Misc. Music Archives
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Big ups to Will Eastman and Bliss. They are hosting a gig by Annie at the Black Cat on December 2nd!
Hoboken
Boston (twice)
Athens, GA
Atlanta
Philadelphia
Portland, OR
Chapel Hill, NC
Reading, UK (twice)
Leeds, UK
Dublin
All cities I have excitedly traveled to in order to see the Super Furry Animals play. This doesn't count the 11+ times I've seen them play in NYC. After this tour I will be able to add Norfolk and now Chicago to that list. Catherine was throwing the big guilt trip around like glasses of water at Matt Yglesias so I begrudgingly checked airfare to the Windy City for the Furries Nov. 20th gig at the Metro and you won't believe how much round trip tickets are. $78! From National! With tax and all, it's a whopping $103. I can't afford NOT to go. The lesson, as always, is peer pressure is a bitch. Catherine, prepare the magic futon. It's on! Same for you Charles. And you Matt. People get ready. Yay for impulse travel! It doesn't seem like a proper SFA tour if I don't get to see them at least four times. And yes, I am a dork. Thanks for asking.
Stylus plays Yahweh with The Joshua Tree.
Noted by Frank yesterday, the new Moz album will be out on March 20 of next year. A new single drops in Feb.
The Wu Tang gives Apple a shout out.
Funny cats video. [via The Oculus]
Write effectively for the web.
Myspace has been getting a ton of press lately. Here's the big piece in Wired and something from the Guardian.
The Sports Guy gives us his NBA preview. Part One. Part Two will drop today.
Delonte West messed around and almost got a triple double as the C's beat the Knicks in OT last night. Unfortunately, most of the press outside of Boston has been focusing on Larry Brown. It's going to be a long season for him. Not that I care. PP had 12 rebounds to go along with his 30 points. Ricky Davis added 27 and to top it all off, Mark Blount dropped 19. So far, so good. We host Detroit on Friday.
(In lieu of actual content) Here's a list of some of the things that have been occupying my time lately:
Directors Label DVD's Boxed Set Vol. 2
I scored these last week and they haven't left my DVD player since. There is some fascinating material on here, and I'm not just talking about the videos. I love listening to the director's talk about their creative process, their lighting techniques, their editing decisions, etc. In fact, I like the documentaries and commentary more than the videos themselves. I'm not exactly the biggest Mark Romanek fan in the world, but if wants to talk about his inspirations and techniques for each of his videos, I'm listening. The funniest thing about these four DVD's? Bono is interviewed on at least three of them (and he's probably on the Glazer DVD, I just need to doublecheck). The Corbijn DVD is easily my personal fave, although they left off the video for Depeche Mode's "I Feel You" (The really stark black and white one) in favor of some of his weaker work. *shrug*
Tom Vek - We Have Sound
The first few times I listened to this CD I thought half of it was brilliant and the other half was crap. A few more listens have really brought me around. His "sound" is basically playing an acoustic guitar over some drum loops and samples, but it works. He's playing the Black Cat next week and I'm very excited to see how he recreates his sound in a live setting. Especially in a room like the Black Cat's backstage.
Beta Band - The Best of the Beta Band
So best. I love this band, although I'm a bit puzzled as to why they left off "Broken Up A Dingdong" off of this disc. The extra CD with the live concert is incredible. I've been searching for a decent live version of "Dr. Baker" since their first disc came out and I finally have it! Also, best greatest hits cover art ever.
Beatles - 1962-1966
So essential. It's been on endless repeat ever since I saw Macca a few weeks ago.
Emusic - I've been using my subscription much more than I thought I would when I signed up. This really is a great option to try out new music for just $10 a month. It's hard to beat. This month I picked up the new Ladytron album, Alligator by The National, Underworld's seminal classic Second Toughest in the Infants (thanks for the heads up Coolfer), and half of the Danger Doom record.
Goldenfiddle.com
Spencer gets a special shout out (in addition to his top notch blogging skillz) for totally hooking me up with two entire discs of live Super Furry goodness. Man, I am so looking forward to their upcoming US tour (which starts next week!). Which leads me to my next item...
I think I have decided on the Canon Powershot G6 for my next camera. It's bigger than I originally wanted, but it should take much better pictures than what I'm used to. Hopefully I'll have it in time for the Super Furry tour madness at the start of next month. Thanks to Frank Chromewaves for the advice. You talked me into it.
People, it's time to party! We are making progress!
Coolfer has a We Are Scientists MP3 for your downloading pleasure.
Although I am very mich an East Coast kind of guy, IF I lived on the West Coast, I would be making some plans to catch The Silver Sun Pickups touring with Brendan Benson. That is a great bill with two artists I'm dying to see. Benson's latest record, The Alternative To Love is climbing my year end Top 10 list by leaps and bounds each time I listen to it.
Loving these concert posters. [via Largehearted Best]
Oh no! I'm 100% sure I'm the only person on the planet that cares about this, but now who's going to annouce the second round of next year's NBA Draft? Yes, these are things I think about.
My We Are Scientists interview will be up on DCist later today.
Last Night!
To be honest, last night kind of sucked. The Sox lost and then after arriving at the Black Cat, it turned out that, contrary to what I was told earlier, I was not on The Lemonheads guest list, so Sommer and I decided not to pay $20 to see them play. This Echo & the Bunnymen gig in November has really skewed my concert ticket value system. Those tickets only cost $20, so I keep comparing everything to that total. $20 for The Lemonheads? Not hardly. I'm thinking like $15. $25 for Death Cab? As if.
When I got up this morning, there was an email from the tour mamanger, sent at 2:17 a.m., explaining that he didn't check his email until AFTER the gig. Right, because why in the world would even think about doing it BEFORE the gig? So I didn't get to hear "My Drug Buddy" or "Hannah and Gabi" or anything like that. Did anyone go? How was it? And I also missed Lost, so do not breathe a fucking word of it over here until I spend some quality time with my DVR. I guess no visits to the land of Zunta for me today.
Thankfully Mark Gardener fucking ruled during his short set at the 930 Club. He played about eight songs and had a small but vocal crowd of grizzled shoegazer fans down in front of the stage. He played two Ride songs, "Vapour Trail", which was lovelier than words, and also "In A Different Place". I had seen him once before, playing solo at the Knitting Factory, when I lived in NYC (before I started blogging, if you can believe it), but this time he was backed by another guitar player and a female keyboard/tambourine player that also did backing vocals. Oh, and she sang a song too. The other people on stage really added alot to the songs, filling in all the little flourishes that you rememeber from the records. The keyboardist did the string parts in "Vapour Trail" while the other guitarist filled in the secondary guitar parts, and it was tiggs. Mark Gardener: worth $15! He says he'll be back in December with a full band! w00t! Peep my photos here.
What's causing all the traffic in Houston?
You knows it! Peep the Jackie Christie Collection!
Deadspin crashes the Sports Guy book signing in NYC, which was at...The Riviera Cafe? WTF?
El WaPo disses Dcist yet again. Also under discussion today, isn't the term "web blogger" redundant?
Related: A survey of British taxi drivers, pub landlords and hairdressers -- often seen as barometers of popular trends -- found that nearly 90 percent had no idea what a podcast is and more than 70 percent had never heard of blogging. [via Becca] Silly rabbit, Blogs are for dogs. And pictures of Mr. Pink.
Did Moz re-sign with Sanctuary?
Damon Albarn: We will continue soldiering on (and sucking) without Graham.
Can we start a petition to stop Coldplay from playing "Ring of Fire" ever again? Or is this another sign of the impending apocalypse?
Will you bite the hand that feeds? / Will you chew until it bleeds? What if this whole crusade's a charade? And behind it all there's a price to be paid. For the blood on which we dine, justified in the name of the holy and the divine.
Some links I've been meaning to pass alomg:
Music sampler for The Magic Numbers. I've heard good things about this UK group. Can anyone fill me in?
Watch 10 minutes of footage from the upcoming movie, Dandelion. The soundtrack has Doves, Cat Power and Creeper Lagoon(?!?) on it.
Download the Living Things track Bom Bom Bom. Watch the video.
Go here for that NPR brodcast of the White Stripes/Shins/M Ward gig a few nights back.
Stream the new track from The Subways, the lead track from the new OC Compilation.
Download some MIA Remixes:
"Galang" remixed by that ugly System of a Down dude
"Galang" remixed by Dave Kelly
Head over to Myspace to stream the Elizabethtown soundtrack.
Oasis! Tonight!
Limp Bizkit to cover "Bittersweet Symphony". Apparently it's not enough for Fred Durst to have a Kurt Cobain tattoo on his chest or be seen wearing his Hatful of Hollow t shirt everywhere. Quoth the Sports Guy: I just threw up in my mouth.
It's on bitches! Super Furry tour dates for the US!
