HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY YOURS TRULY:
Black Cat:
Tue Nov 4- DEERHUNTER, TIMES NEW VIKING, KNYFE HYTS $13 Adv/ $15 DOS Mainstage 8:00
Wed Nov 12- DIPLO, NO AGE, ABE VIGODA, BOY 8 BIT, TELEPATHE $15 Mainstage 7:30
Tue Nov 18- LITTLE JOY (featuring Rodrigo Amarante of Los Hermanos, Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes, and Binki Shapiro), THE DEAD TREES $10 Backstage 9:00
Sat Nov 8- THE SEA AND CAKE, DEATH VESSEL $15 Mainstage 9:00
9:30 Club:
SUN. NOV. 2 Hercules and Love Affair w/ The Dance Party 10pm
MON. NOV. 24 Sondre Lerche w/ Sylvie Lewis 6pm Doors.
WED. NOV. 26 The Still High Tour • METHOD MAN and REDMAN w/ Termanology & Big Pooh
7pm Doors.
SUN. NOV. 30 Q-TIP w/ The Cool Kids & Pacific Division 7pm Doors.
VELVET LOUNGE:
FRI. Nov. 7 Velodrome Dance Party (Italo Disco, HI NRG, etc)
FEATURING A SPECIAL SET BY Ra Ra Rasputin.
DJ sets by Scott B. and Ed Porter.
9pm
THE ROCK AND ROLL HOTEL:
SAT. Nov 01 Murs, w/ Kidz in the Hall, Big Pooh of Little Brother, and Isaiah
830pm
SAT. Nov. 15 The Dance Party w/Ra Ra Rasputin, Greenland, and the Nunchucks
DOORS 8:30PM. FIRST BAND 9PM
(and upstairs on that very same night)
Garutachi Indie Dance Night! with DJ Ca$$idy and Austin.
21+ | 930PM-230AM
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Scottish post-punk legends Orange Juice to REUNITE
What an incredible piece of news I've just received (courtesy of Jason M. of the Spiritual Machine). According to Idolator Orange Juice will be reuniting when they are honored by Nordoff-Robbins, a music therapy organization. Edwyn Collins, the group's frontman suffered a debilitating stroke several years ago, and later contracted a serious infection while in hospital. While his road to recovery has been a difficult one, he has never given up hope. Furthermore, in recent years, the his work with Orange Juice has gained recognition from a new generation of post-punkers. Fellow Glaswegians Franz Ferdinand, for example, have repeatedly praised the work of Orange Juice.
Now the real question is, which version of Orange Juice will be performing with Edwyn? Will it be the scrappy Postcard era version of the group? Or will it be the awkward, yet more confidently funky Polydor lineup? Maybe both? I have no idea. I know this sounds a bit absurd, but I do believe that it would be worth the money to fly to the UK to witness this evening.
So please enjoy these clips from YouTube. We love you Edwyn!
"Poor Old Soul" and "Rip It Up"
"I Can't Help Myself"
"Dying Day"
Now the real question is, which version of Orange Juice will be performing with Edwyn? Will it be the scrappy Postcard era version of the group? Or will it be the awkward, yet more confidently funky Polydor lineup? Maybe both? I have no idea. I know this sounds a bit absurd, but I do believe that it would be worth the money to fly to the UK to witness this evening.
So please enjoy these clips from YouTube. We love you Edwyn!
"Poor Old Soul" and "Rip It Up"
"I Can't Help Myself"
"Dying Day"
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Smiths to reunite for Coachella 2009 ???
The Pixies
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Smiths
These are among the messiest and most painful breakups in pop music. Frank Black dissolved the Pixies and informed his bandmates by fax. The Jesus and Mary Chain notoriously split on stage at a House of Blues show in 1998. But the Smiths, probably had the most difficult breakup of all. Johnny Marr left the group before their final album was released. And in the 1990s, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, band’s rhythm section sued Marr and singer Morrissey claiming that they’d been jilted out of songwriting royalties.
In the last five years, however, we’ve seen the reunions of both the Pixies and the Jesus and Mary Chain. We’ve also been lucky enough to see Gang of Four, My Bloody Valentine and Mission of Burma return to the stage. So you can imagine that I was not that surprised when I checked out NME this morning to see a story about a possible Smiths reunion for Coachella 2009. Apparently “the buzz around the people who used to work for the band is they could play Coachella for a ludicrous amount of money.” Now, rumors of a Smiths reunion are nothing new. But given the current musical climate, maybe we need the Smiths to come back and remind us why they were so great in the first place. And it seems as though someone may've come up with enough cash to get them to forget about the fact that there was a showdown in a British courtroom a decade ago.
Now I saw Morrissey back in 2005, and he was pretty good. His voice was strong and he was very impressive as a performer. And yes, I sang along when he played songs from his old group. Nonetheless, those songs sounded incomplete without Marr’s jangling guitars, or Rourke and Joyce’s solid bass and drums. I they reunited, I know it wouldn’t be the same. But the Smiths broke up when I was 5 years old. They're all still very strong performers. I'd be a fool to miss a chance to see them live. And who cares about the money. If it means that they can live a little more comfortably, then great.
I have suffered horrible conditions and long waits for only a few bands (ahem, Radiohead). After all the Smiths have done for me, spending three days in the California deserts would be nothing.
“Bigmouth Strikes Again”
(From the Old Grey Whistle Test, 1986
Featuring Craig Gannon on rhythm guitar).
UPDATE:
The story has just been refuted by Johnny Marr's management.
Click here for the whole story. Sigh
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Smiths
These are among the messiest and most painful breakups in pop music. Frank Black dissolved the Pixies and informed his bandmates by fax. The Jesus and Mary Chain notoriously split on stage at a House of Blues show in 1998. But the Smiths, probably had the most difficult breakup of all. Johnny Marr left the group before their final album was released. And in the 1990s, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, band’s rhythm section sued Marr and singer Morrissey claiming that they’d been jilted out of songwriting royalties.
In the last five years, however, we’ve seen the reunions of both the Pixies and the Jesus and Mary Chain. We’ve also been lucky enough to see Gang of Four, My Bloody Valentine and Mission of Burma return to the stage. So you can imagine that I was not that surprised when I checked out NME this morning to see a story about a possible Smiths reunion for Coachella 2009. Apparently “the buzz around the people who used to work for the band is they could play Coachella for a ludicrous amount of money.” Now, rumors of a Smiths reunion are nothing new. But given the current musical climate, maybe we need the Smiths to come back and remind us why they were so great in the first place. And it seems as though someone may've come up with enough cash to get them to forget about the fact that there was a showdown in a British courtroom a decade ago.
Now I saw Morrissey back in 2005, and he was pretty good. His voice was strong and he was very impressive as a performer. And yes, I sang along when he played songs from his old group. Nonetheless, those songs sounded incomplete without Marr’s jangling guitars, or Rourke and Joyce’s solid bass and drums. I they reunited, I know it wouldn’t be the same. But the Smiths broke up when I was 5 years old. They're all still very strong performers. I'd be a fool to miss a chance to see them live. And who cares about the money. If it means that they can live a little more comfortably, then great.
I have suffered horrible conditions and long waits for only a few bands (ahem, Radiohead). After all the Smiths have done for me, spending three days in the California deserts would be nothing.
“Bigmouth Strikes Again”
(From the Old Grey Whistle Test, 1986
Featuring Craig Gannon on rhythm guitar).
UPDATE:
The story has just been refuted by Johnny Marr's management.
Click here for the whole story. Sigh
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Kanye West Rips off Tears for Fears
About a week ago, Stereogum posted a new track by Kanye West called “The Coldest Winter.” The song is built around “Memories Fade” by Tears for Fears. Now, we’ve always known that Kanye has been down with sampling stuff that’s a little more adventurous than what we’re used to in hip-hop (e.g. CAN, Paul McCartney and Wings, obscure 70s prog rock). But it seems as though Kanye has basically nicked the entire song! Hell, he effectively rewrites the chorus with his own lyrics à la Diddy.
Tears for Fears “Memories Fade” (Live on German TV)
Kanye West “The Coldest Winter” (Ripped from the radio, so apologies for the less than stellar sound quality).
I think that one commentator on Stereogum hit the nail on the head:
After heartless and love lockdown i listened to this and was like "awesome" and got some faith restored in him, especially the awesome "goodbye my friend." then i clicked on that tears for fears link and was like "nevermind" because tears for fears wrote that great hook. this isnt like rapping over a sample, this is just like covering a really good obscure song and taking the credit for it. good thing that tears for fears link was there.
I do believe that Mr. West is finally starting to run out of steam. In my opinion, the quality of his lyrics has been sliding down hill since Graduation. The man is no longer as funny and audactious as he used to be. Production wise, he’s still very much on point, but ultimately the thing that drew a lot of us to Kanye was the lyrics. He rapped about hard times, being broke and hustling for better things. Certainly the man has been going through some very difficult times due to the loss of his mother. But this song doesn't sound very inspired and it sounds more like a demo than a track on an album that's due out by Christmas.
And what's with the heavy use of autotune/vocoder ? You have all the time and money in the world, Kanye? Why not take a year off and learn how to sing?
Tears for Fears “Memories Fade” (Live on German TV)
Kanye West “The Coldest Winter” (Ripped from the radio, so apologies for the less than stellar sound quality).
I think that one commentator on Stereogum hit the nail on the head:
After heartless and love lockdown i listened to this and was like "awesome" and got some faith restored in him, especially the awesome "goodbye my friend." then i clicked on that tears for fears link and was like "nevermind" because tears for fears wrote that great hook. this isnt like rapping over a sample, this is just like covering a really good obscure song and taking the credit for it. good thing that tears for fears link was there.
I do believe that Mr. West is finally starting to run out of steam. In my opinion, the quality of his lyrics has been sliding down hill since Graduation. The man is no longer as funny and audactious as he used to be. Production wise, he’s still very much on point, but ultimately the thing that drew a lot of us to Kanye was the lyrics. He rapped about hard times, being broke and hustling for better things. Certainly the man has been going through some very difficult times due to the loss of his mother. But this song doesn't sound very inspired and it sounds more like a demo than a track on an album that's due out by Christmas.
And what's with the heavy use of autotune/vocoder ? You have all the time and money in the world, Kanye? Why not take a year off and learn how to sing?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
VIDEO MAGIC: Hey Paulette "I Really Do Love Penelope"
Earlier this year, I had a lot of sleepless nights. The combination of a hectic social life and incredibly depressing job left me unable to lay back and close my eyes. On many nights, I used to watch videos on YouTube, in hopes that I would find something that would take my mind off the stress.
One night I decided to search for “C86.” For those of you who are unaware, C86 was a mixtape compiled by NME as a celebration of all the clangy, jangly guitar groups that had arrived in the wake of the Smiths. While many people complained that C86 was essentially a codification of indie clichés, the songs are not without their charm. Anyway, I digress. One of the groups that turned up on the video search was Hey Paulette, a quartet from Dublin, Ireland. “I Really Do Love Penelope,” is a tribute to a girl who couldn’t care less about the narrator. The lyrics are undeniably influenced by Orange Juice, yet musically they are a bit closer to the Smiths.
I’m not sure why I became so taken with this song. Perhaps because of my celebrity crush on Penelope Cruz. Or maybe it was because of Derrick Dalton’s melodic guitar playing. Either way, it felt really cool to hear something that instantly spoke to me. For a very long period, I was listening to albums that required repeated listens to get into. It was a relief to hear something so fresh. Even though the record is 20years old….
Click HERE for a nice little FAQ on the group
Hey Paulette’s complete discography is available on the compilation album “Long Ball Into Nowhere.” Believe it or not, you can actually download this on I-tunes.
One night I decided to search for “C86.” For those of you who are unaware, C86 was a mixtape compiled by NME as a celebration of all the clangy, jangly guitar groups that had arrived in the wake of the Smiths. While many people complained that C86 was essentially a codification of indie clichés, the songs are not without their charm. Anyway, I digress. One of the groups that turned up on the video search was Hey Paulette, a quartet from Dublin, Ireland. “I Really Do Love Penelope,” is a tribute to a girl who couldn’t care less about the narrator. The lyrics are undeniably influenced by Orange Juice, yet musically they are a bit closer to the Smiths.
I’m not sure why I became so taken with this song. Perhaps because of my celebrity crush on Penelope Cruz. Or maybe it was because of Derrick Dalton’s melodic guitar playing. Either way, it felt really cool to hear something that instantly spoke to me. For a very long period, I was listening to albums that required repeated listens to get into. It was a relief to hear something so fresh. Even though the record is 20years old….
Click HERE for a nice little FAQ on the group
Hey Paulette’s complete discography is available on the compilation album “Long Ball Into Nowhere.” Believe it or not, you can actually download this on I-tunes.
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