Perdidos! (con radiohead)

Spanish LOST promo...with music by Radiohead - See ya' Feb. 2nd!

Dinner with the Band [IFC]

DINNER WITH THE BAND [IFC]: I think anything '...with the band' is a great idea, ESPECIALLY dinner. I just caught the end of the Les Savy Fav show (where the lead singer finished the song by getting in the shower). I have no idea what food they make but i like the idea in theory. Brooklyn-based Chef Sam Mason hosts the band in his loft where they cook up something and play some music.

Please help my friends finish their music documentary!

Two new friends who I've become close with over the past year, have taken our passion for live music to the next level by putting on intimate concerts in people's backyards, filming the concert & interview and posting the performance online for all to share. I attended my first Garden Party a few months back in Venice and it was a really special show and a really fun evening.

As Wayne and Jeff continue to let the Garden Party Series grow over the next few months, the guys are also working on finishing a full-length documentary they shot of a pair of our favorite Garden Party musicians, Catherine Feeny and Sebastian Rogers (aka The Challenge of Feral Green). The film follows the duo on a 2 month long tour across the U.S. playing their music in the living rooms of fans, friends and strangers they meet along the way. In order to finish production, they've set up a fund-raising drive on kickstarter.com, a new online fundraising platform for artists to raise funds for their projects.

Check out their project, entitled Remember Where You Are, and how the funding works @ KICKSTART

Its a pretty cool way of funding projects...you pledge funding but that pledge is only collected once an overall goal is met by the deadline (in this case, pledges will only be cashed in if they raise $5000 by 2/7/2010). And depending on the level of funding, the guys will send you a CD of the live concert, DVD copy of the film, a invite to the premiere, or some other incentive.

No pressure, but of course the bottom line is that I'm asking anyone who feels like supporting independent artists like my friends Wayne and Jeff to help out and pledge some support. Do it for them, do it for me (it is my birth month!), do it and tell your friends you invested in a big time Hollywood movie. You can give as little as $5 or up to $2500+ (be sure to invite me to the free concert you'll get at your house). I've been working with these guys on trying to get the word out on the Garden Party the past few months and they are really great guys. So please, help us out if you can! No amount is too little.

Please feel free to forward this along to any friends that might be interested in helping out!

THANKS!

-eric

Super Sized Kasabian Guitar Hero

Check out these five footballers playing a supersized game of Guitar Hero by shooting soccer balls at sensors made from torn apart Guitar Hero controllers. 76% accuracy aint too shabby...

Glen Hansard Outside Fingerprints

Man...how come nobody told me Swell Season was playing at Fingerprints in the LBC? Or how come I didn't go get $1.25 fish tacos at the LBC Rubio's that day...either way it would have been sweet to be waiting in line and have him come out and sing to us. Glen rocks...

For more, check out I Am Fuel, You Are Friends

Miike Snow (and no Jack Penate) @ Spaceland

Yeah...kinda freaky huh? Thankfully the shy Miike Snow removed their masks about 2 songs in an performed a very powerful set to the packed (and mostly annoying) crowd at Spaceland. I love taking pictures at concerts too (see above picture) but come on...seriously...do you really need 15 shots in a row of one of the guys for every song they sing? Yeah I'm talking to you guy in the brown leather jacket. I'm starting to miss the days when security would shut you down for sneaking your camera in. With the cameraphone being so ubiquitous its clear that venues have pretty much given up on patrolling the trigger-happy crowds. I don't mind it in small doses but when it turns into more of a photography clinic than a concert, you got a problem. And I wouldn't be surprised if the band finds it a bit disrespectful that you are posing in front of the stage so your buddy can take a picture while the band is playing a fairly intimate song behind you.

As for the music, the guys of Miike Snow put on a very intense and amazing show. My only disappointment came at the end of the show when their last (15 min.) song turned Spaceland into a techno club. Sadly, with the delayed and thusly late start (10:45pm), I ended up having to leave before Jack Penate went on. I was actually looking forward to them more than Miike Snow but will have to just wait for the next tour. Come back soon Jack.

Miike Snow - Animal (mp3) - courtesy of Music for Kids Who Can't Read Good

Jack Penate - Tonight's Today (mp3) - courtesy of LazyComet

Nick Hornby reads 'Juliet, Naked'

I was fortunate enough to find out in time that my favorite author, Nick Hornby, was in town last night to read some excerpts from his new book, Juliet, Naked. The Cambridge-educated North Londoner, who's adapted screenplay An Education is in theaters this week, read a couple of chapters from the book, answered questions for about 30-40 minutes and finally signed books for the 300+ fans that showed up at the Skirball Center.