Nov 01 - Montreal, QUE - Club Soda
Nov 02 - Toronto, ONT - Phoenix Concert Theatre
Nov 05 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
Nov 06 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
Nov 07 - Boston, MA - The Roxy
Nov 08 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
Nov 09 - Philadelphia, PA - TLA
Nov 11 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
Nov 12 - Atlanta, GA - The Loft
Nov 15 - Houston, TX - Meridian Red Room
Nov 16 - Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa
Nov 17 - Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea room
Nov 19 - Lawrence, KS - Granada
Nov 20 - Chicago, IL - Metro
Nov 21 - Minneapolisa, MN - Fine Line Music
Nov 24 - Vancouver, BC - Richard's on Ricahrd
Nov 25 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
Nov 26 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
Nov 28 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
Nov 29 - Hollywood, CA - Avalon
Nov 30 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
Dec 01 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
w/ Caribou on all dates
Information leafblower will be in full effect for the dates listed in bold.
Anyone know anything about the openers, Caribou?
Much respect to L Boogie for keeping me in the loop.
See pics from Tuesday's bluestate here.
Ruh roh. Tony Allen wanted for questioning regarding a shooting in his hometown of Chicago.
Off to North Cackalack. Everyone be safe this weekend.
I finally got through some of the promo CD's people have been sending me this weekend.
Cut Copy - Bright Like Neon Love
This CD really surprised me. It sounds (roughly) like a live mix of Mylo and recent New Order stuff. TimeOut NY thinks they are the Postal Service crossed with Daft Punk. Either way, it's dancey, house pop with an 80's vibe. It's already been added to the tracklisting of Podcast #4 (hopefully due later this week) and I'm definitely rocking this at the next few Bluestate's. Recommended. They're opening some upcoming dates for Franz Ferdinand (go here for tour dates), so if you're going, be sure to get there early and let me know how they are live. Unfortunately, the only Washington they are going to is Seattle. Here's some goodies for you:
Future (Chromeo Mix) (MP3)
Video for the track "Saturdays"
Levy - Rotten Love
New release from One Little Indian Records. Sounds like Snow Patrol Jr. If you can't wait for their next release, you could do worse than picking this CD up. Brooklyn Vegan saw them over the weekend and compared them to Coldplay, except, you know, they don't suck.
Nouvelle Vague - Self Titled
Not exactly a novel idea; bossanova versions of alt "classics" by the Cure, The Clash, Depeche Mode and the um, the Dead Kennedys. I liked this CD alot more than i thought I would. It has a fun vibe and great musicianship. The kitsch factor is kinda high but if you can get past that, you'll dig it.
The Washington Post had a decent take on comparing the different online music stores over the weekend. They also lamented the loss of Tuesday as album release day and had a nice comparison on Sirius and XM satellite radio.
So in the interests of synergy, here are my thoughts on eMusic. First the obvious. 50 free downloads for signing up. 40 downloads a month for $10. Downloads are in MP3 format and compatible with pretty much anything that plays an MP3. That's hard to beat.
The selection skews decidedly indie and while I'm not floored by the overall selection, there's enough newer stuff and back catalog to at least keep me subscribing for a few more months. Basically I plan on using this as a source to get all the records the cool kids are talking about that Tower wants $14.99 for.
Now then...the bad. First of all, the navigation is atrocious. Unless you do a direct search for a band, browsing by links is very hit or miss and seemingly completely arbitrary. Available downloads are broken down into categories. For example, the main category of Alternative/Punk is broken down into the following subcategories: Alt/Punk Ska, Alternative, Alternative Experimental, Alternative Hard Rock, Brit Pop, Emo, Garage Rock, Goth, Hardcore, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Industrial, Live Alt/Punk, Math Rock, New Wave, Post-Punk, Psych and Punk. Now if someone can just explain the difference between Alternative, Emo, Garage Rock, Indie Rock, and Math Rock I might be able to make some headway. I don't even know what Psyche is.
Users are labeled on the site with names like "EMUSIC-0082973D". Ooooohkay. Would it have been so hard to let people chose their own log ins or go with something a tad less generic? I can't see me wanting to download something I've never heard of just because EMUSIC-00439277F likes it.
A potentially great search feature is the ability to seek out music by label, but this is hampered by poor organization. When you click through to a label, the homepage lists top songs by that label, not top artists. You can also search for albums by release years, in decades, but again, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the order of the results once you click through. Basically be ready to spend some time clicking around to find something.
That being said, eMusic definitely has merits. I've been pleased with it so far. I spent my 50 free downloads on The Streets Original Pirate Material, Echo & The Bunnymen Live in Liverpool, The Wedding Present's Take Fountain and Fosbury by Tahiti 80. They also have albums by Spoon, Arcade Fire, Nuetral Milk Hotel, The National and others. So I would recommend signing up, if only for the freebies.
