The Tripwire » Tripwire

Snow Patrol @ Bowery Ballroom | NYC

Tripwire — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Tripwire photographer Kelli McNamara went to see Snow Patrol and their two very special — and very young — guests earlier in the week. Here is what she saw, see if you can pick out the guest musicians.

Snow Patrol
MySpace

Blonde Acid Cult @ Mercury Lounge | NYC

Tripwire — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:31:00 +0000

Tripwire photographer Meg Clark made her way out to Mercury Lounge last night to see New York up-and-comers (who also performed at our CMJ show) Blonde Acid Cult. Here is what she saw.

Blonde Acid Cult
MySpace

Tripwire – In Case You Missed It

Tripwire — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:58:00 +0000

-On The Cover Video Interview with Shugo Tokumaru.

-Listen to music from Greg Dulli, William Elliott Whitmore, Illinois and Matt Pond PA.

-New reviews for the Tim Barry, Bikini and Passion Pit.

-The greatest song at this moment.

-The All England Club’s Monthly Missive.

-Flashback Friday Video(s), Steely Dan “Black Friday” & John Lennon “Cold Turkey”.

-New info for The Gallagher Brothers, Richey Edwards, Man Man, Phosphorescent, ATP, Blur, Placebo, Matt Pond PA, The Ting Tings, Kings Of Leon, Damon Albarn and Axl Rose.

-Sign up for the RSS.

-Get listed.

Tripwire – In Case You Missed It

Tripwire — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:06:00 +0000

-The Tripwire Podcast 040

-On The Cover – Notes From Middle America: Chomp Womp.

-Video Interview – Bowling With The Band: The Baltimore Round Robin Tour part 3.

-Listen to music from Femi Kuti, Heartless Bastards, Jensen Sportag and Kirsten Ketsjer.

-Watch videos from Crystal Castles, Dan Deacon and Kraftwerk.

-New reviews for the Black Keys, Dungen and Akimbo.

-The greatest song at this moment.

-New Music Thursday with Jensen Sportag and Kirsten Ketsjer.

-Flashback Friday Video, Guns N’ Roses “November Rain”.

-New info for Paul McCartney, Tokio Hotel, Black Keys, Heartless Bastards, Neil Finn, Jane’s Addiction, Crystal Castles, Dan Deacon, Kris Novoselic, Guns N’ Roses, Fact Magazine, The Killers, Pete Wentz, Kraftwerk, Courtney Love, Kat Bjelland, Radiohead and Coldplay.

-Live photos and reviews for M83 and School Of Seven Bells, Turkuaz, HEALTH and Oakeater and Subtle, Zach Hill and Pattern Is Movement.

-Updated tour information for Femi Kuti, Dan Auerbach, Heartless Bastards and Radiohead.

-Sign up for the RSS.

-Get listed.

HEALTH And Oakeater @ AV-aerie | Chicago

Tripwire — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:12:00 +0000

Words by Ryan Rafferty
Photos by Jonaki Sanyal

Kids must be drinking Nyquil instead of Boone’s Farm to pregame for shows these days. The delicious Mountain Berry flavor is nearly the same color as the “nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, best sleep you ever got with a cold medicine” — a very easy mistake to make. This can be the only explanation for the lethargic and apathetic crowd at HEALTH’s sleepy midweek show at the cozy AV-aerie.

[HEALTH]

An enormous parachute billowed down from the ceiling and drooped behind the stage, creating a cocoon that allowed HEALTH to encase the entire venue in a cacophonous, frenzied, noisy silk. Uttering nary a word to the bobbleheaded crowd, the band tore through their set hitting on key cuts from their self-titled debut including “Triceratops”, “Crimewave”, and “Glitter Pills” in just under thirty sweaty minutes.

The languid atmosphere of the crowd was difficult to shake even by the sonic stunner “Tabloid Sores”. Guitarist/vocalist Jacob Duzsik chanted over a hypnotic drum and synth line that without warning exploded into riotous freakout bursts with John Famiglietti pulling torturous robotic squeals from his bass. The crowd, either completely hypnotized in awe or completely blitzed on Nyquil, mustered only scattered head bobs to the rhythm.

Only one soul, Boone’s Farm’s neon green tint still fresh on his tongue, braved the crossed-arm pack and raged his heart out. He pleaded with others to join, “Fucking dance!” he screamed; but his demands fell on deaf ears. HEALTH seemed none the wiser, however. They dropped to their knees in an almost Hendrix-like pose over racks of pedals and electronics, conjuring demonic squeals. The first words spoken to the crowd was a humble thank you before tearing into their final song: thirty seconds of stunning pure punk noise.

[Oakeater]

Perhaps the most unexpected and flooring group of the night was Chicago-based Oakeater who played second. The trio played one extended piece that was a powerful melding of gorgeous synth drone, dark, scratchy vocals and apocalyptic tribal drums. However, not even Oakeater’s swirling, hypnotic doom could shake the crowd out of their sleepwalking state. Moral of the story, we really need to get in touch with Boone’s Farms marketing people.

[Oakeater]

HEALTH
Oakeater

Femi Kuti Announces 2009 US Tour Dates + Entire Album Stream

Tripwire — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:57:00 +0000

With his first studio album in seven years, Day By Day, to be released tomorrow (November 18) via Mercer Street Records, Afrobeat legend Femi Kuti has announced a string of supporting US tour dates that will see him play venues from coast to coast in January 2009. In honor of the release, Fader and Mercer St. are hosting an exclusive stream of the album here.

From the press release: Not content to merely follow in the footsteps of his famous father, Fela Kuti, Femi continues to expand his musical palette with his latest studio release, Day By Day, a hybrid of Afro-pop, jazz and urban influences. Femi is world renowned as a gifted songwriter and performer who continues to push the boundaries of Afrobeat rather than resting on his legacy. He has toured America with alt-rock band Jane’s Addiction, sang on Rachid Taha’s Made In Medina album and reached out to the American hip-hop community, connecting with artists such as Mos Def, D’Angelo, Nile Rodgers, Erykah Badu and the Roots. There is no doubt that this respite has Femi ready to get back on the road and eager to bring his outstanding new work on Day By Day to the live arena.

Femi Kuti Tourdates
01.07.09 – Boston, MA (Paradise Rock Club)
01.08.09 – New York, NY (Webster Hall)
01.09.09 – Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
01.10.09 – Philadelphia, PA (World CafÃ© Live)
01.11.09 – New York, NY (Webster Hall â€“ New York GlobalFEST)
01.14.09 – Montreal, QC (Club Soda)
01.15.09 – Toronto, ON (The Opera House)
01.16.09 – Detroit, MI (Majestic Theatre)
01.17.09 – Chicago, IL (Metro)
01.19.09 – Boulder, CO (Boulder Theater)
01.22.09 – San Francisco, CA (The Fillmore)
01.23.09 – West Hollywood, CA (House of Blues)
01.24.09 – San Diego, CA (House of Blues)

Femi Kuti

Photos – M83 & School Of Seven Bells @ Webster Hall | NYC

Tripwire — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:12:00 +0000

M83 and School of Seven Bells played some spaced out intense sets at a sold out Webster Hall this past Friday. The most recent M83 and SSB albums, Saturdays=Youth and Alpinisms respectively, have landed them on most critics album of the year lists and led to sold out shows across the country. With both bands use of atmospheric experimental sounds mixed with a pop wall of sound, it has introduced a new generation of music fans to shoegaze and bridged the gap between groups like themselves and pioneers such as Spaceman 3 and My Bloody Valentine.

Being that School of Seven Bells is a native Brooklyn band you could feel the energy and anticipation in the room of the trio taking the stage. As the group took the stage they were of course greeted very warmly from the Webster Hall crowd. The band played selections from their drony/dream-pop debut album with perfection and showed, amongst other things with their live performance, why The Tripwire choose them to play their CMJ event.

