I’ve been meaning to write about Modest Mouse ever since I started this blog…more to the point I wanted to put up a documentary I found surfing the interweb. Made around the same time as my favorite album by the Issaquah, WA trio, it’s interesting to see how far such a small band has come…From virtually unknown to #1…

Enjoy…

Modest Mouse - Doin the Cockroach

Buy The Lonesome Crowded West

Man in Gray @ Mercury Lounge 23/04/2007

Ever since I discovered Man in Gray a few months ago I’ve wanted to see them live to experience the energy that I got from what music I could find online. This past Tuesday I got that chance. It was a great line up with Takka Takka and Pela playing later that night, but I was there to check out one band. The only real downside was their early start time (7:30pm) since most people were just getting out of work and crowding into packed rail cars or stuck in a taxi somewhere around midtown.

So Man in Gray took the stage to a less then empty venue on a Tuesday night while the sun was still out. But did that stop them from creating sweet and sweaty air of sound from the stage.

Loud and dissonant with subtle melodic guitar lines and a strong and steady rhythm section and a singer who, even with a migraine, managed to scream and flail and sing till she looked ready to fall over. In the end it was a great show, with every band sounding amazing, but it was Man in Gray that stole my heart and I look forward to seeing them soon

You can check out Man in Gray next Thursday (May 3^rd) at Luna Lounge w/ Up the Empire…and then I suggest heading over to The Delancey On the 22^nd for a first listen to MiG’s upcoming full length release.

Man in Gray - Sleeping (from Tour EP)

Man in Gray - Incommunicado (from No Day/No Night EP)

Purchase Man in Gray’s No Day/No Night EP here

I listen to a lot of music…

On the train, at work, when I’m floating about online, and when I go to bed…

I sometimes feel bored with what I have at my disposal, but then I find an album floating around on a spindle or in a book and I put it on and I recall all the memories that I associate with it.

Tonight it there were 2 such CDs…one artist.

I don’t know why, but I pulled out MF Doom’s Live at Planet X the other day for a friend, and it’s been on my coffee table just staring at me. So I placed it into the cd player and I remember…

It’s hard to believe that the album is over 3 years old. A testament to MF Doom’s talent?!...

But upon listing, I heard the infamous Accordion and so I obviously had to dig into my semi-organized cd collection and pull out the Mad-Lib/MF Doom Collaboration Madvillain.

Madvillainy is by far one of the best records of the decade. I don’t care what anyone says.

MF Doom – Live From Planet X

Madvillain – Accordion

Bonde do Role

If there was one band I wish I could see right now, Brazil’s Bonde do Role would be on the top of my list. My roommate saw them 4 times in Austin, and gave me one of his times so I wouldn’t sulk over not being able to make it to tomorrow nights show @ Studio B.

This baile funk trio is making a name for its self with their world infused dance beats and insane live shows.

Recently signing to Domino Records, Bonde do Role’s album With Lasers was release this past Tuesday. They are finishing up a small tour post sxsw US tour with the UK’s The Klaxons, and then to Europe for a month. Then they will go on tour with another hot Brazilian item, Cansei De Ser Sexy this summer. I plan to check them out at least once, I recommend you do the same.

Bonde do Role are on tour now (* with The Klaxons)

April 13 - Studio B | Brooklyn,NY*

April 14 - Transit | Philadelphia, PA*

April 19 - Bullet (Camden Crawl) | London

April 20 - Cuban Bar (Camden Crawl) | London

April 23 - Puregroove Records Instore | London

April 25 – Nag Nag Nag | London

Bonde do Role – Melo Do Tabaco (Paul Devro Sweet Mango Mix)

Also available Solta o Frango

///April Showers///

With the weather being so cruddy, there isn’t much else to do but watch television. There are a few shows that are currently airing that I am more then enthralled with…House MD…Lost…Heroes…24… (Grey’s Anatomy and Law & Order are amazing as well).

And now RAINES…

“Eccentric LAPD Detective Michael Raines (Goldblum) uses his unique imagination to focus on every murder case in such a way that the murder victims actually begin to take shape in front of him. At first, he thinks he's losing his mind, but he then uses the constantly evolving hallucinations -- which are figments of his imagination and not ghosts -- to help him discover the victims' killers. Raines struggles to accept this peculiar gift -- or burden -- and reconcile it with his daily life.”

-NBC.com-

I don’t really know why I love Jeff Goldblum, but I just do. From The Fly to Jurassic Park to The Life Aquatic, he is by far one of my favorite actors. Even in Independence Day and Earth Girls Are Easy. If you like crime dramas, and you love Mr. Goldblum as much as I do…This is definitely the show to watch.

Tune in to NBC Friday nights 9/8c….

Or go to: http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/full_episodes/raines.shtml and watch the first three full episodes and the pilot.

“What are you listening too? Is this Black Lips?”…”No its Joy Division…”

Now I think I’m pretty current on new bands. As are most of my friends and acquaintances, but it’s difficult to know every band out there. Say I read 10 music blogs a day…That’s 10 (possibly new) bands to find…That equals 3650 bands to discover every year…

A friend recently asked if a Joy Division song was the Black Lips. I’ve heard of the Black Lips (i.e. seen there name written somewhere, heard them mentioned, and left The Cake Shop 20 minutes before their set during CMJ), but never sat down and listened to them thoroughly. Well that’s changed. I can say that I do truly enjoy them, and now wish I had stayed to see them.

I’m not trying to compare them to post-punk pioneers Joy Division, but I guess I needed that comparison to kick myself into the now…although if someone compared me to Joy Division I wouldn’t take offense to it…

The Black Lips have it, and stories of their live performances that proceed them where ever they go. The kind of stories that we'll end up telling our grandchildren to impress them.

+




Just two great bands...one paving the way for the other....paving the way for the next comparison.

Could I get some more Ukulele up front, please?

Patrick Wolf @ Hiro Ballroom April 5, 2007

So when I got in from work around 8:00pm, I was ready to sit down and relax for at least an hour before I had to head out and meet with friends to go see Patrick Wolf. I miscalculated and was home long enough to make a quick dinner before making the trek back to Manhattan. In my rush I left my camera by the door, and when I realized it, I was already more then half way to my destination to turn back. (You can check out some pictures taken by The Music Slut, a much better/more informative blog)

My first stop was at a local dive on 8^th St. Grassroots has become my Thursday night warm up with its cheap Pitchers, good music and a semi lively mix of college/worker co-habitants. All of this was just setting the stage for the big show. Patrick Wolf was set to go on around midnight, and with DJ sets by Ultragrrrl and Does It Offend You, Yeah?, I was pretty much overwhelmed…Until I arrived at the line, not the door. Its April, its spring, and yet it was windy and pretty close to freezing last night. The line crawled towards the door, and as time ticked by, I started think that I would miss something…

When we entered, I guess Sarah was just wrapping up her set, as I only heard the familiar catalogue for brief indistinct period of time from upstairs. Shortly after the music died, we all moved down to get a glimpse of the headliner, who by the end of the night would make 3 wardrobe changes in less then an hour. I haven’t been a “follower” of Mr. Wolf until about a year ago, but he hasn’t toured in the US for 4 years, so I didn’t miss much visually. Opening with a song from his new album The Magic Position, the set was pretty evenly dispersed. It was quite the enjoyable experience. I suggest making it out to his last 2 shows in NYC this weekend if you can.

- 04/06 @ Studio B, Fun Party, NYC

- 04/07 @ Don Hill's Misshapes, NYC

So everyone danced, everyone drank, and it was quite the lovely time.

Then I was informed that Does It Offend You, was going to DJ next, and I was looking forward to the set, but when the music came back on I just wasn’t feeling it. I’m just going to tell myself that It wasn’t them, and I left knowing when I did see them it would be as good as I didn’t remember this time…the rest of the night consisted of drinking 40oz Colt 45, and listening to Mike Jones. Not to shabby