Music Capitol

Idlewild - Warnings/Promises

2005-08-01T20:31:00.000-04:00

After the huge success of Warnings/Promises following its March release in the UK, Idlewild have decided to take the United States for a spin. Though the rock five-piece are Scottish born and bred, Americans should have no trouble embracing them.

In fact, they take much of their inspiration from classic American rock artists, and recorded the album with producer Tony Hoffer (Air, Beck, The Thrills) at Sunset Sound studios in Los Angeles. Idlewild's frontman Roddy Womble told Under the Radar in the summer of 2004, "A lot of groups come from Los Angeles that I really like, specifically a lot of what we were listening to at the time we were writing songs," and he cited Crosby Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and The Byrds. While the album does not sound like any of the aforementioned groups, it inadvertently captures the spirit of California.

On their fifth studio album, Idlewild have a different lineup and a more mature sound. They have stopped listening to record executives trying to turn them into the next Coldplay or Radiohead, and have begun to pave a path all their own. However, this road has not been easy. Womble explained in 2004, "There's a lot of people [in America] that really love the band, but our record isn't promoted properly, so it doesn't sell that many copies and there's not any money put in it." The August release by Capitol shows that the record label is finally shining a light on Idlewild.

"Love Steals Us From Loneliness" is immediately gripping, with its heavy intro and sarcastic Smiths-like lyrical tone. It could easily be the next anthem of urban, angst-ridden teens everywhere. "Welcome Home" shows a softer side, and follows a traditional sing-song structure of light intro, guitar breakdown, and harmonic end. They alternate between vocal harmony and arena rock guitar, demonstrating versatility and comfort with varying structures. "I Understand It" and "As If I Hadn't Slept" both combine pop sensibilities with alternative tradition, making for light and sunny, yet reflective compositions. Idlewild's roots in punk rock are still apparent, despite their contemporary fold tendencies. For those who crave the pure wailing of electric guitars, look no further than "Too Long Awake."

As with many big-label albums, Warnings/Promises feels a little overproduced, however, this could be a result of listening to too many K Records releases. On the other hand, the raw sound of Idlewild's roots overpowers any studio addition of strings and harmonies, solidifying the album's longevity.

Warnings/Promises takes a slow hold on your subconscious, until you find yourself mumbling "love shields us from loneliness" while you're buying your morning coffee. "It's kind of one of those records that's like the more you hear it, the more you like it," Womble said. Frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Click here to buy Warnings/Promises, due out on August 16 on Capitol Records

Related articles:
Idlewild to Tour US

Goldspot - Tally of the Yes Men

2005-07-30T19:02:00.000-04:00

In the rock industry, more emphasis is often placed on the quirkiness of the singer's voice, rather than its quality. This is just one reason why L.A.'s Goldspot is a breath of fresh air. Singer Siddhartha's honey-coated tenor is as diverse as it is piercing, changing from a folky strength reminiscent of Paul Simon, to a more filtered echo in the tradition of flower child Sean Lennon, to the same incredible heights of Muse frontman Matt Bellamy, and the vocals alone would be enough to make this album stand out. However, laid over some of the catchiest pop rock since the Strokes, played by drummer Ramy Antoun, bassist Sergio Andrade, and guitarists Derek Horst and Seth McLain, Tally of the Yes Men absolutely shines.

The farcical title of the album, inspired by Siddartha's time working in a confining cubicle in an office job, only hints at the depth beneath it. Opening track "Rewind," has been in regular rotation on KCRW DJ Nic Harcourt's show Morning Becomes Eclectic, and with good reason. It's hook-laden and xylophone-laced melody takes its cues from the best of classic New Order and the modern garage rock of the Strokes. "Friday" is Siddhartha's vocal triumph, his powerful quivering vocals building to a layered crescendo, complete with violins. "The Guard" moves toward the psychedelic tradition of the Beatles and the Flaming Lips, mixing electronic methods with a decidedly 60's sound. "It's Getting Old" would make Julian Casablancas envious, characterized by an absolutely addictive retro riff, killer drums, and Morrissey-like poignant lyrics: "It's an excuse isn't it/to be the tragic one/strung out on Paxil pills." I dare you to try to follow Saddhartha's advice to " . . . maybe try and sit this one out." More likely, you'll be dancing to this one until the wee hours of the morning.

While nearly every track is strong enough to stand alone, the album as a whole is somewhat inconsistent. The momentum of the first half is broken up by the ironically slow ballad "So Fast," on which Goldspot abandon drums and amps for an acoustic guitar. While it is beautifully sentimental, it seems out of place between the alternative strumming of "Program of the Year" and the loud, climactic "The Assistant." On "Motorcade," Goldspot find a happy middle ground between classical piano and rock guitar and drums, and it is one of the standout tracks on the album for its emotional energy. "In the Post" is a somber end to a largely upbeat album, but relaxation is welcome after such boundless displays of emotional intensity.

Click here to listen to tracks from the album
Click here to pre-order Tally of the Yes Men, to be released Aug. 23 on Union Records

Interpol World Tour

2005-07-30T09:26:00.000-04:00

Interpol will be touring the world this summer from Japan to Mexico, spreading their new-wave punk-infused sound like a band of rock missionaries. Go to Interpol's official website for presale and general sale ticket links.

AUGUST
Tuesday 02 Auckland, NZ St. James Theatre
Wednesday 03 Wellington, NZ Victoria University
Saturday 13 Tokyo, JP Summersonic Festival

SEPTEMBER
Monday 05 Mexico City, MX World Trade Center
Tuesday 06 Mexico City , MX World Trade Center
Wednesday 07 Guadalajara, MX Foro Alterna
Saturday 10 Kansas City, KS Uptown Theatre
Sunday 11 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
Monday 12 Salt Lake City, UT Kingsbury Hall
Wednesday 14 Davis, CA Freeborn Hall
Thursday 15 San Jose, CA San Jose Civic Auditorium
Saturday 17 Peoria, AZ Peoria Sports Complex
Sunday 18 San Diego, CA SDSU Open Air Arena
Monday 19 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Tuesday 20 Los Angeles, CA The Greek Theatre
Friday 23 Tulsa, OK Cain's Ballroom
Saturday 24 Champaign, IL Assembly Hall
Sunday 25 Ann Arbor, MI Michigan Theater
Monday 26 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre
Wednesday 28 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
Thursday 29 Montreal, QC Metropolis
Friday 30 Portland, ME State Theatre

Click here to buy the 5-track enhanced Evil single (May 3, 2005)
Click here to buy the Evil Pt. 1 single (Jan. 4, 2005)
Click here to buy the Evil Pt. 2 single
Click here to buy Antics (Sept. 28, 2004)

Review: Thievery Corporation @ 9:30 Club 7/28

2005-07-29T13:33:00.000-04:00

In order to see one of the most diverse groups of people gathered in one place, you only need go to a Thievery Corporation concert. All ages, ethnicities, and types of music fans gathered together at the first of three sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC.

The queue began at about 6:30, though the doors did not open until one hour later. However, waiting was entertaining enough, since a camera crew hired by Thievery was interviewing the DJs and their singers, as well as the waiting fans, including yours truly, for a possible DVD release some time in the future. They asked people if they had seen Thievery live before, how they would define their music, the craziest things they had seen at a show (bar people smoking a certain illegal substance), etc.

At 10:30, following another 3-hour wait with no opening act, Eric Hilton, Rob Garza and company made a triumphant return to their hometown stage, seeming at ease with the adoring crowd. In fact, they seemed a little too at ease, if you know what I mean.

I was curious to see how the DJs would fill in for the megastars who sang for tracks on The Cosmic Game, such as Perry Ferrell and Wayne Coyne. Punjabi singer Gunjan actually performed the songs she sang on the album, and stole the show with her soprano, otherworldly vocals. As always, the show featured longtime French singer Loulou and the Jamaican rastafarians known as See-I, who always know how to work the crowd into a frenzy. While Emiliana Torrini was not performing, a young Brazilian singer, Princess Carina, was her equal in style and stage presence, and her sensual performance of "Exilio (Exile)" beckoned the crowd to join her in singing "A la la la le, lo le lo le, lo le lo la la la." The only regrettable vocal performance was that of Sista Pat, who substituted for Perry Ferrell on "Revolution Solution." While her soulful style worked for "Wires and Watchtowers," it sounded much too choppy and gospel-like for an otherwise trippy song. Of course, not many could outdo Ferrell for trippy.

The climax of the show was the vision of a completely packed house drunk on the hypnotic beat and frenetic rapping of "Warning Shots," waving their hands back at the Jamaican duo and screaming "One, and it comes the two to the three!" over and over again. The memory alone is enough to draw goosebumps.

Eric and Rob mentioned that they were nervous about the homecoming, but by the end of the show the performer/audience barrier had been blurred into oblivion, when the audience overtook the stage to dance to "Coming from the Top." By the end of the show, everyone in the audience felt like they were coming home.

Setlist:
I recorded much of the show digitally, and then the 930 Club staff confiscated my recorder and deleted it, so if anyone could help me out by emailing me the remainder of the setlist, I would be grateful. Fortunately, I wrote down most of the songs . . .

The Cosmic Gate
???
???
Satyam Shivam Sundaram (feat. Gunjan)
???
???
38.45
Illumination
Revolution Solution
Wires and Watchtowers (feat. Sista Pat)
Exilio (Exile)
The Heart's a Lonely Hunter
Focus on Sight
???
State of the Union
???
Warning Shots
The Time We Lost Our Way

Encore #1
Richest Man in Babylon
Coming from the Top

Encore #2
Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun)

Related articles:
Thievery Corporation July 4 BBC Session
Thievery Corporation Sold Out, Second Date Added
Thievery Corporation 9:30 Club Presale
Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game

Idlewild to Tour US

2005-07-26T18:29:00.000-04:00

In support of their forthcoming fifth album, Warnings/Promises, to be released on Aug. 16, Scottish rockers Idlewild will be touring the United States. The tour showcases a new lineup, including bassist Gavin Fox and longtime touring guitarist Allan Stewart, but expect the same ambitious rock sound. Preliminary dates are as follows, and they will be confirming more dates soon:

9/6 Boston, MA Paradise
9/7 New York, NY Irving Plaza
9/9 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
9/10 Baltimore, MD 8x10
9/11 Washington, DC Black Cat
9/14 Atlanta, GA Smith's Olde Bar
9/15 New Orleans, LA Twiropa
9/16 Houston, TX Fat Cat's
9/17 Austin, TX The Parish
9/19 Dallas, TX Trees
9/24 Lawrence, KS Bottleneck
9/27 Denver, CO Hi-Dive
9/28 Salt Lake City, UT Shaggy's Velvet Room
9/30 Seattle, WA Neumo's
10/5 San Francisco, CA Slim's
10/7 Los Angeles, CA El Rey
10/8 San Diego, CA Casbah

Frank Black Goes Nashville with Honeycomb

2005-07-25T17:43:00.000-04:00

Honeycomb, Frank Black's first solo album since 1996's The Cult of Ray, takes any preconceived notions of the legendary Pixies founder's indie and punk leanings, and turns them upside down. Black has gone the way of Dylan on Blonde on Blonde, seamlessly blending his native rock with blues, soul, folk and country.