[School of Seven Bells]

M83 finished the night by opening up with a warped rock version of the single “Run into flowers” off of their second album Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. The group then went through selections from their newest album Saturdays=Youth and from other past albums with an amazing ability to recreate the wall of sound effects that they achieve in the studio.

[M83]

Although the audience was facing a mile high wall of music we could still hear the musical specifics within the songs. The band balanced their more accessible pop material with their Brian Eno ambient songs well. After putting the audience into a shoegaze haze with their set the group came back out for their encore to perform the 80s style dance track “Couleurs” (sans cowbell) off of Saturdays=Youth. The crowd erupted and spilled out into the streets after the performance.

M83
School Of Seven Bells

By Kim Robinson

Limbo, Panto

Tripwire — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:02:00 +0000

Wild Beasts
Limbo, Panto
Domino
Release Date: 11.04.08

Kendal, England band Wild Beasts first LP Limbo, Panto is an impressive debut record from a band that wears their influences on their sleeves, but never allows the influences to block their individual contribution to the thread their borrowing from. Limbo, Panto takes notes from 80s bands such as XTC, Talking heads, and The Chills, but at the same time also has a theatrical element to it a la Antony and the Johnson’s or even Queen. This fusion of influences along with their ability to write adventurous jangly guitar pop with a hint of world music is what makes this album a pleasure to listen to, if not hard to classify.

Vocalist Hayden Thorpe’s voice bears an uncanny resemblance to the voices of David Byrne and Andy Partridge, but with the howl and sneer of a late career Elvis Presley grasping for musical relevancy. At times throughout the album Thorpe over-emotes in his singing like he’s auditioning for a musical on Broadway. His vocals drive the album throughout with his far reaching falsetto on some songs and low registered Tears for Fears baritone on others. Even though Thorpe’s vocal style dominates throughout the album, the band does a nice job of balancing it with the instrumentation. It takes a couple of listens to get used to the vocals but it’s refreshing to hear a singer in a rock band these days use his voice as an instrument and actually sing.

The diversity of tempos and styles contribute to what makes this album solid. From the waltz/pop of the opener “Vigil for a Fuddy Duddy” where Thorpe establishes his falsetto that floats lightly over the arrangement to the world music tinged “The Devil’s Crayon”, which sounds like an outtake from Fear of Music, this album runs through the aforementioned influences with a respect and cockiness that they have made the music their own. The theatrical stylings of songs like “The Club of Fathomless Love” make for a great arrangement, but the drawback of this is that the song feels forced. This would elicit a standing ovation during a musical, but on record it’s a bit much. The song “His Grinning Skull” sounds like it should be placed on the intro credits of a mid-80s movie (this would be a good thing) with its pulsating bass line, piano treatments, and well-placed background coo’s and ooh’s. The albums final song “Cheerio Chaps, Cheerio Goodbye” is the musical equivalent of a drinking song for the drama/choir kids.

A good amount of today’s contemporary bands have lost the battle in finding their voice through the framework of their influences (especially groups influenced by the 80s). The bands that avoid this pitfall takes the sound, works it, flips it, turns it upside down, and adds their thread. With Limbo, Panto Wild Beasts have created an album that relies on their influences but stands as something that is uniquely theirs.

Wild Beasts
MySpace
Domino Records

By Kim Robinson

Video – No Age Live @ Santos Party House | NYC

Tripwire — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:05:00 +0000

Thanks to the fine people at Shockhound, we were treated to a free show of No Age and Titus Andronicus last night at Santos Party House. For those of you who couldn’t, or just plain didn’t attend, we’re returning the favor by providing you — completely free of charge — this video of No Age performing live.

No Age
Titus Andronicus
Shockhound

Photos – Fun Fun Fun Fest Day 1

Tripwire — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:06:00 +0000

Named for the Big Boys song and not the Beach Boys’, the punk-rock leaning music festival with a more reasonable ticket price than the “other Austin music festivals” kicked off it’s third installment last Friday in Austin’s Waterloo Park. In a twist of irony, arguably the biggest name on the bill was our On The Cover feature artist from two weeks ago, Bad Brains, who once had an infamous run-in with Big Boys lead singer Randy Turner. But the rest of the bill was just as strong, featuring some of our favorite touring and local TX acts. Thankfully, our resident expert Austin photographer Daniel Perlaky made sure to show us the fun, fun, fun we missed.

[Dan Deacon]

[Brownout]

[And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead]

[The National]

[Magnetic Morning]

[El Paso Hot Button]

[Deerhoof]

[Atmosphere]

[Bishop Allen]

[Octopus Project]

[Centromatic]

Fun Fun Fun Fest

All photos by Daniel Perlaky

Win A British Getaway On Ben Sherman

Tripwire — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:43:00 +0000

To steal a phrase, The Tripwire is all about luxury, and so are the good folks at Ben Sherman and Visit Britain. And thanks to this pretty epic contest, you can be too. In a nutshell, if you win you’ll get flown to London, you’ll stay in a really nice hotel, go to clubs, get a shopping spree at the Ben Sherman store and do a whole bunch more. To see the full details of the trip and to enter, just go here.

Ben Sherman

Visit Britain

Live – Hellogoodbye @ The Blender Theater At Gramercy | NYC

Tripwire — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Words by Will Suter
Photos by Maia Stern

I originally went out to The Blender Theater At Gramercy last night to support my good friend and emo folklore tour manager Jon Cheese. He’s been on a million tours, keeping 16 year old girls off stage, selling reasonably priced merch, and getting wasted in a different city every night. This particular night he was coming through town with Hellogoodbye, a 5-piece from Long Beach, California.

Much like T-Pain, Hellogoodbye rose to fame on the heels of the vocoder and it plays a heavy party in their live show. Lead singer Forrest Kline was actually surprised every time that he would talk into said vocoder before he began a song. It was weird, but he kept mentioning how the sound that the vocoder emits is what it feels like to be on drugs. There were actually a ton of drug references during the performance to the all ages (16 and under must be accompanied by adult) crowd. Didn’t really go into the show thinking that this was going to be an open forum on hallucinogens and general mind-expanders.

They were talking about E, Acid, and smoking drugs. Around the 5th or 6th reference to be whacked out on acid I realized what this bands MO is: they are taking The Beatles route. They’ve taken their name from a Beatles song and they’ve realized the best way to get your music out there and to a wide audience is to start your career by making shitty pop music that little kids (specifically young girls) swoon over. Subsequently, as those kids get older, they take more drugs and you can start to write decent songs (without the use of a vocoder).

That said, this band is no Beatles, but their songs are getting much, much better. Their new stuff leans more towards Beiruit than it does Fall Out Boy. Also, they played a brand new gem last night that was reminiscent of early, “Tenleytown” Walkmen. For most indie-music heads that find their way to this site and this article, I wouldn’t go out and buy any Hellogoodbye albums (yet), but I would suggest taking some Ecstacy and going to see them live.

Hellogoodbye
MySpace

Video – Dungen Live From The Levi’s Fader Fort

Tripwire — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:26:00 +0000

Dungen
MySpace
Levi’s Fader Fort

Super Furry Animals Planning “Lyric-Free” Album

Tripwire — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:32:00 +0000

If you were looking forward to singing along to the next Super Furry Animals album, you’re out of luck.

SFA front man Gruff Rhys told BBC Radio 1 this week that the band’s follow up to 2007’s Hey Venus! will be lyric-free. According to Rhys, Venus tilted a little more in the pop direction and the original plan had been to push more into rock territory. But plans changed, as they tend to do, and the band has recorded nearly 24 hours of instrumental music in the last 18 months. During that time they also did some recording with a subsection of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and Rhys said they hope to do more.

