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| Under Cover : The Get Up Kids collection, Part I Posted: 29 Apr 2009 02:32 PM PDT Like a long-lost love that magically finds his/her way back into your life, my favorite indie rock-meets-emo band The Get Up Kids are showing a little East Coast love this weekend playing two area shows for their tri-state fans: Friday, May 1st at the Gramercy Theatre in New York, as well as playing the Bamboozle Festival the next day in New Jersey. Having been four years now since I saw them rock the stage at their farewell tour in 2005, this recent musical development is definitely Something To Write Home About. To know these guys is to love their music and their performances always hit the mark. With hardcore fans and an enviable discography to boot, it’s so great to know I will be seeing them again. I teared up last time due to the utter emo-ness of their performance, the fact that they’re one of my favorite all-time bands, I wasn’t ready for their break-up, and they were playing “Long Goodnight” (one of my favorites). The audience’s mood was bittersweet and the band itself seemed uneasy about calling it quits. Life has been a bit of a drag ever since and their hiatus may explain why “I’m a Loner Dottie, A Rebel” is what I feel forced to say to newer indie bands that unsuccessfully try to take their place. The Get Up Kids really are the musical equivalent to “the one that got away” for me and I am nothing short of excited to play indie rock catch up with them on Friday night. No more tears, it’s time to celebrate a homecoming that is long “Overdue.” In 2001, these rockers released the phenomenal rarities collection, Eudora, almost a de facto covers album mixed in with alternate takes and B-sides, and some of these tracks were really memorable and worth sharing. So, welcome readers to a little sneak preview I call Under Cover: The Get Up Kids collection. .“Beer For Breakfast” cover (original: The Replacements) .“Close To Me” cover (original: The Cure) Stay tuned next week for Part II as this reunion enthusiasm will definitely be spilling into next week! The Get Up Kids: website | myspace Related Posts |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2009 12:50 PM PDT
We’ve teamed up with Green Day to bring you this amazing giveaway, which you can enter here! The contest will end on May 28th. Enter now and often!! (We would if we didn’t want you, dear reader, to win so badly!)  Related Posts |
| MP3 Minute: Ice Palace “Thoughts / Facts” and Contest! Posted: 29 Apr 2009 11:40 AM PDT Ice Palace is getting ready to release their new album, Wonder Subtly Crushing Us, on May 5th and not only do we have a sneak peek for you with “Thoughts/Facts”, we’ve got a copy of the album and a pair of tickets to catch the band when they pass through Omaha on May 20th, along with tour mate Cloud Cult’s new DVD, No One Said It Would Be Easy. “Thoughts/Facts” is both gritty and poppy, featuring hard driving guitar licks and scratchy vocals from front man Adam Sorensen in contrast with the sweet backing vocals of Amy Hager with a sweet trumpet underlay. The prize package: To enter: Blog or tweet about this contest and comment with a link to it! Entries must be received by May 17th at 11:59PM ET. A winner will be picked on May 18th! Tour Dates: * w/ Cloud Cult  Related PostsThis posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| The Felice Brothers @ the Trocadero, Philadelphia Posted: 29 Apr 2009 10:28 AM PDT After having first seen New York natives The Felice Brothers in the tiny chapel of Philadelphia’s First Unitarian Church (and causing a ruckus) and then again in the Church’s larger basement (again with the ruckus causing), it was interesting and refreshing to catch them at the burlesqueue house-cum-venue know at the Troc in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. Brothers James, Simone, and Ian (pictured) and friends Christmas and Farley, were greeted with screaming fans when they only so much as peeked their heads out of the rear entrance to the stage. While definitively less intimate than their Church shows, it was cool to see the Felice Brothers with actual stage theatrics; they entered in a shroud of red light and began to play eerie instrumentals unlike anything I’d ever heard from them. I feared they may have fallen victim to the “rock star” mentality with their rise in popularity, but upon completion of their self-made entrance music, the Felice Brothers wiped the serious looks off their faces and performed a riot of a show, as they are wont to do. The five entertained the audience with beloved tracks from older recordings and, of course, with many a cut from their latest release, Yonder Is The Clock, available now on Team Love Records. I’ve said it before and I maintain that The Felice Brothers are a must see. Good times and great music guaranteed. Tour Dates: The Felice Brothers: website | myspace  Related Posts |
| Indie Rock Karaoke @ Studio B, NYC: Ted Leo performs, Andrew W.K. hosts Posted: 29 Apr 2009 09:24 AM PDT If you have Andrew W.K. hosting a charity event, it's fairly certain someone somewhere will feel the need to "Party Hard". Clean-cut, non bloody-nosed, and newly married Mr. W.K. got the crowd revved up with his infectious positivity, motivational speaker-y vibes and encouraging personality. He sounded off on charity ventures through NYCares, the power of rock n' roll, and how Indie Rock Karaoke is about good music, friends, fun times and "crushing the ego" in the name of good clean fun and coming together for a great cause. Thanks to NY Magazine, this yearly charity event is quickly becoming one of their more successful and crowd-pleasing benefits. Add 'unique' to the aforementioned since audience interaction makes it all the more worthwhile. All eyes were on Andrew since it's impossible not to love and respond to that high-energy and optimism. In fact, he's so gracious that just being in his presence actually makes you want to be a nicer person. After discussing the importance of NY Mag’s annual coat drive for the homeless, he urged everyone to get involved in their other charitable initiatives for the greater good of New York. He then gave shout-outs to sneaker company Saucony for donating sneakers as raffle prizes, Glaceau (Smart) Water and Vitamin Water for the complimentary hydration, Cape North Vodka for purveying free booze during cocktail hour, as well as Gibson guitar for donating a badass guitar to one very lucky raffle winner. Blessed are the punctual event-goers who got there early since they actually enjoyed the free booze and the chance to sign up on the first come-first served master Karaoke list of classic punk songs and old favorites to be performed with backing band… Ted Leo and the Pharmacists! Before the karaoke action could commence, the crowd enjoyed their full set that made our collective hands clap, toes tap and fingers snap. They amped up the crowd with their indie-punk sensibility during "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?" and "Counting Down The Hours", as Leo played his guitar faster than Bobby Flay chops onions. Then they took it down a notch to a more reggae-friendly place while playing tracks off their most recent Living With The Living. Their new stuff maintains hard punk edge while providing a danceability that somehow works. Ted himself intimated that he now “has it all," combining his love of black metal and dance hall. Oh Ted. Perhaps my favorite moment of their set was a rousing performance of "Hearts of Oak" with a guitar loop at the end that seemed to go on forever as he segued into the next track, "Heart Problems", which he said had to do with the sorry state of universal health care in America. They closed with "Timorous Me", and there was absolutely nothing timorous about it! In between Ted Leo's set and the actual Karaoke portion of the evening, Brooklyn's own Finger On The Pulse had a DJ set that was actually pretty good, considering I'm not always the biggest fan of disc jockeys, but the karaoke portion was the true star of the evening. Andrew W.K. started it off with a rousing take on The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" that got everyone up on their feet. His hyperactivity always translates into memorable stage presence, as he'd shake and sway, punch the air and perform some kind of dropkick dance moves, I was waiting for him to give himself a bloody nose and I don’t think I was alone there. The rest of the evening remained high-spirited and fun as audience members took to the stage and sang song after song with Ted Leo and company backing them up from artists The Stooges, The Cure, The Outfield and other crowd favorites (see set list here).With such an action-packed event, it’s hard to pick a highlight and sounds corny if I were to say “everything rocked equally,” but it’s true. Between Andrew W.K.’s likability, Ted Leo’s ever-enjoyable live sets, and karaoke, everyone left a winner. I leave you with a few of my favorite karaoke performances. Drunk, sober, stage-frightened, what-have-you, they’re hysterical: -The Kingsmen - “Louie Louie” (Andrew W.K.) If you want highlights of each performance in one clip, this guy uploaded ‘em on YouTube. Check ‘em out! (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). Watch out for Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and The Ramones‘ “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Both are highly entertaining. But the winner of the evening was Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” cover. Ahh, of course. Related Posts |
| The Thermals @ The Slowdown, Omaha Posted: 29 Apr 2009 08:13 AM PDT For a late April show, it was uncannily cold with an eerie mist enshrouding the dark night. Once inside the venue, it didn’t take long to warm up. If the packed room with bodies inches apart didn’t do the trick, then the band’s music would get the job done. True to their name, headliners The Thermals got the people moving and made played some fun songs that even with the morbid lyrics, could warm even the most frozen human Popsicle. Opening for the The Thermals was Point Juncture, WA, an electro-acoustic quartet helmed by a powerful female singer who also played drums, and an even more powerful backing band. Any band that throws in vibraphone is a winner in my book.
Already content with Point Juncture WA, The Shaky Hands‘ high-energy opener quickly showed that this show was only going to get better. There’s plenty to love about this band: danceable bass beats, plenty of clap-your-hands moments and a singer who’s voice who has that nasally quality loved by so many hipster, but unlike so many other hipster singers, you can actually understand what he is saying (I’m looking at you Clap Your Hands Say Yeah). Their music was ridiculously catchy, but they didn’t shy away from a few moments of experimentation. Although, even if they sounded like shit, I think there drummer still would have made me like them as he constantly bounced out of his chair and intensely banged on cymbals. Check The Shaky Hands out; these guys will probably move up to headlining soon.
When the Portland trio The Thermals took the stage, the room practically exploded into a dance party. OK, that might be a bit unfair, but a few guys definitely tried really hard to get everybody involved in a big dance party as they moshed back and forth in the front, but the indie kids of Omaha do not like to be touched and fight nearly broke out. Maybe the band couldn’t see what was going down, while they played “Now We Can See”, but the near-fight didn’t make them miss a beat. It’s probably for the best. Touring behind the release of their new album Now We Can See, the band played a majority of songs from it, but also digged deep into the catalog for some oldies to please the diehards. As much as I love Hutch Harris and his Josh Darnielle (Mountain Goats)-esque voice and the pop chords, I must confess that some of their songs started to blend. And that is a risk when you use as many power chords as they do. Nonetheless, the heart of this band is in their lyrics and the stories within. I must note that this tour is also a sort of debut for their drummer Westin Glass and he makes a fantastic addition to the band with his fantastic drumming and even more fantastic facial expressions. His addition also helps free bassist Kathy Foster from those duties, which I imagine makes it easier for her to do her little jumping jack move. Check this band out both on recording and live. You will not regret it.
The Thermals: website | myspace  Related Posts |
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