Memorial Day Mash-Up

Athens Popfest, going down August 12th-16th, dropped their line-up over the weekend, as Athens, Ga superbloggers, Cable And Tweed, was all on top of it:

Roky Erickson & The Explosives, The Music Tapes, Elf Power, Dark Meat, Boyracer, The Apes, Bunnygrunt, Thee American Revolution, Circulatory System, My Teenage
Stride, The Faintest Ideas, We Versus the Shark, Casper & the Cookies,
Cryptacize, Ruby Isle, The Great Lakes, Fishboy, Cars Can Be Blue, Love
Letter Band, Andy From Denver, The Buddy System, The Smittens,
Supercluster, The Coathangers, The Selmanaires, Spring Tigers, Dead Confederate, Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies, Velcro Stars, Red Pony
Clock, Big Fresh, the Lolligags, Secret History, Judi Chicago, Hot Pants
Romance, Nana Grizol, The Sterns, Thrushes, Laminated Cat, Fat Planet, The
Ocelots, The Besties, Twin Tigers, The Afternoon Naps, Boy Genius, the Hotwalls, Amo Joy!, Oh Sanders, That's My Daughter, Little Birds, A Faulty Chromosome, Panda Riot, Patience Please, Railcars, Tendaberry, One Happy Island, The Hat Company, The Young Untold, Bad Animal, Oh Fortuna, Good Graces, Night Driving in Small Towns, Umbrella Tree, Noisycrane, Bob Hay & the Jolly Beggars, Allison Weiss, Whistling School for Boys

Very nice. They are still planning on adding 16 more bands and a $60 festival pass will get you into all day and night shows. I plan to be there.

Bonnaroo is going to be nationally televised for the first time ever this year on Cable's Fuse TV.

Daniel Johnston will be at The Variety Playhouse June 26th.

Brian Wilson has a new album dropping September 2nd.

Carla Bozulich's Evangelista and Xiu Xiu will be at The Drunken Unicorn August 23rd.

Treasure Island Music Fest is happening in San Francisco Labor Day weekend and the line-up is pretty sweet.

Sonic Youth has a greatest hits compilation for Starbucks coming out with songs selected by Radiohead, Beck, The Flaming Lips, David Cross and other cool SY fans.

Okkervil River has a new album due out Septmeer 9th.

The Smashing Pumpkins have a DVD coming out later this year and are talking new album early next year.

New York Gov. David Paterson has given rapper Slick Rick a pardon for attempted murder.

Peter Bjorn And John claim to have two albums coming out by the end of the year, one of whihc will be instrumental.

Hot Chip played an acoustic session for NPR.

Suggested video wathcing:

Ratatat "Mirando":



Tickley Feather "Fancy Walking":



Band Of Horses "Is There A Ghost":



Cut Copy "Hearts On Fire":

A Random MP3 Trilogy

Here are a few of the hott tracks rolling around the big series of tubes:

There' a new Beck album produced by Danger Mouse about to hit stores soon. Rumours say it could suddenly drop from the sky like In Rainbows or the new Nine Inch Nails albums, but not necessarily for free. It is tentatively titled Modern Guilt and is supposed to have a '60s psychedelic feel. I've even heard rumours that Cat Power appears on it. I'm excited:

Beck : Chemtrails


Ratatat is another great artist with a new release dropping this summer. Everyone I know has fallen in love with these guys since their 2006 Classics blew up. In addition to creating high quality, crowd pleasing original instrumental jams, they do some stellar remixes, Volume 2 of which you can download for free from their myspace. LP3 hits stores July 8th, and here's a preview:

Ratatat : Shiller


Finally, I have been jamming the new Islands album, Arm's Way, hard since it came out yesterday. It certainly has its share of flaws, of which most everyone reviewing is paying a lot of attention, but there are a plethora of amazing things going on that have me hooked. Just like how many people who loved the Unicorns didn't like the direction Islands took things originally, many people who were really into Return To The Sea may not have wanted them to go they way they did for this one, but if you take it for what it is, it kicks some major ass. They just did a Daytrotter session, including a Brian Eno cover, that you can check out here, but here's a really different version of "The Arm" from it:

Islands : The Arm (Daytrotter session)

Live Review And Photos: Ratatat, 120 Days, Despot (4-10-07) The Loft

Last night, my Ohmpark buddies and I went to the best show I have seen yet at The Loft in Atlanta: Ratatat and 120 Days. Sugarkane dropped this band on me only a few weeks ago, and I have been trying to catch up. I found the crowd at the show to be an uncommon mix of indie hipsters and video-game styled music enthusiasts. I blame this on the venue's proximity to Georgia Tech; perhaps one of the only 'subculture' groups in the city with as healthy an addiction to Internet celebrity and fanfare as the indie crowd. Those 'old-wave' synths and lo-fi sine waves really get those pencil pushers moving...

Ratatat pull an interesting array of fans together by using their old-school aesthetic to drive their rock star image and still somehow bring a heavy dose of hip-hop into their music. Personally, I love their take on some of the popular trends in music happening today; one being the http://www.8bitpeoples.com type synths. The other, of course, is the pervasive influence of hip-hop culture and how it has become an increasingly central part of mass entertainment culture through the Internet. Ratatat accomplishes a unique intersection of subcultures and styles without becoming confusing or undefined; they have a defined sound.

