I saw Band of Skulls 4 times in 2009 and I still haven’t had enough of this UK trio. I’ve RSVP’d for a couple parties @ SXSW so hopefully I’ll be able to catch them sometime soon. I need my fix! Here’s there new video for the song “Friends” from the New Moon Soundrack.
Ex-Moldy Peaches co-songwriter Adam Green has released 6 records since his 2002 departure, his latest, Minor Love is out today on Fat Possum Records and it’s great! The press has been throwing around things like Troubadour, Serge Gainsbourg and Lou Reed —and fuck it, let them! Here is a free MP3 of “What Makes Him Act So Bad” courtesy of Fat Possum.
The record in it’s entirety is streaming now at Spinner. RCRD LBL premiered the track “Castles and Tassels” as their ‘MySpace Music RCRD of the Day;’ earlier this month, the track can now be downloaded here.
Living doll Janelle Monáe will finally be releasing her “debut” album The ArchAndroid on May 18 of this year. I know, that seems pretty far in the future, well, that’s how Cindi Mayweather rolls. Fret not, she has released two tracks “Tightrope” (f/Big Boi of Outkast) and “Cold War” which you can preview on her website and will be touring this spring. Prepare to be inspired if you haven’t seen or heard Ms. Monáe live, I’m convinced she’s a cyborg. No mortal woman can dance that hard and sing so pitch-perfectly…unless it’s actually Prince in drag.
For a little background on Janelle Monáe consult the AvantTrash “You Should Know” post from September 2008.
Myspace: http://myspace.com/JanelleMonae | Twitter: @JanelleMonae
Janelle Monáe Spring Tour
MARCH
15 Washington, DC Black Cat
17 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
18 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
21 San Francisco, CA Café Du Nord
22 San Francisco, CA Café Du Nord
23 Los Angeles, CA (Buy Tix) The Viper Room (see you there!)
24 Los Angeles, CA (Buy Tix) The Viper Room (see you there!)
29 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern
30 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern
31 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater
APRIL
2 St. Andrews Detroit, MI
5 Smith’s Olde Bar Atlanta, GA
6 Smith’s Olde Bar Atlanta, GA
9 Joe’s Pub New York, NY
10 Joe’s Pub New York, NY
The fashion world has lost it’s most beloved misfit.
I woke up to a text from a friend, letting me know Alexander McQueen was found dead in his house. He was 40 years old. I’m not putting a fucking bio up here, go to Wikipedia for that. Instead, I’ve put together some of my favorite McQueen looks/moments.
Happy Hearts Beneift for Haiti
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10
BOOTLEG THEATRE 2220 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA
(free parking behind Praise Christian Church)
$15, 18+ (Buy Tickets)
The Fold presents… a Benefit for Haiti featuring:
PETE YORN
TIM KASHER (Cursive)
CRAIG WEDREN (Shudder to Think)
+ Special Guests
The event will be hosted by the hilarious NICK KROLL(The League), DAVID WAIN(The State, Stella) and NICHOLAS SHUMAKER and more. Proceeds go to benefit Happy Hearts, an organization that specializes in secondary response efforts.
Hard to believe this is actually a B-Side and was also on the Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack.
For Your Consideration: Midlake
Sounds Like: CSNY & The Moody Blues goes to college.
For Fans Of: Nuggets. Led Zeppelin, Sea Wolf
Album: The Courage Of Others
(Released 2/2 – Bella Union)
Free Live Set MP3: The Denton Session (Guardian UK)
Streaming: NPR Music First Listen
Websites: Midlake.net
It took me a bit to get into this Denton, TX band Midlake. Their music reminds me of everything Led Zeppelin did that required a flute. I would be remiss in forgetting to tell you that in addition to the CD and digital album release, the band will release a deluxe edition of The Courage Of Others, featuring a copy of the band’s short film directed by Jason Lee, a double LP, 45 rpm version of the record and a 32-page book and a live CD. This theme of bands releasing short films with their records has been HUGE lately (see Melissa Auf der Maur post). Is this a big demand to the fans? Does it influence whether or not you’d buy the record? Leave us a comment and let us know!
I was priviledged tonight to accompany a friend of mine, another former Nebraskan and a recently transplanted Angeleno working for a prominent entertainment periodical to a screening of the 8-time Oscar Nominated film
“Inglorious Basterds”. An immense fan of Quentin Tarantino‘s work of course i’d seen it before but what made the screening special was the venue and a few particular guests in attendance, namely the director himself, co-star Eli Roth (director of Cabin Fever, Hostel), producer Lawrence Bender and a few Holocaust Survivors.
I think it would be a drastic conflict of interest to slurp on a friends band and make an out and out recommendation for you to be into them, so I won’t do that. I’d like to preserve the little bit of integrity I have left so I will instead tell you with absolute honesty that of all of the regular bands that I see on the strip (and I see A LOT of bands on the strip), one of very few that I actually enjoy seeing at least once a month is Lady Sinatra. Their own brand of Rock & Roll is as hard, fast and loud as it is difficult to pin down directly. I sometimes swear that I hear a bit of Motörhead in the backbeat mixed with a bit of that indefinable Sunset Strip sound. The musicianship is tight and the swagger is loose. If you’ve got a girl that likes to strip then put on “Girl, You’ll Be A Trainwreck Soon” off of their 2nd album Hisses & Kisses and let her do her thing. The band (@LadySinatra) was at one point giving away a free download of the record in exchange for a Tweet, but that offer may have expired. It’s still available through iTunes.
Lead singer and head of Loose Fang Records, Bunny Holliday recently sat down with evergrowing institution The Real Sunset Strip w/Scheff and The Hawk for the short interview/artist profile above (shot by photographer Andrew Herrold) which should give you a taste of their sound.
But to catch them in action they’ll be playing Monday February 15th at Crazy Girls Gentleman’s Club (Sunset & LaBrea) in West Hollywood with Sink To See and brilliant newcomers Jacuzzis (fb event). Full Disclosure: I’m playing that show, too. But if you haven’t seen Lady Sinatra in on their home turf at The Viper Room then you just haven’t seen them in their destructively natural habitat.
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Testing my iPhones ability to build a decent mobile post. Like it? Expect more!
I’ve categorized this as “You Should Know:” but really, if you haven’t heard of Montreal fireball Melissa Auf der Maur then you need a serious lesson in Alt Rock history. After Kristen Pfaff’s overdose, Melissa became her replacement as bassist of Hole and in 2000 MAdM would replace D’Arcy Wretzky in Smashing Pumpkins until it’s initial dissolution. Her 2004 solo album titled simply Auf der Maur would go on to sell over 180,000 copies worldwide.
Now that you know who she is you should know that her latest SELF-RELEASED solo album Out Of Our Minds is a vibrant, layered work with touches of Kate Bush with newer hints of artists like A Perfect Circle, Azure Ray and Blonde Redhead. Her electro-rock orchestrations have a very epic swing and play into the delicate blasts of her voice. And it could be my stubbornly approaching 30 yrs-old ears but in songs like “Meet Me On The Dark Side” I still hear a bit of that 20th century “alternative rock” sound remaining in the songs structure which might actually be a welcome appeal to people of my generation and the Gen X’ers just before us. Of the 5 tracks I have been given to preview the standout is still the title track but a close 2nd is “The Key” which almost has a Queens of the Stone Age vibe, not so coincidentally. MAdM has also worked with them in the past. Album guests include Jordon Zadorozny (Sam Roberts), Chris Goss (QOTSA, UNKLE), Alan Molder (Depeche Mode, Smashing Pumpkins), Mike Frazer (Franz Ferdinand, ACDC) with a special duet with Glenn Danzig.
Out Of Our Minds is following the modern trend to remonitize music by appealing to hardcore fans by offering the solo record along with various other media in cost escalating tiers. Along with the solo record there is also an accompanying Graphic Novel by Brooklyn artist Jack Forbes as well as a 28-minute HD film, directed by Tony Stone which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and a vinyl picture disc (among other standard merch). All of this is set for release this March 23rd.
A free MP3 of the title track is available at xmadmx.com when you sign up for updates. Warning for sensitive listeners: In title track Out Of Our Minds, “Fire” and “Desire” lyrically interchange. But because she is a redhead, I think we can make an exception.
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Fresh off performing with the tonally impaired Taylor Swift and legend Stevie Nicks at Sunday’s Grammy ceremony, Butch Walker and his new band The Black Widows…which I’m kinda guessing is at least 70-100% of his regular touring moppets The Let’s Go Out Tonites are set to release I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart on February 23rd with a handfull of Pre-Order options now-available including a tongue-in-cheek $25,000 option which will get you a limited personal friendship with Mr. Walker. Head to Butch’s website to check out the various legitimate options. If you dig the record I suggest you purchase the vinyl version which comes with a cd for your digital fix and will be released a full 2 weeks earlier on next Tues Feb 9th.
A sold out record release show is set for Tue Feb 23 at his usual spot The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. More tickets have already been released but it of course sold out immediately. Starting March 4 Butch will embark on a string of dates with Train to support the record (which you can preview below, dates listed after that). I know I speak for a lot of my friends who have been fans of BW since either The Marvelous 3 days or his early solo career when I say, “Butch! We love you, you make great music but please, please, please MAKE A HUGE OVER-THE-TOP ROCK RECORD PRONTO AND TOUR THE SHIT OUT OF IT!”
I feel as though I’ve mentioned this before, but American Psycho is my favorite movie. Number one. No really.
So when I heard that it is apparently getting the Broadway musical makeover, I had a ‘Say Whaaaaaat?!?’ moment. And yes, you can see both my Patrick Bateman action figure and my Lost Boys (fave movie #2) poster in the background. NERD ALERT!!!
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My co-author intr0vert made me hip to this video-and to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, back when ‘Fever to Tell’ came out. To be honest, I am only a couple notches above ambivalent to the band, I skip past most of the YYY songs on my iTunes about 40% of the time. I have, however seen them 3 times now and I have to admit they can definitely work it out live. After much insistence from my roommate, I have acquired their latest album, ‘It’s Blitz!’ and am going to make an effort to get into it.
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For Your Consideration: Evelyn Evelyn
Sounds Like: Vaudvillians!
For Fans Of: The Dresden Dolls, The Ditty Bops
Album: Evelyn Evelyn
(Pre-Order Soon – March 30th Release – Eleven Records)
Websites: Myspace.com/evelynevelyn | @EvelynEvelyn
Evelyn Evelyn is a conjoined-twin duo under the “production” of Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls) and Seattle folk-minstrel Jason Wembley. 3 arms, 2 heads, 1 sound. Album and Comic book coming later in the year on Dark Horse Comics. They will be playing Boston and touring Europe before a summer US tour. It’s good to see weirdness and creativity hanging out shamelessly in the world.
Evelyn Evelyn Tour Dates:
April 12 – Boston, MA – ART Theater
April 12 – Boston, MA – ART Theater
April 17 – Glasgow, UK – Òran Mór
April 19 – Dublin, IE – The Academy
April 22 – London, UK – Koko
April 23 – London, UK – Bush Hall
April 24 – London, UK – Bush Hall
April 25 – London, UK – Bush Hall
April 27 – Paris, FR – L’Européen
April 28 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkwag
April 29 – Hamburg, DE – Kampnagel
May 01 – Berline, DE – Babylon
May 03 – Cologne, DE – Gloria
May 04 – Antwerp, BE – Arenbergschouwburg
May 16 – June 25 – Full tour of US and Canada. Dates posted soon!
