Why Why Whys

I guess it pays to check Pitchfork several times throughout the day because they're now fond of putting up more news stories and today's latest made me anxious.

They've reported on some new information about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I know a lot of people may hate them, but they have incredible stage shows and I just like all three members of the band. I've been interested in what they've all been doing since they released Fever to Tell.

Nick Zinner became a star player on Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and continued to work on his photography skills by releasing some books of photography books. I picked up two he had with them when I saw the YYY's play a long time ago in Oklahoma, and he's a generally all around cool guy.
He and Karen had a side project called Unitard but the only thing I ever heard of them coming up with was an acoustic version of "Year to Be Hated" for Vice Records' Yes New York compilation

Feeling excluded from Unitard, Brian began to spend more and more time with his other band The Seconds (who are on 5RC). They have an album called Y and a split 7". The Seconds also features members from Ex-Models.
Say Hey
The Right Way
Mommy Mommy Mommy (live)

Karen made an Adidas commercial with her current beau Spike Jonze. Karen and Squeak E. Clean did a beautiful song for it called "Hello Tomorrow".

Adidas ad by Spike Jonze
Squeak E Clean ft. Karen O-Hello Tomorrow

The Pitchfork article mentions the fact that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs may be heading towards a folkier direction. This would be a giant departure from most of the work off of Fever to Tell except perhaps the last three or four songs including MTV's favorite "Maps."

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs hinted at a softer side on a performance on Seattle's The End. On this End Session, they play a beautiful cover of Bjork's "Hyperballad"which they say they had mailed to her on a tape but never heard back from her.

Hyperballad Live on The End

And this is a new song they've been playing around, except this is an acoustic version on an AOL Session. Could this be the new sound of the YYYs?
Cheated Hearts Live on AOL

Band Names You Like to Say Out Loud

Today I am featuring some classy tunes from some bands that put some thought into a lengthy name. In the future these names could cause trouble when a)in a hurry to get somewhere but they must write their band name down b) telling it to hard-of-hearing friend who must hear it several times making your mouth dry c) coming up with cover art based on the Big Level from Mario. Okay I doubt those ever happen. But I do think that there is some complex longname bands have that they give albums and songs long titles also.

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness has been one of my favorite band names. Coincidentally they are from the nearby Austin. Sadly they only have one EP to their name. Their website says they have recently signed with Secretly Canadian, home of Antony & the Johnsons, The Impossible Shapes, Magnolia Electric Co.,and Scout Niblett. The album should be coming out sometime in '06. Oh, and their EP was produced by Britt Daniel of Spoon.

I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness-When You Go Out
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness-We're Still the Weaker Sex

Alright this next don't know a whole lot about Thunderbirds Are Now! except that they have a great name, Pitchfork loves them (and as punishment they are playing Intonation Fest) and they just released an EP entitled Necks. Okay so maybe their name isn't that long but it seems like it is. Maybe it's the exclamation point.

Thunderbirds Are Now!-Do the Splits and Say Neat
Thunderbirds Are Now!-Eat this City

Okay I beat most of you cool kids already know about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah but they do fit the category of today's theme so they must be used and further abused. And yes you probably already have these mp3s from their website. This is for the kids out there who aren't as quick on picking up on the finer things in life.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-In This Home of Ice
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood (see?? long title that took forever to type)

The Boy Least Likely To have a few things going for them. Rockin' cliffhanger name, the Britishness, a great debut album title, and adorable album artwork. Just look at this:

The Boy least Likely To-Be Gentle With Me

All Girl Summer Fun Band is a Portland girls-only club we all wish we could join. They make "fun, summery indie pop" that seems suitable for a day like today and today's special post theme.

All Girl Summer Fun Band-Video Game Heart
All Girl Summer Fun Band-Grass Skirt

I'm pooped! This post seems enormous. I hope it satiated your longname band hunger. If it didn't, tell me because there's plenty more. Like, for instance, Dodge over at My Old Kentucky Blog did a little feature on the band Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. Go there if you're still hungry you monster.

Tuesday News/Videos

The Liars talk about their new album Drum's Not Dead, the follow-up to their experimental album They Were Wrong So We Drowned at Soundgenerator.

Some good Sleater-Kinney fans have uploaded the band's performance of "Jumpers" on Letterman the other night:
Jumpers Live on Letterman .avi file

Franz Ferdinand has revealed a new color palette and more about the new album, Franz Ferdinand. Sound familiar? Yeah it was the name of their debut. Kaparanos says "The albums are going to be identified by their colour schemes rather than a title. The contrast of different colours creates a different mood." The colors? Black, red and pale green. Sounds weird. NME also has said they have written a new song called "Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On" which is probably only about one person. Possible singles from the album include "Turn It On" and "Do You Want To?" I hope it's the latter (although I haven't heard "Turn it On")

Franz Ferdinand-Do You Want To? (live from EinsLive Königstreffen in Germany)

Here's a video of Lindsay Lohan on SNL a long time ago with one of my favorite characters Kaitlin.
A lot more videos:
Le Tigre-After Dark video WMV / RealVideo directed by Wynne Greenwood
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah-Over and Over Quicktime
Cloud Room-Hey Now Now Quicktime
Ladytron-Sugar RealVideo
The Rapture-House of Jealous Lovers Quicktime
Belle and Sebastian-Boy With the Arab Strap

Random

Okkervil River-Song of Our So-Called Friend
Faithless-Mass Destruction
Franz Ferdinand-Get Up and Use Me (Fire Engines cover)
The Fire Engines-Jacqueline (Franz Ferdinand cover)

Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces is now a model. (via Brooklyn Vegan) Hopefully she kees her rock star day job.

