Frodus Conglomerate International (1993-1999) resurrected on June 18, 2009 at Redlight Redlight, Orlando, FL, continuing what has been an outstanding ’90s hardcore reunion year (most recently the unbroken/split lip reunion at burning fight). Supporting the resurrection was Tampa’s Guiltmaker and Orlando’s Hurrah.
Based on sheer numbers, Bonnaroo is a beast. 70,000 people invade Manchester, Tennessee, making it the 6th largest city in the state for over three days. Now your average Bonnarooian is quite a bit different than your typical Tennessean — full of booze, THC and god knows what else. It’s a crazy place.
Where else could you find Jimmy Buffett, Ani Difranco, Snoop Dog, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen? For better or worse, Bonnaroo is biggest and baddest of the American music festivals. With 13 stages and tents, hundreds of vendors, and a pretend Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the well-oiled machine of Roo is now in it’s 7th year and going strong.
Simultaneously a radiant clusterfuck and glorious throwdown, it’s hard to imagine a bigger party. And with any party, there’s always the good, the bad and the ugly. For our purposes here, let’s focus on…
The Good Read the rest of this entry »
Courtney Love is nuts. (Newsflash, right?) Years of drug abuse will do that to a person. She uses the Internet predominantly to bicker with Ryan Adams and wonder aloud, “What happened to all that Nirvana money!?”
Sometimes, she covers both topics simultaneously! She either hasn’t quite grasped or doesn’t give a shit about Twitter’s 140-character limit, opting instead for stream-of-consciousness commentary and storytelling sometimes interrupted mid-word. And she’s still close pals with lone original Smashing Pumpkin Billy Corgan.
Love has worked intermittently on her second solo album Nobody’s Daughter over the past three years. Because of various false starts and Internet leaks, the disc is three producers and four studios deep. Now it seems Nobody’s Daughter won’t even be a Courtney Love solo album. Courtney has taken a page from Corgan’s playbook and resurrected a dormant, yet familiar name.
“There were a lot of people crying,” says Blur bassist Alex James describing the crowd’s reaction to their first show in nine years at the East Anglian Railway Museum in Essex on June 13. This museum is coincidentally where Blur played their first show back in 1988.
The Britpop laureates played a two-hour set including a lot of their more popular songs such as “Girls & Boys,” “Song 2,” and personal favorite of mine, “Parklife.”
Not only are the boys back to playing shows all this summer, but also may be delivering the masses a new album in the future. According to a BBC interview the band is not commenting on the definite confirmation of new material, but they are jamming and getting along. I guess that’s as good as we can all hope for at the moment. My question is: When are we going to see a new Gorillaz album? I’m looking at you, Damon Albarn!
Video after the jump.
Perhaps I was just young, but there seemingly was a time when Tori Amos felt edgy and just a little brash. Over the years, though, she has mellowed considerably and I’ve filed her in the “artists I used to like whose new albums I check out out of politeness only but I doubt I’ll ever actually like anything they ever do again” folder.
Enter KRISTEENYOUNG.
I think the opening paragraph of their bio tells you everything you need to know about this band:
“What’s black and white and can crush you like a bug? A piano. These monsters weigh anywhere from 300 lbs for a small upright, to four or even five times that for a concert grand. So why do artists let them sound so wimpy? KRISTEENYOUNG wants the piano to kick your ass. Their new album, Music for Strippers, Hookers, and the Odd On-Looker, feels like it was born in the boxing ring, not some sun-dappled Laurel Canyon living room.”
Audio clips after the jump.
“I got to play with Bruce. That’s my hero.”
Trey Anastasio said that. After Phish jammed with Springsteen at Bonnaroo. The unlikely pairing joined forces for the R&B classic “Mustang Sally” as well as Springsteen’s “Glory Days” and “Bobby Jean.”
Added Phish bassist Mike Gordon, after witnessing Springsteen’s three-hour set at the festival, his first time: “It’s great to know that it’s not all hype or anything, there’s such a solid musician and songsmith standing there, and then to be so nice and such a gentleman at the same time.
