MP3: Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya
MP3: Let Us Play Your Party

When I heard that Seattle’s The Spits are dropping a new LP – their fourth – on the 4th of July, I smiled… That smile was brought on by a couple of different reasons. One – I, like many others, thought there might never be a NEW Spits LP, since the band went on a hiatus due to some of it’s members moving to different cities and getting involved in other projects. Two – there is no more appropriate band to celebrate our great country’s birthday with then The Spits. Why? Because to this humble fan The Spits are what America is all about – taking back alleys, playing parties, drinking beers and being weird.

To those of you who are not in the know, The Spits play the most basic type of punk rock, reminiscent of the great Ramones with a splash of new wave and a whole lot of FUN! The perfect soundtrack for a killer party gone out of control. They bring it live as well. I’ve seen them play a show at our very own Bobo Street where those in attendance, myself included, would not let them of the stage until they played every song that was yelled out at them. So if you get a chance, shell out the dough at the door and never look back. Also make sure to pick up all four of their self-titled LP’s and a singles comp called 19 Million AC. You’ll thank me later!

The Spits were gracious enough to answer some questions for us via e-mail. Also they attached a killer track Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya from the new album for us to enjoy (link above). So, here we go!

You and Sean are from Kalamazoo, MI originally. When and why did you guys re-locate to Seattle?

Sean and I had been traveling the country for a long time, separately and together, working as dishwashers and just seeking our fortune in general. When we landed in Seattle in the early nineties, the city had just the right combination of music, chicks, mountains and thrift stores. We knew we had found our new home.

When and how did the Spits start?

Well, Aleks, it was your classic “Boy meets girl, girl loves boy, boy goes to college for degree in 17th century French literature, boy drops out of college, girl leaves boy, boy hits girl, boy goes to jail for assault, boy gets out of jail and goes on 13-day vision quest with the Ayuhuasca shamans of the Amazon, boy starts band, band turns music world upside down and single-handedly rejuvenates punk genre, girl wants back with boy, boy sleeps with girl one more time and then sleeps with her sister in girl’s house and videotapes it, girl becomes murderous with rage, boy goes on long tours with band in Europe and U.S. to stay one step ahead of vengeful girl, boy blah, blah blah….” We’ve all been there. (more…)

J-swift of Fly Union

MP3:Fly Union-Gold Chain

Fly.Union’s bi-weekly party Whud up Wednesday’s has become one of my favorite events in Columbus. Eye, J Swifa and Giovanny usually DJ mixing hood favorites like Gucci Mane with music from artists like Drake and Kid Cuddi. Jerreau hosts the event. The party’s are always hype, I even saw my most recent girl fight last time I was there.

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MP3:Meta4ce-Monsta Musik(Unmixed)

Columbus rapper Meta4ce came a step closer to winning a million dollars  on Sunday. MTV2 aired his second battle. He slayed dood. (we are still locating the video but you can watch the video of the first battle  here on donewaiting).  The above MP3(Monsta Musik) off of Meta4ce’s upcoming mixtape, has Young Meta describing the horrible things that he is capable of, very rabidly.

Meta4ce needs everyone to vote for him by texting Motv to 99134.

(there is a dollar fee for this text)

Duffy told me that all 50 copies of OH CRAP – VOL.5 sold during the first day of Comfest. Because I was out of town, I didn’t have time to replenish the stock so I’m making the Columbus band compilation available here to download for free.

DOWNLOAD: OH CRAP – VOL.5

“Dirty Power” – The Bom Selleck
“Leave it Tonight” – Josh Fitzwater and The Shambles
“Back to New York” – Keith Jenkins & The Moving Parts
“Hot Boots” – Bird and Flower
“Lonely Bones” – Colin Gawel
“Falls the Shadow” – Hayseed
“Night Crawler” – Bill Kurzenberger
“Conspicuous Consumption” – Vespin
“Record in the Sleeve” – Like Giants
“Metal Hairpiece” – Dr. Robot
“Until it’s Gone” – Paper Airplane
“Echo Wheel” – Woosley Band
“Gravity’s Heart” – Bush League All-Stars
“Sleep Well” – Ryan Smith
“Mystery to Me” – Mike Switzer
“White Water” – Househearts
“Pissed it Away” – The Vague
“Mayqueen” – The Lost Revival
“Lies” – Bookmobile

Post your reviews here.

MP3: She Came Along by Sharam featuring Kid Cudi

(EDIT: Turns out that Kid Cudi is not playing the Rothbury Festival after all, oops.  He is embarking on some major touring this summer though, including some European dates and a co-headlining slot on The Great Hangover Tour in July and August.  They play the House of Blues in Cleveland on July 17th, so maybe I’ll see you there?)

