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!

In my review of the Sunset Rubdown show, I mentioned that they played a new song that was as good or quite possibly better than anything on their recent, totally awesome album. Today Pitchfork posted an mp3 of the song and had the same thoughts on it. Download away!

This Touch and Go 25th Anniversary block party September 8-10 is just exploding in awesomeness, as they just added a bunch of new bands, including some random reunions like Girls Against Boys. Check out the current line up here. According to the site, tickets go on sale at 10AM this Friday, June 16. Three day passes will go for $35, though the first 10 passes sold will be $10, the next 250 will be $25. I fully intend to be one of the first 10!

Band of Horses

Band of Horses
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

Considering the fact that this was an all-ages show starting at 7 PM on a Tuesday night, the crowd there to see Band of Horses for their first of two sold-out shows was a surprisingly older, more mainstream crowd. I guess the idea of getting home at 10 PM to get good night’s sleep before getting up early the next morning for work appealed to more than just me. I must be getting old.

With such an early start time, opener Mt. Egypt, a one-man band from California that plays melancholy folk in the vein of Will Oldham (with the beard to match), kicked off to a mostly empty room that gradually filled throughout the set. Backed by the bassist and drummer for Band of Horses, Mt. Egypt’s music was generally engaging and at times very beautiful. Band of Horses’ frontman Ben Bridwell eventually made his way on to the stage for their last song, a more rollicking number, to sing back-up vocals. He later professed his love for Mt. Egypt’s music by saying, “Mt. Egypt is amazing. His music makes me want to cry. So you should all check it out. If you like crying.”

Meanwhile, Band of Horses is a brand-new band playing their first tour ever. While it’s true that Bridwell has been in the scene a long time (previously with Carissa’s Weird), it’s still a new sound with a new group of players. As a result, the band definitely played like it was their first time on a stage, and it was clear they had many kinks to work out in terms of their live stage show. The band spent countless minutes in between songs tuning and changing instruments, from lap steel to guitar to bass to a different guitar. Unfortunately, all that tuning didn’t always pay off, like when Bridwell felt forced to put his bass down altogether during “Our Swords.” Their playing at times seemed rough, and the band blew all the obvious encore material during the set, leaving the audience with a slow solo ballad so brand new that Bridwell needed to bring out a sheet of lyrics to help him through the finale.

That being said, I still really enjoyed the show, even though everything I’ve described so far might normally have me heading for the door. This was primarily due to one reason: the fantastic stage presence of Ben Bridwell. His personality and energy were so engaging it was impossible not to like him and everything he did, especially when he threw his fists up in the air after each song, seemingly victorious that they’d made it through. He could spend too much time tuning the guitar, but the effortless jokes he told while we waited made it bearable. When he gave up on the bass during “Our Swords,” I laughed with him rather than sigh with frustration. Instead of seeing a band that had trouble getting it together, I saw a band just getting started. And regardless of the roughness of the show, everything still sounded good. Bridwell’s voice rang out clear and crisp across the small venue, stronger than the album might imply; opening song “Monsters” especially showcased his voice as he sat behind his lap steel, spastically tapping his foot while the band waited to join in. About halfway through the set, the band asked each other, “Should we do the cover? How about we do the cover? Let’s do the cover!” and then broke into a slowed down version of Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True,” which was hilarious and awesome at the same time. The majority of Everything All the Time made its way onto the set list, including “The Great Salt Lake,” “Wicked Gil,” and set-closer “The Funeral,” with Bridwell’s enthusiasm shining through them all the way. And even though the new songs seemed unfinished or ill placed, they still provided a glimpse into future material that most likely won’t disappoint.

Great, memorable shows need three things: good source material, good execution of that source material live, and a good stage presence by the band. Band of Horses put on a good show because they got two out of three; with so much time ahead to refine their ability to bring those great songs to the stage, there’s potential for a great show yet.

