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| Riverboat Gamblers Tour with Rise Against/Rancid, Support New Album Posted: 24 Apr 2009 02:45 PM PDT Texas act Riverboat Gamblers recently dropped their 4th studio album, Underneath the Owl, which has all that makes the Riverboat Gamblers so great and the extra goodness of xylophone. The band is wrapping up a headlining run in support of this album’s release and following their SXSW performance. So those of you in the Midwest this weekend–I’m looking at you Chicago, Lawrence and Oklahoma City–catch these guys this weekend. After a little break the boys will be joining up with Rise Against / Rancid to hit some US and Canadian cities in an early summer tour. Riverboat Gamblers are acclaimed for delivering a high energy show, so get your tickets now. Tour Dates: Riverboat Gamblers: website | myspace  Photo by: Gary Copeland Related Posts |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 01:35 PM PDT Anyone who knows anything about the L.A.-based Silversun Pickups already knows Silversun Pickups are to the Smashing Pumpkins what Franz Ferdinand are to Gang Of Four, Interpol to Joy Division and Crystal Stilts to The Jesus and Mary Chain: not exactly a carbon copy, but not far off either. For one, lead singer Brian Aubert's got Corgan's whole singing-like-the-Wicked-Witch-of-the-West thing down pat. There's a fuzzy-haze of guitar that's pure Siamese Dream enveloping the majority of Swoon, while the romantic orchestration prominent on Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness colors several of the album's songs. The biggest difference is that Silversun Pickups have taken the grunge-aggression of the Pumpkins' mid-90's work and channeled it into a kind of emo-angst for millennium kids. Silversun Pickups however, are nothing like Fall Out Boy or Panic At The Disco or anything that could make a relatively sane person want to slit their wrists when it comes on the radio. Where the aforementioned sound bombastic and meticulously packaged, Silversun Pickups sound dense, thoughtful and organic. The production is subtle and murky: a collage of echoing guitars, creeping synths, and touches of strings. Only opener "There's No Secrets This Year" has the charge and sharp hooks needed for a radio-friendly single. On the rest of Swoon's ten cuts, even when the rhythms pick up, the weight of the atmosphere gives the song a heavy, lethargic feel. But that's a good thing. If emo kids were really as emotional as they pretend to be, they'd be lying in bed with the lights off finding solace in the haunting warmth of Swoon instead of writing bad poetry (what rhymes with "dark abyss"?) with Fall Out Boy unforgivably ripping off ZZ Top riffs in the background (for more Fall Out Boy bashing, click here). Admittedly, when one looks at the shitfest emo has morphed into at this point, Silversun Pickups don't deserve to be categorized in said genre. The Pickups are just simply a lot smarter than anything like that. However, Aubert's well-written but kind of ridiculous faux-poetry and that Wicked Witch voice (which also ruins all but the best Smashing Pumpkins songs) will ultimately prevent most post-adolescents from taking Silversun Pickups seriously. Swoon is available now on Dangerbird Records. Tracklisting: Silversun Pickups: website | myspace  Related Posts |
| Free Stuff Friday: Win Neil Young’s new album “Fork in the Road” Posted: 24 Apr 2009 11:43 AM PDT Not only does Neil Young want you to go green, but he wants you to save your green. Keep your dollars in your pocket and win his new album Fork in the Road. Fork in the Road is Neil’s latest release out on Reprise Records and gives his reactions to the current social and ecological problems in the world. The album acts as a sort of ode to eco-friendly Lincvolt: a alternative energy-converted 1959 Lincoln Continental. To be eligible to win you just have to follow two easy steps: You must in the United States to win. Contest ends Sunday, April 26 at 11 p.m. CST at which point we will select a winner. So get posting!  Related Posts |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 08:10 AM PDT “It’s nice to be back in a place you can pretty much call a home away from home,” said M. Ward At this point, any animosity that anybody had toward M. Ward for skipping this city during the She & Him touring melted as Omaha remembered that M. Ward was in fact one of Omaha’s adopted sons. He did after all tour with and contributed to Omaha’s beloved Conor Oberst’s works with Bright Eyes. He even joined Oberst and Jim James of My Morning Jacket for a special Obama rally a little over a year ago on the same stage he was donning tonight. Yes, Omaha, is a home away from home for Ward, but this time his brother-in-music Oberst could not join him and he faced Omaha alone. Ward quickly proved that he was more than up to the challenge and that he could own the stage without Zooey Deschanel, without Oberst and at times, he showed that he was just as strong on stage even without the aide of his backing band. In one of the best songs of the set, Ward played solo on “100 Million”, a very upbeat number that almost sounds like what would happen if Johnny Cash had tried to collaborate with the Beach Boys. The next song, “Fuel for Fire”, featured a sweet harmonica solo and then the phenomenal guitar riff at the start of “For Beginners” found Ward ready to be rejoined at least by his drummer. Ward’s set found a nice balance of slow numbers with the more uptempo to the straight up jam bands. With his husky voice, M. Ward is like something right out of another era, perhaps that’s why a cover of a song like “Beethoven” is so perfect for him and why it was especially potent when he announced it by saying, “Here is a really old song about music changing over time.” This number made the set for me, but Ward was not done. He finished the set with one more song and a double encore, leaving the crowd’s appetites for his tunes well-satiated.
Rough Set List (apologies for order errors):  Related Posts |
| Posted: 24 Apr 2009 08:05 AM PDT The line-up for the 2009 Lollapalooza is official: Depeche Mode, Tool, The Killers, a reunited Jane's Addition, Beastie Boys, and Kings of Leon will headline, joined by Lou Reed, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Thievery Corporation, Snoop Dogg, and Rise Against. Festival founder and Jane's Addiction front man Perry Farrell is thrilled to return to the Lollapalooza stage alongside friends old and new. "The mighty Jane's Addiction returns to Lolla after 18 years — meeting up with our pals the Beastie Boys and Depeche Mode, offering the best of the freshies The Killers and Kings of Leon, and paying honor to one of our greatest inspirations Lou Reed." In addition to the headliners, the 2009 bill is bursting with a wide-array of musical flavors like Chicago's Andrew Bird, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend, The Decemberists, Neko Case, STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector Nine), Animal Collective, Band of Horses, Of Montreal, Arctic Monkeys, Coheed and Cambria, Ben Folds, Fleet Foxes, Silversun Pickups, Kaiser Chiefs, Bon Iver, Crystal Castles, Santigold, and many more. Musical discovery is at the heart of the Lollapalooza experience, and this year's line-up features some of the most exciting break-out bands of 2009. Acts like Lykke Li, Passion Pit, Asher Roth, Friendly Fires, Gang Gang Dance, Bat For Lashes, Gaslight Anthem, The Airborne Toxic Event, The Virgins, Ida Maria, Glasvegas, and White Lies are not to be missed. Back by popular demand and even bigger in 2009 Perry's will feature world-class DJs on the non-stop electronica stage. "The electronica area is being constructed louder and clearer than ever," explains the stage's namesake, "with a lineup that knows what to do with all that sub!” A limited number of Advance Price three-day passes are now available for $190. When this allotment sells out, Regular Price three-day passes will be available for $205. Prices include all service fees. Three-day passes and VIP packages are available at www.lollapalooza.com. Related Posts |
| Peter Buffett Returns to Omaha for ‘Concert and Conversation’ Benefit Posted: 24 Apr 2009 07:50 AM PDT Emmy-award winner and Omaha native Peter Buffett is returning to his hometown’s Rose Theater for a special benefit show: ‘Concert and Conversation’ on Saturday, May 2nd. Buffett has paired with the Kent Bellows Studio and Center for the Visual Arts to donate all ticket sales back to the community. ‘Concert and Conversation’ is fun look into the unique upbringing of Peter Buffett from his upbringing as Warren Buffett’s son to finding his own path in music and the arts. ‘Concert and Conversation’ will mix film with live performances by Buffett of his latest record Imaginary Kingdom. If you're not already familiar with Peter's music, the sound on his latest record, Imaginary Kingdom, has been likened to Beck, Simon & Garfunkel, and Alan Parsons Project. If you are in the Omaha area on Saturday, May 2, check out Peter Buffett at the Rose at 7:30 p.m. Support a native, the arts and the community. Peter Buffett: website | myspace | support Kent Bellows Studio  Related Posts |
| Operation Aloha - Operation Aloha Posted: 24 Apr 2009 07:13 AM PDT The day-to-day stress of being a touring musician in a successful band tends to become quite strenuous on a musician’s individuality and creativity. More often than not, a break from the hectic wanderings of an instrument wielding artist is welcomed as a therapeutic solace. It is also fairly common for an artist to experiment during the sabbatical to ensure that their artistic sense is still intact. Operation Aloha, an indie-folk supergroup, is the epitome of this idea, with their own additional motives, of course. Operation Aloha is a melting pot of talent. With members of Gomez, Maroon 5, Phantom Planet, All Spots To Black, Kahn Brothers and another choice few, it isn’t as if you haven’t heard these artists before, it’s just that you’ve never heard them sound like THIS. Operation Aloha solidified during a month long retreat to the beautiful Maui, Hawaii. There, the fourteen plus band members enjoyed the lush scenery of the island, each other’s company, and the elusion from the craziness that goes hand in hand with fame. Their product? A unique album that projects the beauty of nature and freedom from the constraints of a systematic lifestyle. The style with which the tracks were created is a blend that I particularly enjoyed. You can pick out some indie, some blues, some Hawaiian influence…it’s like a platter of genres: pick one and dive in. In “Intercepted”, the lead vocalist even adopted a grunge aspect to his voice, which can also be heard (faintly) in “Akoha”, an instrumental-based groove interspersed with abrupt, muffled screams. “Blue Eyed Son” resembled Bob Dylan’s style, as well as “Waltzing Matilda”, a little ditty about a rolling stone (rolling stone as in, the object, stolen from the vocabulary of Bob Dylan) who is forced to separate from his love and his care-free life to serve in the armed forces. “Rain” and “Disappointed Type” were the tracks that reeked of naturalistic glorification, similar to bands such as Akron Family and The Appleseed Cast. The musical excursion was documented by Christopher Wray-McCann, and the photos can be viewed at www.bighassle.com. Operation Aloha will be playing at the Troubador in West Hollywood on May 12th to celebrate the release of their self-titled album. Tracklisting: Operation Aloha: website | myspace  Related Posts |
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