The album flows like honey as the title suggests, though it includes a diverse, genre-bending group of tracks, ranging from modern alt-country flair to 50's rock with a cover of "Song of the Shrimp," originally performed by Elvis in the film Girls, Girls, Girls. Black's soulful gritty voice is at home laid over twangy guitars, and seems as though it always belonged there. "I Burn Today" is a honkeytonk jazz celebration, echoing with its lyrics the sentiments evoked by the music: "hold my heartstrings and have yourself a strum." The title track, "Honeycomb," is a stellar combination of near-falsetto vocals, light steel guitar picking, and soft piano.

Black recorded Honeycomb over a four-day period in Nashville, Tenn., with some of the most talented players in music, among them Steve Cropper, Buddy Miller, Reggie Young, and Spooner Oldham. Although the recording session was short, this album has been in the works for years, ever since Black heard Dylan's revolutionary 1966 album. "It just stuck with me, and for years," said Black, "I always wanted to do my own sort of version, Black on Blonde." And like Dylan, he has done no less than revolutionize folk and country music with his quiet, cathartic artistry. Frankly, it is enough to bring a country music cynic back to the wonder that is Nashville.

Click here to buy Honeycomb.

Cartel w/ Driving in Silence @ Club Five 7/22

2005-07-25T07:28:00.000-04:00

Club Five's new venture into rock music, under the direction of promoter Kyle Star, is so far showing a lot of promise. For Friday night's show, the club welcomed Driving in Silence, Cartel, and The Upwelling, three talented, burgeoning rock acts with very different styles.

Driving in Silence played an acoustic show as a duo, since they have been experiencing problems with their drummer, yet the performance was made all the more emotional and powerful for the lack of background noise. Their songs were stripped down to the barest essentials, and as a result, they reached the emotional core. Archie's vocals in the last song were beautifully reminiscent of the Counting Crows' 1993 track, "Raining in Baltimore," but taken to new heights with an emo edge.

Cartel took the stage next, starting with "Fleets (MP3)," an atmospheric endeavor that begins with Doves-like pounding drums and the soft drawn-out vocals of Brian Leatherman and builds to a climax of ethereal guitar riffs. Their style is attributable to bands like Elbow, Placebo, The Cure, and New Order, an unusual group of influences for a band from Washington, DC. Brian shared vocal duties with keyboardist/guitarist Luke Mangels, whose voice gave off a deeper, choppier sound, taking the music in the retro direction of Robert Smith.

They played a few of the 5 songs released on their self-released Safety in Numbers EP, and a few new unreleased songs, including the uplifting culmination, "Safe From Harm." According to Brian, the band is writing new songs all of the time. "We're all perfectionists. We're never satisfied with what we have," he said after the show. They have certainly perfected the material they have released so far, and are being closely watched by promoters and labels from here to London.

I did not see The Upwelling perform, as I was interviewing Ed and Brian of Cartel. Read the interview here.

Interview: Cartel

2005-07-25T07:15:00.000-04:00

Cartel, a relatively new Washington, DC five-piece, are humble yet ambitious, just what a band needs to be to make it big. And that is just what they are set to do. Ed Barnabas (drums), Mark Hemingway (guitar), Francisco Lazzaro (bass guitar), Luke Mangels (guitar, keys, vocals), and Brian Leatherman (vocals, guitar) stand out from most other DC musicians, as their sound is as far as you can get from Fugazi. Cartel is about dreamy landscapes, and melodic and layered compositions, driven by uplifting riffs and bittersweet vocals. Brian and Ed took time out after their show at Club Five to speak with me about the band's past, present and bright future.

I know you all have day jobs. Do you ever feel weird about having white collars jobs and then playing in a band at night?

Brian: I guess one thing that's kind of weird for me is when people from my work come to shows . . .

Ed: You kind of feel like you're running in two worlds, you know. Like, you have your closet, and half is your work clothes and half is your "going out" clothes. It's a little strange . . . we're getting to that point where we're going to have to start touring more. Up until this point we weren't playing a lot of concerts, and having a 9-to-5 works because it's more money than waiting tables or something and you have your evenings free and your weekends free. But it starts to become a problem. I mean, now you see why a lot of musicians have odd jobs, because now that we're going to start doing a lot of shows, its harder to get away from work. We're all trying to take it one day at a time, and make sure we don't lose our jobs or anything. But it is a little tough now because we're getting a little bit . . . I don't know the word . . .

Brian: More buzzed about.

I understand from what I've read that the band found you, Brian, through a want ad for a singer. Is that right?

B: Yeah, it was actually a Craig's List ad. I had been looking to do something, and musically I'd been playing for about seven years before I . . uh . . Oh my God, look at that rat.

[Look over and see the one of the biggest rats I've ever seen] Oh my God. That's huge!

B: Sorry about that [laughing]. I'd been playing guitar for about seven years before and I'd been looking for something more in DC rather than just playing on acoustic guitar and stuff. I came across his Craig's List ad and he listed all the references that I was into at the time . . . Doves, Elbow, Interpol. So I called them up. I wasn't actually a singer, which I found out [laughs] during rehearsals.

Why do you think you weren't a singer?

B: Well, I'd never really explored how to sing. I'd never even really ventured into singing, or thinking about singing, but they were looking for a singer and we had the right references. So I went for rehearsal and played guitar and didn't sing, 'cause I was hung over and I think . . .

E: I think that was it.

That probably helped you, actually.

B: Yeah, it worked in my favor. I really didn't feel like singing that first night.

So you had mutual influences? What kind of bands did all of you listen to?

E: I think the influence thing was the biggest reason we all found each other. The only people who knew each other were me and Luke, the keyboardist/guitar player, and we just wanted to start a band. We thought it would be hard to find . . . I mean, some of our influences are, probably the older ones are like U2, The Cure, New Order, things like that, and more current, like Coldplay, Interpol, Doves, definately Elbow. So a lot of British groups. We were just so tired of not giving it a go so we just put ads up. Luke answered an ad that Mark had, the other guitar player, and he showed up for one practice and we were sold, because he instantly plugged in and just played exactly what we wanted to hear. On the next rehearsal we had, we called Fico, who Luke met through the 9:30 [Club] forum, and he plugged in and it instantly worked. And we were like, "Wow, this is a little bit easier than we thought, so now we just need a vocalist." Fast forward a year later, and a lot of bad auditions . . . just not great . . .

B: Including mine.

E: [Laughs] I mean we were losing a little bit of hope because us four were playing without a singer for almost a year and we just couldn't find anybody. We auditioned 20-25 people and nothing worked out. Then, Brian told you what happened. But that was the main thing. In a city where a show like Interpol or something is going to be sold out, or Doves are going to be sold out, surprisingly, you won't find a lot of people who want to play stuff along those lines. We found each other and just knew that we had a good lineup.

Speaking of British music, I know you've been played on WOXY and independent radio stations, and you had a single released on Bracken Records in the UK. What radio stations are playing you there?

E: I think we're a little bit hazy [about that]. For a while there was one show called Totally Wired UK. She liked us a lot. She featured us on her top ten or something like that, and I think we got some play from XM in London. Other than that . . .

B: We don't really have a good sense of who is playing us.

E: The guy at Bracken says that we've been played, but I guess it's hard to kind of keep tabs because he lives here. So it's sort of like throwing something over a fence, you know. You just throw it over there. We got a lot of random e-mails from people from the UK . . . fans and promotion companies and some labels, so we knew that it got out there, but to this day we're not sure how people found us. We get these emails, but we never ask, "Well how did you find out?" And we always mean to, but we just figure we'll just go with it. But I knw we've got some warm response there, so that's good.

I lived in London for a year and I'm really into British music, and I think you guys would be big in the UK.

E: We're hoping. We're hoping to quit our day jobs . . . and move there [ laughing].

I've heard of bands that have more of a British sound actually transplanting themselves. Like Trespassers William, from California. I think they actually moved to London for a while and just blew up.

B: Oh wait didn't they play on Morning Becomes Eclectic? And I think the Strokes lived in the UK, and then they came over to the US.

E: A lot of bands, you know like Interpol, Strokes, made it big there first, and then struck here second, so maybe we'll fall in those lines. We'll take here or there.

So you definately want to quit your day jobs and be career musicians?

E: Absolutely.

B: I mean we're pretty focused.

E: I've been in bands before Cartel, and the weird thing is all five of us . . . not to speak ill of past band members, but everyone is really well-read, not flaky, very professional. At the same time, everyone is successful in what they do day-job-wise, but I think we set the rules in the beginning that "If we're going to do this, is everybody on board for if that time comes? Are you ready to drop [everything] and do it?" And everyone is, 100% all the way.

B: Yeah. 110%. So, the scary thing is we think it could be happening, when we've got to make that choice. And it's hard, you know, but it'll happen. It's a choice where we have our lives, you know, all of our lives. I mean, we're all set in different areas and sort of established. Then you sort of hit that tipping point of being in a band where you either get signed or you need to deprioritize the band for the sake of mortgages.

Cartel will be playing at the Black Cat with Washington Social Club and Monopoly on Fri., Aug. 5.

Click here to buy the Safety in Numbers EP (2004)
Click here to download and listen to five full tracks by Cartel

Interview: Namelessnumberheadman

2005-07-23T22:54:00.000-04:00

"I have faith in a stupid name. Someday, culture will catch up to us." - Andrew Sallee

Regardless of what you think of their name, Namelessnumberheadman are undoubtedly one of the most innovative acts in indie music today. Their 2004 album, Your Voice Repeating, confirmed their status as staples of the Kansas City, Missouri music scene, and made waves among critics' circles across the country. Members Jason Lewis and Andrew Sallee discuss their roots and musical influences, and give us a glimpse of new recordings.

Describe the Kansas City music scene and your place in it.

Jason: The scene right now is really great. There are a lot of groups from Kansas City and nearby Lawrence, Kansas that are doing some really interesting things. A lot of talented bands we know from here (like The Golden Republic, Doris Henson, Minus Story, Ghosty and others) are signed to good labels and have been touring a lot recently, so hopefully that will bring some attention to what is happening here. It's a good time to be making music in Kansas City. As far as our place in the scene, I think that we've always felt welcome here, even when we first started out about five years ago. With all of the keyboards and everything we were using on stage I think we were obviously a little bit different, but we've always received a lot of support from other bands and people in this area.

Andrew: I agree that the scene is very exciting. The bands have unique sounds, but there seems to be a larger emphasis these days on melody and 'song' songs, as opposed to stuff that rocks. People seem to be doing very classy but interesting things with good old melody and harmony.

Since the three of you have stayed close to home, what is it about KCMO that inspires you?

J: I think that we all really enjoy (and are influenced by) living in the Midwest. It is hard to describe sometimes, but a lot of our sound and the way we try to mix acoustic and electronic elements is a result of growing up in this part of the country. Kansas City is great because there are a lot of interesting musical and artistic events happening around and you can experience these things in a more intimate setting. For example, a band like The Decemberists play a 1000 or 2000 capacity venue in New York, but here you can see them in a smaller place that holds 300. It is a bigger city with a lot to do, but not so big that you feel overwhelmed.

A: All three of us actually grew up in the same small town in Oklahoma and gradually migrated to KCMO several years ago. More and more, I really appreciate Kansas City. It is very close to the geographic center of America and there is a history of all sorts of music, art, philanthropy, and science here. The general attitude in a lot of circles is very open and unpretentious. At the same time, there is some land-locked restlessness that can be oddly inspiring, as well.

Who and what are your musical influences?

J: We all really love The Flaming Lips, and since we are from the same place as them I think it means even more to us to see them do so many good things. Other influences and bands we've been listening to a lot lately are The Beatles, Sparklehorse, Andrew Bird, DJ Shadow, Tortoise, Sufjan Stevens and many more depending on the day.

A: I heartily affirm all of Jason's picks and add Iris Dement (fromKC!), Greg Brown, Bjork, XTC, and Bela Bartok.

I understand you play around KCMO often, and have a cult following there. Do you plan to tour away from home any time soon?

J: We've done a very small amount of touring since our last album was released 9 months ago, but we'd like to do more. At this point we don't have a record label, but once the new album is finished and we get some label support we'd hope to play out of Kansas City as much as possible.

According to your post on the NNHM website in April, you are recording new material. How is the recording process going?

J: It is going well so far. We've got about five songs that are pretty close to being completely done, with another five or so in the "rough demo" stage of the process. Hopefully everything will be done in the next couple of months.

When do you expect to release new material?

J: Good question. That really all depends on the label situation. We want to release the album in a timely manner, but we also want to find a label that is a good fit for us so if we spend a few months shopping around a completed album to people we are ready to do that. Ideally,we'd have everything ready to go this fall, but we realize that with promotion and things the "official release" might not happen until next year. Or maybe we'll just release it ourselves and it could be out very soon. We're wacky that way.

A: For some reason, the other guys have voted down my idea [of] presenting the album as a boxed set of 5 seven inches with handcrafted artwork. We are currently in negotiations and hopefully things will be resolved before we record our fourth album.

How does the new material compare to Your Voice Repeating and the earlier albums?

J: You never really can tell until the album is done, but it seems like this one is a bit more mellow and more focused on melody and has shorter songs. The five songs we've just about completed are only about 16 minutes total length, which was a bit of a shock to us. We'll probably have some longer songs once it is all finished so we don't have to pull a Guided by Voices and have 27 songs on one 37 minute album.

A: We are employing some new sounds, but nothing too crazy. I have been sampling sounds from my house to throw in an occasional percussion track. Jason's favorite is all the slurpy water sounds I got from my leaky sink faucet. But seriously, so far things seem to be a bit more song focused and maybe slightly stripped down. We have done a lot of dense layers in the past and some of what we have so far is pretty stark at times.

Your sound is a very interesting blend of electronic sounds and traditional instruments. Do you use digital or analog equipment to record?

J: Our first demo was recorded on analog, but ever since then we've done digital recording on a computer. When we first made the switch to digital we were a little bit concerned, but these days we are really comfortable and enjoying all 24 tracks of digital recording at our disposal.

Any other big plans/events in the works?

J: Just finishing up the album, getting married (not to each other) and playing shows around Kansas City. We'll also be vigorously working on that whole record label thing.

A: Lots of lobbying and legal wrangling for my Campaign For Vinyl In Namelessnumberheadman.

I enjoyed Chuck's article in McSweeney's, "Bands and Musicians Whose Careers Would Be Quite Different Had They Initially Misspelled Their Own Names." How do you think the name Namelessnumberheadman has affected your career?

J: A lot of reviews about our band only have one criticism and that is the name. It is pretty long and unwieldy, but people around here seem to be used to it by now. We've contemplated changing or shortening it, but so far we've decided to stick with it until the bitter end.

A: I have faith in a stupid name. Someday, culture will catch up to us.

Where did you get the name Namelessnumberheadman?

J: It comes from a character in a rather obscure movie by Steven Soderbergh called Schizopolis. If you are ever in the mood to laugh and be confused and entertained all at once, you should watch it.

Related articles:
Namelessnumberheadman

Sigur Ros Hollywood Bowl Presale

2005-07-22T14:15:00.000-04:00

For all you poor people scrambling for presale tickets to Sigur Ros' gig at the historic Hollywood Bowl, you don't have to pay $3 for the password. The presale password is: klink. Buy the presale tickets here until 10PM this evening. The general sale starts tomorrow.

Related articles:
Sigur Ros North American Tour
Sigur Ros L.A. Concert and New Album

Death Cab for Cutie Makes Plans

2005-07-20T08:50:00.000-04:00

On Aug. 30, Death Cab for Cutie will release their eagerly awaited album, Plans, on Barsuk Records. The first single will be "Soul Meets Body," and you can listen to a streaming version of the track on Death Cab's My Space website before it gets radio play in September. The band is about to go on a tour which includes performances at Lollapalooza, Street Scene, and Austin City Limits.

The track list to Plans has just been announced:

1. marching bands of manhattan
2. soul meets body
3. summer skin
4. different names for the same thing
5. i will follow you into the dark
6. your heart is an empty room
7. someday you will be loved
8. crooked teeth
9. what sarah said
10. brothers on a hotel bed
11. stable song
12. talking like turnstiles (vinyl-only bonus track)

Click here to pre-order Plans

2005 Music Festival Guide

2005-07-18T15:05:00.000-04:00

Where can you be muddy, hot as hell, dehydrated, hungry, and packed like a sardine in a tin can, and still not have a care in the world? At a music festival! And even though Coachella, T in the Park, Live 8, Glastonbury, and the Intonation Music Festival have passed, there are still plenty of opportunities to attend gatherings of all the greatest bands of 2005. Here is a list of the biggest and best music festivals around the US and the UK:

Jul. 23-24 Lollapalooza (Chicago, IL):
A larger-than-life festival for a cosmopolitan city. More than 60 bands on 5 stages, including The Pixies, Weezer, The Killers, Primus, Dinosaur Jr., Arcade Fire, Cake, Dashboard Confessional, Death Cab for Cutie, Spoon, Blonde Redhead, . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead, The Bravery, The Dandy Warhols, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, and . . . I have run out of breath.

Tickets:
Virgin Mega Store Promo ($100)
2-Day Pass ($115)
Single-Day Passes ($60)

Jul. 30 Street Scene (San Diego, CA):
When it comes to rock, the west-coast will not be outdone. San Diego's 2005 Street Scene festival features The Killers, The White Stripes, Social Distortion, Black Eyed Peas, Garbage, Flogging Molly, Kasabian, Hot Hot Heat, and The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Pixies, Dashboard Confessional, The Used, and Death Cab for Cutie.

Click here to buy tickets:
VIP ($300)
2-day ($85)
Single-day ($55)

Aug. 20-21 V Festival (Staffordshire, England):
For those music fans across the pond, stop by the Virgin Music Festival for four stages full of the best in British and international music, including the Scissor Sisters, Franz Ferdinand, Embrace, Athlete, Thirteen Senses, Oasis, The Zutons, The Prodigy, The Hives, The Ordinary Boys, The Chemical Brothers, Doves, Kaiser Chiefs, The Bravery, Ian Brown, Jem, Robert Plant, Polyphonic Spree, and Emiliana Torrini. Click here for ticket info.

Aug. 26-28 The Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds (England):
After V Festival, if you're not completely exhausted and broke, head on over to Reading for The Pixies, The Killers (do they ever rest?), Queens of the Stone Age, The Coral, Elbow, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Razorlight, The Charlatans (UK), Roots Manuva, Kasabian, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The final day is filled with heavy metal and punk, including Iron Maiden, Marilyn Manson, Iggy & The Stooges, Bloc Party, and The Futureheads. Weekend tickets are sold out, but you can still find day tickets here.

Aug. 27 Creamfields (Merseyside, England):
When you get your third wind, boogie on down to this fabulous UK dance festival that features all the biggest names in techno and electronic music. The lineup so far includes Bassment Jaxx, Faithless, Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold, Fatboy Slim, Timo Maas, Rob Da Bank, and more. Reserve tickets here.

Sept. 23-25 Austin City Limits (Austin, TX):
Nothing is small in Texas, and that goes for the festivals as well. One of the premier locations for fostering new music, Austin City Limits brings us absolutely everyone who was important to music this year, including Coldplay, Oasis, Wilco, Thievery Corporation, Arcade Fire, Death Cab for Cutie, Bloc Party, Kasabian, Keane, Doves, Rilo Kiley, The Decemberists, The Bravery, Eisley, The Fiery Furnaces, and countless others.

Tickets on sale here:
3-day passes ($105)
1-day pass ($45)

Oct. 14-17 Xingolati (Carnival Paradise Cruise):
Last but not least, consider the bizarre festival masquerading as a round-trip Pacific cruise from Long Beach, CA to Ensenada, Mexico. The Flaming Lips headline, and other artists include G. Love, Medeski Martin and Wood, and John Popper Project. Tickets include the price of your cabin, and range from $599 to $2,299.

Enjoy the festival season, and remember, you're never to old to rock 'n' roll, but you might just end up in the medical tent.

This story was posted to Blogcritics, and was selected as a Music Editor Pick of the Week

Six Feet Under: Everything Ends, Music from the HBO Original Series - Vol. 2.

2005-07-16T12:12:00.000-04:00

On Jun. 28, Astralwerks released the second soundtrack to the addictively bizarre HBO series, Six Feet Under. The quality of the show is reinforced by their choice of eclectic music about life and death.

Although I am not partial to compilations in general, Jem, Interpol, Caesars, and The Arcade Fire recorded exclusive tracks for the show that can only be found on this album. Phoenix's upbeat Cake-like rock tune "Everything is Everything" and Caesars' energetic cover of the classic Blue Oyster Cult track "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" alone make the album worthwhile. The track list is:

1. Nina Simone- "Feeling Good"
2. Jem- "Amazing Life" *
3. Phoenix- "Everything is Everything" (listen)
4. Coldplay - "A Rush of Blood to the Head"
5. Sia- "Breathe Me"
6. Radiohead- "Lucky"
7. Irma Thomas- "Time is on My Side"
8. Bebel Gilberto- "Aganju (The Latin Project Remix edit)"
9. Interpol - "Direction" *
10. Caesars- "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (listen) *
11. Death Cab For Cutie- "Transatlanticism"
12. The Arcade Fire - "Cold Wind" *
13. Imogen Heap - "Lonely Little Petunia"

* Exclusively written and recorded for Six Feet Under

Click here to buy Everything Ends

Sitali - I Am A Tree

2005-07-14T17:19:00.000-04:00

Native New Yorker Sitali can finally enjoy the fruits of his labor. After months of recording here in Washington, DC, he celebrated the release of his first album, I Am A Tree, at ESL on Jul. 7. Inspired by the music, it was by all accounts a rockin' good time.

The album represents a cross-section of various rock stylings, including roots rock, classic rock, folk rock, and blues. Sitali's clear, straightforward vocals counteract some of the heavier guitar to make for light, feel-good listening. The music's focus is always with the singer, but Sitali's backup crew compliments his pure songwriting techniques. Bassist and vocalist Jean-Francis Varre, and drummer and producer John Lane surround Sitali's voice with simple yet powerful sound.

The music is somewhat understated, so it may not grab you at first, but Sitali's lyrical rhythm soon gets under your skin. I Am A Tree may refer to the "roots" rock that built the album, or the fact that the music slowly and steadily takes root in your subconscious.

MP3 Clips:
Black Star
Brother Your Life
Sunray

Click here to buy I Am A Tree

Wolf Parade EP

2005-07-10T20:44:00.000-04:00

Fans of Modest Mouse and Arcade Fire will love Wolf Parade, the newest import from Montreal, Canada. In fact, Isaac Brock helped produce some of their new 4-track EP, and Wolf Parade's guitarist/vocalist Dan Boeckner and drummer Arlen Thompson have played with the Arcade Fire. "You Are A Runner, And I Am My Father's Son" (MP3) off of their forthcoming EP, Wolf Parade, released Jul. 12, hints at a promising full-length album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, due out in October. Boeckner's distinctly powerful voice lends a wonderfully random yet controlled aspect to the haphazard stripped-down drums and guitar. The music is refreshingly simple, and makes you want to twitch the night away.

Click here to buy Wolf Parade

Kinski - Alpine Static

2005-07-10T14:50:00.000-04:00

Don't expect rock instrumentalists Kinski to be easy listening for the over-thirties. Their new album Alpine Static, released Jul. 12 on Sup Pop, may begin with a near-classical intro backed by the sounds of nature, but it soon gives way to driving heavy metal guitars.

Lucy Atkinson, Chris Martin, Matthew Reid-Schwartz, and Barrett Wilke use jamming techniques that make for some energetic, creative moments. Occasionally, though, they seem to forget themselves and get stuck in a hook. The end of the first track, "Hot Stenographer," has an unmistakable broken-record effect.

The compositions themselves are complicated and layered once the music has gelled, but the transition between Kinski's more ethereal and heavy sounds are a bit too abrupt. As soon as you become comfortable with the music, for better or for worse, you will be jarred from the stupor by loud screeching and banging guitars. I found myself waiting for the spaces in between, when otherworldly sounds and understated strumming would bring me back to that relaxed state. The fact that the album ends with the same subdued notes on which it began makes me believe this was all intentional.

Overall, tight and powerful drumming, well-placed guitars, epic avant-garde experimentalism, and unusual instrumental combinations ("The Wives of Artie Shaw" (MP3) boasts a flute solo), make the album worth a listen. Stream the entire album here.

Click here to buy Alpine Static

The Flaming Lips - "Mr. Ambulance Driver"

2005-07-09T11:24:00.000-04:00

The Flaming Lips' as yet unreleased song, "Mr. Ambulance Driver," will be part of the soundtrack to the quirky comedy Wedding Crashers, released Jul. 12, 2005.

Although it is not their best work (a little bit too off-key, too repetitive, and too dependent on the sparse Casio beat), it is perhaps on par with the cheesiness of the movie. Judge for yourself:

"Mr. Ambulance Driver" (Windows Media)

"Mr. Ambulance Driver" (Quicktime)

Click here to pre-order the Wedding Crashers soundtrack, which also features music from Death Cab For Cutie, Bloc Party, Spoon, and Rilo Kiley.

Related articles:
The Flaming Lips Fill the 'VOID' with Videos
The Flaming Lips Announce Live Shows

Sigur Ros North American Tour

2005-07-08T07:04:00.000-04:00

Pre-sale tickets are now on sale for all North American tour dates. You can purchase these tickets on www.klink.is. According to the Sigur Ros Newsletter, these tickets are for the best possible seats that each venue is able to allocate for pre-sales. The pre-sale tickets for Avalon in L.A. sold out in less than one minute, so act fast, but if you don't get pre-sale tickets, you'll still be able to get general sale tickets on ticketmaster. General sale tickets to the Atlanta and Vancouver shows begin this Saturday, Jul. 9, with tickets to more gigs following next week.

The dates so far include:
8/11 Avalon Hollywood Hollywood, CA Find Tickets
9/06 Symphony Hall Atlanta Atlanta, GA More Info
9/20 Michigan Theater Ann Arbor, MI More Info
9/23 Orpheum Theatre Madison, WI More Info
9/24 State Theatre Minneapolis, MN More Info
9/27 Orpheum Theatre Vancouver, BC More Info
9/28 Paramount Theatre Seattle, WA More Info
10/05 Hollywood Bowl Hollywood, CA More Info

Related articles:
Sigur Ros L.A. Concert and New Album

Sigur Ros L.A. Concert and New Album

2005-07-07T06:55:00.000-04:00

Sigur Ros Play Kings of the Mountain

Sigur Ros have added a low-key intimate Los Angeles concert to the first leg of their upcoming world tour. This gig will be ideal for those Californians who would like to avoid the vastness of the Hollywood Bowl, where Sigur Ros will be playing in L.A. in October. Following the Hawaii concert, the band will head to Hollywood for a concert in the Avalon on Aug. 11.

Pre-sale tickets go on sale today, Thur. Jul. 7, on Ticketmaster. These tickets are otherwise only available to Sigur Ros mailing list and message board members exclusively. The password which you will need to provide in order to purchase tickets is: alafoss. Pre-sale tickets for the Aug. 11 Los Angeles concert can be purchased here.

On this tour, the band will be promoting their still-untitled album, which they have finished recording, mixing and mastering, and which is due for release in September. There are 11 tracks on the album, amounting to 65 minutes of music. Nine of these songs have never been heard before, "Gong" and "Milano" being the only familiar songs. "Salka" and other new songs were recorded but will not be featured on this release.

Click here to buy Von (2004)
Click here to buy ( ) (2002)
Click here to buy Agaetis Byrjun (2001)

Related articles:
Sigur Ros North American Tour

The Flaming Lips Fill the 'VOID' with Videos

2005-07-06T09:46:00.000-04:00

Yoshimi

Yesterday, The Flaming Lips announced that they will release VOID, or Video Overview In Deceleration, on Aug. 23, 2005. The 19-track DVD will feature videos spanning their entire career, from their 1994 breakthough hit, "She Don't Use Jelly," to 1999's spellbinding "Waiting for a Superman" from The Soft Bulletin, to "Mr. Ambulance Driver," the Grammy-nominated endeavor from their eagerly awaited new album, At War With the Mystics, set to be released in the spring of 2006.

The entire track list is as follows:

Mr. Ambulance Driver
SpongeBob And Patrick Confront The Psychic Wall Of Energy
Fight Test
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
Do You Realize? (UK Version)
Race For The Prize
Waiting For A Superman
This Here Giraffe
When You Smile
Bad Days
Christmas At The Zoo
Be My Head
She Don't Use Jelly
Turn It On
Frogs
Talkin' Bout The Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants To Live Forever)
Phoebe Battles The Pink Robots
Are You A Hypnotist??
Do You Realize? (US Version)

Related articles:
The Flaming Lips Announce Live Shows

Thievery Corporation July 4 BBC Session

2005-07-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

Mirror Conspiracy

For the US Independence Day, Thievery Corporation celebrated with the Brits. The DJs recorded an exclusive BBC session at Maida Vale in London and you can hear the entire half-hour set here in Real Audio.

In other news, Thievery's second show at the 930 Club in Washington, DC has sold out, and a record third night has been added. They will now be comandeering the club from Thurs. to Sat., Aug. 28-30.

Related articles:
Thievery Corporation Sold Out, Second Date Added
Thievery Corporation 930 Club Presale
Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game

Lemon Jelly - '64-'95

2005-07-05T19:14:00.000-04:00

Released Jan. 25, 2005 on XL

Lemon Jelly introduces their third LP, '64-'95 with a sticker on the outside of the packaging that says, "This is our new album. It's not like our old album." This straightforward, slapstick statement rings true, as Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin expand their horizons to embrace more diverse samples and new genres.

The duo has broken the barriers of ambient Air-like compositions and Beta Band-ish beats, to include hypnotic UK hip-hop and arena rock chords. The intro makes reference to the prior albums with a spoken intro surrounded by bird calls, and then segways into the startling break beats of "'68 aka Only Time," reminiscent of the rock-laden techno of the Chemical Brothers. "'93 aka Don't Stop Now" begins with a single breathy voice and builds slowly to a dizzying crescendo of Punjabi hip-hop. The first single, released in the UK on Jul. 11, "'95 aka Make Things Right," laces ambient noises with female R&B vocals. Click here to listen to a full album stream courtesy of Beggars Group, USA.

'64-'95 still makes use of the same surprising mixes; lullabies and disco, soft rock and electronic (for the best example of this, find b-side "Soft" from Nice Weather for Ducks off of 2002's Lost Horizons, which used an addictive sample of Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now"). "'76 aka The Slow Train" blends London disco and modern electronic elements to arrive at a creative locale visited by artists like Etienne de Crecy and the Cleptomaniacs, and might be found on a dance compilation. Lemon Jelly could hardly avoid comparison to their contemporaries because of their endless blend of musical styles and samples, however, they always manage to the push the creative boundaries of electronic music.

Click here to buy '64-'95 (2005)
Click here to buy Lost Horizons (2002)
Click here to buy LemonJelly.KY (2001)

930 F Street

2005-07-03T14:17:00.000-04:00

On May 30, 1980, music history was made with the opening of the 930 Club in the Atlantis building. Post-punk jazz Lounge Lizards and local new wave band Tiny Desk Unit headlined the opening show, then located at the downtown address that gave it its name, 930 F Street, NW. Since then, the club has moved locations and has become one of the top ticket-selling venues in the country, but local filmmakers Tarik Dahir and Jeff Gaul have set out to pay tribute to the club's roots.

At 87 minutes long, the documentary details the original 930 Club's role in fostering punk, new wave, reggae and roots rock, "alternative" genres that more established clubs were slow to recognize. Original owner Dody DiSanto operated the club and booked innovative acts such as Clutch, Minor Threat, Fugazi, and R.E.M. with the help of promoters like the now famed I.M.P. (It's My Party), to whom she sold the club in 1986.

Dahir and Gaul tell the story of the 930 Club through interviews with the artists, promoters, and staff who made up the vibrant subculture surrounding it. They spoke with over two dozen people, including Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Embrace/Fugazi/Dischord), HR of Bad Brains, Peter Buck of R.E.M. (which played the club 18 times), and members of Rollins Band, Clutch, Lucy Brown, Beefeater, and other less well-known local artists who were just as important to the club's artistic direction, such as Hurwitz and Heinecke.

MacKaye discusses the importance of the 930 Club to the straight-edge movement, which took its name from one of his songs. In MacKaye's own words, the straight-edge philosophy was simple: "don't drink/don't smoke/don't do drugs." The straight-edgers wore black X's on their hands, signifying that they were not there to drink; they were there to hear the music. Simultaneously, the 930 Club became one of the first venues in the country to provide concerts open to all ages.

One segment is devoted to discussing the venue's pungent stench, which was universally known by the interviewees, but largely undetermined. However, one of the staff members reveals that she led an odor specialist around the building, and he determined that the smell was a combination of tobacco, sweat, cleaner, and rat urine. This revelation leads to a discussion of the club's infamous rat infestation, which marked the demise of the old Atlantic building.

The film is an honest portrayal of the people who experienced the club, in all its glory and shame. It is a memorial to legendary graphic designer Mark Holmes, who created the gritty and haphazard promotional art that carried over into the new club at 815 V Street, NW. It commemorates the fans, the artists, and all of the people who made it happen, but even more so, the unique spirit of the venue.

930 F Street debuted at the SilverDocs Festival in Silver Spring, Md. on Jun. 19. Dahir and Gaul are currently searching for a distribution deal.

Click here to buy Dance of Days:Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital (Paperback)
Click here to buy 20 Years of Dischord, the 2002 boxed set featuring songs by Embrace, Fugazi, Minor Threat and more

This article was also posted to Blogcritics, and was selected as a Pick of the Week by Music Editor Temple Stark.

DVD: Low in Europe

2005-07-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

Released on DVD this week, Low in Europe is an enlightening documentary about a band that paved the way for indie music. The film, directed by Sebastian Schrade, follows Low through live dates in Germany and the UK, as they promoted the album Trust in 2002. It highlights their shows in Berlin and Dresden, and culminates at the Union Chapel in London, an unusual but fitting venue, where the band played to a crowd of more than 1,000 people.

Clips of live performances are broken up by the artists' personal diaries, including spiritual beliefs, musical insights, and often profound commentary. Zak Sally provides the introduction to the film by distinguishing Low from the rest. "The music world can be a really disgusting place, and it's predicated on a lot of things that I just have no interest in, you know, the notion of like, being cool or being a really messed up drug addict . . . these sort of facile trappings of the music industry that are sold to people."

Low's marginal position carries over into their music, which could be described as pretty or dark, but which defies description. Sally explains that this technique is deliberate. '"The things that we may be trying to get at are not as distinguishable as "it's very pretty" or "it's very ugly" or "it's very slow." You can point to all those things and say, "oh, this is what this band is," but I think what it actually is lies somewhere in between all those things, or maybe at the point where those things butt up against each other."'

The track list is as follows:

(That's How You Sing) Amazing Grace
John Prine
Canada
Laser Beam
Take the Long Way Around the Sea
Last Snowstorm of the Year
Immune
Time is the Diamond
Little Argument With Myself
I am the Lamb
Speaking in Tongues

Click here to buy Low in Europe

Related articles:
Low - The Great Destroyer

Thievery Corporation Sold Out, Second Date Added

2005-06-29T06:59:00.000-04:00

The first night of Thievery Corporation live at 9:30 Club sold out in record time, so they have added a second show on Friday, Jul. 29. Tickets for this show are on sale now through tickets.com and at the 9:30 Club box office. Don't delay. This show is sure to sell out as fast as the first.

Related Articles:
Thievery Corporation 9:30 Club Presale
Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game

Pitchfork Presents . . . The Intonation Music Festival

2005-06-28T19:42:00.000-04:00

This summer, Independent music fans from coast to coast will flock to Chicago for The Intonation Music Festival. Curated by the online music magazine Pitchfork Media, the two-day festival will showcase a multi-genre line-up featuring many of the most innovative acts in music today, including Four Tet, Broken Social Scene, The Go! Team, Xiu Xiu, The Wrens, and The Decemberists. The festival features 2 stages, a DJ Tent created by Biz3 Publicity, WLUW Record Fair, and a unique variety of food, clothing, and art vendors.

The festival will be held on Jul. 16 and 17 at Union Park in Chicago, one of the city's wide open green spaces. The admission price will be $15 per day, with a limited number of $22 two day passes which are available online only. Gates will open at noon each day.

Tickets are on sale now! Buy them here.

Hear Bloc Party at the 9:30 Club

2005-06-27T20:18:00.000-04:00

Kele Okereke of Bloc Party works up a sweat
(Photo by Brendan Banaszak)

If you were unable to see UK sensation Bloc Party live at the 9:30 Club in DC, NPR recorded the entire Jun. 17 performance as part of their program, All Songs Considered. Check it out here.

Click here to buy their Mar. 22, 2005 release, The Silent Alarm.

NYC Fourth of July Concert

2005-06-27T19:13:00.000-04:00

Yo La Tengo, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and Laura Cantrell perform in a free concert at The Lawn at Battery Park, New York City, hosted by Matador Records. The schedule is as follows:

2:00 PM Gates open
3:30 PM Laura Cantrell
4:20 PM Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
6:00 PM Yo La Tengo

Goon Moon - I Got a Brand New Egg Layin' Machine

2005-06-26T13:25:00.000-04:00

Released Jun. 7, 2005 on Suicide
Squeeze Records

The new release by Goon Moon, featuring Twiggy Ramirez of Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails, Zach Hill of HELLA, and Chris Goss from Masters of Reality, can be summed up by the title of the sixth track, "Rock Weird (Weird Rock)" (MP3). It is a veritable "bitches brew" of progressive, improvisational, and jazz influences in the tradition of everyone and no one.

The album never focuses on one movement for long, changing from spooky Halloween-style effects and filtered vocals to drum solos characteristic of a Zeppelin jam session. "Inner Child Abuse" can only be described as a modern jazz experiment in the vein of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew," but this morphs into the creepy organs and feedback of "The Smoking Man Returns." "At the Kit Kat Klub" sounds like 39 seconds of someone jamming with their amp in the corner of a club, regardless of the chatter around them. "Mashed" could be a straight-up progressive rock song if it weren't for the ghoulish, bizarre vocals. "Apartment 31" is a genuine tangent into indie rock, and might be at home on a Weezer album with its harmony and light chord progression. The collection of songs will appeal to indie and psychedelic rock aficionados, if not to fans of the members' respective supergroups.

I Got a Brand New Egg Layin' Machine was recorded in Joshua Tree Studios with the help of Chris Goss, band member and renouned producer of Queens of the Stone Age and The Screaming Trees.

Click here to buy I Got a Brand New Egg Layin' Machine.

Kimya Dawson - Hidden Vagenda

2005-06-25T13:05:00.000-04:00

Released October 5, 2004 on K Records

Kimya Dawson is not your average female vocalist. The Moldy Peaches co-founder is as straightforward and honest a female songwriter as you will find. Her lyrics reflect her world, for better or for worse. They are mundane and funny, insightful and disturbing, often simultaneously. Dawson's husky voice and acoustic, folky song structures make her words all the more affecting.

Her newest album, Hidden Vagenda, is her first solo studio album since releasing a trilogy of home recordings from 2000 to 2003. She recorded the album in the Bay area at Mourningwood studios and in her friends' living rooms, bedrooms, garages and yards. Dawson was joined in recording by distinguished friends Joe Gore, Arion Salazar, Stephan Jenkins, Daniel Johnston, Vanessa Carlton and a children's choir in St. Ouen, France. The album was co-produced and mixed by Jason Carmer (The Donnas, Run DMC, Third Eye Blind), Arion Salazar, and Kimya.

On Hidden Vagenda, Dawson incorporates a real woman's experience, silly observations, pop culture, and world political and economic issues into simple, unconventional language. In "Parade," she paints a colorful picture of her native New York City: "a big fat mama in a thong/and a college girl with nothing on/share a laugh over a lemonade/seven foot trannies trading tricks/with business men on pogo sticks."

On "Viva la persistence," Dawson voices more serious concerns: "money and intimidation and mass graves make strong foundations/for the giant corporations that own all the TV stations/telling us to take vacations to their big theme park plantations/rather than to hearts of nations." Dawson refers to modern fear and tragedy in "Anthrax (power Ballad Version)," singing, "there's anthrax in the envelope i opened in my dream/the sky is red and little kids are running, screaming in the street/i tried to run and save them but i had molasses feet/i keep having nightmares and i'm scared to go to sleep."

