They Don't Know About Us, They've Never Heard...

At least someone on youtube can sing and play.


I like this song. Does anyone have a recording of Gibbard's version?

Found it:
Ben Gibbard - They Don't Know [mp3]

Tapes 'n Tapes Spring Tour

Tapes 'n Tapes will return to NYC to play Irving Plaza on May 18. Tickets on sale next Wednesday 1/31 at noon.

Other dates so far: March 10th @ Mexico City, April 29th @ Coachella, May 9th in Denver [on sale], May 19th in Boston [on sale tomorrow].

That's all the dates I could find so far.

Update: More Dates in the comments.

Plans This Weekend

Tonight, Friday Night:
Aside from a swinging by a "Purple Rain" themed party, [definitely not as cool as a Texan MLK-themed party, eh?] I might head to Royal Oak for DJ's Finger on the Pulse and Slap You in Public. See flyer on the left.

Saturday Night:
1. Underrated has a show at Sin-e with this solid line-up kicked off by Sure Juror and free PBR at 8:00. See flyer on the lower left.

2. Then Matt Earfarm's pimping Mancino's record release party at Mercury Lounge.

3. Finally I'll try to get over to Rockwood Music Hall to see my pals the Mugs.

Tunng finally playing NYC... twice? | Tickets on Sale

I just checked Tunng's website yesterday for the first time in over 8 months and I was disappointed to find that they still had no dates scheduled, especially none for the USA. Then, to my surprise this morning, I get an email from Slap You in Public informing me that -hey, check it out- Tunng is playing. At least once. Tunng's website lists Union Pool on March 3rd while Ticketweb lists Union Hall with Loney, Dear on March 12th. Tickets for the latter on sale at noon. Sweet Mary Mother of God, I am excited. No idea how good they are live but I absolutely loved their debut release. Update: Their second show is at Mercury Lounge on March 13.

Tunng - Woodcat [mp3]
Tunng - Tale From Black [mp3]
Tunng - Pool Beneath the Pond [mp3]

Music Videos: Gaskets and Short Buses

Even after all this time, I still love the Gaskets and their song "Left Hand." They combined animation and themselves into this interesting hybrid:


If that's not your thing, how about "Ghost" Riding the Short Bus? [Slightly ridiculous video follows, including a Short Bus with rims, a lack of actual ghost riding, and a guy who's skipping-to-his-loo along side.]

Of Montreal: An Incomplete Conversion

I wanted to like Of Montreal. Their MacCarren Pool show last summer failed to provide convincing results. With about six band members, they collectively produced the sound of two -maybe two and a half- individuals. In July I wrote that my ears and eyes debated this discrepancy while a drum machine mechanically spat out it's beats.

Then came the new album.

Well, first the Steakhouse commercials, then the new album. "Hissing Fauna, Are you Dan Bejar?" leaked a full four months in advance as I boldly proclaimed: "I don't outright hate it." Since then, the release has been met with so much acclaim that I couldn't dismiss it so easily any longer. I attempted a second listen and, still, I failed. True, I didn't outright hate it, but it couldn't seemed to stick.

After more than two months, it was last night, shortly after we dominated at trivia [largely thanks to Central Village] that I heard the opening track at Lolita Bar coming from "Del's" turntables. Maybe it was the thrill of recognizing a familiar song for the first time, but suddenly I kind of liked it.

It didn't stop there. After I got home I checked in with my favorite Seattlite satellites, United State of Electronica, when I saw a remix of Of [of of of of!] Montreal on U.S.E.'s myspace. And -hey- I kind of liked it too. Twice in one night I found myself enjoying this Atlanta troupe for the first time. Here are the two tracks:

Of Montreal - Suffer For Fashion [mp3] from Hissing Fauna...
Of Montreal - Requiem for O.M.M.2 [United State of Electronica Remix][mp3] from Satanic Twins

Links for 23/01/07

Human Slingshot [Google Video]

All McGyver Would Ever Need

American Sex Scandals Are Tame. Enter: Israel.

