photo : michael maly

The first time I met any members of The Blakes was @ the Austin City Limits Studios moments before KEXP’s online broadcast of Iggy and The Stooges live performance during SXSW 2007. I had become familiar with the band and it’s music just previously and couldn’t help to be attracted to the sounds of the self released and self titled recording that I had recently acquired and was interested in what this trio from Seattle had to offer. Iggy Pop was as you might expect…Iggy, interesting, powerful, a relentless muscle of energy…Iggy. Overheard this day in the studio as “Two Times” plays over the PA “Who’s this? This shit is good!” (Iggy Pop). It’s The Blakes.

Burgers and cold Lone Stars at Casino El Camino seemed the appropriate welcome for the band on it’s second visit to Austin. Waiting for our food and sipping on the “National Beer of Texas” we discuss a variety of subjects ranging from the annoying abundance of grackles that reside in downtown Austin, to Duran Duran’s Greatest Hits, fresh water mussels, and home canned pickles. The grackles make their presence known with evidence on the drummer’s shirt, as they vacate the overhead trees as if their work was done. Sorry Bob, not the welcome I had intended. Read more

Well versed in cryptic, the band is slowing exposing dates for the 2008 tour on it’s website, with some blanks still left to be filled in, you at least know if they are coming to your town. All European dates at this point of course, while the rest of the world keeps their ear to the ground.

06-?? Dublin, Ireland – TBA (2 dates)
06-?? Paris, France – TBA (2 dates)
06-?? Barcelona, Spain – TBA
06-?? Nimes, France – TBA (2 dates)
06-18 Milan, Italy – Civica Arena
06-20 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany – Southside Festival
06-22 Scheeßel, Germany – Hurricane Festival
06-?? London, England – TBA (2 dates)
06-?? Glasgow, Scotland – TBA
06-?? Manchester, England – TBA
07-?? Amsterdam, Netherlands – TBA
07-03-06 Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
07-03-06 Werchter, Belgium – Rock Werchter Festival
07-?? Berlin, Germany – TBA

Ok Computer’s Lucky

photo credit: sam holden

Greg Dulli made himself know with the Afghan Whigs in the 90’s as Mark Lanegan did with The Screaming Trees. Fast forward with various projects in the bag, the guys, who have collaborated previously in Dulli’s band The Twilight Singers, have a new project, The Gutter Twins, and a new album set for release March 4th. Saturnalia, the duo’s debut, will be released on the Sub Pop label.

A few live pre-release dates have been scheduled as well:

Feb. 14: New York (Bowery Ballroom)
Feb. 19: Paris (Maroquinerie)
Feb. 21: London (Koko)
Feb. 23: Amsterdam (Melkweg)
March 1: San Francisco (Bimbo’s; Noise Pop festival)

Afghan Whigs classic: Gentlemen

December is just around the corner, and as the end of the year 2007 comes to a close, the year end lists are starting to roll in already. Paste put their’s out a few days ago with The National’s Boxer ringing in at #1 and a most recent Harp Magazine list has local boys Okkervil River on top of the heap with The Stage Names release. Congrats to Will Sheff and company. Time to start needling away at my own lists I suppose.

A Hand to Take Hold of The Scene

A few other notable lists:

[Paste Magazine Top 100 Albums of 2007]

[ Nick Harcourt's (Morning Becomes Eclectic) Top 10 Albums of 2007]

[ Gorilla vs Bear's Favorite Live Shows of 2007]

Harp’s top 50 list

50 Tunng – Good Arrows
49 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights
48 Oakley Hall – I’ll Follow You
47 Yeasayer – All Hour Cymbals
46 Manu Chao – La Radiolina
45 Bettye LaVette – The Scenes Of The Crime
44 Beirut – The Flying Club Cup
43 Explosions In The Sky – All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
42 Mavis Staples – We’ll Never Turn Back
41 Dr. Dog – We All Belong
40 Ian Hunter – Shrunken Heads
39 Patty Griffin – Children Running Through
38 Eleni Mandell – Miracle Of Five
37 Rufus Wainwright – Release The Stars
36 Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
35 Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
34 Ryan Adams – Easy Tiger
33 St. Vincent – Marry Me
32 Kevin Drew – Spirit If…
31 Robert Wyatt – Comicopera
30 Grinderman – Grinderman
29 Kings Of Leon – Because Of The Times
28 Grace Potter & The Nocturnals – This Is Somewhere
27 of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?
26 Steve Earle – Washington Square Serenade

25 Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter – Like, Love, Lust And the Open Halls Of The Soul
24 M.I.A. – Kala
23 Bill Callahan – Woke On A Whaleheart
22 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists – Living With The Living
21 The National – Boxer
20 Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight
19 Bruce Springsteen – Magic
18 Georgie James – Places
17 The Good, The Bad & The Queen – The Good, The Bad & The Queen
16 Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
15 The New Pornographers – Challengers
14 The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
13 Avett Brothers – Emotionalism
12 Devendra Banhart – Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
11 The White Stripes – Icky Thump
10 Jason Isbell – Sirens Of The Ditch
09 Neil Young – Chrome Dreams II
08 Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
07 Radiohead – In Rainbows
06 Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
05 Feist – The Reminder
04 Future Clouds & Radar – Future Clouds & Radar
03 Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
02 Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin
01 Okkervil River – The Stage Names

photo courtesy of Nate Dorn

To say that I’m a bit jealous of anyone in NYC today would be a slight understatement. I’ve been paying attention to Atlanta’s Dead Confederate for a short while now, and the recent EP from the band is messing me up. In a good way. It’s dark, it’s heavy, and it rocks. The band is playing @ the Mercury Lounge in NYC tonight and I can only recommend that if you have the opportunity, you best check this shit out.

What can I say, I really like this band and can’t wait to catch them @ SXSW 2008.

Mercury Lounge 11.28.07

Drug Rug 10:30
The Head Set 9:30
Dead Confederate 8:30
Falcon 7:30
Five Times August 6:45

mp3 Shadow The Walls

The Arcade Fire Austin City Limits taping aired earlier this month, November 10th, and as I haven’t seen the episode as of yet, this video is a solid reason to make sure that I do so. These guys are so much fun to watch live, it makes me giddy.

“Keep The Car Running”

No Cars Go

Hard to believe that people spend time putting this shit together….Spam sucks for the most part, but can be funny at times.

Recently found in my Spam box:

 BDSM is Love – luna’s Journey; Take me, Spank me, Bind me and Hold me forever… I’m… wrote an interesting post today!

Are you a fan of the Daft Punk? I know that there are quite a few fans of the band out there, and whether or not I can get into watching a couple of robot characters in a pyramid produce their electronic sounds with cool lights and a fog machine isn’t the issue. The issue is, if you are a raging Daft Punk fan, you have an opportunity to chat with the duo, Guy-Manuel de Homen-Christo & Thomas Bangalter during a one hour chat session happening Tuesday Novemember 27th at their website. 12:30 p.m. US Eastern Time is when it happens, but get their early as it’ll fill up quick.

Update

Register here for the opportunity to chat: Daft Punk Chat

It’s probably no news to anyone paying attention to the music blog machine, but it is of great interest to me as I have been a fan of The Jesus and Mary Chain since, well…without divulging evidence of my age…quite a few years. My first introduction to the band was via the oddities release Barbed Wire Kisses, and as the sounds I encountered took some time to digest as they were harsh like metal on metal grinding away at a high pitch, there was something dark and intriguing about the music. Following recordings from the band found the music a bit softened and more palatable bringing the band to the conscious of anyone paying attention to “alternative” rock as it was defined in those days. JAMC experienced several changes in lineup but the Reid brothers, Jim and William remained a constant.

With violence at shows, unpredictable performances, arrests for drug possession, and the growing tension between the brothers, the band seemed destined for demise. The brothers even experienced a ban of their art in parts of the world when many ceased the radio and video play of the single “Reverence” which contained the lyrics “I wanna die just like JFK, I wanna die in the USA’…’I wanna die just like Jesus Christ, I wanna die on a bed of spikes”. Marilyn Manson only wishes he could have written those lyrics. The JAMC eventually dissolved in 1999 and my hopes of seeing the band perform live dissolved as well. Fortunately for us the Coachella Festival posses some magical ability to reunite bands that you might never think the members would ever share the same stage space. The band reunited for Coachella 2007, have played a few dates since then, and now we have a new recording to look forward to from the Reid brothers. To say that I’m hoping more than just a little bit that a tour will follow, allowing me to check The Jesus and Mary Chain off the list of “wish I should’ve when I could’ve” bands, would be an understatement.

From the 1994 Black Session “Head On”

Jesus and Mary Chain Myspace

Todd Haynes, co-writer for the Dylan biopic I’m Not There released earlier this month, put together an all star concert to kick off the release of the film, and the concert in it’s entirety is available for streaming @ Wolfgangs Vault. The concert took place at NY’s Beacon Theatre featured performers that contributed to the films soundtrack, including but not limited to, My Morning Jacket, Calexico, Yo La Tengo, Gomez, and John Doe. My Morning Jacket are reportedly taking a break and looking to record the follow up to “Z” so this might be the bands last performance for awhile.

You do have to set up a free account with Wolfgangs Vault, but it should be well worth the time.

Stream the concert here.

List of performers in order of performance:

Marcus Carl Franklin
Calexico
Jim James
Joe Henry
Mark Lanegan
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Mira Billotte with Lee Ranaldo
The Million Dollar Bashers
Gomez
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks
Terry Adams
Yo La Tengo and Friends
My Morning Jacket
Mason Jennings
John Doe
Jimmy LaFave
Tift Merritt
Lee Ranaldo
J Mascis
The Roots

Jim James & Calexico “Goin’ to Acapulco”

If you haven’t noticed lately, Camel Cigarettes have established a campaign in which they are involving themselves with and promoting “indie rock” in your community. I first started to notice the Camel sponsored shows earlier this past summer and quickly had my first Camel supported experience at a CD release party for a local band whose name I’ll not mention. I had been anticipating the release from this band and figured the perfect way to support the band was to attend the show and purchase the disc. The fact that it was a free show was a bonus as well. To the short of it, the CD’s were not for sale, only available if you signed up with Camel and received a pack of cigarettes. I don’t smoke and mention of that ruled me ineligible to register and receive the CD. I eventually got my CD, but came away with a sense of confusion and distaste. What does a band have to gain by offering their CD at a CD release party only to those who willing hand out their information to a Big Tobacco company knowing that they be bombarded by endless piles of mail advertisements? I guess that the idea of free cigarettes to a smoker is a powerfully enticing one, no matter what the consequences. Keep in mind that I was a smoker for 10 years.

Shortly after this experience, I began to take notice of the Camel sponsored shows popping up around town, almost all of which are advertised to be free or with a limited number of tickets available to the public. What’s not to like about free? Some of these shows were big shows with touring acts, not just local bands looking to score a larger audience. Some of the larger shows required you contacting your local Camel representative for ticket information. How was I to know who my local Camel representative was? Was this an officially elected position that I wasn’t aware of? With a bit of concern and confusion in tow, I began a discussion with band members that I knew or representatives of bands in order to gain a better understanding of this Camel involvement. I quickly came to learn that Camel pays bands for these shows, and pays them well, very well compared to some standards.

Enter my dilemma.

If you read this blog at all, you know that I have issue with bands working with certain corporate entities in order to make a little money, so that they can continue on with their craft, their life, their love. “Certain” corporate entities is where it gets tricky. VW, Ford, Apple, Dell, and Jaguar would be examples of companies I don’t have issue with as I haven’ seen any evidence that any of these companies conduct questionable practices that involve poor wages, workers rights, or discrimination, just a name a few. Wal-mart on the other hand would be a corporation that I do have issue with, and anyone that involves themselves with said corporation might loose my interest. How do I feel about Camel? That’s the dilemma. I think that it’s great that some of my favorite bands have an opportunity to make a little green in order to pursue their goals, like touring Europe when otherwise it would be almost impossible financially, or covering a weeks worth of expenses while on a nationwide tour as a lesser known band playing small clubs. It’s not like the bands are going to be associated with Camel on a regular basis, like if you were to hear a certain song every time you saw a Wal-mart commercial. It could be a one off deal, a one off profitable deal. I just don’t like the idea of Camel meddling in my rock and roll but, I guess I have no choice in the matter.

What sparked this conversation today, you may ask? I came across a post on The Daily Swarm blog site, that discusses the Camel involvement to great lengths, even discussing the controversial 4 page pullout section in Rollling Stones 40th anniversary issue, nestled in between 5 pages of Camel ads. The pullout is entitled “Indie Rock Universe” and is considered by some as a violation of the 1998 settlement between state attorneys general and tobacco companies which bans the use of illustrations that look like cartoons in tobacco ads. I highly recommend a read of the post, as it covers in great detail Camels involvement the music scene as well as a comments on the issue from Rolling Stone, The Austinist, The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and others.

Read full article @ The Daily Swarm

Images from The Daily Swarm.

by Aubrey Edward

Austin’s own Octopus Project have been touring the past few months in support of their most recent release Hello Avalanche and the latest release and hard work on the road seems to be attracting attention. I recently heard Cheryl Waters, of KEXP fame, mention her newfound interest in the band just recently discovering the quirky electronica of The Octopus Project. And now you have Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke listing the band as one of Fricke’s Picks.

Happy Machine Music
Machines don’t make music — people do. And going by the bright action-packed gurgle, bam and squeak of their third album, the Octopus Project — a mostly instrumental analog-electronics dance band from Austin, Texas — are smart pop scientists and total party animals, like Stereolab with happy feet. And a stopwatch — the thirteen songs on Hello, Avalanche (Peek-A-Boo) are all tightly composed bundles of synthesized whoop and circus-calliope cheer, dotted with throaty Duane Eddy-treble guitar and powered by prancing-elephant drumming. The closest thing here to conventional club-remix electronica is the thumping near-techno of “MMAJ.” But for all of the willful yesterday in the Octopus Project’s discothèque blend of Switched-On Bach and Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, there is a delightful, disciplined modernism in the album’s brisk parade of hooks and the songs’ densely layered brevity. Compared to the purple-surf rock of “Bees Bein’ Strugglin’ ” and the mermaid-choir effect of Yvonne Lambert’s theremin in “I Saw the Bright Shinies,” the Prodigy are so 1997.

