, the most I could find (well, OK, so I looked for like 5 minutes, but I'm lazy!) was at the Minnewiki. The album? Stylistically, it's all over the place. Not that that's a bad thing. Keeps you guessing, at the very least. I grabbed the album from emusic the other day.... don't get me wrong, I love emusic, but I wish they'd have some sort of liner notes downloads to go with the albums. From the Twin Cities City Pages I learned this:

It's also a solo project in the most extreme sense; just check out The Doom Loop's credit line: "OME: guitars, vocals, bass, drums, beat box, Wurlitzer, kitchen pots, violin, electric kazoo, synthesizers, hand claps, tambourine, programming, piano, toys, clarinet, organ." Amazingly, that's about it. The liner notes go on to mention that one Steve Goold, a real brick house of a drummer, performed on half of one song, and that Edwards's wife Heidi sang backup on two others. Mixing duties on a handful of tracks were farmed out. Otherwise, everything the listener hears on The Doom Loop—with its six-part vocal harmonies, unholy warbles of recircuited children's toys, and countless tracks of guitar, synth, and kitchen utensil clamor, all twisted and chunked together like so many Rubik's cube blocks into no solid color but something that much more interesting, nay, original—all of this is the work of one man.

He experiments with vocals, he experiments with instruments, and the result is an incredibly likable album. I've only listened to The Doom Loop a couple of times, but I can say that the comparisons to The Flaming Lips, Neutral Milk Hotel and Apples In Stereo are not unfounded. Think 1960's pop meets 2000's synth experimental. Very nice.

Now listen to these songs and buy The Doom Loop, too. Yay Minneapolis!



Download "The Doom Loop" (mp3)
from "The Doom Loop"
by The Original Mark Edwards (Princess Records)
Buy at eMusic

Download "Danger, Danger" (mp3)
from "The Doom Loop"
by The Original Mark Edwards (Princess Records)

look at me, i've got mp3's!

My maiden MP3 blog - because I love Rock Plaza Central so very very much:

Download "My Children, Be Joyful" (mp3)
from "Are We Not Horses"
by Rock Plaza Central (Outside Music)
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Insound
More On This Album

Download "I Am An Excellent Steel Horse" (mp3)
from "Are We Not Horses"
by Rock Plaza Central (Outside Music)

Download "When We Go, How We Go (Part II)" (mp3)
from "Are We Not Horses"
by Rock Plaza Central (Outside Music)

ah summer...

Tortoise has announced some tour dates! Nice.....

06-14 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center
06-15 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06-16 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre *
06-18 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
06-20 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
06-22 San Francisco, CA - Independent
06-23 San Francisco, CA - Independent
06-26 Seattle, WA - Neumos
07-01 Chicago, IL - Metro
07-03 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
07-05 Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Art
07-08 New York, NY - Webster Hall #

* with Hot Chip
# with Kieren Hebden, Steve Reid

Too bad no Hot Chip in Denver... that would have been fantastic.

because i love chris dubray...

it's a celebration, bitches!

I always think that I won't have much to say after shows where I'm not too familiar with the artist. But somehow I manage to think of something to say (and probably too much) every time... :)

Tonight we saw Alexi Murdoch at the Fox Theatre. However, first I must mention the opening band, Midnight Movies, because I really dug them. Actually, although I entered the theatre just at the end of their set, there was another opener (nobody I know knows their name). Leah described them as "playing the same song for ten minutes with no vocals and they were all wearing scary masks". No loss, then.

Midnight Movies seemed far too rockin' to be opening an Alexi Murdoch show, but no complaints here. Perhaps they were meant to wake the crowd up before Alexi's mellow tunes. Anyway, they were quite fun, two girls (singer/keyboards & drummer) and 2 guys (bass & guitar). The girls switched for a few songs and the singer drummed and the drummer played keys (she also played bass for at least one song). I don't really know why drums should be different from any other instrument, but I've always been impressed with people who can sing and drum at the same time. Multi-instrumentalists win me over quite handily too (as long as they are good at said instruments). These guys and gals were great. I checked out their MySpace page, and I have to say that the songs they have posted are OK, but much much better live. Which we all know is how it should be, but they are definitely worth checking out.

