W♥M

Little Dragon at the 400 Bar, Minneapolis (11/13/09)

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:57:52 -0600

Little Dragon

Tour Dates

11/14/09 Double Door Chicago, IL
11/16/09 Al’s Bar Lexington, KY
11/17/09 Cliff Bells Detroit
11/18/09 Wrongbar Toronto, ON
11/19/09 ll Motore Montreal
11/20/09 Westcott Theater Syracuse, NY
11/21/09 LPR NY, New York
11/22/09 Liv Nightclub Washington DC
11/23/09 Magnus Music LLC Charlottesville
11/24/09 Milestone Charlotte, NC
11/25/09 Local 506 Carrboro, NC
11/27/09 BottleTree Birmingham, AL
11/28/09 Spanish Moon Baton Rouge, LA
11/29/09 House Of Blues Dallas, TX
11/30/09 Emos Jr Austin, TX
12/02/09 Rhythm Room Phoenix
12/03/09 Casbah San Diego, CA
12/04/09 El Rey LA, CA
12/07/09 Rythm Factory London
12/08/09 HiFi Club Leeds
12/09/09 Jam Brighton
12/17/09 Palác Akropolis Prague

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Little Dragon

http://weheartmus...

Among the music she's listening to, she highly recommended Little Dragon. When I found out that s...

Such a nice night for mid-November at the 400 Bar. Athletes in Slacks (myspace) warmed up the crowd with their laidback loungey harmonizing sound that only two keyboarders and a guitarist can produce. The band claims all their songs are about love, except later on their hour-long set, they introduced a song about hating two guys from New York. They did finish strong with a cover of INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart", and that's what really matter.

The first time I heard about Swedish band Little Dragon, was in January. Ceji was really into them. Since we generally like Swedish bands here, I did try and keep up with their whereabouts. As it turns out, they're in the middle of their tour through the US to promote their sophomore album, Machine Dreams. Although the band's been here already, they confessed last night that this was their first time in Minneapolis.

Little Dragon-Recommendation

They didn't do Ceji's favorite "Recommendation" song, but I though hands-down their best song played was "After The Rain", complete with an amazing ending.

From what I heard from their live set, their new songs seems to drifts from the R&B and Jazz influence to more electro and beats. I think the combination works well for them, especially since I like their big beats/electronica sound.

Little Dragon

So one thing I should point out is that singer Yukimi Nagano's dance moves looks very martial and yoga-like. She's often doing this tough smirk and her fists in boxing stance. It's as if she's saying, "bring it on". The way she dances and handles herself, she seems like she was born to be an entertainer.

I've been to a lot of shows lately, and I can tell you that this was one of the best shows yet. They're heading their way to the East Coast, so definitely check them out. If they're not heading through your city, you should check out Machine Dreams, out now on Peacefrog Records.

11/14/2009 03:52:14 ♥ vu () ♥ little-dragon.se ♥ myspace.com/yourlittledragon

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Art Brut at the Triple Rock Social, Minneapolis (11/09/09)

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:04:03 -0600

Art Brut - Alcoholics Unanimous

Art Brut

Tour Dates

11/11/09 Oberlin College IL
11/12/09 North Star Bar Phila, PA
11/13/09 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY
11/14/09 Ottobar Baltimore, MD
11/15/09 Bowery Ballroom NY
12/08/09 Mono Pescara
12/09/09 Circolo degli Artisti Rome
12/10/09 Live Forum Milan
12/11/09 Spazio 211 Turin
12/12/09 Bronson Ravenna

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Art Brut

http://weheartmus...

It was quite a few years ago I first heard Art Brut. I do believe I was not overly impressed with...

I arrived late to the Triple Rock, in Minneapolis, so I had already missed some of Surfer Blood (myspace / twitter). However, I did get the gist of the band, who seems like they are going to be a hot new buzz band - like Vampire Weekend. Highlight of their set was the last song, in which the guitarist brought the solo drum into the audience as everyone on stage went monkeys. (Sort of feels orchestrated to me, like they didn't really put much effort in trashing their equipments). The audience seem to welcome Blood Surfer, so it's all good.

Art Brut

Loads of Art Brut fans were in the audience that night. You can tell by all the t-shirt and their eagerness of being in front and center. When the band came on, doing "Formed a Band", which singer Eddie Argos turns to the audience and said, "you ought to try it, it's brilliant!"

Eddie looks like a guy that doesn't take himself too seriously. He seems to like to drink a lot and talk a lot (but with his thick British accent, it's not like we could understand half what was said). He seems to swagger on stage a lot, often using his left arm to illustrate the songs.

There wasn't enough room on stage for Argos to do his infamous microphone skip, but he did manage to sing half of "DC Comics" by the bar section. Speaking of which, I think it's cool that Argos is a huge DC fan - since UK comics are usually, you know, 2000 AD/Judge Dredd sort. During the song, Argos spouted out what I hear as "Christian Bale", "Booster Gold" (if I can remember, I think he was basically a janitor from the future with future tech and a Legionaires flight ring), and something about "Metropolis".

Setlist

As you can see from the setlist, they did a mix of new and old songs. The setlist also doesn't reflect what was played, for instance, I know "The Passenger" was played well after "DC Comics". I suppose the setlist was more of a rough guideline than actual instructions.... which actually fits the way Art Brut operate.

The thing about "The Passenger", from their latest album Art Brut vs Satan, is that it got this great introduction. Eddie explained how he thought the Iggy Pop song was about taking the subway, "Iggy doesn't seem to me to be the driving sort." It wasn't until later did he discovered that Iggy's song was about taking heroin in back of a limo with David Bowie. Too funny.

Oh the other thing, the way Eddie sings, if you can call it singing, is quite interesting. It's more like rambling, it definitely feels at time like The Fall - only with a lot heavier backing band.

The band left and came back with three encores. I thought I heard Eddie saying "we don't normally do this", which may have been said in an ironic kind of way. I really couldn't tell, all I know is that the encores were met by the fans' demands.

Art Brut's funk sole brother

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PS, They only had T-Shirts and CDs for sale at the merch table. I was hoping to see some of their awesome shoes. It's £20 online, which is about $40 USD, but totally worth it if you are a massive Art Brut fan. Get those shoes, and also their latest album, Art Brut vs Satan, at the usual online stores.

11/11/2009 00:00:22 ♥ vu () ♥ artbrut.org.uk ♥ myspace.com/artbrut

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Suburban Noize

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:12:17 -0600

SubNoize Souljaz - Mama Said Knock You Out (Featuring Judge D)

SubNoize Souljaz

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Suburban Noize

http://weheartmus...

Suburban Noize Records, also known as Subnoize is an independent record label based in Burbank, C...

Taking a break from the usual live reviews of late, I will be doing some much-ignored reviews this week. Today's theme is all from the same record label.

Suburban Noize Records have been around since the mid-90s, catering to a very certain market of young hip hop, herb culture, and punk fans. We have a few items from them for review.

For starter, SubNoize Souljaz (myspace) is like the all-star supergroup, consisting of 15 or so Suburban Noize artists, including members of Kottonmouth King, Big B, and Jared Gomes (singer of Hed PE).

Their third album, Blast From The Past, just dropped late last August. While I am unfamiliar with some of these titles, I almost knew all the cover songs from hearing them on the radio. Except this album are all done in the style of that only Subnoize can deliver. With the variety of rappers and lead singers - the music is somewhat uneven, but at least the vocals stands out from each other. Particularly, I was impressed with Judge D's cover of LL's "Mama Said Knock You Out" and a funky The Dirtball's cover of RATM's "Microphone Fiend" (the bass is really good on this song) and Slick Rick's "Children's Story" by Daddy X.

It's evident that these guys owe a lot to influential bands that came before them (NWA, 2Pac, Snoop, Dre), so this album is a tribute to them. If you like old-school rap, particularly Death Row Records, as much as anyone that grew up in the 90s, you will definitely do yourself a favor and check out Blast From The Past.

