Gogol Bordello Announces Show @ the Grove In Anaheim

It used to be said that Barnum & Bailey's Circus was the 'Greatest Show On Earth'. But Gogol Bordello's 'circus' was not around back then. Here's my recap of the last adventure I had with Gogol Bordello. You'd be wise to get tickets early. Tickets go on sale today (if you have a password). The public on sale date is Saturday. The password is in the image below.

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Interview with Jamie Lidell

"Some people say whiskey is good, just to loosen up ... the build up of mucal extracts." - Jamie Lidell

courtesy of Revision3 XLR8R TV:



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My Morning Jacket @ Radio City Music Hall - Full Set List and Live Recording!

Band/Artist: My Morning Jacket
Date: June 20, 2008
Venue: Radio City Music Hall
Location: New York, NY
Full Set List and Live Recording!
Courtesy of Internet Archive





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Extra Action Marching Band

This weekend, I visited SF for the first time since moving away in April and I was faced with 48 hours of action packed fun. From lounging in the park, to birthday parties, to bar-hopping, and as always, live music... i got to sample everything that I love about the city in an insanely short amount of time. I had two birthday gatherings to attend in one night and many many people to catch up with so Saturday night was a whirlwind adventure. Just before midnight I hopped in a cab to get to a private birthday event at the Climate Theatre which is a tiny little performing arts space that my friends rented for the birthday party. After a few minutes of mingling, the crowd was overcome by the intrusion of The Extra Action Marching Band. A snapshot from the party is pictured on the right...

and the video below is from their performance at the Fillmore when they opened for David Byrne in 2005.



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The Ting Tings announce show @ El Rey

Indie-pop duo, The Ting Tings, will return to Los Angeles on August 6th for a performance at the El Rey Theatre. Tickets are $16 and go on sale today @ 10am Pacific Time.

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Modest Mouse - Late Night Show in Williamsburg Tonight

Update - Someone pointed out to me, when The Bowery Presents sends out an email about a show, it is no longer considered "secret". This show sold out in less than 5 minutes.
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Attention New Yorkers... Modest Mouse will be performing at 1:30AM tonight @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg. As if that's not unusual enough, Tickets are available for $20 at Ticketmaster with (get this...) no FEE! Tickets are only available online.



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Blind Melon @ Blend (Ridgewood, NJ)

Ridgewood, NJ? Don't knock it. Them's my stomping grounds and Blend has built some cred with the bands coming to their stage. Tonight's performance was a reunited (sans Hoon) Blind Melon. Pictures below courtesy of THS field correspondent, HRH.


Blind Melon Set List - June 18th, 2008 - Blend - Ridgewood, NJ


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I'm not known to rock the microphone.

But, I am internationally known.

Here's a map of the last 150 visitors to Tenacious Hand Stamp....



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Sunset Junction Street Fair

Having lived in San Francisco, I know a thing or two about street fairs, given that there is almost always a street fair happening somewhere in San Francisco every week during the summer and early fall. I've seen some good music at said street fairs, but nothing like this... Check out the lineup for the Sunset Junction Street Fair:

August 23rd,
Langhorne Slim
Menomena
Broken Social Scene
Cold War Kids
and more...

August 24th
!!!
Black Keys
and more...

This is a street fair worth going to. Tickets for the Sunset Junction Street fare are on sale at Ticketweb. $15 per day!



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Download Festival - 2008, LA Lineup.

Here's the lineup for the Download Festival 2008 in Los Angeles. The event will take place on July 20, 2008 at the Gibson Amphitheater.

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
GANG OF FOUR
BRAND NEW
MUTEMATH
YEASAYER
GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY
M83
CARIBOU
FLOSSTRADAMUS
RJD2
MATES OF STATE
THE DUKE SPIRIT
THE NIGHT MARCHERS
BLITZEN TRAPPER
TAPES 'N TAPES
DATAROCK
THE PARLOR MOB
KAKI KING
VEDERA
WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS
DE NOVO DAHL

The event also takes place in San Francisco on July 19th and in Philadelphia on August 2.

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The Helio Sequence + Talkdemonic

The music coming out of the Pacific Northwest continues to amaze me. In addition to seeing Parenthetical Girls and The Builders & The Butchers this week, last night I was pleasantly surprised to see that Talkdemonic was the opener The Helio Sequence (both from Oregon) at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.

Talkdemonic is self-labeled "folktronic". Lisa Molinaro rocks a viola, while Kevin O'Conner keeps the beat and lays down the tracks. I last saw Talkdemonic when they opened for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in 2005. For one reason or another, their sound didn't resonate with me back then, but I'm glad I got to see them again, because I quite enjoyed it this time.


After a somewhat lengthy break between sets, The Helio Sequence came on and played to a very loyal and enthusiastic crowd. Unfortunately, while most of the room was loving every second of it (including yours truly), the volume was out-of-control loud for the size of the venue and it was muddling the sound. Those who hadn't experienced The Helio Sequence found it difficult to enjoy the intricacies of their composition, but the duo have such amazing stage presence (esp drummer, Benjamin Weikel) that a good time was had by all.
Sample tracks coming soon... stay tuned.

