New music

Lots of albums being released next week and apparently, it even has a name - Super Tuesday. NPR has an article on why so many albums are released this week every year and is streaming 14 albums until Tuesday, including Robert Plant, of Montreal, Chromeo, the Walkmen, Junip (side project of José González), the Bad Plus and Superchunk to name a few (okay, more than a few). Others you can give a test spin before you decide whether or not to buy them include...

• Grinderman, full album stream of Grinderman 2 (Sept. 14th), Pfork
  
• Black Mountain, full album stream of Wilderness Heart (Sept. 14th), Pfork
• The Black Angels, full album stream of Phosphene Dream (Sept. 14th), Pfork

Time's a wasting, so get to listening!

New music

• The National, full album stream of High Violet (May 11th), Brooklyn Vegan
• The New Pornographers, full album stream of Together (May 4th), NPR
  
• Junip, "Rope and Summit," EP title and date TBD, Their Bated Breath
• M.I.A, "Born Free," (video is NOT safe for work due to violence) LP title and date TBD, MOKB
• The Dead Weather, "Gasoline," Sea of Cowards (May 11th), Stereogum
  

Jose Gonzalez - Sixth & I Synagogue (3/5/2008)

Jose Gonzalez is an amazing musician - hands down. Just listen to his albums and you'll swear there's more than one person playing guitar. And let's not forget his voice, which compliments the music so well. Back in 2006, Metro D saw him at the Black Cat and had issues with crowd noise. Last year homie played the 9:30 Club (available to stream on NPR), which I can't imagine. While not a large venue, it is big enough to dwarf him and does not seem his style at all. I mean it's only Jose on stage and he sits in a chair for the entire concert.

Even more reason why I thought Sixth & I Synagogue would be perfect for him. I'd never been, but how big and overwhelming can a place of worship be? With a capacity of about 500 (best guess) and an atmosphere that almost forces people to just sit down, shut up and listen, he could have owned the place. Instead, he just borrowed it for an hour and 15 minutes. Don't get me wrong the music was great, but the performance was average. Mainly because he didn't interact with the audience... at all. A few hellos, some thank yous and one or two song introductions. Other than that he whipped through the setlist, came back for an encore and got the hell out of Dodge. But again it's only him up there, so if people expected anything more, then they're not the sharpest tools.

On a side note, I made a rather interesting discovery - complimentary copies of the below magazine were available throughout the synagogue. I kid you not. I did at least a double-take (probably a triple) when I first saw it. Get your subscription here.

Hooray Friday!

- An Aquarium Drunkard has My Morning Jacket covering Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and a few Steve Earle tunes worth checking out.

- NPR continues to give me live music to stream while wasting the days away at work. The past week was a barn-burner with Josh Ritter, Jose Gonzalez, Okkervil River, Animal Collective and Iron and Wine getting some love on NPR's Live Concert Series. Looks like Spoon and the New Pornographers will be popping up in the next few weeks as well. Stay tuned...

- I've never been a Smashing Pumpkins fan, so their pseudo-reunion meant next to nothing to me. Reviews of their current tour are average at best and MOKB doesn't hold back either. I like the way they went about it though - they blasted the Pumpkins, but then gave some suggestions to improve the show. Not that Billy Corgan is reading, but still.

- The Flaming Lips are projecting a March release for their latest experiment, the film Christmas on Mars. If this is going to be anything like their concerts, you might want to start preparing your brain for sensory overload directly. Thanks to You Ain't No Picasso for the report.

- If you don't know what I'm talking about when I refer to the Flaming Lips concerts, check out the pics on MOKB from the Monolith Festival. The post also has a few tracks, to include their cover of Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam".

Get your tour dates here

- Well, it looks like the Cold War Kids subscribe to Gus "R" Us and read my thoughts on their concert with Muse a few week back. I should have been a band manager when I grew up. They're hitting a few smaller venues at the major cities in Nov/Dec. That is after they're done whoring themselves out as openers for Muse & the White Stripes (just kidding fellas).

- Jose Gonzalez is touring this fall to promote his new album In Our Nature. Dates and his new single here.

- Spoon was supposed to be hitting up some smaller venues again this fall, but then a little band called the Shins asked them to open for them. I know Spoon has cancelled their dates at the 9:30 Club because it conflicted with the Shins at Merriweather, so I'm assuming they're doing the same with the rest of their tour. Shins dates here.

- For anyone who has not sunk their teeth into the newest Cloud Cult album, The Meaning of 8, you are truly missing out. They have started announcing dates beginning in September (October/November dates TBA). Unfortunately, I don't see a DC area venue on there as of now.
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- Queens of the Stone Age are giving no love to DC this time around. They'll be hitting up B-more, but it's 2 days before I'll be up in that area for a night of debauchery (read Bachelor Party). Dates here.

- Bright Eyes anyone? Dates are hot off of the press.

Horray Friday!

I've been slacking a little in the research area this week because of the crack-like game that RatBat Bear posted last week. I also unexpectedly lost the free internet at my place on Wednesday, which was quite a bummer.

- I am fuel, you are friends is a Pearl Jam freak. If you're ever looking for some PJ goodness, check her blog first. She recently posted some unreleased demos here.

- For all of you Pink Floyd fans out there, Aquarium Drunkard posted some diddies from the Zabriskie Point session here. What's a Zabriskie you ask? Sorry, I'm not enough of a Floyd fan to know... or care.

- Same blog, different topic. Johnny Depp has signed on to tackle the role of Hunter S. Thomson again in the adaptation of Thompson's first novel The Rum Diary. That should be a hoot. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" came out when I was in college and I remember how cool and crazy I thought it was. My friends and I always talked about doing our own "Fear and Loathing" trip at some point. Luckily we never got around to it. If we had, you probably wouldn't be enjoying this blog. Read more about Depp as Thompson here.

- Check out some new Jose Gonzalez ear candy on his MySpace page. His new album In Our Nature comes out on Sept. 25 and has already scheduled a handful of tour dates.

- Can't do Lollapalooza in Chi-town this weekend? Me neither. BUT, the AT&T blue room is here to help, streaming acts all weekend. Check out the schedule on the above link, but beware... air times are in Central. Looks like there are some good ones on tap.