Left Coast: Best of 2008

ALBUMS

20. Beck - Modern Guilt [Interscope]
19. Albert Hammond, Jr. - ¿Como te Llama? [RCA/Black Seal]
18. Plants & Animals - Parc Avenue [Secret City]
17. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive [Vagrant]
16. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely [Warner Bros.]
15. Sun Kil Moon - April [Caldo Verde]
14. Black Mountain - In the Future [Jagjaguwar]
13. Boris - Smile [Southern Lord]
12. The Black Keys - Attack & Release [Nonesuch]
11. Fucked Up - Chemistry of Common Life [Matador]
10. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer [Sub Pop]
9. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) [Earthology]
8. Shearwater - Rook [Matador]
7. Sebastien Grainger - Sebastien Grainger & the Mountains [Saddle Creek]
6. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins [Jagjaguwar]
5. Foals - Antidotes [Sub Pop]
4. The Mars Volta - The Bedlam in Goliath [Universal Motown]
3. Portishead - Third [Island]
2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science [4AD]
1. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges [ATO]

TRACKS

50. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - "Baltimore"
49. Vampire Weekend - "M79"
48. The Hold Steady - "Sequestered in Memphis"
47. Rihanna - "Disturbia"
46. Shearwater - "Century Eyes"
45. The Black Angels - "Science Killer"
44. Portishead - "Magic Doors"
43. The Killers - "This is Your Life"
42. Glasvegas - "Daddy's Gone"
41. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - "The Power of Myth"
40. The Hold Steady - "Stay Positive"
39. Plants and Animals - "New Kind of Love"
38. Boris - "Statement"
37. Sun Kil Moon - "Lost Verses"
36. Shearwater - "Lost Boys"
35. British Sea Power - "Lights Out for Darker Skies"
34. Foals - "Red Socks Pugie"
33. My Morning Jacket - "Highly Suspicious"
32. Portishead - "Machine Gun"
31. The Mars Volta - "Tourniquet Man"
30. Fucked Up - "Son of the Father"
29. MGMT - "Time to Pretend"
28. Cloud Cult - "The Will of a Volcano"
27. The Black Keys - "Strange Times"
26. Boris - "Flower, Sun, Rain"
25. Albert Hammond, Jr. - "Victory at Monterey"
24. Sebastien Grainger - "American Names"
23. Nine Inch Nails - "Discipline"
22. Boris - "Messeeji" [Diwphalanx Version]
21. Mudcrutch - "Lover of the Bayou"
20. The Raconteurs - "Consoler of the Lonely"
19. Wolf Parade - "Language City"
18. Shearwater - "On the Death of the Waters"
17. The Mars Volta - "Metatron"
16. My Morning Jacket - "Evil Urges"
15. Portishead - "Small"
14. TV on the Radio - "Golden Age"
13. The Black Keys - "Oceans & Streams"
12. Cloud Cult - "Hurricane and Fire Survival Guide"
11. Black Mountain - "Tyrants"
10. One Day As A Lion - "Wild International"
9. Sebastien Grainger - "Map of the World"
8. Boris - "Floor Shaker"
7. Foals - "Heavy Water"
6. Kings of Leon - "Closer"
5. The Mars Volta - "Ilyena"
4. Okkervil River - "Lost Coastlines"
3. TV on the Radio - "DLZ"
2. Portishead - "The Rip"
1. My Morning Jacket - "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part II"

SHOWS

5. Beck, Spoon, MGMT @ Hollywood Bowl
4. Cloud Cult @ Knitting Factory
3. TV on the Radio @ The Wiltern
2. My Morning Jacket @ Greek Theatre [Read]
1. Eddie Vedder @ The Wiltern [Read]

FILMS

Bear with me here. This will develop over the next month. This never feels as easy as the music.

5.
4.
3. The Wrestler, dir. Darren Aronofsky
2. 4 Weeks, 3 Months, 2 Days, dir. Christian Mungui
1. Gomorra, dir. Matteo Garrone

JK's Top Picks for 2008

    
  



It's December 1st and that means that there can't possibly be any new music released in the next month that will change my opinion of 2008. I'm also heading out on vacation later this week for 10 days so I'm ready to commit to this now. Overall, I think 2008 brought a lot of good quality albums with only a few stand-outs. For me, the first 3 selections were pretty easy while the rest were more difficult to piece together. Without further adieu:

My favorite albums:
20. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creations Dark
19. Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins
18. Shearwater - Rook
17. Foals - Antidotes
16. Constantines - Kensington Heights
15. Portishead - Third
14. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
13. Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
12. British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
11. Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
10. Fleet Foxes - s/t
09. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Real Emotional Trash
08. Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
07. The Black Keys - Attack & Release
06. Beck - Modern Guilt
05. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
04. Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue
03. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
02. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
01. TV On The Radio - Dear Science,

EPs:
04. Sebastien Grainger - American Names

03. One Day As A Lion - s/t

02. Trail of Dead - Festival Thyme

01. Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant

Shows:
05. Fleet Foxes @ Bowery (7/9/08) [Read]

04. Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers @ Terminal 5 (11/7/08) [Read]

03. Pearl Jam @ MSG I & II (6/24-6/25/08) [Read | Read]

02. The National @ Howard Gilman Opera House (2/23/08)  [Read]

01. Eddie Vedder @ NJPAC (8/7/08) [Read]

Songs:
20. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - "Gardenia"

