Wednesday Night Music Options - 12/5/07

Wednesday 12/5/07:

Indie 103’s Bands in Toy Land: Spoon / Datarock / Pinback / Sea Wolf @ Avalon (Sold Out) – It’s a pretty good lineup.

Robert Francis / Emily Jane White / Big Search @ Tangier ($8) – This is a quality singer-songwriter showcase. Big Search is a side project of Matt, the lead singer of Foreign Born.

Nels Cline Singers / Eugene Chadbourne @ Safari Sam’s ($10) – I like the sound of the electric guitar, but Nels can be a bit much. We get it, you’re an incredible guitar player. Like that last Wilco show at the Greek. Wilco’s playing all those mellow, understated songs and then Nels would interrupt the calm in his bright red, peacock shirt and shred a guitar solo. He even did it on the lap steel.

The Spice Girls @ Staples Center ($120) – I just searched and found tix in the 26th row. I’m not just trying to be an indie dick, but I don’t think I can name one Spice Girls song.

David Garza @ Largo – He was influenced by Paul Simon way before Vampire Weekend was influenced by Paul Simon. And he’s got a song “Who Is Sylvia.”

Kind Hearts & Coronets @ Mr. T’s Bowl – Mr. T’s Christmas show. Surprise guests are promised.

The Dilettantes / Electromagnetic / Tom McShane @ Silverlake Lounge ($8) – Joel Gion was the tambourine player in Brian Jonestown Massacre. I can’t say that I’m crazy about his singing voice, but if you’re into BJM this might be a good scene for you tonight.

Club NME: Bloodcat Love / The Lieutenants / Hollerado @ Spaceland

Shiloe / Repeater @ Boardner’s

Jesse Malin @ Hotel Café – Ryan Adams’ buddy.

Brittney Elizabeth @ Knitting Factory ($12)

Cut Chemist / Edan @ Silent Movie Theatre (CANCELED) – Yo mang, this show ain’t happening anymore.

Weekly New Music Releases - 12/4/07 (Libertines Giveaway)

Send me an email at [dukeufo at hotmail] and tell me your favorite new British buzz band. One winner will get a giftwrapped copy of the new Libertines greatest hits collection, Time For Heroes, sent to the person of their choosing.

New Releases 12/4/07:

Aloha: Light Works EP (Polyvinyl) – Aloha’s Some Echoes was at the top of my list of favorite records last year. I had no idea this EP was even being released. The free download sounds like a departure from Some Echoes, but I’ll reserve judgment until I hear the other six songs (the others are streaming on their Myspace page). If you never picked up Some Echoes, Polyvinyl’s having a big sale right now and selling it for $8 direct. Download “Body Buzz”

Bonde do Role: Marina Gasolina (Domino) – Crazy Brazilians.

Daft Punk: Alive 2007 (Virgin) – On paper, a Daft Punk live album sounds completely pointless to me. But apparently the songs are all cut and pasted together and completely re-imagined.

Nick Drake: Fruit Tree Box Set (UME/Fontana) – The three studio albums along with a DVD of the film A Skin Too Few. CD set limited to 8,000 copies. I just re-watched A Skin Too Few on cable and it’s quite moving. There’s also a premium vinyl edition limited to 2,000 copies that includes the DVD and the lyric/song breakdown book. The vinyl version goes for $89 (which seems like too much money, but is probably worth it given how good those records are). The CDs are a little more reasonable at $60.

Ghostface Killah: The Big Doe Rehab (Def Jam) – The reviews haven’t been as positive as they were for Fishscale.

Guillemots: Back to Mine (Back to Mine) – Mix CD includes Daniel Johnston, Buffalo Springfield, Bjork, etc.

Lee Hazlewood: STRUNG OUT ON SOMETHING NEW: THE REPRISE RECORDINGS (Rhino Handmade) – The early Reprise stuff with stuff Lee produced for other artists.

