Rock Clip of the Week - Titus Andronicus, A More Perfect Union

I'm a little late to this track, but it's a good one. "A More Perfect Union" opens up the 2nd CD of Titus Andronicus CD Monitor.

As singer-guitarist Patrick Stickles says in the live clip, it's their attempt to sound a little like Dinosaur Jr - he asks the crowd to be the judge (I say yes).

The official video for the recorded song is below the live clip. Check the line "...Why I never wanted to change the world, but I'm looking for a new New Jersey, because tramps like us, baby we were born to DIE!" starting at :45. Killer.

Flavorwire writes: "Titus Andronicus have made some of the most powerful music of the year on their latest album, The Monitor, an emotional wallop of a punk-rock Civil War concept record that also manages to peg the frustrations of 20-something life and shout out New Jersey without ever feeling forced." Amen.

Friday Waved Rumor Week in Review

This is the Week That Was (according to my inbox of band promo PR, personal hijinks and leftwing radical plays):

- You like the music of Gorillaz? Well, it's totally trippier and cooler when heard live, especially from the far flung place of Damascus (where IS that?). NPR has got the full concert right here.

- Have you heard the one-off Black Lips track called "Best Napkin I Ever Had"? It's crazy, rockin' and wild, like Grant Hart at his LSD peak fronting Devo or something. You can grab it right now at One Thirty BPM (link above).


- Free Energy and Titus Andronicus are heading out on a US tour together. The two bands will be selling a split 7” exclusive to the tour with specially recorded covers, Free Energy’s being Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Going Down”. You can also grab Free Energy's song 'Stuck on You' at their site.

- Check out the slamming cock rock from LA rockers Judge Jackson and their song "Radio from the upcoming CD release 'Drive' out next week. Check the band's Myspace page for more.

- My Dfactor trio played a rippin' set at our rock and roll show on Tuesday night. Drummer Gary especially killed it and we rocked it pretty good. But sadly, David Vandervelde and his band didn't make it to Tempe from LA, and a good chunk of people who came to see him play walked away disappointed from the club door upon hearing that news. Too bad - they missed our cover of "Can't See Your Face No More" :-(

- REO Speedwagon is kicking off the nostalgia tour for 30th anniversary of 1980's Hi-Infidelity album, one that never saw the light of day on my stereo either then or in the years since. Gonna not keep on loving you, indeed.

- Interpol is back! Paste Magazine reports that the band is offering free songs with a CD pre-order. And the reconfigured band played the track 'Barricade' ("Keep us Away" Keep Us Away"!) last night on David Letterman's talk show. It's here below:

Big Takeover 30th Anniversary Party

The Skint is giving away a free pair of tickets to the Big Takeover's amazing 30th anniversary party this weekend in Brooklyn, featuring loads of cool bands for Big Takeover founder Jack Rabid's soiree this weekend in Brooklyn, including...

Friday, July 30, doors 6pm

* The Avengers (reformed San Francisco ’70s punk legends, with two original members, singer Penelope Houston and guitar Greg Ingraham)

* Channel 3 (early ’80s L.A. punks!)

* Visqueen (female-led Seattle post-punk rockers’ first LP in 5 years)

* Springhouse (Jack's own late ’80s/early ’90s dreampop band, doing normal set)

* Libertines U.S. (reformed Cincinnati’s ’80s greats first ever ny show)

* Flower (New York postpunk band’s reunion gig, first show in 16 years! Later split into two bands, Versus and French !)

* EDP (New York’s hard-hitting, Jam-like, mod revival band)

Saturday July 31 (doors 4pm)

* Mark Burgess (England’s Chameleons star) acoustic and full band!

* For Against (Lincoln, NE post-punk legends’ first East Coast show in 15 years)

* Springhouse (playing 1993 second LP Postcards From the Arctic start to finish for the first time ever; first shows with original lineup in 8 years)

* The Sleepover Disaster (Fresno’s shoegaze wonders’ first ever east coast appearances)

* Don Mcglashan (New Zealand’s ex-*Mutton Birds* leader in his only U.S. appearance, part solo and part full band!)

