The story of a boy and his toilet paper holder continues. Judah’s at it again. This week it’s Cold War Kids, ‘Hang Me Out to Dry’. While technically not his best work, he gets lots of style points for his Elvis-like footwork. Lead singer Nathan Willett can learn a thing or two from these moves, no?
Cold War Kids and Vampire Weekend top the line up for the Pre-Not So Silent Night Party at Mezzanine in San Francisco this Wednesday, December 10. (Thanks, Joerg for the ticket!)
The 17th annual NoisePop Festival has been set for February 24 – March 1, 2009. Early artist confirmations include New Pornographers front man AC Newman, No Age, Pinback side project Goblin Cock, Dear And The Headlights, the Bay Area debut of Clues and a very special performance by Antony and the Johnsons, kicking off a festival roster that will include over 100 bands.
Noise Pop Festival badges will be available to purchase starting at 10:00 AM on December 10, 2008. To buy badges, go to the Noise Pop 2009 website.
I love AmieStreet. It’s become one of my new favorite music sites and latest obsessions. They have great music and a very cool, community-driven concept that makes it really cheap to get music. But you have to be on top of your music game. It works like this:
All songs on Amie Street are priced from free to 98 cents. Instead of the arbitrary $0.99 per song, on Amie Street the community determines the price of music. Every song starts free, or very cheap, and increases in price, up to 98 cents, as more and more people purchase it.
This variable pricing system ensures that you get music at a fair, community-driven price point, and makes it easy for you to find the type of music you want. Then you’re encouraged to talk about the music you like by putting money in your account for more downloads when you recommend songs that continue to rise in price. All the music is DRM-free! Go get an account if you don’t have one already.
And make sure you take advantage of these great album deals…
Taking their name from a minor Shakespearean tragedy, this New Jersey punk rock band is making waves and getting compared to the likes of The Kinks, The Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, and even Arcade Fire. They’ve built a reputation for their rowdy live performances. If you’re in San Francisco, you can see them tonight at The Rickshaw Stop opening for No Age.
This San Francisco-based trio has already built a following around town with their energetic live performances of avant-electronic music that fuses psych heavy synths and spacey delays. They’ve toured and opened for the likes of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Modeselektor and Crystal Castles. Their self-titled debut is out now and you can get it at Amie Street right now for $1.32. Drink it up!
Quite a while back, I posted some photos documenting the beginning phase of our living room update that included rewiring the room for distributed in wall sound with Paradigm SA-15R speakers and a complete overhaul design-wise by friend, colleague and renowned SF designer, Ken Fulk. Well, I’m happy to unveil the result of our extreme living room makeover.
I don’t know if there are enough adjectives to describe how awesome it is. Suffice it to say, everytime I come home I still pause to make sure I’m in the right house. It’s so sexy, hip and downright functional I don’t quite know what to do with myself. Do I really live here? It is now my favorite music listening room too – as I sit in front of the fire and control my Sonos playlists with my iPhone Sonos Controller. (Oh just stop me already!) Technology can be so good.
Speaking of music, I was going through my inbox today listening to some new tunes sent my way and uncovered this nice French electronica album from ElodieO that sounded perfect in my sexy new digs. She sounds like a trip hop version of Nico at times and a French version of Bjork at others. I was intrigued to learn as well that Serge Gainsbourg and The Cure arranged some of the songs.
Listen to ‘Crazy‘ – a track off ElodieO’s new album, Stubborn. If you like what you hear, go see ElodieO at The Elbo Room in San Francisco December 15.
Listen to ‘Crazy‘:
Before
After. See that beautiful orchid? I give it 2 months before I kill it.
Another perspective.
The piece de resistance - my $100 Craigslist vintage sofa, refurbished and fabulous in mohair. I never gave up on you, my sweet sofa!
Here you see the ceiling mounted Paradigm speakers.
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Blitzen Trapper last night at The Independent. (And was equally amused when I realized I was standing next to The Morning Benders while watching it. Cool.) Although I felt like I was seeing an entirely new band. I saw them a couple of times in the past year supporting Wild Mountain Nation, but this was a wholly different performance. They stuck to Furr almost exclusively. And lead singer Eric Earley was clearly channeling Bob Dylan. I think the only song from the vault they pulled out was in fact ‘Wild Mountain Nation’. The music was tight, the harmonies were beautiful. Much more subdued than their usual blitzkrieg. And I must say my favorite song of the night, while not necessarily one of my favorites on the album, was ‘Love U‘. They took me someplace else during that song. Awesome.
Artist: Deerhunter Album: Weird Era Cont File Under: Ambient Indie Rock Recommended if You Like: Sigur Ros, Radiohead, Grizzly Bear, Atlas Sound Featured Track: ‘Operation‘
Oh happy day! Weird Era Cont., the second disc from Deerhunter’s October release, Microcastle, is out now. I’ve been listening to it non-stop since yesterday and it more than holds its own as an album, unlike many bonus discs. Both albums are on heavy rotation. I couldn’t be more excited about the music Deerhunter is putting out right now. And you should be too. As fellow blogger, This Recording, put it:
‘Bradford Cox is the indie rock Jesus, ready to die for our musical sins. This guy is gay, possibly a virgin, and frighteningly skinny due to Marfan Syndrome which will likely lead to a premature death. Is there anyone you could root for more? On top of that he put out what is arguably the best album of the year, and he helped reinvigorate a genre that was drifting into irrelevance – indie rock.’
I loooove Rafter. Mostly because he’s a bona fide freak who makes really compelling, interesting and fresh music. Fast on the heels of ‘Sex Death Cassette‘ (one of my favorite albums) comes his new EP called ‘Sweaty Magic’. A distinct shift from his prior work, this album is quite bootylicious. As his label, Asthmatic Kitty, so aptly put it:
“Sweaty Magic is Rafter center stage in a gold Speedo (American Apparel banned at the door), firing lasers of love from his eyes. If you’re not shaking your booty by the second track, you might want to look behind you to make sure it’s still there.”
Asthmatic Kitty recently held a video contest and here are the winners to two of my favorite ‘Sweaty Magic’ tracks. Go ahead and ‘put a little salt in it!’
Artist:Blitzen Trapper Album: Furr File Under: Americana Recommended if You Like: Dr. Dog, Pavement, Band of Horses, Bob Dylan Featured Track: Furr
Portland’s Blitzen Trapper has been stirring up quite the buzz for the past year. Their last album, Wild Mountain Nation, made my ‘Best of’ list last year and was a darling in the indie music blogosphere. While some people didn’t take to that album’s lack of focus, I adored their schizophrenic romp through musical genres. It was very reminiscent of Pavement to me – weird and whimsical, which is a good thing.
The sound from their fourth album, Furr, is much more refined, honed in and mature. They seem to have grown up and figured out what works for them. And it works very well. Furr is like Bob Dylan meets Dr. Dog. They’ve taken the folk/Americana genre and played it out beautifully. No longer does the group sound like a bunch of teenagers trying every passing trend on for size. This album is cohesive and exudes a kind of confidence and talent that comes with maturity. It’s the real deal.
Blitzen Trapper plays tonight at The Independent in San Francisco.
From the Basement is a UK-based music TV show that has launched a series of live performances from an impeccable collection of indie artists – like Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, The Kills, Andrew Bird, Beck and lots, lots more. The program is featured on the Sky Arts channel in the UK, Rave in the US and, starting in January 2009, the IFC channel.
Until then, you can catch sneak previews of some performances. Like this one from my current obsession White Denim.Click here to check out this blistering rendition of ‘All You Really Have to Do/ Mess Up Your Hair’. Oh yeah, these guys rock! Well worth the jump, I promise.
the OCMD 
