- teecomb in Pitchfork Leaks Some of the 2008 Lineup Animal Collective rocks so hard. It’s has great melodies and most people who hate on it have only heard one era of them that didn’t...
- Mark in SonicBids & CMJ 2007: Anatomy of a Scam? …Meh. Sonicbids is a total scam. Our band was stupid enough to fall into it to. It didn’t take us long to figure out that they keep...
- Matt K in Just a small complaint… Agreed whole-heartedly. Nice observation.
Our newest feature - the superstarcastic writers all review an album with a mere sentence each. Presenting the collected thoughts on Vampire Weekend’s freshman effort:
“Vampire Weekend is to mediocrity what sugary deliciousness is to Ready Whip brand whipped topping.”
~Tyler
“Dear indie snobs: no, it’s not as good as Pitchfork! at the Disco says it is, but it’s not anything like as bad as you keep saying it is either; the truth, like so much Boston Creme filling, lies somewhere in the middle.”
~Sam
“Will someone please put a stake through Sting’s heart for inspiring this reanimated version of the Police?
~Dave
“It’s got something, just not quite enough of it.”
~Zak
“Don’t let the tight pants ruin it for you; pop it in, grab a beer, sit in your lawn chair in the backyard and let the day roll by.”
~Melby
“You’ll be hearing the pap of these pseudo-intellectual gas bags on SUV commercials within the year.”
~Amber
“Someone tell me when the hell Paul Simon’s ‘Graceland’ became a
seminal indie-rock template for the sweater-wearing Columbia U house
party set, because i’ll gladly program my time machine to head back
there and strap a bomb to my chest for the greater good.”
~DJ
“I like the CD, but I feel like a toolbag by association after listening to it.”
~Daniel
“I find the music boring; I think the only aspect of this band that hasn’t been hyped to death is the fact that these are a mighty fine looking bunch of young men.”
~Leah
“This is a concept album that takes the listener on a journey where Rob Schneider invites himself over to their house for just one drink, and ends up staying long after the beer is gone and everyone’s tired of his jokes.”
~Borch
“I’m not sure what I think about rich city kids ripping off Paul Simon ripping off West African melodies and i don’t think it deserves all the hype, but it sure makes for lighthearted, fun, summery listening.”
~Joie
Austin indie band Okkervil River has (finally) announced tour information to support their new album The Stage Names, which will be released on Jagjaguwar on August 7th of this year. Damien Jurado opens for all non-festival dates and, short of death or disaster, you have no justifiable excuse to miss the show when it hits your town.
07/14/07 Concord, NH - Capitol Center for the Arts w/ Lando + Ron Noyes Band
07/15/07 Providence, RI - Jake’s Bar and Grille
09/03/07 San Diego, CA - Casbah
09/04/07 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
09/05/07 San Francisco, CA - Independent
09/08/07 Portland, OR - Berbati’s Pan (MusicFest NW)
09/09/07 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard’s on Richards
09/10/07 Seattle, WA - Neumos
09/13/07 Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre
09/14/07 Omaha, NE - Waiting Room
09/15/07 Iowa City, IA - Picador
09/17/07 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
09/18/07 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium
09/19/07 Urbana, IL - The Canopy Club (Pygmalion Festival)
09/21/07 Toronto, Ontario - Lee’s Palace
09/22/07 Hamilton, Ontario - Pepper Jack’s Cafe
09/23/07 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
09/24/07 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
09/25/07 Boston, MA - Middle East
09/26/07 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse
09/28/07 New York, NY - Webster Hall
09/29/07 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
09/30/07 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
10/02/07 Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
10/03/07 Athens, GA - 40 Watt
10/04/07 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder @ FSU
10/06/07 Houston, TX - Walter’s on Washington
In which Chris and Christine take a break from discussing baseball (”I just traded for Huston Street!” “Nobody puts MaEl in a corner!”) to co-review the new record from The Sea and Cake.
Christine: Ah, Chicago–the backdrop for High Fidelity, the home to many a wayward and wandering Thrill Jockey, the Windy City with the miserable winters. I think that Sam Prekop spent a lot of this past one rearranging his old records, because The Sea and Cake’s new album, Everybody, takes many cues from the 1970s.
Like its predecessors, the record is filled with the light, melty singing of Sam “Butter” Prekop, drizzled with a little Archer “Syrup” Prewitt on gee-tar, and steeped in the light-yet-interesting jazzy instrumental arrangements at which The Sea and Cake excel. But in the midst of this tasty musical pancake breakfast, there are also moments of guitar and bass that seem straight out of Fleetwood Mac or Steely Dan.
Chris: Too right, C. By their own admission, TSAC looked back to The Kinks as an influence on this album. Ahh, “But which iteration of The Kinks?” then becomes the question. Sam’s words prompted me to g’head and download 1971’s Muswell Hillbillies which is a far back as eMusic goes in their catalog. That’s the point I’ve gotten to…ButtahPre’s hinted influences now carry as much weight with me, as a fan, as his mad songcrafting skills. I mean, with the recent purchase of Nassau, my TSAC collection is complete so what else is a completist like myself supposed to do?
