I know, it has been rather quiet around here lately. I have had a rather awful November on the personal side of things and that has kept me away for most of the month. Those of you who have spoken to me, know how ridiculous it has been. Between bizarre illnesses, strange accidents and other random events, I haven’t been in a state to write much. Anyway, I promise that December will be better. We have a lot of things coming up, including the return of one of our most popular features of ‘06 and our various best of lists. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with the weekend regional show highlights.
These United States – creditWashington, DCFriday Ra Ra Riot/Jukebox The Ghost/These United States @
Rock ‘N Roll Hotel
Baltimore, MD
Friday
M.I.A. @ Sonar
Philadelphia, PA
Friday
The Teeth/The High Strung/Via Audio @ North Star Bar
The Caribbean @ Tritone
Saturday
M.I.A. @ Electric Factory
Celebration/Dragons of Zynth @ Johnny Brendas
Sunday
The Clean @ Johnny Brendas
Ra Ra Riot – Can You Tell
Jukebox The Ghost – Good Day
These United States – Burn This Bridge
M.I.A. – Paper Planes
The Teeth – It’s Not Funny
The High Strung – The Baddest Ship
Via Audio – We Can Be Good
The Caribbean – The Go From Tactical
Celebration – Heartbreak
Dragons of Zynth – Get Off
The Clean – Tally Ho
posted by Joe at 9:02 AM
Back to the mixes after a week off for the holiday break. Thought I’d make this week all about upbeat music to get everyone still in college ready for finals. Enjoy!
Girl Talk – Can’t Stop
Battles – Race In
Scissors for Lefty – Ghetto Ways (Baron Von Luxxury Remix)
Middle Distance Runner – The Sun and Earth
Ghostland Observatory – All You Rock & Rollers
Bjork – Earth Intruders
Firefox AK – Zodiac
Faithless – Spiders, Crocodiles and Kryptonite
Animal Collective – For Reverend Green
Holy Fuck – Royal Gregory
posted by Chris at 8:57 AM
Dinosaur Jr. – creditDinosaur Jr. make their return to DC tonight. They will be playing a show at
Black Cat.
Awesome Color and the excellent
Dead Confederate will be providing support.
Dinosaur Jr. – Just Like Heaven (The Cure Cover)
Awesome Color – Grown
Dead Confederate – The Rat
posted by Joe at 11:09 AM
Cold War Kids – creditCold War Kids are out on the road yet again and they are about to infiltrate IA land for the final time this year. For this trek, they are joined by
Richard Swift and
We Barbarians. You can check them out as follows:
11/27/07: 9:30 Club, DC
11/29/07: TLA, Philly
Cold War Kids – We Used To Vacation
Richard Swift – I Would Die 4 U (Prince Cover)
posted by Joe at 10:43 AM
Get out of that food coma, people! Saturday night in Philly will wake you up. Come join me as I check out the latest installment of Geek Rock Gods, They Might Be Giants at The TLA. They have a new album out, The Else, which harkens back to the older albums. That is to say, do these songs really make sense? Did he really use that as a song lyric? I say, Who cares? The live shows are always a treat, you never know what antics John and John will pull out of their collective brains. Opening is Oppenheimer, a pure electronic pop duo from Northern Ireland with catchy melodies and danceable songs.
Something equally as strange at The Tower are Philly’s own Ween, also supporting a new album, La Cucaracha. Check out what craziness Dean and Gene will do.
They Might Be Giants – The Mesopotamians
They Might Be Giants – Ana Ng (live)
Oppenheimer – Saturday Looks Bad To Me
Ween – Your Party
posted by Mike at 2:30 PM
School consumed my life last week, so I was not able to get you your weekly release post. Fear not, because I have combined both weeks into one massive post.
Week of 11/6:
Last week was a week of EPs. It seems that a number of our favorite artists could not wait to give us some new music, so they put out EPs to hold us over while they finish their new albums.
The first EP for the week is from one of my favorite bands of the year, Tokyo Police Club. This was the official release date for the Smith EP, but it has been on iTunes since early summer. I actually didn’t realize that it was never officially released, as I have been listening to it for months. Similar to their other releases, it is a short 3 song EP that is full of great music. I featured “Box” on a mix awhile ago and if you have had the chance to see them live, then you will be very familiar with all of these songs.
Box
Sigur Rós released a dual EP box set called Hvarf/Heim. It has been described as beautiful, can’t miss and a work of greatness. They have always been too mellow for me, but I cannot dispute the fact that these guys are some of the most talented artists out right now. There is a DVD out by the band on 11/20 that is supposed to be a beautiful visual take on their music.
Hljomalind
Grizzly Bear’s Friend EP is a ten song album (and a bonus track tacked on to the end of the last song) with a few covers of such indie favorites as Band of Horses and Atlas Sound. A few of the songs appeared on Grizzly Bear’s first album Yellow House, but have been totally reworked and sound extremely different from their first recordings. The entire album weighs in around 30 minutes and could be considered a full LP, if all of the songs were original recordings. I consider it a strong enough release to stand on its own against Yellow House. This album is sure to delight its listeners and is sure to hold fans over until the next LP comes out next year.
He Hit Me
The next EP is from Wild Sweet Orange, who hail from Birmingham, Alabama. I have been following this band for a long time and eagerly await any release from them. The Whale EP has been hard to track down, but the preview songs sound great. There are rumors that their full length is due out early next year, so lets hope that holds true.
Wrestle With God
Great Northern has an iTunes only EP out now and it sounds pretty good. It happens to be the prequel to their full length. After seeing them at Black Cat, they had to be one of the best opening bands not from DC that I saw all summer. So I look forward to listening to any additional music that they put out.
posted by Chris at 2:21 PM
If you haven’t noticed, Joe has been M.I.A. this week with a pretty serious illness. The good news is that he is finally recovering and was just cleared by the doctor, so he should be back in circulation by next week. Anyway, I wanted to do more of a rock infused mix this week to help him get his energy back. Enjoy!
Pelican – City Of Echoes
Avec – Dysplasia
Junius – At the Age of Decay
Silversun Pickups – Lazy Eye
Unkle – Hold My Hand
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Down Boy
Hum – Counting Stars
!!! – Myth Takes
Soft – You Make Me Wanna Die
Minus The Bear – Dr. L’Ling
posted by Chris at 12:42 PM
If you have followed my music tastes over the months I have been writing for this blog, you may have noticed that I have acquired a minor infatuation for the band Pela. They are currently in LA recording their next album and have been keeping a studio blog. They have posted videos, descriptions of new songs and the meanings behind the album. If you have ever wondered what all goes through the making of a record, head on over there and check it out. They will soon have a video up of an interview they did a few days ago and they usually update the blog a few times a week.
Song Writes Itself
Waiting On The Stairs
posted by Chris at 11:03 AM
Now on tour and coming through the area is My Brightest Diamond, fronted by Shara Worden, who creates georgeous vocals over a mix of indie-rock and goth-pop, a la The Cocteau Twins. They are joined by fellow Brooklynite, Tim Fite.
11/15: Northstar Bar, Philly w/ East Hundred
11/16: IOTA, Arlington
My Brightest Diamond – Something of an End
Tim Fite – No Good Here
East Hundred – Meantime
posted by Mike at 11:19 PM
Tartufi – Boat of Armor
Low Red Land
credit
Dreams That Heroes Dream
West Texas
Upcoming Shows:
11/28/07
Canadian Invasion (Philadelphia, PA)
Monogold (Brooklyn, NY)
12/05/07
The Jaguar Club (Brooklyn, NY)
The Shackeltons (Chambersburg, PA)
This series is brought to you by IA, Jersey Mike Presents, WiAB Records and Appalachian Brewing Company. It is sponsored by our friends at 717 Tattoo.
posted by Mike at 11:07 PM