Ha! The Prodigy. I haven’t thought about those guys since……..

Bees Bein’ Struggling

I finally checked out the Ian Curtis biopic Control the other night and was completely thrilled and moved by the film. The examination of Curtis’s life dealing with relationships and fronting a band on the rise to fame, was in-depth, visually appropriate, and what one could only believe to be quite accurate. The live performances by the actors who portray Joy Division have me wishing that I may have had an opportunity to see the band perform live if only for once. Check out this video mash-up I found on Stereogum that compares the film version to the original BBC viewing of “Transmission”.

Joy Division “Leaders of Men”

photo : michael maly

From the midst of what was on the brink of becoming a disastrous evening for rock music at Waterloo Park, Claudio and Co., as though straight out of The Amory Wars, rose to the occasion, saved the day, and rekindled the broken spirits of let down Clutch fans throughout the park.

We arrived at the show early so as not to miss any of Clutch, a band I have long wanted to see but had yet to arrive at an opportunity to do so. From the get-go, the vibe in the venue made clear that Clutch wasn’t so much of an opening act to Coheed as they were the main attraction for a great deal of the park’s crowd. From the first licks of guitar I was hooked on the guys mix of hard rock and blues, a melodious mixture still tinged with elements of the band’s hardcore days. Unfortunately, it was only on the third song in when the set was brutally obstructed by the first failings of the sound board. Fallon’s vocals failed first, leaving the crowd with hope that it was a minor, fixable set back. However, this quickly turned into downright disappointment as many of the hardcore Clutch fans, realizing that hope was lost, filed out of Waterloo Park, or at least dispersed to other areas, seeking the comfort of alcoholic beverages and sugary, fat-filled snacks, leaving a much bleaker crowd than the night had started off with.

Fortunately, for my own emotional state, and I suppose I could take into account the other fans smart enough endure the drawn out wait as the flawed sound board was replaced with a less faulty version; Coheed took the stage beginning with Claudio belting out the appropriately timed opening lyrics of “No World For Tomorrow”, beckoning the crowd to “wait, there’s never been a mess like this.” Ah, never have there been such aptly placed lyrics. And the crowd had indeed (mostly) waited in hopes that this moment would, in fact, occur. As those camping out near the vending area filed back towards the stage, it became apparent that the rock show would commence as planned.

I have seen Coheed a handful of times in the past but am ashamed to say that I failed each time to give the guys, always playing as the opening band, the attention and respect that I rapidly realized Saturday night, was well deserved. The show from beginning to (almost) end was an all around delight. I hate to be too critical but I could have gone without what seemed like half-an-hour-long jam session which closed out the show. I know some fans love the opportunity to see their beloved bands rock out in their element, but I would rather walk away from the show with the last notes of one of my favorite songs ringing in my ears, rather than stifling a slight yawn after having been gazing off into space, trying to stay focused on what I know has to be a great jam I just can’t seem to get into. But I digress…

Coheed played all of the new favorites I was looking for, “Feathers”, “The Hound”, “Running Free”, “Mother Superior”, “Gravemakers and Gunslingers”, and probably others that I’m failing to recall, and from “No World For Tomorrow” through extreme-crowd pleaser, “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth 3” the show was straight up rock. I’m biting my tongue, or should I say fingers, to leave out the obvious Claudio hair jokes, but from my experience the longer that mane gets, the better the guys play. Although Claudio consistently leaving out lyrics may be attributed to his inability to sing through that hair, it certainly didn’t take away from the show; if anything it gave the fans more of an opportunity to scream out the lyrics. And I must not leave out the cover of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper”; it doesn’t take a musical genius to identify Coheed’s influences and this cover was obviously nothing less than a perfect fit. It was also a pleasure to see the two lovely back-up singers, armed and ready to provide the harmonies so distinct and enjoyable on many a Coheed song.

Mp3>>Iron Maiden “The Trooper”

Whether it was due to the fact that this night was almost an out-and-out failure or simply because Coheed played spot on, the show was phenomenal. Much appreciation goes out to whoever it was that saved the day. Good work.

-Kristin Owen

photo : michael maly

Clutch

photo : michael maly

The impending holidays seem to have things moving a bit slower in the world of music and music news, and with less to talk about, it’s always easy to fill time with anything Radiohead related.

Steve Lamacq from BBC 6Music sat down with Thom and Ed from Radiohead 11.19 for a lengthy chat. I haven’t listened to the entire interview myself, but what I have read and heard appears to very detailed and interesting. Apparently Ed loves the Kings Of Leon? The interview clocks in around 1 hour, so set some time aside.

Check it out here: Radiohead Interview BBC 6Music