NOW HEAR THIS

Move It On Over

2008-10-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

The new website is up and things are looking pretty good. We're going to taper down the mirroring thing here so switch those bookmarks to www.nowhearthismusic.com and come on over!

2008-09-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was, according to most time-lines, the 39th anniversary of the start of all those news reports of Paul McCartney's death and subsequent replacement by a look-alike. To mark the occasion I played a few segments of a 1979 radio documentary written by Beatle expert Joel Gasiler (sp?) and hosted by Dave Fox on my regular radio show on KALX. Since it got more phone calls than any piece of music I'd played in months I figured it deserves airing here:

Is Paul Dead? Turn me on dead man

I only have about 37 minutes of the original hour long program but it's more than enough minutia to satisfy the diehard Beatles fan and Fox's flare for melodrama is hilarious. My favorite part is when they play all those tracks backwards to reveal alleged clues behind one of the more famous hoaxes in rock history. Wikipedia has a very detailed account of the whole conspiracy theory. Be sure to check out the exstensive list of external links at the bottom.

And I thought I had too much spare time...

Spoon live in '05

2008-09-22T12:29:00.000-07:00

Spoon starts a three night run at the Filmore tonight. I came to the Spoon party well beyond fashionably late so this will be my first time seeing them. I know, I don't get out much. But since falling hard for Gimme Fiction (made my best of 2005 list) forces have conspired against me finding myself in the same room. Their latest effort Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is just as strong, making my best of '07 list. Barring any further twists of fate I'll be catching the closer Wednesday. I'm also really looking forward to opening act Heavenly States. Kudos to Britt & Co. for giving a fine local act an opportunity like this!

The Sly Oyster has posted a couple of new songs (one featuring Janet Weiss) from frontman Britt Danile's solo set in Portland earlier this month. Check them out here. Unless his long rumored solo debut is actually going to happen it's very likely these will show up on the next Spoon album proper. Here's hoping they pull these out for the Fillmore run but what would really make my life complete (for the next coupl of weeks anyway) would be seeing their killer cover of The Rolling Stones' "Rocks Off".

Rocks Off (from their set in Brooklyn's Prospect Park back in July thanks to the bottomless Internet Archive, the whole show is here.)

Since Gimme Fitcion will always have a special place in my heart I thought I'd post this live set from 2005 in preperation for Wednesday.

Spoon live at Village Studio, L.A. 5/13/05 (broadcast by KCRW)

The Beast And The Dragon, Adored

The Two Sides Of Monsieur Valentine

I Summon You

Sister Jack

Utilitarian

Everything Hits At Once

Someone, Something

My Mathematical Mind

Here's the whole deal in a zip file if you want to save time (caveat: lesser quality mp3's but the interview in the middle is included...)

Best stage invasion video EVER!

2008-09-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

By now many of you've probably already checked out the video of that crazy Canucker shoving Noel Gallagher to the ground near the end of Oasis' set in Toronto a couple weeks ago. If not check it out here (be warned, you have wade through a minute and a half of "Morning Glory" first). I'm sure many of us have felt like doing the same at some point but you've gotta give kudos to Noel for coming back and playing six more numbers with a pair of broken ribs. Brother Liam appears to think better of delivering a haymaker to the intruder's kisser which brought to mind one of the best stage invasion videos I've ever seen. Just don't f#*k with Keefus is all I have to say:

Check out NME's marvelouse When Fan's Attack blog entry for more (of course the Jeff Tweedy incident makes the list).

New single from The Last Shadow Puppets

2008-09-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

The Last Shadow Puppets are a collaboration between Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and Miles Kane (Little Flames, Rascals). Discovering a shared appreciation of early Bowie the two devised an ambitious take on 60's symphonic-pop whose best moments bring to mind Love meets The Yardbirds with Enio Morricone and John Barry flourishes without sounding pretentious (despite the presence of 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra). At it's worst it sounds like the Arctics with strings, still an interesting proposition. To his credit Turner retains his boyish, angry young Brit vocal style rather than trying to mime early Scott Walker. The second single from their fabulous debut, The Age Of The Understatement, features 2 non-album tracks. My favorite of the two, "Hang The Cyst", has a nifty psych guitar freakout tacked onto the end that stretches it to twice the length of anything else they've recorded so far.

Give it a listen:

Hang The Cyst

Check out a live video of "Standing Next to Me"

You can find more live & promo videos here.

The next single, "My Mistakes Were Made For You" will be out October 20th and will feature an exclusive live orchestrated version of the band's "Separate And Ever Deadly" plus live cover versions of the Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra classic 'Paris Summer' and the Burt Bacharach penned, Love covered 'My Little Red Book'.

My Mistakes Were Made For You

All this fabulous music is available on Domino Records.

2008-08-29T14:17:00.001-07:00

Stuck here in the Bay Area when you want to be in Black Rock City? Good news! You can head to the East Bay for a sweet rockin' alternative to Burning Man called Burnout Man. In it's second year, the fest is delivering ten bands for only ten bucks (though I'm told no one will be turned away for lack for funds). You can't beat that with a sweaty hippy. It's all going down tomorrow at the Grant Irish Warehouse, 2230 Poplar St. @ West Grand in Oakland.

The lineup:

Big Baby Tiger Tears

Groggs

Wyld Youth

Rock The Light

The Moral Tourists

Shannon And The Clams

Forever

Homo²

Steve Mcqueen For A Day

Glitter Wizard

Byrne/Eno Streaming Beauty

2008-08-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

Some thirty years after their initial collaboration My LIfe In The Bush Of Ghosts and a clutch of Talking Heads records Brian Eno produced as a de facto member of the band Byrne and Eno are back with a new record called Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. While longtime Eno fans hoping for ambient quirk pop might be disappointed this music, culled from tracks Eno's been collecting over the last few years augmented by words and melodies provided by Byrne, is full of hope and warmth. In fact, to these ears it sounds closer to the Talking Heads than anything Byrne's done since they disbanded in '91. Add guest spots from the likes of fromer Soft Machiner Robert Wyatt (frame drum solo on "Strange Overtines"), ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones (guitar on no less than four tracks) and Eno's old Roxy Music cohort Phil Manzanera ("I Feel My Stuff") and you've got a gorgeous new record its creators are calling "electronic gospel".

The album is available in myraid formats (including a $70 deluxe version) exclusively from their website. You can get a full listing of who does what here. Why not give it a listen right now:

David Byrne is planning an ambitious tour that will feature material from the three Eno produced Talking Heads records as well as material from the new record. Sadly Eno does not plan on joining him.

Tour dates:

9/16 Bethlehem, PA - Zoellner Arts Center - Baker Hall
9/17 Baltimore, MD - Lyric
9/18 Newport News, VA - Ferguson Center for the Arts
9/20 Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheater
9/21 Asheville, NC - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
9/22 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
9/23 Memphis, TN - Orpheum Theatre
9/26 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits (Zilker Park)
9/28 Albuquerque, NM - Kiva Auditorium
9/30 Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum
10/2 San Diego, CA - Humphreys
10/3 Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
10/4 Santa Barbara, CA - Arlington Theater
10/6 San Francisco, CA - Davies Symphony Hall
10/8 Santa Rosa, CA - Wells Fargo Center For the Arts
10/9 Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery
10/11 Park City, UT - Eccles Center for the Performing Arts
10/12 Denver, CO - Buell Theater
10/14 Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre
10/15 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst
10/17 Omaha, NE - Kiewit Concert Hall
10/18 St. Louis, MO - Fox Theatre
10/19 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre (Reserved)
10/21 Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace Theater
10/23 Cleveland, OH - Allen Theatre
10/24 Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theatre
10/25 Indianapolis, IN - Clowes Memorial Hall
10/26 Chicago, IL - Chicago Opera House
10/29 Toronto, ONT - Massey Hall
10/30 Montreal, QUE - Metropolis
10/31 Boston, MA - Wang Center
11/1 Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata
11/3 Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre
11/5 Albany, NY - Empire State Plaza
11/7 Pittsburgh, PA - Carnegie Music Hall
11/8 Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theatre

Penelope Houston's doing it for the kids

2008-08-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

Local Punk/Folk goddess Penelope Houston is playing a benefit for Music In Schools Today (MuST) at the Café du Nord on Monday Sept. 8th. MuST is a San Francisco non-profit organization supporting music programs in public schools and helps over 10,000 kids every year get at least a semblance of the music education we pre-Prop 13 fogies enjoyed. A portion of the evening's proceeds will also go to the Claremont Middle School Band & Orchestra from Oakland. If you're planning on making the scene they're accepting donations of instruments in usable condition for MuST's Adopt an Instrument Program which has distributed much needed items to over 100 schools and community centers. So not only is the former Avengers frontlady helping with cold hard cash, she's donating her childhood violin as well: “It was my introduction to playing music but became an instrument of torture for me. Perhaps I should have started with something more tuneful, like piano or guitar.”

