The Evil Generation

Last Post for Now

2006-01-31T20:48:00.000-08:00

Ok so I haven't done very well with keeping this blog updated, being busy with a band and a cat and whatnot now, but I figured I should at least post my top albums of 2005 list. I may not post here again for a while, or ever, but for now here's the list of my top 25 albums of 2005:

1. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
2. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
3. The Ashtray Hearts - Perfect Halves
4. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
5. Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
6. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
7. Broken Social Scene - s/t
8. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
9. The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
10. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
11. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
12. The Decemberists - Picaresque
13. Antony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
14. Rogue Wave - Descended Like Vultures
15. Sigur Ros - Takk...
16. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
17. Vashti Bunyan - Lookaftering
18. The Rosebuds - Birds Make Good Neighbors
19. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
20. My Morning Jacket - Z
21. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
22. Animal Collective - Feels
23. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
24. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
25. Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die

When it came down to it, that Hold Steady album kicked my ass all year, and it just had to be #1. It may not hold up the best of all over time, and I wouldn't be suprised if Okkervil River, Wolf Parade, or The Ashtray Hearts eventually become my favorite, but I must have listened to The Hold Steady far more than any other album this year. Most people probably haven't heard of The Ashtray Hearts, but they're a band from Minneapolis that put out an amazing album that was widely underappreciated even in the local press. I highly recommend anyone who's a fan of alt-country or folk check it out.

Releases that were disqualified from the list but were still great, in no particular order:
Belle and Sebastian - Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (EP compilation)
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (live recording)
Iron & Wine - Woman King EP
Iron & Wine with Calexico - In the Reins EP
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP
Wilco - Kickin' Television (live album)

Worst/Most Disappointing of the year:
1. Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic
Really just terrible, there are only a few songs on the album that I can even stand listening to. I actually enjoyed the live versions of most of these songs, but the recording just killed them, which makes it even worse.
2. The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir
Did anyone really enjoy listening to this more than once for the novelty value? Blueberry Boat was great, and I'll give them credit for trying something ambitious, but seriously, WTF were they thinking?
3. Matt Pond PA - Several Arrows Later
I enjoyed Emblems quite a bit, but this is one of those annoying albums that not only do I dislike, but makes me dislike a band's previous work more too.
4. Beck - Guero
Maybe he was thinking that putting songs of all the different styles he's done in the past onto one album would sound like a greatest hits album that never was, but this album sounds more like a bunch of leftovers that were rightfully excluded from his past albums. They did sound better when I saw him live, so maybe part of my dislike of this disc is due to the production.
5. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Maybe I just don't get it, all the critics loved this album but just can't get into it. Could be something I get into in a few years, but it doesn't do much for me now.

I guess that's all for now. Maybe if I get around to it I'll post a list/mixtape of my favorite songs of 2005 sometime, or maybe not. Long live the evil generation.

It's All Gonna Break

2005-11-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

So I suppose it's been a while since I've updated my blog, over a month actually. I've been pretty busy with various projects, but I've still been out to see quite a few shows. I just haven't had time to write about them. Since I'm so far behind, I'm not going to be able to write reviews. I'll actually be doing well if I'm able to list all the shows I've been to since my last post, but I'll give it a try:

10/21 - The Decemberists at First Ave
10/22 - The New Pornographers were supposed to play at First Ave, but sadly the show was cancelled after their bassist got sick.
10/28 - I went down to Madison for the Halloween weekend and saw My Morning Jacket at the Annex
10/29 - Also at the Annex in Madison, saw The Hold Steady with The Constantines and Thunderbirds Are Now! openning
11/5 - Okkervil River and Minus Story at the 400 Bar
11/6 - Jeff Tweedy at First Avenue
11/10 - Was planning on seeing the Shout Out Louds at the Varsity, but the show sold out and I didn't have advance tickets
11/23 - Rogue Wave, The Hopefuls, and Kubla Khan at the Triple Rock

All of these shows were good, really the only band I've seen that I didn't like was Kubla Khan on Wednesday, who opened for The Hopefuls and Rogue Wave. They were without a doubt a jam band, and I hate jam bands. They really didn't fit with the other bands either, but the rest of the show was great so I can't complain.

I think the highlights of these shows were probably The Decemberists, The Hold Steady in Madison on Halloween, and Jeff Tweedy solo, but I enjoyed the other shows too. Somehow though I either managed to forget my camera or not get close enough to get a decent shot at all of these shows. So instead of posting concert photos, here are some pictures of a cute kitten named Buffy that I'm taking care of for a friend:

3 Nights at First Avenue

2005-10-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

Last week I spent three nights in a row in the First Avenue main room. What would cause me to do something that crazy? Well here was the lineup:

Tuesday, 10/11: Death Cab for Cutie
Wednesday, 10/12: Mike Doughty
Thursday, 10/13: Son Volt

So this set the stage for an epic musical battle for supremacy over First Ave between Ben Gibbard, Mike Doughty, and Jay Farrar. Here are pictures of the combatants:

Ben Gibbard

Mike Doughty

Jay Farrar

And the winner is...Jay Farrar, by a landslide. The Son Volt show was terrific and far exceeded my expectations, while I didn't enjoy the other shows nearly as much. Part of the problem is that both Death Cab and Doughty were sold out, I seemed to get stuck in a bad part of the crowd, and the doors were at 8 so they both went past midnight. On the other hand, the Son Volt show was pretty full but not totally packed, and the doors were at 6 so it got out at a decent time.

Death Cab played pretty well, and the songs from their new album Plans sounded good live, but I was tired and the crowd was annoying so I couldn't fully enjoy it. Mike Doughty was also packed, but unlike Death Cab his band didn't sound very good most of the time. I put most of the blame for this on his drummer, who played like he was in a Guns N' Roses cover band instead of backing up a mellow folk singer. The last time I saw Doughty he had a different drummer, who actually knew how to play subtly and not drown out the rest of the instruments, but still rocked out on the rare occasion where it was helpful. The solo acoustic "show within the show" and Doughty's great stage presence salvaged the show from being a total disappointment, but I left feeling it could have been much better with a different drummer, or even if they hadn't had a drummer at all.

Son Volt, on the other hand, was a totally different experience. I was afraid that I would be burned out on my third show of the week, but I actually felt the best for this one. The Jay Farrar is the only original member in the new lineup of Son Volt, so I was a bit weary going in, but the band proved themselves to be worthy of the original Son Volt name. They started off the show playing several songs from their new album Okemah and the Melody of Riot. I don't like the new album anywhere near as much as I like Trace (of course the same could be said for about 98% of my other albums too), but the new songs sounded great live. After several new songs, they began mixing in older songs from their first three albums and a few from Farrar's solo albums too. To my suprise they eventually ended up playing more than half of Trace, including my favorites "Windfall," "Tear Stained Eye," and "Drown". It would've been nice to hear some fiddle, steel pedal, and banjo on a few of those songs, but they managed pretty well with the instruments they had (2 guitars, keyboards, bass and drums). However this lineup was very well suited to play the final song of the night, Uncle Tupelo's "Chickamauga". This is my favorite of Jay's songs from Uncle Tupelo, and I didn't expect to ever hear it played live, much less played so well, so it totally blew me away. Without a doubt that song was the highlight from that week of shows and was a perfect ending.

Hey, It's the Sun! And it Makes Me Shine!

2005-10-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of Across the Narrows was on Sunday, 10/2, and this time I brought my camera. Unfortunately though the battery died at the end of the Polyphonic Spree's set, so I didn't get any pictures of Belle and Sebastian or Beck, but I did get a few good ones of the Spree.

I got to the stadium just before The Ravonettes went on, and there seemed to be more people there, although it was still far from crowded.

I had never heard The Ravonettes music before, but from what I had heard about them their set was about what I expected. It was pretty standard '60's influenced garage rock. They're pretty good at what they do, but what they do doesn't really interest me that much. During the set I was more concerned about getting into a decent spot in the crowd for The Polyphonic Spree than with their music. I didn't mind seeing them perform live, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again, and I don't think I would ever buy an album of theirs unless they change significantly.

Up next was The Polyphonic Spree, a giant indie-rock band/cult whose members wear matching robes. I had never seen them before, and this set turned out to be the highlight of my weekend. I counted 22 members on stage during the show, including 8 in the choir, 3 horn/wind players, 2 drummers, 2 keyboardists, 2 guitarists, 1 bassist, 1 harpist, 1 violinist, 1 thereminist (is that a word? well it is now), and the lead singer. Is all that overkill? Maybe, but it's hard to argue with it when it looks and sounds this good.

Based on the band's lyrics, they seem to worship the sun, so it was great to see them outdoors at the end of a bright, sunny day. The lead singer even waved goodbye to the sun as it was setting during one of their sun songs.

The band played a good mix of songs, playing from both their albums The Beginning Stages of... and Together We're Heavy. They also covered the new Thumbsucker soundtrack, which mostly contains new songs by the band (along with a few new Elliott Smith tracks, which predictably weren't played). The performance of the songs was great, they managed to make them sound even more epic than they do on record. The highlight of the show for me was the short song "Everything Starts at the Seam" which lead into the very long "When the Fool Becomes King", just like it does at the end of their album Together We're Heavy. They changed the songs up enough to make them noticeably different from the album versions, and they were fun to watch on stage. I certainly won't miss them if they ever come through the upper midwest on tour.

Only after the massive lineup of The Polyphonic Spree could the 11 members of the indie-pop Belle and Sebastian seem small for a band. I wonder what it would have felt like if the 2 members of The Black Keys had followed the Spree, that would be an interesting contrast. While Belle and Sebastian took somewhat of a backseat to the Spree in my mind, they were the main reason I went to the festival, and their performance didn't disappoint. My only real complaint is that they have so many great songs, I would have loved to see them play for 3 hours instead of the barely hour long set they had. Still they managed to choose a good setlist for the limited time they had, covering a lot of their best old material as well as several new songs. I was especially happy to hear two of my favorites, "The Loneliness of a Middle Distance Runner" and "Judy and the Dream of Horses". I would've loved to hear "Your Cover's Blown" too, but that's not a typical song for them at all, and I wouldn't be suprised if they never perform it live.

Beck closed out the night after Belle and Sebastian, and it was predictably a very similar show to the one I saw a few weeks earlier at Roy Wilkins in St. Paul. It was still suprisingly enjoyable, even though I had seen pretty much the same thing not long ago. The biggest difference in this show was during the solo portion where the band was sitting down to eat. This time Beck was playing acoustic instead of electric, and was much better than when he was at Roy Wilkins. This solo set included "Tropicalia", a much better version of "Lost Cause", and closed the same way with "The Golden Age" and the rest of the band joining in on dining room percussion.

Overall day 2 was much better than day 1, and I certainly hope to be seeing all 3 of these bands again. Especially Belle and Sebastian, who are long overdue for a show in the Twin Cities. Hopefully they'll go on a full U.S. tour after they release their next album.

We're All Better Off in New York

2005-10-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (10/1-2) I was in New York City, and I went to the Across the Narrows festival held at Keyspan Park in Coney Island. Keyspan Park is a minor league baseball park, and is located only a few blocks from the famous amusement park. The stage was set up in the middle of the baseball field, and you could either watch the show close up on the field, or sit in any of the seats. I didn't bring my camera for the first day, but I did get some pictures on the second day. You can see the stage setup with the amusement park in the background in the pictures below. You can also tell that it wasn't very crowded, which was true on both days, although more people showed up after it got dark.

The first day of the festival was on Saturday, and I saw the following bands in order:
Death from Above 1979
Rilo Kiley
Built to Spill
Gang of Four
Pixies

I got there shortly after DFA1979 went on stage and saw most of their set, which was pretty good although probably not one of their best shows. The band is only a duo, with a bass player and a drummer who does most of the singing. They're a bit more hard rock than what I normally listen to, but they're good live and are able to create a suprising range given their limited instrumentation. I suppose you could say they're the anti-Polyphonic Spree, a band that played on Sunday and had 11 times more band members on stage, but more on them later.

Next up was Rilo Kiley, which was the highlight of the day for me. I had just seen them opening for Coldplay the previous week at Target Center, but this show was better. I was much closer to the stage, the band played longer, and the crowd was at least a bit more into the band. This was the last stop on their tour for their newest album, More Adventurous, and the band seemed to be a bit weary from over a year of touring on the same album, but they still managed to put on a good show. They played all of my favorite songs, including "Love and War", "Does He Love You?", and once again closed with "Portions for Foxes." Even after hearing the same songs live several times, I don't think it's possible for me to not love a show by any band with Jenny Lewis in it.