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Wayward Panties

Today is the birthday of one of the founders of one of my favorite music blogs,waywardpanties.com. Happy Birthday Tiffany!



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Vampire Weekend - Then and Now.

Vampire Weekend, July 2007, Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco - Capacity 127



Vampire Weekend, June 2008, Central Park, New York City, - Capacity WTF?


photo courtesy of HRH

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Beck - Surprise Show @ Echo TONIGHT!

Beck will be playing tonight at the Echoplex. The show was announced yesterday. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door the night of the show on a first come, first served basis for $25 cash. No line ups before 6pm.

Ages 18+. Doors open at 7pm. Show starts at 8pm.


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Why I Love The Builders and The Butchers

It's singing and shouting with guitar, bass, mandolin, banjo, accordian, drums, xylophone, trumpet, bells, and washboard. Oh, and a megaphone and a funnel.

One Man, One Giant Bass. One drum set, Two drummers.


Clapping!


Audience Participation! Noisy toys for all to play.


One Big Man, One tiny mandolin.

I heard 4 or 5 new songs played live at Spaceland in Silver Lake.. Some are up on their myspace page. Expect a new album in January/February time frame. They will be at Cafe du Nord on Saturday June 14. If you miss them this time around, they'll be swinging back around again in July, touring with Port O'Brien.


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Costa Mesa Rock City?

"So, this is Costa Mesa." These were the words of Detroit Cobras lead singer, Rachel Nagy, as she took the stage of the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. Exactly my thoughts. Was I really seeing the Detroit Cobras in Costa fucking Mesa? She continued, "Is the stage moving, or is it just me?" Yup. It really was the Detroit Cobras. She swayed to the left, staggered to the right, grabbed the mic stand, centered herself on the stage, cleared the sweaty hair from her face, and then belted out song after soulful rock'n roll song. It's not uncommon for Nagy to be a drunken train-wreck when she goes on stage, but it makes for a fun show. Loud, drunk and angry is a winning combination for the Detroit Cobras.

But the real treat here was not just seeing the band. I've been hating on Orange County during my interim residence here and going to this show tonight really made up for the deficiency of character of this entire county. The Detroit Bar is a gem of a venue and whoever is booking this venue knows what is up, and that is a good thing. The Helio Sequence plays on Saturday June 14th and the rest of the calendar is impressive (Stereolab in Sept?). The Detroit Bar is laid out very well, with a capacity around 175 (I'm guessing). It's reminiscent of Cafe du Nord or The Elbo Room (in SF) with the booths and a small stage, but with the decor of a swank retro lounge.

Opening the evening of entertainment was Killola, who was my favorite band of the night to watch. Lead singer, Lisa Rieffel, has an amazing stage presence and a killer voice. During the set, she shed her boots and her belt, swung her microphone around her neck, and laid down on the ground in front of the bass drum during a short drum solo. She is definitely hot. I heard she was the love child of Billy Idol and Karen O. That's not true, I made it up. Though the band is based out of LA, Rieffel is a New Jersey native which makes her awesome by default. I think I want to make babies with her. In any case, supporting her were 3 other band mates quite adept at shredding face. If you don't catch them on June 12th at the Troubadour, they'll be back on July 19th at the Knitting Factory with Girl in a Coma.

The second band of the night, Les Sans Culottes, is french-language-rock-and-roll band. Though they sing almost entirely in French, AND act the part on stage, they're really from Brooklyn and speak perfect English. Was that a secret? Um, anyway, this was the first I had seen them, and they were very fun to watch. They will be touring with the Detroit Cobras for the next two weeks through Chicago and then on their own from there. After the show, I was lucky enough to strike up some conversation with a couple of the band members. Jokingly, I asked if they were mortal enemies with the other sing-in-French-but-really-Americans band, Nous Non Plus. While the question was somewhat of a joke, it seemed that there WAS some history of some tom-foolery and douche-baggery, but I won't report further... because I didn't record the details. Who can do such things with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other?

In any case, that's my log for the evening. The Detroit Bar is an awesome place to see a show, and if you are lucky enough not to live in Costa Mesa and can afford the $4.79 per gallon to get down here, i would suggest you do so on Saturday night when The Helio Sequence will be taking the stage.

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Damn You, Dave Grohl.

The June 7th performance of the Foo Fighters at Wembley stadium featured an encored with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. That dick has the greatest fucking luck. Read more on MOG

Los Campesinos!

I recently reconnected with an old friend I went to grade school with back in NJ. He now lives in LA and manages a great restaurant/bar called Mirabelle on Sunset. This restaurant happens to be fairly close to the Troubadour, so I stopped in for dinner and a beverage prior to going to see Los Campesinos! After I clarified that they were not a Latino, but a Welsh band... he asked what kind of music it was. As you know, I hate this question. But I gave him the simple answer: Tweecore. So, after I let the blank stare linger a moment longer, I came up with, "imagine Iggy & The Stooges covering Raffi (or maybe the other way around?) and that will get you somewhere in the neighborhood."