Stephen Malkmus

It seems no one paid much attention to former Pavement member Stephen Malkmus's latest release, Face the Truth. There was hoopla before its release concerning an ad that Matador had placed in a magazine (I think Paste?) and they wouldn't have it in their pages. But it has made its way into less prude magazines.

Anyway, when I got the album, it grew on me pretty fast, which is something his album with the Jicks, the oddly named Pig Lib, didn't do for me. Face the Truth is a lot more electronics than Malkmus usually uses. Anyway, I dont have much more to say but here's a couple mp3s from the album.

Pencil Rot
Freeze the Saints

Pitchfork just recently had a live review of him.

By the way, if there's some records or seven inches you've been meaning to buy from Kill Rock Stars, I recommend that you do it now because they have a great summer sale going on now.

Tarkio

Okay here's the post I've been meaning to put up for what seems like weeks.

I posted a few Tarkio tracks awhile ago, from their only album I Guess I Was Hoping for Something More. If you don't know already, Tarkio was the alt-country band of Decemberists writer/singer/guitarist Colin Meloy. Tarkio was his band while he was attending college in Missoula, Montana.

This fall, Kill Rock Stars will be re-relasing a Tarkio album, most likely I Guess I Was Hoping for Something More, although Tarkio did make an EP, Sea Songs for Landlocked Sailors that may be packaged with the album. There might also be some unreleased songs.

Now, this is an out-of-print CD of Tarkio performing a set on KGBA, a Montana radio station. I don't think that KRS will be re-releasing this so I don't feel so bad posting it. If they do re-release it...well...I trust that you'll all buy it. Twice.

I don't have any track names for it. These files are in .rar format. (You can download WinRAR here)
Tarkio live on KGBA Part 1 Part 2

Mark your calendars for the Decemberists' first performance on Conan O'Brien on July 12th. Here's some miscellaneous Decemberists-related mp3s.
Colin Meloy-Nothing to Hold On To (Live at Le Lazy Lady Lounge)
Reclinerland ft. Colin Meloy-The Lady from Reims
The Decemberists-Human Behavior (Bjork cover)
The Decemberists-The Bandit Queen (Live on KUT)
(Sorry none of these links worked before, I didn't check them after I saved this post as a draft a week ago)

Completely unrelated: If anyone can find an mp3 of Maya Rudolph's song at the beginning of the Gays in Space skits on SNL, please tell me.

And don't forget to watch Sleater-Kinney on Letterman tonight!!!

A Monday

I thought this was great. Matt from You Ain't No Picasso put up this ad for HP with the Decemberists' song "16 Military Wives". For awhile on the Decemberists message board there was a lot of commotion over this ad and what it would do to the band. Thing is, I don't think many people saw it and the Decemberists haven't blown up crazy huge like everyone was hoping/fearing. It's not surprising that the ad features the part of the song that has none of the overtly political lyrics, merely the "la dee da"s and Chris Funk's "whoo!"

HP Commercial ft. The Decemberists' "16 Military Wives" (Quicktime)
Here's their music video for the song:
16 Military Wives video

Here's some Joanna Newsom songs that she's been playing around live. I'm not her biggest fan but some of you may appreciate this.

Sawdust and Diamonds
Only Skin
Cosmia

And here's some music by the artists on Sufjan Steven's label Asthmatic Kitty.
Half-Handed Cloud-Animals are Cut in Two (awful song title)
Castanets-Three Days Four Nights (they'll be touring with Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice)
Bunky-Chuy
Liz Janes-Wonderkiller (will be on tour with Sufjan this summer)

I Need Directions

Funtime OK continues their great posting with Wolf Parade's CBC session and a new song that Sub Pop has put on their website from Wolf Parade's new album Apologies to the Queen Mary. Actually after closer inspection I don't think any of their Yousendit links are still alive.The bad thing about this album is that most of the songs on it will already have been heard by those eager enough to find it.
And in case you're wondering, Sunset Rubdown is the name of Wolf Parade's singer on holiday from the rest of the band. This mp3 has since been redone as a proper Wolf Parade song.

Wolf Parade-You are a Runner and I am My Father's Son
Sunset Rubdown-I'll Believe in Anything, You'll Believe Anything (c/o Molars)
Wolf Parade-Shine a Light

Molars got me thinking of another artist that I'm interested in hearing more of, Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice. This year they have four LPs coming out on various labels (Troubleman Unlimited, 5RC, and Soft Abuse)
Here's an interview with James Toth, Wooden Wand's leader from Foxy Digitalis

Wooden Wand-Sundrum Ladies (from their upcoming Soft Abuse release Harem Of The Sundrum & The Witness Figg)
Wooden Wand-Risen From the Ashes (from their 5RC release Buck Dharma; again, c/o Molars)

Wooden Wand is also going on tour victory lap this fall with Castanets and the Skygreen Leopards/I Heart Lung. Check out Wooden Wand's factsheet for the humongous list of tour dates and their equally hefty discography.


Order their Troubleman release Xiao which came out this past Tuesday.

Another of my favorite Troubleman alumni is Tracy + the Plastics which is, incidentally, one woman whose name isn't Tracy. Wynne Greenwood plays Tracy and her two bandmates Nikki and Cola who appear on a screen when she performs live.
Tracy + the Plastics-Henrietta

Also, in Living-Far-Away-From-the-Dallas-Metroplex-Sucks News, I'm most likely not seeing the bands I posted about the other day (Spoon and Voxtrot, namely). Do have fun if you are going.

So I was looking for direction in this post; did I find it?

