Its All Come Down to This

What are you doing? Get to your (or someone else's) TV, turn on HBO and watch the end of an era.

So long Sopranos.

And the odds are Tony flips and rats out NY.

LCD Soundsystem Secret Show in Philly!

If you haven't heard about this yet peep the LCD myspace blog.

Friday, May 25, 2007

FREE SHOW: LCD Soundsystem, Philadelphia,
June 6th Category: Music

FREE SHOW
LCD Soundsystem
Philadelphia, June 6th
GET ON
THE LIST,its easy as…

1. Add LCD Soundsystem
and The List to
YOUR Top Friends.

2. Send a MESSAGE to The List with your
name/e-mail answering this question:

Q: What does DFA (James
Murphy's Record label) stand for?

3. Once you're on The List we'll
send an e-mail with venue info and instructions on how to pick up your
tickets for you and one guest.

Once that is done you'll get a message back from The List saying:

From:
The List

Look for an e-mail on June 5th for instructions on picking up
tickets.-Dan

So if you are anywhere in the NEast Corridor (or
perhaps have a private jet on standby and a vacation day) git your butt
registered and head to Philly round 8pm.

Heres a mix James Murphy and Tim Sweeny did for a radio show last year:
Beats in Space Radio Show Mix - Part 1
Beats in Space Radio Show Mix - Part 2

And tracklist:

Summer Burn is Back

Just got an email from the funkjunkie crew announcing the return of the Summer Burn fun. If you didn't see the post last year (wow, has it been a year already?). It's basically a global, summer themed, mix-tape trading community. Unfortunately I never sent the post-card to register last year and didn't participate but Bigthoughts posted his thoughts on it. I have a postcard ready to go and it'll be in the mail tomorrow. Here are the steps and click the link above or on the right to register.

1. Signup with your address details using the form below (don't worry, we're not some nasty spamming site and we won't do anything other than use them for this)
   
2. Send us a postcard with both your username and confirmation code on it, clearly marked and legible please. To confirm your involvement you must send us a postcard including the confirmation code which we'll send to you when you first sign up. If we don't get a card from you before the 21st of June, you won't be taking part.
   
3. Burn 2 CDs of your favourite summer tunes.
   
4. On the first day of Summer you'll get an e-mail from us telling you who you should send 2 CDs to.
   
5. Post them off to the addresses you receive from us you have within a week of receiving the e-mail.
   
6. Sit back and relax, and wait for yours to come through the post from the people that have been selected to send you one!
   
7. ... and thats it! You get 2 new CDs full of music to while away the summer heat to. Great innit?
   
8. We might even do a prize for the best postcard again, so try to make it a good one.

iTunes has beed giving Kanye's new vid away for free this week and I'm kinda let down (though not by a free video).



First of all Hype has fallen off. When Kanye mugs hard for the camera its just laughable. And as Steriogum pointed out a few days ago (and should be obvious to anyone who digs music videos) the imagery is a hip-hop rip on Chris Cunningham's piece for Madonna's "Frozen." Here's that one as well:



Aside from slagging Hype which is old hat by now, the track itself is really flat. Production is decent but Kanye's performance seems to lack any shred of energy, the Young Jeezy samples add some off putting and out of place hype in the background, and worst of all - the rhymes are lame. But hey, its Kanye so I'm not letting one uninspired track with an uninspired vid turn me off from all of Graduation Day.

Caught Silversun Pickups a couple weeks ago and was quite impressed with the opening act and Dangerbird label mate Sea Wolf (yes, another wolf band - this will make 4 on my iPod). They have the sound similar to Doves, Travis, Trashcan Sinatras, Bright Eyes Check it out:

Sea Wolf - "You're a Wolf" (Buy)

Sea Wolf - "The Garden That You Planted" (Buy)

Silversun review and hillarious video of when things go wrong forthcoming.

Posts will be even more infrequent...

I got a Wii!

Coachella - A 1 Day Review (part the second)

Blaasaa (not sure what I was typing there but I like they way it looks so the kid stays in the picture).

Anyway, so after the frisking and what not I ventured over to start my day/afternoon with a little Hot Chip.

Could get too close but they were kickin' serious booty out of the Mojave tent. It seemed there there were an awful lot of people on the barely visible stage. And despite the afternoon heat once "Over and Over" (Buy) started the indie dancing began.

After Chip i moved over to catch the first bit of MSTRKRFT's set. This was mostly a turntable & laptop set but since they were playing original tracks who cares. Again lots of dancing in the heat - much more than Roo last year (hippy swaying doesn't count ;).

Since I was only around for 1 day i wanted to catch as much as i could so after flailing about to 3 tracks i ventured back to the Mojave for a bit of Swedish trio Peter, Bjorn and John.

I wasn't blown away by the 6 or 7 tracks I was there for but I guess after 2 (mostly) upbeat dance acts their languid indie stuff wasn't a good fit for where i was at.

From there I moved onto the 2nd stage to get a good spot for The Decemberists - this unfortunately meant passing on Kings of Leon but such is festival life.

"I'm sure you'll all agree; seersucker is the perfect fabric for this type of weather." Its comments like that that make Colin Meloy and Co. so damned great live. Seriously great stage banter. Oh and the music also kicks ass. They opened with "The Crane Wife 3" (Buy), said hello to Kings of Leon, had a dance contest, and played several very long tracks (some written that way other modified so) in a very uncool 50 minute set. I'm not sure how Coachella came up with their set times but these guys need more.

Unlike Roo last year I remembered to bring my camera to this fest (obviously) and was able to take this video of the crew from the PNW doing "Perfect Crime #2" (Buy) along with the instigation of said dance contest.

As Colin shuffled off stage he said "Now for god's sake go see The Arcade Fire" Not having anything better to do, this sounded like solid advice. Since the main stage was running behind schedule (seriously, the hippies were more punctual) i was finally able to make some use of my VIP bracelet. So i made my way to a slightly less crowded area behind a fence that had a table I could stand on to see since it was so far away from the stage anyway. But VIP sections are not about seeing the acts clearly they are about feeling better than the rest of the peons that have to huddle together right in front of the stage...and you know, I kinda did!

The Arcade Fire set started off slow. Likely because it was heavy on Neon Bible (Buy) and light on Funeral (Buy). This is a band that knows the meaning of sophomore slump and it felt like they weren't comfortable with the new stuff in a live setting. Still things started to pick up as all 40 or so members of the band got into the set and more of the debut made its way into the show. The "Neighborhood's" were all crackling with excitement and the crowd was really into it.

After AF I moseyed around the VIP section for a bit. Cali does VIP right. A lounge tent with leather couches (would not want to be there during the daylight though), much better food than the general area (sushi, spicy pie pizza), bar with ridiculously expensive drinks (9.50 for well Vodka & Redbull, add 1$ for call and another for premium), misting areas, nicely manicured foliage and of course many opportunities for celebrity sightings. Being above all that (I'm here for the music, man) i drank, ate and rejoined the huddled masses as the Red Hot Chili Peppers made their way to the stage.

To see this most CA of bands on their home turf was an experience. They did every track from the Frusciante era that name-drops that golden state and I think some people around me had a religious experience during "Under the Bridge." (Buy) Seriously there were tears...from guys...who frequent gyms. I noticed also that the days heat seemed to sap a lot of peoples strength. They'd start into, say "Can't Stop" (Buy) and heads would be bangin' and people were po-going but about 1/2 way thru a song they'd be swaying statues as though endurance would only allow for 2 minutes of craziness before a rest was needed and this was every song. The band got into extended jams at the end of almost every one as well but their energy never waned and the sing-along with set closer "By the Way" (Buy) was transcendent.

Ok, so while RHCP were on stage i missed LCD Soundsystem & Girl Talk. I like that Roo didn't put anyone up against the headliners. But as every stage was now running behind I was able to catch almost all of The Rapture's set back in the space-disco, aka the Sahara Tent.They seemed drunk - which I found endearing, I'm an enabler. This way my favorite set of the day in all its deadpan, sneering, ironic, New York glory. They dedicated "Killing" (Buy) to LCD Soundsystem, though I'm not sure whether it was a tribute or a dis. James Murphy says there is no "weird beef" between them but the track is pretty harsh - peep the lyrics. Later in the set Luke Jenner made several jumps into the crowd and did some surfing, in the desert! At one point he almost came to blows with a security guy who was between the stage & the crowd. Damn rowdy kids.

Finally down to the last act of the night. I listened to Tiesto's dj set as I made my way back to the second stage for Damon Albarn's latest "side project" The Good, the Bad and the Queen. This was the sparsest crowd of the day due in various parts to the time, the style and Tiesto. I got there about 3-4 songs into the set but apparently they were playing the s/t album, in order. The set up included Albarn (mostly at a piano), the rest of the band (Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen) and a flanking of girls on strings. Like Albarn they were sporting posh outfits topped with Stove-pipe hats. It was quite a sight. The tracks were kinda slow and many shuffled out during the set but I think they were a good comedown act.

As I was heading back to the car I stumbled upon some sort of Vegas show with a Norse God's in praise of water theme - naturally I stopped to watch. The bikini and feather clad dancers had ho's'es hooked up thru their outfits which were spraying water in all directions and they writhed beneath the desert moon.

Finally another quick vid of the nighttime skyline of Coachella during the Arcade Fire set. Had a great time but it was too short. I hope to pull a full weekend here someday.

Coachella - A 1 Day Review (in two parts)

Best laid plans... on to the pre-review story.


Finding myself in Southern California on Wednesday for work, imagine my shock when I turn on KROQ and realize that this is Coachella weekend. Luckily I was planning on staying with my friend Nick in San Diego for the weekend enabling me to head out to the desert on Saturday to finally catch the event I've wanted to see since Underworld was listed on the original 1999 line-up.

Unfortunately work obligations has me sidelined Friday and on a plane Sunday but though it was fleeting my first day at Coachella was awesome.

Of course nothing can ever go 100% (or even 75%) smoothly...

Issue #1 - Ticket:

Usual suspects were consulted and I quickly realized that people were rabidly snatching up eBay auctions at crazy high prices. Since this was never planed in the first place and I had a couple days to spare I just scanned the market. Most repytable auctions were hovering just over the $100 mark but I also wanted to see what Nick's price point was.

Issue #2 - Work:

Turns out on Friday that Nick couldn't go so I started earnestly trying to get 1 tix. Sent a dozen or so emails and a couple calls thanks top craigslist and came up with zilch.

Issue #3 - Alcohol:

Being done work and in San D, naturally I wasn't going to let a minor thing like a ticket to a huge desert music festival hinder of a solid night of drinking in Pacific Beach. So a swordfish dinner, a $20 margarita (tasted the same as a $5 one), the worst cover band ever and several rounds later we got back to Nick's place round 3AM. Naturally I wasn't going to let a minor inebriated state hinder the quest for a ticket to a huge desert music festival. So I hopped on every cali craigslist page from the bay to the border and sent out another dozen emails or so and set my alarm for 8:3f....something AM. Woke up to some responses and researched craigslist in a state of partial consciousness. I happened to stumble onto a guy selling a 1 day pass and a VIP wristband for $125 and it was posted 10 minutes or so before: SCORE! Emailed, called, made arrangements to pick up in Palm Springs and hit the road.

Issue #4 - The Tab & Footwear Situation:



Of course, my check card was still in Pac Beach with the tab I had forgotten to settle...D'oh! So back to PB to wait for the place to open to get the car to get back on the - wait... I need a pair of sandals as my feet will be dying in the heat otherwise. And what is right next to the bar but a Sketcher's store with a spring sale. So I get the card, get the shoes, make a sizable withdraw and get out of SD by 11:45 or so putting me way behind. CHiPs must be slaggin' cuz the road was filled with speedy kids headin' to the desert and I only spied 2 cops the whole ride.



So I get to Palm Springs, pick up the tix in 111 degree weather (seriously people live out here?), stop for hydrating and sun-blocking supplies and get onto the show...or at least the line of traffic to get into the show. After all that I'm in Coachella at 4pm and off to catch Hot Chip.

Actual fest review is on the way.

___________________________________________________________________

Hot Hot Heat - "Haircut Economics" - An early track from boys which hints at the great things to come but this is punkier, more dark-wave.

The Desert Fathers - "Pitbulls" - This must be the sound of a bad trip in the Mojave - still has a catchy hook...huh. If you dug the Man Man stuff I posted last year this should also be right up your alley.

Philadelphia Film Festival 2007 - Day 6

Sorry again for the delay. Been on the west coast this week and managed to spend Saturday at Coachella!!!! Will post that later in the week - but I want to get at least the first 7 days of the Philly fest up first before it all fades from memory as I wrote nothing down (yes that was dumb.)


Dipped into animation on day 6 at the festival. Princess is a Danish picture about a brother, August, who takes revenge on the porn industry that killed his sister (Christina, the titular princess) while trying to care for her daughter. The film also incorporates live action moments as well - via home video flashbacks shot in happier times by the brother. As is often the case the animation is used to show things that wouldn’t be allowed with real actors. The young girl (7 or 8 maybe) has been abused mentally, physically and sexually by those around her mother – in one scene she cries not wanting to take a bath however once she is finally in the tub we learn that its not normal child resistance but because “bath” means something totally different in the world she has lived in. This is the moment the brother snaps and begins his vengeful quest.

Horrific violence involving both uncle and niece ensue and the secrets of August and Christina’s past come out as the film careens to its tragic climax. This is a very impressive feature debut for director Anders Morgenthaler. I saw his student short film “Araki: The Killing of a Japanese Photographer” at the Chicago Film Festival in 2003 which had a very similar plot though the quality of the animation has greatly improved along with a deeper plot. He is currently working on a live action feature which I eagerly await.



Nothing follows ultra-violent Danish animation better than a 40’s screwball comedy! Given the 77 minute run-time of the previous film I was able to head over to catch The Philadelphia Story for the first time and on the big screen. Aside from several projection issues the film was enjoyable though I have to admit that don’t see it as quite the classic that others do. This may be because some of the jokes are cultural references to the time period in the film (1920s). The film was followed by a talk by U of the Arts professor Camille Paglia who could not possibly have fit more words into her 25 minute talk. It was more of a lecture than a Q&A (not unexpected) but she pointed out some of these references and also talked a bit about the films legacy and the elite pre-WW1 Main Line Society in which the film is set. Naturally she's a huge fan.

And that is all for day 6. Late-

RIP to a Russian Architect

I was in college at the time of his downfall but i didn't realize that Yeltsin had been held in such low regard nearing his exit, thought Chechnya didn't develop till Putin's reign and i also didn't know he was held responsibe for the influence the Oligarch's yeilded at the time. But I think history will be on my side of this one - a visionary and a drunken bear.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Methane River (Bill Fray Cover - Live Radio Performance)

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin - Oregon Girl

Philadelphia Film Festival 2007 - Day 5.1

Delay over ...

The final film I saw on the first Monday of the festival was The Unseeable (In Thai but you can see the trailer)…which really is its own review. A tired ghost story from Thailand, this film apes all recent “twist endings” that we have come to expect from Sixth Sense clones. Really not worth dwelling more on this one.

As I mentioned in the last post intrepid Metro reporter and sometimes poker buddy Josh Cornfield is blogging the 2007 Philadelphia Mayoral race (and council races) at FightforRoom215. I had no idea that that the Mayor’s office was actually in room 215 of city hall. Wonder if this happened before or after the area code was established? Link will also be over on the link list to the left.

Late-

Philadelphia Film Festival 2007 - Day 5

Its great to see you all here on a Monday...

Day 5 consisted of a coming of age comedy, a Thai ghost story and the best video game flick since The Wizard.

Starting off with Rocket Science may have been the wrong way to go as it was all downhill from there. This film is simply a joy. The story: a kid from a broken home in Plainsborough, NJ with a stuttering problem who joins the debate team for a girl he's crushed on. This is the second film and first fictional piece from Spellbound director Jeffrey Blitz. Blitz deserves kudos for writing this as the film is not only hilarious (subtle & broad in turn) but also develops strong characters.

This film feels set to follow in the footsteps of last years indie-comic darling Little Miss Sunshine. There is a strong family element and colorful characters. The soundtrack is heavy on indie cred with several Clem Snide and Violent Femmes tracks as well as whimsical instrumental tracks from Snide's Eef Barzelay (Sufjan Stevens and DeVotchka were present in LMS). The film will appeal to everyone who was ever in high school. And its being in released on a limited number of screens in mid August just like LMS. Something tells me it will expand rather quickly. Here's an interview with the director... with the stiffest interviewer ever.





Second on the list was the first doc I saw at the fest this year: The King of Kong. If you have seen any of the recent specials on various networks (Spike, G4, MTV, ect) about the history of games you know who Billy Mitchell is. He is the first person to record a perfect game of Pac-Man along with having held several other classic arcade records at different times. Plus he has a very...er...unique look. Mitchell was proclaimed as Gamer of the Century in '99. He is also the the poster geek of Twin Galaxies, the officially recognized (by consensus i guess) keepers of video game records. So what happens when an out of work engineer from Washington State sends in a video that shows Billy's record which has lasted since 1982 being shattered (while his young son is whining for him to stop playing and wipe his ass no less)? A classic arcade shit-storm that ain't gonna be as easy to clean.

I'm not sure what the filmmaker was initially trying to capture when this materialized or if he was came in after the first "incident" but regardless the story line that develops is a classic underdog vs. establishment tome. Basically this official game community, with a vague air of Todd Browning's Freaks, conspire to shut this challenger down. But Steve Wiebe (said challenger) is a niche honest guy so he goes right ahead and jumps through all the hoops that are set up for him until they finally accept his skill at Donkey Kong. What was captured in this doc has the feel of vintage Michael Moore, but with more facts but less grandiose targets, while the Gamer of the Century comes off as good as Bush in F9/11. There is a powerful shot near the end where Billy and his long-time friend and minister are bring interviewed by the filmmaker and after the ministers comments Wiebe, Mitchell, asked the same question, lyingly says "I don't know about that situation" and the minister can barely believe what he has just heard. If you hate games, if you love games, hell if you are completely ambivalent; this is still a must see film.

Unfortunately the film was shown on DVD. Distributors please! You know this is going to a film festival and will be shown on a big screen so get a print. DVD looks like crap when blown up to that size. I also would've love a Q&A after this one.

Gonna stop here for now as i forgot to plug my computer in and it just shut down erasing the last bitz i wrote. Day 5 part 2, links, spell check and a bit about a blog you should check out will all be dealt with later.

Philadelphia Film Festival 2007 - Day 4

Two more films on tap for Sunday at the fest. And they need to check the links they have posted for their films on the site.

First was Exiled or Fong Juk if you want to search on IMDB. This is one of two Johnny To films playing the fest (there was supposed to be a 3rd but the print wasn't available). It starts with two different pairs of shady men in trench coats knocking on a door and asking for Wo. While they wait we find that they know each other. When Wo arrives they follow him in and the first of many stunning bullet ballets begin. We find that all 5 are friends from a young age now working for different bosses in Macao, one of which Wo nearly knocked off. So they then sit down to talk, reminisce and set aside their orders to come together one last time.

The blurb in the fest program says "To is the greatest Hong Kong genre director working today," and with this its hard to disagree. The film has the beauty of a Yimou Zhang epic and pistol choreography that can go head to head with vintage Woo. The levity is perfectly placed throughout as well. Do yourself a favor and catch this when it rolls out in limited release in June and till then check the trailer:



Next was Day Night Day Night which i had first noticed watching this years Independent Spirit Awards where it won the "Someone To Watch" prize (highly ironic). I thought it would be haunting or arresting...instead it was self-important yet trite. It is the story of a young girl who attempts a suicide bombing mission in Times Square. You are dropped in as she gets off a bus into a terminal in Jersey and gets a call from her handlers. What follows is similar to what was shown in Paradise Now - she is trained, a video is made, lots of cloak and dagger and then she's let loose on NYC. However while PN showed the conviction of all involved this shows nothing of the sort. The characters are all American aside from a bomb-maker with a British accent. Her handlers try out different shirts, jackets and background images for her final video. She washes her stockings and brushes her teeth then trolls from MSG to Times Square stopping for a mustard covered pretzel and some pudding. It sound like an edgy farce but the direction is ultra solemn verite style so I'm not sure if the film is a comment on Americans' lack of conviction or on how western Muslims are soft, a trite example of how easy it would be for this to happen or just a story of a misguided youth. We get a few semi-precious clues to the girl's background - she looks vaguely of middle-eastern decent but could just as well be Hispanic (the actress is, in fact), she has come from across the country, she "is doing it for him" which may or may not be a younger brother, and her parents when she calls are looking for her.

I'm not going to give away the ending but its as ambivalent as the rest of the film. There is no substance and it takes its style from so many that have come before. I think the raison de etre is just to make you look at other people more questioningly which i find tantamount to cinematic terrorism.

This starts in limited release May 11th.

Late-

Philadelphia Film Festival 2007 - Night 2

Night 2 started out unceremoniously enough - I went to see Invisible Waves and quickly fell asleep. Equal parts the films fault, my own and the anti-hype man who announced at the begining that he hoped everyone had had some coffee. I kinda wrote the whole thing off after that and fell asleep less than 20 min in. Woke up with 40 or so left but dipped out early as my next film was sold out and starting soon so i wanted to get in line for a decent seat - and since i slept thru most of it...who cares!

The second viewing was for Scotish film Red Road. Road was 3rd at Cannes in 2006 (Jury Prize) and is the first in a trilogy to follow the Advance Party concept devised in-part by former Dogme 95 Danes Lars Von Trier and Lone Scherfig. The film has similarities in theme and plot to Cache though I consider the later's reach & execution superior. The lead is a woman who works for the security company/gov't agency in charge of monitoring all Glasgow's public security cameras. The secrets of he life are slowly revealed while she begins to obsess over a local man she follows first on camera then in real life until it all comes to a head in an totally unerotic but highly graphic sex scene. The film explores the omnipresence of big brother style camera in our lives (esp those of Britons) as well as other voyeristic aspects of its characters and their paranoia. The actors and first time director are to be congratulated for this fine piece of work.

Red Road rolls out in NY & LA next week.

The last film of the night was a based-on-a-true-sports-story called The Flying Scotsman. Johnny Lee Miller was on hand to intorduce his role as Scotish cyclist Graeme Obree. Its a typical film for the genre though the sport itself is not - this is velodrome cycling not Tour de France style. It's based on the athlete's autobiography about his struggles with depression, the highs of breaking world records and battles with cycling's governing body over improvements he tried to bring to the sport. Miller gives a solid performance as does Billy Boyd as his manager. Its good to see Miller in a good role in a decent film again after years of paying the bills with the likes of Dracula 2000, Mindhunters and Aeon Flux, and the acting is really what seperates any sports film or biopic from another as the arc is the same every time. Now is there a Jai-Alai story out there that must be told?

Miller's Q & A was mostly about what was and wasn't fact in the film, his prep for the roll and fielding questions about Obree. One guy had the nerve to ask Sick Boy himself if he had ever been in anything the guy may have seen - totally uncool. The film will get a limited roll out starting May 4th in 10 cities.

Due to Easter and Grindhouse i skipped Saturday so next update will be in a few days.

late-

Philadelphia Film Festival 2007 - Night 1

Hey, still working on the show, however since film will be consuming all my free time for the next 2 weeks I'm going to try to get my thoughts on all the films at the festival up here.

Thursday night was opening night at the fest and the lead film was The Ten. Its an anthology of sketches, each one dealing with one of the 10 Commandments (in order). Fitting for the season, the film also marks the second big screen reunion of The State this year after Reno 911!: Miami (a 3rd is on the way though the full cast isn't in Balls of Fury as in these two). It was writted by State alumns David Wain and Ken Marino, directed by Wain and also stars Jessica Alba, Adam Brody, Paul Rudd (also in Reno), Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol, Justin Theroux, Oliver Platt, Winona Ryder, Rob Corddry, Liev Schreiber & Ron Silver. All 10 stories are set in the same world and characters are part of several different sketches.

As a huge fan of the genius that was The State it pains me to say that this is not a very good film. The faults start right at the beginning. The anthology is tied together by interstitial segments featuring Rudd in a kind of negative space with 2 huge stone tablets (guess what's on them?) talking directly to the audience about the film ("I'm here to present the 10 stories" kinda thing) while also being a character in the film who is cheating on his wife (this becomes commandment #7 or 8...or whichever). These are awkward and underwritten. On the otherhand the rest of the film is way too over the top. It feels like what The State would've been like with a bigger budget and fewer people to scrutinize what was funny and what was just lame. There are some hilarious moments and others, that while supposed to be, elicited something more akin to deafening silence from the audience. If there was more of a filter I think this woulda rocked - there is an animated sequence for False Witness that I keep dwelling on because of a great and subtle joke that the rest of the film could've used more of: a rhinoceros is walking around in his work uniform and the back of his shirt reads the name of the locksmith company he works for: Locksmith Black Mombazo. The movie should've had more bits like this and fewer of Platt imitating Anuld.

So why open a festival with a mediocre film like this: celebrity guests!!!

From the left that's Wain, Rudd & producer ___ (there were 19 on the thing and I don't remember this one's name).

The Q&A was more enjoyable than the film! Some nice banter and Wain who fielded most of the questions was cracking wise throughout. The best part of the night however was this revelation: The State is coming to DVD in the Fall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the 200 bucks for the festival badge was worth it!

Anyway I'm hoping to surpass my film count from last year (33). So whenever I have time available, the reviews will appear. In the meantime enjoy don't worry your pretty little head about it.



late-

April Fools, A Time for Rebirth.

Hey Reader. The Sho 'Nuff is back. I've changed up the look and I'm widening the scope. Gonna blog about random media, pop culture, politics... whatever.