Oh, and now is as good a time as any to proclaim that “Crossing Line” is one of my faves on Everybody. The fact that Sam integrates “simma’ down” as a lyric (@ the 1:10 mark) into a short, sweet, hand-clapping ditty clinches it.
On breakfast: I put forward that McEntire on drums is the flapjacks in our TSAC breakfast analogy. Would that leave bass player Claridge to be the fresh fruit topping…or is that whipped cream? Read more »
Alternate post title: “Borch and Christine, Upon Hearing Three Tracks from Sky Blue Sky, Attempt to Eloquently Shoot the Shit about What Things One Might Expect of the New Wilco Album.”
Christine: My first impression upon hearing a handful of new tracks from Sky Blue Sky: “Wow, no one told me Wilco were releasing a B-sides album.” Let me explain.
I grew up in a small town-turned-small city in Northern California, a vast region of the West in which you can find pockets of devoted aficionadoes of the “Western” lifestyle. It’s true that San Francisco was coming down from the era of jockey short dance-offs and poppers, but two hours away in the Sacramento Valley, it was all about spurs and Skoal. One of my first memories of my hometown involves sitting on a haystack in a parking lot at a strip mall grand opening while the adults drank cans of beer. It was simultaneously quaint and generic.
There’s something about these tracks that feels the same way to me–like they were pulled out of some previous era. They’re anachronistic and comforting–they feel like the kind of stuff that should have been playing on the speakers of my dad’s metallic brown Pontiac 6000 en route to an early weekend morning breakfast at the Stagecoach, our favorite restaurant at the aforementioned strip mall–but they’re also too familiar, particularly in terms of lyrics, to really set the band apart.
Borch: I, on the other hand, come from a suburb of Cleveland where Michael Stanley is still considered ‘far out’, and summarily, I treasure the organic quality of any music that isn’t trying too hard. That might have given me over to a lot of music that’s just plain lazy, but it also saved me from insufferable obedience to Pink Floyd.
The fabulous shock of discovering something that isn’t overproduced wore off long ago after I stopped listening to Harvest every night. But trickery-free music is a pleasure in of itself, and that’s why I’ve always found Wilco so engaging. The three tracks I’ve heard–”You Are My Face,” “Either Way” and “Walken”–do sound like outtakes, which is to say that it’s more of what Wilco is best at doing and has been for a long time. That’s the advantage of such anachronistic music–if it sounds like it could have been around for decades already, it stands a better chance at remaining relevant for at least that long into the future. Read more »
5/28: BOWERY BALLROOM, NEW YORK, NY
5/29: BOWERY BALLROOM, NEW YORK, NY
5/30: BOWERY BALLROOM, NEW YORK, NY
5/31: BOWERY BALLROOM, NEW YORK, NY
6/02: JOHNNY BRENDAS, PHILADELPHIA, PA
6/04: CABERET, MONTREAL, CANADA
6/05: OPERA HOUSE, TORONTO, CANADA
6/06: MAGIC STICK, DETROIT, MI
6/07: METRO, CHICAGO, IL
6/08: 400 BAR, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
6/09: TBA, MADISON, WI
6/11: DUCK ROOM, ST LOUIS, MO
6/12: HEADLINERS, LOUISVILLE, KY
6/13: THE EARL, ATLANTA, GA
6/14: BONNAROO MUSIC FESTIVAL, MANCHESTER, TN
6/15: 20TH CENTURY THEATER, CINCINNATI, OH
6/16: THE BASEMENT, COLUMBUS, OH
6/18: BEACHLAND BALLROOM, CLEVELAND, OH
6/19: REX THEATER, PITTSBURGH, PA
6/20: 9:30 CLUB, WASHINGTON DC
6/21: MIDDLE EAST DOWNSTAIRS, BOSTON, MA
6/25: CASBAH, SAN DIEGO, CA
6/26: EL REY THEATER, LOS ANGELES, CA
6/27: BIMBOS 365 CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
6/28: BERBATIS PAN, PORTLAND, OR
6/29: RICHARDS ON RICHARD, VANCOUVER, CANADA
6/30: NEUMOS, SEATTLE, WA
Superstarcatic’s favourite band from Denmark is finally hitting North America, starting with a couple of gigs at SXSW. If you catch their show, report back and let us know how it was.
03-14 Austin, TX - SXSW (KEXP’s Live from Austin City Limits show)
03-15 Austin, TX - SXSW (Brooklyn Vegan/Advanced Alternative Media party)
03-16 Austin, TX - SXSW (Under the Radar party)
03-17 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa (SXSW)
03-20 Washington, DC - Black Cat
03-22 New York, NY - Irving Plaza
03-23 Boston, MA - Paradise
03-26 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club
03-27 Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall
03-28 Chicago, IL - Double Door
03-31 Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre
04-02 Seattle, WA - Neumos
04-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richard’s on Richards
04-04 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theatre
04-06 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore
04-07 Los Angeles, CA - Fonda Theatre
07-03 Kristiansand, Norway - Quart Festival
