A Quick Note

Some of you may have already noticed a subtle change to the site lately. My name and face covering picture, which previously occupied the upper right hand corner of this plot of world wide weird real estate, have been replaced by a Contributors list. This is because I have brought aboard just that, a contributor. This new contributor goes by the name of Chris and will be helping me out with keeping these digital pages full of wonderful music and images. He's already added some great content and hopefully the two of us can now do as much or more than I previously did when I wasn't so goddamn busy all the time. Enjoy the rest of this long weekend everyone.

New Kings of Leon video - "Sex on Fire"

There are 5 guys in Kings of Leon and their new video for the song "Sex On Fire" from their forthcoming Only By The Night features no women..... Eh, the song's still pretty good.

Kings of Leon - Sex On Fire
Sex On Fire

First Aid Kit

News travels fast...I came across this video yesterday on Music For Robots and now it's all over these Internets. It's a Fleet Foxes cover by two teenage girls from Sweden called First Aid Kit. Take a look at the video and you'll see what all the fuss is about. Good for them. I haven't had the chance to listen to their EP yet but I will be checking it out for sure. Enjoy.

New Yeasayer

It seems like every time I go to a show I hear a song that I've never heard before that I'm really into. That happens all the time. But rarely do I hear a song that I've never heard before and remember that song enough by the time I get home to look it up. That's exactly what happened when I saw Yeasayer open up for The National at Central Park in NYC this summer. Nearly 7 hours after hearing the song for the first time, I was still singing the line "Stick up for yourself son, never mind what anybody else done" over and over in my head.

It looks like the song is called Amblin' Alp and it's as good as anything off Yeasayer's fantastic 2007 release All Hour Cymbals. Unfortunately, I haven't found a proper recording of the tune so all we have right now are live YouTube videos. Here are a couple of those videos of this amazing new Yeasayer song (neither are great quality, but it gets the point across):





Yeasayer will be in Austin for the Austin City Limits Festival and The National will be playing Fun Fun Fun Fest.

Barsuk

Barsuk Records, based out of Seattle, is one of my favorite record labels. Actually, they are one of two labels whose bands I will listen to simply because they are Barsuk bands (Fat Cat is the other one). So I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed a few months ago when I heard Barsuk signed Ra Ra Riot. Everything I'd heard about the band made me think I would hate them, and after all of their SXSW buzz I just wrote them off as the next overhyped band. But I was wrong and I would have never known it without Barsuk. I forced myself to listen to their new record, The Rhumb Line, and I love it. It's pop in all the right ways...intelligent, captivating, and sweet all at the same time. Ra Ra Riot has been getting tons of press recently, and they deserve it. I'm sure there's a lesson somewhere here about not jumping to conclusions or making swift judgments but I'm not really sure.

New video for "Ghost Under Rocks," the first track from The Rhumb Line:



Buy tickets to see Ra Ra Riot in Austin. They play Stubb's on October 3 with The Morning Benders.

This summer Barsuk also released Lackthereof's, Your Anchor. Fans of Danny Seim's other band, Menomena, will probably be into his solo work as Lackthereof. A few of the songs on Your Anchor ("Choir Practice," "Last November") have actually made me forget, albeit briefly, that I haven't heard a new Menomena album since January of 2007. Seim closes out the record with a stripped down cover of The National's "Fake Empire" that's definitely worth a listen as well.

Purchase the new Lackthereof record, Your Anchor here. You can also find this album as well as a whole slew of older Lackthereof material for sale all over the Internet.

Depressing Fucking News

Got an email today from Ryan Cano with The Loyalty Firm that needs to be read by a lot of people. The Loyalty Firm manages one of Austin's best local bands, The Boxing Lesson. According to the email The Boxing Lesson's drummer Jake Mitchell, who is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, has been sentenced to 60 months in prison and branded a Narco-Terrorist under the menacing black glove that is the Patriot Act. Jake was busted for growing Marijuana in 2006 (no one is debating the criminal aspect of this) and was somehow categorized as a Narco-Terrorist and tried under the much more stringent Patriot Act laws. On top of the wholly unnecessary severity of this conviction, Jake's wife is currently in jail herself serving a 6 month term as a co-conspirator for failing to turn her own husband in. I'm having trouble finding the words to express my indignation at these events. The whole email is available below for you to read. Jake, if you read this, my heart goes out to you and your family. If any of you reading this think this is as preposterous and outrageous as I do, help spread the word. Link to this post, or any of the myriad of similar posts made around the internet today, forward Ryan's email to your contact list, write a letter, do what it takes to make your voice heard. Thanks!

The Boxing Lesson are Narco-terrorists? Free Jake Mitchell.

Austin,TX (August 20, 2008) You know The Boxing Lesson aren't ones to keep their mouths shut after several interviews and appearances since the release of their full length LP Wild Streaks & Windy Days. The real truth of the matter is that The Boxing Lesson have kept one of the most important parts of their story a secret. It is with much sadness we make this announcement but its time the public knows what is going on. It is with much sadness we make this announcement but its time the public knows what is going on.

Jake Mitchell, drummer for The Boxing Lesson and most importantly, a
dear friend, will be put in Federal jail at the beginning of Sept
for some marijuana growing charges. What makes this story unique and
what has enraged every single one of our close friends, is that Jake
has been branded by our government as a Terrorist under the Patriot
Act. In fact, they have thrown the Narco-Terrorist tag on him.
What this does legally for a defendant is mind blowing in terms of the
new laws waged against them. If you are branded a terrorist, your
wife doesn't get spousal protections and will go to jail. If you are
branded a terrorist, each party involved in the crime gets full
responsibility for the scope of the crime. Then there are strict sentencing
minimums. And remember we are talking about Marijuana here.

It is obvious from anyone who has ever met, hung out with and gotten to know
Jake Mitchell that he is anything but a terrorist. This incorrect and unfair
branding on our own US citizen and friend, Jake Mitchell, is a disgrace
and this has caused untypical hardships on his life. He has sold his house,
lost his cars, and his freedom. We are asking our friends in the media,
in bands, in t-shirt screen shops and really, anyone who can help, to send
the message of his story to the public eye. We know there was a crime
involved but branding him a terrorist has set unfair sentencing guidelines on
a person who is anything but a terrorist.

We are accepting PayPal donations to help Jake's mounting legal bills
at : freejakemitchell@gmail.com

Jake Mitchell is available for interviews before jail or in jail
and has a lot to say right now about the music biz, The Boxing Lesson,
the system, playing drums, recording, Fecal Shock, Austin bands,
marijuana laws, and life in general. Final performances from Jake
Mitchell until he gets out will be next week in Austin,TX!

August 27, 2008 @ Emo's Lounge 101x Homegrown Live show w/ Frontier Brothers
August 28, 2008 @ Carousel Lounge (Monkey Wrench Benefit)

Come out and celebrate life with Jake before our government
intervenes. Fans of The Boxing Lesson have no fear, you can keep
hearing your favorite songs live. Keeping the seat warm for Jake
Mitchell behind the drums will be Kevin Sparks, a veteran of the
Austin music scene who has played with many bands including Bad
Motivators, Say Hello to the Angels and Megatron Triggerdick.
Until next time, we?ll see you on the Dark Side of the Moog.

For interview, please contact Ryan Cano @ The Loyalty Firm.


Cheers,


Ryan Cano, Owner
The Loyalty Firm
Management & Publicity
Austin,TX
ryan@theloyaltyfirm.com
512-905-0528

www.myspace.com/loyaltyfirm

ROSTER ::: Aster, Black Box Opera, The Boxing Lesson, Built By Snow, Fecal Shock,
Midnight Assembly

* The Boxing Lesson - "Wild Streaks & Windy Days" new LP out now!!! *

Fleet Foxes on Letterman

This video's a bit old (about two weeks) by Internet standards but it's just so damn good I had to post it. I am absolutely enraptured by the Fleet Foxes. I cannot stop listening to both their s/t full length and the Sun Giant EP that preceded it. I don't know how I didn't catch them during SXSW. The video below is of them performing "Blue Ridge Mountains", one of the standouts on Fleet Foxes and a wonderful choice of song that I was honestly surprised they chose to play, on Letterman. They are too good.


Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains

Buy Fleet Foxes here

Download Fleet Foxes Daytrotter Session here

Fun Fun Fest lineup announced

The lineup for Fun Fun Fun Fest was announced today and it is killer. People say it all the time, but there really is going to be something for everyone at this fest. A couple highlights for me are The National, St. Vincent, Centro-Matic, Bad Brains, Dan Deacon, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Islands, Annuals, Trail of Dead, Frightened Rabbit, Magnetic Morning, Dr. Octagon, and some sort of comedy set from the always twisted Tim and Eric's Awesome Show (If Dr. Steve Brule, aka John C Reilly, somehow makes an appearance I am going to scream like a little girl and shit my pants). I'm really excited about this one and two day passes are only $60! Come the fuck on, how are you not going to go to this?!?!? There are some great local bands playing too, including the always enjoyable Broken Social Scene-esque Til We're Blue or Destroy and the thoroughly enjoyable alt-country stylings of Frank Smith (it's a full band goddammit). Tickets should be going on sale soon. I'll let you know the where as well as the when as soon as I know. Check out the full lineup here.

Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper

St. Vincent - These Days (Jackson Browne cover)

Here's a video recap of the 2007 edition compiled by the ridiculously talented folks at Super Alright Studios.

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo.

some funny for you

Not really all that music related, but I came across some hilarious clips from a new animated show on HBO called "The Life and Times of Tim". According to their website the show debuts September 28th. If the whole show is as funny as these teaser clips it's going to be a new favorite.

Unofficial, but cool, Wolf Parade video

I stumbled upon a wonderfully unique video for the song "Kissing the Beehive" off of Wolf Parade's grand new album At Mount Zoomer. The video is simply "Kissing The Beehive" over a crazy short film from 1964 entitled The Hangman. The Hangman is an eerie animated short (and by animated I mean illustrated, not too much movement in this other than the camera panning over an image) based on an old children's poem about a mysterious stranger who arrives in a town, builds a gallows in the town square, and condemns the residents to death one by one. This isn't one of those Dark Side Of The Moon - Wizard of Oz type synch-ups, the music doesn't necessarily follow the story, although you will get the occasional shiver down your spine and arms when something synchs up perfect (especially the broken guitar at the end), but it is a completely unique and engrossing backdrop for an amazing song. Check it out below.



Wolf Parade - Kissing The Beehive (mp3)

From At Mount Zoomer (buy here)

I'd also like to note that I recently attended Wolf Parade's sold out La Zona Rosa show and I, unlike a couple of people I've spoken with, absolutely loved the show. I loved the old songs, I loved the new songs, I loved it all and at the end of the show I left a bigger fan that when I walked in. They absolutely killed the song above to close their main set. My ears are still buzzing a bit.