"MoneyGrabber" - Fitz & the Tantrums

This is some catchy shit right here...



Fitz & the Tantrums' website

Be thankful for free music!

Get in the holiday spirit by clicking on Turkey for a coupon code that gets you a $3 Amazon.com MP3 credit from LogicBUY (through Nov 29th). Thanks to Jude for the K.

The Black Keys had themselves one hell of a decade

Listening to the Black Keys, it's hard to believe that they've only been around since 2002 (they actually met in 2001, but didn't release their first record until the next year). Their songs have the soul, rawness and feel of blues and rock music from the 70's. They've also racked up quite a discography in a relatively short period of time - 10 albums total, which include Dan Auerbach's solo album, Patrick Carney's side project, Drummer, and Blakroc, their collaborative rap/rock effort.

For unknown reasons, I hadn't heard of them until last year. Attack and Release was one of my favorites of 2008 and I remember being dumbfounded when I found out that all of that noise came from only two guys. At the beginning of this year, Dan Auerbach released Keep It Hid which I was a fan of, especially the first three songs. Patrick made constructive use of the Keys' downtime, picking up bass and starting Drummer. They released Feel Good Together in the fall and it's definitely one of my favorites of the year (if you haven't heard "Mature Fantasy" yet, do yourself a favor and have a listen on their MySpace page). And somehow during all of this, Auerbach and Carney were able to find 11 free days to scrounge up 11 rap and R&B artists and record 11 tracks that made up Blakroc's self-titled album (they also posted webisodes on their site chronicling the making of the album). These guys sure aren't lacking in the creativity department.

Word has it that the Black Keys will be releasing a new album in April... looks like they'll be picking up right where they left off in the 00's.

Hooray Friday - down and dirty style!

- Acoustic Artic Monkeys over on Butter Team.

- Calico covers Radiohead on MOKB.

- Acoustic Hot Chip from BBC Live Lounge on I am fuel.

- The Black Keys cover Captain Beefheart on I am fuel.

- New Weezer tracks on Ultra 8201.

- Duffy covers Hot Chip on Ultra 8201.

- Looking for info on the Radiohead tour? Ultra 8201 with the triple shot.

- NIN has released The Slip and it's available for free on their website.

- Don't forget, MMJ is on Saturday Night Live this week.

Record Store Day - TODAY!!!

I guess I've been extremely lazy over the past few weeks, because I just dug into this one. Today (Saturday) is Record Store Day. Not sure who put this sucker together, but hell, putting the spotlight on the independent record retailer isn't a bad thing. I'll be honest, I'm as guilty as the next guy as it's been quite awhile since I've been in an independent record store. I'm sure I could come up with a bunch of lame excuses, but who wants to read that crap?

Instead, take a look at the official website, which has a listing of participating stores. Several artists are also planning exclusive releases to include Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Vampire Weekend, Death Cab and the Black Keys. Sprinkle some in-store performances, contests and freebies and BAM, next thing you know it'll be time to start tying one on at the local watering hole. Enjoy!

Hooray Friday!

- Miss the Radiohead webcast? Check out their YouTube channel whenever you want or CurrentTV at very inconvenient times.

- Last week they teased us with a video, this week they give us a little more. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have posted the title track from their upcoming album DIG, LAZARUS, DIG on their website. Also, April 8th has been announced as the US release date. Rockin'!

- NME has two short videos of pretty funny interviews with QOTSA.

Hooray Friday (a day late)!

- The soundtrack to the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There (out Nov 21st) looks almost as intriguing as the film itself. 2 discs full of Dylan covers by artists such as Cat Power, Iron and Wine, Jeff Tweedy, Mark Lanegan, Stephen Malkmus, Jim James, and non other than John "F-ing" Doe? Count me in! I am fuel provides the tracklist and a taste of what's to come with a little ditty from Eddie Vedder and the Million Dollar Bashers before the Oct 30th album release.

- Same blog, different goodness. I am fuel also hooks us up with mix of favorites from EPs. I haven't given it a whirl yet, but with the likes of Wilco, Ambulance LTD, Bishop Allen, Iron and Wine, Oasis, The Black Keys and Pete Yorn getting some love, I definitely will.

- It seems like I'm always singing the praises of NPR and there's a reason for that. World Cup Cafe from WXPN has an interview and a 4-song studio performance of Iron and Wine's Sam Beam posted. Get after it!

Sorry for the shortness of this, but I'm hung-over..

Radiohead update - Oct 10th release??

In Rainbows is the title of the new album and it's coming out in 10 days... I think. I'm not going to try to explain it, because it's Monday and chances are I'll mess it up. So I'll pass you onto Brooklyn Vegan, Metro D and Pitchfork for the details.


*** UPDATE - In my travels through the blogosphere, I discovered that The Rawking Refuses to Stop! posted a bunch of new songs that Radiohead was testing out during last summer's tour all the way back in July. It looks like TRRTS! only missed 3 tracks that are in the album to be released on the 10th. Check them out if you want here... I'm going to try to wait 8 days for the studio version.

This week's late night TV lineup

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Monday - Kings of Leon

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Artic Monkeys
• Thursday - Bob Weir & Ratdog
• Friday - Tom Waits

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Tuesday - Bloc Party
• Wednesday - The Bird & the Bee

Jimmy Kimmel Live

• Monday - The Bravery
• Wednesday - Fiction Plane

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Monday - Rufus Wainwright
• Wednesday - Dr. Dog
• Friday - Elvis Costello

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Thursday - Army of Me

Everything we hate about concerts

I have to say, Ear Farm pretty much hit it on the head with this one - Bitter? Maybe. Negative? Probably. Creative? Definitely. Funny? Absolutely.

A to Z of what can make a concert take a turn for the worse. Unfortunately, I can relate to just about every one of them too. My top 3 (I guess it would actually be bottom 3)?

1. Expensive beer - So much so that I rarely drink at concerts anymore. Okay, maybe I'll have one. The only non-offender that I can think of off the top of my head is draft PBRs at Black Cat.
2. Heat - Outdoors or indoors. What can I say, I sweat (a lot).
3. Douche bags - forget about the rest of Ear Farm's statement after those two words. In my opinion it should be douche bags, period. I loathe douche bags.

Bonnaroo downloads

Largehearted Boy has been nice enough to post downloads of Bonnaroo performances as they become available here. I haven't had much of a chance to check these out yet - but it looks like you have sign up for the websites to gain access to the gold. No time for that now - my current focus is packing for Greece and trying to decide how many extra t-shirts I need to bring.

Ben Harper, Flaming Lips, Hold Steady, Wolfmother just to name a few. It'll be at the top of my to-do list when I return to the states.

Datarock does just that - it rocks!

I came across these characters while browsing through iTunes as the Phils were getting spanked by the Mets on national TV - 9,995 losses and counting! Datarock may take the cake for the most interesting duo ever (yes, more interesting than Milli Vanilli). They hail from Norway and, well, I think their Myspace bio explains it all...

Many moons ago, atop one of seven mountains surrounding a picturesque Norwegian countryside, two scruffy-faced individuals-Fredrik Saroea and the man known simply as Ket-Ill-made a pact to alter the face of contemporary music as we know it by single-handily transforming themselves into what they called the peak of pop evolution.

Their only scheduled tour dates at this time are in Europe - here's to hoping that a US tour is around the corner. Their new EP, I Used to Dance With My Daddy hits stores July 10th (pre-order via Amazon).

Official homepage

Myspace page

"All Along the Watchtower"

Last night, I was dropping some greenbacks on a few malted beverages and playing Golden Tee at a local watering hole when I heard Neil Young's version of "All Along the Watchtower." I started thinking about the Bob Dylan original and how many times it's been covered over the years - Hendrix, the Dead, Dave Matthews Band, hell even Prince gave it a go during last year's Super Bowl halftime show... I honestly don't think I've heard a version I didn't like so far and I like them all for different reasons (although DMB's take is my favorite, with the slow start that builds into a free-for-all frenzy). So I decided that I would do a little research this weekend... that is, if I remembered.

Well apparently my memory isn't as bad as I thought it was. It didn't take much surfing to uncover some more information. My first stop was to the trusty Wiki which provided a little history lesson (the lyrics "contain biblical and apocalyptic references") and a lengthy list of artists who covered it. I then came across what I first thought was a gold mine - a post on My Old Kentucky Blog, who covered this same topic in May (you mean I'm not the only one that comes up with these ideas??). Bonus! The post includes audio links for a handful of the covers... Damn! I can't get any of the links play.

I think the amazing thing about this song is the diversity of the artists that have covered it. The Dead played it 123 times... Dionysis Savvopoulos adapted the lyrics and sang it in Greek... B-Real of Cyprus Hill (I'd love to hear that version)... DMC of Run DMC (ditto)... rock, rap, new wave, folk, blues, even a string quartet - this song knows no boundaries in the music world. Makes you wonder if Bob Dylan knew that this song was going to be so popular on so many different levels when he wrote it almost 40 years ago?

Band of Horses interview (and others)

[flickr]

From The Line of the Best Fit:

"Earlier this month, Band of Horses finally made it over to the UK for a
whistlestop tour. Rich Thane caught up with frontman Ben Bridwell to find out
what the band have been upto since the release of last years outstanding debut Everything All The Time, and how they’ve found playing to a UK audience for the first time. "

I didn't realize until a few minutes ago that Mat Brooke left the band almost a year ago. Hopefully, that doesn't effect their sophomore effort. Ben Bridwell doesn't seem to think it will, but then again, would you expect him to say anything different? Anyway, check out the interview here.

Also, TLOTBF has a few other interviews posted, including the band that I said I wouldn't talk about for a while and The Twilight Sad.

The Cure tour

The Cure announced that they are touring this fall. I still dig many of their CDs, but was not impressed when I saw them live in 1996. They didn't do much moving around stage then, so I wouldn't expect much 11 years later. And now that I've provided a glowing review of them in concert, here are the dates...

09/13 Tampa, FL - St. Petersburg Times Forum
09/15 Atlanta, GA - Gwinnett Civic Center
09/17 Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Bobcats Arena
09/19 Washington, DC - Patriot Center
09/21 Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Spectrum
09/23 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
09/25 Boston, MA - Agganis Arena
09/26 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Center
09/27 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre
09/29 Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena
10/02 Denver, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheater
10/04 Salt Lake City, UT - E Center
10/06 Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheater (Download Festival)
10/08 Seattle, WA - Key Arena
10/09 Vancouver, British Columbia - General Motors Place
10/11 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
10/13 San Diego, CA - Cox Arena
10/14 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
10/16 Houston, TX - Toyota Center
10/17 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center

Hooray Friday!

- My Morning Jacket released At Dawn & Tennessee Fire Demos Package (Amazon link) earlier this month. It combines the At Dawn and Tennessee Fire demos (amazing how that works, huh?) in one neat little 20 track package. From the track listing, it looks like they threw a few live nuggets in there for good measure as well. You can listen to a few of the tracks courtesy of An Aquarium Drunkard here.

- Pearl Jam played their cover of The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" for the first time live this week in Copenhagen (and it was their first return since the 2000 Roskilde Festival tragedy). This cover ranks up there as one of my Pearl Jam favorites. I am fuel, you are friends provides the live audio here.

- Mid-year favorite lists are starting to hit blogs. Check out Metro D's and MFKWCRG's. The standards are always going to be there (The National, White Stripes, Arcade Fire), but what I always like about these lists are the gems you can find. The best of's from last year led me to Silversun Pickups, Clipse and The Format - for which my ears are truly grateful. Guess who'll be hitting up the music store this weekend?

- The Weather Channel is forecasting low to mid 90s in Greece all of next week, which is where the LOML and I will be vacationing. I've added extra baby power to my packing list - I'm sweating just thinking about it.

I wish I had a HD TV

Although I don't have an HD TV (give us a break, we just got cable a few months ago), there's this great HD channel, Music HD which features music programs from MTV, VH1 and CMT. I discovered this gem while nursing a slight hangover at a friend's apartment after celebrating the nuptials of two good friends in Philly Sly Fox style. Just to give you an idea of some of the stuff they have on MHD, here's the lineup for this afternoon/evening:

• 4pm - RHCP, Live in Milan


• 5pm - VH1 Storytellers: Pearl Jam


• 6pm - VH1 Storytellers: Dave Matthews Band


• 7pm - VH1 Storytellers: Coldplay


• 8pm - VH1 Storytellers: Bruce Springsteen


• 9pm - Isle of Wight Festival: The Who/David Bowie


• 10pm - Isle of Wight Festival: Snow Patrol/Jet
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Monday - Morrissey
• Tuesday - Bryan Ferry

The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Thursday - Velvet Revolver

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - The Apples in Stereo
• Tuesday - Explosions in the Sky
• Wednesday - Jonny Lives!

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Monday - Jet
• Tuesday - The Format
• Wednesday - Teddybears
• Thursday - Midnight Movies
• Friday - The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello's solo project)

The National – these guys are scary good

Let me start by stating that I don’t go to hundreds of shows a year. I don’t want to start this blog off and give the wrong impression. I attend 10-20 shows a year – don’t get me wrong, I’d love to go to more but considering the fact that I’m fairly exhausted this morning, 1 or 2 a month is enough for this guy.

I decided to drive to the 9:30 Club instead of hopping on the Ghetro mainly because of The National wasn’t scheduled to come on until 10:15. I didn’t want to have a repeat performance of when I saw them at the Black Cat in October and have to leave early in the set to catch the last train. This turned out to be a great idea – not a lot of traffic and a nice, cool breeze made for a pleasant ride. It also gave me a chance to give the new QOTSA album an honest listen and I’m digging it.

I went to the sold-out show without a ticket. No, I didn’t tell anyone that I didn’t have a ticket for a few reasons: 1) I had a good feeling that I’d be able to buy a ticket from someone there, and 2) I didn’t want to jinx myself. After about 15 minutes of standing out front of the 9:30 Club, a lady offered up an extra ticket for face value. With my cat-like reflexes, I snagged it up before anyone else knew what happened. Thank you blonde bombshell for being my damsel in distress… but sorry, I’m taken.

The show was absolutely incredible. Setlist? Sorry, but I have no idea. They opened up with “Start a War” and didn’t look back from there. I read in a blog recently (sorry, I can’t remember which one) that “they just get it.” And that they do - in a major way. I don't think a lot of people knew exactly what to expect, but The National gave their all and by the end of the night everyone was grateful for having experienced it. Don’t believe me? Check the concert out for yourself on NPR here. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

As for the Boxer vs. Alligator debate between me and Lilbabyjesus… you win. I’m a changed man (still an ass-man though).

White Stripes live in the blue room

The AT&T blue room may become a popular place to check out live performances on the net. I was quite impressed with the overall quality of the Bonnaroo feeds this past weekend (take note - they will be archiving some of the footage from this in the near future).

Tonight at 6pm EST the White Stripes will be treating us to a live webcast. I haven't picked up a copy of Icky Thump yet, but I'm sure this light a fire under the rump shaker. They're currently boasting overall solid reviews on metacritic.