Chickfactor turned 20 this year, and several shows in California and London have been set up to commemorate 10 years each as a printed magazine and a webzine. This is the Chickfactor that Belle and Sebastian wrote the song about, so it is only fair that member Stevie Jackson headlined a show at the Rickshaw [...]
Officially, this is the last weekend of Summer. Which means, of course, a lot of weird festivals. Including a 902s rock festival, a leather fest, and an amazing multiband gig full of wonderful jangle pop! Thursday, September 20th Azure Ray, Soko at Swedish American Hall Azure Ray are at the point in there career where [...]
Like many of you, I've been spending a lot of time today digging into Pitchfork's People's List and, while I think the 27,000+ voters got lots of stuff right, there was also plenty of albums I thought were criminally overlooked. So I turned those harbored resentments into a list (because that's just what bloggers do, right?). So, these are my picks of the albums from 1996-2011 that were robbed of their deserved People's List glory by the 88% male, urbanites that voted in this thing. I limited myself to one album per artist (otherwise you'd be getting a [...]
(Above: the concert debut of Rose Melberg's Puppies.) After triumphant/heart-melting performances at Chickfactor's 20th anniversary concerts in New York and Portland, the Softies will reunite once more in San Francisco on Sept. 22, playing alongside Belle & Sebastian's Stevie Jackson and other twee mainstays. Having flown up to Portland for the last show, let me be the first to tell you: go. I'll be booking a ticket, as well as catching the sans-Softies Chickfactor show in L.A., which will gently take over the Bootleg on Sept. 20 with Jackson and more. Meanwhile, the Softies' Rose [...]
I'm new to rock tourism, but any excuse to get up to Portland is a good one. Seeing the Softies play their old hometown for their third and possibly last 2012 reunion show was the best one. I made a week of it ( beer notes , restaurant notes ), but the trip was firmly focused on seeing Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia play a dream set list to an adoring crowd. Because there's a God, audience member/hero deathcab29 taped most of the set. It's not as crisp as the New York videos , but the band's always [...]
Count to ten - The Softies So this happened last weekend in a place very far away, though oddly proximal to a lot of other things i wish i could have gone to see over the years. Hmmm. The Softies and the Aislers Set are who i wish i could have seen. Nothing would have changed with them. The other bands are enough to remain for me as relics in an unreturnable, unreformed past.
The Softies, possibly the greatest band the North American indie-pop scene has ever produced, played their first show in years last week at one of Chickfactor's 20th anniversary shows in Brooklyn. To call it "epic" might be a little much for a twee duo without a rhythm section, but for what it's worth, I bought tickets to their next show ( in Portland, May 30 ) over Coachella. Here are six (amazing) videos from the set.
Apparently the long-overdue Softies reunion, which mine eyes will witness in Portland next month, was pretty amazing tonight. It was the duo's first show in years. Notes from Brooklyn: @ daverawkblog @ chickfactorzine The Softies did Perfect Dear, Best Days, Charms, Tracks, Count to 10, Loveseat, Lambretta Boy, so many more — rob sheffield (@robsheff) April 13, 2012 I'm guessing Rob means "Perfect Afternoon" - the others would be "Charms Around Your Wrist" and "Tracks and Tunnels." Would love to know [...]
The Softies' Rose Melberg at a solo show / photo by David Greenwald If you're not familiar with One Week One Band , founded by my friend Hendrik Jasnoch, it's grown from a concept - that old music is worth talking about in the flood of Relevant New MP3s - into a sort of weekly blog version of the 33 1/3 books. I'm proud to be writing about the Softies, my favorite band, for the site all week. Here's what's up so far: * The band's other projects and pre-Softies work [...]
Brave Irene is the new project from Rose Melberg of The Softies/Tiger Trap. The self-titled ep will be released on Slumberland Records March 15. Check out the wildly infectious girl-group jam "No Fun" below. Brave Irene "No Fun" by Slumberland Records
After the long stint in Tiger Trap, Go Sailor, The Softies and her solo project, Rose Melberg is back at it with a full band with Vancouver's Brave Irene. The band contains the same elements that have drawn the indie pop community to her work throughout the years. And till this day, she still garners [...]
The Softies: Sleep Away Your Troubles [ Purchase ] The Softies are what some might call the definition of the term "twee". Two girls, Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia, of the Pacific Northwest who often wore babydoll dresses and sang sweet, delicate music using only two guitars that harmonized, as did their vocals. They sang of love and friendship and childhood memories all with an innocent beauty, and anything else that could leave you with a warm tingling feeling of nostalgia. This song comes from their album [...]
This isn't an EBTG post, sorry to disappoint, though it was that song that inspired me to make up this week's list. As an alumni of the Long Distance Relationships club, I have compiled many-a-song to my list of tunes to soothe the weary heart. A particular song that was on heavy play was Everything But the Girl's 'Missing' (also because, prior to the LDR club, I was a recovering pining-for-a-lost-love addict). I haven't added a song since, as it's been that long since I've needed one for my longing heart, but with my natural pre-disposition to sappiness [...]
In an undated but presumably recent video (circa 2006, 2007, I'd guess), Rose Melberg plays a pretty take on Portola stand-out "My Heaven, My Sky" with frequent collaborator Nick Krgovich of P:ano and Gigi. Videographer Robin Anderson has another pair of performances from the set on Vimeo - I've gone ahead and ripped two of these performances below. If anyone knows what the others are called, please comment away! Rose Melberg - "My Heaven, My Sky" (live): mp3 Rose Melberg - "(Unknown - If You Want [...]
Go Sailor aren't the most notorious of Rose Melberg's projects: The Softies, who lasted longer and sounded sweeter, and Tiger Trap, which announced her emergence into the twee scene with a treble-heavy bang, are both better known. But the band, which reunited for an instant classic show at the Echo on Sunday night, deserves the same recognition. The short-lived group, which included Crimpshine's Paul Curran and Amy Linton of Henry's Dress and later, the Aislers Set, produced three EPs and two compilation tracks ultimately gathered on the 1996 Go Sailor compilation. The release's 14 songs benefit from a [...]
Go Sailor may not have set the indie-pop world on fire the way some of Rose Melberg's other projects (Tiger Trap, Rawkblog favorite-band-ever The Softies) did, but given that Rose has spent approximately an hour performing songs in Los Angeles in the last decade, all news is good news. The short-lived, Rose-fronted band - which obviously rules - is reuniting to play at Slumberland Records' 20th anniversary shows in L.A. on March 28 and San Francisco on March 27. Joining them will be other reuniting '90s luminaries Henry's Dress, Boyracer and The How, as well as modern torch-bearers Pants Yell! [...]
**I LOVE this skirt! I am awesome! I managed to miss posting about the holidays this year, I also managed to not post any year-end lists once again this year. I think 2009 was a wash, I'm glad to see it go for many reasons. The last few months have been difficult for me for a variety of reasons but 2010 is a new year, a new decade and I suppose a new start (again), and thus far things seem to be going pretty darn well. [...]
Para el recopilatorio de hoy nos vamos a centrar en el catálogo de Slumberland Records que este año celebran su vigésimo aniversario. Desde que el año 1989 comenzase su andadura con un 7" llamado What Kind of Heaven Do You Want?, que incluía canciones de Black Tambourine, Powderburns y mis adorados Velocity Girl, el sello norteamericano nos ha regalado joyas irrepetibles. Resulta complicado resumir estos veinte años de historia en unas pocas canciones, así que simplemente me limitaré a poner algunas de las que más me gustan, no obstante, os recomiendo que os déis una vuelta por el [...]
Postal blue - The Softies Probably the sweetest band i know. And quite often the saddest, most isolating, most gentle, tether-to-this-earth cutting band i know. This is my one band everyone else seems to have many of - mood setting music for those down times, those alone times. I'll listen to the Softies whenever, though, so i'm still not as grown up, distinct in and distributive of my moods and mood setters as i should be.
Here a SimpleViewer Flash gallery should be displayed. Click here to open the post in your browser to see the gallery. All photos by David Greenwald You always hope your heroes are as you'd imagined them. Mysterious. Charisma to burn. Or, you know, nice. Rose Melberg, one of indie pop's most talented icons, is the closest thing we've got to twee royalty (beyond being, of course, queen of my heart), but she rules with open arms. Watching her play a pair of far too brief sets at Vacation Vinyl and [...]
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