As the author opened his mouth to speak to the audience for the first time, my buddy and I both worried that his voice would not fit our idea of what Nick, or at least the narrator that we imagine in our heads as we read, would sound like. Thankfully Nick didn't disappoint us like I'm sure David Beckham did for most Americans the first time they heard him speak. (not exactly a soccer godlike voice). He spoke in a much deeper voice than I had imagined. I thought to myself, if someone asked me to describe it, I would have to go with either a codgy old dodger or a dodgy old codger. I'm not sure which is the correct version or if either are in fact actual sayings...nor do I know what they mean.

Juliet, Naked is about a 'reclusive 1980s rock star forced out of isolation when the re-release of his most famous album brings him into contact with some of his most passionate fans.' Much like High Fidelity and most of Hornby's works, music again plays a central role in the story (hence my appreciation for his writing). During the Q+A, Hornby spoke a bit about music. As most fans know, Nick is a huge Springsteen fan (recently took his young sons to see the Boss at Arsenal's stadium) but also loves the J. Geils Band. Oh yeah, he also said he loves the new Elvis Perkins.

After describing his usual daily schedule (which includes lots of procrastinating and lots of looking for music on the internet), he mentioned his love of music blogs and recommended one that I too have down as a favorite. I've followed the I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog for a while now having shared a similar taste with its author (the blog is named after a PJ lyric) and am quite happy to know that my favorite author also read's Heather's posts.

More exciting music news (that I hadn't heard about) from Nick...he is currently writing lyrics to accompany some Ben Folds-penned music for a collaboration to be released in the near future. He's also doing some reggae-themed comedy thing for BBC apparently.

Check out Nick's NY Times 2008 Playlist

Elvis Perkins in Dearland - Shampoo (mp3)

Thom Yorke @ The Orpheum (Night 2 - 10/5/09)

Another great performance on Night 2 at the Orpheum...my notes:

• Crowd was way more into the show than last night...this was evident by the very long and raucous ovation given after the insanely amazing live version of Harrowdown Hill.
• Thom said that the ?????? Band was down about their time together being over...but also mentioned doing some more stuff together. Not sure if that meant shows or music.
• I'm not totally clear, but I think Judge, Jury & Executioner was written by the ?????? band...as opposed to a Thom penned song for RH. Interesting...
• Colin was in the crowd once again and I missed him once again. Damn bladder. Those who got to meet him briefly said he was the gentlemen that everyone says he is.
• Glad to hear Skirting the Surface live for my first time as it replaced Open the Floodgates tonight.
• I waited in the back alley with my girlfriend for Thom to come out but according to the security guard he snuck away in a black Prius. There was like 20 of us...how could we miss him!? Minutes later as we left we pulled up next to Flea and his wife (?) in his Tesla. Gotta love Thom and Flea keeping it real (green) with their hybrid/electric cars.

SETLIST:

01 The Eraser
02 Analyse
03 The Clock
04 Black Swan
05 Skip Divided
06 Atoms For Peace
07 And It Rained All Night
08 Harrowdown Hill
09 Cymbal Rush

Solo encore:
10 Lotus Flower (Moon Upon A Stick)

11 Skirting the Surface
12 Super Collider

Encore w/ band:
13 Paperbag Writer
14 Judge, Jury & Executioner
15 The Hollow Earth
16 Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

Vampire Weekend to rock Visalia!

Sonicliving.com just let me know that Vampire Weekend will be doing a fairly odd tour of California in November (the greatest month out of all 12!). Closest LA shows are in the LBC and Lomita (which I just found out is near Torrance). Way random places...always makes for a good time. Check the list of venues below. No word on ticket info (or maybe there is). VP will surely be playing songs from their forthcoming LP...songs like Horchata! (mmm mmm mmm...I recommend Vodka and Horchata, a little something I call the 'White Mexican').