Haven't been to a show in quite a while so I ended up splurging this week on two shows at the Tower Theater. Friday night was the homecoming and last US date on the current leg of The Roots tour. What a fantastic performance. ?uestlove sang Roxanne in full falsetto. You just can't beat that shit. The show was being filmed from all over the theater so i hope a DVD is released soon.

Before that though was The Decemberists and their Twilight in the Fearful Forest tour. Got seats in the 3rd pit row 2 hrs before the show (thank you Craigslist) and it was awesome. First time seeing the pnw crew and despite the short length it was full of hyper-literate goodness. Colin jumped off the stage during Culling and fried like bacon in the isle. Instead of saying anymore I'll just let you listen...

Or I won't as I can't access my storage space right now. Tomorrw then.

Late-

3rd Time's the Charm

My friend - you are Bonnaroo

Dueschland took teh "little final" and 3rd place in convincing fashion to cap off a great run though the copa. And Remind me not to say anything bad about Zidane's momma.

Now onto the last in my extended Bonnaroo review...

Waking up Sunday was a wonderful relief - the clouds had come in and the temps cooled off to a very comfortable level. I went off to the Sonic Stage for some small sets from several different artists. I was a tad late to catch Matisyahu's performance - not that it would've mattered as you couldn't get near the micro venue. This would be a sign of things to come.

The tiny confines of the Sonic Stage

Settled into a nice spot near the front and right of the stage after that mass departed for Andrew Bird. Bird does the one man band type thing by playing, singing, whisteling and then looping it all and adding more elements overtop of those loops. It was a good performance though there was a distinct lack of energy.

After a bit of a break i moved closer to the stage for Rusted Root. Root was decent - they mostly played tracks from solo projects then Michael came out and did Scattered on his own. When they all finally got together to do a Root track he broke a string on the guitar as they started to go into (possibly "Martyr" or "Faith I Do Believe", can't remember which) and took a few minutes to restring and then they just did "Send Me on My Way" and left.



Bonnaroo 2006: Rusted Root: Sonic Stage Acoustic on Vimeo

Next up was Mike Doughty - had to get to the absolute front for this. He was taking requests and then doing his sarcastic Doughty thing with what was shouted out. A girl next to me packed a bowl during one of his songs and after Doughty did a great riff on it afterward - say he might be a narc. Such a quick wit. These are actually my carppy camera phone pics.

Doughty being clever.


Finally left the Sonic Stage to cath The Streets in This Tent. Went up near the front for the first few songs and the sound was terrible. Much like at Sasha, these venues aren't equiped as well for the bass that electronic atrists produce - it was a garbled mess. Moved to the back of the tent and the sound was much clearer. There were some grime heads back there dancing with hippies - wow. Mike Skinner was great - calling out americans for an in ability to drink and proving his point by handing out brandy to the front row who mostly didn't partake. Then some guy in a bright green pool tube and an anti-bush shirt somehow gets on stage and Skinner shoves the bottle of brandy in his face before security drug him off stage. The live band backing him up really added to the performance.

Soybomb's cousin?
Crossing swords on stage
Cheers Mate

Went to try and see Matisyahu for a second time - he was well into his set by the time The Streets were done - but i couldn't get within a quarter mile of the stage. He was obviously the main draw of the day as i can't imagine there were many other people at any other venue. Hung out listening for a bit but the decided to turn around and watch the venue i was actually closer to.

You can't see me in this pic

That venue was inhabited by one Atmosphere - whom I found boring and evoked in me the need to deficate for the first time since thursday morning (or at least the inability to ignore that pressure). So I headed back to camp (Centeroo's facilities had a bit too high a AQ - ass quotient - for me). But i did catch a bit of Sonic Youth on the way back - decent though i've never been a huge fan.

At this point the night was complete for me as watching increasingly un-ironicly named Greatful Dead remnants jam on for hours in the rain. All that was left was a quite enjoyable night of crazy 'Roo experiences with random people coming in out of the rain to our jury-rigged hovel.

Well EzArchive has been down most of the day so no Radiohead set just yet.
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So for now a couple tracks from one of the most download friendly labels out there Vice Records. Home to a great stable and a bunch of tracks and videos to keep you entertained.

Bloc Party - "Banquet (Junoir Sanchez Remix)"

Pretty typical from JS - decent remix but nothing really special. Suprised its not as danced up as i would've thought. This is only availible on white label.

The Streets - "When You Wasn't Famous (Professor Green Remix)"

Its all Grimey! Pretty funny really, Green is a newly signed artists to Mike Skinner's label so Green makes fun of the fact that he's a no-one and that Skinner is making more on his records than he is as well as taking the piss out of 'im for being all famous.

"The Stills - Destroyer (Demo Version)"

An early version of the track from their Without Feathers set that came out 2 months ago. Another beautiful indie track from these guys. I like this version better than the album version - less highly produced bombast than that version. This has a very Velvet Underground feel to it.

Favorite Sons - "Hang on, Girl"

One of their most recent signings. Their debut, Down Beside Your Beauty comes out in September 12th. Favorite Sons are out of NYC and have a sound similar to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club sans fuzz. 4/5 of the band come out of the psychedelic philly based Aspera
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late-

Review Numero 2

Back to Bonnaroo once again for 2 more days of sun and song.

After late night with west coast mc's I managed to wake up at some point in enough time to head down for the USA v. Itlay world cup match - as i posted before this was not to be. Mounties were even brought in to hold back the crowd.

Mounties!!

So it was off to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah over at That Tent. The good thing about the tents being the shade i savored this as ot would be the only time i was able to get any on the day. Clap is a band that grows on you and after several listens to the couple tracks i have from their eponomous debut they had grown to the point where i was totally psyched for this show. They didn't dissapoint as they went through an short but solid hour long set.

Moved on from here to the main venue, finally after 2 days, the What Stage. Elvis Costello played a decent set did a few of the classics did some new stuff. Elvis was acting like he was on VH1 storytellers for a bit detailing some song history which was cool. Overall it was pretty average compared to mostly everything else. He brought out current recoring partner Allen Toussaint for a bit but i left this to catch the end of Rusted Root.

I hadn't seen Root since a very memorable show on NYE 97/98 and only made it for their final 2 tracks knowing i was planning on seeing them again the next day at the sonic stage but they closed with "Ecstacy" and that had all the hippies in twirl-on-the-grass heaven. I liked it too.

Obviously there were many partial set seen on saturday as so much was going on at the same time. After Root it was over to the Which Stage for a couple minutes with Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley. Saw Damian when he opened for U2 in their 2 fall shows in Philly last year and again he had "Flag Guy" with him! This guy's only job is to hoist and wave the Jamacian flag through the whole set - he rocks. Marley covered a few of his dad's tracks while i was there (way way in the back by the way). But i had to move on as Beck was coming up on the main stage and there aint no way i was gonna miss that - and try to get as close as possible.

