jinners: why do you come here? and why do you hang around?
who is jinners?
why do you come here? and why do you hang around? ...it was just to see, just to see all the things you knew, i'd written about you... oh so many illustrations...
as stephie would say, "i'm an island of such great complexity... a shady jin, everybody wants one." jinners is my nickname... hopefully in an affectionate sorta way.
after the jump fest: bloggers unite to benefit music education
more charity
Friday, March 30, 2007
april fools!
the age old holiday of april fool's day is coming up this sunday. have you got your hoaxes in check? admittedly, i have never really pulled a hoax. in high school, i was the editor in chief of our newspaper, and we tried in vain to produce an april fool's edition of the paper. the principal (jerkface) censored us because in our club news section, we had the "caucasian awareness club" and he thought people would be too offended by it. bollocks. in turn, i wrote an editorial for the local paper about how we got censored, and the principal didn't talk to me again after that. he didn't acknowledge me at graduation, didn't even shake my hand. i am happy to say he left our high school a few years after i graduated. karma, people! believe it! read about the top 100 april fool's day hoaxes of all time.
check out my very first post for a new on-demand network called Lifeskool TV, which is part of the Rainbow Media group (which includes AMC, IFC, etc). i wrote about a new unprecedented festvial coming to the city in june called make music new york.
i will be writing indie rock and pop blog posts for them from now on. write to me and put me on your PR/marketing mailing lists if you want to pitch me ideas.
les savy fav, the big sleep, call me lightning @ bowery ballroom this sunday
why is this show not sold out yet? if you're like lame moi and didn't manage to catch my favorite psych rockers the big sleep and my favorite live band les savy fav in one room at sxsw a couple weeks ago, then you will surely want to snatch up tickets ahead of time for the sunday, april 1, bowery ballroom show. according to the french kiss website, "All proceeds go to our near and dear friend who has been doing publicty for the label since day one..."
not only a benefit show, it's sure to be a shit show, to quote jay good times. oh how i miss thee. if you don't believe how awesome les savy fav is, check out this youtube footage from their sxsw red eye fly french kiss showcase (nota bene: some sound warping but you get the picture):
and then there's david cross introducing them at the mess with texas party:
other passengers set to release a full length in the US and UK
other passengers is a new york band that has grown a lot over the last few years. And their debut full length, we are all, will be released april 9 in the U.S. and in the UK on something in construction records on may 14. you can stream the entire album on the band's official site. it is super dark and kind of gives me the creeps, in a withnail and i kind of way. there is such an ominous feeling to the album, which was recorded in louisiana just before the hurricane katrina emergency, as if the band just sensed what worldly disasters were to come and put it on record like fortune tellers.
the band is having a listening party for the album at "first taste wednesdays" at hi-fi in new york on april 4 at 9pm. at the listening party, other passengers will be giving away limited edition handmade CDs and tickets to their record release party at tonic in new york. the record release show is set for april 12 at tonic. the band will be touring the UK to support the album in may. congrats, dudes! it's been a long time comin'.
cassettes won't listen @ music slut party - the delancey
i went to see cassettes won't listen, a one-man-band, for the first time at the music slut's spring fling party at the delancey this past saturday night. first, let me just say congrats to the music slut trio for a fantastic party. it felt warm (literally and figuratively) and friendly in the downstairs of the delancey. cassettes won't listen had a live drummer for the show and a couple other surprises.
what i really like about jay drake from cassettes won't listen is that he won't constrain himself to one musical genre. he can throw down hip-hop as much as he can pay homage to the postal service. his set was so diverse, it might have confused some in the audience. but once you discover that cwl also does remixes for bands, you sort of understand why cwl's music spans the musical horizon. i was particularly impressed with his skills on the keys, and thought his vocals reminded me of ben gibbard at times. at one point, he brought out a rapper and r&b songstress on a hip-hop track, posing it to the audience as though everything was was unplanned and he just pulled these people randomly from the crowd. however, once all three started performing, rapping and singing, the song came together wonderfully and you knew this ain't no ruse. it was the real deal. i'm looking forward to seeing him develop more.
don't know if you know, but vice launched their own online television network, called VBS, for vice broadcasting system. it looks and sounds pretty awesome. check out the vbs coverage of the melvins show at stubb's in austin this past week.
the vbs animated promo after the first three or four songs looks like the work of christy karacas of cheeseburger... he's supertalented.
pat mcguire of filter catches up with thurston moore, sub pop launches a new "loser scholarship" for musicians, and more on the DL on AOL! I'm totally going to send a video comment. Go Music Slut for sending in a video comment! This is totally the future.
Once a year for the past 21 years, thousands of music fans (more hipster, than frat or sorority types) gather in Austin, TX, for the SXSW Music Festival. They gorge on free BBQ from The Salt Lick or Stubbs, start drinking various free alcohol offers at parties and shows around town, where bands from all over the world come in hopes of getting discovered.
Sure, a large portion of the festival is consumed by music industry types, jaded after too many nights of seeing and hearing disappointing music, but the enthusiasm and friendliness of festival goers at SXSW is pretty astonishing and inspiring. Everyone and their mother are throwing parties day and night around downtown Austin, and then it becomes all about the scene and herd, not the seen and heard.
However, if you stop and choose wisely, you just may accidentally fall in love with your new favorite band. For this four-year SXSW veteran, the highlight of the festival was not finding a new love – it was rediscovering an old love. I was super-excited that Thurston Moore was the secret guest at Filter magazine’s “High Noon” day party at Cedar Street Courtyard, a party I just happened to be photographing.
Because so many people wrongfully left after the Fratellis (shame on you!), I stood right up front, next to Thurston. My heart was thumping hard, and I felt like I was going to faint over the four songs he played with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and a violinist friend. I swayed, I swooned and I felt incredibly giddy and fan-girl-like. But hey, it was Thurston-effing-Moore!
Back in the day of middle school mixtapes, I used to listen to Dirty and Goo a lot. You could say that Sonic Youth greatly shaped my musical tastes. Them, Nirvana and Tiffany (haha). That SY tension between beautiful and noisy is just so perfect in their music, and some people don’t realize how difficult it is to maintain that delicate balance between those seemingly two opposites.
After the set, I talked to Steve Shelley for a little bit and sort of complained about how there aren’t any “Daydream Nation” shows scheduled for New York. He informed me that they were planning one but haven’t decided what venue yet. He said they were thinking about McCarren Park Pool as a possibility – even though they already played there twice last summer with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. So far they’ve only announced London and Chicago dates. I am happy to hear that their hometown will be represented! It just wouldn’t be right otherwise.
Shelley also told me that they were going to record the material they just performed as well as some other developing songs during the summer. I really like the sound of the new solo music, actually, so I’m looking forward to hearing what the record will sound like…
Later, I got up the courage to say hi to Thurston and was astonished to hear him thanking me for standing up front and rocking out during the show. He said I had “good energy.”
I only wished that he played a full set so I could get more of a sense of the new material – but let me tell you, during those four songs I totally lost myself. I was closing my eyes, twirling my head to and fro, stomping my Converse to the ground and, yes, smiling like a total fan girl. Thank YOU, Thurston Moore.
it's not really a party until you throw up at sxsw
how can i possibly describe the antics of last week at sxsw? 2007 brought some unexpected fun times -- and you know i love me some pleasant surprises. on thursday i went to the filter party to set up and started feeling ill almost right away. by ill, i mean i was throwing up multiple times. i think it was food poisoning because i didn't drink the night before or that morning - perhaps that jalepeno pizza i had the night before didn't agree with me afterall. next year i am staying away from food. thank goodness, dtl brought me over the tlc package.