Luckily, Houston eventually discovered how to write her own dark folk/pop songs on June Carter's instrument of choice, the autoharp, sometimes with the help of co-writers like Chuck Prophet, Billy Joe Armstrong, Steve Jones, Charlotte Caffey, and most frequently guitarist Pat Johnson, who performs with her band Sept 8th. The show will feature six new songs and the addition of noir-folk master Jeffrey Luck Lucas to the line up on cello.

Also on the bill is Colin Gilmore, son of legendary Austin songwriter Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Colin describes his music as “West Texas-style rock, with a country/punk/psychedelic/pop edge.”

Houston is also donating 100% of sales of select CDs on her website to raise even more money for this fabulous cause. Click here to do the right thing and get some great music while yer doin' it. My favorite of the lot is The Whole World where you can get the original versions of these two classics that were re-recorded for her major label debut Cut You:

Glad I'm A Girl

Sweetheart

If you can't make it out on the 8th but still want to help you can donate directly to MuST right here.

Happy birthday Joe

2008-08-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

Joe Strummer would have turned 56 yesterday had he not left this mortal coil criminally early. The Clash's influence on my beliefs about what music can do and what it should strive to be are impossible to put into words.

I had the opportunity to pay tribute to Mr. Strummer on KALX in Berkeley last night. A brief search around the internet made it seem like The Clash was well represented in the myriad tributes across the blogosphere so I decided to focus on his post and pre-Clash output. Both are as deserving of further investigation as "London Calling" and "I Fought The Law" deserve repeated plays.

Give it a listen:

Joe Strummer birthday tribute podcast (48 MB)

Songlist:

"Get Down Moses" - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros (from Streetcore, released almost a year after his death and #1 on my 2003 Top Ten)

"Straight To Hell" - The Clash (from Combat Rock)

"Keys To Your Heart" - The 101ers (Joe's first band, from the soundtrack to the recent documentary The Future Is Unwritten)

"Slant Six" - Joe Strummer (from, barring the soundtrack to Walker, his first post-Clash album Earthquake Weather)

"Coolin' Out" - Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros (from their second album Global A Go-Go)

Joe, you are sorely missed...

Drive-By Truckers & The Hold Steady presale tomorrow!

2008-08-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

The rumors are true. While this paring might seem odd check this quote from Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn: "Seeing the Drive-By Truckers on the Southern Rock Opera tour was instrumental to me wanting to start a band and play music again. That band is the Hold Steady. This tour brings it full circle, and it will be a pleasure and an honor to be able to share a stage with the Truckers. We're gonna have a really good time." I'm sure a beer or two will be swilled onstage. Fans of either band will get a chance to see one or the other headline as they're taking turns closing the show on what they're calling the "Rock And Roll Means Well Tour"

The online pre-sale starts tomorrow at 10 AM Eastern time. Click the picture above to buy tickets. To get you in the mood here are some live tunes from both bands:

The Hold Steady on WXPN in Philadelphia: 8/15/08

Constructive Summer/Hot Soft Lights

Sequestered In Memphis

Stay Positive

Here's a whole DBT's show from First Avenue in Minneapolis on July 2nd

Tour dates with closer info:

Thu Oct 30 Louisville KY COYOTE'S @ CITY BLOCK (HS Closes)
Fri Oct 31 Nashville TN RYMAN AUDITORIUM (DBT Closes)
Sat, 11/01 Atlanta GA TABERNACLE (DBT Closes)
Sun, 11/02 Tallahassee FL THE MOON @ FSU (HS Closes)
Mon, 11/03 Raleigh NC LINCOLN THEATRE (DBT Closes)
Wed, 11/05 State College PA THE STATE THEATRE (HS Closes)
Thu, 11/06 New York, NY TERMINAL 5 (Closer TBA)
Fri, 11/07 New York, NY TERMINAL 5 (Closer TBA)
Sat, 11/08 Philadelphia, PA ELECTRIC FACTORY (DBT Closes)
Sun, 11/09 Boston MA ORPHEUM THEATRE (HS Closes)
Tue, 11/11 Toronto ONT PHOENIX THEATRE (DBT Closes)
Wed, 11/12 Pittsburgh PA CARNEGIE MUSIC HALL (HS Closes)
Thu, 11/13 Bloomington IN BLUEBIRD (DBT Closes)
Fri, 11/14 Chicago IL RIVIERA (HS Closes)
Sat, 11/15 Minneapolis MN FIRST AVENUE MAINROOM (DBT Closes)
Sun, 11/16 Minneapolis MN FIRST AVENUE MAINROOM (HS Closes)
Wed, 11/19 Boise ID THE BIG EASY (DBT Closes)
Thu, 11/20 Seattle WA THE SHOWBOX (HS Closes)
Fri, 11/21 Seattle WA THE SHOWBOX (DBT Closes)
Sat, 11/22 Portland OR CRYSTAL BALLROOM (HS Closes)
Sun, 11/23 San Francisco CA THE FILLMORE (DBT Closes)
Mon, 11/24 San Francisco CA THE FILLMORE (HS Closes)
Tue, 11/25 Los Angeles CA THE WILTERN (DBT Closes)

New music & video from Bart Davenport

2008-08-14T17:23:00.001-07:00

Hi everybody. Now that the kiddies are ready to go back to their 9-5's (or rather 8:30 to 2:50's) it's time to put my summer lazy down and get back into the swing of this thing. No better way to restart than share some new stuff from the hardest working man in Oakland. My good friends at Antenna Farm Records have given the thumbs up to sharing a couple slices of pop deliciousness from his upcoming release Palaces. Hope you dig it.

Jon Jon

A Young One

Check out the video for A Young One:

No one but Bart could step right up to the edge of insufferable cheese and make it seem so sincere. Crush on your corny! Palaces is out September 9. A CD release party is happening at Cafe Du Nord on the 19th

Nips reunion

2008-06-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

Before he had the flash of brilliance to blend traditional Irish music with punk's snotty middle finger in The Pogues and blossomed into one of the greatest songwriters of the late 80's Shane MacGowan fronted The Nipple Erectors, a reckless and unflinching band even by circa 1977 British punk standards. Shane was a fixture of the Sex Pistols scene. If you're watching any documentary about that period (particularly the highly recommended "The Filth And The Fury") and see a shot of the crowd at those seminal punk gigs be patient, it's only a matter of time before he comes pogo-ing into the frame.

Well just a few weeks ago those very Nipple Erectors (shortened to Nips following the release of their first single) reunited for their first show in close to 30 odd years at the legendary 100 Club as a surprise guest supporting The Cute Lepers and Johnny Moped. The following videos provide an interesting before and after study.

The Nips at the 100 Club May 6, 2008

Compare that with this vid from German TV circa 1978

There are a couple more dates (and a whole bunch of songs) on The Nips myspace page but Shane does not appear to be participating.