Built to Spill played next, and while I enjoy their music a lot they aren't really the most compelling live musicians. However they did suprise me by played quite a bit of their older material mixed in with the expected new songs, including my favorite "Carry the Zero" and several other tracks from Keep It Like a Secret.

The two headliners for the day were Gang of Four and Pixies, and both were about as I expected. I like both bands somewhat, but I'm not really into either of them so I wasn't expecting too much. But they both played enjoyable but uneventful sets, with Gang of Four impressing me a bit more than Pixies.

I'll try to post about the second day of the festival in the next few days.

Anyone Have a Hopelandic-to-English Dictionary?

2005-09-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm headed to New York to see some friends, and also to attend the Across the Narrows festival. The lineup is pretty impressive. These are the bands I'm most looking forward to seeing, starting with the most anticipated:

Belle and Sebastian
The Polyphonic Spree
Gang of Four
Built to Spill
Pixies
Rilo Kiley
Beck
Death From Above 1979
McRorie
The Ravonettes

There are a few other bands playing that I'm not very familiar with, and I may or may not see them since they're early in the day. This list is somewhat influenced by the fact that I just saw Rilo Kiley and Beck last week, otherwise they would both be higher up. Speaking of seeing Rilo Kiley, I'm going to finish up my reviews of the shows I saw last week now, so I don't forget about them after I get back from New York.

Last Tuesday I went to one of the worst music venues in the Twin Cities, the Target Center, to see Coldplay and Rilo Kiley. I had semi-decent seats on the first level to the side of the stage, about 15 rows up, but the view wasn't that great as you can see from the pictures. I had actually considered selling my tickets instead of going, since I hate the Target Center and the new Coldplay album mostly bores me. However the lure of seeing Rilo Kiley and lead singer Jenny Lewis proved to be too great and I went to the show.

Rilo Kiley opened the show, and they played pretty well given the conditions. The conditions being a poor venue, no elaborate light or video show like Coldplay had, and a somewhat inattentive audience who mostly seemed unfamiliar with their music. That said, they played a solid set consisting mostly of songs from their newest album, More Adventurous. My only real complaint is that they skipped some of my favorite songs from that album, like "Love and War" and "A Man/Me/Then Jim" while playing some of my least favorite, like "I Never" and "Ripcord." However on the positive side, they did skip "Accidntal Deth" and played two of my other favorites, "The Absence of God" and the set-closing "Portions for Foxes," which the crowd seemed to recognize since it's been getting a fair amount of airplay here.

Coldplay went on next, and they played a very solid if not spectacular set. I really wasn't too excited for this show or expecting all that much, because while their new album X&Y has a few songs I love, overall it just seems kind of bland and boring. So I was pleasantly suprised when they played a pretty good show. The new songs sounded better in concert than on the album, and they also played a good number of songs from their first two albums which I like considerably more than the new one. Add to that a pretty impressive light and video show and a captive audience, and it made for a good show that was actually worth the high ticket price.

After a few days of rest, I went to the Cedar Cultural Center to see Andrew Bird on Friday. This was my first time at this venue, which is fairly large and was suprisingly sold out. I would say The Current probably has a lot to do with why this show sold out, which is fine with me since I got my ticket early. The one thing that struck me most about the show was that the audience was incredibly captive. There was absolutely no talking whatsoever during the songs, and I didn't see a single flash go off from people taking pictures the whole time. I'm sure some of this has to do with the venue, but the audience was also really into the music.

The music was quite good as well. This was Andrew Bird's first show with local drummer/keyboardist Martin Dosh, who also plays with Vicious Vicious and will be going on tour with Andrew soon. I thought the two musicians complimented each other nicely, and sounded very good especially for their first show. Andrew used lots of sampling and played violin, guitar, glockenspiel, and whistled and sang while Martin split his time between his drum kit, rhodes piano and a laptop. Sadly they had to omit "Fake Palindromes" and "Tables and Chairs," two of my favorite songs of his, and I think it was partly due to some technical difficulties. But what they did play sounded great, so I can't complain.

This crazy week ended with seeing Sigur Rós at the State Theater, hence my need for a Hopelandic-to-English dictionary. It was a perfect end to the week, because it was the best show I saw in quite some time. I got there shortly after the opening act (and string quartet for Sigur Rós) started playing a bizarre and oddly mesmerizing set. They used a wide variety of strange instruments like a singing saw, wine glasses, vibraphone, glockenspiel, an array of bells, and their string quartet instruments to make an oddly moving sound. It's really hard to describe their music, like with Sigur Ros, and it must be seen to be fully appreciated.

After the break, a curtain was lowered and Sigur Rós began by playing their first few songs behind it. They started out pretty slow, but it gradually built and by the time the curtain was lifted they really hit their stride, which continued through the entire show. It's hard to pick out individual songs, as in both their albums and their show the songs just kind of flow together. I do remember a few individual highlights being "Hoppípolla" from their new album Takk..., "Svefn-g-englar" from "Ágætis Byrjun," and both the first track and the encore last track from their unnamed album ( ). It's really hard to properly put this show into words, but after seeing them I'm going to put their show in the "Not to be missed under any circumstances" category. The only other bands I can think of that are currently active that I would put in this category are Wilco, Radiohead, and The Flaming Lips, so that puts them with some pretty good company in my opinion.

Talking Trash to the Garbage Around You

2005-09-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

I've fallen a bit behind in reviews of the shows I've been to recently, I guess that's what happens when you go to 5 shows in a week. I'm going to try to finish these up before I leave for New York on Friday, otherwise I'm afraid I'll forget about the shows.

Last Monday I went to Roy Wilkins in St. Paul to see Beck. Sadly I got there too late to see the one man band McRorie open up the show. He only played for 20 minutes, and apparently most of that was taken up with AC/DC covers, so I can't say I'm too upset about missing that. But I did hear he played one original song about how we can be saved from the apocalypse if we party hard enough, and then he challenged Minneapolis and St. Paul to see if we party enough to survive. I'm happy to report that both of the Twin Cities party hard and will be surviving the end of the world, assuming that this prophet known as McRorie is correct.

After a lengthy delay, Beck came out with a full band and they launched right into their set. The show was pretty much what I was expecting out of Beck. He played most of the songs off of his new album, "Guero," and even though it's a pretty mediocre album most of the songs sounded pretty good live. Of course he also played pretty much all of his hits from his previous albums, highlights included "Hotwax," a triumphant return of the mega-hit "Loser," and the main set-closing "Where It's At."

One unexpected turn came near the end of the main set. A dining table was set up on stage, filled with a full dinner. Everyone in the band sat down and started eating while Beck stood alone playing solo-electric songs. There's a picture of this setup below. He did sort of a medly of several of his songs by himself, including "Debra" and "Lost Cause." Then when he started "The Golden Age" off of Sea Change, the rest of the band began using the glasses, dishes, and silverware as percussion instruments. This actually sounded suprisingly good, and it was an interesting gimmick to allow Beck some solo time in the middle of his set.

After the dinner party on stage was done, the band returned to their instruments and played "Where It's At" to close the set, which culminated with the lowering of a giant boom box as seen in the picture below. They came back on for several songs as an encore, including "E-Pro" from Guero. At the end of the encore several members of the audience were brought on stage for a few songs off of Midnight Vultures, as seen below. All in all another solid Beck show. I doubt he'll ever top the time I saw him at the Orpheum with the Flaming Lips as his opening and backing band, but he still puts on a great show and I certainly won't mind seeing him again this weekend in New York.

Come On! Feel the Illinoise?

2005-09-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week, and I haven't had time to post about it yet. I went to 5 shows over the past 7 days, so I'm just going to work my forwards from the beginning with a post for each show, ending with last night's Sigur Rós show at the State Theater.

It started off last Sunday night, when I went to see Sufjan Stevens at First Avenue. I forgot to bring my camera, so there are no pictures, but it was a great show. Sufjan's band had 8 members and they played a wide array of instruments, including guitar, bass, drums, banjo, trumpet, trombone, keyboards, and glockenspiel, and they all sang. They were also all dressed in matching Illinois cheerleader outfits, and did several Illinois cheers between songs and even did a human pyramid at one point.

They played almost all of their new album, "Illinois." My only complaint is that they failed to play what are probably my two favorite songs on the album, "Come On! Feel the Illinoise!" and "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." Omissions aside, what they did play was very good and included much of "Illinois" along with a few songs from "Seven Swans" and "Michigan" and a few others not on his albums. The show started with "The 50 States Song," a non-album track which includes the name of every state in its lyrics. This of course brings cheers whenever states in the region where the band is playing are mentioned, the loudest cheers at this show being for the line "Go Minnesota we're thinking of you." Another non-album track they played was a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" with a new final verse which seems to be very critical of the current state of our country's government.

The crowd was suprisingly large, possibly even a sellout, and was very into the show. I think a large part of this is due to The Current's airplay of the new record. A few of the songs even got big cheers when they started, like "Decatur" which I've heard on The Current several times. Even during the quieter moments of the show, the crowd was pretty quiet for First Avenue. After the main set the band came back out for one encore and played "Chicago".

I'm Not as Sad as Dostoevsky, I'm Not as Clever as Mark Twain

2005-09-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've had time to post, so I'll just do a quick update of a few new items.

I'm gearing up for the Across the Narrows festival in New York, which is only two weeks away, by listening to a lot of Belle and Sebastian. The rest of the bands there should be good too, but I'm most excited for Belle and Sebastian. I'm also looking forward to seeing The Polyphonic Spree for the first time.

The only shows I've seen since my last update were all last weekend, when I went to 3 local shows in 3 days. It started last Thursday, 9/8, when I went to see Cloud Cult and Chris Koza at the Varsity Theater. I really like that venue, it feels very intimate but is also able to accommidate a fairly decent sized crowd. Chris Koza and his band played first, and they were good again. Nice and mostly mellow folk-rock with a bit of a country tinge. Cloud Cult was the headliner, and this was my first time seeing them. I was very impressed with their show, more so than I was expecting to be. They play sort of a unique brand of hippie folk, I would almost put them in the freak folk category with artists like Devandra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. They played most of the best songs from their newest album, Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus, and the songs sounded better live. I also throughly enjoyed it when the lead singer went on an extended rant against Bush and his handling of the hurricane situation, and then followed it by playing the song from their new album, Moving to Canada.

On Friday I went to see Valet at the Uptown Bar, and that show was also good. Although I was disappointed by the size and energy of the crowd, they still played a solid set. I think I enjoyed them more when they opened for Vicious Vicious at the Entry a few months back, but that probably had more to do with the crowd than the band.

On Saturday I went to First Avenue to see Halloween, Alaska's CD release show. The crowd there was quite good, unlike the previous night. I got there in time to see most of Haley Bonar's set, which was an excellent set of really mellow, stripped-down folk songs. I was much more impressed with her at this show than the first time I saw her last fall when she opened for the Arcade Fire at the 400 bar.

Halloween, Alaska also played a good, mellow set. They played most of the songs off their new album, Too Tall to Hide, as well as some highlights from their debug self-titled album. I was really impressed by their ability to play their songs live, I wasn't quite sure what to expect given how much of their music is electronic. Their drummer, Dave King, is really amazing, playing a mixture of live and electronic drums completely seamlessly. From their albums I didn't realize how much he really does. My only real complaint is that First Avenue really isn't the best venue for a show like this. People never seem to be quiet there during softer songs, and it would have been nice to be in a theater with seating for a mellow show like this one. Hopefully the Sufjan Stevens show tomorrow night won't suffer the same fate.

This coming week should be a busy one, with the possibility of 5 or 6 shows between tomorrow and next Saturday. I'll be going to Sufjan Stevens tomorrow if I manage to get a ticket, then Beck on Monday, possibly Coldplay on Tuesday, possibly the Minnesota Music Awards on Wednesday, Andrew Bird on Friday, and Sigur Ros on Saturday. I'm really looking forward to seeing Sigur Ros the most out of all those shows since I've never seen them before and their new album is amazing. I'm guessing they put on quite an impressive show. I'll try to keep my blog updated as often as possible through all these shows.

Dear Machine, Nice Work at the Fine Line

2005-08-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Machine's CD release show at the Fine Line was a great show. Chris Koza and Adam Levy were both great openers. Dear Machine then played a nearly two hour set that was the best show I've seen them play. Here are a few pictures I took at the show:

Chris Koza Band:

Adam Levy and Pete Sands:

Dear Machine:

There are also some pictures over on the howwastheshow.com Photo blog.

Paranoia Killed the Kids, Saved Them from the Mental Lists

2005-08-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

So I was bored the other day, so I made a bunch of lists of my favorite music so far from 2005. Yes I realize it's only August, and these things usually come up at the end of the year, and there will probably be several more albums that come out this yer that will change this. With all that said, here are my top 20 albums of the first 2/3rd's of 2005:

1. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
2. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
3. The Ashtray Hearts - Perfect Halves
4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
5. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
6. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
7. The Decemberists - Picaresque
8. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
9. Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
10. Death Cab for Cutie - Plans
11. The Boy Least Likely To - The Best Party Ever
12. Amusement Parks on Fire - s/t
13. The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
14. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
15. Ryan Adams - Cold Roses
16. M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
17. Son Volt - Okemah and the Melody of Riot
18. M. Ward - Transistor Radio
19. Wilderness - s/t
20. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Still to come in 2005 that may make the list:
Broken Social Scene
Rogue Wave
Wolf Parade
Sigur Ros
My Morning Jacket
The New Pornographers
Halloween, Alaska

Top 10 Minnesota albums:
1. The Ashtray Hearts - Perfect Halves
2. Low - The Great Destroyer
3. Vicious Vicious - Don't Look So Suprised
4. Jeff Hanson - s/t
5. Hockey Night - Keep Guessin'
6. The Soviettes - LP III
7. Divorcee - Music for Cleanup Men, Breakdown and Inbetweeners
8. Dallas Orbiter - Magnesium Fireflies
9. Cloud Cult - Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus
10. Fitzgerald - Raised by Wolves

Favorite Songs of 2005:
1. Shout Out Louds - But Then Again No
2. The Decemberists - The Engine Driver
3. Ryan Adams - Sweet Illusions
4. Iron & Wine - Jezebel
5. Spoon - Sister Jack
6. The Ashtray Hearts - Flowers
7. Okkervil River - Black
8. Wolf Parade - Shine a Light
9. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - In This Home on Ice
10. Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Orange Juice and the Morning Paper

2005-08-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I went over to the Electric Fetus and picked up "The Glasgow School" by Orange Juice, which is quite good. On my way out, I was interviewed by a reporter from the Star Tribune who was working on a story about chains that get exclusive deals to sell CDs. The story just ran in today's paper, and it's available online here.

I'm Doing Just Fine, Hour to Hour, Note to Note

2005-08-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

There hasn't been too much new lately. I did go to the Elliott Smith tribute show at the Hexagon last Friday, and it was fun. Mostly I just saw solo performers, along with one full band that was pretty good. HowWasTheShow has a review of it here.

There aren't too many shows coming up this month, just a few local bands. There have been a lot of good national shows announced for the fall, especially in October. I'll probably end up going to about 10 shows in October, and it will all end with a great but very odd weekend of The Go! Team on Friday, Nickel Creek on Saturday, and The Hold Steady on Sunday. It would be nice if The Hold Steady show was on Friday or Saturday, but at least there aren't any conflicts yet, and I suppose I could take off work that Monday to recover from the show. I'm also looking forward to seeing The Fiery Furnaces, Stars, and Son Volt all for the first time. It should be a hectic month, but at least I'll have something to write about.

Hopefully the weather cooperates on Thursday and I make it out to The Ashtray Hearts show. I'd really like to see them since their new album "Perfect Halves" is my favorite local album released this year, and is also one of my favorites of the year by any band.

Pitchfork Rules the [into]Nation pt. 2

2005-07-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

I went to the Love-Cars show last night at the Uptown Bar, and I was really blown away by the band. I got there in time to see all of openers Cowboy Curtis' set, and it was pretty good. They kind of reminded me of Death Cab for Cutie, as their style could be described as mostly upbeat, electric emo. The lead singer's voice even kind of sounded like Ben Gibbard, although not as high.

By the time Cowboy Curtis ended their set, the bar was packed. I'm not sure if it was sold out, but I've never seen the Uptown that crowded before. I decided to move up closer to the stage, and was basically in the second row for the Love-Cars' entire set. I had heard of Love-Cars before, but the first I actually heard of their music was their live in-studio performance earlier in the day on The Current (available online here). That session was a stripped-down acoustic set which sounded quite good, so I was expecting something similar at the Uptown. But there wasn't an acoustic guitar in sight all night, as the band went all electric and rocked hard. I didn't know any of the songs they played, but they sounded great. I reallly didn't know what to expect going into the show, but they totally blew me away. I enjoyed it more than any show I've seen since Ted Leo was at First Ave a few months ago. They have another show tonight at the 400 Bar that I would actually consider going to if it wasn't for the Mark Mallman/Vicious Vicious show at the Hexagon.

And now back to the Intonation recap:

Sunday, July 17

1:00PM - Thunderbirds Are Now! - Holiday Stage

I got to the festival early again, although this time the first bands were actually worth seeing. I wasn't too familiar with Thunderbirds Are Now! before the festival, but their enegertic brand of electronic punk rock won me over. They were clearly excited to be playing the festival, and even though the crowd was relatively small they seemed to enjoy it too.

I did head over to the other stage before they were finished playing, but that was because I wanted to get a good spot for Dungen and a crowd had started to form at that stage.

1:30PM - Dungen - Decimal Stage

Next up were Swedish psych-rock band Dungen, who were really impressive and should have been given a better time slot with a full hour to play.

The music sounds like it's straight out of the 60's, and they use all vintage equipment to give it an authentic sound. They seemed to have some difficulties with a power converter for their amps, but they managed to work it out without losing too much. Hopefully the band will go on a full US tour soon, as I'd love to see them again playing a full show.

2:00PM - Xiu Xiu - Holiday Stage

After Dungen, I went to take a break from the heat for a bit and sat in the shade. Saturday was pretty hot with the sun out and temperatures nearing 90, but Sunday was even hotter with temperatures nearing 100 at the hottest. I wasn't too excited to see Xiu Xiu, so I didn't mind missing some of their performance.

I did head over to the stage about halfway through the set, mainly to get in good position for The Hold Steady who were playing on the stage an hour later. What I did see of their set pretty much confirmed my opinion of the band from their records. They have some good songs, and a few of them even sound decent when they play them, but for the most part they're too worried about being experimental for the sake of being experimental, and not because it makes the music better. Most of the time I think it makes the music worse and just detracts from the songs. Maybe if I listened to them more I would enjoy them, but as it is I'm just not that interested in them.

Out Hud was up next on the Decimal stage, but I stayed at the Holiday stage to get a front row view for The Hold Steady. From what I heard of Out Hud from across the field, it didn't sound like I missed much.

3:30PM - The Hold Steady - Holiday Stage

I've been completly obsessed with The Hold Steady's new album, "Separation Sunday," since it came out in early May this year. I had liked some songs from their first album, 2004's "Almost Killed Me," but I wasn't really into this band until "Separation Sunday." The Hold Steady is basically a terrific classic rock band fronted by a drunk-but-still-brilliant barroom poet, Craig Finn. While they're based in Brooklyn now, most of the members were originally from the Twin Cities, including lead singer/talker/poet/whatever-you-want-to-call-it Craig Finn. Nearly every song on their new album has at least some reference to the Twin Cities, which makes it even better for me.

I saw The Hold Steady twice earlier this year, first at Grand Old Day and then the next night at First Avenue. Both of those shows were good, but it seemed like they needed a little work on the new songs. They toured a lot between those shows and Intonation, and that's really improved their shows. It also probably helps that they played early in the day, so they weren't that drunk when they got on stage. Although after the show they probably were starting to get drunk, since they requested a case of beer and a bottle of Maker's Mark and finished them both off during the course of their 50 minute set.

Their set was mostly songs from "Separation Sunday," along with a few of the best songs from their first album. They opened up with the lead track from their new album, "Hornets! Hornets!" and closed with the last track from their first album, "Killer Parties." In between they unleashed their amazing brand of rock on a somewhat unprepared mass of indie kids gathered around on a baseball diamond. Craig Finn even remembered most of his lyrics, which is no small feat given their complexity. This performance makes me anticipate their next Twin Cities appearance even more.

4:30PM - Andrew Bird - Decimal Stage

Since I stayed for all of The Hold Steady's performance, I wasn't able to get a very good spot for Andrew Bird. If I had been closer I may have enjoyed his performance more, but I think his music just isn't very well suited to a festival performance.

It may have also been the lingering effects from The Hold Steady too, but I wasn't too into Andrew Bird's performance. I love his music, and a few of the songs sounded really good, but for the most part it was hard to appreciate all the intricacies of his songs in this setting. I'd love to see him in a more intimate venue in Minneapolis, I think the Varsity Theater or the Fine Line would both be great. Still it was worth sticking around for him and I'm glad I saw him.

I'm just about to head off to the Mark Mallman/Vicious Vicious show. I'm not expecting it to be as great as the show last night, but it's free and it should be entertaining. I like Mallman but I've never seen him before, and I love Vicious Vicious, so I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

Pitchfork Rules the [into]Nation pt. 1

2005-07-29T18:10:00.000-07:00

I went to the Kings of Leon show last night, even though I don't really like Kings of Leon that much. The main reason I went was to see openers Shout Out Louds and Secret Machines, and because it was free. Shout Out Louds were a disappointment, mainly because they went on at 6PM and only played for a little over 20 minutes. Since we got there around 6:15, we only saw them play two songs. They did say they'll be back in November, and hopefully this will be a full set with them as the headliners.

Secret Machines were next, and they played a great set that lasted for well over an hour. They sound great live, better than on their records, and they have an amazing light show to go with their music. Kings of Leon went on last, and I actually ended up staying for the whole show. They sound better live than on an album, and I think the main reason for this is that the lead singer's voice isn't as annoying and you can't hear his terrible lyrics very clearly. And the band knows how to rock live. They did play a few slow songs that were really bad, but for the most part they were fairly decent. I still don't think I'll ever like their records, but I wouldn't mind seeing them live again if it's free.

A few weeks ago I went to Chicago for the Intonation Music Festival, which was held in a park there. It was curated by Pitchfork, the king of indie music web sites, so they had quite a few good acts playing. There were also a few that I thought were terrible, but at least those acts gave me a chance to take a break in the shade. The festival was very well organized, and they had two stages set up so that there was always one act playing on one of the stages while they set up for the next band on the other stage. The only bad thing about the festival was that it was really hot during most of it, but at least it didn't rain so the weather wasn't too bad. I took pictures of all the best acts that I saw, and here are some of them:

Saturday, July 16

2:45PM - AC Newman - Decimal Stage

I got to the festival before the gates opened and saw the first band, Head of Femur, as well as a few others. But AC Newman was the first artist of the festival who I was familiar with and was looking forward to seeing.

The show got off to a very rocky start, with the entire band sounding out of tune and out of time on the first song, "On the Table." It got a little bit better as the song went on, but it was obvious that something was very wrong. It turns out that Mr. Newman's guitar was tuned a full step below where it was supposed to be for that song. But the band took it all in stride, even joking about it, and then played the song again with all instruments properly tuned. The rest of the set was amazing, with AC Newman and his band going through most of the songs off of his solo record, "The Slow Wonder." Andrew Bird, who played on Sunday, even provided his amazing whistling to the group for a song:

3:30PM - Magnolia Electric Co. - Holiday Stage

I've tried to get into Magnolia Electric Co. before, as I've heard a lot of good things about them, but somehow I can't get over the fact that their frontman, Jason Molina, just wants to be Neil Young. He may be a decent singer, songwriter, and guitar player, but he's not Neil Young and he never will be. His music reminds me so much of Neil Young that I don't think I can ever get past that. Maybe some people can see past that, or maybe if you've never listened to Neil Young before you could enjoy it, but I can't.

What I saw of this performance confirmed in my mind that Magnolia Electric Co. want to be like Neil Young, but never will. Strangely they chose to play mostly slower songs which didn't seem to go over too well in a festival atmosphere. Maybe in a smokey, dimly lit hole-in-the-wall bar these songs would sound good, but it just didn't do it for me on a hot, sunny day in a public park in the middle of Chicago.

Next up was Four Tet. I had never heard their music before so I went to take a break and sit in the shade. What I heard of them from there I wasn't very impressed with.

5:30PM - Broken Social Scene - Holiday Stage

As Four Tet was still playing, I headed back to the Holiday Stage to get a decent spot for Broken Social Scene, who I expected to be one of the highlights of the day. Their performance actually exceeded my expectations, as they were my favorite act that I saw on Saturday and my second favorite act overall.

I believe that Broken Social Scene has about 30 members, 25 of which are guitar players, and most of them were on hand for this show. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but they do have a lot of band members. I think for most of the show they had 9 or 10 people on stage, with 5 of them being guitar players. I don't think they really need this many people, but they sure sounded good live so who am I to dispute their lineup choices?

They started off with the excellent new song "Shorelines," and also played several other new songs that I hadn't heard before. For the most part I'd say these songs ranged from good to excellent. They also played several of the songs off of their breakthrough album, 2003's "You Forgot it in People." That includes what is far and away my favorite song from that album, "Almost Crimes," which was amazing to hear performed live. Overall I would consider that album to be kind of hit-and-miss and not the classic that Pitchfork makes it out to be, but hearing them perform the songs live is a whole different experience. Hopefully their next album, which should be coming out soon, will be an improvement. But even if it isn't, hopefully they'll come to First Avenue on tour in support of the album, since they're a great live band.

6:30PM - The Go! Team - Decimal Stage

The Go! Team was the last band I saw on Saturday, and while they were a bit of a come down from Broken Social Scene, I still enjoyed their set quite a bit. It's hard to put The Go! Team into any genre, but I would say they've been influenced by a lot of genres that I'm not really a big fan of. Their lead singer/rapper/vocalist is obviously hip-hop influenced, but I actually enjoyed her. Their music seems to be influenced by jazz, funk, rock and dance music, but somehow it all blends into something entirely new which I love.

They played most of the songs from their debut album, "Thunder, Lightning, Strike," which is great but still is only available as a UK import. Apparently they've had some trouble clearing the copyrights of some samples used for US release. Even though they haven't released a record here yet, the crowd seemed to enjoy their show. My only real complaint is that they don't have a live horn section. There are quite a few horn parts on their record, and they didn't even have a trumpet player with them for the show. They relied on keyboards, harmonica, and worst of all pre-recorded parts to fill in the void. I think if they added a few real horn players to their band, they would be absolutely amazing live. I'm hoping that's what they do before they tour the US again, since they're coming to First Avenue at the end of October and I plan on going to that show.

This recap is taking longer than I expected, and I want to head out to the Love-Cars show at the Uptown Bar tonight, so I'm going to cut it off after the first day. I'll post pictures and a recap from day 2 tomorrow (quick summary of day 2 in 4 words: The Hold Steady rock).

There's Some Lives You Live, and Some You Leave Behind

2005-07-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

I finally got my cable internet hooked up again after moving, and things have started to settle down a bit after the move and my trip to Chicago for Intonation, so I'm going to try to catch up a bit on my posting now.

I saw the Olympic Hopefuls at the Turf Club a few weeks ago. We were in the front row, and as I recall it was a pretty good show. Here are a few pictures:

A little over a week ago I drove down to Chicago for the Intonation Music Festival. It was a great time, with a lot of great music and hot, sunny weather. My favorite bands from Saturday, the first day, were AC Newman and Broken Social Scene. I think both sounded better live than they do on record. My favorites from Sunday were Dungen and The Hold Steady, who gave far and away the best performance I saw. I decided to leave early Sunday, so I did miss The Wrens, Les Savy Fav, and The Decemberists, but it was still well worth the trip. I'll post some pictures soon once I get a chance.

I finally got the full debut album from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and I think it's really good so far. Maybe not a classic album, but there are quite a few great songs on it. I also got the new Art Brut and The Boy Least Likely To albums, and so far I think they're both good but not spectacular.

I'll probably be going to a few more concerts over the next week, with Shout Out Louds/Secret Machines/Kings of Leon at First Ave on Thursday and probably one of the Mark Mallman shows at the Hex, hopefully the one on Saturday with Vicious Vicious opening.

I Kinda Dig These Awkward Silences

2005-07-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much to write about recently, hence the awkward silence. But I kind of dig it, since I grew up in denial and went to school in Massachusetts. I did just discover Audio Scrobbler, a web site that keeps track of all the music you listen to on your computer or iPod and then displays statistics about what you're listening to the most. So if you want to see what I've been listening to lately you can go here.

I did see Vicious Vicious again last week at the Uptown Bar, and they put on another great show. Probably not quite as good as their CD release show at the Entry since Valet wasn't opening, but I enjoyed hearing them again after having listened to their new album quite a bit. The new album, Don't Look So Suprised, is quite good and has really been growing on me lately. It's probably my second favorite local album to come out this year, after The Ashtray Hearts' Perfect Halves, which is absolutely amazing. Of course that's not counting Separation Sunday as a local album, despite all the Minnesota references, since The Hold Steady are now based in New York.

I haven't been to too many shows lately, but I'm going to try to get out to the Turf Club on Saturday to see Olympic Hopefuls, and I may even try to write a review. Other than that I'm just going to try to prepare and rest up for the following weekend, when I'll be moving and going to Intonation.

Come on Feel the Illinoise!

2005-07-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

I got the new Sufjan Stevens album, Illinois, yesterday, and Sufjan certainly isn't one for brevity. After listening to it several times, it seems a bit overwhelming. There are some great songs on it, but it's also really hard to get through the entire album in one sitting. The problem with it is that it's too long and too ambitious. Like his earlier album, Michigan, it spans several genres, going from sparse acoustic folk songs to heavily instrumented rock songs, and there are so many different instruments used it would be hard to list them all. There are 22 tracks over 74 minutes, and a lot of the tracks really seem unnecessary. Maybe after listening to the whole album straight through several more times it will make more sense.

There are some great individual songs on the album, but even those could use a bit of editing to make them shorter and more concise. Even the song titles need to be shortened, like this one: The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I have fought the Big Knives, and will continue to fight them until they are off our lands!" Yes all of that is the title of one song, which is only two minutes long. The song will be over before the whole title scrolls across an iPod screen. My favorite songs on the album so far are "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!", "Chicago", and "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh!" I always love a good zombie song, even when there are seven exclamation points in the title.

Despite my problems with the new album, Sufjan still puts on a great show I'm sure. I really enjoyed seeing him at the 400 Bar last year. He's going on tour to support the new album this summer/fall, and I'm looking forward to seeing him when he comes to First Ave in September.

Update: I'm starting to like Illinois more now after more listening; there are some really amazing songs on it. But I still think that it would be better if it was cut back a bit. It was supposed to be released today, but apparently that's been pushed back at the last minute due to copywrite problems with the artwork. Apparently the record label didn't clear the use of Superman on the front cover and they're going to release a new version in a month or so with no Superman. On the plus side, I did get my pre-ordered copy already, so I guess it could become a collector's item.

What's the World Got in Store?

2005-07-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

My lack of recent postings has mainly been from my lack of recent shows and new albums. I did get the Belle & Sebastian EP compilation, Push Barman to Open Old Wounds, which I've been enjoying quite a bit so far. There's really a lot of material from their EP's, and most if the songs sound much better than standard B-sides. There are a few tracks I could do without, but for the most part it's really good.

My concert outings should be picking up soon, with Vicious Vicious tonight at the Uptown, Patterson Hood of Drive By Truckers tomorrow at the 400, and Olympic Hopefuls playing in town 5 times in the next week. I'm sure I'll catch at least one of the OH shows, hopefully one that's outdoors in great weather.

I'm also looking forward to the Intonation Music Festival in Chicago in a few weeks. They've announced the final lineup and set times, and Saturday looks pretty good, but Sunday looks just insane. I want to see several of the bands Saturday, but Sunday I want to see every single one playing. As long as weather cooperates, I think it should be a great time.

Worst New Band Name of the Year

2005-06-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

I realize it's still only June, but I think there's already a winner in the worst new indie rock band name of the year contest: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I would be shocked if another new band that actually puts out a decent record this year has a name worse than that. The cover art on their album is hideous too:

The music, on the other hand, actually sounds quite good from what I've heard so far. All I've heard so far are the 3 songs from their album available for free download on their website. They also got a terrific reviews from Pitchfork and Tiny Mix Tapes, so the buzz is starting to build. I'll reserve full judgement until I've heard the whole album (currently only available through Insound), but this band could end up being this year's Arcade Fire.

In other news, my lack of recent updates to this blog is mainly due to the lack of shows I've been to in the past week. I haven't been to any shows since Vicious Vicious way back on June 17. I suppose I'll have to remedy this situation by going to 3 or 4 shows over the next week or so. Stay tuned...

You Can't Hear It on the Radio

2005-06-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

Spin's most recent issue has an article about the 100 greatest albums of the last 20 years, and Radiohead's OK Computer tops the list. It's really hard for me to argue against that one, and I'm glad they put it ahead of Nirvana's Nevermind, which really hasn't held up as well for me. Other good albums in the top 10 include Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted, The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead, and Pixies - Surfer Rosa. It got me thinking about my favorite albums of the last 20 years, so I put together my own top 10 list. I'm sure I'm probably forgetting something, and I'll change my mind by tomorrow, but this is my list for now:

1. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. Pavement - Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
4. The Replacements - Tim
5. Radiohead - Kid A
6. Son Volt - Trace
7. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
8. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
9. Elliott Smith - either/or
10. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights

Those that didn't quite make it:
Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne
Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
Pixies - Doolittle
Pavememt - Slanted & Enchanted, Wowee Zowee
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
The Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hotel
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
R.E.M. - Reckoning (1984 is too old), New Adventures in Hi-Fi
The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday (too new to be considered)

I tried to limit myself to one album per band, but I couldn't leave out Kid A or OK Computer, they're both absolutely amazing albums in very different ways, and I actually have trouble deciding which one I like more. I guess today I'm feeling more like OK Computer. If you're not familiar with any of these albums, I strongly recommend checking them out.

I kept meaning to write reviews of my two favorite albums that have come out this year, but I don't think I'll ever get around to it. And since I'm making lists, I'll just go ahead with my top 10 for the year so far:

1. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
2. Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
3. Andrew Bird - The Mysterious Production of Eggs
4. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
5. The Decemberists - Picaresque
6. Spoon - Gimme Fiction
7. The Ashtray Hearts - Perfect Halves
8. Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
9. Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth
10. M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us

Other than the top 3, this is probably going to end up changing a lot by the end of the year. I'd be very suprised if anything this year beats The Hold Steady, but some totally unknown band could come out of nowhere like Arcade Fire last year. Probably won't happen, but it's possible. The lower half of the list I'm not really too sure on, but this is what I have for now.

It's a Serious Thing

2005-06-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw two local bands, Valet and Vicious Vicious, at the 7th Street Entry. I was quite impressed by both of them. Valet played first, and they played most of the songs on their most recent album, Life on the Installment Plan. They really recreated the sound on their album very closely, and this was a good thing since the album is excellent. For the most part their songs are very simple, mid-tempo pop rock songs that are also very effective. Lyrically they seem to be obsessed with the media and pop culture, which is both good and bad at times.

Vicious Vicious played last, as they were the headliners and it was their CD release show. By the time they took the stage, the club was pretty crowded. It wasn't sold out, but it was the most crowded I've seen the Entry since The Wrens played there last year. I first saw Vicious Vicious a few weeks ago at the Turf Club, which was good, but I liked this show more. I would describe their music as blues-tinged rock, and they certainly know how to rock on stage. They do have some slower songs, but for the most part they stuck with the rock at the show.

I also got a few new CD's over the past week:

Aloha - Here Comes Everyone

I saw this band open for Ted Leo, and liked them enough to buy their most recent album. It's pretty good, really great percussion and vibraphone, and the songs are good too. I liked seeing them live more than the record, but it's still a good album and I'll probably pick up one of their older records if I can ever find it.

Divorcee - Music for Cleanup Men, Breakdowns and Inbetweeners

This album is from a local pop rock band, and it seems decent so far, but I need to listen to it more to really make up my mind. I'm guessing I'll either end up totally loving it or I'll never really feel like listening to it.

Secret Machines - The Road Leads Where It's Led EP

A new EP that contains several covers, most of which are pretty disappointing after the first few listens. I think there may be a few songs here, but not really a good EP overall.

Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love

The new Smog album, it's very stripped down folk music. Only listened to it a few times but I like it so far.

Vicious Vicious - Don't Look So Suprised

Just got this at the show last night, and it sounds good so far. It reminds me of Beck a lot more than their live shows do.

Do You Believe in Something Beautiful?

2005-06-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

Ted Leo didn't exactly play a show at First Ave on Tuesday. I would say unleashing an explosion of rock is a more accurate description of what he and his band, The Pharmacists, did. This was easily the best concert I've been to all year.

We got to First Avenue early, before the first band even started, which turned out to be a good thing. Aloha was the first opener, and while I had never heard of them before, I was very impressed by their performance. It's hard to categorize their music, the best genre I can come up with is the rather broad experimental rock. They remind me a bit of Sigur Ros, only more rock influenced and less Icelandic. They have only four members, but they managed to produce a wide array of sounds by switching instruments quite frequently. They used various combinations of electric guitars, bass, drums, two keyboards, and a vibraphone on their songs, which took frequent unexpected turns and often transformed into the next song without a break. The percussion was really amazing and was the focus of several of the songs. At first I wasn't too sure about the singer's voice, but I think it may have been a problem with the mix, and I got used to it as the show went on. I liked the band enough to buy their most recent album, Here Comes Everybody, which I like so far.

The Oranges Band were up next, and unfortunately they weren't nearly as good as Aloha. The only good things I can say about them is that their set was mercifully short, and I have seen worse opening bands before. They seemed to emulate the sound of several good indie rock bands, like Spoon and Ted Leo, without actually being any good. I can't say that they were really terrible, but they really weren't any good either. Pitchfork just gave their most recent album a decent review, so they may sound better on record, but based on their performance I didn't hear anything that would make me want to listen to them again.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists were up next, and they wasted no time in getting to the rock. I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in to this show. I only had Ted Leo's most recent album, Shake the Sheets, and I liked it quite a bit, but I hadn't really been listening to it much recently. I figured that he would probably put on a good show, but I wasn't prepared for the onslaught of rock that he played.

The band consisted of only Ted Leo on guitar and vocals, with a bass player and a drummer, but they managed to create a richer sound than some bands I've seen with more than twice the members. Their amazing energy and minimalist approach to instrumentation reminded me of seeing The Black Keys at First Avenue last fall.

Ted Leo is a great guitar player and singer, and it's amazing that he manages to play and sing his complicated parts simultaneously.

The setlist covered all the highlights from Shake the Sheets, a lot of songs that I didn't recognize (mostly from his first two studio albums I assume), a few newer songs, and even a Bruce Springsteen song in the encore. Highlights for me were "Me and Mia" early in the set and "Heart Problems" closer to the end, both off of Shake the Sheets. After the main set was over, Ted Leo came back on by himself and played the Springsteen cover and another song solo. He was then joined by the rest of the band for a few more songs to close the night, and I left First Ave totally blown away by the performance. Nearly everybody else I know who attended the show was equally impressed, and there's no way I'll miss Ted Leo the next time he comes through town.

The Maker of Modern Minor Masterpieces for the Untrained Eye

2005-06-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks played at First Avenue on Sunday. It was a good show, albeit a somewhat underwhelming one. They focused mainly on songs from their new album, Face the Truth, which is decent but I haven't totally gotten into it yet. I would've liked to hear a few more songs from Malkmus' first two solo albums, or even a Pavement song or two, but I didn't get my hopes up for that. They also played 3 or 4 songs that I had never heard before, nothing that was too memorable, but it seemed an odd choice considering they hardly played any older material. Still it was a good show and I'm glad I made it, even with the late start.

A Few Decent Days and Nights

2005-06-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've fallen a bit behind in posting since The Hold Steady show, so I'll try to make up for it with this one post.

After The Hold Steady show last Monday, I went to see Neko Case on Tuesday, my fifth show in 5 days, and counting the opening band Low Skies, my 16th band seen in that time. I was a little burned out at that point (and forgot to bring my camera), but Neko put on a great show so I'm glad I went. She has an amazing voice, which you can tell from her records, but I appreciate it more now after seeing her perform for the first time. Her band was also really good, especially the steel pedal and banjo player. Highlights included the songs "Deep Red Bells" and "I Wish I Was the Moon" from her last studio album, Blacklisted. She also played quite a few covers of older songs, my favorite being Bob Dylan's "Buckets of Rain." I think if Neko Case had been around in a different era, when there was popular country music that was actually good, she would have been a huge star. She seems to be doing pretty well now for an indie artist, but she's not exactly topping the billboard charts.

On Friday I went to the 400 Bar to see Dear Machine and The Redleaves. Dear Machine rocked the bar as always. They played some new songs along with some of the best songs off of their album. Here are a few pictures:

The whole band slipping some soft rock into their setlist with "Halloween"

Jason (aka really sweaty guy on the right) and Dylan singing while Eli holds it all together with the cowbell

Eli really getting into the jam on the keys

The Redleaves went on after Dear Machine, and from the half hour or so I saw I enjoyed them. They had a standard trio of guitar-bass-drums, and played sort of an electro-folk-pop. I may check them out again if they're playing with any other bands I'd like to see.

On Saturday I went to the Fine Line to see The Futureheads. I got there in the middle of High Speed Scene's opening set. They were mediocre, nothing really terrible but I wouldn't say they were good either. Then The Futureheads went on with a rather elaborate light and smoke setup which they didn't have last time I saw them. As you can tell from the pictures, there was quite a bit of smoke on stage.

The band played really well, and the lights really added a lot to the show. The Futureheads are a very British pop/punk rock band, and all four members sing quite a bit, often at the same time. They played most of the songs off of their self-titled debut album, along with a few older b-sides and a new song or two. Overall it was a really good show, but it was also really short. From when they first went on to the end of the encore, it was just under an hour. I guess they played most of the material that they have available, but it still would have been nice if it was a little longer.

Tonight I'm going to see former Pavement lead singer/guitarist Stephen Malkmus with his band The Jicks at First Avenue, it should be another good show.

Certain Songs They Get Scratched Into Our Souls

2005-06-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

I got to First Ave to see The Hold Steady shortly after the first band, The Plastic Constellations, had gone on stage. They're a local punk band, and they were really loud. It was quite possibly the loudest I've ever heard a show at First Ave. Fortunately I brought earplugs, expecting the show to be fairly loud but not as loud as it was, and was able to enjoy the band with them in. Without earplugs, my ears would probably still be ringing now, two days after the show.

After The Plastic Constellations, local rapper POS went on. He seemed alright, I'm not really a big fan of rap, but he did score points with me for all the anti-Bush lyrics. But somehow watching one guy on stage rapping over pre-recorded beats just isn't that exciting to me. It got better when another rapper, Sims, came on for a few songs near the end of his set. He was also joined by Craig Finn of The Hold Steady on one of his last songs. It was pretty amusing, Craig didn't quite seem comfortable on stage without a guitar or a backing band, but his vocal style did work pretty well with the rap.

The Hold Steady were up next, and they started the show by playing their entire new album, Separation Sunday, front to back. I love this album, so I was excited to hear them attempt this. I was a bit disappointed by the new material live, but I'm sure part of that was because of my very high expectations. My only real complaint is that Craig Finn messed up a lot on the lyrics, which are really the best part of the album for me. This is understandable, since it's hard to sing along to the record even with all the lyrics in front of you, and I'm sure they haven't been playing these songs live for very long. Hopefully I'll see them again after they've toured for a while and Craig has the lyrics down better. Sadly he screwed up one of my favorite parts of the album, from the song "Banging Camp":

She said I dig those awkward silences
Cause I grew up in denial
I went to school in Massachusetts

Went something like:
"She said... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ...
... ...went to school in Massachusetts"

The crowd also didn't seem too into the new songs, and actually seemed pretty tame through the whole show considering the amount of rock The Hold Steady were pumping out. There were people in the very front of the stage who were just standing there, not moving at all, listening to incredible rock music. Not that I wanted to see moshing or crowd surfing or anything like that, but it would have been nice to see a little more involvement. Now I can understand why they make fun of "all the sniffling indie kids," who also happen to be their core fans, on the first record.

After finishing the last song on Separation Sunday, "How a Resurrection Really Feels," the band went off stage for a break. Craig Finn came back on with the keyboard player and they played "Certain Songs" with just keys and vocals. Then the rest of the band came back and they played most of the songs from their first record, Almost Killed Me. These weren't in the order from the album, so I can't remember exactly what was played when, but they may have actually gone through all the songs from their first album too. This set seemed tighter than the first one, and the crowd was more into it. I also didn't notice any problems with the lyrics, and I'm sure this is because they've been playing these songs longer than the new ones. Once they can play all their songs as well as these older ones, I'm sure they'll completely blow me away. Even with the problems, it was still an amazing show, and I'm glad I got to see them twice in two days.

It's a Holiday Until Tomorrow

2005-06-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Grand Old Day certainly lived up to its name yesterday. We got to the stage at Dixies a little before 1:30, and Bridge Club were still playing even though The Hold Steady were supposed to start at 1. We probably heard about 4 or 5 songs by Bridge Club while standing in the alley behind the stage, and I can't say liked them much at all. They pretty much seemed to be a classic rock cliche band, basically a Zepplin cover band that doesn't play any Zepplin songs and just plays their own crappy originals instead. I may be judging them a bit harshly since I wasn't really paying that much attention, but I didn't hear anything that made me want to listen closer.

The delay in the show was a good thing, since it let me see all of The Hold Steady's set. They came out and started with "Positive Jam," the first song off of their first record, Almost Killed Me. Over the course of their set, they played a good portion of the songs off of both their first record and their new one, the fantastic Separation Sunday. I was near the back of the parking lot for most of the show, and the sound didn't travel all that well, but I still enjoyed it. When I moved in closer to get a few pictures I could hear them really rocking out.

I wasn't really paying too much attention to the music, but I wasn't too concerned because I'll be seeing them at First Avenue tonight, which is really a much better venue for The Hold Steady. They ended up closing the set with "Killer Parties," the closing track from their first album, after which I headed over to the Cities 97 stage to see Olympic Hopefuls. Har Mar Superstar was on the Dixies stage after The Hold Steady, but I didn't really want to see him, and I hear his set sucked anyway.

The Olympic Hopefuls certainly did not suck at all, and seeing them was actually the highlight of my whole weekend of shows. This was my fifth time seeing them (first time with the new suits), so I wasn't really too excited about the show and wasn't expecting much out of it. But they ended up blowing me away with their sheer power pop excellence. The lot where they were playing was packed with people, but for some strange reason the very front of the stage was relatively empty, so I managed to get a great viewing spot by just working my way through the crowd.

They played all of the highlights off of their debut album, The Fuses Refuse to Burn, and also played several new songs. Two of the new songs I had heard before at previous shows, but three of them I had never heard before, and they were all great. The band was incredibly tight, and even seemed mostly unfazed when it began to rain quite hard about two-thirds of the way through their set. I know they're doing very well locally, but I'm surprised they haven't broken through nationally yet. If I worked for a major label I would love to sign them, as I think they have a shot to be really big if they can get the right promotion.

After all that rock, I was pretty exhausted by the time I finally got home. And now I'll be heading out to First Avenue to see The Hold Steady again, hopefully I'm not headed for the disco burn.

The Universe Works on a Math Equation

2005-06-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

I got back from Grand Old Day earlier today, and I've now seen 11 bands over the past three days. I still have The Hold Steady coming up tomorrow and Neko Case on Tuesday, both at First Avenue. If I see all the opening bands for those shows, then I will have seen 16 bands in 5 days. Due to this massive amount of music, my reviews have to be brief.

Yesterday I went to the Orpheum Theater to see Modest Mouse and Camper Van Beethoven. I had seats in the first row after the pit, so the view was great, although I forgot to bring my camera so I don't have any pictures.

Camper Van Beethoven started promptly at 7:30, and since we got there a few minutes after that we were seated while they were playing. They played a mostly entertaining set, but it didn't really blow me away and I don't think I would go out of my way to see them again. I believe most, if not all, of the songs they played were from their most recent album, New Roman Times. They have something of an indie rock-meets-old time country sound. I think the country thing comes mostly from the presence of a fiddle in most songs, along with the guitars, bass and drums. Overall a decent opening band.

Modest Mouse came out after a lengthy setup, and started out with "Ocean Breathes Salty" from their newest album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News. They sounded better and seemed to be in a better mood than they were the last time I saw them, last summer at First Avenue. They played several older songs early in their set, so I was hoping the whole concert would focus more on those than their new songs. These included "Interstate 8" and "Never Ending Math Equation," both from Building Nothing Out of Something, and "Dramamine" from This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About (they aren't ones for brevity when it comes to naming albums). These are my favorite songs off of those albums, and they were played well, so I was happy to hear them.

Unfortunately my two favorite Modest Mouse albums, The Moon and Antarctica and The Lonesome Crowded West got seriously shortchanged. The only songs from Antarctica that were played were "Wild Packs of Family Dogs" and "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," which happen to be my two least favorite songs on that album. They played them much differently than on the album and they both sounded pretty good, so it wasn't too bad, but still I would have liked to hear something else like "Lives" or "3rd Planet." The only song I remember being played from The Lonesome Crowded West was "Cowboy Dan," which is a great song, but I wish they would have played 2 or 3 more from that album and cut some of the new songs if they needed the time. I think they ended up played about 10 to 12 songs from the new album. For the most part they all sounded good, so I can't complain too much, but more older songs would have been nice.

After the Modest Mouse show, I headed over to The Turf Club in St. Paul to see the HowWasTheShow 3rd Anniversary Party. I got there in time to see the last 4 or 5 songs by Chris Koza, and I enjoyed the performance. The songs I heard were mostly fairly mellow acoustic guitar-based ballads. His band was good too, especially the violin player who really adds a lot to the songs. Hopefully I'll get to see a full set by his band sometime soon.

After Chris Koza, Vicious Vicious went on in front of a fairly packed club. Vicious Vicious is fronted by Erik Appelwick, also of Olympic Hopefuls, and this was my first time seeing him with this band. I was fairly impressed, they have sort of a bluesy rock vibe going on. The band had four members on stage last night, including a Rhodes piano player who was very prominent in the mix. I'm not sure if this was on purpose, but it sounded good and it was a nice break from so many guitar-driven bands. They're playing a CD release show on June 17 at the 7th Street Entry with Valet, and I may try to see them again there. I did remember my camera for this show, and I got some shots of Vicious Vicious.

Romantica closed out the night, finally going on around 1AM, but I left in the middle of their fifth song. I had heard some good things about this band, but I didn't like them at all last night. Maybe I was just tired and burnt out, being on my fifth band of the night, but I just couldn't get into them. Maybe it also had something to do with their lead singer looking like a complete tool. I actually saw him in the audience before they played, not knowing he was in the band, and thought to myself "wow that guy looks like a tool." They even had Jesse Greene playing violin with them, but that didn't really seem to help much. They started out with 3 more uptempo songs, which I thought were kind of annoying. Then their fourth song was really slow, drawn out, and incredibly boring. When they went into their fifth song, which sounded like another slow and boring one, I decided to call it a night. I may give them another shot sometime if they happen to be playing with other bands I want to see, but I won't be going out of my way to see them again. I did get a few pictures though.

I'll post some reviews and pictures from Grand Old Day tomorrow.

Sound Is the Word, The Best You've Ever Heard

2005-06-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

All of the concerts this weekend are giving me a lot of material to post about, however they're also taking up all my free time so I don't have a chance to write about them. I'll try to get through everything, so I'll start with Friday night, when I saw The Dears, Shout Out Louds, and Marjorie Fair at the Quest's Ascot Room. It was a great show, and I had only two complaints: the Shout Out Louds' set was too short (it seemed like only 30 minutes or so), and it was in the Ascot Room. The Quest mainroom isn't really a great venue or anything, but the Ascot Room is just terrible. The biggest problem with it is that the stage is just too low, so the sight lines are bad unless you're in the very front row. Also the beer is overpriced and the selection is pathetic, but that's also an issue with the main room. I have no idea why any band would willingly book a show there over a similarly sized venue like the Turf Club, but I'm going to blame Clear Channel, who do booking for The Quest. So I have this to say to Clear Channel: stop ruining music for your own profit and just go away.

Aside from the venue problems, the show itself was excellent. I got there shortly after Marjorie Fair started playing. I had never heard of the band before, but they played a good set of melodic indie rock. They're a four-piece band from L.A. with a guitarist/singer, bass player, keyboardist, and drummer, and they reminded me a bit of sonically adventurous indie pop bands like Mercury Rev and Doves. It seemed like they played pretty long for the first band on a three band bill, and actually I think their set longer than Shout Out Louds, but they seemed to make the most of it. Their debut album will be released on July 19, and I think it will be worth checking out.

Shout Out Louds came on next, and I managed to get in the front row and get some good shots.

Shout Out Louds are a Swedish indie rock band that I first heard when they opened for The Futureheads back in March. I would describe them as a garage rock band with a heart, a melody, and a moog. They came out strong, and managed to play all of my favorite songs during their much too short set. Highlights were "My Friend and the Ink on His Fingers," "But Then Again No," and "Very Loud." Near the end of the set, the lead singer announced that they added another song to their setlist due to the positive reaction from the crowd, and that we "have good taste in music in this city." I'm guessing the fact that they've actually been getting decent airplay from The Current has something to do with this. Even with the extra song, I still wished they had played for another 10-15 minutes, but being an opening band I'm sure they didn't have much choice in the matter.

The Dears came out after getting set up, and I managed to get a few decent pictures. They didn't turn out as well as the Shout Out Louds pictures, mainly due to my position in the crowd and the poor setup of the stage in the Ascot Room.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from The Dears going into this show. I have their most recent album, No Cities Left, and I enjoy it, but I wasn't sure how well they would be able to reproduce the album live due to the complicated arrangements on some songs. With six members in the band, I think they did a very good job of translating their music to a live setting. They actually reminded me a bit of fellow Canadian indie bands like Stars and even The Arcade Fire a bit, only not as intense. They also have a pretty nice keyboard section. Speaking of their keyboardists, here are a few more pictures:

Overall a great night, despite being at The Quest.

Earlier tonight, I saw Modest Mouse and Camper Van Beethoven at The Orpheum, followed by Vicious Vicious and part of Chris Koza and Romantica at The Turf Club. I'll try to cover those shows tomorrow, after hopefully seeing my favorite New York-based Minneapolis band, The Hold Steady, playing at Grand Old Day.

Reach Into the Speaker and Try to Hold on to the Quarter Notes

2005-06-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

I went to see a sneak preview of the new movie Rock School last night, and really enjoyed it. It's a documentary about Paul Green and his school of rock music, where he teaches kids between the ages of 9 and 17 how to rock. He's kind of a real life version of Jack Black in the movie School of Rock.

Paul Green is quite a character, and he has an interesting teaching method. It basically involves a lot of yelling and insulting the kids when they make any sort of mistake. It might not be the most fun way for a kid to learn, but it makes for a great documentary, and more importantly it really seems to produce results.

Some of the kids, especially the younger ones, are pretty bad. This would be expected, considering that they're young and still learning the basics of music and their instruments. The kids in the advanced group, however, are very good. And not just good for a band of kids, but good for any band. Granted they don't play any original songs, so their competition would mainly be cover bands, but the songs they manage to play are very hard. The end of the movie focuses on this group going to Germany to play Frank Zappa songs at a festival, and they sounded way better than I was expecting.

Of particular note is CJ, shown in this picture next to Paul Green. He is easily the best musician in the school, and he's only 12 years old. You see him throughout the film and can tell that he's probably pretty good, but it isn't until his solo on stage in Germany that you get to see how good he really is.

Paul Green with the kids on stage in Germany, at a Frank Zappa festival.

I would recommend this movie to any fans of documentaries or classic rock. It's got a lot of humor and a lot of rock, what more could you ask for in a movie? It starts playing regularly at the Lagoon next Friday, June 10.

The Moon Is a Lightbulb Breaking

2005-06-01T21:58:00.000-07:00

So the title of this post has nothing to do with anything contained within the actual post, but I love the lyrics to that song and they've been stuck in my head for a while. So I figure I might be able to get them out of my head if I use them in a post. Or something like that. Bonus points if you know what song it's from, since it's pretty hard to make out the actual words when listening to it.

It's starting to look like the next few weeks are going to be crazy as far as concerts go. I'm pretty well rested and ready to hit the ground running, but the prospect of 7 shows in 5 days has me somewhat tired already. Here's a tentative itinerary of Friday through next Tuesday:

Friday, 6/3: Shout Out Louds and The Dears at the Quest (Ascot Room)
If that gets out early enough, I may head over to First Avenue for the Cloud Cult CD release show.
Edit: looks like Cloud Cult is earlier than The Dears show so I'll probably miss it, but I might head to the Turf Club to see Architecture in Helsinki afterwards.
Saturday, 6/4: Modest Mouse and Camper Van Beethoven at the Orpheum (front row seats!)
If I'm up for another show after that, I may head over to the Turf Club for the HowWasTheShow.com 3rd Anniversary Party to see several excellent local bands, including Romantica, Vicious Vicious, and Chris Koza.
Sunday, 6/5: Grand Old Days, featuring The Hold Steady and Olympic Hopefuls
Monday, 6/6: The Hold Steady at First Avenue, this is the big one I'm really looking forward to. Even though I'll probably see them the previous day at Grand Old Days, seeing them at First Avenue should be amazing. It's the show I've been dreaming of for the past month, when I first heard their new album, Separation Sunday.
Tuesday, 6/7: Neko Case at First Avenue, I really want to see Neko, and I'm hoping to have enough energy after the past four days of shows to still enjoy this one.

I get a break next Wednesday, but then on Thursday Rogue Wave is at the Triple Rock, and I really want to see them. Then that weekend there are the Futureheads, Spoon, and Stephen Malkmus. I may actually end up going to several of these shows by myself, so if you'd like to go to any of them with me, let me know. These next few weeks are going to be a bit insane, but I'll do my best to squeeze the most rock out of them and document it all here.

In other news, rumor has it that the new Coldplay album, X&Y, has been leaked to the internet, and that it's quite good. I wouldn't know anything about that of course, since I'm waiting for the album's official release date next Tuesday, June 7. They'll also be playing at the Target Center in September, with the lovely Rilo Kiley opening. Hopefully I manage to get good seats when they go on sale this Saturday.

Stay tuned for reviews of my two favorite albums that have come out this year. I strongly recommend everyone buy both of them, and hopefully my reviews will be able to express how great they both are.

Live Through This and You Won't Look Back

2005-05-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry if this is the slowest countdown ever, but it's still going and I should hit number 1 pretty soon. Coming in at #3 for my favorite records released so far this year is Set Yourself on Fire by Stars.

I realize this album was released at the end of 2004 in Canada, but it didn't come out in the U.S. until early March this year, so I'm going to count it as a 2005 release. It's also a very good album, so it belongs on this list.

Stars are a Canadian band on the Arts & Crafts label, and a few of their members are also in Broken Social Scene, another Canadian indie rock band on the same label. Set Yourself on Fire is basically an indie pop record, with lots of additional instrumentation layered on. In addition to the basic guitar/bass/drums setup, there are a lot of strings, synths, and horns added in to fill out the sound. The lead vocals are split up between two singers, Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. The vocal interplay between these two really brings a lot of the songs to life.

The songs themselves are all quite good, especially the first four tracks on the album. Every single song seems to be about love and relationships in some form. It's not exactly very ambitious subject matter, but it is very well done, and sometimes you just feel like listening to a great pop album full of love songs.

My only complaint is that near the end of the album, there are some songs that aren't as strong as the ones at the beginning. I think it's really more a matter of the beginning of the album being really amazing, and the later songs being merely good. The album also ends very strongly with "Calendar Girl," so it's worth sticking around until the very end. If you like pop rock love songs that are a bit quirky, I highly recommend checking out this album.

Nothing Is Hard, Cause Something Always Comes Out

2005-05-28T15:57:00.001-07:00

Shout Out Louds are playing with The Dears at the Ascot Room of the Quest next Friday, June 3, and I've decided to go see them despite several other good shows going on the same night at much better venues. I first saw them opening for The Futureheads back in March of this year, and I was very impressed, especially for a band I had never heard of before. They've been described as The Strokes with emotion, and it's a fairly apt description of their music. They certainly have the garage rock sound down (plus some keyboards in many songs), and they sing with a lot of emotion that's lacking in many similar bands. They're currently on tour supporting the newly released international version of their debut album, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. This record is actually a collection of songs from all their previous Scandinavian releases, and it is very good. The one thing that has disappointed me about the record is that they left off some of my favorite songs from their previous records, so I've decided to post the mp3's of a few of those songs.

Shout Out Louds - But Then Again No
This song is a B-side on their first American release, the Very Loud EP. I picked up this record after their show with The Futureheads, as it was the only record they had available for sale. I wasn't expecting too much from it, given that it was only 3 songs and cost $2, but I was pleasantly surprised after I listened to it. All 3 songs are great, but this track is by far my favorite. This song is basically just another mopey guitar-based love song, but everything comes together so well it manages to avoid sounding cliche. What really stands out in the song is a very simple piano melody that's basically just 3 notes played in a very simple pattern. This melody introduces the song and then pops up a few times later to reinforce the emotional weight of the lyrics. There's really nothing too spectacular here lyrically, it's all pretty typical of a standard sad breakup song, but when combined with the music, they work really well. Near the end of the song, the lyrics "I don't know what will happen / I just know that I have to do this for myself" are followed by the music swelling and the piano melody coming back, and the effect is amazingly powerful.

Shout Out Louds - My Friend and the Ink on His Fingers
This song is the closing track on the Scandinavian release of Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, and I was disappointed that it wasn't included on the international release. It's another one of my favorite songs of theirs. It is fairly similar to Very Loud, which is the only reason I can think of that it would be excluded, but still I think the song manages to stand on its own and makes for a good album closer.

Shout Out Louds - Go Sadness
This version of this song comes from the first release by Shout Out Louds, the 100° EP. You can tell that it's an early recording, since it seems fairly raw and under-produced compared to their later recordings. The song was rerecorded for the international release of Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, and the new version sounds much cleaner, but the tempo was also slowed down significantly. I would rather have the faster version on the new record, but the slow one isn't bad either. If you buy the new album then you can compare this old version with the new one.

I've Written Pages, Upon Pages, Trying to Rid You From My Bones

2005-05-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

Coming in at #4 on my list of favorite albums so far this year are The Decemberists with Picaresque.

This album contains several of the best songs The Decemberists have ever recorded. This probably could have turned out to be my favorite album of the year, but unfortunately it also contains a few of the worst songs they've recorded.

Overall, the album is all over the place, both lyrically and musically. As with previous albums by The Decemberists, most songs are fairly elaborate stories about abnormal topics. The subject matter of songs on this album includes a Spanish princess, joint suicide, spies in love, male prostitutes, an injured soccer player, and a barrow boy. This approach works well in stretches, and they almost manage to pull it all off, but in the end it doesn't quite come together to make a fantastic album.

The album starts off strongly with the Spanish princess tale "The Infanta," followed by "We Both Go Down Together," a sweet love song that ends in a joint suicide. For the most part the album is well paced, with the exception of the protest song "16 Military Wives," which really doesn't fit in with anything else here with it's loud horns and nearly shouted vocals. It's not a terrible song, but it seems out of place.

The real treasure on the album also happens to be the most straightforward song, "The Engine Driver," a sad tale of unrequited love that doesn't end in death, only heartbreak. It's about as perfect as an acoustic guitar-based folk-pop song can get. It even pulls off the seemingly impossible task of making an accordion sound good and actually enhance a song. I have a feeling I won't hear another song come out this year that I love as much as this one. It alone is worth the cost of the entire album, and if all the rest of the songs were terrible I still wouldn't feel ripped off.

Fortunately there are a few other big highlights here, especially the two epic songs "The Bagman's Gambit" and "On the Bus Mall." "The Bagman's Gambit" is another love song which deals with a cold-war era spy and the seemingly innocent government worker who loves him/her. You never find out the gender of either character, but it doesn't really matter. The song starts out with the verse setting up the story over nothing but a gently strummed acoustic guitar. Then the song explodes in the chorus, with all the instruments coming in as the spy declares "No they'll never catch me now." The song alternates between these two extremes until the climax, where the spy disappears, never to return.

"On the Bus Mall" is also something of a love song, although this one is about two male prostitutes struggling to survive. Not exactly your typical love song, but that's part of what makes it great. It fits in perfectly after "The Engine Driver", as it's also an acoustic guitar-based song dealing with love and loss. However unlike "The Engine Driver," it relies on the lead electric guitar instead of the accordion to fill in the spaces. The two songs combined make for some of the best 10 minutes of music on any album in recent memory.

After that, there's quite a big drop-off on the album with "The Mariner's Revenge Song." The song is based around a very interesting story about a mariner whose mother died when he was a child due to the actions of a reckless young man. The mariner is out for revenge, and ultimately ends up meeting his nemesis after both their ships are swallowed by a whale. It's great on the first listen, but it doesn't hold up well at all. The song is way too long (nearly nine minutes) and overly wordy, there's way too much accordion, and the female vocals of the mother character are just painful. That song is followed by the pleasant but entirely forgettable acoustic song "Of Angels and Angles," which makes for a very disappointing ending to an otherwise good and sometimes brilliant album.

Overall this album is definitely worth checking out, just expect to have a few duds mixed in with a lot of good songs and a few spectacular ones.

The Future May Be in the Future, But New Music Is Here Now

2005-05-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

New release Tuesday, so I swung by the Electric Fetus after work. By some odd coincidence, all of the albums I bought are by bands that start with the letter "S", if you count Stephen Malkmus as an S and not an M.

Stephen Malkmus - Face the Truth

Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff

Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

Son Volt - A Retrospective: 1995-2000

I'm really excited to hear the new Stephen Malkmus, the former frontman of Pavement. This is his third solo album, and while I like his first two, neither has really stuck with me the way the best Pavement records have. This one has been getting pretty good reviews so far. Pitchfork just gave it an 8.7, which is the same rating it gave The Hold Steady. If this record is even half as good as that one, I'm sure I'll love it.

The Shout Out Louds record should be very good too. I downloaded several tracks from it after seeing them open for the Futureheads and really like them, so it will be nice to finally have the whole album now that it was finallly released in the US. Shout Out Louds are a rock band from Sweden who remind me a bit of some of the alternative bands from the 80's, like The Cure and The Smiths.

Not really sure what to expect out of the Sleater-Kinney disc. This is their first album I've bought, but I've heard a lot of good things about it so I'm hoping for the best. And I'm sure I'll like the Son Volt compilation, since I already know and love several of the songs on it. Hopefully the five new, previously unreleased tracks make the purchase worthwhile.

He Will Drill a Tiny Hole Into Your Head

2005-05-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

This post is the start of the countdown of my top 5 favorite albums that have come out so far this year. Coming in at #5 is Andrew Bird & The Mysterious Production of Eggs.

This is an album that really defies categorization and doesn't fit into any genre. Andrew Bird blends elements of rock, folk, pop and classical to create a very unique sound. There is quite a bit of violin mixed in with the usual rock instruments like guitar, bass and drums. Lyrically it's also very unique. The wordplay and seemingly random nature of the lyrics remind me of Stephen Malkmus of Pavement.

For me there are two high points on the record. The first is at the end of "Fake Palindromes", which is my favorite song on the album. The lyrics are:

She says I like long walks and sci-fi movies
You're six foot tall and east coast bred
Some lonely night we can get together
And I'm gonna tie your wrists with leather
And drill a tiny hole into your head
I wanna drill a tiny hole into your...

At the end of that, the song charges back into the violin part from the beginning of the song and then abruptly ends. I really have no idea what all that means, but it sounds great.

The second highlight comes near the end of the album, in the song "Tables and Chairs". About halfway through the song, the music stops and you think the song might be over, but then it starts up again with these lyrics:

I know we're gonna meet someday in the crumbled financial institutions of this land
There will be tables and chairs
There'll be pony rides and dancing bears
There'll even be a band
Cause listen after the fall there'll be no more countries
No currencies at all
We're gonna live on our wits
We're gonna throw away survival kits
Trade butterfly knives for adderal
And that's not all
There will be snacks, there will
There will be snacks, there will be
There will be snacks

That's a pretty bright picture of a post-apocalyptic world. I guess it's good to look on the bright side of the end of the world. As long as there are snacks I'll be happy.

There are a lot of other good songs on this album too, some of my other favorites are "A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left", "Masterfade", and "Sovay". Overall the album is very solid and I would recommend checking it out, especially if you like snacks.

Andrew Bird is playing at the Intonation Music Festival in Chicago in July, and I'm looking forward to seeing him there. He usually plays shows solo or with just a drummer, and uses sampling to build layers of violin and guitar. The songs are supposed to be quite different live than they are on record. I imagine it's similar to seeing Joseph Arthur perform, only with a violin and more interesting lyrics.

In other unrelated news, The Killers show was postponed again, this time it will be held on August 9 at Roy Wilkins instead of the Quest. All the tickets from the sold out Quest show are floor tickets for the new show, but there are seats available which went on sale yesterday. I don't like the Killers enough to pay $30-35 (after TM fees) to see them, but I thought some people might be interested.

I'm a Roman Candle, My Head Is Full of Flames

2005-05-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to a lot of Elliott Smith lately, far more than is probably healthy. For some reason, all I seem to feel like to listening to in the mornings at work are his earlier, more stripped-down albums, especially Roman Candle and either/or. I also downloaded the Division Day EP from iTunes, which is two songs I had never heard before, Division Day and No Name #6. Both are good but neither are spectacular. Division Day sounds like a lot of the stuff on Figure 8, while No Name #6 sounds like it would fit in nicely on From a Basement on the Hill.

The lineup for this year's Basilica Block Party was just announced, and it's pretty lame. The only band playing I would actually pay to see is Olympic Hopefuls, and they didn't even spell the name of the band right on their website (it says Hopefulls), so I think I'll be skipping that one. I guess if you like bland pop-rock bands that were big in the mid-'90s like The Wallflowers and Better Than Ezra then you might have a good time.

Tickets for the Music in the Zoo series went on sale today through Uptown Tix and at the Electric Fetus. I may have to try to get tickets for the Tegan and Sara show there, they were great earlier this month at The Quest, and I'm guessing this will be a better venue.

I'm enjoying the new Cloud Cult album quite a bit. It kind of reminds me of the Microphones and Sparklehorse. There's 25 tracks, a lot of bits and pieces of songs, lots of variation with different instruments and samples, and a few fantastic songs scattered throughout. They're playing a CD release show at First Ave on June 3, the same day as Architecture in Helsinki at The Turf Club and The Dears/Shout Out Louds at The Ascot Room. I'd like to see all three, but I think they're all at about the same time, so I guess I'll need to find a three-sided coin to make a decision.

I've come up with a list of my 5 favorite albums that have come out so far this year, which I recommend everyone check out. I'm going to write at least a brief review of all of them. Before I get to that, here's a list of some other albums I've really enjoyed but that didn't quite make the top 5:

Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us
M. Ward - Transistor Radio
Hem - Eveningland
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem (probably more for the bonus singles disc than for the album)
Iron & Wine - Woman King (if not an EP it probably would have made the top 5)

Intonation Music Festival, Coldplay, and New Releases

2005-05-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

There's a new update to the Intonation Music Festival website, with a more complete lineup. Here's how it's shaping up so far:

Saturday, July 16
Tortoise
Death From Above 1979
The Go! Team
Broken Social Scene
Four Tet
Magnolia Electric Co.
AC Newman
Beans Featuring The Holy Fuck
The M’s
Head of Femur

Sunday, July 17
The Decemberists
Les Savy Fav
The Wrens
Deerhoof
Andrew Bird
Out Hud
Xiu Xiu
Dungen

Sunday looks absolutely amazing, with 4 bands I really want to see (Decemberists, The Wrens, Andrew Bird, Dungen), and the other bands should be pretty good too. I'm still hoping they add Stars, which would probably be on Sunday since that lineup is shorter than Saturday. I don't like the Saturday lineup as much, but still it's pretty good with Broken Social Scene, AC Newman, The Go! Team, and Magnolia Electric Co. all bands I want to see. A limited number of two-day passes go on sale Wednesday at noon for only $22. One day passes are $15 each if you miss out on those, which is still very reasonable. I'm going to try to get tickets tomorrow, so if anyone is interested in a weekend trip from Minneapolis to Chicago let me know.

Pitchfork also announced a Coldplay U.S. tour today, with highlights being Alpine Valley on Saturday, August 13, and Target Center on Tuesday, September 20. Also of note is that Rilo Kiley will be opening! Alpine Valley and Target Center tickets both go on sale 6/4 at 10AM. I may try to go to the Alpine Valley show, since it's on a Saturday and it's a much better venue than Target Center, so it should be worth the drive.

Also picked up some new (and old) releases from The Electric Fetus today:

Cloud Cult - Advice From the Happy Hippopotamus

Gang of Four - Entertainment! (reissue with bonus tracks)

Mercury Rev - The Secret Migration

Paul Westerberg - Besterberg: The Best of Paul Westerberg

No shows this week, so I'm going to take it easy for a bit and maybe try to write some album reviews.

Be My Dark Angel

2005-05-15T21:33:00.001-07:00

After seeing Mike Doughty play a short but fun set at The Electric Fetus yesterday, we went back to First Ave to see Jenny Lewis. I guess she was playing with some band named Rilo Kiley, but I mostly just watched Jenny. Sadly the pictures from the show didn't turn out well at all. I would have much rather had these pictures come out and the Bright Eyes ones look bad, but for some reason I couldn't get the camera working properly last night. Hopefully this won't happen again now that I just got my own digital camera and can learn how to properly use it. But even in blurry form, Jenny still looks pretty good:

Bright Eyes, Don't Change, Stay the Same

2005-05-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

I realize this is the first non-Electric Six title I've used, but after seeing Bright Eyes at First Avenue, this seems like the most approprite title I can think of for this post (it comes from a Son Volt song called Ten Second News). Here are some pictures I took at the show:

Conor Oberst was the dance commander for the night

I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into this show, given that Bright Eyes are touring on their electronic record Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, but I was suprised by how good it was. I got there at the beginning of The Faint's opening set. I had never heard their music before, but I enjoyed their show. It reminded me a bit of VHS or Beta, who opened for Electric Six, only with more techno and less disco. They had an impressive light and video setup, with two screens behind the band with images that were sync'd up with the music. I think this added a lot to the show, and it was the same setup used by Bright Eyes during their set. Near the end of their set, they covered Neutral Milk Hotel's "Holland, 1945", which was somewhat disappointing. I was hoping they would take a more electronic/techno approach to the song, but they played it pretty much like it sounds on the record. The singer forgot some of the lyrics, and the song didn't really fit in with the rest of their set. Still it's a great song, and I give them a lot of credit for trying it.

