Kurt Vile on tour, Castle a really bad show

I really like this Kurt Vile & the Violators song that Radio K is playing. It's off something called The Hunchback EP, but damn it, the tracks on dude's MySpace page sound nothing like that. How mysterious! Luckily, I found a blog called Sound on Sound that not only has a nice lil' write-up of the title track, but also has--oooooh--an MP3!!! According to Wikipedia, Kurt Vile has been compared to Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and Tom Petty." Yes, because as we all know, Tom Petty's classic "Mary Jane's Last Dance" is, in reality, about a beautiful woman with an abnormal convex curvature of the upper spine. It's true!


Kurt Vile is, apart from the Violators, (which a very superficial scan of the internetz told me is his "rock'n'roll band" or something) a member of indie favorite War on Drugs.

(Sorry this is not a very "funny" week for me, everyone. My roommate has intriguingly bad cop drama Castle on in the background and its badness is really distracting. The female lead keeps calling him "Castle." As in "Did you look at those reports, Castle? Now, I agree with you, Castle, but you know, Castle, that the DA thinks you're a loose cannon. And Castle, you know, sometimes, I do, too." It's like that.)


08.25.09 - Santa Ana, CA - Galaxy Theature #%
08.26.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubador % !
08.27.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
08.28.09 - Santa Barbara, CA - Muddy Waters %
08.29.09 - Big Sur, CA - Big Sur (Mexican Summer/Folk Yeah fest)
08.30.09 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill % !
09.01.09 - Portland, OR - Berbati’s Pan %!
09.02.09 - Eugene, OR - Basement 1287 ^
09.03.09 - San Francisco, CA - House Party ^
09.04.09 - Sacramento, CA - TBA ^
09.05.09 - Los Angeles, CA - FYF Fest ^
10.02.09 - Philadelphia, PA - AKA Music
10.03.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Kungfu Necktie
10.07.09 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
10.08.09 - Poughkeepsie, NY - Vassar College
10.11.09 - Lexington, KY - Al’s Bar (WFRL’s Boomslang After Show)
10.12.09 - Bloomington, IN - Video Saloon
10.13.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
10.14.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
10.17.09 - Seattle, WA - High Dive &
10.18.09 - Portland, OR - Holocene ^ &
10.21.09 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern
10.22.09 - Santa Cruz, CA - Crepe Place
10.23.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
10.25.09 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
10.27.09 - Tempe, AZ - Modified Arts
10.29.09 - Lubbock, TX - Bash Riprocks
10.30.09 - Austin, TX - Mohawk
10.31.09 - Dallas, TX -Lounge on Elm Street
11.02.09 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone *
11.03.09 - Atlanta, GA - 529 *
11.05.09 - Washington DC - Black Cat

# Built to Spill
% Woods
^ Eat Skull
& Crystal Stilts
* Lovvers
! Dungen

Bon Iver goths it up, automatically gains 700 points in my book

OK, so I am not really into Bon Iver. I got no problems with his music, I'm just not crazy over him or anything. UNTIL NOW. Pitchfork has announced that Monsieur Iver will be performing a very, very special show...IN A CEMETERY OH DIP YES THAT IS TOTALLY WHY I POSTED THIS. Here's the low-down: On September 27, the doors of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles will creeeeeeak open at the stroke of midnight, at which point thee creatures of the night (and ostensibly the creatures of Silver Lake) will scurry in to lurk about until the hushed indie folk singer begins his performance at 6am. No, I have no idea what happens during the span of time between The Witching Hour and Sunrise. Satanic rites? Making out? A dark orgy of cooooooffee and crooooooissants? Possibly all of the above, but definitely the last one for sure. Refreshments come with the $25 price tag for the night, available at Ticketweb.com.


Hollywood Forever is theeee final resting place for people like Marion Davies, Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks Jr & Sr, Fay Wray, Rudolph Valentino, and someone named Iron Eyes Cody. He sounds pretty awesome.


09.27.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Forever Cemetery


Picture is from Highgate Cemetery in London.

Bands I didn't think I would like but it turned out I do LVII: Here We Go Magic

I didn't expect to like this band. The name made me think I might've been in for something relentlessly upbeat, with a keyboard player and a drummer who were probably in a "serious relationship," if not married. But then I started hearing a few songs on the radio and thinking "Who is this? I kind of like this haunting, lo-fi songwriting." And then the DJ would say, guess what, "Here We Go Magic." And that's cool, ya know. A couple of artists I didn't really think I'd get into were like that. Like, I didn't expect to like Bat for Lashes. Now I LOVE Bat for Lashes. You know this. Or Marissa Nadler. I was all, "Whatever, another sorta cute-lookin' female folk singer." But then WHOA I changed my mind. Good stuff, all of the above.

Something I didn't know about Here We Go Magic, until I Wikipediaed the band. It's a fellow named Luke Temple, who was born in Salem, MA. WOW. That is so cool. I have always wanted to check out Salem. AND THIS DUDE WAS BORN THERE.

Again, I am too lazy to list off all the concert dates, even though there are not a ton like the last time I did this, oh say, 15 minutes ago? I figure while you are listening to my top pick "Tunnelvision" or maybe "Fangela" here, you can just look at 'em yourself. (I realllly like the name of the latter song. It makes me think of sexy B-movie teen vampire girls who are in homeroom with you or something. Yikes. Have I mentioned I've only had ONE cup of coffee the whole day? My brain is deteriorating.)

The Intelligence and their amazing crab video

I have reported on The Intelligence, briefly once before. They've got a drummer in common with the now defunct band A-Frames, which was a big post-punk hit on my favorite MN radio station Radio K back in the golden days when I worked there and was hungover all the time there several years ago in college. They've got some releases out, but none which I own yet because, as you know, I recently discovered the French noise rock scene based out of Metz, and therefore the good people of indie rock France are getting all my income--them and Hendrick's gin, lately. (I just Wikipediaed Metz, and you know--noise rock--I kinda assumed it'd be some horrible industrialized, Nazi-flattened hole, but it actually looks really pretty! And it's populated by French guys in really angular, distorted rock bands. Heaven on earth, it must be.) Anyways, in short, The Intelligence are going on a tour, so long, so sweeping, that I am not even gonna bother to cut and paste and make it look nice here. If you want to hear this band, and you end up liking them, hell, you'll already be on their MySpace page where you can stare at their approximately three straight months of touring to your heart's content. Oh, and they've got a pretty sweet video featuring the hardest-rockin' beach crabs in show biz. Highly recommended.


Here's the one local MN date. You get that. The rest of you, you must seek elsewhere! Sorey--I am lazy. You know this.

08.27.09 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club w/ Birthday Suits and Blind Shake, both of whom are really awesome and you should go see!



Photo from Pop Montreal, my previously declared "Best Festival Ever." Or at least I'm sure I called it something like that.

OMFG! Sonic Youth on Gossip Girl!

Best. News. EVER.
FINALLY Gossip Girl, the CW drama chronicling the lives of Manhattan's super attractive, wealthy, morally ambiguous teens get a little "cred." (So you know, this show is just like my life--except that I am neither wealthy nor a teen nor a Manhattan resident.) But maybe all my too cool for school friends can appreciate GG for what it its: THE BEST SHOW ON NETWORK TELEVISION EXCEPT FOR MAYBE THE X-FILES WHICH WAS ALSO REALLY GOOD.

It seems that Thurston did a cover of "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" on an episode last year, which obviously I totally never noticed. And now the band will be performing an acoustic version of "Starpower" on the fifth episode of the new season starting SEPTEMBER 14 OMG 4 DAYS AFTER MY BIRTHDAY SO EXCITED. Apparently one of the forces behind the TV show, Stephanie Savage, is a super fan of the band and noticed footage from the show playing behind the band. You can read more at "real" news sources, but I'm not linking to them because the Pitchfork story linked to a strangely condescending Entertainment Weekly story and I will have no one blaspheme my NY teens!!! (Also, should EW really be in the business of condescension, considering? I mean, they'd probably do behind-the-scenes reporting of Jaleel White's wedding.)

Broadcast ventures stateside (incl. my 1st reference of the year to how I kinda want to go to The Defeat of JesseJames Days in a month)

Space-agey 60s pop enthusiasts Broadcast are coming to America and they've got a new EP in the works! The Warp Records website says, "Okay people...Broadcast and The Focus Group have joined hands to create a new ep of seancing songs and witch cult rumbles," and while I'm not exactly sure what the Focus Group is, nor did I find out on a veeeeery nonextensive persual of the Warp site (maybe you should look? maybe you're less eager to finish writing this blog entry and go to bed than I am), but whatever it means, it sounds pretty damn awesome.

They're coming to MN, too, which is great news. But--and this is weird--they're playing Northfield (for those not from here, a small yet charmingly historical town near Minneapolis/St. Paul which is home to some top liberal arts colleges blah blah blah.) Perhaps the band are big fans of The Defeat of Jesse James Days? I know I want to go! Whose heart wouldn't thrill to the triumphant spectacle of a rag tag group of local residents putting the kibosh on the legendary outlaws' bank robbing ways??? Especially after the overly long but oh-so-pretty (not to mention scored by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis) 2007 fillum The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford? (You can read more about my weird infatuation with how this movie looks deep in the depths of this blog's archive. But it's kind of embarrassing, so you'll have to dig it up yourself if you're that eager to read about this movie/how much of a wacko I am.) I mean, there seems to be a PAGEANT at this local festival. Who could resist? Certainly not Broadcast.

OCTOBER
15 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
17 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
18 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
20 New York, NY @ (Le) Poisson Rouge
21 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
22 Boston, MA @ The Paradise
23 Montreal, QC @ Le National
24 Toronto, ON @ Lees Palace
25 Columbus, OH @ Wexner Center
26 Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
27 Northfield, MN @ The Cave
30 Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
31 Seattle, WA @ Neumos

NOVEMBER
01 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
03 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
04 Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
05 Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
07 Denton, TX @ Hailey's

All dates with Atlas Sound and The Selmanaires

New Bat for Lashes video: so pretty, not as weird as it could be

Friday, for the first time, I will get to see my beloved (to the point it's kind of unnerving) Bat for Lashes in my hometown of Minneapolis! I have seen Natasha Khan et al. a myriad of times in London, but never before here. And so I am super excited, and I was pumped to no small degree to see the new video for "Sleep Alone" posted on Stereogum. (Um, mainly because it meant I would have to do very little searching for this week's blog post. I am actually not a huuuuuuuge fan of this song on its own, but after watching the video, I actually think I like it more. Not that I dislike it, I'm just totally nutso over some of the other tracks from Ms. Khan's latest, Two Suns.)

I really like this video for the following three reasons:

1. Natasha Khan is soooooo pretty!!! Also the video itself is pretty.
2. I, too, have recently been dealing with raging bouts of insomnia. Soooooo annoying. Time to start drinking heavily before bedtime!!
3. I also get a kick out of putting small plastic shapes into larger ones. (Ok, not technically true, but her bedroom certainly does look enchanting afterwards!)

So, please enjoy this video and forgive me for my posting laziness. It's summer and I got shit to do, like go to Lilliput, the crappy castle-themed mini-golf/BUMPER BOAT family fun center I was never allowed to go to as a child, but always wanted to go to. I think Natasha Khan would be into it.





Epic tour listing:
8.07.09 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
8.09.09 - Chicago,IL - Lollapalooza
8.12.09 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
8.13.09 - Boston,MA - Paradise Rock Club
8.15.09 - Washington,DC - 9:30 Club
8.17.09 - Atlanta,GA - The Loft @ Center Stage
8.19.09 - Austin,TX - The Parish
8.20.09 - Dallas, TX - The Loft
8.22.09 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
8.25.09 - Vancouver, BC - ?
8.26.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s
8.27.09 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
8.29.09 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
8.31.09 - Los Angeles, CA - The Music Box Theatre @ Fonda
9.05.09 - Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic
9.11.09 - Isle Of Wight - Bestival
10.01.09 - Bournemouth, England - Bournemouth Opera House
10.02.09 - Brighton, England - Brighton Dome
10.04.09 - Cambridge, England - Corn Exchange
10.05.09 - London, England - Roundhouse
10.06.09 - London, England - Roundhouse
10.09.09 - Bristol, England - Colston Hall
10.10.09 - Liverpool, England - O2 Academy
10.12.09 - Nottingham, England - Rock City
10.13.09 - Leeds, England - O2 Academy
10.14.09 - Manchester, England - Manchester Academy
10.16.09 - Cardiff, Wales - Great Hall, Cardiff University
10.17.09 - Sheffield, England - Octagon
10.19.09 - Glasgow, Scotland - O2 Academy
10.20.09 - Edinburgh, Scotland - The Picture House
10.28.09 - Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
10.29.09 - Hamburg, Germany - Uebel & Gefahrlich
10.30.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg Oude Zaal
11.02.09 - Luxembourg - Den Atelier
11.04.09 - Paris, France - Olympia

