June 2006 Rewind

As part of my job in banking, on the last business day I have to prepare all sorts of monthly reports and statistics. I actually like doing things of that sort, so I thought I'd try to do a summary of all the action on this site for the month of June, just in case you missed anything:

Posts:

06.06.06 I love LA
06.07.06 Arctic Monkeys / WAS live @ Wiltern LG, Los Angeles, 6/3/06
06.07.06 Stream Lady Sovereign live on KEXP today
06.08.06 Laugh Now, Cry Later
06.09.06 The Alarmists / White Light Riot
06.12.06 The Alarmists / White Light Riot / Low Lustre live @ Varsity Theater 6/9/06
06.13.06 Pontiac Solstice commercial
06.14.06 I'm your private dancer
06.15.06 To be someone
06.15.06 Lupe Fiasco
06.16.06 Duplomacy
06.17.06 USA vs Italy
06.19.06 Stream mp3s
06.20.06 I like Chopin
06.21.06 The Strokes - You Only Live Once
06.21.06 What the fook Andy?
06.22.06 Wish You Were Here
06.23.06 Time For Heroes
06.23.06 Pet Shop Boys Announce North American Tour!
06.26.06 We Are Scientists / Fiery Furnaces / Radio 4 live Friday 6/23/06
06.27.06 SOUND team / Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin live @ 400 Bar 6/26/06
06.28.06 Morgan Page
06.29.06 Robotboy / Halloween, Alaska
06.29.06 Tripwire Charts
06.30.06 Gnarls Barkley @ First Avenue

Total Posts: 25
Avg per day: 0.83

Mp3s:
(sorry, due to server limitations, some of these are not live anymore; "last call" on the ones that are left... they'll be gone soon)

The Alarmists - She Will Love Again (Hey Kid)
The Alarmists - Some Things Never Stop
Arctic Monkeys - Cigarette Smoke
Art Brut - Formed A Band
The Dandy Warhols - I Love You
The Dandy Warhols - Minnesoter
The Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth
Dr. Dre - Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang
Duplomacy - Coppertone
Duplomacy - Stars
Fiery Furnaces - Here Comes The Summer
The Futureheads - Return Of The Beserker
Graham Coxon - Time For Heroes (Libertines cover)
Halloween, Alaska - Call It Clear
Halloween, Alaska - I Can't Live Without My Radio (LL Cool J Cover)
Ice Cube - Child Support
Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day
Ice Cube - Smoke Some Weed
Ice Cube (Ft. Snoop Dogg & Lil Jon) - Go To Church
Imogen Heap – “Hide & Seek” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
The Libertines - Mayday
The Libertines - The Delaney
LL Cool J - I Can't Live Without My Radio
Oasis - Cigarettes & Alcohol (live 1994 @ The Metro, Chicago)
Oasis - Married With Children (live electric)
Oasis - To Be Someone (Noel Gallagher live solo)
Primal Scream - Country Girl
Radio 4 - Absolute Affirmation
Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (live)
Radiohead - High and Dry (live @ Glanstonbury 1997)
Radiohead - Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd Cover)
Radiohead and Panzah Zandahz - Creep
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
The Replacements - Beer For Breakfeast
The Replacements - Fuck School
Robotboy - I Can't Remember
Robotboy - Didn't Want It Anyway
Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean - Hips Don't Lie
Shine - "Ashbury" (Morgan Page Downtempo Remix)
Shine - "One Day" (Morgan Page Remix)
SOUND team - Don't Turn Away
SOUND team - Movie Monster
SOUND team - The Fastest Man Alive
SOUND team - Your Eyes Are Liars
SSLYBY - House Fire
Tina Turner - Private Dancer
Wax Poetic Feat. Norah Jones – “Angels” (Morgan Page Remix)
We Are Scientists - Can't Lose
White Light Riot - Bitter Beginning
White Light Riot - Out of Sight

Total mp3s: 50
Avg per post: 2
Avg per day: 1.67

Embedded YouTube clips:

Lily Allen - Smile (TOTP)
Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push
Noel Gallagher - To Be Someone (Jam Cover)
Radiohead - Idioteque (live)
Thom Yorke - Black Swan (creative video)
The Strokes - You Only Live Once

Flickr Photo Galleries:

The Alarmists CD Release Party
Arctic Monkeys LA
Fiery Furnaces
LA June 2006
Radio 4
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
SOUND team
We Are Scientists

Favorite rock 'n' roll stock photo posted:


(The Replacements)

Favorite live rock 'n' roll photo posted (taken by me):


(Radio 4)

Favorite live rock 'n' roll photo posted (NOT taken by me, and actually not from this month, but it's a good excuse to post it again):


(The Sounds - Photo courtesy of Brody McCoy)

Favorite Babe of the World Cup:



Other Favorite Babe of World Cup:



Favorite picture of soccer hooligans:




Favorite mp3 of the month (tie):
Primal Scream - Country Girl
Tina Turner - Private Dancer

Blogger pool World Cup standings as of 6/30/06, provided by the ab-fab C:

62 points : scatter o' light
58 points : analog giant
55 points : i am fuel, you are friends
54 points : rock 'n' roll star
52 points : extrawack! / let's kiss and make up / simon metz
48 points : letter never sent / [abridged]
46 points : total positive / the view from yoorp
43 points : veritas lux mea
38 points : false 45th
37 points : palms out sounds
30 points : spit up and shut down
25 points : spinachdip nyc

My Top 10 artists (overall at the moment) according to Last.fm:

01. Pet Shop Boys
02. Arctic Monkeys
03. The Strokes
04. Gnarls Barkley
05. SOUND team
06. John Lennon
07. The Beatles
08. Klee
09. The Cribs
09. Pulp

Song most downloaded:

The Dandy Warhols - I Love You



OK, I better stop right here... this could go on for hours. Happy Canada Day, Happy 4th of July! Thanks for reading my lonely ole' blog! I'll leave you with this tune:

mp3: The Futureheads - Decent Days And Nights (Shy Child Remix)

- Steve

P.S. And as always, please "Help the Muthafuckin Aged":



P.P.S. I'll miss you Top of The Pops! Go Art Brut!... "Let's all take a Holiday":



P.P.P.S. Yeah, I realize Madonna is totally lip-synching in that one... but hey, who give a !@#$%! You should only be that cool/hot!??? Right, Brianna?

Gnarls Barkley @ First Avenue

Gnarls Barkley @ First Ave - Main Room
Wed, 8/2/06 - 9:30pm
Doors @ 8:00pm
18 +
$31.00

Onsale to General Public:
Sat, 7/1/06 11:00 AM CDT
Ticketmaster

Presale Tickets $32.00 available today for 24 hours:
Gnarls Barkley Fan Community
Password: stelsewhere

I love these guys, but the ticket price is "crazy"...

All tour dates here.

Gnarls Barkley Website
Gnarls Barkley MySpace

- Steve

Tripwire Charts

Tripwire: Music Blog Chart, Week Of June 26

See: SOUND team / Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin live @ 400 Bar 6/26/06

- Steve

Robotboy / Halloween, Alaska

Alert! A couple of my favorite local bands are playing live gigs in Minneapolis tonight. Do go check them out (you non-local readers should still sample the tunes, since they may be coming to a town near you soon):

Robotboy



Playing @ Hexagon Bar tonight w/Black Rabbits (ex-Cher UK; from Kansas City), the New Vintage, Conner (Lawrence, KS)

I love these guys 'cause they remind me of The Clash... They rock...

mp3: Robotboy - Didn't Want It Anyway
mp3: Robotboy - I Can't Remember

Robotboy Website
Robotboy MySpace
Related: Last time I saw these guys I met Miss MN (and she was not that hot).