Rachael Yamagata

I'm gonna do a small blurb today about a single artist and her name is, as you can see by the title, Rachael Yamagata.

I first saw her last year at SXSW (it's great how many people you can see there and fall in love with) at La Zona Rosa. She was opening for Liz Phair and just blew me away. A lot of people compare her to Fiona Apple because of her husky vocals and piano playing. She doesn't just play the piano, but she does play it a lot. Her debut album Happenstance was released in 2004. I remember hearing her first single "Worn Me Down" all over. I thought she was just going to explode into the bigtime but it just never happened.

Anyway she's going on tour this July supporting Ray Lamontagne so you ought to check her out if you like what you hear.

Worn Me Down
I'll Find a Way
1963

June 26th Glastonbury, UK Glastonbury Festival*
June 28th London, UK ICA
July 1st Chicago, IL Metro
July 3rd Milwaukee, WI Summerfest
July 6th Seattle, WA Moore Theatre *
July 7th Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom *
July 11th Denver, CO The Fillmore Auditorium *
July 12th Salt Lake City, UT Club Sound *
July 14th Saratoga, CA Mountain Winery *
July 15th San Francisco, CA The Warfield *
July 16th San Diego, CA House of Blues *
July 18th Los Angeles, CA Wiltern Theater*
July 19th Phoenix, AZ Marquee Theatre *
July 21st Dallas, TX Gypsy Ballroom *
July 22nd Austin, TX La Zona Rosa *
July 24nd New Orleans, LA House of Blues *

*supporting Ray LaMontagne

Robot Ate Spoon

Today I'm gonna highlight artists that are coming through Dallas in the end of this week that I feel like, if you live in the area, you might consider seeing them, and if you live out of the area you consider listening to them and maybe seeing them on tour if your stars are aligned.

The Robot Ate Me
So. Tomorrow night at Rubber Gloves in Denton, The Robot Ate Me will be playing. Now, I haven't heard much from them. I have their latest CD, Carousel Waltz, but honestly I haven't given it as much listening as I ought to have. I have faith that they will put on a good show because Slim Moon had the faith to sign them to the label I love, Kill Rock Stars. From what I have heard, they weren't what I was expecting. Judging by the name I thought it would be a lot of electric fuzz and robotic vocals but really it's just a guy singing great melodies over some orchestration and guitar. I'm the worst reviewer ever.

Robot Ate Me-On Vacation
Robot Ate Me-Genocide Ball
Robot Ate Me-Bad Feelings from Carousel Waltz

23 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
24 - Austin, TX - Church of the Friendly Ghost
25 - Oklahoma City, OK - Conservatory
26 - Clovis, NM - The Hole
27 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
28 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
29 - Las Vegas, NV - Balcony Lights
30 - Flagstaff, AZ - Space 111
July 01 - Tucson, AZ - Solar Culture
02 - San Diego, CA - The Che Café
03 - Los Angeles, CA - The Smell
05 - Santa Barbara, CA - Morning Glory Music
06 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of The Hill
07 - Portland, OR - Solid State
08 - Seattle, WA - TBA

Spoon
Now, I doubt I really actually have to tell you how great Spoon is. I've seen them a couple times live and they put on a good one. They're from Austin so they get the local love, but it's worth it. Their 2003 album Kill the Moonlight is probably up there in my top five of all-time favorites, it's that good. Anyway, rest assured that the boys will pull out any stops.

Spoon-The Beast and Dragon, Adored (live at the Gothic Theater in Denver) Download the entire show.
Spoon-I Turn My Camera On
Spoon-Paper Tigers
Spoon-Believing is Art

06.24 * Dallas, TX @ Gypsy Tearoom w/ Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves
06.25 * Austin, TX @ Stubb's w/ Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves
07.16 * Brooklyn, NY @ Siren Music Festival
07.24 * Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
07.30 * San Diego, CA @ Street Scene
08.12 * Denver, CO @ Red Rocks
09.23 * Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival

Voxtrot
Believe it or not, Voxtrot is another band from Austin. They breed many good ones. Anyway, the thing about Voxtrot is...they only have a single out. It's called The Start of Something and is very good and has a lovely B-side but, where is the real content you ask? Well, their debut five song-EP Raised By Wolves is going to have it's proper release this Friday at a release party in Austin at Emo's with the Deathray Davies and others. I was going to see them at SXSW but there was a scheduling conflict somewhere and I figured since they're from Austin that I'd see 'em again soon. And I predicted right. Anyway, I hear they are great great great live so come out to Hailey's on Saturday in Denton and see 'em play and buy the EP.

Voxtrot-Raised By Wolves
Voxtrot-The Start of Something

June 24-Austin, TX @ Emo's w/ Deathray Davies, Belaire, Diamond Caverns
June 25-Denton, TX @ Hailey's w/Rogue Wave, Helio Sequence
July 6-Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar-Free Show!
July 7 Los Angeles, CA @ Silverlake Lounge w/My Favorite, Old Haunts, Bipolar Bear
July 8 San Francisco, CA @ The Rickshaw-SF Popfest w/My Favorite, Scarlet's Well
July 10 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge w/My Favorite, Eux Autres Free Show!
July 12 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern w/ My Favorite
July 14 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby COurt
July 15 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive

Summer

I'm not feelin' so hot today so I'm just gonna throw up a load of mp3s for you to download.

