Psych/Noise, Eh?

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I'm no hockey fan, but I do love Boris about as much as anything. This has got to be one of the coolest things I've read in music news in a while:

"How's this for the next Will Ferrell movie? A professional hockey player grows tired of the usual Nickelback and Bon Jovi pre-game pump up jams and begins surreptitious nightly excursions into the underground psych and noise scenes. While playing for the Red Wings, he attends a Dead Meadow gig in Detroit and there meets an ex-member of the Dirtbombs who used to put out Pavement and Don Caballero records and now works for Warner Bros. The two become friends, gush about Boris and Sunn O))) together, and decide to start a limited-run label specializing in psych/noise releases. Then they live happily ever after.

"Also, there's a romantic interest played by Audrey Tautou and a scene where Ferrell accidentally eats a hockey puck while dining at a Tim Hortons. Genius!

"Best of all, this one would be Based on a True Story, as the above synopsis more or less tells the tale of upstart Macomb, Michigan imprint Elevation Recordings. The hockey player, Boyd Devereaux, now plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Warner guy, Joe Greenwald, used to run the label Third Gear. And they really did meet at a Dead Meadow show." [P4K]

Band of Horses "Is There a Ghost"

Yes. I'm glad I decided to check Pitchfork today. The first song off of Cease to Begin, "Is There a Ghost." MySpace has it. Download it here.

Now I'm off for vacation...

Shine a Light: Scorsese & the Stones

What I can't understand is the selection of movies that they reference after they show Scorsese. Mean Streets? Got it. The Aviator? Ummm, there's three hours of my life I won't get back. GoodFellas? Got it. Gangs of New York? Errr, even Daniel Day-Lewis couldn't save that thing. Casino? Fuck yes. The Departed? Jesus. Where the fuck is Raging Bull? Taxi Driver? The Color of Money, even? All three of those knock The Aviator, Gangs of New York and The Departed out of the fucking ring. At any rate, I digress. This looks pretty good, as does Silence.

San Diego Street Scene

I still don't know how feasible this one is going to be with school kicking off the week prior to this (Sept. 22-23). Sunday is definitely the stronger of the two days (you can buy single day passes) with Editors, Social D, Arctic Monkeys, T.I. and Spoon to name a few, but Saturday has Muse. Decisions, decisions.

Sean Penn's INTO THE WILD

Trailer for aforementioned movie featuring music by Eddie Vedder. Read this book. Read this book. Read this book. I read it a long time ago, but I remember it lingering with me for days afterward.

Back. Kind Of. Ben. America.

About a week ago I just finished driving cross country for the first time (I fly back grab my other car and do it all over again in about a week). Highlights were seeing Cormac McCarthy in Santa Fe, getting vortexual in the red rocks in Sedona, AZ for two nights, checking out the Painted Desert and watching a condor circle a dead mule off Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon. Of course there was way more to it than that, but I know I haven't been pulling my weight around here and I was looking for a good moment to hop in and get my feet wet all over again.

Up until about 6 minutes ago, I had no knowledge of this little performance. You gotta love the fact that Ben had center court at the Finals all pimped out with his rug and chair. I will be catching Ben at the Orpheum on one of two nights here in LA. It is going to be pretty crazy to see him rocking out for a hometown audience. As you can see from the album cover and the pic below, they are going to be dressing up for this tour and they actually invite you to do the same.

We haven't discussed the mindblowing event that was Ben Harper at Bonnaroo, but I'm sure we will at some point. Dates below, album drops on Tuesday and you can preview it here.Lifeline Tour:

Aug 28 Burbank, CA, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Aug 31 Snowmass Village, CO, Jazz Aspen Snowmass
Sep 1 Boulder, CO, Macky Auditorium
Sep 2 Kansas City, MO, Uptown Theater
Sep 3 Minneapolis, MN, Orpheum Theatre
Sep 6 Chicago, IL, Chicago Theatre
Sep 7 Indianapolis, IN, Murat Theatre
Sep 8 Detroit, MI, The Fillmore at State Theatre
Sep 10 Louisville, KY, Louisville Palace Theatre
Sep 11 Knoxville, TN, Tennessee Theatre
Sep 12 Nashville, TN, Ryman Auditorium
Sep 14 Pittsburgh, PA, Benedum Center for the Performing Arts
Sep 15 New York, NY, Radio City Music Hall
Sep 17 Washington, DC, Warner Theatre
Sep 18 Albany, NY, Palace Theatre
Sep 19 Burlington, VT, Flynn Center for the Performing Arts
Sep 21 New York City, NY, Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Sep 22 Upper Darby, PA, Tower Theatre
Sep 23 Boston, MA, Orpheum Theatre
Sep 24 Montreal, QC, Theatre St. Denis
Sep 25 Montreal, QC, Theatre St. Denis
Sep 28 Toronto, ON, Massey Hall
Sep 29 Toronto, ON, Massey Hall
Oct 1 New York City, NY, Late Show with David Lettermen
Oct 27 New Orleans, LA, Voodoo Music Experience
Oct 28 Birmingham, AL, Alabama Theatre
Oct 29 Memphis, TN, Orpheum Theatre
Oct 31 Miami, FL, Gusman Center
Nov 1 Jacksonville, FL, Florida Theatre
Nov 2 Atlanta, GA, Fox Theatre
Nov 4 San Antonio, TX, Majestic Theatre
Nov 5 Dallas, TX, Majestic Theatre
Nov 6 El Paso, TX, Plaza Theatre
Nov 8 Los Angeles, CA, Orpheum Theatre
Nov 9 Los Angeles, CA, Orpheum Theatre
Nov 10 Oakland, CA, Paramount Theatre
Nov 12 Portland, OR, Keller Auditorium
Nov 13 Vancouver, BC, Orpheum Theatre
Nov 14 Seattle, WA, Paramount Theatre
Nov 15 Seattle, WA, Paramount Theatre

More PJ Follow-Up: Vic Theatre Download

Unfortunately, at this moment it appears that Ten Club will choose not to release this show as an official bootleg. For those that haven't heard it yet, you can find a very good quality taping over at The Army Reserve, both in MP3 and FLAC (Thank you, Pearl Jam forums). It's an amazing show, one that will certainly go down as one of Pearl Jam's best and further evidence that the band is far from showing signs of slowing down. Expect a fair number of goosebumps.

For the courtesy of the taper, it's been asked that this be downloaded for personal use only and that you not share the MP3s.

MySpace to MP3

Came across a cool site while browsing ateaseweb that allows you to download any songs from an artist's MySpace page.

http://myspacemp3.org/

Just enter the band or artist's name exactly as it appears on their MySpace page to get the mp3s. I tried it with josegonzalez and while the quality isn't great, it's a helpful tool for grabbing those songs that you just can't wait to get on your ipod.

Into the Wild

The motion picture based on the John Krakauer book, directed by Sean Penn, and music by none other than Eddie Vedder. The album is available for presale now on Amazon. The release date is 9/18.

Track listing:

1. Setting Forth

2. No Ceiling

3. Far Behind

4. Rise

5. Long Nights

6. Tuolumne

7. Hard Sun

8. The Wolf

9. End of the Road

10. Society

11. Guaranteed

Puscifer Album Release Date

Maynard James Keenan has finished work on an album for his new side project, Puscifer. I've been keeping close tabs on this project for awhile now and it's good to see some details finally coming to fruition. I've never been disappointed by anything Maynard has recorded but this one should be entertaining. It's called V Is for Vagina and is due Oct. 30. In Maynard's words "What else would it be? "C is for Chinese Democracy" was taken." If that wasn't good enough Billboard also reports: Other songs expected to appear on the album are a cover of the Circle Jerks' "World Up My Ass," "Dojo" and "Cuntry Boner."