So, on to Alexi's set... Leah was right to recommend ingesting large amounts of caffeine before the show... lol. I think the only song of his that I was familiar with before the show was Orange Sky, which I believe is on one of the OC soundtracks. I'm just too damn lazy to look it up right now... But I knew to expect a really low-key, folksy show. He certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. The first few songs were just Alexi and his guitarist (whose name I can't fucking remember, even though Alexi mentioned him at least 4-5 times...). Shortly into the set they were joined by 3/4 of Midnight Movies - the women and the bass player. Much to my disbelief, even the addition of a bass, a drummer and another voice weren't enough to kick the energy level up a notch. So although the music and the songs were beautiful, I felt my sleepy eyes glazing over just a bit as I kind of drifted off into the mellow-ness.

Thankfully, though, about 45 minutes into the set, the band finally rocked out on a song. It didn't last long, but it was fantastic... :) They did a couple more rockers toward the end of the set, but for the most part it was definitely a very mellow show (and I need a synonym for mellow right about now). I did really enjoy the show, and Alexi broke up the tranquility (thanks Becky!) with some (as a fellow concert-goer put it) witty banter. And he certainly is a funny guy:

He mentioned that they've been watching a lot of Dave Chappelle, and Alexi compared himself and his guitarist to Rick James & Charlie Murphy (it's a celebration bitches!). Then he picked up the electric guitar, made a grand start to the next song, and realized guitar was not plugged in. Or turned on. Whatever. He suggested "rewinding" then wondered how to say "it's a celebration bitches!" backward... then he attempted it... lol.

He explained that he doesn't do the "setlist" thing, because then he would know what's happening next. Which is "bollocks" (god I wish I were European), because then he might as well play the cd. Of course, this sometimes leads to gaps between songs while Alexi is thinking... but it just gives him a chance to entertain us with his witty banter.

This is not so much funny, but worth mentioning, because we decided Alexi is getting some bad information from somewhere... History - he was supposed to play the Walnut Room (capacity 200) in Denver last year. I'd pondered going, but crapped out for some reason or another - which was OK as Alexi cancelled the show because he heard he hadn't sold too many tickets (I think that's what happened - Leah?). The Fox Theatre holds 700, and while the show wasn't sold out, there was quite a good turnout. Alexi told us that he thought only about 50 people would come out to the show... I'm so glad we did better than 50 people...

The last song of the encore was a sing-along. Although it mentioned god a lot, Alexi swore it was not a religious song, and that he is not a religious man. "All it is, is a bunch of people singing together, and what's more religious than that?" Amen.

All in all, I would definitely see Alexi again. Which is great because he intimated that he will be back in a few months. I love that he seemed genuinely happy to be playing for us. I lost count of how often he said what a great time he was having, what a great crowd we were, and how the altitude was making him loopy... :)

Oh, and I didn't even smell pot smoke, not even once. and it was Boulder...

Now playing (I had planned to be asleep by now, but my sister Becky - who works the overnight shift at a hospital in lovely Fort Collins - decided to google chat me, which is very distracting):

was this:

now this:

Yup, I've been on an Andrew Bird kick this week. Only 63 days 'til I get to see him...

although i'm not yet certain of the meaning of 8...

...I do know that I am completely smitten with a band out of Minnesota that goes by the name of Cloud Cult. I had never heard of the band until a week or so ago when I was catching up on one of my most favorite blogs - The Sneeze. If you don't read The Sneeze, you should start right this minute. I like to think of it as the Seinfeld of blogging... at it's core it's really about nothing, but it's fucking hilarious as shit. I've been a fan of The Sneeze for a couple of years, ever since I was turned on to the travesty that is Steve, Don't Eat It! Brilliant.

It was this post that caused my newfound crush. Steve at The Sneeze recommended Cloud Cult, so really, how could I pass up a chance to check them out? After all, Steve is a friend of Guster, so he has a good track record as far as musical taste goes. I managed to track down a copy of their upcoming album entitled The Meaning Of 8 (to be released April 10, 2007 - buy it!!). It sat on my iPod for about a week, and then this evening, for reasons not entirely clear to me, I was hit with the urge to give it a listen. I've played it 3 times through now, pretty much nonstop. It's that good.

Being the obsessive music fan that I am, I thought I'd do a little Cloud Cult research. God bless the internet. I was stunned to learn that The Meaning Of 8 will be Cloud Cult's 5th album!!! This is a critically acclaimed indie darling of a band that I hadn't heard of until roughly 7 days ago. Consider this: Pitchfork rated their 2005 release, entitled Advice From The Happy Hippopotamus, a whopping 8.3. Holy shit. Rest assured that will be the next "new" album that I check out.