The Fugees, Soccer Team [NY Times, 8 pages, worth every word]

Andre the Giant: Great Drunkard, or Greatest Drunkard?

[most links from mefi]

Gay A

Since I love Menomena and their new album is amazing, I figured I'd share this song off their EP from 2006. Plus, this song seems quite appropriate after that last post. Hell, it's an excellent song without any other reason to post it.

Menomena - Gay A [mp3]
from the Wet and Rusting EP

Buy the Wet and Rusting EP here.
Buy the Friend and Foe LP here.
Buy tickets to their March 28 Bowery Ballroom show here.

Update Via Stereogum:
They will have a choir for their Portland record release show! Here is a clip. It's brilliant. SGum asks the neccessary question, "Is there a New York chapter of the Menomena choir?" Sign me up.

Your Favorite Band is Gay

Love God's Way -truly a trusted source for information- has compiled a list of bands it deems to be gay. Some of its "Bands to watch out for" caught me by surprise. Sure, we all know Scissor Sisters and the Indigo Girls are gay, but what about Ghostface Killah? And John Mayer? Isn't he just a pansy? [Ghostface, I mean.]

Yet no matter how Christian Sufjan Stevens may be, he still made the gay list. That should settle that debate.

The note at the bottom holds promise:

The response is overwhelming. You guys know of a lot more Gay Bands than I do. I can't keep up. Hopefully soon we'll have it so you can add them by yourself.

Oh boy. That could be fuuuuuun. On the positive side, perhaps it could serve as a resource for people searching for gay bands. Although, it's still missing a lot of my favorites: Lo-Fi FNK, Voxtrot, Junior Senior and legions of others. Sorry Grizzly Bear, I'm still on the fence about you guys.

Head here for the list of Gay Bands and here for a list of "Safe Bands." If you want anything out of music, you sure damn hell want it to be 'safe'. The whole thing is so preposterously stupid it makes me angry.

"The bottom line - you shouldn't be gay!" the site reads. And the HD Video has already been "Removed due to Abuse."

Oh lord. [via]

Thought For The Day

Ang asked me a question today, and it caught me by surprise. I'm not quite sure how I'd answer.

Do you think, if there was an apocalypse, you'd be interested in hanging around?

Like, you'd get out of your bunker and then the only people around would be the type of people who build bunkers?

As someone who went to quite a few Y2K meetings for a high school civics class, I know exactly what she means.

Other Music to launch online record store

Located right across the street from the corpsed exoskeleton of Tower Records, Other Music is arguably the most recognized independent music store in the East. I rarely browse amidst the relics of the Compact Disc Era, but the small store has always been there when I needed to avoid Ticketweb fees for Maxwell's.

Come next month, Other Music will enter the digital age with an online music store and an arsenal of robots to staff their East Fourth location [the latter is rumored to have been implemented up to eight months ago]. Unlike it's current online manifestation, which still sells brick-and-mortar CDs via the Grand Ol' USPS, it'll sell non-DRM mp3s of Animal Collective.

Wired interviewed Josh Madell of Other Music:

WN: How does Other Music plan to price the MP3s? And how will the revenue from digital sales be split among the store, labels and bands?

Madell: We will be selling high-quality files without DRM copy protection (our music is encoded at 320 Kbps rather than 192, the iTunes model, so the sound will be much better). All our pricing is not set yet, but we will definitely have to be a little more expensive than iTunes -- probably $10.99 per album rather than $9.99. I hope we can more than make up for the price with our selection, service, knowledge, features and, of course, the quality files. As for the label deals, this business works on percentages; you split revenue with the label for sales, and typically labels make 65 to 70 percent of the retail price..

My T-Shirts Are Good Luck

I've purchased two band t-shirts in the past year. The first, the Thermals, later went on to get a Best New Music honor at Pitchfork. The second, Menomena, also today received that honor.

I'm just saying.

STOP SENDING ME PROMOS AND SEND ME CLOTHES.