After I ate, I headed over to the show and was disappointed that I only caught the last song of a band I was actually curious about, Parenthetical Girls, and I totally missed Abe Vigoda, which I heard was incredible. During the short break, I got my adult beverage and thank goodness I got it quickly because before I knew it, the band was on stage and ready to go @ about 10p... This is remarkably early for a headliner on a Saturday night, no?

In any case, Los Campesinos! started their set with the polychoral 'ONE TWO THREE FOUR, ONE TWO THREE FOUR' introduction heard on the track, 'Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats'. And from there it was loud, animated, clappy, dansy, and sweaty music for the next 45 minutes. An unfamiliar listener might not have understood that the wanton cacophony generating such excitement was actually quite calculated and extraordinarily tight... While it was obvious that the crowd embraced Los Campesinos! from the motions of their bobbing heads, it wasn't until members of Parenthetical Girl came out into the audience that the crowd let loose. It seems that these two bands have generated quite a bond, and there was some serious emotion when lead singer began talking about how hard it was going to be to part with their touring companions.

Parenthetical Girls started hopping, dancing, crowd surfing and getting the audience going nuts... And I mean Go Team! @ GAMH 2006 nuts.. It was a very memorable show... make sure to catch them the next time they are stateside.

Check out an interview on Above The Fold
Venuszine's recap of Paranthetical Girls
More pictures from the show on Prefixmag.com

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RATATAT New Album & Concert Schedule

When Beethoven performed his Eroica Symphony for the first time, he left people scratching their heads. It wasn't how Haydn or Mozart did things. It didn't quite sound the way music was supposed to sound. Beethoven dared to explore new directions and in doing so redefined popular music of the time. It's along these same lines that I like to position Ratatat among the influencers of modern music.

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on an early copy of Ratatat's third full length release called, LP3. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. The album pretty much picks up where Classics left off, but it's unfair to say that what you are getting with LP3 is more of the same. It's not. Anyone trained in music theory can see that they are deeply rooted in structure, but like genius minds that have paved the way for music from Beethoven to Pink Floyd they push further with creative energy, emotion, and romanticism using a variety of new sounds.

A great review of the album is written on the Lemur Blog.

The album will be officially released on July 8th and they will support it with a short tour.

Don't miss it.

Jul 7 2008 @ Chop Suey -Seattle, Washington
Jul 8 2008 @ Holocene -Portland, Oregon
Jul 10 2008 @ Slim’s - San Francisco, California
Jul 12 2008 @ echoplex - Los Angeles, California
Jul 15 2008 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (sold out) - Brooklyn, New York

(Pictured right: Ratatat @ Mighty in San Francisco, July 2007)

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The Ting Tings!

It seems that just about everyone is buzzing about the Ting Tings. I guess that's what happens when your songs are featured on a commercial for the Apple iPod. What ever happened to Jet?

Anyway, The Ting Tings will be on Jimmy Kimmel tomorrow on June 6th and will be coming to LA on June 13. The duo from Manchester, England has an amazing sound on the album, but I have a feeling their sound will be much thinner when playing live. Here's a video clip of a studio sound:


Updated June 7,
Here's the video clip of them on Jimmy Kimmel... Cute concept as a duo, but they really need a band on stage with them.

Treasure Island Music Festival Lineup..

The Treasure Island Music Festival was an absolute blast last year. The island makes for an awesome venue with breathtaking views and the comfortable grounds. I didn't know if the good folks from Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment would be able to top last year's roundup of artists, but they did. Here's some info about the upcoming festival:

"After an immensely successful inaugural year, Noise Pop and Another Planet Entertainment are thrilled to announce another stellar line-up for the Treasure Island Music Festival. The two-day festival will once again take place in one of the world’s most breathtaking settings: an island smack-dab in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. Picking up where it left off last year, Saturday, September 20th will feature cutting edge electronic and dance oriented acts with Justice closing. The Raconteurs will headline Sunday, September 21st which features a one-of-a-kind line-up of highly regarded established and emerging indie rock bands. Here is the confirmed line-up for each day so far.

Saturday September 20th
JUSTICE
TV ON THE RADIO
GOLDFRAPP
HOT CHIP
CSS
ANTIBALAS
AESOP ROCK
AMON TOBIN
FOALS
MIKE RELM
NORTEC: BOSTICH + FUSSIBLE

Sunday September 21st
THE RACONTEURS
TEGAN & SARA
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
SPIRITUALIZED
OKKERVIL RIVER
TOKYO POLICE CLUB
THE KILLS
DR. DOG
JOHN VANDERSLICE
THE DODOS
FLEET FOXES

Additional artists are yet to be confirmed but the total number of performers will be 28 over the two-day event. Single day tickets cost $65.00, Two-day tickets cost $115.00.

Worth every penny.