He's a flag wavin' machine.

That turned out to be just about even with the front of the video booth in the middle of the stage which was a pretty decent vantage from which to see the man. This was definitely the most entertaining show of the weekend. Beck had a marrionette stage set up behind hin and instead of showing him and the band on the big screens to either side of the stage, those screens showed puppets doing an exact impersonation of the band (luckily i was close enough to actually be able to see both - friends further back didn't even realize that the puppet show was going on live). Beck played the ultra-cool center of all the crazyness going on around him. Later in the set he played solo while his band retired to a stage-left table for dinner. They were served salads, wine and some other items while Beck launched into brief covers of the Flaming Lips "Do You Realize" and a bit of Radiohead's "Creep" - which he then chided himself for doing as they were coming up next and might have played it (he didn't need to worry). Then band then started playing aling with their utensils and water glasses while the puppets mimed the whole thing. It was brilliant. During the encore they showed a prerecorded bit with said puppets touring through Roo and commenting on the action. This was liberally peppered with hippie culture jokes - all in good fun of course. When they came back out the audience was treated to a Bear costume wrestleing match across the stage and finally a giant boom box was brought on for the closer. Easilly the most memorable show of the event - thats not to say the next one wasn't a trancendent experience.

Beck - Do You Realize? (Flaming Lips Cover)

Beck, meet throng. Throng, Beck.
Malcovitch, eat your heart out.
Try the cobb salad.

After Beck i was able to move foward only another 8 feet or so - it was jam packed. And there was no place for me to sit so i stood in my little spot for the next 2 and a half hours. I remember my toes going numb at one point. Finally about 15 minutes before the show was to start some other people stood freeing up groud space which my ass quickly conqured - such relief and possibly the only reason i was able to stand and jump and sing and dance for the next 2.5 hrs. Stood up 5 mintes before they were supposed to go on and it was just in time - don't know what happened up front but suddenly the crowd surged forward several yards - ace. Then just before the show it happened once again - there were a few people caught under this time - I tripped on someone who was still sittingin a beach chair and went flying onto my face. Insanity. But i was now a mere 30 yards or so from the stage and ready to be blown away.


[This is the part where i drone on about how incredible Radiohead were are and will ever be. If you wish to skip the fawning scoll down to just after the set list]

Sharply at 8:30 Radiohead take the stage and the glowstick start to fly. Someone tossed several thousand of those glowstcik braclets into the front of crowd and each person who caught one launched it again and so on. For a solid 5 minutes during the opener There There the skies were awash in intense colored strands of glowing liquid. This continued sporatiacally throughout the show culminating in a lightstorm during the second encore - those tripping may still be seeing trails. Thom even joined in hurling the sticks on stage back at the audience.

Ooohh, the drugs

The set was amazing - 28 fuckin songs deep!!! New tracks "15 Step", "Videotape" "Arpeggi" and "Body Snatchers" sounded great. They played longer than Tom Petty who has 20 years on or more 'em. When 80,000 people go completely silet during "Exit Music" you know you are watching something incredible - and I got to start the audience eruption going into the climax of the song. The sound of the show was amazing though there were massive video problems which seemed to have left a large portion of the crowd with a bad taste - when they did finally come back on they were tapped into the Radiohead backing screens and not stand alone images and were difficult to make out at times. Thom's playing with the camera during "You and Whose Army" took me back to my first Head show in '01 (this was #4). This may be the best show they have ever played - and you could see they were having a blast doing it.

Thom's crazy little monkey dance!

1. there there
2. 2+2=5
3. 15 step
4. arpeggi
5. exit music
6. kid a
7. dollars & cents
8. videotape
9. no surprises
10. paranoid arndroid
11. the gloaming
12. national anthem
13. climbing up the walls
14. nude aka big ideas (don't get any)
15. street spirit
16. the bends
17. myxomytosis
18. how to disappear completely

encore 1
19. you and whose army
20. pyramid song
21. like spinning plates
22. fake plastic trees
23. body snatchers
24. lucky
25. idioteque
26. karma police

encore 2
27. house of cards
28. everything in it’s right place

After Head i crashed and sat on the field for 30 minutes while people very slowly filed out. Finally made it back top camp around twenty after twelve chatted a bit with Arron & Dave and went to sleep in the tent - setting the alarm on my phone for 3:45. That, along with the girls from the next tent over (what up sam, sofia & cat) woke me up in time to chat a bit more and run of to Sasha!!!

I was in NYC 2 months before the legendary Sasha & Digweed residency at Twilo abrubtly ended due to Gulliani's crackdown on the club scene and was geared up to see 'em. You may be able to tell that this didn't happen. The people i was there with decided they didn't want to go - i ended up sitting in the hotel room that night listening to their mix cd instead. This will not happen again. So I tossed on Sofia's cowboy hat (now my ever present accessory of the weekend) and went to the rave. I don't think i've ever seen that many dilated pupils in one place in my life. I love crazy, drug addled ravers. I really do. The Man Like kicked a great set that went well past the scheduled endtime. He even came back for an encore but i think he was a bit fuct up as well as his attemp to mix out of the first song in the encore killed the computers (he's doing that whole Fundacion remixing on the fly thing) and he smiles and stumbled off stage. Crack end to a crack day at the 'Roo. I headed back to sleep in the car (the tent would be an oven in less than 2 hrs) as the sun was now well above the horizon.

The disco plated decks.

Ok i think i'm gonna spread this out into a 3 post effort as it is again getting long in the tooth. So sunday will have to wait.

Head here for a daily blog from the fest from John Roderick - the guy from The Long Winters who was brought out on stage during Death Cab's set to play guitar. Good read.
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Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - "Treat Me Right"

Ms. Potter was also at Bonnaroo this year but was not on my radar at the time. Nice blues/soul piece.

The Strokes - "I'll Try Anything Once"

What they try here is a loungy, casio piano tinged take on the opener "You Only Live Once" from their latest disc. Its availible as one of the b-sides on the "Heart in a Cage" single.

Nas - "Where Y'all At (Clean)"

New track from Nas - minimal yet jazzy production style from Salaam Remi. The emphatically titled disc Hip Hop Is Dead comes out in September. This is of course an edited track but it's what's out there at the moment.
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1 more day at Bonnaroo - then I'm done. I'm also gonna get the whole radiohead set up at some point.

late-

Bonna-review

Do You Roo?