Vampire Weekend - Horchata (.mp3)

TOUR DATES:

• Nov 02 2009 - The Art Theater - Long Beach, CA
• Nov 05 2009 - Pappy and Harriet's - Pioneertown, CA
• Nov 07 2009 - Town Hall Theatre - Lafayette, CA
• Nov 08 2009 - Catalyst - Santa Cruz, CA
• Nov 09 2009 - The Cellar Door - Visalia, CA
• Nov 10 2009 - Downtown Brew - San Luis Obispo, CA
• Nov 12 2009 - Chencho's - Bakersfield, CA
• Nov 14 2009 - VFW Hall - Lomita, CA

?????? (aka Thom Yorke's side band) at The Orpheum - Night 1

Thom, Nigel, Flea, Mauro and Joey took the stage for Night 1 at the Orpheum tonight and played most of the same set as Friday at the Echoplex. The audience, which sat for the first quarter of the show until Thom reminded us that he wrote the Eraser to dance to, got all the greats from the album as well as a few news songs and the recent single release. Thom danced his ass off even more than usual as I believe that he and Flea are practicing for some sort of competitive dance-off :) It was awesome. I have never seen Flea perform before but he was clearly mad for Eraser and vice-versa. His monkey-dance bass playing is a perfect sidekick for Thom's freakout dancing. Judge, Jury and Executioner was a particular favorite among the new stuff that looks to be future RH material. Colin was in the crowd as were a number of PROFESSIONAL cameramen (as opposed to the 100s of amateur camera LCD's that popped up throughout the show).

SETLIST:

01 The Eraser
02 Analyse
03 The Clock
04 Black Swan
05 Skip Divided
06 Atoms For Peace
07 And It Rained All Night
08 Harrowdown Hill
09 Cymbal Rush

Solo encore:
10 Lotus Flower (Moon Upon A Stick)
11 Open The Floodgates
12 Super Collider

Encore w/ band:
13 Paperbag Writer
14 Judge, Jury & Executioner
15 The Hollow Earth
16 Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

New Thom Yorke/Radiohead: Lotus Flowers, Skirting on the Surface + Open the Floodgates (live at the Echoplex)

Lotus Flowers by Thom Yorke (Live at Echoplex .mp3)

(ripped from video by echoparkrecords)

Skirting on the Surface by Thom Yorke (Live at Echoplex .mp3)

(ripped from video by jahmbo)

Open the Floodgates by Thom Yorke (Live at Echoplex .mp3)

(ripped from video by noPro3lem)

Judge, Jury & Executioner by Thom Yorke (Live at Echoplex .mp3)

(ripped from video by ??)

(pic by eatmeatnow)

Harrowdown Hill + Lotus Flowers at the Echoplex [video]

Thom Yorke Superband at Echoplex right now [Twitter-review]

The first twitpic of Thom, Flea and company at the Echoplex right now. Wish I was there but I'm also content being at home, following the excitement via twitter and text messages and watching the Dodgers come back in the 7th inning (better not strikeout Manny). The Echo/Echoplex is my favorite venue but I'll patiently wait for the Orpheum shows. Word on the twitter street is taht rick rubin, ellen page, daft punk, kim gordon from sonic youth, zack de la rocha and muse are in the house. This is my first major event that I'm using Twitter to follow (besides the last earthquake and the sonic boom in SoCal)...cool cuz its real time, bad cuz its mostly people just saying "I wish I was at Thom Yorke" I wish there was a BS filter so I can just get good twitpics, setlists, etc. Get on that Internets!

Sweet...Manny strikes out again. Good job buddy.

[UPDATE: Some audio...via twitter! Not bad...thanks random dude! Harrowdown Hill]

SETLIST:

1. The Eraser
2. Analyse
3. The Clock
4. Black Swan
5. Skip Divided
6. Atoms For Peace
7. And It Rained All Night
8. Harrodown Hill
9. Cymbal Rush

Encore #1 [Thom solo]

10 Open The Floodgates
11 Lotus Flower
12 Skirting On The Surface
13 Judge, Jury, Executioner

Encore #2 [with band]

14 Paperbag Writer
15 The Hollow Earth
16 Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses

Pearl Jam @ Gibson Ampitheater (LA Night 2 - 10/1/09)

Pearl Jam played the same kind of show they always do Thursday night...EPIC. I've gotten slack recently for loving the PJ...not sure why. Too old school? Too mainstream? I don't know but if you don't like Pearl Jam then you have never seen them live. Not only do they put on one of the most passionate performances you will see, the fans are usually diehard. PJ takes care of their fanclub by giving them the best seats in the house. That means I was surrounded by people that were singing and dancing to every song...and whether you know every song or not...its infectious. And I don't think anyone can beat Eddie Vedder as the leader of such a chorus. The man's voice and spirit are just amazing. I realize yet again that I want to be Eddie Vedder.