“There will be vocals on it but no lyrics and it will still be fairly melodic,” Rhys said. “We just need to work out what we’re going to do with the material, we have got and cut it down to a reasonable length.” For SFA fans waiting on pins and needles, though, holding one’s breath is not advisable. “As for when it’s finished, it will just be finished when it’s finished,” Rhys admitted. “There’s no pressure and we haven’t set a deadline.”

For now, Rhys is on the road with the collaborative project Neon Neon, whose album Stainless Style was among 12 shortlisted for the Nationwide Mercury Prize, the UK’s most prestigious music award. Rhys said the nod was a big surprise, but that it’s unlikely Neon Neon will record another record. The band’s new single, “Dream Cars”, will be released December 8.

Super Furry Animals
MySpace

20 Classic Album Covers Recreated In LEGOs

Tripwire — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:46:00 +0000

If the last time you built anything with LEGOs was sometime around a fifth-grade book report diorama, you’ve got some catching up to do. Check out these 20 classic album covers recreated through the magic of LEGO art.

Though we found these on The Toy Zone, they come both flickr and a gallery site called Brickshelf, which features (among lots of other random lego creations) dozens more album covers; from Frank Zappa to Metallica to Rush. We can’t really explain it, but pictures are just more amusing when they’re full of these little plastic people. Our only regret is that there’s not a more anatomically correct LEGO baby for Nirvana’s Nevermind.

LEGO

Nada Surf To Release Vinyl Box Set + Tour

Tripwire — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:33:00 +0000

No matter how technology progresses, there’s something about the smooth black grooves of a vinyl record that just hug you a little closer than the cold plastic casing of a CD. And happily, soon you can get that warm, fuzzy feeling with all of Nada Surf’s studio albums — including Lucky, released this past February — as the collection is released in a limited edition vinyl boxed set on November 25.

With just 1,000 copies made worldwide, each set is numbered and contains all five albums on vinyl, a repressing of the first 7″ single and a full-color, 24-page lyric and photo book and download codes for The Proximity Effect, Let Go, The Weight is a Gift, Lucky and a collection of rare and out-of-print bonus tracks and b-sides. Head to Barsuk to pre-order and your box set will arrive around the release date (the download codes will be sent to you within 24 hours of ordering).

While you’re biding time for your box set to be dropped on your door step, you can check out the winner of the Nada Surf/You Tube “Weightless” video contest here, or of course make plans to catch the band at one of their upcoming gigs supporting Lucky.

Nada Surf Tourdates
11.09.08 – New York, NY (The Living Room)
11.19.08 – Mexico City, Mexico (The Vive Cuervo Salon)

11.21.08 – Dallas, TX (Hailey’s)
11.22.08 – Austin, TX (Emo’s)
11.24.08 – Oklahoma City, OK (Bricktown Ballroom)
11.25.08 – Little Rock, AR (Juanita’s)
11.28.08 – Minneapolis, MN (Fine Line Music CafÃ©)
11.29.08 – Chicago, IL (Metro)
12.02.08 – Boston, MA (Paradise Rock Club)
12.04.08 – Philadelphia, PA (Trocadero)
12.05.08 – Washington, DC (9:30 Club)
12.06.08 – New York, NY (Bowery Ballroom)
12.07.08 – New York, NY (Webster Hall)
12.08.08 – Hoboken, NJ (Maxwell’s)

Nada Surf
MySpace

The Best of CMJ

Tripwire — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:16:00 +0000

We saw 137 bands, but it is our journalistic duty to narrow them down into a small, opinionated list that you will undoubtedly disagree with. So for our final 2008 CMJ Music Marathon post, we asked our five correspondents to give us their top five bands from this year’s festivities. To jump to a specific writers picks: Derek Evers, Zach Timm, Elizabeth Cawein, Will Suter, Jenn Misko.

Editor Derek Evers’ best of the 2008 CMJ Music Marathon

Boo and Boo Too

MP3 Download – “No Tempo”

Francis And the Lights

MP3 Download – “Striking”

Parts and Labor

MP3 Download – “Nowheres Nigh”

Ponytail

MP3 Download – “7 Souls”

School of Seven Bells

MP3 Download – “Connjur”

Team Robespierre

MP3 Download – “88th Precinct”

Tobacco

MP3 Download – “Truck Sweat”

Women

MP3 Download – “Black Rice”

I came into this CMJ with such low expectations it was almost impossible to not walk away impressed. But like I said before it all began, the best part about CMJ is being completely impressed by someone you had never heard before. In some instances I knew exactly what I was getting in to: Team Robespierre and Ponytail were two of my favorites last year as well, so while I included them on this list because they put on two of — if not the — best live performances I witnessed in 2008, I felt inclined to choose five (ok, six) other bands that left me smiling.

With so much emphasis this year put on the psych/garage sound (Muslims, Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts) there was one band that, in my opinion, pulled it off better than any of the pre-hyped bands. Women seem to touch on the roots of their predecessors with a bit more authenticity, but more importantly, without trying so hard. Women was a band I wanted to see coming into the Marathon, but Boo and Boo Too on the other hand, was a total surprise. Featuring two members of another Midwest band I’m into, Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk, Boo hails from Kansas and brings less pop and more noise to their psychedelic tone. And unlike most of the bands this year who begged their sound guy for more reverb in the vocals, Boo and Boo Too were not ashamed to move and show emotion while performing.

One guy who never shows emotion while performing is Tobacco, but the Black Moth Super Rainbow front man’s sound and visual repertoire is so unique, it’s enough to just watch him and his partner in crime (and also fellow BMSR keyboardist) twist knobs and play the keys. They sound completely different, but I would classify The School of Seven Bells the same way — less a visual experience than total aural enjoyment. A band I feel silly for not knowing better before seeing them, I fell in love with their sound from the first note.

All that aside, the two best performances I witnessed did not come from an iPod commercial (Chairlift) or a band that started out as a set of love songs to a girlfriend (Passion Pit) as it would seem most people walked away from this year’s CMJ thinking. Nope, in fact, it came via a skinny white guy who dances like Michael Jackson and sounds like a mix between Prince and Phil Collins, and some Brooklyn stalwarts who were celebrating the release of their newest CD. The emotion both Francis And The Lights and Parts & Labor gave off while on stage was reason number one they stood apart this year. Reason number two — the crowd fed off of this energy making it impossible to resist dancing or smiling along (note: this is the same reason I listed Team Robespierre and Ponytail).

In summation, I would say this year’s CMJ left me more surprised than I had anticipated. Sure, maybe I’m sick of seeing bands for a while (or at least bands that are tired of playing at such a ridiculous clip), but I sat down on Monday morning and immediately uploaded about 20 new records from bands I saw. And that, my friends, is why I love this job.

Correspondent Zach Timm’s best of the 2008 CMJ Music Marathon

Chief

MP3 Download – “Your Direction”

The Dears

MP3 Download – “Money Babies”

Drink Up Buttercup

MP3 Download – “Gods And Gentlemen”

Mason Proper

MP3 Download – “Lock And Key”

The Rosebuds

MP3 Download – “Life Like”

Runner-ups: The Music Tapes, Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s, Passion Pit.

It was a week jam-packed with music; some strange, some phenomenal and some just mediocre. Some of the strangest performances I witnessed were The Music Tapes who were like an indie rock symphony helmed by a seven year old — they sang songs about aliens and had a machine named static that sang lead on a couple of numbers. Project Jenny Project Jan were another strange duo of white dudes who performed dance music filled with crunchy electronica grooves and raunchy rap lyrics. Some of the mediocre overrated bands included the Crystal Stilts who were my least favorite of the first named Crystal bands to play CMJ (Antlers and Castles were both awesome however), they just didn’t play anything that completely blew me away. Kuroma was another band that I was pretty pumped about who ended up being just okay. In my opinion, the extraordinary bands most definitely were the quirky junkyard carnival pop group Drink Up Buttercup, who put on such an amazing upbeat show that I had to partake in it two times. Really great band, could possibly be the next Man Man. Chief put on a chilling performance with their full band harmonies and classic rock guitar riffs that mixed in perfectly with their new wave influence concocting an intoxicating and rather unique sound. All in all I was more impressed with the bands that I checked out than disappointed, so in my book it was a successful year at CMJ. I will now recover from the madness by sleeping for two full days straight.

