Tampa Calling

VINYL:

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO – Dark Side Of The Black Moon: What Planet Are We On?
More proggy psych from Acid Mothers Temple — mixes Pink Floyd with fuzzy wah guitars and cosmic sounds. Double LP includes an exclusive bonus D-side track.

Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Double LP comes in beautiful litho-wrapped gatefold jackets and includes MP3 download.

Earth - Radio Live
Vinyl only release. Radio Live is comprised of two tracks from a live radio broadcast on KFJC (12/31/07) and two tracks from a live performance in Vienna on their 2008 European tour.

God Help The Girl - God Help The Girl
After the success of Belle And Sebastian’s most recent album, The Life Pursuit, band leader/singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch decided to pursue the writing of a rock musical scored for female singers. After auditioning vocalists via Internet contests, he made his choices and, with all members of Belle And Sebastian backing him up, recorded this record. It combines the strengths of early Belle And Sebastian records in a broader musical palette, drawing equally on musicals, ‘60s girl groups, ‘80s indie, and classic pop. LP includes MP3 download.

Green Day - Know Your Enemy 7”
Ultra-limited edition 7” single features the non-album B-side “Hearts Collide”. We have a limited few remaining after Vinyl Saturday! Read the rest of this entry »

I — probably like most interested parties — didn’t have high expectations for Dinosaur Jr.’s 2007 disc, Beyond, the first since the late ’80s to feature the original Dino trio of vocalist/guitarist J Mascis, bassist/vocalist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph.

Sure, I was excited about the band getting back together, and seeing them at Lollapalooza was fun, but few of these indie- and punk-rock reunions ever produce much in the way of exciting new music. Toss in the legendary bad blood between Mascis and Barlow and you had to figure Beyond was a one-and-done cash-in between the musicians’ other projects.

I’m glad I was wrong. Beyond turned out to be that rarity: a late-career album that fully captures why people loved a band in the first place, but that also displays a natural growth and maturity. The Weirdness it wasn’t.

But finding that spark again doesn’t necessarily guarantee a durable second act.

Mission of Burma’s second post-reunion disc, The Obliterati, despite my early high assessment, didn’t quite end up with the legs of the band’s first get-back-together album, OnOffOn. And I wonder if the same fate might befall Farm, Dinosaur Jr.’s good-not-great Beyond follow-up. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night around 9 p.m. Ivan and I hailed a cab into downtown and ended up riding in with the tour manager and guitar tech for 90’s rockers Smile Empty Soul (”I do it for the drugs”). When our driver dropped us off in front of Lambert’s to catch a set by UK artists Little Thief, I realized I’d left my badge back at the house. It’s been a very long week.

When I finally got back into town, we hoofed it over to La Zona Rosa where we narrowly missed Camera Obscura (still pissed about that), but got to see a couple acoustic songs by Scottish phenoms The Proclaimers.

Dinosaur Jr. with Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene) at Cedar Street Courtyard.

I wanted Ivan to check out Red Eye Fly (Tampa residents, try to imagine a smaller, more evil version of Skipper’s Smokehouse) and try a pint of my new favorite beer, Magic Hat #9. As we got in line, we heard the final strains and “Good night Austin!” of Metallica’s closing number over at Stubbs. It seems the DJ Shadow billing was a ruse and they played that secret set after all. Waiting for a drink at the bar, we met Little Stevie of Springsteen and Sopranos fame, who was hosting the show. One of his bands, The Cocktail Sippers was plying their all-girl garage craft on stage, and as they would stop to catch their breath between songs, he would look toward the stage and shout, “Go! What are you waiting for?” Apparently the years of Springsteen tutelage has rubbed off on him.

Read the rest of this entry »

On February 18th, both the Chicago Tribune and Pitchfork ran stories that put a knife through the heart of the punk/indie world. Venerable Chicago label, Touch and Go Records would be closing it’s distribution wing and massively scaling back it’s own output. This decision, that I’m sure was made after all other options were exhausted, effects more than just T&G’s roster. They provided distribution for 23 other labels Read the rest of this entry »