So the Arcade Fire's next album, Neon Bible, comes out in 2007, and then we'll see if we all blew our load too soon after Funeral. In a very bizarre and not very technologically savvy marketing ploy, if you call 1-866-NEON-BIBLE ext. 7777, you can hear first single, "Intervention." It sounds pretty good, very Bowie-ish, but it's hard to really get a feeling for a song you hear over the phone, you know?

Well, I got my new video iPod for Xmas to replace the old black-and-white iPod of yore, and am about halfway through getting the music collection onto my brand-spankin' new 160-gig external hard drive (it looks like a book, it's so cute!). Never again shall an iPod failure deter my ability to have my entire music collection in the palm of my hand.

Now I want to get my music collection in the palms of my co-workers' hands. Anyone know if it's possible to share music over a network directly from my iPod? Itunes seems to be set up to only share music from the hard drive.

Meanwhile, check out the Onion's Least Essential Albums of 2006, always good for some laughs. The kids' album w/ Rachael Ray has the most priceless cover, that's for sure.

CHRISTMAS CONVERSATIONS WITH MY FAMILY, PART TWO:

ME: Oh, James Brown died today!

MY DAD: Oh really? Wow!

(pause)

MY DAD: Who's James Brown?

CHRISTMAS CONVERSATIONS WITH MY FAMILY, PART ONE

MY BROTHER: Oh, Nicole, I downloaded some new music this week.

ME: Yeah? Like what?

MY BROTHER: I downloaded some stuff by TV on the Radio. But it was kind of lame.

ME: Ok great, I guess I'm taking back my Christmas gift to you then.

MY BROTHER: Oh, oops. Well, maybe I'll like it.

Last night's Colbert vs. the Decemberists episode of the Colbert Report, aka the "Rock and Awe Countdown to Guitarmaggedon" aka "Mourning Becomes Eclectic" aka some other pun I can't remember was predictably insane and hilarious, featuring all sorts of music-related inside jokes and totally random guests (the Apples in Stereo singer doing a tribute to Stephen? Peter Frampton pinch hitting for Colbert at the last second? Henry Kissinger directing Stephen to start shredding? Poor telemprompter reader Eliot Spitzer as a guest judge?). The actual shred-off wasn't as funny as the first 10 minutes leading up to the shred-off (mostly because I was hoping Stephen would actually have some guitar skills). I wonder who the indie rock-loving writer/producer was that orchestrated this whole thing. I also wonder if any Colbert footage will actually make it into the Decemberist's "O, Valencia" video. Only time will tell!

After a couple days of poorly timed technical difficulties, Tinymixtapes has the big year-end extravaganza up today, with articles, drawings, the Eureka list of experimental favorites, and of course the top 25. Our number 1 was a no-brainer, but there are definitely a few unexpected albums that graced the list. Check it out.

And here's some songs I liked this year:

Joanna Newsom- Sawdust and Diamonds
The Thermals- Here's Your Future
Califone- The Orchids
Grizzly Bear- The Knife
Junior Boys- In the Morning
Justin Timberlake- Future Sex/Love Sound
Calexico- All Systems Red
El Perro Del Mar- Party
TV on the Radio- I Was a Lover
Herbert- Something Isn't Right
Neko Case- Dirty Knife
Nathan Fake- Stops
Asobi Seksu- Thursday
Mountain Goats- Woke Up New
Band of Horses- Wicket Gil
Tapes 'N Tapes- 10 Gallon Ascots
Emily Haines- Our Hell
Sunset Rubdown- The Men Are Called Horsemen There

Pitchfork's top 50 list was mostly expected, though my nearly correct predictions of a 1-2 Joanna Newsom/TV on the Radio were supplanted by the unexpected Knife album at the top. I downloaded Silent Shout a few months ago; it's interesting for sure (and very dark), but it hasn't entirely captured me yet. Maybe I should give it a few more spins.

Here are my top 25 albums of the year, in reverse order. Enjoy.

25. Annuals- Be He Me
24. Islands- Return to the Sea
23. Cat Power- The Greatest
22. The Hold Steady- Boys and Girls in America
21. Thermals- The Body, the Blood, the Machine
20. Nathan Fake- Drowning in a Sea of Love
19. Decemberists- Crane Wife
18. Herbert- Scale
17. Asobi Seksu- Citrus
16. M. Ward- Post War
15. Mountain Goats- Get Lonely
14. Calexico- Garden Ruin
13. Tapes ‘N Tapes- The Loon
12. Band of Horses- Everything All the Time
11. Hot Chip- The Warning
10. Parenthetical Girls- Safe as Houses
09. Emily Haines & the Soft Skeletons- Knives Don’t Have Your Back
08. Beirut- Gulag Orkestar
07. TV on the Radio- Return to Cookie Mountain
06. Neko Case- Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
05. Grizzly Bear- Yellow House
04. Califone- Roots and Crowns
03. Sunset Rubdown- Shut Up I Am Dreaming
02. Joanna Newsom- Ys
01. Junior Boys- So This Is Goodbye

This is really interesting: Reckless just sent out a list of their top 20 selling albums as of today. Fascinating to see what the Chicago kids are purchasing. Behold:

1. joanna newsom "ys"
2. sufjan stevens "songs for christmas"
3. swan lake "beast moans"
4. clipse "hell hath no fury"
5. shins "phantom limb" single
6. sunn o)))/boris "altar" 2cd version
7. beck "information"
8. fucked up "hidden world" lp
9. tv on the radio "return to cookie mountain"
10. bonnie 'prince' billy "letting go"
11. mucca pazza "a little marching band"
12. and you will know us by the trail of dead "so divided"
13. neil young "live at the fillmore east" w/ dvd
14. decemberists "crane wife"
15. mark kozelek "little drummer boy" live
16. white magic "dat rosa mel apibus
17. chin up chin up "this harness can't ride anything"
18. pj harvey "peel sessions: 1991-2004"
19. yo la tengo "i am not afraid of you and i will beat
"your ass"
20. bound stems "appreciation night"

I'm embarrassed to say that I've watched the first few episodes of the Real World Denver (due to a night sick on the couch when Top Chef was a rerun), and they've quite possibly brought together the biggest train wrecks yet. And here's your chance to party with them!

The office Christmas party is tonight, and let's hope I don't make a repeat of last year's office Christmas party debacle. But I will do this: request Justin Timberlake, and then dance to it.

Last night I saw Central Services at the Crocodile Club (Seattle)--which I would definitely recommend. Very fun and upbeat. A couple of guys in the band are also in the Math and Physics Club. And, so random, the guitarist is the computer guy at my law school and rides the same bus as me.

Some fun new shows that have been added:

Friday, February 2: Camera Obscura w/ the Essex Green @ Logan Square Auditorium (Hello, British twee with female vocals!)

Friday, February 9: Grizzly Bear w/ the Dirty Projectors @ Subterranean (Glad to see GB pouncing back after all their gear was stolen. And I bet the Dirty Projectors are just weird live.)

My last show of the year this morning featured much of my favorite 2006 music. Get an early peek at what will show up on my top 25 of the year, including what my #1 album will be (can we guess?). I'll post my personal list next Monday. In other year-end news, we at tinymixtapes are working hard at getting our year-end extravaganza ready to publish next Wednesday; not sure what our collective #1 will be, though I could wager a guess (Joanna).

Never mind that Hidden Cameras Reckless in store- they've had to cancel their tour due to Canadian border issues! Bummer.

Oooh, another Reckless in-store this week, though they forgot to mention what time it's at:

Hidden Cameras
Monday December 11th
Wicker Park store

I'll guess 5PM. I just love that this band has a song called "Music Is My Boyfriend."

In exciting PFFR news, next Tuesday will be my last show at 6-8 in the morning. Starting next January I'll be moving to the much-coveted 8-10pm Monday night slot. True, it means a smaller listening base than morning drive-times provided, but not having to wake up at 4:45am and then try to make it through 9 hours of work afterwords makes it totally worth it. And now all those of you who haven't been able to listen because it was on too early will have no more excuses!

Here's an intriguing addition to the otherwise bland New Year's Eve show offerings: The Hold Steady @ the House of Blues Back Porch Stage. Is that pretty small?

Nice. Perhaps instead of suing every grandmother who's granddaughter downloaded a Kelly Clarkson song, the RIAA should just give everyone a "stern talking to."

Hey kids,

The Renegade Holiday Craft Fair is this weekend, and I'll be merrily DJing in one of the rooms from 2:30-5:00pm on Saturday. It's at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse in Wicker Park as usual. Stop by and say hello! 2 1/2 hours is a long time to DJ, so I'll welcome the company :)

Reckless has some good in-store performances this week:

LES GEORGES LENINGRAD
Thursday December 7th
Wicker Park store
4pm (possibly later)

DJ SPOOKY
Saturday December 9
Wicker Park store.
5:30pm

I'm sad I can't make the Les Georges Leningrad in-store cause those guys are crazy, but DJ Spooky should be pretty cool.