Correspondent Elizabeth Cawein’s best of the 2008 CMJ Music Marathon

Annie Lynch and the Beekeepers

The Jealous Girlfriends

MP3 Download – “Secret Identity”

The London Souls

MP3 Download – “Stand Up” (Live)

Passenger

MP3 Download – “Do What You Like”

Turkuaz

MP3 Download – “20 Dollar Bill”

With this being my first CMJ, there are plenty of things on which I don’t necessarily feel qualified to be offering my wisdom or criticism. But I’ll tell you what I do know. I know that I saw two dozen or so great sets of music this week, the majority of which were free. I know that there are a few albums that have recently risen to the top of my must-buy-when-not-dangerously-poor list, including Annie Lynch and the Beekeepers’ self-titled CD and Passenger’s Wicked Man’s Rest. And I know that I’ll be doing my damndest to catch Turkuaz again soon. The best thing about this past week was the amount of fantastic music I’ve gotten to hear for absolutely no money at all. I can’t tell you the number of times that an album/single/show that I actually paid for turned out to be complete rubbish. And ironically, some of my least favorite sets of the week (Donovan Quinn, Viking Moses, Castanets) were the ones at which I had to fork over a cover. But hey — since it’s my first one, I can say definitively that it’s the best CMJ I’ve ever seen. ‘Til next year, at least.

Correspondent Will Suter’s best of the 2008 CMJ Music Marathon

Amazing Baby

MP3 Download – “Head Dress”

Awesome New Republic

MP3 Download – “Wheels, No Engines”

The Black Lips

MP3 Download – “Cold Hands”

The Gay Blades

MP3 Download – “Mean Muses”

The Muslims

MP3 Download – “Bright Side” (Live)

CMJ was full of buzz bands trying to instill their names in the hearts of bloggers and indie-kids. Most of the bands that I saw will not live up to their hype and their 15 minutes are just about up. That being said, there were some gems that stuck out and will hopefully still be around come March and SXSW. I saw very little dancing and showmanship at many of the shows I attended, but when it was there it was great. James Wells of The Gay Blades, Will Roan of Amazing Baby, and Michael John Hancock of Awesome New Republic are three guys who have something really special with their bands and are able to translate that to their crowds as front-men. Not a new band on the scene by any stretch, but still incredibly impressive were The Black Lips. Each of the members of The Black Lips is a spectacle on their own, but when you get those guys in a warehouse in Brooklyn, with free beer flowing, you’re sure to come out with a memorable show.

My number one,The Muslims, played to a packed crowd at Pianos on Friday afternoon. They are a casually terrific band. It sounds like Ian Mackaye backed by the Descendents in an effortlessly engaging manner (with some crucial surf-solos). The Muslims wear their influences on their sleeves, but they aren’t ripping anybody off. They are able to create an interpretation and progression of late 80’s surf-punk that is accessible in today’s musical climate and to those who may be so removed from that element. There’s gotta be a Vans sponsorship coming through for these guys pretty soon.

(Seriously) Honorable Mentions: Middle Distance Runner, Tigercity, Japanese Motors.

Correspondent Jenn Misko’s best of the 2008 CMJ Music Marathon

Lemonade

MP3 Download – “Sunchips”

Starfucker

MP3 Download – “German Love”

Suckers

MP3 Download – “It Gets Your Body Movin’”

Tobacco

MP3 Download – “Dirt (Featuring Aesop Rock)”

Wallpaper

MP3 Download – Wallpaper’s Remix of You Say Party! We Say Die!’s “Moon”

Aside from my top 5 artists of the week, I saw all kinds of bands who I’d qualify as runners-up, like the Ruby Suns, PWRFL Power, Pomegranates, Feral Children, Pattern Is Movement, Continental Divide and the Terrordactyls. Not enough space for everybody, and a few of those bands are close enough friends I don’t feel comfortable including them on an objective list anyway, but all were actually really great. Yeasayer’s Brooklyn friends Suckers were my only true, never-heard-of-before, stumbled-into-a-CMJ-set-and-they-blew-me-away band. Other highlights — besides the never-ending supply of drink tickets and out-of-town friends — included helping out at KEXP’s Gibson Studios and eavesdropping on a few of their interviews (including Marnie Stern and the Ruby Suns) at the Kimmell Center booth, and stumbling into an open whiskey bar featuring the Rude Bear at 205 Chrystie. Lowlights — aside from the constant sleep deficiency and sore feet — included a 6-hour stint in the hospital looking after a friend with alcohol poisoning, and trudging around all day Saturday in NYC’s dirty rain in flip flops. But hey, that’s how I roll.

The CMJ Music Marathon

CMJ – Every Band We Saw

Tripwire — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Photo of the Crystal Antlers by Diana Levine

In a shameless attempt to try and garner as many Google hits as possible, we’re providing you with an easy way to find out if your band was covered by the Tripwire this past week. In alphabetical order, here are the 137 (no lie) bands we saw last week.

Adept

Air Waves

Akimbo

All The Saints

An Albatross

Annie Lynch and The Beekeepers

AU

Audrye Sessions

Awesome New Republic

Bad Veins

Bang Bang Eche

Black Joe Lewis

Blonde Acid Cult

Boo and Boo Too
Broken West

Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears

The Castanets

Cause Co-Motion

Chairlift (once, twice)

Charles Hamilton

Chief

The Coathangers

Coin Under Tongue
Company Of Thieves

Continental Divide

Benji Cossa

Crystal Antlers (once, twice, three times)

Crystal Castles (once, twice)

Crystal Stilts (once, twice)

The Dears

Death Vessel

Deerhoof

Die! Die! Die!

Dinowalrus

Dirty On Purpose

DJ Dub Defender

DMBQ

Donovan Quinn and the 13th Month

Double Dagger

Dragons Of Zynth

Drink Up Buttercup (once, twice)

Dungen

The Dutchess & The Duke

Endless Boogie

The Ettes

Eugene Francis Jr. and The Juniors

Feral Children

Fiasco

Flying

The Forms

Francis and The Lights
Fresh Kills

Dan Friel

Friendly Fires (once, twice)

Gang Gang Dance
High Places

Hollerado

Hollywood Holt

Home Video

The Hosts

HR of Bad Brains

James Jackson Toth

The Jealous Girlfriends

Johnny Foreigner

Kaiser Cartel

Kuroma (once, twice)

Late Of The Pier
Lemonade

The Lisps

Lissy Trullie

Little Boots

The London Souls

Look Mexico

Los Fancy Free (once, twice, three times)

Love As Laughter

Lucky Souls (once, twice)

Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s

Mason Proper (once, twice)

Micachu and the Shapes

Monotonix

Mikey Powell and the Villains Trust
Mother Mother

Music Tapes

The Muslims (once, twice)

The Naked And Famous

Octopus Project

Oxford Collapse

Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

Parts & Labor

Passenger

Passion Pit (once, twice)

Pattern Is Movement

The Phenomenal Handclap Band

Phosphorescent

The Pomegranates

Pontyail (once, twice)

Portastatic

Princeton

Project Jenny Project Jan (once, twice)

PWRFL Power

Rahim

Rocketship Park

The Rosebuds

Saves The Day

Saxon Shore

School Of Seven Bells

Seabellies

Sebastian Grainger and the Mountains (once, twice)

Shining

Shugo Tokumaru

Slang Chicken

Starfucker

Stars Like Fleas

Marnie Stern

Tanlines

Team Robespierre
Teengirl Fantasy

The Terrordactyls (once, twice)
Thank You

Tigercity

Tiny Animals

TNT aka The Bada Bada Gals

Tobacco (once, twice, three times)

Trachtenberg Family Slide Show

Turkuaz
Twi The Humble Feather

The Two Man Gentleman Band

Unkle Bob

Viking Moses

Walter Meego

Reggie Watts

The Whip

Wild Light

Wild Sweet Orange

Wild Yaks

Tim Williams (once, twice)

Women

Wye Oak

Young Lords

The CMJ Music Marathon

CMJ Day 5 In Photos

Tripwire — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:13:00 +0000

Saturday, October 25 illustrated.

[Octopus Project by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[Monotonix by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[Francis And The Lights by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[Die! Die! Die! by Derek Evers]

[Princeton by Derek Evers]

[Slang Chicken by Derek Evers]

[by Derek Evers]

[Annie Lynch and The Bee Keepers by Elizabeth Cawein]

[Annie Lynch and The Bee Keepers by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[Dragons Of Zynth by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[Fresh Kills by Elizabeth Cawein]

[Hollerado by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[Project Jenny Project Jan by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[Tiny Animals by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[Turkuaz by Elizabeth Cawein]

[by Elizabeth Cawein]

[TNT aka The Bada Bada Gals by Diana Levine]

[Wild Yaks by Diana Levine]

[by Diana Levine]

[by Diana Levine]

[Charles Hamilton by Diana Levine]

[Little Boots by Diana Levine]

[Dungen by Diana Levine]

[by Diana Levine]

[Broken West by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Chief by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Drink Up Buttercup by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[The Dutchess And The Duke by Zach Timm]

[Black Joe Lewis by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Music Tapes by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Oakley Hall by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Portastatic by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Rosebuds by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Walter Meego by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Wye Oak by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[by Zach Timm]

[Continental Divide by Jenn Misko]

[by Jenn Misko]

[by Jenn Misko]

[Lemonade by Jenn Misko]

[by Jenn Misko]

[Pattern Is Movement by Jenn Misko]

[by Jenn Misko]

[by Jenn Misko]

[Marnie Stern by Nate Dorr]

[Marnie Stern band by Nate Dorr]

[High Places by Nate Dorr]

[by Nate Dorr]

[Thank You by Nate Dorr]

[Twi The Humble Feather by Nate Dorr]

[Teengirl Fantasy by Nate Dorr]

The CMJ Music Marathon

CMJ Friday – Take Off Your Top And Dance Like A Wild Woman

Tripwire — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:35:00 +0000

After three days of night-time gigs, I decided to give the early CMJ shows some of my love and affection on Friday, so I headed to the Cake Shop to see what was cooking. (Awful. I know. I hope we can still be friends.)

There were bands set to perform upstairs and downstairs, and I chose the downstairs bar. When the girl at the door stamped my hand and asked if I’d be drinking, all I could think was ‘Christ! It’s 2:30 in the afternoon!’ Perhaps that makes me a grandma, but I settled in with my bottled water for the first act of the afternoon, Donovan Quinn and the 13th Month.

[Donovan Quinn]

The band had a nice sound, electric folk with some good guitar melodies, but it was like they could never get their feet off the ground tempo-wise. Every song was as slow and drifting as the one before it and after a while it started to feel like music to keep you company while you drink yourself into oblivion. It was just a little too mellow, and it wasn’t helped by the rhythmic structure of several of the songs, which caused this sort of swaying, lilting feeling that just exacerbated the mood.

Donovan’s voice had the vocal intonation of a young Bob Dylan, the way he stretched through the ends of words, though perhaps not necessarily Dylan’s charisma or lyrical prowess. It wasn’t a bad set in the end, helped tremendously by the last song which took the tempo up into the 180 range and actually had some personality and movement. All told, they held their ground for a band playing in the middle of the afternoon to an empty room, so here’s to that.

Next up was Viking Moses, a guitar/keys duo that had me wondering from the moment they dismantled and removed the drum set how they were going to establish rhythm. In the end they just, well, never actually did. Guitarist Brandon Massei would continually start riffs, tap his leg and move his body as if ready to jump into something bigger, and it just never did. Instead, it fell back into the vague, murky chordal hymn-like structure again. The strongest element of the set was the vocal duo between Massei and his keys player (whose identity I can’t find anywhere), who sounded a bit like Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley. Their voices together were perfection, and they knew just how to put the harmonies together to get the most of the combination. The problem ultimately was that the music, while interesting, never moved anywhere. The guitar melody was nice, but it was like a continual build up to a sneeze with no achoo. Massei is quite the performer, really fun to watch — I guess I’m just not entirely sure what he’s dancing to.

[Viking Moses]

But had it been about 20 minutes later, he would’ve been dancing to Endless Boogie, a band whose name is more apt than just about any I’ve ever come across. The guys of Endless Boogie are a little bit older than any of the bands I’ve seen thus far at CMJ. Let’s just put it this way — if I told them I liked Cream, they wouldn’t think I meant in my coffee. They were a bit like a rock n’ roll answer to the jam band, with very few discernable stops and starts — mostly it was a solid jam session from beginning to end. There weren’t a lot of lyrics or a lot of singing, but it was clear that it was never about that. It was about serious guitar solos, driving percussion, tight bass lines and, to quote a phrase, endless boogie. It was sort of ZZ Top meets the Allman Brothers meets Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the kind of music that sort of makes you want to take off your top and dance like a wild woman. Of course, I imagine that would be frowned upon at these sorts of venues.

[Endless Boogie]

The Castanets were up next, and probably the most evocative, engaging set of my day. I’d call what they do blues-metal, if it were that simple. In the second song of the set they brought in a reggae riff and Raymond Raposa sings with a folksy, almost southern twang, drawing out his vowels. The songs feel very organic, like the decisions are just being made spontaneously and the sounds are growing out of each other.

[Castanets]

The best thing about The Castanets set was that it kept me guessing. Every song was completely different than the one before it, and I never knew what to expect. It was searing and sonically challenging and complicated as hell, but then somehow totally clear and simple.

The CMJ Music Marathon

Live – Sonic Youth With The Hold Steady @ Theatre Of The Living Arts | Philly

Tripwire — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:25:00 +0000

Sonic Youth have certainly aligned themselves with some strange bedfellows since the expiration of their Geffen contract. In recent history, Thurston has curated mix tapes and in-store music for Starbucks and Anna Sui and there are intimations that the new SY release will be released by an entity that is not a record label. Interesting. This night’s event was a dalliance with Converse that garnered fans a $6 door price as well as meet and greet with the bands. Provided you were wearing Converse, of course.

I’m more of a Hold Steady guy in this day and age, although the 4th of July show at Battery Park in NYC did bring my SY live show tally into the twenties. This was twenty-one and The Hold Steady as openers only sweetened the pot. The Hold Steady have recently released Stay Positive their fourth full-length for Vagrant, and it’s a barn-burner. While the records are solid, THS are infamous for backing up their records with a formidable live show, whether headlining or opening.

TLA was no exception. The Hold Steady have been making big moves in recent years, even opening for The Stones in Ireland last year. This night they were only afforded a forty-minute set, which was a mild bummer, but they still came out of the gate with guns blazing. Constructive Summer opened the set as it does the new record and their devoted fanbase responded in kind. As might be expected, the crowd heavily favored the SY end of things, but the Hold Steady inspire a rabid following. I’m a member of Unified Scene, a cabal fostered of fans that go to most of the shows and many of the US kids were in from Milwaukee, Chicago and DC just for the opening set. Good times, and I guarantee the bar was happy at the end of the night.

