NOW AT: WWW.DECKFIGHT.COM

But still moving the archives from here….

check it: www.deckfight.com

$1/day: WE FEST in Wilmington, NC

Uh, faithful readers, this will be the last post until the jump to the new website. Check back on Tues. the 26th for that special awesomeness.

WE Fest is the lil ol’ music fest that could down in Wilmington, North Carolina held at the Soapbox LaundroLounge. It started as a zine exchange gathering several years ago and then meshed into a music smorgasbord of muck of grime (not only the music genre). It’s four days every Memorial Day wknd and each day is $1. Holy moley! The price is intentionally low for the opportunity to discover new bands. I heard some rumblings that the management was handed over to some locals who just gave spots to a whole bunch of local bands rather than extending their reach far out, so I don’t think the talent is as great this year. In my few years going (not everyday), I’ve seen some good bands like Happy Birthday Amy! and I Was Totally Destroying It and The Never among others who were so awesome, I think they’re playing again and are the pick for the whole weekend–THAT IS REVEALED AT THE END OF THE POST!!!! (OH MAN!!! YOU’RE LUCKY DAY!)

Here are some of my selections for the wknd. For the full sked, check it at the WE FEST site.

Thurs., May 20
(Bands & Art from 3pm to 1am)
8pm: Hand Grenade (Myrtle Beach)–Fast and spunky punk
12am: Some Ambulance (Myrtle Beach)–Folk beats and brass w/ a vague maritime feel and random bouts of chanting
1am: LA Tool & Die (Charlotte)–Sarcastic electronic rock. Think Helvetica font and bright colors.

Fri. May 21
(Bands & Art from 3pm to 1am)
4pm
River City Ransom (Raleigh)–Laid-back post-punk (insert more hyphens here)
5pm Pistolero (Atlanta)–Rock grunge groove in a more typical song structure
9pm Dylan Gilbert (Charlotte)–Experimental, knob-twisting singer/songwriter like Bright Eyes when he was not enthralled with money
10pm Marionette (Richmond)–Quiet shoe-gaze trance inducing electronic rock
12am The Dry Heathens (Durham) Dirty distorted punk
1am Onward, Soldiers (Wilmington, NC)–Brooding Americana

Saturday, May 23
(Bands at 3pm)
10pm The Paper Jets (New Jersey and Minn)–Americana rock w/ harmonies
11pm Puritan Rodeo (Chapell Hill)–Honest straight-up country
1am Olivia and the Housemates (Washington, DC)–60’s-lite pop w/ an excellent vocalist

Sunday, May 24
(Bands start at 3pm)
3pm Gray Young (Raleigh)–Instrumental rock
5pm Pink Kodiak (Savannah, GA)–Progressive melodic electronica
6pm Ponchos from Peru (Wilmington)–Understated creative folk rock
12am Western Civ (Chapel Hill)–Spacey alt-rock

Monday, May 25
(Bands start at 6pm)
8pm Hearts by Darts (Baltimore) Good rock w/ Feist-y vocals

***10pm Terminal Reynaldo (Jersey City, Jersey)***

Pretty sure I saw these guys last year (that’s breaking a cardinal WE-fest rule), but holy cow, go see them. Some moody electronica rock, like a slowed down, more intricate version of what Titus Andronicus has been doing lately. Some nice chord changes, some unexpected upticks and beatdowns. They know the right moments to bleep and blip. Definitely the pick of the whole freakin’ weekend***

Rising Tide: Tides of Man Florida dates (and a new label deal

Florida band Tides of Man are taking their punk-metal amalgamate to Rise Records. They’re shooting for an August release of their debut Empire Theory . Before hitting up the midwest and the big time (that’s a spurious relationship), they’re playing a few last shows in the Sunshine State. Their sound is fairly typical for the Rise Records sound and Tides of Man will fit snug like bedbugs under your pillow. Florida dates and a vid of “Create” after the jump:

May 21 ORLANDO AKA Lounge (w/ Contest of Arms)
May 23 PEMBROKE PINES The Talent Farm (w/ The Rise of Science)
May 27 YBOR CITY New World Brewery (w/Lorien & Farewell Flight)
May 29 ST. PETE State Theatre (w/ Oceana CD Release)

lit randomness: hobart, christopher miller, china underground & more

We try to do Lit Randomness every Mon. and Wed. Persistence in randomly set dates is a virtue!
NEW WEBSITE=6 DAYS

Games Issue: At Hobart.
If you haven’t checked out the bonus material for Hobart’s Game Issue, it’s a damn-fine treat, perhaps a blessing that’s not in disguise, but right there out in the open. Pieces on Ninja Hunter, Magic the Gathering and less nerdy stuff too, if that’s stuff is nerdy. Hobart is awesome as always.

Fav. fiction about authors, by an author (Christopher Miller) who has a fictional book (Cardboard Universe) coming out about an author: At Conversational Reading.

China Underground Intro by Zachary Mexico: At Pop Matters.
Looks promising. Soon to be out from Pop Matters/Soft Skull

Bookshop conversation about Word in Brooklyn: At Bookslut Blog.

It only takes a spark: DFW’s The Burning Hotels

I’m sure the phrase “burning hotels” has been a temptation for the band on their long east coast road trip, but Ft. Worth’s The Burning Hotels are swinging one more time through the south before crossing state lines back home. Their upbeat rock-dance mix mines similar ground to The Killers and Placebo with a dash of moroseness similar to Lovedrug. What it is though is very tight, very likable, and from all accounts across the great state of Texas, a very excellent live show. The Eight Five Mirrors EP is available at their MySpace and on iTunes.
Tour dates below w/ a vid of the band after the jump:

May 19 2009 9:00P Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
May 20 2009 10:00P The Double Door Inn Charlotte, North Carolina
May 21 2009 10:00P The Mercy Lounge Nashville, Tennessee
May 22 2009 12:00P Whaleapalooza at the Squid & Whale Pub Eureka Springs, Arkansas
May 23 2009 10:00P Vino’s Little Rock, Arkansas
May 24 2009 8:00P The Moon Bar w/ the Orbans Fort Worth, Texas

lit randomness: eggers, punk fiction intro, greg ames, poets’ beards and more

We try to do Lit Randomness every Mon and Wed.

Dave Eggers, of McSweeney’s notoriety, and his brother Toph (yeah, that brother from that book) do their first interview together to promote their new book on Cold Fusion: At Paste. BTW, help save Paste.

Intro by Johnny Marr to new punk fiction anthology: At 3am.

Interview w/ Greg Ames, author of Buffalo Lockjaw: At Maud Newton.

All-time 10 ten best and worst mothers in comics: From Newsrama (h/t Fangirls Attack)

Poets ranked by beard weight: At Journey Round My Skull (h/t Bookslut blog)

The Millions’ Staff must-have subscrip list: At The Millions.

review: Akron/Family-Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free

Akron/Family
Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
Dead Oceans, 2009

Have had my hands on this one for a couple of weeks, but I needed some time with it. Unlike some more esteemed critics, I don’t know this band. I’ve since read that they’ve presented a few killer shows, come out with a few awesome albums. But if there was a band that the term “freak-folk” was created for, it’s these guys. Once the hottest thing in Brooklyn was starry garage rock, now it’s some folksy-get back to basics-off the grid mess. Now, I don’t really know what the “freak-folk” tag means, but on the opener “Everyone Is Guilty” it means combining some of the more traditionally organic instruments into some raucous explosions and funk jams. On “Creatures,” it means quiet electronics and gentle bass beats. Something like “Many Ghosts” finds a happy medium between these two, both in instrumentation and pace with some angelic harp harmonies for good measure. The album rides back and forth between those two speeds–15mph and maybe 45 mph. This isn’t some full-on Avett Brothers folk-punk, but there are some admirable guitar jams (“MBF”) moody atmospherics and quirky brass, and sometimes all appear at once such as on “Sun Will Shine.”
But the heavy hitter and the one most passed around for good reason is “River.” It has an accessible melody and mines ground that favs of mine Anathallo and The Decembrists have already explored. Akron/Family splinters in many directions, but somehow reels it in by having the similar ideas for each song. The only difference may come in choosing a piano or a violin to play the same part. Those decisions are crucial and Akron/Family is still navigating it. Hence, the term “experimental.”

missed it the first time: Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler

An occasional series to review books that are several years old and Deckfight has never read before

To describe Italo Calvino’s classic If on a winter’s night a traveler as difficult is the same as saying that dog barks or babies cry. It’s that obvious and sometimes the difficulty of it is that annoying. To approach the book without that mindset will cause all to fail. It demands patience, it demands long attention. In some ways it may be the best literary theory book ever written (not the ‘theory’ word), because of his knack for illustrating tough concepts into imaginable situations. That he does all of this with the second-person (choose-your-own-adventure style) is both confounding and genius. He challenges the notion of reading, the concept of books, and the idea of authors and readers at every turn while somehow also concluding it.
The conceit is that Calvino writes ten different beginnings to story, each with a portion of a title that then makes a longer sentence. The plot is that a character named “you,” indicated as the reader is on a quest to find and connect these stories together, each time running into a new story and more difficulty. Along the way, you meet several different readers and people who each approach books and the concept of books differently. There is the person who derives meaning from books by the frequency of how many times a certain word is used. There is the sculptor who uses books as his material. There are the scholars who argue constantly over proper translations. Like the best soapbox prophet, he is still somewhat of a pariah. Unfortunately all of his ideas presented here still seem new and fresh even though it’s thirty years old. The literary world still hasn’t caught up with him. Calvino manipulates, warns and challenges us without few ever fully engaging him. He is either one of the best ever or the craziest ever. Or both.

