LCD Soundsystem album sucks!??!

Hey Y'all,

I just read an article on James Murphy in New York Magazine. They make him sound like an interesting dude, so you'd think that the newly-released, hyped-up album (titled Sound of Silver) from his band, LCD Soundsystem, should be good. Right?

I first listened to it about 2-3 weeks ago and was not impressed at all. The only songs that stood out were "When Someone Great is Gone" and "All My Friends". The rest of the album...kinda blew.

I talked to my buddy Sheryl today and she really likes the album, so I thought I'd give it another go. I listened to it 3 times. And still, I felt the same way I felt on my initial listen.

Am I wrong?

I love that Pitchfork gave it a super high rating. Just confirms what we all already know about Pitchfork: they don't know what the fuck they're talking about.

Is anyone else with me on this??

The Music Slut: Cassettes Won't Listen

On Saturday Cassettes Won't Listen played The Music Slut's Spring Fling at The Delancey.



Man, do I have some mixed feelings about this performance. I REALLY WANT TO LOVE CWL. He's got some great and hilarious ideas. BUT....dude can't sing in tune and sometimes the delivery of his songs really, really falter. What Cassettes Won't Listen DOES do well is all his computer stuff and remixing. I concluded by the end of the night he should really just stick to re-mixing other artist's work. His realizations of The Postmarks' "Goodbye" and The Diggs' "Everyone's Starting Over" are awesome. And I love his original song "Lunch for Breakfast" but the outta key vox sometimes drive me nuts. You can listen to him here.



While the beginning of the show was pretty lukewarm, I got pretty worried about losing my faith altogether in CWL. He sorta redeemed himself with this:

CWL, unbeknownst to us, scattered his friends in the crowd and then asked people to come up and sing for him so that it appeared to be random people that he'd never met. At first we thought it was real and I was cracking up. By the time the second female vocalist came up, we realized it was a hoax--a fun one, but still a hoax. While this gimmicky trick didn't redeem the weak music, it saved what could've been a really, really weak performance.

Illinois in the Lower East Side

Last night, banjo-rocking Illinois [from PA] played Cake Shop. They pretty much rocked the house. They are four tall, lanky similar-looking guys who put on an energetic and fun performance. Highlights include lead singer Chris Archibald singing through a telephone. It seemed like the crowd was full of their friends, so it was a fun environment to see them in.

Here's an MP3 from their latest EP What The Hell Do I Know?:
DOWNLOAD: Illinois - "Alone Again" (MP3)

Head to their myspace to see where they're heading next.

Odd Czar @ The Annex

Hey all,

Come out to The Annex on Wednesday night [March 28th] to see Odd Czar.
They will melt your face off with their Rock.

Catch them at 10PM. Elemeno P [from New Zealand] goes on at 9PM and Bears Repeating go on at 11PM.

Jamie T @ Mercury Lounge

Last night, Jamie T played a somewhat secret show at Mercury Lounge. It was one of those rare New York nights where the crowd was perfect and there was just a great vibe in the room. Jamie T played an acoustic bass and performed a short set of about 7 songs. It was great. He's so charismatic and so British, he charmed the pants off the crowd. And the Brits were totally representing last night, singing along to all the songs and even getting ahead of Jamie at times (hilarious!).

I'm not that well acquainted with his music, but I fell in love with him and his songs last night. He was a really great solo performer, and did songs like "Sheila" and "If You Got The Money" (which was great because everyone knew all the words). I'm looking forward to catching him the next time he's in town with his band.



DOWNLOAD: Jamie T - "If You Got The Money" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jamie T - "On Holiday" (MP3)

Cross-posted @ Skank Your Art

OH WHAT A NIGHT: The New Violators, Dash Dogs, Jamie T.

Last night, young British artist Jamie T. played Mercury Lounge and was spectacular. It's been a long time since I've seen a musician capable of truly owning the stage with simply their instrument and voice.

The crowd was really terrific and it was one of those New York nights that will forever be etched in my mind as "TOTALLY AWESOME, YO". The Brits showed up to support and sing along all the lyrics...which you think would be mega-annoying, but instead was very endearing and added to the whimsy and fun of the performance. I left with a huge grin on my face like the nerdbird that I am and the melody of Shelia stuck in my head. Check M$'s posting above to download Shelia.

One of the highlights of the evening was meeting the famous Johnny Beach. He was super nice. Makes my lovefest with The Bowery Presents even more intense.

M$ had the munchies, so we headed over to Dash Dogs to grab a bite to eat. Best hot dogs EVER. We made friends with the dudes workin there and even got a Polaroid taken (above) of us! They put it up on their WALL OF FAME. So....next time you're at Dash, look for us!

This is a hilarious pic we just couldn't stop laughing at from the WALL OF FAME.

Since we separated from our bud Josh, we went over to Pianos to reunite with him. For a while it was a bit slow and I was thinkin about peacing out, but boy, am I glad I didn't!!! The New Violators were playing, but of course Pianos was at capacity, so we just had to sit at the bar and try to catch snippets of the show. Josh took a while to come over, but once he did, we got the party started. DAMN.

The New Violators started drinking at the bar, so I thought we'd make friends with them. L to R: S-Yo, A New Violator, E$

Check out this Violator's fly white pants.

Gettin picked up by The White-Panted Violator and Josh.

Wearing the singer's glasses.

The hot-pink Members Only jacket that we all coveted the entire evening.

Man, what a night!

Modest Mouse on Tour!

Modest Mouse has just announced they will play United Palace Theatre on Sunday, April 29th and Monday, April 30th.

Tix on sale this Saturday at noon. You can purchase them here

Other tour dates:

March 10 Mexico City @ Foro Sol GET TIX
March 14 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom SOLD OUT
March 15 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom SOLD OUT
March 16 Missoula, MT @ Missoula Univ Theater SOLD OUT
March 17 Bozeman, MT @ Gallatin County Fairgrounds SOLD OUT
March 18 Sioux Falls, SD @ Ramkota Exhibit Hall GET TIX
March 19 Fargo, ND @ Play Maker's Pavilion GET TIX
May 20 Somerset, UK @ ATP vs the Fans GET TIX
May 23 London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall GET TIX
June 1 Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound GET TIX

Stream the new album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, here.

new stuff

Bic Runga and Jamie T play Mercury Lounge tonight! What a sweet, sweet line-up. No advance sales for Jamie, so get there early...

To get yourself psyched, listen here and here.

In other news, the boys at B.B. King's bring us the latest addition to the roster of NYC music venues: the Highline Ballroom on 16th Street between 9th and 10th.

The line-up so far includes:

Moe May 3-5
Amy Winehouse May 8-9
Mos Def May 26
Jonatha Brooke May 1
Spank Rock May 15

Check it all out and get your tix here.

I found out last week through my sources at Madison Square Garden (and forgot to post) that Morrissey is slated to play Madison Square Garden on June 30th. The on-sale is March 31 and I believe tix are $69 a pop. More on-sale info to come...

Some stuff I've been listening to:

I am loving the Winter Kids. Their album Memoirs if chockfull of fun, catchy, happy tunes.





Secretly Jesus and the Mary Chain, Sister Vanilla will be at Coachella this year. I've only listened to 3 or 4 tracks, but they are positively divine.

the collarbone's connected to the...

Last night Fujiya & Miyagi played the MacIntosh Center at Barnard College. That's like, waaaaaaay too uptown. Unbeknownst to me, I was about to stumble upon a SECRET BILLYBURG where I witnessed more tapered jeans and flats than my latest trip on the L-train. And there was a loooooooot of American Apparel happening at this place. Who knew that hipsters had a secret colony on the Columbia University campus?


The opening band was a total disaster. Lots of scary attempts at harmonizing that resulted in shitty weird intervals and my bleeding eardrums. They sounded like the disco, wanna-be version of Ra-Ra Riot.

The capacity was about 200 people, but we guesstimated that perhaps only 100-150 showed up. Probably 100ish. And the people around us felt the need to talk about completely underelated things throughout the course of the evening. Dude, you can do that in a coffeehouse--please don't come to shows if you're going to tell us about your last date really, really loudly.

Anyways, enough bitching and bad attitude!!!



If you're not familiar with Fujiya & Miyagi's catalouge, listen here

Hokay...they were pretty awesome. I'm in love with the David Best's (the lead vocalist) voice. IT IS SEX ON A STICK. They really rocked out and right when I felt like they had warmed up to the audience, the set ended (probably about a 45 minutes long...). They don't have a drummer right now and are using a machine, but it was kinda cool. Wondering if they will get a drummer?

I'm really, really bummed I didn't get the chance to see them at Mercury Lounge Sunday night or tomorrow night, but that's what I get for snoozin' on the ticket quest.

I'd LOVE to see F & M play a P.S. 1 Party this summer or the rooftfop of The Delancey (but not the winter. only in the hot, hot heat).

Big Time Sensuality

Bjork will grace New York City with 3 shows in May as she kicks off her next world tour.

May 2 - Radio City Music Hall

May 5 - United Palace Theatre

I snagged some pics of this fancy new uptown theatre in case you're wondering what the scenario is up in Harlem:







May 8 - The Apollo

Tix on-sale next Friday, March 23. Pre-sales are March 28-29 exclusively through here.

Oh, and unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure those of you headin' out to Coachella already know she's the headliner on Friday's bill.

scooters, vacation, fall, bloated

warhol on a sunday morning (night)

it's oh so quiet...

...while everyone is away at sxsw...

still, here are some things you should keep on your radar:

Maria Taylor plays Mercury Lounge tonight. She's awesome and Jaymay is supporting so it's bound to be a solid time.

If you get a chance, check out one of her shows coming near you:


New York City on Mar 16th details
Brooklyn on Mar 17th details
Cambridge on Mar 18th details
Toronto on Mar 21st details
Gambier on Mar 22nd details
Seattle on Mar 27th details
Portland on Mar 28th details
San Francisco on Mar 30th details
San Diego on Apr 1st details
Phoenix on Apr 3rd details




Pete Rock and Waajeed lead the party at Southpaw tonight in honor of J.Dilla's posthumous realize of his album Ruff Draft. The record drops next Tuesday. We're stoked!

If you're not familiar with this stuff, listen here.

The Fujiya & Miyagi show at Mercury Lounge this Sunday. I know tix are sold-out, so your best bet is to hit up the Monday night performance at Barnard. Tix are only sold at the door so make sure you beat out those ivy leaguers by showing up early.

And here's a track by Rich Boy that my officemate is totally stoked about. The lyrics are pretty hilarious.

Oh shit my office peeps are peacing. I promise to write more before the weekend ends. For those of you in NYC, stay dry!