From what I understand, The Meaning Of 8 was conceived out of a tragedy; in 2002 the two-year-old son of front man Craig Minowa passed away unexpectedly. Such knowledge only causes the lyrics to make me cry... :) During my Cloud Cult research, I noticed a lot of reviews likening The Meaning Of 8 to The Arcade Fire. I can somewhat see this comparison - Cloud Cult certainly embodies some Arcade Fire-ish elements, such as the urgency of the music and the grand instrumentation. Still, Cloud Cult projects their very own sound. And it is a brilliant sound.

Naturally, I visited Cloud Cult's homepage as a matter of course. And as if the indie pop brilliance of The Meaning Of 8 wasn't enough to win me over, I discovered that the band not only eschews major labels in favor of self promotion, but they are also dedicated environmentalists. They have this note when you click to enter their store:

Welcome,
We are happy to have you in our little Cloud Cult shop. As you probably know, we are a totally independent band. All of these Cloud Cult goodies are made with organic and/or recycled materials, and green energy credits are purchased to negate any greenhouse gases produced in manufacturing these items (that means we pay to have a lot of wind power pumped into the grid in order to provide all of the electricity we need to make this yummy stuff). We also plant ten trees for every 1,000 albums sold just to be sure any other pollutants are absorbed. We have turned away major record label interests so we can be sure we can maintain control of providing Cloud Cult music in the most environmentally friendly manner possible. By purchasing your Cloud Cult products from this website, the band receives a much higher portion of the money than if you purchase anywhere else. So please support the band by getting your goodies here. Thanks.

I command you to go forth and buy lots of Cloud Cult stuff from their website!!!!! Please also check them out live (I'm so excited for a Denver date!!!):

3/15: Austin, TX - SXSW - Showcase on 3/15 at 10pm Emo's
3/16: Austin, TX - SXSW - Daytime Fader Magazine Show
3/17: Austin, TX - SXSW - Daytime WOXY.com Show
3/17: Austin, TX - SXSW - 6pm Denver Post Show
3/30: Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
4/3: Atlanta, GA - Smith's Old Bar
4/4: Athens, GA - Tasty World (18+) $5
4/7: Elkins, WV
4/11: Washington D.C. - Black Cat (all ages) $10
4/13: Philadelphia, PA
4/14: New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
4/15: New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
4/16: Boston, MA
4/18: Chicago, IL - Schubas (21+) $10
4/19: Madison, WI
4/24: Bozeman, MT - The Filling Station (21+) $5
4/25: Missoula, MT - The Loft (18+) $8
4/26: Portland, OR - Fez Ballroom (21+) $10
4/27: Seattle, WA - Neumos (all ages) $10
4/28: Salem, OR - Willamette University (Brown Field)
4/29: Eugene, OR
5/4 : SanFrancisco, CA
5/5: Los Angeles, CA
5/6: San Diego, CA
5/10: Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
5/11: Omaha, NE
5/12: Kansas City, MO

sure, because i need ANOTHER show in march!!

Danish band Mew is coming to North America! Mew saw their 2003 debut, Frengers, finally released stateside last month, and last year released the highly-acclaimed And The Glass-Handed Kites.


Dates:

03-14 Austin, TX - SXSW (KEXP's Live from Austin City Limits show)
03-15 Austin, TX - SXSW (Brooklyn Vegan/Advanced Alternative Media party)*
03-16 Austin, TX - SXSW (Under the Radar party)
03-17 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa (SXSW) #
03-20 Washington, DC - Black Cat
03-22 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
03-23 Boston, MA - Paradise
03-26 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club
03-28 Chicago, IL - Double Door
03-31 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
04-02 Seattle, WA - Neumos
04-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards
04-04 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theatre
04-06 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
04-07 Los Angeles, CA - Fonda Theatre
07-03 Kristiansand, Norway - Quart Festival

* with Rock Plaza Central
# with Eisley, the Polyphonic Spree, Satellite Party

If only they could bring Rock Plaza Central along... if only.

expectations are for suckers...

