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2008/07/29 LOLLAPALOOZA TIME! Hey people. So I'm leaving tomorrow for Chicago, to visit my family and then LOLLAPALOOZA IT UP. Are you going? What do you really want to see? Radiohead? NIN? Rage Against the Machine? Tally Hall? If you are going and visit this website, you can make your own schedule and sign up for SMS messages. Grant Park is big and it can be kind of confusing and it's going to be abut 98 degrees so you might have mild heat stroke, so make your life easier and make yourself a schedule. Be sure to fit in time to have some chicago style stuffed pizza, drink lots of water, and say hi to Nora. Tally Hall play Sunday afternoon (just so you are aware). See you in Chicago (go Cubbies!) Nora Tweet posted by n. @ 7/29/2008 | | # 2008/07/25 my new favorite band : YOUNG RIVAL I know, I know... I have a new favorite band just about every week. Or every DAY lately. But last night I met this band Young Rival*. Let me start at the beginning, shall I? I went to Mercury Lounge to see the always wonderful A Brief Smile. My mandals wearing friend Seth Kallen greeted me in front of the venue, mostly just because the doors weren't open yet, and gave me some popcorn that someone said had drugs in it (this was untrue). A Brief Smile were awesome and their sound has evolved sooo much from when I first saw them - and I'm not even sure all of them can legally drink yet! Anyways, if you want to see a great young band before they get super huge, go see A Brief Smile and dance with them and eat non-drug popcorn with them and stuff like that. Good times! A Brief Smile - Never Have The Time I slipped out of Merc towards the end of their set to go to this soiree that Cornerstone and Motorola were throwing for the Black Kids new album. Unfortunately you could barely hear the album over the noise of people talking. Fortunately there was a top shelf open bar and lots of tasty finger foods which I decided would be my dinner. I ate brie cheese on toasts and chatted with my publicist friend Jeff about how Motorola totally knows how to throw a party. Seth texted me and told me that I was going to be late to see Nightmare of You play at Rehab so I grabbed a teensy roast beef sammich to go and ran like an emo fan girl over to Ave B. I almost didn't recognize the club because they re-did the entire front of it with lots of fancy beads and and over abundance of foliage. Weird. Anyways, NOY were already on, and it wasn't even that crowded for them, though Seth explained that it was a 21+ show and anyone (emo fangirls) underage could only get in if they were accompanied by a parent (how uncool). They played that song "I Want To Be Buried In Your Backyard." I tried to sing along, but I failed. After NOY, my FAVORITE NY BAND, Saints and Lovers played. They were fantastic as always, and I tried to get Seth to watch them but he was too busy showing off his skinny jeans. Finally we left so Seth could get pizza, because all he ate was the non-drug popcorn, and then we went back to Mercury Lounge so I could see Bound Stems, and I ended up only watching a couple of songs because I had reached my band attention span capacity for the evening. I wandered back to find Seth at the merch booth. * Now is when I met Young Rival. So yes, I did not see them actually play, but they gave me their EP and then their publicist announced that we were all going to go to Happy Endings. I don't think I had been to Happy Endings since um.... maybe a Hard Fi after party in 2005? Well.. once we got there I pretty much instantly remembered why this was... because the drinks are like 8 dollars a pop and the dj was playing Fergalicious and the basement was like a scene straight out of Party Monster (in a good way...I think). But the Young Rival boys were charming, and when I listened to their EP this morning while nursing my not so happy ending hangover, I discovered that THEY ARE REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD. Stereogum also thinks so. They have this vintage sound to them that I love, and Seth said they remind him of Ambulance LTD. Young Rival - Poisonous Moves Young Rival - Your Island ALSO - AND THIS IS IMPORTANT: I'm djing at The Skinny tonight. 10pm-4am. 174 Orchard @ Stanton. COME HANG OUT! Happy weekend.... Seth also wanted me to post these tour dates for Jukebox The Ghost. Which has nothing to do with this entry at all, but I made fun of his footwear so I will induldge him. Also, Jukebox The Ghost fucking ROCK. JUKEBOX THE GHOST TOUR DAAAAAATES 07/31 - New York, NY - Union Square 08/06 - Richmond, VA - Alley Katz 08/07 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theater 08/11 - Washington, DC - Fort Reno 08/14 - Chicago, IL - WOXY.com Presents @ Schubas 08/16 - Dekalb, IL - The House Cafe 08/20 - Brooklyn, NY - Studio B $ 08/28 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas 08/29 - Westport, CT - Toquet Hall Teen Center 09/04 - Philadelphia, PA - St Joseph's University 09/05 - Ewing, NJ - The College of New Jersey 09/06 - Northampton, MA - Smith College 09/14 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater @ Monolith Festival 09/19 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court# 09/20 - Denver, CO - The Hi Dive# 09/21 - Omaha, NE - The Slowdown# 09/22 - Dekalb, IL - The House Cafe# 09/23 - Chicago, IL - The Beat Kitchen# 09/24 - Lansing, MI - Mac's Bar# 09/27 - Buffalo, NY - Big Orbit's Soundlab# 09/28 - Waltham, MA - Brandies University (Usen Castle)# 09/30 - Boston, MA - Middle East Upstairs# 10/02 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg# 10/03 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas# 10/04 - Washington, DC - The Black Cat# 10/06 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506# 10/07 - Charlotte, NC - The Milestone# 10/08 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn# 10/09 - Birmingham, AL - Bottle Tree Cafe# 10/11 - Austin, TX - The Mohawk# 10/12 - Denton, TX - Hailey's# 10/14 - Santa Fe, NM - College of Santa Fe# 10/16 - San Diego, CA - UC San Diego (The Loft)% 10/17 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo% 10/18 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill% $ = w/ Jealous Girlfriends, Pattern is Movement, and Bryan Scary # = w/ Say Hi % = w/ Say Hi and Princeton Tweet posted by n. @ 7/25/2008 | | # 2008/07/18 LOWRY. my heart skipped a beat I really love it when people tell me a band is amazing and then proceed to prove themselves totally right on. This happened last night at Galapagos (which is now called Public Assembly, btw) when I went to see Skybox and bumped into my friend Wes, who told me that he recently signed the last band on the bill, called Lowry, and that they were a "must see." I also met a really nice girl named Lisa (I think?) outside who basically told me the same thing. And the room was packed to the gills, so I figured everyone pretty much had to know something that I didn't know. But now I know! Lowry is SO GOOD. And pretty much just as Wes described - Death Cab meets Nada Surf, which is an unbeatable combo kinda like chocolate and peanut butter. They don't have any mp3s that I can find, although you can stream three tracks on their myspace (and you should). Lowry are also playing at All Points West! They are the last band on the flier, so they might be playing at like 11am or something, but if you are an early bird (aka: not me), I would def make an effort to catch them. Lowry Tour Dates: Aug 8 2008 12:00P All Points West Festival - with Radiohead, Cat Power & Jack Johnson Jersey City, New Jersey Sep 5 2008 9:00P Club Cafe Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Sep 6 2008 8:00P Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, Ohio Sep 7 2008 9:00P Zephyr Pub Kent, Ohio Sep 8 2008 9:00P The Corktown Tavern Detroit, Michigan Sep 10 2008 8:00P Acadia Cafe Minneapolis, Minnesota Sep 11 2008 8:00P Bottom Lounge Chicago, Illinois Sep 12 2008 8:00P Spin (Formerly The Patio) Indianapolis, Indiana Sep 16 2008 8:00P The M Room Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Their album Love Is Dead will be out on Engine Room this year/summer/soon. I also, of course, have to mention Skybox, who rocked the room last night with a new lineup including a pretty sick new drum player (hi Mike). Go see them TONIGHT (FRIDAY) at Knitting Factory, and congrats to lead singer Tim on his upcoming nuptuals. They are also from Chicago. GO CUBS!!! In other somewhat related news, last night I was "recruited" to start booking shows at Galapagos/Public Assembly/whathaveyou and parties. I think I'll be doing Thursday nights. So if you are a band and you want to play a show, drop me an email and put Galapagos in the subject line and send me links to your myspace/mp3s/things I can listento. OKay? OKAY! Tweet posted by n. @ 7/18/2008 | | # 2008/07/15 Bikini Covers Feist This band, Bikini, hail from Montreal. They seem kind of like silly french synth pop, which isn't always a great thing, but isn't always a terrible thing either. I'm still making my way thru their original tracks, but I absolutely adore their cover of Feist's "1234." It is the jam. Bikini - 1,2,3,4 (Feist Cover) Tweet posted by n. @ 7/15/2008 | | # 2008/07/14 dear fuse, You Rock, Let's Roll?! Really????? I OBJECT. FAIL. Tweet posted by n. @ 7/14/2008 | | # happiness is... a sunday at mccarren pool with the breeders + matt and kim The above is an accurate photo representation of how awesome the Matt & Kim / Breeders show at Mccarren Pool was yesterday. The Breeders - Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Live - Beatles Cover) I shot a video of that totally insane cover of "Crazy In Love" by Matt and Kim (and an entire ORCHESTRA with choreographed dancers), so that will be up here later. Now I must go put some aloe on my sunburn :( Tweet posted by n. @ 7/14/2008 | | # 2008/07/11 my mercury is in gamma ray When I saw you last night, I wanted to say, ‘Run away with me, away from the cynics That this could be the start of something truly real’ But all that I could say was, ‘hey’, Was, ‘hey’, was, ‘hey’, was, ‘hey’ This new Bloc Party song is so weird, I have no idea what the hell Kele is even talking about. However I can't STOP listening to it, so they must be doing something right. I think this new album could be a vast improvement over their sophomore effort. Bloc Party - Mercury Last night I went over to the For The Win! offices to listen to the new Verve record. I've never been a huge Verve fan really, although their show at the theater at MSG was pretty rad and made them grow on me a bit. But the new songs sound promising, and there was free wine and cheese and gossip so it was a good time. Afterwards Mahsa and I went to the Milk Studios BBQ in the (blargh) meatpackign district. Fu Manchu was playing. There was a mechanical bull and kegs and a skateboard ramp thing (dear tall blonde skateboarder guy, hellooo) and a mosh pit and a HUGE fight broke out and a guy bleeding all over the place and also...oreos!? It was a weird party, and felt so California - especially the skateboarder part. Afterwards I went to my friend Jenny's apartment, played with a cat named Spaceship* and then went home. This is the song for the weekend: Beck - Gamma Ray * the cat's real name is Friendship, but i renamed him, because Spaceship just sounds cooler and it's not like the cat really knows the difference as long as it sort of sounds the same. like, i've contemplated renaming Zoe "Bowie"... Tweet posted by n. @ 7/11/2008 | | # 2008/07/10 assorted things i'm listening to lately (a semi after the jump recap i guess) I'm not very good at blogging lately, but I have been going out and seeing lots and lots of bands. Thanks to the L train taking hours to get me home and my hectic schedule at my day job, I just rarely have time to recap everything, and I generally dislike just throwing up links to mp3s up with little to no editorial on my part (even though usually my "editorials" just involve my using various synonyms for the word awesome and lots of exclamation points). You love my silly editorials! Right? Awesome! Okay, Let me see what I can piece together here: The Bloodsugars are a Brooklyn band I've been meaning to write about for a while now. Their infectious indie "dance dance" tunes totally makes me think they were born to be tour mates with bands like my super faves Liam & Me, who share the "I Heart 80's synth pop" mindset. You could totes do some serious voguing to some of their songs. OMG SIDENOTE, I completely forgot to mention that Liam & Me were supposed to open for BOY GEORGE on his tour, before his visa was revoked. Crazy, no? I got to check the Bloodsugars out live when they performed at After The Jump fest, and was happy to discover that their catchy songs are even more fun when translated into a live performance. The band has an 6 song EP out now, cleverly titled "BQEP" (get it?). Check out the video for the lead track right over here where it was featured on RCRD LBL - it features lots of doodles and really nice cheekbones... The Bloodsugars - Cinderella Catch the band at Pianos next Friday, July 18th and buy BQEP on iTunes. Another After The Jump highlight that I need to mention is the group Lizzy Trullie and the Fibs. A friend described them as falling on the "fashion-y side of the spectrum" which I really can't argue with at all, as there's something very european and classic about Lizzy's effortlessly cool "look." Their sound for me is a bit hard to describe, but I haven't been able to stop listening to this track on repeat for weeks. Love it. Lizzy Trullie - Self Taught Learner So much more I want to write about, but don't have any more time right now. Stay tuned..... Tweet posted by n. @ 7/10/2008 | | # My Drive Thru - the video I never post videos. So here is a video. It cuts off early, and I have no idea why, but you get the general idea! Tweet posted by n. @ 7/10/2008 | | # (i love this) Television Room Apparently this band Television Room are from Dublin and are unsigned and all that jazz. I sense big things could be coming for them on the basis of that alone, especially if they spend some time in the UK. According to their myspace blog, they just finished recording an album, but otherwise there doesn't seem to be much information about them and they only seem to play shows in Dublin so hopefully someone will sign them and bring them over here. Anyways, I just really like this song, so here you go: Television Room - Coffee Houses Tweet posted by n. @ 7/10/2008 | | # 2008/07/07 new birdmonster - now with more hand claps! I went to see San Francisco band Birdmonster at Mercury Lounge for a "private show"... probably about a month ago now. Yeah, I'm a little behind here. Anywho...the band spent the majority of their set playing all of the new songs from their upcoming second full length album entitled From the Mountain To the Sea which is out 08/05 digitally and 09/02 physically on FADER Label. One thing that immediately struck me at the show -- it seems as though Birdmonster have mellowed out a bit, but in a good way (at least as far as I can tell). They have out grown a lot of the manic teenager frenzy that their debut highlighted, and have settled into a bit more of an "adult" place in their music making. Now instead of doing it "cause he can," singer Peter is doing it because he's "born to be your man." All together now: "Awwww..." Nevertheless -- is this song just a bit too mainstream sounding to anyone else? It's just so simple that I feel like I've totally heard this all before. Then again it's just a first single, and from what I heard at Mercury Lounge this album should have a lot more to offer than may be indicated on this first track. I like the hand claps though... obviously. Birdmonster - Born to Be Your Man Tweet posted by n. @ 7/07/2008 | | #

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