SXSW Line Up and Stuff.

I'm a littly bit lazy at the moment, so pardon the dust.

SXSW's schedule is up, I suggest you take a look. My personal itinerary will involve This Will Destroy You, Wax Fang, St. Vincent, King Khan, Radioclit, Black Lips, YACHT, White Denim, Headlights, MSTRKRFT, Harlem, and The Willowz... We'll see how that pans out.

In other news:
There's talk of a bridge show before SXSW so keep your pants on until then. If you haven't been before it's a lot of fun and it's free. Just a few bands playing on the South Lamar pedestrian bridge over scenic Lake Austin Town Lake. Bring your friends!

Harlem @ The Parish

Curtis of Harlem

Coomers

Christian

Some Treasure I Found

RATATAT AGAIN!!!

Mr. Mast and Mr. Stroud are scheduled to grace us with their presence AGAIN Tuesday, April 7th at Stubb's Waller Creek Ampitheater. Get your tickets NOW and get there early, I suspect douchebaggery will be afoot... concerts keep gettin bigger but the number of people I like stay the same.

Presale for these tickets ends Friday (tomorrow) at 10 PM so get on that shit, son! Oh yeah, you'll have to enter the code "STUBBSRAT" to get 'em.


See you there!

Bonnaroo Lineup

Bonnaroo posted a lineup recently for this summer. Some of the names that stick out are Wilco, Animal Collective, St. Vincent, David Byrne, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On the Radio, Santogold, Andrew Bird, Bon Iver, and Grizzly Bear.

Click here to see more.

Boo February and Goodbye Winter! PLUS: a leak from the upcoming Daze release!!!

Ok, I don't know how to put this to you subtly so I'll tell you the only way I know how (with style and verve!): RAPT Magazine launched yesterday and it looks great! Got features on all kinds of cool stuff (politics, if you're into that, and a couple GPM reviews).

Next up on my list: A metric buttload of concert dates. It looks like the fierce warlords over at the Brohawk and Emo's are really doing they're best to put eachother out of business. What this means for us is TONS OF AWESOME SHOWS! So, in light of that, totally not for peace. Amen.

Ben Kweller is going to play a show at Waterloo Records on the third in support of his new "country" album. Then a week after that Waterloo will play host to Andrew Bird as he warms up for his solo set at The Paramount. Get excited! I already am.

As for our local yokels, The Bubbles will be playing a "free" show at Emo's on the fifth to celebrate Joel of Oh No! Oh My!'s birthday.

Also of note, White Denim will play with the Black Lips at Emo's later on in the month. THIS show is going to be entertaining (the Lips are known for some onstage hijinks and goofiness, shit that left the local authorities with no other option but to chase them out of India).
^NVM that, got some bad info. That show was from LAST YEAR! (thanks Pooneh)

Are you lonely? Plan on being sad and lame on Valentine's day? Me too! How bout we plan on being awesome and buy tickets to the White Ghost Shivers' "Valentine's Day Massacre"? Alright!

This month's SHOW NOT TO MISS is going to be fuckin' awesome! Just watch out for the 101x riff faff. Fujiya and Miyagi are going to play a show at Emo's on the twenty seventh. I'm totally going to be there. I'll be the stylish hipster in the front wearing tortoise shell sunglasses and being cooler than you (just kidding, I love you all! Also, I don't have tortoise shell sunglasses.).

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

Don't ask how, but I've managed to procure a leak from the UPCOMING DAZE ALBUM! Many rebels gave their lives to give you this audio. Put it to good use, young jedi.


The last (I promise) tid-bits of news I have to drop in your needy little hands are:

1) Cut Copy at Stubb's in early March
2) Medici on West Lynn makes killer cappucinos
3) SXSW is going to be nuts (click here to see a list of bands that will be playing and here to register me a pass)
4) I'm working on writing out my interview with Harlem
5) Haven't forgotten about updates on my latest purchases, I'm just mad busy, yo
6) Jersey Mike's Subs makes awesome sandwiches

2/02/09 - Goblin Cock (Rob Crowe of Pinback), Warship, Eagle Claw @ Red 7, show at eight
2/03/09 - Ben Kweller @ Waterloo Records, show starts at five
2/08/09 - Devotchka, Crooked Fingers @ La Zona Rosa, doors at eight
2/5/09 - Oh No! Oh My!, Loxsly, The Bubbles (Las Burbujas), Corto Maltese @ Emo's, doors at eight
2/10/09 - The Music Tapes (Neutral Milk Hotel), Nana Grizol, Brian Dewan @ The Mohawk, show starts at eight
2/11/09 - Andrew Bird @ Waterloo Records, show starts at five
2/12/09 - Andrew Bird @ The Paramount, show starts at eight
2/14/09 - The White Ghost Shivers and The Strange Attractors (Valentine's Day Massacre) @ The Mohawk, show starts at nine
2/24/09 - Black Lips, White Denim, The Strange Boys @ Emo's, show starts at ten
2/27/09 - Fujiya and Miyagi, Project Jenny, Project Jan @ Emo's, doors at nine
2/28/09 - Delta Spirit, Other Lives, Dawes @ Emo's, doors at nine
2/28/09 - Flogging Molly, The Aggrolites, The Mighty Stef @ Stubb's, doors at eight

ATTN:

Just bought:

1) Apologies to the Queen Mary (Wolf Parade)

2) Blood Bank (Bon Iver)

3) A Cross the Universe (Justice)

4) Sky Blue Sky (Wilco)

5) Neon Bible (Arcade Fire)

Stay tuned for further info regarding these purchases.

- MF

Animal Collective in Austin & Boulder

"High five!"

Animal Collective recently announced a world tour, so check here to see if they're coming to a venue near you!

