December 6, 2007

Some genuinely crappy bands are often painted with charmingly positive adjectives and make it big on the back of the indie-music webosphere, but Sam Champion may be the exception that proves the rule. That’s expression actually makes no sense, but people say it, and when other people say things I usually just soak it in and regurgitate it later. Hey, that kinda sounds like the world wide webosphere.

But, seriously, these guys fucking rock. Great live show, great music. Plain and simple, end of story, end of days. The Brooklyn-based quartet’s second album, Heavenly Bender, is forthcoming, and today we’ve got a solid taste of what’s in store. And any track that features opportune rhythmic clapping as an instrument is given an ‘all systems go’ by me, so I’m already a big fan of the song. Throw in layers of fine guitar-work, catchy lyrics, melodies, and harmonies, and you’ve got one of their finest tunes yet. Bodes well, methinks.

• Go to RCRD LBL to download Your Party Was Yesterday

Nothing encapsulates the questionable marriage of sports and entertainment quite like the Super Bowl. The halftime show of the NFL’s signature event has been transformed over the past 42 years from an afterthought to a main focus of the Big Game. What was once a time for a piss break and a follow-up beer has turned into a big-time production thanks to the major television networks.

Originally the shows were filled with brief performances by a number of different artists celebrating a unifying theme. More recently the NFL decided to hand over the keys to the halftime show to just one legendary artist. What a difference a nipple makes, eh? Just this week the league announced that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been tabbed to perform at Super Bowl XLII on February 3rd.

The Gainesville-bred band should look at the past for an idea of what works and what doesn’t work at the big game. Let’s use this week’s B List to take a look at our 10 favorite Super Bowl halftime shows. Read on for the videos…

You may be as surprised as we are to find out that Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy was asked to write the theme song for a sitcom called All My Life back

Bill Clinton often made decisions with his Little Head while in the Oval Office. But now Hillary Clinton is thinking that Big Head Todd may help her get there. Clinton

Barack Obama lovin’ Jeff Tweedy and Wilco return to the road in February for a string of dates in the States before heading to Australia. Wilco’s brief tour covers a lot of ground in just two short weeks, and they’ll play some of the best venues this country has to offer. Our resident expert Luke advises us that in typical Wilco fashion, they will probably add dates over the course of the next few weeks.

• Jason Isbell plans massive tour (kickoff: 1/12)
• Radiohead flesh out European tour plans (kickoff: 6/07)
• Umphrey’s McGee starts 2008 on the west coast (kickoff: 2/07)
• The Om Trio returns after a three year hiatus (kickoff: 2/15)
• Yo La Tengo Freewheel into ’08 (kickoff: 1/09)
• Dark Star Orchestra plans to cover a lot of ground (kickoff: 1/31)
• Billy Joel starts to put together a run of shows (kickoff: 2/26)

As if the 2007-08 Reunionmania wasn’t already out of hand, a UK developer has persuaded the original lineup of Spandau Ballet to reform in Las Vegas for one show by offering a two-million pound payday. True was a good song and all, but two million pounds?! We can only hope that P.M. Dawn opens the show.