922 posts tagged “vu”

Parking in the college area known as "Dinkytown" in Minneapolis can be kind of hard, especially when the meters on 4^th Street runs until 10pm. I didn't mind walking a few blocks to the beautiful Varsity Theater as the weather was nothing less than perfect that Friday evening.

Opening up for Har Mar Superstar are three very different genre and acts. Starting with Koo Koo Kangeroo (official / myspace), whose music styling is that of hip hop - for toddlers. Their songs are dead simple, like "AOA" (sample lyrics: "aye oh aye oh aye") and "Cheh Cheh Chi" and "LMNOP", but they're catchy and easy to sing along. The highlight of their set was when they threw down a white tarp-like covering and the audience was dancing under it like a party fort.

Wow, Bang Bang Eche (myspace) are young. Someone told me that they're about 18 years old, but they certainly look much younger. Their music is very punk high-energy and reminds me a bit of Arctic Monkeys influenced. My easily favorite song from their set is "Fist Full of Dollars", perhaps a reference to Sergio Leone classic film? They ended their setlist with "Die Hippy Scum". Oh, also, it's worth noting that bassist T'Nealle sported a three keyboard cat moon t-shirt. Adorable.

The odd group on the bill was two-person group, Lookbook (myspace). The band is basically guitarist Grant Cutler, who plays guitars and handles the pre-recordings, with vocalist Maggie Morrison. Their music sounds like 80s pop, not exactly the "body-moving" type of music that you'd think Har Mar's audience would demand. Not really much to say, except I think Maggie looks really cute and I will be talking about them in further detail on my "book"-theme news on Sunday.

Har Mar Superstar ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (11/06/09)

Compared to the last time I saw Har Mar Superstar, which was basically a man and his undies and boombox - he now has a full band, all dressed in white with a red cross on the back. Also, the last time I saw him, he basically stripped down after the first few songs - this time, he started off very heavily dressed with an African cover, hat, etc.

After the first song, he took off his hat. After "DUI", he took off the overall to reveal a Prince "Purple Rain" shirt. He kept taking off articles of clothing as the night went on. From "EZ Pass", to "Girls Only", to "Creative Juices"... the audience was loving it all.

Har Mar and Melinda Park singing "Powerline"

By the time "Brothers & Sisters" was played, he inevitably took off his shirt. The pants disappeared with "Apple Sauce", followed by "Turn it Around". The finale song was "Tall Boy", which Zach, from Bang Bang, and some woman called Melinda Park (or was it Mindy Park?) joined on stage to help sing the song. Park would later turn up again to help sing one of the encore, "Powerline".

The very last song, Har Mar sang an a cappella version of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday". He would pretend the song ended and everyone would clap... only he would continue to sing the refrain. After the third false ending and after he said "goodnight", he came back and sang some more.

Har Mar's latest album is Dark Touches, available from Dilettante Recordings. Read Andrew's review of the album, pick up a copy at amazon

I arrived at the 400 Bar sometime after the doors opened, and the place was pretty dead. I thought there would only be a handful of people out that night, but thankfully as the night got longer, the place filled up.

Brazos ♥ 400 Bar, Minneapolis (11/04/09)

Brazos (official / myspace) warmed up the crowd around nine. What I liked about them is that they have a lot of lyrics in their song. The highlight of their set is the Adrienne Rich poem turned into song. I didn't recall the title, but I'm sure it had "Africa" in the lyrics.

Personally, I thought the best song on their setlist is "Feeding Frenzy", featuring these lyrics "We're interlocking, we're interlocking. It's a bitter conflict, this staring contest."

White Denim ♥ 400 Bar, Minneapolis (11/04/09)

In contrast to the lyrics-thing, White Denim are more like crazy pyschedelic, garagey, experimental rock 'n roll - with minimal lyrics. Whatever singer James Petralli spouted out, it didn't matter because you were so in awe of his amazing guitar-playing ability. You can just tell the guy is a rock god, the way his fingers frantically moved up and down the neck of the guitar.

I reckon these Austin lads don't care so much to slow down or stop, so all their songs are medleys - one song flow into the next, and pretty soon about six songs have passed before they have to take a breather.

If you like your music loud, loud, and loud, White Denim is the band for you. Be sure to bring earplugs.

White Denim's latest album is called Fits and is available now at their record label, Downtown Music, or amazon.

Patience Hodgson, from the Grates, tells me for Halloween, she dressed up as a cowgirl. She went into a store and saw a guy working there, all decked out in a cowboy outfit. She complimented how great his costume was, only to realized that it was how he's normally dressed. That's Texas for you.

That's the kind of weird stories you hear from her, even on stage, they're referencing strange things like trying to hi-fi-ing the "fat guy with the beret" or asking if there were any vikings in the audience. But before I get to all those crazy details from the 7th Street Entry last night - opening up for them was Zoo Animal (official / myspace). I had seen singer Holly Newsom before, but as a soloist. This time, she's doing Zoo Animal songs, not just her solo material.

Holly made some jokes, like how 'grate' the Grates should be to noticing that They Might Be Giants were playing next door and how "we might be miniatures". Most of the audience that showed up early, I think showed up because of Zoo Animal and possibly Ice Palace.

Unfortunately, at the last minute, Ice Palace canceled (I am told the singer was sick), they were replaced by Story of the Sea (official / myspace). Bassist John admitted that they only had a five hours notice. Despite the feedback and false starts, I thought they held up pretty well all things considering.

I will say that they seem older, for the kind of crowd that was there last night. Their music sounds like classic progressive rock. I don't know any of their songs, but I did like the song that had something to do with eyes and being gone. 

The Grates came on with full energy with their often-intro song "Trampoline". Yes, Patience does do that weird rabbit hopping dance, as seen on their Til Death Do Us Party: Live At The Forum DVD. Patience is now a blonde, dressed in a gymnastic outfit.... making her look even more child-like than ever. Which may sound quite weird to hear her talk about wanting a baby of her own (I thought to myself, well there's always cloning...)

Other things I learned from Patience: if you eat enough of your hair, you'll have to take a pill to poop out the hair. Hence "hair butt". Fist-bumping, she tells us is called "boning". She likes to climb onto things, or jump into the audience and singing... while using a twirling baton. Fun to watch, but they also require audience interaction.

"It was this big!"

I thought the highlight of their set was either "Howl" or "19-20-20". I'm not that familar with their new material, but I did recognize their single, "Burn Bridges", from the setlist.

If you are looking for a good time or see cuteness in action, check out Brisbane's export, The Grates touring through your area. They are quite approachable, so please have a friendly chat with them after the show. Their lastest album is called Teeth Lost, Hearts Won, which if you get it on vinyl, will come with a bonus CD. I might also suggest checking out their debut album, which four singles from that album made it onto Triple J Hottest 100. I'm sure Sally will keep us informed of the 2010's Hottest 100.

The Grates - Trampoline

 11/04/2009 04:57:32 ♥ vu () ♥ thegrates.com ♥ myspace.com/thegrates 

You must think it's so great to review music, even as a hobby. That is until you realize that I've been listening to nonstop Christmas music ... in October!! Most of the smarter record labels are releasing their Seasonal music of or prior to that American tradition known as "Black Friday".

What we have in store for you are three very special Christmas albums that's already released or coming out soon-ish.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Is Zat You Santa Claus Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Read More Putumayo World Music http://weheartmus... Putumayo World Music was established to introduce people to the music of the world's cultures. Th...

Putumayo Presents: A Family Christmas
putumayo.com

Putumayo's Christmas album came out at the end of October, and features eleven tracks of very well-known Seasonal songs, including "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman". The emphasis seems to be on "family", as these are all very cheery and traditional-sounding. Which should also translate to boring/age-old songs, but this being from the folks at Putumayo, is nothing but predictable.

Starting with appetizers, Johnny Bregar's banjo-like strumming and snapping to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". We move to some smooth drink with a jazzy "Holly Jolly Christmas" by Martin Sexton.