Be forewarned: get 'em while you can, I have a feeling there will be less tickets than AC fans.

Animal Collective Remix "Mirando"

Ratatat - Mirando (Animal Collective Remix)
^Sweet AC remix of a tune off Ratatat's LP3. Check it out.

Ben Kweller Might Buy You Lunch*

*If you order enough copies of his newest, Changing Horses, on ATO Records. Order it before February 3rd and you get an autographed poster.

White Ink

Deerhunter - White Ink from justin gaar on Vimeo.

^Cool video by Justin Gaar for "White Ink" by Deerhunter

Animal Collective : Merriweather Post Pavillion

Animal Collective’s most recent album is undoubtedly the most highly anticipated release of 2009. The New York trio endured two track leaks (“Brother Sport” and “Summer Clothes”) and a hacked email calling for a full album leak to get to this point, but they finally made it. I can only imagine the relief they felt when they finally released, according to schedule and in full, Merriweather Post Pavillion.

The album is exactly what you would expect to hear from the seven-record-wise group except for maybe that Panda Bear receives a little bit more songwriting credit this time around. The album opener, “In Flowers”, unfolds slowly with atmospheric dreaminess until it bursts with the wish “if I could just leave my body / for a night.” The track that follows it, “My Girls”, bares the signature sound of this new release as well as a credit from, unsurprisingly, Panda Bear.

Panda Bear’s influence on this album is critical to its identity; each song he’s credited to is hypnotically dreamy and ripe for the (prepare yourself) club remixes of Merriweather. Do I go too far? You decide. Either way, it’s not exactly new territory to dance your heart out to a trippy trance song with a name like “My Girls.”

The album features several gripping transitions between songs. This contributes to the feeling of being in a world caught in conflict between the real and the unreal (“just a signal / in my head”). Yeah, dreaminess and head-in-the-clouds type sensations may not be new to AC but there’s a moment between “My Girls” and “Also Frightened” that sounds like waking up. It dumps you ought into a world full of questions (“will it be just like they’re dreaming?”) and a chorus of “them” until, maybe, you’re paranoid, too.

Other tracks that people will probably be talking about (get ready to hear about them around the water cooler) include the bubbly “Bluish” and “Daily Routine.” Slowly evolving around Panda Bear Avey Tare singing “I’m getting lost in your curls” and positively beautiful key work by the Geologist, “Bluish” is exactly that: a song that sounds beautifully blue. “Daily Routine” finds itself winding up like a clock to mechanical noises and a chorus of “the machine’s working fine” in the first thirty seconds.

I cannot get over how into this album I am right now. As someone who didn’t consider himself “a fan of AC” until just recently, I can attest to how amazing this album is. Though it still contains all of the same weirdness and dissonance of their previous releases, it is also remarkably different from them. I attribute this to lyrics that are less “just strange” and more memorable (“I want to walk / around with you”), letting the listener rest on tiny islands of sanity in soundscapes flooding with changing instrumentation and intense questioning (“am I really all the things / that are outside of me?”).

No matter what you think of this album, it’s not going to go away. Literally everyone will be talking about how awesome it is, so you might as well save yourself some time and learn to like Animal Collective. Like I said, they’re not going anywhere.

Top 4 Albums of 2008

An idea recently came to me, as if in a dream... Shrouded in the fog of pretention, cocooned as it was in its warm world of naivete, this idea decreed to me: "Dude, you should totally make a list of albums from this year that you liked in ascending order. That would be so awesome."

The albums will be listed below, along with brief descriptions of why they are awesome. The main criterion I had in mind was which records I consistently went back to. If you disagree, please feel free to argue with me in the comments section.


Dr. Dog - Fate
With songs like "The Ark", "The Old Days", and "Army of Ancients", the Philly based do-it-yourself group prove that they are capable of making a thoroughly enjoyable album, even when they're in a nice studio. The album has tracks, like "The Breeze", that are marked by the distinct fun-ness of guitarist Scott McMicken. Bassist Toby Leaman contributes some very soulful and sad vocals to compliment the happy vibes, giving Fate a new dimension that Dr. Dog lacked in previous records.

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

Jesus. Kevin Barnes really pulled out all the stops on his THIRTEENTH release. Cue some comparisons to Ziggy Stardust, Queen, and Scissor Sisters. Cue something snarky like: One thing Skeletal Lamping definitely doesn't sound like is Cherry Peel. The mood on this album goes from late night wanderlust to to just about every other place Barnes' alter ego Georgie Fruit wants to take you. It will penetrate your fantasy.

Man Man - Rabbit Habits

Their third release in four years, Rabbit Habits takes the all the chaotic energy, creative instrumentation, and bittersweet crooning of their previous records and improves on them. Songs like "Poor Jackie" and "Whale Bones" reveal a ponderous and more reserved side to pirate-esque shanties and sea songs like "Butterbeans" and "Hurly/Burly." My personal favorite from this album is "Big Trouble" because it really puts their talents on display. You may hear some nonsense about how their recordings don't do justice to their live shows. If you do, tell the butt-horn that said it to go suck a fat one. That being said, Man Man's live shows are awesome and you should check out this performance of "Big Trouble".

Ratatat - LP3

This album is a bit of a departure from Ratatat's usual m.o. but it still revolves around the New York duo's ability to write kickass songs. They expand their instrumentiation to include live percussion and synthesizers, which add a different dimension to their sound. In LP3 Mast and Stroud prove they can retain the video game dynamic of their sound (if you can picture evolving from SNES to PS3 or something) while experimenting with an entirely new arsenal of instruments. This pretty much convinces me, as it should you, that their next release will be equally if not more impressive (you heard it hear first).