Pitchfork reviewed both of these songs, giving them both pretty good reviews.
Antony & the Johnsons-Frankenstein
White Stripes-Though I Hear You Calling I Will Not Answer

Wilco-I Want to Be Your Dog (Iggy & the Stooges cover)
Lots of summer/beach songs for the first day of summer
Beck-Crap Hands (bonus track on the Japanese Guero)
The Ponys-We Shot the World
Bloc Party-Skeleton

Apparently it's not too soon for there to be a Bloc Party remix album including remixes by Ladytron, M83, Four Tet, Mogwai, and Nick Zinner (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) Rumored to be released August 29 (the day I start school, incidentally).

The Fiery Furnaces have updated their site with nifty Flash animation but sadly, no new news about their upcoming double album A Late Train of My Lost Love (the infamous grandmother duet album) and Bitter Tea to be released in August. They're expected to start touring again in the fall.

The Fierys performed some new material on KEXP back in April. These are .wma files
Police Sweater Blood Vow
Teach Me Sweetheart
Waiting to Know You

Arcade Fire Demos

I thought you all might be interested in some Arcade Fire demos from 2000. (via The Torture Garden, who always has great stuff up) These may've already made their rounds around the blogosphere, I dont know. Anyway I'm sure someone doesn't have them that may want them (I just found 'em). There's no track names and that link's a Yousendit so I'll try and upload it onto Rapidshare if it's not still being ornery.

Monday Monday Monday

The December Bride promises a serialized novel based solely on songs by the Decemberists. Interesting concept, although I think it would be an added plus if they added an mp3 for the song that is being used for that chapter. Dunno.

Said the Gramophone has a good day today with new songs from the New Pornographers and one of my favorites Wolf Parade.

Sometimes Pitchfork has good news.

I won't be going to see Architecture in Helsinki tomorrow in Denton but a friend is, so maybe I'll try and make her write up a review for you.
AIH-Do the Whirlwind

I never tire of Tegan and Sara. Maybe you do, maybe you don't.
T&S-Monday Monday Monday
Arcade Fire-Vampire/Forest Fire from their deput EP
Arcade Fire-Cars and Telephones off of I don't know what
Spoon-Take the Fifth
Bloc Party-Pioneers QuickTime (weird/creepy/cheesy)

Some good newish blogs: Mike Jonze & Plague of Angels

Sara, Tegan, and Xiu Xiu

Alright well Rapidshare is still being unbearably uncool so that update I was telling you about yesterday didn't happen. I feel bad for leading you on. Anyway, I will continue to try and upload the files online and when they are I will post that post.

Anyway, Xiu Xiu's album La Foret is coming out July 12th but I thought you might like a preview.

Muppet Face
Rose of Sharon (Grey Ghost version)
Dangerous You Shouldn't Be Here

Okay enjoy these and then pre-order the album; it comes out July 12th!! Or even better, buy it directly from the source when the time comes.
Go see them on tour!
Thu, Jun 16 Vancouver Mesa Luna
Fri, Jun 17 Calgary Broken City
Sat, Jun 18 Edmonton FreeMason's Hall
Mon, Jun 20 Winnipeg The Collective Cabaret
Thu, Jun 23 Montreal La Salla Rossa
Fri, Jun 24 Ottawa Club Saw
Sat, Jun 25 Toronto cabaret room@Poor Alex Theatre
Sun, Jun 26 Brantford the ford plant
Tue, Jun 28 Bloomington Rhino's
Wed, Jun 29 St Louis Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center
Thu, Jun 30 Kansas City The Black Door
Fri, Jul 1 Denver Larimer Lounge with good for cows
Sat, Jul 2 Salt Lake City Kilby Court with good for cows



Also some Tegan and Sara mp3s, old and new:
Our Trees
Frozen
Living Room
I Won't Be Left

See T&S when they hit your town!! They have the cutest stage banter.
Jun. 26, 2005 New York, NY Central Park SummerStage w/Ron Sexsmith Free, all ages outdoor show in Central Park.
Jul. 8, 2005 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club w/Communique and Buddahead
Jul. 9, 2005 Chapel Hill, NC Cats Cradle w/Communique and Buddahead All ages
Jul. 10, 2005 Norfolk, VA Norva Theatrer w/Communique and Buddahead All ages
Jul. 12, 2005 Philadephia, PA Theatre of the Living Arts w/Communique All ages
Jul. 13, 2005 Asbury Park, NJ The Stone Pony w/Communique All ages
Jul. 14, 2005 New York City, NY Webster Hall w/Communique All ages
Jul. 15, 2005 Somerville, MA Somerville Theatre w/Communique All ages
Jul. 16, 2005 Clifton Park, NY The Northern Lights w/Communique 16+
Jul. 18, 2005 Washington, DC The 9:30 Club w/Communique All ages
Jul. 19, 2005 Pittsburgh, PA Rex Theatrew/ Communique and Little Brazil All ages
Jul. 21, 2005 Nashville, TN Dancin' in the District at Riverfront Park All ages
Jul. 22, 2005 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall w/Communique and Little Brazil All ages
Jul. 23, 2005 Indianapolis, IN The Music Mill Cw/ommunique and Little Brazil 21+
Jul. 24, 2005 Chicago, IL Lollapalooza at Grant Park w/Cake, Weezer, the Killers, Dashboard Confessional and more All ages
Jul. 26, 2005 Madison, WI Luthers Blues w/Communique and Little Brazil 18+
Jul. 27, 2005 Apple Valley, MN Minnesota Zoo Amphitheatre w/Communique All ages
Jul. 29, 2005 Lawrence, KS The Granada w/Communique and Marjorie Fair
Jul. 30, 2005 Englewood, CO Gothic Theatre w/Communique and Marjorie Fair All ages
Aug. 1, 2005 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre w/Communique All ages
Aug. 2, 2005 Anaheim, CA House of Blues w/Communique All ages
Aug. 3, 2005 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall w/Communique and Minipop All ages
Aug. 4, 2005 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall w/Communique and Minipop All ages

Rapidwhore

I swear I wrote out a whole new entry for today but the files I was trying to upload aren't working out. I think my Internet's running slower than usual or something. Rapidshare and SaveFile aren't being very compatible to this because they don't feel like uploading my fiels. Ugh.

Anyway, I will probably put up the post I wrote for today up tomorrow... watch for it! It's going to be a good one.

Here's some random mp3's to try and make up for it:
Nancy Sinatra-Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
Caribou-Yeti
Interpol-Slow Hands
Caribou-Hands First
Belle and Sebastian-Asleep on a Sunbeam
Bloc Party-Pioneers

Hush

Okay so I loves me some Hush Records. I first came to know them through the Decemberists (who released their Five Songs EP and Castaways & Cutouts [to be re-released by Kill Rock Stars] on Hush) Their roster is composed of several great bands like Blanket Music, Reclinerland, Noise for Pretend, and solo artists like Corinna Repp, Kaitlyn Ni Donovan, and Jeff London. And then there's the alumni like Kind of Like Spitting, Norfolk and Western, and

Hush is run by Chad Crouch, the frontman of Blanket Music and his new project Toothfairy. Hush does music just like it's name says. The music is quiet and calming, occasionally louder but usually laid back with a bit of a jazz taste. It's all good chill-out, calm-down music.

They've got a busy year ahead of them. In July they're releasing a new album from Graves entitled To Sur With Love, Blanket Music has a new album this fall, Toothfairy will release something, lots and lots going on. They just released a compilation Mile which celebrates their fiftieth release. The compilation celebrates the past and future of Hush, with Hush rarities and sneak peeks at upcoming releases. The CD has fifty tracks, most of which are accessed by putting the CD in your CD-ROM.

Graves-Not Any More at Night
Graves-The Will Now
Amy Annelle-Will Try
Blanket Music-You Shouldn't Have Said That
Blanket Music-Bossa Rev
Kind of Like Spitting-Old Moon Meet New
Jeff London-Long Island
Noise for Pretend-Pants With His Halfway Down
The Places-Til the Death
Corina Repp-Finally

Unrelated:
Said the Gramophone posted Wolf Parade's cover of the Frog Eyes song "Claxxon's Lament" from the Believer magazine compilation.
Wolf Parade-Claxxon's Lament

Ignore Dallas Please

Not a whole lot goin' on out there in the public domain.

Today appears to be skip-over-Dallas day.
Pitchfork reports that Le Tigre is ignoring Dallas on their upcoming U.S. tour but will be hitting Austin and Houston July 28th & 29th (respectively)

Sufjan Stevens has expanded his Illinoise tour without touching Texas at all (but will be hitting Illinois)

Dance Disaster Movement is one brave band that will battle the freeways and ten-gallon hats of Dallas to play at Hailey's on August 6 with Kill Me Tomorrow. I really don't know much about them, buuut they're on DimMak. Gotta be good, right? Okay here's some mp3's.
DDM-I Want Your Sass
DDM-The Shots


Another band that does have the guts to come to the Dallas area are the gross-out popsters Gravy Train!!!! (their exclamation points, not mine) who will be busting out some beats from their upcoming release on Kill Rock Stars on July 12th. They're playing at Rubber Gloves with VIP August 7.

Gravy Train!!!-Hella Nervous
Gravy Train!!!-Sippin' 40z
Stream some new material on their MySpace account
Gravy Train!!!-Burger Baby Quicktime video
VIP-Mad Coke (clip)

Cross Bones Style

Pitchfork tells us Cat Power is finally starting on her new album, this time in Memphis with...some of Al Green's band? Is this a new turn for Chan? It'll be interesting to hear her with a whole backing band and not just herself. Hm.
They also mention something about her bad shows, and I just can't help but thank the supernatural beings that she was in a good mood when she played in Dallas last year before ACL. I mean, she was joking, laughing, playing all her hits...no crying or magazines to read in sight! I wish more people would've had an experience like I did. And at ACL she was still pretty good, but not as good as an intimate show at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Cat Power Live at KVRX
Keep On Runnin'
She Loves You So Hard
Naked If I Want To
Sea of Love

Michael Jackson says "no more" to children sharing his bed. I would hope so, after all he's been through this year!! If he went back to Neverland to cuddle and booze up another adolescent, he is dumber than anyone had ever imagined.


About the coolest thing I've read in awhile.

Stream the Sons and Daughters' new album The Repulsion Box.

The gov't hates Big Bird.

Geldof is stupid for thinking people wouldn't sell his tickets on Ebay.

What is Jack White afraid of being uncovered? We all know he's divorced anyway. Are there more secrets to be known? Well...we won't know through biographies if he gets his way.

Yahoo! Movies reviews a movie I want to see, Me and You and Everyone We Know directed by Miranda July, who is one of the creators of a favorite site of mine Learning to Love You More. And she makes music too!

Miranda July-The Arky Girl

And here's some nice "documents" for your pods (all c/o i.am.large:
Abraham Lincoln-2nd Inagural Address and Gettysburg Address
William Blake-Songs of Innocence
William Blake-Songs of Experience
U.S. Constitution
Shakespeare monologues

OMG!!

OH MY GOD.

say it isn't so.

Kaiser Chiefs-Oh My God (don't miss 'em on Leno tonight!!)

