Mars Volta Puzzle

The Mars Volta have put added a puzzle to their website. If you unscramble the album artwork you get a code that can be used to dl a new song. It's not from the upcoming album, but rather it's a Circle Jerks cover. Have fun.

The Bedlam In Goliath comes out on 1.29.08

Some Shows this week

Here's some good shows that are happening this week.

Wednesday 11.28.07 @ Red Eyed Fly

• The Calm Blue Sea @ 9pm ($5)

Thursday 11.29.07

• Jose Gonzalez, Cass Mccombs @ The Parish ($20)
• Vampire Weekend, Brazos @ The Mohawk ($6)

Friday 11.30.07

• Alela Diane, Kristi Rae, Unfortunate Heads @ Emo's Lounge
  

Saturday 12.1.07

• Soundcheck Magazine Party with Moth!Fight!, Micah P. Hinson, The Solider Thread @ Emos Lounge (9:30pm)
• Face Aids Benefit with Zykos, Freshmillions, Sweet lee Morrow @ Club Deville
  

I'm out

Heading to NYC for the Thanksgiving break, so there won;t be any updates until next week. Hope everyone has a nice extended weekend. Here's a couple of links to go into the long weekend with.

Deerhunter recorded a Daytrotter Session.

A Hawk and A Hacksaw recorded a Take Away Show for Blogoteque.

"Selling Out Isn't Possible" by Kevin Barnes.

Maritime at Mohawk on Sunday night

The musical journey that has been my life has not been a route through flat grounds, it's been hilly and windy and you would have great difficulty in predicting where I've gone based on where I've been. One of the great winding paths I've taken can be traced via my interaction (through speakers and headphones) with Davey von Bohlen. Davey was the singer of seminal "emo" band (god I still hate that term so much, it's starting to get that way with indie too) The Promise Ring, and is currently singing with his new group Maritime. I started listening to The Promise Ring when I was 18 and had just started college. Moving into the dorms and having a dedicated high speed Internet connection for the first time was a pretty huge moment in my life, because it's when I really started getting deep, deep, deep into music. Being able to fire up Audiogalaxy and just download everything I wanted or had any interest in introduced me to hundreds and hundreds of bands that I would grow to love. One of these bands was The promise Ring. Something about these quirky, poppy, guitar filled songs really appealed to me and I had a Promise Ring button on my backpack for several years. The Promise Ring were also one of the first bands from that most hated of all genres that I witnessed slowly morph into something else other than emo. Their final album Wood/Water remains a personal favorite of mine, and was a big departure for the band. Instead of upbeat and playful, the album was contemplative and a bit morose. Like most bands whose sound matures, most of their fans saw this maturation as change, and not for the better, and so, unsurprisingly, the album sort of flopped and I imagine it led in some ways to the bands eventual demise. I still think of it as one of the better albums I have in my collection from that period, and consider it a forgotten treasure. Obviously, now Davey von Bohlen has moved on and is in a new band, Maritime. Maritime recently released their third album, the splendidly titled Heresy and the Hotel Choir on Flameshovel, and they are coming through town this Sunday to play at The Mohawk. I'll be there and so should you. Tickets are 6 bucks and the show starts at 9pm.

The Promise Ring - Stop Playing Guitar

Buy Wood/Water here

Maritime - For Science Fiction

Buy Heresy and the Hotel Choir here

The Antiques

I love a song with a good groove. You simply cannot deny a good groove. It gets in your blood and is impossible to shake. The Antiques know a thing or two about a good groove. I simply cannot stop listening to "Down To No. County" from their Nicknames and Natives CD. The album came out back in 2006 on Banter Records, so I guess you could say I'm a bit behind the times on this one, but it is truly one of the best songs I've heard all year. My attention was drawn to the band initially because they recently recorded a Daytrotter session. I am introduced to more great music by Daytrotter and Blogoteque every day than almost anywhere else. Looks like only a handful of California dates are on the Los Angeles band's schedule at the moment but hopefully they'll cruise by at some point in the new year.

The Antiques - Down To No. County

buy Nicknames and Natives here

Mogwai - Gouge Away (Pixies cover)

Stereogum has some new Mogwai for us all, well a new take on an old song by Mogwai anyway. The song, "Gouge Away", appears on the new Pixies covers album Dig For Fire: A Tribute To Pixies which comes out at the end of the month. I always find it weird listening to Mogwai tracks that involve singing and there is a similar effect here. I'm pretty generally not the biggest fan of cover songs unless they are phenomenal, and this one doesn't really fall into the phenomenal category, but it's Mogwai covering the Pixies for chrissakes so it deserves a listen at least. The track can be found here. If you sign up at PixiesMusic you can stream most of it for free.

Free White Denim show tonight

The hippest of the hip in local music is on display tonight at The Mohawk as White Denim takes the stage to play a free show. I heard somewhere that Tuesday is the new Thursday so I'll be there. White Denim are technically opening the show for Seattle touring band The Blakes. Also playing the show are The Golden Boys and The Hugs. The whole thing kicks off at 9pm.

White Denim - World As A Waiting Room