Despite some of her darker tendencies, Dawson uses her songs as a personal healing device and a reminder not to take life for granted. She ends the album with a bittersweet view of life and death: "the angels and seagulls will ask themselves how/i've got my head in the crow's nest my feet starboard bough/and the ocean will say "well she's one of us now"/and i will be set free, i will be set free, i will be set free, i will be set free."

Click here to buy Hidden Vagenda

Download: "Parade" (MP3) (live at the Bike Barn in Falmouth, Maine, Sept. 2004)

Live: Kimya is playing Jun. 25 and 26 in Long Island and Philadelphia. See the Plan-It-X Festival website for details.

Headphones Make Headphone Music

2005-06-23T21:34:00.000-04:00

Released May 10 , 2005 on Suicide
Squeeze Records

David Bazan and Tim Walsh of Pedro the Lion have indulged themselves with Headphones, not to mention their listeners. Their experimental, stripped down songwriting technique, using only sythesizers and drums, would seem risky to most in the indie rock industry. However, the Headphones strike a seemingly effortless middle ground between low-fi and electronic. The compositions are layered, if not complicated, and require careful listening to absorb the various blips and beeps, as well as Bazan's lyrical jabs.

In this era of monopolized radio and manufactured music, this album represents a movement in the music industry away from traditional methods of production and distribution. Bazan seems to voice his frustration with the state of things in "Hot Girls," singing, "I called to beg you not to write that stupid song/ but as it happens now its burning up the charts/ and breaking hot girls' hearts/ as it masquerades as art."

The music itself speaks volumes as well. Bazan and Walsh had a simple plan for the sound of their side project. "With Headphones, we generally try to make simple, dark and pretty sounding parts on piano or synth, and then find some lyrics we don't hate." Bazan explains, "when the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin came out in 1999, the instrumental section in the song "A Spoonful Weighs a Ton" flipped my lid. It was so simple and fucked sounding. I went out and bought a synthesizer immediately. I decided that Pedro the Lion would be, from that point on, only synthesizers and live drums."

They started the Headphones instead. The duo used a minimalist approach as intended, but their clever use of reverb, sustained keyboards, and vocals that alternate between brooding and falsetto, make the album pleasantly unpredictable. "Gas and Matches" is a dark and trippy introduction filled with heavy beats and filtered vocals. "Wise Blood" incorporates high-pitched, softer vocals into a frenetic background of dial tones and beats. "Pink and Brown" has a light and upbeat tone laid over with vocals reminiscent of Wayne Coyne. The album closes on an unusually sad note with "Slow Car Crash," but the heartbreaking description of two people sharing a glance before they meet their end demonstrates the depth of thought behind the lyrics, and Bazan's talent for conveying them.

To listen to tracks from the album and to download "Pink and Brown," click here.

Click here to buy Headphones

White Stripes Announce Merriweather Show w/ The Shins

2005-06-23T14:55:00.000-04:00

Jack and Meg

The White Stripes have just announced a show with indie rockers, The Shins, on Sept. 27 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. They will be performing songs from their fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan. Don't be turned off by the size of the venue for fear of an impersonal performance. If their 2002 show at Detroit's Chene Park is anything to go by, it will be utterly inspiring.

The Presale is Thursday, Jun. 23 from 10am-10pm. The password is: redrain. The Public sale begins Saturday, Jun. 25 at 10am, so get your tickets while you still can. Click here to purchase tickets.

Click here to buy the White Stripes' critically acclaimed Jun. 7 release, Get Behind Me Satan.

Thievery Corporation 9:30 Club Presale

2005-06-21T08:41:00.000-04:00

Rob Garza and Eric Hilton

Straight from the horse's mouth:

Thievery Corporation and their full band will wrap up their European touring schedule (click here for details) with a hometown date on July 28th at the 9:30 Club here in Washington, DC. Tickets are sure to sell out with speed so we are giving you, our friends and supporters, the chance to buy them prior to the public on sale date. This special pre-sale will begin at 10am on Wednesday June 22nd and go until 10pm that night. Tickets are $25.

There are a limited number of pre-sale tickets so don't delay! General on sale for the show is Thursday June 23rd available at all tickets.com locations and the 9:30 Club box office.

To purchase pre-sale tickets, click here. The password is: cosmicgame.

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Low - The Great Destroyer

2005-06-20T18:35:00.000-04:00

Low, the great transformer

Ten years and seven albums into making music together, Mimi Parker, Zak Sally, and Alan Sparhawk have finally begun to hit it big. Not that this was what they planned. According to Josh Modell, the author of their web biography, "The idea, all that time ago, was to play as slowly and quietly as possible."

Low's recent signing with Subpop Records and their Jan. 2005 release of The Great Destroyer, produced by Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips), marks a new era in their music career. The occasion is also marked by a slight change from their usual slow, reverb-laden style, most evident in the upbeat feel-good rock anthem, "California" (MP3). This method seems to be working for them, since the song has been picked up on BBC radio, and has crept its way onto US radio as well (at least independent radio).

The low-fi aspects of the band's beginnings blend well with their new indie pop tendencies, as they seem to originate from a new self-confidence from Low's members. They retain some of their dark intrigue in the pounding and humming tune, "Monkey" (MP3). They have managed to reinvent themselves and remain on the radar to some degree since 1994, an impressive feat for the trio from Duluth, Minnesota. Their recent merge with the nouveau Seattle scene of Subpop represents the rebirth of yet another band of the grunge era.

Click here to buy The Great Destroyer

Brian Wilson Announces Tour Dates

2005-06-18T15:58:00.000-04:00

You can soon see Brian Wilson in his element, live on stage. His official website has announced US and European tour dates:

06-22 London, England - Hampton Court Palace
06-23 Bristol, England - Colston Hall
06-24 Oxford, England - New Theatre
06-26 Glastonbury, England - Glastonbury Festival
06-27 Liverpool, England - Pops
06-29 Dublin, Ireland - Vicar Street
06-30 Cork, Ireland - Showgrounds
07-02 Berlin, Germany - Kulturforum
07-03 Roskilde, Denmark, Roskilde Festival
07-09 Munich, Germany - Tollwood
07-10 Montreux, Switzerland - Jazz Festival
07-15 Barcelona, Spain - Pueblo Espanol
07-17 Lausanne, Switzerland - TBA
07-18 Monte Carlo, Monaco - Casino
07-20 Ravenna, Italy - Ravenna Festival
07-22 Rome, Italy - Rome Auditorium
08-09 Boston, MA - Bank of America
08-10 Vienna, VA - The Filene Center/Wolftrap
08-12 Holmdel, NJ - PNC
08-13 Wantagh, NY - Jones Beach
08-14 Saratoga, NY - SPAC
08-16 Philadelphia, PA - Mann Center
08-17 Wallingford, CT - Oakdale Theatre
08-18 Montreal, CA - Place Des Arts
08-23 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
08-24 St. Louis, MO - Orpheum Theatre
08-25 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
08-28 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
08-29 Vancouver, CA - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
08-31 Portland, OR - Schnitzer Concert Hall
09-01 Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion
09-03 Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre
09-04 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl

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Brian Wilson Makes You Smile

Brian Wilson Makes You Smile

2005-06-18T13:42:00.000-04:00

Released Sept. 28, 2004 on Nonesuch
Records

Brian Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks' adandoned 1967 follow-up to Pet Sounds is finally here, albeit almost 40 years later. These songs, taken from one of the most productive yet volatile periods in Wilson's life, finally fill the void left between the fantastically trippy Pet Sounds and the disappointing replacement release, Smiley Smile.

In 1966, when the 24-year-old Wilson began work on the album, it was one of the most anticipated releases of the time, meant to rival then current Beatles' album, Revolver. However, a combination of drug use, family dysfunction, and pressure caused by the success of Pet Sounds and the million-selling number one single, "Good Vibrations," left Wilson emotionally unstable. He spent much of the 1970s recovering, and as a result, the original tapes to Smile gathered dust on a shelf.

In the fall of 2003, Wilson and Van Dyke reunited to finish Smile. After a live presentation in London, Wilson and his band painstakingly recreated his 1966 compositions to capture their original glory. Engineer Mark Linett explains, "For this album, Brian went back to his original modular approach, recording most of the pieces separately so that each section of a song would have its own unique sound and texture. Just as he did in '66-67, the master tracks were recorded with everyone, including the strings and horns, playing live, in a relatively small studio--in this case, Studio One at Sunset Sound in Hollywood."

The re-recordings not only capture one of Wilson's greatest creations; they remain ground-breaking to this day. The vocal harmonies laid over complicated compositions of piano, guitar, trumpets, and strings unique and refreshing. Wilson, well into his 60s, still sings beautifully. In fact, the recordings might be a glimpse back in time of Wilson at 24, jamming with the Beach Boys.

Smile combines the best of Wilson's jazz, pop, and classical influences. "Heroes and Villains" is an epic composition of happy harmony, futuristic sounds, and humming. This song gives way to "Roll Plymouth Rock," a drum-laden soft melody. Each song is delightfully different, but blends seamlessly into the next. Wilson reinvents pop elements, such as an infusion of "You are My Sunshine" into a jazz composition. Van Dyke's lyrics add to this eclecticism by reinventing common phrases, demonstrated by the lyrics of "In Blue Hawaii": "Is it hot as hell in here, or is it me? It really is a mystery. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take my misery--I could really use a drop to drink." The album ends on the perfect note with "Good Vibrations," bridging Wilson's past and future. Click here to buy Smile.

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Interview: What Makes a Pop Song?

2005-06-16T15:12:00.000-04:00

A group of sociologists at Columbia University are attempting to answer this very question. The Sociology department, with the help of funding from the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, has created the Columbia University Music Lab, an online experiment set up to gather information on how people form their musical tastes.

Matthew Salganik, a graduate student and one of the researchers conducting the study, says, "We became really interested in why some bands become popular while similar bands don't." One of the main inspirations for this study was current pop sensation Nora Jones. "She is a good singer, but there are plenty of other people who are just as good," Salganik explains. He and his colleagues, Columbia University Professor Duncan Watts and Dr. Peter Dodds of the ISERP, designed this study to determine how and why people choose certain music.

