A good friend of ours told us recently that he doesn’t have the slightest bit of love for Discovery’s self-titled R&B odyssey. He think it’s electro-laziness, we think it jams. A duo comprised of members from Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot, Discovery are releasing their debut next week and “Orange Shirt,” is an ounce of mpfree goodness we’ve been meaning to share for the past couple weeks to help you decide— Modest Mouse and LIFE got in the way is all.

Discovery, Orange Shirt

MP3 Download

Vampire Weekend’s been pretty busy. In between trying to not sound like Simon & Garfunkel and calling ex-college classmates “Goth” during interviews, the band is also doing a feel-good event tonight in New York City and playing in side projects. Ah the life.

Alongside NYC electro groups LCD Soundsystem and Hercules & Love Affair, the three bands are lending their time for a prom-inspired event called “The Prom You Were Promised” at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg. All proceeds will benefit 826NYC, who helps teach and believe that “strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.”

826NYC is also apart of other 826 programs across the country, which includes locations in Chicago, Seattle, and Michigan to name a few. The first one, 826 Valencia in San Francisco, was founded in 2002 by author Dave Eggers and helps kids from ages six through 18 in their writing skills, critique, and process, while also providing support to educators. All proceeds from tonight’s show at benefit the NYC branch.

In related news, VW’s Rostam Batmanglij and Ra Ra Riot’s Wes Miles are additionally embarking on a “super side project” called Discovery that will have a full length out over the summer. You can hear clips of the forthcoming LP on their MySpace page.

Tripwire correspondent Meiyee Apple takes us through her guide of SxSW day parties with her search for free music and drinks on Saturday, March 21. Check out her Thursday and Friday installments too — her liver appreciates it.

After the serious day bender from Friday, I felt I had to lay a little low for Saturday. I felt that way, but I didn’t actually do that.

For the sake of this video diary, I needed to hit as many parties as I could, plus it was the last day; my final effort. Of course nothing ever goes as planned.

The Rachael Ray Party had a line half way around the block. As much as I love fancy food and Ra Ra Riot, I don’t like snaking lines just for a tiny nibble and to hear the excessive use of the term “Yum-Oh.” No thanks. [Editor's note: Meiyee's video shows nothing she describes above or below, but we won't fault her for it since she was drinking the whole time.]

After hitting the Carrera Café for food and booze, I stumbled to the Rusty Spur for some Americana from an LA singer/songwriter by the name of Austin Hartley-Leonard. I’ve come to notice that the parties that I attend look sparse, but it really varies depending on my position in relation to the bar.

The Levi’s®/FADER Fort had a special treat for all of us. Kanye West performed with special guests Common and Erykah Badu. Watching indie kids dance around pretending they like hip-hop is almost as entertaining as what’s on stage.

Afterward, I roll over to the Perez Hilton party — as relevant as he is in our music world — where we were treated with Solange (you may know her sister better), Little Boots, and Perez Hilton bitching about Lady Sovereign being too sick to show up. He continued to berate her, and might as well have put up a picture of her on the stage and paint fake cocaine from her nose and jizz from her mouth. Kanye showed up there as well.

The next late-night jaunt was to the Vice party held at a closed down booty club. It was the usual hellish line only to find out that when you finally were let in barely anyone was inside. Oh, but there was tequila and hardcore bands.

Capping off the night with a trek to Taco Cabana, I’d have to say it was a good SxSW.

Thanks Austin for showing our drunk asses a good time. See you next year.

Traditionally, the Friday of Noise Pop tends to be the shit day for me. Dudes who I had relations with three years ago come by, I lose a shoe, I never get the carne asada tacos I am promised. I was hoping I was not going to go 0-3 for the 2009 Noise Pop season, but things get disguised in mysterious ways.

While Wednesday and Thursday’s installments of the Diesel and Budweiser happy hour had been a good place to hang with friends and musicians alike, Friday’s edition proved that our little known secret had been discovered. A line snaking up from the happy hour room greeted us when we arrived, and by the time I made it downstairs with a little contact help, it was near impossible to navigate amongst the sweaty bodies and some damn mannequins populating precious floor space. I suppose it wasn’t without reason: Ra Ra Riot were right in the middle of a free acoustic show, and I slowly regained breath to catch the tail end of their set. For such a short few songs, I immediately was drawn to the NY ensemble; having that string arrangement being pulled off in a fucking retail store was remarkable, and there was something about Wes Miles’s voice that was picking at me — but I couldn’t discern what exactly.

Also, various WonderCon attendees who had been getting their geek a couple blocks away were now wandering into a hipster clusterfuck of plaid and Anthropologie accessories while The Submarines guest DJed, so the mix was interesting to see gel.

Somehow, though, despite the wonder of Ra Ra Riot being presented, I wasn’t able to shake my feelings of frustration in not being able to connect with anyone I needed to. A new guy who I’d had the hopes of pursuing something with was not returning my texts as he promised; his friend was now looking at me awkwardly at the happy hour; a dude who I’d gone on exactly three dates with and ended us via Facebook was there with his new girlfriend; my New York crush was wandering around, and I was horribly blushing. All this coupled with some stumbling in scheduling band interviews left a sour taste in my mouth, and I drunk smoked outside while trying to collect myself.

Girl, it is Noise Pop, and all about the music, period. Fuck these bros. Get with the program.

In a good change of pace, I unexpectedly was dumped into Cut Off Your Hands’ laps at the Independent shortly after departing our happy hour. New Zealand lot Nick, Brent, and Jono began to tell me of their San Francisco travels as well as how much shit they get for their band name. “If you cut off one hand, how do you cut the other one off?” said Nick amusingly. “We get that one a lot.”

“We get your average amount of shit,” said Brent. “80 grams of shit, to be precise.”

Details were scant as to how they met (teaching and going to the same college seemed to be the dispute), and various percentages were also thrown my way on a variety of subjects.

“We are all vegetarian,” said Nick. “But 20 percent of us are not in New Zealand. I mean, that’s how we all met, we were all eating meat, then changed.”

“We were very concerned for our carbon footprint,” Brent chimed in. “It’s very big. I mean, 30 percent of the country is affected.”

“And we eat lentils and tofu,” replied Nick, which made everyone think this was super funny.

But at the end of the day, world domination and improving bowling scores seemed to be on the foremost priority (“God, I’d just like to get over 150,” lamented Nick). With new EP Happy As Can Be recently out and full-length You & I at stake, Brent described the 24-hour flights from his hometown to London as worth it: “I want to see the future happen, and I want to have fun. That’s it.”

Then the band tried to take pictures of me and also of picking their noses after their manager stole my camera to take a phallic picture involving water being spilt from a water bottle. Alas.

After the COYH interview, I wandered upstairs fighting back some tears. In the middle of this festival where I should have felt a surge in energy being in the epicenter of such great music, I was feeling so, so lousy. It’s weird what takes precedence at the most unexpected moments, and thinking about the shambles my dating life was currently in the spotlight. Instead of being jazzed about meeting awesome musicians and seeing some stellar live performances, I was having some doubts about love.

I meekly flashed my wristband to head up to the mezzanine level and watch Ra Ra Riot. A long time ago I heard “Ghost Under The Rocks” and was absolutely floored. I love bands like Annuals and The Velvet Teen because it seems like the chemistry and all my favorite things warp into one giant trap of talent: strings, a good drum hook, voices forlorn of hope and despair. As I sat up in the balcony being completely depressed about dudes, “Ghost Under The Rocks” came on and at that moment I felt a pang of something hit me. It’d started to poke out when I was at Diesel, but now it was becoming more powerful. I was finally letting the music fill my veins, and losing myself to the experience in melting into the audio at hand; this was what was supposed to happen. I became the star in Ra Ra Riot lyrics; I let the guitar pierce my temples; I tapped along to the percussion. And it was exactly what I needed. I walked out the end of the show half-smirking, half-smiling to myself. I guess sometimes you really do just need to shut up and listen.

Ever since we got word that The Hold Steady would be making an appearance at Rachel Ray’s SXSW party this year, we’ve been anxiously awaiting the announcement of the full line-up. And the menu — soft tacos with smokey chipotle anyone? Sign us up.

Well the wait is finally over. (Of course now you have to commence waiting for the actual fiesta. Details.) The party, very officially called Rose’s Mojito and Rachael Ray’s Feedback: The B-Side, will kick off at noon on March 21 at Maggie Mae’s, in the heart of Austin.

The party will feature Austin-inspired recipes created by your lovely hostess, including those aforementioned Ancho Chicken Soft Tacos with Smokey Chipotle and Black Bean Chilaquiles. You can wash all that spice down with one of three specially created Rose’s Mojitos signature drinks, including Rose’s B-Side Mojito, Rose’s Austin-jito and Rose’s Lone Star Mojito.

The food, of course, is just the sideshow to the main event. The party will feature performances by The Hold Steady, The New York Dolls, Bob Schneider, The Airborne Toxic Event, Ra Ra Riot, Semi Precious Weapons, The Cringe, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, The Thermals and John Pringle.