Tonight I saw The Shins at The Fillmore. I have decided that I'm really not too fond of The Fillmore. First of all, parking is a fucking headache unless you arrive a while before the show, and I hate arriving before the show. Second, there are few good seats (or, rather, places to stand) in the auditorium, so having any sort of view (especially if you are 5'3" like me) is impossible unless you, again, arrive early. Ugh.

So, it was cold out tonight, I was dreading parking, I was dreading the Shins crowd, and by the time I got inside and ducked my way through the floor crowd to about 2/3 of the way to the stage, I was pretty crabby. Not only did parking suck, not only did I have no chance at actually seeing the stage, but I had thought the doors were at 8 and the show was at 9. Nope... doors at 7 and show at 8. Viva Voce opened and I really wanted to see them. As it was I caught their last song (We Do Not Fuck Around) which was fantastic. The good news is they are coming back to Denver next month. W00t! I'll have to catch that one for sure. Anita from Viva Voce also played with The Shins for their entire set.

Add all this to the facts that (a) I've heard The Shins don't put on the best live show (tonight was my first); and (b) I was decidedly underwhelmed by their SNL performance last month. Safe to say I was planning a negative review before the show even began. Therefore you can imagine my surprise when The Shins came out and played an energetic, animated, and extraordinarily fun 90+ minute set. I decided to take setlist notes between my fleeting and sporadic glances at the band on stage:

Sleeping Lessons
Australia
Phantom Limb
Kissing The Lipless
Mine's Not A High Horse
Girl Inform Me
Girl On The Wing
New Slang
Saint Simon (we la la'd the shit out of that motherfucker!)
%Girl Sailor
Turn A Square
Gone For Good
A Comet Appears
Turn On Me
Know Your Onion!
One By One All Day
Caring Is Creepy
---encore---
Someone I Care About (Modern Lovers cover)
Pressed In A Book
So Says I

% = This is the precise moment that a smile appeared on my face that, at last check, is still there. Girl Sailor, Turn A Square, & Gone For Good are most certainly 3 of my favorite Shins songs. Oddly enough, it was also the precise moment that a part appeared in the crowd and I at least had a fabulous view of James for (most of) the remainder of the show. Heavenly.

The only instance where the sound wasn't amazing was for Mine's Not A High Horse. The bass was really really heavy and I thought James was out of tune, but it was hard just to hear him, so it may have been the bassiness messing with my hearing... :) New Slang was also a tad bass heavy, and they played it at what seems to me a verrrrrry slow pace. It was the same way they played it on SNL, and I have to say I'm not a fan. Not that it's a rocking song to begin with, but I swear they're playing it more slowly these days. They extended One By One All Day with a lengthy jam that probably would have been more fun if I had a better view of the stage.

There is definitely something to be said about attending shows alone. First of all, you don't have to worry if someone you talked into seeing one of your "weird" bands is having a decent time. Second, you can feel free to stand wherever you want, and move whenever you want. Finally, you can eavesdrop on people's conversations. "People listening" at concerts can be great fun, and I got a gem tonight. Shortly before The Shins took the stage, the guy next to me says to his friend, "So, the singer looks like he's about 60". Huh?!? I mean, obviously James Mercer's no kid anymore, but damn, he doesn't look THAT old!! I googled James Mercer to find a picture.... here's James:

However, this guy also showed up in the google search, so maybe my concert-going friend had his James Mercer's confused:

But back to the review. The show was not nearly as Wincing-heavy as I thought it would be, though they played everything that I really wanted to hear from the new album. I've read a lot of less-than-favorable reviews about Wincing The Night Away, but I've spent an awful lot of time with it since it leaked back in, oh... October? And I have to say that it's at least as good as Oh, Inverted World or Chutes Too Narrow. Sure, there are a couple of clunkers on there (though Sea Legs, arguably the most disappointing song on the album, has really grown on me). And I'll say it now: Australia, Phantom Limb, Turn On Me & Girl Sailor will be among the most satisfying indie pop songs of 2007.

One last, pretty insignificant thing I have to say about The Shins and their new album is this: did you know that song #9 is actually called Spilt Needles, and not Split Needles? It took me quite some time to realize this. It was always "Split" on my iPod... both my, um, downloaded copy of the album, and the version on the Phantom Limb single (which I bought from Sub Pop!!!!!) I saw the song title on the web and blogs everywhere, always registering as "Split". I don't know if my brain was playing tricks on me, or if everytime I saw the song title it truly was spelled "Split", but the first time I was consciously aware of the "Spilt" spelling was when I read the record review on Pitchfork. I honestly thought that Pitchfork was guilty of a typo, which amused me greatly. However, soon afterward I received my copy of Wincing on vinyl from Sub Pop. As I unwrapped it and cradled it in my arms I noticed song #9... It really is Spilt Needles. Huh.