The online survey begins with a brief questionnaire, the investigators say, "in order to help us understand how demographic factors like age, ethnicity, and musical taste can be used to understand the behavior of people in the project." Subjects are then presented with a list of 48 songs, and when they click to listen, they are asked to rate each one. Once they listen to a song, they have the chance to legally download it.

Since the experiment is still in progress, Salganik was unable to give details about how the bands were chosen, but they are all virtual unknowns, most likely so that subjects will rate songs based on merit rather than the band's name. Salganik stressed the fact that the Music Lab is not affiliated with any record company, and that the study is purely for the benefit of social science.

The findings of the survey so far are also being kept secret so as not to affect the results, but Salganik said that the researchers want to get at least 1,000 more volunteers to take the survey, and that it will be six months to one year before the results are published. Click here to take part in the study.

Beyond this particular experiment, Salganik's research focuses on social contagion, the process by which ideas, fads, and behaviors spread, and musical tastes are an important indicator of this social phenomenon. He says the Internet has become crucial to his research, as well as the social trends he studies. "By doing a study on the Internet we are able to do something completely different, not like in a lab. It is the place where new music is happening, and it is also changing the face of music."

*This article has also been published on The Couch Sessions.

Eels - Blinking Lights and Other Revelations

2005-06-15T06:58:00.000-04:00

Released Apr. 26, 2005 on Vagrant Records

If you're waiting for the Eels' shiny pop album, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations is not it. On the contrary, the follow-up to 2003's Shootenanny is an introspective double album about "God and all the questions related to the subject of God," according to creator, Mark Oliver Everett. "It's also about hanging on to my remaining shreds of sanity and the blue sky that comes the day after a terrible storm," he adds, "and it's a love letter to life itself, in all its beautiful, horrible glory."

Everett, otherwise known as E, does on this album what he does best, walking the middle ground between comedy and morbidity. His voice sounds like a man on the brink of either laughter or tears, and the tone of the music mirrors his range of emotions, moving from frenzied keyboards Ray Manzarek of the Doors might be proud of in Going Fetal, to the sweet and gloomy violins of "Blinking Lights (For Me)." The song titles, ranging from "Suicide Life" and "Son of a Bitch" to "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)" and "Sweet L'il Thing," reflect this paradox as well. E has had a productive two years, and he covers the entire emotional spectrum in this impressive collection of 33 songs. To listen to four full-length songs from the album, click here.

On Jun. 28, E and the Eels will be gracing the stage at the 9:30 Club as part of their world tour (Click here for a full list of tour dates), but do not expect the show to be low-key. Though the band may not jump around the stage, much less move, they know how to please a crowd. On their Soul Jacker tour, the band opened their show in Detroit with Missy Elliot's "Get Your Freak On," made all the more entertaining by the incorporation of cheesy keyboards and Everett's monotone voice declaring "Get your freak on" without a hint of irony. Click here to buy tickets for the 9:30 Club show, and be sure to buy the new album here before you see them live.

Thievery Corporation - The Cosmic Game

2005-06-13T19:17:00.000-04:00

Get lost in The Cosmic Game

Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have had a whirlwind couple of years. Otherwise known as Thievery Corporation, the two DJs seem to be composing music constantly. The Cosmic Game, released on Feb. 22 this year, was preceded by Babylon Rewound on Nov. 2, 2004, and The Outernational Sound in Jun. 2004. With each release, they somehow manage to gain more and more popularity worldwide, yet maintain their cult status as underground artists to their fans. Their media campaign still consists of short European tours, small impromptu sets at their DC club, the Eighteenth Street Lounge, and word-of-mouth advertising by fans.

The newest release, The Cosmic Game, is a culmination of Garza and Hilton's influences. They continue to build on their acid jazz roots with psychedelic trip-hop, bassanova, and Brazilian percussion. The rhythms as well as the guest singers become more international with each album as Thievery enlists the talents of everyone from The Flaming Lips to Perry Farrell and Punjabi singer Gunjan. "Marching the Hate Machines (Into the Sun)" (MP3 clip) could be straight from Air's soundtrack to the Virgin Suicides, but with an enticing vocal by Wayne Coyne that lightens the mood. "Warning Shots" (MP3 clip) harkens back to the best of The Richest Man in Babylon, with its raggae-rap social commentary laid over a hypnotic beat. This body of work is enough to put one in a trance-like state for a couple of hours, and will probably cause iPod-toting background listeners to sit, if not lie down, for a while.

Click here to buy The Cosmic Game.
Click here to buy Babylon Rewound, 8 remixes of songs from The Richest Man in Babylon
Click here to buy The Outernational Sound

The Flaming Lips Announce Live Shows

2005-06-12T16:51:00.000-04:00

Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips
wants you!

The Flaming Lips have announced two new live shows, or as they would call them, "extravaganzas." The official website states, "Don't miss it, and don't forget to bring yer glove puppets, furry suits, fake blood and a big smile..." Most likely, a smile will suffice, as Wayne and his psychedelic bandmates will be sure to provide plenty of eye-catching costumes and props in their stage shows. The first show will be a performance at the 9th annual All Good Festival at Marvin's Mountaintop in Masontown, WV from Jul. 15-17. They will be co-headlining the festival with fellow Oklahomans and improvisational rockers The String Cheese Incident.

The Lips will also be performing in the Xingolati Festival aboard the Carnival Cruise Lines' ship Paradise as makes its way from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico from Oct. 14-17. The lineup includes an eclectic mix of "groovy" artists, including G. Love and Special Sauce, Medeski Martin and Wood, and John Popper Project featuring DJ Logic. The highlight of the cruise ship tour will be the Lips' headline set in the ship's main auditorium as well as a screening of their recent biographical DVD, The Fearless Freaks, and the first-ever 'Pacific Ocean Zaireeka Party,' a playback of their 1997 four-disc album that requires four different CD players to play properly.

Click here to buy new The Fearless Freaks DVD
Click here to buy the 4-disc experience, Zaireeka
Click here to buy the ground breaking concept album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Radiohead Reveal More Album Details

2005-06-12T14:45:00.000-04:00

Thom Yorke performs for trade justice in London

In true Radiohead fashion, the band is beginning to release tidbits of information about the album, creating a media frenzy for more. Thom Yorke recently told NME that "It's going well. It's a bit like Kid A. We're going through a period of change. But that's good. We'll get there."

This reference to Kid A seems to indicate more about the progression of the band's recording style than the sound of the album, yet tracks rumored to be on the recordings include "Arpeggi" (download the Ether Festival performance here), "Reckoner," and "Glass Flowers." Thom recently played another new song, "House of Cards" (Click here for the video), at the Global Week of Action all night vigil in London. The album is now said to be due out in spring 2006 at the earliest.

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The Microphones - Mount Eerie

2005-06-11T18:22:00.000-04:00

Released Jan. 21, 2003 on K Records

Concept album Mount Eerie contains only 5 tracks, yet it is a full-length LP. The ambitious opening track, "Sun," boasts a length of 17 minutes. As opposed to using an attention-grabber, Phil Elvrum chose to string together ominous ambient sounds, keeping the listener in suspense yet willing them to continue. The album is constructed as five parts of a single idea, that of a man venturing into the wilderness to find the meaning of it all, and to find his own identity in the process. In fact, Mount Eerie, where this journey takes place, is the name of a mountain peak that dominates the landscape of Elvrum's birthplace, Fidalgo Island (near Vancouver).

Elvrum explained the album in an interview with Seattle Weekly shortly after its release in 2003. " . . . I think it's about coming to terms with the Void, the universe. In my mind, it is a story of a person, played by me, who is left alone on an island and catches a glimpse of some black ships full of marauders coming over the horizon; so he runs off to the middle of the island and up a mountain, through a glacial valley, and notices the sun has set and reminisces about how nice it was to be lit up by 'her.' Then, upon coming out of the valley, he notices outer space and sees the summit 'buried in more air, buried in space."

"Like, even at the top, there's still stuff above that. Then he watches King Dark Death come in a big black cloud from across the water and kill him, then a bunch of vultures come from Samish Island on a wind and eat his body and fly off. Then there's an awkward silence, then another song by 'him' as an invisible person about how finally he sees the universe's true deep face. Like, it looked like a beautiful starry painting before but now it's 3-D."

The deceptively simple sounds and lyrics are in fact the workings of a science fiction, slightly disturbing and not fully comprehensible. On the other hand, Elvrum's soothing voice and his use of sparse and striking sounds beckons the audience to go on the journey with him through the unknown.

Click here to buy Mount Eerie.

Kasabian Sweep America

2005-06-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

Released Mar. 8 2005 on RCA

If you're not on the Kasabian bandwagon yet, hop on. This band has been touring the US extensively, picking up a solid fan base in Washington, DC and other major cities all over America. Yet the band's catchy and complex music has had surprisingly little radio play. The UK rockers broke onto the local DC scene when they opened up for The Music on Feb. 18, and since I attended the performance, I saw first-hand that half of the crowd walked out of the 9:30 Club after Kasabian left the stage, myself included. Not only did much of the crowd come just to see Kasabian, the band put on such a loud, energetic, and epic performance that these concertgoers were satisfied for the evening. Soon they came back to the 9:30 Club as headliners, and have performed a few more times in the DC/MD/VA area. They will be opening for Oasis on Sept. 29 at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD.

Kasabian's self-titled album was released stateside shortly after the band's successful US debut, on Mar. 8. Their popularity has been a little more slow-going than it was at home in the UK. "Club Foot," "Cutt Off," "Processed Beats," and "L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)" made Kasabian a national sensation with their mixture of stadium rock tunes and electronica. This album has absolutely no duds, and you can hear for yourself. Click here to listen to the entire album courtesy of NME.

Click here to buy Kasabian.

Gorillaz - Demon Days

2005-06-08T06:46:00.000-04:00

2-D shows off his hickey

One of the best marketing ploys of the last few years, cartoon band the Gorillaz just released a new album, Demon Days, on May 3. Creator Damon Albarn, along with artist Jamie Hewlett (of Tank Girl fame), has made another addictive venture into raggae, electronica, and hip-hop combining the talents of Albarn and artists like De La Soul, MF Doom, Roots Manuva, and Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays. While there are hints of techniques Albarn uses with his main project, Blur, this is a very distinctive Gorillaz project. Surely Albarn cannot help but make music representative of the time and place he is in, and comparisons can be drawn between this album and the the mellow beats of Think Tank. However, the screeching guitars characteristic of Blur are nowhere to be found in Demon Days. In this side project, Albarn abandons rock structures for drums, bass, and synthesizers, with the occasional violin thrown in for good measure.