Band of Horses review and pictures will probably be posted this weekend 'cause I'm sorta busy. Great show though, Ben Bridwell is the man!

This Thax/camera flash issue seems to continue to spiral out of control. Let me reiterate my position:

Most of the time at shows, flash is worthless. HOWEVER, sometimes at small venues like Schubas and the Empty Bottle, you can be close enough for it to actually be useful. I can't afford some killer SLR digital camera, but I really like taking pictures at shows, so I'll do what it takes to get a relatively good one with what I've got. I try to keep the flash pictures to a minimum so it's not excessive, but a couple here or there is not that disruptive.

To make a comparison, I don't like smoking in venues (hate it, actually), but if it's allowed by the venue, then I'm not going to get up on stage and complain about it, or wander the crowd telling people how much it bothers me. I put up with it, even though I may find it as "annoying" as Thax find camera flashes.

Speaking of which, Schubas has now joined the Metro in eliminating smoking from the music room. Huzzah! And if they want to also join the Metro in outlawing flash, then they can do so and I'll stop using it there, no big deal.

Radio Birdman returns!

Band of Horses tonight at Schubas!

Speaking of Schubas, I caught the 1900s and Devin Davis there on Saturday, and this time Thax brought his camera flash proselytizing to the stage alongside his poetry- before both bands! Thankfully, my roommate made sure to take a nice flash picture of him up there. Again, if Schubas didn't want flash photography, they'd put up signs that said "no flash photography." I'm sorry, but wasn't he on hiatus or something?

I'm sorry, but what exactly is the point of this news item? Other than the hilarity of seeing the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah drummer call his band "The Clap"?

From the New York Times Magazine via Gapers Block: this is a hilarious article by a Chicago writer, Wendy McClure, about hanging out at a bar when some drone-y Eno comes on the jukebox. (You might need to register, but it's free).

Aw, that Pete Dougherty, can't control himself for even one second.

Today I was playing around with the extra features on my iPod and found out it has a game called "Music Quiz." It plays a song from your iPod and lists five titles (also from your iPod), and you're supposed to guess which song it is while the clock ticks down and titles slowly disappear. Could be a fun way to pass some time, but for some reason, every song it played was from Ted Leo's Tyranny of Distance. Weird.

This may be worth checking out:


CHOKE Inc Music Garage Sale! Sat June 3rd!

HUGE MUSIC GARAGE SALE - 10,000+ items!

Cheapskates! Bargain Hunters! Music Lovers! Punk squatters! Indie rock
snobs!

Choke Inc - one of America's last indie record distributors - has moved
locations and is HAPILLY walking away from tens of thousands of piles of
MUSIC. Gritty, experimental, off the wall, punky indie of all types - CDs -
7" - LPs - Posters - Magazines and more.

Punk. Hardcore. Indie. Rock. Ska. Garage. Emo. Whatever crap you're into -
we have it.
NO ITEM WILL COST YOU MORE THAN $1

Bring your own flimsy Jewel / Dominicks plastic bags.
Fill one up (I suggest double bagging first as those things are pieces of
crap) and pay only $5 for the whole bag.

We will accept cash. And ONLY cash. We will open our old location's 4500 square foot garage for ONE LAST DAY! This is your golden opportunity to buy hundreds of CDs, etc......for pennies. Don't bring pennies - I hate pennies (did you know the copper in a penny is now worth more than 1 cent if melted down?)

THIS IS YOUR VERY last DAY to re-purchase all the CDs you didn't get back
when you broke up with your high school girlfriend back in 1998.

SATURDAY, JUNE 3rd 10 am - 4 pm

There is no number you can call. There is no "early admission". First come
first served. Plenty of parking in our hell-hole of a lot!! Look for a
painted clown sign and pull towards the back of that lot!

The address of our lovely old hell-hole:
3107 N Rockwell Ave, Chicago IL 60618
This is close to the intersection of Belmont and Western.

Today I was listening to my iPod on shuffle and "Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms came up (yes, I still have that song on my iPod), and I was instantly transported back to middle school. Funny how songs can do that to you. If I ever hear Del Amitri's "Roll to Me" (anyone remember that song? definitely not on my iPod), the high school memories may become overwhelming!

Beck's "Spinal Tap" moment.

I'm always slow to pick up on the great songs that people are buzzing about (see: Futureheads "Hounds of Love," Gnarls Barkley "Crazy"), and another one I've been hearing about for awhile but haven't taken the time to listen to until now is the Knife's "Heartbeats," as well as the Jose Gonzalez cover of the same song. The Knife's (a Scandinavian electro-dance band with tinges of goth) version is serious electro-pop bliss, and Jose Gonzalez's (a Swedish (?) singer/songwriter with Nick Drake comparisons) cover is a gorgeous folk song. I recommend everyone go out and download (legally, right?) both versions of the song. If I was still doing the show this summer, I'd play them both back to back for effect.

Indie music in commercials watch: Just heard the Magnetic Fields' "I Think I Need a New Heart" (instrumental) in a commercial for some upscale dog food (Cesars?). Random.

So when I started my new job last year, I got 500 business cards that have no use to me other than dropping in the fishbowls at restaurants downtown during lunch. I've probably used up like, 30 that way. Today I got a call because I actually won a free lunch for 10 people at Potbelly's thanks to my business card. Huzzah!

My new Entertainment Weekly subscription has a section on the 25 best music websites. I feel like the music section of a mainstream entertainment magazine like this one shouldn't have any credibility, but they always seem to review indie albums, and I've noticed reviews by Pitchfork writers on there. More evidence that indie the new mainstream.

Does the Daily Show create cynics?

From Gapers Block: This site is having a funny contest:combine a band name with a book name, and the wittiest ones get posted with potential for prizes.

Examples:
The Black Heart of Darkness Procession
Harry Potter and the Half-Bloody Valentine Prince
Beowulf Parade
Chromeo and Juliet

Hilarious! And fun to think about during a particularly slow period at work, which I'm currently experiencing. Let's see what I can come up with.

How about . . .
A Clockwork Oranges Band?
Wuthering Hawthorne Heights?
Animal Collective Farm?
To Kill a Mocking- Andrew Bird?

And more:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxie 500
I Am Good Charlotte Simmons

This controversial interview with Godsmack from Arthur Mag has been the talk of the music message board for the past couple of weeks, so I thought I'd post it here for futher discussion. Basically, the writer sets up Sully Erna of Godsmack into thinking he was about to be interviewed about their recent album, then uses the opportunity to attack him and the band based on the fact that their music is being used in military recruitment commercials. The concept is an interesting one, taking a popular band to task for their decisions and whether or not they are capable of backing up those decisions, but I'm not sure if it was executed very well- sometimes the author just seems to be needlessly ambushing the guy for his own political and journalistic agenda, and his arrogance really comes out in his questions. What's the point?

Frog Eyes/Sunset Rubdown pictures

Sunset Rubdown
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

I've uploaded pics from the show last Thursday. There are 21 in total. Enjoy!

Last night's Frog Eyes/Sunset Rubdown show at Schubas was incredible. The venue was full, but not sold out, for Sunset Rubdown's set; the show kicked off when Spencer got behind his keyboard and said, "This song is a Wolf Parade song, but before that it was a Sunset Rubdown song" and proceeded to play a stripped down version of "I'll Believe in Anything," just him and the keyboards, while I proceeded to drop my jaw in disbelief and amazement and possibly wet myself; I was totally unprepared for something that f***ing AWESOME. I still can't believe he started out the show with the original version of Wolf Parade's best and biggest song. The song quickly bled into "Snakes Got a Leg" as the rest of the band joined in (made up of a drummer and a guitarist who switched on and off between songs and a cool-looking female who added additional sound effects, bells and backing vocals) and the next 45 minutes of music were pretty unreal. Spencer put on much of the same humble, passionate, super-intense performance behind his keyboards that I loved when I saw Wolf Parade, eventually picking up this ratty looking mini-accordian held together by duct tape for the epic "The Men Are Called Horsemen There," which made for a great visual spectacle. They also played a brand new song that was possibly, dare I say it, better than anything I've heard of theirs yet! I noticed that they are now playing some Pitchfork festival pre-party at the Metro July 28, and I feel sorry for anyone who did not catch on to this band before last night, because the Metro just can not provide the intimacy of Schubas that I feel like watching this band requires.

After Sunset Rubdown's set, the ongoing trend of recent Pitchfork Best New Music picks overshadowing the headliners they tour with continued as the crowd shrank substantially. Which is really too bad for those people who left, because if they knew better, they'd realize that Frog Eyes and Sunset Rubdown are very similar bands who actually share members, and Frog Eyes put on a hilarious and equally intense performance, somewhat fueled by singer Casey Mercer's self-deprecating angst that spilled forth between each song. First of all, nothing about Casey screams "rock star." He looks like Philip Seymour Hoffman- more specifically, the creepy, Lara Flynn Boyle-stalking Hoffman of Todd Solondz's Happiness, because Casey is creepy, let me tell you. When he's yelping and howling during his bizarre and exciting songs, his bright red face scrunches up and his whole body seems to tremble as he's pounding away at his guitar. When the song was over, he'd either regale us of some ridiculous tale that made no sense or poke some serious fun of himself ("You're old and no one wants to see you play!") or Spencer ("Why don't you go back to Wolf Parade!"), but he'd do it in this really high-pitched, evil whisper. Meanwhile, his band seemed to sort of look around nervously in the background, as if they weren't used to seeing this behavior on a daily basis.

But when it came down to it, beyond all the theatrics, Frog Eyes' sounded really great, and the brand new song they ended with was weird and ambitious and fantastic, giving me high expectations for their next album. They eschewed the encore (!!!) and instead just took a dramatic bow before leaving the stage.

Best show I've seen so far this year.

I'll upload my pictures from the show this weekend, which should turn out pretty well considering I was right up at the stage.

So I finally got around to checking out that "Crazy" song by Gnarls Barkley. With all the hype, I guess I just assumed it would be another one of those hot dance/rap tracks that everyone goes crazy for in the clubs or whatever, but it's actually a pretty chill soulful song. I like it almost as much as their killer press photos. There are even more on their myspace page, though you can only see them if you're a member (but really, who isn't a member these days?)

Here's a great article in today's New York Times that talks about how great Chicago is. Ok, it's technically about Chicago environmental initiatives in a special "Green" section they have today, but it still fawns over Chicago the entire time (and rightly so!). (note: you might need to register to see the article, but registration is free, so there's no reason not to be able to read the NYT for free online).

While it's cool that Chicago is going to be the site of so many great festivals this summer, it's becoming obvious that every band is making a festival their Chicago stop on their summer tour. As webzines like Pitchfork and tinymixtapes report summer tours in droves, it seems every Chicago date has "Lollapalooza" next to it. It looks like this summer will be relatively dry as far as good shows go!

Here's the blog of a band named "The Best Thing Ever," who just went on a tour of public bathrooms. Hilarious pictures ensue.

There's an incredible amount of great new music on the show this morning, thanks to a sampler I got in the mail featuring tracks from the forthcoming Walkmen and Black Heart Procession albums, among others. Hopefully my last show of the spring will have recorded well so it can be available for download tonight. This week we're sponsoring a "mini" pledge drive focused on people who have never pledged before, so feel free to head over to the WLUW website and donate. While you're doing so, feel free to say I'm the reason you listen to WLUW! ;)

The new Sunset Rubdown (Shut Up I Am Dreaming) and Streets (The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living) albums have finally arrived in my mailbox! So far, the new Sunset Rubdown is exactly as I expected it to be, which means it's pretty great. "The Men Are Called Horsemen There" is unreal, and I can't wait to see how it comes across live when I see them this Thursday with Frog Eyes at Schubas. Spencer Krug is an incredibly passionate and captivating performer, and I assume he'll also be making an appearance as part of Frog Eyes as well. The new Streets has it's highs and lows; a few of the songs are quite cheesy and/or sound too much like past Streets songs, but when it's good, it's great. See: "Prangin' Out," "When You Wasn't Famous."

Next purchases: Danielson's Ships and Beirut's Gulag Orkestrar. Both of which I swear I was planning on buying before the Pitchfork reviews came out. Really.

Sigur Ros

Sigur Ros
Originally uploaded by Nicolemc99.

I've posted photos from the Sigur Ros show on the photoblog. A full review will appear on Radio Free Chicago Monday.

Conan was good times yesterday, even though we waited 3 hours in the rain/cold to get in. We were seated in the back of the main floor and listened to the sounds of Interpol, the Gorillaz, Wolf Parade, the Clientele, Maximo Park, the Von Bondies, and other indie favorites that some Conan assistant producer must be into. Conan was a little hard to hear over the crowd's endless cheering, but funny nonetheless. A highlight was new character "The Sears Tower in Sears clothing," which later bodysurfed over the crowd. John Mayer wasn't too bad actually- he played a couple jazzy numbers instead of his crap pop fare, which leads me to believe that jazz/blues is his true calling and stuff like "Your Body Is a Wonderland" just got him the big bucks.

Also, while we were waiting in the rain, the Masturbating Bear came over to say hi!

DJ Lazer is leaving the Internet forever just because.

Expect a poetic return...

Technical difficulties with the webcast meant Tuesday's show didn't record. We've been told that the webcast will be improved this summer, so hopefully that will end the issues I've had recording over the past year.

This afternoon: Conan O'Brien!

Here's an interview with Neko Case in the Onion, where she says that "Star Witness" is about the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.

I saw Sigur Ros last night! More details and pictures to come. Since I was out late, I didn't get around to putting up yesterday morning's show, so that'll hopefully be happening tonight.

Meanwhile, the Franz Ferdinand singer is writing a book about food.

5/9 PFFR show notes:
-I played a track from a great new band called Beirut, which is actually the work of a 19-year-old boy. Kids these days.

-I love it when you know a certain track is going to get people calling in before the song is even over. Today’s was Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek.” You may know her as the singer of Frou Frou, that band with that one song that was on the Garden State soundtrack. This song is far better. Download it for yourself for free here (you may have to watch a 15-second ad first if you’re not a Salon.com member)

-Today’s show is chock full of reminders that the WLUW indie rock prom is this Saturday. I had a high school teacher call in asking for more details, as many of his students weren’t going to their own high school prom and may be interested in this one. I’m going to guess that might be a general theme of the night.

-I lied last week when I said this was going to be my last show until fall; I was roped into doing one more show next week to help out with the pledge drive (a small-scale drive targeting new members only). You have one more opportunity to listen before my summer hiatus!

Oh, my lucky brother! He's currently studying abroad in Europe, and while traveling through Amsterdam, he sent me this picture:



Andrew Bird sighting in Amsterdam!

Goshdarnit, the musical guest on Conan this Thursday is John Mayer!!! Wilco is Friday and Common is Wednesday, but I'm stuck with John Mayer. As long as he doesn't sing "Your Body Is a Wonderland," I guess I'll survive.

Radiohead tickets . . . PROCURED! And very luckily, it seems, as most people I've talked to were denied by ticketmaster. The shows must have sold out in 10 minutes.

Now THIS is hilarious. (Friday hilarity day!)

