Dark Was the Night, New Track from The National

The combination of MMJ, The National, Arcade Fire, David Sitek, New Pornographers and more makes this a highly anticipated release in my neck of the woods. You can stream the new track from The National here.

From DarkWasTheNight.com:

Produced by The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner, Dark Was The Night will be released on February 17th, 2009. It’s comprised of 31 exclusive tracks and it will be available as a double cd/triple vinyl/download and will benefit the Red Hot Organization – an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS through popular culture. They are the people responsible for albums including No Alternative, Red Hot and Blue and many more, and this is their 20th year, and this is the 20th release!

TRACKLISTING:

THIS DISC
1 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) – The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3 Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) – Feist + Ben Gibbard
4 Brackett, WI – Bon Iver
5 Deep Blue Sea – Grizzly Bear
6 So Far Around the Bend – The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly)
7 Tightrope – Yeasayer
8 Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) – My Brightest Diamond
9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) – Kronos Quartet
10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) – Antony + Bryce Dessner
11 Big Red Machine – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12 Sleepless – The Decemberists
13 Stolen Houses (Die) – Iron and Wine
14 Service Bell – Grizzly Bear + Feist
15 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens

THAT DISC
1 Well-Alright – Spoon
2 Lenin – Arcade Fire
3 Mimizan – Beirut
4 El Caporal – My Morning Jacket
5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) – Dave Sitek
7 Blood Pt 2 (based on original song “You are the Blood” by the Castanets) – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) – The New Pornographers
9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) – Yo La Tengo
10 Another Saturday (traditional song) – Stuart Murdoch
11 Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps
12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) – Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) – Andrew Bird
14 Lua – Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch
15 When the Road Runs Out – Blonde Redhead + Devastations
16 Love vs. Porn – Kevin Drew

Beck, Spoon, MGMT Tonight

[Photo Credit: Amazon]

Beck will be ripping up the Hollywood Bowl tonight. I've never had the opportunity to see him live and the fact that MGMT and Spoon are opening gives this show a lot of promise. It is also my first time catching a show at the Hollywood Bowl. His latest album has been spinning regularly out here in California and while I don't know if it tops Sea Change (my favorite and one of several albums that literally CARRIED me through my experience in Iraq), it's very, very good. It won't hurt that Beck's dad (a legendary producer in his own right) will be manning the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra strings.

As for MGMT and Spoon, this will be my first time with them as well and I'm quite interested to see how MGMT does live. Oracular Spectacular is a fantastic album, but I'm nervous about these guys pulling off that heavily produced sound live (see: Bloc Party's "Flux"). At any rate...all of it is the perfect primer for my maiden voyage with My Morning Jacket tomorrow night at The Greek Theater. Let the games begin...

MP3: Beck - "Chemtrails"
MP3: Beck - "The Golden Age"

Treasure Island Music Festival

[Treasure Island Festival]

The chances of my fiance saddling up for another music festival after pushing through the dust and heat storm of Manchester, TN is highly doubtful, especially when this thing kicks off the weekend before I start school in LA. However, I've never seen Ghostland Observatory and our good buddy ultra8201 raves about them (I think that's them walking off stage in his header). I also never got around to catching Thievery Corporation in their hometown of DC while I was there. Not to mention the fact that I've never seen Modest Mouse, M.I.A., Spoon, Built to Spill, CYHSY, or M. Ward. If I don't make it, I'll have some reliable sources from the Bay Area in attendance anyway...and we'll let you know how it goes. 1-Day, 2-Day and VIP tickets are still available at TicketBastard.

On a side note, Modest Mouse has one of the most underrated albums of the year thus far. I think I might like it more than any of their previous efforts.


MP3: Ghostland Observatory - "Midnight Voyage"

MP3: Modest Mouse - "Parting of the Sensory"

MP3: Spoon - "Monkey Feelings"

MP3: Built to Spill - "Car"

Spoon: Dates, Tracklisting, Pre-Order

[Spoon]

Updated US/Canada Spoon dates. We will miss them at Bonnaroo because of Ben Harper and his nastiness going down on another stage. But I will be in LA by the time they are rocking out in the Henry Fonda Theater. It's all good.

06-10 Chula Vista, CA - KZBT Independence Jam
06-16 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06-29 Calgary, Alberta - Sled Island Festival
07-04 Detroit, MI - Comerica CityFest
07-05 Milwaukee, WI - Summerfest
07-11 New York, NY - Rockefeller Park (River to River)
08-04 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
08-05 Baltimore, MD - Virgin Festival
08-16 London, England - Cargo
08-17 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival
09-07 Vancouver, British Columbia
09-10 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
09-11 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre
09-14-16 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (ACL Festival)
10-10 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
10-15 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre
10-20 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom

You can pre-order Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga at Spoon's store. It drops on July 10th. Here's the tracklisting:

1. "Don’t Make Me A Target"
2. "The Ghost Of You Lingers"
3. "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb"
4. "Don’t You Evah"
5. "Rhthm And Soul"
6. "Eddie’s Ragga"
7. "The Underdog"
8. "My Little Japanese Cigarette Case"
9. "Finer Feelings"
10. "Black Like Me"

MP3: Spoon - "It Took A Rumour to Make Me Wonder Now I'm Afraid I'm Going Under" [ALT]

My Only Issue With the Bonnaroo Schedule...