Halloween, Alaska



LocalHipster (love this site) presents them live @ Solera tonight, to wrap up their SolSession series which has featured The Hopefuls, The Owls, and Happy Apple amongst others. I've never been, but it sounds like a really cool event (City Pages A-list pick)

mp3: Halloween, Alaska - Call It Clear
mp3: Halloween, Alaska - I Can't Live Without My Radio (LL Cool J Cover)

Both of these tunes and the rest of their material is awesome...

Halloween, Alaska Website
Halloween, Alaska MySpace

Related:

mp3: LL Cool J - I Can't Live Without My Radio

For more local info check out HowWasTheShow.com.

I may try to make it to either, both, or neither... crazy week...

- Steve

Morgan Page

I actually really like MySpace. For finding out about new music, bands, and related info, it really is one of the greatest things to happen to music in a long time. Yesterday I had a friend-request from Morgan Page. Yeah, never really heard of him either... I checked out his profile and turns out he's a pretty talented producer / remixer / DJ. I also discovered he's the guy behind the now infamous "Cease And Desist" Mix CD, which you may have heard some tracks off before. Accoring to Morgan's Press Release, it's the first white-label house music album ever and features house music versions of popular tracks from artists including David Bowie, Esthero, Sam Phillips, Tegan & Sara, The Kills, and Wax Poetic feat. Norah Jones.

Here's what other people had to say about the album:

"Insane. I am loving it. using like half the tracks on there in sets...right up my alley."- Kaskade

"A mighty impressive presentation. Well done."- Bob Mould

"Amazing. You won't want to miss this release!" - Knobtweakers.net

"A perfect blend of electronic and pop. I can't stop playing "Walking with a ghost", it's an incredible track."- Colette

More praise here.



CEASE AND DESIST - Tracklisting:

01. Esthero – “We Are In Need Of A Music Revolution” (Intro Edit)
02. Coldplay – “White Shadows” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
03. Tegan & Sara – Walking With A Ghost” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
04. Imogen Heap – “Hide & Seak” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
05. Sam Phillips – “If I Could Write” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
06. The Kills – “The Good Ones” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
07. Hyperboreal – Tijuana For Dummies” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
08. David Bowie – “New Killer Star” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)
09. Antone Dvorak – “Symphony #9” (Morgan Page Remix)
10. Wax Poetic Feat. Norah Jones – “Angels” (Morgan Page Remix)

Here are my couple of favorites (they're all pretty cool, though):

mp3: 04. Imogen Heap – “Hide & Seek” (Morgan Page Bootleg Remix)

mp3: 10. Wax Poetic Feat. Norah Jones – “Angels” (Morgan Page Remix)

"Cease And Desist" is available as a FREE download via Morgan's official website and MySpace.

Check it out, see if you like it... I really do. It just may get your next party really hoppin'...

A couple of other new remixes:

mp3: Shine - "Ashbury" (Morgan Page Downtempo Remix)
mp3: Shine - "One Day" (Morgan Page Remix)

Lots more goodies on his official website and MySpace.

- Steve

SOUND team / Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin live @ 400 Bar 6/26/06

Wow, what a gig last night! Totally impressed by both bands... haven't felt this way since I saw Wolf Parade in the 7th Street Entry. Such a dynamic night, here are the pics and a couple of comments:

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin





All photos from SSLYBY here. Slideshow here.

Greatest band name since "I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness". These guys delivered a great live set. They definitely are the "Third Best Band on Weller Street in Springfield, Missouri, The Queen City" . Instead of me trying to describe their sound, check out the following tune:

mp3: SSLYBY - House Fire
SSLYBY on MySpace

Pretty cool, huh? You can buy their album here.

SOUND team









All photos from SOUND team here. Slideshow here.

As mentioned above, Austin's SOUND team gave me a very Wolf Parade-kinda-feeling. The same kind of out-of-control sound Spencer Krug seems to produce. Except they sound more like Spoon, and the singing may be better... The last two tunes brought the house down. Seriously. Last tune being "Movie Monster". Again we'll let the music do the talking:

mp3: SOUND team - Movie Monster (highly recommended)
mp3: SOUND team - Your Eyes Are Liars
mp3: SOUND team - Don't Turn Away
mp3: SOUND team - The Fastest Man Alive

SOUND team on MySpace
Their new album Movie Monster is out now.