* Jon Auer (Seattle’s Posies star and 17-year Big Star member)

* Steve Drewett of The (Newtown) Neurotics (first ever U.S. gig of any kind for the English original 1977-1988 punk rock era singer-songwriter extraordinaire, part solo, and part backing band!)

* The Sharp Things (New York’s orchestral poppers!)

* Paul Collins (of The Nerves of “Hanging on the Telephone” fame pre-Blondie’s cover, and of Paul Collins’ Beat)

* The Curtain Society (veteran Boston shoegazers, who recently backed Burgess last year for his own sets)

Click to Brooklyn Paper for another great article on Big Takeover and Jack Rabid.

Manic Street Preachers - tour, LP, single "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love"

NME has got some early insights into the Manic Street Preachers' upcoming release, ‘Postcards From A Young Man’, which comes out on September 20, and news of its UK tour as well.

NME writes:
"The group's 10th studio album, 'Postcards From A Young Man', is out in September. A UK tour starts in Glasgow on September 29. Frontman James Dean Bradfield said that the album would be an unashamedly pop-orientated affair following 2009's bleak 'Journal For Plague Lovers'. "We're going for big radio hits on this one," he told NME. "It isn't a follow-up to 'Journal For Plague Lovers'. It's one last shot at mass communication."

The first single is called "(It's Not War) Just The End Of Love" and it's big, hooky, anthemic and glorious, just like all the best bit of the Mancs have been over the years. I hope this song gets huge.

GBV - Expecting Brainchild - Live February 1994 (Dayton)

I had a good long post set up earlier today, that went missing in Blogger after some connection issue. And now my time is tight, so I'm gonna just pop up this great classic early Guided by Voices clip from a February 1994 show in Dayton, OH. The band performs the song 'Expecting Brainchild' from Vampire on Titus, which they were promoting at the time.

I bet this song makes its way into the GBV reunion tour setlist at some point. Can you imagine? 500-1000 drinked-up balding middle-aged fat guys yelling song titles at Bob and band all night? It's gonna be nuts! In a good way :-)

Rock Show Tuesday! Dfactor opens for David Vandervelde, Tempe, AZ

For all the Phoenix-Tempe-Mesa-Scottsdale types who rock out and may read this blog, I invite you to come on out and rock out to my rock 'n roll trio as we open for sterling singer-songwriter-rocker David Vandervelde.

The show's tomorrow night at The Sail Inn in Tempe, AZ - we go on sometime after 9:30pm or so. David Vandervelde follows. Drinks are cheap, air conditioning's good. Hope to see you there.

Read my recent post about David Vandervelde's latest songs.

Happy Birthday Mick Jagger!

Hey, It's Mick Jagger's birthday today, July 26. He's 67 this year.

His band, The Rolling Stones, are planning one more farewell tour starting in 2011 and going into 2012, to commemorate their 50 years in rock and roll.

Here's what Mick and Keith said about touring and the reasons behind it to NBC's Matt Lauer in an undated interview (but it's somewhat recent in the last few years). It's billed as "Mick and Keith together -- on their relationship, their band, their future."

Match your mood to new music with Stereomood

Tired of choosing music according to artist or category on your device? How about picking tunes by your mood?



Enter a new online music service called Stereomood, which is helping to suggest music to users based on their physical activity levels and general crankiness/happiness level. It describes its service as "the emotional internet radio that provides music that best suits my mood and my activities and personalized playlists for specific emotions." Heavy!

How ya feelin'? Happy? Great, go feed a dog. Angry? Super! Go wage war on some innocents. Click over to Stereomood and select a tag from the mood cloud. I chose "Dinner with friends" and Stereomood picked out some songs without even knowing what a bunch of layabouts I generally have over for dinner.

Some of the artists chosen included Wolf Parade, The Bonfires, Weezer, Phoenix, R.E.M, The Beatles and others. I suppose as Stereomood gets to "know you better" it can make more personalized selections based on your mood. Sign up for this option. Otherwise, enjoy the randomness of Steromood matching music to fit your own depths of inner turmoil.

(via Netted)

The Beatles, live August 1, 1965, Blackpool, England

Nearly 45 years ago from next week, The Beatles played a six-song set in Blackpool, England, and it was captured on the TV cameras. Pt 1 is a bit of a warmup, but Pt 2 is monster Beatles awesome.