Wyclef Jean: Carnival Vol. II (Sony) – Guests like Serj Tankian, Mary J. Blige, Norah Jones, Chamillionaire, Shakira, Paul Simon, T.I. At the House of Blues on 2/8/08.

The Libertines: Time for Hereos – the Best of the Libertines (Rough Trade) – Imagine being in a band with Pete Doherty. They had some good tracks.

Damien Rice: Live from the Union Chapel (Reprise)

Rufus Wainwright: Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall (Geffen) – Two disc live set.

Tuesday Night Music Options 12/4/07

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Play a Sold Out El Rey Show

Tuesday 12/4/07
Radio Alert: The Beastie Boys on Little Radio from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM PST.

A Place to Bury Strangers / Xu Xu Fang / Mere Mortals @ Silverlake Lounge ($8) – I saw A Place to Bury Strangers at the Viper Room last night. As I mentioned, they’re a Brooklyn band with a lot of buzz right now. The guitar sound is really good and I wasn’t bored watching them. That said, some of the songs are still a work in progress. If you’re into paint melting, Jesus & Mary Chain guitar sounds, they do a damn good job of it. Keep your eye on them. Get there early for Xu Xu Fang.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings @ El Rey (Sold Out) – I accidentally caught their show at Amoeba last night. I’ll take Sharon Jones over Amy Winehouse any day of the week. A great band, high energy and everything you expect from a soul singer.

The Cave Singers / Port O’Brien / Whispertown 2000 @ the Echo ($10)
Download Port O’Brien’s “My Eyes Won’t Shut” and “Five and Dime”
Download The Cave Singers’ “Seeds of Night”

Voxhaul Broadcast / Karin Tatoyan @ Airliner ($3 / $8 if under 21)

The Royal Highness @ The Good Hurt – Danish stoner rock.

John Gold @ Bordello ($10)

Chris Stills / Emily Jane White @ Hotel Café – Emily Jane White goes on at 7:00PM.

Wayne Federman / Kevin Nealon / Sarah Silverman / Andy Kindler @ Largo

Jonathan Davis @ Orpheum ($41.50) – You’d think the lead singer of Korn could sell out the Orpheum, but I just looked and you can get tickets.

Motion City Soundtrack / Anberlin @ Wiltern ($22)

New Music Tuesday: 11/20/07 & 11/27/07

Lately, I really seem to excel at giving you old information. I know, I suck. Anyway, I'm gearing up for my best of lists. These old release posts are all about trying to make sure I evaluate everything that came out.


Most Interesting New Releases 11/20/07:

Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Ask Forgiveness EP (Drag City) – Will Oldham covers that Bjork/Thom Yorke song, Mickey Newbury, Phil Ochs, Danzig, R. Kelly and Merle Haggard. With one original too.

Boris with Merzbow: Rock Dream Live (Southern Lord) – Limited to 5,000. Rather than a true collaboration, it’s more just Boris songs with Merzbow joining in on them.

British Sea Power: Krankenhaus? EP (Rough Trade)

Donald Fagen: The Night Fly Trilogy (Rhino) – Reissue of the Steely Dan founder’s three solo studio albums.

Genesis: 1983-1998 Box Set (Rhino) – 5 CD/ 5 DVD set. When I think of the glory days of Genesis, 1983-1998 is not it.

Gorillaz: D-Sides (Virgin) – For the fans only. B-sides and remixes.

Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same Soundtrack (Atlantic/Rhino) – Remastered and expanded live set.

Major Stars: Mirror/Messenger (Drag City) – All Music Guide seems to like the record, but calls it disappointing and gives it a 2.5/5 largely due to a poor mix.

Bob Marley: Exodus 30th Anniversary (Tuff Gong) – I’m not the world’s biggest reggae fan, but Marley transcends a lot of that.

James Murphy & Pat Mahoney: Fabriclive.36 (Fabric) – Do you like LCD Soundsystem?