This album has been called dark, which isn't really the case. The "Intro" seems to set a grim tone with its use of elements of "Dark Earth" from Dawn of the Dead, and the mood might be sustained if the sound of the songs were more like the titles, including "Last Living Souls," "Kids With Guns," "Dirty Harry," "Every Planet We Reach is Dead," etc. But the music is relaxing if not cheery, and the use of choirs, vocal harmonies, and beats that border on danceable make the album anything but ominous. In fact, it is hard to listen to "Feel Good, Inc." without dancing. This is as close to pop as Albarn gets though. He continues to be groundbreaking and experimental in his multiple projects, an amazing feat, especially since Blur, Gorillaz, and Deltron 3030 (with Del tha Funky Homosapien) are all so different.

Click here to buy Demon Days by the Gorillaz.
Click here to buy Think Tank (Blur)
Click here to buy Deltron 3030's self-titled album.

Trespassers William to Release New Album

2005-06-07T08:28:00.000-04:00

Trespassers William, a four-piece from southern California, has been going strong since 1997, and only continues to pick up speed. The band, named after the unseen grandfather of Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, and perhaps the last name of singer Anna-Lynn Williams and sibling drummer Jamie Williams, has released two full length albums and two singles, and will soon be releasing a third LP. On May 11, the band wrote on their website, "We are done recording and are very excited to annouce that we have just got back from mixing the new record in NY with Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Low, Sleater-Kinney, Beth Orton, Mogwai, Delgados, etc...) Look for a late-summer, early fall release on Nettwerk Records."

The company with which Trespassers William now find themselves is not surprising, as their talent for blending indie rock, folk, and shoegaze with a hint of country has made them a cult favorite on the west coast and in the UK. In fact, their first single, "Vapour Trail," (mp3 clip) is a classical cover of the rock classic by Oxford shoegazers Ride, and was a UK-only release. This single is worth the trouble (it is now out of print), not only because this brilliant reworking is not released on any album, but because the b-side, "In a Song" (mp3 clip), rivals the first in its simple brilliance. The second single, "Lie in the Sound" (mp3)(2004), off of the most recent album Different Stars, shows the band's mastery of the sound of heartbreak. The airy soundscapes of twangy guitars, light drums, and Williams' angelic voice not only capture sounds of the past; they create a timeless sound all their own.

Click here to buy Different Stars (2003)
Click here to buy Anchor (1999)

Coldplay's X & Y Overshadows A - Z

2005-06-06T06:59:00.000-04:00

Starting at midnight last night, the new album from Coldplay became available to the UK and Europe, and tomorrow will be available in the US and Canada. One of the more heavily promoted alternative rock albums of the last month or so, X & Y is sure to top pop music charts around the world. The first single off the album, "Speed of Sound," is all over the radio and television. However, this kind of popularity for a band is often just a matter of chance. While Coldplay have established themselves with two solid albums before this, and continue to make radio hits, many other British bands of the same genre get left in the dust when it comes to capturing the American audience. Here are just a few UK albums Coldplay fans would like, but might not have heard:

1) Athlete released their album Tourist on Mar. 29, 2005 in the US, and it has begun to receive some response. They opened for Snow Patrol at the 9:30 Club in May along with another up-and-coming British group, Embrace. Standout track "Wires" (Real video) has been played heavily on London's XFM Radio. Click here to buy Tourist.

2) Out of Nothing by Embrace is a melodic rock album, as yet unreleased in the US (it will be released Jun. 14, 2005), but it has been a huge hit in the UK for months now. With the help of Chris Martin of Coldplay, who wrote the song "Gravity" (Real audio), the album needed almost no promotion. "Ashes" (Real audio clip), the second single in the UK, topped the charts as well. Click here to buy Out of Nothing.

3) Thirteen Senses has had almost no press in the States, but the band made a splash on UK radio with a few hits from its album The Invitation. "Into the Fire" (Real video) is only one of several outstanding tracks. This album has yet to be released in the US. Click here to buy The Invitation.

If you have not yet pre-ordered or downloaded X & Y, click here to buy it.

Radiohead's New Album

2005-06-02T08:40:00.000-04:00

Ether Festival Poster

All of you die-hard Radiohead fans may already know that the band is set to release their next album in early 2006. The songs on the album, even the label that will be releasing it (Capitol's contract has expired), are unknown. Sources at Capitol Records have told the greenplastic.com fan site that they are asking Radiohead to record one more album as a favor to them, but this has not been confirmed. One of the only hints to the music being recorded is a recent performance at the Ether Festival by Thom, Jonny, and the London Sinfionetta of "Arpeggi" (MP3), a classical ballad that worked well with an orchestra, but could also blend with the electronic sounds Radiohead has come to be known for.

Click here to buy the last album, Hail to the Thief, and other Radiohead music.

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Namelessnumberheadman

2005-06-02T07:30:00.000-04:00

The Namelessnumberheadmen

Although this band hails from Kansas City, Missouri, their sound is nothing like you would expect from the central plains. It could be classified as lo-fi, but without the twangy tendencies of many of their contemporaries. In fact, their music tends to electronic sounds reminiscent of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service, but with a satisfying mix of piano and soft vocals.

Andrew Sallee, Chuck Whittington, and Jason Lewis have been known as Namelessnumberheadman since the year 2000, but they have made music together since high school. They continue to be a cult favorite in their hometown, and have begun to make ripples among the music community. Critic Scott Wilson wrote in a recent Magnet review, "if the group called Iceland home, it would end up on the cover of The Wire."

They have produced three full-length albums, namely 100,000 subtle times (2000), when we leave we will know where we've been (2002), and Your Voice Repeating (2004). Standout tracks include "Rest Assured" (MP3) from the second release and "Every Fiber" (MP3) from the latest album. "Going to Breathe Again" (MP3), another 2004 release, represents one their most experimental and beat-based songs yet. This band won't be a secret of rural America for long.

Click here to buy Your Voice Repeating.

Grand National - Kicking the National Habit

2005-05-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

Grand National, comprised of duo Rupert Lyddon and Lawrence 'La' Rudd, released their first full-length album, Kicking the National Habit, on May 24, 2004, just over one year ago. The album received widespread critical acclaim. However, the release was limited to the UK, and to this day remains available through import only. Fortunately, a recently announced US Tour hints to the future import of the band itself.

This album has been a staple of my music catalogue for almost one year now. Its eclectic blend of genres is seamless, and the work remains true to the British pop tradition established by bands like New Order, The Police, and the Happy Mondays. First single "Talk Amongst Yourselves" is a fantastic blend of synthesized beats and hypnotic bass, whereas "Cherry Tree" belies some unlikely but effective disco elements. The most recent single, "Drink to Moving On," is a mellow lesson in funk rock. "Daylight Goes" is a tribute to La and Rupert's days as members of a Police cover band, and could in fact be the Police resurrected. For audio and video clips, click here.

But Grand National is not a cover band, and they have built a new layer onto the tradition they evoke. The pair explain the British music tradition and their attraction to it: "There's a duality to it. It's half-light. Melancholic. British people do that well. Bands like The Smiths weren't depressing, that's bollocks - they were uplifting. New Order, too - that's celebratory music." Grand National has captured this essence by combining emotional lyrics with light and airy music and soothing vocals.

Click here to buy Kicking the National Habit.

The band's official website has announced tour dates for the US and the UK:

11 June 05 Knitting Factory NYC 10 PM doors/ 10:30 set
13 June 05 Mercury Lounge NYC 7 PM doors/ 8:30 set
15 June 05 Knitting Factory LA 9 PM doors/ 9:30 set
24th June : Glastonbury Festival - The Crown Tent
13th August : Cardiff-Cardiff Summer Festival
9th September : Bestival, Isle of Wight (www.bestival.net)

Find more information on the band at Sunday Best.

Pinback w/ Aqueduct @ The Black Cat

2005-05-26T14:57:00.000-04:00

On May 22, Pinback graced the stage of The Black Cat in Washington, DC in order to promote their most recent studio album, Summer in Abaddon, released by Touch and Go Records on Oct. 12, 2004. Opening the show was Dudley Corporation, a group of Dubliners mixing heavy rock and screeching guitar with sweet tenor vocals and atmospheric bass. Although their talent is apparent, their attempt to avoid predictability in the movement of each song by using breaks and sudden changes created a somewhat random and unsatisfying sound.

However, the second act, Aqueduct, was pleasantly surprising. Aqueduct is the brainchild of David Terry, a Tulsa, Oklahoma native who found Seattle had a more fitting music culture. After recording with the help of label Barsuk Records, Terry is now touring with Andrew Rudd (drums) and Matt Nader (bass), bringing lighthearted music to venues across the country.The band opened the show with a cover The Geto Boys' "Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta" confirmed Terry's guarantee to the audience that they were "all about fun." It was the most slapstick yet functional cover I have heard since The Eels' cover of Missy Elliot's "Get Your Freak On" during the Soul Jacker tour. They followed this attention-grabber with songs off of their first full-length album, i Sold Gold, including "Growing Up With G'N'R" (MP3) and "Hardcore Days and Softcore Nights." This band has already had some major exposure, including a performance on the Conan O'Brien show, but somehow they slipped by me until now.

Since I am a Tulsa native and have scoured the Tulsa scene, I understand how rare and how fabulous it is to find great rock music from that part of the country. They are being lumped in with fellow Oklahomans The Flaming Lips and The Slarlight Mints for their shared heritage as well as their sound.

Click here to buy i Sold Gold.

Pinback took the stage at around 10:30 PM, and they could hardly disappoint. I had heard only a few of the tracks from the newest album, but they blended the new and the old songs seamlessly. They played a mixture of songs from all three full-length albums, including the self-titled album and Blue Screen Life. Zach Smith and Rob Crow continue to reinvent their catalogue, jamming and ad-libbing within the structures of existing songs. Even though I have listened to "Seville" countless times, Crow disguised the opening, even to the surprise of his bandmates. After strumming away, he looked up, saw Zach watching and explained, "It sounded good."

It continued to sound good, through the ups and downs of the old and new. The combination of Pinback's sweetness and melancholy is echoed in the title of the newest album, Summer in Abaddon. Despite its apparent sunny title, Abaddon is the Hebrew name for "the angel of the bottomless pit," and literally means destruction, ruin, or perdition. This paradox, however, is nothing new for Pinback, and they will continue to hide surprises around every corner.

Click here to buy Summer in Abaddon.