Archive: 2007

 Aesop Rock will be touring North America this fall with Rob Sonic, Blockhead (w/ DJ Signify), Cage, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and The Octopus Project on select dates in support of his new album, None Shall Pass.  DJ Big Wiz will be on turntable duty for Aesop and Rob on all shows.    Tour Dates:7/28/07 […]

It’s still two years away, but the Cure frontman Robert Smith is well underway on a DVD documentary about the band that will be released in 2009, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of its debut album, "Three Imaginary Boys." "This will include interviews with everybody who has ever been in the band, and everybody who […]

New Porographers have announced dates for the second leg of their upcoming North American tour in support of their forthcoming release, Challengers. The tour launches September 13 at McPherson Playhouse in Victoria, B.C. and sticks primarily to the West Coast through the end of the month, before heading to the Midwest and East Coast and […]

Lyle Lovett and Emmylou Harris will co-headline the inaugural outing of the Cayamo: A Journey Through Song cruise. Other artists on the bill include Shawn Colvin, John Hiatt, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller and Brandi Carlile, Danny Flowers, Ari Hest, The Duhks and Patrick Davis. The cruise departs February 4, 2008, from the Port of Miami […]

Los Angeles indie-rock quintet Rilo Kiley are gearing up for the release of a new album, Under The Blacklight, and have announced dates for European and North American tours. The first part of the tour will see the band in E.U. and launches August 15 at Molotow in Hamburg, Germany with additional stops in Belgium, […]

When I saw RatDog last Monday night, a bunch of my friends told me Fake Bobby from the Dark Star Orchestra was playing better than the Real Bob Weir. I was stupefied — how could this possibly be? How can an imitator be better than the genuine article? I got my answer on Saturday when I saw the Dark Star Orchestra play a fantastic show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

Here’s the backstory on DSO, for the uninitiated: On most nights they recreate old Grateful Dead concerts, song by song, in the exact style of the era in question. When you ask around about DSO, you typically get one of two responses. Either “That concept is really lame” or “Those guys are fuckin’ amazing.”

The former generally comes from people who aren’t into the Dead, while the latter comes from the Deadheads. I was in the That Concept Is Lame camp for a long time, but I finally got over myself and headed down to the partially gentrified streets of Asbury Park on the 14th and found out how wrong I was.

Read on after the jump for Scotty’s full review of a night with DSO…

No time period produced more one-hit wonders than the early 1980s. Back then it seemed like each and every week a new band would turn out a hit song and then disappear into oblivion, or what Mike Tyson calls “Bolivian.”

This week’s B List looks to 10 great early ’80s one-hit wonders. You’ll find that many of the songs on this list sound disturbingly like other songs, and we took the liberty of pointing out their musical doppelgangers. Perhaps the fact that all of these songs sound like other hit songs explains why none of these artists ever achieved success after their one hit. Read on after the jump for 10 greats…

They’re taking our call center jobs, and now our classic ’80s videos. Bastards. [youtube]LbvP7dT3Dx0[/youtube] I saw Indian Thriller for the first time almost a year ago, but our friends at Ickmusic just reminded us of its greatness, and we had to throw it up here for review. Or you can check out this version with hilariously racist subtitles…

This time last week we posted a full round-up of the surprisingly undreadlocked 77-member drum circle under the Brooklyn Bridge. Today, our good friend and oft-collaborator at NewmRadio is streaming the event’s full audio, presumably for anyone who’s off from work and standing next to an operational nitrous tank. Click here for NewmRadio’s link to the audio of this performance

Al Gore’s Internets are experiencing a diarrhetic explosion in the number of blogs and websites publishing quality mp3 bootlegs. We had been posting links to the best boots in our Hors d’Oeuvres, Intermezzo and Leftovers link dumps, but instead we’ve decided to construct a special column compiling our favorite mp3 bootlegs. So without any further ado, welcome to MP3 […]

Mago is not about MMW minus the W, it is a chance for two old friends to try on some different hats, as they provide a tasty treat until the next Medeski, Martin, & Wood album.

Most engaged couples spend their time gearing up for the big day by auditioning wedding singers, tasting cakes, and picking out the right invitations.  Wolf Parade guitarist Dan Boeckner and poet-fiancée Alexei Perry, however found the time to write a stark, moody album with little more than a guitar, a drum machine, and their combined imaginations.

Spoon have added a few dates to their fall tour in support of  their new studio album, "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"  released on July 10th. The shows included a slew of new dates in October and November. After playing Lollapalooza on Aug. 4 and the Virgin Festival. Spoon will take a month off before […]

After playing a few festival shows next month Ben Harper and his band the Innocent Criminals will kick off a major North American theater tour to support their forthcoming album, "Lifeline." The outing will get under way Sept. 1 in Boulder, CO, and hit US venues from coast to coast–as well as a few in […]

Queens of the Stone Age have announced via www.QOTSA.com more US tour dates as well as a secret show in LA that fans can win tickets to only by attending the Bakersfield, CA show, July 23, which is the first stop on the band’s sure-to-be epic "Duluth Tour". Details regarding the secret LA show have […]

While it would be easy to fill this column with the likes of Pearl Jam, Phish and the Grateful Dead every week, we’d also like to introduce you to some bands you may not have heard of or completely forgot about. So as promised, this week’s Grousing The Aisles looks at four bands that have flown under the radar. We start off with an incredible recording of the newly reunited Buffalo Tom, and then check out shows from Railroad Earth, Toad The Wet Sprocket and Lima Charlie. Clear some room on your iPod, and give these bands a chance to impress ya…

Buffalo Tom 7/13/2007 MATRIX (FLAC):

Boston’s Buffalo Tom is back with a vengeance this summer. The boys released a stellar album, entitled Three Little Pieces, and are following it up with a few record release shows. This past Friday night, Buffalo Tom played a precise set of power pop at the Bowery Ballroom that showed they haven’t lost a step, despite basically nine years off. The band and a taper named Christopher Jones have teamed up to offer a matrix recording of that show for download.

I first heard of Buffalo Tom when I saw the video for Sodajerk on MTV’s 120 Minutes. Sodajerk, still my favorite Buffalo Tom tune, is a rock tune that mixes the jangle of The Byrds with the emotional depth of The Replacements. While the Tom played a terrific version of Sodajerk and a few other tunes from the old days, the songs from Three Little Pieces were the main meat of their set. CC and Callas, You’ll Never Catch Him and September Shirt all sound terrific in concert. Also of note were the multiple diatribes by singer and huge Red Sox fan, Bill Janovitz, directed at all the Yankee fans in the room. Buffalo Tom continues their tour on July 25th at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

Read on after the jump for three more GTA downloads…

Our main man Danfun hath returned from Canada, where he caught The White Stripes’ 10th Anniversary show. Hey, Dan: Get a job, ya hoser…

The White Stripes tour de Canada was nothing short of astounding. The duo played secret show after secret show, setting up in locations that moved from bowling alleys to public buses to the back of boats. The full tour built up to an exciting conclusion this past weekend, when the band played Nova Scotia.

I flew into Halifax early on Friday morning, and early in the day the band played a secret show located in a banquet hall that was just packed. Friday’s show featured a great set, which saw the band come out wearing kilts. The band set up was really crazy for Halifax: There was a makeshift catwalk platform on which Jack could play guitar while moving across it, and it gave off the illusion that his feet were putting off smoke. We’ll move on to the anniversary gig, but Union Forever and Catch Hell Blues stand out as highlights of the early Halifax show.

Read on for more great photos and videos from Danfun’s trip to Canada…

We’ve hit the peak of the summer concert season, with multiple festivals going off this weekend. RatDog, String Cheese Incident and Umphrey’s McGee headline the 10,000 Lakes Festival in Minnesota, while RAQ is throwing Lew-Au II with friends Al and the Transamericans, Tim Reynolds and Strangefolk. For something a little different, check out the sixth annual Lebowski […]

As complex as the songs get at times, intertwining string arrangements with electronic beats, guitar and various percussion, at its core, the music is all about Havnevik sitting at the piano, pouring her heart out.

The shortlist for the Nationwide Mercury Prize has been unveiled in London, featuring a typically broad range of musical tastes dominated this year by new, alternative artists. The award, which highlights the best 12 British or Irish albums of the previous year, has previously been won by acts like Franz Ferdinand, Primal Scream and last […]