Now playing:

Now eating (rocket pops are the bomb):

Now drinking:

+

2007 plug award winners!

The results are in! Here are the big categories (what I consider to be the big categories anyway...). Things that make me happy and that I probably voted for (who can remember?!?) are boldy green:


• Album Of The Year: Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
• New Artist Of The Year: Arctic Monkeys ... huh.
• Female Artist Of The Year: Neko Case
• Male Artist Of The Year: Sufjan Stevens (well, I actually probably voted for M. Ward on this one, but Sufjan is a very close second!!!)
• Indie Rock Album Of The Year: Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
• Metal Album Of The Year: The Melvins - (A) Senile Animal
• Hip-Hop Album Of The Year: Spank Rock - Yoyoyoyoyo
• Americana Album Of The Year: Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
• Punk Album Of The Year: CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy
• Electronic/Dance Album Of The Year: Thom Yorke - The Eraser
• DJ Album Of The Year: Girl Talk - Night Ripper
• Avant Album Of The Year: Xiu Xiu - The Air Force
• Artist Of The Year: J Dilla
• Live Act Of The Year: Broken Social Scene
• Song Of The Year: Band Of Horses - The Funeral
• Music Video Of The Year: Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything
• Record Label Of The Year: Sub Pop
• Live Music Venue Of The Year: Bowery Ballroom, NYC, NY
• Music Festival Of The Year: South By Southwest (I gotta make a trip for SXSW one of these years...)
• Music Website Of The Year: pitchforkmedia.com
• Music Blog Of The Year: brooklynvegan.com
• Magazine Of The Year: Paste
• Record Store Of The Year: Amoeba Music, Hollywood, CA
• Music DVD Of The Yeah: The Pixies - loudQUIETloud: A Film About The Pixies
• Online Record Store Of The Year: amazon.com (wtf?!?)
  
  

  
  I'm thrilled for Band Of Horses, capturing 3 pretty high profile awards. And I love the MySpace bulletin they posted about winning:

  What the crap dudes? We won three Plug Awards thanks to you all! Not to brag or nuthin, but Album of the Year, Song Of the Year, and Americana Album of The Year all went to your little bearded bro's from So. Cack! All we can say is thank you soooooo much to those of you that gave enough of a care to vote for us. We really didn't expect to win a damn thing considering the talented company we were included with. Remember, these awards mean nothing. Unless you win, bitches! xoboh

  Shit, I love that band... lol.
  
  
  Now playing:

I've got my iPod on 'shuffle' at the moment. Here are the last 20 songs that I heard:

• The Magic Numbers - Long Legs
• Peter Bjorn And John - Education Circle
• Built To Spill - Mess With Time
• Matt Nathanson - Little Victories
• The Strokes - Hard To Explain
• Old 97's - Bel Air
• The Arcade Fire - Wake Up
• R.E.M. - I Believe
• Film School - 11:11
• Pixies - Nimrod's Son
• Neko Case - Outro With Bees (reprise)
• Silver Jews - Federal Dust
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
• Bright Eyes - First Day Of My Life
• The Beach Boys - I'm Waiting For The Day
• Slowlands - Calderone
• Neko Case - Whip The Blankets
• Spoon - Stay Don't Go
• Idlewild - Out Of Routine

dr. stringz

So, this is just way too cute not to post...

I love you Andrew Bird, regardless of any profanities I've sent your way in the past. After seeing this clip I decided that I really need to get my nieces and nephew into this Jack's Big Music Show. So today I did just that. We watched a couple episodes from Noggin On Demand. And they LOVED it! My 3 1/2 year old niece even dug out her drum so she could play along.

It's a really cute show... and it's so nice to have a kid's program that doesn't freak me out or bore me to tears. But really, how can you go wrong with a show that's basically about how much music rules?!? If you have Noggin you should check it out. Jack plays the guitar left handed and Mary plays the accordion. Need I say more?!?

o/~
String-string-a-ding-ding
String-string-a-ding-ding
String-string-a-ding-ding
String-string-a-ding-ding
o/~

the night of international girl bands

Well, I suppose that technically Camera Obscura isn't a girl band, so let's say it was a night of 1 1/3 international girl bands.