Panic in the Streets of London

Yeah yeah I know you've already heard it eighteen times today from other blogs but in case any of you check me first (fat chance), Pink Floyd is playing Live 8 with Macca, Bono, Appledaddy, and Green Day.

Good for you. I wish I could ride my bike more places but living in the country makes that a very difficult task and, alas, I am weak.

Brangelina sweeps the box office over the weekend. I can't believe they beat out Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D. Uhhh wait nevermind, I see now.

Destiny calls it quits.

Franz Kafka Viewmaster slides?

Merriam-Webster's Top Ten Words (not in a dictionary). I am often a victim of using the word "ginormus" myself. I've never heard of some, like, slickery or chillax. Maybe they just made up some of these words around the water cooler. Their next Top Ten list had better have my own creation retarculous at the top of it.

Here's some writing that Sufjan Stevens did while he was in college at The New School.

If you weren't convinced last week that The Kaiser Chiefs are hellbent on American domination/attention, catch them on Jay Leno tonight and Craig Ferguson tomorrow.

Q & Not U-L.A.X.
Q & Not U-Wet Work
Ben Folds-Landed video
Handsome Boy Modeling School (ft. Alex Kapranos)-The World's Gone Mad
Franz Ferdinand-Michael (Simon Bookish remix)

DOH Lite

Bonnaroo kills... again.

Chris Walla plays guitar in Death Cab for Cutie and has recorded some Mi-T Fine Decemberists material. he is also a vegetarian and spokesperson for PETA(2).
Fellow PETA spokespersons Le Tigre have a new single coming out and Wynne Greenwood of Tracy + the Plastics directed the video for "After Dark" Sneak peek the vid at their website.

Hey hey it's Sunday (for a little while longer)...let's take it light.

NIN-The Hand That Feeds (DFA Remix) I haven't heard the original but I bet it's worse than this remix which is actually quite good.
Interpol-Leif Erikson (Live in Paris)
Andrew Bird-The Happy Birthday Song
Crystal Skulls-Airport Motels
Xiu Xiu-Asleep (Smiths cover) (this is cheating since I already linked to this the other day. Gimme a break I'm tiiired.)
Buck 65-The Centaur (long version...no pun intended)

A Couple Covers

A few things...

The Torture Garden directs us to an mp3 of Rilo Kiley covering The Postal Service's smasher Such Great Heights. Meh. Not that great. Then again, I'm not a big Rilo Kiley fan.

In case you've been hiding in a spiderhole for the past year, here's the original:
Postal Service-Such Great Heights

Buy the album through the real (U.S.) Postal Service.

And for balance, a Rilo Kiley song.
Rilo Kiley-The Execution of All Things

Brooklyn Vegan would like to direct you to DFA 1979's MySpace page where you can stream their cover of Bloc Party's song "Luno."

EDIT: It was obvious that sooner or later someone would get the mp3 and Take Your Medicine has it.

DFA 1979-Luno
Bloc Party Peel Session (.zip, Luno included)

And in other unrelated news, you can get some live Interpol tracks here.

She Really Just Wants Bloc Party

Bloc Party last night was great. Got there early so there weren't too many people but it filled up quick and there were gazillions there.

Kiss Me Deadly (one of the opening bands) must've pulled out, which is okay because the name sucks so they probably do too. My description for She Wants Revenge si something like "they sound like if Interpol moving to L.A. and spending a lot more time brooding in shady dance clubs." They demanded movement from the crowd and Dallas was not quite ready to give it to them. That's one thing about Dallas: no one will move at shows much. There are a few frat boys and their drunk girlfriends moving, but other than that, quite few. Very disappointing.

Bloc Party was great. I was afraid after their performance at SXSW at the Spin Party that they weren't a live band, and they didn't do much or put on much of a show. Well as most cases are, they were a lot better in a club setting. They were polite and asked questions like "Are the days here always like this? I mean, always so hot?" Yes they are unfortunately. Well they proceeded to tear through a great set and put on a fantastic show.

I wasn't able to take many pictures due to the fact that Gypsy Tea Rom security was either standing behind me or circling my general area much of the night. Though, when Bloc Party came on the No-Flash-Photography rule kinda went out the window.







I don't ever take many pictures at shows because usually bands just do the same thing, unless they're some novelty band that does wacky things that require more photos. Bloc Party ain't one of those bands. Plus, I'm not the greatest photographer as you can probably tell.

Hiding in the Basement With a Knife Serrated

Just a quick little update. Going to Dallas today so there's some preparing to do so I'm not gonna be able to do any artist features or anything. I'm just gonna link you to some MP3s and videos of some good ol' songs I've been listening to.

Architecture in Helsinki-The Owls Go
Visit AIH's website for some fun videos (my favorite is for It's 5!)
Fiery Furnaces-Leaky Tunnel
Get Conan O'Brien videos here

Be back tomorrow with Bloc Party pictures and show review.

Visit Nebraska There's Nothing To Do

Don't forget to watch NME darlings the Kaiser Chiefs tonight on Conan O'Brien, unless you're not into them, in which case you are allowed to watch Russell "Phone-Throwin'" Crowe and Paul Anka on Letterman.

In some Decemberists news, July 12th Kill Rock Stars will be releasing their last EP, the 18-minute The Tain with new packaging and the like. Sometime later this year they will be releasing a DVD and KRS will re-release one of Colin Meloy's past al-country band's albums, Tarkio's I Guess I Was Hoping For Something More. Here's a few tracks from that album:

Tarkio-Helena Won't Get Stoned
Tarkio-Better Half
Tarkio-Neapolitan Bridesmaid

Also on July 12th, the Decemberists will be appearing on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Here are some summer appearances by the Decemberists:

7.17 Intonation Festival Chicago, IL
7.21 Orange County Fair Costa Mesa, CA w/Beck
7.23 Universal Amphitheater Los Angeles, CA w/Beck
8.10 Woodland Park Zoo (Colin Solo!) Seattle, WA w/The Violent Femmes
8.12 Bite of Oregon Portland, OR w/The Violent Femmes
8.18 Central Park Summerstage New York, NY w/Death Cab for Cutie and Stars SOLD OUT
9.05 Bumbershoot Seattle, WA

And in case you won't be able to see them this summer or somehow missed them on their spring jaunt, they'll be marathoning through the U.S again in the fall, this time tagging along will be Sons & Daughters.

Duh.

Now much musically going on today. No scandalous or exciting news to report, so I suppose I'll throw up some mp3's for your aural (dis)pleasure. Sorry for the Sufjan overload.

Sufjan Stevens-Lakes of Canada (Innocence Mission cover)
Sufjan Stevens-The 50 States Song
Sufjan Stevens-Star Spangled Banner (c/o Brooklyn Vegan)
The Killers-Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town (Kenny Rogers cover)
Ben Gibbard-Broken Yoke in Western Sky (c/o of Stereogum)

5RC

5RC

5 Rue Christine is Kill Rock Stars' kid sister. They both tend to release similarly-minded, experimental music from the West coast. 5RC tends to release more...out-there recordings by some weird bands like Nintendo-rockers The Advantage, Men's Recovery Project, The Punks, Robot Ate Me, and Xiu Xiu whereas KRS is a little more grounded with their bands such as Sleater-Kinney, Elliott Smith, and The Decemberists.

Today sees the release of three albums from 5RC bands the Mae Shi, Need New Body and The Planet The. They are going to have a busy year, what with new releases from Xiu Xiu, Barr, Deerhoof and Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice. They are an up-and-coming that ought to be noticed.

Here's some mp3's from today's releases:

The Mae Shi-Born for a Short Time from their new release Heartbeeps

Need New Body-Eskimo from their album Where's Black Ben?

The Planet The-You Absorb My Vision from their album of the same name

Snoozin', Blanche, & Smut

First off, Is a 4.9 a little too generous? I might think so. I listened to the album and nearly feel asleep. They just...they're not going anywhere. Plenty of bands do that I guess, it's just not really something I wanna hear again.

Daily refill has the only song I think is worth hearing, and it's the bonus track:
Coldplay-Til Kingdom Come

As if you needed more proof, here's further evidence of Alice Cooper's classiness. (via Pink is the New Blog)

Loose Record has a cute interview with Kill Rock Stars Frenchies Stereo Total.

Pitchfork also has another good list of songs to listen to, this time from Architecture in Helsinki.

Blanche

ChartAttack has a great article about the band Blanche and their relations to Jack White. I was able to see Blanche when they played before The Kills at SXSW. For some reason, whenever I'd heard their name I always thought they were some Rasputina-influenced gothic band. When we actually saw them I was pleasantly surprised. Blanche does play goth; country-gothic music.

Blanche plays country the way it used to be, not the version Keith Urban and Toby Keith would like you to believe it should be played. Blanche hearkens back to the old country classics, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Loretta Lynn (with whom some of them worked with on her latest album Van Lear Rose, also featuring, surprise! Jack White).

Blanche-Superstition
Blanche-Another Lost Summer
Do You Trust Me? (video, Windows Media...visit the site for it in Quicktime)

Buy their latest album If We Can't Trust the Doctors... at Amazon or at Insound.

A REMINDER: If any of you like the smut MTV puts out, be sure to watch the new Real World: Austin and look for me when the kids go to SXSW! I'll be the tall kid at the artist check-in sporting a white polo shirt. I checked in some band that they had to do a documentary on, so I may be on there, but not my face (I wasn't asked to sign a release form like some others).

For the Month of June

My sister runs a showlist for the Dallas area that you should check out often if you live there. Here's a small list of shows for the month of June that I'm interested in and you might be too: (purple text means I want to go to that show, just in case you wanted to know)

June 6 Mon.- Ted Leo & the Pharmacists/The Oranges Band/The Fall Collection @ Gypsy Tea Room 17+

June 9 Thurs.- Bloc Party/She Wants Revenge/Kiss Me Deadly @ Gypsy Tea Room 17+
- Of Montreal/Tilly & the Wall/Ten Tin Feet @ Rubber Gloves AA

June 13 Mon.- Mary Timony/Medications/Cordelane @ Hailey's AA

June 14 Tues.- Louis XIV/The Deathray Davies/Nic Armstrong & the Thieves @ Gypsy Tea Room 17+
- Kasabian/Madaction/The Colour @ Trees 17+

June 15 Wed.- Aqualung/Cary Brothers @ Gypsy Tea Room 17+

June 17 Fri.- Ryan Adams and the Cardinals @ Gypsy Tea Room (ballroom) 17+ SOLD OUT!
- Mosquitos/The Chemistry Set @ Gypsy Tea Room (tea room)
- Gang Gang Dance/Growing @ Hailey's AA

June 18 Sat.- Keane/Regina Spektor @ Nokia Theatre AA

June 20 Mon.- Neko Case/Johnny Dowd/Denise James @ Sons of Hermann Hall AA

June 21 Tues.- Architecture in Helsinki/The Happy Bullets @ Hailey's AA

June 23 Thur.- Astronautalis/The Robot Ate Me/Treewave @ Rubber Gloves AA

June 24 Fri.- Spoon/The Clientele/Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves @ Gypsy Tea Room 17+

June 25 Sat. - Rogue Wave/Helio Sequence/Voxtrot @ Hailey's AA

Let's Do Some Rounds

Funtime OK has some really great Xiu Xiu covers, side-bands, etc. mp3s. The Catbirdseat has a new Xiu Xiu song from their new album La Foret, which will drop July 12th via 5 Rue Christine.

