denver/boulder shows for 2/25 - 3/2/08

Monday, February 25
Black Cobra @ Larimer Lounge
Hieroglyphics @ Fox Theatre
Katt Williams @ Paramount Theatre

Tuesday, February 26
The Hives @ Ogden Theater
Mahjongg @ Larimer Lounge
New York Dolls @ Gothic Theatre
Sole And The Skyrider Band @ Hi-Dive

Wednesday, February 27
Goatwhore @ Larimer Lounge
PENG(I)N @ Gothic Theatre
The Shadow Sessions @ Fox Theatre

Thursday, February 28
Appetite For Destruction @ Fox Theatre
Arsonists Get All The Girls @ Marquis Theater
Built To Spill @ Gothic Theatre
Ghost Buffalo @ Larimer Lounge
The XYZ Affair @ Hi-Dive

Friday, February 29
A-Sides @ Hi-Dive
Airbourne @ Bluebird Theater
American Relay @ Larimer Lounge
Avenged Sevenfold @ Fillmore Auditorium
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony @ Ogden Theater
Lisa Lampanelli @ Boulder Theater
Mark Farina @ Fox Theatre
Savage Henry @ Soiled Dove
The Stigmas @ Walnut Room
Synthetic Elements @ Gothic Theatre

Saturday, March 1
Astrophagus @ Hi-Dive
The Crimson Red @ Gothic Theatre
Dartanian @ Marquis Theater
Gil Mantera's Party Dream @ Larimer Lounge
John Oates @ Boulder Theater
Kyle Hollingsworth Band @ Fox Theatre
Oakhurst CD Release Party @ Bluebird Theater

Sunday, March 2
Lifehouse/Matt Nathanson @ Paramount Theatre
Adrian Belew Power Trio @ Fox Theatre
Dilated Peoples @ Bluebird Theater

up next

The Besnard Lakes - Are The Dark Horse


Rock Plaza Central - Are We Not Horses


Hot IQs - An Argument Between The Brain And Feet


The Ladybug Transistor - Argyle Heir


Silver Jews - The Arizona Record
Man, this has gotta be about as lo-fi as music can get...


Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
I *heart* Andrew Bird.


Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Armed Forces


Get Him Eat Him - Arms Down


Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday


Smoking Popes - At Metro


Matt Nathanson - At The Point


The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics
Nope, still can't get into this one.


Pete Townshend's Attic Jam
Some really nice stuff here.


Endrick Brothers - Attraction Versus Love


P.O.S. - Audition


Cloud Cult - Aurora Borealis


R.E.M. - Automatic For The People


Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche


Pink Mountaintops - Axis Of Evol

And that, my friends, brings us to the end of the "A" albums!

get cape. wear cape. fly.

Straight from the source:

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly

Searching For The Hows And Whys

Let the journey begin!

So starts the second album from 21-year-old Sam Duckworth, aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. And it really is some journey, one that adds a roomful of musicians to the laptop and guitar that populated his critically acclaimed first album, 2006’s The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager and that quantum leaps his sound into musically broad and defiantly joyful new territory. It marries GCWCF’s proven lyrical talent with expansive orchestration, razor-sharp laptop beats, folkish, fervent guitars and even a touch of afro-beat. “I started making it on my computer as we were touring, but the more I got into it, the less I wanted to make a bedroom sounding record. I wanted a tangible step forwards.” So he called in an orchestra and realised a new vision that is both intimate and raw. You can hear the strings emote – but you can also hear ‘em scrape.

It’s a long way from his early teen beginnings as a gig promoter prone to playing agit-emo sets in-between the hardcore punk acts he booked at local scuzz-holes. Since he signed to Atlantic in 2006 zipped up and down the British rail network gigging intensively, had two tracks featured on The O.C, supported The Flaming Lips and Funeral For A Friend, played three riotous shows at 2007's Glastonbury Festival and a show-stealing performance at the Carling Weekend, and picked up a 2007 NME Awards nomination for Best Solo Artist. “We headlined the Astoria on my 21st but I’ve always been more of a punk rock person than anything else and I’d love to headline Brixton Academy. It’s the holy grail.”