Records I bought in Chicago: ROUND ONE (Blessure Grave)

I bought the Learn to Love the Rope EP based 85% on the cover, and 15% on recommendation from the absolutely amazing staff at Permanent Records in Chicago. I was there last weekend for Pitchfork to a)sell records at the record fair with my friends from Modern Radio and b)to see the Jesus Lizard. And I dropped so much unexpected money on weird post-punk stuff and FRENCH NOISE ROCK, my latest obsession. Just wait till next week! It will be all French noise rock. Anyways, Permanent Records is possibly the coolest record store in the world (I say possibly because I don't want to emotionally cheat on my sometimes employer, Electric Fetus, but well...wellllll....) AND they have a store cat!

So, here's my pick of the week, the band Blessure Grave from San Diego. Check 'em out!!!1 The music is good, but also look at these people. I so want to be in this band. Oh wait, I am in band talks right now. (Seriously, I did not say that for effect. I actually just remembered this. I don't sleep enough now that I have a "real" job.) MAYBE MY BAND WILL BE THIS BAND. Goddamn that is one cool cover photo. CAPES!!! I can't resist them. Also, it looks like they're planning on some kind of UK tour. UK friends, don't miss them. I wanna be there. Oh yeah, and also Jesus Lizard were awesome. Just in case you were wondering!

Dream dream over this new unholily awesome Swans/Angels of Light hybrid

By now, after the last three posts I did late last night about awesome new records from HTRK, True Widow, and Bibio, you are probably thinking, "Wow I wanna be in a band with that girl." Then perhaps you looked at your large collection of Swans records and sighed and thought, "Hmm, wait a second there, friend-o. I better make sure this lady's into venerable NYC noise purveyors SWANS. But how?" Well, search no more, dude! Because OMG OMG I am so excited about this news.


It seems that Michael Gira has been playing a few shows, previewing new material that he considers just a little more Swans than his more recent, more creepily folky project Angels of Light. And now he wants to release a Swans/Angels of Light HYBRID ALBUM. His answer to an audience question after a recent show, when asked if perhaps the aforementioned unholy hybrid would tour was a resounding "maybe," but wow let me tell you that "maybe" lights up my heart. If you're in NY, check him out. He's playing some of these new jams after new Young God label signee James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand) opens.

07.25.09 – Brooklyn, NY – Issue Project Room

(PS--The title of this post is a reference to a song by Swans side project World of Skin, for the uninitiated/forgetful. Please do not think I have started reading books about the creative process and how to let loose your inner dream diva. It's nothing like that. I may say "wow" a lot but I am at heart still deeply, deeply secretly goth. JUST SO YOU KNOW.)

Oh wait, what? Another album of the year? YES. True Widow's self-titled album

Another awesome find from my local college radio station, Radio K, True Widow hail from somewhere in Texas where everything, like the HTRK record, is kinda slow and messed up, and where amazing photography apparently just happens. (Seriously, check out their MySpace, not just for my top tracks "Duelist" and "Corpse Master," but also for all the amazing Roadtrip As Shot By David Lynch style-lookin' photos.) So what can I say to properly explain how and why exactly I think this band is awesome? Well, I am not funny today, as we have seen from the previous three posts, but I do seriously believe that this shit is awesome. It gets kinda fuzzed out in places, and it's not gonna make you happy like Bibio (so maybe I should stop listening to it today while I'm home sick from work? Nah...), but it's more upbeat than HTRK. All three are awesome. All three you should go buy. GO BUY THEM. I need someone to talk to about these albums before I start getting 100% completely, overwhelmingly earnest all the time and cannot think of funny things to say about crazy animals because I am so consumed with getting friends to buy these albums.


Check it out, approximately 1 Texan reader! They're playing your home state.

07.18.09 - Dallas, Texas - The Cavern
07.21.09 - Dallas, Texas - Granada Theater
08.01.09 - Denton, Texas - Hailey’s*
08.31.09 - allas, Texas - Pastime Tavern**

*w/ Silk Stocking, Nervous Curtains, & the Great Tyrant
**w/ Sleepy Sun

Other record of the year: Bibio

Warp Records artist Bibio came out of nowhere one morning while I was driving to work to totally rock my world. I was listening to the Top 7 Countdown on my favorite college radio station, Radio K, and it was all kinda "meh." And then suddenly this song kicks in that reminds me in a lot of ways of the Durutti Column's "Sketch for Summer," a song which has always managed to make me really happy no matter what's going on. English producer guy Bibio's tracks "Jealous of Roses" and "Ambivalence Avenue" (off the album of the same name) make me feel the same way. (Listen here!)

This is the other album you should buy besides HTRK so that we can talk about it. Of course, I don't know what kind of person besides me would be equally into such two strikingly different albums, but maybe you are. And you should be. Top notch stuff here. From the looks of his MySpace, Bibio is also extremely into CATS, which as anyone will tell you, gives you major points with me.

Record of the year: HTRK's "Marry Me Tonight"

(Image borrowed from Emma Pop via BoingBoing. This picture does a very good job of conveying what this band is like in concert, and so I hope all parties involved are ok with me reposting it!)

When the Horrors opened for the Kills and I first heard that song "Mirror's Image," I kept telling everyone at the show how they were "missing the 2nd Best Band in London!!!!" Well, HTRK are the #1 Best Band in London, and in my heart. People who have been with this blog from the start have been treated to a seemingly endless non-variety of posts fawning over this Melbourne/London threepiece. And so far most of the physical recordings I've so eagerly anticipated from the group have not lived up to the gloom-heavy, intense atmosphere of the live performances, and all the YouTube videos have bad sound. But now, thanks to wonderful Mute imprint Blast First Petite and Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S. Howard (who produced HTRK's recent full-length Marry Me Tonight), you too can experience that ominously grinding noise-rock-on-Sizzurp sound in the comfort of your very own home!