Set List: (Interstellar Overdrive)/Corduroy, Severed Hand, Got Some, Do The Evolution, Dissident, Given To Fly, Johnny Guitar, Amongst The Waves, I Got Shit, Daughter, Jeremy, Unthought Known, Small Town, Driven To Tears, The Fixer, Rearviewmirror

1st encore: Just Breathe w/string quartet, The End w/string quartet, Lukin w/string quartet, Red Mosquito w/Ben Harper, Jazz Odyssey, Better Man/(Save It For Later)

2nd encore: Gonna See My Friend, I Believe In Miracles (Ramone, Ray), Once, Alive, Yellow Ledbetter/(Star Spangled Banner)

Pearl Jam is still Alive

Pearl Jam plays night 2 at the Gibson Amphitheater tonight and they ALWAYS put on a great show. Looking forward to getting some merch too as apparently this tour they are personalizing all the shirts for the local sports team. Last night was a dodgers theme and tonight is apparently Lakers. Bummed I missed out on the Seattle poster with my favorite 'father to 9 children by 8 women'/NBA player, the ReignMan Shawn Kemp. eBay is looking a bit pricey on this one. Darn.

who's going to see Thom next week?

I know what I'm doing on Oct. 4th and 5th. And you will too on Oct. 6th when I post video (i hope!) of Thom, Nigel, Joey, Flea(!) and Mauro(?) High anxiety this morning hitting refresh on Ticketmaster. TM has been the mortal enemy of all concert-goers more often than not but my experienced fingers (and those of my friends) were able to score Orchestra seats. The scoreboard now reads Eric/Friends 1 - Ticketmaster 1,541. Victory!

Here's a TM tip: For the most part I've noticed that you don't have to get the reCAPTCHA words spelled correctly...just make sure you have the same # of letters and spacing down

Thom Yorke - Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses (.mp3)

We the Living - Black Swan (cover) (.mp3)

Frightened Rabbit and the Kiddies

In honor of me wasting my tickets to the Frightened Rabbit show at the Knitting Factory last Sunday I post this video of my favorite song Head Rolls Off (fun wedding in Catalina = too tired for concert). I had never seen it before...and its actually kinda cute. Reminds me a bit of La Blogotheque's Menomena takeaway show where a lil french boy passing by spontaneously breaks into dance. I propose a new blog series where indie bands play in classrooms with little kids. We already have the TakeAway shows in France, the Black Cab sessions in the UK and of course the Garden Party, so lets start up Kindergarten Kuts!

Age of Stupid Premiered w/ Thom Yorke

Attended the 64 country "world wide satellite premiere" of Age of Stupid last night at The Bridge theater. More on the message of the movie soon...but for now check out the trailer as well as the performance of Reckoner by my favorite environmentalist, Thom Yorke, which was part of the live post-screening festivities.

BlakRoc

Just another reason for me to love November...The Black Keys will release an album's worth of collaborations with some Hip Hop icons (RZA, Raekwon, Q-Tip, Mos Def, and Ol’ Dirty Bastard to name a few) on Nov. 27th. Looking forward to the BlakRoc project. Apparently its 11 artists on 11 tracks recorded in 11 days...

Total Eclipse of the Chart

My buddy Glen often sends me links to the site FlowingData.com which he hearts for its entertaining use of charts and graphs to describe just about anything. I have to say, their post of a Total Eclipse of the Heart flowchart (by Jeannie Harrell) might be my favorite. That is, until I made my own alternative version...with lyrics by The Dan Band:

Just saw The Dan Band at Club Nokia on Saturday night (Thanks LosAnjealous.com!) and they were hilarious. I highly recommend seeing their next show in town on Nov. 6th. And of course, go rent or rewatch Old School, Starsky & Hutch, Hangover, etc.

Office Charts Realized

Each time Thom posts them, I'm gonna try to translate his Office Charts into something we can listen to...