Shaker Heights, OH (Cleveland suburb) native Kid Cudi has gained attention from the blogs and from urban radio for his involvement with Kanye West and for his single “Day ‘n Nite,” which has slowly gained momentum for the last six months and is now heard coming from local cars on the regular.  This phenomenon has not gone unnoticed by this humble website, as champion for Ohio hip-hop Wes Flexner hit you with a then-new MP3 back in December and some hype for the “Day ‘n Nite” video when it hit BET in February, while our noble boss man Rob Duffy reported on Cudi’s performance with Kanye at SXSW 2009.  As you can see, the excitement has been building around me and I can’t wait to see him live.  The man seems to be inspiring new mainstream-ish excitement for Ohio hip-hop, so I’m interested to see how he progresses with the release of his official debut album, “Man on the Moon: The Guardians,” currently slated for August 25th.

Video footage from February 2009 (youtubed by http://illroots.com/)

MP3: Revival by Phantods

Phantods, one of the hardest working bands in Columbus, celebrate the release of their new EP “Revival” on July 3rd at Skully’s Music-Diner with Mrs. Fahrenheit and the Loverboys. I feel like Phantods are a band that I don’t go out enough for and if you haven’t caught them, now is your opportunity. Creepy, melodic and super tight, they were kind enough to give me an mp3 to share so download the track “Revival” and tell me it isn’t one of the coolest tracks you’ve heard in a while…dare I say it’s a song I can’t stop listening to?

MP3:Matt & Kim-Yea Yeah (Flosstradamus Remix Final)

Flosstradamus are playing at the Venue(Club Karma/Redzone) Saturday, June 20th along with DJ Detox, and CJ Townsend..

Flosstradamus are a deejay/remix duo from Chicago that has been doing it big for couple years now. They exist in the weird hybrid Electro/Juke whatever the fuck you call it world that has you playing Lollapalooza one day, and a small club date the next.

I spoke to half of them, J2k aka Young Josh aka Kid Sister’s brother on the phone when I was hanging out at the MilkBar a couple days ago. (J2K is the one with the Slingshot) J2k talked about their worst show, working with De La Soul, the backpack vs. hipster dynamic, and his love for midwest crowd.

what’s good with you?

J2K:Just played Los Angeles last night.

How was it ?

It was cool. The crowd was like 1200 people. It was a blast. It was fun.

Is that your usual turn-out on the West Coast?

It varies. We are playing at a club that holds 600 people in San Diego tonight.

What was your wackest deejay experience?

I wouldn’t say it was the wackest…We were at DJ AM’s club LAX. The people were not into it at all. It was a jiggy crowd. After about Ten minutes some girl told us we sucked. We got booted off the tables. Everyone hated us.

Did you still get paid?

Yeah. Of course. We went back 6 months later and killed it.

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AA Bondy and a tree at the Donewaiting.com 2008 SXSW Day Show

MP3: When the Devil’s Loose

We’re big fans of AA Bondy. His first album ended up in my year end list of favorite records, and he played the donewaiting.com SXSW day show in 2008. He’s just announced his second album, When The Devil’s Loose, being released September 1 on Fat Possum. And yes, there will be a vinyl version (so happy about this). Download an MP3 from the album above.

Fresh off his headlining show at The Basement, Bondy has announced another Columbus show on July 13 opening for Conor Oberst at the Wexner Center. Details here.

(Duffy note: We’re really happy to have Aleks Shaulov, known to many as the guitarist for The Feelers, writing for donewaiting.com. Expect lots more punk rock coverage, obviously.)

MP3: Laguna Beach Rules
MP3: Bolder Than

I heard Vegetative State for the first time a few years ago, when they befriended my old band on Myspace. Immediately my cohorts and I thought that we’ve stumbled on to something awesome. Here were real teenagers, playing real teenage angst driven honest to gawd punk rock with no extra flab, kick, catch, or whatever else you could think of to make it “fresh” or “current”. Soon after, we asked them to play a show with us. A little bit later the label that my friends JG, Mindy and I were running put out their 1st EP. But before we did that, we had to have a meeting with some of their parents at the White Castle, to which we showed up hung over as fuck!!! They were around sixteen at the time and it was understood that parents know best. Since then they’ve smashed more guitars, shocked more innocent bystanders, broken up and re-started again more times then Ol’ Man Hank Rollins got laid.

The band is celebrating the release of their new album tonight at Carabar. Sick Thrills and Necropolis are also playing. Here’s all of the dirt and more as I sit down with the lead singer of VS, Andrew Wagner.

Where does the name come from?

AW: Originally we were called Kamikaze Motor Cult. I came up with that. I thought it was really cool, but we were really young at the time and we kind of thought it was stupid, because nobody liked us at the time, because we were playing at the wrong bars. So, then we changed our name to The Problems. We all knew it was a temporary name. This was all around the time the Terry Schaivo controversy was going on and so I had the bright idea that we’d name the band Vegetative State and have the whole “duuuuuuuh ” (drool) thing be the gag…that and abortion. (more…)

MP3: Mature Fantasy by Drummer

The Black Keys‘ Patrick Carney has assembled Drummer, a new supergroup of drummers playing all sorts of instruments besides the kit. Here’s how the line-up is looking:

Singer/Guitarer – Jon Finley (beaten awake, the man i fell in love with)
Guitarer – Jamie Stillman (harriet the spy, party of helicopters, teeth of the hydra)
Bass guitarer – Patrick Carney (the black keys)
Synthesizer – Steve Clements (houseguest)
Drummer – Gregory Boyd (ghostman sandman)

Pat has been working on a lot of interesting projects lately, like scoring an animated video for Art Spiegelman. Can’t wait to see Drummer live.

You can hear more music on their MySpace page. They’ve got their first show in Columbus coming up next week. Flyer magic:

These two songs popped up on the internets over the last few days and wanted to make sure you heard them..

MP3: Periodically Double or Triple from Yo La Tengo’s upcoming album, Popular Songs, due September 8. More details here.

MP3: Where Was My Brain (demo) by Ted Leo from upcoming album (release date/name unknown)

MP3: Willis the Fireman by Flotation Walls

Flotation Walls, lead in one version or another by Carlos Avendaño, have been haunting the Columbus music scene for what seems like nearly a decade. During those years there have been flourishes of activity and long periods of apparent dormancy. But one thing we’ve been missing throughout is a proper full length from these guys. So to say that the release of the Nature LP tomorrow at Skully’s has been a long time coming is no exaggeration.

I mean, with all the talk and speculation and legitimate anticipation surrounding a release date and the subsequent passage of those dates, this record is pretty much Columbus’s Chinese Democracy. Really- after the release of a nugget or two in 2003, people were pissed when this thing was delayed until December of 2004. The Chinese Democracy comparison is mostly for the sake of humor, but it has its utility too. In both cases, the elapsed time between conception and delivery was used by the respective captains to tweak, add to, and retool the contents and production in an effort to produce a grandiose master work. To a degree both Carlos and Axl have, in striving for an epic album, managed a certain amount of success and at times to overdo it as well. The analogy begins to break down when looking at the final product though, as the triumph versus try-too-hard ratio clearly favors the Flotation Walls. (more…)

Mp3:DJ Detox-Joy Division Mix

 DJ Detox of Get Right,and Channing/Carley/Raina’s house party fame created a mix of the Manchester Post-Punk group’s music  for today’s Joy Divisions Art Show .

The art show is  in the  front  the Columbus Metropolitian today from 2-7:30 pm. (Downtown)

Joy Divisions curated by Eva Ball is inspired by pretty much any angle you can take on Joy Division. From Nazi sex slave camps to song interptations to abstracted word associations.

(Ask yourself, Whats a Joy Division? The 2010 pick-up line) 

It’s a pretty thought provoking vechile.

(more…)

The Meat Puppets will perform an acoustic in-store at Used Kids at 6pm and then a full-blown rock set at The Summit a few hours later with the Retribution Gospel Choir (side project for Low’s Alan Sparhawk) opening.

Duffy’s been asking me for years to convert my old interview cassettes into MP3s for archival purposes. After hanging with the Meat Puppets and their manager, Dennis, in Austin during SXSW a few months ago, I decided that the interview I did with bassist Cris Kirkwood back in ‘94 for MOO Magazine would be a good first “From the Chip Midnight archives …” feature. This interview was done shortly after Kurt Cobain killed himself. The Meat Puppets were being hounded with interview requests due to their friendship with Cobain but very few, if any, interviews were being granted. Fortunately, I had put in my request to speak with them BEFORE Cobain died and their publicist, Regina Joskow, let me be one of the few writers to talk to them.

MP3: Cris Kirkwood interview from 1994

While we were waiting for the Kirkwood brothers to finish up recording their Daytrotter session in Austin, Dennis suggested that rather than interview the band, I should take my ‘94 interview, and every time they mention Too High to Die (the album they were promoting at the time), I should swap in Sewn Together (the brand new Meat Puppets album). If you give the interview a listen (a little boring at times, I’ll admit – but there is some really funny stuff scattered throughout), you’ll see how easy it could have been to pass it off as a recent interview.

You can check out the feature I did on the Meat Puppets in The Big Takeover (issue 64), on newsstands soon (I’m a subscriber and got my issue in the mail yesterday).

MP3: Bruno’s Torso by Death Vessel

Sub Pop’s Death Vessel (above) and Bird and Flower are playing an early show Saturday at Cafe Bourbon St. Music is expected to start around 8:30 so don’t be late.

What makes this show a little extra special is Dan Gerken (of Miranda Sound) will be playing cello with Bird and Flower. I can’t remember the last time I saw Dan play cello live so I am really excited about this. Tyler Evans from Super Desserts and Couch Forts will also be performing with the band.

My little record label, Sunken Treasure Records, is releasing the Bird and Flower full length vinyl in July.