Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Remember Arrested Development?

Not the great television program that was cut short, but the early 90's one album wonder hip hop band that couldn't survive in the popular mainstream after an initial burst of success?

Whether if you do or don't, NPR's News & Notes caught up with the band's leader Speech for particular insight into the hip hop one hit wonder.

And here's the video of "Tennessee" a hit from, as the kids say, "back in the day":

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Sunday, May 28, 2006

Blue Republic's My Space Band of the Week: The Black Lips

Atlanta's Black Lips have been one of the fastest rising bands in underground garage rock. These grimey, noisy psychadelic throwbacks have done major tours with the King Khan & BBQ Show and the Dirtbombs. They recently opened up for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs .

Check out a live clip of the band on my page, before heading to the official page.

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Thursday, May 25, 2006

European Idol?!

So last night there was that American Idol thing and yet another smooth voiced pop/soul/country crooner won. Nothing wrong with it, just how it is.
But last week, Europe held its 51st annual Eurovision song contest. The winner, almost every year, is a pop and/or dance act. So it holds less respect musically than American Idol but is popular (obviously, having been around now for 51 years). But the winner this year...

Lordi.
Dressed up something akin to Gwar and Slipknot but taking it a step further, and playing essentially 80's hair metal (right down to the Black-sounding chorus in the background), these guys are the ultimate gimmick. The NY Times recently did a write-up on these guys and their underdog status, as well as how, as can be expected, they are some kind of intellectual project. Yeah.

Oh, and to prove this was something beyond the winners, here is the Eurovision competitor from Germany called Texas Lightning...

So much for Rammstein. Hahahahaha.

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Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Shameless Advert: Dirtbombs' cover of "Missionary Man" available on MySpace

On the Dirtbombs' page I co-run on My Space, we've put up the rare track released this year on Cass Records, a cover of the Eurythmics' "Missionary Man". The split .45 the song was released on is all sold out so this will be one of the rare places to hear this. It's not available for download, only for listening (for now).
Here's a video of the Dirtbombs performing "Underdog", recorded in Montreal:

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Sunday, May 21, 2006

Blue Republic's My Space Band of the Week: Metric

Toronto's Metric had the honor, earlier this year, of opening for the Rolling Stones at Madison Square Garden and their ever increasing profile has jumped tenfold after that. Led by the dynamic Emily Haynes, Metric offers an eclectic mix of dance-pop and rock, refusing to be limited by their own genre and they top it off with provocative lyrics.
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Check out "Monster Hospital", a candidate for the Best Single of the Year, on my page, then go to the band's page and official site.

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Friday, May 19, 2006

Rac Attack!

The Raconteurs – Tower Records East Village – New York, NY – May 18, 2006

Another sudden Raconteurs show in NYC, this time an in-store appearance at a Tower Records store. It was great seeing the band in an intimate setting (since they’ll never actually play small rock clubs) and it was great seeing them put up with technical difficulties that threw off the setlist (so the result was 3 acoustic songs, a 5-minute break, and then the real show). The songs are sounding solid and fantastic and it’s hard to believe this band is a collection of established artists.

A+
Photos and video by Roxxan H:
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Little Jack Lawrence has to help Patrick Keeler on drums when the juice got knocked out:
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Sunday, May 14, 2006

Blue Republic's My Space Band of the Week: The Black Keys

Akron, Ohio’s greatest export is considered to be rubber but let’s not kid ourselves – it’s the Black Keys. There are plenty of bands out there called “The Black” something or other and a handful of them are quite good but there are very few bands as good as the Black Keys, no matter what name they have. The band’s latest release is an EP tribute to Junior Kimborough. It’s takes Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney into new territory and is worth the listen.
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Check out “Meet Me In The City” on my page before going to the band’s page to check out three Black Keys classics and then go to the official site.

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Austin Powers Misses The Yarrows; The Mooney Suzuki Don't Miss Fads

The Yarrows
@Parkside Lounge
New York, NY – May 13, 2006


The streak seems to be over. The Yarrows were able to play a show at a venue that didn’t close up nor seems to have any plans to. The band sounds in fine form as it tests new songs out for a full length release in the fall. On a side note, Mike Myers had been in the crowd earlier in the night for another act. How random.