Yup, tonight was Camera Obscura at the Bluebird. Everyone was meeting at Leah & Laura's, but as usual, I was running late so I caught up with the group outside the theater - Leah, Laura, Lisa, Annie & Lloyd. How cool is it to go to a Camera Obscura show with a guy named Lloyd?!? We thought the show started at 8:00, so we got there relatively early. But nothing happened. So we drank. There were some rumours that the opener hadn't shown up, but Pony Up! did indeed take the stage just after 9:00. They are a very charming four-piece girl band from Montreal, Quebec. I really enjoyed their set; the keyboardist/lead singer has a great stage presence and I really dug the drummer. Toward the end of their set they requested that if anyone was willing to put them up for the night to come by the merch booth... the only stipulation? Females only. lol. I totally would have too, except that (a) I live about 15 miles outside of metro Denver and (b) my house is most definitely NOT in any shape to entertain visitors... But I'm sure they found a place to crash - someone even gave them a present of Pringles and candy during their set.

Camera Obscura took the stage a bit after 10:00. Setlist? No... but I'm pretty sure they played nearly everything from Let's Get Out Of This Country - I don't remember I Need All The Friends I Can Get, but I think the rest was represented. They played a couple of others too, the only one I can say for certain is I Love My Jean. I'm also quite positive that they closed the night with an amazing rendition of Razzle Dazzle Rose. I can't remember which song it was, but they had a false start on one... Tracyanne said she completely blanked on the lyrics because she was "thinking about what this place used to be and if any of you came here". Ha. The Bluebird used to be a porn theater. Yeah that's right. No I never went there.

Tracyanne also mentioned that they were impressed with the turnout. The 'Bird was nearly full, though according to her they'd heard about a week ago that they'd only sold about 50 tickets for the show. Incubus was playing down the street at The Fillmore, and she said they wondered who'd show up to see them... lol. We met a couple outside of the venue who'd come to The Bluebird because they couldn't get tickets to the Incubus show. An odd alternative, we thought, but hopefully they enjoyed the show. No doubt to any of us that CO was waaaaaaaay better than Incubus. So, we had a very enjoyable night on Camera Obscura's first Denver appearance. Let's hope they come back soon.

And now a song... because, really, how often do you get to go to a Camera Obscura show with a guy named Lloyd?!?

Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken

He said “I’ll protect you like you are the crown jewels” yet
Said he’s feeling sorrier for me the more I behave badly I can bet

Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
'Cause I can’t see further than my own nose at this moment

Jealousy is more than a word now I understand
You can stay a girl while holding a boy’s hand

Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
'Cause I can’t see further than my own nose at this moment
Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
'Cause I can’t see further than my own nose at this moment

I’ve got my life of complication here to sort out
I’ll take myself to an east coast city and walk about

Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
'Cause I can’t see further than my own nose at this moment
Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
'Cause I can’t see further than my own nose at this moment
Hey Lloyd I’m ready to be heartbroken
'Cause I can’t see further than my own nose at this moment

At this moment...

trying to catch up...

OK, it's not my fault, I was in southern California for 8 days, OK?!?

It was supposed to be a vacation, but... I was with my sister and brother-in-law and their 3 kids. So NOT a vacation!!! I love those kids, but damn... there's a reason why I don't have any of my own. Incidentally, if you want the most effective birth control ever... spend 8 days and 7 nights with other people's kids. Trust me.

Anyhoo, I'm back in town and feeling quite out of the loop. I haven't posted in a while, and am just catching up on all the news. So here are some blurbs that are of interest to me, if nobody else.

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Prince played the Superbowl halftime show on Sunday. Kick ass... except that I was watching the game with a bunch of NON Prince appreciators. Prince is a God. Sadly I had to resort to youtube the day after to get the full effect of his performance. He still kicks ass on that guitar. Especially in the pouring rain, oh yeah. Of course, NOW the FCC "broadcast decency" watchdogs are accusing Prince of using his guitar as an "inappropriate phallic symbol". [sarcasm] Prince? Nooooo.... [/sarcasm]. As for me, I'd much rather see Prince's penis guitar than Janet Jackson's nipple. Am I right?