Tour Dates

11/15/09 El Corazon Seattle, WA
11/16/09 Satyricon Portland, OR
11/17/09 DNA Lounge SF, CA
11/18/09 Boardwalk Orangevale, CA
11/20/09 Starline Fresno, CA
11/21/09 Modesto Virtual Modesto, CA
11/22/09 Chain Reaction Anahiem, CA
11/23/09 Karma Victorville, CA
11/24/09 Roxy Los Angeles, CA

Brokencyde, or seemingly nonsense caplock problem, brokeNCYDE (myspace), is also under Subnoize's screamo/punk label, BreakSilence Recordings. This sub-label also houses Eyes Set To Kill and Kill Paradise.

Anyway, Brokencyde is a "crunk"-core band (apparently this genre is a fusion of hip hop and electro, and possibly other genres like punk and rock). The band embrace the brand, and even have a song called "Get Crunk!".

The album actually did chart on the Billboard 200 at #86, which kind of impressed me, considering that many of the artists I hear about, they never chart. I think the high debut might possibly be due to their presence on this year's US Warped Tour. However, despite the success, the album was critically condemned. My favorite is (name redacted) review from NME: "even if I caught Prince Harry and Gary Glitter adorned in Nazi regalia defecating through my grandmother’s letterbox I would still consider making them listen to this album too severe a punishment." Critics who hates them, I don't think they understand that the album was meant for them... certainly the album is not meant for me. I am curious what the band will sound like when they've matured a bit. Although, I will have to confess that I did smile a bit when I heard "pee pee" sung on "Sex Toys" and "let's get retarded" on "Rockstar".

They look and sound very young (hey, FYI, their singer is called Se7en), which makes their debut album I'm Not a Fan... But the Kids Like It even more-so ironic. I did feel that despite their youngness, that ~~some~~ ALL of their songs with messages of drinking and sex, might not appeal to everyone. Then again, perhaps that's why "the kids like it". The real irony is that with all the cursing, you may have to be over 18 to purchase it.

Stronger songs on the album are: "Freaxxx" (with the catchy "let's get freaky" lyrics), and "Yellow Bus" (boasting about sex with groupies like Miley Cyrus??? WTF!).

If you don't mind the naughty messages, some autotune, some screamo, some electronica, check out I'm Not a Fan... But the Kids Like It at amazon.

Tour Dates

11/13/09 Budweiser Event Center* CO
11/14/09 Mid America Center*, IA
11/15/09 Uptown Theater* Kansas City, MO
11/17/09 Val Air Ballroom Des Moines, IA
11/18/09 Aragon Ballroom* Chicago, IL
11/19/09 The Fillmore* Detroit, MI
11/26/09 Grove of Anaheim, CA

* with 311

Kottonmouth King (official / myspace) should need no introduction for any fans of Hightimes. The group found success in that "green" niche market, and is the flagship band on Suburban Noize label - possibly due to the record company being started by member Daddy X, and their manager, Kevin Zinger.

Their latest release is Hidden Stash 420, an epic 2-disc album. This is basically a collection of unreleased tracks, b-sides, remixes, demos. The packaging is also nice, it's a fold-out digipak. Hardcore fans will want to purchase the album directly from Subnoize Store or Best Buy stores, as that comes with a bonus DVD called The Lost Adventures of the Kottonmouth Kings.

While it's easy to just dismiss the band as pot smokers, that all their songs about weed, and although it's true, I believe they also deceptively paint a vivid picture of what their lifestyle is like. Check out tracks like "Take a Ride", as it describes California and family, all under a catchy chorus of "west coast is the place for me, never know what you'll see". But it's not all serious, there's a goofy song called "Late Night Call" with cultural reference of "me so horny", "facebook" and "myspace".

The collection is mostly older songs, and it's interesting to see some of their experiments. One song, "Tangerine Sky", seems like it's paying tribute to the Beatles LSD song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". "Tangerine Sky" comes off as being more melodic and slower than most of their songs. The other non-conventional KMK is a poppy song "Let the Music Play". I wish I knew the story behind this song, but what I can tell you that it sounds very happy and 60s love. Perhaps Jackson Five?

Anyway, my favorites are usually the faster-constantly rapping songs with a loopy DJ backback, like "Evolution" and "Got It Get It". The later is a new Kingspade (a division of Kottonmouth King's rap duo, Johnny Richter and D-Loc) venture, which may be important for fans, as they haven't released anything under Kingspade in the last two years.

The Lost Adventures of the Kottonmouth Kings

The DVD portion is a Best Buy exclusive. The two hour DVD featuring the band on tour, music videos and various miscellaneous. The audio and video quality can sometime be quite poor (night-time shooting is always an issue) to quite good (see image capture of a great quality), and I think sometime the director overuses the fisheye lens. Still, can't complain too much since it's added value.

Hidden Stash 420 is out now. A perfect Christmas gift for any stoner in your family.

11/10/2009 18:05:38 ♥ vu () ♥ suburbannoizerecords.com ♥ suburbannoizejapan.com

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Crypticon 2009

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:07:29 -0600

John Carpenter - Halloween (main theme)

John Carpenter

Werewolf vs Freddy ♥ Sheraton Hotel, Minneapolis (11/07/09)

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Crypticon

http://weheartmus...

Although nothing to do with music, I thought I'd report on my recent attendance at Crypticon 200...

Crypticon 2009 was a bit disappointing, compared to last year. As with last year's cancellation of Tom Savini, this year it's Charles Band. What upset me was that Band's disinvolvement wasn't even mentioned anywhere on their website. As of this writing, their website still lists Band as a guest: "6:00pm Charles Band and his Full Moon Road Show in the Music Room 2nd Floor."

This year, the merchandise room was reduced to a size of a large bedroom, so you walk in and out in about a minute. I did manage to pick up some stuff, but they weren't cheap. Celebrities prints are costs anywhere from $20-40, we weren't allowed to take pictures (if you did purchase a print, then taking pictures would cost an extra $5). Last year, most of the nicer stars let us take pictures for free.

As for merch, the usual bootlegs, toys, horror t-shirts were there, but because of the smaller room - it feels like there weren't a lot of choices. Some commonly seen t-shirts were Nightbreed and Hellraiser, which I thought were cool, since I have always thought Clive Barker is genius.

Also, this year they had music as part of the show. The person that was supposed to give me a pass to the music area was not at the ticketbooth and I didn't feel like paying extra to see music. Besides, all of the bands seems to be either punk or metal, not really my cup of tea, so I didn't bother to make much effort in getting the pass.

Anyway, since Charles Band wasn't there, his Q&A was replaced with Linnea Quigley and Don Calfa (both actors appeared in Return of the Living Dead). If I had known, I would've rewatched the film to refreshed my memory. But it would seem even the stars had some trouble remembering what happened on set.

Still, some interesting stories came out of it.

First of all, they paid George Romero a million dollars to use the name "Of The Living Dead". Romero's third sequel, Day of the Dead came out a year later, but was not as successful as Return.

Linnea Quigley and Don Calfa ♥ Sheraton Hotel, Minneapolis (11/07/09)

My favorite was when Calfa said one of the star wanted him to punch him for real, so he gave two hard slap. What's funny was that as he was telling the story, his hand gestured the slap and the next thing you knew: he had hit the microphone in front of him! Way to each that mic a lesson.

With the disappointing cancellation, incorrect/false information (is updating a website too much to ask?), the smaller space, and expensive admission ($30 at the door) - this will be the last year that my group will attend.

11/08/2009 02:54:28 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

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

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:30:04 -0600

Har Mar Superstar - Game Night

Har Mar Superstar

Tour Dates

11/08/09 Aquarium* Fargo, ND
11/09/09 Waiting Room* Omaha, NE
11/11/09 Brick Kansas City, MO
11/29/09 Oxford O2 Academy 3, UK
11/30/09 Relentless Garage London
12/01/09 Thekla Bristol, UK
12/02/09 Wedgewood Portsmouth, UK
12/03/09 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh
12/04/09 Bodega Nottingham, UK
12/05/09 Brickyard Carlisle, UK
12/06/09 King Tut’s Wah Wah Glasgow
12/07/09 Ruby Lounge Manchester, UK
12/08/09 Plug Sheffield, UK
12/09/09 Academy 2 Dublin, Ireland
12/10/09 Stiff Kitten Belfast, Ireland
12/12/09 Concorde 2 Brighton, UK
12/13/09 Barfly Cardiff, UK

* with Bang Bang Eche

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Har Mar Superstar

http://weheartmus...

Har Mar Mall - I mean Superstar - is back, after five years of absent since 2004's The Handler......

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

11/07/2009 04:22:06 ♥ vu () ♥ harmarsuperstar.com ♥ myspace.com/harmarsuperstar ♥ twitter.com

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

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:53:39 -0600

White Denim - I Start to Run

White Denim

Tour Dates

11/06/09 Lincoln Hall Chicago, IL
11/07/09 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
11/09/09 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto
11/10/09 IL Motore Montreal
11/11/09 TT Bears Cambridge, MA
11/12/09 Music Hall Brooklyn, NY
11/13/09 Kung Fu Necktie Phila, Pa
11/14/09 Rock Hotel Washington DC
11/16/09 Basement Nashville, Tn
11/17/09 Bottletree Birmingham, AL
11/18/09 Earl Atlanta, Ga
11/19/09 Social Orlando, FL
11/20/09 Cafe 11 St. Augustine, FL
11/22/09 One Eyed Jacks N Orleans, LA

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White Denim

http://weheartmus...

White Denim is comprised of three men from Austin, Texas. They have a quite distinct rock sound, ...

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.

11/05/2009 22:52:12 ♥ vu () ♥ whitedenimmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/bopenglis

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The Grates at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (11/03/09)

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:02:17 -0600

The Grates - Burn Bridges

The Grates

The Grates Setlist ♥ 7th Street Entry,
Minneapolis (11/03/09).

Tour Dates

11/05/09 Radio Radio Indianapolis, IN
11/07/09 Schubas Chicago, IL
11/08/09 Magic Stick Detroit, MI
11/14/09 Bowery Ballroom NY
12/31/09 Purple Sneakers Sydney

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the Grates

http://weheartmus...

Look at these guys, awww.... everything appearance-wise about The Grates oozes cuteness and fun (...

Patience in the Audience ♥ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (11/03/09)

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.

Bonus: Enjoy "Trampoline" from Til Death Do Us Party: Live At The Forum DVD

The Grates - Trampoline

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

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Christmas Music Guide 2009

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:16:05 -0600

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

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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

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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

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Tori Amos

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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.

11/03/2009 17:10:02 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

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The Slits - Trapped Animal

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:06:00 -0600

The Slits - Ask Ma

The Slits

Discography

[1979] Cut	[1981] Return of the Giant Slits	[1997] In the Beginning
[1998] The Peel Sessions	[2005] Live at the Gibus Club	[2009] Trapped Animal

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Riot Grrrls

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I've always been fond of this music genre, which started in the early 90s through music and fanz...

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).

The Slits - Instant Hit

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.

11/03/2009 00:48:26 ♥ vu () ♥ theslits.co.uk ♥ myspace.com/theslits

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I Was A Teenage Werewolf

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 19:05:37 -0500

Chico Fellini - I Was a Teenage Werewolf

Chico Fellini

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.

The Cramps - I was a Teenage Werewolf

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	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	Running Wild - Prowling Werewolf	London - Werewolves In London	Cat Power - Werewolf
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - She Said	La Union - Lobo Hombre En Paris	the Dillinger Escape Plan - Sunshine the Werewolf	The Born Losers - Werewolves on Wheels	Metallica - Of Wolf and Man

10/31/2009 18:48:22 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

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