Check out Thom's 'office chart for grey dewy mornings'

1. Hull Drum and Bass by Ceephax from Exidy Tours
2. Huyendo Pt.2 by Alex Cortex from Huyendo EP
3. Bad Organs by Hate Hello Darkness/Bad Organs
4. Becalmed by Brian Eno from Another Green World
5. J&W Beat by Floating Points from J & W Beat
6. very 2 (bonus) by Lucky Dragons from Dream Island Laughing Language
7. L'Ascension: IV. Prière Du Christ Montant Vers Son Père by Messian / Marius Constant
8. Estampes, L. 100: I. Pagodes Pascal Rogé/ Debussy

Sounds like Thom loves his Drum n Bass with a topping of Classical on grey dewy mornings in Oxford.

Tiesto feat. Jonsi of Sigur Ros [Pitchfork]

I'm a HUGE Sigur Ros fan so I wanted to help promote a new Tiesto track featuring lead singer Jónsi Birgisson. Of course I started this post about 2 min. into listening to it and like most 'techno-esque' songs, I still had 5 1/2 minutes to go. Now that doesn't mean its horrible...it just means that its a techno song, which at my age is starting to get less and less interesting. Jónsi's part is of course wonderful and perfect for this type of collaboration but I don't know if I can handle 7 1/2 minutes of boom-ist-boom-ist-boom-ist...I am interested to hear the other tracks from Tiesto that feature Bloc Party's Kele Okereke and Metric's Emily Haines. I will be seeing Metric and Phoenix at the Greek Wednesday night! Tiesto's album will be on iTunes tomorrow.

Last.FM/(CBS) to Launch HD Radio Stations

One of my favorite music websites, Last.FM, which was bought by CBS a couple of years ago, will start broadcasting on HD Radio in NY, LA, SF and Chicago on Oct. 4th. The appeal of the music streaming site to me is that it's software tracks what songs users play (via your iTunes, Winamp, etc.) and shows you who your favorites are, who your friends favorites are, suggests new music and a whole bunch more.

Last.FM radio will apparently "feature an eclectic mix of music aggregated and influenced by the service’s user-generated weekly charts, combined with live performances and interviews". It would be really cool if once in awhile they chose individual users playlists to broadcast almost like satellite radio's XMU station and their blogger DJ'd programming or the old Indie 1031 Coup D'etat. Even though NOBODY is gonna buy an HD Radio at this poing, its good to know there is an alternative to the serious mess that is crappy commercial radio in LA. I will be listening online and my cellphone.

Division Day Bleeds Azalean

New (and fairly gross) promo video from Division Day (on my fav Dangerbird Records label). Azalean is one of my favorite songs right now and already has a place secured on my upcoming Fall sampler CD :) Division Day put on a great show last week at Spaceland with label mates Bad Veins.

Swell Season: Tiny Desk Concert (NPR)

Well I'm about 4 weeks late on this but Glen and Marketa of Swell Season stopped by to play an acoustic mini-concert at the desk of NPR's Bob Boilen. Thanks to podcasts, my ipod and a recent roadtrip up to Monterey, I've become a big fan of NPR's All Songs Considered. In this edition, Swell Season showcase six new songs off their upcoming album, Strict Joy...one I'm really looking forward to getting on Oct. 27th. If you haven't seen them live (or the movie Once), I highly recommend. Great musicians and very sincere people.

Swell Season will be at the Wiltern Nov. 18th (tickets) and elsewhere

New Thom Yorke 12"

New vinyl singles coming from Thom (via deadairspace):

"FeelingPulledApartbyHorses is written & played by Jonny and I and is a radical rework of an old tune thats been kicking around without a home since 2001? i think.

The Hollow Earth is a bass menace that was born out of the Eraser period but needed a little more time."

Pre-order now at WASTE before the 9/21 release

---

And from Jonny Greenwood...a small interview on MP3 digital recordings in the New Yorker:

SFJ: What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the MP3 age?

JG: The downside is that people are encouraged to own far more music than they can ever give their full attention to. People will have MP3s of every Miles Davis’ record but never think of hearing any of them twice in a row—there’s just too much to get through. You’re thinking, “I’ve got ‘Sketches of Spain and ‘Bitches Brew’—let’s zip through those while I’m finishing that e-mail.” That abundance can push any music into background music, furniture music.

Mew @ The Troubadour [9.01.09]

Comforting Sound - Mew (courtesy of mysugarspun)

Third time seeing Mew and they are still my favorite Danish band that likes freaky, abstract background videos of mutant animals and children. Of all the bands that go that extra mile by making their shows just as much of a visual experience as a musical experience, Mew are by far the freakiest. Perhaps this is just how the worlds 'least corrupt' country (2008) lets out its repressed rage. Mew is opening for Nine Inch Nails this week in its last 4 shows in Los Angeles.