The Mooney Suzuki
@Southpaw
Brooklyn, NY – May 12, 2006


Finally seeing the Mooney Suzuki proper for the first time after all these years and it was rather anti-climactic. They played an incredibly short set of no more than 10 songs (the reason being they have a brand new bass player who doesn’t know enough songs yet), a few of which were new. More telling than the strong, ferocious live performance they put on, was the band’s tongue-in-cheek sense of relevance (or lack thereof, depending on how you want to look at it). Band leader Sammy said to the crowd “Hello we’re the Mooney Suzuki, you may remember us from such microfads as ‘New York is the new Seattle’ and ‘Rock n Roll is back’.”
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(photo by Roxxan H)
There’s not much else to report except that the new songs still sound like the band is heading for a softer touch and that it’s just a shame I didn’t get to see this band when they were scorching clubs in the days of Sammy’s short hair and before they licensed their songs for commercial use.

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Saturday, May 13, 2006

Music Bulletins

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Sunday, May 07, 2006

Blue Republic's My Space Band of the Week: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

This has been a good year for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They have returned with a new album that makes a challenging departure from their previous work and they have succeeded. They've had terrific live shows from coast to coast. And now they're Band of the Week.
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Check out Phenomena on my page, then go to their page and offiicial site.

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Thursday, May 04, 2006

Date With Destiny?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs; The Dirtbombs; The Black Lips
@Roseland Ballroom
New York, NY – May 3, 2006


I hadn’t expected on going to this show until by dumb luck (and frustration) I found out that the Dirtbombs had suddenly been added to the bill and had played the night before and were playing again. My girlfriend and I were able to score tickets and we went. The YYY’s were a little slower paced at times than they were at the Bowery in February but for the most part they had the same mesmerizing set full of musical lusciousness and visceral energy. Sometimes the new music is so sexual it isn’t funny. They doled out “Pin” and “Y Control” again and finished off the show with “Date With the Night”, but again focused on the new material, which has proven to be one of the best albums of the year. “Phenomena”, “Honeybear” and the single “Gold Lion” are absolutely fantastic songs.
So how were the Dirtbombs? As usual they were the best. There is no other word for it…the best. It was awkward seeing them play in such a large venue (the loud but sparse cheers the band received upon coming on stage prompted Mick Collins to say “Thanks for knowing who we are”). We had balcony seats, however, so it was also a nice change to be able to visually take in the entire band as a whole (and we were treated to Ben Blackwell doing a headstand while playing the drums for our troubles). It was also different to hear the band from enough distance as to not have ringing ears by set’s end.
The Black Lips – who I finally was able to see a full set of – started off with a rocking song that recalled twangy country 60’s rock as done by garage bands but the rest of their set was an ode to the 13th Floor Elevators, case closed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing however.

The sound is bad and my stupid "woooo" is picked up towards the end, but here is a visual presentation of what it's like during a Dirtbombs show:


A taste of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs:


(videos by Roxxan H)

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Monday, May 01, 2006

May: Easy Like Sunday Morning All Month Long

It seems like May is a relatively quiet month. After a packed first four months of the year, it seems that people want to spend more time in the increasingly nice weather than in the rock clubs. Thats great but dont forget to catch some shows, and dont forget that shows are always added as the days and weeks go on.

The month kicks off as it should on the first. Aqualung is playing the Bowery Ballroom tonight. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs return to the New York stage since their pair of Bowery shows in February with two shows starting tomorrow night at the Roseland. The Black Lips will be opening up it may be the biggest crowd the Lips have ever played for.

On Sunday, the Bamboo Kids play Maxwells while the Brian Jonestown Massacre play Webster Hall a week from tomorrow. Friday May 12th is a huge night, the biggest of the month and its almost all happening in Brooklyn: Elvis Costello will be playing BAM, the Mooney Suzuki will be playing Southpaw, and the Fleshtones will be playing Magnetic Field. Anyone left should go see the White Rose Movement at the Bowery. The next night is all about the Yarrows at the Parkside Lounge.

Elefant will be playing Webster Hall on Wed May 17th while Art Brut plays two nights the Knitting Factory starting the same night (with rumors of We Are Scientists opening up). Art Brut just played 3 shows in NYC in April and here they are again. Maybe in June theyll take up residence at Madison Square Garden and try and beat Billy Joels record before Madonna does. The third week in May ends in legendary fashion with two nights of Television's Tom Verlaine at the Bowery. But that weekend will be another packed one: The Hard Lessons return to their Brooklyn Home-Away-From-Home, the Trash Bar, that Friday, while The Woggles play Magnetic Field on Saturday, and The National play Webster Hall on Sunday.

Webster Hall is the busiest venue this month by far, wrapping up May with Gnarls Barkley making their US debut the night after the National, and the Walkmen playing on Wednesday May 24th. In between, go catch Langhorne Slim at the Knitting Factory.

More gigs will pop-up and then it will be June, which has already shaped up as being twice if not three times as busy as May. So take a breath while you can because summer is coming and there wont be any slowing down after that.

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