Schedule:
Fri, Jan 22 / Pontiac, MI / Crofoot Ballroom
Sat, Jan 23 / Madison, WI / Barrymore Theatre
Sun, Jan 24 / St. Louis, MO / The Pageant
Tue, Jan 26 / Lawrence, KS / Granada Theatre
Wed, Jan 27 / Tulsa, OK / Cain’s Ballroom
Thu, Jan 28 / Houston, TX / Warehouse Live
Fri, Jan 29 / Austin, TX / Antone’s
Sat, Jan 30 / Dallas, TX / Granada Theatre
Ticket info here.
The last time I had the chance to see The Magnetic Fields, I went and got married instead. OOPST.
The band has a new album out January 26 on Nonesuch Records. Complete tour dates after the jump. (more…)
Annie Clark has played Columbus a number of times in the past couple of years. I fell in love with Ms. Clark while watching her perform with the Polyphonic Spree at SXSW a few years ago but somehow have managed to miss every one of her St.Vincent shows. Time for that to change. Tour dates below.
2/3 Victoria, BC Element
2/4 Vancouver, BC Venue
2/5 Seattle, WA Neumos
2/6 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge (2 shows, 6pm + 10pm)
2/8 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
2/9 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theater
2/10 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Taverm
2/11 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room
2/13 Denver, CO The Bluebird Theater
2/15 Lawrence, KS Bottleneck
2/16 Iowa City, IA The Industry
2/17 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall
2/18 Chicago, IL Metro
2/19 Pontiac, MI The Pike Room at The Crofoot
2/20 Columbus, OH Outland on Liberty
2/21 Pittsburgh, PA Diesel Club
2/23 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theater
2/24 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
2/25 Philadelphia, PA First Unitarian Church – Sanctuary
Wildbirds & Peacedrums open all dates.
Photo by Jillian Mapes
I remember the first time I heard the name Andrew Bird. Though I’m somewhat ashamed to admit this, it was Friday, April 13th, 2007. (Yes, the last time he played the Southern Theatre.) The sweetly meek Chicagoan happened to be one of the faces I was serving at a restaurant that afternoon. I had no idea of the talent sitting in front of me and was honestly just happy he was polite and low-maintenance.
Two years later…
With the melodies still reverberating through my head a full week after the his Wexner Center show at the Southern, it’s safe to say the sold-out show was worth it’s equivocal weight in musical gold. (And I officially feel stupid.) Between the consistently eloquent tone of his lyrics and his equally impressive skill as a one-man ensemble, Bird himself proved to be a Noble Beast. His endearing awkwardness in small-talk between songs filled the theater with a charm that was inescapable. Bird encored with St. Vincent and covered Bob Dylan’s “Oh Sister,” which was a true treat.
Opener St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) played an electric set that primed the anticipatory mood of the evening. Clark is touring on her newest album, Actor, which is a mature progression from the last. (I’ve found it impossible to stop listening to either.) She somehow managed to juggle a perfectly rosy demeanor with some bad-ass guitar playing in a way only someone who had once been in a 23-piece band could.
Both acts continue separate tours through the end of the year.
photo by k. maroon
MP3: The Loved Ones – Distracted
MP3: The Loved Ones – The Bridge
Back when I was a Philadelphia middle-school kid with a mushroom haircut and giant tortoise-shell glasses, I remember getting my introduction to the city’s hardcore scene through a cassette tape by a band called Step Ahead. It was my older brother’s tape, and like most kids with big bros, his music taste became my own, so I’d sneak a listen to anything he came home with. What made this cassette even cooler, though, was that Step Ahead’s guitarist, Dave Hause, went to our school. That tape was my first experience with a DIY band. My brother gave me the evil eye whenever I said I wanted to go to a Step Ahead show with him, so I never saw them live, but I played that tape on my big, spaceship-looking Aiwa stereo often.
Dave Hause went on to play in more well-known hardcore bands (the Curse, Paint it Black), and these days you’ll catch him playing catchy, polished punk-rock (with a pinch of Americana here and there) in The Loved Ones, which now includes Dave Walsh (ex-the Explosion). The Loved Ones released their full-length debut on Fat Wreck Chords last year, and this year they put out an EP called Distractions. (Judging by the EP’s covers, they’ve been distracted by Springsteen and Billy Bragg.) Check out the mp3s above to see if it’s your thing.
You can catch the Loved Ones here in Columbus on Monday, Oct. 26, at the Newport with the Gaslight Anthem and Murder by Death. And on Friday, Nov. 13, Dave Walsh will play a SWEATIN pre-show at Circus with Tin Armor, Dane Terry and Atlantic/Pacific (ex-Texas is the Reason), followed by Le Principle (Brooklyn Fire), Dustin Knell (ex-Adulture?) and CJ Townsend. Update: According to Sweatin, this show is not happening anymore.
