St. Vincent @ the Metro - 2/18/10

I said I was going to do this more often, so here it is. First show of the year for 2010 was the lovely Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, at the Metro last week. Really an excellent show. She played almost all of her most recent album "Actor". I think she only left out "Neigbors". She also played many of the highlights from "Marry Me".

Best moments of the show for me were Marrow, which actually stuck pretty closely to the album version, and Save Me From What I Want. I'm pretty sure she played a solo version of Paris is Burning, but I'll admit that the whole night isn't crystal clear, and I may remember that from reading about her playing it at another show. It was almost a week ago, and I met someone out for a couple drinks before the show (also why we missed the opener), so things are a bit fuzzy. She finished the night off with a tremendous version of Your Lips Are Red, which descended into a cacophony of angular fuzz guitars, piano, and horns before flowing into the laid back major key ending. Kind of reminds me of a river flowing through a very rocky rapids before emptying into a wide, calm valley. Really a great way to end the show. Pictures and a vid below (vid not from the show, obviously).

State of the Blog

Whoa. Little dusty in here. Just thought I'd post something about what's coming up in the newish year. I fully intend to resume some modicum of Angels blogging once the season starts, but geez, it's been kind of a boring off-season for the last couple months. I don't think I'll take on any big projects, but I'll still write as things hit me, and I may do some game recaps when I think I can say something insightful.

I'm probably going to keep up the music stuff, too. I'd like to post some stripped down comments about shows, if nothing else then to keep some sort of journal about shows I've seen. The numbers have gone way in the last year or two, and I'm starting to forget who I've seen, so this will serve as a nice contemporaneous reminder. Expect to see some pictures as well.

And in that vein, here's another edition of Coming Attractions:

St. Vincent @ Metro - 2/18/10 (I can't get over how beautiful Annie Clark's eyes are in the second video, or all of them for that matter.


St. Vincent - "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood"

st. vincent | MySpace Music Videos

Morning Mix 11/5/09

Today's random commuter music:

• What the World is Waiting For - the Stone Roses
• Testimony - Grant Lee Buffalo
• Waking Up Tired - the Hoodoo Gurus
• In Between Days - the Cure
• Going Down - the Stone Roses
• Generals and Majors - XTC
• Jean - Billy Bragg (cover of the Smiths B-Side)
• Fight - Art Brut
• the Commuter - Simple Kid
• Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend
• St. Expedite - Grant Lee Phillips

This was like two sides of a mix tape, with the classic stuff on the first side and the contemporary stuff on side 2. Five of the first seven songs were released in the '80s, and the other two were mid-'90s. Also notable, three of these were released as b-sides (the other two from the Stone Roses). Finally, Art Brut followed Billy Bragg, and the song 'Fight' repeats the variations on the lyric "Some things are really best left unspoken but I prefer it all to be out in the open", which is lifted directly from Billy Bragg's hit 'Sexuality'. Funny coincidence.

I'm going to throw a change up today and post the Smiths' version of Jean.

Morning Mix 11/2/09

In order to keep from totally ignoring this blog, I've decided that I'm starting a new series which will no doubt bore the crap out of everyone who stumbles by, but oh well. A little background: I have roughly 7,600 songs on my iPod, 99% of which are from albums I've either purchased and ripped to my computer, or albums I've downloaded through things like emusic (I think I only have 20 songs I've ever purchased from iTunes because of a gift card I received, and they're all almost all David Bowie). The rest are either one offs that I've downloaded from band's websites or places like Stereogum.

From that universe, I created a playlist of only the songs I really like to listen to, and ended up with about 2,500 songs. I listen to music on the train on the way to work, and with that playlist, I found myself skipping songs a lot if I wasn't in the right mood for what popped up. So I cut that list further, and reduced it to it's current 1,300+ songs.

A few weeks ago I decided that I was going to listen to that whole playlist straight through on shuffle. No skipping. I do this on the way to and from work, and while working out. What will appear here will be whatever popped up on a given morning. Granted, I'm about 400 songs or so into the process, but so be it.