Watch this trailer for Mel Gibson's new movie:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/apocalypto/large.html

About 3/4 of the way through, you'll see a fast-cut montage with a monkey screeching in it. Pause the trailer right after the monkey screeches, then use the frame back button in the player to move back a few frames. You'll know what's so funny when you see it.

My tinymixtapes email is constantly flooded with press releases. This one struck me as particularly funny:

We are very excited to be working with the legendary band Soul Asylum, who are releasing their latest record “The Silver Lining” on July 11th. Soul Asylum will celebrate their third decade as a band with this release - dedicated to the late Karl Mueller (bassist) who passed shortly after recording “The Silver Lining.” Replacing Mueller is Tommy Stinston of Replacements fame. After an 8 year hiatus, the band still sounds fantastic and their songwriting is as strong as ever. New photos and a great bio here: http://www.wiredset.com/media/soulasylum/

Seriously, Soul Asylum is back? Hilarious!

I'm really digging the new Calexico album, Garden Ruin. As every reviewer has pointed out, they've phased out the mariachi part of their sound to focus on the folk/country rock aspects, and it works well. I like the mariachi thing they had going, but I can see how it would get old. They still have some worldier sounds making their way onto the album, and some of the songs are just stunning. Big thumbs up, I'll probably add it to the recommended section of the website this week.

Here's some neat things John Vanderslice had to say about internet zines and blogs in a recent interview (see the entire interview here):


Q. Because that's how I found out about you and your music, from other bloggers. Many of them spoke highly about your shows, so it made me curious. How do you feel about blogs compared with the mainstream music media?

A. Oh man. This is my experience. On Pixel Revolt, I got a review in Spin. It was the first time I'd ever gotten a review in Spin, and we got a letter grade of "C." And I also got shit-tons of reviews on internet only sites, from Pitchfork on down. We got a really good review on Pitchfork. And usually when you get a really bad review, your hardcore fans write you and say, "Man, fuck this guy," and when you get a really good review, your hardcore fans write you and say "Oh wow, this was insightful or interesting, this is great, you should be excited."

When I got the "C" letter grade review in Spin, I heard nothing. Not from anybody. No one ever said anything to me. But whenever I got a good review from somewhere like Tiny Mix Tapes I would get emails about it. It was very clear to me then that all that print media shit doesn't matter anymore. It totally does not matter. I mean, no offense to Spin or anyone like that, but people right now, hard core music people that pay attention, they're online. The big national glossies just don't have that kind of impact anymore. I guess. I mean this is all anecdotal, I can't back any of it up, but the way people find out about us and find out things about us, it's all bloggers. It's all online 'zines. Whether it's Drowned in Sound or Tiny Mix Tapes or Largehearted Boy, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, the list goes on and on.

You know, it's weird, if someone posts something on Metafilter, I look on my website and all of a sudden, we're getting like 25,000 unique visitors in one day, you know. And we got a review on Pixel Revolt in Rolling Stone. And the day that that review came out, there was no bump whatsoever. And that was a good review. And we got no bump in traffic on the website. That's insane. I can look at where people are coming from and who's searching what, and what method they are using to get to my site. After that I was like, "Fuck paying a publicist to work your record, lets just email all the bloggers and send them a record or some MP3's."

A band will come up to me and tell me "Oh my god, we're getting a record review in Rolling Stone and what I want to tell them is, 'Listen, who cares, it doesn't mean anything.'" What means something is that a blogger with credibility has his or her own fan base, you know what I mean? People follow bloggers because they understand their aesthetic framework and what they like and their sensibilities.

I forgot my iPod at work today, so I finally got around to listening to Ryan Schreiber's radio show on WLUW from 2-4PM. He obviously has first access to a lot of new music, so I heard tracks from upcoming Sufjan Stevens and Matt Friedberger (of the Fiery Furnaces) albums, but most exciting was a song off the Sunset Rubdown album that came out this week (Wolf Parade singer Spencer Krug's other project, who I'm constantly fawning over if you're not a regular reader of this blog), which was fantastic. I cannot wait to a) get the CD in the mail, and b) see them open for Frog Eyes on the 18th.

Here's a really interesting story from the Washington Post about Pitchfork. It includes a interview (and picture) of it's founder, where the name came from, Schreiber's current feelings on Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and an quick interview with Travis Morrison, the singer of the Dismemberment Plan whose solo album got a 0.0 (so you can blame Pitchfork for the fact that he's working as a computer programmer and not a rock star).

I'll hold back on my opinion of Proms in general to give the details of the WLUW Indie Rock Prom that's coming up. From the marketing director:


The Empty Bottle Presents: The WLUW Indie Rock Prom
Saturday May 13, 2006 at the Logan Square Auditorium 2539 N. Kedzie
Featuring: The National Trust, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Life During Wartime
DJs, and WLUW's own Erik and Ali of Think Pink.

Hosted by DJ Wondertwins. There will be costume contests for every era of dress
we see, and even some for categories we might not be expecting! Rumor has it
that we will also be raffling off tickets to several upcoming shows, or even
summer festivals. We will also make sure to have a big bowl of punch to quench
any prom-goer’s thirst for the true prom experience, a table of flowers for
those forgetful types who didn’t come prepared with a corsage, and last but
definitely not least, is a Polaroid station, complete with patterned backdrop,
so that everyone can take home a memory from the unforgettable night. The
event, a benefit for Chicago’s favorite community radio station, 88.7 WLUW,
begins at 8:30 PM Saturday, May 13th, ending when we’re all too tired to go on!

Admission is $15 for singles, $25 for couples, and can be purchased through
www.emptybottle.com. Check out the website at www.wluwprom.org

Only two more radio shows left before I take a hiatus for the summer (but will hopefully appear sporadically as a sub). I'll be back on at the same time in the fall, however, 6-8 AM Tuesday mornings!

Radiohead tickets for the June 19 and 20 shows at the Auditorium Theatre go on sale at 10 AM this Saturday*, May 6. Expect them to be sold out in approx. 10 seconds.

*Silly me!

When did Thax Douglas become the Camera Flash Police at shows? Saturday night at the Wrens/Tapes 'n Tapes show at Schubas, he appeared to be watching the crowd the entire time for the occasional flash, ready to pounce and ask the offender to please turn it off because it's "annoying." Not as annoying as Thax constantly pushing his way back and forth through a sold out audience. If Schubas didn't want people using flash, they'd make a policy and have the bouncers tell people to stop. The venue is brightly lit enough anyway that you hardly notice the flash, and it's small enough that flash can actually make for a good picture. Too bad I forgot my camera!

Other than that, the show was great- Tapes 'n Tapes put on a nice little performance, although I think "10 Gallon Ascots" didn't quite kill the way I'd hoped it would- the chorus is so anthemic, it needed to be louder and more passionate. "Insistor" and "Cowbell" were great, though. All fears that the show might be overrun with people there just to see the latest buzz band were quashed as the crowd was definitely a Wrens' crowd. I'd seen the Wrens put on a great show at Schubas two years ago, but somehow this time around they were even better, with more energy and new versions of songs. They opened with an awesome version of "This Boy Is Exhausted," with just two guitars and vocals quietly introducing the song before the rest of the band took the stage to finish it up big. The songs drew mostly from The Meadowlands, making me wonder if they have new material on the way or if they just wanted to please the audience with the favorites. The between song jokes were hilarious and they poked fun at their age ("yeah, back when I was like, 30"), their skill, their popularity, etc. Great show- I'll probably write a longer review later this week, because I felt like there was a ton more going on then I've hinted at thus far.

Conan tickets: PROCURED! Now let's just hope for good guests on May 11th.

Tapes 'N Tapes: moving up in the world, from self-releasing their album to XL Recordings. Not too shabby.