Sound Bites

Summer Fridays 2.4... Monday Edition (This Week Only)

Nobody likes Mondays, but one thing that might help make the work week (if you have a job) go by quicker is this week's Summer Fridays mix which is totally late and only arriving now. I scrapped a nearly-completed version cause it wasn't working and redid the whole thing. Which is what happened with Toy Story 2, and everybody likes the way that eventually turned out. While on this Pixar analogy, I should like to point out that there are no Randy Newman songs on this mix. Cover art this week comes courtesy five-year-old music fan Diaz, who likes hearts. I told her she could pick a song for the mix and she chose The Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now" which ended up serving as inspiration for the whole thing when I redid it.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.4

TRACKLIST 

1. Johnny Boy - You Are the Generation Who Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve
2. The Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now
3. Pacific - Sunset Blvd
4. The Wave Machines - Keep the Lights On
5. Savoir Adore - Bodies
6. The Radio Dept. - David (The Rice Twins Mix)
7. The Juan Maclean - One Day
8. Esser - Work it Out
9. La Roux - Bulletproof
10. The New Sins - Feeling Have Changed
11. Sally Shapiro - Miracle
12. Bachelorette - Her Rotating Head
13. The Sound of Arrows - M.A.G.I.C.
14. Datarock - Computer Camp Love
15. Chaz Jankel - Number One
16. Ladyhawke - Manipulating Woman
17. The Dream Academy - The Edge of Forever

If you'd like to contribute artwork to a forthcoming Summer Fridays mix, please get in touch, either in the comments or via email, which can be found on this blog's right sidebar. Hope you like this one, I think it might be worth the wait. No shuffling, dammit! Since most people get Friday off for the July 4th weekend, the next Summer Fridays mix will actually go up Thursday morning. If I can get my act together.

Liner notes after the jump:

Girls | Mercury Lounge | 6.25.2009

Sometime in the last twelve months, Girls got good. They were good last July when I saw them at both Market Hotel and Glasslands, but but there was a ramshackle vibe that felt like they weren't sure whether they were really ready to leave the bedroom. But at Mercury lounge they are really good. Like "Whoa what happened" good. Credit new drummer (all loosey-goosey Keith Moon fills) and a nimble-fingered lead guitarist for the transformation. Christopher Owens and Chet White have always had the songs, mind you. In a lot of ways Girls are the ultimate San Francisco band: the laid-back vibe, the folky jammy-ness that has always been present there, as well as the neo-psych scene that has popped up over the last ten years. But it's totally different than the garage scene of Thee Oh Sees or Ty Segall (with whom they play at Cake Shop on Saturday). Girls are working on a whole other plain of dreamy, hazy beauty and noise.

MP3: Girls - Morning Light 

Girls play tonight with Real Estate and Kurt Vile. Tomorrow, Girls are at Cake Shop with the awesome Ty Segall and Charlie & the Moonhearts. You're a dummy if you miss them this time around. Girls self-titled debut drops September 22 on True Panther Sounds and it includes the great new song "All Right" which was probably last night's highlight.

Summer Fridays 2.3: Back in the Saddle

Yeehaw! There's nothing vaguely Country or Western about this mix!* But it's America, dammit, so it doesn't have to make sense. Frequent contributor Kate did another nice job with the art on this one. Summer Fridays 2.3 is a typical mix of mine, kind of all over the place with at least one sore thumb number. But it all kind of works in my mind at least. Ok, folks. Giddyup and download this sucker and enjoy.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.3

1.  Adorable - Sunshine Smile
2.  The Bicycles - Walk Away (from a Good thing)
3.  Ivy - No Guarantee
4.  Joy Zipper - Baby You Should Know
5.  DEASTRO - Toxic Crusaders
6.  Acrylics - Molly's Vertigo
7.  Summer Cats - Hey You
8.  Lotion - Rock Chick
9.  The Vitamen - The Best TV Watchers in the World
10. Metronomy - A Thing For Me (Breakbot's B-LIVE Miami Mix)
11. Box Elders - Atlantis
12. Big Star - O My Soul
13. Ty  Segall - In Your Car
14. Guided by Voices - Girls of Wild Strawberries
15. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - This is Why You Love Me
16. Cud - Not Exactly D.L.E.R.C.
17. The Pooh Sticks - Young People
18. Spacecamp - Puppy
19. The Verlaines - Death and the Maiden
20. Marty Robbins - The Story of My Life

Disclaimer: this is an actual mix, the songs segue together so don't go hitting shuffle blah blah blah.

If you'd like to contribute cover art to a future Summer Fridays, get in touch. Liner notes after the jump.

Hooray for America: Woodsist/Captured Tracks Fest is July 3 and 4

No need to feel like a second class NY-er for not going out of town for Independence Day this year. If you're around, might I suggest the Woodsist/Captured Tracks Festival? Two of the city's best vinyl-centric labels (with help from Todd P) are bringing together some of the best garage/lo-fi/psychedelic bands in the country, playing over the course of two days.

A combined two-day ticket is $25 and on sale now via PayPal. But if you had to choose one day ($15) I think you'd have to go with July 4, what with Ganglians, Woods, Beets, Real Estate, Thee Oh Sees, Dum Dum Girls, Brilliant Colors and the NYC debut of San Francisco's amazing Fresh & Onlys. All the fireworks you'll need are right here.

Here's how it breaks down, with MP3s for most of the bands:

Friday July 3rd @ 979 BROADWAY BACKYARD

:: WOODSIST / CAPTURED TRACKS FESTIVAL

9:45pm : CRYSTAL STILTS (MP3: Love is a Wave)
9:00pm :: Blank Dogs (MP3: Setting Fire to Your House)
8:15pm ::: Psychedelic Horseshit (MP3: New Wave Hippies)
7:30pm :::: caUSE co-MOTION! (MP3: You Lose)
6:45pm ::::: the Mayfair Set (MP3: Desert Fun)
6:15pm :::::: Gary War (MP3: Bounce Four)
5:45pm ::::::: Little Girls (MP3: What We Did)
5:15pm :::::::: Kid Romance
4:45pm ::::::::: Beachniks (MP3: Coney Island)
4:15pm :::::::::: the Gutsies (MP3: Surfer Body)

Saturday July 4th @ 979 BROADWAY BACKYARD

:: WOODSIST / CAPTURED TRACKS FESTIVAL

9:45pm : THEE OH SEES (MP3: Meat Step Lively)
9:00pm :: VIVIAN GIRLS (MP3: Lake House)
8:15pm ::: Kurt Vile (MP3: Freeway)
7:30pm :::: Woods (MP3: To Clean)
6:45pm ::::: Tyvek (MP3: Hey Una)
6:00pm :::::: Dum Dum Girls (MP3: Ship of Love)
5:15pm ::::::: the Fresh & Onlys (MP3: Love and Kindness)
4:30pm :::::::: Brilliant Colors (MP3: Should I Tell You)
3:45pm ::::::::: Ganglians (MP3: Hair)
3:15pm :::::::::: the Great Excape —— reunion, pre-Home Blitz
2:45pm ::::::::::: the Beets (MP3: Devil)
2:15pm :::::::::::: Real Estate (MP3: Fake Blues)
1:45pm ::::::::::::: German Measles (MP3: Patty Girl)
1:15pm :::::::::::::: Beach Fossils (MP3: Vacation)

| 979 BROADWAY BACKYARD |

979 Broadway btwn Myrtle Ave & Ditmars St | Bushwick, Brooklyn

JMZ-Myrtle, L-Jefferson, G-Myrtle-Willoughby | 

RAIN OR SHINE 

Bachelorette | Cake Shop | 6.15.2009

Most of the New Zealand music that makes it to these shores is of the Flying Nun variety: jangly pop, decidedly male. (Albiet uaually sensitive males.) Annabel Alpers, who records under the name Bachelorette, makes music that is keyboard-heavy, thick with harmony, and often ready for the dancefloor. And she's a girl, obviously. But like so much Kiwi pop, Bachelorette is humanistic and warm... and super-catchy. This was Bachelorette's first show of her U.S. tour supporting her second album, My Electric Family, with help from a drummer and Australian Pikelet who did a set of her own earlier in the night. While laptops surrounded Alpers, the most crucial instrument was live: her breathy, fragile voice that at times recalled Beth Orton or Electrelane. Ten songs went by quickly, and Cake Shop owner Andy Bodor yelled from behind the bar that they could do as many more songs as they had ready. Alpers then gave us one more song, but I'd have stayed all night. I've got a new crush.

MP3: Bachelorette - Mindwarp (Buy it from Drag City)
MP3: Bachelorette - Lifetime (Get it from Emusic)

Bachelorette plays Union Hall tonight (6/16) and then heads across the country before heading back to NYC to open for Here We Go Magic at the Seaport Music Festival on July 3. All those tour dates are below this video I shot of Bachelorette performing "Her Rotating Head" from the new album.

Bachelorette Tour Dates
Jun 15 - Cake Shop NEW YORK, New York
Jun 16 - Union Hall BROOKLYN, New York
Jun 17 - Kung Fu Necktie PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
Jun 18 - Talking Head BALTIMORE, Maryland
Jun 19 - Crofoot Ballroom - Pike Room Pontiac, Michigan
Jun 20 - Hideout CHICAGO, Illinois
Jun 21 - 7th Street Entry MINNEAPOLIS
Jun 22 - The Jackpot Saloon LAWRENCE
Jun 23 - Larimer Lounge Denver, Colorado
Jun 24 - Urban Lounge Salt Lake City, Utah
Jun 25 - Neurolux Boise, Idaho
Jun 26 - The Red Room Kennewick, Washington
Jun 27 - The Triple Door Seattle, Washington
Jun 28 - The Aladdin Theater Portland, Oregon
Jun 30 - Bimbo's 365 Club SAN FRANCISCO, California
Jul 1 - The Troubadour Los Angeles, California
Jul 3 - Seaport Music Festival New York, New York

Summer Fridays 2.2

The second mix of the 2009 summer season. This one was an attempt at mostly gritty, psychedelic sounds, but I made room for the Jean-Paul Sartre Experience who I've been revisiting lately (I guess they're psychedelic), as well as some other things that don't quite fit in the garage. Cover art this week is by Jinners who you may know from Spicy Times or Door Girl Art. There's a hi-res version included if you want to burn a CD and print it out the cover. If you'd like to contribute art to an upcoming mix, do get in touch.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 2.2

As always, the songs segue together so no shuffling please. Here's the tracklist:

1.    The Fall - Cruiser's Creek
2.    The dB's - Cycles per Second
3.    Pas Chic Chic - Haydée Morcelée
4.    Tomorrow - My White Bicycle
5.    Amazing Baby - Kankra
6.    Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - The Loving Grapevine
7.    Thee Oh Sees - Tidal Wave
8.    The Kinks - Funny Face
9.    The Inbreds - You Will Know
10.    Hospitality - Betty Wang
11.    The Go-Betweens - People Say
12.    The Who - Armenia City in the Sky
13.    The Intelligence - Moody Tower
14.    Hell on Wheels - As We Play
15.    Oranger - Stony Curtis in Reverse
16.    Lyres - Help You Ann
17.    The Three O'Clock - Jetfighter
18.    The Weather Prophets - Almost Prayed
19.    The Beets - What Did I Do?
|20.    The Turtles - Outside Chance
21.    The Pastels - Something's Going On
22.    Redd Kross - Play My Song
23.    Sloan - G to D  

Liner notes after the jump...

Love is All + Real Estate + Right on Dynamite | Music Hall of Williamsburg | 6.05.2009

"We'd like to bring out a friend of ours, Hamish from the Clean.We loved them so much we stole one of their songs!" That was more or less Love is All singer Josaphine's introduction to Hamish Kilgour, who joined that band for their song "Wishing Well," which does indeed bear some -- ok, a lot -- resemblence to The Clean's classic single, "Tally Ho." However many people in the crowd at Music Hall of Williamsburg knew Kilgour's classic New Zealand indie rock band, it was a nice, surprising moment for a band that I've somehow seen four times in the last year. Surprising in that they're from Sweden. Love is All clearly like America, and New York in particular, and have decided to spend as much time here as in Europe (or at least it seems that way). Even when all those shows have been for the same album (the fun A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night), the band are so full of pep they won't let you get bored.

SETLIST: Early | Give It Back | Aging Had Never Been His Friend | Talk Talk Talk Talk | Last Choice | Sea Sick |  Jessica | King | Wishing Well | Busy Doing Nothing | Dust | Make Out Fall Out Make Up | ENCORE: New Beginnings | Spinning and Scratching | | Used Goods

MP3: Love is All - Wishing Well (buy it from What's Your Rupture or Emusic)
MP3: The Clean - Tally Ho (buy it from Merge)

New Jersey's Real Estate don't so much force you to have fun so much as they invite you into their pad to hang out for as long as you want. One wonders what Kilgour thought of them, who, knowingly or not, owe a lot to the dreamier side of New Zealand pop, be it old schoolers like the Jean Paul Sartre Experience or current faves Surf City. You want a chez lounge to lean back in when you listen to these guys, whose set was nearly derailed by a broken string during the first song. (Seriously, bands: come with two guitars ready when you play somewhere like MHoW. Just in case. Also... stage banter would help smooth things over.) But with a new instrument in hand, Real Estate spun out interweaving guitar lines and dreamy melodies which sounded great with MHoW's superb PA.

MP3: Real Estate - Fake Blues (buy the 7" from Woodsist)

I think openers Right on Dynamite's name gives a bit of the wrong impression. You expect something taught and explosive. (Or funky.) What you actually get is a new spin on early '90s indie rock a la Dinosaur Jr. or Buffalo Tom. I guess Echo & the Bunnymen didn't really work as a name either at first. You grow into it. And when the songs are good, the guitars have that sound -- part ringing, part distorted -- and the choruses are just anthemic enough, names don't matter all that much anyway.

