photos by Jason House

Agnostic Front @ Santos Party House

Agnostic Front are currently out on tour with Mongoloids in support of a somewhat new record...

"My Life My Way was released on March 22, 2011. The album features 13 new powerful and anthemic songs laid down by Erik Rutan (MADBALL, GOATWHORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, etc.) at his Mana Recording Studio in Tampa, FL under the watchful guide of producer Freddy Cricien of MADBALL. The record was mastered by Alan Douches (NILE, MASTODON, etc.)."

The tour hit Santos Party House in NYC on 11/4. Some pictures are in this post. More them with all remaining dates below.

Fellow DMS crew band H2O also has a new record coming out, but not of their own songs. As their own press release reads...

"H2O has been a mainstay in hardcore and punk since their inception back in 1995 and have had many influences along the way. The band is thrilled to pay homage to those influential artists by covering their songs on the forthcoming album, Don't Forget Your Roots, which will be available November 15th from Bridge Nine Records.

Additionally, H2O will be playing the Gramercy Theater on November 19th [with Killing Time], with a special set consisting of cover songs and originals- both new and old. This show will be a celebration of H2O's covers album available just three days prior, as well as a re-release of their self-titled album, available on LP also on November 15th. Vocalist Toby Morse had this to say: "NYC is H2O's roots - where we started - and couldn't think of a more perfect place to release our covers album and the re-issue of our first record. We'll be playing old songs, new songs and cover songs for our fans there! They'll also be able to pick up copies of our self-titled album on vinyl - Bridge Nine is re-pressing that and we couldn't be more excited. It was originally released back in 1996 and has been out of print for a long, long time. Also Don't Forget Your Roots will be available as well!" He continued, "Our covers album is a big personal accomplishment for us - being able to pay homage to the bands that have influenced us so much since we got into punk rock and helped get us where we are today is an amazing thing. We think we've done them justice!"

No Agnostic Front on the tribute album, but there is Madball, Descendents, Bad Brains and many more. The full tracklist, all tour dates, and more Agnostic Front show pictures, below...

Continue reading "Agnostic Front played Santos (pics & more dates), H2O releasing tribute album, playing shows too (dates) "

photos by Rachel Carr, words by Daiana Feuer

Gorillaz Clash

The third and final round of the Coachella Music & Arts Festival was funky, and not just because the port-a-potties reeked. Keeping a loose theme every day (see Friday & Saturday), Sunday focused on relentless rhythm and groovy basslines. The absolute golden moment belonged to Yo La Tengo's blistering final song. Rhythm that revels in repetition + guitar that tries to destroy itself = wee mind blown. Sometimes the moodiest things are the most uplifting.

Thom Yorke brought his dancing shoes, his favorite Flea, and Nigel Godrich. His band Atoms For Peace played almost every song off The Eraser, many of which featured strong world rhythm sections. When Yorke didn't have a guitar in hand, he danced, whirled, and punched the air like he was rehearsing a scene from Fame. We wanted a high kick, but it didn't arrive. King Khan & The Shrines, on the other hand, featured legs flying all over the place, DJ Lance Rock and Yo Gabba Gabba characters, burning money, as well as a visit from the police-who crept on stage to snap pictures. Probably the first time Khan runs into cops and doesn't leave wearing cuffs. Sunny Day Real Estate had the audience offering bids to buy property, and Phoenix had people choking on dinner as they tried to dance and eat at the same time.

King Khan Gabba Gabba

Not every Julian Casablancas song captivated, but his band delightfully binged on rhythms. Each musician had a personal backbeat player supporting each fill. The drummer plus his sidekick especially sounded great. Matt & Kim's ebullient smiles inspired chaos in the audience, as usual. Mayer Hawthorne and the County revived Motown soulful brassiness and covered Biz Markie's "Just a Friend." The Big Pink played some new songs from next year's album, reaching out for Depeche Mode with a drummer in a pink bathing suit. Electro sweet popper Little Boots forgot her pants as well, wearing a sparkly shirt and knickers, and played with the lasers on stage. Charlotte Gainsbourg inaugurated her "first tour, first everything" with a feminine "Candy-O" sensibility, sometimes in French. Florence & the Machine rounds out the great lady performances of the day, and brought on Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids.

All clad in white, France's DJ ego-powers Club 75 demonstrated the ability to cooperate together with just a few elbows thrown. Cassius, Justice, Busy P, and DJ Mehdi still use CD's (so old school), and took turns passing on the headphones between them and finishing each other's remix sentences, trading places at each station. Backstage security bobbed along while staying tough. When it was their turn, Rusko turned the Sahara tent into a mechazoid robot battle and Orbital live-produced virtual reality anthems for Satan wearing Matrix miner lights around their heads. Infected Mushroom instructed on the benefits of "Becoming Insane" flanked by two mushrooms with red eyes.

The Middle East should not be confused with The Soft Pack, formerly The Muslims. The former may be from Australia but it sounds like a back porch band from Woodstock, and the latter offers a "Parasite" infestation that's as pure as sunshine and a neat drum set up that packs a giant tom punch. What appears as regular rock on headphones reveals its brilliance when experienced live. One of the strangest live moments of the festival belongs to Sly Stone, who played four hours late and on the wrong stage. He bitched, he slurred, he cursed, lay down, walked off, stopped songs and good grief, made a total mess of himself. But that's rock and roll.

Sly Stone made history look unable to get past its youthful drug phase, but Jonsi, Pavement, and Spoon come from a music scene that did a little bit less cocaine. Jonsi repped the awesomeness of Sigur Rós and great hats. Steve Patterson of White Rabbits joined Britt Daniels and the rest of Spoon to add percussion on "I Turn My Camera On". Spoon's tour-mate Bradford Cox (who played earlier in the day in Deerhunter) also joined Spoon on stage, like he did on their recent Kimmel appearance. Pavement ran through the hits during one of their first U.S. shows since reuniting. "That's the 90's in a nutshell," said Stephen Malkmus after the angsty "Unfair"...

"...Pavement, the iconic slacker band of the '90s, who took the main stage against what turned out to be one of the fest's chief attractions, the finally wildly popular French dance-rock band Phoenix, who wowed possibly the biggest crowd of the entire fest ... while Pavement played to a field half-full of true believers rather than the massive throngs many expected, and thought the band deserved.

No matter, though. Pavement still delivered a set that vindicated the group of prior crimes -- namely a Coachella performance near the end of their career so notoriously bad, many in attendance point to it as the moment the band decided to break up.

This night, however, they were tight, they were loud, and they sounded large on that vast field -- an odd statement, given the fact that in their heyday they were far more known for being introspectively small rather than arena-ready..." [The OC Register]

Virtual Snoop Dogg introduced the Gorillaz set, but Blur's Damon Albarn appeared in the flesh, with a few special guests including Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, De La Soul-who kicked their own old school jams earlier in the day-and Little Dragon's Yukimi. One unique rhythm transcended the next, showing the mutability of hip hop and dance music. And then that was it, suddenly. The festival ended and tens of thousands of people started wondering where they left their car keys...

Radiohead Peppers For Peace

Daiana's Weekend Top 10:
1. Yo La Tengo's last song
2. Little Dragon's Yukimi
3. Gossip leading a revolution
4. Thom Yorke dancing to African rhythms
5. PiL giving a history lesson
6. Sly Stone wigging out
7. Bouncing penises + fat people in undies (Die Antwoord + Major Lazer)
8. Devo putting on the hats that ushered in modern pop culture for "Whip It"
9. John Waters corrupting many young minds
10. The Gorrilaz lyric: "Super fast jellyfish going super fast. You can't even see him but you wanna eat him."

--

Owen Pallett, Local Natives, Miike Snow, and Yann Tiersen also played the fest Sunday. Gary Numan was among those who couldn't. Reviews & pictures from Day One, HERE and Day Two, HERE. Setlists (Thom Yorke and Pavement), pictures, and videos from Day Three, below...

Continue reading "Coachella 2010 - Day Three in pics, video & review (the Thom Yorke & Pavement setlists included) "

photos by Natasha Ryan

"One of the highlights was the score of new tracks like "Breakneck Speed" and "Favorite Color". The most memorable moment was without a doubt the encore as the band stepped back onstage calling the Born Ruffians back out to play a new song, "Spark" which they recently wrote together. The track is really interesting with the merger of TPC's Dave Monks unique vocal sound pairing up with Born Ruffians singer Luke LaLonde. They closed it out in style inviting the Harlem Shakes out onto the already crowded stage for a classic rendition of the Clash's "Train In Vain"." [Chewy Donuts & Evil Bunnies]

Tokyo Police Club headlined Webster Hall on Wednesday night (2/25). Harlem Shakes opened and are currently on the road with the Canadian band. Tickets go on sale today at noon for an upcoming Harlem Shakes show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Born Ruffians also opened the Webster Hall show. Watch a UK commercial featuring the Canadian band's music HERE. Watch videos from the NYC show (Clash cover and new songs included), and see more pictures, below...

Continue reading "Tokyo Police Club, Harlem Shakes & Born Ruffians @ Webster Hall - pics & videos (1 of all 3 bands covering the Clash)"

DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Streetlab mix) (MP3)

Neil Young

today in NYC
* DANCE
* Neil Young, Wilco & Everest @ MSG
* Architect & Tiger Flowers @ Lit Lounge
* Appomattox, The Interiors & Elsinore @ Cake Shop
* Shy Child, Free Blood, Pwrfl Power @ Santos Party House
* Goes Cube, Rumanian Buck & Satisfier @ Santos Party House
* Soft Circle, Bird Show, Sun Circle, Infinity Window @ Glasslands
* John Oliver, Todd Barry, & others @ a benefit @ the Bell House
* School of Seven Bells, The War on Drugs & Linfinity @ Mercury Lounge
* Ted Leo, Cale Parks, Patrick Stickles (of Titus Andronicus) @ Market Hotel
* Pylon, Psychic Paramount, Grouper, Christmas Decorations & more @ KF

Paul Simonon of The Clash was born today in 1955.

A trailer for the Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

by Ryan Barkan

Advertising agencies make lots of online commercials. You know, spots made not for television, but with the hope the brand's message will spread virally on the net in an organic way. Though lots of them never catch steam like a rickroll, the new Guitar Hero World Tour "Bike Hero" video has already been watched over one million times. The creative takes The Living End's "Prisoner of Society" and turns it into a live action, first person bike ride through the song's playable level in GHWT. It's a pretty cool idea with amazing execution and a slight bit of computer magic. Watch the video below.

Other Notable Licensing News:

Bishop Allen played two shows in NYC over the weekend. They are a band that has benefited from some key licensing placements in the last year. The band appeared and performed in the recent Michael Sera movie, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Watch the scene below. The song they performed, "Middle Management", was also on the soundtrack and used in the film's trailer. They were also used in a commercial for Sony digital cameras late last year - watch the spot here.

Crayola goes indie-cool this holiday season with Dan Deacon and Lightspeed Champion songs in the campaign for the new Glow Station (via Pitchfork). Watch the spots below.

The new holiday commercial from LL Bean features "Valley Winter Song" by Fountains Of Wayne.

Danish band The Blue Van rock the soundtrack to the new Samsung Behold commercial. Watch below.

While enjoying college football on Saturday, I heard Nick Drake's "Place To Be" used in a promo spot for Michigan State. That video is below too.

I have a bunch of friends that can not get enough of the show Top Chef. Some of those friends are also crazy for the Foo Fighters (editor's note: with friends like that who needs enemies? JUST KIDDING. Actually that doesn't even make sense...). Those friends will be in heaven when TC goes "Foo Fighters Thanksgiving" this upcoming November 26th. The episode taped during a tour stop in Rochester, NY; the band will guest judge the few remaining contestants. Apparently, TC is Dave Grohl's favorite show.

You may have heard A-Ha's classic jam "Take On Me" before. It is/was a popular song and video. So popular, A.C. Newman is going to cover it for an upcoming Valentine's Day compilation for Starbucks. Even more so, you can take it on karaoke-style in the new video game by Microsoft, LIPS. The pretty clever commercial for the game uses the song as well. Watch it below.

The game's soundtrack also includes songs by The Police, Coldplay, Duffy, The Cure, Peter, Bjorn, & John, Radiohead, and more.

Nintendo DS and Wii players can now get their skateboard on while on the go with the release of EA's Skate It. The soundtrack contains tracks by Cut Chemist, Fujiya & Miyagi, Judas Priest, The Clash, Sly & the Family Stone, and more.

continued below...

Continue reading "This week in Music Licensing "

The Clash will be the first band in the spotlight at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in SoHo, which has moved up its grand opening date to November 24, according to the museum's new website.

The annex will house a hall of fame gallery, a theater, and roots and influences gallery and a New York Rocks gallery, featuring memorabilia from the likes of John Lennon and Billy Joel and an interactive map with locations such as CBGB and the Chelsea Hotel.

The special exhibit on The Clash will open December 1 and run through Spring.

Tickets, priced at $28.18 (plus $3 service fee for online and phone orders,) are pegged to a specific entry time. [NewYorkology]

a photo desperately in need of a good caption....

Actress Sienna Miller (L) hugs Mick Jones, former guitarist and vocalist of English punk rock band The Clash, after presenting him with the Inspiration Award at the 2008 NME Awards USA at El Rey theatre in Los Angeles April 23, 2008. The awards are given out by New Musical Express, a British weekly music magazine.

Paul Simonon & David Bowie backstage @ Shea Stadium, Queens, NYC, 1982

Continue reading "The Clash played Shea too, new DVD & PBS special "

DOWNLOAD Carbon/Silicon - What the Fuck (MP3)

Carbon/Silicon is a Garage Rock duo consisting of two punk rock legends: Mick Jones formerly of The Clash and former Generation X member Tony James. The band formed around 2002. [Wikipedia]

This has been on my "to listen" list for a while, and I was hoping to have some opinion before tonight's show at Highline Ballroom (oops). Consider this some last-minute notice and a free MP3. More dates below...

Continue reading "Carbon/Silicon = The Clash + Generation X (show tonight)"

Wilco's latest album, Sky Blue Sky, is out today (along with its 5.2 review at Pitchfork).

Rhino releases Genesis: Genesis 1976-1982, a box set, this week, including the remastered Abacab, And Then There Were Three, Duke, A Trick of the Tail, and Wind & Wuthering, complete with bonus DVD discs.

Two Clash-related discs are noteworthy: the soundtrack to the Joe Strummer biopic, The Future Is Unwritten, and the Clash tribute album, The Sandinista! Project.

Among other releases, I can recommend Rufus Wainwright's most political effort yet, Release The Stars, YACHT's I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real, Utah Carol's Rodeo Queen, Great Northern's Trading Twilight for Daylight, Efterklang's Under Giant Trees, and Au Revoir Simone's The Bird of Music, and am looking forward to sampling many more of this week's releases (list below).

What new releases are you picking up this week? What can you recommend (or warn against)?

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"