Great Songs: Broken Social Scene "Cause = Time"

Happy Returns

A quick look at Stereogum this morning has me beaming with shear joy after seeing their listing of an exclusive Versus track from a brand new slab due out on Merge this summer!  We'd announced previously that the band would be part of the Teen Beat celebrations going on this summer with label mates Unrest but had no idea that new tunes and a new record were in the cards as well.  That new long player will be called On the Ones and Threes and will be released this August.  Versus is one of the seminal acts of the nineties and their Stars are Insane debut full-length is still tops in our book. Their sonic intensity and sharp songwriting make them deserving of a comeback and we wish them the best of luck in their pursuits.

Simply Majestic

We can definitely rank The National's new record High Violet up there in the much-anticipated echelon.  As the band begins to roll out new tunes in support of the release, it's becoming clearer at every turn that they are truly a national treasure.  Last night had them appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman with special guest star Sufjan Stevens in tow.  Delicious. Enjoy.

Free MGMT

If you've ever been a guest at the Ed Sullivan Theater to witness a live taping of Late Night with David Letterman, then you know it's a lot of waiting in line and then a quick rush into the (very very cold) studio and all of a sudden its all over in a blink of an eye and you are ushered right back out the door.  Visitors to the historic theater got a little more for the price of their free tickets yesterday when Letterman played host to psychedelic pop stars MGMT.  After taping the show, the band stayed on staged and performed a nearly hour long set featuring a good amount of material from their new slab Congratulations and a couple from their seminal debut Oracular Spectactular.  If there was any doubt about MGMT's predilections, Andrew VanWyngarden introduced It's Working with a perfunctory "This is a song about doing drugs." CBS is kindly offering a full stream of the event for your pleasure:

Pol Position

Fast on the heals of announcing Carlos D's departure from the band, Interpol have announced a short tour to introduce us to new members and new material.  Tickets are in a short term pre-sale state via the band's own site so grab them now before Live Nation adds unreasonable surcharges to the very reasonable ticket price!  You can still grab the free download of new tune Lights while you are hanging in their living room. Here's the dates:

06.21.2010 Water Street Music Hall • Rochester, NY PRE-SALE TIX

06.22.2010 Town Ballroom • Buffalo, NY PRE-SALE TIX

06.23.2010 Mr Small's Theatre • Pittsburgh, PA * PRE-SALE TIX

06.25.2010 Crocodile Rock Cafe • Allentown, PA * PRE-SALE TIX

06.28.2010 People's Court • Des Moines, IA PRE-SALE TIX

07.01.2010 Bogart's • Cincinnati, OH PRE-SALE TIX

07.02.2010 House of Blues Cleveland • Cleveland, OH PRE-SALE TIX

07.05.2010 Blue Note • Columbia, MO PRE-SALE TIX

07.08.201040 Watt Club • Athens, GA PRE-SALE TIX

07.10.2010 The Music Farm • Charleston, SC PRE-SALE TIX

07.14.2010 Ram's Head Live • Baltimore, MD PRE-SALE TIX

07.20.2010 Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel • Providence, RI PRE-SALE TIX

07.21.2010 Toad's Place • New Haven, CT PRE-SALE TIX

07.23.2010 Northern Lights • Clifton Park, NY PRE-SALE TIX

07.24.2010 Chameleon • Landcaster, PA PRE-SALE TIX

 

Pre-sale ends on Friday, May 14 at 11:59pm PST Pre-sale tickets will be available at will call.
 

You Steal the Scene

Collective groove meisters Broken Social Scene are hitting the road proper this autumn to support their newly unveiled Forgiveness Rock Record.  The album is an exciting move forward for the seminal Arts and Crafts band and should push the group further into the mainstream.  Their shows are incendiary and compelling experiences and should not be missed for those who appreciate live music.  We here in Connecticut have access to perhaps the most intimate night of the tour with a stop at New Haven's venerable Toad's Place on September 20.  Get there!

Fall 2010 Tour
08/28 St. Louis, MO @ Lou Fest
09/08 Pittsburgh, PA @ Byham Theater
09/09 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
09/10 Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Festival
09/11 Richmond, VA @ The National
09/13 Washington, DC @ The Warner Theatre
09/14 Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
09/17 Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
09/18 New York, NY @ Central Park, Rumsey Playield
09/20 New Haven, CT @ Toad's Place
09/21 Northhampton, MA @ Calvin Theater
09/22 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
09/24 Ithaca, NY @ State Theater
09/25 Buffalo, NY @ Town Hall
10/01 Ann Arbor, MI @ Michigan Theater
10/03 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
10/04 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/06 Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre
10/07 Saskatoon, SK @ Odeon
10/08 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall
10/09 Edmonton, AB @ Winspear Centre
10/10 Kelowna, BC @ Community Theatre
10/12 Victoria, BC @ Element
10/13 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore
10/15 Seattle, WA @ Paramount
10/16 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
10/19 Los Angeles, CA @ The WIltern

Video History: Bobby & Johnny

From the debut episode of the Johnny Cash Show airing June 7, 1969, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash perform "The Girl from the North Country" at Ryman Auditorium.

A Very Cunning Linguist!

Amanda Palmer keeps her torrid creative pace as, fast on the heels of releasing the high concept Evelyn Evelyn project and venturing on an exquisite tour in support of the same (as well as freeing herself from the bounds of her contract with Roadrunner), she announces her star turn in Cabaret this fall at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge.  She is, quite simply, amazing.

From the ART website:

Take your seat at the Kit Kat Klub, the perfectly marvelous cabaret where singer Sally Bowles meets writer Cliff Bradshaw. As the two pursue a life of pleasure in Weimar Berlin, the world outside the Klub begins to splinter. Sally and Cliff are faced with a choice: abandon themselves to pleasures promised by the cabaret, or open their eyes and face the coming storm. Presiding over the debauched party where  nothing is as it seems is singer,  songwriter, and former Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer as the Kit Kat Klub's magnetic Emcee, with A.R.T. regulars Thomas Derrah and Jeremy Geidt.

www.americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/cabaret

Charm that Snake into the Dangerzone!

Yacht Rock #12.  Nuff said.

For Worse or Better

Dead Weather get it done again and again and again.  Another great video - the kind that makes you wish MTV were still MTV so you could keep watching in anticipation of it's next spin in the rotation.  But, hey, we've got streams now so just hit play...

Unrest Redux

File this under: Didn't See It Coming! Teen Beat flagship band Unrest will be reuniting for a special 26th Anniversary tour with different label mates joining them for each of a handful of stops around the eastern seaboard July 6-11. Many of the acts haven't played together in years including the twee popsters True Love Always and the sonic goodness of Versus. What a great surprise!

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, July 6, at Johnny Brenda's
with THE ROPERS, KEVIN BARKER (Currituck Co.) and MC: Jonny Cohen

HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, July 7, at Maxwell's
with THE ROPERS, BLOODY AMATEUR (Tel Aviv/Prosaics)

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, July 8, at T.T. the Bear's Place
with BOSSANOVA, ROBERT SCHIPUL, and YASMIN KUHN (Flying Saucer)

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, July 9, at The Bell House
with VERSUS, THE RONDELLES (original trio), BOSSANOVA, COTTON CANDY and MC: Patrick Bryant (SOMERVILLE SPKOUT)

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 10, at The Black Cat
UNREST ('83-'86, Tim Moran, short set), UNREST ('88-'89, Dave Park, short set), VERSUS, THE RONDELLES (original trio), BOSSANOVA and MCs: Jonny Cohen and Patrick Bryant

CARRBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, July 11, at Cat's Cradle
TRUE LOVE ALWAYS, BOSSANOVA and MC: Patrick Bryant (SOMERVILLE SPKOUT)

Hot Streaming Vinyl

Third Man Records continues to prove itself the coolest label in America today with a live stream of the new Dead Weather slab Sea of Cowards playing on a turntable at their headquarters in Nashville throughout the day on April 30.  As if that weren't enough, the band will perform the record in its entirety live and streaming on Monday May 3 from the Third Man sound stage.  Check it:

Live TV by Ustream

Into the Black

Interpol have been on hiatus since their third proper studio album Our Love to Admire was received with a great deal less fanfare than anticipated considering their jump to a major label.  It might be that there just wasn't enough going on with their very singular sound to keep people interested past their excellent first two releases of dark post-punk.  Perhaps enough time has passed that people are clamoring for new tunes.  The band seem poised to return soon and have just offered up a free download of new song "Lights" (for the price of a birthday and an email).  It's classic Interpol with no frills and no surprises.  a return to form?  We'll see.

 

I Need That Record!

Take the time to watch this excellent doc over at Pitchfork TV while you can and lament the loss of an important chunk of our American musical and cultural identity with the loss of more than 3000 independent music stores over the last decade or so and then stop downloading the latest hit off mediafire and head out to Mystic Disc and Redscroll Records and any other store that's left in the fight and start browsing and buying.  It's the right thing to do!

It's Saturday Night

Congratulations certainly go out to dear MGMT for stepping out with one of the strangest follow-ups to a smash hit that we've seen in, well, just about ever.  The new record has an underpinning of Rocky Horror theatrical weirdness that's hard to shake. Frankly, you are just never quite sure of your footing with Congratulations.  To say it's challenging is simply understatement.  There are no immediate knock-out tracks here but their lead "single" Flash Delirium is sure to sneak into your sub conscience with its wily and serpentine logic.  The band hit the stage at SNL this weekend.

A Perfect Pachyderm (x2)

Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley have just rolled out their new Siamese Twin tragi-comedy Evelyn Evelyn to unwitting fans.  The lead single is a double-sized Elephant that teases with its singy-songy vaudevillian turn.  The rest of the project is not surprisingly a little farther out on the darker edge of AFP's imagination and well worth the exploration if you find yourself on the dark side of life.

Yorke Channels Curtis

Wow. So good.

Drunk Girls Coming Soon

Wilco The Festival

Wilco have announced plans for a new festival entitled Solid Sound Festival to be held at Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA this summer.  The event will showcase not only Wilco's own estmeable talents (including all of the sundry side projects of its members including On Fillmore, The Nels Cline Singers, Pronto, and the Autumn Defense) but also feature a fully programmed comedy stage, screen printing demos, an interactive slide guitar workshop and more.

Tickets for Solid Sound Festival are on sale this Friday, April 9 through the bandʼs official website wilcoworld.net and through solidsoundfestival.com. From April 9 to May 31 tickets for the three-day event will be available for $86.50 (including all fees and parking) and after June 1 for $99.50 (including all fees and parking).

solidsoundfestival.com

And now for something completely different...

The Flash Delirium video is streaming now on MGMT's site and it's must see vidvid! Just stay away from the brown acid before hitting play:

http://www.whoismgmt.com/