MP3: Right on Dynamite - Hard to Show (buy it from Emusic)

The Return of Summer Fridays

Do people who actually still have jobs still get Summer Fridays in 2009? No matter, it's just a hook to hang an excuse for making weekly mixes again. How did it get to be June already? As usual, there's no theme here, just a bunch of song (mostly new this time) that I like a lot. You may remember, I actually segue the songs together because I'm a control freak who wants you listening to the songs in the order I put them in. Cover art for this first Summer Friday is by my friend Kate, who did a couple covers last year. If you have interest in doing art for an upcoming mix, do get in touch.  Anyway, without further ado:

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS VOL 2.1

Here's the tracklist:

1. The Sneetches - Over Round Each Other
2. Miike Snow - Song for No One
3. The Legends - Always the Same
4. Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work
5. Super Furry Animals - Where Do You Want to Go?
6. Let's Wrestle - We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon
7. The Fresh & Onlys - I Saw You Seeing Me
8. Surf City - Kudos
9. New Order - Dream Attack
10. Jack Peñate - Today's Tonight
11. Mazes - Love to Lay
12. Close Lobsters - Let's Make Some Plans
13. Say Hi - Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh
14. Cats on Fire - Borders of This Land
15. Aztec Camera - Oblivious
16. I Was a King - California
17. My Teenage Stride - Creep Academy
18. Casiokids - Fot I Hose
19. Micachu - Calculator
20. The Drums - Don't Be a Jerk, Jonny
21. Clor - Love + Pain

"Liner notes" after the jump:

Jack Peñate | Bruar Falls | 6.03.2009

Everything is New, indeed. Judging by Jack Peñate's show at Bruar Falls, it's not just the title of his new album, it's a promise. The singer played seven of the nine songs from his new, world-influenced sophomore LP, and not one track from his mildly-received, rockabilly-inflected debut. A step in the right direction, I think, as Everything is New is more varied, sexier, and a great showcase for Peñate's slightly-smoky pipes; a summer-in-the-city album that feels like a 100-degree day where you want to peel the humidity off your body. Peñate and his band didn't completely have the kinks worked out (new single "Be the One" hasn't quite escaped the studio), though to be fair it seemed more due to Bruar Fall's minimalist PA setup than musicianship. But he did his best to make up for it with enthusiasm and charisma, of which he has no shortage.

MP3: Jack Peñate - Today's Tonight

XL Recordings will release Everything is New in the U.S. in August. Peñate plays Pianos tonight.  Here's video of maybe my favorite song from the album, "Every Glance":

Art Brut | Mercury Lounge | 6.01.2009

It felt like 2005, kind of. Art Brut had just taken the stage at Mercury, and in the crowd were bloggers Heart on a Stick and Yeti Don't Dance.* Yet something was slightly different. Eddie Argos' questionable moustache now seemed to be on the face of drummer Mikey B and his stage banter familiar but skewed. Was this some sort alternate reality cause by a rip in the time/space continuium (or JJ Abrams)? No, it was the start of Art Brut Week, a five night onslaught at Mercury Lounge, and the first time the band had played that venue since their first vist to America three and a half years ago. Surviving the Similar But Slicker And Not As Good Second Album, and now back with The Much Better But Yet Still Not That Different Third Album, Art Brut were back to remind us why we loved them in the first place: they are an exuberant good time as a live band.

I like Argos best when he's in Jonathan Richman mode, wide eyed and excited by the world: modern art, new girlfriends, summer jobs, amazing hangovers, mysterious bruises DC comics, chocolate milkshakes. And this was the Argos we got Monday, though a slightly, slightly subdued one thanks to recovering back problems. (Less bouncing, but he still goes into the crowd.) The new songs sounded great, better than on record.** And we were treated to first album favorites like "Modern Art," "Good Weekend," "My Little Brother," and "Emily Kane" albeit with updated lyrics as you might expect from Argos. And while I do wish "The Replacements" and their anthem "Formed a Band" had been part of the set, there's always tonight, tomorrow, Thursday and Friday for that.***

MP3: Art Brut - Summer Job (Buy Art Brut Vs. Satan) 

SETLIST: Alcoholics Unanimous | Direct Hit | Modern Art | Summer Job | Rusted Gun of Milan | What a Rush | Emily Kane | Demons Out | DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake | Pump Up the Volume | Good Weekend | Positively 5th Street | My Little Brother | Nag Nag Nag Nag | ENCORE: Bang Bang Rock N' Roll | 18,000 Lira | Mysterious Bruises

Brooklyn Vegan has some good pictures.
 
*That first Art Brut show at Mercury Lounge had one of the highest concentration of then-NYC music bloggers ever, many of whom don't post anymore. 

**Has there been a band that would be more suited to Steve Albini's mostly live recording process than Art Brut? Why haven't they done this yet? I suppose getting Frank Black for Art Brut Vs. Satan was probably the same idea/next best thing, whichever came first. 

***Not that I'm going again this week, which is all sold out. If you still want to go, but didn't plan ahead, you'd do well to check Ticketmaster occasionally as tickets will probably be released for each show on the day of.