Have a nice Tuesday! Way to late when I wrote this...sorry if there are any f-ups!

- Steve

Updates:

> Yesterday's Birthday Boy has a review and pics of last night's festivities.

> SOUND team stopped in the Current's studios this afternoon. Should be available in the online archive soon.

> Remaining SOUND team / SSLYBY tour dates:

06/27 Schubas Tavern, Chicago IL
06/28 Hi-Pointe, St. Louis MO
06/29 The Outland Ballroom, Springfield MO
06/30 The Cavern, Dallas TX
07/01 Walter's on Washington, Houston TX

SOUND team is also performing @ Lollapalooza 8/4/06.

We Are Scientists / Fiery Furnaces / Radio 4 live Friday 6/23/06

Can you believe I went 2 full weeks without catching a show? Me neither. I finally got back into the swing of things last Friday, by watching We Are Scientists and Fiery Furnaces @ First Avenue, and Radio 4 @ Triple Rock. My buddy Brody already wrote a nice recap of the evening. Head over and wish him a Happy Birthday. Here are my pics:

Update: I added some commentary and tunage to this somewhat lazy post...

We Are Scientists





All photos from We Are Scientists here. Slideshow here.

What a difference a smaller venue makes! Last time I saw WAS 3 weeks ago they opened up for Arctic Monkeys at the Wiltern Theater in LA. Their performance in the large venue was ok, however they were totally outplayed by the Monkeys. At First Avenue Friday, they performed pretty much the same setlist; but actually being able to see them from about 10 feet away made a huge difference. So much better, both on a visual and musical level. Guitarist/lead vocalist Keith Murray sounded excellent and the band delivered an energetic performance. My only criticism would be that the songs sound too-much-the-same and are a bit vocal-heavy at times. We’ll see what their second album brings…

mp3: We Are Scientists - Can't Lose
We Are Scientists MySpace

Fiery Furnaces



All photos from Fiery Furnaces here. Slideshow here.

I only watched about 30 minutes of FF. Even though they had a lot of energy and their music sounded great, that was plenty. While I do like the band quite a bit, their music just simply gets on my nerves after a while. Not easy to digest in my opinion. The brother and sister fronted band has a tendency to change up their music live to a point that it’s almost unrecognizable. Case in point, they didn’t even bring a keyboard for this tour. Still, they were a lot better this time compared to when I saw them @ Austin City Limits last year. Of course that could have something to do with the temperature in First Avenue being less than 100 degrees. Please FF, bring back the keyboards!

mp3: Fiery Furnaces - Here Comes The Summer
Fiery Furnaces MySpace

Radio 4



All photos from Radio 4 here. Slideshow here.

Definitely my favorite live performance of the night. The band raced through all the good stuff from their new album “Enemies Like This”, as well as previous efforts “Stealing Of A Nation”, “Gotham”, and “The New Song And Dance”. The show was sparsely attended, perhaps 1/3 full. Still, their closing tune “Absolute Affirmation” had the small crowd in a frenzy and seemed like a fitting song to close out the night.

mp3: Radio 4 - Absolute Affirmation
Radio 4 MySpace

Have a great Monday! SOUND team / Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ 400 Bar tonight...

- Steve

Pet Shop Boys Announce North American Tour!

OMf*ckingG! Ross just totally made my weekend! Pet Shop Boys will be touring North America this October/November.

Sat Oct 28, 2006 - Minneapolis MN, The Orpheum Theater

All dates:

10/10 Montreal CAN
10/11 Toronto CAN
10/13 Boston MA
10/14 NYC NY
10/15 Washington DC
10/17 Miami FL
10/18 Orlando FL
10/19 Atlanta GA
10/21 Austin TX
10/22 Dallas TX
10/24 St. Louis Mo
10/26 Detroit MI
10/27 Chicago IL
10/28 Minneapolis MN
10/30 Denver CO
11/01 Phoenix AZ
11/03 West Valley UT
11/05 Seattle WA
11/07 San Francisco CA
11/08-9 Los Angeles CA
11/12 Guadalajara MEX
11/14 Mexico City MEX

More info on their official website.