The main dish for me is a swingy big band "Is Zat You Santa Claus?" by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Now, I've heard of these guys when "Swing was the thing" movement, but I had no idea they were so good. Based on this Christmas song, I can see why the band was honored to play the half-time at Super Bowl in 1999.

My other favorite off the album is the Hawaiian Christmas song, "Mele Kalikimaka", as a duet between Debbie Davies & Matt Perrine. The song sounds very retro to me, like something you'd hear in the 1950s by The Andrews Sisters, especially because I have visions of Ukulele and Hulu hoops, as I'm drinking my Kauai Cocktail.

The rest of the album seems very snacky, especially with the acoustic version of "Winter Wonderland" by Deana Carter. This works because of Carter's sweet voice. The other girl-singer Kate Rusby, who brought an international flavor to "Here We Come A-Wassailing", you can tell with her English accent.

The album comes to a close with a dance-for-all jamboree "Frosty the Snowman" by Lars Edegran and his Santa Claus Revelers. This instrumental sounds very New Orleans to me, a bit of jazz and wild swing that grooves you to dance out of the restaurant.

As usual, with all Putumayo's releases, this release comes with a handsome packaging with large lyric book (two pages of biography is devoted to each artist, written in English, French, and Spanish). If you're not convinced, you can hear three more songs at putumayo.com with the option of downloading a free song from there.

Tour Dates 12/05/09 Vaughan’s New Orleans, LA 12/07/09 Blue Nile New Orleans, LA 12/10/09 Bullet’s New Orleans, LA 12/12/09 Vaughan’s New Orleans, LA 12/17/09 Bullet’s New Orleans, LA 12/19/09 Vaughan’s New Orleans, LA 12/21/09 Balcony New Orleans, LA 12/24/09 Bullet’s New Orleans, LA 12/26/09 Vaughan’s New Orleans, LA 12/27/09 Blue Nile New Orleans, LA 12/28/09 Balcony New Orleans, LA Read More JAZZ NOTE #6 KICK BACK & RELAX http://weheartmus... What I like about jazz is how multi-dimensional it can be. From Dixieland, Big Band to a small t...

Kermit Ruffins
myspace.com/kermitruffinsmusic

Speaking of New Orleans and jazz and Putumayo alumni, Kermit Ruffins has a Christmas album coming out on November 10^th called Have Yourself a Crazy Cool Christmas.

As expected, this is an album of Christmas standards, but with a jazzy twist. Lots of trumpets and piano-playing on the album. Ruffins does some scatting "What Will Santa Say When He Finds Everybody Swingin’", which you can clearly hear some Louis Armstrong-influences.

While I say these are standards, these songs often have change in either musical shifts or lyrics have been changed or sung in a very different way. I noticed that "swing" replaces a few words, like in "Santa Claus is swinging into town". Also, as with most jazz improvisation, the music often become its own entity, usually stretching out the songs into five or six minutes, when traditionally they're two or three minute songs. For instance, "Little Drummer Boy" is now a sad New Orleans-style six minute epic song.

My favorite on the album is the duet "Baby It's Cold Outside". My review copy does not include liner notes, so I do not know who the part of the woman is sung by. Anyway, it's not as cheesy as the Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews version, but it's still pretty funny whenever I hear this song about a couple fighting and the guy is locked outside his home. Ruffins' humor can be found on his title track, "Have Yourself a Crazy Cool Christmas" where he warns people to have a crazy cool Christmas, but "don't get knocked up!"

If you want to hear Christmas songs in a jazzy style, you do need to check out Kermit Ruffins' Have Yourself a Crazy Cool Christmas. The album will be available next week on Basin Street Records.

Tour Dates 12/12/09 Regent Theatre Melbourne 12/13/09 Regent Theatre Melbourne 12/15/09 Canberra Theatre Canberra 12/16/09 Opera House Sydney 12/17/09 Opera House Sydney 12/19/09 Thebarton Theatre Adelaide 12/21/09 PCEC Riverside Perth 12/24/09 QPAC Concert Brisbane Read More Tori Amos http://weheartmus... Tori Amos is a pianist and singer-songwriter. She is married to English sound engineer Mark Hawle...

Tori Amos
toriamos.com ♥ myspace.com/toriamos

On a similar note, Tori Amos' Christmas album is a reworking of classic Seasonal songs. While it's easy to dismiss these Christamosed song, I think she's doing a fantastic job on changing your expectations of these songs. If you have ever heard any Tori Amos cover songs, you'll notice that she always transforms the original song into something completely new and different. And that's exactly what she's doing on Midwinter Graces.

While some of the more popular and traditional songs, "What Child Is This?" (retitled as "What Child, Nowell"), "Emmanuel", and "We Three Kings" (retitled as "Star of Wonder"), are reimagined, I think there might actually be some original Tori songs such as "Pink and Glitter" and "Our New Year".

What else is new is that she has a full orchestra behind her on this album. You can clearly hear all the sweeping arrangements on all the songs, in particular "Harps of Gold". In contrast, my favorite is "Snow Angel", a quieter song with lots of violins and pianos.

If you're a Tori fan, there's something to like here: a bit of traditional with a bit of modern... but clearly a Tori Amos product. I've stressed before that Abnormally Attracted to Sins will only appeal to Tori Amos fans, with Midwinter Graces, I feel people outside of the Amos circle will like and understand. I mean, who doesn't like Christmas music?

Midwinter Graces is available next week on Universal Republic. You can pre-order the CD/DVD combo on amazon. Unfortunately, my review copy does not include the DVD portion, but I'm sure it's the usual interview and/or music video.

To understand The Slits, we have to take a look at their history. I mean, I have even heard about the Slits about the same time the Riot Grrrls thing started up in the early 90s, and by that time they had already split up. You see, back then, we didn't have the internet, most of the stories and mythology were read in letters and fanzines. Fanzines were important to indie music, because the major publications did not focus into these small niche.

The Slits shocked me when it was announced for their 30^th anniversary forming the band, that they had reformed. I believe only two of the original band members (Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt) makes up the new formation, but this is pretty common as far as reformed bands are concerned (see Guns n Roses, for example).

Most new "girl" band fans should pick up their debut 1979 album, Cut, as sort of a companion to their latest 2009 release Trapped Animal. Despite being thirty years apart, they sound complementary to each other. In some ways, my theory is that Animal is the direct sequel to Cut.

If words like raw, primal, tribal, experimental, doesn't appeal to you, then you probably won't like their music. While I do not generally like the pots & pans music that's so popular today, I do think The Slits are slightly better than most of the modern stuff. They've been doing it for ages, and, unlike modern music, they actually sing and sometime even have catchy melodies.

The other thing The Slits have going for them is that they're always tackling political and human right issues. "Issues" deals with child abuse, while "Ask Ma" deals about women rights. These kind of "freedom"/equality topics are generally associated with reggae music, and there are a few songs, "Babylon", & "Reggae Gypsy", on the new album that sounds a bit like reggae. Although, to be fair, The Slits have always been known to fuse a bit of reggae rhythms and angry female vocals.

My favorite song is "Cry Baby", which sounds more like a 60s girl group pop song than the usual Slits style. And speaking of not in their style, "Be It", sounds like they're singing in Japanese? It's brilliant, even though I have absolutely no idea what they're singing about. They are so different that if these songs randomly comes on the radio, you'd never guess it was the Slits, and I think that's saying something about their diversity and flexibility in the type of music they produce.

So find out why Le Tigre name checked The Slits, among others, in their song "Hot Topic". It's because The Slits are, and is, one of the most influencial and important band. Their latest album is Trapped Animal and available at all online stores. Old fans will welcome the new songs, while new fans will be in for a treat with Trapped Animal.

Happy Halloween! I don't actually have a whole lot of time to devote to this article, unlike last year's Halloween Spooktacular. As I was looking around for inspiration and scary ideas to write about, I was sent "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" by Chico Fellini (official / myspace).

I was a teenage werewolf, braces on my fangs!

The song is a cover of the classic Cramps (myspace) 1980 song from their album, Songs The Lord Taught Us. As with the original and the cover, they both feature that distinctive guitar riff and, er, campy and moody vocals. I'm not sure what the deal is with the Chico Fellini cover, but there's about 45 seconds of "extra" jewelery box music at the end. I only ask because I had to boost up my volume to catch it.

If you love the Cramps, it might be worth your while to try and track download the bootleg called Songs The Lord Might Have Taught Us, which features an alternate mix of "I Was a Teenage Werewolf". I believe it might actually be the "Original Mix" found as bonus CD tracks on reissues, minus the Lux Interior's blowup at the false start.

Anyway, what the song is ultimately about is "growing pains" of a teenage werewolf, and I'm assuming describes the 50s film (having never seen it myself). The 50s horror film of the same name, starring a young Michael Landon, of Little House on the Prairie fame was so successful that it inspired other films such as "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein", "I was a Teenage Mummy", "I Was a Teenage Serial Killer", and "I Was a Teenage Intellectual", etc.

The Remus Lupins - I Was a Teenage Werewolf

What's not a cover song is "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" by The Remus Lupins (myspace). Fans of Harry Potter should have already known about this Wizard Rock group, and if you've never heard of Wizard Rock, then my friend, you are not a Potter fan. I'm not a fan, but I think I've mentioned before that I've come to the conclusion that the teacher Remus Lupin is a werewolf in the book series. The band's name is taken from the teacher's name.

As a bonus, here's also the most famous Wizard Rock band, Harry and the Potters (official / myspace) with their song "My Teacher is a Werewolf". In fact, here's even more Werewolfy songs from previous year's entries.

Harry and the Potters - My Teacher is a Werewolf 1 comment	The Browns - American Werewolf in Calgary	Cocorosie - Werewolf	Scary Bitches - Werewolf	Southern Culture On The Skids - Werewolf
Michael Shields - Ginger Snaps Theme	Warren Zevon - Werewolves of London 3 comments	Running Wild - Prowling Werewolf 1 comment	London - Werewolves In London	Cat Power - Werewolf 7 comments
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - She Said 2 comments	La Union - Lobo Hombre En Paris 1 comment	the Dillinger Escape Plan - Sunshine the Werewolf	The Born Losers - Werewolves on Wheels	Metallica - Of Wolf and Man

The Cedar Cultural Center is like the NPR of the venues around Minneapolis. The venue is usually a sit-down (removable fold-out chairs) venue that seems to be catered to World Music, jazz, and acoustic/folky bands. That's exactly the atmosphere last night, when Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, stopped by on their on-going tour.

The Cedar is notorious for keeping its schedule, so starting at 7:30pm sharp, was David Shultz and the Skyline (myspace) a pretty mild singer/songwriter that did end with a strong finish when Get Down Stay Down's Adam Thompson and Willis Thompson joined him on stage.

The Portland Cello Project, aka PCP, (official / myspace) are an interesting band. They consists of five cellists, who, as told by ringleader Douglas Jenkins, started around the Portland area between classically trained musicians. Lots of highlights, the Pantera cover, "Mouth For War", the Halo theme song, and the Elliott Smith cover. You can tell they like Smith, having stated that he passed away six years and two weeks.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down was eager to get on stage. Lots of foot-tapping and lots of hand-clapping. Thao admitted that this was only the second-ever sit-down venue they played. That the other one, it was a Christian college, and they weren't allowed to dance. "It was the Footloose town!," she laughed.

Since that story, the audience seemed to warmed up and pretty soon everyone stood up. This is weird, considering that I don't think I've ever seen the venue with people standing up.

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down ♥ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (10/27/09).

Highlight of the show for me was them doing earlier songs, like "Feet Asleep" with David Shultz and Douglas Jenkins joining on stage to help out. In fact, throughout the show, various other band members joined on stage to play. As you can see on the setlist list, they ended with "Easy" and their encore was "The Give" and "Fear and Convenience". What's not on their setlist is "Violet" and a goofy Salt N Pepa's "Push It" cover.

Thao Nguyen with the Get Down Stay Down are currently on tour. Their latest album, Know Better Learn Faster is out now. For a free download song, "Know Better Learn Faster", head over to their record label, Kill Rock Stars.

As usual, check with news.weheartmusic.com for even more news and announcements.

RAKES BREAKS
www.therakes.co.uk

I got a note from the Astralwerks band Free Energy saying that some of their shows were canceled due to the fact that the Rakes broke up. That was a bit of a shocker, considering that I thought the Rakes, along with Bloc Party, were a really successful band with top 40 singles.

Here is an excerpt from the statement from the band, dated October 22^nd:

The Rakes have always been very adamant and proud of the fact that we give 100% to every gig we’ve ever played. If we can’t give it everything then we won’t do it. That was the rule we set ourselves from day one. After much deliberation we have come to the shared conclusion that we can’t give it 100% anymore and regret to announce that The Rakes are calling it a day.

A total of 10 dates were canceled by Free Energy, but here is the new dates (note: Minneapolis is canceled):

FREE ENERGY TOUR DATES:
10/24: London, UK @ Cargo (DFA Night)
10/26: London, UK @ Barfly
10/27: London, UK @ Rough Trade Records (Hoxton) In-Store
(Early Show)/Waterats (Late Show)
10/28: London, UK @ Windmill
11/11: Boston, MA @ Great Scott
11/19: Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
11/20: Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
11/21: Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
11/22: Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11/23: Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
11/24: Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
11/25: Washington, DC @ DC9, set TBA
11/27: Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
11/28: New York, NY @ Santos Party House

IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU
lilyallenmusic.com

Speaking of splitting, Lily Allen will be splitting from her record label, EMI. Allen, who recently had that insert-mouth-in-foot moment when she had nothing but disdain her fans for sharing her music, is to set up her own record label. She's currently has no plans on touring or promoting her latest album, It's Not Me, It's You and have pretty much abandoned being on the internet.

Quote:

I've thrown away my laptop and I haven't got a Blackberry. I've cut myself off and it's been brilliant so far.

Ironic since her career started because of her fame on myspace.

MIS-SHAPES, MISTAKES, MISQUOTES (or alternate title, EVEN FURTHER COMPLICATIONS)
jarviscocker.net

Not breaking up, Jarvis Cocker was recently quoted by People Magazine as having said:

Glastonbury means an awful lot to me, I would love to play there again. We've talked about it, there we go, there'll be a band reunion.

That sparked a slew of rumors that Pulp were reforming for Glasto 2010.

Unfortunately, as quick as the rumor started, it was also swiftly put to an end when Jarvis came out to say that "Pulp have no plans to get back together".

Someone asked me if I fancied playing at the 40th anniversary of Glastonbury, I said yes, they twisted that into a 'Pulp reform' story. It's not true.

THE LAST TEN SECONDS OF LIFE
www.itsmorrisseyworld.com

Speaking of further complications: It's widely reported that Morrissey collapse on the floor on the opening song, "This Charming Man" at Oasis Leisure Centre, due to breathing difficulties.

Although, NME said Morrissey to resume tour in London following onstage collapse, I suspect there will be even more cancellations in the future. Morrissey's has always been notorious for cancelling shows, due to illness and/or unexplained circumstances. I have seen Morrissey live before, but my original ticket to see him in somewhen 1994 was dashed when he canceled that show in Los Angeles. I believe we ponied up $75 per ticket (that was like a billion dollars back then).

Of course, none of this compare to the fan outage of Denny offering free burgers to fans who bought tickets to see Morrissey. Morrissey, as you know, is famous for being an advocator of vegetarianism.

Inspired by the 2003 documentary "Afro-Punk", the website of the same name, Afropunk.com, brings together all kind of culture and lifestyle. That company is also behind a series of tour dates with headliner Saul Williams, with a special guests joining on and off tour (I did notice that one of the original black-in-rock Living Colour will be joining on for a few dates!)

Afro-Punk is necessary about punks, it seems to also inherited punk attributes, such as its attitude and DIY mentality. So what we all witness last night was basically a very interesting mix of music genre, art, and lifestyle, in one show. One thing for sure is that all the acts on the bill is high-energy and, you can tell, in love with music.

The whole tour is being sponsored by Converse shoes and Bud Light (which was a bit ironic since the majority of the audience seems to be underage the legal drinking age). Throughout the night, MC Tchaka Diall (myspace) kept us entertained by throwing out T-Shirts and introductions.

Kicking it all off was Dearling Physique (official / myspace). Having already seen the band a few times already, I can already expect a funky outfit and even funkier dance moves. Well, in addition to those things, singer Dominique Davis also brought props on stage! Peacock feathers and a birdmask, that looks like it was from the imagination of Grant Morrison.

No Bird Sing (official / myspace) seems to me to be from the same school as Atmosphere and Eyedea & Abilities. I thought they were very good, especially on their last song of the set, "Ars Poetica".

The most punkish sounding band on the bill was American Fangs (official / myspace). Lots of movement and high energy, definitely a great band to see live. Don't believe me? Check out their song "My 2 Richards" at Vimeo. Their debut EP is $5 at, which the touring people claimed is "your new favorite EP".

CX Kidtonik & Tchaka Diallo (myspace) basically warmed up the audience with two or three songs before Saul Williams (official / myspace) joined them on stage with the rest of the touring band. For those who aren't familiar with Williams, he started as a spoken word poet (which he also incorporate between his songs during the show). In 2001, he made his first cross over to the world of music, and since then have worked with Trent Reznor, KRS-One, De La Soul, among others.

Although there were some excellent songs played during his set, I'll have to say that the highlight for me was his rendition of U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday", sort of appropriate for that Sunday evening. As for the encores, I believe the first one was "Surrender", followed by "a new song" and "Raised to be Lowered".

But just when you thought the show was over, CX and Diallo came on stage to do some improv music as the few audience that remain gathered around to see what they're doing.

Overall, a very eclectic mix of bands. If the Afro-punk tour is coming through your area, check them out. The least you can do is download FREE Afro-punk compilation at downloads.afropunk.com.

Below are photographs from Erik Hess, our latest addition to the W♥M family.

Dearling Physique at The Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (10/25/09) ♥ Photoset from Erik Hess

No Bird Sing at The Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (10/25/09) ♥ Photoset from Erik Hess

American Fangs at The Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (10/25/09) ♥ Photoset from Erik Hess

Saul Williams at The Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (10/25/09) ♥ Photoset from Erik Hess

Subscribe to our show at gcast.com (RSS), more information at podcast.whm.com.

BRITPOPCAST #3: WELSH BRITPOP BANDS
This show was recorded on Saturday morning at 12.30am with Sally. I was half tired and half unprepared... but lots of fun on this episode about Welsh Britpop bands.

Welsh bands we focused on: Super Furry Animals, Manic Street Preachers, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Catatonia, Stereophonics, and 60ft Dolls.

The second part, which is more like a post script is that Sally will be DJing Jarvis Cocker/Pulp music for an hour on December 5^th in anticipation and celebration of Cocker touring in Australia around that date. Come stalk her in Sydney, more details on britpop.com.au.

Below is the interview Sal did with singer Gruff Rhys from SFA, originally published in Kill the Cod fanzine.

KILL THE COD INTERVIEWS GRUFF RHYS

Whilst attending a smashing concert at Newcastle Uni (25th.Feb), i managed, as well as being able to watch three of my favourite bands (Lavish, Super Furry Animals and Custard), i was able to have a chat to a Mr Gruff Rhys, the lead singer of the Super Furries. So here is the story of that night....................................................................................*sally*

What's the deal with all the Welsh bands that have been touring Australia lately?
It's really funny, you know, we used to share the same amps as Catatonia and we shared drummers, we've known members of Catatonia since I was...you know...

So you lived near them?
ah...Catatonia are from North Wales and we're from South Wales...your in bands for years playing along and it's...so surreal, you know...we'll be playing in Melbourne the same night as Catatonia and we'll probably meet up with them after...and I saw them in a pub in Cardiff before coming over...

So it's just coincidence that you, Catatonia and the Manic Street Preachers have all decided to tour Australia at the same time?
Yeah...cos Wales is a small place...you bump into everyone and you meet everyone...the music is quite different...you know? Everyone does their own thing, so no one is in competition with each other...it's great you know...to meet up in exotic locations

How do you like playing with Lavish and, tonight, Custard?
well...I haven't heard Custard and I hadn't heard Lavish until last week

How do you feel about not being the headlining band tonight (Newcastle Uni)?
That's fine...yeah...I mean we've never played in Australia before and no one's heard of us practically...you know..we sort of have just started out in Australia, so it's great to be number 1 and number 2...it's good to have an audience...I don't care about headlining...you know, I think that's secondary to the music true true...

So how did the Super Furry Animals form?
ahh...we started recording in Dafydd's house about five years ago (points to Dafydd)...this doesn't translate on tape..um..that short guy with the brown shirt..um..we had a home studio..we spent a few years writing songs and before that me and Dafydd were in a band called Ffa Coffi Pawb, Guto and Bunf were in a band, and Cian had his own band and Cian is Dafydd's brother so he used to hang out with us...and by this time me Cian and Dafydd had moved down from North Wales to Cardiff and we knew Bunt and Guto from the days in Ffa Coffi Pawb, we were all in Welsh punk rock bands you know..then we spent two years in the house writing songs and playing around and um...then we decided to start playing live...we did a few gigs and then we got together to release a single on a label called Ankst and so it's one of those freaky things...we'd played about two gigs and we sent a copy to the NME or something and we got a slot in a pub in London and about 10 journalists came to see us and wrote rave reviews...we went to London again the week after and played in another pub and there was about 40 record companies and they all wanted a piece and...it was really strange and easy and then we did an album for Creation...we've been in bands for 10 years making music and suddenly you get offered this chance to record the albums of your dreams you know..and come to places like Australia to play

Are you enjoying Australia?
Yeah...I didn't know what to expect at all and it's a good place and um...i'm looking forward to coming back...yeah I want to come back

I don't know if you've ever been asked this but...i've got a game called Actua Soccer at home..
..oh yeah...

and I notice a SFA team with you running around the field...so how did you get into that?
well...we were making a video and we didn't have many pictures and we wanted to walk into the screen and change into football players and so we got in contact with these people and they did it free for us and...but they fucked up cos..we selected a team of all our heros..um...we had..i think Che Guevara was in goal, Nelson Mandella on the wing..i think Lou Reed was in the team and...Fidel Castro and...Frank Zappa on the wing, etcetera, etcetera and the five of us...apparently they've put like..Stalin and Ghengis Khan on the team and it's horrible cos they lost the piece of paper we sent them so they put all these wankers in, you know...it's really bad...so we're all embarrassed it's still an alright game though I prefer Fifa 98

yeah...me too... What football teams do you support?
Bangor City...their in the league of Wales............ah a bug (on the ground).........yeah..i support Bangor City in the league of Wales and I support Cardiff City who are in the third division of the English league even though it's a Welsh team...um...I support Barcelona and Bilbao in the Spanish league...who do you support?

I support Arsenal and it's not just because they won the FA cup and that, I had been supporting them for years, so don't get any ideas
o.k....i know some Arsenal fans

What is your favourite telly show ever?
well...Calimero...it's like a Czech cartoon. Calimero is a little black chicken with half a shell on its head and um...I did have a photo of him (searches his pocket and wallet)...he's like the only black chicken in a family of yellow chickens and it gets translated into Welsh so we used to watch it in Welsh on Welsh TV and i've met Japanese people...it's been translated into Japanese and Italian and in Scotland it's in English with an Italian accent so Calimero's catch phrase is "It's an injustice" (in an Italian accent) and um..in Welsh it's (Welsh words-sorry ) which is "there's no flavour to life"..it's this depressed chicken..it's a cartoon for kids but, you know...Calimero...god guy..one of the greats

How do you Kill the Cod?
Are you an active fisher?

it's actually out of the Goodies
Ah yeah...i saw a band a few weeks ago and they've got Graeme Garden's son on keyboards...he's got the same smile...that's quite amazing..i don't'know if I endorse killing cod..so maybe we should let it swim..you know.