This band gets a lot of comparisons to Suicide, which makes sense, and I think there's a certain similarity to Swans in the darkly sexual nature of some of their tracks. (But then again I would find a similarity to Swans in anything if I could.) Check out Rent Boy, for an example, on the HTRK MySpace page. This track has always been a favorite of mine. You really need to buy Marry Me Tonight so that we can talk about this album. Especially Minneapolis people--I feel like there would be a lot of people into this sort of thing, even though it is a little bit (lotta bit) dirgier than your everyday DANCE NOISE ROCK (kidding, kidding!). I did find my favorite track from this release, "Shoot You Up," available to hear on Amazon.com, where they have humorously assigned it the more family friendly name of "She's Seventeen." It opens with the lines "Outside your house/where have you been/I'm hanging out/to get closer" and you know this isn't like just sitting on your front porch to hang with your best bud and have a few beers. It's kinda scary--but scary good. I LOVE YOU HTRK!!!!! Seriously, everyone buy this record now.

Side note: Sorry this post is in no way funny or really entertaining. That would entail me picking my tongue up off the floor and being witty. And I am saving that for this weekend when I go on a CHICAGO ROADTRIP.

Dinosaur Jr tour!

As previously reported on this blog, Dinosaur Jr. have a new album out as of this week, entitled Farm (or at least I think I posted something close to that piece of news--I have been working 11 hours or so a day for the past couple of days and really I just wanna do my blog writing for the week before taking a lengthy, sweet NAP.) Recently Pitchfork declared the album to have like "Best New Artwork" or something, which is total shit, unless you're like, a first year of college hippie who thinks a drawing of giant green creatures stalking through what looks like a more bustling version of Gary, Indiana is totally groundbreaking and really has a unique message, maaaaaan. Or if you're the little girl from the Scorpions' Virgin Killer album, because that is what it looks like the giant green message-bearing creatures are transporting. (I don't know--it's not horrible. It's not on the level of hatred I reserve for Little Feat covers--anthropomorphic tomato women are NEVER sexy, NEVER--or say, the Rippingtons, who have this freaky lookin' late 90s cat mascot who does Jazz Dad stuff, like playing golf, or lounging on the deck after mowing the lawn. Trust me: this cat is so heinous I won't even post a link to him. And ordinarily I love all cats.


Anyways, Dinosaur Jr. have this new album. And so they have an upcoming tour this fall, which stops in my fair city. So exciting!


Dinosaur Jr. Fall Tour

08/14/09 Wellfleet, MA @ Wellfleet Beachcomber
08/16/09 New York, NY @ Central Park SummerStage
09/30/09 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre*
10/01/09 Montreal, QUE @ Pop Montreal Festival*
10/02/09 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East*
10/03/09 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East*
10/04/09 Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights*
10/07/09 New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place*
10/08/09 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club*
10/09/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts*
10/10/09 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall*
10/11/09 Pontiac, MI @ The Crofoot*
10/13/09 Madison, WI @ The Majestic Theatre*
10/14/09 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant*
10/15/09 Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre*
10/16/09 Louisville, KY @ Headliner's Music Hall*
10/17/09 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse*
10/26/09 Kansas City, MO @ The Beaumont Club*
10/27/09 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown*
10/29/09 Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater*
10/30/09 Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre*
10/31/09 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
11/03/09 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theatre*
11/04/09 Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern *
11/06/09 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore*
11/07/09 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom*
11/10/09 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
11/11/09 Victoria, BC @ Sugar Nightclub
11/13/09 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
11/14/09 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall Ballroom
11/16/09 Saskatoon, SK @ Odeon Events Centre
11/17/09 Winnipeg, Man. @Pyramid Cabaret
11/18/09 Minneapolis, MN @First Avenue
11/19/09 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
11/20/09 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop

* with lou barlow + the missingmen

New ATP documentary helps you relive parts of my life you never wanted to know happened

Great news for anyone who received a drunken phone call from me at December 2007's All Tomorrow's Parties! ATP is set to release a concert film chock-full of footage from recent acts, including perhaps the very same Portishead set where BETH GIBBONS TOUCHED MY HAND. Not once, but twice!, did this happen. (Side note: many people also know my infamous "I was hugged by Beth Gibbons" story. But not EVERYBODY knows it, and therefore I proudly present to the internet this gem of information: I was hugged by Beth Gibbons. At her solo show at St. Paul's Fitzgerald Theatre in 2003. WOW. That was a long time ago. Gettin' old. YIKES.) Other acts featured on the DVD include Iggy and the Stooges, Battles, Sonic Youth, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Belle And Sebastian, Patti Smith, Animal Collective, Mogwai, Slint, Grizzly Bear, Grinderman, The Gossip, Daniel Johnston and The Boredoms. Warp Films is putting the thing out on September 23, which is just after my birthday, but I'm okay with that as long as you tell me on or before my birthday that you're buying me this and are just waiting for it to come out so that you can give it to me.


The film is an assemblage of cell phone video, camcorder, and Super 8 footage from fans, musicians, and proper filmmakers. Assembled by director Jonathan Caouette and cinematographer Vincent Moon, all these different quality-level shots should give you a pretty solid idea of what it was like to be experiencing ATP from the underfed and overpartied eyes of ME. Seriously, I can still recall the horrifying taste of those well-intentioned but revolting pineapple shots. Absolutely one of the Top 3 Worst Drinks in My Personal Life History. (The others being anything with SoCo in it that I drank at the last SXSW and the unholy potato liquor/Mountain Dew cocktail created by my friend and fellow SXSW/ATP attendee, Cian. A dubious honor, to be sure!)

I can't help it. I love this Horrors song so much!

Laugh all you want: I love The Horrors. I am not ashamed to let you know this. (Most of you already know this.) Sure, a lot of their press photos make them look like the English goth equivalents of the Hot Topic-spawned musical victims commonly known as "mall punks." But they are awesome--trust me--and not just because I figure anyone who has bat tattoos must pretty well know what's up. (This theory is based on close scientific observation...of myself. I have bat tattoos, or battoos, as I like to call them. AND I know what's up. DO I EVER.)

Alright, now that I've blathered my way through my preface, allow me to suggest you take a listen to the track "Mirror's Image" on the band's MySpace page. My beloved local college radio station (and former place of employment)Radio K has been giving this thing regular rotation and let me tell you it is a stone cold jam. I plan on listening to this track online until my credit card bill cycle starts anew and I can go blow my limited income on records. It is especially vital that you give this song a listen because you have to start liking this band by October, at which point I will be attending the band's show at the Turf Club in lovely St. Paul, MN, and I will probably be attending it by myself. UNLESS YOU COME WITH ME.


Other things: the band's 2nd album, Primary Colours, was recorded by Geoff Barrow of Portishead, whom I have met and creeped out. (I was very young and very effusive.) It's out on XL Recordings.



9/15 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
9/16 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s
9/17 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
9/18 Baltimore, MD Sonar- Club Stage
9/19 Washington, DC Black Cat
9/21 Atlanta, GA The Earl
9/22 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks
9/24 Houston, TX Walter’s on Washington
9/25 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
9/26 Austin, TX Emo’s Alternative Lounging (outside)
9/28 Tempe, AZ The Clubhouse Music Venue
9/29 San Diego, CA The Casbah
9/30 Costa Mesa, CA The Detroit Bar
10/1 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theater
10/2 Pomona, CA The Glass House
10/3 San Francisco, CA The Independent
10/5 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
10/6 Seattle, WA Neumo’s
10/7 Vancouver, BC Venue
10/10 St. Paul, MN Turf Club
10/11 Chicago, IL Double Door
10/12 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
10/14 Toronto, ON Lee’s Place
10/15 Montreal, QC Petit Campus
10/16 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/17 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell’s

Videos I don't get: Royksopp with Robyn edition

This post definitely falls under the "I was online for over an hour looking for stuff to post about and couldn't find anything and I really wanted to watch The OC/read Dangerous Liaisons and so I just dug something up and made up snarky comments about it" heading. Below you'll find the video for "The Girl & The Robot," the new single from Royksopp featuring Robyn. I am still up in the air about this video/song for the following, sligthly conflicting reasons:

1. I am not really into Royksopp. I remember Radio K, the college radio station I worked at for many years, playing some songs by the group and I didn't hate the tracks--in fact, I found some of them kinda nice--but it just wasn't totally "my thing." Ya know?

2. Robots? Come on. That stuff was funny like ten years ago, when I was still in the infernal depths of high school. This was when pirates and ninjas were funny, too, before they like, "broke." Went mainstream. (They were also funny then because I thought them up. Totally. I am the one who realized the latent comedic potential of "Arrr!" and "Does not compute!" and "Look out dude, there's a ninja behind you!!!!" YOU'RE WELCOME AMERICA. But they are not funny anymore. They are overdone. Ladies and gentlemen, may I now suggest Victorian men with dapper moustaches riding those bicycles where the front wheel is way larger than the back wheel as your next target of, um, whatever it is? You're welcome, again!)

3. I DO kinda think Robyn is pretty cool. Konichiwa Bitches is kind of a jam, and I really like that she was a successful, blandly mainstream pop artist before she reinvented herself as a sassy electro lady who's worked with The Knife, Teddybears, and Basement Jaxx.


But the more I hear this song, the more I THINK I like it. Verdict's still out. The video=meh. It features Robyne looking devastated and bored in a fancy space age pad, waiting for the return of her robot husband, who is either philandering or just totally swamped at work, babe. And that ending--um, ok??? I mean, I get the sense that you're supposed to be depressed that you're not preggo, Robyn, but seriously what did you expect? Your man is a robot. He is inherently sterile, at least in this universe. But hey, it's disco-y, it's got some Moroder moments, and I can get down with that.

Well, I guess I'll post something about The Mayfair Set

For the love of God someone please post some interesting music news SOMEWHERE! And soon! I have been waiting all week for something reasonably exciting to post on this blog, and have come up with zilch. (Kind of--I don't want to seem like I'm more on the ball than I really am. It wouldn't be too difficult to out me on that. I have been definitely spending a fair amount of time refreshing my facebook and looking at clothes, too.) I've been sitting on this computer for an hour now looking for something just mildly diverting, and here I am still, with nothing to show for it. Stereogum posted about a couple new songs from The Mayfair Set, who I decided to check out because of a) blog material desperation and b) because it's a collabo b/w Blank Dogs and Dum Dum Girls, and all these people I know had been going on about Blank Dogs, but I think that show was the night I went to Fucked Up instead, and I missed it. (Much like I missed most of Fucked Up, but that's another boring story altogether.)

And you know, I guess it's a good thing that I did give 'em ye olde listen, because they're pretty cool. They're playing a show in Brooklyn with Crystal Stilts, the "Crystal" band I prefer of the two that recently put out records. (Antlers being the other, less preferred one.) Check it out, yo, they're also playing with Blank Dogs!


07.03.09 - Brooklyn, NY - 979 Broadway Backyard (Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival w/ Blank Dogs and Crystal Stilts)

Hey, Calexico is touring!

Sometimes it's a Thursday night and you can't go out because you have a bloodtest for your regular doctor's exam in the morning and you have to fast and it reaches the point where you actually hear yourself saying, "I wonder if TMZ is on" and then you find yourself being truly pleased that you didn't miss the Access Hollywood/TMZ block that's on during the witching hour on some channel you can't necessarily name. That is me right now. Totally coherent, on the ball, and up-to-date on the break-in at Lindsay Lohan's house.

This is the sort of time when you, the reader, get some really obvious piece of news with a really stupid headline like, "Hey, Calexico is touring!" with dates that I 100% just cut-and-pasted from the official Calexico site without even really bothering to format them. Because, hey, I am tired, and I gotta go get blood sucked out of me tomorrow morning and I wanna finish updating the blog for this week before we leave behind the glittering, silicon-enhanced world of TMZ and enter the gritty, raw world of Cops. So, hey...did you know Calexico is touring?


Date Venue City State / Country
May 24 Sasquatch Music Festival George Washington
May 28 Sunshine Theater Albuquerque New Mexico
May 29 Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder Colorado
May 30 Ogden Theatre Denver Colorado
May 31 Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre Salt Lake City Utah
June 2 Pantages Theater Tacoma Washington
June 15 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center Atlanta Georgia
June 17 Tower Theatre Upper Darby Pennsylvania
June 18 Radio City Music Hall New York City New York
June 19 Bank of America Pavilion Boston Massachusetts
June 20 Walker Art Center Minneapolis Minnesota
July 1 Ippodromo Le Capanelle Rome Italy
July 2 Reggia Venaria Reale Italy
July 3 Traumzeit Festival Duisburg Germany
July 4 Musiques en Stock Cluses France
July 5 Ruisrock Festival Turku Finland
July 7 Szczecin Music Fest Szczecin Poland
July 8 Zitadelle, Citadel Music Festival Berlin Germany
July 9 Muffathalle Munich Germany
July 10 Villa Arconati Festival Milan Italy
July 11 Wenkenpark Riehen Switzerland
July 12 Cactus Festival Brugge Belgium
July 14 Zeltival Karlsruhe Germany
July 15 Centralstation Darmstadt Germany
July 16 Piazza Castello Cortile Abbaziale Sesto al Reghena Italy
July 17 Nuke Festival Weisen Austria
July 18 Poolbar Festival Feldkirch Austria
July 19 Bennicassim Festival Spain
August 7 Big Chill Festival Eastnor Castle Deer Park UK
August 8 Nuits Secretes Aulonye Aimeries France
August 9 Heitere Open Air Zofingen Switzerland
August 11 Serenadenhof Nuremberg Germany
August 12 Sziget Festival Budapest Hungary
August 13 Rock Oz’Arenes Avenches Switzerland
August 14 Pavillon Hannover Germany
August 15 Way Out West Festival Goteborg Sweden
August 20 Den Atelier Luxembourg Luxembourg
August 22 Pstero Festival Trondheim Norway
August 23 Lowlands Festival Netherlands

What? So there's a movie of the movie "Grey Gardens"?

I pinched this pick of Little Edie Beale from New York Mag's website, because it's different than the one most Grey Gardens fans have seen of her standing in front of the ancestral manse in a mink coat and it features CATS! fabulous cats! I knew there was a Grey Gardens-inspired musical, but not that there was a Jessica Lange/Drew Barrymore...um, version made for HBO. (I don't know precisely what to call it--it is a movie based on a documentary, after all. I understand it has some backstory, which I think sounds pretty awesome, but because I do not have HBO, I have not seen it. And oooooh how I want to see it, now that I know it exists!)

I am not a Drew Barrymore fan, mostly because I have never really seen any of her movies and therefore have nothing to judge her merits on apart from a)that horrendously awful trailer for that He's Just Not That Into You movie where she spouts out this already dated litany of the ways one woman and her requisite gay BFFs can overanalyze the social minutiae of Facebook, MySpace, et al. and b) the online gossip that she canoodled with Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick, and damn it, world, if you had any justice I would be the one canoodling with Ed Westwick. SIGH. But check out this trailer for the HBO Grey Gardens. It just looks so good. Have I ever mentioned before that I am a gay man inside? It's true; I am. But not the kind who gives you coded dating advice based on someone's FaceBook status, so don't ask. Just watch the trailer, and if you don't know what all I'm blathering on about, read this.



PS--While google imaging Little Edie, I came across this lovely blog, The Swelle Life. As far as I can tell it's about fashion, vintage fashion, Paris, and pretty stuff. At this point of the night my brain is more oriented towards putting TMZ on in the background than getting indepth about Richard Avedon, but oh it looks so nice!

Jam of the summer: "Just Like a Mini Mall"

No one can resist the bumpin' beats of the Montgomery, Alabama Flea Market "Just Like a Mini Mall" jingle. The dance is infectious. The MC is a charmer. It has all the makings of a summer dance HIT. Now, typically Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne tends to deal with more established artists, like say, post-punk/no wave stuff from the late 70s/80s, or smaller underground acts that, you know, like, have tours booked and stuff. Sammy Stephens is none of these things. However, he does have a totally catchy commercial jam that has been stuck in my head for three days, ever since my friend Nate first showed it to me. And therefore it can be considered blog worthy. Slap a MSTRKRFT remix on this shit, and look out dancefloor, you're about to be rocked: JUST LIKE A MINI MALL.

Richard Lloyd has awesome website, spring tour

Last night I was planning on seeing Richard Lloyd, guitarist from Television, at the Uptown Bar, even though--yes--it was at the Uptown Bar. But then this whole thing happened that occurs when you work a single retail job and have thousands of dollars in student loans: I didn't have any money. So yes, I missed Richard Lloyd, which is a real shame, but without it, I wouldn't have discovered his AWESOME WEBSITE. A blessing in disguise, see? Richardlloyd.com has lessons on playing the guitar, which would probably be more useful to me if I ever actually practiced the guitar. But the real draw here is "Ask Richard." At first I assumed (as, of course, I would) that you could ask Richard anything--like dating advice, or what's a good restaurant to take your mom to for Mother's Day. In reality, the feature is mainly about guitar tips or stuff about Television, but still, I approve. Four stars! Oh, and hey, you should go see Richard Lloyd, because I couldn't. Twenty-two minutes till The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. No time to be funny. GO SEE RICHARD!!



05.09.09 - Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub
05.11.09 - Detroit, MI - Corktown Tavern
05.13.09 - Cleveland, OH - Now That's Class
05.14.09 - Dayton, OH - Canal Street Tavern
05.15.09 - Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
05.16.09 - Boston, MA - Church

Viviangirls: I wish they were playing again next week

A couple months ago, a good friend of mine was telling me how much this band sucks. I figured he was right, because he usually is. Then I saw them for a second at SXSW, because they were playing like 5 showcases a day or something, and I was like, "Meh, this isn't really my thing." But then, wouldn't ya know it, I saw them Tuesday night in Minneapolis and they were AWWWWWWESOME. They were way more fuzzed out and post-punk sounding, and generally had a lot more going on than the stuff I'd heard before. I would strongly recommend going to see them. Sorry, previously mentioned good friend of mine. Check them out HERE. For real, they are pretty awesome. They've got loads of US, UK, and European tour dates which I didn't bother to put in any nicely formatted list because frankly I just want to read Dangerous Liaisons and watch The Daily Show. I think you can figure it (the dates) out.

May 8 2009 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Canada
May 9 2009 La Sala Rossa Montreal, Canada
May 10 2009 Middle East Upstairs Boston, MA
May 11 2009 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
May 14 2009 Po Na Na - Plan B Night Brighton, England
May 15 2009 Pavillion - Uncut Night Brighton, England
May 17 2009 Brixton Windmill London, England
May 18 2009 93 Feet East London, England
May 19 2009 Rainbow Birmingham, England
May 20 2009 Ruby Lounge Manchester, England
May 21 2009 Stereo Glasgow, Scotland
May 22 2009 Leeds Library - Stag and Dagger Event Leeds, England
May 23 2009 Dot to Dot Festival Nottingham, England
May 24 2009 Dot to Dot Festival Bristol, England
May 26 2009 Point Emphemere Paris, France
May 27 2009 Heretic Bordeaux, France
May 28 2009 Rock Store Montpellier, France
May 29 2009 Primavera Sound Festival Barcelona, Spain
May 31 2009 Hana Bi Ravenna, Italy
Jun 1 2009 La Casa Milan, Italy
Jun 2 2009 Palace St.Gallen, Switzerland
Jun 3 2009 Manufaktur Schorndorf, Germany
Jun 4 2009 Arena Vienna, Austria
Jun 5 2009 Ut Connewitz Leipzeg, Germany
Jun 6 2009 West Germany Berlin, Germany
Jun 8 2009 Prinzenbar Hamburg, Germany
Jun 9 2009 Tsunami Koln, Germany
Jun 10 2009 Merleyn Nimegen, Netherlands
Jul 19 2009 Pitchfork Festival Chicago, IL
Aug 14 2009 Way Out West Festival Goteberg, Sweden
Aug 15 2009 Flow Festival Helsinki, Finland

Save a carousel! Neutral Milk Hotel approved

So, it was taking me forever to come up with my second post for the week, and I was all set to do something about Nas and Kelis getting divorced, but then I looked at what I wrote and I was like, "WTF? This isn't some indie rock Perez Hilton ish" and after I watched Kelis' video for the fantastic song "Caught Out There" I somehow just got so totally depressed that now I am sitting around feeling all bummed out for no reason and listening to Bat for Lashes to make myself feel better. And then while frantically digging through the internets to find something that's less of a downer, I found this on Pitchfork about how Neutral Milk Hotel is asking people to vote to save the Paragon Carousel in Massachusetts. I like olde tyme stuff, and so do they. And maybe we can't save Nas and Kelis' marriage, but damn it, we can save this awesome-looking carousel.

Here's an excerpt from a letter the band wrote to fans:

Unfortunately, we live in a world where the great whirling contraptions of mechanical music and light are not as profitable to operate as other things, and carousels are worth much more taken apart and sold in pieces to museums, where one must pay to look at them behind glass, rather than having them simply existing in the world that we now all share.

The Paragon Carousel is one of the contenders for a $100,000 grant from American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation as part of the 2009 Partners in Preservation program. The winner will be selected through an online voting system, which is open till May 17. All the stuff up for the award looks totally cool, and anyone can vote, so here's the link to Partners in Preservation.

Camera Obscura tour, release video so cloying it should have Zoey Deschanel in it

Scottish indie popsters Camera Obscura (they are not twee. I do not like "twee" music.) are touring North America in support of their recently released album, My Maudlin Career. They're on 4AD now, which is cool, because I like 4AD. But here's what I don't like--their new video for the single "French Navy." Look at these people. They're having so much fun, going on vacation everywhere, acting goofy and all French New Wave-y. Pshaw. Have fun, kids. Love like yours only tempts swine flu. Although really, the guy is a little too Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lookin' for my tastes, so why the hell not, I wish you all the best in your idle rich jetset romance.


"French Navy" video

May 27 - Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge
May 28 - Newport, KY Southgate House
May 29 - Chicago, IL Metro
May 30 - Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
June 1 - Denver, CO Bluebird
June 2 - Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge
June 4 - Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
June 5 - Vancouver, BC Commodore
June 6 - Seattle, WA Showbox
June 8 - San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
June 9 - Pomona, CA Glasshouse
June 11 - Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
June 13 - Mexico City Lunario
June 15 - Austin, TX Antones
June 16 - Dallas, TX The Loft
June 18 - Birmingham, AL Bottletree
June 19 - Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
June 20 - Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle
June 21 - Washington, DC 9:30 Club
June 22 - Philadelphia, PA TLA
June 24 - New York, NY Webster Hall
June 25 - Boston, MA Somerville Theatre
June 26 - Montreal, QUE La Tulipe
June 27 - Toronto, ON Lee's Palace
June 29 - Columbus, OH Wexner Center Ohio State University
June 30 - Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls
July 25 - Derbyshire, UK Indietracks Festival

Help out my one true love, Radio K

RADIO K is the greatest place/radio station ever. Yes, I am extremely biased. I used to work there. I grew up listening to it, and dreaming that someday I would know people who liked the same music as me, and would go to shows with me. But just because I am biased doesn't mean I am not 100% fact-based honestly telling the truth. I'll spare you all my nostalgic memories--like when we got bored during the fund drive and I tried to see how much wasabi I could eat at one go, or when my best friend Sarah and I set up some styrofoam cup phones between our two offices or--OH WAIT I DIDN'T SPARE YOU AT ALL ZIIIIING!!!

Anyways, I love Radio K because they play old music, new music, local music, and music that's just too out there for other stations. Etc, etc, etc. As you know, I am very broke. But I am going to like, say, not buy the Morrissey shirt I want this month, or not take myself out for lunch one day when I get too fed up with my daily routine to eat a hurried lunch at home before work, and contribute to Radio K. Because when stuff really sucks, I need good music, and so I need to support Radio K--especially in this AWESOME economy.

That's about the limit of how serious I can be on the internet. But really, I love Radio K. There would be a giant radio shaped hole in my heart without it. And so I hope you listen to it, too, if you never have before, and if you do listen to it, that you donate just a little bit. Greil Marcus called it "The best college radio station imaginable."

Radio K, I <3 you!!

Rodriguez and Vampire Hands, together at last!