Fantastic times at Bonnaroo last weekend. Here's what i managed to get to:

Thursday
(8:15 - 9:30) Comedy Tent: (Host Vic Henley) Morgan Murphy, Jon Reep, Tom Papa, Demetri Martin
(10:30 - 11:30) Devotchka

Friday
(2:15 - 3:15) Ben Folds
(4:20 - 5:30) Bright Eyes
(5:45 - 6:00) Robert Randolph & The Family Band
(6:15 - 7:45) Death Cab for Cutie
(9:00 - 11:00) Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (listened from camp)
(12:00 - 4:30) Lyrics Born / Common (mostly unconscious for this one) / Blackalicious

Saturday
(2:30 - 3:30) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
(3:35 - 4:20) Elvis Costello and The Imposters featuring Allen Toussaint
(4:30 - 4:45) Rusted Root
(5:00 - 5:20) Damian 'Jr Gong' Marley
(5:30 - 7:00) Beck
(8:30 - 11:15) Radiohead
(4:20 - 6:00) Sasha

Sunday
(12:45 - 1:15) Andrew Bird (Sonic Stage)
(1:30 - 2:15) Rusted Root (Sonic Stage)
(2:30 - 3:00) Mike Doughty (Sonic Stage)
(3:15 - 4:45) The Streets
(4:45 - 5:15) Matisyahu
(5:15 - 6:15) Atmosphere
(6:20 - 6:30) Sonic Youth
(8:30 - 12:00) Phil Lesh & Friends (listened to this off and on from camp)

Tom Pappa was the highlight of a lackluster comedy tent experience - Morgan Murphy was absolutely awful. The rest of the weekend it was almost impossible to get into the comedy tent un less you lined up well before the start and i just wasn't down for that. You also couldn't get near the cinema tent for that US/Italy cup match oon saturday. there were at least 3000 people in line more than an hour before hand and the tent couldn't have held more than a few hundred.

Really impressed by DeVotchka on the first night I'd only heard 2 tracks from them ("Venus in Furs" & "This Is How It Ends" - both played) but their gypsy jamming was great.

Ben Folds put on a fine show in the evil Friday heat. Didn't get to his set till a bit of the way in so we was pretty far back but with the crowd singing along it was easy to get into the set. "Army" was one of the highlights.

Ben Folds - Army (Live @ Bonnaroo 6/16/06)

Wandered around Centeroo for a bit afterwards and returned to the Which Stage 20 minutes or so into Bright Eyes's set. Again the heat was nuts but Connor was havin a blast with his big cup of Tequila and a slew of special guests joining him on stage including Gillian Welsh & David Rawlings, Gruff Rhys from the Super Furry Animals and My Morning Jacket's Jim James. I was on the fence about Bright Eyes before this show but i'm a fan now. Highlights include a horn-ed up version of "Lover I Don't Have to Love," a new track "Soul Singer in the Session Band" and the play-along with all the guests on "Sing a Song in the Morning." Check out these soundboard quality tracks.

Bright Eyes - Lover I Don't Have to Love (Live @ Bonnaroo 6/16/06)
Bright Eyes - Soul Singer in a Session Band (Live @ Bonnaroo 6/16/06)
Bright Eyes - Singing a Song in the Morning [ƒ Gillian Welsh, David Rawlings, Gruff Rhys & Jim James] (Live @ Bonnaroo 6/16/06)

Headed off to Robert Randolph for a few tracks before once again coming back to the Which Stage for Death Cab for Cutie. They were in rare form during this set - Ben Gibbard was all over the place and drenched in sweat just like the crowd (this caused some technical issues but...). He also has an 'issue' with a guitar stap that was pretty amusing for the crowd. The engergy was great as the sun set over Bonnaroo allowing the crown to dance some more especially late in the set when they went into a 9 minute jam during "We Looked Like Giants." At one point Ben is playing with his teeth and then (literally) tosses his guitar to John Roderick of The Long Winters (apparently there as a journalist), runs across the stage, hops on a drum kit, and proceedes to drum duel with primary drummer Jason McGerr. This show easilly surpassed their show in Camden earlier this year with Franz Ferdinand - though they didn't play "Marching Bands of Manhattan" at either one.

Death Cab for Cutie - Company Calls (Live @ Bonnaroo 6/16/06)
Death Cab for Cutie - We Looked Like Giants [ƒ John Roderick] (Live @ Bonnaroo, 6/16/06)

After this it was dinner and a nap time so we headed back to camp and listened to Tom Petty from there - you could here pretty well. we were planning on going back for the end of that show, which was scheduled to 12am but he ended just after 11. Instead we went to the late night hip-hop show at This Tent featuring Lyrics Born, Common & Blackalicious. Lyrics was funky as all hell and with the sun safely down everyone was shaking ass. I was drinking heavily (thank you Magic Hat #9) so i kinda passed out on the grass before Common came on. Luckilly the set ups between the 3 took longer than planned so when I regained consciousness Blackalicious had not yet gone on. I made my way toward the front of the tent and got down into the early morning hours.

This is getting pretty long (accidently deleted 1/2 of it once) and there are still 2 days and a new Roots track to get to so Imma break from the review till next post.

For more check this Rolling Stone article that mostly covers the indie aspect of the Roo.
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If you haven't heard yet the Roots have put the first single from their next set up on their myspace page. The track is called "Don't Feel Right" and the disc is Game Theory. It drops August 29th.

Here's a quote from ?uestlove in another RS piece:

"In this day and age, I'm kind of noticing that nobody in urban music really has the balls to just stop partying for one second," says ?uestlove. "I mean, partying is good and whatnot, and it's cool to get down, but I really think that 2006 called for a very serious record. This ain't the Debbie Downer record, or the political, save-the-world record, but this is definitely not the MC-based, battle-themed album that the Roots have been known for. This is our most serious record to date."

The Roots - Don't Feel Right
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A'igit thats it for now. Still got reviews of Radioheads epic set, Beck's puppet-fest, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Mike Douhghty, The Streets and more to come along with a Bloc Party remix and some mash-up fun.

Late-

Bonnaroo Pre Show!!

Off to Bonnaroo Wed round noon for four days of music and partial consciousnes. Oh and its official - the show is sold out and no tickets will be availible at the gates. I've enboldened who I'm really there to see though Radiohead, Elvis Costello and Sasha are the big 3. Oh and they will be showing World Cup matches from the air conditioned cinema tent!!