Searching For The Hows And Whys contains a mix that reflects a crazy, colourful twelve months for Southend’s favourite musician since acid jazzer Snowboy powered up the local soulsters. Since the last album GCWCF has recorded in a strange Brazilian choir singing grunge songs over beats with Kieran Hebden, ended up in hospital during the Berlin leg of his last tour, and travelled to the Cobngo as part of Damon Albarn’s Africa Express project – with the last two events being connected by way of an exotic amoeba. And seeing as GCWCF is marking himself out as one of the UK’s most adventurous and interesting artists, it’s no surprise that he’s got a sparky sideline on the go: a hip hop re-telling of American Psycho, featuring as yet-unveiled American artists. There are already a few gigs booked for the summer.

But back to the album in hand. It was written on tour and in London, during a few months of intensive 18 hour sessions. Once the songs had a basic shape, GCWCF began looking for someone to co-produce it with him – and seeing as Beyond Skin was pretty much his favourite record ever, asked Nitin Sawhney if he’d come on board. “If someone had told me three years ago that I would be recording an album with an orchestra, produced by Nitin Sawnhey I would have thought that sounded rubbish,” he says with a smile. “But Nitin’s great at finding the best character to fill the spaces in a song. I couldn’t have trusted him more. I know his records inside out, we were thinking the same things.” The resulting album is powerfully political. “On the last album I danced around things a bit. Some of these songs couldn’t be more direct.” Fundamentalist religion, pointless consumerism, bitter sex – they all get the GCWCF treatment.

Take ‘The Children Are (The Consumers Of) The Future’, which was written around the time of ‘Chronicles…’ and channels one of those “horrible” monologues where Carrie in Sex And The City realises that shoes are the answer to her emotional problems. It’s also a good example of how GCWCF’s musical plan has changed since the first record. “It was one of those songs that were just around. We did an in-store at Pure Groove and sang it for some reason. When we went back to the studio we decided to go as far left as possible with it. We had trumpet players blowing as hard as they could in one key, so it wasn’t really a note. It was just finding new ways of making sounds. Everyone thought we’d lost our minds.”

‘Better Things’ features a duet with long time friend and touring partner, Kate Nash. “It’s a song about that classic thing where people want to talk to you, or want things from you because you’re in a band.”

Listen carefully and you’ll hear a few musical influences making their collective presence felt. There are shadows of The Manics and Fela Kuti on ‘The Children Are (The Consumers Of) The Future’; of Simon and Garfunkel and Elliot Smith on ‘Postcard From Catalunya’ and shades of a mystical, clear-eyed Shaun Ryder and DJ Shadow on ‘Could’ve Seen It All’. By some alchemical combination of hard work, prodigious talent and a determination to push his sound forward, it coheres – beautifully. “The first album was a snapshot in time, but that’s not where I am now. This record is about my ambition, and about where I want to get in the future.”

Of course there are the lyrics too. “I’ve always been into interesting ways of saying things that are very simple. Imagery and old fashioned language is definitely my thing.” Or as he says on ‘Postcards From Catalunya “We talk in circles, but we move in narrow lines.” The album title comes from a lyric in the Orwell-referencing ‘Postcards From Catalunya’. “It was the original track title for that song, but it seemed to encompass what I’m about. Progress happens through trying to find solutions to problems – keep questioning, keep challenging things.”

Which sums it up, really.

The album tracklist is:

1. Let The Journey Begin
2. Waiting For The Monster To Drown
3. Young And Lovestruck
4. Postcards From Catalunya
5. The Children Are (The Consumers Of) The Future
6. Window Of Your Mind
7. I Could Build You A Tower
8. Keep Singing Out
9. Moving Forward
10. Find The Time
11. This Could Be All
12. Better Things
13. Could’ve Seen It All

this is getting long so i'm posting...

I don't know why I feel the need to post everything I'm listening to, but I do. So ignore me if you want. I'll probably be updating every few days or whenever I think the posts are getting out of hand. :)

For this week, I begin by backtracking a bit since I just re-loaded some albums I haven't heard in a while to the ol' iPod...


Wilco - A.M.
Man, I totally forgot that "Casino Queen" is on this album. If you'd asked me yesterday I would've said it was on Being There. 1995, y'all. I didn't discover Wilco until 1998. I wish I had liked Sky Blue Sky more... Yes, I'm rambling.


Eddie From Ohio - Actually Not
EFO is probably the best 17-year-old band that nobody has ever heard of. Well, maybe not nobody, but they aren't too well-known outside of (a) their home state of Virginia (not Ohio) and (b) the folk music circle. Actually Not was one of their first albums; a lot of it is live and it's great but at 20 tracks it's just a tad on the long side, and could probably stand to lose 7-8 songs or maybe be released as one regular album and one live album... but I digress. Now, I don't really know if I believe in god or heaven, but "In Paradise" makes me cry every time I hear it.

I first heard of EFO about 10 years ago, and have been lucky enough to see them live probably at least half a dozen times (they're one of the best live bands out there). Plus I ran into two of the band members once at a Moxy Früvous show in Alexandria, VA (I was even fortuitously wearing an EFO t-shirt), and they are some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. Unfortunately lead singer Julie was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago and consequently the band hasn't been able to tour as extensively as they used to. Check them out.

Wow, I am "blurby" today... :)

Oh, and me at a Moxy Früvous show in Alexandria, VA? That may be a story for another time... Ah, my younger days...


Sarah Harmer - All Of Our Names
Kind of a letdown after Sarah's debut album You Were Here, which I will be getting to probably somewhere around thanksgiving... lol. I really like "Dandelions In Bullet Holes" and "Go To Sleep" though...


Almost Famous OST
"This song explains why I'm leaving home to become a stewardess."
Ahh, I just saw this movie for the umpteenth time the other night. Do I still love it? Oh yeah. Do I still get tears in my eyes during the "Tiny Dancer" scene? Fuck yeah. What a great flick. And if there's any cuter "kid" actor than Patrick Fugit... well, I'd like to see that.


Adorable. Add Jason Lee & Zooey Deschanel and you've got yourself a winner!!


Grateful Dead - American Beauty
I've never been much of a Dead fan, but you can't deny this one is a classic.


American Beauty OST
Great movie, pretty ace soundtrack.


Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
Ugh, that cover is god awful...


Marah - Angels Of Destruction!


Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
Lovely.


Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
I loves me some "New Madrid"...


Golden Smog - Another Fine Day
Just a Tweedy kinda day.


Bob Dylan - Another Side Of Bob Dylan
You really can't go wrong with old school Bobby D!


Pela - Anytown Graffiti
Pela's back in Denver next month... w00t!


Tory Cassis - Anywhere But Here
Holy shit, I haven't listened to this in the longest time. A bit too jazzy for my tastes but still Tory has a trés sexy voice. He's one of those artists who comes across much better live than on record too - I saw him open for Moxy Früvous in Toronto and, I think, in Detroit...


They Might Be Giants - Apollo 18
The Johns in their crazy early days.


Wolf Parade - Apologies To The Queen Mary
Oh, how I love Spencer Krug...


Kris Delmhorst - Appetite
Cool folk chick/member of Redbird.


Land Of Talk - Applause Cheer Boo Hiss


The Arcade Fire - Arcade Fire EP

[taking a break to listen to the new TBLLT songs. Over. And over. And over. And over. Again.]

And now I'm taking another break for this:



I will be returning to the regularly scheduled program when I am done with my TBLLT excitement... :)

tbllt is a machine

Today I received some lovely news in my inbox:

hello,

we've put two new songs up on our myspace page for you to listen to. the first song is called 'the boy least likely to is a machine' and the second song is called 'a balloon on a broken string', and they're both taken from our new album which will be released in the summer. there is more news and a tiny bit more detail in a weblog also called 'two little songs'.

also, this week we're making a new website. so if you go there you won't find anything except for a page telling you that we're making a new website and a link to our myspace page. so it's probably best just to go straight to our myspace page for news and things.

i hope you like the new songs.

with love from

the boy least likely to

x

To hear the new songs: TBLLT MySpace.

I'm really digging on these songs. "TBLLT Is A Machine" fuses banjo and spacey synth in a weird but winning combination. "A Balloon On A Broken String" is vintage TBLLT - all bouncy on the outside, all dark and brooding on the inside.

God, I can't wait for the new album...

-----

Mid-evening edit... These songs are making me sublimely happy right now: