This wasn't planned! I was waiting on a ride from a friend on Sunday (before yesterday's big GBV reunited in Vegas show announcement), and had my guitar with me and my new phone. So I popped out Robert Pollard's GBV song "Dragon Awake" in one take, with a muffed chord and botched lyrics. It's a song I used to play more about 5-6 years ago, but haven't played it in a while. File under 'unrehearsed'.
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck was in Portland, OR earlier this month recording various guitar and mandolin parts with The Decemberists. REM HQ has this photo below and a few others from the session.
Buck is now in Berlin, Germany with other superhero REMers Mike Mills and Michael Stipe to record R.E.M.'s new batch of songs, reports longtime friend and manager Bertis Downs reports on the band's news site.
R.E.M.'s Fables of the Reconstruction, issued about 25 years ago, gets a remastered visit in two weeks, on July 13th. It includes a second disc of rare goodies from the band, songs that REM were getting ready to record. From the band's page here, we get:
"Before going to London to record, R.E.M. huddled in Jim Hawkins’ Athens, Georgia studio for a few weeks of building new songs from fragments, including many which had emerged during soundchecks along the band’s 1984 tour.
In his liner notes, Peter Buck recalls, “The last day of rehearsal, I think with Joe Boyd in attendance, Jim Hawkins recorded what we had come up with. We spent about four hours recording all the new songs live, with minimal overdubs. I hadn't listened to this stuff since we recorded it, and I'm kind of stunned at how good it is. My memory of the rehearsals is us scrambling to finish songs. The songs on both Murmur and Reckoning had been performed for months if not years by the time they were committed to tape. I remember feeling dangerously unprepared when we flew to London, but on the evidence of this recording we must have known what we were doing.”
“The Athens Demos,” as R.E.M. has dubbed them, comprise the new edition’s second disc of 14 previously unreleased recordings, including drafts of Fables’ 11 songs and three additional tracks that didn’t make the album. The three non-album demos include two early versions of songs that were later revisited by the band and recorded for other releases and one song, “Throw Those Trolls Away,” making its release debut on this new edition."
Read more about the reissue and pre-order it at Amazon.
Wow! Matador Records is going Vegas! Check the poster. This is a fascinating and altogether awesome party being planned by Matador Records in October for its 21st year celebration.
The label writes: "This much we can finally confirm : there will be 3 nights of shows starting Friday October 1, and concluding Sunday October 3 at the Palms Casino & Resort In Las Vegas, NV. We’ll be dropping further hints about the amazing lineup in the days ahead, but a final announcement and information about how to purchase tickets will be made here at the trusty Matablog on July 5. Are you as psyched as we are?"
What a Matador indie rock lineup! Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, Cold Cave, Earles & Jensen, Fucked Up, Guided By Voices (classic '93-'96 lineup reunion!), Harlem, Jon Spencer, Kurt Vile, Pavement, Shearwater, Sonic Youth, Ted Leo And The Pharmacists, The New Pornographers, Yo La Tengo, Chavez and more to be announced next week.
This is clearly a first step by the granddaddy indie label of the '90s to transform the bland show bizness tendencies of Vegas to a decidedly cooler setup. Vegas has done schmaltz 50s, retro 60s, bland 70s and schlocky 80s. Now in 2010, in our 'lookback' period of 15 years, Matador steps in to 'do the 90s'. I applaud loudly and raise a beer in the air. Heck, I may even go!
You can read more about this at Pitchfork and Stereogum.
I've just finished my first summer book - a great brisk read written by a musician for musicians - Jen Trynin's "Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be" (A Rock & Roll Fairy tale), published in 2006. It's a swell book, chronicling her rise from playing clubs in Boston in the early 90s, to gaining popularity with her self released LP Cockamamie, resulting in a well-documented bidding war among major labels in 1994, to her buzzband status and subsequent tours, written with much amusement mixed with disillusionment over bandmates, labels, hangers-onner and video directors.
Here's a snippet, after her signing to Warners after the bidding war, and how she's starting to hear rumblings about her 'style' (pg 180):
"I get a call from Head Honcho, who says he heard from Lola who heard from Howdy Doody that Einstein thinks I should stop making so many faces when I play guitar. I tell Head Honcho to tell Lola to tell Howdy Doody to tell Einstein that I think he should stop being so fat.
"That's not very constructive," says Head Honcho.
"Well, what the fuck is he talking about? What does that even mean?"
"We're also kind of wondering if your bass player could maybe not wear that baseball hat all the time."
(You can see the hat in the video below)
There's lots of warmth in Trynin's writing, as well as insecurity, petty grievances and more. I get a feeling she could've spilled a lot more blood on the pages, but to what ends? But if you've ever played club gigs with bands, it definitely brings you to that atmosphere. I loved reading about her days at the now defunct rock club Brownies, and being out on the Avenue B sidewalk, one I stood on a number of times in the late 90s and early 00s.
What's changed immensely (I think) from those days 15 years ago is the way bands are wooed, courted and signed. I mean, are there even such things as 'bidding wars' anymore? Do major labels still employ A & R reps and such to hit clubs and schmooze and hit up on young artists? I know there are some major labels still putting out music, but which are they and how many? I haven't checked in a while. Is everyone just scouring Web links these days? Hard to tell. If you have insights, leave 'em in the comments.
[Thanks to my drummer Gary, who said this was the best book he's read on the music business, for giving me the book.]
Here's the video for Jen's song "Better Than Nothing" that got all the labels excited back in the day.
- Glastonbury is done and Pitchfork has got the goods.
- Popmeister Beck Hanson has been recording full covers of albums he likes with a rotating cast of friends. He calls it Record Club. I like that. His latest tribute is a full LP version of INXS 'Kick' 1987 smash - Never Get Out of the Boat has it for your aural pleasure.
- Download the new Fanfarlo single here (and grab an EP by the band as well).
- Attn rockin' pop fans - Rock 'n roller Tommy Keene has a career retrospective coming out in mid-July. The CD is called (cheekily) Tommy Keene You Hear Me: Retrospective 1983-2009 2xCD. It's got loads of classic Keen tracks from the 80s into the 00s. And you can get an exclusive 10-song digital only 'bonus disc' of early demos and unreleased songs not on the CD set, including: a 1982 demo of "Nothing is Grey"; "Fall Down Too" an unreleased track from the 1984 T-Bone Burnett/Don Dixon album and "Love Is Dangerous/Brad's Boogie" live from Campbell University 1996. 
The massive Glastonbury music festival was headlined tonight by Gorillaz on the Pyramid Stage, in place of U2, which canceled due to Bono's back problems. Check the full lineup for the weekend here. Click here to stream the musical performances at BBC3 all weekend.
Here's an early video from tonight's Gorillaz show doing 'Stylo':
I am digging the song that Weezer head dude Rivers Cuomo put together for the US team at the World Cup! It's called 'Represent' and it's a pretty huge production - there is a LOT going on in that mix (try headphones), and it's a pretty good anthem, if I say so. Maybe not as exemplarily cool as New Order's 'World in Motion' from a few years back, but def up there.
Read more about 'Represent' and Rivers Cuomo at Hitflix and Westword blog.
Filed under 'Women Seeking Men'
"Energetic woman in her mid 20s seeking fun-loving guy to spend time knocking around the city. I'm fun, friendly and keep myself in shape. My interests include:
- having fun at baseball games;
- dancing at nightclubs;
- working on book projects.
You (ideally): good looking, strong masculine type. Please send pic with your reply.
Oh, I also like to sing and play music - I've even got a YouTube video!
In a followup to my Teenage Fanclub post a few weeks ago, there is now news from the band of a U.S. tour starting up in late September. See full dates and note from the band below the clip.
Here's a recent clip from the band's Dublin show of their new single 'Baby Lee'.
From their site, Teenage Fanclub writes:
"We’re very pleased to announce that we will be returning to the USA and Canada in late September through October. The Williamsburg show will be with Belle & Sebastian and the Seattle and Portland shows will be with Superchunk. We’ll be adding some additional shows in the near future. The dates so far are as follows."
The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto September 22nd
The Horseshoe Tavern Toronto September 23rd
Le National Montreal September 24th
Royale Boston Boston September 25th
W'burg Waterfront W'burg September 30th
The Trocadero Philadelphia October 1st
Mr Smalls Pittsburgh October 3rd
Lincoln Hall Chicago October 5th
Lincoln Hall Chicago October 6th
First Avenue Minneapolis October 7th
El Rey Theatre Los Angeles October 11th
The Fillmore San Francisco October 12th
Showbox Seattle October 14th
Wonder Ballroom Portland October 15th
The Biltmore Vancouver October 16th
Pleased to Meet Me today. Here are some items about you and your amplitude.
- It's Glastonbury festival time in jolly old England this weekend, and that means rain is in the forecast.
- Bob Lefsetz offers up tips for today's working musicians. I like #3 - 'One great track is better than ten mediocre ones.'
- In the top ten of great rock bands from Down Under, the Hoodoo Gurus (yes!) just released their ninth CD. It's called "Purity of Essence" and Rock and Roll Report's got the lowdown on it.
- Legendary songsmith Robert Pollard releases his new CD "Moses on a Snail" in two weeks. I've yet to hear any of it, but PopMatters got an early listen and wrote: "Moses on a Snail features a modest 12 tracks yet it’s certain to confound listeners upon first approach as it contains few hallmarks of your average Pollard release. There’s no cheeky lo-fi pop, no droning art rock, no anthemic arena rock, and little in the way of memorable choruses. Here, Pollard has set out to create an autumnal classic—a downcast collection of rainy day songs that require repeated listens to fully reveal their charms. It’s an album that demands to be taken out of the context of Pollard’s superhuman release schedule to be properly digested."
- And lastly, Happy Belated Birthday to Sir Paul McCartney, who turned 68 on Friday. Keep the rock alive, Paul Ramone!
In the last 8 weeks, a couple of guys (Steve LaBate and Scott Sloan) have traveled the US, filming bands and performers and asking them about the state of rock & roll today. From their web site 40 Nights of Rock & Roll, we learn this:
"Over 40 continuous days in the summer of 2010 Steve and Scott will drive all over the United States to watch 40 concerts, interview 40 bands, and come up with the answer to one question: What is the current state of Rock & Roll in America?
Has true rock and roll been reduced to a few dark corners and dive bars? Are there modern rock bands that are ready to fill the arena-sized shoes of bands like AC/DC and Judas Priest?
Every step of the way will be filmed by filmmaker Scott Sloan. 40 days worth of video will then be chopped, cropped and scored into the 40 Nights of Rock & Roll feature film. Along the way Steve LaBate will be taking copious notes and publishing his experiences in the 40 Nights of Rock & Roll book."
Sounds awesome. Follow their progress through the daily videos they've posted (travelogues, really) until the film comes out next winter at their Facebook page or Twitter feed.
Here's a glimpse of them shooting the reclusive family man Paul Westerberg in Minneapolis in May. Nice.
I recently became aware of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, a Vermont-bred band that's being lumped into the country-pop-soul alleyway, though I think they should just get slotted into the "File Under Really Good" file.
The band was named as one of the Best New Bands of 2010 by Rolling Stone, which likely made them giggle as they've been kickin' out the tunes for at least 6-7 years now. Their new self-titled CD is getting good attention, and from the looks of their song 'Tiny Light' (see video above), it looks like it's all coming together at the right time and the right way. Grace is a fantastic rockin' singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter and she sports an awesome pair of legs to boot! Keep watching, cause the song shifts gears at the 3:00 mark into a full-on rockjam rager for a minute and a half. It's pretty cool.
Read more goodness on Grace and her band at: Aquarium Weekly, Washington Examiner, Jamband and many other outlets.
And, if you're in Tempe/Phoenix this week, you can hit a listening party this Wednesday June 23rd for the band's new LP at Mojo Yogurt on Mill Ave in Tempe. It starts at 7pm till 10pm, and you get a break on the goodness of Mojo Yogurt while you listen. Have fun!
Iggy and the Stooges rocked Toronto in a free outdoor show on Saturday night at the North by Northeast music fest.
Spinner.com wrote: "We're the remains of the f---ing Stooges," Pop shouted early on, "and before we die, we're going to do it with you." The 63-year-old singer did a lot of things to that crowd. He pummelled them with 'Search and Destroy.' He thrilled them with his bare-chested virility. He teased them with his wit and satisfied them with his killer vocal style, still in full effect. And if he's not quite the real wild child who will literally open up and bleed anymore, the very fact that he can be invited to scream out 'Cock in My Pocket' in a heavily corporately controlled, family-friendly city landmark is reason enough to thank Pop and his bandmates (in this case, 'Raw Power'-era Stooges Scott Asheton and James Williamson, plus saxophonist Steve McKay and bassist Mike Watt) for everything they've done over the past 40 years, and continue to do."
Indeed! Thank you Iggy! Here's the evidence!
I nicked this from Indie Music Tech as it's worth sharing: According to All Facebook, these are the top ten music apps on Facebook:
I use a few of 'em already at my Facebook personal page and Dfactor fan page. How about you?
Happy Friday! Check the clip below of me making my way acoustically through 'Too Much Regulation" for the Phoenix New Times-sponsored Music on the Light Rail series "The Train Tracks". Thanks to videographer Jay for making me look pretty.
Click here to hear the guitars-slashing, vocals-raging full-on recorded version of 'Too Much Regulation' from last year's CD 'Slashing the Sunlight'.
And if you're in N. Phoenix tonight, come see my trio play acoustically at the 'Adults @ Play' event at City North. We've got originals, cool covers and two sets worth to plow through. Make it a date night. Woot!
Gaslight Anthem's new CD "American Slang" is out this week and getting reviews ranging from so-so to oh rockin'.
(though the Metacritic score is up near 80 - so looks like it's gaining plaudits all around.)
So in a tip to the band and their influences, we bring you this week's NBC clip where they hung out for a second song with Jimmy Fallon to play a cover of Pearl Jam's 'State of Love and Trust' - it's below. Enjoy.
Here's one from the new CD -
- 'Gaslight Anthem - Stay Lucky'
It's a rocker with a story and people you used to know. Sing along.
Gaslight Anthem's new CD "American Slang" is out this week and getting reviews ranging from so-so to oh rockin'. Metacritic score is up near 80 - not bad.
So in a tip to the band and their influences, we bring you this week's NBC clip where they hung out for a second song with Jimmy Fallon to play a cover of Pearl Jam's 'State of Love and Trust' - it's below. Enjoy.
Here's one from the new CD -
- 'Gaslight Anthem - Stay Lucky'
It's a rocker with a story and people you used to know. Sing along.
What happens when you mix spaghetti western guitar with Afro-pop rhythms? Or The Cardigans and Vampire Weekend on a double date with and Haircut 100 and Juluka?
That's the sound of Swedish indie pop band Club 8 on their new release The People's Record, which Everybody Taste is calling "one of 2010's most unique and interesting releases." I call it fresh and fun and worth a click (spin?).
More information on the Swedish duo (who've been playing for over a decade) is up at the band's Wikipedia page.
Listen to:
Club 8 - Western Hospitality.
Order the full LP "The People's Record' right here.
Here's another taste of Club 8, from its last release, a gorgeous track called 'Love in December'.
Back in the mid 00s sometime, I got together with my pal Mike I. for his help in recording two Urge Overkill covers I wanted to do for a planned UO tribute CD via its mailing list.
The tribute CD never materialized for some reason, and I ended up just shelving these covers in the archives. I recently dusted them off and realized what a fun drinking recording session it was. Lots of run was drunk at this session. I think I drummed, played bass, guitar and sang. The vocals were hampered a bit by the rum, but hey, that's rock n roll. I like to think that Ed and Nash would've approved. Mike sang some of the background vocals a bit and he may have played something else too, but it's a bit of a memory blur.
So (trumpets!) -- Here are my two Urge Overkill covers - 'Positive Bleeding' and 'Back on Me' from the band's 1993 Saturation LP.
Dfactor - Urge Overkill, Back on Me by Dfactor
Dfactor - Urge Overkill, Positive Bleeding by Dfactor
I've heard rumors that Urge Overkill is in the studio, but that's been going on for about a year. The band re-emerges in Chicago every few months to play a show, and they still rock it out good. Check the video for 'The Candidate' below recorded last summer in Chicago. For more background on Urge Overkill, check this Perfect Sound Forever feature.
Middle of the Week and there's lots of little fun music bits to pass along your way.
- NME is reporting that Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie has formed a garage rock supergroup cover band called "Silver Machine" for a one-off gig in London in July. He has recruited Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, Zak Starkeu, drummer for The Who and former Oasis drummer, plus Primal Scream guitarists Andrew Innes and Barrie Cadogan for the group. The band will performing a collection of their favourite songs by The Troggs, MC5, Creation, Thr Flamin' Groovies and The Chocolate Watch Band for the bash.
- This guy will write and record a song for you or your loved one for a fiver.
- Consequence of Sound is offering up two new Arcade Fire songs "Ready to Start" and "We used to Wait" from the band's upcoming release The Suburbs.
- The Dfactor garage rock trio is performing Friday night in two acoustically challenged sets at the 'Adults @ Play' benefit for Free Arts of Arizona in Phoenix. Click here for more info and click here to register your donation.
- It's a big Band of Horses weekend in NYC, writes Brooklyn Vegan. The band plays a sold-out Williamsburg waterfront show on Sunday (after a Saturday Toronto festival gig) but will also play a 'secret' Manhattan show on Friday.
- The Seattle Art Museum has an exhibition (until Sept 6th) called Kurt, devoted to Mr. rock and roll himself, Kurdt Kobain! The Museum writes: "Kurt Cobain symbolized the ideals, aspirations and disappointments of the ’90s generation, and a diverse array of artists have incorporated his image into their work to comment on those issues. With works from the early 1990s to the present, by artists such as Rodney Graham, Douglas Gordon and Elizabeth Peyton, among others, this exhibition will cause viewers to question why and how Kurt’s visage and his gestures came to mean so much to a generation."
- And lastly, here is your 10 minute rock and roll moment of zen:
Andrew Jackson Jihad, one of Phoenix's more interesting groups, is out on a summer tour of the Midwest. The band had a few shows here last week to say bye (for a while) and the tour officially kicks off tonight in Albuquerque, NM. Full dates below.
Here's a live clip from May '09 that lends a bit to Neutral Milk Hotel magic, while missing a bit of Springsteen and Clash sax touches, and a bit of audience participation. Check out more at their MySpace page. Enjoy.
Andrew Jackson Jihad tour dates:
6.14.10 Albuquerque, NM Heaven and Hell (400 Wellesley Dr. SE)
6.15.10 Denver, CO Rhinoceropolis (35536 Brighton Blvd.) w/ No Funeral
6.16.10 Omaha, NE The Slowdown (729 N. 14th St.)
6.17.10 Dubuque, IA Monk's Kaffee Pub (373 Bluff St.) All Ages Matinee and 21+ Evening show w/ Gunshy
6.18.10 Minneapolis, MN *
6.19.10
6.20.10 Milwaukee, WI *
6.21.10 Elgin, IL Mad Maggies (51 S. Grove) w/ The Gunshy
6.22.10 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen (2100 W. Belmont Ave.) w/ The Gunshy
6.23.10 Bloomington, IN Greek's Pizzeria (Walnut St.) w/ Universe, Busman's Holiday
6.24.10 Louisville, KY Skull Alley (1017 E. Broadway) w/ Universe
6.25.10 Cairo, IL Ace of Cups (1007 Washington Ave.) w/ Universe
6.26.10 St. Louis, MO Firebird (2706 Olive St.)
6.27.10 Springfield, IL Black Sheep Cafe (1320 S. 11th St.)
6.28.10 Kansas City, MO The Riot Room (4048 Broadway St.) w/ Bent Left
6.29.10 Tulsa, OK Blue Jackalope w/Lizard Police, David Dean's Musical Forklift
6.30.10 Oklahoma Cty,OK The Conservatory w/ O Fidelis, Ali Bro and The Hippo, Petis
7.01.10 Austin, TX Emo's (603 Red River) w/ Look Mexico, Jesse Moore &The East Cameron Folkcore
7.02.10 Houston, TX *
7.03.10 San Antonio, TX The Ten Eleven (1011 Avenue B)
7.04.10 Las Cruces, NM *
8.04.10 Mesa, AZ The Underground (105 W. Main St.) w/ Off With Their Heads
Pitchfork unveiled the new Flaming Lips video for the song "The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine".
It's a whacked-out clip, complete with warning label affixed at the start. There's a taped-up, blindfolded babe getting cut up and using her blood to create some awesome blood art, with fingers and toes. And then a delivery to the big furry bush ball. I think. Or is it a metaphor for the oil industry? I dunno. YOU MAKE THE CALL!
The Lips are touring all over the US and Canada over the summer. They warmed up last night with a sorta secret show in Oklahoma City, OK (presumably before the rains turned into floods). Click here to see a slideshow of pics.
Here's a 10 year old clip of Coldplay playing "Don't Panic" from the 2000 Glastonbury show. A fine song, from their 3rd EP The Blue Room, and played with intensity and wonder. Bonus: a wonderful line at the start from Chris Martin. Dig the goodness. Happy weekend!
Coldplay's Chris Martin was also checking out The Strokes in their secret London gig as 'Venison' the other night, according to the NME.
All the hits in one package! Woot! I'm primed for the pump. I'll take a copy of this for preview and review, to anyone who can send one! I love Oasis. Read more about the upcoming double disc (plus one DVD!) collection of groovy mid-tempo rock songs with big choruses that echo some of the Beatles' best songs! Check out the official news from Oasis's page.
"'Time Flies' is the complete singles collection celebrating the work of Oasis from start to finish. Released on 14th June through Big Brother Recordings, the songs that comprise this album span fifteen glorious years walked tall alongside a staggering seven consecutive number one albums.
1994's Definitely Maybe, 1995's (Whats The Story) Morning Glory?, 1997's Be Here Now, 2000's Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants, 2002's Heathen Chemistry, 2005's Don't Believe The Truth and their last from 2008, Dig Out Your Soul. Starting with their irresistible debut, Supersonic and finishing with their very last release, Falling Down, the album features all 26 singles - 23 Top Tens including 8 No.1's.
A deluxe version of Time Flies features all 36 videos ever made (all previously unreleased) including versions made for the UK and America, as well as the last ever recorded Oasis live show from The Roundhouse in London on the 21st July 2009."
Here's the track listing:
Supersonic
Roll With It
Live Forever
Wonderwall
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Cigarettes & Alcohol
Songbird
Dont Look Back In Anger
The Hindu Times
Stand By Me
Lord Dont Slow Me Down
Shakermaker
All Around The World
Some Might Say
The Importance of Being Idle
D'You Know What I Mean?
Lyla
Let There Be Love
Go Let It Out
Who Feels Love?
Little By Little
The Shock Of The Lightning
She Is Love
Whatever
I'm Outta Time
Falling Down
You can grab a few of the band's early 'Definitely Maybe' demos right here.
Hopeless Records band We Are the In Crowd are releasing their new EP "Guaranteed To Disagree" this week. Buy it at the Hopeless link and stream it at AltPress. 
The teen rockers are also the featured "Hot Band Alert" artist on J-14.com.
We Are in the Crowd is touring on the Vans Warped Tour all summer (which hits Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix on June 29). For tour dates and more, click to the band's MySpace page.
Here's We Are The In Crowd's new single, called "Lights Out" which rocks nothing like UFO's "Lights Out" :-)
SPIN is hosting a live set by Against Me later today - Click to SPIN at the right time. 
Major buzz happening now for Brooklyn band The Drums, who have hit big in the UK and Europe, and will be touring there all summer. (See their MySpace page for dates).
The Drums' eponymously titled debut LP is out in digital format today on Downtown Records. Buy it at iTunes. The band members are:
Jonathan Pierce - The Singin'
Jacob Graham - The Stringin'
Adam Kessler - The Twangin'
Connor Hanwick - The Bangin'
Some blurbs about the band from their promo folks: After the release of their debut EP Summertime! and a string of tour dates in the UK, The Drums were listed at #1 on both Clash and NME’s Top Tips of the Year and #5 on the BBC’s Sound of 2010 poll. Pitchfork’s readers voted the band as ‘Best Hope for 2010’ in their 2009 Readers’ Poll and the band topped Shazam’s Sound of 2010 list as the most searched band by users in 2009.
"The Drums’ spellbinding sound takes inspiration from elements of some of the greatest bands in history from The Smiths to the The Shangri-las and fuses them with the band’s own raw energy and excitement. “Let’s Go Surfing” sounds like a day at Coney Island with The Cure on the boombox. The melancholy sound of “Book of Stories” is offset with an understated sweetness and innocence in the lyrics and vocal."
Read more good stuff about The Drums at Q Magazine,
Reach out to the the band on Facebook. Here's the new single from The Drums - Forever & Ever Amen - and there are plenty more videos of the band at their YouTube page:
While I was swigging beers at GBV shows and rockin' out with my band Anthemic Pop Wonder in NYC back in 2000, the Los Angeles band Tsar was rockin' out on the other coast. I completely missed 'em; that is, until this week, when my new drummer Gary played me some songs from their 2000 major label debut. And the opener 'Calling All Destroyers' just floored me - great energy, massive hooks and more.
So here it is, the band Tsar rockin' it out and just smokin' it on this song, from an appearance on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn (what's HE up to these days?). Hope you like it.
Also an FYI - the band played a reunion show of sorts earlier this year and LA Times' Pop & Hiss blog was there to see it.
AZ-to-NYC band Miniature Tigers has begun its first-ever headlining tour for the upcoming CD "Fortress" which comes out on July 27 on Modern Art Records through Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group. (whew!)
Free Energy is playing with Miniature Tigers on the early June dates, then The Spinto Band will play with them the rest of the tour. All the dates are below.
Here's the new video for their song "Gold Skull":
Miniature Tigers Tour Dates
June 2 - Snug Harbor - Charlotte, NC
June 3 - The Star Bar - Atlanta, GA
June 5 - Eleanor Tinsley Park - Houston, TX
June 6 - Cine El Rey Theater - McAllen, TX
Jul 21 - The High Dive - Seattle, WA
Jul 22 - Mississippi Studios - Portland, OR
Jul 23 - Hotel Utah Saloon - San Francisco, CA
Jul 24 - Spaceland - Los Angeles, CA
Jul 25 - House of Blues - San Diego, CA
Jul 27 - The Rhythm Room - Phoenix, AZ
Jul 29 - Kilby Court - Salt Lake City, UT
Jul 30 - Larimer Lounge - Denver, CO
Jul 31 - Santa Fe Brewing Company- Santa Fe, NM
Aug 2 - The Loft - Dallas, TX
Aug 3 - Stubbs - Austin, TX
Aug 5 - The Waiting Room - Omaha, NE
Aug 6 - Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN
Aug 8 - Lollapalooza - Chicago, IL
Aug 10 - Pike Room - Pontiac, MI
Aug 11 - Musica - Akron, OH
Aug 12 - TT the Bear's - Cambridge, MA
Aug 13 - The Mercury Lounge - NY, NY
Aug 15 - North Star Bar - Philadelphia, PA
Aug 17 - The Black Cat - Washington, DC
Aug 18 - Sonar Club Stage - Baltimore, MD
Aug 19 - Local 506 - Chapel Hill, NC
Aug 20 - The Star Community Bar - Atlanta, GA
Aug 21 - The Blackbooth - Orlando, FL
w/ Free Energy
w/ The Spinto Band
Hear some earlier MTs at Daytrotter:
"The Miniature Tigers are more of a hybrid of the best of the [LA pop] movement, an occasional vaudevillian tone, the soft harmonies of the late Impossibles/Slow Reader and the touching, but brutally honest emotional baggage and concerns of Ben Gibbard doing either Death Cab or All-Time Quarterback. Brand and Schaier slide their voices together to make a conglomeration that sounds like a crystal clear stream with no hurry in it."
And lastly, click to this collection of stories on the band written by the Phoenix New Times' music team, which has covered the band's ascent over the last few years.
Stop the presses - the original Modern English (of "I Melt with You" '80s single fame) has gotten back together, has recorded a new LP and is touring.
All the good news comes from today's post via Brooklyn Vegan, which writes:
"The details of Modern English's new album, Soundtrack, are promising if you're a fan, having reassembled the entire team that gave us After the Snow: the original line-up of the band, producer Hugh Jones and they even got Vaughan Oliver (of 4AD's legendary in-house design shop 23 Envelope) to do the cover art. You can check out samples over at Darla records -- I gotta say lead track "It's OK" is pretty catchy. But don't expect the dark, heavy-on-the-toms sound of After the Snow, this is more straight-up pop (a direction than began taking with Ricochet Days)."
If you've never heard Modern English's "I Melt With You", click here.
In its last weeks, Conan O Brien's "The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television" tour hit NYC's Radio City Music Hall last night and while described by the Village Voice writer as "jovially half-assed", what struck me was this spot-on assessment of Conan's ...songs:
"Like, Conan awkwardly strumming a rhythm guitar (he can play it, sure, but watching the guy play guitar is somehow a tremendously physically uncomfortable experience) and doing, say, "On the Road Again" as "[I Want] My Old Show Again," etc. These tunes are frankly kind of boring, enlivened only by his taste for surrealist props (Eddie Murphy's suit from Raw, the inflatable bat from Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell tour) and unshakable crowd goodwill."
Here's a clip of some of last night's forced silliness, reminding one of an updated Rat Pack las Vegas clip circa 1962:
- Green Day has made it into Rock Band. The new edition comes out next week. Billie Joe Armstrong says: "It's like a glorified karaoke machine, or 'Mortal Kombat' with guitars."
- Flaming Lips and MySpace have teamed up to help send you to Bonnaroo! Click here and follow directions to send a video saying why you should be able to hang with the band on June 11th at Bonnaroo.
- Thank goodness Aerosmith has dropped it feuding ways and have gotten back together for a summer tour that starts in mid-July through September.
- Aldous Snow (played by Russell Brand) does his rock n roll thing this weekend in "Get Him to the Greek" a new Judd Apotaw-produced film that includes joints and women, Puff Diddy and the band Infant Sorrow.
- Rock Royalty Rush has a new documentary coming out soon called Rush "Beyond the Lighted Stage" and Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson spoke to CBC about their early years. Here's Pt. 1 below (worth watching solely for a short clip of KISS's Gene Simmons saying "What makes Rush unique is fearlessness. What kind of band is Rush? It's r-u-s-h"). Part 2 is here.