Pitchfork Digest: 5/11-5/15

Selection from this wk’s reviews at Pitchfork.

Isis, Wavering Radiant
8.5

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Vs. Children
7.9

Mark Kozelek, Lost Verses Live
7.0

Meanderthals, Desire Lines
7.5

DD/MM/YYYY, Black Square
6.6

A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Délivrance
7.8

Dananananaykroyd, Hey Everyone!
7.4

Those Ataris? For real?

Glancing through my local event listings and noticed that the Ataris (yes, the boys of freakin’ summer) are still playing shows, still going on tour, with…wait for it…a new album this summer. Who likes The Ataris anymore? Aren’t they stuck in the dreaded no man’s land? The mainstream doesn’t know they exist anymore after their flavor of the week status has ended, yet they’re original fans remember the betrayal. No place for the Ataris to go. Maybe they should bank on whole new level of nostalgia and call themselves The N64s.

Tour dates (in case you’re interested) and the “Boys of Summer” vid for (old time’s sake) after the jump.

Shoot the Mountain releases new EP

What’s up with mountains? Here’s the second mountain group this week: Indie Brit-pop group Shoot the Mountain releases a new self-titled EP this weekend with a show at the Basement in Nashville. The Protomen and Totally Snake. Shoot the Mountain is part surf-groove, part tangled classic rock, part dance band, part high-pitched harmonies. The show is with The Protomen and Totally Snake. Shoot the Mountain’s whole EP can be streamed here at Bandcamp.

Wide awake: Mountain Asleep brings off-kilter punk, link to album download

Off-time signature extreme math rock punk Louisville band Mountain Asleep rocks it like old-school Rites of Spring. There is no slowing down, only more vocals and songs like charred fingers in a garbage disposal. Raw rock to the infinite degree.

Best yet, their album Hello, Anxious can be downloaded free here. An old vid of their song “Hello, Anxious” is after the jump.

May 15 2009 8:00P
The Stomping Grounds w/ Algernon Cadwallader Lancaster, Pennsylvania
May 16 2009 8:00P
Charm City Artspace w/ Algernon Cadwallader Baltimore, Maryland
May 17 2009 8:00P
The Bike Lot w/Antlers and Algernon Cadwallader Richmond
May 18 2009 8:00P
The Kansas House Arlington, Virginia

**I think they had some Carolina shows in here…somebody give them the hook-up**

May 21 2009 8:00P
Dishaus Knoxville, Tennessee
May 22 2009 8:00P
Skull Alley w/Coliseum (100th show!!!!) Louisville, Kentucky

more lit randomness: Meno and Wareham at LargeHearted

Largehearted does a series on “Booknotes” where an author talks about what they were listening to. Always good.

Wareham “Black Postcards”
Meno “The Great Perhaps”

Lit Randomness: Clowes, Vestal McIntyre, new ed. of ‘my name is mud’

Clowes sneak-peek (from last wk): At The New Yorker (h/t graphic novel reporter…so the graphic novel reporter is telling me about articles in The New Yorker…strange times)

Interv. w/ Vestal McIntyre, author of Lake Overturn: At IdentityTheory

The Guys Lit Book Fair for Boys: at Guys Lit Wire. (I got this from somewhere and now I forgot…I’m sorry).

New writing from My Name is Mud (a good edition).

a declaration, a rant: Newspapers have had the longest wake ever

The other night I watched the movie The Paper for the first time. It’s by Ron Howard, so there is some sap squeezed from the tree as the lead character played Michael Keaton fights for truth in a world only concerned with bottom lines and he makes his child’s birth despite his wife’s doubts about his priorities. I’m not as concerned about the narrative tension as the moment in time. It’s 1994. Only a couple of people in the movie have cellphones. Layout is done on the computer, but there is no Internet. And in a moment of pure nostalgia from the 2009 vantage point, Glenn Close, playing a harried newspaper exec, exclaims–”I only have 350 (reporters) when the Daily News has 700!” Oh, the tragedy. 15 years later and a staff of 350 is the luxury and 50 (or less) is the norm for standard newsroom procedure.

What I’m writing has been written a million times before but only by other newspaper people–the newspaper is dying and they’ve had the longest wake ever. Except no one cares. Their death has been extended and exaggerated by worried columnists who’ll freak if their stuff isn’t printed on paper but instead read by thousands more on a computer screen. Jack Shafer in a Slate piece yesterday writes about the New York strike in the 60s and uncovers that while newspapers were desired, other media stepped into the void. We’ve already seen that happen, especially as newspapers missed their cultural moment to adapt and survive. More after the jump…

Thaw out w/ The Thermals: in DC, Chapel Hill, Charleston & more

Haven’t heard The Thermals new one, Now We Can See out on Kill Rock Stars, but I always enjoy their albums. They only seem to care about their excellent form of punk rock and don’t care if the indie kids or the punk kids like them, but only if their music is thought inducing and artistically freakin’ amazing. If social critique and punk rock still go together, then The Thermals are churning it out more than any screamo band would ever attempt. But according to the Kill Rock Stars write-up, maybe they’ve moved past all of that this time. But no matter. The Thermals have this feel that no matter what they do, how big they get, they seem authentic. Summer is a great time for The Thermals–their whole sound exclaims “action” and “dance” and “possibly mosh” rather than the sit-still modus operandi of the long harsh winters. Catch them as they swing down South, w/ a vid from SXSW after the jump.

May 13 2009 8:00P Black Cat (All Ages) Washington DC, Washington DC
May 14 2009 8:00P Local 506 (18+) Chapel Hill, North Carolina
May 15 2009 8:00P The Pourhouse (21+) Charleston, South Carolina
May 16 2009 8:00P Masquerade (All Ages) Atlanta, Georgia
May 18 2009 8:00P Bottle Tree (18+) Birmingham, Alabama
May 19 2009 8:00P Hi Tone Cafe (All Ages) Memphis, Tennessee
May 20 2009 8:00P Revolution Music Room (All Ages) Little Rock, Arkansas

Gather to see The Magik Markers

The Magik Markers focus on rock, literally. The cover of their new album, Balf Quarry (out on Drag City) refers to a rock quarry outside of Hartford, CT. But based on your pretentious definition, songs like “Don’t Talk In Your Sleep” may be more melancholic shoegaze fuss, while something like “Jerks” is amped-up passionate spazz punk with the fuzz up to eleven. And sometimes, they go on and on in their rock with a great spoken word rant on “The Lighter Side…of Hippies.” Balf Quarry is my first intro to the duo of Elisa Ambrogio and Pete Nolan, and I like it. It’s not really down for those want a boring old rock show, but only for people who DIG new ROCK. Yeah, capitals for hidden messages are awesome, because then they’re not hidden, THEY’RE RIGHT THERE in the open. Because ROCK makes the earth able to be lived on. OR SOMETHING. And The Magik Markers make good rock.
And right now The Magik Markers are on tour w/ Ghost. These fine cities are near me in heart and spirit:

May 11 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506
(w/ Ghost)

May 12 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle Tavern & Music
(w/ Ghost)

May 13 Athens, GA Tasty World
(w/ Ghost)

May 14 Birmingham, AL Bottletree
(w/ Ghost)

This video is one somebody made up to go along with the song “Taste” off a previous Magik Markers album. But it’s freakin’ awesome, with a crazy off-road race. After the jump.

Lit randomness: Ben Greenman and Rhett Miller, Baum on Twitter, Jimmy Chen and small presses

Lit Randomness is something we try to do every Mon and Wed. Always looking for links to interviews, stories and other etcetera.

Ben Greenman author of the new Please Step Back and Rhett Miller: At Largehearted.
Curiously, just found out about Greenman’s work, and here’s his funny reading tour rider over at McSweeneys.

Dan Baum, Twitter and the New Yorker: At his Twitter and American Prospect (h/t Media Bistro). Interview w/ Baum: At Baby Got Books.

Jimmy Chen and small presses: At Dogplotz. His new one of fiction is Typewriter at Magic Helicopter Press.
Been reading a lot over here, where Chen apparently contributes some stuff as well. UPDATE: And it’s Jimmy Chen wk (or it was) at this website that looks like this one. WordPress Doppelganger.

Such Great Heights: Red Collar in Charlotte, Chapel Hill, DC, Richmond

Everyone screams “Fugazi” at Durham’s Red Collar, but there’s more nuance to this band than a classic punk rock comparison. Between the dynamic interplay between Jason Kutchma and Mike Jackson there is a penchant for the dramatic, for the grand. Passionate live shows made even better by their blistering and exciting brand of punk and contemplative, motivating anthems about life, work and music. So if you ever say “Fugazi” at them, the guys and gal of Red Collar might take it another way than in a musical comparison. They will take it as an order, as a command to reach for the musical heavens for the greatest realms of musical integrity and ideals. Somehow, they have a unique gift for understanding common life experiences and elevating them to the most hopeful heights. For any doubters, listen to the live version of “The Commuter” at their MySpace and listen to Kutchma give an impassioned speech about a radio station. Was that really off-the-cuff? If so, he could sell squirrel meat to Ruth’s Chris. Their new disc is called Pilgrim and can be ordered from their website.

Do not miss if you need inspiration and a good time at a show. They’re coming closer to home in North Carolina, so the shows are sure to be doubly-inspired. Vid of “Pilgrim” after the jump:

Fri May 08 09 9:00 PM Snug Harbor, , Charlotte, NC
W/ Prabir and the Substitutes & the lights fluorescent

Sat May 09 09 9:00 PM Local 506, 506 W Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, US
W/ Death to the Details and The Lights Fluorescent

Tue May 12 09 7:00 PM The Camel, 1621 W Broad St, Richmond, VA

Wed May 13 09 7:30 PM The Velvet Lounge, 915 U St NW, Washington, DC
W/ noon30, Wicked Hemlocks, Triathletes, Spiral Beach

Thu May 14 09 9:00 PM The Outback Lodge, 917 Preston Ave, Charlottsville, VA

Fri May 15 09 7:00 PM The Calvert House, 6211 Baltimore Avenue (US 1), Riverdale, MD,
W/ Escape Artist + Lonely are the Brave

It’s nice or never: Pretty & Nice on tour w/ mp3

"Tora Tora Tora" by Pretty & Nice. From Hardly Art.

Pretty & Nice are killing it with snappy whiplash rock-pop somewhere between a melodic Pattern is Movement, Q and Not U and Elvis Costello. Their last album, Get Young features the quality “Tora, Tora, Tora” and “Grab Your Nets.” They released it last fall on Hardly Art and are making their way across the southeast as part of the P&N Party Adventure. Dates in St. Pete, Lake Worth, ATL, Charlotte with a vid of “Solar Energy” after the jump.

May 7 2009 9:00P Star Booty Salon St. Petersburg, Florida

May 8 2009 8:00P Propaganda Lake Worth, Florida

May 9 2009 8:00P Drunken Unicorn Atlanta, Georgia

May 10 2009 8:00P Milestone Charlotte, North Carolina

May 11 2009 8:00P New Brookland Columbia, South Carolina

May 12 2009 8:00P Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina

May 13 2009 8:00P Soapbox Laundro Lounge Wilmington, North Carolina

May 14 2009 9:30P Union Hall Brooklyn, New York

May 15 2009 8:00P The M Room Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

May 16 2009 8:00P Rock N Roll Hotel Washington, DC, Washington DC

Van Ride: Generationals team up w/ Park the Van; Free album stream

Pay special attention to: “Faces in the Dark” and “When They Fight, They Fight”

This is not an overstatement: Generationals are the best band I’ve heard today. All humor aside, that Generationals are newly signed to Park the Van Records makes it even sweeter, as that’s the home of recent indie buzzmakers like Dr. Dog and The Spinto Band. That good indie rock is coming from New Orleans of all places is kind of surprising–for some reason the town of infinitely good jazz, blues and rap usually has a faulty record with their homegrown alt-rock set. Generationals, formerly of The Eames Era, are an exception to those rules.

But if anybody can find the gems, it’s Park the Van. They grew Dr. Dog and Dr. Dog grew them. Not sure if in my time in NOLA pre-flood that my paths crossed with Park the Van, but ever since that time both eyes have to be on every release they put forth. The label moved back to New Orleans in Dec. 2008 after some time in exile in Philly and Generationals is one of the first results of that move back. Generationals have some classy mellow electro-pop with some distance to it–maybe something like Viva Voce, Vampire Weekend or another “V” band that I’m not thinking of right now. Park the Van is releasing their new album Con Law later this summer, but you have the best fortune ever: stream the whole album above and tour dates for Knoxville, Philly, Brooklyn and Chapel Hill are after the jump.

Lit Randomness: Joe Meno, FC2, David Peak of Ghost Factory, Komunyakaa and Calvino

Totally missed this Joe Meno interview back in Feb. at About.com about his new book, The Great Perhaps, a somewhat anti-war novel with heavy influence from Vonnegut, according to the interview. Anyone who puts out a book with Akashic and Punk Planet will always have a place in my heart. I haven’t read Meno’s new one yet, but I’m sure it’s awesome like blueberry pancakes on a Sunday.

The best: “It’s set in 2004, just in the few weeks before the presidential election, and there are all of these questions about war, and about terrorism. It’s just this really weird, complex moment about people struggling with these big questions. And what seemed to happen was that people were overcome by fear, and resorted to these really simple answers.”–Joe Meno. His website is here.

FC2 picked a new winner for its contemporary fiction prize and publication. I recently just checked out Sukenick’s 98.6 and thought I didn’t quite agree with all going on, liked the intent and FC2. I’m sure Amelia Gray will carry on the tradition of experimental wonderment. (h/t HTML Giant)

Interview with David Peak, editor of Ghost Factory: At Chicago Examiner.

Interview with Yusef Komunyakaa: at KCRW.

Been diving into If on a winter’s night a traveler, and here are some new Italo Calvino stories: at Conversational Reading.

mp3: Akron/Family, The Lovetones, Post Honeymoon and Trashed on Fiction

Just got the Akron/Family new one, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free from Dead Oceans and will have a review up soon. Early impressions tend towards an organic Anathallo and quieter Animal Collective. But that’s later. At this moment, here’s “River” and some other songs follow.
Akron/Family "River"

BTW: Dead Oceans is putting out some killer stuff here lately–the new John Vanderslice, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, Phosphorescent, now Akron/Family…talk about being on a roll in 2009.

The Lovetones from Dimensions: “Love and Redemption”

Trashed on Fiction from Words Trails Maps “January”

Post Honeymoon from S/T release: “Nightguard”

More alt-country: American Aquarium

Don’t mean for this to turn into an alt-country rant, I’ll try and dig up some mellow electro-shoegaze very soon. Despite the obvious name reference, American Aquarium has more of a classic country/honky-tonk feel that makes it hard to believe they played a few dates with Against Me! Fronted by a piano this is a mellow Uncle Tupelo, but some gruffer vocals puts the “alt” and Lucero references in play. No matter, the Raleigh band is playing a ton of shows in Georgia, Florida and even hitting the no man’s land of touring groups: Mississippi and Alabama. Video of “Louisiana Beauty Queen” and tour dates after the jump:

Can the Gaslight Anthem bridge worlds? In ATL, Carrboro and Balt.

There’s no doubt that indie rock exists in two spheres: that of independent rock of punk and screamo bands on labels like Fat Wreck Chords or Victory and that of “indie rock” stereotyped as pretentious holier-than-thou starving artist types. Is there any room to unite? Can we allow Thursday and The Thermals to exist in the same world? Or Dashboard Confessional and Colin Meloy? Maybe it’s not style, but melody versus non-melody. One of my faves in this is The Appleseed Cast. They’re on a teeny-bopper punk label for the most part, but play introspective moody math (formerly emo) rock. Please point me to common ground.

Now here comes a fairly new entrant: The Gaslight Anthem. With upbeat, competent and at times even impressive alt-country stylings, Gaslight contains the new fad of Brooklyn’s best posers as an upbeat, updated version of The Hold Steady. And Alt-Press covers to boot Williamsburg cred out the door. Good thing they’re from Jersey. Their label may or may not help. Side One Dummy contains indie rock fave Gogol Bordello along with other punk bubblegum pop like Broadway Calls.

So can the Gaslight Anthem do it? If not them, hopefully somebody and sometime soon. Vid of “Great Expectations” after the jump.

May 5 2009 ATL, GA @The Masquerade w/Heartless Bastards and Good Old War
May 6 2009 CARRBORO, NC @ Cat’s Cradle w/Pela and Good Old War
May 7 2009 Towson, MD @Recher Theatre w/Pela and Good Old War

Lit Randomness: Andrei Codrescu, Seth Godin and negative book reviews

As I try to do every Mon and Wed, here’s Lit Randomness. Send links over to deckfight [at] gmail.com.

Interv. w/ Andrei Codrescu: At 3 A.M.
I was introduced and then inundated with Codrescu while living in NOLA…but he still always offers a quality perspective. His new book is The Posthuman Dada Guide.

The best: “You should live in at least seven countries for a minimum of one year in each before you are seventeen, and must speak and write at least five languages in order to be a half-decent poet.”–Codrescu

Seth Godin on what authors should do to promote themselves: From Godin’s blog (h/t booksquare).
The best: “Far better to obsess about a little subset of the market–that subset that you have permission to talk with, that subset where you have credibility, and most important, that subset where people just can’t live without your book.”–Seth Godin

Why book critics won’t stop: At the WSJ. (h/t book bench)

Finally downloaded Ben Tanzer’s new book from CCLAP. It’s been out a couple of months, but will review it soon.

Pitchfork Digest: 4/27-5/1

A selection of reviews from Pitchfork this past wk.

Japandroids
Post-Nothing
8.3

Prefuse 73
Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
6.5

The Breeders
Fate to Fatal
6.4

Crocodiles
Summer of Hate
4.1

Comet Gain
Broken Record Players
8.2

Oh Brother: JEFF the Brotherhood extends reach

Nashville and popular blog fav (uh…not this one) JEFF the Brotherhood wrap up their east coast tour before sitting back down at home for a few more dates then launching out again. They’ve got a slew of new 7″ splits and some CD-Rs that may or may not be sold out, but view the MySpace for that. For those inclined to know what the northeast looks like in the spring, here are more of the bro’s band blog antics. (band blog antics have been a fav of my as of late.)
Check JEFF for some scuzzy electro-punk akin more to melody than moshing. No word on if JEFF is jazzy or not.

Vid of “I Dream of Jake and Jamin” after the tour dates.

May 1 2009 8:00P bbb complex (bury your bike 2 fest) jacksonville, FL
May 7 2009 8:00P the end (w/ screaming females) nashville
May 14 2009 8:00P mercy lounge (w/ royal bangs) 18+ nashville
May 19 2009 8:00P new french bar (w/ turbo fruits) asheville, NC
May 21 2009 8:00P meat town u.s.a. (w/ turbo fruits) new brunswick, NJ
May 22 2009 8:00P cakeshop (w/turbo fruits) New York, New York
May 23 2009 8:00P don pedros (w/ turbo fruits) Brooklyn, New York
May 24 2009 8:00P the khyber (w/ turbo fruits) philladelphia
May 26 2009 8:00P go bar (w/ turbo fruits) Athens, Georgia
Jul 9 2009 8:00P the end (w/ jay reatard) Nashville, Tennessee

On Tour: We Are The Union

We Are The Union something like ska, but not. Heavy on the old school Less Than Jake influence.

Apr 30 2009 5:00P Sector 7G Augusta, Georgia
May 1 2009 8:00P Soapbox Laundrolounge Wilmington, North Carolina
May 2 2009 8:30P Attitudz Virginia Beach, Virginia
May 3 2009 8:00P The Artful Dodger Harrisonburg, Virginia
May 4 2009 6:30P Temple of Doom (House Show) Richmond, Virginia

Below: Crazy Tour antics, of course.

Review: Dish, Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour

Dish, "This Ain’t Livin’"

Guess the only reason to write is because the album “rocks” or something, though Dish has more of an eye on Southern groove surf music with Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour like their pensive Orlando location would give them. Stuck between two oceans but not close enough to either, this is the musical expression of being influenced by the coast and the confederacy. (Update: their Myspace says Deland, so really that’s the Atlantic, not the Gulf…I think the “expression” statement still holds true, however).

“This Ain’t Livin” gives us the classic line “I’m so hungry I could eat my stomach” before morphing from a laid-back acoustic into a rowdy Ben Kweller breakdown (if Ben Kweller is rowdy…). But rowdy enough to cause one of the bros, Nathaniel to leave which kind of sucks…Dish bends and twists several musical styles on Ma Raison De Vivre Ton Amour, I think I was told to write by somebody something akin to the Cold War Kids, but I’m also thinking The Raconteurs, so maybe they told me to write that too. “Cold Is,” the second album track, was recently on NPR so maybe I’m way behind on this or NPR is way cool. I choose neither, except I choose Dish.

Other faves include “Death and Romance” with upbeat melodic distortion if there is such a thing; and “Family Tree” which follows the same slow, slow, faster, slow, rock, rock, rock formula of some of the others mentioend here. I hear they use a lot of pots and pans and random objects for percussion, so continue to dish up this goodness. Hopefully the bros find ways to trade music files over USendIt and keep this stuff coming.

Vid for “This Ain’t Livin” after the jump:

Lit Randomness: More Colson Whitehead, Chapbook Conf. Review

More Colson Whitehead: Interview at Maud Newton.

CUNY Chapbook Fair: At HTML Giant.

Review of A Drifting Life by Yoshihiro Tatsumi: At Popmatters

And that’s it. Some book reviews from me will be coming soon (hopefully). If interested in having your book reviewed, check it here.

At it again: Against Me! wraps up tour

What’s the point in writing Against Me!? I knew they were going on tour, but they’re freakin’ big time. Or I thought so until I checked out these locations–not the biggest in town, not the smallest, just where hardworkin’ punk rockers fit in. It’s amazing they’ve been around since 1997, they seem newer and older all at the same time. Maybe newer b/c mainstream indie rags are finally giving them the ink and digital space and older because they’ve been punk rock’s open secret for a long time.
According to their website, Against Me! is releasing soon The Original Cowboy out on Fat Wreck Chords, from old 2003 studio sessions.

Here are the remaining dates before a trip out to Australia:

Apr 29, 2009 Athens, GA Tasty World
w/ Off With Their Heads & Music Hates You

Apr 30, 2009 Wilmington, NC The Soapbox
w/ Off With Their Heads & American Aquarium

May 01, 2009 Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern
w/ Off With Their Heads & Of Angels and Lions

Monday Lit Randomness

The Wire Symposium: I don’t know how long this has been up, but there are some tremendous essays about The Wire over at Please Don’t, inspired by each writer’s favorite scene from the show.

Perseus Book Group is putting together a book in 48 hours as a collaborative process at the 2009 Book Expo, called Book: The Sequel. That’s kind of a good idea with a stupid name (h/t Booksquare).

Here’s the NYTimes review of Colson Whitehead’s new one Sag Harbor. The parts the reviewer hated about the book (i.e. excellent descriptions of ice cream) were the ones that made me want to read it.

Not a waste: The Takeover UK

Okay, so they’re actually from Pittsburgh. But falsehoods should not keep you from seeing The Takeover UK on their tour with Gliss. The Takeover UK mixes dirty Brit-rock with newfangled whiny pop, somewhere between Jet, The Strokes and Lovedrug. Yeah, that’s it. The songs I’ve heard off Running with the Wasters are clever, well-orchestrated and full of bravado in fun pop hooks. Give me some more cliches for “good” and I’ll throw those in there too. By the way, their tour blog from the last two months is pretty entertaining–just remember, don’t yank on any cooler doors and be wary of Pittsburgh night life. Vid of “Ah La La” right here or after the jump.

The Takeover UK are rolling south, some dates with Gliss :

Apr 27 2009 8:00P Village Tavern – w/ Gliss – 18+ Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Apr 28 2009 8:00P Local 506 – w/ Gliss, House of Fools Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Apr 29 2009 8:00P Snug Harbor – w/ Gliss, House of Fools Charlotte, North Carolina
Apr 30 2009 8:00P The Camel – w/ Gliss Richmond, Virginia
May 1 2009 8:00P Purple Fiddle – w/ Gliss Thomas, West Virginia

Pitchfork Digest 4/20-4/24

A selection of reviews from Pitchfork for this week.

Papercuts You Can Have What You Want 7.4
Art Brut Art Brut vs. Satan 7.7
Woods Songs of Shame 8.3
Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career 8.3
Beck One Foot in the Grave 7.8
Manchester Orchestra Mean Everything to Nothing 5.2
The Weight Are Men 4.9

Embarrassing Fruits on a not-so-embarrassing tour (you can be sure of that)

Yeah, Triangle trio Embarrassing Fruits are hitting up a tour to promote the new Community/Exploitation record from Trekky Records. There is this darker folk feeling that sneaks its way through the Embarrassing Fruits’ offerings, like a rat that isn’t supposed to be in the house, but then he is, and everyone gets used to it. No that didn’t sound right. Anyway, this tends towards the lighter side, but the songs never slight and never hold back from rockin’ in the Embarrassing Fruits way. Front guy Joe Norkus has this really easy going manner that flaunts innocence but omniscience that it is impossible to ignore the fact that these guys know what they’re doing. Or something. I’ll try again: Embarrassing Fruits are for those who prefer lighthearted but earnest country-twinged modern rock full of forward moving chords and verses and choruses that stay around for a few days. Like that rat I mentioned earlier. Love some “Nakata” off Community and “First Time” off the original EP, The First Time. And a vid follows after the jump.

Some tour dates:
04-24 Wilmington, NC – The Soapbox
04-25 Athens, GA – The Rye Bar
04-26 Asheville, NC – New French Bar
04-29 Charlottesville, VA – Tea Bazaar*
04-30 Richmond, VA – Rumors
05-01 Baltimore, MD – Talking Head
05-07 Raleigh, NC – Tir Na Nog
05-15 Chapel Hill, NC – Nightlight

Chapel Hill’s North Elementary releases new album

Indie rock group North Elementary dropped Not for Everyone Just for You this past week and some southeast shows to back it up. Last time I saw North Elementary they made fun of the crowd as most of them turned a deaf ear. Then I picked up the 7″ which is a good time of elongated jam songs. Not For Everyone… features stand out tracks in “Tumbleweed Stars” and “Medical Sunset” and they’ve found a place somewhere between the Foo Fighters, Nada Surf and The Flaming Lips, with soft choruses and nice melodic distortion (is that possible?) for filling. Definitely worth checking out from Eskimo Kiss. Video of new album track “Golden Tigers” also below.

Dates:
April 23 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506 w/ Pistolero, Wembley, The Popular Kids, DJ Steve

April 24 Charlotte, NC Snug Harbor w/ Pistolero and Transmission Fields

April 25 Atlanta, GA Star Bar w/ Pistolero and Thee Crucials

April 29 Chapel Hill, NC The Cave

Golden Tigers Durham NC from mattymattmatt on Vimeo.

Wednesday Lit Randomness: Johnny Cash and of course, Elizabeth Strout

William Walsh and Michael Fitzgerald are the authors of Questionstruck and Radiant Days, respectively. They both have a couple of books out, but author Ben Tanzer starts it off right by asking about Johnny Cash. The interview was part of Orange Alert Writer on Writer Series.

The best, from William Walsh:
“Johnny Cash wasn’t the only celeb at the San Q when I was doing my time. Also in residence was John Cheever, researching and writing what would be his second-to-last novel, Falconer. He was a very pleasant man with a fine purple nose. Johnny the Cheeve, we called him. Loved his cats and shared his smokes. I declined two offers for parole, at Cheever’s request, so I could stay on to help copyedit his rangy manuscript.”

Oh man, what a productive prison.

What kind of a blog would this be without any posturing towards the Pulitzer? Elizabeth Strout won for Olive Kitteridge, a novel I know nothing about and not many other people do either apparently with very few scant interviews (or maybe that’s more of a reflection on media’s coverage of books…). But Litagogo posted some audio links and Millions saw the book climbing their ranks back in Feb. Ah, here’s an interview Strout did back in December with Failbetter.com.

Update: Should novels be more like The Wire? From the New York Observer.
The best: Is the point of writing fiction in 2009 to represent, as accurately as possible, the way the world really works?

Greensboro, NC’s The Bronzed Chorus

Instrumental provocateurs The Bronzed Chorus is wrapping up a tour in support of their new album, I’m the Spring. That album is on Hello Sir, home to such luminaries as Maserati and Cinemachina. Composed of Adam Joyce on guitar and Brennan O’Brien on drums, The Bronzed Chorus whips out punk-inflected instrumental songs like any decent orchestra would. Think Appleseed Cast, Saxon Shore as more of a heady-type experience than space-out space-age jazz mixes that some kooks are turning out.
Live vid of “Tired of Trying To Sound Smart” after the jump.

Remaining Dates:
04.22.09 Atlanta, GA @ the Drunken Unicorn w/ Bambara and Nigredo
04.23.09 Charlotte, NC @ The Milestone w/ Jews and Catholics
04.24.09 Chapel Hill, NC @ Jack Sprat w/ Gray Young, Bottle Rockets

Lit Randomness

From Maud Newton’s blog a couple of weeks ago, about the desire of readers to know what inspired a book.
The best: Even small changes of timing, circumstance, and location create different narrative logic and evoke distinct moods, and cumulatively these alterations can be so significant that it’s misleading to speak in terms of a story diverging from fact at a single point — i.e., “it’s all true, except she didn’t really kill him” or “his mother was exactly like that, although she was suffering from Alzheimer’s rather than Parkinson’s.”

Elizabeth Bachner’s meditation on Second Book Slump at Bookslut.
The best: “Now, it seems like maybe you don’t even have to write a dazzling first novel before you write your boring second novel — you can even start out publishing a debut book that reminds everyone of the work of some other disappointing writer.”

Writing: Hobart’s April Baseball Issue is always a, uh, homerun. Here’s The Eric Chavez sonnets that includes links to other pieces.

Paste Mag: Pay what you want

Paste is a good mag and I used to live within spitting distance of it. In conjunction with yesterday’s Record Store Day, they’re re-upping their subscrip offer of pay what you want. Definitely worth it.

Meteoric Rise: Manchester Orchestra

Manchester Orchestra was kind of taking off when I was in Atlanta a few years ago. Though I haven’t heard the whole new album, Mean Everything to Nothing, this one has a fuller sound, like Andy Hull is finally letting everyone participate. I’ll admit, I wasn’t always high on these guys, but they’ve come along nicely and it’s true that Hull has immense talent as a lyricist and guitar player. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for him, he started this stuff back in high school going straight to indie rock and sideswiping any punk rock diversions. So, Hull and the rest of his Manchester Orchestra are able to grab youth and maturity at the same time–this fluctuates bounces between a couple of southern-fried riffs, to a bit of alt-country, but isn’t afraid of embracing some of the more modern rock tendencies of shouted intensity. And they do all of that in one song: “I’ve Got Friends.” Less brooding, more cavorting, what’s left is Kings of Leon with cajones and something that modern rock (!) fans can enjoy rather than another dose of adult-alternative.

Here are their southern tour dates w/ FUN (former member of Anathallo) and Atlanta’s Winston Audio with a link to the “I’ve Got Friends” vid. No embedded vid link b/c Sony is apparently keeping a tight leash. Guess they’ve gotta lot banking on these guys. (Does the music industry get a bailout too?)

Apr 18 2009 8:00P Criminal Records Atlanta, Georgia
Apr 21 2009 8:00P Exit/In Nashville, Tennessee
Apr 22 2009 8:00P 40 Watt Athens, Georgia
Apr 23 2009 8:00P Cat’s Cradle Carrboro, North Carolina
Apr 24 2009 8:00P The National Richmond, Virginia

(THEN OTHER PLACES)

May 29 2009 8:00P Spanish Moon Baton Rouge, Louisiana
May 30 2009 8:00P Proud Larry’s Oxford, Mississippi
May 31 2009 8:00P Bottle Tree Birmingham, Alabama
Jun 2 2009 8:00P State Theatre St. Petersburg, Florida
Jun 3 2009 8:00P The Social Orlando, Florida
Jun 4 2009 8:00P The Social Orlando, Florida

I’ve Got Friends

Pitchfork Digest 4/13-4/17

A selection of ratings from Pitchfork this wk:

5.9 Say Hi: Oohs and Aahs
5.3 Silversun Pickups: Swoon
7.1 The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound: When Sweet Sleep Returned
8.1 Bill Callahan: Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

As usual, the obscure take the top prizes. They did have a review of Radiohead’s reissues, and they liked everything except Pablo Honey. Just for the record.

4/18-Record Store Day

“ ”

Saturday is Record Store Day, a time when high-minded fans get together and discuss High Fidelity and Empire Records and probably now, Be Kind Rewind. Ok, that last one is not a record store but anything made on a disc is starting to fall in that category. Speaking of discs, love records (just bought two in the last wk…), hate CDs and from the looks of things, most of the cool specials will tend towards the black plastic (or multi-colored! with sleeves!).

But if you’re in my (large) neck of the woods, the following stores I recommend for Record Store Day:

SchoolKids Records-Raleigh
CD Alley-Wilmington, NC
Gravity Records-Wilmington, NC
Criminal Records-Atlanta (w/ Manchester Orchestra and The Selmanaires)
Decatur CD-Atlanta
School Kids-Athens
Daddy Kool-St. Pete, FL
Park Ave CDs-Orlando
Grimey’s-Nashville (w/ Mute Math, The Avett Brothers and others listed)
Ear X-Tacy-Louisville, KY

A long way to Graceland: 500 Miles to Memphis

That’s how far it is from Cincy to Graceland, according to the self-proclaimed “country punk” band. The singer Ryan Mallott and crew seem to take their role of country punk preservationists pretty seriously, as the wit of the fiddle matches the three-chord chunks. Though more than upbeat bar music, they definitely hold the key to being The Hold Steady country-fied. They need to add a few more dates in Nashville or try and score a gig with The Avett Brothers while in the Carolinas to get some momentum. What’s perplexing is how they got that old guy on board (but a great addition). More perplexing for 500 Miles to Memphis is why the heck Deep Elm would offer a contract to these guys. The ever-shifting sands of the once proud Deep Elm has left the label in a bit of a sinkhole or poised to take on the next gen in a way no one has imagined yet. Their MySpace says there is an album for download at their website. But MySpace is known as a haven for those prone to lie.

500 Miles to Memphis Upcoming Dates and a vid after the jump:

Apr 16 2009 10:00P The Longbranch Saloon Knoxville, Tennessee
Apr 17 2009 10:00P The Milestone Charlotte, North Carolina
Apr 18 2009 10:00P The Garage Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Apr 19 2009 9:00P Mansion 462 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Apr 21 2009 10:00P The Palm Room Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina
Apr 23 2009 9:00P Lenny’s Bar Atlanta, Georgia
Apr 24 2009 10:00P The Nick Birmingham, Alabama
Apr 25 2009 9:30P The Boiler Room Lexington, Kentucky

Gizmodo: Top 10 Geekiest Music Videos

Gizmodo makes selections for 10 of the Geekiest videos. Some “winners” include Weird Al’s “White and Nerdy,” Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” and The White Stripes “Fell in Love with A Girl” But my favorite is by our deposed King of Pop, which is after the jump. But what about the Napoleon Dynamite dance sequence? Guess that doesn’t count.

More Omaha ooze: Beep Beep comes near you

Saddle Creek cult member Beep Beep just released their second album, Enchanted Islands. I haven’t heard all of it, but it seems a more muted and less wild edition of Beep Beep from the corporate angst of Business Casual. Oh, but the rad colored pencil drawings have made it another round. Southeast dates below and the “Executive Foliage” vid from the previous album after the jump:

Apr 15 2009 8:00P Local 506 Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Apr 16 2009 8:00P The Milestone Charlotte, North Carolina
Apr 17 2009 8:00P Caledonia Athens, Georgia
Apr 18 2009 8:00P Drunken Unicorn Atlanta, Georgia
Apr 19 2009 8:00P Backbooth Orlando, Florida
Apr 20 2009 8:00P New World Brewery Tampa, Florida
Apr 21 2009 8:00P The Engine Room Tallahassee, Florida
Apr 22 2009 8:00P 1982 Bar Gainesville, Florida

Appleseed Cast comes East

First, Happy Easter.
In a rare touring move, Lawrence, KS band The Appleseed Cast is finally hitting up the east coast to promote Sagamartha, I guess. Those who like Two Conversations and Peregrine might be a little surprised at the dreamy instrumental bent, but it’s like a throwback to the Low Level Owl volume days. I personally think Appleseed Cast is best when they have their full late 90s emo/math rock suit on because those songs have a rockier edge to them than this melancholia. That their on The Militia Group of all places makes the sound even more odd. No matter. I will definitely be catching them, since I haven’t seen them in at least 6 years. Some eastern tour dates are below and a vid follows after the jump:

Apr 12 2009 8:00P jack rabbits jacksonville, Florida
Apr 13 2009 8:00P local 506 chapel hill, North Carolina
Apr 14 2009 8:00P DC9 washington dc, Washington DC
Apr 15 2009 8:00P sonar baltimore, Maryland
Apr 16 2009 8:00P M room philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Apr 17 2009 8:00P the space hamden, Connecticut
Apr 18 2009 8:00P mercury lounge NYC, New York
Apr 19 2009 8:00P polish club poughkeepsie, New York
Apr 20 2009 8:00P the middle east cambridge, Massachusetts
Apr 21 2009 8:00P horseshoe toronto, Ontario

What the HNMTF!-New album out by Hammer No More The Fingers

Everyone’s fav. trio Hammer No More The Fingers is hitting up the east coast of the NC in support of their new release, Looking for Bruce just released on Church Key Records. If you’ve never caught a HNMTF show, you will not believe the transformation of Duncan, Joe and Jeff from the mild-mannered nice guys they are into the total thrashers once on the stage. Their uproarious new 90s-esque alt-math-rock totally blows the mind of those minds previously unblown. Upcoming dates (includ show with Superchunk) are below and a live vid is after the jump:

Apr 10 2009 8:00P Soapbox WILMINGTON, North Carolina
Apr 11 2009 8:00P Spazz Benefit NEW BERN, North Carolina
Apr 15 2009 8:00P Cat’s Cradle w/ SUPERCHUNK CARRBORO, NC
Apr 24 2009 8:00P New French ASHEVILLE, North Carolina
Apr 25 2009 8:00P Annual Daniel PULASKI, Virginia
Apr 30 2009 8:00P Tir Na Nog RALEIGH, North Carolina
May 1 2009 8:00P Speakertree LYNCHBURG, Virginia

missed the first time: “Simplicity” by Mark Salomon of Stavesacre

Finally got my hands on this, though it’s been out a couple of years. As I told a couple of friends, the introduction is worth whatever price you pay. It sums up the christian music industry of yore in a nutshell–Salomon is stuck at a church in an embarrassing situation with a pastor that wants to make sure he’s going to preach the Gospel at all costs. Then somehow, this same pastor eventually tracks him back to California and sends his kids in as spies. What the heck? What kind of Christian is that?

In a way, Salomon’s whole book is a repeated diatribe of Charles Barkley’s “I’m not a role model,” but with legitimate points. Stavesacre was not meant to be a ministry, but art. But due to what they knew, what label they were on or what have you, that was the situation that they always ended up in. Salomon allows for an understanding of his mindset, his desires and his passion and how the Christian music industry both hindered his career and gave it a spectacular rise. What will strike home for most people is how old he is. With The Crucified he was really navigating new territory as a very young man. Had he been in the same situation now–a pioneer in the Christian music ministry–with our technology, screwed would be an understatement.

look mexico “You’re Not Afraid of the Dark, Are You?”

As I’ve probably said before, I like the stuff coming out of Lujo Records. Pomegranates, The Dark Romantics, Cool Hand Luke, Look Mexico. They’ve got a new EP and here’s a video for “You’re Not Afraid of the Dark, are you?” off of Gasp Asp. They tend towards whatever the pop-punk post emo sound is these days, but I think there’s an intricacy here (listen to the bridge…) and a complexity that goes beyond their peers. And who doesn’t like pie and red wine in white shirts? In other words, a good chance for a good career.

interv. w/ Haruki Murakami

3AM has a good piece with Haruki Murakami, whose most recent is What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

currently listening: peachcake

Got a copy of Peachcake’s “What Year Will You Have the World?” in the mail last week, and think these guys are on to something. The Phoenix (I mean Carefree/Cave Creek…what a place) band has an innovative blend of punk rock and electronica, with enough brazen ridiculousness to bowl over even the most ridiculously critical critic. Live video of “Did I Just Do That or Was It Jim Carrey?’ after the jump.

the millions bookstore atlas

The Millions gave us their great walking tour of NYC bookstores, and now they need some help in updating the rest of the bookstore map. Check it out, add your own town, or research another one.

currently listening: mt. st. helen’s vietnam band, abe vigoda, lost in the trees

Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band
(their drummer is only 14!)

Abe Vigoda

Lost in the Trees

Richard Ford on his character, Frank Bascombe

For whatever reason, I really like Richard Ford’s trilogy about Frank Bascombe. Maybe I’m obsessed with age and time and place, as I also really enjoyed Updike’s Rabbit adventures.

In this article from BookForum, Ford talks about how Bascombe never was meant to be an “everyman” which I call BS on. Bascombe is the quintessential everyman–his suburban life with a culmination into real estate along with estranged family circumstances. Of course some of his events are eccentric for purely humorous reasons–but at the same time they portray an endearing American-ness to them. Which is to say if a book, a character strikes a chord with the vox populi like Bascombe, it’s okay if he’s an everyman. An everyman to express what we’re all feeling.

The best: “If it seems that fear played a large part in conceiving these three books, it might just be that fear plays a large part in any work that aspires to the lofty condition of literature. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure, again. Fear of not, at least, trying to meet the challenge of one’s youthful aspirations.”-Richard Ford about his trilogy on Frank Bascombe.

review: Benjamin Bear “Lungs”

Benjamin Bear
“Lungs”
Self-released 2008
www.myspace.com/benjaminbearmusic
www.benjaminbear.org

Though the name is Benjamin Bear, there isn’t a bear or a Benjamin among this Seattle group. What is here is a deep, almost damning introspection that bends the will of the piano into narrative pathways that is usually assumed by the singer-songwriter with a guitar strapped on. All that remains is dark Ben Folds heady trip that does not depend on easy chorus hooks, but on full verses. They would be “soul” if the word had not already been ripped from its original meaning into a musical one. So I’m stuck with words like “brooding but hopeful” and “holy crap, this is what the Counting Crows would have been before selling out for the Top 40.” The voice of Mychal Cohen interplays with elegant sweeps on the piano to produce gems like “Russ,” whose quick tipped licks reveal a playful and honest confessions about a medical crisis with clever lyrical inversions that stick for days.
Those are the same reasons I like the second track, ‘Posterboy” which also starts in a soft but steady piano beat before plunging into a rocking chorus with jazzy drums provided by David Stern. The surprises that Cohen gives with his piano playing elevates Benjamin Bear beyond a novelty into a surefire creative force.

The Believer’s Top Book

Though I don’t read it all the time, The Believer is the closest thing we’ve currently got to a book-of-the-month club (except The Believer comes out every other month and my apologies to any actual book-of-the-month club…this was a really bad comparison). Their recommendations are usually great, and Nick Hornby has sustained a career that looks like he’s down with the cool kids by participating within its pages. Their book award this year goes to Emily Perkins’ Novel About My Wife.

I haven’t read it, but I believe whatever The Believer tells me. And at the end of the piece, they provide a pretty good reading list of contemporary fiction–so maybe that will sustain you for several months. Seems to be an alright variety, but of course they tend towards the pretentious and highly informed. In other words, all of these may not be on the display table at Barnes and Noble.

And here’s a pretty good review from the NY Sun of Novel About My Wife.

first person: 3/7/09 anathallo at cat’s cradle: carrboro, NC

At Elmo’s in Carrboro and I’m a bit disappointed because we’re eating in a strip mall next to the Harris Teeter. That’s okay, because the place is packed and we luckily get a seat inside (but I usually hate places that are full…or maybe I just hate waiting in line). Yes, I’ll have the chicken and dumplings with a sweet tea. She decides on the pulled pork. We debate the merits of Canopy Glow versus Floating World. I say “Floating World” is a natural evolution from Sparrows though with a more narrative vibe. No, she says, Floating World has those weird songs (the ones about dogs, I guess?) but I think it’s the crazy percussion that she doesn’t like. She likes Canopy Glow: the sweet female vocals the more traditionally arranged, softer songs. One time, I said, I listened to Canopy Glow on iTunes and the songs continued to the first song off “Sparrows” –the one about Aaron holding his peace and I thought for a second it was a Canopy Glow song because it had the same rhythm, the same flow, but then I recognized it. Though, “Aaron Held his Peace” does not fit in with the rest of Sparrows, it fits in with Canopy Glow. There, I said, the new one is nothing new, per se, but a return, just like the songs about the crazy dogs (“Hanasaka…what?)

We had seen Anathallo twice before together, but this was the first time that she was excited.
The table next to us didn’t pay, she said.
The check comes and I leave a tip for $2.38. Yahoo! Maps said from my house to Cat’s Cradle was two hours and 38 minutes.
It was appropriate then that my friend Jason was coming…

What’s next for books?

With the Kindle should we start burning books?

The headline for a Slate/Big Money article on the Kindle reads:
“The Kindle Revolution: Digital readers will save writers and publishing, even if they destroy the book business”

Of course, in typical journalism fashion, the deck on this title is way over the top. Destroy the book business…really? It will not destroy the book business or even printing businesses–it will reconfigure them. Once again, the book biz needs to take a clue from the music business. CDs are losing ground, but vinyl because of its permanent/sit-down and listen quality are up. Records with cool art can do something for hardcore fans that a CD can’t. And MP3s are there for the casual or the throwaway factor.

A friend of mine last night was telling me he downloaded the Kindle App for his iPhone. We both talked about how we would gladly read a nice looking and well-constructed book of one of our fav. titles, but some books we have a casual interest in. That’s where the Kindle comes to play.

So books need to emphasize what they do best–permanence. Gravitas. Really important stuff. The frivolous read (i.e. the airport paperback) will tilt in the Kindle/iPhone’s favor due to demographic and portability sake. But there’s gotta be room for the limited/special edition Pynchon somewhere…

review of ’swamp thing’

From Salon, there’s a good analysis of Alan Moore’s 1st anthologized edition of Swamp Thing from the mid-80s. Just in time for The Watchmen release.

BTW-I’m kind of new to reading Salon, I usually prefer Slate, but their book stuff is some of the strongest out there.

The best: “Long before anyone had started using the pompous term “graphic novel,” long before Moore became the reclusive genius behind “From Hell” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” and, of course, the about-to-be-a-massive-motion-picture “Watchmen,” came his remarkable mid-’80s run on “Saga of the Swamp Thing,” which redefined both the audience and the narrative possibilities of comic books.”

interv. w/ phosphorescent

Magnet writes up a piece about Matthew Houck and his band Phosphorescent. He’s releasing an album of Willie Nelson covers. This confirms the rumblings I’ve heard of Americana bands in Brooklyn. Good interview, though.
The best: “I think doing cover songs is a way to sort of just play, and not worry so much about an artistic statement or anything like that. Just enjoying playing music, you know?”-Matthew Houck in Magnet

Vid of live performance of “Right now I am a-roaming” after the jump.

interv. w/ author tao lin about money

The Urban Elitist is putting together a series of interviews with not big-time authors about how they make money. Here’s one with Tao Lin. Anybody who visits random literary websites has run into Tao Lin. He’s all over the place (I think he once tried to befriend everyone on Goodreads). His style is jarring in a good way, and his comments always pithy and sarcastic–like he’s putting on performance art for himself like Joaquin Phoenix’s recent binge. (h/t largehearted).
The best: “I feel that having a blog increases the amount of abstract space “Tao Lin” takes up in people’s lives. When a person looks at my blog they see my name and the books I have published (the header), causing other information that they “know” to exist less, to a degree, and be replaced by information about me and my oeuvre, which causes them to be more inclined maybe to buy my books or talk about me during awkward silences…”-Tao Lin

interv. w/ Benjamin Parzybok

I don’t know who Benjamin Parzybok is either. His book, Couch, sounds kind of cool though in this interview from Bookslut. The story is inspired by trying to move a couch from a secondhand store across Portland.

The best: “People were interacting with us, they wanted to sit on the couch or know what we were doing. I began to think how the phenomenon of a collective act — in this case moving a couch — would change someone who felt like an outcast.”-Benjamin Parzybok

interv. w/ propagandhi

B/c of my past connex, I love REAX magazine. And here’s a good piece with Propagandhi, the Canadian punk band whom actually I’m not that familiar. Which means I’ve been missing the boat for sure.

The best: “I think we’re just four guys in a band and the things we’re interested in, things we care about, people call those things activism, they call them politics…I don’t identify with being a political person or being identified as being an activist, but the things we do get ourselves wrapped up in are called those things.”–Chris Hannah, vocalist/guitarist of Propagandhi

young lit agents have an opinion

From Poets and Writers: I’m not sure how “young” these people actually are, but a couple of good ideas come out including when to send your manuscript and what to put in the cover letter. Usually, agents aren’t this forthcoming and there are some specifics about working w/ an editor etc.

The best: From Julie Barer–”I think everybody’s looking for a book that you can’t put down, that you lose yourself in so completely that you forget everything else that’s going on in your life and you just want to stay up and you don’t care if you’re going to be tired in the morning. You just want to keep reading.“

first-person: the barnraisers, paleface, jesse stockton in wilmington, nc

soapbox valentine's poster

At the club and doors open at 9 and we pop in at 9:30 only to be told doors haven’t opened yet. Into the lounge. Some guy messing with a saxophone on stage while a crowd mills about the bar. The TV isn’t on. A perfectly arranged set of pool balls is on the table. A guy holds a stick. We decline. We stand. We make small talk about the band posters on the wall. Yes, I like Q and Not U. Yes, Donovan Frankenreiter is dressed ridiculously in his poster. The door guy comes back and finds us and everyone else for the show upstairs, The Barnraisers, Paleface and Jesse Stockton. No Cary Ann Hearst.
On the way up see a door that says “close the door behind you.” We don’t open it. No one’s up there, retreat to another lounge. This TV is on AMC, the 35th anniversary of Godfather II. Just saw this like two weeks ago, Fredo and Michael are having a talk outside at the cafe. Michael questions Fredo’ s loyalty to the family and we talk about how DeNiro and Pacino should stop making movies. We talk about recent overused quotations like “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” and “Never regret anything that made you smile” and “Yes, we can.”

interv. w/ mc lars

No doubt I’m a big fan of MC Lars, just got his new one–Gigantic Robot Kills in the mail. His cutting commentary about punk rock and other suburban pop topics is definitely needed. Good to see then a nat’l mag like URB is giving him some love with an interview. This is one of the few on-set, in-person interviews I’ve seen with him. (h/t Emotional punk).
And after the jump, a vid of Lars’ “Guitar Hero Hero” with a bunch of kids messing around.

The best: MC Lars: “Honestly, nerdcore to me is kind of a limited genre,” he professes. “There are all these kids now who sample Nintendo music and rap about how high school is boring, and that is so uninteresting to me. It’s hip-hop in that people are talking about their lives, but the problem with nerdcore is that it’s a joke.”

interv. w/ brent forrester, writer on “the office”

From Vanity Fair: Here’s Brent Forrester, a writer on “The Office.” Silly for sure isn’t funny, though Jim putting staplers in Jello early on and watching where the DVD logo will bounce on the TV is pretty silly. I think the difference there is the actors play it straight not waiting for the laugh track like on a CBS comedy.
The best: “There’s not always humor in tragedy. The truth is, some stuff is just too tragic, and it’s not even appropriate to be laughing at. But stuff that’s a little bit difficult—that’s where humor really lies.”

interv. w/ the pains of being pure at heart

really, i don’t get it with this band, but i will give them credit for having the most pretentious indie rock name on the planet. that alone should give them good pub.
The best: Peggy-”However, the first song my guitar teacher made me learn how to play was “Achy Breaky Heart”! To his credit, there are only two chords in that song…I think they are G and C.” (From Pop Tarts Suck Toasted)

interv. w/ richard nash of soft skull press

Conversational Reading is doing a series of interviews with small(ish) presses to determine how the recession is hitting them. This one is with Richard Nash of Soft Skull Press who says that his press had a great year. I mostly know Soft Skull from Matthew Sharpe’s stuff, but Tim Wise is quite a controversial fellow. (Thanks to HTML Giant).
The best: I believe that times of social disruption are tremendously fruitful for writers who are basically creating little social laboratories in which society gets to act out the changes.

currently listening: anathallo-canopy glow

Finally got this after deciding I couldn’t wait any longer for the vinyl. Some comments I’ve seen has said this is like Sufjan–one problem, however is Anathallo had their full orchestral bent going strong back in ‘02 and ‘03, just when Sufjan was getting his wings. Canopy Glow maintains the feel of Floating World though I was hoping for a few numbers closer to “Don’t Kid Yourself, You Need a Physician,” but those days are over. Interesting enough, the last song of “Canopy” was followed on my iTunes with the “Aaron Held His Peace” from Sparrows and honestly, I wasn’t sure of the difference. The same quiet has always been there, Anathallo has it leveraged towards its full maximum effect. And Noni’s Field and The River are remarkable songs. Vid for “Bells” after jump.

the new west? deadbeats and authors

I guess I’m pretty easy to characterize as this article from the New York Observer interviews a couple of my most recent reading choices–including Ferris of Then We Came To The End and Bock of Beautiful Children. Maybe male authors are attracted to these characters, because that’s all we know. Books on high society aren’t interesting anymore and interesting stuff about the legal system or government has been given over to too much genre. In a lot of ways, what the article describes is a version of the modern western: bad guys still trying to find their place in the world. I’m kind of surprised Ferris was included–his “anti-hero” is more humorous and is not necessarily the central character.
The best: Mr. Howard said he does not get irritated when he sees young authors compared to Mr. Palahniuk, and thinks it’s natural that young writers would be attracted to drawing these kinds of characters. “There is so much pressure, I think, for young people to be adjusted and to get with the program these days that the fact that somebody like Chuck is out there saying ‘uh-uh’ is being taken as liberating,” he explained. “And obviously, if that sort of feeling is in the air, a lot of other talented young writers are going to channel it themselves.” (h/t Largehearted).

interview w/ The Bronx

Punk News did a stellar interview w/ Joby Ford of The Bronx that includes a funny story about GNR and Converses. When they were on tour with As I Lay Dying, I ran into them in the chinese restaurant next to my place of business. I skipped that show, and have been kicking myself ever since.
The best: It’s not just bands that are having a tough time. It’s everybody. It’s definitely not like a sob story, like “Woe is me.” No, this is a choice that we made as five people, that this is what we want to do with our lives, and so that’s what we’re doing. What comes of it comes of it. I don’t know, I’ve worked corporate jobs and it almost killed me…Being happy is more important than being rich.

Sonic Youth, Inspired by…

Not sure if it’s actually cool to like Sonic Youth, or to like them in a ironic way–like how an indie hipster likes Justin Timberlake. SY has been around for awhile now, with so many claims of influence, I don’t see how they can keep living up to themselves. Thurston and Kim probably put on masks in the morning before looking at the mirror.
Now here’s some fiction inspired by the book, (from Village Voice) compared to actual experiences inspired by the song titles, like someone named Eric taking a trip, or someone else trying to find out the meaning of “Kissability.” Buy it from Powell’s.

artist picks on lit mob

It’s so nice when indie rock and lit can come together. there’s peace on the artistic earth. since those are two concerns of deckfight (maybe the only two), it’s a pretty good read on Lit Mob of what the band literati are up to, including Dan Deacon, Ra Ra Riot, Earlimart, among others. Ben Weaver is probably most similar to my interests, though I haven’t read all the books they suggested (a lot of Vonnegut all around though). Definitely want to read Hotel Theory by Wayne Koestenbaum.
Bonus: Here’s an interview from PaperMag with Lit Mob founder, Doug Perkl.

interv. w/ titus andronicus

When it rains, it pours. First, the first-person of the Los Campesinos!/Titus Andronicus show, now here’s an excellent Titus Andronicus interview from Aversion. That one guitarist dude is always wearing a plaid shirt. It’s like his blanky, I guess.

The best: “You know, it’s kind of like the evolution of species. Traits become emphasized over time. I guess the punk influence on what we now today call indie music has been diluted over the years, for better or for worse. People try to seem to try and choose one or the other. We would prefer to have them both if we can.”–Patrick Stickles (From Aversion)

They gave it a 9.6 and here’s the interview

You know the “they.” And here’s an interview with the recipients, Animal Collective. I was sold when I heard “The Purple Bottle” for the first time on the college radio station. Looks like they’re heading out to Europe first, (besides the big three) and then hit up the states in May. This concludes the most Pitchfork-centric post I’ve ever written.
The best:
(Dave Portner): We don’t always like to be so forceful with what [our songs are] about, because a part of listening is developing your own thoughts or emotions about something. And volume of vocals plays a part too, because we don’t always put the vocals at the loudest level for people to understand every word of our songs. Sometimes we think we have, but even then, people don’t always understand what we’re saying [laughs].

Media: Taibbi on Valerie Bertinelli, uh, Thomas Friedman

In the New York Press, political writer Matt Taibbi challenges NYTimes columnist Thomas Friedman as jumping on the bandwagon for the “green” movement. Wait for the graphs, where he applies Friedman’s methodology to Valerie Bertinelli’s physique.

The best: “This is Friedman’s life: He flies around the world, eats pricey lunches with other rich people and draws conclusions about the future of humanity by looking out his hotel window and counting the Applebee’s signs.” (From NY Press).

first-person: los campesinos! at cat’s cradle

Los Campesinos

Originally uploaded by John Darwin Kurc

Friday night and it’s freezing; bowling ended at 5 (I left early with still two frames left in my game) so the puppy could be fed at someone else’s house and the puppy could get slammed around by a bigger dog, and learn a lesson (he’s been learning a lot lately) and so finally we made it back on the road after stopping to fill up our car with gas and air (cold, not hot air) and after we pulled a u-turn around a smithfield’s chicken (it was crowded, like a grand opening with balloons and stuff) and opted for KFC instead (the strips come in 3, 6, or 12–they are all spicy), because we had to make the two hour trip to carrboro/chapel hill (it really is the same place, basically) and on the way while eating my chicken strips i spilled barbecue sauce on my pants and got barbecue sauce on my wife’s hand (i then switched to honey mustard) and now we’re on our way…

Bad Movie Blurbs

Gelf Magazine examines the “best worst blurbs” of 2008, where a movie ad blurb totally mangles the reviewer’s intent.

The best: “Heather Newgen, Comingsoon.net: ‘The first great romantic comedy of the year.”
Gelf’s take: We were unable to find Newgen’s review of the film online…’”

Viva Voce Breaks Up, Re-forms

In classic Viva Voce fashion, the band announces new members to further their touring. Plus, spring tour dates! And new work coming soon (at least we can all hope).

Tour dates (what no east coast love?!?) and the vid for “Alive with Pleasure” after the jump.

“Viva Voce rise like a Pheonix (or is that Phoenix-ed.) in 2009. Forever swearing off being a
two-piece band, Anita and Kevin Robinson have broken up, reformed adding
two of Portlands finest, and will unveil a new record in the coming
months. Notably more angular songs than the previous “Get Yr Blood Sucked
Out”, Viva Voce set out to perform the new tunes on a spring tour,
ending with a Portland homecoming a year in the making.”

From NY Mag: Saving the Gray Lady

I’ve been kind of entrenched in the New York Times lately. I browse its website everyday and I currently have a copy of “The Trust” floating around my house from the library. NY Mag is always pretty critical of other journalistic ventures, but in this piece by Emily Nussbaum they give the Times some props for their technological innovations. And they’re right. The techniques featured in the article would increase access and take the way information is consumed to another level. It would no longer be just reading, but reflecting on that subject’s world.
The best:
“…there is something exhilarating about watching web innovation finally explode at the Times, with its KICK ME sign and burden of authority.” From New York Mag.

Gentleman Auction House: “Book of Matches”

The St. Louis-based Gentleman Auction House probably put out three of my favorite songs of 2008 (or were they from 2007?). Here’s the vid for one of them, though their whole album is great, especially “We Used to Dream About Bridges.” But here’s “Book of Matches” from their album, ABCEDFGraveyard. after the jump.

M. Driscoll “the cussing pastor” in the NYTimes

Though the beginning of the story relies on old tropes (mentioning hymns and choirs) as a comparison to traditional churches, the author Molly Worthen does realize that Driscoll’s church is different than the megachurch “seeker sensitive” places of ten years ago.
The best statement:

“Driscoll’s New Calvinism underscores a curious fact: the doctrine of total human depravity has always had a funny way of emboldening, rather than humbling, its adherents.”

interv. w/ Jay Reatard

From the AV Club. Don’t see a lot of interviews with Jay Reatard, and this one was pretty forthcoming about song processes and a new album.

Sunfold “Oregon”

Mix-up Annuals and you get Sunfold, led by Annuals‘ guitarist Kenny Florence and made up of Annuals members. More of a classic rock, guitar solo funk vibe than the indie-pop Annuals comes out with. Sunfold wears its influence on its sleeve, but moves things forward without being too much of a tribute to anything.

Upcoming dates:
Jan. 9-The Soapbox, Wilmington, NC
Jan. 11–Local 506, Chapel Hill, NC

Can bands and content providers co-exist? TuneCore CEO thinks so.

Of course he does. Jeff Price is the CEO of the company. But his argument actually makes rational sense. His company’s model is that a website controlled by the artist allows them to pick the advertisers off their page and get money from the revenues. Most of the media (and scenesters) have always sided with the right of Napster, Pirate Bay, or YouTube about their content–but if you were the artist wouldn’t you want some money off your song instead of giving it to those content providers for free?

This example makes the most sense: “Imagine ABC getting the TV show ‘Lost’ for free, then broadcasting it and keeping all the advertising revenue.” From HuffPo.

non-breaking news: newspapers not innovative

Love Slate’s Jack Shafer. Always something interesting over there, and here he profiles how newspapers had a lock on the electronic medium for giving away their content (newspapers on TV! in the 80s!) but lost it.

interv. w/ john brandon

Interview with John Brandon, author of Arkansas, a book from McSweeney’s that I’m sure is the best book from ‘08 that I have not read. It is probably the best book I’ve heard of in the past three days. (From identity theory).