Is this chunk of time on Saturday night.
I mean, there's no doubt who I am catching...I just wanted to catch the other guys, too.

I never miss an opportunity with Ben.

Cover Art: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Spoon @ Bowery Ballroom, 4/23/07

This was my first time seeing Spoon; a band that I have a tremendous amount of respect for but I wouldn't count myself as anything more than a casual fan. The show was only announced a week ago and sold out immediately. I wanted to take advantage of seeing them in what I'm assuming to be a smaller sized venue for this stage in their careers. I'm not sure that I've ever seen Bowery Ballroom so packed. Whether they had a larger guest list or just released more tickets, I don't know, but it was far more crowded than the the last sold out show I attended there (Klaxons).

Fluxblog has a copy of the setlist for those who are interested. I really liked a couple of the new songs; all of them appeared to fit in well with their back-catalog. Spoon plays an incredibly tight set which is credit to years of touring. Their live shows are masterful almost to a fault. It seemed to lack some energy or excitement (my only request for Britt: when you're rocking out on guitar, face the crowd - we want to see you). I never really got the sense that the crowd was very into the songs; appreciative, yes but not really into them. Seeing them live, its a bit more clear to me that this is a band with a lot of very good songs but not many great ones - those bangers that really get crowds pumped up. Maybe, in a different setting with a lively crowd, I would have felt differently but just one opinion from a casual fan.

Odds & Ends

* Spoon's new album is titled Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
[Link]

* Daft Punk is playing Brooklyn in August. Tickets are on sale this Saturday.
[Link]

* LCD Soundsystem is popping a 91 over at Metacritic. I grabbed it last week, but I am still trying to find time to give it a good listen.
[Link]

* Pitchfork posted a new Dinosaur Jr. track today. I'll save you the trouble. Great breakdown about 2 minutes in, followed by a killer solo that lasts the rest of the song. Hipsters call that "masturbatory", I call it "sweet". Beyond drops on May 1.

MP3: Dinosaur Jr. - "We're Not Alone"

8 Track: Friday Night Fever

You can't stop looking up at the clock. The flourescence in the cubicle is burning you. Lunch divides the day. But then there's still another four hours until you can get the fuck out of Dodge. Three day weekend. Friday is taking too long. These fucking computer speakers suck. I just want to dance. Kick down the dividers in this shitty little office. Tell off the boss. Get to happy hour early. Leave late. And get this party started. Well, here's your mixtape. 5 o'clock will be here before you know it.


The perfect soundtrack to the decompression, shedding your Monday to Friday skin and getting ready for heavier beats and the grittier tracks that follow. That Hot Chip is so hot right now.
MP3: Hot Chip - "Just Like We (Breakdown)" [DFA Remix]


This is the B-side to "Munich" from the import CD-Single. I am still trying to figure out why they left this track off of The Back Room. Grabbed this little nugget when Tower Records fell. Gold. UPDATE: It's a Stereolab cover.
MP3: Editors - "French Disko"


I can't say much for the recording quality of this track, but if you turn the speakers up high enough it doesn't even matter. This is the "Processed Beats" B-side and has a much more aggressive feel than most of Kasabian's other stuff.
MP3: Kasabian - "The Nightworker's"


This is hands-down one of the best remixes I have heard all year (like a give a fuck that we're only 12 days into it). Of course, it doesn't hurt that these guys impressed the shit out of me in the live setting. If the head doesn't start bobbing, if you aren't inclined to turn the volume up, or if you don't feel the urge to dance then check your pulse.
MP3: Snowden - "Black Eyes" (Le Castle Vania Remix)


From the EP that started it all. Show me your (Karen) O(.) face.
MP3: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Art Star"


Spoon has been pretty busy since Gimme Fiction reinforced our beliefs in their greatness in 2005. They brought the heat to Webster Hall in NYC on New Year's Eve's Eve, frontman Britt Daniel teamed with Brian Reitzel to provide the score to Stranger Than Fiction and they are currently working on their 6th LP tentatively titled It's Frightening. This is one of the B-Sides to "Sister Jack". Another Tower Records special.
MP3: Spoon - "Monkey Feelings"


Ladytron was pitted against Sigur Ros at Coachella this past year and fresh off our initiation to Return to Cookie Mountain with Tunde & Company, we went with Sigur Ros. I heard nothing but good things about Ladytron's high voltage, electronic laced assault.
MP3: Ladytron - "Sugar"


A fucking classic.
MP3: Joy Division - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"