anyhoo, my coworkers sent me back to my hotel room to recuperate, but before i left i saw a solid set from san diego band grand ole party, whose lead singer and drummer reminded me of karen o, except, you know stuck behind a drum kit instead of romping around on stage. i could tell she could sing the shit out of anything -- it was amazing and fun. i like drummers who wear cute ruffled bloomers. who needs pants, anyways, right?
the next day i was back at work, taking photos and saw the uk invasion day at cedar street courtyard. sure there were a lot of great overseas acts playing that day but the highlight for me was the secret surprise guest, thurston moore. everyone left after the fratellis so i stood up front and rocked out during thurston's set. he played solo stuff with steve shelley and a violinist, and i loved every minute of it. i wrote up a separate little gushy blog post for that.
in the meantime, here are all the imports that played before him:
the fratellis were aiite
the fratellis were ok. i still only really like their ipod single (in small doses) but they could grow into a strong contender next year.
meowing over mew
what can i say? mew was effing hot. i think mando diao is a hard band to follow because they are so dynamic, but mew not only followed them but they blew me away with their alien-like vocals.
which mando diao do you love?
hmmm, it's hard to pick a favorite. they are all cute and loud! they totally blew me away with their pure rockness.
the pipettes should pipe down
the pipettes were the most untalented band on the bill. but they were pretty. pretty and screechy with an even sadder looking band. they look like a lamer version of bling kong or something. see below.
kate havnevik from royksopp
kate havnevik is totally mesmerizing in a grey's anatomy/adult contemporary sort of way.
mohair, mo'rawk?
the guy from mohair definitely had mo' hair than anyone else on stage. he sort of reminded me of carrot top, except you know, talented. he had a great personality and he totally stuck his tongue out like gene simmons, except you know, not as long.
we landed in austin to rainy weather. mike and i ate the famous salt lick at the airport, then headed to our hotel. i had to admit it was good. i had never eaten it before...
after getting settled, mike and i met up with a bunch of my ascap coworkers and had dinner at moonshine. we were incredibly full afterwards but wandered over to buffalo billiards to see what was going on -- but nothing was really going on there so we went back to the hotel to crash.
wednesday started off way better - less rainy. more like a light sprinkle here and there. i met up with the boys in dirty on purpose near the convention center to pick up badges and such. then we headed over to the gen art party. they played a lot of new songs and some old songs, and it was nice to see a big crowd for them cheering them on. austin rules.
then we headed over to the orchard happy hour at the driscoll hotel. they have these every day of the music fest, and it's always a happy hang for me and the boys. we heart the orchard. plus, they had guitar hero!! i ran into my old coworker wade, as you see him above shredding some guitar.
wednesday night i spent all night at the ascap rock showcase at dirty dog bar. bat for lashes started off the night right with her cat power like vocals. i kind of like hippies from the uk, even if they have been compared to enya. i ran into ben weber who i adore - he manages two of my favorite artists - elvis perkins and nada surf. i needed a little rock break so i went over to the convention center with him and chatted about life, music and such. he's a capital guy. so many people were at the ascap party (it was a packed house all night), that several people commented to me: "if i had known EVERYBODY was gonna be here, i would have come early and stayed all night." pretty awesome! we have some photo coverage going up on www.ascap.com, so check it out.
on thursday, i woke up super early to set up the filter party. after eating however, i started throwing up repeatedly and they sent me back to the hotel to rest. i managed to catch the host comedian Zach Galifianakis and a great band from san diego called grand ol' party. unfortunately i missed youth group, besnard lakes and badly drawn boy. i was so upset!! filter did put photos and video up on their filter blog however, so go over there to check out the coverage.
daniel brought me a care package filled with water, saltines, ginger ale and some other stuff, and i started to feel a lot better. mike joined us, and we decided to go see besnard lakes at the mohawk for the jagjaguwar showcase. they were so amazing - it was more magical than a band of horses show, if you can believe that. plus, i like bands who use smoke machines.
afterwards, i headed back to the hotel to rest, and doug and annie stopped by to show me some tlc. it's nice to have friends who care -- and thanks to everyone who sent me "get well" texts. i love you all.
dtl and mike joined me later again with some stubbs bbq. savory society, eat this! mike played with the voodoo doll we got in the sxsw registration bags. poking our stomachs so we didn't get sick again.
i felt a little more re-energized so i decided to go with dtl to see fujiya and miyagi at opal divines. the first song we heard was ok, and we agreed it reminded us of air. but then they started singing in french, and eurotrash dudes up front were chanting "fujiya miyagi" over and over again, and i started to feel like i was at a frat party. we bolted shortly after that. i was getting really tired again, so i we headed back towards my hotel.
on the way, we ran into a cool looking church called the central presbyterian churh and decided to check it out before i passed out. it was really amazing in there. and randomly this girl that dtl loved was singing there -- nina nastasia with jim white on drums (he also drums for white magic and someone else i can't remember). she had one of the most beautiful female vocals i've heard in a while. just really pure -- the church was the perfect setting for them. dtl said she sings on his favorite boom bit song - she sang another version of that song that night, and it made me a little teary eyed. maybe it was the exhaustion or the song, but i needed to crash badly after that if i was going to be in good shape for today. i'm at the filter party all day today so i'll let you know how it goes!
oh boy, it has been an amazingly busy last month here in new york city. not only have i been running around town to see some good ol' rock shows, i have been getting ready to chew on some bbq and sip on tasty margaritas in austin this week for sxsw. this will be my fourth trip down to austin, and i can't even express how excited i am. every year, more and more of my friends end up going to the festival -- thus, every year, i have more and more fun. like i've always said, it's like brooklyn spring break! indie kids gone wild. you get the picture.
last year, the festival was indundated with big name acts -- flaming lips, belle and sebastian, beastie boys, etc... under those kind of conditions, most smaller indie bands didn't seem to have a chance at gaining the media spotlight. this year, the festival has gone back to its 20-year-old roots -- trumping the independent acts that are worthy of attention. this kind of thinking has rejuventated my love for the festival. and even though some of the indie fans and bloggers are hating on sxsw a little bit because they delayed their lineup announcements and made wristbands hard to come by, i think sxsw is still leaps and bounds above many other similarly spawned conferences.
i leave 6:30am tomorrow. woo hoo!
recently, i went to see an amazing songwriter that i've been obsessing over since last summer. uh huh -- i was so starved for elvis perkins media last year that i downloaded every track he offered on his myspace site (the live songs were from the living room!). those songs stayed in constant rotation on my ipod until i finally received a copy of his beautiful full length, Ash Wednesday, out in stores now from XL Recordings. i'm not impressed by a lot of music that comes out these days (go ahead, call me a jaded music industry snob), but elvis perkins is a less crotchety, more introspective modern Bob Dylan - dare i say it?! he's one of the most engaging storytellers of my generation.
the backstory -- if you don't already know -- is that he is the son of anthony perkins (yes, THE psycho). his mother was also an actress, and she perished in one of the planes during 9/11. his brother is also an actor, and you may remember him in legally blonde.
anyhoo, at the joe's pub show in new york, elvis also brought out lee from clap your hands say yeah, along with his friends in the band, dearland. it was a great, jolly way to end the captivating, sometimes somber set. one girl was dancing - that same girl later got so drunk at the afterparty backstage that she had to be carried out of the venue. bravo.
some bonus stuff... here's some footage of cyhsy, cold war kids and elvis perkins on tour in europe.
later that same night, i hopped in a cab in the drizzling rain to the filter/gbh party at hiro ballroom to see the teddybears, a dancey, totally fun bands from sweden who perform with large bear heads. listening to them is like listening to prime time television because so many of their songs have been used in commercials. i only caught the last three songs of their set, but the whole room was dancing and pumping their fists in the air under the spinning disco ball. it was fantastic!!