It's been a long time since I've gone to a show to see a band I wasn't too familiar with- usually I'm bringing along friends to see bands I love but they don't know. Other than what I heard watching Little Miss Sunshine, I didn't know much about Devotchka other than the fact that RFC's Kirstiecat is obsessed with them (see her raving review of the show as well as pics here on RFC today), so it was on her recommendation that I went. I have to say it was a really great show that lived up to the promise, and I've already got How It Ends on order from Amazon. They've got a really unique sound (gypsy meets indie rock), a lot of personality and character, and play some really neat instruments (a massive tuba decorated in Christmas lights). Plus I'm always a sucker for the accordion. Nick Uruta's voice is incredible, powerful and aching, the kind that can give you chills, and he's definitely got a great stage presence. It's interesting, I don't feel like this band has been the subject of an excessive amount of buzz (other than the movie I guess), but the show was sold out and packed with serious fans who knew every word, not the slightly disinterested crowd who saw a big indie movie hit like it could have been. Good stuff.

So the big TinyMixTapes redesign that has been in the works for, oh, two+ years is finally complete! Well, not exactly, but complete enough to go live today. It's pretty shocking at first because it is such a change (and we've started advertising!), but once you get used to it I think the new design is really great- clean, fun, very TMT. The editor is still working on fixing all the bugs, getting all the archived material up, etc., but you'll get the picture.

DAMMIT!

I ended up having some writing workship this morning and missed getting online at 10AM for Andrew Bird tickets . . . and it's sold out!

Anyone pick up extras for me? :)

As expected, Pitchfork posted a video of the Colbert bit in case you can't catch it tonight. Nothing is more awesome than Stephen Colbert saying "hyper-literate prog rock."

Brad K alerted me to this total freakish awesomeness: Stephen Colbert takes on the Decemberists. Should be rerun tonight at 7:30!

Here's a funny interview with the Daily Show's Dmitri Martin from the Onion. Check out the badass palindrome at the end.

DJBV alerted me to this article from Slate.com. I love when music critics criticize other critics. Clicking on all the links was fun, too.

I was sad to miss Andrew Bird's Thanksgiving shows this past weekend, but it looks like I've got another chance to see him at the Hideout on January 13. I'm excited to hear new material, as his new album, Armchair Apocrypha, drops March 20. Huzzah!

Decemberists are on Letterman tonight, and Tom Waits is on Jon Stewart in case you're interested.

ABC News picks up on the Malachai Ritscher story like, a month late. Martyr or mentally ill? I'm not hip enough in the experimental music scene to have known who he was before this story came out, and I'm still not sure what I think about the whole thing myself.

Only two shows left after this morning before I take a break for the holidays. I'll find out next week what my time slot will be next semester- we'll see if I stick with Tuesday mornings or get to move on up to the evening. Meanwhile, this morning's show will hopefully record correctly this time and be up tonight.

I thought this was Cat Power!

How not very sad: Liz Armstrong of the Reader's infamous Chicago Antisocial is moving to Vegas.

Happy Turkey Day!

So I make this big deal about all the great new music on the show this morning, and then I get home to discover . . . it didn't record properly. Darnit!!!!! Well, you'll have to trust me and tune in next week instead.

This morning's show has a lot of great new music going on- I was very excited to walk in this morning and see the new Swan Lake, White Magic, Mirah remixes, Andrew Bird's latest Fingerlings, El Perro Del Mar, and more . . .. Some brief notes: the Andrew Bird track, "Dark Matter," is going to be on Armchair Apocrypha, which comes out this spring, so that should give you a little taste of what's to come. Meanwhile, since Swan Lake has three potential vocalists in Spencer Krug, Carey Mercer and Dan Bejar, I picked a track randomly and got . . . Carey Mercer! With spazzy backing vocals by Spencer and Dan! It was really awesome, by the way. I think that album is just going to be all over the place (and I believe it comes out tomorrow, so we'll see for sure then. My copy is in the mail). Also, lots of really great songs by women featured on today's show- glad to see so much new indie music is coming from the ladies!

Oh good God, according to Gapers Block, Thax Douglas has a band, and they're playing at Beat Kitchen tonight. Yikes.

Edit: upon further bored-at-work myspace research, Thax is back in Chicago because New York was too expensive. But he made sure to let us all know how much better New York is in every way.

I saw the movie Stranger Than Fiction last night, and I liked it a lot. It's very odd seeing a movie where the entire score is made up of songs by one of your favorite bands- it was almost entirely instrumental versions of existing Spoon songs! Very cool.

The DIY Trunk Show is happening tomorrow at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse from 10am-4pm, and I'll be staffing the WLUW table from 2pm-4pm. So while you're checking out all the handmade arts and crafts, stop by and say hello!

The other day I caught an old episode of Friends where they're all in Bermuda and Joey and Rachel get together for the first time. I've seen it before, but most definitely did not remember the fact that as Joey runs down the hotel hallway to kiss Rachel, Interpol's "Untitled" was playing. It was so, so wrong.

Radio Free Chicago is promoting another edition of Bandwidth this coming Friday at Subterranean. If you're lucky, I may play a few songs over the speakers in between bands again. More on the bands and what else to expect here.

Totally forgot to mention how I saw Hot Chip this past Friday at the Metro. Don't have too much to say on the show since I forgot my camera and was a bit tipsy on wine, but it was a fun dance party, though I wish the sound had been a bit sharper- their music has a crispness to it that shouldn't be muddied. The singer does, however, suffer from what I'll call the "Junior Boys Syndrome"- i.e. an incredibly sexy voice that turns out to belong to a not-so-sexy man. Hot Chip's front man looks like a dorkier version of Rivers Cuomo, and he was wearing think neon green glasses and some sort of odd multi-colored outfit.

Notes from this morning's show:
-I had the weirdest set of calls ever this morning, and if anyone can decipher them for me, feel free. Right at 6AM some guy called asking if I could do a traffic report on the air for the block of Damen between Augusta and Thomas. He wanted to know if it was clear and specifically wanted a "helicopter report." I was like, ok that's a block long and I have no idea what you're talking about, but whatever, I humored him and that was that. 5 minutes later a different guy called and said he wanted to submit a traffic report, and that the block between Augusta and Thomas on Damen was "all clear." WTF?!??!?! Was I supposed to be giving out secret code over the air or something, like Holly Golightly's weather reports to Sally Tomato?

-The new Joanna Newsom was in rotation, so you can hear the song I raved about from her show in the first hour- it's about 10 minutes long and gorgeous. I'll be stopping by Reckless to pick it up tonight after work.

With yet another band having their equipment stolen and even cancelling their tour as a result, the nerdy, practical accountant in me wonders: considering bands are driving around with tens of thousands of dollars of equipment in crappy old vans, why aren't they insuring their equipment? Personal property insurance is the cheapest insurance out there- a band could buy one less case beer a month and have it covered.

Super pumped about this: Amy Sedaris is swinging through Chicago on her latest book tour. She'll be at the Borders on Michigan Ave. Wednesday, November 29 @ 7PM.

Indie music in commercials watch: Heard the Go Team! in another Civic ad.

Meanwhile, I've been getting more and more into the new Thermals, especially as I pay closer attention to the lyrics. It's about the apocalypse, and they're just really interesting.

Also been getting into the Parenthetical Girls' Safe As Houses. If you've wanted to get into Xiu Xiu but think it's just a tad bit too weird, Parenthetical Girls is a good way to go. Still that bizarre, emotive singing with controversial subject matter, but overall easier to swallow.

Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

Limited pics up now. As you can see, I should have stood on the other side of the stage . . . so you get half of Joanna!

Last night's Joanna Newsom show was incredible. I'll be writing a longer review and posting what few pictures I got later (not only was Joanna blocked by her harp from where I was standing, but my camera ran out of batteries half-way through), but for now a few highlights: after coming out alone and playing a couple of Milk-Eyed Mender favorites, she informed us that her band would be coming out to play her new album in its entirety- from start to finish. Since her album isn't out until next week and I didn't want to download it early, that means I got a preview of a complete album performed LIVE. How fantastic is that? Ys is five songs long, and they proved to be all over the place and really amazing- when I get it next Tuesday, I'm really going to have to sit down and pay attention to everything that's going on in each song, as well as listen to the lyrics and learn more about the stories she's telling (Joanna's lyrics rivals the Decemberists in sheer imagination and bizarreness). Most notable was the third track, which left the band hanging while Joanna played it solo. The song was absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking, and Joanna's harp-playing and expressive facial expressions were mesmerizing- she had this pained look on her face that really made you feel the longing she was singing about. As the last note faded, I swear the entire audience had been holding their breath and let out one big collective sigh. I think a girl behind me burst into tears.

I can't say enough great things about Joanna. I think she's one of the most interesting, talented and unique musicians on the scene. Judging by last night's audience response, I'm not the only one who thinks that either.