And, for old time’s sake, here’s a track from that old Step Ahead demo tape…
MP3: Step Ahead – Apart (thanks Severed Forever)
Donewaiting presents Blitzen Trapper and Wye Oak at Skully’s on Tuesday, October 13. More info can be found here.
Before the interview begins, some obligatory praise for Wye Oak’s sophomore release, The Knot (listen to it, in full, at the end of the interview). Admittedly I was relatively unfamiliar with the duo (Jenn Wasner – guitars/vocals, Andy Stack – drums, keyboards) other than checking out a couple of MP3s from If Children that we posted last year on the site. That being said, within the first 5 minutes of The Knot, I emailed the duo’s publicist at Merge Records and said something to the effect of “Is it possible to fall in love with an entire CD before the second song has even ended? If so, I’ll drop to one knee and propose to Wye Oak on the spot.”
MP3: “Take It In”
The Knot opens with the spacey “Milk and Honey” – the subtle effects-pedal-drenched guitar hanging in the background (the guitar playing – and the song itself – remind me a lot of Ashland’s Bel Auburn). It’s the first – and last – song that Stack will provide lead vocals on on the CD. The rest of the CD works on the ebb and flow of slow to loud, loud to soft that bands that Wye Oak have compared to are so proficient in (Yo La Tengo, My Morning Jacket, The Spinanes). It’s a beautiful sounding, at times loud and chaotic, CD and, as mentioned before, one that knocked me out from the get-go.
A few weeks into a tour with Blitzen Trapper, I sent Wye Oak some questions via email hoping they’d have internet access somewhere along the way. They did and the following are Jenn’s answers to the questions I sent.
Have you found that touring with a band like Blitzen Trapper – a band with critical buzz – has led to a “fan” buzz? Have you been pleasently surprised with the attendance at shows so far on the tour or have you played to smaller crowds than expected?
The shows with BT have been so excellent! It’s always interesting to play to audiences that aren’t necessarily there to see you. It puts you in a position where you have to try to win people over, and that really provides a good bit of energy and excitement, especially when you’ve been playing shows for weeks and weeks. It’s always really satisfying when you can get a good response out of an audience that’s never heard your music before. (more…)
Columbus boys Two Cow Garage just added some dates playing the support slot for The Hold Steady. Hopefully it’ll bring ‘em some much-deserved exposure. Info below. …This should also make for some interesting posts in that Two Cow Tour Journal we’ve been (intermittently) bringing you.
10/17 – St. Olaf College – Northfield, MN
10/18 Fargo Theater – Fargo, ND
10/19 The Railyard Ale House – Billings, MT
10/20 The Filling Station – Bozeman, MT
10/21 The Big Dipper – Spokane, WA
And before all that happens, you can catch Two Cow Garage at the Rumba Cafe this Thursday with the Cinema and Crudely Fashioned.
(Joel’s note: I’ll be posting these in sections as I get them, which is just now, so we’re starting at the first of the tour and we’ll work our way up to the present…)
JULY 31st – INDIANAPOLIS
Two Cow has been touring for seven years and not once in that time have we ever traveled with a trailer. We’ve debated it to the point of exhaustion and I personally have railed against it. Up until this point I have won out, maybe because I do most of the driving, or maybe because no one wanted to hear me bitch, but for whatever reason it just did not happen. Until now. The tour we are currently involved with is a package tour, a sort of revue of our record label Suburban Home Records. So, the Suburban Home Records Tour is to feature Two Cow Garage, Austin Lucas, Mike Hale, and a smattering of Jon Snodgrass. Six people all traveling in our van. I finally lost the trailer fight. I will say this, at the risk of sounding stubborn, there are pros and cons. That’s all.
So we start the tour in Indianapolis, where we are to meet Mike Hale and Austin Lucas. We’ve borrowed a trailer from a friend, and before it’s even completely loaded up we realize that the taillights are not working properly. After an hour in an Auto Zone parking lot, the decision is made that they are working “good enough” and that we should just head to Indianapolis and see how things shake out. The drive is fine and once we reach Indy we decide to spend the extra time on getting the taillights figured out, which, with the help of a nice O’Reilly’s employee, and another hour in a parking lot, we do. Or I should say Andy does, I have no fucking clue about that stuff. We meet up with Mike Hale (whom we’ve never really met), and Austin Lucas at the show, which was possibly the best show we’ve ever had in Indy. It has not been a very friendly town to us in the past. The next show of the tour is back in Columbus, which is also something we’ve never done before, played at home during a tour. We drive straight back home after the show.
AUG. 1ST – COLUMBUS
Turns out playing a show at home to kick off a tour is not a bad way to start. Even with the New Bomb Turks playing at another club we still had a great show. Austin is from Indiana but a lot of his family lives in the Ohio/Michigan/Indiana, tri-state area and he records with his father and family backing him. Several of them came out and played with him, which turned out to be pretty cool.
I don’t remember how I got home.
(more…)
mp3: Two Cow Garage – Bastards and Bridesmaids
Two Cow Garage’s newest record, Speaking in Cursive, was one of my favorite Columbus releases of last year. And I’m not the only one to show these dudes lots of love locally. Things seem to be snowballing for the band in 2009, with more positive press. Paste writer Andy Whitman had this to say recently on the magazine’s website:
Sounding either like Steve Earle fronting The Replacements or Paul Westerberg fronting Drive-By Truckers, take your pick, these four lads rock and lope, but mostly they bash the hell out of their instruments and sing their rough and ragged but literate tales of the lost and the losers, kids who were raised on Jesus and Disney movies and meth labs, bored and lethargic and intermittently, furiously committed to busting out of their dead-end farm towns… There are thirteen songs here and thirteen winners; raw, jagged slices of visceral rock ‘n roll that redefine both the words “poetry” and “slam.”
I’d agree with all that, and also add that Two Cow Garage is one of the best live bands you’ll see, period, no doubt thanks to the band’s nonstop touring. …So on that note, I’d like to introduce the Two Cow Garage Tour Diary, part one of which will be coming shortly, penned by Shane Sweeney (bass, vox). And if you’ve yet to see Two Cow live (shame on you!), there’s plenty of dates left on the second leg of the current tour:
9/09/09 – Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO
9/10/09 – The Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS
9/11/09 – Three Kings Tavern – Denver, CO
9/12/09 – Three Kings Tavern – Denver, CO
9/13/09 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
9/14/09 – The Badlander – Missoula, MT
9/15/09 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA
9/17/09 – Sam Bond’s Garage – Eugene, OR
9/18/09 – Ash Street (MusicFEST NW) – Portland, OR
9/20/09 – Thee Parkside – San Francisco, CA
9/21/09 – Cranes Hollywood Tavern – Los Angeles, CA
9/23/09 – Yucca Tap Room – Tempe, AZ
9/25/09 – Take II – El Paso, TX
9/26/09 – Emo’s (indoors) – Austin, TX
9/27/09 – Double Wide – Dallas, TX
A long, long time ago (2006) in a land far, far away (Austin), Sound Team released its major-label debut, Movie Monster, after years of DIY releases & touring and mounting “next-big-thing” buzz. It was a tough album to pin down, with influences on the sleeve and all over the map (Spoon, Interpol, Walkmen, U2); the only constants were layered, pulsing electronics and big hooks. It’s soulful, impassioned and still holds up today, I think. But Movie Monster got mixed reviews (this may hold the record for the most grotesquely snarky), it didn’t sell well, and the next year Sound Team called it quits.
Sunday night (8/9) at the Treehouse you can catch the new project from 1/2 of the former band’s songwriting duo, Matt Oliver. (It also includes ex-Sound Team drummer Jordan Johns.) TV Torso, named after a song off Movie Monster, has a more organic vibe, but with Oliver’s vocal scratch intact and leading the charge, fully freed of unrealistic, fairy-tale expectations.
Chris Burney (The Sun) opens.
The last time Silversun Pickups came to town was for the 2007 edition of CD101’s Summerfest (my favorite in recent memory). The band slayed. I remember being amazed at how Brian Aubert’s gigantic guitar sound filled the pavilion to the brim. All for $5.
At $30, tonight’s show is pricier (tickets still available), but I imagine the new songs will translate just as well live since the formula didn’t change a whole lot from Carnavas to Swoon. Which is fine by me.
Here’s a recent video of the band performing “Panic Switch” unplugged.
Apparently the band also enjoyed some Dirty Frank’s dogs last night…
The Lips are coming back to the LC Pavilion, presumably with lots of confetti and a big ol’ bubble, for the first time since the summer ‘06 tour with Sonic Youth. (Above photo from that show, courtesy PicturetheSound.) Outdoor show, Sept. 18. Tickets on sale Aug. 8 for about $30.
Wayne Coyne and crew also just released a 3-song EP with the self-explanatory title Songs from the Future Album Embyronic. iTunes, Amazon and Lala all gots it. Is it me, or does “Convinced of the Hex” sound downright Spoony?
Embryonic, a double album, is due out 9/29.
Crippled Black Phoenix/Ascent of Everest/Brainbow
Ravari Room
Saturday, April 4
$10
Six years ago, almost to the day, Chris Wood pulls off a major coup, booking Aereogramme at The Factory. Anybody remember that? It was an amazing show and the only time that the great Scottish band Aereogramme ever played in Columbus. Chris now book shows at the Ravari Room and has once again delivered a fantastic early April present to me (and the city of Columbus) – Crippled Black Phoenix. Unless you’re an Electric Wizard or Mogwai fan, you’re probably not too familiar with this band and that’s too bad. But you’ve got potentially a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the band – 8 people strong – Saturday night. How they are all going to fit on the Ravari Room stage is worth the price of admission alone!
While the band likes to describe their music as “endtime ballads,” I think it sounds like Mogwai covering Pink Floyd for a movie soundtrack. Check it out for yourself:
MP3: Rise up and Fight
I interviewed Justin Greaves, singer/guitarist of Crippled Black Phoenix, earlier this week, the day before he (and band) were going to hop on a plane and fly halfway across the globe to play two weeks worth of dates in the U.S. Here’s a quick snippet from the interview: (more…)
Benco’s got another great one coming up this weekend but this one is sliding in under the radar (no preview in either the Other Paper or the Alive this week). Meredith Godreau began performing under the name Gregory And The Hawk in 2003, added Mike McGuire in 2005, self-released an EP and a full length which sold about 15,000 copies, and signed to FatCat Records (where she joined Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad among others) in 2008. Last month, Gregory And The Hawk’s FatCat debut, the excellent Moenie and Kitchi, was released and music bloggers around the globe are falling in love with the simple-yet-elegant indie/folk rock and Godreau’s almost childlike voice.
You can probably pick out the influences in GATH’s music but Godreau has gone so far as to clearly say that The Lemonheads, The Blake Babies, My Bloody Valentine and The Sundays (DEFINITELY The Sundays … and, while she didn’t say so, how about Lisa Loeb and/or Tanya Donelly too?) are important parts of her musical identity.
MP3: Doubtful
Benco says this will be an early one by Café Bourbon Street (2216 Summit St.) standards with Gregory And The Hawk playing around 9pm following an opening set by locals Our Cat Phillip. If you’re looking for a way to unwind after the Buckeyes stomp the Wolverines, this would be a good and safe bet. Cover charge is $8 and it’s an ALL AGES show (additional surcharge for those under 21). Info here.
I asked Meredith and Mike to snap some road photos on this leg of the tour and they were kind enough to oblige the request. You can check out the Gregory And The Hawk Photo Tour Diary over on AtomicNed.com.
Everyone who has seen them live recently have said they put on a really great show, so I am really considering hitting the Columbus show (pending ticket prices).
10/23/08 San Antonio TX [AT&T Center]
10/25/08 New Orleans, LA [City Park - Voodoo Festival]
10/28/08 Orlando, FL [UCF Arena]
10/29/08 Jacksonville, FL [Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena]
11/1/08 Greenville, SC [Bi-Lo Center]
11/3/08 Greensboro, NC [Greensboro Coliseum Complex]
11/5/08 Charlottesville, VA [John Paul Jones Arena]
11/8/08 Manchester, NH [Verizon Wireless Arena]
11/9/08 Worcester, MA [DCU Center]
11/11/08 Ottawa, QUE [Scotiabank Place]
11/12/08 Montreal, QUE [Bell Centre]
11/14/08 Hamilton, ONT [Copps Coliseum
11/15/08 Grand Rapids, MI [Van Andel Arena]
11/17/08 Columbus, OH [Schottenstein Center]
11/18/08 Fort Wayne, IN [Memorial Coliseum]
11/20/08 Cedar Rapids, IA [US Cellular Center]
11/21/08 Columbia, MO [Mizzou Arena]
11/22/08 Tulsa, OK [BOK Center]
11/25/08 Minneapolis, MN [Target Center]
11/26/08 Council Bluffs, IA [Mid-America Center]
11/28/08 Rapid City, SD [Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Arena]
11/29/08 Billings, MT [MetraPark Arena]
12/1/08 Saskatoon, SASK [Credit Union Centre]
12/4/08 Kelowna, BC [Prospera Place]
12/5/08 Victoria, BC [Save On Foods Memorial Centre]
12/7/08 Portland, OR [Rose Garden Arena]
12/8/08 Nampa, ID [Idaho Center - Arena]
12/9/08 Missoula, MT [Adams Center]
12/12/08 Sacramento, CA [Arco Arena]
12/13/08 Las Vegas, NV [Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino - Theater for the Performing Arts]
