As I previously mentioned, I am heading out to 80/30 Music Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, tonight. I may not be able to update until Sunday. Was just corrected that they will have Wi-Fi and Media Centers.

I think this is a stupid name for a festival, apparently it was named after the two interstate freeways: I-80 and I-35. Yes, I hate festivals. I will recount the story about Coachella sometime later, OK? I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was terrible.

There's a few bands I'm definitely going to see (Tilly & The Wall, Ben Harper, and Public Enemy).  I didn't know Public Enemy are back together!

I will be doing that twttr thng. If you are in the area and want to say hi, text me: 763 656 9257.

Below are some bands playing:

Friday, July 3 Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Main Stage 4:00 PM – Tilly and The Wall 5:45 PM – Matisyahu 7:30 PM – Stephen Malkmus 9:30 PM – Public Enemy Mediacom East Stage (free) 4:00 PM – Buster and the Punks 4:45 PM – William Fitzsimmons 5:45 PM – Modern Skirts 6:45 PM – Maps and Atlases 7:45 PM – The Nadas 8:45 PM – House of Large Sizes Meredith West Stage (free) 4:00 PM – MooseKnuckle 5:15 PM – The Dig Angees 6:15 PM – The Autumn Project 7:15 PM – Occidental Brothers 8:30 PM – Public Property 9:30 PM – DJ Diverse 10:45 PM – Brad Goldman & Jade Reed

Saturday, July 4 Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Main Stage 12:00 PM – Poison Control Center 1:30 PM – New Monsoon 3:15 PM – Man Man 5:00 PM – G. Love & Special Sauce 7:00 PM – Broken Social Scene 9:00 PM – Ben Harper   Mediacom East Stage (free) 12:00 PM – Hanwell 12:45 PM – Beati Paoli 1:45 PM – Miss Derringer 2:45 PM – Audrye Sessions 3:45 PM – The Josh Davis Band 4:45 PM – Wild Sweet Orange 5:45 PM – Cleo’s Apartment 6:45 PM – Mr. Baber’s Neighbors 8:00 PM – Brother Ali Meredith West Stage (free) 12:00 PM – Anni Rossi 1:00 PM – Baby Teeth 2:00 PM – Paper Route 3:00 PM – Girl In A Coma 4:00 PM – Floodplane 5:15 PM – Cymbals Eat Guitars 6:15 PM – Margot & Nuclear So & Sos 7:15 PM – Maximilian Eubank 8:15 PM – The Envy Corps 9:00 PM – All Bugs 10:00 PM – Al Brown 11:00 PM – Flatform

Girl in a Coma rocked out to the intimate setting of 7th Street Entry last night. For those who aren't from around here, 7th St is just a hole in the wall to its bigger brother First Ave (where incidentally Matisyahu played the same night). I have seen many people who aren't from around Minneapolis get lost trying to find this door-in-the-wall.

Opening up for them was Miss Derringer (myspace), who was very excited to play Minneapolis (it was their first time here). The band is all dressed up in what looks like a cross between military confederates and rockabilly hooligans. Miss Derringer herself, Liz McGrath, is in a black dress that looks like she's just been to a funeral.

They started off their set with "Click Click (Bang Bang)", followed by mostly songs from their forth-coming album, Winter Hill (coming out July 14^th on Triple X Records). My favorite from their set is the go-go-esque "Black Tears", which sounded much better live. I also thought "Death by Desire" was really cute, the interaction between Morgan Slade and McGrath kind of clues you into their relationship (I am pretty sure they're married).

I liked them a lot. I think they have a great stage presence and I wouldn't mind writing more on them in the future.

Girl in a Coma ♥ 7th St Entry, Minneapolis (07/01/09) Girl in a Coma ♥ Tour Poster

As soon as GIAC came on stage, the audience quickly move to the center. The turnout was actually really good for a working Wednesday evening. Most of the audience were women, which I suppose doesn't surprise me as it's an all-girl band (and being on Joan Jett's label probably attributed to appealing to women).

I even overheard that some girls were at the show as a result of seeing them at the Rosedale Best Buy signing that they did earlier that day. That kind of promotion actually works, I suppose those girls just happened to be at the store and liked what they heard.

Anyway, what's interesting was that there was really no soundcheck. As soon as there was power on the mic, Nina Diaz, started guitar playing that distinctive rift from "BB" and started singing - which I think may have caught the soundguy off guard and killed the radio. So off they played with mostly new songs from Trio BC.

For "Say" (from Both Before I'm Gone) they dedicated the song to Miss Derringer. Banters like Nina pointing out that Jenn's single or Jenn said the obvious that Nina and Phanie were sisters, comes off as clumsy - but cute, because you know they have been doing this for a long time. I will bet you that they are three very close friends.

