New Rock! Dfactor - "2010"

Back in 1999, I wrote and recorded my first rock anthem - 20-0-0 - with the help of rockin' Mike I. on the drums. You can hear that splendid version here. At that time, people were sayin' 'It will soon be Two Thousand...' I said 'no, no, no. It's 20-0-0. Twenty-Oh-Oh. Twenty uh-oh. Get it? Good.'

But a general consensus around the notion of shortening the year phrase didn't happen. (Did we say "One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety Nine"? Of course not) So, for the last 10 years, as I've sat in meetings, gatherings, churches, wherevah, I've had to listen to the 'thousand' get spoken over the years, even as I continued to use the phrase "twenty oh five" or "twenty oh seven", etc. It's been a loooong decade, and I got so fed up I figured I'd rewrite the song and lyrics a bit and do another number for the fans of character economy.

So here's my new song 2010! Sing it! Say it once and you'll say it again! Full lyrics below the player.




2010
10 years on and still bangin’ my head (when will people learn?)
I said it back then and I’ll say it till I’m dead (here’s another turn)
We’ve reached another decade, it’s time to push this through
What else? You got something better to do?

Efficiency in writing, trim all the fat,
Economy of characters, that’s where it’s at
Look over here you pundits, time to drop the phrase,
I’ve got something cooler for you and so I’m here to tell you to say

20-10 – Say it once and you’ll say it again
20-10 – C'mon, listen up CNN
It’s a 20 and a ten, Drop the thousand I recommend
I’m gonna go down shouting 20-10!

[I could see this coming back in ’99, so I wrote "20-0-0" to head off the nimwits.
But it turns out the nimwits got their share. But I’ve had enough sharing – right!]

War still ragin’ in 20-10 (Afghanistan)
Banks still acting like they're our friends (good Samaritans)
We’ve reached another decade, it’s time to push this through
What else? You got something better to do?

I felt so alive when I said 'twenty-oh-five'
I got my fix saying 'twenty-oh-six'
Then we hit 'twenty-oh-seven' you’d think we start it then!
No, 20-08 and 20-09 come and go and so it’s time for

20-10 - it’s an easy shortcut for you my friends
20-10 - drop the thousand, it’s time to bend
It’s a 20 and a 10, for the women and the men
I’m gonna go down shouting 20-10

20-10 - Say it once and you’ll say it again
20-10 - The Romans would’ve agreed with me then
It’s a 20 and a 10, for the women and the men
I’m gonna go down shouting 20-10!

Words & Music - Dfactor 2010

Dr. Feelgood - Oil City Confidential (rock doc)

For about 18 months in 1974-1975, in the post-glam rock England, Dr. Feelgood was London's top R & B pub band.



"The group's original distinctively British R&B sound was centered on Wilko Johnson's choppy guitar style. Along with Johnson, the original band line-up comprised John B. Sparks (bass guitar), John Martin aka The Big Figure (drummer) and Lee Brilleaux (vocals). Like many pub rock acts, Dr. Feelgood were known primarily for their high energy live performances, although studio albums such as Down by the Jetty (1974) and Malpractice (1975) were also popular. Their breakthrough 1976 live album, Stupidity, reached number one in the UK Albums Chart (their only chart-topper).[3] But after the follow-up Sneakin' Suspicion, Johnson left the group due to perceived conflicts with Brilleaux. Despite its thriving British success, Dr. Feelgood was unable to find an audience in the United States." (via Wikipedia)

Julien Temple, friend to the Sex Pistols back then, and rock doc maker of the excellent rock docs - The Sex Pistols "The Filth & the Fury" and the very excellent Joe Strummer "The Future is Unwritten" - has put together a closer look at the Feelgoods and English culture in 1975 called "Oil City Confidential". According to the film's Facebook page, "Oil City Confidential" is Julien Temple’s last film in his trilogy on British music of the 1970s. It is a prequel to his landmark films about punk featuring Dr. Feelgood. Here's the trailer.



"Rather than being standard 'rockumentaries', Julien uses the music as a prism through which he examines the social and cultural conditions of the times. The films share his characteristic cinematic language - an irreverent and anarchic style of montage of archive and fictive footage, which he pioneered in The Great Rock & Roll Swindle."

The film has its UK and Irish premiere next week. Here's a cool TV clip of the Feelgoods in their 1975 prime doing "She Does It Right".


Even better news is ahead for us rock fans - The Guardian reported in December that Julien Temple's next project is to be a rock movie (with actors) on The Kinks, and the brother Davies' rivalry! YES! A story worth telling methinks.

