| Phoenix to Play Myspace Secret Show in Kansas City Posted: 23 Jun 2009 01:15 PM PDT Ok, so, if we are announcing it, this is more like a “Not-So-Secret” show, but this Wednesday, June 24th at 7:00 pm, French group Phoenix is playing a free MySpace Secret Show at Kansas City’s Record Bar. That’s right: FREE! The catch is the show is supposed to be intimate and just a little over 200 people can get in. It is a first come, first serve entry. Be sure to get there early because Phoenix has rocked socks off all over the globe and more specifically, at their April “SNL” performance and the Bonnaroo music festival. Opening for Phoenix is a group called Amazing Baby, who will be playing the show hot off their debut release of Rewild. Not in KC? Don’t sweat. MySpace Secret Shows have organized over 200 shows in various cities. Follow them on Myspace to learn of more exciting opportunities to see your favorite band for free. 
Phoenix: website | myspace Related Posts  |
| Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns Posted: 23 Jun 2009 12:00 PM PDT For the love of God, avoid “Luciana” until you've played through the entire 37 minutes length of the album, Hometowns. Just skip directly over track seven when you get to it. And to be fair, I will also avoid The Rural Alberta Advantage's direct comparison until the end of this review…To be fair.  Not a song on this album won't have your head ticking unconsciously, which means the band can be squared into the uncomfortable genre of indie pop. But it's ever so much more than standard play, as elements from strings, 60s tambourines and backdrop, country swaggery, and instrumentless vocal crescendos add some real potpourri. “The Ballad of the RAA”, our first introduction to the band as a Saddle Creek newbie, is what I interpret to be a theme song. It's like a dial tone trying to sing you a hopeful love note, at first, and then a very desperate Nils Edenloff trying to scream at you. Yet it's the perfect preview of everything to come for the remaining album length. And wait, what? “Rush Apart”, the next ditty—yes, ditty—is some knee-slapping northwestern song that deserves a good pair of cowboy boots and an achy-breaky love affair. I've heard that Amy Cole is the real superstar on this one, chiming in at just the right moments, like when she holds the note on “Don't Haunt This Place”—the supposed highlight of the project. But that's a ridiculous statement. Cole is totally out of line on "In The Summertime", where she's supposed to end the soft serenade with sweet something's ("Our love is strong/while my heart's still pumping blood"). It sounds forced. Her voice is just a feminine version of Edenloff's, and anyway it's Paul Banwatt's sweet romance with the drums that brings you into whatever they're trying to deliver. Such is the case in my favorite song, "Drain The Blood", which is so drastically simple, featuring the lyric “Oh I'm really trying/to make it through the night.” Like cool cotton sheets rather than patterned satin, or something. And now the inevitable. Definitely a versatile album without stretching an audience, influences promise you there's nothing original here, just a ton of "heard that before" compiled into one impressively composed album. The softer song “The Air”, will make you think David Gray. And you'll hear a bit of Colin Meloy and the gang without all the extra arrangements. Oh, hold on, because with “Four Night Rider”, Cole's echoing and Banwatt's rapid dancy percussion gives a Mates of State atmosphere. You can imagine Saddle Creek's office to be covered in Neutral Milk Hotel posters, set lists, album covers and sweat rags thus inspiring them to snag the RAA. So go now and give “Luciana” a listen. If you aren't humming a few bars to “Holland, 1945″ afterward, then I've failed you. Note, however, that this album is a re-release, having been eyed up and tied down by Saddle Creek, the Alberta natives (a territory that Canadians dub the Texas of Canada and it's obvious after a quick listen) have been surfing off this for a half a year or so. This makes it not so much a risk for the label or the band, since no money is really going into it. And I wouldn't go so far as to include this as a best of '08 or '09, but I would spend money on the thing. Then, when the band finally decides who they can be, not who they can sound like, we'll start talking t-shirt purchasing. The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place” Hometowns will be available stateside July 7, 2009. Tracklisting:
01. The Ballad of the RAA
02. Rush Apart
03. The Dethbridge in Lethbridge
04. Don’t Haunt This Place
05. The Deadroads
06. Drain the Blood
07. Luciana
08. Frank, AB
09. The Air
10. Sleep All Day
11. Four Night Rider
12. Edmonton
13. In the Summertime Rural Alberta Advantage: website | myspace Hometowns Price: USD 13.98 1 used & new available from USD 13.98 Written by Heather Lumb
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| Sunny Day Real Estate TOUR DATES! Posted: 23 Jun 2009 11:05 AM PDT Sunny Day Real Estate TOUR DATES! Sep 17 – Commodore Ballroom / Vancouver
Sep 18 – Crystal Ballroom (Musicfest NW) / Portland
Sep 20 - Murray Theater / Salt Lake City
Sep 21 – Ogden Theater / Denver
Sep 23 – First Avenue / Minneapolis
Sep 24 – Metro / Chicago
Sep 25 – St Andrews Hall / Detroit
Sep 27 – Terminal 5 / New York City
Sep 28 – House of Blues / Boston
Sept 30 – 9:30 Club / Washington DC
Oct 01 – Trocadero / Philadelphia
Oct 03 – CW Center Stage / Atlanta
Oct 05 – Granada Theater / Dallas
Oct 06 – Warehouse Live / Houston
Oct 07 – La Zona Rosa / Austin
Oct 09 – Marquee Theatre / Tempe
Oct 10 – House of Blues / Anaheim
Oct 11 – Henry Fonda Theater / Los Angeles
Oct 13 – Fillmore / San Francisco
Oct 15 – Knitting Factory / Spokane
Oct 16 – Paramount Theatre / Seattle Sunny Day Real Estate: website | myspace
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| The Walkmen Announce Summer Tour and Free Show in Central Park Posted: 23 Jun 2009 09:50 AM PDT  Washington D.C.-bred, Philadelphia/New York-based band the Walkmen have announced on their website a string of tour dates across America for this summer, and a free concert in New York’s Central Park.
In August they will play the Rotunda at New York City’s Guggenheim Museum, and two days later they will share the Central Park Summer Stage with Dinosaur Jr at a free concert scheduled for August 16. They are also on the bill for Colorado’s Monolith Festival in September and the Austin City Limits Festival in October. Tour dates
Jul 19 – Pitchfork Music Festival / Chicago
Jul 21 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee
Jul 22 – Mad Hatter / Cincinnati
Jul 23 – Beachland Ballroom / Cleveland
Jul 24 – Lee’s Palace / Toronto
Jul 25 – Mr. Smalls / Pittsburgh
Aug 14 – Guggenheim Museum / New York
Aug 16 – Central Park Summer Stage / New York
Sep 12 – Monolith Festival / Morrison, Co.
Oct 03 – Austin City Limits Festival / Austin The Walkmen: website | myspace | Interview with: Hamilton Leithauser of the Walkmen | You and Me review | @ the Bowery Ballroom, NYC | @ Wonder Ballroom, Portland, with Beach House Photo: Jessica McGinley
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| An Horse @ Off Broadway, St. Louis Posted: 23 Jun 2009 09:28 AM PDT After seeing An Horse open for Tegan and Sara last year, I was rather pleased to finally get my hands on their debut record, Rearrange Beds, back in March. I was even more pleased when they announced a slew of headlining tour dates, gracing us St. Louisans with their presence yet again. On Father's Day, I found myself in the Lemp district at Off Broadway to see the Australian duo showcase tracks off their recent release. Combining rather funny banter (asking the audience to buy merch so they can afford new Penthouse magazines) with tightly crafted pop songs, An Horse has justified their blog buzz this spring with such crowd pleasers such “Postcards” and “Camp Out”. I noticed those tracks in particular got the toes a tapping on the dance floor on the rather steamy evening in St. Louis. The band was able to put aside the muggy Midwest temperatures and keep the crowd well entertained and their minds off the lacking air conditioning in the venue. Catch the band as they wrap up their U.S. tour and head throughout Great Britain opening for Silversun Pickups. 
My thanks go out to Kirby at Big Hassle for making the show coverage possible. Setlist:
Dress Sharply (new song)
Postcards
Know This
Horizons
Little, Little, Little
Little Lungs
Scared As Fuck
Company
Camp Out
Shoes Watch Tour Dates:
Jun 22 – Slowdown / Omaha
Jun 23 – Hi-Dive / Denver
Jun 27 – Rescue Rooms / Nottingham, UK #
Jun 28 – Thekla / Bristol, UK #
Jun 30 – 02 Academy / Birmingham, UK #
Jul 01 – Oran Mor / Glasgow, UK #
Jul 02 – Academy 2 / Machester, UK #
Jul 03 – Digital / Brighton, UK #
Jul 05 – The Windmill / Brixton, UK
Jul 06 – 02 Academy / Oxford, UK #
Jul 07 – Heaven / London, UK #
Jul 08 – Camden Barfly / London, UK
Jul 10 – White Light at Lexington / London, UK
Jul 11 – Hultsfred Festival / Hultsfred, Sweden
Jul 17 – Slottsfjell Festival / Tonsberg, Norway # w/ Silversun Pickups)          An Horse: website | myspace Related Posts - March 30, 2009 — SXSW:Music on the Fly (3)
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| Camera Obscura with Anni Rossi @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC Posted: 23 Jun 2009 07:42 AM PDT  Being invited to participate in a live studio session with the late, great John Peel (a revered and highly influential BBC Radio1 DJ who championed indie music) was one of the best bits of street cred a band in Britain could ever hope to receive. So if you consider that Camera Obscura, an indie pop band from Glasgow, Scotland that initially formed in 1996, was invited to do five separate Peel Sessions, this band is deemed pretty special in their home country. On June 21, the band visited D.C. to tour in support of their fourth album, My Maudlin Career, released in the UK and the U.S. in April. Fellow 4AD labelmate Anni Rossi opened for them.
 About 20 minutes after the scheduled stage time, a woman in a short black dress appeared onstage, stepping on a platform in front of the microphone, viola in hand. “Hi, I’m Anni Rossi. And I’m from Chicago.” It was a brief and uncomplicated introduction belying the exciting music in her short, six song set that would be played to us next. A grin crept across my face as I noticed violist Anni taking the stage wearing the same cute little white boots she had on at the Black Cat last month, when she performed as an opening act for Noah and the Whale. I was impressed with her then. And she did not disappoint me this night. She first sang “Machine”, the first track off her first full-length album Rockwell (released in March) before firing off several others from the album. This included “Wheelpusher”, in which she sings, “to be a beekeeper in the Himalayas…“, which brings me to an important point: Anni Rossi’s music makes you think. And you start to wonder what it’d be like to be that beekeeper in the Himalayas. And smile.
Set list
Machine
Venice
Las Vegas
West Coast
Looking Into the Eyes of a Stranger (cover)
Wheelpusher  Advertised as a Favorite New Single, I heard Camera Obscura’s “French Navy” from My Maudlin Career on the Radcliffe/Maconie show weeks ago through my computer speakers and nearly died, aching from the loveliness. There is a ’60s sensibility reminiscent of the Byrds and other folk bands of the time, complete with lush harmonies and orchestration that I just adore. Some might say that Camera Obscura is a ’60s throwback act, but they are so much more than that, successfully blurring the line between pop and folk with lovely, memorable melodies and angelic harmonies. I love the way they dress too; they came on stage looking like they were ready to perform at a quiet church picnic of a bygone era. Both Traceyanne Campbell (lead vocals, guitar) and Carey Lander (keyboards) had large bows in their hair and were wearing conservative white dresses.
My Maudlin Career is a great achievement, and we were treated to several tracks from the new album, including the title track as their set opener, followed by the guitar-jangly “Swans”; and the sad, melancholy “James”, played in appropriately dark, purpley-blue lighting. We also heard songs from their previous three albums, like “Let’s Get Out of This Country” and “Eighties Fan”. Long-time fans around me happily shouted, bopped, and swayed approvingly to the band’s song choices. Soft-spoken Traceyanne merely said a quick “thank you” between songs and exchanging guitars, often cracking a smile bashfully when someone in the crowd would yell, “I love you!” or “you are great!” The band’s fake exit song, “If Looks Could Kill”, reminds me of those days of my childhood where I wanted nothing more to listen to the Beach Boys and drift away. If sweet harmonies about love are what you crave (or maybe they are your guiltiest pleasure?), Camera Obscura is the band for you. After much audience cheering, Traceyanne and guitarist Kenny McKeeve reappeared by themselves. Into her microphone, Traceyanne quietly ventured, “Do you mind if we try something? I don’t think we’ve ever done this song live.” We’re nobody’s fools; we hooted and hollered in appreciation as they started into the special treat of a gorgeous yet simple rendition of “Other Towns and Cities”.  But lest you think that was it for an encore, the rest of the band rejoined Traceyanne and Kenny onstage. An excited concertgoer in the rafters shouted, “Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroken!” How could they then not play their song response to the 1984 Lloyd Cole and the Commotions’s tune, “Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?” I thought I might be swept away very happily by all the voices in time and in tune with Traceyanne’s infectious chorus of “oh Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroken! / I can’t see further than my own nose at this moment“. The set closer, “Razzle Dazzle Rose,” ended with a cacophonous “jam” (that’s the only way I can describe it): each band member went at their instrument with off-the-wall intensity to create a swirly, sonic noise as a psychedelic purple flower lit up the walls and danced for us. No doubt about it: Camera Obscura really hit the spot on the eve of the start of summer here in the Nation’s Capital.
Set list
My Maudlin Career
Swans
Tears for Affairs
The Sweetest Thing
James
Teenager
Let’s Get Out of This Country
Honey in the Sun
Eighties Fan
Country Mile
French Navy
Come Back Margaret
If Looks Could Kill
//
Other Towns and Cities
Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken
Razzle Dazzle Rose                    Camera Obscura: website | myspace | My Maudlin Career | @ central presbyterian church, SXSW
Anni Rossi: Anni Rossi | @ black cat | @ peckerheads, SXSW Rockwell Price: USD 14.98 42 used & new available from USD 0.99 Related Posts - May 5, 2009 — Noah and the Whale with Anni Rossi and Ferraby Lionheart @ Black Cat, Washington D.C. (1)
- April 14, 2009 — Interview with: Noah and the Whale (1)
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