Alas I will be passing on K-Fed tonight to see an early Joanna Newsom show at Logan Square Auditorium, which I'm tres excited about. Her supposedly amazing, epic album doesn't come out next week, so I'll get a sneak preview of the material live, and I have high expectations that I'm not too worried about being fulfilled. Joanna rules.

If you want to participate in a true trainwreck of an event, apparently they are giving away tickets to K-Fed's Chicago House of Blues Show today since--shocker--no one is buying tickets. I'm sure Britney is amused by this.

If you tried to listen to the show today in your car and couldn't get the station, it's because there was some technical problems with our antenna. It should be fixed by this afternoon, but for now, the internet is the way to go. Of course, you can always download what you missed later tonight.

To the jerk last night at the Rapture who cut me off from my friends, obnoxiously and unapologetically invaded my personal space over and over again, called me a bitch and (almost) ruined my night:

You suck. First you and your pixie girlfriend squeezed right in front me halfway through the show and just stopped there. Then after I squeezed back through to stand with my friends again, you felt the need to "retaliate" by "dancing" (i.e. flailing about and swinging your girlfriend in my general direction), constantly knocking yourselves into me. You aren't entitled to a 4 ft x 4 ft space at a sold-out show, but instead of trying to provoke you, we just moved over a few feet to give you extra room so we could dance on our own. Of course, the 4x4 square became a 6x6 square, and eventually you started stepping on my feet. I couldn't ignore you any more and had to say, "please stop stepping on my feet. I moved over to give you more room." So you sort of head butted me in the face and said "I wasn't trying to step on your feet. Oh wait, just kidding, I was." So I switched places with my friend to get away from you. Then you told her I was a bitch. I'm sorry, but I'm way too old to be dealing with this shit when I'm just trying to have a good time. Thankfully, said friend told you off and you left (or security made you leave?), though later in the coat check line you seemed to find us again and hiss at us and threaten us some more. Seriously, GROW UP.

Also, you smelled really bad.


To the red-headed, bearded guy in the orange polo dancing in front of me during the Rapture show:

Dude, your moves were totally killer. Watching you shake your booty totally made up for having to deal with the aforementioned jerk.

New Year's eve shows are slowly trickling in, so far nothing really sounds appealing other than possibly Girl Talk at the Empty Bottle. Other options so far: The Redwalls at Schubas, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at Park West, Poi Dog Pondering at the Vic Theatre, The Raconteurs at the Riviera Theatre, Russian Circles at the Beat Kitchen, The Legendary Shack Shakers at the Subterranean, and Umphrey's McGee at the Aragon Ballroom. Only the Double Door left really.

Today I listened to Ugly Cassanova's Sharpen Your Teeth for the first time in a very long while (not having an iPod has forced me to grab random CDs every day- it's funny how I forget what music I have when all my albums are in an electronic list instead of on a rack). Never having paid too much attention to the members of the band other than Isaac Brock in the past, and having been listening to a ton of Califone lately, I was totally surprised to find Tim Rutilli's unmistakable voice on the second track! I had no idea he was a part of the project. Further research showed me that Pall Jenkins from Black Heart Procession was involved too. Crazy.

In other news, I was at the gym today when I heard a mash-up of the Doors "Riders on the Storm" with Blondie's "Rapture." So totally awful, though it sort of made sense.

My iPod died a few weeks ago (RIP). It started skipping songs, clicking and whirring inside the case, and finally sad-Macked on me. According to the Apple IT guy, there's nothing that can be done. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to The Perfect Face for Radio New iPod Fund.

Lesson learned- always pay the $60 a year to extend the warranty, because when it comes down to it, as cool and indispensable as iPod has become for me, it's sort of a crappy product. $300-$400, and it can't even make it two years? Probably because Apple keeps whipping out new versions to stay uber-trendy, without making sure they work that well. If anyone has any suggestions for how to revive my iPod (the ones Apple doesn't want you to know about!) before I get a new one in a few weeks, I'm all ears. So far I've been told to drop it on the floor (started working for about 5 minutes, then died again) and put it in the freezer (haven't tried that one yet). If nothing else works, at least I now get to upgrade from the 40 gig black and white screen to the 80 gig color w/ video and photo! And then spend another month uploading my music collection to the new iPod, because my computer's hard drive is too small for me to keep my entire music collection on it :( Oh well, at least it forces me to take a good look at my music collection and weed out the stuff I haven't listened to in years.

I'm listening to the Books' Thought for Food for the first time in awhile. Every time I listen to it, I remember playing a track from it on the radio show back when I hosted it with DJ Lazer, and him saying "this sounds like the music that plays during King's Quest when your character goes into town." So true, and I think that every time I listen to it now.

Another far more hilarious story about the former TMT writer-slash-stadium bomb hoaxer from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. This one comes with fantastic quotes.

Islands @ Metro

Islands
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

I caught Islands this past Friday at an early, all-ages show at the Metro. Having seen the Unicorns a few years before, I was curious to see how Nick Diamond's latest incarnation of quirky indie-pop would compare on stage. Nick seems to have matured since his days wearing the pink suits and tearing up the small stage hiding behind his thick long hair- I barely recognized him with a normal haircut and a buffed-out bod showcased by the white wifebeater he sported. Joined by six or so bandmembers on stage (all dressed in white), he showed amazing restraint while still energizing the crowd with songs from their debut album, Return to the Sea. My favorite part of the show was the hyper violin-playing displayed by the two violinists, who were a pleasure to watch. Subtitle and Blueprint came out for a rousing rendition of "Where There's a Whale, There's a Whalebone," my favorite song on the album. While the bizarre, crazy antics of the Unicorns seem to have gone by the wayside in favor of a more mature stage show, Islands still put on a good time for all.

I'll be checking out an early show of Islands tonight at the Metro. We'll see how they stack up to the Unicorns, who I saw several years ago and liked very much live.

By now most everyone has seen the Outback Steakhouse commercial that Kevin Barnes of Of Montreal wrote that "Let's Go Outback Tonight" song for. Today I saw another commercial featuring a Kevin Barnes song . . . for NASDAQ. Seriously, car commercials have always been sort of hip, but what does it mean when companies like GEICO and NASDAQ start co-opting my musical tastes? Or are my musical tastes just maturing at the same rate I am? (I was, after all, willingly watching CNBC).

Indie music in commercials watch, courtesy of Dr. D: Tapes 'N Tapes' "Jakov's Suite" in a Nissan commercial! How do I get a job picking music for car commercials?

My Viva Voce review is up now on Radio Free Chicago.

Gob's scooter from Arrested Development is being auctioned over at eBay! Quick, someone loan me $7500 so I can bid for it.

I got my tickets for the early Joanna Newsom show on November 8 at Logan Square Auditorium, and considering they are a whopping $20, this had better be a great show! Not that I'm too worried, considering 1) Joanna Newsom rules, 2) she's going to be bringing along an orchestra of some sort to back her up 3) Her new album, which is only 5 epic songs, is supposed to be fantastic. I heart Joanna!

Looks like Morrissey is doing one lone show in the US this fall, and it's here in Chicago.

Morrissey w/ Kristeen Young
Tuesday, November 21st @ 7:30pm @ the Aragon Ballroom
Tickets on sale Saturday, October 28 at Noon

So word on the street is that the stadium bomb hoaxer was once a tinymixtapes writer! Only the best over at TMT.

Califone @ the Empty Bottle

Califone
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

I caught Califone in their first Chicago show for quite some time last night at the Empty Bottle. They played an incredibly tight set featuring songs mostly from their latest (and amazing) album, Roots and Crowns, but threw in some classic favorites like "Michigan Girls" along the way. And I always get such a kick out of the weird toys Ben Massarella brings along to "play". Their set was so long that by 1:45, when they were really starting to jam out (to the delight of the wanna-be hippies next to me), I had to go home, satisfied that they had played everything I'd wanted to hear. Peter and the Wolf opened with an extremely bizarre set that started with one guy playing quirky love songs on acoustic guitar before a group of friends joined him on stage to do things like shake a skeleton, whack a plastic pumpkin or a water bottle with a drumstick, or actually play a real instrument. Meanwhile, Angela Desveaux's middle set sort of bored me to tears with her run-of-the-mill country-folk songs that I've heard done a million times before.

I also caught Viva Voce and Silversun Pickups at the EB the night before; I didn't take pictures, but fellow RFC writer Kirstiecat did, so I'll post my thoughts on that show this week on RFC along with her pics. But I did want to say two things quick about Viva Voce's lead singer/guitarist Anita Robinson (wife of drummer/guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Robinson): 1) She's an awesome guitar player, and 2) she's dead sexy.

Here's an interesting article from the Washington Post of all places: Why I Gave Up on Hip Hop.

In other news, you'll find me tonight at the Silversun Pickups/Viva Voce show at the Empty Bottle. I think I'll take a rest from the photo-taking for a night to just enjoy myself, but tomorrow's Califone show should find it's way onto the blog in picture form by the end of the weekend.