Cheers,
- Steve

Time For Heroes

NME: Graham Coxon covers Libertines classic
mp3: Graham Coxon - Time For Heroes (Libertines cover)

Bonus tracks:
mp3: The Libertines - Mayday
mp3: The Libertines - The Delaney

Enjoy,
- Steve

Wish You Were Here

I wasn't feeling well yesterday and wound up taking the day off work. I watched soccer and listened to Radiohead most the day. I had forgotten how great this band really is... very jealous my sister gets to see them in LA in a couple of weeks. Luckily, I think she'll grace us with a guest review. Here are few tunes I ran across yesterday:

mp3: Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees (live)
mp3: Radiohead - High and Dry (live @ Glanstonbury 1997)
mp3: Radiohead - Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd Cover)
mp3: Radiohead and Panzah Zandahz - Creep

Radiohead live on YouTube: Idioteque
(I love this performance as my dancing skills are similar to Thom's)



More Radiohead on The Hype Machine and YouTube.

In other news:

Anybody check out the We Are Scientists video / multimedia blog? Here's an excerpt "A Tour of The Bus". Kinda' funny...

We Are Scientists / The Fiery Furnaces perform @ First Avenue this Friday 6/23/06. I'll be in attendance. First live show for me in a while...

Today's the BIG day for the US Soccer team! I picked both the US and Italy to win in the World Cup blogger pool. Hope I'm right.



Miss World Cup Pictures. Togo won.

- Steve

P.S. The music/mp3 blogging bible clearly states "Thou shallt post on Radiohead". I've fulfilled the requirement with this post ;)

What the fook Andy?

(Arctic Monkeys' bassist Andy Nicholson)

Lots of big news in the blogoshpere today/yesterday. Let's recap:

1) Arctic Monkeys' bassist Andy Nicholson leaves the band.

2) R.I.P Top Of The Pops.

3) Tapes 'n Tapes new video "Insistor" will be premiere on MTV2 this weekend and is on YouTube.

4) Hottie of the Week: I Rock I Roll

5) Contortionists galore

My rebuttal in music/mp3 form:

1) Oasis - Cigarettes & Alcohol (live 1994 @ The Metro, Chicago)

2) Art Brut - Formed A Band

3) The Alarmists - Some Things Never Stop

4) Primal Scream - Country Girl

5) Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean - Hips Don't Lie

My rebuttal in YouTube form:

1) Oasis - Cigarettes & Alcahol Live@ Knebworth Park 11.08.1996

2) Art Brut - Formed A Band Live @ Tribeca Grand NYC 11.12.2005

3) The Alarmists - Good Advice Live @ Varsity Theater 6/9/06

4) Primal Scream - Country Girl

5) Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean - Hips Don't Lie

No further elaboration necessary, I think. Have a nice day.

- Steve

P.S. Did anybody else see this? NY Times Magazine (Chuck Klosterman) had an interesting article on Danger Mouse & Gnarls Barkley...

The Strokes - You Only Live Once

Just found this via Miss Modern Age's blog. Here's the new Strokes video:



- Steve

I like Chopin

I absolutely love shit like this: Over 1,400 music videos from the 80's for your streaming pleasure (via MetaFilter). A pretty nice collection, enjoy...

Here's a cheesy one I really like from '83, just re-discovered:

Gazebo - I like Chopin



Damn, this one and that one bring back memories as well... OMG, I'll probably be on this website all day today.

Trivia: What was the 2nd video ever played on MTV? Answer here.

Congrats! Local blogger Brianna is in the NY Times story "Memories of the Replacements, a Band That Could, but Didn't" today. (bugmenot)

Related: The Replacements live in the 7th Street Entry 1981.

