KEXP Documentaries

If you ever have some time on your hands, I highly recommend the KEXP documentary series. Each series has a handful of episodes on a topic. Each episode is 5 to 10 minutes long. My favorites are Punk Evolution, Death, Drugs and Rock n' Roll, Portraits of Post Punk, and Pop Goes Electronic.

David Byrne - Spokane, WA (2/19/2009)

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne came to the Fox Theater in Spokane last Thursday. He primarily played songs from his recent collaboration with Brian Eno. The show included matching white outfits, choreographed dancing, props, and even tutus. His voice was as good as ever and the show did not disappoint.


"Burning Down the House"

Flickr, Last.fm

Setlist

1. Strange Overtones
2. I Zimbra
3. One Fine Day
4. Help Me Somebody
5. Houses in Motion
6. My Big Nurse
7. My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks)
8. Heaven
9. Never Thought
10. Poor Boy
11. Crosseyed & Painless
12. Life is Long
13. Once in a Lifetime
14. Life During Wartime
15. I Feel My Stuff

Encores

16. Take Me to the River
17. The Great Curve
18. Air
19. Burning Down the House
20. Everything That Happens
-davidbyrne.com

Tracks 1, 3, 6, 9 (deluxe edition), 10, 12, 15, 20 - from Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Brian Eno & David Byrne)
Track 4 - from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Brian Eno & David Byrne)
Tracks 2, 8, 14, 18 - from Fear of Music (Talking Heads)
Tracks 5, 11, 13, 17 - from Remain in Light (Talking Heads)
Track 7 - from The Catherine Wheel (David Byrne)
Track 16 - from More Songs About Buildings and Food (Talking Heads)
Track 19 - from Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads)

Albums That Need To Come Out Now (Update)

So how are those spring albums coming along.

The Thermals - Now We Can See

The Thermals will be releasing a split 7" with Thao with the Get Down Stay Down for Record Store Day. The split will feature demos of two songs from the album. According to the Kill Rock Stars store, they will start a pre-order for their new 7" on white vinyl next week.

Release Date: April 7

Songs: "Now We Can See", "I Was Afraid (Demo)"

Tracklist:

1 "When I Died"
2 "We Were Sick"
3 "I Let It Go"
4 "Now We Can See"
5 "At the Bottom of the Sea"
6 "When We Were Alive"
7 "I Called Out Your Name"
8 "When I Was Afraid"
9 "Liquid In, Liquid Out"
10 "How We Fade"
11 "You Dissolve"

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest


The Grizzly Bear album has a title and a couple more songs. They are slated to bring their act to some of the usual summer festivals.

Release Date: May 26

Songs: "Two Weeks", "While You Wait For the Others", "Cheerleader", "Fine for Now"

Tracklist:

1 "Southern Point"
2 "Two Weeks"
3 "All We Ask"
4 "Fine for Now"
5 "Cheerleader"
6 "Dory"
7 "Ready, Able"
8 "About Face"
9 "Hold Still"
10 "While You Wait for the Others"
11 "I Live With You"
12 "Foreground"

The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

The Decemberists will play their new album in its entirety at this year's SXSW festival in Austin. Their closest Spokane stop on tour will be Missoula in May.

Release Date: March 24

Songs: "The Rake's Song"

Tracklist:

1 "Prelude"
2 "Hazards Of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)"
3 "A Bower Scene"
4 "Won't Want For Love (Margaret In The Taiga)"
5 "Hazards Of Love 2 (Wager All)"
6 "The Queen's Approach"
7 "Isn't It A Lovely Night?"
8 "The Wanting Comes In Waves / Repaid"
9 "An Interlude"
10 "The Rake's Song"
11 "The Abduction Of Margaret"
12 "The Queen's Rebuke / The Crossing"
13 "Annan Water"
14 "Margaret In Captivity"
15 "Hazards Of Love 3 (Revenge!)"
16 "The Wanting Comes In Waves" (Reprise)
17 "The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned)"

EDIT: Added Veckatimest info (3/4/09)

Fleet Foxes - "Mykonos" (Official Video)

Fleet Foxes are moving backwards. Their next single will be the song "Mykonos" off Their Sun Giant EP that was originally released before their self-titled debut. The B-side to the single will be a song from Robin Pecknold's solo moniker White Antelope.

Critics Vs. Fans

If you read enough about music, you will most certainly come across the inevitable best/all-time/top album list. Music critics love to make lists. Everyone has one. If you read enough of them you start to see patterns. Lots of artists have that keystone album that have to be mentioned. It's always interesting to me one that album turns out to be the band's least commercially successful or unheard of by mainstream fans. Here are some that I've come across. These are based purely on my experience with top album lists. I've compared their sales ranking versus their other studio albums and their Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums ranking.

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

The Beastie Boy's second album is what got me thinking about this list. This could be the least recognizable Beastie Boys album by the general populace, but if a critical list includes a Beastie Boys album it is more often than not this one. This album recently reached it's 20th anniversary. The Beasties remastered it and rereleased it in multiple formats to mark the event.



Sales Rank: 5/7 (Licensed to Ill 1/7)
Rolling Stone Rank: 156/500 (Licensed to Ill 217/500)

The Beatles - Revolver

The Beatles have so many hits to their credit it's ridiculous. Most top album lists have multiple Beatles albums on them. Then there's Revolver. This album came out right between Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper's. What's the hit song on this? "Eleanor Rigby". That's it. You could make an argument for "Yellow Submarine" or "Good Day Sunshine" but come on. "Tomorrow Never Knows" is considered a masterpiece but hardly a hit. To be fair, Sgt. Pepper's is #1 on Rolling Stone's list, but Revolver is #3 despite only selling more than Let It Be of The Beatles' major albums.

Sales Rank: 6/7 (Abbey Road 2/7)
Rolling Stone Rank: 3/500 (Abbey Road 14/500)

The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St.

The king of all critic's darlings. The Rolling Stones' 1972 double album. Somebody name a hit off this album. "Happy"? "Tumbling Dice"? I wouldn't put either of those songs in the top 10 of Rolling Stones big hits. There are two discs of songs here. This album is also a favorite "influence" for hundreds of artists. It also has probably the most parodied album title ever.



Sales Rank: 8 (Sticky Fingers 3 or 4)
Rolling Stone Rank: 7/500 (Sticky Fingers 63/500)

Festivals 2009

The festival season is almost here. Here's what we have to look forward to (not full lineups):

SXSW (Austin, TX March 13 - March 22)

The Decemberists, Devo, Annuals, Beach House, Andrew Bird, The Black Angels, Black Lips, Deer Tick, Delta Spirit, Dredg, Explosions in the Sky, Grand Archives, Grizzly Bear, Handsome Furs, The Hold Steady, Justin Townes Earle, Mika Miko, Monotonix, Passion Pit, Peter Bjorn and John, The Raveonettes, The Shackeltons, Telekinesis!, These Arms Are Snakes

• The Decemberists will play The Hazards of Love in its entirety (with live stream on NPR).

• The Hold Steady to play Rachel Ray SXSW party.

Coachella (Indio, CA April 17 - April 19)

Brian Jonestown Massacre, Beirut, Band of Horses, The Black Keys, Blitzen Trapper, Calexico, Cloud Cult, The Cure, Drive-By Truckers, Fleet Foxes, Franz Ferdinand, Fucked Up, The Hold Steady, The Killers, Mastodon, M. Ward, Morrissey, My Bloody Valentine, No Age, Okkervil River, Paul McCartney, Peter Bjorn and John, Silversun Pickups, Throbbing Gristle, TV on the Radio

• Throbbing Gristle Play Coachella & first ever NYC show

Bonnaroo (Manchester, TN June 11 - June 14)

Bruce Springsteen, Phish (2 shows), Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, David Byrne, Wilco, Snoop Dogg, Elvis Costello, The Mars Volta, TV on the Radio, MGMT, The Decemberists, Bon Iver, Animal Collective, Neko Case, Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer

• Bruce Springsteen and reunited Phish play Bonnaroo
  

Up next Sasquatch, PDX Pop Now!, Bumbershoot, Musicfest NW

Record Store Day 2009

It's that time of year again! Of course, I'm talking about National Record Store Day. The day that we come together to celebrate independent record shops across the country. I first heard my favorite song of last year, "Furr", on a free Sub Pop compilation I received at last year's event.

This year Matador is releasing three exclusives records only for participating shops. Artists involved include Beck, Sonic Youth, Jay Reatard, and Pavement.

EDIT: The Thermals and Thao with Get Down Stay Down are releasing an exclusive split as well.

Local participating stores:

Spokane - Unified Groove Merchants, 4000 Holes

Portland - Everyday Music, Jackpot Records, Music Millenium

Soundtrack of My Life

Part of liking music is making pointless lists about music. Here are two recent music lists I made:

Soundtrack of Your Life

Reeling Back the Years