Today’s Secondhand Sunday comes from a musician who is very near and dear to my heart, Stephen Malkmus. Since the mention of ‘Jicks’ weren’t really used on his first solo album I feel wierd including it in here. The video is for my favorite SM song, Discretion Grove and its also my favorite video by him since he left Pavement. Maybe because he’s in it acting like a fool. I wish he would go back to that. He was such a good music video actor.
CMJ 2009 is just around the corner. It’s so close we can smell it in the air. Even though the artists aren’t supposed to be revealed until late next week the earliest, CMJ managed to spill the beans on a few. And by few we mean 70 out of about 1,200 bands. No huge names have been released yet but CMJ always holds out on us. The festival will take place from October 20th to the 24th this year in New York City as always. Is there any other place to hold such an event? Going strong for 28 years it’s always one of the most anticipated music festivals of the year. Some of the bands that have been confirmed so far are The Antlers, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Action Painters, These United States, Otter Petter, and Woodpigeon.
Discounted passes are available at CMJ.com until Tuesday August 18th. Act fast to avoid paying the regular price.
Welcome to our first installment of ‘PLAYTIME!’ This has been an idea we’ve been toying around with for quite some time that we have finally launched. Let us explain to you what ‘Playtime!’ is. This will be a segment in which we film some of our favorite bands and artists. Think of it as a version of ‘Take Away Shows’ but on a playground in New York City. Bands will be performing stripped down performances of their songs as life goes on behind them. Sounds nice, huh? Expect a lot more these to come!
Up first is The Everyday Visuals!
Our first episode of Playtime! features Boston’s own, The Everyday Visuals. We took the band to the ABC Playground over the weekend where they performed two songs, ‘Heal Me’ and ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ off their new self titled record.
The Everyday Visuals Perform ‘Heal Me’
The Everyday Visuals Perform ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’
The Everyday Visuals also performed an amazing show at Piano’s that night. An acoustic set if you will. In any situation the band can perform beautifully. Singer/Guitarist Chris Pappas’ voice is haunting and sends chills down your spine even when performing the most upbeat of songs. You can tell he is a true songwriter and it just comes natural to him. The accompaniment and backing vocals of Joe Seiders, Kyle Fredrickson, and Eli Scheer complete the sound as they play like seasoned musicians with a great deal of soul to them.
See more photos from The Everyday Visuals at Piano’s after the JUMP
All of the Of Montreal Lollapalooza and tour dates news this week has put me in the OM spirit. The band has definitely been making waves at the festival this year and all of this talk makes us jealous that we aren’t there! Today’s Secondhand Sunday features the song that started the band’s mega transformation, ‘Disconnect the Dots’. Sure it had some heads scratching at the time but it also went along with a lot of, well, dancing. Correct is of we’re wrong but it was also the band’s first video and features the artwork of Kevin’s brother, David Barnes who also along side Kevin’s wife, Nina, does all of the artwork for the band. This was the beginning of things to come.
Watch Of Montreal’s ‘Disconnect the Dots’
Of Montreal Upcoming Tour Dates
August 7 — Chicago, IL — Lollapalooza 2009 AA
August 9 — Houston, TX — Free Press Summer Fest AA
August 29 — San Diego, CA — Street Scene 2009 AA
September 12 — Morrison, CO — Monolith Festival 2009 (Red Rocks) AA
September 18 — New York, NY — Terminal 5 AA
Summer always needs a good band that brings the best out of the season; Foreign Born does it for me. Just when you think you may possibly die of heatstroke and if you live in California you know the intensity that I am talking about, you turn to a Foreign Born track and it all seemingly becomes cooler. The group came together in the Bay Area circa 2003 and soon after, ventured into the underground music scene of Los Angeles where they now reside. When I think of Foreign Born, I think “tropical.” I don’t mean that they’re fruity but that their music conveys a global influence. The group is quite fond of incorporating global music genres into their music such as African rhythms and Latin folk. They use anything from bongos to banjos to maracas. The combination of all the different flavors results in something so irrevocably tasteful. Their newest album ‘Person To Person’ is the greatest example and measure of this group’s ability. Being that I live under the blistering hot sun, I have the album on constant replay. The clash of singer/guitarist Mark Noseworthy and the instrumentals transports you to a much breezier coastal region that can bring you sanity during wicked times as these. If their sound appeases you and you want to travel father outside of the U.S. borders, then check out the group’s other band, Fool’s Gold. This group heavily emphasizes the diversity of their instruments as they produce Kenya and island inspired songs. Foreign Born is definitely a group you can’t ignore; they bring so much to the musical table. Recommended tracks: “Early Warnings” “That Old Sun” “Winter Games”
Watch Foreign Born’s ‘Winter Games’
Interpol frontman Paul Banks recently released his first video for his new solo project under the name Julian Plenti. The video for ‘Games for Days’ features Emily Haines (of Metric and Broken Social Scene ) and is rather dark but somehow also charming. The two get to know each other and then trash the place. Classic love story. Paul Bank has not only has returned to his old label Matador to release his record ‘Skyscraper’ but the album tends to sound a bit similar sounding to the first Interpol record, ‘Turn on the Bright Lights.’ This my friends is a good thing. We can’t wait to see more videos from Julian Plenti.
Watch the video for ‘Games for Days’
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