The National @ The Wiltern (08/29/09)

Another amazing soldout show at The Wiltern last night as The National came back to town. They played lots of favorites off of Boxer as well as the highlight of the night when Matt Berninger meandered through the crowd while singing Mr. November. [Thx to kosbo1 for the upclose and personal video above]

Setlist:

The runaway
Start a war
Mistaken for strangers
Brainy
Secret meeting
Baby we'll be fine
Slow show
Vanderlylle cry baby
Squalor Victoria
Abel
All the wine
Available
Ada
Apartment story
Blood buzz Ohio
Fake empire

Encore:
Green glove
Mr November
About Today

Twisted Words: 1st live performance [Radiohead]

Frequency Fest 09 (Austria)

Nike Skate: Today Was a Good Day

Nike still putting out the great 'commercials' - more love for LA.  I had no idea Vince from Entourage was a skater :)  Keep an eye out for some cameos too...

NEW: Radiohead's Harry Patch [Stream]

As Harry himself said
"Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims"

Buy it here...for charity's sake:  WASTE

More on Harry from Thom...

Human Giant + Reno 911 Cinemash Point Break

Elbow @ The Wiltern

Elbow put on a pretty amazing show last night at the Wiltern. Very few voices top Guy Garvey's. Good crowd that was definitely into it...especially the two young fans that got Courteny Cox'd on to the stage for this song. Thanks again to my buddy mysugarspun for the ace video. I'm sure Elijah and Dom would be proud.

New Flight of the Conchords LP

I Told You I Was Freaky

out 10/20

1 Hurt Feelings (mp3)
2 Sugalumps (mp3)
3 We’re Both In Love With A Sexy Lady
4 I Told You I Was Freaky
5 Demon Woman
6 Rambling Through The Avenues Of Time
7 Fashion Is Danger
8 Petrov, Yelyena & Me
9 Too Many Dicks (On The Dance Floor) (mp3)
10 You Don’t Have To Be A Prostitute
11 Friends
12 Carol Brown
13 Angels

Visit Flight Of The Conchords on MySpace.

Wu-Legos: Da Mystery of Chessboxin'

Wu-Tang Lego: Da Mystery of Chessboxin' from davo on Vimeo.

(500) Days of LA

So it turns out all I need to like a movie is good music, good writing, good setting and good Zooey...and that's what I got in (500) Days of Summer. While I was most excited about the role music-played in the movie, I was happily surprised to see how much love (500) Days had for DOWNTOWN Los Angeles. Nothing too epic, but as a lifelong Angeleno, I thought they did a good job of showing of some of Downtown's more interesting angles. The Bradbury Building, Angels Knoll, The Redwood Bar, to name a few, all got some screen time. Can't wait to see more movies use the real Downtown as a setting with all the changes going on. No, I'm not talking about LA LIVE: The Movie - just stuff around the lofts and Arts District maybe?

Grab the soundtrack and take a walk downtown for yourself with the (500) Days of Summer Downtown LA Map...did I miss anything?

View (500) Days of Summer in a larger map

Regina Spektor - Us (.mp3)

Concert Week: Pains of Being Pure of Heart @ the Echo

July's concert week kicks off with Pains of Being Pure at Heart at the Echo (my fave venue). Care to learn nothing about them? Check out LAist's random questions for the lead singer. Going to 2-3 shows this week with my prego friend...lets see what band makes her pop!

UPDATE: Great, fun show...friggin' hot though. I grew a moustache out of sweat every few minutes. They played a really good NEW song, caught here by my buddy mysugarspun:

Thom Debuts a New Song: Present Tense

Thom Yorke - Present Tense (.mp3)

Brains + MRI + MIDI = Music?

This seems completely pointless to me but I guess its a great way to blow some grant money and get some press. What they need to do is MRI-music of musicians. I would buy a CD's worth of Thom Yorke's brain soundtrack.