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Muse @ Madison Square Garden, 8/6/07

Wow. I don't even know how to describe this. It was a rock concert, Broadway show and the 4th of July all rolled into one ridiculous, over-the-top spectacle. It was easily, EASILY, one of the best shows I've ever been to. It was everything a show at the Garden should be. The opening song should confirm the statement that was made last night.

Setlist:
1. "Knights of Cydonia"
2. "Map of the Problematique"
3. "Hysteria"
4. "Supermassive Black Hole"
5. "City of Delusion"
6. "Butterflies and Hurricanes"
7. "Hoodoo"
8. "Feeling Good"
9. "Apocalypse Please"
10. "Sunburn"
11. "Invincible"
12. "Starlight"
13. "Time is Running Out"
14. "New Born"
15. "Plug in Baby"

Encore
16. "Soldier's Poem'
17. "Unintended"
18. "Stockholm Syndrome"
19. "Take a Bow"

P.S. As much as I love Interpol, and I'm assuming there is some fan crossover here, there is no way in hell I can see them in the Garden after seeing this show. I just don't see how they're going to pull it off.

Pearl Jam's Fan Club-Only Show @ Vic Theatre

(PHOTO CRED)

Is it possible to come up with words to describe this show? My guess for those in attendance of this pre-Lolla show is no. Rolling Stone did a nice job here. For those long-time fans who couldn't be there, this download can't be available soon enough.

Pre Set: Trouble (Cat Stevens cover), Chicago Cubs (I used to work in Chicago), Dead Man, Picture in a Frame (Tom Waits cover)

Main set: All or None, Education, Sad, In Hiding, Parachutes, I'm Open, Wishlist, Down, Undone, Off He Goes, Hard To Imagine, God's Dice, World Wide Suicide, Rats, Gone, Why Go

Encore 1: No More War, Inside Job, Low Light, Love Reign O'er Me

Encore 2: Black Diamond (KISS cover sung by Matt Cameron), Comatose, Sonic Reducer

Encore 3: Indifference (with Ben Harper)

More info on each of the songs @ PearlJam.com. Eddie returned the favor and joined Ben on Friday night. Through the beauty of the internet, that track is below. The band will close out Lollapalooza tonight.

MP3: Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Masters of War (with Eddie Vedder), Lollapalooza 8/3/07

Also, if you haven't already done so, head over to I AM FUEL for a Pearl Jam promotional album full of rare demos.

Trail of Dead @ Luna Lounge, 8/2/07

My first trip out to the relatively new Luna Lounge. I'm assuming they are not affiliated with any of the big booking agencies in NYC (Bowery Presents, Live Nation, etc.) because their calendar of bands contains relatively obscure names (to me, at least). It's a shame, really, because the venue is outstanding; Trail of Dead chose wisely (sans booking agency) when scheduling a tune-up show before their European tour - and first with the new drummer.

Shock Cinema took way too long to take the stage and when they finally did, what I witnessed was a blatant Yeah Yeah Yeahs rip-off. A surprisingly sober, Trail of Dead came on at 11:30 and played a 75 minute set. I'm biased of course but I thought it was an awesome show, and despite the glaring omission of "How Near, How Far," (seriously, how can they not play this song?) it was a better performance than their previous Irving Plaza show. Fans know not to expect great vocals but the band was incredibly tight and by their standards, actually pretty mellow. Ah...old age. The new drummer was solid. He handed over the main kit to Jason Reece for a couple songs and the band still used two drum kits for several others. Below is my attempt at the set list, although I think I'm missing a couple songs. In no particular order:

"Ode to Isis"
"Fake Fake Eyes"
"All White" (?)
"Stand in Silence"
"Naked Sun" (first play)
"Rest Will Follow"
"Relative Ways"
"Let it Dive"
"It Was There That I Saw You"
"Heart in the Hand of Matter" (?)
"Caterwaul"
"Will You Smile Again"
*************
"Clair De Lune"