The Beatles - BLACKPOOL NIGHT OUT, 1 August, 1965 -- Part 1 of 2
--I Feel Fine
--I'm Down
--Act Naturally


The Beatles - BLACKPOOL NIGHT OUT, 1 August, 1965 -- Part 2 of 2
--Ticket To Ride
--Yesterday (George says: "For Paul McCartney of Liverpool, opportunity knocks!" Then John says at song's end "Thank you, Ringo, that was wonderful!". Silly slaps!)
--Help!

Teenage Bottlerocket - "Skate or Die" live, 7/19/10, Mesa Underground

Laramie, Wyoming's finest rock band Teenage Bottlerocket survived the intense heat in the Mesa Underground basement club on Monday night. A good crowd came out for the show in which Teenage Bottlerocket was backed by Scottsdale punkers Look Out Look (which came on earlier than expected and I only caught their last song - bummer) and Banner Pilot (solid action rock from Minneapolis).

Zero air conditioning at the basement club on a 100 degree night in Mesa. Apparently, the building is such that the air vents don't reach down to the basement club. Fans were running, but they made little difference to the sweaty kids and few old guys who were there.

The bands all played their punk rock hearts out, but inevitably, the intense heat just drained everyone's energy. Even the mosh pit kids got too hot and dripping by 3/4 set. Thankfully, Sean caught most (if not all) of the set on his vidcam and here's Teenage Bottlerockets' awesome song 'Skate or Die'.

Miniature Tigers Tour, CD Release party for 'Fortress' 7/27

Miniature Tigers launches its first headlining tour today, July 21 going through the end of next month. The band’s second CD, “Fortress,” officially comes out next week.

The new CD is garnering good reviews from music writers in Phoenix, where the band started and grew before heading to Brooklyn last year to record this new effort and make some connections. Here's a bit from the Phoenix New Times' Michael Lopez:
"Fortress progresses beautifully throughout its ten songs, coming to a somber, peaceful head with the final three songs "Tropical Birds," "Lolita" and "Coyote Enchantment." "Lolita" is a rollicking, thumping song while "Tropical Birds" has an undeniable AM Gold feel with its joyous tambourines. "Coyote Enchantment" runs a bit on the monotonous side, thanks in large part to the repetition of the word "coyote." It's hardly a boring song, managing to be entertaining enough thanks to a warbling, hair metal-esque riff."

College Times' Christina Caldwell wrote: "Not quite dark and not quite the power pop of years past, Miniature Tigers have come into their own on Fortress while picking up a few famous influences. They're decidedly more serious this time around. Chock it up to the Brooklyn move, but Fortress is super hipster, right down to the song titles. Add in synthy, psychedelic beats and the album is a hipster's wet dream, especially with Chris Chu of the Morning Benders' and electro-poppers Neon Indian lending a producing hand."

The tour starts tonight and Miniature Tigers will celebrate with a CD release party at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix next Tuesday night, along with pals Kinch onboard. Buy tickets here.