- Steve

Update: Looks like Pitchfork likes YouTube quite a bit as well...

Stream mp3s

I finally got around to installing the del.icio.us code which allows you to stream all mp3s posted on this site. I really like the feature. Let's try it out with a couple of rockin' tunes:

mp3: The Replacements - Beer For Breakfeast
mp3: The Replacements - Fuck School

Simply click the button next to the song to instantly play the tune. You also have the opportunity to easily tag and post the mp3 link to del.icio.us.

I also really like the playTagger toolbar feature a lot. It allows you to convert any page with mp3s into streaming audio files with one click.

More info on how to install these features on your site or in your browser here.

Related: Don't You Know Who I Think I Was? - The Best of the Replacements just came out last week.



In other news:

Thanks US Soccer team! What a game. Looking forward to Thursday already...

Head over to Ear Farm for Radiohead's 6/14/06 NYC performance as downloadable mp3s.

Gogol Bordello's mastermind single-handedly improves your boring life. (via BV)

Seventh win in row lifts Twins to .500. Did I call this last Wednesday or what?!

Had a lot of fun at my friend Amy's birthday party last Friday. Her friend Vu is awesome; check out his creative video for Thom Yorke's new song Black Swan:



Have a nice Monday!

- Steve

USA vs Italy

Please US Soccer team don't let me down today!

Reminder: I'll be guest DJ at halftime @ Brits Pub. OK, just kidding, I'm not, but I should be...

- Steve

Duplomacy

Music-wise, we're so lucky here in Minneapolis / St. Paul. So many great bands are making the rounds here at the moment, no wonder Tapes 'n Tapes didn't "catch on" for a while locally. One of these new cool bands is Duplomacy. I think you'll like 'em, I really do.

Here's what HowWasTheShow had to say:

Duplomacy plays with a rare calm and slow beauty that I have not heard for a long time…(they) play off of each other in an almost orchestral way. The song layering and transitions are reminiscent of the Beatles…While sounding very different, Duplomacy’s songs do have a similar dreamlike introspective beauty to some of REM’s earliest work. And their use of minor keys always gets me.

Personally, I think they sound like Death Cab For Cutie minus the "wussiness", mix in a little Pavement, add a bit of Wolf Parade and Dinosaur Jr, and there you go. Highly recommended for fans of bands afore mentioned and: Low, Band of Horses, Xiu Xiu, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Head of Femur, Headphones, Kid Dakota, Happy Apple, etc...

Here's a couple of mp3s for you:

mp3: Duplomacy - Stars
mp3: Duplomacy - Coppertone

Their new album "All These Long Drives" mixed by by Brad Kern (Semisonic, Dan Wilson, The Hang Ups, The Owls) drops 7/11/06 via 2024 Records and will be availabe available via their website soon.

Duplomacy will be performing live @ 5th Annual Square Lake Solstice Music & Fim Festival this Saturday, 6/17/06, in Stillwater, MN, along such great other acts as Low, The Deaths, Happy Apple, and many others.

I'd love to go to the festival above, however, I have US World Cup Soccer duties to attend to Saturday. Therefore, I'll check them out for their official CD release party w/ with The Deaths and Askeleton on 7/8/06 @ Turf Club. I think you should too.. In the meanwhile you can become their friend on MySpace...

Duplomacy Offical Site
Duplomacy MySpace
2024 Records Site

In other news:

Babes of the World Cup:



More here (sfw). Saturday @ 2:30pm I'll be @ Brits Pub. If you'd like to see me in "hooligan" action, you should come. Any other local footbol fans out there? Where are you watching the game? You should join me...

I'll leave you with Lily Allen's first single "Smile". Unfortunately her video was just removed from YouTube (thanks RIAA, you know how to promote artists so well), so here's her Top of the Pops peformance. Awesome...



Have a great weekend!

Prost!
- Steve

Lupe Fiasco

(Lupe & Jigga)

I've mentioned I have a roommate before, right? His name is Brian, and he's the DJ of this blog, aka Adidas1. He's got a serious music/cd-buying addiction problem... which is great for me! He introduces me to so much great house / hip-hop / electronica music everyday, it's unbelievable.

The past few weeks I've heard a lot of Lupe Fiasco coming out of his room. Check this Chicago guy out! He might just be the next big thing in hip-hop. His album was supposed to come out a couple of weeks from now... unfortunately, it leaked on the interweb (don't you hate that) and he's going back in the studio to add some tunes (source). According to Amazon the album Food and Liquor drops 8/8/06. Anyway, check out the excellent first single, "Kick Push" on YouTube (RIAA has been all over posting this mp3):



Awesome, I love it... so smooth. One of the 2006 Summer tunes of the year. Remember: Skateboarding is not a crime!

Lupe Fiasco Official Site
Lupe Fiasco MySpace

- Steve

P.S. Brian could have posted this himself if: a) He wasn't so damn internet shy? b) He didn't forget his blogger login... Whatever ;) We'll try to resolve these "technical difficulties" ASAP...

To be someone

I'll be honest, I've got nothing today. Had to help my Dad move large pieces of office furniture last night. Tennis a couple of days ago, moving stuff yesterday... Ouch, I'm going to be sore later.

I did find the following video on YouTube. It's Noel Gallagher covering The Jam's "To Be Someone". I remember getting goosebumps when he played this live on Oasis' Be Here Now Tour.



Update:

Here's a live version of the song recorded in Chicago (a show I attended) around 1995. Noel forgets part of the lyrics... classic, I think you'll like it:

mp3: Oasis - To Be Someone (Noel Gallagher live solo)

And coz' I love my readers, here's a bonus:

mp3: Oasis - Married With Children (live electric)

Perhaps I should start posting more Oasis b-sides and live tracks, no? I got a lot. Let me know...

Enjoy,
- Steve

I'm your private dancer

(The Futureheads live @ Fine Line Music Cafe 6/11/05)

Get this. I actually got out and engaged in some physical exercise yesterday! Yeah, played Tennis against my brother and got my ass kicked royaly 6-0 and 6-3. Actually I didnt' play too badly, just a bit rusty... those passing shots looked a lot easier during the French Open. Federer, I feel your pain.

A few things going on, so a bit of a "scattered" post today:

> Do head over to Scatter o' Light and download some live Coldplay from the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend. They covered Lou Reed's "Perfect Day"; need I say more?

> CityPages cover story today The Pitchfork Effect is a great read. Did you know Pitchfork "began as the project of a self-admitted slacker from the Twin Cities suburbs. Nineteen-year-old Ryan Schreiber"? I bet you didn't; interesting, huh? Also covered in the article, mandatory of course, CYHSY and Tapes 'n Tapes.

> Some good new music came out yesterday. I'll focus on one of my favorites, The Futureheads. I love these boys... 'seen them 4 times in the last couple of years, more than some local bands, actually. Here's my favorite track so far from their new album News and Tributes:

mp3: The Futureheads - Return Of The Beserker

The Futureheads will be playing locally @ Varsity Theater 7/30/06 (not w/Tapes 'n Tapes). Do check them out live.

> I'm all World Cup at the moment. I hardly even know other sports are going on, actually. Then again, last night's Twins win against the Red Sox (featuring a walk-off Grand Slam in extra innings) may just turn their season around (hopefully). I've mentioned that I'm a Red Sox fan and a live with a Yankees fan, right!?

> The Current is continuing their pledge drive this week. If you support great music and public radio, I highly suggest you contribute today. Where else are you going to hear the bands I post about (especially the local stuff)?!



> Last but not least. Once in a while I do this. I'll tell you a little secret... the first real "rock 'n' roll" show I ever saw was Tina Turner @ Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria, in like 1985 (yes, I'm old). Go ahead, laugh, I don't mind. Anyway, I still like a lot of Tina's music and of course her legs. This tune truly is a classic (in my mind at least):

mp3: Tina Turner - Private Dancer

Gotta' go, lots of great live music on TV.