The Beatles 1960s Cartoons

The Beatles was an American animated television series featuring the fanciful and musical misadventures of the popular British rock band of the same name. It ran from 1965 to 1969 on ABC in the USA (only 1965 to 1967 was first run; later transmissions were reruns). The series debuted on September 25, 1965 and ended on September 7, 1969. A total of 39 episodes were produced. The series was shown on Saturday mornings at 10:30 AM until the fall of 1968, when it was moved to Sunday mornings. Each episode has a name of a Beatles song, so the story is based on its lyrics and it is also played at some time in the episode. (via Wikipedia)

"A Hard Day's Night":


"Help"


"Penny Lane"


"I am the Walrus'

Rock (Ballad) Clip of the Week- The Blue Nile, Saturday Night

I've championed my love of The Blue Nile in this blog several times before, having seen them live twice when living in Europe back when. I still love the melancholic feel of this great song 'Saturday Night' and found a decent live clip of Paul Buchanan and mates playing it wonderfully at an outdoor festival from a few years ago.

Free Energy - Rock and Roll (finally!)

These guys to the left are the future of rock and roll....from its very past. They are called Free Energy and my sense is they want to jam out the 70s in that heavy AM pop-rockin' kinda way that I remember well. The band's debut record Stuck On Nothing (Astralwerks/DFA Records) comes out digitally March 6th and retail on May 4th.

From the notes:
"Produced by DFA’s James Murphy, Free Energy’s forthcoming debut album, Stuck On Nothing, will be released digitally Mach 6, 2010 and physically May 4, 2010 on Astralwerks/DFA Records. "I loved making that record. It was so good to record guitars again. I kind of forgot that I used to be really good at that -- recording guitars." explains Murphy."

The NY Press wrote over the weekend: "Free Energy, despite being inexplicably signed to dance-heavy DFA Records, makes gleeful guitar pop deeply indebted to acts like Big Star and T. Rex (“Dream City” sounds almost exactly like ’80s stadium-staple “Get It On”). The guitars are bell-clear, sometimes chugging like a railroad train and sometimes exploding into played-up-the-neck arpeggios that would make Eddie Van Halen smile. Frontman Paul Sprangers has hair to his shoulders, weighs about 85 pounds, shimmies and points like Mick Jagger and delivers his lyrics in the sort of lazy, nasally shout that is the essence of snotty rock and roll."

Hear some of Free Energy's high-powered songs on their MySpace page. And there's lots of fun action at their Twitter page as well.

Free Energy tour dates look like this:
* = with Foreign Born
02/22: Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
02/23: Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland
02/24: San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Shop *
02/25: San Francisco, CA @ Popscene
02/26: Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
02/28: Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey *
03/03: Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry *
03/04: Madison, WI @ The Frequency *
03/05: Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle *
03/06: Bloomington, IN @ Video Saloon *
03/08: Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern *
03/09: Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo *
03/10: Buffalo, NY @ Big Orbit’s Soundlab *
03/11: New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge *
03/12: Brooklyn, NY @ Knitting Factory *
03/13: Philadelphia, PA @ Marathon Lounge *
03/14: Washington, DC @ DC9 *

We're Late For Class Presents: The Act You've Known For All These Years

It's a Beatles mashup! Or something like that - maybe post Beatles? maybe late period solo Beatles? It's all good, it's all trippy and you should spend 70 minutes of your blissed out existence digging this...drum roll please. I see a party involving Circus peanuts, a Ricky Gervais lookalike and a bottle of knockoff Irish Cream in your future. And this mashup. Endlessly looping.

"This is a psychedelic mash-up using only tracks from The Beatles' experimental solo releases. Every sound you'll hear is The Beatles (and whoever played with them on those albums). As a future press release should wildly claim, "The Beatles - As You've Never Heard Them Before!" If only they'd all just gotten along. That's the premise, anyway. We originally made this for our amusement, then figured, hey... why not share it? Mashed-Up January, 2010. Please post this anywhere, so it can't be easily eradicated. The 70 minute player embeds with ease. Link back to us and we'll whisper your name in bonged reverence & dedicate a bowl to your existence."

So, without further ado - The Act You've Know For All these Years


According to the We're Late for Class mash-uppers (?), the bits contained within come from the following Beatles' solo efforts:
Wonderwall Music
Two Virgins
Electronic Sound
Life With The Lions
Wedding Album
Live Peace In Toronto 1969
McCartney
Some Time In New York City
Thrillington
Dark Horse
Stop And Smell The Roses
Oobu Joobu (Ecology)
Press To Play
Working Classical
Liverpool Oratorio
Liverpool Sound Collage
Memory Almost Full
& Electric Arguments
("It's So Hard" and a piece of dialog are from a bootleg and there are a couple of seconds from Anthology 3)

Beach House Week - Teen Dream CD/DVD, Tour

Lots of exciting things going down at the Beach House this week. Well, actually, not at my Beach House, but with the guy-chick duo of multi-instrumentalist Alex Scally and vocalist/organist Victoria Legrand in the entity Beach House and its new CD/LP "Teen Dream", which came out this week.

Here's the MP3 for Beach House's song 'Norway' (over at Music Under Fire).

- Paste Mag reviews it and writes:
"Dream is a go-for-broke collection that not only creates and sustains a hi-fi drowse-pop drama throughout its 10 beguiling songs, but comes across like a logical and gorgeous extension of all the band’s previous dreams."
- Pitchfork writes:
"Teen Dream, Beach House's third album and first for Sub Pop, obliterates these concerns. This is both the most diverse and most listenable of their three full-lengths, and yet it never seems like a compromise. It feels like the product of careful, thoughtful growth, bringing in new influences-- bits of mid-1970s Fleetwood Mac, sparkling indie pop, even a few soul and gospel touches--- while maintaining the group's core sound. Teen Dream is a stirring reminder that good things can happen when you move out of your comfort zone."
- The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote:
"And in 2010, it seems, the breakout indie dream pop act will be Baltimore's Beach House, the Charm City duo of Alex Scally and French-born Victoria Legrand, who sang backup on "Two Weeks." Scally and Legrand have been around since 2006, and Teen Dream (Sub Pop ***½), which comes out today, is their third, and best, album of beautifully languorous dream-pop."

But there's at least one dissenting voice out there (so far) - The Seattle Times wrote:
"Along with the standard CD, "Teen Dream," Beach House's third album, comes packaged with a DVD of videos, one for each song on the album. This is the ideal way to enjoy the Baltimore dirge-pop duo's music, which is pretty and atmospheric but ultimately insubstantial and undermemorable."

Beach House play a sold-out buzz show in Brooklyn tonight before getting ready to tour England and the continent in February and March, before returning to the States for shows in April, leading to a Coachella appearance. All the dates below. We'll see the band - ragged, weary and road torn - in Phoenix in mid April at the Rhythm Room.

Jan 26 2010 The Bell House-SOLD OUT Brooklyn
------------------------------------------------
Feb 10 2010 King Tuts Glasgow
Feb 11 2010 Islighton Mill Manchester
Feb 12 2010 Brudenell Social Club Leeds
Feb 13 2010 Whelans Dublin!
Feb 14 2010 Speakeasy Belfast
Feb 16 2010 Cardiff Arts Centre- Sold Out Cardiff
Feb 17 2010 Bush Hall- SOLD OUT London
Feb 18 2010 L’Aéronef Club Lille
Feb 19 2010 La Route du Rock Saint-Malô
Feb 20 2010 La Maroquinerie PARIS!
Feb 21 2010 Vooruit Gent
Feb 22 2010 Botanique Brussells
Feb 23 2010 Paradiso Amsterdam
Feb 24 2010 Vera Groningen
Feb 25 2010 Roter Salon Berlin
Feb 26 2010 Loppen Copenhagen
Feb 27 2010 Debaser Stockholm
Feb 28 2010 Parkteatret Oslo
Mar 2 2010 Pusterviksbaren (Club Woody West) Gothenburg
Mar 3 2010 Molotov Hamburg
Mar 4 2010 UT Connwitz Leipzig
Mar 5 2010 Feierwerk München
Mar 6 2010 Abart Zürich
Mar 8 2010 The Sage w/ Grizzzzzzly Bear Newcastle
Mar 9 2010 The Queens Hall w/ Grizzly Bear Edinburgh
Mar 11 2010 The Corn Exchange w/ Grizzly Bear Brighton
Mar 12 2010 Warwick Arts Centre w/Grizzly Bear Coventry
Mar 13 2010 Roundhouse w/ Grizzly Bear London
Mar 14 2010 Roundhouse w/ Grizzly Bear London
Mar 17 2010 Lux Fragil Lisbon
Mar 18 2010 Centro Cultural Vila Flor Guimarães
Mar 26 2010 Black Cat Washington dc
Mar 27 2010 Wesleyan University Middletown
Mar 28 2010 Paradise Boston
Mar 29 2010 Montreal La Sala Rosa
Mar 30 2010 The Opera House Toronto
Apr 1 2010 Pike Room Pontiac
Apr 2 2010 Metro Chicago
Apr 3 2010 Pabst Theatre Milwaukee
Apr 4 2010 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis
Apr 5 2010 Waiting Room Omaha
Apr 6 2010 Jackpot Saloon Lawrence
Apr 7 2010 Bluebird Theater Denver
Apr 9 2010 Neurolux Boise
Apr 10 2010 Doug Fir Lounge Portland
Apr 11 2010 Rickshaw Theater Vancouver
Apr 12 2010 Neumos Seattle
Apr 14 2010 Bimbos San Francisco
Apr 15 2010 Downtown Brewing Co. San Luis Obispo
Apr 16 2010 Soho Club Santa Barbara
Apr 17 2010 COACHELLA Hot Desert
Apr 19 2010 Rhythm Room Phoenix
Apr 21 2010 Granada Theater Dallas
Apr 22 2010 Emo’s Austin
Apr 23 2010 Walter’s Houston
Apr 24 2010 Spanish Moon Baton Rouge
Apr 25 2010 Engine Room Tallahassee
Apr 27 2010 Bottletree Birmingham
Apr 28 2010 Mercy Lounge Nashville
Apr 29 2010 The Earl Atlanta
Apr 30 2010 Grey Eagle Tavern Asheville
May 1 2010 Cat’s Cradle Chapel Hill
May 6 2010 Webster Hall New York
May 7 2010 First Unitarian Church Philadelphia
May 8 2010 2640 Space B'MORE!!

Dig the dreamy pop of Beach House in the video for their song "Heart of Chambers" from 2008.

HypeM and SoundCloud partner up

News for music bloggers, musical labels and music fans: TechCrunch Europe reported yesterday that "SoundCloud is to partner with music portal The Hype Machine to let labels and artists service music bloggers – a key component of the music scene now – with new and pre-release tracks."

On the surface, this sounds cool, as HypeM is one of the top MP3 portals for new music and Berlin-based Soundcloud offer bands the ability to offer up music to bloggers in embeddable players and more. [Read more about the deal at SoundCloud's blog.] But one commenter at TCE wrote: "It doesn’t sound like an exciting new union; it sounds like an attempt to stop bloggers from hosting and distributing easily downloadable MP3s of new tracks. It won’t work and it’ll damage one of Hype Machine’s key selling points."

And another commenter wrote: "SoundCloud already allows labels/artists to service tracks to bloggers. The only difference I can see here is that HypeM will from now on be charting SoundCloud uploads as well as straight MP3s – am I right?"

So, if you have another point of view on this all, drop a note into the comments. I've used both services before and can only see good things coming from the partnership.

Check out Soundcloud's Alexander Ljung as he describes how it will work:

Alexander Ljung of Souncloud from Mike Butcher on Vimeo.

Wilco offers concerts for Haitian relief

Wilco has put up two complete live concert downloads at Wilco.com, and has asked fans who download them to donate $15 or more to either Oxfam or Doctors Without Borders to assist with Haitian relief. The two concerts are the band's sets from Brooklyn’s Keyspan Park in summer 2009 and their Fall 2009 show at London’s HMV Forum. Click here for 'em.

(Via the good guys at Kingblind)

Dfactor on Mashable's Free Music Monday

Hey, maybe you missed it yesterday - I did, was head down buried in work all day - but top tech cool news site Mashable included Dfactor rock and roll in yesterday's Free Music Monday. It's a weekly feature where Mashable Editor Barb Dybwad features a lot of different music from across the tracks and throws 'em out there for all the cool Mashable readers.

For other bands looking to send their tracks, here's the secret code: "If you’d like to submit tracks for yourself or an artist you represent, give us a shout at barb AT mashable DOT com. Be sure to send us an MP3 or two we can use (no more than 25MB file size total please) or send us a link to listen to tracks you’re willing to provide as a free download."

To follow along on a weekly basis, just hit the Free Music Monday tag site here. Thanks again!

Big Takeover - Mission of Burma live review

My old pal Tim wrote a smokin' review (and took great pics too) in Big Takeover of the mighty Mission of Burma during a hometown Boston show a week or so ago. Tim wrote:



"In addition to a new song “Hi-Fi,” the band dished out the fuzzed-out “Dumbells” (a rarity off of Peking Spring), the anthemic “Hunt Again” from OnoffOn (if the band is reading this, please include “Wounded World” in a set list soon), and two bona fide classics in “Academy Fight Song” and “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate.” That set closer shows all that’s great about the band, a massively driving surge of emotion, a catchy chorus, all played with total conviction and purpose. Seeing this band play in the present is a victory for all of us. Us Bostonians are spoiled in that they rarely play much outside the city, but they have stitched together several dates across the eastern seaboard and selected midwestern dates. Go see ‘em."