Bright Eyes came out after a lengthy changeover, although given the band I can see why it would take a while to set up. There were 10 members in the band, including a violin and cello player, two drummers, and several guitar and synth/keyboard players. They mostly played songs from Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, with only one song in the middle of the set that I hadn't heard before. It was impressive how well they recreated the songs from the album with the live band. The highlight for me was definately the end of the show. They closed the main set with "I Believe in Symmetry" from Digital Ash, then came back for an encore with "Lover I Don't Have to Love" from Lifted... and ended with the closing song on Digital Ash, "Easy/Lucky/Free."

These Silly Creatures in Their Nautral Habitat

2005-05-13T16:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the Dear Machine, show at the Cabooze last night:

The band, just before they lose control of their rock & roll

Jason is the dance commander

Dylan getting into the jam

Good show at the Cabooze. I arrived to hear the first band (whose name I can't remember) just starting a cover of The Replacements' "Left of the Dial." It was a fairly decent cover; they didn't really bring anything new to the song, but it's such a great song it was still enjoyable. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said about the rest of their set. I believe all the rest of the songs they played were originals, and I didn't think any of them were terribly impressive.

Dear Machine, came out next, after a brief delay for setting up, and throughly rocked the crowd at The Cabooze. I don't remember the exact set list, but it seemed like about half their set came from their new self-titled album, and the other half was new songs. The second to the last song they played was Halloween, the closing track to their new album, which is also my favorite song of theirs. They closed with a song that was quite the rocker, although I don't know the name of it, it was a good end to the show.

Disco Burn at The Quest

2005-05-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure exactly what disco burn is, but I think I may have experienced it last night at the Quest. The Snow Patrol show was decent, but there were some annoying issues with the sound. Specifically the drums were far too overpowering, especially at the beginning of the show. There were a few songs where pretty much all I could hear were the drums and the vocals. It got better as the show went on, but I don't think they ever got it quite right. This is after Fitzgerald had quite a few sound issues there last week when they were opening for Tegan and Sara. I think I may have to limit my Quest shows to only bands that I absolutely can't miss, and skip all the other shows there.

Aside from the sound issues, I would say Snow Patrol's performance was good but nothing spectacular, much like their most recent album, Final Straw. They opened the show with Chocolate, one of their hits from that album, and then followed that with several others from the album. They mixed in a few new songs, which I wasn't terribly impressed with, and a few older songs. Near the end of their main set they played Run, probably their biggest hit from Final Straw. After their main set, they came back for a three-song encore, closing with another song from Final Straw.

Earlier in the day yesterday, I stopped by The Electric Fetus and picked up a few new albums:

The Ashtray Hearts - Perfect Halves
This is the new album by a local alt-country/americana band that I just heard about, and so far I really like it. It's very mellow, and reminds me a bit of Hem, only with male singers. They use a lot of different instruments, but they aren't a distraction and really add to the songs without overpowering them. The perfect album for a cold and rainy day like today. I imagine it would be great for long drives across the bleak countryside in the middle of winter.

The Ponys - Celebration Castle
The Ponys are basically a garage rock band with a bit of an indie twist, and their new album seems pretty solid so far. There's nothing really groundbreaking here, but it's certainly well-executed. It reminds me a bit of early R.E.M., Pavement, and a more rocking version of The Shins. This one will probably grow on me, but I doubt I'll ever be really blown away by it.

Caribou - The Milk of Human Kindness
This is the new album by Caribou, formerly Manitoba. It's mostly electronic based, but the structure of the songs reminds me a bit of some of the freak folk artists, especially Animal Collective. There aren't any songs on here that really annoy me like on some of the freak folk records, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get into it. There are definitely at least a few really good songs on here, so I'll have to give it some more time to see if I can get into it as an album.

I also got several other new discs in the last week or so:

The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday
I've only had this record for a little over a week, but I'm loving it so far and it's probably my favorite record that's come out this year. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes rock music of any sort and can get used to Craig Finn's vocals, which are more drunken shouting than singing. I liked last year's Almost Killed Me, but sometimes the lyrics were a bit annoying and there wasn't much variety in the instrumentation. I think this album is a big improvement. They basically got rid of what annoyed me with the last album, took everything that was good about it and made it kick ass even more. It seems to be something of a concept album with a loose story arc throughout, and a lot of recurrent themes such as religion, birth/death, the Twin Cities, and of course hoodrats. I can't wait to see this band live next month at Grand Old Days and then First Avenue the next night (with The Plastic Constellations opening).

Spoon - Gimme Fiction
A really solid indie rock record. I like it a lot more than their last one, Kill the Moonlight, which I wasn't a big fan of. This could end up being one of my favorite records of the year.

Dear Machine, - Self-Titled
The new album from another local band, they recently finished this album but haven't really had an official release yet. At first I was a bit put off by the production, which seems a bit too polished for the type of music it is, but it's really started to grow on me. It's pretty much classic rock with a bit of grunge thrown in, there's definitely a Pearl Jam influence. I would recommend checking it out if you're into classic rock or Pearl Jam. And they're a lot of fun to see live too.

Architecture in Helsinki - In Case We Die
This is a very cool record by an Australian band which has eight members, and it actually sounds like they need all of them. From what I can tell they're basically a pop rock band with ADD. Their songs go all over the place with lots of changes in instrumentation, which can be off-putting at first, but they're great once you get to know all the twists and turns. It reminds me a bit of the Unicorns but with a lot more variety instruments, or the Fiery Furnaces without the epic length songs.

Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic
The new solo album by the former Soul Coughing lead singer/songwriter. I've seen Mike play a lot of these songs live in a pretty stripped down setting, and I loved them then. On the album, it seems like it's a bit overproduced in a rather boring manner, which really kills a lot of the songs for me. There's still some good stuff on here, and the rest might grow on me once I get used to the new arrangements, but I'm somewhat disappointed after the first few listens.

Fitzgerald - Raised by Wolves
This is the new album from a local band fronted by a married couple. It's mostly fairly mellow singer-songwriter type stuff, but with two singers and interesting lyrics. If you've heard of this band before, you've probably heard about the song "Bloody Stumps", where the chorus goes: "I think you should cut your hands off / Wave your bloody stumps around." Certainly not your typical love song. Also I think the instrumentation here really enhances the songs, unlike on Mike Doughty's record where it nearly ruins some songs.

Stars - Heart
This is the album by Stars that came out before Set Yourself on Fire, their most recent record. It's a very solid indie pop album, although I don't think it's as good as Set Yourself on Fire. The production isn't as slick as the new record, and I think the guy's vocals are much better on the new one, but this is still worth a listen.

Andrew Bird - Weather Systems
This album came out before his most recent album, The Mysterious Production of Eggs, which I love. Like the Stars album, I don't think this is as strong as his newest record, but it's still quite good.

VHS or Beta - Night on Fire
I picked up this album in Madison after seeing them open for Electric Six at First Ave, and then play after them the next night in Madison. Somehow the disc managed to survive a few nights in Madison, and made it back here mostly in one piece. If you're looking for some disco burn, you just might get it here. This is definitely a disco record, and it's pretty good, although I think they're more fun to see live than to listen to on record.

Headed to Dear Machine at the Cabooze tonight, I'm sure they'll rock out harder than Snow Patrol, and hopefully they won't encounter any of the same technical difficulties.

Spending All My Money on the Electric Light

2005-05-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Despite the cancellation of the Doves show on Thursday, I still have a pretty busy week of shows starting tomorrow. It starts with Snow Patrol at The Quest tomorrow, then on Thursday night I'm going to try to make it to Dear Machine at The Cabooze (they're a local band that my neighbor Dylan plays bass in). Then on Friday it's Bright Eyes playing songs from Digital Ash in a Digital Urn at First Avenue. I'm more excited for this show now after listening to that album today for the first time in quite a while. It takes a while to really get going, but there are some great songs on the last half of it, and I'm excited to see how they play the album live. I'm also curious as to what songs they'll be playing. I'm hoping they play some older Bright Eyes songs in a new, more electronic style, although I would be happy just to hear my favorite songs from the new album.

Saturday should be a busy day, with a double-header for sure and the potential for a triple-header. First Mike Doughty does an in-store at The Electric Fetus at 4. Then it's back to First Ave for Rilo Kiley! Sadly this means missing Doughty at The Cedar Cultural Center, but there's no way I can miss out on seeing Jenny Lewis, and I'll be seeing Doughty at the Fetus anyway. Hopefully the Rilo Kiley show will get over early enough for me to hit The 400 Bar and see Okkervil River. I did see them open for The Decemberists last month, but I hadn't heard any of their music at that time. I liked them enough to buy their new album, Black Sheep Boy, which slowly grew on me and is now one of my favorites that's come out so far this year. I think I'll enjoy seeing them a lot more after hearing their albums, so I'm hoping I can make that show. MP3's of two of my favorite songs from Black Sheep Boy are available from Okkervil River's site:

For Real
Black

Black is my favorite song on the album. I love the contrast of bouncy pop music with really dark lyrics (about child abduction/molestation), it reminds me somewhat of Summerteeth-era Wilco. If you don't pay attention to the lyrics, you could mistake it for a happy love song, but it's really a very dark love song.

After Saturday there aren't any shows for a while, which is a good thing since I need to rest up for the first half of June, when there's a string of shows I'd like to see every day for nearly two weeks straight.

People Sucking on Their Computer

2005-05-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

While adding links to the sidebar of this blog, I went to a lot of music sites, some of which I had never seen before. While doing this I believe I came accross the worst official site ever for a major artist. That distinction belongs to Neko Case, whose "website" consists of nothing but two virtually empty pages. I love Neko Case, but she really needs to get someone to build her a real site. The first page is nothing but "A special note from Neko!", with the notes all in caps, talking about saving the forest. While I'm sure this is a good cause, it doesn't exactly make a great intro for a web page.

The second page is a little bit better than the first, in that there are actually a few graphics and a few letters that are lower-case. Of course those pictures are just album covers that link to the web site for her record labels. But don't fear, we are reminded on this page that a new site is coming: "THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE, THE NEW SITE IS COMING SOON".

If Neko Case wins the award for worst artist site, I think The Turf Club site has to win the award for worst local venue site. Granted it is better than Neko's site, in that there are a few pictures, more than two pages, and no all-caps text, but still it isn't very good. The great thing about this site is there seems to be two different versions of the site, but there are links between the two versions. And there's almost no useful information. And the event calendar seems a bit out of date. What's happenning in June? OLympic Hope and Dan Irael back-to-back? I'm there! O.G. sounds pretty good too, I might try to make it to that one.

Well enough bitching for now. Whoever is responsible for these sites, please stop sucking on your computers.

This Is an Evil Generation

2005-05-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog, The Evil Generation. Yes the name comes from an Electric Six song, Rock & Roll Evacuation, from their new, unreleased in North America album Señor Smoke. The lyrics go something like this:

This is an evil generation
I've seen it with my eyes
I've seen em walking around in the suits
And honey I've seen the ties

Evil girls biting good girls
Turning good girls into evil girls
Evil boys eating evil hamburgers
Evil boys eating evil fries

This is an evil generation
Rock & roll evacuation
As far as the eye can see
Tune into this radio station
Rock & roll evacuation
In event of emergency

What does this have to do with anything? Not much really, other than that Electric Six rock, and that Dick Valentine is a brilliant lyricist.

So what is the point of this blog, other than spreading the gospel of Electric Six? I'm planning to use it to keep track of all the upcoming concerts I'm planning on going to, and let everyone else know what's coming up. I'm also going to try to post reviews of the shows I go to, and also some of the records I buy. Once I figure out a place for hosting files, I hope to post some mp3's too. If I think of anything else exciting, I may post that too, but I'm going to try to focus mainly on music.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to try to post reviews of my favorite records that have come out so far this year. Those reviews will probably include the new albums by Stars, The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Bright Eyes, and maybe a few others. Right now I'm really into the new record by The Hold Steady, Separation Sunday. I highly recommend it if you like rock music of any sort. You can download a free mp3 of "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" from their site for a preview.