Miniature Tigers
Jul 21 2010 The High Dive w/ The Spinto Band Seattle, WA
Jul 22 2010 Mississippi Studios w/ The Spinto Band Portland, OR
Jul 23 2010 Hotel Utah Saloon w/The Spinto Band San Francisco, CA
Jul 24 2010 Spaceland w/ The Spinto Band Los Angeles, CA
Jul 25 2010 House of Blues w/The Spinto Band **FREE SHOW** San Diego, CA
Jul 27 2010 The Rhythm Room w/ The Spinto Band Phoenix, AZ
Jul 29 2010 Gray Whale Records IN-STORE ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE/SIGNING Salt Lake City, UT
Jul 29 2010 Kilby Court w/The Spinto Band Salt Lake City, UT
Jul 30 2010 Larimer Lounge w/The Spinto Band Denver, CO
Jul 31 2010 Santa Fe Brewing Co. w/The Spinto Band Santa Fe, NM
Aug 2 2010 The Loft w/The Spinto Band Dallas, TX
Aug 3 2010 Stubbs w/ The Spinto Band Austin, TX
Aug 5 2010 The Waiting Room w/ The Spinto Band Omaha, NE
Aug 6 2010 Triple Rock Social Club w/The Spinto Band Minneapolis, MN
Aug 7 2010 Double Door with Minus the Bear (Lollapalooza afterparty!) Chicago, IL
Aug 8 2010 Lollapalooza Chicago, Illinois, US
Aug 10 2010 Pike Room w/The Spinto Band Pontiac, MI
Aug 11 2010 Musica w/The Spinto Band Akron, OH
Aug 12 2010 T.T. The Bear's w/The Spinto Band Cambridge, MA
Aug 13 2010 The Mercury Lounge w/The Spinto Band New York City, NY
Aug 14 2010 TBA TBA, TBA
Aug 15 2010 North Star Bar w/The Spinto Band Philadelphia, PA
Aug 17 2010 The Black Cat w/The Spinto Band Washington, DC
Aug 18 2010 Sonar Club Stage w/The Spinto Band Baltimore, MD
Aug 19 2010 Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC
Aug 20 2010 The Star Community Bar Atlanta, GA
Aug 21 2010 The Blackbooth Orlando, FL
Aug 23 2010 Spanish Moon Baton Rouge, LA
Aug 24 2010 Mango's Houston, TX
Aug 26 2010 Launchpad Albuquerque, NM

Paevment "Cut Your Hair" Live from Pitchfork Festival, Sunday July 18th

Indie rock weekend festivals

Big music festival weekend just finished up, with the Pitchfork festival in Chicago and the 10th Siren Fest in Brooklyn's Coney Island ocean front.

The Observer wrote about Siren Fest (which I attended 3-4 times during the early 00s):
"2 p.m. A graying Brooklynite wandered up to the security guard on duty and asked who was playing this thing, anyway. The guard shook his head sadly: Don't know, don't want to know. Former Pratt students Matt & Kim had the evening headliner slot at the Main Stage, somehow contracted to fill 90 minutes with short bursts of keyboard jingles-inexplicably, pop-punk legends Ted Leo & The Pharmacists were opening for them. Over on the Stillwell Stage, Wye Oak, Ponytail, Earl Greyhound, Harlem and Cymbals Eat Guitars would make for an afternoon of brutal, sludgy and caterwauling guitars-a nod to Siren's grunge beginnings in 2001, when it featured Guided By Voices and Superchunk. These days, this "alternative" sound has no crossover prospects (which is probably why it's cool again)."

More on Sirenfest from Spin.com, Brooklyn Vegan and the Brit rock site Live4Ever, as well as this big fat wet blowjob for Surfer Blood from Huffington Post contributor Monica Klein, who wrote lovingly....
"The five boys (yes, boys--with the possible exception of stud-in-the-making precussionist Marcos Marchesani, it would be a lie to call them men) that comprise Surfer Blood are making impressively catchy, stand-out singles, carving out their niche within the over-crowded genre of indie beach-rock.

Sandwiched between sets from the Screaming Females and Night Marchers, Surfer Blood arrived on the main stage at 3pm. Determined to fill their entire slot, lead singer JP Pitts ran through their set list and then conversed with his bandmates as to what songs they could fit in at the end of their hour.

Covering a range of songs from their debut album, Astro Coast, Surfer Blood easily moved through dreamy pop songs and simple, catchy bass riffs, although occasional amp issues had JP signaling to technicians."

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


(Pavement's Steve Malkmus)

Over to Chicago for Pitchfork Festival, which Crawdaddy did a nice job of summarizing here, where they wrote:
"Panda Bear, Washed Out, Neon Indian, and their peers aren’t meant for massive stages. Their layered music is better suited for the intimacy and eccentricity of a jury-rigged stage, constructed on a pile of rubble, towards the back of a dive bar—where their chords can reverberate in a cacophony, and not fade into a high-rise skyline. One can only hope that 2011’s festival will adopt a SXSW approach to staging, or encourage its artists to rethink the “performance” aspect of their live music. Either way, a little Hennessey and titties sure do pack in a crowd."

ArtistDirect covered Pitchfork festival's first day shindigs with a lengthy piece about like everything, including the drunken host Michael Showalter:
"Sound bleed from the main field stages continued to be a problem for the rest of the night, evidenced by Michael Showalter’s complete and utter breakdown on stage. Early on he lost focus and could think of little to say beyond complaining about the occasional sirens from the street behind and the overpowering performance from Broken Social Scene.

While I have a fondness for Showalter’s brand of comedy (even at his worst), I was still able to get a few laughs out of his misery. Even so, I could see how let down he and the rest of he audience were. After trying to rally by playing music from his own computer as loud as possible through the stage’s speakers and assuring the audience that he had successfully performed at outdoor festivals in the past, Showalter made a comment about drinking himself stupid and promptly left the stage."

More fun PF pics at the link and this one below.



And the reason why we didn't get to see Pavement on the Pitchform live stream on Sunday night? Spiral Stairs tells Vanity Fair:
" “Regardless of my thoughts about the Pitchfork e zine, myself and the rest of the band had a great time playing the Pitchfork music festival. The crowd were super enthusiastic and we couldn’t have asked for a better day. We only found out the day of the show about the live webcast and I personally thought that it was not something that Pavement should do. We apologize to the fans for pulling out at the last moment and hope that you’ll come and see us in September. We’d gladly look forward to playing the Pitchfork festival in another 10 years.”

Greg Kot's Turn it Up blog confirms - No love lost by Pavement's Scott Kannberg for Pitchfork editorial folks.

Pitchfork Festival (Chicago)

Lots of new bands and young fans sweating it out in the humid 90 degree heat at this weekend's Pitchfork Festival in Chicago.

Click on the streaming player to watch today's lineup of bands, which features an afternoon set by acclaimed Beach House and culminates with a set by Pavement around 8:30pm CET tonight.



Sunday July 18

1:00 Allá
1:45 Cass McCombs
2:30 Girls
3:20 Beach House
4:15 Lightning Bolt
5:15 St. Vincent
6:15 Major Lazer
7:25 Big Boi
8:30 Pavement

Click to read Chicago Sun Times' music reviewer Jim DeRogatis' disappointed observations of Friday's and Saturday's sets. Here's a sample: "Without the aid of mind-altering substances, Panda Bear’s performance was an indulgent, unlistenable mess. With them, it may well have prompted the sort of bad trip that would lead someone to believe that they could fly off the steeple of First Baptist Congregational Church across Ashland Avenue from Union Park."

Chicago Now and The Tribune's Greg Kot had more upbeat takes on the festival's offerings.

LDC Soundsytem's James Murphy (photo by Chicago Tribune)

Teenage Bottlerocket at Mesa Underground Monday night

One of my fave bands Teenage Bottlerocket plays nearby on Monday night and I aim to be there.

Teenage Bottlerocket leads a rockin' bill at Mesa Underground Monday night with Look out Look, Bear Awesome, Banner Pilot and Raina-Fire. Buy advance tickets ($8) here.

Rock Clip of the Week - American Heartbreak, Rotten Apple

Today's Waved Rumor Rock Clip of the Week is a glance back just a few years to a San Francisco band called American Heartbreak. This band of rockers likes their rock fast and catchy, melodic with crunch. Hmmm...so do I!

American Heartbreak (which may or may not still be currently playing or gigging) recalls the "unpretentious fun of supercharged Sunset Strip rock while reinterpreting the buzz-saw melodies of arena rock legends such as Kiss and Cheap Trick for a post-alternative rock age." Whew! They wrote that, I didn't. But I like it.

I have a vague memory that I saw American Heartbreak open up a club gig for Jack Rabid's band Springhouse 8-9 years ago in NYC. Was it them? I can't be sure. But the band that night rocked IT!

Here's their rocker from 2006 called 'Rotten Apple" - love those guitars! Share the love! If you like what you hear, buy one of the band's CDs from Amazon.

'93-'96 Guided by Voices lineup reunion tour announced

Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Kevin Fennell and Greg Demos are gonna rock out the GBV hits from 1993 to 1996 on the just-announced "The Hallway Of Shatter-Proof Glass Tour" (nice Goldheart touch there!). More info at Robert Pollard dot net and the Matador blog.

