flashback fridays:the get up kids

flashback fridays start today

in my mind, i always thought the bass player was the epitome of mid-western indie rock.

roman candles west coast tour

roman candles is doing a little west coast tour up to washington. here are the dates:

Jun 25 2010 9:00P	Echo Curio	Los Angeles, California, US
Jun 26 2010 9:00P	The Captive	Fresno, California
Jun 27 2010 7:00P	the hive	oakland, ca
Jun 29 2010 8:00P	KickDown Studio	portland, Oregon
Jun 30 2010 8:30P	Le Voyeur	Olympia, WA
Jul 1 2010 7:00P	Musichead	Medford, OR

tour kick off tomorrow night with lemuria

tour ends in a week with defiance, ohio

sooo stoked i'll put up pictures and stuff when i get back

the henry clay people - famous friends video

the henry clay people video directed by benjamin hoste

delta spirit - history from below

delta spirit return with their sophomore album: history from below. this time around, there's no french quarter there's no crippler king there's no trash can song. essentially there aren't any stand out singles. coming in at fifty minutes, this album was a bit too long for my liking the first time around. it definitely takes a few listens to digest. but when looking at the album as a whole, it is a beautiful piece of art. a record for lazy days, long drives and longer nights, a 'history from below' proves delta spirits staying power. they aren't stopping anytime soon, and that's definitely a good thing. delta spirit wrote a strong cohesive album that is definitely worth your time and money. pick up a copy from rounder records.

Off With Their Heads - In Desolation

off with their heads return with twelve new songs. "in desolation" is nothing we haven't heard before. owth's seem to have a formula for writing songs, and they stick to that. therefore, many of their songs sound the same. regardless, their songs rock. each song is a little punk anthem that you want to be singing along to with your friends. i think people were worried that this album might suck because they signed to epitaph, but honestly it seems really similar to from the bottom, so chances are if you liked their last full length you'll probably like this one. the one song that catches my attention as being different is 'my episode' which is this slow punk ballad with piano in the background. in the song ryan young sings "i'm just happy right now that your arms are around me." and in thirty-five minutes, off with their heads deliver another album that makes me excited about punk again.

ceremony - rohnert park :: record review

ceremony return with their third full length rohnert park. visually speaking, the album represents this pseudo-perfect suburban world. the packaging was deliberately designed to be clean, white, perfect. the font is crisp, and bold. but underneath the surface of rohnert park's perfect suburban neighborhood, we find a group of pretty disillusioned sick kids. Farrar sings, "sick of paying rent/sick of being bent/sick of hearing lies/sick of mankind," and if that's not a cry for change i'm not sure what is. the doldrums (friendly city) takes the album to a much slower pace. the albums if framed by the intro to the wayside three part series. the second half of the album sees the band retracing hardcore's steps with back in 84' where Farrar screams "twenty five years later everything is the same/a civilization gone deaf-mute." All around this is a great album. The running theme is a fear of suburbia - a fear of being normal. Essentially getting older is scary, and they capture that perfectly here.

rating 13/13

the henry clay people - somewhere on the golden coast :: record review

the henry clay people return with their fifth full length record. in the seven years that they have been a band, they easily have over a hundred songs in their catalogue of recorded material. the eleven new songs that make up somewhere on the golden coast are simply a document of the band during the past year and a half.

in this time the band has gone on two full u.s. tours with the airborne toxic event, an east coast tour with ben harper and the relentless 7, and a west coast tour with the drive by truckers. they have played austin city limits and lollapalooza.

the album opens with a short minute and a half song titled nobody taught us to quit before coming in with a re-recorded version of working part time. many people's complaints about the record are that some songs didn't make it onto the album because their new label tbd requested the band re-record working part time and this ain't a scene. but anyone who has been following the band for the last few years knows that working part time has now shown up on six different releases:

1.working part time e.p. (echo residency - february 2008) 2.working part time 7" (jaxart - march 2008) 3.live -mondays at the echo (spaceland recording - april 2008) 4.for cheap or for free - (autumn tone - october 2008) 5.daytrotter sessions (daytrotter - june 2010) 6.golden coast (tbd - june 2010).

in addition to re-recorded versions of songs you also get a song that has been reworked. two lives steals the guitar riff from the song 'somewhere on the golden coast' which originally appeared on the working part time e.p. back in february 2008.

so, if these are really your complaints about the record, then they simply don't hold any ground. this record fucking rocks. ya we would have liked to see 'randy where's the rest of me', but that came out on the hear ya live sessions. ya we would have liked to see 'switch kids', but they released that on the rock n roll summer circus compilation. therefore, the only song they haven't released that we would have liked to see is 'taste of the tasteless,' but chances are it will come out as a b-side on a 7" . . . so you should really stop complaining.

onto the record . . .

picking up where for cheap or for free left off you get the rockers: working part time, slow burn, end of an empire, this aint a scene and your famous friends. you get the slower tunes: digital kid, keep your eyes closed, saturday night, and two lives at the end of a night. you also get to see a new side of the clays with temporary fix where andy takes lead vocals on a slow ballad. the album is different from previous albums due to the addition of jordan huddock on piano. he pretty much holds the album together.

honestly my only complaint is that with the previous two albums blacklist and for cheap you got one song each of lead vocals from noah green with 'the man in riverbed' and 'bulls through' respectively. even though he doesn't sing on any songs he does play bass on 'working part time' and 'this ain't a scene' (eric scott plays drums).

at the end of the day, the henry clay people put out a full length record worthy of year end lists. whether you're a new fan or a longtime fanboy, this record is great listen all the way through.

rating: 11/11

our noise: book review

our noise: the story of merge records - the label that got big and stayed small written by john cook, mac mccaughan and laura ballance came out last year on algoquin books. it covers the first twenty years of merge records in fourteen chapters. this is the most enjoyable book i've read in a really long time. the interviews offer a look into one of the most important record labels of our time. the beginning of the book made me nostalgic for everything 90's. with full color pictures, you immediately enter a world of yesteryear. these pictures include everything from superchunk setlists, show flyers, personal letters, intimate postcards, and even record invoices. the pictures alone are worth the cost of the book. and with whole chapters dedicated to butterglory, neutral milk hotel, spoon, and arcade fire there is really something for everyone. the book is definitely re-readable making it completely worth investing in. the story ends in a world where the music industry is completely changing due to digital downloads, poor record sales, and dying major labels. however, it offers hope for the independent labels like merge whose only business tactic has been to put out records they love. highly recommended. purchase here.

knife fight, lack of interest, paint it black, ceremony @ chain reaction 6.12.10

the last time i was at chain reaction was april 2007 to see dusty rhodes and steel train. i hate that venue, and have been boycotting it for over three years now. i gave in last night and went back. we caught the last song of knife fight which features the lead singer of nails on guitar. i probably would have liked them, but i just didn't see enough to be able to tell. lack of interest played second. they had two lead singers, and were pretty awful. if you're going to have two lead singers you better be able to work the crowd. they were boring. i watched half of their set and then went outside. paint it black played third. they were much pop-ier then i remember them being. they are awesome though - one of my favorite hardcore bands. before i saw ceremony last night, i thought dan yemin was my favorite frontman. however, i was quickly in for a wake up call. ceremony opened with their new single 'sick.' kids were stage-diving before they even started singing. i don't really know how to describe what happened last night, other then saying ceremony is the best hardcore band i've ever seen play live. ross farrar, the lead singer, is literally insane on stage. no one has a better stage presence. everyone should see this band-it should be required.

the henry clay people @ fingerprints 6.09.10

fingerprints is easily my favorite record store. they are known for having really cool intimate instores, and this one was no exception. as the henry clay people got bigger and started playing more shows, many of those shows were 21+, which meant i could never attend. therefore, i was usually left seeing them in awkward settings. however, i've come to appreciate them as a band who could win over anyone in any setting no matter how uncomfortable. they played most of the songs on the new record as well as 'you can be timeless,' and a few covers including operation ivy's 'knowledge' and the replacements 'can't hardly wait.' i really wanted them to play 'randy where's the rest of me?,' but other then that it was a pretty perfect set.

the henry clay people:: record release show @ spaceland 6.8.10

the hectors played opened the show. they were solid female fronted rock. she used a violin bow to play her guitar on some of the songs which was pretty cool. they ended their set with a cover of the monolators song 'lets be best friends in space' which sounded really awesome. i would see them again. olin and the moon played second. they took way too long to sound check. i thought their set was really boring. they played for about four songs too long, and the lead singer who had no charisma talked way too much. they're not bad though. people were definitely into them. they're just not for me. the henry clay people opened their set with 'fine print.' they played an awesome set drunkenly celebrating the release of their new record 'somewhere on the golden coast.' they played all the songs on the album, and they all sounded really good. they ended their set with a cover of the boss' 'born to run,' before playing a four song encore. they ended the night with 'somewhere in the water.' they played a really fun set.

media blitz, in defence @ the riff haus 6.4.10

last night was media blitz's tour kick off show. this was my first time seeing media blitz since december. they continue to improve every time i see them. the new songs sounded great live. 'never grow up' sounded especially good yesterday. the played some minor threat covers, and ended with 'get the fuck out.' if you don't have their new 7" you should definitely pick up a copy. in defence headlined the show. they are really awesome. i had never seen or heard of them before, but i was really impressed. they instigated a wall of death on the basis of who loved tacos vs. pizza, which was really funny. they ended with a cover of 'rise above.' they'll be back in southern california in july on tour with off with their heads.

conor oberst: one of my kind

when he made the mystic valley band record, they made a documentary of them on tour and in the studio. you can watch it here. for some reason this song didn't make it onto the record. it's amazing.

nails and creatures @ the cabin 5.31.10

the cabin is this really awesome house in garden grove. the bands played in the living room, and the sound was surprisingly good. there were probably a good seventy people at the show yesterday. we showed up a little bit late and missed the first band, but we got there just in time for nails. nails is really heavy. they do more as a three piece then some hardcore bands do with five people. there was not a lot of room for dancing, but kids seemed to make the most of what little floor space they had and really go off. i would love to see nails again; they're a great band. creatures had members from downpresser filling in on guitar and drums. they played a few new songs off their upcoming 7". there were kids who knew every word to every song, which was really cool. i've seen creatures play better shows in more appropriate settings, but seeing them play in a house was awesome. this show made me want to listen to more hardcore.