Two long out of print singles that appeared on the defunct Chiswick label:

Gabrielle
King Of The Bop

Win a pair of tickets to Totimoshi @ the Hemlock Tavern

2008-06-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

File this under "I've been living under a rock". How has this incredible Oaktown band managed to fly under my radar for more than ten years!? Their fifth album, Milagrosa, continues their patent blend of stoner rock, punk, and metal with a nod toward their Latin heritage.

Sound The Horn

The blistering opening track from Milagrosa is a perfect example of how effortlessly the band shifts from blazing, tight riffage to moody late 70's drama metal and back without missing a beat.

Singer/guitarist Tony Aguilar explains the thinking behind the band's first conceptual record: “I wrote most of the songs as an imaginary fight between love/compassion and hate/violence. I wanted to relay the stories as one choice versus the other both in the lyrics and melody, like on the song ‘Milagroso,’ where I say ‘the fields of hate that turn our fate the putrid stench the violence at hand/decisions towards compassion to be made by each and every hand’”. Sounds like something I've been looking for lately... They also appear to have finally put an end to the Spinal Tap parade of drummers.

The new record, produced by Page Hamilton of Helmet, comes out July 8.

CONTEST:
Titomoshi is playing at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco on the 21st with fellow locals Grayceon & Hurry Up Shotgun. I have a pair of tickets for the first person to email me at mlubenow@gmail.com with the English translation of their new record's title.

Tour dates:
8 July: San Francisco- *Record release @ 12 Galaxies w/ Big Business & Triclops
25 July: San Francisco- Benders w/ Hail Satan
5 August: Tempe, AZ - the Sets w/ Nebula
6 August: Albuquerque,NM - Ralli's 4th St. Pub w/ Nebula
8 August: Austin, TX - Red 7 w/ Nebula
9 August: Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre w/ Nebula
10 August: Houston, TX - Rudyards Beer Bar w/ Nebula
12 August: New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks w/ Nebula
13 August: Birmingham, AL - the Nick w/ Nebula
14 August: Jacksonville, FL - Landshark Cafe w/ Nebula
15 August: Orlando, FL - Backbooth w/ Nebula
18 August: Atlanta, GA - Smith's Olde Bar w/ Nebula
19 August: Wilmington, NC - Soapbox w/ Nebula
20 August: Virginia Beach, VA - Jewish Mother w/ Nebula
21 August: Washington DC - Black Cat w/ Nebula
22 August: Philadelphia, PA - the Khyber w/ Nebula
23 August: Baltimore, MD - Otto Bar w/ Nebula
24 August: Boston, MA - Church of Boston w/ Nebula
25 August: NYC, NY - Knitting Factory w/ Nebula
27 August: Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop w/ Nebula
28 August: Lansing, MI - Mac's w/ Nebula
29 August: Columbus, OH - Ravari Room w/ Nebula
30 August: Chicago, IL - Reggie's w/ Nebula
1 September: Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon w/ Nebula
6 September: Portland, OR - Ash St. Saloon w/ Nebula
10 September: Hollywood, CA - Viper Room w/ Nebula
11 September: Long Beach, CA - Alex's Bar w/ Nebula

More twang in the mailbox

2008-05-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

Carlene Carter and Justin Townes Earle have a bit in common. Both have fathers who, aside from being country music legends, overcame serious drug habits and both have battled their own drug addictions. Both also have fine new records out.

Imagine you're the son of Steve Earle and you're named after Townes Van Zandt. No pressure there... Justin's debut, The Good Life, is straightforward, subdued country with a shuffley swing feel that's perfect for recovering on a Saturday morning but his sweet voice sounds more like the dulcet tones of George Jones then his father.

Hard Livin'
Ain't Glad I'm Leavin'

The good folks at the Hear Ya blog have a live session up here.
Buy The Good Life from Bloodshot Records.

Stronger, the first record in over twelve years from this country rock survivor sounds more mainstream than Earle's record, thanks in large part to the production by ex-Doobie Brother John McFee. But that doesn't keep this from being a welcome comeback. Carlene's in fine, soulful voice and the lyrics (all self penned), full of redemption and hard fought victory, are some of her best and most personal work.

The Bitter End
To Change Your Heart

That last track features some sweet autoharp that would make her mother June proud. Buy Stronger from Yep Roc records.

Love vs Hate

2008-05-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

For a battle as old as humankind I'm having a hard time thinking of songs that explore the classic duel between love & hate. No one would deny that love by itself is the most prolific muse in any art form, let alone pop music. Hate has inspired its fair share of memorable songs as well ("Positively 4th Street" and "You Oughta Know" spring instantly to mind). But what about songs examining the relationship between the two? The subplot of Good vs. Evil gets plenty of play if we're talking about heavy metal or video game soundtracks but the pop world largely shies away from the subject. I've thought of the two songs below as thematically linked for some time and hopefully they'll stoke the fires of discourse with you, kind reader.

Ballad Of Love And Hate - The Avett Brothers

The seventh record form this Concord, NC trio made my Best of 2007 list. The song's a heartbreaker about how L&H are inextricably intertwined, depicting them as a dysfunctional couple.

“Love writes a letter and sends it to hate.
My vacations ending I’m coming home late.”/
“Hate reads the letter and throws it away.
No one here cares if you go or you stay.”

and later:

Love has been waiting patient and kind.
Just wanting a phone call or some kind of sign.
That the one that she cares for who’s out of his mind
Will make it back safe to her arms.
Hate stumbles forward and leans in the door.
Weary head hung down, eyes to the floor
He says, “Love I’m sorry” and she says, “What for?”
“I’m yours and that’s it, forever”

Happy Noodle vs. Sad Noodle - Logan Whitehurst & The JSC

From the serious to a seriously whimsical take on the good & evil side of things. In the end happy and sad can't really do without each other. Heartbreaking in that Logan was a truly gifted individual who left us too soon. The humor evident here pervades all his material. A rich stockpile can be found here.

If you can think of any more musical explorations on the theme of love vs. hate, good & evil, Cain & Abel, whatever leave a comment! If they can be on the same t-shirt they must be in the same song...

New music

2008-05-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

The Gossip - Live In Liverpool
When oh when are we going to hear some new music from The Gossip? Their last record, the fabulous Standing In The Way Of Control, came out almost 3 years ago and they're still flogging it on Letterman. At least we have a new live record to tide us over. This raw, ferocious set was recorded last summer where Beth & Co seem to be spending all their time with their NBF's in the UK. All their garage/dance punk faves are included along with covers of Aaliyah (meh) and Wham! (thumbs up!) The band's primal live act is captured in all its intensity with far better sound than 2003's Undead In NYC. Beth Ditto's feral R&B howl is in full effect and the band is hyper-tight.

My two favorite tracks so far:
Standing In The Way Of Control (obligatory at this point)
Yr Mangled Heart

The Little Ones - Terry Tales & Fallen Gates EP

I saw The Little Ones open for Quasi at Noisepop earlier this year and just couldn't get behind them. Maybe I was too prepared for Sam Coomes' morose musings to let in a little sunshine. My loss. The second EP from these LA popsters is so damn cheerful and sparkly my mouth hurts from smiling so much. Fans of The New Pornographers will be glad they picked this one up.

New Branches

Hard Place - Get Your Hopes Up
Despite the fact that Nathan Shafer is replaced by Ashley Huizenga the second release from this LA/SF glitchy disco tinged glam throwback act is pretty close to their debut EP from ‘04. Think The Cars meets CSS or Bonde do Rolê. Adding a female foil to Freddy Cristy’s sleazy Sparks lounge act is an interesting move and from the looks of the photos on their myspace page their live act is quite a spectacle. Another bold (and hilarious) move is posting negative reviews of their debut.

Last Goodbye

New music/dvd from The National

2008-05-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

So what does The National do after releasing one of the hottest records of last year? Well of course they enlist old pal and current La Blogotheque auteur Vincent Moon to direct a movie that's kinda about the making of said record but also about, if I may quote from Beggar's Group USA, "how music is made today -- not with classic rock bravado, or debauched indulgence, but through novelistic attention to detail, a collective implosion of personality, and worried worried nights".

But a simple dvd won't slake the thirst of all those new fans clamoring for more material so you have to slap an odds and (surprisingly few) sods ep to go with it. Bravo! Moon's movie "A Skin, A Night" and accompanying The Virginia EP comes out next Tuesday, almost a year to the day after their fantastic Boxer full length.

The Virginia EP tracklist:
1) You’ve Done It Again, Virginia (w/ Sufjan Stevens, previously unreleased)
2) Santa Clara (UK b-side)
3) Blank Slate (UK b-side)
4) Tall Saint (demo)
5) Without Permission (unreleased cover of

alt. folkster Caroline Martin)
6) Forever After Days (demo)
7) Rest Of Years (demo)
8) Slow Show (demo)
9) Lucky You (from last year’s Daytrotter session)
10) Mansion On The Hill (live Springsteen cover)
11) Fake Empire (live)
12) About Today (live)

Check two of my favorite tracks so far:
You’ve Done It Again, Virginia
Without Permission

It's all more of their distinctive brand of after hours indie pop that feels like the bastard love child of Tindersticks and Spoon. A couple of the demos sound to these ears like full fledged songs ready for release, particularly "Forever After Days" while others are intimate sketches recorded in the Dessner home. The live tracks include the Springsteen cover that's been all over the international network lately and a robust 8+ minute version of "About Today".

Spoon coming to the Fillmore

2008-05-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Tickets for Spoon's three night run at the Fillmore in SF (9/22-24) go on sale this Sunday. They've been near the top of the lengthy "must check 'em out" list for some time now and the chance to hear material from one of my Top 20 records from last year at one of the best live venues in town pushes the pull-out-the-wallet button in a big way.

There's been talk of pre-sales ending at 5PM today but after becoming a signed up fella for one of the big mersh stations here in the Bay Area it looks to me like the damn thing's either broken or sold out... I'll just have to hop on the phone at 10AM Sunday like ever'body else.

For an idea of how fabulous an evening of indie pop this will surely be check out WYEP in Pittsburgh's stream of an in studio performance they did last Wednesday here. If mp3's are your thing Gregor over at Captains Dead has posted their live set from Sydney in January here.

All that literate, hook laden songcraft for only $25? I'm in!

Free Scion House Party: Radioclit, 120 Days and Franki Chan

2008-05-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

The Scion House Party pulls in to 333 Ritch Street in San Francisco this Tuesday night with a pretty decent lineup. British electro-house duo Radioclit headline with support from Norwegian shoegazers 120 Days. Franki Chan, IHEARTCOMIX impresario and premier L.A. hipster DJ, will be working the wheels of steel as well. The event is co-hosted by XLR8R magazine.

MattnKim rmxxx - Radioclit

Come Out, Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone (Timo Kaukolampi remix) - 120 Days

IHEARTCOMIX/SCION Mixtape - Franki Chan

This booty shaking shindig might be free but it is not open to the public. You gotta RSVP here to get yourself a spot on the guestlist. Mucho thanks to Disco Shawn for the heads up!

Jim Marshall exhibit in SF

2008-05-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

Gallery 291 in San Francisco is hosting the premier show by one of the greatest rock photographers of all time. A San Francisco native and staff photographer for Rolling Stone in the earliest of days, Jim Marshall was backstage at so many epic events in music history it boggles the mind. We've all seen the infamous shot of Johnny Cash reacting to Marshall's request for a picture "for the warden" at Folsom Prison (I'd post that one but we try to keep things kid friendly around here). He was the principle photographer at Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival (incredible shots of Otis Redding and Jimi setting his guitar on fire); his work adorns the covers of The Allman Bros. Live At The Fillmore East, Cream's Best of Cream, Jimi Hendrix's In The West and many others; he was the only photographer allowed backstage at The Beatles final concert at Candlestick Park. Hard to imagine this is the first extended showing of his work, no?

Marshall will be at the opening reception at Gallery 129 tonight from 6 to 9 PM at 291 Geary Street, Floor 5 in San Francisco.

A great slide show is on the gallery's website here. More photos here.

Lou & Laurie hitched

2008-04-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

Of the dozens of google results on this union of NY art-rockers Sean Michaels' piece in the Guardian had the snarkiest tag line:

"The knot was tied (in Colorado) on April 12 and the celebrations only made their way to New York this week, when Reed and Anderson partied with their suitably-arty friends at the East Village home of photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders.

Film-maker and artist Julian Schnabel was there, as were Mike "Limbo King" Quashie, actors Richard Belzer and Hal Willner, and even tai chi guru Master Ren. Presumably Lou Reed's guest-list also included a raft of transvestites and drug-dealers, while Laurie Anderson invited a hologram artist, a sound poet and an empty cardboard box."

oh SNAP!

Paul Davis RIP

2008-04-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Main Man (or should that be "Mane Man"?) of Mellow died of a heart attack in his hometown of Meridian, MS yesterday. In memoriam PopDose has reposted this classic edition of Jason Hare's fabulous Adventures Through the Mines of Mellow Gold series. There's just nothing I can add to that...

I Go Crazy
Cool Night
‘65 Love Affair

There's an insanely thorough PD discography compiled by David Jennings here.

Check out the Ricky Nelson introduction:

New Firewater LP & tour

2008-04-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

Firewater’s sixth record (and first in four years) leaves behind the Eastern Euro-Klezmer sound of previous efforts in favor of a distinctly Middle Eastern flavored music recorded, often with local musicians, during front man Tod A’s 3 year sojourn through India, Pakistan, Israel & Turkey. Tod’s darkly humorous appreciation of both the beauty and ugliness of life is in full force and the production from long time drummer Tamir Muskat (now also in Balkan Beat Box) is fabulous. Possibly Firewater’s strongest work.

Borneo
This Is My Life

Firewater are currently touring Europe in support of The Golden Hour which comes out May 6 on Bloodshot Records. A US tour starts in late May and pulls into the Bottom Of The Hill on June 6. You can hear a stream of the new record on either their myspace page or their website.

For a more in depth look at Tod A's 3 year journey check out his blog Postcards from the Other Side of the World or this brief "making of" video:

North American Tour dates:
5/23 Boston, MA - Paradise
5/24 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw
5/25 Philadelphia, PA - North Star
5/26 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
5/28 Toronto, Ontario - Horseshoe Tavern
5/29 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
5/30 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
5/31 Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
6/03 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
6/04 Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
6/06 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
6/07 West Hollywood, CA - The Roxy Theatre
6/08 San Diego, CA - Casbah
6/09 Tucson, AZ - Plush
6/11 Fort Worth, TX - Lola's
6/12 Austin, TX - Emo's Lounge
6/13 New Orleans, LA - House of Blues Parish
6/14 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
6/15 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
6/16 Washington, DC - Black Cat Backstage
6/17 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar

The Botticellis album release party at Cafe Du Nord this Friday

2008-04-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my first ever post The Botticellis' fabulous debut record Old Home Movies comes out May 13th but if you want to pick up a copy a couple weeks early it's sure to be available at their record release party hosted by the good folks at Antenna Farm Records. It's an all SF affair at the Cafe Du Nord this Friday with The Papercuts headlining and The Mantles opening the show. The show's being co-announced by KALX so if you tune in there's going to be plenty of tickets given away between now and Friday.

Here are some Botticellis tunes I hope convince you to go:

Old Home Movies

Up Against the Glass

Chico Science & Nação Zumbi

2008-04-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

I still remember the day back in 1996 when Chico Science & Nação Zumbi's (CSNZ) second record afrociberdelia arrived in the mail. It came sans promotional material with the usual list of styles, influences, tour dates and stale band bio, no flier advertising other acts on the label, nothing. Just a handwritten return address in Brazil and about a dozen stamps on an envelope containing a CD with liner notes entirely in Portuguese. Who where these guys? Who sent this to me? Intrigued, I put on the CD and was immediately floored by the passion and power emanating from my speakers. This sounded like something entirely new.

Turned out it was. Nação Zumbi's leader Chico Science was a musical visionary and the founder of mangue bit, a movement that took the folk styles of maracatu and other traditional rhythms such as embolada, coco-de-roda and ciranda native to his home state of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil and blended them with reggae, funk, rap and rock. (Mangue was a reference to the region's mangrove swamps and bit, later subverted to beat by "the media", represented the electronic sampling the movement incorporated).

Two of my favorite tracks tracks from Afrociberdelia:

Corpo De Lama

Macô

That second track features a guest appearance from Gilberto Gil and samples of The Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five" and "A Minha Menina" by MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) star Jorge Ben.

Afrociberdelia sold over 20,000 copies in the first three weeks it was out and CSNZ were poised for an international breakthrough when Chico Science was killed in a car accident in Recif, Pernambuco's capital on February 2, 1997. His influence and legacy is the foundation to a whole new generation of musicians in Brazil. Maybe it was his handwriting on my envelope...

Birds Of Avalon at the Hemlock Tavern

2008-04-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

I'm definitely getting too old for the midweek show. In my twenties I could have pulled off rocking out on a Wednesday night and head in to work Thursday morning without blinking an eye. Right about now I wish both eyes were closed in blissful slumber. But I'm not complaining 'cause the set Raleigh, NC based Birds of Avalon put on at the Hemlock Tavern over in SF last night was worth every ounce of pain I'm feelin' now. Since they played the Hemlock Monday night too and what with Jay Reatard and the Black Keys rocking different clubs not too far away me and just a couple dozen other folks had Birds, Olympia, WA's Nudity and local rockers Dzjenghis Khan all to ourselves. Luckily twenty bodies feels like a crowd at the Hemlock and Birds of Avalon killed it like people were hanging from the rafters.

After getting the kids to bed I ended up missing all but the last two songs of Dzjenghis Khan's set. Their super fuzzed 60's garaged up punk Cream meets Motorhead wall o' sound had me regretting I didn't see more.

The Widow - Dzjenghis Khan (from their 2006 demo)

Nudity's set was dominated by their epic track 'The Nightfeeders'. Clocking in at over twenty minutes of Can meets Hawkwind psych rock it lost my attention somewhere in the middle but got me back to a decent head-bob by the end. An edited (and enjoyably concise IMHO) version is streaming at their myspace page.

Night Concentricks - Nudity (a Nightfeeders remix snippet from their current 12")

I can't think of a better husband and wife guitar slingin' punch in the gut than Birds Of Avalon's Cheetie Kumar and Paul Siler. The former The Cherry Valence members are flat out kill good. Their set last night made it even harder to wait the three weeks are so between now and the show they're opening for The Raconteurs at Bimbo's on the 23rd. Check out their website for one of the most hectic tour schedules I've ever seen (Visalia?!) and streams of their new album Outer, Upper, Inner (see geeky superfan photo on the right).

Horse Called Dust - Birds Of Avalon (from their debut Bazaar Bazaar)

You have one last chance to check them out before the Raconteurs show (if you were even able to get tickets) tonight over in Oakland at Eli's Mile High Club, again with Nudity.

Heartworn Highways

2008-04-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

I waited way too long to check out this amazing documentary. A big reason, I'm ashamed to admit and at a loss to explain, is the big gaping hole of ignorance where my love for Townes Van Zandt should obviously be. In the early 70's Van Zandt and Guy Clark mentored an outlaw (way before the term became a country music marketing concept) singer/songwriter movement that was a back-to-roots reaction to the sleek, cookie cutter glitz that dominated the Nashville scene. Filmmakers Graham Leader and James Szalapski went down to Austin TX in 1975 and filmed a laid back intimate portrait of a bunch of young artists that would have a tremendous influence on country music in the next ten to fifteen years.

Townes fans are in for a treat as he really hams it up for the camera, gives a tour of his trailer with a rifle in one hand and a whiskey bottle in the other then delivers a startlingly poignant version of the first song he ever wrote ('Waiting Around To Die').

Clark's rendition of 'Desperadoes Waiting for the Train' is equally heartbreaking and the best scene in the film takes place around his dining room table on Christmas eve: an old-school guitar pull that features a twenty year-old Steve Earle and a twenty five year-old Rodney Crowell trading tunes with Clark and criminally under appreciated songwriter Steve Young.

I've always been a big Steve Earle fan and I think the tunes he performs in the film are some of the best work he's ever done. It's hard to imagine why he would wait twenty years to record 'Mercenary Song' and never release 'Darlin' Commit Me' at all.

Darlin' Commit Me
(that's John Hiatt in the red sweater)

Mercenary Song
(Camera opens on Guy & Susanna Clark. That CRAZY shirt is all over Rodney Crowell like a cheap suit. I love how everyone joins in on the chorus. How much fun does that Christmas Eve party look like?)

Click on the DVD cover to purchase

Cuppa podcast

2008-03-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

Just in case none of you bother reading all that stuff on the left I've been doing DJ shifts under the Cuppa Joe moniker on KALX in Berkeley for a bunch of years now. Sadly my current shift (9:30 to midnight every Thursday) will expire in a couple of weeks but I'm hoping to get another spot soon. It's part of the station's mission to have Cal students on the air most of the time and while that makes it hard on us "community members" who love spinning records and running our mouths I have to applaud the policy.

While typing up the previous blurb about Vampire Weekend's limited edition 7" it occurred to me that posting this set from my show on March 13 would be a nice way to celebrate a timelsot I'll sorely miss (seeing as how it contains the song from the VW video and all).

Track list:
The Dodos - "Fools" (from Visiter on French Kiss)
DJ Paul V - "Tequila Lip Gloss (Lil Mama vs. The Champs)" (from the Best Of Bootie 2007 compilation discussed here)
The Coasters - "Charlie Brown" (from the Loud, Fast & Out of Control compilation on Rhino)
Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk" (from their self-titled record on XL)
Binky Griptite & The Mellomatics - "Mellomatic Mood" (from the 7” single on Daptone)

PODCAST (10 MB)

Limited Vampire Weekend 7" for Record Store Day

2008-03-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

As previously mentioned, April 19 is the day to kick down some corn in your local indie record store. Not only has Metallica signed on to kick off the national event with their first in-store in a decade (go Mountain View) but indie rock sensation Vampire Weekend are getting in on the limited edition fun with a special 7" single available only at stores participating in Record Store Day. It'll feature the album version of "A-Punk" with an unreleased rehearsal version of "Oxford Camera" on the b-side.

The video for "A-Punk"

New music

2008-03-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Death To Los Campesinos! - Los Campesinos !

Hold On Now, Youngster..., the stellar full length debut from this Welsh septet will be released in North America April 1st on Canada's Arts & Crafts records. Their frenetic indie rock mixes Broken Social Scene’s “everyone we know who sings or plays is in the band” aesthetic, Art Brut’s snotty punk pop attitude, Arctic Monkey’s insanely wordy social observation and Architecture in Helsinki’s eclectic instrumentation with great male/female vocal interplay. Click on the cover to pre-order a deluxe edition from Insound.

KALX is co-announcing their show at Bimbo's June 6 so tune in towards the end of May for free tickets. Los Campesinos! on myspace

That Man I Shot - Drive-By Truckers

One of the more chilling songs about war I've ever heard, inspired by a backstage conversation between Patterson Hood and some Gulf war vets. Brighter Than Creation's Dark maintains the high octane rocking and quality songcraft we've come to expect from these Athens, GA folks despite the departure of guitarist and third songwriter Jason Isbell. The legendary Spooner Oldham sits in on keys throughout and bassist Shonna Tucker contributes some fine songs to fill the absence left by her now ex-husband Isbell.

Paper Switchblade - Tommy Guerrero

Record number eight from this Bay Area skate legend proves he's still an unstoppable groove machine. Return Of The Bastard is the perfect soundtrack to those slow summer cruises with the top down. These killer funk, deep soul and Latin instrumentals have kept my toes tapping for weeks.

I see frozen people

2008-03-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

Got turned on to this very cool video on Maniac World by my mother-in-law, thanks Penny! Would love to try this after some big name headliner leaves the stage and the house lights go up...

alternate soundtracks:

Frozen Feet - Tacks, The Boy Disaster
Frozen Ones - Ultravox (thanks to Sailor Jerry for the vinyl rip from the 1977 single)
You're Not Moving The Way You're Supposed To - The Homosexuals (live from SXSW courtesy of WFMU's ever essential Beware Of The Blog. Get the whole set here)

I'll add a vinyl rip of Freeze Frame by J. Geils later

The Raconteurs at Bimbo's presale tomorrow

2008-03-19T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Raconteurs are sidestepping hype by releasing their new album Consolers Of The Lonely this Tuesday, a mere two weeks after finishing it. Now that's what I call a rush release. No press reviews, no blog raves, no leaked tracks or videos, just straight up here it is and make up your own damn mind. Speaking of rush, they've also announced tour dates only days before tickets go on sale. They'll be playing Bimbo's 365 Club on April 23 and tickets go on presale tomorrow at 10 AM exclusively at ticketmaster.com. There's a 2 ticket per person limit and you need a password to get in on the presale folks. Drop me an email and I'll give you the skinny.

The rest of the tour dates:
4/20 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver
4/21 Neumo's, Seattle
4/22 Wonder Ballroom, Portland
4/25 Coachella Fest, Indio, CA
4/26 The Joint, Las Vegas
4/28 The Fillmore Auditorium, Denver
4/29 Uptown Theatre, Kansas City
5/01 House of Blues, Dallas
5/02 Stubb's BBQ, Austin
5/04 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
6/13 Bonnaroo Fest., Manchester, TN
6/26 Hove Fest.,Arendal, Norway
7/12 T in the Park, Kinross, Scotland
7/13 Oxegen Fest., Naas, Ireland

Consolers Of The Lonely t

racklist:

1. Consoler Of The Lonely
2. Salute Your Solution
3. You Don’t Understand Me
4. Old Enough
5. The Switch And The Spur
6. Hold Up
7. Top Yourself
8. Many Shades Of Black
9. Five On The Five
10. Attention
11. Pull This Blanket Off
12. Rich Kid Blues
13. These Stones Will Shout
14. Carolina Drama

UPDATE: the show at Bimbo's apparently sold out during the pre-sale in just under an hour...

Limited edition Jicks 10" available at Record Store Day

2008-03-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

Stephen Malkmus & Co. are putting out a 10" single of "Cold Son" (off the brand spanking new Real Emotional Trash) in support of Record Store Day. The b-side will feature 3 unreleased tracks including fan favorite "Carl The Clod". The event is a national celebration of that most endangered of species: the local indie record store. 100's of stores are participating by holding special events, in-store appearances and offering special schwag like the above mentioned 10" which, BTW, will also be available at the Jick's long list of live dates. Organizers of this physical record store relief effort have gotten verbal support from some huge names including Macca and The Boss and video testimonials from folks like Moby and Regina Spektor. So go rummage the dusty dollar bins on April 19 and keep your local music shop from doing the Tower Records Tumble.

Cold Son - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

Record Store Day 10" tracklist:
1 Cold Son
2 Walk Into the Mirror
3 Pennywhistle Thunder
4 Carl the Clod

The Jicks will be at The Fillmore April 27th

New music

2008-03-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

Geez, the mailbox has been pretty twangy lately...

Drinking Dark Whiskey - The SteelDrivers

A bunch of seasoned, road tested Nashville studio vets with a shared love of bluegrass, The SteelDrivers have an interesting take on a pretty traditional genre: eschewing the high lonesome cliche in favor of a bluesy Muscle Shoals soul vocal sound. The playing is stellar and the songwriting is not your standard "pig in a pen" fare. Their self titled debut is out on Rounder Records.

The SteelDrviers on MySpace

Don't Send Me Roses - Chris Unck And The Black Roses

Sticking with the firewater theme, Chris Unck wants to continue imbibing the amber fluid in the afterlife, imploring his successors to "make sure that you bury me with my mouth wide open/you can pour that whiskey down on my grave". Country Roads And Love, the debut by these folky Southern rockers from Atlanta, came out on Lower 40 a couple weeks ago.

The War - The Whipsaws

Speaking of Southern rock, a big reason I'm sorry I'm not headed down to Austin for SXSW (unlike seemingly every other blogger on the planet) is that I'll miss The Whipsaws. The second record from these youthful Anchorage roots rockers is called 60 Watt Avenue and it's on Shut Eye. Killer crunchy guitars with thought provoking lyrics like the track above that addresses the current conflict from a poignant, personal point of view. Imagine The Drive By Truckers were from Alaska instead of Athens, GA and listened to early Neil Young instead of Lynyrd Skynyrd and you get the idea...

Guitar face

2008-03-07T22:58:00.000-08:00

While trolling WFMU's fabulous Beware of the Blog I came across Monday night DJ Scott Willaims' photo collection depicting the affliction that is guitar face. A hilarious set with some infamous sufferers like Carlos Santana included but there are some glaring omissions. No Jimi Hendrix? Where's Eddy Van Halen? I'm sure with VH touring again it wouldn't take much effort to compose a study of how his current lack of hair effects frame composition when photographing the obligatory open mouth solo.

A little google searching for this six and four stringed malady revealed (among over 23,000 items) this creepy comparison between rockers and porn stars courtesy of Details magazine and an Urban Dictionary definition. The real find, however, was the glorious and extensive Guitar Face group photo pool over at Flickr.com. The Flickr pool is pretty damn cool with 200+ members and over 900 pictures. It's been going for over a year now and really appeals to the retentive rock geek in me what with its rules and moderators. I'm signing up!

Kimmel vs Silverman

2008-03-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

Apparently over 8 million people have seen this video. In case you haven't check out how Sarah Silverman breaks some bad news to her boy friend Jimmy Kimmel

Jimmy fights back the best way he knows how

Winter's Fall + Win Gary Louris' new CD

2008-03-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

I've got a promo copy of Vagabonds, the solo debut from Jayhawks front fella Gary Louris, to give to some lucky Now Hear This reader. But more on that later.

First I wanna tout another debut that recently slid through the ol' mail slot: the Muddy & White EP (click the picture to purchase) from Berkeley band Winter's Fall. It's a nifty blend of folk, pop noir and country with enough indie rock and glitchy laptop noise to push it to the front of a crowded alt. folk pack. Bandleader Peter Stanley's a great story teller with a fresh, arresting voice. They're in the studio recording their first full-length so get ready to hear a lot more from them soon.
The Hollowing.
Winter's Fall on myspace for more music and tour dates.

Now about that giveaway. The much anticipated solo debut from Jayhawks frontman and Golden Smog member Gary Louris has only been out a couple weeks but it's doing pretty well, climbing both the Americana and Billboard charts. More philosophical and introspective than his work in either of his previous projects, Vagabonds finds Louris on a rootsy search for something to believe in. I'm particularly enjoying the gorgeous backing vocals from the Laurel Canyon Family Choir which includes Chris Robinson (who also produces), Susanna Hoffs and Jenny Lewis, among others. To win a copy email me at mlubenow@gmail.com with your address and the answer to this question: which member of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers appears on the Jayhawks breakthrough Hollywood Town Hall?

Vagabonds
Gary's homepage.

