Magnetic Morning @ Southpaw - CMJ 2008 (more by Tim Griffin)

Interpol posted a letter so we know they're alive...

Continue reading "a letter from Interpol"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Fun Fun Fun Fest (a music festival this weekend in Austin) successfully mixes punk, indie, singer-songwriter, hardcore, dance, hip-hop, metal, comedy, new and old. For instance, after blowing my mind to the thrash metal stylings of Municipal Waste, I immediately ran over to catch the end of Bishop Allen's family friendly indie rock set. I like that. One of the bad things, like most festivals, is how much overlaps. On Saturday I had to completely give up seeing The National, Z-Trip, Neil Hamburger, Yacht, and Hawnay Troof. Tonight (Sunday, November 9th), I'll probably have to miss all of Clipse, Tim & Eric, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, in favor of seeing Bad Brains. I also have to decide between Bouncing Souls and Minus the Bear.

Highlights from day one (yesterday, Saturday) included Dead Milkmen, Municipal Waste (wall of death), Dead Milkmen, Walter Schreifel's solo set (Rival Schools was good too), Dead Milkmen, Killdozer (killed it), Dead Milkmen, Dan Deacon (camp counselor of the year), Dead Milkmen, and Krumbums (punk is not dead). What I caught of Octopus Project, Trail of Dead and Deerhoof was also great. If I say anymore, I'll be late for Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears and/or Kevin Seconds. For now, here are some more pictures from day one...

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008 - (some of) day one in photos "

Photos by Tim Griffin

[Swervedriver's] Adam Franklin: Most of the earlier tunes were [Interpol's] Sam [Fogarino]'s, and mostly started with simple guitar lines, to which I would then place chord sequences beneath or counter-melodies on top. Sam also gave me a nine-minute Mellotron jam, which I cut and arranged into a verse/chorus/verse arrangement. I also wrote the lyrics and vocal melodies. Although 90 percent of the lyrics are mine, probably 50 percent of the titles are Sam's, due to the fact that he tends to name his demos. This makes it interesting for me, because the lyrical threads follow paths suggested by the titles. After we established a sound aesthetic, I began bringing in some song ideas to which Sam would add keyboards, guitars, atmospherics, rhythmic patterns.

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Adam Franklin: The live show should be fun. Myself and Sam essentially inhabit the engine room of a kick-ass live unit. The band sounds out-of-this-world after a week or two of rehearsal. Bolts of Melody's Josh Stoddard is on bass; Blasco, who has previously played live with Interpol and Secret Machines is on guitar, melodica and psychedelic banjo; and The Album Leaf's Jimmy LaValle is on keyboards. He was an obvious choice, as Sam and I have both known him separately for some time.

Both of those quotes are from an interview Adam gave to Wired. More pictures from last week's show at Southpaw below....

Continue reading "Magnetic Morning & Springhouse @ Southpaw - pics, setlists"

AUSTIN, TX - Transmission Entertainment is proud to announce this year's Fun Fun Fun Festival line-up. In the tradition of years past, FFF08 once again teams punk rock legends with the hottest indie buzz bands, crowd-pleasing dance and hip-hop acts, and cutting-edge comedians. Fun Fun Fun Fest will be held November 8 and 9 at Waterloo Park in downtown Austin, TX. A two-day pass will be $59.99, available through FrontgateTickets.com. Children under 10 get in free and discounts will be made available to all students.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The National, Magnetic Morning, Clipse, Walter Schreifels, Flipper, Bad Brains, ALL, Dead Milkmen, St Vincent, Deerhoof, Trail of Dead, and Dan Deacon are just some of the many bands on the four stage bill....

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest 2008 lineup - Nov 8-9 in Austin, Texas "

by Bill Pearis

Springhouse

Before blogs, before the internet as we know it, Jack Rabid was writing up all the shows he attended, the records he listened to, and interviewing his favorite bands. Since 1980 he's been publishing The Big Takeover which started as a Xeroxed 'zine but is now a legit glossy mag, thick as a phone book, and even more crammed with reviews and meaty interviews with some of the biggest indie/alt bands and artists on the planet. The passion (and the encyclopedic knowledge of the staff) makes it such an awesome read to this day.

In addition to The Big Takeover, Jack is also a great drummer. Having played in a number of bands over the years (early '80s punks Even Worse, and more recently Last Burning Embers), he might be best known as one-third of '90s-era trio Springhouse. While lumped in with the then UK dreampop scene (Ride, MBV, etc), Springhouse (Mitch Friedland on treated classical acoustic, and bassist Larry Heinemann) was closer to early-'80s groups like The Sound, The Comsat Angels and The Chameleons, the latter of whom they opened for on their 2002 reunion tour.

Springhouse released two very good, if under-heard, albums on Caroline in the '90s and have been slowly working on a third that will finally see the light of day in October. As Jack wrote on Bigtakeover.com:

"From Now to OK, which we've been working on for the better part of 10 years, is finally finished and will be released in October...on limited edition, 550 copies deluxe Bruce Licher-designed letterpress multi-layered foldout CD art package and free internet digital download, Radiohead-style (i.e. pay what you want!). Then we hit the road!"

That tour is a "Big Takeover Presents" triple bill. Headlining are Magnetic Morning (previously known as The Setting Suns), the "supergroup" (my term) of Swervedriver's Adam Franklin, Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino and Jimmy LaValle of the Album Leaf. I saw them at their debut show back in December and despite a then-dearth of material (they've only got a six-song EP out so far, including three versions of one song and a cover) Magnetic Morning had it together, as you'd expect from a group of pros like this. They've been holed away in the studio all summer so I imagine we'll really find out what MM are all about in October.

Opening the Big Takeover tour is Washington DC's Julie Ocean, which is fronted by two veterans of the '90s DC/Arlington indie scene: Jim Spellman was in Velocity Girl and The High-Back Chairs (and is now a producer for CNN where he recently got Tasered on purpose); and Terry Banks was in Tree Fort Angst, The Saturday People and Glo-Worm. Julie Ocean's debut, Long Gone and Nearly There, is ridiculously catchy power pop.

There are only six dates on the Big Takeover Presents tour as of now, including one at Southpaw in Brooklyn on Oct. 21 which is also the opening night of CMJ. Tickets are on sale.

Adam Franklin has also been keeping busy with his old band Swervedriver and Magnetic Morning's dates are part of a much bigger fall tour. All scheduled stops, and a video, are below...

Continue reading "Big Takeover tour w/ Springhouse & Julie Ocean + other MAGNETIC MORNING (Interpol+Swervedriver+Album Leaf) tour dates"