TOUR DATES

9/30 - East Side Drive, Austin, TX
On Sale 7/16 at 12pm
with Times New Viking

10/3 - Pearl Theatre @ Palms Hotel, Las Vegas NV
SOLD OUT
Matador at Twenty-One Las Vegas

10/4 - Wiltern, Los Angeles CA
On Sale 07/24 at 10am
with Times New Viking

10/5 - Warfield, San Francisco CA
Pre-sale FRI 7/23 10am-10pm password "bee thousand"
Regular On Sale SAT 7/25 at 10am
with Times New Viking

10/7 - Crystal Ballroom, Portland OR
On Sale 7/20 at 10am
with Times New Viking

10/9 - Showbox So Do, Seattle WA
On Sale 7/26 at 10am
with Times New Viking

10/12 - First Avenue, Minneapolis MN
On Sale 7/16 at 12pm
with Times New Viking

10/13 - The Vic, Chicago IL
On Sale 7/24 at 10am
with Times New Viking

10/15 - Southgate House, Newport KY (Cincinnati)
On Sale 7/16 at 10am

10/16 - Outlands Live, Columbus OH
On Sale 7/16 at 10 AM

10/21 - 9:30 Club, Washington D.C.
On Sale 7/17 at 10am

10/22 - Cat's Cradle, Carrboro NC
On Sale 7/16 at 10am

10/23 - Buckhead Theater, Atlanta GA
On Sale 7/24 at 10am

11/4 - Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
On NBC at 12:35/11:45C

11/5 - Paradise, Boston MA
On Sale 7/17 at 12pm
with Blitzen Trapper

11/6 - Trocadero, Philadelphia PA
On Sale 7/17 at 12pm
with Blitzen Trapper

11/7 - Terminal 5, NYC
AMEX Pre-Sale Wed 7/21 at 11am - Fri 7/23 at 11pm
On Sale Fri 7/23 at 12pm
with Blitzen Trapper

Robert Pollard - Moses on a Snail (live)

The Guided by Voices and Robert Pollard faithful gathered last weekend in Dayton, Ohio to watch Robert and his band crank out songs from his new CD "Moses on a Snail". It was all part of the Heedfest (dubbed Quadroheedia as it's in its fourth year) party. Some folks took fine videos of Bob and band, and here's a few.

The first is a soundcheck clip of the band doing a wonderful new pop song on the CD called "It's A Pleasure Being You" - great to hear Bob's crystal clear pop vocals.


The second is a rip through the title cut, which is a heavy minor chord laden rocker, apparently from near the end of the show - it rocks out!

David Vandervelde - Summer Time Hits EP

One of my fave singer-songwriter-rocker-guitarist guys is David Vandervelde, who just released an EP called "Summer Time Hits". You can hear a few of the songs, including the insanely catchy "Checkin' Out My Baby", over at MBV. Or click here to hear the T-Rex stompin "Wave Country". It's all fuzz and bluster, summertime pop goodness to these ears.

Check out more of David's psychedelic rock goodness right here and check out the video I shot of his band when they came through Phoenix last year. You can read more at David's Secretly Canadian label page.

I'm pumped up for his music, as my Phoenix-based trio gets to open for David's band on Tuesday July 27th at Tempe's Sail Inn for a hepped- night of glammy pop rock jangle pop.

Rock Clip of the Week - Pearl Jam, Better Man (Live MSG May 2010)

Besides saving oceans and touring European rock fests, Eddie Vedder and his band Pearl Jam can sometimes work a stadium crowd into a rock and roll frenzy by playing a pretty fierce rock song.

In the clip below, from the band's May 21 Madison Square Garden show in New York, Eddie Vedder starts their song 'Better Man' quietly, gently, and the crowd's response nearly overwhelms him. The song his its full stride at the two minute mark on this clip, and by god, by the 5 minute mark, the band is tearing the proverbial Garden roof off. That's rock and roll right there, Billyboy! Thanks to NNJGirl321 who shot and posted this - puts you right there on stage! There's more at here link.

Happy weekend. See you on the upside.

Pearl Jam, "Better Man" Madison Square Garden, May 21, 2010

New Strings, Old Guitars

Hola, comrades of the great Southwest Barrio Nation! Here's a smattering of scintillating picks from across the musical webhouse of fun:

- Missed Music revisits Husker's Du's 1984 legendary classic double LP Zen Arcade.