19. Sebastien Grainger - "American Names"

18. Drive-By Truckers - "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife"

17. These New Puritans - "Elvis"

16. Cloud Cult - "The Ghost Inside Our House"

15. TV On The Radio - "DLZ"

14. Silver Jews - "San Francisco B.C."

13. Constantines - "Our Age"

12 & 11. My Morning Jacket - "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Pt 1 & 2"

10. Foals - "Red Sock Pugie"

09. Tokyo Police Club - "Tessellate"

08. Elbow - "Grounds for Divorce"

07. Plants and Animals - "New Kind of Love"

06. Black Mountain - "Tyrants"

05. TV On The Radio - "Golden Age"

04. Beck - "Chemtrails"

03. The Hold Steady - "Stay Positive"

02. Portishead - "The Rip"

01. Fleet Foxes - "Mykonos"

Filter Mag's Top 10

1. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)
2. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
3. Dr. Dog, Fate (Park the Van)
4. TV On The Radio, Dear Science (Interscope)
5. Foals, Antidotes (Sub Pop)
6. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar)
7. She and Him, Volume One (Merge)
8. M83, Saturdays = Youth (Mute U.S)
9. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colors (Modular/Interscope)
10 The Dears, Missiles (Dangerbird)

[Filter Staff Selections]

Bold choice at number 1. I've heard all of these but Dr. Dog so I'll have to check that one out. I'm working on my list right now, it should up next week.

Wordle

...is pretty chill...

John Frusciante Update: The Empyrean Part 2

[Photos]

From his blog:

Journal Entry #3

The Empyrean is a story that has no action in the physical world. It all takes place in one persons mind throughout his life. The only other character is someone who does not live in the physical world but is inside it, in the sense that he exists in peoples minds. The mind is the only place that anything can be truly said to exist. The outside world is only known to us as it appears within us by the testament of our senses. The imagination is the most real world that we know because we each know it first hand. Seeing our ideas take form is like being able to see the sun come into being. We have no equivelent to the purity of that in our account of the outside world. The outer world appears to each of us as one thing and it is always also a multitude of others. Inside to outside and outside to inside are neverending. Trying and giving up are a form of breathing.

- John

Franz Ferdinand Winter Tour

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand drops on January 27:

12-03 Montreal, Quebec - La Tulipe
12-04 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
12-06 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre (WFNX show)
12-08 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom (KNRK show)
12-09 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom
12-11 Oakland, CA - Oracle Arena (Live 105 show)
12-12 Las Vegas, NV - The Joint (KVGS show)
12-14 Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheatre (KROQ show)
12-15 San Diego, CA - Canes

Tracklisting:

1. Ulysses
2. Turn It On
3. No You Girls Never Know
4. Twilight Omens
5. Send Him Away
6. Live Alone
7. Bite Hard
8. What She Came For
9. Can't Stop Feeling
10. Lucid Dreams
11. Dream Again
12. Katherine Kiss Me

Video: Arcade Fire - "Neon Bible" in an Elevator

Synechdoche, New York

Synechdoche, New York was everything I hoped for in Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut: ambitious, hilarious, touching, amazing.

McCarthy on Film

Blood Meridian is now under the supervision of Todd Field. This, coupled with the knowledge of Andrew Dominik (see The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford NOW!) tackling Cities on the Plain, and things remain right with the Cormac McCarthy film adaptation part of the world. Blood Meridian is due next year, with Cities slated for 2012. Once scheduled for the '08 holiday season, The Road, is now looking like a 2009 release as well. I would love to see Field & Dominik tap into the Nick Cave/Warren Ellis reservoir. Director John Hillcoat (The Proposition) already has Ellis scoring The Road. From Paste:

A Los Angeles Times article on the upcoming film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (starring Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron) curiously dropped this little nugget of information: writer/director and sometimes actor Todd Field is currently working on an adaptation of McCarthy’s Blood Meridian novel. Ridley Scott had previously been attached to direct the tale, said to be a brutal 1850’s Western where Native Americans are slaughtered for profit. [Paste]

Hellified

[Photo Credit]

"Matt is getting in the comfort zone," Moss said. "He's playing some hellified ball."

If you would've told me the day after our Super Bowl loss to the Giants that Brady would be out for the entire 2008 season and Matt Cassel would step in and keep the team in division/playoff contention, and, along the way compile back to back 400+ yard passing games, I would've told you you're full of shit.

It's becoming apparent why we didn't panic and look for another quarterback on the waiver wire when Brady went down.

Omar Creates

[Photo Credit]

Dating back to May of 2007, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (lead guitarist, The Mars Volta) has released eight solo albums. They are:

Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo
Omar Rodriguez Lopez & Lydia Lunch
The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange
Calibration (Is Pushing Luck and Key Too Far)
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus
Minor Cuts and Scrapes in the Bushes Ahead
Old Money

Two more (Megaritual & Despair) will be released on December 1st through Willie Anderson Recordings.

He also teamed up with Hans Zimmer to compose score for Guillermo Arriaga's (writer: Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel) directorial debut, titled The Burning Plain. (Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo is listed as the official soundtrack to the Arriaga-penned El Bufalo de la Noche.)

Omar also has two films (directing, producing & acting) in various stages of production.

Album Cover of the Year

Anyone who has been in a National Park in the past few years knows what I'm talking about. The title and photo make me laugh. Then cry. From Wiki:

Minor Cuts and Scrapes in the Bushes Ahead is a mostly instrumental record by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez released by Willie Anderson Recordings. Recorded in 2001-2002, shortly after completing the Tremulant EP, the album was initially made available only to friends on minidisc format.

Paste's Top 50

Interesting, to say the least. It's good to see MMJ up there, but I don't quite follow the barely-in-the-Top-50 placement of Dear Science,...

50. TV On The Radio - Dear Science (Interscope)
49. Sandra McCracken - Red Balloon (Towhee)
48. REM - Accelerate (Warner Bros.)
47. Laura Marling - Alas, I Cannot Swim (Astralwerks)
46. Lykke Li - Youth Novels (LL)
45. M83 - Saturdays = Youth (Mute)
44. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers (Zoë)
43. Amanda Palmer - Who Killed Amanda Palmer (Roadrunner)
42. Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Bee Stings & All (KRS)
41. The Tallest Man On Earth - Shallow Grave (Gravitation)
40. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords (Sub Pop)
39. The Dodos - Visiter (Frenchkiss)
38. Jamie Lidell - Jim (Warp)
37. Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit - A Larum (Lost Highway)
36. The Bridges - Limits of the Sky (Verve)
35. Colour Revolt - Plunder, Beg and Curse (Fat Possum)
34. Torche - Meanderthal (Hydra Head)
33. Santogold - Santogold (Downtown)
32. Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City)
31. The Walkmen - You & Me (Gigantic)
30. I'm From Barcelona - Who Killed Harry Houdini? (Mute)
29. Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Universal)
28. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)
27. Liam Finn - I'll Be Lightning (Yep Roc)
26. Lee Ann Womack - Call Me Crazy (MCA Nashville)
25. Mugison - Mugiboogie (Ipecac)
24. Santogold & Diplo - Top Ranking
 (Mad Decent)
23. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us (Barsuk)
22. No Age - Nouns (Sub Pop)
21. The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust (Vice)
20. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark (Astralwerks)
19. Gentleman Jesse and His Men - Introducing Gentleman Jesse and His Men (Douchemaster)
18. Death Cab
 for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
 (Atlantic)
17. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down In The Light (Drag City)
16. My Morning Jacket
 - Evil Urges (ATO)
15. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (Mute)
14. Langhorne Slim - Langhorne Slim (Kemado)
13. Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart (Waterfall/RCA)
12. of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping (Polyvinyl)
11. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive (Vagrant)
10. Deerhunter - Microcastle (Kranky)
09. Lucinda Williams - Little Honey (Lost Highway)
08. Sun Kil Moon - April (Caldo Verde)
07. Girl Talk - Feed the Animals (Illegal Art)
06. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
05. Okkervil River - The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar)
04. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (Jagjaguwar)
03. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL)
02. Sigur Rós - Med sud i eyrum vid spilum endalaust (XL)
01. She & Him - Volume One (Merge)

Trailer: The Wrestler

"Ulysses"

Well, I just got really excited for the new Franz Ferdinand album. The first single, "Ulysses," is up on their MySpace page and it's damn good.

Listen

Can you find 12 differences between these covers?

One of them is the cover of the new John Frusciante album. From John:

The Empyrean is my new record and will be released worldwide via Record Collection on January 20th 2009. It was recorded on and off between December 2006 and March 2008. It is a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically. The story takes place within one person, and there are two characters. It contains a version of Tim Buckley’s, ‘Song To The Siren’ and the rest of the songs are written by me. My friend Josh plays on it, as does Flea. It also features Sonus Quartet, Johnny Marr and The New Dimension Singers. I’m really happy with it and I’ve listened to it a lot for the psychedelic experience it provides. It should be played as loud as possible and it is suited to dark living rooms late at night.

- John Frusciante, November 3rd, 2008

The Empyrean Track listing:
1. Before The Beginning
2. Song To The Siren
3. Unreachable
4. God
5. Dark/Light
6. Heaven
7. Enough Of Me
8. Central
9. One More Of Me
10. After The Ending

Split (click on the icon that says John in the lower right hand corner) your wig.

Johnny Greenwood sending an email to Colin O'Brien's iPhone

Say hi to Radiohead.

The Golden State EP

It's pretty clear that Eddie Vedder and Corin Tucker have a good thing going. "Hard Sun" still gets better with every listen and the two are together again for a John Doe (and Kathleen Edwards) cover. Maybe these two will decide one day to record an album. It worked out pretty well for Plant & Krauss. The Golden State EP is out now.

Cloud Cult @ Bowery Ballroom, 11/11/08

Cloud Cult, Bowery Ballroom

Every time I see Cloud Cult in concert, it's another reminder as to why they are one of my favorite bands. They truly are one of the kindest, most gracious, and talented bands on the scene today. While still largely unknown, it's that much more rewarding to look around Bowery Ballroom last night and know that we all share the same secret. The songs last night focused entirely on their last 3 albums. I was a little bit disappointed that they didn't play "Living On the Outside of Your Skin" but I'll deal. Here is my attempt at the set list:

"Light At the End of the Tunnel" --> "Intro"
"Brain Gateway"
"No One Said It Would Be Easy"
"Chemicals Collide"
"Everybody Here is a Cloud"
"When Water Comes to Life"
"Million Things"
New Song? --> "That Man Jumped Out the Window"
"Pretty Voice"
"You Got Your Bones to Make a Beat"
"The Ghost Inside Your House"
"Bobby's Spacesuit"
"Must Explore" --> "Journey of the Featherless"
"Start New"
"Love You All"
"Story of the Grandson of Jesus"
"The Tornado Lessons"
----------------------
"Transistor Radio"
"Take Your Medicine"

Paste Mag Picks 11 Best TV On the Radio Songs

Paste Mag selected the 11 best TV On the Radio songs (right now) and since it's an ode to Travis Morrison (The Dismemberment Plan) and I happen to love TVOTR, I'll post their list followed by my own picks.