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Will Sheff and Josh Ritter scheduled a handful of west coast dates for later this winter. Unfortunately, however, Will Sheff lost his voice and consequently had to cancel the tour. Too bad, except that they weren't coming to Colorado, so fuck 'em. BUT... Okkervil River is heading to the studio and will hopefully release an album this year. Happy, happy!

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Band Of Horses will be back in the studio/on a little tour of the southeast come March:

03-10 St. Augustine, FL - Cafe Eleven *
03-11 Sunrise, FL - Langerado Festival
03-12 Orlando, FL - The Social *
03-13 Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds *
03-14 Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
03-15 Knoxville, TN - Blue Cats *
05-18-20 Minehead, England - ATP vs. the Fans Festival

* with Cary Ann Hearst and the Gun Street Girls

I so cannot wait for the new album...

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We've got a tracklist for the new Bright Eyes album, Cassadega, which will be released on April 10 (Saddle Creek):

01 Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed)
02 Four Winds
03 If the Brakeman Turns My Way
04 Hot Knives
05 Make a Plan to Love Me
06 Soul Singer in a Session Band
07 Classic Cars
08 Middleman
09 Cleanse Song
10 No One Would Riot for Less
11 Coat Check Dream Song
12 I Must Belong Somewhere
13 Lime Tree

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Arctic Monkeys revealed some album details: Favourite Worst Nightmare will be released on April 23rd in the UK, very next day in the US (Domino). Tracklist:

01 Brianstorm
02 Teddy Picker
03 D Is for Dangerous
04 Balaclava
05 Fluorescent Adolescent
06 Only Ones Who Know
07 Do Me a Favour
08 This House Is a Circus
09 If You Were There, Beware
10 The Bad Thing
11 Old Yellow Bricks
12 505

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More album news, you say? I've got some! Maximo Park have announced April 2 as the release date for their sophomore effort, Our Earthly Pleasures. I'm not sure if there's a definite US release date as of yet.

Tracklist:

01 Girls Who Play Guitars
02 Our Velocity
03 Books From Boxes
04 Russian Literature
05 Karaoke Plays
06 Your Urge
07 The Unshockable
08 By the Monument
09 Nosebleed
10 A Fortnight's Time
11 Sandblasted and Set Free
12 Parisian Skies

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Chin Up, Chin Up and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are touring together this month:

02-15 Grand Rapids, MI - Division Avenue Arts Cooperative
02-16 Toronto, Ontario - Sneaky Dee's
02-17 Montreal, Quebec - Casa del Popolo
02-18 Allston, MA - Great Scott
02-19 Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall
02-20 Medford, MD - Tufts University
02-21 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
02-22 Washington, DC - Black Cat

No Colorado... bummer. But SSLYBY will be stopping by in April:

02-08 Springfield, MO - Jefferson Starship *
02-11 Springfield, MO - Borders (instore performance)
03-09 London, Ontario - Salt #
03-10 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda #
03-11 Boston, MA - Axis #
03-13 New York, NY - Gramercy Theatre #
03-14 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts #
03-15 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-16 Austin, TX - SXSW
03-17 Norfolk, VA - NorVA #
03-19 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
03-20 Winston Salem, NC - Ziggy's #
03-22 Charlotte, NC - Neighborhood Theatre #
03-23 Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre #
03-24 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse #
03-25 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel #
03-27 Cincinnati, OH - 20th Century Theater #
03-28 Chicago, IL - House of Blues #
03-29 Cleveland, OH - House of Blues #
03-30 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall #
03-31 Grand Rapids, MI - Intersection #
04-01 Urbana, IL - Canopy Club #
04-03 Milwaukee, WI - Rave #
04-05 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line #
04-06 Omaha, NE - Rock #
04-10 St. Louis, MO - Gargoyle Club #
04-12 Lawrence, KS - Granada #
04-13 Little Rock, AR - Revolution Room #
04-14 Norman, OK - Union Court at University of Oklahoma #
04-16 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre #
04-18 Boise, ID - Venue #
04-20 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards #
04-21 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater #
04-22 Seattle, WA - Neumos #
04-24 San Francisco, CA - Slim's #
04-25 Los Angeles, CA - House of Blues #
04-26 San Diego, CA - House of Blues #
04-29 Phoenix, AZ - Clubhouse #
05-01 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater #
05-03 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa #
05-04 Dallas, TX - Gypsy Ballroom #
05-06 Houston, TX - Meridian #
05-07 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues #

* with Drew Danburry, BIGBIGcar, Andy Zipf, Them Damn Kids, Nathanial Carroll
# with Mute Math, the Cinematics

Of course they have to come to the Fox the same night that Sunset Rubdown is at the Hi-Dive. Probably won't make it to this one...