Stay Positive figured most prominently in the set, but we were graced with dips into the back catalog, with Hot Soft Light and Chips Ahoy making appearances. Singer Craig Finn was his usual overly demonstrative self, throwing himself into the songs and feeding off the rabid fans up front. Even with the truncated set, the Hold Steady more than held their own. It was a mild shock to see how much the Sonic Youth crowd was a little taken aback by the whole thing. Or that it would degenerate into people older than my wizened ass shoving young kids for singing along at a rock show or knocking my camera out my hands. It’s a long way from Threadwaxing Space, I’ll tell you.

[The Hold Steady's Set List]

A quick trip to the bar and bath prefaced the SY set. Thusly refreshed, I was pretty excited to see Sonic Youth. They had played a good set on the 4th of July in NYC, offering up a good cross-section of their older stuff and later period post-O’Rourke songs. The TLA set opened with two new songs Thurston claimed had been written just the day before. Internet pundits tell me the songs may be called ‘No Way’ and ‘Mars”, but Thurston himself pointed out that the songs haven’t been recorded and will no doubt change.

Post new material, we were treated to a healthy dose of Daydream Nation. It’s the 25th Anniversary of said ear-shredding opus and the band has commemorated the quarter century mark by playing the record in its entirety at special events this summer. Philly saw Eric’s Trip, The Sprawl and a handful of others rear their silver heads, but it was a nice mix of old and new material all night long. Looking forward and back seems to be the way of the SY walk in 2008, as even the on-stage projections ranged from the 1969 Big Sur folk festival to what I’m told is Gossip Girl footage. The video hearkens back to the mix tapes the band would play on stage back in the day to fill up time spent tuning, repairing or otherwise readying themselves for the next tune. The yesterday and today theme appeared again in the first encore of 100% and some song whose name I can’t remember from Confusion Is Sex.

The two songs also served to show the two sides of the Sonic Youth: their love of pop music juxtaposed with noisy skronk freak-outs. In my old age, I’ll take the hooks over white noise. My preferences aside, Sonic Youth still produce the Moby Dick of great white noise, especially now that Kim is alternating between playing third guitar and second bass with Mark Ibold. There are many frequencies covered in a Sonic Youth set, from subsonic brown sound to dog torturing shriek. It’s true that more it’s bang for your tinnitus-garnering dollar, but as much fun as it was twenty years ago to see Thurston take a drumstick to his guitar, these days I’d really prefer that the string-wielders leave to the stick-play to the extremely capable Mr. Shelley. In all probability, the skronkery was probably an homage to some esoteric scion of the Philly free jazz scene, but after five beers through the Hold Steady set, and the looming inevitability of the 2am Greyhound back to my Lower East Side hovel, I would prefer to have been soothed into the end of my night.

Kim Gordon proved to be an adequate cure for what ailed. She really is a vision. Once duly deafened by the sonic onslaught, it was a pleasure to see her swirl around the stage, as rapturous as she was when I first saw SY at CBs a million years ago. She and the rest of Sonic Youth have certainly aged well, both with a large amount of their dignity and credibility intact and without a single acrimonious blow-up or dramatic band conflagrations, unless I misremember Bob Berg’s departure. It’s kept Sonic Youth relevant in their twenty-seventh year and kept Kim a sex symbol in her fifty-fifth year. After seeing a ton of SY shows in my college and early NY days, it had been five years since I had seen my last Sonic Youth show (in Chicago, with John Cusack and his dog â€“ ooops! did I drop something?). I’ve seen three in the last five months and each has been better than the last. TLA had a great mix of old and new, including 2/3 of ‘The Trilogy’. They seem to have got a handle on the happy medium between making their fans happy and keeping themselves artistically fulfilled. As they approach their thirtieth year, Sonic Youth are probably the only band from that era around today I can see going another thirty without becoming a caricature of themselves.

Sonic Youth
The Hold Steady

Written By Rob Browning
Photos By Cammie Heller

Another Potential Way To Salvage The Music Biz?

Tripwire — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:34:00 +0000

We’ve seen plenty of various ideas and business models to help salvage what is left of the music biz. While sales continue to swirl down the financial toilet, what does the future have in store for our beloved bands and the various places we can purchase their music?

One new method of financing the release of albums has been created by a music lawyer and the founder of Friends United, in the form of Bandstock. The Daily Swarm picked up on this story, which is running at The Guardian, which states that fans will have the ability to purchase stocks in an artist at Â£10 increments. Once a band reaches a certain monetary amount in Bandstocks, the money will then be applied to the recording of their album.

Investors will not only get a copy of the album and credit in the liner notes, as they will also get a percentage of the profits. For more on this unique idea, check out the whole story at The Guardian.

The Cribs Plan Release With Johnny Marr

Tripwire — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 08:07:00 +0000

The Cribs have been talking about working with Johnny Marr since the beginning of the year, but in a recent interview with NME, it sounds like those plans are finally coming into fruition. The new line-up (including Johnny with the three original Cibbers) is gearing up to release a new single this year, and will record a full album in early 2009.

Johnny Marr spoke with the British publication saying, “We don’t know when it’s going to happen, but we’ll try and do that [release a single before the year ends].”

To see more on the project, watch the interview here.

Reserve Your Glastonbury 2009 Tickets

Tripwire — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0000

Good grief! Didn’t Glastonbury just happen? Apparently time is flying, as the details for grabbing tickets for Glastonbury 2009 have just been announced. Passes to next year’s summer festival will go on sale on October 5, and breaking with tradition, attendees will be able to purchase their tickets outright, or reserve them by placing a 50 pound deposit.

XFM is reporting that Michael Eavis, AKA Mr. Glastonbury, commented, “We have come up with a scheme that will allow people a much longer period to plan and pay for their tickets, while still continuing the battle against ticket touting. By paying as little as 50 pounds up front this year, our registered customers from all over the world will be able to guarantee a ticket for next year’s event. At the same time, the very successful registration scheme will ensure that tickets will only go to those named individuals who have reserved them in advance.”

To get your registration on, click here.

Editors Return To The Studio In October

Tripwire — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:05:00 +0000

Tripwire favorites Editors will be returning to the studio to begin work on their third full-length album in October. They will once again work with producer Jacknife Lee, who manned the ship for their outstanding (and criminally overlooked here in the US) sophomore effort, An End Has A Start.

The lads discussed their return to the studio in a recent NME video interview, during which they did indeed mention that the new album would indeed be influenced by the film Terminator. Yes, as in Arnold Schwarzenegger. Don’t worry, as we’re confused too. Guitarist Christopher Urbanowicz elaborated on this a bit, stating: “I’ve started writing a lot of riffs on synthesisers and there’s a lot more electronics, samples and drum loops on it. I keep referencing the Terminator theme.”

You can watch the entire video interview here.

Editors
MySpace

Videos – Reading Festival Wrap Up

Tripwire — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Reading Festival took place over the weekend and sadly we missed it. Damn those expensive flights! If you were like us and didn’t get your dose of rock, peep some of the happenings from the event below.

Babyshambles

Blackhole

Bloc Party

Dizzee Rascal

Does It Offend You, Yeah?

The Duke Spirit

Editors

The Fratellis

Future of the Left

Glasvegas

Goldfinger

Hadouken

Ida Maria

Justice

Kids in Glass Houses

The Killers

The King Blues

The Last Shadow Puppets

Los Campesinos!

Manic Street Preachers

Metallica

Mystery Jets

Pendulum

Plain White T?s

Queens of the Stone Age

The Racontuers

Rage Against The Machine

The Rascals

Serj Tankian

Tenacious D

The Ting Tings

The Wombats

Merge Celebrates Anniversary With Box Set

Tripwire — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:53:00 +0000

The fantastic indie label Merge Records, home of far too many Tripwire favorites to even begin to list, will be celebrating their twentieth anniversary with a subscription-only box set. SCORE! will feature a total of fourteen custom discs, curated by a variety of musicians, actors, authors and others.