They ended their set with "Ven Cera", which sounded brilliant live.

GIAC are only half-way through their tour, be sure to check them out live if they come through your area. My GIAC discography is now complete as a resulting of stopping by the merch table! If you can't catch them live, you can always get their music via Black Heart Records.

PS: I may be off to see Girl in a Coma (along with a bunch of other artists) at 80/30 Music Festival in Des Moines, this weekend... which means, I may be off the grid - so don't expect to hear much from me after Thursday. I will be live-updating via twatter if that is the case. Also, it's very late as I write this and have misspelled Nina's name as Ninja several times.

FANFARLO
fanfarlo.com ♥ myspace.com/fanfarlo

This band shot straight up my priority list because you only have FOUR more days to get Fanfarlo's Reservoir album for $1 USD. And for your information, I did buy it for $1, via paypal and it was quick, painless, and easy, just the way I like it. The download for the fifteen tracks was quick and comes with the image of their album on the unrestricted MP3s (949 pixels). This is a pretty nice deal because there's actually four extra tracks that's not on the vinyl or CD.

The extra tracks are: "Kist of Whistles", "Hands (demo)", "Drowning Men (acoustic version)" and "Acoemeti". Even if you've already purchased their special edition of Reservoir, these four tracks are definitely worth $0.25 each surely?

Apparently the promotion is doing the group some good as they moved 500 copies of their album as "Record of the Week" from Rough Trade in the UK (in fact, it's completely sold out). As for a release date for the US, I thought I read it wasn't even schedule until September!

Fanfarlo's music reminds me of a trend in UK alt-folk movement of late. As far as I'm concern, we seem to get a lot of that type of music going around these days: Laura Marling, Jay Jay Pistolet, Kill It Kid, etc.

Anyway, I just wanted to quickly get this article up prior to the expiration date of July 4^th, so excuse the lack of detail on examining the album. What I can tell you is that it's folksy. There's clapping, there's clarinets, there's strings. The singing is wimpish, sensitive, and hey, he probably wears glasses. And you know what? Despite all that, it sounds alright!

The track that they seem to like is "Luna", but I didn't like it as much as "Fire Escape".

Reservoir will be the best $1 you've spent this summer. Go for it.

PS, the cover artwork is creepy.  It reminds me of A Tale of Two Sisters.

R.E.M.
remhq.com ♥ myspace.com/rem

I know I've already reviewed Reckoning: Deluxe Edition, but we finally got the actual product in house. So think of this as the packaging review.

I have long suggested to musicians that music fans like myself still prefer to actually own a physical product. Compared to the endless amount of jewel case albums, it's definitely worth it to make your CDs more attractive and unique. Case in point: those awesome 2-disc "Deluxe Packages". I've previously praised Deluxe Editions for that very reason.

To start off, the clear plastic sleeve are interchangeable with other Deluxe series. The liner notes unfolds to reveal a poster of the album artwork. On the reverse are credits, random "aged" photographs, and a long introduction written by Tony Fletcher. The Fletcher article basically sums up R.E.M.'s first few years up touring for Reckonining. It also document the craziness of how songs were basically thrown together. Recordings were produced in very short amount of time with the rhythm section (Mike Mills & Bill Berry) catching on quickly as a result of being marching band partners and understanding each other's works.

Basically songs were recorded because "either you got it, or you didn't.".

The article is also printed in tiny, tiny, font, and I suspect only hardcore R.E.M. fans will likely read it. Bring a magnifying glass.

As expected and predicted, the package is very similar to Murmur. See picture of that previous package. You can pick up Reckoning Deluxe Edition at most places, like Best Buy - but amazon has it cheapest ($17.99).

MISCELLANEOUS
news.weheartmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/weheartmusik

What's on my radar? Here's a few that we've recently receive - that looks interesting. I'm especially drawn to Italy's Father Murphy (I think of Peter Murphy for some reason!) and K Records' The Pine Hill Haints. I heart K (so does Kurt Cobain). They recently signed up on twitter and I followed them immediately.... even though as of this writing they haven't exactly "tweated".

Melissa McClelland - Victoria Day (April & May Showers) Melissa McClelland Tour Dates 07/17/09 Dawson City Music Festival 07/18/09 Dawson City Music Festival 07/19/09 Dawson City Music Festival 02/21/10 South America Cruise Ship 02/22/10 South America Cruise Ship 02/23/10 South America Cruise Ship 02/24/10 South America Cruise Ship 02/25/10 South America Cruise Ship 02/26/10 South America Cruise Ship Discography [2004] Stranded in Suburbia [2006] Thumbelina's One Night Stand [2009] Victoria Day See Also Sarah McLachlan http://weheartmus... I bought Sarah McLachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Legacy Edition for $8. This is not a bad deal...

I sure love the Eagles' song "Hotel California". It's one of those long song that tells the story of a man driving through the Californian deserted road and finding himself checking into a strange hotel. The song soon turn into a nightmarish horror film, where "you can check in anytime, but you can never leave".

What's kind of interesting was that the Eagles formed out of basically being session musicians for Linda Ronstadt. They played backup to Ronstadt and on her self-titled 1972 album. I suppose the band knew a good thing when they saw one and recorded their own songs that same year. By the time 1976 rolled around, they clearly had a certified hit with the album and title track "Hotel California".

Of course, by the time I was listening to Eagles on "oldies" radio station, they had already broken up. Don Henley was going strong on his solo albums, particularly with his third, The End of the Innocence, in the late 80s/early 90s. Incidentally, I did pick up the album on the strength of strong singles "New York Minute", "The Heart of the Matter", and "The End of the Innocence", via the now-defunct BMG club.

I was happy to find that Don Henley just released a special greatest hits album called The Very Best of Don Henley (released on June 16^th on Geffen Records/Universal). Fans who waited a week will want to get the deluxe CD with DVD for a few extra dollars (totally worth it).

Although the track listing is pretty similar to his earlier greatest hits album, Actual Miles (in fact, the first 10 songs are exactly the same order), what set The Very Best of Don Henley apart is that all the tracks have been remastered. And trust me, "The Boys of Summer" and "Dirty Laundry" will never sound better than this. You can clearly hear every beat and sound effects of the 80s music technology!

Nearly 10 years have passed since Henley's last album, Inside Job, three if you count Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden (a six-year project!), so it's really nice to hear some of Henley's best songs collected in one CD. Relive your childhood hits of the 80s and 90s. For the (newer) generation that's not familiar with Henley or Eagles, it's an attractive starter compilation.

As for the DVD, besides from the six music videos ("The Boys of Summer", "All She Wants to Do is Dance", "The Last Worthless Evening", "The Heart of the Matter", "Everything is Different Now", and "For My Wedding"), there are four bonus "DVD audio". I find these dvd audio to be kind of useless for the average consumer, because we normally don't listen to audio on the DVD player. But for the music collector, it's actually nice that they were able to squeeze on some of the lesser-known songs like "Love Rules" and "Through Your Hands".

The music videos are great, but sometime are too artsy and it comes off as rolling-my-eyes cheesy.   I was disappointed to not see "The End of the Innocence" video,  I suppose "Heart of the Matter" made up for it, as it came from the same era. Still, I was very happy to revisit some of these classic videos that I haven't honestly seen these in nearly 20 years. Thank you Geffen Records for making my weekend.

Currently, Henley is playing some stadium dates through Europe with the Eagles. Hell is still frozen, I guess.

A little backlog seems to be building up in my earpod recently... but now it is time... to spread some love. The love i'm spreading today is for a group of english boys and one of Sydney's favourite ladies.

Favours For Sailors

It's definitely not your poncey indiepop, which is kinda of odd, because when i imagine giving favours to sailors..... no Sally, don't go there.

Not arriving on my radar until recently, it seems again, I am one of the last to know. According to their MySpace page, Favours For Sailors are attracting quite a lot of the right sort of attention from a number of notable British radio personalities (Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq) and magazines (Uncut and Clash). What I have here is a delightful set of songs from a particular radio session.... of unknown date or relevance, but anyway..... all the same they're a set of songs with well rounded sounds, ripe for a sing along and a little jig session. Profound lyrics? No, not really. But still, very catchy indeed. I Dreamt That You Dreamt That I Loved You In My Dreams .... good to hear everyone has odd dreams occasionally.

So who are they? The word is Favours For Sailors are a group of four, four boys, four English boys, some from Cornwall, some from London. Meeting somehow, somewhere and there you have it. A band is born. One point I've read that gets me more interested is that Scottish band Dananananaykroyd (another band to belatedly hit my radar) handpicked Favours For Sailors to tour with them on the southern leg of their recent tour. Rumour has it that the boys are currently recording the follow up to their debut mini album ‘Furious Sons’.

If you head back over to their MySpace page, you'll notice a few live dates coming up. It might be an idea that eyes and ears are kept peeled for word on these guys because, in my opinion, we'll be hearing more from Favours From Sailors at some point in the near future.

Sarah Blasko

A lovely young lady with an amazing voice, based in Sydney, well worth a listen or three. I wont spend a lot of time talking up Miss Blasko, I'll save that for another time. What I have to share with you now however, is a little listening treat. If you click here you will be transported to a place where you can get.... FOR FREE.... a track, No Turning Back , off the new album by the lovely Sarah Blasko. I wont say much. Just listen.

Also, if you'd like to hear more (and quite a few live shows coming up to keep track of), this is where you need to go: http://www.myspace.com/sarahblasko
 

Until next time.

Sally
sally@weheartmusic.com

Summer Cats – Songs for Tuesdays

Unless you are on a whirlwind vacation or the hero of a highly unlikely action movie, chances are, your summer is not exactly a hotbed of excitement. Along with the crappy summer job or required class at the local community college, there is the heightened chance of dying of heat stroke. Not very cinematic. Thankfully, most of the time, all you need to lift your spirits is the perfect summer soundtrack, and Summer Cats’ debut LP, Songs for Tuesdays, is just that.

Right from the start, with full-throttle opener, “Let’s Go,” you get the general feel of the album: relentlessly catchy, cheerful pop. But unlike a lot of today’s indie pop, the guitars are trenchant enough to hold their own against the sugary melodies and sing-along choruses. Not to mention there is nary a glockenspiel heard throughout the album, which is a rare thing among pop bands these days.

It’s worth noting that they managed to put together a sunny pop album without it being oversaturated with cuteness. Even a twee glutton like me can get sick of cutesy girl-boy harmonies after a while, but the lyrics have just the right amount of neurosis to keep things amusing. Songs like “In June” and “Wild Rice” are a bit more low key, but they provide the perfect balance of melancholy and sweet that bring to mind the Field Mice and the Lucksmiths at their catchiest.

Striking up contrasts is the key to keeping an indie pop album interesting, and Summer Cats do it remarkably well by infusing their infectious melodies with musings on heartbreak and rejection. It’s an age-old formula, but they do it with a sharp sense of humor. On one of the album’s many sadsack anthems, singer Hugh Owen begs his girl to “chuck [him] in the ‘maybe’ pile,” a concession that is sure to ring true for a legion of dejected pop fans. But all the gloominess is skillfully handled in a tongue-in-cheek manner, as seen in tracks like “Lonely Planet,” where “I love you” is sung in eight different languages, only to be followed with the chorus, “eight different ways which you won’t say to me.” It may be harsh, but it’s the kind of sentiment best served with a side of jangly guitars and ample ooh la la’s.

With its adherence to grim reality and undeniably catchiness, Songs for Tuesday is a fitting soundtrack for anyone stuck with a lackluster summer, one that is completely devoid of big explosions or robot uprisings. It may not have the expected subject matter one would expect from a fun summer album, but it still offers plenty of entertainment, all the while keeping your IQ level perfectly intact.

Please visit our website for more information, podcast.weheartmusic.com, subscribe to our show at gcast.com (RSS).

Again, I know these are long overdue. These were recordings from SXSW.

Again: I'm not very happy with the audio quality, I was recording it using a built-in mic on the recorder. On retrospect, I should've bought along a professional mic and plug it into the input. So apology for the poor audio once again.

THE ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOUR
theasteroidsgalaxytour.com ♥ myspace.com

I talked to: Lars Iversen

Again, lots of background noise. We moved to a quieter area in the interview.

Lars had never played "Tap Tap Revenge 2", so I had him play on his own song: "Around the Bend".

The band is still doing quite well in the UK, currently touring. They seem really excited to support Katy Perry for their show in Luxembourg.

07/04/09 Eurockeennes De Belfort Belfort, FR
07/05/09 Metropolis Festival Rotterdam, NL
07/06/09 Rockhal  Luxembourg
07/11/09 Terres Du Son Festival Monts
07/16/09 Dour Festival Dour
07/17/09 Montreux Jazz Festival Montreux
07/18/09 Latitude Festival Henham Park, Southwold
07/24/09 Secret Garden Party Huntingdon, East
07/25/09 Les 3 Elephants Festival Laval
07/29/09 Cabaret Vert Festival Charleville-Mézières

HONEY CLAWS
honeyclaws.com ♥ myspace.com/honeyclawsmusic

On the interview: Thomas Sahs and Jon Von Letscher

Download the original interview last year.

This year, the interview was conducted in a car, listening to their EP, Healer. At one point Tom got distracted by "the twins".

Their song of choice, "Beat Of The Wet Eve", is about being in Costa Rica. Tom showed me his stingray bite and oooh it was nasty.

I try to make it to their show that night, but the (tiny) venue was packed full of people. It looked pretty awesome and everyone was having a great time.

Currently, it looks like Jon is in Sweden.

It's that time of year again... Glastonbury! Unless they've already been done, I might get some Ting Tings up, but for now I'm gonna complain about the Glasto organizer's plug pulling on N*E*R*D's set. I mean geez, 25 minutes late? That's two hours early compared to any gigs I've been to. It's not like the whole thing ain't gonna run late anyway, is it? Just get Lilly Allen and Lady Gaga to stop flashing their bits and changing costumes and you'll free up 25 minutes easy. But alas, two thirds through their set and N*E*R*D, having arrived just a little late for their slot, had their lead vocals cut and that was that, only the BBC highlights remain.

Even if you've not heard of N*E*R*D (that's "No one Ever Really Dies"), you'll likely know of founding member R&B producer Pharrell Williams. N*E*R*D are a collaborative effor between Pharell, Chad Hugo, Shay Haley and whoever they manage to drag in to band duties, and are pretty much the only band I've ever known to try and combine R&B style lyrics in to Hip-Hop / Rock tunes whilst trying to pass themselves off as an Indie / Rock band in the likes of metal mag Kerrang!. If it was anyone other than Pharell, I'm sure it'd crash and burn, and they've deffinately got their fair share of critics (especially for the lyrics), but the result is at least one extremely catchy album - Fly or Die - from which I've included the track Breakout but you really should check out the rest if you've not already.

- Chris"f*ck glas"topher

I've been listening to The Gossip since I heard "Dressed in Black" from their self-titled original EP on a compilation my friend Celeste made for me (she felt she owed me for a Sleeper b-side compilation I made for her a while back). There was a few I liked right away, like ESG's "Dance", Anna Oxygen, and, of course, The Gossip's "Dressed in Black" and "Red Hott".

I got a hold of their debut album, That's Not What I Heard, from one of my favorite label, Kill Rock Stars, a few years later... by that time they had dropped the "the" part of their name and became simply Gossip, starting with their 2002 EP Arkansas Heat.

Ever since I discovered Britpop, I have been keeping an eye on UK pop music, and I can tell you that Gossip is huge in the UK. This was quite evident with their last album, Standing in the Way of Control, which had a huge buzz overseas, where their song, "Standing in the Way of Control", became the theme song of the British show Skins. The album instantly hit #1 on the UK Indie Charts.

With mass appeal,especially in the UK, the band recently signed with major label Sony Music (under the Music With a Twist umbrella). Their major debut is called Music for Men and it was released last Tuesday on CD and digital in the UK. As for the US, you can legally purchase the album last Tuesday - but the physical CD won't be available in the US until October 6^th on Columbia Records. I am assuming around that time, you'll get to see the band on their promotional tour dates. As of this writing, there is one sole New York date.

So what is it about this three piece from Olympia, Washington, that's so appealing? I will ask you: what's not to love?

First off, their lead singer, Beth Ditto, is unabashedly lesbian, proud of her weight, and unapologetically outspoken. To be honest, none of that really matters to me, because I just enjoy hearing her vocals.

Second, backed with bassist (but will occasionally play guitars), Brace Paine, and drummer, Hannah Blilie, their songs comes off as raw, but always with a jerky dance groove.

Compared to Gossip's earlier work (especially on their first few EPs), they have gone from a sort of rockabilly soul to simply disco soul. I also felt Music for Men to be very polished and each sound can be heard loud and clear. This is possibly due to that the majority of the album was written and recorded at the Shangri-La studio in Malibu, a first-class studio that Ditto admitted "the first time we ever had access to a studio like that".

I think it's a great direction for the band, because it gives us the opportunity to hear more of Ditto's soulful pipes and hear every bass and drum beat. Also, I felt that the disco/synth plays a more important role in Music for Men, compared to their earlier works.

Some stand-out tracks is the love song "Love and Let Love" (I just really love hearing "It's a long way until February") and "2012". I don't know if you knew about the end of the world, but according to the Mayans, they seem to think it ends on December 21^st, 2012. This will shed some light on Gossip's song "2012", which sings and dance and celebrate as if the year is 2012.

I don't know what the Gossip's next single will be, but I would guess it would be something poptastic and easy as "Pop Goes The World" since "Heavy Cross" was released as the lead-single for the album.

If you're in the UK, you're in luck as the album is available to buy right now and that, also, they're doing all the major festivals. For US fans, just wait a little bit longer - or if you're impatience, the MP3s are available on iTunes and amazon (both stores sells the full album for $8).