Nine Inch Nails: Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D (Interscope) – Remix album of Year Zero. Also comes with a DVD ROM that allows fans to do their own remixes.

Six Organs of Admittance: Shelter From the Ash (Drag City) – I haven’t heard it yet, but Pitchfork was a bit snarky. They basically call it watered down psychedelic folk and compare it unfavorably to what Jackson Browne did to folk-rock. What’s the matter with Jackson Browne? I’d trade any one of his first three albums for everything Animal Collective has ever done.
Download “Jade Like Wine”

The Valerie Project: The Valerie Project (Drag City) – Espers and some other psych-folk Philadelphians got together to pay tribute to a Czech, New Wave film called Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. This album fared a bit better from Pitchfork, garnering a 7.5/10.

Various Artists: Brit Box (Rhino) – This is a four disc collection that covers music from the UK from the 1980s to 1990s. You can never please everybody with these broad compilations, but I think the tracklisting is pretty good. Amazon has it for a good price too.

Various Artists: Jimmy Carter – Man From the Plains Soundtrack (Milan) – Original music from David Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Dan Bern, Brother Ali, Alejandro Escovedo, etc.

Various Artists: Through the Wilderness - A Tribute to Madonna (Manimal) - The CD and iTunes version are out, the vinyl comes out on 1/28/08. A bunch of mostly LA artists (Lavender Diamond, The Tyde, Giant Drag, Winter Flowers, Jonathan Wilson, The Chapin Sisters, Lions of Panjshir, Ariel Pink, Jeremy Jay) pay tribute to Madonna.

Amy Winehouse: Frank (Universal) – She’s a tragic mess but a lot of you seem to like her songs. This is actually her first album from 2003, reissued in the States at the domestic price.

Monday Night Music Options 12/3/07

A Place to Bury Strangers Play the Viper Room Tonight

The Division Day / Voxtrot show at the Fonda was a good time. Division Day is a tight and well-oiled machine right now. I’m looking forward to their new material. Voxtrot is just a lot of fun. Indie pop in the classic sense of the word. I will admit, the Voxtrot crowd made me feel a bit old.

Monday 12/3/07

In-store Alert: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings @ Amoeba (Free) – 7:00 PM – Their show at El Rey tomorrow is sold out.

A Place to Bury Strangers / In Waves / Eulogies @ Viper Room ($10 / or free with RSVP to Myspace) – A Place to Bury Strangers are a Brooklyn based, Jesus & Mary Chain, noise-pop inspired band who got a respectable 8.4 out of 10 from Pitchfork. They’re supposedly loud. If you can’t make it out tonight (or have a Westside aversion) see them at the Silverlake Lounge tomorrow.

Carbon/Silicon @ the Troubadour ($15) – Congrats to our Carbon/Silicon prize package winner. They’re the new band from Mick Jones (the Clash/Big Audio Dynamite) and Tony James (Generation X/Sigue Sigue Sputnik).

Vampire Weekend / Grande Ole Party / Princeton @ the Echo ($10) – Vampire Weekend is another NYC band that got a ton of press in 2007. Jeff Weiss checked out their July show at the Silverlake Lounge and wrote about it HERE. The gist is - New York prep school meets Paul Simon’s Graceland. I haven’t spent much (read: any) time rockin’ Graceland, so I’ll throw later era Talking Heads, early David Byrne solo and Peter Gabriel into the fire. Last time they passed through they were unsigned. This time they’re signed to XL Recordings and have their debut album due in January.

The Binges / Biblical Proof of UFOs @ Spaceland (Free) – The Binges are doing the Monday night residency at Spaceland this month. They’re more of a sleazy rock ‘n’ roll band (which we too often forget about on the eastside).

Tweak Bird / Crystal Antlers @ Silverlake Lounge (Free) - Noisey.

Patton Oswalt @ Largo – Funny bastard. I took him for granted when I’d see him once a month at Largo.

Henry Clay People @ the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa – They’re doing a Monday night residency.