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Deerhunter will be touring come March in support of their fantastic new album Cryptograms:

03-02 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn *
03-03 Charleston, SC - Music Farm +
03-04 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse +
03-14 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon (Gas Food Lodging Music Festival)
03-15 Austin, TX - Soho Lounge (SXSW)
03-16 Austin, TX - Emo's Jr. (SXSW; Pitchfork party) #%
03-18 Houston, TX - Mink ^%
03-31 Jackson, MS - George Street Grocery
04-04 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle $
04-06 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar %
04-07 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge %
04-10 Seattle, WA - Neumos %
04-11 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard's on Richards %
04-12 Portland, OR - Dante's %
04-13 San Francisco, CA - 12 Galaxies %
04-14 Los Angeles, CA - Echo %
04-23 Toronto, Ontario - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
04-25 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Upstairs
04-26 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
04-28 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
04-29 Washington, DC - Rock & Roll Hotel

* with Grizzly Bear, the Papercuts
+ with Sparklehorse, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter
# with Girl Talk, Menomena, RJD2, the Pipettes, Do Make Say Think, Simian Mobile Disco, Fujiya & Miyagi, Beach House, Marnie Stern, Crystal Castles
^ with the Black Lips
% with the Ponys
$ with Nudge

Holy crap, SXSW is going to be amazing this year.

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Alright, that's it. I'm all newsed out. Here are some albums that I've been enjoying lately:



In case you're wondering, they are: Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha; The Broken West - I Can't Go On, I'll Go On; Roddy Woomble - My Secret Is My Silence; Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder; The Shins - Wincing The Night Away; The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible; Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?; Alkaline Trio - Remains; Deerhunter - Cryptograms; Jamie T - Panic Prevention; The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America; M. Ward - Post-War; Menomena - Friend & Foe; Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity; Bright Eyes - Four Winds EP; Oxford Collapse - Remember The Night Parties; Richmond Fontaine - Thirteen Cities; Okkervil River - Overboard & Down EP. Good, good stuff.

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Here are some upcoming shows that I would really like to attend, though I'll have to get a second job to pay for March's concerts alone...:

Feb 8 Camera Obscura @ The Bluebird
Feb 13 Glen Phillips @ Soiled Dove OR Grizzly Bear @ Larimer Lounge (which one???)
Feb 15 The Shins @ The Fillmore
Feb 17 Sparklehorse @ The Gothic OR The Roots/Lupe Fiasco @ The Fillmore (decisions, decisions...)
Feb 21 Alexi Murdoch @ Fox Theatre
Feb 24 The Autumn Defense @ Soiled Dove
Mar 2 Cold War Kids @ Hi-Dive
Mar 5 Clipse @ The Gothic
Mar 6 Snow Patrol/OK Go/Silversun Pickups @ The Fillmore
Mar 7 Dropkick Murphys @ The Fillmore
Mar 9 Malajube @ Larimer Lounge
Mar 10 Midlake @ Hi Dive
Mar 17 Sebadoh @ Fox Theatre
Mar 18 Badly Drawn Boy @ Fox Theatre
Mar 19 Viva Voce @ Hi-Dive
Mar 20 TV On The Radio @ The Ogden OR Dr. Dog @ Larimer Lounge (leaning toward Dr. Dog...)
Mar 22 The Hold Steady/The Thermals @ Hi Dive
Mar 30 Subtle @ Larimer Lounge
Apr 5 Neko Case @ The Gothic
Apr 7 Menomena @ Hi-Dive OR Deerhunter @ Larimer Lounge (damn it...)
Apr 10 The Long Winters @ The Bluebird
Apr 15 The Frames @ Boulder Theater
Apr 16 Sunset Rubdown @ Hi-Dive
Apr 22 Ted Leo + Pharmacists @ The Gothic
Apr 22 The Decemberists @ The Fillmore

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I only now realized that I have tickets to both Ted Leo & The Decemberists... I gotta start writing this shit down. Why oh why do The Decemberists dates always clash with other shows I want to see?!? Anyone need a ticket for Ted Leo + Pharmacists?