Xiu Xiu-Bog People
And here's the cover art for that new album (click for a larger picture):

The always brilliant You Ain't No Picasso has some stuff by Text Adventure, including a link to download their entire EP. Worth checking out.

Brooklyn Vegan likes putting pictures of ugly rockers on his page.

Pitchfork gives the new White Stripes a 7.3. I may've given it a higher decimal but the seven seems good. I wondr what they'll have to say about X&Y? We'll probably see tomorrow. They are way behind the rush of reporting Mr White's new marriage. Most likely because they read all of the good mp3 blogs over the weekends to take the news they're reporting. Or something.
They did get a nice top 10 list from my favorite rockers Sleater-Kinney.

I didn't go see Brght Eyes/The Faint last night, much to my chagrin after finding out Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was playing guitar with Oberst on tour. I never knew it! What is he doing out in public? he and Karen and Brian need to get their crap straight and make a new album already.

Okkervil River

I'm just about sure everyone has already heard from and about Okkervil River. I had some friends who were in love with their last album Down the River of Golden Dreams, but I just didn't think it was so great. So I forgot about them until they released this year's Black Sheep Boy. Needless to say, it's fantastic (otherwise why would I be wasting my time with them?) Their haunted country tunes come out in full force underneath in this concept album about a family's dirty little secret. It also didn't hurt that they toured this spring with my favorite band The Decemberists.

Okkervil River-For Real
Okkervil River-Black
Okkervil River-Westfall
Okkervil River-Okkervil River Song (not a vanity song a la Louis XIV; a song about their namesake, a Russian children's story)

It's official: I think I'll never see Sufjan in concert.

Wires and Wolves Missing in Action in Michigan

M.I.A.

I am probably the last person to hear about M.I.A. Wait, no I'm not. Mainstream America has not heard her, but I bet if they did, they'd love her.

I first saw M.I.A. (ne. Maya Arulpragasam) on Conan O'Brien. Sure, I'd heard about her a lot but had never seen her perform live or hear any of her material. The first thing I thought about was how tribal the beats were. I didn't think I'd like her much, even though the song she'd performed, "Galang" was pretty darn catchy. So I wrote her off. But then I got her album and haven't been able to stop listening to it. She's infectious. The jungle beats get under your skin like some primative insect or stinging dart and sticks there sapping your energy. This is a good thing. I got to thinking how she's a bit like Annie; they could both go on to become huge radio or MTV stars, but will they?

MIA-Galang
MIA-Pull Up the People
MIA-Bucky Done Gone

Patrick Wolf

Another person I didn't expect to be so good was Patrick Wolf. I still don't know much about him, but I do like his latest, Wind in the Wires. His voice is very different from what one would think it'd be like. Take a listen for yourself.
Here's an interview with him from Heraclitus Sayz.

Patrick Wolf-The Libertine
Patrick Wolf-The Railwayhouse
Patrick Wolf-Tristan

Sufjan Stevens (again)

And then here's a few Sufjan Stevens B-sides, demos and such...
Sufjan Stevens-Wolverine
Sufjan Stevens-Presidents Magistrates
Sufjan Stevens-Borderline
Sufjan Stevens-Vitto's Ordination Song (banjo acoustic)

Also, I'm not sure how many of you have seen Interpol's latest video for "C'mere," but it's truly strange (although I doubt any of their videos could beat out "Evil" for being really out there). Speaking of Evil, it's been nominated for Best International Video in the UK's MusicWeek CAD Awards alongsidde the Yeah Yeah Yeahs creeper "Y-Control" and Kings of Leon's "The Bucket."

Summer Burns

Stream the new ColdSnooze album Ex 'n' Why? over here at Scenestars. Or you could just wait until X&Y comes out Next Tuesday, along with Get Behind Me Satan and Anniemal.

In other music news, you New Yorkers will be able to catch Spoon, Mates of State, VHS or Beta, The Dears, and Dungen at Siren Music Festival. More to be announced, but it will still be free!

And for the West Coast Kids, we have a nice festival, Street Scene in San Diego, where The Killers, Pixies, The White Stripes, Snoop Dogg, Black Eyed Peas, Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, and Hot Hot Heat will all try to assuage your summer burns for two days.

Us Texans, I think we'll stick with ol' reliable Austin City Limits.

I was not here yesterday because I was out amusing myself at 6 Flags Over Texas, where some people need to realize when to keep a shirt on. In case you're not Texan, you can learn more about these mythical six flags here.

So since I was riding rollercoasters and burning my skin, I'll give you some mp3s as a treat.
Sleater-Kinney-Rollercoaster (.wma, Live at Emo's, 3/16/05)
Wolf Parade-Modern World (m4a file)
Go! Team-Huddle Formation
Enon-Kanon
Boycrazy-Stark Street (ex-Decemberists drummer, Norfolk & Westerner Rachel Blumberg's old band)
Voxtrot-Raised by Wolves (from their upcoming EP of the same name)
Kaiser Chiefs-Take My Temperature (Live at SPIN)
Jeff Hanson-This Time it Will
Y.A.C.H.T.-Hot Dog (Iron Cobra Version)

In addition, pick up some Devendra Banhart live performances here and Joanna Newsom's Walnut Whales and Yarn and Glue EPs here.