Acts:
Radiohead, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Phil Lesh & Friends, Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Buddy Guy, Ben Folds, Common, Elvis Costello, Oysterhead, Cypress Hill, the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Sonic Youth, G. Love & Special Sauce, The Streets, Umphrey's McGee, Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band, My Morning Jacket, Soulive, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Bright Eyes, Steel Pulse, Mike Gordon & Ramble Dove, Nickel Creek, Gomez, Atmosphere, Steve Earle, Amadou & Mariam, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, the Dresden Dolls, Son Volt, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Jerry Douglas, Rusted Root, Devendra Banhart, Donavon Frankenreiter, Mike Doughty's Band, Sasha, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the Magic Numbers, the Codetalkers, Bonnie Raitt, Bill Frisell, The Disco Biscuits, Bettye LaVette, Lyrics Born, moe., Dungen, Shooter Jennings, Damian Marley, Rebirth Brass Band, Robinella, Andrew Bird, Dumpstaphunk, Matisyahu, Steel Train, Blues Traveler, Jackie Greene, Devotchka, Randolph & The Family Band, World Party, Brothers Past, Blackalicious, the Wood Brothers, dios (malos), Toubab Krewe, Les Claypool, the Motet, Marah, I-Nine, Matt Costa, Balkan Beat Box, Deadboy & the Elephantmen, Medeski Martin & Wood,Tortured Soul, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Electric Eel Shock, David Ford, the Refugee Allstars of Sierra Leone, Seu Jorge.

Also Patton Oswald and Lewis Black among others in the comedy tent.

Yes I've looked at the shcedule and it will be impossible to see everyone i want to (Elvis, Rusted Root & Damian Marley for instance all overlap each other - though i'm most pissed of The Streets/Matisyahu overlap) but everyone knows technical issues come up that throw off nicely ploted out time lines so i'm hoping that the stars line up just right.

And yes, as you can tell by the bolds I'm not a jam band fan. Its just not my cupa. I refuse to twirl on the grass and thats is final.

Today is a selection of mp3s from some of those acts.
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The Streets - When You Wasn't Famous

Devotchka - Venis in Furs (Velvet Underground Cover)

Andrew Bird - Lull

Death Cab for Cutie - Title and Registration

The Magic Numbers - Forever Lost

Clap Your Hands say Yeah - The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth (mislabeled as "Is This Love"

Blackalicious - Supreme People

Mike Doughty - 27 Jennifers

Bright Eyes - When the President Talks to God
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That should be good for now. Recap to come next week!

And if you can't make it the main show (Fri-Sun) will be
streamed live right here in both video and audio.

Olay, Olay Olay Olay, Olay Olay

Copa time and there have been some great matches so far - Argentina v. Ivory Coast and the German v Costa Rica especially. Brunner - hope you are havin a good time over there. Anyone else on the east coast taking a 2hr lunch tomorrow? Instead of Germany I'll be heading the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on Wednesday. Tickets are still availible for the event so if you wanna see Radiohead, Beck, Tom Petty, Elvis Costello, Death Cab, and many many more and camp out for a 4 day party then get your tickets and come on down.
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Mazarin - New American Apathy

More Philly sounds for you. After releasing 2 discs in 18 months it took almost 4 years for the third set from these psy-indie-posters to drop. This track is the first off that release, We're Already There. Its brilliant shining indie pop on the level of The Flaming Lips but also recalls the Chemical Brothers' more tripped out work with Beth Orton or more recently The Magic Numbers. There is an abundance of sounds swirling in the reverse direction. Lyricaly, the subject matter is similar to the Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. track from an ealier post. “Who wants to be oblivious? / The new American apathy / The news so safely keeps you occupied / With lies” Its a dreamy psychadelic rant against the American tendency for heads to be nicely burried in sand.

The Killers - Scratch Studio Instrumental

This track is a little April Fools joke from The Killers. They posted on their web site on 4/1 that they had a new track for their upcoming album (set to drop in the fall). Its really just a loungy, bossa nova instrumental of "Somebody Told Me." I think it might sound good on my summer burn mix! Oh, and the latest Rolling Stone says that this disc is better than Hot Fuss, if you can believe that.

The Decemberists - Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect
The Decemberists - Engine Driver


Fall of '06 is shaping up to be great one for music fans - aside from The Killers set, The Decemberists aim to follow up my personal favorite disc of '05 Picaresque, with another collection of sea shanties and trubadorian laments. The second track is off that set while the first is from their debut full length Castaways & Cutouts from 2002. The new album will be their first on a major label - that hasn't changed Colin Maloy's crew in the slightest. In Colin's interview at Pitchfork he states there will be at least 2 epic, multi-part song cycles including one over 12 minutes and that absinth binges have been involved?!? Looks like the label people are really up for it though:

"So they came in, and we had strategically put together the two obvious singles that were both short and kind of poppy and fit in with the Decemberists idiom and played them for them. And they liked them. And they asked what else we were doing, and then we started playing the long proggy song cycles, and that's when they got really excited. So it was kind of a positive bit of reinforcement, that they actually support the fact that we're moving in a relatively strange direction."

Oh, the title is The Crane Wife and it drops the day after my birthday (party!) - October 3rd.
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Next update will be all aboot Bonnaroo then I'm off to the fest. Drop me a line if you're gonna be there and lemme know who your are most juiced about witnessing - mine should be pretty obvious as I've mentioned them in the last 3 posts now.

Giving Great Radiohead

Thanks to StayBeautiful @ the radiohead boards a recording of the Radiohead show in Philadelphia on June 1st has been made availible. I've done up a little cover thing with current RH graffix & fonts ect - kinda looks like space invaders & asteroid taking on the pope. Trax are encoded @ 64k and sound best in iTunes when applying the dance EQ preset (don't know if presets are standard across platforms though.) Some have said that night 2 was better but this night was damned good though only the second best head i've ever gotten. That title goes to night 2 at Liberty State Park in August of 2001. Enjoy!
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1. Intro

2. You and Whose Army

3. National Anthem

4. 2+2=5

5. Open Pick (New Track)

6. 15 Step (New Track)

7. Exit Music (For a Film)

8. Kid A

9. Nude (New Track)

10. Arpeggi (New Track)

11. Street Spirit

12. Pyramid Song

13. Myxomatosis

14. House of Cards (New Track)

15. Spooks (New Track)

16. Idioteque

17. Bangers N Mash (New Track)

18. There There

19. Airbag

20. No Surprises

21. Bodysnatchers (New Track)

22. Everything in Its Right Place

23. 4 Minute Warning (New Track)

24. Karma Police

And now a post head chuckle - SNAKES ON A PLANE + BONO STYLE!!


And here is another AudioBlog worth checking - Badminton Stamps 2 heads one from NYC and one from here in Philly - see we can get along, just not at sporting events. Next time some more local music and an April Fools joke 2 months too late.

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Less than a week till Bonnaroo!