I had the hardest time explaining to my friend what made Ratatat better than other bands that have latched onto the 8-bit-synth trend/aesthetic (depends how much you scoff/respect it). I hate to say this, but it was the same thing that birthed rock into the mythic proportions it was to consume: the guitar. It makes the entire live show for a band that's noise-space is 75% synthetic. Other bands have attempted this approach ( http://www.myspace.com/anamanaguchi to a further degree, for example), but not quite to the sweet spot of trendiness that Ratatat has found....

I should also mention 120 Days, who put on a great opening set. Probably pretty disappointed with American crowds; piles of guitar effects strung up with the analog synths proved these guys could play the trendiest dance club as easily as a a rock and roll dive. I was very impressed and ran home to check them out; I think most of the crowd was surprised.

Note from BiggieC: Ichuda got to the show after Despot was on. I personally enjoyed him very much. I was stoked to see he could rap without a hype man or DJ. His best song was "Get Rich or Try Dying."

Also I'd like to thank Catherine for granting me a photo pass.


(Click for larger photos)


Despot







120 Days
















Ratatat

7 Shows In 5 Days

Obviously the big show this week is TV On The Radio at the Variety Playhouse friday night. It's sold out, but tickets are currently still available for the show Thursday night at the 40 Watt in Athens. Here's five other great shows this week.

Tuesday April 10th:

Ratatat, 120 Days, Despot at The Loft (9:00pm/18+ $14 ($16 under 21))



Wednesday April 11th:

Gringo Star (CD Release), Phonograph (NY), Morning State at The Earl (9:00pm/21+ $7)



Thursday April 12th:

Black Lips, Snowden, All Night Drug Prowling Wolves at Lenny's Bar (9:00pm/21+ $10 suggested donation for Jessica Juggs benefit)

Bobloblaw79, thanks for these videos from 3-27-2007:





Friday April 13th:

Continue And Save, Parade, The Winter Sounds at Lenny's Bar (9:00pm/21+ $5)



Saturday April 14th:

The Orphins, Moorish Idols, The Subliminator at ISP Space (9:00pm/all ages free(donations))

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

As you're reading this, I've already emarked on my journey to uber-drunkeness in Savannah to celebrate one of my favourite holidays. You can watch my intoxicated phone logs of the weekend here. Since i won't have many sober posts until I get back monday night, I'm leaving you with an action-packed "Friday Free-Style" featuring tons of mp3s, videos, links, etc. Have a fun weekend:

The Paper Chase blew my ear drums out at the Explosions In The Sky show Tuesday night. Check them out:



Kid Rock smacked a woman because she realized his music sucks. Seriously.

Watch the new video from Arctic Monkeys here. They will be playing the Tabernacle May 19th.

Chis Cornell has a few solo tour dates and a solo album out called Carry On April 30th.

Busta Rhymes is too dangerous to be in new York City.

The Greyboy Allstars are releasing their first studio album nine years. It's called What Happened To TV? and it's out April 17th.

Here's a new Disco Biscuits Video:



Ratatat are working on a second hip-hop mixtape. Listen to some tracks from it:

• Biggie Smalls - "Party & Bullshit (Ratatat remix)"

• Memphis Bleek - Alright (Ratatat Remix)

Remember Ratatat will be at the Loft on April 10th so get your tickets now.

Music For Robots has posted a list of mp3s from bands playing at SXSW. You should really check it out and listen/download that shiznit.

Listen to a track off the new Wilco album Sky Blue Sky: Wilco - What Light

Listen to a track off the new Blonde Redhead album 23: 23

Everybody is going crazy about the new Arcade Fire album. After a few good listens, I like it, but I'm not willing to crown them yet. I think if you compare it to the best albums to come out this year, it just doesn't hold up. It's definetly worth checking out though. Here's a track in case you haven't heard it yet(doubtful): Intervention

For you hip-hop heads, here's a track from the forth coming Hieroglyphics crew Souls Of Mischief member A-Plus: Patna Please

Meshuggah have new album due out in September.

Rush have a new album coming out May 1st and you can listen to a song off it at their site.

Ansur are working on their seocnd album.

Lenlow has done a mash-up with a Peter Bjorn and John track: “Bjorn Slippy”

Here's a Deftones video:



Here's a video of Portishead's live performance last month:



Here's a Nine Inch Nails video for a track off the new album:



Creative Loafing has an article on rapper Busdriver, who will be opening up for RJD2 next Tuesday at the Variety Playhouse.


Some SXSW related mp3s:

• Sparklehorse- "Morning Hollow"
• My Brightest Diamond- Something of An End"
• Beirut- "Elephant Gun"
• The Rosebuds- "Bluebird"
• Illinois- "Alone Again"

The Band Of Horses show Wednesday night was great. Here's some photos i took with my phone:

Arizona:



Carey Ann Hearst and The Gun Street Girls:



Band Of Horses:

• “The Great Salt Lake” — Band of Horses

Here's some interviews for you:

• Andrew Bird
• Girl Talk
• Arcade Fire
• Panda Bear (Animal Collective)
• The Shins
• Bill Frisell
• Of Montreal

Here's a Simpsons clip to get you into the holiday spirit: