Dusted Stacks The Opposing Elements With Hexlove.

Dusted Reviews
Artist: Hexlove
Album: Knew Abloom (Life's Hood)
Label: Holy Mountain
Review date: Jan. 30, 2008
Original review

Illinois native/California resident Zac Nelson is a drummer by trade, and fills that chair as a member of both Who’s Your Favorite Son, God? and Prints. Ever the multi-tasker, though, he also finds the time to run rhythm (and everything else, really) as Hexlove, a rather expansive solo project in which he focuses on oft-overstuffed pop miniatures that always teeter on the brink of a perilous explosion.

The 11 tracks that make up Knew Abloom (Life’s Hood), Nelson’s first disc for the Holy Mountain label, sound like they were spilled to tape as quickly as the ideas behind them were birthed. Hexlove’s creativity is boundless for sure, and with his manic drumming often as the backbone, each song here rifles through bizarre lexicons of outsider pop, spasmodic free jazz, and endlessly expansive psych moves, cramming more into quick two-minute snatches than most modern psych-jammers manage to bequeath in a pair of album sides.

While much of the disc threatens to boil over its nervous energy, Nelson still has a knack for crafting generally gorgeous mood pieces that pastiche intuitive percussion and shimmering strings into the subliminally transcendent. Tracks like “Hold Her, Sees Crane” best exemplify the man’s particular strengths, as a staggered, melodic guitar line and constantly bounding percussion gradually work to a unified climax near the piece’s end.

In one sense, then, that’s a large part of Hexlove’s most successful trick – stacking opposing elements to see how many steps it takes to bring them together. It’s something he works just as capably on “Pepper Hurts,” as carnival-esque asides mingle with an insistently shifting rhythm. The two find a quick communion near the track’s end, only to give way to a nimble drumbeat and several different cuts of Nelson’s voice.

The clear highlights in all of this, however, are “Excepting Eternity in the Relationship” and “Excepting Eternity in the Stretch,” together a miniature two-part suite that finds Nelson relaxed enough to, at long last, give his multitude of ideas enough room to breathe. During the first part, the drums slacken their pace while the guitars laze about, providing a laconic counterpoint to the growing cacophony of multi-tracked voices that swell beneath. Decidedly more euphoric, the album closes on extraterrestrial droning and scattershot drums of “Stretch,” gradually working to a climax after a patient exploration of all possible intersections.

If there is something for which to fault Nelson on Knew Abloom, then maybe it’s his oft-restless spirit, one that seems to derail potentially great ideas after a scant minute or two. The album’s finest moments are undoubtedly its longest ones, those in which Hexlove manages to find the pulse in an inspirational piece of drumming or guitar and pull it out over a few minutes, exhausting possibilities across a number of different tonal and rhythmic variations. It’s a minor complaint, though, and one that doesn’t even remotely stop Knew Abloom from being a pretty great listen from a prodigiously talented dude.

By Michael Crumsho

Ghislain Poirier Lead Review On XLR8R.com Today.

Ghislain Poirier
No Ground Under
Ninja Tune
Breaks / Bass
7/10
Original review

On No Ground Under, inimitable DJ/producer Ghislain Poirier enlists a vast crew of international pals–from France, Jamaica, and Brooklyn–to pepper his inventive beats with worldly touches of Trinidadian Soca and dancehall. The Montreal-based DJ’s choppy, futuristic hip-hop numbers can easily stand on their own, and in some cases, the guests overcrowd the tracks. But cuts like “No More Blood,” which features dancehall crooner Face-T, and the gritty “City Walking,” where freestyle MC Abdominal visits, are expert collaborations, fitting their vocalists like a glove. Some of the best tracks, though, find Poirier going it alone, like “Hit & Red,” with a broken, reconstructed beat that recalls Rounds-era Four Tet, and the ultramodern, Neptunes-y “It’s a War War War.”

Reviewed By Joe Colly • January 31 2008

Revolver Bands On Tour January 29th 2008

APES
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/13 Philadelphia, PA @ Silk City
02/14 Manhattan, NY @ Cake Shop
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/16 Providence, RI @ Living Room (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/17 Winooski, VT @ Monkey Bar
02/19 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/20 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/21 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/23 Columbus, OH @ Bourbon St
03/07 Richmond, VA @ The Camel
03/08 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Event Center
03/09 Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
03/10 Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge
03/11 Chattanooga, TN @ JJs Bohemia
03/13 Houston, TX @ Mink Backroom
03/14 Austin, TX @ Flamingo Cantina (SXSW Showcase)
03/16 Denton, TX @ Rubbergloves
03/17 Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
03/18 St. Louis, MO @ 2 Cents Plain
03/19 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Club
03/20 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
03/21 Akron, OH @Musica
03/22 Wilkes Barre, PA @ Cafe Metropolis
03/23 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY @ Bard College

GREG ASHLEY
03/01 Oakland, CA @ Stork Club
03/02 San Francisco, CA @ The Hemlock Tavern

BABY DEE
02/01 New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
02/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Tin Angel
02/05 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
02/07 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
02/08 Minneapolis, MN @ Bryant Lake Bowl Theater
02/10 Vancouver BC @ The Media Club
02/11 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
02/14 San Francisco, CA @ Chicken John
02/15 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah Saloon
02/16 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Kuumbwa
02/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
02/19 Phoenix, AZ @ The Trunk Space
02/21 Austin, TX @ Lambert's
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

BEIRUT
03/05 Sydney, AUS @ Manning Bar
03/06 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo
03/11 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner Hotel

BLACK LIPS
02/01 Denver, CO @ Bluebird
02/04 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
02/05 Portland, OR @ Dante's
02/06 Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall
02/08 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
02/09 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
02/10 Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar
02/13 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
02/14 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
02/22 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/23 Austin, TX @ Emo's Outside
02/24 Dallas, TX @ The Loft
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union, UOW (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)

BLUES CONTROL
02/02 Hasselt, BEL @ KC Belgie
02/03 Den Haag, NL @ Helbaard
02/29 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory w/RTX

BOREDOMS
03/15 San Diego, CA @ Canes
03/16 Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theater
03/18 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Auditorium
03/20 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
03/21 Seattle, WA @ Neumo's
03/25 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
03/26 Chicago, IL @ Congress Theater
03/29 Boston, MA @ Paradise
03/30 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
04/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Starlight Ballroom
04/03 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

CLIPD BEAKS
03/08 Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell
03/09 Mexicali, Baja California, MEX @ Velouria
03/10 Phoenix, AZ @ Trunk Space
03/11 El Paso, TX @ Ramblin Gallery
03/12 Lubbock, TX @ Bash Riprocks
03/13 Austin, TX @ Children's Museum (SXSW party)
03/14 Austin, Texas. The Side Bar (SXSW daytime party)
03/14 Austin, TX @ Flamingo Cantina (SXSW showcase)

CURRENT 93
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

DAMON & NAOMI
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

DENGUE FEVER
02/27 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/28 Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
02/29 Columbus, OH @ Skully's
03/01 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/02 Arden, DE @ Arden Grid Hall
03/04 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
03/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw
03/06 Princeton, NJ @ Terrace F. Club
03/07 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
03/08 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's
03/12 Los Angeles, CA @ Royce Hall
03/21 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
03/23 Bellingham, WA @ Nighlight Lounge
03/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
03/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/28 Austin, TX @ Club Deville
03/29 Houston, TX @ Orange Show Center
03/30 Fort Worth, TX @ Lola's
04/01 Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater

THE DEATH SET - Upcoming release on Counter Record
03/06 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Events Center
03/07 Athens, GA @ Secret Squirrel
03/08 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03/09 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggos
03/10 New Orleans, LA @ Dragon's Den
03/11 Houston, TX @ Boondocks
03/16 Little Rock, AR @ Happy Fucker's House
03/17 Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
03/18 Lexington, KY @ Skateshop
03/19 Greenville, NC @ Spazzatorium

DIRTBOMBS
02/16 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
02/21 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
02/22 Iowa City, IA @ Picador
02/23 Beloit, WI @ Pearson Hall, Beloit College
02/29 Melbourne, AUS @ The Tote
03/01 Perth, AUS @ Amplifier
03/02 Adelaide, AUS @ Rocket Bar
03/04 Geelong, AUS @ Barwon Club
03/05 Brisbane, AUS @ Phoenix
03/06 Hobart, AUS @ The Brisbane
03/07 Melbourne, AUS @ East Brunswick Club
03/08 Sydney, AUS @ Oxford
03/09 Melbourne, AUS @ Golden Plains Festival
03/21 Bloomington, IN @ Jake's Nightclub
03/22 Nashville, TN 2 Mercy Lounge
03/24 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe
03/25 Little Rock, AR @ Revolution Music Room
03/26 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues- Cambridge Room
03/27 Austin, TX @ Emo's (Indoor)
03/28 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's British Pub
03/29 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
03/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
04/01 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree
04/02 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.
04/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
04/04 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
04/05 Washington, DC @ The Rock and Roll Hotel
04/06 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
04/08 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
04/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
04/11 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/12 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
04/13 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Music Hall
04/15 Ottawa, ONT @ Babylon
04/16 Toronto, ONT @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
04/18 Toledo, OH @ Franckie's
04/19 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig

EATS TAPES
02/29 San Francisco, CA @ El Rio

MICHAEL GIRA
02/22 Barcelona, ESP @ La [2] De Apolo
02/23 Santiago de Compostela, ESP @ Salon Teatro
02/24 Leira, PRT @ Teatro Miguel Franco
02/25 Lisboa, PRT @ Galeria Zé dos Bois
02/27 Madonna dell'Albero, Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
02/28 Torino, IT @ Spazio 211

GRAILS
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

DANIEL HIGGS
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/Om)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/Om)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/Om)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/Om)

HOWLIN' RAIN
01/31 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
02/02 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
02/04 San Francisco, CA @ Independent
02/05 West Hollywood, CA @ Troubador
02/07 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
02/22 Big Sur, CA @ Fernwood Resort

MICHAEL HURLEY
02/10 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's (Arthur Sunday Nights)

SCOTT KELLY
04/18 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

KID KOALA WITH DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST
01/30 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
01/31 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
02/01 Chicago, IL @ Park West
02/04 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02/05 Kansas City, MO 2 Harrah's /Voodoo Lounge
02/07 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02/10 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
02/11 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
02/13 San Francisco, CA @ Grand Ballroom @ The Regency Theater
02/14 Anaheim, CA @ Houose Of Blues
02/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern

LA OTRACINA ON TOUR WITH PHANTOM FAMILY HALO
01/31 Oakland, CA @ Maxwell's
02/03 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
02/04 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
02/07 Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge

LESBIAN
01/31 Los Angeles, CA The Key Club
02/01 San Francisco, CA Annie's Social Club
02/02 Los Angeles, CA The Relax Bar
02/21 Seattle, WA @ Funhouse!
04/19 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

MALCOLM MIDDLETON
05/07 Sydney, AUS @ The Hopetoun
05/09 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner
05/10 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo

NAKED AGGRESSION
03/06 Hamburg, DEU @ Lobusch
03/07 Aalborg, DNK @ 1000 fryd
03/09 Oslo, NOR @ Barikaden
03/10 Linkoping, SWE @ Skylten
03/15 Oulo, FIN @ Park 57
03/16 Jyväskylä, FIN @ Lutakko
03/17 Tampere, FIN @ Vastavirta
03/18 Turku, FIN @ Tvo
03/19 Helsinki, FIN - factory
03/23 Berlin, DEU @ Koepi
03/24 Dresden, DEU @ Chemiefabrik
03/26 Frankfurt, DEU @ Exzess
03/28 Duesseldorf, DEU @ Ak 44
03/29 Hannover, DEU @ Sprengel

NEUROSIS
02/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
02/17 Seattle, WA @ Neumos

OM
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/ Daniel Higgs)
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

PAPERCUTS OPENING FOR BEACH HOUSE
02/28 Baltimore, MD @ G-Spot
02/29 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/01 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03/02 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree Cafe
03/03 Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone Cafe
03/05 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/06 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
03/07 Austin, TX @ Emo's
03/08 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
03/10 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/11 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
03/12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
03/13 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
03/14 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Steynberg Gallery
03/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
03/17 Portland, OR @ Holocene
03/18 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
03/19 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
03/22 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/24 Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
03/25 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
03/26 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
03/27 Cleveland Heights, OH @ The Grog Shop
03/29 Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
03/31 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
04/02 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/03 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbery
04/04 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel

PELT
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT
02/01 New Orleans, LA @ pellcaster Lodge
02/02 Baton Rouge, LA @ The Spanish Moon
02/04 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck (W/ Black Lips)
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room (W/ Black Lips)
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (W/ Black Lips)
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union, UOW (W/ Black Lips)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium (W/ Black Lips)
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall (W/ Black Lips)
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement (W/ Black Lips)
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus (W/ Black Lips)
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick (W/ Black Lips)
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's (W/ Black Lips)
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place (W/ Black Lips)
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (W/ Black Lips)
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (W/ Black Lips)
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (W/ Black Lips)
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (W/ Black Lips)
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat (W/ Black Lips)
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 (W/ Black Lips)
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge (W/ Black Lips)
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone (W/ Black Lips)
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (W/ Black Lips)

JAY REATARD
03/22 Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club
03/06 Sydney, AUS @ The Annadale
03/07 Melbourne, AUS @ E. Brunswick Club
03/08 Brisbane, AUS @ Club Phoenix
03/09 Meredith, AUS @ Golden Plains Festival
03/10 Melbourne, AUS @ The Tote
03/27 Tuscon, AZ @ Rialto Theater
03/28 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
03/29 San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues
03/30 Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
04/01 Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theater
04/02 San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theater
04/04 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
04/05 Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/06 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
04/09 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
04/11 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
04/12 Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
04/13 Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
04/15 Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Theater

JACK ROSE
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

SAPAT
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
01/30 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
01/31 Columbus, OH @ Ravari Room
02/01 Lexington, KY @ The Dame
02/02 Nashville, TN @ The End
02/03 Bloomington, IN @ Waldron Arts Center Auditorium
02/05 Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
02/06 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/08 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/09 Milwaukee, WI @ Mad Planet
02/10 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
02/13 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
02/15 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
02/16 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
02/22 Big Sur, CA @ Fernwood Resort
02/23 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill

SOLE AND THE SKYRIDER BAND ON TOUR WITH TELEPHONE JIM JESUS
01/30 Miami, FL @ PS-14
01/31 Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
02/01 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny's Bar
02/02 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
02/03 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
02/04 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Events Center
02/05 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber Pass
02/08 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar
02/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands Gallery
02/10 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ The Apes)
02/13 Montreal, QC @ Zoobizarre
02/14 Portland, ME @ The Space
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ The Apes)
02/16 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
02/18 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
02/20 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/21 Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
02/23 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Bar and Cafe
02/24 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
02/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
02/28 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
02/29 Seattle, WA @ The Nectar Lounge
03/01 Portland, OR @ Rotture
03/02 Eugene, OR @ W.O.W. Hall
03/04 Eureka, CA @ The Vista
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
03/07 Visalia, CA @ Howie and Sons Pizza

SONIC YOUTH
02/16 Auckland, NZ @ St. James Theatre
02/18 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/19 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/20 Melbourne, AUS @ The Metro
02/21 Melbourne, AUS @The Metro
02/22 Adelaide, AUS @ Fowlers Live Courtyard
02/23 Perth, AUS @ The Music Box (International Arts Festival)

THEMSELVES
02/01 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord

MIA DOI TODD OPENING FOR JOSE GONZALEZ
02/29 Miami, FL @ Airtime Theater
03/01 Orlando, FL @ The Social
03/02 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
03/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ UNC Great Hall
03/04 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
03/05 Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
03/07 Tarrytown, NY @ The Tarrytown Music Hall
03/08 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
03/09 Morgantown, WV @ WVU Creative Arts Center
03/11 New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
03/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
03/13 Boston, MA @ Paradise
03/14 Montreal, QC @ Musée Juste Pour Rire
03/15 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
03/17 Chicago, IL @ Lakeshore Theater
03/18 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
03/19 St. Louis, MO @ Graham Chapel
03/20 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
03/21 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
03/22 Salt Lake City, UT @ Union Ballroom
03/24 San Diego, CA @ San Diego Women's Club
03/25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
03/27 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Auditorium
03/28 Portland, OR @ The Aladdin Theatre
03/29 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/30 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/31 Vancouver, BC @ St. Andrew's Wesley United

WHITE WILLIAMS
01/31 Austin, TX @ Emo's
02/01 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
02/02 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
02/04 Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder (FSU)
02/05 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (MJQ Concourse)
02/07 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
02/08 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
02/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

WHY?
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
03/07 Los Angeles, CA @ Natural History Museum
03/08 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/09 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
03/11 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
03/16 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's Pub
03/17 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/18 Atlanta, GA @ The Drunken Unicorn
03/19 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
03/20 Charlottesville, VA @ Outback Lodge
03/21 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
03/22 New York, NY @ The Knitting Factory
03/23 New Haven, CT @ Sundazed At BAR
03/24 Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse
03/25 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
03/26 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
03/27 Toronto, ON @ Silver Dollar
03/28 Ann Arbor, MI @ Pierpoint at University Of Michigan
03/29 Newport, KY @ Southgate House
03/30 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland
04/01 Columbus, OH @ Cafe Bourbon Street
04/02 Bloomington, IN @ Space 101
04/03 Chicago, IL @ The Abbey Pub
04/04 Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
04/05 Madison, WI @ Cafe Montmartre
04/06 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
04/07 Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
04/08 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
04/09 Columbia, MO @ Mojo's
04/10 Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot
04/11 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
04/12 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
04/14 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
04/15 Spokane, WA @ Big Easy
04/16 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
04/17 Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
04/18 Portland, OR @ Holocene
04/19 Eugene, OR @ Indigo District

WOODEN SHJIPS
01/31 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
02/17 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's (Arthur Sunday Nights)
05/09 Camber Sands, UK @ All Tomorrow's Parties Festival
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

Mammoth Words For A Prolific Guy - Richard Youngs Interviewed On Pitchfork

Tue: 01-29-08
Interview: Richard Youngs
Interview by Grayson Currin
Original post

Richard Youngs is a 41-year-old librarian's assistant living in Glasgow. He and his wife, Madeline Hynes, have a new baby boy in the house, and, since his arrival, they sometimes spend evenings listening to Gregorian chants. Youngs wrote a vegan cookbook in the mid-90s, and it was re-published in 2001 with illustrations by Hynes. Such a life-- steady job, progeny, a productive hobby-- seems sufficient.

Except Youngs has another hobby: Since the release of a solo album, Advent, and a collaboration with Simon Wickham-Smith, Lake, in 1990, Richard Youngs has appeared on well over 100 releases on labels as small as his own and as big as Jagjaguwar. His collaborators include Jandek, Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makoto, Vibracathedral Orchestra/Astral Social Club member Neil Campbell, and Skullflower's Matthew Bower. He runs No Fans, his second label, from his kitchen table, and he masters records by his friends. Later this month, he'll complete his first remix, a reinterpretation of a new Astral Social Club seven-inch.

Indeed, Youngs' massive body of after-work recordings is one of the richest and most intriguing collections of the past two decades. He seems as tireless as he does fearless, recording much more than he releases, he says, and moving openly between instruments, roles and forms. Youngs has recorded exquisite 18-minute guitar-and-voice pieces (see "The Graze of Days" from Sapphie) and puncturing 12-minute electronics experiments (see "Alban Stands Here" from Festival). But whether he's engaging acoustic or electronic, harmonic or harsh, collaborative or cloistered muses, he has gone about this creation with middle-class humility. He's put in a lot of work over a long time, and he's content just to be able to continue working. After all, it's the hurdy gurdy he'd like to explore most in the future: "But they're hard to come by, you know? Cost a lot of money."

Pitchfork: Something that interests me about your career is that it's not a career. You record a lot of music, and sometimes it fits together as an album. In the day, though, you work as a librarian.

Richard Youngs: I know what you're saying. I've always recorded, probably since I was about 10 or 11. I got hold of a reel-to-reel and you could change speed on it. I always kind of experimented back then with the thing. For at least a decade, I made music for my own enjoyment, completely different from any wider public. Maybe a few friends were entrusted, and then, having released Advent and Lake, I suddenly found that there was a public for this music. Other people wanted to put stuff out, so that was quite a change-- a very exciting change. I carried on as I had done before, but I had the opportunity to put records out. A record is a very nice thing. You've recorded something, and you have a record. It's closure on it, if you know what I mean. It excited me. It felt good.

Pitchfork: How do you feel about that physical byproduct of your hobby slowly becoming obsolete? I'm holding a copy of your latest album, Autumn Response, in my hands, but I could have just put it on my computer.

RY: With downloads, you mean? I've never downloaded music in my life, so it's strange. I remember growing up and to get music was really quite a process. I might hear something on John Peel or on an open university program, and then I'd have to make a trip to London and go to a specialist record store and part with hard-earned money. You know, I was cleaning my parents' house for this money. I'm a teenager here. You then get it back to your home. There would be a record player in the living room. It wouldn't be like the computer in your bedroom. And you get your chance in the living room to actually play the record. It made that record something you'd worked hard for, and it was a treat to play it. If you're downloading, I guess your relationship with it is different. Maybe it is more like reading a newspaper-- now what is the music for today? Then again, you could come across stuff that would be really special to you, and you'd play the download lots, I guess. Do you download?

Pitchfork: I do, but, like you, I'm still fond of the physical product. I still buy a lot of records. Holding music is quite an experience, you know?

RY: I think it is. Things have changed, and I probably haven't changed. I'm stuck in the past.

Pitchfork: Do you think that physical tie to music reflects itself in your job as a librarian?

RY: I work in a reference library, and there certainly is a lot of use made of resources that aren't physical. You might have online resources or resources on a CD-ROM, which you don't really hold. But there is the joy of the clunk of the microfilm or a nicely bound book.

Pitchfork: You called someone wanting to release your music "a change." Was it also a surprise?

RY: Oh, yes! Total. This was pre-internet days, and there wasn't the community out there which was easily accessible. Growing up in a small town and moving to Nottingham, which is like a city-- or is it a town, actually? It's a larger place from where I grew up. I did come across people who were interested, but it was just a handful of friends. I didn't really conceive that there would be other people. It was a social thing, something we did to amuse each other-- making music.

Pitchfork: How did it pass to the next level?

RY: Forced Exposure gave rave reviews to Advent and Lake. They suggested that we [Youngs and Simon Wickham-Smith] record them a single for their label. We recorded quite a few tracks and said, "Just choose what you want." Jimmy Johnson wrote back and said, "Why don't you just record a bit more and make it an album?" [Laughs] Pretty mind-blowing at the time. We did, and then he went on to release a couple of other things as well. He started suggesting us to people who wanted to do likewise, which was really quite something.

Pitchfork: Had you simply submitted those records to Forced Exposure?

RY: We were aware of Forced Exposure, and it was a very exciting magazine. You'd read about these records, and the way they were written about, you just wanted to hear them. Of course, it was very hard to get hold of the records, so you were reading about things you'd probably never hear. We were sitting on 300 records, and Simon said, "I'll send 'em. They might refuse 'em." That was that. He just sent them. We didn't know who else to send them to for review, and the rest is history.

Pitchfork: I'm quite younger than you, and I often hear stories from older music fans about reading about obscure records as kids and being fascinated but still not hearing them, even now. If you would have heard the records you were reading about then, do you think the sounds you've made would be different?

RY: That's an interesting one because back then you were probably exposed to a lot less. How old are you?

Pitchfork: 24.

RY: Oh, then you've probably grown up listening and had good access to quite a variety of stuff. Don't think we had that! There was the John Peel Show, and in Britain there were programs very late at night or very early in the morning through the open university. They would do a program on Stockhausen or Gaelic singing. This was stuff you'd never hear otherwise. John Peel played records you'd never hear otherwise. You came at stuff in a different way. I think one of the differences was that there was a certain filtering done for you, perhaps, where now you can just go online and surf, surf, surf away and come across stuff you wouldn't have come across back then. It's very hard to compare times, and I don't want to make out I'm some fuddy-duddy. But I don't download. Actually, as I've gotten older, I listen to less and less music. There comes a point where you get favorites which you go back to. The chance for music to shock you-- like, "Wow, that's something I've never heard before."-- becomes less and less. You don't hunt for new sounds quite so vigorously.

Pitchfork: Do you remember the last time a record shocked you?

RY: Yeah, yeah. My friend John Clyde-Evans sent me some recordings he had made. He went to India for a year. He always played very harmonic music. He went to India for a year, and your expectation might be that it would further mellow what was there. But he started making very harsh, brittle, shrieking music-- very strange. He's released a couple of these recordings, but I've got a CD-R that hasn't been released that he burned for me. I think it's the most definitive take on this period he's going through with music. It's very stately, and there are a lot of quite unpleasant sounds in there. It's quite unlike anything else, I think.

Pitchfork: And what are the records to which you return?

RY:In the last year, I've been listening to a lot of Gregorian chants. I've got a baby boy, and it was one way that seemed to improve his sleep. We just started playing Gregorian chants at night and grew to really like it. In terms of rock and pop, Syd Barrett's first solo album I think I can come back to endlessly. I think the songs are really rich. It's got a lot of beauty to it. I've got possibly unquestioning love for Pink Floyd. It's one of the first things I ever heard in my parent's space. The Meddle album I really like and come back to a lot. When I was a teenager, I listened to Cabaret Voltaire and [Einstürzende] Neubauten, and I like to hear that once in a while now. I think, "That's exciting stuff," but I'm not sure I'd come back to it too often. It would be an occasional pleasure certainly, as would Metal Box by Public Image Ltd. Steve Reich...Anne Briggs.

Pitchfork: I've seen you mention Pink Floyd as an influence several times. What first struck you about that band?

RY: The first stuff I heard was the early singles. The next thing I heard after that was Animals, which was several years later. I heard "See Emily Play," and I thought that was all they had ever done. I didn't realize they had a career. I moved away from Cambridge and someone had Animals. It was very different. I remember playing along with Animals a lot. But if you asked me now what I liked about Pink Floyd, it would be the period from Atom Heart Mother through to Meddle, when they were just four middle class guys making music. They weren't necessarily writing songs or making concepts. They were just making music. Meddle is a really good example of that. You've got your side of songs, and then you've got a longer piece on the other side. It possibly doesn't all fit together, but it's all just very enjoyable. There's that video, Live at Pompeii, and I love that. Again, it seemed to me to be a fortnight just making music.

Pitchfork: The way you described Pink Floyd, it almost sounds like you're describing yourself, in terms of recording what you want.

RY: I'd go along with that. The other thing would be why wouldn't you make what interests you? Why would you make something that doesn't interest you? I might want to sing unaccompanied, or I might want to ram 24 instruments over one another. Whatever I want to do at the time, I'm free to do. I'm not chained to any preconceptions…or having to make any particular type of music. There are songs and more experimental elements, so whatever.

Pitchfork: Does it surprise you then that people still want to put these records out?

RY: I think so. If you do songs and people respond positively, that's very nice. It is a nice surprise.

Pitchfork: With John Clyde-Evans, you mentioned this movement from pretty to harsh music. There are a lot of examples of that in your music, like the abrupt movement between noise and a very beautiful acoustic track on your album with Kawabata Makoto. Is this a conscious thing for you, sort of a reflection on life?

RY: I don't know. I think it's reflective of the way the recordings turned out and nothing else. [Laughs] But life's very rich, isn't it? But I have quite a short attention span, maybe, so I get bored and frustrated. I go mad if I stick to one thing.

Pitchfork: Must be nice to have friends who want to make music with you then.

RY: It is, yes. I have a couple of regular sessions in Glasgow. One with a friend Andrew Paine and another with Alex Nielson. They're duos. It's very nice, and it's a social thing as well. It's not just business. Some people play golf. We play music. It's very much a part of my social life.

Pitchfork: When did music first become a social outlet for you?

RY: It would have been at school. We were probably about 11 or 12, and we called ourselves the Rejects. We had a drum kit built out of Tupperware and meccano, and we had some acoustic guitars which we strummed. There was four of us. They were very much songs-- three verses, chorus. I had classical lessons, and I didn't know any regular chords for quite a while. It was always a bit of a mystery how people wrote pop songs with chords, so I remember struggling quite a bit to come up with songs with chords. I was holding down two open strings and just one fret. I wanted that chord sound, but I couldn't quite get it.

Pitchfork: Did you have the normal adolescent rock-star dreams?

RY: No, I don't think so. I probably wanted to be able to make a different sound than I was managing to make. "Wow, wouldn't it be great to have an electric guitar and sound powerful? Wouldn't it be great to record with a certain degree of fidelity which I'm not getting at the moment?" Those were my thoughts of the moment.

Pitchfork: Have you ever dreamed of at least making music your career? Or, if someone offered you $100,000 for a record, would you take it?

RY: [Laughs] It's hugely hypothetical, but I've kind of drifted into having some sort music or recording career, I suppose. I certainly would be very interested in the offer. I'm sure there would be conditions attached to it, but, yeah, find me that person, and I'll talk to them.

Link To The Death Set's 'Negative Thinking' Video.

According to the folks at Ninja Tune they signed The Death Set to their Counter Records imprint because, well, because they are awesome. Judge for yourself by checking out this link for the amazing 'Negative Thinking' video. Expect a teaser EP coming out later on this year along with a extensive touring of the US and beyond. In the mean time the vid will have to do.

Three Imaginary Girls Reviews White Williams' Debut Album.

White Williams —Smoke
{7.1}
{Tigerbeat6}
Original post
There is a lot to be said for taking things easy, to stay relaxed and to not let things get to you. This is especially true if you have a lot of eggs in your basket, and Joe Williams, the man behind White Williams, has eggs a plenty. Not only is he a singer, musician and graphic artist, but also he’s been busy touring with the likes of Girl Talk. Smoke, the debut album from White Williams is pretty much what you might expect when you look at the garish cover of the disc, the sort of music that you might expect to be playing when you a little bit off your head after inhaling a little smoke – whatever smoke that might be.

If anything can be said for Smoke is that its relaxed to the point of sleepiness. White Williams seems to thrive in that zone of lurid disco-funk and glam-rock that is an extension Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie. This is readily apparent from the opening track “Headlines,” a song that could feel very comfortable on the soundtrack to Velvet Goldmine, taking glam rock and blending it effortlessly with a slow R&B jam. This formula is repeated with varying results, like “In the Club” that sounds like an extremely forced Bowie homage (and remarkably similar to be much smoother “Headlines”) or “Danger,” which is a little more Gary Numan than Bowie, but still in that same arena. White Williams break away a bit on “Going Down,” a track that comes across more like a subdued revision of !!!, lacking the frenetic pacing of the !!! and replacing it was a mellow rhythm that works surprisingly well. There are some rather odd turns, like the cover of Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” that is turned into something like might here in a low budget porn flick rather than pop radio, becoming more like trance-rock, putting the song on a heavy dose of Quaaludes – effectively removing the infectious energy of the ‘80s original. However, White Williams does win back some points with “Route to Palm,” a real charmer that is catchy and energetic without being chaotic, almost as if he wanted to write a indie-pop classic rather than stick with the glam rock formula.

Smoke is an album chock full ‘o smooth grooves that are locked into the ‘70s and ‘80s new wave and glam rock dimension. This kind of leads to a overall tone to the album that doesn’t waver too much from its goal, yet at times feels a little forced and repetitive. However, through it all, you can hear many good things in the White Williams sound, especially when he lets it vary from his obvious influences. -Erik Gonzalez, January 16, 2008

The White Willimas band just hit the West Coast leg of their US tour. Still lots of dates to go.

01/24 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
01/25 Portland, OR @ Holocene
01/26 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
01/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
01/29 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
01/31 Austin, TX @ Emo's
02/01 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
02/02 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
02/04 Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder (FSU)
02/05 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (MJQ Concourse)
02/07 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
02/08 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
02/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

The Dirtbombs New Album & Tour Announced On Tiny Mix Tapes.

The Dirtbombs Ready To Explode With A New LP & Tour. Do You Get The Whole Bomb Thing & The Fact That They Explode?

This could be quite the banner year for many established Detroit bands. Along with those rumors of a Jack White solo and/or Raconteurs album this year, we in the TMT newsroom also have more concrete info regarding releases from The Von Bondies, Pas/Cal, SSM, and others. But none of that should fill your heart with excitement like the news of a brand new LP from one of the local masters of rock ‘n’ roll and R&B (think Ike Turner, not Akon), Mick Collins. His current band, The Dirtbombs, are scheduled to release their fourth proper full-length record, We Have You Surrounded, February 19 via In The Red Records.

The 12-track platter, the band’s first since their 2005 clearinghouse odds & sods LP, If You Don’t Already Have A Look (In The Red), will no doubt be another raw, powerful, and moving (as in your ass) album from a man who has yet to disappoint. The title, We Have You Surrounded, could be a proper way of describing, sonically, The Dirtbombs’ live show. Two drummers (Ben Blackwell, Pat Pantano), two bass players (Troy Gregory, Ko Melina), and Collins front and center, blasting forth, as the sound fills every nook and cranny of the room, much louder and more enjoyable than most punk bands ever could be.

Don’t believe me? Your next chance to check them out will be coming soon. The band will be embarking on a small Midwest tour in late February, followed by a nine-day Australian excursion and a bigger tour of the U.S. East Coast in March and April. Western U.S. dates should be forthcoming as well, so stay tuned here for all the latest.

We Have You Surrounded tracklist:

1. It’s Not Fun Until They See You Cry 2. Ever Lovin Man 3. Indivisible 4. Sherlock Holmes 5. Wreck My Flow 6. Leopardman at C & A 7. Fire in the Western World 8. Pretty Princess Day 9. I Hear the Sirens 10. They Have Us Surrounded 11. Race to the Bottom 12. La Fin du Monde

Tourdates:

02.16.08 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
02.21.08 - Chicago, IL - Double Door
02.22.08 - Iowa City, IA - Picador
02.23.08 - Beloit, WI - Pearson Hall (Beloit College)
02.29.08 - Melbourne, VIC, AU - The Tote
03.01.08 - Perth, WA, AU - Amplifier
03.02.08 - Adelaide, SA, AU - Rocket Bar
03.04.08 - Geelong, VIC, AU - Barwon Club
03.05.08 - Brisbane, QLD, AU - Phoenix
03.06.08 - Hobart, TAS, AU - The Brisbane
03.07.08 - Melbourne, VIC, AU - East Brunswick Club
03.08.08 - Sydney, NSW, AU - Oxford
03.09.08 - Melbourne, VIC, AU - Golden Plains Festival
03.21.08 - Bloomington, IN - Jake’s Nightclub*
03.22.08 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge*
03.24.08 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Cafe*
03.25.08 - Little Rock, AR - Revolution Music Room*
03.26.08 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues (Cambridge Room)*
03.27.08 - Austin, TX - Emo’s Alternative Lounging*
03.28.08 - Houston, TX - Rudyard’s British Pub*
03.29.08 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks*
03.31.08 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel*
04.01.08 - Birmingham, AL - Bottle Tree*
04.02.08 - Atlanta, GA - The EARL*
04.03.08 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506*
04.04.08 - Baltimore, MD - Sonar*
04.05.08 - Washington, DC - The Rock and Roll Hotel*
04.06.08 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s*
04.08.08 - New Haven, CT - Cafe Nine*
04.10.08 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s*
04.11.08 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom*
04.12.08 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East*
04.13.08 - Montreal, QUE - Cabaret Music Hall*
04.15.08 - Ottawa, ONT - Babylon*
04.16.08 - Toronto, ONT - Legendary Horseshoe Tavern*
04.18.08 - Toledo, OH - Frankie’s*
04.19.08 - Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig*

* Kelley Stoltz
Posted by C. Schell on 01-14-2008

'Underdog' live off the Ultraglide In Black album.

Revolver Bands On Tour January 24h 2008

APES
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/13 Philadelphia, PA @ Silk City
02/14 Manhattan, NY @ Cake Shop
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/16 Providence, RI @ Living Room (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/17 Winooski, VT @ Monkey Bar
02/19 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/20 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/21 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub (w/ Sole, Telephone Jim Jesus)
02/23 Columbus, OH @ Bourbon St
03/07 Richmond, VA @ The Camel
03/08 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Event Center
03/09 Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
03/10 Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge
03/11 Chattanooga, TN @ JJs Bohemia
03/13 Houston, TX @ Mink Backroom
03/14 Austin, TX @ Flamingo Cantina (SXSW Showcase)
03/16 Denton, TX @ Rubbergloves
03/17 Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
03/18 St. Louis, MO @ 2 Cents Plain
03/19 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Club
03/20 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
03/21 Akron, OH @Musica
03/22 Wilkes Barre, PA @ Cafe Metropolis
03/23 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY @ Bard College

GREG ASHLEY
01/26 Oakland, CA @ RPS
03/01 Oakland, CA @ Stork Club
03/02 San Francisco, CA @ The Hemlock Tavern

BABY DEE
02/01 New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
02/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Tin Angel
02/05 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
02/07 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
02/08 Minneapolis, MN @ Bryant Lake Bowl Theater
02/10 Vancouver BC @ The Media Club
02/11 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
02/14 San Francisco, CA @ Chicken John
02/15 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah Saloon
02/16 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Kuumbwa
02/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
02/19 Phoenix, AZ @ The Trunk Space
02/21 Austin, TX @ Lambert's
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

BEIRUT
03/05 Sydney, AUS @ Manning Bar
03/06 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo
03/11 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner Hotel

BLACK LIPS
02/01 Denver, CO @ Bluebird
02/04 Seattle, WA Neumo's
02/05 Portland, OR @ Dante's
02/06 Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall
02/08 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
02/09 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
02/10 Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar
02/13 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
02/14 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
02/22 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/23 Austin, TX @ Emo's Outside
02/24 Dallas, TX @ The Loft
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union, UOW (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)

BLUES CONTROL
02/02 Hasselt, BEL @ KC Belgie
02/03 Den Haag, NL @ Helbaard
02/29 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory w/RTX

CLIPD BEAKS
03/08 Los Angeles, CA @ The Smell
03/09 Mexicali, Baja California, MEX @ Velouria
03/12 Lubbock, TX @ Bash Riprocks
03/14 Austin, TX @ Flamingo Cantina (SXSW showcase)

CURRENT 93
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

DAMON & NAOMI
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

DENGUE FEVER
02/27 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/28 Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
02/29 Columbus, OH @ Skully's
03/01 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/02 Arden, DE @ Arden Grid Hall
03/04 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
03/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw
03/06 Princeton, NJ @ Terrace F. Club
03/07 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
03/08 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's
03/12 Los Angeles, CA @ Royce Hall
03/21 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
03/23 Bellingham, WA @ Nighlight Lounge
03/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
03/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/28 Austin, TX @ Club Deville
03/29 Houston, TX @ Orange Show Center
03/30 Fort Worth, TX @ Lola's
04/01 Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater

DIRTBOMBS
02/16 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
02/21 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
02/22 Iowa City, IA @ Picador
02/23 Beloit, WI @ Pearson Hall, Beloit College
02/29 Melbourne, AUS @ The Tote
03/01 Perth, AUS @ Amplifier
03/02 Adelaide, AUS @ Rocket Bar
03/04 Geelong, AUS @ Barwon Club
03/05 Brisbane, AUS @ Phoenix
03/06 Hobart, AUS @ The Brisbane
03/07 Melbourne, AUS @ East Brunswick Club
03/08 Sydney, AUS @ Oxford
03/09 Melbourne, AUS @ Golden Plains Festival
03/21 Bloomington, IN @ Jake's Nightclub
03/22 Nashville, TN 2 Mercy Lounge
03/24 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe
03/25 Little Rock, AR @ Revolution Music Room
03/26 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues- Cambridge Room
03/27 Austin, TX @ Emo's (Indoor)
03/28 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's British Pub
03/29 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
03/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
04/01 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree
04/02 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.
04/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
04/04 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
04/05 Washington, DC @ The Rock and Roll Hotel
04/06 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
04/08 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
04/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
04/11 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/12 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
04/13 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Music Hall
04/15 Ottawa, ONT @ Babylon
04/16 Toronto, ONT @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
04/18 Toledo, OH @ Franckie's
04/19 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig

EATS TAPES
01/26 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord
02/29 San Francisco, CA @ El Rio

MICHAEL GIRA
02/22 Barcelona, ESP @ La [2] De Apolo
02/23 Santiago de Compostela, ESP @ Salon Teatro
02/24 Leira, PRT @ Teatro Miguel Franco
02/25 Lisboa, PRT @ Galeria Zé dos Bois
02/27 Madonna dell'Albero, Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
02/28 Torino, IT @ Spazio 211

GRAILS
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

DANIEL HIGGS
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/Om)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/Om)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/Om)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/Om)

MICHAEL HURLEY
02/10 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's (Arthur Sunday Nights)

SCOTT KELLY
01/26 New York, NY @ The Pussycat Lounge
04/18 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

KID KOALA WITH DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST
01/24 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
01/25 Philadelphia, PA @ The Filmore At TLA
01/29 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
01/30 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
01/31 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
02/01 Chicago, IL @ Park West
02/04 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02/05 Kansas City, MO 2 Harrah's N. KC Voodoo Lounge
02/07 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02/10 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
02/11 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
02/13 San Francisco, CA @ Grand Ballroom @ The Regency Theater
02/14 Anaheim, CA @ Houose Of Blues
02/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern

LA OTRACINA ON TOUR WITH PHANTOM FAMILY HALO
01/24 Boise, ID @ Nerolux
01/25 Portland, OR @ East End Bar
01/26 Seattle, WA @ Jules Mae
01/29 San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
01/31 Oakland, CA @ Maxwell's
02/03 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
02/04 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
02/07 Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge

LESBIAN
01/31 Los Angeles, CA The Key Club
02/01 San Francisco, CA Annie's Social Club
02/02 Los Angeles, CA The Relax Bar
02/21 Seattle, WA @ Funhouse!
04/19 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

MALCOLM MIDDLETON
05/07 Sydney, AUS @ The Hopetoun
05/09 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner
05/10 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo

NEUROSIS
01/24 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
01/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
02/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
02/17 Seattle, WA @ Neumos

OM
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/ Daniel Higgs)
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

PAPERCUTS OPENING FOR BEACH HOUSE
02/28 Baltimore, MD @ G-Spot
02/29 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/01 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03/02 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree Cafe
03/03 Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone Cafe
03/05 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/06 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
03/07 Austin, TX @ Emo's
03/08 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
03/10 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/11 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
03/12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
03/13 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
03/14 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Steynberg Gallery
03/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
03/17 Portland, OR @ Holocene
03/18 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
03/19 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
03/22 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/24 Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
03/25 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
03/26 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
03/27 Cleveland Heights, OH @ The Grog Shop
03/29 Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
03/31 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
04/02 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/03 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbery
04/04 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel

PELT
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT
02/01 New Orleans, LA @ pellcaster Lodge
02/02 Baton Rouge, LA @ The Spanish Moon
02/04 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck (W/ Black Lips)
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room (W/ Black Lips)
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (W/ Black Lips)
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union, UOW (W/ Black Lips)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium (W/ Black Lips)
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall (W/ Black Lips)
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement (W/ Black Lips)
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus (W/ Black Lips)
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick (W/ Black Lips)
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's (W/ Black Lips)
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place (W/ Black Lips)
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (W/ Black Lips)
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (W/ Black Lips)
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (W/ Black Lips)
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (W/ Black Lips)
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat (W/ Black Lips)
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 (W/ Black Lips)
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge (W/ Black Lips)
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone (W/ Black Lips)
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (W/ Black Lips)

JAY REATARD
03/22 Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club
03/06 Sydney, AUS @ The Annadale
03/07 Melbourne, AUS @ E. Brunswick Club
03/08 Brisbane, AUS @ Club Phoenix
03/09 Meredith, AUS @ Golden Plains Festival
03/10 Melbourne, AUS @ The Tote
03/27 Tuscon, AZ @ Rialto Theater
03/28 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
03/29 San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues
03/30 Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
04/01 Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theater
04/02 San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theater
04/04 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
04/05 Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/06 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
04/09 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
04/11 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
04/12 Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
04/13 Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
04/15 Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Theater

JACK ROSE
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

SAPAT
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
01/24 Arlington, VA @ Iota
01/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber
01/27 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
01/29 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
01/30 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
01/31 Columbus, OH @ Ravari Room
02/01 Lexington, KY @ The Dame
02/02 Nashville, TN @ The End
02/03 Bloomington, IN @ Waldron Arts Center Auditorium
02/05 Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
02/06 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/08 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/09 Milwaukee, WI @ Mad Planet
02/10 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
02/13 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
02/15 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
02/16 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
02/22 Big Sur, CA @ Fernwood Resort
02/23 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill

SJ ESAE
01/27 Bristol, UK @ The Thekla

SOLE AND THE SKYRIDER BAND ON TOUR WITH TELEPHONE JIM JESUS
01/24 San Antonio, TX @ The Roadhouse Saloon
01/25 Austin, TX @ Emo's
01/26 Houston, TX @ Proletariat
01/28 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
01/29 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo's
01/30 Miami, FL @ PS-14
01/31 Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
02/01 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny's Bar
02/02 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
02/03 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
02/04 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Events Center
02/05 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber Pass
02/08 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar
02/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands Gallery
02/10 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ The Apes)
02/13 Montreal, QC @ Zoobizarre
02/14 Portland, ME @ The Space
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ The Apes)
02/16 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
02/18 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
02/20 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/21 Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
02/23 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Bar and Cafe
02/24 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
02/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
02/28 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
02/29 Seattle, WA @ The Nectar Lounge
03/01 Portland, OR @ Rotture
03/02 Eugene, OR @ W.O.W. Hall
03/04 Eureka, CA @ The Vista
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
03/07 Visalia, CA @ Howie and Sons Pizza

SONIC YOUTH
02/16 Auckland, NZ @ St. James Theatre
02/18 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/19 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/20 Melbourne, AUS @ The Metro
02/21 Melbourne, AUS @The Metro
02/22 Adelaide, AUS @ Fowlers Live Courtyard
02/23 Perth, AUS @ The Music Box (International Arts Festival)

THEMSELVES
02/01 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord

MIA DOI TODD
02/29 Miami, FL @ Airtime Theater
03/01 Orlando, FL @ The Social
03/02 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
03/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ UNC Great Hall
03/04 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
03/05 Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
03/07 Tarrytown, NY @ The Tarrytown Music Hall
03/08 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
03/09 Morgantown, WV @ WVU Creative Arts Center
03/11 New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
03/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
03/13 Boston, MA @ Paradise
03/14 Montreal, QC @ Musée Juste Pour Rire
03/15 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
03/17 Chicago, IL @ Lakeshore Theater
03/18 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
03/19 St. Louis, MO @ Graham Chapel
03/20 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
03/21 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
03/22 Salt Lake City, UT @ Union Ballroom
03/24 San Diego, CA @ San Diego Women's Club
03/25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
03/27 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Auditorium
03/28 Portland, OR @ The Aladdin Theatre
03/29 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/30 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/31 Vancouver, BC @ St. Andrew's Wesley United

WHITE WILLIAMS
01/24 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
01/25 Portland, OR @ Holocene
01/26 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
01/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
01/29 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
01/31 Austin, TX @ Emo's
02/01 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
02/02 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
02/04 Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder (FSU)
02/05 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (MJQ Concourse)
02/07 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
02/08 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
02/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

WHY?
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
03/07 Los Angeles, CA @ Natural History Museum
03/08 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/09 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
03/11 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
03/16 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's Pub
03/17 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/18 Atlanta, GA @ The Drunken Unicorn
03/19 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
03/20 Charlottesville, VA @ Outback Lodge
03/21 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
03/22 New York, NY @ The Knitting Factory
03/23 New Haven, CT @ Sundazed At BAR
03/24 Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse
03/25 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
03/26 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
03/27 Toronto, ON @ Silver Dollar
03/28 Ann Arbor, MI @ Pierpoint at University Of Michigan
03/29 Newport, KY @ Southgate House
03/30 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland
04/01 Columbus, OH @ Cafe Bourbon Street
04/02 Bloomington, IN @ Space 101
04/03 Chicago, IL @ The Abbey Pub
04/04 Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
04/05 Madison, WI @ Cafe Montmartre
04/06 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
04/07 Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
04/08 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
04/09 Columbia, MO @ Mojo's
04/10 Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot
04/11 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
04/12 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
04/14 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
04/15 Spokane, WA @ Big Easy
04/16 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
04/17 Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
04/18 Portland, OR @ Holocene
04/19 Eugene, OR @ Indigo District

JOHN WOLFINGTON
01/28 New York, NY @ Googies Lounge

WOODEN SHJIPS
01/31 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
02/17 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's (Arthur Sunday Nights)
05/09 Camber Sands, UK @ All Tomorrow's Parties Festival
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Melwood Arts Center (Terrastock 7 Festival)

Efterklang Video Posted On Pitchfork

An amazing video for Efterklang's "Illuminant" was posted on Pitchfork yesterday. Efterklang will spend February and March on a headlining tour of Europe and will continue to tour throughout most of 2008. Hopefully the band will make their way to the US this fall.

Video: Efterklang: "Illuminant"
This is gorgeous, really, every frame of this thing has something to take in. Yeah, the floating babies and two-headed men are familiar "weird video" territory, but the rich colors and mind-blowing detail make that easy to forget. Tobias Stretch, combining bits of Kubrick and Gondry in just the right proportions, directs. A higher resolution version is available on his webiste. This is the best way to hear Efterklang's music.

Revolver Bands On Tour January 18th 2008

BABY DEE
02/01 New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
02/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Tin Angel
02/05 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
02/07 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
02/08 Minneapolis, MN @ Bryant Lake Bowl Theater
02/10 Vancouver BC @ The Media Club
02/11 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
02/14 San Francisco, CA @ Chicken John
02/15 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah Saloon
02/16 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Kuumbwa
02/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
02/19 Phoenix, AZ @ The Trunk Space
02/21 Austin, TX @ Lambert's
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

BEIRUT
03/05 Sydney, AUS @ Manning Bar
03/06 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo
03/11 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner Hotel

BLACK LIPS
02/01 Denver, CO @ Bluebird
02/04 Seattle, WA Neumo's
02/05 Portland, OR @ Dante's
02/06 Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall
02/08 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
02/09 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
02/10 Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar
02/13 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
02/14 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
02/22 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/23 Austin, TX @ Emo's Outside
02/24 Dallas, TX @ The Loft
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union, UOW (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (W/ Quintron & Miss Pussycat)

CURRENT 93
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

DAMON & NAOMI
01/19 Osaka, JPN @ Knave
01/21 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest
01/22 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest

DENGUE FEVER
02/27 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/28 Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
02/29 Columbus, OH @ Skully's
03/01 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/02 Arden, DE @ Arden Grid Hall
03/04 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
03/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw
03/06 Princeton, NJ @ Terrace F. Club
03/07 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
03/08 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's
03/12 Los Angeles, CA @ Royce Hall
03/21 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
03/23 Bellingham, WA @ Nighlight Lounge
03/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
03/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/28 Austin, TX @ Club Deville
03/29 Houston, TX @ Orange Show Center
03/30 Fort Worth, TX @ Lola's
04/01 Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater

DIRTBOMBS
02/16 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
02/21 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
02/22 Iowa City, IA @ Picador
02/23 Beloit, WI @ Pearson Hall, Beloit College
03/21 Bloomington, IN @ Jake's Nightclub
03/22 Nashville, TN 2 Mercy Lounge
03/24 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe
03/25 Little Rock, AR @ Revolution Music Room
03/26 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues- Cambridge Room
03/27 Austin, TX @ Emo's (Indoor)
03/28 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's British Pub
03/29 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
03/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
04/01 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree
04/02 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.
04/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
04/04 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
04/05 Washington, DC @ The Rock and Roll Hotel
04/06 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
04/08 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
04/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
04/11 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/12 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
04/13 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Music Hall
04/15 Ottawa, ONT @ Babylon
04/16 Toronto, ONT @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
04/19 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig

MICHAEL GIRA
02/22 Barcelona, ESP @ La [2] De Apolo
02/23 Santiago de Compostela, ESP @ Salon Teatro
02/24 Leira, PRT @ Teatro Miguel Franco
02/25 Lisboa, PRT @ Galeria Zé dos Bois
02/27 Madonna dell'Albero, Ravenna, IT @ Bronson
02/28 Torino, IT @ Spazio 211

DANIEL HIGGS
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/Om)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/Om)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/Om)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/Om)

SCOTT KELLY
01/26 New York, NY @ The Pussycat Lounge
04/18 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

KID KOALA WITH DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST
01/18 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
01/19 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
01/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Loft At Center Stage
01/23 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
01/24 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
01/25 Philadelphia, PA @ The Filmore At TLA
01/29 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
01/30 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
01/31 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
02/01 Chicago, IL @ Park West
02/04 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02/05 Kansas City, MO 2 Harrah's N. KC Voodoo Lounge
02/07 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02/10 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
02/11 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
02/13 San Francisco, CA @ Grand Ballroom @ The Regency Theater
02/14 Anaheim, CA @ Houose Of Blues
02/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern

LA OTRACINA ON TOUR WITH PHANTOM FAMILY HALO
01/18 Louisville, KY @ Cahoots
01/22 Denver, CO @ Three Kings
01/24 Boise, ID @ Nerolux
01/25 Portland, OR @ East End Bar
01/26 Seattle, WA @ Jules Mae
01/29 San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
01/31 Oakland, CA @ Maxwell's
02/03 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
02/04 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
02/07 Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge

LESBIAN
01/31 Los Angeles, CA The Key Club
02/01 San Francisco, CA Annie's Social Club
02/02 Los Angeles, CA The Relax Bar
02/21 Seattle, WA @ Funhouse!
04/19 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

LICHENS
01/18 San Francisco, CA @ Independent (w/ Om)
01/19 Brookdale, CA, @ Brookdale Lodge (w/ Om)
01/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (w/ Om)

NEUROSIS
01/24 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
01/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
02/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
02/17 Seattle, WA @ Neumos

OM
01/18 San Francisco, CA @ Independent (w/ Lichens)
01/19 Brookdale, CA, @ Brookdale Lodge (w/ Lichens)
01/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (w/ Lichens)
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/ Daniel Higgs)
04/20 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival
04/21 London, UK @ Queen Elizabeth Hall

PAPERCUTS OPENING FOR BEACH HOUSE
02/28 Baltimore, MD @ G-Spot
02/29 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/01 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03/02 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree Cafe
03/03 Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone Cafe
03/05 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/06 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
03/07 Austin, TX @ Emo's
03/08 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
03/10 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/11 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
03/12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
03/13 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
03/14 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Steynberg Gallery
03/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
03/17 Portland, OR @ Holocene
03/18 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
03/19 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
03/22 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/24 Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
03/25 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
03/26 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
03/27 Cleveland Heights, OH @ The Grog Shop
03/29 Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
03/31 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
04/02 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/03 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbery
04/04 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel

PEEL
01/19 Shreveport, LA @ The Jackrabbit Lounge

QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT
01/19 New Orleans, LA @ Krewe du Vieux Ball
02/01 New Orleans, LA @ pellcaster Lodge
02/02 Baton Rouge, LA @ The Spanish Moon
02/04 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck (W/ Black Lips)
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room (W/ Black Lips)
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (W/ Black Lips)
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union, UOW (W/ Black Lips)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium (W/ Black Lips)
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall (W/ Black Lips)
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement (W/ Black Lips)
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus (W/ Black Lips)
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick (W/ Black Lips)
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's (W/ Black Lips)
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place (W/ Black Lips)
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (W/ Black Lips)
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (W/ Black Lips)
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East (W/ Black Lips)
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (W/ Black Lips)
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat (W/ Black Lips)
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 (W/ Black Lips)
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge (W/ Black Lips)
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone (W/ Black Lips)
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (W/ Black Lips)

JAY REATARD
03/22 Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club
03/06 Sydney, AUS @ The Annadale
03/07 Melbourne, AUS @ E. Brunswick Club
03/08 Brisbane, AUS @ Club Phoenix
03/09 Meredith, AUS @ Golden Plains Festival
03/10 Melbourne, AUS @ The Tote
03/27 Tuscon, AZ @ Rialto Theater
03/28 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
03/29 San Diego, CA @ House Of Blues
03/30 Pomona, CA @ The Glasshouse
04/01 Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theater
04/02 San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theater
04/04 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
04/05 Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
04/06 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
04/09 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
04/11 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
04/12 Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
04/13 Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
04/15 Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Theater

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
01/18 Houston, TX @ Walter's
01/19 New Orleans, LA @ One-Eyed Jack's
01/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
01/22 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
01/23 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
01/24 Arlington, VA @ Iota
01/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber
01/27 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
01/29 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
01/30 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
01/31 Columbus, OH @ Ravari Room
02/01 Lexington, KY @ The Dame
02/02 Nashville, TN @ The End
02/03 Bloomington, IN @ Waldron Arts Center Auditorium
02/05 Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
02/06 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/08 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/09 Milwaukee, WI @ Mad Planet
02/10 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
02/13 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
02/15 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
02/16 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
02/22 Big Sur, CA @ Fernwood Resort
02/23 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill

SJ ESAE
01/27 Bristol, UK @ The Thekla

SOLE AND THE SKYRIDER BAND ON TOUR WITH TELEPHONE JIM JESUS
01/18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Knitting Factory
01/19 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
01/21 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
01/23 Santa Fe, NM @ High Mayhem
01/24 San Antonio, TX @ The Roadhouse Saloon
01/25 Austin, TX @ Emo's
01/26 Houston, TX @ Proletariat
01/28 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
01/29 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo's
01/30 Miami, FL @ PS-14
01/31 Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
02/01 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny's Bar
02/02 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
02/03 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
02/04 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Events Center
02/05 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber Pass
02/08 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar
02/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands Gallery
02/10 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ The Apes)
02/13 Montreal, QC @ Zoobizarre
02/14 Portland, ME @ The Space
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ The Apes)
02/16 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
02/18 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
02/20 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/21 Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
02/23 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Bar and Cafe
02/24 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
02/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
02/28 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
02/29 Seattle, WA @ The Nectar Lounge
03/01 Portland, OR @ Rotture
03/02 Eugene, OR @ W.O.W. Hall
03/04 Eureka, CA @ The Vista
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
03/07 Visalia, CA @ Howie and Sons Pizza

SONIC YOUTH
02/16 Auckland, NZ @ St. James Theatre
02/18 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/19 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/20 Melbourne, AUS @ The Metro
02/21 Melbourne, AUS @The Metro
02/22 Adelaide, AUS @ Fowlers Live Courtyard
02/23 Perth, AUS @ The Music Box (International Arts Festival)

THEMSELVES
02/01 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe Du Nord

MIA DOI TODD
02/29 Miami, FL @ Airtime Theater
03/01 Orlando, FL @ The Social
03/02 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
03/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ UNC Great Hall
03/04 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
03/05 Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
03/07 Tarrytown, NY @ The Tarrytown Music Hall
03/08 Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
03/09 Morgantown, WV @ WVU Creative Arts Center
03/11 New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
03/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
03/13 Boston, MA @ Paradise
03/14 Montreal, QC @ Musée Juste Pour Rire
03/15 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
03/17 Chicago, IL @ Lakeshore Theater
03/18 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
03/19 St. Louis, MO @ Graham Chapel
03/20 Omaha, NE @ Sokol Underground
03/21 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
03/22 Salt Lake City, UT @ Union Ballroom
03/24 San Diego, CA @ San Diego Women's Club
03/25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
03/27 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Auditorium
03/28 Portland, OR @ The Aladdin Theatre
03/29 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/30 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
03/31 Vancouver, BC @ St. Andrew's Wesley United

WHITE WILLIAMS
01/18 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
01/19 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern (Tomorrow Never Knows fest)
01/20 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Club
01/23 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
01/24 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
01/25 Portland, OR @ Holocene
01/26 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
01/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
01/29 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
01/31 Austin, TX @ Emo's
02/01 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
02/02 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
02/04 Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder (FSU)
02/05 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (MJQ Concourse)
02/07 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
02/08 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
02/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

WHY?
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
03/07 Los Angeles, CA @ Natural History Museum
03/08 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/09 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
03/11 Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
03/16 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's Pub
03/17 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/18 Atlanta, GA @ The Drunken Unicorn
03/19 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
03/20 Charlottesville, VA @ Outback Lodge
03/21 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
03/22 New York, NY @ The Knitting Factory
03/23 New Haven, CT @ Sundazed At BAR
03/24 Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse
03/25 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
03/26 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
03/27 Toronto, ON @ Silver Dollar
03/28 Ann Arbor, MI @ Pierpoint at University Of Michigan
03/29 Newport, KY @ Southgate House
03/30 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland
04/01 Columbus, OH @ Cafe Bourbon Street
04/02 Bloomington, IN @ Space 101
04/03 Chicago, IL @ The Abbey Pub
04/04 Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
04/05 Madison, WI @ Cafe Montmartre
04/06 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
04/07 Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium
04/08 Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
04/09 Columbia, MO @ Mojo's
04/10 Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot
04/11 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
04/12 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
04/14 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
04/15 Spokane, WA @ Big Easy
04/16 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
04/17 Seattle, WA @ Vera Project
04/18 Portland, OR @ Holocene
04/19 Eugene, OR @ Indigo District

JOHN WOLFINGTON
01/21 New York, NY @ Googies Lounge
01/28 New York, NY @ Googies Lounge

WOODEN SHJIPS
01/31 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
02/17 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's (Arthur Sunday Nights)
05/09 Camber Sands, UK @ All Tomorrow's Parties Festival
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Terrastock Festival

THE YOUNGS
01/19 Los Angeles, CA @ The Unknown Theater
01/23 Los Angeles, CA @ The Bordello

7.2 Intelligence Review on Pitchfork Today.

The Intelligence
Deuteronomy
[In the Red; 2007]
Rating: 7.2
Original review

As a title for the Intelligence's third album, Deuteronomy hints that it's time to lay down some laws in frontman Lars Finberg's recurring dystopian mayhem. Most notable for contributing vitriolic vocals to post-apocalyptic fetishists the A-Frames, the multi-instrumentalist Finberg has quit his job as doomsday herald to devote undivided attention towards Intelligence, which had previously subsisted on scrappy home recordings and spotty touring. Recorded in an actual studio, Deuteronomy's easily Finberg's tidiest, most civilized work, and it even retains most of his signature post-punk bile. Whereas his previous catalog glorified a cinematic, Terminator-like take on the future, here he's channeling something more like Total Recall or "Futurama"-- society's not succumbing to chaos, but it's rife with some pretty fucked up elements.

Finberg's clearly earned his lambskin from the school of asshole rock, and recent tour dates with the Fall have only amplified his Mark E. Smith malaise. Deuteronomy's filled with uncharacteristically catchy songs for Finberg, many of them reminiscent of the Fall circa Grotesque (After the Gramme), the Cramps' mutant rockabilly, or Brainiac's surf cyborg wipeout. However, despite an array of ear-grabbing instrumentation and Finberg's frugal use of yelling and screaming, the vocals make a concerted effort not to touch upon any accessible melodies. The easy-going ditty "Tubes", for example, bops along an organ vamp copping "96 Tears", but instead of climaxing at a hummable chorus, the song peaks with Finberg shrieking a nasally "Fuck!"

Oddly enough, Finberg cites the Zombies and Bee Gees as Deuteronomy's key influences, a statement that initially sounds ridiculous until you realize how loose and playful the album is in relation to earlier works. "Secret Signals" begins like so much garden variety post-punk getting exorcised these days-- the drums/bass/guitar arrangement sterile and predictable, the rhythm stubbornly four-on-the-floor-- but then Finberg unleashes a bluesy, chopped-up chorus that's probably his best approximation of a song like "Care of Cell 44"'s complex chord changes. Some tracks here, when stripped of their strident noise rock exterior, even resemble some of rock's earliest and kookiest personalities. The eerie haunted house organ on "Block of Ice" and "How to Improve Your Hearing Without Listening"-- coupled with Finberg's crazed howls-- channels Screamin' Jay Hawkins, while the cosmic surf riffs on "Our Solar System" and "The Outer Echelon" recall so many 60s sci-fi program themes.

Despite the newfound color in his songwriting, Finberg's still pissed off as ever. Unlike previous releases, though, Deuteronomy doesn't feel like one homogeneous rant, but rather a newly reformed psychopath hesitantly giving society a second chance. His scowl's always been equal parts tongue-in-cheek and fury, but Finberg really sounds like he's having fun here and, when the rhythm moves him, sexy to boot. Rising from the ashes of Finberg's apocalyptic oeuvre, the revamped Intelligence has become the best display of the journeyman's talents to date, worthy of being elevated from pet project to full-time gig.
-Adam Moerder, January 14, 2008

Sole Feature In The OC Weekly & Lots & Lots of Tour Dates.

Saved by Lord Byron and Lil Wayne
Sole and the Skyrider Band find poetry in the darkness
By HOBEY ECHLIN
Thursday, January 10, 2008 - 2:10 pm
Original review

Lord Byron and Lil Wayne saved Sole.The 30-year-old rapper—who co-founded the young, gifted and white post-hip-hop collective Anticon—was over it. "I almost quit rapping," he admits. "I was like, 'Should I move on to [writing] books and get a degree?'"

Since it came into being a decade ago, Anticon has existed as a kind of parallel universe of hip-hop: white, bling-free, conscious, sometimes more electronic than soulful, but always interesting, as much like Warp as Def Jux.

Back in '98, Sole was just Tim Holland, a 17-year-old high school kid in Maine with a taste for Beat poets and other alt-lit to match his white-suburban fascination with rap. He was also a computer prodigy, so when he and fellow poetry-slam rapper Brendon Whitney (Alias) decided to move to Oakland and found their own hip-hop label, Holland took a 50k IT gig to finance the venture.

The press had a field day when the first Anticon group photos appeared: a bunch of Caucasian geeks in their thrift-store best, mugging like the Gamers Club in the back of any suburban high-school yearbook. And this when Eminem was hitting. "When people can't figure it out, you get this sort of backhanded criticism, like, 'Wacky white-boy backpacker-hop,'" Sole says, sighing. "Because it's not an easy story. It's a lot easier to tell the Joanna Newsom story," he jokes.

Anticon music, however, is no joke, even if at times it seems so. Unflinchingly indulgent and challenging, its artists vary wildly and tend to reinvent themselves with every record. "It's like a No Limit or Matador, where it's reached a level of respect," Sole muses. "But Alias sounds different every record depending on who he's working with; it could be a girl or a horn player. And SJ Esau is more like the Decemberists."

And Sole's own stuff? "It's not 'beatnik-apocalyptic-jazz,'" he says sarcastically, aping the kind of alt-press hyphenates with which he's been tagged over the years.

Previous Sole efforts have been all over the place, his flow often not even bothering to rhyme. "There was a time when I thought rhyming was really constrictive."

This is when the LL (Lord Byron and Lil Wayne) saved his Cool J. "When I was living in Spain, I'd read Byron all the time, and his rhyming was just ridiculous, like seven syllables," he says. "It's not like I traced rap back to Romantic poets, but I started thinking of rhyme as something more than just clever." That's when Lil Wayne came in. "He did this one mixtape thing, The Drought 2: It's, like, him rapping for two hours. He uses his New Orleans drawl to make shit rhyme that you never think would."

Of 2007's Sole and the Skyrider Band, his collaboration with Florida soundscape trio Skyrider, Sole says, "This was supposed to be my pop record," though from the lonely violins, high-plains melodica and street-person tirades (most of which do rhyme), it's anything but. "Somewhere along the line, it got pretty dark," he concedes. No shit.

Take "Nothing Is Free": "You can't feel new, nothing is free/You can't clean every toilet in the city/You can't be 30 and still making hip-hop/You can't kill God with a slingshot."

"The writing, to me, isn't very cerebral. I'll have six beats going at once and write four lines for each of them, just jumping back and forth," he says. "I don't write every day. What I do is kind of repress everything and just think and read and come up with an internal philosophy, something I can use to sort of reconcile myself to the world."

He's found a perfect backdrop/trampoline with Skyrider. "I'm really into gaudy, orchestral shit—drawn-out strings, brooding guitars," Sole says. "We just kept trying to make everything as full as it was melodic. I guess I'm just a dark person. . . . It all goes back to Beth Gibbons," he jokes, noting his infatuation with Portishead back in the day.

To lighten up a bit, he plans on moving to SoCal after this tour.

"I want a garden that doesn't die every year. Where I live now [rural Sedona, Arizona], it's just like a cultural void. I mean, for fun, people go shooting," he says. "I'm a little hungry right now for tons of shit going on."

01/16 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
01/17 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
01/18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Knitting Factory
01/19 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
01/21 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
01/23 Santa Fe, NM @ High Mayhem
01/24 San Antonio, TX @ The Roadhouse Saloon
01/25 Austin, TX @ Emo's
01/26 Houston, TX @ Proletariat
01/28 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
01/29 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo's
01/30 Miami, FL @ PS-14
01/31 Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
02/01 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny's Bar
02/02 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
02/03 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
02/04 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Events Center
02/05 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber Pass
02/08 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar
02/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands Gallery
02/10 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ The Apes)
02/13 Montreal, QC @ Zoobizarre
02/14 Portland, ME @ The Space
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ The Apes)
02/16 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
02/18 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
02/20 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/21 Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
02/23 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Bar and Cafe
02/24 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
02/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
02/28 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
02/29 Seattle, WA @ The Nectar Lounge
03/01 Portland, OR @ Rotture
03/02 Eugene, OR @ W.O.W. Hall
03/04 Eureka, CA @ The Vista
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
03/07 Visalia, CA @ Howie and Sons Pizza

Revolver Bands On Tour January 9th 2008

BABY DEE
01/12 Copenhagen, DK @ Kunsthal Charlottenborg
02/01 New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
02/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Tin Angel
02/05 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
02/07 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
02/08 Minneapolis, MN @ Bryant Lake Bowl Theater
02/10 Vancouver BC @ The Media Club
02/11 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
02/14 San Francisco, CA @ Chicken John
02/15 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah Saloon
02/16 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Kuumbwa
02/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
02/19 Phoenix, AZ @ The Trunk Space
02/21 Austin, TX @ Lambert's

BEIRUT
03/05 Sydney, AUS @ Manning Bar
03/06 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo
03/11 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner Hotel

BLACK LIPS
02/01 Denver, CO @ Bluebird
02/04 Seattle, WA Neumo's
02/05 Portland, OR @ Dante's
02/06 Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall
02/08 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
02/09 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
02/10 Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar
02/13 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
02/14 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
02/22 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/23 Austin, TX @ Emo's Outside
02/24 Dallas, TX @ The Loft
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union (University of Wisconsin)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

DAMON & NAOMI
01/19 Osaka, JPN @ Knave
01/21 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest
01/22 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest

DENGUE FEVER
02/27 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/28 Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
02/29 Columbus, OH @ Skully's
03/01 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/02 Arden, DE @ Arden Grid Hall
03/04 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
03/05 Brooklyn, NY @ Southpaw
03/06 Princeton, NJ @ Terrace F. Club
03/07 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
03/08 Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee's
03/12 Los Angeles, CA @ Royce Hall
03/21 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
03/23 Bellingham, WA @ Nighlight Lounge
03/25 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
03/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/28 Austin, TX @ Club Deville
03/29 Houston, TX @ Orange Show Center
03/30 Fort Worth, TX @ Lola's
04/01 Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater

DIRTBOMBS
02/16 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
02/21 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
02/22 Iowa City, IA @ Picador
02/23 Beloit, WI @ Pearson Hall, Beloit College
03/21 Bloomington, IN @ Jake's Nightclub
03/22 Nashville, TN 2 Mercy Lounge
03/24 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe
03/25 Little Rock, AR @ Revolution Music Room
03/26 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues- Cambridge Room
03/27 Austin, TX @ Emo's (Indoor)
03/28 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's British Pub
03/29 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
03/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
04/01 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree
04/02 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.
04/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
04/04 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
04/05 Washington, DC @ The Rock and Roll Hotel
04/06 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
04/08 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
04/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
04/11 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/12 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
04/13 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Music Hall
04/15 Ottawa, ONT @ Babylon
04/16 Toronto, ONT @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
04/19 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig

DOSH
01/10 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo
01/11 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner Hotel
01/12 Perth, AUS @ The Rosemont

DANIEL HIGGS
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/Om)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/Om)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/Om)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/Om)

SCOTT KELLY
01/26 New York, NY @ The Pussycat Lounge
04/18 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

KID KOALA WITH DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST
01/18 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
01/19 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
01/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Loft At Center Stage
01/23 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
01/24 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
01/25 Philadelphia, PA @ The Filmore At TLA
01/29 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
01/30 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
01/31 Cleveland, OH @ House Of Blues
02/01 Chicago, IL @ Park West
02/04 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02/05 Kansas City, MO 2 Harrah's N. KC Voodoo Lounge
02/07 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02/10 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
02/11 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
02/13 San Francisco, CA @ Grand Ballroom @ The Regency Theater
02/14 Anaheim, CA @ Houose Of Blues
02/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern

LA OTRACINA ON TOUR WITH PHANTOM FAMILY HALO
01/18 Louisville, KY @ Cahoots
01/22 Denver, CO @ Three Kings
01/24 Boise, ID @ Nerolux
01/25 Portland, OR @ East End Bar
01/26 Seattle, WA @ Jules Mae
01/29 San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern
01/31 Oakland, CA @ Maxwell's
02/03 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
02/04 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
02/07 Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge

LESBIAN
01/31 Los Angeles, CA The Key Club
02/01 San Francisco, CA Annie's Social Club
02/02 Los Angeles, CA The Relax Bar
02/21 Seattle, WA @ Funhouse!
04/19 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

LICHENS
01/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos (w/ Om)
01/17 Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan (w/ Om)
01/18 San Francisco, CA @ Independent (w/ Om)
01/19 Brookdale, CA, @ Brookdale Lodge (w/ Om)
01/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (w/ Om)

NEUROSIS
01/24 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
01/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
02/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
02/17 Seattle, WA @ Neumos

OM
01/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos (w/ Lichens)
01/17 Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan (w/ Lichens)
01/18 San Francisco, CA @ Independent (w/ Lichens)
01/19 Brookdale, CA, @ Brookdale Lodge (w/ Lichens)
01/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (w/ Lichens)
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/ Daniel Higgs)

PAPERCUTS OPENING FOR BEACH HOUSE
02/28 Baltimore, MD @ G-Spot
02/29 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/01 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03/02 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree Cafe
03/03 Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone Cafe
03/05 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/06 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
03/07 Austin, TX @ Emo's
03/08 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
03/10 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/11 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
03/12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
03/13 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
03/14 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Steynberg Gallery
03/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
03/17 Portland, OR @ Holocene
03/18 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
03/19 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
03/22 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/24 Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
03/25 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
03/26 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
03/27 Cleveland Heights, OH @ The Grog Shop
03/29 Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
03/31 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
04/02 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/03 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbery
04/04 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel

PEEL
01/13 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
01/19 Shreveport, LA @ The Jackrabbit Lounge

JACK ROSE
01/13 Philadelphia, PA @ Brickbat Books

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
01/10 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
01/11 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
01/12 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
01/13 Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
01/16 Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
01/17 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
01/18 Houston, TX @ Walter's
01/19 New Orleans, LA @ One-Eyed Jack's
01/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
01/22 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
01/23 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
01/24 Arlington, VA @ Iota
01/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber
01/27 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
01/29 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
01/30 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
01/31 Columbus, OH @ Ravari Room
02/01 Lexington, KY @ The Dame
02/02 Nashville, TN @ The End
02/03 Bloomington, IN @ Waldron Arts Center Auditorium
02/05 Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
02/06 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/08 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/09 Milwaukee, WI @ Mad Planet
02/10 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
02/13 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
02/15 Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
02/16 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
02/22 Big Sur, CA @ Fernwood Resort
02/23 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill

SJ ESAE
01/27 Bristol, UK @ The Thekla

SOLE AND THE SKYRIDER BAND ON TOUR WITH TELEPHONE JIM JESUS
01/16 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
01/17 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
01/18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Knitting Factory
01/19 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
01/21 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
01/23 Santa Fe, NM @ High Mayhem
01/24 San Antonio, TX @ The Roadhouse Saloon
01/25 Austin, TX @ Emo's
01/26 Houston, TX @ Proletariat
01/28 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
01/29 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo's
01/30 Miami, FL @ PS-14
01/31 Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
02/01 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny's Bar
02/02 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
02/03 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
02/04 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Events Center
02/05 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber Pass
02/08 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar
02/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands Gallery
02/10 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ The Apes)
02/13 Montreal, QC @ Zoobizarre
02/14 Portland, ME @ The Space
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ The Apes)
02/16 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
02/18 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
02/20 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/21 Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
02/23 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Bar and Cafe
02/24 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
02/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
02/28 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
02/29 Seattle, WA @ The Nectar Lounge
03/01 Portland, OR @ Rotture
03/02 Eugene, OR @ W.O.W. Hall
03/04 Eureka, CA @ The Vista
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
03/07 Visalia, CA @ Howie and Sons Pizza

SONIC YOUTH
02/16 Auckland, NZ @ St. James Theatre
02/18 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/19 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/20 Melbourne, AUS @ The Metro
02/21 Melbourne, AUS @The Metro
02/22 Adelaide, AUS @ Fowlers Live Courtyard
02/23 Perth, AUS @ The Music Box (International Arts Festival)

WHITE WILLIAMS
01/12 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
01/13 New Haven, CT @ BAR Nightclub
01/14 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
01/15 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
01/16 Toronto, Ontario @ Horseshoe Tavern
01/17 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
01/18 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
01/19 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern (Tomorrow Never Knows fest)
01/20 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Club
01/23 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
01/24 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
01/25 Portland, OR @ Holocene
01/26 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
01/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
01/29 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
01/31 Austin, TX @ Emo's
02/01 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
02/02 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
02/04 Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder (FSU)
02/05 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (MJQ Concourse)
02/07 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
02/08 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
02/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

WHY?
01/12 San Francisco, CA @ The Mighty (Onion Party)
01/15 Los Angeles, CA @ Tangier

JOHN WOLFINGTON
01/14 New York, NY @ Googies Lounge
01/21 New York, NY @ Googies Lounge
01/28 New York, NY @ Googies Lounge

WOODEN SHJIPS01/31 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
02/17 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's (Arthur Sunday Nights)
05/09 Camber Sands, UK @ All Tomorrow's Parties Festival
06/19 Louisville, KY @ Terrastock Festival

THE YOUNGS
01/09 Silverlake, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
01/10 Long Beach, CA @ The Prospector
01/15 Long Beach, CA @ The Prospector
01/19 Los Angeles, CA @ The Unknown Theater
01/23 Los Angeles, CA @ The Bordello

John Wolfington NYC Residency Shows.

John Wolfington holds down a residency at Googies Lounge this month. Wolfington's sophomore full-length album American Dreamsicle features Steve Shelley (of Sonic Youth) on drums and Tim Foljahn (of Two Dollar Guitar) on bass. CD or double vinyl LP are available now.

Ghislain Poirier's Bastard Bass Podcast.

Ghislain Poirier has made an awesome 27 track podcast called 'Bastard Bass' that's available for download on Pitchfork right now. Rock it here!

New Music: Ghislain Poirier: "Bastard Bass" Mix [MP3]
Ghislain Poirier is set to release his Ninja Tune debut No Ground Under in the U.S. this month, and the bass-obsessed Montreal DJ/producer has assembled a 40-minute megamix that sets his album's grime-, ragga-, dancehall-, Baltimore club-, and crunk-infused beats alongside his remixes of tracks by Dizzee Rascal, Lil Wayne, and others. There's a lot here to get heads nodding, including two versions of Poirier's "Blazin" that aren't built to sell Toyotas. Poirier previously provided Forkcast with a mix of African hip-hop, which is still worth checking out if you haven't already.

Ghislain Poirier: "Bastard Bass" Mix
TRACKLIST
1. "No More Blood" [ft. Face-T]
2. "Road Ride Riddim"
3. "East Montreal Riddim"
4. "Propaganda Riddim"
5. "Exils" [ft. Abdelhak Rahal]
6. Dizzee Rascal: "Fix Up, Look Sharp (Ghislain Poirier Remix)"
7. "City Walking" [ft. Abdominal]
8. "Hit & Red"
9. "La Ronde"
10. "One Hand Can't Clap"
11. "Bounce-moi"
12. "Robe Riddim"
13. "Ladies & Gentleman" [ft. Ambitieux, DJ Netik]
14. DJ C / Zulu: "Darling (Ghislain Poirier Remix)"
15. "Go Ballistic" [ft. Zulu]
16. "Outkast Riddim (Ghislain Poirier Refix)"
17. "Blazin (DJ C Remix)" [ft. Face-T]
18. "Blazin" [ft. Face-T]
19. "Pampa Pimp"
20. "Mangnen l'boulé" [ft. Nik Myo]
21. "ESG Riddim (Ghislain Poirier Refix)"
22. "Diaspora"
23. Bunji Garlin & JMC Triveni: "Doi Festival (Ghislain Poirier Remix)"
24. "Jusqu'en haut" [ft. Face-T]
25. Lil Wayne: "Dopeman (Ghislain Poirier Remix)" [ft. Birdman]
26. "Pour te réchauffer" [ft. TTT, Omnikrom]
27. "Close The News"

[No Ground Under is due 01/29/08 on Ninja Tune]

Posted by Marc Hogan on Mon: 01-07-08

'Tis The Season For Murcof According to Tiny Mix Tapes.

Murcof
Cosmos
[Leaf; 2007]
Styles: musique concrète, electronic composition
Others: György Ligeti, JLIAT
Original review

The holiday season is here once again. Snow is settling quietly outside, stockings are being hung, kitchens are thick with the smell of mince pies. Lists are checked and gifts are bought: it's a time for giving, while we grind our teeth into a fine powder, dredging up the willpower to maintain selfless affection for three sanctioned weeks.

My December is being spent as usual: rounding up waifs and vagrants on the street and ushering them into my beautiful manor, where I can sing carols at them and wash their feet with my hair. After being invited into the dining hall for an afternoon meal, watching Wentworth lift the pewter covers from each platter, one of the little wretches piped in.

"What…what is that?"

The audacity! The cheek! The nerve of the boy! As I was uncovering my bejeweled walking stick to administer a beating the likes of which he would never forget, Wentworth began to describe what lay before them. "Cosmos, sir…" he began with a sneer.

"Drained from the melodic juices of previous works, Cosmos is left to bubble atop of a seething pan of sharp shards of metal, to be later buttered with a mechanical hum. It is then combined with the corpse of Hungarian composer György Ligeti and left on a light simmer, shucking the traditional use of samples for a variation of musique concrète, as organic sounds and original classical instruments are fed into the meal.

"We then make sure to thin all acoustic elements until they become an almost unrecognizable porridge of lock grooves and mathematical precision. Strings are layered overtop of a vast recess of humming silence: a conceptual interpretation of a cosmos that is occasionally sparked to life with the sloth-like passing of a pebble, curving with gravity, only to be plucked back into a black pool of space minutes later, leaving you to dip your toes into the sucking whirlpools of yet even more echoing silence. Once fully cooked in polytonal vibration, this is to be served as a giant, faceless black monolith. Not to be eaten, of course, but to stare down at you forebodingly until you begin to cry."

The look of doe-eyed panic befell them as they recoiled in terror and bolted in to the white afterglow of the frozen streets.

It's the same thing every year.

1. Cuerpo Celeste
2. Cielo
3. Cosmos - (I)
4. Cometa
5. Cosmos - (II)
6. Oort

by Cor Limey

2006 Birdman Feature Worth Revisiting.

Here's an article about archiving obscure Delta blues that focuses on Dave Katznelson of the Birdman label. The feature originally ran in the SF Weekly over a year ago. So what if it's 2008.

From the Devil's Music to God's Country
Local label Birdman connects with divine gospel
By MIKE MCGONIGAL
Published: December 27, 2006

The folk-blues revival of the 1950s and '60s generated an awful lot of crappy music made by earnest kids; this is fact, as clearly documented in the film A Mighty Wind. But the revival also empowered dozens of people to arm themselves with tape recorders and go forth in an effort to record the source of this music, a bunch of little DIY John and Alan Lomaxes. These well-meaning folks were often part academics (taking detailed, census-type notes or tracing every single variant of individual Appalachian ballads) and part cons (perhaps adding their own names to publishing rights on songs they never wrote, or paying for a phenomenal recording with a shot of whiskey). At the risk of sounding corny, a few were simply record-collector enthusiasts obsessed and in love with American music and intent on finding its living, breathing source — or at least its remnants — and who were perhaps not against partying with and befriending these musicians once they found them.

Back in 1969, 19-year-old Bengt Olsson (who you can lump squarely in with that latter group of collector-fans) was a bit late to the folk-blues archiving game. Most surviving, documented Appalachian folk/Delta blues musicians had been rediscovered, including such stars of Harry Smith's celebrated Anthology of American Folk Music as Dock Boggs and Bukka White. But Olsson, from Malmö, Sweden, was so in love with American music, he just had to visit the U.S. After saving up money by working extra shifts at a printing plant, he headed to the States with a fellow enthusiast. The two bought a used Chevy in upstate New York and headed to Chicago, where they encountered the great electric-blues musicians Hound Dog Taylor and Magic Slim in nightclubs that stayed open almost 'til sun up. "We slept in the daytime and went to clubs at night," Olsson relates over the phone, clearly still excited about that time even though it was almost 40 years ago. After a week spent in the apartment of the guy who ran Delmark Records, the duo headed to Memphis and then further on to places in the South they'd never heard of before. Olsson returned to the region by himself in 1971 and '74.

Self-financed and operating without much of a plan, Olsson didn't always have it easy. He got kidnapped once in Mississippi, after attending one of fife and drum patriarch Otha Turner's harvest picnics, where moonshine and goat meat were as much a part of the rowdy festivities as the hypnotic, polyrhythmic sound of the music. "I was having too much fun to go back to Memphis, and told my friends to go on without me," he relates. "In the morning Otha drove me up to the highway and said a bus would come along in 20 minutes. But as this was Labor Day, it turned out the buses didn't run on schedule. So I figured I should hitchhike. I got picked up by two white guys and as soon as I got in, it was clear they were real drunk. They said they'd been up all night, and that the car was stolen. They pulled a gun and started making threats like, 'You're never getting out of this alive,' but we soon started to get followed by a police car. The boys tried to shake the police on side roads and when that happened, I jumped out and started running!"

In addition to such tastes of rural outlaws, Olsson discovered and documented a wealth of obscure traditional music over the course of two more trips throughout the South. He found blues-based musicians no one else had recorded, players of astonishing force. There were even a few overlooked greats from the '20s and '30s, such as Dewey Corley from the once hugely popular Beale Street Jug Band. "We were really interested in finding out where no one had gone before," he explains. Until recently, Olsson's recordings had only been released on a few comps on the European label Flyright in the '70s. David Katznelson, who runs the local label Birdman (home to garagey records by the Cuts, the Gris Gris, and Howlin' Rain), first came into contact with Olsson when Birdman released It Came from Memphis Vol. 2 in 2001, a disc compiled by blues scholar Robert Gordon; it contained a few of Olsson's field recordings. Katznelson, who'd put out two excellent Otha Turner albums, quickly realized the worth of Olsson's tapes and bought the rights to them.

After transferring the tapes to disc for reference, the first CD Katznelson popped in was by someone named Perry Tillis, a blind blues musician Olsson discovered living alone in abject poverty in rural Alabama. Tillis sang beautiful spiritual numbers in the style of prewar Delta blues. "I felt like I'd just unearthed a pot of gold," Katznelson enthuses. "It was almost hard to listen to; it was so real with feeling, purity, and sound. His guitar playing is like a fragile mosquito, and his long, monotonous riffs explore Velvet Underground territory." Released last month on Birdman — two years after Bishop Tillis' death in 2004 at the age of 85 — his CD Too Close is a thing of great, ragged beauty. It's amazing that Too Close is a debut album. But as Tillis himself told the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture's publication The Field in 1995, "I never did want no records much. There just wasn't enough in it. See, I could get out there with my guitar; I played the blues and I'd get out there in a club or some building and make myself $2,000 a week. I couldn't get that on records."

The music consists solely of Tillis' voice and guitar, with occasional percussion caused by his feet stomping the loose floorboards in his house. From the first song, his take on "God Don't Like It," a track that advises against drinking moonshine, to "Kennedy Moan," a rousing political number, it's all stirring stuff. Most folks into this music see the "sanctified blues" of the '20s and '30s (Ed Clayborn, Blind Willie Johnson) as a stillborn bridge from the devil's music to God's, between the sound everyone knows is the blues and the stuff we all recognize as gospel. But if you look for it, it's obvious that bluesy, visceral gospel music was made on into the '50s (Ola Mae Terrell, Utah Smith), the '60s (Staple Singers, Rev. Overstreet), the '70s (Charlie Jackson), and even today (Rev. Isaiah Owens). Asked about this music's rarity, Olsson says, "I think sanctified blues as a tradition lived on as long as 'regular'] blues," but surmises that maybe "sanctified people didn't buy the records as much, plus you didn't have sanctified records on jukeboxes except for maybe Sister Rosetta Tharpe."

Too Close is one of those releases that not only redresses historical wrongs by giving this unheard artist broad release, but that also should be listened to on repeat. It's astonishing stuff. Birdman plans to issue multiple discs culled from Olsson's recordings over the next few years; there's a lot to dig through. If the other releases — by the likes of Lum Guffin, Perry Tillis, and Lattie Murrell — are even half as good as Close, it'll be cause for serious celebration for fans of roots music. Olsson admits he was a little shocked at the interest in his recordings. "But when I listened back, I was pleasantly surprised," he adds. "[The tapes] sounded better than I imagined!"

Daydream Nation Box Set Best of 2007 Clips.

Revolver Bands On Tour January 4th 2008.

BABY DEE
01/12 Copenhagen, DK @ Kunsthal Charlottenborg
02/01 New York, NY @ Joe's Pub
02/02 Philadelphia, PA @ Tin Angel
02/05 Montreal QC @ La Sala Rossa
02/07 Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
02/08 Minneapolis, MN @ Bryant Lake Bowl Theater
02/10 Vancouver BC @ The Media Club
02/11 Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door
02/14 San Francisco, CA @ Chicken John
02/15 San Francisco, CA @ Hotel Utah Saloon
02/16 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Kuumbwa
02/17 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo02/19 Phoenix, AZ @ The Trunk Space
02/21 Austin, TX @ Lambert's

BEIRUT
03/05 Sydney, AUS @ Manning Bar
03/06 Brisbane, AUS @ The Zoo
03/11 Melbourne, AUS @ The Corner Hotel

BLACK LIPS
02/01 Denver, CO @ Bluebird
02/04 Seattle, WA Neumo's
02/05 Portland, OR @ Dante's
02/06 Eugene, OR @ Wow Hall
02/08 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
02/09 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
02/10 Costa Mesa, CA @ Detroit Bar
02/13 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
02/14 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
02/22 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
02/23 Austin, TX @ Emo's Outside
02/24 Dallas, TX @ The Loft
02/25 Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck
02/26 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room
02/28 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
02/29 Madison, WI @ Memorial Union (University of Wisconsin)
03/01 Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
03/02 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
03/04 Columbus, OH @ The Basement
03/05 Oberlin, OH @ Club Dionysus
03/06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
03/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's
03/08 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place
03/10 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
03/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
03/13 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
03/14 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
03/15 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/16 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/20 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge
03/21 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone
03/22 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

BLUES CONTROL
01/05 New York, NY @ Club Midway
01/06 Philadelphia, PA @ Big Jar Books

DAMON & NAOMI
01/19 Osaka, JPN @ Knave
01/21 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest
01/22 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest

DIRTBOMBS
02/16 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
02/21 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
02/22 Iowa City, IA @ Picador
02/23 Beloit, WI @ Pearson Hall, Beloit College
03/21 Bloomington, IN @ Jake's Nightclub
03/22 Nashville, TN 2 Mercy Lounge
03/24 Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone Cafe
03/25 Little Rock, AR @ Revolution Music Room
03/26 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues- Cambridge Room
03/27 Austin, TX @ Emo's (Indoor)
03/28 Houston, TX @ Rudyard's British Pub
03/29 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
03/31 Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
04/01 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree
04/02 Atlanta, GA @ E.A.R.L.
04/03 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
04/04 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
04/05 Washington, DC @ The Rock and Roll Hotel
04/06 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell's
04/08 New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine
04/10 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's
04/11 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/12 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
04/13 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Music Hall
04/15 Ottawa, ONT @ Babylon
04/16 Toronto, ONT @ The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
04/19 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig

DANIEL HIGGS
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/Om)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/Om)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/Om)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/Om)

SCOTT KELLY
01/04 Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
01/05 Portland, OR @ Routture
01/26 New York, NY @ The Pussycat Lounge
04/18 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

KID KOALA WITH DJ SHADOW & CUT CHEMIST
01/18 Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
01/19 Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
01/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Loft At Center Stage
01/23 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
01/24 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
01/25 Philadelphia, PA @ The Filmore At TLA
01/29 Montreal, QC @ Metropolis
01/30 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre
02/01 Chicago, IL @ Park West
02/04 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
02/05 Kansas City, MO 2 Harrah's N. KC Voodoo Lounge
02/07 Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater
02/10 Seattle, WA @ Showbox At The Market
02/11 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
02/13 San Francisco, CA @ Grand Ballroom @ The Regency Theater
02/14 Anaheim, CA @ Houose Of Blues
02/15 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern

LESBIAN
01/31 Los Angeles, CA The Key Club
02/01 San Francisco, CA Annie's Social Club
02/02 Los Angeles, CA The Relax Bar
02/21 Seattle, WA @ Funhouse!
04/19 Tilburg, NL @ Roadburn Festival

LICHENS
01/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos (w/Om)
01/18 San Francisco, CA @ Independent (w/Om)
01/19 Brookdale, CA, @ Brookdale Lodge (w/Om)
01/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (w/Om)

NEUROSIS
01/24 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
01/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
02/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos (w/ A Storm of Light)
02/17 Seattle, WA @ Neumos

OM
01/16 Seattle, WA @ Neumos (w/ Lichens)
01/18 San Francisco, CA @ Independent (w/ Lichens)
01/19 Brookdale, CA, @ Brookdale Lodge (w/ Lichens)
01/20 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex (w/ Lichens)
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/08 Brooklyn, NY @ Luna Lounge (w/ Daniel Higgs)
02/09 Boston, MA @ Downstairs at Middle East (w/ Daniel Higgs)

PAPERCUTS OPENING FOR BEACH HOUSE
02/28 Baltimore, MD @ G-Spot
02/29 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/01 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
03/02 Birmingham, AL @ BottleTree Cafe
03/03 Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone Cafe
03/05 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
03/06 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
03/07 Austin, TX @ Emo's
03/08 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
03/10 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
03/11 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
03/12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
03/13 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
03/14 San Luis Obispo, CA @ Steynberg Gallery
03/15 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
03/17 Portland, OR @ Holocene
03/18 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile Cafe
03/19 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
03/22 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
03/24 Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
03/25 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
03/26 Chicago, IL @ Schubas
03/27 Cleveland Heights, OH @ The Grog Shop
03/29 Montreal, QC @ Casa del Popolo
03/31 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
04/02 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
04/03 Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbery
04/04 Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel

PEEL
01/13 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
01/19 Shreveport, LA @ The Jackrabbit Lounge

JACK ROSE
01/13 Philadelphia, PA @ Brickbat Books

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
01/12 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
01/13 Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
01/16 Dallas, TX @ The Cavern
01/17 Austin, TX @ The Mohawk
01/19 New Orleans, LA @ One-Eyed Jack's
01/21 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
01/22 Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle
01/ 24 Arlington, VA @ Iota
01/26 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber
01/27 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
01/29 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
02/01 Lexington, KY @ The Dame
02/05 Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
02/06 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/08 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
02/10 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
02/16 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
02/23 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill

SJ ESAE
01/27 Bristol, UK @ The Thekla

SOLE AND THE SKYRIDER BAND ON TOUR WITH TELEPHONE JIM JESUS
01/16 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
01/17 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse
01/18 Los Angeles, CA @ The Knitting Factory
01/19 Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Arts
01/21 Tucson, AZ @ Plush
01/23 Santa Fe, NM @ High Mayhem
01/24 San Antonio, TX @ The Roadhouse Saloon
01/25 Austin, TX @ Emo's
01/26 Houston, TX @ Proletariat
01/28 Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
01/29 Pensacola, FL @ Sluggo's
01/30 Miami, FL @ PS-14
01/31 Orlando, FL @ Will's Pub
02/01 Atlanta, GA @ Lenny's Bar
02/02 Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
02/03 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
02/04 Raleigh, NC @ Downtown Events Center
02/05 Washington, DC @ Black Cat
02/06 Baltimore, MD @ Talking Head
02/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Khyber Pass
02/08 New York, NY @ Knitting Factory Tap Bar
02/09 Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands Gallery
02/10 Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab
02/12 Purchase, NY @ Suny Purchase (w/ The Apes)
02/13 Montreal, QC @ Zoobizarre
02/14 Portland, ME @ The Space
02/15 Boston, MA @ Harpers Ferry (w/ The Apes)
02/16 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
02/18 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar
02/19 Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
02/20 Detroit, MI @ Scrummage University
02/21 Lansing, MI @ Mac's Bar
02/22 Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
02/23 Minneapolis, MN @ The Uptown Bar and Cafe
02/24 Iowa City, IA @ The Picador
02/26 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
02/27 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
02/28 Missoula, MT @ Badlander
02/29 Seattle, WA @ The Nectar Lounge
03/01 Portland, OR @ Rotture
03/02 Eugene, OR @ W.O.W. Hall
03/04 Eureka, CA @ The Vista
03/06 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
03/07 Visalia, CA @ Howie and Sons Pizza

SONIC YOUTH
02/16 Auckland, NZ @ St. James Theatre
02/18 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/19 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore Theatre
02/20 Melbourne, AUS @ The Metro
02/21 Melbourne, AUS @The Metro
02/22 Adelaide, AUS @ Fowlers Live Courtyard
02/23 Perth, AUS @ The Music Box (International Arts Festival)

WHITE WILLIAMS
01/12 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
01/13 New Haven, CT @ BAR Nightclub
01/14 Providence, RI @ The Living Room
01/15 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
01/16 Toronto, Ontario @ Horseshoe Tavern
01/17 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
01/18 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
01/19 Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern (Tomorrow Never Knows fest)
01/20 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Club
01/23 Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
01/24 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
01/25 Portland, OR @ Holocene
01/26 San Francisco, CA @ Cafe du Nord
01/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
01/29 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
01/31 Austin, TX @ Emo's
02/01 Denton, TX @ Hailey's
02/02 Houston, TX @ Walter's on Washington
02/04 Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder (FSU)
02/05 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn (MJQ Concourse)
02/07 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
02/08 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
02/09 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

WHY?
01/12 San Francisco, CA @ The Mighty (Onion Party)
01/15 Los Angeles, CA @ Tangier

WOODEN SHJIPS
01/31 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
02/17 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe's (Arthur Sunday Nights)

THE YOUNGS
01/07 Highland Park, CA @ Mr. T's Bowl
01/08 San Diego, CA @ Winston's OB
01/09 Silverlake, CA @ Silverlake Lounge
01/10 Long Beach, CA @ The Prospector
01/15 Long Beach, CA @ The Prospector
01/19 Los Angeles, CA @ The Unknown Theater
01/23 Los Angeles, CA @ The Bordello

Damon & Naomi Reviewed On Chichagotribune.com.

Life beyond Galaxie 500: The enduring beauty of Damon and Naomi

Over two decades --- first as the rhythm section of Galaxie 500 and then on a series low-key studio albums --- Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang have mastered the art of intimacy.

But on Damon and Naomi’s sixth studio release, “Within These Walls” (Domino), the couple pulls off a neater trick. If any album can be said to sound “quietly bold,” this is it.

The guitarist Michio Kurihara, a full-time member of the Japanese psychedelic band Ghost, has been partnering with the couple for several years, and his playing is more integral to the Damon and Naomi sound than ever. Kurihara’s solo punctuates “Stars Never Fade” with the kind of ferocity rarely heard on the group’s previous albums. And when his guitar curls around Yang’s beautifully deadpan voice on “The Well,” they evoke the plangent interplay of Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson in the iconic folk-rock band Fairport Convention.

The arrangements are also fleshed out by strings and horns, which at their best help the couple’s somewhat plain voices underline the complex emotions in their lyrics. But occasionally the soprano saxophone comes off as a sugary jazz-lite distraction --- surprising, given that the musician in question is the normally reliable Bhob Rainey.

But that quibble aside, “Within These Walls” does a good job of escorting one of rock’s most self-effacing couples out of the shadows and into a more brightly lit space, where their exquisite songs can be more properly appreciated.

Damon & Namoi will end their Within These Walls tour in Japan. They will be joined by Michio Kurihara (electric guitar), Bhob Rainey (soprano sax), and Helena Espvall (cello) .

01/19 Osaka, JPN @ Knave
01/21 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest
01/22 Tokyo, Shibuya, JPN @ O-Nest

Malcolm Middleton Reviewed On Pitchfork

Though it's about five months late, Pitchfork busts out a killer review of Malcolm Middleton's September solo release A Brighter Beat. Better late then never.

Malcolm Middleton
A Brighter Beat
[Full Time Hobby; 2007]
Rating: 7.8
Original review

Malcolm Middleton is best known as the multi-instrumentalist who, as one-half of Arab Strap, created music for Aidan Moffat's tales of woe. The Scottish duo split on good terms in 2006, but both members had already begun solo careers years earlier, Moffat as Lucky Pierre/L. Pierre, and Middleton under his own name. Middleton's two prior solo records didn't deviate much from Arab Strap's sound, and A Brighter Beat doesn't either, but it somewhat lives up to its title, in that it's less harrowing than his work with that band, hewing closer to the bolder sound of 2005's Into the Woods.

As far as singing and lyrics go, Middleton's biggest influence might be his old partner-- he has a similar dry, deadpan delivery that shows off his Scottish accent, and dark nights of the soul are his bread-and-butter subject matter. That's not to put him down, though, because he writes some good songs, and the instrumental backing he gives them is bolder and more out-front that much of what he did for Arab Strap. The presence of Jenny Reeve on backing vocals is one of several elements that brightens the music-- when they sing in unison, she even makes him sound more melodic than he is.

This batch of songs is a bit more focused on simple loneliness rather than the outright dejection he's sometimes slumped into before. There are points at which he actually sounds hopeful, almost sweet. He may be up late thinking about his own mortality on "Up Late at Night Again", but he is genuinely in love with the person he's singing to when he hits the big chorus, telling her, "I'll always want to have you by my side," as Mogwai's Barry Burns floods the song with keyboards. On "Fuck it, I Love You", he admits his feelings in the hope of bringing his lover home, all over a jaunty beat and jangling guitar. Middleton also shows considerable wit in the way he describes his travels around the world, and inserts a surprisingly assertive prog-rock instrumental break in the middle of the song.

A look at the tracklist, with titles like "We're All Going to Die" and "Death Love Depression Love Death", indicates a real downer, but it's not all as dark as that, and I don't think I've ever heard Middleton sound so damn lively, even when he's singing a couplet like, "I'm four cigarettes away from having to leave the house/ I've got to make them last until the sun goes down." Middleton refers to himself as a "budding failure" on closer "Superhero Songwriters" amid a crashing horn and strings fanfare, but even as he sings it, he's proving himself wrong. A Brighter Beat easily stands with anything Arab Strap did and brims with promise for what Middleton can accomplish on his own in the future. -Joe Tangari, January 02, 2008

Middleton preforming a special Christmas version of "We're All Going To Die" for Colin Murray's Radio 1 session with a freakin' children's choir.