The ADHD Mega-MashUp-Mix it Up-Mix

In the past 3 months I've had to drag my 33 yr old body into annoying, crowded, loud and annoying 20-something-filled clubs in Scottsdale, AZ and Las Vegas (my least favorite part of most bachelor parties). On both occasions it became quite apparent that the generations that have followed mine (X? I don't even remember my label)...the generations where every kid was allegedly afflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder...are now DJing in the clubs of America. I have nothing against the sonic collage that is the Mashup but come on! Don't people like to dance to a full song or atleast half a song anymore? The club mix was literaly 10-15 seconds of a popular chorus or intro or lyric and then on to the next clip. It was like the DJ went into the iTunes store and made a 5 hr long mix out of the 30 sec samples. My friends would get excited to hear the start of some classic early 90's hip hop only to have their joy crushed as it was immediately spliced into Beyonce or Queen or some other random genre. But the old guys were alone as the kids continued to dance around us.

Having said that, I will now recommend the "free" CD of mashups, Torn Up by E603 for 2 reasons. First, the mashups are quite inventive, spanning some great songs with some pop songs with some old songs with some stuff I don't even know if I heard correctly. Please don't go playing it in your club...just listen to it and play name that tune like the old radio contests. Second, the guy is taking the "free or pay what you want" model to the next, creative level. You have varying options from $0 to $1000 with more swag and what not thrown in the more you pay. What does $1000 get you?

live at my house for a weekend, and compete in a badminton competition with me.

Awesomeness. If only I was that rich...and he was a girl...and hot...and I was single. Cuz lord knows I do love the badminton. Check this blog for a more detailed review "I feel like a kid in a crystal meth shop"

E-603 - Lights Out (.mp3)

Glasvegas @ The Hollywood Forever Cemetery Masonic Lodge

Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone @ The Masonic Lodge (courtesy of mysugarspun)

Never been to a show at a cemetery before...guess I can check that one off the list. Friday's Glasvegas show at the Masonic Lodge inside the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was a good time for many reasons. I'm not goth enought to be THAT excited about just being in a cemetery but I have to admit it was quite peaceful and beautiful and not spooky at all. The sun had already set but there was still some light over the trees while we ate our takeout food (Mario's Peruvian!) and drank a large pale ale wrapped in its brown paper bag (classy!) in my phonebooth of a car before the show. After debating pouring out some of the brew for our new dead homies (RIP Katz! You must be loved to have a full picture of yourself carved on your tombstone) we wandered up to the Masonic Lodge. The caretaker must have been busy diggin ditches as about 7 of us walked right in without anyone taking our tickets. Score! (even though we already had paid $25 each, it still felt like a surprise freebie)

The Lodge itself was really quite cool. Don't think of a lodge...think more like a 1920's movie stars Hollywood hills home with its garden courtyard surrounded by long, lighted palm tree trunks and a stairway that leads up to the "antechamber". We grabbed a Newcastle (or wine...both $5) and walked up to said antechamber where we found the small soldout crowd waiting to be let in to the main performance hall. The large, old room with its woodfloors held a fireplace on one side, groups of chairs strewn about for people to relax and a table of merch apparently being sold by Geraldine herself (the star of Glasvegas' most popular song). Not sure why she gave up the social worker gig. I should've asked. After not too long we were welcomed into the darkly lit main hall where we took a comfortable seat along the side of the room and waited for the Glasvegans to start.

As we waited, it dawned on me how excited I was to be seeing a band I liked in a new venue in Los Angeles. Not that I've been to every theater and hall in Southern Cal, but I've been to enough to make this one feel special...almost to the point that I thought I was in a new city. Definitely reminded me of when I moved to NYC and I got to try out all the venues I had heard about from afar. Plus, I'm a sucker for concerts taking place in unique venues and/or old (semi-) historic buildings...just adds to the ambience. I believe this was the 3rd concert they've had at the Masonic Lodge (Lykke Li and Iron + Wine played in the past few months).

Glasvegas turned out to be just the Glas- part of the band as only half the quartet (James and Rab) played a very mellow set for us. I was perfectly in the mood for the quieter Glasvegas but there were a few angry fans who eventually left when the guys started playing the normally upbeat favorites (Geraldine, Daddy's Gone, etc) in the same somber tone. Good riddance...I can understand disappointment but you're still there to see the band perform THEIR songs the way THEY choose. Maybe they didn't want to wake the Ramones or George Harrison...or melt the ice sculpture. Don't worry though...they'll be back with the full band sooner or later. And when that day comes and you are watching them from the last row of the Nokia Theater you'll wish you were back in the cemetery.