11. "Province" (Return to Cookie Mountain)
10. "Halfway Home" (Dear Science)
9. "I Was a Lover" (Return to Cookie Mountain)
8. "Love Dog" (Dear Science)
7. "New Health Rock" (New Health Rock EP)
6. "Golden Age" (Dear Science)
5. "The Wrong Way" (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
4. "Ambulance" (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
3. "Young Liars" (Young Liars EP)
2. "Wolf Like Me" (Return to Cookie Mountain)
1. "Staring at the Sun" (Young Liars EP/Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)

I actually agree with the first two selections but in reverse order. I would go with something like this:

1. "Wolf Like Me" (Return to Cookie Mountain)
2. "Staring at the Sun" (Young Liars EP/Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
3. "King Eternal" (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
4. "Golden Age" (Dear Science)
5. "Playhouses" (Return to Cookie Mountain)
6. "Young Liars" (Young Liars EP)
7. "Blues from Down Here" (Return to Cookie Mountain)
8. "DLZ" (Dear Science)
9. "Halfway Home" (Dear Science)
10. "The Wrong Way" (Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes)
11. "Satellite" (Young Liars EP)

The Hold Steady & Drive-By Truckers @ Terminal 5, 11/7/08

The Rock + Roll Means Well Tour @ Terminal 5

I've yet to read a review of a show at Terminal 5 that didn't criticize the venue in some way. For that reason, I've been avoiding it like the plague. I bought tickets for this show mainly because I was annoyed at the fact that I hadn't yet seen The Hold Steady live. After last night's show, I don't really have a negative opinion of the place. Yes, it's very crowded on the floor during a sold out show but I was standing near the back and had no issues with the sound. I actually prefer it to Roseland and probably Hammerstein too.

I started listening to DBT only after seeing that they were the co-headliner on this tour. I've been focused on The Dirty South and Brighter than Creation's Dark with a plan to check out Decoration Day next. Maybe it was the beer or the fact that I only had chocolate for dinner (probably both) but by the end of their set, I wanted to hang out with these guys and hear their stories. Great set. Consider me a fan.

People either love or hate The Hold Steady. I'll be the first to admit that I was in the latter group until I heard Boys & Girls in America. I'm not going to say anything new here, their performance last night was nothing short of amazing. They played b-sides to please the die hard fans, tracks from their last two albums to please people like me, and ~ 25 songs in an hour and 45 minutes to please every last person in the venue. Any fan of this band really has to see them live or you're missing half the fun. To cap off the night, Patterson Hood and some other members of DBT joined The Hold Steady during the encore for a version of Minutemen's "History Lesson Part 2," AC/DC's "Walk On" and Blue Oyster Cult's "Burnin, for You." Seriously.

I was thankful that Terminal 5 didn't keep me away from this one. It's the best double bill I've been to in a long time. Call it a celebration of historic proportions (see post below).

True

VOTE

New Trail of Dead: "Bells of Creation"

Trail of Dead's new vinyl EP, Festival Thyme, will be released tomorrow. I think anyone who has been a fan of this band previously should take note because this song absolutely kills. If this song is any indication, I think I'm really going to enjoy the post-Interscope period.

Listen to "Bells of Creation" on their MySpace page.

Video: Jeff Mangum & Julian Koster - "Engine"

...and then Jeff Mangum and Julian Koster played the Neutral Milk Hotel song "Engine" in the middle of the room to close out the set. Flashbulbs and cellphones lit the way and in the age of the internet and instant gratification we can all revel in the moment it must have been for everyone in Pittsburgh and hope for the comeback to end all comebacks. [Vegan | Fork]

Video: My Morning Jacket - "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part 2"

• My Morning Jacket
• New Music

Video: Okkervil River - "Lost Coastlines"

From the new album, The Stand Ins.

A.V. Club Interview with Tunde Adebimpe

AVC: Adam Drucker [mastermind of Oakland band Subtle] recently mentioned that something may be brewing between the two of you and Mike Patton. What can you say about that?

TA: What I can say is that the three of us are indeed working on a project that I'm thinking will congeal toward the end of the year. It came from an idea that Adam had, to have the three of us basically mess around vocally and see what comes of it. That's as much as I can say, but I'm psyched about it. It's going to be so fun.

Read the full interview

Beck & MGMT @ United Palace Theatre, 10/9/08

The kids like MGMT. United Palace was practically full when I stepped in a few minutes into MGMT's set. I found their debut album to be hit or miss (first half vs. second half) but I thought they were pretty damn good last night. They perform as a 5 piece band and it definitely brings out more depth in the songs than the recorded material. As for Beck, if I wasn't such a big fan of his I would probably lay into this show a bit more. The set list was good but man did he plow through the songs. It just seemed like he was going through the motions and really only acknowledged the crowd twice to say thanks for coming. I expect a bit more from eight albums and a $50 face value than a 70 minute show. That said, aside from a solid set list, the backing band was great and I really liked the bit with the headphones. Modern Guilt was a nice surprise for me this year, I think right now it's my fourth favorite Beck album (after Sea Change, Odelay, and Mutations), and those songs fit in very nicely last night. Overall, I can't really see myself buying a ticket to one his shows again and I'm ok with that as long I'm still digging his studio output.

Set list (via):
Loser
Nausea
Girl
Timebomb
Minus
Soul of a Man
Mixed Bizness
Nicotine & Gravy
Que Onda Guero
Ghettochip Malfunction/Shake Shake Tambourine/Clap Hands
Devils Haircut
Think I'm in Love
Modern Guilt
Orphans
Walls
Missing
Chemtrails
Golden Age
Lost Cause
Where It's At

Encore:
Gamma Ray
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
new song
E-Pro

Iran

A few weeks ago, while taking in all of the greatness that is TV On The Radio's latest masterpiece, Dear Science, I managed to come across Kyp Malone's other band/project, Iran. I don't really know how I missed this previously because from what I've heard thus far, it's excellent. Their first album came out in 2001 and the 'Fork gave it a 9.6. Now they have a 3rd album coming out and BV has posted the first track. Sitek is, of course, producing.

From MySpace:
Fans of experimental noise-popsters Iran know that seeing them is even rarer than catching a glimpse of the reclusive Jeff Mangum, but those fans will soon have cause to celebrate. Sort of. The quartet of singer/multi-instrumentalist Aaron Aites, guitarist Kyp Malone (also of TV on the Radio), guitarist/bassist Peter Hoffman (The Mendoza Line), and guitarist Aaron Romanello (Grand Mal), are planning to release an as-yet untitled album sometime this year. Produced by David Andrew Sitek (another member of TV on the Radio), the album is being recorded at Gigantic Studios in Tribeca and will be released through Narnack Records. Speaking with Pitchfork by phone last Friday, Aites described the new album as "very hi-fi", and "more structured" and "fully fleshed out" than their previous two outings, Iran and The Moon Boys. He also said it's more lyric-based (in the vein of The Moon Boys), with material sounding "louder and grimmer." They're also planning a single release for "Buddy", but have no firm release date for that either. They do, however, have some track titles:

I Can See the Future
Buddy
I Already Know You're Wrong
Airport '79
Baby Let's Get High One Last Time
Digital Clock and Phone
Where I'm Going
Cape Canaveral / Buddy Reprise
Can I Feel What?
Evil Summer

My Morning Jacket @ The Greek Theatre, 09.21.08

Now that it is settling in and the initial ecstasy of it all is waning, I can say that in all honesty it was one of the best shows I've ever witnessed. Up there with Ben Harper's 3.5 hour performance at 9:30 Club a few years back. Likewise Radiohead at Tower Theatre, DFA 1979/QOTSA/NIN at the Verizon Center, The National/Arcade Fire at DAR, TMV, TVotR, Boris, Eddie at The Wiltern, the list goes on....It was epic. And I will forever wax nostalgiac about how this band literally exceeded every impossible expectation I had for them. Studio recordings ain't got shit on what it sounds like - what it feels like - to hear those vocals live in the midst of a balls out rock and roll assault.

I really don't know how to, in some way, capture what it was like to be within maximum effective range of Jim James & company a couple of nights back. Without getting lost in Sabine's reverberation equation we need to somehow make sense of it all; figuring critical distances will only lead to a maddening plunge down a dark rabbit-hole. And you probably won't hear the vocals down there. Things are good and firm up here on planet earth. Down there, you probably won't feel the goosebumps on the back of your neck emerge when that madcap lunatic with the beard (who has spent the better part of two and a half hours doing things with his vocal chords you couldn't possibly imagine) hits the pedal on "Run Thru" and deepens your plunge into eclecticmusicalecstasy with a Reznor-worthy riff thats been building for five minutes or so. The muted jab on the strings sounds like a pistol grip pump - the not-so-calm before the storm type of foreshadowing that draws your breath away and makes your jaw drop right before Mr. James and Mr. Broemel unleash some of the nastiest guitarwork you've ever witnessed (and you've seen Jack, John, Omar, Ben, Nels, Adam and the like).

But don't go down that rabbit hole either. Don't go comparing or associating. Don't get lost in the categories. Prince, Floyd, Zeppelin, Petty, Elvis, The Boss, they're all there somewhere. So where are we, right now? If time is reflected on the x-axis and we're strictly speaking of the evolution of rock and roll - y'know...where. we're. headed. - where is this band taking us? It's all meeting and merging, exploding and imploding, destroying and creating by the time you get to the chorus, if there even is one. There's too many branches, but it's all so focused and contained. And two and a half hours never went by so fast. And how is it, that the mastermind behind all of this, that guy with the beard and the towel draped across his brow, the one that just did three knee slides the length of the stage, while he was playing during the outro, how is it that he seems to be having more fun than I am? Because I'm having a pretty good fucking time, right now.

Looking back on it you realize how American it all is. But not that nationalistic spew they're shoving down your throat when we club other malnourished, tiny nations to death on the Olympics. No. Not that faux-patriotism that you slap magnetic on the back of your SUV. This is that truly American promise of anything's possible, the America that I like to believe in. Potential. A million ways to the same place. Creating an interpretation of life through every influence that has ever crossed a synapse in your brain. A melting pot. And everyone gets to choose which way to go. Like walking into a country music bar and pumping some Boris on the jukebox and everybody being cool with it. (Give us a few decades and a few more bands like this and we'll get there.) But, they'd been thinking about all of this long before the rest of us, sponging it all up - motown, metal, disco, reggae, country, folk, intro, outro, solo, bridge, keys, brass, and most importantly guitars (their own little musical melting pot). What they found and what they bring to an audience is a wholly different and unique approach to that good ol' American end-state of rocking the fuck out. No limits. No boundaries. No genre of music is safe.

There was this girl five rows in front of us with blonde stringy hair, she was shaking and rocking so hard I thought her head was going to spin off. I've only seen cathode-ray black and white permutations of things as drastic and spastic as this: it was '64 and they were the Beatles. But who am I kidding. We were all under the same spell, the place was going shithouse-rat crazy and well, it ain't evil, baby if ya,...

It's been more than a day now, I need to hatch a plan. I need to somehow figure out how this bad man from California is going to get to Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. Talk about potential.

Setlist:
1. "Evil Urges"
2. "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1"
3. "Off The Record"
4. "Anytime"
5. "I'm Amazed"
6. "The Way That He Sings"
7. "Two Halves"
8. "Thank You Too!"
9. "Sec Walkin"
10. "I Will Sing You Songs"
11. "What A Wonderful Man"
12. "Mahgeetah"
13. "Lay Low"
14. "Phone Went West"
15. "Gideon"
16. "Dondante"
17. "Librarian"
18. "Smokin From Shootin"
19. "Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.2"
----------
20. "Golden"
21. "Wordless Chorus"
22. "Highly Suspicious"
23. "Run Thru"
24. "One Big Holiday"

Insane.

Easily one of the best shows I've ever witnessed. Setlist and photos will follow.

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"

New Bond Theme: Another Way to Die

It sounds like a song by The White Stripes with a little bit of Alicia Keys. I'll take it.

Radiohead Talk Mercury, Return to Studio

About 1 minute in to their Santa Barbara finale (webcast for all of the high-speed connected world to see), and thus, North America closer, Frat and I had no idea what they were playing...and where it was headed. And then "Idioteque" bounced and bubbled and ripped through us. The dawn of a new age: there we were in my living room, gathered with friends, having conversation, but more often then not riveted to the screen and immersed in a global show. Throw away your television.

It turns out these guys have more for us. They will return to the studio once their Japan leg wraps and somehow try to top a year of music I will not soon forget (an 18 track album of epic proportions, an ongoing series of webcast shows, a wholly original and breathtaking score to one of the greatest films in recent memory, and a tour that pulled out all of the stops). Or maybe, in perfect Radiohead fashion, they won't try to top anything, they'll just do something unique and different...and keep on keeping on.

From the BBC:

Radiohead have announced exclusively to 6 Music that they’re in the process of writing a new album.

After losing out to Elbow for the Mercury Music Prize on Tuesday night (9 September) they told us they’d taken time out of playing live to put new tracks down and would be heading to the studio in the near future.

Colin Greenwood said they'd be heading back into the studio when they'd completed their current world tour: “We’ve finished the main bulk of it and we’re off to Japan in a couple of weeks to finish it off.”

And fully enthused about writing new stuff, Ed O'Brien chimed in: “We’re still talking about doing some stuff and we’re really excited about it. First we came off tour to do some writing and we wanted to just carry on doing it because it was so brilliant.”

"We’ve finished the main bulk of it and we’re off to Japan in a couple of weeks to finish it off." Colin Greenwood

The band didn’t join the other acts in performing at the Mercury Music Awards ceremony earlier in the week

However, they agreed that the Mercury was one of the most important accolades in the music business: “We’ve been on tour in America so we’re culturally a bit out of it but you come here and you realise that actually it’s a bit deal. When you hear Guy Garvey go this means everything to us you go, er, yeah, you’re right. It beats the hell out of the Brits and the other ones.”

Colin and Ed were also really happy that Elbow had won it: “We've been on tour with Elbow we've played festivals with them and they're lovely people. They've made a brilliant record with The Seldom Seen Kid. It really couldn't have happened to more deserving people, but most of the shortlist was great this year.”

MP3: Thom Yorke - "After the Gold Rush" (Bridge School, 2002)

Radiohead Live Webcast Tonight

As of 6:45 PDT: nothing yet at Dead Air Space.

Trackmarks: Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Don't Forget Me" Live @ Canvas Club (14 APR 06)

[Flickr]

This track's greatness lies in it's the simple construction. The foundation of a 4-note bass riff and the endless possibilities of John Frusciante's talent. It is also marks one of those all-to-rare moments where Kiedis' lyrics aren't in conflict with Frusciante's guitarwork, rather the two are in perfect harmony. On the album it is overshadowed by the catchy flash of "Zephyr Song", the grower "Tear", the album's pinnacle "Venice Queen" and the singles "By The Way" and "Can't Stop", the latter which has evolved into the staple opener of the Chili Peppers' live experience. Yet live, "Don't Forget Me" continues to grow in leaps and bounds 6 years after the physical release of By The Way (which marked the complete return to form of Frusciante); it is different every night. And because of it's minimalist structure and the man behind the wheel it holds the rarest of possibilities: infinity.

MP3: Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Don't Forget Me" (Live @ Canvas Club)

The Insound 20

The limit of my arithmetic:
T-shirts with the name of your favorite band > T-shirts with no logo > Fake, vintage T-shirts > T-shirts with a corporate identity. The National, The Decemberists, The Thermals & more.

Introducing the Insound 20!
Pre-Order today!
Orders ship mid-August.
Limited edition t-shirts, shirts and hoodies designed exclusively for Insound by Jason Munn of the Small Stakes. (Posters will sell out fast!) *Posters are signed and hand-numbered. Shirts and hoodies are printed on American Apparel products.

New P B & J September 23rd

Seaside Rock's tracklisting:

1. "Inland Empire"
2. "Say Something (Mukiya)"
3. "Favour of the Season"
4. "Next Stop Bjursele"
5. "School of Kraut"
6. "Erik’s Fishing Trip"
7. "Needles and Pills"
8. "Norrlands Riviera"
9. "Barcelona"
10. "At the Seaside"

Stream New TV on the Radio

An epic first track from the album, Dear Science (dropping on September 23rd), titled "Golden Age". The love affair continues: [www.TVontheRadio.com].

TV On The Radio's fall tour dates:

Sep 5 - Roseland | Portland, Oregon
Sep 6 - Showbox | Seattle, Washington
Sep 7 - Commodore | Vancouver, British Columbia
Sep 9 - MacEwan | Ballroom Calgary, Alberta
Sep 10 - Starlite | Room Edmonton, Alberta
Sep 12 - Big Easy | Boise, Idaho
Sep 13 - In the Venue | Salt Lake City, Utah
Sep 14 - Red Rocks Amphitheater | Morrison, Colorado
Sep 19 - Street Scene | San Diego, California
Sep 20 - Treasure Island | San Francisco, California
Oct 10 - Electric Factory | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Oct 11 - Lupo's | Providence, Rhode Island
Oct 13 - Wilbur Theatre | Boston, Massachusetts
Oct 14 - Masonic Temple | Brooklyn, New York
Oct 15 - Masonic Temple | Brooklyn, New York
Oct 18 - Bogarts | Cincinnati, Ohio
Oct 19 - Vogue Theatre | Indianapolis, Indiana
Oct 20 - First Ave | Minneapolis, Minnesota
Oct 21 - First Ave | Minneapolis, Minnesota
Oct 22 - Riviera | Chicago, Illinois
Oct 24 - Voodoo Festival | New Orleans, Louisiana
Oct 25 - Tabernacle | Atlanta, Georgia
Oct 26 - Bijou Theatre | Knoxville, Tennessee
Oct 28 - Lakewood Theatre | Dallas, Texas
Oct 30 - Stubb's | Austin, Texas
Oct 31 - Diamond Ballroom | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Nov 6 - Wiltern | Los Angeles, California
Nov 8 - 4th and B | San Diego, California

New Bloc Party Album Out This Thursday

It's bold, for sure, but I wish I could be more excited about this. "Mercury" is not a very good song and, unfortunately, it's on the tracklist. I hope to be pleasantly surprised. The album is called Intimacy and the physical release is out on October 28th.

01. Ares
02. Mercury
03. Halo
04. Biko
05. Trojan Horse
06. Signs
07. One Month Off
08. Zephyrus
09. Better Than Heaven
10. Ion Square

[Pre-order]

Cloud Cult Fall Tour

Cloud Cult has scheduled a few fall dates. I missed them the last couple times there were in NYC so I'm really looking forward to this one.

Nov. 11 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (tickets)
Nov. 13 - Boston, MA - Middle East (tickets)
Nov. 14 - Bethlehem, PA - Lehigh University

All Points Brutal

Another letter from the front, in our on-going concert series/war correspondence with Dr. Thomas Beckett, Esq. As usual, political correctness is checked at the door. Enjoy:

Dear Metro Distortion and Friends,

I need to vent about the brutality that occurred at the 1st Annual All Points West Festival this past weekend at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. From the constant stream of emails I received about the festival from the APW Crew, this was shaping up to be a promising event. Two nights of Radiohead back to back! That was enough for me to lay down 566 bones for two tickets to the festival. It started out swimmingly. A romantic $30 a ticket ferry ride with my girlfriend around Manhattan, through the new fugazi waterfalls on the East River (mechanical waterfalls? what the fuck is going on?), cruising by Lady Liberty and Ellis Island.

We enter the festival, present our tickets, they barely check us for any narcotics or foreign objects and we do what any good concert-goer does...we head for the alcohol retailer. There is a long line in order for them to SCAN your IDs...but I say to myself that this will be okay. As we get closer, I realize that this is a beer tent...I hate fuckin beer tents. But being a veteran of Coachella, I calm down and realize that any fairly resourceful individual can get through a festival with beer tents. We get to the front of the line and some fat bastard (who probably smashes 16 Mickeys in order to get a buzz slashes my entire hand with a dark purple sharpee. Then some dude scans my ID and states with a firm voice, "There is a five beer maximum, I say again, a five beer maximum and you can only drink in the 3 designated beer tents!" He then proceeds to snap a neon yellow wristband on my right wrist that has five tabs on it marked 1 through 5. I was stunned.

They shuffled us into the heavily guarded beer tent. I felt like they were Germans guiding me into the showers of....I digress. Not only were the beer tents fenced in, but they had a second fence with a green tarp around it so you could not see out into the festival and god forbid some poor innocent child should look in to see people drinking beer...at a festival! As one could imagine, the tents were packed with circular lines to receive your ration of alcohol. To top it all, they charge $9 a drink. They also positioned the 3 tents between the 3 stages, therefore we can all enjoy the entwined noise of CSS and Andrew Bird in the distant distance.

Gentlemen, what the fuck is going on here? What country did we come back to? What country are we living in? Now, do I need a good amount of alcohol to enjoy a show? Not necessarily. But does a baseball player need a glove to play the game? Does a business executive need a cup of coffee to get through his morning? Does a porn star need a fluffer to get through a scene? Not necessarily. BUT IT SURE AS SHIT HELPS!

Whatever happened to sex, drugs and rock 'n roll? At a minimum sex, drugs and rock 'n roll for the average Joe was missionary style with his wife, 10 beers, and Rod Stewart...at a minimum. You take beer away from us...then what's next? YOU ARE FORCING ME TO DO DRUGS!

The following day at the festival, I turned my girlfriend into a mule. Let's call her Nancy Botwin. Nancy went through security with tiny bottles of rum in every place non-abusive, but on this day they search everywhere and take 8 aeroplane style bottles of rum off her. We were forced to go back to the beer tent. I get my 5 tab wristband and head inside, but I am stopped by a security guard that tells me..."Sorry, the tent is full." Seriously! So with my neon-tabbed arm I give him the middle finger and tell him that this whole thing is fascist and left the line in protest.