This Week in Videos

No, these aren't music videos. I came across these three videos yesterday as I raked through the sands we call the internets. The first two are completely cracked-out. So if you missed them, stop watching dickinabox and change the channel.

1. Pickle Surprise [Youtube]

2. Wo-Wo-Wo-Windows 386 [GoogleVideo]

3. March of the -Emperor- Penguins [Youtube]

Shout Out Out Out Out are Out and About

One of the short-lived jokes this past CMJ began as a result of the dearth of intriguing Saturday night shows. Lacking a marquise name or even a single buzzband, it threatened to turn the final night into a non-event. That afternoon many of us caught the Edmonton outfit Shout Out Out Out Out playing a sweaty daytime set at the Fader Lounge. Suddenly they became the band to see, and in the span of 30 minutes they were the #1 hyped band. Cold War Who? Plus it's a ridiculous band name. Central Village started the backlash another hour later. By dinner we were worried about a sophomore slide.

As it turns out, Shout Out Out Out Out were awesome. They converted the Lit Lounge into a hectic electro dance party, leaving us anticipating their return ever since. Neiles Life has a few tracks available, but -warning- it's not as convincing recorded. See them live.

Shout Out Out Out Out - Three Mp3s over at Neiles Life

Shout Out Out Out Out play Southpaw on Friday, March 9th with 120 Days -another band who made a splash at CMJ.

Elvis Perkins @ Union Hall On Sale

Elvis Perkins is developing quite a following and for good reason. The official release of Ash Wednesday comes out February 20th. The band is playing Union Hall on April 19th. Buy Now for $10.

Barry Manilow in Time Out NY

Cristina Black recently scored a phone interview with the ever-nostalgic Barry Manilow for Time Out New York. She got one question in before he demanded, "Cristina, how old are you?"

His patience wears thinner by the second question. By the third? He hangs up. Class Act, Barry.

Read the "Interview" here. Great job Cristina.

Saturday: Battle of the Blogger Parties

This Saturday brings us two competing blogger parties. Do both if you can. Click the flyers for more information.

An Internet Was Sent By My Staff

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o’clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. - Senator Ted Stevens

After waiting in line for the Colbert Report for over an hour, the line director almost refused us admittance. Her claim? That I didn't respond to their email at least one week beforehand and that she received it that afternoon at 2:58.

That was odd, because I *did* reply at 2:58 but on December 7. We were about to argue further when I realized if I just admitted I was wrong, we would still get in. So I bit my tongue and swallowed my pride. During the taping, it turns out, she checked her email and acknowledged that, yes, the email was dated the 7th but somehow magically sent that afternoon. "Your confirmation e-mail was not sent until today. It does have the Dec 7 date, but it was not sent until today... Tickets are to be confirmed at least one week prior to the show date or else the tickets will be cancelled."

She closes the email:

Thank you

Please do not respond.

Since I can't respond, I'm swallowing my tongue, biting my pride - by blogging.

But what the hell happened to my email? Are the InterTubes really that clogged?

Ticket Alert

Tickets are selling fast. Buy now.

The Hold Steady @ Northsix, Thursday January 18 [Buy Tix]

Plug Awards w/ Stephen Malkmus, David Cross, Deerhoof, EL-P, Silversun Pickups, Tokyo Police Club @ Irving Plaza, Saturday (!) February 10. ONLY $10. [Buy Tix]

See you there.

Future Clouds & Radar

Future Clouds & Radar - Drugstore Bust [mp3]

Just because Future Clouds & Radar [website/myspace] are a new band that doesn't stop them from putting out a double-disc debut. That takes some balls. Or a severe lack of editing skills. I listened to the single(?) "Drugstore Bust" and while it may tread a bit close to it's influences [Elvis Costello anyone?] I kept returning to it. In fact, it's been on repeat repeatedly this week. Seven times seventy or something like that. As a whole -or half to be precise- Disc One of their forthcoming opus was mostly harmless; still, this track definitely stuck. Disc Two will have to wait it's own turn: an army of friends are convincing me to give My Chemical Romance a shot. God help me.

!!! New Single

I had forgotten !!! is releasing a new album in March, but PFM reminds us by giving "Heart of Hearts" 4.5 stars today. Not bad, but !!! needs to be experienced live to be really understood. For those living in Europe that's good news: they have a slew dates all spring and more in the summer. For their hometown patrons, we are left twiddling our thumbs and looking askew. If we are lucky maybe they'll play a Motherfucker party like their sister band Out Hud once did.

!!! - Heart of Hearts [mp3]

Je t'aime, Malajube

Malajube [website/myspace] originates from the epicenter of the indie-rock realm, recently sending tremors from their Québécois home through the NYC community with their je voudrai's and their je t'aime's and their goofy hats. Locked out of their CMJ Merc Spectacular, I caught them at the Fader "tent" and was mildly impressed. The performance didn't fully capture the magic and intensity of their stellar album but then again, it was a day show.

Trompe-L'oeil was one of my favorite albums last year [probably even higher now]. Most notably it lacks a single track worth skipping. I compare them often to the Wrens and I still don't find that wholly inappropriate. So if you haven't given them a shot, just freaking buy it already.

Malajube - Montréal -40°C [mp3]
Malajube - Ton Plat Favori [mp3]

They are on tour and it promises to be a fun time.
02-18 New York City Mercury Lounge Buy Tix
02-19 Brooklyn Southpaw Buy tix
02-20 Philadelphia Johnny Brenda's
02-21 Washington, DC The Rock And Roll Hotel
02-23 Chicago The Subterranean
02-28 Seattle Neumo's
03-01 Portland Dante's
03-02 San Francisco Independent
03-05 San Diego Casbah
03-06 Tucson Plush
03-09 Denver Larimer Lounge
03-10 Kansas City The Record Bar
03-12 Houston Mink
03-13 Dallas Ellum: ONSTAGE

Ruh Roh

Above: Kelly Clarkson confronts Ted Leo and Scooby Doo

Thankfully Mr. Brooklyn Vegan posted this yesterday or I would have missed the news that Iwao Takamoto, the creator of Scooby Doo has passed away. 'Doo got me through some tough times as a child: baths I didn't want to take, bedtimes I refused to acknowledge, a sister who angered me so much one time that I popped the bubble off the Popomatic Trouble board. As I got older, I look back at my hours of watching Scooby and regret not a second. This Scooby Snack's for you, Takamoto.


Matthew Sweet - Scooby Doo [mp3]

Bonus:
Death Cab For Cutie - Sick of Myself [Matthew Sweet Cover] [mp3]

Arcade Fire Best of Craiglist

Craigslist is flooded today with desperate people without Arcade Fire tickets. Here are some highlights.

I'd like to visit, but I don't think I'd like to live there.

I will sell you approximately 5 acres of moonrock front property in exchange for 2 tickets to see the arcade fire at judson church in new york city. you get to enjoy clear views of earth and no gravity, i and a friend get to see a cool concert. transportation and oxygen not provided. [link]

The Apts/Housing listings are two doors down on your left.

I'm looking for a new apartment in Manhattan. Make it happen. [Link]

OMG IT'S A FIRE! sale.

Additionally, I offer cash or trade for any items having to do with arcades (ski-ball machines, amusement park rides, boardwalks, tokens, etc.) or anything to do with fires (cigarette lighters, gasoline, Great White concert tapes, Backdraft movie posters, etc.). I can also pay you a small but generous fee to call my cell phone and say "Arcade Fire" to me when I answer or, for a slightly lesser but no less generous amount, text the words, "Arcade" or "Fire" to the same cell number. [Link]

Read the fine print before you pray to God.

As I knelt at my wife's hospital bed I prayed to God that if he let my wife live through this, I would attend every Arcade Fire show for the rest of time and, not only attend, but be the ONLY attendee. I was surprised when she lived because I do not believe in God or any organized religion and it just proves how stupid praying is because if I'm not religious, then why did my prayers come true? Anyway, long story short, she died anyway, of old age but, irregardless, I'd like to be the only fan in attendance for all of the rest of the Arcade Fire's shows cos they rock! I have money. [Link]

That's you sacrificing your diginity? What does that make me?

Will Sacrifice Dignity For Arcade Fire Tickets: I will pay you as much money as i can (this is obviously negotiable) and perhaps sacrifice my dignity. Most likely this means a really nice dinner at a really nice resturant. [Link]

This is more like it:

If you're a hot chick, i'll give up my 2 valentine's day tickets for sex. good sex, mind you. as soon as the deed is done and the sheets are dry, i'll hand the tickets over. [Link]

This guy really has no balls. Dude, just say it.

I will give the second ticket to any single girl who will spend time with me before the show - dinner, maybe more? I know there are some pretty major fans out there, so it'd certainly help if you described what "more" means to you. [Link]

"More" means "less".

Some Memes Never Get Old

Apologies for those who don't understand.

And likely for those that do.

A Better Mousetrap: Musicians as Inventors

Ironic Sans has been digging though Google's new [patented?] patent search engine for innovations filed by celebrities. Eddie Van Halen submitted this support mechanism in 1987 to be able to fly across the neck with both hands.

Just look at him go!

Rock on, Eddie.

Also check out this one by Michael Jackson, titled the "Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion."

More.

Hutch Harris At Home - Early Recordings of Hutch and Kathy of the Thermals

With all the stink made over Karen O's leaked demos, I'm glad we get to see some of our other favorite bands' early works. That is, assuming they don't outright suck. This episode brings us Hutch and Kathy -the broccoli and cheese of the Thermals- and their early formation as Urban Legends. I had a 7" I picked up over the summer that got me googling around this evening and found that Contraphonic is re-releasing a collection of those earlier demos and recordings on January 23rd titled Of Old Lost Days. If you can't wait for it to arrive in stores -or doubt your local Best Buy stocks early recording re-releases- then you can order it online right now.

Urban Legends- The World Is Strange [mp3]

CMJ blog writes:

[I]ts lo-fi tracks mostly prove that, while Harris was always a promising songwriter, he really blossomed into a superstar only in the last few years. That, of course, hasn’t stopped me from replaying the rough yet catchy little ditties ad naseum —I’m waiting for one of my coworkers to complain.

Following Urban Legends, Hutch and Kathy formed a third band called -ummm- Hutch and Kathy. Chronologically speaking that would also be their third band as a pairing since they were also once in a band called haelah.

If this wasn't a "lost" Thermals song I'd SWEAR this was a lost Mountain Goats tune:

Hutch & Kathy - An Infinite Loop [mp3]

It's almost like an early, folkier version of the their More Parts Per Million song "Born Dead."

As far as new material goes, Kathy writes that they are "working on new songs in January and February before leaving for tour."

For Next Year

I'm kicking myself I didn't listen to A John Water's Christmas album earlier -the only Christmas album I've ever seen that comes with a Parental Advisory sticker on it. The mp3 below is quite possibly my new favorite Xmas tune. I really don't care if it aint for another 357 days, download it now and keep it for next season.

AKIM & the Teddy Vann Production Company - Santa Claus is a Black Man [mp3]

So cute.

If I Only Had A Brain

Happy New Year everybody! My brother asked me a couple weeks ago to find a few songs he had in mind for the annual video montage of my wee little niece -who is now 21 months old. One of these songs was "If I Only Had a Brain" and the only version I knew was the Flaming Lips dreadful -absolutely DREADFUL- cover. After some googling around, I found this copy full of all sorts of delicious minor-9ths and ascending/descending bass lines.

Peter Thurston - If I Only Had a Brain [mp3]

It's a live cut via webarchive but the quality is pretty good. I always hope the last line would be sung as "life would be a dingleberry..." but alas, it's not.