Late last summer, I started hearing this pretty rockin' track on Radio K--my beloved former place of work--by this fellow Rodriguez. It was something about Haight Street, and it was just the sort of thing you put on mix cds for people who you want to impress with your in-depth knowledge of cult rock figures when you really only know who the artist is because you happened to stumble across him/her on college radio. His album Cold Fact was recently reissued by Light in the Attic and let me tell you, it is full of stone cold hit upon stone cold hit. Practically all the info you'll read about him describes him as "folk rock" which kinda of conjures up images of long-haired women singing about pollution. Or Akron Family. But Rodriguez is way trippier, way more droll, and way more biting than any of that. You want a song where Rodriguez pleads with his drug dealer? You got it! You want a song where Rodriguez rips on rich people? You got it! You want a song where Rodriguez calls you the "coldest bitch I [he] know[s]?" You got it! In spades!! All of it in spades!

Anyways, after being considered a "lost" artist for decades, this dude went on a quest to find him. It seems Rodriguez is a revolutionary figure in South Africa. Check out this website to learn more. It's pretty interesting. But the real news here is that Rodriguez is going on tour. This is awesome!! Unfortunately I can't afford to drive down to Chicago for this, but you know who is? Local dudes and (one of my favorite Mpls bands), Vampire Hands. They're opening the show, which is pretty damn cool. (Once I had a dream about running into Angus Andrew on an escalator--he was going down, I was going up--and desperately trying to find a Vampire Hands cd to give him. In the dream he liked them. I think he would in real life, too.)



05.08.09 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
05.09.09 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
05.13.09 - Washington, DC - Rock And Roll Hotel
05.14.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
05.15.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
05.29.09 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
05.30.09 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
06.01.09 - Paris, France - Nouveau Casino
06.03.09 - Rome, Italy - Circolo Degli Artisti
06.06.09 - London, United Kingdom - Barbican Hall
06.22.09 - Vancouver, BC - Richard's On Richards Cabaret
06.23.09 -Seattle, WA - The Triple Door
06.24.09 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
06.26.09 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
06.27.09 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
07.12.09 - Liege, Belgium - Le Parc

Creepy but possibly awesome new Bat For Lashes video

Seriously, I can't decide if I like it or loathe it. As many people know, I am completely crazy about Natasha Khan and her slightly mystical kiiiiiinda Kate Bush-esque output. I love her headbands. I love her giant percussive stick. I do not love the album art for her recently released second album, Two Suns, but that's okay. Because it's been on repeat at my house (well, that and the aforementioned Pet Shop Boys song "Heart" with the video where vampire Sir Ian McKellen steals Neil Tennant's wife) and is awesome. Because I enjoy procrastinating, last Friday I watched the video for lead single "Daniel" instead of doing something else. This is the video in question. You see, when I was just starting high school, I was sleeping over at a friend's house and we were hanging out in the basement eating bad food and watching even badder TV. Jerry Springer came on and the episode was some screwed up variant on the Make-a-Wish thing, entitled "I Wanna Be a Porn Star." So Jerry, being the kindhearted fellow he is, sets this up for the lady and sends a camera crew to follow her on her path to this dream. Basically the theme of the porn she was working on was that an Earth Woman lands on a foreign planet where she meets some sexy aliens--but really they weren't sexy at all, they were kinda gross (DUH, it's porn) and my friend and I actually changed the channel and watched some lame movie instead. The weird black costumed dancers in the "Daniel" video look very similar to the porn aliens. You see my dilemma. So go ahead! Check out the song! But maybe minimize the window while the video plays. Unless of course, you're into that sort of thing.

Amazing Pet Shop Boys video where vampire Sir Ian McKellen steals Neil Tennant's wife

After hearing rumors of some possible North American dates for the Pet Shop Boys and reading about their upcoming Yes album (due April 21 here in the States), I decided to look up the London duo on Ye Olde Wikipedia. (Fun fact: ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr contributes to the album, which I think is awesome because as I was recently rambling on to a friend at the Morrissey Dance Night post-Morrissey show, I think the Pet Shop Boys are kinda like "the pop Morrissey." Just think about it.) So anyways, I was reading this Wikipedia entry and it's all "In 2009 they were awarded a Brit award and in 1985 they released this single and then in 1988 the band achieved a 4th UK #1 hit with a remixed version of "Heart."" You know blah blah blah records this, number one hit that, and then Wikipedia just drops this in there:


The video to the single, directed by Jack Bond, was a retelling of the Dracula story, starring Ian McKellen as the vampire who steals Neil Tennant's fictitious wife.


Naturally, I was like, "Whaaaaat?" And I looked it up on YouTube and not only is the video amazing, the song--which I had previously paid no attention to--is absolutely incredible. It's great! So disco-y! So heartfelt! And the vampire sings lines in it! I have posted pretty much everywhere about this, and I think--no wait, I KNOW--that I am going to sing it at karaoke tonight if they have the remixed version. So here is a link--enjoy!

Finally, a Gossip Girl cast member records a pop song

I am ending my long blog hiatus (due to SXSW, actually being productive, etc.) and not because I just bought the new Bat for Lashes or Neko Case or Marissa Nadler albums (which I did) and think they're awesome (I don't know--I haven't listened to them). No, it took a greater purpose. A more consuming passion that blabbering on about post-punk or whatever the aforementioned three artists are. I am referring of course to the new "leaked" single from Leighton Meester, the actress who plays my favorite person ever, Blair Waldorf, on TV's greatest show ever, Gossip Girl. So some of the people who heard it when I posted it on my Facebook page think it's weird. WHATEVER. I think it's awesome. Yes, the chorus is weird. But weird good. Kinda like the way Ed Westwick looks. Check it out on Perez Hilton. And yes, this is probably the only time I will ever link to Perez Hilton. MAYBE.

SXSW!!!!

It begins tomorrow. Hence my lack of updates for last week (my internet has been crapping out, and in the approximately 9 minutes it works every day, I've been replying to SXSW RSVPs), and the upcoming lack of updates this week. Expect some greatest hits from my new, possibly not-too-long-lived twitter account, http://twitter.com/abomb_mpls. I am super excited and have been daydreaming of margaritas and enchiladas on various Tex Mex patios all day. Now if only my dear friends would leave the St. Patrick's Day festivities and let me go home and sleep before my 10am flight....