The Onion's AV Club has an interview this week with the Hold Steady. I'm still undecided about whether or not to see them next Thursday (though who knows, it may be sold out by now).

Meanwhile, the new Califone album is wonderful. I only recently learned that singer Tim Rutilli moved to California! Sad, but I'll still call them local. Can't wait for their show at the Empty Bottle this Saturday!

This TMT story today is fascinating and frightening- ASCAP sued an Oregon restaurant after an ASCAP member in the audience heard a local band play a couple of covers and the restaurant hadn't paid ASCAP for the rights to cover the songs. Seriously?

Beirut review- 10/12/06 @ Empty Bottle

A Hawk and a Handsaw
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

It’s been awhile since I’ve been presented with performances as unique and bizarre as those I saw during this night of worldly tunes. Everything about this show defied my expectations, mostly for the better (save for the weirdly mainstream crowd that constantly yelled stupid things at the bands all night).

One-man band Animal Hospital kicked off with a self-described “economical” set of three fairly long songs. Featuring endless drum and guitar loops with the occasional vocal, Kevin Micka’s music was certainly imaginative and interesting, if not especially remarkable. Still, his style was a good fit for, and a great introduction to, the eccentric stylings of the remaining two bands.

A Hawk and a Handsaw is the work of former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Jeremy Barnes and violinist Heather Trost. I found myself fascinated in watching the thickly-mustachioed musician, who looked like something out of a sepia-colored photo from the 1800s, set up his most unconventional drum kit around his chair; each cymbal, tambourine and drum piece looked like something out of a kindergarten band class. The kicker was when he strapped a drum stick and some bells to his thigh positioned precisely to hit a cowbell when he tapped his foot, and then put on a hat of bells with another drum stick attached, positioned to hit a cymbal that stood to his left. And with that, Jeremy pulled on his accordion and coordinated a striking display of dexterity as he played the drums and tambourines with his feet, the cowbell with his thigh, the accordion with his hands and the cymbal and bells with his head. I couldn’t help but smile every time he flicked his head to the side and then shook it- I don’t think it ever got old. Meanwhile, with Heather on the violin, the two filled the venue with some very pleasant and traditional-sounding instrumentals. After taking a break from the bombast to sing an intense and haunting cover of an old anti-war song, the band wrapped up their performance with Heather jumping into the audience and Jeremy standing at the edge of the stage looking down on her while they serenaded each other back and forth with their respective instruments. Very cute.

Finally, it was time for the eastern waltzes of Beirut. Even though I knew Beirut was primarily the work of 20-year old, I guess I’d forgotten in my old age what 20 actually looks like; I was a little taken aback by how young singer Zach Condon looks, especially since he has such an “old” voice. Not only that, but the nature of the music had me picturing a very shy, introverted loner, not the boisterous kid who took the stage with his trumpet held high over his head as he belted his songs out over the crowd and swiped mouthfuls of Jack Daniels when he thought no one was looking. Adding to the youthfulness on stage, Zach brought along six friends to participate in his backing band, all looking to be barely out of their teens as well. Aside from a few instances of sloppy between-song banter, however, their youth proved to be an asset to the live show as their exuberance breathed new and exciting life into the more mature and sophisticated old-world sounds. Parading onto the stage from the back of the room playing a variety of brass instruments and drums, the band took their places amongst a deluge of instruments and proceeded to spend the next hour having the time of their lives. Peppering a few (really good) new songs amongst the majority of Gulag Orkestar, Zach alternated between blaring his trumpet and singing while his band mates bounced around between ukuleles, violins, keyboards, clarinets, saxophones, accordions, recorders, and pretty much every other instrument you can think of. As the weeknight 2am bar time approached and the sound guy urged the band to wrap up, the young’ns of Beirut defied orders and leaped into the audience to squeeze out two more utterly triumphant fist-pumpers (if you can pump your fist to an accordion), while the audience enthusiastically cheered and danced around them.

CNN on CBGB's last show.

Beirut

Beirut
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

I'm running a bit late on the review of the show since I've had a busy weekend and I'm writing a full-length piece for Tinymixtapes, but I got the pictures up and wanted to share them. The ones where Zach & Co. jumped into the audience are the best. Full review hopefully up tomorrow!

The Beirut show last night at the Empty Bottle was entertaining, bizarre, and oddly fascinating for many reasons. Pictures and a full-length review coming this weekend.

My goodness, the new Hold Steady album I bought on Insound came with a whole comic book illustrating the song lyrics. I'm a big Hold Steady fan, so hopefully this album will stand up to the last one. I won't let Pitchfork's excessive Hold Steady coverage lately (I mean really, both a live review, tour news and concert photos in one week?) taint my listening experience.

*UPDATE: After listening to the album for 10 seconds, my comments are that 1) Craig Finn actually sings, and 2) it sounds a lot like Bruce Springsteen.

It looks like the Double Door's big Halloween bash (local bands "dress up" as famous bands, with Local H headlining every year) has expanded to two days, Friday and Saturday the 27th and 28th. I think I'd be most interested to see May or May Not as Daft Punk.

I discovered this section of CNN.com and it sort of makes me sad. Please, take the "How indie are you?" quiz, then cry.

Junior Boys pictures are up!

Even though I was at the Empty Bottle on a Sunday night and the two opening bands just enhanced my desire to go to bed, the Junior Boys definitely did not disappoint. Having seen them twice before as an opener, the opportunity to headline seemed to give the Boys added confidence and to show off singer Jeremy Greenspan's wit and personality. Oh, the irony of a band that makes such sublimely sexy music being fronted by a man so supremely un-sexy. But oh, his smooth voice was just as hot in person as it is on record. With a live drummer in tow this time around, the boys played exactly the set list I would have chosen, featuring a large chunk of their latest, So This Is Goodbye and throwing in the best of their debut, Last Exit ("Teach Me How to Fight," "Under the Sun" and a fantastic rendering of "Birthday," my fav of the night). They alternated between the uptempo dance-inducers like "The Equalizer" and the calmer, more soothing tracks like "So This Is Goodbye." In between songs (and when technical difficulties ensued), Jeremy regaled the audience with funny tour stories, like having to constantly hear "that guy" yell out "Canada" at every show, and how their big plans for a multimedia light show failed and left them with nothing but a neon sign that said "Junior Boys." Overall, a quality show.

Ok, I had to work late last night and didn't have time to upload Junior Boys pics yet. Expect them either this morning (took the morning off!) or tonight.

I made my triumphant return to the Empty Bottle last night after over a year away with a great show by the Junior Boys. Pictures and details will be up tonight. The Empty Bottle and I will be seeing a lot more of each other in the next couple weeks to make up for the lost time, including Beirut this Thursday, the Silversun Pickups/Viva Voce next Friday and Califone next Saturday.

I also picked up the new Califone and Decemberists albums this weekend, more thoughts on those after I listen to them more.

Bandwidth Pics

DJ LA Jesus
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

The pictures I took from last Friday's RFC launch party are up now on the photoblog. The event itself was a great success, with All City Affairs, Coltrane Motion and Skybox playing to good-sized crowds and DJ LA Jesus playing a great set of music in the funniest DJ get up I've ever seen. Check 'em out!

Expect lots of great pictures next week from tonight's launch party and the Junior Boys show at the Empty Bottle on Sunday night. I'll also be checking out Beirut at the Empty Bottle next Thursday, so there'll be a full review and more photos from that show to look forward to as well.

Nothing's finalized, but if you're lucky, I may do a quickie DJ set between bands tomorrow at the RFC Launch Party. Come early! I'll take requests! (though they will have to be from the, like, 10 CDs I bring with me, haha)

Fellow WLUW DJ Eric Lab Rat is on the hunt to make a hilarious compilation. See what he has to say below, and if you're interested in helping out, email him at ericlabratt(at)hotmail(dot)com.


I'm putting together a compilation of noise, experimental, and punk covers of Chicago's favorite undercover weirdo, R. Kelly (perhaps the only Chicagoan ever to release a multiplatinum gospel album and a golden shower video in the same year)

My goal is to release
Ain't Nothin Wrong With a Little Bump and Grindcore
as a website and DVD-R some time in early 2007

I've started to get some tracks in, but I'm still looking for more bands, as well as artists and eventually, people to make videos . Most of the bands are from Chicago, but I'm open to submissions from anyone, anywhere.

By that same token, while the compilation will have a focus on punk, hardcore, experimental and noise music, it is not limited to those genres. Anything from bubblegum to folk to doo-wop to trance will be considered. The point of this album is not to make a bunch of novelty songs but to create a fittingly weird tribute to a very odd, pop-character.

Hit me up if you're interested.
Thanks,
ELR

P.S. Everybody wants to do Trapped in the Closet. It's taken. Sorry.

Don't forget that Radio Free Chicago's launch party is happening this Friday at the Kinetic Playground. Headliners Skybox are getting a lot of buzz, including a big endorsement from my favorite celeb gossip blogger, Perez Hilton. Random, who knew he plugged indie bands when not ripping on Nicole Ritchie's skeletal girl-body? Check out Skybox's myspace page for some scarily catchy tunes. Should be a good show!

Lot's of local music happenin' on this morning's show- great stuff from Chin Up Chin Up, Califone, May or May Not, the Changes, the Lonesome Organist, possibly more? Podcast will be posted tonight as usual.

Also, whoever stole my headphone adapter from my mailbox at the station- not cool dude, not cool.

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Thunderbirds Are Now!
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

I caught an early show with Thunderbirds Are Now! Friday night and caught a few pics for the photoblog. Beat Kitchen has become a pretty impressive venue- great sound and a very well-lit stage that makes it incredibly easy to take good pictures without flash! The only difficulty this time was getting the band to stand still long enough to snap a non-blurry photo- TAN! is about as high-energy as it gets. They played a lot of older favorites like "Eat This City" and "This World Is Made of Paper," as well as debuted some new tunes from their forthcoming album, Make History. A good time, as always.

This is odd- a fake Dr. Octagon record?

My goodness, Robert Pollard already has another solo album on the way. I was a modest GBV fan, but can anyone tell me that stuff he's writing now sounds in any way different from stuff he wrote 1, 2, 6 years ago?

Thunderbirds Are Now at Beat Kitchen this Friday! All ages early show- come hang out with me and the high school crowd :) .

Emily Haines and the Soft Skeletons: "Our Hell." Wow.

Are you an unsigned musician/band? Head over to Salon.com's music column, Audiofile, where they're conducting a search for the best song no one's heard yet. Send them an mp3 and celebrity judges (like Chris Walla) help choose the winner, who gets $5,000 (two second-place prizes of $1,000 are also awarded). Worth a shot!

Radio Free Chicago is having a party to celebrate the launch of a new website design, and I will be there partying it up with the crew. It's October 6 at the Kinetic Playground- more info here.

Indie music in commercials watch (courtesy of Dave P): Explosions in the Sky for Cadillac!

Good lineup tonight at Sonotheque if you're still looking for something to do tonight:

Deadelus @ Sonotheque

Telefon Tel Aviv present: "Histoire De Melodie" + XLR8R 100th Issue
Release Party

Special performances by:

DAEDELUS -Live- [Mush, Ninja Tune, Plug Research, Alpha Pup, Laboratory Instinct, Eastern Dev -- Los Angeles]

MILOSH -Live- [Plug Research -- Los Angeles]

TELEFON TEL AVIV -DJ tag team set- [HEFTY Records -- Chicago]

showtime: 9p-2a // ages: 21+ // $10 admission // RSVP list - FREE before
9:30pm, email ray@heftyrecords.com

Sponsored by XLR8R, Unscene, Meiotic Promotions, Abstract Science (WLUW/88.7
FM), Approaching Serpents

“Histoire De Melodie” is TTA’s event residency, showcasing only the best international musical talent mixed with classic film works. This month’s film spotlight is on filmmaker Jean Luc-Godard. We are also celebrating the
100th issue of XLR8R Magazine. XLR8R will be sharing in the celebration with free XLR8R clothing giveaways from Puma, along with free copies of the latest issue of XLR8R for those who arrive early.

Head over to the Apartment tomorrow and try out for the next Real World! OMG, I'M TOO OLD!!!

From the inbox this morning: a hilarious list made by freak-folkie Wooden Wand, of the extremely prolific Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice.


Top 10 Misconceptions and Things You Didn’t Know About Wooden Wand.

10. Wooden Wand’s move to Tennessee from New York was merely a lifestyle choice and had nothing to do with his work. It has had no bearing on his music what-so-ever, so please quit asking. People move - it's not a big deal.

09. He does not, at present time, practice any particular religion exclusively. He considers himself a Zen nihilist barbarian.

08. He listens to a lot more Steely Dan than Pink Floyd, and doesn't much care for Skip Spence's solo work at all.

07. He is an avid gun enthusiast, and is a life member of both the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America.

06. He is often criticized for releasing too much music, but certain bands have released many more 'official' releases in as much time without the critical scrutiny heaped upon our humble hero Wand. Besides, no one said you had to buy all the records. Wand believes that being a musician and writing and releasing a mere ten songs a year is like being a carpenter and taking a decade to erect a birdhouse. His words, not ours, so please don't hate us, Scott Walker or Kate Bush. Y’all are great.

05. He is happily married to the goddess Satya Sai of the Vanishing Voice, who, by the way, does 90% of the vocals in said band, despite what most reviews claim, and is, FYI, the 'girl' on the cover of Hush Arbors' recent “messterpiece” Landscape of Bone.

04. His extended family includes late actor Vincent Gardenia, Chicago Cubs general manager (and former Met) Ed Lynch, “Desperate Housewives”’ Andrea Bowen, and Type-O Negative's Peter Steele.

03. He shares little of the flawed utopian philosophies of his immediate contemporaries. He does not eat hummus and, on most days, he really doesn't much give a shit where you drill.

02. He's been considering writing a novel and has recently switched from bourbon to tequila for this upcoming tour.

01. Scott Ian of Anthrax once lectured a 12-year-old Wand that he was “too young to be smoking joints.” He was right. (They totally got high together anyway).

The White Stripes on the Simpsons

Haha, as expected, the Youtube videos I kept trying to post suddenly showed up all at once this morning. Here it is again!

I've been trying to post this video of White Stripes' appearance on the Simpsons directly to the blog all day, but it just doesn't seem to want to show up. Oh well, here it is in link form. It's so awesome, especially considering the Simpsons ceased to be funny years ago.

Some more insights into Cat Power via this New York Times article, including her alcoholism, hospital stay, and the fact that Matador actually INSURED her spring tour in case she freaked out again.

One more quick post for the morning: my Cat Power review is up now on Radio Free Chicago. Love the job Brad did linking to the photos throughout the article, and especially check out the link to the Slate article on the epidemic of Gnarls Barkley covers!

Had a few technical difficulties this morning, which no matter how long I do radio, I can't seem to get away from! So don't be too upset when Built to Spill cuts off early (the CD player just stopped out of nowhere, I swear!) and you hear a mash-up of Richard Buckner and Swan Lake. But they will be more than made up for by the utter fabulousness that was the new Rapture track I played, and the gorgeous Grizzly Bear remix of Of Montreal. Podcast up tonight!

Everything about this is funny.

Cat Power

Cat Power
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

My pics from the Cat Power show are up now on the flickr photoblog. My full review will be up this week on Radio Free Chicago- I'll link to it then!

Indie songs in commercials watch: Just caught a track from Erlend Oye's DJ Kicks in a . . . GEICO commercial?

Looking to get into some new local music? Check out the Driftless Pony Club and May or May Not this Saturday at the Hideout, where they'll both be celebrating the release of new material- Cholera for DPC and an E.P. called Bike for MOMN. The Life During Wartime DJs will spin after the show.

Saw Cat Power last night at the Vic. Girl's CRAZY. A full review and pictures coming up, probably tomorrow.

What would you think if I said I wanted the new Justin Timberlake?

I think I'm glad festival season is over.

As promised, this morning's show is up for downloading. Taking the morning off after my show was the awesomest thing ever. I even got some Young and the Restless in. Can you believe Nick divorced Sharon and is now engaged to Phyllis, and Sharon is shacking up with Jack? OMG!

Meanwhile, every album ever is out today.

Touch and Go Festival

Touch and Go
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

Well, I only really made it for two bands, Ted Leo and Calexico, but it was worth it. Ted Leo was spry and energetic, playing mostly new stuff that sounded a lot like the old stuff. "Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone" was the definite highlight of the Ted Leo set. I'm bummed there wasn't any blood this time though.

Calexico closed out Sunday night and played a great set featuring every song I would have wanted to them to playing, including a jammed-out version of "Not Even Stevie Nicks," "Sunken Waltz," a passionate and awesome "All Systems Red," and perennial crowd favorite "Alone Again Or." Singer Joey Burns voice is so just smooth, could listen to it all day.

My pics of the event are pretty poor do to the fact it was dark and I was too lazy to try to get much closer. I hit up the Zero 7/Jose Gonzalez show Saturday night as well; pictures are up on the photoblog but limited as well for the same reasons as Touch and Go.

The weekend weather kept me away from some of my Touch and Go time, but I did see Ted Leo on Friday and Calexico on Saturday. Pictures and more will be up tonight.

I'm also taking the morning off from work tomorrow to go back to bed after my radio show for once- expect the show to be up earlier than usual!

The new Grizzly Bear album does, indeed, rule. Stream it in it's entirety here. Pay special attention to "The Knife"- it's a fantastic song.

It seems like all the best music comes out in the fall. I was just lamenting over how few albums I've really latched on to this year, and then suddenly great stuff comes pouring out in September- Junior Boys, TV on the Radio, Rapture, Grizzly Bear, M. Ward. My favorite albums of last year both came out late in the year, Wolf Parade and Animal Collective. There's plenty of time for this year to redeem itself!