- Popmatters brings a few videos to us of surprises at musical shows from big name performers. Lenny Kravitz and Robert Plant feature within.

- Hypebot writes that MySpace is "burning money" and may have to bring on a subscription model soon. (I say: Even for musicians types who have pages there, MySpace seems to be a last resort today...)

- Sound Citizen deliberates on which shows to hit at next month's Lollapalooza in Chicago.

- "UFO are one of heavy metal's earliest and greatest bands." They said it. I'll put Schenker-era UFO into top 3, no question.



And today's classic jangly Midwestern alt-pop song is 'Carry the Torch' from the debut LP of Firetown.

Darkness Dear Boy & Dfactor Rock n Roll Show!

The Dfactor rock trio makes a special appearance on a stage this weekend, playing our rock 'n roll hearts out on Saturday night at Icehouse Tavern in Phoenix, AZ. We've heard good things about Daryl and his bar, and hope that folks can come out and clap and stomp with us.

We follow Phoenix rock band Darkness Dear Boy, whose new CD came out in April. Set time is around 11pm or so. You'll hear songs from my CDs 'Say Yeah' and 'Slashing the Sunlight', along with new songs up on my Facebook fan page. And naturally, there will be a cool cover or two.

If you're in and around the Valley, come on out and enjoy cold beer, hot rock and all the other cliches we use to get people off their couches to come to shows. :-)

Heedfast, Robert Pollard and GBV

Yesterday's Dayton Daily News writes about singer-songwriter Robert Pollard returning to the stage after a two year absence for the CD release party of his new CD 'Moses on a Snail.

The sold-out CD release show will be held at Dayton's legendary Canal Street Tavern, site of some of the early Guided by Voices shows, on Friday, July 9. See a clip below from one of those early shows.

The Friday show is part of the now annual gathering of GBV and Pollard fans to Dayton, an event dubbed 'Heedfest'. It's in its third year, I think, and it's become a sort of pilgrimage for Pollard faithful. It grew out of the GBV forum Disarm the Settlers, which itself grew out of an email mailing list called Postal Blowfish, on which I participated for a number of years with genuine fanboyocity.

The Pollard show on Friday will also include a GBV cover band called Teenage FBI who plays all the great GB hits of yore - read more about them here. Looks like a heckuva fun weekend for Pollard and GBV fans!

Guided by Voices at Canal Street Tavern, February 18, 1994

Happy Birthday Show to 'So Much Silence'

Phoenix music blogger So Much Silence has a party this Wednesday night and I aim to get there at some point. Happy Birthday!

The Postelles - White Night video, debut CD out October

NYC pop band The Postelles are making newish waves around rock clubs and concert stages, including some at the recent Bonnaroo Music Festival. Their sound is described as "equally influenced by 50's doo-wop and swaggering garage rock." So, like Sha-Na-Na?

No, not really, judging by the first single "White Night" (see the video below and an MP3 of it at the band's site). It's a stomping beat mixed with light twirls of melody, interlaced with neat riffs and Sparks-like arrangements. Or something like thaaa--a-at. The band's frontman Daniel Balk told AOL Spinner that "We just play guitar and rock 'n' roll, rock pop. We really love the classics and the pop songs of Motown and a lot of '70s punk. We like get-to-the-point rock pop."

Check the single below from the debut LP, which has been co-produced by Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr and will be out in October on Astral/Dreamworks. Or watch a clip of the band playing "She She" from their set at Bonnaroo.

X - 4th of July (Demo Version)

Wow - This demo version of "4th of July" sounds to these ears sharper, faster, and more urgent than the eventual released version by the band X. Not much to see here in the way of visuals, but slap those earbuds on and kick it! Happy 4th!



Sing along

"She's waitin' for me when I get home from work
oh, but things ain't just the same
She turns out the light and cries in the dark
won't answer when I call her name

On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

She gives me her cheek when I want her lips, but I don't have the strength to go
On the lost side of town in a dark apartment, we gave up trying so long ago

On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July

What ever happened I apologize so dry your tears and baby
walk outside, it's the Fourth of July

On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July
Hey baby, Baby take a walk outside"