Misc. Music Archives
« Page 14 of 24 »Happy 10th Birfday (tomorrow) OK Computer. Until today I hadn't listened to this record in ages, but after giving it two consecutive spins on my iPod, I put forth the two immutable truths:
1) OK Computer is a classic record, but The Bends is still better. You absolutely cannot convince me otherwise.
2) OK Computer is probably the best sounding headphone record ever made. It sounds heavenly on my iPod and crappy $40 Sony earbuds. Respect to you, sir. Have I ever told you my "Meeting Nigel Godrich story?" A quick check of the archives, says no. I really need to write that up for posterity's sake. It's a doozy.
Winner of headline of the day?
No alarms and no surprises, pliés. You know, about the Radiohead ballet? Get it? Nevermind.
Speaking of Birfdays, mine is next Wednesday. Yes, next week the worlds oldest music blogger gets even older. Trust me, it's more traumatic for me than it is you. Since I already got what I asked for, what I want is for you to come to the show and come get a drink with me beforehand at DC 9. Rock!
Speaking of Nevermind. Totally overrated. So is Meat is Murder. And Pet Sounds. And Marquee Moon. And a bunch of other "classic" records.
If you do one thing today, you really need to watch this nutter pushing Robbie Williams off the stage during one of his shows. Hilarious. And while you're at it, be sure to watch the two interviews with Liam where he calls the new batch of Brit bands "indie shitheads" and someone asks him a question about The Darkness and he replies, "WHO?" Awesome.
Seriously. Other than opening for the Pixies in Maryland (a scant two weeks after the Pixies did two nights at DAR), they've never played a D.C. date. A disappointing trend that will continue on the forthcoming MP tour.
July 11th – Great Scott – Boston, MA
July 12th – Webster Hall – New York, NY
July 13th – LaTulipe – Montreal, QC
July 14th – Mod Club – Toronto, ON
July 15th – Double Door – Chicago, IL
July 17th – Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN
July 19th – Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
July 20th – Club Sound – Salt Lake City, UT
July 22nd – Chop Suey – Seattle, WA
July 23rd – Richard’s On Richard’s Cabaret – Vancouver, BC
July 24th – Doug Fir Lounge – Portland, OR
July 26th – Popscene – San Francicso, CA
July 27th – El Rey – Los Angeles, CA
July 28th – The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Monsters Are Waiting will be opening on all the dates above.
One of the wonderful (or horrible, depending on your POV) things about iTunes is that because of the sheer amount of music most of us have, your library tends to have a few undiscovered little gems hiding in plain sight, songs you added long ago and never listened to. And when they get served up, occasionally they make you perk up and say "This is fucking awesome, but who the hell is it?" and when you see who it is, you're all like "Really?"
This happened to me a few weeks ago. The song was "The Children of December" by The Slip. I saw The Slip open for My Morning Jacket last year at the 9:30 Club, but didn't remember much about them other than their funny hats. I had another song of theirs, a happy-go-lucky space-rock jam named "Even Rats" that I liked, but for some unknown reason, I never listened to "Children of December." But when I finally did, it made me sit up and take notice. The song sounds like Matt Pond PA playing a long lost Sloan song and it is, in a word, brilliant.
Anyway, I gave them the short shrift when they came through last year, so I'm going to have to do some research and get some more of their stuff. In the meantime, here are those two songs for your listening pleasure:
[MP3] The Slip | Children Of December
[MP3] The Slip | Even Rats
Last night, after winning 60 bucks on slots at Paris, Las Vegas and wandering around the Strip drinking crappy draft beer while trying in vain to get a hold of a decent beer (seriously, the beer selection in Vegas casinos is teh suxxor), I came back to my room at the relatively early for Vegas 11 o'clock (effing jetlag) and checked my email before hitting the sack. In it was a message from someone named "Teddy" that basically said, in a somewhat playful way "'Treading water?!?' Do you have any idea how hard I worked on that you no good so and so..." I'm thinking to myself, "Who the fuck is this? I don't know anyone named Teddy." And then a light went off and I realized who it was.
That email was from Ted Leo.
He was emailing me about an unrelated matter and I guess he was poking around on my site and found my half assed review of Living With The Living. Ouch. Imagine trying to explain to one of your favorite artists why you aren't really feeling their latest release. Let's just say I was backpedaling like a motherfucker. Luckily for me Ted was just taking the piss and we've exchanged emails since then. Best.
Seriously, I ask you, how can you not heart Ted Leo?
He's on tour in Europe right now, but next time you see him, tell him "Fuck information leafblower!"
While I was in Europe, the lineup for the Virgin Festival at Pimlico was announced and, while it's not exactly a slam dunk, it's still pretty good and strong enough not to make me regret not ponying up for a flight to Chicago for Lollapalooza. Of course, it doesn't hurt that many of the bigger bands on the lineup are playing both festivals.
Here's how the lineup shakes out:
Day 1
Amy Winehouse / Beastie Boys / Ben Harper / Booka Shade / Cheap Trick / Danny Tenaglia / Sasha & John Digweed / Felix Da Housecat / Fiction Plane / Fountains Of Wayne / The Fratellis / Incubus / LCD Soundsystem / Miguel Migs (Petalpusher) / Modest Mouse / Paolo Nutini / Peter Bjorn And John / The Police / Sander Van Doorn / Shout Out Out Out / TV On The Radio
Day 2
311 / Bad Brains / The Crystal Method (DJ Set) / CSS / Deep Dish (Dubfire and Sharam) / Dieselboy & Andy C / Girl Talk / Infected Mushroom / Interpol / James Zabiela / M.I.A. / Matisyahu / Regina Spektor / Smashing Pumpkins / Spoon / Velvet Revolver / Wu Tang Clan / Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Chris Cornell was originally announced as part of the lineup but has since decided to pass. Accordingly, chatter on the 9:30 message board says there are still a few more bands to announce.
Overall, the lineups for the festival circuit in general is kinda lacking this year. Lolla is meh, same for Pitchfork. I can't ever see me going to Bonnarroo, no matter how great the lineup is, because leaf doesn't do camping. I'd have to say the best festival lineup of the year has to be the newly announced Austin City Limits which has somehow booked all of the available heavy hitters in one place.
Alternate post title: Damore, You Can Just Skip This One
Depending on your tastes, Saturday's DC101 Chili Cook-Off either got considerably worse or much better with the addition of indie rock whipping boys The Bravery. Count me among the latter. We've been through this all before, but I'm a fan and am curious as to how their upcoming album, produced by Brendan O'Brien, will sound. I'm hoping it will be better than The Music's abysmal Welcome to the North, although I have to say most of the material I've heard so far has been middling mid-tempo indie meh. Drummer Anthony Burulcich recently said The Sun and The Moon will see the band "branch off and get experimental - slow tempo songs, mid tempo. We all sing background harmonies on this record as well." Hmmmmmmmm...
Here's the band's new video for "Time Won't Let Me Go."
Slightly related: This probably only interests me, but it wasn't so long ago that I thought photos like this were pretty good. Yikes. I've come a long way in just two years.
Finally, some warmish weather for D.C.! To celebrate, here is my favorite Pulp b-side, from the "Disco 2000" CD single:
[MP3] Pulp | Ansaphone
Easily one of my favorite "guy gets dumped by girl" songs ever. I've listened to it many a time.
And just for the heck of it, here's the video for "Disco 2000":
Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown?
When the D.C. area Arcade Fire show was announced way back when, I didn't pay much attention to it because I quickly figured out that I would still be in Europe on that date, so there was no need for me to get worked up about it. And while I like Neon Bible, I honestly haven't listened to it THAT much and it hasn't really blown me away when I have. I'm sure I'll go back and revisit it in-depth in a month or two when the hype dies down a little, but until then I am secure in the feeling that there was no way the upcoming DAR show would ever top their show in January of '06 at the 9:30 Club.
That was, until today. The National were announced as the openers for the Arcade Fire's DAR show show and six others. Holy fucking hell. I doubt I'll even remember the gig is happening while Ms. Smith and I are frolicking around in German beer gardens and eating our weight in schnitzels, but I'm sure everyone that already has tickets is a very happy camper today. At least, they should be.
In case you were (like me) unaware, The National have set up a new website for their new album Boxer. Here it is. Also, here's a a promotional video by Vincent Moom for one of my favorite tracks off the new record:
I heartily encourage you to go buy the record when it drops in late May, but if you can't wait that long, you can get the above song a few others here. At the very least, be sure to catch The National on their headlining tour around the country in June. As I've mentioned before, they're playing D.C. on my birthday!
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