Here's the mix for this morning, in order:

• Something's Burning - the Stone Roses
• Creep (the F-word version) - Radiohead
• Drop It Doe Eyes - Los Campesinos!
• Electricityscape - the Strokes
• Elephant Stone - the Stone Roses
• Gun in the Sun - Wavves
• Company I Keep - White Rabbits
• Receptacle for the Respectable - Super Furry Animals
• Three Women - Stereolab
• When Jokers Attack - The Brian Jonestown Massacre

This Is a Punk Rock Band

It's not irony. It's not rock and roll. They're just talking to the kids.

I've now seen Art Brut* four times since June, and the only regret that I have is that I've missed the other five or six chances I've had to see them in that time. There's something to be said for music shows that are simply fun. I love the Super Furry Animals. I think the Walkmen are one of the finest live acts I've ever seen. But I've never had more fun at a show than I've had an Art Burt show.

They played last night at Subterranean with Team Band (who were a whole lot of fun themselves). Once again, they failed to disappoint. Loud. Energetic. Polite. Willing to mix it up with the crowd. If you ever have a chance, do yourself a favor and please, please go see this band live.

*I'd embed that video if I could, but it's disabled. It features Eddie Argos' girlfriend Dyan Valdes of the band Blood Arm, who is very nice. I chatted with her and Eddie for a bit before one of their shows at Spaceland in Silverlake.

Demons Out


Direct Hit Interview


Emily Kane

Michael Jackson's Dead

Guess that means we can all look forward to the Dandy Warhols' cover of Blackbird.

Well, this sucks

I'm sure nobody who reads this site cares about this, except me, but Aleksandra Campesinos! is leaving Los Campesinos! She's the redheaded vocalist in the video. I can't say enough about how fun these guys are to listen to and to see in concert. I'm sad to see her go.

Hopefully good music news

I'm a little late to this party.  I don't know much about Pete Doherty.  I never listened to the Libertines.  I have no idea what Babyshambles sounds like.

But anything that might result in more creative output from Lee Mavers is a very, very good thing.

I'm Starting My 2009 List Early

I didn't do a 2008 top 10 albums list, but I'll start my 2009 list today. The best album I'll hear this year has already been released, and in a major upset, it's not the new Super Furry Animals album (available via download today).

It took all of six days in 2009 for Animal Collective to release Merriweather Post Pavilion, but it's pure brilliance from start to finish. But don't take my word for it. Sample some of the reviews aggregated by Metacritic:

Merriweather finds one of the most talented, most creative pop bands finally and gloriously figuring it all out....

What’s more important is that Merriweather Post Pavilion is not just one of the finest things you’re going to hear in 2009 but that it should sit well next to albums like Kid A on lists of the best music made in our time....

Has the album of 2009 been unleashed in January? I can’t see anything else coming near it....

Is Merriweather Post Pavilion the flawless album that it's been willed to be? Taken as a whole I'd say it's pretty damn close....

I tried to get into some of the previous AC albums and couldn't. Too experimental and just plain weird sounding to me. But when Panda Bear released Person Pitch a few years ago, it was full of glorious Brian Wilsonesque melodies, and was a taste of Animal Collective could do if they tried to a mainstream album that still sounded like Animal Collective. They succeeded.

The universally loved tracks are going to be 'My Girls', 'Summertime Clothes', and 'Brother Sport', with 'Lion in a Coma', 'In the Flowers', and 'No More Running' probably in the second tier. But it's really a joy to listen to from start to finish. The middle section, which sometimes feels a little long, is the very slight sour that makes the sweet extra sweet. And like the Beach Boys at their best, the melodies are pure cane sugar. Whether it was a conscious decision to make an album for the masses, or just serendipity, the result is near perfect joyous pop.

Give it a few listens to take effect. It's best to listen to it a few times while you're working. Sooner or later, it will all click.

Here are My Girls and Brother Sport.

New Song of the Day

Just posted at the appropriately named "Song of the Day" blog, which is really turning into more of a "song of the every couple of weeks or so". It's Neon Beanbag, by Stereolab, and I think I've finally pegged their sound in my own words. But even I couldn't come up with a better description than "Space Age Batchelor Pad Music".

Here's some bonus Stereolab

0 for 2. Series Finale Tomorrow

Until then, enjoy some Paisley Underground. This be the Long Ryders. Unfortunately, there is a severe lack of "Here Comes That Train Again" and "The Light Gets In The Way" on youtube.

Looking For Lewis and Clark


Lights of Downtown


Gunslinger Man

Most Anticipated Album of 2008 - for the time being

At least, now that the new Raveonettes album is out...

Spiritualized gets a date for the U.S. release of "Songs in A&E". This is really a reminder to myself more than anything. Here's some older stuff from J. Spaceman.

The Verve, when they were good

The two best Verve singles, to keep you occupied until the Arizona homestand. Feel free to gaze at your shoes.

Songs for the Weekend

Let's go back about 12-14 years or so to a time when some of us, most importantly me, were still in college, and starting to broaden our musical horizons to include the north of Europe. First up is a bit of quintessential American style indie for a Dutch act. It's Bettie Serveert with Ray Ray Rain.



And if you're the type who can't appreciate good songcraft, the type who maybe thinks that was a bit effeminate, I give you the Swedish band Salt, with Bluster:

Begin the Countdown - Top 10 Albums of the Year

A few caveats. First, some of you may be surprised to learn that I don't get paid to review music. Shocking, I know, but it's the truth. As such, I don't routinely get free music sent to me. Second, partially due to the last point, I can't really review stuff I haven't listened to, so everything on this list consists of CDs I've either bought, or albums downloaded legally. Finally, there's a lot of stuff I've left out, because this has been a banner year for stuff I listen to. A lot of really top notch bands released new albums, which contributed mightily to the record number of shows I saw this year.

I'm going to start this list off with this year's honorable mentions. These albums are just outside the top ten. Some are surprises because I didn't expect to like them this much. Some are surprises because I didn't expect them to fall out of the top ten, but that's how good this year's crop was. So without further adieu (in alphabetical order):

Nicole Atkins and the Sea - Neptune City
Saw her open for the Raveonettes in October, and to be honest, if this had been something I'd heard on the radio, or saw on TV, I would not have picked them out as a band I'd listen to. But the live performance was really terrific. And the whole album is really entertaining. Here's the title track.


BRMC - Baby 81
A bit of a return to their hard rock roots, which is good and bad, considering the last album, the rootsier "Howl" had really grown on me. Anlthough this has some really good stuff on it, it's not my favorite BRMC album, and didn't quite rise into the top 10 this year. Here's Weapon of Choice:


Interpol - Our Love to Admire
Big surprise for me here, as I really like this album a lot, and it's probably number 11, but just wasn't quite good enough to crack the top 10. They put on a really good show, but it was at a really crappy venue, and the sound suffered as a result. Probably slid a bit due to the lyrics. I'm not usually a big lyrics guy, but some of these songs were kind of dopey on the lyrical end, especially Rest My Chemistry, which is essentially about whether Paul Banks can find the strength to screw a groupie. Anyway, here's another with questionable lyrics, No I in Threesome.

Grant Lee Phillips - Strangelet
For me, this album suffered from timing. I got it right around the time I was listening to a bunch of other stuff, and as the year comes to an end, I realize I haven't listened to it as much as I would have expected, but it's his best album since Mobilize. It's the most musically diverse and the most fun to listen to. Here's Raise the Spirit.


Rogue Wave - Asleep at Heaven's Gate
Another one I would have figured would be in the top 10, but was edged out by a crowded field. After a longer than expected hiatus while they waited for drummer Pat Spurgeon to heal from a kidney transplant, Zach Rogue and crew returned with their third album, and much like the first two, it's very good. Put on a very good show as well. Here's Lake Michigan.


