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| Win a pair of tickets to see Bell X1 and Harlem Shakes in Philly! Posted: 06 Mar 2009 01:14 PM PST
If you’re into dance rock fun and live in Philadelphia, you could totally win a pair of tickets to catch Ireland’s Bell X1 (WXPN’s March 2009 “Artist to Watch”) with Duke Special and Harlem Shakes from Brooklyn at World Café Live Downstairs next Friday, March 13th. Editrix Jessica will be hanging out at the show and would love to see you! To snag a table, make a reservation by calling 215-222-1400. Recommended: Grilled cheese (new fancy style each week), eggplant fries, Victory Prima Pils and a whole lotta great music. **To enter: Leave a comment with why you’d be stoked to catch the show OR what fancy type of grilled cheese you’d be happy to dine on the night of the show. (My fave WCL version is Vermont Cheddar and Granny Smith apple on cinnamon raisin bread, f’real. Delish!) Enter now! A winner will be picked by Wednesday, March 11th. March 13, 2009 Related Posts |
| Boldly merchandising how no musician has merchandized before Posted: 06 Mar 2009 11:20 AM PST $15.98 is a reasonable price for a CD, but $5,000? What if that “little” jump in price included a private concert from the musician himself? From someone who wouldn’t drop $50, let alone $5,000, for The innovative Harding is selling his new record, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (out March 10th) by offering various packages including the “Crazy Deluxe & Personal” package which, for $5,000, comes with a private concert at the buyer’s home. The Packages:
Kind of cool. But why would you pay five g’s when you can just catch Wesley for a fraction of a fraction of the price when he hits to road with pal Eugene Mirman (dates below)? Entertainment Weekly let Harding have his say with “20 Reasons Why a Private Concert by me is Worth $5000,” penned by Harding himself. Arrogant? Perhaps. Marketing genius? The jury is still out. You can catch Harding’s list here in full, but here are a few of my favorites:
Convincing? Maybe, maybe not. At least homeboy is getting a lot of press for it. Marketing genius? Check. Tour Dates: John Wesley Harding: website | myspace Related Posts |
| Annuals, Jessica Lee Mayfield @ The Recordbar, March 2, 2009 Posted: 06 Mar 2009 10:36 AM PST
I always have mixed feelings about seeing a great band with an audience of under 100 people. On one hand, it's like an intimate gathering with like-minded friends. On the other, a definite lack of energy can be reflected by the band. Luckily for the small crowd at Kansas City's Recordbar, the North Carolina-based sextet Annuals maintained their intensity and delivered a string set, playing tracks from both of their EPs, 2008's Such Fun and 2006's Be He Me.   Annuals perform Springtime Annuals perform Confessor Jessica Lee MayfieldThe second act of the evening, Jessica Lee Mayfield, did something I've never seen before at this venue: use white light. Somehow, Mayfield was able to give us some photo opportunities that we've never seen at the Recordbar. We hope other artists will take the time to learn her secrets (turn the red lights off!!!!), because we assume that the artists prefer to have good pictures taken of them over bad ones. Jessica Lee Mayfield: myspace Related Posts |
| Goblin Cock @ The Knitting Factory, LA Posted: 06 Mar 2009 08:45 AM PST Upon setting foot into the Knitting Factory, my cohorts and I were caught in a stranglehold of sound. Angus Khan had ascended the stage. At first sight, they looked like a joke. All older men, one sporting an army helmet, another who was obviously influenced by Jimmy Page, and a lead singer decked from head to toe in dark brown leather and a mane down to his shoulders. But, appearances aside, they can definitely put on a show. The performance was marked by lewd comments, spitting on stage, and bubbles. Yes, I said bubbles. Their sound paralleled Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and AC/DC; from which they forged an up-tempo, hard-hitting, good old-fashioned, classic rock show. Their on-stage antics were entertaining and reminiscent of rock/metal bands of a more glorious age. The lead singer flailed the mic stand around and braced himself against it with a scream so forceful that you would have thought he was Axl Rose himself (although at one point in the show he pulled out a harmonica and started wailing on it like it was nobody’s business…let me see Axl Rose do that). Although lyrically quite cheesy, it was a delightful type of cheesy, which careened the audience’s attention more so towards their heavy guitar riffs and intense drumming. During their song “Big Balls”, they threw out two dark purple beach balls (ironic?) into the crowd, and for “Machine Gun Funk”, the lead guitarist pulled out an electric guitar that was literally a machine gun (no lie, check out the pictures). Overall, they played an excellent set, one that left my ears ringing when I alit from the venue for a quick smoke.
The following act, Warship, was quite possibly the best set of the night. Warship is the most recent project of former From Autumn to Ashes members, and they have definitely taken their initial genre to a completely different level. Their guitarist was more than talented and had a number of face-melting riffs up his sleeve. The drummer, who was eclectic in style (he actually ripped one of his drums in half on stage out of frustration), was also their lead singer/screamer. Although the guitarist was stoically silent, the drummer and bass player exuded an odd humility on-stage, they were comedic and endearing, putting out a message that they were just happy to be there. Their lethal output of sound was intriguing and drew me in with each introductory riff.
And finally, we come to Goblin Cock. Awkward name, I know, and everyone at the venue was commenting on it all night, but they put on an engaging performance of drone metal. Their vestments? Grim Reaper robes (I told you it was interesting), creating an eerie atmosphere for the audience that was further enunciated by strobe lights, creeping fog, and strategically placed plastic skulls (that were often picked up and paraded around by the band). I left the Knitting Factory with throbbing ears, but a good heavy rock show was well worth the agony
Angus Khan: website | myspace Photos by: Tatum Hengel Related Posts |
| Recap of Diesel Noise Pop Festival Celebration Posted: 06 Mar 2009 07:45 AM PST San Francisco just hosted the annual Noise Pop Festival on February 25, 26 and 27. To celebrate the festival, Check out an exclusive video recap of the Happy Hours event. The video includes performances from Girls, Ra Ra Riot, Les Savy Fav, The Submarines and Loch Lomond. Diesel:U:Music: website Related Posts |
| Death Cab for Cutie “Grapevine Fires” video, Spring tour! Posted: 06 Mar 2009 06:45 AM PST Death Cab for Cutie has unveiled a must-see new video for “Grapevine Fires”, a stand-out track on last year’s gold certified Narrow Stairs. “Grapevine Fires” was directed by Walter Robot, a.k.a. the team of multimedia artist Bill Barminski and writer Christopher Louie. “Grapevine Fires” was initially inspired by front man Ben Gibbard’s up-close-and-personal encounter with 2007’s California wildfires. (If you’re a “Weeds” fan, you’ll reminisce about the end of season 3) The song - which was recently included on Change Is Now: Restoring America’s Promise, the official commemorative CD-DVD set celebrating President Barack Obama’s historic inauguration - motivated Walter Robot to create an animated short film which brilliantly relays the sense of devastating tragedy and forced optimism caused by the fire’s wrath. If not the greatest animation style and character design (as per my personal tastes), Robot scores big on concept.
Hot off the heels from a long awaited headline tour of Australia and Japan, Death Cab for Cutie will kick off a spring tour in the US on April 7th at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, ending a month later on May 7th show at Orlando, Florida’s Hard Rock Live. Support throughout the tour comes from Cold War Kids, Matt Costa, and Ra Ra Riot. Tour Dates: * w/ Cold War Kids Death Cab For Cutie: website | myspace | Narrow Stairs review | @ buzz under the stars  Related Posts |
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