Labels: Concert Reviews

This is starting to get a bunch of media attention, so perhaps you've all already read about this. President Bill Clinton was recently interviewed for Faux news Sunday, with the agreement that they would spend 15 minutes discussing his recent poverty work, and 15 minutes answering any other questions that the losers over at that network might have the gall to ask him.
I was fairly surprised when I heard that Clinton had agreed to this, as first and foremost, Faux news is a conservative mouthpiece/hit-machine that likes to blame pretty much everything on Democrats, and in particular like to blame Clinton for all sorts of problems (often times created by republicans...). Faux news was perhaps the one network that tried to claim that the US economy was bad and heading in the wrong direction in the late 90's, which is about as fucking stupid as I can imagine a statement to be. How I wish the current economy was like that one. Anyway, Clinton went on the show, and Chris Wallace asks the pointed (and bullshit) question, 'why didn't you do more to capture Osama Bin Laden.' Clinton then proceeds to spend the next 13 or 14 minutes putting the smack down and setting the record straight. It was a good, old fashioned ass-whooping. But don't take my word for, watch it yourself courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

If that wasn't pleasant enough, Keith Olbermann then takes it one step further and puts together the pieces in another special comment yesterday evening, which is as strong as his previous efforts.

Lastly, mainstay Jon Stewart also calls bullshit on the crappy media coverage of Clinton's appearance. If TV becomes more like this in the future, I might have to start watching it again.

Thanks to Crooks and Liars for doing the hard work and putting everything in one convenient place.

Labels: Politics

As I mentioned before, I've been listening to the Snowden's Anti-Anti incessantly since a friend sent it to me last month. After many, many spins the record is still holding up, so I was very excited to see them when they came to NYC this last weekend. I was curious and a bit nervous: can they pull of such a good album live?

The answer is yes and no. It's a shitty answer, but it's also the honest answer. Everyone in Snowden is a solid, more than competent musician. And the band plays very well together. In fact, I don't think that Snowden missed a note all weekend. Unfortunately, there were sound issues both nights (at venues that normally have excellent sound): the singer's mic wasn't working well at Mercury, making it difficult to hear him singing some of the time. If anything, the vocals took a back seat to the rest of the band. This was interesting in that it provided a nice showcase for how well they play together, but also unfortunate, as the lyrics and the vocals are what sold me on the band. The next night at Union Hall, the rhythm section overpowered the guitars, which can easily happen in such a small room (90 people). Snowden are best when the guitars are huge, loud and clear, accenting the cool but impassioned vocals, all of which are anchored by the excellent rhythm section. Unluckily for me, the band only occasionally sounded like this last weekend. I'll go see them again the next time they come to town, and if you're on the bubble, I'd check them out when they hit your city. If everything comes together, Snowden might just blow you away. As it would happen, it just never quite came together like that in NYC this last weekend.

There were some definite highlights: I met a lot of nice, fun folks at both shows, and the encore of Kill the Power at Mercury got everybody's assess shaking.
The record is still fantastic, check it out if you haven't.

Labels: Concert Reviews, Snowden

I've been slammed lately, sometimes in good ways and sometimes in bad. However, I've got a bunch of new music I'll be posting about in the next couple of weeks. I've also gotten a hold of several very early advances from established bands in the last month, which I'll be reviewing soon:

Beck - The Information
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
The Walkmen - Pussy Cats

I won't give too much away, but my favorite of the bunch so far is Joanna Newsom. She sings, I swoon.

I do have more shows coming up in the next few weeks, as everything builds up to CMJ. Some possibilities for this week:
The Flaming Lips
Menomena
Goes Cube Of Montreal
We'll see what I'm feeling up for. I should have a review of the Snowden shows I went to this weekend up later today, and also some fun with fox news courtesy of Bill Clinton.

This sounds awesome, I wish I could have been there.

At U.N., Chavez calls Bush 'the devil'

UNITED NATIONS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the United States to the floor of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, calling President Bush "the devil." "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said. "He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world." exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world."
"We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head," he said.
He also said the U.N. in its current system "doesn't work" and is "antidemocratic."
Chavez called for reform, saying the U.S. government's "immoral veto" had allowed recent Israeli bombings of Lebanon to continue unabated for more than a month.
"Venezuela once again proposes today that we reform the United Nations," he said.

Labels: Politics

I found this on Daily Kos today, it's one of those handy reference pieces that reminds me that the people who have been in charge of protecting our country from terrorism and terrorists are fucking retarded. Apparently, some type of family vendetta/obsession with the middle east makes fighting wars there more important than addressing truly dangerous nations. Vote for change this November.

Labels: Politics

I caught Annuals at the first of two NYC shows last week, this one happening at Sin-E. Wow. The first thing I noticed is how much better their live show is getting every time I see them. Annuals have really brought it up a level since their last stop here in July. They opened the show with Brother, drawing a strong reaction from the audience, and didn't look back from there. Annuals are doing a great job at pulling off a complex sound live, and they don't miss a beat. Coupled with a good sound man, I could clearly hear the detailed textures of their songs, which were further enhanced by a terrific rhythm section. I've seen many bands this year using multiple drummers live, but I've only seen one other band (Liars) use them with this much purpose and precision. It isn't a gimmick, it's simply the best and only way to create the big, multi-layered drums that make up some of my favorite moments on their upcoming debut, Be He Me. Annuals are getting tighter and more confident; the results are fun to watch and great to hear. I'm definitely looking forward to catching them at their October show at Irving with Spinto Band and Art Brut.

Labels: Annuals, Concert Reviews

I pretty much hate TV, and in particular, major TV news programs/stations. The problem is that the broadcast news has changed in purpose, and is now more interested in entertaining for ratings than informing the public of the relevant and important events of our times. Even worse than that, there's an entire network full of talking heads that has dedicated itself to influencing the electorate towards a certain party, usually by using disinformation and by presenting what is inherently biased reporting and packaging it as 'fair and balanced'. Thinking about it is enough to make me throw up in my mouth.

Enter Keith Olbermann; he hosts a show called Countdown on MSNBC, and to sum it up, he fucking rocks. I myself mostly follow his exploits through the internet (I'm never home and I don't have cable), but he's been scoring points with me for some time. I'll skip the minor things (like frequently naming Bill O'Reilly to his "world's worst person" award), and say that in the last several weeks he has done our democracy several big favors. Due to it being an election year, coupled with the fact that the US is slowly waking up to just how fucked up things are at the moment, and even better, figuring out who is responsible for things being so fucked up, president Bush and his lackeys have been busy trying to once again tie the occupation of Iraq with Al Qaida, and generally speaking, politicize 9-11 a little bit more, because apparently they've got nothing better to do (and certainly no record to run on). In practice this amounted to three major speeches recently: two by president Bush, and one by secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld. Let me save you the trouble of reading or listening to any of those speeches, they're blatantly full of bullshit, with the most offensive sections comparing those who criticize the war and the Nazis. Now, if you've got a few minutes, do yourself a favor and watch Keith Olbermann bring it back to reality.
Olbermann's response to Rumsfeld's 8/29 speech
Olbermann's response to Bush's 9/4 speech
Olbermann's response to Bush's 9/11 speech
Keith Olbermann is the best reason I've had to turn on a television in a long time... transcripts of of these speeches can be found on the Countdown website. And learn from Keith, don't be afraid to call bullshit on anyone who claims that you're not patriotic because you criticize the administration or the war.

Labels: Politics

Boris put on the loudest show of any concert I've ever attended last night. Holy fucking shit. A buddy described it as like "standing in front of a jet engine," and that's not far from the truth at all. I've been to other loud bands, but this was more than loud. This was the first show I've ever been to you can literally feel everything, from the guitars to the drums inside your chest and throat. It's like a sonic massage, or perhaps more appropriately, a sonic death-wave that destroys your body on a molecular level.

I don't know what genre of music Boris fall into, if any; they play a heavy, occasionally drony, occasionally thrashing version of something that reminds of me of metal, but really isn't. In fact, I don't normally go to shows like this one, nor am I normally into bands that sound like this. But after getting a hold of Pink earlier this summer, and hearing its blissful, noise-bomb opener, I was sold. The album rocks, and I expected as much from the show. What I didn't expect was the theatrical, at times ceremonial, nature that Boris employed to destroy everyone's hearing. From the call and response gong-banging, to the hyper intense meditative thrashing between the bassist and the guitar player, Boris know how to demand respect. And they certainly have mine.

If you're going to go see this band, wear ear plugs or you'll hate yourself. I recommend these enthusiastically: ER 20's. They're only $12, your hearing is worth a lot more than that.

Also, check out the opener of Pink (via pitchfork):
Boris - Farewell

Boris
Southern Lord (label)

Labels: Concert Reviews

Labels: Concert Reviews

Labels: Concert Reviews

Explosions in the Sky are in my top-five live acts of all time. One gets to join this elite and small list by consistently blowing my mind every time I see you play a show. I've seen EITS three times now, and each of those shows merits mention among the best concerts I've ever attended. Not to mention that their last proper album, The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place ranks as one of my all time favorite albums, and one of the most beautiful, emotional albums to be released this decade. And they do it all without a singer. Amazing.

EITS played the Temporary Residence label's 10 year anniversary festival last weekend at the Bowery Ballroom. I lucked out and scored tickets for a reasonable price (especially considering that they were going for close to $100 on eBay) just a couple of days before the show, and unfortunately lacked a date. EITS, by the way, are a band that should get just about anyone laid should you be smart enough to bring someone you'd like to sleep with. Instead, I brought a friend of mine who'd never heard nor seen them, and who I did not want to sleep with. When we left, he immediately told me it was one of the best shows he's ever been to, and we were so energized and happy that we walked all the way back to Fort Greene from the Bowery. EITS, simply put, play the most emotional, uplifting, tragic, beautiful, rocking instrumental music I can fathom. They sound the way that fireworks felt when you were six years old. And they do it live. For this particular show they played a fair amount of new material (forthcoming in February on their next record, I hope), so I'd not heard any of it, nor, I imagine, had most of the audience. That didn't matter. The new material was great, and though the band isn't as tight on it as they are on their older songs, it's still dumbfounding that music like this can be played live. It's so complex and intricate, yet at other times beautifully loud and overwhelming. I want this band to play my wedding. My only complaint with the show was the seriously drunk dudes behind me who kept on yelling about Mogwai. Yes, they are both instrumental bands. And yes, EITS is way, way better than Mogwai. No need to tell everyone else about it, especially when you're too drunk to talk.

This show was fucking beautiful. Go see them the next time they're in town, you won't regret it.

Labels: Concert Reviews, Explosions in the Sky

Update: So, I received this in my inbox a little while ago:

Hi,
I was forwarded along the link about Tokyo Police Club signing to Stolen
Transmission. I just wanted to let you know that this in fact not the
truth. Sorry for any confusion.
-Rich (tokyo police club management)

I checked it out and this is indeed their manager, so I guess I'll just throw this back into the rumor bin until they do sign with someone.
A pretty reliable source told me that Tokyo Police Club are about to sign with Stolen Transmission, best known as the label where Ultragrrrl works. Apparently both sides are hammering out the details at the moment, but it should happen pretty shortly. Tokyo Police Club put out their first EP A Lesson in Crime on the Toronto label Paper Bag Records, which was one of my favorite EP's this summer. I recently caught TPC at the Southside Seaport, and I'm looking forward to catching them again October 18th, when they'll be opening up for the Spinto Band and Art Brut at the Warsaw.

Official Website
Myspace
Stolen Transmission
Paper Bag Records

If you've never heard TPC before, my friends over at A Tune A Day recently feature one of their tracks. Listen and learn here.

I didn't have much luck with pictures at the shows I went to last weekend. My excuse for this particular concert was the awful, crappy weather. It was chilly down on the seaport, very windy and raining off and on. Consequently, the turnout wasn't that great. Despite these obstacles (I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to play and hear yourself with all that wind) the Spinto Band put on a good show. They're one of those bands that I've been meaning to see for a while, but have always managed to miss whenever they're playing. Well, I finally made it, and I was pleasantly surprised by how tight they are for such a young band. I imagine that when I see them in a club they're going to really, really good. If you can harmonize and keep it together with a chilly wind and rain in your face and on your instruments, you're probably the shit when you're warm and dry. Anyway, they're a good band still touring for a good record, last year's Nice and Nicely Done. I'm definitely looking forward to their next NYC show.

Labels: Concert Reviews

Snowden - Anti-Anti
I'm hardly the first one to talk about this band or this album, but I've been obsessed with this record since I got it. It's in heavy rotation, which means 3-4 spins a day, and I'm not getting sick of it, I'm only digging it more. I love it when that happens. So, Snowden: quartet from Atlanta that I first heard last year when I got a hold of a 7" for Black Eyes, which also makes an appearance on this record. What is so striking to me is how much better I like this band and even that song now. They did re-record it for the album, and the slight changes in production make a big difference. So what do they sound like? Snowden are basically a guitar band that has similar tastes and influences to Interpol, and share a similar mood to that band. However, where Interpol write slow, brooding songs that come off as almost resigned, Snowden writes songs that are usually kind of ass-shakin' that don't seem so disaffected. They've got a hint of detached cool, but it still somehow comes off as passionate and sincere. Unlike Interpol, I believe that they care. Snowden comfortably show they can work in several musical spaces: they move pretty seamlessly from rockers to slow building ballads, and then throw down to something that I don't have a good word for, except that it belongs loud and on a very cool dancefloor somewhere. This track is the opener on the record, dig it and check out more tracks off their mySpace and official website. My current fav on the record (that I'm listening to like 10 times a day): track 10, Kill the Power.

Info:

Official Web Site

MySpace

Jade Tree (label)

Listen: Snowden - Like Bullets

Labels: Album Review, Snowden

So after experementing with sobriety for the better part of the week, I'm now back in extended weekend throw-down mode. I had to miss the abundance of good shows last night to party with some friends from France, but I will be hitting up 3 or 4 this weekend, starting tonight. And as a nice little bonus before I descend into music and alcohol-fuled debauchery, I'll mention a couple more good records I got a hold of recently. Snowden's Anti Anti came out last week, and it's fucking good. I'll be writing more about that next week, but if you've got 15 bucks burning a hole in your pocket and you're in the mood for a kind of dark, moody Interpol-ish type record (that doesn't sound that derivative) buy this one. It's out on Jade Tree. And I'm currently listening to The Race's Be Your Alibi which on first impression seems like pretty solid, straight forward indy-rock record (which is ironic, 'cause they're british). Think jangly guitars with straightforward lead guitar lines on top + impassioned vocals, midly reminiscent of Rainer Maria but with a guy singing and much smoother, and part British. This comes out in two weeks, but I'm not sure if it's beeing released in the US or not. I'll be giving this record more spins, and I feel confident they'll find an audience on this side of the pond as well.

Lastly, that band Annuals I wrote about a while back, well, the love is spreading. More folks that are digging it:

Brooklyn Vegan
Perfect Porridge
Flux=Rad
Spin
The Underrated Blog
I Rock Cleveland
Rock Insider
and of course, Pitchfork, twice

So that's bloggers from both coasts and the midwest, along with a couple of big publications. It looks like Annuals will have a good fall, and Be He Me should definitely get some spins from folks once it drops/leaks. I'll mention again that I've heard this record and really like it. I'll also mention that none of my favorite songs from it have been released yet, so if you like the three that are already out there, there's more goodness on its way. I'm going to try and catch them again at Sin-E or NorthSix in a couple of weeks, but I've got a lot going on that weekend so we'll see.