Today's Brew | The Robot Ate Me

from: Anacortes, WA
from the forthcoming album "Good World" (out this June):
mp3: The Robot Ate Me- "Djien"

official site: The Robot Ate Me
My Space: The Robot Ate Me
Coming to a town near you, check it out here.

Second Cup | The Raconteurs

+featured in the next
Under
The Radar
Magazine
on stands April/ May+

Courtesy of
Daily Growl:
(for a limited time)
YouSend:
The Raconteurs-
"It Ain't Easy
(BBC Radio
acoustic
live session)"

update: my images aren't properly uploading on firefox...ugh!

Today's Brew | Bitter Sweet

from: West Hollywood, CA
current release: 'The Mating Game' (to be released: April 4th)
type of music: A blend of jazz and electronica (taste like portishead)


featuring Shana Halligan & Kiran Shahani ( former member of Supreme Beings of Leisure)
The group formed as a response to an online ad on Craig's List, and the ad was placed by Kiran (former member of Supreme Beings of Leisure) who was looking for a singer.

YouSend: Bitter Sweet- "The Mating Game"

Listen to their music at My Space: The Mating Game.
Or listen to their ecard player to stream a couple of extra tracks.

Today's Brew | Guillemots

from: London, UK
formed: 2004
type of music: Brit-pop with
current release: from the clifFs (2006)


The multinational Guillemots, comprised of English singer and classically trained pianist Fyfe Dangerfield, Brazilian guitarist MC Lord Magrao, Scottish percussionist Rican Caol, and Canadian double bassist Aristazabal Hawkes, (AMG)



Their current album is in heavy rotation in my car...so sweet.
You know I'm really kickin' myself in the butt for missing their show a week ago.

YouSend: Guillemots- "Who Left the Lights Off, Baby?"

KCRW: Morning Becomes Eclectic with the Guillemots
WinMed: Guillemots- "Train to Brazil"

official site: Guillemots

Second Cup | Paavoharju

The Psychedelic-Folk Finnish group are back with their follow up from last year's album ""Yhä Hämärää".
I have no idea what they are singing about, and clueless as to how to pronounce the album name, but the music intrigues me and also its quite beautiful.

Thanks to Motel de Moka for spreading the news that Paavoharju have an EP out, and the full EP is available online at archive.org.
current release: Tuote-akatemia / Unien Savonlinna EP (released: March 15, 2006)

Download the EP here.

I still prefer their full length album over the EP, but its still quite fascinating to listen to.

From their 2005 album "Yhä Hämärää":
The album made my list for best of 2005.
For a limited time:
YouSend: Paavoharju- "Aamuauringon Tuntuinen"
official site: Paavoharju

Today's Blend | The National

YouSend: The National- "Looking For Astronauts"
YouSend: The National- "Mr. November"


QT: The National- "Abel" (Live at La Guinguette)
(video footage courtesy of Vincent Moon)


(photo courtesy of american mary)
The winners of this friendly competition were The National.

I caught The National and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah last year over at the Troubadour.
If you haven't caught either band live, do yourself a favor and try to catch them when they are around...They definitely know how to put on a good show.
The National will be at the Troubadour (Hollywood) on March 29th (tomorrow) with Talkdemonic. (Show is sold out)
They head to the UK in May to play a few shows with the Editors (all sold out of course).

The National are also one of the many bands playing at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago- July 30th.

official site: The National

Second Cup | Yeah Yeah Yeahs

album release: March 28 (tomorrow)
highlight track: Phenomena
another track worth checkin' out:
(for a limited time)
YouSend: Yeah Yeah Yeahs- "Warrior"

Today's Brew | Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Their sophomore (full length) album "Show Your Bones" which drops this Tuesday (Mar. 28), and probably one of the most anticipated albums this year (at least in my book). There was that whole schpeel that Karen O commented that she didn't want to record another "Fever To Tell".
I listed this album as my number one pick for my incomplete list of the Most Anticipated Albums This Year.


follow your way to ifilm QT stream: Yeah Yeah Yeahs- "Gold Lion"

official site: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Buy it here .

Today's Brew | Editors

from: Birmingham, UK
formed: 2002
current release: The Back Room (2005) | US release: 2006

"Alternative rock hasn't seen anything like this since the release of Turn on the Bright Lights. The catch: not only is The Back Room better, it holds promise for even better things in the future. " (All Music Guide)


Real: Editors- "Bullet"


BBC Collective Stream: Editors- "Munich" (Unplugged)

For more vids + more, visit the official site: Editors.
Check out their KCRW MBE performance here.

Today's Blend | Tapes 'N Tapes

"We're a band from Minneapolis.."

After the much talked about hype of this band and hearing their music (which I've been diggin'), I finally caught them live at Spaceland. The band offered some comic relief as the drummer had completely destroyed the "plastic part" of the snare, and needed to borrow the snare from the Cold War Kids. Tapes 'N Tapes delivered...cowbells and all, and even their abrupt menacing contorted dance movements seemed to flow well with the music. If that even makes sense...haha. I'm still trying to wake up here...so if I don't make sense, slap me. haha...
Cold War Kids were actually quite good...lots of energy and a dynamic stage presence. (Unfortunately I only caught the tail end of their set). I couldn't say much about the band that followed, Blackbuds, seemed really mediocre and lots of whining and wailing...

official site: Cold War Kids
mp3: Cold War Kids- "Hospital Beds"
mp3: Cold War Kids- "Tell Me In The Morning "

Take control of the Tapes N Tapes Mixer- "Jennie"

-----------

Tonight:
Arab Strap, His Name Is Alive @ the Knitting Factory, Hollywood

Today's Blend | The New Cars

A Plague of Angels has posted an interesting entry about the newly reformed Cars.
Also a few samples to listen to, of the New Cars vs the Cars.

Last night, I overheard a tidbit about this from Mark.
I'm pretty glad that Ric Ocasek didn't jump on this, especially considering that he's been doing well on his own. I'll stick with the classic model.

"Joining Elliot Easton on guitar and Greg Hawkes on keyboards, will be an all-star group of rockers in Todd Rundgren, fellow Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince, former drummer for The Tubes...The group points to other similar situations where bands successfully emerged with new lead singers, such as AC/DC, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, The Doors, Queen, or the most recent example, INXS."
(from the New Car website)

official site: Ric Ocasek
official site: The Cars
official site: The New Cars

show show show part deux

last night


listen to some of their stuff on My Space: The Prix

mp3: Say Hi To Your Mom- "Dimensions And Verticals"
mp3: Say Hi To Your Mom- "The Forest Scares The Hell Out Of Me"

Purchase and support their music here.

I was hoping to catch this show as well at Spaceland:
mp3: Mazarin- "We're Already There"
mp3: Mazarin- Another One Goes By"

Unfortunately I missed these guys over at the Hotel Cafe for their late show:
mp3: Guillemots- "Windowpane"
They were on KCRW's MBE yesterday, catch the show here

tonight | Tapes 'N Tapes @ Spaceland

the kids wanna rock.

mp3: Tapes 'N Tapes- "Insistor"
mp3: Tapes 'N Tapes- "Cowbells"
mp3: Tapes 'N Tapes-"Omaha"
mp3: Tapes 'N Tapes- "Beachgirls"
mp3: Tapes 'N Tapes- "50's Parking"

Purchase and support their music here.

show show show

Its a big spillover as some of the bands from sxsw
make their way to the city of Angels.

Wow this week's pretty loaded with some good shows.

Tuesday March 21 (today):
Guillemots @ Hotel Cafe (10pm)*
Jose Gonzales @ the Echo
The Pretenders @ House of Blues, Sunset Strip
Tapes 'N Tapes @ Knitting Factory, Hollywood
Say Hi To Your Mom @ Silverlake Lounge
Mazarin @ Spaceland*

Wednesday March 22:
Tapes 'N Tapes @ Troubadour
Earlimart | Band of Horses @ King King*
Asobi Seksu @ Detroit Bar (OC)*

Thursday March 23:
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ El Rey (sold out)
Arab Strap | His Name is Alive @ Knitting Factory, Hollywood*

Friday March 24:
Asobi Seksu @ Spaceland*

*My Picks and ones I hope to catch.

Radiohead does Scanner Darkly

Pitchfork reports:
Verifying a rumor that has been floating around the interweb for months, Entertainment Weekly revealed last week that Radiohead will contribute music to Before Sunrise / School of Rock director Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's cult science fiction book A Scanner Darkly. The film, which stars Keanu Reeves, is due in theaters July 7.

Although the band won't be responsible for the flick's entire score, Warner Independent Pictures told EW that A Scanner Darkly will "feature music by Radiohead, including a brand-new track from lead singer Thom Yorke's upcoming solo release." We're eager to watch Keanu Reev-- wait, WHAT? A Thom Yorke solo album?!?!

Today's Second Cup | The Chalets

Another Irish Band...from Dublin.

The Chalet-"Feel the Machine"

Also they were on KCRW: MBE.

Today's St. Patty's Day Brew | Morrissey

Okay, Morrissey isn't quite Irish, at least from what I know.
But, he does resemble...

Well maybe I'm stretchin'it here.
Morrissey's on a roll...an album in 2004, 2005 and now this year--
Also if you were lucky to be at SXSW this year and caught Morrissey, he was interviewed by Rolling Stone's David Fricke for a SXSW Interview yesterday, followed by a performance last night at the Austin Music Hall, presented by the BBC Radio.

I've been listening to the new album to be released next month...and so far--I'll get back to you on that.


album: Ringleader of the Tormentors
release date: April 4th

+for a limited time+
YouSend: Morrissey- "In The Future When Alls Well"
YouSend: Morrissey- "Life is a Pigsty"

official site: Morrissey
My Space: Morrissey

Preorder the album on Amazon ovah here.

Today's Second Cup | Protokoll

formed: 2004
from: Somerville, MA
type of music: heavy influences from The Chameleons, Bauhaus and Joy Division.
current release: self titled EP

I heard these guys on KCRW's MBE as Steve Lamacq gave a quick blurb about these guys and I'm diggin their sound.

"Terrific new band from the States. Very fine EP. They nod to everything from Bauhaus to The Chameleons UK."- Steve Lamacq- BBC 6 Music DJ

mp3: Protokoll- "Settled (How Can You?)"
mp3: Protokoll- "Holy Divine" (Surreptitious Remix)

Listen to some of their stuff at My Space: Protokoll

Today's Brew | The Raconteurs

Ingredients include:

+ jack.

+ brendan.

+ and a couple of gents from the greenhornes.

+ Jim Jarmusch (who directed this little diddy and you might have heard or seen his other stuff he made like--Broken Flowers, Coffee and Cigarettes---ahhh the connection with Jack White, right here)
QT: The Raconteurs- "Steady As She Goes"

official site: The Raconteurs

Today's Brew | The Flaming Lips

Today's Brew---formerly known as "musicWATCH" and "albumWATCH".
Just has a nicer ring don't it? Also follows my subtle theme of coffee...and what'da ya'know, that sounds so good right now---
time to get some coffee.



From their forthcoming album "At War With The Mystics"
(to be released April 4th):
+for a limited time- courtesy of my roomie+
YouSend: The Flaming Lips- "Free Radical"

And from the album "KCRW: Sounds Eclectic 3" (2004)
+for a limited time+
YouSend: The Flaming Lips- "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 1"

Sonic Youth | Brakhage

sonic youth. great experimenter of sound.


stan brakhage. great experimenter of film.

I remember watching "Decasia: THe State of Decay. A film by Bill Morrison. one Saturday morning awhile back. A real departure from your Saturday morning cartoons...hah. I forgot how this film brought me to Stan Brakhage, but somehow it did...anyways, if you haven't seen either works, you're missing out.
I can only imagine what it must have been to watch the works of Brakhage as a backdrop to the sounds of Sonic Youth.

From the album "SYR 6: Koncertas Stan Brakhage Prisiminimui" (2005):

+for a limited time+
YouSend: Sonic Youth With Tim Barnes- "Heady Jam #2"
warning: this track is 19 minutes of experimental noise.
Buy the album here on Amazon.

Buy the Criterion Collection: Brakhage- Anthology here.

On a sidenote:

KG for CK...strange.

Another side sidenote:

+shirley manson from garbage inducts Blondie to the Hall of Fame.

+tension still exists as Deborah Harry speaks a little bit of something to Frank Infante.
Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame inducted Blondie and the Sex Pistols, but of course it got all weird.

Deborah Harry dissed her old bandmates while the Sex Pistols refused to even come near the award ceremony and even accept the award.

Former Ex-Blondie member Infante begged to perform with the band.
"Debbie, are we allowed?" he pleaded before Blondie performed their hits "Heart of Glass," "Rapture" and "Call Me."
"Can't you see my band is up there?" Harry replied. The three rejected members walked offstage, but not before Infante groaned into the microphone.
Johnny Rotten compared the hall of fame as 'urine in wine'. Other notable inductees were: Miles Davis, Black Sabbath and Lynrd Skynrd.

albumWATCH | Amy Millan

Amy Millan (of Stars) goes solo with her album to be released May 30th.


+for a limited time+
a track from her upcoming album:
YouSend: Amy Millan- "Skinny Boy"

a vid from her band, Stars:
QT: Stars- "Your Ex-Lover is Dead"

2006 SXSW begins

Imagine hearing the music theme for the Olympics as the backdrop as you read this entry...

A couple of reasons why I won't be at SXSW this year:

a.) I don't live in Texas. I'm sure alot of people don't who are attending, but there's the convenience factor right?
b.) I don't have $575 and that's just to cover for the music part of the conference, not to mention the airfare, a place to stay, food and of course coffee. Until I land a job with a "disposable income" or get some peeps to "sponsor" me, I'll probably be out of the loop this year. There's always next year right? Perhaps I should start a fund for the "A.D.D. to SXSW 2007 Foundation". hah...

But if you do go, be sure to check out these following shows
by these fellow music bloggers:
(click to get the poster art for each)

Gorilla vs Bear Net Showcase
-featuring a couple of online buzz bands-Tapes N Tapes and Birdmonster.

Rock Insider with Hell Ya! Show
-featuring Birdmonster.

Stereogum's Showcase
-featuring Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and Rogue Wave.

official site: SXSW 2006

The Skit That Changed The World

Hahaha...A revisit of a classic skit from Saturday Night Live:





"Guess what... I got a fever. And the only prescription, is more cowbell."
-Bruce Dickinson

SNL skit- Behind The Music: Blue Oyster Cult
(featuring Christopher Walkens)"
(courtesy of Devil Ducky)

QT: LCD Soundsystem- "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House"
Also, LCD Soundsystem released their new remix album "Intron", available only through digital format.

musicWATCH | Vive La Fete

formed: 1998
from: Belgium
type of music: dance rock
current release: Grand Prix (2005)

Vive La Fete translated: "Long Live The Party" are from Belgium but their music is in French. The groups main players are Els Pynoo and Danny Mommens.
Time to brush up on your French...


WinMed: Vive La Fete- "Hot Shot"


From their album "Republique Populaire" (2001):
+for a limited time+
YouSend: Vive La Fete- "beaucoup d'amour"
YouSend: Vive La Fete- "bb"

official site: Vive La Fete

musicWATCH | Kiiiiiiii!

I am back...Freed from the Spam Prevention Robots..haha.


I posted about these gals awhile back on my other site.
They are from Japan.
Thought I revisit them again, since they are quite intriguing with their performances.
I have yet to watch a live performance from these gals.
I emphasize the word "performance".

QT: Kiiiiii- "untitled" (AVI format)

official site: kiiiii

albumWATCH | Neko Case

Four years has passed since her last studio album, and finally the wait is over. Her new album "Fox Confessor Brings The Flood" drops today. I still have yet to listen to the full album in its entirety, but seems the album is catching some attention.


"The cumulative effect mirrors both the beauty and the sadness that lurks within the human heart, and Fox Confessor Brings The Flood is a rich, mature and deeply satisfying piece of music that deserves and demands attention -- if this isn't Album of the Year material, it's hard to say what is." (Mark Deming, AMG)


(picture from Esquire)
mp3: Neko Case- "Hold On, Hold On"


Other notable releases:

My other recommendation: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan "Ballad of The Broken Seas".
I cheated and added this album in my First Quarter Top 10 Albums So Far.

Also: Mogwai "Mr. Beast"

albumWATCH | Goldfrapp

Goldfrapp's "Supernature" finally gets a domestic release, and drops March 7th.
I listed the album in my Top 20 Albums of 2005.



Also, a special edition of the album hits the stores, a double disc with a DVD feature of their videos, documentary and some special live performance footages.

Goldfrapp - March 11- LG Wiltern Theatre (L.A.).



QT stream: Goldfrapp- "Ride A White Horse"

Order the special double disc album here at Amazon.

official site: Goldfrapp

all that noise...

March 26-27
San Francisco

The list of some of the cast confirmed for this year's event:

Asobi Seksu
Birdmonster
Jason Collett
Britt Daniel (Spoon)
Feist
Film School
Flaming Lips
Midlake
Minus The Bear
The National
The Sea & Cake
Rogue Wave
Silverspun Pickups
smoosh
Talk Demonic
The Velvet Teen
We Are Scientists

official site: NoisePop 2006

RE: War Child Music

I finally got this album.

Back in late fall of last year, a collective force of various Brit bands headed into the studio and recorded: 'HELP: A Day in the Life' for the War Child charity. They recorded their songs in one day. Among some of the artists involved were: Radiohead, Elbow, Belle & Sebastian, Bloc Party, Gorillaz, and the Kaiser Chiefs.

For a limited time:
YouSend: Radiohead- I Want None Of This
YouSend: Elbow- "Snowball"
YouSend: Gorillaz- "Hong Kong"

official site: War Child Music
Buy the album here at Amazon.

Just Another Jenny Post

The video plays tribute to the genre of "Hee Haw" .
So as another totally unrelated classic song once proclaimed,
"Let's do the time warp again!"

(CBS "Hee Haw" Television Show)


WinMed: Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins- "Rise Up WIth Fists"