Dad’s dig music. I’m a dad, and if I didn’t work at THEE record store (and already have them), these’d be on my Father’s Day list:
Booker T – Potato Hole
This album has it ALL. The funky soul of classic Booker T, rocking guitar of Neil Young and it grooves to the backing of the Drive-By Truckers, poignantly tying together the fact that Patterson Hood’s father, as a Muscle Shoals studio musician, was an integral part of the southern soul sound, that Booker T. spawned. See how this Father’s Day gift has several levels to it?!
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – A Stranger Here
This is an album of blues covers. I thought I never needed to hear some of these songs again (they’d been covered SO much!), but they’ve absolutely been made fresh by Jack’s gut-bucket voice, the
musicianship of Van Dyke Parks and David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) and Joe Henry’s production.
From the liner notes of A Stranger Here, Henry writes: “I pitched the idea that he interpret country blues music from the Depression era of his birth… songs as dark, funny and strange as is he and the times that produced them, and also ones that still resonate in these turbulent days.” It’s amazing how someone nearly 80 years old can interpret these aged classics in such a contemporary manner. I guess that’s why we call them “artists.”
Bonnaroo has averaged just under one death per year during its eight year run. Last year there were no fatalities. This year, a body of a man in his 20s was found by the cleaning crew on Tuesday after the festival. The body showed no signs of trauma, and police speculated that the man’s death was either drug-related or from a pre-existing medical condition.
All photos by Mike Wilson.
“You guys are bringing it so hard, the power went out,” said lead singer Adam Lazarra of Taking Back Sunday (pictured) when, midway through their set at The Ritz in Ybor City, the power suddenly went out while the crowd continued singing the song to the beat of only the drums.
Needless to say, Taking Back Sunday, Anberlin and Envy on the Coast brought it, and brought it hard. Except for the bass being turned up way too loud, and occasional feedback interfering with a set, this show set the standard for alternative rock shows. (MORE PICS AFTER THE JUMP.)
Michael Lee (I trust that we don’t need any pronunciation help with this one…) is one cool Californian cat. He grew up in cow-infested Visalia, Ca., and now lives in badass-infested Chico, Ca. He likes to fall asleep watching movies on his couch, drink Jameson, eat at Pluto’s, all while wearing his Two Ton Boa t-shirt.
I featured “The Jealous Type” in January on Episode 8 of The Merry Andrews Show and now Michael Lee is back with a vengeance and a new album that rocks off my britches in a very … elegant and romantic way.
Many artists aren’t into discussing what inspires their songs because they like the songs to have different meaning for everyone or something lame like that. I respect the secrecy, but I’m a nosey little devil and I always ask. I get a major rush out of hearing a song and saying “Oh! This is about blah blah blah…” Michael was a dream and gave me all the gory details about the songs on his new album Yesterday and Every Day After. Are you ready for this jelly? Read the rest of this entry »
VINYL SATURDAY
From the folks who brought us “Record Store Day” comes “Vinyl Saturday.” Once a month, we’ll be waxing you poetic with special, limited releases made specially available on Vinyl Saturday. If you’re interested in any of the limited editions, you may want to get to the store early — they won’t last long! The first Vinyl Saturday is this coming Saturday, June 20, and will feature:
WILCO
This is a special 7″ single being released 10 days before new album (WILCO, the album comes out on 7/3)! Limited to a run of 3,800, the 7″ includes the tracks “You Never Know” and “Unlikely Japan,” an early 2003 version of the previously unreleased track “Impossible Germany.”
GREEN DAY
The vinyl version of the CD Single “Know Your Enemy” will be available at Vinyl Fever on 6/20. This vinyl is limited to 5000, and is NUMBERED. The b-side is an unreleased studio track called “Hearts Collide.”
MODEST MOUSE
Second in a series of 7″ singles being released. This one is entitled “Autumn Beds” and the b-side is “Whale Song.”
PETE YORN/SCARLETT JOHANSSEN
These two are releasing an album in September through Rhino (not to be confused with the Pete Yorn release on 6/23 through Sony), and we’ll have an advance 7″ with a duet from both of them AND a Pete Yorn demo on the other side.
ALSO, the following artists have vinyl scheduled for a street date of 6/23, but us indie retailer participants are getting them EARLY, so we can sell them to you on 6/20:
Al Green (classic reissues) – Those Darlins – Wolves In The Throne Room – Wino – Patterson Hood – Earth – Woggles – Chesterfield Kings – Cocktail Slippers and more. Read the rest of this entry »
The new single from the well-reviews new Sonic Youth album, The Eternal, is Sacred Trickster, sung by Kim Gordon.
The video features a trio of young girls going all commie and busting up a rooftop party.
Video below the jump:
Phil Spector was photographed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in June 2009 after his arrest on murder charges (Spector was sentenced to 19 years in prison following his conviction for murdering actress Lana Clarkson, whom he shot to death in his Los Angeles home in February 2003) . And it turns out that crazy hairdo he sported in court (seen here) was not actually his real hair. Why would a man wear such a strange looking wig? Maybe because without it, he resembles Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
See the horror below:
This just in from No Clubs Productions:
ATMOSPHERE w/Special Guest TBA
Saturday, August 1, 2009
THE STATE THEATRE
Doors: 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $21 in advance/ $23 Day of Show
ON SALE SATURDAY 6/20/09
Ticket LinkAtmosphere is a hip-hop group from Minneapolis that centers around rapper Slug (aka Sean Daley). The son of a black father and a white mother who divorced when he was a teenager, Slug became entranced with hip-hop, graffiti, and breakdancing, and formed the Rhyme Sayers Collective with two high school friends — Siddiq Ali (Stress) and Derek Turner (Spawn). (VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP) Read the rest of this entry »
Pontiak galloped into New World Brewery this past Thursday, June 11, the exceptional headliner of History’s last show in Tampa supported by King of Spain and Glasgow. Another splendid Thx Mgmt show – thanks Joe.
Pontiak
To get the downlow on Pontiak, check out Eric Snider’s interview with the brothers who make up this band. Live, Pontiak delivers a constantly evolving performance, its members switching instruments (who doesn’t love the impact of double drum sets?) and keeping even the most jaded scenester interested. These mistral brothers are a talented family garnering positive media attention from sources as diverse as Pitchfork and Wired. Read the rest of this entry »
“Doing a Radiohead.” Big-box exclusivity deals. “360″ contracts. These and other new business models are side effects of the digital media revolution — a paradigm shift caused by the MP3. The days of $15 CDs are all but dead. Long live the $10 digital album and the 99-cent single, both still dwarfed by everyone’s favorite method of acquiring music: illegal downloading. I think in hindsight, considering the events of the past decade, the recording industry would have been happy for a fractional dip in revenue built into the transition from brick-and-mortar stores to iTunes, but factor in music piracy and the numbers aren’t even close.
Bottom line: recorded music is not worth what it used to be, and count Pixies mainman Frank Black among those who understand. In an interview with Britain’s NME about his newest project, Grand Duchy, he makes several very interesting points about the devaluation of music: Read the rest of this entry »
It’s midnight at a hole-in-the-wall club in the heart of Little Havana, Miami. The place is pumpin’, the dance floor jammed with a multicultural mass of bodies writhing and grooving and ducking and swaying and shaking asses to the pulsing beats. The music is a breathing, heaving, horn-saturated slice of Miami fusion, the native flavors of Cuba — salsa, charanga, rumba and the like — mixed with ’70s-style funk, hip-hop turntablism, free jazz, dub reggae, Afro-beat and electronica.
The band responsible, Spam Allstars, calls its Pan-American dance music “electronic descarga” and the man in charge is DJ Le Spam, though he’s not a frontman in the traditional sense. The youthful Miami musician/producer (real name: Andrew Yeomanson) doesn’t sing or play instruments or tell his bandmates what to play. But he crafts the foundation of the band’s music, shaping the mood with basslines and electronic beats. The resulting samplers are triggered throughout the band’s live performances, and Yeomanson uses turntables to add improvised sounds, words and textures to what his all-star group of musicians produce, all while mixing the entire thing via his post behind the soundboard at the back of the stage. (Audio and video after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »
Taking Back Sunday return with New Again, the follow-up to 2006’s Louder Now and they are, in fact, new again. Following the departure of guitarist/vocalist Fred Mascherino in October of 2007, TBS found a new guitarist named Matt Fazzi to fill his shoes, leading the band in a new direction.
On New Again, TBS moves farther away from the original, raw sound that put them on the map with 2002’sTell All your Friends; the difference can be heard in the opening seconds of the album. Where the band once kicked things off with an escalating chord progression, New Again’s title track opens the album with a fuzzy, electronic bass beat. And that isn’t the only difference longtime TBS fans may notice. Read the rest of this entry »
Okay, Elvis Perkins in Dearland is probably a good choice musically to open for Bon Iver. The band is low key, but not low energy, and they built the show up well, especially having Bon Iver come on stage for the last song. That really hyped up the crowd. They started off slowly, though, and I wasn’t sure I was going to catch on. My notes through the first three songs read like strange musings: “Elvis can somehow pull off white jeans & a jingle bell necklace…” “Trombone guy has played like 4 instruments already, is hot, but has a huge hole in the crotch of his jeans…” Song number four picked up the pace and I got more involved. This is another really talented group of musicians, several multi-instrumentalists, and one local guy named David who was someone’s uncle and did a nice job even though he stuck out like a sore thumb (well, he was older and not dressed like he was from 1974). Anyway, they were a good time. When they successfully threw in a gospel tune that led into a sort of doo-wopish buddy holly kind of jam, things really got interesting. I enjoyed Elvis Perkins in Dearland, and they really seemed to be having fun, and it was sort of a love fest with Bon Iver (who said they were all now the best of friends). Happily ever after at The State. (Sigh.) (Photo of Perkins by Sam Goresh)
A weekly bulletin on musical guests playing late night TV; set your TIVOs or DVRs if you’ve got an early bedtime.
The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS
Tuesday, June 16: Ian McLagan & the Bump Band
Thursday, June 18: Phoenix
Friday, June 19: the Sounds
The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, NBC
Monday, June 15: Spinal Tap (to coincide with the release of Back from the Dead, a two-disc 25th anniversary release with all new material that comes out June 16)
Tuesday, June 16: Gavin Rossdale
Wednesday, June 17: Incubus
Thursday, June 18: The Dead Weather (pictured, an alt rock supergroup that features bassist Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs and The Greenhornes, the White Stripes‘ Jack White, guitarist Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and vocalist Alison Mosshart of The Kills; the foursome will release their debut, Horehound, on July 13, and they’ll likely perform that album’s first single, “Hang You from the Heavens”)
Friday, June 19: Holly Williams Read the rest of this entry »
This weekend, I determined that the quality of your back-up singers determines the cheese factor of your show. Steely Dan’s were a trio of lovely ladies straight out of 1989, whose vocals were overshadowed by bad 
hair and fashion, and badly choreographed dance hands. Yes, I said it — dance hands, those theatric gestures all the drama club kids make when singing in musicals, the ones that don’t really express anything but keep your arms from hanging down at your sides like wet noodles. So, yes, I was distracted by the trio, but I was also just not that into the music, either. (Photos by Phil Bardi taken from the soundboard.)
Full disclosure: I am not among the loyal legion of Dan fans. I can understand and appreciate the influence of the progressive jazz-rockers, and I like some songs from their catalog, although they are guilty of recording one of my least favorite songs, ever, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” (I’m a hater on “Deacon Blues,” too.) There’s just something about the Steely Dan sound — its slick production quality, Donald Fagen’s vocal tone — that rubs me wrong. But my mind has been changed by greater things and music is oftentimes different when consumed in a live setting, and since my husband is a devotee and has never seen them live, and since I’ve never seen them perform live, either, I took us both to the show at Ruth Eckerd Hall this past Friday, June 12. The Florida leg of the “Rent Party ‘09″ tour was a sort of warm-up for the upcoming series of special bigger-city bills where the band will play one of each of their classic albums in its entirety at each show. Read the rest of this entry »
All photos by Sam Goresh.
To be totally honest, I went to this showing knowing only one Bon Iver song and a short version of a story 
about a guy who went into a cabin for the winter with a broken heart and came out in the spring as a rock star — kind of an indie Eric Carle tale. Maybe I was showing bad music journalism manners, setting out to review a rock show with no idea what I was about to get myself into (and I probably shouldn’t have admitted to it just now). I thought seriously for days about doing some homework in advance, but I really didn’t want to. The thing is, I love to hear something for the first time live, at the show, before I’ve ever laid ears on the album. So, if you tell me I just have to hear someone, I’ll Google them first to see if they’re coming to town. I’ve fallen in love with some great music that way, and here I am again, head over heels for Bon Iver. (Pictured: Justin Vernon)
The set-up between bands took a while. Maybe it just seemed like half my life because I was sweating it out on the railing at the back of the room downstairs. (Is there any club in town with really great A/C, even in summer?) When Elvis Perkins in Dearland performed (more on them in another post), there was this huge mass of band in the middle of the stage. After Bon Iver’s instruments were finally put in order, it looked like there were four separate stations. Almost as if four one-man-bands were going to play. Okay, I thought, this should be interesting. (More pics after the jump) Read the rest of this entry »
Was just updating the concert listings when I came upon this listing on the Crowbar website:
Friday July 31
BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW
9 pm
TBA » 18 and Up
More info » WWW.AESPRESENTS.COM
Not much info, but dates on the band’s own MySpace page confirm this show is really happening and I am totally stoked! I got to see Black Mother Super Rainbow play for a measley 30 minutes before Aesop Rock at Orlando’s Anti-Pop fest in 2007, and it was a pretty stellar time, even for being soo short. To read my review of the band’s latest album, Eating Us, click here.
Two concert announcements came through while I was on vacation these past few days. The artists are as disparate as you can possibly get without being of entirely different species.
Neo-soul singer Maxwell, the Grammy-nominee with the passionate pipes who produces some pretty seductive, made-for-making-looove R&B serenades, will stop at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Thursday, July 30. The artist tours in support of his fourth studio album and first new effort in eight years years, BLACKsummers’night, out July 7 on Columbia. Tickets go on sale Friday today at noon. Check out the first single from the album, “Pretty Wings,” by clicking here. (I’d post it but the embedding function has been disabled. Obviously.)
The other new show on the Bay area concert calendar is The Airborne Toxic Event (pictured, photo by Kristi Sparrow), a rather new (three-year-old) gothic New Wave-flavored rock band from LA that’s been getting some pretty good press for their 2008 self-titled debut. The band stops at St. Petersburg’s State Theatre on Tuesday, October 6. Tickets are $16 in advance and go on sale Saturday, June 20.
For its July issue, Spin is pulling out all the stops celebrating the silver anniversary of Prince’s landmark Purple Rain, and count me as among those who are stoked. Spin will have a comprehensive oral history of the album and film. Prince and Morris Day declined to be interviewed, but that’s no surprise.
As a bonus, Spin is offering a free downloadable tribute album, titled Purplish Rain, that features nine bands doing song-for-song covers of the Purple Rain’s tracks. The biggest coup was recruiting Apollonia, the one-time Prince protege who starred in the film, to sing a cover of “When Doves Cry” that she cut with Greg Dulli and his band the Twilight Singers.
Twitter may be the hottest thing in social networking at the moment, but count NIN mastermind Trent Reznor as a recent convert to the naysayers. 
According to Rolling Stone, Reznor “recently contributed a post to the official NIN.com message board in which he confesses his disappointment in the overall negativity of online communities, writing, ‘We’re in a world where the mainstream social networks want any and all people to boost user numbers for the big selloff and are not concerned with the quality of experience..’”
A Rant by Gabe
… is the title of one of the earliest releases by Manic Street Preachers. That single was released way before the angry young Welsh band were even close to ever releasing a full-length album. The song is basically an observation of how obsessed we as a culture are with nostalgia.
We revel in the “Glory Days” (another song with a similar theme) and spend countless hours talking about how GREAT the “good old days” were. The irony is that although we were complete fuck-ups, douchebags and nerds, we still somehow only remember how young, hell-raising, wild and crazy we were. Selective memory, if you ask me.
This type of fond remembrance is great but it has its limitations. Such is the case with the warm fuzzy feeling that most people have for bands like Cheap Trick and The Ramones.
Undoubtedly these are two of my all-time favorite bands that I consider myself very lucky to have seen live many, many times. Both influenced thousands of bands who came after them and eventually eclipsed them both in terms of record sales and popularity. Thing is, both bands continued to create solid, respectable music throughout their respective careers.
Hell, Cheap Trick’s last record, Rockford, rocks as hard as anything they’ve ever released! Problem is the folks who go see these bands nowadays only want to hear “the old stuff.”
A chance to grab from the Vinyl Fever swag bag after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
The mid-90’s Britpop feud between Oasis and Blur has become the stuff of legend. Noel Gallagher once famously hoped Blur frontman Damon Albarn would “catch AIDS and die” (he since recanted, blaming drugs for the outburst). Surprisingly, he’s 100% behind the current Blur reunion: “I’m right into the Blur reunion, ’cause it’ll finish off the Kaiser Chiefs and put them to bed. There’s nothing worse than a shit Blur. And at least the original shit Blur are back to finish off all these other shit Blurs. I’m bang into the Blur reunion.”
From an old reunion to a possible new one: Nine Inch Nails‘ Trent Reznor no longer thinks very highly about former friend and collaborator Marilyn Manson. Reznor calls Manson “a malicious guy and will step on anybody’s face to succeed and cross any line of decency … Seeing him now, drugs and alcohol now rule his life and he’s become a dopey clown. He used to be the smartest guy in the room. And as a fan of his talents, I hope he gets his shit together.”
Lots of news on the Flaming Lips, The Cult, STP, Moz, and more after the jump!
For nearly an hour last night, the New York Dolls played to type as an aging, reunited rock ‘n’ roll band living off their legacy: solid but not inspired, willing but a little fatigued. Then something kicked in. “Muddy Bones,” from their new album Cause I Sez So, a song pulled from the early Stones playbook, seemed to energize David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain and the other, newer, Dolls. The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd on the floor of the State Theatre picked up on it. (Photo by Tracy May)
For the show’s remaining 40-or-so minutes, the New York Dolls conjured up their rambunctious early-’70s selves, sans the drag attire and the heroin and with far better chops. Extended versions of early tunes “Jet Boy,” “Personality Crisis” and “Trash” — which alternated between the early punk version and the reggae take on Sez So — brought the set to a loud, satisfying crescendo.
(The show’s latter portion was powerful enough that only once did I slip out into the lobby to check on the Magic/Lakers game, and thanks to the Dolls hitting the stage just after 9, I was able to catch the fourth quarter on my couch in front of the 57-inch.) Read the rest of this entry »
VINYL:
Anti-Flag – People Or The Gun LP+MP3
Their seventh full-length takes aim at those who use the bible to control the masses.
Avenged Sevenfold
Limited edition (1000) specially-colored vinyl versions of these classic two albums.
Coalesce – Ox LP+MP3
Coalesce encapsulates over a decade of forward-thinking hardcore that typifies the trend-eschewing band and proves they still have much to say. Just the right touch of bombast and contrast to make the seething aggression all the more engaging.
Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion
“Veering between ominous dirges and wide-eyed big sky anthems, they play massive art metal that’s been treated to multi-layered, intricate production in the vein of Radiohead and Pink Floyd; and for a band that can smash and roil like waves against Pacific beaches, they frequently take the subtler road, softening themselves with atmosphere and world music flourishes.” – Pitchfork
Her Sympathy label back-catalog — re-issued via Damaged Goods.
Guided By Voices – Alien Lanes LP+MP3
Their critically-acclaimed Matador debut and best-selling album is back in print on vinyl for the first time since 1999. HQ-180 virgin vinyl with gatefold sleeve.
The Kills – Keep On Your Mean Side
Vinyl re-issue of The Kills’ 2003 debut.
Pelican – Ephemeral 12”
Over three songs and 20 minutes, the vinyl-only Ephemeral introduces a heavier, darker, more riff-based Pelican for 2009. Includes a cover of Earth’s “Geometry Of Murder” with Dylan Carlson on guitar.
Cake – Motorcade Of Gernerosity LP+MP3
Jarvis Cocker – Further Complication
The Horrors – Primary Colours Read the rest of this entry »
Let me preface this by saying I’m a huge fan of Animal Collective. I’ve followed them since 2005’s Feels, which mystified, intrigued and ultimately turned me onto the the experimental trio, and I think the new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, is among this year’s best. Where other people find their experimental music abrasive and hard to understand, I dig the collages of chaotic electronics, the repetition, the fickle melodies, 
the whooped-chanted-sung lyrics. But while last night’s show had some pretty great moments, the overall performance wasn’t quite as dynamic as I’d expected, the subtleties didn’t translate very well in State Theatre’s high frequency-swallowing room, and the repetition that I normally enjoy was almost exhausting in a live setting. (Photos by Phil Bardi.)
The band had a pretty visually appealing stage set-up: two tall towers of speakers on either side of the stage covered in white sheets, a huge white ball hanging in the center over the stage, with animated projections and electro-lights playing against it (did these guys see Phish’s Hampton set up or what?), a huge backdrop featuring Merriweather’s dizzying optical illusion cover art, soundboard tables covered with white sheets that lit up in a rainbow of neon colors at various musical cues. (MORE PICS AFTER THE BREAK) Read the rest of this entry »
Just got this press release from Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center announcing that British dance music twosome Pet Shop Boys will be stopping at the center’s Carol Morsani Hall Thursday, Sept. 10. Here’s the release details:
One of the most iconic and influential pop acts in the world, the English pop duo Pet Shop Boys has reemerged on the music scene with their ninth album, Yes. Filled with sparkling state of the art pop songs, Yes is an affirmation of the duo’s knack for mixing innovative artistry with exuberant commercial appeal.
In a career spanning more than two decades, the duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have created some of the most beloved and recognizable hits in the world including their signature song “West End Girls” as well as “It’s A Sin,” “Always on My Mind,” “Go West” and “New York City Boy.” They’ve sold more than 30 million records and have worked with artists like Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Liza Minnelli, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Electronic and Madonna.
Regularly priced tickets are $39.75 to $69.75 and go on sale June 12, at noon. Tickets may be purchased by calling 813.229.STAR (7827) or 800.955.1045 outside Tampa Bay, in person at the TBPAC Ticket Office or online at www.tbpac.org.
For more information about the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and its upcoming events, please visit www.tbpac.org.
Thx Mgmt brought an all-star Florida rock n’ roll show to New World Brewery last Friday, June 5, featuring Tampa darlings The Beauvilles, Orlando-based Thomas Wynn & The Believers and Jacksonville’s Shawn Fisher & The Jukebox Gypsies. The master plan was a mini-weekend tour with stops at each of the bands’ hometowns while rotating the headliner spot and introducing the out-of-town bands to new audiences. A grand idea!
A sneak peek at videos for music releases due out this week by a range of artists, with short reviews and grade school-style ratings!
“For What It’s Worth,” the first single off Placebo’s Battle for the Sun, on Vagrant Records. This is the British alt rock trio’s sixth album and its first since 2006’s Meds. Good visuals, interesting commentary. Rating: B+
For the last dozen or so years, Elvis Costello has switched genres like he was trying on shirts at the outlet mall: orchestral works, New Orleans R&B with Allen Toussaint, stately ballads with Swedish messo-soprano Anne-Sofie von Otter, a writing collaboration with Burt Bacharach and a jazz summit with Bill Frisell. He even managed to squeeze in a bit of rock ‘n’ roll. 
While his musical bed-hopping sounds like fun, it has served to render his artistic vision a bit fuzzy. The “what will Costello come up with next?” question started to grow tiresome a few outings ago.
Which brings us to Secret, Profane & Sugarcane — his first for Starbucks’ Hear Music imprint — wherein he calls on producer T Bone Burnett and gets the full-on T Bone treatment. Yup, acoustic guitar, Dobro, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, banjo, accordion, mountain music arrangements, the tunes configured into contemporary takes old-timey Americana (matched by the CD packaging).
You may recall that Burnett was at the helm for Robert Plant and Allison Krauss’ Raising Sand, a serendipitous convergence of talent that went Grammy wild. Read the rest of this entry »