MoB is playing NYC this weekend and with assorted dates around the East and Midwest throughout the winter and Spring. See all the tour dates here.

Tucson's Crossing Sarnoff in Scottsdale Sat night

I'm liking some of Crossing Sarnoff's rock tunes, especially the song 'Burnt' heard below. The Tucson band comes north to Scottsdale to play The Rogue Bar tonight. Make it and shake it.

The Who at Super Bowl XLIV - Two weeks and counting!

Woot! Plus a new Greatest Hits Live set!
Townsend and Daltrey milking the cow!
If they get four songs, my bets are on:
"I Can't Explain"
"Substitute"
"Baba O Riley"
"Won't Get Fooled Again"

Rock Clip of the Week - Thee Michelle Gun Elephant - (live) Jenny

This week's Waved Rumor Rock Clip of the Week is a massive raveup by those Japanese garage punk rockers Thee Michelle Gun Elephant (aka TMGE), who I was lucky enough to see in NYC a few years ago - fantastic live band, and as fast and melodic as you could possibly hope for.

This song below "Jenny" comes from its 1998 Gear Blues record - and if you like this clip, there's more over at YouTube user Arrinco7. Here's what I own by Thee Michelle Gun Elephant - its two EPs "Plasma Dive" and "Rumble" - both killer rockin' affairs.

The band has broken up, but some of its members play in The Birthday and its new CD comes out next month in Japan.

New Release: Johnny Action Figure - Good Eye

Very excited to share news of a new CD release 'Good Eye' today by Reading,PA-based melodic rockers Johnny Action Figure.

The band's all about the best of pop - I'll say! This is damn swell catchy pop music, remarkably recorded, with sparkling lead vocals and harmonies, sweet instrumentation, bouncy rhythms and much more. Every song I'm hearing so far is a pretty sweet treat.

Their notes read: "'Good Eye' is 12 tracks of interesting pop peppered with synthesizer swoons and saxophone blasts. Consisting of vocalists / guitarists Chris Sheehan and Brendan Fullam (sharing duties), bassist / vocalist CF Fullam, and drummer Brad Rittle, Johnny Action Figure uniquely blends modern and classic sounds, and their wide range of styles and influences come together on Good Eye. The album's sound has been compared to artists across the spectrum, from Elvis Costello, Steely Dan, and The Beach Boys; to contemporary bands like The Shins, My Morning Jacket and Elliott Smith. Each song on the album stands remarkably on its own, all while Johnny Action Figure's signature three-part harmonies maintain an incredibly imaginative vocal balance."

Click here to grab three MP3s from the CD. Their sound does capture Brian Wilson glory days, especially the track 'Let Me Guess' on their MySpace page. But I also hear ALOT of the best of early '80s popsters Prefab Sprout in Johnny Action Figure. Does the band know this? Not sure, as their promo notes say zero about the Prefabs. But I hear it.

Heck, you listen! Try on for size Johnny Action Figure's terrific video of the song "Young Rider" (song kicks in around :40) and then below, give a listen to Prefab Sprout's fantastic song "When Love Breaks Down" off Steve McQueen.

Johnny Action Figure - Young Rider


Prefab Sprout - When Love Breaks Down


The band is touring in its great state in support of the CD release. I hope this CD gets wider notice. Good luck!

New Music from Rock Vets Pollard and Weller

Swell news today about upcoming new 2010 music from two of my all-time fave singer-songwriters - Robert Pollard and Paul Weller.



MAGNET writes about Pollard's upcoming onslaught of new music headed our way:
"Robert Pollard has yet another amazingly prolific year planned. While his ’90s indie-rock peers are busy cashing in on the reunion circuit, Pollard continues to record and release new music at an astonishing clip. First up is the “Silk Rotor” seven-inch with two exclusive b-sides (January 26), and then the fun begins:
- There’s the solo album We All Got Out Of The Army (February 23);
- Circus Devils’ Mother Skinny (March 30) and
- Boston Spaceships’ EP (Camera Found The Ray Gun; April) and LP (Our Cubehouse Still Rocks; May).

MAGNET helpfully offers up a solo Pollard song “Talking Dogs” from We All Got Out Of The Army that features sweet, creamy guitars and Bob's melodic tones singing lines like "Upon Shit Mountain, the skies (pass?) an Indian burial mound."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And more good news from Paul Weller's site about his upcoming CD "Wake Up The Nation", set to be released on April 12th with the double A-side single 'Wake Up The Nation'/'No Tears To Cry' coming out a week earlier.