Setlist:

'S.A.D Light'
'A Little Thing Called Fear'
'It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry'
'Flowers & Football Tops'
'Stabbed'
'Geraldine'
'Cruel Moon'
'A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss)'
'Daddy's Gone'

Fee Free Wedensdays via Live Nation

"No Service Fee Wednesdays," kick off June 3 at 12:01 a.m., offering fans some of the lowest prices of the summer with no ticket service fees on any LiveNation.com-ticketed amphitheater show, and only at www.LiveNation.com.

Awesome...if you happen to want Lawn Tickets...and your show is at a Live Nation venue...and it just happens to be a Wednesday when you are shopping...you TOO can save yourself from those bullsh*t fees. Well anything helps and ditching those fee's in principle alone is nice.

Live Nation dropping fees on lawn tickets Wednesday [BV]

Waiting for new SIGUR ROS!

"Sigur rós have been at work in their sundlaugin studio in álafoss the past few weeks recording a full length album, which is now nearing completion. the recordings have been going very well and that the album is taking form as a slower and more ambient record…. he also describes the music as melodic but much less noisy and more “out there” than previous albums. the album does not have a release date set but is expected to be released sometime next year."

-sigur-ros.co.uk

Wow! Didn't realize that they were back to work so fast...excellent news! I sorta enjoy the Riceboy Sleeps album (Jonsi's bf's) - talk about AMBIENT! But I am looking forward to Jonsi's solo work. Man those Icelandic people keep busy...

Flight of the Conchords 8-bit Video Game!

Mr./Ms. BadAtom, whoever you are...you are one awesome mofo. 8-bit Brit + Jemaine travel throughout NYC battling Sugalumps, Epileptic Dogs and Mel among many other things. Murray and Dave make appearances and there is even a New Zealand level when the guys get deported back to the Lord of the Rings countryside. Word is that Jermaine has this on his computer. Download the game, soundtrack or poster over at BadAtom.com and check out the youtube clips for hot FOTC8B action.

Waiting for new Radiohead [of course]

"We've just started work [in the studio] last week," Colin told NME.COM. "It's really cool and everything is sounding great. It's early days and it is a bit like having a scrapbook at the moment because everything is up in the air, but it's good to be back in the studio."

Waiting for new Lightspeed Champion

I think Lightspeed Champion's next album is my most anticipated release of the new year. It should be interesting to see if he can match and surpass the first album...from the small snipets you can hear, I think it has a shot. Too bad I'm not gonna be in NY for Dev's upcoming June shows. I wonder if Lostie Dev will venture to Prof. Thom's bar to watch the LOST finale on Wednesday night. Check out his other in-studio vid's on YouTube.

Lightspeed Champion - Tell Me What Its Worth [.mp3]

Sigur Rós Play Endlessly [Pitchfork]

ONE WEEK ONLY: Sigur Rós: We Play Endlessly

The Icelandic band play with a full orchestra, weather a tornado scare, and rock out to the "Numa Numa" song in this 2008 behind-the-scenes feature. The 48-minute piece is presented in its entirety.

Watch it now over at Pitchfork TV

Boxer Rebellion

Excited to go see Boxer Rebellion at the Troubadour tonight...too bad nobody else is. Solo show! Check em out on KCRW.

UPDATE: Thought the show at the Troubadour was excellent. Didn't realize it but it was the band's US debut. BR is based out of London but according to the KCRW interview, their lead singer Nathan has only lived there about 9 years after moving from Tennessee...i.e., he has a pretty interesting accent when he speaks. Overall I thought their sound was just as good live as it is on their CD and I was quite content that they played all of my favorites. Check out Soviets and Semi-Automatic if you can find them (not currently on their myspace). Definitely one of my favorite CD's right now along with Metric's Fantasies.

All Star Weekend

Indie1031 Petition

LetIndieLive.com

I'm not very optimistic about the resurrection of Indie103.1 but a little petition signing can't hurt can it?  LA radio is dead, long live KCRW.  

(speaking of which...don't forget about the Winter Pledge Drive)

Phil Selway Sings

Phil takes the lead...vocals!

Enjoy the Phil written and Phil sung Family Madness from the first night of the new 7 Worlds Collide project in Auckland, New Zealand. Ed also joined him along with Neil Finn, Liam Finn, Wilco, KT Turnstall, Bic Runga and more.

And check out Jeff Tweedy + the band doing Fake Plastic Trees