Full details for the event can be found here.

In the wake of the ever increasing pool of festivals and the possible merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the idea of paying $200 to see live music during a recession resulted in our pockets slapping us back into reality. But to be fair, the Sasquatch Festival — presented by Live Nation and tickets sold by Ticketmaster — is one of the cheaper weekend-long festivals and the line-up could quite possibly be the best yet.

Of course, this has left us all wondering at what point does the festival circuit become too congested, leaving them all a bit redundant and watered down? Those who remember the 90s will remember that Lollapalooza took time off for this very reason. But we digress, the Sasquatch Festival will take place May 23-25 at The Gorge in Quincy, WA and features the just-announced-today-union of Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction as the festival headliners. But the rest of the line-up is what excites us and looks like this:

Kings of Leon, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santigold, Of Montreal, Explosions In The Sky, Devotchka, Peter Bjorn & John, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, The Avett Brothers, Doves, Calexico, Grizzly Bear, M83, Girl Talk, The Gaslight Anthem, The Walkmen, Chromeo (dj set), Deadmau5, Mugison, Sun Kil Moon, Airborne Toxic Event, Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater, BLK JKS, The Wrens, Tobacco, Monotonix, King Khan & The Shrines, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, John Vanderslice, Bishop Allen, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, The Dodos, Beach House, Arthur & Yu, The Submarines, Owl City, Viva Voce, James Pants, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Builders & The Butchers, The Dutchess & The Duke, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele, Fences, School of Seven Bells, Death Vessel, Horse Feathers, Hockey, Point Juncture, WA, The Pica Beats, Loch Lomond, Vince Mira & more to come.

And the comedy line up includes:
Zach Galifiankas, Demetri Martin, Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, God’s Pottery, People’s Republic of Komedy & more.

Ok, got that? Now, as for tickets, beginning on February 28 (on sale weekend only), a discounted 3-day festival pass will be available until March 1 at midnight at $154.50 for the entire weekend with single tickets costing $56.50. Beginning March 2 a 3-day pass will run you $199.50 and a single ticket $66.50 and if you wait until the last minute (and tickets are still available), starting May 11 the weekend pass is $229.50 and single tickets will be $76.50.

Oh, and Ticketmaster will have all your ticketing needs. Go figure.

The guys in Tokyo Police Club are wrapping up an eventful ‘08 with an appearance on CBS’ “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” this coming Wednesday (December 10) and as part of the “Jingle Bell Rock” tour of Canada. And after the throws of winter have nearly dissipated, they’ll visit the States.

Tokyo Police Club tour dates
12.12.08 – Toronto, Ontario (Sound Academy)*
12.12.08 – Toronto, Ontario (Sound Academy)*
12.15.08 – Winnipeg, Manitoba (Burton Cummings Theatre)*
12.12.08 – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Prairieland Expo and Trade Centre)*
12.12.08 – Edmonton, Alberta (Shaw Conference Centre)*
12.12.08 – Vancouver, British Columbia (MacEwan Hall)*
12.12.08 – Calgary, Alberta (MacEwan Hall)*
12.21.08 – Vancouver, British Columbia (Vogue Theatre)*
12.12.08 – Vancouver, British Columbia (Vogue Theatre)*
12.12.08 – Vancouver, British Columbia (Vogue Theatre)*
02.24.09 – Providence, RI (Lupo’s)
02.24.09 – New York, NY (Webster Hall)#
02.24.09 – Washington, DC (Black Cat)#
02.28.09 – Pittsburgh, PA (Mr. Smalls)
03.01.09 – Cleveland Heights, OH (Grog Shop)
03.01.09 – Columbus, OH (The Basement)
03.01.09 – Cincinnati, OH (Mad Hatter)
03.05.09 – Atlanta, GA (The Earl)
03.01.09 – Tallahassee, FL (Club Downunder)
03.01.09 – Orlando, FL (The Social)
03.10.09 – New Orleans, LA (House of Blues)^
03.01.09 – Houston, TX (Walter’s on Washington)^
03.01.09 – McAllen, TX (Cine El Ray)^
03.01.09 – San Antonio, TX (White Rabbit)^
03.01.09 – Dallas, TX (Granada Theatre)^
03.16.09 – Omaha, NE (Slowdown)^
03.18.09 – Chicago, IL (Metro)#
03.19.09 – Pontiac, MI (The Crofoot)#

* “Jingle Bell Rock” Tour with Metric, the Dears, Sebastien Grainger & the Mountains
^ with Ra Ra Riot
# with Born Ruffians

Tokyo Police Club
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