'Wake Up The Nation' was produced and co-written by Simon Dine at Paul's Black Barn studios in Surrey. And click the link to read what Paul says about folks who played on songs with him, including (shocker!) former Jam bassist Bruce Foxton (long at odds with Paul about the past):
"4. Fast Car Slow Traffic
“It’s a real London tune. It’s a pretty full on. We played this on the last tour and people were really mad for it. It was really interesting to hear Bruce (Foxton) playing on it. You can instantly tell it’s him.”

Dfactor's Favorite LPs #2 - The Hives "Black & White" (2007)

It's time for #2 in the new Waved Rumor series of 'Dfactor's Favorite LPs".
(Part 1 was The Lemonheads "It's a Shame About Ray" remastered version of the 1992 classic LP).

The #2 pick is The Hives "Black & White" LP from 2007 because:
a) "Tick Tick Boom" successfully became the new "Song 2" and we needed that.
b) "Return the Favor" just flat out rocks!
c) The Hives tinkered with its usual songwriting style to a winning effect.
d) I've always walked away sweaty and happy after the band's live shows. That's rock 'n roll right there.

"You get up, you get down and you try it again". Dig it.

The Black and White album - Th...

Spoon 'Transference' - Written in Reverse

Spoon's new musical offering to the world is called 'Transference' and it's out today - A live clip of the new single, plus a few short reviews follow.

Washington Post
"On its seventh album, "Transference," Spoon takes its less-is-more strategy to the extreme, with staggering results. It's the band's most skeletal set of songs yet; the open spaces create a vacuum that emphasizes each and every bass thump or piano plink. Lurking in the corners are the smart hooks and melodies that have always been present. It may take a few listens to realize it, but "Transference" rates as yet another highlight in a career that has known nothing but."

Greg Kot - Chicago Tribune:
"This isn’t the type of release one would expect from a band that just made the best-selling album of its career, but then Spoon has never been particularly keen on reading and reacting to the marketplace. In many ways, this is the rawest Spoon yet. It’s insular, at times undercooked; nearly half the songs are the original demos, according to the band. The songs practice the ancient art of pruning: instruments are pared away until only one is left (the drums in “The Mystery Zone,” a guitar in “Who Makes Your Money”) or fall silent and then start up again (“Written in Reverse”)."

Jay Bennett at Phoenix New Times:
"Transference is full of understated guitar-and-piano pop/rock songs and a few really good hypnotic rockers. I like the way Spoon keeps it basic -- un-showy songwriting, simple arrangements, and less-than-fancy production. According to New Times contributor Michael Lopez, this is the first time Spoon has served as their own producer. Good move on their part. There's nothing resembling a "hit" on Transference, but the album succeeds on its own terms, as unadorned mood music."

The first single is called Written in Reverse. You can hear the recorded version below or via the live version from a month ago in Boston.(thanks to Boston Live Show for the clip)

Written In Reverse - Spoon

Way more Spoon news over at Brooklyn Vegan.

Rock Clip of the Week - New Order 'Temptation' (live 2007)

This week's Rock Clip of the Week is a fine fine live version of the mighty New Order playing their classic 'Temptation' at Finsbury Park in London. 8:24. All of it is good.



Enjoy!

Three Looks at Julian Casablancas live NYC show

Julian Casablancas played live in his NYC hometown last night and you can read all about it at Stereogum, NY Press and Spinner - each has good points on the goods of the show.

Here's the second encore clip:


Stereogum writes:
"The band at his back was tight, the material was almost exclusively from his solo record save a few covers. One being Kings Of Leon's "Velvet Snow," which is a bit like Eddie Vedder covering Creed but hey, a little something for the midtown bros (who were demonstrably psyched). More powerfully received was the "cover" of the Strokes' "I'll Try Anything Once." The kids for their part jumped and danced and spat back most of Julian's Phrazes word for word, but it was the response to that Strokes tune that put shit in focus: People want LP4. Which, by the sound of that New York article, finally has some real momentum."

NY Press writes:
"These aren’t bad songs and they sound a lot better live then on his slickly produced album. But they all seem to be wanting the instrumentation of the Strokes—maybe just less prog-y—or a different vocal delivery. I’m not asking for Casablancas to hand these songs off to a pair of poppy, falsetto pipes. Last night, he proved perfectly capable of adapting his vocals to fit the song: First with his best new song the dance-y 11th Dimension. And then with his repeated homage to Alicia Keys’ chorus from “Empire State of Mind.” Casablancas might not have written any new anthems for New York kids, but he can still make them sound fresh."

Spinner writes:
"The hour-long performance was punctuated with plenty of synths and swearing. The rambling Casablancas riffed on Keys' recent 'Saturday Night Live' appearance, which apparently caused him to drop a line mid-song. ("I was still thinking about Alicia Keys," he explained after his slip-up.) However, he turned the gaffe around by closing his set with a few bars of the chorus from 'Empire State of Mind,' by Keys and Jay-Z, before retreating to his concrete jungle where solo dreams are made."

Boy Band Search! (or, The Decline of the Funky Western Civilization)

Yes, first disco, now a boy band search - it's enough to drive readers away in droves....!

Here's what came down the transom today:

"Three of the world's biggest names in entertainment - Perez Hilton (Web gossip), Simon Fuller (American Idol), and Jamie King, (pop music tour director) - have joined together to find 5 young men to form the next great BOY BAND! Entrants must be between the ages of 13 and 21. MyStudio has partnered with Boy Band to host auditions in California, Arizona and the New York area. MyStudio also developed and hosts the website. To learn more about Boy Band, please visit MyStudio."

Dfactor Archive No. 1 - Reverb Radio Sessions

I've recently unearthed some old cassettes (remember those?) and found my first 'real' recordings made back when... The collection seemed ripe to be the first of my archive recordings, so I'm happy to announce:

Dfactor Archive No. 1 - Reverb Radio Sessions

Way before there were any Cool Cocktails or Party Tarts, these songs from my first 'real' recordings (tho some might say I'm not even there yet...) show a bit of the genesis of my songwriting and my love of classic rock and American underground indie rock, shown by the Elvis Presley, Beatles and Husker Du covers. The four originals and five rock covers are sung and played with wobbly guitar and desktop drums, and recorded with buckets of reverb on a radio station studio's 2-track reel-to-reel.

I think these recordings are from the winter of 1986. My GF worked on Saturday nights at a local restaurant and I sort of found a way to go to the local radio station and record stuff in its production studio. I probably did these songs over a period of a few Saturday nights in late 1986/early 1987. The Husker covers help date these. Lots of reverb.

I like 'em - I hear goofy, earnest, serious and silly all rolled into one, the sounds of a rock 'n roll kid just feeling his feet and hearing his voice on playback. Hope you take a listen or three.

Reverb Radio Sessions (Dfactor Archive No. 1)
(Stream or download at the links below)
The four originals:
- Grab the Indies
- Nothin' No More
- Dancin' in the Moonlight
- Strength in Numbers

The five covers:
- That's Alright Mama (Elvis Cover)
- You Really Got a Hold on Me (Beatles Cover)
- Don't Wanna Know if You Are Lonely (Grant Hart/Husker Du cover)
- Sorry Somehow (Grant Hart/Husker Du cover)
- Too Far Down (Bob Mould/Husker Du cover)

This is the first of an anticipated series of recordings from my archives. More to come include rare unreleased 4-track songs, live shows and more.

Guided by Voices - Prime Live Bootleg - King's Ransom

Our good friend Captain's Dead has the MP3 goods for a live GBV bootleg called 'King's Ransom'. He writes: "here is a gbv bootleg that goes under the name kings ransom: happy motherfuckers and sad clowns and was “released” back in ‘00 on vinyl only – i think only 1000 were printed. the show is from 4.28.00 at the be here now club in asheville, nc. you can probably still find some on ebay, although i havent looked in a while. it was never “officially” released just kinda thrown out there, and of course i just kinda bought it."

I was at this show! Took a road trip outta NYC with JLinnea (am I right?) - we traversed over snowy mountains to get to the show. Why did we drive 9 hours for this?? Well, GBV fandom, of course. And the weather was slightly warmer. But otherwise, not sure. But those were the days. You just didn't even think twice. (Thanks to TimNYC for the link).

Here's the record from my stash. The interior is just like the Beatles' White album exterior - only whiter.

OMG! Old school disco mixes! Fresh!

Yikes! This could be the first ever disco-music oriented blog post EVER on this site, but it's so cool I got to share it. I stumbled across Twitch Recordings site tonight (in a search for "1980s radio production studios, reel-to-reel") and found news on their site about one of those wonderful serendipitous musical finds:

"The universe works in mysterious ways! We recently acquired a reel-to-reel tape deck for our studio so that we could start offering reel-to-reel tape conversion to CD services. A week later, while browsing the Craigslist classified ads online, I found a post from a woman looking to have a reel-to-reel tape collection converted to CD. I contacted her and was so excited when she told me what the tapes contained...