So, there you have it. Two nights of Radiohead...dead sober. Radiohead was flawless though. The only band in the world that can play every song off their latest album, two nights in a row and people were still in a frenzy. They did a good job of mixing up the oldies on back to back nights. The second night they played "The Bends," which I thought was a treat for people who suffered through both nights of a brutal festival. "Jigsaw" and "Arpeggi" will be staples for years to come...great songs live. I cannot think of another headlining band that could possibly drag me back to this communist festival. Ben Harper played the following night. I didn't go. Honestly, what would have been the point.

Last night I was relaying this story to a friend of mine, Tennessee Dust, over a couple of late night cocktails. When I cracked open a new freshie, I spilled some beer on my left hand that still had remnants of the purple sharpee marks. I went to the sink to wash my hand off and after five nights, the purple mark finely came completely off. It wasn't the soap and water. It was the alcohol.

Yours,

Thomas Beckett

"GHT...There's no T without the GH"

Eddie Vedder @ NJPAC, 8/7/08

[my phone pics]

I had to remind myself on several occasions to blink. I didn't want to miss anything and I didn't want the night to end. After striking out twice for the NY shows, Newark and the 10c came through for me. 7th row orchestra. I read somewhere that these shows feel like a conversation in Eddie's living room and it's true, from the Q&A to the stories behind some of the songs. There are too many things to recap but one of the more memorable moments was listening to Eddie explain the origin of "Yellow Ledbetter" and then, curiously, he actually cut himself off after he seemed to get a little choked up. He also debuted a new song that he claimed to have written at 5 a.m. that morning, after a long night of boozing. During "Hard Sun," I turned around to see Tim Robbins with a big Andy Dufresne smile on his face rocking out with the rest of us . Last night, he was the second coolest guy in the building...

Set 1:
"Walking the Cow" (Daniel Johnson)
"Trouble" (Cat Stevens)
"Don't Be Shy" (Cat Stevens)
"Around the Bend"
"I Am Mine"
"Dead Man Walking"
"Sometimes"
"I'm Open"
"Man of the Hour"
"Unthought Known" (new)
"Driftin'"
"Masters of War" (Bob Dylan)
"Setting Forth"
"No Ceiling"
"Guaranteed"
"Far Behind"
"Rise"
"Small Town"
"Goodbye (You're True)"
"Soon Forget"
"Forever Young" (Bob Dylan)
"Porch"

Encore 1:
"Society" (w/ Liam Finn)
"Throw Your Arms Around Me" (w/ Liam Finn) (Hunters and Collectors)
(Q/A)
"Growin' Up"
"Lukin"
"Let My Love Open the Door"
"Arc"

Encore 2:
"Hard Sun" (w/ Liam Finn)

Image of last night's setlist (although it changed during the show)

[skyeriverwinter]

The End of Wolfmother

This is unfortunate. Perhaps it's another classic case of a band growing up too fast in a music biz craving $$ but we'll look back fondly on the good times with Wolfmother, in the early days of Metro D in '06.

[NF's interview]
[Wolfmother @ Northsix - where it all started for Metro D]

UPDATE: Apparently the Wolfmother name lives on.
[More]

The National @ Central Park Summerstage, 8/4/08

[Random phone pic taken during Yeasayer]

I was there at 6:30 on the dot to catch Plants and Animals. Given their recorded output, I really expected more than 3 people on stage. I'm addicted to Parc Avenue right now and their live performance was further confirmation that this band has a solid future ahead of them. Yeasayer looked very comfortable in a large capacity setting although I still want to catch them in a smaller venue to get the true vibe from their set. I love how the songs from their album take on an entirely new life on stage. They also played two new songs, the first of which sounded incredible. The second one, unfortunately, didn't quite work. As for The National, the horns are always a nice addition to their live shows but I missed the violin presence from Padma (Doveman filled in admirably on keys) . "Virginia" was a nice surprise and I'm hoping they start pulling out a few more b-sides. For as many times as I've seen The National (I think I've lost count), I don't think they'll ever top this year's show at BAM but I've yet to be leave a show disappointed and last night was no exception. One additional note, the amazing artwork behind the stage (in the photo above) was done specifically for The National, for this show.

Setlist:
Brainy
Secret Meeting
Baby We'll Be Fine
Slow Show
Squalor Victoria
You've Done It Again, Virginia
Abel
The Geese Of Beverly Road
Ada
All The Wine
Daughters Of The SoHo Riots
Apartment Story
Green Gloves
Mistaken For Strangers
Fake Empire
---------------
Start A War
Karen
Mr. November
About Today

The Mars Volta to Headline Detour

[L.A. Weekly's Detour]

Adios

[Jim Rogash/Getty Images]

The mercurial Yankee-slayer. The perennial .300/30+/100+ guy. The mp3 sunglasses, piss breaks in the Monstah, baserunning for dummies, walking out groundballs, slide-tripping over the sprinkler to tie Game 1 of the World Series guy. I've defended the madness for 8 years now. I'm going to miss him. I'm really going to miss that first note: Yankee-slayer (.321 BA, 1.029 OPS, 55 HRs, 163 RBIs in 200 games against the Spanks). We're going to find out soon how good Papi really is now that Predator isn't coming to bat after him. You don't replace a bat like his. You can't. 2004 and 2007 don't happen without him. And we might have just kissed a shot at '08 goodbye. Manny's the only Red Sox player (current/former) to be featured in one of my Christmas cards, and, at that, the only Red Sox player I've ever met on the street. He is one of the greatest hitters ever. You simply don't replace guys like him. You just move on.