The first two discs are being curated by REM’s Peter Buck and director Phil Morrison (Junebug). Others scheduled to rock curator duties include Amy Poehler and David Byrne. The quantities of discs will be determined by the number of pre-orders, which will take place between September 8 and January of 2009.

Another cool aspect to the SCORE! series is that sales from each will benefit charities selected by the curators. For more, head over to Merge Records’ official website.

Merge

Oasis To Offer Dig Out Your Soul Box Set

Tripwire — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:27:00 +0000

If you are an obsessed Oasis fan and have a few extra bucks to spare, you can snag the limited edition box set for their brand new album, Dig Out Your Soul. This sucker is fully loaded, containing four 12″ vinyl discs, two CDs, a DVD and a hardcover book, all sandwiched together in a sweet embossed box. It will include nine bonus songs and films taped during the recording process, but it does come with a hefty pricetag of $99.

The pre-sale is going on now, so to see the packaging and complete tracklisting, head over to Oasisinet.com. They have also posted a short video on the ol’ YouTube to get you droolingâ€¦ check it.

Oasis
MySpace

Video – My Morning Jacket “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream”

Tripwire — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:42:00 +0000

Although we’re not quite sure how it happened, we somehow managed to not see the new video from My Morning Jacket until today. The clip for “Touch Me I’m Going To Scream” was advertised like mad all over the MTV properties, yet our current obsession with the Olympics kept our eyeballs away from this impressive animated video. If you’re been out of the loop like us this week, don’t feel bad, as you can watch the video below.

“Touch Me I’m Going To Scream”

My Morning Jacket
MySpace

Tripwire – In Case You Missed It

Tripwire — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:16:00 +0000

-The Tripwire podcast features new music from Karoshi Bros, Pink Skull, Tricky, The Young Punx, Sonny J, Ant Neely, Esthero, Jeff Hanson, David Byrne & Brian Eno, Starfucker, Chairlift, Tobacco, Oasis, fun, The Sweet Serenades, The King Blues, Fields, The Yolks, Green, Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts, Trouble Andrew, Brendan Canning, Red Light Company, The Standard, Darker My Love, Colourmusic and Caesars.

-New reviews for Bodies of Water and The Walkmen.

-New info for Morrissey, Cassettes Wonâ•’t Listen, Forward Russia, Fun Fun Fun Fest, White Denim, The Verve, An Albatross, Coldplay, Bloc Party.

-The greatest song at this moment.

-Live reviews for Fiasco Video Release, Dirty Projectors and Kyp Malone.

-Download stuff from The Presets, Secret Machines, Ponytail, Dead Confederate and The Saturday Knights.

-Watch videos from Sigur Ros, The Stills, Oasis, Tim Williams, Fujiya & Miyagi, Natalie Portmanâ•’s Shaved Head and Tesla.

-Updated tour information from Ryan Adams, Birdmonster, Human Highway, Takka Takka and Hot Chip.

-Sign up for the RSS.

-Get listed.

Flashback Friday Video – Radiohead “Just”

Tripwire — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:12:00 +0000

As much as we have enjoyed the various incarnations of Radiohead, from the electro bleeps and bloops of Kid A to the spine chilling melodies of In Rainbows, every once in a while we miss the days when the band simply rocked the fuck out. Remember when Radiohead lashed out with three guitars piercing your eardrums, as Jonny Greenwood focused more on guitar noise than intricate drum machines? For this week’s Flashback Friday Video, lets revisit those earlier days with one of the band’s best videos to date. Enjoy “Just,” which comes from their ‘95 release The Bends.

“Just”

Radiohead

Video – The Charlatans “Mis-Takes”

Tripwire — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:46:00 +0000

The latest video for The Charlatans is for “Mis-Takes,” which is on their newest release, You Cross My Path. Nicola Probert directed it. We’ve been digging the album for a while now, so if you still have yet to check it out, do yourself a favor and jump on it.

“Mis-Takes”

The Charlatans

MySpace

Morrissey To Guest DJ On KCRW

Tripwire — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:34:00 +0000

It is a known fact that Nic Harcourt, host of KCRW’s influential Morning Becomes Eclectic, has wanted Morrissey on as a guest for a solid decade. Sometimes patience does pay off, as the legendary music icon will indeed guest DJ with Harcourt on Friday, August 29. The Mozzer will get things started at 11:05am PST, so make sure you don’t forget.

Just to give you a sample of what to expect, Morrissey’s first song to spin during his guest DJ spot will be “What Took You So Long” by the Manchester group The Courteeners. About having the Mozfather on the air, Harcourt said: “Sitting down with Morrissey was both daunting and exciting. He is such an interesting person, with strong opinions and immense musical talent. He does not mince words when he dislikes something, but when he talks about music he respects, he is an outspoken fan.”

Morrissey
KCRW

Video â€“ Sigur Ros “InnÃ mÃ©r syngur vitleysingur”

Tripwire — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:19:00 +0000

For their latest video, the Icelandic brilliance of Sigur Ros decided to keep it simple. This time they’ve offered a “live performance” video, although the audio itself does indeed come from the album. We’ve been flooded with live footage of the band lately, including their recent NYC MoMA performance on Current TV, so this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. It is still a rad song, so enjoy “InnÃ mÃ©r syngur vitleysingur,” which comes from their latest album, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust.

Sigur Ros
MySpace

Cassettes Won’t Listen Plans Another Release

Tripwire — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:14:00 +0000

Jason Drake, AKA Cassettes Won’t Listen, has been a busy dude. He released a mixtape download and a full-length album earlier this year. Now, the one man show is going to put out the “Freeze and Explode” single on September 9 that will also host two brand new tracks with remixes by Maker and J Vegus. You can hear some samples over at the artist’s website.

This will be sure to hold fans over until the next full release, which Drake is currently working on now.

“Freeze & Explode”
01. “Freeze & Explode”
02. “Another One”
03. “The Last Parachute In Sight”
04. “Freeze & Explode (J Vegus Remix)”
05. “Freeze & Explode (Maker Remix)”
06. “Freeze & Explode (Instrumental)”

Cassettes Won’t Listen
MySpace

Ryan Adams And The Cardinals Add More Fall Dates

Tripwire — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:07:00 +0000

We’re still waiting on some solid news on the upcoming new record from The Cardinals. About all that we know is that it’s tentatively scheduled for a fall release, and the band is on the road to get fans ready for it. Although Ryan Adams takes the spotlight, fellow band members Neal Casal, Chris Feinstein, Jon Graboff and Brad Pemberton are all vital to the ridiculously amazing sounds of The Cardinals.

They’re definitely a must see when on tour, and fans are in luck as the band has now extended their fall tour. Check out the full itinerary below, and once we get some concrete information on the new album, we’ll pass the news along to you.

