All Points West Schedule

I was so sure that last year's APW festival would be my first and last.  It really wasn't a great experience, even with Radiohead.  Well damn it they've managed to pull me back in.  This year's lineup is much better.  I'll probably regret this later but Saturday is a given.  It's now just a question of whether its worth going all weekend.  Ugh.

Friday, July 31: Beastie Boys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend, The National, Fleet Foxes, MSTRKRFT, Q-Tip, The Pharcyde, Organized Konfusion, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, Seasick Steve, Telepathe, Shearwater, Heartless Bastards, Flying Lotus, College Humor Live, Arj Barker, Eugene Mirman and Bo Burnham.

Saturday, August 1: Tool, My Bloody Valentine, Gogol Bordello, Arctic Monkeys, Neko Case, The Ting Tings, Yelle, Crystal Castles, St. Vincent, Tokyo Police Club, The Cool Kids, Kool Keith, Cage the Elephant, Chairlift, White Rabbits, Electric Touch, The Postelles, Black Gold, College Humor Live, Tim & Eric, Judah Friedlander and Jim Jeffries.

Sunday, August 2: Coldplay, Echo & The Bunnymen, MGMT, The Black Keys, Elbow, Silversun Pickups, Mogwai, We Are Scientists, Ghostland Observatory, The Gaslight Anthem, Etienne De Crecy, Lykke Li, Akron/Family, Steel Train, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, College Humor Live, Janeane Garofalo, Michael Showalter and Todd Barry.

SXSW Recap

From my good friend and fellow FNL super fan, BC, the man who introduced me to The National and Cloud Cult many years ago:

It exceeded even my lofty expectations. 3 days straight of non-stop music. I'm talking 12pm to 2am every day, with a short power nap in the early evening to re-charge for the evening. An incredible party scene, and literally music coming at you from all sides of the street. Here is a quick run-down of the week....

Wed. Night - land at 10pm, in time to catch School of Seven Bells at midnight (they kinda sucked)

Thursday:
12noon-5pm: Wavves, Lucero (I like these guys a lot), The Hard Lessons (very cool husband/wife duo from Detroit - they fuckin' rocked) and a sick show from The Hold Steady.

Wavves

7pm-2am: More bands than I can't remember, but highlights were The Thermals and 1 am set from The Wrens. Those guys are still great.

The Thermals

Friday:
12 noon-6pm: A weird Swedish music showcase that was surprisingly good, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (these guys are good, but like 18 years old), The Thermals (again) and The Hold Steady (again). Can't get enough of them.

The Hold Steady

Friday night: Silversun Pickups followed by a "surprise show" by Metallica at Stubb's, a 2,000 person venue. Wow. They thrashed. Hard to follow that up, but we tried with a midnight set from Grizzly Bear followed by a 1am set from Dinosaur Jr.

Unknown

Saturday:
2pm-6pm - Viva Voce, Peelander-Z (possibly the most fun show of the weekend - crazy Japanese band), Camera Obscura, Chairlift.

Peelander-Z

9pm-2am: The Duke Spirit and closed things out with an absolute rockin' show from Silversun. Their new stuff is GOOD.

Silversun Pickups

Also forgot that we caught Dirty Projectors as well right after Metallica - they are weird, but interesting. Also saw this New Zealand band called Cut Off Your Hands - not that cool.

The badge is M O N E Y. We had to wait at the most, about 5 minutes, but we never got shut out of a show, including Metallica. If you don't buy the badge however (and it ain't cheap), then its much harder to see stuff. Start planning on next year - we've already booked a hotel room.

JK: I really need to stop making excuses and go next year.
NF: Roger, that.

Around the Web

- Kudos to U2 for picking Muse to open their Giants Stadium show. Muse will tear the turf off of that field. Given the quality of this show, ticket prices seem very reasonable.

- It appears that The Mars Volta have a new album coming out in June. There are very few people in rock as busy as Omar.

- There is a solid interview with one of rock n roll's finest, Patterson Hood, on the AV Club site. I had no clue he was 45.

- Surprised and excited to see that Phoenix will be on Saturday Night Live this weekend. The new album is very good.

- Kasabian (remember them) is giving away their first single for free on their site starting March 31st.

- I'm happy that Doves are back. It's been four years and I had forgotten how much I enjoy listening to their music. This is another solid album from a rock solid band.

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

This trailer was blowing up all over the internet yesterday and for good reason.  This is my favorite book from childhood and along with The Road, my most highly anticipated movie of the year.  Add the Arcade Fire and the result is chills.

Video: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero"

Karen O. on the leak.

Friday Night Lights Plug

At this point, I don't see how anyone, in any age group, is not watching this show. Season three has cemented this show's status as one of the best television dramas of my time. I can't think of anything on network television that compares. For anyone who has yet to give this show a chance, rent season one. You won't regret it. Once you're done and you've fallen in love, do yourself a favor and skip right over to season 3.

It's status for next year is once again up in the air and while I don't expect it to last much longer, we need one more season. Now, where can I buy one of these Crucifictorious shirts?

Ten Reissue and Eddie Interview

“People offered us money to sell out but do I look like a whore?"

No Eddie, you do not.  Read the interview in today's Sun.  

My Ten reissue has shipped and I am impatiently awaiting its arrival.

Psyched.

Stream Mastodon's Crack the Skye

The full album can be streamed on their MySpace page.

This first song "Oblivion" sounds a lot like Alice in Chains to me.  I love it.

Recognizing 2009

I think it's worth recognizing that we're only into the 3rd month of the new year and already have a slew of excellent albums to chew on. Thus far, three have really stood out for me:

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - The Century of Self
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

All three far exceeded my expectations. Trail of Dead's album is definitely front loaded but some of those songs are just so massive that it more than makes up for the slightly weaker tracks in the latter half. YYYs are changing with each new album and this one is easily my favorite. "Hysteric" comes close to rivaling "Maps" for me. I can really hear David Sitek's influence in this album. As for Grizzly Bear, I've appreciated their place in the indie music landscape but never been very interested in their music. This new album, however, is close to a masterpiece and warrants all of the hype that will precede and follow it's release. Expect a lot of new fans, myself included.

Other releases getting a lot of plays on my ipod:
The Antlers - Hospice
Arbouretum - Song of the Pearl
Fanfarlo - Reservoir
Obits - I Blame You
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - s/t

Lots of upcoming releases to look forward to too: The Decemberists, Doves, Peter Bjorn and John and Mastodon. It's shaping up to be a good year for music which is more than I can say about anything else going on right now.

...Trail of Dead @ Bowery Ballroom, 2/28/09

Jason Reece proudly displaying the Longhorn

Oh Trail of Dead, you had me at the double drums. How do you prevent the incessant talking that goes on during shows? You play an intensely loud, ear-ringing set. Great energy from the crowd and the band. The new songs sounded great too and with the possible of exception of "Fields of Coal" all seemed to fit in nicely with their back catalogue. I was a bit bummed to miss Midnight Masses. I think they have some potential. They joined TOD a few songs (pic below).

Set list:
Giants Causeway
Far Pavilions
Isis Unveiled
Homage
Bells of Creation
Will You Smile Again For Me
Fields of Coal
Relative Ways
Clair de Lune
Totally Natural
Another Morning Stoner
Caterwaul
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Richter Scale Madness

More crappy cell phone pics