Take care brothers of South Central,
- Steve

Pontiac Solstice commercial

Has anybody else seen the new Pontiac Solstice commercial (view it here)? For some reason late last week I couldn't get the song in the ad out of my head. The tune features very repetive, yet very cool lyrics "I love you, I love you, I love you..." and I definitely knew I had heard it somewhere before. Finally this weekend, it came to me... that's from the movie Dig! starring the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jamestown Massacre! I felt relief, and turns out I was able to find a copy of the tune. Here it is:

mp3: The Dandy Warhols - I Love You

And a couple of other cool tunes from the Dandy Warhols' album Come Down:

mp3: The Dandy Warhols - Minnesoter (fitting for this blog I think)
mp3: The Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth

I've got a headache so that's all for today... I'm blaming it on the US Soccer team's performance Monday.

- Steve

The Alarmists / White Light Riot / Low Lustre live @ Varsity Theater 6/9/06

(The Alarmists live @ Varsity Theater 6/9/06)

All photos from The Alarmists / White Light Riot / Low Lustre gig and more here. Slideshow here. Video of The Alarmists performing "Good Advice" live here.

I didn't know when I left the house @ 9pm last Friday I wouldn't return back home until 15 hours later. Here's a very quick recap of the crazy evening and following morning...

It's rare you get to see 3 great bands in one evening and wind up really liking and rocking out to all of them. That's what happened at The Alarmists' CD release party on 6/9/06 at the Varsity Theater. Great crowd, the show was nearly sold out. Low Lustre opened around 10pm and played an enthusiastic set. I hadn't heard them before and really liked them musically. White Light Riot played their usual rockin' set. The crowd was really into it. The "rock n roll" moment of the evening definitely belonged to WLR, as lead singer Mike accidently cut himself right above the eye with his guitar early in their performance. What a trooper... he played the whole remaining gig with blood streaming down the right side of his face. Yeah, that's adrenaline for you. Luckily he's ok. He needed a few stitches though, so head over to their MySpace and wish him well... I'm not really that good with blood, so for pictures of the incidence (as well as other great photos and recaps), go to Brody's blog or photo-guru Mike's MySpace. The Alarmists came on around midnight and had the crowd in a frenzy. The mixture of brilliant songs from their album and new material really pleased the audience. Check the video for further evidence... All in all, an A+ performance by all the featured bands.

After the gig I hung out in the Varsity Theater for a bit talking with some nice people. Also got to explore the "skeleton hallway" and the roof. Very cool, if not a bit creepy, though. On the way to my car I ran into a friend of a friend, Jaric; a Polish guy studying on his PHD in Economics at the University of Minnesota. He joined me for the Alarmists after-party in St. Paul. We had a lot of fun out there... they even had ping-pong action. Around 5:30AM (!) we decided it would be a good idea to head down to Brits Pub in Minneapolis to watch the England vs. Paraguay World Cup Soccer Match (Jaric was still pretty pissed off about Poland losing that day). After a quick breakfast and numerous coffees we made it to Brits... It got absolutely packed and we had front row seats in front of the big-screen for the game. It was an absolute blast hanging out with the soccer hooligans! Way to go Beckham! I returned home around noon Saturday and was pretty exhausted... great night, though. You never know what's going to happen, I tell you...

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from the evening and morning (all the rest are on Flickr):


(The Alarmists' setlist @ Varsity Theater 6/9/06)


(Low Lustre live @ Varsity Theater 6/9/06)


(White Light Riot live @ Varsity Theater 6/9/06)


(Brody shows us the skeletons in Varsity Theater's closet)


(Hangin' on the roof of Varsity Theater)


(Myself, Chance & Heather after the gig)


(Jaric and I having coffee before the soccer match)


(Shakespeare speech before the England vs Paraguay World Cup soccer match)


(England scores!)

Related sites:
Low Lustre MySpace
White Light Riot MySpace
The Alarmists MySpace

Have a great Monday! Go USA in the World Cup!

- Steve