Her dad's (MICHAEL LEE) live disco mixes that he recorded while DJing at various clubs in San Francisco from 1976-1979! She dropped the tapes off to me, I loaded a few on the reel-to-reel deck, and was completly blown away by the collection. She was also kind enough to include a stack of Disco and music magazines from the same era, as well as her dad's record pool charts. I will be archiving all of his mixtapes as well as posting his charts and scans of all of the magazines that she brought to me. This is San Francisco Disco history! It needs to be preserved for future generations of Disco fans. We hope you enjoy these pieces of history!"

Here are the links to the live disco mixes - I'm listening to the first mix - DJ Michael Lee Live @ The Mind Shaft (SF) February 1976 - Part 1 - Michael Lee had it goin' on. Shaft! Fresh! Well, fresh in that 1976 gay club kinda way. I'm no connoisseur of that particular era, but the music *was* everywhere then, so hearing it again in a original DJ mix is kinda fun. And it's a looooooong mix!

And in honor of the boys, dammit, I'm drinking a pink drink! :-)


And just in case you're wondering if I've gone off like the cheese, I do have a Joe Jackson concert from 1979 cued up for listening later.
Read all about it!

Rock Clip of the Week- Diamond Nights, Destination Diamonds

A little late on my Rock Clip of the Week for this week, but a good one nonetheless. Here's a rare one for you kickers - "Destination Diamonds" from NYC band Diamond Nights, who recorded this rocker live about 4 years ago. I loved their mix of hard rock and savvy tuneage. Not sure if the band is still playing, but I saw 'em once in NYC when I was there. FYI - Diamond Nights get a shout out in one of my new songs coming out soon. Stay tuned.

Nada Surf - LP shows, covers CD

Wow, is every band doing full LP shows? And releasing covers compilations! Pixies, Springsteen, The Wedding Present and now I read about Nada Surf, the great NY/NJ rockin' pop band and former 90s cult faves.

"Nada Surf will release a covers album, if i had a hi-fi, later this year. The record includes renditions of songs from Kate Bush, Dwight Twilley and the Go-Betweens. Fans can pick up the album early on the band's spring tour in March and April, which will kickoff with three "album shows," featuring the entirety of Let Go, The Weight Is A Gift, and Lucky respectively."

Always Love - Nada Surf

You can read more at their MySpace blog post, including this...

"The tour begins March 25th with three “Album Shows” in NYC. On consecutive nights, Nada Surf will perform their three most recent albums: Let Go, The Weight Is A Gift, and Lucky in full, along with songs from if i had a hi-fi, fan favorites and b-sides. The band will then continue on to cover both the East and West coasts....."

I've played Nada Surf covers! Back in NYC, the boys and I used to get together and rock it out - see our ragged but rockin' version of Nada Surf's "The Blankest Year" right below, right now.



Horty: "Very nice lads, very nice"

Thursday Short & Curlies

Some Things I Learned Today:

- Jack White is still badass (via Rolling Stone)

- Get all your cool, hard to find merch for The Hives at the garage rockers' new online merch shop.

- OK Go! has a new CD, a new tour and plays Conan on Friday night. Read it all at the band's site.

- Peter Gabriel has got an LP of indie covers coming out this month, plus he's playing shows in London. (via Uncut)

- KEXP reviews the great Nirvana single "Sliver".

- Did you ever hear my old song "How Great Was Husker Du!"?

- You mean, son, you've never watched The Beatles' Anthology? Well, dang it, it's time to sit yer butt down and DO IT!

Japandroids - Wet Hair

Here's Japandroids on Jimmy Fallon's late night show last night, singing Wet Hair. Good stuff. The band kicks off a Euro tour in the next few weeks (via Stereogum).

New Waved Rumor Feature - Favorite LP Embeds

The recent acquisition of imeem by MySpace Music means that MySpace is still working on getting the imeem playlists over to MySpace. And knowing MySpace, that could take awhile. So until that happens, I'm dropping my Imeem compilation mixes that I've used happily over the past year to make way for Dfactor's Favorite LPs (from La.La.com). I'll try to put up a new/old favorite LP from the past 90 years or so every few weeks.

Starting off the new year with old music (what else is new? ha!) - Look into the right side column (or below) for The Lemonheads' 1992 LP 'It's a Shame About Ray (expanded edition)' from 2008. Confetti! Enjoy!

It's A Shame About Ray [Expand...

Upcoming Stateside Presents concerts - Phoenix

Good chunk of rock & pop shows coming up in the next few months in Phoenix, thanks to the bookings of Stateside Presents. Here's a smattering below. It all kicks off tomorrow night with indie rock legends Sonic Youth.