Commericals-featuring-indie-music watch: Heard the National's "Secret Meeting" on a Saturn Hybrid SUV commercial.

In other news, I checked out the new Thermals album, The Body, the Blood, the Machine, in its entirety last night. I consider myself a Thermals fan, but admit their music has never had that much depth. This album is far more developed musically than the last, and I haven't taken the time to listen carefully to the political message of the songs. I'd definitely say it's their best album, but I'm still not sure it's got a whole lot of staying power- as in, will I still be listening to it five years from now?

Though not shocking by any means, Myspace is now getting into digital music sales. Myspace sort of scares me.

I saw Little Miss Sunshine this past weekend, and in addition to having a funnier dance scene than Napoleon Dynamite, I was also surprised by the indie soundtrack- not only did a couple of Sufjan songs make the movie ("Chicago," "No Man's Land"), but apparently the movie was scored by Devotchka. I've heard good things about Devotchka but have yet to check them out; after hearing their stuff in the movie I'm definitely going to have to.

Last night I dreamt that the Touch and Go Festival was held at my old high school. Pharrell and Shaq were there, and there was also a bouncy castle and a dunk tank. I think my mind confused the festival with my company picnic, which is also this weekend. My coverage of the festival will be limited to Ted Leo and !!! Friday night and a few bands Sunday night, as Saturday is already booked with the aforementioned picnic and the Zero 7/Jose Gonzalez show at Park West that night.

BTW, yesterday's show is up and podcast-able!

Here's a review from Salon.com about a book written by a neuroscientist/former record producer (!) that examines the how our love of music affects the brain (note: you may have to watch a 15-second commercial to read the article).

I'm back from my vacation, refreshed and ready to start back up the radio show tomorrow morning! Expect a two-hour set chock-full of brand new music and summer discoveries.

After saying I hadn't taken more than a few days off from the blog since I started, I'm now about to take it a step further and leave the blog for a week! I'll be taking a long-awaited tropical vacation starting this Sunday, returning just in time to start up the radio show again on the morning of Tuesday, September 5. Any other PFFR blog members can feel free to post something interesting while I'm gone, otherwise, I'll be back in September!

I don't usually like music articles that get excessively personal, but for some reason I really liked this one from Pitchfork today. I think it's because it reminds me of another tale of adolescent musical discovery that I thoroughly enjoyed, Joe Meno's Hairstyles of the Damned. It also really put me in the mood to listen to the Smiths.

Salon.com has an article up today asking a group of people to make up their idea of the ideal television show. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats takes up the challenge. Speaking of, the new Mountain Goats album is out today and apparently only those who've had their heart ripped into a million pieces and stomped all over will "get it." Take that, happy people!

Apparently the Rapture has updated their music video for "Get Myself Into It" since Jessica Simpson stole their video idea. From their PR firm:

"You may have seen the new Rapture video floating around last week for “Get Myself Into It” – well that wasn’t the correct version so let me give you the right one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFACpd4ow64

In this version you will find a nice blonde female skating around with some ice cream that remarkably resembles Jessica Simpson in her “A Public Affair” video. I hope you enjoy this addition that they made to the video."

Don't worry, DJ Lazer is still in it doing his white tornado and showing off his biceps :) . They also sent along a remix version of the song:

The Rapture - Get Myself Into It (Prince Language Disco Edit)

Here's a great show I will definitely be hitting up:

October 6: The Long Winters w/ Menomena and What Made Milwaukee Famous @ Subterranean.

Menomena and WMMF were both just signed by Barsuk Records, also home to the Long Winters. Barsuk showcase! Menomena has a new record on the way and this should be a great place to debut it.

A couple years ago I interned at a small booking agency in town called Billions, which represented dozens of great indie bands like the New Pornographers, Calexico, Constantines, and more. I thought I'd check out their webpage today to see how they were doing, and my goodness, has that company blown up- it looks like it's merged with a couple other agencies, expanded a Seattle office, added new employees and taken on dozens of new artists. I'm going to guess their real success started once they took on a then-little known band called, um, the Arcade Fire. Opening for U2 has to do good things for the bottom line, right? It's nice to see a little upstart indie music business doing so well!

Just got the new Asobi Seksu album, Citrus, in the mail, and so far it is quite enjoyable. Very ethereal sound with some of those high, cutesy Japanese female vocals that seem to pepper every Japanese female-fronted band (Deerhoof, Enon), not that that's a bad thing. Check out a couple tracks here.

New Rapture Music Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s66kkoJQMIg

Great song featuring some of New York City's finest dance skaters... and me.

0:31: In focus with the short shorts doing the "white tornado"
1:27-1:32 In the corner with the biceps
3:28-3:30 In the back left of the crowd clapping

Enjoy!

If I was interested in commercial radio at all, this would be a very interesting site. It still is, regardless.

September 12 is a hot date for highly anticipated album releases- new stuff from the Junior Boys, TV on the Radio, the Rapture, the Black Keys, Yo La Tengo- how will the big review sites handle it? I already have my pre-orders in for the Junior Boys and TV on the Radio through Insound.com, where both of them were available for pre-order at under $10. Why shop in brick and mortar shops (as they say in business school) anymore when you can have albums delivered right to your door on the day they come out?

Here's a Tinymixtapes article we put up today where one of our writers had his class of Houston 9th/10th graders write reviews on random indie albums. Very cute.

I don't think I'm going to like the new DJ Shadow album.

Wolf Parade/Frog Eyes

Wolf Parade
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

Wolf Parade/Frog Eyes pics are up now on the photoblog! Overall, it was a good show, though it can't possibly compare to their Schubas show last year, which was almost perfect. A little sloppier with less-than-perfect sound, the band still kept the energy high, played a couple of songs we weren't treated to at Schubas ("Grounds for Divorce," "Killing Armies"), and heard a few new tunes, one that involved keyboardist Spencer Krug taking his turn at an acoustic guitar. Frog Eyes were totally on, meanwhile, playing many of the new songs I heard them debut at their Schubas show a few weeks ago, all which sounded just as great. Their general attitude was marked different than that Schubas show, where Carey Mercer just seemed angry and annoyed that his headlining band played to a much smaller crowd than opener Sunset Rubdown. With a full crowd cheering him on this time around, however, he seemed to have a newfound sense of confidence, keeping the self-deprecating comments to a minimum and even asking to play for five more minutes.

Here's a thought for a tour this fall: Wolf Parade / Frog Eyes / Sunset Rubdown / Swan Lake. Krug overload? I think not!

The good people at Chicagoist did a rundown of local blogs, and look who showed up on it! My beloved Tiny Mix Tapes also got a shout out- I think having four or five Chicago writers makes us sort of local, right?

Brad over at Radio Free Chicago posted this utterly hilarious picture related to his recent Pitchfork beef, and I just about fell out of my chair at work from laughing. That is a quality piece of Photoshop work if I ever saw one.

Cat Power has finally rescheduled her Chicago date at the Vic for September 13!

As expected, the Junior Boys' new album got a Best New Music tag. Too bad it isn't out until September 12. I really hate it when they review albums that far in advance- it's like they want to be sure they are on the front end of the hype, but it probably just encourages illegal downloading. Anyhoo, catch them Sunday, October 8 at the Empty Bottle- buy tickets quick!

And the summer of Krug continues with a new Swan Lake track! It's very nice.

And what a great promo photo:

A good article from the New Yorker about the Boredoms, where vocalist Eye tells a hilarious story about having some of his artwork stolen from a Tokyo art gallery.

Here's an interesting looking tour: Architecture in Helsinki w/ Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Who's opening for who?

Thu 09/28 - New York NY @ Central Park Summerstage
Fri 09/29 - Bennington VT @ Bennington College
Sat 09/30 - Philadelphia PA @ Trocadero
Sun 10/01 - Cleveland OH @ House of Blues
Mon 10/02 - Chicago IL @ Vic Theatre
Tue 10/03 - Chicago IL @ Vic Theatre
Wed 10/04 - Minneapolis MN @ First Avenue
Thu 10/05 - Omaha NE @ Sokol Underground
Fri 10/06 - Englewood CO @ Gothic Theatre
Sat 10/07 - Boulder CO @ Boulder Theater
Sun 10/08 - Salt Lake City UT @ In The Venue - Small Room
Tue 10/10 - Seattle WA @ Showbox
Wed 10/11 - Seattle WA @ Showbox
Thu 10/12 - Portland OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Fri 10/13 - San Francisco CA @ Warfield Theatre
Sat 10/14 - Los Angeles CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
Sun 10/15 - Los Angeles CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre

Wolf Parade and Frog Eyes tonight at the Metro! Hopefully more details and some pics later this week.

Forgot to mention I'd be out of town from Wednesday to today . . . probably the longest time I've been away from the blog since it start, sadly enough!

Strange news from the packed inbox that awaited me:

Johnny Marr Joins Modest Mouse

While reports of a glittering white unicorn trotting
down Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg are still
unverified, Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock has
confirmed a similarly mythical rumor: Former Smiths
guitarist Johnny Marr is now a permanent part of the
Pacific-Northwest band.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Brock said Marr
"made a cautious commitment to write and record with
us, and then the tighter we got, he was like 'okay,
let's tour too.'"

Modest Mouse, with newby Marr, will tour in support of
their forthcoming album, We Were Dead Before The Ship
Even Sank, which Marr helped write and record.

Brock told Rolling Stone that after the decision to
have Marr tour with the Modest Mouse, "he was pretty
much a member of the band—not pretty much. He's a full
blown member of the band. It's really f***in' nice."

Who's up for seeing the Human League???? Sept. 29 in Wicker Park, oh yeah!

Cat Power Performance

Cat Power performed on David Letterman and didn't break down crying- she even did the chicken dance! She sure is purdy.

Even though I'm not too sad I'm missing Pitchfork this weekend, I am a bit bummed to be missing the Pitchfork pre-party at the Metro on Friday with Sunset Rubdown. Luckily, my Spencer Krug needs will be satiated in a few weeks with a double dose at the Wolf Parade/Frog Eyes show at the Metro on August 7 and8. And what's this? Spencer's next side project is coming out in November? It's the summer of Krug!

Today Pitchfork posted an mp3 of the Junior Boys song they reviewed so highly a while ago and called it "an obvious standout on a record packed with them." It is, indeed, an awesome song. Album's out August 17th!

The WLUW ebay auction is live now here and runs until August 1. Spread the word!

Sadly I won't be making it to the Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend (or any of the week-long festivities, for that matter) due to out-of-town plans, so I won't be joining in the usual bevy of festival coverage (not that you won't have enough as it is). To be honest, though, I'm not all that into the lineup this year anyway. I mean, it is a good line-up and all, but there aren't any bands that I haven't either seen very recently (the National, Tapes 'N Tapes, Band of Horses), seen at least 5 times already (Spoon), don't care to see at all (Destroyer and Yo La Tengo, both very boring live IMHO), will get to see in the next couple months (Mountain Goats at the Empty Bottle in September, Ted Leo at the Touch and Go festival), or admittedly never heard of before now (Os Mutantes). Plenty of great bands, yes, some that I really love in fact, but at the same time they're all bands that are touring the city pretty heavily these days. Other than Os Mutantes and maybe Jens Lekman, there's no one that's making a rare appearance that usually makes a festival really exciting.

Or maybe I'm just getting old and I weigh the decision of using up an entire weekend of potential free time more heavily this year than I did last because last summer I was unemployed and could take a day or two to recover from the heat and the standing and the partying, and this year I have a day job and have to get up at 6:45 every morning! Sigh, the rock and roll lifestyle sure is hard when you wear a suit.

New design is up now! Feel free to take a second to look it over and let me know what you think, as well as if there are any bugs or if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

AirTap!

Check out this musician out of Montreal with some mad acoustic guitar skills.

Awhile ago I mentioned another WLUW benefit that was coming up, the Ebay auction. It starts next Monday, the 24th, and runs through August 4th. Among the many items up for acution include: a Jon Langford/Sally Timms artwork guitar, a brand new Lakland bass, great signed, screen-printed posters, one-of-a-kind artwork, etc. The link to the auction will be posted to the WLUW homepage on Monday morning; I'll be sure to link to it then!

There's a pretty cool series of concerts coming up in a few big cities around the country called the Revenge of the Book Eaters series. It's sponsored by McSweeneys and the money benefits children's literacy via the 826 projects the publication has going. The Chicago concert lineup isn't bad:

August 24 @ Park West: 826 Chicago Benefit featuring Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Dave Eggers, ZZ Packer and John Roderick of the Long Winters (VERY funny man); hosted by Ira Glass.

But some of the other ones are better:

August 23: 826 NYC Benefit featuring Sufjan Stevens, David Byrne, Jon Stewart, Jon Roderick, Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, John Hodgman

August 26: 826 LA Benefit featuring Jenny Lewis, Aimee Mann, Dave Eggers, Mark Kozelek, Sarah Vowell, The Mountain Goats and John Roderick; Hosted by Andy Richter

But some aren't as good either:

August 28: 826 Valenica Benefit featuring Aimee Mann, Jonathon Richman, Dave Eggers and Sarah Vowell; hosted by Patton Oswsalt.

September 1: 826 Seattle Benefit featuring Stephen Merritt, Daniel Handler, Dave Eggers and Sarah Vowell; hosted by John Hodgman and Jonathon Coulton

September 7: 826 Michigan Benefit featuring Dave Eggers, Davy Rothbart and The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

Looking for something fun to do on Sunday? Check out the WLUW benefit at the home of acting troupe the Neofuturists, 5153 N. Ashland. From 1-5:30PM, see live bands including J+J+J, Piglet and Sazerac. At 7PM the Neofuturists will do their regular Sunday night performance of the popular "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind." $15 for everything, and a portion of the proceeds benefit WLUW!

The second round of tinymixtapes favorites of the year so far are up on the Insound weekly newsletter and are also 15% off. These are the weirder ones I'm less familiar with.

Are record stores only for old fogeys now?

DJ Ted Stevens Techno Remix: "A Series of Tubes"

amillionmonkeys alerted me to this techno remix of Senator Ted Stevens' recent (totally ridiculous) speech about the internet, and I found a video for it on YouTube. Hilarious!

Being really busy at work has made it hard to blog about music these past couple days. Back at full-strength next week!

Lots of reviews for Sufjan's new album of Illinois outtakes, The Avalanche, say the songs aren't as good as the ones on Illinois. Well, duh. Isn't that the point of an outtakes album? Wouldn't it be wrong if the best songs didn't make it on the album? As far as typical b-side albums go (which I usually avoid like the plague because, again, if a song is really good it should have ended up on the real album, right?), this one is definitely above average.

I finally picked up the new Hot Chip album, "The Warning," and it definitely does not disappoint. Downtempo, yet danceable electronica with oh-so-smooth vocals. "(Just Like We) Breakdown" is the sexiest dance track I've heard since the Junior Boys' "Under the Sun".

I have alarmingly heard from several normally trustworthy, independent-minded music sources that some people are guiltily enjoying the new Paris Hilton single. I have accepted my love of Britney Spear's "Toxic," and I've always like Kelly Clarkson, so my passion for "Since You've Been Gone" was totally guilt-free. But if I were to find I liked anything that spewed forth from the mouth of the vile and disgusting Paris Hilton, I just don't know how I could live another day. Thankfully, I finally heard the song/saw the video today, and I can emphatically say I really don't like it. Crisis averted!

I'm very excited to announce that after far too many years, the PFFR website is finally getting a redesign! I've got a great designer working on it as I type this (since my web skills ended with what you see now), so look for a whole new, much-improved look in time for the radio show to start up again in the fall!

Apparently Thax Douglas is moving to New York and having some farewell "shows" before he leaves. I'll be intrigued to see how the New York concert scene welcomes him . . .

Insound.com has a weekly newsletter, and this week's features the Tinymixtapes staff's picks for the best albums of the year so far. We didn't pick these scientifically, just basically took a quick poll, but I made sure my favorite album so far, Sunset Rubdown's Shut Up I Am Dreaming made the list. All albums on the list are 15% off until July 5. Check out next week's list too, which will feature 10 of the site's favorite experimental albums so far (most of which I've never heard of, of course).

What's this? The largest concert promoter in the country, Live Nation, just bought out the second-largest concert promoter in the country, House of Blues. Haven't heard of Live Nation? It used to be called "Clear Channel Entertainment," but media monolith of evil Clear Channel changed the name recently, probably to escape the negative connations that now come with the words "Clear Channel." And so their ever-growing reign of the entertainment world increases yet again.

As hard as I may try, I know I will never be as cool as the girls of Smoosh. 12 and 14-year-old sisters who write and play their own (pretty good!) songs, are signed to a prominent indie label and are already on their second album? Can't touch that. Stream some of the songs from their new album here.

Harry and the Potters are playing an all-ages show at Beat Kitchen this Saturday, with Draco and the Malfoys to open. Seriously, this is so cool- two brothers dressed like Harry Potter singing about wizards in classic rock form. Buy tickets here. Accio, rock!*






*Yes, I'm a huge dork.

I think every band that gets a scathing Pitchfork review should make a video that expresses their feelings about it. Almost as good as the "artist list" David Cross wrote for the site last year.

According to this a Jeff Buckley biopic is being planned. Sign me up.

The tinymixtape kids have been hyping up the album Drowning in a Sea of Love by British electronic artist Nathan Fake, so I took the bait and bought it (import only, unfortunately). It's pretty good electronica in the vein of M83 and Mum. Opening track "Stops" is especially fantastic; it has this cool breathing noise that goes on and off throughout the entire track. Worth checking out!

I realized today that I haven't been to the Empty Bottle in a year. I used to go there practically every week when I first moved there, but lately all the great shows have been at Schubas or the Metro (or a music festival). But the Bottle and I will be reunited again when Beirut comes in August. Will it remember me?

Meanwhile, I'm very angry at Will Oldham, aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy, for scheduling a free summer "tour" of record shops and stopping in Madison and Milwaukee, but not Chicago. He has a new album coming out that had better be supported by a proper Chicago stop, or I'll be very upset.

Happy birthday to me . . . to be celebrated by seeing Seu Jorge in Milennium Park tonight. Let's hope for some Bowie covers!

Check out the awesome poster I bought at Intonation:



I love it!

This just in . . . Sleater-Kinney are breaking up! Or at least going on one of those "indefinite hiati" (if "hiati" is even a word). Oh well, it would be nearly impossible for them to top last year's "The Woods."

Intonation Coverage- Day One


Check out this video that Brad from RFC took from Chromeo's set, then head over to RFC for our coverage of the first day of Intonation.

Best Intonation Photo Yet

Wu-Tang Bitches!!
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

Obviously during Wu-Tang. Click on the pic and read the comment someone left- now that's funny. More crowd pics like this on the photoblog (taken by another RFC staffer, not me).

I should also add some of the things from this weekend I could have done without:

1. The emcees that "introduced" the bands. Apparently they were from some Vice TV pseudo-reality show, but they were obnoxious idiots that didn't seem to understand why everyone in the audience groaned when they got on stage, booed them and made constant calls for them to shut up. Seeing grown men in diapers, ripped up batman suits, tighty-whities and speedos humping each other on stage for 10 minutes is not necessary when you're waiting to see Jose Gonzalez- doesn't really set the tone for some moving folk music.
2. Sparks, the new alcoholic energy drink that sponsored the festival, is officially the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted. It looks equally gross. I'd rather drink cough syrup.
3. The "9/11 was an inside job" guy that terrorized everyone in the crowd on Saturday and was later seen yelling his conspiracy theory at the cars on Ashland at the end of the night. I didn't see him on Sunday, so I'm guessing he ended up in detox somewhere along the way.

Intonation Photos

The Constantines
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

Pictures from this past weekend's Intonation festival are up now on the photoblog, and thanks to the glory of the photo pass, are up close and personal! I'll be working with the RFC crew to put together some in-depth coverage of the festival and will link to it when it's up.

Some quick highlights:
-Robert Pollard, now totally gray-haired but still drinking his liquor straight from the bottle, throwing in my all-time favorite Guided by Voices song, “Game of Pricks.”
-The total rocking-ness of the Constantines, whose 30-minute allotment was far, far too short.
-The Streets totally ruled my world. Mike Skinner’s performance was so tight and his between-song (and in-song) banter so effortless, it almost seemed scripted. He even threw in a few verses of the Arctic Monkeys’ “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor” and the Pussycat Dolls “Dontcha” into opener “Prangin’ Out.” Hilarity ensued.

Pleasant surprise of the festival: the Boredoms. A Japanese avant-garde band championed by the experimental kids over at tinymixtapes, I wasn’t sure I’d be into this band, but I was totally wrong. Featuring three drummers in a circle and a crazy long-haired keyboardist/vocalist, all clad in neon-colored t-shirts, the drumming was incredible and almost exhausting to watch, especially after the 30-minute marathon song that was the centerpiece of their hour-long set. I don’t know know if I could listen to their music on a daily basis, but it sure was a treat to watch.

More to come!

While at Intonation this weekend, be on the lookout for fliers from a new local news website called chitowndailynews.org. They plan on covering the festival, and the flier will have pictures I took from last year's weekend on it. Rock on!

If you like the Mountain Goats (or saddish indie-folk in general), please check out the mp3 for this song Pitchfork posted today, "Woke Up New." It's the sweetest, saddest break-up song I've heard since Feist's "Let It Die."

I have acquired a photo pass for Intonation due to some comprehensive coverage I'll be doing with Radio Free Chicago. So even if my new camera doesn't come by Saturday, expect at least some closer shots that I would get otherwise, if not better quality!

Radiohead @ the Auditorium Theatre

Radiohead
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

Pictures of last night's Radiohead show are now up on the photoblog!

The show was, of course, wonderful. I'd seen Radiohead 3 times earlier, all in massive outdoor settings, so to see them in a relatively "intimate" venue like the Auditorium Theatre (from the orchestra, no less!) was a real treat. While nothing can possibly compare to the legendary Grant Park show in 2001, what made this one special was the fact that it was the first time I'd ever heard Radiohead debut brand new material live. Something like nine songs in their two-hour set were previews of potential tracks from their upcoming album, and their sound varied from some sort of rap number to a beautiful ballad featuring Thom on the piano (the one floating around the internet on You Tube at the moment). The rest of the set list was also much different from the last three times seeing them, eschewing typical concert favorites like "Paranoid Android" and "Idiotheque" for mellower fare like "Climbing Up the Walls" and "Airbag." After pleasing the crowd with a first encore including "My Iron Lung" and "The Bends," Radiohead took a second encore and went out with a bit of a whimper- a new song and "The Tourist," a far too chill way to end a show.

Meanwhile, take a look at the pictures to get a sense of the the lighting and set for the show. Both were great- instead of one large video screen in the background, Radiohead opted for 10 smaller, haphazard screens, each with a different shot of a band member from above. The screens also doubled as a mode of lighting, with colored light bulbs shining from behind when the lights went down. Very cool!

More video fun!

In case you haven't made you're way through all of Pitchfork's 100 awesome music videos, please watch this Kidz Bop cover of "Since U Been Gone", and look for the little Asian kid in the audience :)

Looks like someone's already posted some video from the Radiohead show last night. This was actually my favorite new song they played last night- very, very pretty.

You know what's weird? Having Radiohead play "Kid A," one of their more experimental songs that has no guitar and no discernable melody, and having everyone in the audience CLAP ALONG.

Pictures and more from last night's Radiohead show tonight!

WLUW is having a big Ebay auction for fundraising at the middle/end of July, and the station is looking for donations to auction off. So if you have anything of potential value (doesn't have to be music-related, but would be even cooler if it was!) that you wouldn't mind parting with or know people who might, send those ideas to nicoleburnham(at)gmail.com. Concert posters, cool art, musical instruments, books, clothing, anything signed by someone famous/cool, etc. etc. etc.

An exciting week of music lies ahead, with Radiohead at the Auditorium Theatre tomorrow night and Intonation (and all related Intonation pre- and after- parties) going on this weekend. Expect pictures and reviews from these over the next couple weeks!

In other news, I'm FINALLY getting a new digital camera. While still no expensive SLR that would be ideal for low-light concert photos, my new Canon A700 should be a large improvement over the concert photos I've taken in the past thanks to more zoom and better low-light capabilities. Sadly, it most likely won't arrive in time for Intonation, but be on the lookout for better photos in the future!

The Heavenly States are in town this weekend! Go support Ted and Co. by seeing them either tonight at the Hideout or tomorrow night at Beat Kitchen.

$10 Touch and Go block party tickets . . . procured!

Vitalic - Birds

I learned today I can blog videos directly, and I'm going to take advantage of this. So here's an enjoyable short film set to the sounds of Vitalic's Poney 1. If you're looking for some really good melodic techno, Vitalic is your man.

Looks like iPods are being made in substandard conditions, a la Nike and Gap. Hopefully this bad press will get them to change things, because I don't think I can give up the iPod!

I sort of like this one, but I can't figure out how to make it red. Or maybe I'll just give the website a long overdue makeover to match. If there are any budding web gurus out there who'd want to offer some help in that area, I wouldn't object :)

Meanwhile, let's celebrate the creation of an archives section by looking at the first posts ever to the PFFR blog back in April 2003.

If you haven't noticed, I've been playing with the blogger template in an attempt to update the look of the blog (which I claimed I'd start doing like, a month ago!). It will probably change a few times over the next couple of days until I find one I like best, so feel free to tell me what you think or offer suggestions. Thanks!

Last week I saw the Streets in Seattle, which was super fun. I can even say I got to touch Mike Skinner's ass when he did some crowd surfing.

They had a very entertaining/hilarious opener--Lady Sovereign, who appears in an interview in Nerve. http://www.nerve.com/screeningroom/music/ladysovereign/. She's a tiny white British chick (who can spit!) with a side ponytail complaining about fake tans . I really hope she makes it in the US.

So excited for the new Junior Boys.

Meanwhile, I’m in need of new music. The kids over at Tinymixtapes have been all a flutter about a new album from a band called Brightblack Morning Light, who are supposed to fall into the weird folk camp of Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, etc. Probably worth checking out. Other albums I plan on purchasing in the next couple days: The Evangelicals, Hot Chip (I think I've been going through DFA withdrawal). When’s Thom Yorke’s solo album coming out again? What else do I need to be listening to? Being away from the station for the summer limits my new music access!