Rock Clip of the Week - The Living End "Prisoner of Society" (live)

It's summertime now in the southern hemisphere, and that means Australia is in the middle of its Big Day Out festivals all across the country.

One of the perennial favorites for Big Day Out is the rockin' punk trio The Living End, who played Sydney's Big Day Out fest on Thursday, and will again perform at the Melbourne Big Day Out date on Sunday. The Living End joins Kanye West, My Chemical Romance, Noel Gallagher and his birds, and others on the stages.

The Big Day Out promo blurb captures the excitement of The Living End:

-- "Leading the Aussie charge onto the battlefields of BIG DAY OUT 2012 are THE LIVING END and our troops couldn’t be in more capable hands. This will mark the band’s fifth appearance on the national tour and it’s safe to say Chris Cheney, Scott Owen and Andy Strachan have well and truly solidified their place in the annals of the BDO since their first showing in 1999. Evidently the trio have also made a huge impact on a national scale having landed the No. 4 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time with their self titled debut album . With their sixth album, The End is Just the Beginning Repeating, in tow the boys are set to write another, darker chapter, to their legacy with what they state is their most honest album to date. It’s no holds barred this time around, with THE LIVING END set to lay it bare."

Here's a clip of The Living End doing a classic track of theirs called "Prisoner of Society" at the 2009 Big Day Out fest. An enterprising promoter should put Bad Religion and the Living End together for a tour - like brothers from a different mother!

Have a rock n roll weekend!

PsychFest - Austin, TX April 27-29

Set your roadtrip (and headtrip) plans now. The initial lineup for the Austin Psych Fest 2012 on April 27-29, 2012 features Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels and The Black Lips lead the lineup.

The all-ages festival will be held at Emo's East & Beauty Ballroom in Austin. Tickets are available now. Here's the full list of bands:

Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Angels, The Black Lips, Olivia Tremor Control,
Dead Meadow, Wooden Shjips, Bombino, Woods, The Telescopes, Pink Mountaintops,
Disappears, Sun Araw, Peaking Lights, Prince Rama, Psychic Ills, Pure X, Indian Jewelry, Sleep Over, Lotus Plaza, Moon Duo, Quilt, The Intelligence, Amen Dunes,
Ringo Deathstarr, Headdress, Spindrift, Night Beats, Acid Baby Jesus, The UFO Club,
Allah Las, Federale, Quest for Fire, High Wolf, Christian Bland and The Revelators,
Cosmonauts, MMOSS, Smoke and Feathers, Orange Revival, The Band In Heaven, The Cush.

Phoenix Open Bird's Nest Music Feb 1-Feb 4

Pro golf, beautiful weather, live music and beer? That's what the Waste Management Phoenix Open offers year after year. And sure, there are no real surprises, but hanging out at the golf outing's live venue "The Bird's Nest" is usually a good time, if you can deal with occasional douchebaggery and drunken shenanigans. The music and the women make it worth a trip.

Here's the music lineup for this year's fun: (thanks to Scoop Factory for the content below)

Wednesday, February 1: Slightly Stoopid will kick off the four days of concerts, entertaining fans with their reggae rock fusion. Local band Elvis Before Noon and DJ Ronnie G will also perform. Show begins at 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, February 2: The Goo Goo Dolls will slide into the Birds Nest to perform some of your favorites like it was 1998 again. DJ Ronnie G and Kelly James will also perform beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Friday, February 3: Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas will be spinning records. Check out his DJ skills before his electro-dance album drops later this year. Also performing, The Chadwicks, Kelly James and yep, DJ Ronnie G beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 4: What PGA Tour wouldn’t be complete without an 80s cover band? Flashback Heart Attack, from southern California, performs with Champagne Tap, Smasht and DJ Ronnie G beginning at 6:00 p.m.

The Ex-Girlfriends Club - New LP, Sonics Cover

Great to read that Portland garage-punk glam rockers The Ex-Girlfriends Club have a new release coming out next week.

The LP is called 'Boo Hoo Hoo' and it's available from 1/31 at all the digital outlets. Guitarist Orion of the Apocalypse wrote recently to say: "'Boo Hoo Hoo' is for fans of Pissed Jeans, The Murder City Devils, Queens of the Stone Age and older bands like The Dead Boys or The Stooges. We worked with Timothy Stollenwerk (Thee Oh Sees, Wooden Shjips) from Stereophonic on this record and we're really excited about it!"

The band covers The Sonics' 'Witch' - Grab the MP3 of The Ex-Girlfriends Club cover of The Sonics' 'Witch' You can also grab an MP3 of the opening track "Your Prescription" from the band's website.

Tracks include:
01 Your Prescription
02 Coming Off Benzos
03 Lightning Bolt
04 The Witch
05 Take it From Me
06 Devil Eyes
07 Mister Singer
08 I'm Not Your Man
09 The Seer

The Ex-Girlfriends Club is celebrating with a few hometown shows for the release. No word on if a tour is in the offing.
01|28|12 @ Slabtown, Portland OR w/The Cry | Beyond Veronica
01|29|12 @ Club 21, Portland OR w/Holy Children | LSD&D

Nada Surf - Live NYC show (Jan 24, 2012)

If you've never seen Nada Surf play live, then you're missing gorgeous vocals, cracklin' guitars, and a pop-tight rhythm section.

Here is the next best thing. Nada Surf played NYC's Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night, and turned in a great performance, with a bunch of new songs from their new LP. Added guitarist Doug Gillard plays wonderfully off singer-guitarist Matthew Caws. Online music channel Rdio & BandPage sponsored the video and Nada Surf is sharing at YouTube. It's embedded below.

