I'm with you, kids - let's celebrate the end of another week. Before we leave, though, let's do a quick recap: - We had more fun with Magnetic Fields covers . There's a whole slew of more fun coming this Sunday, when Part Five drops. - I dreamt of crack . which was whack, but it helped to remind me of The Moldy Peaches, which was whacker. It also reminded me to subtly plug my nascent dream blog , which was the whackest of all. - We saw Random [...]
The summer of 2003 was a hot one in eastern Washington, and my concrete bunker of an apartment contained the heat like no other. Granted, the above image wasn't shot by yours truly until 2004, but it sure seemed hot enough to ignite even the least combustible of items. I wrapped up my undergraduate that December, which was cold as Antarctica, and upon that milestone I moved to Seattle. It was a good year for the Northwest; many of my favorite albums came from Seattle labels like Sub Pop and Barsuk. As for the list, I've [...]
Hurricane Bells Tonight Is The Ghost Vagrant Records [2009] Fire Note Says: This is one Hurricane to stick around for! Album Review: Hurricane Bells is the new project from Longwave singer/guitarist Steve Schiltz. You may already know the name as they recently had an exclusive song included on the soon to be huge New Moon: Twilight Series Soundtrack and it apparently is one of the first songs [...]
It's been a busy last few months for Ben Gibbard . First there was that Jay Farrar collaboration on the Jack Kerouac soundtrack . And, of course, there's the Death Cab for Cutie song on that soundtrack for the shiny vampire movie. Plus, the man got married! Yet despite all this, Mr. Zooey Deschanel has once again made time found time to join an already all-star line-up for a killer new album. And this time it's not just for our entertainment. According to Spinner.com , Gibbard [...]
The Long Winters - Honest
NOTE: Settle in my friends..... We got a doozy for you today! Photography by Butch Gerald Happy Friday my friends! Friday the 13th to boot -- Ooooo! We are very, very excited and lucky to have a very special presentation for you today, something of a rare bird 'round here on TSURURADIO! That's right, if you read the header, today we are very proud to present our interview with the [...]
This week, our podcast features San Francisco's Or, the Whale , the seven-piece country-rock band that ranks as one of our longtime Bay Bridged favorites. Inviting the band back into our studio - two years after we first interviewed them around the release of their first album - was something of a no-brainer. Or, the Whale's heartfelt songs and superb musicianship have made them one of the Bay's most reliably excellent live bands, and they've backed up sold-out local shows with regular cross-country tours. 2009's been the busiest year yet for the [...]
Message To Garcia is a collection of Visqueen songs that represents a rock and roll epitaph to front woman Rachel Flotard's father. After garnering countless fans, reviews, and playing shows with everyone from Guided By Voices, to Cheap Trick, Visqueen appeared to be on the verge of conquering the world. All of that changed when her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Their choice to be together for the duration of his illness would change her direction forever. Mr. George E. Flotard was a New York City steamfitter since the mid 1960's. He fought and loved in Hell's [...]
Has anybody else been listening to Wind's Poem ? It's the new album from Mount Eerie , or native Anacortan Phil Elverum. Taken by its elegiac, methodical march, the beautiful behemoth has me cradled in its giant palm. I'm compelled to kneel before some sort of Dark Lord and succumb to his intoxicating assurance of malevolent glory. Elverum the auteur might argue that there is no Dark Lord other than the blustery gusts of wind he's chosen to exult in this ode to the atmospheric force. The record, predicated on [...]
Gone, Gone, Gone is another number from the pride of Nova Scotia, Joel Plaskett , and his 3-disc magnus opus Three . Released in March of this year, Plaskett's 3rd full-length solo effort captured his 2nd Polaris nomination, however I'm not completely convinced this album should be considered a solo-album proper. For myself, the backing vocals (I use the word "backing" loosely as the vocals are essential to many of the numbers), from Ana Egge and Rose Cousins, are often the most memorable pieces of the songs. I'm not trying to take anything away from Plaskett, [...]
I really like going to concerts, but it's actually very rare that I continue to reflect on a show months after it's passed. Mount Eerie's 2008 performance at the Art Damage Lodge in Northside was one of those shows. Phil Elvrum, the creative force behind Mount Eerie , performed along with two of his friends, Julie Dorion and Fred Squire, with whom he had collaborated on last year's lauded Lost Wisdom album. The tone of the show was hushed, intimate, and even reverent. The lonesome and organic sound of the trio's performance, as well as the set [...]
Now that we're into the month of November I thought that I'd use some of the postings over the next few weeks to make a few suggestions as to what might look good on lists written up for Santa Claus. I should point out that what will follow is by no means an exhaustive list of what I think has been the best music released in 2009 - hell, I've not bought enough or listened to enough to be so presumptuous - but there are some things that I do believe every music fan should have in their [...]
Nada Surf @ Music Hall of Williamsburg ( Jack Groetzinger ) There weren't a ton of shows going on in NYC last night (10/28), relatively speaking, but members/collaborators of most indie rock bands in existence were part of them. Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service, husband of She of She & Him) played with Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo) at Webster Hall with John Roderick (The Long Winters) opening. "Along with all 12 songs from the album, Farrar and Gibbard [...]
Nada Surf (member) @ MHOW last night ( more by Paul Birman ) today in NYC * comedy in Brooklyn * comedy in Manhattan * The Long Count @ BAM * Hawksley Workman @ City Winery * The Answering Machine @ Coco66 * Boy Crisis, Gordon Voidwell, Spanish Prisoners @ Pianos * Emilie Simon, White Cats (Tara Angell) @ Knitting Factory [...]
Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar @ Bimbo's 365 Club, 10-24-09 ( pneyu ) John Roderick of the Long Winters is the opener of the Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar Kerouac-tour that ends with a show at Webster Hall in NYC tonight (10/28). Tickets are still available. John will then stick around for a day, and headline his own show at the intimate Union Hall in Brooklyn on Thursday (1/29). Tickets are on sale for that [...]
So if the idea of Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar singing songs inspired by a Jack Kerouac novel fills you with delight, than by all means, hit Webster Hall tonight. If you're hostile or indifferent,... Continue reading "Tonight! The Long Winters, TMBG, The Wrens (Well, One Of 'Em), and The Long Count" >
Dear Tao Lin, Brandon Scott Gorrell, Blake Butler and other "blog school" authors, Yesterday, I "wrote a blog" delving into the purpose of this blog, "blogging," the emerging literary school of "bloggers" and an assortment of other "blog" and "not blog" related topics. In the course of this bulleted examination, I name dropped your names being that you each the three of you hold a place in the vanguard of the "blog school literary movement." I suppose I thought that you would eventually Google your names and happen upon my meanderings. Probably the idea was that once arrived, [...]
Dear Tao Lin, Brandon Scott Gorrell, Blake Butler and other "blog school" authors, Yesterday, I "wrote a blog" delving into the purpose of this blog, "blogging," the emerging literary school of "bloggers" and an assortment of other "blog" and "not blog" related topics. In the course of this bulleted examination, I "name dropped" your names being that you each the three of you hold a place in the vanguard of the "blog school literary movement." I suppose I thought that you would eventually "Google" your names and happen upon my meanderings. Probably the idea was that once arrived, [...]
Master thespian Ben Gibbard brought his Jack Kerouac-celebrating collaboration with Jay Farrar to Los Angeles on a busy Friday which had the pair (along with Death Cab resident beard Nick Harmer) record a session for KCRW before headlining a show at the El Ray with Long Winter main mind John Roderick in the early slot. The kind folks at KCRW allowed our photographer Andrew Youssef to shoot the session, during which Gibbard mentioned he'd be playing a solo set in LA on 11/21 for a benefit organized by Tim Robbins, before AY took in [...]
This week on PHW I'll be running a countdown of my 50 favorite dad-rock albums of the past ten years. I'm not trying to be dramatic or self-important by doing it over 5 days and breaking it into 5 equal segments, it's more a result of the difficulty I always have in formatting posts of this nature. Blogger can be a pain in the ass with large posts featuring multiple images, and I've never figured out how to make these things look just the way I want them. Breaking it down like this makes that somewhat easier for me. [...]
Beach House have released their first single, "Norway , " from the forthcoming album, Teen Dream , out 1/26 via Sub Pop. [...]More about Beach House
New Lady Gaga from The Fame Monster out November 24th. Originally this album was going to be a re-release of Fame but Gaga said: “I [...]More about Lady GaGa
Ezra is jumping on the auto-tune? Is this the Discovery influence coming to play? Is auto-tune the new trend in indie rock? These questions [...]More about Vampire Weekend
This was my wallpaper this month. I used some website to make a “mosaic” of classic/simple album covers. (Although MPP and London Calling could be considered [...]More about Animal Collective
Beck had completed the second album from his Records Club collection: "The Songs of Leonard Cohen." This time around the group included Devendra Banhart; Ben, Andrew and [...]More about Beck
Some heavy hitters. Midnight Juggernauts - This New Technology (The Juan Maclean remix) Calvin Harris - Flashback (Eric Prydz [...]More about Beyonce
Best Unofficial Day Show: Aquarium Drunkard's CMJ Showcase Where: Fontana's When: 12pm - 5pm Cost: FREE Lineup: 12:00pm - Blair , 12:45pm - [...]More about The xx
So here comes this freestyle or whatever it is from Kanye. No one seems to know if it is new or some unreleased stuff but [...]More about Kanye West
Without further ado, here’s the Lil Wayne No Ceilings mixtape. I heard this would be a Halloween treat, but I guess someone tricked somebody and got to it.� Also, [...]More about Lil' Wayne
Saw Steve Aoki on Friday just there. I was absolutely hammered and therefore dancing like an absolute gimp on the dance-floor. He played a really good set and did about [...]More about Passion Pit
The Cribs - We Share The Same Skies
k-os - I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman
The Swell Season featuring Jason Segel - Nov 18, 2009
nekocasefallon
WKND PLYLST!! This has nothing to do with NEW MOON!
‘09 Been Kind
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
Bobby B's Top 50 Albums Of The Decade (#25-21)
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