Apparently Elbow rocked Reading over the weekend. Setlist here. Drool.
Captain Jack Sparrow to interview the Mozzer for a BBC documentary on James Dean.
Johnny Marr working with Humble Rodent? Marr/Brock doesn't have the same ring to it, now does it?
Some people have way too much time on their hands. Others are pissed at Flickr for getting in bed with Yahoo.
Two and a half years after the music business lined up behind the chief executive of Apple, Steven P. Jobs, and hailed him and his iTunes music service for breathing life into music sales, the industry's allegiance to Mr. Jobs has eroded sharply. Because the higher ups at the labels just can't help but bite the hand that feeds them.
Editor's Note: I wrote this entry Wednesday night but forgot to save it (D'oh!), hence no post yesterday.)
I was tagged yesterday by the Upstate Life, so below is my list of 10 songs I'm rocking out to at the moment. Yes, I'm aware there's not much "new" music on it. That's because I currently have 21 23 CD's in my "to listen" pile, hence I'm somewhat behind on that "new" stuff. I'm also in one of those phases I get into where I would rather go back in time and search for music as opposed to troll MP3 blogs for the latest thing. *shrug* Click on the song title to download.
1) ...Trail Of Dead - "Let It Drive"
Trying desperately to like their latest record but it's just not clicking. This song came on the iPod the other day and I was digging it, so it's been in heavy rotation lately.
2) The Ravonettes - "You Say You Lie" (MP3)
Best guitar riff the Bunnymen never wrote.
3) Stevie Nicks - "Stand Back"
The night I got home from seeing Mac Attack, I downloaded a ton of Mac/Nicks. This song has been on repeat ever since. Love it.
4) The Cloud Room - "Waterfall" (MP3)
This is the only one of the NYC blog buzz bands that I've thought was anything special (Yes, I'm looking at you CYHSY). But I've only heard this one song from TCR so take that with a grain of salt.
5) Kaiser Chiefs - "I Predict A Riot"
I finally succumbed to this song. The verses are still complete and utter shite, but when they kick in with the chorus, it goes to 11. Not unlike old Supergrass actually. A great chorus in search of a decent verse. The "la la la's" don't hurt either.
6) Super Furry Animals - "Frequency"
Off of their new record. This track has gotten mentioned exactly once in all the reviews I posted for Love Kraft and that was in passing. It's my favorite song on the record, and for once it's not the most complex to play, so maybe I'll get to hear it played live.
7) Steve Winwood - "Valerie" (MP3)
Gl*mrocker is obsessed with this song and so was I after I downloaded the track and heard that opening synth riff. Fucking classic. "Come and seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee me." Why hasn't some cooler-than-you indie band co-opted a cover of this as their set closer? It would bring down the house!
8) Spoon - "Was It You" (MP3)
OK, I'll admit I bit at the whole play the Spoon record backward hoax. But when I tried it out (yes, I like it better backwards, I think the album opens with more energy that way), this track really stood out. You have to spend time with Spoon records, otherwise you'll miss gems like these buried in side two. I asked this way back in my first post ever (cringe), but why isn't Spoon the biggest band in the world?
9) Soul Coughing - "City of Motors"
I pulled out Irresistible Bliss earlier this week since I have an upcoming interview with Mike Doughty for DCist. And then yesterday I saw this picture I kept singing "Manuela said she saw the brakes fail" in my head.
10) The Supremes - "You Can't Hurry Love" (MP3)
Straight fucking butta. Obvs.
I'm supposed to pass this on to other bloggers, but since I'm already on the back end of this thing, if anyone else wants to do it, leave me a url in the comments as I'll update this post with links next week.
Some other things of interest:
Moz back in the studio next week!
This might only appeal to the 14% of my readers that live in the UK, but if you visit this site, you can order the Elbow record I keep raving about and get the album (in either MP3 or CD format) up to a week earlier than the 9/12 release date.
Arcade Fire to open for u2 in Montreal.
Brilliant. Why didn't someone come up with that idea earlier? We need to call Ladbrokes and see if we can get some odds down.
The Foo's cover Lyla at their Reading warm up gig. I have an MP3 of it but forgot to upload it. Next week.
Did you know the universe was really created by a flying spaghetti monster?
Wired on Google Talk. So far, so good for me. But I'm just happy to finally have IM at work.
Echo & The Bunnymen @ Black Cat
Friday November 18th
Holy Fucking Shit.
First night of the tour.
Thanks Frank.
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