The SST Tour - 1985 (Husker Du, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Saccharine Trust, SWA)

SST Records used to put together its SST bands on package tours and send 'em out to do Greg Ginn's bidding, er, I mean to play shows! And then a video of the show would come out. Here's the liner sleeve above for the full video clip below.

Looking back on those lineups today, you're likely to think 'WOW, it must've been amazing to see these bands back in their heyday'. And maybe you're right, and maybe you're wrong. Some nights might've smoked and other nights might's been drunken aberrations or dope-fueled jam sessions.

But in the case of this SST tour from early in 1985, you have what D. Boon of The Minutemen call 'a brotherhood of bands'. Indeed, it was - SWA, Saccharine Trust, The Meat Puppets, The Minutemen and Husker Du - a brotherhood of bands. This clip below is a compilation of all the band's sets from January 5, 1985.



And it's cool. Great to see early Saccharine Trust and SWA, a youthful, gangly Meat Puppets playing oldies onstage and The Minutemen and Husker Du live in their prime. Amazing the sound that killer trios can make. Catch The Minutemen covering the Meat Puppet's classic "Lost", Husker Du's Grant Hart drumming barefoot and pounding out a thrilling "Diane" as the first song of their set (though Husker's set is marred by the audio-video synch being off for much of the rest of the set).

[Thanks to the Meat Puppets for putting this on their Facebook feed tonight]

For another POV on the 1:21:00 video, check out this comprehensive review from Aaron Poehler.

New solo Robert Pollard release - Mouseman Cloud

Fire Records announces the impending release of rock craftsman Robert Pollard's upcoming solo LP "Mouseman Cloud".

Robert Pollard - "Mouseman Cloud" Album Release Date: March 12, 2012
"Robert Pollard's new solo album Mouseman Cloud shows the Guided By Voices frontman in a playful and spontaneous mood. This is a record by a guy who just wants to rock, and not have to worry about how that rock will be received by anyone other than himself.

While the songs here are not a world away from anything you'll find on GBV's Let's Go Eat The Factory, the emphasis on Mouseman Cloud is on wordplay rather than melody, on unkempt exploration rather than traditional song structure. A lot of the tracks sound as if they started as lyrics - even poetry - first, and were fit around the sounds, which is not an uncommon way for Pollard to work, but the album's gleeful verbosity could be interpreted as the work of a man who's maybe been feeling the pressure of expectations from (for instance) a Guided By Voices reunion and just wants to cut loose.

Recorded in collaboration with producer/multi-instrumentalist Todd Tobias, Mouseman Cloud is catchy, heavy, lovely, rocky, exuberant, complexly simple and freaking wonderful. Not sweating the small stuff is not the same as taking no pains over the writing and recording - too often the two are conflated when discussing Pollard's prodigious output. He takes pains. He edits. He cares deeply about each and every part of each and every song he records. That he seems to do so frequently and effortlessly is not his fault. It's a unique and unparalleled talent. Mouseman Cloud is the work of a consummate craftsman as well as a crazy genius, and proof that these two traits are not incompatible."

Here's the track listing:
1. Obvious #1
2. Picnic Drums
3. Mouseman Cloud
4. Dr. Time
5. Lizard Ladder
6. Human Zoo
7. Bats Flew Up
8. Mother's Milk and Magnets
9. Continue To Break
10. I Was Silence
11. Smacks of Euphoria
12. Science Magazine
13. No Tools
14. Aspirin Moon
15. Half-Strained
16. Zen Mother Hen
17. Chief Meteorologist

Nada Surf - Stream the new LP, tour dates

The wonderfully melodic, guitar-pop classicists Nada Surf have a great new rock LP and tour dates in the US and Europe.

The LP is called The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy, and features the veteran trio of Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca and Ira Elliot. Rock vet Doug Gillard, previously Nada Surf's touring guitarist (and GBV guitarist 1997-2004), also played on every song on the release. According to the band's press blurb, Gillard became such an integral part of the band’s sound that they invited him to play on Stars too, and while his solos do somewhat recall the late great James Honeyman-Scott (The Pretenders), they ignite the music with a brilliance all their own. "What’s amazing about Doug is that he’s got classic rock chops," explains Caws, "but a sideways new wave brain."

The LP kicks off with two amazing rockers. The first is "Clear Eye Clouded Mind", which highlights Caws' wonderful pop voice singing the LP title in a verse over storming guitars. Killer drums, too! It's followed by what is a hit single in my universe "Waiting for Something", a brisk power-rocker with a chorus not miles away from Superchunk's equally catchy "Digging for Something" from last year.

The LP is available to buy in January 18 (Japan), January 23 (UK/EU), January 24 (USA). You can stream the LP right now at Paste Magazine, which also awarded it an 8.0 on the Paste-Record-O-Meter.

Learn more about SOPA at this video:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Time Out for Rock

Waved Rumor is taking some time off for a death in the family. We'll resume in a week or so.

LCD Soundsystem - Shut Up and Play the Hits (dance doc)

As expected with most 'finals' of everything these days, LCD Soundsystem is putting out a dance doc about the run-up to its final shows in April of 2011. Should be a fun watch. Watch the trailer below.

The blurbists write:

"On April 2nd 2011, LCD Soundsystem played its final show at Madison Square Garden. LCD frontman James Murphy had made the conscious decision to disband one of the most celebrated and influential bands of its generation at the peak of its popularity, ensuring that the band would go out on top with the biggest and most ambitious concert of its career.

The instantly sold out, near four-hour extravaganza did just that, moving the thousands in attendance to tears of joy and grief, with NEW YORK magazine calling the event "a marvel of pure craft" and TIME magazine lamenting "we may never dance again." SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS is both a narrative film documenting this once in a life time performance and an intimate portrait of James Murphy as he navigates the lead-up to the show, the day after, and the personal and professional ramifications of his decision."