08.23.08 â€“ San Francisco, CA (Fillmore)
08.26.08 â€“ Seattle, WA (WaMu Theater)
08.27.08 â€“ Vancouver, BC (General Motors Place)
08.29.08 â€“ Edmonton, AB (Rexall Place)
08.30.08 â€“ Calgary, AB (Pengrowth Saddledome)
09.01.08 â€“ Winnipeg, MB (MTS Center)
09.04.08 â€“ Ottawa, ON (Scotiabank Palace)
09.05.08 â€“ Montreal, QC (Bell Center)
09.07.08 â€“ London, ON (John LaBatt Center)
09.25.08 â€“ Schenectady, NY (Proctor’s Theater)
09.26.08 â€“ Syracuse, NY (Landmark Theater)
09.27.08 â€“ Rochester, NY (Auditorium Theater)
09.29.08 â€“ Columbus, OH (Palace Theater)
09.30.08 â€“ Cleveland, OH (Palace Theater)
10.02.08 â€“ Indianapolis, IN (Murat Theatre)
10.03.08 â€“ Cincinnati, OH (Taft Theatre)
10.04.08 â€“ St. Louis, MO (Fox Theater)
10.05.08 â€“ Madison, WI (Overture Hall)
10.07.08 â€“ Ames, IA (Stephens Auditorium)
10.09.08 â€“ Kansas City, MO (Uptown Theater)
10.10.08 â€“ Tulsa, OK (Brady Theater)
10.11.08 â€“ Grand Prairie, TX (Nokia Theater)
10.13.08 â€“ Austin, TX (Paramount)
10.14.08 â€“ Houston, TX (Verizon)
10.16.08 â€“ Tuscaloosa, AL (Bama Theater)
10.17.08 â€“ Atlanta, GA (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)

Ryan Adams
MySpace

Forward Russia Call It A Day For The Forseeable Future

Tripwire — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:46:00 +0000

Forward Russia will be playing their last gig on October 17 at the Brainwash Festival in Leeds. Yup, you read that right, their last performance. The group has decided to throw in the towel and call it a day for now. No one can say it better than the band, so check out the letter they wrote on their MySpace page:

+++

Unfortunately this will be our only gig for the rest of the year, and in fact for the foreseeable future. Firstly, you may have seen tickets available for other Â¡Forward, Russia! gigs around mid-October – unfortunately there has been constant miscommunication over these dates, and we are not playing them I’m afraid.

We have decided to take a break from doing Â¡Forward, Russia! – for a lot of different reasons. The idea of doing another tour with nothing new to offer was something that enthused none of us, and the idea of re-booting on a productive strand is something we’re not quite ready to face just yet. Added to which, the last few months of inactivity has led us all on paths away from the band. I know that sounds odd, having released an album only a few months ago, but I don’t think any of us were connected to the mechanics of its release. I don’t know how it happened, but I want to thank all our management, the guys and gals at Cooking Vinyl and all the other people who worked on the record for putting all their efforts into the release of ‘Life Processes’ and apologise for our complete failure to engage in the release of it.

So to reach the present. Katie is moving to Nottingham in a few weeks, having taken the opportunity to do an art course there (she’s in need of a new ‘posse’ apparently, so get in touch if you can help) – so it’s unlikely we’ll do anything serious again till we’re a bit more geographically centralized.

Tom will be keeping busy producing some of the hottest young talent in the country, he’s been doing a lot of work with a band called ‘Minaars’ – you can check him out at http://www.myspace.com/tomwoodhead – and you can get in touch with him at tdwoodhead..gmail.com if you want to get in touch with him about producing your next pop record.

From now until October? We did talk about releasing a Gravity & Heat EP, which may or may not now go ahead – certainly not in a physical format unfortunately. As mentioned it wouldn’t have anything new from us, but we did ask a few people to do some remixes.

Apart from that, we have been trying to get together as many live bootlegs, session tracks and ‘rarities’ as we can, with the thought of putting as many as possible on our website for people to enjoy. This depends on Â£ and webspace, but we’ll work on it and let you know how we do – hopefully we can do something by the time of the gig in October.

Ticket details for Brainwash Festival, will be available soon, keep checking the websites above, as well as our own website, forum and myspace – we’ll be lurking on the forum for a while yet I suspect.

Till later then, take care.

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Forward Russia
MySpace

Fun Fun Fun Fest Announces 2008 Lineup

Tripwire — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:23:00 +0000

One of the more enjoyable musical festivals the Tripwire crew has ever attended was Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. Of course, it makes total sense for the live music capitol of the world to put together an event this rad, which is returning once again to Waterloo Park this year on November 8 & 9. We already announced that the Dead Milkmen were reuniting for the fest, but now we have a much better look at the entire lineup. The two-day pass is only $60, which ain’t bad for an insane amount of live music. Pick up tickets at FrontgateTickets.com.

They don’t have the schedule broken down by day and time yet, but here is what we can expect this year:

Stage One
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
The National
Atmosphere
Minus The Bear
St. Vincent
…Trail of Dead
Deerhoof
Rival Schools
Islands
Annuals
Bishop Allen
Centro-Matic
Sleepercar
Frightened Rabbit
Spinto Band
Parts And Labor
Colourmusic
Experimental Dental School
27
Till We’re Blue Or Destroy

Stage Two
Shearwater
Tim Fite
Magnetic Morning
The Revival Tour w/ Chuck Ragan, Tom Gabel, Ben Nichols, Tim Barry, Kevin Seconds
The Tim and Eric Awesome Show
The Cynics
Ugly Beats
El Paso Hot Button
Walter Schreifels
Coldtowne Comedy Hour
Pepi Ginsberg
Altercation Punk Comedy Hour
Frank Smith

Stage Three
Bad Brains
ALL
Dead Milkmen
Flipper
Adolescents
Integrity
Bouncing Souls
Swinging Utters
DOA
Killdozer
Cro-mags
Scared Of Chaka
Young Widows
Leftover Crack
Trash Talk
World Burns To Death
Krumbums
Mammoth Grinder
Cute Lepers
Bitter End
High Tension Wires
Born To Lose

Stage Four
Clipse
Z-Trip
Dan Deacon
Yacht
Grupo Fantasma
Kool Keith / Dr. Octogon
Dengue Fever
Brownout
Franki Chan
Toxic Avenger
Hawnay Troof
Starlnx
Richard Henry

Fun Fun Fun Fest

Download – The Presets “Talk Like That” (Miami Horror Remix) + Tour

Tripwire — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:07:00 +0000

The Presets are gearing up for their co-headlining tour with Cut Copy this fall, but apparently those shows weren’t enough for the duo. The guys have now added four new dates to their itinerary, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Guadalajara.

In order for you to get ready to get your dance on, we are offering up a free MP3 of The Presets’ “Talk Like That” (Miami Horror Remix). Download and enjoy!

MP3 Download – “Talk Like That” (Miami Horror Remix)

The Presets Live
09.13.08 – Denver, CO (Monolith Festival)

09.15.08 – Kansas City, MO (The Record Bar)

09.16.08 – Minneapolis, MN (Fine Line Music Cafe)

09.17.08 – Chicago, IL (Metro)

09.19.08 – Toronto, ON (Sound Academy)

09.20.08 – Montreal, QC (Club Soda)

09.21.08 – New York City, NY (Webster Hall)

09.22.08 – New York City, NY (Webster Hall)

09.23.08 – Boston, MA (Paradise)

09.25.08 – Philadelphia, PA (The Trocadero Theater)

09.26.08 – Washington DC (9:30 Club)

09.27.08 – Atlanta, GA (Masquerade)

09.28.08 – San Francisco, CA (Folsom Street Fair)
09.29.08 – Austin, TX (Emo’s Alternative Lounge)

09.30.08 – Dallas, TX (Granada Theater)

10.03.08 – Pomona, CA (The Glass House)
10.04.08 – Los Angeles, CA (Detour Festival)
10.05.08 – San Francisco, CA (Mezzanine)

10.07.08 – Portland, OR (Hawthorne Theater)

10.08.08 – Seattle, WA (Showbox At The Market)

10.09.08 – Vancouver, BC (Commodore Ballroom)
10.11.08 – Mexico City, MX (Roots Magic Club)
10.12.08 – Guadalajara, MX (Calle 2)

The Presets
MySpace

White Denim Set To Release Debut Album

Tripwire — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:58:00 +0000

It seems like we’ve been talking about the Austin-based indie rockers White Denim for ages now. They have crossed the globe, snagging plenty of critical acclaim along the way. Rather than signing with a traditional record label, the dudes opted to form an alliance with their hometown Transmission Entertainment, the company that organizes events such as Fun Fun Fun Fest and booking bands at some of Austin’s best venues (Club de Ville, Mohawk).

The self-produced album, Explosion, will land in stores on November 3. Fall tour dates will be announced soon, so stay tuned.

White Denim
MySpace

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