Central Village

You've got to want to rearrange it

HIMYMother was new last night! That was unexpected. A cute episode, really came on strong at the end. Lots of references to previous episodes, and man, does this show knows how to drop an episode to episode cliffhanger. Can't tell about Victoria yet...I have a feeling she'll be in and out of the picture during foreshadowed Ted and Robin re-hookup. I like her fine, but I just don't see her as a long term solution for the plot.

Anyway...Music highlight was them kicking MMJ's 'off the record' at the end of the show. CBS loves to pimp its Sony artists, doesn't it? Anyone remember all the random cameos and the Franz Ferdinand ringtone from Love Monkey? Anyone watch Love Monkey?

My Morning Jacket - Off the Record

Blogga please

Laura Posted excerpts from Nick Zinner's tour blog documenting the first two Yeah Yeah Yeah shows of this mini tour (the two I reviewed for Gothamist yesterday.) There was that one line that stood out from the rest: 

"The Bloggers in the front row keep their arms crossed for the whole show even though we are playing our bleeding hearts out, and sweating gallons."

They may give you a hard time about dropping a comma before 'and', but it's not the bloggers who have the bad attitudes. Never. None that I know of. I mean, seriously...these are the people who love the music so much that they devote hours of their personal time writing about it for free. It's no shocker that the greatest most excited music fans I know are bloggers. I honestly can't think of a one who would stand in the front of a show, arms crossed pretending not to enjoy themselves. Those that don't feel the need to go nuts at every show politely and quietly stand in the back. The rest are dancing and smiling and cheering with the best of them. To each his own. Calling out the bloggers for this just doesn't make any sense.

Perhaps he's really upset at the culture he thinks blogs have created. Not to piss in the well too much, but I think its more likely the blog readers than the bloggers themselves. There. I said it.

And no, I don't mean YOU...but there are lots and lots of them out there. These are the same people who leave anonymous comments about how your favorite bands suck. Who read sites everyday written by people they claim to hate. Who go to shows for no reason other than that's where they've read they are supposed to be. Doesn't that seem like a much more likely guilty party? It does to me.

So seriously...who among us would act like that? Bloggers don't hate the game. That's just silly.

(Pic via Brooklyn Vegan. Sidenote...Anyone know what kind of camera Nick uses? I like it. Is it digital?)

Clutter

If I may talk about my Knicks for a second...

Bill Simmons returned to form last week with his mock transcript from The Atrocious GM Summit. Seeing that my living room is in the process of a rearrangement and I am currently in possession of two giant TVs, a oversized ottoman that doesn't really fit and at least one big comfy chair too many, I could relate to this...

Layden: ...For example, let's say you spent $3,000 on a living room sofa two years ago that you didn't really like. To make the sofa stand out a little less, you bought a leather chair for $2,200 that doesn't match --.

Simmons: Marbury is the sofa and Jamal Crawford is the chair in this case?

Layden: Precisely. And the room still looks bad. So now, you're on Craigslist and you see that someone is selling another $3,000 sofa for $900 that's almost exactly like the sofa you have. And there's no way you would ever want two big, ugly sofas in the same room. It would just look ridiculous. But your mind-set is, "Hey, how can I turn down a $3,000 sofa for $900?" So you buy the sofa and stick it in the room, which is now cluttered with stuff since you also spent another $10,000 on some crummy art, a coffee table with support problems, two giant bookcases that have to be turned sideways, some wobbly end tables and a smashed sculpture that was patched back together with duct tape. But since it's too late to go back, you spend another $5,000 on an interior decorator to make the room work. Well, you know what would happen? He wouldn't be able to make it work. You bought too much crap.

Just a perfect analogy. Almost as good as the Global Conflict, here we coooooooooome piece from the Yale Daily earlier this month. It's just so painful that this is reality of my team. When he wrote "that they won't be under the cap until 2009", my first thought was "Wow...2009's not so far away." Of course I'll be pushing 30 by then and if the payroll against the cap drops by a nickel in that time, I'll be beyond shocked. Also by 2009, Brooklyn will have the Nets. I've had some unbelievable memories of the Knicks throughout my youth, but if nothing seems closer to getting fixed by then, I'll have to give them some serious thought. Not. Giving. Up. Hope. Yet, tho.

Jesus Christ

You know, I think Amrit is doing a fine job with the his concert reviews and all, but Gary Lamb, a Church Pastor from Canton, Ga seems to really have his finger on the pulse of what's fueling Stereogum these days...

Check out his review of a recent Scott Stapp concert in Atlanta. Looking forward to hearing his thoughts on the new iForward Russia! single on Monday.

Who was I talking to last week about whether or not there are mainstream music blogs out there? Like, ones that have leaks of the new Third Eye Blind album or something? There must be something like that out there...right?

Links

Been super busy at work this week. A couple things...

Scott's got Aziz's "Other Music" video from the Plug Awards. An instant classic.

The Gothamist SXSWist lineup has been expanded on, and it's shaping up very nicely. There are also rumors of a pretty heavy party following it at the same spot. Stay tuned for details....

The most underrated source for insider indie info on the internet is not Brooklyn Vegan itself, but rather his comment threads. Today the worker bees try and figure out who the secret band is at the Knitting Factory next Friday...

The Test Icicles broke up, as everybody's heard already. It's amazing it became such a big deal, since these guys, in the grand scheme of things, were pretty minor. I, unlike most people, enjoyed them. Their show at the Cake Shop was a lot of fun and Circle Square Triangle was a genuine hit. RIP.

Test Icicles - Circle Square Triangle (mp3)

I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Maxwells last night and unlike Laura, I was not completely blown away. The new songs sound interesting, but nothing jumped out at me as a instant classic, whereas half a dozen songs from their last album have and will continue stand the test of time. We'll see tho. I prolly wont get a review up of the show on Gothamist today, but keep an eye out for one on Sunday.

American Satire, Canadian Hitmaker

Is this a fucking joke? I caught part of the show last night, mostly on heartonastick's recommendation. It seriously looks like a Saturday Night Live sketch of the show. The roly-poly Barry Manalow worshiper? The 14 year old kids trying to act like big boys? The guy in the white hat with the nickname in "quotes"? The smiley guy? I don't even remember who else, but they were the biggest clowns I've ever seen on this thing. I know bashing American Idol is no better than complaining there's no music on MTV anymore or that Webster Hall sucks...but this is at a whole different level. The only saving graces are that handsome fella named "Ace" (no, I'm not kidding...Ace) and grey-haired "29" year old Taylor Hicks, who seems pleasantly happy to be there. His "I dunno what's going on...""I don't know either!" exchange with Seacrest was genuine comedy. The funny thing is...after watching last night, I don't think there are 6 guys who can beat him.

See...this is what happens when they rerun lost. My whole schedule is thrown off. This should have never happened.

On the flipside, I got a heads up on a nice new band from Vancouver with the best name since I Love you but I've Chosen Darkness: You Say Party! We Say Die! Remember when you first heard about Celebration, and everyone was going shit-balls crazy over them about how they were the next great female-fronted indie band? Then you saw them live and you were like, um...that's it? Well, these guys are exactly what I hoped and expected Celebration to sound like. They're catchy, fun and overpunctuated. Gonna try and check them out at the Vice party at SXSW. There are no NYC dates set as of yet.

You Say Party! We Say Die! - The Gap (Between the Rich and the Poor) (mp3)
YSP! WSD! - Cold Hands! Hot Bodies! (mp3)
YSP! WSD! - Love in the New Millennium (mp3)

Here comes the Summer

The New Fiery Furnaces album has leaked and from the one track I've heard, It's fixing to be pretty great. The song 'Teach Me Sweetheart' was performed by the two of them acoustic during the KEXP session last April. I remember liking it back then, but it's far more fleshed out now in the final version.

You can listen to that KEXP session here, featuring TMS and Police Sweater Blood Vow (which I believe is on the new album as well).

The Fiery Furnaces - Teach Me Sweetheart (mp3)

(Thx Jen for the pic)

Wolfmotherfucker

Despite it's length, this weekend was incredibly rushed. Every night there was somewhere to be or do and no time just to kick back, As a result, I didn't have the time to check out all the albums I thought I would. And this site becomes less relevant by the second.

Saturday night I went to Webster Hall for BRMC openers The Morning After Girls and old favorites Elefant. Didn't stick around for the headliner because, while I'm sure they're awesome live and everything, I've never really gotten into the Motorcycle Club. Nothing against them, but I just don't have the time or energy these days to stand through a droopy two hour set from a band that I hardly know 3 songs of. Armit reviewed the show on Stereogum and took his shots at the venue, which I'm so so sick of hearing. C'mon! I almost devoted a(nother) whole post defending this place today, but lemme say that if you don't like Webster Hall...tough shit. There are NO better options for a club that size. None. Irving comes close, but I can't justify paying $15 surcharges on a $20 ticket to stand in a lifeless box with lifeless fans. Webster has its shortcomings, but I tend to enjoy myself there. Claiming bands should just play 2 or 3 nights at Bowery instead when they come to town is selfish and absurd.

Anywoo...later that night a went out to Rare in the MMMpacking district for The Girls late set. It was good, but different. Read more at Gothamist.

The next night was Motherfucker with the New York Dolls. They put on a SHOW (all caps). It was a good time, tho I'm not the biggest dolls fan or anything. Yesterday I forced myself down to Mercury Lounge for Wolfmother. Glad I did. They were an absolute riot. One of the best crowds I've seen at Merc, which I didn't expect sensing it'd be a buttoned-up industry fuckfest upon walking in. Totally worth checking out. I'm sure you'll be able to catch them at Webster Hall soon. Hopefully in August when it's like 150 degrees in there.

Losing my Edge...Again

Earlier this week I was at a party and a friend of mine who I hadn't spoken to in a while asked me what I had been listening to lately...and I sorta drew a blank. I mean I've still always have music on...at work, when I'm home. But lately I've been resorting to some old 2005 standbys rather than trying to keep up with what's new. I used to go onto soulseek every weekend and check out albums from bands I had been reading about, etc. Haven't done that in a while. This weekend I'm gonna buckle down and try and find some new shit. Top of the list right now is getting a hold of The Knife's new album, which I've heard amazing things about. Also wanna check out Destroyer's Rubies. Hopefully I'll have a full report on my diggings up next Tuesday.

For now, since It's been on my mind, here's what I've been listening to lately...

Slowlands - Never There was a Town
This thing has owned me since I got it in the mail earlier this week. Seeing them at Movable Hype last Wednesday opened my eyes. These guys are very good. I hear a lot of CYHSY in there...but far more mellower and less abrasive. I'm sorry I missed them last night and am really excited for the next chance to see them play.

Ghostland Observatory - Paparazzi Lightning
Their last one was great summer fun. This one is better. It has hits popping from the seams. For a band on their own label, they're already getting a ton of exposure...Piano man was featured during the opening video at the Plug Awards and Sad Sad City is getting a daily spin on KEXP these days. Rumor has it they are tentatively in place to play the SWSWist show (Details to come.) They are like nothing else live.

She Wants Revenge - S/T
I know, I know...but I saw them live last weekend at Bowery and walked away generally impressed. There are 5 or 6 songs on here that are really really excellent...but the rest are just beyond forgettable. The Interpol comparisons are overplayed. We get it. Thing is, aside from the monotone baritone vocals and the general "Goth" aura, the songs don't have nearly as many parallels as one may think at first listen. These guys don't hang on the minimalist sounds...they're much nosier and complex. While I admit I jumped on the similarities at first too, it's a rather lazy stance to take if you listen to them for a little bit.

Rainer Maria - Look Now Look Again/Anyone in Love With You (Already Knows)
Another band playing the SXSWist show in Austin next month. It (obviously) took me a long time to get around to these guys, but I really haven't stopped listening to them since I went to their last show at Northsix. It's just fun, beautifully uncoordinated emotional rock. Their new album will be out later this year and everything I've heard off it so far has been pretty good.

Also...
Mylo - Destroy Rock and Roll
Forward Russia - Assorted Demos and Singles
Two Gallants - What the Toll Tells
The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth (Yes, still. It's quite the grower...)

GnR Leaks

A couple demos/tracks just leaked off the 15-years-in-the-making Chinese Democracy album. Be nice...if the public doesn't like em, Axl's gonna prolly bury the whole thing again for another decade.

My initial reaction? Not bad...not bad at all, all things considered. Out of the two, I like i.r.s. better.

Guns and Roses - i.r.s.
Guns and Roses - Blues