Quasi @ Noise Pop

2008-02-28T20:37:00.000-08:00

I don't get out to see bands as often as I'd like but I definitely make a point of trying to see Portland based Quasi whenever they make the trip South to the Bay Area. I'm always left with the feeling that I've been hanging out with friends after one of their shows. No rock star attitude, just excellent music performed by genuine people. Janet Weiss (current Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks and former Sleater-Kinney beat-keeper) and Sam Coomes (who used to be in one of my favorite local bands The Donner Party as well as doing Heatmiser with Elliot Smith) have been making a very distinctive brand of pessimistic power pop for over fifteen years now. They inject a healthy dose of atonality into the indie rock formula that keeps things interesting and Sam's catchy crooning is a perfect foil for lyrics brimming with irony and cynicism. Ms. Weiss is one the best drummers around and I'm crushing on the heft added by Jicks bass player Joanna Bolme (who is apparently a full fledged member now). Last night's show at the Rickshaw Stop was not the smoothest show they've done in these parts but Sam forgetting the words to a tune or two or starting a different song than the one his band mates were charging into is part of their charm.

To give you an idea of what their live show's all about here are a couple of tracks from the bonus live cd that came with 2003's Hot Shit, called Live Shit (natch) :

It's Raining
Under a Cloud

A big reason to go see more bands: the "self-released sold only at shows" CD. Taking advantage of obsessive completists like myself is a time honored tradition and Janet was up to the task, selling me a copy of Quasi Self Boot 93-95 that features sundry outtakes and singles like this nifty Prince cover:

Take Me With You

I was very impressed by the opening set (and first show ever) by peoplepeole, a new side project from Tyson Vogel (Two Gallants) featuring Andrew Kerwin (Trainwreck Riders), Antonio Roman-Alcala (Dear Nora) and Jesse Sabin. Great noisy guitar indie rock that sounds like this: Rock Ins.

Janet Weiss will be back with Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks for a free show at Amoeba Records this Wednesday.

Mashup Monday

2008-02-25T21:29:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to sinking my teeth into Bootie's annual collection of the best mashups of the year. Sounds like it was a slow year for the genre compared to the previous two but there are some fine grooves here. Bootie's regular throwdown at the DNA Lounge was recently upped to twice a month so you can rest assured these folks know what they're doing. You get Amy Winehouse facing off with Britney Spears, Jackson 5 going against Guns N' Roses, Wild Cherry crashing into Frankie Goes To Hollywood plus 17 more.

Two personal favorites:

Tequila Lip Gloss (Lil Mama vs. The Champs) - DJ Paul V

Standing In The Way Of Connection (Gossip vs. Elastica) - AplusD

Get the whole 75 minute continuous mix as a zip file here or download individual tracks plus some bonus cuts here. You can find links to the best of '05 & '06 compilations there as well. And don't forget to grab the artwork here.

The Station nightclub fire 5 years later

2008-02-20T19:08:00.000-08:00

Five years ago today fire raged through The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., leaving a hundred dead and over two hundred injured. The inferno began when pyrotechnics lit by Great White’s tour manager, Daniel Biechele, ignited highly flammable soundproofing foam surrounding the nightclub's tiny stage. The survivors and the families of those that didn't make it out are still waiting for their lawsuit against the nightclub's owners and dozens of other defendants, including the band and local fire marshals, to wend its way through federal court. Many remain bitter that the only people held criminally responsible were club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, and Biechele, who is due to be paroled next month after serving less than half of his four-year prison sentence for pleading guilty to illegally setting off the pyrotechnics just two years ago.

On top of the physical and emotional hardships that come with burn injuries victims like Linda Fisher (above) continue to deal with mounting medical bills made even more difficult by the inability to return to normal work. A non-profit organization called The Station Family Fund was started to help survivors and the families of victims. You can donate via paypal here.

A benefit concert organized by Dee Snider is scheduled for Monday night in Providence, RI . More info here.

Can anyone loan me 3 million bucks?

2008-02-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

This guy is the most avid record collector on the planet!? Well if his stockpile is really worth a cool 50 mill than I suppose he's got me beat. Paul Mawhinney of Pittsburgh, PA is selling "The World's Greatest Music Collection" on eBay right now. 3 Million Records, 300,000 CDs, over 6 million song sitles. You only have two more days to place a bid so gedonit folks. If he would promise to ship the climate controlled warehouse with it I'd be sorely tempted...
UPDATE: sold for $3,002,150.00

"What was that song you just played?"

2008-02-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

Did my regular gig at KALX last night. Sadly it was Queen Bee's last show in the timeslot before mine. I'm really bummed I won't be following her anymore. On the bright side it was nice to see Maceo Parker getting the best listener response of the evening (on his birthday no less). Also had a couple of dedications for Valentine's Day. The most interesting had to be the Public Image track that closed out the show. I can't decide if that was about general relationship dysfunction or just love post punk style...

Anyway, here's the playlist:

Hero Worship - The B-52's
Stop! You're Hurting Me - Magic Sam
No Way Out - Clarence Reid
Money Won't Save You - Boscoe
You Can Leave Your Hat On - Merl Saunders
Me Myself And I - Billie Holiday
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
Young Man Blues - The Who
Outtasite! - Chesterfield Kings
Ruby Room - Foxboro Hot Tubs
Cavalettas - Mars Volta
Hallelujah I Love Her So - Maceo Parker
The Broad Majestic Shannon - The Pogues
Is It Really Love At All - Eric Anderson
Valentine's Day - Steve Earle
Wild Horses - Iron & Wine/Calexico
Back For Good - The Concretes
Safety Bricks - Feist w/ Kevin Drew

***Music Picked By My Kids (regular segment)***
Tear My Stillhouse Down - Gillian Welch And David Rawlings
Over Your Shoulder - Dinosaur Jr.
Y Control - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Alligator - The Grateful Dead

Omaha - Moby Grape
Reject, Reject - Pants Yell
Old Home Movies - The Botticellis
Introduction - Ryan Ferguson
Homeland Blues - American Relay
Hold Me In Your Arms - The Black Keys
Lights Out for Darker Skies - British Sea Power
Annalisa - Public Image Limited

Honeycut's Future Funk

2008-02-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

Honeycut has been funking up the CD player in our house with great frequency ever since their debut The Day I Turned to Glass came out on Bay Area indie hip hop label Quannum Projects (and made my Best of 2006 list). With Bart Davenport (Loved Ones, the Kinetics, Persephones Bees) on vocals, RV Salters (Femi Kuti, Lifesavas, Lateef &The Chief, DJ Mehdi, Lyrics Born, Blackalicious) playing keys and Tony Sevener tapping a souped-up drum machine they create a truly unique sound from an blend of styles as diverse as soul, funk, techno, jazz, pop, ambient, bossa nova and rock. When my nine year old wants to hear it more than Green Day you know they're killin' it.

I've been getting a little too video happy lately but this short little documentary now playing at Current TV is such a good introduction to one of my favorite local bands I had to spread the word.

Two of my favorite tracks from The Day I Turned to Glass:

Crowded Avenue
Exodus Honey

Honeycut are tearing up the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on Friday, March 7 with Sugar & Gold (another fantastic local band) and Her Grace The Duchess.

For more songs and tour dates check out their myspace page.

"Camden Town ain't burnin' down"

2008-02-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

It’s a shame Amy Winehouse’s train wreck of a personal life has so overshadowed her professional output because she is one of the best vocalists I've heard in the last couple of years. Her second record Back To Black moves beyond the jazz chanteuse style of her debut to a sound (created with the help of producer and DJ to the stars Mark Ronson) that puts a firmly contemporary spin on 60’s R&B and Phil Spector's girl group wall of sound. Kudos to the recording academy for looking past the tabloid hysteria and rewarding her music at last night's Grammy Awards. Aside from the shock of Herbie Hancock's win for album of the year her performance was the highlight of the evening. Damn the Dap-Kings are tight!

I was really worried her acceptance speech was going to stay as awkward as it started but she gets into it and you gotta love how she punctuates the whole thing with a shout out to Camden Town where a massive fire broke out the day before and was still smoldering as she took the stage. How refreshing was it to see someone looking like they didn't expect to win all along?

Now maybe people who only know her as a media punching bag will get to hear her sing. To that end I'm posting a couple of tracks you won't find on her current album.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? - from the Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason soundtrack
Moody's Mood For Love - from her 2003 debut Frank

And a gorgeously spare rendition of Love Is A Losing Game she performed at last year's Mercury Music Prize.

Dave Gleason Acoustic Set on KALX

2008-02-06T19:45:00.000-08:00

Dave Gleason and his band the Wasted Days have been a shining example of what the Bay Area country music scene has to offer for over seven years and three fine albums. I love how they apply a hard rock sensibility to their particularly twangy blend of Bakersfield honky tonk and Gram Parsons style California country rock then infuse it with enough outlaw attitude to make Waylon Jennings and David Allen Coe proud. Dave stopped by KALX during my show last Thursday to shoot the breeze and play a couple of tunes. I won't bore you by posting our idle chatter but the songs are damn fine. Enjoy:

The Blue Side Of The World Brand spankin' new tune
The Good's Been Gone A beautifully spare rendition of a song that appeared on his last record Just Fall To Pieces (right, click the picture to buy it)
The Last Fool At The Bar A real cry in your beer heart breaker penned by Mike Stinson, the king of L.A.'s neo honky-tonk scene

To hear what Dave sounds like with a full band check out his myspace page.

Dave Gleason's Wasted Days are doing a couple of Bay Area shows in March. For a beer soaked good time check him out here:

Thursday, March 13th at the Sweetwater Sation in Larkspur w/ East Bay country outfit Red Meat
Saturday, March 15th at The Starry Plough in Berkeley w/ Johnny Dilks

Vote Dammit

2008-02-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

Super Tuesday's here. I vote absentee so it was actually a super January 23rd for me but I would brave the ~~cold winds and bitter rain~~ (it's a beautiful day here - VOTE!) with the rest of you if not for that convenience the state of California provides me in the form of that sweet little envelope colored the same pale yellow as my name in the snow. Here are a couple of songs to get you up from your desk, out the door and down to your local polling place:

Sunset Rubdown - They Took A Vote And Said No (6/11/06 Daytrotter Session)
Radiohead - Electioneering (OK Computer)

After watching hours of exit polls I'll probably feel like this:
Joy Division - Candidate (live at Pennine Sound Studios 6/4/79)

So I'll cheer myself up by listening to this:
Monty Python - Election Special (The Final Ripoff)

And I hope this gloriously sloppy version of Wilco's Casino Queen helps those So-Cal Native Americans celebrate (from a show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC on 6/12/95).

Got more voting/election songs? Leave a comment!

2008-01-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

I've been a big fan of Petra Haden ever since her home-recorded a cappella version of the entire Who Sells Out album (click the picture to purchase) came out on Bar/None over two years ago. Of course I should have known about her long before that. Apart from being a member of that dog, The Rentals and The Decemberists she's also an in-demand session musician and vocalist having played and/or sang on dozens of records by artists such as the Foo Fighters, Green Day, Mike Watt, Luscious Jackson, Victoria Williams and Beck.

What I'm really digging though is her a cappella work. Now when I say a cappella I don't mean she's just singing the words without any music behind her. She does everything: guitars, strings, drums, bass, keyboards; all with just her voice. At first I thought the novelty would wear off pretty quickly but every time I hear it I get this warm happy feeling and repeated listens only leave me more impressed with what she can do with those vocal chords. Plus some of the cheesy cover selections are just too damn fun.

The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" (unreleased from her official site)
Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" (from the compilation Guilt By Association on Engine Room Recordings)
Michael Jackson's "Thriller" (unreleased)

She's also currently streaming a new track on her myspace page. It's her cover of Japanese pop-noise savant Cornelius' "Music" from his brand new EP Gum out now on Everloving Records.

Mashup Monday (on time)

2008-01-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

One of the most famous (and controversial) examples of the mashup genre is Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album". Released in early 2004, it layered the a cappella version of Jay-Z's The Black Album over instrumentals created from unauthorized samples from The Beatles' self-titled double album more commonly known as The White Album. White + Black = Grey, get it?

Needless to say EMI popped a vein slapping cease & desist orders on anyone distributing the limited copies Danger Mouse produced (rumored to be in the neighborhood of 3,000). This somewhat defensible protection of EMI's copyright led to an impressive grass roots movement to distribute the record over the internet led by the folks at Downhill Battle. Dubbed "Grey Tuesday", February 24th, 2004 saw roughly 170 sites hosting the album for download. Estimates range up to 100,000 copies dl'ed that day. Happy to say I'm one of 'em. Hurray for internet civil disobedience!

Two of my favorite tracks:
Encore
December 4th

There's also this fabulous video for "Encore" directed by the Swiss duo Ramon and Pedro (aka Laurent Fauchere and Antoine Tinguely). I can't decide what I like best, scratching Ringo or headspinning John...

Music Picked By My Kids

2008-01-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

So those are my two boys. This photo of them frolicking in the Pacific Ocean was taken in late December. We Californians may be wimps when it comes to weather but I gotta bet there aren't too many folks on the East Coast wearing their bathing suits outside right now. Anyway, it's time for a bit of shameless self promotion (as if blogging weren't enough of a self indulgence): I have a regular DJ shift on KALX in Berkeley every other Wednesday from 6 to 9 PM. A regular feature on my show is "Music Picked Out By My Kids" when I play four records that the boys have picked (usually at random) from my record collection. It's an interesting (and challenging) exercise creating a set that flows nicely without having control over the source material (well, I do pick the tracks). Hope you like it.

The installment from January 10th features:
Zap Mama - Gbo Mata (Station)
Buffalo Daughter - Silver Turkey
Smashing Pumpkins - I Am One
Lydia Lunch - Spooky

Get it here (3.8 MB)

PS: I really need to come up with a better name for the segment so if you have any suggestions I'm all ears

Mashup Monday (a day late)

2008-01-22T12:11:00.000-08:00

This could be a regular feature here if folks dig it. Let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes shall we?

If I had to pick a single track to demonstrate to the uninitiated the pure funky joy that is mashup culture I'd be hardpressed to come up with a better example than Sweet Home Country Grammar. This toe-tapping collision of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nelly is the brainchild of local SF DJ Mwei-Lun. As his alter ego Mix Master Mao Lun was part of the CRFTP collective along with Ean Golden (aka Fidelski) and other like minded spinners. It looks like the bulk of the site hasn't been updated in a couple years but the forums (with plenty of links to other mashups and artists) are still active. I'm really into the whole "music for the masses" aesthetic they have going too. They have their best stuff up on this page but the cream of the crop for me is this track here:

Mix Master Mao - Sweet Home Country Grammar

How do I do this?

2008-01-17T15:39:00.000-08:00

Hello there and welcome to my blogosphere deflowering. Posting everyday is a pipe dream (I'm a father of two so whaddya want from me?). I do hope to get stuff up here a couple times a week though. For my premier post I thought I'd start things off with something old and something new.

For the old I'm kinda cheating; though this slab of seminal garage punk originally appeared in 1966 the good folks at Sundazed Records reissued it back in 2004. The Sonics were a blast of white hot energy out of Tacoma, Washington that took the R&B/rock fusion of local favorites like The Wailers and The Kingsmen to unimagined extremes for the time. Lead singer Gerry Roslie wails like a cranked out white Little Richard. Still some of the raunchiest rock ever recorded.

Check out a couple of tracks:

Bama Lama Bama Loo
Psycho

The new: I'm going with the lovely debut by local San Francisco band The Botticellis pressed into my grubby mits by my good friends at Antenna Farm Records. Old Home Movies is packed with beautifully crafted pop filled with Big Star type hooks backed with vintage keyboard washes under soulful croony vocals. It's coming out May 13th but here's a preview, the title track plus one of my favorites:

Old Home Movies
The Reviewer

Find more of their music and a schedule of upcoming shows on their myspace page