The Whigs - Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip
These last two are both albums that came out in 2006, and both from bands that I stupidly skipped seeing, even though I had tickets (they were opening acts), and I hadn't taken the time to listen to their albums enough before the shows. First up is this album from the Whigs, a trio from Athens, GA. I've since grown to really like it, and as the year ends, it's been in regular rotation the last few weeks. None of the Youtube videos are very good, so I'm posting the bad recording of my favorite song off of this album, the title track. They have a new album due out next month. Here's Give 'Em a Big Fat Lip.


Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
Another 2006 album, though they did just re-release their previous two albums, 2003's Lovers Lead the Way, and 2004's The Heat Can Melt Your Brain. Still, this album is their masterpiece so far, and the video below is the best song off that album, and probably one of the three best songs to which I was introduced this year. It's From the Devil Himself.


So that's it for the honorable mentions. Tune in tomorrow for #10.

Across the Pond

I'm pretty sure I own the albums from whence 38 of the following 78 tracks, collected on this box set, are culled. Any guesses which ones?

The Brit Box:

Disc 1:

01 The Smiths - "How Soon Is Now?"
02 Cocteau Twins - "Lorelei"
03 Felt - "Primitive Painters"
04 Shop Assistants - "Somewhere in China"
05 The Mighty Lemon Drops - "My Biggest Thrill"
06 The Cure - "Just Like Heaven"
07 Echo & The Bunnymen - "Lips Like Sugar"
08 The Jesus and Mary Chain - "April Skies"
09 Spacemen 3 - "Walkin' With Jesus (Sound of Confusion)"
10 The Primitives - "Crash"
11 The Wonder Stuff - "Unbearable"
12 The Stone Roses - "She Bangs the Drums"
13 The Charlatans UK - "The Only One I Know"
14 Happy Mondays - "Step On"
15 Primal Scream - "Loaded" [single version]
16 Inspiral Carpets - "This Is How It Feels"
17 The Trash Can Sinatras - "Obscurity Knocks"
18 The La's - "There She Goes"
19 The Sundays - "Here's Where the Story Ends"

Disc 2:

01 Ride - "Vapour Trail"
02 Pale Saints - "Sight of You"
03 My Bloody Valentine - "Only Shallow"
04 Lush - "For Love"
05 The Telescopes - "Flying"
06 Chapterhouse - "Pearl"
07 Catherine Wheel - "I Want To Touch You"
08 Bleach - "Trip & Slide"
09 Curve - "Coast Is Clear"
10 Five Thirty - "You"
11 Moose - "This River Will Never Run Dry"
12 The Family Cat - "(Thought I'd Died) And Gone To Heaven"
13 The Dylans - "(Don't Cut Me Down) Mary Quant in Blue"
14 Thousand Yard Stare - "0-0 A.E.T. (No Score After Extra Time)"
15 Ned's Atomic Dustbin - "Grey Cell Green"
16 Birdland - "Shoot You Down"
17 Manic Street Preachers - "Stay Beautiful"
18 Teenage Fanclub - "Star Sign"

Disc 3:

01 Suede - "Metal Mickey"
02 Swervedriver - "Duel" [radio edit]
03 Eugenius - "Breakfast"
04 Superstar - "Barfly"
05 New Order - "Regret"
06 James - "Laid"
07 Nick Heyward - "Kite"
08 The Boo Radleys - "Lazarus"
09 Saint Etienne - "You're in a Bad Way"
10 Stereolab - "Wow & Flutter"
11 Blur - "Tracy Jacks"
12 Oasis - "Live Forever"
13 Pulp - "Common People"
14 These Animal Men - "Speed King"
15 Mega City Four - "Wallflower"
16 Echobelly - "Insomniac"
17 Gene - "Sleep Well Tonight"
18 Menswe@r - "Sleeping In"
19 Supergrass - "Alright"
20 Cast - "Alright"
21 Elastica - "Stutter"

Disc 4:

01 Dodgy - "In a Room"
02 Ash - "Girl From Mars"
03 Sleeper - "Sale of the Century"
04 Marion - "Sleep"
05 Kula Shaker - "Tattva"
06 Ocean Colour Scene - "The Riverboat Song"
07 Babybird - "You're Gorgeous"
08 The Bluetones - "Slight Return"
09 Super Furry Animals - "Something 4 the Weekend"
10 The Divine Comedy - "Something for the Weekend"
11 Cornershop - "Brimful of Asha"
12 Silver Sun - "Service"
13 Spiritualized - "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space"
14 Mansun - "Wide Open Space"
15 Hurricane #1 - "Step Into My World"
16 The Verve - "Lucky Man"
17 Rialto - "Untouchable"
18 Catatonia - "Mulder and Scully"
19 Placebo - "You Don't Care About Us"
20 Gay Dad - "Oh Jim"

Grant Lee Phillips @ Lakeshore Theater - 5/3/07

Grant Lee has a new album which came out about a month or so called "Strangelet". In my opinion, after a handful of listens, is that it's his best solo work to date. A little louder and more up tempo than Ladies Love Oracle and Virginia Creeper, not quite as electronic as Mobilize. For me, so far, it's the one I've most enjoyed listening to.

To start with, last night's show was a treat because it's the first time since late 2001 that GLP has toured with a more or less full band (him, bassist, drummer). And the whole thing was electric. There wasn't even an acoustic guitar on stage. Most of that is probably because the new album sort of lends itself to that setup more than the last two, but it also means that the old GLB stuff is really going to sound great.

Clearly last night's show was going to be heavy on the new album. One of the downsides of seeing an artist with so much material (nine albums by my count) to draw from is that you're virtually guaranteed to leave without hearing everything you wanted to hear, but that's only a small complaint. He mixed in about half and half. Incomplete and out of order setlist (by album):

• Runaway
• Soft Asylum (No Way Out)
• Fountain of Youth
• Hidden Hand
• Chain Lightning (he opened with this one)
• Johnny Guitar
• Raise the Spirit (video below)
  
• Calamity Jane
• Far End of the Night
• Don't Look Down
  
• Truly, Truly, Truly
• Honey Don't
• Mockingbirds
• Lone Star Song (closed with this one)
• Fuzzy
• Wish You Well, which I'd never seen him do live before in the six or seven times that I've seen him.

Nothing off of Mobilize, Nineteeneightees, or Copperopolis.

It's truly an experience to see him live because he's either a great actor, or he really does love performing. More than anyone I've ever seen live, he really has a good time bantering with the crowd between songs, and that gets everyone into the show.

The down part last night was that "everyone" was a pretty small crowd. In addition to that, Lakeshore Theater is not a particularly good venue for a rock show. It's exactly what it says it is, a theater. As in, like a movie theater. It would be a great place to see a play, or a lecture. It's not a good place to see rock show. I don't like to sit at concerts, but you really didn't have a choice at this one. In addition, it was about three times too big for size of the crowd, especially for show in which the headliner was taking the stage at 11:00 on a Thursday night. This would have been a fantastic show at Schuba's. It was still a very good show, but the venue left a lot to be desired. That's not a knock on the theater itself. It just wasn't the right venue for this performance.

Speaking of Schuba's, Michael Penn comes to town next week.

Ted Leo Review and Pics

Can't argue with Pitchfork on this one. If you enjoy live music, you owe it to yourself to check out a Ted Leo show sometime.

Seitz Goes Commercial

Seen these new Puma ads?



Like the song? Here it is in it's entirety. And if you see these guys live, bring earplugs, because they are very loud. But both times I've seen them, they've been well worth the experience. I'd introduce them as Mazarin, but they aren't Mazarin anymore. The name is still pending.

Friday Morning Music

Not sure why, but I've been on a big Mary's Danish kick lately, and there is limited postable content on the net, so you get the classics. Saw them at UCR during my freshman year at the Barn, which at the time had a sort of seedy bar feel, but apparently is now a "casual dining location". At least it's still there. Good place to see a show, or to drink before going to see a show at the Rec Center.

I don't what it is about female fronted rock acts, but they seem to deliver a ton of energy to their performances. The Raveonettes come to mind as well, and the Peels. Anyway, these guys were great, and they got totally scewed by their record company. Enjoy: